A/N: Well, I suppose that I really should apologize for the wait. I could make excuses about mild writers block for this chapter, or say that the excess load of crappy stories being posted disturbed me so much that I couldn't bring myself to write, but the fact of the matter is that I am just lazy. Once I got home after finishing exams, I started working on some of the 10 or so RPG's that I have left unfinished, so I just put off story writing and for that, I am sorry.

On a second note, I can now boast that I have the highest reviewed Naru/Kin story on this site. Sure, I know that "highest reviewed" and "most popular" are different things, and that there is not much competition, but for the first story that I have ever written, having the most reviews for this pairing makes me happy, so thank you all for your reviews. Anyways, time to move on to the story.

Shadow Fox

Naruto and Kin were walking to the hospital to pick up their teammate who had recovered from unconsciousness. The three of them continued to their hotel room with Kin happily chatting about how they were going to do in the final part of the exam. Naruto smiled at her antics while Zaku scowled at her, angry that he had been eliminated from the exam, by that lazy ninja no less. Naruto noticed the scowl on his friends face and spoke up.

"I know that you are angry about losing Zaku, but you really have no one to blame but yourself. You underestimated your opponent and got a bit carried away in your attacking again. What have I told you about your temper?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know that I got a bit excessive on the attack, but I still don't have to be happy about losing." Zaku knew that his friend was trying to give him advice for the future, but right now, he was just too pissed to care at the moment.

As they walked along, Kin remembered something about Naruto's match, something that she meant to ask him about.

"Hey, Dosu, I meant to ask you, during your match with that dog guy, you moved really fast at the end. When did you get so fast? I have never seen you doing any sort of speed training."

Naruto smiled as he turned to his teammate to answer her question, "I have been doing speed training, just not anything that you could see."

"Weights?" Zaku questioned.

"Nope, I don't use weights; I just make my shadow resist my movements. The added strain on my muscles at all time helped to increase my speed. However, I haven't got a taijutsu style to incorporate my speed into yet."

The trio soon found themselves back at their hotel room. It was then that Zaku finally noticed something.

"Hey, Naruto, what happened to your bandages?" Zaku asked, free to use Naruto's name in the safety of their hotel room.

"They got torn up in my battle in the exam. I should get started replacing them soon."

"Umm, can you stay like this a little while longer? I like it better when you have the bandages off." Kin asked with a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

"Aww, that's so sweet, Kin wants to ogle you like some fan girl." Zaku replied with a smirk.

"What the hell are you saying Zaku." Kin yelled "It just confuses me to know that it is Naruto but to see him looking like Dosu, so how about you just shut up and let us discuss our training for the next month, since we actually made it to the finals."

"Oh hell no, you did not just say that. Now you are in for it, I am going to kill you."

Naruto watched as his two friends begin rolling around the room, launching insignificant attacks at each other. He soon found himself laughing at his friend's antics. He was happy with his new team, and nothing would change that. Both Zaku and Kin soon managed to settle down, and the three began to discuss how they would train in the coming month so that Naruto and Kin would be ready for the final portion of the exam.

Zaku later left, saying that he was going to go find someplace to eat. This left Naruto and Kin alone in the hotel room.

"Naruto, I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

"What is it Kin-chan?"

"I was wondering if I could see what you look like without your mask on."

Naruto was unsure of what to do with this request. His mask hid one of only three traits that tied him to his old life. His eyes, his whisker marks and his seal were the only things that he could not change. His whisker marks…the sign of what he was, a demon vessel. A reminder of the hatred he was subjected to his whole life, for when people saw those whisker marks, they knew who he was, and thus hated him. Kin knew nothing of the Kyuubi inside of him, what would she think if she saw the whisker marks on his face? He sighed to himself as he considered this predicament. He was afraid of the possibility of her questioning him, of her eventually figuring out what he was, but at the same time, he didn't want to spend his whole life hiding behind a mask, afraid of what people might think should he ever remove it. He gave another internal sigh as he slowly lowered his mask, revealing his face to his teammate.

Kin watched as her teammate lowered his mask. His face was not flawed or anything of that sort, so he wasn't hiding some disfiguration behind his mask. His face had an appearance that seemed paradoxical. It had a certain boyish charm to it, yet at the same time it held a sort of maturity to it, one that came from having gone through a number of painful ordeals. Then she noticed the whisker like marks on his cheek. Having marks like that was not a normal occurrence, so what were they there for? She wanted to know the answer to this question, but felt that this was probably what he was trying to hide with his mask, so she didn't want to pry.

"Naruto."

Naruto locked on to her gaze, he was scared of what her reaction might be, scared of losing her, but he held his ground to hear her out, "Yes Kin-chan."

"Thank you for trusting me enough to show me your face, but I have one thing to ask of you."

Naruto flinched at her words; she was going to ask about his whisker marks, she was going to be suspicious of him. He had finally been happy, but now it was all going to be taken away from him. He braced himself for the coming question.

"Please don't feel that you have to hide anything from us, Zaku and I are your friends, we wont push you to tell us anything that you don't want to, but please don't feel that you need to hide things from us for fear that we will stop being your friends."

Naruto was shocked, he had expected a mini inquisition, but she was just asking him to not feel the need to hide things from them, she wasn't going to press him for answers to her questions about his whisker marks. He couldn't hold back the happiness that overcame him as he suddenly hugged Kin, not noticing the blush that stained her cheeks.

"Thank you Kin-chan, I really needed to hear that."

Kin slowly recovered from her shock and returned the hug. She felt so warm in his arms; she felt happy in his arms and didn't want the moment to end. When he broke the hug, she suddenly felt cold, she wanted to jump back into his arms and stay there forever. She was brought out of her thoughts by Naruto, who was blushing over his sudden reaction.

"So, why don't we go find somewhere to get dinner, I am getting pretty hungry."

Kin simply nodded, not quite able to bring herself to speak yet.

"Ok, then after I wrap some more bandages around my head, lets go get some ramen." Naruto said as he pulled up his mask

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Unbeknownst to either of the two teenagers, a certain old man was watching the exchange through a crystal ball in his office. After watching the preliminary matches of the exam, he decided that he needed to keep an eye on this boy to see if his suspicions were correct. He didn't expect to have his suspicions confirmed so quickly. This boy was indeed Naruto, they had called him by name and he had seen his face. The whisker marks confirmed it. He wasn't sure what to feel at the moment, he was overjoyed to see that Naruto was alright, but at the same time, he was saddened by the fact that he had joined another village, especially one that he held his suspicions about. He had been informed about the sighting of Orochimaru during the exam and he had seen the curse seal on Sasuke, and while he had no proof, he had a feeling that the sound village was tied to Orochimaru in some way.

"Naruto, of all of the villages that you could have joined, why did it have to be that one?"

He knew the probable answer to that question. Naruto believed that he would be declared a missing nin, so he needed to find somewhere to go, some place where he would be safe from hunter nin. He had heard of a new village where missing nin were being accepted, and if this village was tied to Orochimaru as he believed, then it was highly likely that this was that village. But if they were housing Naruto, then what were they planning that they would risk sending Naruto back to Konoha, they could easily have waited until the exams were held somewhere else, so why risk him being discovered. Something was amiss here, and Sarutobi was going to find out what that was, but first, he had to contact a certain student of his rumored to be in town.

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Shikamaru sighed to himself as he thought about what he was about to do. He didn't really care very much about the exams at the beginning, but now, things were a bit different. There was something about this Dosu guy that he didn't understand, something that he felt that he needed to know. Also, despite what some people may have believed, he did have a bit of pride, and pride in his family's abilities. He didn't want to lose to another shadow user; it would make his family abilities look bad. And so it was that Shikamaru did something he never thought that he would find himself doing.

"Dad, can you train me this month for the chuunin exam finals."

Shikaku stared at his son and blinked, then blinked again, and then he collapsed, having passed out from surprise.

"Damn it, I'm not that lazy. This is all too troublesome."

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Naruto let out a sigh of contentment as he relaxed in the warm water of the hot spring. He and Kin had decided to go to the hot springs after eating dinner, and the hot water felt great on the sore muscles he had after fighting Kiba. He was still a bit pissed that he had ultimately taken that beating for nothing, hiding his abilities only to face an opponent that had already seen them. He began to slowly sink into the water, starting to slowly tune out the world around him. This could not but done however, thanks to the constant perverted chuckling coming from the vicinity. He looked around for Kakashi or possibly Ebisu, but only found an older man with white hair staring through a hole in the fence. Naruto began to make his way towards the old man, who soon found a spike made of shadows behind him in a very uncomfortable position, threatening to invade some very personal space.

"Normally, I really wouldn't care what you are doing, but Kin-chan is over on the other side right now, so if you don't get away from that hole, you are going to end up with this shadow spike in a very uncomfortable place."

The old man thought about this for a few moments. He didn't want the result that this kid was promising, but the viewing was just so good. However, the consequence seemed worse then the prize, so he reluctantly backed away, figuring he could just return for some more research later. He turned around to see the person who interrupted his research and was met with a single vibrant blue eye, one that he had only seen on one individual before. He decided to introduce himself, so he began to break into his personal dance.

"I am a man known by many, the object of every woman's affection, the envy of men everywhere, the incredibly powerful, the one and only frog sannin, Jiraiya."

His introduction only met with the back of a retreating Naruto. He decided that he was done with his bath, and he didn't really care to deal with this perverted old man. He sent Kyo over to the female bath to inform Kin that he was leaving, and that there was a perverted old man peeking into the women's bath. Needless to say, Jiraiya received a severe beating at the hands of many enraged women. It was at this time that a messenger from Sarutobi arrived for Jiraiya. He went to go meet with his old sensei, thoughts of this new boy filling his mind, he would have to try to find out more about this kid.

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Back in the sound village, the real Dosu was repeatedly punching a training log, still frustrated that Naruto, who only showed up about two months ago, was given his spot in the chuunin exam. He was just as good as Naruto, so why should he have to stay in the sound village while the others get the chance to be promoted to chuunin. Why couldn't Naruto have replaced one of the others? Surely they could have found some way to disguise him as one of the others. It was too late to hope for any of these now. The exams had already started, and he had been left behind.

"Damn it, why did I have to be left behind."

He jerked around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, only to find himself facing the Otokage himself.

"Orochimaru-sama, what are you doing here?"

"I am just making some final preparations for something." Orochimaru replied. He looked over towards the log that Dosu had been attacking, which now had some very large dents in it. "I suppose that you are still upset about getting left behind for the exams."

"…Yes. I am sorry Orochimaru-sama, I know that this was your decision, and that you must have some reason, but I know that I could have passed the exam if only I hadn't been left behind."

"Dosu, I am going to let you in on something that not even your teammates know. The reason that we entered the chuunin exams is as a front for our real plan. Our real plan is to attack the village of Konoha."

Dosu was shocked at this revelation. They were going to attack Konoha? This was some big news.

"Now, I know that you didn't get to enter the exams, but I have a proposition for you, a role for you to play that, if you succeed, I will have you promoted to chuunin."

"Of course I will do it Orochimaru-sama; I will do whatever you ask of me."

"You are going to accompany me while I attack the Hokage."

"Are you sure that I am ready for a role like that, I am not sure that I would be much help against the Hokage."

"You do not need to fight the Hokage; you are there to make sure that no one else interferes in our fight."

"Alright then Orochimaru-sama, I will accompany you and make sure that no one interferes with your fight. I will start to prepare right away."

Orochimaru chuckled as he watched Dosu run off to prepare for his "role" in the attack, he had no intention of having Dosu protect him, he had better ninjas if he wanted someone for that role. No, the plan was to have Dosu there in case he needed a sacrifice. He couldn't help but picture the face of Sarutobi as he saw the past Hokages rising from the ground to attack him.

"ahahahahaack…Damn evil cackling irritating my throat." Orochimaru said as he entered into a coughing fit courtesy of his evil cackling.

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A/N: Again I am very sorry about the wait for this chapter. I can't guarantee how long it will be until the next chapter, but I will try to make it a shorter wait then this chapter. All that waiting and all that I can really give is a filler chapter, but oh the plot twists for the future. Anyways, sorry again, and now on to the mock story that I have been putting off for awhile.

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This will be the mock overpowered Naruto story. I really don't have anything against these stories as they are mostly what I end up reading. However, so many aspects are overdone, that I must now insult them, because it is what I do. I know a lot of you have probably written stories like this, so no whining once I am finished, just accept it as a small joke and move on. So anyways, on to the story.

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Little 6 year old Naruto was walking along the street. Despite the hatred directed at him, he still remains upbeat and cheerful. He is happily making his way down the street when he accidentally runs into a drunk man, because the person he runs into must always be drunk.

"I am so very sorry; I didn't mean to run into you."

"Hey, look, it's the demon brat, let's kill him, because I am drunk and can conveniently forget the law that is enforced with the death penalty."

And so the man proceeds to beat up poor little Naruto while the villagers gather around to throw in their comments, because they seem to forget that making the crowd larger is just going to bring more attention to it and then there would be hell to pay from an angry hokage, but he will never really kill people for breaking the law, he is just too nice for that.

"Die demon-brat."

"You killed my family."

"Generic demon comment."

Oh poor Naruto, life is so cruel. But wait, Naruto's luck is about to change, someone jumps in to stop the drunk man and end his current assault. Who is this mysterious person? Jiraiya? Tsunade? Both very likely depending on the author, but no, today, Naruto's mysterious savior is…the mysterious OC.

The mysterious stranger proceeds to beat the drunk man with little effort and takes pity on little Naruto. He relates in some way in his mysterious past.

"Hey kid, how would you like to come with me and leave this village for a while?"

Now common sense would say that going with a strange mystery man that you just met 30 seconds ago is a bad idea, but Naruto doesn't know any better because this is the first person who has cared for him, because Naruto can tell in these past 30 seconds. He readily agrees to go and travel for years with this strange new man.

The two of them left Konoha and are now in the forest, where we now learn more about this new comer and Naruto's "destiny."

"Hey mister, what is your name, my name is Naruto."

"Well, lets just call me superOC for now, but that is not important, I have come to tell you that in the future, you will have many powerful enemies, so I will train you to defeat these enemies."

"Umm, if you are so super powered, why don't you kill them?"

"Because, that is not how things are supposed to work, I am supposed to train you and you kill them, it would make for no story if I just went and killed them. Now before we train, I must tell you things about yourself. You have the Kyuubi sealed inside you. Don't ask how I know these things, I just do. The Kyuubi was never really evil, but he was tricked by a genjutsu used by a man named Orochimaru, because for all of the difficulties that the Konoha ninja had fighting it, all it really takes to control the Kyuubi is a simple genjutsu. Anyways, since he is not really evil, I am sure that he will train you and maybe even fuse with you, giving you heightened senses (gasp, who could have seen that one coming.). For now though, we will go through basic training, so put on these weights. There is a total of 100 pounds, which should be bad for you since you are only six, but you have Kyuubi in you, so it must be possible (or my favorites, the story where Naruto trained with 200 tons because the author didn't know different weight units very well, or the story where Naruto started weight training before he even reached one year old.).

And so the training begins.

Next chapter: Naruto meets Itachi and learns about his bloodline.

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…It seemed a lot better in my mind. Anyways, this is kind of a long way to go for a few simple jokes…but oh well, as I have said, if you don't really like these side stories or rants, don't read them, just read the main story. Anyways, until next time.