Drifting

by AlphaDelta1001

Naruto is many things; troublesome, wild, unpredictable, adventurous, untamable, unique. But there's a benefit to being wild and unpredictable; no one has the faintest idea what you're going to do next. NarutoHarem

20. Training Arc - Perfect Your Weaponry

NARUTO

Drifting

Perfecting Your Weaponry

Late evening…

Up another level, lying in one of the beds in the medical bay of the outpost tower of the Boiling Lands, a white room with curtain dividers, white sheets, and a window open up in the direction of the coast, a now thoroughly bandaged Kin lay gazing up at the ceiling. Having awoken just a few minutes ago she'd spent the period following her return to the conscious world just staring in whatever direction her body was positioned, all in an effort to regain her bearings and to figure out what the heck had happened to her.

Not only was her body all numb, but her head was a complete mess of thoughts. When you remember seeing and experiencing one thing at one time and then end up waking up someplace else a split second later, while not remembering anything that happened in between, it did tend to put your mind in a bit of a jam. However, Kin made good use of the temporary relief given to her composing herself, getting a feel for her environment, and slowly working all her memories up to her current point of rest.

What she remembered before blacking out was a fierce battle; her teammates Dosu and Zaku fighting alongside her against a foe that was just out of this world. A wild animal, a yellow demon, a monster of incredible strength, which ran circles around them and cut them down despite throwing everything they had at her.

What she got were flashes of the event. Zaku had ripped apart their surroundings using his concussive shockwaves, which tore whole trees out of the ground by their roots and disintegrated stalagmites. Despite getting a good hit on their target and presumably sending them to their grave, Kin then remembered seeing her silhouette stroll out of the blast zone completely unscathed, before battering Zaku with a flurry of punishing blows. A swift exchange saw the boy losing his arm on a pass, before he was suddenly riddled with holes brought on by their opponent and dropped to the ground dead; a price he paid for getting back up and trying to continue a fight against a seemingly invincible enemy.

Kin remembered the person they fought wore the smile of a child and had a laugh to match. However, all of that changed during the fight when she became stone cold serious and then, without mercy, cut down both her and Dosu in several seconds flat. The latter managed to get up after being hurled over the side of a drop and ran. He just… ran… disappeared from sight, allowing the yellow creature to then concentrate her full and undivided attention on Kin, and attempted to finish her off.

Knowing a victory was impossible, she'd ran too; deep into the heart of the mountain. After what felt like an eternity of running with a vision that was steadily fading, Kin then remembered finding herself in a large chamber, facing one of the other teams that happened to be in the vicinity, before blacking out completely.

How she was still alive she had no idea. It had been a completely one-sided slaughter that saw the death of one of her teammates and the withdrawing of another. She had been left alone to fight an unwinnable battle against an enemy whom she could no longer sense or see. So what happened to her after that?

How did she end up here?

Baffled, the girl craned her head to the side in wonder towards the window, where she saw a very familiar face grinning back at her from. A boy wearing an orange jacket, now unzipped, with blue trim and arrows on the shoulders, goggles around his neck and blonde, spiky hair over a Konohagakure headband and warm blue eyes.

The moment he saw the girl turn to him, he smiled and waved. "Hello!"

It took a second to realize exactly who she was looking at. After which Kin's eyes widened in shock before she suddenly sat bolt upright in her bed, her actions throwing the covers off of he in the process. When her brain registered to the insane amounts of damage her body had sustained in her trying ordeal, the kunoichi quickly felt sharp pains fly through her midsection, which forced her back down. Cringing, groaning, and holding her side tightly, the girl laid her head back onto her pillow.

Waiting for the electricity to subside gave Naruto enough time to hop over and onto the chair beside her, where he crouched down on top of it and looked upon the patient with concern.

"Stay still. The doctor said you have cracked ribs, a shot scapula, punctured abdominals, and you've also torn your serratus anterior and your external abdominal oblique." Hearing the girl breathe to calm herself, the jinchuriki tilted his head. "In other words, you're in pretty bad shape. It was a miracle you were even able to move the way you did," Naruto informed, looking at her seriously as he waited for the girl's agony to ease up. He then smiled when she glanced up at him. "Consider yourself lucky you ran into us, otherwise you would have collapsed out there in the field and died of your wounds."

Panting, Kin gave the teen a pained breakdown before scowling, "You? What the hell are you doing here?" She then looked around, which brought about another question, "And where the hell am I?"

"We're in the med-room at the end tower," Naruto informed, gesturing around the place before smiling good-naturedly. "It's a good thing they had one here in the first place, otherwise I would have had to run with you in my arms all the way back to the main village. You're looking at a Genin from the team that came in third place."

Kin glanced back at him in surprise. "S-Seriously?" the girl croaked before giving him a doubtful examination, "You… out of all the people participating… were able to survive out there in that hell?"

Naruto nodded affirmatively, "Yep!"

This had the kunoichi stare at him seriously for the next several seconds, conveying her disbelief, before focusing on his jacket. "Given your state of dress, you should have been bulls-eyed the moment you stepped through those gates on the first day." Blindness to all those who looked at him would have been the only reasonable explanation she would accept for this kid's continued existence.

"We fell behind," the jinchuriki disputed before shrugging, "It was our intention to stay in the back and keep a low profile. If we'd simply charged out there the moment the whistle was blown, we would have been spotted by the other groups and picked off like flies. We let everybody else get ahead of us and just walked the first third of the way across."

Kin blinked as she considered his information before huffing.

Now it all made sense why her team's initial investigations came up blank. "No wonder we couldn't find you or the Uchiha. You guys were in last place."

The youngster grinned proudly and plopped back onto his seat, looking especially proud, "From last to third! Oh yeah!" Life was good. Naruto breathed out triumphantly while slipping his hands behind his head and leaning backwards, preparing to go into full lounge mode. After a moment of pause however, the jinchuriki then glanced down at the girl where he noticed something a bit out of place concerning her appearance. It was lying right there in plain sight, but it had been an issue both he and the kunoichi in question had just plain overlooked and let go unaddressed for the past few minutes. Now that his sense of awareness over concern had returned, he decided to attend to the problem right away, albeit a bit uneasily. "Umm… just so you know… uhh… you're in a hospital gown."

Confused, Kin looked down to see exactly where the boy was pointing. When she noticed her current state of dress, she blushed brightly when she realized she wasn't wearing any underwear under the single piece of cloth she was adored in and reacted instinctively.

'Eeping' cutely in surprise, the red-faced girl grabbed the sheets of her bed and pulled them over her completely, before scowling up at the boy who was now looking away with a bit more warmth in his cheeks then before.

"Pervert!" she shouted, getting Naruto to cringe.

"Now that's not fair. I wasn't even paying that much attention!" he shot back, getting Kin to glare even harder. "What? I didn't see anything! Honest!"

"You're lucky I can't move right now or I'd be kicking the shit out of you." It was humiliating being caught out like this, but it was unavoidable. The staff had needed to work on her somehow, and apparently the best way they'd had to do that was with her clothing out of the way.

The kunoichi shook her head at him before looking away with a look of anger slapped across her mug. When an awkward silence fell over the room once more and the pair listened to the clock ticking away on the nearby wall for a minute or so, it allowed Kin time for a moment of thought until she decided to inquire about the one thing she was most concerned about at the moment. Above everything else, this one was the most pressing. "Am I right in saying that my team's been disqualified?"

Naruto's expression changed from bright to serious in a heartbeat at that question and he gave a nod, confirming her fears. "Yeah. They said your summon returned home after receiving damage during a battle and that one of your teammates was found dead on the far side of the mountain. There's no sign of your other teammate though."

"I figured as much," Kin sighed, appearing desponded, "Dosu really wasn't much of a team player to begin with… neither of us were. Heck, we didn't even like each other that much. Since all three of us were hard-headed and only looked out for ourselves, I wouldn't have expected the bastard to stick around to try and win a fight that was beyond winnable. Heh… so much for teamwork and promotion."

This had the blonde's immediate attention, "If that's true, then why the heck did your village allow you guys to participate in the exams if you didn't look out for each other in the first place?" A team that didn't function like a team was just a bad day waiting to happen.

Kin chuckled darkly, "Because our village leader is a prick; that's why. He believes that a shinobi shouldn't have any lingering feelings of attachment, friendship or compassion, and that we should only focus solely on the mission. A shinobi in our Kage's eyes is nothing more than a living weapon, a means to an end… a tool. Being a ninja from Konohagakure though, you wouldn't really know anything about that."

"Oh… I have a… pretty good idea," Naruto nodded, thinking back to all the times he'd heard those words coined before.

This quickly had Kin look at him in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah… I've been around a lot, so I think I know a bit about where you're coming from. Your Kage's an asshole. He treats you and your comrades like garbage. He's only using you to get what he wants and nothing more. I've seen that stuff many times before."

The dark haired girl frowned at him, "Don't screw with me. How does a kid like you know anything about that? About being treated like your life doesn't matter?" Her glare hardened on him in an attempt to get him to back down, but failed miserably in this endeavor as his expression didn't even waver, "We know all about your village and the people inside of it. Every shinobi does. You ninja from Konoha are all just a bunch of soft, third rate fighters with no bite to them; just a group of weaklings who embrace the ideas of comradeship and the Will of Fire." She added a little distain to that last one, showing how laughable she found the beliefs and ideals of Konoha shinobi. "I mean… what the hell is that? The Will of Fire?"

It was clear she was really upset, as well as shaken up. After what she must have been through the boy wasn't surprised by her rather irritated responses. However, in spite of her angry words and her outbursts, she was revealing some rather interesting things about herself to the young jinchuriki.

Apparently all of the animosity she'd built up over her life was starting to come to the surface and mix in with the frustrations of her team's failure. Her current position wasn't helping much either and the blonde knew this as he caught good glimpses of the feelings flashing across her face.

Regardless of them, he was still conscious enough to continue the conversation.

Frowning and looking back at the girl seriously after sensing her scorn and uncertainty, Naruto responded likewise, "It's the life philosophy of our village's First Hokage; something that he passed down to all of us through the academy. Just because my village believes in stuff like caring, don't think that you can look down on us because of it. There's much more to that than what you can see on the outside."

"Yeah right," Kin muttered while turning away again, apparently losing patience with the person she was speaking with. "I'm not from your village. All I know is what I've come to realize myself and what my own village taught me, so what makes you believe that I will be able to trust the word of someone who's lived a comfortable life since the day they were born while I've had to struggle and fight all on my own just to have one. You don't know anything about me or what I've been through."

Pausing for a moment, Naruto thought long and hard about her words and the point that she was trying to make; being that he wouldn't be able to understand her no matter what he said.

He didn't want this girl to stay angry at him throughout his entire stay here; he wanted to be friendly with her because she seemed like an interesting person to him, one whom he could have a good time knowing. He was a stubborn bastard in that way. Not to mention he didn't want this girl to go on the rest of her life not trusting anyone and treating other people around her with hostility and contempt. That was not a life he wanted someone like her to carry on with. It was too painful.

No doubt she'd had it tough. Because of circumstances beyond his control the kunoichi had grown to believe that no one, not even him, would know what it was like to be in her shoes; to live a life void of purpose and people to care for. Of course, while he was just learning this about her now, she didn't know much about him either.

He resolved to change that.

"True, I don't know you… but I do know what it's like to scrape by living all alone," Naruto replied firmly and with such a tone that it had the kunoichi stiffen in her bed. "Living day by day feeling like the whole world is against you and having everyone treat you like you're not even there… heh… honestly… it's a really shitty way to grow up."

Caught off guard, Kin turned to look up at the jinchuriki again. When she saw his face, with eyes reflecting old feelings of hurt and forlorn, she saw a smile cross his lips as he rested his arms on his legs and leaned forward a bit.

"You can doubt me all you want, but I think I know a thing or two about having an uncomfortable life. Growing up on the streets as an orphan does that for you. It was tough and I hated every minute of it, but that's the way it was for me and there's no way I can change that. It doesn't stop me from trying to be a nice guy though."

Kin looked across at the boy silently for the next minute or so, considering his response carefully and scrutinizing his expression. After processing his statements, the girl clenched her fists tightly and looked away while biting her bottom lip, as if attempting to quell a series of troublesome arguments. Trembling momentarily, she eventually reasoned with whatever issue she had to contend with and relaxed, "I'm… I'm sorry."

Her reply got a surprised blink from Naruto, before a small smile returned to him and he nodded towards her in acknowledgement. "That's alright."

"It's just… my team and I had a mission to do in these exams… and we failed it." Gritting her teeth, the raven haired girl shut her eyes before cutting back to the jinchuriki with a tense expression. It was the look in her shimmering irises that really caught Naruto's attention, as he saw a mixture of fear and unease flicker through and fade into view. "Because we failed… if I was to try to go back to Otogakure, back to my village… my leader would kill me." This information surprised Naruto greatly, his visage remaining stunned as he saw the girl run a hand uneasily through her hair and visibly clench her teeth. "I don't know what's worse; getting beaten up to the point of dying or knowing that I'll be killed anyway once I get out of here and back home."

Naruto's jaw hung slack for a moment before he pressed forward. "So… in your village… they would kill you for failing a mission?" What the hell kind of old-school system were they running there?

The nod from the kunoichi answered his question. "My Kage hates weak shinobi and doesn't tolerate failures within his ranks. If I was to try to return and plead my case to him… it wouldn't matter. He would still kill me on the spot." She visibly shivered at that thought, feeling anxiety start to wash over and emerge from her stress. "This was my one shot."

All of this talk of execution for failure brought another query to the jinchuriki's mind that had him look at her suspiciously. "What exactly was your team's mission? It had to be something super important that he would put you guys into such a dangerous environment to do it."

Looking at him when she heard his inquiry, Kin narrowed her eyes momentarily before glaring at the bed in front of her. Since she'd failed her task and she was going to have to return to her village to face the punishment for her actions anyway, she eventually reasoned that there was no point in her being secretive about it anymore.

Though hesitant at first, she quickly cracked. "Our village leader wanted us to test certain candidates participating in the event… most notably Sasuke Uchiha; the young prodigy of the Uchiha Clan," Kin answered, getting the jinchuriki to reel back in surprise.

Pondering on this little piece of info, the boy then gave the kunoichi an incredulous stare. "So that's why you were surprised when you said why you couldn't find my team… you were ordered to fight us… to fight Sasuke."

Kin braced herself under the disbelieving gaze of her audience, at the same time closing her eyes as the fears started to come back to her. "He said that it was important that we fight him. All three of us took it as a personal challenge, something that we had to do to prove to ourselves and to our village leader that we were worth something to him and that we were strong. All he wanted us to do though was this mission… and that he didn't care if we passed or not." Her trembling continued as she went on. "Basically what he said to us was that if we failed we wouldn't have to bother coming back… that our usefulness would have run its course. He didn't actually say it, but that's what he meant to say when he gave us the assignment, so it doesn't matter if I live or not. I'm finished. I'm done." She looked back up at the boy and showed the hurt and defeat reflected in her eyes, surprising the boy once more. "I have nowhere to go back to now."

Blinking, the jinchuriki folded his arms and leaned into his seat with a thoughtful look on his face.

So, there was someone out there targeting a specific member of their group?

While it made sense to Naruto that competitors would be going after one another in the exams, the fact that someone on the outside of it, a village leader to boot, was adamantly pursuing one member of a team specifically to test them gave Naruto incredible cause for concern.

Why go after them specifically? Why was their team so important that Kin's team was instructed by their 'boss' to find them and fight with them? She mentioned the Uchiha; the well-known rookie of the year, the prodigy of Konohagakure and the last of the Uchiha. The name did carry merit out in the world, so Naruto wasn't that surprised knowing that someone would find him interesting. His teammate was a member of what was one of the most powerful clans in the hidden leaf after all. Everyone was familiar with the title.

This raised another question, one concerning the actual person responsible for setting a lone team onto them. This wasn't the first time this'd happened if their first mission outside of the village meant anything. Naruto wanted to find out more about this. However, the matter wasn't enough for him to completely dismiss the girl still lying in front of him in bandages. Seeing her tense and expressions twist both angrily and despondently, Naruto leaned forward again and rested a hand on her arm. He could feel her shaking as she allowed her string of emotions and worries to run their course.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto murmured, sitting up and moving onto her bed. When he gave her a smile, he felt the girl relax more, which eased his own consciousness over the matter. "Do you know what you will do now? Do you… know where you can go?" He saw the girl shake her head and tense again, conveying her worries physically. This was all the answer Naruto needed from her for him to come to a decision. Hell, her village or its leader didn't want her back. That was terrible on hundreds of different levels. However, this did give the jinchuriki a rather ingenious idea, which he expressed with the sincerest of expressions. "If you don't have anywhere to go… then why don't you come back with me?"

Kin recoiled at his question and winced when she felt the pain in her side again, but managed to hold firm and look back at him in surprise, "What?"

Naruto chuckled at her initial answer, "You can come back with me to my village. Considering what would happen to you if you tried to go back to yours I'm sure Hokage-jiji can do something to help you out. There's no way he'd turn someone in need away. I know I wouldn't."

The kunoichi searched his stare momentarily to see if he was playing with her. However, upon seeing the sincerity in his eyes, the kunoichi gulped and turned to face him properly, her expression showing renewed signs of hope. It was a new look on her, but Naruto knew it well when he saw it. "R-Really?" Her gaze then hardened somewhat, "Y-You're not fucking with me, are you?"

"No. Of course not. It's no skin off my teeth… and if they try anything funny with you I can make their lives really miserable." He then gave her a look that sent a shiver down her spine. That or it was the morphine kicking in again. "Believe me… I can."

Giving his words further thought and weighing her options in her hands again, the kunoichi pressed her lips together tightly, her mind racing as she quickly arrived at a decision and nodded.

What did she have to lose from this? She was being given an out and she was taking it. Who wouldn't in her situation?

This way she wouldn't have to go back to her village and risk being executed by her boss or used in one of his twisted experiments. As harsh as her previous qualms about Konoha had been before, the boy she was speaking with at least seemed nice. She didn't sense anything deceitful or malicious in his words or character at all, and even though she'd practically snapped at him he just bounced right back without reciprocating to her anger. That was good enough for her in her book if it meant dodging the point of a sword, so to speak.

Taking the girl's nod as her answer, Naruto then leapt off of the bed and rushed over to the door, leaving a still baffled Kin sitting alone for a moment while he went to see the Chunin standing guard outside. When he stuck his head through the door after pushing it open, he saw a Konoha Chunin nearby and tugged on his arm, getting his attention.

"Excuse me, but is it possible to get Kakashi Hatake down here. I need to ask him something important."

"Your team leader?" the man asked, seeing the jinchuriki nod. The man complied, "Sure. The squad leaders for the winning teams will be here tomorrow anyway, but I can call him in ahead of time if it's urgent." The shinobi then promptly moved off, allowing Naruto to slip back into the room and return to Kin's side.

The jinchuriki sat on her bed again when silence fell, smiling brightly and meeting Kin's look eye to eye. It was obvious she was still trying to process what had just happened and what was currently going on, but one way or the other things were getting done. Naruto couldn't have asked for anything more.

"Hey, I never got your name," the jinchuriki spoke up, jolting the kunoichi out of her stupor. He jabbed a thumb into his chest, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki: future Hokage of Konohagakure, part-time seller of body oils and fulltime hero."

The raven haired girl shook herself out of her daze and smirked back, "I'm Kin… Kin Tsuchi." She then suddenly remembered that she was still sitting up… and that the sheet she had covering her had fallen back down. The blonde's small glances drew her to the problem, and she quickly covered herself up again with a deep shade of crimson on her face. She shot a glare at him again to see him turn and start whistling, "Stop peeking at me you pervert!"

"S-Sorry," Naruto replied nervously, glancing back at her several times but looking away with a little more red in his cheeks. "I can't help that you're so cute."

This didn't seem to help her position any as Kin blushed even more. However, she reframed from attacking him or giving him a further tongue lashing, since she couldn't really muster the strength for it.

"He may act a little odd… but at least he's okay…" Better than some of the other guys she was used to seeing.

The kunoichi threw him a sour look. "Don't expect me to be all grateful and mushy just because you're helping me out. I don't do that shit."

The jinchuriki grinned sheepishly. "I'm not expecting anything like that from you. I just wanted someone to talk to."

The girl grunted while keeping her gaze locked firmly on him to make sure he didn't look her way lewdly again.

Of course, once the awkwardness came and went, Naruto turned to look back at the girl, this time keeping his eyes up. Remembering why they were there in the first place, the jinchuriki raised an eyebrow at her. "By the way, who was it that beat you up so badly to put you in that state to begin with?" His question had Kin look at him with a start. "It must have been one hell of an opponent to hit you with attacks that looked like you were stabbed repeatedly with a kunai."

Tensing up, the girl shuddered when memories of her battle hit her once more and she leaned back against the frame of her bed. To go along with the flashes, Kin laid her hand across her abdomen with a pained expression taking hold. She looked down when she spoke again, "You probably won't believe me… but my entire team was taken out by just one person. One." She glanced across to see Naruto staring in surprise. "You should know who I'm talking about, since you were the one that broke out into song and dance with her before the beginning of the written exam. She was that blonde haired girl from the Kirigakure team."

"She beat you guys?" Well wasn't that something. Naruto knew he'd felt something off about all three members of the group, especially from the boy and the orange haired girl, but their teammate seemed really nice. As it turned out though, despite all her smiling and her fun-loving personality, she had some talons hiding behind her cheerful disposition. "How?"

"I… don't know…" Kin shook her head, sweat beginning to appear on her temples as she stressed over the memory and the beating she took. "It was… unreal. She took the full power of Zaku's concussive shockwaves head on and survived. Dosu then hit her with his melody arm, but the sound waves had no affect on her… and every attack I threw at her bounced off like they were nothing. It was like her skin was made of steel or something. I can't really explain what happened afterwards, but when we stopped to catch our breaths, she ripped through all three of us using only her finger."

"Seriously?"

Kin nodded, eyes shaking with fear at the memory. "She was fast… faster than anyone I'd ever seen before, and her physical strength was out of this world. When she hit me with that finger of hers, it felt like being hit with a spear. We couldn't even put a scratch on her…"

Okay, that was scary.

Someone in this exam was strong enough that they could not only take on an entire team of fully-fledged Genin using just a finger, but plow through them like they were nothing and walk out unscathed.

Any other person would have been shaken up by this news. But Naruto, after processing these new pieces of information and learning that there was someone in this competition with hand-to-hand capabilities way beyond that of an ordinary shinobi's, a grin spread across his face and he looked up with determination burning in his eyes. Kin saw this too and blinked in confusion.

"I think I've found myself a new challenge…"

His words stunned the kunoichi, who could do nothing but gape as Naruto clenched his fists excitedly.

It looked like things in this exam were starting to pick up…

OOO

Nighttime…

Boiling Lands…

Standing on top of a cliff way behind the other teams and looking over the wastelands making up their second challenge, the Genin team from Konohagakure with Kabuto Yakushi as its head waited silently and patiently, as if the fact that they were supposed to be in a race to the finish line didn't matter to them.

Were they actually Genin gunning for a promotion, they would have been over the halfway mark by now. But the fact was that they weren't here for something trivial like that. Oh no. The three men dressed in purple garb, two of them wearing cloths across their mugs to hide their real identities, weren't fussed at all. All of them were here for a completely different purpose, and that was simply to watch and observe, as all of the other teams fought for the eight spots that would secure them a pass into the next round.

While they could have taken one of the places for themselves if they wanted to, the three men making up the team felt that it was too much of a hassle to continue on at the pace that they'd set, and simply fell behind.

Kabuto smirked as he stared across the wastelands, at the same time feeling the familiar presence of his team's leader and maker arrive on the scene. As if materializing from the shadows themselves, the dark form of a man with long black hair, pale white skin with magatama earrings, snake like eyes, and wearing a khaki battle robe, dark pants, shirt and a purple rope wrapped around their waist forming loops behind them, stepped forward to stand beside the silver haired Genin. The other two also noticed the arrival of the individual and rose to their feet in greeting.

"Orochimaru-sama," Yoroi said.

"What brings you here?" Misumi asked immediately afterwards.

The Snake Sannin smirked, "Oh… just… enjoying the sights and sounds of children squabbling over the eight places for the next round. I must say, it is quite the show." The pale man glanced over at Kabuto, where he saw his most trusted spy smiling across the dark landscape. "You've fallen behind. Care to explain why?"

Feeling the powerful individual addressing him directly, Kabuto turned and smiled, "I've suspended our progress based on my own assessment of the situation. After following up on the information I was able to acquire, I've come to the conclusion that it would be more beneficial for us to watch from a distance than to join in the pecking order. I think you'll find some of our intelligence most interesting."

Orochimaru smirked as he gave his right-hand man a more curious look, "Go on."

Reaching into his pocket, Kabuto pulled up a card and smirked down at the contents that appeared. "The team with Sasuke Uchiha has moved into the next round. Their strength as a team is quite impressive, especially from the two male members. The genius is progressing well. I believe he will be a most interesting test subject in this exam in terms of well-rounded technique."

"Oh, he'll be more than just a mere test subject, my dear Kabuto," the Sannin responded while looking back at the exam grounds. "I plan on making Sasuke-kun my number one prospect; the next stepping stone in my great plan to inherit all ninjutsu in the world."

Nodding in understanding, the bookish looking spy looked back at his card. "Including his team, the three squads with jinchuriki in them have made it into the third stage. The Kirigakure team especially. I've found out that they have two very interesting bloodline users in their group that you might like to add to your collection."

"Well… one can't have too many experiments," Orochimaru chuckled. "I'll put that team as a footnote to be recorded in further detail later, since you've gone out of your way to highlight them. What about our good little pawns… how is Dosu's team doing?"

"Unfortunately… Dosu's team ran into one of the members of the Kirigakure team, and met a swift and premature end at her hands," Kabuto said, looking up worryingly at the man. "Zaku was killed, and Dosu is missing. I believe Kin is now in the hands of the proctors…"

"Leave them be. They were merely lab rats to test the capabilities of the other candidates. If all three of them together were unable to handle one prodigy from another country, then their usefulness to me has forfeited," Orochimaru spoke lowly with a disappointed sigh. "It's a shame. They were so determined. I actually had high hopes for them too."

Kabuto nodded before running a finger over his card, "Then that part of the plan is done and dusted. What's our next move?"

"We sit back and enjoy the rest of the show, of course," Orochimaru answered while licking his lips with his freakishly long tongue. "I wish to see the fruits I plan on harvesting in the near future grow and ripen some more, until the time to pick them arrives. A venture like this requires you to be patient, and be patient I shall…"

His three underlings nodded affirmatively, while the boy with the information card in hand lowered it and smiled, "Of course, Orochimaru-sama."

XXX

After the third day…

It had been a long, grueling haul for all the teams that had participated in the second stage of the Chunin Selection Exams. Most of those that had managed to make it across, even well after the allotted time, were carrying the burns and scars of an unforgiving landscape racked with warfare involving Genin shooting for the top spots. But despite the best efforts of most it came as a big disappointment to them to learn that by the time they ended up staggering through the gates that they didn't make it.

Hell, it came as little surprise to see those teams that ended up arriving late breakdown and complain, but that's how life was unfortunately.

It didn't play favorites and it was unpredictable. People had different ways of coining what life was, but no one was going to be bothered spouting that philosophical crap here.

If you didn't make it, you didn't make it.

By the end of the third day, all eight spots granting leeway into the third stage of the exams had been filled, with shinobi from all five of the great nations making it through. Obviously the team from Kirigakure that came first was there, as were teams from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Konohagakure. It was surprising to see the number of teams from Konohagakure that had made it; four teams. The others had one team each.

What struck the Konoha Genin who did make it as odd was the absence of Team 8 under Kurenai. Out of all of them, they expected those three to have got here on time. However, when Naruto and the others met their senseis to inquire about their wellbeing, they said that all three of them, Kiba, Shino and Hinata, had been taken out before they could arrive at the finish line. They were alive, yes, but they were in pretty bad shape and were spending time resting up in the hospital back in the village.

It was upsetting, but it was to be expected. Not all of them were anticipated to make it past the cut-off point for the biggest and hardest exam ever to be held between the shinobi villages. Maybe they would have better luck next year.

Anyway, after the third day came and went, and those that had arrived on the second day were given time to rest and recuperate in their own rooms, all eight squads that had made it into the next stage were then called back down to the main hall of the tower to meet with their instructors as well as with the proctors in charge of the second stage. They were arranged into orderly lines in front of their team leaders, where Naruto was pleased to see a lot of the ones he expected to have made it there with them in the same room.

He'd also bumped into Samui and her team on the way down to the meeting place, where he had to contend with the annoying looks Karui gave him and was able to have a quick, friendly chat with the blonde haired kunoichi of their squad and promised her that they could meet up once all the exams were over and done with. It was a promise the ever-composed Samui would hold him to and took off while making a show of leaving, bringing a new shade of red to Naruto's face.

That girl was simply beguiling.

The sheer amount of tension that hung in the air following his little rendezvous became almost palpable. All those participating knew that the next test was going to be a big one if everyone here was so psyched up for it. The only people who weren't really taking the excitement in stride with the rest of them though were the older boy and girl members of the Sunagakure team, who were looking towards the youngest member of their group with grave concern and nervousness. Even those standing nearby could feel the terrifying vibes coming off of the redhead with the gourd on his back. It was almost choking, especially for the team next to them.

"Man… what's with that guy?" Shikamaru wondered while looking across at the Suna Genin, who had his arms folded and was glaring at the back of his instructor with full use of the thousand-yard-stare. "Everything coming off of him screams 'stay the hell away from me.' I wonder what's got him so worked up." When the Nara saw said individual glance at him, he quickly looked away so as to not to incur his wrath should his stare be bothering him. "Geez… this is so troublesome."

Everyone in each squad was lined up behind the other, with their teachers up front and their summoned animals standing at attention at their feet, giving them a good view of the podium and the individuals standing on top of it. Anko, Darui and Tsurugi faced the small crowd with smirks on their faces and their own hands positioned comfortably inside their pockets. They counted the numbers and took stock of all those who'd passed, with the former sparing a grin when she saw her old student standing in amongst them.

Speaking of which, Naruto looked across the rows to see Tayuya do the same, both of them smiling and waving to each other before moving their eyes to the front once more.

Darui stepped forward when he felt the time was right, his action prompting all eyes to fall on him and silence to completely fall. "I'd like to congratulate each and every one of you for passing the second stage of the Chunin Exams. It was a rough run and many of your allies and comrades didn't make it, but this is now your moment to shine. You have succeeded where all the others have failed, and I'm sure all of you will do the very best that you can in the final stage of the exams."

He saw every student in the hall brace themselves for the information to come, which had Anko and Tsurugi smirk in amusement at the build-up that was taking place. Stepping down a little, the Kumo ninja then allowed Anko to take the stage with a wide grin and the glass-breaker of announcements.

"That will take place in another month or so!"

This had everyone's hearts stop and jaws drop at random. This was most notably the case concerning the members of Team 10, the team from Iwagakure, and a wide assortment of individuals from other villages. The Jonin instructors of each team snickered when they felt the intensity of the atmosphere just drop like a stone, and they could almost see the expressions on their students' faces as if they were looking right at them.

Tsurugi then used this opportunity to cut in and put the now startled minds of the potential Chunin candidates at ease, "Just to make it clear to all of you who didn't get it, we're not jumping directly into the final test. Much like the last two, you can choose whether or not you wish to partake in it, as I'm sure this one is going to be your biggest challenge yet. The time we are giving you will allow you to rest up and prepare yourselves for the final event, which we are currently in the process of preparing."

Wondering what kind of event would call for an entire month of preparation, Tayuya spoke up, "What exactly is this next test?" It was a question everyone was glad she brought up.

Anko smirked, "Before we reveal to you what is involved in the final stage, I need to know that each and every single one of you is on board with this." Upon seeing confusion fall across some of them, the woman continued on without missing a beat. "Be warned; this third and final test will be the backbreaker of all the trials you have faced thus far. There is a good chance that most of you will die in the stage to come and end all of your dreams before you can even see them realized. Knowing that your odds of failing in this next part are even higher than the ones before, do you still wish to continue on with it? Because if there is anyone here not feeling too confident about moving on, hold up your hand and we will subtract your name from the board."

The woman then waited eagerly for their responses. When all three proctors saw the faces on all those present steel and become more attentive, those in charge gave each other looks of approval before turning back to the crowd.

"Very well then. You have decided your fates," Anko said, stepping back and out of the way as the whiteboard behind her was pushed forward.

Darui smiled out at the teams standing in front of him, "Just like we promised; only eight teams were allowed to pass through into the final stage. That's a total of twenty-four participants. These twenty-four participants will be entered into a tournament, which will be held in a public venue at the end of the month in the village of Yugakure. As this is going to be the main event of the Chunin Selection Exams, you will all be observed by your respective villages, village leaders, high-ranking individuals, potential clientele and the daimyos of multiple countries. This tournament basically pits all of you against each other in a fight to see who will come out on top, so performing to the best of your abilities and showing your true merit as shinobi of your villages is top priority."

"But don't just think winning matches and plowing through the competition will get you promoted," Tsurugi stated while folding his arms. "There's more to this test then just sheer, brute force and acting without prior consideration. That's not how a good shinobi should fight."

Darui nodded in agreement, "You need to show the judges and all those watching you why you should be promoted. Sure, you may show the strength and skill worthy of a Chunin level shinobi, but all of that counts for nothing if you're unable to lead a team on a mission or make tactical decisions."

"Simply having power and not knowing what to do with it will lead to a lot of comrades getting injured or killed out on the field, and that's something that we don't need," Tsurugi followed up, also stepping aside so that the board could come into view. "If you win, you get to show more reason as to why you should be promoted, but even then you can go the entire tournament and not get anything in the end. The same could be said if you lose. You might end up losing in the first round, but if you show the audience that you have the capacity to lead and possess the right qualities of a Chunin, you can still be considered for a promotion."

"Well that's comforting," Tenten murmured while pulling a face. "As long as we show enough brain our names can be put down for consideration."

Naruto was sort of thinking the same thing, but he had most of his thoughts currently fixed on other things.

"And just if you're all still wondering; yes. Your actions in the first and second exams have all been taken into account and have been added to your resumes, giving us more information to mull over regarding your status as shinobi. Furthermore, the summons that you escorted here have served another purpose," Anko informed while gesturing to the critters standing in front of each of the Jonin. "These 'clients' carried your names and registration forms here on their backs, which have allowed us to double-check and confirm your identities, and grant you permission into the third stage." She then pulled out a clipboard and gestured to the whiteboard, flipping it over so that she revealed a line chart on the other side. "We will now have an official move down each of your rows one by one. You will each pick a number out of the box he's holding. That number will determine your place on the bracket!"

The Chunin official then did as instructor and went down row after row. He didn't follow it team by team and instead moved across, watching carefully as each Genin stuck their hand into the pot and pulled out a slip of paper. He continued to do so until arriving at the last person, before turning heel and retreating into the background. Anko then waited with pen in hand as she and the other proctors prepared to record the results.

"Now, we'll do this one squad at a time. When your squad is called out, you will each then announce your number in turn," Anko stated before smirking eagerly, "The squad from Sunagakure; I'll let you kids go first."

Temari raised an eyebrow at her number before holding it up, "Eleven."

"I'm sixteen," Kankuro followed up, before both of them waited patiently for Gaara as he glared down at his.

"Number three," the boy replied calmly.

While Anko jotted down the results on her pad, the proctors beside her wrote down the names on the graph provided, placing their names with the corresponding numbers. Once that was done, the Tokubetsu Jonin then turned back to the crowd with a smile. "Team Seven from Konohagakure!" Oh goodie, the one with her favorite, troublesome blonde.

Sasuke opened up his first, "Twenty."

"Twelve," Sakura exclaimed, holding up her own. Good. At least she wasn't first.

Naruto squinted as his number momentarily, wondering if this was a joke or just some sort of coincidence. Unwilling to argue with the laws of the universe however, he gave his number up without argument and with a small smile on his face, "Number nine."

"Oh, well isn't that suspiciously convenient," the Kyuubi scoffed from inside.

Once their names were slapped up, Anko moved on to the next group. "Team Nine from Konohagakure."

"Heh. Look what I have here; I'm number eight," Tayuya said loudly, flashing her number.

"Number twenty-two," Shiho chirped, adjusting her glasses.

"Number seven," Kaede stated with a pleasant smile. "Fortune favors those who embrace life passionately."

What were the chances that the numbers would be so packed together? Of course, this was the luck of the draw, and once their names were written down without a fuss, Anko proceeded on without missing a beat. "Team Ten from Konohagakure."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed while waving his piece of paper, "Looks like I'm first. Number one."

"Number thirteen," Ino exclaimed.

Choji frowned as he looked at his, "I'm number twenty-three."

Oh, so based on their results they had all the unlucky numbers. Well that was fun. Who were they going to be pitted against now that they knew where they were sitting on the tally?

"Team Gai… I'm pretty sure you fellas know who you are," Anko chirped.

"YOSH!" Lee exclaimed, jumping in the air while thrusting his number up, "I'm number fifteen!"

"Four," Tenten said with a smile.

"Number ten," Neji answered.

"Good," Anko exclaimed. No worries there and the team seemed pretty cool about it. "Team Six from Kirigakure?"

"Present!" Kiyoko chirped, grinning boisterously while holding up her number like it was a certificate, "Number fourteen here!"

"I'm at the end, number twenty-one," Utakata spoke in his usual, monotone voice.

Tsubaki stared at hers long and hard before lowering it and looking away, "Number seventeen."

"Team Iwa," Anko said, holding back a chuckle at how obvious the name was. Who was lucky enough to get assigned that banner?

"I've got number six," Shirotsuchi exclaimed, waving her number in the air as the candle sitting inside the lantern on her head flickered brightly and showcased her delight. The people who looked at her followed her headwear as it bobbed about on her neck with interest; unable to comprehend why someone would wear a candle with their hat. Didn't it get hot under there?

Didn't it give away her position at night as well?

"I'm number two," Kurotsuchi stated before grinning slyly in Shikamaru's direction, "I wonder who my opponent is going to be?" Her leer had the Nara shrink away a little at how intense her eyes became.

Boy, she really wanted to fight. Not something that instilled much confidence in the most lax person on the face of the planet.

"I have number eighteen," Akatsuchi announced loud and clear.

"And last but not least, Team Samui," Anko called out, looking at the names before raising an eyebrow, "Yeah, and that one was clearly not decided by a rock-paper-scissors competition." The girl must have been lucky to have the team named after her. Perhaps she was the most exceptional of the group.

Speaking of which, the blonde haired kunoichi with the abundant chest size stepped forward and smiled, "I'll be easy to place. Twenty-four."

"Spot number nineteen," Omoi announced, rolling the sucker around in his mouth while holding up his paper.

"I'm number five," Karui said, flicking her paper away with a sigh. "What a bother."

Once all the names had been jotted down and their places assigned, Anko smirked and clicked her pen, folding her pad away and watching the other proctors step aside. The teams assembled before them were then given a clear view of the white board, which had all of their names placed in the brackets where their numbers pointed them to. Needless to say, the sight had a lot of the participants stiffen when they got a good look at where their names were.

XXX

First Half

(Bracket 1)

Match 1: Shikamaru vs. Kurotsuchi

Match 2: Gaara vs. Tenten

Match 3: Karui vs Shirotsuchi

Match 4: Kaede vs Tayuya

(Bracket 2)

Match 5: Naruto vs Neji

Match 6: Temari vs Sakura

INTERMISSION

Second Half

Match 7: Ino vs Kiyoko

Match 8: Lee vs Kankuro

(Bracket 3)

Match 9: Tsubaki vs Akatsuchi

Match 10: Omoi vs Sasuke

Match 11: Utakata vs Shiho

Match 12: Choji vs Samui

XXX

"Oh, what an interesting line-up," Anko exclaimed while licking her lips, "Looks like we're going to have one hell of a party at the end of this month. I can't wait."

Darui chuckled as he looked over the graph himself, "Well, it appears that whoever's picked to be the climber on the right hand side is going to be running the gauntlet. If they can make it through to the end then I will be one surprised son of a bitch."

All those sitting in the second half of the tally frowned as they looked over their names, numbers, and who their opponents were. Those like Choji and Sakura gulped nervously as they spared a glance towards their respective opposition and saw them do the same, only with more confidence and less facial expressions. Others like Sasuke and Neji just stared silently at their names, making predictions and quick scenarios as to who they would be facing in the future, provided they make it past their first obstacles. Others however were a lot more vocal in regards to their positioning, which had a lot of eyes turn to them in bewilderment.

"Awesome!" Kiyoko cheered excitedly while bouncing up and down, "I'm going to have so much fun!"

"So my first opponent is Neji, huh?" Naruto murmured to himself before looking in the direction of said Hyuuga. When he saw the genius glance towards him in kind, the jinchuriki grinned widely, "I have absolutely no problems with that."

"Neither do I," Neji shot back in a quiet voice, a smile spreading over his own lips.

"YOSH!" Lee exclaimed, raising a fist as his eyes burned with passion, "What a wonderful setup! I will blow through this competition and win the entire tournament!" Oh yeah, he was verbally expressing his excitement, while at the same time shouting inside his own head to stoke the fires of his youth. "Watch me Gai-sensei! I will overcome every single obstacle in my path and make it to the top! Then everyone will know the name of the boy who worked hard to become a Chunin; Rock Lee!"

Tayuya smirked, "Looks like you and I will be fighting seriously for the first time, eh Kaede?" The redhead looked over her shoulder at the boy standing behind her, whom she saw smile back warmly.

"I am not at all fussed with a little healthy competition, Tayuya-san," the boy replied while bowing grandly. Shiho smiled back at them, while at the same time taking a moment to consider her own position and look over at the Kirigakure Genin who was her first opponent.

Knowing that they were the team to make it here first, it was no surprise that those fighting them right off the bat were feeling nervous about the whole thing. While Shiho and Ino had a lot to be concerned about, Akatsuchi was considering his own opponent with a little more care. Out of all three of the Kirigakure Genin, the girl with orange hair and the samurai robe worn fashionably over her shoulders has shown to be the most versatile as well as the meanest of them all. That first impression back before the start of the written test in the first stage certainly had heads turning. There was no doubt in the bulky boy's mind that she would be the most bothersome to deal with.

Tsubaki on the other hand, spared the chart a momentary glance before breathing a sigh and looking away with a smile. "I've got this whole thing in the bag."

"Of course you do," Utakata exclaimed, hearing the girl loud and clear. His pointing out of her confident statement got her to blush, while at the same time he pulled his bubble blower out from his robe and wiped down the cylinder. "Just try not to make a show out of it. The judges will only be interested in how smart you fight, and not the amount of fireworks you can set off."

Flustered, the orange haired girl looked away with a sour glare and red in her cheeks, "R-Right."

Sakura clenched her fists tightly as she looked upon her name. "This is it. This is the chance I've been waiting for. I'll show everyone here how strong I can become and that I am worth Sasuke-kun's time." She didn't just want to impress the judges; she also wanted to show her teammates that she would be able to fight alongside them, especially the raven haired prodigy.

Shikamaru breathed out a sigh and closed his eyes, at the same time trying to ignore the leer from the ever enthusiastic Kurotsuchi coming from his three o'clock. "Troublesome." Why was it that every conflict he was involved in, it had to involve a girl?

Omoi rubbed the back of his head, "So I'm up against the Uchiha? That's interesting. Maybe I'll get lucky and strike out early… or I just might end up winning this whole thing and get promoted based on my own devil's luck. It's going to be tough thrown into the last bracket; I'll have to run the gauntlet."

A frustrated sigh came from the redhead behind him, who was bringing her hands up in a strangling motion but reframed from latching onto the column of flesh standing in front of her. "Omoi, shut the hell up," Karui growled.

Their more relaxed teammate on the other hand was considering the board while looking over at Utakata. Of all the Genin she expected to face that would prove to be a challenge, he was second on her list. "That guy is giving off a vibe that might cause me some trouble in the long run. I'm going to have to be cool about this…"

Just as some of the other contestants were doing, Naruto was sizing all of his competition up and who he was likely to face after Neji. The Hyuuga was one problem, and while the jinchuriki felt he would be able to handle him, there were others he felt that might be a test for his mettle. "If Sakura-chan doesn't make it through, then I'll have Temari to fight next. After that, it's a tossup between Lee and that girl from Kirigakure." If Ino didn't make it and that boy from Suna didn't either. He looked across at the abovementioned individuals, frowning when he saw the boy in green with the equally dynamic personality grinning ecstatically in the same manner as the blonde. Naruto's frown intensified, "Looks like I have my work cut out for me."

Seeing the teams get fired up and trail off into random bits of conversation once the realizations of who they were up against next came and went, Darui cleared his throat to make way for his gentle dismissal. "Alright you kids, that's it for the day. Now that all of you know what's coming up in the coming weeks, it's best that you all go home now and prepare yourselves for the final obstacle. Make sure to train hard, rest up, and improve on any faults you may have in your form to show what you've got to the judges. This will be your last chance to impress us, so make it a good one!"

Upon seeing the Genin nod or stand at attention respectively, Anko grinned and waved a hand, "Now get the hell out of here! See you in five weeks!"

OOO

Later that day…

Confined to a hospital room in the village of Yugakure, the young Genin members of Team 8 were currently in full recovery mode.

Basically it meant that all three of them were stuck in their beds, one next to the other, completely dressed in the bandages and casts required for them to set whatever body parts were out of place back into their original positions. Of course, while there were few casts, all of them were wrapped heavily in gauze from head to toe, giving them the appearance of being partially mummified.

This was necessary of course in order to cover up the burns they'd received from the one-sided slaughter they'd been a part of a couple of days ago.

While Shino was no stranger to having most of his body covered up, which made his situation especially hilarious since he was still wearing sunglasses, the other two members of his team were in varying conditions of pain and despondency. Hinata was lying to Shino's left, wrapped in the same manner as the boy but able to sit up and enjoy a nice serving of ice-cream and fruits to help soothe the ache she felt all over. It was kind of cute seeing her dressed up like that in a gown with her face parting through the bandages. She was quite enjoying the quietness of the hospital room too.

Shino was silent as usual, watching the television playing over some documentary and doing everything he could to hasten his own stay here.

Kiba on the other hand was in a worse state than both of them. Not only was he wrapped in bandages from top to bottom, but his mouth was closed up by said bandages and he had a cast around his neck and lower jaw. This basically meant his jaw was broken and he was unable to eat any solids, which explained the straw and soup sitting next to him on the table. Akamaru was with them too, wrapped up just as much as they were and lying in a doggy bed next to Kiba's, and was currently sleeping off the fatigue.

Hungry, Kiba tried reaching for his bowl of soup again, albeit with great difficulty. However, just as his fingers came within brushing the edge of the plate, he suddenly saw it get picked up and leave his line of sight, which prompted the annoyed boy to follow it up to the individual responsible for its moving. The radiant smile of Naruto Uzumaki greeted the wounded Inuzuka, the jinchuriki dropping down from the windowsill and sitting on his bed, "Hey there, guys!"

Caught by surprise, Hinata and Shino looked in his direction, with the former pulling the sheet up to cover herself due to her state of dress.

"N-Naruto-kun?!"

"Where in the world did you come from?" the Aburame asked.

Naruto chuckled as he stirred the soup, watching the broth clear as the spoon drew circles in it, "Oh, I came up the storm drain. Everybody else is going through the lobby, but that's the chump's way up. I decided to cut out the intermediary period and break-in my own way." After stirring the soup he looked up to see that Kiba was glaring at him, and both Hinata and Shino were sitting up. "So what happened? I heard you guys got beat up by some freaky candidate during the second stage."

"Rusht reeve re arone, raruto," Kiba mumbled through the bandages wrapped around his mouth. ("Just leave me alone, Naruto.")

Shino, passive as usual, gave the blonde a serious gaze as he adjusted his position on his bed, "So… word has already gotten out about what happened to us?"

"Yep. Spread like wild fire," Naruto responded in a carefree manner, taking a spoonful of the liquid and drinking it.

The sight of the blonde sitting next to him and drinking his soup had Kiba frown deeply, even though nobody could see it. "Rey… rhats ruhie roup." ("Hey… that's my soup.")

"How are you doing, Hinata?" Naruto asked with a warm smile, seeing the girl try to hide behind her sheet while blushing and stammering.

"I-I… I'm okay… Naruto-kun," the Hyuuga replied while smiling in his direction. "H-How about you? Did you pass the second stage of the exams?"

"Yeah. That last stretch was pretty intense. I think I went a little nuts there for a moment," Naruto chuckled, before turning his attention back to Shino. Having a few more spoonfuls of Kiba's soup, much to the Inuzuka's chagrin and continued attempts to curse him out, the blonde then focused back on the current issue at hand… and that was finding out how all of Team 8 had been dealt with so handily. "I can talk about the exam later. What I'm more worried about are the people who did this to you."

Shino lowered his head a little, ignoring the searing pain of his skin so that he could properly recall what'd happened, "I can understand your concerns, seeing us like this…"

Looking at the Aburame's and Hinata's combined expressions, the jinchuriki frowned a little as he panned over each of them carefully. "I'm going to venture a guess and say that it was one of those guys from the Kirigakure team. Am I right?" When he watched the pair's looks become ones filled with surprise, it gave Naruto all the information he needed to confirm his suspicions. "It was the girl with the wicked orange hair, wasn't it?"

Shino nodded his head grimly while turning to fully confront their visitor, "She was… unbelievable. That kunoichi was unlike any other we've ever faced before. Her presence alone gave us all chills."

"Her chakra level was off the scale," Hinata added, immediately seeing Naruto's head snap towards her and resulting in another stammer. "I… I'd never seen so much chakra sitting in one place before… n-not since you, N-Naruto-kun." The jinchuriki raised an eyebrow in interest, urging the girl to continue. "Not only that, but every attack we tried to land on her passed through her completely, l-like she wasn't even there."

"Passed through her?" Naruto murmured. What did that mean? They couldn't touch her?

"Kiba rushed her with his best moves," Shino informed with a firm gaze. "Every technique he executed landed perfectly, but even though they were right on the mark they just went straight through her. It was almost like attacking a ghost; something that was physically there but incomprehensible."

"That's unreal," Naruto said in a low voice, lowering the now half-empty dish that Kiba tried to claw away from him. "How can someone make their own body phase through attacks? Are you sure she wasn't an illusion?"

"Yes. She wasn't," Shino replied quickly. "Hinata attacked her head on, but she stopped her before she could land a single blow because she was worried about being hit by her Gentle Fist style attacks. My guess is that we can still attack her chakra network even if she can make herself intangible to most attacks, but even knowing this she was still able to defeat us without any effort whatsoever."

"How?"

"I-It was scary," Hinata said, shivering at the memory. "She moved so fast. One moment she was there, the next thing we knew… Kiba-kun was sent flying into the forest from a lightning fast kick. He crashed through several trees and they all collapsed on top of him."

"She took him out with one shot," Shino stated, pointing down at the boy, whom Naruto quickly turned to. "That was all it took. Not only did she move fast enough that we lost track of her completely, she was also able to take one of us down with a single hit. That speed is beyond even Kurenai-sensei."

When he saw Kiba trying to grab the soup from his hands, Naruto realized what he must have been after and quickly handed it to him, sticking the straw between the bandages. This got a satisfied grunt from the Inuzuka as he happily started drinking his meal again.

"Oh, sorry, Kiba."

"Ruan rou." ("Thank you.")

Naruto looked back up at the other two once the muzzled member of their team had settled down and returned to the conversation. "How fast is she, do you think? Was it a shunshin that she used to get your teammate, or something else?"

"We… don't know…" Hinata replied.

"All we saw was a blue flash… like lightning," Shino stated, crossing his arms and looking down at the bed thoughtfully. "She moved as fast as lightning; instantaneously. And that's another thing…"

"What?"

"After she took out Kiba, she then turned me and Hinata and used a strange jutsu to finish the two of us off," Shino replied, looking up at the blonde to see him glaring back seriously. "It was quick. When we woke up we found ourselves here, but before we were knocked out we remembered seeing a flash of light and a trail of it leaving her finger. That's the best way I can describe it to you; a beam of energy shooting out from her finger and enveloping us. We had no time to react."

"I see," Naruto murmured, rubbing his chin in thought as he mulled over the information given to him. "So this girl with the orange hair, she's not only physically strong, she moves faster than anyone else we know, has a massive amount of chakra, and as far as we're concerned, physical attacks won't harm her. The Gentle Fist style maybe… but she moves so fast that she doesn't have to worry about being hit." The jinchuriki looked up with a smile. "Man, I know this may sound crazy, but I can't wait to fight her."

Shino looked at him in surprise, as did Hinata, with the latter smiling brightly seconds later while bringing the sheet of her bed up to her chin. It was clear she was in awe at the boy's bravery, as evident by her silent appraisal of him. The Aburame on the other hand expressed his concerns visually through slight facial expressions, before his stare hardened once more and he faced the excited jinchuriki seriously a second time.

"Naruto," Shino spoke, drawing the boy's focus to him, "I know you are not one to back down from a challenge… but I don't think that this is a person that you can defeat on your own. This girl from Kirigakure… she's powerful."

The blonde haired wonder grinned from ear to ear as he leaned back a bit, "Maybe I can, maybe I can't. But I'll never know if I don't try. Either way, if I make it past the first few rounds, I just might end up fighting her in the semi-finals. We have a whole month to prepare ourselves for the third stage, so that gives me plenty of time to think up a strategy." He then raised a hand and petted Kiba on the chest, getting the teenager to hunch forward in agony, groaning into the bandages over his mouth. "Am I right, dog-boy?"

"Auk… rou…"

Naruto laughed, "Yeah, I know. I'm awesome."

"…" Kiba just stuck to glaring, since clearly everything he was probably going to say to the blonde haired idiot would be muffled by the gauze wraps. Aside from being unable to drink solids or make proper facial expressions, speech impediments was another problem he had to contend with thanks to having a broken jaw.

While the four of them sat in comfortable silence, and Naruto was able to give Akamaru a scratch on the head when he woke up, the door to the room suddenly opened, and Kurenai allowed the other teams that had come to visit in. This basically included Team 10, Gai, Team 7, Team 9, and their teachers. When they stepped through across the threshold, they were pleased to see all members of the defeated team up, and were also surprised to see Naruto already there. Tayuya rolled her eyes when she saw the open window.

"The window again? Really, shithead?" she asked.

"Hey, the main entrance to any establishment is for people who are willing to pay. I learned that a long time ago when I tried to get into a theater but they wouldn't let me in, so I improvised, dattebayo," Naruto grinned.

Tayuya chuckled with her hands on her hips, "You're a full-on criminal, aren't you?"

The blonde rubbed his nails against his jacket, "It's a living."

Neji looked at the musician rather strangely as they slowly moved across the room. "You know, I still don't see why you gave Naruto such a degrading nickname like that." It was still really strange to all of them how the jinchuriki was able to go along with Tayuya labeling him with something so depressing. Maybe it was because they were such close friends that he wasn't at all offended by his affectionately given title.

"So… what did we miss?" Asuma asked as the teams stopped by each one of the beds to say hello to the temporarily invalid squad.

"I assume you three didn't take the second stage all too well," Ino said a matter-of-factly as she looked across the beds while scratching her head sheepishly. She then tugged on her ruined top, "Don't worry, my team didn't cope any better in that environment either."

"How did you guys end up in this state?" Sasuke asked, finding Kiba's current appearance quite amusing. The smirk he sent said kid's way was swiftly returned with a middle-finger, before Kurenai acted as a go-between and got her student to calm down so that he didn't further strain himself.

"You didn't fall into an acid pit, did you?" Tenten inquired curiously, figuring what must have happened based on their mummified states.

Shino and Hinata looked at each other, before turning to face the other visiting groups firmly.

"It's a… b-bit of a long story," the Hyuuga answered brightly, sheets still held up high as she laid down a little more in her bed.

Rubbing the back of his head, Kakashi then stepped forward as he looked over all of the squads present. All eyes fell on him when he made his presence recognized. "Well, we have plenty of time to talk about it. However, I think it's important to tell you guys now that you're all together that the proctors have instructed us to tell you that all the teams participating in the third stage of the Chunin Selections Exams are to return to their home villages along with their other comrades as soon as possible."

"The Yugakure shinobi have said that we can't stay in this village any longer than we have to, due to the high volume of foreign shinobi in the area and the upcoming events. They say that we don't have to go home but we can't stay here," Asuma followed up, grinning slightly when Ino, Shikamaru and Choji looked up at him strangely. "I've always wanted to say that…"

"Basically, you three are going to have to be up bright and early by tomorrow morning. If you're unable to travel, we can provide you with transportation to take you home," Kakashi stated, looking towards Kiba, Shino and Hinata respectively. "You'll be able to rest easy once you're back in Konohagakure."

Shino nodded. "Understood…"

Gai grinned brightly enough for his teeth to twinkle when he gave the injured team a thumbs-up. "Don't worry! If we are unable to secure adequate transportation, than you can count on my team to help carry you back to the village!"

Kiba sweat-dropped, but was unable to voice any complaints or mount a form of defense due to the gauze around his mouth. Shino and Hinata however were still able to speak properly, and thus as soon as they saw the flare of enthusiasm in the strange, huge-eye-browed team instructor's eyes as well as in his smaller counterpart's, they both looked back a little more dispassionately.

"No thanks," they both exclaimed.

XXX

The very next day…

The trip back home, for the most part, was relatively quiet.

The teams that had been eliminated earlier in the first and second tests returned to the hidden leaf ahead of everybody else… those who survived anyway, and the ones that had made it to the end of the second stage, third stage contenders or not, all set off back to Konohagakure in a single convoy. The squads outside of the rookie twelve who didn't make it and had already done the Chunin Exams a couple of times before couldn't stand to be in the same line as them. This was maybe because even after all the hard work they'd put into improving their skills and teamwork, they still weren't strong enough to become Chunin. To make it worse, a bunch of kids who weren't even into their first year as Genin managed to get further than them in the exams.

It was painful and it was a real blow to anyone with an ego, but that was reality. You win some, you lose some. Those with the skills, means, and the right chemistry would always hold an advantage above the others.

But that wasn't always the case. The fact was that it had been a win-or-lose situation for the rookies just as much as everybody else, the only difference being that they knew how to handle themselves better in tough situations. This was made glaringly clear because not only had a more seasoned team from their village made it through, but one of the rookie squads that had also participated had failed to even make it across the finish line. This showed that not everybody shared the same level of luck, but at least those that didn't make the cut would get another chance next semester.

Kabuto and his group didn't make it through, which really made some of the rookies who had gotten to know the guy feel sorry for him that after so many tries he still couldn't get it. The only ones who didn't share the same sympathy were Shikamaru, Shino and Sasuke, who continued to look towards the older boy with some suspicion as to how calm he seemingly was about the whole thing. Even his teammates looked a little shady to them.

Naruto didn't really care about any of that though. He just couldn't stop grinning all the way back to the village alongside Tayuya. Out of everybody else, he was completely psyched up about the up-and-coming third stage of the exams, which was basically a whopping opportunity for him to show the world what an Uzumaki like him was capable of.

Both he and Tayuya made animated conversation with each other all the way down the road in their little part of the convoy, along with Tenten whom had also decided to become attached to the pair and spoke both frequently and fondly with the jinchuriki. While her banter with the blonde did have the musician look at her with some suspicion, any calling-out on her behalf was put on the backburner for the time being as they spent the walk resting and catching up on what had been missed.

"Are you sure about this, sensei?" Sakura asked, looking up at her teacher in surprise, "You… want to train each of us on our own for the coming month?"

"Yes… but only if you're unable to get a hold of another Jonin level shinobi to train you," the silver haired man said with a smile. "If that's the case, then I'll split my time up between training you, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun individually in order to get a better idea of your current levels of ability and to see what you need to improve. Since this is now a competition to test your individual skills as shinobi, I'm afraid we won't be training as much as a team for this next stage."

While Sakura looked a little downtrodden at the reality of it, Sasuke was smiling positively to himself on the other side. "Perfect. I'll finally be able to get some proper training in."

About halfway through the trip, Naruto broke off from the others and made his way over to the wagon being pulled along beside them. Saying hi to the driver and Kurenai walking alongside, who smiled at him in greeting, the cheerful jinchuriki strolled around to the back and hopped on in, where he poked his head through the canvas entrance to find Kiba, Hinata and Shino deposited on the seats looking across in a relaxed manner from their positions. When they noticed the blinds open, they turned to see Naruto's grinning face looking back at them for the third time this trip.

"How's everybody doing?" the jinchuriki asked.

Kiba, still unable to speak on account of his neck and jaw being locked in a cast, gave him the thumbs-up. Akamaru barked happily from his spot in front of the Inuzuka, and Shino and Hinata smiled and nodded respectively from their seats.

"W-We're okay, Naruto-kun," the Hyuuga exclaimed.

"As we have already established," the Aburame added in his usual tone.

"Great!"

Just before the beaming Naruto could pull himself completely into the carriage, Shino raised a hand before pointing down at the floor. "I have a question."

"Go ahead," the jinchuriki chirped, crawling into their midst and sitting his backside down on the wagon's drop door.

"Why do we have an extra passenger here who is not affiliated with our village?" Shino asked curiously before his gaze flashed towards the bedridden Kin lying on the floor between them, who was also staring up at the unfamiliar faces around her. Due to her injuries she too was unable to travel properly and thanks to Naruto's meddling, had managed to barter transport along with them. "I ask this because she is not only a complete stranger, but she also has the headband of an Otogakure shinobi lying folded up with her clothing."

"Oh that?" Naruto waved, reaching over and picking it up. Polishing the thing, he then pocketed the headband for souvenir purposes, "That's nothing. She lost her entire team in the exams and since she's not able to return to her village, she's coming back with us. I'm surprised it took you this long to ask me this question, Shino."

"Any particular reason why?"

The jinchuriki shrugged before grinning across at the Aburame, "Because I like helping people in need. I wouldn't want such a nice girl to be left out on the streets with nowhere to go, not someone who is super talented like her. That would be terrible." He then grinned down at the kunoichi looking back at him, "Plus Kin-chan is super friendly. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

Kin tried to hide herself under her blanket due to how flustered she was getting. It wasn't something that went missed, but Shino simply ignored the development while sparing the secondary injured party a more contemplative glance. After several moments of silence, the boy nodded in acceptance of the situation before looking across at their visitor.

"If you are certain she wouldn't harm a hair on a fly, then I will reframe from interrogating her any further," Shino responded assertively.

Hinata beamed approvingly in Naruto's direction as he rocked back and forth on his seat, "You have such a big heart, Naruto-kun."

Looking bashful, the blonde youngster rubbed the side of his head while grinning at the team, "Aw, shucks you guys."

Kin, seeing the smiles being shared between the members of the group, looked back at the one who had managed to secure her seat on this trip with them while sporting a suspicious expression. "Are you sure it's okay for me to go with you to your village? I don't think anyone else outside of your teachers and this team knows I'm here."

Naruto gazed back at her, "Of course it's cool. I put it past Kakashi-sensei, and he said it was okay. We just need to talk to old man Hokage and then you can come crash at my place. It'll be awesome."

"Your place?" Kin blinked.

"Sure. I've got plenty of room," the jinchuriki cheered, hoping she would approve. Now that she had most of her walls down and was here with them, she was a great person to hang around with. He was always checking up on her to make sure she was okay, which sort of answered Team eight's question as to why he had popped into their wagon three times already.

Though a little fussed at already being offered a place to stay, due to the fact she had no idea what she was doing and was just going along with it, Kin nevertheless accepted the offer. Since the blonde haired boy was the only person she knew from the hidden leaf and was someone she'd just started to trust, he was her only window. She went back to resting at ease once she had the issue settled, perhaps the biggest one she had. Hinata noticed this and smiled to herself, while at the same time looking towards Naruto fondly.

Having kept an eye on the jinchuriki for quite a while now, the Hyuuga knew of his current living conditions and place of residence. Though he was living in a small apartment, he wasn't afraid to open his doors to people who had nowhere else to go. He was a really good person.

This probably answered why the young heiress liked him so much to begin with…

OOO

Late afternoon…

One hell of a week, that's what Naruto and Tayuya thought when they finally returned to their village.

The latter tagged along with the jinchuriki up to the Hokage tower to meet up with their village leader regarding the blonde's new friend. While Hiruzen did express concern initially over allowing a foreign kunoichi to join their ranks, he eventually relented when Naruto explained to him her situation and told the boy he would have Inoichi Yamanaka's department run some tests on her. Once she was excused from the hospital, the girl would then be allowed to stay with Naruto, during which time her admittance into the shinobi forces would be taken into consideration. It was an agreement the boy was more than happy with and then left with Tayuya in tow back to his apartment.

It had been a long period for both of them, something they were looking forward to getting some sleep on.

"I'm beat," Tayuya groaned.

"No kidding," Naruto responded with a slight moan, the two of them walking up the stairs to their flat, "Nothing that a few hours of bed rest can't solve. I'm going to sleep till mid-day… unless my clock isn't aligned to eight hours exactly."

"Boy, when you want to sleep, you sure can sleep, Mr. Hummingbird," the musician giggled, looking at the youngster with great amusement.

The jinchuriki stuck his nose in the air proudly, "Can you blame me? My body's on overdrive constantly. Even I need to power down every once in a while."

"Heh. Good point."

When they arrived at the front door and Naruto opened it up, they were caught completely off guard when a purple blur suddenly barreled into the jinchuriki at full speed. Staggering back at the impact, the blonde haired boy looked down at the girl pressed up against him to see that it was his other roommate that had come to greet him at the door.

"Thank Kami you guys are home!"

"I-Isaribi-chan?" Naruto blinked in astonishment. "W-What's going on?"

The diver in bandages, looking quite freaked out, spun around and pointed down the hall, "Some weird, big man with white hair broke in through the kitchen window! I was watching TV and was going to get a drink when I found him sitting at the table!"

"Weird man with white hair?" Tayuya murmured, a little bit bewildered. Who the hell was… wait?

Thinking on it for a moment, the jinchuriki looked up when he realized who matched that description. "Jiraiya?"

Isaribi looked up at the boy when he heard him speak and, upon seeing his mind process the identity of said individual, continued, "He's still there eating the ramen from the cupboard."

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted, startling the two girls. Expression immediately twisting into one of anger, the blonde haired boy gently moved his bewildered roommate out of the way, rolled up his sleeve and began marching down the corridor of his home. "Don't worry. I'll take care of him!"

Break into his apartment and scaring his close friend was bad enough. That, AND eat his ramen? That was just going too far!

As he stormed down the corridor, shortly followed by both Tayuya and Isaribi, the jinchuriki couldn't help but mount a string of declarations as he advanced on the kitchen. "I swear, if you're eating the super, mega-pot special, I'm going to-"

"Going to what? Beat me until I cough it back up and make me eat it again? Pft, like that'll happen anytime soon," came Jiraiya's immediate reply as soon as he saw the blonde step into the door frame. Chopsticks in hand, the Sannin blew on the noodles he had picked from the plastic cup before slurping it up in one go. "Making threats that you won't be able to carry out yourself. You remind me a lot of how I was when I was your age. You have the exact same strength, skills and lip as I did." Jiraiya grinned over at the child glaring back at him. "Welcome home, gaki."

Naruto stared at him momentarily before turning to the ramen he was eating.

Son of a bitch, he was eating the mega-pot special!

Suppressing a growl, the jinchuriki turned to glare at the Sannin again. "You do realize that I can bust your ass for breaking into my home, Jiraiya-sensei." It was at this time both Tayuya and Isaribi decided to poke their heads into view.

The big man grinned as he slurped up another pinch of noodles. "I knew you'd be coming back sometime today and decided to drop by to greet you. I'm just glad I got the timing right." He then inhaled a whole mass of the cup's contents.

"You're eating my ramen," Naruto fumed.

Jiraiya shrugged, "I was hungry and it was just lying there on the counter."

"That was in the fridge!"

"Which was sitting next to the counter, duh," Jiraiya reasoned, stirring the contents in the bowl absentmindedly. "What was it even doing in the fridge anyway? Isn't instant ramen supposed to be long-lasting even in an ordinary storage space?"

Blinking, Tayuya looked over at her roommate to see him still frowning at the idea of being eaten out of house and home. "This is the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin, right?"

The youngster sighed and smiled grimly at his companions waiting beside him, "Yep. In the flesh… unfortunately."

Finally noticing the red head and the other girl, Jiraiya's response was immediate. Leaping from his seat and suddenly appearing directly in front of the three, he scrutinized the girls like a dog finding curiosity in a smaller animal. His instantaneous movement startled both Genin and the diver, at the same time causing the musician to lean back a tad when steam suddenly huffed out of the Sannin's nostrils in a very bull-like manner. Several seconds of head-to-toe inspection from a distance later, Jiraiya gave an affirmative nod before seemingly teleporting over to the other girl and giving her the same treatment.

After several moments of silence later, the Sannin then straightened up, adjusted his vest and looked down at Naruto seriously.

"Hey brat, are these girls your roommates or something?" the man asked.

The jinchuriki nodded.

In response, Jiraiya closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if to compose himself. All of a sudden, the man then dropped his collected guise and gave a massive grin, at the same time giving two thumbs-up directed straight towards the blonde, "WELL DONE!" His unexpected shout caused all three kids to jump in shock, seconds before the white haired man began seemingly teleporting around both girls, holding his fingers up as if judging a master's work of art while Naruto backed off to give him some space. "The hair! The face! The complexion! The style! The bodies! Oh my!" He then appeared on Naruto's far side, patting the jinchuriki on the shoulder and looking sagely again. "Kid, you have good taste. I commend you."

Baffled, Naruto stared up at the man as if he were the strangest thing he'd ever seen, "What?"

Bending over, Jiraiya leveled his head next to the blonde's and smiled. "At first I thought you were just a naïve little hatchling who wasn't interested in girls in the slightest, but after seeing those pictures in your room and then the real things up close, I gotta say, you have a keen eye for mouth-watering goods, my brilliant student. Nice one!"

Even more perplexed then before, it took Naruto a few moments before he finally started catching up on what the old coot was saying to him, and frowned distastefully in his direction once his brain was able to do the mentality-crunching lap. "Wait… you went into my room…?"

Jiraiya then gave him his trademark, mischievous grin, "Your room? Don't you mean; your room?" He wagged his eyebrows suggestively then gave the boy the 'OK' sign. "Kid, you are a genius; a den just for you and your little harem in a small apartment on the far side of the village with a romantic view of the Hokage Monument? That is pure, literary gold!" He then grabbed Naruto's head and forcefully turned it towards the kunoichi and the diver in front of him, both of whom watched on in confusion and tried to listen in to their hushed conversation, "A smoking hot redhead and a purple haired babe living under the same roof as the hero? You can't get much better than that!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to turn his head to glare at the Sannin. Unfortunately he was unable to due to his grip, but now that he had finally caught up on the gist of the conversation he could fully realize what Jiraiya was insinuating. "Hey! Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Yes. I am," Jiraiya nodded affirmatively, turning the kid back to face him. "This whole living situation you have is giving me tons of inspiration. But it's also great to see the direction you're taking when it comes to girls. I am SO proud of you." Bracing him tightly, he then patted the teen on the chest. "Now, to put things into perspective for you; the first young lady will definitely be a genuine knock-out when she's older. I'd say a… ten. That body of hers is sure to develop fantastic proportions, so keep a close eye on it. The second too. I'd say a… nine and a half. Maybe a ten if she's as athletic as I believe she is. Believe me when I say this; you're going to worship me once I'm through tinkering with your mentality regarding the wonders of the female form."

Naruto's frown deepened. After several seconds of silence and staring at the Sannin, he was finally able to find the words he was searching for to respond to the man's enthusiastic rambling. "I think I've finally come up with the perfect nickname for you, Jiraiya-sensei."

The man smiled, "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

A pause for dramatic effect was held, before Naruto smirked smugly, "Ero-sensei."

Almost immediately after saying that, Jiraiya's face hit the ground as if his head had instantaneously taken on a hundred kilograms of weight. Upon hitting the floorboards with a dull thud that echoed throughout the apartment, the man then stood back up and glared 'furiously' at the blonde jinchuriki simply staring back at him.

"WHAT?! I praise your keen eye for fabulous creations of the world and offer to teach you more about being a lady-killer, and you give me a demeaning nickname like that? What kind of loyal and devoted apprentice are you?"

"Apparently the kind that doesn't booby-trap his home in case a perverted hermit suddenly decides to drop by for a little visit and ends up stealing food from my fridge," Naruto replied, before pointing down his corridor. "I've got a lot of training to do for the third stage of the exams coming up at the end of the month, so I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Ero-sensei."

"Hang on! You're kicking me out? ME? The Legendary Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku?" Jiraiya asked before grinning stupidly and striking a superman pose. "The strongest, most powerful, smoothest, sexiest, well-endowed…"

"OUT!" Naruto suddenly shouted and started pushing the big man out of his kitchen and out of his apartment. "OUT! NOW! OUT! GET OUT! OUT!" By some impossibility, the pint-sized Genin managed to haul the large, white haired man out his front door and out onto the walkway. When the Sannin turned around, the blonde chucked his massive scroll at him and watched him catch it.

"Wait!" Jiraiya spoke loudly in dismay, looking back at the boy with tears. "Brat! You can't leave me out here. How will I survive? Where should I go? What am I supposed to do?"

"Frankly, Ero-Sensei, I don't give a damn. You're a hermit, aren't you? A person who lives off of the fat of the land? Well… go do that," Naruto replied firmly.

"Come on. You're not just going to leave me alone out here. I was only joking about all that girl stuff! Honest."

"Ero-Sennin; there is so much perverted gas wafting off of you that if I was to set you on fire, you would burn for a thousand years," Naruto replied with a dead-panned face, before nodding to the man and closing his door, "Good night." He then slammed the door in his face, leaving him standing out in the cold.

Sighing at finally getting rid of the unexpected guest, Naruto turned and smiled back at Tayuya and Isaribi, both of whom were standing down the hall and looking at him. "Well. That takes care of that." Dusting his hands, he sighed and began making his way back down the corridor. "I'm going to have a shower and then I'm going to hit the sack. Good night girls."

Walking past them without giving a second glance, he failed to notice the insane amounts of red that appeared on their faces. In spite of Jiraiya's attempts of passing his words on to Naruto using Chinese whispers, both girls had been standing close enough to hear every little bauble he had to say. After processing everything that had been said and upon having the blonde in question pass just inches away from them, the pair couldn't help but blush to the roots of their hair as their body chemistry responded accordingly to their feelings.

After hearing the bathroom door close and the shower turn on, the pair eventually recovered from their moment of embarrassment and came to life. Pressing her hands against her chest, Isaribi then looked across at Tayuya's, who quickly felt the eyes of her roommate latched onto her and jolted back into reality.

She covered her own chest when her stare failed to lift, "W-What?"

Isaribi frowned and looked up at her, "Why do you get a perfect ten right off the bat? What's wrong with me?" She kept a perfect eye on her figure. Sure, her choice of dress wasn't impressive, but there was still room for improvement.

Flustered, Tayuya looked away, "How am I supposed to know?"

XXX

The next morning, after a quick, nourishing breakfast of… whatever was left in the fridge, Naruto and Tayuya decided to head out to the training fields, leaving Isaribi to take care of the apartment. When they were walking down the street however, they found a rather peculiar sight of a homeless Jiraiya lying across a park bench, with passers giving him quite a bit of leeway as they probably would have anybody else in that position. Upon spotting him, the two Genin then stopped to stare oddly down at the white-haired man as he lay asleep with a newspaper pulled across him like some makeshift blanket.

At least he had the insulation part covered.

"Ero-Sennin, that's just pathetic," Naruto muttered.

"Are you sure you're the Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Tayuya asked incredulously, "The genuine article? The actual legend? Because I'm going to be perfectly honest with you; you're not really giving off that kind of impression." He acted more like a fool and an idiot that one of the big three.

Now that she thought about it though, Naruto was sort of the same when you compared them character wise. This kind of killed any high expectations she had of any of the other Sannin and went along with it.

Groaning and rolling over, the mighty Toad Sage looked up at the two youngsters he could see glaring down at him and yawned. Throwing the newspaper off of him and sitting up, the man stretched out with a few audible clicks from his back before looking back down at the teenagers when he was up to full sitting height. "So… did you two have a good sleep last night?" he grinned widely. "Was there cuddling?"

"A~nd… there we go," Naruto sighed before looking back at the letch with a glare, matching the foul look Tayuya was also giving him, "I could see that coming from a mile off."

The Sannin raised an eyebrow, "Could you?"

"At first I thought you were just some eccentric old guy with a lot of awesome moves up his sleeves. But after getting back from the first two parts of the Chunin Exams, I find out that you're some weird, creepy old pervert that breaks into and probably crashes at people's homes when they're not around," Naruto said with a deadpanned face. "I figured you would have learned something after having your useless ass tossed out onto the street. Guess I was wrong."

"What can I say? I'm a stubborn guy," Jiraiya chuckled, rising to his feet and pulling his massive sealing scroll up with him. Hooking it back around him, he then placed his hands on his hips and smiled down at the pair. "It takes a lot more than getting kicked out of someone's home to teach me a lesson. Believe me; I've dealt with way worse in my time as both a shinobi for this village and as the wandering toad mountain sage of legend."

"So the stories say," Tayuya murmured, giving the old man the same disapproving gaze as before.

"You're still a pushover," Naruto added.

Jiraiya chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I guess I am. I just can't help myself. It's a part of my unconventional charm." After laughing it off and earning sorry shakes of the head from the two children, the Sage then calmed and grinned down at them. Looking them over, he nodded his head positively, "Well then, I think that's enough for fun and games… though I make it a point to jump back into them every now and again to break the ice. Let's move on to our next order of business. You two are looking for instructors to help train you two for the next stage of the exams, right?" He saw them nod, bringing a smile to his face. "Cool. While I already know a few things about the blonde haired brat, I'm not too sure about what you can do… Ms… uhh…"

"Tayuya," the girl replied with a small nod. "Just Tayuya…"

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, Just Tayuya," Jiraiya lead off cheerfully, before panning over again. "I already said that I would supervise Naruto's training. However, considering the circumstances, I guess I have enough room for one more student to help out… even if it is only temporary." He then folded his arms and gave a smirk, "My guess is that you already have an instructor looking for you."

At that, Tayuya suddenly felt a cold chill run up her spine when the memory of snakes and a grinning, equally lecherous, purple haired woman stalking her from the shadows came to mind. She then cringed and looked away, earning a curious look from Jiraiya and a sympathetic look from Naruto. "Please… don't remind me…"

"Okay!" Jiraiya said, suddenly clapping his hands together and jump-starting to kids out of their stupors, "Time to start training!"

OOO

Sometime later…

A loud thud rang out as Tayuya was sent flying through the air, moments before crashing into and tumbling across the ground, where she came to a complete stop several meters later on her backside. Bewildered, the girl looked across the ground at the large man she was still fighting, with her partner appearing out of thin air beside her in the form of an orange blur a second later. Both combatants panted heavily while they glared towards the widely grinning Jiraiya, who was sitting perched atop of the giant toads he'd summoned to fight them with.

One of them was massive red and spotted one with armor similar to that of samurai plating, covering its arms, legs, back and torso, and just so happened to be the one the Sannin was sitting on. The second one was a bright green, slender tree frog of some kind with red eyes, robes, straw hat and a long sword. The third was a bulky, purple toad with shoulder guards, hand wraps, pants for some weird reason, and a massive, studded steel bat like weapon that it was propped against.

That one just happened to be the cause for the pain Naruto was feeling in his right fist when he tried decking the thing, but ended up trading blows…

Which went well…

The jinchuriki hissed as he shook his fist out, "Damn it, that is SO not fair."

"Now you know how I feel when I have to go up against your shadow clones," Tayuya groaned, sitting up and getting onto one knee.

"Yes, except for the fact that my shadow clones are the exact same size, weight, strength and relative speed as me, aren't covered in warts and don't try to fling you across the field like a javelin," Naruto replied in reading with an irate expression. He shared this same feeling with his companion as they both stood and faced down their antagonist. "Damn it. I'm going at top speed but the guy can follow me wherever I go."

"Maybe he's used to fighting someone as fast as you," Tayuya reasoned, shaking her head when the world suddenly started to sway and her legs almost gave out, "Fuck. That last toss knocked my brain around like a ball."

Jiraiya chuckled heartily as Gama gave a satisfied croak, the man sitting on top of the armored toad's head folding his arms and setting a pose that conveyed his complete and utter superiority. "You kids sure are tenacious. My last team of Genin would have rolled over by now after being chucked across the field for the twentieth time, but you two are something else. You've got guts and nerves of steel." He could see how scuffed, cut-up and bruised they both were from getting the shit kicked out of them by him and the frogs for the past half hour.

To get up after the beating he'd been dishing out, he definitely could give them credit.

"But all that isn't enough to beat you, Ero-Sennin," Naruto chuckled, wiping the blood dripping down from his lips. His clothes were ruined and he was bleeding from the head. His back shoulder was also burned from taking a direct shot from the old man, and it was really painful. "You're tough."

Tayuya was also covered in crap, mucus from the toads, and had various cuts from head to toe from being thrown around the entire time. It was clear the jinchuriki took the most damage since he had to get up close and personal with the guy, while she on the other hand had mostly kept her distance so that she could work her jutsu. She definitely wouldn't have lasted as long going head to head with the Sannin, and she was glad she didn't. "For a fat old goat in his fifties, the pervert can sure haul his weight around."

"Oi! I'm not a pervert," Jiraiya shot back with an offended look, which quickly switched to a mischievous one as he grinned lecherously in their direction, "I'm a super-pervert kiddos. Get with the program."

Naruto and Tayuya gave him deadpanned stares. "He admitted it…" they simultaneously thought.

Inside his head, the jinchuriki heard a familiar dark voice barking with laughter. "You know what, seeing you get your ass kicked is a real interesting change of pace for me."

Naruto scowled at his stomach in annoyance, "This is payback for all those times I was teasing you, isn't it?"

"Damn right."

While the two kids holding their ground consolidated their strategies and tried to regain their balance, Jiraiya took his time to sum up the strengths he'd seen the two of them convey.

Tayuya had proven to be a really troublesome runt for her age, outstanding even, not just because she was tough as nails, but also because she could use genjutsu and was damn good at it. Clearly a long-range combatant above everything else, the girl could dish out a range of techniques that could definitely make conventional opponents think twice about getting close to her. The speed she used to execute her techniques however was still a little slow for open use and there was a certain distance her jutsu had to cover before any of them could take full effect, something which Jiraiya was able to exploit and close in on before she could get a chance to pull off a complete verse. While from a hiding place her techniques were lethal, when her opponent knew she was there however, they had some time to work up some countermeasures. She also had summons of her own that she used, but they were no match for Jiraiya's toads. No way. Not only were they able to move by themselves but the Sannin's frog army had battering force that could take down swaths of people in one go. Hers were just massive marionettes she called Doki that were sewn together out of discarded material and looked like living, breathing monsters that she could control with her music. They were at least durable.

In summary; the kunoichi was a fantastic and tricky long-range customer. But while she presented a hard nut that simply refused to crack under pressure, there was also her companion.

Before leaving for the Chunin Exams, Jiraiya had had the privilege of testing Naruto's skills for himself in a one-on-one fight; a preview for things to come.

To put it simply; the kid was amazing. While both of them showed skills and strengths definitely suited to be Chunin, the blonde haired wonder took his level and progress several steps further. His speed was remarkable and his hitting power backed by his momentum was just as impressive. Every swing he threw and landed, Jiraiya felt like he was being clubbed in the side by a sledgehammer. Even his toads who took some of the blows complained about being hit with heavy slabs of rock. His shadow clones were one thing to deal with when used in force, but then while he did have a numbers advantage, he also had his footwork. The kid was so quick Jiraiya swore he was using some sort of shunshin to maneuver around.

But that wasn't it. The kid's agility was all his own. While the toad hermit was able to tag him because he was used to dealing with that kind of speed from sparring with Minato all those years ago, it was like trying to hit a fly with a stick.

The Sannin could only imagine what he would be like when he got older. Damn. The prospects were almost terrifying.

Jiraiya smiled when he saw the kids begin to shuffle apart, like they were intending to take him from both sides. As beat up as they were, their senses and concentration hadn't dulled one bit. It had him chuckle good-naturedly. "They're both incredible. I can see those two becoming fantastic ninja some day." With that, he gave one final nod of approval before tapping his foot.

At that signal, all three of his summons dispelled and he dropped to the ground with grace. The two Genin stopped, confused by his actions when he started forward. "That's enough sparring. I think I've seen enough to know what you're both good at and what you need to improve. Tayuya." He looked across at the exhausted girl with a smile. "You specialize in attacks with long reach. While you fair really well in taijutsu, your real strengths lie in your use of genjutsu and your ability to con your opponents into them. However, they either take too long for you to perform or they take too long to take effect. Though there isn't much I can do about that, I do recommend shortening your verses to simpler notes… and make the application of your techniques more instantaneous if you are able to." Upon seeing the girl nod he then glanced at his blonde haired apprentice. "You on the other hand are a different case. You're a close-range specialist who can mix up his moves well in addition to being able to come up with new tricks on the spot. Aside from your taijutsu, you also have a killer mid-to-long range technique, but you may want to add a couple more of them to your repertoire to give your arsenal a bit more kick to it. I also think adding additional tools could catch your opponents by surprise, but you can work on that later."

Naruto nodded understandably, "R-Right…"

"It's not really something you can fix in the time that we have unless you're super talented, but if you think you can, go for it," Jiraiya folded his arms and gave a smirk. "But you may want to improve what you already know. Highlight all of your positives and show the judges what you can do with what you have. If you concentrate on increasing your strength, I can guarantee your speed and taijutsu prowess will increase at the same time. I doubt I need to teach you how to use or break genjutsu, seeing as how one of you creates them while the other trains full time with the other, so you've got that base plenty covered." He could see flashes of pride in their eyes when he said that. "You just need to concentrate on the physical stuff… and that's always fun."

Naruto sighed and relaxed himself a little more, both he and his partner falling out of their stances and showing just how beat they were. The jinchuriki actually turned to see the musician who was his roommate drop to her knees and take in several ragged breaths of air, sweat dripping down her nose and chin. "Damn… that was a hell of a work out."

"No shit," Tayuya panted, wiping moisture away from her brow. "I feel like I'm going to pass out."

A chorus of laughter pulled them back to Jiraiya, "Your guts are one thing, but your stamina is another. Pulling off moves after moves the way you guys were must have been a real strain on your bodies."

"Our training was hardcore to begin with. We're pretty used to it by now," Naruto replied, cracking his neck and wiping away the blood. Looking down at his hand and sleeve, he was surprised there was so much. Maybe he was thrown through that last line-up of trees a lot harder than he originally thought.

The concussion he was steadily recovering from wasn't helping him much.

"I'll bet." Looking up, Naruto suddenly caught the massive scroll that was tossed to him by the white haired Sannin. Staggering a little, he looked down at the massive rolled up sheet before glancing back up at his teacher, whom he could see was smiling at him expectantly. The man's eyes gestured to it several times before he spoke up again. "First and foremost, you already know how to control your chakra quite well. I guess you can thank your teacher Kakashi for helping you out with that. Now all you need to do is learn how to apply it to other things rather than just sticking to surfaces and emitting it as a constant from your body. It's time to give you something a little more challenging."

"W-What's this?" Naruto asked.

"Since you've still got some energy to burn, let's put that to better use," Jiraiya nodded to the thing in his arms, the scroll becoming the main focus of all three people in the area. "That's the summoning contract for the toads, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Because you're my apprentice, and because you don't have a contract with a summon yet, feel free to sign it. Once you do, you'll be able to summon the same partners as I do."

Remembering the armored amphibians he and Tayuya had been battling and getting beaten by, the blonde grinned excitedly and wasted no time in throwing the scroll open on the ground. He saw that there were already several other names already inscribed in blood upon it, including Jiraiya's. This definitely showed the age and value of this thing, and how important an artifact it was to its owner.

However, before he could follow suit and add his own name to the list as intended, a blur landing right on the space he was about to mark stopped him and he saw that his friend Swift had fluttered down from the nearby forest to intervene. Hopping around on top of it for a moment and looking down at the scroll, the bird then turned to him and chirped.

"Huh? I'm just signing a summoning contract, Swift-chan," Naruto pointed, only to get pecked in the hand by the bird. "Ow! Hey. What's the deal? It's not a bad thing, is it?" He then heard the bird start chattering incessantly, flapping her wings at the same time as if she were having a go at him. However, it was nothing like that. Apparently, from what Jiraiya and Tayuya were able to tell from Naruto's expression, what the bird had to say surprised him. "Wait… do you mean…?"

Before he could question her further, the bird suddenly took off and shot into the forest, out of sight. For several minutes after that the three ninja in the area, the Sannin included, stared after the bird's trail in silence, most of them wondering what could have gotten into it. While Jiraiya found the whole thing perplexing that his blonde haired student could talk to animals, the jinchuriki and his red haired roommate were more puzzled by Swift's attitude.

The quiet wasn't to last forever, as eventually the bird returned, only she was carrying something with her along with a couple of her friends. When she eventually came to land in front of Naruto with her companions, she dropped what looked like a dirty old scroll on the ground, which the swallows perched on.

It was a small scroll; a regular sized one that anyone could easily miss when searching a library. However, from its current condition it didn't look like it had been kept in a very good place. In fact it looked like something Swift had just happened to pick up from the mud or some dingy old storage shed. Whoever this previously belonged to, they hadn't bothered to go out looking for it.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the item as Naruto picked it up, "That's interesting."

"Where did you find this?" the jinchuriki asked his friend, the bird chirping brightly, followed by another chirp from the swallow next to her. "A neighbor had it? You mean you stole it from another bird's nest?" The swallow he asked chirped again, getting Naruto to recoil. "Oh, it belongs to all of you? Why didn't you say so before?"

"Why would a flock of swallows be holding onto a dirty old scroll?" Tayuya asked curiously from the side, watching the birds take off and Naruto unwrap it before throwing it across the ground.

Unfurling the length of paper, the blonde looked back at his roommate. "Don't know. Maybe they were taking care of it or something. Swift-chan told me to 'sign this if you're going to be signing stuff', so I may as well see what all the fuss is about." Looking back at the paper, Naruto read the texts on the opening and blinked. "Whoa. This is a summoning contract?"

Showing more interest in the length of paper, Jiraiya strode forward with a curious look on his face. "I found out a long time ago that if a shinobi attempts to summon an animal without first signing a contract, the shinobi will instantly be teleported to the home of the animal they have a natural affinity for. Apparently that's one of the many ways summoning contracts were first started and how many of them came to pass…"

"What are some of the other ways to make a contract?" Naruto asked, looking up at the Sannin.

"Well, you could fight with a summoning animal if you happen to come across one and get them to hand over the contract by force, but… that doesn't normally pan out so well." This got the two kids standing nearby to cringe, which prompted him to continue. "Another way is to earn the approval of a contract's guardians. Some animals can't be contacted so easily, so there are certain conditions a person has to meet before getting in touch with a particular type of summoning animal. These conditions are decided by the chosen holders of the scrolls, whom watch over the contract until a suitable user comes along. Some of these summons included in the list are the reclusive types, like owls, foxes, wolves, and the most dangerous types," Jiraiya exclaimed, glancing down at the old contract scroll Naruto was holding. "Funny. Those kinds of contracts are incredibly hard to come by, mostly because there are few people out there who can gain the full approval of a summoning animal."

Blinking, Naruto smiled and looked back at the scroll to see Swift hop along it and look up at him. "Are you saying I can sign this contract you and the other birds have been watching, Swift-chan?" Hearing the bird chirp and nod got a bright grin from the youngster. "Awesome! Thank you!" Biting into his thumb, the jinchuriki placed his thumb in the space and began writing his name.

Man. It sure took a while to gain Swift and the others birds' approval. Maybe she got fed up of waiting and just gave it to him as a show of thanks or something.

As soon as he had made the space provided, Naruto grinned and rolled it back up. It was then he noticed he still had Jiraiya's scroll out and looked at it momentarily, before then glancing up toward the man still standing before him and waiting patiently. Throwing the man an apologetic look, since in his excitement of Swift giving him a scroll he'd forgotten about the other one, he then saw Jiraiya smile and nod to him.

"You can sign the other one with your other hand," Jiraiya exclaimed, getting a stunned look from the boy. "It is possible for multiple contracts to be made, depending on the user and their types. However, this is done much later on in a shinobi's career when they are already adept at summoning partners. For a novice starting out, it would be best to sign with both hands." He then grinned when he saw Naruto still looking at him, slightly stunned. "Plus you're my apprentice. Sealing the deal by signing the contract is the best way to go about doing that."

Overwhelmed at this information, Naruto nodded in understanding and did as instructed. With his other hand, the boy then, albeit a little bit clumsily, signed the other contract and marked it with his hand print, just as he did his other hand. Rolling the scroll up once it was marked, he then handed it back to Jiraiya, who then stepped back and nodded to him.

"It's done then," the man stated.

Looking down at the other scroll he held, Naruto gave it a questioning blink before turning to try and hand it back to Swift, but the bird merely flew over to Tayuya and landed on her shoulder. "Huh? You don't want it back?"

"Once a scroll has been signed, it falls into the possession of either the first person to sign it that is still living or to the person it is passed on to. You more or less fit the first bill," Jiraiya responded wisely.

Understanding the situation, Naruto then pocketed his new, still dirty scroll, and turned to face his teacher.

Upon securing his apprentice's attention, Jiraiya then pointed at the ground several feet away. "Pick a space you wish to summon your partner and mark the center point of the summoning array with the hand you have used to sign the contract with a small dab of blood. This is part of the exchange. After which, you then perform the seal combination for the technique, which is boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram. The amount of chakra you use determines the level of the animal you wish to summon, which can range from puny and insignificant to large and incredibly powerful. Of course, just because the creature is bigger doesn't necessarily mean it's the strongest, even if they're still quite a force to be reckoned with. You can summon a small animal with the strength of a large animal. Only the most adept users of the summoning technique can conjure up the most powerful creatures to aid them in battle. As you saw from me, I can invoke any level of creature I wish anytime I want."

Except maybe the elders. Those two were in a class of their own.

Awed by the information, Naruto then blinked and turned towards Tayuya standing by and also listening intently, who still had Swift perched on her shoulder. "Hey, Tayuya-chan, you can summon battle companions too, can't you?"

The musician nodded before smiling at the boy, "Yeah. But don't get the marionettes I control with my flute music confused with my animal summons. The battle marionettes you've seen me bring out onto the field so far are ones I made myself. However, the animal summons Anko-sensei told me about is something else."

Naruto and Jiraiya then became quite curious at that, and gave the girl their complete and utter attention.

"What kind of animal are you able to summon?" the jinchuriki asked.

The girl grinned and stretched her fingers out, a loud clicking sound echoing out as she stepped back. Shaking her hands when Swift flew off, she then flipped through hand seals before finishing on the ram sign. "I was going to show this during the exams to surprise you, but since you asked, I'll be glad to give you a demonstration, shithead." She then slapped her hand into the ground, a seal array spreading out and encompassing the area in front of her. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Jutsu)

An explosion of white smoke then filled the air, blinding both Naruto and Jiraiya. After waving away the fumes and looking back to see what had happened, their jaws dropped when they saw the creature that the redhead was able to summon. Standing directly beside her, with its wings folded back nicely, was the strangest bird the pair had ever seen… a living one anyway.

The light of its eyes contracted and expanded, adjusting to the radiance of the area, and its blade like feathers ruffled to clear it of any discomforts or jams. What's more, it was not only composed entirely of all sorts of copper colored, plated sheets of metal, the whole thing was held together from head to toe by moving screws, nails and bolts. While the two astonished boys were able to identify the type of bird from its shape as some sort of owl, with a sharp, hooked beak and massive blades for talons, from its composition alone it just did not seem like something that should've been alive. It looked like something artificial, but after hearing it squawk and seeing it ruffle its metallic feathers several times, it made it absolutely clear that it was alive.

Naruto, gawking at the sight of the creature, suddenly developed stars in his eyes and a wide grin as he now looked towards the avian with amazement. "WOW! What kind of wicked bird is that?!"

Tayuya smiled at his excitement and stroked the material made animal on the head, earning a hum from it for the gesture of affection. The giant bird was bigger than a horse. Hell, it could carry either a horse or even an elephant with zero difficultly. What's more, it acted so obediently. "She's one of the partners I'm able to summon. When I performed the technique to get in contact with my animals, I was transported to a strange land inhabited by giant songbirds. There were thousands of different kinds, with the more intelligent ones able to speak. They specialized in music and combat, and were masters of all material based around melodies and music. I met the maestro of the land and we played together. When I passed his test, he gave me the contract to sign… making me the first ever to paint my name in the scroll. After I did, it was like everything in that world started to make more sense to me."

"That… sounds awesome…" Naruto exclaimed, looking even more excited about the whole thing then Tayuya was.

"Who is this mechanical wonder though?" Jiraiya asked, finding interest in the odd looking creature.

Tayuya chuckled as she rubbed the owl on the head, earning another chirp from it. "This is one of the songbirds specializing in combat. She's called Sora, and don't be fooled by her appearance. She's quite tough…"

"A bird made out of metal?" Jiraiya chuckled, scratching his head, "I'll bet she's tough. What does she eat?"

"Not much," Tayuya replied before grinning, "She's a recycler. She eats anything, really."

"Oh… well… that's convenient," Jiraiya murmured as if it were a normal thing.

The three then watched the giant bird waddle around in circles, before coming across a shrub and taking a bite of it. It completely shaved all the leaves off of its branches and ate it, before pulling the entire thing up and out, roots and all. It then went on eating some rocks from the ground, the loud crunching sounds filling the area resembling that of a giant grinder as it chewed up random bits of nature. Naruto cringed at some of the squealing sounds, with his red haired companion watching fondly as the massive bird pecked at the ground, digging up grass and eating it like a cow.

After watching his partner pet the bird one last time and dismissing her with a single hand seal, Naruto chose to speak up again. "That's so cool. You have such an awesome partner to work with," the jinchuriki said brightly. He then turned to his current task and, making space for himself by moving further out into the clearing with Jiraiya and Tayuya watching him closely, he formed the specific hand seals to perform the summoning technique. Now that he'd signed a contract, it was time for him to put it to the test, "I wonder who I'll get first."

The Sannin standing with his arms folded then held a hand towards him in caution, "Remember kid, you need to use a lot of chakra to summon a large animal. If you get the amount wrong or lose focus for even a second, you won't be able to call upon anyone useful." Jiraiya was prepared though. If Naruto summoned something no bigger than his shoe, he was ready to fall to the floor and start rolling around in fits of laughter.

Locking his gaze on the ground, Naruto then lifted his right hand and slammed it into the floor. The two audience members made sure to jump back for space, aware of his already massive chakra signature.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A massive blast of white smoke filled the air and blanketed the entire area, in the same manner Tayuya's technique had. After waving away the smoke and looking back, expecting to see a large animal standing in the space selected, Jiraiya and the red head blinked in confusion when they didn't see anything.

"Hey. Where'd shithead go?" Tayuya asked.

Hell, even Naruto wasn't there anymore, which was the most perplexing thing. Shouldn't the user still be around even after failing the summoning technique?

However, before either of them could begin a frantic search of the area for the boy, a loud cry from above drew their eyes straight up into the air, where they saw a large shadow pass overhead. Stunned, the pair watched as the fast moving silhouette darted across the sky and began flying in circles, moving at a speed they never thought was possible for a bird that size. But of course, being shinobi, it was a prerequisite for all of them to believe in the impossible, as they were looking at it right now.

"GAH! WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto's scream echoed out as he gripped hold of the thing that had suddenly lifted him off of the ground doing Kami knows how many hundreds of kilometers an hour, before beginning to fly in loops. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"Stop screaming in my ear, kid," the well-spoken, male voice of the giant bird he was holding onto shouted while glaring back with his sharp eyes. "Nobody likes a loudmouth. They ruin special occasions. And let go of my feathers, you're messing up the tips!" Without warning, the avian performed a barrel roll, attempting to throw the blonde off of his shoulders. However, in spite of his fantastic maneuver, Naruto bit and held, not wanting to drop over a hundred feet to his death. The giant bird grunted as he leveled out again, gliding for a bit. "Hmph. Nice grip. I wonder how long that will last."

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on! I have no idea what the heck's going on right now! Just slow down for a second!"

"Not my style, kid."

Managing to get a good hold of whatever the hell he was holding onto, Naruto leaned around to get a better look at what or who he was riding on. Much to his shock, he found himself straddling a swallow several hundred times bigger than Swift ever was, and not only was he a dude but he could talk normally too. He was a huge bird with black feathers on the top, a white underside with gold streaks, red under his chin, a proud beak, red rings around his sharp eyes, and a prominent, golden crest that also served as his eyebrows making him look like a fierce samurai. Furthermore, he had long, forked feathers, sharp eyes, and golden armor plates around his legs and blades on what Naruto could see were talons that extended his reach and made him look more dangerous than what he would have looked without them.

This fine extra padding and his size, which was about the same as Tayuya's summon, didn't even weigh him down one bit, as he had no problems in performing acrobatic loops at high speed that had Naruto screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Stop flipping, you jackass!"

"Hm? What was that?" the large swallow exclaimed, glaring back at the kid holding onto him for dear life. "You want me to flip you some more? Alright." Doing the exact opposite, the bird began spinning in a seemingly uncontrolled dive straight towards the ground, the boy letting out a cry as his world turned into a tornado like blur.

"If you don't stop, I'm going to ruin the upholstery!" What he meant by that was that he was going to projectile vomit over the son of a bitch if he didn't stop soon, as indicated by his slowly paling face.

"Mess up my coat and I will jack knife you across the country." Leveling out, the bird began climbing at an alarming rate, before repeating the process and beginning to pull trick after trick out of his book, putting his passenger through the worst hell imaginable. Even though it seemed impossible for a giant bird to maneuver the way he was, he clearly wasn't an ordinary, giant bird.

He had speed and attitude. Not a good combination.

Jiraiya and Tayuya's eyes followed the aerial acrobatics from ground level, their eyes switching this way and that for several minutes before the redhead turned toward the Sannin for a bit of elderly wisdom. Being the more practiced of the two in terms of situations like this and also being the nearest adult, he was a reasonable choice.

"Should we help him?"

Staring for several seconds in silence, the Sannin smirked and folded his arms. "Nope. Let's just let them hash it out for a while. If the squirt can make it through the first hour without being killed, then I'd go out and say that this day was a big success."

The girl frowned before glaring back up, having half a mind to call out Sora to give chase to that crazy bird. However, judging from how versatile and fast moving that swallow was, she was pretty sure even her gear-powered partner wouldn't be able to even graze him. He was fucking quick. "If he falls and dies, I'm cutting out your kidneys with a spoon."

Jiraiya nodded, "Fair enough." His student; his responsibility.

For the next forty-five minutes they watched as the giant swallow blasted through the skies like a missile, even breaking the sound barrier several times from the loud crack of thunder that rang out accompanied by the breaking of vapor when he just shot off in a straight line. The entire atmosphere served as his playground as he spun, flipped and twirled this way and that, putting his passenger through the most terrible conditions anyone could imagine.

However, as time ticked by, Naruto's screams of terror eventually turned into cheers of delight as he held on tight and allowed the fear to run its course. His shouts of approval eventually ticked the giant swallow off, who glared back over his shoulder to see the blonde grinning madly under the hundred mile-per-hour winds.

"WOOOOOHHHH! THIS IS AWESOME!" the jinchuriki exclaimed, throwing his arms out to feel the wind whip by, while he held on with his legs tightly. Being adeptly raised by monkeys gave him super grips in his knees and feet, so he had no problems hanging on even when the swallow went for a dive before sharply pulling up.

The giant bird grunted when he attempted to barrel roll repeatedly, but his passenger held firm. "Hmph. You're an adaptable son of a bitch, aren't you? If nothing else you've got a lot of guts." Planning on diving down into the forests or taking him up to stratospheric level to starve him of oxygen and shake him off, the swallow then paused for a moment as he glared back at the kid hanging onto him. "Wait a second… are you a human?"

"Yeah. What did you think I was? A monkey?" Naruto asked, grinning back at the fast moving avian.

Well… he wasn't that far off.

The swallow frowned, "How did a human find its way onto Tengoku no Yama?" (Mountain of Heaven)

Naruto blinked, giving a look of confusion. "I don't know where this Tengoku whatever place is… but we're not there. You're in Konohagakure air space."

The giant bird's eyes visibly widened. "Konohagakure?" The hidden leaf. Damn. It'd been a while since he'd last heard that name. That was a surprise. However, shaking off his stupor so as to get back on track and glaring down towards the forests below, the giant bird then spotted the clearing where he'd taken off from and saw the two figures sitting in the center looking up at them. Eyeing them carefully, he quickly recognized the big man in white hair and immediately made a dive for him.

Seeing the bird's maneuvers suddenly change, both Jiraiya and Tayuya hopped to their feet and backed off. They then watched as the massive swallow flapped down and landed directly in front of them, kicking up dust before stomping forward. Its bladed talons scraped the ground as it dug in and eyed the large man with the wooden sandals.

"You're Gamabunta's partner, Jiraiya?"

The Sannin smirked and answered proudly like how he normally would, "Yep. That's me."

The swallow sized him up before grunting indignantly. "Yeah… there's no mistaking it. You're him alright." He was exactly as the big toad described him, "White haired, unremarkable, boring, dull, shifty, looks like he'll eat you out of house and home, and certainly doesn't look like anything special. The lowest of the lowest of human beings, I assume."

With every word that came out after that, Jiraiya's smile dropped to a frown. He was going to have a little word with Gamabunta after this, but perhaps when he was in a better mood. Apparently he was still sore from blocking that wind release technique from that kunoichi in his place that one time and high tailed it out of there before any explanation could be given.

Yeah. He was definitely going to try and give the toad a wide berth for a while.

"Thanks for the kind words." Not. Man… this guy was more of a jerk then the chief toad was.

The large swallow ruffled his feathers. "If you see that chain-smoker anytime soon, tell him he owes me money."

"I'll… be sure to remind him," the Sannin murmured, not really finding the task very appealing.

He had enough personal issues with Gamabunta as it is. The last thing he wanted to involve in a conversation was money.

Huffing, the swallow then felt the kid still straddling him hop off of his back and give him some space. The giant bird stepped away from the Sage and turned to look around at all those in the area, panning over the red haired kunoichi and the boy in orange he'd been having it out with in the skies.

Upon looking over the newcomers after leading off from the legendary Sannin he'd heard about through word of mouth and his once a week meetings with the other summons, the giant bird smirked. "Things have certainly changed from twenty years ago. They're letting shinobi out dressed like that?" He eyed Naruto suspiciously on that last one.

Frowning at the reference to his outfit, Naruto placed his hands on his hips. "Don't beat on the orange, arrowhead. If you do, I'll knock your lights out."

The swallow grunted with a small smile. "I'd like to see you try, kid." Ignoring the glare sent his way he then turned to the girl and looked her in the eyes. After a moment of analysis, the bird sighed and turned away. "Not much in the other one either. Standards sure have dropped since the last time I visited the human world." He shrugged his wings and looked about. "Alright, so if I'm in Konohagakure now, then that means someone from this plain has summoned me here to complete our contract. Where is this would-be, all-powerful partner of mine so that I can meet with him or her face to face and seal our pact?"

Silence prevailed momentarily amongst the puzzled and ruffled group of three. At first looking around at each other questioningly when they saw the bird's eyes cut around them, still inquiring as to the identity of the one who summoned him, all eyes then went to Naruto, who decided to step further out into the open and looked the giant swallow square in the eyes.

He threw his arms out. "Right here, feathers."

The giant swallow blinked in surprise. "You? YOU summoned me?" His posturing couldn't hide his shock.

Naruto grinned, "Yep!"

It was then the boy gave a yelp when, with speed neither of them anticipated, the giant swallow tackled Naruto with his foot and slammed him into the ground. Bewildered, the child glared up at the bird standing over him, only to find himself pinned under the blades on its talons.

Not daring to move for fear of slicing himself against them, the blonde remained silent as the swallow swooped in to glare into his eyes. Their breaths hit each other in the faces as they got a good bead on the other close up, while the alarmed Jiraiya and Tayuya in the background moved to get a better view on what was happening. Clearly, neither of them had expected the giant swallow to just tackle the jinchuriki to the ground and start this whole thing. They were only grateful he wasn't ripping him apart with the blades on his feet.

Eyes tightening, Naruto frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"You're a funny one, kid," the giant bird breathed, head tilting this way and that, as he looked the child's face over. Though he spoke in a respectful and upper-class manner, this swallow had an attitude all his own that set him apart from arrogant figures like Neji and Sasuke. He had bite, and wasn't afraid to show it. "How could a hatchling like you summon a respectable, majestic and exalted bird like me? It takes a shinobi of high class to call someone of my stature, a creature of both elevated standing and power, across dimensions." Bragging much.

Naruto smiled through his sweat. "Well… believe it or not, I did summon you. I got your contract, signed it in my own blood, and practiced with it so that I could bring someone like you to this spot. I don't know what else to tell yah, but that's how it went down."

Before the giant bird could take it any further, a chirp drew his attention down to the side, where both he and Naruto saw Swift hopping around on the ground.

The tiny bird sung brightly as she spoke with her massive counterpart, going into a long string of chirps and whistles as she explained to the giant summon the situation. Upon reaching the end where she skipped back and bowed, the massive avian holding Naruto at mercy blinked in surprise before glaring back at the kid again. After which, he turned on the smaller bird once more.

"Are you sure?"

Swift whistled and chirped, flapping her wings.

"So… you decided to let this blonde haired delinquent of a shinobi have the scroll under the protection of the colony, because you felt he was an ideal first candidate? Is that it?" A sharp whistle was his response, which convinced him to relinquish his hold of Naruto. "Hmph. Very well." Stepping away from the jinchuriki, he then watched the kid leap back to his feet and eyed him more closely. "It appears I have some further thinking to do on this matter."

Breathing raggedly from the shock, Naruto rubbed his neck before grinning across at the bird. "Does… this mean you acknowledge me as your partner?"

The giant swallow smirked. "Not so fast, kid. You're getting a little ahead of yourself." Seeing his frown, the bird turned away from him and rotated his head. "You've got the spirit and the guts to rival one of my own, but it'll take more than that to earn my respect. Unless you can prove to me you are worthy of being my equal, then I will be willing to work with you." He turned his back on the jinchuriki, who continued to stare across at him intently. "We'll need to have a drink before I can acknowledge you as my partner."

Naruto cracked a smile. "I'll hold you to that."

The bird grunted and glanced over his shoulder at the teen. "What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki. Yours?"

"Saito." Ruffling his feathers once more, the bird looked away. "Till next time." He then dismissed himself in a puff of smoke, not even giving the jinchuriki a chance to get another word in or anything.

Staring in deafening silence at the spot the bird, now identified as Saito, had previously been standing, Tayuya smirked and looked across at the still smiling blonde. "I can see where this is going shithead."

Naruto groaned and rubbed his head exhaustedly. "Man… what a hard-ass."

"A lot of summon relationships start off prickly, brat. Don't feel bad about it," Jiraiya reassured while gazing at the boy. "It could have been a lot worse, believe me." Receiving a nod of understanding from the runt, the Sannin then pumped out his chest proudly. "Still, now that we know you're able to summon guys as strong as Saito, I think it's time for you to work on your aim." The Sage then made a motion showing how much the tank needed to be filled in order for Naruto to pull off different summoning calls. "Your chakra and focus will determine the class of summon you are able to bring over. I want you to try with your left this time. You should be able to call Gama if you concentrate hard enough, so make sure you hold a high amount from start to finish."

Quickly remembering he had to get back to training, Naruto smiled and saluted affirmatively to his teacher and mentor, "Right!"

OOO

That afternoon…

Naruto and Tayuya were walking home looking more worn then they had when they left to go train that morning. With his jacket tied around his waist and her khaki battle-dress slung over her shoulder, leaving her in her spandex black shorts and white singlet, the pair strolled side by side rubbing at bruises and nursing cuts.

True, most of the day had been spent practicing with the summoning techniques, as per requested by their teacher the great Toad Sage. However, the time spent in between learning how to conjure up said creatures was also spent fighting with them, which was also a recommendation made by the Sannin as he explained to them that it would help them get a feel for the battle styles of their animal partners. While that thought did cross Tayuya's mind several times in the past, as she too had to fight with the snake summons Anko sent after her from time to time, she never really had the chance to fight any of the creatures she was able to bring over into their world, even after signing the contract. The idea must've gotten lost somewhere in the recesses of her mind, as she was worried about so many other things.

The girl smiled fondly at Naruto as he breathed out exhaustedly. "Never thought I'd see you this tired."

"Surprising, isn't it?" the jinchuriki asked while grinning back at her. "Even a juggernaut like me has his limits. I'm only human."

"Could've fooled me," the redhead snickered, nudging him in the side, "So shithead; how does it feel to have a contract with two summon animals?"

"It's pretty awesome," Naruto replied while throwing his hands up and resting them behind his head, ignoring the pains in his sides from getting hit one too many times. "I never really thought I'd ever get to make a contract with a summon. Hell, I didn't even know which one I would want to make a pact with. Ever since I started out at the academy and learned about summoning stuff through seals, scrolls and what not, I always thought I'd be able to coach through life without the need to call upon friends to fight alongside me. Maybe it was just me being thickheaded as usual. I've never had any problems with communicating with animals so I figured I didn't have to worry about that kind of stuff."

"I'm surprised that you said that," Tayuya replied while raising an eyebrow at him, "With your multilingual skills, I was always under the impression that you would have no problems with signing a contract with any animal you chose and that it was up there at the top of your list of things to do. So you never really thought about signing a contract to begin with?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope. It was just a fleeting dream of mine… not something to get worked up about or worry too much over."

"It isn't really, but it's always useful to have some friends and allies you can count on," Tayuya shrugged while smiling warmly at the boy. Without a word, she took one of the hands sitting behind his head and brought it down to his side, all in order for her to wrap her own arm securely around his. "And who would have thought? The one person who never even considered signing a contract ended up with one of the most famous animal summons in the village."

The toads. Now that was something to be proud of.

Not just anybody could sign that contract. From the names Naruto was able to make out on the scroll he'd signed, even he could attest to that fact. Sure, Jiraiya was most noteworthy of individuals to have signed it. But then, right next to that, the jinchuriki spotted the name Minato Namikaze; the damn Fourth Hokage and his old man. Now that was a good conversation starter.

However, he chose to let that little observation slide, since he had been so thrilled at the prospect of learning something new.

This wasn't even counting the swallow contract Swift got him. Boy was he going to have fun with that one, as it was his first and very own. His was the only name in the contract.

Naruto smiled when he felt Tayuya slide up a little closer, but after seeing her happy smile and eyes pan towards him, and having her walking so close to him now, it had the jinchuriki blush.

"I bet everyone's going to be surprised when I summon a toad or swallow in the middle of the third stage to fight with," the blonde exclaimed, scratching his cheek.

"If you have to," Tayuya added with a smile. "Just because you've made a contract, doesn't mean you have to use it every chance you get. Think of it as another trump card to play when the situation calls for it."

"That sounds fair," Naruto nodded.

"It's a good thing you're able to summon Gama now," the musician said, giggling at the memory of his previous and numerous unsuccessful attempts to do so. "With that guy hiding up your sleeve, I'm sure you'll have no trouble fending off a heavy hitter in the next test. That toad packs a wallop."

For the past few hours, her roommate had been trying again and again in vain to try and summon a toad bigger than a dinner plate. Most of the time the boy had only succeeded in summoning tadpoles and normal sizes frogs, all of which were useless in terms of combat assistance and gave his audience something really hilarious to laugh at.

Gamakichi, the first decently sized amphibian he'd been able to summon, kept cackling at his constant failings, making the boy feel more miserable about his lack of talent, while at the same time more determined than ever to succeed. Practice made perfect, and perfect was Naruto's goal in this area, which encouraged him to put more effort into his next several tries.

The big boss's son was an alright toad and fit the jinchuriki's personality to a T. He even made good conversation when he wasn't being sarcastic with you, but that was probably why the blonde found his company rather enjoyable.

Eventually, Naruto was able to start summoning even larger toads, at one point summoning Gamakichi's brother to their plain. Soon enough after that though, he was successfully able to summon Gama and several of his other companions successfully.

Finally finding the right amount of chakra he needed to conjure up partners of that size, the jinchuriki then started sparring with them. It had been a fluke of sorts that he was able to summon Saito on the first go, probably because of his attachment to the species in the first place, whereas it had taken him hours of work to summon the toads.

Sparring with birds wouldn't have helped him any, seeing as that they mostly flew around and swooped at you. He already had enough fun chasing Swift around on a monthly basis, so there was no need to get acquainted with his bird partners just yet. He wanted a more hands-on partner to butt heads with before going for the sky strikers.

As expected of a creature used by the legendary Jiraiya, the toads Naruto brought to practice fighting with him were hell strong. While not as fast as him, they could sure take a punch and deal out just as much punishment as he could in return. Eventually the jinchuriki got tired of being thrown around by his impressive, armored battle frog partners and decided to call it a day. After so many tries and countless failures leading up to his eventual success, the boy was beat.

Tayuya took advantage of his exhaustion to saddle up closer to him without a fuss, resting her head against his shoulder and melting into his warmth.

Naruto grinned through red cheeks down at the musician gazing up at him, "I still want to learn how to summon the bigger toads though. I'm really interested in meeting this Gamabunta guy. After everything Gamakichi told me about him, it sounds like his dad is the real deal." He scratched his cheek as he looked up. "I wonder how big the boss toad is."

Jiraiya, who was walking behind the pair, chuckled to himself when he heard his student's thoughts travel back to him. "Oh, I'm not spoiling that little surprise for you, kid. Have fun with that." After several minutes of more walking through the village streets, the Sannin stopped when he saw the pair stop at a junction and part ways. Tayuya waved after him when he disappeared, leaving the Sage a little bit befuddled.

He approached the musician when she lowered her hand, "Where's he going?"

"Shithead said he still had some things to do today, so he had to take off," Tayuya replied with a smirk. "He's always so full of energy, even after being run ragged. What a stamina freak."

"No kidding," Jiraiya chuckled, looking down the road the blonde had followed.

"He won't be coming home tonight, so I'll just go ahead and make dinner for myself."

The pair stood there for a moment, with the Sannin furrowing his brow a little when he drew up a little mental map of the hidden village to determine where the kid was possibly headed. He blinked a little in surprise.

"That's the road to the hospital. Why would he be going there?"

OOO

Up on the second floor of Konoha's hospital, sitting next to the window in the bed situated in one of the plain white rooms of the main building, Kin was occupying her time reading the magazine that had been kindly given to her by the staff.

Unlike the members of Team 8 that she had hitched a ride here with, her transition into the village didn't exactly go as smoothly as theirs. While she'd learned from the visiting Hokage that Naruto had passed her name by him, a gesture which she greatly appreciated, there was still the matter of procedure. It was the one thing both she and Naruto had expected to give her the most grief coming here, since while it was one thing to make promises and say stuff with short, easy, simple words, there was also the matter of writing it all down on complicated forms and documents with lots of headings, subtexts and bloody fine prints. Yeah and there was also the question of her actual motives and what she really hoped to gain from all this, which wasn't that big of a surprise considering she was coming in from another village with a questionable history.

The Yamanaka that popped by and went through her head said he would come by again for a second scan tomorrow. Perhaps he had quite a few things to write down and get through after their first session, she didn't know. It was an incredibly meticulous process.

However, once all the questions and visits from hospital staff, shinobi and the village leader were over and done with, she was then left to her own devices. This was all good for her because it was giving her all the time she needed to recover from the severe beating she'd taken back in Yugakure. The broken bones had, for the most part, healed over thanks to the quick work of the finely tuned medical staff and their use of the mystical palm technique, as were a lot of the flesh wounds she'd sustained. Nevertheless, she was still pretty exhausted from her ordeals and still had a bit of damage that both her body and the hospital staff still needed to cycle through if she was going to be in a stable enough condition to leave. This could be taken care of tomorrow, but until then she had to be content to wait.

The doctors that swung by to change her bandages and the medic-nins that stopped by to help accelerate the recovery of her wounds were really the only guests she was getting now.

All of that political and paperwork bull crap had been dealt with the other afternoon.

The girl had since enjoyed the peace and quiet of the hospital thus far, having rarely felt such comforts back in her time in Sound. Even their medical bay wasn't as clean or well-kept as they one she'd been in. The whole place had smelled of waste.

That was definitely not a memory she wanted to carry with her, and would probably log a request to have that and many others removed if possible. Other than the check-ups, things were going great.

When she felt a cool breeze of air from the late, evening day outside hit her in the face and felt a familiar presence drop by too, the girl smiled a little and craned her head up from her magazine. "Do you ever follow the rules?"

Without even looking, the girl knew the boy was wearing one of his wide, characteristic grins, "Nope."

"I guess you can consider that an advantage in our line of work then. Honestly… getting into a hospital through the window and completely disregarding the front entrance… I'm sure there are some benefits to that," Kin exclaimed while turning to smirk at the kid perched on her windowsill. She didn't fail to notice his battered appearance. "You look like hell. How's it going?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," Naruto replied with a little bit of disappointment. Recovering quickly after seeing the girl grin at him, he hopped down from the windowsill and hopped on top of the chair sitting next to her. As per the norm, he didn't sit… he squatted on top of it. "To answer your question though, I'm doing great. Tayuya-chan and I got some face time with Ero-Sennin, and I just signed a contract with two awesome summoning animals."

"Wow. That's pretty cool." Kin then blinked in confusion when she processed the rest of the information and raised an eyebrow at him, "Wait. Tayuya-chan? Ero-Sennin?"

"Oh… Tayuya-chan's my roommate and Ero-Sennin is the nickname I gave to Jiraiya-sensei, because he's a super pervert and isn't afraid to admit it," Naruto replied, his tone becoming dry when making mention of the Sannin's personality quirk. It was the uttering of the name however that had the kunoichi's eyes widen. "I know… it's hard not to hate him for that isn't it?"

"You know Jiraiya of the Sannin? THE Jiraiya?"

Naruto looked up in confusion, "Why does everyone react like that? It's not that impressive…"

The girl frowned at him, "Of course it is. Do you know how lucky you have to be to meet and speak with one of the three Legendary Sannin of Konohagakure? You're either the most unfortunate person in the world or the luckiest. I say it in that way because Orochimaru was my village's leader and instructor, and that was a person no one wanted to be around for prolonged periods of time."

Saying this had Naruto stare at her for a moment, "Wait. You know the other one?"

Kin sighed and lowered her head in distress, "Sadly, yes. When that Yamanaka guy found that little fact out after tiptoeing through my head, he and the others wouldn't stop badgering me about it until your village leader came in and pushed them out. Thank Kami that didn't last for too long, otherwise I would have choked… but I know they'll be back to ask me more questions later." She then looked back up at Naruto grimly to see his concerned face staring back at her. "I guess… you can say that I was one of the… unlucky ones. The man's training was murder."

A small smile then crossed Naruto's face, "But he did do one good thing… right?" He nodded towards the girl, "He took you in when you had nowhere else to go."

Said girl gave a dark and pained chuckle. "True. He gave me a life. But someone else gave me a second chance." She quickly cut back to Naruto and looked at him in a friendly manner, where she saw him blink and smile warmly in return. After a moment of silence, Kin then shook her head to rid herself of any stray recollections of her darker past and smirked pleasantly at her visitor. "Enough about that crap though. Why are you here, blondie?"

Naruto grinned, "Visiting." He then considered her position, the more chipper expression on her face and her current location. "Need some company?" He received a nod in return. "How about a story?"

Kin chuckled at his enthusiasm. Though she would have found someone like this annoying, his positive attitude was a welcome change, compared to the dreary personalities she'd associated with before. "Sure. Fire away…"

OOO

That night…

While Naruto made sure to hide on occasion when either doctors or nurses came by to check on their patient, he always came back out into the open to resume telling Kin his tales of bravery and defiance in the face of great adversity. This mostly consisted of him recounting his most terrifying and daring pranks ever committed to the village. The memories he detailed brought an enjoyable glow to the young kunoichi's evening, until she finally went to sleep in preparation for the day after.

Even after she nodded off, Naruto didn't leave.

No. He stuck by her side standing beside the window looking down at her as the moonlight and the lamps from the village flooded in. Arms folded and a smile on his face, he stood vigilant next to the girl and watched her doze, looking forward to the morning.

The staff said they would only need to perform a few more procedures and then she would be free to go. Shinobi handiwork really did get the job done much quicker.

Unbeknownst to Naruto however, he too was being watched over by another sharp-eyed worry-wart.

Looking through the window from across the street with his back turned to them and arms folded, Jiraiya had taken the liberty to follow the kid to see where he went after their little day out on the training field. For a boy that got his ass kicked by him, his toad summons, and the amphibians he was able to summon himself, he was still pretty spry. The fact that he hadn't collapsed yet or fallen asleep was saying a lot, so you could say Jiraiya was quite impressed. Still, as his teacher he couldn't help but worry and despite giving the jinchuriki space, he still felt the need to keep an eye on him.

Apparently, Naruto shared the same concerns for others.

Jiraiya smiled after half-an-hour more of seeing the kid just standing there and not moving an inch, earning a small chuckle, "You're a real knight in shining armor, aren't you brat." Standing beside a bedridden girl to make sure she got a good night's rest and nobody came in to hurt her; that was sweet. Of course, this did strike an interesting chord with the Sannin, who looked up with a puzzled glimmer in his eye. "Wait… if he's like that with this girl, then what about his friend Tayuya… and Isaribi?"

It took several seconds, but after some quick pondering, the man's calm demeanor suddenly lost all collectiveness when his eyes widened and he spun around. He slammed his hands on the railing of the building he was standing on top of and looked across in shock.

"No way! Is he…?"

"Geez, keep it down, Jiraiya."

Said individual turned towards the source of the voice, which just happened to belong to the old man standing to his right. It didn't take him long to figure out who he was from the white and red robes, and the wide-brimmed hat with the same color code on it.

Hiruzen sighed, hands placed sagely behind his back and pipe hanging from his mouth. "As I expected, you haven't changed one bit since the days you were a Genin. Honestly…"

Jiraiya smirked when he saw the elder and rose up to full height, one hand still laid on the concrete railing of the rooftop. "Hey, old man."

The Hokage gave a small smile, even with his gaze hidden under the shadow of his hat. Rolling the pipe from side to side, he then looked out towards the same window where he could see Naruto was standing. "I hear you've taken an interest in our village's resident troublemaker. Any particular reason why?"

"Heh. That's obvious, isn't it?" the Sannin asked while folding his arms, the two of them sharing the same space and air as their eyes landed on the subject in question. "Come on. Don't act like you don't know. You were the one who sent him my way to have the questions he wanted answered to begin with. Between you and me, you would have gladly been able to answer them just as easily as I was able to."

"I felt that it was better for him to hear the things he wanted to hear from a person who was close to his family," the Third stated, closing his eyes and blowing out a plume of smoke. "You are Naruto's Godfather. To answer any inquiries related to his parents or the issues encompassing him is your given right. I also figured that you would have wanted to answer these questions yourself, so I made it easier for you by pointing him in your direction."

Jiraiya chuckled and lowered his head. "It was easy enough, since he already knew about the Kyuubi and that it was sealed inside of him." He then looked across at the Hokage with a more serious look in play. "How did he find out about it though? Sure, I can understand it's this village's worst kept secret, but I figured you and all the other adults would've focused all their time and effort in keeping that bit of information secret from the kid."

"I don't think I can answer that, Jiraiya. Your best guess is as good as mine," Hiruzen responded with a firm glance up at the taller man. After a moment of nothing but silent exchange, a small smile appeared on his face again, "I will say this though; he's certainly full of surprises." He gazed back across the way towards the hospital. "He's always keen to go out and explore the world, always keen to learn something new… anything to help burn all that excess energy inside of him. You could say that it was thanks to his adventurous nature and tendency to wander that he found out about the nine tails."

"So that's it, huh?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "He found out about it because his mind happened to wander into its domain?" Thinking about it eventually got a chuckle out of the Sannin. "For some reason, I don't find that hard to believe."

"He's doing well so far," the Third answered observantly, grabbing his pipe and pulling it from his lips. "The first stage of the exams aside, he and his team did exemplary in the second stage. Not only did they escort their client successfully and without a scratch on her, but they also completed the final stretch while carrying an injured girl with them, who just so happens to be the same girl Naruto-kun is watching over right now." He nodded towards the window, where they could still see the boy leaning against the sill.

Jiraiya grinned smugly. "What can I say; he takes right after all those who came before him." He then looked across at the Hokage, whom he could see was thinking deeply under the smile and the hat he was currently wearing. This had the Sannin smirk, "You're already thinking about promoting him, aren't you?"

"I've been thinking about it ever since Kakashi registered his team to take the exams," Hiruzen said, not even bothering to look his former student in the eye while responding. "His history alone has given me that much inclination. I've also been considering several other names, including young Sasuke Uchiha. There are a few individuals participating in this exam who've gotten my attention, and now all I'm looking for is confirmation…"

"Hm. Fair enough," Jiraiya replied with a nod.

After a few moments of prevailing quiet, Hiruzen's expression then became a little more serious and he looked across at the white-haired man. "While we're still on the subject of young Naruto-kun's progress and accomplishments, I have some interesting information you might want to hear." When he saw the tall Sage turn his way, the Third continued. "Not too long ago, Naruto-kun ended up going on an unplanned expedition to the Land of Waves, which was being annexed by the shipping magnate Gato, who is now dead. While he was there, he encountered two extremely powerful nuke-nin hired by the mogul for an assignment in the country, both of them classified as S-Rank and both whom Naruto and his friends claimed were members of the Akatsuki organization."

Jiraiya immediately jerked up at hearing that name and hardened his glare on his old teacher. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," the elder nodded. "They said they were wearing black clothing with red clouds on them. I'm sure you know the description."

Immediately fixing the subject with his utmost attention, the Sannin looked across at the old man firmly and open-eared. "Who were they? The two of them."

Hiruzen frowned, "Their names were Kakuzu and Hidan… and both of them are listed prominently in the bingo book. The former ended up raiding an enemy facility on the island and was swept away in a clash with Zabuza Momochi, who sacrificed his life to get him out of the country. Hidan was defeated by Naruto-kun in a clash with the team he'd made while he was there, consisting of the hidden mist swordsman, his apprentice, and a former subordinate of Orochimaru's, Isaribi. As of right now, both Akatsuki members are missing and unaccounted for, but we are positive that Hidan was killed in that battle based on the overwhelming details of the engagement."

"The kid beat him?" Jiraiya said loudly in surprise, looking for clarification. The Third's nod in response had the man reeling inwardly.

It was stunning. The term S-Rank wasn't to be taken lightly, even by the most experienced of shinobi. People classified as S in the bingo book were considered extremely dangerous and were most often very powerful foes. Definitely not the sort of people you wanted to cross. From what Hiruzen was saying, there were two of them on that island, and that Naruto, who was still a Genin, had managed to beat one of them in a tactical battle alongside a makeshift team. Jiraiya could assume Zabuza Momochi had some part to play in that engagement from what he could make of the story, but it was still a remarkable feat, no question.

"Unbelievable…"

"Regardless of the outcome, we now know that there is a group of extremely powerful shinobi out there running loose in the shadows and, after the chaos that engulfed the small island nation several weeks ago, they are bound to cause more trouble for us in the future if their aim is to capture the jinchuriki," Hiruzen stated, having heard the parts regarding Akatsuki's motives and knowing that Jiraiya knew this information too based on his darkening expression. "It isn't much, but I hope this information helps."

The Sannin nodded before falling silent once again, their attention fixing back onto the hospital across the way.

The pair stood still in the silence of the night for several minutes longer, enjoying the cool air, the sounds of the village behind them and the sight of the stars above. Once a suitable amount of time had passed them, which they used to watch over young Naruto standing in the window, the Third Hokage then turned heel and began to walk away, leaving Jiraiya to his own devices. The Sannin followed the old man with his eyes to where he then stood several feet out.

"I'll keep an eye on the boy," Jiraiya stated with a smile. "Not just because he's my godson or that he has dangerous people after him, but also because I see something special in him. He's definitely going to be turning a few heads when he's older, and I want to be there to see that happen."

Hiruzen smiled brightly, "I trust you to do the right thing, Jiraiya. Take care of him."

The white-haired man nodded, watching the Hokage disappear in a swirl of leaves, leaving him alone on the rooftop once more. Arms still folded, his eyes returned to the hospital to see Naruto stretch before the window and lie back again, obviously feeling the strain from standing at attention for so long.

"He already has the makings of greatness in him," Jiraiya thought proudly. "Just like his father…"

A mischievous grin then spread across his face as he pulled out a familiar note pad and began writing stuff down in it. The night was still young, and he hadn't forgotten about his student's current situation. Not only did he have that Tayuya girl's and Isaribi's attention and affections, but he was also making some headway with the girl he was looking after in the hospital. Now while he didn't see anything major yet, he could see enough to garner some inspiration from it. The idea held merit after all.

"Now let's see…" Jiraiya whispered with a lecherous look on his face, "The main character saves a young maiden from strife, an act which earns her affections and places him between a rock and a hard place when he introduces her to another girl, who's been a childhood friend of his for years and has also fallen in love with him. Oh man… I like this premise…"

Wow. Maybe making this kid his apprentice had a lot more benefits then he originally thought.

OOO

Meanwhile…

Elsewhere…

Thousands of miles away, hiding deep in the forests of a country far from the events of the Chunin Exams taking place in Yugakure, a battered and exhausted Dosu could be seen lying against a tree, breathing heavily. It was clear from his state of fatigue that he'd been on the run for some time, and from the telltale signs of puncture wounds, cuts and bruises on him, it was even clearer what he'd been running from.

The same injuries he had inflicted upon him had been the exact same wounds inflicted upon his teammates, one of whom had been beaten to death in that manner. It had been a combination of both that told the boy that he was totally outclassed, which prompted him to take the best course of action possible and ran for it. He ran so far and so fast that he ran clear of the Boiling Lands, clear of the exam grounds, and out of the country.

Not only did he not want to stick around to face that girl, but he also wanted to get as far away from the people possibly watching him as well. After that failure, there was no way he was going to go back to his village and face the wrath of his leader. He would be killed on the spot.

Panting raggedly, the boy then looked around the clearing in front of him and sighed. "That's it… no more running for today." He lifted his gauntlet arm and rested it on his knee, which he brought up when he pulled his leg closer to him. "I've gone far enough."

Looking up into the canopy of the tree above him, Dosu allowed his thoughts to wander a little. Not only were they trying to process what had transpired leading up to his unceremonious retreat, but they were also set on what he was going to do now. With no home to return to and no one to depend on, the road ahead of him looked plain and barren.

As far as he was concerned, he was now an outcast.

"This sucks."

"Yes. It does. Kuchiyose: Sōtōja!" (Summoning: Dual-Headed Snakes)

Eyes widening, Dosu leapt to his feet when he heard that voice and brought his arm up defensively. However, the moment he did so, black vines suddenly shot out from the tree behind him and wrapped around him. Flying around the tree several times, the elastic cables quickly tightened before suddenly and violently pulling him flush against the trunk. An earsplitting crack rang out when the Genin found himself pinned, letting out a shout of pain as he felt his entire body become bound.

Struggling to break free, the boy then looked up to see what had him bound, only to lean back in shock when the heads belonging to the two 'vines' responsible for binding him appeared in front of him. The heads belonged to two very serpent-like creatures with red eyes and armored foreheads, both of which opened their maws and hissed angrily at him.

A single thought crossed the startled Dosu's mind when he saw the serpents, which had him shaking from head to toe in a clear sign of fear. "Orochimaru? No way. How the hell did he find me?"

Was he followed all the way out here?

Trying to pull himself free from the bodies of the two snakes wrapped around him and pinning him to the tree, the Genin then glared up when all of a sudden, three shadows appeared before him. At first unable to identify them because of the dark, when they came closer to him, he was soon able to make out faces and appearances.

Two of them were tall individual males, with pointed chins, short dark hair combed to one side, and were wearing body-tight leather outfits with various bands and belts wrapped around them, and a sheet of cloth hanging from their shoulder and covering their left and right arms respectively. The person in the middle was a female. She was shorter than her companions, with long brown hair, wearing a red-violet bodysuit similar to her compatriots that revealed much of her chest and body, and had really perfect proportions.

Besides the leather outfits, all three of them had another thing in common, and that was that they had line tattoos on their faces counting up; Ichi, Ni and San.

Okay. So they probably weren't allied to Orochimaru. But this didn't mean Dosu was out of trouble.

The bewildered boy was only made more nervous when he saw their smug grins and stares directed straight at him.

"Oh look," the tall one with the Ichi symbol on his forehead exclaimed, "A little mouse has lost his way."

"Such a tasty looking thing too," the woman with the Ni sign on her left cheek also said, licking her lips. "What should we do with him, Ichi? San?"

"Take him back to the fortress and plug him into the system… just like every other shinobi we come across," the other man with the San tattoo on his forehead replied. Folding his arms, he smirked at their gauze covered prey. "Orders from the boss. We'd better do as he says or he'll have our heads."

Yep.

For Dosu, things were just going from bad to worse…

TO BE CONTINUED…

---

Author's Note: Training time for the participants in the Chunin Exam and shit is going down.

Dosu has been captured, and Kin has been dragged along to Konoha. Given a way out of being executed, she went with Naruto easily, who keeps fussing over her and her condition. Though she thinks he's annoying, she still thinks he's a way better alternative to any other person she's likely to meet.

Well, I'm moving things along quickly, and I hope all of you are enjoying the story. And just to help keep track of numbers, some more stats below to consider.

Character Stats 2: (Out of 5)

Uzumaki Naruto

Ninjutsu: 2.5
Taijutsu: 4
Genjutsu: 1.5
Intelligence: 3
Strength: 3
Speed: 4
Stamina: 4
Hand Seals: 1

Total: 23

Tayuya

Ninjutsu: 3
Taijutsu: 2
Genjutsu: 4
Intelligence: 3.5
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Stamina: 2
Hand Seals: 2.5

Total: 21

Jiraiya

Ninjutsu: 5
Taijutsu: 4.5
Genjutsu: 3
Intelligence: 4.5
Strength: 4.5
Speed: 4.5
Stamina: 5
Hand Seals: 4.5

Total: 35.5