Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, never will, don't even want to. I do want to thank you for the nice reviews though! Also thanks for the follows and favourites, it's really nice to see that people like my story! I have to get used to writing action scenes, it's quite different than a normal story part so that'll take some time to get used to. If you find any spelling mistakes please let me know, I try to keep them to a minimum but I'm not a native English speaker so yeah.

Have fun and have a great day! I'll be sick the coming week and maybe even two weeks so I should have a bit more time to write. I'm already halfway done with my next chapter so you can expect it to show up around the weekend.

Today was the day! The best day of my life, Stutter was moving in! All the glorious petting in reach whenever I want… is this heaven? No, it's just what I deserve, thinking about it, why did it take this long! I deserve better!

We had already picked up both Newby and Stutter from the boring rundown village. Thank Kami that we have little incentive to visit that horrid place anymore… maybe for Sleepy? Maybe…

"Hinata-chan we're almost there! Are you excited Dattebanya?!" A rare type of smile covered Stutter's face, a true genuine one. It seems that she likes being here a heck of a lot more than the stuffy prick filled estate. Good for her!

"Hai!" a short answer though, typical for her.

Newby was just silently taking glances at us as he ran slightly behind us. It seems he was indeed a bit awkward and has to get used to this interaction, especially girls give him trouble, how cute. Baldy keeping him company, apparently trying to include him in the group as much as he could.

"What about you Yuuto, ready to see your new home? I've arranged both a spot in the forest and a room in case you decide to sleep inside for once. Some of the Twelve also said they're willing to help build you a home in the forest."

"A home? You mean like a shelter?" of course not… stupid Newby

"No, I mean a small house made out of the trees there. You will still be living in the forest but in a better condition than you're used to. It's also located next to a small river and waterfall"

This'd gotten him excited "Really?! I would appreciate that greatly!"

"My good friend Kazuma is willing to help with various seals and changing the landscape with his Earth Jutsu. Kosuke and Asuma will cut the wood with their Wind nature and together we'll create the house. Asuma has little time himself due to his own team but he said he is willing to come help during the afternoon."

"Thank you!" How nice, this will also help with introducing him to various Jonin of the Twelve. I know they will try and help in this group's training whenever they have time. It's quite special though, having Twelve Jonin to train you.

We arrived at the palace where a small entourage was waiting for our arrival. It was comprised of some bodyguards, two of the Twelve and last but not least the Daimyo and Fatty.

Newby noticed this a little too late as he was in conversation and gasped as he went to his knees. "Daimyo-sama!" oh yeah, this was the first time he meets them!

"You don't have to kneel Yuuto-kun. A friend of Naruko is part of the family, and family doesn't act like this."

Fatty ran up to him for a hug and Newby had no idea how to react… poor him just let it happen, although she did learn to hold back! "Welcome to the family Yuuto-kun! Come come, let's have lunch!" Good idea Fatty, you're always a genius when it comes to food!

The Daimyo ruined the fun shortly though, if only for a bit. "Yuuto-kun, these are Kazuma and Kosuke. They have expressed interest in helping your training."

"I-It's nice to meet you." And gave a polite bow.

"The same goes for me Yuuto-kun. You can call me either Sensei or Kazuma from now on. We've heard of your interesting chakra nature and decided to help Chiriku with your training. I myself am proficient in both Earth and Wind Jutsu, as is Kosuke."

"It's good to meet you Yuuto-kun. I'm Kosuke, one of your sensei starting today. We will begin training you in one month's time. First we'll have to finish an assignment and set up a schedule, Chiriku will begin training you in the basics of Earth manipulation."

"Sensei!" and yet another bow… damn you Newby you'll have to learn not to do that!

"Let's get inside Yuuto-kun! It's time for lunch Dattebanya!" Finally!

We followed the group inside as the Daimyo showed Newby and Stutter their new home… this was taking far too long, I thought we were going to have lunch, not walk for an hour…

"This will be your room Hinata-chan. It's right next to Naruko's so you can ask her anything if you need to. Right down this corridor is the lunch room of the Twelve, feel free to walk in if you have any questions." Sweet, Stutter's petting is right next door!

"We'll first have lunch and then show you the forest Yuuto-kun. Asuma will be arriving in one hour so we have enough time to eat." We went to one of the gardens as a large feast was prepared, all the other guardians were present and Newby almost fainted from shock… apparently some of them are his idols.

Newby was introduced to everyone as we sat down for lunch, it was a bit too crowded but nobody dared steal my food so that was good. The conversation went on about Stutter and Newby and how they liked their new home so far, what they did in Konoha and some general things such as what they liked doing. Newby being too shy to reply most of the time, we'll get him to loosen up just as we've stopped Stutter from stuttering!

( One hour later )

Lunch was sadly finishing up as most of the food was gone, my food at least. It's not that I ate much, it's just that they made too little, really! I mean it's only one hour of constant eating, that's normal if you like the food.

Smoky arrived shortly after and we went on our way to the final destination. The forest was right beside us in all its tranquillity. It was a nice place to live honestly, some small wildlife and decent trees, the gentle sound of a river, the light coming through the leaves. I could live here myself if needed, but it wasn't luckily. A small clearing opened up before us with some already chopped trees ready for use.

I could see the appeal of this place, it indeed had a small waterfall and most of all was a perfect fishing spot. Not that I've used it before… Okay, I have, often. Maybe that's the reason why they picked it, as it was already approved by me.

"This will be your home Yuuto-kun. How do you like it so far?"

"It's beautiful! It's way better than the forest I lived in before" he's a weird one, sometimes he stutters and other times he doesn't. It seems to have something to do with his mindset, he's distracted now and acts like normal, otherwise he's awkward and pays too much attention to his actions…

"Indeed it is, we'll begin making your house right away. Do you have any preferences?"

"C-Can you make it a bit small? A large house would make me feel all by myself…"

Fatty ruffled his hair "Of course they can sweety."

"Why don't the four of you go off to enjoy yourselves, we'll handle it here." A splendid idea Baldy, I feel like laying on a pillow, nice relaxing and soft. "Miauw"

"The pillow room?"

"Miauw" yep

Naruko shrugged "Sure, why not Tora-chan." She grabbed the other two by their arms and dragged them away. It was a nice day so far, how will it go wrong I wonder?

We entered the room full of pillows, and I mean it was packed with them! They were amazing, so soft but still so firm, great for your fur and most of all the perfect petting spot!

We sat down, or at least tried to… Naruko had one of her playful moments and threw the pillows at us! The barbarian, who throws pillows, they're meant for relaxing! She was not going to live for this mistreatment of pillows. I grabbed the nearest one with my paw and slammed her with it!

I glared at Stutter and Newby to join me in this justice, which they did of course. We each had a pillow and went on the attack, Naruko not having the chance to properly defend herself "Wait, I give up!" victory!

The massacre stopped and Naruko came back from underneath all the pillows with a grin that could only spell trouble! Oh no, clones, I forgot!

Five pillows went up in smoke and in their place stood a clone with a new pillow in hand, we were outnumbered! The following moments were awful… all those pillows wasted, destroyed… all those feathers to now play with and jump around in, it was a nightmare, I didn't know what to do! Jump around in the feathers or relax on a pillow, damn you Naruko!

( A few days later )

This is just unreal, Baldy's gone insane! Over the last few days he's been training us, including poor little young me, like a total homicidal maniac!

"Run quicker! BOOM" a massive rock landed right where we were running, he wasn't kidding in the least when he said he would train us hard…damn him, I hate his guts! He'll see…oh he'll see alright…

We had to do an insane obstacle course that contained a five-metre-high wall; some moats filled with all sorts of extremely spiky rocks; trees at which he would shoot rocks at us; a large terrain covered in mud and last but not least a large section with all sorts of pillars which would provide us with a bit of traction as the ground was littered with traps!

Did I forget he would throw massive boulders at us if we were too slow? And it's not like he meant to miss them, no he did not… they would land exactly where we would be if we stopped for even a split second!

We did this each and every day, but not once…no we did it three times! Stutter was forced to heal us of any superficial wounds after which we had some spars and a small rest…then it started all over again. Those were our days, training and nothing else.

I jumped on the side of a tree only to find it blown to shreds by rock bullets, a quick leap to a different tree in hopes that it would turn out differently... tree after tree was blown to bits and I was quite amazed that the forest had so many trees!

"That hurt sensei!" poor Naruko didn't do so great, Baldy was a lot stricter with her as she was already so quick and agile. Being good at dodging was a key part of her close-combat fighting style, she needed this, even if it was practically torture.

"Focus on any incoming attacks Naruko, never let your guard down." She didn't! You're just shooting at her like some crazy idiot!

We passed the final tree and arrived at the muddy terrain. At first I thought this would be the worst one, but it wasn't. The only thing that was needed was proper chakra control. Some might think mud is easier to move on than water but they were dead wrong, you needed a lot better control to move properly on mud as it tried to stick to you.

What didn't help though was Baldy moving the mud in waves towards us. If we became covered in mud then it was seen as a fail…but this part of the course was the easiest still.

We ran at our top speed, Naruko and Stutter having weights added to them in order to bring each of us to the same level. A wave came at us from the right which we skilfully dodged, some more than others… Naruko being the obvious show-off by surfing on top of it…

She loved this part and it greatly improved her control because she was having so much fun. Enjoying something helps a lot with learning, especially if it goes subconsciously because of the enjoyment.

We did learn one valuable skill in chakra control though. A couple of large waves began enclosing us and left us with no way out, the only way out was through a wave… We ran towards it and gathered chakra around ourselves until a light layer appeared on our skin. At the very last second, when the mud was about it impact with us we released all of it in a sudden burst and opened a hole in the muddy wave! We rushed through to safety and finished…

Only one part was left, the pillars of doom. We jumped on the side of the nearest pillar before it suddenly cracked, we had only a second to move from one pillar to the next before… it exploded… yep, they exploded and shot shrapnel at us which we had to dodge…

Some of the pillars exploded even without us touching them and we had to pay close attention to those, one mistake and we would be injured quite severely!

It was impossible to evade all of the shrapnel, as an obvious result my beautiful fur was getting cut…luckily for us that Stutter's healing also fixed this, if not then Baldy would have one hell of a problem!

Newby fell to the ground, his body getting closer to the spikes by the second until eventually it would have pierced. His body was suddenly switched with Naruko and poofed out of existence, close one…

"T-Thank you Naruko…" Still staying with Newby, Stutter number two is far too long.

"No problem Dattebanya! Let's finish this!"

The one positive thing out of all of this was that it made us more of a team. The threat of death will do that to you, for them at least, for me? It won't, I can't really die. But I'll explain that later!

"I said no Jutsu Naruko! You know the punishment!" She saved Newby's life and he's punishing her...

"No! Anything but that, please sensei don't!" she went to her knees and begged, righteously so as the punishment is far too horrific.

Baldy took out a sealing scroll and held it before poor Naruko "Rules are rules, keep that in mind" and opened it… out came a twisted abomination that should have never seen the light of this world… The Cone of Shame!

There is no worse punishment to a cat and Baldy knows this! Naruko began crying as he put the cone on her neck. She lay on the ground utterly defeated, glad it's not me this time!

"You will keep it on for one hour" … not even Stutter can heal such a drastic wound…

"But sensei, she saved me. I should be the one getting punished!" Yeah! The useless one is right!

"Did you disobey any rules?"

"No…"

"Then I don't have to punish you. Feel free to do the course one more time to make up for your mistake though." Was it really an option to say no at this point? I glared at the Newby, daring him to say no…if Naruko is facing punishment then so should he!

"I will." And began running, good Newby. "Miauw" Stutter, come pet me!

One hour to get my petting done, it was a bit short but worthwhile nonetheless. But she wasn't coming? Oh… I forgot, my translator is down for the count… fine! I'll walk up to her!

"Hinata we're going to spar while they finish their punishment" Noooooo my petting! I hate you Baldy!

( Two weeks later )

"It's time for your elemental chakra training Yuuto" Finally, took him long enough to get the basics! Really, somebody with that much skill in chakra manipulation should get the hang of those exercises quickly right…

They were quite easy actually, crumbling a leaf; the next step was crumbling leaves as they fell from a tree and the final two steps were crumbling small rocks as you held them and making them crumble form a simple touch… easy, right?!

Baldy wanted him to have a somewhat decent control of the element before he learned any Jutsu. Not that I disagree but still the idea is boring beyond belief…

"Sensei, what are you going to teach me?" could I hear a small tint of excitement in his voice?

"The Rock Armour and Rock Golem Jutsu. Both are B-rank Jutsu and will require some time to master. I will not be teaching you any other Jutsu until you've mastered these"

"Rock Golem? What's that?"

"A more advanced version of the Earth Clone. Clones aren't very useful except for minor attacks or diversion. The Rock Golem however is different, you are still linked with it through the earth and can give it orders, they are also slightly autonomous. But the best part is that they're capable of special techniques."

"So they're like Naruko's clones?"

"Somewhat, but they are far sturdier. Combined with your connection to nature you could improve them and make them A-rank."

"How so?"

"As I said they're capable of techniques. They're not really used in our lands due to our limited mastery of the earth element, but they're used a bit more often in Iwa. Even if they're used rarely there due to their required skill level."

"The techniques depend on the user, some are capable of forming shields to defend the user, some make large blades to attack with and others shapeshift during battle. A perfect mastery combined with your connection to nature might make them able to do all those things and more."

"Awesome! So they're like his own private army dattebanya!"

"In a sense Naruko" That's quite brilliant actually, golems to defend yourself while your chakra balls multiply. Together with the Rock Armour for an even better defence, just those skills could make him a Jonin.

"The Rock Armour is your priority Jutsu, if you don't have to block attacks with your chakra balls then you have more chance to multiply them."

"And the final part of your training isn't truly a Jutsu, we're going to try and fuse your chakra balls with the earth. Instead of rotating balls of chakra they will infuse themselves with earth and become extremely dense bullets." That sounds a bit dangerous? I would not want to be the one to face a lot of those… it's like the Rock Bullet Jutsu but without the need to constantly cast it, the longer you wait the bigger the amount.

( The following evening )

"It's time for the last exercise for today!" oh great, what did he come up this time?

"Hide and seek!" Yes! Awesome! "Your team will focus on stealth and tracking, seeing as both Naruko and Yuuto are suitable for this role and Hinata is the perfect support. I've been training you on speed and manoeuvrability so far which is also because of this role. Therefore you will be doing a lot of hide and seek." Niceeee…

"You will be searching for all eleven present Guardians while they move around the Palace. They will do their utmost effort not to get caught." Damn, they're moving as well, this makes it a hundred times harder even for us! But it's still fun, we can do this!

"A few pieces of advice. Yuuto, try to stay linked with the earth around you. You will have to learn how to do this even while moving as the enemy won't keep still. Naruko we will be using different scents, sounds and tricks to confuse your senses; you can use your clones but it will only count as finding us if your main body is the one that catches us. Hinata you are less suited for this role, we are going to move around a lot and drain your stamina, try to use your light chakra to sustain your team." Sounds like a solid team, two trackers and one that makes them able to last longer at top speed.

"We will increase the difficulty each week. At first it's just finding us and sometimes hiding yourself, but at a later time we will also fight back when you catch us."

So we will have eleven spars with Jonin?! Damn that'll hurt…

"Are you ready to begin?"

We nodded and Baldy flashed away signalling that it'd begun. Naruko took the lead as her tail swayed around "There's a few presences in the direction of the main hall, let's start there!" we followed her and soon came to a stop. Naruko looked around slightly confused.

"I can feel their chakra but it's as if there's multiple of each?" Clones, they've used shadow clones! "Miauw"

"Damn Tora-chan's right, they're using shadow clones just like me! Hinata use your Byakugan to see which are clones and which aren't. Yuuto try to stay in touch with the earth to see where our target moves to."

"Hai!" Newby and Stutter listened to their tasks and knew that Naruko was the obvious leader as she held far more experience. She'd done this since she was a child and had a home-advantage over the others in her group.

"There's one nearby! It's that room!" Stutter pointed towards a room that was two rooms further than where we stood "You're sure it's not a clone Hinata? I can feel the same chakra signature coming from the room to our left as well."

"No, I'm sure it's not a clone. I've grown used to the way shadow clones look, they're really similar but a few small things are different." There you go Stutter, great work!

"Let's goooo!"

We ran to the room only to see the door suddenly open and a person flashing away "It's Seito!" we ran after him as fast as we could, but he wasn't a Jonin for nothing, damn he's quick.

"Hinata, Yuuto, track him!"

A sudden bright flash made Stutter clutch her head in pain as she stumbled to the ground. We caught her just in time "What's wrong Hinata?!"

"Miauw"

"The flash was made of chakra?! Damn her eyes must've been overloaded." A really nasty move, but extremely effective against the Byakugan.

"He went to the right!" Newby's stayed on his trail? Nice one!

"Hinata are you alright?"

"I'm fine… but I can't use my eyes for a while…sorry" this is going to make it a bit tricky…

"Let's get moving then, we haven't even caught one yet." We ran down the corridor as Newby told us where to go. He still had to stand still a few times to make sure but he seemed to be getting better as time passed.

A while later we finally stopped at a room which was a dead-end, he had no way to go. Naruko opened the door and saw him sitting on a bed with a grin on his face. Damn, we fell for his trap, how did we not realize!

"You found me! Oh no… I've lost… shame that everyone else is now nowhere near you." He lured us away, we had such tunnel vision that we didn't pay any attention to anyone hiding nearby.

"Sometimes an enemy will make a diversion to save his allies, never move with tunnel vision. It could also lead you to a trap so pay close attention to your surroundings. Just because I blinded Hinata doesn't mean you had to stick to following me. You lost your cool"

"Tss not cool dattebanya! You tricked us!"

"Trickery is the number one tool of a shinobi. Good luck, now please get out of my room." His room?! He lured us to his own room, what a pervert!

One down, ten to go. "Miauw" we can do this!

"You're right Tora-chan we can do this! Hinata, Yuuto, are you two ready?"

"Hn", "Hai!"

"Let's win this dattebanya!" we quickly left the pervert's room and continued running through the corridors in search of a chakra signature. We just needed one, worrying about the others would only slow us down.

"To the left, I sense someone moving"

Naruko's tail shot up to which she grinned "Thanks Yuuto. There's five rooms here, I can't pinpoint which one our target's in." then there's just one obvious solution right?

"Miauw" clones… duh

She hit slapped her head "Aaargh I'm an idiot!" five clones popped into existence and stopped at each of the doors "I'm going to open them at the same time. Be ready to catch whoever comes out"

The clones opened each door at the same time… BOOM a large explosion went off in the corridor! Who the hell uses explosions in a damn palace you brute!

The whole area was utterly blown up as the shockwave reached us, Stutter was shot back to a wall and fell to the ground coughing up blood!

"Hinata!"

Wait a minute, who would blow up a palace? No-one in their right mind would, the only explanation is an illusion "Miauw"

"Hinata, get up Hinata-chan!" tss Naruko's out of it in her sorrow… since when do Genjutsu target a group simultaneously? I thought they… I'm a moron… I flared my chakra and was indeed correct, I was in the Genjutsu individually…

The corridor was undamaged obviously. I looked to my side and saw Naruko, Stutter and Newby unconscious on the ground, amateurs! I should save them of their misery, right?

A small burst of chakra into each of them made them wake up with a confused expression. I understand Stutter and Newby but Naruko… she's got the Kyuubi inside of her, how is she even affected by Genjutsu?!

"Tora-chan…?"

"Miauw" you idiot!

"I'm sorry… I forgot to channel Kuranya's chakra…" Always channel it you dumbass!

Laughter resounded from one of the doors as it opened "Got you! We never said we wouldn't trap you brats."

Tss it's the sadist, just our luck that we found her second.

"Kaori-sensei…" no-one liked her… she's just a total bitch with her poisons and fragrance Jutsu. Lucky that she didn't use those just now.

"Come and catch me you brats!" Pass "Miauw"

We turned around and went the other way, no way in hell we would chase her. I'd rather lose!

"Come back here you brats, don't just walk away!" it's really the only thing you can do against her… chasing her with all those traps she can set up without notice, yeah nope not going to happen.

We casually kept walking away as the bitch chased us complaining nonstop. We passed a spot where the corridor intersected with another and turned left as Naruko apparently felt someone else in that direction.

"Caught you" Huh? Looking back I saw Naruko grinning as she'd grabbed the bitch. She hid a clone at the other side and switched with it when the bitch passed the intersection! Way to go Naruko now we're done with her annoyance!

"No! No no no no! It's not fair!"

"Trickery is the number one trick of a shinobi, you lose sensei!"

She held up her arms in frustration and cried out "Aaarggh I'm not done with you brats, just you wait for your training!" Oh damn I think I'm going to be call in sick for a day! Her payback was anything but fun!

The bitch stormed off, two down only way too many to go… we continued for another two hours and only caught five others, five! Which means we still have four to go and it's already night time!

"I give up dattebanya… there's no way we can find Kazuma-sensei if he uses his camouflage technique. And we still have to find Chiriku, Kitane and Tou... It's like they know we're coming when I finally spot them!"

Wait…they do know, they must be able to hear what we're saying! "Miauw"

"They can hear us?! Damn you Kazuma-Sensei you must've placed a seal on us!"

"Correct, it took you long enough to notice." What?! Holy Kami that scared the crap out of me! We all jumped from the sudden scare as he appeared right behind us, he was there the whole time?!

The bastard even began laughing! "It was fun seeing you struggle though!"

"You've been following us the entire time?!"

"Sure have, you only payed attention to things far away and not to the things right next to you. Even with my camouflage you should've noticed me, how else do you think we knew exactly where you were?"

Tss totally unfair, his camouflage is so perfect he could just straight walk up to someone and kill them. There's no way we could've noticed him…

"Especially you Naruko, you know my technique better than anyone else. You should know the give-aways." It has almost none! How in Kami could we have seen the slight disturbance in the air when you breathe or slight shift in dust or dirt on the ground when the palace is so damn clean?! Combine that with another silencing seal he obviously placed on himself and it's just done, no chance.

He should teach those seals to Naruko though, a silencing and odour removing seal works wonders with that technique. It's like the perfect assassin combination.

"Yuuto-kun, you could've also noticed my movement through the earth if you payed close enough attention. I dampened them barely enough so that you could've still felt them. There's much we can still teach your group."

True, we're far from ready to do any real missions. Anybody putting their Genin team through missions higher than D-rank before a few months of training is a total idiot. If this team of highly skilled Genin isn't ready then no team will be that's for sure.

Hide and seek was over… we lost… we met up with Baldy and the others for debriefing which basically meant the same thing as what Shady just told us. We needed more training, it's as simple as that. But most of all we needed experience, even if you have a high level of skill, with no experience it's almost worth nothing. Naruko is the perfect example of this.

"Tomorrow is survival training. We will be using the nearby forest for this, you four will be going to run from me, Kazuma, Tou and Seito for three whole days. You will be learning how to cover your tracks, gather recourses, make a shelter and most of all set up traps."

Traps? They're getting really serious with this training, aren't they?

"Kaori will be teaching you the basics of making traps in the morning. The best way to learn something is by actually doing it, only giving you theoretical knowledge would be pointless. That's why you're going to be using it right away for a couple of days." Learn by trial and error is it, if we fail we'll notice because they catch us.

"If we catch you then you'll have a chance to escape. You will be battling one of us, you're given a one-hour head start if you win. If you lose… then we're stepping up the training even further."

We're so totally screwed… if it's Seito or Tou we still have a chance but Baldy or Shady, no chance. They're all strong don't get me wrong, but those two are just in a league of their own compared to the others, especially Shady. He may seem jolly and nice but he's easily S-rank when he goes all out.

That's it for this chapter. The next chapter is the three days of survival training! Also a quick thing, I don't do the normal ranking that're used in the bounty-books. In this story you have the ranks like this: Genin Low, Mid, High. Chuunin Low, Mid, High. Jonin C-rank, Jonin B-rank, Jonin A-rank and last of all S-rank. There is one step above S-rank, for instance Nagato and Madara aren't really just S-rank as they're far stronger. (Nagato will be a hell of a lot stronger in this story compared to his lame-ass version in the original). In the Bounty books it will therefore go like this: D-rank bounty is High Chuunin. C-rank bounty is C-rank Jonin etc.

Naruko is a C-rank Jonin when it comes to skill at the moment, but due to her lack of experience she isn't worthy of that rank. Also… writing is hard… I've got the ideas for the later part in the story all ready, I've thought of some really good ideas with Nagato, Akatsuki and some other things. But then it's suddenly really hard to write the early part! So frustrating…