Naruto Uzumaki and the Chunin Exams (Re-Written) Chapter 17: The Scar, a Harry Potter + Naruto Crossover fanfic

"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

Greetings friends, readers, and fellow authors! We're back! And I am so sorry that I haven't updated sooner, I had some personal stuff I had to deal with that distracted me from writing, but I'm back now and I feel a million times better. So I should release more chapters very soon. But this chapter... well, this new chapter is an improvement from the original version of the Chunin Exams I wrote back in 2010. The original version of this chapter was the worst I had ever written. I mean… the old chapter pretty much killed the interest of several readers back when I originally posted it. It was that bad. I wrote that chapter back when I was in high school and was currently involved in the annual musical. I'm pretty sure if you read that version back in 2010, you know what I'm talking about.

Jedimaster243: Dude, I'm sure it wasn't that bad.

K: No, it was bad, Jedi. Believe me.

Naruto: It was.

JM243: Nonsense. I bet it had its shine.

Azeroth44: It didn't, man. The scene I read almost killed it for me.

K: I don't know how I ever thought that would be good…

AZ44: You were in a phase, dude. School musicals and listening to Idina Menzel before Frozen can do that to anyone.

JM243: C'mon! I listen to Let It Go all the time and I don't write bad fanfiction.

AZ44: We're talking about Defying Gravity and when Glee first came out. And you don't even write fanfiction at all.

JM243: Oh. Heh! Right.

N: I cannot believe I was forced to do that scene.

K: Well, I'll save the details for the end. Let's start the chapter!

Remember: Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling

Chapter 17: The Scar

For the next two weeks, Naruto trained hard for the finals. With three teachers to cover various elements of his shinobi abilities and an unlimited number of shadow clones to accelerate his progression, he did well. But that didn't mean it was fun for him.

The Toad Sannin forced Naruto to continue summoning toads to exhaust his chakra reserves and force him to use the demon chakra. The old hermit even took a little time to teach Naruto how to command the toads to vomit bullets of oil from their mouths and douse an area with the flammable sludge. Naruto was able to summon toads of considerable size, but none of them matched the one he saw Jiraiya summon when the two met at the bathhouse. To make matters worse, all of the toads Naruto summoned in sequence turned out smaller and smaller until he had exhausted his chakra. It wasn't until he started to summon tadpoles did Jiraiya force him to draw out the demon's chakra. When Naruto tried with all his might to force that red chakra out, he summoned an egg. The first time this occurred, Jiraiya bonked his student on the head and called him a sloth. The blonde shinobi was tempted several times to reach for his wand and hold the Sannin in the air at the ankle, but he resisted and instead shouted back at his teacher and blamed him for his failure.

The blonde wizard figured his time with Iruka and Hayate would be better and more fun, but the two adults slaved him to exhaustion as well. The chunin and the swordsman subjected Naruto to endless games of dodgeball. The blonde shinobi believed he would be a master of evasiveness overnight after the first beatdown he received, but he was wrong. As soon as the whistle sounded, a red ball would slam into his stomach or his face. Naruto did start to move faster as he visualized the balls as Neji's attacks and reacted in kind, but it took him a week to start to avoid most of Iruka and Hayate's attacks. At the end of the first week, he was able to catch one of the balls and threw it back at his teachers so hard that the ball burst into flames, thanks to his magic. At the end of the week, Naruto used his evasiveness to his advantage during individual sparring matches with Iruka. The chunin found it difficult to land a solid hit on his brother, even when he didn't hold back, but the blonde rookie ducked and served in time with remarkable speed. Naruto's work with Hayate was as difficult as ever, but Naruto was able to keep up with him. His defense was far better than when he started. Not to mention he combined his evasive skills from Iruka in combination to his defense. Which made it difficult for the swordsmaster to land a solid strike on Naruto with a bamboo pole. The blonde-haired rookie often sent at least a dozen shadow clones to train in sword combat each afternoon and reviewed all the details Hayate had him cover in each session for hours on end. With all the clones at his aid and near-limitless stamina, Naruto's skills with the sword had improved tenfold within a week. He even developed remarkable skills in his offensive combat. Several times, he landed a few solid hits on Hayate that the swordsmaster didn't see a mile ahead. He smiled each time Naruto tricked him or snuck in an attack, but it also determined him to hit him back without the use of the forbidden arts he could have used to knock him out cold. But without the use of that secret set of skills, Hayate discovered Naruto's defense turned out to be his strongest asset as a swordsman so far. Over the next week, he would make sure to work on his student's offense before the two of them used real swords.

But before he had brushed on all of these various skills, Naruto had learned more about himself with Harry. Ever since the incident with the scar and the vision, Naruto and his brother were restless. The blonde rookie wasn't able to sleep even without Gamakichi on his mind, as his head was racing with thoughts around Gaara, the vision, and the fact that he now realized his scar (what he once believed to be a relic of his connection to the magical world) was indeed active, much like it was for the older wizard. And Naruto was not oblivious to the trouble he could be in; he knew the reason Harry's scar used to burn before he fell at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts. The blonde wizard feared his own scar could be a connection to the demon sealed inside him, or worse, he feared he could be a Horcrux. But most of all, he feared his scar could have marked the return of Lord Voldemort.

But Naruto received the answers he needed after Iruka left for school the day after the incident at the bathhouse. The blonde shinobi sent a shadow clone to Jiraiya and he remained at home. He sat down on Iruka's mattress and slid into his subconscious. Once he arrived in the main bedroom, he summoned the secret door that led Naruto to his brother's office and found him hovered over the Pensieve in the corner. Harry looked like he hadn't slept a wink; his robes were tossed on his chair, his sleeves were rolled to his elbows, his shirt was unbuttoned near the collar, and his scarlet tie was loosened. It was obvious the sorcerer never rested since the Naruto received the vision. He must have been as worried and obsessed about the recent news as much as his little brother, if not more so as he seemed to have checked almost all the books in his office for answers. The master wizard swirled the contents of the Pensieve with his wand before he turned to look at Naruto, nodded, smiled, and tried to fix his clothes with a wave of his wand. The blonde-haired wizard sat himself down in the closest chair he could find while his brother took an extra seat, with a small tea table close to them and the desk. The ever-warm and delicious English tea on the table poured two cups for them as Naruto heard the books scattered about the office sort themselves out on the shelves that lined the walls. Naruto wandered about the office and noticed the tank that contained a Grindylow. Naruto cracked a small smile, as the tank stood in honor of Remus Lupin. His attention turned to the Pensieve as Harry took a book and slid it back inside his desk. Naruto tried to look into the basin from where he sat, but the contents were never that clear. While the blonde wizard sat there and listened to sounds of the Pensieve and the bubble of the Grindylow in the corner, Harry sat down in his seat and faced his brother in the calmest manner he could muster.

The older wizard started with, "Naruto… We have to talk about the incident at the bathhouse…"

Naruto nodded his head.

"You said you had some kind of vision," the older wizard reminded, "Can you remember what you saw?"

The blonde-haired child took a minute to recall the exact details, and then he answered, "I heard Gaara's voice and then I saw his sensei… He was about to leave and the teacher wanted to know what he was about to do and then Gaara told him… he said he wanted to remind himself that he was still alive… and then it was over. It doesn't make a lot of sense…"

The older wizard nodded and then he asked while he leaned down and rested his elbows on his knees, "In the vision… did you stand over the scene or through someone else's point of view?"

Naruto could still remember bits of the vision he had. It wasn't all that clear to him now, but he could still remember how he witnessed it.

"It felt like the latter of those two…" he said, "It was like I was Gaara and I saw what he saw, heard what he heard, and did what he did."

Harry then rubbed his hands in his face before he looked back at the Pensieve and saw one of Naruto's memories of Gaara arise from the basin and then sink back down at his mental command, "Well… We don't know a lot about that kid… Other than the fact that he's violent, relentless, sadistic, and unbalanced, we don't know one thing about him… I have no idea how that vision came to be…"

The older wizard turned back to his companion, frustrated that he couldn't understand where the source of the vision had come from and what connection his little brother had with the unstable redhead from Suna.

"Let's move on… You said that the scar burned before the vision started. Tell me more about that…" he said.

Naruto told him with a small amount of confusion and reluctance in his voice, "Uh… Yeah. It felt like it was on fire…"

"Has this ever happened before?" the sorcerer asked him.

Naruto answered him, this time with more assurance, "Yes. Not the vision, but the scar, it burned before."

"When?" the older teen asked as his interest in Naruto's scar started to bubble like a warm cauldron.

The blonde-haired rookie took another minute to collect himself and remember all the time he had ever felt his scar hurt, "One time it was while we were on the mission to the Land of Waves, a few seconds before we met Haku face-to-face in the forest. It hurt for less than a second when she hovered over me while I was unconscious. I thought it was a headache at first, but when I think about it more… it sure didn't feel like a normal headache…"

"Were there other times like that?"

Naruto nodded and he recalled, "I remember two other instances, and both of them were recent… Once it was when I was about to take Ibiki-sensei's test, when the Oto rookies and Kabuto were close to me. The other time, was when Orochimaru arrived in the Forest of Death… I know it burned when he was about to attack us, and then it hit me a second time when I was about to attack him. But the scar burned for no more than a second, so it didn't distract me… But I also remember, whenever I felt it burn… I felt this desire start to overwhelm me…"

"A desire for what exactly?" the older wizard stared at his little brother.

But Naruto corrected him and said, "I mean… it didn't last… but I wanted to leave… I wanted to run and never look back until I was safe somewhere else… After the scar burned, I felt like I wanted… I felt like I had to leave… For a moment, I felt that if I didn't leave, I would have died… But each time I felt that desire to run for the hills and never look back, I buried it down deep and moved onward… It kinda felt like a sixth sense that tried to tell me to run… What does it mean?"

Harry remained seated and dwelled over these details. He soon stood and started to walk around the office as he used his wand to clean the other books on the floor to sort themselves back to the shelves. He then turned around and checked the Pensieve one more time and swirled the contents with his wand. Naruto remained seated and did as he did whenever his brother was lost in thought. All he would do is sit there, don't think, and wait for his brother to find the answer and tell him. But Naruto wasn't a toddler anymore. While his brother swirled the contents of the Pensieve, the blonde wizard let his mind race as he tried to determine the reason his scar hurt and felt the need to flee afterwards.

"This shouldn't be so hard for me to figure out…" the older wizard muttered to himself as he leaned over the Pensieve, frustrated at the fact that for the first time in a millennia that he didn't have answer.

Naruto asked his older brother in order to be sure, "You don't think… that this means You-Know-Who is back, Nii-san?"

"No." the sorcerer answered, "No… it couldn't be him… there's no chance of that… Hold on a sec…"

As the master sorcerer dunked his head into the basin, Naruto tried to remember what had happened each time his scar hurt. The most vivid instance when he felt his scar flare was when he faced Orochimaru in the forest and earlier when he stood close to Kabuto Yakushi. The blonde wizard remembered Kabuto and Orochimaru shared the same scent and that Kabuto had wanted to hunt Naruto and his friends while in the Forest of Death over those cards he ruined in the classroom. Kabuto was bad news, no doubt, and so was Orochimaru who had tried to kill him. But his scar burned him a little bit before he even knew Kabuto would be trouble and it burned a few vital moments before Orochimaru made his entrance in the forest. With that in mind, Naruto wondered out loud, at the same time Harry had started to make that exact same connection.

"Whenever I felt the scar burn, I was almost attacked or ran into someone that wanted to attack me… You think it's some kind of a warning?" he asked.

Harry removed his head from the basin when he heard his brother mention that detail. He also had a short flashback to the end of his first final term exams before he, Ron and Hermione decided to enter the once-forbidden Third Floor Corridor: at the time when his scar burned more often than it did at the time.

The older wizard muttered, "I said that back when I was eleven… Wait a minute!"

The dark-haired wizard swirled the contents of the basin and dunk his head back in at once. Naruto almost stood from his seat and knocked over the table with the tea when he tried to reach out to his older brother.

"It would make sense, Nii-san," he half-shouted, "What if the reason my scar hurts is because it's alerting me to a threat I can't see or notice when it's hidden in plain sight? All the people I've ever been close to whenever it burned were ones that wanted to or tried to kill me! People I wouldn't otherwise think or even dream would hurt me!"

Harry removed his head from the basin once more as he saw what he needed to see and had heard his little brother when he asked him, "You used to have headaches whenever Mizuki was around… But those weren't normal headaches, were they, Naruto?"

"No…" the blonde-haired wizard flashed back to his second term at school and remembered he would have some intense headaches whenever he was around Mizuki, he even recalled how much he wanted to leave his office after he had hinted his involvement in the school break-in.

The older wizard nodded and said, "Yes. Your scar must have 'reacted' when the first real life-threat we faced had come around. Mizuki was the first man in Konoha to ever break the Sandaime's law and attempt to murder us."

Naruto answered back, "I remember now! I did have a headache whenever I was in the same room with him! And I used to think it because he was an arsehole…"

"I never once believed Mizuki was a decent man from the moment we first saw him. And I never had a fondness for Kabuto, the Oto rookies, Orochimaru, and not even Haku when we first met her…" the sorcerer mentioned.

And it was then that Harry realized the connection. All of the individuals he had mentioned had tried to kill Naruto or at least showed a desire to kill him at least once. For Mizuki, it was obvious. The same could be said for Orochimaru, and Kabuto ever since Naruto overheard him in the Forest of Death. The Oto rookies could not be confirmed since Naruto never interacted with them since Ibiki's classroom. And while Haku never tried to kill the blonde wizard, she did release a small amount of killer-intent when she hovered over Naruto in the herbal woods, enticed to Zabuza's will, and almost broke his neck or choked Naruto to death while he was still unconscious and oblivious. But in the end, she couldn't do it.

With all that said, Harry sat back down and tried to contain his excitement as well as his relief now that he knew Naruto's scar had no connection to Tom Riddle.

"Naruto, I know what that scar is and I know what it means," he told him, "Your scar isn't a Horcrux or a connection to someone like Lord Voldemort, like it was for me. Your scar, Naruto, is me…"

"Huh?" the blonde kid was dumbstruck with a comical confused look stuck on his face.

The older wizard explained, "It kinda works like how the scar I had worked how it reacted whenever Voldemort was close to me. But this scar works different from the Horcrux that was once within me. Your scar is a remnant of me from when our souls shared the same vessel on October 10th. It's an extension of me that detects unseen threats on a subconscious level that neither one of us is aware of, and…" he hesitated when he realized he had lost his little brother's attention and tried to explain it in simpler terms and used visuals from his desk and even used his wand to illustrate it, "You don't seem to understand. You received that scar when our souls were united within the same vessel. You received various traits from me and we share a lot of characteristics ever since the Yondaime sealed our fates, such as our hair, noses, bone structure, as well as our abilities and skills. And this is a new one that has not surfaced until now. Whenever there is a serious threat (seen or unseen), be it a wild animal, someone about to attack, a natural disaster, or some murderous white-haired traitor, that scar flares for a moment, like an alarm, or a metal detector that reacts several moments before a shinobi about as skilled as Kakashi could sense someone about to attack…"

"So it is a warning?" the blonde wizard asked.

Harry nodded and confirmed, "Yes, but it's not connected via a Horcrux, otherwise it would burn constantly, like it did with me, and serve more as a distraction… I've never been aware of it until now, but those short flares and that sense of cowardice are combined as an advanced sense of self-preservation."

"You mean, like, the survival instinct?"

The wizard answered and touched his brother's bare forehead, "Yes. But this doesn't continue to burn until the threat is over. You said it lasted for no more than a second each time it flared. But that's where the desire to flee the scene comes in. You faced countless threats and enemies so far, Naruto, but there are forces out there in this world that neither one of us can overcome or foresee. And this extra fearful sense makes that fact obvious, such as the instance with Orochimaru. Even with a wand and a book of the deadliest curses memorized word-for-word, Orochimaru still stood a much better chance until I intervened."

Curious at the notion of those moments where he wanted to flee after his scar burned, Naruto asked, "But how come I want to flee like a coward after I feel the burn?"

"Well, it's an enhanced, instinctual survival skill, Naruto," his brother answered, "Animals and humans are born with the desire to save themselves and do whatever it takes to survive. But since we're human, it can be labeled as cowardice to flee from a battle, even more so if we are well aware of the threat in advance and choose to save ourselves above others or fight back… However, each time the desire to run comes, it all comes down to choice; you could run away and save yourself, or stick around and fight the monster."

Naruto felt a wave of relief as soon as he realized his scar was not connected to Horcruxes or Lord Voldemort. But with this new information, he started to think that with this new sixth sense of his, he could avoid whatever his enemies had to throw at him. Let it be kunai, shuriken, arrows, or even bullets, he felt that if he learned to control this new detection sense of his, he could become untouchable. But while that sounded cool in his head, there was still the matter of the vision to discuss.

The blonde wizard breathed, "At least it makes sense now. But what about the vision I had? How is that connected to all this?"

"I still don't know…" the older wizard soon sank down in his seat, let his head fall forward as his dark hair covered his face in shame, but he soon recovered and said while he tried to deduce the answer then and there, based on what he knew was possible, "From what I can deduce… You entered Gaara's mind somehow… but the scar could have burned because it was dangerous to do so, even if it was an accident… We would be right to assume Gaara is a serious threat… But that vision shouldn't have occurred… unless…"

"Unless what?" the rookie asked in concern.

"You could be connected to him somehow…" the older teen answered, as he was sure it was the only theory he could think would make sense, "You two would have to share some kind of link with one another in order to be able to connect with his mind like that."

"But I don't even know him," the blonde-haired rookie stated in defense, "I didn't know he existed until he arrived in Konoha!"

The older wizard raised his hands and said, "I know, I know… But that's where I'm lost here… We know now that your scar burns whenever there's a serious threat around and that Gaara is bad news for us… but the source of the vision is still unknown… We'll have to learn more about our friends from the desert if we want to find that out…"

"Ok…" he nodded and the rookie stood to return to the real world, "But don't ask me to talk to Ero-Sennin about them. I wouldn't want him to start a rant about burkas if I want to talk about Suna culture."

Harry snorted at Naruto's comment. But then he remembered what he had wanted to ask his brother for before the vision and the scar distracted him.

"Uh, Naruto?" he called over to his close friend and asked, "You mind if I take a look at a few of those memories from the Uchiha Shrine?"

The blonde-haired rookie frowned and said, "I don't want to have another head rush, Nii-san…"

"No, I mean, in there," he motioned toward the Pensieve, "So I can review them later?"

Naruto nodded and hovered over the basin before he raised his wand to his head, he winced, and then he extracted a number of memories from his visit to the Naka Shrine and the Uchiha estate. The memories flowed down into the basin and were left there for the older wizard to examine as soon as Naruto returned to the real world. The older wizard hovered over the Pensieve, determined to learn more about that Uchiha clan shrine.

With all that business behind him at the end of the week, Naruto sent his shadow clones to Jiraiya and this time he even sent a few shadow clones to meet with Iruka and Hayate. The blonde-haired shinobi decided to make another visit to the local medical clinic. He owed Hinata a real visit while she was in the hospital. He felt he had to talk to her about how he felt about his lack of interaction with her, before went ahead battled her cousin in her honor. This time he had no intention to sod off as soon as he arrive and leave behind a bottle of flowers. Naruto marched to the hospital as soon as visitor hours started and found the room he had been to last week, careful not to run into the nurses that would have shooed him back home.

Naruto slid the door of the room aside and saw Hinata Hyuga in bed, but this time she was conscious and she looked well. At least she looked better off than she did the last time Naruto saw her here. She had fewer tubes and IVs attached to her arms and face. Her hair was a mess, but it didn't look unattractive. Her hair looked more natural. Hinata still had a few cuts and bruises on her face, but none of them were that serious. Naruto soon noticed her face start to turn red the moment she realized he had entered the room. Hinata held her breath, blushed like mad, and tried to sink into the confines of mattress and hide, but then she remembered her bed had been formed into a chair to let her see outside the window. She couldn't breath for a moment as Naruto started to blush as well. But he blushed out of embarrassment; he was afraid that he had intruded when she was about to use the bathroom or receive a bath from someone else in the room he didn't see, but no one else was there.

Naruto stammered as he tried to hide his embarrassed blush, "Um, hi, Hinata!"

"N-N-N-Naruto-kun!" the kunoichi stuttered, she was about to brush her hair with her hands to smooth it out, but she soon realized how crazed she would have looked and shot her hands down on the sheets and tried to act normal, "Um... Hello! I-I-I didn't think I w-would have v-v-visitors for a w-while!"

The blonde-haired rookie blinked before he walked into the room and said out of caution, "I, uh… I wanted to take some time to come in and visit. I didn't come in at a bad time, did I?"

"Oh, no," she insisted in a more relaxed but still nervous voice, as she tried her best to act normal and hide her obvious affections as best she could, "N-Not at all. It's fine-I-I'm fine, I mean. I'm fine."

Relieved that he hadn't come in the middle of an indecent moment, Naruto relaxed as his face returned to its normal color, "Great!"

Hinata tried her best to relax but her cheeks were still filled with color as her heart raced a mile a minute. Her head felt hot, and she held her hands while curled her toes beneath the sheets. Out of all the times she wished she could talk to Naruto Uzumaki, she never believed for a moment that he would ever come to her. She cursed her timid nature and wished with all her heart that she could talk to Naruto and not turn into a voiceless weirdo.

As Naruto took his time to walk in and find a seat, Hinata started to calm down some as she turned and stared at the small vase she had received from the blonde-haired rookie. As she stared at it for a short while, her blush started to vanish some as she wondered where in the world Naruto had obtained it. The vase was far too exotic and beautiful to have been bought downstairs, not to mention she noticed the flowers had not even come close to a wilt. The water hadn't been switched in the week since she received it, which meant he must have used chemical water to make the flowers last. But Hinata didn't dwell on those details, as she was too elated at Naruto's kindness in addition to the fact that he had come in to visit. But she didn't know what she could even talk about, so she decided to mention the vase as it was the first idea that came to mind, as random as it was.

Naruto sat down close to the bed when Hinata and said, "Um… S-Shino-kun told me... Y-You were the one that left me the v-vase..."

"Yeah," the blonde-haired rookie soon rubbed the back of his head and tried to look nonchalant, "But it wasn't much though. I, uh, I kinda bought it downstairs in the little shop when I was here last week."

Hinata didn't seem to care that much if Naruto had in fact bought the vase from downstairs, she still appreciated the fact that she even received one from him and the flowers as well; she loved them, "Oh. But it still meant a lot to me, Naruto-kun... Thanks so much…"

Naruto smiled and nodded as well. He cut the nonchalant attitude, but soon after that, neither one of the rookies seemed to have the courage to talk, let alone look at each other. Both of them were nervous and a little uncomfortable around each other, which came to show how little the two of them had interacted. Hinata's discomfort came from the fact that she had a monster-crush on Naruto and she didn't know what to do next now that he was here in her room to see her and had his undivided attention. She didn't know what to tell him and Kurenai never had a lot of advice when it came to men. On Naruto's end, his awkwardness stemmed from the realization that (aside from what few, short, and far-from-normal interactions he had with Sakura, Tenten, and the late Haku) he never once sat down and talked to someone he believed to be a normal (albeit timid) girl. Naruto's interactions with the opposite sex were about as limited as Hinata's interactions.

The two rookies found a small form of comfort when the two of them darted their heads about the room in search for a distraction. Naruto was so nervous that when he looked at the window across the room he almost wanted to throw himself out in shame. He had come down here to reconcile with Hinata but when he arrived he buckled like a belt. It was at that moment, he decided to take control and talk to Hinata, like he wanted to. Naruto buried down the fact that he was alone in a room with a member of the opposite sex and focused on the reason he came here.

Naruto started as soon as he found his confidence and said, "Hinata... I came here... I mean, I came here because... to be honest, I feel terrible..."

"A-About what?" the kunoichi blinked, "W-What's the matter?"

The blonde-haired shinobi kicked his foot as he tried to choose where he should start from and decided to stick with the first idea that came to mind, with the earliest memories he had of Hinata, "Erm… Back when we were in school, sometimes… sometimes I never even noticed we were classmates… You stuck in the back of the room all the time, and I never once turned around except for whenever I wanted to know what time it was. I remember… You were so nice to me all the time, even when all of the other kunoichi used to make fun of me. You never did though. You never mocked me, not even once. But it wasn't until now that I realized that I never returned your kindness… You were invisible to me… I understand what that feels like… and I feel so shamed about it…"

Hinata didn't expect him to come here and tell her that. But as Naruto admitted to his ignorance, she felt that dreaded blush about to rise in her cheeks. But she suppressed it as she listened to Naruto and felt stunned as he criticized his inaction.

He continued on as his voice sounded more and more insistent as he blamed himself further and further, "Until now, I think this is the most we ever talked to each other… And I'm really, really sorry about that, Hinata… You deserved so much better from me. I should have noticed earlier. I should have at least said 'hello' once in a while."

"No! No! No!" the kunoichi stammered as she raised her voice to cut Naruto's rant short.

Naruto raised his head to look at Hinata, as her voice returned to its normal volume. But this time, after Naruto ranted on his lack of interaction with her, she seemed to have found the courage she needed to be able to so much as talk to him at last. And she insisted that to Naruto that he did not deserve to be blamed.

"There's no need for all that, N-N-Naruto-kun... I mean... I... I've… To be honest… I-I've never been known to talk that m-much…" she then decided to take a crack at herself as she felt her stutter was about to worsen after she tried to hold it back so much, "I don't think I c-could have c-complete a sentence b-back when we w-w-were little…"

Naruto looked at Hinata, he saw her smile, and he let out a small chuckle before he said, "But still... I feel bad that we never talked to each other much... You were always so nice to me back then… So I wanted to know..."

The kunoichi leaned in a little bit closer to the blonde-haired rookie, curious to know what he wanted.

"Well… When all of this exam stuff is over... Hinata, I wanted to know if we could… Uh, I wanted to know if…"

Naruto was a little bit nervous, but he didn't understand the reason behind it, while Hinata stared at him. She wondered, based on how his voice sounded, what he was about to ask her, and it almost scared her. She didn't know what he would have wanted, and if he asked her what she almost believed he was about to ask, she wasn't sure if now was the best time.

"I wanted to know if we could start to be friends?"

When she heard those last several words, Hinata felt as if her stomach fell down into her lower intestine. For one moment, she almost believed Naruto Uzumaki (her number-one, most intense crush) was about to ask her out on a date. But before she could feel her heart break into a million little shards at the fact that she had been shelved into the friend-zone, she started to feel a sudden wave of relief come out of nowhere. As it was mentioned earlier, Hinata wasn't sure if now was the best time for her to date someone. For a moment, she was scared, not because she was anxious, but because she wasn't even sure if she should be on a date at this time. It wasn't because of the exams would be a distraction or because there were time-constraints.

It was because Hinata and Naruto were both twelve.

She did feel a little bit bad that Naruto didn't intend to ask her out, but Hinata felt more relieved than upset once she wrapped her head around it. If the two of them dated at their current age with little to no experience, it wouldn't end well for either of them.

But with that said and done, she realized that Naruto wanted to be friends with her. The kunoichi considered it for a moment and let the whole idea sink in. She was forced to admit that she wasn't sure if she wanted to date now or not. She still had a crush on Naruto and she liked him a lot, but Hinata didn't know what do next or where she was in their current relationship. She would much rather be comfortable and know what could come next, than throw herself out there and take a chance with Naruto that could end with tears or regrets. Hinata would much rather be friends with Naruto Uzumaki than not know him at all.

"I think it would be nice if we could know each other more…" he added.

Hinata soon answered Naruto, but had to admit to him as she soon as she made her choice, "S-Sure… B-But to be honest, Naruto-kun... I… Uh… I don't think I know how to make new friends…"

Naruto cracked a small smile as he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward more, and recalled his first interactions with the heirs of the Akimichi and Nara clans, "I don't know either. Most of the time, it happens to me before I even realize it."

"Well…" the kunoichi found her voice and asked Naruto, as she embraced him as her friend, "Where should we start? If we both know how much we suck at this?"

The blonde-haired shinobi shrugged, as he reflected on he befriended those closest to him, "I don't know… But… Kaka-baka-sensei had us talk about ourselves when our team first met. It didn't make us the best of friends from the start, but we did share and learn a little bit about each other. We could start with that."

"I think I know what that's like..." said Hinata in a much calmer voice as her stutter seemed to have vanished out of nowhere, but neither one of the rookies even noticed, "Kurenai-sensei had us do the same when our team first formed... I think... I think that was the first time I ever talked to someone so loud..."

Naruto nodded and decided he should establish on the trivial details first, "Well, there's a start. So... What about… favorite foods? I don't think sensei ever asked us what we like to eat for breakfast before he starved us to death for the bell test. But while we're on the same topic, I'm not too fond of bento boxes."

"Favorite foods?" the kunoichi asked him, as she started to smile a little more and tried to think of what foods she loved the most, "Well… if I was forced to think of a food that I couldn't live without... it would be cinnamon buns. What's your favorite?"

The blonde rookie answered without a second thought, "Ramen, if it wasn't obvious," he then smiled and showed off his teeth a little bit more and listed a few more foods he loved as much as ramen, "But I have been known to have a sweet tooth. I like cinnamon buns too, but treacle tart and chocolate are the best treats I don't think I could live without! There's a whole list of various snacks I love, but I think a fraction of it would send half the kunoichi crowds from our old class to run for the closest dietitian."

"Oh, those damned otakus were so obsessed about their diets and Sasuke Uchiha," the kunoichi raised her voice as she started a humorous rant about their former classmates, the fan club that never once seemed to care about school as much as the club did about Sasuke, and Hinata had a notable disdain for them, "I would have loved to have Gentle Fisted their mouths shut. It was torture to have to listen to them in the classroom, the halls, and even the bathroom! I don't mean to be rude, but based on their habits, sometimes I wondered if half of the kunoichi in our class even bothered to read a book in their life. At least one that wasn't a stalkers journal."

Naruto couldn't hold back the snicker that followed; he never liked the Sasuke Uchiha otaku crowd either. But while he and Hinata cackled about the worst their old class had to offer and mocked them, Naruto realized Hinata didn't stutter, not one time since the two of them talked about friends and food.

"Wow…" he breathed and smiled, "I don't think I heard even one stutter in the last five minutes, Hinata."

Hinata held her breath, she cracked a small smile but then she said, "Y-You're right! I-I-I n-n-never realized-"

The kunoichi covered her mouth at once; she blushed in embarrassment while Naruto made his face look dull but then he smiled and to make the return of her stutter seem funnier, at least so that Hinata wouldn't feel embarrassed about it.

"Ohhh…" the blonde-haired rookie stretched out and said, "I think it's back."

And it worked, as Hinata lowered her hand, her blush faded, and she cracked a smile, "Oh! Heh! Heheheheh!"

Naruto chuckled with Hinata, so relieved now that the two of them were friends. While the kunoichi seemed to have fun for the first time in forever, Naruto noticed that Hinata had a cute laugh. Not cute in the sense that she was adorable, like a warm kitten, but cute as if there were an element to her that he found attractive. Naruto believed Sakura was cute whenever she showed off her hair, and even Ino whenever she wasn't cruel to someone. The blonde-haired rookie never used terms like; 'hot' or 'smokin'' whenever he described an attribute that made him blush. But there, Hinata showed a little bit of her true voice when she ranted on otakus and then she snorted and snickered at her own expense. Naruto liked what he heard. It sounded like there was a much stronger voice hidden beneath the timid stammer he associated with Hinata characteristics. The blonde-haired rookie smiled and rubbed the sweat off his hands onto his trousers as he sat back; relaxed, and didn't feel like he wanted to leave for a while.

He remained in the room with Hinata for hours and the two of them shared and learned much more about each other: Naruto's love for comic books, Hinata's fondness for nature, his life at home with Iruka, and her love for her little sister. The two of them learned more about their hobbies and even shared mission stories. But Naruto did his best to avoid mentioning the incident in the Land of Waves, well aware of how dark that mission turned out to be and he didn't think he should darken the conversation. Hinata also did her best to avoid mentioning her clan aside from her little sister, who was one of the few relatives she had that loved her. Naruto stuck with simpler missions with his team, while Hinata told him about a mission that resulted in Kiba tackling Shino. She told him after the Inuzuka had tackled Shino, the clan heir chased Kiba around with his insects and made him scream. Naruto had to hold onto his sides as Hinata described how Kiba flailed his arms in the air, threw off all his clothes, and dove into a lake headfirst, naked from head-to-toe. Hinata almost killed Naruto when she told him Kiba had crawled out of the lake an hour later, covered in slime, elbow leeches, fisherman nets, and then Shino's insects still attacked him.

As the two of them talked and Hinata showed occasional resistance to her stammer, the blonde rookie's eldest brother watched the whole scene and could have cried in happiness. At first, he wanted to beat Naruto over the head with a Beater's bat when he sorted Hinata into the friend-zone. But as soon as his little brother and Hinata worked off each other moments later, the sorcerer smiled and watched as a new friendship was formed between the two rookies. The sorcerer smiled, and recalled that most of Naruto's friends didn't interact with him that often, but when he did meet with them, none of them were like Hinata. The kunoichi wasn't insane with love, slothful, arrogant, distant, or obsessed with food and food-related issues. She was a little bit timid, but down-to-earth. She was kind to Naruto and never once insulted him or took stabs at his intellect or clumsiness, which couldn't be said for most of his friends, like Shikamaru, Sakura, and Sasuke. She made Naruto feel comfortable the more the two of them talked, and Harry could sense it.

The blonde-haired rookie stuck around for several hours until the visitor's hours were over. And in all that time, Naruto never once asked Hinata for information about Neji, how to defeat him, or what he could be in store for in the finals. He didn't want to mention the Chunin Exams to her in her current state, and he sure didn't want to use her as a means to an end, or let her think like that if he did ask for advice. He didn't want to bother Hinata with darker matters or ruin what turned out to be a heartfelt and amiable afternoon that both of them needed. He would defeat her cousin in her honor with his own resources.

When Naruto was forced to leave, he told Hinata he would come back and visit soon. He even offered to fetch some cinnamon buns for the two of them to share tomorrow. As soon as he had left, Hinata sank into her bed and smiled. She turned her head and watched as the sun started to set down the western mountains. Hinata didn't win a date with Naruto, but she couldn't care less about that at the moment. She had become friends with Naruto Uzumaki, and she couldn't remember the last time she had such a delightful afternoon.

Near the end of the next week, a rare chill in the air breezed into Konoha. The air felt a bit colder, as it would seem the summer would be over soon and another chilled autumn season would settle in. But the rookies due to battle in the arena didn't seem to notice or even care about the weather, as their attention was focused on the finals. Naruto more so than the others, as he walked back home with his face swollen, covered in sweat, dirt, and even a few bruises. He had decided to stick around with the Sannin, instead of leave him with a shadow clone. But shadow clone or not, it wouldn't have made much of a difference as soon as he had almost run out of chakra.

After another unsuccessful attempt to use the demon chakra, the Sannin scolded Naruto for his efforts, as usual, but this time had reminded him of the time constraints. He then forced Naruto to duke it out with his shadow clones and the clones had snuck in a few clean hits on his face. Once satisfied, the Sannin told him to leave and come back tomorrow at the same time.

As he marched back home, Naruto summed that he had one more full week until the finals, and all he had learned from the Sannin was how to walk on water, summon toads as massive as a teacher's desk, and that Make-Out Paradise was due for a new volume next month, titled; Double-D's of the Waterfall Island.

Naruto would be more worried, but he felt more irritated at the Sannin. He didn't extract a lot of useful information about Suna out of Jiraiya to learn about his connection to Gaara (the Sannin was distracted when the bra of one of the swimsuit ladies burst off) but he had his match with Neji covered with Iruka and Hayate as his mentors. But as a last resort, the blonde rookie felt he should learn how to extract the demon chakra and not lose control. He had his reservations on the matter of the demon chakra; fearful of the effect it would have on him whenever he used it. His older brother told him he would look into it for him, and that Naruto didn't have to exhaust his chakra in order to use the demon chakra. But he advised him to do what the Sannin felt was the best method until he found a solution.

But until he had to work his tail off tomorrow, he was allowed to kick back, relax, and have one afternoon to do what he wanted.

Naruto moved onwards, at a more relaxed pace, and took a look around Konoha. As the late afternoon settled in, the skies lined with various shades of pleasant orange and deep streaks of purple. The civilians and a few shinobi were out and about town to stock on food, water, tools, and trinkets. The restaurants that sold expensive food were filled with customers, booked to the teeth with couples and families dressed in kimonos, dresses, and suits. Naruto looked further down the street and saw booths and vendors set in front of closed stores. These rare attractions were set in motion in time for the annual festival to celebrate the Chunin Selection Exams. The blonde-haired wizard remembered these festivals but never attended them unless he was escorted with the Sandaime. He smiled as he remembered the Sandaime treated him to some snacks he would have missed out on because of his social status, but didn't think he would have time to have fun with the festivities. But even in the future, Naruto didn't think he would want to celebrate with the blissful and oblivious crowds. Now that Naruto knew the Chunin Exams existed as an excuse for war, he didn't see the festivities to be worth so much celebration. It bothered him a little bit, even more so as he listened to the citizens wander around and recall all of their favorite attractions and festivities.

Before the blonde wizard could think on the matter further, he remembered he was supposed to meet Iruka and Hayate at Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. Naruto dashed as fast as he could back to the house to take a shower and wash out the sweat and blood that drove most of the citizens around him back.

Naruto soon arrived at Ichiraku Ramen and saw his two, much older, friends seated at the restaurant with a bottle of sake. Iruka raised his hand for a small order of food to counter the alcohol with Hayate. Neither of them seemed to be drunk, but their cheeks were a little bit rosier than usual and Iruka couldn't seem to sit still as he shifted from side to side in his seat. Naruto shook it off and entered the restaurant as Iruka took notice of him the moment he lifted the veil and announced his arrival.

"It's about time! You're late!" the chunin announced with a smile.

Naruto smiled as he claimed his seat; "If I had a Galleon for all the times I've been told that I would be rich."

"Shhhhhh!" the chunin hissed at the mention of wizard Galleons but then he muttered in a humorous voice, "That's a secret!"

The blonde shinobi nodded and then called out to Teuchi and soon as the old man said hello and asked him what he wanted for dinner, "I'll have a barbecue bowl, Teuchi! Make it fast! I'm starved!"

For the next hour and a half, Naruto, Iruka, and Hayate each had a nice bowl of delicious ramen. The two adults took it much easier on the alcohol as the roses in their cheeks vanished, but returned as their mouths became filled with irresistible noodles and broth. While Naruto nibbled on the slices of barbecued meat tucked within the noodles of his ramen bowl, Hayate took a break and recounted the tale of when he and Naruto ate at Ichiraku Ramen back when the blonde kid was still a toddler. The swordsman mentioned a several times how excited and crazed Naruto would become whenever the two of them ordered lunch. Iruka chuckled when he learned Naruto used to stick chopstick in his nose while he waited for his ramen and acted like a walrus. Naruto snickered as well as he started to remember that afternoon. It was weird how he was never able to access these memories until now, but he didn't dwell on the notion as he consumed more noodles and recounted more stories and fond memories.

After each of the three shinobi had at least one bowl of ramen, Naruto watched as Iruka drank a small amount of sake. The blonde rookie could smell the drink from where he sat, and he was curious as to why his older brother even drank it. Based on the smell, it must have tasted awful, but Iruka didn't seem to mind it as he swallowed it down with ease. After the tan-skinned chunin noticed Naruto stare at him and his drink, he asked him if he wanted a small taste. Naruto refused at first, but then Teuchi intervened and said it was ok for the rookie to have one small taste. Iruka was hesitant and didn't want to be a bad role model, like he did a few weeks back. But then Hayate assured them that a small amount of alcohol couldn't hurt him. After a little more hesitation, Naruto had a miniscule amount of alcohol, less than shot of sake mixed with a lot of cola. The blonde rookie drank down the whole drink in seconds before he felt a cold, unfamiliar sensation in his stomach. He felt cold and then warm before the blood rushed to his head a little bit. He didn't even taste the sake, but Naruto felt more effected with the small amount of alcohol than he should have.

Naruto didn't want more as he sat still in his seat and felt the blood rush back down to his feet and then he announced, "Uh-oh… I'm drunk!"

Iruka and Hayate both cracked with laughter as Naruto convinced himself that he was intoxicated.

While Naruto steered back and forth, Hayate went on about how he learned how to master a blade. It turned out he had traveled across all five elemental nations and studied under various masters. It took him months of torturous training and discipline as he combined all of his experience and created his own unique style of sword combat, which earned him his master's sword and the rank of Tokubetsu. One humorous detail he added was that while he was on the road and learned the ways of combat, Hayate used various disguises and eventually faked his own death several times once he had learned all he needed and moved on to the next master on his list.

Naruto snorted as his master told him this tale and said in a somewhat drunken tone, "That's hilarious! You're like Wendelin the Weird!"

The swordsmaster sucked down a mouthful of noodles left in his bowl and almost choked at the unfamiliar reference.

"I'm like what?" he asked.

The blonde-haired rookie told him, under the pretense that he was drunk, "She was this witch in the Middle Ages that liked to be burned at the stake for witchcraft after she charmed the fire so that it wouldn't burn her-" his mouth was soon shut closed when Harry focused his magic and elbowed Naruto in the side. The blonde-haired wizard never took Teuchi and Ayame into account, but it seemed the two civilians remained oblivious to Naruto rare insight into magical historical facts.

Teuchi cleaned the back counter of his kitchen when he turned to look at his best customer and asked, "What was that, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's face flushed with more color before he answered, "Uh, never mind…"

Iruka shot Naruto a somewhat drunken stern look to warn him of his actions in silence, but soon relaxed and went back to his ramen once he was sure his little brother covered his tracks.

Another hour and a few bowls of ramen later, Naruto 'sobered' from his drink and discussed his schedule with his mentors. He thanked both of his friends for all their hard work and assistance so far, but that's when a certain swordsman felt he needed to make an announcement.

"You two have been awesome teachers," said the blonde rookie, "I don't know where I would be now, since Kaka-baka-sensei left me behind… I could have done well without a few torture sessions, but it's still been a lot of fun. So what do we have in store for tomorrow? I can't wait!"

"It's been a blast so far, Naruto," the swordsman cleared his throat several times, "but… after tomorrow, I'm afraid I won't be able to… to be able to meet at the field and train as usual."

Naruto asked, "How come?"

"I'm the examiner of the final exam, remember?" he said, "I can still train tomorrow for one last time, but after that I have to meet with Anko and Ibiki to discuss what we need to do for the finals. The finals are the most vital element to these exams with all the leaders and foreigners that will arrive soon… We can't afford to make Konoha look bad, so no tardiness and no half-assed efforts… Hokage-sama also has a mission for the other Tokubetsu and I can't miss out on that… But it should be fine, we can still see each other after the finals or have another bowl of ramen here to celebrate, win or lose, chunin or not."

The blonde-haired rookie soon nodded and said, "Ok, then let's make tomorrow count."

"I'll make sure I'm free tomorrow, Furi-sensei owes me a favor, so he can take over class for me," said Iruka.

The swordsman then said in a boastful voice as he raised his drink, "Then it's settled! Let's make tomorrow's session a memorable one!"

Naruto awoke a few hours later, as normal as he would ever be. He remembered the events from dinner and frowned when he realized his head didn't throb from a hangover. It soon occurred to him that he wasn't as drunk as he led himself to believe last night. The blonde rookie smacked himself on the face when he remembered how ridiculous he acted based on one little drink of sake, half a drink from one of those miniscule cups.

He then crawled out of bed and noticed Iruka wasn't in their bedroom. But the rookie did find a note on his he left behind stuck in his hair. Naruto read it, and soon crumbled it before he tossed it in the trash as he remembered this afternoon marked the final lesson he would have with Hayate before the finals. After that, he would have to train on his own and stick with the Sannin and he didn't look forward to that. Naruto decided to find his clothes from Tenten's store, found some breakfast Iruka left behind for him, but while he brushed his teeth, he stared into the mirror. He knew Hayate had to return to work with the other proctors, but he had a suspicion that he was needed for other activities. Naruto suspected his old friend and other Tokubetsu shinobi must have been called to help with the Orochimaru problem. While Naruto marched into the woods, he continued to think about his swordsmaster and Orochimaru.

Once he arrived in the field, Naruto sat on a flat rock and rubbed his forehead out of habit. His scar hadn't burned since the bathhouse but for the last few weeks, he did have small headaches, like the ones he had when Mizuki was around him in school. He felt about the same as he did back then whenever Orochimaru was on his mind. When he remembered his white face and his intense yellow eyes. It caused him to shiver sometimes when his memories of their battle were clear, but were often times clouded due to his use of the demon chakra at the time. Naruto knew the issue with Orochimaru wasn't over and feared what that terrible man intended to do to Sasuke and the reason he even returned to Konoha when he was a wanted criminal.

'Nii-san… What does Orochimaru want with Konoha? I never understood the reason he came back… All I know about him is what Iruka-aniki told us in class and someone with a record like his would be an idiot if he ever came back.'

'I would think he returned because he wants revenge on Konoha.'

'But what did the village ever do to him?'

'I read about it in one of the more recent history books we collected. From what I read, Orochimaru denied the post of the Yondaime Hokage despite his skills in ninjutsu and leadership. After that, he must have gone mad and the book said he killed a lot of innocent people and performed illegal experiments, most of them on children. After he was found out, he defected and has been on the run ever since… Orochimaru is this world's equivalent to Gellert Grindelwald or even a little bit of Tom Riddle. This man is bad news written all over him. A man of his skills, alone, could take over an entire shinobi village such as this one… or even a small nation…'

'You think he has some kind of plan like that in mind? You don't think he wants to take over Konoha?'

'There's a chance… I mean… there has to be some kind of reason he showed up in the Forest of Death, the fact that he has some kind of relation with Kabuto Yakushi, and that he slammed Sasuke with that curse mark… We haven't seen or heard from him since the forest, but I think he has some kind of attack plan set in motion… He could have spies in Konoha, and I bet Kabuto and those rookies from Oto work for him… Your scar acts as a warning for unseen danger, so maybe you're receiving some kind of alert to the threat that Orochimaru posses or what could be building up now… It's like the Triwizard Tournament all over again…'

'The Triwizard Tournament…' the blond wizard thought about the events he witnessed in the Pensieve, and remembered Voldemort's reasons behind that tournament were all an attempt to abduct his brother for his blood, and then Naruto started to see the current situation in parallels with the Chunin Exams, and the wizard felt his stomach sink, 'You don't think that Orochimaru did all of this because he's after Sasuke, Nii-san?!'

'I'm not sure… But it would be a dumb idea to cause so much trouble over one Sharingan brat… Orochimaru could have waited until the Uchiha was out on a mission to abduct him or search for his older brother… But if that were true, then there's a chance that that is the reason Kakashi left us without a single word…'

'You think so?!'

'There's a chance… But if that were true, Kakashi could have at least mentioned it to us before he left, there's no reason for him hide the truth from his students. For a man that's obsessed with the ideals of teamwork, he sure doesn't deliver on it himself… If there were a more sinister force at work here, Kakashi wouldn't be so stupid and focus his time on one student. Sure, I admit it; Orochimaru could be after Sasuke and it would make sense to focus on him. But Kakashi still left his other two students alone in the open with no one at his level or higher to keep them safe if Orochimaru decides to target them instead. He still abandoned his students, and left them with no warning and no bodyguard to keep them safe or inform them of the situation at hand.'

'That's a lot for me to take in all at once, Nii-san…'

'Oh. Heh! Excuse me, Naruto.'

Naruto fazed back into the real world and realized his two masters had arrived and walked towards him. The blonde-haired shinobi blinked and stood from the rock as Iruka ruffled his hair and smiled a little bit. Hayate seemed pleased as well, but a little bit sad knowing this was the last day the three of them would be able to train together.

Iruka said, "You look fit! You don't still think you're drunk, right?"

"Shut it," his little brother answered with a small smile of his own, "So what are we to do this time?"

Hayate stood before them and announced, "For our last training session, we will review all of the methods we covered over the last few weeks and then finish with one last duel. But first, I have a little surprise. I'm sure it'll be useful for the finals."

Naruto looked enthralled and started to shake his hands in excitement as he noticed the swordsmaster hide something behind him.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

Hayate smiled and said, "Simmer down and show me those hands…"

The rookie did as he was told and held his hands out. The swordsmaster then withdrew a black leather scabbard from his rucksack offered it to Naruto. The blonde rookie held it and stared at the scabbard in silence and awe; it was a sword, about 34 inches in length. Naruto held the handle and withdrew the blade with one smooth movement and made the blade scream when it was unsheathed. The blade itself seemed to be crafted out of silver, the hilt was broad, and the handle was covered in black and brown leather that allowed him to slice the air with ease. Naruto beamed as he held the blade in his hand and felt this unusual warmth in his hands, as if he had held the blade in his hands before. The handle also felt a little bit unusual, as if it were heavier or thicker than it looked. But Naruto held the blade with both hands and sliced the air one more time before he returned the blade back into it's scabbard.

"I… I don't believe it… This is a real sword… Will we use real swords this time, sensei?!"

Hayate smiled and said, "This is a standard-issue straight-edge sword, one of the oldest known sword designs known to man, but also one of the most effective blades. It has all the same feel as a katana, but it's more appropriate for stabbing and close combat. I received this sword from the master who first trained me, and his master before him. He handed it down to me after I studied and mastered the most advanced methods of sword combat… This should be the best sword to combat Neji's Gentle Fist… the metal the sword is made of can withstand his attacks."

Naruto stared at his master and asked, "I can borrow this for the finals?!"

"Actually, I want to make a deal with you," he smiled, "If you can beat Neji Hyuga in the finals with this sword, I will allow you to keep it."

Naruto stared at Hayate for a moment while his mind processed what he had heard. The blonde shinobi blinked, and then he started to shake his head and almost reached out to return the sword to his master.

He said, "No… I… I can't have this at the level I'm at now… You said it takes time to earn a real blade!"

"Well, to be honest…" the swordsmaster cleared his throat for the millionth time, "You have earned it, Naruto!"

"Huh?"

The Tokubetsu rested his hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "You bested me several times between our matches… No one has ever been able to best me with a sword. No one. Not even with a shinai… I didn't hold back that much when we sparred… You showed perseverance and true skill in the short few weeks we have trained together… You're skilled with a blade, Naruto, and I would be honored to see the first student I've ever taken on beat a Hyuga with this… Please take it, Naruto."

The blonde rookie looked down at the blade and unsheathed it to examine it. He ran a hand over the silver blade but couldn't feel scratches, dirt, or rust on the blade. It felt as if it were a brand-new sword that had never been used once in combat. Naruto soon didn't want to have to return the sword while he continued to hold and admire it. It shined and made him want to hold it close or slice the air as his hand locked around the hilt. Hayate then shook his shoulder and smiled down at his first student.

"Consider it half a decade worth of birthday presents and Christmases I missed!" he said.

Naruto cracked a warm smile as his mentor said that. He then slid the blade back into its scabbard and held it in his hands and faced the swordsmaster.

"Thanks… Hayate-sensei…" he answered and bowed his head in respect, "I won't lose… and I will treasure this..."

The swordsmaster bowed his head back before Naruto held the sword with one hand and embraced his teacher out of affection and thanks. Hayate felt his chest and ribs become crushed under Naruto's arms but he still hugged him back while he tried to hold his breath. It took Naruto a few seconds to pull back and their final training session could begin.

Hayate and Naruto soon stood across from each other in the central field. Naruto had his new scabbard swathed on his back and attacked to his belt to make sure it was secured. He reached back and withdrew the silver blade while Hayate stared him down with his own sword in hand. Iruka stood between the two of them and held his arm in the air, he then raised his voice so that the two of them could hear him, loud and clear.

Iruka shouted before he threw down his arm, "You two set? Then GO!"

The two combatants focused their chakra to their feet and dashed at each other. The sun shined on their blades and almost blinded Iruka when their swords were raised and reflected the sun. Naruto attacked first with a swift, horizontal slice. But his master blocked the attack and held him where he stood as their swords were locked. Naruto backed off and came back into to attack his master with a series of fast stabs and thrusts. But all of his attacks were somewhat weak in order for him to move as fast as he did. Hayate didn't have to use much effort to block the attacks as their blades clash and the sound of metal filled the area and scared the wildlife around them.

The two of them ran towards each other in and clashed. But Naruto remained where he stood as their swords were locked. Hayate soon had trouble as he held Naruto back. But the child had trained so hard with his countless shadow clones; he wouldn't be shocked if Naruto had muscles hidden underneath his survival clothes. But that didn't mean Naruto didn't have trouble too: it took a lot effort to even move his blade. Sweat rolled down his face as he forced himself to remain where he stood. His muscles strained to hold his arms still or even more forward a little bit. But then Naruto realized the trouble he could be in and made an effort to back off before Hayate released the lock and sliced him in two.

Naruto retreated but his master came in after him and forced him to defend himself. The swordsman tried to attack Naruto, cut his cheek or cut his arm, but was amazed to see Naruto hold his own. He blocked each attack and made no effort to attack back, focused on defense.

Hayate started to smirk at his student and shouted, "Incredible! The results must have been thanks to all those shadow clones, huh, Naruto?!"

The blonde rookie smirked back and locked his blade with his master and said, "That and the music of John Williams, sensei!"

"Huh?"

The rookie shinobi then shouted as he knocked his master's sword to the side and used his chakra to soar into the air and bound over him and shouted, "DUEL OF THE FATES!"

Naruto then cut a small hole into his master's shoulder, on the vest and never once broke the skin. When he landed on his feet, Hayate returned at full-force and overwhelmed Naruto with a series of constant attacks. The blonde shinobi was forced to focus on his defense and did well until his arms were tired and burned from the strain of a constant battle. The battle went on for half an hour His muscles burned and the swordsmaster forced him into a corner of the woods, before he disarmed Naruto and held his sword against his throat. He smirked at his student while he watched his face turn white and scared.

The swordsman then said, "Looks like I win…"

"You think?" his student asked him back and smiled back at his master.

The Tokubetsu seemed lost, "Huh?"

Naruto motioned toward the cut he made earlier, the one on Hayate's shoulder that had widened after the relentless wave of attacks the man unleashed on his student. It was Naruto's turn to smirk as a small chuckle echoed out of his mouth and Iruka looked shocked that he didn't notice it earlier. But Hayate's reaction looked more comical before he looked back at Naruto.

"You didn't notice it until now?" the student asked.

But then the swordsmaster smiled and lowered his weapon, "Heh! Excellent! You've done well this month, Naruto… Given time… You'll become a master swordsman as well…"

Naruto lowered his sore arms and smiled at his mentor before he collected his sword and returned it to his scabbard. Iruka smiled and announced Naruto as the winner before the three of them rested on the flat rocks for a water break. While his teacher took a break to clear his throat and drink some water, Naruto thought about the finals and what he was in store for with his opponent. He knew his sword could withstand the Gentle Fist, but he still wasn't sure if he could win while he knew little about how well Neji Hyuga trained for the finals.

"You think I'm strong enough to beat Neji now?" he asked.

The Tokubetsu took a moment to think about and said with a burst of confidence, "I think so…"

"I still have doubts about the final outcome," admitted an honest Iruka, "I won't lie, otōto."

Naruto threw a flat look at his older brother and said in a sarcastic tone, "Thanks for the boat of confidence, aniki."

For the rest of the afternoon, Hayate and Naruto continued to battle each other. Iruka would allow the swordsman to have a break and take a turn with Naruto, but the chunin was not as talented with a sword as much as he was with a kunai. But Iruka made it more fun when he abandoned his sword and attacked Naruto with kunai to surprise him. And the blonde rookie reacted well and blocked his attacks before the two of them sparred. Iruka smirked as he could see and sense the improvement in his adopted little brother. Naruto acted more like the fine shinobi he tried to train Naruto to become when he was his student. His chakra control was still flawed, but miles ahead from what it was like when he received his headband. He would have wanted to embrace his former student at how well he has done, but he had to throw a kunai at him and watch him duck down and create two shadow clones to combat him at once.

When it was Hayate's turn to spar with Naruto, the two of them locked blades once more while Iruka watched and took a water break. This was the time where Hayate took their session a little less seriously and tapped the blunt end of his blade against Naruto if he made a mistake or missed. And sometimes, the Tokubetsu bonked Naruto on the head with the end of his hilt to mock him or end the match faster. But often times, this made Naruto more furious and determined to win. The blonde-haired shinobi attacked his teacher in a series of endless attacks, but was able to increase his speed and use all of his strength combined to penetrate his defenses. But no matter how hard he tried, Naruto wasn't able to break his master's skin or even leave a few more holes in his clothes, though he tried.

Once the sun started to set and the skies turned orange, Hayate decided their final session was over.

"That's enough!" he called over to Naruto, drew his sword back into the scabbard on his back in a fashion a little bit of a standoffish fashion.

Naruto almost refused to return his sword back into its scabbard when he stretched his arms out and walked over to Hayate.

"You have to leave now?" he whined, "But we haven't finished the latest match! Who won?!"

Hayate looked a little bit sad and told him, "Gomenasai… but I have to leave. The other Tokubetsu will need me soon. I also have a little mission from the Sandaime. He needs me to monitor someone in Konoha while the ANBU are occupied with their missions to search for that blasted Orochimaru… You won't see me until the finals, I'm afraid…"

"That sucks…" the blonde wizard returned his new sword into the scabbard on his back and continued in a somewhat hurt voice as he remembered the last time he ever had to be separated from his old friend, "I wish we had a little more time… it almost feels like… back when I was little… the last time we saw each other… for almost a decade…"

Hayate reminisced for a moment and frowned when he remembered the last time he ever took care of old Naruto Uzumaki. Back when the rookie was little, he remembered the tears that ran down Naruto's face as he realized his friend was about to leave him. The Tokubetsu tried not to remember that afternoon in vivid detail, as it made his insides feel sick. He then rested his hand on Naruto's shoulder and assured him with a small, tired smile.

He said with confidence, "It won't be like that… I swear we will see each other again."

"You swear?" the rookie asked.

Hayate nodded, "I swear… I'll be there at the end… and the three of us will have ramen at Ichiraku."

The student and teacher embraced for a minute while Hayate ruffled his blonde hair and Naruto decided to break the sadness as he thought about him, Hayate, and Iruka in Ichiraku Ramen after the Chunin Exams.

Naruto said, "Kakashi-sensei is not invited."

"Don't be so harsh," the swordsman ruffled his hair and separated from his student.

Iruka smiled and shook Hayate's hand, a little bit reluctant to end their training session already.

The Tokubetsu said in a friendly tone, "Farewell, Iruka. It's been a blast!"

"Likewise," answered the chunin, and then he confessed, "It's been fun!

Hayate then patted the chunin's shoulder and said, "Good to know Naruto is in safe hands…"

Soon after, Hayate collected his supplies and marched away from his two friends but still faced them as he departed and called out to them a few times.

Hayate assured them with a wave, "I'll be there at the match!"

"You better," shouted Naruto, "You are the proctor after all!"

The swordsmaster chuckled and then he waved, "Until we see each other at the finals, then, comrades!"

Naruto slowly started to frown as Hayate left them, but then he was surprised and somewhat delighted when he turned around with one more shout from the distance.

"OH! Be sure to tell that other wizard I said hello!" he shouted.

Naruto laughed and then he called back to his swordsmaster, "He isn't deaf, Hayate! He can hear that!"

With that said, Iruka and Naruto watched as Hayate left them at the field. A cold breeze blew into the field before the two brothers collected the rest of their stuff in silence before the two of them discussed what their plans were for dinner that night.

Later that night in Konoha, in the area of town where the oldest structures and castles still stood (abandoned but left as tourist attractions) a terrible scream was heard and the roof of one of the oldest structures in the isolated area was crushed and left in ruins. Several kilometers from the castle, two men watched the scene from a distance, hidden in the shadows while the wind started to calm down. The two of them watched as dust arouse from the roof of the castle and the creature that had been unleashed was reverted back into human form. The shorter of the two men commented on the observation, and was revealed to be no one other than Kabuto Yakushi.

"So that's Gaara's true form..." he said, and then he commented in a somewhat colder voice, "It's hideous..."

The other man turned out to be Gaara's sensei, Baki. He had watched his student unleash his inner beast and killed the unfortunate soul that had dared to confront him. It was Dosu, the rookie from Oto who was due to battle Shikamaru Nara in the finals, but it looked like he wanted to eliminate Gaara and combat the heir of the Uchiha clan, for whatever reasons he had. But he didn't know what terrible force was hidden inside Gaara and whatever he saw caused him to scream before he was reduced to a stain on the roof of the castle. Baki had observed the entire confrontation but was concerned about the noise it had made and worried the Konoha ANBU would arrive soon after. But also concerned about Kabuto's reasons for letting Dosu die.

He asked Kabuto, "Will this little demonstration cause us any trouble?"

"It'll be fine. Dosu wasn't all that useful to us," answered Konoha rookie, "It's a shame his teammate Kin fled, but we should hunt her down and eliminate her soon. Besides, this area was once the center for the ROOT ANBU until the division was dissolved. No one will notice this until the sun rises."

"You told us Dosu was meant to face off with the Uchiha kid," the teacher from Suna raised his voice, as he demanded, "What's the deal here?"

But while the two men talked to each other in the shadows, a lone swordsman was hidden around the corner and listened in. The swordsman held back his familiar cough as best he could and remained silent and invisible to the rest of the world. Hayate Gekko had arrived in the area earlier when he was asked to monitor Dosu Kinuta. The council of elders tasked him with the mission to watch Dosu until he returned to his teammates or sensei, now that it was clear Orochimaru was affiliated with Otogakure no Sato. But Dosu never returned to his teammates or ever saw his sensei, instead the swordsmaster followed him to Kikyo Castle and watched as Gaara unleashed the horror he had hidden within. To make matters worse, he didn't think he would have ever run into Kabuto Yakushi, or see him talk to Baki of the team from Suna.

He thought to himself, 'There's Kabuto... But he's with the sensei from Suna…'

He listened in as Kabuto cracked a wide smile and turned to look at Baki with an eccentric tone in his voice. It made him sound somewhat unbalanced, arrogant, and childish all at the same time.

"Well, the tables have turned. Orochimaru ordered me to abduct Sasuke and make a run for it..." the white-haired rookie cracked a nervous smile and said, "But it didn't work out as I intended... Mission failed."

"What?!" outraged the teacher from Suna.

Hayate frowned as the rumors he had heard about the white-haired rookie were confirmed: Kabuto Yakushi was a traitor to Konoha, and he was affiliated with Orochimaru and Otogakure no Sato. The swordsman wanted to reach back for his blade and slice Kabuto in half. He now realized Kabuto had assisted Orochimaru to infiltrate Konoha undetected, killed three innocent rookies from Kusa, snuck the Sannin into the exams, obtained valuable information on the rookies and shinobi of Konoha, enabled Orochimaru to infect Sasuke with the curse mark, and could be responsible for a much more sinister plan at work. So the Tokubetsu resisted to intense desire to kill the traitor and listened in on him and Baki.

"And the word's out that I'm in alliance with Otogakure too. Someone sniffed me out," said the white-haired traitor, "Hiruzen Sarutobi has realized the connection between me, Orochimaru, and Oto."

Baki shouted at the teen with an intense hatred, "You dickless freak! If someone from Konoha sees me here with you, Suna's plans to crush Konoha will be ruined! You're supposed to be Orochimaru's assistant and you go ahead and get yourself caught like an idiot?! What the hell is the matter with you?!"

"To be honest…" the traitor started in a slow, dramatic manner, and then said with a more serious, but still overconfident tone, "I revealed myself to Konoha on purpose. I wanted to see how Konoha would react once they found out who I was. Since I know the area well and studied this plan for years it won't take me long to figure out a better strategy to abduct Sasuke and ensure the success of the invasion. We still need a little bit of time to secure certain unexpected predicaments."

Baki calmed down somewhat and then he said, "If it looks like Oto is about to fail, we will withdraw. You and that snake bastard came to us with this invasion idea in the first place... Suna will remain in the shadows until the end. That is the will of the Kazekage."

Hayate couldn't believe what he had heard and realized how serious the situation was now. The Sandaime had suspected Orochimaru intended to overthrow Konoha, but never did he think Suna would ever become involved. Now he realized an entire invasion, a war was about to breakout. The Tokubetsu remained silent, but his insides churned when he realized how much trouble he was in and what was at stake. But while Hayate remained invisible, Kabuto handed over a scroll to Baki and the teacher from Suna took it.

"Here are our plans. Be sure to inform the twins and the tanuki over there." said the white-haired traitor.

Baki nodded and answered with a bitter tone, "Yeah..."

"I'll be off then..." said Kabuto.

Hayate was about to make his move while he thought, 'Suna and Oto are in an alliance to annihilate Konoha... I have to alert the Sandaime at once. I have no time to lose…'

The swordsman was about to vanish into thin air, but then his foot crushed a weak area of stone and wood. The sound was so soft, but with no wind to cover the sound, it was like he crunched a branch or crushed broken glass under his foot. The Tokubetsu froze and felt his stomach fall as the blood in his head rushed down to his feet. Around the corner, Kabuto's face shifted within a fraction of a second. He looked crazed and furious while he looked to the side and focused chakra into his feet.

"Hold on..." he said with a casual tone, "We have a little mess to clean first..."

Baki heard the noise as well, and looked even more murderous than Kabuto and said with a cold tone, "I'll do it... We are allies now, so Suna should be able to do something once in a while... Besides... One rat shouldn't be too much trouble..."

Hayate fled the scene vanished as he cursed under his breath. He turned into a dark blur as he ran across the roofs of the various towers and castles. He ran faster than he had ever run in his life as he darted towards the center of Konoha to warn the Sandaime of the immense threat. But the swordsman was cut off when Baki arrived and cut in front of him. The dark-skinned, tattooed man held his arms out to reach for his weapons but cracked a smirk when he recognized the Konoha shinobi.

"Well, lookie here," he chuckled, "It's the examiner and he's all alone."

Hayate frowned as he reached back for his sword and unsheathed it with one slick movement, and then he said with a calm, serious manner, "It doesn't look like I have much of a choice here... I have to fight..."

At once, Hayate broke at unbelievable speed and attacked Baki, but the man from Suna withdrew two kunai and blocked his sword. The two men bounced off each other, reformed and attacked a second time. Their blades locked with one another as the air became filled with the sound of metal. The swordsmaster from Konoha never broke a sweat as he moved like a samurai and slashed at the older man. Baki's smirked faded more and more with each attack until he frowned and started to sweat. The Tokubetsu used his chakra to move fast but failed to break Baki's kunai defense. But with each attack, he felt Baki resist less and less and never once relented. Hayate never said a word as his eyes turned cold and deadly. He should have felt confident that Baki's defense was at risk, but he didn't know if Kabuto was around the corner about to attack him from behind or if the coward decided to flee. The master swordsman needed to end this battle fast, and decided to unleash one of his best techniques to eliminate Baki and reach the Sandaime before it was too late.

Baki recovered from the latest attack and raised his kunai to defend himself, but Hayate didn't attack him. In an instant, the Tokubetsu created two shadow clones and moved at incredible speed. One clone attacked from the left while the other attacked from the right. The real Hayate vanished into thin air and Baki was left with no time to decide whom to block or if the clones were even real. He looked like he was about to burst with the intense look on his face, but he was caught off guard a second time when the shadow clones burst and the real Hayate sliced his sword into his shoulder.

"DANCE OF THE CRESCENT MOON!"

Blood ran down the roof of the domed roof of the castle the two men stood on. The swordsman had failed to slice off Baki's arm as the man's thick vest, but blood ran down him at a constant flow until it drenched his feet. Baki had shouted and lowered his head while Hayate still looked serious and about to withdraw and slice Baki's head clean off with one swift slice. But then the Tokubetsu heard a low chuckle come out of Baki's throat.

The man chuckled louder and raised his head to look at the master swordsman, "Heh! Konoha sure does have its talents..."

Hayate clenched his sword but discovered he couldn't move it. The silver, blood-soaked blade was embedded into Baki's shoulder and the vest he wore was so thick that it stuck to the katana. It was as if the insides of the vest he wore were made out of some kind of adhesive.

"I can't remove the sword from his shoulder... It's stuck!" muttered the Tokubetsu.

The man from Suna formed a standard seal with his hand and said with a calm and cold voice, "You know, a blade can be blocked with another blade... But a sword of wind cannot be blocked at all..."

Hayate's eyes widened when he heard Baki tell him that. But before he could withdraw his sword from Baki's shoulder, he remembered one of his sessions with Naruto, how he never surrendered when the odds were not in his favor and did whatever he could to take down his opponent. Hayate didn't waste a second as he smirked and abandoned his sword and reached for a short blade he had hidden under his scabbard. He backed off of Baki and in one swift movement, he stabbed Baki in the arm and made him scream.

"ARRRRRRRGH!"

The Tokubetsu then kicked Baki in the chest, and the force of his kick caused his katana to slide out of his shoulder when the swordsman clenched the handle in his hand. The sword slid out of him as blood stained the roof of the castle and decorated the Konoha shinobi's face. The man from Suna fell and clenched his wounds while he bled out on the roof and couldn't move an inch or focus his chakra. He could move his hand or use wind jutsu as his hand twitched.

Hayate then smirked as he left the blood stained on his face alone and said, "Let's see some blades of wind now."

"Dammit!" cursed Baki, "You have the chance to-"

But then Baki's words were cut short when a needle stabbed him in the chest. The shinobi from Suna lost conscious almost at once and Hayate turned around and blocked a series of attacks. Needles laced with some kind of medicine shot out from the shadows, but Hayate sliced and blocked them all with his sword. He looked focused, determined, and intense until the attacker had run out of ammo. The Tokubetsu never lowered his sword for even a second as he focused chakra into his feet to move fast. He then faced his new opponent, unsurprised to see who it was.

"You traitor… I should have known… Baki isn't dead, is he?"

Kabuto Yakushi came out of the shadows and smiled as he raised his arms, dressed in a dark sleeveless stealth outfit but still wore the Konoha headband.

The white-haired traitor smiled as if he welcomed the swordsman into his home and said, "I had no idea the rat was Hayate Gekko. But no, Baki isn't dead. I still need him to deliver that scroll after I'm forced to heal him. But he would have been a fool to kill someone so well known and valuable. I know he's one of our allies for now, but I cannot let such a rat die… at least not now."

The Tokubetsu felt the desire to slice Kabuto in half return, but this time he didn't hold it back. Hayate focused an intense amount of chakra into his feet stormed after the traitor in a burst. He blurred across the roof, his blade shined in the moonlight, almost blinded Kabuto and he let out an incredible roar before he attacked the former Konoha rookie, intent to slice his face before he cut him in half.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Later on that week, Naruto moaned as he sat on the shore of the river. He was exhausted to no end from all the effort he had crammed in within the last several hours.

For the rest of the week, Jiraiya had Naruto summon countless toads and forced him to exhaust his chakra until he was breathless. When Naruto failed to summon the demon chakra, as usual, he left Naruto on the shore watched the women at the waterfall behind the bushes. Naruto wheezed for the Sannin to throw him a water bottle, but the Sannin cast him aside and snickered as the women removed their bras and his face turned red and his smile consumed more than half of his face. The Sannin was forced to cover his mouth when he almost roared with excitement.

Naruto sneered at the Sannin, furious at how unreliable he had been this whole month. He offered him no advice on how to win the finals and bossed him around with the same tired drills, watched him fail, and then ditched him to look at the oblivious women out in the distance.

But to be fair, Jiraiya's method could have worked if he threw Naruto into a new situation or tricked him in order to motivate him to liberate the demon chakra. But he never did that once, for four weeks. Sure, Naruto's chakra control was better than ever, but he didn't learn more than how to summon toads and command the dumb ones. It felt like Naruto had wasted so much time with Jiraiya that he could have been used to do more research on the other contestants and not Neji alone. But instead, the Sannin wasted time on women and did not contribute more to Naruto other than to serve as an unmotivated drill instructor. Naruto didn't have a lot of time left and he had no other method to defeat Neji other than what Iruka and Hayate advised. He was confident that he could beat him if he used his shadow clones well and tricked him, but Naruto had no other backup plan in mind where he wouldn't reveal his ultimate secret to the whole world.

But as far as his magic was concerned, Naruto had used his time in the mindscape to advance his skills to a whole other level. Naruto skills as a wizard and a duelist were remarkable; now almost at the same level his older brother was when he was fifteen and led the D.A. Naruto's skills had advanced so much that his brother called him Neville one afternoon, which made Naruto blush in embarrassment. Harry was astounded to see Naruto improve so much in his studies as he watched him duel fake Death Eaters and missing-nin. But the older wizard suspected his brother's improvement was motivated from his anger towards his sensei, which he must have buried deep down. He was a little bit worried how Kakashi's sudden abandonment would affect the team once the exams were over. But Harry didn't dwell on these thoughts for too long and watched Naruto summon a book from across the chamber, much like how he and Hermione practiced before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Back in the real world, while Naruto's overall skills were remarkable, he still had some doubts about the finals that he couldn't shake off. Due to the fact that the Sannin that had sworn to aid him contributed the least amount, seconded to Kakashi who had abandoned him for Sasuke. The blonde-haired wizard went back into the river and waddled around the water. His chakra exhaustion then hit him at full force and he started to sink. Naruto took what little time he had to look at Jiraiya bounce behind the bushes, before he started to smirk at the Sannin. While a trail of blood leaked from his nose, the white-haired Sannin tried to hold back his laughter and blushed. One of the women had removed their bra and Jiraiya received a free show as he watched the women bounce around in the cool water. The Sannin couldn't have come at a better time until he heard a loud boom from behind him.

"Yo, ladies! I'M IN THE BUSHES!" screamed Naruto in a low voice.

Naruto hid his wand back in his trousers before the Sannin could turn around and he sank into the river. The blonde rookie could hear the sound of screams beneath the water and then a series of violent noises that sounded almost cartoonish as the waterfall women marched over and attacked the Sannin.

The blonde wizard smiled in bliss as he lost consciousness and sank to the bottom of the river.

Sometime later, Naruto started to come to and he had been removed from the riverbed. His vision switched from the Merlin Circle to the middle of a forest he had never seen before. Naruto also felt as if someone with broad shoulders carried him in a rather uncomfortable manner, and felt like someone had smacked him on the head while he moaned.

"Oww…" he moaned.

But before he could determine who it was that carried him into the forest, Naruto had fallen and hit the earth hard. With that action, he looked around, wide awake, until Jiraiya kicked him to focus his attention. The Sannin stared down at the rookie, his face covered in bruises and a few cartoonish swell marks on his head and a somewhat bloodied nose.

The Sannin was not amused as he stated, "Our arrangement is over, kid. This whole month was a waste of time."

Naruto rubbed his face and stood to face the Sannin.

"You cannot learn to draw out the foxes chakra… You're better off alone with it, then. I'm done here, kid," he thundered.

Naruto tried to talk to him, hesitant to be rid of him when he could still aid him for the finals, "Ok, I'll admit I went too far with the shout-out to the waterfall ladies. Gomenasai. But I did all I could do with the fox chakra! The last time I ever used it was when I was almost killed! The first time before that, was when a teammate of mine almost died and I was furious! I don't know if I can do it unless I'm in some kind of trouble!"

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto and frowned at him. The Sannin stared at the child for a while in thought, before he talked with a somewhat dark tone to his voice.

"If life is so valuable, it should be a simple task to draw out the demon chakra... With that said, I really hope you survive this..." said the Sannin.

Naruto stared at the tall shinobi; unable to determine what he meant when he said that. He then started to look around the forest the two of them were situated and felt his stomach start to swell and sink. He felt his scar burn for less than a second and felt that familiar desire to run and never look back.

"Ero-Sennin, where are we?" he asked.

Jiraiya then reached his massive hand to Naruto's face. He touched Naruto's headband with one of his fingers and then the blonde-haired rookie was off his feet. Naruto soared backwards, blasted through bushes and leaves, faster than he could ever run. He felt like he was about to hit a rock or some dirt, until he felt a sudden cool breeze kiss his back and neck. He turned his head around a little bit and his face switched from a look of shock to absolute horror.

Jiraiya of the Sannin had thrown Naruto into the cavernous Konoha ravine.

The rookie fell into the endless darkness and screamed as he descended down, down, down into oblivion.

His heart raced as all the warmth within him drained into cold and still, Naruto screamed. His descent into the darkness increased as cold wind blasted into his face like a hurricane. He soared downwards like a bullet, but the blonde rookie tried to reach for one of the smooth columns of rock that stuck out from the walls of the ravine. Naruto was fortunate as he focused what little chakra he had left in him to hold on for dear life. But the smooth surface of the rock was coated in water and ice, and he slid off as soon as he had held on.

Back at the end of the ravine, Jiraiya looked down at his student and waited as he watched.

"It useless, Naruto," he said, "The walls of this ravine have been cultured smooth with the cascading waters. You're too fast and won't be able to stick to the rocks, even with that enhanced chakra control," he then smirked, "Unless you are able to finally gain access to the Kyuubi's chakra. It's your only chance at surviving this fall, Naruto… It is time for you to turn the key and open the door yourself, kiddo…"

The luckless rookie continued to fall and scream, terrified that this time he was about to die. He screamed and screamed some more while his brother tried to think of a solution and fast.

'Soften the rocks at the bottom! DO IT!'

Naruto withdrew his wand and tried his best to aim the charm he needed to save his neck. But with the wind in his face, he couldn't aim his wand straight and missed countless times.

"Spongify!" he cried.

A series of violet beams shot out from Naruto's wand but none of them hit the floor of the cavern. Instead all of them hit the rocks at the sides. He tried it over and over, but each time he missed. Naruto tried it one more time but he missed again and the force of his charm caused him to swirl as he blasted downwards like a bullet.

"HELP ME!" he cried, "I'M GOING DIE!"

His head raced, unable to flashback to his whole life before this afternoon because he was too scared to think, instead the inside of his head sounded more like this, 'I wanna be back at the top! I wanna be back at the top! I wanna be back at the top!'

Naruto chanted these words over and over with no other desire on his mind. He visualized himself back where he stood with the Sannin, far from the darkness, safe with his feet firm on the ground behind Jiraiya. Naruto wanted nothing more in the world at the moment than to be where it was safe.

Certain that he would be dead in a few short seconds, Naruto looked around in the middle of the rush and felt as if time had decided to slow down all of a sudden. He blinked and then he felt a sudden rush, unlike the one he felt a second ago. Naruto felt as if he were twisted and sucked into a much smaller dimension.

To Be Continued…

And that's all I have for now!

Ok, we have reached the part where I list the differences from the original fanfic to the new and improved one…

Let's see. The first noticeable difference is that Naruto and Harry took more time to figure out the reason why Naruto's scar burned in the original. The next scene after that, Naruto returned to his apartment and ran into Gamakichi who ruined his apartment after he accidentally unleashed Naruto's copy of the Monster Book of Monsters. Naruto saved him in the original and the little toad befriended Naruto in a heartbeat and became the best of friends. This rushed scene is where the worst of the original version starts in my honest opinion. As Naruto and Gamakichi walked to Ichiraku Ramen, Daikoku makes a quick cameo where he's frightened at Gamakichi's ability to speak and knocks himself out by running into a lamp post. When Naruto and Gamakichi are at Ichiraku with Iruka and Hayate, they exchange unrealistic and very accepting dialogue that made me cringe as I reviewed it. Naruto then has a Scrubs-style fantasy/daydream sequence where Justin Bieber is heard on the radio, with sonic sound waves attacking Naruto and his friends which end with Iruka sacrificing himself to break the radio and goes temporarily insane, madly singing the lyrics to Baby before Naruto knocks him back to sanity. As if that weren't a total waste of time, after the radio does end up broken from a short circuit, Naruto uses his magic to enhance his voice and sings, Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel from the musical Wicked. During which, I wrote a flashback to when Hayate was forced to leave Naruto when he was a toddler and directly ripped off The Simpsons episode, Lisa's Substitute, when Lisa's favorite teacher is forced to leave her forever. As if that weren't enough, after this pointless and over-dramatic musical number, I had Hayate mention he wants to propose to his girlfriend and Iruka let's Naruto have his first alcoholic drink, despite being immensely underage.

Sometimes I can't believe that I even wrote that chapter. And I don't blame some of the reviewers saying that they lost interest in my fanfic after I posted that infamous chapter. I only hope that this new version is an upgrade, replacing dated pop culture references and fads I liked at the time for an action scene, some character development, and a comfortable moment for the current center characters to sit down and breathe.

Be sure to leave me a review after you've read! Reviews always help motivate me to write more, especially if you guys mention something you like!

See ya, guys!