Time Apart Chapter 5:

Tsunade was sitting in her office, reading a report that Shikamaru had slipped under her door that morning. It was attached to a note that said he had already left to return to the Sand village and would be in touch. Tsunade knew that he was just trying to avoid being placed on another assignment. She returned to reading, when she heard three quiet taps. "Come in!" she shouted, not really paying attention. Naruto beat a Sound Jounin with his hands tied behind his back? What has he been up to these last four years, she thought to herself. Looking up at the person who was walking in the door, she saw that it was Shizune.

"Good morning!" Shizune said cheerfully. Answering the Hokage's confused face she added, "I just got back from my mission. We traveled all night."

Tsunade looked at her assistant. She was unharmed, but Tsunade could tell she was tired. I hate even having to send my assistant out on missions. The last batch of graduates from the academy were disappointing. It was going to be a long morning. "I assume you report success?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course! With Kakashi and Gai, there wasn't much of a chance that we would fail. It was my job to report in. They both went to the hospital to be seen about some minor wounds," Shizune answered. Tsunade nodded in response. It was good that they were back. She filled Shizune in on what had happened last night. "Now that I have some manpower back in town, I think we should revisit the council members. Go get some rest, and tell Kakashi that I want to see him at 1500. Stress the importance of him being on time, will you."

Shizune nodded, and excused herself. They had been on an escort mission through what Orochimaru had claimed was his territory, and Tsunade knew that they were probably tired. It was doubtful that they got all the way through without having to fight. She looked at the clock and noticed that Naruto was late. I should have known he wouldn't be here on time. Just because he looks older doesn't mean he isn't still Naruto. Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

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"Come in!" Tsunade said from inside the door. Naruto took a deep breath. He had been thinking about how he was going to explain what had happened to him. It was pretty unbelievably, but the evidence was unmistakable. She would have no choice but to believe him. He looked down at Kit.

"Well, here goes nothing." He opened the door and walked in. Things hadn't changed much in the last four years. Tsunade sat behind her desk, stacked with paperwork as usual. The only difference was the lack of Shizune, who was always in the background helping her out, and keeping her on task. It was just another sign that Konoha was having trouble keeping up with its missions.

"You're late," Tsunade said, gesturing for Naruto to sit. He complied, and Kit hopped up on the chair next to him. He was dreading telling her about him.

"Only by a couple of minutes. My warm up got out of hand this morning," he said. Tsunade looked down and noticed the bandage on his leg. Naruto knew it would be gone by the evening, fully healed by the demon chakra that was repairing it. He didn't heal as fast as when the Kyuubi was still inside him, guiding the chakra, but he still healed much faster than a normal human being.

"You should be more careful then. I can't afford to have Shinobi's injuring themselves," Tsunade said. She put her hands across her chest, and looked him in the eye. "Start with Sasuke, tell me where you have been, and then explain why you have a fox following you around."

Naruto took a deep breath and dug in. He told her all about the mission to retrieve Sasuke, and how the boy had tried to kill him. He made sure to mention that Sasuke both shoved a chidori through his chest, and broke his neck. Tsunade was especially interested in Sasuke's apparent transformation. The minutes ticked away as he continued to elaborate on the entire battle, finally ending with the Chidori versus the Rasengan. This was the part where it got complicated.

"… that's when I fell into the Chakra Tear. The Kyuubi told me that…" he was interrupted then.

"You spoke with the Kyuubi?" Tsunade asked. Naruto nodded sheepishly. She really wasn't going to like the next part.

"Well, I kind of made a deal with him actually. You see, time moved differently in the tear. That's why I look so much older than I should. I've lived eight years to your four. The Kyuubi agreed to train me, in exchange for a type of freedom." As expected Tsunade was pissed.

"You bargained with a demon that destroyed our city!" Suddenly she seemed to put the pieces together and glared at Kit.

"Don't worry lady, he drove a hard bargain." Kit said, slightly amused. Tsunade immediately rose to her feet.

"What have you done?" she exclaimed. Naruto squirmed in his seat.

"He did what he needed to do. I can't do anything in this body but walk around, so don't have a fit. He made sure of that," Kit said, sounding a little hurt at the last part.

"It's ok, Tsunade," Naruto said, trying to calm the situation down. "Like he said, he has no chakra, so he is like an ordinary fox. I can sense where he is at all times, and he has a vested interest in my survival. His spirit still resides in me. The seal is whole."

"Let me see," Tsunade said, walking across the room. Naruto lifted his shirt, and Tsunade channeled some chakra onto his stomach, showing the seal. After a few minutes she nodded. "Fine. Perhaps he should stay with me though. He may still be dangerous."

"No way! I trained you for freedom!" Kit exclaimed, preparing to flee the room.

Naruto calmed him down. "Kit stays with me. I honor my deals." Tsunade visibly calmed herself and then returned to her seat. She sighed, seemed to accept the information, and then moved on.

"So you trained with the most powerful demon known to man for eight years?" she asked.

"Yes," was Naruto's answer.

"Well, judging from that information, and the information contained in Shikamaru's report, I am hereby promoting you to the rank of Chuunin," she said. She was taking a breath to continue when Naruto leaped out his chair in celebration.

"WooHOO!" he screamed, dancing around the room. After a few moments, Tsunade cleared her throat loudly. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, returning to his seat.

"Later today we are going to test you for Jounin rank." Naruto would have celebrated that too, but he was too stunned.

"What? Already?" he asked. One of the qualities Naruto now possessed, as opposed to eight years ago, was the ability to calm himself and listen. Kyuubi had beaten that into him.

"Yes. I am assigning you to a mission that leaves tomorrow morning. If you pass, you will be leading the mission. If you don't, which I doubt, then I will have to dig up someone else to lead the mission." Naruto nodded.

"What does the test consist of?" he asked. The Chuunin exam had taken a long time to complete. If he was supposed to leave tomorrow morning then the Jounin exam must be much shorter.

"You will spar with Kakashi. He will decide if you are fighting at Jounin level. During times of peace, the exam is longer and much more involved, but with the war I can't spare the time. I will observe, along with your team mates for the mission, and an assortment of other jounin," she answered. Naruto's mind was racing. Testing for jounin, and leaving Konoha tomorrow morning?

"Who will my team mates be?" he asked numbly.

"Rock Lee and Hyuuga Hinata. They both know of your involvement with the Kyuubi already, so they are the ideal team members," she said. "I will brief you on the mission when you are all together. Now get out of here, and meet me at the practice field at 0700 for your test." She tossed him a chuunin flak jacket. "And wear your uniform from now on. I put some forward pay in the pockets, so that you can buy some clothes that fit you."

"One last question," Naruto said as he stood, slipping the jacket on. "Where can I find Kiba?"

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "He is teaching taijutsu at the academy. Why do you want him?"

"Trading."

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Naruto went shopping first. He briefly flirted with the idea of getting Kit a collar, but decided not to when Kit threatened to bite off a finger in the middle of the night. He bought some shurikens and kunai, and then went to the clothing stores. Deciding that orange wasn't really his thing anymore, Naruto bought a few pairs of standard Konoha blue pants. He left instructions with the store to sew his spiral emblem on the chest of a a few black t-shirts. After paying them handsomely, he went off in search of Kiba around lunch time.

He found him in the teachers lounge, hungrily wolfing down some rice balls. His dog Akamaru sat next to him, much larger than the last time Naruto had seen him. He hadn't been in the room for two seconds before Akamaru started growling at Kit, and vice versa. Kiba put down his food and stood up.

"Who are you, and what are you doing to my do--" his face fell in recognition. "Naruto? I heard you were back, but I didn't believe it!" Flashing a feral smile Kiba gave him a big pat on the back. "What brings you to the Academy?"

"Well, I wanted you to teach me something." Naruto said. Kit and Akamaru had stopped growling at this point, but they were still looking at each other uneasily. "The jutsu you used to transform Akamaru into a clone of you, the 'Beast Transformation.'"

"No way man, that's a family jutsu! They would kill me if I taught it to you," Kiba responded immediately. "Besides, you never used pets before, what's with the fox?"

"I picked him up abroad," Naruto replied. "Your family doesn't have to know, I won't be using it often. Besides, I think I have something that might make it worth it to you."

"What's that?" Kiba asked. Naruto walked over to Akamaru and quickly plucked out one of his hairs. "Hey!" Kiba shouted, but was stopped when Naruto held up his hand. Walking across the room, Naruto performed three hand seals and slammed his palm on the floor. In a puff of smoke, Akamaru was transported across the room. "Woah!" Kiba exclaimed.

"It works across quite a long distance. Perfect for having Akamaru scout and then drawing him back to you if trouble hits," Naruto said, selling the simple summoning jutsu.

"Ok," Kiba said after a moments thought, "but don't do it in public where my family could find out that I taught it to you." He lead Naruto into the gym, and started explaining.

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After a few hours of training, Naruto decided that he knew everything he needed to know. It was just going to take some practice. He also needed some privacy to make the alterations to the jutsu. He thanked Kiba and went back to the clothing store. Grabbing his shirts, he ran home to change into his new Chuunin uniform quickly. With time to spare before his jounin testing, Naruto headed down to the Ichiraku ramen stand. He was surprised to see Hinata already eating there. Slipping through the curtains, he had a seat next to her.

"Hey Hinata," he said, surprising her. She spit out the drink she had in her mouth and turned to look at him, face red.

"Na-naruto-kun?" she gasped. "I'm sorry, you surprised me!" Naruto was perplexed. How could he have surprised her at a public stand. He didn't have time to think about it, because the man that ran the ramen stand interrupted.

"Did I hear you say Naruto?" he asked. Naruto nodded.

"It's good to be back!" Naruto said.

"Fire up the burners! We are in the big time again!" the man shouted, overjoyed that his best customer was back. "Hinata here has been keeping us open since you disappeared. Hey! It's been a long time, you look older!" He said, jumping from subject to subject. "Get this man some ramen. On the house this time!"

Naruto laughed and turned away from the man, looking at Hinata. "I didn't know you liked Ramen! I never saw you here before."

"I, um, never knew it was here until I saw you eating here one day. I tried it, and have been eating here ever since," she replied. Quietly she swallowed another mouthful of the noodles.

"Hey," Naruto started, "about yesterday." Hinata froze, half of the noodles hanging out of her mouth. "I wanted to say thank you for what you said. It meant a lot to me." Once again, Hinata turned red. This girl is really strange, he thought to himself.

For a few moments, they didn't say anything. After Naruto finished his first bowl, he passed it down to Kit, who hungrily licked it clean. Hinata gave a little giggle at that, and reached down to pet the fox. "He's really cute," she said. "I bet he thinks of you as a brother. With your condition and all." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, probably something like that. Anyway, I gotta get going. I am testing for Jounin in about 20 minutes," he said, standing up and paying the stand. "This is for her meal. In thanks for keeping you open for me," he finished with a smile.

Hinata looked up at him then. What he said had finally sunk in. "Testing for Jounin?" she asked. Finally noticing his jacket, she bowed deeply. "Forgive me, I didn't notice before. Congratulations on your promotion," she spat out quickly.

"Stand up. It's ok. Tsunade wanted me to lead a mission tomorrow, so I am getting the fast test. You are supposed to be going with me on the mission. Why don't you come watch the test so you can see some of my new tricks," he offered. Nodding eagerly, Hinata grabbed her gear and accompanied him to the practice field.

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When Naruto finally got to the practice field, he was amazed at how many people showed up to see the match. Almost all the rookie nine had shown up, along with their instructors. Tsunade had a few chairs set up to the side where she sat with Kurenai, Gai, and Shizune. Kakashi was already standing in the middle of the field, reading his book. I can't believe he still reads that trash, Naruto thought as he walked out to the field.

He looked down at Kit and said, "Stay with Hinata, I don't want you tripping me up." Naruto walked over to the Hokage, and then bowed. "I am here for the test."

"Right on time!" Tsunade replied. "You will fight Kakashi. At any point either one of you can call that the match is over. Part of the test is knowing when you are beaten. If we think you are fighting at a Jounin level, you will receive the promotion. It's pretty simple really."

"Sounds good," Naruto said. He walked out to the field to meet his old sensei. Strange being almost as tall as him, he thought to himself. Kakashi stood lazily, one hand in his pocket, the other clutching his beloved novel. He looked at Naruto with his one good eye, the other one covered by his head protector.

"Glad you made it back," Kakashi said. Naruto just nodded. He didn't have anything against Kakashi, but the man hadn't exactly been that helpful in the past. He had spent more time training his beloved pupil Sasuke, but then there had been no evidence that Naruto was going to be anywhere near as powerful. The fact was that Kakashi even missed out on the fight when Naruto beat Neiji during the chuunin exam.

"Glad to be back," Naruto answered. He cracked his neck to both sides and crouched down into a fighting stance. "Wish you hadn't taught Sasuke Chidori though."

"My mistake. It made sense at the time." Kakashi answered simply. "I hear you have had an interesting teacher these last few years."

"More interesting that you know. Enough talk though, let's get this show on the road." Naruto said cockily. Kakashi nodded and put his book in his pouch. He got out two bells and attached them to his waste.

"I won't go easy on you this time." Kakashi said. "I don't pass people that aren't worth it."

"You won't have time to worry about keeping the bells from me," Naruto grinned. With a sudden blur of motion he went through the seal sequence for his favorite jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" To his sides ten clones formed, and prepared to run in at Kakashi.

"Rushing in still, huh?" Kakashi asked, eyes never leaving the real Naruto. "That isn't very promising." Naruto didn't respond. He wanted Kakashi to know which one was the real him. Standing back, he let his clones sweep in to the attack. Kakashi quickly replicated the seals that Naruto had made earlier, and produced his own shadow clones. While the two sets of clones battled it out, Kakashi flew forward, aiming for the real Naruto, who was standing still. "You are going to need to do better than this!" Kakashi said, striking out.

Naruto took the punch directly in the face, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. That couldn't have been a clone! I never took my eyes off of him, Kakashi thought .

Behind him he heard Naruto whisper, "Misinformation is a ninja's most important tool." Kakashi spun around into a sweeping kick, that Naruto easily dodged. Responding with several kicks of his own Naruto pushed Kakashi back several steps. Behind his opponent, Kakashi noticed that the Naruto clones had beaten his own almost unanimously. When they were finished, they lined up behind Naruto.

"Your taijutsu is strong. Your clones are amazing." Kakashi said.

"Most people think of clones as a distraction. In order for their clones to not give away who the real one is, they have to block like a normal fighter. I don't care if you know which one is the real me, so my clones dodge attacks. Since Kage Bunshin clones are solid, they are more effective as extra hands than diversions," Naruto explained. "Now I am going to end this."

"Unlikely!" Kakashi said, going into a set of hand seals. Naruto didn't let him finish. With incredible speed, he closed the distance and began assaulting Kakashi. Pouring chakra into his own limbs to get them to match Naruto's speed, the older man was almost too busy to notice the clones moving to surround him. Time to get rid of those things. One good hit to the real Naruto will finish them. Kakashi jumped up into a round house kick, and at the same time pulled several shurikens from his pouch. Letting them fly at all the clones, he watched as one didn't dodge quite fast enough and got nicked. When a trickle of blood showed itself dripping from his arm Kakashi knew he had his mark.

Knowing that the Naruto in front of him was a clone he sent a kick in its direction. Fully expecting the clone to dodge, he was surprised when it caught his leg. He was even more surprised when it didn't dissolve into smoke.

"Replacement Technique." Naruto said. Smiling, Naruto violently yanked on the leg, dropping Kakashi on the ground, then leaped high into the air. Rough hands grabbed Kakashi from behind as another Naruto clone held him down. His mind racing, Kakashi looked on helplessly as yet another Naruto jumped up and spun the real one towards the ground a high velocity, blotting out the sun. The one that was holding him said, "It took me a long time to perfect the replacement technique to work with my Bunshin clones, and the end result is that I can switch places with any of them at any time." More clones were holding Kakashi down now, and their strength was surprising, to say the least.

The real Naruto had curled himself into a ball and was flying towards Kakashi and the clones that were holding him down. Repeating years of practice, Naruto emitted chakra out of all of his chakra pores. Spinning the energy around to surround himself, the boy transformed himself into a giant Rasengan.

Kakashi was panicking now. Nine clones were holding him down quite well, and there didn't seem to be any way he could avoid the oncoming attack. One of the Naruto's that was hold him said, "Rasengan Cannonball!"

"You'll kill me! You win!" Kakashi shouted closing his eye.

"Better move!" a Naruto said, as the clones holding Kakashi down disintegrated into smoke. Using every ounce of his strength, Kakashi leaped out of the way at the last second. The giant Rasengan slammed into the ground, drilling deep beneath the earth. The noise was deafening. After a few seconds it stopped. A few quiet moments passed, and then Naruto crawled out of the hole, exhausted.

"You pass," Kakashi said. "I want a rematch sometime though. I will use my Sharingan, and then we will see how you cope."

Naruto smiled, "I look forward to it." Standing up, he walked over to Tsunade and the others.

"By unanimous decision, we bestow the rank of Jounin upon you." Tsunade said formally. Gai spoke next

"The fires of youth burned strongly in you Naruto, forging you into a man made of steel! Excellent job!" Naruto smiled. He bowed to the judges and then turned to walk over to his friends.

"Meet in my office in ten minutes for your mission briefing. Bring Rock Lee and Hinata," Tsunade said to him as he walked away. She watched with pride as his friends greeted him with cheers and congratulations. He was going to make a fine ninja after all.

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There we go, chapter 5 is complete. Once again, I hope you all enjoyed it. If you want, be sure to check out my homepage. It's listed on my profile.

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