I'm back. Shout out to PureInsanity39 and Edo123456 for reminding me that Itachi's mask is Weasel, completely slipped my mind when I was writing this. So, here's the chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Often times the battle was decided in a single moment, an explosive climax. Even the smallest change could give away a strike, display your entire attack to the enemy in the matter of seconds. That why the Uchiha excelled with ninja tools, their ability to study the opponent and survey the scene with an inhuman ability. Predict what was to come by the slightest of movements. All that meant was that he would have to work just that much harder.

A slight tense in the leg was all he needed to see. The purple haired Anbu sprung forward and Naruto had milliseconds to determine his actions. Thrust forward the instant she got in range, ward the strike and counter immediately, or retreat back the moment she closed in. And from each choice came just as many other things to consider. Should he strike forward, would his sword hit first or would she choose to block and counter. Should he ward, would she attack again eliminating the chance to counter or choose to retreat, giving him the chance to strike. Should he back off, would it put him in a detrimental position and limit his mobility in the future.

A sharp whistle pierced his ears as he jumped back. The Anbu had nearly gotten him but instead of continuing forward, she waited. Using this time, he surveyed the grounds around him. Her countless attacks had forced him to a corner. He was closed in by the river to his right and thick forest behind him. The river would surely mean defeat, he couldn't match the Anbu on the water. Same with the forest, the moment he took his eyes of the Anbu to run she would disappear and only reappear with her sword at his neck. But if he waited too long she would force him to choose, so he had to act now.

Noting the distance between them, he charged straight forward and focused his thoughts. 1, 2, 3! The Anbu was right in front of him with her sword slicing down at his face. He quickly brought up his own and but instead of meeting hers above his head, he chose to slash to the left side while jumping to the side to avoid the blade. This caused the Anbu to slip back to avoid his strike. Immediately, he thrust forward forcing another retreat and just like clockwork his plan worked.

The lose dirt the Anbu backed up into gave way and sunk slightly into the river, leaving her to begin to tumble backwards into the river. While he was retreating earlier he had notice a slight give in the ground and figured it would be his only chance.

To finish it, he lunged forward with a boost of chakra and aimed straight into the Anbu. However when his sword almost scrapped the Anbu's armor, she quickly went horizontal, clinging to the side of the edge of the river with chakra. He flew past and she grabbed Naruto by the foot before he flew into the river.

"You almost got me with that one Naruto!" She said with some pride in her voice. "Had I not been using Chakra to steady my footing in the ground before it broke I would've fell back without anyway to avoid your attack" She said while carrying Naruto to their spectators.

"Ya know you can put me down now." Naruto complained, obviously embarrassed. The Anbu gave no indication of hearing him until she reached the others.

"That was an impressive fight Naruto" Complimented the Third Hokage with a smile. It really had been, Naruto had been able to keep up with the Anbu, albeit the Anbu was holding back. Yet, despite the odds Naruto was able to both focus on his surroundings and fighting all while formulating a plan.

"It wasn't that impressive, I still lost" Naruto said disappointingly. Suddenly a voice called out from behind the former Hokage.

"Maa, don't be too hard on yourself. I can't think of many your age that can spar with an Anbu operative." Behind the Hokage stepped out Kakashi.

"Kakashi, when'd you get here?" Naruto asked while burning up in embarrassment. Just his luck, the one time someone came to watch he messed up.

"Halfway through the spar, I had an open afternoon so I figured stopping by might be fun." Kakashi said all while reading his book. Naruto looked at him suspiciously, did his parents make Kakashi come, for as long as he could remember Kakashi was focused on the girls training.

"Don't worry, Anbu-san here told me about this. Did you know I used to be her senpai?" Naruto shook his head no while looking at the Anbu with a new light. It seemed everyone he knew was somehow connected back to his family. Before he could continue, Kakashi spoke up.

"Naruto, I've noticed while you wield your sword with your left hand, your right is doing nothing. Judging by your spar, you can multitask in battle, so perhaps you could incorporate something else into your style. Whether you do or not is up to you, just a suggestion." He said before turning to the Anbu and Hokage.

"Well, duty calls. I can't have Kushina getting mad at me for being too late." He gave a slight wave before disappearing into a cloud of leaves.

Naruto could only stare at where he once was, Kakashi skipped part of training his sisters to see him. Usually the only ones that cared about what he did in training were the Hokage and Anbu. They had been the ones to start his training, and probably the ones he would end with when he became a genin.

"Naruto-kun," The Third Hokage called out. "I might have a few scrolls about unorthodox styles with the sword at my house. I'd be willing to lend them for a while." The Third Hokage said while walking away, beckoning him to follow.

-Line Break No Jutsu-

"Oh, and then Machi tried throwing 3 kunai at once and almost cut off mom's ponytail, she was sooo mad. You should've been there Ni-san" Aiko proudly exclaimed, earning laughter from her parents and a pout from Machi. They then looked expectantly at Naruto to see how funny the story was, but were met with a zoned out look.

"Ni-san?" No response. "Ni-San!" Machi said a bit louder. Suddenly Naruto jerked up and looked around at his family confused.

"Sorry, I just have had a lot on my mind lately." He was thinking back to the scrolls he had read at Jiji's. Each one presented a unique style, but none seemed to match exactly what he was looking for.

There was Maka Nara, who devoted her brilliance to swords and seals. While she wielded a sword like everyone else, she created a seal that she could imprint on any surface with a touch of her finger. Then, when she deemed it time, she was able to detonate the seal like an explosive tag. This could be used to change the landscape or if she got in on the opponent or weapon, eliminate their ability to use kenjutsu.

There were others who utilized their jutsu at the same time with one handed signs, but none seemed to fit right. The closest he found to feeling right was a guy who used explosive tags and spikes to rig the area around him, but by doing so he lacked the ability to control them. It would only be useful if his opponent triggered the trap. What could he do to solve that problem?

"Narutooo, you zoned out again." Aiko called out between mouthfuls of food. This earned a slight snicker from Machi while Minato and Kushina looked at each other concerned.

Machi and Aiko had progressed extremely well with their seal training, and they were proficient in every other aspect of being a ninja, besides genjutsu. What could he say, his entire family was bad at it. Yet when he looked at Naruto, all he could think of was the danger he could be in if he trained with the girls. He couldn't even pay attention when they were eating dinner, and that wasn't even considering his school grades.

Being Hokage, Minato was privy to accessing the school records for each student. He couldn't help but be a little embarrassed when he thought of them. Naruto was in the middle of the class for taijutsu, and close to the top with kunai and shuriken, but anyone could train to be good at that. What was really bad was his coursework, Naruto almost never did homework and did dreadful in all his classes.

So what if Naruto could beat a few civilian kids in Taijutsu, if he faced his sisters, both proficient in the Uzumaki style, he would lose. Not only lose, he would be destroyed. No, it was better for him to get training the former Hokage, even if Minato limited it so much it would barely matter. If he tried to train with his sisters he would only be discouraged.

He was about to ask Naruto more when he felt a presence behind him.

"You are needed in your office Hokage-Sama." He simply nodded, and said a quick goodbye to his family before flashing away.

-Line Break No Jutsu-

A soft snore came from the back of the classroom, quickly followed by a large yelp.

"Shikamaru, what was that for!" Naruto attempted to say in a hushed tone, but everyone could still hear him.

"Naruto, class hasn't even started yet and you're already sleeping. Normally I'd be all for you sleeping, but after what you pulled yesterday, I'd be surprised if Iruka-sensei put up with any of your tricks today." Shikamaru stated with a loud yawn.

"Now if you stay awake and quiet, maybe Iruka will be too surprised with your behavior to notice me sleeping" Shikamaru stated before laying his head down on the desk. As much as Naruto hated it, today was not the day for him to test Iruka-sensei's patience. Especially with what he did yesterday. Naruto smirked and let out a small snicker. He wouldn't be surprised if Iruka walked in today with a slight orange tint to his clothes and hair.

Before he could continue reminiscing of his pranking genius, two loud voices entered the room.

"Well, Aiko. If you'd have used tree oils instead of that cheap store stuff, maybe your hair would have as luscious of a shine as mine." Ino said with a whip of her hair.

"Huh, is that what you really think Ino? I think your just jealous that my family can afford such nice conditioner." Aiko retorted. Seeing as the conversation was going no where, Naruto turned his attention to the rest of his classmates.

Shikamaru had managed to fall asleep in the 30 seconds it took Naruto to watch his sister walk in, and Chouji sat contently beside him eating chips. In front of them sat Sasuke Uchiha.

Noticing Naruto's glance, Sasuke gave a slight smirk and a head nod, before returning his attention to the front of the room. While he'd met Sasuke when he was just a baby, they became friends and then rivals when Sasuke found out his brother was training Naruto. At that point, they made a silent vow to become better to first beat each other, and then Itachi. That last goal might be slightly harder than the first though.

Besides Sasuke sat a shy girl with the weirdest color hair he'd ever seen. It was a shade of bubblegum pink and it rested just above her shoulders. Her name was Sakura. Naruto wouldn't say he was friends with her, they'd only spoken a few words to each other. But Naruto couldn't help but respect her. Unlike the other girls in the class, she seemed dedicated to becoming a ninja. She didn't seem to care about boys as much as the other girls, this was the reason why she sat next to Sasuke. Unlike everyone else, she wouldn't freak out, although Naruto suspected she might have a small crush on Sasuke anyway.

Finally at the end of that table sat Hinata. She was shy like Sakura, but her shyness was on steroids. She didn't like talking to most people and when she did, she had a terrible stutter. Despite that, she was the only girl he could really call friend. He'd met her after he saved her from bullies early in their childhood and after he got past her stuttering and shyness, she was a great friend to have. Insightful and kind, he'd trust her with almost anything.

The rest of the class wasn't too interesting. Kiba was loud, Shino was quiet. Machi talked to Ino, Aiko, and the other girls. In the very back sat a pale white kid named Sai. He had joined a few years back and was an excellent shinobi, although he was lacking a bit on the social side.

"Alright class, everyone turn to page 34..." Naruto tuned out the rest of the speech. As long as he didn't fall asleep and feigned attention, Iruka-sensei wouldn't yell at him. Honestly, a majority of what they talked about was useless.

When he first joined the academy, he had been diligent with notes, but that was before Shikamaru blessed him with a tidbit of knowledge.

"The classwork doesn't matter. You can pull a C off on the test without any prior knowledge if you're smart enough, which you are. If you then take in the practical scores, kunai and taijutsu, and do average and/or well, you can pass the academy in the middle of the pack. So here, instead of taking all those notes, just take a nap instead."

For someone so lazy, he seemed to have put a lot of thought into being lazy. Naruto couldn't complain though, Shikamaru's observation had gained him extra hours for much needed sleep. Instead of studying for tests or paying attention in class, he could do whatever pleased him at the time.

When it came to practicals, he could easily boost his grade up to passing. His taijutsu was average, not on the level of any clan trained kids, but good enough. Besides, he'd never be in a pure taijutsu match. He'd be able to use his sword, which was banned by the academy.

And for kunai and shuriken, there was only so much one could do. They were tested based on how many they could hit out of 20. The target was stationary and they had all the time they wanted. So on paper he was tied for top of the throwing weapons, despite his excellence in the skill. It didn't matter if he could throw 5 in each hand and finish all 20 in the time it took most to do 3. They just had to hit the target. So a student who took 10 seconds with each throw would rank the same as him.

It didn't bother Naruto much though, scores in the academy didn't mean anything in the ninja world. That was the lesson he took from his training, not calculating the trajectory of a kunai in the wind, but knowing that that 1 kunai could mean life or death.

Naruto's eyes drifted around looking for anything of interest, Shikamaru was still sleeping, Sakura was taking notes, hell, even Sai was reading a book to pass the time. It seemed everyone but him knew what they wanted to do. He gazed out the window in hopes to find something interesting. A small spider web adorned the top of the window, and a small bug flew lazily by it. Before anything could happen, Shino walked up behind him and grabbed the bug.

"Spiders, interesting creatures. Why you ask? Because their ability to create such intricate traps." Shino stated, earning a nod from Naruto and sparking an idea in his brain.

A trap. A web. Each strand just as important to the structure. Perhaps he could do something like this with an alternative. Nothing he could think of would have the sticky properties of the web, but problems like that could be solved later on. Ninja wire would have to do, but he'd need a contraption to hold the web.

He quickly went to work grabbing a scratch sheet of paper and scribbling basic designs down. Before he knew it, he had a basic idea written down and class was over.

"Hey Naruto, I was wondering if you-" Shikamaru started to ask before getting interrupted.

"Can't talk now. You know what, just tell me tomorrow, I'll be open then. See ya." Naruto said while running out the door, leaving everyone shocked in his wake.

-Line Break No Jutsu-

"Hmm, a design like this is interesting, did you say you thought of it yourself?" The weapons master asked while studying the drawing Naruto had handed him.

"Ya, I was thinking a device I could strap to my arm and it would dispense ninja wire when I want it to. Although it would have to sleek enough to not draw attention to it." The man nodded after it.

"Unorthodox, yes. But it could work." The man said with a grin. "Come back next week and I should I have it completed by then. I assume you'll want this charged to his parents?" Naruto nodded feeling a little guilty. A device like this was expensive and had to be made from scratch. However, he had accumulated money from his past birthdays when his parents didn't know what to get him. They said whenever he wanted something he could just put it on their check.

Up till now he had just used it on spare tools like kunai or food. Hopefully they wouldn't pay too much attention to what he bought. For now however, he just had a spool of wire to work with.

He shuffled his way out of the store and entered the streets of Konoha. The street had an energetic buzz as all around him citizens and ninja alike talked and bought things. Naruto liked this atmosphere. Unlike when he walked around with his family, no one seemed to mind him. No one stopped to bow to the Hokage or give presents to the honored saviors of Konoha. There wasn't a dead silence as everyone focused on his family in front of him.

Now, Naruto could walk freely and enjoy the village in peace. If someone did happen to recognize him, which rarely happened, he would politely talk to them before disappearing again.

Slowly he managed to weasel his way to a training ground near his house. Luckily, no one was there, so he could work in peace. He brought out the wire and uncoiled some wire.

It was extremely thin and when laid down in the grass it was invisible. He then took his sword in one hand and the wire in the other. He mock spared with an invisible opponent, pushing them into specific areas when he wanted to lay the wire down.

The fake battle kept going with Naruto dipping and diving into new positions while carefully setting the wire down beside him. After a while, he turned his attention to tall pole in the middle of the grounds. Till now, he had wired his entire trap to converge on that single spot. He tentatively held up his wire and pulled it as hard as he could.

The trap sprung forward and the pole was quickly covered in layers of wire. He hadn't wired up any traps yet, but he had managed to multitask and lay the trap while also sparring.

He gave a few more strong tugs to see if the trap would hold, before coiling the wire back up. This was a good start, while any competent ninja could substitute out of the situation, it was a strong basis. He would just have to keep working on it till it became second nature.

Ya so this is it. Sorry I took so long, I'm pretty lazy. This chapter was 3.3k words. Thanks for reading.

See Ya.