Author's Note: Alright guys here is chapter 4, soon enough Naruto and Itachi will be going on missions with the third member of the team. By the time I reveal who the character on their team will be some of you might start to notice why I named this fanfic The Next Big Three instead of just The Big Three. I don't want to say too much seeing as I don't want to spoil the story. I hope you enjoy.

bankai777: He'll be meeting her eventually.

(8 months later)

It has been 8 months since the day Minato and A made the bet and ever since then a lot has happened.

For starters, A was now the Fourth Raikage. After returning home he had exposed the plans of his father, shortly after the villagers had come together and demanded that he stepped down. The heavy-hearted Raikage realized that he had failed his village too much and now that the villagers and shinobi had grown tired of him, his time was up. There was only one choice left for him, you see the one of the greatest shames to a Kage was to be forced out of power by a protestant citizens and shinobis and being the prideful man he was, he knew that the very thought of having the shameful situation occuring to him led him to perish by his own hand. The Third Raikage, A had committed suicide. The Third Raikage's oldest son, A had been placed into the position of Fourth Raikage shortly after.

A was heartbroken, when he brought the events of the kidnapping to public eye he had wanted this to serve as a means to an end. His father was a power hungry individual and had done many shameful actions to get his hands on kekkei genkais. A and his father didn't see eye to eye on many things but regardless both loved each other and had a deep trust between the two. Even his brother Bee hadn't been his usual rambuntious self. Eventually they had gotten over their despression with a new drive. They were going to rebuild Kumo from the foundation and up. They weren't going to encourage the strength of the one, they would encourage the strength of the many. They were going to encourage people to form bonds and grow with each other, the village was going to reach greater heights through hardwork and determination not some kekkei genkai. Although the Third Raikage was a formidable person he had very few people who he could trust, this new academic system would have the kids befriend one another to avoid as much hostility as human nature would allow.

A had found the job of Raikage to be very tedious. He would much rather be training than doing paper work. But nonetheless the needs of many far exceed the needs of one. Whenever he wasn't busy with paper work he was busy training Samui and Yugito. Whenever he was he would have the girls trained by powerful jounins and in Yugito's case, by his brother Bee due to her predicament.

The future was definitely looking bright for the village Hidden in the Clouds.

The second thing that happened was probably the most troubling but awe-inspiring of all the events.

Naruto had been discovered to be a natural user of the legendary Mokuton. It was all discovered during when Itachi had been practicing his newly acquired Hosenka no Jutsu. Naruto had been wandering around while reading a book on fuinjutsu and hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, soon enough a shout from Itachi had gotten his attention and that was when he saw it, a flaming shuriken on its way to him. At this point Naruto could do nothing but watch as the shuriken was right about to impale him. He felt something foreign but close trying to speak to him, almost as if it was asking him to call on it. His heart started pumping and the what happened in the next few moments would forever be imprinted into his mind. Wood rose from the ground and made a shield like structure right in front of him. By this point Minato had appeared on the field to see his son standing behind a wooden shield. After a quick interrogation he had learned that Naruto seemed to be a natural Mokuton user. As happy as he was Minato couldn't help but feel confused about the whole situation. How could Naruto be a natural Mokuton user? It didn't make any sense they weren't related to the Senjus or atleast he didn't think they were. The only thing that made sense was thag he had some to have had sort if genetic mutation. Anyways Naruto had gotten a decent grasp of his Mokuton. He had gotten ex-root member Tenzo to assist his son in learning about his Mokuton. While he would normally be weary of anything to do with root, Tenzo had proven himself to be loyal to the Hokage and had even gotten the recognition of many of his trusted shinobi.

Well anyways Naruto had proven to be a prodigy in ninjutsus as well. His abnormally high chakra reserves had given Minato the idea of teaching his son shadown clones. He had told Naruto about the secret of the shadow clones which was that upon being dispelled a clone would transfer whatever it had seen or learned in it's lifetime to the original. Naruto had been highly pleased with this and was about to make as many as he physically could but was stopped by Minato who then went and explained that by doing this he would place a great amount of stress on his mind and this would only be detrimental in the long run.

Naruto had been limited to 3 clones per session. It may not seem like much but it really was. The extra help had helped tremendously with his elemental manipulation training. The first step of earth manipulation training is to take mud turn it into dirt and convert it to a hard rock. This had proven to be moderately difficult, it had only taken a week for Naruto to master. The next step however had proven to be much more difficult. He had to make a rock into dirt then mud. This had taken him a month to complete. Afterwards he had decided to move onto water manipulation. There were only 2 stages to water manipulation. The first one was simple, completely soak a leaf by using your chakra. Naruto had taken about a month to get it down to seconds. The next stage was ridiculously harder than the first one, you had to find a waterfall and completely stop the flow for a minute. Even with shadow clones Naruto had taken 3 months to do this. He was now on his last stage of earth manipulation training. The last stage of esrth manipulation was not like the first 2 where you had to change the composition of the starting compound slowly, no this one was all about speed. You had to take a boulder and turn it to dust by using your chakra and your fists. It had taken nearly 3 months and a lot of trips to the hospital for Naruto.

And that is where the elemental training ended for Naruto. He had finished all his exercises and so had Itachi who currently had a strong fire affinity.

Throughout the whole manipulation training they had learned jutsus for their nature. Itachi from his father and from Naruto from the Third Hokage himself. For his earth manipulation the 5 jutsus Hiruzen had picked for him ranged from E ranked earth jutsus all the way to C ranked, these jutsus were Doton: Tsuchi Gunjikoudou no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Military Movement Technique), Doton: Ishi Yoroi no Ude (Earth Release: Stone Bracers), Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Double Suicide Decapitation Technique), Doton: Doro Gaeshi (Earth Release: Mud Overturn)and Doton: Doryuusou (Earth Release: Earthen Rising Spears). For his water jutsus Hiruzen had picked2 D ranked,2 C ranked and 1 B ranked ninjutsu. These jutsus were; Suiton: Suihou (Water Release: Water Bubble), Suiton: Mizubōsō (Water Release: Rampaging Water), Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave), Suiton: Mizudeppō (Water Release: Water Gun) and Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique).

Itachi has learned 1 D ranked jutsu called Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet), 3 C ranked jutsus those being Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique), Katon: Dai Endan (Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet), Katon: Bakufū Ranbu (Blast Wave Wild Dance)and Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique). He had learned 1 B ranked as well, Katon: Inferuno Gufuu (Fire Release: Inferno Tornado).

Overall their jutsu library was increasing and Minato was by now expecting to win the bet.

Today was going to be Naruto and Itachi's first day at the academy and they were both excited, of course it's not like you could tell with Itachi wearing that stoic expression. Although today was their first day at the academy it was not the first day of the school year. The school year had started 3 months ago and would end in 5 more months. Itachi had turned 6 just 4 months ago and Naruto had turned 6 last week. If it wasn't for his bet with A he would have most likely entered them with those attending their first year, but seeing as the bet was undergoing he had accelerated their training so with the recommendations of Jaraiya, the Third and surprisingly the recently returned Orochimaru he placed them into one of the graduation classes.

(In the Namikaze estate)

This morning had been hectic at the normally tranquil estate. Naruto had been a boucing ball of sunshine and his excitement had been infectious, in fact so much so that his younger brother and sister had both ended up tiring themselves out before breakfast had been served copying him. Narutk after being chased by a possessed Kushina holding a frying pan and sporting a rather large bump on his head had finally calmed down. He swiftly finished his breakfast and soon found himself waiting to be accompanied to school by his mother. He waited patiently but she never came out. He didn't think much about this and kept waiting. You see in Konoha it was a tradition that on the first day a kid would attend the academy a parent or both if possible would accompany their kid. Seeing as his father was the Hokage he was too busy to do much which left his mother. He kept waiting, seconds turned into minutes and minutes into what felt like hours. After realizing that his mother would not be escorting him to the academy a dejected Naruto promptly left.

"Ah Naruto-kun finally up I see, what took you so long? I've been waiting here for a long time. I thought you had overslept and were about to miss your first day," said the now revealed Hiruzen. Hiruzen had a feeling what the reason behind his surrogate grandson's late depart had been. Ever since the twins had been born Kushina had been forces to retire from being a shinobi. The twins had also taken up a lot of her time and had left very little for Naruto.

He had come to pickup Naruto predicting that this very outcome would happen.

He had sensed Naruto standing by the door by himself for quite some time this had furthermore proved his earlier prediction to be correct, Naruto walking out with his gaze downcast and his shoulders slumping had been the icing on the cake. Nevertheless this was an important day for Naruto and he would be damned if he let his surrogate grandson's day continue the way it was.

"Jiji, sorry to keep you waiting. I wouldn't have kept you waiting if I had known you were by the door the whole time. Instead I was there ignorant of you waiting and an extension wasting your time," said a sad Naruto.

Hiruzen immediately knew that what Naruto had just said is how he felt about this whole situation with his mom. Today wasn't the first day that something like this had happened. No, it was very commom for Kushina to ignore Naruto and to see Naruto drowning out his feelings to make sure that no one worried about him. Countless times he had been told to tell his mother how he felt but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Minato himself was about to tell his wife but was promptly stopped by Naruto.

"Well it is alright, so are you excited for your first day at the academy?" asked Hiruzen.

"Well I am but I am not at the same time," responded a still sad Naruto.

"Could you elaborate?" Asked Hiruzen.

"Well what I mean is that I am excited because I am one step closer to becoming strong and protecting the village just like you and tou-chan have. I am also excited because I will get to make new friends. The things I am not so happy about is that I will be learning things that I have already learnt and that Itachi and me won't be ready to train nearly as much as we did before," said a happier Naruto by now having forgotten his earlier problem.

Hiruzen was happy to see this and by now had started chuckling. "Well don't worry too much about it you and young Itachi have been placed in the graduating class and in 5 more months should be graduating along with your peers. If you can't train as much as you'd like to, just set goals for yourself like becoming rookie of the year."

"Hhmm... you know what, I think I'll do just that," said Naruto. He now had a new drive that would fuel him for the next 5 months.

The rest of the walk had been relatively peaceful. Upon arriving at the academy Naruto saw Itachi and both of his parents Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha.

"I see that you are man enough to show up Namikaze, now you just need to prove that you have what it takes to match Itachi," said Fugaku. Fugaku and Minato had been friends since their youth and they found it interesting that their wifes and kids were friends as well. He knew that the only kid Itachi's age that could rival and possibly beat Itachi was Naruto, the young Namikaze took after his father in both looks and raw mechanical skill. Minato had been good at almost everything right from the get-go, Naruto seems to be the same.

"Tch you should be saying that to Itachi, I'll be just fine. In fact in 5 months you'll see me as the rookie of the year, belive it dattebayo," said an excited Naruto to excited to notice himself slipping up by using his verbal tick.

At this Mikoto couldn't help but smile. This boy had adopted Kushina's verbal tick and due to his size, age and voice it had made her motherly instincts kick in and soon she found herself suffocating the poor blonde in her ample bust. This resulted in a blue faced Naruto substituting with a nearby log to prevent himself from dying before becoming a ninja.

It was no surprise to those present when Itachi and Naruto had walked inside... with Naruto holding a kunai and sporting a look of bloody murder that was directed at Mikoto.

"Man your mom's technique sure is dangerous Itachi, I almost died," said a heavy breathing Naruto.

"You can say that again however I'm afraid my mom isn't the only one with a dangerous technique," responded Itachi thinking about how when theu were younger Kushina used to do the same thing to them.

Upon entering the academy they were spotted by one of the instructors and soon after brought to the class they had been appointed to. When they entered, all eyes had immediately fallen on them. They noticed that every single kid in the classroom, except 1 was older than them by quite a bit. The ones who stood out were 2 girls whose hair were purple, a kid who was contantly coughing, A girl with crimson red eyes, a kid with a bandanna and a feral looking girl. They seemed to have an aura around them of confidence. Every other student in the classroom had either been fawning over the two or glaring at them.

"Welcome to graduating class 128 Uchiha-san, Namikaze-sama I shall be your instructor for the next 5 months, my name Saiba Suji but you may call me Suji-sensei. Everyone please welcome our new students," said the instructor.

Immediately squeals could be heard from many girls while the guys just grunted in jealousy.

"Girls please calm down, you don't want to make Uchiha-san and Namikaze-sama feel uncomfortable do you?" asked Suji.

"Suji sensei please just call me Naruto, no honorifics needed."

"Just call me Itachi as well."

"Alright then Naruto and Itachi pick a seat anywhere you'd like," responded Suji.

"Yoo-hoo Naruto-kun' Itachi-kun why don't you boys come sit with us," said a brown haired kunoichi wannabe.

"Hey Naruto-kun and Itachi-kun don't have to sit next to you," said another getting into the face of the previous kunoichi.

"Girls, girls let the two decide themselves where they want to sit," said a black haired kid.

"SHUT UP JIN-BAKA," said both girls simultaneously as they gave Jin a double knuckle sandwich.

"ENOUGH! You two, I'll be seeing you after school..." Suji said pointing at the girls. "...And you two pick a spot," he said pointing at Naruto and Itachi.

Naruto and Itachi eventually decided to settle down next to a window that was close to the group they noticed earlier.

(Later That Day)The first day at the academy for Naruto and Itachi had been relatively boring. The instructor had gone over the basic principles of chakra theory and since Naruto and Itachi already knew all of this, they just relaxed and pretended to pay attention. Tomorrow would be a more interesting day seeing as there would be spars taking place tomorrow between the students.

Upon arriving home Naruto was tackled by 2 blurs, one with red hair and yellow highlights and one with yellow hair and red highlights. They were Arashi and Naruko Namikaze.

"To-chan where were you?" asked Naruko.

"Well I was at the academy," responded Naruto. Shortly after, his mother had come to the front door where she pried her younger kids from her oldest one.

"Naruto-chan how was your first day at the academy?"

"It was boring and tiresome kaa-san. I'll be heading to my room. I might train later" I'm feelimg awfully tired," replied a yawning Naruto.

Since Naruto had been walking away he hadn't noticed the look of confusion on his mother's face.

Kushina was always used to be called kaa-chan but this time Naruto had replaced the chan with san. She had to wonder if this was the first time it had happened or if this was the first time she had noticed. Come to think of it she hadn't spent much time with Naruto in a long time. She was wondering if she should be worried about this development until she decided to leave it at that he was tired and must've slipped up. Surely it must be that, he is a prodigy and even though he may only be 6, he was more mature than he let on.

(The Next Day at the Academy)

"Alright if you would please line up and follow me outside, I would greatly appreciate it," said Suji.

The class soon enough made 2 single-file lines and followed Suji outside. "Ok so since there are 27 of you, you must divide yourselves into 9 groups of 3. This will be a tournament style taijutsu drill, that means NO ninjutsu," said Suji.

Immediately the students could be shuffling about and finding their friends. Also cries of "Naruto-kun" and "Itachi-kun" could be heard seeing as Naruto and Itachi needed 1 more partner. Eventually they settled for the feral looking girl who walked up to them.

"Ok with the teams decided you must each appoint a leader and have him or her come to me and draw a straw. Each straw has a number from 1 to 9 and pairs will fave off against each other. This means that team 9 will get to skip the first round of fighting," said an excited looking Suji.

"But sensei that's not fair," said one of the students.

"Well I'm afraid life isn't very fair, now is it?" responded suji. "Alright so quickly decide who the leader will be."

"I vote for Itachi," said Naruto quickly.

"I second that," said the feral girl. "Oh and my name is Hana Inuzuka, nice to meet ya."

"Hn," was the reply of the Uchiha as he walked up to the teacher and drew straw number 1.

"Ok so it's team Itachi vs... team Jin. Will both parties gather on opposite sides of that white line over there? Good, now are both sides ready?" Upong recieving nods from both sides he yelled, "START!" and with that the match kicked off.

Jin had to back pedal as the fist of Naruto came so close to his face that he felt the wind touch him. He wasn't given much time to relax before a swift Itachi came with a roundhouse kick that connected with his abdomen left him winded. Seeing that Jin would be out for a bit Suji called for him to leave the field. Jin left although not before protesting.

Hana herself seemed to be fairing quite well against her opponent. She was a tall blonde haired girl with a slender build and pig tails. Naruto and Itachi noticed that Hana's style seemed to be animalistic which explained her feral look. Eventually a clawed hand found itself around the blondes neck and after noticing that the girl went limp Hana let her go.

At this point only one kid was left and after seeing how easily his teammates had been handled he had to yield.

"Next match team Anko vs team Tsuki."

This match had been pretty sad to say the least. Team Anko consisted of 3 girls. 2 purple haired girls and 1 crimson eyed girl. The 2 purple haired girls seemed to be adept at taijutsu and immediately took down their opponents. The crimson eyed girl seemed to be the worse of the 3 in taijutsu but even then she had quickly taken care of her opponent. The 3 opponents had barely put up a fight. Some were convinced that they couldn't keep up with the girls.

Soon enough the girls came back to meet up with their friends as everyone waited to be called.

Author's Note: Yo sorry for the long wait, I kept pushing this chapter back. I was planning on making it a minimum of 7k words long but decided to leave that for the next one. I won't make any promises but I'll try to get it out as 7k words and in less than 5 days.