Shades of Blue

Chapter 1

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Uzumaki Naruto, 12-years-old, Genin of Team 7 under Jonin Hatake Kakashi. A redhead boy, with cerulean blue eyes, three whisker-like marks on each cheek, wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit (don't say that to his face, though), and the Konohagakure forehead protector around his... forehead.

Well, that is how he usually appears. Now, he was in his pyjamas, wearing a monster cap on his head, hiding his shaggy red hair. He was lying on his bed, twisting and turning, unable to got to sleep. This was unusual, for the pre-teen Genin, for he could always go to sleep after he throws his carcass on his bed.

Naruto frowned, annoyed by the lack of sleep he was getting... not that he had anything to do tomorrow. Kakashi doesn't really train them in anything and they only go over to the Old Man's office to pick up a chore, I mean, a D-Rank Mission to do. It was a far cry from the exciting, yet terrifying, 'C' Rank mission that they had returned from about a week ago.

Thinking about Haku still made him a bit sad, but he didn't want to dwell on it.

Sighing, he got up. Well, if he's unable to go to sleep, might as well have a bowl of the food of the gods.

Naruto made to get out of bed, before pausing. Then he grinned and made the hand sign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He said, putting in the chakra to make one clone.

However, he blinked when instead of one, 8 clones showed up. The clones looked just as confused as he did.

"Wait, hold on, I thought I put in chakra for only one!" Naruto said, frowning.

The clones shrugged, and one of them said, "Well, boss, we only have the same ideas that you do, but it's probably cuz, as Kakashi-sensei, said, our chakra control is garbage." He said, nonchalantly.

Naruto grumbled, "Yeah, I know... but he didn't have to put it that way." He said, before sighing, "Well, whatever, one of you can get me ramen from the cupboard, the rest... well, I guess you can do whatever you want." Naruto said, waving his hand dismissively.

One of the clones shrugged and went over to the cupboard to make some ramen, while the other 7 clones decided to amuse themselves with whatever. Two clones went outside through the window while the others simply made a 'pop' noise and vanished from existence.

The clone that went to make ramen, came by to Naruto and handed the bowl and popped.

Naruto began to eagerly gorge himself with the food of the gods. He had no idea where the other two clones went, or what they were doing, but he didn't care. They were clones and they didn't really have any sense of self-preservation.

Naruto suddenly paused and screamed when he felt himself fall to the floor of the ground and a phantom pain spread through his stomach before it disappeared in an instant. He blinked, his eyes wide, at his stomach, and for a few horrible seconds, he thought it was because of the Kyuubi, but soon realized that it had nothing to do with the Kyuubi as it felt like somebody had stabbed him... but how?

His window opened and Naruto went into alert mode and got into a defensive stance. But, as it turns out, it was just his clone, one of the two that had left the building. The clone looked startled at Naruto's posture and Naruto relaxed and sighed, "...What happened to the other one?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

The clone rubbed his red hair and grinned sheepishly, "Sorry boss, you just said that we can do whatever we wanted to, so me and the other me played 'Who can pop the other the first', and I won... so uh, the other one is gone, dattebayo." the clone informed Naruto.

Naruto blinked, remembering the strange sensation of being stabbed... probably with a Kunai. Naruto looked at the clone again, "Was it a Kunai?" he asked.

"Eh?"

"What did you hit the other one with? A kunai?" Naruto asked impatiently.

The clone nodded, "Yeah! I popped him with a kunai, why?"

Naruto shook his head, a grin forming on his face as he came to the startling revelation. His clones transfer their memories to him! Oh, holy ramen gods! This was simply amazing! He could do so many things with this Jutsu, it was simply amazing!

Naruto grinned at the clone, "Hey, I got an idea, go to our training ground and dispel yourself." He said.

The clone blinked, then shrugged, "Sure, whatever, dattebayo." He said and ran off to Training Grounds 7.

Naruto waited for a few minutes while eating his ramen and the memories from the clones came back to him. The Training Ground was empty filled with crickets, lizards, and other such creatures. Naruto was bouncing on his feet and grinned widely.

He made the hand sign and made ten clones, only to form 21. Naruto shrugged, whatever. The more the merrier. He looked at the clones, "Okay guys, I want you to test something for me. 11 of you, go and work on Tree Climbing in one of the training grounds. The other ten, grab the books that we have and get to reading." Naruto ordered. He had to know if he could also do training like the Chakra Control exercises like Tree Climbing. Even if that didn't work, he could read those damn books without having to read them himself.

The clones saluted, "Boss!" They immediately got to work. Eleven of them exited the house through the window and ten of them got their books that had gathered actual dust. Naruto grinned and decided to join the eleven to the training ground they were heading towards, leaving the ten to do the reading.

Naruto decided that even of the eleven clones didn't transfer the results of the exercise to him, he could do the exercise himself. Obviously, it wouldn't be the same as eleven of him doing it, but it was something. He didn't want to go to sleep peacefully while his clones do all the work.

Naruto pulled out a Kunai and began working on the Tree Climbing Exercise while his eleven clones began to work on the same exercise on the trees nearby. He grinned and began to do the exercise over and over again. It was easy enough now, he could stick to the tree without exploding the tree or slipping off. Actually... the exploding tree part was something he wanted to try on other surfaces. He sent one of the clones that were doing the exercise over to a nearby wall to try it out.

The clone... slipped. Climbing the wall was not as easy as climbing a tree, it seemed. Naruto climbed the wall (normally, without chakra) and looked on the other side to make sure that it wasn't some residential area. It wasn't. It was just a wall built to separate one Training Ground from another. The wall was also really thick, meaning that it wasn't easy to break it down... not that he wanted to. Honest!

Naruto decided to climb the wall using Chakra instead. This Wall Climbing Exercise was harder, and Naruto had no idea why. He had seen Kakashi and Zabuza walk on the water, so he realized that it was another kind of Chakra Control Exercise. He quickly made another 20 clones, only for 32 clones to pop out. Naruto groaned but worked on climbing the wall anyway.

After about 3 hours, he was lying down on the floor, panting heavily. He idly wondered if the clones' exhaustion would transfer over to him if he dispelled them. He waited for ten minutes and then dispelled them. Naruto nearly screamed at the momentary pain in his brain and muscles, but then the pain went away as soon as it came by. He blinked a few times and decided to try the wall (which had a lot of cracks and holes in it, but nothing serious) climbing once again.

Naruto walked over to the wall and placed his right foot on the wall and used his chakra to stick to it... and then the other... then the other... holy shit! It works! He could actually use clones for training! He grinned and laughed ecstatically... then got down the wall and fell over, tired and knocked out.

"-ruto-baka! Naruto-baka, wake up!" Naruto heard a feminine voice screeching at him.

"Damn, look at the wall, Shikamaru!"

"Troublesome."

"Naruto-baka, wake up now!" Naruto eyes snapped open as a slap rattled his brain and he sat up so quickly he was surprised there was no snap in his back. Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes... then his cheek. He looked over at the blonde girl who he assumed slapped him and scowled.

"What the hell, Ino? You didn't have to slap me!" He shouted, getting up and dusting himself off. He nearly cried when he saw that his beloved orange jumpsuit was almost ruined with tears and such.

Yamanaka Ino scoffed, "It's your fault for falling asleep. Suits you right, trying to train in our Training Grounds." She said haughtily.

Naruto blinked again, looking over at the pineapple haired boy and a rather big-boned boy who waved at him. The tall man with a cool beard and a cigarette in his mouth, was looking at him, amused.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Eh? This is your training ground? Sorry, sorry... uh, wait, aren't you..." Naruto put on a thinking pose, then snapped his fingers, "Asuma, right?" He said, pointing at the tall Jonin.

Asuma raised an eyebrow, "Yes." He said and appeared as if he was mentally preparing himself for something.

Naruto nodded then grinned sheepishly, "Again, sorry for uh... you know, sleeping in your Training Grounds." He said.

Shikamaru looked at him, "What were you going here anyway, Naruto?" The boy asked, lazily.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Gee, I wonder, Shikamaru, what does one do in a Training Ground?" He said sarcastically, "I was training, duh." He said.

"During the night?" Ino asked, before smirking, "Figures, you need to work that hard to be half the shinobi that Sasuke-kun is." She said, looking at him as if she was superior to him.

Naruto glared at her, "Yeah, yeah, at least I'll be half of the shinobi he is. You won't even be a tenth of the shinobi I am." Naruto said, grinding cockily and before she could explode, "Bye guys!" He said, laughing, and sprinting away from them towards his house. Kakashi wouldn't be there for at least two hours, so he could at least shower and eat some ramen before meeting his own team.

Naruto entered his home and found his clones, still reading. Huh, the clones haven't run out of chakra yet. He made a half ram sign and dispelled all of them. His head hurt for a split-second before it went away. Naruto searched his brain for all of the memories from the clones and... oh my!

He could already remember the crap history lessons and the small amount of chakra control exercises. The leaf sticking, leaf spinning, and other exercises involving leaves. He made 20 clones and found out that he had only made about 24 clones. Naruto gaped for a second, before jumping around in joy. His chakra control was improving! Hell yes!

Naruto stopped and looked at his amused looking clones, "Alright, boys, get to work on these exercises. 4 per group, each group work on a chakra control exercises. Wall Climbing, Tree Climbing, leaf sticking, leaf spinning, and the other ones we know from those books. 'Kay?"

The clones saluted, "Boss!"

One clone pointed at him, "Boss, you should probably get some clothes, dattebayo! Our badass orange jumpsuit is a bit too torn!"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I know. Get to work, I'll buy some clothes today." Naruto said, staring at his battered orange jumpsuit a bit emotionally.

He showered, ate some food of the gods, and unzipped the jacket of his jumpsuit, showing off his black t-shirt. He decided to buy some clothes that were orange later on. He was already an hour late for the team meeting, though he knew that Kakashi would arrive at least an hour from now.

Naruto walked over to the Training Ground 7, ignoring the glares and mutterings of the people, as he had learned to do so years ago. He untied his forehead protector and instead tied it loosely around his neck, letting his bangs fall on his forehead. Like that girl, Hinata.

He made it to the training ground only to be shouted at, "Naruto-baka, you're late!" Naruto winced at the sound and wondered if this is how people felt when he yelled all the time. At least he had a reason for it.

Despite his inward thoughts, he smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, sorry, I walked under a ladder so I had to walk back home and take a long way around to avoid it." Naruto said, enjoying the look of anger on his two teammates.

Sakura gaped at him for a few seconds before pulling her fist back to punch him, "Baka!" Naruto yelped and ducked.

Sakura gaped at him again, "Y-y-you avoided it..."

Naruto blinked, "...Uh, yeah." He said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Why would I want to be hit?" He said, smiling innocently.

Sakura gritted her teeth, "Baka! Why were you late?" She screeched. Sasuke winced and glared daggers at the pink-haired girl.

Naruto smiled sheepishly again, "Again, sorry, I was training and fell asleep." He said honestly, this time.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose, "You? You were training, dobe?" He asked, his tone was almost mocking. Naruto could tell that he meant no harm with his words. So Naruto glared back at him good-naturedly.

"Yeah, no shit, teme. You're not the only one who trains." He said, pointing at his battered outfit, "See?"

Sakura tried to punch him again, "Baka, don't talk like that to Sasuke-kun!" She said, and Naruto ducked again and frowned.

"Sakura, we were just playing. Calm down." Naruto said, not even noticing that he didn't call her 'Sakura-chan'.

Sakura sputtered and looked at Sasuke, who shrugged, and turned to Naruto, "What were you training in? How to be an idiot? Because you don't really need any training in that." He said, smirking at him.

Naruto glared at him, "Humph. If you must know, I was doing the Tree Climbing exercise. Since Kakashi-sensei doesn't train us in anything other than teamwork exercises, I thought, might as well." Naruto said, nonchalantly.

Sasuke looked confused, "But you already know the exercise." He pointed out.

Naruto nodded, "Sure. But like, it can be better! What if I want to go slow onto the tree? What if I want to stand on the tree? Run up and down on the tree?" He said, "It was really fun and I think I can do it a bit better than before!" Naruto said cheerfully.

Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke, "Wait, you two train even after Kakashi-sensei dismisses us?" She asked, feeling a bit left out.

Sasuke looked at her as if she was stupid, "Yeah, obviously. If we don't train by ourselves then we will be stuck as we were when we got out of the Academy while the others actually get stronger with non-lazy teachers." Sasuke said.

Naruto frowned, "Yeah, I don't wanna bad mouth Kakashi-sensei or anything 'cause he did put his life on the line for us, but seriously, he only trained us in teamwork exercises and the Tree Climbing one." He said. He had no idea if the Jonin was just plain lazy, or if he thought if the team couldn't function properly, but seriously, over two months and only Tree Climbing exercise is just ridiculous.

Sakura fidgeted, "Oh, I see." She said quietly.

It was clear to Naruto and probably Sasuke as well that the girl hadn't trained in anything. Naruto refrained from commenting, while Sasuke scoffed, "Hn."

Naruto smiled encouragingly at Sakura, "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'm sure that Kakashi-sensei will take our training seriously after that mission!" He said.

Sakura sighed and nodded silently.

Naruto sighed inwardly but outwardly, he looked at Sasuke, "Yo, teme, did you know that you could use the same method as the Tree Climbing to climb walls? Like, solid, concrete walls?"

Sasuke looked interested, "Hn, really? Is it more difficult or easier than the Tree Climbing?"

Naruto paused, "I think if you know Tree Climbing, it should be easy. Sakura-chan's chakra control is freakin' fantastic, so she could get it on the first try." He said and they both look at Sakura, who blushed.

"Really? You think so?" She said.

Naruto shrugged, "Well, yeah, you got the Tree Climbing the first try. It took me hours to get Tree Climbing and hours to get Wall Climbing and same with Sasuke-teme." He said.

Sasuke simply grunted while Sakura smiled, "Thanks, Naruto."

"Show me, dobe," Sasuke said to Naruto, who nodded.

"Sure, teme, the pervert is probably going to be late anyway." The redhead replied. Sakura followed Naruto and Sasuke who walked over to the wall of the training ground. Naruto made a clone... well, he tried to. Five clones came out, which was still better than last night, but still, he only needed one, so he dispelled the other four. The Naruto clone walked up the wall. It wasn't as easy as the tree climbing, but it was still doable.

"Same theory, I think. Just a bit more, uh, what's the word?"

"Controlled?" Sakura supplied.

"Yeah, that!" Naruto said, nodding rapidly, "It'll take a while though and uh, try not to destroy the wall. The Old Man would be pissed." He said.

Ignoring his casual addressing of the Hokage, Sasuke turned to Naruto, "Where did you train this... exercise? I didn't see you in this training ground." He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Well, uh, it was late so I accidentally went into Team 10's Training Ground, dattebayo." He said and Sasuke scoffed, muttering 'dobe' and began working on the exercise. He got pretty far on the first turn. More than Naruto himself, he noted with dismay.

Sakura, on the other hand, got it on the first turn, "This is easy, shannaro!" She cheered.

Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, "Good job, Sakura-chan! Try to walk up and down the same way." He shouted so that she could hear. Naruto himself began to work on the exercise. He knew his stamina was amazing, but he wanted his chakra control to be just as awesome, dattebayo!

Exactly an hour later, Sasuke was panting, Naruto was slightly sweating while Sakura had collapsed when Naruto suggested to run up and down the wall. Suddenly, a 'pop' sound in front of them got their attention.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted lazily, waiting for the 'You're late!' screech. When it never came, he blinked and looked at his students, "Eh? What happened to you three?"

Sasuke scowled and wiped the sweat off his brow, "Gee, I wonder what people do in a training ground." He snarked.

Naruto felt a sense of deja vu, but ignored it, "Yo, Kakashi-sensei, how's it goin'? What's gotcha late today?" He asked brightly.

Kakashi eye smiled at the red-haired genin, "Oh, I went to take a shower but forgot to take off my clothes so my clothes got wet, so I had to put on a new one, but I didn't have any, so I went to buy a new one, but they didn't have any either so I went to the other town to buy one." He said.

His three students simply stared at him, and Naruto said, "I'm... I'm kinda impressed, dattebayo." He admitted.

Sakura was still panted while she glared at Kakashi, "Liar!" She screeched and the other three winced.

"Yeah, no shit," Naruto muttered and Sasuke made a sound that could be assumed to be a snort.

Kakashi smiled, "Well, anyway, what were you working on, my little ducklings?" He said. Naruto nudged Sasuke.

"He's talking to you, duck-butt hair," Naruto said and Kakashi chuckled in amusement while Sakura bit her lip, trying not to giggle. Sasuke glared at Naruto and scoffed, "Shut up tomato."

A tick appeared on Naruto's forehead, "Teme, don't call me that!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi smiled fondly, 'Just like Kushina.' He thought to himself, but outwardly he said, "Maa, maa, it's tit for tat, Naruto. Anyway, what were you three working on?" He asked.

"Wall Climbing," Sakura answered, looking tired.

Kakashi blinked, "Eh? But how do you know that? Who taught you?" He asked, surprised.

Naruto smiled proudly, "I did, Kakashi-sensei! I accidentally discovered it, in the morning. You know how if we apply too much chakra in Tree Climbing the bark explodes?" At Kakashi's nod, he continued, "Well, I wanted to try it on a wall to see if it worked on that too. I found out that if the chakra was a bit more controlled, you can walk on the wall too!"

Kakashi nodded, "Good thinking, Naruto. I'm glad you're taking training seriously." he said and Naruto's smile faded and Sasuke scowled while Sakura frowned uneasily. Kakashi ignored this, thinking that Sasuke was probably jealous that he didn't think of it himself, and he couldn't be any more incorrect.

They all went on a D-Rank Mission, several, actually. Naruto liked the money, and he knew that it wasn't going to fly well with the Old Man if he demanded another C-Rank after the disastrous one before.

Before the Hokage could dismiss them, however, Naruto got an idea, "Hey, Old Man, can we do these missions solo?" He asked suddenly.

The Sandaime Hokage looked down at the redhead boy, "...Of course, Naruto-kun, but why?" He asked, letting out a puff of smoke. His other teammates and his sensei looked at him curiously.

"I need the money, dattebayo. I live alone, and I have Kage Bunshin to take as many missions as I want!" Naruto said, proud of his idea.

The Hokage nodded sadly, "I understand, Naruto-kun. You can take as many missions as you like, and you will be given the pay." He said, "Of course, your teammates are more than welcome to help you, but you'll have to share the money."

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah, no. Sakura-chan's parents can pay for what she wants and Sasuke's loaded. I need the money." He said.

There was a brief silence where Sasuke shrugged, not finding anything wrong with what he said while Sakura remembered what she said about Naruto to Sasuke back in the Academy about Naruto being an orphan. She cringed.

The Hokage nodded, "Very well. If you want more missions, then you can talk to Iruka." He said. Naruto nodded, walking over to Iruka, who smiled at him, "Yo, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto enthusiastically greeted.

"Naruto, tomorrow at 8 AM, alright?" Kakashi said, nose face buried in the orange book.

"You mean, 11? Yeah, gotcha." Naruto said, waving at him, while the Hokage coughed to hide his laughter while Sasuke smirked and walked away. Sakura giggled and followed Sasuke out. Naruto frowned, he wanted to see if... nah. Naruto knew that she wouldn't give him a chance.

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Just an experimental chapter, don't take it too seriously.