Author Notes: Well here is chapter eight. My brain decided it had had enough of exotic locations so I was able to put it to work and knock out this chapter fairly quickly. Hope you enjoy it. (Translation, Two Tails Mallet Muse of Inspiration)

Mother Rose: snorts. . . like that would really inspire me to write when I have to practically nail your butt to the chair to get you to do the beta

Two Tails: Hmm... Did you say something Rose?

Mother Rose: Ok mutters knew I should have named you Kakashi

Disclaimer: No I'm still too poor for owning Naruto.

Two Tails: What don't look at me! Im almost as poor as you are!

Mother Rose: You're poorer.

Two Tails: Only when you steal your husbands wallet on payday you old bat.

Mother Rose: Exactly why you're poorer. He makes more than you do. . . be grateful. whispers Or I'd be stealing yours.

Two Tails: Never any money in mine, and you cant use my card :P oh yeah we need to discuss my beta fee Rose. Que Story!

Chapter Eight

And You Thought You had a Temper

Naruto was pissed. He wasn't just angry. He was royally pissed. He'd just come from Tsunade's office where he'd thought he'd get a mission to take him out of the village during the festival that was coming up in two weeks but no. Tsunade had told him he wasn't allowed to go on any out of town missions until that . . .that person she'd called in cleared him for active duty. What the Hell was that all about. Since when did an unknown stranger who wasn't even a ninja let alone a LEAF nin have to do with clearing people for missions. He wasn't worried about his safety during the festival. He had his cave after all and he'd just go there before sunrise and not show up until the next day. But for now she said he had to go see this woman and get her to clear him for active duty. He could still run missions in town of course but the closer the festival came the more dangerous that was and Naruto knew it even if Tsunade Baa-chan didn't. For now he stomped his way over to Team seven's training grounds and proceeded to take out his temper on the wooden posts. He was so intent on beating the crap out of them that he didn't even notice the chakra signatures of his teammates arriving at the field.

"Hn. Dobe! What's got your tail in a twist this morning?"

He growled and continued to punch and kick the non-offending post. It was the last post standing as the other two were already kindling and chips littering the ground. With one last powerful kick he blew the post into a state matching the other two and jumped high into the air. He ran as fast as he could over to the trees lining the practice area and chakra ran up the tree. Once he was into it's leafy cover he ran along the ninja highway of branches until he found another clearing and proceeded to continue his workout. Large craters marked the ground where he had power punched or kicked offending rocks or stumps for getting in his way. Not that the rocks or stumps knew they were in the way but all the same they were and he got rid of them.

As soon as he had landed in this clearing he'd removed his jacket having worked up quite a sweat at the training ground. Now he paused long enough to remove his soaked t-shirt and toss it in the general direction of his jacket. He removed his shoes and pants and dove into the stream of cool water. From under the water he created his bushins and started to battle with them. He was using every move he knew blowing away the bushins like they were pure air. Every time one would blow up he'd create more to replace it.

By the time his team caught up with him there were over a thousand bushins in or around the stream. Every few seconds there'd be an explosion and some of the multitude would disappear only to be replaced a moment later with twice their number.

"Holy Kami," breathed Sakura, as she struggled to take in the sheer immensity of Naruto's anger. "What bee got into his breakfast cereal this morning?"

Kakashi just looked at the destruction but Sasuke collapsed upon the ground with wide eyes. His voice was quiet as a whisper when he said, "I was willing to face that! I deliberately provoked a fight with someone who could do this. And I honestly thought I could beat him." He started to laugh. Kakashi just looked at him. He felt much the same way but although he knew Naruto needed to be stopped there was no way he was willing to be the one to try to stop him. If he could cause this much destruction to non-living organisms how much could he cause to a normal person. Five bushins popped out of existence and this time they weren't replaced. Maybe Naruto was beginning to calm down. He sat down on the grass beside the laughing Uchiha.

Sakura just looked at them before shaking her head. "You two are pathetic. He has to be stopped. There's no reason for him to be doing this." She started stalking over to where Naruto could be seen fighting under the surface of the water with about ten of his bushins. Just as she got close to the stream a powerful burst of chakra sent the water out of it's banks and it formed two waves ten feet high speeding towards the land on both sides of the formerly peaceful stream. Naruto rose from the water with his arms outspread and his face raised to the sky. His eyes were closed and if you hadn't seen the destruction he was causing you'd never know how angry he was from the expression on his face. Such destruction should never be accompanied by such a peaceful expression, Sakura thought as the wave he'd created crashed into her and sent her flying across the clearing until her flight was stopped by the thick trunk of a tree four rows of trees back from the clearing. She collapsed bonelessly on the ground and wondered just how she was still alive.

Ino and Watarimono had followed Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke to the stream when they'd seen the destruction of the training post in the normal training area of team seven. Ino had told her new sensei that the destruction meant that either Naruto was out of control or that Sasuke was. Or quite possibly both of them were and now were continuing their fight somewhere else as they often did when one ticked the other off to the point that fighting was the only answer. Neither had hesitated in following the others to the stream. They'd arrived just in time to see Sakura take her flying lesson. She had failed but Ino ran to her side to see if she needed healing as Watarimono sat down beside the hysterical Uchiha. She slapped him and he stopped laughing but didn't take his eyes off Naruto.

"What happened?" she asked Kakashi.

"Don't know. We arrived at the training grounds and found him systematically destroying it. He took off after he turned the last post into firewood and came here so we followed him."

"Don't you think you should do something to stop him?"

"Like what? You can see what he's doing and I should tell you that all this is without using more than an eighth of his chakra. He is in control but it's . . ." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Any interference and he could lose control completely. It's best to just let it run it's course."

"Well, what would make him do this? I know he and Sasuke will have battles that destroy everything around them but he's not fighting Sasuke right now so what else could cause him to do this?"

Beside her Sasuke whispered, "thank Kami," when she'd said he wasn't fighting Naruto. "He's angry. Someone really made him mad and since he can't hurt that person he's destroying nature instead. I do the same thing but not on this scale." He looked around. "I don't think I could destroy anything on this scale even if I was fully rested with all my chakra at my disposal." He shuddered.

Out in the stream Naruto allowed himself to sink back under the surface of the water which was several feet lower than it used to be and swam out into the current allowing it to carry him downstream. He was deliberately not thinking right now, knowing that if he allowed himself to think he'd just get angrier and the angrier he was the more likely it was that the Fox would emerge. So he emptied his mind and just allowed the current to carry him off. He'd break the surface of the water when his lungs burned for air but as soon as they were replenished he'd sink back under and drift again.

On the shore, Kakashi got to his feet. "Watari take Sasuke and Sakura back to the village. I'm going to follow Naruto. He'll need me when this is over."

"You think he'll talk to you when he calms down?"

"No. He won't say a word but he'll need me since Iruka isn't here right now." That said Kakashi walked off. He followed the stream trying to keep Naruto in sight. He'd picked up the teens clothes and carried them in his hands as he walked along.

Watarimono helped Sasuke to his feet and together they walked over to where Ino was helping Sakura to stand. "I wonder what Kashi meant by that."

"Naruto has a few support people he leans on when things get to be too much. The main one is Iruka. But he'll also lean on Tsunade and Jiraiya.. I'm not sure but I think Iruka is the only person who has ever seen the real Naruto," Sasuke answered her.

"What are you talking about Sasuke? Naruto is just an over-powered Dobe," scoffed Sakura.

If looks could kill Sakura would be on the ground as a pile of ash from the look Sasuke gave her. "You know for the smartest girl in our year you really aren't that bright." Sakura looked down and leaned a little more heavily on the arm Ino was supporting her by. "Naruto may be an over-powered Dobe but he is also a lot more than that and I really have a hard time believing that we've been on the same team for this long and you haven't learned that yet."

"Why are you acting like this Sasuke? You usually never say anything nice about anyone, let alone him," Sakura said in a quiet voice still looking at the ground.

"Maybe because for someone who is supposed to be his friend you don't act like one and I'm tired of it. Now I'm going to town to see if I can figure out what happened." He took off leaving the others to follow at their own pace.

Ino took Sakura to the hospital where they bandaged her ribs and released her telling her to take it easy for a day or two. After dropping Sakura off Watari had taken Ino with her to Tsunade's office.

"Well, Tsu. I think we've had a breakthrough this morning. I just don't know why," she said when they got there.

"What do you mean? A breakthrough with who?"

"Both of them actually." Watarimono laughed. "Sasuke was actually talking and express his emotions without shame or trying to repress them but I don't think he realizes that he was. The child does have the normal range of emotions and he does still have a good sense of self-preservation."

Tsunade looked thoughtful. "Why? What was happening this morning that could have caused him to react without thinking about it first?"

Ino laughed and said, "He got to see first hand just how much power Naruto really has at his command. It was. . .eye opening. . .for all of us. Most of us already knew Naruto had more chakra and power than the rest of us do but I don't think I ever really realized just how much he has. Sasuke didn't either."

"Wait a min. What happened?"

"Naruto got angry. No one knows why but the destruction he caused clearly pointed to the fact that he was indeed very angry at something or someone. He destroyed the posts at team seven's normal training grounds and when the rest of his teammates showed up he took off. They followed him and we followed them to where Naruto was in the process of destroying a very tranquil clearing with a formerly peaceful stream running through it," Watarimono explained.

"Sasuke took a look at the destruction and the number of Naruto's in the clearing and lost control of his normal stoic self enough to let his emotions show clearly on his face and in his voice. Let's just say Sasuke has a new appreciation of his life and the fact that after all the battles he and Naruto have had that he is still alive."

"So if he's angry why aren't you trying to figure out why, Wata? Does this mean that I need to find Yamato to seal him?" Tsunade asked.

"No. He's in control and Kashi is with him. I asked Kashi if he thought Naruto would talk when he calms down and Kashi said no. Kashi said Naruto won't say a word about what made him so mad but that he'd need him so I let him go to him. But make no mistake, Tsu, I will find out what made that boy so angry. If for no other reason but that we may have to use that information to cause it to happen again. I am sure that this explosion of anger this morning will have put another crack in his mask but I'm not sure it will be wide enough to break the mask off. So do you have any idea what could have happened?"

Tsunade turned to look out her window towards the area where team seven usually met of a morning. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought, "I'm sorry Naruto but this is in your best interest." Outloud she said, "He was here this morning looking for a mission and I told him he wouldn't be getting any until you cleared him for active duty again." She stayed facing the window as both Ino and Watarimono looked at her. Well really they looked at the back of her chair since the chairs back was longer than her own.

"And that made him angry enough to do all that damage? Why?" Watarimono asked.

"Because I told him he wouldn't be able to convince you to release him before the Festival. He really doesn't like to be in town when the village celebrates the greatness of the Fourth."

"Well, after seeing his medical records I can understand that but he's not the same defenseless child he was the last time he was in town for the Festival so you'd think he might be happy to have a chance to celebrate his birthday with his friends for a change."

"Wait. What do you mean celebrate his birthday?" asked Ino. "When is Naruto's birthday?"

"You don't know?" asked Watarimono. Ino just shook her head. "Tsunade, what is going on in this place!"

"Naruto has never had a reason to celebrate his birthday. Nor did he ever feel anyone would care to celebrate it so he never told anyone when it is. For the longest time he didn't even know what day he'd been born," Tsunade explained.

"So his birthday is sometime around the time of the Festival. Well when? Ths year we will celebrate it for him whether he likes it or not," Ino said defiantly with her hands balled into fists and placed on her hips.

Tsunade just looked at her for a minute. "You're serious about wanting to know huh? Well, then you'll have to make a choice. You can either celebrate the festival or you can celebrate Naruto's birthday but you can't do both."

"Why not?"

"Cause they're the same day, Ino. If you try to celebrate both Naruto won't believe you're celebrating his birthday. He'll believe you just found out and threw it into your party as a pity thing cause you really want to celebrate the greatness of the man he has every reason to hate and no I won't tell you why," said Tsunade.

"Naruto was born on Festival day. That's awesome. I wonder if his folks planned it that way."

Both adults looked at her in shock. Then Tsunade remembered Ino didn't know who Naruto's parents were. "Ino," she said, "The festival didn't come around until the day Naruto turned one. Think about it. The Festival is to celebrate the sacrifice of the greatest Hokage this village has ever known and that sacrifice was only made eighteen years ago. So there's no way they could have planned to have him born on Festival day. He's older than the Festival."

Ino looked non-pulsed for a moment but then she smiled, "All the more reason he should have a party this year." She folded her arms in front of her body and began to think about who to get to help with the planning of the party and where they could hold it. Not once did it occur to her that she couldn't ever remember even seeing Naruto on Festival Day.

"Anyway now that I know what happened I think I need to go find some people. By the way I need to meet this guy, Iruka. Can you arrange that while I go find Kashi and Naruto?"

"Iruka is the academy school teacher and classes should just be getting out now. If you stop by the academy and tell him what happened this morning he'll probably know where Kakashi and Naruto are right now." Tsunade pulled a paper off the never-ending stack on her desktop and began reading as Watarimono and Ino let themselves out of her office.

On the walk to the academy, Watarimono had Ino do the observation exercise again and allowed her thoughts to drift where they wanted to. She knew that by doing this she would be able to properly sort out the occurrences of the day into what was the most important and telling for her purposes. By the time she reached the academy all the children had already scampered off and the building was quiet. Ino led the way to Iruka's classroom and knocked on the door. Iruka was gathering his papers together when he bid them enter.

Watarimono walked over to his desk with her hand stretched out. "Hi I'm Watarimono but everyone calls me Wata or Watari. You may also. It's nice to meet you."

Iruka gave her a slight bow and took her offered hand bringing it to his lips. "I am Iruka. How may I help you today?"

"You can tell me about Naruto."

Iruka gave her a sharp look but didn't change his expression in any other way. It was clear to her that her statement had put his guard up though. So he was protective of the boy. How interesting. "Why? What do you think I know about Naruto that you couldn't find out by talking to him yourself?"

"Oh, how about everything?"

Iruka backed up a step and straightened his back. A fierce gleam came into his eye and he clearly went into defense mode. It seemed talking about Naruto was not something he was willing to do. "I don't know you and you don't know me. I do not talk about my students to anyone but their parents. I would appreciate it if you left now."

"But Naruto isn't your student anymore," said Watarimono, not moving an inch.

"He was one of my students and what I know of him stems from that time and I do not ever talk about my students with anyone who isn't their parent. I happen to know for a fact that Naruto has no living parents so if you will excuse me I have papers to grade."

"Iruka-sensei, Naruto got angry this morning," said Ino. "He tore up the training grounds where his team practices and then went and blasted a peaceful clearing into devastating rubble. Do you know where he might go now? That's all we really need to know right now."

Iruka closed his eyes. In a quiet voice he asked, "Why? What happened?"

"Hokage-sama told him something he didn't want to hear." Ino looked to her feet.

"I'll go to him then." Iruka flashed a couple of signs and disappeared from the classroom.

Watarimono blinked. "Dammit. He didn't say where the Gaki would go now."

Author Notes: Send me a review if you want to see this story continue. I have some other stories I'm working on as well but I hope you all like this one enough for me to continue it.