Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, and I still don't want to.

AN: Well, before I start getting complaints, I want to address my policy on jutsu translation. Yes, I will do it, but I don't plan to do it with the more common ones, like Mizu Bunshin. Depending on how familiar you are with romanized Japanese, or Japanese in general, you might not know the translation, which is 'water clone'. However, if enough people complain, I will relent and translate each and every one I can.

Also, if I botch a jutsu name, like using the wrong word, or mess up the grammar, by all means, tell me. I am terrible at properly translating stuff. But please make sure no one else has called me on it already first.

Rivers of Hades

Chapter 3

Following his new training program had sent Naruto to bed exhausted. In the morning, he was refreshed, although he was still a little sore. He was now headed towards the academy to see if his new regimen had done enough compared to his classmates' training.

--

Meanwhile, over at the Hokage tower, Sarutobi was about to have an unexpected visitor.

"Sandaime-sama, Inu-san is here to see you."

Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork to his receptionist. There wasn't too much paperwork to do at the moment, but the day had just started, and the village certainly had enough trees to generate more.

"Hmm... I wasn't expecting this at all. Send him in."

Bowing, the receptionist backed out of the office as an ANBU in a dog mask walked in.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama."

"Morning, Kakashi-san. No book today? This must be serious."

"I believe it is. It has to do with Naruto."

"I see. How did his training go yesterday?"

"Very well. He is as good as can be expected from someone still in the academy. Also, the whirlpool technique apparently doubles as a chakra-building exercise. Just from those few hours I was performing it, my reserves grew a noticeable amount. Yet that isn't what I was here for."

"Then what brings you here?"

"I'll be blunt, Hokage-sama. Is Naruto my sensei's son?"

That got an eyebrow to rise from the Sandaime.

"An unusual question. Why do you ask?"

"When we took a break, Naruto told me about his inheritance from his mother, and said that his father's will was in a scroll in your office, sealed with an emblem of wind and waves. Sensei was the only person in Konoha with that type of family crest. Also, once I got a good look at him, he looks too much like sensei for it to be coincidence. Is there something I should know?"

"I hoped he would have had more sense than to tell someone else about that scroll, but he is only ten. At any rate, you're right. He is the son and heir of Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage, as well as Uzumaki Kushina. He is the last known living member of both clans."

"Why wasn't anyone told? It might have helped him get adopted. Surely sensei could have arranged that for his son, rather than trust the villagers."

"Minato didn't trust the villagers."

"Wait, what? He said he wanted Naruto to seen as a hero. Doesn't that mean he had faith, however misguided, in the village?"

"Yes and no. Yondaime believed in the village, but not the villagers. There is a difference. He was willing to lay down his life to protect the village. However, he was well aware of the fact that most of the villagers would probably ignore his dying wish. Yet, he gave them a chance to prove him wrong, by honoring his wish. So far, he's been proven right. He also made sure that Naruto couldn't be adopted, and set penalties in his will in case anything should happen to Naruto."

"He made sure Naruto couldn't be adopted? What penalties? You lost me, Hokage-sama."

"If Naruto were to be adopted, his new parents would have complete control over his inheritance from both his mother and father. What would stop them from killing Naruto after that, and keeping everything? That was how Yondaime saw it, so he made it impossible for anyone, even me, to adopt him under most circumstances. I'm sorry to admit he seems to be right about that as well."

"And these penalties you spoke of?"

"I'm not aware of all of them, but I know of some. There is a stipulation in the will leaving a very sizable amount of money to the village. It can only be accessed by Naruto himself when he turns eighteen. He also has final say in whether or not the money is ever given to the village."

"So the village could be stabbing itself in the foot for all we know. Why wasn't Naruto sent outside the village then? He could have lived the life you wanted for him elsewhere."

"The contract with the Uzumaki clan prevents that. When Kushina died, the contract passed on to Naruto, guaranteeing him residence within the village. Much as they might want to, the council can't exile Naruto or order his death, under any circumstances. Should either happen, we would lose much of our funding."

"Except for Naruto, isn't the Uzumaki clan dead? How could our funding be cut?"

"There is one member who hasn't been located. Anyway, the contract was made using the Fire Daimyo as a middleman. Should anything happen to Naruto while he is within Hi no Kuni, short of death by an attacking foreign nin, or if he should die in the Chuunin exams, the Daimyo is to cut our budget by about thirty percent, as is stated in the contract."

"Wow... They've really got us in a tight spot then."

"Yes, they do. The question remains, what are you going to do now with this information?"

"I think I'm going to give Naruto a little bit of extra training. Nothing major, just some help correcting what the academy teachers might have done to sabotage him. Maybe teach him some easy jutsu. I don't think that's unreasonable."

"I see no problem with that, and will arrange for you to do so. I would, however, ask you to tell Naruto not to speak of his father's will. That must be kept a secret."

"Yes sir, Hokage-sama."

"Now then, we need to get over to the academy soon."

--

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. The normal teacher was out sick, and the replacement teacher was the one teacher in the academy who seemed to like him, a chuunin named Umino Iruka. Also, he had actually managed to arrive on time, if not a little early, so things were really looking up. Now all he needed was a good seat.

Normally, he would try to get a seat next to Sakura-chan, but she and the only other blond in the class, a girl named Ino, had just gotten into a fight over who got to sit next to Sasuke-teme. Sakura had lost, and dumb as Naruto could be sometimes, he decided that trying to sit next to her today was not a good idea. That left him sitting next to Kiba and a really shy girl in a bulky beige jacket. He just hoped she wasn't a Sasuke fan, too. He wasn't sure he could take that.

"Hey, is it alright if I sit here?"

"Yeah, sure. What, you aren't even going try today?"

"Are you kidding? I can see the storm clouds over her head. I really don't feel like dying today."

"Fair enough. Grab a seat."

Naruto sat down on the other side of the kunoichi-in-training, who instantly started fidgeting with her fingers and turning red.

"Um... Hinata is it?" The girl nodded, mumbling something Naruto couldn't make out. "Are you ok? You look like you're overheated. Maybe you should take off the jacket."

That proved too much for Hinata, who promptly gained a full-face blush and fainted.

"What happened up there?" came the call from Iruka, who had heard the thud at the front of the room.

Naruto answered. "Hinata overheated and passed out. At least I think she overheated. Maybe she's sick. Her face was red."

"Well, then let's start today off with a quick lesson in first aid. If something like this happens, get the person onto the floor, put padding under her head, and elevate her feet over her head. You might want to remove any clothing that would restrict her breathing.

With the rest of the class watching, Kiba and Naruto followed Iruka's instructions, removing Hinata's jacket and using it to cushion her head. At this point, Kiba needed some tissues to stop his nose from bleeding when he got his first look underneath Hinata's jacket.

'Heh heh. Hinata's ten, and she's already better developed than any of the other girls here. Score!'

Naruto just rolled his eyes and kept going.

'Man, I hope she's alright. If anything happens, I just know I'll be blamed.'

Soon, Hinata woke up, and saw Naruto bent over her, with the rest of the class behind him.

"Wh-what hap-ppened?"

"Uh, you passed out. You might want to keep the jacket off, or at least unzipped for a while."

Hinata looked down at herself, noticing her jacket was off, and was about to faint again, when Naruto said, "Hey, don't faint again! Kiba and I just got your jacket off!"

That proved to be the wrong thing to say, as that prompted her to faint again, with another full-face blush.

"Aw man."

"Sigh... Naruto, when she comes to, bring her down to the sparring field outside." With that, Iruka herded everyone else out the door.

Naruto bent over Hinata, making sure she was still breathing. However, he got too close, and Hinata latched onto him, hugging him to her. Naruto's thoughts were all over the place.

'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! This is bad! Actually, this feels kinda nice... Hey, she smells like lavender.'

"Mmm... I love you Naruto-kun..."

Naruto went white at that.

'Wh-what did she just say? Maybe she just likes naruto slices with ramen. Yeah, that's got to be it. There's no way she meant me, right?'

"Hee hee hee... You always look so cute with those whisker marks. Just makes me want to..."

'CRAP!!! How could she think she likes me? We don't even know each other! I'm going to die! And I don't want to die!!!'

Naruto managed to wiggle out of Hinata's clutches right before she came to.

"Unnngh... N-Naruto-k-kun?"

"Eh, hey there Hinata-um,-chan. Iruka-sensei says we need to get down to the training field. Are...are you going to be alright?"

Hinata almost fainted again when she heard the -chan added to her name. What kept her from doing so was what Naruto said about Iruka's orders.

"O-okay, let's go then, Naruto-kun." Hinata failed to notice Naruto pale when she said his name.

"Yeah, let's go." With that, the two headed down to the training field in an awkward silence.

When they arrived, in addition to Iruka and their classmates, they saw the Hokage, several Jounin, and three ANBU.

When Iruka saw that they had arrived, he signaled for the Hokage to begin.

"Alright then. I'm sure you are all wondering what you are all here for. Some of you may recall that, when you first entered the academy, you were tested to see where you stood. You are now mid-way through the academy, and we wish to see where you are at now. This will not affect your grades in the academy. It is merely for us to know how the academy is doing in teaching you as an individual, to prepare you for life as a shinobi."

At this, many of the students, mostly Sasuke's fangirls, started worrying. They knew that this could be potentially embarrassing. For some reason, the academy placed a heavier emphasis on book work, and because of that fact, many had slacked off on physical training to gain more study time.

The elderly Hokage continued, "Now rest assured that we will not be doing all of these assessments at once. They will in two weeks, and will be spread out over two or three weeks, giving you ample time to prepare yourself. Now, are there any questions?"

Sakura raised her hand.

"Um, Hokage-sama, what are we being tested on?"

"Good question. You will all be tested on stealth, stamina, chakra control, weapons skills, jutsu, and several other categories."

"Is there a written test?" came a question from another student.

"No. This assessment covers the practical aspects of shinobi life. The academy gives you enough written tests, too many for my tastes. Personally, I find most written exams are poor indicators of how good a shinobi a person is."

At this, relief flooded Naruto's mind, while stress entered the minds of most of the other students.

'A practical test! I stand a chance! Thank you, Kami!'

"Now then, are there any other questions? No? Then let me explain the reason for the presence of all of these people behind me. They are here to help refine any skills you wish to work on before we begin the assessment. You will be spending all of this week working with them, as well as continuing your personal training on your own time. Each day you will work with a different instructor. This will also serve as an example of what you can specialize in as a shinobi. Will the instructors please introduce themselves?"

"YOSH! I am Maito Gai, taijutsu specialist. I am to help you improve your stamina. Embrace the Springti-ACK!" The odd man in green spandex suddenly clutched his throat.

"Sorry about that, Gai. I did that. I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, and I'll be working with my group on chakra control."

"Well, I guess I'm up next. The name's Sarutobi Asuma, and I'll be helping with projectile weapons."

"Cough...I'm Gekko Hack Hayate. I'm Hack a kenjutsu specialist, Cough and will be working with Hack close-range, armed combat. Cough, Cough"

"The name's Shiranui Genma, and my group will be covering tracking and stealth."

"I'm known as Inu, and my group will be covering ninjutsu. I'm not teaching any, but you will learn tips on how to learn jutsu faster."

Following the introductions, Sarutobi spoke once again.

"You should also know that Umino Iruka has agreed to give lessons on basic traps. Now then, I suggest that you split up and choose an instructor."

Naruto was torn. He couldn't decide which group to join for the day. The chakra control group was out until he got better at his clan's personal ones. Since he was able to evade Jounin and ANBU to a degree, he decided stamina could wait a bit. Inu's group would probably be the biggest, at least today, so Naruto decided against that in favor of more personal attention.

On the other hand, he knew he needed help with kunai and shuriken throwing, so Asuma's class was high on his list of priorities. The same went for tracking and stealth. He wasn't sure about what the kenjutsu teacher could do, but knew what he was teaching was important. Eventually, he decided to take Iruka-sensei's trap-making class.

When the other instructors saw Naruto head towards Iruka, they let out a small sigh of relief. They didn't hate him, but they were nervous about his habit of pulling pranks on his teachers. Since they didn't know about his training with Inu, Umino Iruka was the only teacher who Naruto seemed to listen to, and even he wasn't completely safe from Konoha's self-proclaimed Prank King. When they were asked to help with this, the Jounin all went to Iruka to ask for tips on how to handle Naruto.

His reply was simple.

"There's no real trick to it. Just pay attention to him and treat him with respect, and he won't do anything too terrible. In other words, treat him like the other students."

If his advice worked, it looked like this wouldn't be too bad.

-- -

Next time: A New Jutsu and a Big Surprise