Disclaimer: - I, SSG-Goku3397, do not own Naruto and any related matter. It all belongs to Kishimoto, the original brain behind the character Naruto. The only thing that I do own is the plot of this story and any original jutsu, seals, concepts and OC's that are present within the story.


A/N: Answer to a Review: -

Having Sarutobi execute someone for 'breaking his law' when the guy didn't mention Naruto's name and didn't reveal any more information to the room about the Kyubi than the Hokage himself did in the sentence before, makes him seem childish and petty, not strong or protecting. - This what a guest reviewer calling herself Ann left on the 5th of August.

The answer to it is simple. First of all, the law pertains to everyone excluding Naruto, the subject of the law, and the Current Hokage, Sarutobi himself. Anyone other than them revealing this would in fact be breaking the law. So I find it agreeable that Sarutobi executed the Civilian Councillor for breaking the law, even if it seems childish and petty. We need to also accept that the Shinobi Village System is a Dictatorship, not a Democracy. The Kage's hold absolute power, if they didn't, then Yagura couldn't have ordered the Bloodline Massacres as easily as he did.

Besides, Sarutobi has a soft spot for Naruto. Until now he was afraid that since Naruto fell under the Civilian Populace at the time, Naruto would be abused even more than he already was. Now that Naruto has become a Shinobi, therefore under his direct command, Sarutobi is no longer afraid of Naruto's well being.


A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them, even your's Guest Reviewer Ann! :)


"Thoughts / Telepathic Speech"

"Speech"

Letters / Jutsu notes


Chapter 3 – The Future Hokage's Pupil

Early in the morning, Naruto's cerulean eyes opened to the sight that caused confusion to the blonde haired boy. Above him was a roof paneled with rich red colored wooden panels. The grains on the wooden panels were arranged so that the Uzumaki Clan Symbol was floating in a lighter red coloration on a deeper red background. After a few moments, the events of the previous day returned to the boys mind causing him to jump out of bed in excitement.

"Yatta, Sakura-chan, and I now have a private place to train!" He exclaimed when a knocking on the wooden frame of the Shōji screen leading out of the Clan Head's bedroom caught his attention. "Ah, who is it?"

"It's me Naruto. Get dressed and come with me. We need to discuss a few things!" A feminine voice called out causing a bright smile to form on the blonde Jinchūriki's face.

"Alright Sakura-chan, I will meet you at the dining room as fast as I can."

"Alright Naruto, but try and be done within half-an-hour, it is already seven in the morning. We have to finish our ninja registration today, and make sure that you don't do something weird baka!" Sakura said with a monotone causing Naruto to shiver in fright.

"Su… Sure Sakura-chan!" Naruto saw the shadow of Sakura nod and walk away causing him to sigh in relief. After a moment, he rushed towards the private bathroom to get ready for the day.


Sakura was cooking a simple breakfast of rice, steamed vegetables, teriyaki chicken, and miso soup when Jiriaya appeared in the kitchen with a confused look on his face.

"Huh, when did you get here?" Jiraiya asked with a smirk, getting a sigh from the pink haired Iryōnin.

"Good morning to you too, Jiraiya-sama, I came here nearly fifteen minutes ago. I need to make sure that the baka does not do something idiotic again like painting his face like a Kabuki actor for his ninja registration picture. Would you like some breakfast?"

"No thanks, I already had breakfast. I just came by to give Naruto a scroll and tell him something before I have to leave to follow up a new lead in my spy network." Jiraiya said with a sad sight getting an understanding nod from Sakura.

"It must be hard to not be able to directly involve yourself in your godson's life because your job is more critical to the survival of Konoha, huh?"

"You don't know that half of it. Being a spymaster takes you far away from your home for long periods. I do miss Konoha and Naruto a lot when I am away, but I know that what I do keeps Konoha and Naruto safe. That allows me to keep on going even when I suffer from homesickness." Jiraiya said with a melancholic sigh.

Sakura smiled with encouragement as she said, "But as you said, what you do keeps Konoha and Naruto safe. Thanks to your efforts, we were able to grow up without a war waging around us. For that our generation is thankful to you."

"Thank you for your kind words. Most do not understand what it is like to be away from home for years just so that it remains standing. You need some help with that?" Jiraiya asked seeing Sakura attempting to carry three trays of food to the dining room. Sakura nodded with a grateful smile as Jiraiya took two of the trays from her.

As the two were laying the trays on the dining room table, Naruto walked in wearing the uniform Jiraiya gave him. On his forehead was a hitai-ate with the kanji for Bijū and Sennin engraved on the plate. His previous hitai-ate was acting like a belt.

"Where did you get the hitai-ate?" Sakura asked with confusion, as she was sure that Naruto did not have time to arrange for a Kage Bunshin to go and buy them or more like custom order them.

"Huh… Oh, Ma came by with the hitai-ate this morning when I came out of the bathroom. She said that because I was an honorary Sannin, I should look the part." Sakura nodded in understanding while Jiraiya cried in anguish.

"Why did Ma give you a hitai-ate when I had to custom order mine?"

"That's because you had already had your unique costume before you were given the title of Sannin, so I didn't give you anything, Jiraiya-chan." Ma said as she hopped into the room causing Jiraiya to cry even more. Naruto and Sakura watched with awkward silence as Jiraiya cried while Ma clicked her tongue in irritation before he rammed a rolling pin on Jiraiya's head causing the man to fall onto the ground with a huge bum on his head.

"Still acting like a child, when will you start acting your age Jiraiya-chan?" Jiraiya stood up with a depressed expression and mumbled something causing Ma to growl out, "What was that Jiriaya-chan, you want me to hit you again?"

"No… I was just wondering why you are still here. It is unlike you to stay longer than necessary?"

"And how do you know that my reason for staying isn't necessary? Anyway, Naruto-chan, I want you to summon Pa or me tomorrow morning, we will start teaching you the some of the toad style ninjutsu. Then we can spar using senjutsu and the ninjutsu you learned."

"Alright Ma, datteboyo!"

"And you need to get rid of that verbal tick. Many won't take you seriously with that present." Ma said bluntly causing Naruto to hang his head mumbling that he was much better than before. Ma nodded and before she returned to Myōbokuzan she said, "Good bye everyone, have a nice day!"

"Alright she's gone no more rolling pins to the head. That old hag can be such a pain sometimes." Jiraiya said just before a shiver went down his spine. Turning his head, he saw Sakura and Naruto with sinister smiles on their faces. "Ah, you two will not tell her I called her a hag, will you?"

"Who knows? May be, if you promise not to spy at the public Ōnsen," Sakura said getting causing Jiraiya to pale before he exclaimed, "THAT'S BLACKMAIL!"

"Didn't you have something tell and give to Naruto?" Sakura asked with a nonchalant tone causing Jiraiya to snap his fingers in realization.

"Right, Naruto, I will have to be leaving soon. A new lead came up on my spy network, which may be harmful to Konoha if we do not follow up. Therefore, I am leaving you a scroll with instructions on how to do Minato's Rasengan and a couple of my own ninjutsu techniques. Do not get disheartened if you do not get the Rasengan within a month. It took me six months to learn it and took your father three years to create it." Jiraiya said with pride after he handed Naruto a scroll. Naruto chuckled and Sakura giggled when he finished is little speech.

"You mean this?" Naruto said as he created a perfect Rasengan causing Jiraiya to face fault.

"How long ago did you learn that?" Jiraiya asked with shock causing Naruto and Sakura to laugh in amusement.

"Dad transferred the knowledge of the separate steps of mastering the Rasengan to me before his chakra dissipated. That was a year ago. It took me a week to learn it and then some time more to master and then complete it." Naruto said causing Jiraiya to stare at the boy as if he was seeing a ghost.

"What do you mean complete it? Did you add elemental chakra into it?" Naruto nodded causing Jiraiya to nearly faint before he stared shaking Naruto like a ragdoll. "How did you stabilize it without having the whole construct explode?"

"Jiraiya-sama, if you let go of him, he will be able to tell you." Sakura said as he gently pried Jiraiya's arms from Naruto's shoulder. Jiraiya looked sheepish while Naruto glared at the Sannin with annoyance.

"Use senjutsu to stabilize the technique or you can use Bijū chakra. Use Kage Bunshin to add the element at first, until you become adept enough to do it yourself," Naruto said with a smile getting blank look from Jiraiya. "Want me to show you?"

"Hell no, you aren't going to be demonstrating Fūton: Rasenshuriken here!" Sakura said with a shiver getting a surprised look from Jiraiya.

"I wasn't going to throw it. I would have dispelled it after showing it to him!" Naruto whined getting a sigh from Sakura.

"Alright, but only show, no using it," Sakura said causing Naruto smile and nod. He closed his eyes for a few minutes before he opened them again showing he was in Sennin Mōdō. He stood up, raised his hand above his head, and formed a normal Rasengan. Jiriaya looked confused until a swirling blade of wind chakra formed around the Rasengan core. A high-pitched screeching sound emanated from the Rasenshuriken. A strong whirlwind formed in the room before Naruto suddenly dissipated it.

"So how was it?" Naruto asked only to see that Jiraiya kept staring at the spot the Rasenshuriken was with a blank look, "You alright there Ero-sennin?"

"I think he fainted in shock?" Sakura said uncertainly as she poked the man getting an understanding nod from Naruto.

"Can't blame him, Rasenshuriken is just too awesome," Naruto said just as his stomach grumbled causing him to grin sheepishly. "Guess I am hungry!"

Sakura just sighed as she took a seat at the table and started eating her share of the breakfast after pointing Naruto to his. After they finished their breakfasts, Naruto remembered that Sakura wanted to talk with him, "Ne, Sakura-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Let's head to the garden, leave a clone behind. Jiraiya-sama shouldn't hear this and he does need to know where we are heading." Naruto nodded and created a Kage Bunshin to watch over the unconscious Sannin as the original and the pink haired Iryōnin walked out of the room.


Naruto sat down at the edge of the Koi Pond with Sakura beside him; both wore a serious expression on their faces. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Sakura spoke up, "How do you think the rest of the world will react to the revelation of your heritage and status?"

"I don't know Sakura-chan. I just hope that Iwa is not idiotic enough to start a war. That is just what Akatsuki needs to hide their movements. If the Fourth Shinobi War starts between the Great Five Nations and their allies instead of the Alliance and the Akatsuki, then I will have to do the only thing left to save my fellow Jinchūriki. I will have to leave Konoha and create an organization to combat the Akatsuki with the rest of the Jinchūriki." Sakura gasped in shock but nodded in understanding. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"If you leave, I will come with you. I didn't come back to the past only to see the world be destroyed by Akatsuki." Naruto gave a nod as he smiled softly at the girl.

The two sat there in silence and stared at the koi fish swimming in the pond without a care in the world. It was in this scene that Yūgao walked into as she shunshined into Uzumaki Estate in search for Naruto and Sakura. "So this is where you two have been. Hokage-sama was surprised when either of you didn't appear first thing in the morning."

Naruto and Sakura turned around to see Yūgao in her ANBU uniform and Cat Mask. Naruto grinned and said, "Morning Neko-chan, we kind of forgot the time as we discussed what teams we would be put into and what missions are awaiting us!"

"Morning Neko-san, sorry for having you come here. We will be going right now!" Sakura said with a bow as she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and vanished in shunshin. Yūgao smiled as the two left before she left as well.


"Ah, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, good of you to show up, these are your ninja registration cards. They contain your ninja registration numbers and other relevant information that are not security risks but still important, and I am thankful that you didn't do something crazy for the photo." Hiruzen said as he handed over their respective registration cards. Both took the cards with a silent nod before looking them over. Sakura's picture showed the perfect image of a Kunoichi, while Naruto's was different. Naruto was wearing his new ANBU style cloths and orange vest. The red haori with yellow lightning bolts lying over the vest and finally the new hitai-ate. Unlike last time, this time, his face was serious.

"Now all that was salvaged from your parents' house, I put in this scroll. Go through it when you have time. Now normally I do not do this but with your skills and teamwork, I think it best to ask, what do you think of working under Hatake Kakashi, your father's surviving student, with Uchiha Sasuke?"

Naruto and Sakura thought for a few moments before they turned to each other and started going through hand signs Hiruzen was not familiar with, after a few moments they nodded to each other and turned back to Hiruzen with a serious expression. Sakura finally spoke up, "I mean no disrespect Hokage-sama but would that make our team disproportionately strong. We have no problem working under Hatake-san and with Sasuke, but aren't teams meant to be balanced?"

Hiruzen nodded with a smile, "You two remind me of when I used to teach Jiraiya and Tsunade. You are right in that your team would be stronger than usual, but this year, there are many Clan Heirs passing. Due to that, we are creating specialized teams. Your team's specialty will be Front Line Fighters and Heavy Assault. If required, extraction from behind enemy lines. I think that a team as powerful as you will serve well in those positions." Naruto and Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Alright Jiji, just tell sensei that if he lets Sasuke be the teme he normally is, I will send the teme to the hospital. Sorry Sakura-chan, but you know why I said that!" Naruto said with a guilty expression getting a sad smile and a nod from Sakura.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked only for Sakura to reply.

"Sasuke is too entrenched in his want to extract vengeance for his clan. He can become a liability if anyone powerful offers him a shortcut to power, or he thinks his comrades are holding him back, he can easily turn on us. Fortunately, I have enough knowledge to be able to keep an eye on his mental condition, but if I see that he is deteriorating to a dangerous mental state, then I request permission to suspend his Ninja License and assign him to psychological counseling." Sakura said with a serious expression getting a surprised look from Naruto.

Hiruzen hummed as he thought about it before his expression turned serious, "Is that a request as a comrade or a fully certified Iryōnin?"

"As a fully certified Iryōnin," Sakura said without hesitating causing Hiruzen to nod.

"Request granted. I will have the scroll written up and give to you by the time of team assignments."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Sakura said with a bow getting a smile from the old man when the door to the Hokage office opened and in rushed a spiky brown haired boy with a long blue scarf, wielding a kunai. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a red konoha symbol, grey pants, and blue goggles on his forehead.

"This is it Jiji! I will defeat you today and take the hat from you!" The boy exclaimed as he ran into the office before tripping on his own scarf. Hiruzen just sighed and Naruto stared at the boy with a well-hidden fond smile. Sakura just stared in confusion before she groaned.

"Huh, you two tripped me!" Konohamaru said as got up and pointed at Sakura and Naruto causing both of the former to sigh and the latter to pick up the boy by the collar of his t-shirt.

"Listen gaki, you tripped over your own scarf!" Naruto said with annoyance as he raised his fist when Ebisu ran into the room screaming, "Honorable grandson, where are you?"

Seeing Konohamaru being held by Naruto, Ebisu grunted out, "Unhand him ruffian! He is the grandson of Sandaime-sama!"

Konohamaru grinned as he looked up at Naruto expecting to see the look of awe only to see annoyance, "I don't care if the Hokage is his grandmother!" Naruto said as he punched Konohamaru on the head. "Besides, my father is the Yondaime!"

"Huh!" Ebisu said as he critically stared at Naruto before exclaiming, "Ah, Naruto-sama, forgive me. I didn't recognize you without your orange tracksuit!"

Naruto just waved it off and turned his attention back to Hiruzen, "I am going Jiji. I will see you when I have a bit of free time. Kurama is pushing me to quickly master the basics of the five elements."

"I will be leaving as well Hokage-sama; I need to get back to my endurance training!" Sakura said as the two tried to walkout of the room only for Konohamaru to say, "Huh, who's the flat chested girl?"

Naruto, Hiruzen and Ebisu paled in fear and an ominous presence filled the room centered around Sakura who had a sweet smile. As Sakura approached the brown haired boy, the other three would swear that they saw a demonic entity overlapping Sakura's position. "You are quite the sweet little gaki, aren't you?"

"That I am, flat chested girl!" Konohamaru said without fear only causing the other three to shiver in fright. Sakura raised her hand and curled her index finger into a flicking position.

"Remember Sakura-chan, he isn't a Jinchūriki! Do not hurt him too much… eep," Naruto exclaimed when Sakura turned her smiling face at him. Naruto could swear that he was looking at the face of the enraged Jūbi again.

Sakura turned back to Konohamaru and said, "It isn't polite to talk about a ladies age and their figure gaki. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"What did I say? I just said that you are flat chested!" Konohamaru said with a clueless face. Tick marks formed on Sakura's forehead as Hiruzen, Naruto and Ebisu were now trying to look as small as they could so as to not direct the girls irritated attention on them.

"SHANNARO!" Sakura screamed as she flicked Konohamaru on the forehead causing the boy to fly into the wall. Hiruzen and Ebisu paled to the complexion of a corpse at the show of strength. Ebisu thinking that angering the girl would lead to him spending an extended stay at the hospital while Hiruzen thought, this is the second coming of Tsunade. She even has the same anger problems as his former student.

As the boy crumpled to the ground staring at Sakura in awe, Sakura turned to the rest of the occupants of the room and said, "Sorry for cracking the wall. I made sure to hold back so that Konohamaru-kun will only have a couple of bruises, nothing more!" Hiruzen nodded as Sakura walked up to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder before both vanished in a shunshin.

"That was scary! So what did you learn Konohamaru-kun?" Hiruzen said drawing the attention of a catatonic Ebisu. Both looked at where Konohamaru was only to see that he was missing. "Oh no, I hope that he doesn't anger Sakura-chan anymore. I don't think the girl will be able to hold back a second time."

Ebisu looked surprised and asked, "Forgive my insolence Hokage-sama, but shouldn't you punish the girl for harming your grandson?"

"No, Konohamaru-kun was in the wrong. Because everyone treats him as my grandson and not as himself, he acts out in an attempt to gain attention on himself. He is not afraid to insult anyone, as he knows that most will not do anything to him. Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun's influence should remove that out of him." Ebisu nodded in understanding before he realized that Konohamaru was still missing.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama; I need to make sure that the Honorable Grandson doesn't get into trouble again." Ebisu said as he rushed out of the door calling out for Konohamaru to wait for him.


"Naruto?"

"Yeah Sakura-chan?"

"That is Konohamaru under the box following us, right?" Naruto sighed when Sakura pointed out the horrid disguise the brown haired boy was using. After a moment of thought, Naruto sighed again before he vanished from Konohamaru's line of sight, leaving Sakura behind with a confused look.

"Huh, where did he go?" Konohamaru said inside the box causing Sakura to palm his face in embarrassment. As Konohamaru looked around from the peepholes, someone suddenly lifted the box off him, surprising the boy.

"Huh, what happened?" Konohamaru said before a fake cough drew his attention. Turning around, he sheepishly looked up into the eyes of Naruto who had a disappointed look in them.

"Why are you following us Konohamaru?" Naruto asked seriously causing the boy's face to light up in happiness. "And you do know that a rock is meant to be asymmetrical, right?"

"Huh, I didn't know that!" Konohamaru said with confusion causing Naruto and Sakura to sigh again.

"Who has been teaching you stealth?" Sakura asked only for the boy to declare with pride that it was Ebisu.

Naruto grinned and said, "I should have known. Anyway, you haven't told us why you were following us?"

"Ebisu-sensei says that his teachings will make me into a kickass ninja in a very short time, but until now, I feel as if I have barely gotten stronger. How can I become Hokage, if I am weak? That is why I wanted you two to teach me! I heard that you two took out a chunnin without trouble. You two are very strong. I what to become strong like you two so that I can become Hokage. Then everyone would see me as Konohamaru, and not as the honorable grandson of the Hokage!" Konohamaru stated with despair getting an understanding nod from the duo.

"Alright Konohamaru, I will teach you, that is when I have free time. Meet me at Ichiraku Ramen tomorrow at noon. We will have lunch and then I will show you where I live. It has private training grounds we can use. However, know this; I am not helping you so that you want to become Hokage. I also want to become Hokage, but the reason why is different. Being a leader is the main job of the Hokage. He is not just the strongest shinobi in the village. He is also the one who inspires everyone under his command to do better, the one who administer the economic and political policies for the betterment of the village. Are you sure, that is what you want? Besides you do not become Hokage to be recognized, recognition leads to the Jonin Council voting you in as Hokage. If you want to become strong, don't do it because you want to be Hokage, become strong so that you can protect those precious to you!" Naruto declared with passion causing a metaphorical fire to light up in the boy's eyes.

With a massive grin Konohamaru replied, "Got it boss! You do not become strong to become Hokage, you become strong to protect those precious to you. The Hokage is the strongest because the whole village is precious to him, right."

"That's right Konohamaru. One can only become strong if they have someone precious. Do you, if you do not then find someone precious, be it friends, comrades or even family. Just do everything in your power and then some more to protect that precious someone. Then you will truly be strong. Just look at my father, he defeated Kurama, the Kyūbi, because he was protecting the Village and me." Konohamaru nodded solemnly in understanding before Naruto called out, "Aren't you coming? You did want to train with me, right?"

Konohamaru looked up to see Naruto and Sakura had already walked far into the distance. With a startled look, Konohamaru scurried behind the two time travelling shinobi with hopes to become stronger, not for himself, but for those precious to him.


Ebisu had been searching for Konohamaru for over three hours now and had yet to find the boy. Ebisu sighed in annoyance but kept search for his wayward charge. He had looked in all the boy's usual haunts only to come up empty. The only place he has not searched yet was the training grounds. Now that he thought about it, Konohamaru had vanished right after Naruto and Sakura had, so it was probable that he had followed the duo. With that though in mind, Ebisu headed towards the training grounds.

As Ebisu was nearing the training grounds, he started calling out to Konohamaru. "Honorable Grandson, where are you? How will you become Hokage without my shortcut to training?" What the glass wearing Jonin did not realize was that Naruto, Sakura, and Konohamaru heard him but chose to ignore his calls. The first thing Naruto did was explain to Konohamaru that there were no shortcuts to strength, so when Ebisu called out to the boy, the boy ignored the man's claims to a shortcut in training and kept doing with Naruto taught him to do.

As Ebisu walked into the clearing where the trio were training, he saw that Konohamaru kept calmly trying to walk up the tree with varying degrees of success. Near him, five hundred clones of Naruto were training, all of them doing different nature chakra training. One group was trying to burn a wet leaf. Another was trying to draw out the water from a leaf causing it to dry up. Yet another was trying to make a leaf crumble to dust. The second to last was trying to make a leaf crumple up with Raiton chakra. The final group was training in perfecting Sennin Mōdō. The original was sparring with the Sakura, who had attached heavy chakra weights to her legs, arms, and torso.

"This is surprising; I didn't think that the Honorable Grandson would be willing to train in chakra control without a reward. He mainly screams for new jutsu!" Ebisu exclaimed to himself getting Sakura Konohamaru's attention. The brown haired boy turned to Ebisu with a deadpan look and simply said, "You never told me how important chakra control was to learning jutsu!"

"Get back to training Konohamaru; you said that you would master it by the end of the day, so get to it!" Naruto said seriously causing Konohamaru to nod and start walking up the tree again nearly reaching the top this time before he was blasted off the trunk. Ebisu watched as Konohamaru flipped and landed on his feet and a single extended arm before repeating the exercise.

"Amazing isn't it, what a little motivation can do?" Ebisu turned to see Naruto standing beside him with Sakura healing a couple of bruise on her arms a couple of feet away from them. The bandana wearing Jonin nodded in agreement before asking, "How did you get him to realize that chakra control was this important? I tried to explain before, but he just brushed me off."

"Simple really, he believed that knowing many jutsu would make him strong. I just showed him that though I am strong, I only have a few jutsu under my command. What I made him realize is that if one learns many jutsu but not master the basics, would only weaken him. Instead, I told him that getting better chakra control would allow him to learn jutsu faster and master them better. In turn, he would become stronger, though it will not be immediately apparent."

"I see that's where I failed him. I normally train, seasoned ninja who are recent recruits in ANBU Black Ops. I expected the Honorable Grandson to have the same mentality as seasoned ninja. That is why he doesn't listen to me." Ebisu said with a thoughtful look on his face. Turning to Naruto, he bowed and said, "I thank you for making me see the mistakes I have made with the Honorable Grandson, Naruto-sama."

"That along with you calling him Honorable Grandson instead of his given name, if you had called him Konohamaru from the start, he would have respect you more. In fact, he would have taken your teaching method much better if you had seen him as Konohamaru instead of Jiji's grandson." Naruto said with a grin causing Ebisu to stare at the blonde haired jinchūriki with awe. He could not believe that someone younger than him was far wiser.

"I thank you for your advice Naruto-sama. Now as it seems that Konohamaru-sama is safe, I can leave him here for the moment while I plan a new training plan for him. How long are you planning to train here?"

"I can train the whole day, Sakura-chan will do the same. I believe that Konohamaru will not give up unless he faints from exhaustion or masters the tree walking exercise, so he would be here for a long time as well. If I see that he is over doing it, I will make him stop and take him to the Sarutobi estate myself, so you don't have to worry about the gaki." Ebisu nodded before he vanished in a shunshin.

"Why didn't you tell him that you plan to take Konohamaru as you apprentice in the future?" Naruto turned around and stared at his pink haired comrade with a grin.

"Where's the fun in that? I want to see the look on his face when he finally learns of my plans. He already had his chance to make Konohamaru into someone great. He failed just as most of my teachers failed me. He did not see the diamond hidden among the quartz." Sakura nodded before a sly smirk appeared on her face.

"My, I wonder how Tsunade-sama, Iruka-sensei, and Jiraiya-sama would have reacted to you taking on a student. I know that Tsunade-sama would have drunk herself into a stupor complaining about another loudmouth gaki disturbing the peace of her village! Iruka-sensei and Jiraiya-sama would be very proud of you right now."

"Baa-chan wouldn't complain!" Naruto exclaimed with indignation only for Sakura to giggle at the Uzumaki's pouty face.

"Believe what every you want, now how about another round?" Sakura said before she charged Naruto with a fist glowing with accumulated chakra. With a grin, Naruto jumped back as Sakura smashed her fist into the ground causing a massive fissure to form. Konohamaru, who had finally made it to the top of the tree watched in shock at the strength exhibited by the slim girl.


The next day, Konohamaru met up with Naruto and Sakura at Ichiraku Ramen. After a quick lunch, the trio headed towards Naruto's Clan Estate.

"So this the Uzumaki Estate." Konohamaru stated as he walked into the compound behind Sakura and Naruto. Naruto just grinned at the boy as he walked towards the large Ōnsen at the back of the compound.

"I hope you brought your swimming trunks Konohamaru. I can assure you that you will get wet!" Naruto said with a grin causing Konohamaru to shudder in anticipation.

"Sure I did! What do you take me for?" Konohamaru said with a pout as he pulled out a dark green pair of swimming trunks from his hip pouch.

"Then quickly get changed and meet me here. You can change in that room!" Naruto said as he pointed to a small shack off to the compound. With a quick nod, Konohamaru rushed into the shack and closed the door behind him.

"You are having way too much fun training him!" Naruto turned around to see Sakura wearing a red two-piece bikini. "Huh you look cute, are you planning to join Konohamaru in his training? I thought we already mastered it?"

"Baka, my muscles are sore from yesterday's training. I am going to be relaxing in the Ōnsen and watch as Konohamaru has fun finding out how to walk on water." Sakura said with a small blush as she walked out to the other side of the Ōnsen and fell in with a small splash. Are you going to watch him, or do you have something else planned?"

"I am going to read through the books on sealing Ero-sennin gave me. I need to start somewhere!" Naruto said as he brought out a black book with the title, 'A Beginners Guide to Fūinjutsu Volume I by Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.' Sakura nodded in understanding as she lazed about in the Ōnsen when Konohamaru walked out of the shack.

"Huh, why are you in the Ōnsen?" Konohamaru asked with confusion only to get a giggle out of Sakura. Naruto ignored the boy in favor of reading the book on fūinjutsu.

"I am just relaxing. Why don't you get started with the water walking exercise, Konohamaru-kun? Remember that unlike tree walking, where the surface remains stable, the surface of the water is ever changing. You will have to adjust the flow of chakra to be able to keep afloat. Why don't you try it?" Konohamaru nodded and was about to walk on to the water when Sakura said, "Mind your step, the water will feel very hot at first!"

Konohamaru nodded and walked onto the water with jerky steps. Surprisingly, the boy was doing much better than both Sakura and Naruto expected. He had good chakra control for someone his age and with his larger than average chakra reserves. For the next hour, Konohamaru carefully walked about the surface of the Ōnsen, sometimes, losing control, and falling in only to rise back up and try again. All that time Sakura lazed about in the Ōnsen with Naruto sitting under a large tree reading his book.

"We have been here for an hour already! How much have you read until now?" Naruto looked up to see Sakura standing above him, toweling her hair dry.

"I have read through the first three chapters. The one about what Fūinjutsu is according to my clan and the comparison of that definition with the international one. The next was about the different kinds of seals in existence and their classification. The third chapter introduces the reader to the various elements of a seal with some simple examples. The fourth chapter, the one I am reading is about two different character sets used in Fūinjutsu. The chapter only gives the list of international set. I believe that my Clan set will not be in these books, only the theory and rules my clan had developed. I will have to check the Clan Library to learn that set. The final chapter of this book should be an introduction to basic safety procedures and the basic rules of Fūinjutsu." Sakura nodded in understanding as she removed the towel from her head and wrapped it around her waist.

"I am surprised that you understood what the book said so easily. You generally learn through doing instead of reading. Must be the genetic disposition you have to fūinjutsu." Naruto nodded and returned his attention back to the book as Sakura walked away towards the main house.

A loud cheer drew Naruto's attention nearly an hour later. He looked up from the book to see Konohamaru whooping as he ran about on the surface of the water like it was dry land. "Good job, Konohamaru. You got something that takes most Genin weeks to learn. You have great chakra control that has now been refined even more. With your new control, theoretically, you can now learn and master any jutsu with ease." Konohamaru grinned with glee at the thought of new jutsu when Sakura walked out of the main house in her usual shinobi gear.

"Don't give him false hopes Naruto. Mastering Chakra Control does help but he is still a long way off until he can master any jutsu with ease. He needs a very good theoretical foundation for that to happen. Unlike you, most don't have an innate understanding of chakra manipulation." Sakura said getting causing Naruto to pout and Konohamaru to look depressed. "Theory is very important Konohamaru. Learn theory and come to me if you do not understand anything. I will make sure that you understand them. Why would you want to learn jutsu when you can create your own if you understand the theory well enough?"

"Really, I can create my own Jutsu?" Konohamaru asked with awe getting a chuckle out of the elder duo. Sakura nodded with a smile on her face as she said, "Why do you think your grandfather is called the Professor. He has a great understanding of theory and great chakra control. With same knowledge, I do not know why you will not reach leaves similar to him maybe even surpass him. You do want to surpass him, don't you?" Konohamaru nodded with enthusiasm causing Sakura to grin, "Then why don't we spar on the water for a bit. That will help make the exercise second nature to you. After that, I will show you a couple of books on chakra theory. You just need to start reading them."

"While Sakura-chan helps with you with chakra control, chakra theory, and genjutsu, I will help with ninjutsu and taijutsu and when you are ready, I will even start teaching you senjutsu, that is unless the Monkey Summons decided to train you themselves in the art." Naruto stated as he got while placing the book in his equipment pouch. "Now how about we make this spar a free-for-all?"

Konohamaru started sweating in fear. He knew that sparing with either Sakura or Naruto would be difficult, but to spar against both at the same time and in a battle royal, he knew that he was in for a very bad time. With a sigh of acceptance of his immediate fate, he got into the academy stance and waited for the beat down he was about to suffer.


Sasuke was walking down the road towards the Uzumaki Compound deep in thought. The day after graduation, he met with Naruto atop the Yondaime's head looking for the quickest path to strength only for Naruto to refute his claims, telling him that only time and hard work is the only path to strength while accepting help from others when needed.

Previously he would have scoffed at Naruto's words, now he accepted them without much fuss. Now that he thought about it, Itachi always told him the same thing before his betrayal leaving him, Uchiha Sasuke, as the last loyal Uchiha. At one time, he believed Itachi, but after the betrayal, it became hard for him to accept anything Itachi told him. Naruto's words showed that Itachi might have been right. Now that he thought about it, he and Naruto were similar in some aspects as well, just as Naruto and Itachi had similar mentalities.

While he knew the love of a family and then lost it, Naruto never knew the love of a family, but he understood the pain of loneliness. Then there was the fact that both of them were the last of their Clans. That day atop the Yondaime's head, Naruto had revealed his heritage to him, trusting him not to reveal it until the Hokage revealed it to the world, which according to Naruto should have been much later. He needed to remember to ask why it was revealed this soon. Now a big target was painted on Naruto's back, when he wanted to remain in anonymity until the Chunin Exams. He already pitied the team that would have Naruto on it. Iwa would be sending teams of Jonin to take that team out during missions.

The night of the revelation, he checked the Uchiha Archives for references to the Uzumaki Clan was shocked to learn of the power of the Clan, easily rivaling his own and the Senju, not to mention being distant cousins of both the Uchiha and Senju. The next surprising information about the Uzumaki Clan he found was the appearance of random mutations allowing unique kekkai genkai to be born, never completely same in two individuals activating the same kekkai genkai. To heal the critically injured with just the transfer of chakra, to be able to restrain Bijū with chains manifested through chakra and powerful sensory abilities just to mention a few. Then there were their innate skills with fūinjutsu, their extreme longevity, and massive chakra reserves. He wondered if Naruto manifested some kind of unique kekkai genkai? Well that was not important. What was was how he should proceed with his training, even if he had to swallow his pride and accept Naruto's help.

With that thought out of the way, Sasuke looked up to see the gate to the Uzumaki Estate. A large red spiral, exactly like the one Naruto had on the back of his orange jumpsuit was engraved into the top of the gates. A small seal was engraved to the side of the gate with the sign, channel chakra under it. Shrugging, Sasuke placed a finger on the seal and channeled a bit of chakra. At first, nothing happened but after a couple of minutes, the gates opened to reveal Naruto with a massive grin on his face.

"Good of you to come teme. I hope that you are ready for training, I will tell you now, if you don't have the conviction to see it through, then leave right now!" Naruto stated with a serious expression causing Sasuke to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. He had never seen Naruto like this.

"Hn, just get on with it dobe! I want to get stronger as soon as possible." Naruto nodded as he walked into the Estate with Sasuke following behind him. Naruto lead the Uchiha towards the back of the compound where they found Konohamaru and Sakura sparring, well more like Sakura trying to beat the young boy into a bloody pulp while the boy kept screaming and dodging to the best of his abilities.

"Konohamaru, you need to attack as well. Dodging will only save you for so long!" Sakura said with a sweet smile that caused a shiver to run down all three boys' spines. Naruto and Sasuke watched as Sakura raised her leg in a vertical split and brought it down on the ground causing the whole ground to crack and shatter as pieces of rock the size of small boulders flew up into the. Konohamaru did his best to dodge the rocks only for Sakura to appear in front of him and kick him out of the training ground with a roundhouse kick to the belly.

"You need to learn to attack even in the face of insurmountable odds Konohamaru. If you don't, you will never surpass jiji." Naruto stated stoically getting a nod from the kid. "Now why don't you have a rest while I help Sasuke activate his Sharingan?"

"How will you help me activate my Sharingan?" Sasuke asked intrigued while Sakura suddenly paled in realization. Naruto ignored Sasuke in favor of whining to Sakura, "Did you have to demolish the training ground again? I hate wasting chakra to repair it!"

"Stop whining, with the repairing seals embedded in the bedrock under the training ground, you will have it fixed in a second. Now have fun trying to kill Sasuke while I torment Konohamaru-kun with chakra theory. I finally realize why Iruka-sensei likes to teach." Sakura said with a grin causing Sasuke to pale in realization of what Naruto had planned. He never expected the dobe to be ruthless enough to try to kill a comrade to help them activate their kekkai genkai.

As Sasuke was lost in thought, Naruto channeled chakra into a small pedestal causing the training ground to glow before it repaired itself. Naruto called out to Sasuke causing the Uchiha to look at the previously destroyed training ground to see a pristine one. "Are you going to keep standing there, or are you going to enter the training ground?"

"Hn, I am coming dobe. Don't get worked up about it!" Sasuke said with a grunt as he walked to the center of the training ground. As soon as he got into his taijutsu stance, Naruto pulsed his chakra while going through a set of ten hand seals before slamming his hands on the ground. A pulse of chakra erupted from the ground before a pale blue translucent barrier encompassed the training ground.

"There, with that barrier ready, we can go all out! Come at me with the intent to kill, or I can assure you that you will die!" Naruto stated as his eyes changed from blue to red with black slits. A golden cloak of chakra formed around him with black sealing lines flowing through the cloak, originating from the navel. Sasuke sweated in fear of the power Naruto was giving off. Before Sasuke could react, Naruto had vanished from in front of him while at the same time; Sasuke felt an extremely strong kick land on his back, throwing him forward.

"Is that all you have got Sasuke? Uchiha Madara was rumored to be able to easily defeat the Kyūbi? Have the Uchiha become this so weak that they can't even handle a single tails worth of the Kyūbi's power?" Naruto taunted before a fist made of chakra erupted from Naruto's back and rammed into Sasuke's chest, causing the Uchiha to gasp as all the air was driven out of his lungs.

Outside the barrier, Konohamaru and Sakura watched with wide eyes as for the next half-an-hour Naruto proceeded to crush Sasuke into the ground. No matter what the Uchiha tried, Naruto had a counter to shut it down. Katon: Gōkakyu, a chakra arm dispelled the fire with a single wave. Kunai thrown into vital areas, the chakra cloak repelled them with ease. Straight up Taijutsu, Naruto was too fast for Sasuke to land a hit or dodge. To explain in a single word, it was a massacre.

"How can you control that much power so easily and with the Kyūbi's malice flowing through the chakra?" Sasuke asked as he coughed up blood.

"Because I have complete control over myself, besides I have already purified the fox of his hatred. Originally, the hatred used to eat away at my sanity. After coming to terms with my dark side, it was easy to suppress away the darkness within the Kyūbi's chakra. Soon after that, I was able to help the fox get over his hatred. If you let your hatred consume you, you will not be any better that beast Kurama had become or your brother has become. He let his darkness take over his heart. Do not become what you hate Sasuke. Avenge your clan, but do not throw away everything for vengeance!" Naruto said as he conjured a rasengan and charged at the stunned Sasuke.

"Naruto stop, that rasengan is strong enough to kill him!" Sakura screamed from outside the barrier with Konohamaru watching with morbid curiosity.

Inside the barrier, Sasuke watched as Naruto ran towards him with the spiraling ball of chakra. He heard Sakura's claim that it would kill him. He just could not bring himself to care. Naruto's recent speech had shaken him up. He realized that he was very close to becoming another Itachi. He was about to accept his fate when a voice that sounded like his brother resounded through his mind.

"Foolish little brother, you think dying is the answer? Where is the strength of your hate? Didn't you swear that you would avenge our clan?" The voice of Itachi said causing the Uchiha to be flooded with determination to survive. Sasuke watched, as suddenly Naruto's pace seemed to have slowed down. He could see the flow of chakra within the small ball and the chakra coating Naruto's body, just as Naruto was about to shove the ball into his gut, Sasuke jumped to the side while drawing a kunai and flicking it towards the ball of swirling chakra. He watched with fascination as the kunai struck the ball causing it to destabilize and explode in Naruto's golden chakra coated hand before a fist made of the golden chakra struck him in the gut sending him crashing into the barrier.

Groggily, Sasuke stood up, ready for a fight he saw Naruto dispel the chakra cloak with a grin on his face. Making the ram hand seal, Naruto pulsed his chakra in a definite sequence causing the barrier to shatter and fade. "Hn, aren't we going to continue?"

"We already achieved our objective. Peer into the koi pond. I think you will be ecstatic, well as ecstatic as an emo can be." Naruto stated to the confusion of the Uchiha.

Without anything better to do, Sasuke walked up to the Koi pond and peered into the clear waters. To his shock, he saw his reflection stare back at him with red eyes instead of the usual black. Within the left eye were two tomoe while the other had one. Sasuke grinned at the revelation. Here he had been trying to activate it for years and Naruto helped him do it on the first day.

"Foolish little brother, you may have gained the Sharingan, but you still need the Mangekyō to be able to handle me. You don't have the hatred to kill me!" Itachi's voice resounded through Sasuke's head again causing the boy to clench his fists in anger when he remembered Naruto's previous words.

"No Itachi, I won't hate. It was not hate that activated my Sharingan it was help from comrades. You are only trying to make me into another version of yourself. I will kill you to avenge the clan, but I will not obsess and hate you for the darkness that now resides in your heart." Sasuke thought before he stood up from his crouch and walked towards Sakura, who had bandages ready.


A/N:

Japanese Translations

Sennin Mōdō = Sage Mode

Myōbokuzan = Mount Myōboku

Fūinjutsu = Sealing Techniques


A/N:

Japanese Jutsu, Style and Weapon Name Translations

Kage Bunshin = Shadow Clone

Rasengan = Spiraling Sphere

Fūton: Rasenshuriken = Wind Release: Spiralling Shuriken

Shunshin = Body Flicker

Katon: Gōkakyu = Fire Release: Grand Fireball


A/N: Hey Everyone! I hope you like this new chapter. Please remember to leave Reviews. The more Reviews I get, the faster I will publish another chapter, though I will try and keep it on a monthly schedule.

SSG.