A/N: Over 100 reviewers! :D Awesomeness people! Thank you everyone, like always! You brighten my days with your reviews! Except you flamers... ya'll are just mean. But I don't care because the mass majority of you do like my story, so who am I to fret about a few who don't like it? Maa, well here is the next chapter, sorry if it's none to your liking. Next one is filled with action and Minato being a badass, so just wait a teeeeensssyyyy bit longer for that. Please and thank you!

Key:

"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Demon/Deity
Demon/Deity thoughts
"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"

Chapter 7: A Test of Faith

Minato was quite glad that he had went to visit the Hokage in retrospect. While at first the risks of not knowing what would happen were many, and most could have turned out terribly for him, the actual end results were better than he could have hoped. He now had the Hokage backing him up one hundred percent, and he would be tested the following day to see he true abilities. Meaning, he no longer had to hold back. Well, perhaps a little bit, but not nearly so much as he had been. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to become genin at that very moment, but it would be great for Naruto to be recognized as a prodigy on the same level as Itachi was at his age. He might not have a doujutsu, but he had the damn chakra of a demon, so they could be considered to be on equal terms in some ways.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do about Lee though. How would he react to his test? How would he feel about his omitting the truth to him from day one? He had promised they would work together and prove they were better than born geniuses. Would he hate him for this? A part of him screamed that it was impossible for Lee to hate anyone, he was just not that kind of person, yet that small insecure side of him whispered constantly in his ear that Lee would feel betrayed, and never forgive him.

'No...he wouldn't...' Minato thought miserably to himself. Over the month he had been in the body of his son, he noticed he had a tendency to actually react to certain situations as a seven year old would. He deduced that it was something biological, that while he was mentally older, the part that of his mentality was still active, only suppressed. Unfortunately it made situations like these that much more emotional for him. Either way, he knew that he would have to talk to him about it before the day ended. He did not want his friend to find out from someone else.

He was also unsure of what he was going to say to his newest friends. He certainly hadn't acted as though he had been trained for over two decades. The only thing he could tell them was the cover-up story that he and the Sandaime had come up with. In which he had been trained by the Sandaime himself, as well as Jiraiya at times, since he was only four, one that had been kept as an S-rank Village secret until now as he was on his way to be a genin. Nothing would be said of the training methods, or any details given out about what the training entailed. No matter how much the council 'bitched and moaned' about it, they wouldn't be able to do anything. After all, the conditions revolving around Naruto's life never determined anything about his training as a Shinobi. Minato supposed that the council believed they would have killed Naruto before he could even begin training to become one.

'It's nice to have the old Sandaime back.' Minato thought fondly to himself. He was always commanding during his lifetime. Constantly in control and the one who had the power. 'As it should be.' Of course that had changed in the past years, undoubtedly due to the stress and grief of being Hokage once more since he had passed, but to see him with his back straightened and that same old authoritative aura was pleasing to see.

As he made his way to see Lee at the orphanage, with the sun setting in the sky overhead, Minato wondered what tomorrow would bring. He didn't doubt he had the ability to be a genin. Truthfully speaking, he was at chunin level for mostly everything save genjutsu (which would forever remain at a mediocre genin level) Though it could be debated whether or not he was at jonin level for ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. His son was a chakra powerhouse, and with the control he had honed in the past month, he could perform many high ranked jutus. His taijutsu was acceptable, and he moved with experienced grace and skill. All he lacked was physical strength which would take more than a mere month to regain.

Skillfully ignoring the glares and angered muttering of the people around him, Minato walked to the large Orphanage building and quickly spotted Lee doing push-ups in the back yard.

"Hey, Lee!" Minato greeted with a large smile, inwardly sweating about this confrontation.

"Naruto! It is wonderful to see you!" Lee said happily, "Is anything wrong? I shall always stand by you my friend, whatever you need!"

'Kami, I hope you truly mean that, Lee...' "No, nothings wrong, Lee." Minato said walking toward him, "I just need to talk to you about something."

"Of course! Come, let us go to those seats." the bushy eyebrowed boy pointed to a couple of lawn chairs. Nodding quietly and walking over to take a seat, Minato took a deep breath and looked at his smiling friend.

"I-I have something I need to tell you, Lee..." Minato started, his nerves finally showing through.

Lee looked at his young friend slightly confused. In all his time knowing the younger boy he had never shown any sort of insecurities. He was always confident in himself, and spoke with conviction, often, with great words of wisdom that were beyond his years. Lee, while young, wasn't blind to the hatred the village had bestowed upon Naruto. He had noticed the glares, and heard the hushed whispers about him. How they claimed he was a demon, and all sorts of awful things. Lee would never believe such unyouthful words about his friend. He was kind, and never did anyone any wrong. He was polite and respectful to the civilians as well as the shinobi of the Village. Would a demon be so polite or courteous? Would a demon allow such awful demeaning things to be said about him? No, Naruto couldn't be a demon, he hadn't hurt a fly, let alone a person.

"Sure, Naruto." Lee said, looking at his friend albeit more seriously than before. Something was clearly troubling his friend.

"You...you know how I...uhh...get techniques really fast during training?" the blonde began, looking at his friend with a worried gaze.

"Yes, you are most quick to understand the techniques Gai-sensei teaches us." he said, motioning for Naruto to continue.

"You see...it... when he taught us all of that, it wasn't my first time learning it." the smaller boy admitted.

"What do you mean, Naruto?"

"I mean... before Gai-sensei I had another teacher." Minato said convincingly, looking at his friends dark eyes directly, "You know how the village doesn't like me right?" getting a small nod, he continued, "I've been hurt a lot, Lee...and because of that Hokage-jiji thought I should learn to protect myself. When I was four, he began to teach me a few things. The basics really..." as he began to trail off, Lee spoke up.

"So you've been training since you were four?"

"Yeah...I just... I needed to tell you the truth cause tomorrow, Jiji is going to have me tested by a couple of people to see if I'm ready to become a genin... I didn't...I didn't want you to find out from someone else..."

"...Oh..." Lee muttered, unsure what to make of the situation.

"I- I'm sorry I lied, Lee... I couldn't tell anyone cause it was a S-rank village secret. Not even Kakashi or Gai-sensei knew."

"This is...strange, Naruto..." Lee admitted finally, unsure of how to word his emotions at that point. He felt a mixture of contradicting emotions; elated Naruto thought him a good enough friend to tell him before hand, angered and hurt for not being told at the beginning, frustrated he had no idea how to respond, and feeling utterly lost.

"I know... I'm really sorry though, Lee... I never wanted to lie to you. We were going to prove to everyone hard work beats born geniuses...can we still?" Minato asked fearfully. He did not want to lose his first friend, especially not such a wonderful one like Lee.

Looking into the genuinely fearful sky-blue eyes Naruto stared at him with, Lee knew he couldn't hate him. It was a secret right? He couldn't do anything about that, or else he would go to prison, or worse, be executed from what his Academy sensei had said. It hurt, of course, but he couldn't blame Naruto for anything he'd had been going through for years.

"Yeah, we will show them, Naruto." Lee said with a bleach-white grin, "You'll show them sooner though!" his demeanor grew brighter as he said the words, "I shall work ten times harder to catch up to you, Naruto!" When Lee laughed happily, Minato thought he could cry in relief.

He disliked being so emotional, but at the same time thought it to be a blessing. Years of war hardened him, and such lack of control over his emotions were rare and unwanted. Here, though, he was a kid again. A kid born and raised in an era of relative peace. He could act like one and actually live out a relatively peaceful childhood. Something he never had.

"Thanks, Lee..." Minato muttered softly, making Lee grin widely.

"Of course, Naruto!" he exclaimed, "I am your friend, and I shall always stand by you, no matter what!"

The morning after, Minato woke with unbridled excitement. Today, he decided, was the day he was going to become a genin. He had spent a fair amount of time at home contemplating the pros and cons of doing so. The pros severely outweighed the cons, so it wasn't that difficult of a decision in the , at 8a.m. he would be waiting at Training Ground 18 where he would be tested by a member of the ANBU, as well as his overseer, Kakashi. While Kakashi would test his skills in weaponry and ninjutsu, the ANBU was to test how he handled a true fight, as well as marking how well his taijutsu was.

When Sarutobi explained exactly what would be happening, Minato was more than excited. Not only would he fight against a member of the ANBU, but also his old student. Seeing how much Kakashi had improved in the seven years he had been in the Shinigami's stomach was something he greatly wanted to see.

Like usual, Minato completed his morning routine and was out the door and headed to the training ground with a fair amount of time to get there. He wouldn't deny there was a slight bounce to his step as he made his way to the grounds. He had already decided that he wouldn't do any extremely high-ranked jutsus, save for the Kage-bushin since that was simply a must. He had decided to showcase the Rasengan, though the Hiraishin and Kushina's Chakra Chains weren't going to make their debut at this point. For one, he couldn't perform the Hiraishin without completely giving up his identity since the test wasn't solely with those who knew his true lineage. That, and he was positive that he had never given Jiraiya the schematics behind the technique so he had to wait till everyone knew his identity before performing his signature move, even if he told Sarutobi Naruto was taught everything by himself... Or at least until Sarutobi thought it was alright for him to do so. He could get away with knowing the Rasengan in front of the unknown Jonin because he had been supposedly trained by Jiraiya, who knew the Rasengan. As for Kushina's Chakra Chains... he was pretty sure he would be able to bring them out eventually, as he was an Uzumaki. Only thing holding him back was that Kushina had never tried to teach him the theory behind the technique so he hadn't a clue how to summon his own.

Even with the many other things he would have to consciously remind himself not to do, Minato walked onto the training ground with a few minutes to spare, noticing that everyone was already there. Meaning the Hokage, Kakashi (which greatly surprised him), the ANBU who wore a weasel mask, and shockingly of all, the Toad Sannin, Jiraiya.

"So you're finally here, brat?" Jiraiya said, discretely eying Naruto speculatively. Had he not been a mere few hours away from Konoha the day before, he wouldn't have made it to see how the son of his student truly was. He had been summoned immediately by his old teacher a week ago to check on Naruto's seal, as the man was worried about his change in behavior, but he never expected to hear what the man had to say once he got there.

Not only had Naruto nearly died a mere month ago, he had also apparently discovered the truth about the Kyuubi and his parents. Most of all, he had met his parents due to a fail-safe Minato had added to the seal and taught him everything they could. He didn't doubt the possibility of a fail-safe in the seal, his student was always had a way with Fuuinjutsu, more so than many could ever dream to be. Given everything he had done with the Hiraishin, he simply couldn't doubt his students ability.

After being briefed on the cover story they were going to feed to the masses, Jiraiya could hardly wait to see the boy. Though he waited till the present morning, after all, he had been so preoccupied with getting to Konoha he hadn't the time to do any research.

"Morning Hokage-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sensei, Anbu-san." Minato said politely.

"Good morning, Naruto." Sarutobi said with a smile. "Now, let's get this underway, shall we? Why don't you stretch for a bit and then we'll get started."

Nodding at the aged man, Minato began to stretch out every muscle in his body, preparing himself fully for the oncoming fights.

As soon as he was done, he motioned toward the Hokage who nodded and said, "Alright, let us begin with testing your ninjutsu. This will be a spar where you will battle with solely ninjutsu and the standard kunai and shuriken to your disposal." getting nods from the both Kakashi and Naruto, he continued, "Third blood wins, or when a winner is clear to Jiraiya, Weasel, and I." Watching the two walk into a more open area, far enough away from the onlookers so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, they bowed to each other, and got into their respective battle stances.

"Ready?" the ANBU called out, receiving two nods, "Hajime!"

A/N: I can't write fight scenes...so I'm taking a lot more time on writing this part out. I should have it up tomorrow so you won't be left hanging...like I left you...for long. I'm sorry! Anyone want anything in particular shown in the fights? :D

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