About a week had passed since the mission to the Land of Waves, and things had died down in certain areas, but not in others:

Tatsu had been recovering from his injuries he'd received during the battle, and had received a bounty for defeating Zabuza.

Naruto was working on mastering the Crimson Wind without using the Kyuubi's chakra, which wasn't easy considering how taxing it was.

Sasuke was working on his Sharingan with Kakashi as well as improving on his use of the Purple Thunder jutsu.

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Naruto met Sasuke and Sakura by the river "Hey guys."

"Naruto." Sasuke gave stoic nod.

Sakura sighed and looked away with a scowl 'They've been so tight ever since we got back from the Land of Waves, and I feel like some kind of outsider. It's all Naruto and Tatsu's fault, it's like they're trying to steal Sasuke away from me!

Kakashi finally showed up after 3 hours "Hey guys, good morning. Sorry I'm late, afraid I got lost on the path of life." he ignored the yells "Alright, I'll leave you guys to hone your skills for today. I've got something to take care of." and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So what's he doing?"

Sasuke sighed "Don't you listen? He said he was gonna go teach Tatsu some new jutsu when we got back, something about the fight with Zabuza being an eye-opener to his potential or something."

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Kakashi met Tatsu at the 3rd Training Ground with a bucket of water balloons "Alright Tatsu, time to get to work on this new jutsu. Minato sensei always said that the Rasengan should be passed down to someone he thought deserved it, and I think you've already more than proven yourself. This is what you need for the first step of learning the jutsu." he promptly tossed one of the water balloons to him.

"What's this for?" asked Tatsu.

"This is the first step to this jutsu. Take this for example." he held a balloon in his hand, and it suddenly popped "With the tree climbing exercise, you learned to gather and maintain chakra. With water walking, you learned to release a steady amount. Both of these you've long since mastered. With this water balloon, you'll create a stream of chakra, rotating it. First, gather the chakra in your hand with the tree climbing technique, and then release a steady stream of it using the water walking technique, and finally use the chakra to push and churn the water inside the balloon."

"So you're saying to spin the water inside the balloon until it pops?"

"Exactly. Oh, and by the way, what way do you comb your hair?"

"To the right, why?"

"Then rotate the chakra to the right."

"...Okay." and so he did, but only got it to leak "Dammit."

"That's good for your first try, but keep in mind that the 4th Hokage took 3 years to create this jutsu."

"And my brother learned it in less than a month. But then again that works for me, I've got less than a month until the Chunin Exams are underway."

"You've definitely got Kazuma's fire in your eyes. And don't get frustrated, just keep trying until you get it. I've got something to take care of. Later." and he disappeared.

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Naruto gave Sasuke and Sakura a creepy look "Hey, you guys wanna see it don't ya? I say it's time."

"For what?" asked Sasuke.

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about." he grabbed a flashlight out of nowhere, looking even more creepy "Kakashi-sensei's true face!"

Sakura got freaked out and hit him "What's the matter with you?"

Sasuke didn't look amused "Well that's boring, count me out. We finished today's mission, I'm out of here."

"Yeah, you're totally right. Of course he's right, he's Sasuke.'

Naruto wasn't having that and grinned "What if he has lips?"

Sasuke froze.

"Like a blimp."

Sasuke was shaking.

'Just one more little push. Or maybe buck teeth."

And that was the end of the struggle.

'Hook, line and sinker.'

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Hours passed, and Tatsu was on his 4th water balloon and still only getting a leak "Dammit!"

"Hi Tatsu."

He looked to see Ino standing before him "Oh hey Ino, what's up?"

Ino gave a bright smile "I heard you were back from your C-rank mission but you never came to say hi, what's up?"

"Well I was in the hospital, I got into a really nasty fight with one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Zabuza to be exact."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and to make that worse I lost the sword Asuma gave me and got this instead." he pulled down his shirt, revealing a scar from his shoulder down to his breast.

"Wow, that must be painful. So what're you up to now?"

"Well I received the bounty for Zabuza, and now Kakashi's teaching me a new jutsu."

"Cool, what jutsu?"

"The Rasengan, it's an A-rank jutsu developed by the 4th Hokage that he taught to my brother before he died. It took him 3 years to create it and my brother a month to learn it, but I wanna get it down before the Chunin exams."

"But that's still a few weeks away."

"Yeah I know, but I have a feeling something big is going down and I wanna make sure I'm prepared for it." then he noticed a cat messing with one of the balloons "Oh great, now my training tool is a goddamn cat toy."

"What are you supposed to do to master this jutsu anyway?"

"I'm supposed to use my chakra to rotate the water inside the balloon until it pops, but only turning it right or left only gets it to stretch or leak, popping isn't even close."

"Maybe that's the problem. You're only trying one thing at a time, maybe you should do two at once."

Tatsu looked and saw the cat spinning the water balloon around until it popped "Yeah, that could work. Thanks Ino, I always get my best inspiration when I'm around you."

Ino blushed "Well… bye!" and she ran off, chastising herself for being so cowardly as to not take the chance.

Tatsu suddenly appeared in front of Ino "Actually Ino, I need a favor from you and the other two."

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"Well, this is out of the ordinary." Kakashi noted "The 3 of you treating me to lunch? I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed on me." then he got snowed on.

They grinned and held up a sign "He fell for it!"

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Ending the fantasy within a fantasy within a fantasy…

"Know what I mean?" asked Kakashi.

They flinched.

Kakashi looked at the ramen, then at the genin "The 3 of you treating me to lunch? I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed on me… today-" he covered, but nothing happened "Or something-" the ramen exploded in his face.

They grinned and helped up a sign "He fell for it!"

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Ending the fantasy within a fantasy…

"Is that the idea?" Kakashi questioned.

They flinched.

"The 3 of you treating me to lunch? You're not going to drop a big pile of snow on me are you? Or maybe-" he covered, but nothing happened "No, I'm just being silly." he looked ahead, then got punched by a big extendable boxing glove into a nearby fence.

They all grinned and held up the sign "He fell for it!"

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Ending the fantasy…

"Well?" Kakashi interrogated.

They flinched.

"Come on, you guys are up to something right?"

They were outright sweating.

"Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-What are you crazy?" Naruto stammered.

Sakura tried to cover up "Kakashi-sensei please we're just celebrating the success of the Land of Waves mission so please, why don't you just go ahead and eat?"

Kakashi relaxed slightly "Well alright then, I suppose I should just dig in."

They stared intently.

Kakashi slowly began to pull his mask down "Boy, this looks good."

That was when Ino, Choji and Shikamaru showed up and blocked the view "Hey Sasuke, what a coincidence!"

"Get out of the way Ino-pig!"

"Aw man I can't see squat!"

Kakashi pulled his mask back up "All done, that was tasty!"

"So fast!"

"Something wrong?"

Considering Sakura and Ino were grabbing each other by the hair, and Naruto and Sasuke were about to choke Choji to death "Of course not, what makes you say that?"

Then Naruto noticed something "What the-?"

Teuchi and Ayame were staring at Kakashi, and Ayame had hearts in her eyes.

"Okay, now I'm curious." was the general idea they got.

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Kakashi showed up at the training ground, 6 hours into the training "Alright, how're you making out?"

Tatsu popped the water balloon, then turned to face him and grinned "You tell me."

"You mastered it already huh? You mind demonstrating."

"Watch carefully, keep your eyes on the balloon." he began generating chakra with the tree-climbing exercise in the hand with the balloon.

'Interesting.'

"Now for the next part." he summoned the water-walking technique in the other hand, he began rotating the water in different directions, effectively popping it.

'So that's it. By steadying it with his right hand and applying chakra with his right, he got it to pop. It's an unusual idea, but hey, what about him is normal? Not like it's a bad thing. That's pretty impressive, getting it down on the first day. You've successfully completed the first step. He's used up a lot of chakra to get this down though, I wonder if his chakra network can handle the strain, and it only gets harder from here. Alright then, looks like you're ready to move on to the next step."

"Yeah! Enough with all this kid crap, what's next on the list-"

"This." Kakashi held out a rubber ball.

"You're for real right now?"

"Let's see if you can pop this one." that's just what Kakashi did with his own rubber ball "There isn't any water in it, so it's a lot harder to pop."

Tatsu tried the method he used to pop the water balloon, but found little success 'Dammit, this is harder than it looks.'

"The first element is rotation, the second is force. But this object is solid, there's no water in it so it's far more difficult to exert your chakra rotation on it."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"I'll leave it to you to figure it out."

'I'll have to come up with something new for this one.'

"And in the meantime, I better get back to messing with my genin."

"They're trying to get off your mask, aren't they?"

"Yeah, and they almost succeeded the first time. Thanks for sending in Ino's team."

"Sure, I figured that if anyone would get to see your face it should be me."'

"Your brother and Itachi didn't, what makes you think you could? I mean, he mastered every step of this jutsu in a single month. Oh well, later." and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tatsu looked down at the rubber ball 'Yeah that's right, my brother mastered this jutsu in the span of one month. Well at least it's good to know that I have a deadline. No matter what, I'll surpass him. That much is a guarantee.'

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Things on another end were getting stupid and fired up.

"That's it, nothing's gonna stop me from seeing that face!" Naruto growled.

"Yeah but how, you got any ideas?" asked Sakura.

"Don't you worry." he did the creepy face "We'll see it one way or another!"

Sakura promptly whacked him "I'm asking you how you stupid little troll!"

"Well alright smart-bitch, how do you propose we do it?"

"Well, uh-"

"Let's just stalk him around while he does his thing." Sasuke pointed out "He'll take off his mask eventually."

"Oh Sasuke I swear you're so smart!"

"Shut up useless fangirl."

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Later, they were watching Kakashi drooling over porn.

"What the hell is he doing?" Naruto wondered.

"That's just disappointing on a whole other level." Sasuke muttered.

Then Kakashi looked back, and they ducked.

"He's onto us!"

"Naruto you idiot, you blew our cover!" Sakura hissed.

"Shut up Sakura, that's your fault and you know it!"

Kakashi was actually looking at the poster they were hiding behind "My favorite book is going to be a movie? I'd better order tickets in advance!" and he ran off.

"He's on the move again, let's go before we lose him!" Sasuke and the others rounded a corner, but Kakashi had disappeared "Dammit, where'd he go?"

Then Kakashi appeared behind them "Hey. What're you 3 doing? Did you guys need something?"

"...No, not really." their petrified faces slowly turned to face him.

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Here comes plan #3.

"How'd we figure out we were tailing him?" asked Naruto.

"Maybe there were just too many of us." Sakura suggested.

"Oh please, if you know how to hide it doesn't matter how many you are." then he did the creepy face "Don't tell me you've forgotten all of your jutsu Sakura!"

"You're the one who forgets!" she promptly whacked him.

Sasuke sighed "Let's just shadow him, but we'll do it solo this time."

"Yeah I think so too, we should totally ditch Naruto."

"If we're ditching anybody, it's you."

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Naruto was tracking Kakashi first, only for him to disappear about 30 seconds in while he was reading his book "Dammit!"

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Sakura was watching Kakashi standing at the Memorial Stone in the rain "What is Kakashi-sensei doing? He hasn't even moved in ages." then she froze "Don't tell me-!" she ran out and quickly discovered that instead of the real Kakashi, she'd been stalking a dummy made of straw.

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Sasuke wouldn't even tell how he got thrown off and just gave a crappy excuse "I got tired of shadowing him."

So yeah, they all failed.

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Nightfall came.

Tatsu was on the ground panting heavily, his hand pulsating 'Just like he said, this is a bitch-load harder than the water balloon. My arms and hands aren't killing me, I'm not sure how much more they can take.'

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies of Konoha.

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Tatsu spent another day on it, before he felt nothing but pain in his hands 'Dammit, it won't pop no matter how hard I try. I'm just wasting time, burning through my chakra for absolutely no good reason. And this pain, the more I try to increase the flow, the more it hurts. But I have to give it all I've got or it won't pop, but what if all I've got isn't enough?' then he suddenly realized something 'That's it! If I can work through the pain to generate more chakra and push it right to the limit of what I can endure…' he put both hands on the rubber ball and began generating as much chakra as he could 'Come on… come on… still not enough… COME ON!' he got the rubber ball to let out a small leak.

"Well well, looks like someone made some progress."

Tatsu looked back to see Kakashi "Yeah, but I only made it spring a leak instead of pop like you did."

"That doesn't matter. You've come far and all on your own." Kakashi put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair "Your brother would be proud of you."

"Thanks."

"Also, you remember when I said about your brother mastering the Rasengan in a week?"

"Yeah?"

"I only said that to give you more motivation, it actually took him 10 days. Anyway, let's try a little experiment. Give me your left hand." he drew something on Tatsu's left hand.

"What am I looking at?"

Kakashi removed his glove and drew the same mark on his right hand "Take a look."

"The same mark. I don't get it, how's this supposed to help?"

"You got yelled at in the academy for not focusing didn't you?"

"They teach you generic stuff to be an average shinobi, I came to you guys because I wanted to become the best."

"Your brother was the same way." Kakashi held out a folded piece of paper "Look at this." then he drew the mark on the paper "Now look again."

Tatsu blinked "What am I looking at?"

"It won't help much if I explain too much right away, but the first time you looked at this paper your eyes just focused on the whole thing right?"

"Probably."

"And what about the second time? Most likely the point in the middle? Any time the person's eyes glance on a full piece of paper, they don't focus where to look. The eyes just wander the page. But if you put even a dot on it, the mind is drawn there. You're then concentrating on a single point, and with that focus comes spiritual stability, letting you tap into unimaginable power. When you finally broke open the whole in the rubber ball, I'm sure you must've been trying desperately to gather up the chakra you needed in the palm of your hand."

"Right."

"When you concentrate, you draw out power. But without some sort of target, concentration can be difficult, hence that mark. Now listen, from now on, when you're storing up power in your left hand make sure you're concentrating only on that mark."

"Concentrate, huh? Alright, I guess I can handle that."

"Well then I'll leave you to it. Later." and he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Tatsu to continue with his training.

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3 hours later…

Tatsu was trying on his 7th rubber ball 'Come on, concentrate.' he got only a leak "Oh come on!" he got another ball 'I thought I knew what concentration was, but this is insane! I guess I'll just have to concentrate even harder. Concentrate… concentrate…' he looked at the symbol on his palm 'Concentrate… concentrate on one point only… Ow! Dammit, it hurts so much that I can't even build up chakra!'

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Kakashi was watching him from afar, book not even out for once 'I think he's almost reached his limit.'

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Tatsu laid on his back, panting heavily "I just need… a little breather…" he saw leaves blowing away in the wind as one landed on his face 'Oh yeah… now that I think about it, Iruka kept barking about how me, Naruto, Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru didn't have any concentration… they were just lazy, I was always training with Hayate-sensei or Asuma or someone, and always sent a Shadow Clone to the academy. Iruka made us stay after class to work on concentration. He said to focus all of my concentration on the leaf on my forehead, I'd learn to build up my chakra. By focusing on the single leaf, nothing can distract me. He who hones his concentration is truly a great ninja. Back then, pissing off Iruka was so much fun. Now that I think about it, this is the same thing. Maybe I should've paid more attention to what he was saying. Well, I guess there's no use in crying over spilled milk.' he took out a marker and turned the symbol on his palm into the leaf symbol 'Alright, here we go. I'm doing this no matter what.' he got back up and got another rubber ball 'Concentrate… concentrate… concentrate…' the rubber ball began pulsating, he mark of the leaf burning its image into his mind, chakra swirling around the mental image of it "This is it!" he began pouring chakra into it, and with one final burst of power, he finally popped the rubber ball, the force sending him tumbling back.

Kakashi looked at the destruction caused by the burst, then at Tatsu's burnt hand 'He's really something else, that chakra was so dense it burned his palm. One surprise after another.'

Tatsu shot Kakashi a weak grin "What do you know, it finally popped."

"Well done, it looks like you mastered the second step."

"Come on then, let me hear the third one…" then he passed out.

"That'll have to wait until you've recovered." Kakashi carried Tatsu on his back and took him back to his apartment.

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Later, Tatsu woke up and sat up in his bed "Oh man… my head's pounding like a goddamn bongo."

"Not surprising, you did push yourself really hard."

Tatsu looked and saw Kakashi sitting by his bed "Oh hey, how long have I been out?"

"A couple hours give or take, you're a real fighter."

"That's how I've always been." Tatsu slowly got out of bed and winced.

"Easy, you're still recovering."

"No, I've gotta get this down before the Chunin Exams. You said there were 3 steps, I've only learned 2."

"Relax, you can work on the 3rd on while you're recovering. It's considerably less straining on the body than the other two. Come on, let's head out to the training grounds if you're that eager."

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Kakashi blew up 2 balloons and handed one to Tatsu "The first step you learned was rotation, the second one was power. The third and final step to master is this." he held up his balloon in his hand.

Tatsu stared intently, but eventually lost his patience "Well? I'm waiting?"

"It looks like I'm holding an ordinary balloon doesn't it?"

"What do you mean it looks like? That's all you're doing."

"Let me try again, only without the balloon in my hand. Let's see what was really happening inside the balloon." he formed a spiralling ball of chakra.

'Holy shit, the chakra is spiralling at unbelievable speeds but it's still perfectly round and getting faster. It's almost like-'

"Like a small typhoon."

"So then, what you're doing right now is what was happening in the balloon?"

"I would demonstrate but I absolutely SUCK with my left hand. What do you think?"

'Awesome! He's got all that chakra spinning around and the balloon wasn't even moving. There's more power than when the rubber ball popped and way more spin to it.'

"Now for the third step, you've gotta draw out what you've learned so far and then maintain it. In other words, keeping the power and rotation at their maximum, visualize a thin membrane just inside the balloon, then of compressing the chakra inside it."

"So this stage is about keeping up the power and rotation I learned only this time without letting them pop open a delicate balloon."

"Exactly. Here, let me demonstrate." he turned towards a tree "Watch closely, after the first two steps of training you get this." he held out his hand, formed a Rasengan, and shot it into the tree, leaving a large spiral mark "Then, once you've mastered the third step, you'll get something like this." he formed another Rasengan, only this time it grinded against the tree and left a hole in it bigger than Tatsu's head "If you can keep that small typhoon the size of your palm then the energy won't be able to disperse, it'll spin faster and faster and it's power will be more and more compressed and its destructive power will reach its max."

'Well, I'll give it a shot.' he focused on the balloon and generated his chakra 'Okay, this feels about right.' he rotated it a bunch of different ways 'Now keep it going Tatsu, keep it going, keep it going, almost got it, almost got it…' then it popped "Well f*ck."

"No cutting corners on this one, get your power and rotation to 100% and then maintain them."

'This is insane, unless I can control my power perfectly it's impossible. I see now, this third step is on a whole other level from the others.'

"I told you before, this technique is A-rank for a reason, a highly advanced ninjutsu."

"Let me give it another shot." Tatsu formed another Rasengan with both hands and slammed it into a tree, but found that it would only leave the spiral mark "Dammit!"

"Good for only your second try, but this is as complex as it is for a reason. Just give it time, you'll get it. Well, gonna screw with the others some more. Later." and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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5 days passed.

Tatsu looked at the whole in the boulder before him 'Finally, I've got it!'

"Looks like you've made some progress."

Tatsu looked and saw Kakashi behind him "Kakashi."

"Mind showing me?"

"Sure, but first, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he summoned a Shadow Clone.

"Shadow Clones? Alright, I admit I'm curious. Go on."

"Right." he had the clone rotating chakra in his right hand with both of the clone's hands.

'So that's it. He made the clone to gather up his chakra. Ingenious.'

'Compress the chakra… keep it going… focus… Rasengan!" Tatsu let the clone disappear and slammed it into the boulder in front of him, obliterating it "There…" he let out a heavy and exhausted sigh "I'm gonna take a little nap now…" and he passed out.

'You've really come a long way in the past 4 years, I'm proud of you kid and I know your parents and brother would be too.'

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Another week passed, and the Chunin Exams were coming soon.

Iruka and Mizuki received a report from Kakashi "Alright, thanks for the report Kakashi-sensei. How's Naruto doing? Is he getting along okay with the others?"

Kakashi shrugged "He and Sasuke are getting along alright thanks to Tatsu, but Sakura is a fangirl at heart and worships Sasuke like a god and despises Naruto and Tatsu for being stronger than him."

"It's been so busy around here, we haven't seen him since he got back from the mission to the Land of Waves. I'm a little worried about him."

"Seriously though, Sakura concerns me. At this rate, she'll end up doing something stupid that'll drive the team to alienate her or kick her out entirely."

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At the same time, Naruto, Sasuke, and Konohamaru's gang had run into trouble with two genin, Kankuro and Temari, from the Hidden Sand.

Kankuro grabbed Konohamaru by his scar "Does this hurt punk?"

"Put him down Kankuro, or you know you'll pay for it later." Temari warned.

"Take your hands off of him right now." Naruto warned, crimson chakra charging in his fingertips.

Kankuro smirked 'So these are the Leaf Village genin. We've got a few more minutes before he gets here, let's mess with these punks huh?"

"Put him down!" Naruto charged.

Kankuro moved his fingertips, causing Naruto to fall to the ground.

"What the- What was that?"

"You're a Leaf genin too? Looks like your village is full of wimps."

"That's it, drop the kid now or I'll tear you apart! You've got that fool?!"

Sasuke covered Naruto's mouth "You're the fool, making threats isn't going to help."

Kankuro was losing patience "You're annoying, all of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth I just wanna break him in half."

Temari sighed "Fine, I'm not involved in any of this okay?"

"First, I'll take care of this little squirt and then I'll waste the other one." he drew back his fist, only to drop it and grip his other hand, which was bleeding rather heavily.

A rock had bounced off of his hand hard, courtesy of Tatsu in a tree above them "You guys are a long way from home and way out of your league, any one of us three could take you out if we put our minds to it."

Kankuro scowled 'Showoff.'

Temari smirked with a pink tinge on her cheek 'Well well, local hottie.'

"Oh great, another wimp to tick me off."

"I should be saying that about you."

Kankuro whipped around and saw Tatsu behind him, shooting him a cold glare 'When did he-?'

"Only warning, get lost and don't mess with my friends again."

"You know something punk, you're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most, all attitude and nothing to back it up." yeah, Kankuro had more arrogance than brains, and he prepared to unleash something called the Crow.

"Kankuro, back off." a new voice cut in "You're an embarrassment to our village."

Tatsu looked and saw a red-headed figure with a gourd on his back standing upside down on a tree next to him 'This guy's on a whole other level from these two, from what I can sense his power's off the charts. I didn't even notice him show up, he didn't make a sound. From what I know, only jonin like Kakashi are that smooth.'

Kankuro was sweating bullets "Hey Gaara."

The figure, now known as Gaara, glared coldly at Kankuro "Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?"

"I know. I mean they challenged us, they started the whole thing really. See, here's what happened-"

"Shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Right, I was totally out of line, I'm sorry Gaara."

Then Gaara turned to Tatsu and the others "I'm sorry for any trouble he caused."

Tatsu studied Gaara for a moment 'This guy has an evil look in his eye.'

Gaara studied Tatsu in return 'He stopped Kankuro and broke his hand with only a pebble and made it look easy, this guy is someone to keep an eye on.' Gaara suddenly de-materialized into sand and rematerialized on the ground "Let's go, we didn't come here to play games."

"Hold up." Tatsu appeared on the ground in front of Naruto and Sasuke "From the look of your headbands I'd say you're from the Hidden Sand Village in the Land of Wind, am I correct in assuming you're here for the Chunin Exams?"

"Yeah, see for yourself." Temari held up a passport "We have the permission slips right here, see for yourself. Of course you're correct, we are Hidden Sand genin. Our home is the Land of Wind and we are here for the Chunin Exams."

"Good to know. Now then, identify yourself."

"You mean me?" she sounded rather hopeful.

"Your name's Temari, it said so on your passport. I'm talking about the guy with the gourd on his back and no eyebrows."

Gaara stopped and turned to face him "My name is Gaara of the Desert, these are my brother Kankuro and my sister Temari. I'm curious about you too, who are you?"

"My name is Tatsu Kamikaze, the blonde with the stupid look on his face is Naruto Uzumaki and the one with the blue shirt and duckass hair is Sasuke Uchiha. I look forward to seeing you all in the exams." he turned around "Alright guys, let's go."

"Come on." Gaara took off, with Temari and Kankuro in tow.

"I'm sure you guys sensed it." Tatsu shot looks at Naruto and Sasuke looks "Temari and Kankuro are alright, but Gaara's power is off the charts. At this rate, even I might not be able to beat him."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look.

"That said, I'd definitely give him a good fight. After all, I've got a few tricks and surprises up my sleeve. Speaking of which…" he looked up in a tree "You guys can come out now, I know you're there."

Sure enough, three ninja appeared, each with a music note on their headbands "So you noticed us. Impressive."

"Judging by your headbands I'd say you're from the Hidden Sound Village."

"That's right." the girl in the team held up a permission slip.

"Okay then, welcome. I'm Tatsu Kamikaze, this is Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

The bandaged figure stepped forward "I'm Dosu Kinuta, these are my teammates Kin Tsuchi and Zaku Abumi. I look forward to seeing you in the exams, it might be a good challenge." and they left.

"Well it looks like this exam is gonna be pretty interesting."

"I haven't heard of the Hidden Sound Village." Naruto commented.

"Not surprising, they're a new village that formed not long ago." Sasuke told him "Anyway, I'm gonna go practice my Sharingan. You guys do whatever." and he walked off.

"Okay, now that he's gone…" Tatsu leaned in to Naruto "I wanna talk to Kyuubi about something."

Naruto blinked "But he's-"

"In your gut, I know. But there's a way to do it; meditating into Limbo, the plain of existence between this world and the next. We'll do it tonight."

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Through meditating, Tatsu appeared in Limbo, a black void with only a single light.

Kyuubi soon appeared before him "So you've come…"

"Naruto is your jinchuuriki." Tatsu pointed out "He's your shield against enemies who'd want your power, and you're his sword."

Kyuubi was actually caught off guard by this "Yes…"

"I think for that purpose, it would suit you best if Naruto becomes strong and doesn't fall under anyone's influence or else your power would simply become someone else's tool."

Kyuubi studied Tatsu for a moment, trying to uncover his aim "So that's it… Protect my jailer, is that it? If he falls under a genjutsu then I can dispel it, if someone enters his mind like your little Yamanaka girl then I can drive them out, if he's in danger then I can give him chakra, and all of this is for my own self-interest. But that's not all is it? It's not just that. I could tell the boy things to turn him against the village, against you, but what would be the benefit of that? Humans are weak alone, the more allies he has like you and the Uchiha boy the more people to stand between us and people who desire my power. Well, that's what you're betting on. Alright, I'll help the kid out. You've got guts I'll give you that. Now then, onto important business."

"For starters, Gaara."

"That boy is a jinchuriki like Naruto, he holds the one-tailed Shukaku inside of him. Be weary of him, there's a chance that even your level of power would be unable to defeat him."

"There's more to a fight than power."

"True, but be weary nonetheless. Next, onto the Tenseigan. You awakening the Tenseigan that day on the bridge has granted you a boost in power when they're active, but there's a drawback when using their full power."

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Exactly. The longer you keep your Tenseigan Chakra Cloak active or the more emotionally distressed you are when using it, the greater the risk, so don't keep it up for more than 5 minutes at a time, or even all of my power might not be enough to stop your rampage. If it gets out of control, I'll have the kid use just enough chakra to match it."

"Alright, fair enough."

"Now then, there's one more thing you should know, but I'll leave that up to him."

"Up to who?"

"Me." a new voice cut in.

Tatsu turned to see a blond figure wearing a white haori with red flames "Hold shit… the Fourth Hokage…"

"Language, and call me Minato."

"Alright, so what'd you want to tell me?"

"Well first off, I'd like to thank you for looking after my son."

Tatsu blinked, then formed a Shadow Clone "Give it a minute…" the ball of chakra appeared and the clone vanished "For the father of the year!" and he shoved it into Minato's gut, sending him spiralling into a random boulder "What the f*ck man! Why the f*ck would you seal that gigantic mutt in your own son?"

Minato got up and spat out some blood "First of all, language. Second, great job on mastering my Rasengan and the Shadow Clone's a nice touch. To answer your question, I thought it would save him against powerful opponents. I believed he would be able to overcome the worst enemies to ever attack Konoha."

"You don't know what the hell Naruto's been through, everyone in the Leaf was a complete and utter ******."

"I know, it was selfish on stupid."

"Emphasis on stupid." Kyuubi said dryly "Also, am I the only one who's going to deal with the fact that you said "Language"?"

"...Deal with that later." Tatsu said slowly "Anyway, I'm guessing that since Naruto's your son you thought he could do it."

Minato nodded "Exactly."

"So why are you here anyway?"

"Because there's something I'm going to trust you with: the true reason behind the Kyuubi's attack. That night, it didn't attack of its own free will."

"Hey! I'm not an it, I'm a he!"

"Sorry. Anyway, he was being controlled by someone."

"Better!"

"Who's strong enough to control the Kyuubi?" asked Tatsu.

"Madara Uchiha." was all Minato said.

"Wait, as in the Madara Uchiha? Founder of the Leaf? The one who fought Hashirama Senju at the Valley of End all those years ago?"

"That's the one."

"But that was over 100 years ago, how could he still be alive?"

"I wish I knew. Anyway, a masked man claiming to be Madara managed to sneak into the Hidden Leaf. He attacked while my wife Kushina was giving birth to Naruto, and he managed to separate me from her and broke the seal holding the Kyuubi inside her. Then he unleashed him on the Hidden Leaf while controlling him with his Sharingan. Fortunately, I was able to use a contract seal to break his control over the Kyuubi. Then, with no other options, I used the Reaper Death Seal and used an 8-signed seal to seal half of the Kyuubi inside me, and the other half inside Naruto."

"Wait, you're talking to me from the Reaper's stomach?"

"Yep."

"What's it like?"

"A lot roomier than you'd imagine."

"Anyway, why tell me all this?"

Minato put a hand on Tatsu's shoulder "Undoubtedly, Madara will try again to get Kyuubi. When he does, I want you and your friends and allies to do everything you can to make sure he doesn't get Naruto."

"You have my word. Me, Sasuke and everyone will make sure of it."

"Good. Also, can you not tell Naruto about me being his father just yet? I want to tell him myself when the time is right."

"I understand, you have my word."

"Thank you." and with that, he vanished.

"You know the 4th Hokage took 3 years to master the jutsu you perfected in a week, if this were in Limbo it would've been a mere fraction of the time. 6 hours in here is actually 1 minute in the real world."

Tatsu blinked "Cool, Kazuma never told me that."

"He probably didn't know it himself."

"Alright, and Kyuubi… thanks."

"Call me Kurama. Anyways, get out."

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At the same time, Sarutobi had gathered all of the village's jonin to announce the Chunin Exam and the participants.

Kakashi recommended Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura for the exams, and put Tatsu in as a 4th member, to which Sarutobi agreed.

Kurenai recommended her squad.

Asuma recommended Ino and the others.

Guy even recommended his squad, which wasn't much of a surprise since he held them back a year to give them a better chance to prepare.

Iruka was still skeptical, so Sarutobi decided to hold a pre-test.

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Sakura finally lost her temper "Why why why?! It's always the same, he sets the time and then we have to wait hours for him! What about my feelings? I rushed here so fast I didn't even have time to blow-dry my hair!"

"Shut up Sakura." three voices chorused simultaneously- wait, three?

They looked and saw Tatsu sitting atop one of the red torii gates above them "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Tatsu, what're you doing here?" asked Naruto.

"Well the short version is that Kakashi recommended you three for the Chunin Exams, and I'm with you guys as an extra member." he held out three pieces of paper "Here's your application forms but this is all voluntary. You don't have to do it, you can wait until next year if you want. I know another guy's squad who did that."

"Alright!" Naruto wrapped Tatsu in a hug "You rule man!"

"No, Kakashi rules. He's the one who recommended you- Don't slobber on me! Anyway, whoever wants to take the exam sign the application and come to room 301 at the academy at 3:00 PM 5 days from now. Later." and he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered "One step closer to becoming Hokage!"

Sasuke inwardly smirked, while a chibi-version of him was jumping for joy in his head 'One step closer to killing Itachi.'

"YES! IT'S ALL THANKS TO SASUKE!" Sakura screeched.

Naruto and Sasuke sweatdropped at Sakura's stupidity.

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Nightfall came.

Tatsu looked back at a cloaked figure behind him "Alright, how'd it go?"

"They all did like you said." the cloaked figure disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing Mizuki in his place "Although Ino has one hell of a right hook. She, Naruto and Sasuke are all definitely the most impressive. You're a good influence on them. So how'd your test go?"

"I saw through Iruka the moment he tried a pathetic sneak attack from behind and punched him out."

"I told him a sneak attack was a bad idea. Still though, the Chunin Exams can break just about anyone."

"I know I can take it no sweat, and Naruto, Sasuke and Ino shouldn't have much of a problem either. As for the others, it could go either way."

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Guy's genin team, Neji, Tenten and Lee, were in the middle of training.

"Did you hear?" asked Lee "We're getting 3 squads of rookies in the exams. First year genin, that hasn't happened in 5 years."

Tenten scoffed "No way, I bet it's just some jonin trying to boost their egos."

"No, there's more to the story than that. 3 of them are from Kakashi's squad, along with an extra tag-along."

"Interesting." Neji admitted.

"But not very." Tenten hurled a kunai at a target.

"Either way, it's too bad for them."

"I wouldn't be too sure Neji." said Lee "I know one of them that might give even you a run for your money."

"Please, as if fate would let me lose to an underclassmen."

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The day came.

Sakura met the group outside the academy "Hey Sasuke."

"You're late." came the chorus.

"Sorry."

Sasuke studied her for a moment 'What's with her? She's different.'

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Apparently there was a ruckus outside the exam room.

Two genin were pushing around Guy's team, who were pulling an act "You're taking the Chunin Exams but you can't even get past us? Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt? I think I hear your mommy calling you."

"Please let us through, we're supposed to go in there." Tenten pleaded.

They knocked her down too "Get real punk, the exams are going to make this look like a picnic. Some of you won't survive the exams, others will be wrecked for life, and some of you may go crazy. For Chunin, it's always like and death. You think it's a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your squad members are in your hands, so you better be tough enough to take the heat. Delicate little girls don't belong here. We're just thinning out your herd, you won't pass anyway so go home and play with your dolls."

"Real nice speech assholes." Tatsu led the group to the front "Now if you wouldn't mind stepping aside and letting us through. Should've known these guys would try and weed out the weaklings-'

"And release the genjutsu while you're at it." Sasuke blurted out "We can see through your illusion anyway. We're going to the third floor but we've only gone up one flight of stairs. We're only on the second floor."

'Dammit! Well, might as well go along with it. Alright guys, drop the transformations too. You're supposed to be proctors not actors, and for the record Kotetsu there's no way that's your real nose."

"So you guys noticed." they released the genjutsu, revealing that they were in fact only on the second floor "Well aren't we the smart ones? So you noticed an illusion. Now let's see you deal with this!" Kotetsu aimed a kick.

Lee blitzed in and blocked it, as well as Tatsu's counterattack "Now's not the time to fight with each other."

'He stopped Tatsu's kick, he must have some chakra in his arm.' Sasuke noted.

"Hey, what happened to the plan?" asked Neji "I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and don't let anyone see our skill level."

Lee shrugged "Sorry, but I couldn't let this one do anything stupid before I could get my shot at him."

"I see." Neji looked over to Tatsu "Hey you over there, what's your name?"

Tatsu remained unfazed "It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking for someone else's."

"You're a rookie aren't you, how old are you anyway?"

"About 6 months younger than you guys, not that it's any business of someone like you. A prodigy with a stick up his ass, you're like how Sasuke used to be." then he looked back "Alright guys, let's go." and he led his team up the staircase 'Well it looks like Lee is as fiery as ever.'

Neji studied Tatsu intently 'Tatsu, the last of the Kamikaze clan. So he's the one Lee was talking about.'

"He's pretty bold, you gonna challenge him?" asked Tenten.

Neji just walked without a word.

Tenten was about to follow, but noticed that Lee wasn't moving "Lee, what're you waiting for? We're supposed to check in."

Lee shook his head "You two go, I'll catch up in a minute. I've got something to check on." and he left.

"What's that about?"

"I have no idea." Neji kept walking without looking back.

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Tatsu led the group on their way "Remember guys, no matter what you can't underestimate the team from back there."

"Hey you, with the blue gi. Hold on." a voice cut in.

Tatsu looked and saw Lee above them "Well you're as fiery as ever Lee, so what's up?"

"You know what, I want you and I to fight right here and now."

"Fine, but first, introductions. These are my boys Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, and the banshee is their teammate Sakura Haruno."

"A pleasure, my name is Rock Lee." he turned back to Tatsu "Co-Rookie of the Year Tatsu Kamikaze, my old friend and rival, let's see just how much you've improved." he got into his combat stance "Come on."

Tatsu got into his own combat stance "Alright, let's go."

"Very well." Lee disappeared faster than Sasuke or the others could see.

Tatsu followed him easily and blocked a kick to the face.

Lee retreated and broke away, and then he charged.

Tatsu kept up with him easily, despite gaining some minor bruises from the occasional punch or kick that landed.

Lee jumped back, then ran up again in an attempt to kick Tatsu in the face.

Tatsu dodged by leaping upwards, falling right into Lee's trap.

Lee suddenly appeared behind him "You have improved Tatsu, but you still let your guard down."

"Dancing Leaf Shadow, eh? Not bad, I should've expected as much."

"Now then, it's over." he was about to unravel the bandages on his arms.

"Alright, that's enough!" a pinwheel stuck the bandages to the wall "Lee? Get down here!"

Lee dropped to the ground, revealing his heavily bandaged hand, and bowed to a turtle with a Leaf headband. "You were watching us the whole time?"

"Of course. That last technique is forbidden, you know that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" he flinched under the glare "I wasn't planning to use a forbidden jutsu, but I was in the middle of a fight and-"

"You're a disgrace! You think you'll get away with a bunch of lame excuses like that? A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary. It's such a basic rule, you should know it by now."

"Forgive me sir."

"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright then, please come out Guy-sensei!"

Then Guy came out "Hey, what's shakin' everybody? How ya doing, like treating ya good?"

"N-O." Tatsu appeared in between guy, cut Lee's bandages with his sword, then grabbed Lee's hand and led him away "Alright Sasuke, Naruto, let's go."

"Right." they followed, with Sakura in tow.

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They soon arrived at 301, Lee having gone ahead to meet his teammates.

Kakashi stood outside the door waiting for them "Glad you came Sakura, for your sake and the others. Now you can all formally register for the Chunin Exam."

"Why, what do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"You see, no groups of less than 3 are allowed to apply for and take the exam. That's the way it's always been, and it's why Tatsu joined your squad for it."

"But sensei, you said the decision to take the exam was up to the individual."

"That's right, I did."

"Was that a lie?"

"Sort of, it is an individual decision but it affects all of you, and I didn't tell you before because I didn't want the other guys pressuring you. At the same time, I didn't want you feeling obliged to participate, because of any feelings you might have for Sasuke, or for Naruto or Tatsu. I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will."

"Wait, do you mean that if the others had decided to show up but I decided not to come with them-"

"It would've been the end of the line, if you hadn't come along I couldn't have let the others in. but it's a moot point, you're all here and for the right reasons. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Tatsu. I'm proud of you, I couldn't ask for a better team." he stepped aside "Good luck."

"We won't let you down Kakashi, and a Kamikaze never goes back on his word." and with that, Tatsu led the team through the door.

Kakashi found himself alone 'They'll be something great, I know it. Tatsu, give them guidance and all of you please be careful.'

A/N:

Why did I give Tatsu the Rasengan? Well it was an idea that I recycled from the previous version of this fic, and I didn't exactly want to part with that idea in this one either.

See, I mentioned in the summary that there would be Sakura bashing involved, and this is where that truly begins, but this is nothing in comparison to what I plan to do with her in the next chapter.