Hello readers, I'm not dead.

I know I say this a lot and it doesn't make it any less true but I'm sorry it's taken so long to update. Between life, work and quite a few attacks of writer's block it's been hard finding the time to write even when if I knew what I wanted to write.

Here's the chapter, I hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter 5

Practice and Preparation

Naruto sighed as he felt the memories of a Shadow Clone flow into his mind, they still couldn't get the chakra shell for the Rasengan to stablise but at least he now knew another way to not do it. He was sat on the roof of Tazuna's house keeping watch, he should've woken Sakura a couple of hours ago for her shift but decided to let her sleep, it had been a hard day for all of them and he wanted some time to himself.

From what his memories were telling him, Zabuza having back up, Bee and the others turning up, none of that had happened. Naruto had been fairly confident when taking the mission after overcoming the original shock of how quickly it had come up but now? Even though they weren't massive changes they still could've lead to big problems.

Pulling a kunai out of his pouch and idly spinning it around his fingers Naruto let his mind drift back a few hours to what had happened when he'd arrived at Tazuna's house.

Flashback

"My house is just ahead." Tazuna said as he led the group through the village. A piercing scream stopped anyone from saying anything in return. "Tsunami…" The bridge builder whispered before taking a step forward. Naruto unceremoniously dropped Kakashi and pulled Tazuna back, pushing him towards Sakura and Sasuke.

"Keep him here and be ready for an attack." Naruto barked the order before dashing towards the scream, arriving at Tazuna's house he found the door broken open and brutal laughter. Without a second thought he leapt into the house and saw six of Gato's thugs huddled around Tsunami, shreds of her clothes were scattered across the floor and Inari was laying on the other side of the room unconscious with a small cut on his forehead. Kurama.

The fox demon didn't reply other than letting some of his chakra flow into Naruto's system. Much like the show of force against the Kumo-nin earlier that day, Naruto's eyes turned red and slitted, his whisker marks darken, his nails grew into claws and his teeth sharpened. He dropped his bag before shrugging off his jacket and leaping over the thugs landing between them and Tsunami, he held his jacket back to Tsunami and as soon as he felt the weight lifted from his hand he went on the attack.

The thugs didn't stand a chance against him, the first one was down before any of them could blink, the second shortly afterwards, the third actually managed to reach his weapon before Naruto broke his arm in three places and kicked him across the room. The remaining three charged at Naruto while drawing knifes and hatchets from their belts, staying low he ducked under their attacks and lashed out with a vicious uppercut knocking the fourth thug out of the fight, the last two tried to trap Naruto in a pincer movement but were taken down by a split kick to the nose.

That last move was just showing off. Kurama said as he pulled his chakra back.

I needed to take them out before anyone came to investigate. Naruto replied as he pulled some ninja wire from his bag and started tying the thugs up.

I understand that but by doing that you've split your pants. The fox chuckled.

I thought it was a bit drafty, I'll fix them later. He continued to tie the thugs up and just as he finished Sasuke appeared at the door, with a kunai in each hand. He looked around the room, taking in the shreds of clothes, broken door, tied up thugs and Tsunami fussing over her son, with Naruto's jacket and blanket from his bag covering her.

"Clear?" He asked.

"Clear, bring them in." Naruto sighed in reply, taking deep breath to calm his heartrate and get control of the adrenaline that was flowing through his body. Sasuke nodded and disappeared, returning a few seconds later supporting Kakashi's weight as Sakura and Tazuna in front of him.

"Tsunami!" Tazuna shouted as he ran to his daughter. "What happened? Are you and Inari okay?"

"We-we're fine father, the blonde boy saved us before anything happened." Tsunami said hugging her father.

"Thank you." Tazuna said gratefully.

"I just did what was right." Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll fix everything up while you look after your family."

"I'll go on watch." Sasuke said as helped Kakashi to a chair before he walked out of the door and leapt up to the roof.

"I'll see to any injuries." Sakura added as she pulled a medical kit out of her bag.

"Am I even needed on this mission?" Kakashi asked.

"You need to rest Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura replied. "You've used too much chakra. We can handle everything till you've recovered." With that said Sakura walked over to the reunited family and upon Tsunami's insistence, started to treat Inari's head wound.

"Naruto, there's an empty room upstairs. Take your Sensei up there so he can rest comfortably." Tazuna said. "It's the second door on the left." After giving the old man a nod of understanding Naruto picked up his bag, helped Kakashi to his feet and took him upstairs to the room. As he left his teammates to their tasks Naruto heard Sakura start to giggle

"Close the door Naruto." Kakashi said as soon as they crossed the room's threshold, the blonde nudged the door closed with his foot before lowering Kakashi onto the bedroll. "There's a few things we need to talk about."

"I know." Naruto replied, he thought about trying to get out of this talk but the edge in Kakashi's voice told him to there was no avoiding this.

"Sit down." Naruto dropped to the floor and crossed his legs. "You know what I want to talk about, don't you." That wasn't a question, just a statement of fact but Naruto nodded in answer anyway. "You accessed the chakra of the Nine Tails, you told those Kumo-Nin that you're a Jinchurikki and I saw no hesitation in your eyes or your aim when that thug had hold of Sakura. You were aiming to kill, without remorse and you would've if Zabuza hadn't beaten you to it. Too much is happening right now to get into this properly, I will be telling Lord Hokage about this when we return to the village but for now I've like some sort of explanation." Kakashi's one visible eye bore into Naruto as he waited for an answer.

Blame me, tell the Cyclops that I offered you a deal. I help you fight so that I don't disappear into the void for a decade if you die. Kurama said quickly. It'll keep him off your back for a little while at least.

"The Kyūbi. He doesn't like being in me but he likes the idea of dying less, I'm not the best ninja, I'm the dead last, outside of the village I wouldn't stand a chance on my own against a strong enemy, the Kyūbi gives me power to fight and I keep us both alive."

"That explains using the fox's chakra now explain the Kumo-Nin."

"The Kyūbi told me about Killer B and that his 'tenant' could sense the fox in me, it was better to just come out with it and try to gain B's trust. The fist-bump let the Kyūbi talk to the 8-Tails and convince him to keep us a secret."

"How exactly did he do that?"

Self-preservation.

"Self-preservation, the Kyūbi said all of the Tailed Beasts want to stay alive and if my identity was told to the Raikage then when he eventually came back from the void, he'd head straight for Kumo and eat B."

"That may stop B but not the other Kumo-Nin."

"They'll listen to B, Iruka-Sensei told us that Kumogakure is like a giant army. B's a higher rank so they'll follow his orders, the respect him too much to go against him."

"You seem strangely confident in B, almost like you know him well."

"Growing up as the village scapegoat, I had to learn to get a good read on people quickly. B's a good man, a very strange man but I know I can trust him."

"We'll leave that subject to one side for now." Kakashi said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "This is something I never thought I'd have to deal with this early with a Genin team. You went for the kill, without hesitation or remorse. If I'm being honest, I thought Sasuke would've been the first." He held up a hand as Naruto opened his mouth. "Don't try and deny it I saw it in your eyes. For that split second, you looked like a veteran who's been through a world war, I saw the way I used to be in your eyes Naruto. What happened to make you like that?"

"I don't know, I just reacted when that guy started talking like that. I couldn't let something like that happen to Sakura."

"That still doesn't explain the look in your eyes."

I'm going to have to come clean. Naruto thought to Kurama.

Not yet, we need more time to prepare.

Well, what the hell can I say? If I don't say anything I'm getting a private conversation with Ibiki, if I tell the truth I'm getting a psych eval and if I say it was you helping me we're both getting slapped with a stronger seal.

Say it was something in your past, you had to fend for yourself and killed a rat for food. You thought of that guy as a rat.

Like anyone's going to believe that.

Fine then, you're on your own. Kurama cut the connection between them and left Naruto to find a way out on his own.

"Naruto, I'm waiting for an answer." Kakashi said.

"I…I can't explain it, I saw one of my precious people being threatened and my body acted."

"…Alright, but we'll return to this after the mission." Kakashi rubbed his neck, he really needed to rest but this conversation couldn't wait. "I know you lied about Lord Third and his Killing Intent, there was only one time he used that on you and that was when you thought it was a good idea to fill his hat with glue and slam it onto his head. He didn't make it as intense as Zabuza was, you should've been paralyzed just like Sasuke and Sakura. So how did you resist Zabuza's KI?"

"Kyūbi snapped me out of it. He said something about having an ability to sense emotions and brought me out of it. I thought it might mess with Zabuza's head to see a fresh Genin not react to it."

"That fits with your explanation of the deal you have with the Kyūbi. One last question then I need to rest, how did you about my father? I make a point of not mentioning him and I know that there's no record of it, I asked Lord Fourth to redact any connection between my father and myself."

"Why?" Naruto asked, stalling for time so he could think of an explanation that Kakashi would buy, at least for the moment.

"Naruto, I'm the one asking the questions here, answer me."

"I'll answer if you do." The pair stared at each other for a minute before Kakashi sighed, he really couldn't be bothered dealing with this right now.

"…For the same reason you act out, I wanted to be known for who I am. You act out so people acknowledge you, I cut the connections so that I could make a name for myself and not from my father's name. Now answer my question, how do you know?" Naruto nodded, he'd used the time given by Kakashi's answer wisely and had thought up an excuse that Kakashi should believe.

"Guy-Sensei, when we were training he went into one of his speeches about a 'youth spring of fire' or something like that I tuned most of it out but I listened enough to hear him say his eternal rival was the son of the White Fang." Kakashi studied Naruto's face to look for any sign of a lie but couldn't find anything, he sighed and cracked his neck.

"That does sound like something Guy would do. Alright Naruto, you and Sasuke set a perimeter and lay a few traps, we shouldn't be expecting any unwanted visitors but it's better to be safe than sorry. After that settle in for the night, you take first watch, Sakura can take the second and Sasuke can take third. Be on your guard, I don't think Zabuza's finished with us just yet."

"Zabuza's still out there?"

"The Hunter-nin should've burned his body where it was found, not taken it somewhere else. Zabuza's got an accomplice, we need to be ready for anything. Tell Sakura and Sasuke but let Tazuna look after his family for now, we can tell them in a day or two." Kakashi lay back on the bed roll. "Wake me in a few hours and update me on what you've done." With that said Kakashi closed his visible eye and Naruto left the room, before returning to the lower floor Naruto opened his bag and changed out of his damaged pants. He took out his spare pair and quickly changed into them.

Flashback end

Naruto tensed as he felt something on the roof behind him, he jumped to his feet and spun around with his kunai ready. Letting out a held breath, Naruto relaxed when he saw it was Sakura.

"Don't sneak up on me like that Sakura, I could've hurt you."

"I gave the signal that I was coming, you didn't reply so I came to find out why." She replied as she walked closer.

"Sorry, just thinking." Naruto let out a dry bark of laughter. "I know, it's surprising isn't it. Me thinking."

"No, not that surprising." Sakura said as she sat on the edge of the roof, patting next to her. Naruto raised an eyebrow but did as she silently requested and sat next to her. "You're always thinking of something, how to prank someone, what you'll do when you're Hokage stuff like that." She was silent for a minute before speaking again. "W-What you said to those Kumo-nin, did you mean it?"

"About us being the next Sannin? Damn right I did, we're going to be in the history books, kid's will want action figure of us, they'll want to be us when they grow up…."

"That's not what I meant." Sakura interrupted. "I meant about leaving the village. You love Konoha, you want to be Hokage. How could you have thought about leaving? You'd really give up on your dream, just like that?" She watched Naruto's face to gauge his reaction, a multitude of emotions rippled across it. Love and pride she expected to see but anger, depression and hate caught her completely by surprise.

"Sakura." He sighed, looking out at the water before them. "Everything I said to them was true, I'm an orphan, I've been alone all of my life apart from the little bit of time the Old Man would put aside so I could talk to him. I never had friends, I mean I hung around with Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba but I never got the feeling that they were really my friends, it was like they kept me around to be a scapegoat. My parents…I know next to nothing about them, all I know is what the Old Man told me which was that they love me. He won't tell me their names, said something about them having a lot of enemies and if it got out who I was then I'd be either assassinated or kidnapped." Naruto sighed again and leant back a little to look at the starry sky, his voice turning wistful. "I can understand that but I'd still like to know something about them, favourite food, hair colour, anything."

Rubbing the back of his head he turned his attention back to the water in front of them. Naruto's tone turned bitter as he spoke again. "Everything that went wrong in the village would be blamed on me, everything from a piece of dropped litter to arson. Even when I was in the Academy, sat right in front of Iruka-Sensei, there were still people blaming me for vandalism and theft on the other side of the village." He shrugged, "Okay, I could do that now but this was before I knew how to make Shadow Clones. I'm hated for something, I always have been, I don't know what it is but all the adults do, I know that much and because of how they act the other kids do the same. I've been beaten up by gangs, had rotten fruit thrown at me, chased out of shops as soon as I've walked in the door." Naruto paused to calm himself down, his voice had been getting louder and his tone darker as he spoke.

"After years of that, can you blame me for thinking about leaving? The Old Man did what he could but there's only so much one man can do against a village. Put yourself in my place, no-one looking out for you, everyone taking every opportunity to attack you in one way or another. Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't wonder about what it would be like if you lived somewhere else?" He turned to face Sakura, staring directly into her eyes letting her see the tears welled up in his. "Being hated hurts but not as much as being pitied or treated as if you don't even exist."

Sakura didn't know what to do, Naruto had always been so happy and confident seeing him like this didn't sit right with her. She knew that she needed to say something to cheer him up but nothing came to mind. Wanting to help anyway Sakura just started to speak, she was the smartest kunoichi from their class she'd trust her intelligence and her heart to steer her right.

"Naruto, I can't say I know what is must've felt like living like that, not having anyone there for you but if you want, I'll be your friend. I know we don't really see eye to eye, I've hit you and said a lot of mean things about you so I'll understand if you don't want to be friends with me but if you ever need someone to talk too, just ask." She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile. Naruto wiped his eyes with the cuff of his jacket, the broken look in his eyes slowly mending before her eyes.

"I'd be honoured to be your friend Sakura." He said softly, returning her smile before wincing as she pulled on his ear. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, what happened to being friends?"

"Oh, we are friends, this is just a little punishment for not waking me when it was time for my watch." She gave him a sickly-sweet smile.

"It's been a long day and I wanted everyone to get some rest." Naruto whimpered as Sakura pinched his ear harder.

"Doesn't 'everyone' include you?" There was that sweet tone again, how could something that sounded so nice be so scary?

"Yeah but I'm never tired." Naruto pumped a fist into the air and grabbed his bicep. "Have you ever seen me worn out?"

"Well, no but…" Sakura faltered.

"Then it's fine, this won't be the first time I've stayed up all night. Go back inside and sleep."

"No. I'll stay here and help you keep watch." Sakura gave him a small smile. "Two pairs of eyes are better than one after all." Naruto just looked at her blankly. "What?" Naruto made his signature plus hand seal and a pair of Shadow Clones poofed into existence behind him. "Oh yeah…well an extra set can't hurt, can it?" Naruto shrugged and took off his jacket.

"Here," He said draping it over Sakura's shoulders. "There's a cold breeze, you could get sick."

"What about you? You'll get cold."

"Don't worry about it, I've dealt with worse."

"Worse?" Sakura asked but was only answered with a tense silence. "Oh…, sorry."

"Don't worry about it." With nothing else to be said the two Genin fell into a comfortable silence as they kept watch over Tazuna and his family. The only sounds to be heard were birds, waves and the thugs tied to the posts holding Tazuna's home above the water thrashing about in the ocean.

The Following Morning

After Naruto was chewed out by Kakashi for taking watch for the whole night, they all sat down for breakfast. Team Seven were formally introduced to Tazuna's family and treated to Tsunami's excellent cooking, while they ate Sakura asked a question.

"Kakashi-Sensei, the weird guy from yesterday…why did he have tentacles come out of his back?" Tazuna and his family looked to the Jonin to hear his explanation, Inari tried to look disinterested by keeping his eyes on his breakfast and Tsunami was sewing the hole in Naruto's pants after he split them the day before.

"Huh?" Kakashi said, looking over the top of his adult literature. "Oh that, well there are many things in this world that can be explained in many ways. It may have been a bloodline like the Sharingan or Byakugan, a family technique like those possessed by the Yamanaka and Nara clans, he may have even been a Jinchūriki." Kakashi turned his attention back to his book as Naruto resisted the urge to react.

"A Jinchūriki? What's that?"

"A Jinchūriki is someone who has one of the Tailed Beasts sealed inside of them."

"Couldn't they kill it like the Fourth Hokage did?" Again, Naruto fought against his reactions.

"Lord Fourth sacrificed himself to…deal with the Nine Tails." Kakashi hid his hesitation by turning the page of his book. "A lot of people say they'll sacrifice themselves for their home, their family or whatever they've pledged themselves to protect but when the time arrives and demands a live to save others, not everyone is willing to pay that price. Some run and some try to bargain, while others look into different options."

"So, Jinchūriki are as strong as the Tailed Beasts?" Sasuke asked, breaking his silence.

"They can be, it all depends on how much control they have over their Tailed Beast." Peeking over his book Kakashi saw confusion on Sakura and Sasuke's faces. "Think of it like this, you're the Jinchūriki of the Four Tails and let's say that the Four Tails' power is represented by four kunai, a storage seal is on your skin and represents the fact that the Four Tails is sealed inside you. On your own you only have access to your own chakra but with training you can start to draw on the power of the Tailed Beast inside you. The first stage would be calling on and controlling one tail's worth of power, in this analogy that would translate to calling out one kunai from the storage seal, the second stage would be calling out a second kunai. The process continues until you gain control over all of the Tailed Beasts chakra."

"Sounds easy enough."

"There is something I've missed that wouldn't fit with the kunai analogy. From what I know the Tailed Beasts possess some level of intelligence and will fight you every step of the way, when you draw on their power they in turn can influence you. They will do whatever they have to in order to release themselves from their host. Only those who possess exceptional willpower and powerful chakra are chosen to host a Tailed Beast."

"You mean someone like Naruto?" Sakura asked, Naruto couldn't stop himself flinching at the question.

"True, Naruto does possess the necessary criteria to hold a Tailed Beast but his personality isn't what is usually looked for in a Jinchūriki. He's too unpredictable, too free willed, complete and utter loyalty is a trait that comes first for a lot of villages. While Naruto is loyal he's loyal to Lord Hokage, not the village. As you heard yesterday, Naruto has a number of reasons to have…grievances against the village so that would make him a threat should he decide that he's had enough. When a village creates a Jinchūriki they don't want to risk it being someone that could take all of that power and turn it against them or worse give into the power and release the beast inside of them." Silence fell over the group for a minute before Kakashi spoke again. "Putting this topic to one side, it's time to talk about how we're going to proceed." Kakashi snapped his book closed and focused on Tazuna. "It would be best if you could stay here for the next couple of days, I'm still recovering from my battle against Zabuza and I wouldn't put it past Gato to attempt another attack as soon as you appear on the bridge. Our back-up should have arrived either tomorrow night or the following morning and you can carry on building the bridge then, Naruto can give you a small army of Shadow Clones to help with the building efforts, whether it's actually building the bridge or just carrying things."

"Why can't his clones be used for protection now?" Tazuna asked.

"Because Naruto isn't experienced enough and therefore neither are his clones, add to that the facts that they dispel with one hit and Gato will more than likely have his lieutenants join in the battle now that he no doubt knows that you've hired Shinobi. It is in all of our best interests to wait until our back-up gets here and I've recovered more." Kakashi turned his attention to the three Genin. "Till that happens I want the three of you to keep watch and train your chakra control. You know the tree walking exercise, so use that as much as possible. You'll build up your chakra reserves too, not by much but I have a feeling we're going to need every bit of improvement no matter how small it may be."

"I have a question." Sasuke said. "You've got the Sharingan, how?" Although it was phrased as a question it sounded more like a demand.

"That is a long story and one I don't feel like reliving." Kakashi sighed and took out his book again. "For now, I'll just say that a friend gave it to me."

"Why would he give someone his Sharingan?" Again, the question was more of a demand. Kakashi stayed quiet and opened his book. "Tell me WHY!" Sasuke shouted, moving to tear the book from Kakashi's hand only to end up face first on the ground with Kakashi holding his arms behind his back and a foot on the back of his head before he could blink.

"If you want to know why, you have to earn the right to ask that question first." Kakashi spoke calmly in his usual relaxed manner but there was an underlying tone that said he was tired of Sasuke's attitude while still reading his book. "Genin Uchiha, your insubordination has been noted and will be brought before the Hokage. Normally something like this is dealt with on the spot but given the circumstances we currently find ourselves in, I cannot deal with the confinement of a team member without putting the rest of the team in jeopardy. There is one thing I can do though that should instill at least some form of common sense into you." Kakashi took hold of two of Sasuke's fingers and broke them, ignoring the cry of pain. "The normal punishment would be a chakra suppression seal and breaking both of your arms, you've gotten off easy." Kakashi got off of Sasuke and unclipped one of the pockets of his flak jacket, catching a scroll with practiced ease as it fell out. "Sakura." The pinkette flinched and turned to the Jonin.

"Y-Yes Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Here." He tossed her the scroll. "Given your near perfect chakra control, you're well suited to being a medic. That's the basics of Iryō Ninjutsu, study hard and practice with Sasuke's fingers. It's a stable fracture, the bones just need to be realigned and healed. Well within the limits of a beginner."

Well, that was unexpected. I'm beginning to rethink my position on him. Kurama chuckled. I approve of this side of him.

"I don't have much experience using Iryō Jutsu but I'll help when I can. I requested someone with medical experience in our back-up so they can give you a little instruction too." Kakashi put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I have a feeling you were made for this role." With that said, Sakura excused herself to start reading her scroll and Kakashi sent Naruto to get some sleep while he bandaged Sasuke's fingers.

The rest of that day and the following one passed quickly, Kakashi spent most of his time resting, reading and occasionally helping Sakura train her new skill set, Sasuke trained diligently and had a healing session with Sakura every couple of hours, Naruto had his clones work on his chakra control and other skills while he kept watch and tried to come up with a way he could keep Haku and Zabuza alive.

The morning of the third day Naruto saw something coming towards the house quickly, leaving a clone behind to keep watch Naruto dropped from the roof and slipped in through the open window of Kakashi's room.

"Someone's coming." He said.

"Our back-up?" Kakashi asked.

"Too far to tell."

"Go get Sakura and Sasuke ready, just in case." Naruto nodded and ran out of the room, shouting for his teammates while Kakashi pulled himself to his feet. Downstairs the three Genin had constructed a barricade in front of the door and were peeking out of the windows. "Report."

"No sign yet Kakashi-Sensei, just a small dust cloud on the horizon." Sakura replied, turning from the window. "Who do you think it is?"

"Could be our back-up or it could be the enemy, either way it's better to be on guard."

"Target sighted." Sasuke said, drawing a kunai from his pouch. Kakashi moved to the window and looked out.

"Oh no." He groaned.

"Oh yes." A sultry voice said from behind Sakura, causing the girl to stiffen and pale as a kunai was placed on her throat. "Now Kakashi, is that anyway to treat a friend? Someone you've been very close to?"

"How did you get in here?" Sasuke demanded, spinning around and immediately finding himself paralyzed, thanks to a senbon sticking into one of his nerve clusters.

"That's the mental-break waiting to happen dealt with along with the useless fangirl, so where's the prankster?"

"Right here." Naruto said, he was standing on the ceiling with a kunai pointed at the crown of the woman's head.

"Clever brat." The woman looked up and gave Naruto a sadistic grin before spitting a second senbon out of her mouth, hitting Naruto right between the eyes delivering a toxin that disrupted his chakra. "But not clever enough." The woman used a shunshin to avoid Naruto's fall, leaving him to land on top of Sakura, she then used shunshin again to return to her previous position and used the two Genin as a seat. "Is this really the best your brats can do Kakashi?"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, of all the people to send why her?

"How far behind did you leave the rest of our back-up?" He asked.

"You mean you need someone other than me?" She pouted, "Kakashi, I'm hurt. You've never complained about needing more than just me before. We even re-enacted some of your favourite parts of Icha Icha Fantasy, there was pages 16, 37 and 50. We tried page 72 but I wasn't flexible enough, which is saying something and you wanted to do that thing on page 109 but that's too kinky, even for me."

"109? The thing with the egg whisk and wet celery?" Naruto asked, drawing a slightly surprised look from Anko.

"That's the one blondie."

"Damn Kakashi-Sensei, I knew you were a perv but I didn't think you were that bad."

"Naruto, she's lying and you know what I mean Anko, who else is with you?"

"No-one, just me." Anko replied, "The Old Man said he'd try and sort out more back up but there's no guarantee." Kakashi's blood ran cold.

"What?"

"The Old Man can't spare anyone else right now, hell he looked ready to suit up and come here himself when he got your report. What you described was too high level for a Genin team to be sent and with the you-know-what happening soon, the village needs every shinobi it can get to run missions and prepare. You were lucky to get me and not a random Chunin, now give me the details before my chair tries to get up." Sighing again Kakashi filled Anko in on the mission and what had happened so far. "Alright, I've got the picture of what's happening. What can the brats do? I need to know what I'm working with here while you recover."

"I'll let them tell you, your toxins are beginning to wear off." Kakashi turned and made his way back to his bedroll to keep recovering.

"Lazy bastard." Anko muttered as she stood up and picked Naruto and Sakura up by their collars, she dropped them on the couch and pushed Sasuke over to join them. "So, what can you do?"

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, receiving another paralysing senbon to the neck.

"Learn some manners." Anko pointed a finger at Sakura. "Name and capabilities."

"I-I'm Sakura Haruno, I have nearly perfect chakra control and I can use the three academy Jutsu, I've completed the tree-climbing exercise and Kakashi-Sensei just started my education in Iryō Ninjutsu."

"What about the mental-break in waiting?" A low grunt came from Sasuke as he tried to speak through the paralysis Anko's senbon had stricken him with.

"H-He's Sasuke Uchiha, like me he's learnt the academy Jutsu and tree-climbing, he can use some Katon Jutsu too."

"Blondie your turn, big fan of your work by the way."

"Thanks, always nice to meet a fan. Naruto smirked. "I don't have many. Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage, massive chakra reserves, even more stamina, I can use two of the academy jutsu replacing Bushin no Jutsu with Kage Bushin no Jutsu. I can tree-climb using chakra and I'm in the process of learning the Rasengan. Outside of Jutsu I can set traps and I'm very good at stealth."

"Your dress sense says you're bad at stealth."

"I painted Hokage Monument during the day, on a very sunny day, in a bright orange jumpsuit and didn't get noticed until I'd finished, I've snuck into ANBU headquarters and set up all sort of pranks then got out without being seen. I've been in all of the most highly secured buildings in the village and not been caught in there." Naruto paused for effect. "Now tell me I'm bad at stealth."

"Prove it, what's in the bottom draw of Ibiki's desk?"

"Bottom left is a picture of someone I'm going to guess is his younger brother, bottom right has a bottle of high quality sake, a brand that I'm pretty sure is illegal outside of Mizu no Kuni. And just to prove a point, in the bottom draws of the Old Man's desk are his collection of Icha Icha and his 'special blend' tobacco, I also know the locations of his sake stashes."

"…." Anko blinked. "Okay brat, I believe you. One question though, why did you never prank anyone in T&I?"

"I'm an idiot but even I know not to mess with the people who play head games with poison and sharp objects."

"Fair point, they use some blunt objects too sometimes. Guess it's my turn now. I'm the sexy and irresistible Anko Mitarashi, a Tokubetsu Jonin. I specialise in tracking although I've done a bit of everything, T&I, assassination, seduction, you know, the usual fare." Anko grinned. "Now for some bad news, until Kakashi's back on his feet I'm taking over your training. So, let's just go back to what you can do. Mental-Break's a firebug, what about you two?" Anko pointed at Naruto and Sakura. "What are your chakra natures?"

"We don't know." Sakura replied.

"…What?"

"W-We don't know, no one's told us and we haven't been shown how to do any elemental jutsu."

"You're seriously telling me that…" Anko snarled and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought. I don't have any chakra paper on me to test you so we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Any questions before we start?" She asked as she pulled the senbon from Sasuke's neck.

"Why are you dressed like a whore?" Sasuke growled. Naruto slapped his hand to his forehead while Sakura covered her mouth. Anko's only reply was to break all the fingers on Sasuke's left hand before furiously turning away.

"KAKASHI, YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!" Anko roared as she stomped towards the stairs, the sound of a window being opened was heard and the three Genin saw Kakashi fall past the window of the kitchen before he staggered to his feet and started running. "STOP BEING A PUSSY AND TAKE YOUR BEATING! THE MORE YOU MAKE ME RUN THE WORSE IT'S GOING TO BE!"

While Kakashi ran for safety Sakura started to bandage Sasuke's hand and began to use her new skills in Iryō Ninjutsu to heal the damage.

2 Hours Later

"Right first thing to do is fix the three of you." Anko said, staring at the three Genin as they stood outside Tazuna's house.

"W-What do you mean 'fix us', Anko-Sensei?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't call me Anko-Sensei, call me Anko-Sama. Now, each of you need a tune up, when I left the academy I knew my chakra natures, four elemental jutsu and built up a tolerance to the most common poisons and toxins used. That's not counting the basic three jutsu and a bunch more." Anko folded her arms over her chest. "Frankly, if it's the same for all of your class, I'd send the lot of you back to the academy. Mental-Break needs a shrink and a serious attitude adjustment, Fangirl you need a reality check, Blondie is honestly the most psychologically sound out of the three of you and given what he's had to put up with in his life so far that's saying a lot."

"You don't know what I need." Sasuke growled. Anko picked Sasuke up by his collar and looked him dead in the eye.

"Yes, I do. You think you need to kill Itachi, that you need to restore your clan's honour by ending your brother. You feel that fire blazing away in your chest, it's the first thing you feel when you wake up in the morning, last thing you feel at night and all you dream about when you're not having the recurring nightmares of everything that's happened to you. That fire is the only thing that's keeping you going, the one thing that stops you from breaking into a thousand pieces and crying yourself to an early grave. I know that feeling, I live with that feeling, every single day, and it's a lot stronger than yours is. Do you know what I do with it? I take all of that rage, all the anger and hate, every last bit of it and hold it tight in my hand and feel the burn, then I say no more, no-one else will feel this pain, no-one will have to live like this. Not while I can help it. Now you need to do the same turn all of those feelings you've got stacking up and use that energy for something else."

"Like what?" Sasuke spat, angry that Anko was reading like a book.

"You're a shinobi of Konohagakure, put that energy into protecting the Will of Fire."

"Why? Itachi believed in that and look what happened. He killed everyone and left me alone!" Sasuke raged.

"Maybe the Will of Fire is why he kept you alive. Protecting the next generation and making the world a better place for them. He left you because he saw something in you that he felt the world needed." Anko lowered Sasuke back to his feet and stepped back. "Think about that." Anko put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Come on Fangirl we need to have a little girl talk." Sakura sent a pleading look at Naruto and Sasuke, Naruto gave her a reassuring smile while Sasuke's face was blank as he processed what Anko had said. Anko lead Sakura into some nearby trees and disappeared from sight.

Naruto spent a minute trying to talk to Sasuke but gave up seeing that he wasn't going to get a response so he picked up some fallen leaves and started training his chakra control by sticking the leaves to his forehead and nose. Ten minutes later Sakura came back wide-eyed and pale faced with Anko behind her wearing a sadistic grin.

"Okay Blondie, your turn. Follow me." 'Follow me' wasn't really necessary for Anko to say as she grabbed Naruto's jacket and dragged him after her. Getting into the trees Anko leapt onto a sturdy branch, taking Naruto with her and sat leaning against the trunk, folding her arms underneath her breasts pushing them up.

"So, what are you going to do with me?" Naruto asked, sitting down facing her and trying to keep his focus on her face. The smirk that twitched at the corner of Anko's lips told him that she was intentionally messing with him.

"Just talk, I meant it when I said you were the most psychologically sound out of your team. Don't get me wrong, you're not mentally stable, not with your fashion sense but you're closer to it than the other two. You've got your priorities in order, protect those you care about, protect your teammates and you've got a dream, a goal you want to achieve that doesn't involve murdering family, to become Hokage. In all honesty I'd like to see you in that chair, you'd make things interesting and I enjoy watching chaos happen." Anko paused to gauge Naruto's reaction to what she'd said. Naruto looked surprised to hear what she was saying, especially on hearing he had someone that wanted to see him be Hokage, even if it was just to see what could happen.

"Before I came out I read your file." Anko continued. "I know about the Kyūbi, I know that you finally know about it now and I couldn't care less about it, everyone has their inner demons to deal with, yours just happened to be a real one. According to the file you've never been really angry at anyone, annoyed and frustrated yes, but not blood boiling, punch throwing angry. Which is why I'm saying you're not mentally stable, to put up with all the insults, the mental and physical attacks, not to mention the emotional impact all of it would've had on you. That leaves scars, wounds in your psyche that never go away, you just learn to live with them but you need to have some form of outlet for it. Everyone has a way of coping with the life of a shinobi, Mental-Break uses it as fuel to keep him going for all the wrong reasons, Kakashi reads porn and shows up late, Guy trains hard and wears that Kami-awful jumpsuit, Kurenai is an ice queen, Smokestack…well, clues in the name. My point is you keep it all bottled up, and with the Kyūbi inside you that can't be good. Your pranks can probably bleed a little of that anger off but not enough to make a real difference in it. I can understand why you've held it all in, you want to be accepted and you love the village but with everything you've been through and the burden you're carrying, it's not healthy for you to keep it contained. I noticed that you've hit nearly every restaurant and food joint in the village has been a target at least once except for Ichiraku Ramen. They're good people, shame about Teuchi's wife though. They helped me out a lot when I needed it." Anko unconsciously rubbed the base of her neck. "Anyway, all I can tell you is things get easier especially when you get some people you know you can rely on and when you find something you can do to vent all of that excess anger."

Naruto stayed silent and nodded as Anko finished.

"You're a strange one Blondie. I came into this mission expecting you to be a loudmouth and complaining about everything but from the little I've seen and what Kakashi's told me you've matured quickly but you try to hide it. Now that could be you've realised that you need to grow up quickly if you're going to be a shinobi, could be that something's happened to change you or it could be that you're not the real Naruto Uzumaki and you're an imposter. So…" A large snake quickly appeared from underneath the branch they were sat on and wrapped around Naruto. Anko stood up, revealing that the snake had slithered out of her sleeve and used her trench coat to hide the fact. She sashayed her way towards him, her hips swaying back and forth to distract him even more. Naruto silently cursed whatever had happened to him for making him go through puberty again. "Which is it? Imposter or has the little troublemaker grown up." Anko bent over, looking him in the eye and giving him a view of her cleavage.

"You know, if you keep eating so much dango you'll get fat." Naruto replied with a smirk, using all of his willpower to keep his focus on Anko's eyes.

"And how do you know I like dango?"

"I can smell it on your breath." Naruto sighed and wriggled a little. "I'm not an imposter, I just realised that I needed to start taking things seriously." Anko looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm not sure I believe you."

"I can prove I'm the real Naruto but you're probably not going to like it."

"…Go on." Anko replied after a moment's hesitation.

Naruto closed his eyes and call on Kurama's chakra, the snake binding him hissed and retreated back into Anko's sleeve as a small aura of red chakra flared into life around Naruto's body.

"Alright Blondie, I believe you. Put the beast back in its cage." Naruto nodded and let Kurama's chakra recede. "Now go join the other two, I'll be with you in a few." Naruto dropped to the ground. "And at least look a little scared, I don't want anyone thinking I've gone soft. Or that I have a favourite."

"I am the favourite though right?" Naruto called up to her. A kunai sunk into the ground between his feet. "I'll take that as a maybe." Naruto turned and ran back to Sakura and Sasuke before any more weapons were thrown at him.

"You're right, he's hiding something. Not sure what though." Anko said with a smile as she watched the blonde run away, Kakashi appeared with a Shunshin and stood in front of Anko. "He's not a risk though, not right now at least. You can see in his eyes how much he loves the village, especially you and the other two which is weird. You're a couple of months old as a team, they're all green, but to him it's like he's known all of you for years. Could be something to do with how he's been alone for a lot of his life but I don't know, there's something I just can't put my finger on."

"Hmm, I noticed it too. I told Lord Hokage the same in the report, he'll be having Yūgao look into somethings. If there's any explanations to be found, she'll find them."

"True, she won't let it go until she finds an answer. She really needs to get laid more but with Hayate's condition…"

"Anko, I really didn't need that image in my head."

"Oh, like you haven't got a mental naked picture of every kunoichi you've ever met in your head." Anko smirked as Kakashi scratched his cheek and looked away.

"Don't be too hard on them okay, like you said, they're still green."

"No promises, now get out of here and rest up. When Zabuza comes back we'll need every hand we've got." There was a moment of quiet before Anko spoke again. "I can see what's happening you know, rebuilding your old team. The cold prodigy, the infatuated medic and the lovable goofball."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"You're really trying to bluff me?"

"Cut the game Anko and just say what you want to say."

"You can't change the past, you can't fix the mistakes that were made. What happened, happened, man up and get over it." Anko stretched her arms, groaning at her joints popped. "Oh, one other thing Naruto's Minato and Kushina's kid, isn't he?" She noticed the slight widening of Kakashi's visible eye. "Don't even think of bullshitting me, I know I'm right. Kid's the spitting image of Minato with the personality of Kushina, there's no way he could be anyone else's son." Anko let out a dry laugh. "If he takes after Minato in the looks department, he'll be beating girls off with a stick when he's older. Hell, I might look him up in a few years if he does." Anko rolled off the branch. "Go watch the bridge builder while I put your brats through the ringer. When I'm through they'll be shinobi to be proud of." She strolled back to the Genin of Team 7, leaving Kakashi behind to think of what she'd said.

"So, what now?" Naruto asked as he lined up with his teammates when Anko came back. Sasuke seemed to be back to normal although there was a look in his eyes that said part of his mind was elsewhere, Sakura looked like she'd recovered from whatever Anko had done and said but was still a bit pale.

"Now I put all three of you through the grinder and turn you into real shinobi." Anko gave them a sadistic grin. "Welcome to hell."

The next few days were just that, hell, Anko pushed all three Genin to their limits, Sakura would hit hers first but fought against her body's complaints to keep going until Anko told her to rest. Sasuke's fingers healed quickly thanks to Sakura's new skills and some help from Anko, he'd try to keep up with Naruto's seemingly endless stamina but would eventually collapse. Anko's training even had Naruto reaching the end of his stamina but his stubbornness kept him going even further, he'd yet to fall and Anko sometimes had to forcibly make him rest. They'd gone through speed and strength training along with dexterity and agility. Naruto was a frontline fighter so his training was focused mostly on strength, speed and accuracy, to able to hit harder in the right places more frequently for greater effect on his opponent. Sasuke was a mid to close range fighter, his training was much like Naruto's but not focused as much on strength and more on balancing out his abilities. Sakura was given the role of support and medic, Anko had her work on speed and agility as being a medic meant she was the most important member of the team, she could keep her teammates going for as long as possible which would make her a target.

While Team 7 were being worked into the ground Anko set to work on things that Kakashi should've dealt with much earlier. Sasuke's attitude had been the first thing Anko tore into, doing her best to turn his avenger drive into one of a protector, it was a work in progress but she seemed to be getting somewhere. Sakura's diet and fangirl attitude were next to come under Anko's sights, the Tokubetsu Jonin laid out the facts that to an effective and sexy kunoichi she didn't need to diet just eat normally and the lifestyle of a shinobi would give her the figure she wanted. Her fangirl attitude was slightly harder to remedy then her diet, as it had been around for longer but by forcing Sakura to admit Sasuke's faults and address the way things stood between them. While parts of her fangirl tendencies still hung around Anko had managed to clear most of the major issues. Anko kept a close but secretive eye on Naruto to see if he showed any signs of what he could be hiding.

Kakashi wasn't spared Anko's tune up either, once he'd recovered enough she tore into him for being out of shape and not dealing with the attitudes of his team earlier. Anko forced him to go through his former ANBU training courses, since he'd been slacking after leaving his post as a Captain and returning to normal duties. While he watched over Tazuna and the bridge he worked to get his fitness back to their former levels.

Giving the Genin a break from training their bodies Anko decided to have them work on their chakra control.

"Alright, here's the deal. You're going to walk on water, it's simple enough to do. Send a constant stream of chakra to your feet and adjust as needed." Anko explained as they stood on the dock outside Tazuna's house. Three snakes shot out of her sleeves and threw the Genin over the water. "Now, get to it!"

Naruto spawned a trio of clones to catch and right himself and his teammates, he hit the water first and immediately sank below the surface, Sasuke was a close second and Sakura managed to stay on the surface for a couple of seconds before the water became too unstable thanks to the waves from Naruto and Sasuke.

"Don't swim to the shore, pull yourselves up onto the surface." Anko shouted as she watched them, leaning against the side of the house with her arms crossed. Sakura swam a distance away from her teammates and after a couple of attempts manages to stand on the surface of the water again, bobbing slightly as she learnt to adjust her chakra to the water's movement. Naruto and Sasuke stayed where they were and struggled with the amount of chakra they needed. "I can understand blondie having trouble with this cause of how much chakra he has but it looks like the Uchiha aren't as great as they made themselves out to be." The Tokubetsu Jonin just grinned as Sasuke growled at her. "You want to do something, prove me wrong. Stand on the water." Her taunt spurred Sasuke on and about an hour later he was standing on the water, a little wobbly but it was a start. Naruto was in a similar position to Sasuke, he was using too much chakra and sending waves out from his hand each time he tried to lift himself to the surface.

"I wonder…" Naruto muttered before letting himself sink below the surface, when he was about 15 feet down he sent a blast of chakra from his soles and rocketed through the water and into the air. "WWWOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOO!" He yelled as he sailed into the air. As he fell towards the water surface he channeled chakra to his feet and prayed this would work. He hit the surface and the water moved with his impact sending a wave in every direction. Sakura and Sasuke staggered as the waves disturbed the water they stood on but stayed on their feet. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was standing on the surface. "YES!" He shouted triumphantly.

"Congratulations, you can stand on water." Anko said from behind him, water dripped off of her. It was then that Naruto realised he'd been closest to the dock where Anko stood, his take off had sent a wave of water everywhere and soaked her. "Now you can learn to fight on it." Anko finished, lashing out with a round kick that sent his skipping across the water like a stone.

That was the last thing Naruto could remember as Anko's kick sent him head first into one of the wooden posts of the dock, he woke up a couple of hours later laying on his bed roll while Sakura sat next to him looking tired.

"You okay Sakura?" He asked, slowly sitting up, Sakura jerked in surprise.

"I should be asking you that, how's your head?" She replied.

"Fine, I've got a thick skull. What happened?"

"After we pulled you out of the water and brought you back here. Anko-Sama sparred with us on the water before testing us for our element affinity. She had us push chakra into a flame, a bowl of water, a mound of dirt and into a balloon. Depending on what reacted to our chakra the most showed us what our affinity was, if none of them reacted much it would mean we had a lightning affinity."

"Cool, what did you get?"

"Earth and water."

"Nice, it fits you."

"What do you mean?"

"Earth and water, strong and flexible. You adapt to everything and don't let it break you." A pale blush crossed Sakura's cheeks.

"Anko-Sama wanted to know when you woke up, I'll go tell her." Sakura stood up and quickly left the room. Anko appeared behind him a minute later, grabbing his collar and dragging him back to the dock.

"You've had your sleep, time to see what you can do." Anko stepped off the dock and onto the water, walking to the middle and turning to face him. "I'm waiting." Naruto charged off the dock and threw a volley of shuriken at her.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" He shouted after forming the handsigns. The volley of shuriken turned into a fast approaching wall of death. Anko swore violently as snakes shot out of her sleeves and formed a cocoon around her.

"I didn't say you could use jutsu!" She shouted.

"You never said I couldn't." Naruto replied, Anko smirked.

"Clever brat, reading between the lines, if that's the way you want it, then fine." Anko sensed Naruto's attack had ended and let the snakes retreat to her sleeves, they were cut but not too badly. She started to spit senbon at him while forming handsigns but paused when she felt something grab her ankles. Flicking her eyes down she saw Naruto's head peeking out of the water.

"My eyes are clear, so I can't be wrong. Anko-Sama's wearing a tho-." He didn't get to finish that word as Anko cut the chakra at her feet and sank into the water before crushing his head between her thighs revealing that he'd been a clone as he dispelled into a puff of smoke. The Naruto in front of her went red as the memory hit him and a thin trickle of blood escaped his nose.

"Worth it." He muttered to himself before spawning a horde of clones that all charged at Anko. As soon as they were in range Anko struck out with Katon Jutsu and snakes, although she was taking out large numbers of clones each time they were easily replaced. The clones started to use Naruto's trick from earlier to counter the Katon Jutsu with blasts of water, once again soaking Anko in the process. Slowly the onslaught of clones managed to maneuvered Anko towards the dock and grinned.

"What's got you so happy? Is it because I'm wet?" A purr in Anko's voice made Naruto and his clones turn red again.

"That's not it." He replied, "It's cause I've won."

"And how have you done that?" A flurry of shuriken flew past Anko's eyes as they wrapped wire around her, tying her to a pillar of the dock. Looking down she saw the wires had explosive tags attached to them.

"Kakashi-Sensei might be a lazy perv but he taught us the most important thing there is."

"Which is?"

"We're a team." Naruto dispelled his clones, Sakura and Sasuke stepped out of the smoke.

"If you fight one of us." Sasuke said.

"You fight all of us." Sakura finished.

Anko looked at each of them individually before nodding and using a shunshin to escape the wire.

"I wondered if any of you would think of working together." She said appearing behind Naruto. "Not bad kid." She ruffled his hair. "Not bad at all. Now to find out your affinity." Leading the team back to the house Anko put a pile of dirt, a candle and a bowl of water on a table in front of Naruto. "Channel some chakra into these and whichever reacts most is your affinity. There was a balloon but Mental-Break burst it trying too hard." Nodding in understanding Naruto put his hand by each and got weak reactions from each. "Try just channeling chakra into the air, imagine it spinning." Naruto did as he was told and the air quickly started to follow the movement of his chakra, letting a breeze flow through the room. Anko let out a low whistle. "That's a strong wind affinity you've got there. I'd guess you only have the one but with the amount of chakra you've got you can probably use any affinity jutsu without much trouble. Have Kakashi talk to the smokestack, if he can get him out from between Kurenai's legs that is."

With that said Anko ran them through some combat drills and tactics before taking them back into Tazuna's house to rest, seeing the state the team were in Tsunami started preparing a meal for them. Sakura immediately fell onto the couch face first while Sasuke slumped against a wall before sliding to the floor. Naruto made his way to the table and dropped into a seat, resting his head on the tabletop.

"Why are you doing this?"

Naruto tilted his head towards the speaker and saw Inari standing there glaring at them.

"It's what we're getting paid for kid." Anko replied, leaning back in a chair and putting her feet on the table.

"You're just going to die."

"We're Shinobi, it's an occupational hazard. Just who do you thinks going to kill us anyway?"

"Gato, you can't beat him so just leave."

"I'm not leaving." Naruto said as he stood up and walked towards Inari.

"Then you'll die."

"No, I won't. There's a lot I need to do before that happens."

"Don't you get it!" Inari shouted, "Gato will kill all of you!"

"The sky's green, it rains ramen and dango, Sasuke has sex dreams about Kakashi-Sensei and Anko's actually a shrine maiden." Anko let out a sharp cackle of laughter while an angry grumble came from Sasuke. "Just cause you keep saying that but that doesn't make it true."

"Anyone who stood up to him died, you don't know who you're dealing with. You haven't lost the things we have!"

"You're right, I haven't." Naruto said simply, stopping Inari's rant in its tracks. All eyes were on Naruto now but he kept his eyes on Inari. "I haven't lost those things because I never had them in the first place. No parents, no siblings, the closest thing I've got to a family is an old man, a ramen chef and his daughter but just cause I haven't lost them doesn't mean I know what it's like to lose people you care for." Naruto could feel his eyes welling up at the memories of losing the Third Hokage and Jiraiya. "There's one thing you have to remember, the people you've lost wouldn't want you to be scared and hide. They'd want you to be happy and fight for the things you care about, not scream and shout at people who are risking their lives to help you." Naruto bopped Inari on the head. "Now you can either shut up and stay out of our way or you can grow up and stand up for what you want and believe in." Naruto turned and walked to the door. "I'm going to train." He said as he closed the door behind him.

"Should he really go out on his own like that?" Tsunami asked.

"Probably not." Anko replied, using a senbon as a toothpick. "Pinkie go check on him, if you can't get him to come back at least get him to work that out of his system." Even though Anko said it in a disinterested way she was actually replaying the way Naruto had acted through her mind.

"But Anko-Sensei…."

"Ahem."

"Anko-Sama."

"Better, now what were you going to say?"

"Naruto probably wants to be on his own right now, should I really go after him?"

"No, but there is an A-Rank Missing-nin out there, probably with some henchmen. I'm sure Blondie will be fine if they find him." Sakura didn't reply except for pulling herself to her feet from where she'd collapsed and staggering towards the door. "Hang on, turn around and open your mouth." Feeling too tired to question the order Sakura did as she was told, she felt a couple of pills land on her tongue. "Swallow them, that'll pick up your energy levels for a few hours and easy your aches." Sakura once again followed orders and swallowed the pills, she felt herself getting better and left to find Naruto.

"What about me?" Sasuke asked from his place on the floor as the door closed.

"Suck it up."

As Sakura left the house she managed to catch a glimpse of Naruto's jacket before it disappeared into some trees, following him quickly she searched around for a few minutes she eventually found him in a small clearing fighting his clones. She quickly climbed the nearest tree and sat on a branch to see what Naruto was doing.

"Again!" He shouted at them. "We need to be stronger, faster, better! We're not losing anyone ever again, this time'll be different, this time everyone lives. Everyone's relying on us, so come at me again with everything you've got!" His clones nodded and roared as they charged him with kunai drawn. Naruto spun his tonfa around and settled into a stance, as soon as the first clone was in reach he lashed out dispelling it with a devastating blow to the side of the head.

"This time?" Sakura whispered to herself, "What's he talking about?" While she watched Naruto fighting his clones a glint of metal caught her eye. She tracked the glint back to either end of the tonfa as Naruto spun them into another attack. Waiting for them to stop spinning she caught sight of kunai tied to each end of the tonfa with wire. She watched as Naruto fought his way through his clones with a ferocity and efficiency she'd never seen him possess before. Once Naruto had dispelled the last one Sakura dropped from her hiding place but immediately froze as Naruto spun on her and barely stopped his tonfa from hitting her head when he realised she wasn't one of his clones.

Being so close Sakura could see how wild Naruto's eyes had become, they were nothing like their usual friendly appearance. These eyes were those of a fighter but they vanished as Naruto blinked and took a breath.

"Sorry about that Sakura, I didn't mean to scare you." He said lowering his weapons and untying the kunai.

"It's fine, I should've let you know I was here." Sakura replied, letting out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked as he put the kunai and wire back in his pouch.

"Anko asked be to check on you."

"I'm fine, go back to the house and get some rest."

"Can't do that, Anko told me to either bring you back with me or help you work out whatever's in your system." Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out a kunai. "Seeing as you're now going to be going back to the house, I guess that means we're training together." She lowered herself into a stance. "Don't hold back on me and I'll do the same." Naruto took a second to look at Sakura as if she'd grown a second head before chuckling.

"Thanks Sakura."

"What are friends for?"

"Alright then let's see how much better we can get." Naruto readied himself and waited for Sakura to attack.

The Next Morning

Naruto was laying flat on the grass, dozing lightly as Sakura sat up against a tree not far from him.

We've got company. Kurama said as Naruto felt a hand reaching for his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be sleeping out here, you'll get a cold." The person attached to the hand said. Naruto opened his eyes slowly to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Wh…who are you?" He asked, faking a sleepy appearance. The person kneeling next to him smiled kindly.

"My name's Haku."

Let me know what you think.

Until Next Time (Which will hopefully be sooner)

Basic Trainer