AN- I don't own Naruto.

CHAPTER 2- AOI'S TEST

Aoi walked over to stand in front of the teacher's desk, then sat down on it.

'You- Ino, is it? Why don't you budge up to make room for Naruto? You're supposed to be teammates after all.'

Ino moved to sit in the middle seat, next to Sakura, and Naruto took her vacated place. Sakura raised her hand.

'Sensei, how do you know Naruto?'

Aoi fixed her with an appraising look.

'You're a sharp one. I know who both of you were because I read your files- read everyone's files in fact- before I picked my team. But Naruto I know because I've been training him for the last four years. I trust he's explained why?'

Ino nodded her head. 'Yes, he has.'

'Excellent. So, let's get on with the introductions, shall we? I'm Rokushou Aoi. I like many things, and dislike many. My dreams- I don't really want to share those right now. You next, Ino.'

'I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like flower arranging and dislike people who think a girl can't be a good shinobi. My dream is to master all of the Yamanaka clan techniques and to prove that spying isn't all a Yamanaka is good for.'

Aoi pointed at Sakura. 'Your turn.'

'I'm Haruno Sakura. I like Sasuke-kun, and my dream- well…'

She trailed off, blushing furiously.

'Is there anything you dislike?'

The reply was immediate and forceful. 'Naruto.'

One green eyebrow quirked upwards. 'Oh? I'd have thought you'd be happy to have the strongest shinobi in the year on your team.'

Sakura couldn't help herself- she scoffed. 'Him? I'm sorry, you must have gotten his file mixed up with Sasuke-kun's.'

'The Uchiha? He's got potential certainly- but he's hardly even begun to realize it, not having activated his Sharingan yet. Besides, he suffers from a common side-effect of the Sharingan- laziness.'

'Laziness?'

'Laziness. He doesn't train & learn techniques now because he thinks he can just wait for his Sharingan to activate and then catch up with everyone else by copying ever technique he sees. Sorry to say, but overall he fits the profile of a shinobi who's likely to become a missing-nin.'

'Don't say that! You don't know-'

'Haven't you been listening? I've read the boy's file. Some people see a budding young genius of Konoha- I see a potential security risk. But, enough of that. You still haven't introduced yourself, Naruto.'

Naruto obliged. 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and training to learn new techniques. I dislike all the people who dislike me for stupid reasons. My dream is to become Hokage.'

'Interesting combination really, the three of you. Well, I need to see if you have what it takes to be active genin or not. Meet me at Training Ground Nineteen.'

He then vanished in a puff of white smoke. Naruto, realizing what he'd done, threw back his head and laughed. Sakura scowled.

'What's so funny, baka?'

Naruto, still grinning, stood up and made for the door.

'You have to admire Aoi-sensei's style- it was a shadow clone. The real Aoi's probably already there waiting for us.'

'Don't be stupid! A clone could never do all the things Aoi just did!'

'I said a shadow clone, not a clone. There's a difference- shadow clones are actually solid, and intelligent if you perform the technique right. But, we've got somewhere to be so if you'll excuse me?'

He promptly vanished, leaving behind a swirl of wind-blown leaves.

Naruto and Aoi were already at the training ground waiting when Ino & Sakura got there, both puffing and blowing. Aoi cast a jaundiced eye over them.

'I'll give you a couple of minutes to get your breath back. Then we'll start.'

'Start what, Aoi-sensei?'

'A test to see whether you're good enough to be genin or not.'

'But we already passed the genin exam!'

'You did. But, it's customary for individual jounin-sensei to administer their own tests to genin teams to make sure they're up to standard. If you fail, you go back to the Academy for another year.'

Both girls looked like they were about to protest, so Naruto quickly asked the obvious question before they could.

'What do we have to do?'

'You see that forest?'

It was hard not to- the forest in question took up at least half the training ground, if not more.

'Somewhere in that forest is a clearing with a house in the middle of it. You need to enter that house, kill your target- which will be a transformed clone of mine- and then retrieve the marked package, and bring it back to this location. The person who brings the package back automatically passes- the other two may or may not pass based on their performance. That is all.'

With that he disappeared, a swirl of leaves betraying his use of the Body Flicker Technique.

Naruto had removed his hitai-ite in order to tide a black cloth over his head, hiding his blonde hair, and was in the process of retying his headband.

'Alright. This is what we do.'

He didn't get further than that before Sakura exploded. 'Who made you the leader, baka?'

'No-one did. But, we need to work together to pull this off. If I know Aoi-sensei, it'll have been set up so one person working alone won't be able to do it.'

'Speak for yourself. I don't need your help.'

With that, Sakura turned and took off into the forest. Ino looked at Naruto.

'What should we do?'

The latter slipped his fingers into the neck of his tunic and pulled upwards, the cloth extending out to form a facemask that came to just below his eyes and ears.

'We go after here. I can outpace her easily- I'm not having her charging in headlong and messing us all up just because she doesn't particularly like me. Come on.'

He streaked off in the direction Sakura had gone. After a moment's hesitation, Ino followed him.

Naruto almost immediately took to the trees, using chakra to leap from branch to branch. He had overhauled the slower Sakura in next to no time at all, and dropped to the ground right in her path, making her pull up short.

'You're asking for it, baka! Don't say I didn't warn you!'

Naruto twisted to the side, avoiding the punch she threw at him, and dropped straight into a spinning footsweep that left her sprawled on the ground. She tried to get up, but as her eyes met his her body seemed to freeze up, and she heard Naruto mutter the words

'Temporary Paralysis Technique.'

As Ino caught up, Naruto explained to Sakura what he'd done.

'This technique binds you in place as long as I have chakra to maintain it with- and with my reserves, I can hold you here for hours. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you go until you see some sense. Running in headlong to try and take on everything a jounin can throw at you is a sure-fire way to fail- and it not only screws you up, it also screws us, your teammates, up too.'

Sakura found the force binding her jaw relaxing so that she could speak.

'Fine. What do you want?'

'I want you to hear me out. We're going to plan this properly and achieve the objectives Aoi-sensei set us. First step- reconnaissance.'

Naruto removed one of his scrolls from its holder and unrolled it on the ground. Biting his thumb and drawing a line across his palm with the blood, he charged his hand with chakra and slammed it into the scroll. A brown hawk with the kanji for 'speed' marked on the message scroll harness on it's back appeared in a puff of smoke. Almost immediately it fluttered up to setting on Naruto's shoulder.

'What do you need me to do?'

While Ino & Sakura gaped at the talking bird, Naruto was already giving it instructions.

'Fly up high and look around. Somewhere in those woods is a clearing with a house in the middle of it- Aoi-sensei will be there. I need to know what direction it's in and how far away it is- and what he's doing in order to defend the clearing.

The hawk nodded once and launched itself into the air, swiftly receding to become a small speck before flying away over the trees.

'Er- Naruto? What was that? And, do you think you could let Sakura get up now?'

'Oh, yeah- sorry, Sakura.'

Sakura found herself able to move again, and she stood up, dusting herself off from the fall she had taken.

'That was a personal summon stored in one of my scrolls. He's meant to be a messenger, but his eyes are sharp enough for to make him good for recon as well.'

'But- he talked.'

Naruto smiled under his mask. 'Summons do that- they're not ordinary animals. Most of them are trained in ninjutsu to some degree as well, although this particular one isn't.'

'What do we do now?'

'We wait for him to come back and give his report. I'm not going in blind if I can help it.'

The silence that followed his words was an uneasy one. It was plain to both girls that Naruto was dead serious as a shinobi, and good at it to boot. He'd pulled off that paralysis technique without a single hand seal, or even an outward sign that he was doing it at all. What kind of chakra control did that take? Also, he decided to scout out the objective and actually plan out what they were going to do, like a proper shinobi- a chuunin or a jounin- would. One thing was clear- he was miles ahead of both of them.

It seemed an age before the hawk returned. All three genin scanned the forest around them continually- Naruto had warned them that Aoi might attempt a pre-emptive attack. At last, a black dot hove into view in the sky overhead, then, descending, resolved itself into their spy, which immediately flew into to land on Naruto's shoulder and, without delaying, made it's report.

'At your best speed, it will take you five to ten minutes to get to the clearing, Naruto. In the middle of the clearing is a two-story house with a walled compound surrounding it. I did not see Aoi-san, but Idate-niisan, Iruka-niisan and Hana-neechan were patrolling the clearing outside the walls.'

Naruto muttered what sounded like a curse under his breath.

'The question is- are they just clones of Aoi, in which case he's trying to make us waste time by being too careful- or is it really them? If it is, we've got our work cut out for us.

The hawk, it's job done, dispersed in a cloud of smoke. Ino stood up.

'Who are they, Naruto?'

'Aoi-sensei's last genin team. They're all chuunin now.'

'A jounin and three chuunin- how do we possibly stand a chance of passing this test?'

Naruto scowled at Sakura.

'We don't need to beat them, we just need to get past them and inside the compound.'

He licked his index finger and held it up in the air, testing the wind.

'Only a light breeze, but that's enough. Instead of going straight there, we're going to take a diversion so that we approach the clearing from downwind.'

Sakura regained her characteristic scowl- well, characteristic when she was around Naruto, anyway.

'I swear, if you're just doing this to make us sweat needlessly…'

'I'm not. Hana-neechan's an Inuzuka.'

He said this as if it explained everything.

'That blockhead Kiba's an Inuzuka as well. So what?'

'He's stubborn and loud, but he's a good, loyal friend. I'll thank you not to insult him. Anyway, among the clan abilities of the Inuzuka is their chakra-enhanced sense of smell- it we approach them from upwind, Hana-neechan will pick us up easily- we may as well hold up a big sign saying 'here we are, come and get us.''

Ino spoke up, trying to defuse the situation and prevent a quarrel, since Sakura was looking daggers at Naruto, and Naruto himself was starting to look annoyed again.

'What can each of them do? From what I know about the Inuzuka, Hana's probably the best at taijutsu, and we'll have to watch out for her companion nin-dog…'

'Companion nin-dogs- she's got three of them. The Haimaru Sankyoudai.'

'So, that's Hana. What about the others?'

'No, that's not all. She's a medic-nin who combines Inuzuka techniques with chakra scalpels in a fight, and also has a fire affinity- although none of her fire techniques are higher than C-rank. She's a formidable fighter, make no mistake.'

'What about the others- what were there names? Idate? Iruka?'

'Idate-niisan is a decent taijutsu fighter- he uses weights to enhance his strength and gets a whole lot quicker when he releases them. Primarily, though, he's a ninjutsu specialist who doesn't favor any one element- although he only knows a single C-rank technique from each. Iruka-niisan is a strategist, and he also specializes in traps- you can bet he'll have laced the edge of the clearing with explosive tags, wires, and a whole lot of other general nastiness. And then, of course, there's Aoi himself.'

Ino could've kicked herself- she'd actually forgotten for a second that their jounin-sensei would be opposing them as well.

'He's mastered three elements- water, wind and lightning. Since he's a jounin, he's also capable in taijutsu and genjutsu. Finally, he's competent in fuuinjutsu and likes to use the Puppetry Technique.'

Into the silence which fell as the girls digested this Naruto added-

'He could take on all three of us together and win. Easily.'

'So, what's your plan?'

Naruto gave Ino a smile. It was encouraging, seeing that she wasn't disheartened by the strength of the opposing force, and instead focusing on what they were going to do to achieve their objectives.

'Approach the clearing from downwind and figure out the patrol patterns of the three on the outside. We'll have to take care of Iruka-nii-san's traps as well. Anything beyond that- well, I can't really make any plans until I've actually had a look at the target myself.'

He stood up, and started to walk off, going to the left of the way the hawk had indicated.

'Well, come on. Let's go.'

Naruto was crouched in the shadow of a tree about ten paces back from the edge of the clearing, carefully staying beyond the exploding seal barriers Iruka had set up- he could feel the chakra used to create the seal formations in front of him. A handily placed bush hid him from the sight of anybody scanning the forest from the clearing or house.

The array of traps in front of him- primarily Exploding Seal Barrier Formations, which were triggered when someone walked through them and so could be set and then forgotten, support by less advanced Exploding Seal Method Formations- arrays of tags primed for detonation using a technique so that they would explode on Iruka's command. With the distraction of these seal arrays, though, it would be easy to miss the network of wires threading through the grass and undergrowth, too low to the ground to trip anyone- these, Naruto knew, would be used for Iruka's dangerous Dragon Web or Celestial Web techniques.

The layer of traps behind him- beyond which Sakura and Ino waited- was more simple, consisting of tripwire-triggered traps- explosive tags and deadfalls, mostly. Naruto was tempted to disable them, but had decided not to take the risk- Iruka might well check his traps and find several out of commission. No, he'd have to guide the girls through the snares instead. He'd been crouched there for ten minutes, watching the three patrolling chuunin. They all walked the same circular path, spaced out equally, moving at the same pace and reversing direction every five circuits.

Naruto carefully stepped through the tripwires of the first layer and black to his teammates, wasting no time in outlining what he had observed to them.

'I don't think there's any way around the arrays. It takes more knowledge of seals to disarm the Exploding Seal Barriers than I've got. Dealing with the tags is doable, it'd just take time to disarm each tag individually. Besides, if I know Iruka-niisan, he'll be checking his traps regularly- no, disarming them isn't an option.'

'What are we supposed to do, then? Blunder through and just get blown up?'

Naruto turned a calm face upon Sakura, seemingly unaffected by the scathing tone in her voice.

'Of course not. That's what shadow clones are for.'

'Announcing to all of them where we're coming in?'

'No, I'm going to use a clone to trip a seal array here, then as soon as they've responded to that, have a second clone do the same on the opposite side of the clearing. Once they've dashed off to see whether it was actually us or not, we slip through the original gap. But first, we all need to get to the space between the layers. Watch carefully where I put my feet- that's the safe route.'

Ino and Sakura managed to get through the series of snares without touching any of the tripwires. Once they were through, Naruto created three shadow clones. One hid with him behind the same bush, the other two began the trek round to the other side of the clearing. Eventually, one of the two dispersed itself and everything it'd seen and done since it's creation flooded into his mind.

'They're in position.'

Sakura, predictably, scowled.

'And you're psychic, are you?'

'No- when the clones disperse, I get their memories of everything they did since they were created.'

The clone next to Naruto stepped out from behind the tree and walked forward into the middle of a seal array.

'Take cover!'

The four tags that made up the array detonated, dispersing the clone and bringing the nearest two patrollers, Idate & Iruka, running.

'No sight of them- must've been a shadow clone.'

'Maybe, but I'm taking no chances. I'll check the area, you start resetting the seal array.'

At that moment, a second explosion echoed across the clearing from the other side as the second decoy walked into one of Iruka's tag arrays. The trapmaster himself was pulling explosive tags from his equipment pouch.

'Go, Idate! I'll sort this out and follow you- there's no guarantee that, between the three of them, they won't be able to bring Hana down!'

Idate sprinted off around the compound, leaving Iruka carefully attaching his four tags to trees. As he was fixing the last one, Naruto struck.

'Earth Release: Snare!'

The ground around the surprised chuunin's feet softened, and even as he sank into it up to his ankles it was already rising up to ensnare his shins. Naruto appeared suddenly in front of him, and Iruka twisted away, avoiding the eye contact that would let Naruto paralyze him- and ended up looking straight into a pair of sapphire-blue eyes.

'Temporary Paralysis Technique.'

As Iruka's body seized up, he realized that Naruto has played on his knowledge that he liked the Paralysis technique- and neatly set him up to be snared by that very same technique.

'Mind-Body Switch Technique!'

Sakura caught Ino as she went limp, her spirit having been sent forth to take over the body of the helpless chuunin in front of them. Naruto lifted the paralysis and canceled the earth snare, and Iruka- with Ino controlling his body- shook his head to clear it.

'Agh, this always feels weird. Nice catch, Naruto.'

'You're welcome. Now come on- let's get him restrained. Sakura, stay here and hide- you won't be able to get back through the traps carrying Ino.'

Well back from the treeline, with Iruka stood against a very solid tree, Naruto bound him with wire, gagged him securely, and then snapped a pair of chakra cuffs on his wrists to make sure he couldn't use even the most basic techniques.

'Alright Ino, you need to get out now- I can't activate these until you're gone.'

As Ino's spirit left Iruka's body in a rush of blue, Naruto focused chakra into the seal arrays on the cuffs, waiting for the momentary draining feeling that'd tell him they'd activated. It came just as Iruka opened his eyes.

'Sorry about this, Iruka-niisan, but we had to- I'm sure you understand.'

The chuunin nodded, trying to smile around his gag, and Naruto disappeared off into the forest to rejoin his team.

Ino was shaking her head again to clear it, but was climbing to her feet as Naruto approached.

'That's one down- what next?'

'The patrol's will have just reversed, so we go into the clearing and around the compound counter-clockwise. We go for Idate-niisan first, so that way Hana has to walk two-thirds of the way around before she stumbles on us. We've got to have Idate down and out of it by then. Let's move.'

The three moved through the gap in the array of tag traps and then ran right, towards the corner of the compound wall, turned the corner, ran straight along the wall to the next corner- then piled to a halt as Naruto raised a hand to stop them and peered around the corner. He raised his thumb- all clear.

At the next corner, they caught up with Idate- Naruto jumped out from around the corner, formed hand seals, and with a shout of 'Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Flower Technique!' blew five small fireballs from his mouth at the chuunin. Idate shed his leg and arm weights, dodging the flaming projectiles, then streaked towards the genin, moving much faster now that he was unimpeded. Naruto formed a familiar cross seal with his hands.

'Shadow Clone Technique!'

Twenty Narutos leapt towards Idate, and the fight was on.

Despite Idate's greater speed, strength & skill, Naruto was managing to keep up with him- with the help of a mixed formation of shadow & mist clones- the mist clone technique proved a useful supplement to the shadow clone- as well as fighting with a length of chakra-infused wire in one hand. Sakura and Ino, neither of them tremendously good at taijutsu, were standing back and sending clone after clone into the mix. Idate was now ignoring the insubstantial replications- and that was his downfall.

Ino, instead of sending a newly conjured replication in to attack, had in stay in place while she herself joined the fight. The result was Idate taking a fist to the side of the jaw that snapped his head back- Naruto saw his chance, and before the black-haired teen could dodge he was neatly trussed up in Naruto's wire. Ino invaded his body with the Mind-Body Switch before he could begin to focus the chakra needed for the Rope Escape Technique. Sakura, seeing Ino's hand seal, was at the girl's side to catch her vacant body as it fell.

They managed to get Idate out of the clearing and securely restrained before Hana came across them. Naruto made a pair of shadow clones that tripped the tag traps to give them a path out, and by the time Hana arrived at the scene Idate was gagged, chakra-cuffed, and bound to a tree- and, the three genin were bearing down on her. The Inuzuka smiled a feral smile as her nin-dog companions scattered clear.

'A fight it is then! Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Technique!'

Hana's muscles bulged, her fingernails lengthening and transforming into sharp claws, her clan's secret technique turning the harmless-looking medic-nin into a veritable fighting machine. Naruto make a horde of shadow clones, this time deliberately creating a large cloud of white smoke as he did so- he'd mastered the technique so that it'd usually be less noticeable. When the smoke cleared, third of his clones had taken the form of Sakura, and another third looked like Ino. A full two-thirds of them were mist clones- Naruto had learned to perform that particular technique (all of his D-rank techniques, in fact) seallessly.

A few minutes later Inuzuka Hana flipped back to her feet, her feral smile having gotten even broader and more feral. That Ino kid had neatly suckered her- the two girls had been staying on the edge of the fight sending in clones individually. She'd torn through them just as she did with Naruto's clones- until the blond-haired girl she'd lunged towards formed hand seals and performed a Body Switch- taking a leaf out of Naruto's book, clearly. Ignoring the clone she'd left behind was her mistake. In actual fact one of Naruto's shadow clones- transformed into Ino- had switched itself with the girl to neatly blindside Hana, and it had worked. The Inuzuka girl started focusing chakra as her Haimaru Sankyoudai rushed to her side.

'Don't count me out yet, brats- it's only just starting. Beast Clone Technique!'

And suddenly, where before there had been stood one Hana and three grey dogs, there were now just four identical Hanas.

'Okay, she just kicked it up a notch. At least now if she uses her chakra scalpels we'll know which one is her. Sakura, Ino, I want you both to back way off and just support with whatever you've got.'

'Who do you…'

Ino clamped a hand over Sakura's mouth.

'We've got it, Naruto.'

She then dragged Sakura away to what she reckoned was a safe distance, leaving Naruto and Hana facing each other. Hana tossed a pair of smoke bombs at Naruto's feet, and then leapt into the air followed by her clones. With a cry of 'Fang over Fang!' four clawed whirlwinds were shooting toward the cloud of smoke surrounding Naruto.

'Wind Release: Gale Wind Palm!'

A powerful gust of wind neatly blew the smoke cloud away. As the first whirlwind of claws hit Naruto it simply passed straight through him- a mist clone.

'Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique.'

The Hidden Mist technique lived up to it's name- neither Sakura nor Ino could see Naruto, Hana, or her clones anymore due to the thick mist that the technique conjured up.

'That's earth, wind, water and fire techniques he's showed so far. I can see what Aoi-sensei meant- I don't think there's anyone else in our class who can use that many elements.'

'Bah, it's not that impressive, Ino-pig. Sasuke-kun can do much better.'

'Isn't it? Sasuke is, after all, the only other one in the class who can use elements, and he's just got his fire techniques. Naruto can use fire and three more.'

'Sasuke-kun's Great Fireball is better than anything Naruto can do, Ino-pig! The only reason the baka could learn those techniques is that they're weak!'

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!'

As if to spite Sakura, Naruto's voice echoed through the mist and a huge fireball immediately blossomed. Hana immediately answered.

'Fire Release: Blazing Wheel Technique!'

A shockwave of flame shot out of the mist, sending the two kunoichi jumping backwards. A second later, Naruto landed on the ground in front of them having jumped to avoid it. He was already flashing through a series of hand seals.

'Lightning Release: Thunderlance!'

Ino watched wide-eyed as a line of lightning shot from Naruto's outstretched hand into the mist, producing a yelp of pained surprise as the mist conducting the electrical current, catching all of the Hanas in the blast.'

'Fire Release: Mist Waltz Technique!'

It was Naruto's turn to go wide-eyed and jump backwards, grabbing the two kunoichi and taking them with him and more mist appeared. Two Hanas jumped backwards out of it, both carrying limp grey forms.

'Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Flower Technique!'

One Hana blew a stream of small fireballs at the mist cloud she'd created, which exploded with a dull roar. The three genin all landed sprawling- Naruto was the first to find his feet, only to see one Hana revert back to it's grey husky form and start gently licking it's fallen siblings. The real Hana stood between them and him, chakra scalpels glowing on her palms. Naruto formed six quick hand seals before she could charge him, then took a second to focus chakra.

'Fire Release: Oil Clone Technique!'

A thick ring of Naruto clones formed around Hana. Unbeknownst to her, it wasn't the Oil Clone Technique at all- that was an A-rank technique that Naruto knew of but couldn't perform. Instead, he'd performed a D-rank genjutsu, the Mist Servant Technique. This technique created illusory, intangible clones that dispersed into black goop when struck, only to swiftly reform.

Hana blinked- she had no idea he could use that advanced clone technique. It formed clones out of black oil that would scatter when struck firmly, only to reform in a couple of seconds in the same way that the illusory clones of the mist servant technique. The worst of it, for Hana at least, was that the oil that made up the clones would burn explosively when exposed to flame. A mud-based earth technique was the only way of stopping them, and Hana didn't have any of those among her arsenal. She sighed as she realized Naruto had worked her into a corner she couldn't get out of.

'Alright, gaki- I give up. You've got me.'

To Naruto it wasn't hard to see that Hana was serious- a ninja was supposed to be able to judge such things, after all.

'Okay, Hana-neechan- stand completely still or the clones attack. Ino, you know what to do.'

Ino, indeed, did.

'Mind-Body Switch Technique!'

Hana, knowing (or rather believing) it was pointless to resist, stayed still and allowed Ino to take over her body. After that it was a simple matter of taking the possessed Inuzuka out into the forest and securely restraining her exactly the way they did with the other two.

The compound wall was not a finely constructed thing- it looked like a slab of solid rock that hand just been thrust up out of the earth. Naruto recognized it for what it was- created by the Earth Release: Earth Wall technique. And that meant…

'Aoi's not the only one in that house.'

Ino gave him a surprised look.

'How can you tell that?'

'That wall was created using a B-rank earth technique. Neither Aoi nor the other three have mastered the element to that degree- therefore, there's at least one other person with him. And if they can create something like this, they're either a skilled chuunin or a low-rank jounin. I don't think we can sneak in- we need a diversion in force.'

'But how? There's only three of us.'

Naruto sighed and formed the familiar cross seal, making twenty-five shadow clones appear behind him.

'I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Ino- the one-man army.'

The clones ran off around to the other side of the compound, followed by three more that Naruto created as an afterthought- two of them transformed to look like Ino and Sakura. At the same time, Naruto walked up to the wall, withdrew a rolled piece of paper from his equipment pouch and unfurled it to reveal an enormous explosive tag that he then attached to the wall using chakra.

The tag in question was a handspan wide and two long, with not one but two seal circles for chakra storage, and an array of zodiacal symbols inscribed on it all the way around the edge. This was not something you ever wanted to go off by accident. Ino stared at it, wide-eyed.

'What in the name of Kami-sama is that?'

'An Uzumaki Special- a demolition tag that I designed and created myself. Now, get all the way back to the treeline, quickly.'

Neither girl needed telling twice. Naruto placed both hands against the tag, forcing chakra into the seals written on its surface to arm it. As soon as it began to hiss and sputter, he immediately Body Flickered to the edge of the clearing and pulled Ino & Sakura flat- just as the tag exploded.

The rock wall it had been stuck to shattered like a pane of glass under the force of the blast. Shrapnel & large chunks of stone peppered the house, making Aoi, his clone that was the mark and his two companions hit the deck. At the same time, the twenty-five clones on the other side of the clearing all aimed Thunderlance techniques at the wall, the streams of lightning slicing through the stone like hot knives through butter.

Naruto didn't let up now that he had started. Pulling a scroll from one of the pouches on his left leg, he unrolled it, bit his thumb, and, running forward to the breach in the wall, drew a line of his own blood down the center of the scroll then swung it through the air horizontally, smacking his hands into it and unsealing the contents as the side of the scroll inscribed with seals was facing towards the house. A hailstorm of shuriken, kunai and senbon exploded out of the scroll. It was specially designed so that when whatever was sealed inside was released, it would be hurled out forcefully. Under the cover of this, Naruto created a small horde of shadow clones- around a hundred, at a hasty count.

'Sakura, Ino- transform to look like me, now!'

Under the cover of the smoke cloud created by the Shadow Clone technique, the girls transformed. A second later, three men wearing the uniforms of Konoha shinobi came barreling out of the house like bats out of hell- Aoi in the lead, with two others who Naruto immediately recognized.

'The short-haired one's Sarugaku Tsuzumi- he's a chuunin who was on the same genin team as Aoi-sensei. The other's Hijiri Shimon, an elite chuunin. He probably created the wall.'

Aoi started by creating nine shadow clones, and the defenders split into two- Tsuzumi and five clones staying to take care of the army that Naruto had just conjured up, while Shimon and the other five went around to the other side of the compound where Team 9 seemingly were. The question foremost on Naruto's mind was, where was the real Aoi? Motioning to the others to follow him, he moved forward with the clones as they encircled the defenders on their side. As Tsuzumi and the five Aois threw themselves into the fight with a will, Naruto, Ino & Sakura worked their way around the outside of the group and slipped into the house through a downstairs window.

Ino took the package while Naruto conjured another clone, which promptly transformed into an identical package that Naruto placed on the table. A well-aimed kunai eliminated the Aoi clone that was their target, and a second Naruto clone, conjured for the purpose, transformed itself into the guise of the middle-aged man Aoi's clone had taken. That done, Naruto grabbed both of his teammates by the upper arm.

'Brace yourselves- this is going to feel weird.'

With that, he body flickered away, taking them both with him.

It was a good this Naruto's body flicker took them a good distance outside the clearing, since it left Ino & Sakura dizzy & disoriented for a couple of minutes. Naruto could still hear the battle raging back at the compound; judging by the amount of clones that were being dispersed and the memories he was receiving from them, the small army was losing badly. With the thought of Aoi or one of the others coming after them in pursuit preying on his mind, he got the girls moving as soon as they were back on their feet and capable of walking straight. With his senses working overtime, straining to pick out the slightest sound that might warn of a coming attack, the journey back to their starting point seemed to take an age- but in the end, they got there without incident. Ino flopped down on the grass, exhausted from the pace Naruto had been setting.

'Whoa- I can't believe we just did it. Against a jounin and five chuunin…'

Naruto shrugged. 'Meh, don't let it go to your head. They were all holding back- this was a test of teamwork rather than ability.'

'And I'm pleased to say that you managed it!'

Aoi and his cohorts were emerging from the trees, his former students all looking a little the worse for wear. Tsuzumi clapped his old comrade on the shoulder.

'I have to say, Aoi-kun, the brats were good. I never would've expected them to take down your students so effectively, even if they were all holding back.'

Aoi's smile was warm and broad. 'Just when I thought I'd seen all you could do, Naruot, you surprise me again. When in the name of Kami-sama did you manage to learn the Oil Clone?'

Naruto's smile in return was positively wolfish.

'I didn't. I faked the seals for the Oil Clone, but actually pulled off a sealless Mist Servant technique in the pause where it looked like I was just focusing chakra.'

Shimon nodded appreciatively. 'You were right, Aoi- he's good. Taking a D-rank technique and making it look like you've performed an A-rank one- I'd expect that sort of thing from a wannabe chuunin, not a rookie genin.'

'Maybe. But, we're not here to assess Naruto's capabilities- I know full well what he can do. What we're interested it is how well you worked as a team. Despite the occasional hiccup, I'd have to say very well, given that you're just rookies. It's almost a given that you pass- meet me here at seven o'clock tomorrow morning for our first training session- and don't be late! Naruto, you can have the rest of the day off- no evening training.'

Aoi and the five chuunin- Tsuzumi, Shimon, Idate, Iruka & Hana- all disappeared using body flickers, and Naruto started walking toward the training ground exit while pulling his facemask down off his face.

'I'll see you tomorrow morning then.'

Waving over his shoulder to Ino, who waved back, Naruto ran off out of the training ground and towards the Inuzuka compound to see if Kiba's sensei had finished with his team yet.