Next chapter... I do not own Naruto in any was shape or form you can mold it, not even into a rabbit or a Twinkie.

"Speech"

"Whisper"

Stressed word

'Thought'

-'Inserted thought'-

Demon's speech

-Return-

*Slide* *Slide*

*Snap*

*Clink*

*Slide*

*Snap*

*Clink*

*Sli-*

*Snap*

Sarutobi glared at his fisted hand, another of his paintbrushes had met it's untimely demise; uncurling the fingers the prominent ninja let the jumble of wooden shards fall from his hand and onto the forming pile on the floor. He reached for a large box on his desk, it didn't really matter there were plenty more where that came from. the case held a total of fifty brushes.

'How convenient that it happens to be the same number of council heads...'

*Snap* *Snap* *Snap*

'This isn't helping...'

*Snap*

All the chips fell from his calloused hand the old man thought over his main problem because sadly it just wasn't simple enough to show his power and dominance; it never was. 'This village is run with one leader and that leader is advised by a group of clan heads and civilians who hold influence in the village.'

*Snap*

'Who was the idiot that came up with that!' The third was known in his advanced age for his peaceful and calm ways, but respect for his predecessors be damned; the influence gained from simply helping control a ninja village is bound to corrupt and lead to problems. 'Most of the shinobi clan heads can keep their heads but the rest have become money hungry, arrogant and militant.' Sure he knew where the previous Hokage were coming from, a society where all the men and women in the village have a voice in how things ran but honestly. 'They've taken over, they think they can run the place and control me!'

*SNAP*

One of the reasons an Hokage is chosen is to keep a calm head in any situation, possession of power was no exception; a Hokage needs to be hardened by trials life has thrown at them while not losing themselves. The though was funny, Naruto, in that regard, would make the greatest Hokage seen yet. Of course that was only one of the needed disciplines and that boy had a long way to go before he acquired those; contrary to the common belief, the position wasn't just about being the strongest. Not that the council had figured that out...

*SNAP!* *SNAP!*

From his hand fell dust, a new rage in his eyes. They had the upper hand right now, their unspoken threat of a rebellion the only thing holding him back, but the peace loving man was beginning to question if it would be alright if he laid waste to a few thousand ninja that were foolish enough to turn on him, they would be, after all, traitors and what's a drop compared to the river of blood he's spilt.

*Crack*

There went another hand full of the wooden stress utensils. 'Calm down Sarutobi, calm down; there has to be a peaceful way around this, besides they haven't done anything too reckless yet.' Kept Naruto in the academy and probably bribed his Sensei to fail him, placed Anko into the school as well to try and get grounds for execution or possibly have the two kill each other, and forced some high jounin of his choosing to teach the Uchiha heir outside of his team's training, the old man grinned.

'They're probably thinking Naruto's presence will corrupt Anko more, pull some threatening stunt and kill them- hehe, Naruto'll do just the opposite, the stunts will grow but towards the guilty, and if by some miracle they work together...' The council was going to get their share at some point, he needed to be patient, their own corruption will consume them. and it wasn't like he was going to stay still either. "I must not show favoritism after all..."

Sarutobi took the final brush from his box and finished signing the form in front of him in large letters, Slug and Toad, if the council wanted to train a specific boy then so be it. Sarutobi looked at the object in his hand, the fine wood was sturdy and well-made, it had a design of a winding stair if fire; it stood out from all of the others.

*Snap*

Dusting off his hands Hiruzen reached into his desk and pulled out a similar wooden box the same at the one already on his desk. He sat the container down, opened it and took out another brush, under the label on the box there were bright blue letters, Virtually indestructible brushes, strong enough to survive a falling boulder!

*Snap*

It was too much, Naruto lay on the ground in heaving exhaustion, the sheer amount of physical work he was expected to do in that god forsaken class was going to kill him. 'Two hours of training and a fight... kill me now!' The others had left, the day ended, he was the only one remaining on the track. Running was no real problem for him, he could outrun nearly anyone he knew but he was still a novice fighter, and running after getting trounced was not quite as simple. 'I'll just rest for a-'

'Hey boss!' He stood up quickly looking around, but quickly regretted it as his legs gave out again. There was no one in sight, then it came to him.

'Boss, boss, boss, hey I'm dispelling and saying hi!' The memories began to play in the original's head, the new feeling making him nauseous.

The scenes began from where he last saw the copy, the forest went by in a rush as the dragonfly raced through it. After a few minuets he came to a clearing and stopped on a nearby tree. Before him stood Ino, Shikamaru and Choji leaning against trees, as if waiting. There was a small rustle of branches as an older man, probably their sensei, walked into the clearing. He wore the standard ninja vest and cloths but it was hard to miss the lit cigarette that hung from his mouth.

"Ok, lets begin." The students sighed.

"Do we have to, having to do all of this training labor and all we do are just useless chores for people; it's too troublesome."

"The lazy bum has a point, when will this pay off." Asuma only shook his head.

"Hey now, you'll never be allowed to take anything higher than a D-rank mission unless you get stronger. There is a point to me teaching you ya know." With another sigh the group began it's training.

- 'They're lucky' - Naruto began to think that the groups that had passed didn't deserve it, or at least this one, he would kill to be a genin but these three didn't share his drive. Never the less, he began memorizing the training session. He was amazed at once, they had begun teamwork strategies, showing off clan techniques that had his mouth water.

- 'Body expansion, shadow possession, and whatever the heck Ino just did to take control of Shikimaru to make his start skipping, this'll be good...' - He swore to himself he wouldn't steal anything of their abilities, but what could possibly be wrong with finding out how they worked and make something of his own. - 'Wow those ninja theory classes must be getting to me... if I can actually do that I should actually listen more.' -

Team 10 kept up their training regiment for nearly fifteen minuets before Shikimaru and Ino collapsed from exhaustion. To Naruto's surprise Choji just wiped the sweat from his brow, the turned to Asuma for another lesson.

- 'To think he had that much energy in him, maybe all those chips are good for him?' - Asuma smiled at his team.

"Alright you three, good job you've managed to go half a minuet longer that yesterday." None of them looked impressed by the slight change, and unsurprisingly Shikamaru began to nod off. "Ok, you two can rest for a bit, but Choji I want you to put that chakra of yours to good use; I want you to try for making it all the way up the tree today."

"Alright!" Asuma looked over to the recovering genin.

"And you two will be joining him in a minuet!"

*Groan*

Choji moved to to base of a large tree and placed his right foot steadily against the trunk. Clapping his hands together he focused his chakra.

- 'What's he doing?' - Naruto gaped at the answer, not prepared to see the big boned boy slowly walk vertically up the base of the tree. He was past the quarter mark of the trunk when a small crack was heard and he fell to the ground, a large hole of bark remained from where he stood.

"Too much chakra there Choji, remember think of your feet as suction cups!"

"Got it!" He began again this time slower. The dragonfly currently known as Naruto took off from it's position and tried to get a better look. The original cringed when he landed on Asuma's shoulder, the turned and man looked right into his clone's eyes.

- 'That idiot!' - Despite his self cursing the bearded man turned away with a smile and spoke under his breath.

"Won't be long before I'll have to teach them water walk-"

"Sensei!" A loud crack resounded from Ino slamming a newspaper from who knows where on the adult's shoulder.

"Ino, hey!"

"There was a bug on you, I almost killed it!"

"He now, it was a dragonfly, they bring good luck!"

"Where'd ya hear that nonsense!" Completely forgotten about Naurto speed off into the tree line, inputting his little goodbye, the clone poofed from existence.

The original blinked, everything had appeared before him in an instant, and he if he tried he could remember the vision to the smallest detail, as if it couldn't be forgotten.

'Is this what happens when they dispelled themselves?' Shrugging it off, Naruto rose from the ground with renewed energy. Moving to the nearest tree he firmly placed his foot against it. He focused chakra just like he had seen Choji do. A dull blue light appeared around his foot, a grin formed on his face.

*Boom!*

He skidded to a stop about 12 yards away, a large crater embedded into the tree. Getting up he stared at his destruction.

'Well that didn't work...' He was about to try again when he lurched back onto the ground, his head feeling like it was splitting. And the visions began...

Standing around the size of an apple a clone disguised as a squirrel was looking for any potential team, a second ticked by before a dark mass rushed at him from the left. Not even having time to scream, the clone was forcibly dispelled.

Appearing instantly in another clone's memories and once again a squirrel, Naruto found himself dashing through the trees frantically, glancing behind him was another squirrel, a female squirrel.

-'How in the worl-'- Before he could comment a black rush appeared to his left again, he felt the ghostly pain of getting sliced through the stomach before the memory cut off again and he felt himself moving to a new one.

Trotting slowly, the lone wolf Naruto made use of the learning effect of the justu by cursing at his original for telling him what to do.

'You listening you control freak, moron, I know you are! Don't you dare think that you control me! Why-' For the third time the dark mass appeared from the side sending both to the ground on impact. Grumbling angrily as he got up, the clone glared at the being before him. Eager to find out what kind of beast had already killed him twice, Naruto focused intently at the monster that had appeared.

"Meow..." The original couldn't help but sigh, the beast that had kill two of his copies had been a harmless cat... The claws extended, hair stood up, and a gleam of red shone from its eyes as a dark aura radiated over it's body; it attacked.

A powerful swipe connected to Naruto's muzzle digging in deeply, the blow sent him to the ground but the clone did not dispel.

"You miserable piece of-" Being the superior animal and simply caught by surprise, the hormonal clone stood up and rushed to bite the cat in his powerful maw, arrogant thoughts running through his head. The feline moved with practiced grace under the wolf before turning quickly on it's front paws to send its back ones into the clones side.

Sprawled out on the ground once more Naruto looked at the approaching form of his attacker. He rolled to the side to avoid an impossibly fast swipe. Blood flowed down the clone's sleek black fur staining his elongated chin red, he could taste it as it invaded his mouth; the wolf staggered. The original was stunned at the resilience of his copy, something wasn't right...

The cat suddenly appeared above his head, what was left on the ground before him was an afterimage of the feline; only his acute ears picked up the rushing wind to notice the difference, he tried to move but without success. A clawed ax kick had left a rigid gash down his face as his maw once again collided into the dirt.

Blood flowed into the eyes, blurring the vision and giving the scenery a red tint. Only the upright animal was unaffected as it strolled towards him, giving him a good look at his assailant. It had what he assumed to be an even redder bow on its left ear than what his blood was contorting, the face then became darker with each step, soon it was too close to see anything but an inky body bathed in red, it stopped as it raised a clawed paw; the nail shone with the intensity of the sun in the red forest light.

For once in its short life the clone didn't have a thing to say, he merely stared. Only one thing could be heard as the demon brought down it's finishing blow...

An annoying shriek of, "I found Tora!"

Putting his foot down to halt his fall, the blond felt a tremor run up his spine, the memories weren't permanent by from the jutsu; no the clones weren't dispelled on their own, but the terror itself would be enough to haunt him.

"A- and they call me a demon..." That was definitely not a normal cat, it's like it had been hardened through years of tough life, deciding battles and dire escapes. Naruto couldn't help but put a hand to his head, so many things had happened in such a short time and when he finally though things were going to work out, something like this happens, he questioned it was even worth it, would he become Hokage if he got stronger. He wasn't even able to get out of the academy himself or even beat a cat, then for the first time since this whole ordeal he looked at himself in his current state; he was worrying, he never worried, sure he's been scared but Naruto Uzumaki never let the situations in his life get to him.

'What happened to me, so what if things don't go as planned, I'll just get stronger from it, get better, and blown things up!' The boy confidently looked into the clouds. He wasn't about to let some psychotic house cat show him up, he was at lease better than that. 'Against a jounin, no I don't expect to win, against a cat... hell yes no matter how demonic!' Somewhere far away Nibi rolled over in it's slumber. In a way he should thank the monster for breaking him out of his funk; after it was skewered and roasted of course.

"You hear me world, Naruto Uzumaki is back!" To prove his point he let his chakra flare, he let his own energy surround him, flood him, overpower him. The blue light blazed around him as a feral grin spread on his features, he threw his arms out letting the power crash violently and fly wildly off him in something akin to an explosion.

*Crick*

As the dust settled around him, the blond snapped his neck, he mused that things looked a bit different from being a few inches taller. Turning to the trees Naruto began the tree walking exercise, it seemed easier now. Even if there was more to him now.

Yea, this was well over due and don't get me started on how late the other one is... anyway hope to be updating more and hope it's liked, FlareXD.