Taki had no idea who long she'd been out for, she suspected only an hour or two; she was understandably shocked to learn that it had actually been two days.

Shortly after the nurse had informed Sakura that the girl was awake Naruto and the others had arrived.

"So what happened?" She asked them after the initial greeting was done with.

"Well after you lost your match," Azuko began.

"Azuko!" Akari growled at him angrily.

The Genin just shrugged. "What? It's not like I'm saying it was a bad thing, it's just what happened, if the toxin had kicked in a minute later than she would have had him."

Akari still glared at him but Taki motioned for him to continue. "After Seruga was passed through to the next round, two of the night nin as well as a Kiri and Kumo nin also passed."

"What about you two?" She asked them.

Akari grinned from ear to ear as she spoke. "Well we won of course." She said proudly. Taki gave the two of them a warm yet knowing smile; she was hardly surprised by the news.

"So what's next?" She asked. "Has the third round finished.

Both of them shook their heads.

"The third round takes place in a month." Naruto told her.

"Why in a month?" Taki asked, more than a little surprised.

"Well, not only do the other four Kage need to make their way down to Konoha for the event but also Lords and dignitaries from other Lands will be arriving to see the tournament. Something which takes time to organise properly, it's also to give those that are competing some time to hone their skills, develops some new ones and cover up some flaws in their existing techniques before the final matches begin." Naruto told her.

Taki nodded, it made sense. "So what's the plan?" She asked them.

Naruto looked as his feet guiltily for a second before he spoke up. "Well that's the thing; we kind of have to leave you in the village." He mumbled weakly. "I need to train these two for the final round and Sakura told me she wants to keep you here for another 2 weeks and we just don't have the time to wait around."

Akari and Azuko looked down at their feet as Naruto spoke. None of them liked the current situation and she could tell none of them wanted to do it. It was that, more than anything else that allowed Taki to smile.

"It's okay you guys." She said in her usual soft voice. "It would be selfish of me to keep you guys here while I recover. So go out and train, and when you get back, you all better be stronger than when you leave." She told them in a much sterner voice.

The three of them all gave her the same grin that had rubbed off on them since they had all met.

"So when do you leave?" She asked them.

"Tomorrow morning, bright and early." Naruto told her.

Taki smiled. "Good to know."

The next morning Taki walked out of the hospital as the sun began to creep over the horizon. Once she was clear of the hospital she made her way towards the front gate of the village.

Azuko and Akari were already there.

" Oh good, I wasn't too late." She said as she walked up to them, startling them both.

"Taki, what are you doing here?" Akari asked.

"I wanted to see you off." She said.

"You shouldn't have." Azuko said.

Once again Akari turned a glare at the boy, looking about ready to hit him. Sensing his own imminent peril he added an amendment to his last statement. "You shouldn't be out of the hospital." He said, to slow down Akari more than anything else. "We'll be fine but you really do need to rest, if you push yourself too far too soon then you're going to regret it." He said.

"I'll head back once you guys have left." She assured them. "I just really wanted to say a proper farewell."

Azuko softened at the sentiment and nodded as Akari took a step towards her and gave her a big hug.

The action somewhat surprised both of her team mates. Even if Akari had come out of her shell in the last few months she was rarely one to show any sort of affection. After her initial shock faded Taki returned the hug.

Azuko looked away from them as he paced around sheepishly, not knowing what to do.

"Oi, you too." Taki called over Akari's shoulder.

The boy froze for a moment as he looked at them. Akari glanced at her friend before she nodded and shifted tot eh side motioning for him to join them.

The three of them embraced each other for a moment before Taki broke the silence.

"Whatever happens next month, whoever wins, whoever fails, next year we all make it, we'll all be Chunin together, any complaints?"

"None." Akari and Azuko said in unison.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Naruto said.

The three broke off the hug and looked over at their sensei who was walking towards them. Sakura was with him, as well as Kakashi and Yamato and a pair of men none of the three had met before.

He wore the standard Chunin vest, orange leg warmers and a spandex onesie. They all shuddered on instinct as they saw the thick, caterpillar like eyebrows the man had.

"Wow, Naruto, I cannot believe how vibrant and youthful you team is!" Lee exclaimed gleefully as the three Genin stared on in horror.

Naruto ignored him. "Good to see you're all here." Naruto said as he walked closer to them.

"So what's the plan?" Akari asked him.

"Well we'll be heading deeper into the forest, I know a few good clearings just under an hour out." Naruto began. "We leave together, but once we've arrived we split off. Yamato will be taking Azuko Lee and Sakura will be taking Akari." He told them.

Azuko let out a sigh of relief while Akari looked like she'd been slapped with a rotted fish.

"What!?" She burst out a little horrified.

"It's all part of your training." Naruto replied evenly. "Currently you biggest setback is physical ability, trust me when I say Lee can bring you to a level I cannot. Sakura is here to make sure you don't do yourself any serious injuries." Naruto explained.

"What about you and Kakashi?" Azuko asked.

"We'll be switching between you both." Naruto told them. "We've set up a schedule that will ensure that I'm able to oversee both of your training and that you have the best support possible." Naruto told them.

They all nodded and grabbed their things ready to leave. Taki said her final goodbye's and began making her way back to the hospital.

"Hold up Taki." Naruto called out after her. The girl spun around just in time to catch the scroll he threw at her.

"What is this?" She asked him.

"It's a list." He told her.

Puzzled the young girl opened it while Naruto elaborated.

"I know it's not fair to just leave you here but with your condition you can't join us just yet, but I'm hoping that once you're rested that should be enough to bring you up to speed with the rest of us." Naruto told her.

Taki's brain knotted as she read through the list. It was literally incomprehensible. She stared at it for a minute or two her eyes switching between Naruto's and the paper until she finally got it.

When the understanding dawned in her eyes Naruto grinned. "Let me know how it goes." He told her. "There's a message sending seal in there somewhere." He said as the group began to walk out of the village.

He nodded and waved to them as they left the village.

Taki let herself take a moment to watch her friends and teammates leave the village and disappear from view before she finally went back to her hospital room.

Lightning crackled through the air as Kakashi and Akari fought, each one using their own lightning style Jutsu. She was breathing heavily as she fell back from Kakashi's onslaught her Blade dancing with electricity.

From a rock at the edge of the barrier that Naruto had laid out as her training area Sakura and Lee watched on.

"She certainly has a great and youthful spirit." Lee commented excitedly as Akari went back on the attack, Kakashi nimbly dancing around the girl as she attacked him again and again.

Sakura nodded. "The only other person I've seen with as much endurance and Chakra is Naruto, but considering her circumstances I'd be surprised if she didn't."

"Think she'll outlast Kakashi?" Lee asked.

Sakura shook her head. "She may have a lot of Chakra but she's too young, and hasn't had the right training."

Lee nodded along. "I'm still amazed at how quickly she adapted to my training style and how fast she had progressed."

Sakura shrugged as Kakashi delivered an elbow to the side of her head, followed by a knee to her gut. The girl gasped then git the ground.

Sakura sighed as she walked over to her. Kakashi was really overdoing it.

"Stay back." Akari shouted weakly as she forced herself up to her feet, using her sword as a crutch. She spat out a mouth full of blood as she slowed her breathing.

"You know you really ought to take it easy." Kakashi said to her as he looked at the girls state. "If you push yourself too far you'll only bring yourself down."

"And if I don't push myself I'll never get stronger. I'll never become like him." She gasped.

Kakashi's head tilted to the side. "Like who?" He asked.

Akari's lips unintentionally twisted into that familiar grin. The next thing Kakashi knew she was at his feet paused to cut up.

He back but not fast enough to avoid the tip of the blade.

"Like Naruto-Sensei." Akari said with a smile before she blacked out.

Kakashi sighed to himself as he looked down at the girl. "She's just like him." Kakashi said as Sakura walked up to administer basic first aid.

"You're telling me." She mumbled.

"So what's the diagnosis?" Lee asked.

"She'll be out till nightfall." Sakura answered as she picked her up. "Should be right as rain by tomorrow though." She said.

Azuko took a deep breath as he placed his hands on the large bolder in front of him. He brought his Chakra to his fingertips and let it seep into the rock slightly, allowing himself to get a feel for the composition of the stone.

As he exhaled he began japing his fingers into the rock with rapid succession each time leaving a perfectly circular hole in the rock face.

From the top of the rock Yamato looked down approvingly. "Well done." He said with a smile. "You've nearly mastered Nature manipulation, I'm impressed."

Azuko nodded as he looked at the stone. Unintentionally he's written something in the stone.

Chūnin.

He began walking away as he began remembering his father's last words to him. His fists tensed and his heart raced picked up as the image of his father and mother came to mind.

"Think fast." Naruto said as he pegged a rock at the boy.

Without really thinking about it Azuko brought a fist up smashing the rock to dust.

"Head in the game." Naruto told him. "Now get ready." He said as she charged in. Azuko said nothing as he flicked out his Kama and ducked under Naruto's first strike.

Akari lay on her back as she looked up at the night sky. Her body was still aching all over from the weeks of training but she could feel the difference in both

speed and skill. She knew she was stronger.

Casually she rolled to her side to look at Azuko. Like her the young boy was looking up at the night sky. She wondered about his training. Wondered how much stronger the boy had become in the last three weeks.

She could feel more than see the change in him, she wondered just how much stronger he had become.

"What?" He asked her without looking at her.

"I won't lose." She told him.

Azuko smirked as he rolled his head to look at her. "That so?" He asked. "And how's a dunce like you going to beat me?" He asked her.

It wasn't so long ago that those words would have conveyed the insult that they implied but to Akari it felt like an age ago. She knew this was just how he was. Like her he wasn't good with emotions or feelings. In the time since he had moved into her home she had come to understand how the boy thought and little by little he had opened up to her, as she had to him.

They understood each other now if only a little more.

"You'll see." She said with a smile.

Azuko gave her a cocky grin as he rolled over. "Yea right." He muttered.

With a grin still on her face Akari rolled to her side and closed her eyes.

From the far side of the camp Naruto smiled at his two students.

"You've done well." Sakura said to him as she came and sat down beside him.

"You think so?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his students.

Sakura nodded. "I know so." She said. "All of the Kids you've taken in have become incredible Ninja Naruto, you should be proud."

"Thanks Sakura." He said softly as he turned to look at her.

She smiled at him and gave him a light peck on the cheek. "You know I'd never thought I'd say this but it will be kind of a shame when you become Hokage." She said as she stood up.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. "How so?" He asked, a suspect look on his face.

Sakura only winked at him. "Because once you're Hokage you won't have the time to train more students." She said as she walked away.

Taki absentmindedly rocked her brother cradle with her foot as she poured over the scroll in her lap. Eventually the characters in front of her began to jumble and swim in her vision and with a sigh she pulled out her pen and marked the last word she could read before going back over the parts she'd already read.

She wondered where Naruto got the scroll from, it was layered and layered in Genjutsu each on harder to break then the last.

The start was simple enough, she simply needed to feed her Chakra into the scroll to break the first seal, after that there was a puzzle worked into the scroll that broke the next Genjutsu. Each time she broke an Illusion she learnt a little bit more about them. How they worked. How to use them.

She had made it to the halfway point when the seal tag beside her exuded a puff of smoke and a letter appeared.

She stopped rocking the cradle as she opened the note. It was from Naruto.

Taki.

Heading back to the village tomorrow, looking forwards to seeing you. Home around mid-afternoon.

The gang.

Taki smiled as she put the note down. Her brother began to cry and instinctively Taki began bobbing her foot rhythmically, after about half a minute her brother began mumbling happily to himself as he chewed on his toy bunny.

"How's it going sweetie?" Her mother asked from the hallway.

Taki smiled at her as she looked up. "I'm almost done." She said. "If I'm right then this is the second last Genjutsu she told her.

Her mother smiled at her as she walked over to her son and picked him up. He cried happily as he reached for his mother's face.

"Well that's good." She said as she took a seat opposite Taki bobbing the baby on her knee. "What do you think Tama-Chan?" She asked the baby as she began to play with him.

The baby laughed happily at his mother as she talked in the soft voice most children loved.

It was well passed mid-afternoon when Naruto and the others finally got back to the village entrance. Taki was waiting for them with a bored expression on her face.

"Took you guys long enough." She said as they walked into the village.

Naruto smiled at her, "Sorry about that, so how did you're training go?" He asked her.

A hand came from the left handing Naruto back the scroll. "Done," Taki said from Lee's shoulders.

Akari, Lee and Azuko all jumped in shock as they looked at the girl. Sakura and Yamato were slightly more composed while Kakashi and Naruto didn't even react.

"Nice work." Naruto said as he took the scroll off her. "Wasn't too hard then?" He asked.

"Wasn't exactly easy," She said.

Naruto smiled. He expected nothing less.

"Umm excuse me," Lee began a little off put. "But how long have you been there?" He asked her.

Taki shrugged.

"About ten minutes." Naruto said as he began walking into the village.

Taki smiled as she took stock of her team mates. They had changed so much in the last three weeks. They looked more or less the same as before but their eyes had changed and they held themselves differently.

The only physical change of note was Akari's hair. Her long blond hair had been as long as her knees when she'd seen her last, now it was cut shorter, just past her shoulders and was in one single pony tail rather than two.

As they walked down the street Taki spoke up.

"So how did it go?" She asked them.

"Alright." The two said in unison, clearly not going to say anything else.

Taki scowled at the two of them. "Come on guys, tell me about it." She pleaded.

Azuko shook his head while Akari gave her a cheeky grin. "You'll just have to wait and see." She said.

"Not fair." Taki pouted.

Azuko chuckled. "Come on, let's grab some food, I'm starving." He said.

It was near mid-night when Akari was awoken by a light rasping on her window. It took her mind a few minutes to realise what the sound was and a few more to act on it.

She moaned to herself as she crawled out of her nice warm bed towards the window, the gentle wrapping sound continuing all the while.

"Sensei?" She mumbled puzzled when she recognised Naruto.

"'bout time." He said with a grin as he looked at her.

"Sensei it's late," She began.

"I know." Naruto cut in. "You need to get dressed and come with me." Naruto told her.

"Why?" She asked.

"'Cause I said so." Naruto told her.

Akari went to counter but she knew Naruto wasn't going to let her go back to sleep. With a sigh of defeat she closed her blinds and got dressed. When she walked out of her front door Naruto began walking.

"Come on." He said.

"Where are we going?" Akari asked sleepily.

"You'll see." Naruto said.

He lead her out of the village into the mountainside monument of the Hokage at the edge of the village. They walked in silence through a network of passages before Naruto came to a dead end. He fiddled around with several seals for a minute or two before the wall parted revealing a small cloister.

By now Akari was fully awake and she gawked as she looked at the cloister. It was a beautiful dome caved room with nine waterfalls ringing the room. In the centre was a small island surrounded by water.

The moon was full and the island was bathed in pure silver light.

Without a word Naruto walked over to the island Akari a step behind him. The only sound between them was the sound of their footsteps. Everything else was perfectly quiet.

Naruto sat down in the Island and gestured for Akari to do the same. Once she was seated Naruto spoke.

"I suppose you're wondering why I brought you here." Naruto said softly.

"I am." Akari said in an equally soft tone, afraid to disrupt the tranquillity of the room.

"Well there's something I need to tell you, and something I need to teach you." Naruto began. "In fact it's why you were assigned to my team to begin with. I'm the only one in Konoha who can teach you what I'm about it show you. And likewise you are the only other person in Konoha that can learn it." He told her.

Akari nodded, not sure what to say. "So…what is…It...?" She asked after a long pause.

Naruto extended his arm, holding his fist out in front of her.

"I have to show you." He said as Akari put her fist against his.

Naruto took a deep breath and closed his eyes Akari instinctively following his lead. She felt something ripple and the next thing she knew she was in a field that stretched to the horizons.

Naruto smiled as he looked about himself. "Nice place." He muttered.

"Where are we?" Akari asked as she looked around.

"You mean you don't know?" another voice behind her asked.

Akari froze, she recognised that voice, it was the vice she had heard in the Kyojin no Gyokuza mountains during her fight with Nagi and again when she had protected Tsugashi from Isalla's minions.

Now for the first time she saw the face of that voice. At first she mistook it for a bonfire. Bright and blue with inky black edges it raged silently in a small island surrounded by water. But the more she looked the more she was able to make out.

The creature looked at her, levelling its green and blue eyes at the girl before looking at the man behind her. "It's about time you showed up." The cat huffed.

Naruto smiled as he walked up to the water's edge. "Sorry Matabi but you knew this would take time." He said.

The cat said nothing as it turned to look at Akari.

"Wh-what are you?" Akari asked trembling.

The cat growled at her, its eyes narrowing. "Not what, who," It said in a displeased voice. "And he just said my name."

"Easy there." Naruto said to the cat. "You know the first time is always the hardest for us." He said.

"Us?" Akari repeated.

Naruto turned to look at her. "Yes, us." He confirmed. "Akari like me you are a Jinchuriki, a human host to one of the Nine Biju, this is the Biju that resides within you, the Nin-bi, her name is."

"My name," Matabi cut in. "Is Matabi. And you are?"

"A-Akari." Akari mumbled weakly as she walked up to the beast before her.

Matabi smiled. Or at least Akari thought she did, it was hard to tell just by looking at her ever flickering form.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Akari." She purred.

I'M BACK FRENDLIES!

yea sorry about the wait with this one, It just took me a while to get the right mood for writing this. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting like this and I'll try my best not to wait too long till the next chapter but I cannot make any promises my life is super busy right now. sorry about all the mistakes in this chapter but I just really wanted to get it up.

Hope you liked it. Chunin exams start next chapter so we've reached the beginning of the end.

As always leave a review if you have any questions or the like.

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