I'm back and it's time to start training. Naruto still has a long way to go before he can hope of rescuing Itachi. The next couple of chapters are going to make Naruto tougher, and may even cost him something of great value. Let's begin.

Uchiha Hideout

Naruto woke up the next day. He got up and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Hinata and Shino would be there soon, and they would train for the whole day. *I have to get Itachi-sensei back!* The first item on Itachi's list was about chakra control. Naruto remembered that last time they practiced chakra control, Itachi made him seal and unseal scrolls until he had no chakra left.

Naruto sighed and after grabbing some fruit, he turned to leave the kitchen. Hinata and Shino dropped into the hideout as he walked out of the kitchen. "Right on time." Naruto said with a smile. Hinata smiled too, but it faded as she thought of how hard it must be for Naruto. For the first time, Naruto was going to be both the teacher and student.

"I bet we can accomplish everything on that list in one day!" Naruto said defiantly with a big smile." Hinata frowned and tilted her head sideways. Shino said, "Naruto, that list was supposed to last for six months, don't you think it's going to take more than one day to learn everything?" Naruto's smile faded and he looked desperate. "I have to! Itachi-sensei needs me."

Shino smiled and shook his head. He had changed his style of clothing gradually as the three of them got more comfortable working together. He no longer hid his face, but he still wore dark sunglasses and a light trenchcoat that was now a light shade of grey. "Think about it Naruto. If we don't take our time with this, we will rush to our deaths. We want to be very well prepared." Naruto nodded in agreement. "But who knows how much time we have?"

Shino already had an answer for that. "The ANBU Black Ops is a very systematic orginazation. They have several forms of interrogation and they always want to know eveything about their captive before they…dispose of him." Hinata hurriedly joined in. "And we don't even know what they plan on doing with him. My father always said that when the ANBU decide to go after a target, they always have more than one reason."

Suddenly, something clicked inside Shino. "Naruto, I think I know the other reason they took Itachi." Both Naruto and Hinata looked at Shino. "The ANBU always have another reason right? All we know about Itachi is that he eliminated the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke being the exception. Sasuke hasn't done anything to be put on their radar that I know of. That only leaves one other person." Shino looked at Naruto and frowned. "They want you, Naruto."

Somewhere in the Hidden Leaf Village

When Itachi woke, he found himself shackled to a cold wall. He sighed and looked around. He was in a holding cell, obviously in the heart of the underground headquarters of the ANBU Black Ops. He had brought many people down here to wait for their interrogation. He tested his shackles. They weren't that strong, but he already knew that he couldn't break them. The cell he was in was special. It drained the chakra of anyone inside.

Itachi sat against the wall and breathed deeply. He hadn't had much time to just relax since the beginning of the Chuunin exams. Even though this was his least favorite place to be, he was relieved. He knew exactly how the ANBU worked. He knew their procedures, rules, interrogation methods, even their schedules for bathroom breaks. But none of that mattered. Everything changes when they have a high value ninja in their "finest" cell.

Itachi checked every inch of the cell. There was nothing. No small cracks, no windows, even the door was solid steel. The only way out was for someone else to open the door. "This isn't good." Itachi said softly. "Naruto will come for me. He doesn't know where I am, but he will find me. And they will kill him."

It was one of the few secrets Itachi had never told Naruto. The ANBU had wanted Naruto from the beginning. They wanted to control the nine-tails, make Naruto their weapon. Now that they have captured Itachi, Naruto will refuse them. They must kill him and seal the nine-tails in a different host. Itachi shook his head. *I just hope Naruto doesn't rush into this.*

Uchiha Hideout

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Why do they want me? I'm nowhere near as powerful as Itachi-sensei!" Shino shrugged. "I don't know, but it's the only reason that makes sense. They took Itachi because they knew that you would come for him." Naruto clenched his fists. "It's not fair."Hinata looked worried and walked over to Naruto. She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him. Naruto's tension was gone instantly. He hugged her back. "Thank you."

When she released him, Naruto walked into the weapon room and brought out two bags of scrolls. "What are those for?" Hinata asked. "Well, last time Itachi-sensei wanted me to increase my chakra control, he had me seal and unseal these scrolls for an entire day. He wanted me to try to use less and less chakra on each scroll." Naruto laid the scrolls on the ground in three rows. When he looked up, he had a smile on his face.

"Shino, Hinata, will you train with me? I know I can't do this alone and you two are the only ones I trust." Hinata smiled. "Of course we will Naruto. We are a team." Shino agreed and each of them walked up to a row of scrolls. "Ok, I want each of you to close one scroll." Shino and Hinata both nodded and leaned down with a hand extended toward a scroll. Hinata put her whole hand on the scroll and in a second, it snapped shut. Shino did the same but his seemed to shut slightly faster.

"Alright, when I did this training, I kept going until I could seal and unseal using only one finger." Naruto reached down and tapped a scroll and it instantly snapped shut. Shino was amazed at how little effort it took Naruto. "But we don't have a lot of time, so just practice using less chakra." Both of them nodded and went to work on the scrolls. Naruto placed a single seal on himself to supress some of his chakra, and then started on the scrolls.

After nearly two hours of the scrolls, Hinata and Shino both looked exhausted. Naruto however was moving twice as fast. He looked up as they stopped and smirked. "Ok, now we can begin the training." Hinata's jaw dropped. "We are just now beginning?" Naruto nodded. "Yes, Itachi-sensei taught me that the most effective way to train chakra control is to practice while having hardly any chakra left."

Hinata sighed and Shino breathed heavily while Naruto packed up the scrolls. He came back with something in his hand. "You both used a little more chakra than I thought you would though." He handed each of them an oval fruit. "This is a chakra fruit. It doesn't grow here so I was surprised that I found some in the hideout. It will give you a surge of chakra for about an hour, and now that you can control your chakra better, we should be done with by the time its effects wear off."

Shino looked slightly annoyed because Naruto was starting to act like a real sensei, but he shrugged his shoulders and both of them ate the fruit. "Naruto," Hinata said, "what are we doing next?" Naruto looked around the room and walked to a wall that had several dummies on it. "I want you two to try using a seal along with your skills. Hinata, try hitting this dummy." Hinata obeyed and walked forward. She breathed deeply and stuck the dummy. It wobbled for a second and then stood straight.

"I want you to try to place a seal and strike the dummy at the same time." Hinata looked confused. "You mean like Neji does with his 8 trigrams?" Naruto smiled. "Close, but Neji doesn't place seals. He uses his chakra to form tiny needles at his fingertips. Itachi-sensei said that when Neji strikes, the chakra needle releases a tiny amount of chakra that serves as a block to the targets chakra. I want you to hit with your whole palm and leave a harmless seal. We can worry about what the seal does later." Naruto smiled at her and she became more confident of his words.

Naruto then carried a dummy to the middle of the room, where Shino was waiting. But before he could say anything, Shino talked. "Naruto, why are you teaching us to use seals?" Naruto frowned. "Truthfully, it's the only thing that I know well enough to teach. But I have learned that seals are also great distractions. If you place a seal on someone, they will most likely have to remove it before they can fight effectively. It gives you a chance to attack while they can't defend."

Naruto placed the dummy and looked at Shino. "I want you to do something a little more difficult Shino. I want you to try and place a seal on this dummy using only your insects." Shino looked at Naruto like he was crazy. "How am I supposed to get my insects to place a seal!?" Naruto looked confused. "Don't your insects use chakra to track whatever you hunt?"

Shino sighed. "No, Naruto. When the swarm chases something, it sends one insect back to me to let me know what is going on." Naruto thought for a minute. "Well, that makes this a little more complicated. Could your insects use the chakra of the victim to place a seal?" Shino thought for a moment. "I suppose so, but it would require a lot of training and I'm not sure how well the insects use chakra."

Naruto nodded and stood by the dummy. "Alright Shino, I trust you have complete control over your insects. I want you to use them on me." Shino looked shocked. Even Hinata stopped to look at Naruto. "What are you talking about Naruto?" Naruto smiled. "I'm not the only one training today. We must get stronger as a team. Individually we may be strong, but we are only chuunin. Together, we can take any jounin if we try hard enough."

Naruto hesitated. "But we are going to be fighting the elite of the Hidden Leaf Village. The ANBU Black Ops. If we must fight them, then we must get stronger." For the first time, Shino saw Naruto in a different light. In mere hours, Naruto had already devised a way to strengthen not only himself, but everyone around him. That was the nature of a true leader. "Alright, Naruto." Shino said. "What do I do?"

Naruto smirked. "Use your insects to take a little chakra from me, and then try to get them to leave a seal where they bite." Shino nodded and Naruto looked at Hinata, who was still staring. When he smiled, Hinata felt much calmer. *He knows what he is doing.* The thought came suddenly and she caught herself smiling. Then, she got back to the dummy.

Somewhere in the Hidden Leaf Village

"Will it work?" Danzo hated being questioned. The only thing he hated more was that even after he arranged the death of the Fourth Hokage, nothing had gone as he had planned. Naruto, who was supposed to be his prize pet, was somewhere training. Most likely in an attempt to rescue his precious sensei Itachi Uchiha. "Of course it will work." Danzo spat, his voice filled with rage but his face remained calm. "We have the most important thing in Naruto's life. He will come."

Danzo walked towards a black throne sitting in the middle of the dark hall. He was tired of always having to work in the shadows. But he knew that once Naruto was destroyed, the Third Hokage would lose hope and die. Then he would become the Fifth Hokage and rule with an iron fist. "How long must I wait unti Naruto shows?" The messenger ninja wore a mask, but he was obviously nervous and afraid of Danzo.

"Lord Danzo, we have just sent a messager bird to find Naruto and deliver a note. He has seven days to come find Itachi." Danzo's voice was cold. "Why did you give him seven days?" The ninja hesitated, a bad move. Danzo was out of his chair and had a sword on the neck of the messenger. "Uh, w-we thought that it would be a sufficient amount of time. Long enough that he believes he will be ready, but so short that he will have to rush any training."

Danzo kept the cold blade on the man's neck. My rise to power must be assured. I cannot have some jinchuuriki brat stand in my way. When he comes, we will make him do something every ninja dreads. Then, he will be broken and defeated. If he submits, I will use him to secure my rightful place as Hokage. If he refuses, he will die and be replaced by a ninja of my choosing, who will be the new jinchuuriki. Either way, I win. Danzo raised the blade and sheathed it. The ninja sighed. "Yes, my Lord."

Uchiha Hideout

The three of them were breathing heavily. Naruto hadn't done much, but Shino's insects had eaten away at a lot of his chakra, and the seal that had been placed on him made him feel very tired. Shino could barely move and Hinata was kneeling on the ground, her knees closed in front and her feet spread out behind her. "Alright, that should be enough for today." Naruto said as he sat down. He removed the seal he had placed on himself earlier and took a deep breath.

Shino retracted his insects and the three of them sat together in the center of the room. Naruto sighed. "We've been training for the whole day and it still feels like I havn't accomplished anything." Hinata shook her head. "That's not true Naruto. You learned that you can place multiple seals on your body to do different things and you can even unseal scrolls from a distance! Shino has learned to track whatever his insects attack by using a seal that instantly relays the location of the target. Even I improved a little. You taught me how to weaken and slow whatever I touch without having to interrupt the flow of combat. You are awesome Naruto!"

Naruto smiled and looked at Hinata. She looked beautiful. He looked at both of his teammates. All three of them were only 13 years old. They had just become chuunin less than a week ago and already they were planning an attack on the most powerful ninja orginazation in the Hidden Leaf. Either they were stupid, or couragous, or both. Probably both.

They heard a noise and instantly all three of them were on their feet, ready to fight. They heard the boulder that hid the door to the hideout being moved. Hinata gulped. A figure dropped down into the hideout. "What did you do Naruto?" The three of them instantly recognized the voice. The ninja stepped out of the shadows. She wore a red and brown outfit with stripes running at a slight angle that complimented her red eyes.

"Kurenai-sensei!" The three of them said it simultaneously. Kurenai stepped forward and smiled, but it faded quickly. "I have a message for you Naruto. It comes straight from the top of the ANBU." Naruto looked fierce. He was wearing the black shinobi outfit that she had given him before he was supposed to leave. She tossed the scroll to Naruto. He opened it and read it aloud.

Naruto Uzumaki,

It has come to the attention of the ANBU Black Ops that that you have been cooperating in the effort to hide Itachi Uchiha from the Hidden Leaf. Your rogue activity will no longer be tolerated. By the grace of the Lord of Shadow, you have been given seven days to turn yourself in. If you are nowhere to be found within seven days, Itachi Uchiha will be executed.

The four of them stood in silence. Naruto read it over and over to himself, focusing on the last words, "Itachi Uchiha will be executed." He blinked away tears and crushed the paper in his hand. He looked at Kurenai. "Sensei, please tell me that you are not the one who was sent to get me." Shino and Hinata both looked at there Sensei. She shook her head. "No, I am not the one Naruto. The Lord of Shadow is doing something unheard of. Instead of sending someone after you, he has given you time to turn yourself in." Kurenai hesitated. "But, if you don't turn yourself in, there is no doubt in my mind that he will choose me to be the one that hunts you."

The three chuunin froze and there was a cold breeze in the air. Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were filled with a fire and determination that caught Kurenai off-guard. "Kurenai-sensei, I have already chosen a path for myself. My teammates have chosen to help me." He looked at Shino first, then Hinata, then back at Kurenai. " But, if they help me, will they be hunted too?"

Kurenai frowned and nodded. "Yes Naruto, the three of you will be seen as rogue ninja." There was sadness in her voice and Naruto knew that if she had a choice, she would take their side. But an oath to the ANBU was serious. Naruto would never ask Kurenai to fight for him. He turned to Hinata. "Hinata, I-" "Don't." Hinata said sternly. "Please don't Naruto. Don't ask me to leave you, because I won't."

Naruto could see that there was no convincing her. Before he could turn, a hand clasped his shoulder. "I'm not leaving either." Naruto smirked as he realized just how much his comrades trusted him. "Then, we will fight." Naruto said with a smile. Kurenai frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that Naruto. I wish there was another way." She looked at the three of them. There was pride and sorrow in her eyes. "Out of all of the missions I have even been on, this was the best team I've ever been a part of. Good luck you three." Kurenai turned and jumped out of the hideout. And just like that, they were Team 8 no longer.

Thanks for reading guys and gals! Things really pick up in the next 6 days of training. I leave for Florida in about a week and I will have no internet, but I will get two chapters done while I'm down there. PLEASE REVIEW and go to the poll on my profile page. Merry Christmas!