DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Not Naruto, not enough talent to make money off writing, and certainly not enough money to be worth suing. So please don't ;_;

Chapter 3: Raw Diamond

Shortly after Sasuke provided Naruto with proper shuriken and kunai, Morino Ibiki had offered to train both boys after academy hours. It had taken some time to adjust things at the office to allow him to be free in the afternoons and evenings, but this was part of what he'd agreed to when he took in the two orphans. Sasuke, naturally, had declined, opting to continue with his own solo training. Naruto had accepted. Now, three weeks later, Morino had learned three very important facts.

One: He'd been correct in his belief that Naruto was a tactile learner.

Two: He had drastically underestimated just how well Naruto learned under the right circumstances.

Three: The boy had the endurance to train nonstop for hours, without complaint. And, more importantly, he had the will to do so.

Spoken and written explanations were wasted on the blonde, but when he learned how to actually do something, he seemed to soak that knowledge up like a sponge. He had a great deal of trouble with some techniques, particularly those that used a minimal amount of chakra. Given that he was an Uzumaki, this was hardly a surprise. Even setting aside the likelihood that the boy had at least some access to the chakra of the Kyuubi, which likely accounted for his ridiculous stamina and tendency to heal overnight, he came from a clan known for two things: incredible skill with sealing techniques, and large amounts of a particularly powerful form of chakra. Naruto's mother, in fact, had been one of the most powerful members of that scattered, ruined clan, capable of forming the chakra chains that were powerful enough to hold a tailed beast down.

If he had anything of his clan in him, Naruto's chakra control would improve later on; it would simply take longer, because an Uzumaki had to restrain their chakra to use it well, not push it out as most shinobi did. Most shinobi would never even be able to grasp the concept well enough to help Naruto figure it out.

Scarier still was what he'd inherited from his father. Naruto was never going to be called a genius in the way that Minato had been. The Yondaime had the skill and ability to develop techniques and improve on them, even after only seeing them once. Ibiki had heard rumors that Minato was even working on a way to stop Tailed Beast Bombs, which would give shinobi a massive advantage when dealing with escaped beasts. But while Naruto might not be someone who learned at first sight, he had definitely inherited his father's ability to incorporate new information instantly and seamlessly into his own calculations and plans. And Naruto made plans, there was no way around that. He had the strategic planning of a chuunin captain, even at his young age—likely a result of planning so many pranks. And such a skill would continue to develop, if Ibiki had a say in things.

But Naruto's tactical ability was the truly terrifying aspect. The boy's adaptability during combat was a sight to behold.

So far, Ibiki had mostly stuck to teaching the jinchuuriki taijutsu basics, working out his clumsiness and poor forms, teaching him how better to fight and hit. But they'd spent a few afternoons improving his other jutsu as well. Naruto only really knew three techniques at a combat level now: clones, transformation, and body replacement. But the things he came up with, both before and during fights, were highly impressive. And any time Ibiki showed a new technique of his own, he would find that Naruto would almost immediately account for that new technique as he moved forward. He was also highly observant, a trait that was often masked by his tendency to take things at face value. But for all that Naruto was easily deceived by those he trusted, he himself was very good at deception in combat.

The boy needed tutors for ninjutsu and sealing.

With this kind of mindset and the incredible chakra reserves of the Uzumaki bloodline, Ibiki was convinced that Naruto would benefit most from learning a small pool of very versatile techniques, as well as the sealing that had made his clan so terrifying. It would also do him well to improve his taijutsu: the boy seemed to have inherited his father's distaste for hand seals. Minato had rarely used any techniques that required any hand seals, and those he tended to use only required one. Naruto had spent six hours practicing with the clone technique after he got the feel of it down, and had managed to reduce the hand seals down to one. Ibiki wasn't even sure the brat realized himself how much he disliked seals.

But even that wasn't the scariest thing.

The scariest thing was, Ibiki actually liked the kid.

The boy had a magnetic personality. He could get under your skin with absurd ease and quickness, and in no time at all it was like he'd been your friend for your whole life. Much of this personality came from his mother. Kushina had the ability to inspire others to follow her, through her blunt, honest nature. She would tell you to your face what she thought of you, and she would fearlessly charge into combat without a second thought. Naruto had inherited carbon copies of those traits. But he'd also inherited something from Minato: boundless kindness. The deceased Yondaime was known for being merciless in combat, but he always had the tendency to look at people and see the good in them. And that, if nothing else, he had successfully passed on to his son. As a result, Naruto tended not to get physical when he was angry as quickly as his mother, preferring to use words as long as possible, as Minato had.

Or perhaps that reluctance to harm was because of his own experiences of being bullied.

Either way, Ibiki had not failed to notice that he smiled more often around the brat than he'd done in years. Nor did it escape his attention that he'd arranged for more training time recently than they'd started with. The odd thing was—even noticing this, he chose not to check himself. Part of it was that Naruto needed that in his life, needed to be important.

But to be perfectly honest, Ibiki was enjoying teaching the orange-clad brat.

Now if only he could get Sasuke on board with the training, somehow…

Sasuke blinked in surprise as Shino crashed to the ground with a grunt. The Aburame was in the top quarter of the class as far as taijutsu went. Only Sasuke, Ino, and Kiba were normally able to beat him.

And Naruto had just taken Shino apart. It was like the size and strength difference were nonexistent. Naruto had gone in under Shino's fist, then spun sideways, avoiding Shino's retaliatory knee strike while at the same time grabbing the outstretched arm and throwing the larger boy right over his shoulder. It was a good move, and not something Sasuke—or anyone, for that matter—expected. Shino had turned the throw into a controlled roll, but Naruto had been on him like a little orange whirlwind, keeping the larger boy from going back on the offensive. After that, it had only been a matter of time.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called out, signaling an end to the spar. "Now, make the Seal of Reconciliation."

Naruto wasn't sporting his usual giant grin, the one Sasuke had come to realize was fake. Instead, he had a smaller, more feral grin in place, indicating excitement and joy. Shino's brows were high over his dark glasses as the two linked fingers, but he nodded at Naruto in acknowledgement of the outcome.

Ever since learning about Naruto's treatment from the weapons merchants, Sasuke had been paying more attention to how his interactions went. Looking underneath the underneath was very hard not to do, once you had an idea of what you were looking for. Sasuke had seen many students treat Naruto with contempt and even hostility, including many of those around them. Kiba got along with Naruto when the two were united about something, but otherwise thought of him as a loser. Chouji and Shikamaru were friendly enough—though Sasuke had never known Chouji to be anything but kind to others, and Shikamaru lacked the energy to have enemies. Even so, neither boy went out of their way to include Naruto any more than they excluded him. Ino, Sakura, and most of the other girls treated Naruto badly, though Hinata Hyuuga seemed to be okay with him. It was hard to tell since she practically never spoke up, though. And most of the teachers seemed to consider Naruto a pest, with the exception of Iruka. But even Iruka seemed…off. Like he would do more for Naruto, but there was something holding him back.

Sasuke just wished he knew what it was.

At least Shino seemed neutral towards Naruto. And since he was neutral towards everyone, it was hard to ask for more. Not that Sasuke cared how Naruto was treated. He cared more about the why. Unless he missed his guess, most of the students acted the way they did to Naruto because that's how they saw others acting. If there was a deeper reason for it, none of them seemed to know, and Sasuke hadn't been able to figure that information out, not even using his pull as the technical head of the Uchiha clan. The fact that Shino and Shikamaru didn't seem to care supported his theory. Shino only acted based on logic, not emotions. He never did things just because. And Shikamaru's dad was deep in Konoha Intelligence. If there was a secret, the Nara clan head knew it. Shikamaru not only didn't treat Naruto badly, he'd come to the blonde's defense once or twice, verbally at least.

Which meant Shikamaru hadn't picked up treating Naruto poorly from his father. And that meant Naruto was likely an innocent. That, or the elder Nara was simply better at controlling himself than most.

It was a difficult mystery to solve, especially considering clues seemed to be deliberately scarce. Sasuke couldn't even find a public record of Naruto's birth.

Well. At least he could figure out the mystery of Naruto's newfound taijutsu abilities. He did, after all, have an open invitation to join Ibiki and the idiot in their training sessions. Time to collect on that.

Sasuke shook himself out of his reverie as Iruka called out for him. "Next up, Sasuke versus Chouji. Step forward and make the Seal of Confrontation."

"It was awesome! I did just like you said, I made him waste all his time defending! He didn't even have time to throw a punch!"

Ibiki let a small smile cross his face as Naruto went on about his first victory in taijutsu sparring. The Aburame boy was clinical, methodical, by-the-book, which meant you normally had to have him beaten in speed, reach, or simple raw strength to take him down, because he tended not to have gaps in his actual technique. But Naruto had caught him off guard with the basic jujitsu throw that Naruto had been learning. All credit to the little orange brat, he practiced so much and so hard that to other people he seemed to be growing right before their eyes, leaving them wondering when he'd had time to learn something. Granted, a throw wasn't the most impressive thing to learn, but successfully applying it the first time, against a heavier, larger opponent who was steady and sure-footed was something to be proud of.

After a moment, though, Ibiki raised a hand to silence Naruto. "Very well done, boy. He's going to be watching for it next week, though."

Naruto grinned ferally, blue eyes alight with excitement. "I'll just have to bring another new technique to try on him next time then!" Heh. Well, enthusiasm wasn't likely to be an issue with him. It was truly marvelous that his teachers disliked him so much. All the greatest teachers Ibiki had known would have happily traded an arm away to have a student this dedicated and focused on improving. He would have to ask the Third when Jiraiya was expected to be back. Naruto wouldn't be the brilliant student that Minato had been, but he would be dedicated, and with his chakra reserves, he was probably better suited to be Jiraiya's student than his father had ever been. "You will have learned more by that time, but your classmate isn't one to fall for the same strategy twice. I suspect that, next time you face him, he will treat you as though you're a taijutsu expert. But you yourself know, it's less about how many techniques you know, and more about applying those techniques. Now, are you ready to—"

He paused, looking at the house, as his other charge stalked out toward them. He was sullen as ever, but there was a glint of curiosity in the way his eyes flickered between Ibiki and Naruto. The other boy had noticed him too now, and seemed very nonplussed about his presence. Well, well.

It looked like Naruto hadn't been exaggerating his fight against Shino at all.

Hands in his pockets, Sasuke refused to betray any of the nerves jangling around in his stomach. On the surface, he didn't have any real reason to be nervous. He did have a standing invitation to join these sessions, after all. But he had avoided them for weeks at this point, and part of him thought Naruto might have begun viewing these sessions as just for him. He found the idea of taking something away from the blonde…distasteful, given how little the idiot seemed to have in the first place. But the lion's share of the nerves came from the fact that he was showing up today, just after Naruto had come out big in the taijutsu tests, might make him seem weak, less confident in himself. So, of course, he had to make sure they didn't get that impression. "What?" he asked, more forcefully than he meant to.

Naruto was still looking at him with that weird expression, but Ibiki just shook his head. "Nothing. We were about to start a tactical training session. Would you care to join us?" Sasuke tamped down the urge to bristle at the question. Questions tended to set him off these days, ever since Itachi…well. Besides, that was precisely the reason he was here. So he nodded once at Ibiki, pulling his hands out of his pockets and settling into a neutral stance that the other two mimicked. Ibiki raised one hand. "Very well. This fight will be the two of you against me. Your objective is to land a clean strike on me. Come with intent to kill, but when I call a halt to the combat, submit immediately. Understood? Then…begin!"

Before Sasuke had even considered how the Jonin might move, Naruto was throwing three smoke bombs down around them all. In the sudden blindness, the Uchiha heir felt a hand shove his shoulder. He nearly turned and stabbed it with a kunai, but his mind caught up with his reflexes. That was Naruto, pushing him to move in a direction. Sasuke would never understand what possessed him to take off, silently running in the direction he'd been shoved. Maybe it was because Naruto had been doing this for weeks already. Maybe it was because he understood somewhat that Naruto had never been given a fair shot, and he couldn't bring himself to be like the average citizen of Konoha. Heck, maybe he just instinctively knew a leader when he met them. But years later, he could admit that this first act of trust, performed so easily by the both of them, had been the beginning of everything.

Regardless, he moved on silent steps until he was out of the smoke cloud, emerging near a small line of bushes. Sasuke wasted no time in concealing himself among them, turning to watch at the smoke cleared. And had to blink. Twice. Because out in the clearing, Ibiki was ducking and weaving a barrage of attacks from Naruto…and Sasuke? A clone then. But why have the clone attacking so ferociously? The moment Ibiki decided to retaliate, it would be over. Finally, the Jounin's patience for dodging wore thin, and he lashed out…

And Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke.

Oh. Oh, that was good.

Out in the field, Sasuke looked confused for an instant. "What—" But then he collected himself and locked onto Ibiki again, looking like he was trying to contain more annoyance than was humanly possible. The part of Sasuke's mind that forced him to be objective grudgingly admitted that Naruto was pulling off a pretty convincing act there. Moreover, Ibiki didn't seem surprised, as his eyes darted around the area, looking for a flash of orange hidden among the leaves. Naruto used escape-and-ambush tactics often, apparently, and the two of them had never worked together before. Naruto was showing Ibiki a scenario he had expected to see. Clever. Sasuke waited, watching the scenario unfold, as "Sasuke" and Ibiki squared off, neither able to make a decisive move, as neither were sure where "Naruto" was, or what he was planning.

Finally, Naruto moved forward. His impression of Sasuke's taijutsu was passable enough to fool someone who hadn't directly sparred with him before. Sasuke watched as the Jounin, with his size and strength, easily overpowered Naruto and pushed the boy back. Finally, "Sasuke" hit the ground, glaring, and hurled a brace of shuriken—this was the moment. The Uchiha let loose with his own trio of shuriken, out to his right. Ibiki blocked the point-blank shuriken with little trouble, even as Sasuke's own curved through the air, coming down at him from a nearby tree, as Sasuke took off from his hiding spot. Ibiki spun and blocked the second set of shuriken. "So that's where you've been hiding, brat? You—"

Ibiki's words died in his throat as he noticed Sasuke making hand signals. Before the Jounin could react, though, Naruto launched himself from the ground and planted both feet into the back of the older man's left knee. The Jounin was massive, strong, and experienced—he didn't go down on one knee, but he still stumbled forward as Naruto hit the ground and rolled away.

[Flame Release: Grand Fireball]

The signature technique of the Uchiha clan swallowed the special Jounin up in a wave of hungry fire.

Naruto dispelled his transformation, turning back into himself, and walked over to stand beside Sasuke, smirking as the flames died away to reveal a burning log. "Halt," the real Ibiki said, moving toward them from the very tree Sasuke had used as part of his distraction earlier. When the man genuinely smiled like that, it seemed to soften the brutal scar down the front of his face. "Well done, Naruto. It's not easy to incorporate new people, abilities, and information into a plan that quickly. Your tactics really are remarkable for your age."

As the blonde rubbed the back of his head, a pleased, somewhat embarrassed grin crossing his face. "Well done to you too, Sasuke. Following Naruto's lead, trusting his plan, with no time to think or communicate? Your capacity for teamwork is far greater than the academy instructors seem to believe." He nodded his approval, as though teamwork was some great marker of ability. Sasuke didn't team comrades, or teammates, or friends. He only needed himself. Still…it hadn't been bad, working with Naruto just now. Maybe even a little bit fun. "Hmph," was all he said in response, but somehow he could feel Ibiki's amusement.

Damned nosy Jounin.

Ibiki's smile fell away, and the man was all business once more. "Alright, reset. You can rest when you're dead. Begin!"

Hours later, the three headed toward Ibiki's house. Sasuke and Naruto were covered in sweat and grime, and Ibiki himself had a thin sheen on his forehead, though he didn't look any dirtier. Sasuke had only just caught his breath, though the way Naruto was moving and bobbing, he actually still had energy to spare, and Ibiki could see it was annoying the older boy. But then Naruto turned the full force of his grin onto Sasuke. "Hey hey, this was pretty fun! You should come train with us more often!"

Sasuke said nothing for several seconds, and Ibiki started to think he was simply going to ignore the blonde brat. But finally, as they reached the porch, the Uchiha shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe," was all he said in response, heading inside. Naruto paused and blinked a few times, before a tiny grin flitted across his face. He didn't head inside, but took off down the length of the porch, headed for the clearing where he would train until well past dark.

Not needing to keep up his stern façade with them both gone, Ibiki allowed himself to grin for a moment. Maybe this would work out in the end.

A/N: So, the real world is welcome to leave me the hell alone any time now.

In related news, I do apologize again for the extreme length of time between chapters. All I can say is, I will once more try to correct that. I'm hoping it improves overall moving forward, but I thought it would last time too. Blech.

What else, what else…

Well, I guess I could discuss other projects I'd like to work on, maybe get some opinions from you guys.

Disclaimer: I will NOT be starting any of these until I completely finish this particular story. I'm not that crazy :^) However, I do think once I finish this, I'll want to run 2 or 3 of these projects at once, so I can swap back and forth between universes. Heck, maybe all four. If I'm gonna overwhelm myself, might as well not do it halfway, right?

-Project 1: I'm considering expanding this story into a full-on trilogy, with the second part covering the initial Naruto manga, and the third part covering Shippuden. I have ideas for where it would go, though I haven't hammered the whole thing out of course.

-Project 2: A 'for want of a nail' fic of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have some serious love for that show.

-Project 3: A 'for want of a nail' fic of Hunger Games. I don't love the series in the same way I love Naruto or ATLA, but I do have an idea or two I'm throwing around in my head.

-Project 4: A 'for want of a nail' fic of Mass Effect. I absolutely love the original ME trilogy. Well, except for the last 0.1%, like most people. This is the project that would take the most effort and research, as the 'nail' involved would have a far more massive initial impact on the universe than the ideas I have for HG and ATLA.

Anyway, if you have any thoughts on my writing, this story, or my thoughts on future work, feel free to drop them into a review and I'll look at them :]