To answer a question that's been asked for a while now, the Chunin exams will start at the end of this chapter. So no worries. Also, this chapter may be lacking in a few things, more or less it just random snippets for the remaining month before the Chunin Finals. So bear with me, this will be the last chapter before the finals and I can seriously pick things up!

14: Arrival

When Naruto and Tayuya arrived at training ground number two, they found Team Gai's members already there waiting for them. While Lee looked stoked and ready to face down an Onboo, Neji and Tenten looked like they wanted more sleep. The ever energetic Green Beast was happily doing push-ups while the pair moved toward them.

Tayuya snickered at the sight of Tenten leaning against a dozing Neji. Despite his obvious suspicions of her, she found it hard to dislike the stoic Hyuga while in this situation. That is until...

"NARUTO! MY MOST YOUTHFUL OPPONENT!" Lee yelled loudly, startling his sleeping teammates awake. Naruto winced at such a loud greeting so early, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, Lee," Naruto smirked, "Not so loud, ne? We don't want any complaints from the village, do we?" Neji and Tenten looked over at him in gratitude while Lee bowed in apology.

"Well, now that you're here," Neji said, getting up, and dragging Tenten with him, "Shall we begin?"

"Yes," Lee said excitedly, "Let us begin!"

"Fine with me," Naruto smiled.

"Gonna fight alone?" Tayuya asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Sure, I've wanted to spar against him since Tsunade got his legs fixed up!" Naruto said, cracking his knuckles.

Tayuya rolled her eyes, "You men and your pissing contests. What's next, fighting with the Hokage?"

Naruto pouted, "The last time I did that she flicked me on the head and sent me flying."

Tayuya went wide-eyed at that, "Seriously?"

"Yup," he said, stepping up to Lee, "Let's go!"

Lee grinned at the blonde for a moment, then disappeared on the spot. Naruto fell into a defensive stance, keeping an eye out for his opponent. Tayuya wisely chose to hurry over to where Neji and Tenten were watching, nervous as she was about the young Hyuga, just as Lee reappeared in front of Naruto. The downward kick that would have sent the blonde to the other side of the village, slammed into Naruto's crossed arms. Lee grinned as his attack was blocked, then spun around with his right leg aimed at his ribs.

Naruto's movement to block him was so fast that Neji nearly missed it. Using his left elbow and forearm the blonde blocked and pushed the limb away and lashed out with a fast roundhouse kick. Lee managed to block him in turn, vanishing in a flash, only to come spinning back down at him from above. Naruto lept away. Lee crashed into the ground, making the ground erupt around the point of impact.

Neji was, not for the first time, astonished by the two shinobi in front of him. Watching as Lee pulled his leg free of the rumble he'd created, looking over where the blonde shinobi was landing. Smiling at each other, both disappeared, clashing mid-air, trading blow after blow, yet neither could land a hit on the other.

"Amazing," Neji said, activating his Byakugan, "Just three years and he's matching Lee blow for blow. Just what the hell did Jiraiya do to him?"

Tayuya looked over at the Byakugan user, "Not just him," she said, smiling fondly as the two flashed to the ground in front of them for a moment, only to leap away and re-engage, "A lot of what's happened to him is what he did to himself."

"Do you mean he pulled a Lee on us and trained himself into the ground?" Tenten smirked, then giggled, "That I can see happening, actually."

Tayuya turned her smile on the girl, "He did train himself into the ground at times, but he has more experience in real fights than he does in spars." She grinned, flashing a victory "V" at them, "We've both taken down a lot of nuke-nins over the last three years that were well beyond Jonin level."

"Jonin level?!" Both teammates said at once.

"Fuck yeah!"

BOOM.

Both Naruto and Lee skidded back as their last blow sent them away from each other. Naruto was grinning ear to ear, just as Lee was. Naruto brought his hands up into the ram seal, "Why don't we take the kiddy gloves off, eh, Lee?"

Lee nodded and reached down to unwrap his leg weights, letting them fall from his legs. Tayuya's eyes widened as the set of bands seemed to sink into the ground. Is this guy fucking nuts? How heavy are those things? Naruto grinned, "Kai, san." (Release, three) Under his clothing, three seals glowed, two on his legs, and one on his chest, releasing a massive amount of weight that he'd set for them.

Tayuya gulped, seeing Naruto's feet seeming to float off the ground. "Ah shit, this is gonna be nuts!"

Tenten looked from her to the blonde, "What? What do you mean? And why is he floating like that? What the hell's going on?!"

"Wind Chakra!" Neji gasped.

Lee grinned wider at his opponent, "It would seem that you have grown very strong, my friend." He held out his right arm, and placed his left behind his back in his favorite stance, "Come, show me what you can do!"

Naruto gave his foxiest grin, "You asked for it, Bushy-brow. Here I come!" A blast of wind erupted from beneath both shinobi as they charged each other again.

xXx

Some four hours later...

"Honestly you two, can't I have one peaceful day in my village, just one?" Tsunade growled as she took in the sight before her, which was one Genin and one Chunin with varying injuries from black eyes to open wounds from supposedly slamming into trees. Both Naruto and Lee grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of their heads in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Baa-chan."

"A thousand apologies, Hokage-sama."

"Morons!" BONK BANG!

"Ouch!"

"What the hell, Baa-chan!"

Tsunade's eye began twitching, "Don't Baa-chan me! Ever since you got back to the village its been nothing but chaos wherever you go! First that incident with you and Tayuya causing a riot at the dango shop with Anko, then running through the village causing even more trouble for the ANBU squad because of a civil dispute. Destroying said dango shop, and now this!" She cracked her knuckles, "What I should do is knock you both all the way to Suna!"

"It was just a sparing match!" Naruto argued, rubbing the aching lump on his head.

"No," Tsunade scowled, "A sparing match is a friendly fight against people who are holding back. What you two did was a full blown match!" She yelled, blasting both young shinobi's ears.

While the lecture was going on, Tayuya, Tenten, and Neji were simply watching from the hall as Tsunade lectured their friends. Thoguh, the three of them hadn't come out of it unscathed. All of them had a few scrapes and bruise here and there. Neji had come out of it with the worst of it, a blow to his ego. Somehow, when the match had spilled out, both had shinobi landed a solid kick to his backside.

"It was not meant to be such a youthful match, Hokage-sama," Lee said, bowing his head, "We merely let our flames of youth burn to brightly."

"I don't care!" Roared the Slug Sannin, then looked straight at Naruto, "This is a direct order, Naruto! One more mishap, and so help me, you, Tayuya, and Saiga will be placed on the Tora mission for a solid two months! With half-pay!"

"What!"

"Why the hell are you putting this on me!" Tayuya yelled when she heard her, "Naruto's the one that caused this one!"

Tsunade rounded on the girl, glaring down at her and scaring the girl into hiding behind Tenten. "You're just as much to blame. As I recal both incidents at the dango shop were your doing, as well as chasing Naruto around the village and hurling kunai and shuriken at him all the while."

"Ehehe," she stuck her tongue out, bonking herself on the head lightly, giving Tenten a slight urge to sneeze.

"Don't ehehe me, because you're just as guilty as he is!" Tsunade growled, "For the next month until the Chunin finals, you two are to stay out of trouble! And I don't care how you do it! Stay indoors, read a book, fuck, I don't care! Just no more destruction to the village!"

"Fuck?!" Tayuya blushed as red as her hair, "We haven't been dating that long!"

"Who cares!" Tsunade yowled, thoroughly frazzled, "Now get out of here! And not another peep out of either of you!"

xXx

"That was ridiculous," Tayuya growled as she and Naruto strolled down the street after Tsunade was done with them. "How the fuck is it that I get my chops busted for something you did?"

Naruto chuckled, "Comes with the territory of dating the most unpredictable shinobi in Konoha." She punched him lightly in the shoulder, making him laugh. "Oh, come on, Tayuya-chan, you know it's not as bad as all that? Things can get pretty boring if nothing's going on. I think I'd actually want the catch Tora mission if I didn't hate cats so much."

Tayuya scoffed, "Catching fucking fur ball can't be that fucking hard!"

Naruto shivered at the memories of said cat scratching his face off, "You'd be surprised. That is one nasty cat."

Tayuya sighed, taking his word for it, "So what now?"

Naruto thought for a little while, then grinned, "I think I'll work on a new Jutsu I've been wanting to learn." He placed his arms behind his head, "You got anything you wanna work on?"

"My tan?" Tayuya suggested with a grin. Naruto rolled his eyes at her. "I guess I could do with a few more Jutsu in arsenal. My Suiton could use some work as well."

"See?" Naruto grinned, "We may be strong, but you can't expect us to just breeze through the exams. Those Kumo nins have me a little worried." He said, thinking back to the team Tayuya had knocked out during the Forest of Death challenge. "I could sense a lot of Chakra from all of them. And we don't know about the other other two teams."

Tayuya nodded, "I guess, but..." A small blush rose to her cheeks.

"But what?" Naruto asked.

"Do you think we'll have time for another date?"

xXx

Looking down over the village from the top of a mountain, Jiraiya felt a small sense of pride as his eyes fell on the Hokage monument. Tsunade's newly added visage right next to his former student. "That honestly looks pretty good." He said to himself. "I can just picture what face will be next to her's in the future. Naruto will make a fine Hokage someday."

Turning to continue on his way, he also felt a sense of foreboding. Like something was coming. A storm that he wouldn't be able to withstand. "Heh, maybe I'm just imagining things." He said, then stretched his arms out. "This shouldn't take too long, and I should be back for the final exam tournament. Gahahaha! I can't wait to see the look on Tsunade's face when she see's those two in action!"

xXx

Two weeks later found Jiraiya in a small village on the outskirts of the Land of Fire sitting at a little stand enjoying a small dish of Sake. The older man who tended the stand smiled at the Sannin, "It's good to see you back here again, Jiraiya-sama, but I half-expected to see those two younglings with you again."

Jiraiya smirked, "Sorry, Ji-san, but I left them in the village this time around." Then the smirk disappeared, "So, what have you heard about them?"

"Hm," the old man nodded, "From the rumors that have been floating, there's two, maybe three heading for the village right now." Jiraiya nodded, listening closely, "One of them for sure is a short fellow that's always hunched over, and the other is rather hard to miss. He's a young man with bright yellow hair that could match the boy of your's. He also wears a monical eye patch with telescopic lenses."

"Do you know what villages they were associated with?" Jiraiya asked.

"Hm, the short one wore what looked like an old Suna hitai-ate, while I believe the blonde fellow wore one from Iwa." The old vendor said, casting a glance up at the Sannin, "I would be wary of that one. From what I hear, they're both dangerous men, but this Iwa fellow is said to use exploding clay for his Jutsu."

xXx

Meanwhile, back in Konoha...

Naruto was panting heavily from exhaustion looking around at the training area behind his home. Many of the trees were battered and marked with gouges from kunai and shuriken. A smile played at his lips. Three weeks, and I've almost got the hang of it! He thought.

Inside the seal, Kurama was also pleased at his host's progress. I must admit that you are doing well, Kit. That Jutsu is well beyond most shinobi, even that one-eyed sensei of yours. Your wind manipulation is doing well, too.

I have Baa-chan to thank for that, Naruto smiled, She had a lot of scrolls on wind manipulation, as rare as it is in this village. Too bad I don't have time to learn a few different elements besides wind. A Katon no Jutsu would really help me along.

Thinking of using your clones for colaborations? Kurama chuckled, Not a bad idea considering it was your's. Naruto grumbled while the fox laughed at him.

"Oi, Shithead-kun!" He looked up and saw Tayuya coming toward him. She was smiling, and looking pleased with herself. "How's training?"

"Great," he gave her the thumbs up, "Just finished up. What about you?"

"Same here," she smiled, "I was getting a few last minute pointers from Kakashi on a few things. He does have a does have an affinitey for all five elemental Justsus, after all." She said, sighing as she reached him, "But damn he put me through the ringer! I never knew he could be that driving!"

"Hehehe," Naruto chuckled, "He can be a slave driver when he wants to be."

"Fuck yeah," she said, "But at least he taught me what I wanted to know." She grinned at him, "I could kick your ass in the finals now if I wanted to."

"In your dreams," Naruto smirked, "But hey, we'll see what happens, right?"

"Yeah we will," she said, reaching out for his right arm with hers, "Think we've got time to go grab a bite? I'm starving!"

"Ichiraku's?" Naruto smirked, hopefully.

"Sure," she grinned, "At least we won't get into any trouble there!"

"Hey! We've done great so far!" Naruto grinned, "After that sparring match with Lee, no one wants to mess with me."

"Weaklings," Tayuya giggled, tugging him toward the house, "By the way, what happened to that little gaki that you told me about? You know, the Sandaime's grandson?"

Naruto broke into a fond grin, "You mean Konohamaru? Haha, I haven't seen him since I we got here, so he must be busy with all his missions now that he's a full-fledged shinobi!"

xXx

As the pair made their way to Ichiraku Ramen, arm in arm, Tayuya got glare after glare from the young female population. Thanks to her presence, the civilian girls kept their distance as did some of the kunoichi, though some of them were more persistent than others. Some even Henged into civilians and tried bumping into her or Naruto at times. Both dodged them easily until they sat down at the little stall.

Ayame was delighted as always to see the couple, having met Tayuya after Tsunade had gotten down with their lecture weeks ago. "My otouto finally has a girlfriend!" The young Ichiraku had squealed when she learned of their relationship. Teuchi had laughed as his daughter proceed to thoroughly embarrass the two, but over the next few weeks, she and Tayuya came to like each other fairly well, going as far to exchange somewhat embarrassing stories about the blonde, much it his dismay.

"What'll it be tonight?" Teuchi asked upon seeing his two favorite customers.

"I'll have the special," Naruto said, grinning.

"Pork, miso ramen for me!" Tayuya said happily.

Ayame smiled as she got started on their orders, "So, excited? The finals are just a week away!"

"Damn right we are!" Tayuya said, grinning at her friend, "I'm totally going to kick Shithead's ass!"

Naruto scoffed, "Don't start that again!"

"Ha, you're just scared!" Tayuya smirked, "I bet you won't even be able to touch me in our match!"

"Provided you don't get knocked out before then!" Naruto laughed, even as Tayuya punched his arm while Ayame cooed at them.

"You two are so cute!" She said, "Oh, when do I get a sweet lover?!"

Teuchi chuckled, "Tried that scar-faced fella that used to come in here with Naruto-kun all the time? He seemed like a nice guy."

Naruto choked, "You mean Iruka-sensei? He's like my dad!" He grinned at Ayame, "I think you two would look good together!" Ayame smiled as she tried to hide the blush on her face.

"Naruto-niisan!"

"Eh?" Naruto turned around just as a grey blod slammed into him, "Wawawawah! Who's that! Get off me!"

"Naruto-niisan!" Said two more voices, as he caught sight of a boy with glasses, and a dripping nose, and a girl with orange-red hair tied up in large pigtails.

"Udon, Moegi?" Naruto smiled, then grabbed a hold of the blob clinging to him, "Konohamaru? Is that you?!"

The boy grinned at him in an imitation of his own foxy grin, "Long time, no see, Nii-san!"

Tayuya smiled at the boy, "This is the gaki you told me about? He's a lot taller than I thought he would be."

"Hey!" The boy sneered, "You pickin' a fight!"

Teuchi laughed, "Just as scrappy as a certain Genin I know. He took after you when you left the village, though no one could cause as much chaos with the ANBU as you could in the old days!"

Naruto grinnned, "Of course, I'm the king of pranks, no one could beat me!"

And so the evening proceeded with the young Genin team catching up with Konohamaru's hero. Moegi warmed up to Tayuya shyly, even in admiration when Konohamaru showed off his version of the Oiroke no Jutsu, and Tayuya smacked the boy over the head, which was quickly followed by a ladle thrown by an outraged Ayame, who was trying to clean up the blood from her father's nose.

It wasn't until Ebisu came looking for his team that things got weird. The haughty demeanor of the Jonin always put Naruto on edge, mainly because the man was the same as most of the villagers. A cold glare from the man told the blonde that he still viewed him as the demon fox that he held prisoner. Tayuya noticed this, too, but chose to make it known that she didn't care.

"The fuck's your problem, Glasses, never seen a Jinchuriki before?" Tayuya snapped, earning a gasp from Ayame and Teuchi, and looks of curiosity from the younger Genin. Naruto kept eating his ramen, not really caring about the questions to come. He knew that the Ichiraku family knew about his tenant, but Konohamaru, and his friends...

"Hey," Udon asked, sniffling, "What's a Jinchuriki?"

It was a wide-eyed Moegi that supplied the answer, "I think she means a demon container...but Onee-san, why did you call Naruto-nii that?"

"Because I am one," Naruto sighed, setting down his chopsticks, and looking up at Ayame and Teuchi, "I've known for a while. Not only am I the Yondaime's son, but I'm also what some in this village consider a weapon."

All three Genin turned their eyes on the blonde shinobi, Konohamaru being the main focus of his attention. "Nii-san? Y-you're not really a demon are you?"

"Nope," he said, "Not the last time I checked. But that doesn't stop some people from saying that I am." He sent a pointed look at Ebisu, who had remained quiet since Tayuya had pinned him.

"So...you're just like everyone else?" Udon asked.

"No he's not," Tayuya said, smiling, and latching onto his arm, "He's got the biggest badass in the world for a girlfriend!"

"AW!" Ayame and Moegi cooed.

"Gross," said Konohamaru, while Udon looked slightly jealous.

"How rude," Ebisu said, pushing up his glasses, making his presence known, "You were always a bad influence on the honorable grandson before, and now you have this woman by your side."

Naruto gave the man a glare when Konohamaru looked down, "At least I know him by name, Ebisu-teme. All you care about is the fact that you're responsible for the Sandaime's grandson, and not Konohamaru Sarutobi." The boy looked up, beaming at him. But Naruto wasn't done yet. "I may be the prison that keeps the Kyuubi contained, but that does not mean I am the beast himself. And just because Konohamaru is the old man's grandson, that doesn't mean he'll be greater or any less of a great shinobi like he was."

"Hmph, not if he's learning things like that ridiculous sexy technique you taught him." Ebisu said haughtily, smirking.

Naruto smirked right back, "I was actually thinking of teaching him some of my father's techniques. I can already tell he has the Chakra capacity for the Rasengan, maybe even the Kage Bushin no Jutsu."

"You really think so?!" Konohamaru asked excitedly, giving his best puppy dog eyes he could manage.

Naruto reached out and rubbed his head, "Only under the supervision of Ebisu." This shocked everyone present. "And I won't show you any favoritism. If I teach you something, I'll teach you all. And you should know," he looked at the Jonin, who was still a little shocked at the blonde's words, "Ebisu here knows the Kage Bushin no Jutsu as well, so you ask him for pointers."

Ebisu shook himself out of his stupor, "You really shouldn't encourage him, Naruto. The shadow clone technique alone is far beyond him."

"If you don't encourage him," Naruto said, "Then how will he grow?" The stumped the man. It was actually a good question. Encouraging someone as young as Konohamaru would certainly turn the boy in the right direction.

"I can try, can't I?" Konohamaru asked, "Oji-chan used the Jutsu, too. Why can't I try?"

"W-well, Honorable - "

"My name's Konohamaru!" He snapped, "And Oji-chan is dead, so I'm not the Hokage's grandson anymore! I'm just another shinobi! So stop calling me that!"

Ebisu, putting his hands up, was desperate to find a way out of the situation, and noticed Naruto mouthing something to him. "Uh...the ramen's on me tonight?"

"Really?" The young trio asked, "Awesome!" With that they all returned to their own meals.

"Thanks," Ebisu sighed to the blonde as he took a seat.

Naruto grinned evilly, "Don't thank me just yet, you'll be picking up mine and Tayuya's tab as well."

xXx

Tsunade smiled happily as she waited in her office to greet her guests. It had actually been a quiet month like she had hoped. Though she the odd little complaint from Ebisu about being black mailed into an outrageous debt at Ichiraku's Ramen, but she had let that slide. She hadn't ever been all that fond of the sunglasses-wearing Jonin, so a small joke on Naruto's part was fine by her.

As for said Genin, she had heard that he had been teaching the young Sarutobi heir a few of his techniques. At first the idea had worried her, but after sending one of her ANBU guard to oversee one of their sessions, she gotten the report back that it was a normal training day, as any other Jonin might train their Genin. Apparently Naruto was a fine instructor for the boy and his team, despite Ebisu's worries.

Now it's finally time to see what that little knucklehead of mine has up his sleeve, she thought happily as she heard a knock on her door. Shizune poked her head in a moment later, "Tsunade-sama, the Raikage, Kazekage, and Tsuchikage have arrived. We're awaiting your arrival at the stadium."

Tsunade smiled as she rose from her seat, "Wonderful, I'll be along in a moment. In the meantime, please have some refreshment bought up for all of us. Sake, and whatever foods they may like."

"Right away, Tsunade-sama." She smiled, and stepped out.

The Godaime was excited about the day to come. Naruto would be showing his growth, as would Tayuya, and Saiga for that matter. Along with one other team of Konoha Genin, there were twelve contestants, and some, if not all, would become Chunin!

So this wasn't my best chapter, more like a filler than anything else, but hey, we're finally getting to the good bits! Things are about to get as insane as I am! XD Also, does anyone know of any good NaruxSesame fics? I can't seem to find any :p