Forth chapter all! I don't know about you, but I'm very excited as to how well this fic of mine has been progressing, especially with such great reviews from my faithful and generous readers who left even comments, suggestions, and compliments.

On a side note, please know that I plan to make the relationships in this story progressive, not unreasonably convenient and quick just for the needy-greedy romance. If nothing else, I also plan to follow Lonely Reader's advice and not make Naruto like the best frickin' bad-ass in the whole series. He will have his share of combat, but he won't have the simplest ease of handling his opponents.

That's all, so on with the fic!

Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto or it's characters, only the plot, the O.C.'s and the origional Jutsus.

Kyuubi Speaking
Kyuubi Thinking
Text
"Words"
Thought/Dreams
"Words in dream-scape"
"Jutsus/Techniques"
"Summons talking"
(Translations)

It felt hot. No; hot could never compare to the feeling that enveloped his body and senses. He felt like his skin was boiling and his breath was fire in his lungs. His muscles felt sore to the point of snapping and his bones felt as if they had long since been reduced to dust, the supports to his body caring not of their possible absence.

Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Heightened to the point of near perfection.

It was almost overwhelming to him, but he ignored it. He was dimly aware of a thick hot liquid pouring out of his mouth and pooling beneath his feet and a crimson mist of some strange energy accumulating and rushing through his body, but paid it no mind when the objects...or rather, subjects of his attention were before his eyes; their once sneering faces now filled with looks of abject horror and an unmistakable fear. A feeling of fear that was palpable to the taste. A taste he found delicious.

The two men before him were Chuunins, no more than newly promoted and were rather young considering their rank. Perhaps late teens or very early twenties. He didn't care. He was going to kill them either way, just as he had did with their partners that now lay as corpses around him in a circle of dead bodies. All of them were Chuunin, maybe some older Genin, but all the same, they would suffer for what they had almost done!

The two remaining Chuunins warily grip their kunais, as if the action could calm them and make them feel a little at ease. A foolish attempt. He felt no sympathy for them, and would only laugh as he watched them slowly die in his grasp.

Before either of the two Chuunin could bat a breath, he disappeared and came from under the Chuunin's blind spot closest to him. The Chuunin wasn't able to make a sound before his throat was ripped from under his chin. Blood splashed against the leaves and trunks of the surrounding bushes and trees that encompassed the forest they were currently in. The Chuunin stood rigid for a moment before collapsing, blood loss taking it's pricy toll.

The last Chuunin did a double-take and took off at a frantic speed for safety into the depths of the forest in hopes of escaping the young abomination that killed over Eight Chuunins after seeming to come back to life after their group attack on the boy. The Chuunin was gasping and was faltering in his sprint as his strength reserves were diminishing every passing second. He took a quick glance behind himself and stopped altogether and was breathing heavily as he found his hunter hadn't chased him very far.

That thought died when a barely audible rustle of leaves was heard and the demon boy came down on the Chuunin's gasping form like an unstoppable hammer and crushed the Chuunin's head into the ground upon landing on him. The Chuunin's body twitched and spasmed for a few seconds until the now headless body lay still. The demon boy lightly ruffled his spiky blond hair and gazed down on the remains of his kill and felt slightly disappointed in not killing his prey more slowly. The demon boy shifted his gaze to the full red moon that loomed above him as a silent spectator of his doings, his deep crimson eyes piercing through almost the very vastness of the night. Feeling a swell of triumph over the kills he accomplished in this one night, he pulled his head back and howled, roared in vindictive liberation as the feeling of oneness consumed him from the very depths of his soul.

Naruto awoke with a start, shooting up from his bed and gasped, sweating profusely from recollecting the vivid details of the dream...No, more like a nightmare...he had just witnessed during his sleep. He ran his hand through his sweat-soaked hair and exhaled audibly in an effort to calm his erratic heart beat that thundered in his ears. He could literally feel his pulse beat against his veins and arteries through-out his body.

Naruto took a glimpse at his bed sheets and grimaced in slight disgust. His sheets were soaked with sweat and had various tares in the mattress; most likely from his digging fingers when he was asleep. He quickly grabbed his shinobi clothes and took to the bathroom, removed his white muscle shirt and black boxers and hopped into the shower. He had spent over 10 minutes under the shower's faucet, scrubbing his skin until he was satisfied all the grime and caked sweat was removed.

After he finished his cleaning, he dressed in his armor and dark orange jump-suit and went to his kitchen to make a meal for himself. After his first meeting with his team commanding Jounin, Kakashi, Naruto knew without question the man was irresponsible and perhaps made himself late every time he scheduled an appointment, so it was only common sense to eat while he could and not have to wait for the team commander to arrive hours after his appointed time. He finished eating his ramen meal and took off to field 14 where his team should be gathering at. Along his way to the training fields, his thoughts wandered to the dream he had the night before.

He remembered that night, when it happened and what had happened, but much of it was still a blur of images and incomprehensible awareness. He was just about past Eight years old when he had made a late night detour from Ichiraku's ramen stand through the forest to get to his apartment when only moments later he had found a group of male Chuunins approaching a woman who was sobbing quietly in horror of what was about to happen to her. The said woman was trapped by the forest trees and was more or less lacking clothing that somehow managed to preserve her modesty. Naruto didn't understand fully what exactly was happening, but he instinctively knew that woman would get hurt if he did nothing. Beyond that, Naruto couldn't remember anything else what had transpired that night and he had been covered in blood and his clothes were torn when he had awoken the next morning in his apartment. After reevaluating what he remembered, he felt himself change his outlook on everything -and everyone- around him. Rage and hatred filled and brimmed in his soul after finally seeing how much the villagers themselves were more monstrous than most demons depicted in folklore. His thoughts for acceptance from the villagers wisped away and he prepared himself for any possible confrontation by training to his limits.

Two years after that incident, Naruto had finally understood what those Chuunin had planned to do to that woman. They were planning to force themselves on her because one Chuunin was far too excited after drinking too much sake and his partners had decided to join the act of having what fun they could have with their victim. Things had apparently gone awry for the Chuunin group, because the next morning, their bodies were found in the forest after someone had noticed their absence. No one had suspected him, strangly enough for the villagers were always quick and eager to place something of blame on him, and still to this day, Naruto hadn't heard what had happened to the woman he had perhaps saved. He couldn't even recall a single detail of her appearance, but maybe it was for the better. After all, who would want to be reminded of near accomplished attempt of rape they had miraculously avoided? Women certainly didn't; especially since they were the most common sexual targets for perverts.

Naruto shook his head furiously for a moment to clear his thoughts while he leapt from roof-top to roof-top to his destination. He shouldn't be having his thoughts focused on barely related matters concerning what happened over four years ago. He had a survival excercize to focus on. That, and drawing together a good pay-back method to give Kakashi for his earlier tardiness.

Oh, well. All good things in time.

When Naruto had finally reached the training field, only Sasuke was present while Sakura was no where in sight, which Naruto was happy for. Most likely because she wasn't a light sleeper and never woke up early in the mornings. As much as he really had nothing personal against the Haruno girl, she just somehow managed to irritate him for how she acted: Thinking herself above others, doing as she pleased because of her spoiled nature, her condescending character and rebuttals...the list could go on and circle the whole village walls twice if he wrote them all down on paper. Still, he couldn't hate Sakura for that. That's how she was raised by her spoiling parents. Naruto pushed those thoughts away and briskly made his way toward the Uchiha, stopping just shy of a few paces away to give the young prodigy some space. The said Uchiha shifted his gaze to his blond teammate and waited for a response.

"Want to spar for a while?" Naruto asked. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this sudden offer. He shifted himself from his sitting position and stood with his hands in his pockets, holding an air of arrogance that displeased Naruto immensely. Sasuke gave a smirk after a minute of holding his gaze with Naruto's.

"Why should I spar with you? You're probably not strong enough to keep up with me if I accepted."

His tone was clearly arrogant and condescending, as if he were the best shinobi in Konoha. As much as Naruto wanted to hit the Uchiha over the head in hopes of deflating that big ego of his, why not attack him mentally? It certainly works better in bruising one's pride and it was longer lasting. Grinning like the cat that ate the canary, Naruto replied in a bored and noncaring voice that dripped with criticism.

"I was bored and I thought a little spar with the 'Great Uchiha' would be worth while, but seeing your hesitance, you probably don't want your pride bruised too badly should you fail to defeat me."

As expected, the results were instantaneous: Sasuke visibly scowled and hardened his features while his hands were reaching for his kunai in challenge. "You're going to regret those words, Uzumaki! Prepare yourself."

Naruto didn't need to be told twice. His own hands grasped his kunai strapped on both his thighs and crouched in prep for a rushing attack. Sasuke did the same and the two were left in a stand-still, waiting for the other to determine the first action. A stray leaf drifted down in a dancing manner in the air between the two Genins.

The instant the leaf touched the soil, Naruto launched himself toward his opponent, closing the distance with incredible speed and delivered a heel-kick upwards in an attempt to catch him under the chin. Sasuke, though slightly surprised by the Uzumaki's speed, managed to evade the kick by pulling his head back and spun his body to keep himself balanced and sent his own kick towards the blonde's legs which was avoided by flipping over Sasuke's kick in a cork-screw motion and landed on the ground perfectly, attacking with one of his kunai in hand.

Sasuke blocked the attack easily enough with his own kunai, but was unprepared for the blond suddenly dropping his kunai and grasped Sasuke's hand and pulled with great force that the Uchiha stumbled forward and Naruto slipped behind him and twisted his arm in a submission lock behind his back and an arm snaked around his neck, preventing him any leverage in slipping from his detained position. Sasuke struggled for a while but fell completely still when he felt the tip of Naruto's kunai touch his throat.

"So, do you concede?" Naruto whispered in Sasuke's ear, "Or would you like a rematch? Your choice."

Sasuke was visibly surprised...and very shocked that some other Genin, who never seemed to have excelled at anything in the academy, slipped through his guard with such ease to rival an expert. Sasuke would never say aloud, but he was awed in respect towards his teammate's skill. Now he could train with greater fervor and excel beyond his level by leaps and bounds.

"Best two-out-of-three?" Sasuke offered calmly. He didn't have to see or hear his teammate's response before he was immediately released and both took stances once again after getting some distance between each other. This time, Sasuke took to the offensive and both clashed against the other with their kunais in an attempt to overwhelm their opponent through physical strength. They separated by leaping backwards after seeing their first strategy was ineffective and circled each other with matching quick speed.

Sakura was very upset while she stomped her way through the streets towards field 14. Earlier, her parents had awoken her insanely early in the morning -5 a.m. to be precise- and had her prepare for the survival exercise she mentioned to her parents last night and was given last minute training to be ready for anything her sensei had in store for her team.

Her parents were simply jovial to hear of Sakura being paired with Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year, but they were furious in hearing of their daughter also paired with the Uzumaki boy. She was rather confused to hear her parent's venomous objections of having her paired with the "Demon child" they called him, but dismissed it as none of her business.

Back on the issue at hand, Sakura was still upset and frustrated and tired with having to do those various exercises and fighting forms her parents had her do, even with her injured arm. At least she managed to have some food and not starve to death before she did her exercises, but that was a useless thing to do since she was now sore, tired and grumpy. She probably won't be able to perform her best and outperform Naruto who she had come to hate for what he had done to her arm. There were definitely going be scars left once her arm heals.

Ten minutes later, Sakura made it to the training field and peered in every direction for a sign of Kakashi. What she found instead was Sasuke and Naruto in a semi-cross-counter position, their right fists held by their opponent's left open hand. Thinking "her" Sasuke-kun was in trouble, she wasted no time in rushing to his aid and pulled out a kunai and launched it strait for the blonde's head. What happened next shocked her to disbelief.

Naruto caught the kunai with his teeth! And he was still holding his ground with Sasuke!

Immediately after Naruto had caught Sakura's kunai, Sasuke turned his sights on his pink-haired teammate and back to Naruto in unspoken agreement of postponing their spar. Naruto nodded. They both stepped away, Naruto spitting out the kunai doing so and Sasuke turned toward Sakura and gave her a frightening scowl which made the Haruno girl flinch and take a step back.

"Fool! Why did you attack Naruto?! He and I were only sparring and you had to go and ruin it! Besides, what business did you have in interfering?!"

His voice was cold and clearly angry. Sakura, though still a little shaken, replied meekly. "I-I'm s-sorry! I-I thought U-Uzumaki w-was attacking you a-and I w-wanted t-to help y-you. Please, d-don't be angry at me, S-Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke still held a furious face and remained such for about a minute before he sighed and turned away from Sakura and went back to his brooding on the tree he sat near earlier. While he brooded, he thought back to how he had acted just moments ago and to what he felt when he and Naruto were sparring. It was strange that he had suddenly raised his voice in defense for his blond teammate who he knew little of, but it seemed to just come out of him so easily. Like defending a friend perhaps.

In contrast to his spar with Naruto, it felt...exhilarating...for lack of a better word. His blood was rushing through him like a raging river and it excited him to feel himself push his performance to his best abilities. No one at the academy had been able to keep up with him when he wanted to train -He never considered training with girls because they never really participated and just ogled at him- and many of the stronger boys in class never wanted to associate with him for his distant nature he adopted after his parents were killed, far too intent on training to seek his revenge to allow any friends to possibly hinder his development. His thought continued like such for almost an hour until a "poof" was heard that derailed his musing and Naruto and Sakura turned their sights to Kakashi who was several paces away.

"Hello, Team 7", he said casually with a wave, "Sorry I'm late, but I got lost on the road of life and-"

"YOU LIAR! -YOU'RE LATE AGAIN, YOU BASTARD!" Naruto and Sakura yelled together at once. Though Sasuke said nothing, his brow was twitching quite vexingly. This sensei of theirs was impossibly irresponsible; it was almost a joke were it not at his team's expense as well as his own.

Kakashi ignored his student's yells and placed a clock on one of the three training logs near the Genins and turned to them while pulling out two bells from his pocket.

"Alright team, this is your task: Take these bells from me before this clock reaches 12 p.m. Just incase your confused as to the penalty, there are only 2 bells and three of you, and only the ones who capture the bells may eat while the other who doesn't get the bell will starve. Oh! And don't forget to attack with killing intent unless you prefer to fail with flying colors." Naruto and Sasuke only snorted in response to the Jounin's taunts. This fool of a shinobi was obviously far too casual to ever be taken seiously. Kakashi had heard their snorts, but otherwise ignored it.

"Ready...steady...GO!" And the test went underway...

Two hours later from the start of the survival exercise, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had Kakashi surrounded, the former mentioned breathing hard and heavy from exhaustion. It was during the start of the test that Sasuke and Naruto had attacked Kakashi together in unison in their hopes of overwhelming the Jounin with their teamwork. It had been proven effective in equalizing the odds in their favor, but they were unable to make any progress as Kakashi was an evasion and counter expert in combat. Because of this setback, they changed strategy knowing their endurance would diminish quickly if they continued to chase him and try to match him blow-for-blow and step-for-step, so Sasuke had opted to use his Katon (Fire Element) Jutsus to attack from a distance and give Naruto cover with the debris from the fire blast explosions so the blond could attack in close quarters, to which Sasuke would admit -to only himself- that Naruto excelled in.

Their strategy had worked for a while, even giving Naruto and Sasuke opportunities to land a few blows on the slippery Jounin, but Kakashi had too changed strategy and began an offensive against the Genin pair. Were it not for Sakura, who had just managed to arrive while in search for Sasuke after she and the others had seperated during the melee, Kakashi would have overtaken them in moments. Sakura had assisted by chucking shuriken and kunai at Kakashi while Naruto and Sasuke went to close-quarter combat with their Taijustu. Amazingly, their coordination with each other was almost perfect.

Back to present, Kakashi was facing Pinky, Blondie, and Pretty Boy -as he unofficially nick-named them- while his back was against a tree. Pinky had managed to turn the teams favor and now he was having difficulty keeping up with the three. Originally, he had intended to have them all go against each other by using the two-bell-three-Genin ploy, but it had made almost little difference because of Blondie's disregard to his suggestion to not eat in the morning. Looks like he hadn't planned too well. But, because of their success in cooperating with each other and working together, they had already passed the exam. Now to see it through.

While Naruto and Sasuke were closing in steadily, Kakashi suddenly executed several hand seals and burrowed into the ground before either Naruto or Sasuke could reach him. Naruto growled in frustration. He knew this was getting them nowhere and Kakashi would have all the time he needed to recover his strength and then they would all be at square one.

That's it! thought Naruto angrily, I'm ending this now! He's had his fun, but I'm growing tired of this game of cat and mouse. Prepare yourself, Kakashi, because I'm not taking any prisoners!

Crossing his forefingers together, Naruto summoned six Kage Bunshins, and with a fierce war cry, he punched his whole arm into the ground beneath his feet and grabbed an appendage from the Jounin he had felt moving beneath the ground and literally ripped Kakashi from the earth like a demon usurping a corpse from the grave.

Kakashi didn't even have time to yell for help -as futile as that would have been- before Naruto's Kage Bunshins came on top of him after being slammed painfully on the ground. Two Bunshins gripped his legs while two other Bunshins grappled his arms and one opted to hold the Jounin by the neck in a choking position. The last Bunshin had Henged into a length of rope for the real Naruto to tie Kakashi's limbs together. While he tied his limbs up, one of the Bunshins went rummaging in Kakashi's pouch.

"N-Naruto-kun, what are you doing?", Kakashi asked fearfully, strange considering his rather stoic persona seen more often than not. "You shouldn't be going through other people's things without permission!"

Naruto ignored the man's pleads and continued his rummaging, intent on finding exactly what this Jounin had that could make him late for hours at a time-

Wait. That felt like...a book cover? Slowly, Naruto drew the item in his grasp from the confines of Kakashi's pouch...And became furiously livid! There in his grasp was in fact a male's best friend a male could have in all of the shinobi villages far and wide:

An Icha Icha Paridise Novel!

Naruto had heard what the series was about via Sarutobi-jiji's stash he had in his office he had found when visiting the old man one time before while in the academy. And now the answer became crystal clear as to why this...pervert...was always late: He chose to read whole series' of perverted books in his spare time and missed his appointments because of it.

It was safe to assume that once Naruto had showed the novel to his teammates -after he managed to get them out of their shocked stupor from witnessing his strength- Kakashi had three awful things happen to him in this order:

1) His book was burned to dust, courtesy of Sasuke's fire Jutsu.

2) The bells he had tied around his waist were taken with ease and was berated severly for being a pervert, courtesy of Sakura's tongue lashing.

And 3) Naruto had given the suggestion of giving him the worst and most horrible punishment yet that never should be used against anyone unless absolutely necessary; the One Thousand Years of Pain!

When Naruto promises himself some vindictive payback, he means to uphold his promises with a passion and interest!

Naruto's P.O.V.

Two months have passed since my team and I have solidified our ranks and have done numerous missions more suitable for children that wanted a low pay salary. Some of our assignments were, for lack of a better term, aggravating and pointless. Especially when my team and I had the misfortune of retrieving a dumb cat named "Tora" for this obese opera singer who was wife to the Fire Country Daimyo. We had to capture and return the same cat five times! Since my teammates shared my views on the pointlessness of actually dealing with this same cat for over two weeks strait, I gave a suggestion of using my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as a way to fool the cat owners into thinking their cat was dead and the real Tora would be released outside the Fire Country border. They agreed all too eagerly and we heard only a week later that the Daimyo's wife's cat had suddenly "died". The versatility of my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu simply amazes me.

During the time of our groups gatherings, Sasuke and I had managed to build a kind "Rivalry friendship" where we would spar and teach each other a Jutsu or two in hopes of getting stronger. He and I had built an agreement to teach each other one Jutsu to each other once a week. It was much like a game where progress was the aim of the endevor.

In two weeks, I had managed to learn and perfect the Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Element: Art of the Fire Flower) and Ryuuka no Jutsu (Art of the Dragon Fire). They were incredibly powerful techniques that required vast amounts of chakra, but that was no setback for me with my chakra abundance. In turn, I had taught Sasuke two Jutsus as well, though they were not quite so explosively powerful: the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shuriken Shadow Double)and Doku Kiri no Jutsu (Art of the Poison Mist), which were two other Jutsus I had memorized and practiced from the Forbidden Scroll. Sasuke had them perfected in only Ten days, where I took about twelve to familiarize myself with the two Katon Jutsus he taught me.

Sakura remained distant from me and never wanted to approach me under any circumstance, always glaring at me when she wasn't looking at Sasuke every hour, on the hour. Not that I minded, only it was becoming irritating as time continued. Kakashi decided to ignore what transpired around him, only giving half-attempts to settle any arguments that erupted between Sakura and I when she decided to blow things out of proportion. Even after he pledged never to have an Icha Icha Pradise novel while with his team, he was still ridiculously irresponsible.

History review aside, my team and I were currently in the Hokage's tower while we waited for Sarutobi-jiji to issue a new assignment for us, while we stood erect before a long table set side-ways with Iruka-sensei, Sarutobi-jiji, and two elders; an old woman with grey hair in a bun fashion wearing robe brown with white sashes and an old man with rectangular glasses, grey short hair and obviously lean, wearing a white sash that curled around his neck that covered his neck and shoulders over a dark colored robe reaching his feet. Iruka was on the far end of the table.

My patience was thinning by the second, though I didn't show it, and was ready to scream in Saru-jiji's ear when he suddenly spoke up and told us our assignment: Planting sweet potatoes for a couple's garden. I damn near blew my top off! Instead, I said slowly, and angrily, my protests.

"Hokage-jiji, we've done more than enough small assignments like these to last a life time. Can we please, have a more challenging task? I believe my teammates share my sentiments in this issue."

True to my words, both Sasuke and Sakura were eager to have a change in mission difficulty and allowed something a little more exciting. Saru-jiji calmly observed us all and our reactions and sighed while he fished for another scroll on the table. He skimmed through it for the better part of a minute before he stopped and selected something. Grinning, he told us our new assignment:

"It just so happens that there's a bridge builder that needs escort to the Land of Waves for protection against possible bandits that could lie lurking along the main rodes and paths connecting our two lands together. Why don't you introduce yourselves to him? Come in, Tazuna-san."

As if on queue, a large, rather muscular old man with glasses, white spiky hair came through the doors on our right. He had a sake bottle in hand and his clothes were like a sailors. He chugged a gulp of sake before he his scrutinizing gaze passed across us all and he frowned immediately.

"You're giving me a bunch of snot-nosed brats to protect me?", he slurred, "You don't expect me to trust these kids to keep me safe, do ya? Especially Blondie there: He's got the face of an imbecile."

Oh, this man just signed his name on a tomb stone! I scowled and felt great satisfaction in seeing him cringe in fear from my piercing stare. My voice was caked with venom when I replied.

"I'll give you fair warning for future reference, Old man; Either you hold your tongue or I swear bandits will be the least of your worries, because I'll slit your throat before you can even scream!"

I felt a swell of pride in myself when I saw the old man's terrified visage. He looked ready to empty his bowels at any moment. I could only guess my teammates reactions. All but Sakura, who was easily readable, as the cold sweat started forming around her forehead that dripped down her chin. Kakashi coughed into his fist in an attempt to deflate the situation.

"Naruto", Kakashi said to me, "If you kill our client, our mission will be over before it even starts."

I exhaled loudly and grumbled an agreement. Saru-jiji saw that this peace was momentary at best, so he quickly gave us permission to leave and pack what things we needed for month or more. My team and I left briskly out the tower and went separate ways to our respective homes and packed what we needed. I had three pairs of slab-armored net shirts and another dark orange jumpsuit incase the one I was currently wearing tore and became unwearable. Kunais, shuriken, needles, and some new weapons I had purchased after the survival excersize; reverse G shaped hand axes that were razor-sharp to the touch. I folded all my cloths in a back-pack, placed all my weapons I couldn't fit in my pouch in the pack pockets, and took off towards the East Village Gates where Kakashi had told me and my teammates to meet with him and Tazuna.

When I had arrived, my teammates were already there and waiting with Kakashi and Tazuna. No words were exchanged and we exited the village gates with some trepidation, though I was slightly excited to step out the village gates for once.

It was a shame for me that I never knew what awaited for us along our journey. I don't think my team knew what either...