AN/ don't worry guys. Even if my data is deleted millions of times, I'll still try my best to update. I just can't stand those guys who offer an 'I don't feel like doing it anymore' when they stop working on their stories.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH. AT LEAST MAKE SOME SORT OF HAM-STRUNG EPILOGUE.

Ahem. Onto the story

Chapter 12

Naruto slid Fu off of his shoulders and let her slump against his sofa. It was midnight when the teams were escorted out of the tower the safe way via elaborate underground tunnels, so by the time Naruto reached the apartment, it was already in the wee little hours of morning.

Naruto didn't know where Fu lived and she refused to wake up despite less than gentle prodding. So he decided that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea for her to spend the night at his place.

Naruto stumbled to his closet and brought out a felt blanket that he used in the winter to supplement his normal quilt and draped it over Fu's form. He then repositioned her body to the point where she didn't look like she fell haphazardly from someone's back into an uncomfortable position. Once he was sure she looked comfortable, he walked to his room and fell onto his bed, barely able to raise the quilt to cover himself before he fell asleep.

00000000

Noon, the next day.

Anko knocked at Naruto's door. She was giddy. Not in her usual Anko way, but in a sincere way. She was genuinely happy and began shifting the weight of her body across her feet as she waited for her student to answer the door. She even hummed a jaunty little tune while she was at it.

After a little bit of time passed, she knocked again. For some reason, she wasn't allowed to enter the tower in the forest of death to greet her student. Something about they being in the third examiner's jurisdiction while in the tower. Strange logic aside, she was forced to wait for Naruto to exit the tower on his own volition for her to ask him about becoming her apprentice.

Over the past few days, she had stewed over the decision, worried over it, wondered over it, and ultimately decided to not think about it anymore until she talked to him about it. Needless to say, this was kind of a big moment for her. Deciding to take an apprentice was no small decision for any normal jonin, add on her own insecurities on the subject matter only made it more monumental.

Why wasn't he answering? Sure, they might have gotten out at midnight, or so she heard, but it was noon now. He shouldn't be sleeping. There was no chance of him having exited either, as the freshest scent she could taste was several hours old, just about the time he would have entered the apartment.

"Naruto. It's Anko. Open the door. I've got something important to talk to you about~" She said in a sing-song voice. After waiting for a few seconds, she sweatdropped. "Oi, kid. If you don't answer soon, I'm going in through the window." She really didn't want to do that. Although going in through the window was standard shinobi operation, and she practically never used the door for anything other than kage administration, she wanted this process to be official-like. Not a case where she crashes into the room and holds out a document for him to sign with her standard Anko grin.

Well, it looks like he was forcing her hand on this one though. She walked a few steps to the nearby window and began fiddling with the lock using a long coil of wire. It was always a good idea to be prepared to break into someone's house on a moment's notice.

She stepped into the dimly lit dining room and called out. "Naruto? You can't still be asleep." She patrolled the house a little bit, trying to figure out where his room was located. On the way there, she passed a vacant sofa that had a blanket crumpled into it which looked slept in.

Anko opened a door close to the kitchen and found a strange sight awaiting her. On the bed in front of her was Naruto face up in his bed with his partner snuggled up by his side. His pajama top had been unbuttoned and Fu's hand was resting on his chest. There was a content looking smile on Fu's face.

"Naruto?" she said in surprise.

This seemed to wake him, as his eyes shot open and he looked up in surprise.

"Wow. Didn't mean to, uuhhh… I'll just leave now." Anko said with a slight blush on her face, closing the door behind her. Since when did 13 year olds start fucking each other? Sure, the life expectancy wasn't very long for shinobi, but the line had to be drawn somewhere.

"Anko?" Naruto asked in confusion before realizing his predicament. "Fu?" Naruto shrugged her arm off of him and got up. "Fu? What are you doing in my bed?" he asked her with wide eyes.

She yawned widely and got up into a sitting position. "I got cold in the night." She finally said.

"But- just- you can't just hop into someone else's bed when they're in it."

She rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them. "I can't?"

"No!"

She shrugged. "Sorry, didn't know." With that, she fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes once more.

Naruto probably would have gone on chastising her, but two things stopped him. One being the knowledge that she was an orphan who had lived in the woods a good portion of her life, and two being the fact that his sensei was in his house for reasons unknown.

Naruto opened the door to his room to find Anko sitting at his kitchen counter, trying not to make eye contact. "Listen kid, I have to talk to you about something important."

Naruto sat opposite her with a little bit of trepidation. She almost never spoke in a serious tone.

"Well, first off… I know that the prospect of being a ninja can be scary at times. And I also know that you and your partner would want to celebrate you passing the second stage, but…" Anko paused, words dying in her throat.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"You shouldn't be having… sex, at your age."

"What are you talking about?"

Anko quirked an eyebrow. "Weren't you and Fu…?" She made the sex motions with her fingers.

Naruto blushed a bright vermillion and started expounding negatives. "No, of course not! Fu just crept into my bed when I was asleep!"

This threw Anko for a loop. "She… crept into your bed? Why did she do that? Also, why was she even sleeping in your apartment anyway? Doesn't she have a hotel to go to?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Nobody ever told her it wasn't okay to do it? And I didn't know where her hotel was, so I let her crash on the sofa."

"So what? She's an orphan then?" Anko, herself being an orphan, could attest to the fact that with nobody by your side to teach you what was and wasn't socially acceptable, then you might grow up to learn it the hard way. Horribly embarrassing experiences. Orphanages were usually just too big for the caretakers to suitably make every orphan there and teach them everything that a child would need to know for operating in the real world

"And she's lived in the woods for a few years."

Anko leaned back and sighed in relief. "Well that's a relief. I thought I was going to have to give you the whole 'responsibility' talk, then the 'practice safe sex' talk, then the 'maintaining proper romantic relationships' talk. You know, all the boring stuff." Anko grinned at her student in amusement, which drew a nervous chuckle from him.

She slapped a document on the table. It had been folded in many places already and looked like it had been carried around a lot. "What's this?" Naruto asked.

"This." Anko tapped the document in question. "Is an apprenticeship contract."

Naruto's eyes opened wide in surprise. "An apprenticeship contract? I thought that you didn't take apprentices."

"I didn't, up until I decided otherwise." She said vaguely.

Naruto picked up the document and started skimming the tightly formatted lines of legally binding words. Anko produced a pen from her coat pocket. "Basically, what it says is that I am obligated to teach you all I know in my repertoire of ninja skills and am also allowed to make some changes in your life."

Naruto stopped reading all at once and slowly looked up at his sensei. "What kind of changes?" he asked guardedly.

"Oh nothing major. Diet, training regimen, stuff that could impact your ability to learn from me."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing much. Only that I'm allowed to take you on missions without the approval of your jonin sensei."

"Will I still be a part of team 7?"

"Officially, yes. But seeing as you'll be my apprentice, you probably won't interact with them much except when you go on missions. Oh, I'm also allowed to go on the missions that you and your team go on."

"Is that it? That's not much different from being your student."

"Well, having an apprentice is a lot more time consuming and intensive than having a student. We'll be around each other a lot more from now on."

Naruto uncapped the pen and signed where the line indicated. "Okay, I trust you. Can you teach Fu stuff too?"

Anko leaned back to get a good view of the Taki nin inhabiting Naruto's bed from the doorway. She was sleeping soundly again. "Why?"

"Don't you know about the third exam?" Naruto asked.

"Is it something different from the usual tournament?"

"Tag team tournament. Fu's going to be training in Konoha with me."

"Oh." Anko said. "I guess I could teach her a few things to help you guys with your fights, but there are things that are only you can learn now that you're my apprentice."

New Status effect: Anko's apprentice.

Description: You are now under the guidance of Anko Mitarashi.

Reward: Mitarashi training suit Mk. 1

Naruto looked at the pop up window with a little bit of confusion. 'Clothes are rewards?'

"Something wrong?" she asked after she noticed the look on his face.

"…No, everything's fine. So what did make you want to take apprentices?"

"That." She said pointedly. "Is none of your business?"

"It kind of is." Naruto said in deadpan.

"Now!" she said excitedly. "I need to turn this in to Hokage-sama. It should be official by tomorrow."

"Right." Naruto said before turning on the burner on the stove and getting a pan out. "I've got a few things that need doing today. Can we start training tomorrow?"

"Yup." She said with her patented Anko grin. "Meet up at the usual place at nine tomorrow. You can bring your friend if you want" Anko said before jumping out the nearest window.

Naruto grabbed a few eggs out of his refrigerator and cracked them over the pan. The smell eventually aroused the attention of a lethargic Fu.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"Nothing much. Just became an apprentice to Anko."

Fu nodded and sat at the counter. "So what's for breakfast?"

00000000

Tsume had a blank look as she read over the long list of data pertaining to Naruto's DNA, chakra composition, and newfound traits. This made Naruto very nervous. The way Kiba explained chakra mutation made it seem like it just happened every once and a while.

Nope. Chakra had the ability to mutate and give the user fantastical new abilities, but the chances of this happening were somewhere within one in ten million. Not only that, but it always happened at birth. There were no recorded cases of someone's chakra mutating during puberty.

Tsume tossed the piece of paper to the side. Currently, he and Inuzuka matriarch were sitting in a small hospital room. The doctor who had drawn his blood and given the subsequent results to Tsume had left them alone for the time being.

"…Kiba said that you had always smelled things this way?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously. By the tone of doubt she used when asking this, Naruto assumed that it shouldn't be a possible situation. "Kind of. It's been a lot stronger lately."

Tsume nodded and looked to the side again. "Look kid, I'm going to be straight with you. This whole situation." She made circling movements with her hand in Naruto's direction. "With the newfound sense of smell and hearing, it doesn't happen."

"It doesn't happen… very often?"

"Nope. It just doesn't happen. Your DNA was the exact same as it was a few months ago when you got your last check up, so that means that you are still you. But your chakra is different now. That doesn't happen."

Naruto sat quietly, taking it in. "So what now?"

She sighed laboriously and clutched her forehead. "I don't fucking know. Hokage-sama has a lot on his plate as of late, adding this on would only exacerbate things. The way I see it is that I have three options. One, pretend like this never happened and walk away from it, washing my hands of responsibility. Two, I can accept you as an honorary member of the Inuzuka. And three, I can accept you as a full-fledged Inuzuka. There's no way I'm doing either one or three. Because I'm not a pansy that walks away from responsibility and you also don't have a lick of Inuzuka blood in you, which leaves us with option two."

"Honorary clan status?"

"Kiba told me that you are the entire reason why Akamaru is still alive today. You are loyal to a fault and don't wish to endanger your comrades. But most importantly, your nose and hearing are on par with that of a ninken. Giving you honorary clan status wouldn't be so farfetched an idea to the other clansmen."

"What is honorary clan status?"

"Basically, you become an Inuzuka in everything but name. You will be allowed to live in the compounds, take a canine partner, and learn the clan techniques."

Well this was an unintended but wholly fantastic outcome of getting sensory powers. "Really?"

She smirked at his excitement. "Yup." She leaned back in her chair. "This is going to be so much paperwork."

Naruto got up from where he was sitting. "Is that everything?"

"I guess. Just remember, we don't accept disloyalty. If you hurt a comrade on purpose for selfish gain, it won't matter if you can sniff out gold, because your ass will be out of the clan faster than an unladen swallow."

Naruto nodded vigorously. "You won't have to worry about a thing."

She smiled a little at his enthusiasm. "Then let me be the first to cordially welcome you to the clan. Come over to the compound whenever in the next few days to make it official. The tournament takes place next month correct?" Naruto nodded. "Then that means you are going to have to be taking crash courses on Inuzuka techniques, which, might I add, are secret. Don't tell anyone about them or else we have the legal right to lock you up in a dog kennel for as long as you live."

New Status effect: Honorary Inuzuka.

Description: you have been accepted into the ranks of the Inuzuka family.

Reward: Access to Inuzuka techniques, right to take a canine partner, the ability to marry clan members, Inuzuka training suit Mk. 1

Tsume got up and walked out the door with a parting "See ya at the clan, kid."

Naruto got up a few seconds later and followed her out of the building, giddy with excitement. He had a family now!

00000000

Naruto's apartment, 4ish

Naruto stared at the guidebook he was holding open. He knew he probably shouldn't be using attribute points right now, considering what they could do for him, but he had to know what would happen when he maxed one out. Naruto put 15 points towards his seduction skill, the skill closest to being maxed out, putting it at a solid 50/50.

Mutations available. Pick two

Perk: Harem ending

Description: All the females that are romantically interested in you and all the females you are romantically interested in have lowered reservations to the concept of sharing you.

Perk: Animal magnetism

Description: You start to excrete a substance close to that of animal pheromones constantly. All the females around you regardless of romantic affiliation feel sexually aroused by your presence, while all the males around you feel irrational anger by your presence.

Skill Tree: Horndog

Description: You start to develop the skills in seducing women with the express purpose of sexual intercourse.

Skill Tree: Devotion

Description: You start to develop the skills in seducing women with the express purpose of starting and maintaining lasting relationships.

Well it looks like they do mutate. Not only that, but they make more skill trees for him to master.

It didn't take Naruto long to narrow down the two he wanted. Making half the population irrationally angry whenever he was around wasn't exactly the best of things for a shinobi to have to put up with and the Horndog tree just sounded… wrong. So Naruto tapped on the Devotion skill trait and the Harem ending skill trait. Naruto wasn't sure about the Harem ending skill trait, but it was the lesser of three evils.

"Yo."

Naruto started heavily from his readings to see Kakashi standing over him. "Kakashi-sensei? Where have you been?"

Kakashi scratched his cloth clad cheek disinterestedly. "I told you. I was on a mission of vital importance to the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"Yeah, yeah. You were probably just scoping out some more porn. Why did you break into my apartment?"

"I need to tell you something."

"There's a door."

"An astute observation."

Naruto glowered at the aloof man. "What do you need to tell me?"

"Well, for the time being, team 7 is being split up amongst the hidden villages. I won't be able to teach all three of you fairly, so I decided that I'm going to go to the land of lighting to help Sakura, seeing as she needs the most help out of all three of you."

"Okay… I guess that's cool."

"Are you sure? Is Anko still willing to teach you?"

Naruto smiled. "Yeah. In fact, I just signed an apprenticeship contract with her."

Kakashi's one visible eyebrow shot into this hairline. "An apprenticeship? With her?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you inform me?"

Naruto just stared at the man in wonder. "Why do you think? Why's it such a big deal anyway? I know that she's going to be teaching me a lot of stuff and we're going to be spending more time with each other, but that's basically just an amped up version of what I was going through two weeks ago."

"I'm more surprised it was her that took you on as an apprentice. Not only that, but I don't think you understand just how much time you two are going to be spending together. Apprenticeships last from anywhere within a year to a lifetime and you two are going to be around each other for most of your waking hours for that time. And you want to spend that time with her?"

"Why do you say it like that? Sure, she's intense sometimes, but she's the only one around here who's bothered to teach me anything!"

Kakashi stared hard at the boy. "You say that like I haven't."

"You taught us, team 7, one chakra control exercise and some teamwork routines. That's it."

"Teamwork is the most important thing that you three need to work on."

Naruto cupped his chin in hand. "Want to know something Kakashi-sensei? Akamaru, Kiba's dog, almost died in the forest."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"The reason he's not dead is because I saved him."

Kakashi didn't know how to respond to that.

"I saved him because I knew how to treat wounds in the field. I saved him because Anko taught me how to treat wounds in the field. I saved him, and because I saved him, I'm not dead." Naruto said vindictively. "When I saved him, Kiba wanted to thank me by giving me some animals for finishing that phase of the exam. If he hadn't gone out looking for me, then he wouldn't have found me and a few others about to be killed by some sound nin. The point is, because Anko was willing to teach me that stuff, I'm still alive."

Kakashi's words died in his throat.

Naruto sighed into his hands. "Look, I know that teamwork is important. But teamwork isn't what saved Akamaru. Teamwork isn't what taught me how to save Akamaru. Teamwork isn't what saved me from those sound nin, well I guess it kind of was, but you get the point… Sakura does need help. So could you please help her?"

Kakashi stared at Naruto for the longest time. "Yeah, I think I can help her."

"Like, really help her? Not just teamwork help her."

"…I'll help her."

"Cool." Naruto got up from the sofa where he was sitting at and headed for his room. "Is there anything else? I'm kind of busy."

"Just wanted to inform you of where I was going to be for the next month. What are you busy with?"

"Looking for clothes."

"Clothes for what?"

"My date."

Kakashi made an aahhh'ing sound. "Did Sakura finally say yes then?"

"Nope. It's with Fu."

"Fu? Oh yes, your partner for the next phase. So have you finally gotten over Sakura then?"

"No, I still like her. This is just a date, you know."

This confused Kakashi greatly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know. It's a date. Something where two people go and do stuff together in an effort to gauge whether or not they would be a suitable partner in the future. Learned that during my seduction lessons. We're teammates, so we're just hanging out."

"You're taking seduction lessons? Why would you do that?"

Naruto waved him off. "It's a pretty long story, but it didn't work out like I had hoped."

"You were taking them to get Sakura to like you?"

"Something like that. Now which shirt should I wear? Orange, or dark blue?" Naruto switched the shirts over his torso to allow Kakashi a good understanding of what he would look like in either.

Kakashi shrugged. "Orange, I guess."

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Dark blue it is then."

00000000

Yugao Uzuki, codenamed 'cat' for now, was looking at a rather strange sight. This sight being an acquaintance of hers spying down at the street below from a vantage point among shadowed rooftops while mumbling to herself.

"What business do you have on the rooftops?" Cat asked business-like.

Anko very nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her voice. "BWAH! What the? Oh! Hello Yugao-chan, nice evening isn't it?" She asked with a smiling face.

"That's a rather affectionate suffix."

"You're damn right it is. Now what is it you need? I'm just a wee bit busy here."

"What business do you have on the rooftops?"

"Spying."

"Spying?"

"Or I guess you could call it supervising."

"Supervising?"

"No, wait. I am determining the progress of my new apprentice."

"A new apprentice? What are you determining the progress of?"

Anko pointed at a pair walking down the street together. They were licking away at some ice cream cones and talking to each other amiably.

"I don't… I don't understand."

"That." She said, gesturing to Naruto. "Is my new apprentice."

"Okay, I got that. What are you determining the progress of?"

"Seduction."

"…Seduction?"

"Seduction."

"You're teaching your apprentice seduction?"

"He practically begged to learn it."

Yugao got another good look at the walking couple. "That's seduction? It looks like an innocent little date to me."

"Ah, that's where you are simultaneously right and wrong, Yugao-chan. Seduction is the practice of getting a person's guard down in order to extract secrets from them."

"So… you taught him how to date properly? That isn't really the image that pops into my head when I hear the word 'seduction'."

"Well what else am I going to teach him? How to pick up women at a bar? He's 13. Plus there's a lot more than just knowing how to date when it comes to seduction."

"How so?"

"Everything from asking the right questions at the right time all the way down to how you hold yourself. See that?" She asked pointing at Naruto.

"He looks… normal?"

"Nope. He's constantly keeping his back straight, asking questions that he knows that she would know and or care about, and always has a carefree expression on his face. Show's that he's strong and reliable, but not intimidating. And she seems to enjoy it too. I'm so proud of him." She said while wiping away a non-existent tear from her face.

"So what information is he trying to extract?"

"Huh?"

"The information. You just said how seduction was supposed to get information by lowering the mental defenses of people."

"Oh that? Fuck if I know."

Cat went silent for a bit, puzzling out Anko's answer. "So you really are just spying on your apprentice while he's taking a girl out on a date?"

"Practically." She said, eyes glued to the two laughing Jinchuuriki.

Yugao would have facepalmed if not for the mask on her face. "The village is on high alert because your ex-sensei infiltrated the exams and injured a few prospective genin. So I would appreciate it if you didn't use the rooftops for trivial matters." Yugao said coldly.

"Okay, okay. Geeze. What crawled up your ass and died?" Anko jumped down from her position and began stalking her apprentice from afar.

Yugao jumped away from the scene and continued her rounds, pretending like she didn't just have that extremely annoying conversation.

00000000

Fu was wearing a flowery dress. It was short, ending mid-thigh, and billowy. She was wearing an orange clip in her hair to keep her bangs from obscuring her vision. On her shoulder was a white satchel. Fu was also in the process of laughing at a story that Naruto had told.

Naruto was wearing his usual orange jumpsuit pants, but had forsaken the jacket for a dark blue T-shirt. He was grinning nervously and blushing slightly from her uproarious laughter, seeing as the story he told was somewhat embarrassing to him.

Naruto was doing a lot of things subconsciously on the date he was on with her. Things that just came as second nature to him. In a deeper level of his brain, he would probably liken it to the skill trait he just maxed out. Regardless, he was doing a lot of things he really shouldn't have been doing.

That didn't mean that the date was going badly, far from it, only that he was doing things without thinking about them which could majorly affect his life.

Naruto's realm of conscious thinking noted that the date he and Fu were on was just a date between friends and partners, getting to know each other better so they could work well when the time came to fight other teams. But Naruto was subconsciously doing things that one would do when trying to woo a prospective partner. Subtly drawing her attention to his developing muscles, not telling any stories that were too bawdy, listening attentively when she was talking and not interrupting her. Things that people do when on a serious date, not a hang-out between friends.

Once Fu's laughter subsided, she grinned and looked at Naruto. "So what should we do now?"

Naruto picked Fu up from the hotel she was staying at around 4:30 or so. They spent about 45 minutes going and eating at Ichiraku's, a place with good food and a nice atmosphere. Then they walked around bit, talking about this or that and getting the odd ice cream cone.

Naruto looked at the sky. The sun was going down, starting to paint the sky with oranges and pinks. "It is getting pretty late…"

"Oh, come on. One more thing? Please." Fu looked at Naruto with puppy dog eyes and made little whimpering noises.

Naruto grinned stupidly. "Okay, one more thing. Oh! I know what we can do."

"Really? What is it?"

"Follow me." Naruto grinned before shooting off with the speed of a ninja.

Fu had no problem with keeping up with him. She began smiling uncontrollably. It was fun being around him. She was having fun. She couldn't remember the last time she had just had fun with someone.

Naruto looked back to make she was keeping up with him, then seeing the look on her face, he asked "What's up?"

"Nothing." She replied, still smiling. "Nothing at all."

Her smiling proved to be intoxicatingly communicable, as Naruto began smiling as well. They soon arrived at a set of stairs where they had no trouble climbing upwards. The two Jinchuuriki climbed quickly in silence as Naruto led the way for Fu.

Finally, they made it to a rocky area that had a good view of the entire city of Konoha. "We" Naruto stated "Are on top of the Hokage monument."

"Really?" Fu hadn't been paying much attention to where she was going, just trying to keep Naruto in her sights and focusing on foot holds.

"Yup." Naruto sat down on an orange slab of rock. "This is the head of the Fourth." He patted an area for her to sit at beside him.

"Wow." She said, sitting down next to her partner. "The sunset's really beautiful."

"It is." Naruto stated. "I come up here to think sometimes."

They sat together in silence as they watched the sun disappear below the horizon line. The sprawling buildings below were cloaked in pinks and oranges from the sun's refracting rays.

Naruto really like Fu. When he first met her, she was withdrawn and seldom spoke out unless she was spoken to. But over their period of partnership, she began to emerge from her shell a little bit, showing the nice, caring, girl that she was. He also really liked spending time with her. She was probably the only normal female influence on his life right now. Not like Anko, who went out of her way to place him in uncomfortable situations, or Sakura who was very physically violent. Nope. She was normal, and Naruto really liked that normalcy.

Once the sun had properly set, bathing the world in darkness once more, Naruto got up and offered his hand to Fu. She took it and used his hand to pull herself up. "Do you need an escort to your hotel?" Naruto asked.

Fu looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about? I checked out this afternoon."

This threw Naruto for a loop. "But… why? Isn't your village sponsoring your stay here?"

She shrugged. "I thought I was staying with you for the month."

"Why did you think that?"

"I woke up on your sofa."

"That's because I didn't know where your hotel was to check you in."

Fu groaned out in disappointment. "Am I going to have to check back in again?"

"No, no. You don't have to do that. I could probably grab a futon from the closet. But where's all your luggage?"

Fu gestured to her satchel. "A few sets of clothes and some bathroom stuff."

"That's it? For a month that's all you have?"

"What else do I need? I'm not really much on material wealth."

Okay, so maybe she wasn't that normal. Naruto ceded "Okay, okay. You can live in my apartment for the month. So how do you want to get back? Walking, or piggyback like last time?"

Fu didn't waste any time hopping on Naruto's back faster than he could react. "I think I like this way of transportation better."

Naruto chuckled a little bit. "You know I was joking, right?"

"You might be joking, but I'm not." Fu stated with a mischievous grin.

Naruto clapped his hands on Fu's back thighs to make sure she couldn't fall off. "Then you better prepare yourself, because we're going to bumpy way back."

Fu clasped her arms around Naruto's neck and whispered in his ear. "Oh, I was born prepared."

Naruto smirked and jumped off the head of The Fourth. Yup, this month was going to be an eventful one.

AN/ This chapter's a bit smaller than the last one, but I didn't know if there was anything else to put in.

Next chapter is going to be the start of training, where Naruto's daily routine is going to be defined. There will also be a look at how the other people are doing with their partners. Oh, and I'll be going more in-depth with the whole 'honorary Inuzuka thing'.

Other than that, Read and Review on anything you might have questions on.

Before you leave, I have a question for you. What is your definition of filler content? I've heard that term before for a lot of different things, some I agree with and some I don't.

For example: my definition of filler is any content that doesn't accomplish anything. I don't care if it wasn't in the manga, if it helped to build character relationships or advance the plot in any meaningful way, then it isn't filler to me.

Have a gentlemanly day. Don't be shy to answer.