"Hello." Someone else speaking

"Hello." Kyuubi speaking.

"Hello." Thoughts

"Hello." Kyuubi thoughts

Chapter 7

"Uzumaki Naruto! I know you're in there come out or else we'll tear the house apart. Naruto quickly ran to the door not wanting Akira to lose his house. He saw the stone ninja right in front of him along with 6 other ninja's. "I challenge you to a fight! You humiliated me in front of my commander… I Musashi! Will make you pay!" the man shouted.

"Excuse me you're on my property…" said Akira coming out.

"Shut up you brat I don't care if it's your property!"

"I suggest you leave now…" said Akira getting angry.

"I'm not going anywhere until I beat up that brat and bring him to my boss!" shouted the man.

"You're a coward…" said Akira. "You wish to fight 6 on 1 to bring him back?"

"I'll do anything to get promoted back to chuunin!" said the man. He did several seals shouting. ""Doton doryuu dango! (mud cannonball).

A huge face popped out from the ground and began to shoot several powerful balls of mud right at Naruto who began to run towards the right dodging as many of the projectiles as he could but they were beginning to catch up to him.

"Doton Doryuu heki!(Mudslide barrier) shouted Akira running in front of Naruto. Akira soon vomited a line of mud that soon shot out forming a huge wall nullifying the mud projectiles.

"Don't think you're off the hook yet…" said Musashi. They soon began to spread out till they saw the boys and threw several kunai's along with explosion tags. Suddenly both Akira and Naruto burst into smoke.

"And you shouldn't underestimate us!" shouted Naruto.

Musashi and 3 of his men were suddenly ambushed by at least 30 Naruto's. The remaining 3 soon saw Akira right behind them! One of them tried to punch the boy but when his fist connected with the boy's jaw all of the bones just shattered making him cry out in agony. Akira soon turned to the remaining 2 who were throwing Kunai's at him but the weapons just bounced off doing no damage whatsoever. Suddenly one of the attackers was knocked unconscious when Hinata had struck him in the back of the neck. Akira quickly rushed forward and struck the remaining stone ninja sending him flying several meters. Both Akira and Hinata looked at Naruto's battle and saw that he had already knocked his opponent's unconscious.

"Well done everyone…" said Akira coming out from the shadow's.

"Waaa there's two of you?!" shouted Naruto.

"Well I kinda got scratched by a kunai so I went to wrap it up. I let my earth kage bunshin take care of some of the work." Said Akira. Within moments the Akira that had defeated the stone ninja sank into the ground.

"Ninpo Kuchiyose no jutsu!(Summoning technique)" shouted Naruto. A medium sized frog soon appeared. "Please take these men to their boss and drop them off please." The frog nodded then put each ninja on its back and jumped away. "You alright? I saw that kunai get a good one on you before you replaced yourself with a bunshin." Hinata began to move towards Akira but the boy smiled holding his hand up.

"It's fine thank you for your help." Said Akira. Hinata saw his wound suddenly begin to heal up almost instantly! "Let us go inside."

"Are you a ninja?" asked Naruto once they had all sat down at the dinning table.

"No. Well I know how to fight but I'm not a ninja of any village. Never got a chance to take the exams and all of that stuff." Said Akira.

"Then where did you learn all of those techniques?" asked Hinata.

"My father taught me." Said Akira. "Well the man that I considered my father anyway. When I was young he found me nearly dead in the middle of the forest and decided to take care of me. He was a ninja for the stone village who went into war with the mist about 3 years ago. Ever since I was able to move once again he taught me all of the techniques he knew. Since he had traveled to the fire and water country often he learned some of their jutsu's as well so he passed his knowledge to me."

"What was that jutsu you used earlier. The one that looked like you but it was actually a bunshin." Said Hinata. "I have never seen or heard of that technique."

"Well actually my father said that it was my bloodline limit. If I become an expert at learning a certain element then I can begin to create kage bunshins made of that element. For example my earth kage bunshin looks like me but can be the hardest substance on the earth."

"Is the earth elemental all you can do?" asked Naruto.

"I can do fire and water." Said Akira. "2 of each. Took me all my life to develop everything. Now I just try to survive in the middle of this war while getting stronger at the same time."

"Where is your father now?" asked Hinata.

"He recently passed away defending an attack from the mist village. His last dying wish to me was to live, be happy and to always do what I thought was the right thing."

"And what is the right thing for you Akira." Asked Naruto hoping that what Akira believed in he might share as well.

"To protect what I love and to defend those people who can't defend themselves." Said Akira smiling. "What do you believe in? Why do you fight?"

"I fight for some of the same beliefs you have but mostly… I fight for her." Said Naruto looking at Hinata. The hyuga after hearing those words blushed furiously. "How about we start training with each other tomorrow? We can teach each other new jutsu's."

"I'd be happy to." Replied Akira. "But I better get some sleep I'm pretty exhausted from today… Healing is kinda rough on my chakra stamina. Oh and by the way there are only 2 rooms in the house my own and my fathers room would you like to stay in mine the couch is pretty uncomfortable at times."

"We couldn't do that Akira-kun." Said Hinata. "How about we share a room Naruto-kun?"

"S…Sure Hinata-chan." Akira smiled at Naruto's blushing face then left for the night.

Naruto and Hinata had set down their sleeping bags in the room and climbed in giving each other one last kiss before going off to sleep.

Naruto woke up the next morning yawning from the nice good night sleep he had. He also felt very warm and almost didn't want to get up if it weren't for great scent of breakfast in the air. He then felt the warmth increase but at the same time he felt heavier as well. His vision soon cleared up and that's when he saw a blue haired girl's head resting on his chest. His eyes widen in surprise and that followed by an uneasy feeling of panic since he had never been in this situation before. He wanted to get out of her grasp but she began to nuzzle her head comfortably against his chest making him stop immediately not wanting to wake her. But he did have to admit she looked very cute when she was sleeping. Naruto began to stroke her hair softly without even noticing it. Her eyes soon fluttered open and realized where she was making her begin to blush.

"I…I'm sorry Naruto-kun." She said quietly.

"No it's alright Hinata-chan." Said Naruto also blushing. A knock was soon heard at the door.

"Hey you 2 love birds should get up if you want to eat something hot before training." Said Akira. Both Naruto and Hinata quickly got out of bed and joined Akira for breakfast. "So Naruto what did you want to do for training?"

"Hmmm. I'm still trying to perfect my best move and my tai jutsu needs a lot of work too."

"That's great! I actually pretty advance in tai jutsu. I can help you in that but what will you teach me in return?" asked Akira smiling. Naruto smiled.

"I'll teach you my favorite move. The kage bunshin." Said Naruto proudly.

"I was hoping you would say that." Said Akira. "That was an awesome move and will you be training with us Hinata-chan?"

"I will be around but for now I think I will read some of my scrolls that the hokage gave me." Said Hinata smiling. When the three finished eating breakfast they went out side and prepared for the days training.

As Naruto stretch and Hinata got out their books they looked at Akira who was strapping something on his arms and legs.

"Akira? What are those?" asked Naruto.

"Weights… They may be old fashioned but they are just as effective as anything else." Said Akira smiling. "Here I got you some too. It may be heavy at first but it should increase your strength and speed enormously. The weights all come in one size but have different levels my father made them when he trained the elite jounins." Naruto put on the weights he was given on his arms, legs and a vest that fitting around his chest easily he suddenly felt his legs nearly giving away as he clutched onto a tree to support him.

"Whoa!" said Naruto. "These things weigh a lot!"

"Don't worry as you train your body you'll get a lot stronger and those will be nothing." Said Akira. "Mine are four times as heavy as yours and you only have 50 pounds on each of your arms and legs." Naruto's mouth flew open.

"That's heavier then fuzzy eye brow's weights…" thought Naruto. "50 pounds?! I know I'll use my chakra to help me!"

"No chakra help either…" said Akira.

"What?!" said Naruto.

"And you have to wear it the entire day so your body get stronger faster." Said Akira. "Trust me Naruto. It's worth it in the end would you like me to prove it to you?" Naruto nodded while Hinata listened to the conversation sitting down. Akira simply walked up to a tree wrapped his arms around it and after about 30 seconds of tugging he pulled it out and held it in front of Naruto. "Not only does this help with your strength but it also increases your stamina."

"That's almost like Oba-chan's strength…" said Naruto. "Alright! I'm going to be able to lift tree's like that too!"

"Alright! First we'll go easy and run 3 miles. Then we will work on throwing objects and after that were going to throw weighed down kunai's. It's a fun exercise." Said Akira looking at Naruto's confused expression.

"What about jutsu's?" asked Naruto excitingly wanting to know how to use an elemental kage bunshin.

"That's for tomorrow. We will switch off everyday from Tai jutsu to Nin jutsu. So lets get started."

Within a few moments the boys were off running around the huge pond that was in back of Akira's house. Hinata just wanted to burst out laughing seeing Naruto's tired expression as he staggered along behind Akira who was also struggling a bit since he had just increased his weights but none the less both boys pressed on with their training. Afterwards they began to strike Akira's earth kage bunshins that took their attacks as if they were nothing. They continued to do this until nearly night fall when they began to throw kunai right at the targets on several tree's. When they were done Naruto was too tired to talk as he stumbled into the room that he and Hinata shared. Once he went inside he immediately collapsed on the floor.

"Naruto? Are you dead?" asked Akira smiling. He went over to the blond ninja and with Hinata's help removed his weights and let him rest. "We might need to heal him tomorrow so he can continue to train or else he will be way too sore. Well I'll be off to bed too. Good night Hinata-chan."

"Good night Akira-kun." Said Hinata bowing.

"Oy stop bowing we are friends now." Said Akira waving good night.

Hinata quickly took a shower and laid next to Naruto who was snoring away.

Meanwhile in a clearing deep inside the forest a lone boy stood alone until a wisp of light began to form in front of him.

"Who is he?" asked the boy. On his upper right arm he had a tattoo, a rock that had 3 swirls inside of it covered by another bigger spiral and on top of that was a wolf that was howling into the air.

"My son… I'm pleading you to take care of him." Said the tall man.

"He isn't weak… He looks like he can take care of himself."

"I know this seems awkward to you since you have never really had any friends but he is the same way…"

"He isn't going to stay here forever… I can see it in his eyes that he still has his loyalties else ware…"

"Then perhaps you need to move on and find a new path of life…"

"Maybe… I'll think about it." With that the white mist dissipated leaving the boy walking to his home. The next morning Akira was in front of his house with Naruto.

"Alright today we are going to work on jutsu's so your body can get a rest from the physical fatigue." Said Akira. "Naruto we should master one element at a time for you, any favorites?"

"Fire kid! Fire has proven to be the strongest so far…" said Kyuubi.

"I guess I'll learn some fire jutsu's first." Said Naruto smiling.

"Fire it is were going to start off with a low level jutsu first and then work our way up depending on how fast you progress." Said Akira. "First jutsu is Katon: Housenka no jutsu! (Mythical fire flower)!" With that several fire balls flew out and struck the earth kage bunshin that Akira just made. Naruto's loved that sight and immediately began to copy the seals that Akira had just shown him.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu! (Mythical fire flower)!" shouted Naruto. Akira's mouth nearly dropped at the result!

"No way…" said Akira.

Thank you everyone for your reviews and I'll try to update as fast as I can. And so far I will add an exam into the story and there will be a huge battle but that is all the information I will give regarding the exam. But please if you have any questions or confused about anything please ask and I will answer your questions about the story also suggestions will be appreciated and may be added into the story. It could be a story with everyone's thoughts and ideas into it.

To answer some questions.

1. dark griffin: No the exam will not be in Konoha. And I'm still debating Naruto's team, I might just make it Hinata and Akira since that makes the most sense.