Hello my good friends and welcome once again to another chapter of Perfection. I would like to personally thank you for putting up with my insanity. I have a few things I would like to say before we begin, the first being that the pole for the pairing will be finishing soon. It is going to be closed when this story reaches the point where Naruto graduates from the academy, an event I plan to have coming either next chapter. This is your last chance to get your votes in, so be sure to check it out, it's on my profile page. Secondly, I am thinking of starting another fic, I have a wonderful idea brewing about in my head that I just can't wait to write down. As such when this next fic comes out the updates for this one may slow considerably (Even though now they are erratic at best). As a third and final note, I would much appreciate if you let me know your thoughts on my writing in the form of a Private Message or a Review. I need to know what I'm doing right and what I should change, as I am far from a professional, and the only way I can know what to do is if you all tell me. Any and all questions that warrant answers will be answered, as I have shown with previous chapters. I do personally read everything I receive and love hearing what those who read this story think.

Enough with the shameless begging (As I won't deny that is what it was), let's get on with the part you actually came here for! Without further ado, the newest chapter of Perfection.

-Companions-

"Naruto? Kiba? Mizuki?" Iruka called out as he searched the forest for his missing students. 'Where could they have gone?' he thought as he jumped quickly through the trees.

Iruka was an average looking man, with tan skin and wearing the standard chunin garb of a blue long sleeved shirt, over which he wore his chunin vest proudly. a pair of blue pants that were bound around mid shin by medical tape covered his lower, along with his standard ninja tabi. His most outstanding features were his hair, which was done in a large spiky ponytail that seemed to defy gravity, and the scar that ran across the bridge of his nose horizontally about an inch under his eyes.

Iruka paused on a tree branch and put a hand to his ear. 'Wait, what was that?' he thought as he stayed completely silent in hopes of hearing the noise again.

And hear it again he did, a faint sound of talking. He could tell that the speakers were young, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. 'That must be Kiba and Naruto.' Thought Iruka as he took off towards the source of the noise.

-In the clearing with Naruto and Kiba-

"Hey Kiba" *munch* "What did the inside of your mind look like anyway?" Asked Naruto as he snacked the mangled, bleeding mess that was what remained of Mizuki's leg.

"Well" *munch* "It was basically a giant forest, but it had this giant clearing in the middle of it that was filled with mist, with a big lake in the middle. The lake had a small island in the middle, that's where my 'instinct' was." Kiba said as he picked the last of the meat off of the bone of the arm he had been eating, then proceeded to start chewing on the bone.

"Cool, mine was also a forest, but it didn't have any lake at the center, mine was just really dark, but for some reason I could see fine, probably because it was in my mind." Said Naruto as he finished the leg and like Kiba began munching on the bone.

"Naruto? Kiba? Are you there?" They heard from the treeline.

"Iruka-sensei, is that you?" said Naruto

"Yes it's me, are you two alright? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Yeah we're fine Iruka-sensei." Said Kiba

"That's a relief. Do either of you know where Mizuki-sensei is?"

"Yes, we know exactly where he is." Naruto said with a twisted grin growing on his face, one which Kiba seemed to copy.

Unnerved by the sudden actions of his students, Iruka stuttered out "A-And where I-Is h-he?"

"He's in our stomachs, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as his and Kiba's twisted grins grew wider, showcasing their blood soaked teeth.

"Wh-What?" Stuttered Iruka as he backed away from his two students.

=Back in Konoha=

"So, let me get this straight." Said the Hokage "Mizuki tried to kill both of you." Naruto and Kiba nodded "So you fought back against him, in said fight your food was destroyed." Again they nodded "And after almost dying and taking him by surprise, you were left in the forest alone with no food, so Naruto you decided it was a good idea to... convert Kiba to your particular eating habits, because Kiba was suffering a mental breakdown due to being the one to deal the final blow to Mizuki."

"Yep, that's what happened Jiji!" Naruto replied happily.

*Sigh*"I'm getting too old for this." The Hokage said exasperatedly. "Kiba, do you plan to do as Naruto has done and eat only other humans from this point on?" he asked

"No sir, even though that tasted really good, I don't think I can give up on every other food for the rest of my life."

"Alright, that's good. You may go home now Kiba, it's up to you whether or not to tell your family, but be wary of the consequences should you do so, Naruto stay here, I need to talk to you for a moment." The Hokage instructed

"Okay, bye Naruto, see yah in class tomorrow!" Kiba shouted as he ran out the door, eager to get home to his family.

"So, what do you need me for jiji?" Naruto asked

"One of Konoha's ninja has come across something very interesting on a mission lately, I wanted to show it to you to see if you're interested in it." Said the Hokage "First Naruto, do you know what a summoning contract is?" he asked.

"No, what is it?" asked Naruto

"A summoning contract is a scroll that allows the user to summon a specific type of creature from the summon world. In order to sign and be able to summon them, you must first prove yourself to them as a worthy summoner, usually through some kind of test. Each type of summoning animal has a different test because each one wants different traits from its users, understand?" the Hokage asked, to which Naruto nodded.

"I understand Jiji." He said

"Good now, for what I have to show you." At this the Hokage reached underneath his desk and pulled out a large scroll, about a foot in diameter and two feet wide. Each end had gold caps on it and the edges of the paper were a light green. In the center was the kanji for Mantis. (カマキリ) "This is a summoning contract, the contract for praying mantises to be precise. A chunin found it while out on a simple delivery mission, and of course he tried to sign it. The mantises rejected him, however, telling him that he was not in tune enough with his instincts to become one of their summoners, so he brought the contract back here. Now, based on what the mantises said, I believe that you would be the one in the village most likely to be able to gain a contract with them. Summoning contracts are an invaluable asset to any hidden village, so passing up an opportunity to have one would be foolish. So, would you like to try and summon them Naruto?" The Hokage asked

"Of course I would Jiji!" Naruto said excitedly "How do I do it?" he asked

"Well first, you need to sign your name on this contract. But you can't do it in ink or anything else, it must be done with your own blood." The Hokage explained as he unrolled the contract and turned it to face Naruto. The inside of the contract was fairly simple, long connected boxes in which names were to be written and edges the same light shade of green as the outside.

"Alright Jiji, if you say so." At this Naruto cut his hand with his sharpened nails and wrote his name in blood in the second box, the first being a blacked out name. 'Probably the guy who tried to sign it.' thought Naruto

"Alright, now I need you to copy these handsigns very carefully." The Hokage said. Naruto nodded and copied the Hokage as he very slowly went through the five handsigns for the technique, Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey and Ram. (If you want to know what they look like just search Naruto Handsigns in Google images, there will be tons of them.)

"Now, place your hand on the ground and say Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

"Alright, Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed as he slammed his hand on to the ground quickly.

A large plume of smoke erupted from the place where Naruto put his hand, temporarily blinding Naruto and the Hokage, before it swiftly cleared revealing a what would be a terrifying sight... If it were a bit bigger.

In front of the two stood a praying mantis, a very large one at about two feet long and a foot and a half high (Approximately 66 cm long and 50 cm high for those of you who use the metric system). It was the same light green color as the edges of the contract except for two brown stripes that ran down its back.

"Another summoner? And so soon after the last one too." Spoke the mantis in a high and somewhat raspy voice, accentuated by soft clicking noises. "Well, which of you two summoned me?" the mantis asked.

"I summoned you." said Naruto as he stared fascinated by the creature in front of him.

"Alright, now we can go about the first test to see if you are... why are you staring at me like that?" asked the mantis, confused by Naruto's trancelike stare.

"I'm sorry, mantis-san, I've just never seen something like you before." Naruto said, bowing his head in apology.

"Don't fret, it is normal for one your age to not have seen a summon before, now then as I was saying we will need to begin the first test to see if you are worthy, now close your eyes and sit in front of me."

Naruto did as the mantis said and waited, eyes closed, for what was to be his test. Suddenly, he felt his instincts screaming at him to move backward and, as his instincts had never failed him before, he obeyed and quickly leaned backwards.

It was good that he did as well, as moments after he moved his head the mantis's claw slashed through the area it had once been in.

"What are you doing! You could have killed the boy!" Exclaimed the Hokage loudly at the mantis.

"Not to worry sir, I was only testing the boy's instincts, I would have stopped myself before it hit him if he failed." Explained the mantis casually as he focused in on Naruto, who was now sitting back up and wondering what was going on, slightly put off by the fact that the mantis had just effectively tried to murder him.

"Hmmm, well if you could please try to refrain from such methods unless necessary in the future, I would very much appreciate it." Said the Hokage, subtly delivering his threat.

"I will make a point of trying not to sir." Said the mantis. "Now, we can move on to the second test."

"There's more than one?" asked a slightly confused Naruto

"Yes, there are two test. The first test is a test of instinct, which you have passed. The next test is a test of patience, which we will now be performing, Follow me, we must find a suitable spot for this test." At these words the mantis walked out of the doors and began walking out of the building, followed by Naruto and the Hokage.

=15 minutes later, forest clearing outside Konoha=

"Alright, this should do nicely for the test." Said the mantis as it stopped in the center of the clearing. "To be a worthy summoner for the mantises, you must not only have strong instincts, but also be able to control yourself and be patient. This test will be for you to sit inside the forest and wait for an animal to walk directly in front of you before capturing it. To do this you must remain completely still and be extremely patient, are you willing to proceed?"

"Yes, I want to continue." Said Naruto

"Very well, go and find a spot in the forest and wait, I will be watching." Said the mantis

Naruto then walked off into the trees. He searched the area for a few minutes before finding a spot that was mostly shaded at the base of a large tree. He sat down in front of the tree, legs crossed, and waited.

=3 hours later=

'This is... sooooooo boring...' thought Naruto sleepily as he continued to wait for an animal to pass by him. He was very close to falling asleep when he noticed some rustling in the bushes. He quickly became alert, but was careful to avoid moving. Then he saw it, a small rabbit hopped out a bush off to his right. It calmly moved closer and closer to Naruto, seemingly undisturbed by his presence. It hopped right in front of Naruto, only a foot away. Sensing his chance, Naruto quickly lunged forward, grabbing the rabbit by its neck and pulling it into the air, snapping its neck in the process.

"Yes! I finally did it!" Exclaimed Naruto, very happy that he wouldn't have to sit around doing nothing anymore.

"Yes, that you did young one." Said the mantis as he emerged from the bushes "Now come back to the clearing, there is only one thing left to do. With that the mantis left towards the clearing, with Naruto quickly following after him.

=Back in the clearing=

"Well Naruto, congratulations, you are now officially the first summoner of the mantis clan." Said the mantis "My name is Katto, I am the guardian of the clan scroll and the one who tests all prospective summoners. I will also be the main one teaching you the techniques of the mantis clan." Katto explained "Now, I must return to the summon world, Kirato-sama will be very pleased when he hears that we have a summoner. Summon me again in about a week's time and I will begin training you in the techniques of the mantis clan."

With that Katto burst into smoke and when the smoke had cleared he was gone. The Hokage then turned to Naruto. "Congratulations my boy, you are now the only summoner of the praying mantises. You have my permission to use this same clearing as your personal training ground while you work with the mantises. I want you to take the training that they give you very seriously, this is a rare opportunity and you should take full advantage of it."

"Don't worry Jiji, I'll do my very best!" Naruto said happily.

"See to it that you do my boy, now, how about we go back to the village, it's getting late and you need to get to the academy in the morning." The Hokage said fondly.

"Okay Jiji!" Naruto said, and the both of them started walking back towards the village.

-End-

And there my friends was another chapter of Perfection. I feel as though I have been unique enough with my choice of summons, I can't recall reading a fic that used them anyway. Also, for those wondering about Naruto's behavior around the Hokage being slightly different than normal, this is for a reason. Sarutobi (The Hokage for those who don't know) is the closest thing that Naruto has ever had to family, thus Naruto cares much more about him than anybody else. This will be very important later in the story. On a different note, the poll for the pairing is over as soon as I post the next chapter, so if you want to be heard make sure to get your vote in before then. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have and I hope you will continue to enjoy this story.

Until the next moonlit night,

Musamura