Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise nor do I make any money off of my work. This is done entirely for fun.

Hi everyone, looks like I actually managed to keep my schedule, I was even a little early. I think this is how I'll keep mu posting schedule for the time being so expect another update on November 15th.

I want to take the time to make it clear that this Will Not be a Naruto x Mabui pairing. I'm not sure what the exact pairing will be but it will be with a girl around his own age, or at least one I made around his own age. I don't usually answer comments in the author's note, I try to do that in the story, but I want to make this very clear because it keeps popping up.

I want to apologize for the lack of a scene break in between the authors note and the story. There was supposed to be but the site is horrible with formatting. I'll try to fix that but I'm not sure how successful I'll be

Finally, I want to say that it looks like I'm going to have a beta reader for this story. Cloud Narukami hasn't edited this chapter but I think will the next.

Thanks for the Reviews and Favorites and Follows. I really enjoy knowing that so many people like my work. Thanks.

_A Kumo Ninja_

Naruto's concentration was interrupted by a shout from across the training field. He cursed inwardly and tried to regain control of his chakra but found that it was too late. He cursed to himself again as the trickle of water that he had been holding up fell on him once again.

Naruto walked out from under the tiny waterfall and looked around for the person who had interrupted his training. No one was immediately visible but Naruto just took that as a challenge. It took him another two minutes to locate a man hiding in a tree nearby.

Still acting as though he was looking for the man, Naruto reached into his pocket and grabbed the object sitting there. Naruto took one last glance around to make sure that the man hadn't moved before looking away.

Naruto took a deep breath, to make sure that his concentration held, before drawing and throwing the object he had grabbed, still without looking at the man. As soon as the object left his hand, Naruto whipped his head around to see where it landed.

To Naruto's annoyance, the object landed in the man's outstretched hand, which was now right next to him. He pouted resignedly before commenting.

"Aww, I though I had you that time."

The man took a moment to examine the object he was holding before responding.

"A marker? Really?"

Naruto grinned excitedly as he explained.

"It was Yugito's idea. She said that we should use weighted markers to get an exact mark where we hit. It's loads better than wooden kunai."

The man considered Naruto's word for a moment before nodding in acceptance.

"Huh, I guess that works. As long as they're weighted like a kunai they could really help improve your accuracy."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

"That's the idea. So far it had only helped a little but I've only used it for about a week. I want to see what happens if I use it for month or so."

The man nodded his head again.

"Good. It's actually a very promising training method. If it works as well as I believe it can I'll bring it to the Raikage, he's always looking for better methods to train his shinobi."

Naruto beamed at the indirect praise he and his friend had been given. His smile turned more sheepish as he remembered just what had caused the entire marker incident. The man continued on as if he had not realized Naruto's change in mood.

"I also have to compliment you on your observational skills. That was average genin level stealth and, while you could have, and will need to, be faster, I've seen a lot worse."

Naruto accepted the praise again before bringing up a self-critique of what he felt was the worst part about what had just happened. He had learned that honest self-critiques really helped his training.

"My control still needs a lot of work though. I shouldn't have gotten distracted by your shout C-sensei."

C nodded his head in agreement.

"You do need some more work but you're advancing amazingly quickly anyway. It's only been three weeks since we started this exercise and four months since you gained access to your chakra in the first place. That's amazing progress, it usually takes two or three years for people to get where you are. It's even more amazing considering just how much chakra you have."

Naruto grinned at he praise he had received. He had been working on chakra control as much as he could over the past year and it looked like it was paying off. C continued with his praise, Naruto really was learning quite quickly.

"While you still don't have average chakra control, it's at least not bad. I think you're almost ready to start learning jutsu. Not the ones that require careful chakra limits or small amounts of chakra but jutsu none the less." He paused for a moment before completing his thought. "That is, if we can figure out your chakra moulding problem."

Naruto nodded his head firmly before letting out a confident statement.

"Don't worry, I think I almost have the proper moulding for each sign down. I just need to practice more to make it more natural for me."

C shrugged his shoulders. He had never run across anyone who had moulded chakra like Naruto had. He had also never run across anyone Naruto's age who was self-aware enough of his chakra to correct himself.

C noticed that Naruto was preparing to head back to the tiny waterfall and remembered just why he had wanted Naruto's attention in the first place. C called Naruto's attention back to him as he explained what he had in mind.

"Alright Naruto-kun, I think that's enough chakra control for today."

Naruto frowned in irritation.

"But its only two." He whined. "I can keep going. I need to keep going if I want to get good enough to do jutsu."

C snorted at Naruto's reply. He sometimes forgot that Naruto was still just six, he usually acted much older.

"I didn't mean we were going to stop training for the day, I just thought that you had done enough chakra control to start something else."

Naruto's eyes grew huge at the thought of something besides more chakra control exercises.

"Really!? What are we going to do? Is it taijutsu? Or maybe genjutsu, no, wait, that requires a lot of chakra control."

C decided to interrupt Naruto before he decided to just start listing everything a shinobi could do.

"What can you tell me about the five elements?"

Naruto's attention snapped to the present and he began to give the answer to the question in a fast, but clear tone.

"The five chakra elements are fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water. Each element has a weakness and a strength which means that if two jutsu of the same strength but different elements collide, the jutsu with the stronger

element will overpower the other jutsu."

C nodded his head and motioned for Naruto to continue.

"Everyone is born with an affinity to an element, that is their chakra naturally is more in tune with an element which makes working with that element easier. It is possible to gain other elemental affinities through training but that takes time. It is also possible to combine elements together to form more powerful attack or other elements but those take massive amounts of time and practice or a kekkei genkai respectively."

C nodded his head again in appreciation.

"Working on giving reports?"

Naruto flushed at the comment. When he replied it was with a hint of embarrassment and anger.

"Ya, so? Yugito-chan said it was an important skill to learn and it's another thing to do when I can't actively train."

C waved away Naruto's concern.

"No, no. I didn't say that there was anything wrong with learning how to give a report. In fact, I wish more young shinobi learned how to properly give reports."

C watched as Naruto relaxed before returning to the training he had in mind.

"I have to say that you certainly seem to be reading the scrolls Mabui-san gave you. That was an excellent run down on the elements. Now then, based on what you just said, can you guess what you're going to be learning?"

Naruto frowned and ran his hand through his hair in thought. C made a mental note to mention it to Naruto later. It wouldn't do for a shinobi to have such an obvious tell, unless he was using it on purpose.

C was knocked out of his musings by Naruto's answer.

"I have to guess that we're going to do nature transformation training. I thought that was a jonin level technique though, why am I learning it now?"

C was not surprised that Naruto had guessed what he had in mind, it was fairly easy based on what he had just said. He was also not surprised by Naruto's question and had an answer ready just in case.

"Nature transformation training is usually a jonin level technique but not because of its difficulty. Nature transformation training just takes time and chakra, something most lower level shinobi don't have."

Naruto nodded his head to show that he understood.

"I guess that genin are too busy getting their basics down and chunin have too many missions to spend time on nature transformation training."

C shrugged at Naruto's opinion.

"Probably. It could also be that most shinobi don't want to spend the time training an element because they usually get result slowly. By the time you get to jonin, your skills are good enough that you can spend time on training that is not immediately useful."

Naruto nodded his head to show that he understood C's real meaning. Like his chakra control, nature transformation training would take a lot of time. Luckily for him, time was the one thing that he had in abundance. Well time and chakra actually.

C continued with his explanation.

"Now a water affinity is fairly rare in Kumo, that's usually more of Kiri's specialty. Despite that, I have a friend who mastered water as part of his training and he gave me the first step for you."

Naruto nodded his head slowly. He started to speak but hesitated. After another moment, he started speaking slowly, as if taking a great amount of time to consider his words.

"C-Sensei? I don't think that mastering my water affinity is the best idea right now."

C raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had not been expecting this.

"Really? And why's that?"

Naruto bit his lip and took another moment to think his answer through. Finally he started to speak, gaining confidence with every word.

"It's because of what you said about mastering and learning jutsu. If I spend all my time working with water, there would be a lot of ways to beat me. If I do a different element though, I'll have the element I worked on and my natural water affinity. That will make me way stronger."

C nodded his head slowly as he considered what Naruto said. He decided that Naruto made sense but he also wanted to make sure that Naruto was thinking this through completely.

"That makes some sense, but I also said that mastery is important too."

Naruto nodded his head.

"You did and I can work on mastering my water when I have time later, either before I become a shinobi or after, when I'm a jonin. It's just that you said that my affinity is already really strong, like someone who's in the middle of training, so while training would make it incredibly strong, I don't really need it right now."

C gave a shrug and decided that Naruto was right.

"Alright, since you spent so long thinking this through, what element do you want to learn?"

Naruto replied instantly, full of confidence and cheer.

"Lightning!"

C nodded his head. Lightning made a great deal of sense based on what he had just said.

"Lightning, huh, that makes sense. Lightning's strong against earth which water is weak against. It would also give you some protection from the lighting conductivity that water has which can also really hurt you."

Naruto smiled and gave the rest of his reasoning.

"Ya, lightning would really help. It would also allow me to do combo attacks. Well that and lightning is really common in Kumo. That makes training and finding jutsu easier."

C smiled at just how much though Naruto had put into this issue. It showed that he was taking his training seriously and that he was on the right track to becoming a powerful shinobi.

"Alright then. Lightning it is. I also have to say that you're right about lightning affinities being easy to learn here, we have a ton of tricks and tips to help develop lightning affinities, anything else, not so much."

He paused for a moment thinking about what he would need. Finally he pulled two kunai from the pouch on his leg and handed them to Naruto.

"The first step to mastering a lightning affinity is learning to convert your chakra into lightning. To start this you have to push chakra through a piece of metal into another one. As you work, you should get an idea on how the conversion works. Make sure the kunai are touching as you start, you don't need to make it harder on yourself when you're just beginning. You are done with the exercise when you can generate a clearly defined arc of lightning between the to kunai while holding them as far apart as your arms will let you."

Naruto sat down, pushed the kunai together and began concentrating. C sat down opposite Naruto and began giving him tips.

"Some people find it easier to study electricity first. They learn the rules lightning follow and how it feels which helps them create it. Some people also find it easier to use hand signs at first to gather or convert chakra."

Naruto nodded as he continued focusing. He slowly gathered his chakra, he wanted control more than speed, and moved it to his hands. He gently pushed it out of his right hand, over the kunai he held, and down the other kunai. Nothing happened but Naruto was undeterred.

Naruto continued his gentle cycle for what felt like an age. Finally, Naruto's patience gave out and his chakra flared. For one moment, Naruto felt something jolt in his chakra. It moved differently than he was used to, fast and jerky, as opposed to gentle and smooth. Then he jerked and let go of both the kunai and his chakra as he was electrocuted.

C broke out laughing as Naruto rubbed his hands. The electricity had hurt and left his hands feeling tingly. Finally C stopped laughing when Naruto glared at him.

"I'm sorry about that Naruto. I didn't think you would be able to generate some lightning so fast. When you start, your lightning is going to be uncontrolled so just wrap the handles of the kunai with cloth. It won't change the exercise and it will help keep shocks down."

Naruto grumbled about sensei that didn't give useful information until it was to late causing C to laugh again. Finally, Naruto picked the kunai up again and wrapped the handles in the sleeves of his jacket, he'd do something more permanent later. Gripping the kunai tightly in each hand, Naruto began to concentrate.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto grumbled as he tried to rub feeling back into his hands. His jacket had turned out to be a less than perfect insulator and he had shocked himself quite a few times during the new lesson.

He reached out to pick up the kunai again but was interrupted by C.

"I think that's enough training for today, Naruto-kun. You don't want to push to hard and hurt yourself."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement but for different reasons. He felt completely fine, and knew that he was no where near chakra exhaustion but he was getting frustrated. When he got frustrated, he got less out of his lessons so he learned to take a break to calm down.

Naruto got up, unwrapped his jacket from the kunai and offered them to C. C shook his head in reply.

"No, you keep those. This level of nature transformation is safe to do so you can practice whenever you have time. Just make sure to remember Mabui-san's rules about over-training."

Naruto smiled brightly at finally being allowed to take some training home. He got bored just reading scrolls and now he would have something to do.

"Thanks, C-sensei, and don't worry, I'll follow Mabui-chan's rules."

C smirked and waved to Naruto in dismissal.

"Good. Off with you then, just make sure to get a better insulator to protect you from shocks, your jacket clearly wasn't doing enough."

Naruto bowed to C in thanks before running towards home. He ran everywhere as much as he could now. It was his response to not being allowed to do serious physical training

Naruto stopped when he heard a familiar screech. He raised his arm on reflex and allowed Lyth to land on the thick padding that he had had added to all his jackets.

"Hello Lyth. Good hunt?"

The bird let out a series of screeches, squawks and barks as Naruto transferred him to his shoulder. Naruto's jacket had more padding on the shoulders than it did on the arms but the target was currently too small for the bird to land on. Once the bird was safely gripping onto the more stable and padded perch, Naruto continued his path and answered Lyth.

"Two hares, huh? Sounds great. I managed to start a new training today, so my day was pretty good."

Lyth gave another few barks that made Naruto laugh.

"No, I didn't learn how to make those bird treats you like. I started learning how to do lightning nature transformation."

The bird just looked at him causing Naruto to snort.

"I know you want me to get the recipe but we'll just have to make do with buying them. I need to learn to be a powerful shinobi before I can take time to learn other things."

Lyth stared for a moment more before giving a short screech.

"Thanks you for being so understanding. Now then, did you see Yugito-chan while you where looking for me?"

Lyth gave another series of barks and screeches causing Naruto to nod and change his direction.

"Great job Lyth, I think you get faster every day."

Lyth puffed himself up and preened at the praise Naruto had given him. He settled down a moment later in favor of tightening his grip as Naruto sped up.

Naruto raced through the streets, faster and more agile than he had been just four months ago before disappearing into a back alley way. He raced along the maze of tunnels and side streets with a confidence born of experience.

Finally, Naruto slowed to a gentle jog as he reached a familiar looking walled garden. In a set of practiced motions, Naruto leaned forward and to the side, allowing Lyth to take off from his shoulder and fly over the wall. For his part, Naruto ducked down and crawled through the small entrance way into the garden.

When he reached the other side, Naruto stood up and looked around the small garden he had met Lyth in. The garden was vastly different from how it had been, he had worked hard to make sure of that. The once dead and overgrown flower beds now held new life and growing plants. The rusted gutters and gratings had been replaced and the fountain, while still dry, had been repainted to cover up the damage it had endured.

Naruto glanced to the right and saw Yugito, who had been waiting in the garden, greeting Lyth. He smiled as he remembered the day he had met Lyth and what had come after.

_Flash Back_

Naruto raced along the maze of back alleys and tunnels he had navigated to reach Lyth. It had turned out that he had forgotten the path he had taken to reach the walled garden so he was lost. Even worse, he was not able to climb to the roof tops around him, that was a privilege reserved for shinobi only, to find his way out.

Eventually, he had asked Lyth to fly above the labyrinth he was lost in and lead him to an exit. Lyth had been very helpful but he was extremely fast and Naruto had trouble keeping up with him.

After dodging around a set of bins resting in his path and turning through a few more alleys, Naruto saw an exit and slowed down. A moment later Lyth flew down towards Naruto and landed on his outstretched arm.

Naruto grimaced as Lyth's talons dug into his arm and made a mental note to get padding added to his cloths to make it more comfortable for them both. He shifted his arm up to help Lyth climb to his shoulder. After two minutes of careful movements and torn clothing, Naruto made another mental note to make sure they practiced this too.

Naruto exited the alleyway and took a moment to find where he was. He was happy to find that he was in a residential area and fairly close to his apartment. Naruto made to start jogging towards home but was interrupted by a squawk form Lyth on his shoulder.

Naruto glanced at Lyth and realized that the bird couldn't hold on to his shoulder if he began running. Wrinkling his nose at the delay, and making a note of yet another thing he would have to practice, Naruto set off for his apartment.

Naruto walked in silence, thinking about all the things he would have to do now that Lyth was coming home with him. He had not realized just how much he would have to change when he had agreed to Lyth's proposition.

He felt a moment of reluctance before he shook his head and chided himself. He would never not help help someone in need if he could help it, even if that person was a bird. Feeling a little better about the whole situation, Naruto began to smile.

'Besides.' he thought 'I promised Lyth I would let him come home with me and be my partner. I've had enough people break their promises to me that I never want to break my promise to someone else.'

Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that he had almost reached his home. He was brought out of his thoughts by a bark from his shoulder.

"Huh?" he asked.

Naruto glanced around and realized that he was near home. He shook his head ruefully and headed into the building. He moved towards his apartment but stopped at the door. He thought back to the list of things he would have to change for Lyth and came to an unwelcome conclusion. He would have to go shopping.

Naruto shuddered and released a sigh. He shook his head before turning around and trudging towards Mabui's apartment. He had sworn to never go shopping with Mabui again but he had no other choice.

Naruto reached Mabui's door and knocked. He could hear her moving towards the door and put on a smile. Despite the monster that she became while shopping, Mabui was one of his favorite people.

Mabui finally opened the door and smiled down at Naruto. She opened her mouth to speak before catching sight of Lyth. She blinked in surprise, shook her head, and looked at Lyth again. Naruto spoke with barely concealed amusement.

"Hi Mabui-chan. How are you doing?"

Mabui blinked again before asking a very important question.

"Naruto-kun, why do you have a golden chakra eagle on your shoulder?"

Naruto grinned up at her.

"Is that what Lyth is? I just knew that he was a bird, I was going to look for his exact species when I had time later."

"Lyth? Who's Lyth?"

Naruto snorted in amusement. Mabui was usually much faster than this.

"Lyth is the golden chakra eagle on my shoulder."

Mabui nodded her head slowly as she adjusted to the news before giving Naruto a rye grin.

"Alright, I'm better now. Why don't you two come in?"

Naruto followed her into her apartment and sat down on the couch facing Mabui. Lyth, taking the opportunity to leave his shoulder, walked down his arm to sit on the wooden arm of the couch. Mabui looked between her two guests before focusing on Naruto.

"So how exactly did you manage to wind up with a golden chakra eagle of all things following you home?"

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, it's kind of a funny story. You see I was heading back home after I had finished training when I heard a noise."

Naruto had proceeded to explain his small adventure to Mabui. After he was done, Mabui sat back and took a moment to process what he had said. Finally she shook her head in equal parts amusement and amazement.

"Only you." She snorted. "Only you could find a golden chakra eagle to partner with while walking home from training."

Naruto tilted his head at Mabui's words. He suddenly had the feeling that finding Lyth was a much bigger deal than he'd thought it was.

"From the way you say that I have to think finding Lyth was a big deal. What's so special about him?" Lyth let out a bark of protest causing Naruto to quickly amend his statement. "Besides how awesome he clearly is."

Lyth preened at the praise causing Mabui to let out a small laugh tinged with disbelief.

"So it's true, a real bond. I hadn't ever expected to see one."

She shook her head and answered Naruto's question.

"Golden Chakra Eagles are a particularly rare species of eagle that are native to these mountains. Most people will never see a golden chakra eagle in their life time. It is said that to see an un-bonded golden chakra eagle is to receive a life time of good luck."

Naruto looked at Lyth who gave the avian equivalent of a shrug.

"Alright, I guess. But what do you mean 'un-bonded'? What is a bond?"

Mabui nodded her head at his question and settled in to explain as best she could.

"The bond is what makes golden chakra eagles so amazing. Golden Chakra Eagles have a rare relationship with chakra. They can feel it and use it but not generate it. As a result, they developed the ability to create a symbiotic chakra bond with creatures that do generate chakra."

Naruto nodded his head slowly.

"What does symbiotic mean?"

"Symbiotic means mutually-beneficial. In this case some of the excess chakra you generate goes to Lyth so he can use it. In return, you gain a partner that lives as long as you do, who will protect and help you in whatever way he can. The bond also lets you talk to, and understand, each other."

Naruto looked towards Lyth before connecting with his own chakra network. He slowly traced his chakra through his system, trying to find a difference. It took him two minutes before he noticed a slight drain attached to his tenketsu and the chakra they always released.

Naruto reached his senses out like he did when he was working with the chakra he released form his body. He made no move to mold the chakra, instead he just felt the drain and tried to follow it. It took him another minute before he ended up at what he could only call the bond.

Naruto gently pushed his conscious into the bond. Instantly, Naruto felt his mind explode. He felt both his and Lyth's chakra system, and the bond in between them like they were one being. He brushed against emotions and thoughts that were both foreign and familiar to him that he soon recognized as Lyth's. After a moment of wonder, he greeted Lyth directly.

The emotions turned to surprise before changing to welcoming. The two beings exchanged thoughts of welcome, friendship, piece and hope before Naruto reluctantly pulled away. He knew that he needed to return to Mabui and that he had later to continue exploring this bond.

Naruto looked over at Mabui, who was looking extremely concerned.

"That was amazing!"

Mabui blinked before putting together what must have happened.

"The bond?"

Naruto nodded vigorously.

"Yes. It took me a while to find but it's there. It was amazing to feel. I could meet Lyth's mind and feel his emotions. It was like we were one creature with two minds."

Mabui took a moment to try to imagine what that must have felt like. She eventually decided that she couldn't but also didn't think that she would like it that much. Finally she just shook her head and continued with her explanation.

"Golden Chakra Eagle bonds are rare, both because of the rarity of the birds and the rarity of those birds meeting someone with a compatible chakra type. In fact, the last one was over two hundred years ago between a golden chakra eagle named Aras and the Shodai Raikage."

Naruto smiled at the news before turning to Lyth. "Hear that buddy? Looks like we have an important legacy to live up to. We have to train as much as we can so that we can be as amazing as the shodai Raikage and his partner!"

Mabui shook her head in amusement and addressed Naruto once more.

"We'll have to go to the Raikage with this. He'll want to know about the bonding. You'll also have to be more careful. A bonding is a big deal and people will want to know more. We'll keep it as quite as we can but it increased the likelihood of someone from Konoha finding you."

Naruto wrinkled his nose in distaste but nodded. Mabui looked at him and smirked. She would get payback for his surprising her with the golden chakra eagle.

"And after we do that, we can go shopping. You'll need a whole new wardrobe to stand up to your partner."

Naruto shuddered in horror, despite previously knowing that it was going to happen. Why had it seemed like a good idea to come here again?

_End Flash Back_

Naruto's shudder at remembering his second full shopping trip with Mabui caused him to pull back into the present. Yugito finished greeting Lyth and turned to greet him. Naruto smiled and moved towards his two best friends for an afternoon of just being a kid. He was glad he had come to Kumo. His life was much better here.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto arrived to the training field that he usually used for training. It was one that was often used for chakra control and water ninjutsu practice. The training ground was an flat section of rock cut into the side of the mountain that was enclosed by rock on three sides. Twelve waterfalls of various sizes, from a small trickle to a raging torrent, ran down the walls forming rivers of various speeds and sizes that criss-crossed over the field.

He made a quick check to make sure that no one was using it, like he had promised C-sensei, before moving to the small waterfall he used for training. Reaching the waterfall, Naruto began his daily chakra control exercise.

Naruto stripped off his outer clothing, leaving him in just his bathing suit, before moving under the waterfall. He had recently managed to advance from the tiny waterfall he had been training on before, which was barely more than a stream falling on his head, to a larger waterfall, that was more like a stream after a particularly heavy rainfall.

Naruto sat on a flat rock resting under the flow of water he had set up for just that purpose. He closed his eyes, grasped his chakra, a task much easier now than when he had first started these exercises, and pushed it out from the tenketsu on his head and shoulders. Grasping his chakra in an imaginary hand, Naruto kneaded it into the shape of a dome. He smiled as he felt the water flowing over his head stop.

Naruto opened his eyes and glanced up to see the waterfall flowing around the dome of chakra he had created instead of onto his head. He smirked at how much faster and better he was with his chakra than he had been when he started. Finally, Naruto let his moment of self-congratulation end and moved onto the second part of his exercise.

Naruto carefully reached out and began changing the dome he had created. He practiced shrinking it, growing it, tilting it and even changing its shape. After an hour of practice, Naruto allowed the dome to stabilize again in a dome, the shape he used most often and the one he was best with.

Naruto then began the final segment of his early morning training. He reached out and grabbed the two kunai that he had set aside for just that purpose. They were the two kunai that he had gotten from C, although they were slightly modified with a thick cloth grip and a blackened blade.

Naruto split his attention between the dome of chakra he was using to keep himself dry and the two kunai in his hands. He kept the kunai about one foot apart and began focusing on creating lightning chakra. He had been doing the mixed exercises for four month, only two weeks after he had been given the kunai he was now holding.

Naruto felt the shift that he had grown used to and watched as lightning began sparking around the kunai in his right hand. He pushed gently and watched as the lighting arced from the tip of the kunai in his right hand to the tip of the kunai in his other hand and then back in an arc from ring to ring.

Naruto slowly began moving the kunai apart while focusing on keeping the stream of lightning steady. The kunai got further and further apart until he held them as far apart as his arms could manage. The arcs of lightning stayed well-defined and completely under control, a testament to the many hours of practice he had put into the exercise he was doing.

He paused for a moment while thinking about just how much faster and easier this exercise had been than when he had first started. Finally, shaking off the distracting thoughts, he took the fact that he could have distracting thoughts without losing control as a good sign, Naruto moved onto the part of the technique he was still trying to figure out.

Naruto slowly nudged and coaxed out small branches of the lightning that made up the arc moving from one ring to the other and pulled them into the nerves of his hand. From there, Naruto pulled the lightning up his arm, through his back and then down his other arm, into the other kunai.

Naruto made sure to be extremely careful, too much lightning would cause his nerves to burn out, an extremely painful condition that would take him hours to completely heal from. As he pulled more and more lightning free from the arc, he could feel it shrinking until there was just a tiny line, about as thick as a hair, to show where it had existed.

He could feel excitement welling up inside of him but he quickly pushed the feeling away. His excitement had been what had caused him to fail the last time he had tried this. Gently grasping the last branch of lightning, Naruto pulled it inside himself and along the path the rest of the lightning had followed.

Naruto held himself tense for another two minutes while getting a feel for how his chakra and the lightning he had created flowed. Finally, he allowed himself to relax and slowly opened his eyes. He could feel the lightning fight to escape his mental grasp as his attention was divided once more but he held firm.

It took him another two minutes before he could finally open his eyes. There, he found a single arc of lightning, dancing between the tips of the two kunai, as sharp and well-defined as a katana's blade.

Naruto carefully let the lightning conversion go, and watched as the arc disappeared. Next he carefully pushed the lightning still in his body down, into the rock he was sitting on, safely grounding it out. Finally, he got up, stepped out from under the waterfall, and allowed his chakra to settle back into his body, waiting to be used again.

When he had released all control over his chakra, Naruto broke out into a huge grin. He had finally done it, after four months of hard work, he had finished the first task of lightning nature transformation that C had given him. He was so busy congratulating himself, he failed to notice that he had an audience.

He quickly became aware of this fact when they broke out into applause. Startled, Naruto jumped around before relaxing when he saw exactly who was clapping. C and Mabui walked closer to him and began congratulating him.

"Very nice work Naruto-kun." C began. "I hadn't realized that you were trying to combine your nature transformation and your chakra control exercises."

"That was very clever of you Naruto-kun." Mabui continued. "Combining training, while more difficult than regular training, saves time and makes for a better shinobi."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head while smiling as brightly as he could manage.

"Thanks Mabui-chan, C-sensei. I've been working on it for a while now and that was the first time I actually managed to get it right."

C smiled at Naruto before commenting on what he had just seen.

"I like the way you started with the complete circuit of lightning, It's more difficult than what people usually try but it leads to a better understanding of lightning and how to control it."

Mabui nodded in agreement. "I remember that when I did this I just attached a wire between the rings to complete the circuit. It took me forever to learn the later stages because I took the easy way out."

C snorted. "I was the opposite. I just tried to bull through and create an arc without a complete circuit. It took me two years to get the first exercise done."

Naruto frowned in confusion. "Wait, you mean that I could have done this without a complete circuit?"

C cocked his head to the side in confusion before answering Naruto.

"Of course! Isn't that what you just did?"

Naruto shook his head.

"No, I still had a complete circuit when I finished. I didn't think you could get lighting without a complete circuit."

Mabui asked the next question in a voice laden with fear and a cautious disbelief, as if she had an idea of what had happened but was hoping she was wrong.

"Naruto-kun, just what did you do with that second arc of lightning?"

Naruto shrugged before replying.

"I pulled it inside myself."

Both Mabui and C froze.

"I'm sorry. I think I heard that wrong. Did you just say you pulled lightning inside your own body to complete the circuit?"

Naruto nodded his head slowly. He was starting to get the feeling that he wasn't supposed to have done that.

C was the first to react. He dashed forward, so fast Naruto didn't even see him cross the space in between them, before running his hand, now covered in green medical chakra over Naruto's hands. Mabui was right behind him, patting his back and sides as if checking to see if he was hurt.

Naruto squirmed uncomfortably as they checked him over but didn't say anything. He figured whatever they where doing was extremely important. Finally, C moved backwards and sat down with a sigh of relief. After another moment, Mabui joined him, allowing Naruto to sit down as well.

Finally, C turned to Naruto before explaining what had just happened.

"I want to first say that I am sorry. I didn't give you good enough instructions when I told you about the exercise. That was my fault."

Naruto shrugged uncomfortably, he had managed it so he thought the instructions were good enough.

"When I said that you needed a clearly defined arc of lightning, that didn't mean you weren't allowed to make two. It's just harder to make more than one arc of lightning so I didn't think to mention it."

Naruto pouted at this information. He had been able to create the two arcs of lightning for two months already, even while under the waterfall.

"What you just did was incredibly dangerous!" Mabui blurted.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked.

Mabui took a moment to calm herself before answering.

"Lightning chakra is extremely dangerous, especially when its inside your body. If you make even the slightest error, you can fry your nerves which can lead to permanent paralysis or death."

Naruto frowned before answering.

"Um, I don't think that's how nerves work. I fried my nerves plenty of times while practicing this and, while it hurt for a while, they were always fine an hour or so later."

Mabui blinked as she tried to figure out how to respond so C did it for her.

"No, Naruto-kun, Mabui-san is right. That is exactly how nerves work. If you where better after an hour you must have just given yourself a bad shock."

Naruto shook his head in reply.

"No, the nerves were definitely fried. The first time it happened I went to the hospital and they said they were definitely fried."

"Um, What?"

"The doctor I saw, Dr. Kusonoki definitely said that all the nerves in my hand were fired. He also said that they were healing and that I would be fine in an hour. He even got three other doctors to check his work."

C was so confused that he could not ask his next question. Luckily, Mabui had no such problem.

"What? What happened after that?"

Naruto frowned in confusion.

"Uh, nothing? They just let me go home."

The news was apparently so shocking, Mabui and C could only blink and sputter incoherently for several minutes, something that amused Naruto endlessly. Finally, C shook off his shock and made a silent vow to question exactly what thought he was doing.

"Just. Just don't try to pull lightning into your own body again. At least until I give you permission. Just stick with two separate arcs of lightning for now."

Naruto nodded his head slowly. He didn't really see why they were making such a fuss but he had agreed to follow their rules when they agreed to train him. C got up and helped Mabui to her feet before turning back to Naruto.

"I need to go talk to a few people and I'm sure that Mabui-san would like to speak to them as well. You did manage to finish the first exercise of nature transformation so I'll give you the second one. Do the same thing you did with the first exercise but use sticks instead of kunai."

"Why do I have to do that? What does that do?"

"It's a more advanced form of converting your chakra into lightning. The metal acts as an amplifier and makes the conversion to lightning natures chakra easier. The wood doesn't have the amplifier effect so it's all you. It also starts helping your control over a current. Lightning doesn't want to flow through wood so its harder to make it."

Naruto nodded and grinned at getting another task to practice.

C moved to leave the field, but he stopped to give one last call over his shoulder.

"Remember, don't pull the lightning into your body. Oh, and I think you're ready to begin the level three waterfall."

Naruto called out with confirmation that he was listening to C and excitement at being allowed to to move up his chakra control again.

C smiled at Naruto's enthusiasm before turning around and disappearing in a body flicker, Mabui following close behind. They both had questions they needed to ask a certain doctor, and kami help him if his answers weren't good enough.

_ Scene Break _

Mabui and C entered the Raikage's office just as he had finished the last of the paper work he had for the day. The A looked at the two shinobi, closed his eyes and dropped his head to the desk in front of him. Mabui smirked for a second before remembering why they were there.

A raised his head and beckoned the pair forward.

"This had better be important, I just finished my paper work for the day and I want to get some training in."

Mabui and C saluted before glancing at each other. Mabui inclined her head slightly causing C to begin their report.

"I believe that , Dr. Nataga, and Dr. Taka from the shinobi hospital need to be relieved of duty pending an investigation into their competency and loyalty."

The Raikage sat up in his seat and put on his business face. This was a very serious matter and needed his full attention.

"Explain." he commanded shortly.

Mabui took a deep breath and began.

"You know that C-san and I help train Naruto-kun on our time off?"

The Raikage gave a nod causing her to continue.

"It is our opinion that he is too young for most shinobi training so we have been sticking to theoretical concepts and chakra mastery. Several months ago, Naruto-kun had reached a point that we thought nature transformation training would be both possible and beneficial."

A nodded his head to tell her to continue. He was an intelligent man and could immediately tell why they had most likely come to that decision. C glanced at Mabui before taking over.

"Naruto-kun decided that creating a lightning affinity would be beneficial for diversity in combat so I gave him the first training exercise we have. Unfortunately, I gave him the standard instructions and Naruto thinks quite unusually." C grimaced before continuing. "Naruto believed that he needed a complete circuit to get lightning and that to finish the exercise, he needed to pull the second part of the circuit into his own body."

A grimaced in understanding. Many shinobi had died or been permanently crippled when they had pulled lightning into their bodies, either accidentally or purposefully.

Mabui took over once again.

"As you can expect Naruto-kun made a mistake and ended up frying the nerves in his hand. He was worried about the damage so he headed to the shinobi hospital for treatment. There he was seen by ."

A began to see where this was going but he motioned for the pair to continue. It wouldn't do to jump to conclusions, even if all evidence lead to that conclusion.

" determined that Naruto had severe nerve damage but that it was healing a rapid pace. He the proceeded to call in Dr. Nataga and Dr. Taka to double check his results. They confirmed his diagnosis before the three of them decided that they had done enough and sent Naruto home. They also failed to give any report or do any form of paperwork on his visit."

The Raikage nodded and asked for some clarification.

"When did the incident occur?"

C answered with the information that he knew the Raikage needed to finish the doctors.

"The actual incident occurred three months ago, April fourth to be exact. We learned of it today because we only just caught Naruto pulling the lightning inside of him."

A nodded his head before motioning to a spot behind him.

"Get the three doctors and take them to Kenji. I want to know if they are incompetent, lazy, or treasonous."

A man wearing a white mask with a black lightning bolt crossing it appeared, bowed, and disappeared again.

The Raikage turned his attention back to Mabui and C.

"Out of curiosity, how far has Naruto-san gotten in his exercise?"

C answered his question as he was the one who trained Naruto most often.

"He finished it actually. Quite a while ago too form what I can tell. We actually found him combining the lightning generating exercise with the level two waterfall shield exercise."

A raised an eyebrow and nodded. That showed good initiative and indicated that Naruto might actually be a great shinobi. The news that came next was even more promising.

"He even managed to actually get all the lightning from the second arc into his body safely when we found him."

A raised his other eyebrow.

"Really?" he pondered. "What did you tell him about internal lightning training?"

It was C's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Nothing really. Just that it was dangerous and that he wasn't to do it again unless I told him otherwise."

A nodded his head slowly, carefully thinking through just what his next words would mean. Finally, he decided on his course of actions.

"Tell him otherwise."

"Your pardon, Raikage-sama. What do you mean?"

"I want you to allow Naruto-san to continue experimenting with internal lightning transformation. Make sure that there is a doctor present when he practices, but I want to see how far he can go with this."

Mabui and C both looked concerned but they accepted their orders.

"Yes, Raikage-sama. We will tell him tomorrow morning."

"Good. If he gets to the point that he can redirect a b-rank lightning jutsu with only internal lightning manipulation, let me know. Otherwise, I want monthly updates on his training."

The two shinobi recognized their dismissal and left. The Raikage was left sitting in his office alone, thinking about the blond jinchuriki he had allowed to defect to his village ten months previously.

"Yes." he whispered to himself. "Very interesting indeed."

_ Scene Break _

Naruto looked up as he heard Lyth give a call. He smiled at his partner before standing up and waving at the approaching shinobi. A moment later the familiar form of C appeared in front of him.

"You and Lyth-san are getting better at that."

Naruto smiled at his sensei's praise before glancing over to the golden chakra eagle that had just alerted him to the presence of his teacher.

"Lyth and I practice a lot. We figure that he will be able to see anyone way before I could with his better senses and greater hight."

C nodded in appreciation for the thought that had gone into his training. Naruto really did seem perfectly suited to shinobi life.

"I'm sure it will give the two of you an important edge when you get to the field. Now then, you said that you had completed the second step of lightning transformation training. Let's see it."

Naruto nodded and picked up the sticks he had selected earlier to exactly this occasion. He concentrated and soon there was and arc of lightning dancing between the two tips. He moved his arms further apart to show that he could keep the lightning going even at the farthest distance his body could manage.

He reached his arms width before looking up at C again. C smiled at him before asking a hesitant question.

"Are you. Are you using internal lightning transformation to complete the circuit?"

Naruto nodded his head. He wasn't sure exactly why C and Mabui were afraid when he pulled lightning inside himself. They had changed their minds so many times on the subject that he had just given up and started doing it because he knew he wasn't hurting himself.

C gave him a tense nod before motioning for him to stop. Naruto let the lightning go and turned an expectant gaze towards C.

"That was very good Naruto-kun. If I may ask, why did it only take you one month to get this exercise but four for the first one?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well it was basically just the same thing so it wasn't that hard to do it. I already knew how to get the lightning and how to complete the circuit through my body. I also didn't try to mix my nature transformation training and my chakra control exercise until after I could do them separately."

C nodded his head in understanding. It did make sense after all.

"You will have to work on getting the technique up faster but it's good enough for you to move onto the intermediate stage of nature transformation."

Naruto began jumping up and down while cheering at how fast he was learning.

"Unfortunately for you, we can't start the training yet."

Naruto tried to stop and spin around in outrage but since he was in the middle of a jump, just managed to collapse to the ground. Both C and Lyth began to laugh at his misfortune as he struggled to figure out where all his limbs went so he could get up.

"Ow. I guess I have to start working on my flexibility some more." Naruto managed as he finally picked himself up. He paused for a moment before remembering why he had fallen in the first place. "What do you mean I can't start training yet!?"

C took another second to regain control of his humor before answering.

"The intermediate and master stages are different than the beginner stages that you're used to. They are dangerous and we require you to use certain training fields while you train in Kumo. Mabui-san and I didn't expect you to finish so quickly so we didn't put in the paperwork to allow you access to the fields you'll need to use."

Naruto groaned and slumped over. All that hard work and he was blocked by paperwork. C smirked as one of the less thought about facets of shinobi life came up.

"Heh, cheer up kid. It's not so bad. I'll put the paperwork in today and you can get started when they process it." At his words Naruto began to cheer up. Seeing this, C took great pleasure in informing him about the true nature of bureaucracy. "Of course that'll take a month at the earliest."

Naruto fell over again causing C to break into laughter once more.

"Aw, it'll be alright. You can use the month to decrease the time you need to start the technique. You can also start experimenting a little without having to constantly push forward or work on your chakra control more."

Naruto nodded but his face still showed that he was unhappy with the situation. C decided to take his mind off of it by starting on something new.

"I think that you are also ready start learning a new skill."

That caused Naruto to snap completely out of any depression he might have been feeling.

"Really! That's great! What am I learning now?" he asked eagerly.

C snorted at seeing just how fast Naruto's mood could change for even the simplest reasons.

"Having finished the chakra dome with the level three waterfall and the basic level lightning nature transformation training, I think you're ready for your first lightning jutsu."

Naruto jumped up and down in excitement. Today was turning into a great day. He not only managed to finish the basic lightning transformation exercise set but he also managed to move to the level four waterfall and was going to start learning jutsu.

"This is a relatively simple jutsu that is considered E-rank. Normally

I would say that you would need to have at least completed the leaf sticking exercise before you could manage an E-rank but this one is different."

"What is is C-sensei? How is it different?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"The jutsu is called Lightning charge jutsu. It is actually one of the jutsu scrolls that you have. We already knew it but it was nice to know that Konoha does to."

Seeing that Naruto was actually getting more excited C hurried his explanation onward.

"The jutsu's only purpose is generating electricity from your hands, it is very slow and can't be directed well so it is usually used to charge batteries. The reason I think you can use this jutsu is because it doesn't fail if you add too much chakra. Instead you just get more lightning."

Naruto's smile grew even larger.

"That's awesome." He paused for a moment as the actual use of the jutsu filtered through his brain, causing him to frown. "Why is that useful though?"

C was quick to answer.

"Some jutsu can't be used directly in combat. That doesn't make them useless though, far from it actually. Jutsu that can be used to maintain equipment, like this one, or help a shinobi in the field, like that water purification jutsu you have, are useful and can help save your life."

Naruto nodded to show his understanding. Seeing that Naruto was taking this seriously, C smirked as he filled in Naruto about the secret use the jutsu had.

"Of course, for a practical use now, most shinobi use this jutsu to save money on utilities."

Seeing Naruto's confused face he explained.

"You live in a shinobi apartment right?" Naruto nodded. "Then you must know of that panel in the kitchen wall, right?" Naruto nodded again.

"That panel was put into all shinobi apartment and leads to a battery connected to the building power grid, which connects to the village power grid. A shinobi can use the Lightning charge jutsu to charge that battery and reduce the cost of his electric bill."

Naruto shrugged with indifference. He didn't actually get bills because he had the apartment for free, at least for now.

"You can even get paid if you do it enough."

That caught Naruto's attention. While he still had the money he had gotten from the Raikage for the information he brought from Konoha he knew it wouldn't last forever.

"I knew that would catch your attention. It's a program designed to help save resources for emergencies. The more shinobi contribute to the village power grid, the fewer resources the power plants need to use to meet demand. To encourage that, the more you charge the battery, the lower your electric bill until it actually become negative and the power companies start paying you."

Naruto's grin turned wicked as he remembered that C had said that over powering the jutsu just produced more lightning to work with. Seeing Naruto's grin and realizing what it meant, C gave a quick warning to Naruto.

"Just remember that the batteries will only accept a certain amount of charge per minute and that they also take time to drain. You aren't connected directly to the power grid so keep your chakra usage down."

Naruto's grin faded back to the normal sized grin he used when he was excited as his evil plans to make a ton of money disappeared.

"Alright sensei, I'll be good."

C snorted in amusement.

"For some reason, I doubt that. Now then, we'll use the this battery for practice." C pulled out a thick, square battery from a pocket on his vest to show Naruto. "Its called a nine-volt battery and is used in our most powerful radios."

Naruto listened intently as C began explaining how to use the jutsu while internally celebrating his next real step on his path to becoming a shinobi.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto grinned as he walked home from training. Without the time he usually spent on nature transformation distracting him from chakra control, he had managed to advance to the level five waterfall in only one month. Despite how successful he had been with his chakra control, he was happy to be starting nature transformation again. C had said that the forms he needed to proceed were almost completely processed and he could get permission any day.

Naruto whistled and held up his arm as he approached his apartment building. In a well practiced and familiar motion, Lyth flew down and gently landed on his arm just in time for him to push the door open and head inside. Hugging Lyth close to his body, Naruto began moving up the stairs towards his apartment.

It took him five minutes to reach the door to his apartment and he spent the time talking to Lyth about how their days had been. Lyth found the training Naruto did boring and so usually took the time to go hunting.

Finally getting his key out, Naruto opened his door and stepped inside. Only to jump back inside as the people inside his apartment shouted "SURPRISE."

Getting his heartbeat back under control, Naruto noticed that Mabui, C, B, Yugito and a few kids that he usually hung out with on his relaxation days were standing in his apartment. Hanging above their heads was a massive banner that read 'Happy Birthday Naruto!' in large orange letters. It took him only a moment to realize that this was a birthday party. More specifically, his birthday party.

Naruto felt many emotions rising inside of him, far too many to count or even identify. The guests all waited for him to reply, the adults with an understanding and welcoming look in their eyes. Finally managing to get his wrestle his emotions under control, Naruto gave a massive grin and stepped into his apartment. He closed the door behind him as the first of his well wishers and party guests moved forward to greet him.