DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything publicly recognizable.
Kurama was happy.
The great beast could clearly see how every plan he had concocted that already distant day were slowly coming to life, and it was glorious.
Sometimes he had to stop himself from doing weird victory dances, because they could alert his host that he was up to something strange, and he didn't want that, not at all. Well, that and the fact that he was confused by why he actually wanted to do a victory dance. He hadn't ever had the need to do something so outlandish when he was free, and while he considered himself as more intelligent now, these strange outings were always making him reconsider if he was really wiser now, or if he was just weirder.
But he knew one thing: his previous self wouldn't have ever stopped and made an actual plan, just confiding in his overwhelming power, and what happened when it wasn't enough? He got controlled and sealed in despicable human beings, with atrocious seals containing him by numbing his mind with pain, so he still had to consider his change as an improvement.
Still, sometimes he couldn't help but think that he wanted to be his past self. Things were oh so much simpler then, he didn't have to worry about what he said, he would have simply snarled at him whenever he visited him, would have tried to destroy his container with his poisonous chakra whenever he got angry, and break whatever was left of the boy's mind after his chakra was done with him, breaking from the seal without issues.
Simple, it just required...Well, it didn't really require anything outside of his container becoming angry, thus it was simple. Duh.
But instead he had to take the difficult route. Being friendly with his container was difficult at first, but it started to become easier and easier. And that worried him. Sometimes he had nightmares of the day he would be freed in which instead of slaughtering his host, he would simply give him a fist pump -shudder- and then ran off into the sunset, being careful to not destroy anything on the way.
It frankly scared him. He was losing his way of life, and not only was it only for the sake of a plan ever, Kurama was starting to even enjoy it.
The frightening possibility that he was losing his mind was a recurring thought that at its apex had him wishing for his previously savage personality.
But no, he couldn't just abandon his newly found intelligence for a slice of insanity, because right now, he could finally see things clearly, the veil of bloodlust lifted from his eyes. Now he could see the world for what it really was, and it wasn't his playground, a place in which his father put him to wait impatiently for an important event that he wasn't too keen on explaining.
He could see the beauty of nature, the grandness of a human city, of culture, of the arts that the humans liked to call as Ninja arts, and he hated it.
He didn't want to see it. He didn't care about a race so far beneath him, which only saving grace had been that the Sage of the Six paths, in his godly kindness, decided to help grow gifting them with chakra.
Before he was just like those human that pondered about how laborious and collaborative the ants were, before squashing them beneath their foot when they neared them or were simply in their path or, even more lamely, for amusement.
Well, he didn't even ponder about the human culture before, but who cares.
He didn't know anymore if he could bring himself to destroy a village without reminiscing about the loss of civilization, and it was horrible.
If he went down this road, he may even become guilty! Kurama didn't want a life of remorse, and he sure as hell wanted to do just what he wanted without consequences, but to think that some of the most fun he had ever had in the past could become impossible to have because of guilt, well it was maddening.
And it was all this human fault.
He didn't know how, he didn't know when, but in some ways, maybe with his new ability to control his chakra, he had become able to broaden the connection between the two, and now, he had not only to always see what his container did in his daily life, including what he would have never wished to see, he couldn't have a moment to himself anymore!
Everything he did was controlled, and it had grown to the point that he tried to be as silent as possible, sometimes he even thought that the little boy could read his mind! He had had close calls, like when he dropped in unexpected while he was roughly delineating for how much time he would have to guide him till he was able to kill Madara, and just barely did he stop himself from panicking when he asked:
"Hey, big fox, what are you doing? You trying to see how to guide me?" And just as he was beginning to sweat (even though it's impossible, he couldn't produce sweat), Naruto continued " In my shinobi career I mean. Hey, why are you sighing!"
And fortunately Kurama managed to defuse the situation after that.
That was the day he began to become paranoid. His life and his plan began to blur together, till he couldn't distinguish who he was anymore.
Was he Naruto's friend? Or was he still the beast who wanted his just revenge?
He truly didn't know anymore, but sooner or later he would have to find an answer, or he would become mad.
Now though there were more pressing matter, like the blonde-haired boy sitting in front of him.
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Naruto was confused.
He had really thought that by just practicing with his chakra enough, he would have been able to do anything shinobi could do effortlessly.
Well, maybe not taijutsu, there he had to train physically, but everything else should have become as easy as breathing.
Or that was what he thought, before actually failing in his graduation day. Really, he hadn't even accounted for the possibility that he would not pass, or what he would do if he didn't become a shinobi.
Hell, did jinchuuriki even have the chance to not become a shinobi?
He didn't know, and he was happy that he wouldn't have to find out, seeing as he miraculously passed in the exam through the secret backdoor that didn't exist before.
For a second, he actually thought that it was the fact that he was the host of Kurama that allowed him to pass, but he dismissed it.
In the end, he had been able to make a clone. And what a clone it was.
It was one of the many things he had to discuss with his furry friend about. How to better use his new jutsu.
That, and to have a second opinion on why he actually couldn't pass, seeing as according to all of his theories it should have worked, he shouldn't have been unable to do a bunshin.
It was just, strange.
Anyway, with their better connection, Naruto was able to instantly appear in his mindscape in front of the big, invisible hand that contained Kurama inside of his mind.
Naruto had been giddy when he had found some of Kurama's chakra working inside his brain to, he supposed, help his mind work better, as that was what he felt was the most likely chance given the situation.
It could be a genjutsu, but Kurama wouldn't do it. He was just too much of a softie. And he would have felt if he was stuck in a genjutsu, he was rather well versed in illusion after all.
Anyway, bijuu's chakra brought with it the consciousness of the demon itself, so Naruto had discovered that to actually speak with the demon he just needed to put his spiritual chakra right next to Kurama's in his brain, and when they were tangent to each other, he could feel everything the demon was up to.
Imagine two circles representing their chakra, one, Naruto's and the other Kurama's. The nearest the circles were, the more they could hear what they were doing. If they touched, perfect clarity was achieved. Naruto though didn't know what would happen if they intersected, and he wasn't too interested to try.
As he appeared in, as he had taken to call it, Kurama's Playground, he could see the fox twitch.
Weird.
"Hey Kurama, what are you doing?" It was always good to at least try to understand why someone was randomly twitching.
It wasn't normal.
"Just fine, Naruto, just fine" Kurama gritted his teeth for a second, then ended with a sigh.
"Are you sure? You don't really seem that fine." Naruto was a little concerned.
"I did say I was fine, right?" Naruto nodded, giving a shrug. If he didn't want to tell, well, it was his secret.
"And anyway what are you even here for?" Kurama was alluding at the fact that they were practically connected 24/7, so the need to actually come here didn't exist.
"Well, it's always better to speak face to face, no?" Naruto shrugged again. "And anyway, I just, well, you know..."
"Get out with it" Kurama was so desperate these days that he couldn't even shout anymore at his container for fun. He just sighed again.
"Why did I fail at the exam? I was so sure that I did it right..." That was the crux of the matter, it just didn't make any sense to him. He had done everything right, so...
Kurama was somewhat prepared for this question. It was probably one of the best chances he had at influencing positively his host. Sure, he had seen how he had just let the moment get the best of him, and had further verified that it was just the surprise that led to his utter failing the Bunshin, but it wouldn't help him to know that, not at all.
Instead of comforting him with the truth, he would help him grow with a lie, and he was happy to have the chance to guide his host once again. Really, from sometime now it seems like he was just an observer, and he didn't like that. He wasn't useless damn it.
"Naruto, what have you been doing these last years?"
"Come on, you know it! I studied so much that my head still hurt when I think back to some of those things" Naruto whined.
"And that's the problem."
"Huh?"
"You didn't mention practice, physical training, or really anything outside studying" Seeing Naruto about to interrupt, he raised a paw. It was really intimidating.
"And you know why? Don't answer, it was rethoric." Kurama rolled his eyes at Naruto attempted interruptions."Because the only thing you put any real effort in was chakra theory. In fact, since you read that stupid myth all you've done was trying to imitate that great shinobi, that didn't even exist!" He almost shouted the last part. "I've been around for as long as chakra, and nobody existed that could do as this shinobi did, especially the part where he could break Ninjutsu with a glare! Or the part where whenever you touched him all of your tenketsu point would just explode! Or the part-"
"I get it I get it. Sheesh, what got you into such a bad mood?"
"Maybe the fact that you completely neglected practicing and left everything to luck? You could have not become a shinobi, and then what? Where would you have received training? Do I have to tell you everything?" Kurama shook his head.
"But-" Naruto tried.
"No buts" Kurama was steadfast "You can't just focus on one aspect of your training. Yes, it's important to be intelligent, hell, it's probably necessary for a shinobi, but you can't neglect training. Books are all kinds of good, and I mean it, but don't let them control you. Use them to better understand the world around you, but don't let your knowledge become your reality." Kurama understood that he was getting too philosophical (and he didn't even know what the word meant before he was sealed in Naruto), so he tried to use an example."Let me put it like this, you do remember what the symbol for Yin and Yang is, right? Just like in that circle, the border between physical and spiritual is blurred, hell, in one there is always a little part of the other. And that's how you have to approach your training, a blur of strength and intelligence, of Yin and Yang, of chakra." Honestly, Kurama was really proud of his newly found eloquence.
"I think I understand... So I guess that my idea of making my clones do the the physical work-out while I read isn't feasible?" Naruto said with a sheepish grin.
"How did you even- Never mind, what I want to know is what in the world let you think that you can improve your physical strength by using intangible clones? That's just stupid!"
"Well, when you put it like that..." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"You're becoming a slacker, do you really want to become like Shikamaru? I'm so disappointed, maybe you aren't worthy of being my container..." Kurama teased.
" No way I'm like that lazy ass! And don't you ever compare him to me again, understand fur-ball?" Lightning shoot from Naruto's eyes, but Kurama was still too tired to care.
"Whatever, ningen" Kurama said in a disinterested manner.
Naruto looked like he was about to continue to childishly banter with his friend, but visibly restrained himself.
"Well, so I've got another idea, regarding the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I'm going to make really large groups of them, each working on a different skill. But I'm stuck on the number of clones I'll make for each group, so..."
"And that's the stupidest idea ever. Well actually, the each working on a skill thing was good, but then you had to ruin it by saying that you wanted your clones in "group".
They're you, Naruto, there's no way they'll magically think up different things than you just because they are numerous. You'll just receive an amount of practically identical memories that won't help you so much. No, to maximize this kind of training, you have to pick up a lot of different skills, you shouldn't concentrate on just some. And I don't think a normal mind can handle more than" Kurama did a quick calculus in his head "five clones, with your enhanced brain instead we can actually handle ten, maybe eleven, and with me inside you I can help you sort the memories perfectly, so it's a great training method for my container" He ended with a haughty tone.
Naruto had listened intently, and by the end of Kurama's rant he was nodding sagely.
"Ah, so that's the catch. I did think it was a little too overpowered to be honest. Well, now I'm a little disappointed.:."
"Look, you'll still receive ten times the training each time, so don't whine. That's stupid." Kurama said annoyed.
"Well, I gues-, wait, you said I couldn't do that because the memories became too much for my mind to handle, right? What if I make my clones share their memories in a constant stream? That way we won't have a rush of memories, it would be more spread out. It could work, right?" Naruto was surprised by his own genius.
"It might work, yes...But don't get your hopes up. And don't you dare put aside your practice for this crazy idea of yours." Kurama was worried that he would lose sight of what they just discussed.
"Don't worry, you big fox. I'll just let one of my clones do the work for me." Naruto seemed to have it all thought out, but they were just ideas that come up from nowhere.
"Well, then it's okay." Kurama nodded slowly.
"And other than that, what do I let my clones do? I mean, I did want to study elemental manipulation, but I don't know if I'm ready." Kurama held back a snort at that. He was more than ready.
"Well, why don't you repeat your Academy curriculum for now. You always put it aside, and now you can recuperate, so do it." Kurama wanted him to start his life as a shinobi as the better prepared one. "And of course you're ready, brat. You'll let five of your clones work on elemental manipulation, four at the Academy curriculum, and one you'll make it work on that side project of yours. You instead will work out, I want as good at taijutsu as that Uchiha brat." He ignored Naruto's whines. "I won't let you be bested by any Uchiha, you hear me?" Kurama grinned amused, which was really intimidating on his demonic face, except if you were Naruto. He wasn't scared of the fox.
"Okay. But with five clones working on elemental manipulation, on which element will I focus them? I mean, I heard that you said that it was useless, but surely if they do different exercises I will speed up training anyway." Naruto asked.
"Well, you won't have to worry about that, because you'll do all of them." The fox grinned.
"But that's impossible! You can't just tell me to pick them all!" Naruto protested.
"Oh, you will, and you'll do your best at them. Right?" A malicious aura came from behind Kurama, its darkness spreading toward the borders of his cage.
"S-Sure, just, stop that, ok?" Naruto shivered.
"Perfect! Now go on your merry way, it's difficult to think when there's so much idiocy around me" Kurama said cheerfully.
"Tch. Stupid fox" Naruto muttered as he vanished from his mindscape, a smirk on his face.
Kurama's angry cries followed him into the world of the living, but the smirk on his face didn't disappear.
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For the better part of the next week, Naruto trained in a way he had never before. The tediousness of physical work was getting to him, especially with the repetitive katas, which were really annoying. Kurama liked to pick on him every time he missed a stance, and that really made his frustration grew a little.
Still, he endured.
That ridiculous promise he had made obliged him to. He just had to go and make a promise to beat up THE Uchiha Madara, and now he would bare the results.
He didn't make empty promises.
The only other noticeable event in that week was a certain encounter, just when he was about to take his ninja's identity card equivalent.
-Flashback-
Naruto woke up in a hurry, already running a little late for his photo. That's really all that was necessary for a ninja's identity card, outside of a little name-filling here and there.
Already yesterday he forgot about it, and he had never seen his jiji so angry about anything. Rant about how "he wasn't taking this seriously" and about punctuality being fundamental to a ninja were employed in a successful attempt to shame him.
Hey, it wasn't his fault! He had more important matters to attend, like his training.
So it was understandable that as he found himself under the stern glare of his grandfather figure for being ten minutes late, thought about extravagant poses for his photo flew from his mind, and he instead chose to sit with an awkward smile and shifty eyes.
He was followed by the stern stare of the Hokage all the way to the door, and it's needless to say that after closing the door behind him he sighed in relief.
Man, jiji was really something.
As he walked down the stairs, he saw a mop of blonde hair at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey Ino!" Naruto called from his position.
"Huh? Oh, it's you" Ino's said absentmindedly. " You were here for the photo?" Naruto nodded "I hope you didn't do anything stupid, beca- wait you were promoted?" She almost screeched.
"What did you expect?" Naruto said amused.
"Well, you didn't pass, and then we saw that you were all alone by the swing and then we wanted to come but then-" Ino rambled flustered.
"Nah, don't worry, I beat up Mizuki-sensei -oh, he was a traitor by the way- and Iruka-sensei just had to give me my forehead protector." Naruto said, as if he was talking about the weather.
"Sure, Naruto. I'm sure that's what happened." Ino said amused " You probably had to beg them to let you retake the exam" She added snidely.
"Hey, that's not true! I earned that!" Naruto whined "You're just jealous that I got all the action by myself." He ended petulantly.
"You can take all of your supposed action. I don't want any part in it. I have more important things to do." Ino said snobbishly.
"Sure, like stalking Sasuke" Naruto smiled teasingly.
"I don't stalk him!" Ino blushed " I just want him back in our group! Nothing else, I swear." she added a little too quickly.
"Right. Tell that to someone else, vice-president." Naruto said, referring to the already famous unofficial Sasuke fan-club, of which she was the supposed vice-president.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Ino shouted "I gotta go take the photo, so bye" She hurried up the stairs and in the Hokage's office, leaving a laughing Naruto behind.
-Flashback-
Apart from that random encounter, he didn't see any of his friends, but he was rather preoccupied training, so he didn't really think about it.
His training took almost all the time from him, and Naruto learned what it means to be tired. Really tired. And not just physically, but mentally.
Everyday he went to sleep with a terrible headache, and even if he woke up right as rain the next morning, phantom pains still tormented his days.
Kurama told him that it wasn't really the elemental training that made him tired, those memories were easily sorted. No, the problem were the tedious hours spent by his clones on the different subjects of the academy.
There were too much information being dumped in his brain everyday, and even with Kurama's help training become more and more of a chore.
He wanted to be the best student the academy had to offer, but this was becoming torture. So, after three days, he ordered his clones to memorize the essential, so he could move on his education.
Just as the week came to a close, Kurama judged him as adequate in the bare minimum Naruto made his clones study. This freed up time for something else, and he finally could start something else.
Fuuinjutsu.
He had always been fascinated, but he had seen the reluctance Kurama showed whenever he brought up the subject, so he just filed it away for a later time, also because he was too caught up with his studies on chakra theories.
But now that he had the chance, he wanted to get back to the most complicated side of the ninja arts, his drive for it unchallenged. He just felt as if he had to do it, even if he didn't know why.
When he told this to the fox, Kurama just had this resigned face, as if he was expecting this moment to come.
He could study Fuuinjutsu for a total of two days before the time he was waiting for had come.
-Team assignation Day-
Naruto calmly walked the way from his house to the Academy. He had thought of bringing a book to read for the short trip, like he had seen that masked gray-haired guy do, but in the end he had decided to just try to be as cool as possible.
Thus, Naruto arrived at the Academy just in time, his hands in the pockets of his new outfit, which he had picked just the day before.
After all, now that he was a real ninja, he had to change from those simple shirt and pants he wore before and get into some proper shinobi clothes.
And that was how we find him in simple shinobi sandals- they are for real shinobi, yes they are the greedy shopkeeper told him-, gray cargo pants, baggy and with many pockets, just as he like it, and a reinforced blue jacket, with a hint of a simple black t-shirt peeking from underneath it.
And let's not forget the forehead protector that was, as could be expected, on his forehead, and his hair, blond and a little spiky, that would gently cross his hitai-ate in two short bangs that stopped just a little over his eyes.
In short, he thought that he looked awesome. And he didn't look so nerdy in this outfit, not like before at the very least.
He looked like a shinobi.
As usual as he walked the street, he could see suspicious, hesitant and happy stares on him from villagers, shinobi and medics respectively. Not everybody cared about a little brat who took a walk down the street, so he was ignored too.
He stopped to look at the Academy for a moment, before crossing the gate and metaphorically stepping in the world of ninja.
As he entered his classroom, he could see some surprised stares -as expected, he was one of the most talked fail of the school after all- and he returned them with a superior smirk.
The only ones that weren't surprised were his friend, who just waved him over. He took a seat and exchanged small talk, all of them trying to dissuade the anxiousness of the moment with practiced antics between friends.
Iruka finally entered the classroom and if anyone noticed the absence of Mizuki, nobody said anything about it.
"Quiet, quiet." Iruka said knowing that they wouldn't listen -just like the rest of the year-, and was pleasantly surprised that instead the class quieted down almost immediately.
His hands underneath the desk had already made the handseals necessary for his Big-Head jutsu, and he had to quietly disperse his gathered chakra. He hided this with a shake of his head, which conveyed also his surprise.
As he started his lecture, he took note of those who didn't listen and those who did, and was sadly unsurprised to note that nobody was truly listening.
Fangirls were looking with longing at a brooding Sasuke Uchiha, the other clan-heirs were trying and failing to mask their bored expression-apart from Shikamaru Nara, who was peacefully sleeping on his desk- and the other civilians were just either talking in whispers or looking at everything but him.
Well whatever, Iruka thought, let's get these brats out of my sight.
"And now" He made sure to emphasize what he was going to say" I will finally explain who is on which team." He said a little mockingly
After the first six teams, which were composed of either fangirls or civilian, he got to the important teams.
"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura" The two leaned forward as if to see their next teammate"and Uchiha Sasuke" He finished, noticing the happy gleam in the girl eyes and the surprised expression Naruto sent to the Uchiha, who remained quiet.
"Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuuga, Aburama Shino and Inuzuka Kiba." The three friends looked at each other, and while Kiba let out a whoop of joy the other two simply smiled gently, or in Shino's case buzzed gently...Or something.
"Team 10 will be Yamanaha Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji." Shikamaru groaned from his place on the desk, Choji patted him on the back and Ino fumed silently.
Wait a second, though Iruka, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9, yes there's a nine between 8 and 10 so... where's Team 9? A quick glance on the team assignment paper revealed that there was no Team 9, so, while confused, he just shrugged it off.
On a clearing in Konoha, two weirdos, a weapon freak and a feminine boy all sneezed at the same time.
"And now, just wait here for your Sensei, okay kids?" With a patronizing gaze Iruka left the classroom, and on his way to celebrate being finally rid of those brats he passed many of those same brats future sensei.
Meanwhile in the classroom future teammates tried to familiarize better with varying level of success. Naturally Team 8 and 10 were already acquainted with each other so they just continued to talk excitedly, with a smile on their face. The civilian teams were rather depressed at not being with one of the clan heir, but they sort of expected it, so they tried to distract themselves with different tales of shinobi prowess.
Team 7 instead was a little bit different. Sasuke brooded, Sakura was too shy and Naruto instead was unsure of leaving his friends.
"Why don't you go to have fun with your teammates, Naruto?" Shikamaru drawled out, his eyes mocking.
"Yes, it seems logical to make bond with the one you will trust your back to in your mission" Shino said seriously.
"But, it's Sasuke! And I didn't even know we had a Sakura Haruno in our class!" Naruto exclaimed disbelieving.
"They're making fun of you, idiot" Kurama reminded him in his mind.
Naruto's mouth formed an "o" shape, before he shook his head when his friends started laughing.
"Yeah whatever, see you later" Naruto was embarassed as he made his way to Sasuke.
On the way he motioned to Sakura to walk with him and the girl with a "eep" of surprise got up and followed him. Did he mention that she had pink hair? Wow, that's weird.
Weird and awesome. Such a unique hair color.
"So...I'm Naruto, and you're Sakura right?" Naruto cursed himself for his lameness.
"Yes, are you a friend of Sasuke?" Sakura said with her cheeks dusted red.
"I guess, it's been awhile since we last spoke to each other though" That was all they said before they were within earshot of the Uchiha.
"Hey mama-boy" Naruto loudly exclaimed, before wincing as the entire class seemed to turn to him at the same time and glare. Hell, even shy little Sakura was glaring at him. And Hinata too, for some reasons.
Well, he had been pretty crude.
"Shut up Uzumaki" Sasuke glared coldly at him and returned to his brooding, even as the air of depression around him seemed to thicken.
After that every attempts to speak by Naruto were halted, and as everyone else was picked up by their Sensei and they remained the only team left, he just sighed and started to drift off, thinking of everything and nothing.
"Don't you dare brood on me, you brat" Until Kurama voice broke him out of his blissfull wonderings.
"Oh come on, let me have some peace furball" Naruto said lazily. In his mind obviously.
"What you call peace, I call brooding. And DON'T CALL ME FURBALL!" Kurama took a deep breath, while trying not to insult him.
"Oh, what are you gonna do about it, f,u,r,b,a,l,l?" Naruto drawled out the last word mockingly. "Don't you like it when I call you furball? Eh furball?"
That was the last straw.
"You bastard! I'll rip you apart, you stupid meatbag!" The Kyuubi thundered.
But he made a mistake. He charged at the hand that was holding him prisoner, and then he was electrocuted. Badly. He actually whimpered.
Naruto, after an initial wince, started laughing like a fool, pounding his fist on the desk.
The fox could only quietly curse him.
"Bastard..."
"Did you actually whimp-"
"Ehm, why are you laughing, Naruto-san?" Sakura timid voice asked.
"Ah" Naruto scratched the back of his head embarrassed "Just a... joke I heard a while ago" He mumbled.
"Really? Then tell us." Sakura was suspicious.
"Ah...I forgot" Naruto used the lamest excuse ever, praying that it would actually work.
"If you say so..." Sakura said softly, slowly inching away from the clearly insane boy.
And so they relapsed in silence. They stayed that way, the only interruption an amused Iruka who made fun of them, for more than an hour.
Finally the door opened and in came a bored-looking gray-haired man, dressed in standard shinobi attire. The only strange thing was the black mask that covered his face, and his forehead protector over one of his eyes.
"My first impression of you... You're boring. Meet me on the roof" And he vanished like that, leaving leaves and three gob-smacked genin on his wake.
"He didn't even tell us his name." Naruto said dumbfounded. "Whatever, meet you there!" And he shimmered out of view. In reality he used a simple Genjutsu to mask himself, and he was running to the roof as fast as he could.
He was the first to the roof, to find Kakashi seated and reading that orange little book he had already seen somewhere in Konoha.
"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.
"Yes?" Kakashi seemed amused.
"Why did you run off like that, couldn't you tell us at least have told us your name?" Naruto asked still peeved at his sensei introduction.
"All in due time, all in due time" Kakashi said in a sage-like voice, which was kind of ruined by how avidly he was reading his book.
Just then his other two teammates came into view, both Sasuke faking a calm walk and Sakura right behind him.
Kakashi motioned for them to sit, and they sat in a roughly semi-circular shape around him.
"Now that we're all here, why don't you introduce yourself, like, dislike, dreams for the future and hobbies, those kind of things." He said waving his right hand dismissively.
"Why don't you show us first, sensei?" Sakura said softly. They all looked at her with slightly disbelieving expressions.
"What?" Sakura blushed.
"Nothing, don't worry." Kakashi sighed. "I'm Kakashi Hatake,I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
Team 7 sweat dropped together. What sort of leader did they have?
"You girl, introduce yourself" Kakashi said pointing to Sakura.
"I'm Sakura Haruno, my l-likes are" She glanced at Sasuke"I guess I like to read... And I dislike bullies" She scowled" My dream for the future?" She looked up pensively" Maybe, to become a great kunoichi, like Tsunade-sama! And I don't really have a hobby" She ended sheepishly.
"Good, blondie you're next" Kakashi looked at the son of his sensei with boredom in his eyes.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He said loudly, his thumb pointing to his chest" I like training and reading! So I guess we're alike Sakura" He said beaming at the girl who smiled hesitantly." And I love ramen and my friends of course. The thing I dislike the most is probably someone, but I ain't telling ya who it is." He grinned slyly" My dream for the future is to become the strongest shinobi the world has ever seen" He loudly exclaimed " And my hobby is reading" He finished with a mumble
"And the last one" Kakashi pointed to the Uchiha.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I like few things and I dislike more than I like. My dream...no my ambition is to kill a certain man and make my clan prosper once again." Sasuke said with dead eyes and fingers interlaced under his chin.
"Now that we all know each other a little better, I will assign you your first mission." Kakashi waited for the suspence to build and just as he was about to be interrupted..."A survival mission." He ended with a smirk.
"But we've already done that at the Academy!" Naruto complained.
"Yes, but this is different. Consider this your genin test. Now I know you won't like what I'm about to tell you, oh no you won't like it at all" Kakashi chuckled.
"What is it" Even Sasuke was growing impatient it seem.
"Well, the thing is, that out of all the students who passed at the academy, only the 33% will really become genin, and the others will return to the academy." Kakashi smirked.
"What! And what was that test for?" Naruto loudly exclaimed.
"Why, it was to weed out all those who didn't even have the potential to be genin. Only the jounin-sensei can decide if you'll really become ninja." He waited for their protests to end "Be at training ground 7 at six A.M., and don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up." So saying, he vanished.
Naruto looked disbelievingly once again at the spot in which their sensei once was, then almost mechanically turned around waved at his teammates and went home.
He spent the rest of the afternoon training his usual way, in elemental training and fuuinjutsu.
He finally managed to totally cut his first leaf with wind chakra, and to make a good enough spark of fire chakra that it burnt the leaf he was working with. His lightning nature was still uncontrollable, and the earth chakra didn't listen to his comands, while water was just difficult. And fuuinjutsu was still a long way from being mastered. A really long way.
So he went to sleep early, as prepared as he could, while setting his alarm clock- Kurama- to wake him up at 5 o'clock.
-Demonic Changes-
At six AM sharp, Naruto arrived at the clearing, and promptly sat beneath a large tree. On a branch of the same tree he could sense Sasuke, but seeing as he didn't show himself, he decided to ignore him.
A minute later, a obviously still half-asleep Sakura entered Training Ground 7 with a shouted "I'm sorry for being late!" that penetrated the silence of the plain.
A set of blue eyes looked at her.
Even a set of charcoal black eyes looked at her.
She sheepishly walked the rest of the way, sat down next to Naruto and, after exchanging greeting, they started to talk for a while until Sasuke finally jumped down from his perch.
Sakura jumped, and Naruto jumped higher. He had forgotten that the Uchiha was there!
"Good morning" The Uchiha grumbled.
"G-Good morning Uchiha-san" Sakura, still half-frightened said with a hint of red on her cheeks.
Naruto took a few deep breath, reminding himself that he really shouldn't call him a bastard.
"Good morning" He said through clenched teeth. And the Uchiha smirked! That bastard!
"It seems like we have a long wait ahead of us, again" Sasuke deadpanned after a few moments of silence.
"Unfortunately" Naruto sighed.
They waited and waited and waited some more, getting angrier and angrier, till, after three hours, their jounin-sensei finally deigned to show up.
"Good morning!" He said cheerfully.
"Why were you so late?" Naruto asked with forced calm.
"Sorry, I'm afraid I got lost on the road of life" Kakashi smirked at the repressed anger in his students. "Anyway, are you ready?" After getting three nods, he continued "The test will consist of this" He took out two bells from his pouch, jingling them "Whoever take one of these bells will pass" He said simply.
"But there's only two!" Sakura exclaimed.
Again three heads looked at her with a sweatdrop.
"What? It's true!" She defended herself "Anyway, does that mean one of us won't pass?" She hurried to explain.
"Bravo! So you better be fast. And you only have until lunch time so you have to be very fast. And remember, if you aren't able to take a bell, you will be tied to a post and forced to watch as the others eat the delicious meal I reserved for them" He smirked. "And one more thing. Come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't take a bell."
"But what if we hurt you!" Sakura again exclaimed.
The sweatdrop on the others head grew more pronounced.
"Don't worry, you won't hurt me. After all, I'm a jonin." Kakashi shook his head at her naivete. "Let's begin this" So saying, he watched as Team 7 scattered.
He could sense Sakura, hidden as best as an academy student could, he guessed, right underneath the branch that Sasuke, who was trying to suppress his chakra with little success, was.
If he had to mark them, Sasuke was already Genin level, while Sakura was still too much of a student.
But, where's Naruto? His only visible eye widen as he couldn't find his chakra. He looked around, only to see a mop of blonde hair just from the corner of his eye, hidden badly in the foliage. He sighed, but then was surprised as his blond student got up from his crouched position and started to walk toward him.
As Naruto walked, the elements seemed to bend to his will, with lightning crashing beside him, fire and water surrounding him in an eternal clash that generated steam, which was dispelled by the unstable wind blowing from seemingly nowhere, all the while the earth seemed to bow to his will, with pillars of earth being left behind him at his every step.
Kakashi sighed. Could he be anymore obvious? He dispelled the Genjutsu with a simple flex of his chakra. He didn't even shout "Kai".
The world seemed to right itself, and it revealed a Naruto grinning in a carefree manner, but still walking toward him.
"Wasn't that awesome?" He shouted.
"So you didn't think that was going to work right? Because it didn't." Kakashi deadpanned."And I didn't know you were proficient in genjutsu" He let some suspect color his voice.
"It's not like the Academy teach us anything about the illusionary arts! And there's no test on them outside that stupid "Dispel this E Rank Genjutsu" test!" There was genuine anger in the blonde voice.
"True true." Kakashi chuckled "Well, so you mean to tell me that you're a Genjutsu prodigy?" He asked, while putting a hand to his pouch. "Show me what you've got" He said as he finally took his book from his pouch and started to read, to the dismay of everyone.
"Are you really going to read?" Naruto was answered by a perverted giggle. He sighed "Well, I won't waste this chance". He charged. And he was fast. One moment he was there, and the other he was right underneath Kakashi, a fist near his sensei's face.
Kakashi's eyes widened to epic proportions, just as Sakura's and Sasuke's, but he wasn't a jounin for nothing, and it was easy to redirect the punch to the side while stepping in Naruto's guard and flipping him to the ground, a kunai to his throat.
"How-" Just then Naruto poofed out of existance, revealing himself as a shadow clone. But Kakashi wasn't worried about that. No, what he was worried about was his book, that was flying over his head, till, with a plop, it crashed with a nearby lake surface.
Naruto's clone had surprised Kakashi so much that the jounin, in his hurry, had to drop Icha Icha, which was hit by the blonde redirected punch.
Kakashi jaw dropped, before he clenched it shut and started to radiate Killing Intent. That was the new Icha Icha edition, damn it!
Naruto smirked from where he was standing with his hands in his pockets, in the same place he was at the beginning of the test.
His plan was simple. Before the test even started, he concealed himself with a genjutsu, while a clone went to sloppily hide in the forest behind him. Afterward, the clone was to surprise his sensei with his newfound speed, a by-product of his training -who knew that running chakra throughout your body made you super-strong?- and try to take a bell.
His fist was a distraction, while the other hand was to go to the bells, but before he could, the clone was flipped upside down and dispelled.
"That's a jounin for you" He thought. He probably didn't even notice that the other hand was going for the bells, and only instinct saved him from a humiliating defeat.
He felt the Killing Intent, and panicked a little. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that." Naruto was answered by a "No shit!" by his tenant, and then he prepared himself.
He weaved a genjutsu upon himself, but it didn't take hold. It was like every time he put up his illusion, it was dispelled, but that mean-
He didn't have time to think, as Kakashi was suddenly before him.
"First lesson! Taijutsu!" Kakashi shouted, his punch nearing his stomach.
Now, while Naruto could run at practically jounin-level speed, that didn't mean he had the reflexes to match. After all, it wasn't even a week since he had discovered that ability. He couldn't become used to it so fast, and he still got tunnel vision. Only experience would fix this problem.
So it is understandable that Kakashi's punch, that was thrown with almost all of his teacher strenght, reached him and sent him flying in the distant forest, before he was stopped by a tree. He blacked out for a moment, but he instantly regained consciousness, so he again disappeared from sight as fast as he could, and Kakashi let him go, slightly confused.
I thought he would dodge that for sure, with the speed he showed before he thought, a little guilty. Still, I shouldn't have hit him that hard. I should have restrained myself.
Meanwhile Sasuke jaw dropped a little, before he got a determined gaze and started planning. He would have to play this slow and with strategy to have a chance to win.
In short time, he had a plan.
He loaded a trap full of weapons, which would be launched once a wire was cut, and prepared himself.
His sensei was still in the clearing, looking around, till his eyes rested on Sasuke's own eyes. The world stopped for a moment, before Sasuke turned tail and run, throwing a kunai at the wire that snapped it in two, dozens of weapons flying out of his "homemade" trap, which were promptly evaded by Kakashi with a Kawarimi, which left a poor log to bear the assault of the many blades.
Kakashi followed his student, curious as to what he had concocted, but still gradually gaining ground on him.
They arrived at a small clearing in the forest, naturally surrounded by tree, and Sasuke suddenly spun around and engaged his teacher in a fierce Taijutsu battle.
But everything he did wasn't enough. His punch was firmly blocked, just like the following kick, and even the spinning kick didn't faze his teacher, and just as his hand was nearing the bells, Kakashi disengaged and let him fall.
Sasuke was quick to retake his standard stance. But then, as they stared each other down, and Sasuke contemplated the use of his Ninjutsu, Sakura jumped down, kunai gleaming, from a tree just above Kakashi, while Naruto ran at full speed from the forest toward his sensei, and the two clashed with Kakashi at the same time, but they were blocked all the same.
In fact, Sakura's kunai was used to force Naruto to defend himself, which he did by grasping her wrist, and then Kakashi pushed Sakura, which resulted in the two tumbling to the ground, before they quickly parted from each other.
This forced Sasuke to reconsider his options. His ninjutsu was useless now, with the risk of burning one of his teammates. But a combined effort could work.
He had completely forgot about the bells issue.
"Sakura. Naruto. Let's work together on this one." Sasuke surprisingly said, making Kakashi's single eye widen.
I guess I'll have to pass them He thought happily But still, let's see what they can do.
And he disappeared.
Naruto's eyes widened, before he dispelled the genjutsu. Even though he shouted "Guys, it's a Genjutsu!" he was impotent as he saw Kakashi rapidly dispatch of Sakura, then turn on Sasuke, who meanwhile had also dispelled the illusion.
They looked at each other, and then... They were chopped behind the neck by two Kakashi.
"Stupid boys, lifting their eyes off their opponent. Oh, and that's Lesson number 2, Ninjutsu, and 3, Genjutsu, for you!" He said cheerfully. He gestured to his clone and they began to carry their new students to the post near the food he had prepared as a second test, but then he went to do something he hadn't ever done before.
He went to buy other food.
He had already chose to promote this bunch, now he'll just have to torment them a little bit.
-Demonic Changes-
Naruto woke up.
He opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the sun glare. When he felt ready, he looked around, and he found himself near the post where their supposed meal should be.
But there was more food than he remembered. As he processed this information, a smile grew on his face. Does that mean?
"No, not yet." Kakashi said with a eye-smile.
"How did you- Did you just read my mind?" Naruto exclaimed, not holding eye contact with his sensei for fear of being mind raped.
"Maybe" Kakashi said with a mysterious smile, that was mysterious because he had a mask over his face. "Anyway, let's wait for those three to wake up, before I decide your fate" He said seriously, while Naruto straightened himself.
After no more than two minutes, both of the other member of the team woke up. They were seemingly confused, till their face cleared and they looked hesitantly happy.
"No, you have not yet passed. I'll decide shortly your fate" Kakashi again frightened his students.
"So, why did you work together?" Kakashi was truly curious.
"Because that was the point of the exercise, was it not?" Naruto said seriously. "I'm the strongest genin of this year" Sasuke looked at him disbelievingly "and I couldn't even touch you. One of your punch sent me yards away. There was just no way I could ever win against you alone, and that was further proved when you just beat us anyway even though we were three on one. So that meant one thing. The purpose of the test couldn't be what you implied before. As we couldn't win alone, the only way to beat you was to cooperate, and that was what I did. I searched for Sakura, found her and brought her to where you were fighting with Sasuke." Naruto explained. "But still...we couldn't beat you, so I guess you will fail us?" All three of them looked down.
Now Kakashi felt almost like a dick for keeping them guessing.
"Don't worry" He sighed "You passed"
There was a moment of silence, before Naruto whooped in joy, Sasuke smirked and Sakura just stood there disbelievingly.
"What you did was exactly what I expect from my team. Remember, those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash." Kakashi cited his dear friend with a sad smile on his face.
"Now, seeing as you passed, I decided to give you a treat. The Kakashi all-you-can-eat buffet is here! Go on, go on, eat!" He incited.
The three deadpanned. The food was just enough for them to eat, it really wasn't a buffet.
"You call this a buffet?" Naruto said incredulous.
"What did you say? You want to leave your part to your teammates? How generous of you, Naruto!" Kakashi said in a obviously false happy voice.
"No no, I'll eat" Naruto hurried to the food, where he began to eat with his teammates.
Today was a wonderful day for Team 7. They waited, they fought, they ate and they bonded, and each of them could return home happy.
AN
I tried to change the tone of the story, and this should be an example of how I intend to narrate Demonic Changes from now on.
If you worry about me following canon, don't worry. I just needed to do this, but I promise you that pretty soon it will deviate from it so much that you won't understand what happened ;)
I hope you liked the struggling of the Kyuubi, and maybe even Naruto personality. But that personality has its up and down as you see, and so Naruto doesn't even know who Sakura is. And she was bullied, she doesn't have that much self-confidence but she still has a stubborn crush on Sasuke.
Anyway, I really loved the reviews, and I thank you all for your support, especially those who took the time to point out flaws, and, of course, those who left a simple "Awesome story, hope you continue it". Thank you, you are the fuel that this story need to go on :P
