Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.

Chapter Summary: In which Naruto and Kazuya debate colours and Naruto gets a new accessory

Chapter 6: Work in Progress

Naruto shuffled his feet nervously, his palm sweaty as he held Rio's hand, waiting for someone to answer Kazuya's knocks. He heard the snuffling at the door before the handle turned, Hana appearing as the Haimaru puppies circled their feet, spending an extra few moments sniffing Rio. Hana shooed them back into the house and waved the three boys in, Rio immediately shaking off Naruto to track down Kiba. After the first few days of uncertainty and petty jabs, the pair had become very close very quickly and now it was a common sight to see them bickering around the clan compound.

Naruto was delighted his brother had made a firm friend and was more than happy to take the extra task of looking after Rio off of Jiji's shoulders. The old man had enough going on and the Inuzuka were kind to the young blond, even if they were a bit rough around the edges. Naruto was still wary of the villagers as they continued to glare at Rio on the streets and the occasional attempt was made to harm him, usually by drunks. Each incident was resolved without too much trouble with the help of the ANBU but Naruto could never forget the burning hatred in their eyes.

His nerves showed no signs of budging when Hana led them to the large dining room, the table set for dinner. Tsume poked her head out from the kitchen, her sharp eyes looking over the pair.

"Have a seat, boys," she barked. "The two pups are going to have a snack now and dinner after we have a little talk."

Naruto glanced at Kazuya as they sat in the first seats they could reach, his terrified expression matching his own. Naruto trusted the head of the Inuzuka clan but she was the most intimidating person he had ever met; he was pretty sure he knew what this was about too. They sat silently as Hana ran up to fetch the toddlers and situated them in the living room next door within sight of the table. Tsume finished placing food on the table and sat, her daughter hurriedly joining her.

Naruto noted the meat on the table far outweighed the vegetables but he supposed they were a dog-based clan and dogs ate meat and now he could see members of the clan with tails and fluffy ears and he needed to stop thinking as Tsume began to speak.

"I should congratulate you boys for skipping a year. When Hana told me a few days ago she was now a second year, you can imagine my surprise until all the pieces fell into place." Her eyes scanned their faces. "That's what all the training you did was for."

The pair waited to see what she would do next.

The academy teachers had been furious when they first found out about the whole plan, but by then it was too late and the results had been tallied and announced. All three had not only passed but they were roughly in the middle of the rankings, though Naruto was only two places above last, so the sensei had to accept they had earned their place.

They had chewed Naruto out the most, bringing up his arm and medical history every third sentence. Honestly, Naruto was still surprised they let him stay with the other two, considering his age and currently useless arm.

Then the sensei had figured out it was them behind the pranks. The three could still hear the yelling in their ears two days later.

Once Aiko-sensei and Hideki-sensei had calmed down about all the chaos they had created and the lies they had told, they admitted they were slightly impressed by the forethought and work that went into it. They even praised the forgery and thievery because if they could accomplish something like this, then they would do well in their future stealth and sabotage lessons.

Of course, if they pulled something like this on the sensei again they would have detention until they were chunin.

Plus they were stuck with cleaning duties until the end of the year.

And Naruto had gotten another lecture from Yakushi-sensei when he had gone to get his arm checked.

"Hana told me about all the hours at the library, the sparring and the chakra control you've been doing over the past month, teaching each other your strong points. The plan itself was crude but worked."

"So tell me more," she grinned, taking a plate of sausages and dumping some on her plate, gesturing for the kids to do the same.

Naruto, Kazuya and Hana hesitated for only a moment before tucking in, Naruto's new cast making it awkward to put things on his plate. He was bummed that he had to have another so soon after he had gotten rid of the old one but that final hit in the test damaged the same pathways he'd messed up before.

"The plan was Kazuya's and then me and Hana added to it," Naruto began, spearing a sausage with a chopstick.

Kazuya took over as Tsume turned her gaze to him.

"Well, we were all bored with first year and second year didn't seem all that hard so I just thought 'let's do it' since I had overheard about the test a couple days before. So we figured since I was good with the books, Hana with taijutsu and Aka... Naruto with chakra control, between us we could do it," he finished, looking at Hana to continue.

"Naru-chan's the one who thought up the pranks and we all carried them out," she added. "I already told you how we took the forms and a copy of Aiko-sensei's signature."

"You didn't say who did the forgery."

"That was me," Naruto answered, pausing in his battle with the meat. "It took a week of practice to get it close enough, but we were lucky Hideki-sensei didn't look at it closely until after the results."

Tsume looked thoughtful for a moment.

"And how old are you both?"

"Five." "Seven."

Her brows rose in surprise.

"So you two had already entered the academy early?"

The pair shared a look.

"I guess?" Kazuya shrugged.

For some reason Tsume couldn't pick up on, they seemed uncomfortable discussing it. She knew that they would've needed special permission to be able to enter before the minimal age, but she didn't know who had signed off for them to attend.

Tsume watched them, guessing they weren't willing to talk about it any further and decided to drop it for now. She was proud of her daughter and of the two boys she had gotten to know over the last month. They would talk when they were ready.

"So what kind of pranks did you pull?"

The pair relaxed at the question, devious smirks growing on their faces as they began to regale the matriarch of their tales of mischief.

Two months later, the three boys walked into the weapons shop calling out a greeting as they entered. It was a day off from the academy and their usual extra training and they had promised Tenjirou they would help out with deliveries.

Most of the training lately had been figuring out the 'Red Leg' style from the book they 'borrowed', but they had hit a wall with it, ending up focussing on their target practice or chakra control or homework instead. Second year was much busier than first but they preferred the fuller timetable, although Naruto was unable to spend as much time with Rio has he had before. The toddler was happy at the Inuzuka compound and Tenjirou even watched him from time to time, but Naruto reassured himself that he would see more of his little brother when they left the orphanage.

The front desk came into view and they spotted Tenjirou sealing wrapped packages into a scroll. The first time they had delivered packages for him, the man had asked if they were working with chakra yet. After learning about Naruto's sensing and ever-growing control, he had sat him down and showed him how to seal and unseal items from storage scrolls. Fortunately, it only required channelling small amounts of chakra through one hand and the redhead picked it up within an hour, imitating the flow of chakra he sensed from the shopkeeper. Tenjirou promised to teach Kazuya once he had enough control.

Walking up to him, the sound of crashing boxes from the back room shot through the store and they heard the man swear before launching himself towards it. Coming up to stand at the desk and plonking Rio on the counter, they watched him emerge from the doorway with a little girl in his arms.

"Sorry about that, Tenten's getting more curious every day," he chuckled.

The twin-bunned girl in his arms didn't look that much younger than Naruto and her brown eyes inspected them.

"Tou-chan, who're they?" she asked, voice high and inquisitive.

"The tall one is Arai Kazuya and the short one, Uzumaki Naruto. The little fellow on the counter is Norio, Naruto's brother. The bigger two are in the academy and deliver some things for Tou-chan," Tenjirou replied.

Tenten looked thoughtful, her tiny features scrunched up in concentration.

"But red one is too small to be in academy," she pointed out, unable to understand how this boy could already be in the academy, when Tou-chan said she had to wait a few more years.

Tenjirou hesitated in answering his daughter. Personally, he agreed that Naruto was a bit young to be in the academy already, let alone being recently advanced to second year. He was good with chakra and alright with kunai but the rest he wasn't that great. Sometimes though, when he looked into those blue, blue eyes they didn't match the tiny body, the youthful face, the high, loud voice. He forgets this boy is only two years older than his daughter; the determination and wariness overpowering everything else. He forgets looking at the wide twisted scar on his face that he could have only been his daughter's age when it happened. So he replies with the only explanation that fit, that pushed away the doubts.

"He's a tough one," Tenjirou answers, the corners of his mouth quirking up as he heard Naruto mumbling about growth spurts.

"Ten-jiisan, is it okay if Rio stays with you? Last time he almost fell into a river when we took our eyes off him for a second," Kazuya asks, a ghost of a shiver running down his back at the memory. The water had been freezing that day.

"Of course, Tenten doesn't get much chances to leave the shop nowadays with her mother busy in Suna so it might be good for her to make a friend," the shopkeeper replied, putting down his daughter and picking up Rio, resting him beside Tenten.

As the pair looked at each other, Tenjirou handed Naruto the scrolls and the boy shoved them into his bag.

"By the way, nice to see you without a cast, Naruto," Tenjirou called as the boys headed out.

"For now," he overheard Kazuya murmuring, watching Naruto jab the brunet in the side.

The shopkeeper thought back to the many casts the redhead had been stuck with since he met them. Maybe there was a way to prevent it altogether. An idea started to piece itself together in his head and he grabbed for a blank scroll and a brush, keeping one eye on the pair on the ground.

Naruto and Kazuya made their way through the village, dropping off the packages as they went. They had somehow gotten onto the topic of fashion and Naruto was making a case for the colour orange. He didn't really understand why certain clothes and colours were preferred over others; as long as they did their job and didn't get in the way, right? Besides, orange is awesome!

"I mean seriously, Aka-chan, you already have bright red hair but together with orange? In some ways they kinda match 'cause they're both warm colours but still, they can see you in Kumo!"

"I don't think anyone could see us from Kumo unless they had a dōjutsu, but it still seems too far..."

"I didn't mean...you know what I meant! Stop laughing!"

"Come on, Pinku-baka, orange is great!"

"I will talk some sense into you eventually..."

"Purple is useless in all situations though."

"Purple is a lovely colour that can look good on anyone."

"So is orange."

"If you're blind. Why not try a blue t-shirt instead, or black?"

"Why not add glitter and put ribbons in your hair?"

"Now you're just being petty..."

This debate continued until they were interrupted by loud shouting coming from the training ground they were passing. The two look at each other before starting to head towards the noise. Naruto wasn't sure why Kazuya looked so sad when he defended purple, but the older boy had hidden it so quickly that he decided to leave it. Kazuya would tell him eventually. Coming in view of a wide flat training ground, they looked towards the two figures standing in the centre and become rigid in shock at the sight.

"I'm sorry I complained about your t-shirt," Kazuya whispered. "I now see there is much, much worse in the world."

In the centre of the space stood two men, doing some odd display of jan ken po. One was easily recognised with the gravity-defying silver hair and face mask but the man opposite him was one they didn't recognise and Kazuya silently hoped he wouldn't have to see him again.

In a tight green jumpsuit with orange legwarmers and a red belt, Kazuya's eyes hurt looking at him. Unfortunately, one of the packages they had left was for the Copy-nin so they had to get closer to the eyesore. Walking closer, the brunet winced as he spotted the shiny black bowl cut paired with massive bushy eyebrows. Beside him, Naruto was caught between sniggering at his friend and staring at the shinobi; he had never seen him before but he seemed pretty close with Kashi.

They stopped a short distance from the pair, catching the attention of the jounin. Halting their challenge, Kakashi looked over the redhead. He looked okay and there was no cast; he had heard recent talk that the kid had been part of the group that had been advanced a year. While happy that Minato-sensei's kid was doing well, Kakashi felt pangs of guilt and disappointment tugging at his heart for having to find out through his fellow shinobi. He knew Naruto didn't depend on him as much; he was missing out on him growing up.

"Hey Naruto, Kazuya, what's up?"

Before he could get an answer, his 'eternal rival' spoke up.

"Hello youthful friends of my eternal rival. I am Maito Gai, the Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey," he announced, gaining a pair of wide-eyed stares.

Kakashi glanced at his friend exasperatedly before looking at the boys again.

"What are you two doing today? Where's Rio?"

"Rio-chan is with Ten-jiisan while we're doing deliveries for him. Speaking of..." Kazuya answered, trailing off to look at his companion.

Naruto reached into his bag and pulled out a scroll, pressing his right hand against the seal in the centre and summoning the packs of kunai and shuriken.

"Here," he said, passing them to the silver-haired shinobi. "A pack of twenty kunai and shuriken."

Kakashi looked down in surprise at the packets now in his hand. He knew that Naruto had met the shopkeeper and had been taught a few things, but he wasn't aware of their apparent part time jobs. He was even more surprised that Naruto could already work storage seals. They were usually handled in the final year of the academy.

As the boys turned to go, Kakashi called out.

"Wait, I haven't seen you two in a while. How is your training going at the academy?"

Naruto stopped and turned, Kazuya following his lead. The usually chatty brunet was quiet, just watching the interaction. Gai was doing the same, but Kakashi could see the focussed look in his friend's eyes as he examined the students.

"It's okay," the redhead shrugged. "I hit the targets more often but my taijutsu and grades still suck. I can control ten rocks now though. Plus I can sense people's chakra better when it moves around their bodies."

"I have one of the top grades in the class and one of the better target scores. My control and taijutsu still need a lot of work," added Kazuya.

"That's great," Kakashi eye-smiled. "If you need any help, you know you can ask anytime."

"Yeah..." Naruto replied, shifting his feet.

There was a pause that grew more uncomfortable with each passing second. Kakashi didn't know what else to say and Naruto had the same struggle. With all the time Kakashi spent away on missions, Naruto didn't know where he stood with him. He knew Kashi cared and wanted to help, but after this he probably wouldn't see the teen again for months.

"Excuse me, but you mentioned taijutsu?" Gai interrupted, flashing his sparkling smile at the tiny redhead.

Gai had heard of this boy and his brother from Kakashi. Kakashi had withdrawn into himself since the death of his sensei and anyone was lucky to manage to pry enough from him to form a conversation. He had an unrelenting focus on his missions and didn't socialise anymore; this was the first time Gai had really spoken to him in almost six months; but he knew that Kakashi hadn't completely shut down, still trying to be there for the two kids, appearing to have increased to three. It didn't seem to be going well.

The two nodded at his question.

"Well, my youthful friends, I happen to be a taijutsu master and Kakashi just as skilled so we can aid you now," he grinned, breaking out into his 'nice guy' pose.

Naruto gave a quick glance to the messenger bag at his side.

"We still got a couple of things to deliver, but you could answer our questions?" Kazuya compromised, bringing out a book from his own bag.

Walking forward, partly dragging the redhead, he presented the page of katas to the jounin. Gai's massive eyebrows rose and Kazuya figured Kakashi had the same expression, but with the hair and the mask it was hard to be sure.

"Red Leg?" Gai read. "Why are you trying to learn this?"

"Where did you get the book?" Kakashi asked.

"Library, don't remember which shelf but Aka-chan doesn't have to use his arm for this style," Kazuya replied to both.

Kakashi took the book from his hands and Gai peered at it, nodding to himself.

"Naruto, you can't do these katas yet," Kakashi started. "This style is built on speed and flexibility; you'll need to build on your balance and basic fitness first, and then move onto flexibility. Speed will come with time."

"With the Power of Youth, I'm sure you can master this style, Naruto-kun," Gai spoke up, his teeth shining.

Naruto and Kazuya each sent a confused glance to the other.

"We can create a training regime for you to follow that will shape your young bodies into the ultimate example of youth!" Gai proclaimed. "Same for you, Kazuya-kun, but we shall make yours so you can expand on the academy style!"

"For now, go finish your deliveries and come back here when you're done. They should be ready by then," Kakashi promised.

Bright smiles appeared on the students faces and they turned, heading out of the training ground and chattering away about the new opportunity opened up before them. Kakashi watched them go, the guilt in his gut lifting slightly.

The rest of the trio's second year in the academy passed quickly.

They kept up their extracurriculars: Kazuya continuing to help his friends study and gradually improving Naruto's reading abilities; Hana moving forward with her clan style and sparring with the boys, dumping them on the ground more often than not; Naruto working with them to increase the number of leaves the two older student could control at a time, while expanding his own exercises to include larger objects and holding leaves on his body for whole days at a time; and all three's target scores had increased by the end of the final term.

Naruto and Kazuya had received a personal training regime as promised, with an agreement to upgrade it for third year if they could prove their progress. Their mornings now began with a jog around the sleeping village as Naruto made sure to be back at the orphanage before anyone woke up. Kazuya had gentle muscle training which could put power behind his hits, while Naruto had a series of stretches and balancing exercises to complete each day.

All three had managed to make their way up the class rankings, with Kazuya third and Hana a close fourth. Naruto had worked his way up to the middle, with his taijutsu not quite good enough yet to let him get any further. They hadn't made any friends in the new class, with most of their classmates annoyed that kids younger than them were at the same level and beating most of them.

Naruto had ended up in another two casts by the year's end as the older kids made their displeasure clear during the taijutsu practices.

As October rolled by, Naruto celebrated his birthday at Ichiraku's; Hana surprised him with an assortment of hair ties and clips and a promise to teach him how to handle his growing locks and Kazuya presented him two notebooks.

When Naruto looked back at the brunet, Kazuya motioned him to open one. When he did, he found all the notes they had needed in first year, rewritten in an easy style with extra diagrams and references. Opening the second, he found the same but for second year.

"I know you aren't a fan of studying but I figured this could help you so you got everything you need in one place," Kazuya explained, his hands fidgeting at his sides.

Naruto placed the books on the counter and held out a fist in response, Kazuya bumping it with his own. As the redhead flicked through the pages, his grin threatening to take over his face and Kazuya relaxed, shoving his hands into his pockets. He hadn't been sure Naruto would like them, but it meant that his friend would be able to look back at anything they had done anytime. Kazuya just hoped they would make the theory tests a bit easier for the redhead.

"This is awesome, thanks Pinku-baka," Naruto smiled, his blue eyes alight with joy.

"Rio-chan's got something for you too," Kazuya replied, grinning at the surprise on his face.

Nodding to the blond as Naruto turned to face him, Rio held out a piece of paper to him, his violet eyes following his brother's movements carefully as Naruto took it. It was a card; Kazuya's writing at the top saying 'Happy Birthday Nii-san!' with a picture of Kazuya, Rio and himself beneath it holding hands obviously done by Rio. Naruto ran a hand over the childish scrawls, smiling faintly.

"Thanks Rio," he whispered, a strange mixture of joy and sadness swirling within him.

This was nothing like last year, when it was just Rio and him in the orphanage. He had been pretty sure no one knew his birthday; he hadn't celebrated it since his third, when he still had parents and a baby brother that was only a few days from joining their family. As another year passed and Rio grew up another bit more, his parents became part of a past that was getting further away each year.

He shoved away those thoughts as he ruffled Rio's already unruly locks, the toddler giggling.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the summons they had received from Tenjirou as they were finishing up their meal. Going along to the shop, the four of them entered before being waved through to the miniature training field at the back of the shop. Stepping outside, Naruto crossed over to Tenjirou who was waving at him from the outside bench. The redhead spotted the assortment of black cloth and rolls of bandages on the table before shooting a confused look at the shopkeeper.

"Naruto-kun, I'm going to put this on you and let me know what you think when I'm done," Tenjirou picked up a roll of bandage and starting to wrap it around Naruto's left arm.

Naruto's confusion only grew and he looked over at his friends, his gaze catching the thoughtful look in Kazuya's dark pink eyes. It took a few minutes with Tenjirou occasionally directing Naruto to move his fingers and elbow when needed. Spending another short while adjusting, the shopkeeper finally stepped back, admiring his work.

"That should do it. What do you think? Lucky you had your cast removed last week."

Naruto looked down at his arm.

It started as a regular fingerless glove with reinforced knuckles and a thin rectangular metal plate on the back of his hand. The black material making up the glove continued up to his shoulder, with a thick strap going around his chest to join the material at the back at the shoulder. The black material fit snugly against his arm and Naruto could feel three strips of thin metal woven to it, going from his wrist to his elbow, running along the soft underside of his forearm. On top of his forearm was a sheet of metal that appeared to act as a bracer but Naruto found its second use as he ran his other hand over it; four wire thin pieces of metal looped around his forearm, connecting all the pieces. However, the only visible part was the bracer on the top.

Around his elbow the material was slightly thicker with increased elasticity, allowing him to bend it freely. On his upper arm there were six strips of metal around his bicep running up to his shoulder with five wires wrapping around to keep it firmly in place. It effectively created two thin cages around both his bicep and forearm.

In all, it looked like a regular sleeve with a bracer and a glove at the end but Naruto could feel the unseen support, firmly wrapped and hugging his arm. It weighed his arm down, but much less than would have been expected considering all the metal he could feel.

"It's just the prototype. I should be able to adjust anything that isn't quite comfortable. I can also import a lighter metal from my man in the Land of Iron and find a more breathable material so you won't need the bandages underneath but I just wanted to see if it worked," Tenjirou muttered beneath his breath. "Plus I'll shape the metal so it's more like mesh encasing the whole arm than the strips it has now..."

At Naruto's wide-eyed stare, Tenjirou shook himself from his future modifications and felt he should explain.

"This can save you from having to get a new cast, as it not only supports your arm constantly but since it's reinforced it should be suitable for battle, protecting you from that kind of damage in the first place."

Flexing his arm one more time, Naruto stared at his arm a moment longer before launching himself at the shopkeeper. Tenjirou looked down in surprise as he saw Naruto trying to hold back sobs, before hugging the boy back.

Naruto doubted the shopkeeper knew what he had done for him, at least not yet. All he had said was true but to Naruto it was so much more. It was a real chance at getting through the academy, a chance at holding his own, and a chance to leave the hospital behind. Despite what others thought, Naruto knew his limits; he knew there was a higher chance he wouldn't be able to become a shinobi than he would. Every time he went for a cast he had the staff telling him to give up; that he couldn't graduate if his arm didn't get better.

He knew that his arm was still trying to heal the pathways, even after three years. He knew that every time his arm took a hit it disrupted the delicate healing. There was no way they would let him in the field if he had to go the hospital every other week, no matter how valuable they kept saying his sensing ability was.

But this brace gave him new hope that he could stand on the same level as his friends, as their classmates. He had been fighting since his parents died; fighting the hatred of the villagers for Rio, the doubt in people's faces when he said he was going to be a shinobi, his own body.

Maybe now he had a chance to prove he really could do it.

He could win.

Thanks for reading!