AN: Well, this was supposed to get posted yesterday, but I had to take care a bit more than I planned to and so I was late. Sorry about that, but I did warn about that before hand. Anyway, I wrote this chapter to set up for some events later on, so if it feels like filler, I'm sorry. Here's chapter five of A New Demon, right after the disclaimer of course.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from the show or manga. I also do not own spider-man or any of the characters from that show or comic. Thanks for reading.

Chapter 5

The Faith of the Broken

It wasn't even an hour before our two Shinobi were back in the village before someone started trying to ruin the nostalgia. A chunin, thinking himself far too sneaky for his own good, turned and murmured something to a woman near him, his eyes casting a dark look that Jiraiya caught and scowled at.

"Look, the demon kid's back. I don't even understand why Jiraiya-sama would bother teaching him; he'll just betray the village and kill us all as soon as it gets the chance..."

The woman nodded, glaring at the young blond who was, seemingly, oblivious to the things being said and the glares he was getting.

"He should be dead, but somehow he keeps living through all of the attacks we organize… We should take this to the council."

A few feet away, Naruto was walking with his eyes closed and his arms crossed under his cloak. The murmuring of the crowd was not lost on him, and it made him angry to know that they still hated him, even when he'd done nothing wrong.

He was a hero.

Inside the seal, Natsumi rolled her eyes at the stupidity that ran rampant around the place. It was like these people weren't ninja at all, but something so sinister and mind numbingly foolish… something like…

A sheep.

A grin formed on her features, a twinkle in her eye making her thoughts easier to understand even without vocalization.

Sheep were tasty.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just turned a corner when a rock flew straight at his blind spot. His reaction was blinding, his head tilting to the left and out of the line of fire just as he lashed out with his left arm to dispense a silken strand of some unnamed material that struck the still mobile rock in mid flight.

That was when he grinned.

With a twitch of his wrist, the rock went sailing right back the way it came, his Rinnegan easily tracking the blinding motion back to some idiotic civilian man whom was now clutching his, probably shattered, throat as he writhed on the ground.

"Moron."

Jiraiya snickered at this, and was still having a fairly good chortle as they entered the Hokage tower and ascended the staircase into the Sandaime's office. Naruto kicked open the door, ignoring the Hokage's sputtering and outraged assistant.

He should have knocked.

The Sandaime was, after all, a very superb ninja and this was why it took every ounce of training in the blond to lift his right arm up to cover his eye just as a kunai entered his immediate personal space. The Kunai shattered upon impact with his cloak covered arm and peppered the wall with the metallic debris created from the exchange.

Jiraiya had moved the hell out of the way, of course.

The Sandaime chuckled, a sweat drop on his face as the cloaked blond arched an eyebrow at the aged elder.

"Jumpy much?"

The Hokage cleared his throat, covering his mouth with a fist to do so while he leveled a look on Naruto that told him to shut up and get to why he was here.

He was clearly annoyed at being interrupted so suddenly and so… loudly. Then he actually got a look at the boy, his eyes lingering on his eyes.

"Jiraiya…"

The white haired sage scratched the back of his head and ran through a short set of seals, pressing his palm to the floor after he closed the door. Naruto moved to take a seat, his stare a bit unnerving to the older ninja due to his Rinnegan and how he just didn't blink.

"Explain why he has those eyes and his status please."

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, much to the secret delight of Sarutobi.

"You got it, old man."

Meanwhile, somewhere in Konoha.

"The Kyuubi has returned. What are your orders, sir?"

The bandaged man gave no outward expression of any kind as he was relayed this information. He stood and beckoned for the other to stand as well, his voice a dull lilting drawl as he turned to walk out of his Office.

"Observe him. I want to know what team he's put on. That is all."

The kneeling individual stood and backed out of the room, leaving Shimura Danzo to contemplate his next move.

"The Uchiha would be a likely candidate for my plans if the Kyuubi jinchuuriki becomes unattainable. I'll just have him killed and the Kyuubi resealed for my use."

As an afterthought, he spoke calmly.

"Mizuki, come. I have need of you."

The Hokage tower

"And that's how it happened, though I think the Gaki should tell you how skilled he is, as he did most of the work. It was like I didn't even have to teach him."

Jiraiya cast a glance at the young blond, sitting there playing with a Kunai and looking positively bored out of his skull.

"Naruto, where do you feel you are in terms of skill level?"

Naruto sighed and stood, his arms crossing over his chest under his cloak.

"I can't be sure until I fight someone."

Jiraiya wanted to laugh at the little blonds antics. He knew full well he could fight at a level beyond what many people considered normal for his age, and even then Naruto pushed the envelope into a whole new area of unrestrained.

He was a powerhouse, in his own right.

"Jiraiya?"

The white haired sage sighed and mentally shook his head.

"Put him against the rookie of the year from the Academy this year. You were going to enroll him for the exam, right? Just do that and have his last test be a spar against the rookie of the year. That sound alright to you?"

Sarutobi nodded and picked up a pen so that he could sign a document, which he stowed in his Hokage robes, before standing and walking around his desk to stand beside Naruto.

"I'm going to take him to the Academy; I take it you'll be in the village for a few days?"

The white haired sage nodded, lifting his foot up onto the window sill as he opened it.

"You got it. I'll see you around, kid! Try not to have too much fun without me."

Naruto grinned and nodded.

"See you later, Ero-sennin."

And, with that, the perverted Sage was gone. Naruto looked up at his surrogate grandfather and crossed his arms, his expression somewhat annoyed.

"Let's go."

The aged leader sighed, feeling a bit dejected that his charge didn't fully trust him, still. Setting that aside for now, he teleported them to the academy in a swirl of leaves.

The Academy

A brown haired chunin with a scar across his nose grew a tick mark on his head just before his head swelled and he bellowed with a tremendous amount of volume at the class of kids before him to shut up and settle down.

They did, comically fast, too.

As he crossed his arms and got ready to begin his explanations and the rules for the Genin Exams, a knock on the door to his room stopped him and prompted him to walk over and open it. He was pleasantly surprised when he was met with the smiling face of the Hokage and the bored scowl of a younger blond kid with ringed eyes.

"Hokage-sama, what a surprise to see you here! What brings you here of all places?"

The Sandaime simply smiled and entered as the chunin stepped aside to let him in, a grandfatherly hand settling on the young man's shoulder before he turned to address the class as a whole.

"Hello to you all. I'm here to introduce a late student to your class this year. He was out of the village until this very morning and will be joining you all to take part in your Genin Exam with you. Please treat him with respect and be kind to him. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The older man gave the suddenly very shy blond a gentle nudge on the shoulder to get him to speak to the class or move for that matter. Naruto, for his part, couldn't figure out why he was so god damned nervous all of a sudden.

It was as if he was scared of being judged again.

When no one said anything, Naruto just sighed and walked to the nearest open seat to him and plopped into it. It just so happened to be next to a raven haired kid with rather pale skin and dark eyes. While Naruto was taking his seat, Iruka and the Hokage were going over something in hushed tones, the aged man handing a document to the scarred chunin before he turned and smiled at the class.

"Well, I wish you all good luck on your exam and hope to see you all when I'm giving missions to the teams this year. Iruka-kun, they're all yours."

And with that the Leaf elder was gone. Iruka turned and sweatdropped when he noticed that all the females in the class were glaring at the kid, Naruto, because he was sitting next to the Uchiha.

With a sigh, he got started.

"Alright, well, the Genin Exam will be a bit different than the usual this year. Instead of the Kawarimi, Bunshin and Henge tests that are the Academy standard, there will be a Taijutsu spar for everyone in the class amongst everyone here. Then we'll have a weapons exam to see just how much you've all been practicing and then a Ninjutsu test where you'll be allowed to perform a Jutsu of your choice for me to grade. The last test will be a written exam. It'll be graded on a scale that combines the averages of each of your tests together for your final grade. Does anyone have any questions?"

No one spoke, but he noticed that the new kid was barely awake.

He sighed and crossed his arms.

"Alright then, everyone outside so we can begin the Taijutsu portion of the exam."

Outside

Once they were all outside, the scarred instructor issued them all random numbers and began to pull those random numbers out of a kunai pouch at random. The matches were all fairly boring, a pineapple haired boy squaring off against a pink haired girl then a blond haired girl with her hair in a ponytail squared off against a portly kid with spirals on his cheeks.

Meanwhile, Naruto seemed to be asleep under a tree.

The pineapple haired kid took a seat next to Naruto, making the blond peek open an eye to sleepily peer at the equally lazy looking kid. Not a word was said between the two of them, but each one could appreciate the need to be quiet and sleep.

Just as Naruto closed his eyes, the next match began. It was a white eyed indigo hared girl facing off with a kid with a puppy on his head and some red markings on his cheeks.

The blond girl with the ponytail walked up to the lazy looking kid lying next to Naruto and did the one thing that Naruto hated more than anything. It was his single most hated pet peeve, and it was like nails on a chalkboard for him.

It was worse because he every sense was augmented by his still unnamed counterpart and his previous house guest, Natsumi. That was why he was jarred so badly when the blond haired girl screamed at the other boy.

It also didn't help she was standing right over him when she screamed.

"Wake up Shika!"

WHAM.

Naruto shot into a sitting position so fast, flailing, that as he did his right hand caught her right in her under developed boob and knocked the wind out of her. Naruto gazed around himself stupidly for a few moments before he rubbed his eyes, not noticing the blond kunoichi currently rolling around in the dirt trying to make her abused tit stop hurting.

Meanwhile, a few of the other kids in the class were laughing candidly behind their hands as the new kid just lay back down and tried to drift off.

The girl he'd just surprised wasn't going to let that happen, however. She marched right over to the blond, all spitfire and rage as she lifted her foot to bring it down on his head just as his eyes opened. The Rinnegan glared up at her, his silent gaze enough to make her stop. Her eyes widened and she began to hyperventilate, his stare unwavering.

In her mind's eye, she was seeing him stopping her and all that things he could do to her afterwards. He could break her. He could maim her. He could completely end her if he wanted to, but somehow she knew he wouldn't.

It terrified her to see these things, and at the same time…. It excited her.

When she was suddenly not being assaulted by images of her being punished for hurting him over something so petty, she lost her balance and her foot landed right beside Naruto's head.

The pineapple haired boy stared back and forth between the two in a curious fashion, from the girls flushed face and slightly heavy breathing to Naruto's measured stare.

"Troublesome. What did you want, Ino?"

When Ino looked away from Naruto, to her friend Shikamaru, Naruto rolled over to go back to sleep. Just as Ino opened her mouth to tell him it was just to stop him from being too lazy again, she was interrupted by Naruto's number being called. Rising, Naruto dusted himself off and sighed, lamenting at his lack of sleep, before he trudged over to the staging area for the Taijutsu exam.

He stood just shy of the center of the 'ring' and crossed his arms, his eyes closed. He wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. He grimaced when the next number was called and a chorus of girls screaming and cheering erupted around him.

God, he hated it when people were loud.

He watched the pale kid with the black eyes step calmly out of the crowd to stand across from him with a bored expression on his face. Naruto nodded to the boy, but grew a tick mark when the boy didn't even acknowledge him.

"Uchiha Sasuke versus Uzumaki Naruto, Taijutsu only, please. Please bow to me."

Naruto bowed to the proctor, Iruka, just as Sasuke did the same.

"Bow to one another."

Naruto bowed, Sasuke bowing only about half as much as Naruto, which caused Naruto to grow even more annoyed.

"Hajime!"

Sasuke settled into his family's Interceptor fist just as Naruto gave a funny little spin so that his cloak fanned out around him and obscured everything other than a bit of his legs and his head. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the crowd of girls all sighed, dreamily. Once Naruto finally settled and his cloak once again returned to being draped around his shoulders, he simply stood there and waited.

"Those eyes… They won't work on me."

Sasuke looked infuriated but didn't comment, his Sharingan glaring at the blond standing before him. Naruto grinned and shot forward, while elsewhere a pink haired girl face palmed at something that only she knew about.

"That blond kid is fairly stupid, huh? He's charging right at Sasuke-kun without even trying to think of a plan!"

Ino, the blond with the ponytail, just cast a glance at the pinkette but didn't say anything to the contrary. Shikamaru simply sighed and rubbed his eyes as he stepped up beside the blue eyed girl.

"Troublesome… I think he already has a plan."

Naruto came to a skidding halt, rotating his body so swiftly that his cloak flared up right into the raven haired boy's field of vision. Sasuke tried to back pedal, not liking that he couldn't see the other boy's body behind the billowing cloak. The minute he began to retreat, Naruto knew he had him. His cloak parted at the seam as the blonde's fist rocketed right toward the Sharingan users gut, his intent clear.

Sasuke was not to be underestimated, however.

The minute Naruto moved to attack, the Sharingan moved to predict where it would land in that split second. This was why Naruto was so surprised when he was blocked and countered, his feet catching his body as he landed in a crouch, rubbing his shoulder slightly.

Pesky Sharingan.

Naruto stooped in the dirt and grinned, his cloak hiding his body from view as he spoke.

"You're pretty good, Uchiha."

Sasuke simply smirked at what he thought was praise. Naruto stood and rocketed forward yet again, his feet carrying in swiftly into the close range of melee combat just as Sasuke dropped back into his stance once again. Naruto tested his prediction, his reaction time and his speed and found that the boy was actually very skilled with his eyes.

A grin formed on the whiskered blondes face.

As he ducked a sweeping back fist from the Uchiha, our blonde Genin hopeful swept his feet around for the Uchiha's ankles and wasn't surprised when the boy quickly back pedaled out of his reach. Naruto did a hand stand and clipped the Uchiha in the arm as he blocked his follow up kick.

That was when Naruto struck.

As he was blocked and, as expected, the Uchiha went to push his leg to knock him off balance the boy pushed up and off the ground with his hands and used the momentum from the raven haired boys push to propel himself sideways while he lifted his hand in a punching motion towards the Uchiha's midsection.

As expected, he was blocked, and as he followed through in mid-air with a knee to the boys face Naruto was again blocked.

His free hand that he'd held back with wasn't seen because the Uchiha was too busy looking out for all the other incoming attacks, so he didn't see when the blonde tossed a handful of dirt into his eyes from his blind spot.

Naruto tucked into a roll and skidded a bit as he steadied himself. The Uchiha was wiping his eyes, growling in discomfort as he did so. With a grin, Naruto launched himself forward and struck like a cobra, his right fist being buried into the raven haired boys gut while his left followed through with a hook that sent the pale boy spinning into the dirt.

The Uchiha glared up at the blonde, scrambling to his feet with a scowl on his face.

"Stop holding back."

Naruto's grin faltered and he sighed, shaking his head. This guy was something else, already picking up on the fact that he was holding back just by watching him.

"You too, Uchiha."

Sasuke dropped back into his Interceptor stance and glared at the blonde with his Sharingan still active. Naruto lowered his cloaks collar and tapped a seal stitched into its fabric, his chakra unfolding from its confines in a weight so oppressive that Sasuke stiffened and fought to remain standing.

It was like he was moving underwater.

The bystanders all struggled to remain standing, some of them even sinking to their knees as his Chakra settled heavily around them. The pink haired girl stared at the blond in awe, her mouth dropping open.

Ino felt like crying, his chakra was so dense. She'd almost pissed him off!

"This seal turns my chakra capacity into a center of oppressive gravity. The more chakra I have, the stronger the gravity is around me. Remember, you asked for this Uchiha."

As Naruto got his chakra under control, Sasuke breathed a sigh and blinked. When his eyes opened, he was rooted to the spot, too shocked to do much else. His Sharingan predicted the movement to happen next, but he was too slow to react to it.

Naruto came to a stop just as the Uchiha did, his body having tumbled end over end until he skidded in the dirt like a rag doll. Sitting up, his bruised jaw protested and he glared at the blond before him. He was staring at him; those odd ripple patterned eyes glaring right back at him, fearless.

There was a stirring in him and he felt like he knew him from somewhere, this blond boy, this Uzumaki Naruto.

He felt like he should know exactly who he was, but he didn't know him before today, he was sure of it. Sasuke hauled himself to his feet and swayed his vision swimming.

He felt a hand settle on his shoulder and as he turned to look, he saw the eyes of the blonde just as he double over from the fist in his gut, sinking to his knees as he dry heaved and gasped, clutching his stomach.

"Call it."

Naruto stooped and offered the injured boy his hand and frowned when the Uchiha brushed him off and stood on his own, onyx colored eyes glaring harshly at him.

"This isn't over, I promise."

Naruto scoffed and turned to walk away.

"The test is, though."

Naruto folded his arms behind his head and sighed. It seemed like whenever he went anywhere he'd make enemies faster than he'd ever make friends. He walked right by a group of students with their mouths hanging wide open. Iruka himself was stunned into silence, his pen dangling from a limp hand.

"How in the… He's so fast! I barely even saw him! Anyway, err... Winner is Uzumaki Naruto. Recess then we'll finish the tests."

Ino watched as the boy, blonde as the sun and as mysterious as the moon, took a seat beside her friend Shikamaru and proceeded to go back to sleep. She turned to say something to the pink haired girl beside her but found her missing, that was when she saw the mass of pink steadily stomping her way over to the blonde enigma.

Ino paled and scrambled to reach her before that guy tore her to pieces.

"Sakura, no!"

CRACK.

Naruto groaned and rubbed his head, his eyes squinting shut while his eyes watered from the pain in his head.

"Itai!"

Sakura crossed her arms and glared down at him as he rubbed his head, feeling rather victorious.

"That's what you get for cheating! You know Sasuke-kun would've won had you not thrown dirt in his eyes!"

Naruto was still nursing his head, trying to figure out why he got hit. He looked up, glaring hotly at the pink haired girl, just as Ino reached them.

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as cheating you dumbass! We're supposed to be training to be ninja! Ninja lie, steal and cheat their way to their objectives! We do whatever it takes!"

Naruto got to his feet and Sakura had the good grace enough to look sheepish. Then she grew a tick mark when she realized she'd been called a dumbass.

"And let's not forget that I was holding back through half the fight! I held back for his benefit, no less. He's an ass, though, didn't even acknowledge that I'm stronger than him."

Sakura sputtered and opened her mouth to yell at him again, but was silenced when Naruto simply lifted his hand up to silence her.

"By the way, if you ever hit me like that again… I'll kill you."

Sakura's outrage died on her lips as she paled, her head being nodded rapidly.

Anybody with strength enough to fight Sasuke was strong indeed. Naruto turned his gaze on Ino, causing the blonde girl to gain a pink tint to her cheeks. This made Naruto quirk a brow, wondering just what got him this kind of reaction from her.

"Your name is Ino?"

She jumped when he spoke to her, nodding as if she were afraid he'd tear her in half if she spoke out of turn.

"It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry about earlier, you surprised me is all."

Naruto stiffened, feeling eyes on the back of his head as he spoke to his fellow blond. Turning his head, slightly, he caught sight of the indigo haired girl with white eyes smiling and looking away as he caught her staring.

That was just weird.

"Seems like Hinata might have a little crush on you."

Naruto turned to look at Ino, who 'eeped' and looked down at her feet. Sakura was floored, the ever bossy and always chatty Yamanaka Ino being silenced and cowed in the presence of some guy she'd just met?

Completely unheard of.

Absolutely mind boggling.

Blackmail material.

"Look, I'm sorry I roughed him up and for you thinking that I cheated… But if that's how you're going to act when something unfair happens, then you should change careers. Being a Ninja isn't a joke, people die every day for things much less honorable in our line of work, and I'm sure Sasuke knew that before and after our spar."

Sakura's head hung. She knew he was right, and worse still she'd wanted to be a ninja just to make Sasuke notice her. It wasn't working so far, but maybe that was because she wasn't going about her training the right way.

Even Ino had sense enough to blush in embarrassment. He'd hit the nail right on the head, whether he knew it or not.

Naruto, to his credit, took note of how their expressions changed and assumed that they were thinking about why they'd become Ninja in the first place. Folding his arms behind his head, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"I know you must be a Yamanaka, Ino. You're a part of the only clan in Konoha that had blonde hair. I don't know you, Sakura, so I can't really give my two cents about you without knowing your clan. Anyways, the reason I asked is because I was wondering why you two decided to become ninja. If it's personal, you don't have to answer."

Ino nodded, not missing a beat. She wanted to have this guy on her side in the future, because she knew he would be someone great soon.

It never hurt to have powerful friends, right?

"Well, my family is full of Ninja because of our ability to enter the minds of others. I'm following in my father's footsteps so I can become clan head one day."

Naruto nodded, liking her reasoning enough to not comment on it. He turned to look at Sakura, finding her wringing her battle dress in a nervous fashion and staring at her feet.

"What's wrong, Sakura?"

The pinkette jumped and her gaze flicked to the blonde boy standing in front of her, his eyes curious.

"I… joined to make Sasuke notice me…"

Naruto sighed and resisted the urge to scowl. That was probably the worst reason for her to have joined the ninja corps.

"And has he?"

Sakura looked confused for a moment, her eyebrow lifting as he stared at him.

"I'm guessing he hasn't noticed or cared."

That made her frown and her gaze lower; the nervous wringing of her already wrinkled battle dress growing a bit more intense. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head. She couldn't fathom why she even cared what he thought; why she wanted him to understand her. She didn't even know him and he didn't know her.

"I don't think he'll notice you if you keep fawning all over him. Plus, while I'm not trying to make you angry, it doesn't look like you train all that much. I watched your spar and was surprised at how little you knew beyond what is initially taught here."

Sakura felt like smashing him over the head for belittling her, but she did acknowledge that he'd said he wasn't trying to hurt her feelings. This made her wonder if maybe he was right.

And if he'd help her out.

"Ino is a bit better off than you, but not by much. Why don't you try doing this for you? Make a choice for yourself and not for anyone else. I promise you'll end up better off."

Ino scowled but didn't say anything, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Would you help me train, then?"

Ino's head whipped around to face her rival for Sasuke so fast her neck cracked. She was asking for help now? Ino competitive streak made her place her hands on her hips and nod in Naruto's direction.

"Me too."

Naruto's brow furrowed. He didn't want to be a babysitter, but he knew these girls really needed it. They could die if they didn't get some proper training.

Quickly.

Pulling his arms away from his head, the blond shinobi hopeful nodded. Then he issued an ultimatum.

"If you start slacking off I won't help you anymore, and it should go without saying that if you question what I teach you that the same applies."

Both girls nodded, a bit concerned that he was already being so strict. Just as Sakura opened her mouth to speak, the bell in the academy rang and she turned to look just as Iruka stepped out of the doors to collect them all for their next exam. Naruto stepped around the two girls, knowing they'd follow.

They had a lot of work to do.

Academy training grounds, a few minutes later.

"Alright, let's get started. This is the weapons portion of the test. This is where you'll be graded on your accuracy and throwing strength. First up will be…"

That was when Naruto stopped paying attention, his eyes drooping closed. He was leaning against a fence, his head bowed as he slept. Beside him, Ino did a double take when she looked over at him. He was out like a snuffed candle!

"How can anyone go to sleep that fast?"

She heard a light snore and turned to her other side to see Shikamaru mimicking Naruto, making Sakura sweat drop. Sakura cast a glance at Naruto's sleeping form and quirked an eyebrow. Cocking her head she spied something that neither she nor Ino had taken notice of. He had scars on his face.

Peculiar scars, at that.

"Piggy."

Ino scowled at the long time nickname from her best friend turned rival, but turned to give her the attention she wanted. She found the pinkette staring curiously at Naruto, even bending a little bit so she could take a look at his face as he slept.

"I think he's cute too, forehead, but don't you think you're getting kind of close?"

Sakura's head snapped up so fast she almost hit Naruto, her sea foam colored eyes glaring hotly at her blond friend.

"Shut up, piggy. I was looking at the scars on his face. They're really weird."

Ino quirked an eyebrow but moved to check them out as well, noting that he did have some pretty interesting scars on his face. They were perfectly symmetrical to the ones on the other side of his face and they almost looked like whiskers.

He looked like fox, in a way.

The blond found that she kind of liked it. She squashed those thoughts quickly, righting herself as she shrugged her shoulders and turned to look just as the boy with the puppy and the red marking on his face finished up his test.

"What's the big deal? He's got scars, it's not like he looks butt ugly or something because of them."

Sakura went to respond but stopped when she was called for her test. She stood and wandered through the crowd just as Naruto's right eye peeked open to watch.

Sakura prepared to make her throw, setting her face in a scowl of determination. She whipped her arms in a diagonal downward slash as she released all of her Kunai at once, her bottom lip being worried as she did.

She'd thrown five, and of those five only three hit their mark. The other two had hit the targets dead on, but didn't have enough force to stick into the wood. Iruka nodded to her and recorded her score.

Sakura frowned but didn't comment, wandering back over to sit by Naruto and Ino with a depressed air about her. Ino tried to console her, but couldn't really do much because she knew she wasn't much better. Neither of them noticed Naruto's eye close.

A few more people went, the time passing slowly for those who had to wait to take their test. Naruto noted that most of the kids were average. There were a few gems, like the indigo haired girl-Hinata- who had stepped up to take her test and passed with very little trouble.

She would be deadly in the future, if she could get over her meek nature.

Another noteworthy test taker was the boy he'd met earlier, Shikamaru. He'd learn that the boy was a Nara and was actually pretty good. The only thing that hindered him was laziness. The pineapple haired boy had thrown his Kunai with such laziness that he only used one hand and he hadn't even looked at where he was aiming for more than two seconds.

Naruto was surprised, pleasantly, when he hit all of his targets.

Then he promptly went and lay under a tree to go to sleep. Finally it was Ino's turn and he watched, discreetly, as she stepped up and assumed her throwing stance. She took her time, lining her targets up and then unleashed her Kunai in much the same way that Sakura had but with much better results.

She hit each target dead on with barely enough force to make them stick. One of them, dangerously close to falling out of the wood, but didn't and he took note of how she sighed and looked to Iruka whom was already writing down her score.

They had a fuck ton of work to do, after this.

When Naruto was called he stood up and trudged over to Iruka who nodded and smiled, waiting for the blond to display what skills he had. Sasuke, leaning against a tree, finally looked up to see what the blond boy could really do. He was good in Taijutsu, but this was where he shined.

Naruto lifted the ends of his cloak, showing the attire he was wearing underneath as he turned to face Iruka. Iruka stood there, stupidly, wondering what the hell the kid was doing. Then he realized that he wasn't carrying a weapon pouch.

He didn't have any weapons on him.

"Naruto, did you forget you weapon pouch at home? I have some spare Kunai in the cl-"

Naruto turned and walked back to where he'd been sitting, his cloak fanning around him at the sudden movement. Behind him, the wobbling posts where the targets were hung began to still and Iruka stared at them as if he'd never seen one before. At the center of each post was a black bar about as thin as a tanto and as long as a kunai half buried into the wood of each of the targets deep enough to impale the posts the targets were secured on

Iruka hadn't even seen him move.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was staring flabbergasted at what he had seen, Sharingan spinning. The boy had just forced them out of his skin, as if everyone could do it. What the fuck was that all about? He turned his Sharingan enhanced gaze on Naruto and glared. He was good at throwing weapons, too, it seemed.

As Sasuke stepped up to take his test, he sighed. He knew he was going to ace this test, but he didn't like following that yellow haired loser.

It made him look weaker than him.

Sasuke lashed out with his left hand, flinging two kunai up and over the two centered targets while his right hand flicked two more up at a sharper angle so that they would intercept the previous two and change their trajectory. Blurring away from his spot, he moved to stand beside Iruka, whom was already looking at him and writing, flinging his final kunai.

It happened so fast that most people missed it, his final kunai striking each and every one of the previously thrown kunai with such precision that as they came into contact with one another, they were knocked off of their previous course to meet with a different target. The separate 'thunks' of metal on wood made him relax his stance. He'd hit all of his targets.

"Good job, Sasuke."

The fan girls went wild, and Naruto covered his ears with his hands as he sat against the fence between the two, oddly quiet, girls. Sakura giggled at Naruto's antics while Ino chuckled herself. Things were going to be interesting from now on.

Classroom.

Naruto gave a light snore as he slept with his arms folded under his head, Ino and Sakura sweat dropping as they stared at their new blond… friend?

Yes, friend.

Iruka, with a tick mark on his head, stalked over to the blond and bellowed so loudly that Naruto reflexes kicked in and he shot out of his chair to crouch on the ceiling like a spider, his head whipping this way and that.

Iruka could only stare, face palming after a moment or two before he turned to go back to his position at the front of the class. Naruto dropped back down into his seat and scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.

"Alright, we're going to have the written exam before the Ninjutsu exam so that you guys won't have to come back in and get your things when we're done here. When I call your name, come and get your test and return to your seat. Do not start until I tell you to, or you'll be failed on the spot."

One by one each student was called, and once everyone had their tests they were told they could start. Naruto answered all of his questions and went back to sleep, Sakura finishing just a few minutes after Naruto did. If anyone had looked, Shikamaru and Sasuke were already done and some of the others were finishing up as well.

The kid with the red markings on his face-kiba- had an expression on his face that made it look like he hated taking these kinds of tests.

After about half an hour, the time limit was reached and Iruka called for pencils down. He walked around, collecting each test from every student. As he made his way to his desk, he began to speak.

"I'll be grading these, so I'll give you all an hour to get some lunch and relax before the last test. "

Everyone got up and began to file out of the classroom, chattering amongst themselves with plans to either go home and get food or to go a restaurant. Sakura got up, with Ino trailing behind her, following behind the mob of students. She looked around, spotting everyone she knew.

Everyone except Naruto.

The boy was dead to the world, sleeping making him miss the entire bit about getting lunch. Ino walked back over to his desk and quirked a brow, rolling her eyes as she shook Naruto awake.

"Naruto, we're having another break. Sakura and I are going to get some food. Do you want to come?"

Naruto peered up at her stupidly for a moment before he wiped his eyes and squinted at her, making the blond girl blush. He looked adorable when he was just waking up! Sakura stood by the door, tapping her foot while she waited.

"Sure."

An hour later, Academy training grounds.

Naruto was finally wide awake and smiling, his expression akin to a cat that caught a canary. Ino and Sakura, on the other hand, looked as if they were likely to murder him than ask him what kind of Jutsu he knew.

The reason for this was because Ino and Sakura didn't know any Jutsu aside from the ones taught at the Academy. Ino had her clan Jutsu, but she would need a volunteer and Sakura didn't know any real Jutsu that she could show off.

She sighed and Naruto looked to her, taking note of her melancholy expression.

"What's wrong with you two? You look like someone kicked your cat."

Sakura rubbed her left arm just above the elbow, her gaze on the ground. Ino mirrored her, but didn't look as depressed as Sakura, knowing she could just use her clan technique to scrape out a decent grade.

"Well… I don't know any Jutsu outside of the three basic Jutsu taught here."

Naruto chuckled and Sakura resisted the urge to belt him across the face for it.

"Why are you laughing at me? You're a je-"

She blinked, finding Naruto's hand covering her mouth. He didn't look mad; in fact he had a smile on his face as his gaze lingered on her for a moment.

"You've practiced these three techniques until you can do them in your sleep, right?"

Sakura blushed faintly under his gaze, and the fact that as his hand drew away from her mouth, his fingers caressed her cheek.

"Good. I can help you show off just how much you've mastered them and maybe get you a better grade than you think."

Sakura nodded and Naruto's rippled gaze was turned on Ino, his voice playful and amused.

"You need help too, don't you?"

She hated how he knew these things without even trying. She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'll help out, then. I can't have you two failing. I might get stuck on Sasuke's team alone."

This made Sakura scowl and glare, and Ino chuckle faintly. She liked Sasuke and all, but she wasn't blind to the fact that the boy didn't even have them on his radar, let alone seem like he wanted a girl right now.

She knew better than to throw her pearls before swine, so to speak.

Naruto looked up as Ino was called and nodded to her as she moved to stand in the center of the ring they'd taken their Taijutsu exam in. Iruka smiled pleasantly at her and waited patiently for her to begin.

Ino performed a single hand sign, closing her eyes for a moment to focus her chakra.

"Shintenshin No Jutsu!"

Iruka moved to catch the blond girl as she fell over, just as Naruto came running up to him and grinned. Iruka sweat dropped as Naruto did a girlish twirl, his cloak fanning around him as he posed and gave a flex.

A moment later, Ino was sitting up and Naruto was blinking as if he was waking up from a deep sleep. He spied Ino in the arms of Iruka and offered her a hand so she could stand up. Once she did, he sighed and glowered at her.

"You promised you wouldn't make me look stupid, Ino."

The blond girl simply breezed by him, smiling to herself. Naruto followed her back into the crowd, mumbling about troublesome girls and payback schemes. Sakura, to her part, didn't openly laugh when Ino had made Naruto look so… feminine.

But she did laugh when he wasn't looking.

A few people went after her, displaying some rather interesting Jutsu. The Inuzuka boy had shown off some intense looking technique that effectively turned him and his puppy into identical clones and had proceeded to destroy a poor tree. The fat kid with the spirals on his cheeks had demolished a training dummy with a technique that turned him into a spinning mass of destruction.

Shikamaru had taken control of Iruka with his Shadow possession technique and had made him wave at the group before canceling the Jutsu and walking off again. Hinata demonstrated her ability to manipulate chakra by having kunai thrown at her body so that she could deflect them with random bursts of controlled chakra that knocked them off course.

Sasuke was the one that was the most impressive, displaying his chakra control and capacity by belching forth a fireball that was nearly as big as the tree he'd burned to ash.

Finally, Sakura's name was called and she walked over to the scarred Chunin, fidgeting a bit. A look from Naruto made her nod and helped to calm her nerves. The pinkette performed the hand sign for the traditional Henge, prompting a plume of smoke that erupted around her. As the smoke cleared, an exact copy of Naruto, down to the very last detail, stood before everyone.

Iruka smiled and nodded, but was stopped from writing her score by the Henged Sakura turned her backside to the real Naruto and patting her bottom, giving him the finger.

Iruka sweat dropped and panicked when the real Naruto stooped and scooped up a rock. He wound up and let the small stone fly with enough force to penetrate the bark of a tree and embed itself into the wood. And it did.

Right after it passed through Sakura, whom was still taunting the real Naruto. Iruka beamed, seeing through the deception for what it was. Sakura had Kawarimi'd and created a Bunshin of Naruto that continued to taunt the blond. The pinkette came out from behind Naruto, smiling cheekily as Iruka recorded her score. She moved to sit beside Ino once again and Naruto was called, prompting him to step into the center of the ring. Iruka smiled, patiently waiting for what was sure to be a very interesting display, if what he'd seen so far was any indication.

"Whenever you're ready, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and got down to brass tacks, his hands coming up to his chest to form into a cross shaped hand sign. A moment later and two plumes of smoke erupted on either side of him. Iruka looked pleasantly surprised.

"That's very good Naruto, that technique is pretty difficult to use."

The scarred man went to write Naruto's score, but stopped when he noticed that the blond and his two clones each went into different sets of seals at varying speeds. AS he watched, Iruka took note that the hand signs were timed so that each one of these techniques would go off right after the other. The original leapt back and behind his two clones, being that he was in the center of the group of three just as the two clones finished their hand signs.

"Fuuton: Oodama Daitoppa!"

"Katon: Goukakyu No Jutsu!"

Seconds after the release of the clones techniques the original finished his hand signs and slammed his palm on the ground, a spider web of seals branching out around him as a third plume of smoke, larger than the others from his clones obscured him from view.

"Kuchiyose: Gama Abura!"

The result of this sequence of events led to many dropped jaws and wide eyes. The smoke was blown away from the sudden wind produced by the supped up wind Jutsu coming into contact with a rather large fireball, the flames going from orange red to white blue in just under a second as the speed of the fireball increased. Meanwhile a six foot tall orange toad wearing battle armor spewed forth a thick stream of oil that sped into the heart of the fireball and fed it to make it grow in size.

The flames were so hot that when it hit a grouping of trees, they were steamrolled and turned to ash. The impact shook the ground and dug out a trench for about ten feet before the flames were doused by the soil falling into the trench.

Iruka was stunned, his mouth hanging open so wide that it looked like his jaw had come unhinged. Ino, Sakura, even Sasuke were completely floored by the display of power from the blond boy. They all watched him as he walked back to his spot between Ino and Sakura, taking a seat as his toad companion went up in smoke and his clones went to go and repair the damage the technique had caused.

Sakura turned her astonished gaze on the blonde, Ino practically foaming at the mouth from the display of power from the boy sitting beside her. She had made up her mind now, and Naruto didn't have a say at all in the matter.

He was hers.

Iruka cleared his throat, coming back to his senses as he turned to address the class.

"That's it everyone, wait here while I tally all the scores. Consider it a break, I guess."

Iruka walked back into the academy building, and the crowd broke into groups of people going to do whatever they felt like doing for the time being. Ino smiled at Sakura, her excitement obvious.

"How'd you get so strong?"

The new voice made Naruto look up at the raven haired boy standing over him. He sighed, standing.

"I trained."

Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. He wanted that kind of power, he needed it.

"Teach me."

Naruto scowled, not liking how he was being ordered around. He crossed his arms over his chest, and fixed a gaze on the Uchiha that made him look away, unnerved.

"You're fairly strong as it is. Why do you need more power?"

Sasuke turned his Sharingan enhanced eyes on Naruto and answered truthfully. He didn't want to be distrusted, and he certainly wanted this guy to trust him enough to teach him some of those high level techniques. The only reason he was even going this route was because the blondes sealing speed was so fast that he couldn't use his Sharingan to copy the techniques.

It was infuriating.

"I need power to avenge my family. And to revive the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke was floored as Naruto took a step toward him, settling a hand on his shoulder. With the words Naruto spoke next, he felt like he was truly being understood, that he could finally get started on his plans.

And for the first time, he felt like he didn't have to use anyone to get what he wanted.

"I'll teach you, Sasuke, but only if you can promise to not let this consume you. I know what it feels like to not have the people there that are precious to you. I know what it feels like to be betrayed and hurt, and I want you to know that you don't have to be alone."

Sasuke turned his head away as he fought the tears that threatened to spill. It was as if he had known him all his life, as if he'd been through exactly what he had and was trying to save him from the darkness.

Sasuke saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and he took his first step towards it for the first time in a long time.

Techniques used:

Fuuton: Oodama Daitoppa/ Wind Release: Massive Great Breakthrough Technique.

Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu/ Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique.

Shintenshin No Jutsu/ Mind Transfer Technique.

Henge/ Transformation.

Bunshin/ Clone.

Kawarimi/ Substitution.

Kawarimi

An: I'm not too sure if I got the translations right for the techniques I used and listed here, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Anyways, this is chapter five and it's my longest one yet. I hope you all enjoy it and, please, comment so i know what I need to change to make this story more enjoyable. As always, I'm the New Sage of Six Paths and I'm thanking you for reading my latest chapter.