XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke sighed. Why was he doing this? he kept asking himself. Ever since he left the hospital, he felt...strange. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something inside him had changed. He had successfully managed to avoid his rabid fangirls, and was brooding in the comfort of his own home. He was cut out of his thoughts by an strange dark pressure being put on him. He sensed that it felt like killing intent, only lacking the killing. Sasuke debated between going to find out where it came from, but decided that he didn't care. Now that Sasuke's senses were extended, he could feel something similar coming from inside his own house! It was weaker, and nowhere near as dark as whatever he sensed before, but it was there. Sasuke tried to track this...thing down, but was disappointed when he found himself facing a wall.

'What do I do now?' He asked himself, before smacking his head. Genjutsu! Of Course! He flashed his sharingan, and confidently strode into the room. He was shocked by what he found. In the room was...whiteness. This room looked much larger on the inside than the outside. And it was so white! He spied a lone shelf sitting aboard the wall and approached it cautiously. He WAS a ninja after all. He noticed an assortment of different items, each giving off and strange feeling. He noticed an scroll added along with the items, and opened it up to read.

As with the Uchiha, and the Hyuuga, we of the Kuinshi have a bloodline limit of our very own. Unlike most bloodline limits in Konoha, ours is not Senses based. Our bloodline is known as Spiritual Awareness, or the ability to use spirit particles in the air. We are able to use the energys in a variety of ways, usually as an bow, or an blade, to battle what is known as Hollows, or evil spirits. Due to the way we deal with the hollows, the shinigami in turn decided to eliminate us. As a result, the Kuinshi clan is scattered around the world, not knowing of it's spiritual origins.

Mikoto Kuinshi Uchiha

Sasuke stopped reading there, and skimmed the rest. If what he read was true, he might have been sensing a hollow. It'd make sense that he was becoming spiritually aware. If he could learn how to wield these weapons along with his abilities, he'd be able to easily destroy Itachi. His curse mark twinged, and Sasuke clutched it, willing it to quiet down. He briefly wondered why his mother never told him about these abilities, but then reasoned that it was unlikely that he'd even develop the awareness needed.

'Forget training with Kakashi. This is so much more intresting.' Sasuke thought to himself a smirk. His mother had left that explanation of his blood, along with an detailed description of each item on the shelf. She obviously wanted him to use these abilities to destroy hollows, (whatever those were) and his brother and he'd gladly oblige.

"Get ready Itachi. I WILL destroy you. Wait and see." Sasuke muttered, before leaving the room, promising to come back and study it in detail tomorrow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Bleach.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Week number 1)

Sakura sighed. It had only been a week since she had last seen Sasuke and it depressed her. She had gone to the Yamanaka flower shop to pick up a daffodil for Sasuke and Lee, and Ino forced her way along to visit. Not only do they find out that Sasuke had escaped from the hospital, but they also learn that Lee's injuries were so severe, that he can no longer be a ninja. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed Naruto too, even if he had been acting weird lately.

Speaking of strange, Sakura had been getting a strange feeling all over her for the past week. They seemed to be coming from two different locations, and invoked different feelings within her. One of the "feelings" She sensed came from the darker part of the village she'd never been in. She didn't plan on going to see what was producing that feeling anytime soon. The feeling she felt from that side of the village was dark, and it felt like it power was decreasing. Sakura sighed again. Even in her head that didn't make sense.

The other "feeling" she got came from the Uchiha district, intrestingly enough. That "feeling" was MUCH weaker than the darker one, but lacked the dark feelings of the first one. Where the first one started off strong and seemed to be getting weaker, it seemed like this one was starting off weak and increasing its power.

Sakura blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. She was SURE that one of those of "feelings" came from Sasuke. She just had to work up the nerve to approach Sasuke and ask him about it.

"It's not like he'd tell me." Sakura grumbled to herself. Inner Sakura was surprisingly silent.

"Maybe I should start training..." Sakura trailed off as she thought about losing her preliminary match against Ino. She growled to herself. She made a promise to herself to no longer be a burden to Naruto and Sasuke, and she was damn well gonna keep it!

'What am I supposed to train in?' Sakura finally asked herself, bringing her mood down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat on top of the warehouse, his zanpakuto sitting on his lap, still sheathed. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was concentrating deeply.

"What's the point of this? Teach me something good!" Naruto half asked, half whined with his eyes still closed. He had been trying to completely suppress his reiatsu for a week now, and couldn't be more bored.

'You're so stupid...' Minato sighed as he shook his head.

'Then what's the point of this if you're so smart?!' Naruto asked, remembering to speak with his mind. He didn't need Lisa or Kensei attacking him for annoying them...again.

'If you don't know, then I'm not gonna tell ya.' And with his piece said, Naruto felt Minato's presence fade.

'Bastard.' Naruto grumbled to himself.

"Naruto, you're not even aware of the danger you're in." Shinji sighed. 'It's like teaching Hiyori all over again.'

"You give off a unique reiatsu, almost like a hollow. You must learn to hide your presence, or it could be dire. Shinigami, quincies, and hollows could lock onto it and find you. So until you can hide your reiatsu without thinking about it, we won't be teaching you anything else. Unless you're giving up?" He added with a smirk.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! And I don't give up! Be..."

'If you say "believe it!" I'm going to hurt you' Minato warned. Naruto sighed, and he continued on. 'If you haven't learned yet, if you can completely control your reiatsu, not only will you move faster and NOT worry about being hunted, but your zanpakuto's abilities will be stronger. Oh, and it won't seem so heavy whenever you try to use it.'

Naruto sighed, knowing it was true. Everytime he had tried to use Byakko, she was too heavy for him to actually use. Naruto couldn't find out why before, but now that he knew. He WOULD master this, and he WOULD use Byakko like he wants to.

'How do you know so much? You've been around me.'

'I'm stuck inside your head. I have nothing else to do in here but think about these kind of things. Now stop talking to me and get to practicing.'

Naruto sighed, and concentrated on suppressing his reiatsu again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke concentrated on the reishi gathered in the air, pulling as much as he could in the palm of his hand. 'So far so good.' he thought as he pulled more and more reishi into his hands. He gave a small smile as he watched a glowing white sphere appear in his hands. As he began to pull more, his curse mark suddenly twinged. This shocked Sasuke out of his concentration and made the reishi he had gathered in the palm of his hand disperse back into the surroundings.

"Damnit!!" Sasuke cursed as he raged to himself. 'Why is this so hard? If I want to use this in the finals, I have to be able to form a sword at a moment's notice!' He thought as he began to gather reishi into his palm again. He had made minimal progress before he was interupted again. This time he managed to keep the ball of reishi in his hand. He smirked to himself. He was improving. He thought about Kakashi as he absentmindly gathered more reishi. He'd come looking for Sasuke about 2 days after he left the hospital. Sasuke had bluntly told Kakashi that he would training on his own, and if he wanted something to do, he should train someone that needs it. Like Sakura for instance. Kakashi didn't know how to respond to that, so he had left. Sasuke knew that he might end up paying for that later, but at the moment he didn't care.

'I have no way of knowing if I'm making good progress...But I'm still missing something.' Sasuke thought as he sat there, now working on dispersing the reishi he had gathered in his palm. 'What use is this if I can't do it instantly AND in a combat?'

"I just need more practice." Sasuke stated confidently. "And control" he added as a afterthought as his cursemark twinged.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(week number 2)

'You're wasting your time Naruto! Let me try!' Minato yelled frustratedly.

'Why?' Naruto asked as he barely managed to block Hiyori's rapid strikes with her zanpukto.

'You're getting tired, and it's only a matter of time before she-' Minato reasoned, before stopping.

Naruto could see why, and what he was getting at, as he saw Hiyori suddenly stiffen as her hollow mask slowly grew along the side of her face.

'This is just as much training for her as it is for me.' Naruto thought idly. 'The others can form their masks in seconds. I have to get stronger!' Naruto thought as his own hollow mask slowly grew over his own face.

Naruto's eyes flashed yellow just as Hiyori renewed her attack on Naruto with increased speed. Because Hiyori had been an shinigami and had been a former lieutenant in Soul Society. She had been restricted to only using her mask and whatever hollow abilities she could manage to use. Naruto had no such restrictions, and was free to use whatever technique he wanted to.

Naruto was suddenly brought out of his musing as he sensed Hiyori suddenly gathering her reiatsu in the palm of her hands.

'A Cero?!' Minato thought as he suddenly gained control. He flashed through handseals that he had recently learned, and replaced himself with a rock. The rock had disintegrated, as Minato had moved to a relatively safe location, and clamped down on his reiatsu. He expected Hiyori to try to track him by his reiatsu, as she had done this before when they started sparring against each other.

"Kage-bunshin no jutsu." Minato muttered quietly as he summoned clones to head to other parts of the field. He could FEEL that Hiyori had been starting to lose her temper. He was proven right as she suddenly let loose a barrage of minor cero blast that flew off in every direction. 'Such a temper.' Naruto added in his mind. Minato silently agreed. He was shaken when he looked up and saw Hiyori leering down at him.

"The hell?! How'd you find me?" He asked, annoyed that he'd been found so quickly.

"The smoke that comes up from those clones" She practically bragged to him, making Minato sweatdrop and Naruto snicker. While Naruto had made major improvements in controling his reiatsu, the same couldn't be said for Minato with controling chakra.

Minato was driven out of his self depreciating thoughts as he heard a tell tale crack. He KNEW that it hadn't came from him, so he looked up to see a crack forming on Hiyori's mask. He began to form a cero on his own hand...

'My turn!' Naruto yelled as he took control away from Minato.

'Damn it! Not yet!' Minato yelled in his mind as his own mask began to crack. He eyed his half formed cero as it began to pulsate. Hiyori who'd had long since fled, smirked to herself. He had a long way to go before he could fight evenly with any of the vizards. Her smirk grew to a grin when she heard the half-formed cero explode.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke had become increasingly frustrated during his training in wielding the reishi particles how he wanted to. In an effort to increase his power, he had chosen to wear the sanrei glove, knowing the risk it posed to his newly formed abilities. Sasuke was happy to discover that he could gather as much reishi as he wanted now on his right hand. He had noticed that he tended to gather too much reishi as he couldn't shape it into any discernable forms.

He sighed as he made another attempt to form a sword from the reishi particles he had gathered. 'What am I doing wrong here?' He thought to himself as he once again began to gather reishi. 'The glove gave me enough power, but now I lack the control.'

"Okay. Now I'm getting mad." Sasuke admitted as he sat down. "I'm getting control, but not as fast as I would like." He decided to ignore his reishi training for now, and move on to training with his practice katana. He figured that training to use a sword made of reishi would be pointless if he didn't actually KNOW how to use a sword.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura grumbled to herself once again. When did her life get so strange? She had only gone to visit Lee before going off to train on her own. Just her luck that she had happened to visit when Gai-san had been there. Gai had cried over Lee's and Sakura's flames of youths. The topic had then shifted to Lee's inability to train. Which had prompted them both to ask what Sakura had been training in and who had been training her.

Gai had cryed all over again when he had learned that she wasn't sure what she was going to train in. He had declared her a honorary student of his when he learned that Kakashi wasn't training her. It had all gone downhill from there in Sakura's opinion.

'Gai-sensei's training is brutal' Sakura acknowledged to herself as she wearily rubbed her sore neck. But she had to admit that he knew his stuff when it came to Tai-jutsu. He refused to let her quit once she had agreed to become his "honorary student". Gai's training had consisted so far of him showing her through the basic Goken forms. Once she had them down, they'd then spar till Sakura could no longer move on her own power. Each time they had a "spar" Sakura lasted a little longer, and did a little better. He was also begining to teach her how to use chakra to increase the power in her attacks.

She had decided that she needed a break from Gai-sensei once he had tried to get her to wear one of his green suits, and she had found herself actually considering it! "Naruto and Sasuke better appreciate all this work I'm doing." She growled.

"I'll kick both their asses if they don't." She promised.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Week number 3)

"Er...what is that?" Naruto asked cautiously. He wasn't sure what the thing was or what it did, but he knew that Hiyori WOULD not get him to get on the thing.

He was staring at what looked like a walker machine, but he had already learned not to take everything as it appears in this hideout.

"It's past lunchtime, shouldn't one of you make something?" Shinji's voice drifted towards the two as they stared at Hiyori's creation.

"It's Lisa's turn, don't look at me!" Kensei growled back.

"Lisa?" Kuna asked impatiently. "Hungry!!" She cried, rubbing her stomach for emphasis.

"I'm working on it." Lisa mumbled, eyes never leaving her book.

"The hell you are!! You're just reading your shitty porn!" Kensei yelled, now furious with the situation.

"Would you shut up?"

At this point Naruto tuned them out.

"It's...a diet machine." Naruto said flatly, having identified the walker machine that Hiyori was trying to get him to use.

"It is not!!" Hiyori cried, taking huge offense to that, taking off one of her flip flops and smacking Naruto with it. "This is the SUPER HIYORI WALKER!!"

'I am NOT getting on that thing Naruto'

'Agreed'

"Now get on!" Hiyori commanded, tapping her foot impatiently.

"I'm not getting on that thing."

"The Super Hiyori Walker is perfect for teaching you how to take control of your inner hollow!"

"Then why don't you get on it?"

Hearing Hiyori's silence, he smirked at her, which he knew irritated the hell out of her. "I thought so. I'm going to train with Byakko." Naruto stated as he turned his back on Hiyori and the now argueing loudly vizards behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke grunted as he forced all of his reishi into one point. At this particular moment, he had gathered it in the tip of his finger. He once again cursed himself for not reading the scroll his mother had left him thouroughly. Not only did it tell exactly how to gather reishi, but it had included methods of gathering the reishi quickly AND methods to teach control. If he had read it the first time, he could have been a lot further than he already was.

When he could no longer hold the reishi he had gathered in his hands, he released it and sent it flying out towards his target. Sasuke sweatdropped heavily when he saw how off his aim was. "Great, looks like I know what I'm working on next." Sasuke thought with a sigh, as he decided to switch to his sword training, his mood effectively ruined.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura grinned as she eyed the damage she had caused to the training post in front of her. She wasn't sure WHAT she had done to the post, but she knew that she had to try that again.

'Gather chakra into my hands...' She coached herself as she gathered the aforementioned chakra in her hands. She sighed in satsification as she felt the chakra envelope her fist. With a yell she punched the tree she had been aiming at and left an much bigger indention on it. She sighed, impressed with the improvement she had made. However the blow she had given it earlier had been different then the punch she had just given the post. She sat down as she attempted to recreate the effect she done. Her first punch hadn't caused as much damage as the second blow, but it had gone in deeper.

'What was that?' Sakura thought to herself. 'It sure wasn't chakra...' There's no way she'd tell Gai-sensei, or anyone else about this! She wanted to figure it out on her own. She had to have at least one secret weapon, she reasoned to herself.

"My body felt like it was bursting inside." She acknowledged, staring at her fist now. She twitched as she felt another spike of energy (She had started to refer to it as energy) come from the Uchiha District.

She stared in the District's general direction, before making her mind up.

"I will go over there and find out what's going on." She promised to herself quietly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(week 4)

'Happy?' Naruto asked as he wandered around the village, looking for a store that sold shinobi's clothing.

'Very.' Minato answered snidely as Naruto looked through a window at some strange looking clothes. 'And remember; no orange!'

'I know, I know.' Naruto sighed, he was really getting tired of Minato nagging him. Especially on his first time actually going through the village in a month.

'I wonder how Sasuke's doin?' Naruto thought, before ruthlessly squashing that thought. 'Probably getting lots of training from Kakashi-sensei! Doesn't matter. I learned enough to kick both their asses!' Naruto thought, pumping his fist in the air, earning him stares from the surrounding villagers.

'I thought we kicked that habit...' Minato wondered as he watched Naruto make a fool out of himself.

Naruto didn't reply to that as he entered a store that he knew sold clothing. "Can I help you...? Oh." Naruto watched the clerk's expression change from boredom to annoyance when she realized who he was. Naruto merely ignored the clerk as he drifted through the store looking at clothing. 'Give me control.' Minato ordered.

'Why?' Naruto asked, but nonetheless allowed the tell tale mask of Minato formed over Naruto's face as Minato took over. Minato quickly searched through the clothing and picked out several that caught his eye.

'This is gonna be a long day.' Naruto groaned as Minato walked out of the store, bags in hand, to go to ANOTHER store.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke smiled slightly as he layed on his bed. Sasuke had trained long and hard over the month, increasing his strength, endurance, and reishi control. He had also taught himself a little bit of swordsmanship. He now knew enough to not accidently cut himself to pieces when he tried to wield one. Would it be enough though? Sasuke did a quick mental inventory over every little bit of training he had put himself through over the month.

'I've been neglecting jutsus...' Sasuke thought, his small smile shifting into a frown. He shrugged, deciding that he didn't really care. According to what Kakashi had told him almost a month ago, Lee had almost beaten Gaara, and he couldn't use ANY jutsus!

"I'm a Uchiha." Sasuke said aloud, boosting his own confidence. "And I won't lose."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura hadn't gone to visit Sasuke to discover his secrets. It wasn't that she couldn't work up the nerve to actually visit. She just hadn't wanted to disturb whatever training exercises that Sasuke had been practicing.

'Could it be...the curse-mark?' She couldn't believe that she had even forgotten about the curse mark in the first place! 'Kakashi-sensei had promised me that everything was fine though.' She managed to convince herself.

'Does that really mean anything?' Sakura argued with herself. She had thought about Kakashi-sensei very little over the month, and none of her thoughts were flattering to him. Aside from tree-climbing, the man hadn't taught them a thing! And then put them in the chuunin exams for Sasuke to get a curse-mark!

"I'm stronger now! I'm not a burden anymore!" She cried. And it was true too. She might not be near Sasuke or Naruto's level yet, but she would get there, in time. She had yet to be able to recreate whatever she had done the week before, but she had increased her own strength and stamina. She knew that if she fought Ino now, or even Hinata, she'd win hands down!

She examined her body, noting her torned clothes. 'I need more durable clothes.' Sakura thought, and her mood darkened considerably at the thought. She sighed, she would not wear that green...thing that Gai kept trying to give her! She would not!!

She brightened at the prospect of clothes shopping though. Shinobi or not, she was still a twelve year old girl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I realized as I did this chapter, that I had no idea HOW quincies trained themselves exactly. I don't really know how vizards train either. Besides through combat, I guess. If you couldn't tell from this chapter, I don't really like Kakashi. Besides tree climbing, what did Kakashi teach them exactly? I tried to give Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura something to do over the month of training.

Either way, Next chapter the Chuunin Exams begins.

Leave reviews, tell me what you think!