Chapter 5

*Four Years Later*

At the Academy, a tall man with long white hair in a green robe and a scroll on his back was speaking with the Hokage. Red sage marks extended from around his eyes down his face with a headband that had the Kanji for 'Oil' engraved in it. "So he's already this far along, and he hasn't even graduated yet..." he said to himself in disbelief.

Sarutobi smiled at the man. "You shouldn't be too surprised, Jaraiya. Minato was also a prodigy for his age." A worrisome grin plastered on his face. Jaraiya still believed it too soon to inform Naruto of his heritage; his father's enemies can come back to haunt him. "If you are so distraught with his capabilities..." the Sandaime began "... leave the boy with something that will help him grow." The Sage pondered what to leave his future pupil with, since the Hokage had already informed him of Naruto learning 'something similar to' the Rasengan. He walked towards the open window and as he jumped said to himself with grin "I'll just have to see him for myself!"

"Naruuutooo!" Ino panted, gasping for air while grabbing on to the rock surface. "I can see my house from here Ino-chan!" He joked as they climbed up the side of the Hokage monument. Naruto was carrying a huge pack on his back that he laid out when they reached the top. "A little bit of training before a little bit of painting..." he said with a mischievous grin. "I don't get what painting has to do with our training today" Ino huffed holding herself up at the knees.

She has gotten a lot more resilient over the years, but she had been enhancing her stamina with chakra while this exercise was all physical strength. "You'll see... just be prepared" the Uzumaki said tying a rope to a nearby tree and swinging off the ledge with a paint bucket. "Rest while you can..!" He exclaimed on the way down. After about 45 minutes of painting on the faces of the Hokage, Naruto hopped back up the edge and pulled Ino off the ground by grabbing her forearm. "yahh" she yelped looking at the golden blonde for answers. "And now we run" He said seeing as the Anbu had caught on to their prank. They both took off running at break neck speeds, hopping over roof tops and through empty streets.

One Anbu managed to grip the boy on his shoulder before poofing out of existence. The other ninja tasked with capturing the delinquent blonde realized that they have been tricked. Naruto, as confident as he's become, still found himself tangled in a clothesline on the other side of the village. Ino waited for him to recollect himself. "Good job, Ino-chan, I'll meet you at the Academy. You can disperse now" he told her. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, while the real Ino was still reading a book in one of the trees near the Hokage Monument. As the memories came back to her, she snickered at Naruto getting tangled in bedsheets that we're out to dry. She dropped from the tree 'I better get ready for graduation test today.' She began to stumble as she started walking. 'Man, shadow clones are exhausting.'

Ino walked into the academy ready to ace this thing. As she headed down the hall she passed a usually timid Hinata. As their eyes met Ino commented "Don't fail now, Princess". "I won't lose to you" The Hyuuga said standing her ground. Ino and Hinata had escalated their rivalry, even though Ino was toying with her. Ino might be the Yamanaka Heiress, but the Hyuuga have more prestige for being a clan of doujutsu. If anything, Hinata was powerful in name only. Ino sincerely wanted her to fix that and back up her position. A bit of friendly rivalry wouldn't hurt, right?

Meanwhile, Naruto was running late. During the years, Naruto presented his skill as less than average to everyone. The only ones who caught onto it were Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji; all who had seen his skill level before. Sakura didn't pay mind to the blonde as she just saw him as Ino's friend and was currently infatuated with Sasuke. Sasuke was still brooding, but was more responsive to questions. He was a tolerable amount of dickish. Iruka was still cheerful and kind to Naruto, which was great knowing he wouldn't lose someone he saw as a big brother.

Mizuki, the chuunin assistant teacher and Iruka's childhood friend, passed out the test. The written test was easy, but Naruto's sheet had a genjutsu on it. While Naruto has always had trouble with genjutsu due to his large chakra pool, this was noticeable by him. 'Hey, there's a genjutsu on your paper' Ino told him using her telepathic abilities. The golden blonde smiled 'Thanks, Ino-chan. It'll be fine' he replied. Going with the flow, he answered the genjutsu questions instead. During the Ninjutsu practice, Naruto aimed at making a single standard clone and overloading it with chakra. Hinata noticed this when she activated her Byakugan and wondered what he was doing. The clone came out hunched over on the floor like a drunk who had fallen over. Ino was pissed that he didn't get that right and Hinata was equally upset although not as visible. Shikamaru was jusat as surprised at the display 'what are you doing, Naruto?' The taijutsu test didn't go any better, as Mizuki went hard on the kid by slamming him to the ground while everyone was distracted. Still, he did notice that Naruto had solid muscle underneath his jumpsuit. Ino was furious 'I'll have to have a discussion with Naruto later'. Sasuke, on the other hand, stood out with his clan's taijutsu, but he was nowhere near Naruto's actual level.

After Naruto had failed, Mizuki approached him with a proposition for a make-up exam by stealing a kinjutsu scroll, although he didn't frame it in those words. The assistant instructor was cautious at first because he heard a rumor that he was trained by T.I.s Anko Mitsurashi, but after today's performance that is clearly not the case. Naruto agreed to meet him in the Forest later with the scroll, leaving the chuunin looking down, but with a sly grin on his face as he walked away.

Naruto recovered the scroll easy enough, and it wasn't long until the rest of the ninja were after him. At the meeting point, Iruka found Naruto with the scroll and asked why he had stole it. In his previous life, he had clearly been duped as a fall guy. "Iruka-sensei, Mizuki asked me to obtain this for him. I don't believe he is what he seems." Iruka looked shocked at the revelation and didn't want to believe it until Naruto pushed Iruka out of the from incoming kunai. Several kunai hit Naruto, pinning him to the cabin that was in the middle of the woods. Iruka saw Mizuki had thrown them before noticing his student bloodied. "Naruto!" Iruka yelled, hoping the boy was okay before seeing the child poof out of existence.

Mizuki, surprised, looked around for him before Naruto swung across a tree branch and kicking the blue-haired chuunin in the face. As Mizuki was heading toward the ground another shadow clone had spawned itself below punching him back, ultimately breaking clone Naruto's fist and Mizuki's nose. Still disoriented the chuunin lifted himself up 'what the... I didn't even sense him'. "Who sent you?" Naruto asked. Mizuki didn't answer, but snarled at the attack from the Blonde. "I'm not going to answer to a demon-child like you" he retorted expecting the child to question him and buy sometime to get on his feet. "Fine..." Naruto said. With stunning alacrity, Naruto positioned himself behind Mizuki with a Rasengan formed. Shocked at his speed and with no time to react, Mizuki braced for impact before Naruto was stopped.

The green sage gripped the wrist of the young boy and held down the rogue chuunin. "Now, now..." he said calmly "... we still need to interrogate him after, so we want him alive." Jaraiya saw the blue orb that soon disappeared 'that is for sure a Rasengan.' "You're—" Naruto couldn't finish as two kunai came flying at him, which he caught one effortlessly with one hand and knocking the other one away. An infuriated Anko appeared before the sage and the kid "I heard your sorry ass failed the Genin test... THE GENIN TEST!"

Jaraiya loosened his grip on the boy and hauled Mizuki away "Uh oh, couple fight..." he joked getting a glare from both of them. "Anko-nee, I know you're angry..." he defended "...but I needed to catch this guy in the act." The purple-haired Jounin narrowed her eyes "you ruined your future to be bait?" Just as she took a step closer Iruka got in between them with a nervous smile "Um, excuse me Anko-san..." he said politely. "What..." was the only thing that shot out of her mouth with a piercing glare. He let out a nervous laugh before taking off his hai-te and handing it to Naruto. "That was amazing, thanks Naruto-kun, you graduate."

Naruto let out a huge grin, probably saving his life from Anko. However he was mistaken "you may have just graduated, but you can't always count on this bastard to be here for you" she lectured. 'Bastard?' Iruka thought. "Yeah I get it. But I only need to graduate once" he commented. That snide remark gave Anko a tick on her head as they now began fighting across the landscape. Naruto parried all her moves, creating shadow clones to help restrain her which she fought off.

They ended up distancing themselves from the rest of the shinobi as Iruka was now watching from afar. Two kunai clung together before she wrapped him up with snakes. That Naruto ended up being a clone as he held a kunai to her neck from behind while transformed in Anko's appearance so he wouldn't have trouble with his height. The Jounin let out a deep sigh putting her hands up "I give." Naruto patted her shoulder and leaned into whisper in her ear "check his neck" He said before transforming and heading back to Iruka. Anko stayed where she was with a serious look on her face before grabbing the back of her neck 'don't tell me...'

Jaraiya came back to Iruka and Naruto when he was done handing Mizuki over. It was early morning now, despite it still being dark out "Kid, I need to talk to you" the Sannin said with his arms crossed. "Let's walk..." Naruto was overjoyed when he was walking back to his apartment. The feeling of graduating all over again reinforces how major of an achievement this was for him. However, Jaraiya had some major questions, most likely concerning the Rasengan. Naruto could go the easy way and say he knows his father through being in the seal, but that can have unexpected consequences.

They stopped on the bridge crossing over the river when Jaraiya asked "where did you learn that jutsu?" "Well..." the blonde rubbed the back of his head trying to think of something. "...I read a book called Chakra Control for Knucklehead Ninjas." The toad sage was surprised to hear the name of one of his books. "... It humored the idea of chakra being used to make shapes, so I concentrated as much chakra in my hands trying to keep it all in one place." Jaraiya got a big nose "oh you did, did you?" Complimenting himself with a laugh before he leaned into the kid "I don't believe you."

A sweat dropped on Naruto's head. "Fine, the Yodaime Hokage showed me through the seal" he confessed. "Part of his chakra was taken into the seal when he performed it." 'It seems he is telling the truth, it just feels like something in missing' Jaraiya pondered. Naruto cleverly left out the familial ties he knows about. "Well, did you know I trained the Yodaime?" He said with a grin. "So you're the man who makes the Icha Icha series... Ero-Sennin," Naruto deadpanned. "Show some respect, brat. I'm not a perve..." he held his head up "I'm a mega-perve" he exclaimed moving his hands as if he was gripping something.

They continued walking until they came to an open clearing. The Sannin took the scroll off of his back and sat down getting Naruto to follow suit. "I saw your little brawl with Anko..." he told the boy thinking 'forget Mizuki, he took on a Jounin'. "I'll give you something to help you get stronger, faster." The toad sage rolled out the scroll which had two names written on it. "Jaraiya, and Minato Namikaze?" Naruto questioned trying not to know who he was. "Yup, the Yodaime also held the toad contract" Jaraiya said, proud of his pupil. "With this, you'll be able to summon toads!" He demonstrates having a young Gamakichi come out. "What's going on boss?" He asked. "This guy is going to be my new pupil" he said jabbing his thumb at Naruto.

While the Naruto from before would've been an ass and asked how such a small toad would help in the middle of battle, he now knew the importance of such bonds. "Cool!" "Nice to meet you kid, I'm Gamakichi" he introduced himself and Naruto did the same. He said getting the brush to write his name "and put your fingertips in blood at the bottom" he was instructed. The blonde did just that, biting the tip of his thumb. When he was finished Jaraiya stood up. "Alright kid, now try it yourself!" Naruto slammed his hand to the ground, pouring as much chakra as he can gather into it "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Appearing before him were both Shima and Fukasaku, the two great sage toads from Mount Myouboku. Jaraiya was seriously surprised, as the amount of chakra it would take would kill a normal human without senjutsu, let alone a kid. "Fukasaku, what is the meaning of this?" Jaraiya asked. "It's as the Old Geezer said" Shima commented referring to the Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru. Fukasaku nodded in agreement. "This boy has a lot more potential than he lets on, Jaraiya." Naruto was sweating bullets "Now, I think your overestimating things." Fukasaku shook his head "you're oozing nature chakra." The blonde put his head down bummed that he was figured out. "... Jaraiya, we're bringing him to Mount Myouboku now!" They said dispersing.

Shortly after, they were summoned to the mountain where the air was fresh and rich with chakra. Jaraiya proceeded to pat down Naruto. "What are you doing Ero-Sennin" he shivered. 'I can't believe he's already this far' the green sage thought. "His body's pretty solid" he informed the two elder toads. Fukasaku looked at Naruto "The Honorable Toad Sage prophesied that a boy of great talent has entered our realm and to not diminish his foresight." 'Realm? Foresight?' Jaraiya listened. "Have you tried entering sage mode?" Shima asked. Naruto shook his head "I believe I would petrify without a contract."

The Toad Sages nodded. "You are quite well read" Shima complimented. "May you do so now?" Naruto sat down in a Lotus position and began meditating. Fukasaku was amazed at how still he was. As he focused on the nature chakra, the area around his eyes grew orange and when he opened them his pupil were horizontal and his irises yellow. "A perfect sage mode..." Jaraiya mumbled to himself. Naruto hadn't felt this powerful in a while and was genuinely excited. So much so that he gripped his fist and thrust it in the air subconsciously. "You are indeed a prodigal son, but do not let it get to your head. There is great responsibility with the power you wield." Naruto made proud smile and nodded in agreement.

Jaraiya ruffled the kid's hair. "C'mon, let's get you back" he commented. They dispersed from the mountain back to Konoha. The sun was beginning to rise and he could feel his eyelids getting heavy. Jaraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder "Wow, I'm really proud of you, kid" he said with a smile before shaking him violently "but how the hell could you get perfect sage mode? Do you know how hard I've worked!" He dropped the blonde "Jeez, can't believe I got beat by a twelve year old" he said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just don't let it get to your head" he said walking away. Naruto felt as if his soul was living his body after that. 'I'll have to stop by in a few months to see how he's doing' Jaraiya thought before leaving on his next mission.

A week had passed since graduation and the teams were going to be set up. 'Ma, I got Kakashi-sensei last time, I wonder who I'll get now' Naruto wondered. Ino, who was sitting by Naruto was still a bit annoyed that Naruto didn't let her in on taking down Mizuki. Tapping her fingers on the desk. Hinata walked in and was making her way up the stairs to the back, but first stopped to see Naruto "N-Naruto-kun, I'm glad to see that you graduated". Naruto let out a large sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his head "Same here" he said. Before Hinata continued to her seat, she glared at Ino who reciprocated the notion.

Sakura was sitting near Sasuke, "I wonder how he was able to pass" she commented. The raven-haired Genin grunted "they're letting anybody pass these days". Sakura acknowledge what Sasuke said, but still wondered why; even more so why Ino was friends with him.

The Instructors came in; everybody but Kakashi-sensei that is. Kurenai took Hinata, Shino, and Kiba. 'The same as before' Naruto noted. Asuma took Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji, Naruto began tapping his finger lightly 'this isn't looking good. I've been trying to stay away from Sasuke as much as possible, but it looks like I got stuck with Kakashi again.' 'Then again' he thought 'if I never talk to Sasuke and we still end up going to war, we wouldn't be able to get as far as we did.'

Naruto broke his head over it for the next couple hours. "Hey dweeb..." Sasuke finally broke the silence between everyone "how'd you manage to graduate when you suck so bad". A tick mark formed on the blonde's head 'don't let it get to you, despite how much of an asshole he is.' He thought. "I was at the wrong place at the right time" Naruto stated struggling to keep composure. The Sasuke just grunted and continued to look out the window. Sakura seemed to be stuck in the middle finding it hard to find something to help relieve he tension.

Another twenty minutes had passed before the door slid open, when in walked the one-eyed, grey-haired ninja. "You're late!" Sakura exclaimed. The lazy nin rubbed the side of his head "Ma, I got lost on the road of life". "Since I'm here now, meet me on the roof in ten minutes" he said shinshuning away.

On the rooftop, the Jounin was reading his Icha Icha Paradise novel, when everyone arrived and sat in front of him. As he casually put his book away he observed the Genin. Looking at Sasuke he thought 'so this is the last heir of the Uchiha clan. He had high marks in the Academy'. He peered over to the other side at Naruto '... and this is the Jinchurikki for the Kyuubi. A wildcard' the elite shinobi thought. '...He originally didn't pass the graduation test, but it's said he took down a chuunin by himself.' He then looked at Sakura 'and then there's Sakura...' he thought with a long pause. '...' "What?" Sakura asked why he was staring at her. '... I heard she has decent chakra control' he concluded.

Kakashi put on a cheerful, one-eyed grin under his mask and instructed them to give introductions. "Why don't you go first sensei?" Naruto asked. "Okay. My name is Kakashi. I like many things, I dislike other things. My hobbies I don't want to tell you, my goals are none of your business" He said happily. Everyone deadpanned for only being able to learn his name. "We'll start with you" he said looking at Naruto.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen and hanging out with my friends. I dislike people who judge others for no reason or for things they have no control over. My hobbies are eating ramen and reading. My goal is to be the greatest Hokage that ever lived! 'That's quite ambitious' Kakashi thought. "Next up..." he said looking at Sakura. "Oh, um, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like hanging out with my friend Ino. I dislike people who look down on common families that aren't noble. My hobbies are talking with friends. And my goal is to..." she got silent as she dozed off while looking at Sasuke. 'A fan girl. At least it's manageable.' "Lastly" he stated looking at Sasuke. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I like some things, I hate a lot of things. My hobbies are none of your business and my goal is to kill a certain man..." Naruto flinched as he said that "... and find my brother."

Naruto made note that the last thing he said was different from last time. 'It's possible he's trying to reconcile with Itachi' He thought. Kakashi stood up "Okay, that concludes today, tomorrow meet at Training Ground 7. I suggest you guys skip breakfast" he said before shinshuning away. "We literally been waiting hours for a five minute intro?!" Sakura yelled out. Sasuke just walked away and Sakura followed suit, chasing after him. 'Not much has changed in terms of team dynamics...' the blonde thought.

The next morning, Naruto woke up and got ready. He decided it was time to put on his new uniform. He had black shinobi pants cut at the hem, an over shirt similar to a black Gi that has orange trim near the fold with fishnet mesh undershirt, and bandages could be seen extending from his form arms on his knuckles as well as on his ankles. The last touch was his dark purple headband that held his hai'te. He decided to eat breakfast because he knew he was going to be hungry in a few hours anyways due to his hyperactive metabolism.

Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 about the same time as everyone else. Sasuke and Sakura both looked around somewhat surprised, but it was Sakura who asked "what the hell happened here?" The training area had holes blasted in the surrounding landscape, several trees knocked over and kunai scattered throughout the vicinity. While they waited at the wooden posts in the center of the field, Naruto created two clones to go collect the kunai as he sat in a Lotus position and began to meditate.

He peered over at his team, Sasuke being impatient and Sakura being anxious about what's going to happen. "You should settle in. If Kakashi-sensei was late yesterday, he is probably going to be today as well" he said before he continued to meditate. Sasuke just grunted in affirmation while Sakura began twiddling her thumbs. She wasn't sure how to acknowledge Naruto, being dead last at the Academy she felt didn't earn him respect, but he was Ino's friend.

After another several hours, Naruto stopped his meditation. "He's here" he simply said while getting up and stretching. Sasuke looked around 'what is this dweeb talking about?' After about thirty seconds Kakashi appeared in front of them. He gave a slight pause of surprise when he was looking at his wrecked training field. "I brought you all food..." he said with a one-eyed grin. Sakura was starving, and the Raven-haired Genin didn't want to admit it either. The silver haired nin brought lunch boxes for everyone, "... but first, there will be a little test" he stated. "You must take these bells from me" he showed with a jingle. "Whoever doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." Worried Sakura commented "There's only two bells though" hoping that the instructor messed up. "You have until noon" he said placing down a clock. 'Three hours...' Sasuke thought. "I'll give you all a minute to hide" he gifted with a smile prior to pulling out his book. "Start!"

After a minute, he noticed that Sasuke has hid himself pretty well, Sakura could use a little work still good though. 'Meanwhile...' he thought looking up at Naruto who cracked his neck and was rotating his shoulders. "Kakashi-sensei, I've been waiting to fight you!" The blonde smiled. 'This kid has no idea...' the Jounin mumbled. "You're never going to get a bell like that" he lectured returning to his book.

Just as his eyes left Naruto he had a compulsive urge to block his left side to which Naruto had slammed a kick into his arm. 'Heavy!' He thought getting thrown back while still managing to recuperate himself midair. Sakura and Sasuke were dumbfounded from afar with such an insane display of strength. Insane for both his physical capabilities and his idiotic approach for attacking from the front. Sakura knew for fact she wouldn't be able to keep up. She then heard someone coming from behind. "You're..."

Kakashi looked back at Naruto he could see his eyes. 'Sage Mode?! Did he already meet Jaraiya-dono?' The blonde grinned "are you ready to take this seriously, Kakashi-sensei?" After a swift taijutsu battle in which Kakashi was not even able to land an attack, Naruto extended his arm to the body of his superior "Futon: Gale Palm!" Kakashi was thrown back to the direction of the training posts. 'Elemental jutsu?! Reports say he wasn't nearly this good.' He seemed to be in a tough position, deciding whether or not to show use his Sharingan. He contemplated knowing Sasuke wouldn't take too lightly to it. Before he could decide he heard Sasuke yell "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" In which he was barely able to dodge and just as he landed he heard a cutting sound. Looking down he saw Sakura with a kunai in which she used to cut the bells from his waist.

At that moment, Kakashi put his hands up and all fighting ceased. "How do we split the bells though" Sakura worried to Sasuke while Kakashi waited to see how the Genin reacted. Naruto patted both of them on the back "you two can keep them..." he blatantly stated "...I still want to fight Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi looked upon the anomaly that is Naruto Uzumaki. 'Is this why Anko was so bent on training him?'

During the team assignments meeting, Anko was pleading with the Hokage to be an instructor. "Anko, we can't have you taking in just one student, it has to be three man teams." Anko was visibly slamming her hands on the desk in front of the old man "But the kid's got talent. Throwing him in with greenhorns isn't going to be good for his growth" she bargained. "No favorites, Anko. Besides, aren't you busy with TI work? Aren't you supposed to be there right now?" She froze from being caught. The elder Sarutobi let out a puff of smoke while the younger held back a grin "don't worry about it, it'll just be coming out of your paycheck." The snake jutsu practitioner became bummed out and left with her head down.

Kakashi continued observing the trio. "Give it some time and we might be able to spar more fairly" he stated. "You all pass." Sakura jumped with joy and the Uchiha Heir grunted. "By the way, how were you able to coordinate?" The Jounin asked. When Sakura and Sasuke were hiding, Naruto had the wherewithal to visit the two with the clones he created, and helped them synchronize with his attack. Sasuke was a bit of a prick at first, but as soon as he saw what Naruto was capable of, he decide to trust the blonde's judgement.

Meanwhile, team ten was performing a similar bell test with Asuma Sarutobi, the third Hokage's son and Jounin instructor. Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji were attacking Asuma-sensei, who has been evasive so far. Jumping over Chouji's human bullet and being out of reach from the Nara clan's shadow possession jutsu. A shadow clone of Ino then jumped down from a tree towards Asuma who thought he'd effortlessly toss her aside to find out she had gripped his wrist and was about to kick him in the face. As he leaned back and losing the sight of what was in front him, Shikamaru had repositioned himself to give his Shadow Possession jutsu more cover.

Once again he evaded with a substitution jutsu. Clone Ino was getting impatient. "Chouji, throw me" she said. "Uhh... are sure?" The gentle giant questioned. "Yeah..." clone Ino nodded. Chouji enlarged his arm and clone Ino jumped on before being flung at tremendous speed toward Asuma like a bullet "oh my god, Chouji, too fast!" She began crying mid-flight before dispersing out of fear. The knowledge came back to the original which sent a shiver down his spine and caused her to buckle at the knees.

Asuma came back laughing "Okay, time!" Ino sat on the ground, exhausted from the use of the Kage Bunshin. 'That's pretty rare for a Genin to know' the instructor noted. 'I could've sworn she would have tried to use her mind transfer jutsu, leaving her vulnerable. Normally vanguards are the ones that use a Bunshin' He then looked at Shikamaru who was most likely the strategist of this ordeal (outside of the last part) 'intelligent, just lacks experience... and drive'. Looking at Chouji, 'he has drive and courage, but his techniques are lacking'. "You all pass" he smiled with a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth. After all was said and done, the fatigue set in. They all laid back; in a sense, you can call it group cloud watching.