Hello readers. This is RadiantAura speaking. Sorry that it's taking me awhile to update my stories. I have a school project to do but I will update whenever I can. My brother has slacked on writing the Sasuke storyline so if he does not have a new chapter up soon, I will cut off his story. Please review.

Near Tenchi Bridge

Naruto and Itachi were walking silently side by side. Neither of them had spoken much since Fujin left them. Naruto decided to break the silence by asking a question that had been on his mind since he had awoken. "Hey Itachi-sensei, what happened back in the village. I don't remember much."

Itachi blinked slowly and slowed his pace a bit. "You awakened the nine-tailed demon inside you, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened slightly as many questions popped into his head. "The nine-tails, what do you mean Itachi-sensei?" They came up to the Tenchi Bridge and stood side by side overlooking the rail.

"Naruto, when the Kazekage was about to kill me, your inner rage allowed the beast to take over your actions." Naruto raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "In what way did it take over?" Itachi brought back up the memory of the previous battle and retold the events to Naruto…

^^Naruto lunged at the Kazekage but was easily deflected as the man backhanded him. The Kazekage pulled his sword out and aimed at Itachi's head this time. "Time to die." Naruto became enraged and screamed, "NO!" Immediately, a shockwave shot from Naruto and knocked most people in the crowd over.

The Kazekage turned to look at Naruto and his eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at. Naruto's body was leaking red chakra and the chakra began to encase his skin. Naruto shot at the Kazekage and punched him in the head hard enough to send him flying. By this time, Itachi had gotten over the pain by releasing a two pronged seal and stood up.^^

Naruto tilted his head downwards and looked at the raging river beneath him. "So… did we win?" Naruto looked over when he heard a noise that he had never heard before. Itachi was laughing! Itachi was laughing for the first time. Naruto was confused. "What, what did I say?" Itachi calmed himself and chuckled as he replied, "You really are something Naruto."

Itachi continued, "We didn't really win, but that punch of yours gave us plenty of time to get away." Naruto smiled and looked back down at the water. "Itachi…" Itachi looked over at his student, "Was that man really the Kazekage?" Itachi nodded his head.

Naruto sighed. "He was really strong. I don't think I could have beaten him without the nine-tails helping me." Itachi walked over to Naruto and slapped him on the back with his palm, hard enough to take his breath away. "No Naruto, you could not have beaten him. But, that is why it is my goal to have you take the chuunin exam. If you become a chuunin, I will be able to teach you much more and I will make you stronger."

Naruto cheered up a bit and then said with a somewhat irritated tone, "Well that's ok, but why did you have to hit me?" Itachi grinned again, but only briefly. "The power of the nine-tails is not something to desire. You should learn to despise it; fear it but overpower it."

Naruto started to worry. "How am I supposed to overpower it?" Itachi looked out into the distance in the direction the river was flowing. "You must learn to store more chakra, and to use it more efficiently." Itachi turned and started walking to the other side of the bridge.

"Come on Naruto. The sooner we get to the hideout, the sooner we can begin your seal training. After all, the only reason I was able to stop you was because I used a three pronged seal on you." Itachi smirked as he said the last part. "Really Itachi?" Naruto said as he ran to be at his side. Itachi smiled and said, "Yes, really."

Uchiha Hideout

Naruto walked into the kitchen and cooked himself some ramen while Itachi went to open the weapon room. He brought out Naruto's special scroll and laid it on the ground. Naruto walked over to Itachi while eating and examined his scroll. "What are you doing with my scroll Itachi?"

Itachi looked up and said, "We are going to begin your seal training. You need to get much better at it if you want to have an advantage in the chuunin exams." Naruto gasped. "Oh yea, I completely forgot about the chuunin exams! What are we waiting for? Let's start."

"Alright Naruto, you already know how to seal things away into a scroll, but you need to be more efficient." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How can I be more efficient?" Itachi kneeled and unsealed Naruto's weapon scroll with one finger. "Whoa, how did you do that Itachi-sensei?" Itachi smirked and stood up to explain.

"When you learn to control your chakra, normal things that you do will start to take less and less of it. For example where it takes your whole hand to unseal this scroll, I only have to use one finger." Naruto shouted with amazement. "That's so cool!" Itachi smiled. "I'm glad to see that you think so. Now then, I want you to take a few shuriken scrolls and your personal weapon scroll, and seal them. Focus your chakra into your hand first. Try to use less and less chakra each time you seal and unseal the scrolls."

Naruto nodded and then walked over to the scrolls. He opened them one by one, using less chakra with each one. After his third time through the scrolls, Naruto found that he could not seal the last one. His chakra wasn't efficient enough. "Now is the time to really focus your chakra. If you can make it through the scrolls two more times after your limit, then we can move on to unsealing with a single finger," Itachi commented.

Naruto nodded to show Itachi that he understood and concentrated his chakra into his hand. Again, he failed to close the scroll. Naruto became slightly frustrated. *How am I supposed to do this? I can't go past my limit. Ok, I just gotta focus a small amount of chakra-.* Naruto closed his eyes and pooled chakra in his hand. He put his hand over the scroll and the scroll was sealed.

Naruto grinned as he looked up at Itachi. Itachi smiled back. "We just might get to the single finger sealing in one day." With that, Naruto became excited and continued to seal the scrolls. He used less and less chakra each time until he began to think that he was using no chakra at all.

After going through the scrolls two more times, Itachi stopped him. "Alright, now you have a choice. Do you want to try the single finger sealing right away, or do you want to take a break and start back up tomorrow?" Naruto thought about it, but it didn't take him long to answer. "Let's continue right now. I can do this."

Naruto stood up and stretched his arms, but as he tried to sit back down he lost consciousness. Itachi shook his head. *Chakra exhaustion. Well, I guess it's better than another ordeal with the demon chakra getting lose.* Itachi grabbed a blanket and threw it onto Naruto. He then sealed all of the weapon scrolls and put them away for their training tomorrow.

Uchiha Hideout (next day)

Naruto awoke and was unsurprised to find that he was on the floor. He had succumbed to chakra exhaustion before, but he didn't remember feeling worn out this time. He shrugged off the thought and got something to eat. When he came back to the main room, he noticed that Itachi was also awake and was bringing out the scrolls from the previous day.

"I hope you're ready for round two Naruto. The exams start in a few months." Naruto looked at Itachi with shock. "Oh, right! The Chunnin Exams, I forgot about them. But I thought I had more time than that." Itachi grinned and continued to set out the scrolls. "Well you don't, and we have quite a few things to cover training-wise so we better get started."

Naruto nodded and walked over to the scrolls. "Focus your chakra into one finger. Use the same amount of chakra you used yesterday. You are going to have to put a bit of pressure into the chakra so that it comes out of your finger fast enough to seal the scroll. Once you get the hang of it you will have no problem duplicating it."

Naruto did as he was told and after a few tries, he managed to unseal one scroll. "Ha-ha! I got one!" Itachi grinned at Naruto's excitement and sat down in his obsidian chair. *Naruto certainly has talent. I thought it would at least take him an hour to unseal his first one. Oh well, I've come to expect surprises from the fourth Hokage's son.* Itachi continued to watch as Naruto unsealed and resealed the rest of the scrolls.

Uchiha Hideout (1 hour later)

Naruto was panting hard. This time he could feel the effect of using so much chakra. He decided to take a break and Itachi took this time to discuss something with Naruto. "Naruto, you should take the rest of the day off and spend time with your team." Naruto was dumbfounded at what Itachi had said.

"What?! I thought you said that we have to work a lot so I can be better prepared for the chuunin exams?" Itachi sighed and walked over to Naruto. "I did, but it is also important to make connections with your team. They will be working with you on most of your missions and you might have to fight against them in the exams."

Naruto thought about it and decided that Itachi's reasoning was well put. "Alright, I'll spend the day training with my team." Itachi nodded and said, "Good, training with them will be beneficial to you in many ways. Besides…" Itachi turned around and started to walk away. "You might make a connection with Hinata." Naruto blushed and looked away from Itachi. He then thanked Itachi and left the hideout.

Hidden Leaf Village

Naruto walked around the village casually. He was deciding on what to do. *Should I try to find Hinata? Or should I try to find Shino? Shino is kind of creepy, but I don't want to come on to Hinata too strong…* While Naruto was thinking, a pink-haired ninja came up to him. "Hey Naruto, I haven't seen you in awhile."

Naruto looked up to see Sakura. He grinned and said, "Yeah, I've been on a mission and training a bit." Sakura looked confused. "Mission? I heard that your team has been in the village all week." Naruto became nervous as he realized that his mission with Itachi was unofficial. "Oh yea, sorry. What I meant is that I was helping one of my friends with something and it felt like a mission."

Apparently Sakura bought the lie because she didn't press him any further. "Alright Naruto, I'll see you later." Sakura turned to walk away when Naruto stopped her. "Hey Sakura," she turned around, "do you know where Hinata is?"

Sakura brought her hand up to her chin and thought for a minute. "I think I saw her at the training grounds with Kurenai." Naruto nodded. "Ok, thanks Sakura." Naruto ran off to see Hinata while Sakura watched him leave. She thought to herself, *I wonder why he is in such a hurry?* Sakura shrugged off the thought and went off to her business.

Training Grounds

Hinata and Kurenai were sparring. Naruto saw them and immediately hid among the trees. He muttered to himself, "I've never seen Hinata fight before. I wonder what she can do." Naruto watched as Hinata activated her clan's jutsu. "Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes became visible as she prepared for Kurenai's incoming barrage of kunai.

"Rotation!" Hinata spun around in place while emitting chakra from her palms. The chakra acted as a shield and deflected all of the kunai. "Well done Hinata," Kurenai said, "and you can come out now Naruto, it's not nice to spy on your teammates." Hinata blushed when she heard that Naruto was spying on her.

Naruto came out onto the field to try to defend himself. "Hold on, I wasn't spying. I just wanted to see what Hinata could do." Naruto realized that he didn't say that right and instantly Kurenai took it as a challenge. "Alright then Naruto, how about you spar with Hinata."

Hinata blushed again. Naruto knew that he had no choice and he stepped closer to Hinata. Hinata face became a deeper shade of red as Naruto had stepped a lot closer than either her or Kurenai had expected. Their faces were almost touching as Naruto said, "Are you ready?"

Before she could even open her mouth, Hinata had fainted from such close contact with Naruto. Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Does this mean that I win?" Kurenai giggled as she walked over to the unconscious Hinata. "Just give her a minute, and by the way, that was a cheap shot."

Naruto shrugged and waited for Hinata to come to. When she did, she blushed again when she saw that Naruto was sitting next to her with his eyes closed. Naruto sensed that she was awake and said, "You don't have to faint every time you know? I thought you might like it if I got that close." He opened one eye to see her and smiled.

Hinata sat up and shook her head. "I didn't say that I didn't like it, I just wasn't expecting it." Naruto smiled and stood up. "Are you ready to try again?" Hinata stood up and nodded her head. Kurenai moved to the sidelines as Naruto ran at Hinata. Hinata watched his moves and ducked under his punch. She then attempted to stab his underarm with her chakra enhanced fingertips but narrowly missed when he twisted his body out of the way.

Naruto then jumped back to put some distance between them. He formed a hand sign and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Five clones appeared next to him and started to charge at Hinata one by one. Hinata activated her Byakugan once again and hit the clones with surgical precision, making each one disappear in a puff of smoke after just one hit.

Naruto then ran at her himself. He went low and tried to punch her in the gut but Hinata swiveled her body out of the way. She once again went for his left underarm but Naruto swung his arm out of the way and moved around to her back. He wrapped his arm around her neck and put just enough force into it to keep her from moving his arm.

"Do you give up Hinata?" Hinata shook her head and bit Naruto's arm. Naruto whimpered in slight pain and then looked up to see Hinata smack both of his arms. His arms went numb, and Naruto swept Hinata off of her feet. She tried to regain her balance but fell forward towards Naruto. Since Naruto's arms were paralyzed, he was unable to catch her. She fell on top of Naruto and they were face to face once again. Both of them blushed and Hinata fainted. Naruto could not get her off and she was unable to get herself off of him.

Kurenai laughed. "You two just can't stay away from each other can you?" She walked over and picked up Hinata. Naruto became a little sad for a reason he did not yet understand. Kurenai set Hinata down and leaned her against a tree. Naruto, still unable to move his arms, just laid there in silence and waited for his arms to get feeling back.

When Hinata woke up and Naruto was able to move again, they both thanked Kurenai-sensei and walked towards the village together. "Sorry I fainted on you." Said Hinata while blushing. Naruto shook his head. "That's ok Hinata. To tell you the truth…I kind of enjoyed it." Hinata blushed even more and they continued walking side by side.

When they arrived at the village they parted ways. Hinata walked to her clan's mansion while Naruto walked around aimlessly for an hour or two. Naruto went inside a weapon shop and ordered a special scroll. It was a blood scroll, which meant that only one specific person could open it. He took the scroll and walked to the hideout. Kurenai peered around the corner and thought to herself, *What could he need a blood scroll for, and where is he going?"

That's it! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 11. I have a new poll out and I need to know how the readers think that Naruto should fight in the finals. Next chapter is the preliminary round.