(A few months later Training grounds)
Naruto over the months had grown stronger much to the pleasure of Ichigo as he was starting to respect his brother a bit more even if it had taken him a while to make the kid see the world in a broader view. Naruto's usual childish ways were beginning to thin out as his maturity progressed along further. The reason Ichigo was trying to do this was because the maturity level he had was that of someone who was a teenager and he would tend to spend time around those who were older than him which in Kushina's opinion wasn't good for him and he needed to spend more time with people his age, if only she knew he was much older than she realized.
Naruto to the surprise of Ichigo had begun to grow more alert to the traps he set up for his brother every morning; Isshin's old methods did work after all. To most this would be seen as being a cruel brother, but in Ichigo's eyes he just didn't want to see a family member die when he wasn't there to protect them.
"Alright Naruto let's see what you've got now" Ichigo said getting into a crouching position while holding his larger blade in his right hand his left in the form of the ram sign to help focus his chakra around his body.
"You bet I'm gonna win this time" Naruto replied getting into his own stance, one that he'd developed for himself that was more accustomed to being able to attack an enemy with one of his signature Jutsus now.
"Say, Naruto before we begin have you learnt about chakra natures yet from either Pervy sage or Kaa-san?" Ichigo asked wondering whether or not he should use some of his own elemental Jutsu.
"Yeah a little, I did the paper test and it split right down the middle, turns out I've got wind type chakra, whatever that's supposed to mean" Naruto said shrugging his shoulders "after that they told me to split a leaf in half just by holding both my hands on either side of it while focusing my chakra, it was really hard"
"So can you use a wind Jutsu?" Ichigo asked trying to get an answer on whether or not his brother could use a wind based jutsu that had at least some form. It would be unfair if Ichigo went against him and used all three of his chakra natures, they were water, lightening and wind.
"Does gale palm count?" Naruto asked having learnt one of the more basic Jutsus that consisted of wind chakra. All it required was for him to focus and then release wind chakra out from his palms or fists. Ichigo just nodded in response. "Alright then Ichigo let's begin" Naruto said and both dashed at each other at high speeds.
Naruto had to admit that his speed wouldn't be anywhere near it was if Ichigo hadn't played all those relentless games of tag, although once or twice Ichigo had slipped up and muttered someone's name to himself looking as though he was remembering going through the exact same training. Naruto wondered who this was but he didn't ask thinking that his brother probably wouldn't tell him anyway.
As both contestants neared each other Ichigo's sword reared back and took a slash at Naruto's midsection hoping to just lightly cut through Naruto's clothing only but then was immediately surprised when Naruto somehow changed the use of his wind Jutsu technique to push himself under the blade as he still got closer to Ichigo. Naruto then shoved his palm into Ichigo's chest and shouted "Gale palm" and Ichigo was blown sky high, although imagine to his surprise when Ichigo didn't come back down.
"Hey what are you doing?" Naruto shouted shock evident on his face as he stood back up and looked into the sky where Ichigo seemed to stand in mid-air.
"It's a special technique I developed myself" Ichigo said to Naruto. "Well not really, this technique just comes from another dimension" Ichigo thought to himself. "Do you have chakra chains like Kaa-san and myself?" Ichigo asked Naruto.
"Does that flying technique have to do with them?" Naruto asked Ichigo receiving a shake of the head in reply "well I can use chakra chains, just not that very well" Naruto said scratching the back of his head
"Well then try to use them and fling them out to catch me and bring me back to ground level, go on" Ichigo said intent on increasing his brothers chakra control as it had use to be as bad as his was when he first learnt about being a soul reaper and that those with large amounts of reiryoku tended to be very powerful although if you didn't start at a low level of reiryoku it could in fact be very hard to control your power and you might never be that great at it.
Ichigo looked at Naruto as he began to form a rather flimsy looking chain in the air in front of him brow furrowed as he tried to concentrate more on making the chain stronger. It took about a minute before Naruto was finally ready to launch his chain at Ichigo, who in the meanwhile was trying to focus on meditating, perfecting a sensory technique his hollow had taught him. It was called pesquisa, a very good technique for accurately locating and gauging his opponent's strength and by what Ichigo could tell from assessing his brother Naruto was that there was something hidden deep inside him, possibly sealed away. Other than that Naruto's own chakra level was already at that of a Chunin and could probably really graduate by the end of the year and miss out on his sixth year at the academy depending on how his test results went.
When Naruto launched his chain it flew towards Ichigo who then grabbed onto it before yanking on it bringing Naruto into the air with him. Ichigo then dropped to the ground and started flashing through some hand signs for a jutsu "Water release: water whip" Ichigo said quietly before water formed in the air in front of him. Ichigo made a grabbing motion at one end of the water flow and lashed out at Naruto who put up his arms in defense immediately being flung into the ground because of the amount of force Ichigo put behind it.
Naruto quickly stood back up from the ground and dusted himself off casually as though he hadn't just been hit and quickly started running towards his brother again performing a "Shadow clone Jutsu" while approaching him and began forming a spinning ball of Chakra in his palm much to Ichigo's surprise at seeing it rather than feeling it in his back this time. However Naruto's chakra control was still a bit off and it was leaking small amounts of chakra so it wouldn't be quite as powerful as a complete one.
Ichigo stood there looking as calm as ever and coated his right hand in a green like substance that was his manifestation light and put it in front of him intent on catching the ball of spinning chakra. When Naruto reached Ichigo he swung his arm forwards thinking that his brother was being stupid and wouldn't care for such a weak attack. Ichigo caught the rasengan in his hand and gripped onto it making it explode and backfire onto Naruto.
Naruto groaned as he tried to stand back on his feet, his skin was lightly burnt from where the high concentration of chakra had hit him although it was mainly on his hand which was rendered almost useless as it was sure to have a few broken bones in it if not entirely.
"I used the same technique to stand on the air so don't worry too much" Ichigo stated, "your chakra control and sensing skills have to be extremely high to be able to use it. I think that's enough, I think you might have given me some heavy bruising with that wind palm of yours" Ichigo chuckled a little. "Come on let's see if we can get that hand of yours healed"
(Streets of Konoha: After getting Naruto's hand healed)
"So Ichigo, now you have a team are you going to participate in this years Chunin exams?" Naruto asked Ichigo as they walked away from the hospital where Naruto got his hand healed.
Ichigo had his hands behind his head and looked over at Naruto before answering "Nah, probably not, the others have still gotta learn a bit before they feel confident enough to go in besides if you pass academy in the next month during for Genin exams you might be able to make it for next years ones for both of us to go in at the same time, that way we'll become Chunin at the same time"
"True I could pass this year…you think I should try?" Naruto said after pondering the though for a moment then looking over to Ichigo waiting for a response.
"Sure, but since you're the 'dead last' applying for graduation exams, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other students didn't want to run the risk of being beaten by you and applied as well especially since your grades started rising" Ichigo said with a small smile on his face.
"Hmph…yeah, Sasuke wouldn't want to get beaten by me now would he" Naruto said and then had a dreaded look on his face "but then all his fangirls will be taking it as well which will then put pressure on the other students to finish as well meaning that I'll be encouraging the entire year to try and graduate, ahhhh, what am I gonna do with all that pressure?" Naruto whined, his mind thinking of all the possibilities that would put more pressure on himself.
Ichigo just looked at his brother awkwardly before trying to reassure him that he would do fine and that there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately his brother calmed down and said that he would take the exams.
(Uzumaki house late afternoon one month later)
"Ichigo" Naruto yelled as he entered the house "everyone really did go in the exams…although Mizuki-sensei was acting a little suspicious" Naruto suddenly thought going off track. "But I think I passed"
"What, you did regular shadow clone did you?" Ichigo called back doubting that his brother would actually be able to pull one of the regular shadow clone Jutsus off correctly without pumping it full of too much chakra.
"Nah, Iruka –sensei let me do the one Kaa-san taught us" Naruto said now coming face to face with his brother Ichigo as he sat on a lounge reading a book. "Hey what are you reading? Hey aren't those the same books that Kakashi reads?" Naruto almost shouted pointing an accusing finger at the book held within Ichigo's grasp.
Ichigo quickly hid the book in his pocket "Damn perverted hollow's rubbing off on me" Ichigo thought as he held his hands up and shook his head trying to act as though nothing were wrong with what he was doing. "Haha…well…you see, pervy sage wanted me to read his book for him to make sure it was good enough for him to publish it" Ichigo said pushing the blame onto their perverted godfather.
Thankfully Naruto bought the lie and slammed his hands together saying "of course." "But yeah Ichigo the results were marked before we even left the school this afternoon" Naruto said thinking about how vigorously the teachers were marking the results in hope that there would be an entire missing year from the academy that they wouldn't have to teach. "Aaaand I passed," Naruto said holding his fingers out in front of him in a peace sign.
"Oh yeah and by how much?" Ichigo asked causing Naruto to shift slightly on his feet slightly smiling sheepishly.
"Barely" Naruto said causing Ichigo to face palm "I got heaps right in the practical it was all the theory that brought me down" Naruto whined.
"Yeah whatever, that means you'll be in a team with Sasuke then" Ichigo said causing Naruto's face to amount to some form of horror. "Don't worry now the team that you'll be training with will constantly have someone to keep you on your toes now" Ichigo tried cheering up Naruto "now could you leave I have a book to finish before Kaa-san comes home" Ichigo said trying to sound as polite as possible. Secretly in the back of his mind somewhere he was beginning to enjoy the book but he wouldn't say that yet, his gentlemanly attitude made him refuse to accept it, and it was all thanks to his hollow.
Sorry about the flames I thought I had removed that, obviously not. By the way manifestation light is just the true name for light bringer.