Here's the seventh chapter of the Violet Maelstrom! Hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the ideas behind this story, im simply extending and twisting them a bit.

The streets were dirty. It disgusted her, even though she knew it shouldn't. She was a shinobi. There was rubbish everywhere, littering the walkways until one didn't want to walk on them any longer. Rats and other vermin scuttled around and picked at their rotting food. Oh, how she wished it was just food. Bodies covered the streets almost as much as the rubbish did and the smell of burnt flesh blocked her nose. There was no discrimination to see anywhere between the victims. Ninjas, civilians, mothers, children, babies, pets, nothing was spared from the horrible slaughter. In some places it was so horrible that instinctively, Naruto drew a little closer to her sensei for comfort.

"Sensei?" She whispered. They were the only ones there, but somehow it seemed wrong to speak above the quietest level and break the deathly silence. "What happened here?"

Jiraiya turned to his student with eyes seemingly thousands of years old. "War. This is what happens in war, Naruto."

Her eyes returned to the carnage around them and a flash of colour caught her eyes. A childs doll lay on the road, beaten up and dirty. She could tell that it was of good design and most likely had been very precious to someone once. Most likely to the little girl, not any older then four, lying a couple of feet away from it, one arm reaching back. There were burns covering almost all of her visible body, the obvious signs of a katon jutsu. From her bodies position, it wasn't unlikely that she had been running away and dropped her doll. She had stopped to pick it up and that's when she was hit.

Without another word the two Konoha shinobi slowly got to work on clean up. Nothing Naruto had ever experiences before came even close to reaching how horrible this was. Jiraiya had tried to send her away saying that he would do it, but she refused. She couldn't shake the image of the little girl from her mind and felt she owed it to them to give them a proper burial, not just let them be eaten by wild animals. War, she decided, was truly a monster that she would do anything to stop.

Naruto bolted upright in her bed, panting and sweating. She drew a deep shuddering breath and held her head in her hands, trying to calm her uneven breathing and heart rate. She had never been able to stop the nightmares, and this one was one of her most frequent. They had eventually caught up to the shinobi who had done it and killed them, but it didn't help her sleep better at night. She looked at her bedside clock. 4:51 am. Damn. There was no way she was getting back to sleep after that. She dressed slowly, looking at each article of clothing as she put it on. She picked up her off-white bandeau and looked at it closely, remembering the day she decided she wanted new clothes. She had practically ruined her old ones and had outgrew them nearly completely. They had picked up new ones at the next village and the lady had said that the off-white complimented her skin colour. She tugged it on and pulled it so that it settled comfortably, revealing her toned stomach to the world. The lady picked out a sleeveless violet coat to go over it that reached her mid thigh and Naruto wore it open so that it flapped open. The lady had said that it truly accentuated her eyes. To finish off her new look, Naruto picked out a pair of comfortable black shorts – tight so they wouldn't hinder her in a fight – and bought a new pair of leather boots that seemingly molded to her feet. She had to admit, the clothes did make her look a bit older then her true age, but she didn't mind. They were comfortable and easy to maneuver in, which is what truly mattered.

She slid out of her window and headed through the streets silently. She didn't know where she was headed, she just wanted some fresh air. Eventually, she found herself wandering in the direction of the lake outside the Uchiha compound. Surprisingly, it wasn't empty when she got there.

"Sasuke?" She asked curiously. "What are you doing up at this time?"

Sasuke whirled to face her, and she carefully noted the sad look in his eyes.

"Nothing." He muttered, turning back to face the lake. "Just couldn't sleep."

Naruto sighed inwardly and walked forwards until her shoulder was bumping his. To her great shock, she realized that they were the same height. She had always been taller then him before.

"You can tell me you know." She said softly. She wouldn't pry, but she would be there for him. She always had before.

Sasuke was silent for several minutes but the girl let him wait. It was worth it in the end.

"I'm worried, Ru." He confessed. "When Itachi was my age he was already a jonin. I'm just barely a genin, and if I fail the test, then I wont even be that! Even you're already a jonin! I'm so weak! And I know Dad is disappointed in me, I can see it in his eyes."

Naruto could tell that he was truly upset about this and it depressed her. Slowly, she turned him so that he was facing her.

"Sasuke." She said seriously. "Listen to me right now." Her tone brought his eyes up to hers, where she held them. Her violet orbs seeming to glow slightly in the moonlight. "You are not weak. Strength comes in many forms, some better then others. It can come in emotional strength, spiritual strength, physical strength, intellectual strength and so many others. You have been gifted with the best kind. You don't back down, you fight for what you believe in, and you protect your friends. Remember that time when you were eight and saw Niro getting bullied and you beat up his bullies? That's true strength. They were older then you and you must have been scared but you stood up for him nonetheless. Yes, its true that Itachi and I advanced extremely quickly, but that's just it. We are freaks. I don't have very many friends anymore, Sasuke. Ever since I was little, I have barely kept in contact with them. I would call them acquaintances at best. Itachi's the same. You have friends that love you. Don't be sad because you didn't jump the levels as quickly as your brother, because you have something he missed out on. And Fugaku isn't disappointed in you, he's actually very proud. You might not see it, but its obvious to anyone watching. You're a very gifted genin, Sasuke."

She could see that he was trying to absorb everything she said and decided that she should end her little pep talk soon, with one more thing.

"And about the test, I think you'll be fine. Well… Maybe."

With a wink, Naruto spun on her heel and strolled away, her hands in her coat pockets. Sasuke stayed there, staring at the lake, thinking over all his sensei had said. Naruto had never been one to give out compliments lightly, and she had never lied before. So what she said, must be true? It saddened him to think that she didn't really have friends, Itachi as well. He had never noticed before, but besides Naruto, Itachi had never brought anyone home. Why had he never noticed before? And it was obvious that Itachi was uncomfortable around anyone under the age of 20. He just didn't know how to act around his own generation. He had sacrificed a childhood for strength, and, thinking about it that way, Sasuke didn't mind that he had taken the long route. Well, at least his brother had Naruto, and himself of course.

Naruto left her student there, knowing that he would be okay. Everyone had their down points, but Sasuke was strong. He would be fine by the test today. She once again found herself wandering the streets, not really caring where she was going. Her dream came back to her full force as she walked, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake the image of the doll from her mind. She had seen plenty of things like that throughout her trip, but that one was her first, and therefore, one of the most horrible. To make matters worse, her little cheer up speech to Sasuke had only depressed her further. She didn't have many friends. She used to know Neji, but she hadn't spoken to him for years. The same went for all the other clan heirs in Sasuke's year. She hadn't even seen most of them in years. They probably didn't even remember her.

So absorbed in her thoughts, Naruto completely missed the slight ditch in the road and stumbled ungracefully to fall into a clumsy heap on the floor. She jumped up as quickly as she could, but it was too late. Light chuckles sounded from the edge of the street and she turned around to see Mikoto leaning against the doorframe. Naruto blushed and looked down, trying to control her embarrassment.

"It's okay." The Uchiha mother said, amused. "I wont tell anyone what happened."

Naruto looked up gratefully. She hadn't seen Mikoto for years, but it seemed like she hadn't changed much. "Thank you." She said fervently. She could only imagine the damage to her image falling over a dip in the road would cause her.

Mikoto smiled at her and gestured for her to come closer, she didn't like speaking so loudly while others slept. Her smile faded to a frown fairly quickly however. "You haven't seen Sasuke per chance have you? He's not in bed."

Naruto smiled reassuringly at her. "I have actually, he's at the lake thinking about some things. I talked to him a bit before heading this way."

Mikoto sighed and lifted a hand to her breast. "Thank you, Naruto, I thought he may have done something like that – its not the first time – but it doesn't stop me from worrying. Usually I get Itachi to check but he's been so tired lately that I didn't want to wake him."

Naruto frowned. It seemed her initial impression of her best friends too thin face had been right. He had been working too hard. She would have to find a way to get him to take more time off. Maybe she could talk to her father about taking him out of ANBU for a while.

"It's alright." Naruto assured. "I didn't mind."

She turned to go when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"It's good to have you back, Naruto." Mikoto said quietly. "We all missed you – the boys especially – even if they don't act like it. You've always been the only one who they'll actually talk to about things that worry them."

It warmed her heart to hear her mothers best friend tell her this and she squeezed the ladies hand a little before releasing it. She didn't reply however an just walked away, her thoughts a lot lighter then they had been previously. Yes, the ninja world was tough, yes, it was full of misery, but it was up to them to make it better for others. Now however.., She had to go prepare for her genin this morning. Grinning wickedly, Naruto set off, a light bounce in her evil step. She would need Kurama's help if she was going to succeed in this.

Hours later, Naruto was sitting at training ground 48 waiting for her genin. She had headed straight there after her talk with Mikoto, making 100% sure that she wouldn't be later on a day as important as this. When 7'0clock came around however, and no genin appeared, she started getting grumpy. She had been there for hours. Hours! Seven thirty came around, then eight, then eight thirty, and still no genin. She was determined to wait for them however and thought maybe they had forgotten to get there early. At ten however, she could no longer make any excuses. She stormed out of the training ground and headed back to the way of the village, a violet aura surrounding her. She would find those genin and when she did, they would pay for making her wait. She passed a team in training ground 43, and then another one in training ground 40. When she got to ground 38 however, the violet aura dropped and she blushed. There they were, her three genin, sitting on the ground with none too happy expressions on their faces. Naruto was happy to see Sakura sitting there, and beside Yui as well, not Sasuke. Now that she thought about it, she may have said training ground 38 rather then 48… woops. She couldn't be seen as incompetent and breathed her blush away before shunshining in front of them. Her family would enjoy this story later on tonight. And after all the effort she had put into being on time as well!

"You're late!" Sakura and Yui shouted at her angrily. Naruto valiantly fought down another blush and instead grinned sheepishly.

"Well, I was on my way this morning, when I ran into an old lady trying to carry her shopping. Being the loyal citizen of Konoha I am, I offered to help her. Unfortunately, when we got back to her house, she realized she had forgotten her keys at the shops, so I had to go back and get them. After I got the keys however, I ran into a cat up at tree that I wanted to save, but then the cat ate the keys and I was forced to feed it laxatives and wait for it to poop it out. I accidently fed it too many though and felt bad so I took it to the Inuzuka vets for help. I had to sign a whole bunch of paperwork then and by the time I was finished, I was already late. So then I decided to get breakfast and then come here."

Naruto finished with a wide smile, extremely proud of her excuse. She had inherited the ability to think of excuses on the fly from her sensei. Her three genin however weren't nearly as impressed.

"Itachi said that you were late all the time, but he never told me you had stupid excuses as well." Sasuke grumbled.

Naruto's eye twitched and the violet aura appeared around her, scaring Yui and Sakura so that they actually took several steps back.

"What was that little Sasu?" She said, sweetly. Sasuke gulped and shook his head jerkily. He had seen the aura before and had grown somewhat accustomed to it over the years, not enough that it didn't terrify him though, just enough that he didn't cower anymore. Those slit eyes were scary!

"Nothing! Just saying that you were a lovely person!"

Naruto grinned inwardly and ruffled his hair, much to his annoyance. The aura faded and the other two genin felt like it might be safe to approach.

"Now, where were we?" Naruto mused, rubbing the back of her hair. "Oh yeh! Your genin test!"

The three genin sweatdropped but didn't say anything, the memory of her angry aura still fresh in their minds.

"Now, what is going to happen, is kinda complicated!" Naruto began explaining. "So listen closely! The shinobi world is harsh and unforgiving. To live it in, us ninja have to develop certain… Characteristics." She recited. "Without these, you either run the risk of snapping and going crazy, or becoming an emotionless killer. Neither of these options are desirable. To help prepare you for this reality, I'm going to test you individually. With Kurama's help, I'm going to place each of you under a genjutsu that I control. The genjutsu accesses both your memories and mine and with them I can create realities for you to face. You will complete a scenario and how you react to each of them and get past them determines whether or not you pass or fail. Oh, and none of you are near strong enough to know that you're in a genjutsu of this calibre, it will seem completely real to you, and so therefore you wont be able to break it. Also, any damage that you obtain wont happen to your real body, and if you die, then you will wake up. You don't want to die though however do we? Dying is really a trait that we want our genin to have." Naruto hinted.

The three genin looked at her with apprehensive faces.

"Okay. Who wants to go first?" She clapped her hands together, slightly disappointed when no one volunteered. "Alright then. Ladies first! Sakura, will you please step forward!"

The pink haired girl glared at her briefly but when Naruto met her eyes she looking down. When the emerald orbs rose once more, the anger was gone and only determination was in there place. It seemed that the girl had made her choice, lets just see if she could back it up.

"Okay." Naruto whispered, pressing her fingertips to her genin's temple. "You'll feel like you're falling asleep, and then you'll wake up in the genjutsu. Good luck, Sakura."

Then she performed the genjutsu with Kurama helping her all the way. She was still shocking at them, and still needed his help to perform them. This particular one was fairly easy to perform, but required a lot of chakra to maintain as it needed a constant mental connection between them. Sakura slumped in her arms and she carefully laid her out on the grass before her. The two boys seemed startled so she quickly reassured them that it was normal and then concentrated on the girl. She had scenarios to create after all.

-In Sakura's mind-

Sakura opened her eyes to find herself in a meadow. How did she get here? Looking around, she felt something stir within her. She knew this meadow. This was where she had first met Ino, in the flower arranging class when she was little. Looking down, she saw that she was six again. What was going on?

"Look at her! Her foreheads so huge!"

"She's so ugly!"

"She has no friends!"

"Of course she doesn't! Who would want to be her friend anyway?"

Sakura turned to see them. Just like they were before. The teacher had gone away for a moment and they had started picking on her. It was okay though, because any moment now Ino would stand up for her and she would have a friend.

"Hey forehead girl!"

"Why are you so ugly?"

"You're so stupid forehead girl!"

Any moment now Ino would come.

"Why don't you just go away?"

"No one likes you!"

"Your forehead is so big you could dance on it!"

Any moment now. The teasing and bullying continued however and Sakura held her hands over her ears to try block it out. Where was Ino? She was supposed to be there for her, she was supposed to stand up for her. She needed Ino!

Wait.

She didn't need Ino. Yes, she had a large forehead, but that didn't matter. It was part of who she was. She was smart, and was going to become a kunoichi! She decided that last night that she would give it her best! She couldn't rely on others to stand up for her if she wanted to protect her loved ones. Sakura took her hands away from her ears and walked up to the girl in front, a little brunette with buck teeth.

"I might have a big forehead, but at least I don't have a broken nose." She said casually.

The girl frowned at her. "I don't have a broken nose." She spat.

Sakura grinned at her. "Right, I must have forgotten." And then she threw her fist forward in a textbook punch that splintered the girls nose and left blood gushing down her mouth. She ignored the pain in her fist and turned away. She had finally stood up for herself.

Outside of the scenario, Naruto smiled. She had passed the first test, even if it wasn't in the way she had expected. Sakura had broken out of her self-conscious shell and stood of for herself, and she had one hell of a punch. With a moments deliberation, she changed the scene.

Sakura found herself walking in a forest. She wasn't quite sure why she was walking there, but figured that she would know eventually, and so she kept walking. Time passed slowly, but there was a light at the very far reaches of her vision that she wanted to reach. She needed to reach it. The girl sped up her pace until, finally, she broke through the white light. Immediately, she wished she hadn't. A battlefield lay before her, bodies strewn everywhere. Eyes as wide as saucers, Sakura stared in open mouthed horror at the appalling sight before her. For some reason, there was a small doll among the piles of bodies. She wondered about it until the smell hit her, and she couldn't help but gag and bend over to remove the content of her stomach. All around her, blood and organs were covering everything in sight. It was horrible, she couldn't take it.

Sakura clapped her hands over her eyes and hunched down, a scream bubbling to life around her. She couldn't handle this, she wasn't cut out for being a shinobi if this is what meant would happen. She could clearly remember the sight of a young girl, not much older then herself, lying on the ground, her body nearly cut entirely in two. That could be her. No, it wouldn't be her. She would get out of this doomed fate and protect herself.

Just as she was about to give up, Sakura remembered Naruto's little pep talk the previous day. It was still fresh in her mind. She had decided that night that she would truly give it her all so that she could become the best kunoichi she could. Slowly, Sakura removed her hands from her eyes and gazed at the sea of bodies and blood in front of her. Instead of shying away however, she allowed the horror and sorrow to wash over her, and she embraced it. She would do her best to stop this from ever happening again.

Naruto sighed in relief. Things had gotten pretty dicey for a moment there and she was about to end the genjutsu, but Sakura had pulled through. She had passed.

-In reality-

Sakura woke up slowly, confused to where she was. The last thing she remembered was standing on a battlefield… Memories came crashing down on her. The genjutsu, the genin test! Startled, she sat up quickly and whipped around to see Naruto smiling at her proudly.

"Congratulations." She said quietly, clapping her on the shoulder. "You passed."

Naruto knew that Sakuras' combat strengths were practically negligible at the moment so there was no point testing her in them, whereas her mental strengths had to be tested severely. Naruto had to be 100% sure that she wouldn't bail out and break on the field – and that she was certain that she wanted to be a shinobi. Naruto had to test her resolutions and give her a taste of things she might experience in the real world. And she had passed.

Sakura returned her smile with a small one, mentally exhausted from her test. For some reason, she found herself wondering about the doll. There weren't any children around in the battle, so why would there be a doll?

"You can go have the rest of the day off if you'd like." Naruto suggested, seeing the tired look in her students eyes.

Sakura was seriously tempted, but in the end denied. "If it's okay, I'd like to see how Sasuke and Yui do, please."

Naruto's proud smile widened and she gestured to a seat without another word. As Sakura sat down, Naruto rubbed her hands together and turned to the two remaining genin.

"Okay! One of your possible teammates has passed! Who's next?"

After seeing how tired Sakura emerged from the test, plus the new, deep look in her eyes, neither boy was eager to do it. Sasuke however, with his pride on his sleeve, stepped forward. He trusted Naruto not to harm him. He could do this – she had practically said that this morning! His sensei grinned evilly at him and beckoned him forward with one finger. Sasuke gulped but advanced none the less, taking a seat in front of her. Yui was kind of regretting not volunteering – now he would have to be last.

"Ok." Naruto whispered to Sasuke as she placed her fingertips on his forehead. Sasuke's senses were going into overload with the feel of a girl – Naruto no less – sitting so close to him, her breath on his face. "Just with Sakura, you wont know you're in a genjutsu and ill create some scenarios for you. Maybe one, maybe ten. It all depends on how you go. Don't die!"

And with that, Kurama performed the jutsu through her and the genin slumped over. Naruto laid him on the grass and told the two other genin to behave with a wink before closing her eyes and laying down next to her sort of little brother.

-In Sasuke's mind-

It was hot. That was the first thing he noticed wherever he was. Sweat dripped down his back and forehead. The second thing was the sword coming down to cleave him in half. He stumbled back and flipped in a backflip to regain his balance and get a good view of his attacker. The assailant was tall and well built – male – and clothed in black from head to toe, making identification impossible except for a pair of black eyes. A wicked, deadly sharp sword was held unsheathed and blade glinted in front of him and in the two seconds it took for Sasuke to absorb all this, the blade was already making its way to cut him once more. The boy dodged it and then began fighting for his life. Itachi and his father had trained him in how to fight against a swordsman without a weapon himself, and that was really put to the test here. He received several nicks from the times him just barely avoided the swings that stung dully. His breath started to come harder after several minutes of non-stop movement, and knew something had to change if he was going to survive this. He couldn't die, he had to become the best ninja he could and make his family proud and protect his loved ones.

He ignored the pain in his body and instead focused on his surroundings. That had always been his weak point. He was more inclined to just try overpower his opponent with power, strength, and speed alone, instead of using his surroundings to his advantage to help him. Naruto had warned him against it, and for once her warnings would actually come in handy. He was standing on dry ground that kicked up dust every time they moved. Besides that, there were several boulders and medium sized rocks scattered around. There were no trees that he could see to stop the scorching sun from coating their bodies with sweat. Okay. He had a plan, but it would required luck for it to actually work.

He disengaged from the man and back flipped onto a boulder about waist height. As fast as he could, he performed the hand signs for only wind jutsu he knew, a D-rank one used to dry washing quicker that his mother had forced him to learn.

"Gale of the North!" He shouted. Whoever had named it obviously had some higher intentions for what it was used for nowadays.

It worked for him however. The wind wasn't strong enough to even make the man falter for a moment, and Sasuke heard a small scoff before his plan took effect. The dust on the ground, lifted by the jutsu, was forced into the mans eyes. He shut them in pain and lifted a hand to wipe them away, his other hand slackening on the sword and his defenses dropping, cursing all the while. Never one to miss his chance, Sasuke leapt off the boulder and swung around in a twirling roundhouse kick that snapped the mans head to the side. He followed up with his other foot with a kick to the face. Sasuke landed in a crouch as the man shot backwards to slide and slam into another boulder, cracking his head and falling unconscious. Panting slightly, Sasuke slowly stood straight, his head held high with pride. For a moment, everything was still, and then the world went black.

Naruto smiled with pride. Her little brother had remembered his training and proved that he could keep his head in a life or death situation. She already knew he would do anything to protect his friends and comrades, so she didn't need to test that, nor his desire to become a ninja. All she had really wanted to test was how he would fair in a life or death situation, and he had done well.

-In reality-

Sasuke woke up groggily, rubbing his eyes. For a moment everything was hazy, and then his memory came back full force and he smirked.

"I take it I passed?"

Naruto pushed his shoulder lightly, a grin on her face. "Barely. Don't get too cocky. The chances of that happening in a real fight are pretty slim. I practically fed you that win."

"Still a win."

"Whatever little Sasu."

He frowned slightly but it disappeared pretty quickly when he realized that he was officially a ninja of Konoha. He smiled and headed over to where Sakura was sitting and sat down beside her. Sakura stiffened for a moment, not knowing whether she should do something or not. She had had a crush on him for ages and even though she was resolved to focus on her training, she still liked him and having him willingly sit next to her was amazing for her and she didn't know how to react.

"Congratulations." She said quietly, wrapping her arms around her knees to hide their nervous shaking.

When Sasuke didn't reply immediately, Sakura slumped slightly. He still saw her as the annoying fan girl. She supposed she couldn't blame him however, she probably wouldn't want to speak to her either if she was in his place. She was startled out of her gloomy thoughts however by the quiet reply from the boy beside her. Sasuke had noticed that morning when she had barely glanced at him and concentrated on what Naruto was saying instead of looking at him and was relieved. Maybe Sakura had finally decided to concentrate on her career rather than him. And plus, Naruto wouldn't have passed her if she wasn't 100% sure about her.

"Thanks, you too. I guess we're teammates now." He said. If she was making an effort, he could as well.

"Yeah, I guess so."

On the outside Sakura appeared to show no change besides the slight blush on her cheeks. Inside however, she was squealing for joy. He finally acknowledged her presence! So that was the key, if she stopped smothering him then maybe they could actually become friends. Naruto was right, she would rather have him as a friend then nothing at all.

Yui was the only one left to take his test, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. Naruto smiled at him softly and beckoned him forwards. He had watched the other two fall asleep for several minutes with apprehension, hoping that it would get easier, but it didn't. He still had to force himself to take those steps towards the beautiful blonde girl who looked at him with funny eyes.

"Hi." He said uneasily, taking a seat before her.

"Hi." Naruto replied. "So like you saw before, I'm going to place you under a genjutsu and then you'll be tested on some things that I think a shinobi needs to survive. You ready?"

Yui nodded and swallowed heavily before closing his yellow eyes. Naruto placed her fingertips on his temples and within seconds the boy was asleep.

She didn't know exactly how she could test him to make him a better shinobi, but maybe if she just gave him an average one testing his physical skills then teamwork and such. Sighing, she too closed her eyes and concentrated.

-In Yui's mind-

"Run! We have to get out of here!"

Yui turned around to see a small civilian girl beckoning to him. There were several people behind her, all civilians, and all dirty and ragged. They were heading towards a forest, running into its depths. Confused, Yui turned around the other way and his eyes widened. The village was in ruins. Fires were burning everywhere and the buildings were ransacked and damaged. The sounds of screaming and fighting drowned nearly everything else out.

"Come on!"

Yui whirled back around to see the girl still beckoning towards him. They were escaping. The forest was safe. But the village! He looked back and saw leaf shinobi fighting other ninjas with headbands he didn't recognize. And they were losing. Left and right they were being cut down by the enemy ninja and he was going to run to safety.

He gave one last look at the girl before running to her and kneeling down before her.

"Listen to me," He whispered, holding her face. "You need to follow these people and get away, okay?"

The girl frowned. "But what about you? They said that you had to get away as well."

Yui tried smiling but didn't think it came out that well. "I'm going to go help."

The girls eyes teared up and she sniffed. "But you'll die!"

"I'll try my best not too, now go! I'll come find you later!"

She nodded slowly and he passed her off to a man that just ran past. The man grabbed her without hesitation and slung her onto his back before heading away again, disappearing within seconds. Yui stared at the forest for a moment longer before turning and running into what used to be a village. He picked up a sword from the ground and silently thanked his family's obsession with weapons – because of it he was able to expertly use a wide variety of weapons, including the various swords.

Yui had found the blade not a moment too soon as a minute later he had to raise it to defend against three thrown kunai. He deflected them and settled into his family's kenjutsu style to face his opponent. The fight went smoothly, Yui was able to deflect most of strikes and only received a couple light hits before he was able to land a fatal blow on the man. He slid his blade out of the mans' chest, and for a moment the red distracted him. The man crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

He stared at the body for a moment before a cry sounded somewhere close by and he tracked it to a young leaf shinobi being beaten by an older enemy ninja. It was obvious to anyone watching that the older shinobi was just playing with him and could end it at any time – he just wanted the sick satisfaction of a slow defeat. Yui's blood boiled and he saw red in the edges of his vision.

He knew the risks. His mother had drilled it into his head millions of times. Using the jikanteido will kill him eventually. But he also knew the advantages of using it and maybe if Akio had used it he would still be alive right now. Slowly, Yui's eyes started to glow as everything seemingly stopped around him. He wouldn't make the same mistake as his brother. He would find the balance between the jikanteido and survival and would become strong. And he would protect his comrades!

Yui shot over and quickly cut down the older man before rushing over and cutting down as many other enemies as he could. He could feel his strength fading by the third opponent however and he knew he had to release it soon or risk falling unconscious at the least. After two more enemies, he regrettably released his bloodline and immediately collapsed on the ground, all strength faded from his body. That was his first time using it in actual combat and it's effects were just as bad as everyone had told him it would be. Nonetheless, he had succeeded in protecting a couple of his comrades. He had done it. And with that, Yui allowed his eyes to droop closed.

Naruto was impressed. She had never seen Akio's jikanteido in action and it was indeed spectacular. She could easily understand why it was held in such high regard. Yui however had done great. He had fought well with his first opponent and then willingly sacrificed himself to save others, knowing that using his jikanteido could kill him if he wasn't careful. That, and he had run away from safety to fight. She was proud of him and could see Akio in him strongly.

-in reality-

Yui awoke with a jerk, sitting up immediately. The last thing he remembered was using his jikanteido to fight in the village… Oh. Right. The genin test. He turned to see Naruto smiling at him and hesitantly he smiled back.

"Well, even though you would have died if that was a real situation, you passed in the aspects I was looking for." She said.

Yui frowned lightly. "So… I passed?"

"Yeah."

He smiled broadly and punched the air. Naruto beckoned his other two teammates over before addressing them all together.

"Now. I know this was probably a lot different from what you were expecting, but I needed to test you individually as you're all very different people. Sakura, you're very, very smart but in a fight you would be defeated by a 4-year-old." She said bluntly. "Also, until last night you were more focused on your looks and boys then training. With this in mind I needed to test you on your mental determination and toughness. And you passed. If you hadn't overcome the two scenarios I gave you then you would have failed and been sent back to the academy."

Sakura nodded to show her understanding before Naruto moved on. She knew that he was practically useless right then and promised to change that.

"Sasuke. I've known you since you were a baby and I know your dedication to your friends and comrades so I didn't have to test you on that, however, you have a tendency towards… impulsiveness… that I think needed to be tested. Too many times when we were training you overlooked a small detail that either could have killed you or allowed you to win in a real fight. Even if you had somehow defeated the man through pure strength alone I would have failed you. Luckily, you didn't and used that squishy thing you call a brain for once."

Sasuke scowled and pouted before smiling when he realized that she was actually complementing him.

"And Yui." Naruto began. "I didn't really know what to test you on specifically, so I just chose a multi-purpose scenario. If you had run away, you would have failed. If you hadn't been able to fight the man then you wouldn't have failed exactly, more that I would have beaten your ass for calling yourself a weapons specialist. I just wanted to see your skill. What really made you pass was that you were willing to sacrifice yourself and use your jikanteido to save your comrades."

Yui blushed lightly and looked down, staring intently at the ground.

"That is something that all of you need to understand completely. Your comrades trust you with their lives in battle. You have the responsibility to protect them as well as you can, even if it takes your own life. That's what I believe, and what all great shinobi should believe. If you're protecting someone you love, that's when you can truly become strong."

The three genin stared at her with slightly awestruck expressions. She was just a year older than them but was so much wiser. Naruto bathed in their silent praise for a moment longer before sighing and clapping them out of it.

"Okay well good job team, I have to go report this to my father. You guys have the rest of the day off but meet here tomorrow at 7 okay? And don't be late!"

Then Naruto shunshined away before they could point out that she's the one who's always late.

"So, how'd it go?" Minato addressed his jonin-sensei's curiously.

"Team 1, failed."

"Team 2, failed."

"Team 3, failed."

And so it went on until teams 1-6 and 8-11 had all stated whether their genin had passed or failed. So far, it was only teams 8 and 10 that had passed. Naruto hadn't arrived yet so they didn't know about her team yet.

"Alright, you're all dismissed except for the passing teams sensei."

The other jonin's sighed in relief and clapped Kurenai and Asuma on the back. they could escape the tortures of training naïve genins for another year. Once all of them were cleared out of the room, Minato addressed the two jonin. Or at least he tried to but was interrupted by a poof of smoke on his desk. When the smoke cleared it revealed a slender 13-year-old girl with spiky blonde hair lying casually on her back with her eyes closed.

"Naruto?" Minato asked, confused.

Naruto shushed him, much to the watching jonin's shock, before opening her eyes.

"My team passed." She said after a moment. "I know I wanted Sasuke to pass but Sakura is going to be a lot of work and Yui… Every time I see him I see Akio. Today in his test when he was fighting that man before he used his jikanteido he looked exactly like Akio. It's too confusing." She ranted.

"Ah Naruto…?" Minato said slowly. She turned her head to face him and he pointed towards the two smirking jonin behind her. Naruto blushed lightly and sprung up to a standing position, a salute already in place.

"Wellifthatseverythingthenireallyshouldgetgoingyouknowthingstodoandplacestoseeandtrainingandthingsyouknow-"

"Stop talking."

Naruto slumped slightly. "Yes, sir."

Minato smiled in amusement before re-addressing his jonin.

"Okay, what I wanted to ask was what you tested your genin on, their strengths and weaknesses, and any other things you picked up. Kurenai you're first."

Kurenai stepped forward and stood to attention.

"My team, consisting of Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, are specifically a tracking orientated team so I tested them on their ability to find me whilst I hid. Hinata is very quick and has the byakugan, but she suffers from an extreme lack of self-confidence and couldn't speak up for herself. Shino uses his bugs expertly and is very intelligent and could think of great plans but he's also independent and at first didn't want to work in a team, which wasn't good. Kiba's senses are amazing and he has great intuition but that's also a weakness because he didn't think before charging in and fell into quite a few of my traps."

Minato nodded at her assessment and gestured for Asuma to go next. Unlike Kurenai, he just stepped forward but remained slouched over.

"I have a Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara in my team. Ino – the Yamanaka – is pretty much a fangirl who's too obsessed with her looks to truly do any work but she was finally able to listen to Shikamaru – the Nara – and participate in the plan after some time. Chouji – the Akimichi – is pretty strong and easy going, but seems too be kinda indifferent to the test and was just willing to go along with his teammates. Although when Ino called him fat that changed and he went ballistic. Shikamaru however… He's so lazy I cant understand why he joined the academy. For 95% of my test – which was to find and disable some traps – he simply laid on the ground. Only when Ino badgered him into doing something did he finally participate. That being said, he's extremely intelligent. Like ridiculously smart."

Once again Minato nodded and gesture for Naruto to begin.

"Well.. on my team I have Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Yui Harushi. My test was… well…" she faltered for a second, gaining the interest of all occupants in the room.

"What was it?" Minato asked warily.

Naruto chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of her head. "Well… I placed them under a genjutsu – with the help of Kurama – and well… it was kinda an S-ranked one…"

All three adults sweatdropped.

"And S-ranked genjutsu for a genin test." Minato said flatly.

"Yes…?"

The yondaime shook his head in disbelief. He would probably have to order regular appointments with a therapist for those three genin if they were to have Naruto as their sensei. "Continue." He said warily.

"Well, as I was saying, my genjutsu allowed me to create any scenario I wanted in their heads using both their memories and mine. For Sakura I made her stand up for herself and then I showed her how horrible the shinobi world can get. She was able to overcome her mental weakness though and so I passed her. Her physical skills are practically non existent even if she is pretty smart. With Sasuke, I tested his ability to use his surroundings to his advantage, which was something he always had trouble with. He's a good fighter and isn't dumb so that's good, even if he's a bit arrogant most times. With Yui, I tested his devotion to his comrades and stuff while seeing how well he could fight. He's great with a sword but that's to be expected I guess, but he doesn't appear to be the brightest kid out."

Minato nodded once more. It seemed that this years genins had quite a bit of potential and he looked forward to seeing them grow.

"Okay, thank you. Come pick up your D-ranks tomorrow. Dismissed."

Naruto smiled at her father one last time before heading off. She had the rest of the day free and knew a certain ANBU member who had the day off as well.

seventh chapter written! I tried to think of an original idea for the test, one that tested each of them individually, and this is what i got!:)

Like ive said before, advice and ideas are always welcome like seriously reviews guys ahah ;) but nah i guess just thanks for reading my story! x