Well, glad to see that you guys liked it so far ^^ Anyways, I need to find an editor for my stories, because whenever I do it myself it's usually half-assed. I figured that most of the introductory chapters will be fairly short, but will be updated every few days, so bear with me here xD On with the story!

Narration

"Speech"

Thoughts

Kyuubi/Bijou's Thoughts

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY WORK OR WORKS RELATED TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO. THIS IS PURELY A FAN-MADE FICTION.

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"Well that was quite frank. Didn't know you felt that strongly about me." Sakura was trying as hard as she could to keep a straight face. She knew her teammate liked her, but not to this extent. And what's with him today? He isn't acting like his usual happy, bubbly self. 'He looks pretty hot without that retarded jacket on, too.'

" It was a figure of speech, Sakura-chan!" Naruto si ghed internally, he forgot to put up his normal facade. As he slipped into his usual character, he noticed Sakura's blush fade away slowly. 'Wow, are these clothes really that different? I guess it's the little things.' "I guess we should get going to the hokage tower, eh?" He grinned to his teammate, who looked insulted.

" I didn't make it to the finals, remember?" 'Oh shit. Suppose I should've paid attention to the matches yesterday. Not that I really care about her, the exam's all solo from this point on.' "Well, I'm going to the hokage tower. See you later Sakura-chan!"

He set off for said tower, ignoring the stares that he grew so accustomed to. His mind was filled with thoughts of the purple-haired kunoichi from yesterday. She was sitting in the stands across from where the participants were sitting. Along with her were all the Jounin sensei's of the teams that were left. Sure, they interesting to a certain degree, but Anko was the only one that managed to catch the young boy's attention. Apart from her outside appearance, he could sense that she was hiding something. He wanted to learn what was behind the obvious mask that she was wearing all the time. 'Wonder what happened to her for her to put up that mask...' He arrived at the tower almost immediately, obviously lost in his thoughts. He chuckled to himself. Perhaps cracking the purple-haired goddess will prove to be interesting, ne?

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"I have an appointment with the Hokage at 8:00." The receptionist checked the book, only to frown. His name was actually on the appointment list, so he couldn't tell him off today. He nodded, and sent a message to the Hokage that Naruto had arrived for the meeting.

As he walked up, he noticed a few things different in the hall leading to the main office. For one, there was a slight trace of blood. It still smelled fresh, so an attack happening last night was likely. That, or Danzo was up to something again. The old hawk never learns, does he? He knocked on the door.

" Enter." After Naruto entered the room, the third made some quick handsigns, activating a Chinmoku(silence, regarding to privacy) Jutsu.

"Ne, old man, I'm supposed to be getting a replacement sensei, aren't I?" The blonde grinned, wondering who it could be.

" Drop the mask and henge, kid, no one else is here." He sighed. Watching him keep his charade up all the time pained the old man. I mean, give the kid some credit. He knew Naruto wasn't as stupid as everyone thought he was. Years of being raised with hate from the ignorance of the villagers forced the boy to mature at a much younger age. After a questioning glance from the blonde, he nodded. "Finally decided to scrap the jacket, eh? Maybe you won't be the walking target you want everyone to believe now." Hiruzen chuckled.

Sighing, he nodded. With a quick mutter of 'Kai', a plume of smoke radiated off him. When the plume cleared, a slightly taller Naruto could be seen. In his henged form, he stood at 5' 6''. In his true form, he stood at 6'2''. Not much could be noticed at a glance, aside from his taller stature. His hair was still the same color, aside from a few darker orange streaks in it. Upon closer inspection, one could notice that his ears were more pointed towards the end, slightly slitted eyes. Along with that, his birthmarks were a bit more defined, giving him a more feral look. If one were to look closer, they would notice a ghost of a tail behind him. Even when he dropped the henge, he still kept the more noticable feature under henge.

" Yeah. Getting it shredded yesterday was a good excuse. So, who's the new 'sensei'? I know he won't be as good as Kakashi, but maybe I'll learn something for once." Now that he thought back, he actually learned something from Kakashi. Granted, he only learned one thing from the copy-nin, one could tell he was peeved whenever it came to the subject of his 'sensei'.

"Oh, you'll like this." The third chuckled. "You know I trained the sannin, right?" The boy nodded, he had a ghost of a guess on who his new teacher would be. "Well, one of them are here in Konoha, intent on doing some more thorough 'research' for his books." The boy put on a full blown grin now, having a good idea of who he was. "Well, if you can find him, I'm sure you can bug him to teach you a few things. He still owes his grandson for leaving him here, you know." The boy nodded.

"So the old perv is my new teacher, eh?"

"Not exactly..."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Ebisu." A loud smack could be heard inside the Hokage's office. Naruto could be found with a hand over his face.

"You're kidding me, right? That closet pervert's barely good for anything. Your grandson may look up to him, but he's barely worth my time."

" I'm perfectly aware of this. That's why I'm only having him teach you some chakra control exercises. You may be able to make lots of Kage Bunshin, but they have nothing to do with control." Even more than I can...the Kyuubi's reserves are something else...regardless. "The technique has nothing to do with control, it's all raw power. Imagine how much more clones you could make with more control." Sighing, the boy nodded. "You know the tree climbing exercise, right?" The boy nodded. "Then I'll have him teach you water walking along with balancing yourself on a kunai, using every angle of the body. I don't expect you to finish by the time the day's done, so try to finish soon so you can have more time with Jiraiya." The boy nodded once again. After that, the third was about to release the Chinmoku Jutsu, before the boy stopped him quickly.

"I've got a quick question, regarding chakra control."

"Shoot."

The boy grinned sheepishly, scratching the head before proceeding with the question. "Would it be possibly to fly using chakra? Sorry for the apparent immaturity of the question, but the question's been really bugging me." The old man eyed the young boy critically.

"Where'd you get the idea?"

Surprised at the question, the boy responded, before blushing at the recollection of the dream. "I've been having these recurring dreams...where I'm in the sky. Whether I'm falling down or going up, I can't tell. All I know is, I'm REALLY high in the sky." The old man eyed Naruto warily.

" Dreams are dreams. Leave flying to the birds. If you're really interested in it, though, take it up with the Kyuubi. I'm sure he's experimented with something like that before." Naruto nodded, before putting on his usual genjutsu. Slipping into his mask, he grinned his stupid grin. Hearing a sigh from the old man, he undid the Chinmoku Jutsu. He paged the receptionist, requesting that Ebisu be sent up. After a few minutes, knocking could be heard from the door. With a quick mutter of "Enter.", Ebisu walked into the office.

" HEY there, closet perv! What'll you be teaching me? Huh?" Naruto groaned internally. He hated this mask. Then again, he remembered what the third said about contacting the Kyuubi. 'Oi, fox.' He heard some shuffling going on in his head before she responded. Oh, yes. Contrary to the common thought of powerful beings being masculine, the Kyuubi was female in spirit. How he learned this fact was an interesting story in itself, but that will be left for another time.

'I wish you'd stop calling me that.' She whined.

'I need to talk to you later about something'

'You woke me up for just that? She sounded peeved.

'Sorry, go back to sleeping.' He didn't feel like a arguing with the fox yet. Way too early in the morning.

Ebisu sighed. He wasn't having the best of days. He had to start his day with tracking down the little runt (Konohamaru), then he found out he had to teach the demon contrainer chakra control. No, he knew better than to call him the Kyuubi reincarnated. He one of the few Konoha nin that was aware of the fact that the only thing stopping the Kyuubi from destroying Konoha all over again is the kid. Not that he had anything against the blonde Jinkurichi, he was just annoying. What impressed him most of all is the fact that the blonde never let the villagers get to him. An upbringing of hate, courtesy of the ignorant villagers of this village. He wasn't quite sure if he could have done it himself. Neither was he sure if the boy was completely sane. His outer shell seemed to be alright, but he has witnessed times when he dropped his mask.

That's another thing. Almost every ninja was aware that the young blonde was wearing a mask. The only ones that actually believed the blatant lie were the majority of ignorant villagers, and most ninja his age, with the exception of Shikimaru. He was the only one sharp enough to figure it out. Why he didn't let it down around the elder shinobi was a mystery. Most of them chalked it up to; "It's easier this way."

" We're going to the hot springs. Be there by 11:00. Keep the genjutsu on if you must, but please drop the mask. It's really beginning to get on my nerves." The boy looked surprised for a moment, before nodding. A look of indifference glazed across the boy's face.

The boy nodded at the bandanna-wearing man, then questioning him. "How'd you know?"

" Give us some credit, boy. The mask you're wearing is practically oozes strained emotion. Sure, you can keep it around the younger ones, but learn to drop it around the older generation." The boy nodded, then left the office.

'The hot springs, eh? The pervy-sage should be there. I should finish up quickly, then.'

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Anyway, read and review! XD could use some constructive criticism as well.

Quick poll: Should Sasuke be a douche as usual, or will he be a main character? go go vote