Chapter 07: That which matters, Alliances and the Second Minion

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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Naruto growled in frustration as the customer she had been dealing with left. Today was one of the days she was working off her debt at Ryu's shop and she was glad it was almost time for her to leave. It wasn't as if any of the customers had been rude or derogatory towards the redhead, but to Naruto, the comments might as well have been. She hated being call 'Adorable'.

Most of the villager's had found out about Naruto's shape-shifting pretty quickly, and they all had to see it for themselves. While they were a little less hostile to her birth form, they were downright annoying about making fun of her in female form.

In the villager's defense though, Naruto had invented the Sexy Jutsu, which had affected most of the men and pissed off almost all of the women in the village at one point or another. For them, it seemed like the neo-girl had gotten her just desserts. Even Konohamaru had laughed out loud when he figured it out. The Hokage's grandson had shown up at Ichiraku's looking for her birth form to show Naruto how far he had come with the Kage Henge Jutsu in the week since he had learned it, given how by the time Naruto had finished teaching him the basics, the boy tended to look like a human monkey, or a hairy human. All he needed to do now was figure out how to get the tails and feet to work like a real monkey.

Kurama chuckled at his container's thoughts. The boy's own declaration of wanting to be a monkey had, in his mind, cemented the powers the boy would receive. The powers fit well with the meaning of his clan name, Sarutobi, which meant 'Monkey Jump', and give him a distinct legend among the members of his clan. The boy had been powerful before Kurama had sent his memories back in time, by mostly following Naruto's footsteps and learning the same techniques. Hopefully this would set him apart just enough to make his own path.

Naruto, on the other hand, had begun to think about her newly developed friendships with her classmates and the three older genin. So much had changed in the month that Naruto could hardly believe that she had spent a lot of her time alone before then.

The first one she thought about was Sasuke. He had undergone the biggest change in any of her classmates, seeing as he actually began speaking to the others in more words than before. He would also show up a couple of times a week at Naruto's normal training ground, demanding different types of spars and contests depending on what he had been working on. The avenger had been pleasantly surprised when Naruto had put up a good fight each and every time, though the current score was 7-9 in Sasuke's favor.

Shino had also surprised Naruto when he had offered her an invite to his home for dinner after a friendly sparring match. While Shino's mother had been away on a mission, his father Shibi had been very accommodating. The elder Aburame ended up being very knowledgeable about the chakra flows in a person's body and showed Naruto a few exercises that would help her reign in her massive stores of chakra and gain more control over it, as well as lessen the risk of every jutsu exploding on contact, whether it was meant to or not. When Naruto had asked Shino why his father had done that a few days later, Shino had explained the changes the Kyuubi's chakra had made to his beetles and his chakra stores, and relayed that it was Shibi's way of saying thank you for inadvertently ensuring that Shino could continue his career after Mizuki had nearly severed his spine.

As always, Shikamaru and Choji came in the picture as a duo. When Choji wanted to train, Shikamaru would act as the referee for their matches while Naruto and Choji went at it, but generally the three of them just hung out, either resting after their own individual training or getting a bite to eat. While the chubby boy seemed intimidated by Naruto's female form, he acted as the bridge that spanned the gap between Naruto and Shikamaru, as the two had very little in common with each other but Choji shared several interests with both of them.

Kiba confused Naruto to no end. Every time she saw the Inuzuka, he was either going on and on about how Naruto should stay a girl and go out with him or he would say something and proceed to attack the 'male' Naruto, initiating a sparring session then and there. Though most of the time it was the first one. At least Akamaru was always happy to see her while Kiba got carried away with himself.

Hinata was just as confusing as Kiba though. It had gotten to the point where the Hyuuga girl and Naruto could talk normally with each other as long as Naruto was a girl, but the moment 'he' said hi to her, Hinata would squeak and turn red, stuttering everything she said. They got along well enough that Naruto could call her a friend, though she wondered about Hinata's inability to talk to her birth form.

Ino and Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to take a perverse pleasure in tracking her down when she had free time on her girl days and drag her through the shopping districts when she would rather be training. They would then force her transform into them and use her as a dress up doll to see how a dress or an outfit would look on them instead of trying it on themselves. Most of the time Iruka had to step in and save her from the two girls.

But out of everyone she had been around for the past month, the only one she could say she hated Neji. Alright, so hate wasn't quite the right word for it, but Naruto couldn't find anything else to call it. She could work with him well enough, but his surly attitude and belief in a predetermined fate clashed horribly with her own upbeat attitude and beliefs. All Naruto wanted to do every time he spoke was kick his ass, or between his legs and walk away depending on the day.

Lee was the opposite of his teammate and had a habit of frightening Naruto by suddenly appearing in front of or behind with a loud shout, which had lead him to getting clobbered with her gunbai when he did it on her girl days. But he was generally a fun guy to be around and constantly strove to help others while improving himself, taking after his sensei and idol quite well.

Tenten was the last of her new friends that had shown up in the last month. With both of them being orphans, Naruto had started seeing the older genin as an older sister figure, though she didn't tell the older girl. When they weren't training with Iruka or, for Tenten, not with her sensei, Tenten was helping Naruto study or sparing with the neo-girl helping her with her weapons.

When the bell over the shop door rang, Naruto looked up to see the Hyuuga from her shape-shifting experiments at the Hospital walk in. The man was the picture perfect Hyuuga, looking like he was fit for nobility. Privately though, Naruto thought he looked rather pissed off about something. When he didn't start browsing, instead walking straight up to her, Naruto sat up, ready to help him or call Ryu in from his forge out back to help him.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" Naruto asked as the Hyuuga Clan Head looked her over. Naruto held back a shudder as she got the distinct feeling that she was being studied. Apparently satisfied with what he had found, the Hyuuga spoke in a soft, measured tone.

"I have found myself in a bit of a problem recently and I believe that you can help me with it. I would like to speak with you privately about this problem and I am willing to compensate you for your time and effort if you take my offer. When can you meet with me to discuss my proposition?" he asked, his voice low in case someone walked in.

"Umm... I get off in a few minutes, I could talk to you then," Naruto said, a little worried about what the clan head was planning.

"When you do, please come to the Hyuuga compound. We will be able to discuss the matter in private." he said as he turned to leave, "Also, if you would, please come as if you were ready for training."

With that said, the clan head turned and stepped out the door just as Ryu stomped back into the shop.

"Hey runt, what was that about?" the smith asked as he wiped his hands.

"I don't really know..." Naruto trailed off as she caught a few scrolls that the smith threw at her, "You finished them?"

"Yeah, now return Tenten's to her and get use to using these ones, they weigh a little differently and you need to learn how to use their special conductive abilities. Everything you need to learn about them is in the third scroll." the cranky smith replied as he made a shooing motion, "Now get going, I don't need you around anymore today. Come back at the end of the week with your new sensei, I need to speak with them about your work schedule."

Naruto hopped off the stool she had been sitting on and rushed out of the shop. She wanted to know what Hinata's father wanted with her, hoping it wasn't working off the damages from one of her other pranks.

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Hiashi looked over the young Uzumaki standing in his office, smirking slightly as the novelty of her two different forms being nearly exact physical replicas of her parents. Mentally shaking himself, he gestured for Naruto to take a seat across form him as his moved his papers to the side.

"I am going to be blunt with you, Uzumaki-san," Hiashi said. The use of the honorific at the end of her name caused Naruto to sit straighter. Generally when people spoke using them, they were conducting business and were being polite and professional. It seemed like the Hyuuga Clan Head really did have a job for her.

"After the incident with the traitor, I have been keeping an eye on you." Hiashi started, maintaining eye contact with the redhead, "And I am impressed with you. In one month you have retaken the entire four years of the Academy, in a condensed version of course, and moved yourself from the dead last to the ninth in a class of thirty graduates. I'm sure if you could sit still long enough for the academic portions of it, you may have been in the top three."

Naruto blushed in embarrassment. It wasn't her fault that the books were boring and difficult to read, or that she needed to move around constantly. But she bowed her head slightly, "Thanks, Iruka worked me hard though."

"I see. Then it's good we have such a teacher in the Academy. Most genin these days are lackluster and never truly make the cut. But he's not the only good teacher I have seen recently." Hiashi stood and gestured Naruto to follow him, "Imagine my surprise when I was returning home from the Council meeting a little over a week ago, and I saw a young man teaching a child, who has not even joined the Academy yet, a newly developed version of the Henge."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had seen her teaching Konohamaru, and was impressed with her for doing it? Hiashi gave her an appraising look as they came to a stop near the opening of one of the large courtyards the compound had. Naruto looked around, surprised to see so many children from the Clan in one place, between the ages of three to eleven. Hiashi clapped his hands and each of the children stopped what they were doing and lined up on either side of the walkway where Hiashi and Naruto stood.

"Good afternoon Hiashi-sama," they chorused. Naruto bit back a comment about how formal the clan was, they used more honorifics than anyone else she had met!

"Good afternoon," Hiashi replied, "Children, I am about to have a practice match with this young genin here, to see if she has the potential to be Hanabi's sensei when she graduates the Academy. I want you to watch carefully, because Uzumaki-san has the potential to be a jounin within five years' time."

Naruto's eyes were wide with shock at the man's stated intent. Sure, she was willing to spar with the guy, he was plenty strong and she could learn from it, but this was something else. He was practically saying that he wanted her to teach his daughter!

"What do you mean by that?!" Naruto exclaimed, her arms wind milling wildly, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Hiashi seemed amused by the outburst, his eyes gaining an odd glint, though his face was as neutral as ever.

"The Hyuuga Clan's Main Branch has a tradition of preselecting those who would be worthy jounin-sensei for their children. I selected Kurenai Yuuhi as Hinata's sensei while Hinata was in the first year of the Academy, mainly because Hinata does not have the will to harm another, though she will not let her team down. Yuuhi-san understands Hinata's feelings and is the perfect sensei to help her along the path of a shinobi." Hiashi said as he strolled out to the far side of the courtyard, "Hanabi, on the other hand, thrives on difficult training. She needs a teacher who will push her as hard as they push themselves. I choose you because you are one of the three members of your graduating class who have the potential to be at that level in five years' time."

"Who are the others?"

"At the moment, only Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame hold the same potential," Hiashi said as he turned to face the Genin, sliding into the Jyuuken's starting stance, "But that is a moot point if you do not pass this test of ability. After all, only the strongest are allowed to teach a Hyuuga."

Naruto knew she wouldn't win against him, he was an elite jounin and a Clan Head. He was looking for something that she possessed, something that would tell him that she was the right teacher for his daughter. While Naruto understood he was ensuring his family's future, Hiashi had also done something for her. He had all but declared that he believed that she had the strength to become Hokage, seeing as he saw her becoming a jounin in time for his daughter's graduation.

"Kage Bunshin!" Naruto yelled as ten clones sprung to life. While Iruka had drilled the Tree Walking exercise into her head, Naruto had taken it at a leisurely pace, as the chuunin said her jounin-sensei was supposed to help her further her control. While she could barely make it halfway up the tree in either form, it had refined her control enough that making ten clones instead of twenty happened more often than not.

The clones charged the Clan Head in twos, darting in and out trying to strike him on all sides. While he easily held them off without the Jyuuken, there were enough of them to keep him busy while Naruto unsealed her new gunbai. Hiashi jabbed two clones hard enough to dispel them and leapt at the genin before she could swing the weapon. Naruto cursed as she brought up the medium sized wooden fan to shield her from the Clan Head's strike, he was too fast for her to club him.

"You are doing admirably child, but you must do better." Hiashi said as he ducked under a clone's kick, using the back of his palm to redirect the kick, causing the clone to flip over wildly. Hiashi then struck with the heel of his palm hard enough to rocket the clone into the rest of the group to dispel all at once. Naruto growled as she began channeling chakra through the fan.

The gunbai was specially made for her, carved out of chakra conductive wood, it would allow Naruto some decent sized Fuuton jutsus despite its small size. Giving the war fan a backhand swing, Naruto let a dense ball of air fly across the courtyard. Hiashi spun to the side to avoid the attack, only to see three more compressed balls of air racing towards him. Time seemed to slow as Naruto held her breath, trying not to relax as her attacks closed in on the elite jounin.

"Byakugan!" Hiashi whispered, the veins around his eyes bulging, "Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!"

Three blasts of air pressure collided with Naruto's attack, causing a miniature windstorm that kicked up enough dust to blanket the training ground. Naruto panicked as she pulled her goggles up from her neck to her eyes to prevent herself from being blinded as Hiashi shot out of the dust cloud at her. Naruto tried to move backwards to get away, but she stumbled over her own feet, causing her to fall backwards as the Hyuuga leader's attack passed over her head.

Naruto reacted on instinct and let a brace of shuriken fly as she rolled to her feet, though it seemed to be a wasted effort. As soon as she had gotten to her feet, Hiashi had pinned her against the outer wall of the courtyard, two fingers pressed against her forehead and another two hovering over her heart. After several long seconds, a trickle of blood rolled down the left side of the Clan Head's face as Hiashi backed up and nodded to the neo-girl.

"Well done Uzumaki-san, you have proven that you do indeed have the ability to train my daughter. I congratulate you for actually managing to score a hit, no matter how trivial and glancing it was." Hiashi said as he wiped the cut just below his hairline, "We Hyuuga pride ourselves in being able to see everything around us, to be able to notice every detail. But there are always people like you and your mother, unpredictable in both the battlefield and in life."

Naruto slowly slid down the wall, landing on her butt now that the adrenaline had worn off and her knees could no longer support her weight. The last strikes seemed as if they was going to kill her, and Hiashi's blank face as he attacked didn't help alleviate the feeling in the least.

Staring at the man as he turned to the children to test them on what they had learned, Naruto couldn't help but think, 'That's the level of difference between a genin and a jounin? That was too intense!'

As Naruto worked her way back up to her feet, Hiashi approached with an Academy aged child close behind.

"Are you alright Uzumaki-san?" Hiashi asked, continuing when he received an affirmative nod, "While you do have a ways to go, I do stand by my words. I do believe you can reach jounin level within five years. This is who I have asked you to train, my youngest daughter, Hanabi."

Naruto looked over the younger girl. She looked similar to Hinata, though she held herself differently, closer to her father's pride. Her hair was also different, it was longer and dark brown in color. As Naruto moved to greet the girl, her stomach growled.

As Hanabi stared at her, Naruto scratched the back of her head nervously, "I kinda skipped lunch today between working at the shop and training..."

As Naruto trailed off, Hiashi nodded, "Then it would be impolite not to invite you to join us for dinner. You can get to know your new student while we eat."

"Thank you Hyuuga-sama, I would enjoy having dinner with you and your family," Naruto said as she accepted the invitation, though internally she was freaking out, 'Oh man, what am I going to do? My table manners suck!'

"Think nothing of it. Hanabi, show our guest where she can clean up for dinner." Hiashi said as he turned to walk away. Naruto shuddered trying to rid herself of the feeling of encroaching doom as she followed the younger girl through the complex to the bathing area.

'I hope that no one attacks me because I'm normally a guy.' Naruto said as Hanabi pulled her reluctantly into the private bathhouse. After all, almost everybody in the village knew about her Shape-shifting now and she didn't want to be branded a pervert, 'I wonder if anyone else is having trouble tonight?'

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Konoha, Nara Compound

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Across the village another graduate was laid out on his back, worn out and bruised from the sparing match with his father. As he had never particularly fond of anything that resulted in physical exhaustion, he was cursing his father and the man's new found need to work his lazy son to death. He also felt a slight desire to blame Naruto for his part in this pain, but ignored it for the immediate target of his ire.

"Alright, I guess that's enough for today. Good work Shikamaru," Shikaku said as he squatted down next to his son. Shikamaru didn't even both with a verbal response, preferring to give the man the finger instead.

"I suppose you earned that one," Shikaku said, chuckling at his son's irritated and battered form, "Seriously though, you did well today. I know it can't be easy to maintain control over a shadow after disconnect yours from it.'

Shikamaru grunted as he scanned the evening sky, ignoring his father as the man laid down as well, "Why are you pushing me so hard? Shouldn't we take it slow until we know exactly what I can do?"

Shikaku sighed as he watched the stars blink into existence, trying to find the words to explain his hurry, "You know about the Kyuubi, and how its power acted as a catalyst for your abilities. We don't know if the Kyuubi meant for this to happen or not, and what the limits are. We don't know if the beast's chakra still lingers, if it's still affecting you. In order to find out, we have to train you as hard as we can, or are you afraid of a little hard work?"

Shikamaru stayed quiet as he eyed the long shadows being cast by the house. Ever since he had been released from the hospital, it seemed as if the shadows had been concealing... something. Whispers and voices often emanated from the depths of the shadows, often muttering dark and twisted things. He could even swear that he was being watched, and judged, by the shadows. Even now he could swear that there were eyes on him.

Shivering, Shikamaru muttered, "It isn't the work I'm afraid of."

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Author's Note: All I can say for my absence is life catches you at the strangest times. Bought a new car and I have been picking up tons of hours to make sure I have enough cash to make the payments on both insurance and loan. But I was finally able to take a few days off in a row without screwing up my large checks that I've been loving. I'm starting chapter 8 now, TEAM ASSIGNMENTS ARE UP NEXT!

Mini-rant time!

1) I know that the fight with Hiashi is improbable, but it was a lucky shot and all Naruto needed to do was impress him. I have a plan for getting Naruto to jounin as well. Don't ask.

2) Hanabi is going to be a quite girl, only speaking when she feels the need, mainly because I don't know enough about her personality. If you have a good description about her personality let me know.

3) THE DARKNESS! No seriously that was the inspiration for the shadow manipulation and the rest of the upgrades for most off the rookies have rather dark inspirations as well. You'll find out more in future chapters.

4) Naruto staying so much in female form was brought up, but other than the first day of the Wave mission, the main parts are going to be primarily male Naruto. Don't worry, that includes team assignments and the bell test.

This is Dingo saying goodnight and Happy July 4th!