A Fox and A Tanuki Chapter 7, a naruto fanfic

AANND We're back right on schedule, this chater honestly feels like a little bit of filler, but there is good news at the end authors note! The consensus from the last QofTC seems to be over 100,000 words. Also for a peek behind the scenes, I've been writing the first chapter to Step It Up!, bit by bit, it's already over 7,000 words and I still have at least another 1,000 to go. Definitely going to be the longest chapter I've written to date!

Anyways recap: Naruto and Gaara went to take their graduation exams where Gaara stood out more than anyone else, having a great match against a very well prepared Hinata! Her eyes are to sharp for Mizuki's plots and she even helped Naruto out!

Chapter 7 - Genin Exams Part 2

Two days after Minato and Rasa left the village, they found themselves on the main road towards Konoha's coast, but for the time being they were stopped. With the exception of the two Kage, everyone else in their entourage was hidden in the trees and bushes lining the road. There were an unknown amount of people around a curve ahead with high chakra signatures. Were they the Mizukage and his group heading to their rendezvous? Or where they enemy ninja? Minato and Rasa had stopped taking such chances after the incident in Suna.

All worries were put to rest as a giant butcher knife came around the bend, wielded by Zabuza Momochi. Minato recognized Mei to his left, but there seemed to be a young women to his left. She was wearing a teal greenish blue robe and tan pants. On her waist was a hunter nin mask. Behind them was two squads of Kiri Anbu.

"Hey there" Minato said raising his hand, both as a greeting to his fellow Kage and as a signal to the hiding ninja to come out.

"Hey yourself, you need to put up some damn signs or something, all these trees are a giant maze and your roads out here aren't any better!"

Rasa laughed "good to see you in good spirits Zabuza, I here Kiri is flourishing under your reign as Mizukage."

"Please" Zabuza snorted "most of that was thanks to Mei, she should be the Mizukage. In fact Last I checked SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT YEARS AGO!"

Mei waved Zabuza off "And I told you Lord Mizukage that it wasn't time yet. A little longer and I'll be more than happy to take that position away from you."

"Yeah right, you just like to watch me suffer" Zabuza looked towards the two men "seriously you know the last time I had a good fight? Last year when I fought the fucking SANBI!"

"Yes" Rasa said stroking his mustache "I had read reports that the Sanbi had resurfaced after a while. Tell me how did it go?"

Zabuza mumbled something but spoke up "it didn't last long enough that's for damn sure" the Mizukage nodded his head and the women to his right stepped forward, bowing politely "this here is Haku, she's my personal student and as of a year ago Kiri's newest jinchuriki."

"Hello Lord Hokage, Lord Kazekage."

Minato grinned and held his hand out "you must be pretty strong to catch the attention of Zabuza. But you got to tell me, is the tough guy facade an act, is he really just a soft teddy bear on the inside?"

Haku laughed nervously "um Lord Zabuza is a strict instructor, that's for sure."

"She may not look like it" Zabuza put a hand on her shoulder "but Haku here is a prodigal genius. Give her a few more months and she'll be a fully realized jinchuriki. Plus she's got a special technique, I have to pull my ace out to beat it. Pretty soon she'll be able to put your old ass in the dirt Kazekage."

"Please lord Zabuza you flatter me but I'm nowhere near the level you all are at." Haku said quickly. and quietly.

"Come, the Hokage and I have cleared the way ahead, if we keep to Jonin speeds we can get to the border the day after tomorrow."

Gaara was by herself at the moment, knelt down on both knees under the shade of a tree in the backyard. In her lap was a dark red Konoha head band. She had passed the graduation exam, and was now an official ninja of the Hidden Leaf. For as great as an achievement as that was, Gaara was conflicted. After all this is what she had been working towards for a long time, but it only further distanced herself from her original home. Konoha was nice, but sometimes, on a good day she could vaguely remember the sun heating up the rocks in Suna after a cold night.

Her mind wandered to what it might have been like to graduate with her siblings, to work beside them as ninja of Suna. But if that had happened she wouldn't have met Naruto, someone she was quickly coming to care for, a lot. She blushed slightly, he could be a giant idiot at some times, but he was the kind of person who always put everyone before himself.

There was also Hinata, her closest female friend and personal rival. The one who pushed her to greater lengths, and the one she barely beat for top female of her class by two points on the written test. The rest of the class had accepted her as one of theirs, where as Gaara had faint memories of the kids and adults of Suna treating her harshly for being a jinchuriki.

In a little bit Naruto would wake up, and they would head to the academy to find out who they would be teamed with. Her and Naruto had already been told they would be on a team together. For as much of a normal life the Hokage had tried to give them, they were still the Jinchuriki of the Hidden Leaf, they were expected to learn how to master their Biju and their powers.

What they didn't know was who their teammate was going to be, or who their sensei was going to be. *CRASH* "DAMMIT!" Gaara sighed, she stood up and tied her head band on her left arm. Her identity crisis could wait, Naruto had just woken up and he'd burn their house down if he tried to work the stove.

Thirty minutes later

"So Gaara" Naruto asked "who do you think are third teammate is?"

"I don't know, I hope it's Hinata."

"Ha, you just want a rematch after she beat you the other day, though if I think about it, Shino might be a good addition to the team. With me as a close quarters fighter and you as a mid range fighter, a long range fighter would be beneficial."

"I don't know, with two jinchuriki on a team we have enough destructive power, someone who could provide support would be nice."

"Hey" they heard a voice from behind them, it was Hinata joining them on their walk to school, like she had done every day for the last three years. "So did you hear about Sakura?"

Naruto grimaced "yeah she didn't make the cut, but I was talking to Iruka-sensei after class. He said he recommended her to the hospital because she has the best chakra control out of the entire class. Somehow beat you in that regard Hinata."

"Well" Hinata blushed "I've been working on my plan to beat Gaara alot lately and might have slacked off on that for a bit."

"Oh Kami, that was such a good plan! Seriously how did you think of that? How did you do the trick with the shuriken?!"

"Yes" Gaara said taking a step to walk in stride with her "it was very elaborate."

"Oh well I've been planning it since our first sparring session. The juken of the Hyuga clan is supposed to be one of the strongest taijutsu in the world, but it did nothing against your defenses. The biggest hurdle was obviously getting past your sand, I figured you couldn't move it if it was glass. I had my uncle Hizashi show me how to make seals that would light my shuriken on fire after a small period of time." Hinata pulled out a few of the shuriken so they could see, the seal was on one said and covered the majority of the body. "It takes my chakra and turns it into fire chakra for me. My actual chakra nature is water."

Naruto thought for a second "hey Gaara, do you know you're own chakra nature?"

"Yes Naruto, I had it tested before I left Suna, mine is also earth. But that's not surprising, Sand Release requires it. What about you?"

"Nah I haven't gotten around to it yet, buy my dad assumes I've got fire release because of the fox." Naruto wasn't afraid to mention the Kyuubi in front of Hinata, their whole class knew that he and Gaara were jinchuriki.

"Hey you three" Sasuke joined the group as they passed a crossroads "Kiba went on ahead, he's really excited for this. He seems to think that me, him and Naruto are destined to be on the same team."

Ambient conversation and laughter filled the air as the three headed towards their destination , but when they got their most of the students and faculty were outside of the academy, the school itself was going up in flames, and Naruto was quick to spot a rather large hole in the wall. "Hey Iruka-sensei, what the hell happened here?"

"Oh Naruto, it's Mizuki. He tried stealing the forbidden scroll earlier today. To cut a long story short he was caught and fled here. Anbu are still looking for him so we need to-"

*BOOOM!*

Everyone got low as a corner of the academy went up in flames. A single body jumped out, it was Mizuki and madness had spread across his face. He let out a maniacal laugh "HAHAHA See how easily Konoha's 'top' Shinobi fall before me! Lord Orochimaru will love this." He saw the gathering of students, and his gaze fell on Naruto and Gaara. "Oh I know! I'll give him a prize, I think he'd like the sand slut, or maybe the demon fox himself huh? HAHahaha!"

Iruka stepped in front of the students, holding a kunai "Mizuki stop this madness! What the hell were you thinking?"

Mizuki cocked his head side to side popping his neck "oh and look who it is, the hero himself Iruka. What do you think you're better than me? HUH! Or did you forget your popularity came of off MY HARD WORK! You know what? I'm going to kill you first!" It should be noted that sometime during his evasion of the anbu, Mizuki's right sleeve was torn off. Which is how the kids could see black marking starting to spread from there. Mizuki himself started to grow in size. He went from a large to a 3 xl with just pure muscle, his skin started to brighten to a neon orange with white stripes, giving him a very tiger like appearance.

"Look at me now Iruka" Mizuki said, his voice falling several octaves "witness power you can only dream of!"

"Everyone" Iruka shouted "get back! Wait for reinforcements to get here." Iruka looked over his shoulders, the other teachers were standing guard in front of the students, but none of them looked too eager to fight, he got into a defensive stance "I guess I'll distract hi-UGH!" Iruka bowled over, Mizuki had straight up disappeared, clotheslining Iruka.

"Oh please, you don't stand a chance in hell against the likes of me." Mizuki knelt down, picking Iruka up by his throat "it's a shame really, I was looking for a good fight."

"THEN YOU GOT ONE! Uzumaki Sword style: First form: Cataclysm!" Naruto appeared above Mizuki, slashing downwards with his Zanpakuto, he was aiming for Mizuki's wrist, but he swatted Naruto away with his other hand.

"Oh, the fox wants to play huh?" He tossed Iruka to the side, turning to face Naruto. Hinata and Ino quickly ran forward, dragging Iruka out of harm's way. Mizuki flexed his wrists "and what does a hotshot rookie like you think you're going to do?"

Naruto got in a defensive stance, putting the cutting edge of his blade parallel with the ground "you're not going to hurt Iruka-sensei."

"Really and you think the two of you can stop me?" Mizuki grabbed a chunk of earth with both hands and threw it behind him, towards Gaara who had been trying to flank him. It didn't hit her, but the force behind it hitting her sand shield did push her back.

"How about three" Sasuke jumped from a tree, throwing two fuma shuriken at Mizuki. The mad man had planned to jump away to avoid the attack but simultaneously two clones of Naruto grabbed one of his legs, holding it firm while sand wrapped around his other leg, keeping him in place. But surprisingly the giant shuriken went wide.

"Ha you missed you brat!"

"Did I?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow, the fuma shuriken turned back around, Mizuki could see the wires they were attached too. They spun and spun until Mizuki was wrapped up tight, he followed the wire all the way back to Sasuke's mouth, he had made the tiger hand sign "Fire style" He said "flame dragon technique!"

Fire spewed from Sasuke's mouth, roaring to life, it formed a small serpentine creature that went down the wire, striking Mizuki in his chest covering him in flame. "AAHHHH" Mizuki roared in pain, but one hand went into the ground and with a mighty swing he he sent earth erupting out of the ground in a straight line at Sasuke. Said Uchiha had to roll out of the way.

Mizuki disappeared again, he was going to do the same thing to Sasuke that he did to Iruka, but as he stopped to throw his punch two Naruto's were coming from either side, only one had a sword, with his blade sheathed, the other had an elongated kunai "Uzumaki Sword style: Second Form: Void!" With as much strength as he could, both Naruto's swung once, their momentum carrying them past Mizuki. Two cuts opened up on both sides of his ribs.

"What is this, death of a thousand-" Mizuki seized up, his head fell but lifted in a second "Shikamaru now!" He screamed, naruto was confused for a moment until he saw a single black line snaking it's way across the ground, connecting itself to Mizuki's shadow.

"Shadow possession success, okay you two your up!"

"Inuzuka style: Passing fang over fang!"

"Akimichi style Human boulder!"

"Eight Trigrams: Thirty two palms!"

Mizuki was not having a good time, he couldn't move, on one side a small tornado was ripping into his side, and the other a giant human ball was bludgeoning him, and a young girl was basically stabbing him in the chest with chakra knives. If that wasn't enough, the demon brat was there again with the Uchiha. "Out of the way!" Naruto shouted "Uzumaki Sword Style: Third Form: Dragon's Roar!" Naruto held his blade up, level with his face pointed forward, both hands were on the hilt. He rushed forward, a single thrust taking him into Mizuki's chest.

Everyone jumped away, Mizuki fell to one knee, coughing up some blood "okay so you kids have some tricks that doesn't mean anything I can-" a silver haired man came from nowhere, his foot connecting with the top of Mizuki's skull, planting him firmly in the ground, all around Mizuki anbu surrounded him, blades pointed at every vital organ.

"Now, now" the masked shinobi said, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading "I was planning on making my students wait to see how they'd react. But you ruined my plan, so why don't you behave and let us take you into custody huh?"

"Pieces of shit! Where the hell did you come from?"

"You honestly should have just fled while you had the chance. These Anbu here are going to place chakra restrictors on you now, if you fight back in any way you die, okay?" He finished his sentence with an eye smile, he turned to the body of students that had gathered "everyone, more ninja are going to come by to take care of this situation, I think it's safe to say class is canceled for today. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I'm the leader of Konoha Ninja Squad 7, or Team Seven for short. Those that graduated yesterday head over there, other jonin sensei will be here to get you shortly. For now I need Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara Sabaku and Sasuke Uchiha to meet me at Training ground thirteen in thirty minutes." Kakashi closed his book, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Ah you're all here" Kakashi was standing on a tree limb, reading his book again "that was an impressive display of teamwork you three, however I don't remember the Uzumaki having their own unique sword style."

Naruto blushed but grinned "yeah I made it myself, I named the Uzumaki sword style after my mom."

"Really?" Kakashi said interested "making your own style of kenjutsu is pretty difficult, how did you do it?"

"Oh um..it's going to sound weird but I just woke up one day and had the idea, and it stuck with me until I started making it. It's incomplete at the moment, but I haven't figured out how to fix that yet."

"Well maybe I can help with that later. Going from you Naruto, to you Sasuke, that was an impressive collaboration technique with the wires and your fire release."

"Thank you, my older brother helped me to make it. I need to get stronger to use that technique without the wires."

"Right, so let's do this the old fashioned way, normally I do a test to see if you all are worthy of being genin. You see the academy determines whether or not your strong enough to be genin, and the jonin sensei does a test to see if you're worthy of being a genin. Mine usually revolves around whether or not you understand teamwork. But your fight against Mizuki did that for me."

Kakashi jumped down from the tree to stand in front of his students "remember this well you three, those that break the rules are trash. They exist for a reason and more often than not that's to protect you and the civilillians you're supposed to protect. But those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Out their, on the field of battle or anywhere else, when you're in trouble you're team will be all you have."

All three nodded "good, now Team Seven is unique. Most Squads consist of three genin and a single jonin but because this team is special we have a second jonin who is on his way. Naruto, Gaara, you might not like this but there are certain priorities with you two."

"If you mean about our biju" Gaara said "there's no need to beat around the bush. We told our class during our fourth year. Sasuke already knows."

Kakashi was slightly surprised but happy with this outcome, it saved him from having to explain it all. Just then another man hopped into the field. He was about as tall as Kakashi give or take a few inches. He had dark brown hair, wore a standard jonin attire, but his head band had metal framing the sides of his face. "Everyone this is your other sensei Yamamoto."

"Hey, I've trained chunin, jonin and even a few anbu but never a genin squad, so I hope to learn from you just as much as I plan to teach."

"Yes, Yamamoto here is blessed with the wood style release, which naturally suppresses demonic chakra, so he'll come in handy if either of you start to lose control."

Yamamoto raised a hand up "it should be said that I am not a permanent addition to team seven, just here to help with your biju training. From time to time I'll be gone handling other missions."

Naruto walked over to Yamamoto to shake his hand "neat, when do we start that training?"

Yamamoto smiled awkwardly, looking towards Kakashi for an answer "well how about we do introductions first? Here I'll go first, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have a few liks but not many dislikes and I've basically achieved every goal I wanted out of life, though I have a few things left on my bucket list. See? Now it's your turn."

The whole team was sweat dropping, even Yamamoto but he cleared his throat, his team deserved a proper example after all. "My name is Tenzo Yamamoto, I like architecture and making buildings using my wood release even if it strains my body, I dislike oily foods and my goal is to be a ninja respected by all five Elemental Nations. Naruto how about we start with you?"

"Cool, my name is Naruto Namikaze I like ramen and I dislike how long it takes to make it I also don't like it when anyone says I got where I am because of my dad and my goal in life is to become a stronger Hokage than my dad."

Sasuke scoffed "my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I like birds but I dislike my annoying fangirls who think their looks are more important than their ninja training."

"My name is Gaara Sabaku, I like cultivating my cacti and I dislike cold weather, my goal in life is to get strong enough so I can be the ultimate shield for those I care about."

"Wow" Kakashi whistled "pretty deep for a a twelve year old and pretty basic for you two. My first impressions of you are...you could use some work, but you all have potential. Before we start any biju training, let's do some light sparring, I have your results from your tests but that doesn't tell my how you'd do in a real battle."

Kakashi walked over to a log and placed an alarm clock on it, he pulled out a pair of bells and made a big show of placing them on his belt "your test is simple, you all have to get these bells from me, you have an hour to do so. If any of you manages to get a bell, you get to do some light chakra exercises with Yamamoto. If however you don't get a bell you get to workout for the rest of the day, starting with thirty laps around this training ground." Kakashi gave his team an eye smile "You may begin."

Two hours later Gaara and Naruto collapsed into a heap, sweat basically raining from their brows. Sasuke had tapped out twenty minutes ago, but it was to be expected that a jinchuriki would have more stamina than a normal person. Though Kakashi was delighted to see Gaara keeping up with Naruto until the very end, even if she was breathing like she was dying.

"Kakashi don't you think they deserve a break by now?" Yamamoto asked, using his wood style to create some shade over his students.

"I guess they worked hard enough. The next test then, the first person to bring me and Yamamoto a bento for lunch get's a thirty minute break, the other two get's to eat while doing push ups."

Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke all looked at each other for a total of three seconds before all of them booked it, doing everything they could to trip up their fellow teammate, and get a head. "That was mean Kakashi."

Kakashi shrugged "ehhh they weren't that out of breath if they can still do this right? Besides, this way they get their cardio in."

*CRASH* *BOOM* CRASH*

"GET BACK HERE IDOIT!"

"EAT MY ASS DUCK! WAIT, GAARA?!"

"They wouldn't hurt themselves to much, right?"

They got as far as the front door before Naruto collapsed, gasping for breath "that...was...intense...Gaara, you still with me?"

Gaara was still standing, only by the sand keeping her propped up "not..now Naruto..the only thing I can think of is sleep. I want...Naruto, there's a note attached to the door."

Naruto, using the door handle as leverage managed to pull himself to his feet "what's this say let's see 'hey son, Gaara, if you're reading this congrats on making genin... adults..." Gaara didn't know what the rest of the note said, she did however see his face burn a bright red before letting the note fall to the ground "seriously dad, this has got to be a joke." Naruto ran into the house, presumably to check on something.

The red head knelt down to read the letter "Hey son, Gaara, if you are reading this than congrats on making it to genin. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to say it in person. But this means your officially adults of Konoha now and I should start treating you two as such. Which also means I need to start treating your relationship a bit more seriously as well. The wall between your rooms has been torn down, I don't expect you to start sleeping together yet, but you should get comfortable sharing a room. Try not to have too much fun okay ;)" - Minato Namikaze

Her face now the same shade as her hair, she walked into to investigate the damage. Yesterday, Gaara's room had been to the left of Naruto's, but she could see through his open door that the wall separating them was indeed gone, making it one big room, but it was very easy to see where the divide used to be. Gaara's room was a nice pastel color, a banner with the Suna symbol hung in a corner, she had tan sheets and three separate cacti in her window. Naruto's side was plastered with different posters of legendary ninja. The floor was covered with soft mats, and in the middle but not connected were two very comfy looking futons.

Naruto's jaw was on the floor, his mind weak after the days tortu-training and this being the final nail in the coffin. "My room! My bed! Where's my bed? Do you know how hard I worked to afford those limited edition Clan sheets? Gaara, look what they did!"

Gaara walked past Naruto and tucked herself onto one of the futons, "I see it Naruto."

"Are you okay with this. I Ah!" Sand rose up from behind naruto and pushed him onto the other futon.

"Naruto, I'm tired after today, in the morning when I have energy I'll worry about this, right now I'm going to take a show then all I want is sleep."

Naruto grumbled but grabbed a blanket, he'd grab a shower after Gaara. Eventually the lights were off, and both of them were soundly asleep, but one of them was in for a visit with their prisoner.

Gaara's eyes opened, before her was an endless desert that stretched into the horizon in every direction. There was a sun permanently stuck in the middle of the sky. All across the ground and surrounding dunes where navy blue markings, the same as the Ichibi. She had been here a few times, so she knew to follow the widest mark, it would lead her to wherever the Ichibi had gone to.

She knew this was her Inner mindscape, she only came here when she was especially tired and went to sleep. She sighed, talking to Shikaku, she knew that was his name, it was tiring. He only ever wanted violence and gore. Even now she could here the sound of him stomping around somewhere.

"Where are you brat? I know you're here, I can feel you. Stop hiding from me, it's been ages since I talked to someone! Come here little lady."

"I'm over here Shikaku, you know it takes me a minute to walk over to you."

Shikaku, the giant sand tanuki he was grinned "say when are you going to fight again? That fight against your instructor was BORING! Seriously, why didn't you go for the kill, I counted at least three instances where you could have crushed him, or at the very least strangled him!"

"Because Shikaku I don;t kill unless I have to, and any chance I had of ending the fight risked hurting my classmates."

"Ah Classmate/shamshmates, they're worthless in the long run cause all you got is yourself. You'd take care to learn that and keep it close to your heart brat. Look at me giving you all kinds of wonderful advice."

"Is this all you wanted to talk about Shikaku? I just started my genin training and need to rest. Everytime I come here I wake up super tired."

"Well now that you mention it no there is something else, it's about the Kyuubi brat. He's lying next to you right? What say you walk over their and show him what a women can do huh?"

Gaara blushed at the assumptions "just what are you saying Shikaku?"

"What I'm saying brat is go dominate his virgin ass! Then the he'll be completely wrapped around your finger and we can control the Ninetails! Just think of all the carnage and mayhem we can sow with the Fox on are side and all you gots to do is-"

"ENOUGH!" Gaara snapped, sand rising from the ground, threads wrapping around Shikaku's wrists, legs and neck "seriously Shikaku, I knew you were depraved but that's just crude."

"Hehehe I bet the boy would like to be tied up like this. Hahah ACK!" The sand around Shikaku's neck started to tighten "Okay, okay uncle! Uncle! You don't have to screw the kid, sheesh brat learn to take a joke. By the way I was listening to you talk to your sensei about trying to conquer me and my power."

"Yeah" Garra said indifferently "what about it?"

"Eheheh I look forward to seeing you try that. Because when you fail, I'll be the one controlling YOU then and none of you're friends will ever know, until I stab them in back that is." Despite his bonds, Shikaku managed to sit down, resting against a dune "I'll let you go back to sleep now brat." As Gaara's vision started fading to black, the only thing she could hear was Shikaku's laughter.

Despite how hard he worked the day before, Naruto somehow managed to wake up before his alarm. He hadn't really opened his eyes yet, he was comfortable at the moment. There was some kind of weight on his chest, but it wasn't so heavy that it was uncomfortable, actually it was warm. He could feel something soft on his face as well, it smelled nice.

Whatever was on top of him stiffened up and moved, there was a noise right by his chins that was accompanied by a warm air tickling his ear. That had sounded like Gaara. As his body started waking up, he was made aware that he had his arm wrapped around something. Naruto froze, all the dots connected, he peeked one eye open and went pale.

At some point during the night Gaara had rolled over onto his futon, and put her upper body on top of Naruto. The movement he had felt was her stretching, and groaning from the action. Naruto blushed, her face was intimately close to his, and despite the ungodly fear he felt at the moment, he had to admit that sleeping Gaara was damn cute. 'She looks so peaceful, wait, wait, wait hold on. These blankets are tan, mine are blue.' Naruto looked left, his futon just out of arms reach. 'Ah shit, Gaara didn't roll over to me, I rolled over to her!'

"Ahem." If there was any color left in Naruto, it went away. Turning his head slowly, Naruto found he was staring into Gaara's eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Umm..I..Um...I..well you see...what happened was...um..would you believe me if I told you I woke up like this?" Naruto went to stand up quickly, but Sand had already wrapped itself around his ankles.

Gaara laid her head back down on Naruto's chest, looking away so he couldn't see her blush "yes actually I do, you're to awkward to have meant to do this. But this is more comfortable than I thought it'd be, so it's fine."

"Wait your okay with this?"

"The contract states that when we become chunin we're supposed to get married. We're genin now so it's only natural that by this point in time we'd take the next step in our relationship. I...I'm okay with that, if you are." For all the times Gaara kept a cool and calm demeanor, which was always, right now she was scared the entire village could hear her heart beating at a thousand times a minute.

"Yeah of course, I mean.. I" Naruto sighed, but sat up, an unusual seriousness in his eyes "look Gaara, neither of us are good at putting our feelings into words, and we both know that neither of us have ever been in a relationship before. I don't know what I'm doing, and I certainly don't know what to say. But I'd like that. Anyways, we have to be ready to go in an hour I'll let you get the first shower."

Again naruto went to stand up but this time he was stopped by gaara grabbing his wrist "just a little longer then" she asked "you really warm."

Naruto smiled and laid back down "fine, but we have to be up in a little bit, don't you go back to sleep."

"It's about time" Sasuke joked, he was sitting in the same tree Kakashi was standing in yesterday, he got there earlier than Naruto and Gaara. But the senseis weren't there yet.

"Hey we got here before Kakashi or Yamamoto-sensei. Besides not everyone gets up three hours early for everything."

Sasuke swung down from the tree "I meant about you two. I saw you holding hands on your way into the training grounds. You know the entire class had a bet on when you two would become official, right?"

"Did you win?" Asked Gaara.

Sasuke shrugged "I figured it'd be after we became genin, but everyone else thought it'd be before we graduated, Kiba owes me steak later."

"Heye you three" Kakashi said walking in from out of nowhere "Yamamoto was asked to assist with some building projects on the other side of the Village, but we'll be seeing him later. Yesterday I got a good idea of where everyone was at, so today we're going to work on some team drills for a few hours before doing some D-rank Missions around the village that will end with us helping Yamamoto out."

Kakashi took a stick and started drawing small circles in the ground "now when we're in combat or out of the village where going to be using different formations, this is formation is called diamond, I think you can see why..." as he continued explaining, Kakashi looked up every now and then, and everytime he did either Naruto was staring at Gaara or vice versa. Minato might like to know that.

"This formation is used for two basic reasons, escort missions or fast paced travel. Now Ideally our escortee is in the middle and based on our team composition Gaara will stay nearest to them. Naruto should stay in the front, and Sasuke in the back. I'll stay to either side. I'm going to make some clones so we can practice this."

Aww a very sweet moment for NaruGar fans! Anyways onto the good news, next chapter we will have a time cut straight to the Wave Arc! I don't know how many chapters that's going to span but I look forward to writing it! Many plots and reveals planned for it. Onto the QofTC: For my version of Step It Up I've basically rewrote the first chapter, fixing grammar and adding a few scenes, but I stil lhaven't decided if I'm going follow closely to what Silver wrote or do my own thing, what do you think?

Anyways and as always see you next week!