Reviews! Could use some more, but keep em coming xD They're a great motivator. I'll keep the poll open for a few more days, considering I only started this fic a few days ago. I've got some interesting things in store, though :) Just need the story to tell itself, in due time.

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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Naruto could be found heading to the hot springs. Why not get some rnr while you've got some free time, eh? He still had an hour and a half before his lesson with Ebisu would start, and that left enough time to speak with the Kyuubi. He silently wondered to himself if she had a name. Being called nine-tailed all the time could get annoying. Oh well. A discussion for another time.

He arrived at a fairly boisterous hot spring, after a few minutes of sprinting. He didn't come here that often, but this was one of the few places that refused to turn him down. Main reason being that the majority of the people that came here were shinobi. Business was booming today, the springs were packed. He noticed, however, that most of the customers (note: over 90%) were kunoichi. Ho boy. He could sense the pervert around here somewhere. He's going to be well-hidden, though. With this many kunoichi around, if you were spotted peeping, you were a dead man.

Time for some RNR, eh? He payed the entry fee and headed to the changing area designated for males. Stripped down, get a towel on, and headed straight for the springs. Thank whatever being's up there that the bathing areas were still separated. The boy didn't know if he could handle seeing all those kunoichi naked. While he has matured mentally in most areas, women were still for the most part, a mystery to him. He got into the springs, melting into the near-scalding waters.

"Ahhhhhhh." The boy relaxed, remembering that he needed to talk to the Kyuubi. With a mutter of "Kage Bunshin Justu", he created a single clone of himself, and another mutter of "Henge", the clone assumed the form of a bird. Said bird (the clone) took perch on a tree. 'Keep watch, do something if you for see any danger or if I'm out for too long.' After hearing a quick chirp from the bird, Naruto set off to meet the Kyuubi.

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Shutting everything out around him, he delved into the inner workings of his mind, towards where the seal is located. The black world suddenly flashed brightly, blinding the blond momentarily. The blonde closed his eyes to shield them from the light. He reopened them only to reveal a pair of slitted eyes. That wasn't the only thing that was different. What was once a world of darkness around him had changed into a vast, grassy plain. If you looked far enough, you could see a couple of mountains in the distance. He hadn't been in his mindscape for a few months, he was, quite naturally, surprised. Seeing as it was a sewer before, he was, quite frankly, surprised. He gave the Kyuubi control over how his mindscape would look, but he didn't think it would be this big of a change. He had also slipped out of his genjutsu, returning to his full height of 6'2''. The only difference between the outside world and within his mindscape, is that his hanyou features were fully visible in his mindscape.

"Fucking a...now I have to find her." His face scrunched up in a look of displeasure.

"I'm right here, babe." He turned around, much to his pleasure, to find the fox demoness in her human form. She stood at a comfortable 5'7". Her most noticeable feature would be her eyes. They almost glowed. The irises of her eyes were a deep scarlet red, while her pupils slitted, and a deep black. One could lose oneself just staring into those eyes all day, but Naruto knew better. Her face was free from blemishes. Her skin was a light porcelain, which was rare these days. Every kunoichi these days were sunburnt to a certain degree due to the missions they're taking outside the village. The kimono that she was wearing was very form-fitting, accentuating her every last curve. Her hair was a soft amber color, falling down to her shoulders. The next thing that popped out to you, literally, were her perky breasts. As inviting as they looked, he didn't dare to do anything to piss off the deity.

"Hey there!" He chirped out with a smile, hoping she still wasn't pissed off about waking her up.

"Hey." Judging by her tone, she obviously wasn't amused.

"Sorry about waking you up earlier, Kyuubi-sama." He forced through his teeth. The formalities were really a drag, but he felt that they were needed, speaking to a being that was almost as old as the earth that he resided on. Now, physically, one would thing that there was no way on earth to seal a being as powerful as her into a child, but the Shinigami wasn't bound to the earth. Well, at the time, the Shinigami was assigned to the earth, but regardless, he isn't bound to the earth. She sighed. She understood the thinking behind the boy's logic, but honestly... "Cut the formalities, kid. And call me Haru. That's the name I was given as a kit." The boy nodded, sighing with relief. "Now, you had a question about something, didn't you?"

Nodding, "Yeah. You've been around for a while, haven't you?" Ignoring the indirect jab, Haru nodded. "Do you know anything about flying? Not like the birds, the concept behind that is simple. I'm talking as a human being. Is there something that can be done with chakra manipulation, or something?" Haru chuckled.

"You know, even though the human race has been around for a couple millenniums, they have never thought about flight as a being. A few thousand years ago, they created devices that could carry a few people across great distances, but again, people never voiced thoughts about flying as an individual." She recalled, thinking back to the era of aerial devices. Of course, she's thought about this a couple of times before, but never gave it serious thought, berating herself for thinking such childish thoughts. "I always thought that thoughts on flight and such were trivial, thinking it was impossible. But with the knowledge of chakra becoming common knowledge two centuries ago, pretty much anything is possible. Two things that are evident from this would be the tree and water walking exercises, as you humans put it." She cupped her chin in thought. "Theoretically, it is possible." The boy perked up.

"Really? No berating me on the immaturity of the thought, no nothing?" The boy looked confused. Surely, the thought was a bit far-fetched, but he didn't expect a straight answer.

Haru chuckled again, but this time, with more mirth. "That's the kind of thinking that prevents society these days to stand still, just as they have thousands of years ago. They tend to berate those that stick out, usually out of fear of whatever consequences they create in their minds." She paused for a moment, before continuing. "You're supposed to be learning the water-walking exercise from the closet pervert today, aren't you?" She continued after receiving a nod from the boy. "You should be able to integrate the two chakra control exercises you've learnt with a few alterations to the tree walking exercise."

Thoroughly confused, all that the young boy could come out with an unintelligible "Huh?" Scrunched up face, and all.

Sighing, she begun to explain. "You can do the tree walking exercise, right?" She deadpanned, to which Naruto nodded. "Explain your interpretation of it."

Before taking a moment to collect his thoughts he started. "It's basically pumping chakra to your feet, then finding an equal balance between too much and not enough chakra. Too much and you get pushed off, too little and you fall off. Given, if you find a right angle to place your feet, you can probably climb up a fairly short tree without the use of chakra." Fairly satisfied with his explanation, Haru nodded.

"Correct. Part of the reason you don't understand my theory is that you don't know the basics behind water walking just yet. You should, however, know it after today. Balancing yourself on a kunai is a whole nothing thing. That exercise is mainly meant to help you with your control. Talk to me after you're done with the exercise today, then we'll talk." The boy nodded, just in time to feel his henged Kage Bunshin dispel. "That's your queue. Come back in your sleep." The boy nodded once again and left for the real world. "Let's see how quickly the boy can get a grasp at this one." She smirked, before reverting back to her fox form, then set off to hunt.

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Perverted giggling could be heard from Naruto's spot in the onsen (hot springs). Grumbling, he set off to find the source of the noise. He wasn't hoping to meet his alleged grandfather just yet, but he might as well get it over with. He found him staring into a peephole, while scribbling furiously into a notepad. He quickly hid his presence, and sneaked up to the sage, hoping to surprise him. He quickly took a mental picture of his clothing. Well, for starters, there was that unruly white hair that he had. He noticed that the very tips of his hair were really sharp. It seemed almost illogical to keep it there. It'd normally just get in the way in the middle of a fight. Naruto simply shrugged. It's his life, so whatever. A green cloth undershirt that went to his wrists, and a red cloth vest that went over the undershirt. He couldn't see it from behind, but he also had a fishnet shirt under his undershirt. Along with all that, he had a clay headband with the Kanji for 'Oil' written on it. It had two, little spikes at the side, kind of like horns. He was about to pat him on the shoulder to get his attention, but he just got a better idea.

"Oi. Ero-Jiji." The old toad Sannin had to cover his mouth to keep from letting out a surprised yelp. Obviously, he's had years of practice. He turned around, expecting a brat to be there. Low and behold, he found his grandson sitting next to him on the same rock. Nostalgia flashed over his face before he began to look annoyed.

'There aren't that many blondes in Konoha, and he sure as hell ain't a Yamanaka.' He mused. He began to try to figure out who the kid was, before he came to realization. 'Well, shit. If it isn't Minato's boy.' "What'dya want, gaki?"

The younger of the two sighed, then began to talk. "The old man said something about bugging you for some training. Your son's ace dumped me to go train the Uchiha, so little ol' me's stuck here with no sensei. Soooooo...seeing as how you and ba-chan left me here to rot, I'd expect something to make it up."

'So he does know. The kid's sharp. And where the hell did he get the attitude?' He broke out of the his mental rambling when he sensed thin wisps of chakra being emanated from the boy. He raised his eyebrows at the finding. "What's with the genjutsu? And I'm busy doing some research at the moment, so you'll have to wait. Now let's see behind what'd door number one..." He started to form the hand seal for releasing genjutsu, which was simple 'Rat' sign. As he we about to release it, the younger boy put his hands over his and surged a small portion of chakra into his hand, hitting a few major tenketsu. 'The fuck?' He tried to move his hands, but found his efforts useless. "The hell did you do, gaki?"

"Can't take notes if you can't write em down, can you?" The younger boy chuckled. This was short lived, however, as the older man pinned Naruto to the ground using his feet. "What the hell was that for?"

"I want my hands back."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The younger boy smirked.

"You don't, you say?"

"Nope."

"How strong are the fox's healing powers, again?"

"Uh...weak?" The boy managed to croak out. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next...

Crack.

The boy's screaming could be heard from other side of Konoha.

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Now, days off were rare for kunoichi. Especially when they were Jounin rank. The missions were demanding and the wages were bare minimal for th jobs that they were sent out to do. So, whenever they had days off, they took every measure to make sure that they got the most they could out of their RNR time. This was, however, hard to do when you have two people bickering on the other side of the bamboo wall separating the two sexes. Women, being the fairer of of the two, tolerated the noises. Until of course, one of the two started to scream. Pretty loudly, too.

"What'd you think that was, Kurenai?" Today was the day most jounin chose to take their days off. Among them were Kurenai, Anko and Yuugao.

"Beats me. Sounds like one of them lost a pissing contest." Answered the chocolate-haired beauty. Wearing only a towel.

Anko and Yuugao chuckled lightly, although they were cut short when they heard another ear-shattering scream come from the other side.

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Naruto could be found with two fingers that were popped out of their sockets, courtesy of the 'Great Jiraiya'.

"Yeah, sure, break my fingers, that's a fucking great way to greet your grandson." The boy popped his fingers back in, gritting his teeth at the pain of his fingers going back into their sockets.

"What can I say? I'm not really a people person." Jiraiya started to feel his hands again, slowly groping the thin air, getting the feeling back in them. "So what the hell was that? Neat trick. Scared me there for a second."

Still wincing, the younger boy answered. "Don't drop my genjutsu in public. I'll tell you why later. Anyway, what do you say to that training?"

"Like I said, I'm kind of busy right now." Earning a glare from the boy, he continued. "I think I have some free time later today, though..." The boy nodded.

" Perfect. I was supposed to learn water walking and some other chakra control bullcrap from someone in a few minutes, so that works out." The older man nodded. 'How the hell did he close his tenketsu without knowing water walking? The boy must have incredible control.'

" Alright, then. Meet me at the springs two miles east of Konoha tomorrow at 8 in the morning. Oh, and pack a few things. The Third asked me to find someone in case something happens to him during the finals of the exam." After a questioning glance from the younger boy, the man responded. "What, you don't want to go on a short training trip? Whatever." He shrugs. "Your loss, kid."

"No no no! I'll be there." 'Now there's some more pressure. Gotta finish whatever Ebisu's exercises quickly.' "Who're we going to be looking for?"

"Heh. That'll be a surprise for you, kid." 'Wonder what Tsunade will say if I told her the kid's still alive?'

They were interrupted when Ebisu finally arrived at the onsen. Much to their relief, he was still wearing his black get-up.

"Jiraiya-sama? Pardon the rudeness, but what are you doing here?"

"I was just leaving, in fact. See you tomorrow, kid." With that, he bolted. In the wrong direction. Instead of landing outside the springs as he planned, he jumped right into the middle of the women's side of the onsen.

"I would feel sorry for him, but he really deserved that." Ebisu could only nod at the boy.

"Now, shall we begin?"

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