Previously on The Deception, Gone Awry:

Persona: Hinata Hyuuga

Whilst it still didn't make too much sense to her yet, Hinata at least realised that 'Umi' was nothing more than one of Naruto-kun's shadow clones, and they didn't seem to want anyone to know about it for the near future. The possibility of using this information as blackmail surfaced in her mind for a moment before she ruthlessly squashed it, Naruto would probably hate her for doing something so mean and she really didn't want that.

That didn't mean she wouldn't hold it over A Naruto's head of course, she thought as her gaze focussed on Umi once more, suddenly a lot more at ease considering her competition had just been greatly reduced, especially if she could procure the shadow clone's help with things.

Most people thought that she didn't try and approach Naruto about her affections towards him because of shyness, and to a certain extent she had to admit to herself that it was true. But the other reason was much simpler and more political in nature.

As heiress to the Hyuuga clan, she was required to maintain a level of class in whom she associated with, and the Hyuuga council would throw a fit should she befriend let alone date the young prankster orphan and either demand she stop seeing the boy or she would be disowned as heir to the clan. Being born to the branch caste of the Hyuuga was something she could never risk for her and Naruto-kun's children.

Therefore, until she became head of the clan, or at least her own position as Heir was entirely secure she could not risk openly being seen with Naruto-kun too often lest people guess at what was going on. Once free of the risk of political repercussion though, she wasn't going to waste any time at all. Perhaps with Umi-chans help, she wouldn't even have to wait that long…

Chapter 18: Konowho and the build up to Wave

Time Skip: Three weeks

Persona: Hirzuen Sarutobi

"BUT JIJI! I want to do another mission today before training, it won't even take me that long I promise." The secretary working outside was probably grumbling under her breath about the boy's lack of respect in addressing him, not that she would try and do anything about it of course.

Sarutobi silently chuckled at the body language ANBU agent Cat, who was on shadowing duty at the moment, was exhibiting. Yugao's body was almost shaking with the urge to appear and smack the boy round the head. But he saw Naruto's look begin to darken at his humorous reaction so with a cough composed himself and replied in his most neutral tone.

"For the last time Naruto-kun, I imposed the limit of five missions a day on you for a reason; I cannot have you taking all of the d-ranks Konoha gets every day. It would mean that the other teams would be left at a huge disadvantage." Looking at the pouting boy who had come to try and get a sixth mission for the third time this week by noon, Sarutobi felt both proud and exasperated by the boy's enthusiasm. It had certainly been the most energetic response he had encountered to the glorified house chores that most D-ranks were considered by the genin teams that needed to take them whilst training under their senseis.

Initially he had actually had a large number of missions that Naruto could do and was more than happy to let him take them off his hands. The reason for this was that these were the missions that most of the other genin teams had avoided doing for the amount of work involved. These missions included things such as clearing rocks from a farmer's field on the outskirts of Konoha to repainting the insides of the Konoha administration building. Both could only be classed as d-ranks, but were excessively time consuming for the pay offered and the genin teams preferred to take shorter missions to get their record bumped up quickly.

When Sarutobi had offered them to Naruto, he had expected a similar response from the hyperactive blonde, however the boy had taken them without complaint. It was when the boy returned three hours later with both scrolls signed by the appropriate clients that Sarutobi realised why the boy hadn't complained.

Either of those missions would have taken a genin team all afternoon without their sensei's help, and though Naruto had completed the tasks much faster than was expected Sarutobi was required to put the estimated working time down on the boys record and therefore for working off his punishment. With Shadow clones at his disposal the issue of manpower was non-existent for the boy and he certainly had no qualms about using such over the top numbers to his advantage.

This led to an awful lot of requests that had been gathering dust in the mission pile being brushed off and handed to the boy. Of course, the missions were soon all completed in record times and to a surprisingly high standard. Whilst many of the villagers still tried to find fault due to old prejudices about the Kyuubi, many of the ninja assigned to sign for the missions were a lot more positive. They wrote in their reports about how impressive the work the young Uzumaki and his clones had performed, several of the administration ninja even writing they would ask the boy directly next time they requested such unpopular missions.

With the pool of available missions dwindling and Naruto showing no sign of relenting in his onslaught, it had gotten to the point that Sarutobi had been forced to apologise to the last genin team to enter the mission hall the previous Tuesday, stating that there were no missions available for them in the d-rank category.

After instead assigning the team a personal mission of helping him with his paperwork for the afternoon for the price of a low c-rank mission, Sarutobi had finally called Naruto in and told him that he couldn't keep doing missions at the rate he had been.

Naruto had moaned about it of course, but on the upside he was nearly done with his punishment hours. That little fact was only known to Sarutobi at the moment as the boy probably hadn't realised that Sarutobi was taking the projected mission times rather than the times Naruto was setting. The fact the punishment was nearly done was something that he could surprise the boy with someday soon.

But for now it was good to have Konoha completely on top of its internal missions and if keeping Naruto in the dark whilst he built up a substantial bonus at the end was not really a bad thing, was it? Smothering his rather evil prankster thoughts to smile benignly as the boy made to leave his office, grumbling ominously to himself once more, Sarutobi was only mildly surprised when his grandson Konohamaru made an appearance in another juvenile attempt to 'take his hat.' How his grandson expected to do that with training Shuriken and a sense of balance that would put a drunk civilian to shame Sarutobi didn't know,. But Konohamaru's lack of skill didn't mean Sarutobi couldn't find the stunt amusing as he smiled down at the prone boy, who this attempt had tripped up on his overly long scarf that his mother had made for him earlier that year.

As Konohamaru climbed to his feet, Hiruzen was surprised that rather than continue the 'attack' Konohamaru whirled around to confront Naruto and accused him of having tripped him up, insisting that the blond container should apologise. Sarutobi couldn't help but chuckle quietly as Naruto picked the boy up by the collar and told him in no uncertain terms that he was not apologising for Konohamaru's own clumsiness. This would be an interesting exchange to watch as the two of them were as stubborn as each other in their own way. Konohamaru started spouting off about how he was the grandson of the Hokage and that Naruto had better put him down before he got in trouble.

This caused Sarutobi to frown slightly, he really did not like the fact that Konohamaru seemed to be falling back to that defence more and more in the recent months, probably because of the fawning people trying to impress him through his grandson. Naruto had surprised him slightly then when he had simply smacked the boy on the head telling him it did not matter who his Jiji was, it was who he was that should be important, and that to Naruto he simply seemed to be an annoying brat who needed to learn some respect. He was prevented from continuing his impromptu speech by the appearance at the door of Ebisu, the Jounin trainer that the Hokage had tasked with preparing Konohamaru for the academy and protecting him whilst he was out in the village.

The man had sputtered and shouted at Naruto for hurting the 'honourable grandson' for several moments, getting so caught up in his rant that he didn't notice first Naruto and then Konohamaru sneak around him to escape the office. After a few more moments of getting irritated by the man's pompous attitude Sarutobi coughed to get the man to stop talking. The small sound worked perfectly, causing Ebisu to stop talking and bow apologetically to him before looking round confusedly.

Deciding to help the man out as well as get some peace, Sarutobi decided to give him a bit of a hint. "I think that Konohamaru is following Naruto somewhere Ebisu-san, so I would go and find him before he makes a fool of himself once more." The man nodded and bowed before leaving, muttering about unsuitable influences and pranking blondes, which is better than Sarutobi honestly expected from the man given his initial attitude towards the container.

Looking up at the large clock, he managed to predict his secretary calling through that the council were beginning to move into the council room, punctually 5 minutes before the meeting started as always. Bemoaning silently the fact that he would once again not get any peace between his various meetings today he stood, moving to the hidden door in the study that lead to the council room. It wouldn't do for him to be late for no reason after all…

Persona: Naruto Uzumaki

Leaping away from the Hokage tower, Naruto couldn't say he was too surprised that the Hokage had said no again to his request for more missions but it was worth trying in an attempt to get his punishment time over with quicker. The past month had been a drain on his meagre resources even with the boost from Umi and the bandit camp bounties. He hadn't used Yugao-chan's cheque, feeling bad enough that he had asked so much of her since he graduated, but given the way he was burning through his money it wouldn't be long before he would have to make the plunge.

The last three weeks hadn't just been about missions however, he had gained another tenant at his apartment in Sakura-chan, who had moved into the apartment next to his the day after her fight with her father. It had been an interesting experience for Naruto once he had discussed it with Umi. The clone had used her time at the library to great effect already, and though she was nowhere near fully versed in Konoha law she had learned enough over the time that team 7 had been in Rice to tell him there was nothing he could do to the man. This was because Naruto was a ninja and Sakura's father was a civilian, therefore Naruto couldn't simply beat him up or prank him as he was protected by the law of both Konoha and that of the fire Daimyo. In the end only Sakura could press charges against him if she wished.

With this in mind he had been left with no direct way of making the man pay for what he had done to Sakura, but the morning after's events led to Sakura moving in and annoying the man at the same time. Or at least that is what Naruto could make out through the gossip of the village he was privy to. After sleeping on the problem for the night, Naruto had woken to the smell of cooking food, and was surprised to find Sakura up and making eggs in the kitchen. He was especially surprised seeing as he knew that he hadn't had any eggs when he left for the mission. When he mentioned that Sakura shyly revealed that she had gone and gotten the eggs from the nearby store when she had woken up earlier than normal and wanted to make Naruto breakfast as thanks for letting her stay the previous night.

He had accepted tentatively and before long the two were sat at his table digging into the eggs and toast she had made as well. It was when they were nearly finished that Naruto broached the topic of what she was going to do next. She had been unsure but had said that she would probably apologise to her father and move back in at home. Naruto had taken a few moments to register what she was saying and he then grabbed her shoulders and shook his head firmly whilst looking into her eyes. He stopped himself from telling her that her father could go and screw himself. Instead he simply said that if she wished she could move into one of the apartments here and as a ninja her Dad couldn't stop her.

She had looked at him when he said that with a thankful but guarded expression before saying that she didn't really have any money available for a room deposit. Naruto had laughed at what he thought was her weak attempt at a joke before stating that she hadn't needed to worry about it. They had talked about it for quite a time further, and only when looking up at the clock he had realised that he was late for training. She had promised to clean up breakfast and that after they finished team missions for the day she would pick a room to move into.

As such she hadn't joined him when he had headed off to meet Tenten and Lee for the spars, instead she left to grab her sleepover stuff from Ino's and bring it back to the apartments before meeting with Kakashi for the day. The spars with Tenten and Lee had been as one sided as he had expected, but it had been useful nevertheless, especially with the product of his spar with Tenten.

*Flashback*

Naruto stood on unsteady feet as he attempted to block another blow from Tenten's katana with his axe, barely managing to deflect the swing over his head and away from him. She had had him on the back foot from the very start of the fight and not just because he had already been beaten up by Lee for a while. Every step and body movement was perfectly balance with the movement of her blade, shifting out of the way of Naruto's clumsy strikes like it was all choreographed screen acting before striking forth like a viper. Personally he was just glad that he had brought an old shirt to wear during training, considering the number of slashes and cuts that now littered it and his upper torso he would definitely be getting rid of it after this.

Just as he was about to attempt a return strike Tenten relaxed her stance and stood up straight, shaking her head as she brought her weapon to rest on her shoulder. "That's enough for now, it's clear that you have no idea how to actually use that axe in combat despite your best efforts, and as a weapons expert I cannot let this continue to happen." Naruto stepped back, holding his axe firmly as he quirked his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean Tenten-chan? I know I am not as good as you yet, but with practice I will get much better!" She looked at him like he had just ruined her Christmas before scoffing and sheathing her katana into the belt at her waist and indicating to one of the training posts nearby.

"I will show you what I mean Naruto, now go and hit that training post as hard as you can with a normal swing from your axe." He continued to look confused for a moment longer before shrugging and going to do as she asked. Eyeing up the training post, he imagined it was a dangerous missing nin that was threatening his friends and swung with all his might.

The axe bit deeply into the wood and he was pleased with the result as he was able to let go of it and leave it imbedded into the post as he turned to Tenten with a grin on his face. "How was that Tenten-chan, did I do great or what?" She chuckled at him even as she walked up next to him, pulling the axe out of the post and motioned for him to back away once more.

"Not bad actually Naruto, but this is more what I had in mind." She struck out like a snake, swinging the axe with more speed than he thought was possible. There was a cracking sound and Lee's gasp of shock, the sight of Tenten stood with half the haft of the axe in her hands, the rest still attached to the head of the weapon which was embedded almost twice as deep as it had been when Naruto had used it. She looked down at the broken wood before smiling awkwardly and turning back to Naruto. "Again, not what I had in mind when I was showing you the advantages of proper hand position and a proper style… But better here than out in the field right?"

*Flashback end*

So now his axe had a solid metal shaft that made the damn thing that much heavier, but Tenten promised it would be worth it for the added durability. She had also gotten him a couple of scrolls on axe techniques for him to learn from in his spare time, not that he had had much of that with all the missions he had been doing. Naruto had also taken to visiting the library every day; with Umi there he was able to obtain his first library card and security pass, which allowed him to pass the security checkpoint to enter the shinobi section of the library. He was only allowed to withdraw three scrolls or books from there a month however, which slowed any possible learning curve he had hoped to achieve using shadow clones.

But Umi seemed to have anticipated this, for the second day he had visited she had half a dozen books ready for him to borrow from the civilian section that she thought he would find useful to read and learn from. After that he had taken to checking out 6 or seven books every three days, using clones to read them several times before bringing them back, so that he retained as much of the knowledge as he could. The topics had ranged from factual things such as history, politics and economics to the more practical things such as cooking, botany and plants, even tracking and hunting. After the incident with tracking the bandits Naruto felt that such a skill would be very useful to know more about and he had taken to taking a different book or scroll on the subject every time he had come in to the library.

The leaps in his knowledge had been profound and he found himself able to talk intelligently about some of the things he had learnt from his memories with Sakura when they worked on some of the gardening or herb collecting d-rank missions or in the evenings when the two of them were at home, to the girls pleased and obvious surprise. Obviously her parents had not seen the same need for keeping the family difficulties a secret as on the third day of Sakura move Ino had come stalking up to Sakura outside the mission hall and tried to drag her back to her house, stating loudly how worried her parents had been when she hadn't been seen by either of them for the past few days.

Sakura had frozen up and it had taken Naruto stepping forwards and grabbing Ino's wrist firmly to stop the blonde haired girl from causing a scene. Even as she glared at him he asked quietly whether she knew exactly why Sakura was avoiding her parents at the moment in his best serious voice. Ino had tried to free her wrist, saying that her mum had said they had a big argument over something minor, only to stop when she saw the downcast look on Sakura's face.

He had let Sakura explain it to her quietly as it wasn't his place to say anything, though he did help her stop Ino from storming off to yell at Sakura's dad herself, the blonde girl working herself up into quite the fury over 'the lying, violent idiot' and several other insults that Naruto was quite surprised to head erupt from the mouth of the prim and proper Yamanaka heiress.

She had come over that weekend to help Sakura decorate her new room as well as to bring a big bag of the pink haired girls' clothing that she had snuck out of Sakura's house when she and her parents had visited them. At this point it seemed that Sakura's parents still didn't know where she was staying, but it was only a matter of time he supposed before it got to them from someone, somewhere.

He shook off those worries for the moment; it wasn't like they could get either him or Sakura in trouble for the move as Sakura was now considered an adult once she had become a ninja. Instead he turned his attention to the person who had been rather unsubtle in following him ever since he had left the Hokage tower. Turning a street corner he suddenly summoned a Kage bushin who turned back round the corner and looked around for a moment before heading back the way he had come from originally. Naruto waited for a few moments before the sounds of childish giggling told him that the person who had been following him had dropped their disguise. Peeking round the corner he saw the brat from the tower, Kono…something, giggling away to himself whilst looking towards the retreating back of his clone, which had deliberately ignored him to allow Naruto to pull off the next move perfectly.

Counting down, Naruto walked up behind the boy and spoke amusedly to him, causing the boy to jump and spin round, losing sight on his clone just as it went up in smoke as had been planned. "What are you giggling at boy? And why were you following me around?" Konohamaru, the name he had finally remembered, resembled a fish for a few moments before spinning back round to look at where Naruto's clone had been before turning back once more, face even more happy than he had been whilst giggling."So cool! How did you do that boss? You sure had me fooled but that's to be expected I suppose."

Boss? He had certainly been called worse in his time, but he wasn't entirely sure he was pleased to be getting the term from such a bratty kid. Konohamaru didn't wait for him to respond, instead ploughing on with a list of questions that came out as an almost constant stream of words. "Is it true you beat Jiji with one jutsu? Can you teach it to me? Why do you have that big axe, is that part of your secret training? Or is it to impress someone, does the boss have a special girl then?"

Konohamaru would have continued with the scatterbrained array of questions had Naruto not managed to dispel his confusion enough to raise a hand in a stop motion, Konohamaru quickly quieting with an odd mix of eagerness and anticipation on his face. "So let me get this straight stunty, you find out that I don't give a flying... Swallow about your heritage or status and your response is to come and pester me further about my secret techniques? You really are a spoiled brat aren't you, expecting everything you want the moment you ask for it." Naruto remembered at the last moment the recent onslaught that Yugao and Umi had unleashed on him about etiquette and being a better role model, swearing to a little kid was definitely high up on the list.

Ignoring the phantom pain of the head slaps that the memory evoked, Naruto focussed as Konohamaru reddened to a crimson hue before shouting a response. "I don't expect it, which is why I just asked you Baka. I just want to beat Jiji so that I will finally be noticed as me, Konohamaru, rather than the 'honourable grandson' or 'treasured offspring' by those civilian idiots." The surprisingly unexpected reasoning struck a chord with Naruto on a deep level, even before he had been told about being the Kyuubi container he had been sick of the villages disparaging and disdainful stares. His pranks had been one long effort to make them at least recognise him for something he had known he had done, even if they didn't like it.

Shaking his head as he looked down at the boy who seemed so much like him a few years previous, Naruto decided that he owed it to his younger self to help the boy out somewhat. "The path to respect is long and hard Konohamaru, you can't just expect to change the village's opinions of you overnight or with one technique. Look around you, I defeated the Hokage with my move but do people look like they respect me?" Konohamaru turned his gaze to the people around them and seemed to deflate. "No, if anything they look angry at you and concerned for me."

Naruto knew why that was, the Kyuubi container, with the grandson of the Hokage, disgraceful. But he couldn't say that so he decided to go with another truth. "My younger years were spent pranking people, which whilst I enjoyed it, such things does not a happy villager make. Every action has a response my little sidekick, the results of which you will not appreciate for some time. Now, I will not promise you the power to fell Kage level shinobi, but I think I can teach you something's to make you a little stronger..." The look of dejection morphing into joy was very satisfying and was something that Naruto could get used to...

Persona- Ebisu

Ebisu had been looking for the young errant Sarutobi for almost two hours now, the boys usual hideaways and hangouts had been his first ports of call in what had become a familiar if highly aggravating task for the special jounin. He had even checked with the kids that the boy often hung out with and though he hadn't expected them to tell him if they had, none of them had obviously lied about having seen the boy that day. All of this pointed to the fact that Konohamaru was probably with that Uzumaki ruffian that had been in the Hokage's office. Ebisu shuddered at the thought of the terrible things that the boy could be corrupting his charge with at this very moment. With no other ideas other than simply searching the whole village, Ebisu tracked down Uzumaki's teacher in the hope that he would provide some assistance, Kakashi's location was far more predictable than pretty much any other ninja in Konoha after all.

Landing in the exterior grounds surrounding the memorial stones, a cursory glance around the different areas revealed the white haired jounin kneeling in his usual spot by the main memorial stone. Ebisu might have felt slightly guilty about disturbing another man's private contemplations if it weren't for the fact that it was common knowledge that Kakashi had been known to spend two to three hours a day in the same place when not required for missions. Striding towards the man, Ebisu was not surprised when the cyclops spoke before he got within 30 yards. "Ebisu, what can I do for you that is important enough for you to drag yourself to my humble contemplation area? It can't be that you wish to visit this memorial stone, your old sensei is on the one over there and you were not close with any of the older ninja on here. That means it is either me you wish to talk with or you need my help with something. As you are teaching the young Sarutobi, who isn't even in the academy yet, you do not need my help with teaching him not that you would want it... So that means it's one of my new minions that has you so flustered. Tell me, what has Naruto done now?" Ebisu was as always slightly surprised and impressed by the attentive and cunning mind that the silver haired jounin hid underneath his perverted and overly casual exterior. To perform such deductions from his approach alone was most impressive.

Remembering that Kakashi was waiting upon an answer from him, Ebisu swallowed hurriedly and nodded. "The honourable grandson encountered the Uzumaki boy in the Hokage tower this morning and a regrettable incident occurred where the two came to blows. For some unfathomable reason my charge has run off with the brat and I cannot find him in any of the areas he normally would be in. As I have very limited abilities with tracking and sensing, I came to you in the hope you knew where the Uzumaki would run off to, Kami knows what that uncouth delinquent..." Ebisu stopped speaking as the cold chill of killing intent spiked from Kakashi in his direction, even as the Hatake clan head turned his head slowly and ominously in Ebisu's direction.

"I would not speak of Naruto in such a way Ebisu, it makes me most aggravated and you do not want to make me any more irritable than I am already. Despite his difficult upbringing, surrounded by idiots and disparaging people like you Naruto has grown into a remarkable genin with many redeemable qualities, which you will appreciate if you looked beyond the burden he has placed upon him. I am sure you will do your best not to judge people from mere rumours from now on right?" Ebisu nodded almost mechanically as he struggled to remain composed from the slowly growing killing intent that Kakashi was irradiating.

Then, suddenly, the oppressive feeling was gone along with Kakashi's glowering stare as he rose from his kneeling position, trademark eye smile visible as he spoke once more. "Well Ebisu-kun, let's go track down our elusive students, I will summon us some help to make things quicker..." The change in personality was as terrifying as the killing intent that had accompanied the first persona and Ebisu reminded himself once again, Kakashi Hatake was not someone you wanted on your bad side.

Timeskip:

It had not taken more than twenty minutes to find the two boys once Ebisu had enlisted Kakashi to aid him. Kakashi had summoned one of his dog pack, whom Ebisu remembered being called Pakkun from previous missions, letting him get Naruto's scent from a scrap of orange cloth that appeared from a sealed bag in one of the jounins many pockets, the dog taking one sniff before nodding and racing off towards the village, sniffing continuously as Ebisu followed Kakashi behind it. Though it had taken the pair first to an apartment building in a rather seedy area of Konoha which Ebisu could only assume was Naruto's home and then to a ramen stand on the outskirts of the same district, Pakkun finally led them to training ground 7. Ebisu could hear the Uzu... Naruto counting loudly even as he and Kakashi landed in the outer forest area of the training ground.

Looking down into the clearing Ebisu saw Naruto stood with his eyes closed, reaching a count of 100 moments later and opened them, looking round for a few moments at the ground before chuckling softly to himself and heading off away from them. Ebisu, tired of having spent his morning chasing after the blonde, was about to leap down and start interrogating him about the honourable grandson and his whereabouts when Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder and held up his other hand in an obvious wait motion. If the copy ninja hadn't already terrified him once that day Ebisu might have protested verbally, but instead he contented himself with following Naruto as he... tracked someone through the training ground, only once falling for a fake trail and having to double back 50 yards later.

Ebisu saw Konohamaru hiding in some foliage a few seconds before Naruto did, the genin pointing imperiously at the hiding spot and proclaiming loudly. "Found you Konohamaru!" To Ebisu's surprise, Konohamaru didn't get angry or try and pretend he wasn't there, as often happened with him when he had to chase the boy, instead the boy burst from his hiding place and ran quickly to stand in front of Naruto talking in an excited but composed manner that had Ebisu questioning whether this was the same boy. "So cool boss, it took you less than three minutes to find me, even when I placed all those false trails and everything. Can I have a go at finding you now?" Naruto shook his head and Konohamaru sighed, but before the younger boy could get upset Naruto spoke once more.

"Not quite yet Konohamaru, first you must learn how to improve your own hiding ability, once you learn the techniques you get better at spotting them when other people do them. Now let's go back to the start and I will show you where you can improve for the future." The two jogged back towards the clearing, leaving Ebisu somewhat dumbstruck at what he had seen. Never had the honourable grandson been so interested in his teachings and suddenly Naruto comes along and he is all ears? His rather morose musings were broken by Kakashi speaking softly next to him.

"They both have an interest in tracking then? I would never have put Naruto down as the type, but he is one of the most surprising ninja I have met. Do you think your boss would want some instruction clone-san? Or is this something he wishes to develop on his own?" Ebisu was confused as to who Kakashi was talking to as he could sense nothing but a couple of small animals nearby, when a squirrel on a nearby branch suddenly transformed in a puff of chakra smoke, leaving a slightly abashed Naruto sat where it had been.

"Damn, thought I had gotten it down perfectly. Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I was keeping an eye on Konohamaru on the boss's orders whilst he was counting. How did you know it was me?" Kakashi turned to him with an eye smile. "In Konoha, the animals tend to steer clear of us as best they can; the fact that a squirrel was following us, albeit in a very roundabout way mixed with your transformation abilities made it the most likely explanation." The two were obviously about to get into a discussion on the topic when Ebisu interrupted, having composed himself enough to ask the question that was plaguing him. "Excuse me Uzumaki-San, but I cannot help but ask; how is it that you have managed to get the honourable grandson to pay so much attention to you? When I try and teach him things he often cannot wait to run off and skip the lessons."

The Naruto clone eyed him up for a moment before raising a hand with two fingers raised on it. Ticking off the first finger the clone began speaking. "First of all, if you want him to listen to you, stop calling him 'honourable grandson' or any other variation, he hates it. He wants to be known for what he achieves, not for something he had no part or say in and speaking from personal experience I can tell you it's the most annoying feeling ever." The clone continued without letting Ebisu respond, ticking off the second finger firmly. "Secondly, Konohamaru is quite a lot like me, he cannot pay attention for long even if he wants to and finds it very easy to get distracted. From what I understand you mainly try and teach him from books and lectures all day? Try breaking them up with training or giving him things to look at, want to teach him about the Hokage? Take him up the monument as you teach him, it will keep him from daydreaming. He is someone who cannot spend hours looking through books, but give him a practical exercise that teaches him how to use that theory?"

The clone gestured behind them and Ebisu could admit he understood what the clone was talking about. He himself much preferred to fully understand something before trying it out physically, but if he wanted to truly be an elite tutor he would have to be able to understand his students better. Kakashi coughed, though whether this was to cover a chuckle Ebisu could not quite tell. "Well, as much fun as it is to see a special jounin getting training tips from an inexperienced genin, it's almost time for our team meeting clone-san, so it would be best if we met up with our respective students before they can evade us again, wouldn't you agree Ebisu-San?" Ebisu nodded again and followed behind Kakashi and the clone as they moved towards the still audible duo, his thoughts about needing to improve his tracking skills only broken by the excited outburst from the clone Naruto. "Another c-rank mission Kakashi-sensei? Yatta!" Kakashi chuckled at this and responded in his trademark manner. "Mao Mao, calm down, it's just so that we can get paid for a chance to do some prolonged training. I highly doubt anything will happen that might be the adventure you are looking for..."

Timeskip: One month, four days and 14 hours.

Persona-Kakashi Hatake

"Jounin Kakashi Hatake, you stand before this court today due to your actions on C-rank mission 347-569 of this year, escorting the bridge builder Tazuna back to the land of waves. You have been accused of misconduct and stand before us today on charges of insubordination, wilfully endangering your genin team against the rules stated in the Konoha mission code and ultimately the death of one of your charges…"

A/N: And cut! I am back people and with a vengeance. This story had me struggling with writer's block for so long that I eventually just moved onto much easier stories. But its back, I have an idea of where I want this to go and I have left you with a lovely little cliffhanger to entice you all into following, favoriting and reviewing (hopefully). Feel free to throw opinions and questions at me, this is the first chapter after a long break so it will have its kinks to sort out I have no doubt.

See you all next time

Defias Stone