( A blank page separates the previous chapter from this one, and it has a fingerprint stain on it)

CHAPTER ONE – Present, human world, Village of Konhagakure

In the main courtyard of the Village Hidden in the Leaf, a singular figure strolled down the mildly crowded streets on the western side of the city. His goal that morning was a bowl of ramen at the Ichiraku noodle bar. A nin from the academy took notice of him and pushed his way through the crowd. "Oi, Naruto!" The blonde shinobi looked above the sea of heads and saw one of his favorite teachers. "Can I talk to you? I'll buy you ramen."

Naruto beamed. "You've got yourself a captive audience." They approached the small noodle bar and took their seats. Two orders of pork ramen later and a discussion began. "So, Iruka-sensei, what do you need?"

The academy instructor cleared his throat. Naruto took a big slurp of his ramen. "I have word from Kakashi—you know, he's a jounin your father trusts—he put in a request for the third member of his two man team of genin to be a chunin with at least ten missions ranked higher than C."

Naruto patted his former instructor on the shoulder. "You'll do great, Iruka-sensei." He then took another bite."

"No, um," Iruka argued, "they said the chunin should be one of the younger ones, so I elected you."

The blonde shinobi nearly choked. When he recollected himself, he uttered, "Me?" Iruka nodded. "I've only been chunin for a year!"

"But you've been on B and A ranked missions. Besides, being as old as the genin, it should help the 'acceptance issue."' Naruto did not share in his mentor's enthusiasm. Completing his meal, he bowed to his former sensei and stepped off his seat.

"When should I meet them?"

Iruka checked his watch. "They're at the training ground…oh…they should be there about now."

At the training ground, a pair of figures stood leaning against a tree. One, a dark-haired boy named Sasuke, had seen his whole family slaughtered by his older brother, who was later killed by Lord Hokage. He had one hope, and that was that someone would accept him. He worked his butt off, trained until he bled, all in almost futile hopes that he would be shown his place in life, and desperately he prayed silently that such place would be full of people who would appreciate him. In the mean time, power was all he wanted, for it lie only in skill and strength that care could be achieved. The other, a girl named Sakura, had a crush on Sasuke and a lot of doubt in the decision to have a chunin help them learn. She wondered what the purpose was of someone of superior rank to them teach them in addition to their sensei Kakashi. Knowing what she knew about the various ranks of shinobi, and how the skill ranked up next to age, she predicted that he would probably be only slightly younger than their sensei.

From one of the trees leapt young Uzumaki Naruto. He examined the guy and the girl. These tenderfoots are gonna learn something from me? he thought.

Sasuke blinked. "There, uh, must be a mistake," he stammered. "Our third man is supposed to be a chunin!"

Naruto gave him the finger. It was the one human gesture he quickly learned. "Don't be such a smart ass. You see the vest."

They both did a double take. This…kid…is a chunin?

It was at that precise moment that Kakashi arrived. "Sorry I'm late, a friend of mine from fifteen years ago showed up and I just couldn't get away."

Sakura could have fallen over. "Why're you such a bad liar?" she shouted. Instantly her gaze shifted to the blonde kid near her sensei. "And YOU! How the hell can you be a journeyman ninja already?"

"For your information," Kakashi interjected, "I've been a chunin since I was six, so it isn't quite as uncommon as you'd think for someone to be a very young chunin." He calmly—almost seeamlessly—shifted from "matter of fact" mood to a rsepectful one. "Sakura, Sasuke, this is Uzumaki Naruto, honorable son of Lord Hokage." In response t his name, Naruto bowed, first to Kakashi, then t his fellow ninja. Bowing to subordinately ranked shinobi he did out of willingness to show acceptance, rather than traditional respectfulness. "In case you're wondering," Kakashi added, "Naruto has been on more than fifteen B missions since turning chunin, and two A, so he's qualified." The exact amount of B missions he was on he did not know, but he knew Naruto had been on fifteen since achieving the second ninja rank. Personally, he'd have preferred a slightly older chunin such as Iruka, but any chunin was better than none.

Naruto glanced at his companions. Okay, he analyzed, the pink-haired kunoichi doesn't look like much, so I'll probably have to give her extra protection. He stared a hole, though, through Sasuke. To further analyze the boy's skill, he focused chakra onto his eyes. Even in human form, the blonde ninja had fox ears and tails, he just hid them with genjutsu. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura saw it, but his eyes changed to black slits against a red background. The demon eye, given only to those of demon blood, allowed for a complete inspection of the human design, seeing any layer at a time. Through it, he saw good, strong chakra pathways, through which plentiful chakra flowed. Naruto smiled a bit in surprise. This Uchiha kid looks good, skill-wise. He'll probably make chunin soon.

Sasuke, perhaps due to his doubt of his male companion's talents, threw a shuriken as a distraction, while he summoned his speed to appear behind Naruto. The blonde chunin, expecting Sasuke to stop behind him, readied in his hand a kunai. When the young Uchiha came up in the expected place, Naruto not only spun around so fast as to be unseen by all save Kakashi, but had created a shadow clone that also appeared behind Sasuke, just as unexpectedly as the attacker had.

"If you were my enemy," Sasuke egged, "I'd have been much faster and deadlier."

Naruto sneered. "As would I," he replied. As the clone released its grip by vanishing, the real person's face grew serious. "But in a real combat situation against an enemy you'd be cannon fodder for anyone at all equal to you in speed, because you focus on the power of move delivery. Focus instead on quickness of move delivery." Immediately he stuck his arm out behind his head and caught Sakura by the neck attempting to attack him. Throwing her into his field of vision, he knocked Sasuke backwards with a rising knee to the chest. They landed next to each other, and got up, only for Naruto to appear at once behind them with separate kunai placed immediately in front of their throats. "And, to make matters worse, you have very little teamwork," he added. Turning to Kakashi, he lamented, "These two are going to require a significant amount of team training." He replaced his Kunai into his pocket.

"That's why I asked for you," was Kakashi's reply. "Don't forget the main reason you're here." Naruto shouted a billion words of anger in the singular peeved glance he sent the jounin's way. It was, in his mind anyway, impossible to forget the reason why. Only one more A mission and one recommendation from "Mr. Perpetually-late" here, he knew. Then I can take the jounin exam with Lord Hokage. Gai and Asuma had provided him with recommendations after he'd been on their missions. With Kakashi he'd hopefully get lucky number three and then, he'd meet the minimum requirement for elite ninja training. After ass-loads of C and D missions, going on B and higher ranked missions (as was required by Chunin rank) were a good bit of relief. After all, he was a youko—a higher-order fox demon—and he liked to eat his kill. One couldn't get human flesh on flower planting missions.

"Alright," he conceded. "We'll be training chakra balance first." Taking two kunai from his pocket on his hip he threw them near the feet of his companions.

"What're we using these for?" The blonde ninja craned his neck towards Sakura, who'd asked.

"To climb trees," he uttered. Before questions could be asked, he began to calmly walk up the side of the massive piece of lumber, perfectly focusing chakra in each step. Both genin stood amazed at his talent. Reaching a high branch allowed him to mark a success point for them to reach. After carving a pass-fail mark he leapt down to his comrades' level. "You may keep trying until you get up there. Remember to clear your mind and focus on the tree and its chakra," he explained. "An expert nin can do it without thinking, and that's what you want to get at. This exercise helps you develop proper chakra use, because like spells working or not, if you over or underuse your chakra, you'll get a similar failure. Begin."

Almost a blink after his instruction, they were off and running. The difference between the two genin became apparent when Sasuke made a mere three successful steps and then landed his next step without using enough chakra, and dropped like a stone. Sakura, however, made sure to hit the mark on her first attempt, without losing or hesitating once. In response to these results, Naruto let loss a surprised sign. "Well THAT was certainly unexpected. So much for the 'Pride of the Uchiha.' Trumped by a girl with half your latent chakra." He received, in response, the finger from Sasuke. "Don't get angry with me," he warned. "In a real combat situation, fear, anger, pain and frustration can cause you to lose ability to think clearly and focus. If you can't concentrate under ideal peace conditions, well…"

"Shut UP!" Sasuke demanded making one step more than his prior attempt before once again falling.

"Predictable outcome." Naruto turned to Kakashi a moment. "Wake me if he passes." Locking his muscles in place, he fell asleep standing up. Instead of a third attempt, Sasuke charged at the slumbering shinobi. The very moment the Uchiha was an inch from the blonde nin with blades drawn, he found his arm grabbed. A single, smooth motion later saw him on his belly with his head in a left-arm headlock and a kunai to his throat. A playful smile found its way to Naruto's face. "Lesson three; never assume your foe is off-guard. For that matter, never assume. Assume makes an ass out of you and me."

Sasuke reassumed a standing position. "Funny, I don't seem to recall one and two."

"One is don't lose your cool in combat, and two is not to disrespect me." He pointed to the tree. "Now quit dicking around and get back to work." Kakashi grinned at the Uzumaki's display of dominance. Sasuke does not appreciate Naruto's harshness, he knew. In razzing him on, he tests his ability to remain calm. He trains an element of focus in him. He frowned, if just a moment. But he's far overdoing it, and he's lavishing in his rank and skill superiority. Still he's getting more results from him that I could alone. Perhaps I could let him be their head honcho a bit more. After all, he'll need instruction practice if he plans on being a jounin.

I'll show this fool, Sasuke thought. I'll surpass him and then we'll see who earns respect. I don't care if he is the 'honorable son' of our Yondaime Hokage. With a running start he attached to the side of the tree and began upward. Clearing his mind allowed him several more steps than his previous attempt, and he made the pass mark on his fourth attempt.

"Very impressive," Naruto praised the young genin. Four was one less attempt than was required when he had been administered the same test. "Now, Kakashi-sama, do we have a practice mission?"

"Indeed," Kakashi offered, pulling a pamphlet from his pocket. "We are to escort a man named Tazuna to the land of the waves. Basic protection from bandits and highwaymen has been requested." Personally the copy nin had his doubts, but hey, that's why he asked for a chunin's accompaniment. Naruto frowned; yet another boring D mission. Generic protections were, by far, the most uneventful of the D class, right up there with cat catching. Still, it may afford some chances to teach the girl and the prettyboy a few combat lessons. "I, being a jounin, must attend some matters with Lord Hokage. You guys, however, will require training for the missions ahead. Naruto will be in charge of training while I'm gone."

Once Kakashi had left their sight, the blonde nin took up fighting stance. "Two on one," he egged. "Come at me." Sakura barely had time to blink before her foe appeared in front of her to slam into her with elbow extended, throwing her backwards into the bushes. He then turned to Sasuke, and a quick transformation saw a mirror image of the Uchiha.

Eliminate the weaker, then transform into the other to confuse her upon returning to battle, Sasuke realized. It was truly a clever plan. "Nice one." He ducked below a furious roundhouse kick and attempted to return fire with an uppercut, and nailed his target. Naruto, however, made use of his speed and delivered a sharp kick to the chest at the same time. They both flew backwards from the other's hit. Sasuke flipped to land on his feet while Naruto hit like a thrown rock, kicking up a trail of dirt as he landed back first. The Uchiha made rapid hand signs. Throwing his hand up to his mouth he released a fireball. It found itself hastily dodged.

Sakura got out of the bushes and saw two Sasuke's fighting. Carefully she approached. Naruto who had use of his demon mind, carefully and hastily scanned the memories of Sasuke in search of any sort of password they agreed upon for a situation close to this one. He found one through pure luck. "Heavenly starburst!" Naruto shouted, surprising his male opponent long enough to hit him in the face with a rising knee. He bounded and landed next to Sakura.

"Nice one, Sasuke!" she cried, readying a kunai as the real Uchiha began to recover. "I guess chunin doesn't matter!"

Without wasting a moment he elbowed her in the side of the head then sent her flying with a furious side kick. In the air he landed a flying spin kick to her gut which knocked her out. "Oh, you'd be surprised."

At that precise moment he reached out and grabbed the neck of an attacking Sasuke. Dropping his transform jutsu he gathered, in his other hand, a rapidly-spinning power ball of chakra. "RASENGAN!" he shouted, driving the sphere into his opponent's abdomen. The force of the exploding mass chucked Sasuke violently through a large boulder into some trees, where one split under the force of his impact.

A while later when they came to, and he explained the errors that allowed their loss. "Other than mere miscalculation, you made the mistake of immediately trusting." He turned to the kunoichi. "Sakura, I knew you'd believe I was Sasuke the moment I said the password. Part of the success of my trap was based on you not trying to seek further answers. If you had not let your guard down I'd have likely failed." He then focused on Sasuke. "You did excellently. You saw my plan at once and gathered how it had to be foiled." He frowned. "But, in your desire to bring the combat to a hasty end you sacrificed speed for power, and couldn't keep up. All the power in the world is useless if you can't hit your foe. Furthermore, you always charged straight at me. You should have tried a distraction and hid yourself." Naruto cleared his throat. "You guys break for ramen, or whatever. Mission's tomorrow."