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I don't own Naruto, but I do own the modem that apparently wasn't working for the past few days. I also own this story, so NO STICKY FINGERS!

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When Naruto walked up to Junko's porch with his things, Asami was waiting for him. When she saw him, she jumped up and ran inside. Naruto smiled as he saw her peek out at him from behind the curtains. "Junko-sama wasn't kidding…she certainly is shy…" Junko came out and greeted him before showing him where he would be sleeping. "I hope you're comfy with the bed…it hasn't been used in a while."

"This is great! Thanks Junko-sama!"

Junko was a little startled when Naruto shouted. "He's a lot more hyper than last time…he must just be excited." As she was leaving the room she called over her shoulder to Naruto, who was eagerly unpacking. "Tomorrow we'll get you some more things, like new clothes. I doubt the ones you have will fit a five-year old boy."

Naruto looked down at his tattered clothes. It was true, he decided. As Junko closed the door he stopped his over-eager unpacking and started paying more attention to the things he was taking out. The clothes, which were the vast majority of things he had decided to take, were all either getting too small, were too small, or they were damaged. Scorches, rips…as soon as he got new clothes, he was throwing all of his old ones out. He lay in the bed and retreated to the mindscape. To his surprise, Kyuubi was sitting on his stump and was apparently waiting for him. "I figured you'd want to do some more training…" Kyuubi's voice was gruff, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. "Very well, then. Keep it up until you want to stop for the day." Kyuubi wondered if he was being too lenient in his training, but when he thought back to how long they had trained earlier that same day he figured Naruto had already trained long enough to please him and could stop whenever he wanted to. "He just better not get lazy, or I'll have to get on him more about his training." However, as he watched Naruto slide down the tree as slowly as he could before running at it again, it didn't appear that Naruto was one to stop just because he got tired. "That kid has a drive to be the best…and that will make him strong. Unless he goes overboard and kills himself." Kyuubi dismissed the thought and amused himself by counting the number of seconds it took Naruto to fall off the tree. He certainly was getting better, he decided. They had just started the training that morning and Naruto was already getting up to about thirty feet every time he ran up. He made himself more comfortable on the stump to wait for Naruto to decide when to stop.

Asami walked down the hall to her room. As she passed Naruto's new room she paused and pressed her ear to the door. It was quiet. "I wonder what he's doing…" she thought. She considered opening the door but chickened out, hurrying to her room and snapping the door shut.

Junko often got curious as to what Naruto did when he was training with the Kyuubi. When the Hokage heard that Naruto had ripped the seal he had started to panic, but he figured that since the seal was still in place and Naruto didn't seem in any way physically or mentally affected by the broken seal that he would not have to be too worried. He did, however, order an ANBU guard to watch the small boy. Junko had gone right to him when she heard that and demanded to see the ANBU he had ordered to watch the child. It was, in fact, the ANBU in the dog mask. She had worried about the ANBU until she recognized him bringing Naruto to her house the night before. As she headed down the hall of her house she heard Asami's door snap shut quickly. Junko wondered what her imoutosan was up to, but dismissed it. She paused outside of Naruto's room and listened. It was really quiet…"He must be in his 'mindscape'," she thought.

"Kit, stop." Called Kyuubi, peering up into the branches of the infinitely tall tree. "It's plain to see that you have mastered the tree climbing exercise." It had been two days since they had started the chakra control exercises; three days after Naruto learned what chakra was and he had already mastered the first chakra control exercise! Never had the fox seen anything like it. "It's about time for supper, isn't it? Best not let Junko and Asami waiting."

Naruto jumped down, breathing hard. "I don't know how far I got, but it was really far!" He was beaming. "When can we start the next exercise?"

"If you really want to, we'll start tomorrow. However, you really should let your mind rest. Practicing chakra control exercises in your mind is the same thing as getting the experience without the physical work. You don't want to experience mental fatigue. Actually," said Kyuubi, pondering the situation a bit. "Instead of going to the next step tomorrow, you will start doing the first step outside of the mindscape. You'll find that chakra control in the physical world is different to doing it mentally."

"Alright, then…I'll see you tomorrow, Kyuubi-sama." Naruto exited the mindscape and got up from his bed. He suddenly realized how exhausted he felt. "This must be the mental fatigue Kyuubi-sama warned me about," thought Naruto, swaying on his feet slightly. He left his room as Junko called him to come for supper. As he was going down the hall, Asami burst out of her room and almost bumped into him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, ibokyoudai! I wasn't looking where I was going…" Asami blushed a little, getting flustered.

"It's all right Asami-chan! And just call me Naruto; you don't have to use all the formalities!" said Naruto, smiling. He found his cheeks aching from all the smiling and rubbed them. He followed Asami to the dining room and knelt at the table on the little mats.

Junko set out their food and they started eating. "So, Naruto-kun," Junko started. "You're going to be eligible for the academy next year?"

"Yep! I can't wait!!"

Junko smiled. "Yes, you and Asami will be one year apart." When Naruto looked at her with a puzzled expression, she continued. "Asami's birthday is in January. She'll miss the cutoff for the academy by about a month. Your birthday is in October, isn't it Naruto-kun? You'll make it in by a few months. You'll probably be close to the youngest in your class. And, that reminds me. The Uchiha's youngest son will be in your year."

"What does that have to do with anything?" wondered Naruto, scowling.

"That's right; you wouldn't know this. The Uchiha clan's compound is less than a block away. You'll probably meet their boy sometime; you pass right in front of the compound to get to the academy. You could walk to school together!"

Naruto looked into his tea, thinking. He was sure he had probably seen the young Uchiha before, but he wouldn't be able to pick him out from a crowd. "Hey, Kyuubi-sama? Doesn't the Uchiha clan have that weird bloodline limit you briefly mentioned this morning?"

"That's the one, kit. It's called the 'Sharingan', or the wheel-eye. I'll tell you more about the different bloodline limits in the village later. However, I am curious about something else. Ask Junko about the Hyuuga clan."

"Okaasan, what about the Hyuuga clan?" said Naruto, voicing the Kyuubi's question.

"Hm? Ah, let me think…yes, the main branch's oldest daughter will be in your class as well. I think the side branch's youngest member started the academy this year, but I couldn't tell you his name." answered Junko. She sipped her tea, thinking for a bit. "Two clan heirs…Naruto, you're lucky to be going into the academy this year. I don't think any other academy class had two clan heirs before. Yes, it will certainly be an interesting year…" She trailed off and stared into space. Naruto and Asami exchanged weird looks before leaving the table.

"Does she always zone out like that?" Naruto asked Asami in the hallway.

Asami giggled. "Only when she runs out of things to say. Then it's like she gets all spacey to try and think of an interesting thing to talk about. It never works, though." She giggled again.

Naruto grinned. "Hey! That's the first time you ever said anything to me without stuttering!"

Asami's face lit up in a shy grin. "Hey! I guess you're right! I guess now that we're friends I'm not so shy!" She twirled her hair, blushing a little. "Anyway, I'm going to my room now. I guess I'll see you later." She disappeared in her room, leaving Naruto in the hall before he, too, left for the sanctuary of his room.

"Wake up, kit. We have to get to the training zone before much later or the streets will be full of people." Thought Kyuubi, mentally nudging Naruto awake. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Takeru jumped off the foot of his bed where the little fox had curled up the previous night after sneaking through the window. Naruto sat in bed for a minute before getting up and going to his closet. He had picked out a dozen brightly colored clothes when Junko had taken him shopping, but he settled for an old black shirt, figuring he was going to get dirty. If what the fox had said was true, and the chakra control exercises were harder in real life, there was no doubt he'd be falling in the dust a lot. He left a note for Junko telling her where he was and quietly left the house, careful not to wake anyone. He walked down the street a little before Kane slipped out of the shadows and joined him. "Where are you going, Naruto? The training field's the other way."

Naruto pointed to a fenced off compound that was slowly coming into view. "I wanted to check out the Uchiha compound. Maybe see if their kid was out and about."

Kane sighed. "Naruto, it's too early in the morning. Any other child your age will probably be asleep for three more hours." Even as Kane said this, he detected movement in the compound; two sets of feet, one smaller than the other, were heading towards the main gate of the compound. Kane jumped in front of Naruto and hissed, "Hide, before they see us!"

Naruto frowned and nudged Kane aside. "Relax. It's not like you look like a demon right now. All they'll see is two kids walking down the street."

As he was speaking, a boy who looked to be about thirteen walked out of the compound, followed by a boy who looked the same age as Naruto. The younger of the two was chatting animatedly about training and his Nii-san. The older was giving a small smile every so often to show he was listening, but was for the most part silent. As Kane and Naruto got closer to them, the younger boy spotted them and clammed up a little. The older one turned around and nodded a greeting to the children before continuing down the street. "Sasuke, I'm going ahead to the training zone. Why don't you introduce yourself to these kids?" He left the three children behind in front of the compound. The younger one, Sasuke, was looking at Naruto and Kane with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

Naruto was the first to step forward. "Sasuke, right? I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Kane!" Kane raised his hand to acknowledge his name, but didn't say anything.

Sasuke looked a little more comfortable upon the introduction. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Sorry my Nii-san left you two with me…I get the feeling he doesn't like me much."

Naruto smiled that weird foxy grin of his. "Well you seem all right to me, Sasuke-kun!" His smile faded slightly, a puzzled expression occupying the vacant space. "Hey, why are you up so early anyway? It's like, five thirty or something!"

Sasuke frowned. "Well, why are YOU up so early?"

Naruto chuckled. "I'm just used to getting up early. So is Kane here. We like the quiet before people start moving around."

Sasuke smiled. "I was getting up early so I could train with my Ani…he said he would teach me a few training techniques today."

Naruto grinned. "Training? Cool! My Okaasan won't teach me anything until I'm in the academy. I guess you better catch up with your brother then!"

Sasuke nodded before running down the street. He called over his shoulder, "Bye Naruto-kun! Kane-san! See you later!"

After he was gone, Kane found his voice. "Kane-san??" he spluttered.

Naruto laughed, a real genuine laugh; not one of his fake ones. "What do you expect? You look just like a regular little kid!!" as they continued toward the seventh training zone, Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face. "So that was Uchiha Sasuke…he seems okay. I wouldn't mind having him on my team after I become a Genin."

Kane looked at Naruto. "You can't judge people on just one meeting. Things change, and people change. You can't expect someone to be the same as a Genin as they were as a pre-academy child."

"Still, he was nice even though he never met me before. It's a good feeling." Naruto grew quiet until they reached the training zone.

Kane scrambled up one of the big stumps that were set up at the training grounds. "Geez, I hate this five-year-old body. Everything is too tall!" He finally managed to make himself comfortable and faced Naruto, who was standing at the base of one of the taller trees in the grounds. "Alright kit. Start working on climbing that tree. Remember what you learned from the training in the mindscape."

Naruto nodded and charged at the tree. He started up but didn't get very far before he slid down and landed in the dirt. He got to his feet and brushed himself off. "This is MUCH harder than what I did in the mindscape…" He tried to concentrate, blocking out everything but the tree. He focused chakra to his feet and ran towards the tree again.

Meanwhile Kane was chewing on a long blade of grass he had plucked. He spat it out and looked at it with a disgusted face before turning his attention back to Naruto while mumbling something like, "don't understand how some animals can eat that stuff all the time." He watched as Naruto was blasted backwards. "Heh…it's the same as in the mindscape. He doesn't put out enough, then he puts out too much. He really needs to learn to find a balance…" Kane made himself more comfortable. It was going to be a long day.

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A/N: Now we're starting to speed up a little bit. And BEFORE anyone asks, NO this is not a yaoi fic. I'm probably going to keep relationships, as far as who likes who, the same as they were in the actual series. (Or in Naruto's case, who pretends to like who.)

Translations!

Ibokyoudai: Step-brother

Ani: Older brother

Okaasan: Mother. Naruto refers to Junko as Okaasan, Onee-chan (sister), or Junko-sama.

I guess it would also be a good idea to explain some family words and suffixes.

Kun: Used to address a boy whom you are familiar with.

San: Used to refer to someone you view as your equal in status. (That would explain why being referred to as 'san' would offend Kane, as he, being Kyuubi, has a bit of a superiority complex.)

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