Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid

by DarkHeroOrion

A true force of nature arises from the lowly roots of Konoha. This child, a scion of noble birthright, is ironically shunned by his deep-seated burden. Follow along as our coming-of-age hero grows through the test of adversity and new challenges.

17. Training Daze: Part I

A/N: Good day to you all, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, I don't have much to say, so I'll spare you the details for not updating this in so long. Like I mentioned, I wasn't too particularly happy with the last chapter, but it is a start after a long period of inactivity.

Anyhow, I'll be easy on your eyes and let you read onward, since you have all been waiting in anticipation…

Recap (For those too lazy or find it too bothersome to go back and reread everything, this is for you. If not, or if you have a pretty spot-on memory, then continue reading onward):

Ever since the incident on the then-unnamed bridge in the Wave Country, Team Seven's lives were never the same.

Uzumaki Naruto, the social untouchable of Konohagakure no Sato, after knocking out Haku (who is female in this continuum), struck a deal with the powerful entity locked away in his stomach—the Kyuubi no Youko (the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox), thus gaining special features such as slit pupils, pointed ears, shaggier hair, and some centimeters taller, in addition to the manifestation of a spectral fire known as the Youkai no Enkou (Phantom Flame). However, the Kyuubi's gifts unlocked more than just establishing a mental link. Upon pillaging Gatou's impounded barge with his jounin mentor, Hatake Kakashi, Naruto stumbled upon a worn-out genealogy scroll that may possibly lead to clues surrounding his heritage, in addition to some elemental techniques and an ocher fox kit who he named Doshaburi.

Upon his return to Konoha, with Haku in tow (seeing that she had nowhere to go since her master was killed), Naruto continued to meditate to manifest the powers of the Phantom Flame, but suddenly, the entire landscape under him greatly altered—he rose up on a plateau over an iced-over moat with the wind sweeping over his crafted trees. Stunned and excited at the same time, he dashed to the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who told him about his parents—one dead (Namikaze Minato, the late Yondaime Hokage), and the other missing in action (Uzumaki Kushina, the Red Eddy of the Hidden Tide—title applicable for up to this point, until canon gets factored in later on). Realizing his position in the state of things, Naruto vowed to get stronger, in order to face the challenges that have been set for him. True to his character, he helped inspire a few individuals to get better and improve in the areas of their talents.

As the hidden noble grows in strength, outside forces want his power for their own agendas, whether it is for good or ill will. Shimura Danzou, the enigmatic leader of the Root Division of ANBU, has made one power play in broad daylight to make a grab for Naruto, which had been compromised by the target. Orochimaru, the Snake Wizard and defected Konoha ninja, has taken a keen interest in the boy after assaulting the team in the Forest of Death, even though he had other goals in mind…

Uchiha Sasuke, the talented heir of the near-extinct Uchiha clan, has had a chip on his shoulder; he has sworn vengeance for the honor of his family by exterminating his elder brother, Itachi, who wiped out the clan for reasons beyond his understanding. However, as the series progressed, the lone wolf of Team Seven has started to warm up to his comrades, and has since been struggling to find his path—the way of loneliness as an avenger, or someone who would grow strong through adversity and the dependence on the strength of others. After getting marked by Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, he has had an endless battle to keep the bloodlust and the suggestions boxed away, making sure that he used the power he was granted for better use. Meanwhile, he and his teammate have tried to decipher the mystery that was their blond-haired teammate—the one who supposedly had a bloodline prior to revealing to them that he also has access to Hyouton and Mokuton. Inwardly, though, Sasuke's growing jealousy may drive him away from Konoha faster than the dobe's attempt to push him further in their grudging respect for one another.

Haruno Sakura, the only normal element of the team, found out, through Naruto and Kakashi's raid on the impounded barge, that a side of her clan hails from shinobi lineages—one based in Kusa; the other stationed in Kirigakure. She also had the capability of channeling into a kekkei genkai known as the Uchi naru Ishi (Inner Will). The Haruno of Kusagakure delved into a branch of genjutsu that makes illusions lifelike to the point that they distort reality, known as youjutsu (dark arts or black magic) and utilizes special weapons such as four-sided sporting boomerangs and flower-petal shuriken, while the Kirigakure scrolls revealed the use of a split personality that comes about from bottling up uninhibited thoughts or actions, alongside a manifested weapon through mental duress (in Sakura's case, she has managed to gain the ability to summon and use chakrams at her disposal). The rosette-haired kunoichi-in-training has started to take her job as a ninja much more seriously, with the encouragement of her alter ego and not wanting to fall too far behind the two boys in her squad.

This is their coming-of-age adventure story…as a cohesive unit that will grow stronger under the laissez-faire tutelage of Hatake Kakashi…

Chapter Seventeen: Training Daze

(Part I)

"Kakashi," Asuma started to say as he watched his charge put up a rather shaky defense, "just what on earth is that?"

"Hm?" The Copy Ninja carefully glanced down at the arena below. The two-on-one assault just opened up with a feint leading into an ankle sweep by his rosette-haired student. "Oh, that. Well, I can't say for sure as to how it originated, but I believe it was a clan technique from a set of purloined scrolls."

"Clan techniques? Are you sure about that?" As far as the chain-smoking jounin was concerned, Haruno Sakura hailed from the civilian district of Konoha.

"Somewhat positive," Kakashi replied in earnest. "From the looks of things, she created a false body of pure chakra, similar to that of a Kage Bunshin. The upside to that form is that it may be far more advanced than your run-of-the-mill, Academy-ranked clone variant. I think it takes more hits and dishes out the beatings without immediate dispersal. However," the Copy Ninja rubbed under his chin, "something troubles me about that influx of chakra." He racked his brain while thinking aloud. "Normally, that Sakura takes over the main Sakura through a personality shift within herself, and yet, now, she forced her out in that false body…"

And then, it clicked into place when his visible eye widened from his epiphany. 'He couldn't have…'

Kakashi of the Sharingan cut over to his self-proclaimed rival with a cautious gaze. "Gai…"

The Prideful Green Beast of Konoha found himself surprised to be called upon by his youthful rival. "You called, Kakashi?"

The ashen-haired jounin's voice chilled all who were present. "I'd like to have…some words with you, after these preliminary rounds have finished. It pertains to your recklessness with divulging secrets of a certain kinjutsu to one of my pupils." For some reason, it caused the jumpsuit-wearing Gai to gulp in worry.

"If you are referring to that," the green-clad male outwardly countered in defense, "then I have specifically kept her knowledge on it to the barest minimum."

"You are aware of the fact that releasing the limiters on the human body—by force—is catastrophic and detrimental, in the long run," Kakashi quipped in a clipped fashion. "Without any assistance, she could have popped like a water balloon if she never received the proper guidance."

"Are you accusing me of negligence, Kakashi?" Gai seriously inquired, goofiness far foregone. "Because, from the way I see it, you are not in the 'high and mighty' category, when comparing my track record with yours."

"What's with all the cryptic talk," Kurenai chimed in with a furrowed brow, "and why are you two speaking so low?"

"Yeah," the blond genin added as he twirled around to face the whispering instructors. "What gives? What's with the tense atmosphere?"

"Apparently, someone," Kakashi began as he swept his suspicious look across the similar green jumpsuits toward Maito Gai, who returned it with a defiant facial expression, "taught Sakura how to tinker and manipulate the Hachimon."

The bewhiskered genin appeared puzzled. "The what?"

"…" The silence that cut through Naruto's question made tense the two who knew the nuances of the forbidden technique of debate. One scratched the side of his mask while the other started to sweat in vacillation.

"This could take longer than necessary to explain, so I'm only going over it once," the Copy Ninja lowly remarked after regaining his composure. "The Eight Celestial Chakra Gates are specific points on a person's chakra circulatory system that limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body. The basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body's limits on the functions within it. This makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon. By opening these gates, the user can surpass his own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to the body.

"The first Gate begins in the brain," the ashen-haired assassin used his forefinger and middle finger to point to the area of focus, "known as Kaimon—the Initial Gate. It unlocks the brain's limit on physical endurance and total strain on the muscles, thus providing the person with a boost of strength five times his or her capacity. It is also here that the second Gate—Kyuumon, or the Rest Gate—gets activated. This works similar to a soldier pill in that it releases the brain's limit on the body's stamina, making a battle-worn person become miraculously ready to fight as if the fight had just started.

"Gai, I need for you to turn around."

"Huh?" That caught the unitard-wearing jounin off-guard. "Why's that, my youthful rival?"

"This is a demonstration. Besides," his visible eye crinkled in amusement, "I can't reach around to touch my own back."

Kurenai rubbed her forehead, sighing within a groan.

"Does that mean you want to volunteer, Kurenai?" Kakashi asked, mirth leaking into his voice.

'I'd rather munch on makibishi,' she dourly reflected. "Oh, no, go on. I won't stop you. Go ahead and lay out their entire trump card, why don't you?"

Kakashi dutifully ignored the light sarcasm. "Moving on, along the spinal cord, we have the third—Seimon, or the Heal Gate. This releases the limit on the nervous system, which makes information travel at a faster rate and creates even more stamina; however, as a side effect, the person's skin turns red, indicating an increased blood-oxygen level."

"Sounds pretty painful," the bewhiskered blond murmured as he heard grunts from below. He took a brief glance and caught sight of the slight bout of hair-pulling before looking back.

"…It's a double-edged sword for a reason, Naruto," his mentor clarified. He then pointed to his chest. "Anyway, the next gate that can be opened is the fourth—Shoumon, the Harm Gate, which releases the limit on oxygen intake in the lungs, creating much more oxygen for the body to use. Then, the fifth, Tomon—the Limit Gate, located roughly around the same area, which releases the limit on the amount of chakra released at one time.

"Now, here's where it gets to be damaging to the body, if you're not used to zooming around the field like a bolt of lightning," the seasoned veteran commented, taking a playful jab at Gai's prowess. "The sixth—Keimon, the View Gate, removes the limit on how much fat and proteins the intestines can digest, and releases otherwise useless energy resources, giving the user even more power and stamina. Think of the body now as an inexhaustible battery that fuels a radio headset." Seeing a light bulb go off in the blond's head, he pressed on. "Around the same area, but closing in on the heart region, is the Kyoumon, or the Wonder Gate, and that removes the limit on how fast the body can move, removes wastes from dead skin cells to feces, and gives the body a much cleaner system to work with, producing even more power and stamina. This is kind of like a supernatural oil coating of chakra that enshrouds you, allowing you to move in a friction-less environment, per se.

"Last, and definitely least, is the Shimon, or the Death Gate, located right on the heart. This Gate uses up all of the body's remaining energy when opened. It makes the heart pump at maximum power and exceeds the power of every other gate, and all the power in every individual cell is used up, giving the user power well above that of any Kage. The effect only lasts temporarily, but the costs are extreme…"

"So, for a small amount of time, you get an insane amount of power, but you basically tear your body to shreds like paper, right?" Naruto asked, trying to wrap his head around the concept.

"To put it bluntly, yes, Naruto, that hits the nail on the head," Kakashi noted, hands now in his pockets and looking back down at the arena below to see how things fared for Sakura. "It's a good thing that Sakura can't open up more than two. The access to that kind of chakra helps augment that summon of hers, and nothing more."

"Easy for you to say," Naruto grumbled, ears drooping a bit. "You don't get to see her when she gets all crazy during times of the month." He shivered, fluttering his black and orange-striped jacket this way and that.

Kakashi let loose a light snicker before clarifying for his fellow ninja. "She knows what the real Sakura knows, but doesn't have the blinders on and sees things more as they are and is like her truest self. No inhibitions and no lies and a bit more sadistic. But, look on the bright side," he intoned, a twinge of laughter in his voice, but it felt like he was on the verge of eating his own words. "At least she doesn't sparkle…"

Kurenai looked mortified. "You didn't…just reference that literature…"

Now, the veteran shinobi tried his best to not cringe. It was naught but a slip of the tongue. "I did, didn't I?"

Asuma took his time to look between his colleagues. "Just what the hell are you two on about?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the arena below, Ino skidded to a grinding halt after getting pelted by a tag-team of kicks. She carefully examined both counterparts across the linoleum tiles, rubbing her scalp from the abuse from a few seconds ago.

For the most part, both Sakura and her inner persona kept relatively close in proximity and never ventured beyond a set distance apart from one another. Delving into her math skills, she easily calculated that both of her opponents never ventured beyond nine meters.

'Hm…Maybe I could play that to my advantage,' the mind-walking kunoichi reasoned as she licked her chapping lips. 'I need to draw in one of them, pin the other and force that space between the two, causing that…thing of hers to dispel.' It was a risk that she dared to take and hoped to work to her benefit.

Backed into a corner, she tested the bait.

"So," Ino spoke up after the elongated silence, "you can't beat me alone, so you have your little stunt double helping you out. Talk about unfair, Forehead…"

The cerise-haired girl merely glared in her direction, rooted to where she stood. 'She's taunting me to attack!'

"Hold back, now…" Sakura looked to see her other half recklessly charge forward, silently accepting the challenge. "Hey, wait!" She began to sprint in order to catch up to her. "This isn't part of the plan!"

The mind-walking kunoichi flew through a few hand seals to produce a couple of clones to throw the assailants off her trail while she began to drum up a plan.

In her tunnel vision, Sakura's Inner Will passed through one of the blurry afterimages and stopped her momentum by pushing against the wall.

Just as the genuine rosette dashed around the clones, guard now dropped and totally forgetting her situational awareness, she felt a pair of strong arms loop around her waist, only to shift strength into a full nelson headlock.

Jade eyes frantically darted around as she grunted and tried to pry herself loose, only to no avail.

The Yamanaka scion dragged away the original as she dispelled her own illusory bunshin. She critically gazed at Sakura's Shadow Puppet Warrior and noticed that it started to teeter and distort a bit in its matrices, but, for the most part, it remained intact.

'Wait!' Ino wondered as she began to second-guess herself. Did she drag Sakura to a long-enough distance? 'Why didn't it dispel?' A growing panic started to rise from within.

"I bet you're stumped now, huh, Ino-pig?" the budding kunoichi rhetorically asked while still in her rival's clutches. "Just because we have a critical distance between my other half and me, it doesn't mean the link is broken." She closed her mouth to keep her secrets to herself. She did not want to elaborate any more than necessary. "You're not getting anything else out of me."

As of this very moment, Yamanaka Ino realized, with widening eyes, that this Sakura before her began to create herself from the ground up and forged her own path. She was no longer that 'cry-baby' that she once knew.

"Oh, and Ino," her captive friend helpfully supplied, "you won't like that side of me when she gets angry…" In her captor's confusion, Sakura planted her ridged heel on Ino's toes, which caused her to yelp in pain and forced her to release her headlock.

This caused the hobbling Ino to take a glance at the brunette Sakura look-alike, who had her hands in a wacky symbol that was not familiar to her.

"Hope you like what I got cooking up for you, Ino-chan," the inner ego cooed as visible creeper vines erupted from her spot on the floor, making a beeline for the stunned kunoichi in the purple garb. 'Youjutsu Magen: Tsuta Wana no Jutsu…success…'

The sudden appearance of the Dark Art Demonic Illusion: Ivy Snare Technique baffled, confused, or shocked the surrounding audience. Some speculated that she might have been a hidden Senju in plain sight due to that display of power. The genjutsu felt way too real for it to be artificial. Others, on the other hand, stood nonplussed, thinking that Konoha boldly showed off a Mokuton kunoichi just to rub it in the faces of their current allies.

'How can everyone see this illusory technique even if it wasn't cast on all of us?' Kurenai errantly thought as she tried to dissect the mechanics of such an intricate jutsu. She tapped her hands into a clapping gesture before holding them together under her nose. 'That is such a unique and impressive genjutsu for one so young. Plus, she also makes it seem lifelike…almost like another Yakumo…' Intrigued, and trying her best to refrain from reminiscing on a former protégé, she glanced at her fellow jounin, who now held a critical eye on the watershed of the fight. 'Kakashi, just what did you teach those kids of yours?'

XXXXXXXXXX

The purple-clad kunoichi struggled against these tenacious vines that were only figments of her imagination, but the reality-warping surrounding this strange technique kept her locked in place while her arms were forced apart and held to her sides.

The real Sakura, now alone and replenished of some of her lost energy from the integration of her two personas, sauntered up to her friend and rival and whipped out a kunai from her holster, resting the trowel-like knife against her exposed throat for one clean cut. Her hands did not falter in the slightest. No needs were necessary.

Yamanaka Ino conceded victory to Haruno Sakura with a subtle, "I forfeit."

XXXXXXXXXX

"I really don't believe what I'm seeing!" Asuma bellowed, wishing he had a cigarette, but someone had forced him—rather harshly—to not carry them. Either way, how the hell did Gai manage to keep things on his person with this skin-tight outfit, flak jacket notwithstanding?

The red-eyed genjutsu expert of Konoha simply shook her head in amazement and wonder. "Uncanny," she voiced out loud, still feeling a bit uncomfortable with Gai's spare jumpsuit contouring to her curves. "Kakashi, what's your secret?"

Said elite jounin looked to his compatriots with a feigned interest. On the inside, however, he beamed with pride for two of his genin to go to the final rounds. "Hm?"

"Your secret method to training your kids…" Asuma briefly cut in, trying to weasel answers out of the normally unflappable Copy Ninja. "We thought that you had a run-in with bad luck to get the most dysfunctional squad in quite a while. Now, you got them kicking ass and taking names while hardly breaking a sweat."

Kakashi just gave them a lazy shrug in response. "I just…let them loose. That's all. There's nothing profound about it." He got comfortable by leaning against the peridot-toned walls. "I just let them grow on their own, but if they want advice, then I'll always be on hand to give them a word or two."

'That is, if I feel like it,' Kakashi reflected, though he dared not to voice that opinion. He got slightly distracted when the two kunoichi walked up the stairs in mixed spirits—one of joy, and the other, of disappointment. "Speak of the she-devils, here come our girls. Good job, Sakura. I never doubted you for a second."

Sakura's cheeks grew scarlet from the unreserved praise from her jounin instructor. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei…"

"Don't slack off now, Billboard Brow," Ino sniffed, "because I will be ready the next time we fight."

A warrior-like aura radiated from the green-eyed bookworm as she rounded her sight to cyan orbs. "Bring it."

The electronic board revealed a new set of names once the randomization was complete:

INUZUKA KIBA versus UZUMAKI NARUTO

The pointy-eared blond let loose a fang-toothed grin as his ears rose up. His adrenaline started to spike as he psyched himself up in excitement. "It's about time!" He turned down to his fox familiar, tightening the orange-clothed forehead protector that held his shaggy hair in place. "Doshaburi, I need you to stay up here. Be my eyes from up top, okay?"

The ocher-hued canine yipped in assent, but his steel-gray eyes displayed a small sadness. 'Are you sure, Master Naruto?'

'Positive,' he affirmed through their mental link. 'With what I got planned, I think you should stay up here.'

"Don't worry, though," he avowed once more with a huge smile. "I won't be long. Trust me." Soon after hearing some well-wishes for good luck, he launched himself over the railing, followed by a series of front flips, and deftly landed onto the tiles below in a hunched-over crouch, black windbreaker with orange stripes racing down the arms fluttering open and exposing his black T-shirt.

His sharp eyes looked up at his opponent, who he had just heard snort. "What's the matter, Kitsune-kun?" Kiba snidely asked. "Giving yourself a handicap?" The brash dog-user perched his body on the railing and smirked. "Heh…Like you really need one, anyway. Come on, Akamaru! We got this in the bag, right?"

His small, white quadruped let loose a small bark, but it did not have a lot of confidence backed behind it, compared to his master.

Once Kiba landed with a heavy thud before his line of sight, Naruto righted himself and checked his claw-like nails. "Don't call it too early, Dog-Breath," the bewhiskered ninja coolly intoned. "You just might be the one picking your teeth off the floor when your head finishes polishing it." Here, he smirked to get a rise out of the canine-themed ninja…just like his sensei normally did to Gai.

His response was predictable, for the Inuzuka growled as he glared daggers in his direction. "We'll see. Come on! I've been itching for a fight, and I get to pummel you into the ground. It's a win-win for me!"

"If you two are ready," Hayate interjected after a fit of coughing, "then let this preliminary match begin!"

The shaggy-haired brunet did not need to get goaded to attack. Immediately, he got on all fours as a surge of chakra had reverberated about his frame and launched himself into a headlong charge.

Not one to be outdone, Naruto calmed himself down as he took note of the shortening distance between his adversary and him. The blue-eyed genin reasoned that Kiba merely acted on impulse to protect Hinata-chan's honor and wanted to retaliate.

'But I didn't do anything to her…' he sweetly reflected. 'She sure did feel nice, though…' He pushed that thought aside. 'Gotta focus!'

Within striking distance, the spiky-haired blond leapt into action by somersaulting over the charging Inuzuka's head and nimbly landed, spinning around to not expose his back to his opponent—a lesson learned from his jounin-sensei.

"Is that all you got, Kiba?" Naruto inquired with an uninterested expression as Kiba swiveled on a pivot to face him. "You're boring me." He then hummed in thought. "Maybe I'd get a better challenge if I fought Akamaru."

The brazen boy howled for Naruto's head as he spun in a whirling vortex of gray and white.

'Was I really this bad before?' the last Uzumaki wondered in retrospection. He saw his past self in the boy that stood before him. 'Any simple little jab set me off like that?' He smirked as he used a small burst of wind to strafe to the side, narrowly dodging the incoming Tsuuga. 'I should piss off my foes like this more often…'

"Hold still!" Kiba barked.

"Make me!" Naruto responded in a singsong tone.

The overconfident brunet procured a quartet of smoke bombs and hurled them at Naruto's feet. "Time for our special, Akamaru! Get ready!"

With a flash of white, an opaque cloud of gas erupted from the dark spheres when Naruto started to cough and gag a bit. He kept his cool as he stood rooted to the spot as the smoke enveloped him. It reminded him of the bout on the bridge all over again.

'Well, when your sight is cut, then use your other senses…Thanks for the tip, Sensei…'

Naruto concentrated and strained his elongated ears, now perked up and twitching, for any sounds of movement coming his way. He was not left with silence for long as he heard claws scrape against the hard tiles before scratching to a halt. 'That must be Akamaru waiting for me once I leave this damn smoke…'

Almost at a ninety-degree angle from where he estimated Akamaru had positioned himself, a slight ruffling of clothing—probably a jacket—caught Naruto's attention and lashed out with his clawed digits, easily trapping Kiba's balled fist into his open one.

"You think this would have done me in?" Naruto coldly retorted as his grip never wavered. "Well, think again!" With a hefty bellow, he hurled the slightly taller dog-user out of the gas cloud. To up the ante, he summoned a Kage Bunshin to intercept Kiba's alabaster-furred friend.

'Damn it…my chakra control is still shot to hell!' Naruto yelled from within, feeling the harsh tug on his reserves. Even if he restored his energy handling by about six percent, he still had a long way to go to return to normal…and have access of his Mokuton and Hyouton powers once more. 'Orochimaru…you will pay when I get stronger…' he vowed as a shadow of a sour look appeared and vanished just as quickly. There was no need to act all emotional.

That was best left for someone like Sasuke, even though the brooding brunet refused to admit it.

Anyway, for now, he had Suiton and Fuuton on which to rely, which should be more than enough to knock Kiba off his high horse. Using the Phantom Flame—the otherworldly fire granted to him by his neurotic tenant—in this situation would be overkill. He was not the goof-ball and dropout that everyone perceived him to be…not anymore, at least. 'Oh, well, time to kick it up a notch and show them what I can do…'

Like a spinning top, Naruto twirled around twice and stayed in place, channeling wind-natured chakra to blow away the hazy fog. He wondered what held up his shadow clone, only to find out that, despite small scratches lining its arms, it managed to subdue the small puppy without petering out in white vapors.

"Huh…I think you misplaced something, Kiba," the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko deadpanned. "What should I do with it? Hm…"

'Man, I really need to stop acting like Kakashi-sensei…'

Kiba gnashed together his teeth before pausing. Suddenly, he smirked as he perused his utility pouch situated on the back of his right hip. "I got a treat for you…" He whipped out another dark pellet, but Naruto noted that it had a blue coating.

'A soldier pill?' the pointy-eared genin realized until it was too late. The capsule in question landed home in Akamaru's mouth. His ivory coat shifted to a carmine pelt before violently kicking his clone in the gut, dispelling him in the process, and bolted to his master. 'Oh, no wonder he's called Akamaru…'

"You know, I'm really getting tired of all those little balls that you keep tossing around. Are you a juggler in secret, or are you inferring that you're…you know?" Naruto asked rather flippantly.

The shaggy-haired brunet snarled in disgust as he popped one into his own mouth, almost immediately spiking his chakra twofold. "Says the one who kissed Sasuke!" he snapped back.

That hit a sore spot with Naruto. "Th-that was an accident!" he indignantly sputtered. He had then cleared his throat to assume his pseudo-aloof nature. "Well, the same couldn't be said about your pretty hot sister, on the other hand…"

Now, Kiba started to see red. A boiling rage spilled over on his face. "I'm gonna put you six feet under, bastard! Akamaru, let's do this!"

"Juujin Bunshin!"

Right before Naruto's eyes, the red pup transformed into a perfect doppelganger of his master, who was now hunched over on Kiba's back and ready to pounce.

Naruto swallowed thickly as twin vortices encroached on his position…and fast. "I guess I hurt whatever was left of your little heap of pride…if there ever was any…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"That kid has quite the motor mouth on him, doesn't he?" Anko asked the Hokage while holding the headset's speaker away from her head. She was pretty impressed with his act of subjugating those tigers in the Forest of Death with his mere presence…in tandem with the Kyuubi's essence, of course. She owed him one for the save, even though she did not want to return the favor…well, maybe not now, at least.

Now, he taunted his foe to attack him while not expending a lot of energy in return. It was pretty clever, if she had to think on that.

"I'm afraid so, yes," Hiruzen muttered, sounding resigned, gazing at how adroitly his surrogate grandson spiraled between the whirling dervishes of fangs and claws. "Why else would he be called the Mouth that Roared?"

"I can think of three good reasons," the amethyst-haired kunoichi purred, licking her lips in a sensual fashion.

The Sandaime Hokage merely sighed, not really in the mood to hear such nonsense. He really wished he had his pipe, but alas, he had stashed it back in the Hokage Tower.

XXXXXXXXXX

Up in the rafters, Kurenai shook her head in resignation. "I think this match is just about over. There won't be a perfect run for your genin team."

Kakashi looked at her like she grew a second head. "Why's that? From what I can tell, I'm going for that perfect trio to make it into the final rounds."

"Looks like you're underestimating Kiba," the genjutsu expert of Konoha remarked in a condescending tone. "Once he's in that state, he channels twice as much chakra, which means he hits harder and runs faster. His senses are also sharper." She turned to the ashen-haired assassin. "Face it: this is where the buck stops for your little pet project."

"Naruto will beat Kiba," Kakashi declared with steady conviction. "I assure you that Naruto has been holding back, waiting for his moment for your genin to slip up, and it looks like it's time for the closer." The upturned eye began to irritate the red-eyed beauty. "By the way, I'd like to have my cash up front, when you lose the bet."

Kurenai wondered just why Kakashi acted so hip and upbeat all the time…

'Ugh!' she groaned inside her head. 'Gai's starting to rub off on me!' She kept telling herself that it was not due to the green jumpsuits that she and Asuma currently wore due to a luck-of-the-draw bet some time ago. Kakashi, the ever-lucky one after his string of misfortunes in the past, managed to bag three shinobi with special abilities—one with the Sharingan, one with two rumored kekkei genkai, and a girl with a multiple personality disorder, which her bloodline ability was all along, plus clan-related techniques that greatly intrigued her to no end.

XXXXXXXXXX

For the majority of the fight, Uzumaki Naruto egged on Inuzuka Kiba into attacking him in a blind rage and effortlessly evaded most of the debilitating blows, minus a scratch here and there; nothing that the bizarre tenant in his gut could not handle.

He found it strangely out of place that his nine-tailed prisoner kept quiet for this entire time. He assumed that he was probably asleep or doing something that did not involve tormenting his charge. 'Maybe playing with puppets, but I don't think that'd make sense…'

Either way, he was having fun. For a split second, he almost mimicked his adversary by using wind chakra to spin against the grinding tornadoes to create a bastardized variant of Kiba's special jutsu.

That gave him an idea to simmer on for later.

'Don't play with your prey, boy…'

'Oh, so you're awake. Why the silent act all of a sudden?' Naruto blinked as he skidded to a stop from another barrage of slashes from the dog-using ninja.

The demon monarch shook its vermilion pelt and bristled as his maw gaped in a yawn. 'I was merely…observing…You are starting to become like me.'

'Is it due to our merging?' the blond asked as he rolled away from an angry swipe from either Kiba or Akamaru. Which one was up for debate.

'Perhaps,' he cryptically answered. 'Don't be too arrogant, lest you get knocked down a peg or two. Take it from me, runt: pride precedes the fall, and you are no different.'

'Okay…' His excitement had evened out somewhat after getting his spirits doused. He noted that there was a controlled frenzy in Kiba and Akamaru's attack patterns. The strategy seemed pretty clear-cut and simple: divide, conquer, and overwhelm through the numbers game.

Luckily, for Naruto, he could easily match that and then some…

'Time to put an end to this fight…'

With a shift of his fingers into the half-Tiger seals, he willed his chakra to manifest at least twenty copies to throw off the attacking duo. With a mental command, his copies went to work.

While his Kage Bunshin took some time for him to sit back and think, he channeled a bit of chakra into the tips of his fingers and fished into his utility pouch, feeling for a wide sheet of paper.

'Almost…there…' Naruto rubbed against the sheet in question, with a few elevated spots etched onto it. 'Got it!'

If Kiba's senses were heightened like his, then he knew that this would work…as sneaky and underhanded as it was. Well, they were ninja, he rationalized; deception slept beside their profession like a comforting lover.

Shoving aside the bombarding memories when his doppelgangers got forcefully dispersed, the blond enigma tapped his essence-enriched hand on the sheet of paper, and, with a distinct pop, pulled the mysterious object through the zipper.

XXXXXXXXXX

Morino Ibiki, commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, donned a surprised look on his face when he noticed a gray apparatus appear in the fighting blond's hand. 'Now, how in the blue hell did he get a hold of a gas mask? I thought we kept those locked up in ANBU inventory…'

The boy was most certainly full of surprises. He just shook his head and grunted. 'You're surely a sly crook, Uzumaki Naruto…'

XXXXXXXXXX

Aforementioned blond ninja pulled the straps over his head and forced down the facial covering. "Here goes nothing," he softly grumbled as he dug deeper into his miniature tool bag, procuring three yellow-tinted spheres just as the last of his clones served their purpose.

There was a reason why he chose to keep Dosha-chan up above.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kurenai looked stunned beyond belief, if her wide eyes indicated anything. "Sulfur pellets?"

Asuma could not help but flinch for the ninja that would get the receiving end of that. "No…Looks like modified stink bombs…with sulfur as the base."

"Looks like this match…is in the bag," Kakashi evenly retorted, chuckling a bit at his own witty pun. Asuma joined in, albeit edgily.

Kurenai rubbed the skin above her nose, eyes closed.

Gai issuing his garbled platitudes and pats on the shoulder for comfort was definitely unwanted, in her opinion.

Asuma shifted his upper body in a lean toward Kakashi's ear. "Overkill, much?" he asked, hand cupped over his whisper.

Kakashi did not have to use his implanted Sharingan eye to tell how this would end. "Nah…"

XXXXXXXXXX

The bewhiskered genin unknowingly smirked when Kiba and Akamaru's tired eyes rounded on him, charging again on all fours.

"Sorry, Kiba," Naruto halfheartedly apologized, voice muffled from the apparatus and locked-in grin hidden from view, "but I gotta give you some humble pie that I've been baking for you. Watch out, now…" He then tossed the pellets in their trajectory path. "It's gonna smell…stinky…like, the rotten egg kind…"

The initial contact of the tiles to the volatile stink bombs set them off, emitting a yellow-greenish cloud of gas that obscured the blond's view from his attackers, who tried to stop their forward momentum, but got caught in the miasma of noxious odors. The sounds of gagging, choking and crying erupted in full force, followed by a loud poof, which might have been the end of Akamaru's transformation, Naruto assumed.

The unnerving cloud of sulfates lifted and evenly dispersed around the arena floor after a few seconds, leaving the real Kiba hacking up half his lung from the magnified contact, and Akamaru toppling over on one side, hind leg twitching and jerking any which way. He was not getting back up any time soon, the blond thought, trying his best to conceal his wince.

'I'll give him a doggy treat, just to show him no hard feelings…' he willfully thought, but tried not to feel too cold-blooded.

Naruto took off his gas mask and stuffed it back into the storage seal and heaved an airy sigh. Now, he gazed at Kiba in a way that made him look rather threatening. Those blue eyes assumed a frosty edge from the dog-user's watery ones. "Time to put you out of your misery, too, Dog-Breath. Good run, though."

Following through, the pointy-eared ninja ran in a full sprint to meet the dazed boy head-on, dodging under a sluggish swipe as a shoddy means of defense as he invaded Kiba's personal space. Naruto's balled-up fist collided with his foe's jaw, easily knocking him back and off his feet.

The whisker-marks did not stop there. He summoned five Shadow Clones for his grand finale.

To keep the canine-themed ninja off balance, one clone performed a rounding sweep kick to heave Kiba's legs over his field of vision. "U!" it shouted.

Another clone slid under the shaggy brunet to deliver a powerful thrust kick, driving the now-semi-conscious boy five meters into the air. "Zu!" it bellowed afterward.

The original Naruto piggybacked off one of his awaiting clones to launch himself into the air for a bit of hang time while another clone rushed in and hopped off the downed copy's sandal to bump Kiba higher. "Ma!" it screamed at the top of its lungs, delivering a swift uppercut for emphasis.

The authentic one stuck a bit to the wall at the distance where he thought he would meet the dazed Inuzuka as the last clone grabbed Kiba's legs and, with a twisted corkscrew flip, sent him even higher, but upright this time. "Ki!" it exclaimed in burning determination.

Seeing Kiba's chest now exposed, the genuine-article Uzumaki Naruto zipped off the wall right under the rafters to meet him in his element as he fell a few meters.

Powered by wind-natured chakra, Naruto twisted like a drill before having his feet find a home in Kiba's chest cavity. One unyielding kick landed on the mark with a cry of, "Naruto," followed by another wind-enchanted leg that made a bone groan in protest, but it did not fracture with another word to this vicious combo, "Reppuu…"

The last rotating flip kick, again backed by the power of the zephyrs, found its way to Kiba's skull, driving him into the unforgiving tiles below with Naruto finishing the name of his ninjutsu and taijutsu mixture, "Rendan!"

Kiba's body bounced once for good measure, before he had remained still, prostrate and unmoving. Naruto had then slowed his descent before dropping in a crouch, kunai withdrawn from his holster, ready to pounce from about a meter away from his downed opponent.

Gekkou Hayate looked on for a few seconds, rather awed at the performance, before walking up and checking the downed ninja's vital signs. He was beaten up pretty badly, but he would pull through with a little rest and relaxation.

"The winner of this match," the sickly shinobi muttered as he made a referee-like gesture with his right arm, thumb tucked into the palm and all four digits flat, and pointed in Naruto's direction, "is Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Yahoo!" he crowed as he leapt in the air with a pumped fist. Before he got too into celebrating, he gave his ocher-furred familiar—who now stood at Sakura's feet—a sidelong glance, conveying that he would get his time to shine in the later appeal rounds. For further emphasis, he gave Doshaburi a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, buddy. You'll get your time in the spotlight."

"As much as I love to see you congratulate yourself," Hayate cut in, "but we have to keep things moving right along."

"Oh, sorry," Naruto said, looking sheepish with his nervous smile. "My bad."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kiba, now coming to, groaned when the medic team picked Akamaru and him up on the stretcher to be taken away and examined for any lasting injuries. His mind restlessly wandered back to the fight.

He underestimated Uzumaki Naruto too much; he thought little of him and paid the price for that inner pride.

'I thought too high of my limits…and the bastard had to cut me down to size…'

His sharp canines grated on each other as he stewed in his inner thoughts, miffed that Fox-Boy resorted to a dirty trick to win, but that would have been calling a spade a spade. He had performance-enhancing pills to gain the upper hand, but it was all for naught; the other ninja had enough raw strength to keep the ball in his court the entire time, just for a show of humiliation. He would have taken into account Akamaru, but Naruto had his own furry familiar at his beck and call, even though the blond opted to not use him. He grimaced when his ribs ached in protest. 'I can see why…Well played, Naruto, but believe me: the next time we face off, I will beat you…'

For the moment, he did not feel certain in his resolve. He had a feeling deep within his gut that Naruto has not tapped into his full power…or, quite possibly, could not quite access it, whatever it was. Either way, it was better to have him as an ally than an enemy of the state.

As the medical ninja trotted them off, he caught sight of Hinata out of his peripheral vision. She probably walked up to check on him, anyway.

"Hey, stop…" he weakly mumbled, but loud enough for the beige-colored shinobi to halt.

He saw…well, sensed a small hint of fear coming off her.

"Kiba-kun, you're hurt," she murmured with a mother-like concern.

"I'll be fine, Hinata," he assured. "It's actually you that I'm worried about." He wheezed a bit as he steadied his breaths. "Listen, in the event that you have to face Neji, forfeit the match…for your own safety…"

Something must have sparked within her small frame when her posture shifted into a battle-ready mode. "This is something that I must do, Kiba-kun," he heard Hinata declare with an uncharacteristic calm lining her countenance, most of the fear dissipating almost immediately.

Energy spent, the dog-user rested his head on the hammock-like gurney as the medical staff carted them off.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Hyuuga maiden had conflicting reflections over that last preliminary match.

Naruto-kun had the battle in his pocket ever since the opening attack. Inwardly, though, she felt compelled to remain neutral in the bout, for she could not decide for whom to cheer—Kiba, who was her teammate, or Naruto, the person for whom she had high hopes…the one that she admired…and was also her friend.

Once the match concluded, she made her way down to check up on Kiba.

Said canine-themed ninja had then tried to dissuade her from confronting Neji-niisan; something she now settled to do, which was to take matters into her own hands.

Through this journey of self-improvement, Hyuuga Hinata felt her changing determination bloom from deep within her. She felt stronger; even her teammates had noticed her increasing drive to adapt to all sorts of predicaments and overcome with what little resources she acquired up to this point.

After Kiba and Akamaru were taken away, she glanced up at the rafters, silently bearing witness to a cheery, bouncy blond and his energy-fueled rehash of his fight. Sakura-san looked like she wanted to slug him in the shoulder…or in the face.

She had a feeling that Naruto sensed eyes on him, for he rounded on her and gazed into her opalescent eyes, which exuded a strange tranquility, only for her to give him a pretty withering glare before following up with a slight wink. He hurt her comrade, but there were not any hard feelings.

With a single blip of the monitor above that gigantic set of hands fixed in the Ram seal, ice dropped into Hinata's gut, but swallowed to keep down the bile.

It must have been a sick twist of fate.

XXXXXXXXXX

'Girls sure are weird,' Naruto bemusedly thought, trying to decipher what was up with Hinata-chan's unspoken signals. 'Maybe she means, "You beat up my teammate, but I forgive you for taking it easy on him?" Was that what she was getting at?' He pursed his lips to mull over that.

However, before he spoke up, the ping from the electronic board took away his attention. Then, his mouth etched into a thin line. 'Uh-oh…'

She got paired up to lock horns with last year's Rookie of the Year…Hyuuga Neji…

XXXXXXXXXX

Now set and ready to go, the two Byakugan wielders stared at one another without blinking. Hinata, the underdog of this fight, had a serene look donned upon her smooth face, while the callous Neji held within him a restrained, sub-zero rage that threatened to mar his hardened features.

The elder Hyuuga then took in his opponent's facial expressions.

The exiled daughter of the clan head had an atypical calmness around the eyes, which shone with an odd focus that somehow maintained that elegant look. That same look made his blood boil; it made him want to knock all of that out of her to show her that she would never defy destiny.

"I'm glad to have this match with you…Hinata-sama," the brunet bit in a chilling manner.

He then noticed her eyes slightly alter, almost like she…pitied him. "It doesn't have to end this way, Neji-niisan," the smaller of the two softly uttered, low enough to keep out unwanted eavesdroppers.

Apparently, the Juuken genius allowed her olive-branch approach to pass through one ear and out the other. "What gives you the right to dictate what fate has decreed?" he scathingly asked. "You will fall before me, if you do not back down!"

"…I see that you are hurting, brother," the heiress in limbo tenderly remarked, feeling her confidence grow in leaps and bounds. "Let me take away some of that burden…that hatred that you harbor from within…"

His plan to demoralize and force the girl to forfeit by using words alone started to slip from his fingers like running one's hand through a stream of water. His rage and murderous intent spiked to a fever pitch. He snarled and prepared to dash at her until a single finger easily held him back.

The proctor of the preliminaries was not amused by this boy's childish behavior, along with his unilateral grudge against the Main Branch Hyuuga. He felt the need to stop the boy, and to not brook any further arguments, his sickly composure belied his true strength, and wanted that to be known to Neji. "I believe I didn't officially commence the match," he evenly intoned. "You make one more move without my permission again, and I'll have you disqualified…immediately…"

The branded Hyuuga prodigy seethed, almost to the point of frothing at the mouth, lest he lose his cool and aloof demeanor. "What's this?" he hissed, cracks already forming in his distant nature. "More preferential treatment allowed to the Main Branch Hyuuga?" He bared his teeth into a jeer.

"No," the ailing swordsman calmly responded, letting go of the boy's bandaged forehead, "I'm just keeping things fair. After I signal the start of the match, you can fight it out. Is that clear?"

With that clearly hashed out, Hinata assumed a commanding stance as she bent low to the ground at the knees, pouch of water tucked near her right hip and held out her right hand, palm flat and perpendicular to her frame and right palm extended upward and taking on the hypnotic sway of a slithering serpent.

Her voice was as still as a peaceful ocean before the unsuspecting tidal wave. "I will try to resolve our issues through civil and peaceful means, for that is my way of the ninja. On this, I vow, Neji-niisan." Her pearl-colored eyes glimmered like the reflected light of a full moon, harmonic resonance washing over her body as she channeled chakra to her optical nerves to activate her bloodline gift. "Commence!" It was time to fight for that never-ending struggle for inner peace. It was time to put her newfound beliefs to the test in order to get through to her genetic half-sibling.

The long-haired brunet quickly matched her battle-ready posture with one of his own—the traditional Gentle Fist ingrained within him since when he could walk. His eyes, a grayish-white set of Byakugan, had burned with the white-hot intensity of a scorching sun. "Don't say I didn't tell you to turn back…" In a flash, the world around him flushed into a panoramic view on all sides, in varying shades of black, white and gray.

With a knife-edged chop from Hayate's fast-descending right hand to signal the start of the match, the two combatants closed the distance and put their creeds on the line.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I can almost taste the tension from all the way up here," Kakashi said rather flatly as the duo began to trade blows with one another, expertly dodging glowing palms in a fluid grace. It left him a bit mesmerized at how smooth and precise the Juuken-ryuu really was. It had been a while since he had last seen the Gentle Fist in actual combat, though.

Kurenai let loose a dejected sigh. "I was afraid of this…" She had then seen Hinata putting a bit of distance between Neji and her. To the brunette's surprise, she saw the smaller Hyuuga pop the cork of a sack-like water canteen. "Huh? What is she about to do?" Neither Kiba nor Shino told her just how far Hinata had pushed herself before entering this rigorous examination.

Naruto released an uneasy chuckle. "Oh, that?"

The genjutsu mistress of Konoha rounded on him faster than he thought possible. "You better explain yourself, Uzumaki Naruto…"

Naruto's face scrunched up, quite easily emulating that of a vulpine. "What's with the third degree, and why do you want to grill me of all people, Kurenai-sensei?" he whined in his usual fashion.

"It's because I might land myself in hot water with the Hyuuga elders!"

"I thought that Hiashi all but disowned her," Kakashi clearly interjected.

"That was what I heard!" Gai boomed with righteous passion.

"Well," the blond spoke up on his friend's behalf, kindly tuning out the other two male jounin, "it still is a form of the Gentle Fist, but with some…outdated adjustments…"

"Like what?" She spoke louder above the sounds in the arena.

"Even I'm not too sure about the inner workings and all that, but it emphasizes on an offensive defense." He touched the area around the heart. "I've seen and felt it firsthand. When she's focused, she can overwhelm you pretty quickly." A thoughtful look passed through the blond's face. "Don't sleep on her, though. She's gotten tougher, no doubt, but she still has a soft side. She shows mercy, which is very admirable, all things considered."

Sakura and Ino, feud now on temporary hiatus, could tell that Naruto spoke from the heart on that one.

'If only Sasuke-kun could think like that…' they both dreamily pondered at the same time.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata plunged into her reservoir of chakra to will the power of her nature through the canteen of water. Deftly flying through a set of hand seals, she landed on the Seal of the Dog over the opened top, forcing out the liquid into a flowing stream. She urged the energy-induced torrent to envelop her hands, creating twin whip-like extensions that soothingly spiraled around them with threatening power.

"Suiton: Shokushu Fuka!"

The newly revealed Tentacle Appendages snaked around, swirling this way and that, and it caused Neji to actually pause and rethink how to disable his cousin's tenketsu with those writhing whips of water encasing her hands like protective cocoons.

'Now, how to bypass those things…'

They looked ready to lash out at anything that crept into Hinata's range of divination.

The energy was dense around those tentacle-like extensions, upon close examination with his Byakugan. He all but strained to see the now-dimmed chakra points over the bright concentration of essence.

He would have to try the direct approach to meet her head-on.

As soon as he tried to close the distance, those serpentine whips coiled around her frame with the turning of her hands before she spun on a pivot, letting the water gush out in controlled twists and almost checked him in the face, had he not skillfully evaded the precise strike with a quick head jerk to the right. With a burst of speed backed by chakra fueling his stride, he almost landed a palm strike into her chest to disrupt her stomach. Nevertheless, the excommunicated heiress guided the water to intercept the blow, nullifying the impact like a gooey cushion. He then had to back away with a handspring as the seemingly sentient appendage attempted to grab at his ankle for a sweep.

'So they extend the range of her attack radius…Interesting…' It would be in his best interest to not lose his cool in the match, even though he felt the urge to humiliate her for the sins of her father. For now, this new, mysterious Hinata before him looked on, as calm as a placid lake…

He wanted to dissect and analyze her attack patterns, but for the moment, he could not point out any glaring weaknesses to exploit.

The brunet thought he heard a boisterous loudmouth root on his cousin, even though the results of the match always favored him in the end.

'I guess I have no other choice but force her to wall me while I wear out her reserves,' he mentally calculated in resolution. 'I know I have the higher chakra capacity, so my endurance should hold out long enough for me to disable those tenketsu…'

It was time to put his thoughts into action…and he vowed that it was his destiny to win.

XXXXXXXXXX

When five minutes elapsed, Hyuuga Neji inwardly stewed in his ire at this stalemate.

He wondered just how, exactly, was this…loser…evading his precise and carefully calculated blows.

That pathetic weakling gracefully dodged his blows and batted back his hands with that damnable water in her canteen at the same time. In the back of his mind, he knew that, even though Hinata's stances and fluid moves appeared to be as soft as that kami-forsaken liquid tucked away under her arm, those blows—were they to connect—would be powerful enough to overcome even rigid rocks. He also pondered on her circular movements; she always kept him in her line of sight and never had her back to him.

He knew that she was reaching her breaking point, for he saw some strain in her eyes, in addition to some hard breathing.

"You cannot win, Hinata-sama," he calmly uttered, cold malice running thickly through his lightly panting voice. "You're at your limit."

Those annoying eyes changed again to that forgiving stare, which almost caused him to lose it. "Like me, you have also fought against fate, Neji-niisan," she calmly intoned, stance still holding firm and on guard and liquid limbs swaying about. "However, we can change our situation…for the both of us—for the clan—and my Shugohakke: Kyokuryuu no Mai proves it."

"For the clan, you say?" Neji let loose a frigid snort as his eyes tried to burn a hole through her. "The clan took my father away!"

A look of sympathy graced her face before her mouth assumed a thin line. 'I feel that way, too, Neji-niisan…more than you know…however…'

"The difference between us is that I've found the key to the cage," she spared a look at her blue-eyed savior, who looked stunned for a brief second, before pushing onward by staring back at her cousin, for Neji needed to hear this from the horse's mouth, "while you have become content with being a prisoner moaning about his plight, brother." The bitter truth stung, but she felt the courage to utter what was weighing on her mind.

His mounting anger, once a slow simmer, began to froth over like scalding-hot water once he crossed the line of rage.

"You are within my range of Hakke…" Neji's frigid voice grated out near the indigo-haired kunoichi's ears.

Hinata neither saw the adrenaline-fueled dash into her guard nor the rain of blazing taps across her body as she felt her chakra pathways shut down almost instantly, forcing her to release the levitating water onto the tiled floor with a loud splash, now that her chakra had been blocked. Her vision swam as she tried to stay upright, but with all the energy spent, she fell over like a blade of grass in the wind, Byakugan now deactivated.

"Hinata-chan!" she heard Naruto roar above the churning murmurs of the crowd before she started to succumb to the dark throes of unconsciousness.

Closing her eyes, she saw the fang-toothed boy practically fly toward her at untold speeds. 'I hope I have changed enough, Naruto-kun…and I'm sorry for losing…'

XXXXXXXXXX

The blue-eyed genin did not know how he ended up next to Hinata, but as she started to fall over, tunnel vision overcame his senses as he rushed over the railing and clutched the kunoichi before her head had the chance to bounce off the linoleum.

He did not care if his interference had disqualified her; the victor had already been decided.

He easily shoved out the ruling of the match in Neji's favor as he nursed the indigo-haired girl in his arms. "Hinata-chan, it'll be okay…" He felt the wrist joint, trying his best to ignore the bruising dots riddling her skin, and was fortunate to feel a pulse, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief. "Rest, now…You did great…" He motioned for the medics to come and pick her up. "Come on, you sacks of lead! Double-time it, now!"

His ears twitched when he heard an emotionless snort from behind him. "That goes to show you, urchin, that you cannot defy your fate. Face the facts: a loser will always be a loser."

Naruto said nothing, but he stood up, facing away from the older shinobi, and handed off the unconscious—but stable—girl to the medical corps on standby. Once in their hands, he slowly turned around to face Hinata's assailant. The look he showed the older boy promised lots and lots of pain. "Not if, but when we face each other in the arena, I will beat you so hard into the ground that when I spit on your head, you'll grow a few centimeters…and maybe a brain, if need be."

"Don't waste your breath, you weakling," Neji sniffed. "You're out of my league."

"If it means beating up on girls and putting them down like the misogynist you are," the blue-eyed enigma retorted, teeth exposed and threatening to growl, "then yeah, I'm way out of your league, you white-eyed bastard."

A looming hostility permeated the atmosphere around the two ninja before Naruto felt a presence zip in between them. A forest-toned green invaded his vision as Rock Lee crouched down in front of him in an exaggerated three-point stance, left arm stiffly held out, like he was ready to throw down.

"Naruto-kun, we should save our strength for the finals," Lee mentioned matter-of-factly. "It will not matter who faces Neji. Between you or me, there shall be no hard feelings for whatever chance has decided."

The last of the Uzumaki looked down at Lee and then at his target across the arena floor. Uttering an animalistic growl, Naruto sneered at him like a beast off its leash before walking off, back up to the rafters. He could have sworn that he saw just a slight rise in Neji's eyes before he resumed with his detached persona. 'He reminds me too much of Sasuke…'

XXXXXXXXXX

The last two match-ups seemed to blur right after the taxing emotions running through Naruto's head finally subsided.

The eerie shinobi, Gaara, was pitted against the brash and loudmouthed Oto genin, Abumi Zaku, and, needless to say, the latter never walked away from that fight.

The lifeless eyes of Suna's hidden weapon never blinked as his attentive sand blocked the Sound ninja's sonic air waves with relative ease. As the boredom and bloodlust swelled, the Ichibi jinchuuriki willed his Mother's gift to encapsulate the then-screaming street-punk, muffling his cries to give up.

With a single, clenching fist, the room grew still. The silence was so loud that a kunai dropping would have sounded like rolling thunder. Some of the genin looked away when blood began to ooze out of the grainy pupa.

Team Sound was officially out of the competition.

Gaara swirled into dust before reappearing next to the ones who shared blood with him. Mother's craving was sated…for now.

The final match picked up steam, since it was not one-sided. Kankurou, the budding puppeteer from Sunagakure, and Tenten, the weapons aficionado from Konohagakure, squared off in an extraordinary deadlock. The last member of Team Gai used her cunning in the fight to land the knockout, but the face-painted shinobi had a few tricks up his sleeve…or, in the case of his three-eyed, four-armed puppet, Karasu, hidden in its joints.

The weapons-oriented girl saw through the clunky movements with her keen eyesight, and retaliated by sending a kunai past the body and nailing the bandages on its back, pegging the puppeteer's shoulder with a hiss. When the bun-haired brunette nicked him in the shoulder through the bundle where he positioned himself at the start of the match, Kankurou managed to pull a chakra string to let his battle marionette launch a few poisoned needles which found their way into Tenten's knee. Feeling her body beginning to lock up due to the poison, she had to hurry. She had then kept Kankurou at a far enough distance for her to set up her Soushouryuu, a particularly lethal jutsu that had within it a salvo of any and all pointed objects Tenten sealed away in her scrolls to fling at the enemy.

Before going down due to the toxin, and before the puppet-user could block, Tenten beaned Kankurou in the chest with an accurate shot from a soaring meteor hammer and shattered a few ribs, which allowed the kunoichi to scrape for a double knockout. Since both competitors were unable to battle, the match was declared a draw, and with no winner, both were unable to make the qualifying rounds to the finals.

Baki, the jounin-sensei assigned to the Yondaime Kazekage's children, held back a wince. With Kankurou out of commission, that meant that he would lose a vital soldier for the invasion.

Temari, on the other hand, displayed unmasked concern for her brother when he got smashed by that blunt-forced weapon. The redheaded kid, sadly, showed no outward display of emotion. Having multiple assassination attempts on his life growing up tended to give him…a warped perspective on the reason he lived in the first place.

Once the match had concluded, and both worthy fighters were taken to get immediate treatment, the Hokage called the remaining candidates for possible promotion to the floor, now pockmarked with cracks and potholes galore.

Hiruzen calmly gazed at the remaining ninja: Uzumaki Naruto, who had a slight scowl on his face and Doshaburi resting on his head; Nara Shikamaru, who looked rather thoughtful; Sabaku no Gaara, who appeared bored; Hyuuga Neji, who donned an impassive visage that did not reveal what he was thinking, at all; Rock Lee, who could not contain his excitement as his shoulders twitched in jitters; Haruno Sakura, who seemed content on making it one step closer to improving herself; Aburame Shino, whose look could not be determined due to the high cowl obscuring his face and dark-tinted sunglasses that kept away his eyes from the world; and Temari, whose hazel-green eyes glanced around at the competition.

'Hm…' the Third Fire Shadow pondered. 'Including Uchiha Sasuke, we have seven from Konoha—with a full rookie genin cell, no less, which is unprecedented—and two from Suna…'

"To all of you who won the rights to compete in the third-round test of the Chuunin Selection Examinations…" Hayate announced before coughing to clear his lungs, "one of you is missing, but…congratulations to you all!"

XXXXXXXXXX

The jounin instructors stood up on the rafters to take in the remainder of the entrants—out of the seventy-two that entered, only one-eighth were left standing.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was going on.

"Say, guys, if I miss anything important, be sure to relay it to me later," he distractedly said before channeling his energy into a hand seal. "I…have to go check on something…" With that, he activated the ever-so-handy Shunshin no Jutsu to propel himself to incredible bursts of speed to Konoha Hospital.

"What's gotten into him?" Asuma asked once the awkward moment passed.

The other two jounin shrugged, not knowing anything, either.

The ice-producing kunoichi considered following her savior's mentor, and, without a sound or anyone thinking the wiser, Haku summoned a mirror of crystalline ice, jumped back, and vanished.

XXXXXXXXXX

The swordsman asked for permission to explain the next segment, but the Sandaime wanted to take things over from here.

"As I told you before," Hiruzen piped up, getting the attention of the participants, "in the main event, your performance matches will be seen by everybody. Each of you will fight to represent the strength of your countries. I'd like you all to show what you are made of, which is why the finals…will be held one month from now, on the seventh of August."

"You mean…" Sakura appeared hopeful, "we're not going to do it right now?"

The Professor imperceptibly nodded as he slowly moved a few paces to the right. "This break from action, you can say, will be used for preparations, meaning, in addition to notifying the feudal lords and shinobi leaders abroad on this event, we're giving this time for you to prepare yourselves." Seeing a confused look from Rock Lee, the Sandaime Hokage pressed on. "I'm sure that some of you have already revealed your entire arsenal you have for right now. This month off will give you some time to formulate strategies by what you already know about your possible opponents. There are those who faced off against a tough foe and came out injured. So, in sum, take a break now and again to rest your bones and come up with plans on how to cope in these combat-type situations."

The befuddled gazes thrown his way started to fade away. "And that's the way it is…Now, then, I'd like to dismiss you, but there's something else I must do that is for the final trial…"

Naruto urged himself to keep quiet, even though he wanted to protest and get down to training as soon as possible.

"Anko is coming around with a box filled with slips of paper, so each of you, take one."

"I'll come around, so wait your turn," she spoke as if she wanted to get out of there, too.

After the lady snake-charmer went down the line (and giving Naruto a wink, which made him shudder), Hiruzen droned on, with Ibiki now at his side. "So, you all have slips of paper. Now, starting from left to right, I'd like you to tell me the number on them."

Naruto was the first up. "I've got one, like always." He showed off his pearly-whites for good measure.

Shikamaru sighed. "It's three."

Gaara listlessly uttered, "Five…"

Neji calmly answered, "Two."

Lee let out a boisterous whoop, "Eight!"

Sakura perked up a bit. "I have seven."

Shino's eyebrows jutted upward. "Nine."

Temari grunted. "Four."

Ibiki now looked at his scribbling on the sheet of paper. "That means he's number six, then…"

"Great!" The Hokage beamed while he clapped his hands into a cup. "I will now reveal to you…the final tournament!"

Stupefied looks zoomed around the participants as the realization dawned on them.

"You mean to tell me we've drawn slots for our opponents next month?" the lazy genius shouted, showing another side of him other than sheer boredom.

"Now, Ibiki," the Sandaime intoned, ignoring the outbursts with a smile, "show them the arrangements of the matches."

And showed them, he did. He twisted his wrist to show the brackets on the clipboard.

First up on the roster of chuunin hopefuls that were chosen to duke it out were Uzumaki Naruto and…Hyuuga Neji.

The blue-eyed genin's frame radiated determination. 'Me…against that bastard who thinks he's so tough?' He turned to glare into the other boy's profile. 'Bring it on!'

The long-haired brunet, however, had one word going through his head as he smirked. 'Perfect…' Now, he would show the class clown what it meant to fall by the hands of fate.

Following their match, the lazy deer-rancher, Nara Shikamaru, had to go one-on-one with the Desert Flower, Temari.

'Ugh…' he groaned with a hand dragging down his face. 'Of all the match-ups, I gotta face off against a girl?' He would protest, but complaining was too troublesome, and he could not be bothered. 'Well,' he turned to see Sakura sweat profusely, 'at least I know who my next opponent is going to be…'

Next up on the role call were Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke, which probably was the headline match in the upcoming month—the last of the Uchiha versus the coldhearted Yondaime Kazekage's son. A strange look overcame Gaara's face and shifted his body language to match it.

Standing alone in the bracket was the Shadow Blossom, Haruno Sakura, who would take on the winner of the last set—either between Aburame Shino…or her part-time mentor, Rock Lee.

She felt uneasy, for some reason. Either way, she could possibly lose against one or the other, since she not only had less chakra potential than those two, but, being males, they had more resilience and bounced back when things got tough. Shino had the power to zap her dry from a distance, and Lee had the force to pound her into mush.

"Well, then," the wizened leader of the Hidden Leaf chimed in after a small period of reflection, "you're free to start strategizing or resting, if you like. With this, I'll dismiss you…unless you have any questions?"

"Can I ask one?" Shikamaru droned with a limp hand up.

"Why, yes! Go ahead, Shikamaru-kun."

"Since this is a tournament, there can only be one winner, right? Which means only one person can ascend to the chuunin rank, correct?"

"No," Hiruzen quickly uttered in response, grasping his hands behind his back, "that's not quite it. You see, there will be judges, which will consist of the Kazekage, lords of various countries that will make mission requests, other ninja leaders, and me, who will be watching the final trial. Throughout the tournament, we will be evaluating your skills. Those judged to have the required qualities of a chuunin will be promoted to that rank, even if he—or she—does not win the first match."

"So," Temari decided to supply some input, "you mean that everyone will have a shot to be a chuunin?"

"Yes," the Hokage answered, turning to the dirty blonde, "but, on that same regard, there is the chance that none of you will become chuunin. To advance in the tournament means you get more opportunities to appeal to the judges if you have what it takes to ascend the ninja ranks." His sharp eyes landed squarely back to the pineapple-haired genin. "Do you understand, Shikamaru-kun?"

'Geez, man,' he sourly ruminated, feeling as if he had gotten a roundabout answer, 'what a hassle…'

"Well, then, thanks for all the efforts you exuded for these phases. You are all dismissed until a month from now!" the wrinkled Fire Shadow boomed with gusto.

XXXXXXXXXX

At around five o'clock that evening, and after getting released to rest up or train, Naruto and Sakura looked around for two familiar faces around the arena, only to turn up empty.

"You don't see either Kakashi-sensei or Haku-chan, do you, Sakura?" the blond asked the rosette, only to get a non-verbal 'no' from her.

"They're gone. What do you think happened?" Somehow, she had a feeling welling up beneath her veins that something was amiss.

"No clue, but we shouldn't let their absence eat up our preparation time!" Naruto cheekily added to ease the odd sensation growing deep in his gut. "But first, I think I'll go see Hinata-chan at the hospital, just to see if she's okay."

Just as he was about to leave, his teammate made him stop in his tracks. "You worry about her, don't you?" Sakura innocently asked.

"Wouldn't you be if you were her friend?" the whisker-marks countered. "Or in the worst-case scenario: what if you were the one laid up in bed due to an opponent you couldn't beat?"

"…You got a point," Sakura conceded. "I'll go see if I can track down Haku-neesan." She turned to walk away. "I'll be seeing you…"

"Yeah…sure…" he absentmindedly tacked on after she already departed. 'Something's in the air…and I don't like it…'

XXXXXXXXXX

Thirty minutes later, the bewhiskered genin, with fox familiar in tow, ambled through the doors of Konoha Hospital to see if his friend had any visitors.

"What?" he lowly croaked, trying his best not to yell to respect the wards. "What do you mean she can't have any guests?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but Hinata-sama is being treated right now," the receptionist, a mousy-brown-haired civilian, apologetically relayed to him. "Maybe you can come by tomorrow, if you'd like."

He then let loose a tired huff. "Is Sasuke ready to see visitors, too, Natsuki-neechan?"

The desk clerk, Yamashita Natsuki, mimicked his action. "I'm sorry, but he isn't allowed any visitors, either."

"Why can't I see my bro, if I can't see my friend?" the blond practically demanded.

"…" She skittishly looked around, eyes frantically darting to notice something that Naruto could not. "I'm not at liberty to discuss it."

'Well, time for the trump card…' The blue-eyed genin threw on his sad, puppy-dog look that appeared more like a kicked fox, instead. "You're not going to say, even for little ol' me, Natsuki-neechan?" For collateral, he picked up his tawny canine and presented her to him. "Not even for Dosha-chan, either?"

He could see the woman's face try to give way to spill the details, but she did not relent. "Even if I could, Naruto-kun, I might lose my job over it."

"Oh…" A sheepish grin broke through on his face, placing his fox kit atop his cranium. "Sorry. If it would get you in trouble, then I won't bother…"

"Ah, so you're buttering up the receptionist, Naruto…"

The flat remark made the boy round on his heels to see his jounin mentor. "Kakashi-sensei, what brings you here?"

"I half-expected you to lose your cool and wake up the sleeping occupants," he added, cheery eye-smile and all, and completely ignoring the question.

Naruto then sniffed the air and could tell that his instructor got rattled due to his heightened hormone levels. "Got into a fight?"

'Damn him and his nose…' Kakashi mentally grumbled. "Don't worry about that. It's none of your concern for right now," he casually, but quickly, replied, once again deflecting a straightforward answer.

The blond then hummed. "I don't know what's eating you, but I hope it got straightened out." He missed his sensei's twitch of the lips. "While you're here, mind if I ask you something?" he prompted.

"I had a feeling you were going to ask me to train you, but…" The Copy Ninja began to rub the back of his scalp.

Naruto steadily frowned. "You're going to train the brooding bastard, aren't you?" He crossed his arms in petulant defiance. "I'm hurt, Sensei."

'I hope he's not trying to trick me through guilt…' the gray-haired shinobi tried to assure himself, but seeing the defeated appearance on Naruto's face…left him feeing weird, like he should not be playing favorites. "Hm…I got about ten minutes before your assigned tutor comes, so why don't you come with me out back?" This just might allow some clemency from his late mentor's son. 'I'm sorry, Jiraiya-sama, but I think that I should be the one to show him…that jutsu…'

"Really?" the boy asked, eyes lighting up like sapphires, until sense dawned on him. The twinkle in eyes dimmed a bit. "Wait, assigned tutor?"

"Well, I have my reasons for not training you, if you're willing to listen as we stroll around back, to the courtyard." He started walking at a sedate pace. "If you want answers, then I suggest you follow."

Noting to himself that he remained rooted to the spot, Naruto quickly shook himself from his reverie. "Oh, coming!"

The demon vessel of Konoha walked alongside his jounin instructor as he hashed out his explanations.

It boiled down to two, very simple ones, really.

First of all, unlike Neji, Gaara was an unstable shinobi who killed a ninja in the preliminaries…in front of a rather large audience, no less. The second reason was that he had unerring faith in Naruto's potential to trounce the Hyuuga prodigy when the time came. To hear that kind of praise from his sensei spoke volumes.

"Do you really think so, Sensei?" he inquired, disbelief leaking all throughout his voice.

"Of course," the son of the White Fang nonchalantly replied. "I always believe in your power, but I feel that Sasuke is going to need a slight edge to penetrate that armor of sand that Gaara possesses." He then turned to his sunny-blond charge as he slowed his gait. "If you run into Gaara, by chance, I'm sure that you can stall for time until help arrives." 'Besides, he can always soak that kid's sand and render him useless for a moment or two to breathe…'

The older ninja scoped around. "This looks like a good spot…" he murmured before coming to a complete stop.

"Good spot for what, Sensei?"

"Watch…"

The Copy Ninja calmly took his left hand and tightly grasped his right wrist, as his right palm blossomed from a fist. With a small grunt of exertion, he began to funnel chakra between his digits. Naruto watched on, in awestruck amazement, as the dense energy coalesced into a chaotic sphere of intense power, even though it was the size of an apple. The sphere spiraled around an imaginary axis just above the caster's palm before he willfully dispersed it.

Naruto, for lack of a better phrase, was tongue-tied. "Wow," was all he could say.

"This is your project, Naruto," Kakashi said as he balled his fist to loosen the tingling sensation. "I know that you probably won't get it right the first go-round, because it builds up like a set of blocks. The key to this technique follows a three-step method that focuses on speed, power, and rotation."

"What's it called?" the blond asked rather excitedly.

"Hold the phone. I'm not done, yet," the Copy Ninja retorted. "Anyway, take your time to craft this jutsu. My sensei, the Yondaime, perfected this technique in three years, and he is this jutsu's creator."

'Tou-chan created that?' To be privy to learn a jutsu his father made must have meant something to his own mentor. "Don't you mean completed?" Naruto asked, nonplussed and it reflected as such on his face.

"Ah, I was getting to that." Kakashi then began to rub the cloth covering his chin. "Actually, no, he didn't complete it before he…died…" Somber tone now out of the way, the ashen-haired shinobi pressed on. "Anyway, Minato-sensei wanted to add his own element into this jutsu to complete it, but he never had the time, due to pressing matters."

"…You're not going to tell me the name of it, are you?" Naruto asked in a perfect imitation of his sensei's own deadpan.

"Nope!" he chirped. "You have to figure it out on your own." 'Besides, I already showed him way too much…'

"Not even a small hint?" the blue-eyed genin began to protest.

The Sharingan-wielder appeared thoughtful before relinquishing a scroll. To keep the jutsu's name a secret, he inconspicuously tore off the top of the parchment, along with a small genjutsu covering up said name throughout the entire scroll. He had then tossed it to his seemingly patient pupil, who fumbled a bit before clenching it in his hands. "I've written down some of the specifics to that technique. Good luck and I wish you well, because your assigned tutor should be showing up right about…now…"

"And who is this guy?"

"It's me!"

Blue eyes with slit pupils rounded on the new arrival who just spoke up. 'That voice sounds awfully familiar…and downright annoying…' To the blond's unpleasant surprise, he looked into a set of circular sunglasses, tinted frames hiding away the new person's eyes. He also took note of the navy-blue, standard-issue shinobi attire with a bandanna of the same hue covering up his hair. "Oh, no!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, disturbing a small flock of birds from their perches in the trees. "It's the closet pervert!" He pointed for emphasis.

The man in question hoisted up his frames with his forefinger, now gleaming in the evening sunlight with the tree-leaf-ingrained metal plating around his forehead, and harrumphed. "How rude…"

XXXXXXXXXX

The sun in the sky crept over the western horizon when Ebisu—Naruto's temporary sensei for the month ahead—took the boy over to the somewhat barren hot springs on the other side of town.

"Can't we get something to eat?" the jinchuuriki complained outwardly as they stopped at the entrance. "I'm starving!" Doshaburi, still affixed to Naruto's mop of blond hair, yipped in agreement, but chose not to speak.

"Not until I see your progress on water-walking," the older man neutrally answered, his tone brooking no argument as he held up the flap leading to the men's side. "Then, we'll break for dinner, while I give you a summation of your skills…"

'Ugh…this is going to be very boring…' he inwardly grumbled, ears dropping at the same time. He then walked through. "Well, let's just get this over with, I guess…"

As soon as he walked into the onsen, Naruto felt the wafting heat tear away at his track suit, which made him shuck off his jacket to keep cool and tossed it onto a rock. Feeling the need to keep his clothes dry, he took off his sandals and placed them, side-by-side, near where his jacket lay. The demon-vessel had then folded up the cuffs of his pants to let them resemble a pair of Capri pants.

"All right, Dosha-chan," Naruto said as he looked up at his kit, who began to pant from the drastic rise in temperature, in tandem with the humidity, "you might want to wait to get to cooler waters to try this exercise. For now, just kick back." He knew that the hot water provided incentive to not fall in, unless he wanted to imitate a boiling lobster by the end of it.

"O-okay, Master…" he hesitantly spoke up, out of earshot of Konohamaru's retainer.

"Hm…" An idea started to sprout in Naruto's head. "Actually, run a few laps around the onsen to build up your stamina. I'll let you know what I'll come up next for you." 'Not like there's much of anyone around for him to cause a lot of mayhem…'

Getting comfortable with steady breaths, Naruto channeled his energy through his feet and proceeded to walk across the near-boiling liquid. His feet dipped a millimeter or three in, but, for the most part, he remained on top of the surface. Testing a few steps in different directions, the boy's control never faltered. He took into consideration Hinata's advice by allowing the energy to naturally flow and accommodate to his expanded coils. That was fine and all, but he was still unable to produce any earth, ice or wood.

"I think I've seen enough, Naruto," Ebisu stated rather dispassionately, but on the inside, he was…relatively impressed. The boy did not lie to him; he knew how to walk on water, but he could tell that the kid was not happy about something. 'Maybe I can allow him to vent over some ramen…'

The bewhiskered ninja's mouth evened into a thin line as he approached the edge where water met the gravel walkway. "And…?"

"You did remarkably well," the Tokubetsu Jounin noted with a hint of praise lining his voice, "but I feel that you seem…distracted about something."

'Whoa…This guy is reading me too well…' Naruto now felt a tad uncomfortable, feeling exposed like his feet. "It's nothing, really."

"Usually, that means it's a big issue, but you're too afraid to voice your insecurities." Some amusement crept in Ebisu's tone.

That caused the boy to flinch. "How…?"

The man displayed a smug look. "I'm one of the best there is around these parts, Naruto. Now, why don't we settle your issues over a little ramen? I know that's your favorite comfort food."

"Seriously, dude, you're a little creepy, but I'll take you up on your offer…if you're willing to pay…"

"Only one bowl, though…"

"Damn…" Naruto cursed under his breath.

XXXXXXXXXX

The substitute instructor and genin mulled over their bowls of warm broth and noodles in a contemplative silence. The wild-looking boy's canine, meanwhile, nibbled on scraps in the back alleyway, which occupied the calm of the twilight hour.

Naruto gently stirred the divine concoction with his chopsticks as he simmered on what he wanted to say to the closet pervert. What could he say?

"I think I reached a hurdle in my training," he opened up to his surrogate sensei after having collected his thoughts. "It's like…I can't get to the peak of my abilities, anymore."

"Oh?" Ebisu looked interested. "Pray tell of these abilities of which you speak."

"Well, I could if I would, but that'd be my neck on the chopping block." He shuddered. "The Old Man made me swear to not reveal my talents until he feels I'm ready." The blond's eyes narrowed before a thought crossed his mind. "Say, Ebisu-sensei…"

"Yes, Naruto?" he rhetorically asked, intrigued that the boy did not use that denigrating term toward him…

Not that he was a pervert, anyway. He mainly read Icha-Icha for the content and nothing more. That was his story, and he was sticking to it.

"Is there any way I can go beyond water walking in terms of chakra control exercises?"

"Oh, but of course!" Ebisu cheerily replied. "In fact, I think I may have a routine for you tomorrow. I'll have to examine it to ensure that this is tailored specifically to your…dilemma. Does noontime at the onsen sound okay to you?"

"Uh, sure, I guess…"

"Excellent! I'll see you tomorrow, then!" With that, his transient sensei bade him a farewell, but Naruto immediately noticed that something felt off about the atmosphere.

He looked over at the closet pervert's bowl, and it was empty, but what really grated on Naruto's skin was that he forced him to pick up the tab. His hair bristled in anger like a ravenous hound ready to tear into the one who slighted him.

"I'm so going to stink-bomb his apartment…as soon as I find the address…"

XXXXXXXXXX

After reluctantly paying his dues (plus the cheapskate's, who dined and dashed), the blond ninja walked around the village at nine in the evening, trying his best to cool down before he blew his top. He looked up at the nighttime sky and drank in the twinkling stars scattered across the tapestry of the universe beyond anyone's understanding, taking in the quiet atmosphere that greatly contrasted with the diurnal hustle and bustle of the townsfolk peddling off their wares.

'Now I see why Shikamaru likes to look up at the clouds…'

"What's up there?" he heard his ocher-hued friend ask from his open rucksack, belly full.

"I don't know, Dosha-chan…but they sure are pretty to look at…" He grunted to ease the added weight that his little cloudburst carried.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he turned his head ninety degrees to the right. "You feel that, buddy?"

'We're being followed…' the Kyuubi chimed in with a dangerous edge. 'Stay on your guard, boy…'

Just as he felt the presence shift in chakra usage, that flame of energy sputtered out, like it had been snuffed out by the very wind caressing his cheeks. "That's pretty odd," Naruto bluntly remarked, taking his hand off his kunai holster. "It's gone, now." Deciding to go dark, the demon vessel took to the dimly-lit alleyways to elude whatever—or whoever—was following him.

To his surprise, as he rounded a corner, he noticed a masked ninja down and out, feet splayed out in a V-shape. 'Probably drunk…' the bewhiskered genin reasoned. He carefully peered closer and gave a few whiffs with his nose. 'Nope…he's not sloshed. He might be knocked out…Wait…What's this?'

Strung on the neck of the ninja was a blank sheet of paper, folded over once, hot-dog style. "Let's check it out." He summoned a Shadow Clone to guarantee there were not any kinds of traps around this fellow. "See if you can get that piece of paper for me," the original ordered the summoned bunshin.

With a solemn nod, the doppelganger knew its role. With a cautious grab, the blue-eyed copy opened up the sheet of paper. "Uh…boss, you might want to read this. It's addressed to you."

"You're just too lazy to read it," Naruto grumbled, palm held out in the beginnings of what could have been a 'come hither' gesture. "Hand it over."

The Kage Bunshin gave the vulpine ninja the document before dispelling itself. Naruto examined the note, and, by the end of it, his face had a sour look on it. "I guess I gotta see Saru-jijii in the morning to tell him this."

XXXXXXXXXX

The Hyouton kunoichi awoke the next morning, at around eight, with a heavy thought pressing down on her mind…

What was Kabuto doing around the hospital?

The son of the head medic was seen jumping out the window from the fifth story, which she assumed had been Sasuke-kun's room. While keeping hidden, Haku also witnessed Kakashi looming over the shattered glass, glaring daggers at the fleeing ninja, before turning around and examining the possible crime scene.

It just did not make much sense, at all.

She quietly moved to the bathroom to shower for the day of duties ahead, in order to prove her worth and trustworthiness to Konoha.

As she scrubbed off the grime accumulated due to the sweat and dirt from the day before, her mind had then wandered to the other occupant in the apartment. She let loose a wistful sigh.

What did she feel about him? She never had the chance to think for herself while under her late master, but…for him to give her autonomy made her feel…free, after all this time; no longer burdened by the shackles of servitude; no longer used as a tool for anyone's agendas, only to be discarded like refuse if it did not hold up to its standards.

Her savior had given her a new life, and for that, she was indebted to him for as long as she drew breath on this earth. If Naruto-kun ever needed comfort while pursuing his dreams, then she would be there for him, in any way possible.

Throwing on a comfortable kimono, she steadily walked into the dining room, where she noticed Naruto, who she wanted to greet, but some things were amiss…

One: His hands were hidden beneath the kitchen table.

Two: His back was facing her, obviously unaware of her approaching presence. The same could be said about the little cloudburst staring intently at his companion's lap.

Three: He started to grunt while jerking his hands in an up-and-down motion.

'It almost looks like he's…he's…' Inadvertently, Haku took this the wrong way and squeaked, causing her hero to turn around, focus lost on opening a can of ramen—something he wanted to try to eat, but he had forgotten to buy a can opener…that, or he could not find one…

The resulting build-up of chakra gave way and blew off the top in a violent reaction, spewing the salty solution all over the table.

Mind blanking out from the shock factor, the older kunoichi's cheeks rapidly flushed, and she fainted on the spot. Even though she became hardened in battle, she had yet to be exposed to…that side of life…

"Eh?" Naruto, at first, was irritated with how this canned soup could not be opened, so he hazarded a tried-and-true method: the brilliant use of chakra. Now, he sat at the kitchen table, confused. He put down the blown-open can and checked up on her, to make sure she did not need to see a doctor.

'Take her now!' Ever the erotic one, the Kyuubi had his tongue hanging out.

'Not now, you big horn-dog!'

Propping her up against the wall, Naruto shook her awake. "Hey, Haku-chan, you okay? Get it together!" She fluttered her eyes open, delirium creeping across her vision.

"What…what were you doing?" she breathily asked.

"Huh?" He turned to the mess. "Oh, I couldn't find the can opener, so I tried to force it with some chakra."

Clearing the cobwebs from her mind, she gave him a strange look. "Chakra…doesn't solve all our problems…"

Slit pupils looked thoughtful. "If you're all right, I gotta go take care of some things." He turned to his fox familiar. "Dosha-chan, we gotta jet! Let's go, buddy!" With a yip, the walking ocher fuzz leapt into his backpack, and they were out the door to see the old man.

XXXXXXXXXX

The time was a quarter to nine, and the blond demon vessel soared from rooftop to rooftop to the Hokage Tower. It was strange, now, that he could not feel a presence lingering some distance away. 'Hm…Probably too much activity all around…' Sure enough, as he glanced down to see from a view, the streets were packed with clients and shopkeepers in the merchants' quarter, yelling out their best bargains to attract customers. It seemed pretty cutthroat, in the boy's opinion. 'Too bad I couldn't enjoy that kind of life growing up…' It became a part of his vow to guarantee that no one else would have a crappier childhood than he had gone through.

Thoughts regressing to the pressing matter at hand, the blue-eyed shinobi picked up the pace to check in with the desk clerk, who had told him to wait for about a half-hour as the Hokage had become engrossed in brokering a deal with a client who remained nameless. On what, he did not know, nor did the receptionist ever reveal anything pertaining to it.

It was now nine-thirty, and Naruto sat with his backpack on the floor (with fox kit peeking out once in a while), bored out of his mind, and eyes drooping back into the sandman's embrace. The door to the Hokage's Summoning Chamber silently opened and the nondescript mogul walked out in a seemingly peaceful manner. Just another face in the crowd, the genin reasoned as he started to get more attentive.

"You may come in now, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime tenderly intoned.

"It's about damn time, Saru-jijii," the younger of the two sniffed as he waltzed into the room and closed the door. He then noticed something out of place. "Hey, isn't that a shougi board you got on your desk?"

The wizened Fire Shadow nodded, looking thoughtful. "Yes."

"I see the pieces are already in play. Are you playing someone?" he carefully asked.

"Even though this is supposed to be a friendly game of competition," Sarutobi began as he examined the pieces a few more times, "it's turned into a game where the loser has to pay a year's subscription of…special literature as compensation."

Naruto grimaced, grossed out by the implications. "Ew…Don't tell me old guys like smut, too!"

"But, I digress," Hiruzen commented, clearing his throat at the same time. "To answer your question, I'm playing against Oonoki, a fellow old codger like yours truly who is the Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure."

"Aren't we still at odds with them?" Naruto pursed his lips.

"Well, yes and no. With a few pardons here and a non-aggression pact there, we've come to…tolerate one another after the Third Great Shinobi World War."

"I see, but I don't get it," the jinchuuriki bluntly stated.

"You'll learn the intricacies of politics when you get older, my boy." He then moved a few pieces back to where he thought they belonged.

"Hey, you know that cheaters never prosper, right, Old Man?" Naruto snidely asked.

'Quite the contrary, Naruto…' "If memory serves me correctly, I'm afraid I was the one who was duped. The old coot thought he could get over on me…" Hiruzen then grumbled incoherently and tapped on his smoking pipe. "I'll put square wheels on his wagon by the time this is over." He wanted that Icha-Icha, damn it!

"Looks like it is…I think that's checkmate," the blond kid gave his opinion as he peered over as a kibitzer. He did not really know how to play shougi, but he had a general idea after spying on some old folks playing it in the local parks on certain afternoons during the autumn season. Most of his classmates would probably think it hilarious or completely odd for some bumbling goof-ball to learn how to play such a complex game of strategy and intellect.

Hey, being the village pariah and street urchin with nowhere to go had to have found time in doing something, and what else would be better than spying on people, if he could not engage with the crowds? That could have contributed, as an aftereffect, to the boy's stealth abilities and guile; if he wanted to be seen, then he would make it known by standing out and creating pandemonium for the ninja on guard duty, but in the times where he wanted to disappear, he did just that, or blended in to pilfer some unsuspecting sap's wallet or money pouch for a few ryou to get something to eat.

Anyhow, the Sandaime Hokage glanced one more time at the board, stunned at the revelation, and acquiesced with a winning smile. 'That Icha-Icha set is mine!' "Did I ever tell that I love you, Naruto?"

Naruto now felt out of place to dampen the bright atmosphere…and the oncoming hug of doom. "I'm…sorry to break this to you, but this is kind of important." The young genin scanned around. "Do you mind putting up a silencing barrier?"

"One second, my boy," the veteran kindly said, like a grandfather to his grandson. With a weird call, a carrier pigeon entered the opened window, feathers scattering around the edge of the desk. Hiruzen had taken the board, pieces in the proper positions, and sealed it into a storage scroll. "Do you mind…turning around, Naruto-kun? You don't want to see me and my antics."

"Meh…Sure, I guess, but no funny stuff, all right?" He did as he was told, and after hearing the sounds of a shutter and what might have been a photo ejected from a camera, Hiruzen told him to face him again. The boy saw him scribble something pretty quickly on the back of a photo, image-down, before sealing it with the shougi board. "I didn't take you for a prankster, Saru-jijii." Naruto snickered.

"You'll pick up things as you move through life, my boy."

"What about the silencing barrier?"

"Oh, right…" With clasped hands, the Hokage murmured a few unintelligible incantations before the room flashed white for a fraction of a second. "This is a modified version of the Silent Barrier Technique, where I made it stronger and more durable." The Hokage now presented himself in full-on business mode. "You came to me with urgent news, yes?"

'Whoa…If I didn't think it, I would have thought Saru-jijii had a split personality…' Smoothing out his surprise, Naruto procured the letter he found off that incapacitated Root agent's body. "Last night, around twelve or so hours ago, I felt like I was being followed, but apparently, someone got to the guy before he got to me. He got knocked out and had a good lump on his head for good measure…"

"That part…is irrelevant," Hiruzen calmly stated, hands bridged under his chin like a steeple. "What's with the paper, son?"

"Ah, right…" He unfolded the paper that came out of his right pocket. "All it says is this: The shadow is reaching beyond its limits, and that the light must make it know its place. What's that mean, even though it's addressed to me?"

"It is coded talk that was meant for me," Hiruzen clarified as he took off the conical Hokage hat with a weary sigh. 'Is Sarutobi Hiruzen going to have to put some people in line with his golden hand?' He rubbed his chin, feeling the coarse, grainy hairs that lined his aged jawline. "Anything else, my boy?"

"No, I think that's it," the bewhiskered blond answered as best as he could, uncertainty lining his voice in the process. "Well, maybe one other thing. You see, I was too busy training to come to you about it, but I think I should bring it up, while I'm still here."

"Go ahead."

"I was about to be attacked in broad daylight in one of the abandoned districts on my way home, before the start of the Chuunin Exams, before I gave the masked ninja the slip and…kind of turned him into smoked bacon…"

"Did he have any defining characteristics?"

Naruto scratched his head. He surely could use a hair-washing. "No. He just had a blank mask with eye-holes, I think."

He saw the gears turning in the older man's head, but on what, he could not tell. "Go ahead and run along now, Naruto. I need some time for deliberation. I also know that you are busy preparing for the final trials, no doubt, but remember what I said to your team and the witnesses involved." That was the informal dismissal the boy wanted to hear before he dashed off to parts unknown.

The wrinkled skin on Hiruzen's face seemed to have grown more weathered after this recent bit of news as he lifted the fuuinjutsu temporarily surrounding the summoning chamber. It seemed that Danzou had been tailing his surrogate grandson far too closely as of late—almost as if he wanted to make a power play to get him enlisted to fight through the trenches and expose Naruto to the true evils of the ninja world. He would not have any of that, as long as he still remained alive and healthy.

His face, once peaceful, now contorted to that of a monster as his features soured. If anyone had seen him now, it would have been more so comical than frightening. He reached into the far corners of his desk to grab an embroidered glove, polished in pristine gold and donned it again on his good hand.

"It's time to uproot that bitch…"

Sarutobi Hiruzen of the Golden Hand emerged from the depths once more…

XXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere, a swift chill scaled up and down said warmonger's spine. "There must be something in the air," Danzou emotionlessly stated, visible eye closing. However, in the back of his mind, a hint of dread began to sprout and fester like a weed. It felt like he just woke up a sleeping giant…and it was not happy in the least.

XXXXXXXXXX

Still full of energy after another hearty meal, Naruto and his little fox found themselves at the hot springs near the midday hour, where a punctual Ebisu met up with them.

The closet pervert was about to speak when another individual arrived on the scene, practically flying in from out of nowhere from an evanescent zip. The young man looked pretty ordinary, barring the fact of a metal faceplate sculpting around his sideburns and forehead. His tuft of brown hair, in Naruto's opinion, resembled a dead shrub grown from a flowerpot. By fortune, the man was an affiliate of Konoha, as denoted by the curved leaf symbol engraved on the center of that metal contraption.

"Can I help you, sir?" Ebisu politely asked.

"Yes," the man casually replied. "I'm here, by edict of Hokage-sama, to take Naruto with me to train. You, Ebisu, are to relinquish any and all details in regard to training the boy to me, effective immediately." As proof, the dark-eyed newcomer presented the Tokubetsu Jounin with the piece of parchment.

The sunglasses-wearing ninja skimmed over the contents. It was pretty clear-cut; he would have no hand in grooming a potential Hokage candidate for the future. What more could he say or have done? He did not know, but to decline this order would risk him losing his position and rank. He did not want to get demoted. "Very well," he breathed out, trying—but failing—to keep out his deflated tone.

As a silent spectator, Naruto looked from one shinobi to the other, who was now leaving without a single word. He then turned to the dark-eyed one still here. "Who the hell are you? And did Saru-jijii really send you over here?"

"…Maybe this will jog your memory, Naruto-kun…" Right before the blond's stunned eyes, the man clasped together his hands to form the Serpent hand seal, sprouting a wooden block from the ground before sitting on it. "I saw what you did in the Forest of Death, and while I do think it was foolish of you to use your special skills in front of a collector of jutsu and bloodlines…I think I can help you overcome your little roadblock to get them back."

"You…you're…" Naruto's mind shut down.

"Yes, I was that tiger-masked ANBU scout who tried to detain Orochimaru, before he slithered right out of our grasp," the man bitterly said. "Anyway, I don't like to use my given name much, but…you may refer to me for the next two weeks as Yamato…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: Well, here's another installment for you patient folks. On my behalf, I would like to humbly apologize for putting off this one for far too long. For a while, that drive to write seemed to dissipate, but, from out of the blue, it feels like I've gained a second wind. I also now realize (and reflect) on how fun it was when I first started writing this piece in the first place. Consider this a back to basics course for me, but with a more refined writing style.

If you can catch the Easter egg in this chapter, then you get some Internet points for the reference. Okay, maybe not, but I'll be sure to give you your fifteen minutes of fame with recognition in the next chapter's AN. Happy, now? :P

In terms of jutsu naming, I decided to alter Sakura's Inner Will to reflect as such. Henceforth, it shall be dubbed as the Uchi naru Ishi (内なる意志). Furthermore, for those who felt that it was cheap for Naruto to possess two bloodline limits, here's a big egg on your face. I'm now justified through the recent (but questionable) canon, since Terumi Mei, the Godaime Mizukage, has two kekkei genkai (Futton and Youton – Boil and Lava Releases, respectively) and three elemental chakra overlays (water, earth, and fire). So, pretty much, any point of contention about Naruto's power level in Mokuton and Hyouton, from now on, is moot. Got that?

From the suggestions of my pre-readers, I've supplied for you a broad-strokes recap to refresh your memory at the top. I felt that I owed it to you all for sticking with me in the hopes that I would update.

Anyway, I would like to give my nods of acknowledgement to Arashi the Solar Phoenix, weixuan18, EliadS and Paladeus for urging me on in the absence of the general clique I run with, in tandem with their vital input. Words can't even begin to describe how well they have helped me. Be sure to look for them over FFN for their stories and be sure to leave a kind word or two for them, for my sake.

Furthermore, I'd also like to give a nod to pudgypudge and gamedragon86 for their input a long time ago with regard to a particular scenario we had cooking up. I finally got around to inserting the damn thing…

At any rate, I also encourage three things from you, while you are still with me.

First of all, for those who have read this chapter, I ask that you at least leave me a review (for those anonymous readers, you're tough out of luck, since I still have them disabled). I know it's asking a lot out of some of you, but I appreciate feedback, and it would help me write faster to keep you all entertained while I try to juggle between writing for the real world and for fan fiction, occupational job hustling notwithstanding.

Second item of business: while you are in the general vicinity, I would also like to invite you to the other stories I have up and currently running, even though they are sparse compared to TFD. They are Limit Breaker: Fūjin no Ōdachi and Wild Fire, if you have not already done so. Get the word out for your boy, all right?

Thirdly, I would like for you to try to keep in touch with me through my forum, Orion's Utility Belt (if you do not have either MSN or Yahoo! Instant Messenger—and for those that do: be sure to tag a message denoting that you're a follower of my stories, or else I won't accept you) and my challenges forum, The Heavens' Sniper. I know that you can't access it from my profile, but fear not. I have it as a hyperlink near the bottom of my page right before my stories. Drop by to show an author that you care about him by discussing about flaws and inconsistencies with his works, okay? I'll also try to keep an updated progression of how far along is the next chapter for each story, and if you feel that I'm slacking off, notify me through the forums or send me a PM to pester me to get back on track. Furthermore, if you have any story ideas that you would like to see written or come to fruition, then feel free to drop a few notes in the second forum. This is important: be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the forum when you do get there. Trust me: it'll help if you get e-mails sent to you when it pertains to threads you want to follow.

Anyhow, now that I have gotten that out of the way, I'll be easy on your eyes and end it on just that. Take care, feel free to show me some love with a review, and I'll see you the next time I update. By the way, there's an omake coming right after the Romaji/Jutsu Guide, so, stay tuned!

The combatants scheduled to compete in the Chuunin Selection Exams' final rounds have started their rigorous training routines for the month ahead. There is no slacking off now, chuunin-to-be! The looming storm cloud over the horizon brings trouble and disaster in its wake. What will happen when this tempest passes through?

Jikai (Next time…), on Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid…

Training Daze (Part II)

Romaji/Jutsu Guide

Hachimon (Eight Gates): S-rank kinjutsu (forbidden technique); eight chakra gates are eight specific points on a person's chakra circulatory system that limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body, and the basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body's limits on the functions within it, which makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon; by opening these gates, the user can surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own bodies (Narutopedia)

Makibishi: spiked caltrops used to deter pursuers off a ninja's trail by throwing these barbed spikes behind him or her

Youjutsu Magen: Tsuta Wana no Jutsu (Dark Art Demonic Illusion: Ivy Snare Technique): D-rank offensive/supplementary genjutsu; allows user to "ensnare" her target with an illusionary ivy plant that feels almost lifelike (created)

Mokuton: literally, "Wood Release"; in English TV, "Wood Style"

Juujin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone): D-rank supplementary taijutsu; modified version/mix of a Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) and a clone technique, which is unique to the Inuzuka clan, that allows a canine-user to transform his/her animal companion into a perfect copy of the ninja in question; when combined with the Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique), the user and the animal become virtually impossible to tell apart, since both act equally animalistic. Like any transformation, the technique can be broken by identifying and attacking the animal, thus dispelling the transformation (Narutopedia)

Tsuuga (Passing Fang): D-rank short- to mid-range taijutsu attack; the user spins at a ferocious speed and delivers many powerful beast-like attacks when contact is made with the target (Narutopedia)

Hyouton: literally, "Ice Release"; in English TV, "Ice Style"

Uzumaki Naruto Reppuu Rendan (Uzumaki Naruto Violent Wind Combo): High B-rank offensive close-range taijutsu/ninjutsu blend; with the skillful use of Shadow Clones, Naruto juggles his opponent into the air with them, while he, himself, waits a bit in the air after piggybacking off a doppelganger, or sticks to walls, depending on the conditions of battle; with the use of wind-natured chakra, Naruto imbues his limbs with the augmented power to assault his foe with two kicks in the chest and a rotating axe kick to the head, which sends the foe crashing into the ground or floor, depending on the venue of battle; factoring in the height at which an enemy falls after being tossed into the air by Naruto or his clones, the end result could be fatal; ranking bumped up due to the addition of elemental ninjutsu factored in (semi-created)

Juuken (Gentle Fist): a form of taijutsu unique to the Hyuuga clan that inflicts internal damage through damaging the chakra points—tenketsu (see below)—along the chakra circulatory system, which are closely intertwined with the body's organs, and, with a single (or grazing) touch, the practitioner can surgically inject a portion of his/her chakra to disrupt the flow; due to the fact that tenketsu cannot be seen with the naked eye, the Byakugan (White Eye) is best equipped to utilize this hand-to-hand combat to the fullest (Narutopedia)

Suiton: Shokushu Fuka (Water Release: Tentacle Appendages): C-rank close- to mid-range ninjutsu/taijutsu variant; user encompasses his or her arms with water to lash out at the target; in Hinata's case, she can channel her Gentle Fist through the water as a medium to incapacitate or kill her target (created)

Tenketsu: literally, "pressure points"; nodes from which chakra is released; the human body is theorized to have 361 in total

Shugohakke: Kyokuryuu no Mai (Eight Trigrams Protection: Dance of the Meandering Stream): unknown rank close- to mid-range taijutsu augmented with elemental ninjutsu; blended taijutsu of Tai Chi and Ba Gua-style Juuken, combined with the use of water; Hinata's variant consists of walking around a target in an imaginary, 'fixed' circle to intercept blows from outside and inside the circle with blocks or creating small walls of water to cushion the blows (created)

Karasu: "Crow"; one of Kankurou's puppets, it resembles a three-eyed, four-armed humanoid with jagged teeth and spiky brown hairstyle protruding from the top of its head and framing the sides

Soushouryuu (Twin Rising Dragons): unknown rank mid-range offensive ninjutsu; a technique unique to Tenten, she places two small scrolls in an upright position on the floor, and when activated, the two scrolls release smoke while also flying and spinning into the air in the shape of two dragons made of smoke. Tenten then jumps between the two scrolls, and starts to rapidly summon and throw all sorts of weapons as a powerful barrage. If the initial bombardment were to fail, she can control the discarded weapons with wires attached to her fingertips for a surprise attack (Narutopedia)

Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere): A-rank offensive, close-range incomplete ninjutsu; user creates a violent, chakra-based sphere in the palm of his or her hands that drills and bores through the target; gains power when pushed through the target, most likely causing great internal damage (Narutopedia)

Special Omake: Sarutobi Hiruzen of the Golden Hand

Left alone to his own devices, the Sandaime Hokage reflected on a rather nostalgic mission in the past, when he was a young whippersnapper in a sea of sharks. The ornate glove on his hand made him chuckle alone in his office, once he dismissed Naruto and drew up the missive to summon Tenzou.

After a fragile peace among the flourishing nations before the Second Great Shinobi World War, Senju Tobirama, then-Nidaime Hokage, received word from a client about the disappearance of his paramour, in addition to more women around the border towns, which then led to a human trafficking ring on the outskirts of the Fire Country. Feeling that it was his job to uphold an exemplary reputation to Hi no Kuni, Tobirama ordered Hiruzen to investigate in deep-cover territory…

'Fifty-three years ago…'

The time most certainly flew by like the accelerating wind on this hot summer day in July.

At any rate, he continued his trip down Memory Lane.

There was a caveat before the then-young man accepted: he would have to go undercover—as a pimp—and keep tabs on everything from the inside, all the while infiltrating the ring, finding the client of the lover, and extract her.

If Jiraiya had been in his place at that point in time, then he would have died a happy man with that as his dream job.

Nevertheless, the man's village offered a generous stipend if the ninja in question could rescue as many women he possibly could or try to sabotage the illegal activities, as a sign of appreciation to the cause.

Needless to say, Hiruzen hopped on the opportunity of a lifetime for any hot-blooded male.

He had gotten…a good deal of experience with the women who were placed under his command as he adjusted to the seedy way of life that was of ill repute. It was a culture shock, through and through.

'Just what in Amaterasu's name did I get myself into?' he brought to mind. In retrospect, maybe he did assume his role as a high-end pimp…a little too well.

Whenever they got out of line, he never smacked them; rather, he assumed a sour-looking face, with his right hand stiffly held up, glowing like power incarnate, which made them cower in fear.

He could still recite the mantra he said to them as he made that gesture.

"With your power, O Great Goddess Amaterasu, shall I set these whores in line, and O Great Goddess Amaterasu, empower Thy might unto this hand, so these whores shall know their place. Amen…" he mumbled in garbled overtones before laughing under his husky breath.

After his escapades and misadventures, he managed to pull through for Konoha with a C-rank mission completed under his belt. The ring had its plug pulled from within, dissolved like sugar in a cup of tea, all thanks to him. To his surprise, he had met his future wife, Biwako, amid the ordeal, who had been freshly caught, bound and gagged, almost like a hog roast being prepped for barbecue.

He had also gained an alias from it all from the secret circles that only a scant few know now—Kinnote, the "Golden Hand." To further add to the joke, those who found out had gone through hoops to have a set of gloves commissioned for his clandestine namesake. He merely took it all in stride with good humor.

Then again, the rumor mill churned all over after that, which made him lightly shake his head in amusement. He was astounded by the amount of myths and exaggerated half-truths that came about when he lost one glove through the years.

One rumor had it that he lost a glove while beating someone's ass with the other hand tied behind his back. 'Eh…partially true…' His vast memory blocked out what really happened then, though.

Another rumor claimed that he had weighted knuckles lining the gauntlet, which was a flat-out myth. 'Back then, I could hit that hard…' He just gave the impression that someone on the receiving end of his back-hand felt the consistency of a brick wall dislocating his jaw.

Mulling over it, he took off the decorated hand-covering and examined it. The wizened Hokage let a smirk grace his features. 'I wonder how Oonoki took to what I sent him…'

XXXXXXXXXX

At around four in the afternoon, a messenger had barged into a neatly organized office, situated in the face of a mountain. "Tsuchikage-sama, there's a scroll from the Hokage, and it's marked urgent!" he shouted, out of breath.

An elderly, short man with a vastly receding hairline and a bulbous nose glanced up from the documents lining his desk. "Hand it over," he ordered with his raspy voice, palm jutted outward to accept the parchment.

"Right!" the male messenger snapped before presenting it to his Earth Shadow and departed just as hastily.

'Hm…Maybe I ought to be less strict on my workers…' Oonoki reflected, now holding the wooden scroll with the Hokage's homeland symbol. Glancing around to take in the silence, he unraveled and popped open the contents.

"Huh?" The shougi board was back to normal, before he even tinkered with it, but what pissed him off was that Hiruzen saw through it and adjusted it…with his own move added to win the game. His king got cornered. "Checkmate…"

Feeling the bitter sting of defeat, he saw a face-down photo with Hiruzen's scrawl on it. He picked it up and read it out loud to himself. "Pay up, or face the wrath…" His rage cooled as he turned over the photo to see the image.

Not wondering how on earth did Hiruzen-dono take the snapshot without using his hands, Oonoki saw the 'gimme' gesture of his left hand—and the troll-like face in a comical scowl, but what made it worse…was what was tightly grasped in the old coot's other digits…

That caused the liver-spotted Earth Shadow to frown and grumble in his loss. 'Damn…I'm about to get pimp-slapped by the Golden Hand if I don't pay up…' "Kurotsuchi, I got a job for you!"

His granddaughter, who looked more or less like a carbon copy of Konoha's lady snake-charmer but with a shorter hairstyle, pupil-less eyes and a more boyish-looking face, waltzed into the room. "You called, Gramps?"

His thin, long mustache twitched. He would find yet another way to embarrass his family…by sharing the pains of defeat with him. "There's something that you need to do for me…"