I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick Recap:

After a time-skip, Naruto has learned many, many skills. He graduates from the Academy, and runs into Mizuki trying to escape with the Forbidden Scroll. He knocks Mizuki out (so as not to incite a huge investigation) and copies the scroll. He heads back to his apartment, where he begins to read it a second time.

---------

---------

Naruto stood in the middle of a clearing in the Forest of Death. He closed his eyes concentrating for a second, before one hundred more Narutos poofed into existence. The Shadow Clone Technique had been a success.

Mastering it had actually been rather simple. He was almost ashamed to have not come up with it on his own. The user forced their chakra into every part of their body, and then "locked" the chakra in place, so that it essentially was a mold of their body.

Then, the user separated the "mold" from their body, whereby it could be copied as many times as was necessary.

Finally, the user used chakra to "fill" the "mold", essentially turning the invisible construct of pure energy into another human being.

This creation was the exact same as the original, so it had all of the knowledge and abilities of the original.

The more chakra pumped into them, the more they had access to, and by extension, the more techniques they could perform. Even when they ran out, though, they did not dispel unless the outermost layer of chakra was disturbed, in which case the chakra escaped and the clone burst as though it were a balloon with a hole poked into it.

However, if the clone willingly dispelled itself, the chakra had a sort of link to the original, and the chakra was returned.

And it was there that the most interesting thing happened.

When the chakra returned to the user, it somehow carried information with it. That meant that as the chakra returned to the original, so did any information the clone had gained. And that was amazing.

It meant that if Naruto had a clone master a technique, then dispel itself, then he would have mastered the technique. It was incredible, wonderful, a generally great thing.

And as Naruto began to walk to the Academy for his team assignment, he thought about how it would enable him.

He could have three or four clones work on mastering different techniques while he improved himself physically. It meant that his ability and knowledge would begin to increase at many times the pace from before.

It meant that his physical strength and agility, which had previously been limited by his need to spend most of his time learning and mastering new techniques, could flourish, especially with his resistance seals.

However, he did have to be careful about using too many clones. The information would become jumbled, and difficult to comprehend. Not only that, but the fact that they actually transmitted information defied logic. He'd have to figure out how that work some other time.

But still, it was a great thing that opened up many new doors.

And, as he took his seat in the Academy, he had left four clones to do just that—work on mastering the other techniques in the Forbidden Scroll.

He was rather bored when Iruka began announcing the teams. That got his attention.

The first six were worthless, made up of nobodies that were destined to either retire from the ninja life or be stuck doing worthless D-Rank missions.

Then came the one he was waiting for. "Team 7 will be composed of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. They will be led by the jounin Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto took it all without a word. To be honest, it didn't surprise him. Sakura's incredible book smarts had balanced out her abysmal physical ability, so she tended to hover around the middle of the pack. Still, Naruto would have liked to be stuck with someone other than one of Sasuke's fangirls. He knew that she was a lost cause when she had stood up and shouted, "Yes! In your face Ino! True love prevails!"

Furthermore, it was clear that the brooding Uchiha didn't reciprocate her feelings. She was truly taken by her own dreams if she couldn't notice it.

He didn't listen very intently as Iruka announced the remaining teams, the real players.

Team 8 was comprised of Hinata, Shino and Kiba, led by Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 10 was made up of Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, led by Sarutobi Asuma

Neither of these teams were very surprising to him; it was clear that they were each perfectly built teams for what they were meant for. Team 8 made the perfect Reconnaissance team, whereas Team 10 was a versatile team with a good tactician that was excellent for taking on single targets of a high level. While they weren't quite an assassination team, they'd be very good at dealing with missing nin and the like.

But that left his team an enigma. They didn't really specialize in anything at all. In fact, they were rather weak. In reality, Sasuke was only a slightly-above-average ninja. Sure, he knew a few useful Fire techniques, but they were worthless against anyone that was faster than the average genin. It wouldn't be until he learned the stronger fire techniques, the kind that Naruto had learned and invented many of, that he would be able to pose a serious threat in the field of Ninjutsu.

His Taijutsu was good... For an Academy Student. For a genin, sure, it was good, but at least one quarter of the other genin would be able to beat him. Hell, if Hinata could get over her lack of confidence, she'd be able to wipe the floor with him.

His only Genjutsu was the clone technique, and that was relatively worthless against a strong enemy.

The only thing that would make him powerful was his yet-to-be-awakened Sharingan. When he acquired it, he'd be a major threat. Anyone would, though. With its ability to copy any technique it saw combined with powerful cognitive abilities he'd be able to dodge anything, and all he'd have to do to learn powerful techniques would be copy their jounin sensei.

Luckily, Naruto would be safe from having his abilities copied. Part of the copying process involved memorizing the hand-seals, as opposed to how exactly the chakra is molded. Furthermore, to use a technique without hand-seals or vocalization required levels of control that the Uchiha would probably never reach.

Then, there was Sakura. She was, essentially, worthless as a ninja. Sure, her chakra control was rather good, but that was because she had little-to-no chakra at all. Any techniques beyond the Academy Three would probably be beyond her because of her almost non-existent reserves. What's more, book-smarts were all fine and dandy, but they wouldn't do too much good in the field. The only way to make up for a lack of experience was how Naruto did it—plan for every possible occurrence, expect the worst possible things to happen, and you wouldn't be surprised.

And then was their jounin sensei—Hatake Kakashi. Naruto knew of him, any Konoha Shinobi that knew what they were doing knew of him. He also knew that his power was not his own, only achieved through the use of the Sharingan eye that he possessed. Not that he held that against him—a shinobi who didn't use every available tool was a fool.

He was actually rather glad to have the legendary copy-nin as a sensei. With him they could go on much more difficult missions, thanks to his incredible skill.

Then there was the question of how much of his real ability he should show. It was not unheard of for a student to hide their abilities during their time at the Academy, but how much should he let on?

He though about many possibilities, but then decided that his best bet would be to continue acting the same way that he had during the Academy—carefree and a bit obnoxious. However, he could probably tone down the obnoxious-ness a bit and be a lot more serious. After all, it was what was expected from him now that he had graduated.

For the level of his true skill, he figured that he should only let on what would be required to pass the jounin test that he was bound to have. Of course, with Sasuke on his team, it would probably be impossible to fail, but he'd do what he needed to to get it over with.

With his path decided upon, he let his mind wander as he waited for his jounin sensei to show up. It was two hours after everyone else in the room had left, and Naruto had and Naruto had taken to spinning a kunai on his finger. Another half-hour later, he was still going. The door suddenly opened and a man with silver-white hair that seemed to defy gravity stepped into the room. Naruto shot him a huge grin as he spoke.

"On the roof in one minute. Go now."

And then, just like that, he was gone in a poof of smoke.

Naruto was the first to follow, dashing out of the door. Sasuke was right behind, followed by Sakura. They all made it up there just on time.

"Well, since you seem to be capable of following orders, we'll just get started on introductions. I want each of you to tell me your name, your hobbies, your likes, dislikes, and your dreams for the future. We'll start with you, pinky."

Sakura was still catching her breath from the run, but answered quickly. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like," at this point she shot a look at Sasuke and blushed, "and I dislike Ino-pig, as well as anyone who gets in the way of true love. My hobbies are... Well, I don't have any."

"Alright, good. Now you, with the whiskers."

Naruto shot him another wide grin as he thought fast. I'm a jinchuuriki, so he'll be reporting anything I say to somebody. I'll have to be careful to seem as though I'm fanatically loyal to Konoha. Right now it's more of a love-hate relationship.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and learning badass techniques, and I dislike brooding emo-kids who don't give a god damn for others. My hobby is training so that I can achieve my dream... To one day become the Hokage!"

That last bit was a total lie, but absolutely perfect for seeming loyal to the village.

And then came the Uchiha.

"Good, good. Now you, the Uchiha."

Naruto heaved an internal sigh. This would be worse than he thought. Already Kakashi was subtilely stroking Sasuke's ego. He intentionally referred to him as an Uchiha so as to give him an even more inflated vision of the Uchiha as superior.

Sasuke clearly didn't miss this, smirking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like very few things, and I dislike a lot of things. My hobby is training, and my dream is more of an ambition. To kill a... certain man."

Naruto wanted to laugh. At this rate, Sasuke would never even come close to Itachi's level of skill.

Kakashi spoke next. "Meet me at Training Ground 11 tomorrow, 0700 hours sharp, for your genin test. And you probably shouldn't eat any breakfast, you'll just end up throwing it up."

"But sensei, we already passed a genin test!" said Sakura.

"That was only to see if you had the bare requirements to become one. To actually be good enough to become one, you have to pass your jounin-sensei's test. If you fail, you're sent back to the Academy for another year, where the whole process repeats again. And I'll tell you a secret: Only 33 percent of genin actually pass. Adios!"

And with another poof of smoke, Kakashi was gone. Naruto followed immediately afterwards, headed towards the Forest of Death for training.

---------

The next day, Naruto woke up at 5:00 am, immediately preparing for the challenge in only a few hours. After getting dressed, he made himself a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. It was foolish to go into a fight on an empty stomach. In addition to that, he stuffed a few ration bars into his pockets, since he was sure his teammates wouldn't eat anything that morning.

Quickly, he created four shadow clones, setting them to work on the techniques from the Forbidden Scroll. Then, ready to go, he set off towards Training Ground 11, using the Body Flicker. He was there in less than thirty seconds.

And, as it was only 5:30, he decided to simply wait there. About an hour and a half later, both Sakura and Sasuke showed up, looking exhausted and hungry.

Naruto was the first to speak. "Hey guys! What's up?"

Sasuke just shot him a dirty look as Sakura spoke her opinion, in a rather loud voice. "What's up? I woke up really early, and then I didn't get to have breakfast! I'm starving!"

Turning to Sasuke, Naruto asked if he had skipped breakfast too. Taking his grunt as a yes, Naruto reached into his pockets and tossed ration bars to each of them.

They both caught them, but they both seemed confused. With a grin, Naruto explained. "Sensei told us that we probably shouldn't eat breakfast. It wasn't an order. Plus, going into battle on a full stomach is bad, but on an empty one it's worse. Anyways, about half of one bar will be plenty for each of you. Trust me on this one."

Sasuke was smart enough to see the logic in this, and turned away to munch away at his bar. Sakura, however, was a little bit skeptical. "Why should we trust you? You're the dumbest kid in our class!"

Naruto was saved from trying to explain himself by Sasuke speaking up. "Because it makes sense Sakura. Now sit down, shut up, and eat!"

Not one to disobey her "true love", Sakura did as she was told, sat down, and began eating. The following silence seemed terrible to all three of them, though it was quickly broken by Naruto.

"So, what do you think the test will be?"

Sakura was the first to answer, as usual. "It doesn't matter. No matter what happens, we have Sasuke to get us through. He could probably beat Kakashi himself!"

Sasuke smirked, but Naruto just scoffed. "Sakura, that's foolishness and you know it. You two clearly don't understand the strength of a jounin."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, shooting him the "evil eye", and put his arrogance into words. "Naruto, it's you who clearly doesn't understand strength. I'm in a different league than most people. Sure, Kakashi is strong, but I could beat Mizuki with ease, he can't be that much more difficult."

Naruto gaped. That was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. Sasuke took this for surprise at his ability, and smirked again. "So you finally see how hopelessly outclassed you are?"

Naruto then, suddenly, broke out into laughter. He knew that he was revealing a little too much of his real knowledge and attitude, but he wanted to pass.

About a minute later, Naruto stopped. "You're joking, right? I saw those fights, and Mizuki-sensei threw them! All to stroke your foolish Uchiha pride! It's you that doesn't understand!

"The average chuunin is thrice as strong as the average genin, thanks to the difference in skill and experience. The average jounin is thrice as strong as the average chuunin for the same reasons. The average veteran jounin, one who's been at his position for five or more years, is about thrice as strong as a normal jounin, or an ANBU. Then, there're the ANBU captains. They tend to be as much as three times as strong as a veteran jounin! That's what Kakashi used to be! Do the math! In case you can't, that puts Kakashi at approximately 81 times stronger than us! Get a fucking grip on it! Our only remote hope to beat something involving him as an obstacle is to work as a team!"

Sakura just sat there, stunned. Sasuke, however, looked pissed. In his anger, he shouted about Uchiha superiority as he stomped off into the woods around them. Probably to cut himself.

In the meantime, Naruto turned to Sakura, who was beginning to stand up. "Listen, Sakura, I understand that you're seriously in love with the Uchiha, but the best way that you can help him would be to help me come up with a plan. He'll come back eventually."

Sakura was torn. She wanted to follow Sasuke, but she knew that Naruto was right. Seeing reason, she sat back down.

"Good! Now, where do we start?"

For about an hour, they talked, coming up with some rather good plans for beating Kakashi. They thought of all kinds of different tests, and how to deal with them.

Eventually, Sasuke came back, and they filled him in their plans. It was two hours after the scheduled start time when Sakura asked the question Naruto had been expecting from the beginning.

"Hey Naruto, when did you get so smart?"

"I'm a ninja Sakura. Deceit's the name of the game."

Both Sakura and Sasuke had dumb looks on their face, when Hatake Kakashi showed up next to all of them. "Yo, what'd I miss?"

Alright. A lot of you have been asking for more social interaction, and here it is. I don't really like writing it, and I don't feel I write it well, which is why I try and avoid it for the most part. Please review and let me know what you think.