A/N: Just in case you missed the note in Chapter One, I've started calling Youko by the name Kurama, as to help avoid any possibly confusion. Oh, and don't forget, I'll be putting unfamiliar vocab terms in the bottom Author Notes. I'll be listing some of the seals by their actual Japanese names, so in case you're curious as to which seals they are, just check the vocab.

Also, in this chapter and from now on, as the normal section separators in OpenOffice don't load correctly and just leave a blank line, I'll now be using ------ to denote A/N to Story separations, whilst

lololol

-

blah blah blah omfg tits

will still separate the story sections.

As such, enjoy this third installment (and second chapter) of A Tale of Two Beasts: Harmony and Chaos! Oh, and you MAY have noticed how this was titled AtoTB-H&C: BOOK ONE earlier.. well... Fuck that shit. I'll just try and finish it up completely.

Any who... R&R, bitches.

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A Tale of Two Beasts – Harmony and Chaos

Chapter Two:

Constant Motion

The sun cast a baleful glare to the earth the next morning, dousing all of Konohagakure's inhabitants with a misty heat that drifted in and out with the wind. The trees sagged with the pressure of the great star's displeasure, and for this, Youko Kurama was not pleased. His hair, his pride and joy that he invested every single ounce of vanity left available from the usual amount he put into his overall body in general was a frizzy mess, and the long, straight strands seemed oily and overall... disgusting. Of course, these details were not truly there to all but the most dedicated and sensitive of observers. Truthfully, other than his hair being a slight bit drier than he was used to, in all actuality, it was still closer to perfect than any other humans would be, and to all but him it appeared as beautiful as ever. Still, even with this knowledge deeply ingrained in the back of his mind, the kitsune was overall not very pleased.

Ahead of him he felt more than saw the great gathering of fledgling chakra sources that were within the large Ninja Academy which now held all of that year's graduating class of Genin hopefuls. Kurama looked up and altered his path so he could sooner enter the building directly instead of moving around the edge of the fence that wound around the whole building. Besides, he despised the heat, so the sooner he entered the air conditioned academy, the better.

Kurama jogged the last few yards and jogged up the small set of steps that led to the main entrance. As he pushed open the large doors and stepped inside, he smiled and realized that even something as old and powerful as he could still feel the ever so slight trickle of apprehension's chill spreading up his spine. The Genin candidate let his highly developed senses direct him to the class room in which his "peers" all sat, waiting for their Jounin sensei to be paired up with their groups. Last night, about an hour or so after the relative excitement that the little battle between Kyuubi's vessel and both of the Chuunin had brought he'd gone to the apartment that the Hokage had assigned him and read through a few of the books that had been delivered to his residence. With this knowledge he'd whetted the appetite for which curiosity had suddenly formed in him.

The demon pushed open the classroom door and ignored the class to his left. He saw the instructor and started slightly on the inside, somewhat surprised that the Chuunin from earlier was in fact a teacher. He smiled slightly and said quietly, "Good morning... Iruka-san, I believe it was?" The Chuunin nodded, and a similar smile (this one a bit more honest than Kurama's own emulated version that seemed to be permanently plastered on him) appeared on his still young face.

"Yes! Good morning indeed, Kurama-kun. I am Umino Iruka, Chuunin and head instructor for this year's senior class. I'm a bit sad I have never had the pleasure of you being in our class, as Hokage-sama mentioned you were quite the prodigy from what you showed him during your examination. And really, manners are really underrated. You'd be surprised at how much of a pain some of these little bastards can be." at this, Iruka glanced at the young blond who held Kyuubi, but the child didn't see, as every ounce of his attention was being directed in the form of a glare in the direction of a certain dark haired boy who was looking like apathy incarnate. That was Kurama's kind of company. While Kyuubi's escapades were nothing if not challenging and usually entertaining, he often grew tired of the too malevolent, too sociable Kitsune, and knew from experience that such a combination was dangerous, if not out right deadly. The demon kept a small amount of concentration on Iruka, while his absent conscience drifted around the room, studying all of the children there.

Kurama hissed suddenly in revulsion as he spotted one of the young boys talking to a small white dog that was perched on his desk. Iruka stopped mid sentence and stared at him curiously, one eyebrow raised dramatically. "Oh, sorry Iruka-san. I choked... somehow. Give it no mind, and please pardon me for interrupting you. What were you saying, now?"

Iruka chuckled and waved it off, "Oh, don't worry about it. In any case, let me just introduce you to everybody and then you can sit wherever and wait on your sensei..." Iruka glanced down at the scroll spread out on his desk, and muttered, "Oh, dear... Well, it seems that since you're not officially ranked with the others, you'll no doubt be paired with the number one rookie, who is that young man with the black hair up there, Uchiha Sasuke... He'll be paired with Uzumaki Naruto, the only blond boy in here, and Haruno Sakura... the pink haired girl yelling at said blond. You, with those three with be under Team Seven, under Hatake Kakashi... I wouldn't normally say anything, but since you're new I'll give you the heads up. Kakashi-san seems to have developed a chronic case of being late, and it never fails, so... If you want, you've no doubt got time to take a nap, read a book or socialize or something. Really, unlike in the civilian schools, ninja students are being trained for the real world of the Ninja, and I personally feel its best that they are treated as what they are, soldiers, and for the most part, despite their age, I think all shinobi and kunoichi should be treated as legal adults. Anyway, I know you're getting sick of my monologuing, so let's get this over with."

The Chuunin stood and stretched his back before walking forward to stand in the center of the floor. "Alright, everyone. Listen up. This young man next to me is Minamino Kurama. He is new to Konoha... eh, long story short, he's now a part of your graduating class. Anyway, if you want go ahead and say a few words, or... whatever, you can. In any case, congratulations on your graduation." Iruka smiled once more and waved towards the children, and then walked back to his desk. Kurama stared up at those who met his gaze... and frowned slightly, before walking up the stairs and taking the seat next to the apathetic ninja in training that had just be vacated by that pink haired monstrosity who had taken a a battle of wits to the young blond next to her. He saw the ebony haired boy's eyes flick to him and a wariness fill them, before the small waver in his steady gaze passed and he turned back, staring ahead of him.

Kurama could sense the blond chuckling and the pink haired girl's wide eyed stare. He also chose to ignore the offending digit that pushed itself at him in the form of her dainty index finger.. that he noticed was callous free and manicured. He glanced down at his own nails, which were even more delicate looking, and smiled, before checking out the boy next to him, seeing his nails were manicured too. He looked over to the blond for a moment, and judged that at least one of these kids wasn't competition in the looks department. Once more, as it should be, his vanity ruled supreme. "Look here, buddy. Just because you're new here doesn't mean..." He turned to look at her and pumped youki into his eyes, warping them from their sparkling emerald to a fierce, burning amber and then sparked them aflame, letting visible blue energy pour off of them in fierce torrents of fire. He spoke, forcing the words out of him with a deathly taint of raw energy:

"Shut up."

and cut the flow off, his eyes resuming their normal shade of green. He turned his head back and made sure no one but the girl had seen, and winced slightly as he realized that one of the girls in the back of the room, a young, dead looking thing with blue hair and solid white eyes that reeked of pity had indeed seen, and he knew he shouldn't have done such a rash thing. But he paid the pathetic creature no mind and leaned back in his seat, laughing inside as the slack jawed tween sauntered off in a hurried fashion to the row behind him, to sit with a few other of the female graduates.

Kurama pulled out a small book he'd gotten from a merchant a few minutes after leaving his house. He had no money, so of course he hadn't paid for the damn thing, but all the same he had it now and was eager to do a bit of research into this new world he found himself stuck in. The little paperback was entitled: The Ninja Bible, and according to the back of it, it supposedly included a small guide to follow that helped increase training results, encouraged the reader to improve them self, and also had over one hundred basic jutsu listed, both offensive, defensive, and even some support category jutsu. He soon learned that they were mainly categorized under Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, but he noted that there were also references to more powerful, but similar techniques some times referred to as Kinjutsu. As Kurama was already much stronger than any person in this room in terms of both power and most likely strategy as well, he allowed himself to admit he knew nothing but a few little facts about their world and combat. Seeing as how he was a kitsune, he was a born trickster, and it just wouldn't do to take a path similar to the Demi-God Kyuubi and muscle your way around (at least until he reached his peak, that is). He would stay true to his birth right as much as he could and deceive these mortals. And to play the perfect part he would have to fit in, and to fit in, he would have to adopt their customs and techniques, if only for a short time. 'At least I hope it's a short time,' Kurama thought, and began skimming over the contents for the second time, now committing much of the information to memory.

Youko Kurama was a devious creature, a demon of both power and cunning... but at this stage in life, he was mostly cunning. Later would come the rampant slaughters that his strength would allow, where he would bathe in the blood of those foolish enough to cross him. He read through the several hundred page book with a single mindedness not found often in Ningenkai, or even in the majority of the Makai, actually. He had just turned the last page when he heard the tell tale signs of a door opening, and snickering. He closed the book and put it into one of the pockets on his black robe that he wore over the ebony mesh armor that he'd gotten upon seeing that his torn white robes were giving him lots of stares and attention that he'd much rather prefer to do without.

He watched with half lidded eyes as the gray haired shinobi who he had already identified by the way he wore his head band, and by the hair style as both their Jounin instructor and as Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Nin of Konohagakure and son of the famed Sannin class White Fang of Konoha whom had committed suicide some years earlier. Obviously, this was one talented individual standing in front of them. Kakashi glanced up at him, and nodded, "Hm... Well, my first impression is..." before grabbing the eraser that had fell on him, and flicked his wrist, embedding the item deep into the wall, "I don't like you." He turned to the window and then back to them, pointing up. "Meet me up top, ASAP."

-

"I think it would be best if we started off by letting you all introduce yourselves. It's more than likely you all know each other, but I'm glad to say I am unfamiliar with any of you, and I'm not really looking forward to working with you. So, things you like, things you dislike, hobbies, your goals... Now then, you, mopey." Kakashi smiled, and Kurama found himself chuckling slightly as the Jounin all but ignored the glare that the ebony haired shinobi sent him.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei! Why don't you give us an example...?" asked Sakura, who had sat as far away from Kurama and Naruto as possible, and as a result ended up sitting next to their sensei, as she couldn't get near Sasuke, who was quite relieved.

"Alright. I'm Hatake Kakashi. I don't like much... I dislike a few things. I have lots of hobbies... And my goals are none of your business." as he finished his one visible eye crinkled into a smile, and all four of his pupils, including our protagonist Kurama, blanched, and thought as one, 'We only learned his name...' Kakashi coughed into his fist and pointed to Sasuke, "Uh, your turn."

"I am Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like many things... mainly growing stronger and training. I dislike weakness... and... there is a certain man I wish to kill." the young man, now known as Sasuke muttered, the last few words spoken with a distinct hissing tone. Kurama read much anger in the young boy, and found himself liking the little misanthrope more and more.

Hatake Kakashi nodded, not appearing to have known any of this, but really well aware of his goal to dig the eyes of Uchiha Itachi out of his skull already. "Alright. Next... how about you, Pinky?"

The girl frowned slightly, but stood and stepped forward. "Well.. I'm Haruno Sakura. I like..." here she blushed heavily and looked at the brooding Avenger, "My hobbies are..." a small look at Sasuke, "My goal is to..." again, she blushed and glanced back at Sasuke who was sighing at the unwanted attention. Sakura then glared at Naruto abruptly, all of the red in her flushed face gone in an instant, "I dislike Naruto!"

Kurama chuckled out loud for a few seconds at the blond's look before seeing his teacher's one visible eye centering on him. He stood at the unspoken signal, "I'm Minamino Kurama. I enjoy social activities that end in kinky sex, intaking various intoxicants, and reading. Uh... hobbies include, well, kinky sex, the intaking of various intoxicants and reading... I dislike weakness... As for my goals..." here his eyes flashed briefly, "I want what's coming to me." He smiled savagely and sat down. "Oh, and I can't stand bitchy women. Can't forget that."

Kakashi, chuckling slightly mumbled, "Amen to that... Ah! You, the blond one."

The Kyuubi vessel stood up, seeming to leap from his seat, and beamed at them, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's Number One Comedy Ninja and Ultimate Prank Master! I like ramen, Sakura, ramen, training, ramen... and... ramen! I dislike Sasuke-teme, and the fags down at the shopping mall who never let me inside... My goal is to one day be the Hokage of Konoha. Believe it!" At his last proclamation, all of Konohagakure shivered with vile horror for an instant, and then all of them pondered this odd reaction that seemed to have no cause.

Kakashi nodded again, a little put off, "Uh... well, that was interesting. Anyway... Meet me at Training Grounds Number 7 tomorrow morning at Seven. Oh, and don't eat any breakfast. You'll only throw it up." Kakashi began to laugh, "See you bright and early!"

Kurama snorted and stood, turning without another word and walking in the other direction, heading for his home, paying no mind to his companions as they all watched him walk away before they each, in turn played out their respective roles and too headed home.

-

Kurama sat on his bed, running through seal after seal, over and over again. He knew it was possible to do techniques without actually doing the seals, but as of now he suspected it was only possible with those that required a very small number of seals, such as Bushin no jutsu, or Henge no jutsu which both only needed the perquisite and most base of all seals, the Ram seal. It seemed that the user could use half seals and double the speed of the techniques casting, as in running a half Tori seal in conjunction with a half Hebi seal, which ended in the user doing all of the seals in half the time. To be able to do such, the one performing the seals would have to have an extremely concentrated force of will, and extremely refined control. In his brief, but deep study of The Ninja Bible, Kurama had learned that the average time it took Academy Students to form seals was about 1/2 of a second. Experienced Genin could usually throw out a familiar set of seals in about 1/4 of a second. Chuunin could manage on average 1/8 of a second, and Jounin could actually perform their techniques at 1/16, but it also said that S-class and Kage level ninja could even do very advanced techniques at speeds of up to 1/32 of a second, such as the Yondaime Hokage and his most famous, and feared technique, the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

So far, Kurama thought his own 1/6 of a second was decent for how much experience he had, but still, the beast within forced him to go through each and every single jutsu that he had only just learned until he could cut that time down to at the very least an eight of a second. Anything lower was not acceptable. Kurama sighed slightly, clenched his teeth and ripped through Kage Bushin no Jutsu on a whim, not speaking aloud. Instantly, seven clones popped into existence and stared at him with a blank, vacant gaze. "Hm. That child could form many more.. Of course, I really don't think he did it without great effort on his part, and I have no doubt it drained his chakra stores something fierce. I need to become better at this method of combat. I have no doubt that if I simply fight as I would in the Makai, I may be found out and I would sooner banish myself the the seventh layer of Reikai than be shoved up some brat's asshole..." He smiled slightly and muttered, "Kai," watching his clones poof into the void, and then summoned them again, now using youki.

Suddenly, dozens of clones appeared, all pouring off white, burning auras of demonic energy, their eyes flushed a deep crimson, their nails all extended, and each and every one in the form of his true self, unlike the previous set which had been in his more humanoid form that he now took. His smile turned into a sinister sneer, "Much... much more impressive, I believe."

The rest of the night continued in much the same way, the demon clad in somewhat human shell never satisfied with average. He continued on until he brought his speed up to an eight of a second, and still continued on until six in the morning, where his resolve broke and he forced himself into sleep for a few minutes. Heavens, he really didn't need much rest with such massive amounts of reiki and youki constantly replenishing the energy his body functioned off of. Still he forced himself to sleep, and he slept quite deeply until the small alarm clock he'd stolen received a smack just before it began blaring off the time as 6:30 AM, the small rest giving him enough of a rejuvenation to justify it as 'beauty sleep'.

Kurama stood and dressed in silence, all the while his mind was busy turning over possibilities for removing Kyuubi-sama from that infernal vessel that annoyed the hell out of Kurama, even from the small amount of time he'd spent around him. True, he wasn't quite as annoying as that Sakura girl, but he was close to it. All in all, he knew he could have been forced into worser company. Just imagine if Kyuubi had been sealed into the dog boy... Kurama shivered involuntarily, disgusted at any possible contact with the mutt.

He finished dressing in one of the ten different suits he'd gotten. All were monotone in their coloring, each and every one a deep ebony that seemed to suck the color right out of anything they were near, but in Kurama's mind, it helped to fit him in to what these Shinobi folks tended to attempt and embed themselves into a role of some dark revanent few of them could hope to be close to rivaling, a demon of the shadows. Well, that's what he tried to tell himself, that he was trying to make a mockery of their emulation of darkness and death incarnate, but really, it was his vanity that forced him to buy these suits that had such a silky like material that fit perfectly and comfortably, and seemed to make the existence of chain link mesh within nonexistent, while the outside still fell into his picky range of dark colors he allowed on his body which he treated as a priest would a temple.

Kurama left the apartment building after stowing a small seed in the lock, ensuring nothing would break in without sustaining any injuries. The only window in the place was in the small living room, and he'd long since finished placing security measures around it. He really wasn't worried. There wasn't a whole lot worth stealing anyway, and for such a creature as he, he hadn't yet really tried to expand his collection. In the years to come Kurama would amass hordes of treasure so large and valuable that no being save the supreme deities that inhabited Reikai would be able to comprehend. For now his little habit hadn't been quite so developed as many centuries of living the life of a bandit would do.

He stopped on the way to the assigned training grounds and picked up a small box of sweet smelling items he was sure to be some form of treat and feasted on the dumpling sticks until he'd arrived, and realized that Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke had yet to arrive. Subsequently, he came to the sudden remembrance of the fact that one certain Jounin known as Hatake Kakashi was sure to always be late, and as such he jumped into one of the trees near the entrance path that opened up into a dusty clearing that showed previous signs of battle. The woods surrounding the rather large training ground were in many places scarred and burned, the bark of the trees cut and scratched, even charred and some wounds going so far as to actually break some of the massive plants in half. He sat in the helm of a large specimen he thought to be an Oak tree, and sighed with displeasure at the physical damage it had taken, and started sending reiki deep into it, channeling the force of his spirit into the earth to spread along the roots of all plants near his location, healing them of their woes. He finished after several minutes of concentration, and smiled as the forest seemed to glow and sway with joy at being revitalized.

Kurama leaned over the branch he had almost rested against and saw still no signs of his team mates, and pulled out his copy of The Ninja Bible and began to read over some of the more complex texts towards the back that centered around the ideology of Nindo, the way of the Ninja, which at its core seemed at polar opposites of the scale when compared to Bushido, the way of the Samurai, which even Kurama had long known about from within the Makai. Where the Samurai seemed to be more of a strict concentration on universal codes of Honor and servitude, the Ninja ways seemed to be a more personal thing, usually a vow of some sort to help the Ninja in question become more comfortable in the knowledge that their trade was a job of death, a thing which seemed for all humans a subject of great fear. Of course, seeing as how the average life span of these creatures seemed to be about a hundred years, it really wasn't too surprising.

Back on the subject of the vow in itself, it seemed they were usually codes set to align the Ninja with their chosen country to serve, or to protect certain persons or objects. The Ninja Bible happened to mention, also, that many Nukenin, or ninja who had abandoned their home country of origin and training seemed to take such a philosophy to a more destruction oriented affair, usually something along the lines of making those that harmed them deceased in the most volatile ways imaginable, or to gain enough strength to defeat Death, and all sorts of other wonderful ideas. After he finished reading over the philosophy rich chapters he marked the page and put it away in the handy compression sack that kept all objects tight in its embrace to remove the possibility of noise that was strapped to the thick, black leather sash he wore at the sound of slowly approaching footsteps. First to arrive was the Uchiha boy, hands running through the seals Kurama instantly realized to be a fire jutsu, though his eyes were trained on nothing in particular.

Next up, a mere minute later came the only female of their group, the one called Sakura. She slid right up to the ebony haired boy and attempted conversation, which the young male blew off without a glance. Kurama sighed and dropped from the tree, walking over to the other two. Both had noticed him upon their arrival, as he'd made no signs to hide his presence, so neither was alarmed at him, but the girl did step back slightly at his approach. Thinking to make the best of it, the always sociable Kurama spoke up, "Any of you seen the blond this morning? I've been out here since about six forty or so... it's gotta be around seven something now. Is he usually late?"

Sasuke turned to him, "He's Naruto. Nobody has any idea of his normal routine. When it comes to school he's either there or not. If I was you, I wouldn't try and put much thought to it. He's a waste of effort, for the most part." The Uchiha turned back to Sakura, and then looked Kurama in the eye, "If you can prove to make yourself useful, maybe we won't end up dragging along two dead weights."

Kurama smirked, " I don't think you'll have to worry about that... Oh, and Iruka-san mentioned to me that Kakashi-sensei is chronically late, so... it'd be best if we didn't sit around here and wait up for him. By yesterday's estimate, I'd say he won't be here until around eleven. Would you like to... spar... perhaps?"

Sasuke grinned, "Come."

-

Kurama stretched his arms and back, popping his joints and channeling chakra, youki, and reiki to fill his body with their power, ready to be drawn forth and reign devastation. He watched the boy do similar, and suddenly leap at him, hands tearing through seals with a sudden fluidness that Kurama felt he may have misjudged these humans. Then he felt the familiar red tint of battle fever close over him, and Sasuke might as well have been moving in slow motion. Kurama dissected the seals for a Katon jutsu, a basic fireball that he knew by description, but not be the actual name. He jumped forward, grabbed Sasuke's wrists and pulled his hand apart, then brought his own up to do the exact same jutsu, and release it just as the great boost of adrenaline that had sped him up so greatly left him with a much weaker dosage of wonderful cold fury. Sasuke flew back, smoking. The jutsu had been a weak one, not intended to kill. Even Kurama had some sense of honor deep in his cruel exterior. He smiled and jumped back, in a loose stance.

Sasuke jumped back up, a frown plastered on his face as he drew out more chakra, pouring them into his limbs in a bastardized enhancing technique he'd seen some older shinobi do without thought before entering battle. He was, frankly, a little shocked at how fast the other Genin was. Nobody but his brother had ever been able to do something like that to him. Kurama knew he was quite fast, but he hadn't realized that such speed as his own natural fury blessed him with was far beyond what most Genin were capable of. Sasuke pumped his chakra through his muscles and charged, hands forming loose half fists ready to defend or clench and attack. He felt the chakra inside him turn his body into a rocket, and his face lit up in a savage snarling grin as he lets punches rain down onto the other Genin, who's eyes were turning a faded, bloodshot amber.

Kurama resisted the urge to unleash his full power onto the boy and blocked or avoided every punch, usually sliding his hands up the boy's arms and shoving them out of the way, still moving backwards without much thought. He waited until Sasuke pulled back for a hard right, and grabbed his left arm, ripping it down and slamming him into the ground with enough force to crack the dirt and nearly knock the boy unconscious. But Sasuke only lay dazed for a minute, not breathing before coughing and drawing in a deep, loud gasp of air and jumping up, holding his left shoulder tightly.

Kurama paused and took a deep breath, and wiped off sweat that wasn't there off his forehead. "You're pretty impressive, Sasuke-kun. I think we should stop though. You're tiring me out already." He played the coy fox he really was and could see the ego growing. He smiled at the boy and then motioned back to the wide eyed pink haired Genin who, even knowing she was desperately outclassed by the two, couldn't help but throw a snotty look at Kurama, fooled by his half assed attempt at acting tired, sure no one could beat her Sasuke-kun.

Naruto arrived shortly, sweating heavily from the harsh pace from which he'd set as he sprinted from the residential area he lived in to the remote training grounds. He saw Kakashi was late and that Sakura was next to Sasuke, pestering him with questions and praises, and that the new addition to their class was smiling and waving him over. He ran over, smiling at the friendly attention he was so unused to.

"Sorry for running a little late, man. Fucking power went out when I was asleep and my clock didn't go off. Where's Kakashi-sensei?" the blond asked, observing the calm, graceful way his teammate carried himself.

The red haired teen shrugged, "Iruka-san mentioned that he was known for being late... Judging by how late he was yesterday, I'd say he won't be here until eleven. There's really not a whole lot to do, apparently. Sasuke and I had a little spar, but I wouldn't think twice about messing with Sakura. She's a bit... delicate, don't you think?"

Naruto laughed, "That's a good way to put it. Well, shit. I wished I had brought my GameDude or something. It's going to be boring waiting for another three hours. Ugh. Stupid Kakashi-sensei... Hey, didn't Iruka-sensei say something about you being new to Konoha? Where'd you come from, exactly?"

Kurama smirked, "Eh, I came from a pretty good distance off. I'm not originally from these Elemental Nations. A lot less humans and a lot more demons where I come from." That put an end to the conversation very quickly. Naruto's smile fell off his face like a ship off the edge of the earth, and he nodded slightly before muttering out a thanks and walking off to sit on one of the logs that served as benches around a heavily used fire pit that was still smoking very, very slightly. Just like that, Kurama had his answer. Naruto did know about the Kyuubi, but he wasn't sure if he really was the demon or not. He could use this to his advantage. Kurama sat on the opposite end of the camp ground and meditated until his felt the immense, but suppressed chakra signature of Hatake Kakashi approaching.

The Jounin sauntered up lazily, his lone eye directed solely to the orange, gaudy looking book he held with an steady hand. "You guys are here early."

Naruto and Sakura growled heavily and stood up straight suddenly, pointing as if their index fingers were lances of fire, "NO, YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto glared, but otherwise backed off and threw his hands into the air. Sakura just couldn't restrain herself, though, "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG WE HAVE BEEN OUT HERE WAITING FOR YOU?! YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A TEACHER! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE GET THE LAZY JOUNIN... HOW DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!"

Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, if you can't be quiet, I'm going to have to send you home with a failing grade. Now please, you're giving me a headache." Giving her no time to get started up again, he shut his book and smiled, "Now then! I can't wait to tell you guys! Today we'll be doing some survival training!"

The three who had been to the Academy all looked slightly put off at this, and Naruto spoke up, "Kakashi-sensei... we already completed survival training..."

The Jounin laughed, and his one eyes crinkled into a sickened, warped version of the happy smile he'd given them before. Even Kurama felt a bit wary at this, and stepped back. "Oh you're going to flip when I tell you the best part. This is the real thing, kids. If you pass this, you become Genin. That little graduation test was just to separate the losers from those possibly worth a damn. Now then, on to the really fun part!" His smiled returned to normal, "The exam you'll be participating in has a 66.6 rate of failure." He pulled out two bells, "Okay, here's the deal. Each of you has to... Oh. I forgot there were four this time. Oh well, same difference. Each of you must take a bell, and the one who doesn't end up with one.. or, well, the two who don't have a bell by noon will fail, not get any of this delicious food I've brought, and have to go back to the Academy. If you plan on passing this exam, you need to come at me with the intent to kill. Now-."

Naruto suddenly grabbed a kunai and snarled at him something fiercely vulgar that none of his teammates, or Kakashi actually understood, and jumped forward, intent on stabbing the lazy Jounin, eager to get down to business.. He found himself on his knees, his kunai gone and both hands grabbed and pushed to where a single shove would break his wrists. "You didn't wait until I said go... But I commend you, you came with the intent to kill." Kakashi released the boy, "Go."

Both Sasuke and Sakura vanished into the woods, while both Kurama and Naruto readied for battle, both taking a loose stance familiar to most fighters that were about brutal tactics, dirty fighting. Kurama pulled out a seed, and smirked, 'Let's see if this human is worthy.' He waited until the blond started, and then followed behind him less than a second later, the seed growing instantly into a paper thing blade of grass, indestructible by meager means, impervious to alteration by anything but youki and reiki. He grinned when the young Jounin dropped his book into his pocket and pulled out two kunai, his one eye open and bloodshot with the haze of blood lust, slightly dampened when not faced with actual known threat or panic, that all felt before battle. Kurama's blade whipped forward, bending around the kunai and heading to the wrist of his sensei, putting the edge forward intent to slice deep in and let him bleed to death.

Kakashi sensed this and his speed nearly quadrupled, pulling his hand from the Genin's grasp and smashing a fist hard into his neck, sending the red head skidding along the ground, 'Shit,' he thought, 'I didn't really expect any of them to actually try and kill me, much less be capable of it.'

Kakashi almost stopped the test to check and see if he had hurt the boy, when Kurama jumped up and sneered at him, "God damn you. That fucking hurt. Naruto, let's get this son of a bitch!" All apart of the act, Naruto fell in step, unaware of his role in this epic of Youko Kurama's making. Both shot off at the man, this time with no weapons, sensing that their threats would be returned on them without saying anything. Naruto was a brawler, hands downs. His fighting was shit, and due to the much stronger, faster, and graceful Jounin's larger stature, no ground and pound tactics would work. He fell behind Kurama who was letting his demonic nature speed his reactions up, beyond normal human means, and just below Kakashi's highly trained level. Things were different than he expected, but none of his plans ever failed. Ever.

He landed in several devastating hits, flooding youki through his fists and bruising flesh with each connecting hit, a loud crack following each strike as flesh met flesh. He went for the neck and shoulders mostly, trying to throw off Kakashi's harsh power and amazing, for a human, speed. Kurama had no doubts about it. Kakashi was strong. Damn strong. Probably stronger than any demon he'd ever faced as of yet, other than Kyuubi. But Kyuubi was on an entirely separate scale, so that didn't really count. He forced himself to move faster, and now Naruto was just sitting there, slack jawed with both Sasuke and Sakura who watched in shock as their new team mate went all out on the Jounin. Sure, only about a fourth of his strikes actually connected, and usually they were only half ass hits, but Kurama made sure Kakashi felt them. And suddenly the pace changes. Hatake Kakashi smiled and sped up even more, this time outclassing Kurama completely, countering every attack with a hard hit to the side of the head, each time in the same spot with the same force. It happened several times, and finally it was only Kakashi hitting, smashing into Kurama's skull until the boy dropped.

It was during this, when Kakashi began pounding into Kurama's skull that Sasuke shot out of the trees and cut the bells off of Kakashi's belt, throwing one to Naruto when the blond gave him a thumbs up. Kakashi turned to deal with them and they grabbed Kurama and sprinted into the trees, Naruto spamming off a couple shadow clones to distract Kakashi from their escape route. The Jounin dispatched the clones with a few lazy flicks of the wrist, and pulled out Icha Icha #79, smiling. Maybe... just maybe he'd finally found a team worth passing.

-

The bell began ringing not too soon after Kurama had been knocked out. Kakashi put away his book and waved at the trees in a "come hither" motion. All four of his students walked out slowly, Kurama holding the side of his head with one hand, eyes swirling with controlled anger. "Well, I've got to say I'm a little impressed. Kurama, Sasuke, and Naruto... you all pass with flying colors. Sakura, not only did you fail... I believe it would be in everyone's best interest if you quit life as a ninja. You made no effort whatsoever to even attempt taking the bells from me.

"You missed the whole point of the excersise, Sakura. Genin against a Jounin? Only two bells? Please. It was a trial of teamwork. And while at least Kurama and Naruto tried to work as a team, it ended with Sasuke giving a bell to Naruto and both of them escaping with Kurama. You sat in the bushes doing nothing. You made no contact with any of your teammates and simply hid the whole time..."

Kakashi sighed, "You know, actually, what the hell. You've learned the lesson well enough. Fine, I'll end up with three Genin anyway, so what's a fourth going to hurt? You all pass. You're free for the rest of the day. Meet me here tomorrow morning at 7:00 sharp. And make sure you eat a good breakfast. You'll need the energy." Kakashi saluted and executed a Konoha Shunshin, vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

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A/N: Well, first, I'd like to thank whoever it was that thought of how fast it took ninja to form seals, as that really helped me come up with some ideas for his studying/training in the adaptation to the Shinobi world.

If Sasuke seems a little OOC to you, I'm of the impression he's somewhat open to new challenges, and as such wouldn't be a total dick to someone that had a interesting look on things. I think that he's a little impressed by his attitude, and while he's wary of him, Sasuke isn't totally in the canon 'You're beneath me.' mode with Kurama. Also, I suppose the seriousness in which Kurama treats most things is a welcome relief from the immature kids he's usually with. I mean, while he's obviously a little spoiled, the kid did go through some serious shit when he was young, so I think it's a bit much for me to just outright call him a whiny bitch and bash him through the whole story... So, I'm treating him as a neutral entity in this. And I'm trying to keep Sakura bashing out of this, too, but I'm having problems with that.

This story really isn't turning out the way I thought it was. My muse is carrying me off meandering through possibilities, and I can't seem to concentrate on what I want. But I'm going to see where it takes me. So... this really isn't my best effort. I'm getting sidetracked and trying to get some chapters posted. When I get ahead some maybe I'll sit back a bit and actually write a bit better. It seems a little too complex for its own good, at the moment. I'll try and go back and edit it again later on, too. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this.

Stay tuned for Chapter Three!

Vocabulary:

Tori – Bird

Hebi – Serpent/Snake

Reikai – Spirit World (Heaven/Hell)

STATS:

Words: 6853 (Story)

Words: 7347 (All)