I've decided not to put in a disclaimer since everybody already knows that I do not own Naruto, I'm not even Japanese, and I am still broke!

AN

Just wanted to say I'm sorry in advance about Hinata. I hate writing the stuttering as much as you all probably hate reading it, but I wanted to keep her in character. I like Hinata, I really do, so remember that before ripping me apart in your reviews! Oh, and don't worry...she will be in the next chapter as well.

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Shadow Clone Jutsu: The Birth of a Legend

Silence your fear; we've got to move higher High like the stars in the sky, guiding us all! Battle the will of those who conspire Take back the passion to live, vanish the sorrow!

~Avenged Sevenfold~

The tree against his back was rough and scratchy but it felt good to the boy. In his hands was a list of all the jutsus he wanted to learn. There were just so many and not enough time to learn them all. Organization had never really been his thing so he was having difficulties. He set the list in his lap and leaned back, enjoying the beautiful cool breezy day.

A familiar smell hit his nostrils. "I know you are there watching me," he said without turning his head or opening his eyes. "Like you always are doing," he added to himself. "Why don't you come out? I don't bite."

She nervously took a step out from behind the tree she was hiding behind. Her face was bright red from blushing and she twiddled her fingers. Softly and shyly, she said, "Hello Naruto."

"Hey Hinata," he said, happy with the much needed distraction, "What are you doing here?"

"I w-was just p-passing by. H-How did y-you know it was me?"

Naruto opened his eyes, turned his head and smiled at the Hyuga girl. "You smell like flowers and water," he said simply.

Hinata stared uncomprehending for a moment. Her nervousness made her stammer out, "Water h-has a smell?"

The boy nodded and picked up a leaf from the ground. He twirled it between his fingers while he thought. "Yeah, but it's kind of hard to explain. My dad thinks I might be able to sense people's chakra natures."

"Chakra natures, I'm n-not sure w-what that is. S-so what does w-water smell like? I n-never thought it h-had a s-scent."

"Umm, I don't know; I guess it's more like a feeling than anything. It's cool and light. My dad is more of a minty, tingly kind of smell and he's got a lightning nature."

"Most ninja have a natural ability to use one type of elemental chakra better than any other. That's what chakra nature is. The Uchiha's pretty much all have fire affinities which is why their jutsus are so powerful. Like I was saying, I smell water with you so maybe you have a water nature."

"I-I don't know."

"Huh, well you should let me know when you find out. It would be interesting to see if I am right. So, what do you want anyways?" he asked in his usual blunt fashion.

Hinata turned a little redder before responding, "W-well I thought I would t-tell you how great you and Sai and Sasuke d-did in the t-tournament."

"Well, that was weeks ago, but thanks; it took a lot of training. We are going to become seriously strong some day, believe it." Naruto added slyly, "You should tell Sasuke that you thought he was great too. I think he would like that."

"Oh… umm o-okay. So are y-you by y-yourself today?"

"I am currently unsupervised. I know it freaks me out too, but the possibilities are endless! No, I'm just joking, actually I am waiting on my uncle Asuma. He saw me in the tournament too and thinks I have an affinity for wind nature He's says it's too soon to tell if I have it for sure yet, but he said he would do a little training with me. My dad says that wind nature is pretty rare in the Land of Fire."

"I-I'm sure y-you will be good at it."

"Maybe, but probably not as good as Sasuke is with any of his fire jutsu. They are awesome, you know. Hey, I just thought of something…I am training with that teme next weekend. Why don't you come too."

Hinata gasped in shock. If it was possible, her face got even redder and she began to hyperventilate. "Y-you really w-want m-me to t-train w-with y-you?"

"Well, with me and Sasuke. It would be fun. So will you?"

"O-okay."

"Great. Meet us at the gate to the Uchiha complex at noon on Saturday. I see Asuma and my dad coming so I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Hinata nodded with a shy smile. She spun around and hurried away, turning back once to glance at the blonde boy. He waved merrily at her before greeting the approaching shinobi.

The two jonin had identical smirks on their faces as they strode up to the tree Naruto was relaxing against. The copy-nin teased, "Branching out from tasty little cupcakes, hmm son?"

The boy quickly jumped up, arms akimbo, and with a defiant expression. He jabbed his finger at Kakashi's chest and growled, "Ugh dad, no way! My friend likes her, not me. She's too…too.. too Hinata. …and stop calling my Sakura names."

"My Sakura?" hooted Kakashi. The incensed look on the boy's face had him saying, "Sorry son," he laughed, "It's just too easy."

At Naruto's disgruntled look, Asuma chuckled. He ruffled the boy's hair. "Come on squirt, ignore your crazy old man, and let's see that wind jutsu you used for the academy competition. Show me how you did it."

"Well, first I had to take a bunch of really big breaths and then I mixed my chakra with it and blew it out. Watch me!" Naruto made the horse, monkey and bird hand seals then began inhaling and exhaling; small breaths at first, then larger and longer until he was ready. He blew out an enormous widespread gust of wind that bent the nearby trees almost to the ground. The howl of the wind was deafening, dirt and debris from the surrounding area were picked up and hurtled through the air and into the adjacent forest in a violent clash. When he was done, the boy was red-faced and gasping for breath.

Asuma reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He put one in his mouth and lit it up. Taking a deep draw, he let out the smoke slowly. "Not bad squirt," he said, "but it could be better. If you ever used that technique as it is now in battle, you would die."

"So what am I doing wrong?" wheezed Naruto.

"You're taking the whole wind thing too literally," replied the jonin lazily. "You are using too much air and not enough chakra. Can you focus the wind better?" he asked, pointing at the damage spread throughout the training field.

"I don't know how."

Asuma took another drag off of his cigarette before dropping it and crushing it under his sandal. He made the same seals, took one deep breath and put his hands up to his mouth, and blew. A sharp stream of high velocity wind turned grey in an instant as it picked up dust particles along its path. Several trees were instantly uprooted and pulverized; their cracking and tearing sounds adding to the shrieks of the wind style jutsu.

Asuma cut the wind off, turned and gave the boy a wink before slouching back against the boulder. After catching his breath, Naruto's look of awe was replaced with determination as he tried to repeat the jonin's actions.

The first shot met with resounding failure. No gust of wind emitted from his mouth, merely the indrawn breath he gathered before his try and flying spittle from blowing too hard.

"Hmm, too much chakra I think and you are exhaling too fast," said Asuma kindly. He lit another cigarette than told the boy, "Watch carefully squirt. Watch the smoke to get an idea of how much air to use." Asuma inhaled slightly then took a drag. He slowly exhaled the smoke towards the boy.

Red-faced at his pathetic outcome, Naruto took another stab at it. The result was another failure…too little chakra.

At the end of the day, the training field was devastated. Grass was stripped from the earth, not a single stone or twig lay on the ground. The trees were all stripped of what little leaves were left on them from the cold weather.

Naruto lay on the dirt, chest heaving and sweat poring off of him. He almost had it down. He wearily stood up to make one last attempt, but stopped when Kakashi put his arm around him. "No more today son."

"But I almost had it," he protested, "One more, please? I can do it, I'm not tired. Asuma, tell my dad that I have to try it one more time."

Asuma noticed the hard look Kakashi gave him. He held up his hands in mock surrender and languidly told the chibi, "Sorry squirt, your dad's the boss. And besides, you look like you are about to faint from exhaustion."

Naruto grimaced at the jonin's response. He looked up at Kakashi and tried again. "Just one more time, please dad?" he whined.

"No son," he said sternly, "I don't want you to overdo it. You have school tomorrow."

"Dad, you saw the tournament. I thought that when you saw how grown up and strong I am, you would stop treating me like a baby."

"I am not treating you like a baby. I am treating you like a nine year old that has school tomorrow.

"Fine," he huffed, "You win. Some day you are going to have to give me a chance to prove myself. I am not just any old nine year old, I am a ninja, you know." Naruto kicked the ground hard, turned and stomped away.

Kakashi and Asuma looked at each other in amusement after witnessing the cranky boy's tantrum. The copy-nin joked, "I'll sell him to you for five hundred ryo."

Asuma laughed out loud and clapped his hand on his friends shoulder. "You wouldn't take it even if I offered you five million ryo."

"Hmm," was all he said as he put his hands in his pocket and casually walked into the fading twilight towards home.

~O~

The final bell of the day rang out long and clear, much to the relief of the students. Everyone began to gather his or her things to leave when the deep male voice of Mizuki interrupted, "Uzumaki, I need a word with you."

"Hai sensei." Naruto glanced at Sasuke and shrugged at his questioning look. "I haven't done anything lately," he whispered as the Uchiha continued to stare at him disbelievingly. "Really I haven't. At least nothing I can remember."

Naruto sat at his desk until the last student left. He approached the instructor and asked cautiously, "Sensei, what did I do?"

"First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your success at the tournament," he said warmly. "I have overheard you boys discussing your reasons for submitting and I must say I am impressed with your determination."

"You are?" asked the boy doubtfully. There was always something about that particular instructor that set off alarm bells in Naruto's head. His smile never quite reached his eyes. "If you wanted to congratulate me, then why didn't you make Sai and Sasuke stay after class as well to tell them too?"

Mizuki gave Naruto a quick penetrating look then smiled harmlessly. "I'll tell them later. The reason why I had you stay after class is because you have a visitor who wishes to speak to you in private." He pointed to his small office and said, "Go in there and wait. He should be here any minute."

Naruto stared back at him for a brief minute before nodding and walking into the other room. He paced back and forth until he heard the door squeak open and saw the Hokage enter.

"Old man, what are you doing here?"

Sarutobi walked over to the desk and sat down. He lit his pipe and blew out a small cloud of smoke before answering. "Well Naruto, I wanted to talk to you about your future. Your father has told me of your desire to form a team with Sai Morino and Sasuke Uchiha. I was very impressed with your team performance at the tournament. I believe that the three of you banned together would be an ideal formation, however, there is one small problem."

"What's that?" frowned Naruto.

The Hokage sighed regretfully and said, "I'm sorry Naruto, but your age. You will not be at the minimum age requirement when they graduate. You will have to stay at the academy until the next testing date, six months from that day."

"What!?" he jumped up and shouted, "That's not fair. I have been working real hard. I should be able to graduate with all my friends."

"Sit down and calm yourself now. I agree with you. That's why I have a little task for you to accomplish. If you follow the mission explicitly, you will be able to prove that you are mature enough to handle the responsibilities of becoming a genin along with the rest of your classmates."

"I'll do it. Whatever it is, I'll do it."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Wouldn't you like to know what you have to do first?"

A faint blush stained the boy's cheeks and he nodded eagerly.

"Good. First thing you must know is that this is a secret mission. I have to know that you can be trusted to keep one, so you cannot tell anyone."

"I can do that."

"Good. Now here is what you need to do…"

~O~

As Naruto readied himself for bed that night, he checked his gear and drank as much water as he could. He didn't want his father to hear his alarm clock, so he set his own silent alarm…a full bladder. It was a lesson he learned from Kakashi.

When he awoke several hours later and after a long trip to the bathroom, he remembered his mission. The boy silently went back into his room and prepared himself. A dark hoodie concealed his attention grabbing blonde locks. He was ready. A dry-bone scraping sound had his heart hammering in apprehension until he realized it was only the wind rustling an overgrown branch against the house.

The open window was the only proof of his silent passage.

The moon provided just enough illumination for Naruto to wind his way through the streets of Konoha. He glanced up at the heavens; black and speckled with stars, the perfect night for a little adventure. Several times he felt the presence of a shinobi nearing his location. But he was able to avoid detection. He said to himself, "Naruto Uzumaki Hatake, the skulking fiend with sympathy for shadows, proves his worth as the future Hokage and the most awesome ninja in the village as he avoids patrolling marauders."

Someone was coming.

Crouched warily in the gloom, Naruto drew in a deep breath and held it, listened. At first he heard nothing but the thump-thump of his skipping, drumming heart, but near the useful end of that banked breath, he began to hear, as well, the nearly silent swish of a cloaked Anbu. The boy hid himself well and waited until the secret operative moved on. His legs felt rubbery and boneless for a moment before he pulled himself together.

"Yeah that's right…I'm the ultimate spymaster!" he crowed under his breath and hurried on, still being as quiet as a mouse.

Face flushed with success, he arrived at the tower in triumph. He scouted around the building then smirked to himself. He knew the tower almost as well as he knew his own house. He thought of the hours spent playing on the floor at the feet of the old man when his dad was on a mission and the endless games of hide and seek with his honorary uncles and aunts.

Yes, Naruto knew the Hokage's tower. He knew that using chakra inside would set off alarms. He knew that opening certain doors would have the Anbu arriving in seconds. He also knew that there was an air duct that was not alarmed good enough. It was his favorite hiding spot when he was younger. No one could ever find him when he chose to use it.

Near the back door, across a plot of grass, a clump of bushes hid the access to the crawlspace. Naruto stood in contemplation; his breath coming out in little white puffs, pondering how to get over it without the tell-tale crunching sound of the frozen grass giving away his location.

"The incredibly amazing ninja, Naruto Uzumaki Hatake, future Hokage of Konohagakure displays his daring skill and cat-like stealth as he braves the dangers ahead, all while keeping a cool head."

The chibi focused chakra at his feet and crossed the grassy expanse as though he were walking across water. He made not a sound and reached the bush. It had been a few years since he had tried to use the hole and his body had grown bigger. After a lot of twisting, turning, squeezing, sweating and cursing, he was in. The duct was still large enough to accommodate his small frame, but it gave out loud groans at the increased burden.

Naruto redistributed his weight and continued on carefully.

The boy peeked through each grate until he found the library; the scroll of seals was just as it had been described. Naruto picked it up then hesitated. Indecision weighed heavily on his shoulders until he looked at the clock on the wall. He thoughtfully tapped his chin. He was still way ahead of schedule. Plenty of time left to do a little investigating.

"Well," he said to himself, "I must follow my mission parameters, and they clearly state that I have to retrieve the scroll and meet him at dawn. Plenty of time…"

The boy tied the scroll to his waist and carefully made his way out of the air vents and back under the crawlspace. He made his way over to the secret spot of his which was large enough for him to stand in. He turned the scroll in his hands several times, inspecting it. He was disappointed to discover that it was in perfect condition. Naruto chuckled as an idea came to mind. He picked it up and dropped it several times until the cord holding it closed came off.

"Oops! Well, since it's already open…"

The boy opened the scroll and began to read until his watch gave a quiet chirp. "Dang," he muttered, "There's not enough time for the whole thing." Shrugging his shoulders, he stood up and dusted himself off. Naruto put his hands into a new seal position and focused his chakra. "Here goes nothing… shadow clone… jutsu?"

A huge billowing cloud of smoke obscured his vision. Coughing and waving his hands, he froze in shock when he heard similar sounds. The cloud dispersed and two doppelgangers stood before him; also coughing and waving their hands.

"Next time, try to do better boss. Otherwise, it's kind of a crappy jutsu…unless you want to choke your enemies to death with smoke," said one of his mirror images.

The shocked expression on Naruto's face changed to a huge smile. "A clone," he whispered. "I made a clone. I DID IT! I MADE A CLONE! I MADE TWO CLONES!" he screamed in surprise and pride before he remembered where he was.

One of the clones jumped up and down several times shouting, "I'm real, I'm a real boy!" he began to sing, "I've got no strings to hold me down…"

"Shut up baka," hissed a clone while slapping his hand over the other's mouth. "Do you want to get us caught? You too boss."

"Right," said the boy while he poked the other one. "Hey, you are solid."

The replica pushed Naruto's hand away from his chest and said, "Duh, you read the scroll. Any clones you make are actual copies, not illusions. Your chakra is evenly spread out to every of us, giving us an equal amount of your power. We can perform techniques on our own and can even bleed, but I don't want to do that boss, so be careful with us. One good solid hit or two and we dispel."

Naruto poked his twin again and mumbled, "This is so cool…"

The twin dryly asked, "Don't you have a mission to complete?"

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Naruto, dispersing the clones and standing straighter. "Right," he said again, gathering the scroll and carefully exiting the crawlspace. "Let's do this then."

He scurried through the village and over the wall without being detected. The rendezvous location was set not too far from the village. It was near one of the many lakes and ponds that dotted the countryside; a small power station. He was getting close when his name was called. Naruto turned in surprise to see Mizuki leaning casually against a tree.

"Uzumaki, give me the scroll."

AN

Oh no... cliffhanger! Since I am making you all wait, here is a little Omake about Jiraiya. What, you didn't think I would have him visit the village and then not say anything else about him did you?!

Jiraiya's Omake

The day after the tournament, Naruto was still very keyed up about his success. It was almost as if he was on an insane sugar high, so big was his excitement. Kakashi had to leave on a short mission and decided to allow the Sanin to watch the boy as he was planning on staying in the village for several days anyways.

He left the man with a very long list of instructions as well as a warning tacked onto the bottom: DO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO NARUTO'S DELIQUENCIES AND ABSOLUTELY DO NOT CORRUPT HIM WITH ANY OF YOUR PERVERSIONS!

Jiraiya read the long, detailed list the fussy copy-nin left behind while chuckling and drinking his sake. When he got to the bottom, he crumpled the list in his fist and chucked it into the trash.

Naruto's eyes widened comically at the Sanin's actions. "Does this mean that you aren't going to make me take a bath?"

"Not if you don't want to," he replied.

"Do I have to brush my teeth?"

"It's your mouth. It's your decision if you want rotten teeth," he answered sagely.

"Do I get to eat candy?!"

"Not on your life, kid."

"Damn," he sighed. "So what do you want to do? Will you teach me an awesome new jutsu?"

"Nope. I am going to go do some research today."

"Aw man," he whined, "I want you to teach me something; something really awesome that will make me a super ninja!"

"I told you kid, I have things to do."

"Oh yeah? Well…well…" Naruto's hands flashed through a series of signs. A half a second later, a tall naked blonde woman stood where the boy once was. "Well you please teach me, cutie?" she huskily pleaded.

Jiraiya's mouth gaped open while a trickle of blood slowly fell unnoticed from his nostril. "I'll teach you whatever you want," he replied while his hand moved to grope her bare breast.

"Do you promise?" she giggled.

"I promise!" he hurriedly agreed.

She disappeared an instant later much to the Sanin's displeasure. Naruto stood there with a smug look on his face. "So what are you going to teach me?"

"I want to teach the beautiful blonde, not you!"

"Too bad, Pervy Sage …you promised!" yelled the boy hotly.

"But I really need to do my research at the hot springs. How can I do that with you along?" he wondered aloud. "And don't call me that!"

"Well, I do know a secret way in…"

"Let's go then."

Naruto and Jiraiya wound their way through the village to the hot springs. The boy leapt up into a tree that butted a large wooden fence. Naruto looked down at the Sanin and waved at him to join him. He said, "I'm not allowed in here because the owners don't like me. Kiba and I put some super concentrated bubble bath in the water. You should have seen it Raya!" he giggled, "There were bubbles flowing down the entire mountainside. People were slipping and sliding all over the place. It took three days for them to reopen the spa." He put his hands behind his head and smiled, "Ah good times… good times!"

Jiraiya snorted at the boy then turned and looked down at the other side of the fence. There were women lounging all over the spa. A small giggle escaped his lips as he whipped out his notebook and began to furiously take notes. Naruto stayed silent for a half an hour before boredom got the best of him.

"Come on Pervy Sage," he whined, "When are you going to teach me something? This is so boring!"

"Not now kid," he muttered while watching the women. "And don't call me that!"

"You are a super pervert!"

"Shush, you're going to get us caught!" he whispered fiercely.

"Pervert!" yelled Naruto.

The women looked up and screamed at the sight of the Sanin in the tree. They hastily grabbed towels to cover up with and began to throw small stones that lined the spa. Jiraiya sighed as he leapt down and walked away. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

"Now are you going to teach me something?"

"Fine, brat… wait a minute, don't you have school today?"

Naruto looked down, shamefaced he said, "Uh well, you see, umm…"

"Naruto, your dad's going to kill me," he sighed.

"Not if he doesn't find out! Believe me, I won't tell him if you don't." Naruto gave his best chibi look that always worked for him before. His eyes became two huge melancholy blue pools of water, his lip puckered out in a sad, quivering little pout, and his shoulders slumped over in defeat…

Jiraiya slapped the boy upside his head and yelled, "Knock it off brat; you're not four anymore!"

Naruto laughed and smiled sunnily, "Eh, I had to give it a shot! So what are you going to teach me?"

"Oh for the love of…" he slapped his hand over his eyes and nodded, "How good are you at earth styles?"

"You saw my headhunter jutsu at the tournament. I buried Sai and Sasuke too. So what jutsu is it going to be?"

"I guess I can show you swamp of the underworld."

Naruto threw his fist in the air and jumped up in excitement. "That sounds so cool! Can we start now?"

"Might as well."

~O~

Three days later, Kakashi entered the village. He had just enough time to surprise his pup and pick him up from school after he gave his report to the tower. He arrived just as the last bell rang. The nin patiently waited as the children trooped past him, with no sight of his son. Thinking the boy must have went home another way, he turned to leave. Before he had taken three steps, he heard his name being called by Iruka.

The chunin hurried over to him, his face a mask of worry. "Kakashi, is Naruto okay? I haven't seen him at all this week. I didn't notice him getting any injuries at the tournament, so has he been sick?"

"He hasn't been here all week?! That boy had better be sick or Jiraiya is so dead!"

Kakashi summoned his ninken rather than searching the village. Not long after, they came back reporting the Sanin and boy's location. He stealthily headed their way and found them stuck up to their waists in the middle of a large swamp.

Jiraiya caught sight of the angry nin first. He gulped before pleading, "Can you give us a little hand, Kashi?"

"Stuck are you? I distinctly remember warning you against contributing to Naruto's delinquency; did you also expose him to your perversions?"

"Of course not…"

"Is that what it's called when we spy on the women at the spa, Pervy Sage?"

"Shut up, baka!" he hissed.

"I'll see you both at home tonight," said Kakashi as he waved to the stranded two. "I need to think of a very good punishment for the both of you."

"Wait daddy, help us!" yelled Naruto to the departing figure. He looked at the Sanin and guiltily asked, "Well now what do we do?"

Jiraiya deadpanned, "Think of a really good excuse."

~O~

Jiraiya quickly left the village the next day. He tried to avoid as many people as he could, but it seemed word had spread. As he walked out the gate, the green one piece jumpsuit rode high up one butt cheek. As uncomfortable as it felt, he didn't pull it out. Naruto walked beside him, as equally red-cheeked. The matching green suit he wore showed EVERYTHING! He caught sight of Sakura giggling behind her hand as he said goodbye to his godfather. "At least you can change," he whispered to the sage. "I have to wear this all week!"

AN

Now who could it be that has a crush on Hinata...cookies to whoever guesses first!

Only about three more chapters until part one is complete. Please review and let me know what you think.

Namikaze naruto: Sorry, but Naruto is not super powered (He is 9 remember), but neither is he a weakling. He is stronger than most of his classmates, but not god-like. However, like I said above, he will get more powerful and smarter.