AN: *laughing manically* Ooooh you guys are gonna love this chapter. :3 Aside from that, thank you everyone who reviewed and favorited the story last chapter. That is, for real, what gives me inspiration to keep writing and drawing. ALSO I finished a drawing for the chunin arc which I LOVE and can't wait for you guys to see it. Actually, that arc has quiet a bit of art, so you guys are in for a treat ;). This chapter is un-beta'd for now, but I have found a beta (Dialga9187) and we're currently working through each chapter. Right now we're on chapter five, so it might be a while before we get to this one... Other than that, enjoy!

Konoha was the usual bustling hub of activity it always was when they finally made their way back. It was early afternoon, as they'd left early that morning and traveled at usual ninja speeds, instead of the civilian pace they'd set on their way out. As usual, Izumo and Kotetsu greeted them at the gates, offering them friendly smiles and easy chit chat.

Submitting their mission report was much easier than it was last time. It had been a simple D-rank, after all, no need for getting chewed out by a stressed Iruka for doing things they really shouldn't have.

Really if anyone was going to chew them out this time it would be their sensei for making them stay for the festival. But it had been totally worth it, or at least Naruto liked to think. Sakura's storage scroll of prizes certainly agreed by any means.

But now that they were back in the village, it was training time again. And that meant chakra chains. Naruto had been aching to try what Kurama had suggested four days ago, but because of the mission he hadn't been able to. And even if he had had time during their travels, Kakashi-sensei had more or less forbid him from using his kekkei genkai outside of the village. He hadn't really given a reason, but Naruto had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with bingo books.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter now as they were back in Konoha. And Naruto was nothing if not persistent, so he would get these damn chakra chains to work one way or another. As soon as they finished submitting their reports, he thought to himself, he would be off to training ground 7 in no time.

Unfortunately, a certain sensei seemed to see right through him and grabbed onto his collar just as he started off down the road outside of the Hokage tower.

"And just where do you think you're going?" He drawled, eyebrow arched.

"Training, y'know," he said, trying to wiggle out of the jōnin's hold. It wasn't very successful.

"No training without adult supervision," was Kakashi-sensei dry response.

"Darn, then we've been breaking the rules this whole time," Sasuke deadpanned, black eyes staring straight at their sensei.

Stone. Cold. Murder.

Kakashi-sensei's eye spasmed in a visible twitch of irritation. But he said nothing.

"Anyway…" Kakashi-sensei continued. "I'm not allowing it. No training until tomorrow, and that's final." he finished his sentence by letting go of Naruto's collar, essentially dropping the teen. Naruto immediately scrambled away out of his reach, fearing he might do it again.

"Aw, come on," he groaned, straightening himself out. "I haven't practiced in four days. I gotta get this down as soon as possible."

Kakashi-sensei raised an eyebrow down at him. "What's the rush?" He asked.

"Uh…" Naruto stammered. If he was being honest, getting it down before the chunin exams would be nice. And since that was a month out… "I just, wanna get it down, y'know?" He tried. Then, "It gives me a connection to my clan." Okay, that last part wasn't a lie, but he was only talking about one specific member of said clan. His mom. He had all the looks of his dad, his dads jutsu, his summons (well, not at the moment, but soon enough), and had even fought with the man on the battlefield. The only thing he had from his mom was a name and a biju trapped in his gut. He didn't have her beautiful red hair, or pale complexion. Nothing. Nothing but this amazing kekkei genkai. A kekkei genkai he had no idea how to use.

Kakashi-sensei seemed to see his internal turmoil and softened his expression. As much as one could anyway when only showing one eye.

"I get it," he offered, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto looked at it in surprised. Kakashi-sensei had never shown this much affection before. What was different now? "You want to feel like you belong to something, I understand," he continued, oblivious to his students musings. "Tell you what, tomorrow, no intense training, no missions, nothing. We can just work on that. Sound good?"

Naruto blinked, taken aback. "I-" He didn't have words to finish the sentence. Luckily, Sakura did.

"For real, sensei?" She asked, stepping in. He nodded.

"In fact, tomorrow, I'll train all of you in whatever you want." The proclamation was followed by him retracting his hand and putting it on his hip in an assured, authoritative manner. "Naruto, we can focus on your chains. Sasuke, sharingan. And Sakura," he turned to the girl. "You said you wanted to be a medic, yes?"

She nodded.

"Great, then let's start there." He offered them all an eye smile, the earnestly in his voice surprising them.

With a lazy wave, he dismissed them and disappeared in a shunshin, leaving the three of them to their own devices for the rest of the night.

"So," Naruto said. "Anyone up for ramen?"


The next day greeted them with warm sunlight and cloudless skies. Not unusual for late May, but not necessarily appreciated. If the three of them were going to be training all day in this weather, they were going to get very hot very fast, and that was never fun. Especially when you had to stay in those dirty, smelling clothes for the rest of the day. They knew this from experience.

As always, they turned up at training ground seven at around eight, thinking their sensei would be at least an hour late. So it was a surprise when upon entering the grounds, they found their sensei already waiting for them, slouched against one of the training posts, book in hand.

"Ah, good, you're all here," he said, noticing their arrival. He tucked his book back in his weapons pouch and pushed off from the post, striding up to them. "Although it is rude to keep your teacher waiting."

Yes, they were supposed to be here at seven, like usual. But they'd thrown that out the window their first week of training. "Are you serious," Sakura deadpanned, glaring up at him.

The bastard only gave them an annoying eye smile before moving on.

"Maa, anyway," he said, waving her off. "Who wants to go first? Whatever training you want, I'll help you."

"Oh, oh, can I sensei!" Naruto immediately shouted. One would think he were an actual twelve year old the way he was jumping around.

"Go ahead," he said, nodding him off. Naruto took that as permission to start, and ran off to the center of the clearing and started stripping off his shirt and jacket as usual. He knew Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be able to work with him one on one as the jonin had no idea how to help, so he started without him as always.

Shrugging, Kakashi turned back to Sakura and Sasuke. "Sasuke, we haven't worked much on your sharingan. Do you want to focus on that today?" Sasuke could have laughed at the offer. At this point he knew more about the sharingan than Kakashi-sensei did. But he couldn't let him know that, obviously.

"Sure," he shrugged, trying not to sound too annoyed. Sakura would punch him if he did.

"Alright," his sensei nodded. "And Sakura," he turned to his last student. "We haven't talked much about what you are interested in. What did you want to try today?"

Sakura put her finger to her lips in thought, brow furrowed slightly. She had mentioned before that she wanted to become a great medical ninja like Lady Tsunade, but the fact of the matter was that she already was. Maybe she didn't have as much experience as the sannin, being only seventeen years old as opposed to fifty, but she was definitely amazing. But what would be the point of having Kakashi-sensei, a ninjutsu specialist, "train" her in that? For one he wasn't all the knowledgeable in it, and for two she didn't actually need to practice. So, what then?

"If I remember correctly," he spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. "Haku gave you some poisons and senbon back in Wave. We haven't worked on those at all as of yet. Would you be interested in doing that today?"

Sakura had to think about it. She was a medic, which meant she healed people, and poisons were the exact opposite of that. That wasn't to say she wasn't grateful for Haku's gift, but it was very contradictory. But on the other hand, having a deeper understanding of poisons and the nervous system would make her a better healer. And it would help her in stealth missions, if that was ever a thing she would do.

"I think," she said, worrying her lip. "I would like that." Then, nodding decisively, she said, "Yes. I would like to work on that, sensei."

Kakashi-sensei eye smiled. "Wonderful," he said. "Then let's get started."


Naruto was doing what Kurama said. He was feeling. He really was. But so far, nothing. Was. Happening!

So, swallowing his frustration, he meditated on it. He'd done enough of it on mount Myoboku that he was fairly good at it. But still, nothing was coming to him.

Kurama had said it wasn't a technique, it was a feeling. Well, he didn't really know what that feeling was, and finding it was proving to be rather hard. Sasuke had said something similar to that, too. That activates his sharingan was like lifting a finger. It wasn't something you thought about, you just did it. Yet despite all this 'helpful' information, he still couldn't figure it out. How was he supposed to "just do" something when he has no reference point on it? Like explaining how to use a muscle he doesn't have. Sure it was simple for them, because they have it. But to him, no such luck.

They'd been at it for hours now. It was approaching lunchtime and the sun was high in the sky. So far Kakashi-sensei had worked with Sakura on senbon throwing, teaching her the technique and style, as it was different than what they'd taught in the academy for kunai and shuriken. At the moment she was practicing that while their sensei moved on to Sasuke. Whenever Naruto had caught glimpses of it, he'd had to repress his laughter at the sight of the Uchiha just barely playing along as if the sharingan was still a new concept for him. It was hilarious.

With a sigh, he released his pose and flopped back onto the grass, the blades tickling his neck.

"No luck?" Sakura asked from the tree line. She was busy pulling her senbon out of various trees she had thrown them into when practicing. They weren't clustered in the least as was the goal, but then again, throwing kunai and throwing senob are two very different practices.

"Not yet," he sighed, defeated. He turned to look up at the sky. It was bright and cheery. The exact opposite of what he was feeling. "I thought for sure I'd get it this time."

Sakura frowned in sympathy, hearing the edge of despair in his voice. She picked herself up from her spot and walked over to him, crouching down to be more at his level. "Well, I'm no good at offering advice," she said. "But, you said it was more like a feeling, right?"

He nodded, staring vacantly up at the passing clouds. "Well…" she continued. "What were you feeling on the bridge? What made you activate them?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It was all happening so fast, I kinda didn't really think about that."

"Could you try?"

He glanced up at her and saw her wearing a hopeful, earnest expression. One he'd seen on her before whenever she'd console a younger version of Sasuke back when they were actually genin.

"Uh, yeah. I'll try." He sat up, face pinched in concentration. What had he been feeling? The memories were kind of hazy now, what with all the excitement, but there were still some things he could pick out. "Um," he started. "I think I was scared… but not for myself, y'know? Um, Sasuke was trying to kill Haku, and Kakashi-sensei was in danger, and I just had to do something! But I couldn't, cuz of all the senbon, 'n stuff."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully, listening along to the story.

"So like, I guess I was feeling… desperate? I dunno. But, I wasn't angry. Not like…" Not like the last time. When Haku and Zabuza had actually died. When he'd released kurama's chakra. He didn't say these things, but Sakura seemed to hear them clear as a day.

"I get it," she said. "So… if you can recreate that feeling, maybe you'll be able to access your chains again? And if you can do that, then you'll know what to feel for. Does that make sense?"

Sakura, ever the smart one. He smiled, then nodded. "I think so."

"Great," she smiled. "Then, good luck." And with that, she stood up and went back to picking up stray senbon.

Naruto picked himself up off the ground and took a deep breath before closing his eyes. Time to focus.

The sound of chirping birds was the only warning he got before someone screamed.

"SAKURA!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto's eyes shot open and saw their sensei holding Sakura in a headlock, hand alight with chidori and pressed up against her neck.

"If anyone moves, she dies immediately," their sensei cried out, eyes cold as ice. Naruto could only stare. Was he insane? Had he finally snapped? What the hell was going on!

"Sensei, what are you doing?" Sasuke shouted, sharingan spinning madly.

"Do as I say," was all he growled back. Then he pushed his hand just a little closer to her neck, making her cry out in alarm. If Naruto was being rational, he would have known she could have easily gotten out of it, and maybe she would have known that as well. But as it was, she was fighting off flashbacks of having a chidori aimed at her by a certain Uchiha, and was unable to do anything.

Sakura cried out again, stirring something in Naruto. His sensei saw the look in his eye and glared at him.

"If you move, she dies." His words were sharp as kunai.

He didn't even think, he just acted. A scream of frustration tore itself out of his mouth, and with it came a rush of energy, and the sound of trees breaking and soil being upturned. Immediately his eyes were filled with blinding golden light, and the sight of… chains?

Chains covered the training ground. Snaking through trees, around posts, into the ground, everywhere. And they were coming from him. Golden chains. Chakra chains. His chains.

The clearing was silent.

And then, clapping. Naruto looked up from his gawking to see their sensei, sans chidori, slowly applauding. The feral look was gone from his eyes, and he'd recovered his sharingan which he'd pulled out for his chidori. Sakura was standing next to him with a hand to her neck, eyes wide and limbs shaky.

Had it… all been an act?

"Good job Naruto," he said easily. "I knew you could do it." He offered him a thumbs up.

The three members of team 7 could only stare at their sensei in mild horror.

Afterwards he treated them to lunch, but if they all sat at least six feet away from him at the other end of the ramen bar, well, then nobody could really blame them.

AN: Come scream at me on my tumblr (dragonpyre)