Naruto the Ghost Stalker

by NPCrusader

At an early age Naruto is rescued from a mob and is taken under the wing of a mysterious shinobi to be trained in arts unknown to the other nations. Soon Naruto will master all the skills needed to be a formidable ninja, as well as unique deadly powers to accomplish any of his objectives. When he dons the role of the "Ghost Stalker", evil will now have a reason to fear the dark!

38. Learning & Teaching

Chapter 37: Learning & Teaching

The group of teenage ninja had left their village leader's building only a minute after exiting his office. Naruto was about to take his leave and go do his routine for the day, meaning training, eating, even more training, eat some more and then sleeping, when Sakura grabbed his shoulder and turned him around harder then necessary but not harshly.

"Where do you think you're going, Naruto?" She asked in a tone Naruto didn't quite know how to identify. It was like a blend of sarcasm, kindness and irritation all together.

"To do my stuff for the day, what else?" He replied simply, but with a hint of uncertainty.

"No you're not." She stated firmly.

"I'm not?"

"Nope, not until we've learned what we want."

'Learned what they want?' Naruto asked himself. "You're the bookworm in our group. What could I know that you don't already?"

"I'm not a bookworm." She defended with a low growl.

A unanimous cough that sounded like "Bullshit!" came from the group in perfect unison.

"Right, and Akamaru is actually a lapdog instead of a ninken (ninja dog)." Naruto sarcastically retorted. Said dog snorted in mild disgust at the idea.

"I'm not a bookworm! I just like to learn stuff. It's sort of like a hobby."

"All that learning requires books. With the amount of reading you've done you've learned tons." Shikamaru commented with a knowing smirk.

"Um... Shikamaru, knowledge doesn't weigh anything." Chouji pointed out.

"It does when it is found in books, it' so troublesome to carry knowledge in that form."Shikamaru said, to which Chouji nodded in agreement.

"Alright!" Sakura exclaimed exasperatedly. "Fine, so I'm a bookworm! It's one of the things I've got on you all." Sakura stated somewhat haughtily with crossed arms.

"It's the ONLY thing you've got on any of us, that and your massive forehead, Forehead." Ino taunted.

Before the argument could escalate, Shino butted in. "If I may, we're getting very off topic."

"Yeah, you're right." Sakura agreed, immediately focusing on the matter at hand, which was Naruto. "Naruto, we're here to learn where you live."

Letting out a small grunt in surprised disbelief, Naruto looked at her with wide eyes.

"Huh? Why do you want to know that?"

"Isn't it obvious, Naruto?" She asked with some disbelief of her own. "We're your friends, of course we want to know where you live."

"Save for Hinata, you haven't cared to learn before." Naruto pointed out. While he honestly didn't mean it in a harsh way, it still stung the group, with the exception of Hinata. Only she had tried to ask him before, which he, every time, evaded answering.

"Well, we..." Sakura began, but it was hard to explain her reason for not learning, since it would involve sensitive matters.

Ino, sensing her discomfort, decided to jump in and save her the trouble. "We're embarrassed to say that it slipped all our minds, all this time. But in hindsight we all would have, long ago, liked to learn where you live."

"As friends, we should know where you live." Shino said.

Rubbing his neck, Naruto looked both mildly dismayed and embarrassed. "Well, it's not entirely your fault either. I've actively avoided telling anybody, including Hinata. That's why even she doesn't know."

"We know, dobe." Sasuke said in his stoic tone. "Sandaime-sama and Yokai-sensei told of your living conditions and that you are most likely ashamed of it. I couldn't care less about that since it has nothing to do with your worth as a person."

"N-nor would I c-care a-about that, Naruto-kun." Hinata piped up.

"None of us do." Chouji added with a shake of his head.

Raising his hands in defeat, but smiling in appreciation, Naruto agreed to take them to his home. But not without giving a fair warning that it wasn't pretty.

And pretty it sure was not. The building was run-down and even had visible points of disrepair. It appeared that the landlord wasn't taking any interest in keeping the building in good condition. Graffiti and smudges marred the walls, stairs and walkways leading to a row of apartment doors of which Naruto's was among.

Nobody failed to notice that some of the graffiti was unmistakably anti-kyuubi in nature. While such punk-art weren't uncommon in Konoha, even in finer neighborhoods (though they were removed as soon as discovered there), it was rather obvious to everyone that it was more concentrated in this particular place.

There was nothing that directly implicated that Naruto was Kyuubi, but the message was rather clear anyway, to anyone who knew already of Naruto's tenant. Naruto himself had noticed the graffiti motifs but shrugged it off as anything else the streets punks paint. It wasn't until after he learned that he was the living prison that the meaning hit home. It certainly was the hardest morning that morning, when the daylight illuminated the graffiti, that Naruto ever had. It served as a reminder of how he had lost his friends.

Now, though, with his friends back, no, with his friends never lost to begin with, it was nothing more than a representation of what Naruto was facing with the villagers. Their hatred of the beast and, by proxy, their misguided hatred of him. Where the day began with the graffiti wounding his heart further, it evolved into a daily challenge to face and overcome the hatred, to work diligently at changing their views.

As Naruto realized this while passing it all by, it amazed him just how things can fundamentally change with precious people around you, supporting you.

"You know, Naruto, you could always remove all this... stuff. It would ease your mind. We could even help you with it." Chouji offered, to the quiet consternation of Shikamaru.

Smiling in happiness at the kind offer, Naruto declined. "Thanks, but no."

"Why not, Naruto?" Kiba asked, baffled at the thought of willingly letting such offending things stay up, outside one's home no less.

"Well, first off. The ones who put them there would just put it back up eventually, perhaps with even more... gusto next time. No doubt since they would see it as a small victory since it could be seen as me trying to remove offending stuff. Secondly, they serve a purpose now."

"A purpose? The graffiti?!" Sakura asked in astonishment.

"Yes. It now serves as a daily challenge that I see each morning. A challenge to not let the misguided hatred against me gain ground in my heart, and to fight back by slowly changing their views of me through my own actions."

That made all present, especially Hinata and Ino, admire Naruto even more. Facing that head-on and even using the methods of street-punks to his advantage. That took insight and guts that not many could claim to have at their age.

What impressed them less was the state of the inside of Naruto's apartment. It had junk littering all over the place, mostly consisting of empty instant-ramen cups and dirty clothes that really should have been in the laundry basket, if he had one. It was also dusty and dirty overall.

"Sorry about the mess. I'm a bit sloppy and lazy when it comes to chores."

"You're a guy after my own heart, Naruto." Shikamaru said with a lazy shoulder slap.

"That's not really a positive trait, Shikamaru." Ino admonished both of them at the same time.

"This would be partially why I am not too fond of the idea of inviting others over. While the outside isn't my fault, this is mostly my fault."

"Mostly?" Shino queried.

"Yeah, the water sometimes breaks down and I have to either fix it myself when I find the time or have someone else do it if the problem is too complicated for me. This causes me to not be able to wash my clothes and clean up. The trash is no excuse though."

"Is the water broken now?" Sasuke asked.

"Er... no. I just have been really, really, focused on the exam to bother with anything else, including chores." Naruto weakly tried to justify his laziness.

"Really?" Sakura questioned while slowly approaching Naruto with a sour face. "So you couldn't find time to do something that at most would take five to ten minutes to accomplish?"

"Um... sort of?" Naruto replied, backing away at the same pace Sakura approached.

"This wont do at all, Naruto." Ino said, approaching alongside Sakura, with a disapproving shake of her head.

"But I... I thought you guys said it wouldn't matter?" Naruto asked, starting to become a tad hurt.

"It doesn't matter in regards to you as a person, Naruto. But as a shinobi, you should have more discipline than this." Sakura said with Ino in full agreement.

Naruto had to agree with that, but the mind of Naruto Uzumaki would never admit complete defeat nor would it give in to any challenge.

"You're right, of course." He admitted with a look of honest, albeit mildly repentant face. He then turned jovial once again as he continued. "But I have the perfect solution to that problem right now!"

He then crossed both of his index and middle fingers in a + sign and called out, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

And with several poofs, the clones appeared and, already knowing their task, went ahead to clean the apartment up.

The girls weren't sure whether they should be impressed with the mildly ingenious solution or annoyed at the fact Naruto seemed to cheat his way out of doing chores everyone has to do.

Shikamaru was at first envious of Naruto's ability to multitask, or even go overkill on one task. But he concluded that even if he, himself, had the ability, his clones would be as against the idea of doing chores as himself so he mentally shrugged and scrapped that ultimately troublesome idea as he observed the clones at work making the place presentable.

'Maybe I can hire Naruto to help me out?' He then pondered. But his mother would put a stop to that and claim it is his responsibility to do it. That woman could be such a killjoy.

Hinata merely giggled quietly, wholly admiring Naruto's ability to solve his problem.

Kiba and Chouji laughed at Naruto avoiding the ire of the girls at the same time as he fixed his supposed no-time-for-chores issue. Only Naruto could hit two birds with one stone like that. Sasuke merely smirked and Shino observed, silently appreciating the solution to a problem.

Soon enough, the apartment was clean. Not perfect, but it was pleasant enough to be in as a guest.

"There, that should do the trick." Naruto said with a foxy grin.

"Naruto, there's something to be said about doing stuff yourself." Sakura said, groaning and palming her face.

"But I did, Sakura." Naruto defended

"Your clones did it all." Sakura pointed out.

"They're all me." He countered.

"No they're not, you didn't even experience the effort of doing it!" Sakura argued.

"Yes, I did. Anything the clones learn or experience is transferred back to the original, including fatigue as I just now noticed."

That was news to the budding kunoichi. "Really?"

"Yeah, the only thing I don't gain from clones is muscle build or physical endurance from their activities."

'If all that's true, then he still goes through the same experience while at the same time is able to shorten the time required exponentially.' Sakura thought, realizing also that she was out of arguments. Not that she needed to argue further as her cause for argument was satisfied at the same time.

"Wow, Naruto. This would mean you're able to train with clones in various ways." Ino chirped.

"Yeah, I guess so." Naruto grinned.

"Can you teach us the jutsu, Naruto. It would be sweet to know it." Kiba asked.

"Because you would be able to escape your chores?" Shino inquired.

"No. Well, yeah, that too. But I'd also like to be able to train like Naruto can. Besides, I wouldn't escape the experience, just the time it takes to do chores."

"Sorry, Kiba. But I wont." Naruto replied, shaking his head.

"What? Why not?" Kiba complained.

"How troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered. "Kiba, there are drawbacks to every jutsu in existence. That's one of the fundamental laws regarding jutsus. My guess is that Shadow Clone jutsu is very taxing on one's reserves, almost regardless of one's control. Am I right, Naruto?"

"Right on the money as always, Shika." Naruto nodded.

"Which means that even if you would be able to make one clone, you'd be almost depleted and near enough suffering from exhaustion just by creating the darn thing. Only Naruto's massive supply allows him to throw them around like the petals of a flower girl at a wedding." Sakura further explained.

"You had to use that particular image, didn't you Sakura?" Sasuke commented, knowing painfully well the reason she was of that mindset. Sakura blushed.

"Anyway, none of us would be able to come even close to the level of use Naruto can get out of this jutsu, which means we are pretty much better off not knowing the jutsu, at least for the time being." Shikamaru concluded.

Kiba groused but conceded, to the amusement of everyone else. But they couldn't help but share his disappointment to various degrees.

Hinata was fairly certain that her control and somewhat larger reserves due to her strict training regime at the Hyuuga household would give her a head start if she wanted to get to the point of learning the Shadow Clone jutsu. She had a few ideas where at least one could be of use to her.

Sakura, even with her near-enough phenomenal control for her age was sorely unable to consider the jutsu something she could learn soon, mostly due to her rather diminutive reserve at present. But with time she would be able to, of that she had no doubt.

Ino was playing around with the idea of seeing what would happen if she made a clone and tried to enter its mind and vice versa. While that idea was fruitless, she surmised, there was something else she thought of. She could, in theory, create a clone, have it enter someone else's mind, dispel the incapacitated clone and then await the return of the mind of the clone when it's completed its task. There was a chance that any injury sustained by the hijacked body would not affect her, as it normally would have.

'If what Naruto said about the clones not transferring muscle build, then the same about muscle damage should apply. It made sense since Naruto could use clones to fight and if a clone was killed it had no effect on the original, save perhaps the memory of the sensation.' She contemplated, frowning in focus. She would have to consult the clan scrolls, or, if that didn't do it, her father.

Kiba, instead, was now wondering if he could have Akamaru in his man-beast clone form do his chores for him occasionally. Akamaru, somehow sensing the thought pattern of his partner, quietly whimpered in dismay.

Shino was already knowledgeable in his insect clone technique, since his insects had no concept of laziness or the like, he had no doubt he could create a clone and do things the way Naruto did. But he would have to instruct his insects, which would require him being nearby for it. He supposed he could use the clone and do some chores himself simultaneously to shorten the time required for completion. All this was purely for the benefit of additional time for training and other important and productive things, of course.

For Chouji, it was of no use in direct relation to his clan's jutsu, other than another bodily-expansion capable combatant in a fight. Realistically, however, it was better to spend his chakra on his internal ability since, usually, a skilled Akimichi could be a force to be reckoned with on his/her own. That and their jutsus costs more energy than average, hence their girth to help out like a buffer.

He did consider having a clone to help him cook and do chores like everyone else. But no way was eating going to be done by a clone, that was totally and completely reserved for the original, thank you very much. Besides, it was the way Akimichi gain their strength and endurance. Something Naruto mentioned wasn't transferred. It would have been a waste of food and that is almost like a mortal sin for Akimichis.

Shikamaru was getting bored.

Sasuke only did the least amount of chores necessary for an acceptably presentable home, otherwise he was training or brooding. The only thing he found use of clones were to complete the chores marginally faster and training, using as a sparring partner. However, since they expire easily and he can't make more as readily as Naruto could, it would be a waste of chakra that he could've used for honing his other jutsus. Therefore the use came down to chores, of which Sasuke cared little for, as stated, wasting energy on.

Akamaru, like other ninja dogs of the Inuzuka clan, wasn't trained trained in the use of Shadow Clones and didn't have any real use for them since their partners, especially when the dogs were in man-beast clone form, were enough in a battle. Outside of that they had no use for it. Long ago it was proposed that ninken should be taught the technique at some point but it was rejected since it meant that they would have to have, for a dog, phenomenal reserves to be of use, which they didn't get until, maybe, late in their life. The only use, in theory, was if they were to have dogfights between them and their own clones so as to not harm one another.

The problem with that was that a part of a ninken's training was to get a good pain-tolerance. Both during the infliction of it upon them and then dealing with it afterward. So the idea of avoiding some of it due to fights between different dogs was not seen as constructive. Another was that it was believed that a clone of a dog wouldn't want to injure the original, since it was, in essence, itself. And a dog never injures itself willingly, unless under dire circumstances, not even then in some cases.

"Well," Naruto stated, bringing everyone out of their brief considerations. "now you've seen where and how I live. Anything else you guys would like to do today?"

"Yeah, we intended to have a little party to celebrate our graduation yesterday." Chouji said, his mouth drooling a bit at the thought of the food and drink entailed.

"Yeah, that's right! We should totally get back to setting that up as we originally wanted to." Kiba agreed.

"When and where?" Naruto asked.

"The Akimichi Barbeque Restaurant. We probably should make it at six o´ clock" Chouji answered proudly.

"Ooh nice, I can already taste the pork jowls." Ino said with glee, to the surprise of all, save Sakura.

Who taunted. "I've always said you are what you eat, you know. What does that make you, Ino-pig?"

"I eat a good mix of everything, Forehead. That would make me a well balanced woman. Pork jowls just happen to be one of my favorite dishes, taste wise. It also has a good amount of collagen."

"You're hardly that, Ino." Sakura said with a smirk.

"What, a woman or well balanced?" Ino asked with a daring glare.

"Take your pick." Sakura and Shikamaru both replied at the same time, though Shikamaru was smart enough to whisper so only those close to him, namely Naruto and Kiba, could hear. Naruto and Kiba had great trouble keeping their laughter in check.

Lightning flashed between the eyes of the two rivals. "I'm gonna make you pay for that, Forehead!"

"Bring it, pig!" Sakura responded with a raising of her fist. Ino responded in kind, both completely forgetting where they were.

Before they could clash, Shikamaru had them captured in his shadow possession jutsu.

"Will you troublesome girls quit your senseless bickering, we have a party to plan after all." He said with irritation.

After coming to their senses, the planning went underway. Soon enough they agreed on the time, which was what Chouji supplied. They all went about their business during the day and when evening came they had a very pleasant celebration of their graduation.

The next day, the group, individually, had their photos taken. Although there was a bit of a dilemma when it came to Naruto.

"Naruto, you can't have this as a picture." The Hokage declared.

"Why not, jiji?"

"Because it's a photo of a set of eyes, basically." He supplied with a patient face.

"So?"

"So? The photo has to be a photo which one can recognize the one displayed on it."

"Nu-uh. That's not what's required." Naruto protested.

"Oh, really?" Sarutobi asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, the purpose of the photo is to make certain that recognizable features are made known to identify the ninja the photo displays."

"Correct, which there are none besides your blue eyes, the rest of your head is covered by your ninja mask."

"Right, but tell me, jiji. How many ninjas are dressed like that nowadays?"

Hiruzen had to give that a moment of thought. "The closest I can give are three people, Kakashi Hatake from the leaf, Zabuza Momochi from the Hidden Mist and finally Han from the Hidden Stone. But they, while masked, still had recognizable features to them."

"So that means I would be the only one that would be dressed like this?"

"Yes, but..." Hiruzen paused, then laughed. "I see where you are headed with this, Naruto. Very well, you can hereby add that you've won an argument with the Hokage to your list of accomplishments."

Naruto grinned in response while giving a thumbs-up.

That's when the door suddenly swung open with a slam as a boy a couple of years younger than Naruto started to sprint towards the elderly man, brandishing a kunai.

"This time, old man, I will get you for sure and take your hat!" He shouted his challenge.

But he didn't have more time than to say that before a kunai collided with the kunai in the boy's hand, making the boy loose his grip, and consequently the weapon itself. Barely a second after a shuriken caught the very long scarf the boy was wearing around his neck, pinning it to the floor.

Since the boy hadn't had the opportunity to stop his dash, the resulting effect was a tightened scarf which effectively halted the boy who then fell backwards to the floor from the halting force.

After regaining his senses, which didn't take more than 3 seconds. The boy, to his credit, flipped himself up, removed the shuriken (though it took him a second to pull it loose) and finally using said shuriken to accusingly point at Naruto.

"You, you made me fall, didn't you?!" He shouted.

"Yeah, I did, kid. You were a threat to the Hokage, even though you are as dangerous as a sparrow is to an elephant against him."

"Do you know who I am?!"

"No, and I really don't care."

"Honorable grandson!" A shouting Jonin entered with haste, slightly out of breath. "There you are, you need to stop running away from me so..." The jonin then noticed Naruto and his eyes immediately changed from worried and mildly panicked into that of cold, distrusting and disgusted ones. Eyes that Naruto knew all to well.

"Hear that? I'm the Honorable Grandson!" The boy continued his argument with Naruto, with noticeable venom when he used the title he was apparently given.

"The Honorable Grandson, of the Hokage!" He then finished, fully expecting Naruto to get down on his knees and beg his forgiveness and treat him like everybody else does.

"I wouldn't care even if the Fire Daimyo was your dad, you're still a spoiled brat and an idiot." Naruto casually remarked as he retrieved his kunai and the shuriken from the boy with a swift grabbing motion.

"Idiot?! What do you mean, I'm an idiot?!" The boy shouted in shock and indignation.

Naruto then knocked the boy hard enough on the head to inflict minor pain several times with the ring-end of his kunai, all the while the boy trying and failing to avoid the offending item.

"Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Think, little chimp, think! Do you honest-to-kami believe that you had any snowball's chance in Suna to challenge and beat the HOKAGE of all people, while you're not even in you second year of the Academy?!" Naruto demanded while speaking in a sarcastic and condescending tone.

'This guy. He's different.' The boy thought in amazement. He was more shocked that he had the gall to talk like that to him, in front of the, surprisingly indifferent, Hokage nonetheless, rather than what he said, though that also irked him.

"I'm more powerful than you think, mister. And don't call me 'chimp'!" The grandson of the Hokage tried to claim, and then demand, but not with the same amount of passion as before. "Me defeating my grandpa and taking his hat will be the proof of my strength."

"The only thing you are proving is your own childishness." Naruto then glanced at the prejudiced Jonin. "Judging by the fact that you have a private tutor, you're already well on your way to become a Genin one day, whether you'll be a good one we can only hope." He commented. "But that also means that you need to stop deluding yourself, thinking you're already Jonin material, and start taking things seriously."

"The Honorable Grandson is taking things seriously. He has me as a tutor," The Jonin arrogantly indicated himself. "and through me, he has a shortcut to the seat of Hokage."

Naruto looked at the Jonin in disbelief. "I can understand the brat thinking that way, but a full-blown Jonin? Are you mad?"

"I beg your pardon?" The Jonin said indignantly. "I'm Ebisu, elite Jonin tutor. I demand you treat me with respect, as well as the Honorable Grandson, Konohamaru Sarutobi."

"Oh, so you're the guy with the hamster." Naruto remarked idly, taking the now identified Ebisu by surprise that he knew such a detail about him. "Anyway, respect is earned, Ebisu-san. True respect. Anything else is lip-service. I'm not a lip-service kind of guy, so don't expect it from me. The way you are now, Jonin, you are far from earning my respect, or anyone else's I'd suspect."

He then turned to the also identified Konohamaru. "And as for you, don't listen to that bullcrap about shortcuts to becoming Hokage. There are no such things in life, especially a shinobi's. You want shortcuts, try the lottery, or a barber shop. The way to becoming Hokage will mean you will have to bleed, sweat and cry large amounts of blood, sweat and tears for long, agonizing parts of it. The times you aren't are small pockets of reprieve before having to go at it again.

In other words, the way to becoming Hokage is hard as hell, but also the most honest one. Taking shortcuts is cutting yourself short, chimp. Remember that. Besides, the Hokage is supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the village. Do you want to be know as a weak Hokage that reached his position by basically cheating and when push came to shove wasn't strong enough to meet the enemies head-on?" Naruto lectured.

'Naruto-kun is on a roll it seems.' Hiruzen thought with a mental laugh. 'But little Konohamaru does indeed need to hear this. Especially from someone close to his age.'

"W-what would you know of stuff like that?" Konohamaru asked.

"Good question, chimp. I learned this from my sensei. He didn't sugar-coat anything and told me the cold, harsh truth. Which is; that a Hokage needs to not only be strongest, but also the wisest and the one that has what it takes to make the tough decisions, even when it hurts him and those around him. He has to be able to send his own son on dangerous missions, even suicide missions. A true Hokage does not shy away from the hardest of choices, even if it costs him or her their own life. To be even a candidate to become Hokage, you have to be prepared to do just what I've told you. Do you understand me?"

Konohamaru nodded. Ebisu, while scowling on the outside, was rather impressed with the lecture of the village pariah. But one impressive lecture was not enough to alter his opinion of the 'demon boy'. Which was why he then spoke the following.

"Well. If you're quite done, I, Ebisu, and the Honorable Grandson have to resume our training."

"No we aren't!" Konohamaru protested loudly.

"Honorable Grandson!" Ebisu chided with surprise. "You must, you are the Honorable Grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, you cannot settle for anything less than the top-notch instructions available."

"Which isn't you!" Konohamaru angrily stated.

"Konohamaru-kun. Why are you so adamant about this?" Hiruzen questioned his grandson. "Isn't Ebisu-san a good teacher?"

"No, he isn't." He replied.

"Honorable..."

"Be silent, Ebisu-san." The Third Hokage commanded without averting his eyes from his youngest relative. "Why is that?"

"He's doesn't respect me, he lies to me and doesn't train me right."

"What makes you say that?"

"He keeps calling me 'Honorable Grandson' and not my name. I am your grandson, but I am called Konohamaru and I wont be only known all my life as the grandson of the Third Hokage. I've asked him to please call me by my name but he wont. That's not respecting me while saying he's doing it at the same time. Then he lies to me about what it's like to be a ninja, a Hokage and a member of the Sarutobi clan."

Looking with visible yet restrained anger at Ebisu, the eldest Sarutobi asked of Konohamaru what he's said.

"He's said that a ninja is a powerful warrior that goes around doing glamorous missions, whatever that means, and rescues damsels in distress. A Hokage is the village leader who tells everyone what to do from the safety of his office and that as a member of the Sarutobi clan I would inherit your hat automatically."

His anger growing noticeably, the Hokage asked a question Konohamaru didn't expect.

"If you were to request a new tutor, do you have someone in mind?"

"Hai, ojiisan. I want Naruto-niichan!" He happily proclaimed, pointing at the Genin.

Ebisu and Naruto were both gaping like fish in surprise. "You can't be serious, chimp! I'm a newly graduated Genin, myself. Why do you want me as a teacher?"

"Because you respect me, you're honest and take being a ninja seriously. You're also obviously good."

'Respect him? I call him "chimp" for crying out loud!' Naruto thought with a sweat-drop before speaking. "How can I be good enough to teach you if I don't even know Chunin level techniques?"

"Naruto-kun. There is, believe it or not, merit to Konohamaru-kun's request. You may be a Genin, but you're still more advanced in skill and knowledge about the ninja profession than little 'chimp' here." The Third said with a hearty chuckle at the nickname for his youngest clan member.

"But that doesn't make me a good teacher."

"No, it doesn't. But you have already shown the qualities of being one, which is why I will make a rare exception in this case and allow for Konohamaru to learn from you."

"But, jiji..." Naruto began.

"Oi, why are you calling jiji 'jiji'?" Konohamaru demanded indignantly. "He's my jiji, not your jiji."

"He's my jiji because he's, obviously, like a jiji to me. Jiji's been there for me during hard parts of my life. Anyway, jiji, I'm going to be very busy doing not only regular Genin stuff, but 'other' things as well." Naruto pointed out to the aged leader with emphasis on 'other'.

Stroking his beard in contemplation, Hiruzen replied. "So you do, I nearly forgot about that."

"I'd say you completely forgot, jiji." Naruto said with a taunting smirk.

Snorting in a mix of amusement and displeasure at being called on his lapse of memory by a mere Genin, the eldest Sarutobi waved Ebisu forward.

"Ebisu-san, I hereby relieve you of your position as private tutor of my grandson." He stated firmly.

"Bu-but, Hokage-sama..." Ebisu started to protest.

"Enough. I've seen and heard enough from both you and Konohamaru to know you are ill suited to teach him. I'm frankly stumped how you got so far as to gain the 'elite tutor' title with such poor ideas and immature behavior. I will have to review your promotion and your work so far after that. Pending my decision, you are suspended from teaching anyone and reassigned to 'that' duty."

"No, please lord Hokage! Not 'that' duty!" Ebisu protested in a rather comical display of despair.

"Yes! That duty!" He replied, sporting a scary face and the sound of distant thunder was heard for additional dramatic effect. "I hope for your sake it will be a humbling and sobering experience for you, Ebisu-san." He then finished, in a very undramatic manner.

'"That" duty?' Was the thought of both young boys in the room.

"H-hai... Hokage-sama." Ebisu said as he bowed and left the room, heavily hunched over, arms dangling, in shame.

Sweat-dropping at the sight, Naruto and Konohamaru turned to face their leader once again.

"Uh... jiji? What's 'that' duty?" Naruto asked. Konohamaru was silently wondering himself.

"Oh just gate-guarding duty." He replied as if referring to a harmless task. "It's considered the most boring and uneventful job in existence. That duty, along with a certain mission I believe you will get familiar with soon enough Naruto-kun, are considered by just about any shinobi in the village to be the bane of their profession. I basically send naughty ninja to that duty to get them to come to their senses. If that fails, the mission I mentioned will be a good fall-back to get them to straighten them up, trust me." He said, finishing the statement with a sinister grin but with a grandfatherly tone of voice. Both boys shivered at the sight.

"You've rid the chimp here of his teacher, but haven't gotten him a new one. Am I missing something?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Oh don't you fret, Naruto-kun. I've got a couple of teachers in mind for Konohamaru-kun."

"That's good to hear, who are they?" Naruto said with careful optimism.

"Well, I can assign Asuma to be a part-time sensei for him and when he's not available, you will teach him."

"Huh? But I will be busy pretty much all the time."

"Not exactly. You may be part of the new project we've initiated, but you wont be as busy as you might think. Remember when I said you would be compensated for doing 'certain' stuff? Well, you wont be doing that all the time and will have some time when you have no training or missions. If Asuma is not available, you will teach my grandson what you can. Don't worry, it wont be much each time, only an hour or two, so you will not be losing much off time, nor will you be without pay."

"Okay, I can get that. But what if neither Asuma-san or myself are available?"

"Then Konohamaru will have that time off. He will still get enough training through the academy."

"Why not let the academy do it all?"

"Because little Konohamaru has shown to be overly... rambunctious and a bit of a troublemaker and this is a measure to remove that sort of behavior in a future shinobi. Also, I have little time for schooling him in the ways of the Sarutobi clan, being the Hokage and all that. Asuma is a busy man as well and there aren't many Sarutobi shinobi left to tutor young Konohamaru properly. Hence we came up with the plan that Konohamaru gets private tutoring in general shinobi skills that frees up our precious time to school him purely in Sarutobi ways." The Professor explained. Unknowingly proving certain people wrong, and others right, about his grandson's situation.

Konohamaru rubbed his neck in embarrassment at being put in such a light in front of his new idol and teacher. He was determined to prove that he would be worth the effort though.

"So because he's a loudmouth idiot, a prankster and you guys have basically no time for him he gets extra teachings? I guess being the grandson of the Hokage 'does' have its perks." Naruto said with a pointed glance at said grandson and then a knowing look at his leader.

"I'm not showing favoritism, Naruto-kun. It's common sense." He said, unknowingly repeating another's words.

"Sure you aren't, jiji." He responded, heavy on the sarcasm.

"Naruto-kun, you're sometimes a pain yourself." He said with a small, playful scowl.

Grinning quite proudly, Naruto chuckled and replied jokingly to the comment "I wouldn't be me if I wasn't at least a bit of a pain in the ass."

Konohamaru was happily surprised that his idol wasn't afraid to have some fun along the way. As he would learn later on, having fun when possible would be a saving grace for many shinobi and their mental health. But it was, sadly, not something everyone took to heart.

"So, what now boss?"

"'Boss'?"

"Yeah, since you're one of my new teachers, and also my idol, you're from now on my boss." Konohamaru said with a happy grin and fire in his eyes. (No, not like Gai and Lee)

"What about Asuma-san?"

"He's my uncle, so I'll call him uncle." He answered matter-of-factly.

"Right." Naruto said. He was honestly rather flattered that the younger boy held him in that regard. But he also was a bit worried that he wasn't up to the task. Being drilled in responsibility and such, Naruto wasn't too keen of the idea of already landing a teacher role for those younger than him. Heck, he was certain he had his hands full as it was, helping to teach his fellow classmates who had taken to being students under Yokai and himself in their arts, even if only one of them were full-time.

"Well, then. If that is all, you are dismissed, boys." The Sandaime said with a gesture towards the door.

Naruto bowed lightly. Seeing Konohamaru not doing the same, merely waving childishly, Naruto yanked at his scarf and almost face-planted him onto the floor. Getting the hint, Konohamaru made a quick bowing gesture before following Naruto out the door.

Once outside, Konohamaru started pestering Naruto about what they would do first.

"Alright already. First off, how far had you and your old teacher come today?"

"We were working on concealment and evasion." Konohamaru replied.

"Alright then, I suppose you got that down rather good if you managed to get away from him to launch that 'attack' of yours before. Show me your abilities in it so far." Naruto commanded.

What the little chimp displayed was absolutely not what Naruto expected. His first item of concealment was a square box painted to look like a rock, with eye-holes on its side. As if that would work anywhere. Next Konohamaru showed his camouflage cloths. There are various areas of the village where one can hide using such simple tools. But the way he did it was simply atrocious, the cloth wasn't completely covering the boy, nor, in certain cases, angled to fit in the background perfectly. One such example was the lines of the cloth that were supposed to go parallel with the lines of a certain wall behind it. Instead they formed a visible 'patch' of contrasting lines. When he tried to conceal himself using already existing objects where one can hide in, he always left a good part of his absurdly long scarf visible and didn't do anything to drag it in, except for one time he noticed it himself.

Once the boy was finished going through his repertoire of hiding skills, Naruto was groaning in dismay at the pathetic display. The shinobi in him was crying in agony at the horrible skills the boy, oh so proudly, showed.

"I can't believe I saw all that'tebayo." He said once he regained his composure.

"I know, I'm awesome, right?" Konohamaru asked proudly, obviously not noticing that Naruto was not pleased.

"I've got two things to say. Either your former sensei was a talentless brown-nose who got his position through ass-kissing alone, or he deliberately avoided calling you out once he found you, because there is no one who wouldn't notice you, save a blind person. No doubt he did that to make you feel as if your skills were good. I think I'm going for a mix of both."

The proud expression transformed into a look of sadness upon hearing it. Konohamaru had no doubt that his new teacher was right. It all felt too easy when with that Ebisu guy. But he quickly went from sad to determination and said,

"I will work hard to perfect my hiding skills then. What should I work at the most?"

"What shouldn't you?" Naruto asked rhetorically. But he realized that came out as unnecessarily harsh and corrected himself. "Sorry, I'm just upset with your old teacher, not you. I, as well as your uncle no doubt, will help you correct what Ebisu messed up with you. First things first! Always check that 'all of you' is concealed, whether in a bush, haystack or behind one of your cloths. Don't let a hair of you show, nor any part of your scarf, or you might as well not conceal yourself at all, got that? What's with the scarf anyway, chimp?

Konohamaru nodded his understanding before replying, "I like it, it's warm and I can use it for a couple of things."

"Like what?"

"Like tripping people or choking enemies, it's just an idea though. Haven't gotten to the part where we started training with dummies yet. I can also use it to swing from place to place by whipping it around anchor points."

"You've been swinging around tall buildings?!" Naruto asked in shock.

"No, just shorter trees for now. Ebisu wouldn't let me try anything that's taller, he did say he thought it could be useful at some point."

"At least one thing he was right about." Naruto admitted with a nod. "Secondly, chimp. Check that the cloth your using fits with the background perfectly."

"I thought I did?"

"You chose the right pattern every time, that much you did right. But you didn't check if it that pattern fit with the background properly. Take that large wooden wall you hid behind for example, it had lines going from the ground to the top. But your cloth was angled so they went horizontally instead. Always make sure to get that right the first time, you'd rarely get another chance to correct it before the enemy appeared, believe it."

Konohamaru couldn't help but face-palm himself at his own stupidity. Sadly, there was more to come.

"Last, but absolutely not least, what on earth possessed you to use a box painted as a rock, with eye-holes, to hide in? And why move it at all!? A rock is never, I repeat, never perfectly square unless chiseled by stonemasons. And those blocks of rock are never found in the open or in nature. So, you can forget that thing altogether."

"But what if you have a mission to sneak in a stone mine?"

"If that ever happens, chimp, the rocks aren't worked on until they reach the workshop where the masons do their thing. Even when the rocks are finished processing, they are never placed in such a way that they are singled out, they are always put in groups for later loading and transporting. If you were to move about in the area, appearing like a chiseled rock, you'd be discovered very soon because no one would put one on its own."

"How do you know this stuff?" Konohamaru asked in admiration.

"In my travels with my own sensei, a stonemason's workshop happened to be one place we passed by. Sensei told me what he knew of the art when I got curious, and what he didn't know, we asked the persons at the shop."

"Wow, he let you learn about stuff like that?"

"Yeah, it always pays as a shinobi to learn what you can about just about anything. Didn't Ebisu... never mind, he didn't obviously." Naruto sighed.

"Geez, I didn't know I was so..." Konohamaru struggled with expressing what he meant.

"Sheltered would be a word, but at this point it's more like sabotaged if you ask me." Naruto said with a angry frown. "But enough of that. I've told you what you need to focus on for now. I'd say go play hide-and-seek, shinobi style, with your friends."

"Why them boss?"

"Because at this point even early academy students, scratch that, even regular civilian kids could spot you. When you can hide from your friends without being found, come to either me or Asuma-san again and we'll work from there."

"Gotcha, boss. See ya later!" Konohamaru called out his goodbye as he ran to wherever he goes when not training.

Naruto had to admit that teaching could turn out to be fun, but he was under no illusion it would be a cakewalk.