Chapter III

Naruto was lost in thought as he stood on the rooftop overlooking a small town, he was perfectly aware of his surroundings while he ran through his mission briefing from Danzo. He felt that his former sensei held back much of his real Fūinjutsu knowledge from him or maybe he really didn't know all that much. It was common knowledge that Fūinjutsu wasn't widely known and an incredibly complex art. Naruto also knew the few that knew it wouldn't be keen on letting him know too much for risk that he may use it to release his mother, he was all too aware of the secrets they kept from him.

His eyes shifted over the storefront near the corner, a hidden supply depot for the rebel forces in Kiri. Danzo had explained simply that it needed to be destroyed and any rebels either killed or brought back to the root base outside Konoha's walls.

He was waiting for confirmation that it was a depot before he acted, his clones set up in strategic places along the shopping district and alleys. His clones covered in a Satetsu to make their transformations physical not a henge that can be spotted easily, but if a sensor was near by the fluctuation of chakra would draw attention. Two kids playing in the street, an old woman talking congenially with a shop owner and a drunk laying in an alley were actually clones watching the shop.

It wasn't until he saw the young blue haired boy who was a known rebel according to Danzo's files.

"That is Chōjūrō" thought Naruto as he watched the boy slip into a door in the alley hidden by a dumpster and some boards.

In a flash Naruto was on the ground as his sand poured towards the door while his clones exploded into his sand and formed a dome shaped metal barrier around the shop destroying the shop next door and killing an unsuspecting civilian caught between the barriers. The rest of his Satetsu flowed through the door as he followed hearing the warning screams of the ninja within and the alarms going off.

XXX

In Konoha Kakashi watched his students imperceptibly over the edge of his book as they did some simple D-rank mission for a civilian farmer. His thoughts were on the dynamics of his team. It had been almost two weeks since their little outing with the rest of the teams, and not much had changed. Sasuke kept to himself as much as possible and although he constantly trained he noticed the young Uchiha becoming angrier. Every Spar he had with Naruto he lost and for the most part it seemed Naruto never took him serious, at least that's how Sasuke seemed to see it.

Kakashi wasn't sure how to go about breaking him of this habit. Naruto didn't seem malicious in any of his intent but also seemed to have little interest in his teammates. The dark-clothed boy spent most of his time reading, sparring with Hinata or disappearing completely. Like today he was sure that the Naruto helping his team was a clone.

The Jōnin looked to his last charge, the pink haired girl. Sakura seemed to change the most she was becoming quieter from the apparent lack of attention from her teammates, although Naruto paid her attention when she asked him things she really wanted Sasuke to notice her but he was so focused on Naruto he seemed to ignore her even more than he did in the academy if that was possible.

Sighing to himself he decided to think on it more later, and went back to actually reading his book.

XXX

Naruto clenched his fist as another shinobi was crushed beneath the metal sand that encompassed him. The rest of the black sand flew up and blocked some projectiles from down the hall. The base was actually under the shop, with crudely dug tunnels running deeper than Naruto thought. Sadly for the ninja down in the tunnels the closed quarters gave the defensive sand user more of an advantage than he already had.

His sand slammed into the double make shift doors at the end of one of the halls while his clones spread through the remainder of them to clear out the shinobi. Entering the room he saw the sixteen year old Chōjūrō being surrounded by the men and women within the room, more rebels, and supplies spread around the room.

"Who are you?" demanded one of the men.

Naruto said nothing as two spears formed over his shoulders and launched at the occupants one was blocked but only barely as they realized the metal spear was way denser than should be possible. The other spear ripped through a woman's chest and pinned her to the wall as a surprised cough left her longs along with a spattering of blood.

Chōjūrō stepped forward his two handed sword at the ready though he seemed to be nervous, two more men jumped in front of him "Chōjūrō run, Mei-sama needs you much more than us. We will hold him back as long as we can tell her it was Konoha!" one man shouted pointing at Naruto's headband.

Naruto didn't care if the rebels knew who he was or who he was affiliated with, they were a nuisance at best besides Danzo had dealings with Yagura the Mizukage, these rebels were just the enemy that needed to be squashed. Satetsu surged forward as the blue haired rebel boy ran towards the back of the room hearing the screams and pleas from his comrades, tears fell as he left blaming himself for not staying and fighting but Mei would need to know that the Mizukage had more help.

Naruto let a small amount of anger slip past hi apathetic mask as he chased after the older boy but lost him in the panicking streets as civilians fled from the damage he had caused above and below ground. He knew Danzo would be unhappy that one got away and so was he, he normally didn't fail a mission. Clenching his fist angrily the dome around the street compressed destroying everything in the small area leaving nothing but a small crater and a dense ball of metal so heavy no one would be able to move it. The young ninja disappeared in a swirl of black sand.

XXX

Hinata smiled to herself as she sat in her normal sparring spot with Naruto, she still wasn't sure what he was to her and she was surprised at how attached she had gotten considering she had only known him about a month. She would never admit to anyone but the closest she ever felt to a crush on another boy had been Kiba back in the academy. He had been so bright and loud, confident, pretty much everything she wasn't.

She watched Naruto read quietly and didn't understand why she felt more attracted to him, he wasn't exactly confident but he wasn't shy either. He was quiet like her but spoke with power and respect when needed, plus he was incredibly smart. The young girl just couldn't figure out why he had such an interest in her.

"Hinata-chan?" came his soft voice and she jumped slightly still not used to him speaking to her without formality. Although she was the one to push him into calling her by more friendly terms.

"H-hai… N-naruto-kun?"

His head cocked to the side quizzically "are you sure you are feeling well? Your face is red again."

She blushed more "uh… I-I… um, am j-just a l-little warm…" she stuttered.

He nodded and she couldn't see his expression completely but she managed to read his small facial movements and eyebrow raises. He wasn't completely convinced. So she distracted him "A-ano… are you r-ready to t-train?"

It seemed to work as he nodded and closed his book "hai, lets continue from where we left off yesterday…" he looked to the side "ah I'm back."

Hinata looked confused until another Naruto walked out of the trees, she could never tell when she was with the real Naruto unless she had her Byakugan active and even then it wasn't always accurate since he was coated in sand and his clones were mad out of the sand it was hard with her level of Byakugan to see through the layer of chakra created.

Two Naruto's looked at her and she began blushing again so she turned away as she always found it easier to talk to him if she could see him "Naruto-kun I d-didn't realize I was with a c-clone again, gomen…"

She couldn't see him but she felt him appraise her "we will continue to work on your kekkei genkai then as my clones practice defending against your Jūken without letting it disrupt their chakra control."

They had learned that the clones differed from Naruto slightly and it was hard to tell them apart, but what set them apart from Naruto mainly was no automatic defense and if hit with a Jūken that closed off their control then everything connected to the blocked pathway would deteriorate and return to sand so clones often lost legs or arms in their battles with Hinata. The young girl herself was just surprised how strong she was getting, her father never noticed her missing really so every day she would train after missions with Naruto until it grew dark.

Her training was physically brutal but without the emotional abuse heaped on by her father and other Hyūga instructors she was able to power through and with the approval of Naruto always off on the sidelines she pushed herself farther than she ever dared before. Each night she went to bed physically exhausted but with a smile on her face.

XXX

Time continued and not much changed for team seven, training and missions, Naruto disappearing or leaving a clone and never showing up in the first place. Kakashi was the only one to notice. Sakura got closer to Naruto when she realized she could speak to him about books and she even began trying to be more into the physical aspects of training. Sasuke had grown stronger but was still distant from his team so deciding to try something new Kakashi got a C-rank mission without them knowing and surprised them telling them the next morning they would be out of Konoha on their first ever C-rank. It seemed everyone brightened at that even the silent sand user.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is short but I still don't own a computer and I'm not going to spend all day at the library. Once I get a new laptop my stories will be finished even though I lost all my chapters and ideas so I'm starting from scratch basically.

~Till Next Time~ Amon Kashino