Sorry about the month or more delay in getting the new chapter out. Summer has not turned out to be the incredible writing time I thought it would be. Hell I have more motivation to write during the school year! Anyway...again I apologize for the wait. I hope you enjoy!

And for all those out there wondering...no I don't own Naruto...too bad.

Begin Story

Jiriaya's smile disappeared about as fast a one might expect. An eyebrow twitched but beyond that the old man held back his anger. He was here to congratulate them after all. "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?" He asked cooly.

Naruto stopped looking amazed and quickly reverted to a more annoyed look. "How should I know. I didn't bother to continue counting after a thousand or so," Naruto said idly as he picked at his teeth.

The old sennin sagged in disgust. 'I really need to work on our teacher/student relationship. This is just getting out of hand.'

The blond stopped looking board and pointed at his teacher. "Back to my question. Why are you here old man?"

"To congratulate you on passing the second exam lame brain." Jiriaya looked miffed now but his frown quickly melted back into a smile. He couldn't stay mad at Naruto for very long in the first place. Seeing him now, dirty and bloodied there with his teammates, warmed his old heart.

His smile was infectious. It spread first to his blond pupil then to his two friends. Sakura fell to her knees, her head bowed and her arms raised in the air, before falling backwards onto her back. Sasuke brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and allowed the smallest of smiles to warm his face. Naruto was, as his temperament dictated, much more boisterous then his teammates. An explosion of jumping, cheering, and face splitting smiles engulfed the crazed blond boy. The show would have startled Jiriaya if he hadn't seen the display a thousand times before. He simply waited it out. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged amazed looks. 'He still has energy after all of that?' Sasuke wondered silently. Sakura watched the display with rapt attention. Anyone who could pull off such a feat after close to five days of arduous travel and combat had her utmost attention.

After the volcano that was Naruto settled down the team had a chance to ask some questions. Sakura propped herself back up.

"Um, Jiriaya-sama? Is that the only reason you're here?" She asked.

Jiriaya's smile slipped from his face again. He sat down before them and studied them for a few moments. He seemed to come to a decision. His eyes hardened as he realized there was no way to avoid this question. The old man took a deep breath and launched into his explanation.

"No that's not the only reason I'm here. Normally a chuunin would have greeted you and congratulated you on finishing the test. But because of the "incident" a few days ago I took a closer interest in the exam and asked if I could be allowed to greet you at the end. Hokage-sama allowed me to do so in the interest of security." Jiriaya looked at them carefully for a moment, his eyes staying noticeably longer on Sasuke, before continuing. "We've figured out at least one of the reasons for Orochimaru's appearance during the exam. He has an interest in you Sasuke-kun for fairly obvious reasons."

Naruto shot Sasuke a look. He hadn't forgotten what Sasuke's eyes had done in their previous encounter. 'Is his bloodline limit really that special?' Naruto wondered. Sakura and Sasuke obviously knew more about it then he did and judging by the shocked expression Sakura was wearing it was indeed a big deal.

"He has always been obsessive about gaining access to every jutsu known to man. Its been a passion of his for as long as I've known him. Your sharingan, if he were to get a hold of it, would give him a huge advantage and make him even more deadly then he already is."

Naruto growled and held out his hands in a stopping motion. "What's all this about Sasuke? What is this Sharin-thing you were talking about just now? Some one explain this to me!"

Jiriaya blinked, suddenly thrown off by Naruto's question. He pointed from one boy to another. "You mean you still don't know about Sasuke-kun's bloodline?!"

Naruto shrugged and looked darkly at Sasuke who gave him the same look back. Naruto couldn't get the look right and he knew it. "He never told me. No body ever told me. I had to find out the hard way during our last fight!"

Jiriaya exploded. "What the hell! No body told you!? You're supposed to be a team and no body told you about this oh so small detail?"

Team Seven shook their heads. Sakura managed to look slightly abashed while doing so and Sasuke and Naruto ended by glaring at each other again. Jiriaya slapped his head and mumbled something that sounded decidedly vulgar enough to curl hair. All together the whole company had gotten significantly less warm in a matter of seconds.

The old man ended his string of near silent curses and looked back up at them. Sakura actually flinched when she saw how mad he was. This wasn't the happy go lucky perverted old man she'd met a week ago. He had been replaced by a dead serious and extremely peeved sennin.

Jiriaya cut back on his anger when he saw Sakura look away. He sighed heavily. "Ok...lets start it from the top then shall we? Sakura," Sakura flinched again but nodded, "could you explain to Naruto what Sasuke-kun's bloodline limit is and how it works? According to Naruto you're the brain of this team so this should be easy."

Naruto would have killed Jiriaya then and there if Sakura hadn't spoken up.

"The Uchiha clan is one of the two major clans in Konoha with their bloodline limit centered around their eyes. These eyes, called Sharingan, are incredible tools and provide several skills no other clan has access to. The most important of these skills is the ability to copy and use another ninja's techniques. Another of the abilities allows the user to follow and analyze moves or techniques that a normal ninja would not be able to follow due to speed or complexity."

Sakura paused and looked over at Sasuke quickly before continuing. "The Sharingan has several other attributes but those are hidden and are not readily available outside the clan." Sasuke whipped his head around in astonishment when Sakura mentioned the other hidden attributes of his bloodline. Sakura glanced away to avoid eye contact with him and continued.

"After Sasuke-kun used his Sharingan for the first time during training I went and looked it up in the Ninja archives to see if I could learn more. That was all I could learn. The rest is kept in the top secret clan file section but I wasn't allowed in there." Sasuke was almost glaring kunai at Sakura now but eased off slightly when she said she hadn't learned any more. Still he wasn't happy she knew so much about him and his clan's abilities.

'As if she isn't annoying enough with all the mushiness she has to be a nosy know it all too. Damn! I'm gonna have to talk to her about this at some point. She could know more then she's letting on. Still, I'm surprised she kept it secret for so long.'

Naruto had apparently forgotten about hurting his mentor. He hung on every word Sakura spoke and continued to give Sasuke amazed glances throughout her small briefing. When she was done Naruto clicked his mouth shut, which had swung open slightly as his mind thought of the possibilities a bloodline like that could have, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms in thought.

Jiriaya had seen this pose before and smiled inwardly. Naruto tended to do this when he processed important information or was making a big decision of some sort. Naruto had done this while choosing which jutsu to learn next, when he tried to decide which ramen he would try at every town they visited, and most importantly on the rare occasion when he was really thinking of a good way to bother or harm is older mentor. But what really made Jiriaya smile was the fact that whenever Naruto assumed this posture the resulting decision tended to be radically different then any normal Naruto made decision. Jiriaya could almost see the wheels spinning in his student's head.

Sakura noticed his strange demeanor as well and, looking for something to do aside from avoiding Sasuke's angry glances, tried to shake him out of it. Jiriaya caught her eye before she could shake him back to reality and gave her a silent shake of the head and a smile.

Sasuke in turn noticed this small exchange between the white haired Sennin and his annoying female teammate. It was enough to put his anger on the back burner and make him take notice of his other teammate's strange behavior.

Together they watched Naruto as he stood there, perfectly still except for the occasional twitch of an eyebrow. Then...a sudden intake of breath. His bright blue eyes glinted as they reopened. His black jacket flapped open as his arms spread from his chest suddenly.

"Alright!" He announced in a loud bold voice. The two younger onlookers blinked at the rapid change. A finger whipped around and fixed itself on Sasuke who stared at it as if it were a gun. His eyes moved from the finger up the arm to Naruto's face. The blond's eyes held a dangerously exciting glint and his smile was equally exhilarating with a touch of...something...that hinted at future mischief and adventure.

Sasuke blinked several times more. His anger at Sakura and his disgust at Naruto totally forgotten.

"This is perfect!" Naruto announced, his excitement obviously building rapidly.

"What's perfect Naruto?" Sakura dared to ask.

Naruto gave her a stunning smile but kept his finger on Sasuke. "WE CAN TRADE JUTSUS!" Naruto exclaimed.

Time froze for a moment as if encased in glass. Sakura still looked expectantly at Naruto who was smiling and pointing at Sasuke who was now looking rather uneasily at the offending finger.

Then of course the glass cracked and time came roaring back into play. Sasuke rolled his eyes and frowned. "Idiot," he muttered.

Sakura's shoulders sagged in frustration and through shear force of will held herself back from pummeling Naruto.

Naruto saw that he had lost his moment and his audience. "Wait, wait! Listen for a sec. Sasuke can copy jutsu then share them with us. We'll be able to copy any jutsu we see! We'll be unstoppable."

Sasuke glared at his blond teammate in annoyance. "Why would I do that? What's in it for me?"

Naruto's smile turned wicked. "Because I have a jutsu I know you want, maybe even two."

A raven eyebrow twitched. Naruto went in for the kill. "Karyuu Endannnnn...! I know you want it Sasuke. You probably want my Shruiken Kage Bunshin too. I might even let you have my trademark technique...Kage Bunshin."

Sakura looked surprised. "You shouldn't be sharing your best techniques with other people Naruto!"

Jiriaya, a smile still hovering on his face, stepped forward and nodded. "Normally I'd say the same thing. Shinobi shouldn't throw their best techniques around for everyone to see. But in this instance I actually agree with Naruto. It'll foster team work and help you get to know each other better. Not to mention you'll be learning some new techniques." He turned and contemplated the raven haired Uchiha. "Obviously it'll be easier for Sasuke-kun to learn techniques then it will be for you two but he has the added difficulty of teaching the things he learns back to you. He'll get practice with the jutsus he learns while teaching to you though so it all evens out. It will be long hard work but it could lead to faster growth then if you were to go about learning techniques separately."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically and winked his thanks to his teacher as he awaited his teammates' decisions. He could already tell Sakura liked the idea. Being the weakest in the team meant she needed to push any advantage she could. And it wasn't likely that she'd turn the idea down if Sasuke agreed. Which meant it all hinged on Sasuke.

The Uchiha's face was as unreadable as ever which pissed Naruto off to a point. 'Couldn't the bastard show more interest or expression? I wonder how hard it is to keep your face that neutral?' Naruto idly wondered.

Finally Naruto got some movement out of Sasuke. The boy's charcoal eyes flicked from Naruto to Sakura then back to Naruto. He gave a huff of resignation. "I guess...we could do that. I still think it'll be a waste of time though." He seemed totally uninterested but Jiriaya could see the faint flicker of a smile and the hooded excitement in the boy's eyes and knew he was hooked.

The old man shook his head ruefully and stepped back a few feet. "Then I'll leave you to it. You have until tomorrow afternoon to train and rest before the third exam. I'll be there to watch you tomorrow."

A puff of smoke and the old sennin was gone leaving Team Seven alone.

Naruto was grinning madly again. He clapped his hands and rubbed them in anticipation. "Ok lets get started! I'll start with the Karyuu Endan. I'll do it nice and slow for you Sasuke. Sakura you should watch too. I'll only able to do it a couple times even at minimum power so you'll have to watch carefully..."

End Story

And there it is people. I had a hard time writing a whole chapter of talking. But I think its cool cause it takes the story in a new direction, not that this isn't already headed in a new direction. And while you wait for the next installment here's a few things to chew on..

Extras

I had one of the craziest Naruto related dreams last night. Its one of those loose cannon dreams where I haven't been thinking about Naruto at all for the past three days and suddenly out of no where this pops up. I've never had Naruto dreams before so just by being one it's earned my interest. I also remember it extremely well as I dreamed it between going back to sleep at 9am and rewaking at 10am.

Have you ever had a dream where you're actually conscience of dreaming while it's happening? Well this was one of those kinds of dreams. At random moments my mind would say "You know this is a dream right? And what the hell was that? Where did that come from?" Not the first time its happened to me but with this one it was very pronounced.

Ok...the dream. Team seven is given a mission to kill an evil business man who also has some latent magical abilities. Sakura and Sasuke are sent in to scout the place out. He and his groupies are hiding out in a small Japanese mall and restaurant that they own. Sasuke and Sakura go in like they're shoppers. Mid way through the small mall Sasuke and Sakura morph into myself and my fellow manga/anime junky Ashley. Instantly we're drawn to a beautiful sight. A huge manga/anime store. We're running around it drooling and pulling things off shelves just to hold them. Our images kinda fade out to be replaced by Sasuke and Sakura once again. Somehow they are captured and taken away. Then I shift to Naruto who is with Kakashi. They have discovered that their recon group has failed. Kakashi can't go in for some reason so he decides to send Naruto in alone. But before he leaves Kakashi performs an amazing feat. He gives Naruto temporary Sharingan! Sorta like temp tattoos I guess except they hella hurt for the first minute. His eyes are stuck in Sharingan mode until the spell wears off. Kakashi warns him not to show his eyes until absolutely the last minute. What does Naruto do to hide them? He puts on MY sunglasses! (I've been using them a lot so they've been on my mind.) He waltzes in to the mall with typical Naruto flair and invades the restaurant where the big boss is. His cronies plus their two prisoners are sitting around a large table at the back. But there are two problems. It's dark, which means he has to ditch the glasses, and the boss isn't in sight. Naruto goes into eye squint mode, you know the one, and steps up to the table. Sasuke and Sakura try to warn him off but its no good. The cronies get up and advance on Naruto. Naruto sees no other choice and has to open his eyes. With the Sharingan everyone seems to slow down. I, Naruto, can see the moves coming and can move to react. Naruto bashes one really big guy over the head with a chair then uses the broken back of the chair and stabs it through the guy's chest. The rest are a bit fuzzy but the look on Sasuke's face as Naruto's doing this is loud and clear. All the cronies are either incapacitated or dead but before Naruto can release his buds an actual ninja shows up and challenges Naruto. The guy looks like a turtle only with human legs, arms, and head sticking out of a large shell. Really weird. Naruto and turtle boy apparently know each other and have apparently fought before. Naruto goes foxy to take care of this guy, which looks really cool with sharingan I might add, and finishes off turtle guy. As the battle ends the temp sharingan fade away. (Pity) Sasuke, apparently feeling left out of the fray, says he'll scout ahead to look for the boss. He takes off and radios back that he's entering a cave system out back of the mall. There are huge spider webs everywhere (I just watched LOTR3 last night so you can guess where this comes from) and he senses lots of movement farther in. He gets to a central open spot which has an opening to the sky above. As he enters literally hundreds of monster spiders come charging out at him, fangs dripping venom. He goes about with fireballs and chidori but it isn't enough. This is the point where Sakura and Naruto appear above the battle. They see Sasuke go down but can't do anything about it. As Sasuke slides into oblivion with spiders closing in he sees them about him and as a last act of friendship "grants" one of his sharingan eyes to Naruto who now looks like a younger Kakashi. At this point my mind is laughing at the concept of Naruto with his head protector slouched over one eye. But Naruto does it as the spiders cover Sasuke and the feeding frenzy begins, which we don't see. The dream continues for a bit but I don't remember it after that. Then I woke up.

Some dream huh? I went and had a bowl of cereal and thought about it a bit then decided to jump on my computer and write it up.

More Extras

Here are two story ideas I've had that I don't think I'll ever get around to writing so I'm putting them out there for you people to play with and make your own.

1. As if life in Konoha wasn't already complicated enough two mysterious girls, a panda, and a black piglet appear at the gates claiming to be lost. Warily the citizens of konoha open their homes to them only to discover they've let in the weirdest bunch of characters ever, and they won't leave! Hilarity and martial arts mayhem ensues as Team Seven and the rest of Konoha learn to deal with the problem magnet that is...Ranma?!

2. How might Naruto's story be different if two of the most powerful houses in Konoha had been switched? Instead of Uchiha Sasuke its Hyuuga Sasuke! The Uchiha's are the noble family of Konoha and Hyuuga has the power hungry heir and the crazed super murderer as its only members left. Shudder. What strange twists would that have brought? Perhaps too many.
Play with them people. I sure won't.