Chapter 3:

Naruto landed on the ground beside Jiraya and they both waited a few moments for the others to arrive. As they all began to show up, Naruto stood ready and waiting for the spar to begin. Yet as he looked across the grassy field towards Jiraya, he felt as if the Toad Sage was waiting for something.

"What's the hold up, Frog Boy?" Naruto called over in a slightly taunting tone.

Jiraya only raised his eyebrow at the young blonde before saying,

"You realize that we are about to fight, and I am going to punch you just a liiiittle bit harder for that comment... Right?"

Naruto was about to reply back with a snarky comment when he stopped and realized that he had NOT in fact thought about that. Jiraya just smirked at the boy who had a terrified expression on his face before resolving to just glaring at the man.

"Anyways they're here now so we can begin." Jiraya said as he pointed off to the side of the field where Iruka, Kakashi, Hiruzen, Shikaku, Shikamaru, Choji, Sasuke, and Itachi were standing.

It turns out that after Naruto and Jiraya left, Hiruzen called Itachi to gather Iruka, he then decided to tell Sasuke what was happening and she was at the market with Choji, and Shikamaru when he found her.

Naruto waved at his friends before dropping into a loose stance and waiting for the fight to begin.

At that, Hiruzen stepped up in-between Jiraya and Naruto and looked at each of them, earning two nods. He raised his right hand, and brought it down quickly while saying "Begin!"

XxXxXxX

*The Fight*

Much to Jiraya's surprise, Naruto chose to hang back and not charge at the Toad Sage head on. Clearly both of them were waiting for each other to make the first move, who would break first?

'His school reports describe him as being bullheaded and rash, I'm not seeing that now. He is controlling himself rather well for a child, but the tension will surely get to him sooner than me.' Jiraya thought as he stood in the same spot as when the fight started with his arms crossed.

Ultimately it took 3 minutes for the fight to actually begin, Naruto tried to be patient and tried to control himself but in the end, standing still for so long was grueling for Naruto.

"Fine then, I have ways of seeing how you fight without too much risk anyways." Naruto finally said as he grew tired of waiting.

He formed a one-handed seal and three copies of Naruto poofed into existence. They all split up to attack from the Sannin's blind spots. Each Shadow Clone formed hand signs for its own air bullet and fired them simultaneously. They then converged on Jiraya, one sweeping low with a kick, another firing a punch towards Jiraya's stomach, and another aiming a kick at his temple.

For the second time in the fight, Jiraya was surprised. He couldn't believe his eyes.

'An academy student that has the speed of mid-chunin, has a grasp of nature manipulation, can make ONE-HANDED SHADOW CLONES, and-URK' Jiraya's thoughts were cut short when Naruto's clone landed a fist to his gut.

'Ugh, apparently he also has the strength of mid-chunin as well... Of course he's Minato's brat.' Jiraya finished his thought as he shrugged off the punch and continued to dodge the barrage of fists and feet aimed at taking his head off.

"Not bad brat, but not up to my level. Here, fight this mud clone... It should be more your speed, with only 30% of mine." Jiraya said, trying to get under the boy's skin to see how much control he had over his emotions.

As the mud clone formed, Naruto took a deep breath in and let it out.

"He's just trying to piss me off. It doesn't matter that it worked. I can't be stupid about this." Naruto mumbled to himself as he relaxed a little bit.

Jiraya's mud clone finished fighting Naruto's clones and set its sights on the original. As Naruto ran towards the Mud Clone, he fired three air bullets at it and then he attempted to bait the clone into punching him. It worked as the Mud Clone aimed a punch at Naruto, but suddenly the blonde was replaced with a log. As the log hit the ground, the Jiraya clone turned around to the sound of sandals on grass, and caught the fist that held a kunai aimed for the Mud Clones neck. Jiraya's clone held onto Naruto's wrist, spun around and flung Naruto into one of the big oak trees lining the training field.

Jiraya's clone smirked as it watched Naruto strike the tree, that only lasted a second however because instead of crumpling in a heap at the base of the tree like he should have... Clone Jiraya spun around as the sound of footsteps fast approached. Turning around just in time for its left arm to explode from a large Air Bullet, courtesy of the real Naruto who Henge'd into the log and pretended he had actually used Kawarimi to get behind the clone, when in reality the real Naruto had never moved away from the first punch.

Over on the sidelines, Iruka's eyes went wide with surprise of Naruto's misdirection tactics. To be able to take the arm off of a Mud Clone made by somebody as powerful as Jiraya at the age of 7 was unbelievable. Hell, most high-chunin skilled shinobi would have trouble with such an opponent.

"Incredible... He made the clone think that he had used the Kawarimi to escape the punch, but used a shadow clone that he hid in the forest earlier as a distraction while the real Naruto simply henge'd into the log that was used in the "Kawarimi". Those kinds of tactics will make him a monster for other villages to deal with later on." Shikaku muttered, loud enough for Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke to hear.

Shikamaru just nodded but said nothing. Choji couldn't be bothered to stop eating chips long enough to reply.

Sasuke on the other hand was inspired to learn from Naruto just as much as she tried to best him. They were rivals now, both of them knew it.

Back on the training field, the Jiraya clone fell and melted back into mud as Naruto stood over it breathing raggedly and wiping some blood from his mouth. He caught his breath and began to charge at Jiraya who just raised his hand to stop the boy.

"That's enough, personally I would promote you to Genin right now so you could start taking missions and getting used to them. Skill wise, you have chunin potential already, but you need experience with missions. Keep up the great work and train hard." Jiraya said as he smiled and bowed to the boy.

Naruto was disappointed as he only got to fight a clone, but he quickly forgot about that when he received Jiraya's praise. Only a handful of times before had he ever been told he was doing good, and those were all from the Hokage. Naruto smiled and returned the bow.

"Hey guys! Are you hungry? I worked up a big appetite, do you want to go get some food?" Naruto called out to his friends as he ran up to them.

"Ugh, troublesome. You and Choji are always hungry. I'll come along as long as we don't have to walk very far." Shikamaru said as he lazily rose to his feet from where he had been crouched in his thinking position.

"You know I'm in! BBQ? I know a great place!" Choji said as he started to run back towards the village center.

"Maybe another time, I have to go train right now." Sasuke said as she hurried off towards her home.

Naruto shrugged and left the training field behind as he walked with Shikamaru to where they knew Choji would be.

XxXxXxX

They had a great time, but Naruto found himself staring at the empty seat that should have been Sasuke's.

'Why am I thinking about Sasuke being here, i should be focusing on this food before Choji gets it all!' Naruto thought to himself as he saw Choji tear through another slice of pork.

'Because you like her, brat. Now stop having such loud thoughts I'm trying to sleep until you die and I am released.' A voice came out of nowhere.

'...Who was that?.. Was it a ghost? Do I have ghosts in my brain?' Naruto thought, as he began to panic on the inside while he looked calm on the outside.

'You really are an idiot. It's the Nine-Tailed Fox, dumbass. Now either shut up, take the seal off and let me eat you, or go die and then I'll be free, and then I'll eat your body anyways.' grumbled the fox.

'Hey screw you furball, you're the reason my life is so messed up anyways. Who attacks a village for no reason?' Naruto chided mentally, getting annoyed at the fox.

'You think I would come destroy your pitiful existences on my own free will? Hardly worth my time, or effort.' Snorted the Kyuubi, equal parts enraged and amused at the boy's insolence.

'Says the guy locked up in a 7 year olds stomach.' Naruto quipped back.

'You annoying little insect, unless you are going to let me out or bring me the head of the man who enslaved me and landed me where I am today... Leave me alone.' Kyuubi said with a huff.

'Well maybe I could defeat him, but I would probably need your help. So... Whaddya say? Partners?... Also I'd like to remind you of the fact that even if you say no, you're stuck with me until I die. You should also know that I'm an Uzumaki and apparently we live a really, really, really, really, really, really, rea-'

'BRAT SHUT UP I GET IT! IF YOU PROMISE TO HUNT DOWN THE MAN WHO ENSLAVED ME I WILL GRANT YOU MY POWER WHEN YOU NEED IT! JUST SHUT UP!' The Kyuubi roared as it covered its ears with its paws in the mindscape.

'-lly long time.' Naruto finished, but had no response.

XxXxXxX

*Same night, Elsewhere*

Itachi was running across the roofs of Konoha and came to a stop when he reached his destination. He knocked lightly and waited for a response. Soon enough, the door opened.

"Itachi, what are you doing here? You're not on duty are you?" Hiruzen asked in confusion as Itachi had shown up to the Sarutobi Compound.

"May I come in? It is urgent and for your ears only." Itachi explained in a semi worried tone.

"Of course, right this way. Let me put up some silencing seals before we speak." Hiruzen said as he ushered Itachi into his home and into his personal study.

Itachi sat as he waited for the Hokage to place the silencing seals, he looked around the room and spotted a framed picture of the Hokage and his late wife.

"Biwako always liked you, you know? She knew you were going to be a great shinobi before even I did." Hiruzen said as memories of his wife flooded his brain for a moment.

"Now then, onto this urgent news." Hiruzen said, getting back on track.

"My father... He is planning a coup d'etat. Ever since the Nine-tails attack, my father and many others feel as though the village blames our clan as we have been known to be able to control the beast before in history. I do not wish for violence and I hope my trust in you is correct and you will do everything in your power to settle this peacefully." Itachi said, his voice dripping with guilt and worry.

Hiruzen sat for a moment and digested what he had just heard. After a moment, he was going to speak when there was another knock on his door, this time a loud, heavy knock. Hiruzen looked at Itachi and they left the room, Itachi jumped up into the shadows as the Hokage made to answer the door.

As soon as the door opened, a very angry Jiraya stormed past the Hokage.

"Itachi, you can come out. I can sense you and this concerns you as well." Jiraya said in a furious tone.

Itachi dropped down and the three wordlessly made their way back to the Hokage's study.

As soon as the silencing seals were up again, Jiraya pulled out two scrolls and unsealed them. What they saw next was alarming to both Itachi and Hiruzen.

"Anbu? Why are their masks unpainted? Why are you carrying around two dead Anbu in scrolls?" Itachi asked these questions in quick succession.

"Danzo. He has followers, lots of them. I was walking through the Training District and saw Danzo speaking to your cousin Shisui. Before I knew it, Danzo had plucked Shisui's eyes out and killed him. I tried to intervene but a squad of 8 of these bastards stopped me. I killed 6 of them but it was already too late. They took his body and most of their fallen with them, I can't sense them anywhere but they have to be close. We have to act on this, sensei." Jiraya finished, all but demanding a kill order on Danzo.

Itachi sat back in shock. Shisui, his best friend... Gone. Itachi felt rage start to boil in the pit of his stomach. He snapped out of it when the Hokage spoke.

"Jiraya you know I will trust your word on this, but Danzo was my teammate, how sure of this are you?" Hiruzen asked, calmly.

"Without a doubt, it was him. I could sense him, the way his chakra feels, the way it has always felt, it was him." Jiraya said as sincerely as he could.

"Itachi, go inform your father of this but make sure he tells nobody. I will find a way to deal with what we discussed earlier. Goodnight, Itachi. Thank you for your loyalty to the leaf." Hiruzen said, as he bowed deeply to the teenager.

"Now then Jiraya, lets discuss how we can deal with Danzo." said the Hokage as he looked down at the dead "Anbu" laying on the floor of his study.

XxXxXxX

*The next day*

"Oh, hi Kakashi, can I help you with something?" Naruto asked as he opened his front door to see the silver-haired ninja doing his trademark eye-smile.

"Ah, I was in the neighborhood and I decided to bring you something! May I come in?" Kakashi said casually as Naruto opened the door further to allow the man into the apartment.

Kakashi looked around the apartment as Naruto walked back into the kitchen to pour some tea. Looking around, Kakashi was saddened to see that Naruto's apartment lacked a lot of decoration, it was very spartan and basic. The walls were a plain beige shade and the counters/tabletops were very sparse too.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure, Kakashi? Or should I say... Inu?" Naruto smirked as he teased Kakashi.

In reality Naruto had known Kakashi for a few years already. Kakashi was there when he got kicked out of the Orphanage, he remembered how Kakashi brought him to the Hokage's house and asked if he could adopt Naruto. Unfortunately he couldn't legally adopt a child because he was in Anbu, and because of the high chance for death in Anbu, no active Anbu was allowed to adopt.

"Mah, mah just call me Kakashi, or senpai, or you may refer to me as your cool, and caring older brother if you are ever talking to some kunoichi my age. I'm here because I wanted to see what your affinities are though, so I brought some chakra paper." Kakashi teased and then pulled out a sheet of chakra paper and waved it around.

"Oh sweet! I wonder what affinity I will get! I hope its something cool like fire! I can already do one or two wind techniques but that's because I found the scrolls in that cave." Naruto rambled on before Kakashi poked his cheek.

"Settle down Naruto, just sit still and channel chakra into the paper as you hold it. It will burn for fire, get wet for water, the paper will tear for wind, crinkle for lightning, and it will turn into dirt for earth." Kakashi explained as he handed Naruto the paper.

Naruto calmed down and focused on the paper in his hand. Nothing happened for a few seconds but then the paper split down the middle and wrinkled at the same time. Naruto saw this and became confused before he connected the dots and began to cheer.

"SWEET! I HAVE TWO AFFINITIES! Aw but neither of them are fire, at least lightning is cool." Naruto cheered, then remembered he didn't get his first choice.

"Now don't look so down, your affinities seem to be balanced which means that doing combination jutsu should be easier for you. Lets see, wind and lightning usually don't mix as lightning is weak to wind but I believe the combination you can achieve is called Shock Style. There aren't many, wind or lightning users in Konoha so you could pave a way for all the ninja in the future that have these affinities." Kakashi cheered up Naruto while internally he was freaking out.

'Naruto is a prodigy, two affinities, the most abusable training method that only HE can use, on the fly tactics and misdirection... This kid is going to be a nightmare.' Kakashi thought as he continued to eye-smile outwardly.

XxXxXxX

AN: Well, I don't even know how long this chapter was but it felt SOOO LOOONG, I'm so eager to progress this story faster but I dont want to rush this... Even if what I have planned is really cool. Anyways, I hope you like the chapter and as always, leave a review about whatever you liked, didnt like, ideas, or anything else. That's all for me today, seeya later!

-Wonderouzzz