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I don't own Naruto, but I do own the pencil stuck behind my ear. I also own this story, so NO STICKY FINGERS!

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Ever since the Hokage had gotten word that Naruto had torn the seal keeping the Kyuubi no Kitsune locked away five months ago, he had been on edge. He would have felt better if he himself could keep an eye on the child, but Junko Toshihiro had been angry enough with a single ANBU watching the boy. And Kakashi Hatake had been, in said ANBU's opinion, unfortunate enough to be assigned the kid. As he sat in a tree branch over looking Naruto's bedroom, he couldn't help feeling he had gotten cheated. "I'm an ANBU, for pete's sake! Why do I have to babysit the demon container?? This is worse than my Genin years…" As Kakashi stewed, he failed to notice that Naruto had slipped out of the house once again. When he peered into the window and realized that the kid had pulled another disappearing act, he had the brief panic that happened almost every morning before reminding himself that if he really wanted to find the kid, he could. "In the meantime…" he thought, flipping his little orange book open. "I should get another chapter in…"

Kyuubi couldn't help being impressed with his young Jinchuuriki. In a mere week, he had completely mastered the water-walking and tree-climbing exercises. Now they had been mentally sparring in the mindscape for the past five months. They still went out to the training ground every morning, but they didn't see any more of the young Uchiha or his older brother. Naruto and Kane both enjoyed the quiet of the training ground, preferring it to Naruto's bedroom and Kane's apartment. Even though they didn't have to see the place their physical bodies were while they were training, they enjoyed coming back to the physical world with the musty smell of the trees and dirt. Naruto had noticed that his senses had been improving just slightly. He could hear and see better, but it was still no where near Kane's super senses.

"Naruto, let's take a break." Said Kyuubi, jumping away from a punch that Naruto had sent his way. Naruto relaxed his shoulder muscles and nodded.

They both pulled out of the mindscape. Naruto stretched his legs, which were sore from sitting in the same position for hours. Kane jumped up and yawned, stretching his arms upward. "Nice job today, Naruto. I might have to start putting some effort into out sparring matches!" Kane teased.

Naruto threw a stick at him, grinning. "Bite me! You're thousands of years ahead of me in experience! Compared to you, I would look pretty stupid."

Kane grinned. "Oh, it's not just compared to me." He laughed as he dodged another stick. Dusting himself off, he looked at Naruto again. "But you are certainly improving, kit. I think we should start training out here now."

Naruto looked up, delight written on his face. "You really think so?"

Kane nodded. "But for now, let's get some lunch. I'm in the mood for beef ramen, what about you?"

Naruto thought for a minute. "I want to try something different. Maybe the seaweed ramen I've heard a few people talking about."

Kane made a face, looking amused. "You won't catch me eating plants, but hey, it's your funeral."

"Race you!" The two took off in the direction of the village, unaware that they were being watched by a girl with dark brown hair that went to her waist. Asami had been watching the two of them for some time. She wondered what kind of training they did together. Junko had told Asami about the Kyuubi and Naruto training in his mindscape. It was rather intriguing, thought Asami, that such a powerful demon could act so friendly towards the person it was sealed in. "I guess that's just Naruto-kun's way." She thought, smiling. He had gotten her to open up, so it only made sense that he would manage to befriend the demon fox. She felt a furry muzzle pressing against her leg and picked up Takeru, the little fox pup that Naruto had 'found' a few days after moving in with them. Aside from Naruto, Asami was the only person Takeru let hold him. She headed towards the village with the fox pup snuggled in her arms. She was in the mood for ramen herself…one of the side effects of hanging around Naruto and Kane.

"I'm treating today Kane, after all, you beat me in the race and I'm looking forward to training tomorrow!"

"Fine, fine…I guess there's no point in arguing with you…" Kane growled good-naturedly. They were sitting at the bar stools in the little ramen shop again.

"There are my two favorite boys!" Ayame said, smiling. "Your usuals, I'm guessing?"

Naruto grinned. "Actually, I'd like to try the seaweed ramen this time, Ayame-chan!"

Kane smiled. "I'm not going to go off my favorite. Say, where's Teuchi-san?"

Ayame smiled again as she prepared their food. "Otousan's taking a day off. I figured he deserved it. So how's everything with you two going? Starting the academy soon, aren't we?"

Naruto chuckled. "In about half a year! Kane and I want to get started on our training early, so we've been practicing at the training fields!"

Ayame giggled and placed Kane's bowl in front of him. "Well, you two are certainly excited about being ninja! Just promise you won't stop coming by for lunch sometimes!" She placed Naruto's bowl in front of him before going around the back to get more supplies.

"Hello Naruto-kun! Kane-kun! Can I join you?" Asami called, sticking her head in the ramen shop.

"Hey, Asami-chan! You're just in time!" Naruto exclaimed before turning his attention back to his noodles.

Kane nodded a greeting, his mouth full. He fished a piece of beef out of his bowl and tossed it at Takeru, who was waiting outside the shop to snap it up.

Asami placed her order as Ayame came back before turning to Naruto. "So how's the training going? Any progress?"

Naruto nodded. "Kane and I are going to start…physical…training tomorrow!" he replied, dropping his voice so Ayame didn't hear.

Asami smiled. "That's great! Do you think…maybe I could join you? At least for a little while?"

Kane swallowed his noodles and drained the bowl before turning to Asami, who had started on her soy sauce ramen. "Maybe, but just for a short while. I have to warn you, a lot of the things we are going to be working on will take huge amounts of strength and chakra. By the end of this month I will be making Naruto do laps around the village every day."

Asami's eyes widened, but she didn't ask any questions. How could she, really? She didn't even really get what chakra was yet. Naruto finished his bowl and pondered the taste. "Kane, you really should try the seaweed. It's actually a pretty interesting flavor." He tossed a piece of seaweed at Takeru, who gave him a disgusted look before burying it in the dirt.

Later that day, Kane, Naruto, Asami, and Takeru were walking around the village looking for something to do. Asami realized that she had chores to do and ran off, leaving the trio to wander without her. Eventually they came to a playground not far from the academy where a bunch of kids about Naruto's age were playing. Naruto and Kane went to sit under a tree with Takeru perched on Naruto's shoulder. Most of the other children were goofing off. A boy with red triangles on his cheeks was trying to convince another boy with a ponytail on top of his head to get up from the ground, where he apparently had landed after going down the slide. A girl with short pink hair done up in a ribbon was picking flowers with a fair haired girl while another girl with short black hair and pale eyes watched from a distance.

"That girl over there," said Naruto, pointing at the dark haired girl who was watching the other two girls pick flowers. "She reminds me of Asami before she and I became friends." Kane looked over there and grunted an agreement, more interested in watching the boys goofing off by the slide. The boy with the triangles on his face had noticed Takeru and was coming over.

"Cool! You have a fox! What's his name?" The boy exclaimed.

Naruto grinned. "His name's Takeru. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Kane!"

The other boy grinned back. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and that lazy bum over there is Nara Shikamaru. There was another boy around here somewhere, but I think he went home already." Kiba extended his hand to Takeru, who sniffed it before allowing Kiba to pat his head. "My family works with dogs," Kiba continued, still petting the little fox. "So I'm going to get a puppy to train as a ninja hound when I'm ten! How'd you get Takeru?"

Naruto smiled. "I found him one day, and he followed me home. I've had him for about five months."

Kane was now studying Kiba's face. "Hey, Kiba…do you know those girls over there?"

Kiba looked over to where Kane was pointing. "Um…well, the girl with blond hair is Yamanaka Ino. Her family runs the flower shop down the street. And her friend is…um…Sakura! Yeah, her name is Sakura."

Kane nodded. "What about the girl with black hair?"

Kiba looked at Kane, a rather bored look on his face. "That's Hyuuga Hinata. Her family's totally rich. Why do you want to know this stuff, anyway? They're just girls."

Kane shrugged. "Just curious."

Naruto smiled at Kiba. "Are you going into the academy this year?"

Kiba puffed up his chest. "You bet! I'm gonna blow everyone away!"

Naruto grinned. "Cool! We'll be classmates!"

Shikamaru came up to Kiba, and after exchanging greetings with Naruto and Kane, turned to Kiba. "Come on, we'd better go…our parents are probably waiting for us." The two headed out of the park. Not long afterwards Sakura and Ino also left. Hinata was picked up by a member of the Hyuuga's side branch almost immediately following the other girls' departure. Naruto, Kane, and Takeru just sat under the tree for a while until it started getting dark. Kane finally got up and headed back to his apartment. Naruto and Takeru headed for Junko's house. Naruto was excited about starting his physical training the next day and wasn't watching where he was going until he bumped into someone in the street. He fell to the ground and stared up into the face of a shinobi. He was clearly drunk, his face screwed up into an angry scowl as he tottered on his feet.

"Why, you - ay! I know you…*hic* You're that Demon-kid! Haw! This-is my lucky day!" The drunken ninja let out a cackle and rushed Naruto. "You're dead now!"

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A/N: Whee! Another cliffhanger! I guess you'll just have to cool your paws for a while until I post the next chapter.

The reason, in case anybody is wondering, Kiba said, 'They're just girls,' is because everyone is still at the age where most people of the opposite gender have 'cooties'. : )

Enjoy, reviews will help prevent any hangovers the drunken ninja will have tomorrow.