'Thoughts'

"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk

"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside

'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu' Thoughts

Reviews

Fictionlover87: Sorry but I'm gonna put romance in this story. I like romance and I think it could be good in this story.

Harem so far (help it expand by suggesting)

Amaru, Hinata, Ino, Mei, Shion, Temari, Tenten, Yakumo/Ido

Chapter 4: Genin

It had been four years since Naruto went to the Academy. He barely learned anything new and he thought he'd learn genjutsu in the genjutsu class… but he didn't. They went over how it worked and how to know if you were trapped in one.

Other than that letdown, nothing else happened. His relationship with Hinata grew exponentially and they became close friends. He'd even met her little sister at least five times but she didn't say anything to him. Guess even the little kids of the Hyuuga know to stay away from, and hate, him.

Sasuke became more of an annoyance everytime he tried to challenge Naruto, which he'd lose and grew more angry. His fangirls still admired him somehow and didn't think twice that maybe, MAYBE Sasuke wasn't all he was meant to be… but it wasn't his problem that his fangirls were blind. Honestly, even Hinata could beat him without even trying… and that's saying something. But it was thanks to her and Naruto's many sparring matches that it was possible.

Now, it was time for the Graduation Exam. Naruto's class had already taken the written exam, now it was time for the other part… to show if you could use the Clone Technique.

He tried to practice it, but he couldn't get it right and Kyuubi couldn't help him because he didn't know how to do it. Well, he did, but Kirai came by and kept his mouth shut.

Naruto was waiting impatiently for his turn to be called. He was silently tapping his right foot repeatedly against the floor and his fingers tapped each other. Hinata, who got her hitai-ate, saw this and attempted to calm down her friend.

"Naruto," Hinata spoke as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto stopped his fidgeting and whipped his head at Hinata. "Calm down. You've got this."

Naruto took a deep breath and nodded with a smile. "You're right, thanks, Hinata."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka called from the door. Naruto stood up and went down to meet his sensei. Hinata silently wished him good luck as he left the classroom.

Naruto was standing in an empty room with Iruka and a white haired chunin named Mizuki. Naruto didn't know why, but Mizuki seemed off to him. The way he smiled and looked at him looked like it meant no harm, but something told Naruto that there was something beneath that smile.

"Alright Naruto, transform into the Hokage," Iruka said. Naruto nodded and made the Dog → Boar → Ram hand seals.

"Transformation Technique!" A puff of smoke appeared where Naruto was and as it cleared, Naruto transformed into Hiruzen Sarutobi perfectly.

"Great job, Naruto. Looks exactly like him," Iruka complimented with a head nod. Naruto transformed back and smiled. "Now, substitute yourself with the chair." Iruka pulled out a kunai and threw it at Naruto's foot.

Naruto made the Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake hand seals. He tugged at the chair and in a puff of smoke, they switched places right as the kunai hit his foot.

"Good job. Now, for the last one, perform the Clone Technique and make three good clones."

Naruto gulped as he nodded. From the corner of his eye, he could've sworn he saw Mizuki smirking.

Naruto did the Ram → Snake → Tiger hand seals and closed his eyes as he prayed this would work. "Clone Technique!"

He only heard one puff of smoke appear and look to his right to see a ghostly pale and pathetic version of himself just on the ground. Naruto looked at it with worry and looked back at Iruka, who sighed.

"I'm sorry Naruto… but you've failed…" Iruka said with the shake of his head.

"Oh come on, Iruka, you should cut him some slack. I mean, he tried his best and I think we should let him pass because of it," Mizuki voiced as he turned to his chuunin partner.

"I'd like to… but he needs to make at least two solid clones to pass… and just look at that one, it's pathetic. I'm sorry, Naruto…" Iruka said. Naruto only nodded as he left the room. He spent four years at this Academy only to not be able to pass. Naruto was wretched. If only, if only he could get a handle of how to do the Clone Technique… why was that so hard for him to learn? He tried and tried but just couldn't get it.

Hinata watched the door and waited. She waited for a while and knew that something was wrong since Naruto hadn't come back yet.

She got up and made her way out of the door. Soon, the passing students walked out of her classroom and were making their way outside. Hinata followed the crowd, hoping she'd find Naruto somewhere.

When she made her way outside, she instantly spotted Naruto on the swing… just staring into nothingness with the word 'miserable' written all over his face. She wanted to go over to him and comfort him, but there were just too many parents and kids blocking her path!

She was about to continue, but then a white haired chuunin came up to him and told him something. Naruto furrowed his brow before looking up at the man and saying something back. The man replied, and Naruto looked away before finally standing up and following him.

'Was that Mizuki-sensei…? What did he want with Naruto…?' Hinata asked herself as she stopped trying to get through the crowd and easily made it to the clearing. She watched the swing set, holding a fist to her heart. 'I hope you're alright Naruto.'

"You know, Iruka-sensei's tough, but he's not against you," Mizuki spoke as he stared at the sun slowly descending.

"Yeah… I know that… but, it just hurts, ya know? Out of all of the students in my class, I was the one that didn't graduate… all because I couldn't learn a stupid technique…" Naruto responded with a scoff as he looked at the buildings below.

"Don't let one technique get you down, Naruto, you're still a capable ninja… and that's why I have a secret to tell you," Mizuki said as he turned to the boy.

Naruto looked at Mizuki with a cocked eyebrow. "A secret? What kind of secret?"

"Well… the Sandaime Hokage told me to tell you that in case you were to ever fail, you would have to pass a different test to become a genin."

"Really? What kind of test? And why didn't Gramps tell me about it?" Naruto quizzed as his full attention was on Mizuki.

"For this test, you have to sneak into the Hokage's office and steal the forbidden scroll. After that, bring it to the location I'm going to tell you later tonight and you'll pass! As for why he didn't tell you, he didn't want you to purposely fail the Graduation Exam so you could take this one," Mizuki answered with a small smile.

"Oh, I see now…"

"Yes, but remember Naruto, you cannot tell anyone about this, it'll ruin the whole test." Naruto nodded and Mizuki stood up. "Well, I'll see you here later tonight, okay?"

Naruto nodded and Mizuki jumped away. Naruto was giddy that he'd get another chance to become a genin. There was no way he was going to fail this one too!

Naruto successfully stole the scroll and was now in the forest. He was by a shed Mizuki told him to go to when he got the scroll. As he waited, he visited Kyuubi, but the fox Bijuu was sleeping. Naruto tried to wake him up, but the fox just wouldn't open his eyes. When Kyuubi yawned, Naruto knew to get out of there as Kyuubi's breath stank badly.

Out of curiosity and boredom, Naruto opened the scroll and began reading the first one.

"... Shadow Clone Technique…?" He read. He began reading some more and his eyes widened. "This is so easy! How can I understand this but not the Clone Technique?!"

Naruto, out of irritation, stood up and began practicing the Shadow Clone Technique.

Sometime passed and Iruka made it to where Naruto was.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, grabbing the dirtied blonde's attention.

Naruto looked to see who called him and saw Iruka there. "Oh, hey Iruka-sensei! How are you?"

"Naruto! How did you get that scroll?!"

Naruto looked at him confused, but then grinned. "I can't tell you, Mizuki told me that if I told you, it'd ruin the whole test!"

"... What test…?" Iruka asked, now curious as to what Naruto was talking about.

"Mizuki told me that the Hokage prepared a test for me in case I failed the Graduation Exam! Now, I have to give this scroll to Mizuki and I'll become a genin, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka was taken back. Mizuki set him up to steal the scroll so that he could take it and deem Naruto a traitor to the village while also escaping Konoha.

"Naruto! You can't give that scroll to Mizuki!" Iruka told the boy.

"What? Why not?!"

"Because he used you to steal the scroll for himself! If Mizuki gets that scroll, he'll have the forbidden secret techniques of Konoha! And if he escapes Hi no Kuni, we'll be in serious trouble if enemy nations decide to attack!" Iruka explained.

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the scroll. He'd been set up to steal a forbidden scroll… he was now seen as a traitor of the village. And it was all thanks to him listening to Mizuki.

'Stupid, stupid! How could I have fallen for that?!' Naruto grabbed his hair in frustration.

"Naruto, it's-"

"Naruto! There you are! Don't let Iruka get the scroll, it'll ruin your test!" Mizuki shouted as he appeared on a branch.

"You used me!" Naruto shouted at the white haired chunin.

"W-What?! No I didn't! I'm trying to help you pass to become a genin! If you give me the scroll you'll definitely pass!" Mizuki exclaimed.

"No, if I hand you the scroll I'll be seen as a traitor to this village!"

Mizuki frowned, but then a grin grew on his face. "Well, what's new anyways?! People look at you as if you're a traitor so what's the difference? I mean, why do you think people look at you the way that they do? They all know something that you don't!"

"Mizuki, don't tell him, it's forbidden!" Iruka shouted.

"You have the-"

"I already know," Naruto interrupted. This surprised both Iruka and Mizuki.

"W-What…?" Iruka muttered as he stared at Naruto.

"I already know that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me. I already know that people see me as the Nine-Tailed Fox… I met the Nine-Tails," Naruto explained with a scowl as his eyes turned red and his pupils became slits.

Mizuki and Iruka were shocked.

"I'm even friends with the Nine-Tails. He helped me when I didn't have anyone and he taught me a lot of things. He's my closest friend I've had since I was five, and I will not stand here and listen to you tell me that I'm the Nine-Tailed Fox. I'm NOT. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! And you, Mizuki, are a traitor to this village!"

Naruto tossed Iruka the scroll and ran towards Mizuki.

"Naruto wait!" Iruka screamed after him, but it was too late.

Mizuki grit his teeth as his plan failed. "Damn you, demon brat!" Mizuki pulled out one of his giant shurikens and threw it at Naruto.

Naruto made the clone sign. "Shadow Clone Technique!" Two clones appeared next to him and they all looked at each other before the two clones ran ahead of the original.

The original Naruto jumped on the clone to his left's back and jumped off of it, doing a barrel roll and avoiding the shuriken.

As Naruto was doing his barrel roll, he held his hand out and the clone he jumped off of grabbed it. The original Naruto flung the clone up in the air and the other clone grabbed a hand, flinging high in the air to meet his other clone.

The first clone that was in the air grabbed the other clone and did a multitude of spins before throwing the clone at Mizuki.

The clone that was flying towards Mizuki did the Boar → Tiger → Rat → Dragon hand seals. "Fire Release: Scorching Limbs!" His arms became black ash with fiery cracks in them and his sandals flared with flames.

The clone tackled Mizuki and as they hit the ground, the clone rolled with him before forcefully kicking the chuunin off of him. He hit a tree and bounced off of it, but the clone appeared before him and punched his stomach.

Mizuki coughed up some saliva as the clone relentlessly beat Mizuki up while he was still suspended in the air.

The clone then grabbed Mizuki's face and threw him towards the other clone that was descending in the air.

As Mizuki made it to the other clone, it started making the Snake → Dragon → Bird hand seals. "Wind Release: Sickle Weasel Technique!" The clone then swiped both of his arms past each other and the wind began colliding right where Mizuki was. It soon formed into a tornado and the clone made sure to use a lot of chakra so that the wind would be more fiercer and sharper.

After hearing Mizuki's cries of pain, the original Naruto landed and jumped on a branch before jumping in the air. He then went on to make the Rat → Ox → Dog → Horse → Monkey → Boar → Tiger hand seals as he built up a lot of chakra in his mouth and body before converting it to fire

"Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!" Naruto then blew out and the giant flame quickly traveled to the Sickle Weasel Technique.

As the giant flames combined with the wind technique, it dramatically grew in size and looked like a giant, fire tornado that could probably be seen across the whole village.

After hearing one last cry from Mizuki, the flame and wind technique died down and only the ashes of the traitor chuunin remained. The ashes slowly fell down to the ground and Naruto's clones disappeared as he landed on a branch, eyes turning back to normal.

He turned back to Iruka who looked at the scene in complete shock.

Naruto jumped off the branch and looked at Iruka. "Uh… I'm… I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei… for stealing the scroll…"

Iruka took a moment to look at the whiskered blonde before smiling. "You know what, Naruto? You passed the test."

Naruto looked up at Iruka in shock. "W-Huh?! I passed?! How?!"

Iruka chuckled. "You made two solid clones… Shadow Clones at that… I think that deserves you to pass," Iruka answered as he rubbed Naruto's head. He then took off his hitai-ate and gave it to Naruto. "It's proof that you passed."

Naruto teared up and hugged Iruka. "Thank you, Iruka… thank you…!" Iruka returned the hug as he looked up at the moon.

After Iruka took Naruto out to eat some ramen, the whiskered blonde was soundly sleeping in his bed with a grin etched on his face.

"Are you ready, Naruto?" Kyuubi asked as he looked down at the boy from the other side of the gate.

Naruto nodded and he stood close to the gate. The water rose until it brought him to the tag that sealed Kyuubi shut. He grabbed the top of it and tugged, but then an explosion sent him away and he rolled across the water before stopping.

Kyuubi couldn't help but laugh at this. Naruto shook his head and glared at the fox, before looking at what was standing in front of him.

It was a man with spiky blonde hair that looked like Naruto's but longer. He had blue eyes that were a bit lighter than Naruto's but looked the same. He was wearing the standard blue Konoha uniform with two bands on each sleeve and had a green flak jacket on with a blue hitai-ate and sandals. Over top of it, he was wearing a short-sleeved, white haori with red flames on the motif.

The man looked around before seeing the Nine-Tails sitting calmly behind the gate. "Minato Namikaze… it's been a while."

The man named Minato Namikaze narrowed his eyes. "Nine-Tailed Fox…"

"Y-Yondaime Hokage?!" Naruto exclaimed as he looked at the glowing man in shock. Minato looked back at the whiskered blonde and was shocked too.

"N-Naruto… what the… you're so young…" Minato noticed as he walked closer to the boy.

"Yeah, I'm twelve now!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile that instantly reminded Minato of someone. 'His mother.'

"Wow, you've grown up!" Minato said as he kneeled down and rubbed Naruto's hair.

"So, what are you doing here Yondaime?" Naruto asked as he slightly tilted his head.

"Ah, right, well, I'm here because you tried to take off the seal. I came here just in case you were going to do it under the Fox's influence," Minato explained.

"Oh… that's so awesome!" Naruto responded. Minato laughed.

"So, how's Jiraiya?" Minato asked.

"Who?" Naruto asked back. Minato looked at his son for a solid three seconds before closing his eyes slowly and reopening them.

"J-Jiraiya… you know, the Toad Sage…? The man with long, white and spiky hair…? Isn't he your sensei now…?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… no… I don't know a Jiraiya… plus, I just recently became a genin. I haven't gotten my jounin squad leader yet," Naruto answered.

Minato looked completely shocked. He looked back at the seal, then back at Naruto. "W-Hold on… Jiraiya didn't give you some sort of key to unlock more of the Fox's power so that you could better use it and control it…?"

"Nope…" Naruto responded. Minato took a moment to look at the water.

"Huh… well… this is unexpected…" Minato muttered to himself.

"Minato…" Kyuubi spoke. Minato turned to look at the fox. "I might know why Naruto was able to pull the seal without the key."

Minato stood up and walked over to Kyuubi with extra caution. The fox crouched down and whispered so that Naruto couldn't hear what they were saying.

Minato's eyes widened as he learned about the new information he'd just gotten. "I see…"

Minato quickly digested the information and made his way back to Naruto.

"So, Naruto Uzumaki… you didn't know your dad, did you?"

"No… he died before I was born," Naruto replied as he looked at the water. Minato crouched down and looked at the water too, seeing both of their reflections.

"Well, how about you get to know him now?" Minato asked, he saw Naruto's head look up at him through the water's reflection.

"You can really take me to my dad?! Oh man, I have so much to ask him!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

"Well, ask away," Minato said as he sat down.

Naruto looked at the man in confusion. But, after replaying what he said, his eyes widened.

"Y-You're… you're my dad…" Naruto whispered as he stared at Minato.

"Sure am, Son… how've you been?"

Naruto slowly sat down. He stared at him before jumping on the deceased Hokage.

"Dad!" Naruto exclaimed as he cried into Minato's shoulder. Minato hugged him and patted his back as he rocked him. "W-B-H-... I… I don't know what to say…"

"Sort your words out, Son, I've got time," Minato said with a reassuring smile. Naruto nodded and continued hugging him.

After Naruto had calmed down, he began asking Minato all of the questions he could think of and Minato answered all of them.

They spent a while talking to each other and trying to catch up as much as they could. Minato was on a time restraint after all.

Naruto would sometimes include Kyuubi into the conversation, much to Kyuubi's annoyance, but joined in nonetheless.

Minato looked at his arm and saw that it was starting to disappear. "Damnit…"

Naruto also saw this and started slowly losing his smile.

"Well, Son… looks like my time's up…" Minato pointed out with a sad smile. Naruto began tearing up. "Hey now, don't cry. Remember, I'll always be with you, Naruto. I know you'll do great things and you'll make great decisions… and with the Kyuubi's help as well."

Naruto couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face as he nodded to his father's words. "Dad… I-I wish you and Mom were there for me when I was growing up…"

"Me too, Naruto… I wish I was there as well…" Minato said as he brought his son into a loving hug. "I love you, Son."

"I love you too, Dad."

And with that… Minato disappeared, making the place a bit darker.

Naruto silently cried for a few minutes. Kyuubi watching, feeling sorry for Naruto for causing him so much sadness.

"Kit… I-"

"Don't blame yourself, Kyuubi," Naruto interrupted as he stood up and wiped his eyes. He walked up to the seal and the water rose again. "Things happen… and… I forgive you… it was in the past and I got a chance to meet my dad, so I'm not mad at you for this…"

Naruto grabbed the top of the seal and ripped it off. The gates swung open and Kyuubi was free.

The fox got on all fours and moved out of the cell he was in for twelve years. As he moved out, the gates disappeared and turned into a necklace of some sort and strapped itself to Kyuubi's neck. He looked at the accessory, but realized a bit of the seal was still placed on him.

"Damnit… seems like I'm not fully released yet…" Kyuubi said with a sigh. Naruto looked at the necklace and frowned.

"I guess we'll need Jiraiya for this…" Naruto said.

"Don't worry about that, I'm mostly free now, so I can share most of my chakra with you," Kyuubi pointed out with a smile.

"Oh yeah! That's true!" Naruto agreed with a grin. "Now, what's your real name?"

Kyuubi recoiled back slightly as he completely forgot about that deal he made a long time ago.

The fox sighed before looking at Naruto. "My name? It's Kurama."

Naruto smirked. "Nice to meet you, Kurama! I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Kurama laughed at the reintroduction. "It's nice to meet you too, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto giggled as Kurama greeted him back.

"Now, go to bed, you're being assigned your jonin squad leaders and you don't want to lose sleep," Kurama told the whiskered blonde. Naruto nodded at that.

"Night, Kurama!" Naruto opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, reminiscing his meeting with his dad.

He soon closed his eyes again as a smile was adorning his face and tears escaped the corners of his eyes.

'I love you too, Dad.'

Naruto woke up early and got dressed. Today was the day he was going to be assigned to a three man squad with a jounin leader. He couldn't miss this.

As Naruto was making breakfast, he felt like someone was watching him. He turned to the window and saw Cat standing there, waving. Naruto smiled widely and went over to the window. He opened it and let Cat in.

"Heya, Yugao! How are you?" Naruto asked.

"I'm doing well, how are you?" Yugao responded.

"I'm doing great! I just recently became a genin and today I'm going to be in a three man squad!" Naruto told her as he put out his arms for emphasis.

"Really? I knew my cute little Naruto would become a genin," Yugao said as she rubbed his head. Naruto grinned as he received the praise in the form of Yugao's patting. She stopped her patting when Naruto turned to the breakfast he was making. He went over to it and finished making it.

As Naruto brought his breakfast to the table, he sat down and Yugao sat next to him.

"Hey, Yugao," Naruto spoke as he looked at the Anbu kunoichi.

"Hm?" Yugao hummed as she looked at the blonde.

"Do you know any jounins that might be squad captains?" Naruto asked.

"Hm…" She put a finger to her chin in thought. "Yeah, I do."

"Can you tell me about them so I know what to expect?" Naruto requested.

"Sure," Yugao answered. "The first one is Asuma Sarutobi, the son of Hiruzen Sarutobi-"

"Wait, Gramps has a son?!" Naruto asked, completely baffled.

"Yes, but he doesn't like to talk about it," Yugao added. "The most notable thing about Asuma is he smokes all the time. But other than that, it's his short and black spiky hair plus the beard that connects to it. Asuma is a pretty relaxed shinobi that specializes in bukijutsu. He has a wind affinity like you as well, Naruto."

Naruto perked up after hearing that. "He does?! That's awesome! I hope I get him then, so I can learn more about bukijutsu."

Yugao slightly tilted her head. "Why not learn more about wind techniques? I think he has some that you can learn."

Naruto chuckled and gave her a foxy grin. "I already know some good wind techniques, so I'm fine for now!"

"Oh? Who taught you?" Yugao asked, a bit curious.

"Just a friend," Naruto responded as his grin turned into a smile and he ate his breakfast.

Yugao nodded at the answer and continued to describe the other jounins that would be squad leaders.

After Naruto and Yugao talked for a bit, she had to go and so did he.

Naruto was roof-hopping to the Academy, when he spotted someone walking the streets. He stopped on a roof and looked at the person to see it was Hinata. He smiled as he jumped down and ran up to her.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto greeted the Hyuuga. Hinata whipped her head at the sudden voice and relaxed when she saw it was Naruto.

"Oh, hello, Naruto. I hope you're feeling better after-" she stopped herself after looking at his forehead to see the hitai-ate that meant he graduated. "W-Wait, you graduated?!"

Naruto chuckled and showed his foxy grin. "Yep! I finally did the Clone Technique!"

Hinata couldn't help but smile. "Naruto that's awesome! You're a genin like me! Oh, I hope we're on the same team!"

"Yeah, me too… and I hope Sasuke and his fangirls aren't one of our teammates…" Naruto added as he narrowed his eyes.

"That would not be pleasant… at all…" Hinata agreed with a sigh.

The two continued to talk about what kind of missions they'd go on and who their jounin leaders would be.

They got to the Academy, then walked to their classroom. They took their usual seats in the back and continued to talk until they heard a rumble in the distance. Everyone looked at the back door and suddenly, a pinkette and a platinum blonde girl both tried to fit through the sliding door, but couldn't.

Naruto watched with an annoyed look. 'Of course it's Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka that are making a ruckus…' Naruto thought with a sigh and turned back around.

"I'm first!" Sakura and Ino both exclaimed, then took a moment to catch their breaths.

"I win again, Sakura," Ino spoke first as she looked at her pink-haired competitor.

"Give it up, I had to look back to see you. My toe was at least a tenth of an inch ahead," Sakura retorted. Naruto stopped listening to the two bickering girls and focused on Hinata, who giggled at his annoyance.

"I still don't understand what they see in that brooding emo kid," Naruto whispered to Hinata.

She silently giggled. "I think it's because of the 'dark vibe' that he's giving off," Hinata responded with air quotes, making Naruto giggle.

They then heard a bunch of commotion and looked down to where Sasuke was sitting. A bunch of the kunoichi had gathered and started fighting with each other, claiming who got the classroom first and deserved to sit with Sasuke.

Naruto sighed. It was annoying dealing with those girls. They always talked about Sasuke and it didn't seem like they took being a ninja seriously. Plus, they were rude to Naruto for no reason other than Sasuke didn't like him.

Luckily, before the fighting could get more annoying, if that was possible, Iruka came in and told everyone to take a seat. Somehow, Ino and Sakura moved Sasuke in between them.

"Alright class, listen up. You've all faced trouble and difficult hardships to get this far… but that means nothing now. You're all genin, first level ninjas. You guys will be grouped into three man squads led by a jounin, an elite ninja," Iruka spoke. The class eyes widened. Iruka took a moment to let that information sink in before continuing.

"Alright. Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki-" the whiskered blonde smiled and looked at Hinata who smiled back, this could be their chance to be on a team together. "-Sakura Haruno-" okay, this is fine… "and, Sasuke Uchiha-" never mind…

Naruto's smile disappeared as he put his head down. Hinata lost her smile as well but decided to comfort Naruto. Sakura cheered as she was on Sasuke's team and not the other girls.

Naruto droned out Iruka as he announced the other teams. He didn't care at all since he wasn't on the same team as Hinata, but he did listen to who was on her team before droning out Iruka once again.

Naruto was sitting on Kurama's head as he looked at the darkness.

"You alright, Kit?" Kurama asked as he looked up.

"Sure. I mean, why wouldn't I be? I have the two best teammates I could ask for…" Naruto sarcastically replied.

"How about we do something to get your mind off of your team for a bit," Kurama suggested.

"Like what?" Naruto asked, intrigued by Kurama's suggestion.

"Let's try a Collaboration Technique," Kurama answered with a smile. Naruto smiled as well, liking the suggestion.

"Okay, yeah! Let's do it!" Naruto shouted with a fist raised. "So, what technique did you have in mind?"

"Well… I've been thinking of one I'd like to try out, but I need you to do something and I don't know if you can do it," Kurama answered.

"I'm pretty sure I can do it just fine!"

Kurama looked at the blonde before sighing. "Can you make an empty Shadow Clone?"

"An empty what?" Naruto asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"An empty Shadow Clone… so I can possess it…" Kurama restated. Naruto had to think about that. Could he actually make an empty Shadow Clone? How would he even be able to do that?

Naruto began thinking of a way for Kurama to possess a Shadow Clone… but it was difficult. How was he supposed to take his chakra out of his clone, and not have it disperse… or maybe, he just needs to make one that simply doesn't have chakra at all.

Naruto made the clone hand seal, but reversed. "Empty Shadow Clone Technique!"

To Naruto's surprise, a puff of smoke appeared next to him and a Shadow Clone was made, except this one's eyes were blank and it just stared into nothingness. It was also pale.

"Perfect. Nice job, Kit," Kurama praised as he tapped the clone with his claw. Once he did that, the fox Bijuu disappeared.

Naruto was shocked.

He frantically looked around to see where Kurama went.

"I'm right next to you, Kit," Kurama's voice said. Naruto looked at the empty Shadow Clone and saw that it's appearance changed.

His clone's hair was now orange like Kurama's fur and it was more frizzier. The clone's eyes were red with black slits and the whiskers were more prominent. The skin was darker as well and the sealing necklace was there too. Naruto also saw that the clone had nine small tails waving behind it.

"K-Kurama?! You possessed the clone?!" Naruto asked, shocked and amazed.

"Yep. I'll only disappear when you use it in here. If you were to do this outside, I'd still be here. But I'd need to focus on possessing the empty Shadow Clone," Kurama explained as he inspected himself.

"Oh, I see," Naruto said as he nodded understandingly.

"Now… the first Technique I thought of is called 'Reverse Fox Hunt.' It's where we transform into me and aggressively attack groups of enemies, or to simply overwhelm an opponent."

"I can actually transform to look like you…?" Naruto asked as his eyes widened.

"It's like a Transformation Technique… but you actually transform instead of disguising," Kurama elaborated. "You wanna try it out?"

Naruto smirked as he nodded. "Hell yeah I do!"

"Alright then, but first, we need enemies, and a lot of them," Kurama said as he put a hand on his hip and looked at the darkness in front of them.

"Oh! I can make a bunch of clones, they could be our enemies!" Naruto told.

"No, do not do that."

"What… why not…?"

"Because preparations have already been prepared. Rise up!" Kurama commanded. Naruto watched the darkness as he could hear something come out from the water. He couldn't exactly see what was going on, but he saw a bunch of white eyes appear in the dark. Kurama was lucky that Kirai would do this for Naruto's training. "Now, make the Dog hand seal with me."

"Huh? Oh, okay." Naruto and Kurama both made the dog sign.

"Reverse Fox Hunt!" They both shouted. A giant puff of smoke appeared in place of them and as it cleared, there were now two Nine-Tailed Foxes.

One of them was Kurama while the other was Naruto, but Naruto didn't look like Kurama. Naruto was yellow and had blue eyes with black slits. He had a tuff of spiky fur on his head to resemble his normal hair.

Naruto took a minute to look at himself. He expected to look like an exact copy of Kurama, not look like himself as the Nine-Tails.

"Woah…" Naruto whispered and realized his voice was about as deep as Kurama's. "I'm actually a Kyuubi…"

Kurama smirked, then faced ahead. "Hey, Kit, take a look at the enemies in front of us again."

Naruto did just that and could actually see them in the dark. There were a bunch of them just standing there, looking up at the two Kyuubis.

Naruto then smirked. "Let's get this going, yeah?"

"I hope you can follow my lead, Kit, I'm not easy to read," Kurama challenged.

Naruto looked at Kurama, keeping his smirk. "I already know what you're thinking, ya know."

"Oh really? Then let's do this!" Kurama took off and Naruto followed, right beside him.

"TAILED BEAST BALL!"

After Naruto and Kurama tried out different Collaboration Techniques, Naruto returned back to the classroom after the teams were made.

"After lunch, you'll meet your new jounin teachers. Until then, class dismissed," Iruka spoke. Everyone got up and headed out of the classroom except Naruto and Hinata.

"Man… this sucks… I really wanted to be with you too, Hinata," Naruto said with a sigh. Hinata looked at him and nodded.

"I did too… but… it's already been decided," Hinata said with a silent sigh.

"Well, at least we get to spend time with each other before then. So, how about it? Wanna have lunch with me?" Naruto offered with a smile.

Hinata smiled back as she nodded. "Yes, I'd love to."

Naruto and Hinata went out of the classroom and out of the Academy. As they were walking and deciding on a place to go, they noticed someone standing in their way to leave. It was none other than Sasuke Uchiha with his fangirls near him, who was staring down Naruto.

"Naruto…" Sasuke spoke with malice. Naruto sighed as he had bored eyes.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, already guessing what he was going to say.

"I want to fight you, now," Sasuke stated. Naruto blinked and stared at the Uchiha for a minute before shrugging.

"It's gonna be the same result… but sure, why not…" Naruto said. He looked at Hinata and smiled. "It'll only take a second."

"You should destroy him, Naruto, so that way he doesn't want to fight you again," Hinata suggested. Naruto's eyes slightly widened. He didn't expect that out of Hinata.

"I'd like to… but he is a part of my team… and I don't wanna deal with his fangirls trying to attack me," Naruto pointed out as he looked at them, all glaring at Naruto. Hinata seemed to nod as she too looked at the glaring fangirls.

"Right, well, just beat him so we can have our lunch together."

"You got it!" Naruto responded with a foxy grin and a thumbs up. The whiskered blonde then turned back to Sasuke and walked closer to him.

"I'm surprised… you've somehow convinced a person to actually be your friend. And Hinata Hyuuga, no less," Sasuke stated as his eyes wandered to the Hyuuga heiress.

Naruto glared his eyes. "I didn't convince her, she's just a very nice and sweet person, something you've never heard of," the blonde retorted.

"It would be a shame if she so happened to be attracted to me because of my battle prowess," Sasuke said as he didn't take his eyes off of Hinata.

"Oh please, she could beat you without trying and you've never beaten me before, Uchiha, what makes you think you're gonna beat me this time?" Naruto asked with a sneer. Sasuke finally took his eyes off of Hinata and glared at Naruto.

Hinata deadpanned at Sasuke's words. None of what he said sounded appealing at all to her.

Sakura and Ino were next to her, and she could already sense she was going to get annoyed at what they were going to say.

"Hey, Hinata, you sure you wanna be hanging with Naruto?" Sakura asked, a hint of venom after saying the blonde's name.

"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Hinata responded as kindly as she could without trying to seem hostile.

"Yeah. I mean… Naruto's Naruto. He's an arrogant asshole that's always rude to Sasuke, you shouldn't be hanging out with him. He'll only get you into trouble," Ino answered as she crossed her arms.

"Naruto is only like that with Sasuke because Sasuke's always challenging him to fights he's going to lose… and Sasuke's always mean to Naruto. Also, I will hang out with who I please. I really like Naruto a lot and I'm not going to stay away from him just because you told me to," Hinata defended as she watched the two boys.

"Psh, yeah right. Sasuke just wants to give Naruto a fair chance since he's way above that idiot's skill level," Sakura retorted with Ino whole heartedly agreeing with her. "And fine, but he'll ruin your life. He's a good-for-nothing dumbass."

Hinata looked at them impassively. 'Are these girls serious…?' She shook her head and looked back at Sasuke getting into a fighting stance while Naruto put his hands in his pockets, glaring at the raven-haired boy. 'What did Sasuke say to make Naruto angry…?'

Naruto clenched his fists as he heard what Sasuke said. He was glad Hinata didn't hear what this jackass said. Kami how he wanted to use the Reverse Fox Hunt on Sasuke… but he held back on doing so… it would scare his second human friend if he did that.

"Alright Sasuke, since you wanna lose so badly, I'll make the first move," Naruto said with gritted teeth. 'Hey, Kurama… how fast do you think I can reach Sasuke?'

"As in appear next to him fast?" Kurama asked.

'Yeah, like, do you think I'm as fast as my dad?'

"Hell. No," Kurama flat out replied.

'Teach me how to do the Body Flicker Technique really quickly then," Naruto said.

"W-What?! I can't teach you the Body Flicker Technique if I don't know how to do it," Kurama explained.

'You-Nevermind, you know what it is right? If so, explain it to me."

Kurama sighed, but complied. "Alright, fine. To do the Body Flicker Technique, you have to use your chakra to strengthen and energize your body. The amount of chakra required depends on the distance. Also, you have to make the Tiger hand seal to do it."

Naruto nodded and he began to use his chakra to strengthen and energize his body. He took his hands out of his pockets and made the Tiger hand seal.

Naruto appeared right next to Sasuke in the air. Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto wasn't in his original spot. He tried to turn to the left, but he was met with a great pain to the back of his head that shook his skull.

Sasuke's face was forced into the ground and Naruto landed next to him. He picked up the Uchiha's head and rendered him barely conscious.

Naruto leaned into Sasuke's ear. "Say something like that about Hinata again and you'll get more than a kick to the back of the head," he warned as he slammed Sasuke's face back into the ground. He looked at Hinata for a moment and turned away, walking to get lunch somewhere. Hinata quickly left the scene and joined the blonde.

"That was awesome, Naruto! The way you teleported to him and he didn't even have time to react, then you kicked his head and owned him!" Hinata recalled with a bright smile.

Naruto looked at her and smiled back, he then rubbed her head, making her blush. "Of course! I had to show that Uchiha jackass who's the stronger one, ya know!"

Hinata giggled at that and the two decided on where to get lunch, though they had to make it quick. That fight costed them a bit of time.

Naruto and Hinata ate their lunch by their picnic spot, with Hinata sitting in Naruto's lap and relaxing against his chest. She began doing this a couple weeks ago and it started with Hinata lying in his lap when she was tired. After that, it slowly progressed to her sleeping on his shoulder, and somehow, his lap became her favorite spot to sit.

But now they were back in class and about to be assigned their jounin teachers.

There were a lot of them in the front of the classroom, but the two that really stood out were a man with short, black spiky hair and a beard that connected to his hair with a cigarette in his mouth and had his hitai-ate on his forehead. Next to him was a woman with long, black, untamed hair. She had unique red eyes with a ring in them and had purple eyeshadow with red lipstick. She was wearing a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible and the blouse had a thorn-like pattern on it. Her hands and upper thighs were wrapped in bandages. She was wearing regular shinobi sandals and had her hitai-ate on her forehead too.

'Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi… wow she's beautiful…' Naruto thought as she stared at the two jounin captains.

One by one, the now formed teams left with their jounin whenever they were called. Hinata was with Kurenai and Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit jealous at that, but he forgot about it after it was only him, Sasuke, and Sakura left in the classroom.

He remembered Yugao saying that Kakashi tended to be late… extremely late. During that time, Sakura started to loudly complain and Naruto ignored it for the better. He decided to train with Kurama and to work on his Collaboration Techniques with his Bijuu.

The sound of a door opening alerted the three genin to who opened it, and it was a man with white, gravity-defying, spiky hair with a black eye and his hitai-ate was covering his left eye.

He looked at the three genin and closed his eye, nodding to himself before opening it again.

"You know, my first impression of this group is… you all look like idiots."