"I actually don't blame you for this," Naruko told Naruto. "I'd really like to, but I don't think I can."
Naruko had apparently been out of the loop through the entire day's events and only found out what had happened when she'd been ambushed by some of her friends. After getting away from them, she'd come straight to Naruto where he'd filled her in on the parts the other genin were unaware of.
"I'm surprised you're taking this so well," he told her. "At the very least I'll admit I should have been more careful with my handwriting."
"I think that's more my fault than yours," she informed him. "I'm the one who's actually been trained in identifying people by handwriting, spotting forgeries, and the like. I also should have remembered how little I used to know on such topics. I even saw your menu, so if anyone should have seen this coming, it's me."
"Speaking of you, won't people notice our writing is awfully similar?" Naruto queried.
"I've had training, remember?" Naruko reminded him. "When I first started I had to pretend to just be learning to write. By the time writing in a normal script wouldn't be suspicious, I knew enough to come up with a different style. Here, have a look."
He watched as she grabbed a pen and a slip of paper and began to smoothly write in a script Naruto had to admit looked nothing like his own.
"I'll rewrite all your menus for you," Naruko continued. "It'll be easy enough to tell people I'm redesigning them to help your business. Now, hopefully there won't be anyone else who saw both your menu and the book. I recommend you work on your own new style and avoid writing anything until it looks natural."
"Fair enough," Naruto agreed. "Now I should also remind you that I'm not really supposed to be telling anyone the details of that meeting. So don't let anything about Orochimaru slip out."
Technically, he was keeping his vow to not tell another soul, as Naruko didn't have one. Still, he doubted his little loophole would be appreciated.
"I think I can manage that," Naruko told him. "The only thing I'm confused about is why they didn't grill you on Itachi's visit. It seems like that would have been far more suspicious than anything they were asking you about."
"I believe that has to do with the two men who have been keeping surveillance on me ever since I was released," Naruto informed her, watching her eyes widen in fear. "They probably hope Itachi will make another appearance and don't want to put me on guard in case I am working with him."
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure they're not listening in," Naruto assured her, seeing how worried she still was. "I'd be able to tell if they were using a jutsu to listen in on us. Nor do I sense anything out of place that might indicate a more modern spying method. Besides, we've already said enough incriminating tidbits that I'm sure we'd have company by now if I'd missed something."
"I still wish you'd let me know before we'd said anything incriminating," Naruko griped. "Still, I know how hard it would be to sneak something into here without you being aware of it. This place practically glows with all the seals you've installed in it."
"Anyway, speaking of knowing everything that goes on around here," Naruto began as his senses were picking something up, "one of your more annoying friends is on his way back here."
"His way?" Naruko asked in confusion shortly before Sasuke burst through the doors for second time that day. Actually the third time he corrected himself. Naruto had detected a brief intrusion by the boy while he'd still been detained.
"Back to cause more trouble for me?" Naruto asked, letting a hint of his annoyance into his voice. "Or are you just going to demand answers I don't have about your brother?"
"No, this time I'm here to find out what you know about Orochimaru," Sasuke answered.
"What does Orochimaru have to do with anything?" Naruko asked, doing an impressive bit of acting.
Maybe Naruko would get an excuse for knowing about him sooner than she'd realized. Still, best to put on a show of trying to keep their secret. Besides, he had a feeling it wouldn't deter Sasuke.
"I'm not sure what you do know," he responded, "but the Hokage wants information about Orochimaru kept secret. I suggest you don't discuss it any further in front of Naruko."
"Yes, I heard about the cover story," Sasuke replied, "but I believe Naruko, at least, deserves to know the truth. That you're an attempt to enhance the Yondaime's blood with Uchiha genes. Naruko may very well be a continuation of the same experiment."
Naruto was a bit taken aback by Sasuke's claim. Where exactly had he gotten that idea into his head? Did it have something to do with that DNA stuff as well? Naruto was really going to have to look into how that worked in the near future.
"If you want any answers, bring it up with Hokage," Naruto told him forcefully. "I'm sworn to secrecy and I really have no intention of being dragged away twice in one day. So if you're quite finished, please leave."
"Fine, I'll go, but I will continue to look into this." Sasuke vowed before turning to address Naruko. "I suggest you do the same if you want to know the truth of your origins."
With that, Sasuke left the two of them alone.
"In case you didn't notice, he's not my friend," Naruko said bitterly as soon as he'd gone.
"I doubt anyone is that boy's friend," Naruto quipped. "Not exactly the most charming kid in Konoha is he?"
"Actually, he's sickeningly popular," Naruko griped. "Now if we're done discussing this, I'm heading home. I've got a lot of fallout from this I'm going to have to deal with."
Naruto had a few things of his own to work out. Most of the time it wouldn't matter if people trailed him wherever he went, but he was certain there would be times he didn't want anyone spying on him. Naruto was going to have to find a way to leave undetected, and he already had a few idea on that front.
Naruko found her team near the time they would usually stop for the day. Minato was busy training Hinata and Kiba, but they all came to a halt when they saw her arrive.
"So, Minato-sensei is your old man, huh?" Kiba exclaimed cheerfully. "I bet that came as a shock."
Minato just stood their fidgeting, apparently still not certain how to deal with her.
"Aren't you supposed to still be resting?" Hinata asked her. If she didn't know Hinata better, she'd almost swear there was a hint of accusation in her tone. Ino and Sakura had probably roped her into making sure she behaved.
"I just came from the hospital," Naruko answered. "They've cleared me to return to duty. They really can work wonders. Anyway, I came here because I was hoping I could talk with Minato-sensei for a bit."
"Of course," Minato told her, finally speaking up. "We were just about to finish up. Oh, and Kiba, don't forget that you and your accomplices have to report in for some extra D rank missions. We've saved you some particularly unpleasant ones."
"Do I have to?" Kiba complained, Akamaru whining as well next to him.
"You should just feel lucky Naruto is so forgiving," Minato told him. "If he decided to press the issue, you could have been in for a lot worse after breaking into his place."
"Yeah, yeah," Kiba said dismissively as he walked off. Seeing him go, Hinata approached Naruko.
"I hope everything goes well for you with your father," she said in a whisper so that Minato wouldn't overhear before leaving the two of them alone. With Minato not looking like he was going to say anything anytime soon, Naruko decided to get things moving.
"Sasuke was saying something about my brother and I being experiments of Orochimaru's," Naruko told him. "Naruto refused to say anything else on the subject and I was hoping you could explain. I really hate being left in the dark on something that affects me as much as this does."
"Sasuke is jumping to conclusions without having all the information," Minato responded, looking relieved the conversation had taken this turn. "We have no reason to believe Orochimaru had anything to do with either of you. The reason Naruto wouldn't say anything is because there is a secret we forbade him from telling. Still, I suppose you do have a right to know."
Naruko was pleased with how easy it was to get him to explain this. Now she wouldn't have to feign ignorance of the subject.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, after you've been living as an orphan for so long," Minato continued, "but despite the official story, I'm not actually your father. We just believe it was me and not you and your brother who might have less than completely natural origins."
"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that's actually a bit of a relief," Naruko declared. "I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the thought of you as my father, and I was afraid it would make things a bit awkward."
"So you believe me?" Minato asked hopefully.
"Yeah, is there a reason I shouldn't?" Naruko asked curiously.
"Not at all," Minato assured her. "I swear that everything I told you is true. It's just that, there are certain people who don't believe I'm being entirely honest in that regard."
"And by certain people he means me," Kushina interjected sharply, having snuck up on the pair at some point in their conversation. "Now if you're done trying to convince the poor girl she's still an orphan, I'd like to have my own talk with her."
"Of course," Minato said quickly, vanishing almost as soon as the words had left his mouth.
If Naruto had known about how Kushina was taking yesterday's events, he had neglected to tell her. It was pretty clear exactly what Kushina thought had happened if she didn't believe Minato, and Naruko felt guilty that their little subterfuge was causing strife between the two of them.
"I'm sorry if I seemed a bit harsh there," Kushina told her warmly. "I want to assure you that I don't blame you for anything Minato did. In fact, I was hoping you might want to move in with us. It's a much nicer place than your apartment, and Minato owes you that much at least."
"That's kind of you to offer," Naruko told her, doing her best to hide how unappealing she found giving up so much of her privacy, "but I'm really kind of used to living on my own. Besides, even if you don't blame me, I'd feel guilty every time I saw the rift between you and Minato-sensei."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Kushina assured her. "I know I can get a bit angry at times, but it burns itself out quickly. Even for something as big as this, I'm not one stay mad forever. Besides, I really do love him, and it's been thirteen years or so since he would have been unfaithful. Honestly, I've already mostly forgiven him."
"No offense, but it didn't exactly look that way to me," Naruko pointed out in confusion.
"I suppose not," Kushina said with a laugh. "At this point, I'm just taking advantage of the situation. Minato is doing everything he can to win his way back into my good graces. He's practically waiting on me hand and foot, and I want to milk that for a bit. He deserves that much at least, and I want to leave him terrified of the thought of ever betraying me again. The last thing I need is for him to be convinced I'll just forgive him of anything he does at the drop of a hat."
"Well, I'm glad to hear you plan to work things out," Naruko told her honestly.
"As long as he stays away from Jiraiya," Kushina agreed. "Although if any blond toddlers with a remarkable resemblance to him show up, all bets are off."
The dangerous edge her voice took at the end made Naruko hope for Minato's sake that he really had been faithful to his wife.
Naruto looked at the building in front of him with a bit of apprehension. He hadn't had to wait long for Koharu to come up with a task for him, but it wasn't one he was entirely enthusiastic about. Simply put, he was going to be teaching a number of their higher ranked ninja some of the special chakra techniques he knew.
Koharu wanted to give their elite forces every edge they could, and even Naruto had a few tricks that he was fairly certain he was the only person who knew them. Still, Naruto wasn't a ninja, and he wasn't quite certain how to go about training one. He'd bounced some ideas off of Koharu, and the two of them had worked out a basic curriculum, but he still was a bit uncertain.
Anyway, before walking in, he glanced through the the small folder Koharu had given him one last time. It contained names and photos of everyone who would be attending the class, and Naruto wanted to make sure he could match names to faces. Asuma, Shibi, Guy, Choza, Shikaku, Kakashi, Inoichi, Kurenai, and Anko were supposed to be there today.
He'd put off entering as long as possible, but he'd be late for his own class if he didn't go now. Entering, he found most of the ninja on his list already seated around the room. In fact, running a quick checklist in his head, Hatake Kakashi was the only person missing. Judging by the curious looks he was receiving, however, they hadn't been briefed on just who would be teaching this class.
"Who exactly are you supposed to be?" Anko asked him suspiciously, confirming his recent assessment.
"My name is Naruto," he replied, "and I'm actually going to be leading this little training session."
"Aren't you a bit young for that?" Asuma asked, lighting up a cigarette as he did.
"Don't say that!" Guy cried out enthusiastically. "I for one am inspired by his youthful energy!"
"Be that as it may," Naruto said a bit unsure of how to react to the outburst, "the question is valid. I just have a very specialized field of expertise, and Koharu felt it would be useful to share a couple of the things I know. More specifically, I'm going to start with an alternative way to deal with genjutsu."
He could see that his statement had caught the interest of some of them, although he was still picking up a lot of skepticism. He should get a demonstration going as soon as possible to dispel some of that.
"If I could have a volunteer that's skilled with genjutsu, I can show you what I mean," Naruto told them.
All eyes on the room seemed to focus on Kurenai at that request. Seeing that she was the center of attention the woman let out a sigh and stood up.
"Great," he told her. "Now if you could put me under some form of genjutsu, particularly one where my reaction would be obvious, I'd appreciate it."
She considered this for a moment before going through some hand signals. Naruto could sense a string of chakra reaching out from the woman and attempting to penetrate into his own chakra system, but instead, it just bounced off the edge of it to no effect. Confused, Kurenai tried again but with no more success.
"It's not working," she announced in frustration.
"As I'm sure you all know," he lectured to the room, "genjutsu works by penetrating an opponents chakra system and influencing it in specific ways to fool the target's senses. When one knows they're under a genjutsu, the normal response is to flare one's chakra in an attempt to disrupt whatever the intruding source is doing."
"That's not what happened though," Kurenai pointed out. "My jutsu couldn't get into your chakra system at all. It was like there was some sort of barrier."
"The reason it did that is because I was using my own chakra to reinforce and strengthen it's natural flow," Naruto informed them. "In essence, I was putting myself under a powerful genjutsu that affected all my senses, only the genjutsu caused me to experience exactly what I would have been experiencing anyway."
"That's an incredible technique!" Guy declared loudly. "Alright, I'm going to try."
Before Naruto could even warn him, his chakra flared. The man went stiff as a board for a moment before flailing his arms about and tipping over to the floor.
"What's wrong with him?" Shizune asked as she approached the fallen jonin.
"He won't be able to see or hear you until he releases the technique," Naruto warned them. "He didn't wait for me to explain, but if you just hold your chakra in one static state you'll be causing your senses to perceive exactly what they were at that moment. Your chakra flows are constantly shifting as you experience things, and you need to adjust your own technique to match them."
"You need such fine control over your entire body?" Choza asked dubiously.
"It's not at all easy," Naruto confirmed. "Which is why I'm explaining it to the best the village has to offer instead of a bunch of fresh genin. The technique isn't without flaws either. It's useless if you're trying to hide your presence."
"If someone catches you in hiding without your realizing it your usually dead whether you're immune to genjutsu or not," Kurenai interjected.
"Also, you're trying to defend your whole body," Naruto pointed out. "An attacker can easily focus their genjutsu on a single point and overwhelm the technique."
"Genjutsu is about subtlety," Kurenai complained. "Anyone would be able to sense that happening, and if you know you're under a genjutsu, it's a relatively simple matter to dispel it with more conventional means."
Naruto gave the woman a look that made clear his annoyance at this second interruption.
"I'm sorry," Kurenai apologized, looking genuinely repentant. "It's just that my entirely style focuses around genjutsu. It's no surprise that such a strong counter to it would leave me a little bitter."
"Don't worry about it," Naruto told her graciously. "I think you may be overestimated how much of an impact this will have. There aren't many who will be able to master it, and as hard as it is, it's nothing compared to keeping it up when using jutsu of your own. So if nothing else, they'll be vulnerable when using abilities of their own."
She seemed somewhat mollified by his statement. So he directed his attention back to Guy, who was still flopping around on the floor.
"Does anyone know why he hasn't released that yet?" Naruto queried. He would have expected the man to figure out something was wrong pretty quickly.
"He can be quite stubborn," Asuma told him. "He's probably determined not to release it until he figures out how to get it working right. He could be at this for hours."
"Well, then," Naruto said, doing his best to put the strange man out of his mind. "I'd like the rest of you to start practicing as well. Hopefully some of you will do a little better than him."
All of Naruto's worries over this class faded once the teaching really got underway. He'd had similar sessions countless times in temples all over the world. As such, he quickly fell into familiar routine as he made his way from person to person correcting techniques and offering advice. The rhythm he found himself in had a rather significant downside, however, as he discovered when he was helping out Anko.
"This is just stupid," she complained. "Even if I can get this down, I'd be focusing all my attention on maintaining it. Not exactly worth the benefit."
"With enough practice almost anything can become second nature," he encouraged her. "Still, you may want to try starting a little smaller. If you focus on the chakra lines that deal with your sight and hearing you can still greatly reduce the impact of most genjutsu. And mastering that form would be much easier."
"And which ones are those?" she asked.
"Well, the ones for your ears flow along here," he told her, tracing his finger from her ear down the back of her neck. "The chakra flows to your eyes along this line."
This time his traced down her face and along the front of her neck, continuing down until her hand snapped up and clenched around his wrist.
"You're getting awfully touchy for a guy I just met," she said icily, drawing Naruto's attention to just where his finger had been approaching. Immediately Naruto jerked back as she released her hold, embarrassed by what he had just done.
"I'm sorry, my training has been almost exclusively with old men," Naruto told her honestly. "Tracing chakra lines has never been an issue for me before."
"Whether you're telling the truth or not, touch me like that again without my permission, and you'll lose the hand that did it," she threatened him.
"Don't worry, it won't happen again," he assured her.
Nothing terribly exciting happened the rest of the lesson. No one had managed to master the technique in the short time they had before people started filing out, but a few showed good progress. For how much she professed to hate it, Kurenai was the one who came the closest to getting it. All but one person had left, and Naruto was just trying to decide what to do with said straggler, when Kakashi finally decided to make an appearance.
"Sorry I'm late," he announced. "My clock broke and I had to go buy a new one, but it turns out the time on it was set wrong and I didn't realize it until a few minutes ago."
"Well, the class is over," he informed the man, as he tried to figure out if he was being serious about the excuse.
"Ah well, I guess I'll be going then," he told Naruto.
"Actually, I don't suppose you can help me figure out what to do with this guy?" Naruto asked, pointing down at the twitching Guy.
"I probably don't want to know, but what happened to him?" Kakashi asked.
"He's trapped in his own genjutsu and refuses to release it," Naruto apprised him.
"Ah, yeah, he can be a bit hard to deal with at times," Kakashi exclaimed, "but I believe I can see that he's taken care of."
"Thanks, I'll leave it you then," Naruto told him, leaving the building and heading back to his current home.
That wasn't really so bad. He'd have to see what sort of payment he could wring from Koharu for it, but if this was all she wanted from him, he wouldn't mind doing it from time to time.
Guy believed he'd finally figured out what he needed to do to get this to work. He'd been very disappointed when he'd found out he hadn't really discovered a way to freeze time, but he was still looking forward to mastering this technique.
It seemed obvious now that holding his chakra in one state would cause everything to freeze like this. He'd confirmed that when he tried to shift it and instead of the unchanging image of the room he was treated to a random assortment of colors across his vision.
He'd spent a long time pondering how to tell the proper way to let his chakra flow, and only just realized that since he was putting so much power into holding his flows in place, he couldn't even sense what they were trying to do on their own. When he eased down on the power, he was able to feel the route his chakra was trying to take. Attempting to let the flow guide his chakra he, unfortunately, lost control of the entire thing.
Suddenly his body was flooded by sensations again and he went to work trying to process what was going on. He noticed it was now night and he seemed to be buried up to his neck in something. His nose quickly gave him a hint as to just what it was. Yes, he currently swimming in garbage. Breaking free, he did his best to wipe the rotting food and other disgusting filth off him. This may have been a very youthful prank, but it was not in good taste at all.
"Whoever did this to me, I will find you!" he called out loudly, striking a pose atop the pile.
This caused the ground he was standing on to give way beneath him as he sank back up to his waist. Okay, maybe he'd get of the here completely first and vow vengeance later.
Naruko finally had the perfect opportunity to get back at Naruto for just showing up in the village without consulting her. She'd heard from Ino, who had heard from her father, about Naruto's little mishap with a kunoichi named Anko. Now she was sitting down to write a letter from 'Naruto' to Anko about the incident.
She kept it fairly simple. An apology for his behavior followed by an admission that it had been deliberate because he'd been captivated by her beauty and just couldn't resist. Then a few bits about hoping to see her at any future training sessions and she was done.
Naruko did pause for a bit after completing it to consider if she should really go through with this. She didn't know much about this Anko or how she was likely to react. Still, from what she'd heard, Naruto hadn't done anything that could get him in trouble with the village. Most likely Anko and whoever she told would simply consider Naruto a pervert.
So the kunoichi of the village would probably make life a bit uncomfortable for him. If things got too out of hand, Naruko could always admit it had just been a prank. Anyway, what was the worst that could happen?
Anko had reacted quickly to the contents of the letter she'd just received. It hadn't been terribly hard to find out where to locate Naruto, and she'd even heard a rumor going around that he was son of their very own Yondaime. That was certainly an interesting thought, and she supposed he did have the looks for it.
Anyway, bursting through the door, she spotted her prey and immediately flung a kunai in his direction, aiming to have it just slice along the edge of his right cheek, barely more than a scratch. However, despite having his back turned, he leaned his head slightly the left, letting it pass harmlessly by and bury itself in the wall. That annoyed Anko a bit even if she did find it intriguing that he'd sensed it.
"I admit it took a lot of guts to try something like that with me, and even more to admit it like this," she said, holding up the letter.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto informed her. "I already told you it was an accident."
Getting scared back into denying it by a little kunai? She may have overestimated his courage. Then again, he didn't exactly look terrified. I bit uncomfortable yes, but Anko had seen fear in people's eyes when they looked at her so often that she could almost always recognize it. And she supposed there were enough idiots in the village who would be all too happy to mess with her. Either way, she was going to have a little fun with this guy.
"No need to deny it," Anko told him a bit seductively, I actually like bold men.
"You could have fooled me," he responded, looking at the kunai.
"I just thought a facial scar would make you look more distinguished," she replied. "Believe me, if I were mad at you there are much more unpleasant places I would aim."
"Well, I'll try not to make you mad then," he deadpanned.
"You can start by treating me to dinner," she told him. "This is a restaurant, right?"
"Not anymore," he replied. "Since it looks like I'll be getting more work from the village, I'm shutting down the business permanently. I wouldn't be able to keep regular hours anyway."
"That won't get you out of this," she insisted. "You owe me this much at least as an apology, whether you wrote the letter or not. So why don't you go back there and whip me up some dango."
"You know those aren't on the menu, right?" Naruto asked her, but she gave him a glare and he simply sighed and walked back to the kitchen area. "One order of dango coming right up."
As he went to work Anko spent the time trying to decide what do about Naruto. She had two options. First, she could continue to mess with him and do her best to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Second, she could do that but also see if he had any potential in a relationship.
In favor of the second option, he did have decent looks, seemed to have some skill, and he might be related to the Hokage. Dating Minato's son would really drive certain people who still favored driving her from the village crazy. On the other hand, his aspirations seemed to be somewhat limited. Running a restaurant? Doing some part time teaching? That was far too dull for her tastes. Yeah, she'd probably just stick to making him miserable.
While she was lost in thought, Naruto finished his preparations and brought over several sticks of her favorite treat as well as some tea he poured into her cup. Not wasting any time, she popped the first one into her mouth, eyes quickly widening when the flavor hit her. These dango were good. No, not just good, they had to be the best dango she'd ever tasted.
"Not bad," she told him. "Service could use some work, but at least the food is edible."
Okay, she now had a third option for dealing with the man. He could be a sucker she hit up for free food. Yes, she had a feeling she'd be eating here a lot in the future.
"I know I've been hinting a lot about a big plan for you," Minato told his assembled team. "I think it's about time I let you in on what that is. Next week marks the beginning of the Chunin Exams, which will take place in Konoha. I'm nominating you three to take part."
"Nice!" Kiba called out enthusiastically.
"Are you sure we're ready for that?" Hinata asked. "We only just became genin."
"Don't worry about that," Minato told them. "I'll work you hard this next week to get you as prepared as possible. Besides, you don't need to pass on your first attempt. It will be a good experience regardless. That said, I do expect you to beat Sarutobi's team. We have something of a wager going."
"Some new jutsu would certainly help our chances," Naruko pointed out eagerly.
"I'll find something for you to work on," Minato promised her. "Still, the most important thing if you want to do well is mastering the basics and improving your teamwork. You'll need to work together if you have any hopes of passing."
"Don't worry, sensei," Kiba assured him. "We'll not only put Sasuke in his place, we're going to pass this test on our first try."
"Well, I look forward to seeing that," Minato told them. "You have the potential to make good on that boast. Now let's get to work so you can realize that potential."
Orochimaru sat at the table surrounded my the leaders of the Uchiha Clan as he awaited their reply to his proposal.
"You expect us to betray our own village?" Uchiha Yashiro asked him.
"Don't feign loyalty for my sake," Orochimaru replied. "I know very well you would have attempted your own coup if Itachi hadn't gotten in your way. Think how much more likely your success will be with the support of Suna and Oto."
"Whatever you think you may know about our plans, we don't want Konoha conquered," Yashiro fired back. "You wouldn't leave enough of the village standing for it to be of any use to us."
"You overstate our malice," he assured them. "The number of people I want dead are quite few. Of course, I want access to all of Konoha's forbidden jutsu. Beyond that I don't much care what happens to the village. Suna will be a bit harder to appease I admit. They'll loot the place of valuables and kill off most of Konoha's top ninja."
"You're not exactly making a convincing case," Yashiro declared.
"Then consider this," Orochimaru offered. "The death of Konoha's elite not only benefits you, it might be necessary for you to actually hold the village after it's left in your control. And yes, Konoha will be greatly damaged by the war, but would you rather rule a weakened Konoha or continue serving a strong one?"
With the looks that passed between the men, Orochimaru knew he had them, even if they weren't yet aware of that fact themselves.
"We will think on the matter," Yashiro finally replied.
"I'll be in touch," he replied with a smile. Yes, everything was going according to plan.
Author's Notes
I know this chapter is a bit slow compared to the last one. I'm working on building things back up to the next bit of excitement. Oh, and don't worry about getting another chapter devoted entirely to Naruko for the exams. I won't spoil any details, but Naruto will still have a good share of the narrative.
Oh, and Hurricane Irene delayed this chapter a week and you'll probably be waiting at least a couple of weeks for the next update as well. I'm on vacation and have plans starting tomorrow. So I won't get my usual weekend writing in. Still, I'll try not to keep you waiting too long.