I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Pairings: Naruto x Sakura and others

Info: This story follows after Sasuke left leaf to join Orochimaru. Naruto and gang manage to get him back and I'm taking it from there.

English is not my first language; please inform me if there are any mistakes I'll correct them.

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"Naruto I want to create as many Kage Bunshin as you can. If you feel that you run out of chakra don't use the Kyubi but stop creating any more clones and start running."

"Running?" asked Naruto

"Yes running. Plus I want you to use this on your body." Itachi said while handing Naruto a vest filled with weights.

"What!!!! This thing is heavy. How the hell am I supposed to use this and run around after I finish off my chakra? Are you nuts?"

"The reason I'm asking you to do this is to increase your chakra reserve instead of only relying on the Kyubi when you are in a pinch. So now shut up and start." Itachi said while flaring up his sharingan.

Naruto shivered before sulking away to begin his training.

Garaa's training was to start moving around using his feet instead of just relying on his sand to do all the work.

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"What!!"

"What do you mean Naruto left with Jiraiya and you don't know when he will be back. I don't believe you! Naruto will never leave without telling me."

"Sakura as hokage I should not tell you this but I really cant help it.you actually think Naruto is still the same fool you have always treated him as. He will not leave without telling you hah don't make me laugh. Who do you think you are? After the way you have treated him you actually think he is interested in telling you wherever he goes?

Sakura was left speechless while holding back her tears. She knew that every word Tsunade has said was true, but it still hurt. Hinata did not know what to say as she saw sakura running away.

"I really did not want to do that, but after all Naruto has been through I can't stand it when his own teammates treat him like dirt."

Hinata just nodded as she made her way out of the 5th's office.

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'Impressive' Itachi thought to himself as he saw more than 80 Naruto's filled the surrounding the area. Why it was impressive was because Naruto had not used a single ounce of the Kyubi's chakra to create the clones.

"Aahhhh kuso!! I can't do it anymore!" Naruto shouted at Itachi.

"So what the hell are you waiting for.?.Start running. Oh and just as a little incentive my friends will be accompanying you in your little run."

"Your friends?"

"Yes." Itachi answered while performing a summoning jutsu.

"POOF" two average size white tigers appeared beside Itachi.

"W..hy are they here for?" stammered Naruto.

"Oh its nothing much..Its just that if you start lazing around then they will just nibble at your ass a bit." Itachi said while the tigers bared their huge fangs at Naruto. Naruto could have sworn that the tigers smirked when Itachi said just a nibble, as if that was a major understatement.

Garaa on the other hand was busy dodging shuriken's and kunai's that were being thrown towards him by Itachi's shadow clones. "Ahh" Garaa screamed as a kunai pierced his shoulder.

'Ah I see that this exercise is going without any problems." Itachi stated

"What do you mean no problems, first you say I can't use the sand to protect myself now I have a kunai stuck in my shoulders. I don't understand how that is not a problem.

"You don't get it do you Garaa? The point of this exercise is for you to get hurt. You have been relying too much on your sand for too long that your physical body defense is very weak. Before we move on to more advance jutsu's and techniques we are going to build this up first.

Garaa just shrugged before puling out the kunai and continuing with the exercise.

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"I can't believe Naruto left without a word. I guess I really must have ignored him so much that he felt that he has no reason to tell me such things anymore. All I want is for all of us to be together as a team again, all I want is to say I'm sorry Naruto but most importantly all I want is to tell you that I love you Naruto." Said sakura to herself while crying in her room.

She had just realized that she indeed love Naruto she did not know when this feelings start to form in her but she knew it was genuine and not just some kids crush like the one she "had" with Sasuke.

"I'm love you Naruto" she said while crying herself to sleep.

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Naruto felt a sudden comforting breeze hit his face, he was enjoying it when he felt a surge of pain coming from an important part of his back.

"AHHH OWWW!!!!! You stupid tiger get off my butt!!! The tiger just grinned as his partner waited for his turn for a "littler nibble" at Naruto's butt.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Yelled Naruto as 2 clones appeared and kicked the tigers away from Naruto. Naruto was running away from the tigers while rubbing his hurting tush and cursing under his breath Itachi's name.

Itachi meanwhile was just looking down at Naruto from a tree and smiling thinking that the boy was already building up his chakra in a day.

"That's it Naruto. Prove to everyone that you can do it. When we get back you and Garaa will be a force to be respected."

Later that night while having dinner in the jungle, Itachi asked Naruto a question.

"Naruto have you communicated with the Kyubi before?"

"Yeah once before this when I was trying to summon Gamabunta. Why ?"

Because tomorrow we are going to have a little family chat with him." Itachi said while looking at Naruto and Garaa's shocked expression.