The Hope of the Senju Clan

by Aragon Potter

What if instead of Kushina being Naruto's mother and through a trick of fate Naruto's mother was Tsunade after a drunken night with Minato in which Naruto becomes both the heir and hope of the Senju clan. Find out what life would be like now for Naruto

25. Chapter 25 Summons, Foxes and Girls

Naruto: The Hope of the Senju Clan

Chapter Twenty-five: Summons, Foxes and Girls, Oh My!

This story was inspired by the Story Senju Naruto by Baal of Yarns

"Thinking"

"Jutsu"

"Biju/Summon Talking"

Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Naruto or any of its Characters!

About five days after the preliminary matches had ended; Naruto was taken out of Konoha by his mother, Jiraiya, Shizune and his two sensei's to train for the finals next month.

Naruto was grateful to be out of hospital, since after his mother had used the Fūja Hōin (Evil Sealing Method), he had lost consciousness caused by the pain of the sealing and didn't wake up until three days later.

After he woke up, his mother explained to him what had happened and told him that she had Jiraiya add some other seals, should some event cause the Fūja Hōin to fail. Another seal known as the Haja no Kokuin (Seal of Wickedness) (A) would activate to restrain Naruto and warn Tsunade and Jiraiya that the curse seal had activated and that the Fūja Hōin had failed.

For the remaining two days, (much to his distress), Naruto was forced to stay in bed to allow his body rest and fully recover from his battles with Mai, Lee and the events in the forest of death. During that time, Tsunade had Naruto, Yamato and Kushina tell her everything that Naruto had done for the past six months in Konoha and what they had taught him. She also had Naruto tell her everything he had done with the Kumo Genin when he first met them.

Knowing that he had no choice in situation, Naruto told his mother everything that happened with Killer Bee and the others and what they had taught him. Although he made sure to leave out how the fight between Samui and him ended, knowing that if his mother found out, the hospital would become ground zero for his mother's wrath.

Sadly though, his mother learned about the shower incident between him and Haku at Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) thanks to a certain red-headed blabbermouth. This resulted in Naruto having to suffer an hour long verbal lashing from his mother, she ranted on how she would not let him become a pervert like Jiraiya. Said person of course was not immune from Tsunade's wrath, especially after she learned how Jiraiya inadvertently exposed Naruto's full heritage to Kushina, Kakashi and the others, after Naruto's team test.

The outcome resulted: Naruto had his godfather as company for the following two days, as he recover from Tsunade's beating.

Eventually though, once everything was settled, Tsunade and the others decided that for the rest of the month they would train Naruto outside the village, away from prying eyes.

---

After traveling for most of the day, Jiraiya, Tsunade and the others finally arrived at their destination, which was a large valley away from Konoha, allowing them to train in private

When they arrived in the valley and had set up their camp, Naruto turned to his mother.

"So Kaa-chan what are we going to train in first?"

"Well, when you were unconscious after the sealing, Jiraiya, Yamato, Kushina and I discussed how to train you and we decided it is now time to train you in using the Kyuubi's power." Tsunade elaborated.

"Really?" asked Naruto, since he knew how hesitant his mother was with him using the Kyuubi's Chakra.

"Yes, given how you will probably be facing against two jinchūriki later in the finals. We believe it would be best that you are trained to summon the Kyuubi's Chakra so to have something to fall back on. Since it is highly possible that both that girl and boy are trained to use and control their Biju powers" answered Tsunade.

"But I thought you said that I should avoid trying to use the Kyuubi's power at all cost, for if I use it, I could be exposed as a jinchūriki, those Akatsuki guys would come after me."

"Yes I know, but the Akatsuki are likely to come after you anyway once they learn about your Mokuton Bloodline limit. "

"But why don't I just train to improve my Mokuton Bloodline limit instead, wouldn't that be easier, since that's how Hii-ojiichan (1) was able to control the Biju?" Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion.

It was at this point that Yamato joined the conversation.

"With all due respect Naruto-san, your skill in Mokuton has improved, but suppressing the power of a Biju is no easy task for anyone, regardless of your Bloodline limit, the reason you are able to do it naturally with the Kyuubi is because it resides in your body. But suppressing the power of another jinchūriki is a different matter altogether. I will train you in what I know, but even so, there is only so much I can teach you, as even I have never had to use my Mokuton powers to suppress a jinchūriki, for I rarely interact with any. The technique I plan to teach you is difficult to use and control, even if you learn to use it before the Chunin finals. There is no guarantee that you will be able to suppress their Biju's power should they use it and it is very possible that their power will be too great for you to suppress. Especially if they have enough control over their Biju's power, which is why it would be wise for you to be able to summon the Kyuubi's Chakra to help you."

Naruto nodded begrudgingly, since what Yamato said did make a lot of sense and he couldn't deny it either.

"Do you really think that they will use their Biju's power?" Naruto prompted.

"I would be surprised if they didn't, since it is far too coincidental that both Kumo and Suna enter their jinchūriki in the Chunin exam when you and Sasuke are in it. My guess is that they sent them to kill you and the Sasuke in the Chunin exam and eliminate you both before either of you can become a threat to them" Kushina frowned as killing in the exam wasn't prohibited.

"I told you Kushina-sensei, Yugito-chan and the others aren't like that, they wouldn't do something like that, they are my friends, you saw that for yourself!" Naruto valiantly defended his friends from Kumo.

But Kushina looked anything but convinced.

"Maybe, but they are Shinobi first and it is very possible, that the Raikage has given them orders to kill you and Uchiha Sasuke in the exam, just like Hanzo did with his Granddaughter." Kushina retorted.

Naruto could not find a plausible reason, since it was not impossible, but even so he didn't want to believe his friends were here to kill him.

"Fine I see your point, but why is Suna out to get me and Sasuke, aren't we allies?" Naruto asked, scowling.

"Just because we are allies doesn't mean, we aren't rivals, as Shinobi villages we all contend for missions which we depend on to support us and right now Suna is in a bad spot." Jiraiya replied..

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"From what I've heard, Suna is on the decline, the Wind Daimyo is slowly reducing Suna's funding and sending the missions he would normally give them to us. My guess is they sent that Sand kid to defeat or to take the two of you out, since both of you are the last heirs to the founders of Konoha and are the favorites to win the exam. Suna is probably hoping that by defeating you and the Uchiha kid in the exam, they will show everyone that they are superior to us and allow them to receive a new surge of mission requests and possibly regain their previous funding from the Wind Daimyo."

Naruto frowned when he heard this, as he had no idea how the Chunin exams played such a big role in village rivalries and conflicts.

Eventually after a few more minutes of discussing the matter Tsunade decided that they should get started. She had Naruto begin mediation in the hope of making contact with the Kyuubi.

Naruto was not exactly thrilled at the idea to do meditation, since it wasn't exactly one of his favorite things for he dislike sitting still. Despite not liking it, he did know how to meditate, since Jiraiya had taught him a bit when he was eleven, stating that it can help a person stay calm under stressful situations.

For the next few hours Naruto focused on his meditation ignoring any and all distractions that were nearby. But even after spending much of the day meditating, Naruto failed to make contact with the Kyuubi.

Later at dinner the group discussed what could be preventing Naruto from contacting the Kyuubi. After much discussion, the two best theories they could come up with were that, when Naruto was growing up, he develop some kind of natural mental block, preventing him from making contact with the Kyuubi subconsciously. The other theory and most likely one was that Naruto's Mokuton Bloodline limit was suppressing the Kyuubi's power too much, that it made contact with the Biju difficult. For the rest of the evening the group discussed different ways which could help Naruto make contact with the Kyuubi.

During the conversation Jiraiya joked about pushing Naruto off a cliff to get him to make contact the Kyuubi.

This idea was shot down right away, where for his troubles; Jiraiya received a hail on Senbon needles from Shizune, a smack to the face from the blunt of Kushina's sword and two super charge right hooks from Tsunade and Naruto. That sent him flying out of the camp and into the forest, where he spent the rest of the night alone in the cold.

The next day, the group decided to restart Naruto meditation, seeing it as the best way to get Naruto to make contact with the Kyuubi.

To help improve Naruto's odds in making contact with the Kyuubi, Yamato used Doton: Doryū Jōheki (Earth Style: Earth-Style Rampart) and Suiton: Takitsubo no Jutsu (Water Style: Waterfall Basin Technique) to change the terrain and create a large waterfall. Allowing Naruto to sit under the waterfall, where his concentration would improve and increase his chance in making contact with the Kyuubi.

After taking off his clothes, leaving only his black shorts, Naruto went over to the bottom of the waterfall and sat underneath it and concentrated on contacting his tenant. Eventually after a few hours and after much meditation, he finally hit pay dirt and found himself in a long dark underground hallway covered in an inch of water.

-Inside Naruto Mindscape-

Naruto took the first left turn to see where it led, as he walked down the dark hallway, he could sense an immense and dark Chakra coming from the end of the hallway. Jackpot then.

After walking for a few minutes he saw a light at the end, when he reached it, he found himself in a massive room with a giant gate opposite of him, held together by a piece of paper that read "Seal."

As Naruto walked closer to the cage doors, he suddenly saw a glowing pair of menacing red eyes and a massive mouth that looked like it could gobble him up in one single bite. Looking closer, Naruto could also see a massive amount of red Chakra surrounding the creature, making it's appearance the more intimidating.

Naruto knew at that moment that he was facing the legendary Kyūbi no Yōko (Nine-tailed Demon Fox) otherwise known as the Bakegitsune (Monster Fox) and the Demon of Destruction.

"Come closer." The massive demon urged. His voice a low tenor; dark and menacing and it held a certain growl at the end of the sentence.

Naruto slowly made his way closer to the gate, all the while keeping his senses on high alert, since he did not trust the fox.

Thankfully his caution paid off, since as soon as he got closer to the cage ,the giant fox lashed out at Naruto, where it tried to pierce Naruto with its giant claws. Fortunately though Naruto was able to jump back and away from the Kyuubi's claws, where they were stopped from going any further by the bars on the gate, as the Kyuubi's paw was too big to squeeze between them.

"I would love nothing more than to devour you, but this gate will not open. Thanks to this detestable seal that your wretched father the Yondaime Hokage placed." Kyuubi spat, eyes glowing with rage.

"You know that my father is the Yondaime Hokage?" Naruto asked, bemused.

"Of course. I am also aware that you're the descendant of the Shodai Hokage and that you possess the same power that he did, which is why my power and influence has been suppressed so much. So tell me why have you come here after all this time?" Kyuubi was anything but pleased.

"I want your power." Naruto said bluntly. Looking at the fox right in the eye, a show of dominance, if this fox think he could be a freeloader in his body, he'll be proven sorely wrong.

Kyuubi stared at Naruto, "So, you want my power? No doubt to help you fight the hosts of those weaklings Shukaku and Nibi."

"You know about them as well. . .? " Naruto mused.

"Yes, I could sense them from within their hosts, as well as Hachibi who resides in the teacher of the Nibi's host."

Naruto blanched as he began to panic; thought he tried to hide it, showing signs of weakness in front of the fox was a mistake and it might bite him in the ass later. If the Kyuubi could sense the Biju that reside in Gaara, Yugito and Killer Bee. Then their Biju's could sense the Kyuubi in him, where they would most likely tell Yugito and the others.

Seeing the panic cross and go on Naruto's face, the Kyuubi spoke again. "You need not worry; neither Shukaku nor the others could sense me because your accursed Bloodline limit is suppressing my power. So your secret of being my container is safe from them."

When Naruto heard this, he could not help but let out a sigh of relief, since if Yugito and the others knew he was like them. Then they would most likely tell their leaders, who would stop at nothing to capture or kill him, especially if they knew about his Mokuton Bloodline limit as well.

"Now tell me why should I lend you my power? After everything your family has done to me over the years."(2)

"I don't give a crap what kind of issues you have with my family; they did what they had to defend their home. But the fact is, you overgrown fur ball, this is my body and that makes you my tenant and as your landlord I want your Chakra as rent payment. It's the least you can do aside from being useless." Naruto snapped as he continued to stare at the giant fox, showing he was unafraid of him. "And if that isn't enough for you then listen up, because if you don't give me your Chakra when I need it, there's a chance that I'll get killed and if I go, I'll take you with me."

When Naruto finished speaking the Kyuubi began to chuckle in amusement but the laugh held a certain edge of evil in it. "Heh. You have your father's courage, that much is certain boy, as it takes guts to talk to me like that and then blackmail me." Even though the Kyuubi was fairly sure he could survive Naruto's death and revive himself later. There was still a possibility that he was wrong, since the Yondaime had sealed away half his power, and he wasn't quite ready to take that risk yet.

"Very well then, as a reward from coming here and for showing such courage. I will give you a portion of my power when you call for it," the Demon fox relented, while at the same time thinking it might be interesting to see how he used it.

Naruto smirked in triumph though it looked like a foxy grin.

-Outside Naruto's Mindscape-

After Naruto awoke from his meditation, he immediately left the waterfall and went over to his mother and the others. Who were at the camp waiting patiently to see if Naruto had made contact with the Kyuubi.

For the next few minutes, Naruto explained to Tsunade and the others what happened. When Naruto finished explaining, the five elder Shinobi were quite pleased that everything went without incident. They were especially relieved to hear that thanks to Naruto's Mokuton Bloodline limit suppressing the Kyuubi's power, preventing the other jinchūriki from sensing the Kyuubi. The last thing any of them needed was for the other villages to learn that Naruto was the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi.

Once everything was explained and Naruto had changed back into his clothes, Tsunade and Jiraiya decided to go to the next phase of Naruto's training.

As soon as Naruto was ready to go, Tsunade and the others then took Naruto to the other end of the valley.

"Why do we need to come here?"

"If we didn't, the camp would be destroyed in a matter of seconds" Tsunade replied simply.

Soon they arrived at the other end of the valley, Tsunade turned to her son and began to explain what they were going to do next.

"Ok Naru-chan, Jiraiya and I have talked about this for a while and we've both agree that it is time that you learned how to summon."

"Really?" Naruto beamed with excitement, since being able to summon was something he wanted to learn for as long as he could remember.

"Yep, your mom and I have been discussing it for a while now; each of us wanted you to sign a contract with our summons. So we decided that if both the Slugs and the Toads agree you can summon them both" Jiraiya replied, who couldn't help but return Naruto's grin.

At hearing this Naruto became even more excited, since he knew some of the summons already. His mother and Jiraiya had summoned some of the smaller summons for him to play with when he was younger.

Eventually Tsunade decided to start things off, where she bit her thumb and did some hands seals before slamming her hand onto the ground and yelling "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

The second Tsunade said this, a massive cloud of smoke filled the air, where Naruto, Jiraiya and the others were forced to jump away. When the smoke dissipated, the group saw Tsunade standing atop the leader of all Slug summons, Katsuyu.

Katsuyu was very large in stature, which wasn't surprising given how she was one of the three great summons of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja). Katsuyu was predominantly white in color, with three blue streaks that ran vertically down the middle and side of her body from her head and tapering off at her tail. Her optical tentacles also had a slight tint of grey to them and had two sensory tentacles on either side of her mouth.

"So that's Tsunade-sama's personal summons Katsuyu. . . ." Yamato mused as he looked up at the giant slug for the first time.

"Yep. . . that's her alright, I've almost forgotten how big she is." Kushina replied, as the last time she saw Tsunade summon Katsuyu. She wasn't that much older than Naruto was now.

"You summoned me Tsunade-sama?" Katsuyu inquired, her voice was soft and gentle, definitely female, but it was easily heard by everyone.

"Yes I did Katsuyu, there is someone I would like you to meet." Tsunade replied before she called out to Naruto, who jumped up to the top of a nearby tree to let himself be seen.

"Katsuyu, I would like you to meet my son. . . Naruto." When Tsunade said this, the large female summons lowered her face, so that she could look directly at Naruto.

"I am pleased to finally meet you Naruto-dono, I have heard much about you from my kin." the large slug said in a respectful tone.

"Thanks Katsuyu-san it's nice to finally meet you too." Naruto answered with a friendly smile.

"Katsuyu, the reason I've summoned you here is because I wish for Naruto to be able to summon you and the rest of your kin and if it is alright with you. Jiraiya would also like Naruto to sign a summon contract with the Toads as well."

When the female boss of the slug summons heard this, she remained silent for a moment or two, thinking it over, but eventually she spoke.

"Under most circumstances, I would refuse such a request Tsunade-sama, but given how he is your son and because I have heard many good things about him from the rest of my kin, who have met him, I will allow it."

Hearing this, both Tsunade and Naruto smiled ecstatically. Katsuyu then spat out the contract scroll for the Slugs (much to Naruto and some of the others disgust). But eventually after a few minutes, Naruto finished signing the contract and returned it to Katsuyu, (where she swallowed it). Naruto tried to hide his disapproving grimace with a grimace-like smile.

After Naruto had returned the contract scroll to her, Katsuyu told Naruto that she looked forward to working with him in the future. She also told him that if he ever needed her help, all he had to do was summon her. Naruto thanked the Slug queen again, who then returned home in a puff of smoke.

With the Slugs agreeing for Naruto to become their summoner, Jiraiya decided to try the toads now, where he laid out the summoning contract for the Toads. Unlike Tsunade, he carried the contract for the Toads on his back.

Once Naruto had signed the contract for the Toads, Jiraiya also suggested that Naruto try using the Kyuubi Chakra so to see how well he could use it at will.

After teaching Naruto what to do, the elder Shinobi decided to move away a bit, since they weren't sure how big a Toad Naruto could summon when he used a portion of the Kyuubi's Chakra.

As soon as everyone had moved away a bit, Naruto bit his thumb and did the required hand seals then he started to draw out the Kyuubi's Chakra.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The area once again was enveloped by a large cloud of smoke, where Tsunade and the others were forced to move further back, just to avoid being crushed. When the smoke dissipated, it revealed that Naruto had succeeded in summoning a Toad. But it wasn't any ordinary Toad summon, it was the Boss of all Toad summons, Gamabunta.

Like Katsuyu, Gamabunta was a very large summon, who towered over the surrounding trees. His skin colour was a dull rusty red, but around his eyes and on his lips and chest he had brighter red markings. Over his left eye, he had a scar no doubt caused from some fight, although could still see out of it his eye. He wore a large blue happi vest, and carried a massive dosu blade at his hip and held a large kiseru pipe in his mouth.

"Damn the kid overdid it with the Kyuubi's Chakra, looks like he's going to need some training to use it right." Jiraiya muttered when he saw that Naruto had summoned Gamabunta. Jiraiya also knew that this could complicate things, even he had trouble dealing with Gamabunta at times.

"Crap, I don't know why but I'm bushed, it must be because I used the Kyuubi's Chakra." Naruto thought as he slowly got back onto his feet after falling ungracefully on his ass.

But as soon as Naruto got back onto his feet, Gamabunta suddenly brought his head down, causing Naruto to fall forward and onto Gamabunta's nose.

"Who the hell are you!" the Toad Boss shouted angrily when he saw Naruto and forced the young blond to cover his ears, due to the loudness of his voice. His voice was loud, unlike Katsuyu's or even the Kyuubi's.

"Why don't you ask more politely first, instead of yelling at someone you overgrown wart!" Naruto snapped angrily as he stood up and glared at Gamabunta, since he didn't appreciate being yelled at when he didn't do anything to offend said person.

"Ahh. . . Damnit brat, now you've gone and done it. . . " Jiraiya groaned when he heard Naruto and slapped his face in frustration.

When Gamabunta heard Naruto's reply, he was far from pleased.

"Why you cheeky little brat. . . Do you have any idea who I am?" Gamabunta growled. "I am Gambunta the Boss of all the Toads and I demand that you treat me with respect!"

"Well tough shit, I'd never treat some overgrown grouch like you with any kind of respect, so there! What are you going to do about it?" yelled Naruto, in a rare display of childishness, he stuck out his tongue and pulled his right eyelid down and went "NNNaahhhh," the Toad Boss really irritated him at the moment.

When Jiraiya and Tsunade saw this both couldn't help but face-palm, as things were getting worse by the minute.

When Gamabunta saw this, the Toad Boss was furious and wanted nothing more than to swat Naruto like a fly.

"Jiraiya. . . Where are you Jiraiya? Who the hell is this cheeky brat?" Gamabunta yelled angrily.

"This isn't good…" Jiraiya thought with some concern, from the tree he was standing in. As he knew from personal experience that when Gamabunta was like this, there was little to no chance in reasoning with him.

"Jiraiya you idiot come out here this instant!" Gamabunta shouted loudly, as looked around for the Toad Sage. "Why have you summoned me here? And who is this brat?"

"Ero-sennin wasn't the one who summoned you here, it was me!" Naruto yelled, gaining the Toad Boss's attention.

At hearing the Toad Boss began to laugh loudly, making it difficult for Naruto to stay on his nose.

"Woahh. . .!"

"Bwahahahaha…That has got to be the most ridiculous thing, I've ever heard in my life" Gamabunta said. "There's no way that small brat like you could ever summon me!"

"Well you better, because it's true!" This just caused the Toad Boss to laugh harder, as he refused to believe that a kid like Naruto could summon him. This angered Naruto further, since he didn't like to be mocked by anyone either.

"Shut up you overgrown blowhard!" Naruto shouted angrily, causing Gamabunta to stop laughing. "I was the one that summoned you, so I expect you to treat me with some respect!"

"You're seriously starting to piss me off brat. You aren't even old enough to drink and yet you expect me to believe that you're my new summoner?" Gamabunta said.

"Do you seriously want to die faster brat?" continued the Toad boss before he opened him mount and spat out his tongue and had it grab onto Naruto, where he then dropped the young blonde unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Hey what's the big idea? If you wanted me to get off you could've just asked, you jackass!" Naruto said angrily as he stood back up.

"Watch your mouth brat! You should be grateful that I don't squash you like the cockroach you are after how much cheek you've given me." the annoyed Gamabunta replied as he stared down at Naruto.

"Just try it you stupid Toad!" Naruto retorted as he glared up at massive Toad, who narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

Fortunately though, before things could escalate any further, Jiraiya and the others arrived.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa easy there you two" Jiraiya said as he appeared between Naruto and Gamabunta and acted as the mediator between the two.

"About time you showed up you idiot. Now who the hell is this brat and why did you summon me here?" Gamabunta said when he saw Jiraiya.

"His name is Naruto and he is Tsunade and Minato's kid and like he said earlier he was the one that summoned you not me." Jiraiya explained.

When Gamabunta heard this he was shocked, he of course knew about Naruto since he had been there at the Kyuubi attack. Also some of the smaller Toads had talked about him after meeting him when Jiraiya summoned them to play with boy when he was younger. But still, this was his first time meeting the young blonde and as he eyed Naruto further, he could see the strong similarities between Naruto and Minato. In fact Naruto looked like a younger version of Minato, although there was still some difference between the two of them. Like the shape of his eyes and nose, not to mention his skin colour was a lighter shade than Minato's and more like his mother.

"Hmmm, well there's no mistaking it, the boy is Minato's son that for sure, the resemblance between the two of them is uncanny. Although he's more like Tsunade, personality wise." the Toad Boss thought as he glanced at Tsunade, who was now standing next to her son.

After a few minutes Gamabunta eventually got over his surprise and looked back at Jiraiya, "So other than introducing me to the kid why exactly was I brought here?"

"Well to be honest, it was sort of an accident, since I had the brat sign the contract and we decided to see how well he could use the Kyuubi's Chakra by using it to summon one of the other Toads. But the kid kind of went overboard with the Chakra and summoned you instead, I was planning on summoning you later and introduce the two of you and get your approval of both him and of him sharing a contract with you and the slugs."

"What do you mean by that?" the giant Toad asked with a frown.

"Well you see, Tsunade wanted Naruto to sign a contract with the Slugs and I wanted to do the same with you and the rest of the Toads, since Minato would've wanted it as well. After a while, we agreed that if both you and Katsuyu agreed we let him summon both."

"And Katsuyu agreed to this?" Gamabunta asked in mild surprise.

"She did" Jiraiya responded with a nod, "She's taken a liking to him. . . Look I know that the brat and you kind of got off the wrong foot, but give him a shot. He's a good kid and I'm sure plenty of the other Toads that have met him can vouch for him as well."

Gamabunta frowned a bit since many of the smaller Toads who had met Naruto when he was younger had spoken fondly of him. His own two sons Gamakichi and Gamatatsu had even met and played with Naruto when they were younger and like the other toads, his sons got on well with Naruto.

"Well even if he is Minato's son and even if I do accept that he summoned me and forget the cheek he showed me earlier. I refuse to acknowledge an impudent little brat, who can't even stay on my back when I move, as my summoner" Gamabunta replied with a harrumph.

"What if I can stay on you without falling off?" Naruto challenged as he walked forward towards Gamabunta.

"What?"

"If I can stay on you for the rest of the day and not fall off, will you acknowledge me as your summoner?" Naruto asked.

When Gamabunta first heard this, his first thought was to refuse it, but quickly decided to accept it. Believing that it would be a good way to pay Naruto back for his cheek and have a little fun at his expense.

"Fine I agree, but if you fall off, you have to agree to give up your contract with the Toads" Gamabunta stated.

"Agreed" Naruto replied, before either Tsunade or Jiraiya could object, after which Gamabunta lowered his head and allowed Naruto to jump onto it.

"Okay brat but don't blame me if you die" Gamabunta grinned evilly, before he jumped up at high speed into the air.

When Gamabunta jumped into the air the force of the jump was so great that it nearly blew the young Senju off the giant Toad. But fortunately before he did, he grabbed the back of Gamabunta's happi vest and held onto it for dear life. Jiraiya and the others below were also affected by the force of the jump, they were nearly blown away.

After recovering from the backlash of Gamabunta's jump, Shizune quickly turned to Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sama, don't you think you should try and stop this, if Gamabunta goes too far, Naruto might get hurt."

"You don't have to worry too much Shizune, he won't go that far. Gamabunta is really just testing Naruto to see what he is made out of" the toad sage stated while chuckling.

"What's so funny Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked with a slight frown, when she saw Jiraiya smirking as she was rather annoyed with how things were turning out between Gamabunta and Naruto.

"Oh it's nothing much, I just found it funny, how similar this situation is to when Minato first summoned Gamabunta."

"What do you mean?" Kushina asked, as this was the first she heard of this.

"Well, you might not believe this, given how well Gamabunta and Minato got on later on. But back when Minato first summoned him, Gamabunta refused to acknowledge Minato as his summoner, saying like with Naruto, he was too young. Seeing this, Minato made a similar challenge to Gamabunta, saying that if he could stay on his back for a full day, then Gamabunta would have to accept him."

"I'm assuming that Gamabunta accepted the Yondaime Hokage's challenge and that the Yondaime succeeded" Yamato said.

"Pretty much."

"So do you think Naruto stands a chance?" Shizune asked.

"Hard to say, although Gamabunta won't let the kid die, he still won't go easy on him. Not to mention the brat looked pretty worn after summoning Gamabunta," Jiraiya replied with a small frown. "My guess is it was because of some kind after effect from using the Kyuubi's Chakra."

After hearing this, the others nodded, since they had all thought the same thing. Soon after though, they were awoken from their private thoughts by a loud crashed, caused by Gamabunta landing on the ground again.

Hearing the crash the five Shinobi decided to move up to some place higher where they could watch Naruto and see if he could win the challenge.

---

For the next couple of hours, the valley was alive with activity, with Gamabunta jumping around at high-speed, while Naruto held on to the large Toad's vest for dear life, so that he wouldn't fall off.

Naruto had tried to channel his Chakra onto his feet so to stay on Gamabunta. But could not for he was too tried after using the Kyuubi's Chakra, in fact it was taking everything he had just to stay on the Giant Toad.

As the day dragged on, Gamabunta was becoming slightly irritated with how Naruto was still holding out. He was even forced to admit that Naruto was tougher than he originally thought, since he knew how tired Naruto was after summoning him. Gambunta jumped into a large nearby lake and began to swim around at high-speed, making it even harder for Naruto to hold on. But regardless of what Gamabunta did, Naruto refused to fall off. The young Senju gritted his teeth, shivering slightly from the cold after the water hit him.

Eventually though, the day neared an end and the sun began to set. When Naruto saw the sun beginning to set, he became even more determined to hold on, knowing that he was close to winning.

Naruto was of course not the only one that became more determined when he saw the sun setting. The Toad Boss became just as determined, since he refused to lose to Naruto, despite how tired he was now. Wanting to end this now, Gamabunta made one last massive jump high up into the air.

"Damn, Gamabunta is just as stubborn as ever, he just won't let up!" Jiraiya commented, as he and the others watch the two from a safe place.

"Come on Naruto, just hold out a little longer." Kushina cheered, before Gambunta landed with a massive crash near where they were.

The landing was so hard that it actually shook the ground a little and threw Naruto up into the air. But luckily for Naruto, he was able to land on top of Gamabunta's head, although was unable to keep his balance and looked like he was about to fall.

Realizing this, Naruto forced as much Chakra as he could gather to his feet, thus allowing him to stay on Gamabunta.

"Dammnit, you are one stubborn brat!" yelled Gamabunta, as he shook his head around, trying to throw Naruto off. But no matter how hard his shook his head, Naruto stayed on.

"Yes, Naruto has won!" Shizune cheered, when she saw that Naruto was still on Gamabunta and the sun had just about set.

When Naruto saw that the sun was just about gone, he smiled.

"Look like you lose, now you have to acknowledge me as your summoner. . ." Naruto started but before he could finish speaking; he lost consciousness, as the events of the day finally caught up to him.

As soon as Naruto lost consciousness, he fell off Gamabunta's head.

"Naruto!" Tsunade cried in fear when she saw her son lose consciousness and fall off Gamabunta, knowing that a fall from that height would kill him. But before she or any of the others could react. Gamabunta spat out his tongue and caught Naruto before he could hit the ground, where he then placed him gently on the ground.

As soon as Gamabunta had placed Naruto on the ground, Tsunade and the others quickly appeared next to Naruto, where the female Senju quickly examined her son.

"Is he alright?" Kushina asked in concern.

"Yes he is" Tsunade replied with relief, "He's just exhausted."

"Too bad brat, you were close to winning" Gamabunta spoke, when saw the sun finally sink under the horizon.

At hearing this, a sad look appeared on Shizune and Kushina's faces, since Naruto had been so close to winning. But since he lost, Gamabunta would be revoking Naruto's contract with the Toads.

"So do you plan to revoke Naruto's contract?" Kushina asked when she looked up at the Toad Boss.

"The boy may have lost, but he has proven himself through his determination, so I won't have his contract with us revoked and I'll agree to share it with the Slugs." Gamabunta answered, before grinning impishly down at the unconscious Naruto. "In many ways he reminds me a lot of his father the Yondaime Hokage, and he is the first person since the Yondaime to stay on me that long. He may still be much too young for me to regard him as my summoner. But I will acknowledge him as my subordinate and help him when he needs it."

When Tsunade and the others heard this they all smiled as that was good enough for them, and it would be good enough for Naruto.

"Train him well Jiraiya, I expect a lot of great things from that boy in the future" spoke Gamabunta before he disappeared in a large cloud.

With the matter of the summons settle, Tsunade and everyone decided to return to their camp and allow Naruto to rest for the next day of training.

-Later in Konoha-

After two weeks for training with his Mother and everyone, Naruto returned to Konoha. Training had been harsh, as his mother put him through her special bombardment training, to improve his speed and reaction time. The difference from her normal bombardment training was that this time, his mother made Shadow clones of herself and of the balls when she threw them at him.

Naruto survived the training, but just barely, the young blonde at that point had wondered if what his mother was doing to him could be considered Child abuse.

And if that wasn't enough, Naruto also had to deal with his Sensei Kushina. Who was just as relentless as his mother when it came to training, where she was teaching him some other techniques from her Arasuijin no Mai (Dance of the Raging Water Goddess) style.

He was also currently being trained by Jiraiya is using the Kyuubi's Chakra better and although his control had improved, he couldn't escape the side-effects, where each time he used it, he became physically drained. It was double-edged technique.

When Naruto told the others of how he felt after each time he used the Kyuubi's Chakra, they figured it was due to his Mokuton Bloodline limit.

Later Tsunade theorised that since Mokuton naturally suppresses a Biju's Chakra, Naruto's body reacts negatively to the Kyuubi's Chakra when he uses it, causing severe exhaustion and ware on his body, when he finishes using it. Hence it was decided that Naruto should only uses the Kyuubi's Chakra when he has no other choice.

This was also the reason Tsunade had Naruto focus so much on learning the new technique that Yamato was teaching him. Since if he could use it correctly, it would be of immense benefit to him in his fights with Gaara and Yugito, should he face them in the finals.

Sadly though, the technique proved more difficult to learn and control than Naruto originally thought and was even more difficult to use. During the training Naruto had a Clone summon the Kyuubi's Chakra and act as a training-partner for him to use the technique on. But even when using the Clone as practice, there was only so much it could withstand before disappearing, as the technique put a great deal of stress on the person. But regardless of this set back, Naruto was determined to master the technique before the Chunin finals.

As Naruto jumped across the rooftops of Konoha, he could not help but be grateful for the day off from training, since he had hoped for the chance to see how Lee was doing after their fight. His mother was with Jiraiya in meeting with the Sandaime, while Shizune was in the market gathering some supplies before they returned to training. Kushina and Yamato had also gone their own paths, where Kushina said she was going to have some Raman, while Yamato stated he had some errands to run.

When Naruto arrived at the hospital, (carrying a bunch of flowers he had created), he asked the nurse on station for Lee's room. The nurse was of course quite helpful, where she directed Naruto to Lee's room.

After arriving at Lee's room, Naruto found that his bushy haired friend was asleep.

Not wanting to disturb him and allow Lee to get some rest, Naruto left the flowers he planned to give to Lee, next to beside table. Before he left Naruto took a quick look at Lee's medical charts, where she saw that Lee was slowly recovering, but would need a lot of treatment and physical therapy.

Naruto felt guilty over Lee's condition, since he had caused most of the injuries that Lee had.

After a while pondering, Naruto left the room. He walked down the hall in a brisk pace but came to a stop when he came face to face with Lee's sensei Maito Gai, who seemed surprised at seeing Naruto.

"Naruto-san, I did not expect to see you here, I had heard that you had left the village to do some private training with your mother Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama and your teachers Kushina-san and Yamato-san."

"Yes I did, I'm just back for the day, I had come to see how Lee was doing, but since he is sleeping, I decided not to disturb him." Naruto felt slightly uncomfortable in the man's presence after what he did to his student.

"Are you sure? I'm certain Lee wouldn't mind me waking him to speak to you."

"I'm certain, Lee needs all the rest he can, I'm sure I'll see him at the Chunin finals,"

"I understand." Gai replied with a nod.

"If you don't mind me saying Gai-sensei, but I'm sort of surprised that you're here, I thought you would be with Neji, helping him train for the finals."

"Neji-kun has Tenten helping him, he had stated he only needed her help to train for his match against you."

"I see," Naruto answered before excusing himself.

As Naruto walked down the hall he suddenly stopped and called out to Gai. "Gai-sensei, if you don't mind, could you give Lee a message for me?"

"Of course" replied Gai.

"Could you tell him that as far as I'm concern, I won only by sheer luck, and if it wasn't for the halt in his attack, he would've won. But regardless of the outcome of the fight, he is already a great Shinobi and he was one of the strongest opponents that I ever fought, and he has my respect and I will gladly fight him again if he wishes."

When Gai heard this, the green clad man smiled, "I will of course Naruto-san, it would mean a great deal to him to hear this."

After Gai had agreed to deliver his message to Lee, Naruto nodded curtly and walked away.

---

After leaving the hospital, Naruto jumped across the rooftops of Konoha and made his way to Ichiraku Ramen Bar to have lunch since he hadn't had Ramen in over two weeks which was torture for him.

As he made his way across the rooftops, Naruto suddenly noticed a familiar face in the street below. The person in question was Yugito, who was acting fairly suspiciously, where she kept looking around her, as if making sure that no-one was following her. Naruto also notice that she was carrying a large paper bag in her hands.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto decided to follow the Blonde girl, where for the next few minutes Naruto followed his fellow blonde from the rooftops. Naturally it wasn't easy, as Yugito kept looking around her, both in the street and up in the rooftops, forcing Naruto to keep his distance.

But she eventually turned into a dark narrow alleyway that was between two large buildings.

When Naruto saw this, he made his way to the rooftop of one of the buildings that flanked the alleyway and discreetly looked down into the alley and what he saw surprised him.

For down below Nii Yugito, the strongest Genin in Kumo was talking to and feeding a small snow-white kitten.

"Here you go girl." Yugito said as she poured a small carton of milk into a small bowel and gave it to the small white kitten. (3)

Once Yugito lowered the bowel of milk, the small kitten quickly went over and began to lick the milk.

As the small kitten was drinking the milk, Yugito gently petted the kitten, causing it to purr.

"Poor little thing…" Yugito said sadly "…you shouldn't be here all by yourself. I would take you in myself. But unfortunately the hotel my team and I are staying at doesn't allow animals. But I make this promise, as long as I'm here, I'll make sure to stop by and feed you every day and try to find you a good home before I leave, how does that sound?"

At this the little Kitten looked up and Yugito and went "Meow" as if agreeing with Yugito, before it went back to drinking the milk.

From up above the alley, Naruto couldn't help but smile at the scene, "So Yugito-chan is a cat lover, Heh! Who'd thought it?...But then again I guess it makes a bit sense that she like cats, since she is the jinchūriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko (Two-tailed Monster Cat)."

For the next ten minutes, Naruto watched the kitten drink the milk, where once it was finished, Yugito took out a small piece of fish and placed it on the bowl allowing the kitten to eat it.

After a little while, the little kitten fished eating the piece of fish and licked the bowel clean.

"All done?" Yugito asked where the white kitten looked up and meowed at Yugito.

"Good" replied Yugito with a smile, before she took out a small feather waggler (4) and began to play with the kitten.

As Yugito played with the kitten, she suddenly said "Nya, Nya, Nya" in a cute and girly kind of way, something that Naruto never thought he would hear from Yugito of all people.

When Naruto heard this, a small snort of laughter busted from his lips.

Sadly though for Naruto, Yugito's keen Shinobi hearing picked up on the small snort, where before Naruto realized it, a set of Shuriken appeared in her left free hand and flew up to where he was.

Acting fast, Naruto quickly rolled out of the path of the Shuriken and moved behind a large rooftop fan.

As soon as he went behind the fan, Yugito appeared on the rooftop, holding the white kitten tightly in her right hand.

"I know you there, come out you coward and face me." Yugito said angrily.

Knowing the jig was up Naruto slowly came out from behind the fan with his hands up in surrender and a goofy, but guilty look on his face. "H-h-hey Yugito-chan, been a while."

"N-N-Nar-Naruto?" Yugito said in surprise, before realization appeared on her face.

"T-T-Th-This isn't what it looks like!" the panicking Yugito cried in denial, who was now bright red from embarrassment, as she realized what Naruto must have seen. "I-I-I just found this cat and I…erm…how much did you see?"

"Eh…emmm…everything" Naruto replied with nervous smile, where he then saw Yugito turn an even brighter shade of red.

"Kyaaaaaa! If Naruto knows and tells anyone of this, Samui and the others could hear about it and knowing those big months Karui and Bee-sensei. They'll tell everyone back in Kumo …and my reputation will be ruined." Yugito thought in panic as images of Killer Bee and Karui shouting things like "Hey everyone Yugito-chan is a super pansy kitty-cat lover!"

After imaging this a harden look suddenly appeared on Yugito's face, where she then drew her Katana from her back. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I'm afraid I cannot let you live after what you have just seen. I promise I will make this quick and painless."

"Is she serious?" Naruto thought in surprise, where he quickly got his answer, when he was forced to jump back to avoid a slash from the blonde Kunoichi's Katana.

Following the slash, Naruto spent the next few minutes ducking and avoiding Yugito's attacks.

"Shit! Yugito-chan this is crazy, stop it!" Naruto cried as he sidestepped another sword slash. "I promise I won't tell anyone that you have a soft spot for cats!"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I simply cannot take that chance" Yugito replied as she went to slash him again. But stopped in mid-swing, when the kitten jumped out of her hand and went over to Naruto, where it started rub his leg and purr.

"Heh, guess she likes me" Naruto said, where he silently thanked the kitten for getting Yugito to stop, since he really didn't want to fight Yugito, at least not yet.

Sadly though, the fact that the kitten had taken a liking to Naruto, only stop Yugito momentarily, as she soon raised her Katana again.

Knowing he needed to do something fast, Naruto tried to think of a way to get Yugito to calm down.

"Wait! What if I promise to find this kitten a good home" Naruto said quickly, where as soon as he said it, Yugito's blade stopped, right before it could hit the side of his neck.

"Are you saying that you will adopt her?" Yugito asked without removing her blade from Naruto's neck, while glancing down at the white kitten, which was looking up at her and meowing.

"I can't, since I'm training outside the village and I am only here for the day, so I can't really care for her right now. But I know a place that she can stay until I can find her a good home" Naruto answered quickly.

"And would this place be able to care for her well?" Yugito asked, since she wouldn't leave the kitten to the mercy of just anyone.

"Yea they'll be able to take real good care of her, since they specialize in caring for animals and they owe me a favour from a while back."

For a moment Yugito did not answer, where she silently considered Naruto's offer, but eventually she pulled her Katana from Naruto's neck and sheathed it.

"Very well I accept your offer Naruto, but be warned, if they mistreat her in any way, it will be you who I'll hold responsible. Also you must swear never to tell anyone what you saw earlier."

At this Naruto nodded his head violently, knowing that if he didn't promise, Yugito would turn him into a human scratching post. (5)

"No prob I swear I won't tell a soul" Naruto said, "Although if you ask me, you shouldn't be so afraid to let people know you have a soft side and that you like cats, as I don't see any harm, in fact it's kind of cute."

"Cute!" Yugito thought in surprise, where she couldn't help but blush a little when Naruto mentioned her being cute, since no-one had ever really called her cute before. Fortunately though Naruto didn't notice as he was picking up the kitten and when he looked back up, she had forced it to die down. Once Naruto handed Yugito the kitten, he told her to follow him, where the two of them took off together.

---

After traveling through the village for a few minutes, Naruto and Yugito arrived at their destination, which turned out to be the Inuzuka Clan Kennels.

When Yugito saw where Naruto was planning to leave the kitten, she turned and glared angrily at Naruto. "This is where you plan to put her, a Kennel full of dogs!"

"Hey Hey easy Yugito-chan!" Naruto said quickly as he raised his hands up in defence. "Look I know how it looks, but trust me, she'll be fine her I promise, they treat other animals here, so I'm sure they be able to take good care of her."

"I should hope so…for your sake" Yugito replied gruffly.

When the two entered the front office, they found a young girl at the front desk filing away papers.

"Can I help you two?" the young woman asked.

"Eh yea, I'm looking for Inuzuka Tsume" Naruto replied.

"May I ask who is asking?"

"Senju Naruto" Naruto answered, where after hearing his full name, the young woman's eyes widened slightly in surprise before quickly regaining control of herself.

"I'm sorry Senju-sama, but Tsume-sama is away at the moment, but her daughter Hana-san is here, would she be of help?"

"Yeah, she would be fine."

"Very well I get her now, please wait a moment." the women said before she went back to get Hana.

As they waited for the woman to return with Hana, Yugito turned to Naruto with a raised eyebrow over how the woman spoke to him. Naruto of course replied with annoyed sigh that said "Don't ask."

Soon after, the woman returned with Hana who quickly greeted Naruto when she saw him.

"Hello again Naruto-san."

"Hey Hana-san nice to see you again." Naruto replied with a smile.

"So may I ask why you are here and who is your friend here?" Hana asked as she turned to Yugito.

"This is Yugito and as to why we are here, well I hoping to ask you for a favour."

"Yugito you say. . ." Hana muttered, where she finally took notice of Yugito's headband. "You wouldn't happen to be the same Kumo Kunoichi that defeated my younger brother Kiba in the preliminaries would you?"

When Hana asked this, Yugito was bemused by the news that Hana was Kiba's older sister, since she didn't seem to be anything like him. But she soon got over her surprise and nodded, confirming Hana's suspicion that she was the one who defeated Kiba.

"Is Kiba here?" Naruto asked with some concern since knowing Kiba he was probably still a little mad over losing to Yugito. Kiba was a sore loser after all.

"No, he's off helping his team-mate Shino train for the Chunin finals so you needn't worry." Hana replied, as if she had read his mind, knowing what he was concern about.

Relieved to hear this, Naruto then went on to explain the reason why he and Yugito were here. When Naruto finished explaining, Hana frowned slightly and looked at the kitten for a few minutes before speaking.

"Although we do treat other animals when they're injured or sick and keep them here when they're recovering, we aren't a shelter for homeless animals…" Hana said. But before Yugito or Naruto could respond to this the female Inuzuka smiled and continued speaking. "…But since we technically owe you for finding Kurimaru and bringing him back safely, I think we can make an exception and let her stay here for a while, until you can find her a good home."

After hearing this, Naruto smiled and thanked Hana, who responded by saying it was nothing.

When Hana went to take the small kitten, Yugito was naturally hesitant to give the small kitten away, but soon relented knowing that it was for the best.

"Will she be alright here?" Yugito asked in concern for the kitten, given how many dogs were here.

"You needn't worry; Inuzuka dogs are well-trained from an early age and are much more intelligent than normal dogs. They won't bother her, plus we have a room here that is just for cats, so she won't be bother by any of the younger pups who might bother her" Hana explained.

Satisfied with Hana's answer, Yugito asked her to take good care of the Kitten, after which she and Naruto bid Hana and the kitten goodbye and left.

After leaving the Inuzuka Kennel, Naruto asked Yugito if she would like to have lunch with him. Being a bit hungry, Yugito agreed, where the two of them headed into the center of the Konoha market.

---

After a few minutes on walking through Konoha, Naruto and Yugito arrived at Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

When they arrived at the Raman Bar, Teuchi's immediately greeted Naruto, who was one of his two best customers.

"Ah Naruto-san it's good to see you, you just missed Kushina, as she just left a few minutes ago."

"That's alright, I'll be seeing her later on anyhow" Naruto answered as he and Yugito sat down at the bar.

"Oh hello Naruto, who's your pretty friend here?" Ayame asked who had just come from the back of the stand and saw Yugito with Naruto. "You two wouldn't happen to be on a date now would you?"

"We're not!…we're just friends!" both blondes said quickly at the same time, where they both blushed slightly in embarrassment.

Naturally when Ayame saw this she giggled in amusement as she thought that the two of them were quite cute together.

Eventually though when the embarrassment of the two Genin died down, and they ordered their meals. Yugito ordered a bowel of Tonkotsu Ramen, while Naruto ordered twelve bowels of Shōyu Ramen.

When Yugito heard Naruto's ordered, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, where in response the Blonde boy just shrugged his shoulders saying he was hungry and liked Ramen.

As they waited for their Ramen, Naruto turned to Yugito, "So Yugito-chan, while we're waiting, maybe you could tell me about Kumo?"

At this question, Yugito frowned slightly, "And what exactly do you want to know Naruto?"

"Hey don't look at me like that, I'm not asking for any secrets or anything" Naruto said as he raised his hands up in defence when he saw Yugito stare at him. "I'm just asking what it is like to live in and what the people are like."

Naturally Yugito remained sceptical, since regardless of the fact that she liked him as a friend, Naruto was still a Shinobi of Konoha, the biggest rival of her village.

Seeing that Yugito was still conflicted, Naruto decided to make her an offer. "Okay how about this, if you tell me a bit about Kumo, I'll tell you a bit about here and we both agree that we only ask about general stuff and if gets to uncomfortable we say that we can't answer."

Yugito contemplated Naruto's offer for a moment before deciding to accept Naruto's deal. For the next twenty minutes the two Blondes talked about different things in their respected villages, like what the people were like. What kind of restaurants and shops they each had, as well as the similarities and differences there were. They even talked why each of them weren't training today, where Yugito explained that like Naruto, she and the rest of her team had been given the day off by Killer Bee.

As they continued to talk, Yugito found that she was enjoying her conversation with Naruto, since Naruto had this sort of calming presence around him, which made her feel comfortable.

Eventually Teuchi and Ayame brought their orders over to them. When Yugito started eating her Ramen, she found that Ichiraku's Ramen was actually quite nice.

"Hmmm, this is very good, it's much better than Hakkaku's Ramen in Kumo" the blonde Kunoichi commented as she continued to eat her Ramen.

"Of course" Naruto replied who had just finished eating his first bowel of Ramen and was starting his second one that Ayame handed to him. "Ayame-chan and old man Teuchi's Ramen is the best anywhere."

Teuchi was quite pleased to hear this, as he always enjoyed hearing that people enjoyed his Ramen.

"That's very sweet of you to say Naruto-kun" Ayame said with a smile, where she gave the young Senju a small kiss on the cheek, which made Naruto go red.

When Yugito saw this, the female jinchūriki felt slightly irritated by what Ayame did, despite the fact that she didn't know why.

Sensing Yugito's irritation, Nibi decided to have a little fun with her host.

"So kitten, having fun on your date?" the Monster cat asked in a teasing tone.

"This isn't a date, we're just having lunch together, that's it" Yugito responded with a small blush at the thought of her and Naruto being on a date.

"The two of you by yourselves having lunch together, looks and sounds like a date to me" the Nibi replied in an amused tone.

"I told you, it's not a date" Yugito replied with annoyance, "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't think of Naruto that way."

"Really, well if that's true, then why were you so annoyed when that girl kissed him?"

Naturally Yugito didn't have an answer to this question right away and by the time she came up with one, the Nibi continued.

"If you ask me kitten, you better make a move on him soon, you already have quite a bit of competition, not counting this one."

Annoyed by how things were going, Yugito decided to ignore her Biju's comments and focused on eating her meal.

After a little while, the two Genin finished their meals, where Naruto attempted to try and pay for both their meals. But Yugito refused on principle, stating that she would pay for her own food.

After leaving the Ramen stand, the two walk through the streets of Konoha and continued to talk, where eventually Naruto decided to ask Yugito a question that had been on his mind for a while.

"If it's alright with you Yugito-chan, I would like to ask you something."

"And what exactly do you want to know?"

"I want to know your orders regarding me?" Naruto asked with a serious tone.

"What are you talking about Naruto?" Yugito asked, since she was naturally surprised by Naruto's question.

"Look Yugito I know like a lot of people here in this exam, you have orders regarding Sasuke and me. Both of us are the last heirs to the founders of Konoha and both of us have gained a lot of attention lately, especially me, given my sudden appearance. It's no coincident that you and the others enter the Chunin exam at the same time as me. My Sensei Kushina and my family believe you're out to kill me, like Mai was. But I've defend you, since I don't believe you would do that. So I want you to tell me what your orders are. It's not going to change anything in the exam and it won't change how I regard you and the others, since I know you are only doing it because you were ordered to and because you are loyal to your village. I just want you to be honest with me, since regardless of our villages' rivalry, I still consider you and the others my friends."

After hearing this Yugito remained silent for a moment and thought about what Naruto said. At first she thought about denying it and saying that she had no orders regarding him, but figured that it would be pointless, as Naruto would know that she was lying.

"Huuuu" Yugito sighed, before she decided to come clean with Naruto, knowing that there would be no point in lying to him as it would change nothing. "You're right, the others and I do have orders regarding you and Uchiha Sasuke. But it's not what your sensei or your family think our orders are simply to defeat both of you."

"What do you mean, exactly?" Naruto asked.

"Originally Samui, the others and I were supposed to enter the Chunin exam last year, but the Raikage denied our sensei's request. The reason was because he knew that this year, Uchiha Sasuke would most likely be entering the Chunin exam and the Raikage hoped he could use the Chunin exam as a way to humiliate Konoha. By having one of us defeat Uchiha Sasuke in the exam finals in front of everyone and winning the Chunin exam. Thus showing that our village has the strongest Shinobi and improving our village's standing. But when you revealed yourself in your village, you became our primary target, given your heritage, with Uchiha Sasuke being secondary."

When Naruto heard this he couldn't help but snort a little, since he knew that if Sasuke heard that he had become secondary to Naruto, he would've been greatly annoyed by it.

"So you don't have any orders to kill me or anything?" asked Naruto.

"I've received no such orders and that is the truth. But regardless of my orders, I intend to defeat you in the finals" Yugito answered as she looked at Naruto with determination and confidence.

"I'm glad to hear that" Naruto said with a smirk as he stared back at his fellow blonde. "But you should know that I have no intention of losing either."

"Heh, I would expect nothing less and have it no other way" Yugito replied with a smile.

"Also let's promise that we'll face each other in the finals and when we do, we give it our all and we hold nothing back from one another", after which the young girl offered her hand.

"Sounds good to me" Naruto replied with a grin as he took Yugito's hand and shook it. "We'll make it the fight of the decade."

"I look forward to it" the female blonde responded before she bid goodbye to Naruto and headed back to her hotel to meet up with her team.

As soon as Yugito had left, a familiar voice suddenly spoke from behind Naruto.

"My, my, my Naruto, you've become quite the Casanova these past few months, not to mention, you've become a lot sneaker."

When Naruto heard this, he quickly turned around and was surprised to see Shizune holding a bag full of groceries and having a devious looking smirk.

"Nee-chan, why are you here and what do you mean by that?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, come on Naru-chan, don't try and deny it, I've been watching you two ever since I saw you at the Ramen stand" Shizune replied with a knowing look, "I would've said hello. But I didn't want spoil your little date."

"D-D-Da-Date" said a now blushing Naruto, "It wasn't a date, we were just hanging out and talking, that's all!"

"There's no need to be embarrassed Naruto" a giggling Shizune said. "The two of you are quite cute together. And I have to admit, you're more capable when it comes to girls than I thought. I never would have guessed that you had arranged for a secret date with your new "girlfriend" on your day off."

"She's not my girlfriend!" said a blushing Naruto who had now turned a shade a red that rivalled a certain Hyuga heiress, "We're just friends and we were just hanging out!"

"Really, well you spent most of the day with an attractive young girl and had lunch with her. So I believe that technically makes it a date, but we can always ask Tsunade-sensei and Jiraiya-sama, I'm sure they could tell us."

"Noooo you can't!" a now panicking Naruto cried, "You know what Kaa-chan will do, once she hears about that. Not to mention Ero-sennin will hound me for months over it."

"Well you should've thought about that before you went on your secret date with that Kumo girl" a smirking Shizune replied before racing off to find her sensei.

"AAAhhhh, No wait Nee-chan!" yelled a fearful Naruto before he raced after his elder sister figure in the hope of stopping her and saving himself from nightmarish training that was sure to follow if his mother heard of his "date."

-Two Weeks Later-

On the day before the start of the Chunin finals Naruto was current lying in the local hots spring, trying the rest his aching body. The reason his body was so sore was because of the intensive training he had gone through for the past two weeks, which Naruto called the fortnight of hell. Mainly because of the torment he received from his family and his sensei Kushina, where Jiraiya, Shizune and Kushina teased him relentlessly over his date with Yugito, regardless of how many times he denied that it was a date and that they only met by chance.

But as bad as the teasing was, it was nothing compared to what his mother did. Who was far from pleased after learning that her "baby" boy had spent most of the day with a girl alone without her knowing about it or her supervision.

After learning about the "date", Tsunade had kept an even closer eye on her son and tripled the training regimen once they arrived back at their camp. By the end of it, Naruto was certain that it was nothing short of a miracle that he was still alive. Although funny thing was, the pain that his body was in now was the least of his concern, since he couldn't stop thinking about what happened last week when he was training.

-Enter Flashback-

After dodging another sword slash from his sensei Kushina, Naruto jumped back to gain some distance from his female sensei.

"Too slow Naruto, you need to be faster, your blonde girlfriend is no slouch and that Suna Genin's sand is just as fast" Kushina said with unusual seriousness as she stared at her student, who was panting slightly.

Not far from them, Tsunade, Jiraiya and the others watched as Kushina continued with her Kenjutsu training with Naruto. But just when Naruto was about to re-engage the former red headed ANBU captain, she turned towards the tree line.

At the same time, Naruto notice that his mother and the others were all looking in the same direction, as if they were sensing something.

Before Naruto could even ask any of them, his mother suddenly spoke, "We know your there, you've shown impressive skill to have found us and sneak this close without us sensing you. But your location is obvious with that murderous intent of yours, so I suggestion you come out and show yourself before we make you."

Knowing that he had been found out, the spy decided to come out from behind the tree he was standing behind.

When he stepped out, Naruto was surprised to see that the spy was Gaara.

"I knew that killing intent felt familiar" Jiraiya thought when he saw the red-headed Suna Genin, who slowly walked towards Naruto.

"What do you want?" Kushina asked, as she stared at the Suna jinchūriki with a guarded look. "If you are here to start some trouble, then you've come to the wrong place."

"I did not come here to fight, I came here to ask him something" Gaara replied as he gave Naruto an intense look.

"What do you want to know?" Naruto asked.

"What is your goal?"

"What?"

"Why do you seek power?"

For a moment Naruto said nothing and just stared back at Gaara, unsure why he had asked him this. But eventually he spoke, "I want to become strong because I want to protect the people I care about."

After hearing Naruto's answer Gaara just looked at Naruto with the same intense look, as if he was trying to figure Naruto out.

"You have your answer, so if there's nothing else I would like you to leave, since you're interrupting my training" Naruto said, since the Suna Genin was starting to creep him out.

At first Gaara did not respond to this and continued to stare at the Naruto for a minute or two. But eventually he finally spoke, "You perplex me, you are clearly strong and have the eyes of someone who seeks power, yet you have no hate or murderous intent in them. Not like Uchiha Sasuke or I…it irritates me to no end. I would much prefer to see that look you had when you tried to attack Hyuga Neji. In that moment I saw hate and anger in your eyes, it is the look I wish to see in your eyes again, it suits you, for it is only when you feel truth hate and anger that you truly become strong,"

"Well I guess that is where we differ, I believe the reason I am strong is because I have good teachers and because I have people I want to protect" Naruto replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaara asked not fully understanding what Naruto was saying.

"A friend once told me that when a person has something important they want to protect, that is when they can become truly strong and it is what I believe in as well."

When Gaara heard this he frowned slightly "I find your reasoning not only foolish, but also naïve, as I would never risk myself to protect others."

"If that's true then I pity you, since if you have no one to care for and have no-one you want to protect, then you're all alone with nothing."

When Naruto said the the Suna Genin frowned, as if angered by want Naruto said and after a moment of staring at the blonde Senju, he decided to take his leave. But as he started to walk away, he suddenly stopped.

"Make sure that you survive up until the final round, for you are now my prey" the red-headed boy said without even looking back at Naruto. After which he disappeared in a whirl of sand.

-End Flashback-

After his conversation with Gaara, Naruto could not shake off the look he saw in Gaara's eyes, which had been filled with nothing but anger and hate.

Remembering the look, Naruto also remembered what he had read about Jinchūriki's and how they were naturally hated, despised and feared by people from their own village and were made outcasts due to people's fears of their Demons.

This of course made Naruto wonder what kind of life Gaara must have had when he was growing up where he could not help but pity the Suna Genin. He even felt somewhat responsible, since it was his ancestor the Shodai that gave Gaara's village the Ichibi no Shukaku (the One-Tailed Shukaku), which resulted in Gaara later becoming a Jinchūriki.

The more Naruto thought about Gaara and his life as a Jinchūriki, the more he began to wonder what life would've been like for him, if he had grown up in Konoha with people knowing that he held the Kyuubi within him.

Eventually Naruto decided to leave the matter of Gaara for later and rest while he could.

---

After leaving the hot spring and changing back into his regular clothes, Naruto decided to see how his mother was doing, who had gone to Konoha Hospital to see how well Lee was recovering.

As he made his way across the street, he suddenly heard a familiar male voice coming from an isolated street to his right.

When he turned he saw Furyoku Gouzen with his two friends/goons bothering a girl with short dark hair. (6)

"Hey come on, I can take you to any place you could want to go and show you places you've never heard of" Gouzen said as he placed his arm around the girl.

"Don't touch me!" the girl yelled angrily as she glared at the boy and pushed his arm off her shoulder.

"Ah come on, don't say that, we can have some fun if you just let me" Gouzen said as he tried to take hold of the girl's hand, only for her to slap it away angrily.

"If you know what's good for you'll push-off and leave me alone" the girl said as she glared at Gouzen. Since she was losing patience with him and was about to lay a beat down on the arrogant prick.

Before Gouzen could respond to this, Naruto quickly walked over to the group and spoke.

"It seems that you didn't learn your lesson the last time Gouzen-teme, maybe I should do the gene pool a favour and fulfil my promise."

When Gouzen and his "friends" heard Naruto's voice they quickly turned to his direction and upon seeing the Senju heir, they all took a step back in fear. Remembering the last time they had a run in with Naruto.

Gouzen of course was especially fearful of Naruto, since he remembered what Naruto promised to do to him. Not to mention he was afraid of what his father would do to him, since Gouzen's father had been furious after learning that he had gotten into a fight with Naruto, ruining any chance of good relationships with the Senju family.

"Senju what are you doing here?" Gouzen asked nervously.

When the girl heard Gouzen call Naruto Senju, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Oh nothing much, I was just passing by, but then I saw you and your friends brothering this girl, I decided to come over here" the Senju heir replied with a smile that was all too sweet.

Gulping at this, Gouzen and his "friends" slowly started to walk away, "W-W-We weren't, she was j-just lost and we were just helping here to find her way, that all."

"Well clearly she doesn't need your help" Naruto replied, "So why don't you three get lost instead."

Needing no further orders, Gouzen and his goons quickly turned and fled as fast as their legs could take them, not knowing that Naruto had saved their hides.

"Are you alright miss?" Naruto asked as she turned to the girl.

"Yea I'm fine, but I didn't need your help, I could've handle those losers by myself" the girl replied with a small frown, as she wasn't a big fan of guys who thought they needed to save a girl. Since it made it seem as if all girls were weak and helpless and always needed to be saved or protected.

"Oh I have no doubt that you could have handled yourself, I just intervened to save those idiots from both you and themselves, as well as to remind them that I'm watching them. So is what Gouzen said true, are you lost?"

"Sort of" the girl replied, "I came here with a friend and he went on a head to our hotel while I went get some groceries. But I kind of lost my way when I was walking around."

"Well if you like I can help you find the place, I know my way pretty well around this place."

"Thanks"

"So what's your hotel called?" Naruto asked

"The Green Leaf"

"Ah I think I know where that is, it's not too far from here" Naruto answered as he led way.

After walking together for a few minutes, the girl decided to engage in a conversation with Naruto.

"So I'm guessing from your headband that you're a Shinobi here."

"Yeah I am, so why are you and your friend here?"

"We're here to watch the Chunin exam, since we heard that this year's exam is supposed to be pretty exciting."

"Really?" Naruto asked as he raised his eyebrow, feigning ignorance.

"So have you lived here long?" the girl asked.

"Not that long a couple of months, for the most of my life, I've been traveling with my family. We only recently came to live here" answered Naruto.

"That must be nice; you must have seen many different places and met a lot of different people."

"Yeah I've seen a lot on my travels."

"What sort of places did you visit on your travels?" the girl asked, but never got an answer.

"Well we're here" Naruto said when they arrived in front of the Green Leaf Hotel.

"So we have, thanks for helping me out"

"Not a problem, glad I could help…eh"

"Yurasu, my name is Yurasu"

"Well Yurasa, my name is Naruto and it was nice meeting you" the Senju heir replied as he shook hands with Yurasu and walked away.

But when he walked away, a frown suddenly appeared on his face. "Whoever she is she is not a regular person and has been trained in fighting" Naruto thought as when he found her with Gouzen and his goons. Naruto notice that she was subtly moving into a fighting stance, which was why he intervened, in the hope of figuring out who she was.

Another reason he found her suspicious was her reason for getting lost, since when people usually visit a place, they go to their hotel first not get groceries. He also found it odd that he didn't find her with any groceries, which made him believe she was a spy from another Shinobi village.

He also figured given how interested she was in learning where he had been before he came to Konoha, that she had come here to learn more about him and what he could do.

"I going to have to tell Jiji about her, as there might be more to her mission that just learning about me" the spikey haired blonde thought.

---

After Naruto had left, the girl named Yurasu went into the hotel and went up some stairs and down a small hallway before stopping at a door, where she then knocked on it before entering the room.

When she entered the room, the girl found her partner sitting on his bed waiting for her to arrive. Her partner was a large hefty teen with dark eyes and hair, he had big cheeks and a plump nose and wore brown shirt with red pants.

"I'm glad your back, I was starting to get worried" the young man said. "Did you learn much while you were out?"

"Not much I'm afraid, as I ran into a little trouble with some guys trying to hit on me. But I did happen to have some luck, where I ran into our target."

"Senju Naruto?" the teen asked, where the girl nodded.

"Were you able to learn anything from him?"

"Afraid not, as we didn't talk for very long, although I did learn that his mother is here as well. Since when we were talking, he said "we" when he mentioned living here, meaning that his mother is also living here now with him."

"Not surprising, but I guess its something, so what should we do now?" asked the pulp teen. "Should he continue walking around and gathering more Intel?"

"No, I think we should lay low for now, as we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves as the finals start tomorrow. We'll see what he can do then, along with that Uchiha kid."

"Sounds good, if it alright with you I'm going to down and have some lunch, do you want to join me?" the young man asked.

"Nah I'm fine, I going to have a shower and rest up."

"Ok, I'll see you later then Kurotsuchi"

"Yeah seeya Akatsuchi, and watch yourself" the Tsuchikage's Granddaughter replied, where she and Akatsuchi left the room and went their separate ways.

-Hokage's Mansion-

Currently sitting at his desk, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen was in deep thought.

He had just finished speaking with his surrogate Grandson Naruto, who had just left after telling him that he discovered two possibly spies in the village.

When the Sandaime asked what made Naruto believe that there were spies in the village, he told him about the girl named Yurasa, who he had met and why he was suspicious of her.

Now under most circumstances the Sandaime might have told his surrogate Grandson that he was being paranoid. But the Sandaime knew from past experience that a little paranoia could often save a Shinobi's life. Plus there was also the fact that the Chunin exam was tomorrow and hundreds of people from all around were coming to watch it. Security would be hard pressed to watch everyone that came into the village and it wouldn't too difficult for one or two spies to sneak in to the village.

After a moment or two of deep thought, the Sandaime decided to have one of his ANBU watch the girl Naruto met and her friend, just to be on the safe side.

Once the Sandaime had thanked Naruto for alerting him to the girl and her friend, he wished him luck in his match tomorrow, after which the blonde left.

When Nauro left, the Sandaime looked back down at the amount of paperwork that was on his desk, which had doubled in the past month, after the Preliminaries matches had ended. However thankfully he had Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) to help him out, where he created two clones and divided the work between them.

Most of the paperwork was of course from different Daimyos and Feudal Lords who sent their letters to notify him of their future visit to attend the finals. Among them as well was a letter from the Fire Daimyo, stating that he and his family would be arriving in Konoha tomorrow. Now in most cases this would be a good thing for Konoha, since it would mean a lot of business, but the thing that concerned him were two letters that came last week.

Hiruzen picked up the letters and narrowed his eyes as he reread them.

The reason these letters concerned him so much was because they were from the Yondaime Raikage A and the new Godaime Mizukage Terumī Mei. Although Hiruzen knew he shouldn't be surprised, since several Gennin from their respected villages had managed to advance to the finals. Therefore they were permitted to attend the finals and observe them as they competed. But regardless of their right, he was still surprised by everything that was happening. Four out of the five Kages from the five greatest Shinobi Villages would be together in one place, something that has never happened since the armistice treaty that ended the First Great Shinobi World War. Although Konoha and Kiri have a neutral relationship, there was some tension between them and Kumo from the Hyuuga incident that occurred several years ago.

And if that wasn't enough he also had to worry about the four jinchuriki that were now in the village. Killer Bee who just so happened to be the adopted brother of the Yondaime Raikage, Yugito who was Bee's student, Gaara who was the Yondaime Kazekage's son.

This meant that not only four of the five Kages will be together in the same place, but also four of the nine jinchuriki when you add Naruto, whose status as the Kyuubi's jinchuriki remained unknown.

It was like a gathering power and it worried greatly him, since normally when such powers gathered together in one place, disaster was never far behind and if that happened, Konoha would be ground zero for it.

Eventually though, the Sandaime's train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on his door. Quickly placing the Kage letters with his completed papers and dispelling his clones, he answered "Enter!"

When the door opened, to his surprise Iruka entered.

Smiling kindly at the young man the old Hokage spoke, "Iruka I wasn't expecting you, you usually make an appointment before you see me."

Iruka bowed before he gave a sheepish grin as he scratched his head in slight embarrassment "Yeah this visit is sudden for me too" he walked forward until he was in front of the desk.

"So what can I do for you Iruka?" Hiruzen asked, as he saw Iruka take a slightly more serious but with a happy outlook.

"Well today in class I saw Konohamaru talking to everyone about how Naruto managed to make it into the Chunin exams finals and how Naruto was going to emerge victorious, where he then told me his idea".

"What kind of idea?" the curious Hokage asked

"Well he asked if it was possible if the entire class could go on a field trip to see the Chunin finals tomorrow."

When Hiruzen heard this he raised an eyebrow as he wasn't expecting to hear this; before he answered he first wanted to check something. "And what's your take on this idea of his?" The reason he asked is because he first wanted to hear Iruka's opinion on this before he gave his thoughts.

Iruka had a thoughtful expression for a moment before he answered with an amused smirk "Well if I had to guess I'd say Konohamaru recommended this idea because he wants to skip one day of school and wanted to see Naruto and the others fight in the finals".

The Sandaime let out a sigh, as that definitely sounded like his grandson, he had been constantly saying how Naruto was so cool and how he had to train hard to beat him for the position of Hokage. Before he could reply however Iruka spoke again.

"Although I know this idea of his is just a one day escape plan to get out of class, I think it might actually be a good idea for the academy students".

Now Hiruzen looked a bit confused. "How exactly would skipping a day of class be good for them exactly?" he questioned to see what Iruka had thought of.

"Well it occurred to me that after reading the report from how the preliminary matches went I feel that our students and future Genin could use a sight of the real world" Iruka spoke with certainty.

"And just what exactly do you mean by a sight of the real world" the Saindaime wasn't getting were Iruka was going with this.

"Well you were there during the preliminaries so you should know about how some of our Genin performed poorly in the exams".

Now the Saindaime was beginning to see where he was going. "Yes I did".

"Well in regards to Sakura, Ino and Tenten's matches. I feel the academy could use an adjustment to help them improve themselves for when they graduate to become Genin".

The Sandaime thought about what Iruka said as he had to admit he might be onto something. He saw all the matches in the preliminaries and noticed that Konoha's Kunoichi seemed to be lacking skills. Since none of them were able to advance to the finals, while the most of the foreign Kunoichi advanced and seemed to have exceptional skills.

Although Hattori Mai lost her fight against Naruto, she had proven to be an incredibly strong Kunoichi. Although considering her Grandfather was Sanshōuo no Hanzō (Hanzō the Salamander), it was clear that she had recievd special training that helped her become as strong as she is now.

The Kumo Kunoichi Karui seemed to be hot headed like Inuzuka Kiba only with a bigger temper. But was clearly skilled in hand to hand combat considering how bruised her opponent Haruna Sakura was, and he was certain she was skilled in other ways as well.

The other Kumo Kunoichi Samui only showed some skill taijutsu but she had defeated the Yamanaka Clan heiress Yamanaka Ino with little trouble and without hurting her seriously.

But the thing that stood out about her to Sarutobi was how cool and expressionless she was. She didn't show any emotions and remained completely calm and took out her opponent with minimum effort or show of skill. It reminded him a lot of a certain young Uchiha Prodigy several years ago, and like him for whatever reason she keeps her emotions to herself, which was generally a good thing for a Shinobi since it meant that she could stay calm and focus in most situation.

Next there was Yuki Haku the apprentice of the Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist) Momochi Zabuza. Who apparently possessed the Hyoton (Ice Release) Bloodline limit of the Yuki Clan and was also a very skilled Kunoichi, according to Kakashi's report from Nami no Kuni. Not to mention from what he saw in the preliminaries, she defeated her opponent without any trouble and still kept her best skills hiding for the finals. Also according to Naruto's reports from that incident and in the Forest of Death, she had some medical skills, which she showed when she treated him.

After her there was Nii Yugito, who according to Naruto contained the Nibi no Bakeneko (Two-tailed Monster Cat) and was as strong as he is. Ignoring her status as a jinchuriki, the Sandaime knew that Yugito was a skilled Kunoichi on her own, given the way she defeated Inuzuka Kiba in her match against him without revealing too much of her abilities. Not to mention he was fairly certain that like Hattori Mai, she had been specially trained, and had probably been trained to use some of her Biju's Chakra by her Sensei Killer Bee.

Lastly there was the Yondaime Kazekage's daughter Temari, who ruthlessly overpowered Gai's student Tenten and even attempted to injure her further when she was clearly incapable of continuing anymore. Although Tenten did show some promise in Fuinjutsu and Weaponry and only lost because she was mismatch, not because of lack of skill.

He also recalled Zabuza's remark and insult to their academy for not knowing about Mai's Clan, the famed Hattori Clan or her Grandfather. This of course made him wonder if their academy system could use a change to help it improve, since he felt they may have gotten a bit sloppy in the peaceful years they've had since the last Great War and the Kyuubi's attack on the Konoha.

"Perhaps your right Iruka" the Sandaime spoke as he stood up and looked out his window to see the stadium where the finals would be held tomorrow and the academy. "It seems we've may have gotten soft with the years of peace our village has had which has made us slowly neglect our duty's to prepare our future Genin for the Shinobi world."

As he said this, Sarutobi's mind drifted to his memory of Tsunade's little brother Nawaki and how he died shortly after becoming a Gennin. He was someone who Hiruzen thought might become Hokage one day if he had lived, but sadly his dream was never realized. He recalled how he went to see his body, but found it was beyond recognition, (much to the distraught of Tsunade). He wondered if Nawaki might have survived if he had only received a bit more training to prepare him for the harsh life that comes with being a Shinobi.

"It's not just that Lord Hokage" Hiruzen turned back to Iruka when he suddenly spoke again.

"You also you need to take into account that our students are children, kids today live innocent lives, where the only thing they worry about is passing their test to become Shinobi. They don't know what real battles are like and what it's like to fight for their lives or stay calm in stressful situations. The fact is while they learn how to be Shinobi's, they don't experience the reality of what we sometimes have to do to protect our village. They also don't understand why they have to master the basics first or train so hard. I'm hoping that by allowing them to watch the Chunin finals and the competitors fight one another. The kids will see how strong Shinobi from other villages can be and be inspired to work harder in their training, as well as understand that Shinobi life is not all fun and games and that it is serious work."

Sarutobi smiled at hearing Iruka's words "Your words carry wisdom beyond your age Iruka, very well then, I'll approve of the class field trip to attend the exam finals. Just send in the submission papers and I'll sign it as soon as they arrive".

Iruka smiled at hearing this and bowed again. "Thank you Hokage-sama" he stood up and left to return to his work at the academy and to prepare to tell class tomorrow that they would be watching the Chunin finals."

As Iruka closed the door and left, Hiruzen sat back onto his seat as he let out a sigh and turned to look at the pictures of the Hokages on the wall before he smiled again.

"It seems like it's time for some changes my old friends" he spoke to all three pictures before he pulled the Kage letters out and returned to work.

"Things are definitely going to get more interesting for Naruto and the other Genin" the Sandaime though with a smirk.

-With Naruto-

After meeting with his surrogate Grandfather and telling him about the possible spy in Konoha, Naruto left the Hokage's office.

The Sandaime was of course grateful for the tip and told Naruto that he would have some of his people watch the girl and her friend and see if they really were spies.

As Naruto went down the stairs he began thinking more about the girl and tried to figure out where she could be from. He doubted Kumo, Suna or Kiri, since they already had Shinobi in the village who were participating in the exam. That of course left Iwagakure (Hidden Rock) or one of the other minor villages, although he willing to bet money that she was from Iwa. Since out all the five major Shinobi nations, it was the only one that didn't send any Genin to take part in the Chunin exam this year and they wouldn't miss out on an opportunity to see what the next Generation of Shinobi for their rivals were capable of.

Naruto also knew that if he was right he would have to be careful, since Iwa had a long rivalry with Konoha ever since the end of the Third Great Shinobi World War. There was also the fact that many Shinobi in Iwa hated his father for the many Shinobi he killed and defeats he handed Iwa. Even though no-one knew that Yondaime Hokage was his father, there was always a chance that someone could find out and if that happen. He might as well have a bull's-eye on the back of his head that said kill me.

Naruto's mind was so focused on who the girl was that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings, where he bumped into someone at the bottom of the stairs.

"Uwooh!" Naruto cried, after he bumped into the person and struggled to keep from falling.

"Sorry my fault, I wasn't paying attention of what I was doing and I…" Naruto said. But stopped before he could finish as when looked up to the person, he saw that the person he had bumped into was a woman.

The woman was tall and slender build and looked to be about in her early twenties. (7) She had bright green eyes and long auburn hair that was styled into a herringbone pattern at the back with short bangs covering her right eye. She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that fell just below the knees and was closed at the front with a zip, while kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts, allowing for a sizeable view of her cleavage. She also wore shorts as the same colour as her dress and underneath it, mesh leggings that reached down over her knees.

All in all, Naruto found that the woman was extremely beautiful, being on par with the likes of his mother and Hinata's sensei Yūhi Kurenai.

When Naruto first saw the woman he couldn't help but stare at her, but he was soon brought out of his trance when the woman smiled down at him and spoke.

"That quite alright…accidents happen"

When the woman smiled down at him, Naruto couldn't but blush as her smiled seemed to highlight her beauty even more and showed her pink coloured lips.

As the woman looked down at Naruto and looked at him more closely she noticed that his appearance was familiar to her, as if it matched a description she had heard. Before she could think on the matter further, she suddenly heard the voice of her escort.

"Mizukage-sama is there something the matter?"

When the escort arrived, Naruto immediately recognised him as Ao, the captain of the Hunter-nin group. Who had brought Haku and Zabuza back to Kirigakure (Hidden Mist), after the events in Nami no Kuni.

But as surprised as Naruto was to see Ao, he was shocked to learn that the woman he had bumped into was the New Mizukage that he had heard about from his Godfather Jiraiya.

"Shit! She's the Mizukage?" Naruto thought in surprise, "Ah man, I'm in trouble, why do things like this always happen to me?"

At the same time, Ao glanced over at Naruto, and like Naruto, who recognized him, he recognized the spikey haired blonde.

"You again"

"Do you know this boy Ao?" the female Kage asked.

"Hai, I met him at Nami no Kuni with my team when we were retrieving Zabuza and Haku" Ao replied. "This is Senju Naruto, heir to the Senju Clan and Tsunade-sama son."

When the Mizukage heard this, she was natural surprised, as she did not expect to meet Naruto like this. But eventually her surprise settled and she smiled again at Naruto.

"I'm pleased to finally to make you acquaintance, Naruto-san. I am a great admirer of your mother Tsunade-sama and I have heard much about you from Haku and Zabuza, who speak highly of your skill. I look forward to watching you in the finals."

"Arigato Mizukage-sama" Naruto replied in a respectful tone, "Also please accept by analogises again for bumping into you."

"There is nothing to be sorry about, as I said accidents happen, beside how could I be angry at such a handsome young man?" Mei replied, with a smile.

Naturally after hearing this, Naruto turned a shade of red that would've rivalled any that a certain young Hyuga heiress could've turned. If it he had been any redder, steam would've burst out of his ears.

"Mizukage-sama, we should get going, as I'm certain that the Hokage-sama has heard of our early arrival" Ao spoke suddenly, in the hope of getting to the matter as to why they were here.

At this the Mizukage let out a sigh, as she would've liked to have talked Naruto further but knew that Ao was right.

"Very well" Mei said before turning back to Naruto, "It was a pleasure talking to you Naruto-san, I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow, perhaps later we can chat again."

"I would like that, it was nice talking to you as well Mizukage-sama" Naruto answered as he slowly started to cool down. After which he stepped aside and allowed Mei and Ao to pass him by and head up stairs to the Hokage's office.

After they left, Naruto let out a deep sigh, and headed for the main door. "I gotta stop hanging around Ero-sennin so much; I'm starting to think like him."

---

"You should not try to get too friendly with that boy; he is a Konoha Shinobi after all and one of Haku and Chōjūrō targets" Ao spoke as they walked up the stairs.

"Oh stop your worry Ao, I was just curious about the boy, as I find him interesting. Besides I always did have a thing for blondes" Mei replied with a smile.

"You cannot afford to be so laid back Mizukage-sama," said Ao in a serious tone. "You need to be more mindful of things. This is why many people in the village do not think you take your duties as Mizukage seriously."

At this remark, Mei suddenly stopped walking up the stairs and turned around to look at Ao with a serious look on her face.

"I can assure you Ao that I take my duties as Mizukage very seriously. . " Mei drawled before an all too sweet smile appeared on her face, which made the one eyed man sweat nervously. "So kindly shut the fuck up, before I kill you."

Gulping at this, Ao slowly nodded and watched the Mizukage turn away from him and walk back up the stairs.

After the Mizukage started to walk back up the stairs, Ao let out a deep sigh and muttered "Women" before quickly following after his leader.

---

After his surprise meeting with the female Mizukage, Naruto decided to walk down the street to cool off a bit.

Eventually after walking around Konoha for about an hour or so, Naruto found himself at the memorial stone and it was then that he heard some talking and barking.

When Naruto turned to where he heard the talking and barking from, he saw Shino, Kiba and Akamaru emerging from the nearby treeline.

Naturally when the two boys and the pup saw Naruto they were just as surprised to see him as he was to see them.

"Hey Guys, funny meeting you here!" Naruto greeted after see his two fellows Genin.

"Senju what are you doing here? Don't tell me you were spying on us, so to have an edge over Shino!" Kiba accused after seeing the spikey haired blonde.

"Tsk Hardly" Naruto replied with a scoff. "I'm only here by chance, besides it would be pretty stupid to try on spy Shino here, since I'm pretty sure his bugs would detect me."

"Peace Kiba, Naruto-san speaks the truth, if he had been spying on us, during our training, the Kikaichū I released around our training area would've detected him. Besides, I do not believe Naruto-san is the type to spy on his comrades, even when they are his competitors."

Kiba frowned slightly after hearing this, but knew his team-mate was right, despite his dislike for the Senju heir, he knew that Naruto was an honourable person.

"I'm guessing given your current state, that you've been doing some last minute training?"

"You would be correct Naruto-san" Shino replied with a nod.

"Have you see Hinata-chan lately or heard how she is doing?" Naruto asked, since he had not seen or heard anything about the young Hyuga heiress since the preliminaries.

"We went to visit Hinata-san earlier in the week and from what we saw, she seems to be doing well. She is currently resting in her family compound; she even asked if we had seen you, when we visited."

"So are ready for your fight tomorrow Senju?" Kiba asked

"I am." replied Naruto with confident smirk.

"You should be weary of Neji-san, Naruto-san. He is a capable Shinobi, who is well regard even in the Hyugan Clan and is not someone to underestimate" commented Shino.

"Don't worry Shino-san, I've no intention of underestimating Neji-teme" said Naruto. "But that doesn't mean I won't intend to beat the hell out of him of him for what he did to Hinata-chan."

After hearing this, Kiba smirked, while Shino just nodded, as neither of the boys were big fans of Hyuga Prodigy, given how he nearly killed their team-mate.

But before they could comment on any further on the matter, they suddenly heard a female voice cry "Naruto-kun!" followed by a blonde blur that knocked Naruto to the ground.

When the two Genin from team eight looked down, they saw a blonde haired girl on top of Naruto and hugging him tightly.

"Naruto-kun it's so good to see you, I missed you?" said the girls as she hugged the blonde Senju.

"Eh sorry, but who are you?" Naruto asked, as he looked at the girl hugging.

"Don't tell me you forgotten about me Naruto-kun?" the girl asked, with a slightly annoyed looked, "Because if you have…then we are not amused." (8)

As soon as Naruto heard the girl refer to herself in the royal we term, Naruto's eyes suddenly widen in surprise "Rurichiyo!"

The girl in question of course just smiled and nodded confirming that it was indeed her, where she then got off Naruto and allowed him back up.

The Granddaughter of the Fire Daimyo had grown up quite a bit since Naruto had last seen her. She was now roughly the same height as Naruto now and her hair was much longer than before, where it fell down to the middle her back. She wore more simple clothing than she normally would, which Naruto guessed was to not attract attention. She wore a simple a red Kosode, a grey Hakama, with white socks and simple sandals. (9)

"Rurichiyo what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you win the Chunin exam of course silly." Rurichiyo replied with a giggle.

"When did you get here?" Naruto asked.

"Just this morning"

"Are your Grandparents here as well? Naruto asked, since he was surprised that he didn't hear anything about the Fire Daimyo arriving in the village.

"No, Sofu (more formal way in saying Grandfather) and Obaasan (more formal way in saying Grandmother) won't arrive until tomorrow, but they allowed me to go ahead of them."

"Well it's good to see you Rurichiyo-chan, I'm glad you came, it been too long."

As Naruto and Rurichiyo caught up with one another, Shino and Kiba watched from the side-lines, not knowing who the girl was.

At the same time Kiba couldn't help but notice how cute the girl was and wondered what her relationship was with Naruto.

"Hey Senju, who's the hot girl with you?" asked Kiba, "No way she can be your girlfriend, she's way too good-looking for you."

"Hmph, as if a vagabond like you would know anything" Rurichiyo said in annoyed tone. "Naruto-kun, is ten times the man you are."

"What!" Kiba cried in outrage.

Seeing that Kiba was close to losing his temper, Naruto decided to intervene and stepped between Kiba and Rurichiyo. "Kiba, calm down, there's no need to get angry."

Sadly Kiba was in no mood to listen, as he was as mad as a hornets nest and pushed Naruto and was about to give Rurichiyo a piece of his mind.

Seeing this Shino was about help Naruto stop Kiba from doing anything foolish, but before Kiba could even start to yell at the princess. The Young Inuzuka suddenly found two Long Katana's pointed at his neck.

When Kiba looked up he found two tall men in official looking uniforms flanking Rurichiyo and glaring daggers at him.

The first man was a tall thin man wearing a traditional uniform. He had blue-black hair and his eyes were icy blue and he had strong sculpted face.

The other man was a muscular built man and wore the same uniform that the other guard wore; he also wore a pair of large sunglasses. The man also had very little hair on his head as it was mainly bald except for the small Mohawk in the shape of a lightning bolt and a muscular face.

"I suggest you step away from her highness Rurichiyo-hime vagrant, or else you shall answer to us" spoke tall thin man, where his partner just nodded in agreement.

"Princess?" Shino and Kiba thought together in surprise.

"Kenryū and Enryū!" cried Naruto when he saw Rurichiyo two guards, who smiled when they saw the young Senju.

"It's good to see again Naruto-dono" said Kenryū as he glanced at Naruto.

After getting over seeing his old friends again, Naruto quickly asked the two guards to lower their weapons, saying that it was all just one big misunderstanding and that Kiba meant no harm.

The two guards were of course hesitant, but after glancing at Rurichiyo, who nodded. The two guards drew back their Katana's and sheathed them, although continued to glare at Kiba for disrespecting their princess.

Once the situation had calm down, Shino turned to Naruto. "Excuse me Naruto-san, but if I may ask, who exactly is Rurichiyo-sama? And how exactly do you know her?"

"Ah…well…you see…as I was trying to explain to you both earlier" Naruto said nervously, as he wasn't exactly sure how to say this. "The thing is…eehhh…like Kenryū said; Rurichiyo-chan is a princess, or to be more precise, she is the Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter. We kind of met a while back when we were younger, when my mom was helping to treat her uncle, when he was ill."

When the two boys heard this, both were shocked beyond words and thought the exact same thing "The Fire Daimyo's Granddaughter!"

After Rurichiyo's identity was revealed, the normally stoic Shino went wide-eyed with disbelief, while Kiba was gaping like fish out of water and as pale as a ghost, knowing he was in trouble.

"Shit! I'm dead…I am soooo dead" the panicking Inuzuka thought, "I got into an argument with the Fire Daimyo's freaking GRAND-DAUGHTER!"

Seeing the situation that his team-mate was facing, Shino decided to step in, in the hope of saving his team.

"Rurichiyo-hime, it is a great honour to have you here in out village and please accept our sincere apologies, my team-mate Kiba meant no disrespect. He can just be rather brass and does not know what he says at times."

"Yea I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry" Kiba said, who was seriously hoping that Rurichiyo wouldn't go to her Grandfather and complain to him.

Seeing how nervous Kiba was, Rurichiyo decided to let the matter go, as it was obvious Kiba now regretted his earlier comments.

"Very well, we shall let this matter go, but in return we would like you Naruto-kun to show us around Konoha, as this is our first time coming here and we would like to see all the sites."

"Sure, I would be happy to" replied Naruto, since it allowed him to catch up with his friend and at the same time allow them to move past the whole event with Kiba.

Pleased with this, Rurichiyo quickly grabbed hold of Naruto's right arm tightly and had him led the way, leaving a bewildered Kiba and an intrigued Shino. As who would have guessed that Naruto was friends with the Fire Daimyos Granddaughter?

---

N/A.

Well I'm back everyone, sorry about the long wait, but I've been busy with my last year of collage and I had to focus on studing and working on my projects and thesis, as collage comes first. Plus after that I needed some down time to relax and cut lose from all the stress of collage. But still now that collage is out of the way I have some free time to start on my fanfic writing and have started things of with this story. I will of course update another story next week, so you won't have to wait too long for me.

Also please Note that given how Fanfiction has disabled the link settings on our profiles, you will have to highlight and copy the web address for any of the pictures on my profile and paste them on the task bar, this is the only way I know how to allow you to see the images of any characters or places in my stories. Please also note that adresses are correct and if you are having problems with them, tell me and I will do my best to help you.

Now I hope you all enjoyed how Naruto gained the Slugs and the Toads, as well as his interaction with some of the girls. Now as you can guess the next Chapter will be about the beginning of the Chunin exam, which will also involve the battle between Naruto and Neji, which I know is something that you're all looking forward to, so I will update this story again when I can, that's all I will pomise.

Now as always Please read and review as I like to hear all your opinions on the Chapter or the story in general, please note that I will answer your all your reviews as I believe that authors should reply to their reviewers. Also note that any suggestions for the story are welcome and will be listen to and I will tell you what I think of them.

As for my grammar and spelling mistakes, although they may be a problem for people, I'm afraid they cannot be help and I'm doing the best I can with what I got.

Another thing to note is that flames are not welcome here as I force no-one to read my stories and if you don't like them then don't read them. Also please note that all flames will be ignored or the flamers will be flamed back.

Also as before please remember to vote on the polls on my profile page about what will be Naruto third summons.

Author's Note:

(1). Less formal way to say Great Grandfather in Japanese

(2). For those of you who are unsure of what the Kyuubi is referring to. In this story after the Shodai defeated Madara and captured the Kyuubi he and his wife Mito tried to seal him into Mito. But before they could, the Kyuubi escaped, where later Madara regained control of the Kyuubi and tried to use him again to destroy Konoha, but was stopped by Minato where he was sealed within Naruto.

(3). Go to profile for the address of this image

(4). You know those little cat toys that people use to play with cats.

(5). Don't forget people Yugito is one of Naruto's biggest obstacles in the Chunin exam and is one of the strongest Genin in the finals.

(6). The guy who Naruto sent running after he kept trying to hit on Ayame in Chapter Nine.

(7). Just in in case any of you have forgotten, in this story Mei is twenty right now.

(8). Rurichiyo is using the Royal we term that some royalty use

(9). Go to profile for the address of an image of Rurichiyo

Custom Jutsu:

(A). Haja no Kokuin (Seal of Wickeness): A seal that Jiraiya placed on Naruto, which activates in the event that Fūja Hōin (Evil Sealing Method) fails. Once activated, the seal's markings spread around the opponent's body, paralyzing them and prevent them from attacking anyone. However, one can break free from the seal with a strong enough release of chakra. Also once activated the seal will alert the user and anyone connected to it.

Stats

Note: This is a little stats note of Naruto and some of the others for the Chunin finals, since I know many of you are curious as to what level Naruto is at. These stats are out of five like the Naruto Database, also Sasuke, Neji Gaara and the others are all the same level they are in the canon.

Hattori Mai

Taijutsu: 2.5

Ninjutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 3

Speed: 2.5

Hand Seals: 4

Strength: 2

Stamina: 3

Total: 22

Ni Yugito

Taijutsu: 3.5

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 3

Speed: 3.5

Hand Seals: 3.5

Strength: 2.5

Stamina: 4

Total: 25

Haku

Taijutsu: 2

Ninjutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 4

Speed: 4

Hand Seals: 4

Strength: 1

Stamina: 2

Total: 22

Samui

Taijutsu: 3

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 4

Speed: 2.5

Hand Seals: 2.5

Strength: 2

Stamina: 2.5

Total: 22

Senju Naruto

Taijutsu: 3

Ninjutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 3

Speed: 3

Hand Seals: 4

Strength: 3.5 *

Stamina: 4

Total: 26

Omoi

Taijutsu: 3

Ninjutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 4

Speed: 2

Hand Seals: 2.5

Strength: 2

Stamina: 2

Total: 18.5

Karui

Taijutsu: 2.5

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2

Speed: 3

Hand Seals: 2.5

Strength: 1.5

Stamina: 2.5

Total: 17.5

Chōjūrō

Taijutsu: 3

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 2

Speed: 2

Hand Seals: 2

Strength: 3

Stamina: 2.5

Total: 18.5

Sai

Taijutsu: 2.5

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 2

Speed: 3

Hand Seals: 3

Strength: 2

Stamina: 2.5

Total: 20.5

*Note the reason why Naruto's strength is three is because Naruto's strength is just over the level of Sakura's in the Shippuuden timeline and hers was ranked three. He will of course get stronger later on.