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Chapter 20

Inner Spirits

"Congratulations are in order, Team 7 your performance in Kumogakure was admirable, a week ago, Konoha took home the Chunin Exam championship. You've all done the village proud", Minato smirked as Team 7 stood in front of him in the council chambers. Both Itachi and Naruto were covered in bandages.

Since the end of the Chunin Exams a few days ago most of the bruising and small cuts had vanished thanks to Tsunade and a lot of motherly love from Kushina as well as Mikoto.

They stayed in Kumo for a couple of days to make sure that the trio was ready to travel, once they were all confident they made the trek back to Konoha.

His siblings had all been ecstatic about his return, especially Kari who missed tea-parties and cuddles from Naruto. Karin had even started to be a little more open with him, telling him that she had a crush on a boy a school. Naruto had assured her that this was 'great', having little more to offer her as he himself had not given any of that kind stuff much thought. So he really couldn't give any advice to her but he was grateful that she shared something that she considered intimate to herself.

Around the chamber myriad members of the Konoha shinobi stood, in their seats the council sat watching, many of them beaming at the potential in front of them. The three members of team 7 were smiling as well, albeit Itachi only lightly. On the other hand behind them Rin had the largest and proudest smile on her face. She had helped create three splendid ninja.

"Itachi, you displayed excellent control over your Sharingan, your tactical awareness was sound and your Ninjustu arsenal is vast, to top it off you've got on hell of a right hook, judging from the colour of Naruto's face", joked Minato making many people in the room laugh.

Itachi smiled a little.

Naruto grumbled and flushed red.

Rin up her gloved hand on his head and ruffled his hair.

"So….with all that being said, you have been recommended to become a Chunin", Minato unsealed one flak jacket from the scroll on his desk and Itachi stepped forward to handle it.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama", he bowed taking his step back in line.

"Now my son, Naruto", Naruto piped up after hearing his name.

"Up until these exams your Swift Release was a mystery to you, but you've worked hard to gain control, although you still have a long way to go but if it were easy every Namikaze who ever had it would have been masters", he winked at him making him smile. "During the Exam you displayed leadership qualities, you looked after your teammates. You also showed great prophecy in Ninjustu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu. For these reasons I promote you to Chunin", Naruto walked up his father as he unsealed another jacket taking it from him.

"Thanks old man!" he said loudly.

"YOU CAN'T ADDRESS THE HOKAGE LIKE THAT!" many people yelled from within the room.

"It's quite alright", Minato chuckled.

"Now last but certainly not least, Yugao. Your training to adapt a weapon into your fighting style in only six months is nothing short of remarkable. Your Suiton affinity is as high as any have ever seen, not since Nidaime-sama, something you should take great pride in. You also have been training in medical Ninjustu, you have a very diverse range of skills and you are very adaptable in any situation, for these reasons, I promote you to Chunin", he said as Yugao finally stepped forward and received her jacket.

Many of the clan heads and shinobi stepped forward to congratulate the three new promoted Chunin with well wishes and encouragement.

"Thanks very much I guess", said Naruto rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh my baby is a Chunin!" Kushina scooped his up, having some trouble lifting him off his feet. "You're so heavy, maybe I've been feeding you to much, or you've been training to much", she put him down.

Naruto's face was a blistering red colour.

"We're proud of you Yugao", the Uzuki family stepped forward congratulating their eldest. Yugao's little brother gave her a hug and fist bump.

Mikoto, Sasuke and Ayano all hugged Itachi, whilst Fugaku stood by with a smile on his face.

"I know all three of you will become splendid Shinobi", said Minato. "You are all dismissed", he smiled.

1 Month Later

Naruto's bare footsteps echoed through the Namikaze compound. It was very early in the morning and he was being extra quiet. He slid the shealthed Orochimanji diagonally across his lower, held to him by his black belt. Naruto now sported an unzipped green Konoha flak-jacket over the top of his black jacket, white undershirt and mesh-shirt. He walked over to the dinner table and grabbed his black forehead protector. He tied it tightly around his forehead his blonde locks spilling onto it. His bangs to either side of his face fell to his chin.

"Nii-san", came a harsh whisper from the top of the stairs.

Naruto almost jumped out of his skin. He harshly turned to see his little brother giggling at him from the bottom of the stairs.

"What are you doing?" he whispered back harshly as the first morning ray of the day hit the inside of their house.

"What are you doing?" he quickly retorted.

"It doesn't matter what I'm doing", he said tightening his gloves. "You're going back to bed before Kaa-chan and Tou-san catch us", he growled at him, which had no affect.

"But I wanna do what you're doing", stressed the young red-head.

"You could do that….if you weren't such a midget", he teased knowing Ren was extremely sensitive about his height.

"HEY Y-

Naruto appeared in front of him covering his mouth with a gloved hand.

"If I take you, you can't tell anyone, I swear to Kami Ren if anyone finds out I'll blame you and then I'll burn all of your toy cars and your action-hero bedsheets", Ren began to sweat a little and nodded.

"Get dressed and hurry up", he stressed as Ren shot up staircase quietly.

Naruto let out a frustrated sigh.

'On weekends he's up at the crack of dawn to watch cartoons but on any school day, Kaa-chan has to drag him out of bed', thought Naruto as Ren came racing down the stairs in a red hoodie and blue pants.

Naruto left a note, 'informing' their parents of their whereabouts on the kitchen table. Naruto ushered his little brother outside and they were met with a brisk breeze from the morning air. Ren cursed and rubbed his sides trying to get warmth, which made Naruto laugh.

"What? It's cold", he growled.

"Stop being such a wimp", he flicked him on the forehead.

"So Nii-san, where are we going?" asked Ren.

"You'll have to hop on", he said gesturing toward his back with his head.

"I can walk by myself", grunted Ren rubbing his forehead.

"Why are you so stubborn", said Naruto rubbing his head. "Just get on brat", said Naruto.

"I'M NO-

Naruto covered his mouth and slung him over his shoulder.

He then disappeared in a burst of speed leaving a dust cloud behind him.

"Nii-san! Why did you do that!" Ren and Naruto appeared in the Hidden Leaf Forest as the elder sat the latter on the ground.

"One, because walking with you is to hard and two, your voice gets really loud and annoying sometimes", he chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah blah blah….c'mon!" yelled Ren as he ran forward and tripped over on a root.

Naruto sighed and walked over to him and grabbed him by his jumper and pulled him to his feet.

"You still have to be quiet okay", Ren rubbed his face.

"O-Okay", he said.

Naruto smiled and nodded as he gestured toward his back again.

"Come on, I know you want to", he smirked making Ren growl.

"Maybe…..

He jumped on Naruto's back and he hoisted him up.

"Nii-san, where are we going?" asked Ren quietly from Naruto's back as they walked through the forest.

"We're going to visit some friends", said Naruto.

"Why would any of your friends be out here in the forest?" asked Ren.

"You're sharper than I give you credit for, well you'll just have to wait and see huh", he chuckled and Ren pouted.

"Baka nii-san", he muttered as the sun rays pierced the tree-line and began raining down on them.

Eventually they reached a very large tree in the centre of the forest. Naruto continued to walk upward along the tree. Ren gripped him tighter as the wind blew strongly around them.

"Relax", said Naruto as they walked above the tree-line.

"You hear that?" asked Naruto as the sun came into view and he got back to a vertical base. Ren still grasping his shoulders tightly shook his head.

"No….what is it?" asked Ren.

"You have to listen more carefully", said Naruto.

Ren took a deep breath.

Chirp Chirp Chirp

"Chirping?" wondered Ren.

"Yup", said Naruto as he walked forward. He set Ren on his shoulders as he grasped a tree-branch in front of him. He lifted himself up so his arms rested on it. For what little green on the branch present, it held in between two of its branches a nest made out of twigs. A single egg rested in the middle of it.

"Cute isn't it", said Naruto.

"That's it?" asked Ren. "You dragged me out here to see-

A loud squawk echoed throughout the forest as strong gust of wind rocketed toward them. Ren covered his eyes and opened them to see a very angle mother bird glaring at him with golden eyes.

"Hi there girl, you feeling well today?" asked Naruto.

Ren squeezed Naruto much harder as the bird continued to glare at him.

"Ren this is Tomiko….Tomiko….Ren", he said happily unaware of his brother's uncomfortableness. Tomiko angrily squawked at Ren, making Naruto laugh.

"I met her when I was training here with Kakashi-nii", explained Naruto. He moved one hand to stroke Tomiko's beak she gave a grateful noise in return. "See she's friendly, she's just afraid that you'll hurt her egg", Naruto laughed as he looked at his brother's unsure face. He grabbed the younger Namikaze's hand and put it where he had only just stroked Tomiko. The mother let out another thankful noise making Ren smile.

"She's pretty", he said.

"She sure is, now come on, wanna get Ramen for breakfast?" asked Naruto.

Ren cheered as Naruto jumped down onto the ground floor.

With Ren still on his back Naruto walked back through the way they came.

"Hey nii-san", said Naruto.

"Hmm", he responded.

"What does your Swift Release feel like?" asked Ren inquisitively finally dropping down from Naruto's back.

"Well huh…..

"Tou-san said that you have to combine two elements….what are they?" he asked.

"Um it's like this-

"And how do you move around so quickly….after going huaahhhhhh Second Gear!" exclaimed Ren taking the same stance Naruto does to activate his Kekkei Genkai.

Naruto smirked and flicked him on the forehead making him fall on his butt.

"You've got a lot of questions there", he chuckled.

"It feels like your entire body is on fire, like everything is working at twenty times what it should be", he said as Ren nodded. "The Swift Release works by combining ones own Naruto inner energy with Raiton and Futon chakra", explained Naruto.

"I move around so quickly because when it's activated the life energy within my body is increased and stimulates the fast twitch muscle fibres within my body. Enabling the body to move at much greater speeds and exert great force when applied to a single point. The reason for the aura is because it's an outward manifestation of the energy surging around my body, the more I drawn on energy from inward, the more it will become visible outwardly", he said holding up his index finger.

"The reason why it's yellow….well it's the luck of the draw really, Tou-san explained to me that there were all different variants of colours like blue, red, black and purple, depending on the colour of your chakra and your inner spirit", said Naruto.

"What's an inner spirit?" asked Ren paying full attention.

"Every living thing on this planet has inner spirit, for some reason when the Swift Release becomes active, this inner spirit comes to the surface to protect the user, like it fights with you in the form of a surrounding aura, it's also useful because I'm told that with proper training one can harden a hand or a leg to indestructible proportions….at least that's what Riku Namikaze was able to do…but I've only progressed so little in comparison to him", he sighed.

"I think you're plenty strong and huaaahhh Second Gear is way cool!" shouted Ren making Naruto smile. "Can I see it nii-san, please!?" asked Ren.

Naruto smiled.

"Sure since you were quiet…kinda", he chuckled as Ren stood up.

Naruto began to crouch down when Ren interrupted his focus.

"Nii-san why do you have to crouch down?" he asked.

"Well….you see I can't focus the energy to a single position because I don't have as much control as I'd like, so for now I have to take this stance because it allows me to fully tap into my inner spirit because it straightens the pathways from my legs and hands channelling it through my body…get it", Ren nodded.

'Does he really get it?' he wondered but shook his head and sighed.

"Okay ready?" asked Naruto.

Ren nodded again eagerly.

Naruto took his stance and balled his right hand into a fist resting it on the grassy floor.

"Huahhhhhhh", the ground around him began to tremble slightly as tiny pieces of dirt floated upward.

"Second Gear!" shouted Naruto as he was engulfed by his inner spirit.

"So cool!" shouted Ren as he reached out and touched the aura. "It's so warm", he smiled as a calming sensation washed over him.

"Nii-san you're aweso-

Naruto's eyes widened as his mind was drawn away from his body.

He opened his eyes to dark and damp sewer. He stood groggily to his feet planting his hands in the water below him. A loud rumble followed by a growl made Naruto raise an eyebrow. He followed the source down a dimly lit tunnel as the sounds of his splashing footsteps were the only thing separating this place from the deafening sound of silence.

Naruto came to an opening in the sewer, he was greeted by a large cag, with a sealing formula keeping it sealed.

"What's this?" he wondered.

"Namikaze", a growl erupted from the cage as a red slitted eye slashed through the darkness.

"That….eye…..

"With those eyes and with a chakra stronger in life force than my own, you're the splitting image of Riku Namikaze", Naruto's lip molded into an angry look as he stared into the cage.

"Kyuubi, you're a lot smaller than I remember", said Naruto as a claw thrusted through the bars at him almost touching him.

"Little retch!" he snapped. "You were able to enter Ren's mindscape by mere luck as you have similar chakra, how annoying", he spat as he bared his fangs.

"For some reason I assumed that you would be more friendly", he chuckled nervously.

"It pains me to here you breath!" exclaimed Kyuubi in a booming voice.

"Now….that's not nice, what did I ever do to you?" asked Naruto.

"Humans are so incompetent, you know so little but assume so much", he snorted loudly.

"Well up until this point I had no idea that you were competent, but then again you've just made a very sweeping statement", said Naruto crossing his arms.

"I want to eat you", growled Kyuubi.

"How am I supposed to respond to that?" asked Naruto with a sigh. "I knew that Tou-san didn't defeat you, I'm guessing that this is Ren's mindscape. Funny, the Kyuubi sealed into a twerp like Ren", Naruto laughed, it drowned out into a chuckle when Kyuubi growled again.

"You've got guts talking like that to me kid, even if I'm behind these bars…you should take pride in that face, but get out!" shouted the Kitsune as Naruto was ejected from the Ren's mindscape.

"Where did it all go….nii-san….hey yo…Naruto…nii-san, you're so spacey y'know!" yelled Ren as Naruto looked down from his eye level to Ren's frowning face.

"Sorry there buddy", he chuckled and tapped her on the head. "Come on, you want to get ramen yeah?" asked Naruto.

Ren nodded eagerly

"That's all the information you need regarding this mission, do you have any further questions?" asked Ay looking at two of his newly promoted Chunin from behind his desk. The clouds behind him moving at peaceful pace, if only the view wasn't blocked by mountains paperwork.

"Understood Raikage-sama", said Yugito. "Right Samui-chan", said Yugito.

No response.

Said Konoichi was in the process of reminising about the Chunin Exams.

"So…nice day we're having right?" he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

She merely nodded.

"Um well good luck today…again I guess", he smiled.

"Would you stop smiling it's annoying", she said not sparing him a glance.

"You should try it sometime, maybe you wouldn't be so serious", he chuckled.

She didn't answer and his chuckling faded up into an embarrassed noise.

"You're not very good at making small talk huh", he said.

"No", she replied quickly.

Naruto chuckled nervously again.

"Phew gee is it getting hot in here or is it just me", trying to make her laugh but his attempt failed miserably.

"Thank you", she said.

"Huh?" he asked not quite hearing her soft reply.

"I said thank you….thank you for saving Rina, I know that you knew that she was my sister and you didn't tell me, or brag about it why?" she asked.

"I don't know", he answered.

"You don't know?" she repeated.

"Yeah, she's safe so….no need to bring it up y'know", he chuckled.

"Look, I'm grateful to you for saving my little sister but we aren't going to friends, I have no intention of getting to know you and as far as I'm concerned you're totally annoying and not cool", she said emotionlessly.

"Huh, well if that's how it is I guess if we can't be friends we have to be rivals", said Naruto smiling.

"You're…..a persistent weirdo", she commented.

"And you're unfriendly and cynical", he smirked.

She 'hmphed' not giving him a solid reply.

"I'll see you out there Samui-chan", he teased as Darui began the introductions.

He walked away with a cool wave.

"Like I said Samui-chan", Samui's eyes widened in shock as she watch Naruto's figure point his sword at her. "I am a ninja who would rather swallow his blood, before he swallows his pride, so I can't lose here", he said.

Suddenly he dashed out of the smoke toward her.

She gritted her teeth as Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind her with his sword outstretched. The yellow dragon passed through her, she stood still for a few seconds. The crowd was silent in anticipation.

Samui sighed and smiled.

She dropped her sword.

"You're pretty cool…..Naruto", she gave him a small smile as she began falling toward the ground unconscious.

"Oh huh…sorry my mind was somewhere else", she smiled.

"DID SAMUI JUST SMILE!" said Ay and Yugito in unison.

She quickly caught herself and re-adopted her stoic outlook.

"I must say that, that's a little out of character", said Ay. "What's brought this on?" he asked.

"I…don't know what you're saying", she regained her composure.

"I bet you were thinking about Naruto-kun", teased Yugito.

"Stop being so childish Yugito", said Samui with a scowl. "What makes you think that I was thinking about that blonde idiot", she hmphed turning her head in a dismissive way.

"Minato's brat!" growled Ay slamming his fist into the desk. "I will not have my shinobi falling in love with one of his spawn! You are a Kumo shinobi first Samui put your feelings aside!" exclaimed Ay with a steely gaze.

Samui shook her head.

"I can assure you Raikage-sama we are nothing more than….rivals", she said her stoic tone.

"Yes…..see that it doesn't go any further", he growled signing another form in front of him.

Naruto arrived at Ichiraku Ramen to see team Gai, eating together.

"There's my favourite customers!" shouted Tenchu.

"Right in front of us…ouch", said Tenten.

"Don't feel bad Tenten, we're pretty loveable", said Naruto lifting Ren onto the seat.

"I can do it by myself nii-san!" he stressed.

"Right sorry I forgot at 6 years old you become extremely independent", said Naruto crossing his arms.

"Whatever!" Ren poked his tongue out.

"Here you go Ren-chan, first on is on the house", said Ayame with a giggle as she placed the bowl of miso ramen in front of the young red-head.

"Thanks Ayame-chan!" he exclaimed as he broke a pair of chopsticks and began inhaling the glorious dish.

"So how does being Chunin feel?" asked Neji stoically.

"Well I feel the same as I did yesterday", said Naruto. "But I suppose the jacket is pretty cool y'know", he smiled.

"You're so far ahead and we have two years until we graduate!" said Lee clenching his fist. "I'm so far behind of you Naruto-kun! I must up my training!" he declared making Naruto wave his hands in front of himself.

"N-No you shouldn't do that you'll most definitely hurt yourself", said Naruto. "Hey…we're still rivals and we aren't even adults yet so we have plenty of time to develop", he smirked.

Naruto sat down next to Ren and Tenten, he ordered a bowl of shrimp ramen for his trouble.

"What's up pups!" came a voice from behind them.

The woman put her arm around Naruto roughly making him wince but he smiled when he realised who it was.

"Hana you really shouldn't handle him like that you'll break his shiny new jacket", said Tenten as Hana chuckled.

"So mr big-shot Chunin still willing to hang out with your friends even though your moving up in the world and we're stuck in the academy?" she asked teasingly.

"Not particular is they are going to strangle me", said Naruto with a strained chuckle.

"Nii-san! More food", said Ren as Naruto dug into his pocket handing his little brother the money.

As he did Tenchu put his bowl of Ramen the table in front of him. Ren then ordered another bowl as Hana let go off him.

"What are you guys doing at the academy now-days?" asked Naruto.

"The lectures are mostly boring, shuriken practice is fun though", said Tenten.

Hana sat down next to Neji and scoffed.

"It's a load of garbage, it's boring as all hell", she said honestly.

"As blunt as ever I see", said Naruto with a sigh. "I really want to ask how Karin-chan is doing though", said Naruto.

"She's alright", said Hana. "She hangs out with a girl called Shiho, who by the way crushes on you hard blondie", Hana picked her teeth with the chopsticks.

Uh…cool I guess", he said with a shrug.

"Nii-san what's a crush?" asked Ren.

"Ah…..you should ask Kaa-chan, I'm sure she'll explain things to you", said Naruto.

He chuckled.

"How about Anko and Hayate?" he asked.

"They're very well and youthful", said Lee. "Both display excellent potential to be shinobi", he smiled.

The friends talked for a few more hours and Naruto took Ren back home, after bidding his goodbyes to his friends.

Ren's giggling was the very first thing that reached Kushina earshot as her eldest and youngest son came barrelling through the front door. The six-year-old went zipped straight to her mother and wrapped her in a loving hug.

"Kaa-chan! Kaa-chan! Guess what, guess what!? I caught nii-san sneaking around in the morning!" Naruto coughed at his fast words. "We then played together in the forest and it was really awesome and then we got ramen and I met some of nii-san's friends and they are all really, really, really, really cool!" he babbled.

Kushina raised an eyebrow and sighed. She tried to follow the words that came at her from her son's mouth, but they came out at hundred-miles an hour.

"That's nice dear" she smiled rubbing the top of his head.

Karin came walking down the stair with a book in her hands and a hand on her heart.

"Oh that's so romantic", she sighed.

"You're ten, you should act like it", said Naruto with a huff. "If I have to start beating up academy students I might get demoted", he stressed.

"Tch, you can talk you're a fully-fledged ninja", she scowled. "And you can Shuddap, lots of girls like you!" she retorted.

"WHAT!" Kushina exclaimed making all of her children jump back.

"Y-You didn't let me finish K-Kaa-chan I meant that they all like Naruto's as friends because you raised him so well", Karin laughed nervously closing her book.

"Those little harpies won't get their claws into my little Naruto-chan!" she announced grabbing her eldest by the neck.

'This is becoming a regular occurrence', he thought with a sigh.

Kari came running down the stairs.

"Kaa-chan, kaa-chan my dowlly is swick!" she cried.

She stopped her crying when Naruto smiled at her.

"Hi there Kari-chan, have a good day?" he asked.

"You big meanie!" she pointed. "Why did you twake Wen instead of me!" she huffed.

Naruto walked over to her and got down to her level.

"Don't be like that, Ren wouldn't have even come if he hadn't stumbled into the kitchen being naughty", said Naruto poking her in the stomach electing a small giggle.

"Well I have a mission in a few hours", said Naruto. "So I'll be seeing you all in a few days", he winked.

"You've already packed?" asked Kushina.

Naruto pointed to his wrists.

"Of course!" he laughed. "Bye everyone!" he yelled as he ran out the front door.

Kushina watched her eldest boy run out with a smile on his face, gone as quick as he came.

'My little boy isn't so little anymore', she looked down to her youngest son who gave her a smile.

"Luckily I still have my youngest baby boy", she picked him up.

"Hey! Hey! Kaa-chan! Let me go! Let me go!" he squirmed and struggled.

"It's no use", she urged with a smile.

Chapter End

Bit of a filler but the action will pick up soon. But some good build up and some questions were answered. Please REVIEW and let me know what you all think.