Special thanks to Last of the Ancients for his help.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Konoha's Maelstrom ~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Chapter 6: Changing the Question ~

True to his word, Naruto had raised the quality of his explosive tags to Higurashi Kouseki's elite standards in four days. The man's enthusiasm over Naruto's talent for sealing had been encouraging, and he'd urged the blond to get his Level 1 Sealing Certification.

Naruto had basked in the praise, and even it he hadn't been convinced by that point the next incentive would have sealed it for him. Kouseki had purchased a few of his flashbangs the day he had first showed them off, with a cryptic comment about having an idea that would help him. When Naruto had shown him that he could make A-Grade High Yield Explosive Tags, Kouseki had revealed what he'd done with the flashbangs.

He'd shown them to the ANBU Quartermaster, who liked them. A lot. To the point where he wanted Naruto to provide them to ANBU.

Technically, he didn't have to ask. A part of Naruto's employment contract as a ninja of Konoha was that the Shinobi Corps had first right of purchase to anything he wanted to sell to the general public, but Naruto had been over the moon about it. The fact that the village's Black Ops wanted something Naruto had invented was incredibly validating. Well, if playing around with explosive seals was considered inventing, that was.

So Naruto had given the design details and notes to ANBU. The rules were that unless he died and didn't leave the rights to his descendents, ANBU had to buy the seals from him (at a discounted rate, granted) if possible. They were allowed to make their own if he wasn't supplying them with as many as they wanted, but they had to pay a licensing fee per tag.

Naruto very much doubted they'd try to rip him off by making the seals under the table. It wasn't as though another Fuuinjutsu user could just copy his designs and automatically have them work. Seals behaved differently for different people, so even with the detailed production notes he'd given them it would still take time, effort, and chakra for someone else to adapt his designs for their use. Especially since they couldn't spam Kage Bunshin like he did.

His flashbang tags were not terribly complicated. They were just a creative variation of the explosive seal discovered and honed by the use of a ton of Kage Bunshin. The basic, fundamental seals found in books were painstakingly crafted to be as general as possible, to behave the most similarly for the most number of people. Chances were even if someone did invest the time and effort into adapting his seals, their product would be inferior unless they redid the entire development process, starting from the explosive tag. Naruto hadn't bothered to keep track, but he was sure that the time his clones had spent on that was in excess of several hundred hours.

In the end, it would be cheaper to just buy them from Naruto. Between his reserves and his clones, his ability to produce seals far outstripped probably any other Fuuinjutsu user in the village.

The Shinobi Corps could only exercise their right to his designs if he was selling them commercially. If he created something he wanted to keep to himself (or to himself and Tenten if it exploded, as that girl was relentless) down the line, that wouldn't be a problem. He was proud of his flashbang but he planned to make much cooler stuff. The benefits of being associated with ANBU more than outweighed the minor irritation of having to share his designs on something minor.

They bought a lot of them to build up their initial stock. Well, it seemed like a lot to Naruto, but he was just a single ninja. So Naruto's financial needs were looking to be well on their way to being met. He immediately started paying Inoichi for his help with the mental aspects of Kage Bunshin.

The Yamanaka had actually been helping him even though he couldn't afford it then. They'd just filed a promissory note with the Hokage's Tower, stating that Naruto would pay sometime in the future. The terms had been pretty lenient with regards to time, which put Inoichi-jiji firmly in the cool camp. Despite technically having years before he was required to pay anything, Naruto didn't want to delay it when he could pay. That would be plain unyouthf–uh… disrespectful. Yeah, it would be disrespecting the trust the older blond had placed in him.

In addition to the immediate monetary benefits, it allowed him access to some low level sealing references that were classified for some reason or another. Like obfuscation guides, that detailed how to make seals even more difficult to understand or reverse-engineer. Also, it gave him a slightly higher priority for scheduling time in the Sealing Chambers, and a slightly reduced cost for using them for personal projects. He hadn't fully appreciated the significance of the Chamber use then, but it was quickly becoming apparent to him.

He was currently in a low level Sealing Chamber, taking the certification test. Basically he had a set amount of time to complete a list of seals they had given to him. He was confident in his abilities, but the experience was shocking in a way he hadn't expected.

I'm going to build myself a Seal Chamber, and call it the Room of Super Awesomeness! No, I want three chambers! One to use, and one to sleep in, and one to just have. Oh, and one for Ukki-kun too!

It was one thing to read about a Sealing Chamber, and another thing entirely to actually be in one. Even a low level one such as they used for the beginner certification.

The only word that came close to describing the feeling of being in it was clarity. Naruto had known in a theoretical sense what ambient chakra was, but to actually feel the lack of it was stunning. He was pretty new to the concept of sensing chakra having only been doing it himself for the past month, but he'd never thought of it as being too similar to seeing or hearing.

Thanks to the Sealing Chamber, he might have to rethink that.

The chamber completely blocked sound from the outside in the same way it blocked chakra. It hadn't been something that Naruto had thought he would notice either, but the silence was loud. He hadn't realized how pervasive the background sounds of the world were until they were gone.

The leaves in the wind, distant conversations, the sounds of insects, the faint rushing of water through pipes in the walls… the countless hundreds of sounds he tuned out in his daily life were deafening in their absence. Now the rasping of rubbing cloth every time he shifted slightly was discordant against the silence. Even the sounds of his breathing were suddenly obvious in a way that made him self-conscious. He even found himself regulating his breathing so it didn't annoy him.

With the ambient chakra gone, it was like he'd taken a breath of fresh air for the first time after a hundred years of having his face buried in a pillow.

Chakra danced.

Naruto had no words that could accurately describe his wonder at finally feeling his own chakra. Really feeling it. Every movement he made had the chakra in his body responding seemingly on it's own. It even reacted to his thoughts. The subtle interplay of his own chakra with his movement, overshadowed and overpowered outside of the chamber, was beautiful. Something as simple as wiggling his fingers sent faint streams of chakra twisting through the air.

He was sure that what he was witnessing in fascination would be smothered by the ambient chakra before even leaving his fingers in the outside world. The thought saddened him a bit.

And it was due to this new sensitivity in his chakra that Naruto found himself sitting seiza as he smoothly drew his brush across the paper in front of him, the seal singing to him as it came to life under his hands. All the introductory books on sealing that he'd read had mentioned that seiza was the proper position for sealing, although they neglected to give any sort of reasonable explanation for why.

After a day, Naruto had decided it was just a stuffy, pretentious tradition that had nothing to do with the real world, and had proceeded to sit comfortably. Normally that was cross-legged and slouching however he saw fit. Now that he could feel his chakra he was astounded by how the position of his body affected how his chakra flowed into the seal.

Seiza focused chakra forward into the brush, making it precise and smooth. Slouching or sitting sloppily had a small but noticeable negative effect on the quality of the chakra. Why couldn't they just explain that instead of saying it was the proper way to seal?

The speed at which the brush danced across the scroll should have been far above his ability to accurately write at, but it felt like the seal knew how it was meant to be and he was simply the conduit through which it brought itself into existence. Naruto knew that the seal wasn't really writing itself and that it had to do with his newfound awareness of chakra, but it still felt like he was in interacting with it on some level.

"Hm," Naruto murmured happily as he finished explosive seal and started on a storage scroll. He knew without a doubt it was the best he'd ever drawn, and in under four minutes at that.

What was that?

The sound of him voice had resonated with the seal he'd just started drawing. Humming for a moment confirmed that something interesting was happening. Mentally accounting for the time, Naruto decided the speed at which he'd been going left more than enough time to experiment a bit.

The room was filled with simple, tuneless humming as Naruto tested the effects of his voice on several basic sealing components. The seal as a whole would do a grand total of nothing, but it served as a great test. He was satisfied with his grasp on it after a few minutes, and switched to a new scroll to finish up his test.

His humming took on a vaguely musical quality as he used it to further guide his chakra.

Being able to feel his chakra had been beautiful, but feeling it dance to his voice was nothing short of ethereal.

Stepping out of the antechamber of the Sealing Room was like walking out of a dream. The sudden rush of sound, smell, and chakra nearly overloaded Naruto's senses, almost sending him reeling back in disorientation.

"Lee-sempai? Gai-sensei? Neji-san?" Naruto blinked as he caught sight of them. He'd told them that he wouldn't be showing up to training that morning, but he hadn't said why.

"I might have mentioned that I knew where you were," Tenten admitted from beside them. She'd known about the test, unsurprisingly given how often her father had been talking about it. Or possibly the fact that the better Naruto got at sealing the bigger explosions he could provide. "They insisted on showing up for moral support."

"Yosh! Your drive to learn new skills is so Youthful!" Lee was looking at Naruto with that fire in eyes that the blond knew from experience meant that reality was about to look the other way for a minute. "Gai-sensei, is it possible to learn Fuuinjutsu without being able to externally manipulate chakra?"

"My poor Youthful Lee-kun, it is not!" Gai clenched his hand to his heart, looking off into the distance forlornly for a moment. "But with the power Youth you shall find unexplored mountains of skill to conquer of your own! OSU!" He grinned brightly at his student, giving his signature grin and thumbs up, a strange light glinting off his bared teeth with an audible ping!

The strange sensitivity to chakra the Sealing Room had given him was fading as the myriad different sources bombarded him, causing his mind to automatically tune them out. But for one shocking instant there were a burst of something from Gai that cut through the static, singing of determination, hope, and steelskyascendpurplebeyondtheoutside–

And then it was gone, leaving Naruto to blink away the sudden lightheadedness. Try as he might to concentrate, the absolute, overwhelming clarity was lost to him. His sensitivity to chakra had returned to normal.

"Yosh! I shall conquer that mountain with my hands and feet tied together, and if I can't do that I will run to the capitol and back while blindfolded in half a day!"

What just happened? In that moment it was almost like he could have grasped that odd feeling, and then… something.

"And if you cannot do that, I shall take enough water to properly hydrate a village to Suna, one bucketful at a time from Lake Omagachi in Kumo!"

I want it back, Naruto thought to himself. As overwhelming as the sensitivity was, he couldn't let whatever had just happened fade into obscurity. His mind had been incapable of comprehending that feeling, unable to relate it to anything he could understand.

"Gai-sensei!"

Naruto knew with bone deep certainty that it was not the nonsense his mind had cast it as.

I want... no, I need to understand what just happened.

"Lee!"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Hn?" Naruto turned his head at the sound of his name. His gaze had drifted off to the side as he'd tried to puzzle out what he'd witnessed. Gai and Lee were looking at him expectantly. Did something happen? They'd been saying something, but he'd been too preoccupied to pay attention. "Purple-nyah," he said decisively, as if that explained everything.

"EH? What a confoundingly hip response!" Lee was looking at Naruto with wide eyes like the other boy had just explained that squirrels were secretly in charge of the Elemental Nations, and that they were demanding a tribute of sushi every third Wednesday.

Ok, that doesn't really make sense outside of my head, Naruto admitted to himself.

Gai was looking at Naruto appraisingly with a raised eyebrow. "Truly, my eternal rival has been teaching you the secrets of his revolutionary coolness."

"Hn, did you say something Gai?"

"Kakashi-kun!" Gai twirled around to face the masked Jounin, pointing a finger at him accusingly as though everybody else needed to be shown exactly where he was. "Even your timing is hip! Is there no end to your coolness?"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto greeted.

"Naruto," the jounin acknowledged, not raising his eyes from his orange book.

"Tenten-san!"

"Nu-uh," the girl rejected flatly, causing Lee to wilt momentarily. "I'm not going along with that. Not now, not ever."

"Neji-san!"

The long-haired boy pointedly ignored his teammate, instead choosing to keep looking at Naruto with something odd and cold in his blank eyes.

"Why is everyone so hip today?" Lee pouted.

"So you have come to support your student in his time of trial! But you see, I have arrived first so this is my victory Kakashi-kun!" Gai crowed, crossing his arms and puffing up proudly.

"Oh, is Naruto doing something interesting here? I was just going to have a late brunch before meeting up with my team. I must have taken a wrong turn in the Forest of Death. Wonder how that happened?"

Naruto wasn't fooled, and felt a faint smile tugging at his lips. It was hard to get a grasp on who Kakashi was with how he vacillated between being a total jerk and then oddly helpful. When Kakashi had noticed him using a seal on Tora's ribbon he'd mentioned to Naruto the possibility of tuning the chakra output so that it would be harder for other people to detect, and given him some pretty insightful hints on how to think about it. Since keeping other people from detecting his locator beacon on the cat wasn't relevant to the mission the only reasonable conclusion, loathe as Naruto had been to admit it, was that his sensei was actually helping him with his Fuuinjutsu.

It was no coincidence that his sensei had shown up, despite his lame story.

Gai flinched. "Such cold disregard for your student's struggles, how can you be so revolutionary!"

"Speaking of which, shouldn't you be with your teammates right now Naruto-kun?"

"I am," Naruto said. He knew Kakashi knew a clone was keeping Sakura and Sasuke company.

"And you're here."

"Yup."

"Ok."

"What mind-bending hipness is this?" Gai asked in consternation. He shook his head as if to clear it. "But it is most unYouthful of you to not congratulate your splendid student on taking his Level 1 Sealing Certification!"

"Oh, is that what happened? Congratulations. Here, have a," Kakashi rummaged in his vest for a second before pulling out a half-eaten ration bar. "Uh… maybe not." He put it back and reached into a different pocket to pull out a leather bound book. "Hm… yeah, I don't need this." Handing it over to Naruto, he went back to reading his porn.

The book was heavier in his hands than he had expected. It's cover was embossed with the kanji for 'nothing', faded by the years to near invisibility.

Naruto known Kakashi long enough to know that this was either something really significant, or it was just some random book, probably porn he'd grown tired of reading too many times, that he'd had in his pocket. Maybe it was some weird lesson about expectations.

Opening it revealed that it was handwritten rather than printed. The cover page proved to be incredibly interesting.

Minato,

Remember that sometimes being stubborn until the universe gives up in exasperation is best way to accomplish the impossible. For all other times, there's Fuiinjutsu. Your amazing sensei,

The Gallant Jiraiya

Kakashi,

A more honorable student I could not have hoped for. Obito and Rin would be proud of you. Remember that living your life to its fullest is the only tribute they'd have ever wanted. And if you don't stop reading porn in public you're never going to be able to settle down with a nice girl. At the very least, swap out the cover with something else. That's worked pretty well for me.

- The Yellow Flash of the Sun Over the Water Howling on The Wind Riding Lightning, Namikaze Minato

P.S. I wish everybody would stop shortening my awesome title. Help me out with that, would you?

Naruto,

Let nothing stand in the way of your dreams. You will accomplish anything you put your mind to. You should think about wearing less orange. It'll clash with the hat. It'd be embarrassing to have a Hokage with such terrible fashion sense.

Always look underneath the underneath. Also, brush your teeth, wash behind your ears, avoid black cats, and don't walk under ladders. The only free lunch is the one you steal. That should about cover it.

- Hatake Kakashi

P.S. If you get lost on the Road of Life, keep taking lefts. Or is that for mazes?

Naruto was frozen in shock. It felt like a stone was caught in his throat. Jiraiya of the Sannin had given this to the Yondaime Hokage, who had given it to Kakashi, who was now giving it to Naruto?

What Kakashi-sensei had written… he believed in Naruto. In his ability to become Hokage. And then in his signature style he'd gone on to insult Naruto's fashion sense, and then give all sorts of random advice. Or was it really random? It was hard to say with Kakashi.

Naruto didn't notice Neji's eyes narrow as he analyzed the blond's expression, noting both Gai's and Kakashi's unusual demeanour. He was too busy flipping through the handwritten pages. It quickly became obvious that the book had far more pages than it physically should be able to hold.

Fuuinjutsu, Naruto realized excitedly. Between Jiraiya and the Yondaime, the book was probably teeming with incredible information about sealing. He was getting the inkling that his own sensei probably knew a whole lot more about the art than he was letting on. There were all sorts of notes on seals, ideas for techniques, and…

Is that a shopping list? Seriously?

Naruto snapped the book shut after flipping to the next page, blushing furiously as he came across a rather detailed drawing of a naked woman of rather impressive proportions.

He glared at Kakashi for not giving him any sort of warning.

The jounin just did his eye smiley thing and shrugged.

"Thanks," Naruto said simply. He didn't have the words to express his gratitude or confusion.

"So," Tenten said, awkwardly when no one said anything for about a minute. "If we're congratulating Naruto-kun, does that mean he passed? Won't they need to to examine the seals or something?"

"Certainly, but I'm sure he's passed," Kakashi said. "After all, he's my student."

"I seem to remember teaching myself sealing."

"Doesn't mean you're not my student."

"Whatever."

This is nice. Naruto thought happily. The connection that Gai and Lee shared was something he'd envied ever since he met them, and it had seemed rather obvious that Kakashi wasn't going to be helping out on that front. But maybe there was hope yet? Naruto couldn't see them ever being like Gai and Lee (not that he wanted to be exactly like them) but perhaps Kakashi could be something of a mentor, and not just a teacher.

Lee's gaze was bouncing between Naruto and Kakashi, his eyes shining in glee. "So Naruto-kun learned his coolness from Gai-sensei's rival! I see! Naruto-kun, you are my eternal rival!" He was halfway to assuming Gai's patented 'Nice Guy' pose when he stopped in horror. "Neji-san is already my eternal rival. But Naruto-kun… What do I do?" He wailed.

Neji had the look of someone who had just realized there was a golden opportunity floating right in front of them. "It saddens me, but you must follow, uh, the flames of your passion," the stoic boy said awkwardly, almost choking on the last half of the sentence.

Naruto glared at Neji, who just shrugged as if to say can you blame me? And Naruto really couldn't.

"Neji-san! You are so hip and filled with the FLAMES OF YOUTH!" Lee bellowed, overcome with emotion. "But so is Naruto-kun! I cannot choose, I must have you both!"

Neji and Naruto each took several steps away from Lee in panic.

This is your fault! Neji glared at Naruto.

No, it's your fault! Naruto glared back.

"Lee! What passion!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee-kun!"

"Shouldn't you take Naruto-kun's feelings into consideration?" Tenten interrupted. "If you take up all his time with challenges, he won't be able to make me explosive tags, and flashbang tags, and other explodey things!"

"What?" My feelings? Naruto thought in exasperation. Those sound a hell of lot like your concerns, not mine. Tenten's fascination with his sealing was quite endearing at times, but he would have preferred her sympathy not be quite so selfishly motivated.

"Why am I the only sane shinobi I know?" Neji asked dryly as Gai and Lee tried to convince Tenten that the bonds of eternal rivalry were more important than explosions.

"Hey, I'm sane!" Naruto objected. "I've only argued with myself three times in the past week, and I won all three times!" He frowned as he considered another angle. "Although I guess I lost all three times as well." He brightened up. "Oh, but there was that one time when I was both right, so my total is positive!"

"Just go with the flow," Kakashi advised. "Stress wrinkles will look really bad on you."

Neji sighed heavily.

"Calm down Naruto. You're going to make me seriously dizzy." Kakashi was amused, but Naruto's antics were definitely annoying Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna.

"But I'm so booooored," Naruto whined, flipping to his feet. He'd been hopping on one hand, backwards, rather than just walking like the rest of them.

At first he'd been excited when Kakashi had announced that it was time for their first C-Rank mission. While he'd been pushing his team to take more D-Ranks for the money, he had been getting rather annoyed with the tedious menial chores that the villagers had decided were tasks for ninja. He could almost imagine that it was another congratulatory present for his taking his sealing certification.

And then he'd met the client.

Naruto had met a few unpleasant drunks before, but the self-proclaimed 'Super Bridge Builder' truly took the prize for ornery, condescending, bastardly old jerk. He was disrespectful to them all but he seemed to take particular pleasure in insulting Naruto's intelligence, height, clothes, and anything else he could come up with.

Tazuna was going to need to hire another team of ninja to protect him from the first team if this kept up, seriously.

Naruto's dream of protecting a beautiful, wonderful princess who was amazed with his awesome skills and could make the best ramen ever died a horrible, screaming death.

"Yeah, lay off the sugar brat. I'm gonna be super annoyed if you crash and have to take a nap."

Don't kill the client, don't kill the client, don't kill the client, Naruto repeated in his head like a mantra.

But a horrible accident that could in no way be our fault would be ok, right? Like a tree falling on him. We could totally blame that on a rabid squirrel.

Naruto considered that for a moment, waiting for the proverbial angel on his other shoulder to chime in with a rebuttal.

Yeah, I'd be cool with that, the angel decided.

That's not how it's supposed to work, Naruto thought at himself crossly. All his pent up energy was his thoughts take on a life of their own. He'd grown rather used to spamming Kage Bunshin to clear his mind. It was so convenient. Any concern, random whim, or weird idea he had could be delegated to another him.

But he hadn't been doing that since they started the mission. He was determined to approach his first serious mission like a professional, despite the obviously substandard client. That meant all his energy should be devoted to the mission. No training clones, no fun clones, no weights. Just a few clones to maintain a perimeter.

In hindsight that probably wasn't the best approach. Ever since he'd learned the Kage Bunshin he'd been going full throttle and then some without any breaks. At first it had be really tiring, but he'd pushed through it and seemingly hit his stride. Suddenly stopping all that activity had made it clear that he couldn't just stop.

He had too much energy and too many thoughts. Adapting to his new clone spamming lifestyle had changed him fundamentally. Trying to cram all of his energy into a few Narutos was making him distracted and twitchy. The lack of the goofing off clones had cut off the stream of social interaction that he'd become used to, forcing his mind to try and compensate by imagining other distinct 'hims' in his head to talk with.

Stopping his normal clone activities completely wasn't the best way to go into 'mission-mode'. He'd have to think more on that later.

"The voices in my head don't like you," Naruto told the bridge builder darkly.

"Ooooh, scary." Tazuna mock shivered. "Figures you'd be off your rocker. I might actually have to worry if that was coming from grumpy over here." He indicated Sasuke, who ignored him.

Kakashi interceded, cutting off Naruto's animalistic growl. "Maa maa, let's cool things down before someone loses an eye. Seriously. Now Naruto, what do you usually do when you're bored?"

He trained with Lee and Tenten, tended to his roof garden, and played various games with his clones. But playing tag didn't seem like something a professional ninja would be do on mission.

"Playing with myself isn't something I should do on a mission though," Naruto informed his teacher sagely.

Tazuna sprayed sake out of his mouth and nose, coughing and wheezing. Kakashi chuckled, and Sakura squeaked in indignation, taking in a huffing breath in a way Naruto knew from experience that she intended to really shout at him. Before she could, Sasuke surprised them all by bursting out in unrestrained laughter.

The dark haired genin howled his amusement, hunching over and shaking with the force of it. He continued laughing hysterically until he ran out of breath, having to try and fill his lungs while still chuckling. Then he took one look at Naruto's confused pout and started all over again.

"What?" Naruto demanded crossly. "Why are you laughing? Sasuke? Teme?" That only made him laugh even harder.

We can blame the rabid squirrel for two accidents. It's an evil rabid ninja squirrel that hates duck buttheads and mean old farts.

Naruto was starting to think that his 'angel', conscience or whatever, was a bit defective.

A distraction from Sasuke's confusing behavior arrived in the form of messages from the clones he had around them in the trees sending him frantic messages.

DANGERNINJAKAKASHICLAWS!

The messages blurred together in their simultaneous arrival, but it was enough to get Naruto to spin around in panic in time to see a jagged chain wrap itself around his surprised sensei.

Kakashi's exposed eye seemed to smile slightly as it met Naruto's horrified gaze, but it had to be a trick of the light. The ninja who had jumped over his sensei to wrap him up in chains yanked in tandem with his partner at the other end of the chain as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"One down," a distorted voice proclaimed.

The wet squelch as the chain tore through the jounin was almost drowned out by the sound of Sasuke's raucous laughter, which cut off suddenly as he noticed what was happening.

After all, he's my student.

But I just… Naruto couldn't even finish a thought, his mind going numb in shock.

The enemy ninja didn't pause and they were on Naruto in an instant, passing by on both sides, their chain looping around him to prevent escape.

Fast!

The stillness of his mind had given way to sharp focus, a hyper awareness honed by sparring with Lee and Tenten supplemented by thousands of hours of training. They were fast, yes, but wasteful. If they had anything close to Tenten's skill with weapons the chain would have come in quicker and tighter and dissected him in an instant.

Naruto felt the pull of a clone trying to use replacement on him, but he resisted it. Instead he leapt straight up, allowing the chain to close around thin air. He slipped his pack off his shoulder and hurled it at one who wasn't wearing a cloak.

His leap peaked at about ten meters, and in the the moment where he hung still in the air he created a Kage Bunshin. They were both horizontal to the ground, but facing opposite directions with the real Naruto looking down. With a burst of chakra they used each other as springboards. Naruto shot after his pack, his clone flipping in the air to pepper the cloaked ninja with pointy bits of metal.

The uncloaked ninja knocked Naruto's pack off to the side with the arm covered in a heavy metal gauntlet, revealing Naruto behind it. He managed to get his other arm up in defense, but Naruto grabbed onto it, swinging his legs to firmly plant his feet on the ninja's sternum. There was a burst memories as his clone was dispelled.

"Hya!" Naruto yelled as he kicked out with chakra reinforced legs, sending the masked ninja flying back. The chain snapped taught, yanking his partner in the same direction. Naruto was in the air again, the force of his kick having launched him into a flip.

Fingers blurring through seals, Naruto drew a deep breath. The pressure built up painfully in his lungs but he ignored it. The last seals of the jutsu would normally be Horse then Tiger, for containment and then projection but he wanted more than just blunt force.

Dragon for compression.

Bird-C3 to boost rotation.

Tiger with extended little fingers for a point based projection.

Fuuton: Renkudan!

The drilling wind that buzzed through the air as it was launched from his lungs was hardly recognizable as being derived from the pressurized clump of air of the original technique. It screamed down at a slight angle to tear through the cloaked ninja after he passed under Naruto.

That was the first indication that something wasn't quite right. Despite the increased penetrating power that the drilling motion added to the jutsu, it should have slammed his enemy into the ground before managing to dig into him. The 'corpse' turned to water, revealing it to be a clone.

"Naruto!" Sakura's screamed in warning.

Naruto let the Kawarimi swap him out when he felt a clone use the technique this time. Suddenly he found himself in a tree overlooking the fight.

His clone was saved from being sliced up by Sasuke pinning the chain to a tree with a shuriken from where he'd jumped into the air, followed by a kunai to hold it in place. The enemy ninja disconnected from their chain, ignoring Sasuke and the clone still in the air to go for Tazuna and Sakura.

Naruto was about to jump back into the fray when a hand fell onto his shoulder. He reflexively grabbed the arm and tried to throw, but was turned around and pinned to the tree like his efforts meant nothing.

Kakashi-sensei! Naruto thought in shock. But how… A quick glance to where he had been dismembered revealed chopped up wood. Kawarimi, and Genjutsu, Naruto concluded. I shouldn't have missed that.

His back from the dead sensei gave a reassuring eye-smile, disappearing from before him without a trace. There was no blur, after-image, or sound. He was in front of Naruto, and in an instant he was gone.

There was a thud, and Kakashi was suddenly in front of Tazuna and Sakura, holding the limp forms of their enemies like unruly children.

So cool! Naruto thought in amazement. He was pissed at Kakashi for scaring him, but the weirdo pervert probably had a reason. He created a few more Kage Bunshin to be careful, and swapped with the clone that Sasuke had 'saved', letting it dispel in mid-Kawarimi to get its memories of the fight.

After an interesting accident, and a lot of trial and error, Naruto had discovered that Kage Bunshin could allow themselves to be dispelled in the middle of a Kawarimi, making the transition a tad smoother. And gaining their chakra back while doing the technique seemed to help him come out of it with lessened impact.

Unfortunately it only seemed to work if he was the one using it on them, and not the other way around. If a clone started the technique it had to finish it fully. His experimental clones had shown that bad things happened to the swapee if the swapper bailed in the middle of the jutsu. Since it was the clones usually swapping him out of danger, that made it a lot less useful than he was hoping for.

The ability to teleport out of danger without leaving a trace would be extremely cool, so he wasn't giving up on it. It wasn't just about the cool factor either. It did lessen the negative side-effects of the jutsu. The less time he spent recovering from getting swapped out of danger the better, even if it was only a tenth or a twentieth of a second.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried out in relief. "You're alive."

"Yo. Nice job you three. Naruto and Sasuke, your teamwork was good. Sakura, good job on protecting the client. That being said, you focused too much on your enemy Naruto. You should be more aware of your surroundings."

Naruto's fists clenched in anger. Why was he the only one getting berated? Sasuke had also been lured away from Tazuna.

Trying to protect you.

Naruto tried to relax. Remember the book, he told himself.

Kakashi didn't hate him. Hopefully. And the truth was he had been too focused on what he had thought were the enemy. He should have noticed that Kakashi's 'body' was just chopped up wood much sooner.

Being singled out was embarrassing, but he should just view it as constructive criticism and not an insult. It was probably one of Kakashi's look underneath the underneath lessons. And if it wasn't, he'd take it as such anyways.

"Thanks, Sasuke," Naruto said grudgingly, his voice hoarse. "For, you know."

He couldn't actually bring himself to say that Sasuke had tried to save him, and he ruthlessly squashed the urge to bring up the fact that he'd swapped himself out of danger with a clone already. Sasuke had thought he was in danger, and trivializing the fact that he'd acted would be unyouth… rude.

Sasuke was looking at him strangely.

Is it that surprising that I thanked him?

"You've got a little…" Sasuke swiped his thumb across the corner of his mouth..

"Huh?" Naruto wiped his jacket sleeve across his mouth and nearly flinched when it came away bloody. "Ehehe, I just bit the inside of my lip," he lied.

Shit. His lungs ached a bit, but thankfully he didn't think there was any significant damage. He could already feel the pain fading as his enhanced healing got to work. That variation of the Renkudan was something he'd practiced a lot with clones before trying out with his real body, as his early mistakes with it would have exploded his chest had he been doing it himself.

Dropping the explicit containment so he could make the technique drill meant that he had to use shape manipulation to keep it from shredding him apart from the inside out. He actually could do it rather well, but being in a real fight had unanticipated complications. Stuff he really should have anticipated. Like the pressure of actually having his life on the line making things harder.

He would have been able to safely stop the technique if he felt that it was going to seriously injure him. That was something he'd made sure of before chancing it with his real body. But the fact that it had been uncontrolled enough to hurt him at all was sobering.

It was stupid of him to have used it at all. It would have been perfectly fine to put a bit more power into the regular version of the technique, but he'd complicated things unnecessarily because he'd been so angry at the ninja. It had felt like he had been in control of his emotions during the fight, but the way that it had left him drained when he realized Kakashi was still alive was telling.

He now understood what cold anger was.

Thinking back on the fight, Naruto couldn't help but be disappointed with how it had gone. It wasn't like he'd frozen up or anything, but he'd been so reactionary. Everything had just happened so quickly while he was off-balance; there simply hadn't been any time for strategizing.

Of course they'd attack at the most surprising moment. Stupid Sasuke, laughing like that. It's all his fault, Naruto thought to himself, although not seriously. It was cathartic to blame things on the teme.

Well, at least some things had gone well. Using clones to maneuver in midair was something he'd had to practice a hell of a lot so he was pleased that it had been so instinctive in combat. Gai and Lee had helped him a lot with that. He'd known Gai-sensei long enough that the green-clad jounin's knowledge of physics and his ability to explain it wasn't that surprising. Although he never did figure out what made some angles Youthful and others not. That seemed completely random.

Having tied up the enemy ninja, Kakashi turned to their client. "These two are Chuunin level ninja from Kirigakure. Actually, given by their reckless presence Hi no Kuni I think they're more likely to be missing-nin. Either way, I doubt they are the only threat."

Chuunin level? Naruto wondered what that really even meant. In terms of combat, he hadn't really felt like they were much threat, although he had probably just been facing water clones the whole time. Still, in a straight up fight he didn't feel like they'd be too much of a threat.

But they didn't fight head on, Naruto remembered. Just like Iruka-sensei said, ninja don't have to fight fair. The real them had ignored the clone Naruto and Sasuke to go after… Sakura? No, they were after the client.

Naruto felt chills go down his spine as he realized that whether or not he could have beaten them in a fight would have been irrelevant. He didn't know what he could have done to stop them in time if Kakashi hadn't shown up, and Sasuke had been in the air, unable to help either. Neither of them could attack, not with Sakura and Tazuna in the target zone.

Chuunin level isn't just about strength. He'd thought he'd known that there was more to being a ninja that just being strong, but he hadn't understood it. It was something he'd have to think more on.

"How did you read our movements?" the cloaked missing-nin asked rather calmly, having regained consciousness. The rebreather distorted his voice oddly.

"On a sunny day like this, when it hasn't rained in three days? Hiding in a puddle like that was amateur hour. Seriously~" Kakashi-sensei sounded like he was gently scolding children rather than insulting two grown men that had just tried to kill him. The cloaked ninja had a contemplative look in his eyes, but his companion was growling in frustration.

Kakashi-sensei is giving the enemy looking underneath the underneath lessons? And one of them is actually listening? That decided it for Naruto. If even an enemy could take insults as a learning opportunity, then he should be able to do the same.

Sensei is actually pretty awesome, Naruto realized. He'd barely even noticed the puddle except to step around it, but to see it and really comprehend that it was out of place, and what that meant… I've got a long way to go.

"Then why did you let these brats fight if you knew that?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly. "I could have killed them instantly, but I wanted to see who their target was. Us," his gaze focused in on Tazuna sharply. "Or you."

"Hahaha, what do you mean?" Tazuna's laughter was forced, and he was obviously nervous.

Naruto was pleased that he'd managed to make that connection on his own.

"You hired us to protect you from bandits and thieves until you completed the bridge, not shinobi. If you had told us there were ninja after you the mission would have been classified as a more expensive B-Rank, and you'd have gotten a more experienced team to reflect the higher risks. Whatever your reasons for lying to us may be, this mission is now outside the scope of our duties."

Naruto's first instinct was to be smug that the crotchety old man hadn't managed to pull one over them, but the look on his face stopped him cold. It was like the life had drained out of his eyes. Tazuna looked so old, tired, and defeated that it would be beyond cruel to rub it in.

The bridge builder hadn't just been trying to cheat them because he was cheap. There was definitely something else going on. Whatever his reasons were, they were deadly serious.

"You're right," Tazuna admitted. "This is definitely more than I paid for. There's a super dangerous man after me."

He told Team 7 about Gato, the ruthless businessman who had taken control of Wave by force, executing anyone who stood up to him. The wealthy shipping magnate had ground the economy under his heel, so there was no way that even the Daimyo of Wave even had the money to hire ninja to help them out.

And then the man had shown his devious side by bringing up his grandson and daughter.

"Any thoughts?" Kakashi asked, surprising the genin.

Was their sensei actually looking for their input, or was this some kind of test? Sakura looked scared to Naruto, and Sasuke's expression was inscrutable.

Either way, the answer should be the same. They shouldn't continue the mission. It was dangerous, they weren't the right team for it, and it was pointless.

If Gato was really as bad as Tazuna was saying, and Naruto didn't actually doubt it, then what was to stop him from simply having the bridge destroyed after it was finished. What had stopped him from destroying even before now? No one was guarding it according to Tazuna, but Gato had been content to let it be.

Naruto didn't want to ask these questions aloud, at least not in front of Tazuna. On the one hand, it seemed kinder in the long run to at least inform him of the grim possibilities, but he was afraid that it might just break the old man.

If I were an evil bastard, why wouldn't I just blow up the bridge as soon as they started building it? Why let Wave even think it had a chance if he's gone through the trouble of crushing their spirits in every other way?

Could he want the bridge for himself? He'd crushed their economy, so he was making money just by using the country to help him ship or smuggle other goods. Perhaps having a bridge would also help with that. But then why wouldn't he wait until it was finished?

Maybe if he killed Tazuna and completed it himself he could claim ownership of it in some way, although the idea felt iffy to Naruto. Gato could probably take control of the bridge like he had the rest of the country, and he sounded like the kind of person who would let Tazuna build it first so he didn't have to pay for it at all.

So why would he leave it half-finished, like some macabre monument?

Naruto frowned as he came to a chilling realization. Maybe that was the point, so that it could be a monument to the withering hope of Wave. If Gato left it there it would be like an invitation to try and build further, and if he kept killing whoever tried he could keep whittling down on the spirit of Wave until they completely gave up.

And if they ever managed to finish it? Well, he could take it for himself or blow it up. There was no way to win.

So should Team 7, in their capacity as shinobi, take a mission they weren't fit or paid for?

No. Naruto couldn't accept that answer though.

"You guys can do whatever," Naruto said, not giving away his grim ponderings. "I'm going to continue the mission."

If whatever objective they could hope to achieve was dangerously beyond them, Kakashi would simply overrule his desires and send them home. Naruto didn't know what he would do if that was what his sensei decided, but as far as he was concerned he had to continue the mission. At least to the point where he could see if the old man was telling the truth.

"If you're going you'll need me to keep you from drowning yourself in a puddle," Sasuke said. "Besides, there's no way I'm letting my record say I abandoned my first real mission."

Naruto growled a bit at Sasuke's assertion, but he figured the sourpuss just needed an excuse not to look like he had actual feelings.

Sakura looked conflicted. She obviously thought that this was too much, but she didn't want to disagree with Sasuke either.

Naruto felt a bit bad for her, but being a shinobi was a dangerous occupation. Shying away from even the possibility of danger wasn't something they could afford to do.

Would Jiji approve? Naruto wondered. Shinobi were fundamentally mercenaries after all. The tactical books he'd been reading were clear on what he should at this point. Shimura Danzo would definitely say to drop the mission. There was tons of risk and virtually no possibility of real success or reward.

But Naruto couldn't help but hope that think that the Sandaime would approve of them continuing the mission. The way he talked about the Will of Fire and what it meant should apply even if this was about the suffering of people in other countries. He knew that it was possible that the Hokage didn't mean it that way, although the thought of that possibility made him feel sick. What he did know however, was what the Will of Fire meant to him.

So should they continue the mission as proud shinobi of Konoha?

Yes.

If you don't like the answer I guess you just have to change the question.

"Well, that's that then," Kakashi said, oddly cheerfully when it became clear that Sakura wasn't going to speak up. "We'll protect you at least until you get back to your country."

Maybe Kakashi-sensei is thinking like I am, Naruto thought in relief. If he'd forced them to abandon the mission, Naruto's pride in being a Konoha shinobi would probably have been shattered. If the Will of Fire didn't separate them from the missing-nin tied to the tree, then what was it good for?

Tazuna had collapsed to his knees in relief and was muttering thanks so sincerely that Naruto was ashamed that the thought of leaving him to his own devices had even crossed his mind, however briefly.

"So, dobe," Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto's attention. "Do you still feel the need to play with yourself, or did these two relieve your… tension." He indicated the enemy ninja, who were looking at him in disgusted shock.

Tazuna and Sakura were also looking at the Uchiha with oddly scandalized expressions, while Kakashi was just looking amused.

Naruto didn't know what the big deal was. Despite the super weird way Sasuke was asking, it was a legitimate question. Being filled with energy to the point of bursting was distracting, and playing some fun games would definitely be good for his mindset. Especially to help uplift his mood after his dark thoughts on what was happening to Tazuna's country.

"I've thought about, and I decided it would be a good idea after all," Naruto said. "How can I act professionally if I'm all pent up?"

What's wrong with him? Naruto wondered. Sasuke had a ridiculous expression of flabbergasted shock on his face. Naruto would go so far as to say his flabber had probably never been more gasted. Sakura's face was turning an excessive shade of red.

"How can you say that with a straight face?" Tazuna asked in amazement.

"Wise words, Naruto-kun," Kakashi praised him, his eye twinkling madly.

"See, Kakashi-sensei gets it," Naruto said proudly. "In fact, I think you should probably do it too, Sasuke. You're always so grumpy. Having some fun would be really good for you."

Sakura made an odd squeaking sound, and Sasuke's face had tightened in… anger? Nah, it was probably embarrassment. Sasuke had never joined the other kids in playing games, so he probably didn't have the faintest idea where to start.

"I guess you probably don't know how," Naruto continued sympathetically. "Maybe you can get someone to help you out? Not me, of course. It'd have to be someone who doesn't mind that you've got no experience. And, that you're… you." He might not hate Sasuke, but he'd bet that playing tag or hide and seek with Mr. Broody would suck all the fun out of it. "Maybe Kiba?" The Inuzuka would relish the chance to lord over the Uchiha's awkward first attempts at playing games.

"Hrngle?" Sakura made a strangled sound, flushing almost as red as that weird girl who sat in the back at the Academy always did.

The idea of Sasuke hanging out with Kiba isn't that weird, is it?

"Naruto!" Sasuke growled, a seriously whacked out crazy look in his eyes. "I'm going to KILL YOU!"

Holy crap, he's serious! Naruto dodged a wild stab of Sasuke's kunai, leaping out of range.

"Yikes, what's the -whoa- big deal?" Naruto was confused. Did Sasuke hate even the idea of having fun? "Ok, maybe Kiba is a big step. Akamaru can -ora!- show you the ropes first."

If anything, Sasuke's attempts at disemboweling him seemed to get even more murderous.

Maybe Sasuke is just a lost cause. Who could hate the idea of playing fetch with a puppy this much?

Tazuna watched one of his would be protectors tried his very best to brutally murder another.

"I take it back," he said despondently. "I'm super dead."

For another 'Naruto actually uses Kage Bunshin to train' story, check out For Want of a Clone, by Professor Image. It diverges far more from canon initially than this does, and looks interesting so far. Although he slightly mischaracterizes my take on henge :P

AN:

It's practically a rite of passage for Skilled!Naruto to detect and defeat the demon brothers with ease. They are cannon fodder, and indeed canon fodder, so why not? Their entire purpose was to show that Sasuke was a badass even fresh out of the Academy, and that Kakashi actually had skillz. Oh, and to show just how ridiculously out of his depth Naruto was.

While I think many of you would have been quite happy if I glossed over this part and got to the 'good' fights, I think a lot of important things happen here with regards to Naruto's development. Sadly, this is normally overlooked in favor of an overwhelming beat down of Gozu and Meizu.

A fundamental problem with the Wave arc is that it sets the bar so horribly low for the most part. We already have Naruto defeating a 'Chuunin' at the start of the series, so of course the main characters have to be able to match ninja of supposedly higher skill than them, otherwise what's the point?

Cue the Demon Brothers, who obligingly stand still and let Sasuke wail on them.

Interestingly enough, reading through their chapters had me thinking they were sporadically almost competent. If there had been a less skilled team leader, it's conceivable that they could have actually killed him in a surprise attack. These two are supposed to be assassin types that have been with Zabuza for a significant amount of time. After taking out the greatest threat, they move to the weakest link. Or second weakest link. Either way, they manage to draw Sasuke away from their target and Sakura.

And of course, the fact that someone jumps at them is so incredibly shocking that they have no choice but to stand still and take their much-deserved beating. I suppose it is somewhat possible that Sasuke's exemplary aim was… actually no, I'm not buying it.

And then with the greatest threat away from their target, the Demon Brothers are free to simply ignore Sasuke and go for the kill. That is, until he decides to be about ten times faster than them and pretty much teleports in front of Sakura.

It's perfectly in line with canon to simply leave Gozu and Meizu as a convenient duo of minions for indulging in some 'look at how badass this genin is!' but I think it gives the story more depth to tweak it to where they are actually competent. The seeds are there. That hiding in the water jutsu they have is actually something that would take serious skills. Even if it gets downgraded to a hole in the ground covered by Genjutsu… still takes some skill.

So I decided to approach it as though Kakashi's assertion that they were 'Chuunin-level' actually had a basis. Since Kishimoto obligingly made sense with the requirement that Chuunin is an indication of ability to achieve goals more than a summation of stat-points, I didn't really even have to inflate their skill much. Just assume they had some skill with Suiton jutsu based on their hiding jutsu, and not have them stand around like utter morons for half the fight.

[That being said, the actual hard skill points of Chuunin candidates far outstrip the Demon Brothers by the time the Chuunin Exams start. Escalation is a tricky business.]

I prefer them this way, rather than having them at a level one would expect from minor villains in a filler episode that the Konohamaru Corps have to take down before nap time. (I don't watch the anime so don't read into that.)

In terms of stats, Naruto and Sasuke had them cold. In terms of the mission, Gozu and Meizu almost managed to overcome that.

Naruto ends up learning a lot of lessons that he thought he knew in this fight, which is important. He's definitely thinking about things, trying to analyze all the angles and not doing too bad on that front, but it's a work in progress.

As always, reviews are appreciated.