It had been a few weeks since Naruto failed the graduation test and one of his teachers had tricked him into stealing a sacred scroll that ultimately resulted in Naruto becoming a ninja. Since that day he had been placed on Kakashi's squad along with Sakura and Sasuke, needless to say there was never a dull moment with the blonde ball of energy. For a while now there had been something bothering him about Naruto, he couldn't quite place his finger on it but something was different.

Kakashi remembered Naruto as a child; he was wild and energetic, never thinking of the consequences before he acted. Nothing much had changed since he had retired from ANBU a few years prior, the kid still never ran out of energy and he still charged head first into trouble. He had always been a quick thinker with fast reflexes but lately he had noticed that Naruto seemed to be, not exactly smarter in his actions but more conscious of possible outcomes to his actions. And because of his ability to think quickly on his feet and choose the best outcome he was advancing faster than Sasuke and Sakura.

This of course infuriated Sasuke to no end and Kakashi had exploited that to help Sasuke and Naruto push themselves harder through rivalry. Sakura was still too blinded by puppy love to concentrate on being a real ninja, but he had faith that she'd get it one day.

They were currently on mission in the Land of Waves and after a nasty tangle with Zabuza, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist; he was now limping around with a crutch. He had decided to squeeze in some last minute training to help them with chakra control, the tree walking exercise to be more specific. He led his little squad into a patch of woods on the outskirts of the small village to teach them this technique. When he had first told them and demonstrated to them how to climb a tree using only their feet, both Sakura and Sasuke had looked surprised while Naruto remained quiet which was unusual in its self.

The three had all taken positions beneath different trees and on his mark had proceeded to start the exercise. He watched Sasuke run about ten feet up the tree before making his mark and jumping back down to the ground. He looked over to see that Sakura was sitting on a tree branch about twenty feet off the ground looking pleased with herself, out of his team of genin, she definitely had the best chakra control. He then turned his attention to Naruto, whom he expected to be on the ground glaring at his tree he hadn't managed to climb.

But he didn't see Naruto on the ground and he didn't see him on any of the lower hanging branches of any of the nearby trees. Kakashi nearly fell out of the tree when he looked up to see Naruto hanging upside down on a tree branch fifty feet from the ground. He obviously had already learned this technique, but the question was where and why hadn't he shown this ability before.

"Congratulations Naruto, it seems you've already mastered tree climbing." He said and then glanced down to see Sasuke glaring up at his blonde teammate and Sakura staring at him open mouthed.

He really knew he shouldn't be surprised, after all Naruto hadn't earned the name Most Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja for nothing. But even after watching him in secret all these years and the brat still managed to surprise him. It made him wonder if he really would become Hokage one day just like his father; after all, an unpredictable opponent was a dangerous one. But for now he would keep a closer watch on Naruto and his training outside of team workouts.

It had been three hours since they started this little bit of last minute training, Sasuke was still going strong, having managed to get at least seventeen or so feet from the ground. Sakura on the other hand was sitting at the base of her tree and breathing heavily, she didn't have as much chakra as her male teammates, but she had good control over the chakra she did have. If she could learn to employ her excellent chakra control in battle she would be a worthy adversary.

Naruto on the other hand had been doing a more interesting workout. For the first forty-five minutes he had meditated upside down on the branch he had been standing on. He honestly didn't know that the kid could not only sit still that long but also remain quiet for so long. After his meditation he had begun a basic workout of pull-ups, sit-ups and push-ups. The closer Kakashi looked the more he realized he was working against resistance, was he wearing training weights?

Yes he would definitely need to keep a closer eye on Naruto.

XxX

The mission to the Land of Waves was officially over and Kakashi and the rest of team seven began the journey back to the Leaf. Upon learning that the bridge Tazuna had finished building was to be named 'The Great Naruto Bridge', Naruto had immediately begun to gloat to Sasuke. It had only ended ten minutes later when Sakura had flung a well-aimed punch to his head. Kakashi actually hadn't minded, Naruto reminded him a lot of a few of the people who meant most to him in the world.

He had Minato-sensei's looks and determination, Kushina's wild personality and unmatched stamina. Then there was the way that he and Sasuke interacted with each other, it was so reminiscent of the way he and Obito used to act with each other that he couldn't help but smile and wonder how Minato-sensei put up with them. At first, he hadn't wanted to train Naruto at all, afraid it would bring too many bad memoires, but the kid grew on you whether you wanted him to or not.

The only thing that plagued Kakashi's mind now that the mission was over was what had happened on the bridge. He hadn't seen it but then he didn't need to, there was only one kind of chakra that felt that sinister and it had been sealed in a newborn twelve years ago. But then just as suddenly as it had come it had vanished. The whole thing was confusing really, he knew Sakura hadn't seen what happened and Sasuke said he had been unconscious at the time. He needed to talk to Naruto to find out what exactly happened, he just needed to get him away from the others to talk about it now.

When they were about half a day away from Konoha, Kakashi told them to set up camp for the night. Sakura went about preparing things for supper while Sasuke went to a nearby stream to gather water for them all. Naruto had gone off into the woods nearby in search of wood for the fire. Normally Kakashi would have found a place on the outskirts of the campsite to read his novel, which Naruto so affectionately referred to as porn. Instead he decided to slip away in to the nearby woods so he could talk to Naruto without the other two listening in.

He found the mini Minato with his arms full of sticks about twenty feet from the camp. "Naruto." he called out as he drew closer.

"Oh, hey Kakashi-sensei." He said giving him a suspicious look. "Why aren't you reading your porn?"

Kakashi suppressed a twitch.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened on the bridge." He said. "From the time Sasuke passed out until Haku jumped in front of my lightning blade are a complete mystery and I need to know what happened for my report."

"Oh." Naruto said as he looked toward the sky and began scratching the back of his head. "I don't really remember exactly what happened. One second I thought Sasuke had beaten him and then he collapsed and I thought he was dead." Naruto frowned as he screwed up his face in concentration. "Then I got really mad at Haku and that's where it gets hazy."

Kakashi nodded, that must be when the nine-tails chakra leaked out. "What's the next thing you remember clearly?"

"I think I punched him and I was getting ready to punch him again when his mask fell off. It was weird, kinda like all my anger just disappeared when I recognized him as the guy I saw in the woods the day before." Naruto scratched his head and then shrugged. "Then he told me about how his dad killed his mom and tried to kill him all because he had a bloodline limit. Then Zabuza found him and turned him into a tool and because he was no longer useful he wanted me to kill him but just before I could he ran off."

Naruto wasn't the most perceptive of ninja but he was a quick learner if he really puts his mind to it. This was probably the first time he had ever used Kyuubi's chakra and he doubted it would be the last, the ideal thing would be to teach Naruto to use the demonic chakra but Kakashi wouldn't even know where to start. Maybe he could attempt to bribe Jiraiya into coming back to Konoha for a while, if anyone could find him. Should he even mention that he had used the other chakra or just let it be, probably just let it be for now?

"There's just one more thing I wanted to ask you." He said as Naruto looked back up at him. "Where did you learn the tree walking exercise?"

"Uh? Oh I found a scroll for it in this clearing where I train." He said as he bent down to pick up a few more sticks.

"Do you often find scrolls there for you?" he asked. Who was helping Naruto train?

"Not all the time, sometimes they're in my apartment and its mostly just taijutsu on the scrolls."

"Do you know who is leaving the scrolls for you?" he asked, he needed to inform the Hokage about this and maybe trail Naruto for a few days.

Naruto adverted his eyes. "No, I kinda thought it was one of the ANBU guards that are always following me." A liar, Naruto was not.

"Wait, you knew you had ANBU guards?" he asked stunned.

"Well yeah, how do you think I did half the stuff I did without getting caught in the process?" he asked with a toothy smile.

Kakashi snorted, if this kid could obtain some form of common sense he would be a truly terrifying ninja to encounter on the battlefield. Just like his father. He wrapped up their conversation and began walking back to the camp smiling at a memory of when he was in ANBU. Ibiki had been laughing with a few of the captains about how he had convinced Naruto that only the best ninja wore orange. Two weeks later Ibiki's inbox had been full of complaints about how even though the ten year old was in bright orange clothing he still managed to sneak into the jounin lounge undetected to set up a trap that involved yellow paint and glitter. Apparently the kid was so sneaky now Tenzo had been assigned as his personal watcher because of his special tracking seeds that he could plant on the little brat.