Disclaimer: IF you think that own Naruto, what else do you believe

Disclaimer: If you think that own Naruto, what else do you believe? That Dark Schneider is a boy scout?

Author's note: I attemepted to work with a beta who was Dumbledork. I have stopped that and the delay in my writing will be less then it has been.

Naruto walked out of his front door and headed off to go to Rei's house. After the last of the preliminary rounds were over yesterday Naruto and Rei had decided that they would talk about their relationship today. They were both just too exhausted at the time that they wouldn't have been able to give the issue of their feelings the proper consideration. Now after a good night's rest, or at least the best amount that Naruto could get considering the circumstances, it was time to tackle the issue head on. Most of the villagers that were up had obviously heard the news about the preliminaries and were still shocked that both the 'Last Uchiha' and the 'Hyuga Genius' had been soundly defeated. This suited Naruto just fine as it made sure that those people who liked to sneer at him were too busy to try to torment him.

Personally, Naruto was very thankful that he had been given this little reprieve even though he wasn't too annoyed at the sneers. Like all men in his position, Naruto was extremely nervous and bewildered at the whole situation. Oh Naruto respected and cared, Naruto was unwilling to use the word 'love' yet simply because he wasn't exactly sure what romantic love was, for Rei a great deal. Also, Naruto knew that Rei was rather attractive girl, a powerful kunoichi for their age, and a caring person. Finally, Rei had practically admitted after the incident with the Aino kunoichi that she was attracted to Naruto as well.

However, despite all of these facts that pointed to a favorable outcome for the day Naruto was still nervous. This was after all, Naruto's first attempt at the romance scene. Mostly Naruto was worried that he would do something that would ruin both his and Rei's possible romance and friendship. Irukia wouldn't really be much of a help as far as Naruto was concerned because as far as Naruto knew Irukia never had a steady girlfriend. Not that Naruto was selling his big brother short, its just that Naruto would rather go to someone he could see had a successful love life in order to get romantic advice rather then go to a bachelor.

Naruto's moment of contemplation ended when the Higurashi house came into view. Briskly walking up the stairs, Naruto crossed the yard and knocked on the front door. Less then a minute later, Rei opened the door and gave Naruto one of her usual small smiles. "Hello Naruto," Rei said as she moved to the side of the door, "Please come in." Naruto accepted Rei's invitation and entered the house. The two young adults then silently walked to the living room and sat down together on the couch.

After a moment of silence Rei decided to start the conversation. "We both have strong and intense feelings for each other Naruto. The question we have to ask ourselves is: do we want to act on them and see where it takes us or do we want to ignore them?" Rei then turned to look at Naruto's face and she gently put her hand under his chin. Very softly Rei whispered, "I'm scared Naruto. On the one hand I'm scared that I'll lose you if things don't work out between us. However, I'm also scared that I will lose something precious if I don't go forward and follow through with what I'm feeling."

Looking into her eyes Naruto could see the conflict in Rei. More importantly to Naruto, he could see that this whole situation was frightening Rei. That fear was tugging at Naruto's heart when he looked into Rei's eyes. Rei in Naruto's mind was calm, confident, caring, and slightly reserved young woman. The fear and worry that Rei was going though was not what Naruto wanted for her. Seeing her so vulnerable made Naruto want to shield her from the rest of the world and not let anyone get to her until she had found the inner strength that she always had.

Firmly but carefully Naruto grasped Rei's hand that was touching his cheek. Looking strait at Rei, Naruto said in a nervous but still firm tone, "I understand Rei. This situation scares me a lot as well. However, I am completely sure of this: I want you. Whether it's as a girlfriend or just as a friend I know that I need to be with you. To be completely honest with you Rei, I'm scared out of my mind at this situation as well. Still, as nervous as I am I would rather try and make this work between us rather then try and ignore what I'm feeling."

Rei sat in her chair for a second and thought about what Naruto had just told her. That Naruto wanted her had never been doubted in Rei's mind. What she had been concerned about was the possibility that Naruto had wanted her just for her looks. The thought was ridiculous considering the type of person that Naruto was, but Rei had simply had too many shallow admires for the idea not to come up. However Rei, although she had been practically sure before, was certain that this was not the case and that Naruto wanted her for who she was and not solely for her looks. That fact firmly in her mind, Rei decided to act on what she was feeling by leaning over and kissing Naruto.

The kiss wasn't some mind blowing experience like many of the romance novels in Konoha tried to portray a girl's first kiss. It was just a small chaste kiss on the lips that only lasted for a second or two before Rei pulled away. However, in that moment made her position on the issue of their relationship perfectly clear to herself and Naruto. With a slightly goofy and surprised grin on his face, Naruto said, "You know Rei; I think everything between us will work out just fine."


Jiraiya lazily strolled through Konoha towards general direction of Naruto's house. Surprisingly, at least to those who actually knew him, Jiraiya's face had a rather somber expression that morning. This change in his expression was due to the fact that Jiraiya had been oddly reflective the night before. Unlike other reflective times Jiraiya was not contemplating his genin days and the things then that he wished he could correct. Instead, Jiraiya had been thinking about his godson and newest apprentice Naruto.

Personally, Jiraiya thought that Minato must have been hit in the head just before Minato named him as Naruto's godfather. After all, Jiraiya mused, he had never really been there for Naruto when the kid needed him. For too long Jiraiya had been deluding himself by thinking that had been away just so that he could maintain Konoha's spy rings. Yes the spy rings were important, but the truth of the matter was that Jiraiya had been too afraid to own up to his responsibilities back then. Now it was too late for Jiraiya to correct his mistakes with Naruto.

Sure, everything for Naruto was turning out to be alright. The boy was rather skilled as a ninja, had a few good friends, a great team, and apparently a girlfriend to top it all off or so Gamakichi had said. However, Jiraiya couldn't really look at any of that and take pride in knowing that he had helped Naruto achieve all that. Except for giving Naruto the toad contract and a few low powered jutsus Jiraiya really hadn't taught Naruto at all. Last night the old toad sennin had decided that he would not reveal to Naruto that he was the boy's godfather. It would just hurt the boy's feelings to know that the person his parents had put their faith in to raise him had completely messed up.

Jiraiya paused for a moment in the middle of the street and slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. He needed to focus on the here and now, not the past. Redeeming his mistakes towards Naruto might be impossible, but Jiraiya knew that he could at least make a small atonement for his negligence. Naruto would be entering the finals in about a month and Jiraiya was determined to make sure that Naruto became a Chunin.

Suddenly Jiraiya's musing was interrupted when he heard someone say from above him, "Hello there Jiraiya! I wasn't expecting to see you in town." Looking up in surprise, Jiraiya saw Naruto standing on the side of one of the houses. Jiraiya watched as Naruto jumped off the wall he was standing on, perform a flawless back-flip and half-twist, and then land on the street in front of Jiraiya.

Blinking for a second, Jiraiya said, "Naruto, why were you up on that wall in the first place? There are plenty of trees around here that you don't need to go and climb peoples' walls for chakra practice. Besides, I know that at this point the tree climbing exercise won't really help you improve your chakra control any further. Unless you were using an army of shadow clones and that's obviously not the case here."

Naruto crossed his arms, gave Jiraiya one of his confident smiles, and then said, "I know that. Iruka worked me to exhaustion just so I could achieve the level of chakra control that I currently have so believe me I know what improves my chakra control and what doesn't. However, I wasn't doing that to practice my charka control. I was practicing my abilities at unobtrusive urban interception with my shadow clones. By now some ANBU is probably writing up a report about how I was playing 'tag' with my shadow clones using a kunai that will get the poor ninja laughed at by his superior."

Jiraiya stood in the street looking at Naruto for a moment before he busted out laughing. "You're right Naruto," Jiraiya said between laughs, "that poor ANBU is definitely going to be laughed at by his superior." It wasn't that Jiraiya didn't think that Naruto was serious; in fact Jiraiya was quite impressed at the ingenuity that Naruto had shown in creating such a useful exercise. However, Jiraiya found the scenario that Naruto had described to be humorous because Jiraiya knew that such things happened in the ANBU.

Shifting over to a more serious subject, Jiraiya set his into a neutral, but still friendly, expression and then spoke. "I've heard that you and your entire genin team have made it to the finals Naruto, good job. If you would like Naruto, I'll train you for the upcoming finals." Normally Jiraiya would have just told Naruto that the boy was going to be his apprentice. However, Jiraiya knew from what the toads had said that Naruto would be more likely to work with the training if Jiraiya presented it as a choice for the boy.

Naruto for his part closed his eyes and thought about the offer. Nothing against Jiraiya, but Naruto would have rather trained with Iruka simply because Naruto liked the time that he spent with his 'brother'. However, Naruto also knew that Iruka would be too busy teaching at the academy to give him the intense training that he needed for the exams. The whiskered blond opened his eyes and said, "Alright Jiraiya. Where and when do you want to start my training?"


The sunset had just started to paint the clouds in the sky when Naruto walked up the steeps to the Higurashi house. Naruto had been training hard with Jiraiya all week long but at the moment Naruto didn't care about that. What was on Naruto's mind at the moment was the fact that he was about to have his First Date. True, Naruto knew that Rei wasn't expecting the date to be some sort of magical fairy tale wonder. Rei wasn't, after all, that kind of a girl and would just be expecting a simple movie and a quite dinner at a restaurant. Her level-headed and rational outlook on like was something that Naruto really liked about Rei.

Still, Naruto wanted to make sure that he didn't mess the evening up for Rei. He wanted to see the delight in her emerald eyes that Rei always had when she enjoyed something. Surprisingly Jiraiya, when the old sage had found out about the date, had given Naruto some fairly reasonable dating advice that was not in the least bit perverted. It turned out that Jiraiya had absorbed a great deal of dating information simply through careful observation. Putting that advice into practice was where Jiraiya messed up due the fact that he had poor control over his exuberant appreciation of women and their natural beauty.

Knocking on the door, Naruto then took a steep back and adjusted his jacket. His outfit for the evening was mostly just a slightly better looking civilian version of his usual ninja outfit. Except for the Uzumaki family kodachi, which were currently resting in more decorative and less functional scabbards, Naruto was completely unarmed. Patiently Naruto waited at the door for Rei all the while hoping that he didn't make a huge fool out of himself.

Naruto's patience was soon rewarded as Rei opened the door and steeped outside. When Naruto saw Rei he stood completely still and whispered out, "enchanting." For the evening Rei was wearing a single piece Chinese style purple dress. Next to her right ear Rei had placed a single blooming yellow flower and had arranged the flower in such a way that the stem was hidden by her hair. Rei heard Naruto's whisper and immediately started to blush. Part of her blush was due to Naruto's complement and part of it was due to the fact that she liked how Naruto looked in his causal civilian outfit.

After shaking his head for a moment to reset his brain, Naruto said in friendly manner, "You look wonderful tonight Rei. If you don't mind, I was thinking that you and I could head over to the Senju Theater and watch the play that's being shown tonight. From what I hear Seven Ninjas is supposed to be a great play. After that I was thinking that you could pick where we're going to have dinner."

Rei listened very attentively to Naruto and she was happy with what he was suggesting for their date. Although Naruto obviously didn't know it, Rei had been hoping to see Seven Ninjas for some time. Also Rei was extremely happy that, except for the once over when she had stepped out of the door, Naruto had been focused on her face the entire conversation. Unlike other girls her age, Rei was proud of her body and confident in its charms. She wanted a boyfriend who would want her for who she was and admire her looks, not slobber over her like a hormone crazed dog.

Taking a step towards Naruto Rei politely, with her tone containing a hint of her happiness, said, "That sounds wonderful Naruto. I'm looking forward to seeing the play with you." At that point Naruto's face started to show a hint of his nervousness; however Naruto was able to regain his composure and offered Rei his arm. Rei gratefully accepted the offered arm and was then led down the steps to the street. Although the young couple was noticed by many of the villagers, Naruto and Rei weren't bothered by them. Well, there was the spiteful old busybody crone every now and then that would shoot glares at Naruto.

However those bitter has-beens were glared at by all of other nearby villagers. Despite their disapproval of her choice of companion, Rei was a Higurashi and none of the villagers wanted to chance upsetting the girl. As far as they were concerned, annoying Naruto wasn't worth getting the local priest angry. A few of the more hardened villagers were also starting to re-examine their opinions of the boy. In their minds it wasn't possible that a holy man like Rei's grandfather could have been bewitched by a demon. So why then, they asked themselves, had the man let his precious granddaughter date Naruto? This was something that these people were going to have to spend the rest of the night musing about. When the sun rose that morning there was a long line of people heading up to the village shrine to make penitence offerings.


Sarutobi was sitting at his seat in Konoha's Council chamber. Currently Sarutobi was having to deal with the entire High Council due to the fact that today was one of the required meetings of the full council. Personally Sarutobi could see the reason why bi-monthly mandatory meetings were required by one of the Shodai's edicts. However, just because Sarutobi could understand the unifying aspect of the meetings he didn't have to like the meetings. In fact Sarutobi detested these meetings because of how much time they took up. The heart of problem came from the fact that several of the council members, most of whom were occupying the civilian seats of the council, seemed to like to pointlessly debate issues.

After two hours of councilmen debating about the issue on whether the tariff on Rice Country cereals should be lowered or not Sarutobi had started to develop a tic on his forehead. Pounding his fist on the table, Sarutobi yelled out, "Enough of this! As the Hokage I am using my executive authority and decree that this issue is to not be discussed further at this meeting. Instead, the matter will be looked at by a committee composed of random council members and presided over by the secretary of supply." To emphasis his point Sarutobi directed the faintest hint of killing intent towards the two arguing councilmen. Several of the ninja clan heads had faint smirks on their faces as they watched those annoying buffoons practically scurry into their seats.

Once the self-important nobodies were back in the peanut gallery where they belonged, Sarutobi calmly and majestically said, "Alright then, let's move on to more important matters. At 11 o'clock two nights a spy was apprehended attempting to gain access into the hospital library." Instantly the council room was filled with the chattering voices of the shocked council members. Sarutobi cleared his throat, thus regaining everyone's attention, and continued to explain the situation. "From what Ibiki has 'uncovered', this spy was after the Blood Manuscript that I obtained several months ago from a classified source."

Everyone in the room became extremely interested in what Sarutobi had to say. Sure everyone was concerned that a spy had been in Konoha, but most of the council members didn't think that hospital was all that important for a spy to go after. However, the Blood Manuscript was an entirely different story. That document was considered the most revolutionary breakthrough in medical history for the last two hundred years. Even non-medical ninjas and civilians, although most of those two groups only really knew a brief synopsis about what was contained in the document, recognized its importance.

Knowing that everyone would want a full explanation and not seeing any strategic harm, Sarutobi revealed another important piece of information concerning the spy. "Also, the spy has revealed that he was working in a spy ring for Orochimaru. So far this spy has only revealed a few names of his fellow spies. Rest assured that as I speak those named by the spy are being rounded up for questioning. If the people are innocent no one outside of Ibiki, the ANBU team that brings the person in, and me will know that the person was brought into this distasteful affair. However, if anyone name is indeed part of this spy ring they will be interrogated and summarily executed."

There was an immediate roar of approval over this edict. None of the council members, despite how corrupt one or two of them were, liked the idea of spies in the village. After all, spies usually meant that there could be trouble close to home and no one wanted that. Very quickly after that outburst things settled down again in the council chambers and a few things were decided. Concerning the spy attempt the only amendment that the council insisted on was that the Blood Manuscript be placed on the same security level as the Forbidden Scroll. Once that issue was taken care of, the council quickly made their way through the rest of the items on the agenda for that day.


Half an hour after the council meeting was over Sarutobi heard someone knock on his office door. After telling the person at the door to come in Sarutobi saw Shikaku Nara stand in front of the desk. Sarutobi then looked up at Shikaku and said, "I'm glad you noticed the memo I left Shikaku." Most people in the village didn't know it, but Shikaku was one of Sarutobi's most trusted advisers. Shikaku and Shibi Aburame, who was currently on a training journey to help is son, were the people that Sarutobi trusted to give him the best possible advice on a situation. While he did trust his old teammates, Sarutobi found Homura and Koharu to be too set in their thinking for certain types of situations. In these situations, which frequently involved complex matters of state involving matters outside of the village, the strategic brilliance of the Nara and the logical clarity of the Aburame were invaluable.

Shikaku leaned against the wall and lazily said, "What do you want me to look at now Lord Hokage? Can we make it quick? My wife expects me to be home by 7 with some groceries." Although he would never admit it Shikaku was pleased that Sarutobi had him look at various policies. Being willing to admit that there might be something that you overlooked was a sign of a wise leader and Sarutobi was definitely a wise leader. The Sandaime also happened to be a very smart leader in Shikaku's opinion as Sarutobi's usually only needed the smallest of changes.

Pulling out his pipe, Sarutobi paused for a moment to enjoy the flavor of his tobacco. He then puffed out a small ring of smoke and put the pipe down. In a serious voice Sarutobi then said, "There is more to the spy incident then I told the council. Almost a year ago this spy ring was told to start preparing for an invasion of Konoha. For reasons that are unknown to the spy, the group was ordered by Orochimaru a few months ago to scale back their operations. However, they were not supposed to back to their previous level of activity. Instead they were told to prepare for 'expected hostilities to start up sometime in the indeterminate future' and cause massive damage when they heard the news of these hostilities. We know that Orochimaru is the founder of Hidden Sound and we know that Orochimaru wants to destroy Konoha. However, Orochimaru's recent actions do not make sense."

Sarutobi rested his head on his right hand and paused for a second. After gathering his thoughts Sarutobi continued, "I know Orochimaru. I know how he thinks, how he plans, and to a degree how he rates his opposition. No matter how I look at the situation in front of me, something just doesn't add up. Oto is a minor village and can't have more then say 700 ninjas or so of varying levels. Konoha on the other hand has a little over 500 jonin in active service right now, at least 4 times that many Chunin. Orochimaru is no fool and knows that a clash between Oto and Konoha would leave Konoha as the victor. So why then was he preparing for an invasion and why did he show up at the Chunin Exams after Sasuke?"

Shikaku took a few minutes and carefully considered what Sarutobi had just said with what he knew about the current political situation. The lazy advisor then said while keeping his eyes closed, "Orochimaru must have been planning to ally himself with another village. Considering the policies of the last wind daimyo Suna would have been a likely bet for an ally against us."

Sarutobi then nodded his head and said, "Yes that sounds like Orochimaru. He must have had his spies working overtime so that he could have convinced the Kazekage that his plan would work. The Yondaime Kazekage has always been concerned about the strength of Suna; far more then other Kages are about their own villages. Luckily for us, the new wind daimyo is far more intelligent then his late father. With the continued infusion of cash and missions that the wind daimyo has been sending to Suna there is no incentive for the Kazekage to break the alliance."

"However I am a bit puzzled at the expected hostilities part that Orochimaru told his spy. Particularly, I am curious as to exactly where Orochimaru expects there to be fighting soon. Our Northern and Eastern flanks are unlikely. Kumo and Kiri are both too busy with the affairs of their own countries at the moment. The south we only have a few small clusterings of ninjas that are barely considered ninja villages. That leaves the West as the only place that Orochimaru can be expecting hostilities to break out in."

"The fact is Shikaku; I can't deduce the situation any further then that. Between Iwa, Suna, and Konoha there are about half a dozen different ninja villages. Except for River Country and Ami all of those villages are allied with Iwa. River country is thankfully our ally because without its alliance Konoha wouldn't have a land connection to Suna. Ami on the other hand has been very isolationist these past few years. But, we do know for a fact that there is a trade agreement between Ami and Iwa. Do you see something here that I'm missing?"

Shikaku shook his head and said, "This whole situation is troublesome Lord Hokage and I can't help you much on this matter. What I do know is that relations in the west are going to get more hostile as the month goes on. All of the daimyos from the western countries except for Rock are expected to be attending the Chunin Exams. This makes those villages look bad since none of their ninjas made it to the third round preliminaries. Also one has to consider the fact that except for two Suna ninjas, all of the ninjas at the exam will be Konoha ninjas. Naturally this fact will anger the minor villages and some of them may even try to start rumors of foul play on Konoha's part."

Getting up off of the wall, Shikaku put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Then he said, "Maybe Shibi can think of something when he gets back. All I can suggest is that you get into contact with the Kazekage and start working on joint village defense plans. The West is a box of explosive notes practically waiting to explode. Most people will say I'm being unusually alarmist at the situation. Personally, I call it playing it safe." With that said Shikaku got up and walked out of Sarutobi's office.


Late in the evening at the Hyuga compound Hinata was in the middle of a heavy duty training exercise. For the past two weeks Hinata had been out on that field constantly training. Everyone, including her father, and been completely surprised at the level of intensity that that Hinata was training at. Of course, most of the Hyuga could still barely twist their minds around the fact that it was Hinata and not Neji who would be the clan's sole representative in the exam.

The reason for Hinata's training was due to her first opponent. Every time Hinata looked at training dummy, she saw Rei's face: the girl who was with Naruto. It was the fact that it was Rei and not her that was with Naruto that made Hinata very upset. She, not Rei, had been the one to watch Naruto as he clawed his way up from the bottom of the class to the level that he had reached. In the classroom it had been her who was always silently cheering Naruto on even when a lot of their classmates laughed at Naruto.

Finishing her Juken routine with an Eight Trigrams 64 Hands, Hinata dropped to her knees and started to cry. It just didn't seem fair to Hinata that she didn't get to be with Naruto. However Hinata very quickly whipped those tears away and got back on her feet through sheer force of will. She then redid the taijutsu routine she had just completed only this time a lot slower and without using any chakra. This was done so Hinata could work on pin-point accuracy in her strikes. All the while, Hinata was going over in her mind about why she was training so hard.

Unlike one of Sasuke's pathetic fangirls, Hinata didn't hold any illusions about her upcoming fight. There was no way that Naruto would drop Rei and proclaim his undying love for Hinata if she won the fight. Naruto wasn't that kind of a guy and he also wouldn't be the young man that Hinata fell in love with if he did such a thing. Another difference between Hinata and the Uchiha's fan club was the fact that Hinata didn't harbor any plans of trying to break Naruto and Rei up. Such an action was only fit for a scum bag as Hinata's mother used to say when she heard people talking about such plans as part of a romance novel's plot and Hinata did not want to go against her mother's beliefs. Revenge was also not on Hinata's agenda for the upcoming match due to the fact that she could admit that it was through her own inaction that she had lost Naruto to Rei.

What Hinata wanted out of the match, even more then making it to Chunin, was to see if Rei was worthy of Naruto. The fact that Naruto was with Rei spoke a lot to Hinata about the type of person Rei was. Also, Rei's match with Ino was a bit of an eye opener to Hinata about Rei. However, that didn't prove to Hinata that Rei had what it took to be Naruto's girlfriend or possibly his wife. Naruto as Hinata knew had big dreams for his future. However Hinata also knew that those dreams would be challenged by several of the entrenched power brokers in the village. Any woman who was with Naruto would need to help him deal with those people who were in between Naruto and his dream. That was what Hinata was after in her fight; to see whether or not Rei had what it took to help Naruto achieve his dreams. And to do that, Hinata knew that she needed to be as strong as possible to challenge Rei's determination.