Hello! New chapter. This one comes in at around 3600 word so yay! As always read and review. please?Pretty please?

Hope you enjoy this chapter, I like criticism, so if you have some either review or send me a pm, i tend to respond to those.

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"Tell me brat, what's the easiest way to kill a man?"

Tiny brows scrunched together, as their owners face transformed into a look of concentration. They loosened as the child give up on his pursuit, his eyes, fell on the silver hair of his perverted master.

"I 'ont know."

The giant of a man pulled out a kunai, its reflective sheen glinting in the heat of the noon day sun. He looked down at the boy, his face taking a deep somber, depressed look. The severity of the message he was trying to convey to the boy, getting quite clearly across.

A kunai." His voice came out brisk and harsh. "No matter the jutsu you use, no poison you apply, no matter the fuinjutsu, nothing kills a man better than a simple kunai." He twirled the blade around his fingers gaining the rapt attention of the boy before him.

"Nothing makes a man deader than a slit throat or a kunai to the kidneys." The sanin stopped twirling the blade, and smiled down at the boy, his mind wondering to thoughts of a similar blond haired child who had those same blue, blue eyes, staring with the same rapt attention at him.

"Do you know how to throw a kunai?"

"No."

"Well," the man placed the weapon in the boys hand, the blade pointed towards himself. "Start practicing while we're walking, aim at moving targets, walk ahead of me so I can watch what you do, and fix your mistakes. I'll be teaching you while we're doing this okay?"

"Okay."

"If it seems like you're getting worse while I'm teaching you I'll stop. Not get walking." Naruto nodded at the white haired giant and ran ahead of him.

"Catch."

He turned just in time to barely accept the pack of kunia. He grabbed the pack, the green box held six kunia. They were simple, strong pieces of carbonized steel, they were also lighter than he thought they'd be.

A sudden poof had him turning his head. The giant that was his teacher had duplicated himself, and his copy headed into the woods surrounding them. The two continued on their walk.

"The bird in the tree to the left of us, blue and green feathers."

Naruto's eyes scanned the tree tops. A flash of blue caught his eyes, he sent one of the blades flying. A solid thunk broke the silence of the forest. Naruto scowled, he'd missed by a mile.

"Throw with your wrist, not your hand. The kunia's you're using are lighter than normal, they're made for kids. Keep in mind you may have to adjust for drop, further you throw the greater the drop and the less accurate you are. Normally they're also blunted, but what's a better way to teach Kunia safety than the hard way? Those things will cut you brat, try not to lose too many fingers."

"You know a lot, ont ya?"

"I'm one of the greatest gaki, now, to our right, the squirrel in that tree."

Once more the blond threw, this time the thunk was accompanied by the slick squish of steel meeting flesh, and the iron like taint of the smell of blood.

Jiraiya smiled at the progress. "Good hit, now what do you know about anatomy?"

"Anatomy?"

"What's inside people?"

"Oh! Well everything has a heart right, and a brain, and lungs to breath and stuff. They also have kidneys and liver. Intestines too."

"Hmm, that's the basics, but we'll get into depth with the major organs. You need to know where to hit in order to kill a man." The sanin frowned. His brown eyes looked at the small blond before him. "I think I'm getting ahead of myself. You know how the ninja system works?"

"A little. I know the kage is at the top, he's the strongest right?"

"You're right, the Kage is at the top. There a lot of requirements to become a Kage, you have to be skilled in a number of fields, be a Natural leader, a skilled politician. A kage has to be one of the strongest nin in the village, but that doesn't necessarily means he's the strongest. A kage without the other qualities i mentioned aren't kage material."

"Okay, but what does this have to do with the ninja system?"" Naruto turned around as he walked, his blue eyes stared at the white haired toad sage. The sun standing behind the giant of the man eclipsed his face, but nonetheless Naruto could see the annoyed look on the man's face.

"Be patient gaki, I'm getting there. The ninja system has four main ranks. Jounin, Special-Jounin, Chunin, and Genin. Of the ninja ranks, Jounin is by far the hardest to achieve, to give you an approximation Konoha currently has around five thousand thousand active ninja in its forces, of those on ten percent are jounin. Of five thousand ninja only five hundred, in fact less than that, are Jounin. Jounin rank is hard to achieve, you need the same skills i mentioned before in order to become a Jounin, and natural leadership is hard to come by."

"So if Jounin are only ten percent what are the others?"

This time the sage smiled. "Another twenty percent of the ninja forces are the special-Jounin. They are people who show specialized skills in one particular range, or field, while also displaying certain qualities of Jounin. Special Jounin, like Jounin are hard to come by. Then there are the chunin, over fifty percent of the ninja forces in most villages including chunin are made of chunin. The chunin are the backbones of the villages. Their the curriers, the messengers, the police in the rest of the villages."

"Why are there so many Chunin?"

"Because most people don't have a lot of chakra. It's as simple as that. Jounin have huge reserves of chakra, the same can be said of the special-jounin. Chakra plays a very big role in who you can become as a ninja, simply put, a ninja true limits are the limits of their chakra. That's why there are more clan Jonin, then there are civilian born ones. The civ born nin, just don't have to chakra to go much further. That's not to say there aren't some truly skilled chunin, there are. That's not saying they can't overcome the limits of their chakra either. Rigorous training and study would increase their chakra by great amounts and could lead to a jounin position, the simple fact, is people are generally lazy, and the same applies to chunin."

The sage stopped speaking. His eyes scanning the tree line. "Moving target, to your right, the robin."

It took Naruto a moment to find the target, but the blade was flying as soon as he's spotted it. He watched as it dropped from the sky, its body hitting the trail ahead of them. Naruto watched as Jiraiya's clone dropped down, collected the Kunia, the dead animal, and disappeared once more into the forest.

"Good job."

"The remaining twenty or so percent of all ninja are Genin. Hundreds of genin graduate each year, yet they make up little of the forces due to the weeding out process. The first two years as a gennin weed out the incompetent, the stupid, the weak and afraid. Hell even the unlucky. A graduating genin class of two hundred could be whittled down to a few dozen after two years. By the third year most genin are chunin, usually if after five years if you're still a genin you're a life time genin. You become nothing more than In village curriers. You see, once you survive the weeding out period it really hardy to remain a genin. Only the truly incompetent, or those without drive remain lifetime genin. Incapable of protecting themselves after leaving the village, lifetime gennin become in village ninja. They tend to take care of the bureaucratic side of the village. Handling the monotonous tasks of the basic running of the village, thing not important for people of higher rank and standing to look at."

Naruto looked at the man, his mind running through the rush of information, blue eyes glimmering as he processed his thoughts.

"Wait, what about Jonin sensie?"

"Good question. Jonin-Sensie are only given to those that show promise in the academy. Those who show a level of skill, and inherent traits that could lean to natural leadership. In essence if you show you could be great in the academy, you get someone who could make you great."

Again Naruto was quite. His mind once more thinking things through. "Well why are you telling me all this? Why explain so much, you could have told me the ranks and left it at that."

"To give you an idea, of what you'd be facing in the future. We may be facing Jounin on our travels, if we do, and I'm not with you, run. Run as fast as you can. Jounin, can, and will kill you. Their best of the best. The skill between a genin and a chunin could be considered a large bridge. The skill gap between jounin and a chunin can be considered an in fathomable gulf. A whole different level."

"So turn tail when we come across a Jounin?"

"To your right, above the trees. Blue jay."

The blade was gone from the boy's hand mid sentence. He let out a loud curse when he missed.

"Yeah, turn tail and run. Also watch your fucking mouth brat."

"Hey! Why do you get to curse and I don't?"

"Cause, I'm bigger than you. Now get a move on."

Naruto pouted but picked up his pace.

xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx

Isamu Hikaru let out a long slow sigh. His voice carrying with it relish, and relief as his system flooded with nicotine. He took another drag of his cigarette, its pungent smell wafting in the air. HIs mud brown eyes scanned the area immediately around him as his chakra pushed out, prodding for danger.

"It's clear." His rough gravelly voice called out.

His teammate landed next to him. She was a tall, lean Kunoichi, Easily dwarfing the five foot ten Isamu by a good four inches. Her hair a lackluster brown, dulled and matted down from a master who simply couldn't care.

"God damn it Isamu, do you have to smoke those damn pungent things everywhere you go?" Her voice while soft, was harsh. Her grey eyes burrowed into Isamus. His face was impassive. Uncaring.

He took another drag.

"It's called an addiction, Kaede. Addiction," he drawled his words out, backed it with a force of careful cynicism. "A physical, and psychological reliance upon a substance in order to function. Yes, I have to smoke everywhere I go. Now shut up, you'll draw attention to us with all the noise you're making."

"And your smoking won't?"

Wind swirled around him, taking the heavy scent of the thick tobacco with it. Isamu snuffed out his cigarette. Wind element wasn't normal among Iwa-nin, but Isamu was special.

"No."

He laept forward, His black hair whipping in the wind as he leapt from tree to tree.

"How far are we from the pass?" Kaede asked.

"Around four or five miles. We'll be there in about ten minutes of so. Start priming the tags, be careful, I don't feel like dying today."

"You've just got a great sense of humor don't you Isamu?"

"I wasn't joking. A grade explosives seals are expensive, and rightfully so. They take an average seal writer around seven to eight hours to make one, and they take a good charge of chakra to activate. If you're not care, well they can take you and everyone in a half mile radius around you with it from the explosion you fuck up, not only will I die, but the Tsuchikage will probably take my tobacco collection and sell it. I like that tobacco..."

"Why would he selling your tobacco bother you when you're dead?"

"I like my tobacco. Now shut up and focus. I don't want to die."

The kunoichi huffed, her face morphing into a resentful pout. Isamu brought his palm up to the bridge of his nose and attempted to fight of the advances of an upcoming migraine. Of all the people to be stuck with for this mission, he had to get one of the most childish Jounin in Iwa.

"Were here."

Kaede stopped her pouting coming to a stop in front of Isamu. "This is Midori path?"

Both nin scanned ahead of them. They stood on the edge of a mountain, beneath was a thick lush valley lined by mountains of it own. High cliff faces overlooked treacherous waterfall, all flowing down into a massive lake. The lake, a pristine hue of rich blue, and vibrant reflected green, flowed into a river. Above the river, carved into the cliff face, was Midori path. Beneath Midori path was what the world called the Riko River.

"Yes, this is Midorr path. Do you have the tags primed?"

"Yeah."

He pulled a small scroll from his pocket. With a push of chakra, and a poof of smoke, a rope, thick and reinforced by chakra, was in his hand.

"Give me the tags, I'll scale the face the rocks and plant the tags."

"Why are we doing this? i mean this path isn't used for trade. Why waste equipment and time to blow it up.

"Riko river starts at this lake, and is fed by those waterfalls, waterfalls that are fed by the snowcaps of the mountains in the spring. The river feeds into a number of smaller lakes, and estuaries. If we damn the river now, it wont be noticed for at least a year and a half. The estuaries hold enough water to feed the forks in the Ricko, for at least that long. Once its discovered it will take them at least half a year to clear the Riko, and that's with skilled douton users. If they don't have those then nine months to a year if we're lucky."

"But why?"

Isamu let out a sigh. How the girl had made Jounin he didn't know, though he did suspect politics, and backhand deals.

"In the last war, Konoha had its trade routes cut by Kumo, yet didn't suffer any major economic effects. The Riko is the reason for this. It allowed them alternative trade routes in times of war, and force Kumo to waste valuable manpower blocking things that had already been circumvented. This time, if their trade routes are blocked, it will be at least a half year before they become operational again. A half year in which we can do everything we can to hinder their effort."

"Oh."

"Hold onto the rope," he muttered, as he handed her it. He stepped back, patted his pants to check his cigarettes and leapt off the face of the cliff. He soured straight down for a solid minute, before he rolled his body, swung towards the wall of the cliff. He stood there, slammed a chakra powered fist into the cliff and held on. Slowly he started his climb.

A few minutes later he was there. The rope was pulled taut, and he felt the slight thrum of Kaede's chakra pulsing through it. He planted the tags, ran through a few hand seals and slammed his palm on them.

He tugged the rope, dropped once more and started to swing. He felt a strong tug as Kaede started to pull him up.

"Took you long enough."

"Only cause you weigh too fucking much."

"How long did you set em to blow?"

"A year, like Tsuchikage-sama said. Easiest A-rank I've ever taken."

Isamu stopped, and smiled. A job well done. He deserved a cigarette. He pulled out one of the sticks, its thin white paper feeling wonderful in his hands. "This..." He sighed out. His face taking a momentary look of ecstasy. "This is an addiction I can live with."

He nodded back to Kadea, and leapt to the trees.

xxx-xxx-xxxxx

"Please, Fugaku-san, have a seat. It has been long since I have sat and spoken to you, has it not?"

Fugaku, let a polite, yet obviously false smile cross his face. His raven black hair glistened in the mid evening sun, his pools of dark brown stared into the soul of the Kage across from him.

"It is a pleasure to speak with you Hokage-sama. But, may I inquire something of you?"

"Of course, of course, ask as you wish."

"What is the purpose of this meeting? Why have I been called here?"

The old man looked at the Uchiha clan head. His face calm, yet stern. He spoke in a strong voiced tone. "It has come to my attention that the Uchiha-clan feels somewhat...disenfranchised, and I wish the alleviate this problem before it becomes far more serious." He looked at the Uchiha head. His message clear.

I know, I know, and I understand...in a way. I'm giving you a way out, take it.

"Tell me Fugaku-san, what I can do to ease the ailments of the Uchiha-clan."

Fugaku looked at the Kage, his own face blank as he thought things over. The Sandaime knew, they'd spoken about it, not in the clan meeting, but in the meetings of the elders for less than a month now. Little more than a month and already he knew. And he was presenting this in the opening. Admitting too many things, while also giving his clan a way out. A way in which they could benefit.

He'd except, he had no options but to accept. He felt despair in the depths of his heart, there was a spy in his clan. That too, he would have to deal with, but he couldn't because the Sandaime knew, and had let him know he knew. And know that it was in the open, to say,he could do nothing about it.

"The Uchiha clan has come complaints Hokage-sama. And I believe you will find most of them rational."

"Speak them."

"For nearly a hundred years now, my clan has strived, has fought, has stood to protect Konoha. Yet now, in the short few years since the passing of the Yondaime, the Standing of our once great clan has fallen. We who shed blood for this village, we who stood with Konoha and cast aside our leader nearly a hundred years ago. We who were the first to act when the Kyuubi No Kitsune attacked the village. We have stood firm, and unquestioning, and loyal all these years. No clan has shed more blood, sacrificed more members, stood more firmly in the defence of Konoha, than the Uchiha. No clan. And yet..." Fugaku's voice was quiet, his face still, but still the sandaime could feel the emotion in the mans voice. Hear the anger, the feeling of betrayal, the depression and worry. Hear the rage that seethed like a whirling storm beneath the calm facade.

"And yet, we are treated as dogs. Nothing more than hounds to keep the rowdy in the village, we are walled off, our reputations tarnished, our standing diminished. We are seen as thieves of techniques hard earned, and even harder learned. We as seen as cheats, liars, betrayers. What the Uchiha seek, is penance. We seek to return to our standing. To be remembered for our sacrifices. For our shed blood to be honored. For the Uchiha, to once more become what we were."

"I can't do that.." The voice of the sandaime was quite. More failures piled on his chest, more things he had let go too far. More regrets he had to fix before he faced the kami, and payed for his actions. "I can't change the opinions of thousands overnight, but I can help, if you are willing to work with me."

"I am willing to listen, and work, and work if terms are agreeable."

"Thats all I ask Hokage-sama, that's all i ask."

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Things are starting to pick up, this chapter was written in one day. I did it becuase i just finished my sat's and im pretty sure i aced it, so consider it a gift to you. All characters revealed today will be recurring. Things are starting to pick up pace! Soon, well start getting to the good parts, im debating doing a time skip next chapter, in one point its easy to do, and i won't have to write as much. In another point theres some stuff i want to address but that may be considered fluff,review and tell me what you think.

I have to say this is one of the few stories i have written i can honestly say i plan on finishing. I have an ending planned out and everything. I get out of school next week. Expect weekly updates, sometimes bi-daily once my summer starts. I write rediculesly fast, around 44 words per minute. Slightly faster than average but it allows me to post chapters rediculasly fast. I wrote most of this chapter last week on an hour flight to philly, and the rest of it in an hour or so today. So chapters during the summer should be comming out fast.

Aint too much action in this chapter. Just me laying donwn the foundations for my story, in a couple chapters things will start to pick up. Trust me and bear with me.