Well, as always, thanks for the reviews. DC: I don't own Naruto.

"Goddammit! Why are we stuck doing chores!?" demanded TenTen, pulling up a weed fiercely. Naruto sighed. She had been ranting along similar lines for the past half-hour, and, even though he agreed with her, it was starting to grind on Naruto's nerves. "I mean," she continued, "Academy students could do this! Hell, the damn gardener could do this! Why get ninja to do it!? We should be patrolling or escorting some fat merchant to some meeting of other fat merchants-,"

"Calm down, TenTen," said Guy. Naruto was amazed he was patient enough to deal with her. He himself would have already lost it. "This is team building, not skill building. And this isn't hard-,"

"Exactly! It isn't challenging! And if you wanted team building, why don't you give us an exercise that improves it? Not some lame-ass chore-,"

"TenTen," said Guy forcefully, "You are disturbing the Power of-,"

"Don't you even dare bring some 'Youth' crap up! I don't care if I'm disturbing anything! I want to beat some bandit ass!" The constant yelling was really setting Naruto's teeth on edge, and so he did the one thing to shut her up: he kicked her in the shin. "OW! Son of a-NARUTO!"

"I don't have a son, or at least I hope not," deadpanned the blonde, going back to pulling weeds. TenTen rubbed the spot he had kicked and threw Naruto a black look. "What? I had to shut you up somehow."

"You didn't have to break my leg!"

"For that, I could've taken off my weights and dropped them on your leg. They 're heavy enough, and I'd be happy to do it." It had been about a month since the first spars. There had been other spars, all ending up like the first set. Naruto was irked that he couldn't beat Neji, but knew that was because he lacked formal training which Neji had been receiving all his life.

The meeting with Iruka about fuinjutsu had gone well. Naruto, even though he was dealing with TenTen, smiled a bit as he remembered it. His old class had just come out of the classroom when they had seen him. Kiba had laughed and gave him a high-five, but Sasuke had rolled his eyes. Naruto had ignored him and talked to Iruka. Once the teacher had explained basics, Naruto had pored over scrolls containing fuinjutsu theory. He liked the ninja art. It reminded him of a puzzle, but a puzzle that blow up in his face. At the end of the lesson, Naruto had asked where the fuinjutsu books were located in the library. As soon as Iruka gave an answer, Naruto had nodded and taken off through the door.

"NARUTO!" screamed TenTen next to Naruto's ear. The blonde jumped and clutched his ear.

"Ow! Watch the dial, sheesh!" he replied, his ear ringing. He glared up at TenTen.

"Well, while you were off in dreamland, me and Neji finished the whole damned garden!" she said, crossing her arms.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that, TenTen. Looks like you stopped complaining for a whole minute and actually did something," he remarked sarcastically. Neji stood beside TenTen, arms crossed much like hers, but he remained silent. "If you're going to say anything, teme, say it now." The Hyuuga shook his head exasperatedly and walked away.

Guy shouted to get their attention. "Team 9! Gather!" TenTen helped Naruto up, the two still bickering, and Neji kept his stoic appearance as the pair came closer.

"I had to get your attention, since you obviously weren't in this realm!" shouted TenTen, answering a question Naruto had asked out of earshot.

"You could've shaken me, kicked me, slapped me-,"

"Don't tempt me."

The blonde began to reply, but Guy cut him off. "Alright, D-Rank mission successful. Now we report back to Hokage Tower." Naruto nodded, not really listening and still glaring at TenTen. He didn't worry about losing his way. The team had been to Mission Report three times already.

On the way back, Guy suddenly halted. "Seems we have a shadow," he said, turning around. "OK, show yourself!"

A small boy with brown hair and eyes peeked out of an alley, and Naruto immediately recognized him. "Touza!...Right?" The boy nodded.

Guy looked at Naruto. "You know him?"

"Yeah, rescued him from a couple of bullies about a month ago." He continued in a louder voice, "but I thought he had forgotten about me." Touza looked scared. "But it's alright." The boy smiled slightly but looked hesitantly at Neji and TenTen. TenTen smiled at him, and Neji studied Touza coolly. Naruto walked over to him. "What do you need, Touza-san?"

"Just call me Touza, please, sir," he said meekly.

The blonde smiled. "Alright, Touza, whatcha need?"

"Erm, well…I was going to ask…how do I say this?..." Touza murmured. Naruto knelt down at the boy's level. He cocked his head curiously.

"What?"

"Well, uh, can you, uh, train me?" Touza squeaked. Naruto furrowed his brow at the boy's request, and then laughed a bit. "What? What's so funny?"

"I don't think I'd be a good teacher. Do you even go to the Academy?" Touza nodded. "Then why ask me?"

"Well, my sensei doesn't like to deal with us after school, so I thought about asking someone to help me, and I-I thought about you. You're nice."

Naruto smiled. "Who's your sensei?"

"Kitame."

"Oh, don't know him. And, by the way, why not ask earlier?"

"Well, I-I'm kinda shy. I've been following you for the past couple of weeks trying to be brave enough to ask, but," Touza shrugged, "I couldn't." Naruto snapped his head toward Guy at Touza mentioning he had been following them for quite some time. There was a surprised look on his face; it was clear today was the first day he had sensed him.

'To fool even me, a Jonin…that's remarkable,' thought Guy. He, however, said, "Sorry, Touza-san. I'm afraid we can't stick around for much longer. We've got to deliver a mission report to Hokage Tower."

"Weed pulling's a mission?" asked Touza incredulously, "I thought you had chores."

"SEE! Even he thinks it's a chore!" yelled TenTen, making a face at Guy. The Jonin sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his temples.

"Anyway, Touza-san, Naruto probably can't teach you because he has his own training to do. Right?" said Guy, looking at Naruto.

The blonde frowned but had to agree. Between team training, training with Guy and Lee, and fuinjutsu study, he really didn't have much free time. "Could he tag along to watch, though?" he asked.

Guy shrugged. "If he can keep up." Touza's face lit up, and he nodded happily. The Jonin smiled. So energetic. He turned to head to the Hokage Tower, and his team, along with their new shadow.

Naruto quickly blocked a shattering punch from Lee and threw one of his own. He, Lee, Guy and Touza were at a Training Field; Naruto wasn't sure which one. Touza sat beneath a tree spectating, and Guy stood off to the side of the taijutsu spar, monitoring it.

Naruto had his jacket off, and several bruises were visible on his arms, most of them on his forearms. Guy had tried to convince Naruto to wear bandages like Lee, but he had declined. The bruises cleared up in a day for the blonde, much to the confusion of Lee; Guy had a theory why Naruto healed so fast.

Naruto dodged a kick, and retaliated with a jab and kick of his own. This spar had been going on for about five minutes, Naruto mainly on the defensive and only lashing out after Lee's own attacks, even then his attacks weren't damaging enough to affect Lee. He might as well be tickling him with a feather.

Lee suddenly vanished from in front of him, and the blonde's eyes widened. 'Where'd he go?' Lee appeared to Naruto's immediate left and leveled him with a thrusting kick to the ribs. Naruto tumbled but caught himself to face Lee. Sharp pain flared in the place he had been kicked, and he winced. "God, Lee, this is a friendly spar, not a grudge match!"

"Did I hurt you, Naruto-san?"

"You probably cracked a rib," said Naruto, but then the sharpness of the pain faded into a dull ache, "That's now healed."

"With that regeneration, Naruto-san, I do not think I could hurt you even if I tried."

"I doubt that." Naruto rolled his shoulders. "Alright, ready when you are." Lee took up his stance and then blurred to the right. 'Dammit! The same speed! So fast even with his weights on!'A whistling from Naruto's right alerted him to an incoming punch that he twisted to dodge. Using his momentum, he landed a glancing kick on Lee's side.

"Part!" shouted Guy, and the two combatants flipped away from each other. Lee was breathing slightly, but Naruto was panting. Lee extended a hand to shake Naruto's.

"That was an exciting match, Naruto-san," remarked Lee as they shook hands.

"Yes, it was," agreed Naruto, grinning, "But no different from the other forty or something."

"I do not know," said Lee, tenderly where Naruto had kicked him, "I can see and feel your progress. You are a fast learner." Naruto shrugged noncommittally, and Guy motioned that his training was over. Since the blonde had begun to study fuinjutsu, his lessons with Guy and Lee had been shortened. Naruto had about an hour and a half to study each day.

Naruto went to sit underneath the tree where Touza sat and plopped down. He sighed heavily as he leaned back against the tree. Touza gazed as Guy and Lee began to spar, throwing punches that would've killed the blonde, and then looked at Naruto. "They can really fight, can't they, sir?"

The blonde sighed again, exasperatedly, "You don't have to call me 'sir', Touza. Or if you do, I'll call you Touza-san."

"Yes, Naruto-san."

The blonde shrugged; it was something. "To answer your question: yes, they can really fight." A particularly punishing blow caught Lee on the jaw and sent him rolling into a tree. However, he sprung up with a loud whoop and continued the battle. Both of the boys blinked in disbelief. "And I don't know how they're that indestructible," said Naruto lamely.

He pulled a backpack hanging from a branch and rummaged in it. "Now where did it go…ow, nicked my finger…there it is!" He pulled out a scroll labeled Entry into Fuinjutsu: Storage Seals. He unrolled it and started to study, Touza looking over his shoulder. Suddenly, Naruto straightened and looked at Touza curiously. "Y'know, I really don't know you that much. Care to tell anything useful tidbits? Family? School? Age?"

"I'm seven and a half," stated Touza sagely. Naruto blinked at him and tried not to laugh at the boy's serious face. "What's so funny, Naruto-san?" The blonde shook his head, not daring to speak. Touza looked like he was about to say more, but didn't.

"Anything else, Touza?"

"Erm," Touza stared into space, "I'm just above the Dead Last in the Academy, I think. Or I'm the Dead Last. I can't remember."

Naruto smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, I know how you feel. I was the Dead Last before I graduated, but I still graduated."

Touza's eyes widened. "You were the last Dead Last, Naruto-san?"

"Well, not the last, but second to last. I have no clue who's last now."

"That's…amazing."

Naruto grinned. "Not really. All I really did to graduate was to have some really good luck." He looked over at Touza. "Ever heard about my exploits, though?"

Touza nodded, a mirthful grin coming onto his small face. "You painted the Academy pink one time. No one knows how you did it, but you did." He leaned toward Naruto conspiratorially, "Can you tell me your secrets? Pretty please?" Touza made puppy eyes at the blonde.

'Aw, no fair! I must resist!' "Afraid I can't, Touza. With great power comes great responsibility which you have none of."

"And you do?"

"Good point." They both laughed. Naruto began to read again, and for about ten minutes there was silence before Naruto asked, "Touza, do you have any family?" The blonde had assumed he did. He looked cheerful enough.

The boy fidgeted, obviously uncomfortable. He tried to change the subject, "Can I ask questions now?"

Naruto wanted to press but could tell family was a sensitive subject for the boy. "How about this," proposed the blonde, "I'll tell about my family, and you tell about yours." Touza looked hesitantly at Naruto, the energy from him now gone. He nodded slowly, uncertainly. "Alright. My family. I have none. Killed in the Kyuubi attack I've been told."

Touza looked at Naruto with something like empathy. He looked at his feet and wiggled them to distract himself. Naruto waited patiently for the boy to speak, but from the look, he had guessed Touza was an orphan himself. Finally Touza stuttered, "W-w-well, I-I have n-n-no f-family ei-either." Naruto nodded and returned to reading, not wanting to pry too much.

A tear ran down Touza's cheek, and he wiped it away impatiently. They sat quietly for a minute until the younger one spoke, "C-can I ask qu-questions n-now?" The blonde nodded and smiled encouragingly as Touza calmed. Touza stared at the ground for a few seconds, thinking, before looking up and grinning devilishly. His energy had returned. "How'd you get those whisker marks?"

"Hm? These?" Naruto tapped his cheeks.

"Yeah."

Naruto joked, "I'm part kitty-cat. Meow."

"Really?" said Touza, gazing at him wide-eyed. "Where are your ears? I thought cat people had big ears."

"I'm hiding them really well. These are just decoys." Naruto pulled his ears out and stuck his tongue out at Touza. The boy laughed. "Nah, I'm just teasing you, little guy."

"Aw, but I like cats."

"I don't know where I got these whisker marks. I've had them since I was born. I think they're birth marks."

"I wish I had cool birthmarks."

Naruto laughed and resumed his studies in comfortable silence. Soon, after a half-hour, he left, saying it was getting close to his curfew at the orphanage. Naruto furrowed his brow as the boy mentioned the orphanage. He really couldn't remember much of his short stay, but knew they had ignored him for the most part. It made him very independent very fast, and soon he had received his own apartment on the orders of the Hokage. He shrugged and began to pore over matrices in storage seals.

The next day, TenTen was laid out on the ground while both Naruto and Neji panted slightly. Guy was beaming in front of them. The cause of their exhaustion was their new training routine: seventy-five laps and one-hundred fifty pushups and sit-ups. This was the third day of the workout, but the three were still getting used to it.

"Alright, team! Let's get down to the real training!" exclaimed Guy. The team slowly stood in front of him, waiting for him to make clones, but none came.

"Uh, sensei? Aren't you going to make clones or something?" asked TenTen.

"Nope. We are climbing trees today!" Before they could comment, or specifically TenTen, "Like this!" He climbed up a nearby tree, but with one important detail: he was using only his feet. TenTen gawked at him hanging from a tree branch, and Naruto's eyebrows rose in surprise; only Neji didn't react, as expected.

"We're climbing trees with chakra!" explained Guy enthusiastically, flipping down. "You focus chakra to your feet, and then press them against the tree. Hopefully, with a few steps, you're sticking to the tree. If not, well, you fall. Now, the one that may have trouble will be Naruto. Do you know why, Naruto?"

The blonde scratched his head, searching for an answer. "Erm...well, I have a lot of chakra, and if you have a lot of something, it's hard to control. So my amount of chakra will mess with learning this?"

"That's right."

"Darnit!"

TenTen clapped him on the back heartily. "Cheer up. Anyone would love to have your level chakra. I know I would."

"Jealous?" asked Naruto with a grin.

She ruffled his hair. "Not even a little bit. You'll be waving up at me when I'm first up the tree."

"Yeah, because I'll already be done and waiting for you." Before TenTen could react and likely punch him, a rustle whispered from the edge of the clearing, and Touza crept out of the bushes.

"Hello, Touza-san," greeted Guy. The boy waved. Guy started to order his team to begin, but a fact occurred to him. "Touza-san, isn't there Academy today?"

Touza froze and looked guiltily at the Jonin. "Y-yes."

Guy looked pointedly at him. "Then why aren't you there?"

"Uh, well…you see, it's, uh, kinda boring," answered Touza meekly, head down.

"That doesn't mean anything. Now, I don't mind you watching, but when the Academy is in session, you should go."

"But-,"

"No buts."

Naruto cut in to defend the boy. "C'mon, sensei. Watching actual ninja train has to teach more than sitting and reading." He turned toward Touza. "Actually, I'm kind of proud of you, sneaky devil. Soon I'll have to learn from you."

Touza glowed, but Guy quickly burst his bubble. "Touza-san," he said, "I'm afraid I can't let you watch during Academy hours. You and I would get in trouble, and I'd like to avoid that. Go back to the Academy." Touza nodded sadly and disappeared into the brush, his head hanging. After a few seconds, the Jonin couldn't hear anything. 'It's like he's a ghost or something. He can make so little sound,' thought Guy uneasily.

As soon as Touza had gone, the Jonin returned his attention to his students. "Alright, back to what I was saying. Naruto, you will have the most trouble with this, I'm sure. TenTen or Neij, one of you will finish first, though I think Neji will." Neji smirked at this, and TenTen fumed. "Now, get a tree." Each member of the team got a tree, each located near each other, and waited for their sensei's command. "Begin!"

They started to slowly walk to the highest branch, and the first to fall was Naruto who immediately got up and paused before trying again. TenTen got halfway before she fell, and Neji was three-quarters up before he did. Each time any one of them fell, they would catch themselves with their hands and land slightly back. Sometimes they would stop, consider their problem, and then refocus their chakra.

Three hours passed, and Neji became the first one to the top. He sneered triumphantly down at his team. TenTen was panting slightly, but she had made it three-quarters up. She glared at Neji. "Screw you, Neji," she breathed.

Naruto had made it halfway and was mentally trying to figure out the problem. 'I know I have terrible control, but it was worse than I thought. Just how low do I have to go?'He leaked an infinitesimal drop of chakra to his feet, and slowly made his way up. He passed his mark, then TenTen's, and then he grabbed the branch Neji was sitting on and pulled himself up. 'God, nearly lost it in the end.' He grinned at Neji who now looked annoyed.

"GODDAMMIT!" screamed TenTen.

Well, there you go. Not as long as last chapter, but hopefully good enough. This took a while to get out, and my updates might be slower because school is back in session…And one of my teachers is nicknamed "The Devil's Wife"…Joy to me -.-; Anyway, review or something. Anything but flames or irrelevant words are appreciated. Toodles.