Ryuichi stood, and walked over to the place where Kari had stood in her battle against Goren. Kiyo, ready for battle, was observing everything he could about the other boy. For example, he noticed that the boy had made nearly no noise as he walked across the dry grass, implying that he could be stealthy when he needed to.

Kiyo rose, and walked to the opposite end of the clearing. He knew that a good observation could give a clue that would help change the course of a battle, but he doubted he would make any in this fight. He would just have to hope that he was strong enough to beat Ryuichi.

Shikamaru smiled as he saw the two staring each other down. This was to be the last fight of the day—after this, he would move on to training that he did not have to be present for. There still were not any clouds in the sky, but maybe he could find a nice place to take a nap. It was about time for Temari's reply to his last letter to arrive. Maybe he would have a chance to read that…

Oh, yeah. He needed to start the fight. Shikamaru knew that he would pay close attention to this battle. He needed to learn more about Kiyo. Kiyo was a mystery to Shikamaru, and a man of Shikamaru's intelligence was unused to puzzles that he could not solve.

"All right," he said. "Last fight. Ready…go!"

Some fights start off with a blur of action, and a clash of steel. This was not one of those conflicts. The two boys eyed each other, and moved very slowly. Neither was very sure of what the other could do, and did not want to make any risky movements.

Ryuichi pulled his katana out of the sheath slung across his back. Now that he was no longer distracted by Daisuke, Kiyo was able to appreciate its craftsmanship. It was slender and elegant, with no obvious imperfections. The hilt was a dark red, with no ornate decorations. It was practical and businesslike, but not bland. Kiyo slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out the urn, and popped out its cork.

Ryuichi decided that he would make the first move. In a motion so fast that it nearly seemed to be a blur, he dashed forward at Kiyo, making a slashing motion. Although Ryuichi was fast, far faster than anything Goren or Haruka had displayed during their first fight, Kiyo was able to react in time.

"Water style: Water barrier!" Kiyo made the seals quickly, just after he hitched the urn onto a special hook in his waistband designed specifically for such purposes. Water flowed out of the urn, and formed a liquid shield in front of him.

Ryuichi's sword struck the barrier, and slowed down significantly. A moment later, when it passed through, all of its momentum was gone. Ryuichi nearly lost his footing in surprise, but regained it quickly. He brought his sword up to his right, and made a horizontal slash towards Kiyo. This time, Kiyo already had a kunai out.

He caught the strike on the kunai, and deflected it harmlessly above him. Kiyo prepared for a follow up attack, to catch Ryuichi off guard, but was distracted when he saw the state of his kunai.

It had been chipped slightly. The damage was not major, but Kiyo knew that kunai were designed to go through years of use and abuse before they needed replacement. This meant that Ryuichi's sword was very, very sharp. This, combined with the strength Kiyo had felt when he blocked Ryuichi's blow, meant that he would be a dangerous opponent.

Then again, thought Kiyo as Ryuichi stepped away from him, preparing, I didn't expect him to be a pushover. He was moving fast when he and Taku broke up my fight with Daisuke.

This could be bad. Speed, power, and a really sharp weapon…Kiyo could not let his guard down in this fight.

"Water style: Water bullet!" Kiyo cast the jutsu several times in rapid succession, feeling the drain on his chakra as he did so. It would be a while before the effects really hit him, though.

Ryuichi had been beginning to suspect that this would be a short ranged fight, and was surprised by the ranged attack. He jumped backwards to give himself a slightly larger amount of time to react, and raised his sword. He used it to block the first water bullet, and decided it was a bad idea after he felt the force behind it. Even after the sword took the brunt of the blow, the water still hit him. However, it did not hit him hard enough to hurt him, just hard enough to be very annoying.

By bobbing and weaving, Ryuichi was able to dodge the second and third water bullet, although one nearly hit his shoulder. He ran forward, sword at the ready. When Ryuichi was only a few feet away from his opponent, Kiyo struck.

"Wind style: Air bullet!" Ryuichi had been expecting another water attack, but he was still able to react quite well. He jumped over the slight shimmering that was the only warning of the bullet of compressed air heading towards him. He came came down with his sword angled straight towards Kiyo.

Kiyo swore to himself as he saw his attack miss, and jumped to the right when he saw Ryuichi sailing towards him. The sword just barely touched his side, and left a paper-thin scratch. Annoying, but not really painful or incapacitating.

Kiyo was slightly off balance as he leapt, and decided to use this to his advantage. He dropped onto both hands in a sort of handstand, and kicked out with both feet towards Ryuichi. Ryuichi's katana was not in a position to block, so he was forced to block the kick with one of his arms.

Ryuichi was knocked back by the blow, wincing at the impact. Kiyo jumped to his feet, smiling slightly at the minor victory he had won. Ryuichi stood for a moment, without moving. Then, he smiled slightly as well.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought you would," said Ryuichi. "I must admit, since the first time I saw you was after you started a brawl for no reason, I expected you to lose your temper quite easily. However, you have stayed pretty calm during this whole fight." Kiyo grinned a little wider.

"Well, I was a bit of an idiot yesterday." Ryuichi laughed at this.

"That you were. You're making up for it now, though, Kiyo-san." He raised his sword in front of him. "In fact, I am going to show you one of my best techniques." He brought his arms back behind him, folded, so the hilt of the sword was even with his chest.

"Blue Demon Dash!" Kiyo stared at him, puzzled. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. Then he saw the glow.

Ryuichi's legs had started to give off a blue glow. Kiyo had never seen anything like it before, it was as if blue flames were surrounding Ryuichi's legs, but did not burn him. Shikamaru was able to tell what it was.

He's gathering chakra into his legs, thought Shikamaru, slightly interested, but what is he going to do with it? Ryuichi grinned at the stunned look on Kiyo's face.

"I'm gathering a large amount of chakra into my legs," he said, "And it will give me a burst of speed. Not for very long, but more than long enough to beat you." Almost instantly after he finished speaking, he dashed forward. Kiyo's eyes widened-Ryuichi's lower half was simply a blue blur, and Kiyo could barely keep up with his movements. He leaned to his left as quickly as he could, but the sword still cut a thin line across his chest. Goren gasped slightly, and Haruka stiffened. Even Taku and Kari had gone completely still. The blood was obvious even from where they were sitting.

However his injury may have looked, Kiyo had still not yielded. Ryuichi slashed sideways towards Kiyo, but Kiyo was able to catch his arm with his hand. He then punched Ryuichi in the face with his other hand. Ryuichi fell to the ground, a bit of blood trickling from his lip. He stood up slowly, the blue flames fading from his legs. He grimaced slightly.

"You seem to have broken my concentration." Kiyo laughed at this slightly, wincing slightly as his wound twinged.

"You made a mistake," said Kiyo. "You used a jutsu that is full of weaknesses." Ryuichi looked at him, a frown on his face.

"I did just make it recently, and it isn't perfect yet. What flaws did you notice?"

"Well, at first it seemed like a powerful technique," said Kiyo. "That first dash of yours was too fast for me to do anything about. But once you closed to melee range, that advantage was gone. The speed is all in your legs, your arms and sword don't move any faster. In fact, they move slower, that is why I was able to catch your attack. You've taken away some of the chakra in your arms and concentrated it in your legs, making your arms slower. That is a big flaw, for a swordsman." Ryuichi began to laugh.

"I suppose I need to develop it a bit more, then." Shikamaru surprised everyone by standing up, although he did yawn.

"All right," said the jounin, "This fight's over, Ryuichi, your legs are shaking from the chakra you used in that technique. I suggest you talk with Neji about developing your chakra control. Kiyo, we need to stop the bleeding on that cut." Kiyo stared at Shikamaru as Ryuichi sheathed his sword, after wiping the blood off.

"Are we done?" asked Kiyo.

"Oh, no," said Shikamaru with a grin. "I have made my assessment of you now. You are primarily a water and wind style jutsu user, and need a bit of work on your close range combat. Now that I know your individual needs, I can come up with a training regimen." Haruka and Goren stood up, taking interest. After seeing those two stand, Taku and Kari did so as well. Shikamaru turned to face all three of Neji's genin.

"Taku, Kari, Ryuichi, you guys are going to have to go. Sorry, but I can't let you see all of my training methods or it will give you too big of an advantage if we face you during the Chuunin Exams." Neji's genin frowned at this, but Goren perked up.

"We're going to be entered in the Chuunin Exams, Shikamaru-sensei?" Shikamaru looked at him.

"Possibly. I don't quite know yet." Although Kiyo and Goren were excited, Taku was frowning.

"Shikamaru-sensei," Taku said, "Neji-sensei said we needed to train with a jounin while he was gone. What do we do now?"

Shikamaru began to grin.

"Oh, I think I know a guy who could help you."

Naruto grinned at the looks on his students' faces. Daisuke merely had an eyebrow raised, but Hanako and Hikaru were openly gaping. At least, that is what it looked like to Naruto. It was a little hard to tell, since Naruto was hanging upside down from a tree branch with nothing but chakra holding him up.

"I want you three to be able to do this," said Naruto. He laughed again as the look of awe changed to one of fear. "Well, not right away. First, just get to where you can run up the tree using your chakra." He dropped down from the tree, flipping as he fell, and landed on his feet. He thankfully had avoided landing on his face, or on one of his students. That would not have been nearly as cool.

"What you do is gather your chakra into your feet," said Naruto, demonstrating as he did so, "And you use it to pull yourself onto the tree. You have to put in enough to make you stick, but if you put in too much you will just damage the tree. You have to use control." The three nodded, and looked at their feet. Each one chose a tree, and ran towards it.

Hikaru and Hanako each made it about five feet up the tree before they fell to the ground, landing more or less on their feet. Daisuke, however, made it ten feet up the tree before he looked down and saw the other two on the ground. Suddenly, although he had seemed to do quite well before, he appeared to lose control and fall.

"Have you done this before, Daisuke-san?" Hikaru looked puzzled, as did Hanako. Daisuke grinned, and ran his hand through his spiky white hair.

"What? No, I haven't. I don't know how I made it so high, that was weird..." Hikaru frowned, but turned back to his tree. Hanako did as well. They each ran up their respective trees again. This time, Daisuke barely made it four feet up the tree.

"See?" Daisuke grinned sheepishly. "That first time must have just been a fluke, or something." Hikaru, who had managed to go a few inches higher than he had last time, grinned good naturedly.

"I suppose we should make this into a contest, then," said Hikaru. Naruto, who had been watching the entire time, laughed.

"You might want to rethink that, Hikaru. Look up." Puzzled, Hikaru and Daisuke looked up, and saw Hanako's tree. The Hyuuga girl was sitting twenty feet above them, on top of a branch. Daisuke gaped, as did Hikaru.

"Hanako-chan!" Daisuke called up to her. "How did you get that high?" Hanako, despite her accomplishment, looked quite distressed as she responded.

"I don't know why it worked so well! I just focused my chakra into my feet like I do into my hands when I use Gentle Fist, and I came up here! And I don't know how to get down!" Hikaru and Daisuke were too busy staring at Haruka with awe and jealousy to laugh, but Naruto laughed enough for the both of them. However, eventually he did walk up the tree and carry Hanako down.

"I probably should have known," said Naruto. "I remember that Hinata-chan mentioned to me once-um, during training-that the Gentle Fist concentrates chakra a lot like the tree walking exercise does. You have a bit of a head start on Hikaru and Daisuke." Hanako stared with her milky white eyes at Naruto, frowning slightly.

"I don't want to get ahead of Daisuke-kun and Hikaru-kun."

Naruto smiled approvingly. She was thinking of her teammates, as well as herself. That was good.

"Don't worry," said the blond jounin, "Even though you have pretty good chakra control, there are still things you can work on. You can make your control even better, for example. Or you can improve your chakra reserves." Hanako looked at Naruto, slightly confused.

"How do I increase my 'chakra reserves,' Naruto-sensei?" He sighed. He knew that if Sakura could see him explaining a chakra concept to someone else, her world would be flipped upside down. Actually, it might be good to have Sakura come and see his team train one day. It could help her get her mind off of Sasuke...if Lee wasn't doing that already. The last Naruto had heard, Lee was still asking Sakura for dates, although with more tact than before, and she was getting closer and closer to saying yes.

Stop it, Naruto thought to himself, you're supposed to be teaching. This isn't the team to think about your friends' love lives.

"Well, Hanako," Naruto said, "Everyone has a certain amount of chakra when they're born. It travels through their body, in a sort of tangle of veins, and channels, and things." Hanako looked confused for a moment, when Hikaru chipped in.

"Do you mean the chakra system, Naruto-sensei?" Naruto snapped his fingers.

"That's the word! I knew that, though, Hikaru, I was just seeing if you knew. Anyway, the chakra system is intertwined with the rest of your body. You should know about that, Hanako, because the Gentle Fist fighting style is based on the idea of damaging the chakra system to beat the crap out of your opponent. Well, the chakra system is entertwined with muscles, and like a muscle, it can be strengthened. You strengthen it by using it, kind of like weight lifting. If you use your chakra, you will be tired for a while, but once you recover you will be a bit stronger." Naruto straightened and looked at Hanako. "You guys should always take some time to practice and improve your chakra reserves, but I think that is all you should be doing right now, Hanako. You may have better control, but girls generally have smaller reserves than boys. Once you increase your reserves, you will be a better fighter. You can do it by tree climbing. That way, you can improve your control at the same time." Hanako beamed, and ran back to her tree.

"All right, Naruto-sensei!" Naruto grinned at that. His first mini-crisis as a sensei, not counting the fight yesterday, and he had done fairly well. He had not said anything, but this solution also kept Hanako from feeling excluded from the team. Naruto was enjoying being a sensei.

However, Naruto had noticed something odd about Daisuke. In his first run up the tree, he had gone twice as high as the others without any trouble at all. He only seemed to fall once he had seen the others fall, and had not done significantly better than Hikaru since then. In most ways, it appeared that he was at ordinary genin level for chakra control. However, there were some things that were a bit off.

The tree walking exercise was hard work for those that were new at it. After about fifteen minutes, Hikaru and Hanako were both starting to sweat. They were hard of breathing, as well. Daisuke panted some too, but Naruto could tell quite clearly that Daisuke was not sweating. He wasn't nearly as worn out as the other two students. This meant that either Daisuke had abnormally large chakra reserves for a genin, or had done this exercise before. Or both.

Naruto frowned slightly, as he watched Hikaru both climb up fifteen feet on the tree. He would definitely talk this over with Shikamaru next time he saw him. Although Naruto was no longer quite the unobservant idiot he had been, Shikamaru was still better at puzzling things like this out. Maybe he would know something about Daisuke that Naruto didn't.

Naruto was distracted from observing his genin, and reflecting on a certain white haired boy, when he saw three people walking down the road. He squinted, and then recognized them as Neji's genin.

What are they doing here, thought Naruto, shouldn't they be training with Neji? Hikaru, Daisuke, and Hanako all landed from their most recent assault on the tree, and saw where Naruto was looking. Daisuke called out to them first.

"What are you three doign here?" Ryuichi, who was walking in front, responded.

"Neji-sensei is away at a Hyuuga family function. We were training with Shikamaru-sensei, but he told us to come here after a while. Is it okay if we train here?" Naruto was slightly surprised.

"All right, I guess," he said. "Have you three done the tree walking exercise before?"

Kari nodded.

"Yeah. We could still use some practice, though." Naruto nodded.

"All right. Grab a tree and help yourselves." The three nodded, and each ran to a tree.

"Are you sure your legs are okay," said Taku, "After all, you did mess them up a bit, Ryuichi-kun."

Ryuichi laughed at this.

"They're fine, the shaking stopped in about a minute. What about you, isn't your chakra depleted?" Taku shook his head.

"Naw, I got a soldier pill. Handy." Kari glared at the two.

"Aren't either of you concerned about whether I'm okay?" The two stared at her for a moment.

"Why?" Taku asked. "You didn't even get touched in your fight." Kari 'hmph'ed at him, and turned away. Ryuichi chuckled a bit.

"Honestly, Taku-kun, I don't know what she sees in you." Taku was left sputtering, and muttered as he strode off to his tree. Within moments, five out of the six genin were busy trying to climb higher up the tree than their friends. However, Hanako still stood on the ground, frowning. Naruto heard her mutter as she walked to her tree, slowly.

"There isn't a Hyuuga family meeting today..."

Naruto frowned. This meant that either Neji's team was lying to him, or that Neji had lied to his team. That was quite odd.

Oh well, thought Naruto, I'm sure there's a good reason...

Neji sighed as he sipped his tea quietly. When he put down his cup, there was a smile on his face. The man behind him had attempted to enter the room quietly, but Neji was one of Konohagakure's best shinobi. Then again, so was the man behind him.

"I do not appreciate being forced to lie to my genin," said Neji quietly, "Jiraiya-sama." The Toad Sage walked up to the table, and pulled up one of the two remaining chairs.

"Sorry about that, Neji," said Jiraiya, "But this is a classified mission. It wouldn't do to have little genin running around spouting our secrets to their friends."

Neji frowned at this remark.

"I think that my genin would have more discretion than that, Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya laughed at that.

"Probably. Still, better safe than sorry."

Neji sighed, and took another sip of his tea.

"When will our third team member arrive? You have worked with him more than I, Jiraiya-sama. Usually, how late is he?"

"A few hours," said Jiraiya, laughing. "But don't worry. I told him that the meeting started at 9:00." Neji looked at the clock on the wall of the restaraunt. It was almost noon.

"You are far more clever than many give you credit for, Jiraiya-sama." When Jiraiya did not reply, Neji looked at him. He was staring at one of the waitresses across the room. "Then again, maybe not."

Both of the shinobi had their attention drawn back to the table when a man pulled up the third chair and sat in it, and pulled out a bright orange book. Jiraiya laughed as he saw it.

"That isn't the latest issue, Kakashi."

The silver haired shinobi looked at Jiraiya with his uncovered eye.

"There's nothing like rereading an old favorite, Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya beamed at the implied praise.

"For that, Kakashi, I'll give you the most recent issue a month before it comes out in stores."

Neji grew impatient with the perverted men's discussion, and spoke up.

"What have you learned, Kakashi-sama? Were our suspicions correct?" Kakashi looked at him and smiled through his mask.

"You should lighten up, Neji-kun." Then, he became slightly more serious. "We were correct. Akatsuki is no more. All that's left is Itachi, and he has gone into hiding." Jiraiya frowned, and looked at Kakashi.

"Do you have any idea why he did it?" Kakashi shook his head.

"No. He killed his whole family to test his power, maybe he wanted to do the same with Akatsuki. Maybe the Mangekyou drove him insane. I don't know. All I was able to find out is where he's hiding." Neji perked up slightly.

"You know where he is?"

"I only know the general area," said Kakashi. "He's hiding somewhere in Iwagakure, the Rock Village."

A/N: Blue Demon Dash...man, I hate that name.

As for all that stuff about the chakra system, I think that is how it works in Naruto. If I am wrong, oh well. I am taking slight liberties with the Naruto universe-oh yeah, it's not like anyone's ever done that before...