I'm super exicted for this chapter. It's rather long (~8.5k) and I could've probably made two chapters out of it, but here we are... As before, A.N. at the end, thanks for the reviews. Added an updated timeline. The second paragraph of my A.N. is somewhat important and should probably be read... I hope there aren't any major mistakes in here :)

LOOKING FOR BETA!

I don't own Naruto!

What happened last time

"He actually tried to manipulate you, using your rivalry with Kakashi-kun?", Hiruzen asked, his left eyebrow shooting upwards.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. It was most unyouthful from Naruto-kun. Although, considering that we're ninjas it was almost youthful again. I'm quite conflicted about it to be honest," Gai said with a contemplative look on his face.

"I see… I'm happy that you accepted him, I'm certain there's a lot you can teach him.

"Hai Hokage-sama, I'll do my best.

Chapter 4

14. November 1298

At 5 a.m. sharp, Naruto's landed in a clearing in training ground six, where he could see Gai already waiting. 'I just hope he doesn't expect a change of clothes from me,' Naruto thought apprehensively.

"Good morning Naruto-kun! Welcome to your first training," Gai exclaimed with way too much exuberance for 5 a.m. Naruto idly waved his hand, still half-asleep and mumbled out a good morning.

"Let us start with a light warm-up before you show me your taijutsu!" Gai exclaimed. The 'light' warm-up turned out to be not so light. Naruto started to think about whether this was such a good idea or not, his new sensei was definitely special.

This train of thought continued right until they started sparring. He didn't really expect to defeat a jōnin, but it seemed that Naruto didn't pose even the slightest challenge for Gai.

"You're quite fast Naruto-kun. How much do you train your body?", Gai asked the gasping boy.

"Thank you Gai-sensei. I didn't want to do some crazy work-out without supervision, so I only run and do stuff with my own body-weight. Pull-ups, push-ups and the like. I wasn't sure when I could start to use weights without hampering my bodily growth, so I don't use them," Naruto said, still catching his breath.

"Understandable Naruto-kun. I'm happy, that you take care of your body. I suggest that you start using some wrist- and ankle-weights during your workout. However, only put about five pounds per arm and ten pounds per leg. Using low amounts will not damage your growth and it is actually more of a stamina training, than strength training. Now however, I think breakfast would be a good idea Naruto-kun, we can discuss your training in the meantime."

"Hai Gai-sensei, where do you want to go? Jiji said ramen for breakfast is unhealthy and I only ever go to Ichiraku's, when not cooking myself." That Naruto was also only welcomed at Ichiraku's and grudgingly allowed at the barbeque restaurant when he went with Chōji and Shikamaru, was left unsaid.

"Follow me Naruto-kun!"

Twenty minutes later, the two of them sat in a café close to the Hokage tower. Naruto ordered what he usually made for himself; rice, fermented soybeans and a fried egg, and of course tea.

"Alright Naruto-kun, here's my proposition: As long as I'm not on missions, you can train with me. However, I'm not sure what you want to learn, so why don't you tell me what you wanted to do, before we go over your work-out regime."

"Well, I was looking for someone to train me in taijutsu is because someone gifted me with some scrolls for two different styles. I didn't want to learn something not suited for me and needed someone for a second opinion. I suspect I was meant to combine the two. There's also the fact that learning taijutsu from a scroll just begs for mistakes to be implemented in the forms," Naruto explained.

"I agree. What are the styles you received named?"

"The Hachidori (Hummingbird)- and the Shio no ken (Tidal fist)-style."

"I see, I think I can help you with both. We shall start on it tomorrow. I have a mission scheduled in three days' time, so I can help you with the easier katas of your new taijutsu style the next two days. While I'm on my mission, you can perfect them. We repeat that process when I'm back and you've become proficient in my absence.

"Now onto your training regime, I suggest the following: Try to find a sparring partner for the days I will not be in the village or simply don't have time. If you want, you can meet me at 4 a.m. at the village gates and take part in my stamina training. Afterwards we shall spar for a while and after breakfast we then work on your style for about two hours. Afterwards you can do your work-out and practice katas until lunch. The afternoon is up to you, since I have my own training to keep up with."

"That's awesome Gai-sensei, thanks a bunch!", Naruto said with a toothy smile. "Can we start right now? I came prepared and have the scrolls with me," Naruto said still grinning.

"Of course we can start right away. Before we leave, you might find it interesting that the two styles you mentioned were used by two rather outstanding ninja of Konoha in the past. Although both of them used hand to hand combat more as a supplementary skill, as such not many people remember them. I believe you will make them both famous once more," Gai finished, dropping a roll of ryō on the table, before motioning for Naruto to follow him outside.

The two walked casually through Konoha back to training ground six.

Handing the first scroll to his new sensei, Naruto was extremely excited to start and fidgeted while Gai read it.

"Alright, let's start with the basics. The Hummingbird-style is quite similar to the Uchiha's interceptor fist. However, instead of heavy counters, it relies on quick jabs at sensitive spots. Probably because there is only so much time to react without the help of a sharingan. Say Naruto, why do you want to combine it with another style? The hummingbird-style has proven to be quite powerful."

"Well, I feel like both styles do one part right. I prefer the quick counters to the Shio no ken's heavy hits and grapple moves. On the other hand, I can't really use direct blocks since I will be much smaller and possibly weaker than my enemies for at least a few years. As the scroll explains, the style is based on a strong defence and then counters. The Shio no ken is much more about evasion and fluent movement and if I could combine them, maybe I can find a balance."

"I see. This is a very youthful goal Naruto-kun, I will help you as much as I can! However, learning and combining two styles will take a lot of time, being proficient in both styles alone will take a few years at least," Gai cautioned.

"Hai, I know. But in one or two years I can use kage bunshin to get the muscle-memory down, thanks to the fur ball in my gut," Naruto said with a toothy grin, "it's high time he proves useful for something anyway."

"You aware of your burden?" Gai asked, his gargantuan eyebrows rising up to his hairline.

"Oops, shouldn't have said that," Naruto said sheepishly, "Yes, I know about the kyūbi. I'm actually surprised, that Hokage-jiji hasn't figured out by now, that I know about it. I mean, bijū sealing comes up in the first chapter of the fūinjutsu book he bought me. It's in there as an example of what fūinjutsu is capable of," Naruto explained. Telling a jōnin about how he found two letters from his parents in a box, stolen from the Hokage's storage room, would probably not go down too well, even if said box technically belonged to Naruto anyway.

Thinking about it now, Naruto figured he was quite lucky, that his ji-san hadn't seen him in his parent's house, using his crystal ball. He would have to be more careful in the future, only going back in the night would definitely lower the risk. Keeping his last thoughts in mind, he turned his attention back to Gai.

"Say, Naruto-kun, why don't you want Hokage-sama to know, that you know? It's not like he can do anything about it."

"I don't know really. I think, I'm just curious, as to when he thinks me ready and trusts me enough, to tell me."

"Very well, now, let's start with those katas, Naruto-kun!"

"Hai, Gai-sensei!"

-xXx-

19. March 1299

Time flew by for Naruto. Aside from completing a few more C-ranks, he picked up a new project. While his immediate goal was to be promoted to chūnin and then join ANBU, his dream of becoming Hokage, was still on his mind. Therefore, he started looking into the administrative aspects of Konoha, i.e. who was responsible for what.

It was while reading about mission assignments, that he figured out, that his ji-san was subtly helping him along in his career. Naruto was assigned to C-ranks much more frequently and much sooner after graduation, than all the other reserve genin. It was both heartening and humiliating at the same time. On the one hand, he had someone looking after him, on the other hand, he always thought that he was assigned more C-ranks, simply because he did such a good job.

Naruto kept going out with his friends occasionally. Sometimes Shikamaru and Chōji were even accompanied by others of Naruto's former class, such as Ino. He played Shogi with Shikamaru only once and got utterly destroyed. While his tactical thinking wasn't that horrendous, he was more the person to make up things on the fly, instead of meticulously planning everything beforehand. He vowed to work on that at a later date.

Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't able to participate in the chūnin-exams, that had taken place in mid-February. While Hana's team mate was fit for duty once again and they would've let him take Hana's spot on the team, the exams were held in Iwagakure. The relations between the two villages were still rather hostile, and the Hokage didn't want to risk sending only one or two teams to Iwa. While he didn't think, that the teams would've been attacked during their stay in the village, it was common for the 'home'-village to have by far the most teams participating. The possibility, that Iwa teams would directly target Konoha teams, was quite high. This was all apart from the fact, that Naruto looked distinctively similar to the Yondaime, which would've painted an even bigger target on their back.

At least he convinced Hana to spar with him from time to time. Her clan was somewhat specialized in taijutsu and despite slowly turning into a support ninja, it was important to keep her skills sharp. And sharp they were, she outclassed Naruto quite a bit.

Training with Gai-sensei for four months, coupled with regular spars saw Naruto making huge strides in his taijutsu. His improved work-out was noticeable as well. While it was simply impossible to build up huge muscles as a nine-year-old, Naruto noticed his kicks and punches becoming stronger.

Following Gai's advice, Naruto used his training weights only for his workouts. It was useless to train with weights and not be accustomed to fight without them later.

While Hana still pummelled Naruto into the ground more often than not, there was definite improvement. Being new to his taijutsu-style meant, that Naruto had to think about each move, since it wasn't completely committed to memory yet.

As with taijutsu, his various other skills were improving steadily. He still hadn't found anyone who could help with his genjutsu inability, but he could make due until he was promoted to chūnin. Since he didn't dare to pick up any B-rank jutsu yet, he branched into a different element and mastered the Fūton: Reppūshō no Jutsu (Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique). It was more of a supplementary technique and rather easy to learn. Combined with shuriken or kunai however, it became very deadly.

Naruto was very proud to have mastered the first step in water manipulation just the previous day, and was overall quite content with his progress in the eight months since his graduation. He had also found a book on ninjutsu in this parents' library. 'Ninjutsu for dummies' spanned from jutsu creation to the intricacies of elemental ninjutsu. The guy who wrote it (Naruto had never heard of any shinobi called Hiruzen) really knew what he was talking about. He planned to ask the Hokage to show him the next step for water manipulation, after he returned from his upcoming mission.

Naruto was quite nervous, since this mission would mark another milestone in his shinobi career. His first B-rank. Naruto was aware, that there was a reason for his ji-san to assign him this mission. While he had already completed over ten C-ranks, all of them were either deliveries or pre-emptive protection details. The presence of shinobi had scared away any possible threat each time. This mission however, was different.

Naruto arrived at the village gate at 5.55 a.m. via shunshin. One other ninja, clad in standard chūnin garb, with a katana strapped to his back and wearing a bandana, was already waiting. He looked up, when he heard the tell-tale sound of swirling leaves, announcing Naruto's arrival.

"Ah Naruto, good, you're early. My name is Hayate Gekkō, Tokubetsu Jōnin, your captain for this mission and leader of Team Hayate. We are scheduled to leave at 6.15, so the other two should arrive in a few minutes."

"Good morning Hayate-san. If you don't mind, I was assigned this mission only yesterday evening and didn't receive any information, aside from it being B-rank."

"No problem, Naruto. It's actually a little complicated. The mission was given to all of us on short notice, which is the reason we're lacking our last member. We usually work with Anko Mitarashi, but she works part-time in Torture and Interrogation and they need her today. We're assigned to terminate a bandit camp, which is supposed to be based around the border of Hi no Kuni and Tetsu no Kuni. In truth, the camp is a few miles into Iron country." Hayate explained.

"So why aren't the samurais taking care of it?"

"Because the Daimyo of Iron country is being a dick," Hayate snorted. "You see, the bandits only attack merchants leaving the land of iron and only those without ninja escorts. While it isn't exactly good for business, the Daimyo doesn't really care about it. There are few alternatives to the metal working from Iron country, so merchants travel the roads despite the danger."

"So, he just lets them kill merchants, because he doesn't want to risk his own men and doesn't want to pay for ninjas?" Naruto asked incredulous.

"Yup, exactly. Technically we're not even allowed to do this mission, because it was assigned to Konoha by the fire Daimyo. As you know, we're only allowed to work on foreign territory, if the Daimyo of said land knows about it. These kinds of missions are usually taken by ANBU, since they simply don't give a shit about such rules," Hayate said.

"Considering the location of their camp, it's safe to assume, that there's at least one ninja with the bandits, who knows about these rules. However, since they're still quite close to the border, Hokage-sama decided that a normal team can do it. Personally, I think, he just wants to stick it to the Daimyo of iron country," Hayate smiled. "That's also the reason, that in the assignment scroll, the bandit camp is said to be at the border, so we're covered." Just as Hayate finished with his explanation, the two missing team members arrived in quick succession.

"Good, you're here. Guys, this is Naruto, he's replacing Anko for this mission. Naruto, this is Emiko Maki," Hayate said, pointing to the sole kunoichi of team. Emiko wore standard chūnin equipment, and looked to be in her late teens, standing at about 5'5" with chocolate brown eyes. She had her brown hair in a braid, that reached down to her lower back.

"And this is Koji Yamanaka," Hayate continued, now pointing to a tall ninja in his early twenties, with short platinum blonde hair and green eyes.

Naruto waved his hand in a two-finger salute, "Yo, nice to meet you!"

"Hey gaki," Emiko exclaimed, before turning to Hayate, "didn't know Kakashi started to corrupt little kids already." Naruto gained a tick mark on his forehead, when she said 'little kid' and glared at her. He might be used to the jabs by now, didn't mean he had to like it. Plus, with him standing at just under 4'8", she wasn't that much taller than him (or at least, that's what Naruto tried to make himself believe).

"I don't think he did, to be honest. Kakashi just spent two months on vacation after his discharge from ANBU and the subsequent border control duty," Hayate replied.

"Whatever, we should head out. Emiko, Koji, you'll have to tell Naruto about your skill-set on the way to the border, same goes for you Naruto. I'll talk with you when we make camp. The plan is to arrive at the border in the evening and then attack at dawn. Now, let's go, I take point, Emiko you have the rear, Naruto, Koji take a side each."

-xXx-

Lying in his sleeping bag, Naruto thought about the coming day. It was early in the morning and after spending the first part of the night on look-out, he had lain awake for the remaining time, being unable to sleep. He mentally went over everything he learned the previous day. Team Hayate was primarily an assassination and extermination team, but was also capable of recon-missions.

Koji was the team's support ninja. Apart from his clan's signature mind-walking jutsu, he was proficient in genjutsu and had decent knowledge of the human body, due to some medical training. He was capable of using the Iryō: Shōsen no Jutsu (Medical: Mystical Palm Technique) to a degree and knew a lot about poisons and their antidotes. Another valuable skill he possessed were his sensory abilities, although they were quite weak and limited to about half a mile.

Emiko was, despite her small frame, the team's heavy hitter. With a high affinity for fire, she was the ninjutsu expert in team Hayate. She was very capable in taijutsu and deadly accurate with all sorts of thrown weapons. Emiko took to teasing Naruto on their way to the border. Usually, Naruto would've reacted rather loudly to the constant teasing, but he was on a mission and tried to ignore her as much as possible.

Hayate, aside from being their leader was an all-around type of shinobi, but specialized in Kenjutsu. He was capable in all three of the main shinobi arts and had even taken to look into fūinjutsu a little bit. He had a very calm personality and told Naruto also a little about their missing teammate. Naruto couldn't fill her role perfectly, but knowing about her, made it at least easier on him.

Apparently Anko had quite the impact on all of them. She was an assassination and interrogation expert. Thus, she was very knowledgeable about the human body and all sorts of poison. She was the reason for Koji's interest in medical ninjutsu and human biology. There was nary a ninja who wouldn't break under the combined assault of Anko's physical- and Koji's mental torture.

The team had been working together for a few years already. Forced to bring some balance to Anko's more loud and boisterous personality, had made Hayate much calmer. Emiko, who was rather shy at first, had taken to teasing as well when she couldn't take any more abuse from Anko and became a lot more sociable and open.

Everything considered, Naruto had big shoes to fill. However, since their current mission was very straight forward, he was confident to perform satisfyingly. Naruto was ripped from his introspection at 4 a.m. by Hayate, who went around, quietly rousing his other two team mates from their sleep.

Quickly gathering their equipment, they made their way over the border and into the land of iron. With the exception of Naruto, they all had a small breakfast of fruits and rice bread, while jumping through the forest. Feeling quite nervous and a little nauseous already, eating was the last thing on Naruto's mind. However, he didn't want to go into a fight with a completely empty stomach, so he took to munching on a shinobi ration bar.

One hour later and a few miles into the land of iron, the team split up, to look for the bandit camp. The order was to engage under no circumstances and regroup at their current location in thirty minutes. Naruto quickly created a few kage bunshin and headed out. Despite Koji's skill as a sensor, they had a big area to cover and not a whole lot of time.

It was indeed Koji who found the bandits first and informed his team, as soon as they had regrouped.

"There were about twenty-five of them sleeping in the open," he started. "I saw six guards, three on elevated positions, each looking either North, East, or South and three patrolling the perimeter."

"Why is no one watching to their West?", Hayate interrupted.

"Oh, right. They made camp in a forest clearing northwest from here, but to their west is a massive rock formation, blocking access to the camp."

"Access for bandits and civilians or for ninjas?"

"We won't have a problem entering from the West," Koji said with a sadistic smile, understanding what went through his captain's mind.

"Good, anything else of importance?"

"Yes. In the middle of their camp, there is a single tent. If they have indeed former ninjas with them, they're probably there. It's also safe to assume, that they store the stolen weapons there."

"Alright, so there're no more than thirty five hostiles, here's the plan. The common bandits are of no consequence, the most important thing is to eliminate their leaders and get the stolen goods back. We have to take out the guards first and then quickly move onto the tent.

"Naruto, you will approach the camp from the east side, Koji from the north and I from the south. All three of us will have to take out two guards each, as simultaneously as possible. Meanwhile Emiko will move onto the rock-formation.

"When the guards are dead, we're going to wreak havoc. Use flashy techniques or explosive-tags and kill as many as possible as fast as possible. We have to confuse them and lure them away from Emiko," Hayate explained and then turned to their female team mate. "You have a single task Emiko. As soon as we have their attention, use your most destructive fire jutsu. How far have you come in using the Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation)?"

"It's not that good. I can spread it to about twenty feet, but it takes a lot out of me. I don't know what I thought, when I decided to pick up a bloody S-rank jutsu as chūnin," Emiko replied with a grimace.

"Don't worry Emiko, it should suffice. It's a round tent and when you hit it from above, you can set the whole ceiling on fire," Koji interjected.

"Perfect. Emiko, your timing will be key, but I'd rather have you use the jutsu too early, than too late. If you're too out of it from using it, me or Koji can easily assist you, but if you're using it too late and whoever is inside the tent leaves due to us attacking, the whole thing would be in vain.

Naruto, when the tent is set on fire, your opposition will probably lessen quickly. When that happens, I want you to use your Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu (Water Style: Trumpet Technique) to quench the fire."

"Huh? Why do you want to put so much effort into setting it ablaze, only for me to quench it again?", Naruto asked confused.

"It's quite simple. If we don't light it up, their leader – or leaders – will have time to gather their troops. With them being chased out of the tent, by threat of being burned alive, they will probably panic as well. However, we don't want to destroy the stolen goods, so we have to put the fire out again. The panic combined with the steam you will be producing, should make them easy targets," Hayate explained patiently and Naruto nodded in response.

"Alright, dawn will soon be upon us, we don't have much time. Get in position, the camp is about ten minutes from our position, direction northwest. Koji will need some time to circle the camp, so timer to kill the guards is set to twenty minutes from now. Let's go."

-xXx-

6 a.m. – just outside the camp

Naruto crept steadily closer through the thick forest towards his target, the stationary guard who was sitting on a tree branch seemingly half -asleep. He had to get close to the treeline in order to see over the camp towards the rock formation, from which Emiko was supposed to give the 'go'-signal. A minute earlier he had detected the patrolling bandit, who was now coming from the south towards his position. Naruto was shaking slightly in anticipation of what was to come.

Silently moving onto a tree branch above still unsuspecting sentry, he listened for the other guard moving through the woods and glanced towards the rock formation every few seconds. Just as he heard the crack of a branch, he saw a little light blink in the west – his signal. Mentally starting to count the seconds, he had to wait another moment until the patrolling guard came into view.

Naruto pulled a kunai out of his pouch and threw it at the guard and accelerated it with a Fūton: Reppūshō no Jutsu (Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique). He didn't wait to see the result and instead dropped from his position towards the stationary sentry, kunai in hand the guard barely noticed him before his throat was cut. Naruto held onto the body, so it wouldn't make sound by dropping to the forest floor and instead draped him sideways over the tree branch.

Naruto kept staring at the blood running through his fingers, before the sounds of battle ripped him from his near catatonic state. He knew what he had to do. Making his way up the tree next to him, he swiftly jumped towards the edge of the clearing, while putting his good kunai back into the pouch on his right thigh.

His right hand reached for the pouch on his hip and seized five of his older kunai – he didn't want to destroy the ones, that had been a gift from Itachi. With his left hand he grabbed the same amount of explosive-tags and tied them to the kunai with some ninja-wire. The whole process took barely five seconds.

The bandits, that were stationed on the east side of the camp were just grabbing their weapons and moving onto Hayate's and Koji's position, when Naruto's kunai landed around them. The young blond observed with morbid fascination, how the left leg of a brutish looking bandit, was torn from his body in a gory show of violence. His other tags didn't do much more than cause a few concussions and strew chaos.

Naruto's attention was then taken from the howling man with only one leg and turned onto the giant wall of flames, descending onto the tent in the middle of the camp. Mere thirty seconds had passed, since his first kill. He had another minute before he would've to put out the fire. Reaching for two of his leather-hilted kunai, he took them in reverse-grip and charged into the fray.

Naruto's first victim didn't even realize that he was there. Using his smaller frame to his advantage, Naruto easily cut into the bandit's left leg, shredding muscle, tendons and most importantly his femoral artery. Another shower of blood painted the clearing.

The bleeding bandit cried out in pain, drawing the others attention towards him and by proxy Naruto. The first bandit to react, was tall and slender, the first signs of facial hair on his visage. The young blond however felt detached, as if he was a mere bystander. He noticed the gleaming light on the katana the gangly youth was lifting over his head with both hands while charging. 'An overhead strike, sloppy' Naruto observed.

For the blond ninja, everything seemed to be in slow motion. He noticed the most inconsequential details. How the air looked to be shimmering, as the thin morning-mist was illuminated by the rising sun. He could still hear the moaning from the previously cut down bandit, but the sound seemed so, so far away. Carnage was all around him, but Naruto's eyes only saw the young man charging towards him.

Unknown to the blond, the battle fever had gripped him. The state, one only reaches when spilling his enemies' blood. The state, that had made men and women roar in triumph for millennia, when slaughtering other humans.

Suddenly, the bandit was right in front of Naruto. He dropped the kunai from his left hand and moved towards the new threat, bending his knees a little and launching his own attack. Before his opponent had a chance to react, Naruto's left arm had crept from under the bandit's own left arm towards his shoulder. Mid-air, the young blonde grabbed onto his enemy's shoulder. Letting his momentum carry him past the bandit, he used his arm as leverage and swung onto his assailant's back, embedding the kunai from his right hand deep into nape of the bandit's neck.

Naruto's weight wasn't enough to change the bandit's own momentum. He crashed face first into the ground rather violently, Naruto's knees pressed into his newest victim's back only for a moment, before he rolled away once again.

-xXx-

Naruto sat on a random piece of wood in the remains of the bandit camp, surrounded by corpses. Koji had started burying them with some Doton Jutsu, after having taken care of Naruto. 'A useful jutsu to learn', Naruto mused, his emotionless eyes darting around the camp, desperately looking for something to distract him from his own thoughts.

Hayate and Emiko were sorting through the stuff, that had been stored in the tent. Naruto had wanted to help, but Hayate had simply pointed to his left arm, which had sported a nasty burn. Naruto couldn't feel any pain coming from it, but he remembered what had caused the burn in the first place.

After he had joined the battle in earnest and killed three more men in quick succession, most of the bandits had decided to run away and Naruto had moved on to safe the burning tent, or rather its goods. While using his Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu (Water Style: Trumpet Technique) on the tent, one of its former inhabitants had decided to hinder him rather drastically. Choosing between having their stolen merchandise fall in to their enemy's hand or the wares being burned, he picked the latter.

Before long, Naruto had had a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique) coming at him, proving, that there was at least one former ninja with the bandits. Since the fireball had been rather small, being only about one foot in diameter, the ninja had probably barley been above genin level. However, due to the close proximity, and Naruto's attention being on the formerly burning tent, he couldn't dodge the whole thing in time.

Fortunately, the flames were as good as put out, when Naruto had been forced to dodge and thus stop his jutsu, with only some tiny flames still licking on the tarp. Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto had then witnessed his attackers demise, curtsey of Hayate's katana. Soon thereafter, the sounds of battle had diminished and Koji had taken care of his burn.

"Hey Naruto, you alright?" Naruto turned towards the voice, and saw Hayate coming towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, spaces out a little just now," came his reply.

"First kill, huh? Well, at least it was clean. I know someone who got her first kill by burning half the body to a crisp," Hayate said with a wink, his eyes darting over to Emiko, "but that's not exactly what you want to hear right now, I guess. Listen, there isn't much one can say to make it better. It's part of the job and in time, you'll do it again. As long as you don't enjoy it and it weighs on your conscience, everything is alright, because it means you're still human. While it never gets easier, you get accustomed to it. I also came over to tell you, that you did a great job Naruto. I expected you to freeze up, to be honest."

"Thanks, Hayate," Naruto said with a somewhat strained smile.

"No worries, that's what I'm here for. Now, I heard you like to dabble in fūinjutsu, are you able to draw storage seals? We didn't bring enough scrolls I'm afraid."

"I'm afraid not. I'm only halfway through level three and storage seals come later, as far as I know."

"Ah I see, you're doing it the hard way. I tried it at the start, but it was too time consuming for me. I only pick up random seals and learn how to make them, without learning the technicalities behind them. Level three at nine years old is quite the accomplishment however, I'm sure you'll get there in time. If you don't mind helping Emiko store all the stuff while I draw some more seals, that would be great. If we make haste, we'll be back in the village by night."

"Sure thing, I could use something to distract me a little," Naruto said, this time with a real smile.

-xXx-

20. March 1299, late evening

"So, everything went well?", Hiruzen asked.

"He did admirably. Naruto integrated himself into our team quite well and had no problem to keep up with our pace. His execution was flawless, although he joined the fight a little delayed. Had it not been his first kill, it wouldn't have happened."

"That's good to hear. It opens up more mission options for him. Very well, you can turn in your written report tomorrow, go get some sleep Hayate-kun," the Hokage said.

"Hai Hokage-sama, thank you," Hayate replied and turned around to leave the office. The office remained silent for a few moments, before Hiruzen said,

"ANBU, leave me." Four shadows darted out of the office, before the Hokage opened his mouth again.

"So, are you going to sit there all night or are you going to tell me what you want?", he asked the empty office. A rustle of clothes could be heard from the window, before a ninja in jōnin garb with silver, gravity-defying hair and a face mask jumped through it.

"My apologies Hokage-sama, I couldn't help but listen in when I jumped by," Kakashi said.

"Well, you'd better apologies again Kakashi-kun, this time for lying to me. You didn't just jump by. If I had to guess, I'd say, that you followed Hayate here form the gates," the Hokage said, smirking a little. Kakashi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, before sitting down on the chair in front of Hiruzen's desk, his face turning serious.

"I know what you're doing Hokage-sama."

"Oh, and what would that me Kakashi-kun?", Hiruzen asked, his eyes gleaming in amusement.

"You didn't pair Naruto with Hayate's team on accident. Hayate won't go to his apartment tonight. He will go to his girlfriend's, who just so happens to have been taught kenjutsu by Kushina. Their conversation will turn onto Naruto and how well he did on the mission. Then, Yūgao, who is very well aware of Naruto's identity and was part of his ANBU protection detail, will mention that he would fill Anko's soon-to-be-empty spot quite well.

"You and I both know that Yūgao has a soft spot for Naruto and wants to see him succeed. She was the one to comfort him, when he had nightmares. While Naruto probably doesn't remember it, he knows 'Neko-neechan' just as well as 'Inu-niisan'," Kakashi finished his narration.

"My my, to have this all planned, it would be quite insidious, wouldn't you say? And what empty spot are you talking about? Anko is still very much part of team Hayate, Kakashi-kun."

"Sure," Kakashi said rolling his eyes, "It's almost public knowledge that Ibiki is pushing for Anko to be assigned to T&I full time. From what I've heard, Anko isn't averse to the idea. If I didn't know that I would hurt Naruto by doing so, I would bet my entire icha-icha collection on Anko being transferred to T&I full time within a week, now that you put Naruto into Hayate's mind."

"And why would you hurt Naruto by betting your collection?"

"Because, it's also almost public knowledge, that you're a closet pervert," Kakashi said and belatedly added, "Hokage-sama. You would probably push the transfer out for a week, only to win the bet."

"Ahh, I think it's time for you to leave, Kakashi kun," the Hokage said, smiling a little too sweetly. Hiruzen had rarely seen a faster shunshin.

Ninja – A how-to, Chapter 3 Chakra introductions

It is without doubt, that chakra is the most important component when it comes to the battle prowess of ninja. To execute any technique on a high level a certain competence when it comes to chakra control and manipulation is required, no matter which shinobi art the technique stems from.

As any other book will tell you, chakra is in its basis the combination of physical and spiritual energies. While the physical part is quite obvious the spiritual is not. It has been long debated what is contained within the term 'spiritual'. It is my opinion that it contains everything that is actually non-physical. While it sounds somewhat self-explanatory it is a rather complicated topic. Many theories disregard willpower, mental strength, emotions, even imagination and creativity amongst other things from the spiritual part of chakra. I heavily disagree.

Chakra is the manifestation of everything the caster is in the moment he releases the chakra. For example, our imagination is just as much part of us as anything else and I theorize that it is a major part when it comes to shape manipulation, which will be discussed in a later chapter.

Killer-intent is a projection of our emotions via chakra. There are also examples of sensors being able to pick up on the emotions of the people around them.

It is important that every ninja understands that chakra is a double-edged sword. It is our own chakra that allows genjutsu to fool our senses as much as it is chakra that allows us to do unimaginable things. To hone this weapon to perfection shall be your greatest achievement. To perfectly control and shape the very manifestation of yourself in this world.

A.N. Once more I got lots of stuff to say... I guess first, at the end of the note there's another little remark, that concerns something about Naruto's future. I mentioned in my first chapter, that I don't like reading fanficitons which suddenly take a weird turn and want to warn you, if you feel the same way. It could be considered a spoiler, but only very minor. So if you don't want to know anything about it, just skip the very last part.

New jutsu:

Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu (Water Style: Trumpet Technique): Should've been in the last chapter, but oh well... The user launches a large jet of water from their mouth through their hand. This gives the appearance of playing a trumpet, hence the name. (Same function, handsigns and romanisation as Water Release: Wild Water Wave) C-rank

Fūton: Reppūshō no Jutsu (Wind Style: Gale Palm Technique): A simple technique whereby when the user clasps their hands together, wind is compressed and transformed into a powerful gale. This technique, when used as an isolated attack, has the power to easily knock over a human. Though the true value comes from using it together with projectile weapons like shuriekn or kunai. Their speed, power, and ability to wound or even kill are all increased several times. C-rank.

Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation): Chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire, and then expelled from the mouth and shaped into a massive fireball, which covers a wide range as well. This makes the technique extremely difficult to either avoid or contain, with it requiring the combined efforts of several Water release users in order to extinguish the flames. S-rank (according to canon/wiki, this jutsu is B-rank, plus it's technically a 'Uchiha-only' jutsu. But it's way too fucking awesome, so instead, here it's s-rank...)

Concerning travel-time: I found practically no mention on how long it takes to travel the elemental nations and it's never conclusive. So here's what happens in this story. Marathon world-record is run at approximatley 13 mph. In this story ninja are able to run 15 mph for ~10h a day. Yeah it's insane and what not, but hey, fuck it. Therefore the distance from Konoha to fire/iron border is about 170 miles (~273 km)

I hope you all enjoyed the first little fighting-scene, feedback is appreciated. I wrote a little bit about what Naruto experienced and there will be another talk about it in the next chapter. I got the inspiration for this from one of my favourite authors, Bernard Cornwell. If you enjoy historical fiction (OC's acting in known historic events) you should check him out, his narration of battles is amazing, especially in the saxon series.

Before replying to reviews, I wanted to share my thoughts about another character, Gai.

I always felt like he's way to single-tracked in canon, but shows some deep insight from time to time. His overexuberant behaviour is for me something he does to deal with all his shit, which is even shown in canon, when he's a young boy being 'bullied'. His father puts up this oblivious act and he copies it. I read one fanfiction, where even his clothing is only something of a facade. If I remember correctly, Kakashi pranked Gai into wearing spandex, by saying it's made for taijutsu because it's stream-lined and more aerodynamic or some shit like that. I like to think that Gai puts up with it, because he's the 'good' guy and if he can make Kakashi smile by wearing that green monstrosity, he does it.

Reviews:

ReddFoxx: Thanks again for mentioning the date thing. Everything else should be cleared up (edite A.N. in chap.3)

Slimr3: No, he won't be genin until he's twelve, that would defeat the whole purpose of Naruto's early graduation. While you're correct about Konoha's politics, some, especially Danzo, don't want Naruto in the 'normal' forces, but in Root. If Naruto was to be desperate enough for advancement, Danzo could sweep in and take him under his wing. And nothing is ever as simple as 'I'm the dude with the hat, do what I say'. The Hokage is voted in by the council and without backing, a Hokage's rain would probably be rather short. While I don't know if it's possible to go for something like a vote of no confidence, assassination are apparently a thing in the Naruto-verse... :)

ethanfigueroa2929: Tried to make this chapter a little more interactive, rather than descriptive. Actually rewrote quite a large part, hope you like it better :) I have no idea what I'll do with Hinata, maybe she dies, maybe she doesn't. Naruto won't have much influence on her.

To the timline: In the next chapter there's a short narration on the events in Kiri (since I'll need it later). In order to make sense of everything, Zabuza is two years younger than in canon (changed the timeline in chap. 1 as well.). Another little change is, that instead of Kakashi being apprenticed by a 15 year old Minato, he's simply with a different team for two years.

Mini-Spoiler Alert! I know, that many of you like Naruto with blonde hair and whiskers. During the course of this story, Naruto will turn into a readhead without whiskers. The process and why it happens will be explained, I even plan to justify it by writing a huge block on cytology. However, it's very far in the future, never the less, those who don't like a readhed Naruto, should be aware of this.

/Mini-Spoiler Alert!