The Orangey-red-yellow glow of the morning sun finally crested the hills to the east and Naruto took a deep relaxing breath as he basked in the warmth of the sun on the front most spike of his father's mountain side monument.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of that sight," He said to the carving below him as he watched the sunrise over Konoha. It was his favourite thing about the Village, the way the wonderful hues of colour played across the morning sky. From his position at the top of the Village Naruto sat and stared at the beauty of the world around him, he felt almost guilty hogging such a beautiful sight to himself every morning but it was something he couldn't think of sharing with anyone, well not yet anyway.

He stayed there for a long time, simply admiring the view. He took a deep soothing breath as he closed his eyes and brought his hands together. He had taken to doing this every morning he was in the Village, simply watching the sunrise with his soon to be predecessors and meditating, communing with the Natural Chakra around the Village almost like he was a ghost gliding through the Natural Chakra that surrounded him.

He felt a presence behind him moving closer. Of course he had noticed the Chakra signature some time ago, though then it was a faint 'could be-possibly-sort of' feeling he got from his basic instinct. Now in Sage Mode he could easily detect the Chakra signature of the other person moving ever closer to his position.

He had to give it to her, her skill in masking her presence had increased remarkably and she was next to impossible to detect properly without using Sage Mode, though to a Sage it was almost impossible to hide your Chakra signature completely.

The presence behind him moved with startling speed closing the gap between the two of them in the time it took to blink.

He could feel their Chakra loom over him and yet he stayed perfectly still. Hands moved to wrap themselves around him and the only reaction he made was exhaling deeply, causing the figure to pause momentarily.

The hesitation was short lived, barley even noticeable to even the most skilled observer before a pair of hands clasped lightly over his eyes.

"Guess who," The person said in a sing-song voice as she drew out the vowels. The voice was kept low and monotone making it hard to guess who it was behind him, though, from the feel of the Chakra signature and the fact that this wasn't the first time she had tried to get the drop on him like this Naruto knew exactly who it was.

"I wouldn't have a clue; I wonder who it could be." Naruto said in a whimsically mystified voice, "Any thoughts on the matter Tokoni?" He asked her.

Tokoni gave a short lived moan of disapproval before her hands dropped from his eyes and Naruto felt the all too familiar weight of Tokoni slumping against his back resting her head on his shoulder.

She looked at his face and half scowled at him.

"I thought we agree you weren't allowed to use Senjutsu," She pouted.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the girl sideways. "You, said I shouldn't, I never agree to that, also as far as guessing it was you, you are 'A' the only person who knows I'm here at this time and 'B', you do this every time so it not hard to figure out who it is." He said.

Tokoni let out another moan of disapproval and she leaned on him more. Naruto couldn't help but smile at his former students' antics as she went limp on his shoulder, making him strain a little to keep perfectly strait.

"If it makes you feel any better," Naruto added after a moment of silence, "I couldn't really pin your location till after I went into Sage Mode proper." He told her.

Tokoni smiled at the compliment he had given her and moved slightly to sit down next to him. Like all of his former students they were extremely close. Though while his second team still looked at him as a mentor and role mode to aspire too Naruto's first team had become like family to him as they exceled from Chūnin to Jōnin with impressive speed, though of all of them he had become especially close to Tokoni as they years passed by. She was a friendly and bubbly young woman with kind green eyes a beautiful smile and ample figure that made more than a few heads turn as she walked down the street.

She nestled closer to him and Naruto relaxed his meditative posture putting an arm around her as they watched the sun finally clear the horizon together.

"You know it's practically criminal that you keep this all to yourself." She said after a time.

Naruto only shrugged, "Well it's not like I shoo people away, I just don't go around asking people to join me at half five to come and sit with me, though I think more than a few of them would come if I asked." He said the last part mostly to himself as an afterthought.

"Besides," He continued, "It's not like I'm alone here, I got Pa, and Ba-Chan and the others here with me," He said gesturing to the other Hokage monuments. "And I can always count on you to try and get the drop on me." He said giving Tokoni a light hug.

The two of them giggle slightly at the jest as they looked over Konoha watching the Village slowly come to life as the more 'pro-active' citizens started their daily duties and activities. The pair stayed there for nearly an hour before Tokoni spoke up again.

"Guess What?" She said in the same sing-song voice as before.

"What?" Naruto asked glancing down at her.

"Ibiki-kun has put my name forward for a Proctor position for the next Chūnin selection examinations." She said with a delighted smile spread across her face. The smile was contagious as Naruto couldn't help but smile. Partially due to the happy feeling he had for her recent success – for it was quite a feat to even have ones name put forward as an exam proctor let alone someone her age – and because she always seemed to be able to make any one smile.

"Congratulations," Naruto said happily as she told him the good news. "So how has working in the T&I corps been treating you lately?" He asked her.

Tokoni half shrugged as she ran a hand through her oak-brown hair, "Lately it's been really good," She said. "I mean it's always been fun and interesting work, but lately Ibiki-kun's been taking me under his wing as sort of his protégé I guess. He's been giving me a lot of tough assignments and been taking me on missions with him a lot lately as well as teaching me a lot of neat tricks for making people crack without actually hurting them." She said.

Naruto smiled at her as she spoke. Tokoni was one of the liveliest and playful people he had ever met, she was kind, considerate and always willing to help others, in many ways people had often compared her to Naruto as far as personality and character went. Yet on top of it all she had a sadistic streak a mile long.

She was renowned for being able to twist peoples' arms in just the right way to make them submit to her. She excelled at mind games and psyching out her opponents, something that had not only drawn Ibiki's attention early on in her work within the T&I corps but also what had gotten the young woman out of a lot of compromising positions without having to lift a finger. In many ways her kind and good hearted nature was one of her best weapons when she was putting the pressure on people.

Tokoni looked at her watch and began to stand up. "Atagi and Sumi will be opening shop soon, care to get a bite to eat before you meet up with your squad?" She asked.

Naruto nodded, "I'd love to, though I gave my squad the week off so we don't have to rush." He said with a grin.

Tokoni smiled warmly at that. "Sounds good, we haven't had you around for a proper meal for a while now." She said as the two walked down from the monument back to the Village.

The two Jōnin walked to a large two story café and bar in the middle of the Village. The sign on the door read 'closed', but the two of them ignored it completely as they walked through the front door.

The two people – a man and a woman – going about their preparations for the morning shift looked up as the door chime sounded and smiled immediately at them.

"Tokoni, Naruto, good to see you." The man said as he walked over to them, limping slightly as he gave both of them a big hug.

"It's good to see you again Atagi," Naruto said as he hugged his former student and friend. He led the two of them to a table and he pulled out a notepad from the apron he was wearing. "So usual orders?" He asked.

"Nope," Tokoni said with a happy smile. "Bring out the celebratory special." She said.

Atagi raised an eyebrow, "And what are we celebrating today?" He asked.

"I'll tell you when you get back." She said.

Atagi smiled and turned to his wife. "Alright, Celebratory Special apparently," He said to her as they made their way back to the kitchen. Before he got there the door chime rang again and a young man with dirty blond hair walked in. Atagi gave him a nod and kept walking.

"What, not going to take my order?" The man asked, seemingly insulted, but they all knew better. Atagi just shrugged. "Seems we got something to celebrate," He said.

The blond man shrugged and walked over towards Naruto and Tokoni's window side booth.

"Yakuno!" Tokoni practically shrieked as leapt up and bear hugged them man. He returned the hug after stumbling back a few steps.

"So what are we celebrating?" He asked as he sat down across from the two of them. "Ibiki finally lose his mind and give you a promotion?" He asked in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.

Tokoni half glared at her former team mates antics, He had a particularly dry and callous sense of humour though those that knew him, knew he rarely meant what he said.

"I'll tell you when Atagi and Sumi get back." She said.

Yakuno nodded and the three of them engaged in small talk for a few minutes as they waited for Atagi and Sumi to return.

After a short fifteen minutes the pair came out of the kitchen door carrying a platter a hand and balancing jugs and glasses on their heads.

As nimbly as any waiter the two set down the trays of food and poured drinks for everyone before sitting down themselves.

"So what are we celebrating?" Sumi asked, levelling her haunting grey eyes at Tokoni. The brunet smiled at the question. "Ibiki's put me up for Proctor for the upcoming Chūnin selection examinations." She beamed at them.

The three of them all smiled and a round of congratulations wet out as they all realised a glass. As the group began eating the small buffet of food before them the five began to engage in the usual chit-chat.

"So how are the new limbs treating you?" Naruto asked Atagi and Sumi.

They both smiled at him. "Fantastic." Atagi said patting his right leg, "Even with the nerve damage it's just like a real leg, you'll have to thank the Kazekage for me next time you get the chance."

Similarly Sumi looked down at her hands and smiled.

At a glance they looked normal enough but up close one could make out the finer points of puppet joints.

Naruto looked at the two of them and smiled. It was the least he could do for them after all. Atagi was the third a final member of Naruto's first Genin team. He was a strong and able man who had the makings of a great Shinobi, unfortunately, shortly after they had become Chūnin he lost most of his right leg to a letter bomb while on a mission. If the wound had been clean he might have been okay, but the blast as well as the need to cauterize the stump to stop him from bleeding out had led to extensive nerve damage.

The operation to give him the prosthetic leg was a simple affair but because the prosthetic required some Chakra control to use properly Atagi found that while he could walk he was still considered unfit to carry out a shinobi's duties and had been forced into immediate retirement. It had hurt them all greatly to see probably the best of the team dealt such a low hand, but ever the optimist Atagi quickly met Sumi though his rehabilitation. She had lost her entire left arm and right hand to a similar accident and was also classified unfit to carry out shinobi's duties.

And so not feeling like simple office work for the rest of their lives the two had opened up their own business together, which quickly became Naruto's second most frequented restaurant, right next to Ichiraku's ramen stand.

The conversation continued for a good half hour or so as the rest of the morning shift workers arrived and started to prepare for the first wave of customers.

As the last of the meal was finished Atagi and Sumi stood up. "Well it was great to see you guys again." Atagi said with a smile. "But apparently it's bad manners for the cooks to be lounging off while there are orders to be made."

The small group laughed lightly at his little joke before they helped them clean up the table.

"Well I'll be back soon." Naruto said as he and the others walked to the door.

"I'll hold you to it." Atagi smiled as he gave them all a good bye hug.

Akari and Taki fell to the ground breathing heavily. For the first two days of their vacation they had been content on goofing off and relaxing – although they both kept to their regular morning training – However they soon found themselves board, or Akari did anyway, there was only so much shopping she could cope with in a single week.

So today the girls had decided to use their time productively and get in some quality training. They kept the schedule varied but tight allowing for thirty minute breathers every three hours or so to allow them to catch their breath.

First Taki had taken the initiative to help Akari with her Chakra control, noticing that the girl's skill level was well below what it should be, even for a Genin of her level.

After a three hour session of Chakra control Akari was about ready to explode, luckily for her Taki had no problem spending the rest of the day working on their Taijutsu and Ninjutsu skills.

It was late afternoon when the two of them stopped for a breather.

"That was some Jutsu," Taki commented between gasps.

Akari nodded. Her chakra levels were low, lower than she thought. The jutsu she'd been working on still didn't work quite like she wanted it to and it still took most of her Chakra to do. "It needs some work though," She managed to breathe, her head felt light and she was swaying slightly.

"Say, why don't we head back to the Village for a proper lunch before coming back," Taki prompted, seeing that her team mate was on the verge of collapse.

Akari nodded, she knew she was approaching her limit and if she tried to push herself any further she'd collapse on the spot.

"So what exactly was that jutsu you used during that training session?" She asked out of the blue.

Akari fumbled over her answer initially only half listening to Taki. "I'm not really sure," She said after she forced herself to think about it. "It's just something that felt right. I've been working on it – and other techniques like it – for a while now, but then and back in the pass were the only times they actually worked even vaguely like they should." She said.

"I don't get it." Taki said after she digested her friend's response. "So you didn't read them off a scroll you just sort of went of instinct?" She asked.

"More or less," Akari said. "I've tried finding scrolls to help me, but none of them really helped me figure out how to make it work properly, really it's just been trial and error for the last few months now."

Taki nodded. "Well maybe we should ask Naruto Sensei about it, He might be able to help, or point out someone who can."

Akari nodded, it made sense that Naruto would know someone that would be able to help, after all Kakashi had been a massive help as Akari developed her nature manipulation.

After they caught their breath the two girls packed up their training gear and began to head back to the Village in search of their Sensei.

As they were heading back down Akari heard the faint 'clang' of metal on metal. Curious the two girls moved closer to the sound of combat. The fight was being held in the middle of a large clearing a bit bigger than the one they had been using for the day.

Akari and Taki smiled as they saw who the combatants were.

"Lucky break," Akari said to Taki as they watched Naruto fight off two other Shinobi, one was a man with dirty blond hair while the other was a woman with long oak brown hair.

The two shinobi rushed in for a head on assault as Naruto went through a series of hand signs.

"Futon: Kyōfū no Kaze no jutsu."

His two sparing partners were buffed back a bit and their assault lost steam as the wind held them at bay. The Man went through a series of hand signs and took a deep breath.

"Futon: Fūdō no jutsu." He breathed out an equally powerful gale and broke a hole through Naruto's jutsu.

While he maintained the jutsu the woman rushed forward bringing forth her own jutsu.

"Katon: Hi suto no jutsu." Her Chakra enveloped her body before it ignited, bathing the woman in a magnificent red flame.

Her teammate quickly adjusted his jutsu with a hand sign. "Futon: Kyōfū no jutsu." The air around them suddenly changed, augmenting the already intense fire around the woman until they were white hot.

She came in with a fist aiming for Naruto's throat.

He jumped back and went through the hand signs. "Suiton: Gekiryū." He pumped out an extraordinarily high amount of Chakra into the Jutsu to combat the Futon augmented Katon jutsu his opponents were using, but, having such a large amount of Chakra it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

The near tidal wave of water rushed out of Naruto's mouth taking both his opponents across the clearing before the waters finally dispersed enough to let them go.

To their credit the two recovered quickly, already going on the attack before the waters had fully let them be.

However without warning Naruto suddenly appeared behind the two, a Rasengan in each hand just centimetres from their skulls.

The two shinobi stayed stock still for a moment before relenting, letting their shoulders slump in defeat.

Naruto smiled as he let the Rasengan fade away. "Nice try guys, but I'm still the best." He said with a cheeky grin.

Tokoni only smiled as steam began to rise off her body. "Well it's to be expected of the next Hokage isn't it?" She said light heartedly.

Yakuno nodded. "Still, we did better than last time." He said with a smile.

Before they could talk further Akari and Taki stepped out of the tree line, heading towards them.

Naruto nodded and waved while Tokoni gave him and Yakuno a quick hug, "I've gotta run, Ibiki's rather strict about punctuality." She said before vanishing with a faint 'boof' and a wisp of smoke.

"Sensei," Two girls said with a bow as they reached the two remaining shinobi.

"Yo," Naruto said with a polite nod of his head.

"So these are your newest students?" Yakuno asked.

"Yep, this is Akari and Taki," Naruto said. "Guys, this is Yakuno, one of my former students." Naruto said as he introduced them.

"So what are you two up to?" Naruto asked them.

"Training," Taki replied.

The conversation dropped for a moment as no one could think of anything relevant to before Akari spoke up.

"Sensei," She said, gaining the man's attention. "I was wondering if you'd be able to help me perfect a new jutsu." She said.

Naruto grinned at her. "Of course," He said.

Akari nodded and ran though the hand signs she had figured out thus far; dragon, monkey, bird, horse, ox and dragon. "Senko: Aruku fantomu no jutsu."

Naruto and Yakuno watched with interest as Akari seemed to fade away, replaced by several identical copies of herself, although none of it was perfect, the clones were off colour and faded in and out, while Akari went from transparent to completely invisible.

Naruto put a hand to his chin as he looked over the jutsu. "Give me a moment." He said, before they could say anything Naruto vanished, returning a few minutes later with a small chest in hand.

He sat down gesturing for the others to join him while he opened the chest. He rummaged through the dozen or so scrolls before he found the one he was looking for, handing it to Akari.

"This should be a lot of help to you." He said.

Akari took the scroll thankfully and read over the inscriptions. "What is it?" She asked.

"It's a Ninjutsu scroll written by the Fourth Hokage." Naruto told her. "This one has several variations of the jutsu you were trying to use, as well as his findings and thoughts on the jutsu."

Akari looked at the scroll in awe as she looked back to Naruto, "Are…Are you sure I can have this?" She asked.

Naruto chuckled at her with a warm smile on his lips. "Don't sweat it, he left it to me and I think you'll find it more useful, I went over it a dozen times but I couldn't get it to work right, I think you might be able to though." He told her.

Akari stayed silent for a moment before she put the scroll away. "Thank you Sensei." She said bowing deeply.

Naruto juts laughed all the harder as he ruffled her hair playfully. "Hey, don't sweat it." He told her. "After all, I am your Sensei, I'm supposed to be helping you achieve your best any way I can, and if this scroll can help you achieve your potential, then I'll give you the scroll, simple as that." He said with his trademark grin.

Akari just stared at him for a moment before tackling the man. "Thank you Sensei." She said as she gave him a rather tight hug. "I promise I'll use this scroll well."

Naruto nodded. "I have no doubt," He said with a smile. "Now, I don't know about you guys but I could use some ramen." He said.

Yakuno and the others all nodded. "So long as you're buying." He said.

Naruto nodded. "Well of course, I can hardly expect you guys to front my bill." He said. After packing away the rest of the scrolls Naruto put the picked up the chest and held an arm out. "All right, grab on." He said to them.

"Why?" Akari asked.

"Just do it." Naruto sighed.

Shrugging the two girls grabbed the offered hand while Yakuno put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Without warning the world seems to blur and the next thing any of them knew they were at Naruto's favourite ramen stand.

Ayame smiled at them as they appeared. "Naruto!" She exclaimed happily upon seeing their stores most loyal and frequent customer.

"Hey Ayame," Naruto said with a smile as the four of them sat down. As they began eating Naruto asked a question that had been on his mind for some time.

"So where is Azuko, was he training with you?" He asked Akari and Taki.

They both shrugged. "I tried to get him to join us today," Taki answered. "But he said that his father was training him for the week and that we'd see him on Monday."

Naruto nodded. "Fair enough." He said before going back to his ramen.

On the far side of the Village in the large, back yard/training ground of his families estate Azuko collapsed from complete exhaustion. His Chakra was spent and the only thing he could feel was pain, his vision blurred in and out of focus as he saw a pair of feet walking into his line of sight.

He tried to look up at their owner but his body wouldn't respond.

"Pathetic." His father all but spat at him. "How can you even call yourself a Ninja? Come back when you're at least a Chūnin." The man said before walking away.

Although by that point Azuko had already passed out.

I had a joke about how this ended but it was in too pore a taste.

Sup Friendlies!?

Sorry about the long wait on this new chapter guys, it wasn't working the way I wanted it to for a while though I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next chapter covers Azuko's week of beating's before we get onto the Chunin exams and all that Jazz. (Jazz hands)

Jutsu in order of appearance were.

"Wind release: Gale winds."

"Wind release: Wind tunnel."

"Fire release: Fire strike."

"Wind release: High winds."

"Water release: Raging stream."

Until next time I wish you all the best.Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.