A/N: Hi guys I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm sorry for the late update. This chapter ended up being waaaay longer than I anticipated. I was going to cut it in half but decided that it just wasn't going to be as good if I did that. I really hope you enjoy and review to tell me what you think!
Chapter Seven
Ragged and Lost….
Blonde hair bobbed in front of thoughtful blue eyes as he made his way throughout Konoha. Flanking him were his two teammates. At the present time, he was dragging them towards his apartment. Though he seemed calm and determined outwardly, inside he was frantically talking to Ikari and Kurama who were both quite amused.
It had been three days since Naruto had crashed into Hyuuga Hinata in the forests and he had yet to wipe the image of her scrunched-up face from his mind. He had had several rather confusing dreams about the encounter and had caught himself daydreaming about her more than he would like to admit. Normally, when something bothered him to this degree, he could put it out of his mind and pretend it didn't matter but somehow, he couldn't let it go. This brought him to his current situation.
He had tried to talk things over with Ikari and even had gone to Kurama about his thoughts, even going so far as to merge the two worlds that seemed to exist inside his mind for easy communication between the two beings within him. They had both summarily refused to give him some sort of 'talk' and had told him that if he wanted the answer to his problem than he would have to ask someone in the real world.
Now here he was dragging Sasuke and Sakura back to his apartment so that he could talk to them privately.
To their credit both were only a little put out with the blonde's behavior. He had told them to meet him in front of the ramen stand he frequented and had suddenly dragged them all the way to the outer most parts of the village. The only thing that stayed their tongues was the fact that they had both noticed that the blonde was on the receiving end of the worst glares and whispers they had ever seen. Sasuke remained silent, observing the way the villager's eyes were trained on the blonde before him. He listened intently as they whispered about his teammate, claiming that Naruto was dragging them to his den to murder them and that they should inform the closest shinobi they saw and things of that nature. Sasuke was alarmed that they believed such things about his friend.
Sakura didn't notice the glares until they were nearing the market. It was busy around that time and everything was loud and bustling. Personally, it was a comfort considering both her parents were important merchants themselves and she had grown up walking these streets. The friendly atmosphere was so welcoming, and she smiled and waved at some of the shop owners she saw. Suddenly though, when the crowd of mostly unaware civilians collectively parted as they passed, it was no longer as welcoming as before and it had Sakura doing a double take.
Sure, the crowds were still bustling, and things were mostly normal, but the atmosphere was different and the way the crowd gave them a wide berth was nothing like she was used to. The looks they were getting were also out of character, as her green eyes looked around with the precision of her rank, she noticed they were all trained on Naruto. The glares and whispers were like knives to her and they weren't even directed at her. It was suffocating and Sakura had never felt this mounting unease before. It wasn't like when they had first encountered Zabuza, no it wasn't that kind of terror. Her life wasn't in danger, but this was… stifling, like she was being judged and executed all at the same time.
She turned to look at Sasuke, hoping he felt it too and she wasn't going crazy. He looked back at her with the same type of confusion. They both turned to the blonde to ask but they were met with a totally unaffected demeanor. Naruto was chewing the bottom of his lip as he pulled them along his eyes unfocused as if he were in deep thought. It was as if he didn't even notice it all, but they both knew that Naruto wasn't so dimwitted. If they were being honest, Naruto had the best battle instincts out of all of them. He had always been good at moving his body where it needed to be with little to no problem as if it was instinctual, so they doubted he simply didn't notice the hostile atmosphere.
When a cart suddenly came careening towards the blonde who was leading them through the crowded streets faster than should be normal, Sakura was sure it was a deliberate attempt at maiming Naruto. She had caught sight of a figure who quickly moved out of sight after launching the cart. She made to shout at her seemingly unaware teammate, but Naruto had already stopped the cart and was dragging them out of the market with muttered curses about clumsy merchants and their 'magical runaway carts'.
When both the raven and the pinkette had come out of their shock they were already in the seedier part of town. The part that both of their parents had urged them to stay away from. They held their tongue, when Naruto glared at a kid who was coming too close to them and told him to 'pick marks that weren't shinobi,' and they nearly blanched when he waved at a woman who seemed to be entering a brothel, because suddenly they were seeing a side of Naruto that they had never seen before. They filed the information away for later and both promised each other to talk to their sensei about this once Naruto was finished with this little meeting.
Finally, Naruto turned down a side street and went up some stairs before entering an aging building. Sasuke pursed his lips at the smell of the apartment building. It was… moist and he had to wonder if the walls had mold in them. Sakura looked at the peeling paint on the eggshell and in some places brown walls. The place wasn't outwardly dilapidated, but she got the sense that it needed some work.
As they continued up to the third floor, they noticed that the hallway seemed like it hadn't been cleaned for some time. Like no one had been up there in a while. When Naruto finally let go of them, it was to open the door to one of the rooms.
Naruto's apartment was scarce when it came to both furniture and rooms. There was the living room and the adjoining kitchen and two doors. His teammates assumed it was the bathroom and bedroom respectively. Besides the refrigerator and stove, he had one couch that looked like he had pulled it from the dump, a coffee table and a dining table with two chairs. The door to his bedroom was open revealing what looked to be a small bedroom with only a closet and a bed that also looked like it had come from the dump.
Being in Naruto's apartment was startling. Saying that it was a humble abode was too kind. They had to wonder if Naruto had always lived like this. They both had come from more stable backgrounds. Sakura's family were high up in the merchant's guild and Sasuke's family had had a seat on the council and had ran the police force before they had been killed so they were both well off. Seeing that their teammate, the bright and bubbly blonde, was for lack of a better word poor was jarring to say the least. It was so at odds with the way he seemed and yet it sort of made sense. Memories of lunches in the academy suddenly came back to them, remembering how Naruto had always either sat on the swing without food or with Iruka who routinely bought him lunch. They also recalled how Naruto had always had the most worn equipment. It suddenly all made sense and they felt bad that they not only picked on him and ignored his existence but hadn't even noticed the condition Naruto's life was in. They looked at each other and nodded. They hadn't been there for him before, but they were definitely there for him now.
"Alright," Naruto said putting some tea on like his jiji had taught him. He had been totally wrapped up in his own world that he had totally ignored the way his teammates were analyzing his life. He turned to look at them, surprised at the determined looks in their eyes. "Ne, you guys… what's wrong?" he asked confused.
"Nothing, Naruto. Why did you bring us here?" Sasuke asked changing the subject.
Naruto gave them a suspicious look before latching on to them. "I have a big problem!" they blinked in surprise as he launched into a long-winded story about how he ran into Team 8, more specifically, Hinata. "I tried to apologize but then it was like the words died in my throat! And she called me Naruto-kun! And then my stomach did this weird thing where I felt like I had just ate a bird and it was trying to get out!" As the blonde talked more and more one thing became abundantly clear. Sakura stared in confused relief at the boy in front of her. Confusion because it was obvious, he didn't understand that what he was feeling was a crush, which was weird because hadn't he been crushing over her the entire time, they had known each other? And relief because this meant that if she played her cards right then she would be relieved of his crush on her. Sasuke was more annoyed that he hadn't just spit this out earlier rather than dragging them all the way to his apartment.
He held up a hand to silence his progressively panicking blonde friend. "Dobe, don't you know what it feels like to have a crush?"
Naruto looked confused for a moment before realization took hold. "Ah… well… no?"
It was Sakura's turn to be confused. "Nani? What do you mean no? You've been asking me out on dates since we met!"
Naruto gave her an odd look. "Ne, you mean I have to have a crush on you for that?"
Sakura was two seconds away from beating the whiskered boy black and blue before Sasuke stopped her. "Naruto, quit being so stupid. If you didn't have a crush on Sakura why would you ask her out to begin with?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and reached between the couch cushions and pulled out a book. Both looked startled by the fact that was where he kept books but decided to brush it off as just another one of his oddities. "I… borrowed this book from one of those stores downtown when I was younger," He handed it to Sakura, "The whole third chapter says that if you want to get a girl to notice you, you have to ask her out!"
Holding up the book to examine the title Sakura nearly face palmed. "Relationships for Dummies: Twelfth Edition? Why would you… borrow something like this?" She asked handing it to Sasuke who began leafing through it.
Naruto blushed and looked away. "Well…um… when I was little I didn't really have much contact with people… I didn't really understand how to make friends or any of that but I wanted people to like me or at least acknowledge I was there…" Naruto's eyes glazed over as if he was remembering something and both Sasuke and Sakura were sure something sad crossed his features like the distant sound of thunder. They shared another look. "Anyway, it said that if I wanted someone to notice me to ask them out on dates. So I thought that if I could get someone everyone liked to like me then it meant that I was acknowledged by someone. I didn't know I had to like you like… that to ask you out on a date!"
Sasuke found himself shaking his head at his friend. "How isolated were you?" he asked and Naruto pursed his lips at him.
"Ne, ne, what do you mean?!" he whined back.
Sakura remained quiet as the two got into their usual arguments. She felt guilt after learning why the blonde had taken up asking her out. Considering the villagers' treatment of him, he was just trying to prove that someone didn't hate him. And what had she done? Hit him and call him names and ostracize him further. What kind of person does that? She had always thought that she was a good person. She always did what her parents had told her and got good grades in school; she had had a lot of friends but now it appeared that she was lacking in the empathy department. Well no more. She considered Naruto her friend and it was time to start acting like it. She squared her shoulders and looked at Naruto with an intense gaze.
"Naruto, you have a crush on Hinata. I can't really say how you should go about it because as far as I know Hinata is really shy. She barely talked in class and when she did, she stuttered a lot. But she's really nice." She rattled off, giving him all the information she had on the girl.
Sasuke caught on to what she was trying to do and followed her lead. "She's really good at taijutsu and was right beneath Sakura for Kunoichi of the Year. You could've done worse." Sasuke shrugged. "I think its ridiculous you're freaking out over this though."
Naruto pouted at him. "Just wait until you have a crush on someone!" He said crossing his arms.
"Hn.." Sasuke grunted at him and crossed his arms. Sakura shook her head at the two but stood.
"Naruto we have to go talk to Kakashi-sensei about training, I think you should go talk to Hokage-sama or Tsunade-sama about this. Maybe they can help you." She smiled kindly at him.
Naruto's eyes went wide and he grinned at her. "You're right Sakura! Jiji probably has loads of experience with girls!"
He hopped up and left not even locking the door behind him. They looked at each other, then shrugged. There were always weird things that Naruto did that normal people wouldn't do, they were slowly learning that that was just how Naruto was.
They closed the door and locked it before making their way to one of the training grounds that they were sure their sensei was at.
When they arrived, they were met with Kakashi and Zabuza resting after what appeared to be an intense training session. Kakashi lazily looked over at them as they walked up.
"Maa, maa what are you two doing here? We don't have training today."
"We need to talk about Naruto." Sasuke sat down and crossed his legs.
Kakashi's one visible eyebrow rose. Sasuke began to explain what they had experienced and what Naruto had told them. The scarecrow looked surprised that the blonde had volunteered so much information. He was usually very cagey when asked about his childhood, but he supposed that it was a testament to what Team 7 meant to him. It gave him a warm feeling to know that for at least one of them, his team was a safe haven. That warm feeling promptly turned into nausea when Sakura spoke for the first time.
"Kakashi-sensei, did the civilians ever… hurt Naruto?" Sasuke looked startled at her words and looked back at their sensei for an answer.
"Why would you ask that?" Kakashi asked, slowly.
"When we were walking through the market… a cart came out of nowhere and almost ran Naruto over. I thought I saw someone duck behind an alley when I tried to see where it came from. If he wasn't a ninja he could've been seriously hurt." She supplied, worry in her voice. "So do you think it's possible that… the civilians could've hurt Naruto like that before?"
Kakashi grimaced at this line of questioning. He was thrilled that they were taking a genuine interest in their teammate and they even seemed to care for him, but this was dangerous territory they were treading and a part of him wanted to break the Third's law just to get some vindication. He had been preaching for years that the villager's posed a real threat to Naruto both emotionally and physically but the Hokage had summarily told him that besides giving him ANBU guardians there wasn't much he could do. Afterall, they could agree with them with their mouths but would commit treason with their hearts.
The fact that Kakashi had sided with Tsunade and Jiraiya about moving him to a place where he could be free from their hate was enough to force the Hokage to make them stay in the shadows. That was until Tsunade came across him being beaten by a few civilians. He had been malnourished and had several injuries. That argument had all three of them ready to defect. Only then had the Hokage relented. He had set the boy up with an apartment and had given them free access to him. Tsunade had been all too happy to act as his grandmother and the silver haired man had easily wormed his way into the permanent position of his ANBU guard protecting him as much as he could when Sarutobi didn't need him for assassination missions. Still he could never for the life of him figure out why he allowed the mistreatment of Naruto. Maybe it truly was simply because of bureaucratic red tape.
He focused back on his kids who were awaiting an answer. "Naruto is safe in Konoha's walls now that he is a shinobi." He looked back at his book, wondering if they would catch on to what he was trying to tell them. The fact that they had gone rigid with rage, meant that they had.
"Why?" Sasuke asked, quietly.
"The answer to that is far above my pay grade." They immediately stood and left the clearing.
"You just unleashed two irate genin on your kage." Zabuza said, cleaning his sword.
"Meh, he deserves it." He flipped the page casually, because no matter what they did to the Hokage, he would be far too guilty to properly punish them. 'Retribution is better than vindication.'
Naruto sprinted to the Hokage tower with all the speed of a man on a mission. He ran up the steps of the building dodging Chunin and secretaries until he finally pushed open the door and ran right into a body, toppling them both.
When he heard Kiba start cursing, he didn't want to open his eyes because he just knew he had ran into the topic of his thoughts. When he did open his eyes, he practically floated off her. He began to sputter out apologies to her as he helped her up.
"I-I'm so sorry Hinata-chan! I didn't mean to run into you again! I swear!" he stuttered out.
She couldn't even look at him as her face grew more and more red as he began dusting her off. Kiba had yet to stop cursing and Kurenai was trying to calm him down.
"That's twice now! There is no way this is an accident!" He cried.
"Kiba how could he have possibly known she was there. Now calm down." She scolded.
Shino remained impassive, silently observing the commotion. He felt oddly incensed, he had wanted the two to have another opportunity to speak. He considered his team to be like his colony. It was his job to oversee their health and wellness. He believed it would be beneficial if the two genin befriended each other. Even if his bugs wouldn't go near Naruto, he was sure the boy would be a positive influence on his friend.
As Sarutobi watched the stuttering mess that Naruto seemed to turn into upon meeting with the young Hyuuga he suddenly felt a sharp ping of regret. If not for his own ignorance, Naruto would not have the problems he currently had when faced with socializing. He wouldn't have had the same upbringing and he would've been much happier. Privately, when he looked at Naruto, his heart lurched in his chest upon remember his own mistakes and he felt slightly sick. Sick because even with everything he had known about Naruto at birth, including the gift Kami had given him, he had been no better than the villagers.
Everyone had lost so much during the Kyuubi attack, including him. At the front of his mind was his wife. She had been tasked with delivering Naruto but had been killed when it escaped. His rational mind knew that Naruto had had nothing to do with her death. But still the part of him that had grieved his wife wondered if it had been someone else trusted to help in his delivery would she still be by his side today. That part of him had been lenient with the village's treatment of Naruto. He hadn't fought quite as hard as he should've in his grief and because of that the civilians believed they could do as they pleased. It had set a precedent and they had gone too far in their rage. When Tsunade had brought a dirty blonde boy to his office, he was faced with the reality of what he had allowed, what he had caused. He vowed that he would do everything he could for the boy but by then the civilians were stuck in their ways. He had gone so far as to force the more respected merchants into classes that taught them the basic theory of fuinjutsu and they seemed to understand that though a kunai may be sealed inside, a scroll was still a scroll. However that logic seemed to skip right over the whiskered boy and when he understood that he suddenly realized it was too late. Now here he was stuttering out apologies to a girl he obviously had a crush on partly due to the fact that he had never been given the opportunity to love or be loved and it was all Sarutobi's fault. The knowledge of that, made him feel his age.
"Kurenai you and your team are being given four days of leave. You are dismissed." He said interrupting the awkward scene before him in an attempt at helping the boy.
"Thank you, Lord Third." Kurenai led her team out of the office with a knowing smile on her face.
Naruto's previously tense shoulder's sagged once they left. He turned to his Jiji with wide eyes. "Gah! Jiji that was so embarrassing! Why did I have to run into her again!?" He began to pace back and forth.
"Naruto-kun, what was that about? It's almost like you have a crush on young Hinata." He teased, pushing down his mounting guilt.
"Ne, stop teasing me Jiji! What should I do? She's so… gahh! And I can't even talk around her its like putting grapes in my mouth and trying to speak!" Naruto threw himself onto the couch in the corner.
"I'm very glad to see you forming relationships, even if they are awkward. As far as advice goes, I believe it best that you start off slow. Get to know her, perhaps ask her to have dinner with you or train together. Hinata is a sweet girl you shouldn't be afraid that she will turn you down, even if she isn't interested in you romantically, she will be more than pleased to be your friend." He suggested wondering if Jiraiya were here would he attempt to give the boy one of his books. Most likely. "And remember, Naruto, always be yourself."
"That's a great idea, Jiji! I knew you would give me good advice you always do." Naruto smiled and stood near the window peaking down as if checking to see something. His eyes zeroed in on Team 8 leaving the building and called out to them. "HEY, HINATA!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and honestly Hiruzen couldn't help but laugh at the boy's enthusiasm.
Suddenly the boy launched himself towards the ground and the Third Hokage jumped up to make sure the boy hadn't hurt himself. Instead he found that the blonde was talking quite loudly to the Hyuuga girl, though her teammate didn't look very happy about it.
"Will you come eat lunch with me! I wanna be friends with you!" He said, straight to the point as usual. For Hinata's part, she probably resembled something like a fish to him.
Naruto-kun was actually asking her out to lunch? Only in her wildest dreams did this opportunity arise. She had loved him for as long as she could remember and had silently watched him in the shadows and now, she could stand beside him and be his friend and maybe one day something more. She nearly fainted right there but then she realized he was waiting for an answer. "Y-yes o-of c-c-cour-rse, N-Naruto-kun." She managed and he grinned and grabbed her hand and dragged her off with him without further conversation.
Somehow, Hiruzen felt just a little better. That is until Naruto's teammates knocked on his door. "Enter." He called sitting back at his desk.
He smiled at the two despite the angered looks on their faces. "Sasuke, Sakura, what can I do for you? Naruto just left." He supplied, even though he knew they were here about something else far more troublesome.
"Hokage-sama, how could you allow the villagers to harm Naruto?" To his surprise it was Sakura who slammed her hands down on his desk. His eyes narrowed at the topic even as he ignored the lurch in his heart at the question. He took a moment to examine the two's faces. They seemed outraged, which he understood, however, the topic of discussion circled around a S-Rank secret. He had to ascertain whether or not they knew the reason Naruto was treated the way he was or if they were simply angered by something, they had most likely picked up by hanging around the blonde.
"As far as I know Naruto has only been hurt physically by the villager's once and they were dealt with quickly." Hiruzen steepled his hands in front him. "How have you come to know about the villager's treatment of Naruto-kun?"
"We saw how they were glaring at him in the market." Sasuke said, observing the way their Hokage was subtly interrogating them. The monkey inwardly sighed on the inside, so they had come to him because of the villager's glares, he hated to say it but that was a relief. They couldn't know about the Kyuubi else he worried for their reaction.
"And a cart almost ran him over too!" Sakura cut in. Hiruzen wasn't in the least bit surprised at that. ANBU had trailed the blonde for as long as he had known about the physical abuse of the boy, there was a room filled with filing cabinets of reports of attempted assaults and assassination attempts on him. This wasn't the first time he had heard of a wild merchant's cart, though it was the first time it since he became a shinobi. The civilians were generally more wary of the shinobi of the village, it wasn't a secret they were trained killers. They more often than not gave them more respect.
The fact that the civilians were comfortable with attempting hurting Naruto spoke loudly of the fact that they didn't think they would be punished. Hiruzen didn't like that at all. To hurt one shinobi was to hurt the overall forces. Considering this was a military dictatorship, though much more lenient than any other, that could be considered treason.
There was of course the fact that Hiruzen considered the boy to be like his own grandson. That part of him, had him considering shadowing the boy until he could ascertain who was a threat so that he could properly neutralize them. He had trouble keeping that part of him at bay especially since his guilt was overwhelming.
"Hokage-sama, you're close to Naruto, so how could you let them treat him like that? Sure, Naruto used to pull pranks and cause trouble, but for everyone act as though he was the cause of some huge catastrophe is going overboard." Sakura vented. If Sarutobi was a lesser shinobi he would've flinched at her words, as it stood he didn't even clench his jaw.
"I can not force the villagers to like Naruto. The Hokage is influential but it cannot sway those who are unswayable. The animosity they feel towards Naruto is a deep wound that I had hoped would heal with time." He leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe.
"Why do they hate him? From the way Naruto seems used to their treatment and from the way you talk this must have been going on for years. Maybe even since he was younger." Sasuke cut in and Hiruzen cursed himself. It had been years since he had the opportunity to speak with an Uchiha. He had forgotten how observant and analytical they were and had been loose with his tongue as a result. He truly was losing his touch.
He took a drag of his pipe and gave them a considering glance. "Naruto was the only child born the night of the Kyuubi attack," they looked surprised at that, "his parents died shortly after and because of that many in the village believe him to be cursed. It's an irrational line of thinking but many lives were lost and many more were grief stricken. The only way they could cope was to blame it partially on Naruto, believing him to be an omen of some sort. They have hated him ever since.
"I have tried to fix the relationship he has with them but as a result of his isolation Naruto sought their attention even if it was bad attention. Unfortunately, that was the only attention they were willing to give."
Sasuke listened with a blank expression, he took in all the information and it sort of made since but he couldn't help but think something was missing. Sakura felt the same way but she wasn't quite sure how to pry it out of him. This was the Hokage, God of Shinobi and the student of two previous kage. He wouldn't just tell them if they kept pushing.
"Why was he not adopted? If not by you why not by Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked.
Hiruzen had no answer for that without giving away that he was truly the container. He remained silent. Sasuke glared then. "Do you also see Naruto as a bad omen? A cursed child?" Hiruzen wasn't prepared for that question, it had punched him in the gut with it's directness. His jaw did clench before he answered as a wave of nausea and panic attempted to take hold. He pushed it down. "I love Naruto just as I love my own grandson."
"You didn't answer the question, Hokage-sama." Sasuke stood and slammed his hands on his desk. "Naruto may have been born the same night as the Kyuubi attack. His parents may have died as a result of it, but everything he has done to the villagers was because they can't see past their ignorance. All he wanted was someone to notice him, he had no control of anything."
Sasuke's voice stayed in the same monotone but it was as if he had shouted it. Hiruzen slumped in his seat as the raven turned and left with a quiet Sakura trailing behind.
"I've always wondered why you were so lenient at first." A gravelly voice carried over the silence of the office. Sarutobi didn't even look up from his lap.
Jiraiya sat on the ledge of the window, a soft wind carried through his spiky white hair. "Naruto has suffered so greatly because of my failings. I have tried to amend them, and I have tried to give him a normal childhood, but though my mouth agreed, my heart was set to commit treason."
The toad sage sighed and rubbed his temples. He was angry at his sensei, but he also knew the grief he had gone through. He had wanted to pull away and turn his back on his godson and he had to some extent because when he looked into those familiar blue eyes he saw the man he had practically raised and the woman that had married him. He understood but Naruto deserved much more than what he had been given. "Let's just get to training."
Hiruzen stood and they disappeared from the office and towards the training grounds.
As the days passed and Team 7 came back to active duty once again Sasuke and Sakura had confronted Naruto about the treatment he received from those around him. They apologized about their own involvement and assured him that they were friends and that if he needed anything he could come to them without any hesitation. Naruto felt as though a weight had been lifted from him, privately he knew that a part of him had some animosity towards the villagers and anyone who had treated him differently as well. That included his teammates and though they had become tentative friends he hadn't felt as though they were truly friends, simply comrades fighting the same fight. He had reasoned that personality didn't matter on the battlefield, only that they lived. It meant the world to him that they apologized for their part in what had been and still was a sort of hell for him because if even one person acknowledged him, nothing else mattered.
With this new found trust the team had, Kakashi along with Zabuza trained them into the ground. Kakashi was pleased with how well they took to the intense training. He taught them everything from ANBU hand signs to espionage. He wanted them to be well rounded shinobi before they began specializing too much. The Chuunin Exams were three months away and he fully expected them to be ready for them. He even taught them the little Fuinjutsu he knew. Well he was still teaching Sasuke and Sakura fuinjutsu, Naruto had drunk up all the information he and Zabuza had on the topic before outpacing both of them but that didn't surprise Kakashi considering he was an Uzumaki.
Individually, they worked on their own abilities. Naruto continued working with Ikari privately on his Taijutsu. The blonde was quickly becoming Chuunin level in the art but considering the time difference of being in his mindscape it was not as surprising. Though when his teammates questioned his progress, Naruto had no choice but to explain the full extent of his abilities. They were shocked but surprisingly accepting. Sasuke began challenging him to taijutsu spars in order to catch up and even branched out from his clan Interceptor Style. Naruto was also being taught advanced chakra control techniques to get his control up to par. It was silly to have more chakra than the Hokage when he couldn't control the output. Kakashi sought to fix that once and for all by teaching him the water walking exercise and then elemental manipulation. Considering Naruto could create dozens of clones that could transfer memories to him, he also had small groups of no more than four work on learning and mastering several water and wind jutsu. The groups were small because Kakashi had theorized that the mental strain of creating hundreds of clones to serve as cannon fodder was not equal to creating clones to actually complete mental tasks. He did not want to deal with a brain-dead Naruto even if he would heal from the strain within a few hours, having it happen once was certainly scary enough. Especially considering Tsunade had nearly choked the scarecrow to death.
Naruto had also taken a great interest in espionage, trap-making and information gathering. Considering he was a prank master, those weren't at all shocking but learning the theory behind those skills had opened a whole new world up for the blonde. He had never considered that he could combine his love of pranking to the life of being a ninja. That combined with his growing knowledge of fuinjutsu had many in the village scared for their lives. As it were Kakashi had taken to giving the boy 'assassination' missions to bolster his skills. As far as Kakashi was concerned no one was safe, especially not the ANBU, who were initially not prepared for wide scale attacks. Kakashi had made a deal with the ANBU Commander, Naruto would only get in trouble if they could prove he had done it and the punishments wouldn't be too serious just unpleasant enough to deter him from getting caught. It also worked to force the ANBU to take their training seriously. They had grown lazy since the last war but having a twelve-year-old outwit them was humiliating enough to get them back on track.
As far as his training with Ikari went, it was at a standstill. In order to fully utilize the powers within him, he had to have a pure soul. He couldn't have hate in his heart, or pain from past memories. In other words, the anger he hid even from himself that he held for the villagers that mistreated him and the emotional wounds he still held on to were dampening his progress with Ikari. Naruto had easily forgiven his teammates but that did not go for the rest of the village. He could not, no matter how hard he tried, forgive someone that did not want to be forgiven. Each time he walked by a villager's glaring face, he remembered the nights alone, the days he had to forage in trashcans for food because the matron at the orphanage had kicked him out, and the day some of the villagers had attacked him. Though, those times were long gone he still held a dislike for them. He was a child, even in their grief why couldn't they have seen that? Because of this he had only learned one technique from his leopard guide, Yuki no Mai: Hogo. It was meant to do exactly as the name suggested, protect. It created thick shields of ice that were impenetrable depending on the mastery level. He wouldn't be able to master it; however, due to his current emotional state so he had focused on training with Kurama. They had found that meditation helped with the rage that overcame him when using the nine tails chakra. Of course, they couldn't do much training considering how volatile his chakra was, that is until Naruto stumbled upon suppression seals. He had successfully turned his closet into a suppression chamber but he was still only on one tail worth of power.
Upon learning that Naruto was better than him in Taijutsu and had the potential to outpace him in Ninjutsu, Sasuke threw himself even further into his work. He had immediately asked Kakashi for help with his newly awakened Sharingan, he decided early on that it was impossible to keep up with Naruto's learning curve. The blonde had a year and a half of training in only his Taijutsu, he wasn't catching up with that with just hard work. He needed his own ace, so he worked on leveling up his Sharingan to three tomeo. Kakashi had also given him weights and suggested that he ask Might Guy for tips to better enhance his speed and Taijutsu. By the second month he was working to incorporate Tiger style into the Uchiha's Interceptor Style. His progress was steady, and he was pleased with the results. When Kakashi decided to take Kurenai up on her offer of collaborative training, Sasuke found he enjoyed Genjutsu more than he initially thought he would. That was when Kakashi decided he should learn how to cast Genjutsu with his eyes. By the middle of the second month, it was clear that Sasuke had the potential to be a Genjutsu master. He truly enjoyed casting Genjutsu on the blonde when he wasn't paying attention just for the fun of it. It usually took an embarrassingly long time for the blonde to notice which sparked a game of tag between the budding Fuinjutsu and Genjutsu masters.
When Zabuza began to teach them the basics of Kenjutsu, Sasuke's interest was piqued. His progress was steady, but he felt as though the tanto he had chosen belonged in his hand. He was also pretty sure Zabuza was more than happy to have someone to pass his knowledge down to. The swordsman would wake him up at odd times for spars and random training. Of course, it made it even worse that both him and Haku were staying in the Uchiha compound. After the massacre it had remained empty so he thought it would be a waste of time for the two of them to search for an apartment when they could simply be sponsored by him at the price of training.
Kakashi boosted his Ninjutsu by giving him two fire and lightning jutsu each. Upon mastering them, Kakashi promised him that he would teach him elemental manipulation and was bestowed the cyclops own original assassination technique; the Chidori. By the end of the final month he could only perform the technique twice reliably, but Kakashi had assured him that his progress was normal considering it had taken him years to create it and another six months to master it.
Out of the three Genin, Sakura was the one who had the most progress. In the beginning, her only redeeming quality was her knowledge. Theory had always come easy for her and that was advantageous when it came to learning medical jutsu. She was however, severely lacking when it came to the physical aspects of being a Kunoichi. In order to remedy that, Tsunade and Kakashi worked together to properly condition her body. She wore weights and had the second most strenuous physical training out of her two teammates. She had also abandoned her diet the first day after a long lecture about diet and nutrition for Kunoichi by Shizune. When she had eaten both the light dinner her mother usually prepared for her and the usual dinner with an extra helping her parents were floored. Not just because this was out of the ordinary behavior but also because they were both merchants, successful merchants. Which meant that Sakura was the heir to a business that was valued at a small fortune. When her mother made it clear that if she continued to eat that much she would surely gain weight, Sakura explained that she was working those calories off and that as a Kunoichi it was almost impossible to become overweight as long as she continued her training.
Her parents had a different idea, however. They revealed that they had wanted her to quit playing ninja after the Chuunin exams so that she could begin learning how to operate the family business. Having refused outwardly, they threw her out claiming she would only be welcomed when she was ready to become the heir she was meant to be. That night she had run blindly to Sasuke's compound. He had calmed her, despite how uncomfortable he was, with Haku's assistance and had put her to bed in his own room to ensure she would be alright.
After that night, Sakura was determined to prove to her parents and herself that she was more than just a shopkeeper. She wanted to be strong, so she pleaded with Tsunade to begin teaching her the fundamentals of Slug style. That was when her training truly took off. She used her growing knowledge of medicine to speed up her weight training. Her already above average strength began to rival Rock Lee's strength. Her taijutsu matched Sasuke's own level and she could deliver crippling blows using chakra scalpels to cut through tendons and muscles. It relied greatly on speed despite its name, so she sparred with Rock Lee and Kakashi when she could although Naruto was also a very good training partner. Kakashi worked with her to expand her jutsu library and to develop her hard and soft skills. Though she was a wiz with genjutsu due to her near perfect reserves she preferred the straightforwardness of a combat medic. However, when Kakashi asked Anko, the second in command of the TI department to speak with them about the basics of her craft, Sakura was starstruck much to the horror of her teammates. When she wasn't training with her team or Tsunade, she could often be found observing low priority interrogation sessions.
Finally, Sakura also came to love Shizune's own craft of poison making. She didn't want to become too dependent on close combat and thought that branching out a bit when it came to medicine was a smart idea. It didn't hurt that she could deliver toxins to less than aware enemies and that poison making made information gathering from those she was interrogating much easier.
Sasuke and Naruto both agreed never to make Sakura angry purely because of her specialties. She had joined them in their game of extreme tag and they still felt a bit nauseous at the thought of ramen, though that didn't do much to deter Naruto from his favorite food.
All in all, Team 7 had safely become the strongest team out of the Rookie Nine, though Team 8 was close behind. With Naruto hanging out with Hinata more and more, the rest of their teams saw much more of each other and Kurenai thought that they should also take part in a more serious training regimen. Kurenai, wanting her team to be stronger while also wanting them to be happy, ensured that the blonde and the heiress trained exclusively together most days. Kakashi didn't have much of a problem with this considering that while Naruto pushed Hinata to actually try to harm him, something she struggled with, Hinata was the only one out of their age group that could match him blow for blow. Kiba and Shino soon became much more proficient in their clans' styles and weren't far behind, so Kurenai was more than happy with her decision to join Kakashi and surprisingly the Hokage in setting the two Genin up with each other. It had resulted in her team's boon and even a friendly rivalry with Asuma's team. After hearing about how hard they both were pushing their teams, he had begun to whip them into shape as well. They were quickly catching up to Kurenai's team and had joined in with their collaborative training.
With the Chuunin Exams a week away, they had decided to nominate all their teams, all positive that they had a good chance of passing. That night, they decided to have a dinner to unveil the surprise nominations. All the Genin weren't as surprised as they thought they would be but between Shikamaru's observation skills and Naruto's information gathering skills they had safely come to a conclusion about why all the Jounins had disappeared.
They ended the night on a high note after they had had their fill of barbeque. Hinata stuttered out a goodbye after Naruto had hugged the life out of her and followed her teammates to the Clan District along with the rest of Team 10. Sasuke and Sakura, who had since moved in permanently with her teammates, gave one last goodbye before setting off to the Uchiha Compound. Naruto watched his sensei and his colleagues disappear one after another before making the quiet trip home.
The journey was lonely as it always was, but he didn't mind. The silence of the night allowed him time to think and decompress from the long day of training he had. He looked up at the moon as it disappeared behind adjacent buildings as he walked. It was a full moon and the light spilled across Konoha as though it wasn't night at all.
When he glanced up at the Hokage Mountain, he was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to go there. To stand upon the Fourth's head and look down on the village he both loved and hated and so his feet carried him there.
He barely remembered the journey, but when his eyes laid upon the tops of the houses of Konoha he felt a peace he had only felt while standing in the wintered landscape of his mind. He watched the darkened streets that only held flashes of lights from the bars and brothels of the Akasen. It was beautiful, he decided. His eyes roamed over where he knew the Sarutobi clan compound was, the Senju, Hyuuga, Akamichi, Nara, Yamanaka, and Uchiha, and finally to where he knew the Jounin apartments were and they softened.
His life was here. Despite his feelings for the other villager's he knew he would never trade this life for another. He was accepted and loved and that was enough. He wondered if that was normal. He chuckled to himself.
"How do you know you're normal?" Naruto asked quietly looking down at the Fourth's Head. The passage of wind accompanied his answer. "Everyone is normal, son. There are only quirks about us that make us unique." Naruto shivered at the apparition's words. "Son?"
He turned, stunned at the appearance of a woman. She was petite with long red hair and violet eyes. Though he had never seen her a day in his life, the look in her eyes were all too familiar. It was the same look he had seen in the mirror every day of his life.
"Mom?"
"That's right Sochi." She took a step forward and sat next to him. She smiled down at the village below and then at the fourth's head. "It seems that Konoha thrived after the Kyuubi attacked. I'm glad."
"H-how are you-?!" he stumbled, reaching out to touch her .
"Ikari helped." She began, "when your father and I died, we both put the last of our chakra into the seal. It was meant as a safeguard to ensure the Kyuubi didn't escape. Apparently, you two are on good terms, when my consciousness awoke and came face to face with Ikari, he explained everything up until now."
She turned to him and gave him a sad smile. "I'm so sorry. Had I known what we were abandoning you to when I left to help your father, I would have been more careful, I didn't thi-"
The blond launched himself into her lap, his face tear stained. "It's not your fault, the Fourth had to do what he did. If not, then the village wouldn't have survived." And he wouldn't have been able to make the friends that he had, to feel the things he did for those he cared for.
Her arms wrapped around him. "I know how you feel about the civilians that have wronged you. Your emotions are valid Naruto." She said. "Ikari summoned me here using the same principle technique that you use to summon him. Since I'm not tied to your soul, he could do it without your knowledge. Normally, I would not last long, but he has fed me a large amount of nature energy. I can last as long as he can keep replenishing me."
"So, it's like you've come back from the dead?" He asked.
She laughed at the expression that was so much like his father's. "Yes, Sochi."
"We should definitely tell Jiji." He said after a moment. They talked for a little while swapping stories from their past and Naruto felt just a little bit better, because for the first time he understood that if he had lived before the Kyuubi attack and had known his parents love and had lost them both, he didn't think he could handle either.
So, when he and his mother raced each other to the Sarutobi clan house and banged on the old man's door until the dogs from the Inuzuka kennels started howling, he felt just a bit lighter on his feet. And when the old man answered the door only to come face to face with Kushina Uzumaki, the Red-Hot Habanero, and her son, he smiled a genuine smile as he passed out. The night would be long, sure, but at least now for the first time, his mother was right there with him and that was more than he had ever had before.