I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY! I know this is waaay overdue. And I don't really like this chapter, to be honest…um. But there is a silver lining! I finally got around to posting Asami's character profile on my Deviantart account, so you can see how I imagined her to look. I was going to submit Kane's pic, too, but it's not scanned… X(

Anyway, enjoy. : )

Here's the URL to my Deviantart page (take out the spaces!): Mendia Llian. Deviantart. com

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I don't own Naruto, but I do own the cat sitting on my desk right now. I also own this story, so NO STICKY FINGERS!

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"Unhh…what time is it?"

"Too late, kit. But I decided to let you sleep a little longer." Naruto crawled out of bed, ignoring the protests coming from various muscles, and slipped on the clothes he had been wearing the day before. Today was the day he began physical training. He opened the door of his hospital room and looked around. The secretary was at her desk talking to a doctor about something that was apparently important. The doctor kept checking his files and nodding. Naruto closed the door and sat on his bed. "How do you want me to sneak out? That person behind the desk will see me."

He thought he heard Kyuubi give an exasperated sigh inside the mindscape. "Climb out the window. You're on the first floor, so just jump."

Naruto slid opened the window and was greeted with a blast of cool air. He swung his leg over the sill and winced; he could still feel the cut where the shinobi had pulled a kunai on him. He brought his other leg over the window and fell the couple of feet to the ground. Naruto brushed his pants off and ran down the street at a brisk pace. People were either glaring or simply ignoring him; apparently they didn't know anything about what happened the night before. If they had gotten wind of what had happened and who had done it, Naruto would be avoiding stones left and right—not that he didn't have to do that sometimes anyway—. Naruto got out of the more populated area of the village and slowed to a brisk trot. He wasn't used to running long distances yet.

"And where do you think you're going, Naruto?" Naruto tripped and fell into the dust. He got up and turned around to face the Sandaime Hokage, his hat off and a pipe held in his hand. "You can go in a minute, Naruto. Right now I want to ask you some questions about last night."

Naruto sat down on the stone bench a little ways off. "What do you want to know, old man?"

Sarutobi blinked at the nickname, but dismissed it. "Tell me exactly what took place last night. It might be a little painful, but I need to know everything."

Naruto looked down. "I was going home. It was getting kind of dark, and I didn't see that man until I ran into him. He was really drunk and he tried to attack me. My fox, Takeru, bit him and he got really angry and used a poison jutsu. Then I-" he paused, wondering how much he should say. "I don't remember what happened after that. I lost control of my body, and then- nothing."

The Hokage sighed. "Very well. Thank you for sharing this with me. I do have another question though." He puffed on his pipe. "Do you remember who killed that man? Was it you or was it the Kyuubi?"

Naruto looked him straight in the eye. "I said I don't remember. If you want to know anything else you'll have to ask the Kyuubi; he's the only other creature that was there that night." He got up and walked away before the Hokage could ask him anything else.

Naruto and Kane stood in the training zone and were joined shortly afterward by Asami and Takeru. Asami wanted Naruto to take it easy but was quickly reassured that he was alright. "All right, then." Said Kane, addressing Naruto and Asami. "The first thing I want you to do is warm-ups. From there we will run one lap around the village before doing some sparring in this training ground."

Asami gulped, looking intimidated. Naruto looked excited. Takeru was already asleep in the shadows, apparently uninterested in the whole ordeal. After they did some stretches they ran. Naruto and Asami never realized how big the village was. Before they were one-fifth of the way around they were gasping for breath. Kane trotted gracefully past them with a smirk on his face. When they were finished with their lap around the village Naruto and Asami took ten minutes to get their breath back before starting the sparring. Naruto and Kane fought first, jumping around each other. Asami watched with wonder in her eyes. "It's like they're dancing…" after a while Kane had Naruto in a headlock and they broke apart, panting. Both had bruises, but Naruto carried the majority of them. Then Asami and Kane went, Kane walking her through some basic fighting maneuvers. Their session took a lot less time, as Asami had no experience with fighting. Finally she called for them to stop and leaned against a tree to catch her breath.

They did the same thing every day for a month, increasing the amount of laps around the village every week until they were doing four every day. Kyuubi did not cut them any slack when it came to their training. The sparring matches got longer little by little, sometime Kane against both of them, sometimes Asami against Naruto, sometimes Kane against one and then the other in quick succession. Always Kane came out on top, but who was expecting any less? The two children slowly started to get better, their stamina and strength increasing with every lap around the village and every sparring session. After a couple of months Asami stopped training with them and trained on her own, since they were starting to work with the Kitsune-Kari and some basic jutsu. They would take a break for lunch, which was usually ramen since it was not too far to the ramen shop and their food was ready quick. Right after lunch they went back to the training fields for the rest of the day. In the time it took for Naruto's academy years to start, he had learned the most basic form of Kitsune-Kari, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, and the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. When Naruto asked why they were learning a bunch of Bunshin techniques, Kane replied:

"These jutsus split your chakra evenly amongst the copies. It helps you to increase your chakra reserves. Now shut up and practice!" Kane had gone from being the gentle trainer to the 'slave-driver' and was enjoying every minute of it. But it helped Naruto, and by the time he was ready to enter the academy, he would have been considered years ahead of the rest of his class. However, he remembered what Kyuubi told him about hidden potential and started his first day wearing a bright orange t-shirt with the bright red kanji for 'flame' on the front.

Junko held Naruto's hand as they approached the academy grounds. The place was filled with parents and students. Naruto could recognize a few of them, the Inuzuka boy he had met at the park, the Nara boy, those two girls that had been picking flowers, and the Hyuuga who had been hiding behind a tree. Then there was-"Hey! Kane!"

Kane came up to Naruto. "Hello, Naruto. Ready to start the academy?"

Naruto grinned, and Takeru, on his shoulder, jumped down and started to sniff around people's feet. "You bet! Hey...Kane?" He added in an undertone. "How exactly did you register for the academy?"

Kane shifted a bit. "I'd rather not say. It was a complicated process, even with the Hokage understanding the special circumstances."

Naruto looked around the area. "Hey, look. There's that Uchiha kid we saw that one time."

Kane looked where Naruto was pointing and saw Sasuke standing there with who appeared to be his father. "Yeah, that's him. He doesn't look very happy."

"I wonder why?" Naruto crossed the crowd of people with Takeru, who was on his shoulder again. "Hi, Sasuke! Long time, no see!"

Sasuke blinked in surprise. Then recognition dawned on his face. "Oh, Naruto-kun! Hi! Yeah, it's been a while-I didn't know you had a fox. That's cool!" he stroked Takeru's face. Just then a sensei with his hair up in a ponytail and a scar going across his nose called the kids inside. Naruto waved at Junko, who was calling after him to have a good time. He could see Asami waving too, and he grinned and made his way inside.

"Welcome, students, to your first year at the Ninja academy!" called out the sensei as the kids took a seat. Naruto and Kane took a seat in the back row, where Takeru slid off Naruto's shoulder and curled up on the desk. "I am one of the sensei who will be teaching you. My name is Umino Iruka. Why don't we start off today with a roll call? Raise your hand and say 'here' if you're here!"

"Akimichi Chouji!"

"Here!" called out a chubby boy holding a bag of chips.

"Aburame Shino!"

A boy with sunglasses slowly raised his hand. "I'm here."

"Inuzuka Kiba!"

"Here!" called the boy with the red triangles on his cheeks.

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Here!" called the Uchiha, looking excited.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"I'M HERE!" Naruto yelled, waving his hand. Next to him, Kane clapped his hands to his ears and snarled. Takeru yipped and jumped off the desk.

"I can see that! Okay, Naruto, you can sit down now." Iruka chuckled and gave him a slightly strange look before resuming the roll call.

"Nara Shikamaru!"

"…"

"Um…Nara Shikamaru?"

"Zzzzzzz…."

"NARA SHIKAMARU!"

"Hunh…? Oh…here."

"*sigh*Haruno Sakura!"

The girl with pink hair timidly raised her hand. "Here."

"Hyuuga Hinata!"

"Uh…h-here." Stammered the Hyuuga, looking unsure of herself.

"Yamanaka Ino!"

The blond girl sitting next to Sakura raised her hand and gave a sweet smile. "Here!"

Iruka looked back down at the clipboard and frowned. "Um…Kane."

Kane raised his hand. "Here."

Iruka looked at him. "Kane, what's your last name? It doesn't say on the paper."

Kane shrugged. "I dunno."

Iruka frowned but dismissed the anomaly. As he continued calling out names, Kane turned to Naruto and hissed, "Don't yell so loud! You're going to make my ears bleed!"

Naruto looked sheepish. "Sorry. I got a little too into character."

Kane sniffed and turned back to the front, where Iruka was addressing the class about something. Naruto stopped paying attention and studied his classmates. The Sakura girl, she seemed a bit like Asami. Then her friend, Ino, seemed a bit more like Junko: outgoing and friendly. Looking around, he saw that Shikamaru was leaning on his hand, apparently half-asleep even though he hadn't been in class for fifteen minutes. The boy next to him, Chouji, was stuffing a potato chip in his face. Shino was paying attention to what the teacher was saying about the material they would be covering that year, and next to him, Kiba was doodling pictures on a scroll while listening slightly absently to Iruka. Sasuke was paying attention to the talk with a slightly bored look, as if he already knew some of the material that was going to be covered in the future. Hinata was also paying attention, giving an occasional glance at other people around the room. Naruto leaned his chin on his hand, his attention going in and out on what Iruka was saying. "Form…parents…" He perked up as Iruka passed a couple of papers around the room. He folded them up and stuffed them into his pocket with out looking at them. When lunch rolled around, Naruto and Kane got up and followed the rest of the class outside. Naruto paused at the door and noticed that Shikamaru was still at his desk, snoring. He shrugged and went outside.

As they stepped outside, Kiba approached them again. "Hey, Naruto! Geez, you sure were loud today when Iruka-sensei called your name."

Naruto closed his eyes with a small frown. "If you're here to scold me about that, don't. Kane already took care of that."

Kiba blinked and laughed. "Heh! He sure knows how to control you! Hey, didn't you bring your fox with you?"

Takeru strolled out of the bushes where he had been sniffing around. Kiba saw him and grinned. "Hey there, Takeru! When I get my dog, you're going to have a friend to play with during school!" Takeru gave him a withering look, but Kiba didn't see it. By now everyone else had seen Takeru and was approaching him.

"Oh, what a cute fox!"

"He's so adorable!"

"Look at that bushy tail!"

"Can I hold him?"

As one of the students bent down to pick him up, Takeru snarled and snapped at the boy's hand, just missing his fingers. He jumped onto Naruto's shoulder, growling at everybody.

Naruto looked sheepish. "Sorry, guys. He doesn't like anybody to hold him except me, Kane, and my imoutosan. But you can pet his head!"

The kids hesitated before coming forward to stroke the fox pup's fur. Ino brought Sakura up to touch him.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! Feel how soft he is!"

Sakura hesitated before reaching out and running her hand down Takeru's snout. Her eyes lit up. "He really is soft!" She and Ino broke away from the crowd, giggling. After a while the kids went away and Naruto and Kane sat down to eat their lunch. Takeru jumped down and slinked back into the bushes.

After lunch, Naruto found it a little easier to concentrate on their sensei. He looked around the room again. Shikamaru hadn't moved since that morning. What a lazy bum.

After school, Kane and Naruto did their training like always. Kane was beginning to teach Naruto a more complicated form of Kitsune-Kari, and refused to teach Naruto more complicated ninjutsus that went with the art until he mastered the taijutsu part of it.

Meanwhile Asami watched them beneath the shadow of a large tree. She loved watching their sparring matches, it seemed more like a wild dance than a fight; yet it could be so deadly. Naruto could already pinpoint most of the pressure points in the body and hit them with enough force to leave a person numb one day and sore the next few. "Naruto-kun…you've gotten so much stronger than when I first met you. And it's only been a year! I can only think about how strong you will be when you're a Ninja…"

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A/N: Ehem…I don't think any translations are needed in this chapter, but if you have a question, feel free to ask.

Why was this day like a normal school day where nothing really important for this story happens? Don't ask me. I figured Naruto doesn't always have to have something life changing going on.

I was wondering if I should change the other character's personalities a bit, since they couldn't have been the same their whole life, but I decided it would be too confusing for people.

Reviews will be used to keep Shikamaru awake for a few hours.