AN: Alright here is the third chapter I've been promising to write for a while now for this story I hope you all enjoy. And with this now up and posted I'll be returning my attention towards Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. By the way I hate reading stories that are about Naruto's training before the finals of the Chunin exams so this will be kind of short and than I'll move on to the actual finals with either flashbacks or mentions about Naruto's training.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or anything else that may or may not appear in this Fic that somebody else obviously owns.

Now that that's out of the way on with the story.

Training for the Finals

"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Demon/Inner Sakura Talking"
'Demon/Inner Sakura Thinking'

The day after the preliminaries had come to an end Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha, wearing one of his spare jumpsuits, on his way toward to the hospital with the intent to check on Sasuke, after Kakashi had taken the young Uchiha at the end of his match and had not come back.

"Tell me why we are wasting our time visiting the Uchiha, Naruto." Kyuubi demanded, "Time we need to begin your training."

Naruto let out a mental sigh before answering, 'It is not a waste of time Kyuubi. Besides I still need to talk to Kakashi-Sensei about help with my training.' Naruto thought, as he entered the hospital and made his way to the nurse's desk. "Excuse me, but what room is Sasuke Uchiha in?" Naruto asked.

The nurse behind the desk was about to answer until she looked up and saw who exactly she was talking to. When she realized that it was Naruto she scowled at the blond haired boy and gave him a nasty glare.

Noticing the look that the nurse was giving him Naruto couldn't help but let out another mental sigh. 'You know that I don't blame you for what's happened in my life Kyuubi, but I'm really tired of having to deal with these people.' He thought getting a grunt from Kyuubi.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you that information." The nurse answered in an overly sweet voice and a fake smile.

"Come on I'm his teammate and I only want to see how he is doing." Naruto said in an exasperated tone.

"I've already told you that I'm not going to tell you the room number for Uchiha-Sama, so leave." The nurse replied in a far more forceful tone.

"Is there a problem here?" a familiar lazy voice asked.

Naruto looked in the direction that the voice came from to find his sensei walking toward them a hand in his pocket and his Icha Icha book out, his lone eye moving from the book in his hand to Naruto than to the nurse before it went back to his book. Naruto smiled at his sensei glad to see him, as he would tell him how Sasuke was doing and Naruto could ask him for some help in his training. "Hey sensei," Naruto greeted the man.

"Naruto should have known you were the one causing trouble." Kakashi said jokingly, getting a huff out of the blond haired boy, before turning his attention to the nurse. "Thank you, but I can take things from here." He said giving the nurse a slight glare, along with just a little bit of K.I., causing her to nod her head frantically before making herself busy. "So Naruto what brings you here today?" Kakashi asked his orange clad student.

"Well I was hoping you could help me with my training for the Finals." Naruto began.

"Of course, I am your sensei after all, but I also have to help Sasuke with his training. But I've asked someone to help train you for when I'm not around." Kakashi answered.

"No that's fine sensei. I actually already have someone else helping me with my training, and I was just hoping you'd help me learn a few Fire jutsu." Naruto said, happy that his sensei was actually willing to help him, and not just pawn him off for someone else to train.

"Well I do have a few jutsu I could teach you, but are you sure Naruto?" Kakashi questioned getting a nod in return, "Fine, but I'll be sure to drop by every once and a while in case you need help. But first…" Kakashi pulled some paper from his Jounin flask jacket, "Why don't we give this a try." He finished handing Naruto the piece of paper.

"What's this?" Naruto asked.

"This is Chakra paper," Kakashi said, "It is made from a tree that is grown by feeding it chakra. By channeling some chakra into the paper it will tell us what element you have an affinity towards, and will mean that you'll have greatest success learning jutsu for that element. If it turns to ash than it is fire, if it splits in two than it's wind, if it crumples than it's lighting, if it turns to dust than it's earth, and finally if it becomes damp than it is water."

"So you want me to add some chakra to this to see what my elemental affinity is?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Kakashi. Channeling some of his chakra into the paper Naruto watched as the paper first split in two before turning to ash.

"Well this is surprising." Kakashi commented.

"What is?" Naruto asked.

"Well… usually a person your age will have one chakra affinity if even that, two is sort of rare though not unheard of." Kakashi explained as he rubbed the back of his head, "I can definitely help you with your Fire manipulation training but I won't be able to do much for Wind manipulation."

"Do you know anyone who can?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm, well I suppose you can talk to Asuma." The grey haired Jounin suggested, as he scratched his cloth covered chin in thought.

"Thanks Kakashi-Sensei, but for now I'll focus on learning Fire manipulation," the blond haired boy said.

"Alright I'll get you some scrolls on fire jutsu in a couple of days." Kakashi said, "Is there anything else?" he asked.

"Well I came here because I also wanted to see how Sasuke was doing." Naruto replied honestly.

"He's fine Naruto nothing to worry about. I actually came to pick him up and was than going to find you to tell you about all the training details." Kakashi answered.

"Well that's good. Guess I'll be heading out to start on my training." The orange clad ninja said as he turned to leave, "Don't forget to get me those scrolls sensei!" he called back.

As soon as the blond haired boy left another shinobi wearing the standard uniform for Konoha ninja, except for the flask jacket and that he was using his headband as a bandana, and was wearing black glass, appeared not to far away from Kakashi one hand on his hip and the other pushing his glasses up.

"So Kakashi where is that student of yours you want me to train?" the shinobi asked.

"Oh Ebisu," Kakashi began in his usual lazy drawl, "I had forgotten all about you."

"W-wh-what is that supposed to mean?" the now known Ebisu demanded offended.

"It's nothing never mind, but it looks like you came all the way here for nothing apparently Naruto already has someone to train him for the upcoming Finals." Kakashi finished, as he walked away in search for his other student, "Sorry for having wasted your time." He said calling back to the paralyzed Special Jounin with a wave of his free hand.

'What the hell!' the glasses wearing Jounin thought.

"Now that you're done wasting time Naruto haven't you forgotten about something." Kyuubi asked from inside the cage in Naruto's mindscape his head resting on his paws.

'Oh, and what is that?' Naruto questioned the nine tailed fox.

"Baka ningen how about the damn seal that snake put on you," the fox growled out.

"Ah, I forgot about that. I guess I can always ask the old man, he will probably know what to do, and if not at least someone who can help." The genin thought back, "though he will probably want me to explain about what happened during the preliminaries.' He thought going towards the Hokage tower.

"Just tell him the same thing you told that one eyed sensei of yours, that you've activated a new Kekkei Genkai. It is basically the truth and this way we avoid any unnecessary complications with the old monkey being worried that I'm 'corrupting' you." Kyuubi stated.

"We'll just see what happens." Naruto decided.

In the end the Hokage was able to remove the seal that Orochimaru had placed over the Shiki Fuujin, then checking it to make sure that the seal was still working properly, before he asked Naruto a few questions about his new abilities. Naruto in turn told the aged Hokage the same thing about his new Kekkei Genkai that he had told Kakashi during the preliminaries. It's not that Naruto didn't want to tell the old man about what was happening with Kyuubi, it was just that he felt it was pointless to bring it up if there wasn't anything the old man could do about, and if Kyuubi no longer posed a threat, no matter how much the great demon said in the contrary. After leaving the Hokage tower he went straight toward Training Ground 7.

'So what am I going to do for this 'training' you have planned, Kyuubi?' Naruto asked, his Bijuu doing some mild stretches to prepare for whatever training Kyuubi had planned.

"I already told you, you are going to learn how to control your chakra perfectly." Kyuubi grunted.

'Eh? But I've already done the tree walking exercise, what else is there?' the blond boy asked again.

"BAKA!" Kyuubi roared, "Do you honestly think that pathetic little exercise will give you the chakra control necessary for your reserves!"

"No," Naruto stated calmly, "I just wanted to see how you would react." He finished with a sight smirk, and amusement clearly evident in his voice over the fact he could get such a reaction out of the Great Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Kyuubi let out a low growl before he just grunted in annoyance. "Enough messing around Naruto," the red kitsune growled out, "Your Chakra control training will start with you creating 10 Shadow clones and have them work on the tree walking exercise, I'll also explain to you the next step in Chakra control that you humans use the water walking exercise another 10 Shadow clones will work on that, lastly you'll be working on meditation."

'Um…?' Naruto began, 'A couple of questions Kyuubi. Why all the Shadow clones?'

"Baka, have you really not noticed what happens every time you use those damned clones of yours?"

'…'

"All that they learn and experience, that doesn't do with muscle development, is transferred into that void you call a head once they dispel." The fox demon explained with a tired sigh.

'Oh,' Naruto thought, just than realizing what Kyuubi was talking about, 'Than what's the point of the meditation?' he asked.

"The meditation will help you get a feel for your chakra while it is still inside your body. By getting a better feel for it you'll notice the subtle differences that happen when you use it for one of your ninja techniques." Kyuubi explained.

"Hey I thought you didn't know anything about justus, how do you know what happens to chakra when they are used in them?" the sapphire eyed boy questioned, as he remembered what the Kyuubi said before about not knowing any jutsu.

"I said I didn't know any jutsu, not that I didn't know anything about them. As for how I know about what happens to the chakra used in jutsu, you are not my first container Naruto I've spent enough time in you pathetic ningen to notice the shifts in your chakra." Kyuubi replied.

"Really?" Naruto asked in wonder, "How many other people were you sealed in and who were they?"

"That doesn't matter get started on your training, now." Kyuubi growled.

Naruto let out a sigh before answer, already knowing it would pointless to ask the Kyuubi anything else, 'Hai, hai.'

It had been about a week and a half since Kyuubi had Naruto start his training and it had gone well so far he already had water walking mastered, he was now working on doing varies exercise while trying to keep himself from falling into the river located at Training ground 7. Kakashi had also come through and had given Naruto a couple of scrolls on both Fire jutsu and Fire manipulation, Shadow clones again proved to be very useful to speed of the time it took to learn either technique.

It was the night of the full moon and Naruto stared up at it in the middle of the sky his six golden wings out. Every night after training Naruto would spend a couple of hours flying over the city, only when he was sure a majority of the village was asleep to keep his Kekkei Genkai a secret for as long as possible.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping, Uzumaki?" A monotone voice asked from behind him.

"I could ask you the same thing…" Naruto began before glancing behind him with a smirk, "Gaara." Behind him stood the red haired Suna shinobi standing on a plat form of sand his hands crossed over his chest.

"Some habits are hard to kill," Gaara answered, "After not sleeping for so long it's understandable that I only need a few hours of sleep a day. And you?" the red head questioned again.

"Hmm, I'm just looking at the moon." The blond jinjuriki replied honestly, "Growing up it was my only companion when I couldn't go to sleep at night." Gaara nodded silently in understanding. With his former inability to sleep he had spent most nights looking up at the moon, though he couldn't say that the full moon ever brought him any peace since it was during that time that Shukaku would act up the most.

The two jinjuriki stayed silent for a moment just staring up at the moon one at peace with how things were at the moment, and the other at war with himself about what would happen in little under a month's time.

"Hey Gaara?" Naruto began his voice drawing Gaara out of his own thoughts. "How about you help me with my training by sparing with me. That way we can both get stronger." The fox jinjuriki suggested. Gaara stared at Naruto for a moment impassively before nodding his head.

"One more thing I have to know." Naruto spoke seriously.

"Yes?" Gaara asked.

"Your brother, what he has on his face its makeup isn't it?" the Konoha shinobi asked why'll looking Gaara straight in his eyes.

"…"

"…"

"Yes."

"…"

"…"

"I knew it."

Below the two young shinobi three people looked up at them. One was the only Oto shinobi who was scowling up at them, if you could see it behind the bandages that covered his head. He had planned to attack the blond idiot and take care of him before the Finals, but with the Suna shinobi joining him he knew what the result would be if he tried fighting both of them. With no other choice he decided to leave the two alone and wait for another opportunity at another time. The other two figures that were watching the two jinjuriki were the Suna team's sensei, Baki, and a silver haired shinobi with glasses that had taken part in the Chunin Exam up until the preliminaries, Kabuto.

"Looks like Gaara and Naruto-Kun are getting pretty close there," the glasses wearing shinobi observed, "Are you sure that your secret weapon will still be able to play his part during the invasion in a month?"

"Gaara knows what is expected of him don't worry about that." Baki replied just a bit irritated.

"Well we will just have to see in a month now won't we?" Kabuto retorted with a condescending smile on his face. "But I think we should do something about the person listen in on us."

"I'll take care of it." Baki stated before disappearing going after whoever was listening.

The next day found Sakura walking through the streets of Konohagakure without any specific destination in mind. With everyone on her team training for the Finals that were less than a month away she found herself without anything to do. The first couple of days after the preliminaries she had looked for Sasuke at the hospital hoping to be able to keep him company, and maybe even offer to help him train for the Finals. But by the time she had gotten there the last Uchiha had already been checked out and she couldn't find him anywhere. She also found herself frequently thinking about her other teammate, mostly thinking about how he won his match in the preliminaries against the Suna shinobi, Gaara.

"Hey Sakura!" A voice called out to her getting her attention.

Looking toward where the voice came from the pinkette was surprised to see that while she was distracted she had walked passed by the Yamanaka flower shop. Walking toward her was Ino Yamanaka a blond haired girl her age with a bang going over the right side of her face that wore a purple outfit with bandages underneath, and arm warmers. Ino was Sakura's childhood friend, but it hadn't lasted long once they discovered that they both had a crush on Sasuke Uchiha it wasn't until recently that they were able to mend their broken friendship.

"Hey Ino, what's up?" Sakura questioned her friend.

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask you something." Ino replied.

"If it's about Sasuke-Kun than you can forget it I won't tell you anything. Besides I don't know where he is." The pink haired kunoichi said annoyingly, mumbling the last part.

"Relax Forehead it's not Sasuke-Kun I want to talk to you about, it's Naruto." The blond haired kunoichi said.

"Naruto?" Sakura repeated surprised, "What do you want with Naruto? Could it be that you've finally realized that Sasuke-Kun and I were meant to be, and that you've decided to go for someone in your own league, Ino-pig." She said teasingly.

"Yare, yare it really is quite sad you keep deluding yourself like that Sakura." Ino said letting out a sigh of pity and/or disappointment with her hands on her hips, "But seriously I want to ask you something about Naruto." She finished, as the two began walking down the street.

"What is it then?" Sakura huffed in annoyance.

"I wanted to ask you about those wings Naruto had during his match with the Suna kid, Gaara, and everything else. I mean back in the academy Naruto was the 'dead last' so its kind hard to believe that he actually won." Ino said.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Ino that's the first time I've ever seen Naruto do anything like that. And all I know about it is what he told Kakashi-Sensei about it being a Kekkei Genkai he just unlocked." Sakura replied honestly.

"Really, what a letdown," Ino said disappointedly before her eyes seemed to light up and a wide smirk spread across her face. "If that's the case we'll just have to ask Naruto ourselves." She decided grabbing Sakura's hand and started dragging her in a random direction.

"Ino what are you doing, let go!" the pinkette demanded trying to free herself from her rival's grip.

"I told you Forehead girl, we're going to go ask Naruto some questions." Ino replied.

"And why do I have to go with you?" Sakura questioned.

"Like you're not as curious about all this as I am." Ino retorted. There was no way that Sakura could deny that she was curious, especially since that's exactly what she was thinking about before Ino had called her over.

"So where does he live?" Ino asked, as she stopped waiting for Sakura to tell her where the blond haired boy lived, "It's still pretty early so we might be able to catch him before he leaves his home."

"I don't know where he lives Ino." Sakura said.

Ino stared at the pink haired girl in disbelief, "Really? Geez Forehead you've been his teammate for a few months now, and you don't know where he lives?" she questioned.

"So what if I don't. Do you know where Shikamaru and Choji live?" Sakura asked back angrily.

"Of course I do Sakura it's one of the first things a good teammate should learn." Ino said a hint of anger lacing her words before sighing, "Well maybe Naruto's not home. Where would he go?"

"Probably to get some ramen at Ichiraku," Her pink haired girl answered.

"That's not all that far away." Ino commented before heading in the direction that Ichiraku was at. "If he's not there where else would he go?"

"I don't know."

"Well what does he like?" the blond haired girl asked.

"Ramen," Sakura stated.

"Sakura you could go up to anyone in the village and they could tell you that," As if to prove her point Ino went up to a random villager asked him what Naruto liked and, like she said, he answered that Naruto liked ramen. Ino then thanked the man before returning to her friends side, "What else?" Ino persisted.

"I don't know anything else Ino-pig!" Sakura said again frustration evident.

"Well what he did he say he liked during team introduction?" Ino asked.

"That he liked ramen." Sakura repeated getting tired with the constant questions being asked by her friend.

"And you haven't learned anything else about the guy who's been on your team for the last few months?" Ino asked again, as the two finally made it to Ichiraku ramen, but didn't actually expect an answer from her fellow kunoichi.

"Hello welcome to Ichiraku ramen. What can I get you?" the ramen waitress and daughter of the owner, Ayame Ichiraku, greeted the two kunoichi.

"Sorry we didn't come here to eat. We were looking for Naruto and thought he might be here." Sakura said.

"Naruto? Sorry but he hasn't been here today." Ayame answered them, "Are you two friends of his?"

"Well I'm his teammate, I'm Sakura Haruno and this is my friend Ino Yamanaka." Sakura replied introducing herself and her best friend.

"I'm Ayame it's nice to meet the two of you," the brown haired waitress said in return.

"Excuse us Ayame-San, but we have to get going." Ino said pulling the pink haired girl out of the ramen stand behind her, as Ayame waved to them goodbye before attending to another customer.

"Well there goes our only shot." Ino muttered, "I also have to get back to the store, Dad wanted me to help out at the cash register today. I'll see around Sakura." She said waving her friend goodbye before she headed back to her families store.

"Bye Ino," Sakura said before going her own way.

Now that Ino wasn't dragging her around anymore Sakura was once more left to her own thoughts. What did she actually know about her blond haired teammate? Before she hadn't really thought much of it, but by the way that Ino made it sound and by her own realization she didn't know anything about Naruto. She had been so focused on Sasuke that as far as she knew Naruto could have been showing some sort of signs of possessing a Kekkei Genkai before and she had never noticed. Naruto was her teammate and they spent several hours each day in each other's company, so shouldn't it stand to reason that she would be one of the people who knew Naruto best. She wasn't so sure about that anymore.

Before whenever she thought about the day Kakashi asked them to introduce themselves she had always thought that Naruto had said the most about himself, but now that she thought about it Naruto hadn't said anything they hadn't already known; his name, that he likes ramen, and that his dream is to be Hokage.

Sasuke had said more about himself than Naruto had. To revive his clan and kill a certain man, sure the last half was vague, but at the least he had said something about his ambition for the future that wasn't widely known.

And she,

"I hate Naruto!"

Sakura grimaced as she remembered what she said, the only thing she had actually said. She didn't really hate the cerulean eyed boy it was just that at times he got on her nerves, but that was hardly an excuse for the way she treated him most of the time. She had once said that Naruto didn't know the first thing about her, well the same was true about her she didn't know the first thing about Naruto. He had somehow graduated from the academy after having failed the exam, learned the Shadow clone jutsu, which was B-rank kinjutsu, defeated Haku somehow, and she didn't know how he did any of it since the boy never mentioned any of it.

When Sakura was once more brought out of her thoughts she noticed that she had subconsciously made her way to Training Ground 7. She almost felt like slapping herself for not suggesting this place earlier to Ino, if Naruto was going to be training for the exams than he was sure to come there at some point. It was after realizing this that Sakura noticed that Naruto wasn't by himself, but the other person wasn't their other teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, or their sensei. The other person wasn't even from Konoha and the last time Sakura had seen him he had been hell bent on killing her blond teammate. It was Gaara of the Desert.

'Is here for revenge against Naruto,' Sakura thought frantically, as it sure looked like it.

The blond haired boy was moving across the field his wings out, his shirt and jacket off and lying off to the side so they wouldn't be ripped, as he dodged tendrils of sand that were constantly trying to enclose him sending blasts fire for whenever the sand got to close. Naruto pulled out a couple of shuriken and threw them at Gaara only for the Suna shinobi's sand to come to his defense and block the shuriken before they could hit their mark. When Naruto threw the shuriken some of the sand was able to encase the Konoha genin's hand, reacting quickly Naruto created flames in the hand that was trapped turning the sand into glass that then shattered.

Sakura noticed it after a while, but the sand was moving a lot faster than she remembered. Before Naruto could at the very least get close to the red headed jinjuriki to land a hit before the sand reacted, but now it only took a couple of seconds before the sand would try and capture the winged shinobi forcing him to move away. Shaking her head to focus on what mattered Sakura pulled out a kunai and threw it toward Gaara in the hopes she would be able to help her teammate, but before it could even get close sand sprang up capturing the thrown kunai and drawing the red headed boy's attention. Sakura flinched, as she closed her eyes expecting the sand to rush towards her in order crush the life out of her. She could hear Naruto yell her name in surprise, but didn't open her eyes to look at him as she waited to feel the sand surround her only for it to never come.

"Sakura-Chan what are you doing?" she heard Naruto ask from right in front of her. Tentatively opening one of her eyes Sakura found Naruto standing in front of her with a confused look on his face. Glancing around him she found Gaara just standing there staring at the two of them impassively.

"Naruto?" she asked hesitatively, "What's going on?"

"Huh? Oh, me and Gaara are having a sparring match." Naruto answered. "So what are you doing here?" he asked her still confused about what she was doing there.

"I-I wanted to ask you some things." The pinkette replied will throwing uneasy glances at Gaara.

"Me?" Naruto asked surprised by her sudden interest in him.

"Yeah, can we talk?" she asked.

"Well…" Looking up at the sun Naruto noticed that it was about lunch time, "Sure just hang on a sec." he said, as he turned to address his fellow jinjuriki. "Hey Gaara how about we take a break for lunch? I'll meet you at Ichiraku." The cerulean eyed boy said getting a nod from Gaara.

"Fine I'll see you there Uzumaki." Gaara said in his monotonous voice before disappearing in a swirl of sand. With his sparring partner gone Naruto returned his attention back towards his pink haired teammate.

"So Sakura-Chan, what did you want to ask me?" Naruto questioned the girl, as he picked up his shirt and put it on, after he made his wings disappear.

What did she want to ask? What didn't she want to ask him? Now not only was there the mystery of his new Kekkei Genkai, but also why he was training with a guy who had initially wanted to kill him. But she also remembered her discussion with Ino and her own thoughts about not knowing anything about her teammate.

"Naruto, do you think a good teammate knows where their other teammates live?" she finally asked him uneasily.

"What?" Naruto replied completely confused.

"Earlier I was walking with Ino when we were looking for you," Sakura began her explanation, "When she asked me about where you lived I told her that I didn't know. I than asked her if she knew where Shikamaru and Choji lived she said that she did and that it was one of the first things a good teammate learns, so I wanted to know what you think." She clarified.

Naruto thought about it for a second before he answered her. "I don't think a good teammate knows where their teammates live Sakura-Chan, but it is different for Team 10 they are also good friends."

Sakura was shocked for a second by Naruto's answer. "Are you saying you don't consider us friends?"

Naruto let out a sigh, "Honestly Sakura-Chan I don't. We work well together, but that's it." He answered her.

"I see," the pink haired girl muttered quietly.

Naruto gave her a small smile, as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much Sakura-Chan, just because we haven't been friends doesn't mean we can't be now." The whisker marked boy told her.

"Yeah, I guess." Sakura said a bit hesitation still in her voice, as she gave him a small smile in return.

"How about you join me and Gaara for lunch, as a start to our friendship," Naruto offered her.

At the mention of the red head's name Sakura remembered her worries about him and chose to voice them, "Are you sure you can trust him Naruto? He almost crushed you with his sand during the preliminaries." Sakura pointed out.

Naruto chuckled slightly, as he turned to make his way to Ichiraku Sakura following behind him, "Its fine Sakura-Chan don't worry about it, besides it turned out for the best didn't it." Naruto said dismissively making Sakura sigh at how easy her blond teammate was taking hanging out with a guy that almost killed him, but if he said not to worry about it than she supposed she had no other choice, but to trust him.

AN: Alright this is over and done with please remember to review this chapter and until next time.