Here it is, installment number two of my first ever story!

Enjoy this chapter, and please review, or shoot me a PM if you have any questions!

Chapter 2. Training, Fighting and Exams!

Drops of sweat fell to the floor as Naruto finished the last push up of his morning work-out. Sighing in relief that it was finally over, he grabbed a towel from the table next to him and sat down on the chair to catch his breath.

It had been three long, hard years since the ANBU had started training him and it showed. His bare upper body showed a fair amount of muscle, some people would call him "ripped", which twitched with every movement. He reminisced the time they had spent training.

Right after he had voiced his request to Bird the man had discussed it with the team. They had all agreed, so they had proceeded with making plans. The first trouble they had come across was training space. Where could they train that was out of sight but still spacious enough? It had stalled them for a couple of weeks, but in the end Naruto had remembered what his grandfather figure had suggested when he had just gotten his apartment building. They would have to remodel the building to function as a training facility.

Well, calling it a training facility was a bit excessive, but they did change one of the apartments and all of the basement rooms into an exercise room and a sparring/jutsu testing room respectively. In the exercise room he would do all of his stretches and exercises, ranging from push-ups, pull ups, sit ups, squats and crunches as well as weight training with weights that Boar had left him in his will, much to Naruto's shock.

In the basement though, is where the real magic happened. They had knocked down all of the walls to make it into one very big space. Then Rat, who was the best at Fuuinjutsu out of all of them, had fortified the basement with countless seals, ranging from chakra suppressor seals and absorbing seals to absorb any jutsu used and to make sure that no one noticed them, to strengthening seals which helped with keeping the building standing while Naruto was tossed around when training Taijutsu, or containing the blast when they were testing explosive tags.

The masterpiece of the entire collection though was the Gravity Field Array. This was used to increase the gravity in a certain vicinity, making it so people walking in it would get accustomed to the higher gravity and get stronger from it. They had used this sparingly though, as to not hurt Naruto's growth process.

There was one more thing that would throw a minor wrench in their plans: The Academy. He had to go there every weekday for six hours from 8AM until 2PM every day, shaving off a bunch of his training time, but he decided to just train harder in the time he had left.

When all of the problems were worked out finally, all of the ANBU had started out with hammering on the basics of everything. This meant chakra control, the proper way to do physical exercises, chakra control, academics of which he already had a decent foundation but they added some extra stuff, chakra control and did I mention chakra control?

Naruto had spent countless hours to reign in the already Jonin level reserves that he possessed and in the end it bore fruit. They had forced him to finish at least the wall sticking, also known as tree climbing, exercise before they even started on anything at all, and he had been forced to do the water walking exercise, which had to be done in the tub because of secrecy, before they had started on anything ninjutsu related. It had been a pain but it had been for the better in the end as it did provide the needed results.

When all of that had finally been completed they had moved on to the good stuff while still continuing to hammer the basics and chakra control to keep him focused and his chakra in check.

Taijutsu was taught by Bird, who was the best out of all of them. Strangely, he had only given Naruto basic forms for punches and kicks at the start, telling him to build upon it and create his own thing with what felt natural, only giving pointers if something was easily exploitable.

This turned out to be a great idea, having the young blond see what felt natural to him and making him repeat the movements and practice them in spars. Bird had quickly come to see his strength which was in his speed and flexibility, and made the boy capitalize on it building an entirely new style which was customized for him and him alone, which would be better in the long run as Naruto would have the ability to assimilate anything he came up with or saw that could be useful into the style which would continually improve it more and more over time.

It was an incredible thing to see the boy dance along in fluid movements as he assaulted and dodged. You could see the blond get better with every spar. He was nowhere near the skill level and physical ability of Bird, but he had come a long way.

Sloth was his teacher on the topic of tactics and strategy as well as stealth. The man had given Naruto countless scenarios, and told him to solve them. At certain times he gave the boy practical assignments, like putting a dummy in a locked room and trapping it as well as having clones on guard. This way, he had unlocked the potential of Naruto's mind, having him analyze the situation thoroughly and think creatively and outside of the box to reach his goal. It gave Naruto a whole new perspective on the lazy man, showing him the man's genius even if he was a bit quirky.

Stealth was also one of Sloth's specialties and he had taught Naruto all the fine details of it, as well as demonstrated it to the boy on numerous occasions. He continuously scared the poor boy to death by showing up out of nowhere. This, while annoying, lead to Naruto getting more aware of his surroundings, as well as making him more stealthy himself.

It had also lead them to the topic of chakra sensing techniques, which Sloth was all too happy to instruct him in even though it meant more work and less relaxation time. Now Naruto could sense people who were in a circumference of about 100 feet around him and it was growing every day.

Genjutsu had been a tricky one. Because his reserves were so big Rat, the one teaching him this subject as well as Fuuinjutsu, was between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't use the lower ranked ones because his chakra control was just too bad for now, but she couldn't very well teach him high level, high chakra cost Genjutsu either because those required advanced chakra and Genjutsu theory that he was just not ready for yet. In the end she had decided to just teach him a few area of effect ones and spend the biggest chunk of their time teaching Naruto Fuuinjutsu.

Now Fuuinjutsu is where Naruto excelled. Rat could not comprehend how one could be so naturally talented at an art as obscure and difficult as this, but it didn't deter her from teaching him all she knew as well as take books from the ANBU library so he could grow as much as possible. The basics had practically been done in two sessions, and it only started going faster after that. By the time they were done, he was creating his own seals and selling them for profit and creating pet projects of his own. Some of the things he had created had left her stumped, and she was one of the better seal users in ANBU.

Of course, things didn't go entirely without incident, as some seals had blown up violently in his face, but he was unscathed for the most part. Good thing his healing was phenomenal.

On the account of weapons training, Cat as well as Mantis had stepped up to the plate. Mantis had been in charge of his throwing weapons. The boy had quickly picked up on kunai and shuriken, advancing on from stationary targets to moving ones before finally going to spread targets meaning behind, in front and to his sides, forcing him to make maneuvers instead of standing still, and at last he moved on to the moving targets which went all over the place. It was a nifty piece of Fuuinjutsu, courtesy of Rat, that made them stick to the walls and move in random patterns. It was perfect as no attempt would be the same.

When he had finally finished that though, Mantis had showed him other types of throwing weapons that he could use and proceeded to drill the boy through each type. It ranged from different types of throwing knives, throwing axes, spears and even chakram were explored. In the end Naruto only liked the smaller throwing knives more than kunai, since they were faster and more silent than the standard kunai knives they were issued. This was due to the fact that kunai could also be applied in hand to hand combat, so they needed to be sturdier.

While Mantis was handling the throwing weapons, Cat was focusing on melee category of weapons. They too had tried a myriad of different weapons, wanting to make sure that he got to feel out different types. In the end he had chosen the ninjato. When teaching him how to fight with it, Cat had taken almost the same route as Bird, teaching him the proper ways to hold it and a few ways of slashing and stabbing, as well as a few quick-draw techniques that she thought would fit him.

Not having a set style, Naruto once again had the creative freedom allowing him to do unconventional moves like kicks and flips into it while normally they wouldn't be used because most styles focus on a strong base stance where you would keep your feet to the ground for stability. Not having this "restriction" allowed him a free range of movement, and it worked splendidly.

Using either his ninjato or kunai he would come in from every possible angle and would attack before backing off and trying a different one. If not for Cat's superior skill and experience she wouldn't even have the time to attack for herself as the Uzumaki was quick on his feet and creative in his ways of approach.

The last topic was Ninjutsu. It had been a bit of a problem to see who would teach him and what they were going to teach him, but in the end they had devised a plan where everyone would instruct the boy in one element each, but not before teaching him the basic ninjutsu which would be taken care of by Bird.

It was unconventional to teach someone more than two or three elements, due to the chakra cost of ninjutsu not of your affinity, but they mused that since Naruto had such a large reserve of chakra already, and that it would only continue to grow exponentially over time, that he would be able to do it.

Thus, after learning the academy three as well as the Shunshin, Kage Bunshin which had been great for his training but not used much, and some other supplementary techniques, they proceeded to teach him elemental manipulation. Wind was taught by Bird, Water was taken care of by Cat, Fire by Rat, Earth was Sloth's territory and finally Lightning was Mantis' responsibility.

When they had finally started out the training Naruto had taken it like a fish to water, though he did progress faster in some. Wind seemed to be his best element by far, followed by Water, then Wind, Lightning and last was Earth, though he was still proficient in it.

Naruto smiled, thinking about the times spent training in the last three years. It had been one hell of a journey, one that he had not yet finished, but it was one he would never regret. He had been beaten to a pulp, cut, stabbed, burned and electrocuted, but it had been for a good cause. That and he had done most of that to himself anyway so he couldn't be mad.

Of course, he hadn't just thrown his social life, if you could consider it that, out of the window. In the academy, which he was forced to attend before being allowed to become a ninja he had to interact with his classmates every day. He even had people that he would consider his "friends", one being Nara Shikamaru, the class lazy ass as well as genius, which had reminded him of Sloth. Naruto had continuously challenged the Nara to shogi, and they always had good games, so it had become their daily routine during lunch.

His other friend was a girl. Her name was Mitsue Hikari, and she was a light skinned girl with long brown hair and green eyes, who in personality reminded him a bit of Rat, always up for a joke or prank but overall very kind and determined. She had just sat down to watch him and Shikamaru play shogi one day, and they had talked. She had slowly melded into their little routine, and the trio could always be found together at the academy. Sometimes they even hung out on Sundays which was Naruto's resting day.

Naruto really hoped that he would be teamed up with the both of them when they graduated in about 4 months. He liked them much better than the others in their class.

He wouldn't be hanging out with them or any of that stuff today though, as he remembered what day it was today. Today would be the day on which he would finally present his prototype weapon blueprints to the blacksmith that the ANBU had shown him. It had been about 2 years into his training when he had been required to have weapons at the academy, and they had led him to this obscure blacksmith that mainly only ANBU use with a few exceptions. The man made top quality weapons and armor, so Naruto would check with the man if he would help him with it.

The weapon in question was an "L" shaped metal device which had a hole going all the way through the longer side and had a padded grip on the shorter end. There would be multiple seals inscribed into the "barrel" as he had named it, which was the hole, that would compress any chakra pumped into it into a small, condensed ball in the "chamber" which was a compartment at the end of the barrel. Then there was seal at the back of the chamber which was the "Propulsion Seal" which would use stored chakra to fire the small chakra ball to the target at high velocity.

It was all theoretical stuff, and he still needed to make the prototype, but if it worked it would be revolutionary. Though, with the predicted chakra cost that he and Sloth had calculated, only he and anyone with at least Kage level chakra would be able to use it effectively as it would take the chakra equivalent of a high-power A-rank jutsu to only make the ball and create a shell around it so it wouldn't dissipate after about 5 feet.

It was still a crafty invention though, and it would be his trademark weapon when he made a name for himself. Well, this and a bigger one which was still in development. He would carry two and kick ass! That was the plan anyway. He still needed to test if it worked.

He remembered when he got the idea for the project. He was always annoyed when he ran out of kunai, shuriken or throwing knives and one day he was fed up! So he set out to create something where he didn't need to retrieve the stupid weapons. Of course he didn't know where to start, so he hadn't come up with anything solid until his sensei had started him on the elemental bullet techniques. He didn't know why, but this had sparked his inspiration and with the help of Mantis and Sloth it had turned into this. His masterpiece.

He had extensively researched what metals to use and had worked countless hours on the seals so that they would function. Now he finally had the finished blueprints and was about 99% sure that it would work.

So, giddy with excitement, he went back to his apartment from the exercise room, which is where he was before, and took a quick shower before putting on his attire which consisted of a white t-shirt with a red swirl on the front, a black hooded vest with white lines and black cargo pants with black boots with white laces. Then he picked up his blueprints before rushing out of the door.

Walking casually through the village, taking a few back alleyways and lesser-known streets to avoid the general populace who still hated him, and made his way to the merchant district before taking one last passage between two buildings, which led to a small building behind it. It was well hidden, and most people would miss it if they didn't know it was there. Perfect for people who wanted to stay out of sight and still buy stuff like ANBU operatives and the like.

Naruto walked up to the heavy-looking wooden door that served as an entrance and pushed it open with a little force, making his way into the small shop. After looking around for a while he didn't see the shopkeeper so he went to the counter and waited for a while, pulsing his chakra a little to see if he could feel the man. He was surprised when his chakra bounced back from the walls. This man had seals up to prevent people from using ninja techniques it seems. Distracted by the seals, he didn't hear a person enter the room. "Why hello young Naruto! What can I help you with today?"

The blond quickly turned around, a little surprised by the deep voice talking to him. He relaxed though, as he recognized the old man who owned the place. The man was really, really big, almost 7 feet with long grey hair and a big full beard. He wore a leather apron with a shirt that used to be white, but was now almost black from all of the soot, and black pants.

"Oh hey Kenta-San, I didn't hear you come in." Naruto replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I can see that!" The big man replied, chuckling at the blond. "Shut up! Now, I came here for a reason. I want you to check out these blueprints to see if you can manage this?" Naruto said as he rolled the blueprints out, waving the man over to have a look.

Kenta inspected them thoroughly, looking at every calculation as well as the design of the thing. It had a lot of small parts that would click together so it would be easier to apply the seals. It would be a pain to shape the couple dozen small little bits but he would be able to manage it. Looking at the blond, he stroked his beard while answering. "Hmm… I can certainly manage. But some of the metal used in this is hard to get and the seals are pretty complex, so it will cost you a lot to get this made. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Naruto nodded. He had saved up a lot of money, especially after he started selling the seals he had created. The anti-rape seal had been a crowd favorite, and so where the security seals that he had devised. Crime had gone down by a lot after he had brought those out. "Yes of course. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't!" The blond teen boasted."I even want to commission two if that is not a problem. I definitely have enough money and I could even apply the seals myself if you don't have the expertise. They are very complicated after all." He smirked at the man.

The old blacksmith ignored the jab and went behind the counter, taking out a form which he filled out quickly and gave it to Naruto. "This is the contract for custom orders, the price is still undecided as I will have to import some of the ores but that will be taken care of later. I just need your signature and I need you to put a little chakra into the seal on the bottom." He instructed as he picked up the blueprint and took it out back, before returning and taking the signed contract from Naruto. "Now, brat, you can go. I will have my work cut out for me it seems…" The man muttered. Naruto took the hint and left. He would return in a couple of weeks to pick them up.

Break

When he heard that his creations were finally finished, Naruto had been ecstatic. He went to pick them up from Kenta's shop as soon as he heard and took them home to "the basement" to test them out. Opening the case that they came in, Naruto couldn't help but be in awe of the masterful crafting that Kenta had made. There were a few changes to the overall design, but it was for the better.

The base was made out of a rare alloy from iron country that he couldn't remember the name of that was stronger than the steel that normal weapons were made of, as well as able to conduct chakra which was needed for the seals to work properly. It was shiny and a really dark grey color. Then there was the rubber grip which had extra traction pads attached which would be comfortable in his palm while still providing a good grip so he wouldn't have it slip out of his hands randomly. On the top there was a slide part so that he could remove it and check the seals that had been imprinted in the metal and then filled with chakra conductive material that hardened so that the seals would be durable.

He was giddy to test out the masterpieces, but first he would have to fill the propulsion seal at the back of the chamber. Once that was done he put the slide back on and it should be ready to go. Charging regular non-elemental chakra into the seal on the grip he aimed at one of the targets set up in anticipation of this and pulsed chakra into the propulsion seal, causing the chakra "bullet" to fly towards the target.

Awaiting in suspense, he looked at the glowing blue projectile and saw it slam into the target… and it just disintegrated. "Fuck!" Was the first thing coming out of his mouth. He quickly spun around looking for Cat, as she would certainly murder him for swearing. Seeing he was in the clear he looked at the target in confusion. The calculations said that it should at least have dented the target.

He walked up to the metal disk he had just fired at and inspected it. Scanning the surface for anything out of the ordinary, he finally spotted a tiny dent in the surface. "Well, this was not a complete failure after all. More power should make it do more damage." He nodded to himself as he took his stance again, creating a bullet before pushing more power than before into the propulsion seal. "Here we go!" He shouted as he released the chakra in the propulsion seal, creating a little bang at the end of the barrel and not even having the time to lower the weapon before a big dent appeared in the target, going as far as half of the thickness of the thing.

Naruto once again walked up to the target and inspected it thoroughly. "Well, that should do I think." He said, before chuckling a little.

He would have fun experimenting with this.

Break

Over the course of the next four months, Naruto had been experimenting with his new "Chakra Guns" as he had dubbed them, liking the sound of that.

One of the things he did was pushing elemental chakra into the bullets to study the effects, and to see if it could be used. And in the end he was happy to find that it could.

Every element gave the projectiles different properties. Fire would have the same force as the normal bullet and combusted on impact to set the target on fire. Water and Earth would do practically the same thing as the other, that being adding more force to the bullet on impact while being a bit slower than the other bullets. The only difference would be that the earth bullet would leave little pieces embedded into the target. Lightning would pierce the target instead of dent and was faster than the other projectiles, and lastly wind would create slashes around the area of impact with about half the force of the chakra bullet.

Naruto had tested the effects on his clones, and he regretted that a bit, but it had also made him think about what he would be doing to other people if he used this device. The implications kind of scared the Uzumaki, since he didn't really want to abuse these abilities on others because of their brutality. He had experienced them himself for a brief period before the clones dispersed. Breaking people's bones with a single bullet, or setting them on fire leading to a horrible death? It was a jarring thought and feeling.

Anyway, he was going to use every tool at his disposal to strike down the enemies of Konoha, and be strong like Boar would have wanted him to do. That however did not mean he would use them without care what he was doing. That would be stupid!

What he also did, besides creating horrible ways to kill and disable people, was practicing so he could do it quickly and accurately. He had spent countless hours into perfecting his execution of the creation as well as the process of firing the bullet, as well as refining his accuracy and making sure that he could hit moving targets and such. It had been a difficult process, as the bullets all moved at different speeds, so he had to get used to each individual bullet, and then he needed to get accustomed to firing them in random order and still hit the targets so that he wouldn't accidentally miss because he was still thinking of firing an earth bullet and then trying to fire a lightning bullet while leading too far…

It was infuriating, but he had made it. Now he was at least proficient enough to hit about half of the targets accurately.

Right now though, it was time for the academy exam. He was looking forward to being out of that stuffy old classroom. Even if he was excited to get out into the world he would miss the time he spent there, and of course the ANBU that had guarded him. That's right, after graduation the ANBU wouldn't be around anymore. Well, at least to guard him. They would still be alive of course.

He would miss training with them immensely, but the teen knew that they couldn't stick around forever. He would just have to join them in the ANBU as soon as possible he supposed, or meet with them occasionally if they came out of ANBU. Anyhow, they would see each other again and that was a nice thought.

Stepping onto the Academy grounds, having avoided the main stream of people on the way there, Naruto walked through the entrance and made his way to the classroom. He opened the door and had a look around, seeing that he was the first one there, bar the teacher of course. Iruka-Sensei was always there way early in the morning to look through papers. He didn't know where all of those came from though, they didn't do that much work.

Shaking his head at the random thoughts, Naruto made his way to the back of the class after saying a quiet hello to Iruka and sat down on the back row leaning against the wall in the corner. This is where he always liked to sit. Hikari and Shikamaru would both sit on the adjacent seats and function as a bit of a buffer against the normally rowdy class of students. He really didn't see how people could be this hyperactive early in the morning, but then again he knew Rat and she was an early riser.

Deciding not to dwell on that too much he patiently waited for the exam to start, pulling out a novel he had been reading that he was interested in. It was called "The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja" and it appealed to him. He liked the idealist main protagonist. It was kind of refreshing compared to his normal pragmatic mindset.

The blond was so absorbed in his reading material he didn't really pay attention when the other students were entering, and he almost pulled out a kunai and attacked Hikari when she shook him to get him to pay attention to her. "Naruto! Geez, you were really focused on that book. I know you like reading, but this is ridiculous!" Naruto had the decency to look sheepish as he put his book away, apologizing profusely to his friend who looked quite annoyed. When he was done with that though, he looked around the class which was almost full, missing just a few students. "Good morning Hikari-Chan. Did you actually have a good morning?" the blond asked casually.

The girl in question was taken back a bit by the way he said that, but she went with the flow anyway. Naruto was weird like that. "I had a good morning, thank you. Anyway, who do you think are going to pass?" She asked rapidly, surprising Naruto a bit. Where had her manners gone? No 'Did you have a good morning as well?'? He sighed, and decided to just answer her question.

"Honestly? I think the Uchiha will probably top of the class. The others would probably you, Shika and me. Then we have Choji, Shino, Hinata, Kiba and as much as it pains me to say it, Haruno and Yamanaka." He really didn't like the two. They were both rabid Uchiha fangirls, and while he respected the Yamanaka clan, that girl was a disgrace to their name if he had anything to say about it. Not that he would say any of that out loud, because he would be lynched by the Yamanaka clan head before he could blink. "Oh, and I forgot Shiro and Yuu." He added as an afterthought. Those two were pretty mysterious. Yuu more so than Shiro.

Yuu, no last name, had appeared about a year ago. He had black straight hair and darker than black eyes, standing about the height of 5 feet 5 inches, and was as mysterious as they come. No-one knew where he came from, no-one knows where he lives and his grades are bottom of the class, even though Naruto suspected him to be more capable… The blonde's paranoid mind rang alarm bells at this attitude. What would he have to hide? He was also hiding his skills, but he had a good reason. He'd have to figure out the motives of the quite black haired boy.

Shiro, on the other hand, was a little less suspicious. He was a guy standing at about 5 feet7 inches, and had a brown mop of hair on his head, his equally brown eyes just about peeking from under his hair. He was a relaxed dude, his grades even more average than Naruto's, and the blond Uzumaki had made his grades as average as possible on purpose. Of course, Naruto had put a little variety in his grades as to not ring any bells, but it seems like this dude was not even trying. He just couldn't physically be anything other than perfectly average. 'On second thought, that is very suspicious. Better keep an eye on that guy too.'

He nodded at his own assessment. Hikari was also nodding her head, agreeing with Naruto's choices for graduates, though she was of the opinion that he had missed some people. Knowing Naruto though, he had just called out the people that he found interesting or, in the case of Yamanaka and Haruno, was almost disgusted at their chances of passing.

The girl was pulled from her thoughts though, as Iruka seemed to be starting class. "Alright boys and girls, listen up!" He shouted, shifting the attention of the class to him for the most part. He couldn't be bothered to use his signature jutsu today, so he decided to just start. They couldn't be ninja if they couldn't pay attention in his book.

"Now, we will start out with a written test followed by the Taijutsu portion, the weapon throwing portion, and lastly the Ninjutsu portion. Does anyone have any questions? No? Then we will proceed with the written tests when Mizuki-Sensei decides to show up with the test papers…" He said the last part in annoyance, his face in a clear scowl as he didn't like tardy people.

It didn't last long though, as Mizuki entered the classroom carrying quite a large stack of papers. "Sorry that I was late, but they didn't come back from the press until this morning and even then they had to dry still, so I had to stand there with a paper fan for an hour waving at the bloody things…" He mumbled at Iruka, but then he noticed that the students were there. "My apologies for my language." He added, before starting going around the classroom, handing the test papers to everybody.

"Now, you will all have an hour to complete this, so don't rush it and take your time. You should be fine if you studied and paid attention in class." Iruka said, eyeing a few people who never paid attention, which caused said people to bow down their heads, regretting that decision. After that there was silence, only broken by the scratching of pencils on paper and cries of despair as a few students noticed that they didn't know any of the answers. In Iruka's opinion it was all of their own faults. They should have studied like he had told them a million times before.

After the hour was up, he went around the class to collect the papers, placing them on his desk after he was done. "Now that that is over, you can all follow Mizuki to the training field." Iruka announced. Chairs could be heard scraping on the floor as the students followed the white haired man, most of them chatting with their friends.

When they arrived at the Academy training field, Iruka also arrived in a Shunshin ready to administer the Taijutsu part of the exam. "Students, now it is time for the Taijutsu exam. You will all be fighting Mizuki and you will be graded for your technique as well as your physical abilities, so make sure you are stretched and all that. Now, I will call all of your names one-by-one in alphabetical order by last name." Getting a chorus of "Hai!" from the students, Mizuki moved to the center of the field while Iruka called out the students' names.

Naruto was quite disinterested in this entire ordeal. Of course he encouraged his friends and congratulated them when they passed, but he didn't really feel too inclined to pay attention to any of the students. He had been able to study everyone's fighting styles for years after all. He didn't even look interested when he had to fight himself, practically fighting on autopilot as he waited for Iruka to call the fight when he had fulfilled the requirements. He didn't even register when his friends congratulated him on passing this portion.

It was the same when they continued to the weapon test. He vaguely noticed that Iruka gave an explanation, something about 5 kunai and 5 shuriken, but the rest of it was swiftly ignored in favor of what ramen he was going to eat that night. That is, until he was punched by Hikari. "Naruto! It is your turn you dumbass!" She shouted at him. For the second time that day, Naruto rubbed his head while laughing sheepishly, apologizing profusely while walking up to the spot, taking the throwing weapons and carefully weighing them in his hands. They were a bit light compared to the kunai and shuriken that he would normally use, but they would do for this test.

Only looking once at the targets, he took the shuriken in one hand while taking the kunai in the other, throwing them at the same time and hitting all of the targets. He turned around to see all of the students and Iruka look stumped. He face palmed immediately. He had shown too much. It was too late to take that all back now though, so he put on his neutral face again as he casually walked to his friends, who were too surprised to say anything, though it could be that Shikamaru was just too lazy to.

Since he was one of the last names on the list, the rest was quickly taken care of before they moved back to the classroom. Sitting all of the students down, Iruka explained once again. "Ok students, now it is time for the Ninjutsu portion. Mizuki and I will both be in the other room. I will call you inside when it is your turn, and you will perform the three jutsu that we have practiced in class. Any questions?"

No one raised their hand, so Iruka called in the first name on the list and left. It was such a pain, having a last name starting with U. couldn't he have gotten a name starting with something a bit earlier in the alphabet? Was that so much to ask for?

Getting no answer from whomever he had asked that question to, he just gave up and decided to strike up conversation with his friends. "So Shika, what do you think the teams will be? I have a pretty good idea on who will be teamed together myself, but I am curious about what you think." He asked the Nara casually.

Shikamaru seemed deeply in thought for a second before speaking his thoughts. "Troublesome. The girl and guy on top of the class will be teamed together with the dead last, as that is tradition, so it will be Uchiha, Haruno and Yuu. Then there will be the Hyuuga, Inuzuka and the Aburame, who will be a tracking team. They will probably put me together with Choji and Ino, even though it will be a drag. That just leaves you, Hikari and Shiro. They might put the three of us together and put Shiro with Ino and Choji, but I doubt that they want to disrupt the Ino-Shika-Cho." He speculated, Naruto nodding with him.

Hikari was also listening from the side, and she couldn't help but agree. Shika was always spot on, so was Naruto. When they both agreed on something, it was almost bound to happen.

As time ticked on, more and more students passed or failed, their turn coming closer and closer. When Naruto was finally called, his friends having passed already, he went to Iruka so fast that it almost looked like he teleported, stunning Iruka for a second before he recovered and ushered Naruto into the adjacent classroom. Once there Iruka asked Naruto to do the three academy jutsu which he proceeded to perform perfectly, earning him a headband. "Congratulations Naruto. You are now a shinobi of Konoha upholding the Will of Fire. Do your village proud."

Naruto nodded at the Academy teacher, smiling at the man. Iruka had looked at Naruto hatefully at the beginning, but had soon come to see that he was not the fox and the blond was grateful for it. Mizuki, though, was a different matter. The man glared at him hatefully every chance he got. He was expecting sabotage from the white haired man, but it seemed he had been a little too paranoid.

Walking back to the original classroom followed by Iruka, he went back to his friends and sat down smiling as his friends congratulated him on passing. "Was I ever in doubt?" He asked jokingly as he pulled out his book again, waiting for all of this to be over.

It only took a few minutes before everyone was tested and Iruka addressed them again. "Everyone! Good job on passing for the ones that did. I will see you in this classroom in a week for the team assignments! You will be sent the details about your shinobi license at home. For those of you who didn't pass, I expect you to be here for the start of the new school year. You are all dismissed!"

Everyone stood up to leave, funneling into the hallway and outside. Naruto was silently walking besides his friends, enjoying the slight breeze that was present under the afternoon sun. "Hey guys," he said to his friends, getting their attention. "How about a few bowls of ramen to celebrate our graduation?" Both of his friends seemed to contemplate this for a few moments, before they both agreed. "Great! I will see you at Ichiraku's in a few minutes. I will have to get some stuff from my apartment." He said, his friends nodding as he left.

Break

When Naruto arrived at Ichiraku Ramen he quietly took a stool next to Hikari, slightly startling her. "Naruto, would you stop scaring my like that? You keep doing that stuff." She said to him as she looked him over. There was something different about him, she mused as she kept looking for what it could be.

He wasn't wearing any different clothes. That much she could tell. He had a sword on his back, and he seemed to be wearing two weird L shaped metal things in holsters on his hips… Wait a second! But before she could say anything, Shikamaru beat her to the punch. "Naruto, why do you suddenly have a sword on your back? And what are those metal things in the holsters?"

Naruto chuckled and put his hand on the hilt of his ninjato, slowly pulling it out of its sheath. It had a black grip and a silver blade, glistering in the light of the sun. "Well you see, since we have now graduated I am going to tell you guys a little more about myself. I have kept a lot of things a secret for you guys for a very long time."

His friends looked at him curiously now, waiting for him to continue on. In the meantime Naruto was pulsing out chakra to make sure that no one was listening in on them. "Ok, so, I haven't shown all of my skills in the Academy, which I suspect Shika already knew." Getting a nod from the Nara he went on with his explanation. "All I can say about it is that I have been trained by a few people outside of the Academy who will most likely get in trouble if found out. In class I always made sure to have as average grades as possible, holding back in my theoretical knowledge and my Taijutsu to seem like an average student so people wouldn't get suspicious. I am trained in every shinobi art, that being Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Fuuinjutsu, as well as Kenjutsu and throwing weapons. This sword" He put it on the counter. "I can use it very well. These things-" He pulled out his Chakra Guns and put them on the counter as well. "- I designed myself. With the help of seals I can shoot high-powered chakra projectiles. They're called Chakra Guns. Pretty neat huh?"

His friends nodded dumbly. Even though Shikamaru had known that Naruto was hiding some of his skills, he didn't know that it was this extensive. "And I am sorry for deceiving you," Naruto continued "But it was all necessary. What I wanted to tell you, is that-" He was cut off when he felt someone enter his senses. It was getting dark, but he could vaguely see a figure hopping on the rooftops with a big scroll on his back. The silhouette looked vaguely like… Mizuki!

He turned to his friends "Hikari-Chan, Shika. Mizuki looks to be on his way out of the village, and he seems to be having a scroll on his back. I think that we should tail him and see what he is up to. That man has been acting suspicious all week." He said to them as he kept pulsing his chakra, keeping close track on Mizuki. Hikari raised her eyebrow at the sudden weird behavior of her blond friend, but once again she was cut off before she could say a word. Damn Shikamaru!

"So you noticed it too, huh? He has been increasingly skittish, and that excuse from this morning… It was just off. Why would the presses only have it done in the morning? And where would he have found the time to do all of that when it was 8 AM when we had to attend the academy…" He pointed out to Hikari when she looked confused at what they were talking about.

Naruto was starting to lose track of Mizuki which meant they were running out of time so, Naruto wanted to make it quick. "I am going to follow him, are you with me or not?" He asked impatiently as the white haired academy teacher neared the edge of his sensing area. Seeing the urgency on Naruto's face, both of his friends quickly agreed to come with, following the blond as he took off to the rooftops.

Break

Iruka was having a splendid day until now. He had passed the majority of his students in the afternoon and he had been reviewing the tests again, having had a clone do it before he wanted to have a look at them himself to see if he had made any mistakes.

Suddenly a knock on the door had come, and when he opened the door there had been a random Chuunin that had said the scroll of seals had been stolen and that it was Mizuki who had done it. He couldn't fathom why the white haired man had done it, though he had been suspicious of the man for the last week.

Jumping along the rooftops Iruka went towards the forests on the outskirts of the village in search of the rogue Chuunin teacher. He was going full speed moving towards his assigned sector when he spotted a trio of figures in the distance. Going closer, he noticed that it was Naruto and his friends. "Naruto, Hikari, Shikamaru! What are you three doing here?" he asked quickly.

Naruto, who had sensed the man coming, answered just as quickly. "We are chasing Mizuki-Sensei as he was acting suspicious all week and now he was jumping through the village at full speed with a huge scroll on his back. We were going to check out what he was doing and apprehend him if he did something illegal. Judging from your reaction, we hit the nail on the head so I will continue tracking him and you can follow so we can stop him." Naruto suggested. He didn't even look at Iruka's nod before taking off at speeds that were hard to keep up to for the other Genin. "Naruto, slow down! Hikari and Shikamaru can't keep up!" the Chuunin teacher shouted at the blond, causing him to slow down to more manageable speeds. They were still closing in on the white haired man quickly and reached him in a minute or so.

Having the man in his field of view, Naruto tried to grab one of his guns from the holster, but was surprised when he didn't feel it in there. Looking down, he almost screamed at his own stupidity. He had forgotten his guns and his sword at the ramen stand. Seeing no alternative, he made a mad dash for the Chuunin, kicking him in the back of the head forcefully and causing said man to stumble and fall on his face a few feet ahead.

Mizuki quickly jumped up and looked around, finally seeing the blond who was looking at the man, ready for any tricks the Chuunin had up his sleeves. "Well well Mizuki, I didn't know you were the traitor type." Naruto said casually as he looked the man in the eye, freaking him out a bit. "What is it to you, demon?" the man said just as Iruka, Hikari and Shikamaru arrived. "Demon? What is he talking about Naruto?" Shikamaru asked curiously not seeing how the blond was a demon of any kind, though the whisker marks were a bit odd.

"I will tell you later guys. For now I need you to stay back as I apprehend Mizuki. That means you too, Iruka-Sensei." He added, seeing the Chuunin teacher step forward. The dolphin man was about to protest, but Naruto cut him off. "I know what you are going to say. 'You have just graduated the academy, how could you defeat a Chuunin', right? Well, I am no ordinary Genin. Let me demonstrate." He said as Iruka looked at him dumbfounded, begrudgingly stepping back and letting Naruto take the wheel.

"Now as for you Mizuki, I am very disappointed in your lack of knowledge in the ninja arts, as well as the fact that you think so little of your fellow Konoha shinobi. Shame on you." He said condescendingly, as he moved into a loose stance, not having a set one for his personal Taijutsu. "Bring it on, demon!" Mizuki shouted as he took out a sealing scroll, unsealing a windmill shuriken. "Take this!" He roared as he spun it on his hand before throwing it at the blond Uzumaki at high speeds.

"Nice try! Futon: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto shouted as he formed a few hand seals and putting his fingers to his lips, blowing out a tremendous amount of wind to knock down the shuriken, subsequently blowing away Mizuki. He capitalized on the man being sent flying and took off after him, planting a knee in the man's solar plexus and making Mizuki cough up a lot of blood.

Iruka as well as the genin were frozen in place. Naruto was actually beating Mizuki! The man was a Chuunin while Naruto had just graduated. This had to be a Genjutsu. Trying to dispel it would be futile though, as there was no Genjutsu. This was all real!

Naruto grabbed Mizuki by his hair and brought the man's head down on his knee, hearing a crack as the man's cartilage broke and tossed him away. Mizuki coughed and groaned loudly before getting up to his feet, wobbling a little as he was still dizzy from the knee to the face. When he finally regained his bearings, he sent Naruto the darkest look he could manage before snarling at the blond. "You will pay for that! I will kill you with my new power, demon!"

He grabbed his flak jacket and pulled it off quickly followed by his shirt, exposing a mark on his neck. It consisted of three marks shaped like square hooks arranged in a circular pattern. "Behold, the power bestowed on me by Orochimaru-Sama!" He shouted as the marks started multiply and spread out, covering the entirety of his body and turning his eyes a sickly yellow.

Not saying another word he took off towards Naruto at double the speed he could before, surprising the blond and kicking said blond in the face. The force behind the kick was phenomenal, and Naruto was sure he could feel his cheekbones crack a little as he was launched into the forest and crashing through a tree before coming to a stop at the next one. He groaned loudly as he slid down the tree. He would not be able to fight until he could heal up a bit. Hikari didn't hesitate to sprint towards her downed friend and examined him for external wounds, of which he seemed to have none fortunately. This left Iruka and Shikamaru to face Mizuki. "Troublesome." Was the only thing that Shikamaru had to say as he extended his shadow to the rogue Chuunin, trying to distract said man so that Iruka could think of a solution.

Iruka didn't have to think long as he spotted the windmill shuriken embedded into the ground a little ways away, and thought of a plan where he could use that to his advantage. The dolphin man grabbed a few normal shuriken out of his pouch and launched them at the madman before dashing towards the windmill shuriken. Mizuki could see what Iruka was doing and he was not amused, so he jumped away from Shikamaru's shadow once again and made a mad dash to intercept Iruka, appearing before the man and performing a roundhouse kick making Iruka jump backwards. Mizuki didn't give him time to rest though, as he dashed at Iruka going for a high kick which Iruka blocked.

Taking advantage of the leverage he now had though, Mizuki pushed off Iruka's blocking arms and jumped behind the man, kicking him in the back. Iruka had no time at all to react and thus got launched face-first into a tree, seeing stars from the impact.

Mizuki laughed menacingly as he walked towards the downed man, picking up the windmill shuriken along the way. He was about to raise the weapon up and bring it down on Iruka to kill him, but he suddenly felt a resistance in his movement. "Shadow Possession Jutsu complete." Shikamaru announced as he took control of Mizuki's movements. He was about to use the windmill shuriken to have the man kill himself, but was shocked when he couldn't, or rather Mizuki had broken out of his Jutsu. He was too shocked to react as Mizuki punched the boy in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

"You will die first for trying to prevent me from killing Iruka, brat. You should feel honored." He brought the windmill shuriken up once again, and brought it down on the boy. Hikari screamed out in terror as she saw Mizuki about to kill Shikamaru but was once again shocked as he was stopped once again. This time by… Naruto?

She looked besides her, but quickly found that Naruto was not next to her, which explained him being there stopping Mizuki. "I have enough of you trying to kill my friends, Mizuki. I think I will just end it now." Naruto announced before bringing his fist down on the back of Mizuki's head, knocking him out and giving Naruto ample opportunity to place several paralysis seals on him. "Cat-nee, would you be so kind to take Mizuki here to the T&I department?" Naruto said as the Cat-masked female dropped from the trees, taking Mizuki's body and waving at Naruto before disappearing in a Shunshin.

"Well, I am happy that this is over." Naruto chuckled as he saw Hikari walk up to him, giving him a hug. Breaking away from the hug, she looked around. "I think we should get these two to the hospital…" she muttered. Naruto agreed with her. "Yes, let's do that, and report to the Hokage after. He will want to hear what we have to say."

Hikari could only agree before slinging Shikamaru's arm over her shoulder.

Break

They had gone to the hospital and after a little fixing here and there everyone was cleared, so they all went to the Hokage to report. Naruto grabbed everyone and performed a Shunshin, transporting them to the door of the Hokage Tower. Entering inside, they made a straight line for the stairs and went up them, arriving at the Hokage office. Naruto knocked on the door and after hearing a faint "come in" he opened it, ushering everyone inside before he closed it.

Sarutobi looked at them all with a calculating gaze, meeting Naruto in an eye-lock for several seconds before sighing a little. He was too old for this shit. "I am glad that you all came out of that unharmed." He started, but he was cut off by Naruto. "My apologies for my interruption Hokage-Sama, but we are all tired and I request that we don't beat around the bush." He said bluntly surprising everyone immensely, but drawing a chuckle out of the old Hokage. "Very well, Naruto-Kun, I shall make it quick. I have heard the report from what Cat has seen, but I want your full account on what happened."

That is what they did. They told everything to the Hokage in detail, from the point where they had confronted Mizuki and the man had called Naruto a demon, to the point where the man had shown them the mark and had revealed that he worked for Orochimaru and finishing with how they had finally defeated the man.

"That is quite the tale. I have to say I am surprised that Mizuki of all people worked for Orochimaru. Anyway, Naruto I think you have a bit of explaining to do about where you got those skills." The Hokage demanded. Naruto sighed in annoyance, but he complied anyway. "I will do that Hokage-Sama, but at the same time I also want to tell my friends about my… predicament… if you would give your permission." The Hokage nodded, urging Naruto on to start explaining. So he did.

He told his friends how the fox had been sealed at his birth and how he had been shunned because of it. It had amazed his friends how he could be so strong, and there was not one ounce of hate from them which relieved him immensely. After that rather emotional moment, he proceeded to tell them about how he had been raised by ANBU after he had been kicked out of the orphanage. Then he told them that he had broken down after one of them had died and that he had asked his caretakers to train him in the shinobi arts.

"And that is where I got my skills, Jii-Sama. I implore you to not punish my teachers. They raised me and I am forever grateful to them." He finished his tale. It had taken him a while to say it all, but he had done it. The Hokage chuckled at the blond teen's plea. "Just as I expected, though I didn't think it would take the death of Boar to have them train you." The Hokage said to the surprise of Naruto. "So you have known about this all this time, huh?" the blond grinned at the old Hokage. He should have known.

"Yes. That being said I believe that you are all exhausted, so I will dismiss you now and I expect a written report for your first B-rank on my desk somewhere this week. Is that understood? Yes? Good. Dismissed!" The Hokage commanded, seeing the Genin and Chuunin stumble out of the office tiredly.

He could faintly hear "Fuck, my weapons!" from outside his window, making him chuckle a little.

The future looked bright.

Chapter End.

Thanks for reading chapter 2 of Naruto: Sharpshooter!

I will have a poll on my profile, for anyone who is interested, and it includes the following things:

Would you rather have Shikamaru on a team with Naruto and Hikari, as I have made them best friends (Shikamaru is my favourite character in the rookie 9 by far (besides Naruto that is)) Or should I just have good ol' Shika in the Ino-Shika-Cho? I don't see Naruto as a viable option in any of the existing teams as he is now, since he was in the middle of the class which means he can't be in the team with Sasuke and Sakura (as I explained in the chapter, that is what Yuu is for) and I don't see him exchanged for any member of Team 8. I made Hikari to be in his team at all times, now it will be up to you if it will be Shika or Shiro joining them.

If any of you would consider voting on the poll that would be appreciated!

Also, I might be pairing Hikari to Naruto, but since I initially planned to have no romance at all I am still a bit on the fence about that. If and I mean if I do it it won't be for several chapters though, so I might put up a poll about that at a later date.

Anyway, I think I have said enough for now, and I will leave you guys and gals to it!

Cheers,

LethalBlades.