The Demon Shinobi of Konoha

by Thelow

After the Kyubi attack a decision was made by the council to train a young blonde in secret. Ten years after the attack an Anbu took joined the ranks wearing a Kitsune mask to the disapproval of the entire village. Now twelve years later a hated Anbu wants to take on his own genin team and put the mask down. Smart/strong Naruto, not OP. NaruHina future. Others undecided.

5. Ring Around the Demon

The Demon Shinobi of Konoha

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Ring Around the Demon

OoOoOoOoO

"Well this can't be good…" muttered Naruto as he let out a deep sigh. Today had been emotionally draining and he was already exhausted from barely sleeping the previous night due to his excitement to meet his team. "You don't ever call me down here. You finally ready to become best friends and tell me your name?"

"You have not proven your worth, little clone."

"The clone thing again?" Naruto rolled his eyes at the taunt. "I am me. I am not my dad, and I am not my mom. Just me."

"They raise you to be him." Sharp teeth shone in the darkness as a grin appeared on the demons face. "They train you and manipulate you into his image, his ideals and his goals. They don't want Naruto. They want Minato."

A scowl overtook Naruto's features. There was no point in lying to the demon since it already knew his thoughts, and this was one that he had thought of before in some of his lonelier moments. The thoughts of who and what he was invaded his minds in quiet times and made him wonder what he would be doing right now if his parents were still alive.

He had no doubts that he would still be a ninja. He would be expected to just like his parents, but he also loved being a ninja. He couldn't imagine another career that could give him the same kind rush of emotions or the rewarding feeling of pushing his body to exhaustion to figure out a new jutsu. There was no chance he would be doing anything else.

"We've gone down this road before." Naruto crossed his arms and pouted at the giant demon fox. "We both know I would still be a ninja and probably still trying to be Hokage to surpass my old man and make him proud. That's what kids do."

"Don't you want to make your old man proud?" Naruto shot the demon a big toothy grin. He was rewarded with a harsh glare and a growl that shook the room. Naruto's eyebrow arched at this reaction in surprise. Talking about the Kyūbi origin usually just got him shot down, but this reaction was much stronger. "Got it. Won't talk about him till you're ready."

"You've done little to make progress since we first met."

-Flashback-

The first thing Naruto could sense was the humidity of wherever he was as water drops formed on his skin to cool his body down. Confused blue eyes slowly opened to a red hued darkness that surrounded him. It took a few seconds for his eyes to slowly adjust to light.

He was standing in a long hallway that was dark on both ends. Both sides of the hallway were shoji walls that reminded him of the walls in the Hyūga compound, but the white fabric seemed to have red incandescent glow coming from beyond them. The illumination reminded Naruto of the time he had been training late into the night during a blood moon, but this was brighter and surrounded him on both sides. Hiashi had once described the night of the Kyuubi attack in similar manner.

He could tell there was no heat coming from the other side of the walls, but it still felt suffocating in the hallway. Naruto grabbed the collar of his shirt and fanned it open a few times to get some air to flow down his clothes. He still seemed to be dressed in the relaxed training clothes he had been wearing before, a blue t-shirt with a white swirl on the front and some black cargo pants.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he finally accomplished coming down here, but he certainly wasn't expecting this. A few minutes ago, he was meditating in a training field reserved for the Hokage's personal use with Hiashi, Inoichi and the third Hokage himself and now he was down within what he assumed was his seal. The three had been preparing him for a time now on his first contact with the fox demon and they were nervous, but they knew that it would be best for the two entities to start communicating as early as possible at eight years old and at chūnin level they felt it would be best to start.

"I guess I should get a move on…" the young container muttered quietly as he looked down the corridor in each direction. "Guess I'll try this way."

With a shrug the eight-year-old blonde started his march down the corridor. Inoichi had taught him that everyone's mindscape was different. Usually taking on a sort of familiarity to the persons mindset or history. He was a little taken aback by the scenery at first, but he certainly had spent the most of his time hidden away it's the private areas of the Hyūga leaders' study and personal dojo. While it felt familiar to walk through the halls there was a strong sense of foreboding in his thoughts and the eerie red glow coming wasn't helping.

He could also hear noises as he walked past some of the doors along the corridor walls. Inoichi had taught him that these doors would lead to memories that were stored within his subconscious and were the primary target of the Yamanka clans' famous techniques for interrogation. He couldn't resist the urge to slide one of the doors open and take a small peak inside.

"Now, Naruto-kun, please explain to me the political ramifications of the treaty signed at the end of the second shinobi war and how it affected relations between Suna and Iwa."

Naruto's eye twitched slightly as he viewed the lecture from Shibi-sensei. Why couldn't he come across a more interesting memory? Even his counterpart in the memory looked bored as he began to explain his answer. Shaking his head, he slid the door closed and started his trek once again down the corridor, opting to ignore the doors for now.

Looking in the distance he could see a change in the scenery further down corridor. Shoji style walls and wood flooring changed to concrete, doors that were once elegant in design changed to a hard steel look and the once clean corridor now had a sense of grime. What looked like water pipes ran along the ceiling and would occasionally drip hot water on the floor creating warm puddles down the hallway as he walked. It was easy to tell where the heat and humidity were coming from, but he still wasn't sure why this area was suddenly like this.

He could see what he assumed was the exit of the corridor now but couldn't make out anything beyond the threshold. There was a blinding light coming from what lay beyond compared to where he currently was and if he wanted to know more, he would have to continue through it. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before shielding his eyes and walking into the room.

His mouth was agape as his eyes adjusted to the light. The room was huge. He could see the wall behind and him to his sides, but he could barely make out the ceiling above. In front of him was a gate with metal bars that extended from floor to ceiling, each bar looked as thick as the ancient trees he had seen in the forest of death previously. In the center of the gate was a large and intricate paper seal.

"So, my jailer comes to visit me."

If he wasn't currently in his mind, Naruto was sure he would have just leapt out of his skin and the booming voice. In the darkness of the cage two eyes red like burning flames opened to look down upon him. Each massive eyes twice his height and looking at him with nothing but hatred. He thought that he was prepared for the sight after hearing the stories and seeing some drawings of the night the attack, but he realized that his imagination had not captured the full scope of what was in front of him.

The eyes shifted and bounced as the massive head of the fox moved forward and into the light that permeated from Naruto's side of the cage. Bright orange fur surrounded the beasts' body, but there was black fur that wrapped around those red eyes and extended up into the creatures' large ears. Teeth that sharper than any blade he had ever seen, taller and wider than even Chōza stood. It was an intimidating sight to behold.

'Remember what sensei said. This is your mind' The child tried to calm himself. This was his first contact with sealed bijū, and no one had any idea what to really expect. The old man had told him that his mother and Uzumaki Mito did not have good experiences with the demon, but both had been tight lipped about the few interactions they had with the bijū. Maybe it could be different for him.

"Umm…hi…" Naruto groaned and placed his face his palm. Here he was with the most powerful bijū in existence and the best he can come up with is a "hi". This was going about as well as well his genjutsu training normally went. They Kyūbi's eyes narrowed slightly down at him.

"Sorry. Let me try this again." Naruto coughed to clear his throat before he bowed politely. "Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Uzumaki Naruto."

"What do you think you are doing."

Naruto snapped upright at the growling voice. The eyes had narrowed even further into a death glare. The teeth now looked like they were snarling.

"I was just introducing myself." Naruto admitted. "I thought we should get to know each other?"

"Why would I EVER want to get to know one you disgusting creatures."

"I mean…we are kind of in this together?" He was sure that the Biju could feel the nervous energy radiating off him. "Wouldn't it be better if we were friends?"

"How dare you…" The Kyūbi seethed as it rose up to its full height and began pacing back and forth across the cage. "You want to become friends!?"

"Well-"

"You parasites upon the earth!?"

"I-"

"Corruptors of Ninshū."

"What-"

"Enslavers of my brothers and sisters."

"Who-"

"Vile, treacherous…" Suddenly stopping and focusing killing intent directly at the child in front of him. "I would eat you, if it wasn't for that damn seal."

Naruto was nearly brought to his knees from the pressure of the killing intent but grit his teeth in resistance. He was sure this wasn't the full intent that could be brought down on him, but whether it was the Kyūbi not unleashing the full weight or his seal protecting him, he couldn't be sure. The demon was clearly upset by his earlier intent, but Naruto had no clue about his rant regarding Ninshū or his siblings. He also wasn't appreciating the insults being thrown his way but was biting his tongue.

"And you damn Uzumaki's." The bijū dropped its intent and began pacing once again. "You seal my existence inside of you and just steal my chakra when you want it. One of the great bloodlines acting like thieves."

"HEY!" Naruto couldn't bear it any longer. "Don't insult my family like that!"

The giant fox rounded on him immediately and flung its massive claws against the bar. The sound of scraping against metal rang out loud at the frightening display of speed and power. It nearly made Naruto leap back.

"YOU do not tell me what to do!" The demon roared. "I have been trapped and used by your blood since the very founding of your village!"

"But you attacked us!" Naruto wasn't going to back down just because the demon was upset. This was the most powerful being in existence that could have wiped Konoha off the map the day it attacked with Uchiha Madara and again the day his parents lost their lives. "You could have killed everyone!"

"I had long loathed what your kind has become, but never acted towards your destruction before that damned Uchiha." The Kyūbi sat on its haunches at looked down at the eight-year-old. "Before those eyes…"

For a minute there was only silence between the two. Naruto wasn't sure what caused the change in the Kyūbi's demeanor, but Naruto was grateful for a reprieve from the anger being directed towards him and giving him a moment to think. This trip was supposed to be an introduction, but the fox just kept giving out more and more information that Naruto wasn't familiar with.

"I am no one's tool."

Naruto looked down at the floor with a frown on his face. He could remember the stories he had been told from his teachers about the night of his birth and the suggestion from Danzo for him to be turned into a weapon only for war. According to Hiashi the suggestion was still being brought up on occasion and had support from at least a couple of members of the non-clan leader council members.

Clinching his fists tightly as he thought about what he would be doing right now if Danzo had gotten a hold of him. The Third had warned him with stories in the past of the emotionless ninja that Danzo had cultured under the Root organization before they had been disbanded. He couldn't imagine living a life like that.

"You're right." Naruto started softly as he turned his gaze into the demon fox's eyes. "You are not a tool. You are the Kyūbi and should be treated with respect. I know that I wouldn't want to be treated like a tool"

Naruto was barely able to catch the fox's eyes widen slightly at the statement. There looked to be a lot of mistrust in those eyes and slowly they narrowed in suspicion towards him.

"You are already their tool." The rage was gone from his tone and replaced with a prideful superiority. Naruto suddenly felt like he was being lectured at. "They train you and mold you into the image of blasted Fourth Hokage. You are not being raised like his son, but as his replacement. The Fourth Hokage able to use the power of Nine Tailed Fox is a powerful weapon."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled indignantly. "I know what they want from me, but I am still me! Yeah, I idolize my parents and want to carry on their legacy, but that doesn't mean I'm the same. I will be different."

"I have been around since the Sage of the Six Paths boy. I have seen how humans raise their young and you are being manipulated. You will be just another to continue the cycle of hatred." The beast grinned down at the shaken young boy. Naruto could tell that it was enjoying messing with his mind.

"I will be different." Determination filled Naruto as he grits his teeth. "And I will prove it."

A look of surprise crossed the demons face as Naruto walked closer to the cage. Naruto had summoned up as much courage as he could to get closer to massive gates but was worried that at any second a claw would come bursting from between the bars to end him. He wasn't sure what would happen to him if he killed inside this place, but he was grateful that his action seemed to have at least aroused the curiosity of the Nine Tails. It watched him carefully as he got just in front of the bars before taking a deep bow.

"I am sorry." Naruto had left himself completely defenseless in the deep bow. If there was ever time that he expected the blow to come it was this. "I am sorry for what has happened in the past, but I will make you this promise."

Naruto rose back up to his full height and looked the Kyūbi directly in the eyes again.

"I promise I will never purposefully take you chakra from you. I can't do anything about the chakra constantly leaking through my seal, but I wont force anything from you. I will always ask you."

"Why?"

"I don't know how things were between you, my mom and grandma Mito, but they don't sound good. I want to be different." Naruto clinched his fist in front of his heart. "I don't want to be another thing that you hate!"

"…"

"Kyūbi…I don't know what you are talking about with Ninshū, your family, my bloodline or the Uchiha, but I want to learn! I want to help!" Naruto raised his hand from his chest and pointed towards the fox demon. "I want us to be friends!"

Naruto was sent tumbling backwards on the ground as the pressure from concentrated air blew out of the bijū's mouth. The action completely caught Naruto off guard after his declaration and sent him nearly to the back wall. He glared at the demon as he righted himself up to a sitting position.

"A lot of pretty words." That condescending tone was back. "I will hold you to your promise and watch you carefully."

-End Flashback-

After that day Naruto visited the Kyūbi at least once a week to attempt to talk and learn anything that he could. It had been several years already, but the demon was still not giving away anything more than he really gave away at their first meeting. Most of the time Naruto just talked about the things that he had done that week while the fox attempted to ignore him and sleep.

"Hey! It should be a two-way street here buddy!" Naruto put his hands on his hips and squinted his eyes at the giant fox. "I come here every week trying to talk about things and you just ignore me!"

"I have no desire to hear you complain about not getting to eat ramen or how your teachers have run you into the ground." The fox rolled its eyes at the blonde's complaints.

"Well, you won't talk to me!? How am I supposed to help if you won't tell me anything!?" Naruto wasn't trying to get upset at the fox. He had learned a long time ago to keep his cool and not expect much from the nine tails, but his day had left him emotionally drained and not willing to deal with this.

"You haven't proven yourself yet brat."

"HOW!?" Naruto yelled. "What do you want me to prove!? You don't care about how strong I am! You don't care how smart I am! You don't care that I want to be your friend! You barely even care that I made this place more comfortable for you!"

Naruto swept his arms across his body as directed attention to his mindscape. After Naruto had returned to the living world and described what his mindscape was like to Inoichi he immediately wanted to try and make the space more comfortable for the fox and himself when visiting. It had taken him a lot of mental training with the Yamanka, but after several months he had managed to make the changes.

Walls could no longer be seen when you exited from the hallway directly connected to his subconscious. Instead, it was a large open field with a large hill that sported a massive tree that even the Kyūbi could use for shade in the artificial sunlight of his mind. It was comfortable and much cooler than the humid basement that he previously occupied. Naruto considered it a small victory when the fox gave him a small grunt of approval after the changes.

"When you start to show some promise, I will tell you."

The fox grinned at him, and Naruto felt his eye twitch in annoyance. The fox had two modes when it came to dealing with the young shinobi; ignore or antagonize. Most of the time the demon chose to simply ignore him and sleep, but Naruto could tell it really enjoyed antagonizing him at times like this. Insults, taunts and other rage inducing actions all serving to test his resolve and make him quit. Naruto took a deep breathe to calm himself.

"I'm sorry for my outburst." Naruto sounded sincere after he regained his composure. "Today has been stressful and I wasn't expecting to come down here. What can I do for you?"

"You make it less entertaining when you react like that." The bijū complained as it rolled its eyes. After a moment the fox slowly had a grin spread across its face that unnerved Naruto. "I want to give you something."

"Wait…what?" Naruto eyes squinted in suspicion as he looked at the fox demon. The demon had never offered him anything before and was skeptical of the fox's generosity, especially now after just getting a team. "Why?"

"Because I want you to see what I see." The nine tails let out a booming laugh. "I want you to feel the hatred that is directed at you."

Naruto cocked his eyebrow in confusion. He had no clue what the fox was talking about, he could already feel the killing intent that was being directed his way every time someone saw his mask. That was nothing new to him.

The timing of the situation also struck his temper. He had been serving as a ninja for years now, but now when he gets his own genin team and gets to be around others his age is when the fox decides to do this? There had to be some kind motive behind the situation.

"So you decide to do this now? Right when I get a team and get to interact with people my own age?" Naruto was starting to get upset. "Are you trying to screw this up for me!?"

"Maybe." The kitsune smirked. "Or maybe I am giving you something that will benefit you and make you question your beliefs."

"What are you talking about? Can you just speak clearly?"

"You'll see."

OoOoOoOoO

Blue eyes snapped open in an instant as he shot up in his bed. The poor blonde grit his teeth in frustration and grabbed at his hair. Head between his legs he wanted to scream in anger but tried to calm himself down before his anger got the better of him. Getting a rise out of him was exactly what the demon inside of him wanted. He glanced over at the night stand next to his bed to look at the alarm clock.

'Just past 4:00 huh' Naruto thought as he glanced at the glowing numbers in the darkness. He let out a let out a long breathe of air and could feel the tension release in his body. His eyes lingered on the worn-out looking book on the laying open and face down on the nightstand in the moonlight.

Tales of a Gutsy Ninja

The binding on the green book had turned white from its repeated use and was beginning to fray. Naruto had long since stopped counting how many times he read the book. When his Jiraiya had first given him the book, he had told Naruto how much his parents had enjoyed it and he immediately dove into it. It felt like a connection…a connection to his family.

"Now what do it do…" he muttered quietly to himself as he extracted himself from the bed and turned on the light in the room. He observed himself in the mirror to see if the fox had maybe done anything to him that would have caused a physical change to his body. The last thing he would need is for him to suddenly have fox eyes or something more extreme. He couldn't sense anything strange about his chakra either, he felt exactly like he did before.

'I have to tell the old man though' Naruto frowned at the thought. Even if he couldn't tell that anything was different, he couldn't hide it from the Hokage or his sensei's. It would be wrong of him to lie and not tell them of the meeting with the fox and what he had said.

'It could cost me my team…' He clenched his teeth at the thought. They were all distrusting of the fox and wary about anything that he did. Hiruzen was already not sure about letting Naruto have a team in the first place due to his age, heritage and reputation in the village. 'Mix all that in with the fox acting like an asshole and poof…there goes my chance.'

He could feel his frustration start to bring tears to the corners of his eyes. He wanted this so damn badly, but of course something was going to mess it up. But nothing seemed to have changed right? Maybe he could just not tell them and pretend nothing had happened?

"No…I can't do that." He wouldn't betray their trust in him, not after everything that had done for him. The break their trust like that just wasn't in him and could only cause worse problems in the future. He would face this head on, just like everything else in his life…just like the Naruto in his book.

"Let's do this." With a determined look in his eyes he wrote five messages out, put them in envelopes and quickly put his uniform and mask on. He needed to see to this right away. He created four shadow clones and handed them the messages before they all wordlessly split apart.

OoOoOoOoO

It took him only a few minutes to arrive at the Hyūga clan compound. Before he made the final leap down to the front gates he took a moment to appraise the branch family guards that were present at the gates and those patrolling inside the walls from his hidden vantage point. From a glance he could immediately tell they were relaxed, but still keeping a sharp eye out as they walked their assigned patrol routes throughout the compound.

Understanding the timing with which they walked and activated their byakugan he waited another minute before enacting his plan. With a sudden body flicker he appeared in front of the main gate guards at a safe and respectable distance to not immediately alarm the guards. They jumped slightly with a start at the Anbu appearing in front of them suddenly but maintained their composure.

"What business do you have Anbu-san."

Naruto suddenly felt a strange sensation wash over his body, and he had to brace himself to not overreact to the feeling. He couldn't even fathom what was happening; it was almost like his heart was clinched by an anxious energy, but he knew it wasn't his heart. The feeling was just sitting on him and it reminded him of the killing intent that had been directed at him in the past, but without the killing part.

He glanced around from under his mask to see if there was something he had missed. To see if there was someone somewhere using something on him that could create this kind of feeling. There was no one else around except for the two guards, but the feeling was starting to get heavier.

"I said what business do you have Anbu-san!"

The shout knocked Naruto out of his train of thought as he noticed the forceful tone from the guard. The man's eyebrows had scrunched together in a scowl and his body seemed to be tensing as if in preparation for something to happen. Naruto quickly realized that he had been standing before the guard without responding looking just as tense as the guard in front of him.

"Apologies. A message for Hiashi-sama from Hokage-sama." Naruto replied quickly as he took the message that he wrote out earlier from his pocket. He walked forward slowly and presented the envelope to the guard who seemed to relax and take the offered message. "Please alert him quickly and let him know to expect guests soon."

The feeling vanished just as suddenly at is had appeared when he arrived. The guard took the message and handed it to his partner at the gate, who disappeared into the compound immediately. The original guard returned to Naruto and offered a small bow.

"Thank you Anbu-san. Message received."

With a quick nod Naruto vanished in a swirl of leaves once again. Instead of leaving back towards the rooftops of the village he instead reappeared at the secret entrance to the compound and disappeared inside as quickly as possible, knowing from his earlier observations that the patrolling guards shouldn't be near that section of the wall. The lanterns that lined the secret tunnel started to softly glow as the old seals within them activated with his entrance into the tunnel. After a quick walk he slipped inside the study he was so familiar with and hid himself in a dark corner of the room that would not expose him when the door opened.

Naruto only had to wait a few minutes for the Hyūga patriarch to enter the room quickly. For having been woken up only minutes ago the man was completely groomed and dressed for the day, his tiredness only given away by the bags under his eyes. He cast a glance to where he sensed Naruto hiding before proceeded to his normal spot at the table.

"What is this about Naruto?"

"The Kyūbi."

Hiashi's eyes widened slightly and just like that the feeling washed over Naruto again. It felt different this time however, a cold feeling washed over him that gripped chilled him to the bone. Then it was gone again and Naruto couldn't explain it. It was such a quick flash compared to the feeling he had before at the main gate.

There was no indication that Hiashi had felt the same thing he did. The Hyūga leader sat calmly with a look of contemplation on his face. Naruto was sure that his sensei wanted to know more, but understood from the message that more were on the way. If the leader wanted to know more, he was making no indication that he wanted to Naruto to continue before the rest of the guests got there.

It didn't take long before there was a soft knock on the door.

"Hiashi-sama." A soft voice whispered through the door. "Hokage-sama has arrived with leaders of the Yamanka, Nara, and Akimichi clans."

"Very good. Let them in Akio." The quietly slid open with a branch family member on the other side bowing deeply. The four powerful men walked into the room and exchanged quick greeting with Hiashi before each taking a seat on a pillow. "Please have some tea brought in for our guests."

"Right away." The branch servant closed the door and without making a sound disappeared down the hallway.

Naruto took a moment to observe five of the most powerful men in the village as they waited for the tea to be brought in. It seemed like Hiruzen was most likely already awake and by the state of his attire had been working already. Chōza looked tired but seemed to be in a happy mood, the man was always happy to be with friends. Shikaku's face looked completely deadpan, and Naruto was sure that he could fall back asleep at any moment if the gentle sway of his head bobbing occasionally, indicated anything. Inoichi looked the most annoyed and frazzled of all the men. The blonde ponytail that he usually wore was not tied back and his hair was frayed about in multiple directions.

They didn't have to wait long for Akio to return and knock on the door once again. It came fast enough that Naruto was sure Hiashi had warned Akio to start preparing the tea the moment he was woken up. All five men offered their thanks as they were served and waited silently as Akio finished and exited the room. Hiashi quickly activated the privacy seals that protected the room, and all five men turned their attention to the dark corner Naruto occupied.

"What happened Naruto-kun." Hiruzen asked.

Naruto sighed as he walked out of the shadows and removed his mask before taking a seat opposite of the Hokage. The tone that the old man had used was one firm, but also held notes of concern in it. It was a voice that made people feel comfortable with being ordered around and Naruto sometimes wondered how long it took the old Hokage to craft his persona.

"The Kyūbi pulled me into the seal last night…"

The wave washed across him again, but this time it came from multiple directions. He felt like a rock in the ocean with waves rolling against him from multiple directions and strengths. Each wave felt different and invoked the thought of a different emotion in him. Naruto was starting to get the impression he knew what was going on.

Naruto looked at each of their faces for any signs that they had felt what he felt but saw nothing. Hiashi's face betrayed no emotion, most likely because Naruto had admitted to the subject before anyone else arrived. The Sandiame's face had taken on a serious expression and if not being in the Hyūga home Naruto was sure he would have lit his tobacco pipe. Shikaku had closed his eyes deep in thought and his Yamanka teammate was scowling, but deep in thought. Chōza was looking at Naruto with concern in his eyes.

"Tell us everything."

Naruto began to tell the story of how he woke up inside of his seal and how he and how he and the fox traded their usual comments with one another. As he told the story of his conversation with the fox, he could feel the waves roll against him with each important moment. He didn't realize it when he was dealing with the guard and Hiashi in one-on-one situations but sitting between everyone and realizing the directions that the waves were coming from made him realize it was coming directly from each person around him. The feelings became strongest when he got to the end of the story and the "gift" that the demon had given Naruto. Everyone sat in silence after Naruto told them the story.

"Naruto…" Chōza began. "Is that how conversations with the Kyūbi normally go?"

"Normally I talk, and he just ignores me or throws out insults like you heard. I don't normally respond to him so strongly." Naruto replied. "Sorry Chōza-sensei. I know that you and Shikaku-sensei are not normally involved in our meetings about the Kyūbi so you wouldn't know how he acts."

"Why did you want us-"

"Because of our kids." Shikaku interrupted with his eyes still closed. Slowly he opened his eyes, but still seemed to be staring off into the distance. "Naruto felt that we should know of this development as soon as possible since our kids are on his squad."

"Hmm." Chōza rubbed his chin in thought before smiling at Naruto. "I appreciate that Naruto-kun. It was mature of you; I am sure you are concerned about what this development meant for your team."

"Thank you, sensei." Naruto spoke softly. He greatly appreciated how empathetic the Akimichi leader always was towards him. The giant man was terrifyingly fierce during training and battle but was compassionate and warm the rest of the time.

"Naruto-kun." Hiruzen's voice broke the warm moment between the two and demanded focus on the village leader. "Do you have any idea what the Kyūbi has given you."

"I think I have an idea." Naruto was having trouble with formulating the best way to describe what had been happening, but usually in these situations he would just wing it. "I didn't notice anything when I woke up and inspected myself. When I molded my chakra to make my clones and moved across the village, I didn't notice anything different from normal. Not until I arrived at the front gate."

"When I landed on the ground in front of the guard, I felt a sudden sensation wash over me that I couldn't understand. It was almost like how I feel when I am anxious, but it wasn't me, ya know?" Naruto was sure what he was saying didn't make any sense, but he didn't really know how to explain what was happening. "I paused when it happened because I didn't know what was happening. It reminded me of being hit with killing intent, but there was no bloodlust behind it."

The adults in the room sat with rapt attention at the story. All of them with inquisitive looks on their face, all except for Sarutobi Hiruzen. His eyes had a clear look in them, as if he had figured something out, but he wasn't speaking anything for now.

"I experienced the same thing with Hiashi-sensei when he asked me what was going on before everyone arrived. I told him it had to do with the Kyūbi and the sensation washed over me again, but this time it was colder and more desolate." Naruto recalled the feeling with some hesitation. If his intuition was right, he was revealing something that Hiashi may not have wanted known.

"Finally, when everyone arrived and I told you what the meeting was about I felt the same thing, but this time it felt like the waves came from different locations and each felt different." Naruto could see the look in the Hokage's face as he seemingly concluded his assumption. Naruto continued to finish his story. "The same thing happened as I told the story and the waves kept changing constantly as I told different parts of the story, sometimes disappearing all together."

"Negative emotion sensing." The Hokage confidently spoke. "The same ability Mito-sama used to have."

Naruto raised a puzzled eyebrow at the statement. Naruto had figured it had something to do with the feelings of the people around him, but he had never heard of the ability before. He wasn't aware that his Uzumaki clan member had such an ability before.

"I've never heard of that before." Naruto asked.

"It was a secret that we never revealed to many people." Hiruzen scratched his beard as he leaned back slightly to stretch his back. "It was a powerful advantage that her and Hashirama-sama used during negotiations at the end of warring states period and the establishment of the hidden villages. Her ability let he detect the malevolent feelings allowed her to guide negotiations to agreeable terms or determine if they were wasting their time."

Shikaku whistled. "That does sound like a big advantage. A bit underhanded, but still…"

"So you think that what Naruto was feeling were our negative emotions regarding the information we were being told?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes." The Hokage nodded to Inoichi and then looked at Naruto. "Everything you said sounds nearly the same as she described it to me. She would react to negative emotions such as fear, hatred, jealousy and could even sense anxiety like you did if it was strong enough. Your surprising of the guard probably triggered him to question if you were a threat."

"Sounds like the fox gave him a pretty useful gift." Chōza commented. "I didn't think he would do something like that from how you described him."

"It's not that simple." Inoichi spoke with a serious expression on his face. "The fox wouldn't just give him something positive for no reason. It is always trying to bring him down and determine his worth. This will be hard for Naruto."

"Please explain." Hiashi asked.

"Naruto's reputation with the villagers is…not good." Naruto just deadpanned at Inoichi's choice of words. "He is literally going to feel everyone's hatred now as he goes through the village. We have all dealt with killing intent being on us for extended periods and it can affect our mental state. Now Naruto will have to deal with this all the time."

Naruto and everyone else frowned at that. He was used to the glares and comments at this point, but he was right about how this could affect him in a much more powerful way. He needed to find a way to handle-

"It could be even worse with his students." Inoichi's comments snapped him out of his thoughts immediately.

"What do you mean!?" Naruto complained as the Yamanka took on a grim expression.

"Naruto, we know how much building bonds with people your own age matters to you." Inoichi sighed heavily. "Eventually they are going to discover the truth about your tenant, and we have no idea how they will react. You could end up feeling all their betrayal or fear directed towards you. That could be extremely damaging to your mental state."

"Maybe we should reconsi-"

"No." Naruto interrupted Chōza immediately. "I have to do this."

"Naruto…"

"The only way for me to get rid of the feeling is to start changing people's feelings about me." Naruto's eyes shown with a fierce determination. "I can't do that hiding away in the Anbu. I must show everyone that they can trust me, or it will never change."

"Plus, it's not like I actually experience the feeling. I am just aware of it, but I need to learn the differences between them and better understand what they are."

"I will get you any notes that Mito-sama may have taken regarding the ability. It may give you some insight." The Third spoke. "I am still worried about this, I agree with Inoichi that the Kyūbi is hoping that this has a negative impact on you."

"It could be a test." Hiashi sipped his tea. "The beast is often speaking about Naruto being worthy of building a relationship with him. Perhaps he wants to test if Naruto will fail to live up to his promises if he cannot withstand the negativity."

During the conversation being held Naruto could feel every time a negative emotion came off one of the other shinobi. Now that he understood what he was feeling it started to become easier to understand and detect where it was coming from. He was starting to understand how it was separate from his own emotions, now he just needed to keep himself from reacting immediately to feeling.

"Inoichi-sensei." The Yamanka snapped his attention to the younger blonde. "I need you to train me in recognizing the emotions I am feeling and help me with separating it from my own. I am positive I can master this, believe it!"

Naruto immediately scratched the back of his head in embarrassment when he saw Hiashi's eye twitch at his loud declaration. "I mean…I really think this will help me and could even make me a better teacher."

"How so?"

"Well, when we train and work together, I should be able to detect any negative emotions that would be harmful to their performance and guide them in the way that best fits their personality." Naruto was rubbing his chin in thought and his eyes squeezed shut as he was thinking about ideas for his new ability. "It could also help me protect my team on missions. I am sort of like a sensor now, right? So, if anyone directs emotions towards us, I should be alerted even if they are holding back on their killing intent."

"That true." Hiruzen murmured. "Mito-sama was nearly impossible to ambush when she was in the field. When I trained with her when I was younger, I had to think positive thoughts all the way until I was in a position to strike, but even that effort rarely amounted to much as she would detect me the moment my thoughts would change to perform the strike. She would react immediately and deflect the blow."

"Wow." Naruto's eyes were wide open as he listened to the story. "Mito-baachan sounds awesome."

"That she was Naruto-kun." The old Hokage chuckled at the reaction from the young blonde. "I am sure you will master this ability in no time."

"So…" Naruto prodded.

"Fine." The Sarutobi shrugged his shoulders. "I will let you keep your team for now."

"Yes!"

"But!" Hiruzen interrupted the celebration. "You must work with Inoichi to gain control of these powers and continue to follow the other guidelines you have been given."

"Naruto what is your schedule like today?" Inoichi asked.

"I have to meet my team at seven, then I plan to train them until lunch time. After a lunch break, I plan to take them to perform a couple of d rank missions before releasing them for the day." Naruto recalled his plan for his team before talking about his own training sessions. "After dinner I have lessons with Shibi-sensei, Hiashi-sensei and a late-night tracking exercise with Tsume-sensei."

"Hiashi, do you mind if I take your slot tonight? I want to get started right away." Inoichi asked the Hyūga clan leader. After a moment he got a small nod of affirmation for the change in plans. "I will inform the other leaders of your new situation and how to adjust your schedule."

'Trusting them was the right decision.' Naruto smiled at how everything had played out. His earlier fears about losing his team washed away. Naruto chuckled as Shikaku suddenly stood and announced he was going home to go back to sleep before Chōza stood and invited his old teammates to go grab breakfast first.

"I better get going too." Naruto hopped up and put his mask back. "I have about an hour till my team arrives and I want to warm up some."

OoOoOoOoO

Early mornings were not a new thing for Hinata. Morning training sessions with elder Hisao before the academy had forced her to awake earlier than many of her peers in her class. The brutal sessions always left her battered and bruised before she had to clean up and head to the academy. Even though she had now graduated and was placed on a team it seemed things would not be any different.

She had arrived at the dojo at five like she normally did and was immediately set upon by Hideo. He had complained about the same things every time they trained. Her form was off, she wasn't fast enough, and her strikes didn't have enough force behind them. She had informed him that she would have to leave early today to meet with her team and only earned a sneer with comment to not embarrass the clan. She nodded silently and left quickly to go clean up and settle her nerves.

She was confused to see so many members of the clan moving around busily this morning. Though many Hyūga did wake up early, they usually chose to seclude themselves until they were ready for the day to begin in earnest. She cleaned up quickly and set off for the kitchen to prepare a small breakfast before leaving to meet with her team when she was surprised to see her fathers study door open as she was about to walk past.

Out walked Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi, and Inoichi Yamanka with smiles on their faces as they chatted amongst one another.

"Oh! Good morning Hinata-chan." Chōza started as he noticed the young girl. "I understand you and my son are on the same team."

Hinata blushed slightly from the sudden attention being directed at her but allowed a small smile to develop on her face. She hadn't had many interactions with head of the Akimichi family, but he was always pleasant and warm to be around. The opposite of what was expected of a Hyūga.

"H-hai Akimichi-san. I was assigned to a team with Chouji-san and Shikamaru-san."

"Just Chōza is fine Hinata-chan." The large man laughed. "I am sure we are going to see each other much more often from now on."

"O-ok Chōza-san." Hinata felt it improper to not have an honorific attached to the name of a clan leader, but also blushed from the attention now being directed her way from the other Hyūga roaming the compound. The boisterous man had a way of drawing the attention anyone nearby. He simply laughed and started to make his way around young girl with Inoichi after mentioning it was time to go have breakfast.

"I expect you to keep our kids out of trouble Hinata." Shikaku smirked at the nervous girl in front of him before chuckling slightly and walking to join his friends. "Don't let my son laze about."

Hinata smiled as she watched the backs of the three men that formed a legendary trio for Konoha. It was a shock to see them here so early in the morning, but their kindness was a nice balm to her so far poor morning. She turned around to continue her to the kitchen to see the Hokage and her father standing in front of her.

Hinata nearly shrieked in surprise.

"H-hokage-sama! Otou-sama!" Hinata bowed deeply the villages leader.

The elderly man smiled and chuckled at the surprised reaction. "Good morning Hinata-chan. It's good to see you about so early in the morning. I wasn't expecting to see many members of your family during my visit."

'Control your nerves Hinata' She chanted to herself. "Hai Hokage-sama. My team is taking a test this morning with our new sensei."

Hinata mentally cheered for herself after controlling her stutter in front of the two most powerful people she knew. The Hokage smiled softly at the young girls explanation to her early rise. "I hope that you don't mind being assigned to Naruto-kun too much Hinata-chan. He is very excited to have you all on his team."

"O-oh…w-we haven't spent much t-time with sensei yet." Hinata flinched internally at her nerves returning with the mention of her new sensei and team. Out of the corner of her eye she could see some main house members observing her conversation with Hokage and it only made her feel worse. "I d-do like Shikamaru-san and Chouji-san, I think they will be g-great teammates. We have a test to take this morning."

"I see." His smile seemed to soften a little as he listened to her. Hinata wasn't sure if he was showing concern after listening to her or some mild amusement. "Good luck on your test Hinata-chan. This old man won't take up any more of your time, it's time for me to get to the office."

Hinata gave a polite bow as the leader of the village stepped around her and made his way towards the front gate. Her father continued to stand in front of her as the Hokage walked off. She resisted the urge to twiddle her fingers or bite her lip and she anxiously awaited comments on her demeanor.

"Daughter." To her surprise his voice betrayed no hint of displeasure towards her. His face showed no emotion, but there was a warm look in his eyes that she recognized from their private conversation yesterday morning. "It seems my evening has become free. It has been a while since I have dined together as a private family with you and your sister, I look forward to hearing about how your team passed."

"Y-yes!"

He nodded his head slightly and she understood immediately that he had dismissed her to continue on her way. She offered a small bow before continuing on her way to the kitchen wide eyed and heart beating quickly.

'I can't remember the last time we had a private dinner together.' Hinata thought to herself. Dinners in the Hyūga compound were typically done in large groups to ease the work on the kitchen staff from making smaller meals at multiple times during the evening. Members of the main family would dine in two different halls, while the branch family would occupy the remaining halls for their dinners.

Hinata and her immediate family occupied the dining hall with the highest ranking members of the main branch; typically elders and those with high esteem within the family. Silence would always reign when a course was brought out so members could eat their food, but in between courses the conversation was sparse and impersonal. The only topics ever discussed being the business of the clan and the status of some of its projects. She sometimes wondered if the other branch family had more interesting dinners, but would never dare ask to join them for an evening.

The most redeeming quality of these dinners was the food. The chefs in her family were exquisite and would always leave her ravenous appetite satisfied. Enjoyment of the food had actually inspired her to pick up the art of cooking several years ago in her free time. Preparing breakfast and her lunch in the mornings after her early morning training sessions proved to be cathartic to her frayed nerves. It was also beneficial that everyone that worked in the kitchen were kind and more than willing to help the young heir learn the art. Knowing that she didn't have much time this morning to prepare anything difficult if she wanted to be early she settled for some simple eggs and rice.

Satisfied with her meal she went back to her room to double check that she had all over her equipment and made her way out of her family compound. The young heir offered a polite goodbye to the branch guards as she passed the threshold of the gate and started her trek towards the training fields. After their sensei had left yesterday the three genin had agreed to meet fifteen minutes early just a little outside the training grounds.

Hinata wasn't surprised to be the first person to arrive considering it was still ten minutes before they had agreed to arrive. Punctuality had always been important in her family, so Hinata made sure she was always early for any appointment. She didn't have to wait long to see Chōji and Shikamaru walking together down the street towards her.

"G-good morning Shikamaru-san Chōji-san." She offered the two best friends a polite bow as they walked up to her. Both boys didn't look like they got very much sleep the night before, but looking tired was pretty standard for a Nara. The taller boy was stifling a yawn as he came to a stop in front her.

"Good morning Hinata." Shikamaru replied while Chōji offered a smile and nod. "Seriously though Hinata; you can drop the honorifics. Were a team now and doing the whole honorific thing all day is going to be too troublesome."

Hinata could feel her cheeks heat up slightly in embarrassment at the request. She had never really had friends at the academy that she was so familiar with that she ever dropped the honorifics from names. She had difficulty with opening up to others and usually sat off to the side to observe rather than participate. She couldn't do that anymore. Now she would be interacting with her new teammates more than anyone else outside of her family.

"O-of c-course Shikamaru." Shikamaru smirked slightly at her and she could feel her cheeks heat up again.

"Come on." Shikamaru spoke as he started to walk past her towards the training grounds. "We need to talk about the test. Hinata did your father tell you anything about it?"

"Umm…no. I actually didn't have a chance to speak to him last night." Her reply caused Shikamaru to frown as he walked.

'Why is he so worried? Isn't it just a skills assessment?"

"You probably don't know then." Shikamaru clicked his tongue after he spoke. "Chōji''s and my dad let it slip that the jōnin's give another test to their new teams to see if they can really handle being ninja. If we fail, we have to go back to the academy."

"W-what!?" Hinata cried out and almost stopped walking in shock. "B-but w-we worked so hard…"

"Yeah. It shocked me too Hinata." Chōji admitted. "It's a lot pressure on us."

'Father didn't warn me…what would happen if I fail?' Hinata's felt her heart beat speed up at the thought. She could hardly imagine the disgrace that she would feel from the clan. She held her clinched hands close to her chest as she trailed behind the two boys. She glanced at the two boys in front of her and realized that their lack of sleep was probably due to the nerves that they were feeling.

'What if I screw up? What if I am the reason we all fail?' She could feel herself spiraling.

"Don't worry too much about it Hinata." Shikamaru looked back over his shoulder at her. "We are just gonna take our time and figure out the best plan. Okay?"

'He doesn't sound too worried.' Hinata had to wonder where his confidence came from. She had long heard of the intelligence of the Nara clan and knew that his father had a great reputation in the village, but his son had been fairly middle of the pack during his time at the academy. He often slept in class, put very little effort into their physical training and usually only passed his tests by small margin.

Still his reassurance did ease her nerves if only slightly.

They were five minutes early when they reached the border of training ground ten. There had been several trips during the academy to the proper shinobi training grounds to familiarize the students with the larger training environment. The training field at the academy lacks things like large bodies of water and dense woods that the larger fields could accommodate.

Shikamaru and Chōji stopped suddenly in front of her as they entered the central part of this training ground and its open field. In the middle of the field their sensei was performing a kata to a martial art she didn't know, but looked slightly familiar based on the form. He was fast and precise with him movements, but not in a mechanical way. Every strike and kick that he threw had a grace to them that Hinata had only seen before when her father was displaying his skill.

It was the first time they had seen him without a cloak covering his body. He had on black ninja sandals that extended up to his ankles. He wore dark grey ninja pants down to his ankles that were bound tightly at the bottom with what looked like fabric bands a burnt orange color. On his back were several small light grey pouches that were securely tied to his belt that Hinata assumed contained his kunai and other essential gear. He wore a skintight black sleeveless turtle neck shirt that travelled all the way under his mask.

He was wearing the typical armor that she had seen other Anbu wear in the past; a grey vest that protected his torso with a flexible steel weave material that could provide good protection from most weapons without sacrificing any speed. Unlike other Anbu she had seen in the past he seemed to forgo the forearm sleeves and arm guards that they used for protection, instead he only seemed to favor a pair of fingerless gloves with metal guards on the back and another pair of those same burnt orange fabric bands at each wrist.

His mask had remained in place, but with the cloak removed and the sleeveless shirt they were now able to see a couple more features on the boy in front of them. He was very clearly in great shape if defined shape of his muscles on his arms and neck muscles. His Anbu tattoo was an orange color that stood out only barely against his tanned skin tone. Most striking though was his hair; golden blonde spikes that seemed completely unruly poked out in different directions from behind his mask.

Hinata could feel an itch in the back of her mind that she couldn't explain as she looked at the blonde in front of them. Something about it seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it. She was snapped out of her thoughts when he performed a spinning kick with a snap of speed and power that she swore she could feel the wind come off even though they were still at the edge of the field. She glanced at her teammates as they also looked on at their new teacher.

'Will we still be a team by the end of this day?' The thought invaded her mind out of nowhere as she observed the feelings of the other two boys. The fear that she was feeling on their journey to the training field started to spring back to life in her heart at the thought of failure and dragging down her team.

Her sensei without warning suddenly stopped himself mid kata and looked in their direction.

OoOoOoOoO

His focus was absolute as he performed the strikes. He had performed this dance thousands of times with his clones in the past, but it helped him to both relax and find his center at the start of his training. It also helped him to build up a light sweat and warm up his body.

He was surprised to feel a sudden wave of coldness hit him from the edge of the training field that snapped him out of his kata immediately. Looking over immediately at the new comers he saw his team staring at him the edge of the field nearly fifty yards away. He took a second to admire his new gifts ability to sense from a distance before he realized the implication of what he was feeling from his own team.

'Snap out of it Naruto. You don't even know what the feeling is or what it's directed at.'

"Hey guys!" Naruto shouted and waved to snap them out of their daze. "Come on over."

It only took a minute for the three genin to make their way over to their teacher. As they walked over Naruto smiled under his mask he saw Shikamaru scowling at the ground at their feet, while his teammates simply observed his changes to the field. 'He's annoyed that he doesn't know what's going on.'

"Good morning team." Naruto happily chirped and was pleased when all three offered him a reserved greeting in return. "This morning we are going to play a little game so I can determine your abilities and what to work on in the future."

All three genin tensed and Naruto could feel the anxiousness wash over him. 'Guess they are really nervous about the test.'

"I came here a little early to set up what I wanted." Naruto gestured to the field around them. On the ground was a series of concentric circles with Naruto standing in the very middle. "I set up these concentric circles starting at three feet in diameter and extending out another three feet in diameter at each circle. There are ten circles in total from three feet to thirty feet."

Naruto gave them a second to make sure they all understood what he was talking about. "Your goal is going to be to either land a blow on me or force me out of the circle. We are going to be starting with the largest circle giving me a thirty-foot circle to work in."

Naruto pulled a small clock out of one his pouches and set it on the ground in the center of the circle. "I have a timer here set to go off every three minutes. Every time it goes off we will shrink my area by one circle. The game will be over after thirty minutes or if you succeed in the win conditions. How you guys perform will go into my evaluation. And don't worry I am not going to be attacking you, just defending myself."

"Understood?" Naruto asked. He got a round of nods from all three genin. "Good. Then why don't you take fifteen minutes to warm up and discuss some strategy with each other before we begin."

OoOoOoOoO

"He didn't tell us how good we need to perform to pass." Shikamaru muttered, slightly regretting not taking the opportunity to ask any questions to their sensei. His two teammates followed him as he walked to the outermost edge of the rings to discuss what they should do.

'Hard to really call this a ring though.' Shikamaru observed as he looked down at the line in dirt. His sensei didn't take a whole lot of time to carve out the circles with what Shikamaru could only assume was a thin blade of a sword or knife.

"It seems kind of simple doesn't it?"

Shikamaru looked up from the ground to look at his best friend. He had opened a bag of potato chips after exiting the circle and was currently eating the snack slowly compared to his normal rate. 'He's calmed down some after hearing the rules, but he's still nervous.'

"He doesn't need to make it overly complicated." Shikmaru glanced over at Hinata and was slightly amused to see that she had begun doing some light stretching while continuing to keep her focus on the two boys. Chōji's warm up routing would be his snacking and he preferred to not doing anything. "He's a jōnin. There is no way we would be able to beat him, and from his confidence I doubt hitting him will be easy at all with all three of us going after him. That's why he has the ring out rule to give us another chance to win."

"H-how do we make him s-step out of the ring if he doubts we can h-hit him?"

"Forcing him out will get easier as the circle shrinks and he no longer has the room to dodge our attacks as easily. The problem though is how many circles we can let him fall into and still pass." Shikamaru shook his head slightly. "If it didn't matter when we knock him out then we could just wait twenty-seven minutes and he would basically be forced to stand still."

"So we have to try from the start to get him?"

"Not exactly." Shikamaru frowned at the puzzle. He had ideas on what to do, but not knowing the passing line was making it difficult to judge when they would have to fully commit. "We need to use the beginning circles to judge how he reacts to us and the shrinking circles. Then we can enact a plan around twelve or fifteen minutes in."

"What plan?" Chōji asked as he finished the bag of chips he had been snacking on. His friend folded the empty bag into a small square before placing it back into his bag to throw away later Shikamaru knew. Shikamaru had known his friend for a long time and both were familiar with each other's habits and abilities.

Shikamaru looked over at Hinata and realized that besides her explanation of the byakugan yesterday he knew nothing of her ability. He had never really bothered to pay attention to her training spars in the academy and only had a small bit of knowledge on her families fighting style from passing information. Really they barely knew each other besides observations made in class. 'I need to change that.'

"Hinata." Shikamaru chewed on the inside of his cheek slightly as he debated the heaviness of what he was about to say. A bit of pink was on her cheeks as she became the focus of attention for the two boys, but she made eye contact with him. "I know that every clan has their secrets, but considering you already told me about you byakugan yesterday I am hoping you can tell me some more about your abilities."

Her mouth gaped open slightly at the question and Shikamaru immediately knew that she was debating about what to say.

"Chōji and I have known each other for a long time and very familiar with each other's abilities. My clan specializes in the use of yin chakra to manipulate shadows to bind and manipulate our opponents. At my level all I can use is the shadow imitation technique to capture my opponent and make the target mimic my moves." He could see the surprise in her eyes at his ability and admitting it to her. "Chōji's can use his families multi-size technique to increase his body mass to use with different techniques. Right now all he can do is expand into a large ball of himself that he can use with a technique called bullet tank to move like a large boulder across the field."

Hinata was glancing back and forth between the two clan heirs as Shikamaru shared their family's clan techniques and the current level of their ability. Shikamaru knew that it was normally taboo to talk about such things, but it wasn't like they were trained in any advanced family techniques that would truly need to be kept secret as genin. Everyone in the village knew about the Nara and Akimichi family techniques, but not how they manipulated the jutsu.

"I-I understand. My family-"

Shikamaru smiled as he listened to Hinata explain her family's abilities in more detail. Now he could come up with a plan of attack…and maybe one more trick.

OoOoOoOoO

Naruto smiled as he saw the watched the three form a small circle and begin to discuss strategy silently. It was good sign that they were so easily talking amongst one another. It seemed that Shikamaru was the assumed leader of the three. 'I kind of expected him to be a bit more reluctant to take the role.'

Glancing down at the clock he noticed that they had about one minute left before they were supposed to start. He had warmed up already with his kata, but one thing he learned early on was that it was good to have a routine to focus yourself. Naruto started to bounce lightly up in the air from one foot to another as he stretched one arm across his body and pulled on it with his other arm. He repeated the same process with his other arm as he continued his bounce step exercise. With both arms sufficiently stretched he closed his eyes then rolled his neck in circles and heard the satisfying pops of his joints.

"Okay." He opened his eyes towards his three students who were facing him from the outside of the ring. "Let's do this."

"By the way." Naruto took on a relaxed posture as he waited for them to approach him. "You will need to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to have a chance."

A small wave of anxiousness ran over him from all three members of the team, but they seemed to get over it quickly when they glanced at one another. Naruto smiled again under his mask and used his foot to start the timer on the clock.

The three genin slowly spread apart with Hinata on his right, Shikamaru in the center and Chōji to his left. Shikamaru was standing back slightly further in support of the other two. Naruto's eyebrow raised slightly as he noticed that Shikamaru had an additional kunai holder pack strapped to his other leg now and Chōji's was now gone.

'Long range support?' A moment later Shikamaru took kunai and flung it directly at Naruto's chest. 'Hmm let's try towards Chōji first.'

Naruto weaved to the left to dodge the kunai was met by a yelling charge from Chōji. The boy threw a heavy right hook that sailed right by Naruto's face with a simple sway backwards. The Akimichi regained his balance and quickly threw a left Naruto's stomach he dodged with a short step backwards.

'He's pretty good at the Akimichi style. Hard and heavy hits that are easily telegraphed to the opponent.' Naruto observed. 'This style doesn't really hit its potential until he can start using partial expansion to suddenly increase his reach and power at any moment.'

The small soft sound of something piercing through the air mad him lean towards the right to avoid another kunai thrown by Shikamaru from his left side. Shikamaru had rotated around to the left after Chōji had engaged him in combat. 'He's trying to cover Chōji and force me in the direction he wants.'

The sound of quick footsteps from behind made him leap harder to the right to avoid the palm thrust from Hinata. He could just make out the disappointed frown on her face as stood up from her striking position. Chōji moved to stand next to her as Shikamaru continued to move to the left and cut off an avenue of escape. Naruto glanced to the ground to confirm his location within the fifth circle about ten feet from where he had started.

'They are working pretty well together, but when are they going to use some jutsu? Probably trying to gauge how I will react to attacks and conserving their chakra.'

To confirm Naruto's suspicions, he looked at Hinata and saw that she had yet to activate her eyes. Her palm thrust earlier had lacked any of the chakra from a jūken blow.

Another kunai whizzed towards him from the left and made him dodge to the right. The Akimichi and Hyūga preteens leapt back into action, but this time Hinata came straight for Naruto while Chōji flanked to the left to force Naruto closer to the edge.

Hinata threw a straight blow at his chest that he leaned the side casually to avoid. A follow up second strike came at him from a lower angle aimed at his stomach that he avoided easily. Naruto's eyebrows scrunched together as he recognized the combination that Hinata was using from the jūken kata's and how she was performing it.

'Why is she so stiff? It's slowing her down.' Naruto frowned as he observed the kunoichi throw herself into the attacks. 'Should I start making comments now? Or wait until after.'

A quick glance towards the clock showed ten seconds until the alarm would go off and he had only backed up another five feet from the center as he weaved through the attacks. Their strategy was making him dance more in a spiral that grew outwards rather than forcing him straight back towards the edge of the circle. Chōji was coming at him from the side this time.

RING

'First ring gone.' Naruto thought as he side stepped another blow from Chōji as Hinata attempted to press forward. Neither of them showed any reaction to the alarm going off and seemed to just continue with their actions. 'They are attacking well for just teaming up for the first time. Let's see how well.'

Naruto let them continue their attack for a moment before he changed his dodging pattern and placed himself directly between the new genin in the blink of an eye. The shocked eyes of Chōji stared right into the eyes of his mask and he hesitated for a second before throwing a hasty right straight. Naruto ducked and rolled towards the outside of the circle as he an attack coming from his back as well.

Naruto could hear the panicked noises come from both shinobi as they barely avoided striking one another and tumbled over each other. A small curse could be heard from Shikamaru a short distance away after the crash. As they stood up he could see a touch of pink on both of their cheeks and waves of emotion that he could probably relate to embarrassment.

"Your teamwork is pretty good for the first time your first time fighting as a team." Maybe a compliment would help them shake off the embarrassment. "You both have a good base to build off with your skills. Catch your breath and come again."

The three genin weren't worn out, but they had started to breathe a little heavier and a sheen of sweat was appearing on their face from the activity. Nearly four minutes of constant movement and attack could be a lot for genin at the pace they were going and would have left a civilian gasping for air. Even Shikamaru had been running around the circle deliberately to put him in a position to provide support and wait for good opportunities to attack. They took only a few seconds to regroup and catch their breath before they both looked towards Shikamaru who just shrugged.

The two close range fighters slowly approached him again with Chōji leading and Hinata taking the flank this time. Another easily dodged kunai from Shikamaru was the signal to begin attacking again. The Akimichi launched a combination of attacks that Naruto easily backed away and weaved around, while Hinata attempted attacks aimed at his side. Naruto glanced at the clock and checked his position in the circle to confirm he was still within the rings at about the seventh circle twenty-one feet from center.

RING

'Down to twenty-four feet now.' Naruto smiled as he realized he was standing between the two outermost circles. 'Maybe now they will start going a little harder.'

To Naruto's disappointment nothing changed at in their strategy for the next few minutes. Hinata and Chōji continued to pursue him and attack in the same pattern that they had. With him being in the last ring they should have been trying a little harder at least to force him out. 'Hmm next ring we are going to try something different.'

Naruto glanced at the clock to confirm the time remaining with his countdown in his head. With seven seconds left to go he dodged a strike from Hinata with a little extra force and bounced his way into the next ring right before the alarm went off.

RING

There was a look of contemplation on Shikamaru's face and Naruto could feel what he guessed was disappointment from the other two when they realized their failure to keep him from the ring. The feeling quickly wore off from the two as they walked back into the circle to get to their positions. They looked at Shikamaru again as they did and he shrugged once again.

'Not real subtle there guys…' Naruto thought. It was obvious that they were waiting on some kind of signal from Shikamaru before they enacted whatever it was they wanted. 'I need to keep my eye on him for now…lets go ahead change things up.'

The two taijutsu users launched their attacks straight towards Naruto's torso again. Chōji used a straight right, but his eyes opened in shock when his wrist was suddenly caught in Naruto's grip. Using the portly boys momentum against him Naruto pulled on the wrist the moment he gripped it and sent Chōji stumbling forward before giving him a light pat on the back that made him fall on his face.

He noticed that Hinata had stopped wide eyed at the sudden change in his tactics. Shikamaru's eyes had narrowed, but other-wise he continued to circle around.

"I thought you weren't going to attack?" Chōji groaned as he stood up and wiped the dirt off his shirt.

"That was a pretty standard defensive maneuver." Naruto shrugged with both palms facing the sky. "If you throw such large blows they get pretty easy to counter, ya know."

There was a small wave of cold coming from Hinata's direction. Naruto could see she was biting her lip a little bit as she looked at him. 'She was doing fine…is she afraid now that I did something other than dodge?'.

"Also, aiming for my center mass is good since you are just trying to get a hit in." Naruto placed his hands on his hips as he lectured the genin. "But if you continue aiming for the same spot you become too predictable…"

"Or maybe that was the point?" Naruto commented as he put his hand to the chin of his mask and faux rubbed it. Shikamaru gave no reaction, but both Hinata and Chōji's eyes widened slightly at the comment.

'This is so much fun.' Naruto thought as he watched the three gather themselves once again. Every day the only people he interacted with were people much older and more experienced than him in the art of being a shinobi. He appreciated all of the time he spent with the clan heads, Kakashi and the few Anbu team members that he had, but this was different. This was him being instructor and helping his charges improve.

Another glance towards the clock showed roughly fifteen seconds left before the time went off and Naruto would need to hop a few feet towards the center circle. Naruto knew he could move deeper into the circles, but he didn't want to hurt their confidence and them attacking was letting him see more of what to work on. 'Five…four…three and hop'.

RING

Shikamaru was staring right at him with a focused look as he maneuvered behind Hinata. Then unlike before Shikamaru whipped out two kunai at him aimed just outside of each one of Naruto's biceps and Hinata was charging between them. It looked like they were ready to start changing things up a little bit.

'Well I already decided to start defending more…'

Her blow towards shoulder was gently pushed to the side by his palm pressing her wrist away. Her eyes widened slightly, but she followed up with another thrust from her other hand while she pulled back her other palm. It was a good attack, but Naruto couldn't help but notice that the attack was still looking stiff and lacking the sharp snap it should have had with her family's style.

She continued to press forward as Chōji came in from the side. He continued to parry Hinata, block Chōji and dodge the occasional shuriken thrown from Shikamaru as they danced their way around the circle again and again. His internal clock was telling him that it was getting closer to the next ring of the bell.

'Thirty seconds.' Naruto thought as he put his eyes on Shikamaru as the spikey haired boy slid to a stop before launching another kunai he was forced to duck under. 'Why didn't he throw that kunai while moving?'

All three genin were putting in a lot of effort to try and land a hit on him. They were still holding off on spending their chakra on abilities but moving around like they were was making their muscles burn and breathing labored. Chōji's exhausted state made him overreach on an attack that let Naruto gently send Chōji stumbling towards the outside of the circle before he caught Hinata's wrist as she tried to capitalize on the focus he gave Chōji.

Using her momentum against her he twisted his body and pulled her into an over shoulder throw. Not wanting her too badly he held onto her arm intending to make the landing softer and prevent the back of her head from slamming into the ground.

To his surprise her legs and free arm shot out as she was about to land on her rear and caught the ground before she impacted. Judging from the look on her face, as she gazed up into his mask, she was just as surprised as he was by the action. He cocked his head slightly in amusement at the stunned look she was giving.

"Nice!" Naruto laughed as he let go of her arm and leapt backwards towards the inner circle. "Next time follow up with an attack if you manage to counter a throw by landing safely."

RING

OoOoOoOoO

Hinata swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw Shikamaru pull out two kunai to throw. It was the sign that the three had agreed on for Chōji and Hinata to attack a little harder during the next round.

-Flashback-

"He's not going to go all out on us." Shikamaru answered the unspoken question from Chōji and herself. "He's a Jōnin. He could knock us all out before we could react if he really wanted to."

Hinata knew from watching her father, and other Jōnin's from the Hyūga family, that the abilities someone of that rank were no joke. If their sensei wanted to beat them into the ground, it would not even be a challenge for him.

"The test would be pointless if we had no chance at it." Shikamaru elaborated. "I expect he will evade and parry our attacks the entire time while moving around. We will need to figure out his patterns while attacking him. I need you two to attack at the same time."

Hinata felt her heartbeat speed up at the declaration.

"One of you put pressure on him to force him towards the outside the of the circle and the other pressure him from the side. We probably can't force him out of the circle directly but making him go in a spiral should let me observe how he reacts to attacks and the bell going off."

Hinata nodded her head in understanding to the plan even if she was questioning her abilities. Chōji looked over at her and gave her a weak thumbs up and a nervous smile. She didn't feel any better from the gesture.

"I will provide support from the back with kunai and shuriken. Chōji can you give me your pack so I have some extra." Chōji quickly unstrapped his kunai holster and gave it over to Shikamaru. "For now, I don't want you to conserve your jutsu and chakra and just go at him attacking normally. When you see me throw two kunai at the same time, that means to attack harder, but still wait for me to give you a thumbs up before we go all out."

"Now here is what we are going to do then…"

-End Flashback-

Hinata followed the two kunai towards their sensei at a faster speed than she used before, tapping into her chakra reserves just slightly to make sure she arrived right behind the kunai. She aimed for his left shoulder with a quick strike but felt a gentle push on her wrist that sent her attack off course. She was slightly surprised to feel him decide to parry instead of dodge like he had done before but didn't let it stop her from attacking again.

Chōji joined her from the side, and they began dance once again. Everything they threw at him he easily parried or dodged with the slightest of movements. He was still moving around the circle, but Hinata was sure that if he would have never moved from the center if he didn't want to.

'He's not even trying…' Hinata couldn't help but think as she continued to attack with Chōji. She could feel her muscles were starting to burn and her breathing became labored as they used more force and speed in this round than before. Still nothing seemed to even be phasing this boy the same age as them.

Then it happened like it did the round previously. Chōji extended a little too much and sensei sent him stumbling forward. His mask wasn't facing her as he watched her teammate stumble.

'Now!'

She pushed some chakra into her muscles to speed up her attack at his distracted state. To her shock she felt his hand wrap around her wrist and pull her forward.

'Oh no!' She thought in a panic as he twisted his back into her and pulled her arm over his shoulder to throw her. She closed her eyes as her world suddenly flipped upside down and her limbs flailed out instinctively. The bottoms of her feet and her left hand hit the ground flat and braced her from impacting the ground. She opened her eyes in confusion at the lack of pain and stared up into the Kitsune mask looking down on her. He cocked his head slightly to the sight as if questioning what he was looking at.

"Nice!" Her sensei laughed as he let go of the arm he was holding and leapt back into the circles. "Next time follow up with an attack if you manage to counter a throw by landing safely."

RING

'I didn't even mean to catch myself…' She was stunned at how she had reacted when she was flipped over. She had no experience fighting against throws before with the lack of them in the gentle fist style and was rarely used by anyone else at the academy.

"Okay."

Hinata had just fully stood back up when she heard Shikamaru's voice call out to her and Chōji. Her mouth went dry as she realized the Nara felt it was time to really use all their abilities. She quickly moved over to join Shikamaru as Chōji also jogged over.

"Take a break to recover." Shikamaru whispered to the two. "When there is one minute remaining on the clock, I want to use the second pattern that we discussed to attack him. Got it?"

Hinata hesitated but nodded her head after a moment to affirm she knew what the plan was. She knew that she was supposed to be the one to get the strike in and right now she was doubting herself. She didn't want to fail her team or the expectations of her family, but the pressure was mounting on her at this moment.

The two boys beside her separated apart as Chōji took the lead position and Shikamaru stayed back and pulled out his kunai to the ready. There was no more time to debate in her head as she saw her teammates watching the clock. Their sensei was just standing in the same spot he was before with both hands clasped behind his head. Hinata used the opportunity before they would attack to weave the hand symbols to activate her clans bloodline.

"Byakugan." She whispered.

The color of the world faded, and her vision expanded to see all around her. Chōji stood to a few feet to her right and Shikamaru was eight feet behind him. She could not see their individual tenketsu but could still see them gathering their chakra in limbs as they reinforced their muscles.

'Wait…' Hinata focused her attention on her sensei as she noticed something. 'He has so much chakra! Wait…It looks like…'

"Ne Hinata." Her sensei's voice whispered in her ear, and she completely froze stiff. One second, he was standing across the circle from her and now he was standing directly in front of her. So close that he was leaning his head over her shoulder to whisper to her as he looked past her. "Why don't you keep what you saw to yourself for right now. I will talk about it after the test. Okay?"

Eyes wide and with a blush creeping up her face, from the close proximity, Hinata could only nod stiffly at her sensei's request. Just as suddenly as he appeared next to her, he was gone and back in the spot he was at before. There was no sign of him using chakra at all when he moved, it was purely his speed.

"Are you okay Hinata?" Chōji asked from her side with a concern filled voice. He looked just as shocked as she did at the sudden movement of the Jōnin.

"H-hai."

"If you are okay then let's do this." She heard Shikamaru say as he launched a barrage of kunai at the Anbu masked teacher.

OoOoOoOoO

"Oh boy that was close…" Naruto muttered quietly as he arrived back at his spot. He realized quickly the mistake he had made when he saw Hinata's eyes stare at him questioningly after she activated her dōjutsu. 'Kind of silly of me to forget she saw what my clone's chakra looked like yesterday.'

"At least it looks like they are about to start really enacting their plan." Naruto was practically giddy with excitement to see the plan his team came up with to use against him. He was using most of his self-control to keep his body from fidgeting in excitement, but part of him was also sensing their emotions.

'There's a dark feeling coming from Chōji and Hinata…but its more directed in on themselves than towards me?' Naruto frowned at the emotions he sensed from the two. 'Shikamaru feels like the same nervousness that I felt earlier from sensei. That's a better reaction, but I better pay attention to the other two.'

The sudden barrage three of kunai from Shikamaru knocked Naruto out of his thoughts quickly as he caught the one heading for his center and turned his body sideways to avoid the other two before he tossed the stolen kunai away. Chōji was quickly on him from the front and Hinata was rounding on his side again with chakra coating her fingertips.

'Strong' Naruto thought as he caught Chōji's fist to judge his strength. If he wasn't used to fighting with the Akimichi's father, he was sure that some of the bones in his hand would have fractured. 'Lots of potential.'

Hinata attacked with her chakra infused style that forced Naruto to deflect her at the wrist to prevent the damage. She was slightly faster now that she used chakra, but her movements were still stiff. 'All of her attacks follow the form to near perfection, but its just…off.'

"Multi-Size Technique!"

Naruto was surprised to see the boys body inflate like a ball right in front of him and nearly triple the size he was before. He wasn't surprised that the boy could do his families technique, but by him doing it right in front of him he was completely exposed. It a real combat situation Naruto would have easily struck the boy hard.

"Human Bullet Tank!"

Naruto was forced to jump up and over as the rapidly spinning Akimichi came barreling towards him. Dodging towards Hinata wouldn't have been possible at the time and dodging outside of the boulder would have placed him out of the circle. As he landed, he had to bend backwards to avoid a kunai that was placed where he would land at.

He could feel her coming from his side as he was bent backwards, her palm stretched out to try and get a hit on his shoulder. Thinking quickly, he just let himself fall backwards onto his back and let her attack pass over him. Before she could follow up, he spun his legs around his torso using the momentum to twist himself into a spin on his palms before pushing off and landing back on his feet.

Naruto quickly looked at the clock and saw just twenty seconds left before the ringer would go off again. The low rumble of the ground shaking coming from behind him told him that Chōji was making his way back towards him. Naruto prepared to jump out of the way but hesitated when Chōji stopped his rotation right in front of him.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he quickly looked around to spot where Shikamaru and his shadow would be coming from but couldn't find him. He was surprised to see it suddenly shoot out from Chōji's shadow and latch onto his own.

"Capture complete." He heard Shikamaru's voice from behind Chōji.

'He hid behind Chōji and used the size of his shadow to extend his reach.' Naruto admired the strategy as he could sense Hinata coming in from behind him. Before she could make the last step and connect Naruto flared his chakra to break the possession off him. Faster than any of them could see he skipped out of the attack a few feet towards the inner circle.

RING

"That was really good!" Naruto shouted at them as he could feel the negative energy start to emerge after their failure to strike him. Chōji had shrunk back down to his normal size after he released his jutsu with a dejected look on his face that was mirrored by Hinata where she stood. "Your timing was really good there."

Now that Naruto had jumped to the side he could see where Shikamaru had stood behind Chōji. The Nara look at Naruto for a minute before he put his hands in his pockets and smirked at his sensei and looked down. Naruto could felt his stomach drop at the look.

'Aw man…I have seen Shikaku-sensei make that look a hundred times.' Naruto thought as he looked down.

"Oh come on…" To his surprise there was no line present where he had jumped inside. Instead he could see the signs of someone trying to cover tracks and the circle that he had cut into the ground was gone. "So that's what you were doing running around so much and skidding…You were erasing a circle and watching how I reacted before the time."

Chōji's and Hinata's mouths were agape as they saw what had happened. It looked like Shikamaru either came up with the plan on the fly or didn't tell his teammates about this aspect of the plan. Naruto crouched down and gripped his hair in frustration.

"Damnit." Naruto admitted after a minute. "I guess you win."

All three genin smiled brightly at one another. Chōji gave both of his teammates a fist bump which Shikamaru smiled at and Hinata hesitated to return at first. Naruto had to admit that he was proud that technically managed to accomplish the goal, but still…

"Winning like that was smart, but it wasn't really the point of this exercise." Naruto caught the attention of the three genin as he walked up to be closer to them. The three stopped their small celebration and gave him questioning looks.

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru retorted. "You wanted us to get you out of the circle so that we passed the test right?"

"Yeah. That was the goal." Naruto admitted. "But I was really just trying to get a gauge of your teamwork and abilities. I need to know what we have to work on."

"But sensei! What about the test to officially become genin?" Chōji asked.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned. He cocked his head slightly as he processed what Chōji was asking him. Suddenly the realization struck him.

"Oh! Right!" Naruto laughed a little sheepishly. "You guys passed that yesterday. This was just a skills assessment for training."

All three genin looked stunned at their sensei. It took only a few moments for Naruto see the realization start to come to Hinata's face as she remembered what his chakra looked like with byakugan activated. Naruto formed the hand sign for his most used jutsu.

"Kage Bunshin." A perfect clone of Naruto poofed into existence next to the original causing his students to startle at the sudden explosion of chakra smoke. "Henge"

OoOoOoOoO

Shikamaru smacked his palm to his face as he looked at the figure standing in front of him. Blonde hair, blue eyes, bandages over the cheeks and set of dirty closes announced the arrival of the annoyance that caused them to go running through Konoha yesterday. And now Shikamaru couldn't help but be annoyed at himself for not realizing it sooner.

He had seen shadow clones once before when he dad used one to distract his mother and sneak out of the house to go drink with his old team. The clone was completely real until it got smacked really hard by his mother and ended up dispelling. Shikamaru struggled to sleep that night from the commotion.

"I wanted to see what you guys would do outside of a mission and how you would work together." Naruto chuckled.

"What if we decided to just let an Anbu patrol handle it like they should have?" Shikamaru couldn't help but ask the question. He wanted to know the parameters of the test that they took yesterday.

"Nothing." Naruto shrugged. "It wouldn't have been fair to test you without you knowing with something like that. I would have just given you a different test this morning that would have challenged your teamwork."

"Then why do it?"

"I wanted to see what you would do. In the chance that you gave chase I wanted to see if you could work together. I watched you guys defend each other as you moved, keep track of me, develop a plan and eventually trap my clone."

"Troublesome." A sudden realization struck Shikamaru and he looked at Hinata. "That's why he jumped over to you when you activated your byakugan. You saw that the chakra was the same."

"H-hai." Hinata nodded. "Sensei a-asked me to wa-wait until after the test. I d-didn't know it was a test though."

"Yeah I just stopped her from giving that information away. I guess I could have told you guys yesterday that you passed, but...well things got kind of awkward…and I guess I forgot?"

Shikamaru could feel his eye twitching at his new sensei revelation. He put way too much effort into this morning's test for it to not mean passing becoming a genin. Now Naruto knew his skill level on how to hard to train him.

"So…" Shikamaru looked over at his friend as he spoke. Chōji was pointing at the clone standing next to his sensei. "Is that what you really look like?"

'That's right. We can ask questions now that the game is over.' Shikamaru remembered as he awaited the answer to the question.

"Hmm." His sensei looked over at the clone quickly and then back to his team. "Nah. I am much more handsome than that!"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes slightly at the comment. The builds that the two had were similar and the blond hair that could be seen behind the mask matched as well. There was no telling regarding if his face was the same though. 'I also don't know if that's his natural hair color either.'

"Anyway. Let's discuss the training I have-"

"You said we could ask you questions after we played the game." Shikamaru interrupted his sensei quickly. Naruto was silent for a moment before stretched his arms high above his head before settling them both behind his hands behind his head.

"You're right! I did say I would answer what I can."

There it was again. 'What he can answer.' The shinobi world was one built on secrets, but that didn't mean that Shikamaru was comfortable with being with him and his best friend being on the same team as the biggest mystery in Konoha. He needed to gather as much information as possible and starting simply would be the best bet.

"Is your name really Naruto?"

"Yes."

"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Dad said he was younger than I am." Chōji cut in after their sensei answered the question. Shikamaru briefly wondered why Chōza let that information out but pushed it to the back of his mind. At least it gave him another question.

"When is your birthday?"

"Can't say."

'If we knew his birthday, we may be able to look up records or maybe there is something about his birthday that would reveal something.' Shikamaru thought.

"Why is your identity so secret?"

"Multiple reasons I can't say."

"How strong are you?"

"Just below elite jōnin. I can probably take most jōnin in our village, but the elites like Hatake Kakashi are still above me."

"So you're a genius that moved up quickly?"

"Not really."

His sensei shrugged in such a nonchalant manner that Shikamaru immediately believed him. 'How is he so strong then? Maybe a bloodline? That could explain the secrecy behind his identity.'

"H-how did you g-get so strong?" Hinata asked.

"Training." Shikamaru and the rest of his team felt their faces drop into a deadpan stare that demanded their sensei elaborate. "Heh well I guess you could say that I have been training to an extreme level since the moment that I could walk. A type of training that is unique only to me, but don't worry I will explain it in a bit."

"Who taught you?"

"Can't say."

'So someone high up probably. Maybe even the Hokage himself?'

"Are the rumors about you true?" Chōji asked next. The kitsune masked teacher cocked his head to the side a little as he thought about the question.

"Which ones?" He laughed softly. "Sacrificing virgins, killing Konoha shinobi that annoy me and eating the hearts of my enemies? No those are all lies to hurt my reputation."

"The one where I used an arm as a weapon is true though…a little exaggerated…and it wasn't like I was trying to use his arm…you know what…never mind."

Shikamaru jaw was hanging after Naruto finished his rant. He didn't believe any of the unbelievable rumors that he first spoke of. It sounded like rumors made up by people that didn't like him. The reason they didn't like him though…

"Why that mask?"

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and Shikamaru could imagine that his sensei was pouting behind his mask.

"I have a feeling I am going to get asked this question a lot in the future by different people I meet." Naruto let out a sad sigh. "I intended for the mask to represent us moving past the night the Kyūbi attacked and being a symbol of our strength. People who know me understand my reasoning, but most have never given me the chance."

"A lot of people lost their families to that event." Chōji spoke with a somber tone in his voice. Shikamaru knew that each clan had suffered losses from that night and the Akimichi had family was no exception to that.

"I know." Naruto's voice was quiet. "I lost my whole family that night."

'He's an orphan?' Shikamaru's eyes went wide at the confession. This revelation was perhaps the most shocking of all of them so far. It wasn't unheard of to hear of young jōnin's like Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi, but they usually had a family support system behind them that enabled their growth. An orphan would be far more limited in their support, so how did it happen for Naruto?

His new sensei had been honest and forthcoming with information that Shikamaru didn't expect to get. There was still a mystery behind him that needed to be put together, but so far there hadn't really been a reason to not trust him. One thing was still bothering him though.

"Why are you, our sensei?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because I wanted to be." It was such a simple statement, but the conviction behind it was extremely strong. "I wanted the opportunity to come out from the Anbu and teach a team."

"But you are still wearing your mask?" Chōji asked.

"I know…I don't want to…but I have to for now. I promise that as things progress I reveal more and hopefully be able to reveal more as soon as possible." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he stared at his students. "Look I want to be honest with you. One of the reasons I must wear this mask is because they are not sure this is going to work out."

Shikamaru's scowled at his sensei. If they felt that he wasn't ready to teach then they should have never assigned him a team. It would only hurt team if things didn't work out.

"They were concerned that about how you all would react to me being your sensei. Between my age and reputation there are concerns about you accepting me. They want to be able to fold me back into the Anbu if there are any problems."

'They were more worried about us than about him?' Shikamaru frowned at that. They were now shinobi; they should understand the chain of command and how to take orders. 'Still though…there are definitely some from our class who would have had a big issue with this more than our team…wait…'

"Was this team formed because they thought we would be more accepting of you?"

"You're smart Shikamaru." Shikamaru wasn't sure he appreciated the praise at the moment. "I am going to let you in on a little secret you have to keep to yourselves. I actually picked all of the teams this year."

Shikamaru heard a soft gasp from Hinata come out and he couldn't blame her. It was well known that the Hokage was the person to make and balance the teams, but he passed off this responsibility to the twelve-year-old jōnin standing in front of them?

"I didn't make this team specifically because I thought we would interact well though." Naruto pointed his finger at Shikamaru; the gesture clearly stating that he had a point to get across. "I think that you should be able to tell after the test that there is a lot of potential on this team. Your strategy was good for only being made in a few minutes, but can't you think of some of the possibilities once you guys get more accustomed to one another?"

'He's right.' Shikamaru realized. 'Hinata can locate targets and strike their chakra even with my shadow on them. With Chōji she can also easily maneuver around his abilities with her vision. And I already know the combo's that work between mine and Chōji's family.'

"I really believe in the potential of not only this team, but also in each one of you. I saw your skills just now and I watched you before, there is so much I know I can help you with. I know that I can help you guys become the best damn team ever. Will you give me that chance?"

Shikamaru glanced over to his new teammates to get a read on how they felt. Both seemed have settled on their decisions and had a determined look on their faces. Shikamaru smiled at them and nodded his head in agreement.

"H-hai!"

"Yes!"

"Troublesome…but sure."

Naruto leapt up into the air with his fist pumping in celebration. Their new sensei seemed to just be full of energy and Shikamaru could only hope it would get on his nerves too much. Unfortunately, his sensei's next statement let him know that hope would be dashed quickly.

"I hope you guys like training." Shikamaru could practically feel the unseen smirk behind the mask. "Cause I love it!"

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Hello everyone. Honestly this turned out longer than I intended and if I had realized what it would have become I probably would have split this chapter in half, but I didn't really want to do that. I am still trying to get back into the swing of making myself write more often, but this typically comes in bursts for me rather than stead progress.

Things should start picking up the pace from here on out. It took a little while to get to the start of training, but starting next chapter we will start to train and get missions. Please read and review to let me know what you think.