Disclaimer: Don't own Narutooooo.

Second chapter! I really like being a chapter ahead of myself. I think it will be really good for keeping myself in line and updating this story once a weekish. I hope you enjoy this next chapter and I hope you like Narutos new team ^.^.

P.S.! Please read! If you like this story please check out my others! The Ties that Bind and This Feeling. This feeling is a one shot so check it out not to long! Don't forget to review. Reviews are like crack for writers. We crave and need it. P.s With my free time I should be updating the Ties That Bind soonish. But if you've been following my stories you know it could be a bit.. sorry.

Chapter 2: Jinchuuriki

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Needless to say Naruto was a little nervous. So standing on the edge of the training field he was a little apprehensive to approach his new teammates. He took a deep breath and felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see the now familiar masked Jonin.

"Glad you got up in time to meet us here Naruto. Your transition back into the ranks of a leaf will be… different. Most of your former classmates are Jonin now. And if not Jonin they are on their way to becoming one. So the hierarchy may be a bit off. But lets introduce you to your new team." He gave Naruto a slight push forward.

The two Kunoichi turned their heads to see Kakashi walking with a shinobi they have never seen before. Of coarse they were getting a new team member, they knew they needed someone to fill the hole Sasuke made when he joined the ROOT organization. But they weren't expecting someone they have never seen before. Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously.

"The names Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meetcha." He flashed the two female shinobi a fox like grin that betrayed his nervousness. Both girls blushed, one more than the other.

"Nice to meet you too Naruto, my name is Haruno Sakura." Said a girl with bright pink hair. She wore her forehead protector like a hairpiece to keep the hair out of her face. She wore a red jacket with what appeared to be a Jonin vest over it and a red skirt covering black shorts. He flashed her another smile and looked towards the other girl. Naruto couldn't help but think how cute she looked, fidgeting and poking her fingers together. She had long lavender hair that went down to the small of her back with two shorter strands framing her face. She wore a white and purple jacket with a hood covered by a Chuunin vest and blue shinobi pants.

"N-nice to meet you Naruto-kun. I'm Hyuga H-Hinata." She stammered out shyly trying very hard to stare a hole into the ground.

"Not to sound rude but I haven't seen you around Konoha before Naruto. Where are you from?" Sakura was curious and couldn't help but ask. Something about him was so… Familiar. Naruto was used to this question, traveling from village to village this question came up a lot. But hearing it now in this situation, it caused him to tense for a moment. 'What should I say? Should I lie? Should I tell the truth? Does it even matter?' Much to Narutos relief Kakashi answered for him.

"He is and always will be a Leaf Shinobi. That's all that matters now, you can ask him any other questions on your own time. But now that the introductions are over Naruto, its time to work on your tests." He said motioning at the boy. "We have a few details to work out before he can officially join our team. You two can start working on those team exercises we started on yesterday." Sakura nodded slowly with a frown obviously dissatisfied with Kakashis answer. Hinata gave both of them a polite bow and ran off to catch up with the retreating Sakura. Kakashi turned back to Naruto.

"Well Naruto I'm sure the Hokage has told you that you will not simply be joining our team. First you must pass a written test, then a skills test. He paused trying to gauge Narutos reaction. "I thought we would get the written test out of the way first since with will probably take up the most time." He saw Naruto shiver a little out of the corner of his eye. "Don't worry to much about this test. It is not a history test. It is more a test of general ninja knowledge, such as Jutsu theory and chakra systems." Said nonchalantly. A huge grin spread across Narutos face.

"Oh is that all? I learned that years ago! It sounds a lot easier than I thought it was going to be." Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Follow me I'll take you to the examination room."

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Kakashi couldn't believe his eyes. Yet here he was staring right at it. He had given Naruto his test and sat down to do some heavy reading. He hadn't had a chance to reread his book in a few days and was looking forward to finishing. What he hadn't expected was for Naruto to pass in the test after thirty minuets. Not only did he finish in record time, it was mostly correct.. 'We usually give this to the students as a way to test their intelligence gathering skills. It would really be considered to hard of a test to pass without cheating even for Chuunin. We really only wanted to see if Naruto could answer ANY of these questions by himself. We would have passed him even if he only got two right but…' He looked up to find Naruto with an amused smirk on his face.

"That wasn't so hard you sure that was the real test??" Naruto laughed. Kakashi looked from the paper back to Naruto.

"Yes that was the real test."

"Really? Most of that just seemed common sense to me." Naruto shrugged. Kakashi simply raised his eyebrows.

"Well you have defiantly proven yourself on this written exam, so now we can move onto your test of skill. We need to determine the capacity of your chakra and essential Jutsu knowledge." Kakashi motioned for Naruto to follow him. Narutos smile seemed to widen as he followed.

"This should be no problem chakra and jutsus are my greatest strength!"

They started to make their way back to the training grounds. They could see the beginning of the grounds when a strange female shinobi suddenly jumped down in front of the two effectively blocking their path. She had light sky blue hair with bright pink eyes. She wore a Waterfall forehead protector tied on her upper right arm. A red scroll was tied around her back and she wore a white tank top and skirt. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask placing his hand nonchalantly on his kunai pouch. "A shinobi from Waterfall? For what do we owe the pleasure?"

The young Kunoichi just smirked. "No need to reach for your kunai. I'm not here for you Leaf nin." She jumped back and threw two kunai at Naruto. He reached and pulled out his sword much faster then Kakashi was expecting and blocked the kunai with ease. He ran towards the attacking ninja, and they clashed sword and kunai with lightning speed. Naruto jumped up into the air, and brought his sword above his head. The blue haired girl didn't even flinch as she jumped up to meet Naruto's blade with a Kunai. She made a single hand sign, "Mizurappa! (Violent Water Wave)" A strong jet of water came streaming from her mouth hitting Naruto square in the chest. He fell to the ground and disappeared with a poof. She was still In the air when she heard a shout from behind her "Daitoppa! (Great Breakthrough)". The windblast hit her in the back and she fell to the ground as a pool of water. "Suiryuudan no Jutsu! (Water Dragon projectile technique.) Naruto shouted and a giant water dragon went roaring into a nearby tree. The blue haired girl barely had time to jump out before the tree was destroyed.

Kakashi was needless to say very impressed with both shinobi. 'Not only are they performing high-level Justus but they were doing so with little to no hand signs. I barely caught both of them making their clones. And Naruto… using his secondary elemental affinity with such ease at his age…' Naruto landed on his feet and let out a laugh, which surprised Kakashi.

"Is that any way to greet a old friend Yuii-chan?" Naruto said, smiling at the girl who just jumped out of the now destroyed tree. She stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"With you? Always." She retorted. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and turned back to Kakashi.

"I guess it would be best if I introduced you huh? This is Yuii-chan. I met her when I visited Waterfall country. She's… like me…" He trailed off not sure if it was his place to say. Suddenly he was jolted forward by a hard smack to the back of his head.

"You need to be more assertive Naruto-Kun! If he knows about you then its okay if he knows about me." She stated menacingly. She turned back to Kakashi and bowed. "I am Yuii Mujina, container of the Seven Tailed badger Kaku pleasure to meet you." Kakashi smiled and bowed back. 'To many surprises today…' he thought to himself.

"Pleasure to meet you too. I'm assuming from your first statement that your only business in the leaf is to talk with Naruto so I will give you two time to catch up. By the way Naruto consider your skills test complete after that little show. For now I must report to the Hokage. You might well consider to do the same soon Naruto. It seems you still have some… important information to report." With that he was gone in a poof. Naruto couldn't help but feel cheated. 'That counts as a test? We were just playing around… I didn't even use any of my good Justus!' He shook his head and turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. His was face turned hard and serious.

"For you to actually show up here means it must be important. What's the situation?"

"Can't pass anything by you now can I? I think they're beginning to move." She said softly closing the distance between the two. "They've already come into contact with Roushi. They haven't begun using force… yet." Naruto sighed; this is not what he was expecting. 'For them to move so soon… I hadn't even settled back in the leaf yet.'

"It appears this war might happen sooner then we expected… It sounds like we still have some time though. For now I want you to warn the rest of the Jinchuuriki. Go back and try to get as much intel as you can. If you hear anything big, report back to me. We have to start preparing…"

"That's what I was planning on doing anyways." She half whined half stated. She reached down and picked up a hand full of dirt. "It was good to see you again Naruto." She flashed him a huge grin. "Hopefully next time we meet I'll have better news. Ill find you as soon as I hear anything more." She closed the dirt between her palms and made a few quick hand signs. In a puff of smoke she disappeared and in her place was a giant badger. In the blink of an eye she had burrowed underground and was gone. Naruto turned his attention back to his task at hand. He decided it would be a good idea to go back to the training grounds where Sakura and Hinata were practicing. Better then talking to the Hokage right away. Naruto sighed. He needed time to think what he could and couldn't tell the man.

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He was already close to the training grounds so it didn't take long for him to get back. He scanned the area and found them taking a break on the side of the training ground. He made his way over to them and waved to get their attention. They seemed a bit surprised to see him.

"Back so soon Naruto-san? Kakashi said your test was going to take a while." Sakura pointed at. Hinata was blushing again but Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"I think Kakashi underestimated me." He said with a grin. "That test was so easy! We even had time to fit in the other test. So I guess I'm officially on the team now. I came by to see if you two would like to join me for lunch." He realized how awkward that might sound so he quickly added. "You know… To get to know each other better."

"You may be officially on the team but we'll need to build trust and work together for you to be PART of the team." She responded slightly dampening Naruto's spirit. "But I think lunch with our new teammate sounds like a great idea. What do you think Hinata?" The lavender haired girl made an 'eep' noise and nodded her head. Naruto's smile returned.

"I know Kakashi has gone to talk with the Hokage so I believe we have some free time before he gets back. Where would you like to go?" An evil look seemed to crawl upon Sakura's face.

"Your paying right?"

Naruto couldn't believe the food here. I mean it was no Ichiraku's but it was good. It was a lot fancier and put a much larger dent in his wallet but it was worth it. He found he got along with his new teammates very well. Especially Hinata. While she was incredibly quiet she was a good listener and always had something important to add.

"I hate to break up our fun conversation Naruto but I have to ask… Considering we're teammates now. If you're a leaf shinobi and always have been then why haven't we seen you before?" Sakura asked. Hinata tried not to look interested but failed miserably. Naruto was better prepared this time to answer. The words came out so naturally. It was a lie he was used to telling.

"I lived in Konoha with my family a long time ago. We were on our way to visit family in the grass country when we were attacked by rock shinobi… I was the only survivor…" He chocked back a few fake tears. "I was saved by some Waterfall ninja and stayed with them for over a year. I just couldn't come back here. Everything I knew here was gone. But as I travel from country to country, learning, training, and meeting new people, I realized how much pride people had in their country. I met people who would die for their country even though they were taxing their citizens into starvation. The very definition of unrequited loved. That is when I slowly realized this place was always and will always be my home. Even if it was filled with… Painful memories. It was home. So I decided to come back." 'It's mostly the truth…' Naruto thought to himself. Both girls looked on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry for asking Naruto" Sakura said composing herself. "It does mean a lot that you trust us enough with such painful memories." Hinata nodded her head vigorously.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't know you had such a painful childhood." She said trying to hide that sadness she was so clearly portraying. Naruto reached over and gently put a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Don't worry its all right that was then and this is now. I got a great new team, I'm back in the village, and I'm ready for some action!" He smiled trying to lighten the mood. And it worked, Hinata let out a small chuckle, even though she couldn't hide the blush she still had. He looked outside and realized it was mid afternoon by now and Kakashi must be done with the Hokage by now. He sighed.

"I hate to cut this lunch short but I'm sure you two should be getting back to practice before Kakashi gets to mad at me for interrupting it. The Hokage will probably be expecting me anyways after Kakashi's report." Naruto said sadly. Sakura looked outside and quickly agreed, while Hinata seemed a bit reluctant to leave. Naruto got out of his chair and left the money for the bill on the table. He walked to the door and held it open for his teammates. As Hinata walked by she gave him a quick bow and blushed. "T-thank you again for the meal Naruto-kun." He returned the bow with a smile and small blush of his own. "Anytime Hinata-chan." As he walked outside he stretched "I'm sure I'll see the two of you soon." He flashed them both a fox like grin. He waved and ran in the direction of the hokage tower.

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Naruto quickly knocked on the door to the Hokage's office and shuffled in once he heard the faint 'come in!' He walked up slowly to the desk waiting for the Hokage to look up from his paperwork. "Ah Naruto... Kakashi has informed me of your test results and I must say I am impressed. Speed that of which is hard to follow even with the Sharingan, and the ability to do high-level jutsu's with little to no hand signs. I even hear you have use of both your Chakra affinities! Not only that but a near perfect score on your written test. We have Jonin who are currently less qualified then you. I am not to shocked by your progress though." He smiled at the boy. "Knowing who your father is, it is not surprising. I'm sure you haven't even shown us all the surprises you have up your sleeve. Which is good. Secrecy is a ninja's best weapon." Naruto could tell where this was leading though. "But…" And there it was. " Secrecy of ones own ability is one thing. I am far more interested to hear about your interaction with a Waterfall ninja that was never seen coming into the village." He said with knowing eyes. Naruto steeled himself. It just was to early to tell him everything. Things could change, they just needed more time. But he had to tell him something.

"Well… it all started the first week after I left. I was a young kid wandering the woods by myself easy pickings for some bandits. They probably though they could get some ransom money or something for me." He half laughed half spat. "Luckily I was saved by a shinobi couple from Waterfall. I don't know why but I told them who I was, where I was from, and more importantly what was inside of me. I don't really know why I guess I just felt I could trust these people. It was a good thing too because they told me their daughter was also Jinchuuriki. When they introduced us we just seemed to hit it off. We knew each other's pain and hardships." Sarutobi nodded.

"That explains to me how you met her. But I want to know why she snuck into this village in broad daylight just to talk to you." Naruto smiled to himself. 'Still as sharp as ever Ojii-san.'

"Well I left Waterfall after about a year to find new trainers and strengthen myself as a shinobi. But I also had another goal. I wanted to find and meet the other seven of the tailed beasts. Yuii is a master of stealth and recon so she's been helping me find and stay in contact with all of the Jinchuuriki." The Hokage was stunned. This is not what he was expecting.

"How many of the Jinchuuriki are you in contact with?" The Third asked tentatively.

"All but one. And we have reason to believe he has been taken over by his tailed beast and is therefore presumed dead." Naruto stated. Sarutobi stood up and walked to the nearby window looking out. He turned back to Naruto with a serious look upon his face.

"Do you know how dangerous what your doing is? Jinchuuriki's have the potential to be some of the most powerful ninjas in existence. And you're the link between all of them. Do you realize what countries would do to come into possession of just one or two of you? You could become a target." Naruto sighed inwardly 'you don't know the half of it.'

"I thought of that sir. That's why our only method of continued communication had been through Yuii. She is a master of stealth after all." Naruto said hoping the Hokage would leave it at this for now. Sarutobi let out a loud sigh.

"I can understand why you felt the urge to find other people like yourself. I just don't want you to get hurt or taken advantage of because of this." He smiled meekly with tired eyes. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of himself for not being honest with a man who cares for him so much.

"Don't worry Ojii-san I'll be safe. I'll keep you posted on any information Yuii brings to me."Naruto added to try and reassure.

"Thank you Naruto. If you don't mind, I would also like to speak with Yuii the next time she comes around." Naruto nodded

"Is there anything else you needed from me Ojii-san?" Naruto asked. He wanted to go train. 'A day without training feels so weird.' Naruto thought to himself.

"I believe we covered everything I needed to know for now. I do have a lot of paperwork. Your dismissed Naruto."

"Thanks Ojii-san!" Naruto yelled as he ran from the room

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Naruto ran to the training grounds. On one hand he wanted to see if his new team was still training. But on the other hand that could always wait until tomorrow. He did a few stretches and cracked his knuckles. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Hundreds of shadow clones instantly appeared in the large training ground. It hadn't taken him long to realize he could use his huge chakra capacity to his advantage. He started giving out orders, some were sent to practice taijutsu with chakra weights on, others were sent to practice faster ways to sign jutsu's. The last group minus the original was sent to perfect his teamwork skills by having mock battles. He was so used to fighting alone he needed the practice. The real Naruto stretched and made himself comfortable under a tree. He looked down to his right arm and he slowly began unwrapping the belts and bandages. Under the bandages was a long scar that ran from his shoulder to his elbow. There was a black patterned seal that covered most of his arm. He moved his elbow and flexed his fingers and the seal glowed lightly. He heard some rustling and a strangely familiar 'eep'. He jumped up from his position to find none other then Hinata sheepishly rising from her spot behind a nearby bush.

"Hinata-chan? What are you doing... there?" She was blushing furiously.

"W-well I thought I heard your voice talking to a bunch of people so I decided to came to see what was going on. When I got here I was… surprised to see so many of you…" She trailed off hoping he got the point she was trying to make. That is until she realized his arm.

"Oh Naruto! What happened to your arm?!" She said reaching out and gently running her fingers over the scar. He winced at her touch and pulled away slightly. He wasn't use to people seeing this…

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan… I would rather not talk about that yet…" He bent down quickly re-bandaging and rewrapping his arm. "I know teammates are supposed to trust each other and here I am not answering a stupid simple question." He got back up and turned around only to be wrapped in a tight hug.

"D-Don't worry Naruto-kun. I'm not mad. You can tell us when your ready." She quickly let go of the hug finally realizing what she was doing and blushed beet red. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the gesture. "Thanks Hinata-chan. That means a lot… So are you and Sakura done with training for today?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh y-yes were done. My father has apparently called for me and I was on my way back home before I ran into you."

"Want some company on the walk home?" Naruto asked with a broad grin on his face.

"B-but w-what about your t-training?" She stammered out wondering why she always tried to sabotage herself.

"They can keep working without me for a little bit" He grinned "Which way to your house?"

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Well I hope you enjoyed my new chapter! Probably a bit different then most people were expecting but I hope you will continue to read none the less oh and PLEASE READ because I know a lot of you might comment on it or be confused. All the characters I will be introducing in my fic are actually characters created by Kishi. They are also all based on the myth and legends of the nine tailed beasts. For instance the seven tails (Yuii) is the smallest but most cunning and stealthy of the tailed beasts. It uses earth techniques and when above land can transform into any kind of creature if there is clay/dirt around. So I am not pulling this information and characters out of nowhere. I have just given the unnamed characters names and personalities. Also I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone but Akatsuki and MOST of its members do not exist/aren't going to be in this fic. If you want to read about Akatsuki read the manga or most any other Naruto fanfic just not this fiction ^.^.