Kishimoto owns Naruto and all derivatived works.

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Chapter Three

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The gate closed behind them as Sasuke and Sakura dashed into the forest. Running up one of the trees just inside the boundary, they paused.

"Allright." Sasuke grunted. "We don't have the dobe to slow us down, so we head out and find another team. We follow them until they fight and we see which team wins while I use my Sharingan to copy their jutsus. Once the fighting is over, we follow the winners and attack them for the scroll, then head for the tower."

Sakura nodded, her mind filled with amazement at Sasuke's brilliance. Sasuke saw her nod and leapt to the next branch, Sakura hot on his trail.

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"Dammit." Snarled the black-clad ninja, dropping the scroll back onto the pile of bloody sand that he'd retrieved it from. "Earth scroll."

Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke gently stroked the pocket holding their own Heaven scroll.

"Head towards the tower, I'll catch up with you." He whispered and Sakura nodded. Moving as quietly as she could, she eased away from the Suna team that had mercilessly killed the entire Ame team.

"Run!"

Sakura glanced backwards and screamed as a wave of sand slammed through the trees behind her, barely missing Sasuke who was holding the required scroll in his hand. Without bothering to think, Sakura spun and sprinted as fast as she could, trying to outpace the crashing sand that was smashing through the Forest.

"What is he?" Sakura gasped as a spinning branch flew by her head and Sasuke grunted.

"Less talk, more run!"

"DIE!"

A burst of adrenaline flooded Sakura's muscles as the insane voice screamed from behind them and she accelerated, as did Sasuke. Seeing an open area, they brurst out of the undergrowth and found themselves at the edge of a river.

"Logs!" Sakura shouted, pointing at the floating items. "We can cross!"

Sasuke nodded and they lept from the shore to the first, then the second and to a third as something roared behind them. As they landed on the fourth and final log, it shifted underneath them and Sakura gulped as realisation dawned.

"Oh, shi…"

The water seemed to explode as the river monster bucked underneath them and the duo were hurled into the canopy. Just before she impacted with a branch, Sakura saw one of the river beasts lunging at the trio that had been pursuing them, then everything went dark.

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"uuuurrrrghh."

"Hn."

Sakura's eyes flickered open slowly and the world slowly resolved into a cave with Sasuke sat at the entrance, a silhouette against the greenery stretched across the opening to disguise it.

"How… long…"

"Full day." Sasuke grunted, glancing out of the camouflage. "I was starting to think you'd sleep to the end."

"Anything happen?" Sakura asked weakly and Sasuke shrugged.

"Fight in the distance, got a few more jutsu from it. Other than that, nothing."

Sakura nodded and sat up, slowly stretching as her limbs protested.

"Water in the canteen." Sasuke said, nodding to the small pile of camping equipment. "I'll re-seal it when you're ready to move out."

Sakura smiled. Sasuke knew how to seal stuff already, he was so cool.

"Good thing the baka wasn't with us." Sakura noted. "He'd have got killed and got us chucked out. I wonder what happened to him?"

"Don't know and don't care." Sasuke shrugged. "Dobe would have got us thrown out somehow."

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "He's such an idiotic klutz."

Sasuke paused for a moment, memories of Nauto's insane-yet-somehow-workable plans flicking through his head. He still disn't know how Naruto had done the impossible and actually henged into a Windmill Shuriken while his shadow clones were a trick that he still hadn't been able to copy since it was a layered handseal technique that relied on the user learning one string of handseals, perfecting them to the point that they weren't actually needed any more to shape the Chakra and then funnelled through a second seal.

His Sharingan meant that he could only learn the overseal and not the underlying chakra manipulation required. It was somewhat ironic that a Hyuuga would have a better chance of learning that technique from simple observation.

How Naruto had learned it when he couldn't do a normal Bunshin, he had no idea.

"Here's a food pill." Sasuke said, handing it over. "Eat it and get a drink, then tell me when you're good to move out. I want you at full, otherwise we might hit trouble."

Sakura hid a smile. Sasuke did care for her!

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"The tower." Sakura gasped as they landed in the undergrowth just before the clearing that held the structure in question. Making to rise, she pused as Sasuke clapped his hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura, there's someone nearby… someone with a lot of chakra…"

"Kukukukuku." A voice laughed and boh genin spun round to find themselves facing a woman with a Grass Village Hitai-ate. A moment later, they were hit with a huge gust of wind that hurled them into the air, away from the sanctuary offered by the Tower.

Sakura screamed as she hurtled towards the canopy, impacting harshly and feeling her left arm shatter under the impact. Crashing to the ground, she whimpered as her ankle twisted, preventing her from running away. A dozen meters away, Sasuke landed heavily, bruised but without the broken bones that she had suffered.

"Sas… suke…" She gasped, clutching her broken arm tightly to her as she tried to stand up. "Who.. who was that?"

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted, his sharingan scanning around him for any sign of the ninja who had attacked them, "but she wasn't a normal genin. Not with that amount of power."

"Well said." The woman sneered as she dropped down lightly. "Hello, Sasuke, you have something that interests me."

Sasuke blinked while Sakura started muttering. "She's chosen to go after us… sasuke-kun's her target… something that… Sasuke! She's after your eyes!"

"Well done." The woman said sarcastically, then she threw something as Sakura. Sakura tried to dodge, but she wasn't fast enough and the object shattered against her cheek, breaking and splashing a liquid over her face.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!"

Sakura's scream of agony echoed through the forest and the woman laughed again.

"Now that your little whore is otherwise occupied, I think that…"

The woman vanished in a fireball, then reappeared from behind a tree.

"Nice jutsu, Sasuke. Not nearly as good as your brother's fireballs, but not bad."

Sasuke snarled. "What do you know about Itachi?"

"Oh, he and I used to work for the same people. I got to know him quite well."

Sasuke pulled out a kunai and leapt at the woman, his sharingan flaring red. The woman laughed as she pulled out her own kunai and blocked him, then her grin widened.

"Three tomoe now, I see. You really are getting better."

Sasuke blinked and the instant of distraction was enough to let the woman throw him into a tree. Pulling himself to his feet, he lunged forwards again, only for his strike to be blocked. An instant later, the woman lunged forwards and bit him on the side of his neck.

"AAAAARGH!"

As he collapsed from the sheer agony flowing through his veins, he saw the woman smiling.

"Use my gift of power well, little Uchiha. When you want more, come to me. Kukukukukukuku!"

The world went black as the jagged lances of acidic heat seemed to stab through him.

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"Help… us…"

Iruka blinked as he saw the sight before him.

"What happened?"

"Genin, strong, acid." Sakura slurred, looking at him with her one uncovered eye. "Sasuke down, don't know why. Hurts."

Iruka nodded and gently picked up Sasuke.

"I'll be back in a moment. Stay put."

As he vanished in a shunshin, Sakura finally gave in to the pain and collapsed on the floor beside the two unrolled scrolls.

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"Report."

The doctor looked at the Hokage and the Teacher for a moment, then down at the clipboard he was holding.

"Both patients are stable. Haruno suffered three breaks in her left arm, they have been realigned and placed in a cast, with the proper medical jutsu, the bones should be set within a fortnight. She dislocated her right ankle, it has been reset but her walking on it while dragging the Uchiha behind her did not do it any good. It will be a week before she is allowed to walk anywhere due to the damage she did to the tendons and muscles."

"And her face?" Iruka asked before he could stop himself. The doctor sighed.

"She is fortunate that the acid mostly missed her eye. We were able to apply reconstructive jutsus, but her right eye will always be red."

"Like Yuhi Kurenai's?"

"No, I mean that her eye itself will be red. The iris and what was formerly the white. Her right eye is now completely red except for the pupil. As for her face, the acid was quite nasty. We had to do a skin graft and it didn't work properly due to traces of the acid we couldn't remove. The entire right side of her face is now a mass of scars."

"I'll have Kurenai instruct her in genjitsu so that she can hide it." Hiruzen said after a few moments thought.

"As for the Uchiha, several cracked bones and a seal on his neck that resembles that applied by Orochimaru to Mitarashi Anko, only more advanced." The doctor read. "The seal seems to be… for lack of a better description, rooting itself into his chakra network. Until we can place it under a containment seal, we cannot let the Uchiha out of the hospital."

Hiruzen sighed. "Alright. Until they recover, they are both off duty."

"What about Naruto?" Iruka askedand Hiruzen frowned.

"I never got round to replacing Mizuki, did I?"

"No, Lord Hokage, but why do… you… you have to be kidding!"

Hiruzen smirked.

"Lord Hokage." An ANBU said, appearing and proffering a scroll. "The list of those who made it. Nine in total, three teams, two from Konoha and one from Suna."

Hiruzen accepted the scroll. "Hmmmmm… Team nine, Hyuuga Neji, Higarushi Tenten, Rock Lee, The Suna Siblings, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari of the Sand, and tempoaray team beta, Yakushi Kabuto, Akado Yoroi and Tsurugu Misumi. Interesting."

"Yes, My Lord." The ANBU said. "They are assembling for the speech."

"Very well." Hiruzen said, walking towards the door. "Iruka, find Naruto and start teaching him how to be a classroom assistant, he starts tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Iruka sighed.

"And while you are at it, you might as well see just how badly the other teachers mis-trained him and see if you can sort it out."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Iruka grinned.

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"What the… boss?"

Naruto grinned as Konohamaru's exclamation of shock echoed off the walls of the classroom.

"It's Naruto-sensei now, Ko. I've been tapped to help Iruka-sensei keep you lot under control."

"Yeah, right." One of the other children snorted. "There's only one of you and… Sweet Kami!"

Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon exchanged grins as several dozen Naruto clones spread out, each one taking position by a suddenly-silent child as Iruka entered.

"Hello, class." Iruka said, calling on all of his self-control to hide his grin. "As you can see, I have a new assistant that will be helping with your physical training. Naruto, head out, give me anther thirty to forty clones and then head over to training field nine for your lessons in taijitsu under Maito Gai."

"You got it, sensei." Naruto saluted, then he vaulted out of a window, landing silently. Iruka shook his head.

"Normally we would be continuing with the leaf exercise, but it has come to my attention that three of you can do tree-climbing. Could those three raise their hands and tell the class who taught them?"

Konohamaru grinned as He, Moegi and Udon all raised their hands, then Udon spoke up. "It was Naruto-san who taught us, he used his clones to help us do it and make sure we didn't get hurt."

Iruka nodded. "I got the story from Naruto and it seems that his method is actually more efficient than the normal one, although it requires the teacher to concentrate fully on one student at a time. A result, it isn't really a surprise that Naruto managed to come up with it. He's a one-man army. All right, I see he has more clones waiting, let's head to the trees."

With a resounding cheer, the students flooded out of the door while the clones left via the windows.

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"Aha, Naruto! It is good to see you this youthful morning!"

Naruto froze for a moment, then glanced round. To his left was another green-spandex clad figure looking like a smaller version of Maito Gai. The other two genins with them were a dark-haired boy with a marked resemblence to Hinata and a brown-haired girl with her hair pulled up into two buns that looked a bit like panda ears.

"Ummm, hi?"

"Ah, you have yet to meet my youthful team!" Gai declaimed, giving Naruto an admittedly slightly disturbing grin and thumbs-up. "First is Hyuuga Neji, a genius of talent."

The aforementioned Hyuuga simply nodded, then resumed staring at nothing in particular.

"And here is Higarushi Tenten, a genius of skill!"

Tenten looked up from the kunai that she was polishing and smiled. "Hello."

"Hi." Naruto managed, somewhat disconcerted by the fact that a girl was talking to him rather than shouting at or hitting him (Ayame didn't count as he'd known her so long).

"And we have my youthful student, a genius of hard work, Rock Lee!"

Naruto stared at the chibi-Gai, then rubbed his eyes and resumed staring.

It didn't help. The teen was still looking toomuch like Gai.

"Um, hi?"

"Hello, it is good to meet another who is willing to devote so much time to improving himself!"

Naruto blinked as Lee stood in exactly the same thumbs-up pose as Gai, with a very similar smile on his face.

"Umino-san was kind enough to inform me that you were capable of utilising the Kage Bunshin." Gai continued and Naruto nodded. "May I ask how many you can make?"

"Not sure." Naruto shrugged. "I've got about sixty helping Iruka-sensei with his class now."

For a long moment, Gai just stared at him.

"S… s… sixty?!"

"Could be seventy." Naruto shrugged. "Since I learned tree- and water-walking, it seems to take less energy to make them. I could probably make a couple of hundred more easily if you want."

Naruto looked round in confusion as everyone else stared at him with varying expressions of shock, then Gai spoke.

"You learned water-walking? How long did it take?"

"About three hours." Naruto shrugged. "I used a whole load of clones and dispelled the best-performing one every five minutes. The experience really mounted up quickly."

"Interesting." Gai mused, stroking his chin in thought. "Very well, let us spar now so that I can see what style you use and what style might suit you. Take your stance!"

Naruto nodded and moved into the first stance he had learned, then he frowned as Gai winced.

"What?"

"That… is not a proper stance!" Gai growled. "Who taught you that… abomination?"

Naruto blinked and Gai shifted into an upright stance. "Never mind, just come at me however you can."

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"…and that concludes todays practice." Iruka said with a smile. "I am glad that you were all able to take at least several steps, well be repeating this next week. Ah, Naruto… what happened?"

"Gai… style… teaching… katas…" Naruto managed to gasp before his legs gave out. Only Iruka's reflexes stopped him from measuring his length in the dirt.

"You found out why he is called the Green Beast of Konoha, huh?" Iruka chuckled. "Alright. Clones, dispell by pairs. Naruto, prepare for a whole load of memories about over-excited children getting tree-walking wrong."

Naruto snorted with laughter even as the first clones vanished into puffs of smoke. Once the last clone had dispelled, Naruto looked up.

"You weren't kidding. I think only Ko's team and that Hyuuga girl managed to do it right."

"Well," Iruka said thoughtfully, "The Hyuuga clan are well-known for their advanced chakra control. In fact, their fighting style depends on it, gathering it and releasing it in controlled bursts."

"Wow." Naruto breathed. "I never knew that."

"Well, you did miss out on quite a few lessons when you were younger." Iruka said gently. "Now, I've set out a dozen books for you on the table in my classroom, so when you are ready, create some more clones to read them. In the meantime, here's your paycheck for today so perhaps you can treat me to ramen for a change."

Naruto accepted the moneybag from the grinning adult and tucked it into his pocket before making a familiar seal. The clones that appeared promptly ran off into the Academy to begin their (re)-education and Naruto stretched, wincing a bit as he did so.

"So, how did you enjoy teaching?" Iruka asked and Naruto grinned.

"I see now why you like it so much." He admitted. "And on that note, for all the times I mucked around in class, I'm sorry. I guess I just got into some bad habits before you took over."

Iruka shrugged as they started to walk towards the main gate. "Well, at least you're making progress in catching up to where you should be."

"Thanks to you." Naruto grinned. "I don't know why Kakashi didn't tell me about how Kage Bunshin helps in learning, it's almost like he wanted me to be weaker than the Teme."

"It probably never really occurred to him." Iruka shrugged. "He might be one of the strongest Jonin in Konoha, but you three were the first team that he has actually had. He may be a great Jonin, but that doesn't mean that he's a good teacher."

"He hasn't taught me any cool jutsu." Naruto grumbled and Iruka laughed.

"That's your job. Normally it means learning family or clan Jutsu or learning from scrolls in the Shinobi Library…"

"The what?" Naruto asked and Iruka facepalmed.

"He didn't even tell you that? Dammit, Kakashi. I'll show you after we've eaten. Heck, I'll even spring for a piece of chakra paper so that we can find out what your elemental affinity is."

"Errrrr…"

Iruka didn't even have to look at Naruto to realise that the young teen was confused. "Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning and Wind. The five main elements."

"In Wave, Haku used ice."

"That sounds like a Kekkai Genkai, this Haku probably had the ability to combine water and wind to form it." Iruka explained, falling into his lecturing mode. "Abilities like that are very rare. Now, the five main elements each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if you go up against someone using fire, you're best off using water Jutsu. If you rely on wind jutsu, you will be in trouble as wind jutsu actually strengthen fire…"

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"Damn that bastard!" Sakura howled as she stared at her reflection. "It's all his fault, I know it!"

"In a way, maybe." Kakashi said as placatingly as he could. "You and Sasuke shouldn't have entered but Naruto tricked me by sending a shadow clone instead of showing up himself…"

"I'll kill the bastard!" Sakura hissed. "He knew what would happen…"

"I'll lodge a complaint with the Hokage personally." Haruno Isako grated from where she was sat by the window, looking away from her daughter's ruined visage. "Dereliction of duty, treason, betrayal of his team… I'll have him thrown into the deepest, dampest cell there is for the rest of his miserable existance!"

"That could be a problem as he didn't actually break any of the laws." Kakashi said quickly.

"Look what he did to my daughter!" Isako almost shrieked and Kakashi winced.

"Actually, it was Orochimaru who…"

"I bet that the bastard is allied to him!" Isako over-rode his protests. "He will pay for this, even if I have to carve him up myself!"

Kakashi swallowed nervously as the situation spun out of control.

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"What do you mean that Sasuke has been removed from the exams?!"