Wow, this is the longest I've gone without updating, and I am sorry to that. I'm not gonna spout off some excuse about school or work, cuz I am working on this through all my studying and working. It's just a common curse among some of us writers on this website. Writer's block just sux. Well, this chapter can be considered another interlude, but it isn't, as it helps progress the story to the next level. I hope you all enjoy this one.

A note to a couple of reviewers before I go on. To Baka Hanyou Rahvin: To the Sasuke comment, I didn't like Sasuke either but that was from the regular anime and manga. In this chapter, it helps to shed a light on his lighter side. That's one of the points I'm trying to make with him. He acts stoic in my story because the people in his clan have such a superior air about them that Sasuke tends to buy into it, but he is more friendly and outgoing. Why that is, will be discussed later in my story.

To Battousai222, I understand how you like Naruto, the character, and want him to be accepted, strong, and respected. But the fact is is that he just can't be super-strong for no apparent reason. Yes, there are shinobi in the village that are strong but they are nothing compared to their sensei's. The only reason why Naruto was so damn strong in the anime and manga is because he had the Kyuubi, who's chakra has been slowly melding into him. He only became abnormally strong when the Kyuubi's chakra took dominance over Naruto. But in my story, the Kyuubi is not sealed inside Naruto. He's just a shinobi, the son of the Yondaime, and has had some extra tutilege from Jiraiya and sometimes, his father. I'm not saying he won't be strong, but I'm also not saying he will be god-like. He will have to grow stronger like the rest of the genin have had to.

Now that that is past, I want to say something to my reviewers. Thank you very much, your positive, "encouraging", reviews helped me when I seemed to be stuck. Thank you to all the regular reviewers who take the time to review after most of my chapters. I enjoy reading your reviews. Anybody else, you don't have to be shy about voicing opinions or such, I just hope it isn't flames. And finally, I will let you all get on with the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it, but I warn you, it may be a little choppy. It isn't my best work. Let me know what you think. Gah, there I go again. Here's the chapter.

Chapter 13 - The Prophecy and The Festival Commences

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The sun rose and it's morning rays shined down upon Konohagakure. Outside the homes of the inhabitants of this village, birds sang the praises of this morning. This morning was special, and it seemed that even nature knew that. Where normally an autumn wind would flow through the air and give way for chilly days, there was only a light breeze and not a single dark cloud in the sky. Yes, this day would be special.

The reason that this day was to be perfect was that this was the first day of the highly anticipated Festival of Fire.

All around Fire Country, numerous people had been flocking to Konoha and neighboring cities, crowding the areas with tourists who had come to witness the occasion. For two weeks, Konoha would serve as host to this festival and welcome in any who would want to take part in the tradition. This was a big boon to the economy as the tourists would pour out vast amounts of money in order to enjoy themselves. Yes, it would be a great time.

However, not all was well. Despite the overall pleasure of this time, there were a few others who were not as ecstatic over the occasion.

One such person was Uzumaki Arashi.

It had been ten or so days since the visit of the three strangers that shed light upon a series of events...that hadn't even happened yet. The woman, who seemed to be dear friends with his wife, was most peculiar. He had thought that she was full of it, not believing in such things as fate and destiny, so the idea of a prophet knowing a cryptic message from the future was in the category of 'bull' in his mind. Yet he continued having strange dreams about the visitors, and the woman's words.

(Flashback)

The Yondaime was on his way to his home, where he would hope to enjoy a nice meal and a healthy conversation with his family on the day they all had. As he entered his house, he immediately felt the foreign presences. Storming towards the source, he saw Collette sipping on a cup of tea with three people he did not recognize.

Two of these people were men, their heads bald and almost shining like a reflective surface underneath the overhead lights of the kitchen. Their black and dark purple robes were the material you would expect from...men of the faith. 'These men are monks' he thought to himself as he carefully looked at them in scrutiny. Everyone seemed to become aware of his presence and turned to see him.

The men were similar looking, with their heads bald and in the same wardrobe, but they had slightly different facial features. One appeared to be as old as 40 while the other looked as though he could be no older than 20.

The other person was a woman. The way she sat there, something just gave off an aura of wisdom. This aura would have deceived Arashi into believing she was older than 50 but her appearance said otherwise. Her face was young and her complexion was of a slight tannish color. Her hair was long, flowing down to mid-shoulder blade length, and it was gorgeous, silky black with salt-colored strands of hair scattered about. The dark brown color of her eyes helped finalize an illusion of contrast. If he had to guess, Arashi would have said she was in her mid-thirties.

"Hello there, my good sir. You must be Arashi, oh Collette has sung praises of your wonderful deeds." She stopped talking, but then seemed to forget something. "Oh, I apologize, where are my manners, I-"

"Arashi, this is Sister Serena. She is from the same monastery I came from." interrupted Collette, which seemed to surprise everyone in the room.

"Serena, hmm? 'Sister'...Serena?" As he asked the question he looked to both women for the answer. The woman known as Serena chuckled whole-heartedly.

"Oh, no dear. I am not her biological sister. That is just the title we miko's passed on to each other in the monastery." She then laughed again, but not in a teasing or mocking sort of way, so it did not upset Arashi. But the way she seemed to be speaking, especially using dear to refer to him, was more than curious enough to make him reconsider some earlier points.

"Actually, Lady Collette, no longer is she known by that title in the monastery. She is considered the holy mother of that location." The information that one of the men, the older one, told to Collette seemed to be considered huge, since her eyes became wide and her jaw dropped in surprise.

"Oh my...that's amazing Serena!" exclaimed Collette, turning her dropped jaw into a wide smile.

After Arashi overcame his nervousness at the presence of these strangers, he sat down and enjoyed supper. Naruto was asked if he did not mind going to eat at Ichiraku's that night so they could discuss matters. He obliged and left, leaving dinner to the adults. The conversation was all about the monastery: from the occurances while Collette was away, to the explanation of the titles to Arashi. He discovered that the holy mother's job was to run the temple she was located at, hear all matters relating to incidents that involved the temple and it's inhabitants, and 'deal' with issues that required the participation of the mikos and monks of the monastery. The two men - Mikhail, the older one, and Bastion, the younger one - were considered the strongest of the monks at the shrine. This rose the curiosity of Arashi, because he believed that the people at those temples did not practice combat because they were pacifists. He was corrected by Mikhail, saying that they preferred to be non-aggressive, but they had to be trained to deal with the unnatural. That category included malevolent spirits, tainted souls, and demons.

As dinner went on, Arashi noticed that Collette seemed to be a bit quieter than usual. She was also staring off into space and biting her lower lip. "Collette, are you okay?"

She heard him but didn't react to it like one might expect. Instead of jumping out of her skin, being startled, and stuttering over herself, she looked towards Serena a bit timidly.

"Uh...umm...Mother Serena, didn't you say you had something you needed to discuss with Arashi when he got home?" Her question got the attention of the lady in question, but she looked as if she did not know what Collette was talking about. But a few moments later, it was like a bulb brightened in her face.

"Ah yes...the prophecy." she stated with a dark and serious tone.

"Prophecy?" asked Arashi.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. A prophecy. Among our people, it is not uncommon for someone to be specially gifted with a rare ability. The people with this ability are very special to all of us, as they provide a service that we take full advantage of when capable. These people are given a title: Prophet."

Arashi paid close attention, although, as soon as the term prophet came up, he became immediately skeptical. Prophets were people who others considered grand because they could supposedly foretell the future. Arashi was a firm believer that a person makes their own path, that it is not set in stone what will happen to someone in their life. And he considered the people who believed that their path was foretold by some greater being to be weak. The only thing that was inevitable is the one thing everybody shares with each other: the 'fate' of death.

Not aware of his skepticism, Serena continued. "This ability that is blessed upon these people can be considered a blessing to those that can take advantage of the prophecies foretold, but it's power is considered a curse to those that hold it. Voices will tell them what will happen, visions will be seen in their sleep, and they are constantly burdened with the task of trying to fix what should not be fixed.

"I...am one of those people." Collette's eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets and her face looked horrified.

"Mother Serena...'you' are the prophet?" When the woman nodded her head grimly, Collette hung her's. "I feared that that was the case. You seemed...empty when I first saw you." After a few more moments of deafening silence, she finally found her voice again. "So...Mother Serena, what is the prophecy you foresaw."

Serena looked at Arashi, dead in the eyes, as if demanding his attention, as well as his understanding. "I regret that I do not know any more than this. Three times, I have heard the voice speak to me. Three times, three different messages.

"The first message: A snake bears it's fangs. It's venom will poison slowly. The second message: The sins of the Father will lead to tragedy and regret. And the third message: Dragons will try to lay siege upon the Kingdom of Leaves."

Arashi listened and processed the words and thought about them carefully. They were cryptic, that was for sure. Before he could think more about it, Serena continued. "These messages did not come without visions. I was plagued by these visions in my sleep as the messages repeated themselves.

"With the first message, I saw blackened skies, impenetrable by any source of light, and flowing with bloody clouds." Arashi raised his eyebrows at that one, his eyes going a bit wide. "With the second message, I saw a frail girl with pale skin with tears in her eyes and trembling in fear." Again, Arashi quickly processed the information, and his eyes widened again. She couldn't mean... "And with the final message, I saw mirrors, and the people who stood there, looking into their mirror, had the reflection of something completely different. Whether you choose to believe me, to believe what I have told you, will be up to you."

Serena motioned for both men to follow her as she stood up and started to make her way towards the front door to leave. Collette and Arashi watched in mix surprise and worry. They promptly followed suit to gather an explanation.

"Oh no dear. It is nothing that has been done that we are leaving. We just must be going." spoke Serena.

"But, you must stay. It is already evening time, after all. Please stay." Collette seemed to be begging. She did not want one of her closest friends to leave so suddenly.

"Sister Collette, you know I must go. Don't make this harder on me. I don't like this anymore than you do. But I can't stay."

Arashi chose to end the argument. "If you must go, then we both wish you well. Do not be a stranger, a friend of my wife is welcome here anytime." His face went from warm to serious quite suddenly. "But there is one thing I have to ask of you." Serena looked him in the eyes, the green he had seen before was not as vibrant as he thought. They were more pale and seemed to hold a heaviness in them. "You have come and have passed on this information for you think it might be relevant to my village. You say that you came with a prophecy, but all I have heard of are visions and voices that told you cryptic messages. My question is...What is the prophecy?"

She gave him a very peculiar look before it seemed as though her eyes phased out, not focusing on anything particular. Just as quickly as this change occurred, her eyes refocused and took in the surroundings, though she shook her head as if trying to wake herself up. "The prophecy, Hokage-sama, is this..."

In her hands was a letter, held out for him to take hold of it. As he tried to seize it, she tightened her grip, not letting him take it easily, so that she may press a matter of importance onto him. "You must remember, Arashi, that this can only be accepted if you accept that this is possible. I am no fool, I see your doubt, and your mind clearly dismisses any of this as possible. But if it weren't possible, then I wouldn't be here. Read this note, but only if you are willing to accept the burden as I have." She then released her grip and Arashi took the note and read it without hesitation. It wasn't that he now believed her, but his curiosity had peaked.

Only one line was written on it. "Protect the Legacy of Konoha."

(End Flashback)

The woman had left afterwards. The departure made Collette sad, but it infuriated Arashi. And he only became angrier. The reason for his anger, for his frustration was simple. Despite how much he told himself otherwise, despite how he had viewed things like this before...

'Why do I believe her?'

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Naruto was happy. Well, he wouldn't put it in such minor terms, but that was the case in a nutshell. The reason for his rising spirits was not because of the festival. He could care less about the traditional occasion. The streets were filled with tourists busying themselves with any little thing.

The mass of tourists would gawk as the ninjas of the village would hop across buildings, they would pester passing shinobi to let them see or hold their 'cool' weapons, or they would merely ask dumb questions like 'What is it like to be a ninja?' or 'Don't you ever get scared doing what you do?' That was why Naruto hated all the fancy parties and social gatherings. They always seemed to bring out the inner-idiot of a lot of people.

But he wouldn't be pulled down by this fact. He was happy, and nothing was going to ruin his mood. The reason? He was going to the hospital today to see his mother about getting rid of his cast.

As he hopped along the roofs of buildings, he swore he heard a familiar voice call out to him. Turning his head to look behind him, he saw Hinata jumping towards him. "Naruto...wait..." He stopped and waited for her, she finally catching up to him and landing close to him, panting slightly. "Finally...caught up to you..."

"You're out of shape, girl." he teased her, making her already flushed face burn more red. "So what's up? What did you want?"

"Y-You said you were getting your cast r-removed today, so I was going t-to come too." she responded, finally straightening up.

"Oh? You can get out of your cast today as well?" When she nodded, Naruto beamed. "Alright! Now we can get back to training."

She smiled and nodded again and they set off to get to the hospital. Once there, they waited for his mother to call them in for the quick procedure. The removal was easy enough, using a rather intimidating mechanism known as a medical buzzsaw to pierce through the material, which had hardened over time. After getting it off - and a thorough session of scratching the areas that had been covered since they itched like crazy - Collette gave them a temporary bracer. She explained that the bracers would help give support to the limbs in case they weren't fully healed yet. The bracers were also infused with the medical chakra that the casts had been.

Hinata's bracer was very unique, since her injury was unique. It was designed for her arm to slip through it and it would give the desired support once the sleeve reacher her shoulder joint. The sleeve covered most of her humerus bone and hugged at her shoulder joint, and a velcro strap could be used to adjust the level of support on her shoulder blade.

Naruto's bracer just slipped onto his arm and the velcro strap on it could be used to adjust the level of support for his healing fracture. After they both slipped their's on, they bid farewell to Collette and left the hospital, ready to go to their training grounds and get to work with Yamato and Sasuke. Little did they know, somebody else had other plans for them.

"Yosh, I finally get the opportunity to meet the son of our mighty Hokage!" spoke an individual who seemed to not know the meaning of restraint. After recovering from the booming voice, Naruto turned to face the person...and was startled by the sight before him.

It was a boy with a bowl hair cut and thick eyebrows, that seemed to be alive with the way they twitched, though it reminded Naruto a bit of a very furry caterpillar. Attached to the boy was what seemed like a second skin, the green spandex suit looked atrocious. Across his waist, acting like a belt for some inexplicable reason (seeing as how he didn't need it with the spandex suit) was the hitai-ite of Konoha. His legs had orange leggings covering the shins and much of the lower leg and he had black shoes on to complete the outfit.

"Um...who are you?" questioned Naruto.

"My name is Rock Lee and I wish to test your flames of youth against mine." spoke Lee, who's black eyes seemed to shine.

"Uh...come again?" Naruto was a bit perplexed by this guy's appearance. But another foreign voice broke through his confusion and shined some light on his question.

"He means he wants to spar with you, to test his abilities against you." came the voice of a young girl. When Naruto saw her, he quickly took in her appearance.

She seemed to be no older than this boy, him, or Hinata. Her dark hair was done up into twin buns atop her head and came down across her forehead, but not enough that it would hide her hitai-ite of Konoha. She had on a sleeveless pink shirt that looked like it would part down the middle, if not for the light brown bands that connected to buttons on both sides of the shirt. She also had on dark pants that became pretty baggy down by the middle of her lower legs and stopped there too. A little bit of skin on her legs showed before her shoes covered the rest.

"Oh, hi Hinata-chan. You got your cast off today?" asked the girl to Hinata.

"Hai, Tenten-chan. Both me and Naruto-kun." replied Hinata.

Tenten looked at Hinata, then to Naruto, then to Hinata again. "Ah, so you are the infamous Naruto, eh? Hinata says you two are great friends." She then looked Naruto up and down, as if judging him. "I'm a bit surprised, you don't seem like how I thought you might look. She says you are strong but..."

Naruto turned to look at Hinata, who had her head hung in an attempt to not be seen with the furious blush on her face. He gave up looking to her for a response and instead went back to the newcomers.

"I'm sorry, but am I supposed to know you two?" he asked.

"Don't waste your time, Lee. That Uchiha who is his teammate would probably be better competition than he would be." came a voice that sounded cold and indifferent.

Naruto knew it could belong to only one person. Looking in the direction of the voice, Naruto saw the long hair, cream-colored jacket, and dark shorts with bandages on his limbs, of Hyuuga Neji. He was leaning against one of the hospital's outside walls, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes closed as if he were either asleep or thinking.

Naruto glared at the boy, sending a wave of malevolent intent directly towards him. Everyone seemed to notice it too...except for Neji. Lee tensed - as if ready to defend Neji, Tenten did the same thing - but also frowning at Neji, and Hinata shot her head up, looking at Naruto with pleading eyes.

It was Lee who broke the awkward moment with his awkward attitude. "I don't think your assumptions are accurate, Neji-san. I sense a great fire within him, and it burns brightly."

"I sense more than 'youthful fire' in him." added Tenten, referring to the intent that Naruto was directing at Neji.

Naruto, who suddenly felt a tugging on his windbreakers right sleeve, looked at Hinata and saw her eyes begging him not to confront Neji. He looked at her accusingly and with a more furious glare than he meant to, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Calming down a bit, he opened his eyes, mouthed an 'I'm sorry' to Hinata, and relaxed. He suddenly remembered the earlier words of Lee.

"A sparring match, hmm?" he thought out loud, gaining a hopeful look from Lee. "Sorry, not right now. I gotta catch up with our sensei on what I have missed. Been forced out of action by the injury, see?" he stated, pointing at his arm, while rolling down the sleeve to reveal the brace. "Maybe some time later."

"Oh..." was the only response from Lee, until his head perked up at a thought. "Then maybe Hinata-san wouldn't mind. Surely, the cousin of my rival will prove to be a fantastic challenge. Will you?"

Hinata seemed to actually ponder it, but Naruto knew better. She always wanted to please anybody she came in contact with, but right now, she was a bit nervous. She probably didn't want to, but she would accept, if only to make Lee happy.

"Don't bother, Lee. While Naruto is a disgrace to the family name of our Hokage, Hinata is more of a blacksheep than he is." came the response of Neji. He spoke it so calmly and so casually, that it seemed to not even bother him that he openly insulted his family relative. That...was the straw.

Before anyone knew what was happening, a familiar sound was picked up by the ears of Lee, Tenten, and Hinata - which made her wince. The sound of skin-to-skin contact at high impact. Once everyone turned towards the source of the noise, they all stood shocked.

Neji...was on the ground, with blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. The cause was Naruto's fist to his face. An uncanny look of seething hatred filtered from the blonde shinobi that made Hinata cringe. But she didn't expect what Naruto said next.

"I don't care what you say about me, because I deserve some criticism. Maybe I have not lived up to expectations set forth as the 'son of the Hokage.' But...if I hear you speak of Hinata like that, you'll have more than a busted lip to tend to." The venom in his words seemed to promise unpleasantness in the future for the arrogant Hyuuga, but he seemed unphased.

Standing up, he wiped at the blood and then spat out the remainder of it. "You won't do that again." In his mind, he was kicking himself mentally. He had just been shown up, in front of his team, by the blacksheep. He barely even had time to react to move away from the wall but the boy's fist followed suit just as quickly and hit him with ridiculous force. He got into the stance of the Jyuuken and armed his byakugan. Naruto tightened his muscles, ready for any sudden movement.

Meanwhile, Hinata - who had been conflicting within herself about what was going on, cursed herself for her own cowardice. Naruto had defended her, and she was grateful for that, but he was still fighting with Neji. And it seemed that Neji was about to do the same thing. Gritting her teeth, she mustered all her will into the next action.

"Naruto-kun, Neji-niisan, STOP!" Neji never would have reacted in the slightest to his cousin, but this was different. Where she had always seemed to be quietly pleading with someone to do something, here she had actually demanded it. Remembering who he was to Hinata, and cursing her for it as well, he reluctantly relaxed. Naruto, seeing this, and registering Hinata's voice, relaxed as well.

"I apologize for my actions, Lady Hinata." The title he gave her oozed with venom as he sent a glare towards her. "I will take my leave. But understand this, blacksheep. You will not do that again. That was just luck. Next time, if you don't have my cousin protecting you, I will crush you." He then turned around and stalked down the street, sending glares at anyone who was in his way.

Tenten was deliberating on what to do. If she just let Neji go down the street without someone to watch over him, he might let what happened brood on until he might become unapproachable. But as she considered that, she did have to take in the account that he had been shown up. Neji's demeanor was one of supreme confidence. He had only been shown up before by their sensei. And it was the same then as it was this time. Neji had not expected Gai's speed, just as he did not expect Naruto's. As Tenten made up her mind to follow Neji, she bid farewell to Lee, Naruto, and Hinata, and took off after the hyuuga boy.

Lee, now abandoned by his team, seemed to be sulking. Now what was he supposed to do. "Guess I'll go home too." he said miserably.

"Hey, you said Neji is your rival right?" Naruto asked the boy in green. Lee nodded. "So does that mean he pisses you off too?"

"Neji's spirit lacks the enthusiasm you would see from our sensei. No matter how much Gai-sensei and I try, we cannot break through his barrier."

"Would that mean he is always an ass?" Naruto made a mental note to apologize to Hinata after this was all over.

"Well...if you want to put it in such vulgar terms, then the answer would have to be yes. Might I ask you how you managed to move like you did, Naruto-san?" Lee was very eager to find out how. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to out-maneuver Neji and catch him off guard.

"I just did what came naturally. That's all." He watched as Lee thought about his words and seemed to be disappointed.

"So, there was no special technique?" When Naruto nodded, Lee's head hung again. 'Why is it that all these geniuses have it so easy. I try and try and I can never seem to gain on them.' "Naruto-san, you really are special."

"Wait, what? No, no, no. I'm not anything special. I'm not like Sasuke, Hinata-chan, or, damn I hate to say this, the teme, Neji. All I have is me." He then looked up to the sky, saw the sun, and then became frantic. "Crap, we gotta go Hinata-chan. Maybe we can spar later, Lee. Gotta meet my team. See ya." And he and Hinata took off onto the rooftops and made their way to their training area.

Lee stood there, still in shock, the words Naruto spoke echoing in his mind. 'All I have is me.' "Thank you, Naruto-san. Your words have lifted my spirits. I will never forget them." He then turned around and made his way back to his team's training area, feeling suddenly motivated to put in another full day's worth of exercise while he had the chance.

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"Katon: Fireball Technique!" A fireball raced towards the user's target but once again, the target disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke then began scanning the area around him quickly. 'Crap, beneath.' He tried to jump away, but the ground underneath him gave out and a blonde-haired boy shot towards him, fist outstretched. He made contact with Sasuke but it was only a Kawarimi, as a log suddenly took it's place. He then felt a presence behind him and knew he was screwed.

"Katon: Stream of Flames!" When he finished his handseals, Sasuke breathed out a flowing stream of fire that looked like it would incinerate Naruto at any moment. That would happen, if he had put the amount of chakra into it to do such damage. But if anything, it would burn him, but not even badly enough to be considered dangerous.

That was the way they were told to spar with each other. If you used ninjutsu or genjutsu, make them weak enough to not be dangerous. Yamato still frowned upon Sasuke's use of fire techniques in practices, but Sasuke always countered with how would he know they would be effective against other opponents unless he tested them against someone. Yamato couldn't deny that logic, so he resigned to being on medic duty during these little sessions. Plus, he was eager to see if Naruto or Hinata had lost any steps.

The fire stream got close to Naruto but he dived to the right, barely missing the edges of the flame. When he gathered his balance, he saw Sasuke dashing right at him. He and Sasuke exchanged blows and counters, trying to catch each other off guard just once, but no one seemingly grabbing the advantage. They both then caught each other's fists and they vied for position in the struggle of raw power. Naruto was beginning to win, so Sasuke smirked and kicked off with his left foot, sending a knee right to Naruto's face, forcing the boy to back off a good bit.

By the time Naruto , he felt the familiar surge of chakra, and looked in the direction of his opponent. The boy already had finished the seals, and Naruto realized what Sasuke was trying to do. 'Damnit, no matter what, it's a lose-lose situation. Damn you, teme.'

"Katon: Grand Fireball Technique!" Now a much larger fireball was fired towards Naruto, and it was moving with surprising speed. That, given with the limited space between the two, left only one option for Naruto.

"Damn you, teme. I'll get you for this. Futon: Falcon Arrow!" Suddenly, the air Naruto twisted and spun with an incredible velocity and a burst could be seen as the ripples seemed to distort the very air the attack traveled. With amazing precision and potent piercing ability, the blast of air penetrated into the core of the fireball, where the attack destabilized and the fireball exploded in grand style, fitting the name it was given.

Yamato, personally, was impressed. He was about to freak when he saw Sasuke using more chakra than was needed for the fireball, but when Naruto interrupted his thoughts with the name of the technique he used, and then saw what that attack could do, Yamato became curious. The technique seemed to be offensive in nature, as are most futon jutsus, but this one seemed to be more useful than most offensive techniques.

Even more interesting was the fact that Naruto didn't seem to be winded by this point. In fact, if Yamato was correct, then Naruto's chakra reserves had become much more adequate for the style of fighting the boy wanted to implement. If he kept up this pace, then he might surpass Sasuke. But this would only push Sasuke further, which was happening at this moment. Yamato preferred to see his students spar with taijutsu, but as long as they kept the other things relatively safe for each other, then he wouldn't argue.

Sasuke was trying to see through all of the unsettled dust and smoke from the explosion for his opponent, but when everything cleared, Naruto wasn't there. Sasuke, suddenly going on alert, felt the presence of his teammate behind him and barely ducked a kick aiming for the back of his head. Intending on taking advantage of an exposed Naruto, Sasuke dashed for him and led with his shoulder to knock the boy down and be completely vulnerable to a more powerful attack.

Naruto, however, knew that Sasuke would duck and thought that he would attempt to hit him while he was 'vulnerable', so Naruto had purposefully dragged his other foot close to the ground while attempting the kick. Now that he could hear Sasuke behind him, he applied the chakra to his feet that would anchor him to the ground and stop any forward momentum. Successfully achieving this goal, he turned around on a dime and swung the other leg around in a reverse sweep.

Sasuke saw Naruto do this but could not apply the chakra to his feet fast enough to help him to stop and maneuver away from the sweeping kick. The blow struck at his ankles and he knew he was now defeated. He watched helplessly as he saw Naruto complete the sweeping motion and then plant his weight onto the foot that was just used for the attack. Now kicking off with that foot, the other one connected full impact with Sasuke's sternum and sent the boy tumbling and skidding across the ground on his side until he finally came to a stop. Coughing from the dirt that had gotten into his mouth, he rubbed his chest while wincing.

"Damn Naruto, nice move. I didn't see that one coming." He then looked Naruto in the eye, seeing the boy's pleased look, and immediately found a way to irritate his teammate. "Lucky shot though. I won't let that happen again."

Naruto then felt a vein pop on to his head. "Can't you just accept your loss? Besides, I won the bet. Yatta!" Naruto was very happy he had landed that blow. That meant that Sasuke would have to do something Naruto told him to do, which was the stipulation of their little match.

Sasuke cursed under his breath. But then he recalled something else about the stipulation of the match, and smirked triumphantly. "Yeah, you won that bet, but remember the other one?" He saw Naruto freeze up and look at him in shock. When he nodded his head, Sasuke swore he could hear the boy gulp. "You were so confident you could defeat me that you bet you wouldn't have to use any of your new jutsus you've been learning. But you did, so I win too. So you have to do something I say when I tell you to, dobe. And I think I'll save this."

Yamato decided it was enough of their playful bantering. Standing up, he cleared his throat for attention, which all three genin did give him, and he decided to set up the next task. "Very good, you two. I'm impressed with your progression, Naruto, and your's as well, Sasuke. Now it's time to see about Hinata. Naruto, spar with Hinata. It'll help give me an accurate judge of where all of you are at compared to each other."

Naruto nodded and turned to Hinata, who was getting up from her sitting position. She had been watching the match in fascination, surprised to see that Naruto didn't look like he lost a step. But now Yamato was wanting her to spar with him and she was still apprehensive with her byakugan. She and her father had worked on her vision but it didn't seem to be making much progress. The source of the lines was unclear and so her vision would become cloudy. It was as if she were trying to see with her byakugan for the very first time. Trying to see past the lines and focus her vision so as to not pick up the lines was the most difficult thing.

As she approached the middle of the field where Naruto was waiting, she warred with herself. Should she try to use her byakugan and work on her jyuuken or should she not do that and just work on her mobility in their match. Naruto, of course, would want her to not go easy on him but would Naruto do the same thing? She wouldn't want to be treated any differently, so she hoped he wouldn't coddle her.

They stood apart each other and he grinned at her as they waited for their sensei to give out the command for their sparring match. He always set up the regulations so that they wouldn't end up hurting each other by going overboard but it was becoming too routine. However, Yamato always made a point of saying how much of a difference it makes to their practices if he constantly changes how they are to work with each other. Becoming too routine to an area of fighting with a familiar opponent leads to no progression.

"Alright, you two. No ninjutsu or genjutsu and I want you, Hinata, to not use your byakugan. Five points and it's over, got it?" They both nodded, Hinata getting into her jyuuken stance and Naruto getting into an unfamiliar stance of his own. "Okay then, begin."

While Hinata was in her jyuuken stance, she wasn't careless enough to just go about swinging with hakke strikes when she wasn't using the byakugan. That was inviting serious injury to Naruto, so she would refrain from doing that. Slightly thankful that Naruto couldn't do any jutsus, she actually found herself a little confident. 'Where's that coming from? Is Naruto really rubbing off on me?' she asked herself before she was jerked from her thoughts by the sudden blur of Naruto. She barely picked up on his presence to her left before she blocked a punch and then set about blocking a myriad of punches and kicks from the hyper-active blonde, grimacing when she seemed to not find a way around the assault. If she could just slip into one of the attacks and parry it correctly then she would be able to land a blow, but Naruto was merciless...and she was thankful for that.

It went on like this for eight rounds, back and forth and then back again. First it was Naruto who landed the first blow and then the second one. And then the third one. But as he started to get a look on his face that showed him feeling guilty, he felt that maybe she wasn't fully recovered. When Hinata saw his hesitation to go all-out again, she became very upset, something Naruto was not used to.

"Naruto-kun, don't you go easy on me." she said with a slightly angered look on her face. She didn't want to be cuddled, coddled, or treated with sympathy. If she couldn't win, then she didn't deserve to win. Exposing a weakness only leads to strength. If she couldn't fight without her byakugan then she would practice without it. If she couldn't fight and defeat someone without the jyuuken, then she would practice fighting without it. Radiating determination, she saw Naruto nod in understanding and come back at her, but this time Hinata was channeling all her newfound determination and actually succeeded in landing three straight blows. Then Naruto landed another blow, but she landed her own blow after that.

It was four to four and the next one would decide the winner. Sasuke and Yamato were more than surprised to see them going at it with such fire. Yamato personally didn't think Naruto had it in him to fight the hyuuga girl at full power but he also believed that Hinata couldn't fight Naruto evenly without her specialities playing a part in the fight. But, as was becoming normal, he was being proven wrong. Naruto was going full force, the bruises on Hinata's forearms from her blocking and parrying his attacks proof of that. Meanwhile, Hinata was proving to be more adept at fighting at a much more furious pace. He felt that Naruto had an advantage because of his speed. Hinata seemed to move at much more steady, fluid pace, while Naruto was unpredictable and lightning quick. But she was adapting, a trait that only the truly talented possessed.

He, as well as Sasuke, watched as they engaged each other one last time to decide the final blow. It was never Yamato's intention to make these stipulations in an attempt to destroy his teams resolve. It was instead used as a motivator. And motivate it did. Never before had he seen such determination from both parties that were fighting each other.

And as quickly as it had all started, it seemed to finish with just as much quickness but with much more drama. After more blocking and parrying, Hinata thrusted her left palm at Naruto's chest without using hakke but Naruto was in the middle of swinging his right hand around in a knife-edge chop and they both struck each other at the exact same time. Someone who was waiting for a decisive winner might consider it anticlimatic but to Yamato it was the perfect ending. Although, he wished Naruto had refrained from striking Hinata where he did.

Naruto staggered back from the blow to his chest but was happy that he landed his blow too. "Looks like we tied." he said while trying to catch his breath. Unfortunately, he had struck Hinata in a tender area, her right shoulder. He saw through his wincing the girl holding the sore shoulder and he immediately felt guilty for hitting her there but was surprised when she actually smiled at him.

"Yeah, we did." she said through her own gasps for air. She hadn't been training all that hard to keep up her endurance for the past week and a half so she was amazed with herself that she could keep up with Naruto. Finally, she regained her composure and looked to their sensei. "D-Did we do a good job?"

"Why yes, yes you did. You three are exceeding expectations. You should all be proud. I'm now thinking it wasn't such a bad idea to offer you three the chance to participate in the Chuunin Selection Exams."

What he didn't know, and neither did the rest of them realize they were being watched. That was until Yamato's mysterious connection with the earth and roots alerted him of someone snooping in the shadows of the trees.

"You know, if you are going to hide, I would do it a little better than that." He then turned his attention towards the person's presence and was a bit surprised by the appearance of an unfamiliar youth. The boy had brown hair that was a bit shaggy and unkempt, with average skin and black eyes that seemed to radiate energy. He wore a long sleeve white shirt with a reddish brown short-sleeve vest of some kind. His pants looked like Hinata's, but they were the same reddish-brown color as the boy's vest. And especially unfamiliar was the hitai-ite. It did not signify him as a Konoha nin, nor as any of the other big village's nin. In fact, he had never seen that logo before. It was an upside-down triangle with a small kanji written in the middle.

"Eh, sorry bout that. I saw what happened at the village hospital so I decided to follow them." he said pointing at Naruto and Hinata. Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "Tell me, is it usual for fellow villagers to fight each other like that?"

Yamato thought to himself about just who might Naruto fight in the village besides Sasuke and realized who it was. "Guess I'll have to have a talk with you, Naruto." Naruto grumbled underneath his breath but gulped quite audibly when he felt Yamato activate his 'Scary-Mode On'. "But your hitai-ite...it reads shadow right?"

"Yeah, it does. Me and my team are here for the chuunin exams and we're excited to have the opportunity to come here and bask in your country's tradition. Your Hokage is a generous man." He then yawned and adjusted his headband. "It does read shadows because we are a new village. The Kagegakure no Sato." The boy then flashed a cheesy smile that Naruto seemed to recognize.

"Wait a minute. Would you happen to be from Lightning Country?" When the boy's smile brightened further, Naruto knew he was correct. 'He was one of the three genin on that paper I saw in dad's office.'

"What's going on, kid. What are you doing?" came the voice of a perturbed individual that also appeared from the shade. This one was also male but there was something strangely different about him. While the first boy seemed to be friendly and flowed with energy, and appeared to be normal to some degree, this one had long, flowing light blue hair with a few strand bangs that he flicked in an arrogant gesture, light and pale skin, and gray-tinted pupils for eyes that spoke smugly for him what he didn't need to say. His clothing was simple yet extravagant. The only thing you could see on him was a full body cloak that was metallic silver in color and buttoned at the neck for easy discarding. Needless to say, Naruto already judged this guy to be just like Neji and Sasuke - at least, the Sasuke Naruto had come to know before the first couple of days of practice. "Did they finish yet?"

"Yeah they finished Zeke. It was fun watching them, they're really talented." Then the brown-haired boy looked at them. "Hey, are you all registered for the Chuunin Exams?"

"Yes, we are. But who are you?" asked Sasuke, a bit perturbed by the sudden appearance of these people who were interrupting their training session. Sasuke didn't have a one-track mind but then again, watching how Hinata and Naruto seemed to be on even par against each other made his blood boil and he wanted another chance to redeem himself against Naruto or Hinata.

"Don't worry about names. If you are in the Chuunin Exams, then we'll meet then. Come on, kid, we gotta go meet the Hokage with Sensei." said the smug boy.

"Doesn't that get annoying, being called a kid by your own teammate?" asked Naruto, more than a little peeved at the attitude of this arrogant guy towards his own teammate.

"No, no, it's okay. That's my nickname." At Naruto's questioning glance, the young boy continued. "My name is Kidremé. But everyone just calls me 'Kid.' Ya see?"

Naruto scratched at his chin, then looked at the arrogant boy, then at the boy known as Kid, and nodded his head. "Alright, if you say so. But I still say your partner is too smug for his own good."

The said arrogant boy then walked very confidently over to Naruto but then right past him to Hinata. "A Hyuuga eh?" and then his attention turned to Sasuke. "And an Uchiha. Not bad. Hope the third member on your team isn't a weak third wheel." He then chuckled as he felt Naruto's killer intent rise, but he wasn't at all worried, which surprised Yamato.

"Listen, where ever your sensei is, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want you to be making trouble as guests of our village. It might do you good to just leave right now." The words were meant to be treated as a friendly reminder but they were not heeded as such.

But before anything volatile could happen, another figure approached and this one caught everyone off guard. "Would you stop making such a scene, Ezekiel. Sensei's gonna be angry with you for sure if you go picking a fight with this village's shinobi." The voice belonged to a young girl with slightly raven-black hair but as she got closer you could tell that it was a very dark-violet color. The boy looked at her with a pleading expression but then seemed to settle down.

Yamato was especially stunned by this person's presence. He barely felt her approach but now that he was aware of her being here, he was met with a unique feeling. It was as if he were feeling a presence that was here but shouldn't be here. It was confusing him. She was there, but it didn't feel right. Even more strange was that she had wrapping on over her eyes. But she was maneuvering with ease and not even hesitant in her approach. No walking stick, no slight hesitation, just fluid movement.

"I apologize for my teammates if they troubled you. My friend here," she said, pointing to the pretty boy, "is called Ezekiel, but we just call him Zeke. And I thought I heard you being introduced to Kid, here, so I guess that leaves me. My name is Elru." The girl then slightly bowed to everyone and straightened herself while 'looking' towards her teammates. "Get over here and let's get a move on. Come on."

Yamato decided to do the only thing that was right at the current moment. His team needed a chance to cool down and these visitors might need an escort. "Hold up, you three. I'll escort you to the Hokage's Tower." They stopped, looked at each other, and agreed. Yamato then looked at his genin. "You all go ahead and have a lunch break. Meet me back here in one hour."

As Yamato left with the three visiting shinobi, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke decided to go ahead and get something to eat at a restaurant. As they walked along, one thing was going through their minds. 'Something isn't right about those shinobi.'

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(Hokage's Tower)

Arashi was taking sips of his tea and enjoying the company present. Sitting across from him was a friend from his past. The man had changed in age and some facial features, but overall, he was the same. The man had on form-fitting black bodywear, dark blue body armor, and a sky blue cape on over that. He looked a bit regal but the look was largely contrasted by the attitude of the individual. Arashi had spoken with this man on many an occasion and found that the man was incredibly intelligent, wise, and insightful. His views and philosophies seemed to help shed some new light into the beliefs of Arashi himself and he was eager to see what his friend was up to with this latest turn of events.

"So, a new village, eh?" he asked, not looking at his friend but instead at the cup of tea.

"Well, sorta. It's not a village...at least not yet. You have to start somwhere though. It's more of a school, than a village...for now, though, only for now."

"You seem to be trying to reassure yourself of that, old friend." he said teasingly, intending the comment to be taken as a joke.

"Well, I guess you could say that. It's a lot harder to start your own village than I thought. I guess it would've been better for me to try and push to be the Kage of another village already established. But I just couldn't get past the fact that even the Kage's had to answer to some uptight asses in the village's council." spoke the man with a bit of spite.

Arashi agreed with his friend. It was like treading thin ice with the elders of the council. He had to answer for every little thing and they seemed to enjoy making him sweat. But Arashi knew what he would be getting into, so he just shrugged it off as being grumpy when you grew older. As long as the village still prospered then there was nothing to fear, as far as Arashi was concerned.

"So, you started this place, did you?" His friend nodded, taking another sip of his tea. "Tell me, what drove you to such a prospect?"

"After the shinobi war, everything seemed to go to hell. Economy drowned out, nobody wanted to establish ties with us, and soon, our society plummeted. It wasn't until word was heard that the Raikage wanted to make peace between the Kumo and Konoha that things started to turn around and give us hope." Another sip of tea was taken as he looked at the cup with a grave look on his face. "But even that was a sham. The man kidnapped the daughter of the Hyuuga head and was executed by the same man."

Arashi knew this very well. It was the reason for tension between Konoha and other villages. Things were already tense, but after what happened, and Arashi's ultimate decision on the matter, things seemed to change in the workings of the shinobi world.

"You see, the greedy little cochroaches of the village council wanted the secrets of the Hyuuga clan. That was no sudden impulse either. When our village joined with Iwagakure to tag-team Konoha, we wanted the secrets of the byakugan to try and figure out the secret behind the strongest clan in Konoha. The elders were wanting to develop shinobi of the future with this knowledge and create a supreme army of elite shinobi armed with the techniques blessed upon those with the byakugan. But when Konoha's sudden surge turned the tide of the battle completely in it's favor, they had to back out on their plans.

"But something happened with the Raikage. I am not entirely sure but something just changed with him. He became warmer and calmer than he used to be. He even talked about re-establishing ties with Konoha. It would be a lengthy process, of course, but he was sure that Kumo would get back on it's feet, once again, if things settled down between Konoha and Kumo. But then..." and he cut off there, not needing to say anymore. The man seemed so much more sombre than Arashi could recall.

"Vander, I had no choice, you know that." came the reply from Arashi.

"I know, and I don't blame you. I blame the elders who pushed for that scenario. And it's because of the corrupt council that I left." There was a courageous fire in the words of the man, Vander.

"So what prompted you to start this project of yours?" asked Arashi, honestly curious about his friend's plans.

"Well, it was the same reason as for why I left Kumo. I wanted to be able to teach and raise shinobi to learn how to better themselves and become strong and useful and excel in this world." He finished his cup of tea and refilled the cup. Breathing in the steamy vapors through his nostrils, Vander hesitated before he continued. "It just so happens that my first three students have turned out to be special cases."

At the questioning look of Arashi, Vander elaborated. "Well, each one had incredible potential but...unfortunate events had stunted their progress." He didn't want to go into details because the information was their's only to disclose. "I'm excited though, Arashi, for my students. They've progressed so well and now, with the Chuunin Selection Exam, they - as well as our home - will gain the respect of the public and become noticed."

Arashi could see the pride in his friend's eyes and was happy for him. That's when another thought entered his mind. "You know, we're gonna have a large number of shinobi enter this exam as well - including three rookie teams."

Vander's eyes bulged at that knowledge. "Wh-What? You're letting them enter?" When Arashi nodded his head, Vander became very curious. "How good are they. I would suspect they're very good to warrant being allowed to take the exam as rookies but, is there any apprehension?"

"A little from the more experienced shinobi but they have gotten over it. These shinobi are all quite unique themselves. They might give your genins a run for their money in the exam." At least, that was what Arashi hoped for.

A knock on the door shook the men out of their thoughts. "Hokage-sama, their are three ninja who request your guest's company."

"Ah that must be my students." stated Vander. Arashi nodded and said it was okay for them to enter.

After another hour or so of getting acquainted with Vander's students, Arashi took notice of the time and decided it was time to part. The festival's opening ceremonies were scheduled to commence at seven that evening. Vander, before departing with his students, assured Arashi that he would be there that evening and they all would behave accordingly as guests to the village. Now left alone in his office, getting ready to leave, Arashi had only one thing on his mind that could summarize the introduction to his friend's students. 'Those three...something is very different about them.'

----------------------------------------------------

(Naruto's Room)

Naruto was quite upset. His father knew of his distaste of these social gatherings, but he was forcing it upon him. Damn him.

He knew that it was his father's job as Hokage and leader of the village to be the host of such grand events as this festival but why was he so important to the process to be demanded to appear? Was the whole damn thing going to fall apart if he didn't show? If that were true, then Naruto wouldn't come.

He guessed it was only because he didn't want to be the reason his father would feel embarrassed or ashamed. That was the one thing he didn't want to do was shame his father by failing to appear at the opening ceremony to a tradition that has existed in this country for such a long time. So it was with annoyance that he was in the middle of getting ready for it. If he was going to arrive, then he might as well do it right. That meant no ninja attitude, gear, or clothing.

What did that leave him with then. Well, it was cold outside with the autumn winds so he had to take that precaution. He threw on a pair of dark blue pants that were slightly baggy, so he used some wrapping down at the bottoms of the pants legs to keep from letting air go up the legs. He slipped on some decent looking shoes that hadn't been worn down and decided to search for his upper body wear. He first put on a simple black t-shirt before he threw a long-sleeve dark-blue sweater on over it with dark red swirls on the shoulders of the sweater. He topped it off by grabbing a jacket which was white and had fire designs on the bottom of the jacket and had short sleeves which came to his elbows. Looking at himself in the mirror, he tried to do something with his hair, but decided not to do anything. His hair was the most frustrating thing about his anatomy. It was as if it were stuck there.

He make his way to the common room where, more than likely, his father was at, along with his mother, Jiraiya, and a few of the ANBU. Sure enough they were there, even Kakashi, and his father was probably briefing them on some security measures. And Naruto was thankful for that. If this opening ceremony had anything to do with that damn Ruby then Naruto wanted some damn security set up for that thing. Because he did not want to have to deal with more bandits. If anything happened to that Ruby after the hell he, his teammates, and his friends went through to keep it from being taken away, then Naruto would just give up.

After a few more minutes of giving details to the ANBU members, they disappeared in puffs of smoke (which Naruto found to be quite corny), and that left him, his dad, his mom, and Jiraiya waiting to go. His mother, when she finally noticed him, beamed with pride.

"Oh Naruto, you look so handsome." she said in a high-pitched tone that borderlined school-girl giddiness. Needless to say, if anybody else were present besides those currently here, Naruto would have refused to go at this point. Groaning in annoyance, he mumbled under his something about not treating him like a kid.

"Wow, boy. You look just like your father when he was around your age." spoke Jiraiya. Naruto looked at him a bit surprised, and then became a little bashful when he saw his father nod in agreement.

"You're like a little me." came his father's sarcastic reply, apparently hoping to get Naruto out of his mood. He smirked when he saw it did the trick. A vein bulged on Naruto's head and you could hear him breathe out a frustrated breath.

"That's one thing I'm trying to avoid, 'Father'." came his attempt at a witty response. Meanwhile, Collette was about to break up the argument but not before her husband addressed the pressing need to get to the village square.

"Come on, enough talking. We gotta go." He heard Naruto grumbling under his breath. "Come along, Mini-me" spoke Arashi and laughed as he went and opened up the door for everyone to take their leave.

-------------------

It was everything you expected from a ceremony of this magnitude. Wealthy men from various towns in Fire Country had gathered and were discussing political and monetary situations and issues with each other. Sipping on wine or sake, they laughed and glowed with a radiant light that spoke volumes about their character. Normally, Naruto would blasphemize their behavior and their presence. But tonight, they seemed to be different. They were carefree, not putting up a mask, not acting all snobbish and proper, and it was a lot more helpful for Naruto as it helped him accept their presence there.

He looked around and saw people mingling with each other, laughing boisterously, and overall having a good time. The place was set up so that people could talk and enjoy music from various musicians playing various types of musical instruments, and even dance. Some couples were already dancing, swaying to the rhythm of the music. As for food, there were buildings that had been closed down from their normal areas of business and were converted into social areas with many tables that had many different kinds of food set out to feed the hungry. The buffets were not the most popular thing at the moment but it could be assumed that as the night wore on, that they would.

After about an hour of just watching and participating in some of his father's conversations, the real ceremony began. His father went to the top of the Hokage's Tower and got ready to address the public. After starting the speech, throughout certain parts, some people would cheer and clap in approval of some of his statements. The speech seemed to drag on forever but when it finished, everyone cheered at the top of their lungs in pride, moved by the Hokage's words. He then wished them to have fun as the festivities continued and fireworks went off in dazzling style to designate the official beginning of the festival.

Now enjoying his freedom, Naruto moved throughout the large crowd of people and finally saw someone he recognized, Sakura. Not surprisingly, the young girl was close to Sasuke and was trying to talk the boy into dancing with her. However, he continued to brush off her requests. Naruto decided he would help her. So, with a mischievious grin on his face, he set about with his plan.

"Hey Sasuke, Sakura. What's up, you two on a date?" Sakura blushed like he expected and Sasuke fired back with a 'baka' as expected. "What's wrong, Sasuke? Don't like the prospect?"

"Baka, you know what it is." he retorted.

"Doesn't mean you can't have a little bit of fun. Besides, you did say you didn't mind 'friendship' right?" came Naruto's reply.

Sasuke didn't like where this was going. "Well, yeah, but..."

"Then dance with her. Just one, at least." When Sasuke was about to refuse, Naruto decided to remind him of something. "Or are you going to welch on a bet?"

Sasuke swallowed a lump in his throat. 'That bastard, I should've known better than to come here.' Muttering promises of pain and misery towards Naruto, he looked at Sakura and nodded his head. She beamed happily but then Sasuke smirked quite evilly. "Sure, I won't welch on our bet, but I hope you won't." When Naruto looked at him with the same look of dread, Sasuke decided to put on the finishing touches to his little revenge. "When you find Hinata, dance with her."

Naruto almost gagged when he heard those words. 'Damnit, and Sakura's here too. She'll never let this down. Damnit, we're just friends, why does everyone want something more to happen?' Begrudgingly, he nodded in acceptance of the terms. "Okay." He then thought about something. "Do you know where she is?" That's when he saw Sakura's eyes go wide and she shakily pointed behind him. Naruto turned around and was almost floored by what he saw.

There she was, trying to move through the crowd of people and looking for someone. 'Probably me' he thought to himself, but he couldn't manage to utter out any noise to attract her attention and he couldn't will himself to move. When Naruto first met Hinata, he was taken aback by how she seemed to look so pale and yet so radiant. She was cute at times and Naruto wasn't afraid to admit that to himself. At times, she became graceful and pretty, the way she seemed to move like water. But right now, cute, graceful, and pretty just seemed to be insults.

Here was his best friend in the world and she was, without a doubt - even in his mind - beautiful, to every extent of the word. He wanted to stop himself from thinking like that but it was way too hard. Her dark, indigo hair was still the same, the bangs on the side of her face still dangling there, giving off a conflicting contrast to her graceful look that seemed so right. But that was where the similarities ended. Her clothing was what caught him off guard. It wasn't revealing, it wasn't outrageous, it was just right. Even more so in the lights of the night. She wore a deep blue kimono that reminded Naruto of the color of her hair. The material appeared to be silky smooth and there were lavender lines and spirals across the dress. The sleeves were long and ended right at her hands. There seemed to be more material on her than just the indigo kimono, Naruto noted, because peeking out of the ends of the sleeves was something that was colored white but it wasn't the wrappings shinobi commonly use. The dress seemed made especially for her since it didn't seem to be large or droop on her petite form. It actually clung to her body but not so much that it exposed any curves. The bottom of the dress stayed along the same design but it flowed and billowed out at the very bottom, reminding Naruto of a flower. It was complete with formal dark blue slippers. The beauty of the image was not that she seemed to stand out as a gorgeous goddess, but everything seemed to fit into the picture just right.

He heard Sasuke chuckle behind him and that helped him snap out of his daze. He turned his head and glared at Sasuke for a brief moment but Sasuke just shoved it off by waving his hand at Naruto in a gesture for him to go speak with Hinata. He muttered out his own promises of pain and mirth while turning around and willing himself to move towards her.

She was still moving around and looking about when she bumped into somebody, almost fell down while uttering a small 'eep' from surprise, but was stopped by someone holding onto her left hand and arm. "Oh, I-I'm s-s-sorry. I didn't m-mean to bump into you." She continued speaking as she started looking up at the person who stopped her from falling. "Th-Thank you for h-helping m..." but she stopped when she saw Naruto. She instantly began to blush and tried to gather herself while trying to back away. "O-Oh, N-Naruto-kun, I-I am s-sorry for-" but she was cut off by him putting a finger on her lips, which caused her to blush even more.

"You don't have to apologize for every little thing, Hinata-chan." he told her, while smiling in amusement. They just stood there, looking like idiots, not really knowing what to do. That was, however, until Naruto was nudged a little roughly from behind and right into Hinata. He didn't bump into her enough for either of them to lose their balance but it worked like a charm for the fact that it did make both of them put hands on each other to stabilize themselves. Naruto turned to see who had done that and saw Sasuke's retreating form being led by Sakura over to an area where they were probably going to dance. Just as coincidentally as how their hands were placed on each other, was the fact that a new song was starting up. Another coincidence, it was a slow song.

Hinata was more than embarrassed about how close they were to each other and then when she heard the new song being sung, she heard a whisper in the back of her head telling her to ask Naruto to dance. But she shoved that notion out of the way, firmly believing that it wouldn't happen. What surprised her was that Naruto tightened his grip on her left arm, then relaxed it, then moved it down to her side. She turned red again and looked at Naruto in a very confused manner.

"Um...Hinata...would you like...to, well you can say no, it wouldn't matter, but...would you like to...dance?" he managed to ask her, surprised with himself how difficult that was to do. Even weirder was how he was hoping she wouldn't say no.

She couldn't find her voice to save her life at this point, despite how she desperately wanted to say yes. So, with her voice failing her, she nodded her head, turning an even deeper shade of red. Moving closer, she moved her left hand to his shoulder and left it there, moving her right hand to his side as he moved his left hand to gingerly lay on her shoulder. Then the music did the rest.

Moving to the slow rhythm of the music, the two of them tried to not look at each other. But it was only out of shyness, not embarrassment. Naruto, however, couldn't take the silence between them. "This night is nice, a bit surprising for the time of the year. Usually it's really cold in the night times."

She just made a noise of agreement, still not trusting her voice. But that was until Naruto said something that blew her mind away. "You know, Hinata-chan, you look really pretty in that dress." She dropped her head again until she was confident that nobody could see the furious flush on her face. She really wanted nobody to see the blush, yet she didn't want to leave, not for anything in the world. "It fits you too."

"Wh-What do you mean?" she managed to ask.

"Well, the color matches your personality. A deep, watery blue, and it just fits, ya know?" He was starting to turn a little red, especially at how close Hinata seemed to get after he said she looked pretty in the dress.

They didn't even realize that the song ended, but the woman who had sung that song just started singing a new one, also slow. They kept swaying to the music, and continued to relax as well. "I just can't wait for the chuunin exams to begin. We're gonna dominate. Plus I wanna punch that pretty boy's face too. What about you, Hinata?"

She didn't say anything. She just tightened her grip on his shirt. In truth, now that it was so close, she was very apprehensive about the whole thing. And also, Neji's comments had struck a chord in her. She had let his words brew in her mind, and it was as if her closest family member was saying she had no chance. Yes she had tied with Naruto, but they were teammates. What if she didn't have the strength needed? What if she would only embarrass herself and her family? Those were things that had gone through her head this day and she was on the breaking point.

Naruto, who felt the tightened grip on his shirt, became a little bit worried. "Hinata-chan?" When she didn't say anything, he slowly moved his hand from her right shoulder to her right hand and gripped it, interlocking their fingers together. "Hinata, we are friends...you can talk to me if there is something wrong." He then looked around and came to a decision. "Come on, follow me, I'll take ya to a good place to clear your thoughts. Let's go." He then took her by the hand and guided her through the crowd. As he passed by Sasuke, the boy gave him a questioning glance. He told Sasuke that it was private, which, since Sakura was still standing close by, might cause problems later. She gave them a mischievous grin but Naruto sent her a glare, which prompted her to take their departure a bit more seriously than what she obviously thought it was about.

A few minutes later, the two found themselves atop the Hokage monument, a dedication to the great leaders of the proud village. His father's face had been added six or so years ago and he seemed to enjoy coming up here when possible. It just relaxed him. The breeze, the height, the view, the peaceful location, and the quiet atmosphere always settled Naruto's nerves. But the one needing to be settled was not him, it was Hinata who needed consoling. They went to the edge of the mountain and he motioned for her to sit next to him. Before she did sit, though, he thought that her dress might become unnecessarily dirty, so he took off his jacket and laid it on the ground next to him so she could sit on it. She timidly sat down on it and spoke a quiet 'thank you' while they looked down upon the village. The moon light this night was very clear and seemed to illuminate anything that wasn't touched by the lights from the village.

"Now Hinata, tell me what's wrong...please?" he asked with an almost pleading tone. When she didn't speak, he draped an arm over her shoulders and hugged her closer to him. She seemed to tense even more but he felt her slowly relax. "Please Hinata-chan?"

That was the final straw for her resolve. Refusing to tear up or cry while retelling her fears, she did manage to get everything out, even things that she wanted to keep private - like the issue with her byakugan. She told him everything and, after finishing up, took a deep breath and sighed in relief. It was as if she lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. She found it very curious how Naruto's behavior had been everything she needed. A comforting presence to be by during the evening, a caring shoulder to lean on, and a reassuring voice to calm her.

"You know, you shouldn't let things that people say get you down." Hinata was startled by the words. Not because they stung at her in some way, but because they didn't come from Naruto. She noticed that he, too, was looking around for the voice. The answer came from light footsteps from behind them. Turning quickly, she saw that Naruto was trying to see the invader of their privacy and had a particularly vicious look on his face. Was he offended that someone was listening in on them?

What both of them didn't expect to see was the girl from earlier that day. She walked out in a graceful way that rivaled Hinata. Now that there was not so much hostility floating in the air, her appearance could be taken in and it was unbelievable. She looked to be anywhere from 12-14 years old, but something about her gave off an aura of contrast. She held herself high, not walking shy, but in a mature manner. She had on what looked to be dark bodywear from top to bottom. Her top was long-sleeve and had a dark color (not totally black, but not having a definitive color either) and it hugged her frame. She was petite but looked powerful. Her bottom half was covered by what appeared to be pants that also hugged her frame and were of the same color.

"How long have you been there?" demanded Naruto, being very angry that someone was listening in on them.

"The entire time. It isn't my fault you couldn't tell I was here." she responded non-chalantly, taking a seat and dangling her legs out over the monument. Why was there something strange about this girl?

That's what Naruto was asking himself the entire time until the reason for his suspicion of her hit him right in the face. 'Duh, she has that wrapping over her eyes. How could she see to get up here?' "Um...I don't mean to be rude and all but...how did you get up here? Aren't you blind?"

The girl looked at him, giggled lightly, and shook her head. "No, I'm not. Don't believe everything you first see or hear because theories based off of assumptions lead to conflict. Just like that one guy I heard the girl talking about. Just because he says you are weak, does that make you weak? It's what you know in yourself that makes you who you are. I never would have taken up this profession if I didn't think I could overcome my weaknesses and become strong." She then paused and seemed to gaze over the town, even though it appeared that she couldn't see. Before they could respond to her words, she continued speaking. "I'm not claiming that I'm wiser than some adult, but you apparently made this decision for yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it. But there is something about your glow that seems to radiate that you are in turmoil. If you try your hardest, then that makes this venture all worth it. Don't you agree?"

Hinata processed the girl's words and was surprised that she agreed with her. There was just something about those words that made her feel so much better. She smiled genuinely for the first time that night. "Y-Yes, I suppose you are right. This was the decision I made, I will now see it through...to the end. Th-Thank you for your words, miss-"

"No miss or anything like that. We're fellow peers, remember?" she said with a bit of amusement. "Just call me Elru, Hinata. Anyways, I gotta leave; otherwise, my sensei will kill me for being out late."

"O-Okay, Elru-chan. I hope you do well in the exam."

"You two do the same, and maybe I'll see you around." she said as she got up and left. Again, the weirdness in her statement, but it was shrugged off.

As both Hinata and Naruto left, they felt a great deal easier in dealing with the new nins from the new village. The girl apparently seemed more subdued and alot more appealing and approachable than the arrogant guy, as was the boy, Kid. As they made their way to the area where the festivities were still going on, they seemed to both share the same feeling of easiness. Though conflict lay on the horizon, they both knew that together, with Sasuke, they would have the strength needed to stay strong. The coming weeks would be rough, but they would become stronger and then, it would be their time to shine.

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Finally the chapter is concluded. This one was the hardest to churn out. I thought I would have an easier time but it just proved to be too difficult. Writer's block, lack of inspiration, call it whatever you want, but whatever it is, it sucks totally when you want to write but you can't. So please don't become impatient. The chapter was in the process, it just took a bit longer than I had originally thought.

Now onto some points that will surely be brought up. As for the issue with Kakashi's team and what they discovered, it will be covered later, but remember, for it will be important. The little sparring match between Naruto and Sasuke. That was not for real. They were holding back, like any teammates would do against each other. Yes they were using jutsus but not really strong ones. Even Sasuke's Grand Fireball technique was lacking in true destructive power. And no, just because Naruto defeated him doesn't automatically make Naruto stronger than him. If you haven't understood the image I've been trying to paint here, none of them are really heads and shoulders above each other. They each have unique tendencies that make them better in a particular area. Sasuke is faster, Naruto has more power, and Hinata is more fluid and aware.

And now we get to the point where you have to ask yourselves. What is in store for the future. Well, next chapter...it begins. That's right, 'IT' begins. The Chuunin Selection Exam begins in all it's glory. But what is the deal with the genin from the new 'school?' What makes them so unique that it made even the Yondaime uneasy? Next chapter: The Gathering: The Chuunin Exams begin!