An Uzumaki Tale part:1

by Black Magic99

Naruto Uzumaki, the dead-last of his class hides who he really is from all but one.His childhood friend Hinata Hyuuga. Together their power will only grow and the village will never know. They focus instead on the "Demon Brat" doing what ever they can to get at him, but how much will he stand until he breaks. This is his story. Part:1 of 3 This is my first story hope you enjoy.

6. The True Test

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto

"Talking"

"Thinking, Flashback"

"Demon Talking"

"Demon Thinking"

"Jutsu"

(Previously)

Groaning at his sudden realization, he winced at what he now had to do. He had to learn fuinjutsu, future ninjutsu, chakra control, TWO kenjutsu, TWO taijutsu forms, and more. Most people only learn one style of fighting and spend their entire life mastering it. But him, he had to learn FOUR, two form his heritage and two for the front that Konoha sees.

Groaning, to himself, he complains out loud, "Kami when did you make my life so complicated." Never had he been so grateful for picking up a book and learning something from it (Shadow Clones).

"Well at least now I have something to keep me busy of a long, long, … long … long time." Naruto thought dejectedly before he passed out from exhaustion.

---

The next week had been very good to Naruto and he could honestly say that the week was the most productive week he had ever had in his life.

During the two-day break, Naruto and Hinata had spent most of the day inside the compound. They had been training, relaxing, just spent time enjoying each other's company.

The compound had become much more of a home as well. Hinata had noticed the lack of food, so she had got a storage scroll that belonged to her clan. With that, she brought enough food to fill up the entire kitchen. Then she proceeded to cook them both a meal from the food she had brought. The compound had such a homey feeling that Naruto even said that they were like a family, with him being the husband, and Hinata the wife. The only thing they were missing was a child or two.

After he said this Hinata was strangely quiet for some time… weird.

Anyway when the two days were up, both Naruto and Hinata had made there way to the academy, excited to know what teams they would be put on, but all they got was a huge let down as the academy door had a note on it that said the building would be closed until further noticed.

Confused about why the academy was closed on such an important day in their young lives, the two genin had gone to the Hokage to see what was happening.

When they went to Hiruzen with their question, the old man had told them that the academy was under an investigation due to one of it's teachers being a traitor. This had shocked the two genin, well more Hinata than Naruto since he had a good guess as to who was the idiot that decided to betray the village.

When Hinata had asked who it was, in hope that it wasn't Iruka, the Third Hokage was hesitant in revealing the name. In the end he told them since they already had the culprit in one of the highest security interrogation cell thanks to the man's allegiance to a certain snake.

Hinata was a little surprised to hear that an anbu agent had found and caught Mizuki trying to leave the village with one of it's treasures call The Forbidden Scroll, but in a way, she was a little happy. The man had been treating her best friend so badly over the last four years, she knew that it was likely that he would be sent to jail anyway. So it was nice to know that the man got what he deserved.

Naruto, on the other hand, was a little pissed off. He had been robbed. Robbed of the credit that should have been his. He knew what happened, when that lazy anbu left, he did not leave because of the scrolls theft. He left because his sleeping place was discovered. Naruto was willing to bet that he only happened to find Mizuki and stopped him because, most likely, he was in his new sleeping place. Then he took all the credit for himself.

Naruto let it go though. It was his fault for trusting one of his haters to do something nice to him. He made a mental note to throw a brick instead of a small stone next time as payback though.

Naruto then asked when the academy was going to open. At this Hiruzen gave a small laugh, only when school was officially over did his surrogated grandson want to go to class. He replied say that he did not know but that all the graduates would be notified when it was. Getting an answer that they accepted, the two exited their leaders office sharing a laugh when they heard him cursing the papers on his desk.

It was the next day when the notification went out and if Naruto was not friends with Hinata then he might have missed it. It just so happened that the notification was in the form of a paper that was delivered to all of the graduates' home, and with Naruto planning one living at the compound until the academy opened. He had missed his. Hinata had informed him though and, for that, he was thankful. Thanks to the notice, Naruto figured that he spent his last four-day of his down time doing as much as he could. That included training studying and going to the L building, which he found was called a library.

He had sent a disguised clone instead of himself, since he wanted to practice his Konoha taijutsu and his was not allowed inside the building, and it had found some interesting information.

He had found new information about the Uzumaki clan but not as much as he had hoped. He learned that the Uzumaki was Konoha's closest allies until their destruction. He also learned that when it was attacked in the Second Great Ninja War, it took the combined armies of Iwa, Kumo, Mizu, and many smaller villages (Iwa contributing the most) a total of two months to destroy his ancestors' home.

Their losses were in the tens of thousands. Naruto felt the pride from his clan rise to new heights. From what he learned from his mother, his clans numbers where in the eight hundreds with around four hundred being non-clan members which was close to one to forty odds probably even more than that, and his clan lasted two months.

But the attack itself did not make much sense to Naruto. Based on what the book said, Uzugakure was attack because the enemy did not want to deal with them IF they joined the war. You do send so many men to fight by just going off "if's", he would have to find more information later.

The last thing he found out about his clan, which he already figured out) was that HIS CLAN SYMBOL was on the back off every standard chunnin and jounin vest. The book said that it was to honor their fallen ally, but Naruto called bullshit.

He bet that if he asked eighty percent of the population what the red swirl on their back was, they would say it was decorations. The younger generation would probably just call it a target. And with all the beatings, neglect, and hatred he, the Uzumaki Heir, received from people wearing the Uzumaki symbol, there was no way in hell that his clan was being honored.

He would have to fix that little mistake, and if he couldn't… he might just create a new crest for his clan since the current one has been stained so badly.

But the Uzumaki was not the only thing the Naruto clone researched, he had also found out who Jiraiya and Tsunade were. War heroes, sannin, some of the strongest in Konoha history, these were just some of the things that he found related to their names. He had found some interesting facts that were unique to Jiraiya though.

Like how he is the strongest of the sannin or how he was some kind of toad sage but the three that stuck up the most was: that he had the world's best spy network, he was Konoha's spymaster, AND the sensei of the fourth. It certainly explain why Minato gave him the position of godfather, and why he (Jiraiya) screwed it up. But finding out that he was a spymaster farther justified Naruto's dislike for the man.

Since he was a spymaster, he most likely had people in many of the villages to keep tabs on what is going on, that includes Konoha. So most likely he has heard of his name, appearance or some mention of the Kyuubi jinchuriki before. Also since he was a spy, he must have received information within the last decade that was too important to send by mail. So that meant that his godfather was in the same village as him, with knowledge about how he was treated and still did not do anything.

Yeah Jiraiya of the Sannin was defiantly on his not so favorite person list.

Then there was Tsunade, and even with his new knowledge his still did not know where to place her. He had found out that she was the best medic in the world and was the granddaughter of the First Hokage. He also read that she had not set foot in the village since the Second Great Ninja War after her little brother, Nawaki Senju, and her fiancé, Dan Kato, died.

When Naruto got the clones memories, he had a feeling that he recognized those names but he just could not remember. He also wondered that if Tsunade never was in the village, how did his mother know her so well. If anything, his new information on the woman was leaving him thinking on a few thing, but it did seem to support his theory the she was never told that she was his godmother.

That night Naruto had slept a little better.

His nightly lessons with Yugao had improved as well. In the first few lessons, there was always a tense atmosphere were Yugao would order him to do some insane task and Naruto would do it to the best of ability without complaint. It was after the fourth night when Yugao told him to run around the village wall ten times that things began to change between them.

After mentally wondering if his sensei was related to Anko, Naruto started to run at the village's main entrance without out any compliance. All of the insane drills, all of the pain he was put through, even her attitude seem to him like a test, a test to see if he was worth training, if he was worth the time and effort. And Naruto was determined to pass this test, so if running his body to exhaustion was what it took to prove that he was worth it, than so be it.

Starting at seven, Naruto followed his order and ran around the village. At each of the village's four entrances he received a seal that weighed one pound from a clone of Yugao each time he passed. The sun already up by the time a forty-pound heavier Naruto passed out with his finger barely passing the finish line and a smile on his face.

Yugao looked at the boy's unconscious form for a few moments before a small smile appeared on her face. To tell the truth, she did not want to have a student. Actually, the only reason she had accepted the Hokage's request was because he was the Hokage. She had heard of Naruto before they had meet, who hasn't, and she was prepared for a little whining brat to completely waste her time. So when she set her rules, she had expected him to break them instantly. So when he completed them each and every time with such determination frustrated her. The training they had been doing was a form of anbu training, that even grown men and women complained about how hard it was, but Naruto did not.

This was her final test. Running around the village with weights was crazy, like Might Guy crazy. With all the determination he showed, she did not expect him to do it. But like the other time she had written him off to fail, she was proven wrong and this time with a smile. This boy was something else, and whatever path he went on; he would be great, she would make sure of it.

Picking up her official student, she carried him to his apartment. When she arrived she saw the Hyuuga heiress and when she saw the condition the blond was in, she nearly freaked. After reassuring her that he was fine she had put him in his bed for a long deserved rest.

After that things progressed smoothly between the two, and with how fast Naruto progressed Yugao figured that they might start using practice swords soon, much to Naruto's joy.

Hinata confused Naruto near the end of the week. She would have the same look on her face that he did when he was deep in thought. Every time he would ask what she was thinking about she would just say that she was trying to figure something out and that he did not have worry about it. So he did as she wished and left her alone, but he was still curious.

So in all the week had been very good to him, and he felt confident going into the team placement. He was determined not to be the weak link of his team.

He had improved in all his skill level in each of his subjects.

His Konoha taijutsu was at mid-genin level with his Uzumaki one being the same as an academy student entering his third year and steadily improving.

His ninjutsu was high genin level and he could finally make the exact number of clones he wished to make.

He genjutsu sucked but he figured that he could dispel them if need be.

His Uzumaki kenjutsu was improving, but he was not confident enough to really use it yet. Until he started to learn his Konoha kenjutsu he would not know if what he was doing was right or not.

So in all, he was at genin level since he had skills at different levels. And for now that was okay with him.

---

Naruto and Hinata were sitting in their old classroom in their usual spots with all the other graduates. Naruto was reading the second fuinjutsu book and Hinata seemed to be writing in a journal of some kind.

All was quite until Sakura and Ino entered the class in their normal way, screaming and shouting. Once again they fought over who got to sit next to Sasuke, and did not stop until they heard Naruto give a tired sigh. But this time before Sakure could say a word to Naruto, he spoke first.

"Hey Sakura, how was your male free week?" he asked not looking up from his book.

Sakura wanted to retort but she could not. The last week had been absolutely torturous to the girl. Being so close to Sasuke-kun when she was following (coughstalkingcough) him and not being able to talk to him, to make it worse she had to endure the pain of watching the other girls making their moves on him. There was only so much she could stand before she nearly broke.

Naruto looked up from his book to see Sakura sit in a seat, shivering. He did not know if he should feel bad for the girl or to laugh at how just one-week boy less reduced her to such a state. He went with one in the middle, laughing silently and paid no attention to the girl.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah Hinata-chan?" he said, marking his place in the book before closing it. Giving his full attention to the girl.

"Ummm… do you know what team y-you will be on?" she asked. He had snuck into the Hokage's office before so there was a chance he saw the team placement list.

She was disappointed though when he shook his head.

"No I don't. I hope which ever team I'm on, you're on it too," he said causing the girl to blush.

If they were on the same team then they would be able to spend more time together. Also if they were together she would be able to show Naruto how much she improves. Naruto would also be able to protect her if she was ever in trouble, and maybe, in time, she would be able to protect him. Yes she also hoped that they were placed on the same team.

"Hmm, I wonder who our senseis will be." Naruto said getting the two to think of different possibilities.

Naruto did not know that many jounins, the only ones that he considered taking a genin team were Yugao, Anko, and maybe Kurenai since he had heard that she was taking the jounin test but did not know if she passed or not.

He marked Yugao off the list of a potential sensei first. Based on the way she acted when they first meet, he figured that she did not want a student. So the possibility of her taking one, two, or more was not that high. So she was out.

Then there was Anko. (he gave a shiver) He hoped that she did not become a sensei, if she did than he would pray for the unlucky souls. Anko's teaching usually consists of dangos, snakes, and rope… and that was just her teaching him math. He couldn't even ima- rephrasing, he didn't want to even imagine the methods the woman would use to teach ninja related things. (he gave another shiver)

The last jounin he considered was Kurenai. He had not seen the chunnin in a long time since she was no longer Hinata's guard. He would not really call her a friend but more of an acquaintance. When they had meet Naruto could tell that she did not really like him. She did not hate or glare at him like the other villagers but he could tell she did not want to be in his presence. It was Hinata's friendship with him that she gave him a chance. They were now on talking terms with each other, now. She seemed like she would make a good teacher, if she made jounin that is.

"I-I hope t-that who ever it is, is n-nice," Hinata said to which Naruto nodded.

They then fell into a comfortable silence as they waited for Iruka to arrive.

Naruto, who decided to stop reading for the time being, began to listen in on the different conversations that were happening around the room.

Most of the genin there were talking about whom they wanted as their sensei.

Others wanted a to be teamed up with their crush. (caughcaughfangirlscaugh)

One he heard wanted a sensei that was placed high in the looks department. (caughcaughKibacaugh)

He hears one talk about how one of their parents slept with one of the higher ups to insure their child was placed on the team they had wanted.

And one just said it was too troublesome to care. (Guess who)

Seeing that there was nothing to do at the moment since he put his book on hold, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He was able to get about thirty minute of shut-eye before he heard the door open and heard Iruka walk in.

"Sorry I'm late class," he said, "My alarm clock did not go off this morning and I overslept."

"Now I would like to start off by-"

"Umm… Iruka-sensei?" said a civilian genin interrupting his speaking.

"Yes."

"Where is Mizuki-sensei?" she asked.

"Umm… well… Mizuki will no longer be teaching at the academy."

"What? Why not?"

Iruka gave a nervous shoulder shrug, "I don't know. I have not seen him." He decided to tell a half-truth.

Instantly the genin started to whisper amongst each other. Each telling the other what they thought happened to the academy teacher or why he decided to stop teaching.

The clan children, minus Ino, did not speak or listen to the different rumors. They all know what happened to their teacher, how he was caught trying to steal from the village and join the enemy. None of them wanted to discuss the topic.

"Now that's enough class," Iruka said trying to stop the spread of rumors since he heard one not far from the truth, but he was ignored.

"Class." The room was still noisy.

"Class?" no change in the room.

As he took a deep breath, everyone who was paying attention covered their ears and braced themselves for what was sure to come.

"SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!" he said with his Big Head Jutsu scaring the class into silence.

"Thank you."

"Now, today is the day that you begin your career as ninja of the hidden leaf. In a few moments I will give you, your teammates, and your new sensei that will help you all become great ninja. I look forward to fight along side you all," he said with a bow.

Straightening himself, he pulled out a clipboard, " Now, before we begin I will say this; you are not allowed to switch teams. If you are teamed up with someone you do not like, you better get over it."

"But Iruka-sensei, what if I'm not paired with Sasuke-kun. Surely there is something I could do if I am not teamed up with my love." One of Sasuke's fangirls said.

Iruka gained a thoughtful look and thought about it before he answered, "Well I guess there is one way you could change teams."

All the fangirls gained a hopeful look. Even if they did not speak like the one, they all feared the horrible thought of not being placed with 'their Sasuke-kun'.

"R-Really? What is it?"

"Well all you'd have to do is go to the Hokage and convince him why you, a new genin, have better judgment than the leader of our village. Since every team is handpicked by the Hokage personally."

The fangirl's faces lost their hopeful looks from before. None of them wanted to challenge the Hokage's decision, even if it was possible wrong.

"Now if there are not any more questions I would like to begin." He said ignoring several people who had raised their hands.

"Team one will consist of …"

At this point Naruto stopped listening, instead he continued to read his book. But he did keep his ears open to listen for his name or the name of someone he knew to be called.

As the teams and names continued to be called, Naruto let his mind wonder from his book a bit. He had just finished the section on basic storage seals and the concept got him thinks. He wondered if he could apply a storage seal to his person so he could always have his mother's sword with him at all times. It did not sit right with him that Hiruzen's gift, not that he was ungrateful or anything was with him so much while his mother's gift was waiting at home for just sitting on a shelf. Also if did have a hidden weapon on him, than he could hold an advantage over his opponent. He doubted anyone would expect a single sword fighter to pull out another in the middle of a fight.

…

…

KAMI DAMNIT! Now he was going to have to learn a two-sword kenjutsu style, as if he did not have enough on his plate. It was like Kami wanted him to never stop learning, while that is not a bad thing; he figured that it would be very tiring in the future. In fact th-.

"Naruto Uzumaki, your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto blinked when his internal rant was interrupted by his name being called. Looking around he saw Hinata with a sad look on her face, Ino with an anger at Sakura, and it looked like Sakura was squealing to herself.

"Team Eight will b-"

"Umm Iruka-sensei."

Iruka gave an annoyed sigh at being interrupted yet again before answering, "What is it Naruto?"

Naruto began to sheepishly rub the back of his head while mentally berating himself for not paying attention to important information.

"Could you repeat what you said? I'm not quite sure I understood you."

A scowl appeared on Iruka's face as he spoke, "I said you will be a part of Team Seven along with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Would you like me to repeat it again for you?"

The room snickered at the jab at Naruto's intelligence, while he gained a horrified look on his face, "No, no Iruka-sensei you don't have to say it again. I understand now." He said resting his head on his desk.

Out of everyone in the class, he had to get those two. Konoha's own fangirl queen, The Pink Banshee and the Duck Ass Brooding King himself. Why those two? He would have been okay with anyone else like: Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, any of the other fangirls, or Hinata… did he say Hinata twice? He did, didn't he? Good because he definitely would have preferred Hinata be on his team, but no he was stuck with the two people he liked the least in the whole academy.

He felt hand pat his back in a hesitant/comforting manner and turned his head to find the appendage belonging to Hinata who was offering him a small smile. A smile he returned even though his mind was in turmoil.

Iruka sighed as he saw the boy go into a small depression. He felt for his former student, he really did. He had heard what it was like to have a fangirl as your teammate. He gave a mental shiver as he remembered all the accounts he has heard. It was even worse for Naruto since he had the fangirl, and said fangirl's love interest. Not to mention said fangirl's love interest did not have a good relationship with the boy. Yep Naruto defiantly had gotten dealt a bad hand.

But that was not his problem anymore, "As I was saying, Team Eight will be-"

"It is no fair Iruka-sensei. How come Forehead gets to be with Sasuke-kun?"

"Well you se-"

"Shut it Ino-pig, you're just jealous that the Hokage realizes that me and Sasuke-kun are destined to be together."

"Well there is a goo-" Iruka tried and failed again.

"DESTINED?! Billboard I think a bird flew into your head because something must be wrong with it. There is no way you're destined to be with Sasuke-kun, I'm sure the Hokage made a mistake."

"No way this is a mistake Ino-pig. Love conquers all, and clearly the Hokage sees that.

"Girls maybe you should cal-"

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"You heard me."

"Say it again. I dare you."

"Love. Conquers. Al-"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY!" Iruka and Naruto yelled/thought respectively.

"And one of them is my teammate." Naruto thought completely annoyed by the pink haired banshee.

Once he was sure that he was not going to be interrupted again, Iruka began speaking, "While I don't know all the team matchups, I figured the members of Team Seven would be what they are."

He glared at a girl who was about to start to talk, before continuing, "Konoha has a history of producing strong genin teams. Usually the Rookie of the Year and Kunoichi of the Year is paired together with their final member being the year's Dead Last so that the team will not be too powerful."

At this, Sasuke glared at Naruto since Iruka reinforced his belief that the blond would hold him back, while Sakura was grinning at a glaring Ino.

"But surely ther-"

"No buts Ino, if you want to change teams then you know what to do. If not then you should have had gotten better scores in the academy." Iruka said shooting down the girl's argument, causing her to lower her head.

"Now as I was saying before I was interrupted," He said staring at Ino and Sakura before continuing, "Team Eight will be Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi."

Hinata let a smile spread across her lips as she heard her sensei's name. She had missed her old handler/ friend and she looked forward to learning from her.

Across from her Naruto was giving her a small frown. It was no fair, how come she got a decent team and he did not? It was no fair.

"Team Nine is still active from last year so we will proceed to Team Ten. You are Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi.

"Troublesome. I'm stuck with one of the two most troubling blonds in the village." Shikamaru mumbled, though Ino heard him. The proof was the tic mark that appeared on her face.

Iruka sent the girl a small glare that caused her to bite back the not-so-nice words she was going to direct at the lazy genin.

"Those are all the teams. I wish you all the best of luck in your ninja careers and I look forward to fighting alongside all my new comrades. Your senseis should be arriving shortly so try to keep yourself busy until they do." He said leaving the classroom.

As soon as he left, the room erupted in excited conversation as every discussed their new teams.

"I'm sooo jealous of you Hinata-chan," Naruto said in a pouty voice, "I wish I had Kurenai-san as my sensei. She seems like a great teacher. Lucky, Kami-sama just wants me to suffer. It is no fair." He finished at a mumble.

"N-Naruto-kun I am sure that H-Hatake-san is not that b-bad." She said trying to cheer him up. It was an odd experience for her, usually it was Naruto doing the comforting and her being jealous of him, but now it seemed to be the opposite. It was a very odd experience indeed.

Naruto gained a thoughtful look as he tried to recall what he knew on the man that was to be his sensei, "I don't that much about him, just that he was the Fourth's student, and he was Kushina-sama's secret bodyguard while she was pregnant. The fact that she knew he was her bodyguard when it was supposed to be a secret tells that he did not do a good job. But I guess Kushina-sama was too good to be fooled," he said with a bit of pride in his voice, "Though since he was trained by the Fourth, he should be interesting," he added as an afterthought.

Hinata frowned when she heard this, while the statement seemed innocent to everyone else, she could detect a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at her in surprise at her tone of voice.

"Don't judge Hatake-san just because of who he was trained by." She said or rather demanded without a stutter in sight.

Naruto could only nod dumbly. Even though the confidence in Hinata was a surprise, it was not an unpleasant one. He just wished that she would have it at times other than when she was unhappy with him. But hey, it is progress.

Hinata continued her disapproving glare for a while longer before her mind realized what she was doing. Her confidence was gone in an instant and in its wake was the usual blushing Hinata who was poking her fingers together, trying to make herself small in her over-size jacket. She managed a small 'Arigato' that he barely hear. But he did and it made him smile.

Yep it was progress, and any progress is good progress.

---

"Kami-sama, why do you hate me? Did I offend you in some way? If I did I am very very sorry." Naruto thought as he sat in the nearly empty classroom.

After he and Hinata fell into a silence, the senseis came into the room. He had easily identified Kurenai with her wild black hair and unique red eyes. Though he was not that prepared for her wardrobe change. He was used to seeing her a red outfit with a chunin vest over it. So to see Kurenai, who is very attractive in every guy's opinion, wearing a thigh-high dress of thorn wrappings, he would say he was justified to blush heavily.

Which he did.

At least he did not whistle at her like Kiba did, he did not want to be smacked in the back of the head. Thank you very much.

He was brought out of his trance when Hinata pinched his leg. When he accused her of the action, she denied it. Naruto could have sworn he saw some jealousy in her eyes but thought nothing of it.

The senseis called the respective genin to them as they left. Naruto and Hinata had wished each other good luck before she departed, but…

That was THREE HOURS AGO.

He had spent his time switching between reading, napping, thinking, and drawing small seals. He had been very nervous when Sakura caught him in the middle of drawing one of his seals, but he was relieved when she said that he should be doing something useful instead of drawing scribbles. Then she went to ask Sasuke for a date.

In fact, his time waiting would not have been that if Sakura did not find the need to talk every few minutes. Even with all his patience and determination not to react, he could feel his eye twitch every time she opened her mouth asking the stoic boy for a date. He sort of felt sorry for the boy that was if he was not such an asshole.

Maybe if he would drop his 'I hate every one and everything' attitude and started to act more social then maybe he would lose his fangirls since they seemed to find his anti-social behavior attractive…

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you want to get something to eat later?"

Or his new accepting personality would only encourage the girls and make them try harder with their new hope. Which would be either very amusing or very annoying to watch, probably both.

Turning his attention away from his two teammates, he now focused on the rig he had set up in the front of the room. At the two hour mark Naruto had gotten tired of waiting, so he created a trap for his sensei as pay back for making them wait so long. The rig was made out of the many rubber bands he had found in Iruka's desk, which he cut in half. He then tied the ends together and then tied the much larger ruber band to the door handle and a chair on the other side of the room. He did this twice.

He then took two board erasers and stuck one above the slightly opened door and put the other in a hold he made out of leftover paper that he attracted to the first rubber band.

Once he was satisfied with his work, he went back to he seat, propped up his feet and continued to read his book. He completely ignored the strange looks he was getting from Sasuke and the annoyed one Sakura. If they had a problem with his rig then they were more than welcome to try and dismantle it.

Which, they did not bother on doing. He would bet that they wanted it to work just as much as he did.

Anyway that was what he did then, now he was thinking since that was the next thing on his 'things to do when board' list. He was thinking about if he should name his swords or not. He slightly remembered the lectures that Iruka gave about the seven swords men of the mist and how each of the blades had a name, and he had to admit that they sounded pretty cool. Now the problem was what he should name them. Maybe something along the lines of …

BONK

SMACK

SNAP

Turning his attention from his thoughts to the door leading to into the classroom, he had to scuffle a laugh when he saw the results of his efforts.

Standing in the doorway was the man that was more than likely his new sensei, Kakashi. He was not one hundred percent sure but who else could he be. The Konoha headband over his eye and jounin jacket was also a big indicator on the man identity.

Anyway the reason why he was almost laughing was because the jounin's hair was whiter due to the chalk eraser falling on his head, their was a rectangle of white on his face from the eraser that was launched, and the was a bright red mark under his exposed eye from where the rubber bands hit him. Which he was now rubbing.

"It is all his fault Kakashi-sensei," Sakura yell pointing at Naruto. She must have made the same conclusion about the man identity.

"I tried to stop him, I really did, but he would not listen."

Naruto watched as the man gave him a glare of annoyance as he rubbed his face and gave a shrug. Did he feel bad about what he did or regret it? Nope. If anything it was Kakashi's fault for being so late, which caused him to make the set up in the first place, and for not paying attention to his surroundings. I mean come on, the guy is a jounin for crying out loud, he should of easily dodged it.

Turning his attention away from the blond, Kakashi looked at his other students as if assessing them.

"All right how can I put this so that you can understand, … my first thoughts on you all is…"

Sakura leaned forward in her seat, expecting to hear the great things her sensei was about to say to her, while Naruto and Sasuke both raise an eyebrow at how the man had paused.

"I hate you, especially you Blondie." He said causing Sakura to go into a depression, Naruto's eyes to twitch at the hair comment, and Saauke to sweat-drop at the man who could not possible be a jounin, especially not his sensei.

"Meet me on the roof, don't take to long." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The three genin all glared at the spot where Kakashi had stood moments before. 'Don't take to long? Don't take to long?' anyone who was THREE HOURS LATE has NO right saying that.

Though Naruto and Sauake were interested in the jutsu he use to seemingly teleport to the roof.

Letting out a sigh of annoyance Naruto followed his two teammates to the roof.

---

When they arrived on the roof, they where greeted with the sight of the new sensei leaning against the railing of the building reading a little orange book.

Naruto let out a groan as he realized what that book was and what it signified, his sensei was a pervert, or at least a closet one.

Taking a seat in front of the man, they waited for him to talk. This wait took longer than they thought, much to their annoyance, because it seemed that he was reading an interesting part of the book, if his perverted giggles where any indication.

After about ten minutes, he finally looked up from his book and began to address his charges.

"Well since you are all here, why don't you introduce yourselves. Tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams of the future."

Sakura than raised her hand and waited for her sensei to acknowledge her, which he did with a nod of his head.

"Ummm, Sensei? Could you go first so we know what to do?"

Naruto stared at her for a second; once again questioning the academy's decision on making Sakura the Kunoichi of the Year. How could someone not know how to give an introduction, especially if you are told what to say?

Kakashi was unknowingly thinking along the same lines as Naruto, but he decided to humor his student.

"Very well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are not important; … hmm I guess my dislikes are not either. My hobbies are, well, too mature for you, and my dream of the future?" he placed his finger to his chin in thought, "Well I'm pretty content with my life as it is now so when I get a dream I'll be sure to tell you," he said with an eye smile, before he started to read his book again.

Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes, while Sakura just had an annoyed look on her face. "All we got was his name," they thought at the same time.

"Your turn Pinky."

Sakura gave a huff as she started her introduction, "Umm, My name is Sakura Hareno. My likes are, well, the person I like is-" She looks at Sasuke and squealed before continuing, "My hobbies are," Again she looks at Sasuke, squealing. "My dream for the future is," For the last time, she looks at Sasuke, her squeal louder than the ones from before. "Oh! And my dislikes Naruto-baka and Ino-pig."

"All right interesting," he did not sound interested in the slightest, "How about you go next Emo."

Saskue glared at him, but started all the same, "My name … is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and don't really like anything. My hobbies are not important, and what I want is not a dream but the future because I will make it reality. I will restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Everyone looked at him at the end of his introduction; Sakura had hearts in her eyes, Kakashi had a look of expectance while Naruto had once again narrowed his eyes for two reasons.

One was because he brought up Mikoto's murderer, and two from the introductions his team did. Each of them gave little to no real information about themselves, being as vague as possible. Except of Sakura's squeals, that told you all you need to know.

How was he supposed to trust his team, if they were not willing to tell a little information about themselves?

Naruto gave a mental sigh, unless something happen he was going to be with these people of a long time and it was obvious that no on trusted each other. But he had to be the better man and be the first to take the lead.

"Looks like you're up Blondie"

Giving another mental sigh at what he was going to do, he started his introduction in his happy and excited personna, "My is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are ramen, Hinata-chan, The Ichiraku's, ramen, training, and ramen. 'And almost everything related to my mother and my clan…. I geuss I could include Yugao-sensei and maybe Anko too' My dislike are the time it takes to prepare ramen, mean people and arrogant people who have a pole up their hole. 'As well as most of the village, Minato-baka, and Jiraiya-teme, and people who lie to me.' My hobbies include training, hanging out with Hinata-chan, and eating ramen. 'And finding out more about my family and working on my different forms.' My dream for the future is … to be the strongest I can be so I can protect my precious people, Believe It!" "There I'm done, I am meeting them half-way, now it is their turn to meet me." He thought.

Kakashi looked up from his book to stare at his students or more specifically Naruto. He had read through his file and was a little suspicious. His file said that his was a somewhat loud mouth that was barely doing well enough to pass, over all not cut out to be a ninja. But the last report placed his over all skills at a fresh genin's. It had also said his dream was to be the Hokage, what had changed?

He gave a sigh he did not know why had was thinking about it. It was not any of his business what the boy did in school or what his dream was. Now that he thought it a little, the boy's dream was still probably still to be Hokage, since you had to be the strongest get the position and he could protect anyone he wanted if he ever got the hat.

"Well now that that is out of the way, I guess I should explain your genin test to you."

"What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei? We already took your genin test."

"They didn't tell you?" Kakashi asked with very fake surprise, "The academy's test was just to see if you meet the requirements to become genin. The real test is much harder."

"H-How hard is it s-sensei?"

Kakashi gained a thoughtful, taking some time to think about the girl's question before answering, "Well the last time I checked, the test had a sixty-six percent fail rate with most of the failures either go back to the academy or drop out of the ninja program altogether.

His three-maybe students gained wide-eyed and nervous looks.

"Oops, did I say that last part out loud?"

Naruto and Sasuke glare at the man while Sakura gave a nervous nod.

Shrugging off the glares sent his way, he continued, "Well if you want to take the test then meet me in training ground seven at seven in the morning tomorrow. Oh and I would suggest that you not eat breakfast or else you will throw up," he said with a weird eye smile. He then leaned his body back and allowed himself to fall off the building.

Screaming Sakura ran to the edge of the building with her two teammates in toe, only to see leaves floating down to the ground.

"Ok, I have got to learn that." Naruto thought seeing how useful the technique was.

Seeing as his sensei was gone and his instructions weren't till tomorrow, Naruto left to start training for his test and prepare for the night's lesson with Yugao.

A minute or so after Naruto's departure Sasuke took his exit with his ever-so-loyal fangirl right on his heels.

"Umm, Sasuke-kun? Do you want to go on a date?"

"No."

"Well, umm, that is okay. We could just get something to eat together."

Oh kami sometimes he wished Itachi killed him on that night, that way he would not have to deal with the fangirls.

---

Wack

"Again!"

"Hai"

Clank

Clank

Clank

Wack

"Again!"

"… Hai"

Clank

Clank

…

Clank

Wack

"Again!"

"… H-Hai"

Clank

…

Clank

…

Clank

Wack

"Again!"

…

"Again!"

…

"Naruto?"

Pulling off her blindfold, Yugao saw her student on his back panting.

For today's lesson, after the warm up, Yugao started to teach Naruto the basic strikes of swordplay with shinai swords. Like the head and shoulder strikes. For the last hour she had herself blindfolded while Naruto attacked her with either of the two strikes three times. After the third strike, she would get to retaliate with one strike of her own and he would try and block. For the entire experience Naruto had only been able to block about thirty times, and each round only lasted around two seconds.

Yugao looked at the moon and signed it was near eleven, "Alright Naruto we're done for today. You can go home."

Naruto did not even respond he just raised a shake thumbs-up before he let it fall to the ground with a painful groan. Those. Shinai. Hurt.

Shrugging, Yugao went to pick up all the equipment that was thrown around the training field while Naruto recovered.

When she returned, she found Naruto sitting up breathing more even but he was still leaning on his hands for support.

"Naruto?"

"H-Hai Yugao-sensei?"

"You have your genin test tomarrow, correct?"

He nodded.

"Who is your sensei?"

Naruto moved his body so that his elbows were resting on his knees before answering, "Some weird Cyclops guy call Kakashi Hatake."

Yugao attention perked at this, "Kakashi-senpai?"

"You know Kakashi?"

"Hai, he was my captain in anbu.

"What can you tell me about him," he asked finding this a good opportunity to get information.

Yugao gave him a look, "Why should I tell you? Everything I could tell you, you will find out on your own eventually."

"Well if you tell me a little about him now, I would have a better chance of passing his test tomarrow," Naruto countered.

She thought about it for a second, she really did not have a problem with tell a little about the man, general knowledge not his more personal stuff. She just wanted to prove her suspicions right again, that Naruto was smarter than his files said. She did not know why he faked ignorance or why he did not around her, but since he was not hurting anyone then she would not mind. Maybe he only acted like that with strangers?

"Okay how about this, Kakashi Hatake, he is one of the strongest jounin in the village, his smut is his most important possession, he has never passed a genin team, and with the exception of missions, he is always two to three hours late for anything under A-rank importance."

Naruto nodded his head in acceptance, "Thank you Yugao-sensei."

"Your welcome Naruto, good luck on you test tomorrow," she said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto stared at the spot his sensei had been standing for a moment, "I have got to learn that." He said.

Signing he slowly got to his feet and limped to the compound, he needed a good bed if he wanted to be able to move in the morning and the mattress in his apartment would not cut it.

---

RING

RING

RING

RIN-

Naruto slammed his hand on his alarm clock as he slowly woke up, promising to kick the inventor of the stupid thing's ass if they ever met. Rubbing the sleep and blurriness out of his eye his opened his eyes his find the clock saying it was near eight.

"Shit I'm late!"

Jumping out of bed and throwing his clothes on as fast as he could, he rushed around the house trying to get ready. It was not until he closed the door to the house that he remembered what Yugao had said about Kakashi's late habits that he slowed down.

If his sensei was always two to three hours late, then that meant he had at least an hour before he had to show up. With that in mind he went back inside and started to properly prepare for the day. He took a long shower, cleaned his necklace (after all the work he had been doing it had gotten dirty since he stopped taking it off), and against Kakashi's advice he made a large breakfast of leftovers Hinata had cooked a few nights back.

He did this thinking that it was better to eat and throw up then to not eat at all. He should know, all those days eating rotten food when he was younger made him spend a lot of time in the bathroom, but he still got what little nutrition the food had.

After he had eaten, he created two clones to practice what Yugao had taught him the night before while he started to practice drawing storage seals. He wanted be able to apply one to his body so that he could have his sword with him at all times, so he had to practice.

When it was close to nine Naruto dismissed his clone, rechecked his stuff, and adjusted the sword on his back, he grabbed his fuinjutsu book and left the compound.

Even though he might have to wait an hour, he might not and it was better to be safe than sorry.

---

As Naruto entered the training ground the looked for his teammates and found them near three wooden posts in the middle of the area. As he walked towards them, he smiled when he heard the sound of stomachs growling. He could also see the look of pure irritation on their faces.

It was not until he was near them that they noticed his presence.

"YOU'RE LATE NARUTO!" Sakura yelled when she noticed him.

After rubbing the ringing out of his ears, he began to rub the back of his head and laughed nervously, "Sorry Sakura-chan but I over slept." It was not lie …. a complete lie.

"Ugh, You useless baka, can't even show up on time," she huff as she went back to her spot by Sasuke.

Shrugging, Naruto climbed a nearby tree and rested on a branch large enough to support him. Since it was probably pass nine, he sure he had another hour to kill so he took out his book and began to read about the difference of applying seals to living and non-living objects.

"I need to find a way to think Yugao-sensei for her information. Waiting one hour was a lot better than waiting three."

And sure enough as ten rolled around the three, maybe, genin heard a puff and saw their sensei standing in front of them, eye-smiling and waving.

"Yo."

"YOU'RE LATE KAKASHI-SENSEI"

His covered face gave a sheepish expression, "Yeah about that, you see on my way here a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way."

"WHAT!?"

"Anyway." He said ignoring the girl's cry and pulled out a pair of bells, "since you're all here, why don't we begin. I have someplace to be and I can't be late for it."

The three glared at him.

He then jiggled the bells a little to making them ring, "These bell will determine if you become genin of not. If you happen to get a bell then you will pass, if not then you will go back the academy."

"But sensei there are only two bell?"

"That is right Pinky, that means that at least one of you will fail."

He then pulled out a clock form… somewhere and placed it on a stump, "You will have until the clock rings to get a bell. Oh, and you better come at me with the intent to kill, because if not then you will never pass."

He jumped away to put some space between them and took out his book, while the three all tensed.

"Begin!"

Poof

As soon as they heard the word an explosion of white smoke covered the area and Sakura and Sasuke used it as a cover to hide. When the smoke cleared, ten Narutos charged the jounin, fist drawn back.

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow as he saw the clones running towards him in the edge of his vision. Leaning to the right and the left to avoid the first two clones, he grabbed the third and pushed him to the two that had passed him.

Having his balance thrown off and with more force then he wanted exerted on him, the clone stumbled into his two brothers causing them to fall in a heap. A fourth clone, that was thrown by Kakashi when it's foot got caught, was sent into the pile causing all four to go up in smoke.

Bending back as a clone sored over his head he grabbed it and throw it at a clone that was trying to sneak up on him, dispelling them both.

Feeling a presence behind him, he move right as a clone tried to take his exposed back and brought up his arm to block a kick from the clone in front of him and form one off to his side. The clone then smirked and nailed the man with a punch to the body. Their smirk fell though when their target went up in smoke and they felt a presence behind them. The next thing the felt was a pain in their neck as their bodies disappeared.

The final clone that was standing farther back frowned at what just happened. He saw Kakashi about to be hit when he was suddenly behind the two other clones in the spot a clone had been standing, he must have switched. Not wanting to go anywhere near the man, the clone took out a kunai and throw it… only for Kakashi to catch and throw it back at a speed the clone was not able to react to.

The original Naruto, who hadn't moved from his beginning spot, frowned at what just happened. Even though he know that the chance of the clones getting a bell was close to zero, he had at least thought that they were good enough to get his sensei to look away from his book. But no, that was not the case.

He was about to charge again until he saw Kakashi's book was lowered enough to see that the man was looking at him with a questioning look.

"What?"

"Hmm, I read that you used a taijutsu style in your graduation fight, I was wondering why your were not using it?"

"Because there is a chance that you would recognize it since you spent so much time spying on my pregnant mom… that sounded so wrong."

"Style? What style? I have never used a st- oh, that thing I used against Sasuke? Well I had thought that if I tried to learn a style then I would be able to beat him, but I wasn't able to, so I just forgot about it. It is not like I need one anyway." He said before creating a small army of clones and charging.

The next ten minute looked like compete and utter chaos to those that looked at the 'fight'. That fight was seen as an ocean of blond, a speck of gray that refused to overpowered by the blond, and random clouds of smoke that seem to appear more and more often.

When the last of the smoke cleared, Naruto and Kakashi could be seen. Kakashi was still reading his book looking like nothing happened, while Naruto, on the other hand, was covered in sweat, panting.

Throughout that entire scuffle he had not been able to only gotten close to the bells two times and each time that they were just within his reach the clone would some how disperse. What made him even more irritated was that Kakashi never dispersed a clone; he had only blocked and/or deflected and used the clones to take themselves out. If this taught him anything it was that he needed more work on his K. Style.

"Come now, is that all?" Kakashi said in a board voice turning a page in his book, "You will have to do better than that if you was to get a bell."

"Teme!" Naruto shouted.

Drawing his sword from his back, he ran forwards and tried to hack the man to pieces, but each time his strike was dodged by a simple side-step. Seeing that his latest tactic was not working, he started a new plan, but just as he was going to activate it, his target disappeared.

He tense when he felt a presence behind him. He turned his head to see the jounin crouching behind him with his hand in a seal.

"One Thousand Years of Death"

"Shit"

The next thing he knew was a literal major pain in his ass as he went flying/screaming through the air and landed in a nearby stream.

Kakashi waited for Naruto to resurface but was confused when he waited for a full three minute. Finally getting tired of waiting, Kakashi left to go look for the other genin. Figuring that Naruto was either holding his breathe a long time or had swum and got out farther downstream.

"Well that was amusing, I wonder what the others have in store for me?"

---

"Begin!"

Poof

As soon as heard the word, Naruto created a single shadow and then created ten more right after. When his clones were finished, he took off into the trees, using the smoke as a cover, to get as far away from Kakashi as possible.

He did not slow down until he got the memories of his four clones that caused him to pause.

Even if he could make hundreds of clones for his training, there was a reason he only had twenty or so when he trains. Every time a clone disperses his mind sorts through the memories and files them away. So when he is training on many different things at once, it takes his brain longer to process and file the different categories of memories. If the clones where focusing on one thing, like fighting Kakashi, than their memories would be easier to process. But since this was the first time he had used his K. taijutsu style he still had to pause a little when a few disperse at the same time. He figured that this would become less of an issue the more he used it.

Anyway ever since the test had been explained, he knew it was rigged. It did not take a genius to figure out that is it was near impossible for three fresh genin to take something from a jounin, much less one of the strongest. He did not know how he was going to get a bell but he did know that he could not do it on his own. Two genin vs a jounin was better than one genin vs a jounin, if only slightly.

That was why he was carefully making his was back to his teammates. Maybe together they could figure out a plan to get the bells, they could figure out who got them after they had them secure.

When he got near the edge of the tree line, was happy to know that his clone were keeping Kakashi distracted, at least he hoped he was distracted. Anyway since he knew that his teammates where somewhere close enough to observe the fight, he started to look around to see if he could spot anything out of place, that thing came in the form of something that was a bright shine pink. It did not take him long for him to get to Sakura's position.

Quickly covering her mouth with his hand, he affectively muffled her screams of surprise.

"Calm down. It's me." He whisper

Feeling her relax in his grip, Naruto slowly removed his hand. He saw Sakura turn around with furry in her eyes. She was about to start screaming at him but he gave her a shush.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? I thought you were fighting Kakashi-sensei?"

"Never mind that now. I need your help to find Sasuke so we can team up against Kakashi." He explained quickly.

Sakura seemed to think about it for a second before she pointed a accusing finger at him, "I know what you're trying to do!"

"What?" He really did not know what conclusion the girl came to but the word had already left his mouth.

"Your want use to team up with you since you know that there's now way an idiot like you could ever pass this test. And since you know that it is impossible for you to pass you want to team up with me and Sasuke-kun so that you could hold us back and make us all fail with you."

Naruto just stared at her as when she said this. Yes, he did not think his chances of getting a bell were high but those chances increased if they worked together, had she not heard of safety in numbers. And saying that he want their help so that they could fail together, he once again questioned her title of Kunoichi of the Year and he said the only thing he was able to, "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me baka. I figured out what your plan is and it is not going to work. Sasuke-kun and I will not be dragged down by you," she said storming off. She could not believe that he would try to do something like that. They were a team they were supposed to help each other, not bring each other down.

Naruto just watched her go in confusion, "What?"

Shaking his head when he receives information that his clones were struggling, he left the area in a hurry to look for Sasuke. Since he was no obsessed fangirl, there was more of a chance that he would see that teaming up was a good thing. And if they got the bells without Sakura's help then they would not have a fangirl on their team, a plus.

He had to admit that Sasuke was a lot better at hiding than Sakura. He had spent the last ten minutes looking for him.

He suddenly stumbled when he felt his last clone dispel, also gaining the memories of everything it experienced. Like the memories of the other clone, the pain in his ass, and it seemed that the clone floated down stream into a hot spring since that is where it was dispelled.

Falling into the bushes, he braced himself for impact when he fell on something far softer than the ground.

"Watch where you fall dope."

"Sasuke?"

"Who else."

"Good I was looking for you."

Sasuke emerged from the bush with a scowl in place. He had seen the one sided fight that had happened and now he knew how he lost in ninjutsu. And to see that the blond could make solid clones made irritated him. Plus he was still sour from his tie with him.

"Why would you be looking for me?"

Sighing at what was sure to come he spoke, "I need your help to get a bell."

Sasuke's scowl turned into a smirk, "So you NEED my help?"

Naruto narrowed his eye, "Let me rephrase that, we need each other help."

Sasuke's smirk fell.

"Look I don't like you, and I'm pretty sure that you don't like me but we need to get over it for now. There is no way that genin that just graduated could beat a jounin. So we need team up if we even want to stand a chance."

Sasuke thought about it. If he were honest with himself than he would agree with the blond. But his Uchiha pride would not allow him to accept help from him.

"Why should I team up with a dobe?"

Before he could answer they both heard a scream that seemed to come from Sakura.

"Well you could always be with the fangirl." Naruto said annoyed by the fact his team was so difficult.

"I don't need anyone's help."

"So what, are you going to try and fight him yourself? Incase you forgot the last time we fought, we tied, and you saw what happened to me." Naruto said back.

Sasuke glared at him for that, "Just stay out of my way dobe. If you know what is good for you." He said walking away.

Naruto glared Sasuke's retreating form. Why did this have to be so hard, granted he could have handled that better but still. Sighing he let go of his frustration and began just walking, trying to think of a way for him to get a bell.

He did not know how long he wondered but he figured that the test was almost over. He looked up he saw that he had somehow wondered back to the wooden poste. A glint of light was seen in the corner of his eyes. Turning his head, he saw to his amusement two silver bells just sitting innocently under a tree.

"Does he really think I'm that dumb? Well the test must be almost over and there is always the slightest chance that those are the bell." He thought was he walked to the tree. As soon as he picked up the bells he heard a snap sound and the next thing he new was that he was dangling in the air by his foot.

RING

---

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura where all sitting in front of the wooded poste with Kakashi standing in front of them with a look of disappointment on his face, well Naruto was tied to the poste as punishment for falling for such a obvious trap.

"S-So do we go back to the academy now."

"I should since none of you seemed to figure out the purpose of the test."

"There was a purpose?"

"Yes there was. Besides the special cases, have you ever heard of a team that had less than three genin and a jounin. The answer is no. Konoha is the strongest village mainly best our teamwork is above that of the other villages." He said.

Upon hearing the Naruto sent a glare at his two teammates. Even though he had not known the true meaning of the test, his method of getting the bells would have allowed them all to pass. But NO he just HAD to be teamed up a fangirl who was loyal to the point of stupidity and an ass that was too prideful for his own good.

"So what now?" Naruto asked, even though he did not want to go back to the academy he did not have a real problem with it.

If he went back, that did not mean that he had to stop training. He could ask Hinata for advice and she could teach his thing that she learned. And there was a chance that he would not be on the same team as the other two since he refused to be the Dead Last again.

You know the more he thought about it the more he wanted to fail.

"Well since the alarm went off earlier than it is was suppose to, I decided to give you all a second chance." He took out two bento boxes and handed them to the two not tied up, "The second test will begin as soon as I get back and it will be much harder. If you feed Naruto than you will fail. Ciao," He said disappearing.

As Sasuke and Sakura eat, Naruto was once again thankful to have Yugao as his sensei. Even if he had eaten breakfast that morning, he was beginning to feel his body getting hungry. If he was feeling this now then he did not want to know what it would have felt like if he hadn't eaten. To make it worse the food that was in front of his was really smelly in a good way. So much so that his stomach started to growl from the smell after a few minute.

"Note to self: Need to make sure to get Yugao-sensei a nice (GRRRR) … a VERY nice Thank You present."

"Here."

Naruto's thoughts stopped when the food's smell intensified. He saw that the food was brought close to his face.

"Sasuke-kun what are you doing? You heard Kakashi-sensei, if we feed him than we will fail."

Sasuke just looked away, "If we are going to beat Kakashi then we have got to be at your best, and Kakashi isn't here anyway."

"Hm, maybe he isn't so bad after all. This team might just work." Naruto thought.

"Besides the dobe needs all the help he can get."

"You know what never mind, that bastard is just asking for an ass kicking," he thought with his eye brow twitching.

Sakura looked conflicted as she looked between her food and Naruto, who was being feed by Sasuke. She wished she could be in the blond's position. She really did not want to share her food with him, but Sasuke had raised some good point so in the end she followed Sasuke's example like the loyal fangirl she was and began to give up her food.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" came the voice of Kakashi who had appeared out of nowhere. He was releasing just enough KI to give him a scary appearance and the part of his face that was visible was in an angry scowl.

"YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU NOW!"

Naruto and Sasuke started to sweat and Sakura was shaking.

"YOU…pass," he ended in an eye smile.

The three blinked a few time as they slowly processed. Weren't they to fail for feeding Naruto?

"What do you mean we pass? They got caught feeding me, so that should mean we fail."

"Normally that would be the case, but not this time. Like the bell test, the point of this was to see if you could work together. The bell test was designed to put teammates against each other to see if they could put the team before themselves. The last test was to see if you could break the rules to help a comrade."

"So what your saying is that it is ok to break the rules?"

"What I'm saying is this: Those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrade are worse than trash. Remember that." "Now my cute little genin, you can have the rest of the day off while I go report your results." He said and turned to leave.

Following his lead, Sasuke left as well with Sakura right on his heels. Leaving Naruto alone still tied to the post.

"… They're not going to come back for me, are they?" he said to himself. He waited a few minute only for no one to come. Sighing he began to wiggle in his binds until he was able to grad a kunai, which he used to cut himself to freedom.

"Finally, well I guess I'm a genin now… alright I'm a genin now … oh no I'm a genin now. I'm stuck with Sakura and Sauske as teammate."

---

Naruto was walking through the village with no destination in mind as his mind was focused on other things at the moment. He was walking slower than normal and the aura of depression was about him. The cause of his current mood was the thoughts of his current team.

Of all the graduates he just had to be with the two he disliked the most, and he was going to be with them until he became a chunin and even maybe more after that. It was depressing.

"What was that?" he thought.

He had just seen a figure turn into one of the alleys that he used to get to his compound. With his depression replaced by curiosity, he decided to follow it.

When he got close enough to get a good look at the figure, he saw a very familiar hoody and dark blue hair. Grinning he slowly creep up on the figure but he darted to the side when the figure tensed and turned. Barely breathing and being as still as possible, he waited as the figure looked at every direction. When it turn back around Naruto quickly, but silently, got close to the figure before…

"HEY HINATA!"

"EEEEEEEEP!"

Her reaction forced her to jump into the air, but she miscalculated the distance from her spot in the air to the ground. So when she landed, she fell on her bottom.

"Ouch" Hinata said rubbing her behind, she then sent a small glare to her laughing friend.

"N-Naruto-kun? Why did you d-do that? It h-hurt."

"Gomen, Hinata-chan but I just couldn't help it." He said when his laughs calmed down.

Hinata just crossed her arms and turned her head with a pout on her face. As much as she liked Naruto, she hated being the target of his pranks, not that that he really targeted her.

Seeing the pouting Hinata in front of him made Naruto think about how cute she looked. Wait? Where did that come from? He did not give it much thought since he had thought other girls were cute before, but when applying the word to Hinata. It felt weird… oh well.

A growling from his stomach reminded Naruto that he was hungry, "Hey Hinata I just passed my genin test and I'm on my way to Ichiraku's for some food. Do you want to come?"

Hinata jerked her head in his direction when she heard this and a blush appeared in her face. Her mind gave a squeal at the fact that Naruto just asked her out on a date, well he did not ask her for a date, just lunch with his friend. But to her a date was a boy, Naruto, asking a girl, Hinata, to do an activity together (eating). So to her she was being asked out. And she could not nod fast enough.

"Great, I haven't ate there in a week. Let's hurry," he said grabbing her hand dragging her along as he raced to the ramen stand.

---

"Ayame-nee-chan, seven ramen on the double please," Narutto said as he and Hinata entered the stand.

Blinking a few times at the sudden shout, Ayame smiled as she recognized the voice of her favorite customer, "The usual ones right?"

"Hai."

"Coming right up," she said and turned to the kitchen, "Tou-san, Naruto wants seven ramen."

"The usual?" a voice from the back called.

"Hai."

"I'm on it."

Turning back around she saw Naruto was sitting at the counter with Hinata, who still had a small blush, "And what can I get for your date Naruto-kun?"

The faces of the two genin went red as they both tried to explain how they weren't on a date … well Naruto more than Hinata.

Laughing at the two's expense she said, "I'm just kidding, now what would you like Hinata-chan?"

"Ummm, I w-would like a m-miso p-please Ayame-san."

"Ok, I will have it out in a moment. Try not to get to comfortable with each other while I'm gone."

"NEE-CHAN!"

Laughing at the reaction she got from the two, which was bigger than the first reaction, Ayame went to the back to help with the order. Leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"Sooo, did you pass your test?" Naruto said after a time.

"H-Hai."

"What was it?"

"K-Kurenai-sensei said that o-our team was a tracking and locating one, s-so our test was to find her while she h-hid."

"Sooo it was like a game of hide and seek?"

"I-In a way."

Hinata went onto explain how her team went about tracking their sensei. Kiba had used his smell to find the area she was in Hinata had used her Byakugan to find her and Shino had used his bugs to surround her to prevent escape. This proved ineffective because as soon as they thought they passed, Kurenai would appear behind them and they would start again. But in the end Kurenai had said that they had preformed well enough to pass.

"Wow, that sound a lot better than my test," Naruto said as he started his sixth bowl. Their food had arrived during Hinata's story.

"W-What was your test?"

"I had to take one of two bells from Kakashi-sensei in a fight," he said.

"That d-does not seem f-fair?"

"That is what I thought, and Yugao-sensei said that he is the best jounin in the entire village."

"W-What did you do?"

"Well at first I had my Shadow Clones fight him while I tried to get help from Sakura and Sasuke."

"What happened?"

"Well my all my clones got destroyed, and my teammates did not want my help and after that Kakashi-sensei took us out one by one," he gave a chuckle, "It is a little funny since the point of the test was to work together."

Hinata gave Naruto a sorry look; with her team they HAD to work together. It also helped that on one had a problem with each other. Finishing her ramen, she asked the next question on her mind, "Naruto-kun, if you d-did not get a bell or work with you t-team, how did you p-pass?"

"Well after we failed, Kakashi-sensei said that he would give use another chance if neither of my teammates feed me."

Seeing Hinata's confused look he explained, "Kakashi-sensei advised us not to eat and to wake up early, only to show up three hours late. It seemed like Sasuke and Sakura were starving. It was a good thing I ate or else I might have suffered with them. Anyway Sasuke fed me and Sakura followed his lead. I guess this proved that we were willing to help each other so we passed."

Hinata smiled and nodded as he finished his story, happy that her friend had passed. She did though feel a few levels of jealousy rise in her at the thought of Naruto being fed by someone.

They went silent as Naruto finished his last bowl at a much slower pace than before. Patting his stomach in satisfaction, he said, "So what do you want to do now?"

"W-Well I have to report to t-tou-sama about my test, and after that I m-might have to do some things around the c-compound. So I do not think I will be able to come over tonight," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. She really did not want to go to her compound, she'd much rather hang out with Naruto.

"Oh, that sucks."

She nodded.

…

…

…

"I should p-probably get g-going. T-Tou-sama might start w-wondering what is keeping me."

"Want me to come with you?" Naruto said, wanting to spend more time with his friend.

Hinata's cheeks got rosy as a small smile spread on her face. She loved to spend time with Naruto and since their ninja careers were about to begin, she figured that their time together would be shorted. So she nodded in order to get as much time as possible.

---

The walk to the Hyuuga Compound was pleasant for the two. They had walked side by side without saying a word to each other, just enjoying the comfortable silence that was around them and the presence of their best friend.

As they walked they had ignored the looks and the mean whispers that seemed to follow them every time they were together in public. Honestly how many times can people talk about their disapproval of the demon being near the Hyuuga heiress? It was getting annoying. So they ignored them, well Hinata did, Naruto gave them the bird as he passed.

When they had arrived, Hinata went to open the door, but it seemed to open on its own. This was disproven when two people walked out that were not high on his 'favorite person list'.

The first one to appear was last year Rookie of the Year, Neji Hyuuga. Naruto did not like Neji and he had only spoken to him a few minutes at a time, but in those minutes he found out something about him. The guy was an arrogant ass, but Naruto disliked him for another reason. Every time they'd talk the Hyuuga would insult either him or Hinata in hidden massages that would other else be neutral comment or compliments. Also he was very mean to Hinata.

The other person that came out was Hinata's sister, Hanabi Hyuuga. Naruto did not have nearly as much aggression against her as much as Neji, in fact he couldn't even remember a time were they had talked. The reason Naruto did not like her was because of her action against Hinata in their spar, but that was not really a good reason and he knew it but it was still a reason.

When they were younger Hinata had said that they were as close as sisters could be. That had changed though when they had their first official spar. Hinata had just about defeated her sister but Hiashi wanted her to continue until her opponent was incapacitated. Hearing this, Hinata refused to continue fighting, something that Hanabi used to fight her sister until Hiashi told her to stop. He was told Hanabi apologized after.

It was after that fight that Hinata's confidence plummeted. In every one of her fight she held herself back from hurting Hanabi, that resulted in her losing to her, this caused Hiashi to start focusing more on Hanabi. It was not long before Hanabi could beat Hinata in a true fight and that seemed to enforce Hiashi's belief that Hinata was a failure. And he had no problem with reminding her of that.

Even though he did not know for sure, he figured that Hanabi just did not want anything to do with Hinata anymore. Since everyone was calling her a failure and what not and with no proof otherwise, she might have believed them and started to think like them.

"Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama had just sent us to look for you."

"T-Thank you N-Neji-kun. I was just s-spending t-time with N-Naruto-kun."

Neji looked up at Naruto only to give a smirk that just screamed at Naruto to punch him, "Oh that is right, you're that special friend that Hinata-sama so wisely chooses to spend her time with," he looked from Naruto to Hinata and back, "I must say Hinata-sama, you have excellent judgment skills."

"W-What do you m-mean, Neji-kun."

"I mean that your friend is talked about so much and the villagers have such a strong opinion of him, it is amazing that some one like that you want to be around someone like you. Then again it would seem that you two have more in common with each other than just public opinion."

Naruto sent Neji a glare that could stop wolves in their track. He got most of what was said and he soooo wanted to punch his face in. It is one thing to think and whisper those things, but to say them to his face? That just asking for an ass kicking from him.

He would have done so to if not for 1, if he tried anything then around fifty Hyuuga clan members would be on him in an instant. And 2, he knew Hinata did not want harm to come to her cousin, even though he was asking for it.

Hinata was silent for a time before she spoke, "I..I see. If y-you would e-excuse me, I must go see t-tou-sama." She said with hurt in her voice.

Neji frowned. He had wanted a bigger reaction then that. But he shrugged, he could tell from her voice that his words had an affect on the girl and that was what he was after.

Holding the door open, he let Hinata through before following her leaving Hanabi and Naruto alone.

"Are you not going to defend your sister? Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" Naruto growled out. First he was pissed at Neji for saying such things and now he was pissed at Hanabi because it looked like she could careless what was said to her sister.

Hanabi looked at Naruto glaring at her for a time as if analyzing him, then she left with a 'Hmph' sound before she turned around with her nose in the air. She had the air of superiority around her.

"Bitch." Naruto muttered under his breath, but it seemed that he was not quiet enough.

"What was that boy?"

Turning around Naruto saw a Hyuuga glaring dagger at him, and judging from his clear foreheads he was a main branch member.

"Great just what I need. Well my mood is not the greatest anymore maybe I can change that a little."

"I said that that girl seems to be a bit bitchy. Is it her time?"

"What? How dare you say that about Hanabi-sama. You need to learn how to treat your betters boy. And no it is not her time, that is not for another two weeks." The Hyuuga said before covering his mouth.

"Well it good to know that the Hanabi is popular that the main branch knows so much about her. Though that raises the question, how do you know that? Do you focus your all-seeing eyes on her? Hmm Ero-Hyuuga?"

Said Hyuuga was fuming at what brat said. He happened to have heard it from the clan's medic when he was passing by, "Why you little-"

"Tell it to your perv buddies since they will probably care about what you have to say, because I don't. Later." Naruto said walking out of the compound, leaving behind the raging Hyuuga.

"Looks like that did improve my mood and now I know to avoid Hanabi in two weeks. Weird how the perv knew that though... Hmm now that I think about it since the Hyuuga have all Seeing Eye and they can see the charka points, do they see them above the clothes or below them?

…

I hope it is above since that would make the entire clan perverts, and not to mention Hinata-chan has looked at me with those eyes … I wonder if there is a way to block them out? I will have to look into that.

---

Naruto was on his back panting as he recovered his breath.

After leaving the Hyuuga Compound, he had walked to his compound and had run into Yugao who was exiting a restaurant with a guy. When she saw him, she'd called him over and introduced him to her boyfriend, Hayate Gekko. For some reason he did not him.

Anyway she had informed him that tonight's practice was canceled.

After the meeting Naruto went to his compound to train. If he was honest with himself, than he could say that his performance against Kakashi was pathetic. He had fought him one time and when he did it was not even at his full strength. And after he lost he tried to get help and when that did not happen, he gave up. If it had been a real fight and not training, than he would have died. You don't just give up in a fight but he did and that pissed him off.

So creating a few clones he had engaged in an all out battle royal between all his styles. That was why he was laying down.

He had gotten so tired while training that he did not think he had the energy to get up to room. So taking off his shirt to use as a pillow, Naruto got comfortable as he settled in for the night. As he lied there listening to sounds of his clones training, he wondered what his mother would say to him and if she was proud of him for graduating. Such questions could never be answered but that did not change the fact that he still wanted an answer.

He did not know when it was but as time moved on the noise of his clones began to fade and the questions in his mind began to slow, until darkness was the only thing he saw.

Drip

Drip

Drip

Opening his eyes Naruto saw a scene that he hadn't seen in a long time. The stonewalls of a sewer, the dark water, the sound of water dripping in the distance, and the over all creepiness of it all. Now was his chance to get some of his question answered and he would not leave until he was satisfied.

So with that in mind he walked forwards with one thing on his mind.

"It is time."

---

Hello people of the Fanfiction universe, thank you for reading this story.

Man this chapter took forever to write and it did not help that I lost my flash drive that contained it four times, but I finished and that is what counts.

Now while I was going over what I have written so far and what I plan to write I found that Kurama was not a very feminine name, and I'd like for you to comment what you think a good name for her to have.

Also I found a name for Naruto's black sword but I still need a name for his white one, so if you could help me out it would be appreciated.

Also I would like to know what you think of Naruto and Hinata's relationship so far.

Please be sure that you fav. and review this story. Tell me what you like about it, tell me what did not like, tell me what I could improve on, if you find a plot hole, or if you have a question concerning something. But please don't be haters.

Specal thanks to Ayato Kirshima and other for fixing some of the many mistakes.

P.S.: If the name is Japanese based please include the English translation.

Until next time …