AN: I own nothing

Naruto sat on the floor with his legs crossed, completely disregarding the noise around him made by the other children and just focused on looked inward and felt the energy in him. It was vast, deep and as a result he never really bothered going too deep.

After ten minutes of his meditation he went to bed ready to face his fears.


He found himself in the forest, alone again, the beautiful yet lonely night sky above him, he looked at it there were a few stars but what stood out the most was the moon, it was beautiful and full, he stared at it for a while.

He felt a pull and took a deep breath, 'Well here goes nothing.' He thought. Naruto followed the feeling. He was calmer than the other times he was in this dream.

When he reached the gate some of his calm was disappearing, "Hello!" Naruto shouted timidly. It was pitch black on the other side of it.

Giant eyes opened, now that he looked right into them he could see that they had a slit pupil and red irises, they were terrifying but he wouldn't look away, not this time.

"You again… Leave boy, do not return here" What ever this was, the presence it had and was emitting had him shaking a little but he wouldn't let his fear take over this time. What ever this was seemed to notice this and wasn't trying the same tactic to drive him off.

"What are you?" Naruto asked gaining some confidence. A roar came from the other side, it seemed to shake the very ground he stood on. "Leave boy, your false courage can only take you so far" Naruto was beginning to feel his fear overwhelm him again. As if it was linked to his with his emotions, a red, bubbling coat of something began spilling from the cage and moving forward. Faster than ever before, it was rapidly approaching Naruto. He backed up and fell, even while on his back he tried to scramble away.

It was a meter away when he remembered what Shisui had said to him, that one day he'd have to be brave even if there was a chance he'd die. Naruto stood up, took a breath and said, "No… I won't run away anymore." He had conviction, a fire burning in his eyes, he meant what he said. He'd had enough of this. The red bubbling coat came to a stop and retreated back to the cage.

Red eyes looked at him calculatingly, "You surprise me boy… It seems you came here to face me." the voice said with distain.

"Well if I let my dreams scare me how can I face my fears in real life?" Naruto said with a victorious smirk. There was a long silence followed by a snort and then full blown laughter from behind the cage "I suppose I gave you too much credit. Leave."


When Naruto woke up it was the calmest he'd woken up in a while. He was proud of himself, he'd done it, he faced his fears and came out on top. As far as he was concerned he'd just taken another step to being a ninja.

He'd have to have breakfast and get going soon. He wanted to practice both of his jutsu especially the Propelling Winds jutsu, he had to master it by the time Sasuke masters the Body Flicker or he'd probably be soundly beaten, especially since Sasuke had his family, basically a whole family of ninja, to help him along the way.

Naruto went to have breakfast determined that he would make the Propelling Winds a feared jutsu just like Shisui did with the Body Flicker.


At the Uchiha household, Sasuke was just getting up and fixing his room. He went to the lounge for breakfast, he noticed his brother wasn't there that meant he'd already left for a mission, his father as usual was already at the police building only his mother was left. She was washing the dishes no doubt waiting for him before she ate.

"Good morning mom." Sasuke said as he sat down.

Mikoto turned around with a smile, "Good morning Sasuke." She noticed he was a bit down and understood why immediately. "Shisui left some drills that will help you master the Body Flicker quicker, he said because you're so talented you could be able to surpass him in using it one day." She said in an attempt to distract and cheer him up.

"Hmph, of course I'm gonna be better than him" Sasuke said with a puffed chest. Mikoto laughed at that, "He also said that you're going to need all the help you can get if you want to beat the, 'Super awesome jutsu' he taught Naruto" Mikoto said still laughing.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Then we better hurry and do those drills"

Sasuke was quick to finish breakfast after that he went to the back yard. Mikoto was already there waiting for him. After he was done preparing his mother began the lesson, "Sasuke the Body Flicker is a jutsu that gives the user a temporary but tremendous burst of speed, it's a useful jutsu but predictable, if one knows how to read chakra they will be able to predict where you will stop the jutsu. Most people aren't even that accurate with it. Your cousin on the other hand, he has mastered this jutsu completely, he uses it too fast for others to be able to predict where he'll appear. The first step, according to him, is to get the accuracy to be pin point."

Sasuke nodded and Mikoto pointed all over the yard to six circles that were two meters wide and five meters apart. "Your goal, Sasuke, is to land in these circles, we'll reduce the size every time we see steady progress until they are smaller than dinner plates. You may begin when you're ready"

Sasuke nodded and went through the hand seals, everything was a blur and when he stopped the jutsu and he looked down, he was between two circles. He clenched his fists, but took a deep breath and tried again and again and again. He could hardly see progress by the time his mother told him to take a break, he sat and meditated to calm his nerves and regain chakra.

"You're doing well Sasuke, for someone who just learned the jutsu yesterday you're leagues beyond what I expected. Don't be too hard on yourself. It took your cousin ages to become as good as he is." Mikoto said, no doubt sensing Sasuke's mood.

Sasuke nodded calmed down by a combination of meditation and his mother's words. He got up and started again, it was clear that progress was going to be slow. At least he wouldn't be seeing Naruto today, he would use this time to get better at this jutsu. 'Before the sun goes down I'll be landing in these circles.' With determination he carried on missing by slightly smaller margins.


In the woods Naruto had been practicing for a few hours already, he was making steady progress, he supposed it helped that it was his element that he was practicing, the Earth Clone jutsu was still a nightmare for him, but he would practice it decided to focus on having better control of the Propelling Winds jutsu, he'd been practicing between trees and he was getting the accuracy down and soon he'd increase the power and thus his speed.

He sat trying to meditate and rest but found his thoughts going back to his dream, he heard that mocking and sinister laughter again. He held his head with both hands and shook it while scratching, "Argh that's it, I guess you got to get back to it, Naruto." He said to himself seeing that his attempt at meditation was unsuccessful.

He went through hand seals and was yet again propelled forward, he cut the jutsu as he was getting close to running into a tree he let his momentum carry him forward a little and he ran through them again. He was getting faster with the hand seals, he pointed his palms to the left and he was pushed to the right slightly and he was able to avoid the tree. He landed on his feet and smiled, he was getting there, still though it wasn't enough.

He practiced into the night hardly taking a break but still making clear progress, the moon was out before he knew it and his stomach was rumbling. He smiled though and took off running to the edge of the forest and went through some hand signs in a burst of wind he practically flew to a height above buildings and he went through the signs again and he flew forward, everything beneath him was a blur, he had gotten faster that made him grin.

There was barely anyone out so no one saw the blur in the sky, he went through the jutsu three more times before he saw the orphanage and he let himself fall into a roll. He went inside, he'd eat and get some well deserved rest.

That night he fell asleep and for a change was not plagued with his recurring dream.


Sasuke and Naruto met again in the woods the day before they would join the academy, the day before Naruto would get his own apartment. They had met once a week instead of the usual five times a week in order to give each other time to master both the jutsu that they had learned.

Today was special, they would use the jutsu that they learned in their spar, they hadn't done that before. They stood five meters apart and at some unseen signal they darted for each other, Sasuke went for a kick to Naruto's head which the blond simply slid under. Naruto turned around and blocked a punch aimed for his face the bastard always loved going for head shots, he kicked Sasuke in the stomach and jumped back as the other boy slid back.

Sasuke was on him in a second, Naruto's eyes widened, 'He's gotten faster.' He scrambled to block the haymaker that was sent his way but couldn't block the kick to his ribs, he grabbed the offending leg and spun Sasuke around three times and threw him. The black haired boy did flip and landed like he wasn't dizzy.

When Sasuke landed he saw Naruto make a hand seal, the clearing was filled with smoke and there were upwards of twenty Naruto's in front of him. He knew how to see through this already, he didn't understand the thinking behind this so he waited as many Naruto's dashed through him. When he saw a Naruto with a shadow that came at him with a round house kick he moved to block it, it was a bit lighter than Naruto's usual hits. His eyes widened when he saw another Naruto heading for him getting ready to swing, he jumped back as he was being attacked from two sides.

'Since when can he make solid clones?' Sasuke thought while furiously dodging kicks and punches trying desperately to gain space. The Naruto's weren't letting up, he would block a kick only to get caught by a punch from the other side, this was getting too much, he couldn't take more of this it was wearing him down too much.

When he got an opening he took it immediately when one of the Naruto's over extended a punch he then gave a punch to the face followed by a kick to the midsection. The momentum he was beginning to build came undone as Naruto broke apart into rocks and the other dove for him.

He jumped back and did a hand sign, 'Lightning Style: Lighting Bolt!' he pointed his hand to Naruto and lighting shot out of the extended hand and hit Naruto square in the chest and Sasuke was shocked when it went through the other boy. At that moment, Naruto, or rather another Naruto came flying out of trees headed straight for him with legs out stretched.

Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes widen and he made contact and went through Sasuke,'Holy Crap I didn't think I'd kill him!' He almost panicked but immediately picked up on the lack of blood and the fact that there was shower of splinters. 'The bastard has gotten even better with the timing of that jutsu.' Then Sasuke appeared close to him on his right side, Naruto stretched his arms out in front of himself and was blasted backwards in a quick burst, then he stretched his left arm to the left and was boosted that opposite direction. His right hand at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground and he was boosted up a bit, he changed direction in the air by pointing his left hand to the left, he went right, then he pointed it behind and went forward.

Sasuke was watching from the ground as his opponent was moving all sorts of directions in the air, 'Doesn't he run out of chakra? I mean it takes more out of you to do a jutsu with no hand signs right? And he made two solid clones earlier, come on' He watched Naruto attempt to confuse him and stayed ready for when the blond would attack. The attack came in the form of a drop kick, Sasuke used the Body Flicker with no seals to move back, still not as accurate as he wanted it to be, he had gotten it down to almost half a meter though.

He ran towards his opponent and Naruto blasted towards him, right now the blond had an advantage when it came to stamina and because of his jutsu he had more speed and maneuverability would lose this fight that much was clear to him, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. He let Naruto land a punch, it was painful especially with the added speed and momentum, as he flew back he made a hand seal 'Lightning style: Lightning Bolt' and shot lightning at Naruto.

Naruto was surprised when his punch landed and even more so when he saw a quick bolt of lightning come at him all he could do was raise his arms, "Argh! Damn it" he didn't even have the time to think on his pain before he had to propel himself out of the way as a kick went through the space he just occupied. The feeling was coming back to his arms, 'I have to hurry and end this, I don't have much chakra left.' He made a hand seal 'Ninja art: Clone jutsu' and there was smoke, in the cover of the smoke he quickly ran through more hand seals 'Earth style: Earth Clone' and from the earth came a clone and it joined fifteen other Naruto's.

Sasuke cursed as he saw the smoke, he couldn't rush in there or that would be it, he would fight as long as possible. A Naruto burst out of the smoke, it was solid, he was sure because of how the smoke reacted. He blocked a heavy punch and a kick as two more Naruto's came at him and ran through both him and Naruto and he was dodging another kick and about to block a punch two more clones came at him, he focused on blocking the punch and was blindsided by a kick that came from behind an intangible clone that was blocking his vision.

Naruto and his clones had Sasuke on the ropes, the Earth Clone would wait for the illusory clones to distract Sasuke and then strike. Soon Sasuke was worn down and he gave up, he'd put up a hell of a fight though.

They lay down next to each other looking at the sky after the spar, Sasuke was the first to speak, "So that's the super cool jutsu that Shisui taught you huh? Doesn't look like all that." Naruto laughed, "It kicked your ass didn't it?" Sasuke just gave a grunt at that. "And the solid clones?"

"They're Earth Clones, apparently you have to have fancy eyes to use the Body Flicker as good as Shisui senpai so instead I learned another jutsu and I'll use my super cool, Propelling Winds to become awesome and feared." Sasuke nodded hearing this from the blond. "Teach me how to make Earth Clones and I'll teach you the Body Flicker."

"Yeah sure, I'll teach you after academy classes, if you can get Shisui or Itachi senpai to teach me another earth and wind jutsu." The blond said with a smile. "You got yourself a deal." Was the response Sasuke gave.

"You think the others that join the academy will be as strong as us, Sasuke?" Naruto asked closing his eyes. "I doubt it. Maybe a few of the clan kids though. I guess we'll just have to see tomorrow"

"Yeah, anyway I've got to go, the Hokage is going to show me my new place today" Naruto said with a grin. "Was the orphanage that bad?" Sasuke asked, "It isn't, it's just that they act like I don't exist. At least on my own I can't be punished for getting home late." Naruto said getting up.

"Are all orphans who go to the academy given a place of their own?" Sasuke asked as Naruto was beginning to walk off. "The old man said he gives everyone he thinks is able to take care of themselves the offer. Not many take it though, I guess I'm just special." And with that the blond was off. Sasuke sighed he should get going too.


AN: When it comes to Naruto's style and movement I'm trying to go for something like the way Bakugo from MHA would use his explosions to give him mobility, Naruto is just using pressurized air instead.