Chapter 25

The sun was clouded.

Water poured from the sky.

At early morning, it felt as dark as night.

Everyone was clothed in their mourning wear and all had dismal countenances.

Only several hours before, the funeral rights and speeches were made to the dead. Naruto's eyes were red. His body felt like it had just gotten through a several week long work out session. He had just been comforted by Iruka. And as people began to filter out of the service to return back to their lives, the rubble that was their houses, the individual people they had yet to bury, Naruto found himself near what he now considered a dear friend.

"Hey Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah?" Shikamaru was in as black of clothes as anyone else. Though he was less… impacted by the death of the leader than everyone else.

"Can we really trust everyone involved now?" Naruto was referring to all the people who as of then, was a part of the game. His throat hurt and he didn't feel like it was the time to be talking about stuff like that, but he had to know. It'd been eating him up since he woke up in the hospital with cleanly ironed mourning clothes at his bedside.

Shikamaru's facial expression didn't change. "The benefits far outweigh the consequences. Weren't you listening to the book's little speech?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I was nodding in and out. It's pretty tiring recovering from having my chakra network burned out."

Shikamaru might have gotten more annoyed were it not a good point. "You have my word that we can trust Chouji and Ino. I'm sure that after living with them for about a month or so, that you're keener to trusting Kiba and Hana?"

Naruto nodded. "But what about Neji or Lee? I mean… like, Lee seems like a good guy and all, but we barely know him. I'm also not too sure about Neji. It wasn't very long ago that he was spewing shit about 'fate this' and 'fate that'."

"I caught him at the hospital visiting Hinata. He told me that after a little talk with his uncle, he feels like he's changed for the better."

Naruto shrugged. "Still acts like a cold asshole."

Shikamaru conceded to that point. "Anyway, Lee and Tenten were with Neji at the time and he insisted that they come with him to hear whatever I had to say. I guess he's trying to make his teammates see him in a new leaf."

"…Okay. We can trust Neji, and Neji trusts Lee. So we can trust Lee. Close enough. What about Tenten? Do you know what's wrong with her? She was kinda… out of it."

Shikamaru shrugged. "It wouldn't surprise me if she lost someone close to her in all the fighting."

Naruto waved off that particular suspicion. "I don't think that's it. She was just kinda… overwhelmed? I think? People in grieving are… different than that."

"Well, I wouldn't know about that. The Nara, Akamichi, and Yamanaka weren't hit as hard as other clans.

Naruto grunted. "So what now? Do we keep on with the whole sheets thing?"

Shikamaru had already gone over his plan with everyone else now in the party, so repeating it was a bit troublesome. But it couldn't be helped in that particular case. "We've got a few more options now in the way of helping people. But yeah, you should get the sheets and get working on them as soon as you can. I'm looking at an abandoned small warehouse in the middle of Konoha that looks like it would be an ideal operations center. There's room for a dojo, garden, botany lab, veterinary center, doctors office, surgeon room… just about everything we need. We can buy it with everyone's combined savings. It'll be a good place for us to earn more money and practice our fields."

"Why do we need a botany lab?"

Shikamaru opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by Fu landing heavily right next to him. Her usually white clothes were spray painted a dull black and her face lacked any sort of emotion. Since she decided to make her clothes black at all at the very least meant that she was getting better.

"Are you ready for departure?" She asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded. He looked up at the sky as water continued to pour down and wet his face and took a really deep breath. When his gaze was even once more, there was a smile on his face and a new hope was in his eyes. "Yup. Are you sure you want to come with? This is an affair for Konoha to take care of and all."

Her head tilted to the side. "You are my friend. Until I get called back to Taki, I'm going to help my friend. Plus, I'm much stronger than you are as I am right now. You might need me to protect you."

It wasn't like he could argue with that fact. Being able to spawn an almost impenetrable armor all over her body as well as sprouting wings from her back was a very good power up. Something that he couldn't fight against. Especially not in his recovering state.

"Yeah, I guess you are pretty cool-"

"Do you need a ride?" She asked.

Naruto paused. "Eh… no, I'm good."

She got closer to him. "You're injured. Do you need help getting back to the Inuzuka's?"

Naruto stepped back. "I feel a lot better now. You don't need to force yourself to-"

Fu stepped up to him until their faces were almost touching. "Clench your stomach."

In the span of probably one and half seconds, six wings grew from her back and an exoskeletal armor grew all on her body. Spindly appendages whipped forward and encircled around him before he could even grunt out in surprise. They spun him around until his back was against her chest, then she jumped as high as she could and began flight toward the clan district.

Shikamaru sighed in relief. It looked like Naruto was getting back to his normal happy self. Something that everyone could gain from. Even as the blond in question was screaming in fright at the top of his lungs.

When he turned around to get back home to the Nara compounds, he was blocked by a woman in mourning. She had long purple hair and looked beat down by life. Large black bags were under her eyes, her face was pasty, and even her black mourning clothes looked grungy and haphazard. She was looking up as Naruto vanished into the sky. "You know Naruto, don't you?" She asked, not looking at Shikamaru.

He nodded unsurely.

She took in a deep breath and from the bodice of her clothing she produced a white and red ANBU mask. She put it on her face and addressed him. "Tell him that I and my squad are sorry that we weren't able to do anything to stop Orochimaru." Having said that, she vanished away, leaving Shikamaru staying stock still in surprise.

He shook away the surprise and decided to change mental directions. If Naruto was going away, then he was most certainly going to play.

00000000

In stark contrast with the rest of village, the clan head compound of the Inuzukas was bustling with activity. Hana was only allowed the bare minimum time at the funeral services before she had to get back to the over-capacity veterinary. Tsume was doing her best in directing the able bodied members of her clan to do the best they could to help the village. Whether that meant taking jobs, rebuilding structures, becoming the impromptu police, or even just walking around and trying to raise everyone's spirits. Kiba was nowhere to be seen, but according to his sister and mother, he was in a big hurry to get somewhere that he didn't divulge the name or location of.

Although throughout all of this, the house wasn't exactly very sad. It was busy, somewhat bristling, though it was still a home. A place of happiness. A haven that put Naruto at odds with how he should be feeling.

Currently, he was clad in naught but in his underwear and getting dressed slightly slowly compared to his usual speed as Fu watched. Of course he didn't want her to. But she wouldn't budge and he didn't get any help from Hana or Tsume in relocating her.

He hissed as he overextended his right arm slightly more than his sore muscles would allow, prompting
Fu to jolt forward out of concern. Naruto held up a hand, keeping her in place. "I can get dressed on my own." He said sternly but with a bit of lightheartedness. It wasn't like she could help acting the way she was. The chakra was messing her head.

Slowly, she backed off as he put on his normal jumpsuit and ninja wear. Lastly, he sat down on the bed and checked his guidebook. Kashikoi jumped up on his lap. Considering there was a chance of the other housemates coming in without knocking (Inuzukas never knock), he didn't make the book speak to him. He flipped over to the merit section and began tapping on random merits, seeing what they needed for unlocking.

Fu sat down next to him and read over his shoulder. She didn't say anything, though it was comforting just being near her for him.

There were a few that sounded cool, like the Deadbone Pulse. It was a kekai genkai that allowed him complete control over his bones and calcium reserves. There was a note that said when he mastered it, he'd be able to make a sort of plate armor out of his bones and even create weapons out of his fingertips. It sounded really cool, but he didn't think it was worth 5 merit points. There was also the fact that he had to fight and survive a person who already has the kekai genkai. Then there were elemental kekai genkai, but he still didn't know how to raise his level in those without using his attribute points.

He stopped at mention of the Hiraishin. The Flying Thunder God jutsu made by the Second and perfected by the Fourth. Instant teleportation by use of a special sealing array. The thing that set it apart from other sealing techniques was that it required a specific mindset, extreme amounts of reflexes, and an inappropriately large intelligence. There were three strains called: Vague, Accurate, and Perfect. Neither were pre-requisites of the others, meaning if he wanted Perfect, then he didn't need the first two. Though the intelligence and reflex requirement was much larger for Perfect. He set a flag on Vague. Flag being an ability that auto leveled him up with the intention of allocating his points for him until he met the requirements for the merit. It cost two merit points, he needed 50 speed, 70 intelligence, and a 100/200 in sealing mastery. Compared to the other two, it was dumbed down something awful. Only getting him within twenty feet of the set sealing array.

Naruto could feel Fu's short hair brush against his cheek as she tilted her head in confusion. "Hiraishin? Why this one?"

Kashikoi jumped from his lap to the inside of his coat. Naruto shrugged. "It's useful. I don't think adding more kekai genkai would be any good considering I could go blind if I use my Byakusharingan for longer than a few minutes. Plus, I could just send a few of these seals around the world and teleport to any of them that I want."

Fu hummed. "This is good. Shikamaru did say that you were better off learning a motley of skills."

"He did?"

Fu nodded. "Are you positive that you are okay for this mission? Shikamaru explained it very clearly yesterday."

Naruto waved her off. "I'm awesome. I really am. Just a little sore, that's all. Anyway, what time is it? The pervert said to meet at the gates at noonish. And it's still raining."

"It is 10:13 A.M.. And I do believe punctuality to be very important. We should leave now."

Naruto put his guard up. "Listen Fu, if we're leaving, I really think we should walk. Or at least run across the rooftops, or maybe even-"

Spindly insect appendages grew from her side and encircled Naruto, bringing him snug to her side. She wrapped her arms around him hard and jumped out the window. Naruto's fading screams into the dark morning rain were the only notification that Tsume and Hana needed to know that he left for the super important mission Jiraiya had for him.

00000000

Middle of Konoha, a few hours later.

Shikamaru stared at the large decrepit building. It was generally box shaped, had three floors, and about the size of a larger office building. All floors had high ceilings and the roof was open and guarded with railings. The windows on the bottom floor were large and there were some doors wide enough for carts to wheel through and offload their products. Though it would fit his purposes very well, it looked really ugly. Water stains on grey concrete walls. The windows were encrusted with dirt. And a portion of the top corner of the building was repurposed by an Iwa nin for ammo in the invasion.

There was the sound of an umbrella unfolding behind him and the rain stopped for him. Ino was by his side and was wearing a slight raincoat in conjunction with her normal clothes. "So we own this now?" She asked.

Shikamaru nodded.

"It doesn't look like much."

"Right now, we need functionality over beauty."

Ino hummed. It was hard to understand what it meant though. Might have meant 'I suppose it's okay for now, but I really don't like it.'

"So, I get the garden up there, then a greenhouse next to it, then I share a basic lab with Hana and Naruto, then I get my own chemist set up?"

"That's the plan at least."

Ino sighed. "You know, this is really really weird. Why couldn't I have just been a regular kunoichi and lived a regular life?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Because Naruto and I needed help. And other than Chouji, I feel I can trust you the most."

They stood in silence for a little longer, processing the rate of things in their own ways. "Why is it that everything around Naruto goes weird and screwy?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know. He's the main character apparently, so I guess that's it."

"Yeah, that's another thing I don't get. Explain to me again why he's the main character. Why aren't I the main character?"

"Other than the fact that it all started with him, he doesn't really have any specializations available to him."

"Okay, explain that to me in a way that I will understand. I never played videogames and that book explained it like I should already have a way too in-depth knowledge of how they work."

Shikamaru took a while to answer, trying out different ways of explanation in his head to best make sense of things to her. "In most RPG's made around here, the main character usually isn't too powerful. He's basically the jack-of-all-trades type of character. A lot of available ancillary skills or support jobs, but he usually has the most basic and least complex fighting style."

Ino nodded. "Why's that?"

"Well, in games, the main character is the ones you get first, and developers don't want to scare of new players by introducing complex playing concepts, so they don't. Suffice to say, you can't win the game with the most basic fighting style."

"So… that's where we come in?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Exactly. I checked my walkthrough. Naruto can't learn the Chemist skill, the Child of Nature skill, the Tank skill, the HDPS skill, the Special Healer skill, the Botany Skill, the High Flyer skill, or the Strategist skill. But we, from our specific backgrounds and foreknowledge, can. But we can't learn the tailor, cook, carpenter, maid, handyman, or any of those skills. We also can get a few other skills, like you're able to become a medic, but neither I, nor Chouji can. Chouji can learn Hammerjutsu, but Kiba can't. Naruto, on the other hand, can learn all he wants, just not the complex things."

"Okay… so, you brought me in because no one is a chemist."

"I brought you in because I trust you and you have the hypothetical ability to become a chemist. You still need to fill out your gardener, botanist, and biologist skill trees before you unlock that skill."

"What does a chemist do again?"

"In a word, Chemistry. You can make explosives, healing salves, poisons, anything really in the realms of science."

"Can't Naruto already do all those things with his various skills?"

"He will never be able to create nitroglycerin, which can be used to make explosions the size of entire villages, something you can do if you max out the Chemist skill. No matter how great a medic he becomes, he won't ever be able to make a salve that brings the dead back to life."

Ino's eyes widened. "What?!"

"The recent dead. No digging up corpses or anything, but yeah, with the Chemist skill, you can bring the dead back."

"That's… awesome."

"Yes, it most certainly is. I should probably go check out the insides, see how much we need clean and how we go about adding new rooms."

Ino followed along with him. "What about Chouji? What's his role?"

"Tank."

"What about Chouji? What's his role?" Ino repeated.

Shikamaru sighed into his palm. "You know, you could just play an RPG. They're pretty fun."

"Or I could save tens of hours and just ask you."

Those RPG's do take a while to complete.

"So Chouji has a skill called Bodyguard. He's up front and takes the brunt of the assault. His later skills allow him to ignore all physical damage completely and redirect chakra based ones if he sees them coming. In stark contrast, Neji is a Damage dealer. Capable of inflicting debilitating trauma on all people regardless of their armor already. His later skills make him faster than most would be and let him get in close to the most difficult of enemies and away when he's done his damage. Lee is a combat specialist that has equal parts Damage Dealing and Tanking."

Ino hummed and nodded in understanding. "So… wait. We've got taijutsu, some ninjutsu, medicjutsu, miscellaneous things like carpentry and tailoring… we need someone who knows genjutsu, right?"

"And kenjutsu, but Tenten's too busy to take part."

"Do we know anyone else who's good with genjutsu or kenjutsu?"

Shikamaru pushed open the doors of the building that was just recently bought by the party. It was pretty ramshackle, though it definitely looked a lot better on the inside than the out. He fished in his bags for a moment and pulled out a fairly long scroll. Unrolling it showed the Homeowner's guidebook.

"No we don't. The use of genjutsu and exclusive kenjutsu are pretty rare though. I think we might be good as we are right now."

Ino shook her head as she saw him eye the property stats up and down. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the whole 'new matter coming up in by ninja bag' thing."

"So don't. It doesn't happen much."

Ino started walking around the building, taking in the grunginess and visualizing what the whole place would look like once everything was all renovated. Honestly, it would look fantastic with just a little bit of remodeling, general clean up, and some natural light. "What about… that Hana chick? What's her use?"

"Her later skills include a skill that persuades all things of a biological nature to fight by her side, as well as being able to heal any of those said biological beings."

"And the mutt?"

"Mostly the same as his sister's, but more combat oriented."

"And Fu?"

"Fu's a bit tricky. I don't know how much we'll be able to see or interact with her after Naruto's mission, because she could be called back to Taki at any time now. But there were a few skills that seemed interesting."

"Like what?"

"After she completely is able to control the bijuu inside her, there are skills that include the use of her biological composition against the enemies. For example, she's got something she calls 'blinding powder'. It's something that she can do because of Chomei that includes the spouting of a large amount of explosive and very light refracting powder to hurt and disorient her enemies, along with flight and creating instant almost impenetrable armor. Her skills will enhance all of those in size, scale, and strength."

Ino whistled. "You sure she isn't the tank?"

"No, she's more the harasser. The person keeping the attention of the enemy." After a few seconds of thought, Shikamaru tapped a few places on the larger scroll and looked up expectantly.

"What's up?" Ino asked.

"…Naruto mentioned how the game seemed to imitating reality instead of the other way around. Reality would do something, and the game would interpret it in its own way. The Guidebook itself confirmed just that."

"So?"

"So I just ordered a roof garden, a basic tailor room, a basic dojo, and a bunkroom from the scroll."

"Do we have that much money?"

"Just about. We should start making more as soon as we can, but that's not the point. I'm wondering what's going to happen now."

"What do you mean?"

"Are there going to be people that show up and make the rooms for us? Are the rooms just going to spawn out of nowhere? Just, what's going to happen?"

"Well the 'hardware' just spawns in our ninja bags, something that obscures our vision. Maybe the rooms work in much the same way?" Ino suggested, proud of herself for giving such a well-thought out explanation.

Shikamaru nodded appraisingly. "You might be right. Let's get out and get back in. See if anything happens."

And so, they walked out and walked back in. what they saw were just boxes and boxes stacked on top of each other in little cornered off sections of the warehouse.

Shikamaru raised a single confused eyebrow and took out a kunai from his pouch. He slit open one of the boxes and pulled out a hard folding mat. The Nara put it on the ground and unrolled it. The mat had the basic inscriptions of a sparring mat.

Realizing his situation, Shikamaru groaned out loud. "They gave us the rooms out of nothing, but we have to put it together."

Ino whistled again. "So~, should I go get Chouji?"

"And Kiba. And Hana, if you can." Shikamaru said in the palm of his hand.

Where were Naruto's shadow clones when you needed them?

00000000

Naruto sneezed, then wiped away the resulting nasal fluid with his sleeve. The trees he was on the branches of zipped past as he, Fu, and Jiraiya made a good pace to a nearby gambling village, the first stop on their trip to find Tsunade, the gambler.

The blond Jinchuuriki sighed in a bit of over exaggerated childish petulance. The only reason that they were able to make such a good pace was because Fu refused to let him run on his own. There wasn't any change in his stats or any new status effects, but his reflexes still felt like they were shot to hell. That, and it pained him greatly to run up in the trees led to Fu holding him to her back with some of her insect parts.

It really was scary how much mileage she was getting out of that ability.

Jiraiya stated very early on that if it weren't for Fu, he'd have left Naruto at the gates. Naruto'd probably be fit as a fiddle the next day, but they didn't have the time to wait. Given the state they left Konoha, it'd probably dissent into a social upheaval from all of the drastically reduced facilities in a week at most. Their schedule was rushed.

Jiraiya somehow found the will to get right next to Fu and smirk directly at Naruto. "Why the long face kid? If there was a woman out there who'd offer to carry me everywhere, I'd marry her on the spot."

"Like there's any woman alive who can carry your pervy, fat ass." Naruto quipped smartly.

Jiraiya laughed contemptuously and reached over to pat Naruto on the chest. It might have been seen as a friendly gesture to anyone else, but to Naruto, it hurt like a motherfucker. Both he and Jiraiya knew that.

Naruto ground his teeth and snarled at the man. "Isn't there anything I can do while I'm like this? Like learning a new technique or something?"

Jiraiya strained another laugh out. "You've got a really self-destructive attitude don't you? I guess you can try to practice sealing, but anything else requires chakra. Something you can't use as you are right now."

"What about genjutsu? That doesn't require a lot of chakra, right?"

"No, but I don't know a lot of genjutsu."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the man. "How do you not have any genjutsu? Aren't you like, one of the strongest people alive right now?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Didn't think it was important enough to learn, so I didn't."

"But- But… isn't genjutsu one of the three most important shinobi disciplines?"

"It has its uses, I guess. I've run into a lot of genjutsu users in my advanced experience and they were all a bitch to take down or get away from."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So why didn't you learn any?"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Well, yeah… but-"

"Listen kid," Jiraiya interrupted "People who specialize in any one set thing usually die very early on. What's going to keep you alive to a ripe old age is cunning, cowardice, and versatility."

"Versatility?" Naruto asked.

"Versatility" Fu said "Is defined as having multiple uses or easily being adapted to do an action something was not originally designed for."

"I know what it means." Naruto grumbled to himself. "But… what about Sasuke? He's got these super special awesome eye jutsu that do really specific things."

"He was born with that, and from what I'm told, doesn't really depend on them. What you really don't want to do is to use up all your time practicing with a metal sword only to get electrocuted by a lightning user. Hate to break it to you kid, but the more complex your fighting style is, the easier it is to counter, most of the time anyway. The only thing you need to make sure you don't die by a genjutsu user is to learn how to not get trapped in them and how to break yourself out. If they don't have anything effective, their main weapon is immediately gone. That's also the reason why I don't use very many elemental jutsu. By their design, they all have a counter to them."

"What sort of versatile techniques do you have then? The only thing I ever see you using is sealing, taijutsu, and summoning."

Jiraiya scratched his nonexistent beard in thought. "Well, I have a few others, but those are mainly it. The thing with sealing is you don't get a lot of use out of it when at the beginner or intermediate stages. At those stages, you don't have the mental acuity to use them in combat, relegating it to a supplementary use. At the master stage, however, the whole world is your oyster."

"Then what about all the clan jutsu? Those are super specific, aren't they?"

"The reason the people who use those jutsu grew into clan sizes was because they did something unique that was difficult to counter. They did uniqueness correctly and that's why they're still around. But as it stands, it's almost impossible to follow in their footsteps by creating a new, powerful, and hard to counter technique."

"Why's that?" Naruto asked.

"Hmmm… Most clans were made from a single person who had an anomaly with their chakra system, creating a kekai genkai. This gave them a fighting edge and made their chances to get it on with someone else higher. You know, evolution."

Naruto nervously looked to the side. "Yeah… evolution."

"Anyway, there were others that weren't born with kekai genkai and managed to make unique jutsu that usually involved some sort of internal chakra manipulation. Like the Nara or the Akamichi. They don't have any kekai genkai, just closely held clan jutsu secrets. That led to a specialization in a certain way of fighting. But if you look at any clan that made their way up with their uniqueness, you'll see that they got there with the versatility of their techniques. Simply, the use of shadows, or the use of your mind, allows for a lot of creativity."

"But at some point, they did it. Why can't I?"

"They did it though a lot of generations of failure, success, as well as being able to bounce their super-secret ideas with their clan members and not get the secret out there. They had time and patience. Something a single person can't do anymore. So stick to the things that are easy to manipulate."

"Like what?"

"Chakra shape manipulation."

"And what's that."

"Chakra shape manipulation." Fu said. "Is the external manipulation of chakra. The inside of your body does not bear the brunt of manipulating the chakra, just the outlet in which you want it to flow out of your body. To make any use of this, however, requires a very creative mindset with a very good understanding of the inner workings of chakra."

"That's possible? What can you do with it?"

Jiraiya, without stopping, created a spiraling ball of chakra in his hands and flippantly pushed it into a tree. It grinded through for about a foot before exploding and sending the tree crashing to the ground. "You can also make it smaller, or bigger, or wider, or squatter, or really anything based on the situation you're in. Versatility in the best form."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Sooo, what about my bo staff? That's versatile. It can turn into a double scythe, shoot out poisonous senbon, turn into a spear, triple nun chucks… it can do lot of things."

"Yup." Jiraiya said happily. "That bo staff is quite the kicker you got there. What you really want though is the thing that let you even come on this excursion in the first place."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"

"The little lady who decided to carry you with her bijuu powers. If you can get a handle on those, then no one in the world could stand up to you. There's a reason Jinchuuriki were created as weapons of mass destruction."

"But… the fox isn't exactly the easiest of people to get along with."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Just a thought."

Though it was a thought that Naruto pondered long and hard on. Versatility, huh? What could he do that would make his fighting style harder to counter?

00000000

At the hospital.

Sasuke ground his teeth in frustration for the umpteenth time that day.

Word got out pretty quickly that Naruto was promoted to special jonin. There were also the whispers that if it weren't for him, the already catastrophic destruction to Konoha would have been made worse.

Then there was the fact that he was actually a Jinchuuriki. Someone with a power so immense that it killed the Fourth Hokage, the man revered as the strongest alive in his time.

He didn't begrudge Naruto for having that power. But still… Not long ago, there was a significant gap in their powers. Not long ago, he could have beat Naruto with his eyes closed and his arms behind his back. Now though… now he wasn't sure that he could ever win against someone like that. Someone who had the knowhow to make a puppet staff and summon giant toads and had a fox familiar and received training from an insane person.

No, Sasuke didn't think he could beat Naruto as he was right then. But how could he?! How could he receive the power he needed to kill Itachi? To avenge his clan? To make the world right? He couldn't!

Kakashi had been too busy helping Sakura during the month's training and he was having trouble with his individual studies. It was starting to look like an incomprehensibly large gulf between their two abilities.

A sound woke him up from his musings. He got out of bed to investigate out the window, where the sound came from.

What he saw made him freeze in his tracks. Standing in the middle of the road was his brother flanked by a tall blue man. The two were facing Kakashi and the other jonin.

Sasuke saw Itachi glance up at him for a second. There was no change in facial expression, demeanor, or general attitude.

It was like Itachi didn't even accept his existence.

That's when he went berserk for the second time in about four days.

AN/ Can someone please explain to me why Naruto getting party members is so bad? I've read other stories that did it and I thought it went well. Or do you just want to read about Naruto becoming the best and baddest badass ever?

Leave your ponderings in the reviews.

Have a gentlemanly day.