It has been one month since Naruto started training with Kakashi. He had better chakra control now and can now balance a kunai on both of his palms using only chakra. His next training will be to balance a kunai on its tip using only chakra. Kakashi taught him the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) after Naruto managed to make a leaf float on all five of his fingers on one hand. His Taijutsu has also greatly improved. He was taught the basic academy style taijutsu by Kakashi. This was to establish a stable foundation for once Naruto developed his own style. Once, Kakashi had also asked Gai, his eternal rival, to help ameliorate his taijutsu while he left for a mission. Naruto had shivers down his spine just thinking about what happened on those days.

Flashback

"Alright Naruto, I'm going to leave for a mission today. I will be back in a few days," said Kakashi. "Yes Sensei! I'm so ready to train. So who's going to teach me while you're gone?" Naruto asked.

Just then a man in a tight green jumpsuit and the standard Konoha flak jacket and had a bowl cut approached the apartment. 'How are his eyebrows so big? What the heck did he do to get them that big?' Naruto thought. "Such a YOUTHFUL SPIRIT! To be so interested in training is SO YOUTHFUL! THE FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT IN YOU!" He exclaimed at the top of lungs, while giving Naruto a thumbs-up and a large smile. Naruto's sweat dropped while staring at the man. 'Did his teeth just shine when he smiled? And that jumpsuit is really tight…like really tight. I am so lucky he wears his Konoha headband as a belt. Without it, I think I would see some things in the lower region that I don't really wanna think about right now.'

"Naruto, this is Gai. He will be the one training you. You will focus on your taijutsu, endurance and strength. I know he doesn't look like it but he is one of the strongest in the village," Kakashi said. "Well I have to go now. Gai, take good care of him. Ja ne," Kakashi said as he waved and left in a Shunshin .

"Yosh, Naruto-kun! Let's go do some training!" He exclaimed as he and Naruto moved to the training grounds. 'These are going to be some long and painful days...' Naruto thought.

End Flashback

Naruto trained with Gai for four days straight and only took breaks to eat or sleep. He wore weights on his wrists and ankles. The weights weighed about 10kg at first but he has increased it to 25kg now. Gai's training was brutal. As a warm-up they did 200 push-ups, 300 sit-ups and 5 rounds of the village. Then he would train Naruto on his taijutsu. Naruto relies on speed and agility to fight which is fitting to Gai's Goken style taijutsu, a style that hits hard and is very fast. Naruto didn't follow Gai's taijutsu style in its entirety and only copied some parts of it. He aims to create his own style so he plans to use different taijutsu styles and combine them to eventually create his own "Awesome, Amazing and Unbeatable" style as he puts it. Gai's training is harsh, brutal and slightly excessive but Naruto had to admit that it was very effective. Hence, why he still uses weights until now. However, the most brutal part of training was Gai's youthful spirit. The thought itself made Naruto shudder. It was like being trapped in a constant genjutsu.

Other than training with Gai, Naruto also trained with the Hokage. Hiruzen would train him more on his chakra and mentally. It was through him that Naruto was introduced to the game shogi. It is a strategy board game that forces players to think of different tactics to win. Naruto enjoyed the game as it allowed him to show his intellectual abilities. After learning the game, he managed to beat Hiruzen by the third game. Hiruzen was surprised that he lost to someone who just learned to play. Ever since that moment, Naruto would meet the Hokage every few days to play a few rounds of shogi. Currently the Hokage had won more games but Naruto only trailed behind by 3 wins.

Close to the end of the year, Naruto was introduced to another sensei, or rather reintroduced. Naruto hadn't seen her for quite a long time.

Flashback

"So, Kaka-sensei, who's gonna teach me this time?" Naruto asked. Just then, an Anbu with a cat(Neko) mask appeared beside Kakashi. "Neko-neechan is that you? It's been so long since I've seen you," Naruto said, obviously happy to see the Anbu.

"It sure has Naruto. You've grown quite a lot since then. You're so much taller now," she said, taking off her mask. Neko aka Yugao Uzuki is the only anbu aside from Kakashi whose real identity was known to Naruto. When Kakashi had missions and could not be there for Naruto when he was younger, she was usually sent as a replacement. She didn't judge Naruto for his furball friend and treated him like a normal child. Naruto really enjoyed her company because of that. They spent quite a lot of time together and managed to get her to open up to him. Naruto thought of her as like an older sister.

"Yugao is gonna train you in stealth and work on your sensory abilities," Kakashi said. "Since you guys know each other and she is a sensor, I thought it would be prudent to ask her to train you. Well, have fun and don't get in trouble. Ja ne." Kakashi then left in a swirl of leaves.

End Flashback

Naruto is now able to sense people from 500m away. He also took the time to catch up with Yugao. They had not seen each other in quite a long time as she had been going on missions continuously.

Currently, it is a new year. As a gift for being a good student, Kakashi had gifted Naruto his very own mask. The mask was black like Kakashi's but it had three dark orange stripes across the cheek just like the whisker marks. Naruto requested Kakashi for a mask as he wanted to avoid situations such as the one with Tenten where he was visibly flustered. He also thought it was very cool to wear a mask. It gave him a mysterious aura and made it nearly impossible for enemies to read his expressions. Kakashi was so happy that Naruto wanted to follow his footsteps that he taught Naruto two new jutsu as a bonus.

Firstly, Kakashi taught him the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu) where a shinobi can substitute their place with an object to avoid getting hit. It was not a very hard jutsu and Naruto managed to get it in three tries.

Then, Kakashi taught Naruto the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu) …or at least tried to. Every time Naruto tries to create a clone, it will appear wonky or look weird. 'Hmm… I wonder why he cannot do the jutsu… maybe he has too much chakra to do it,' Kakashi thought.

After getting too tired, Naruto went to sleep in disappointment. Kakashi; however, went to the Hokage tower. Knocking on the door and hearing a "come in" from the Hokage, Kakashi swiftly entered.

"Ah Kakashi, what brings you here today?" The Hokage asked as he smoked from his pipe. "Hokage-sama, I want your permission to teach Naruto the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) ," he said.

Hiruzen sat up straight when he heard it was about Naruto and a forbidden jutsu. He thought of him as his surrogate grandson and is constantly worried for his well being. "Are you sure he is ready for that Kakashi? He is only a kid," he said. "The thing is Hokage-sama, I tried to teach him the normal Bunshin that they teach at the academy. He has a problem doing this and I believe that it is because he has too much chakra. You see, when he first accessed his chakra, I believe he had about three quarters as much as my chakra. That was a few months ago and now he has even more chakra. Hence, when he creates a normal bunshin, they are basically overfed with chakra and don't work properly," Kakashi replied.

The Hokage and the hidden Anbu guards in the corners of the room were shocked. Never had they heard of a kid that could have so much chakra. Hiruzen did not need any more convincing, he believed that Naruto would be able to master this jutsu with no doubt.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The next morning, Naruto and Kakashi stood in the middle of a forest, away from their usual training grounds. "Naruto, I am going to teach a jutsu called the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It is different from the normal Bunshin no Jutsu , these clones are solid copies instead of illusions. This jutsu is usually for jonin but since you have a lot of chakra, the Hokage has given you permission to learn it. This jutsu is very dangerous as it takes a portion of your chakra. If you don't have a lot of chakra, this jutsu could be a death wish but you don't have to worry about that." Naruto was so excited to learn a new jutsu and to learn a jutsu usually only used by jonin got his blood running even more. "So here are the signs. I want you to create as many clones as you can."

Naruto remembered the signs and proceeded to try and use the jutsu. " Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" All around the duo smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, they could see about 50 shadow clones all around them. Kakashi's one visible eye went wide. 'He could become so strong with this. This could make the shadow clone training method effective. He doesn't even look tired after making this many clones.'

"Naruto are you tired?" He asked. Naruto shook his head in the negative "Naruto, do you know what this means? Your training could be exponentially increased," Kakashi said excitedly but only got a confused look from Naruto. "Naruto, dispel all the clones except one."

Naruto did as Kakashi said, still confused. Then Kakashi created his own clone and the two clones travelled out into the forest out of their sights. Naruto was still confused when he stiffened. He looked at Kakashi and saw him giving an eye smile. Naruto got the memory of the clone and he realised what Kakashi meant. If the clones could transfer memories, then he could train with as many clones as he can and his training will be cut down. He smirked at the idea of exponentially increasing his abilities.

Naruto created fifty clones and divided them into two groups. One group worked on his Chakra control while the other worked on his Taijutsu. Each group was accompanied by one of Kakashi's clone. The real Naruto was being taught by Kakashi the Shunshin no Jutsu. This was the standard method of training they would do until Naruto started the academy.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A Few Weeks Later

The sun had just risen in the east. Sunlight hit Naruto's eyes through his window, stirring him awake. Just as Naruto started stirring from his sleep, his alarm buzzed, signalling that the time was 7: 30 in the morning. He immediately sat up on his bed and rubbed his sleepiness in his eyes away. 'Today is the day!' He bolted out of his room and entered the bathroom to start his morning rituals. He went to the kitchen and saw that Kakashi was already preparing toast.

"Morning Naruto. You look extra energetic today," Kakashi stated while placing some toasts on two plates. "Of course Kaka-sensei! Today I will finally start the academy. I can officially start on the road to becoming a shinobi!" He said. The duo ate their toasts and made their way to the academy together.

Kakashi had promised Naruto that he would send Naruto off for his first day. At the gate, Naruto said goodbye to Kakashi. "Here we are Naruto. Have fun. It might be boring for you but I'm sure you'll manage. Ja ne!" Before Naruto could ask what he meant, Kakashi left in a swirl of leaves. Not thinking too hard about it, Naruto moved to the orientation group and followed them to his classroom.

Later In The Classroom

Naruto looked around and took in the classroom he will spend most of his time in nowadays. He went to find a seat and saw an empty seat beside a boy with a pineapple shaped hair and beside him was a chubby boy snacking on some chips. "Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" He asked. "Sure." The boy with the pineapple shaped hair replied. Naruto sat in the seat and waited as more people entered the class.

"Hey, what's your name?" Naruto asked as he extended his hand for a handshake."I'm Shikamaru and he's Choji. What's yours and what's with the mask?" The boy with the pineapple shaped hair said while shaking his hands. Choji waved at him before he continued eating.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki…." Before Naruto could continue on, two chunin entered the classroom and everyone went silent. "Good morning everyone, welcome to the academy. My name is Iruka Umino and I will be your teacher for the time you are at the academy. The teacher beside me is Mizuki. We will be working together to teach all of you. I will be focused on teaching you academic subjects while Mizuki will teach you practical subjects such as taijutsu and weapon throwing. You will address us as sensei. Now we will take your attendance," said the teacher with brown hair and a scar on his nose bridge. Mizuki had long light blue hair and both teachers wore the standard konoha shinobi outfit with their Konoha headbands on their forehead.

"Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara…Sasuke Uchiha," as Iruka was calling out the names of those present, Naruto noticed some strange looks when Sasuke's name was called out. 'They are all looking at the Uchiha with such adoration and…lust? Oh no…I'm in a class filled with fangirls….' He heard Kurama laugh at Naruto's luck in the back of his head. Kakashi had warned Naruto that fangirls were the worst. During his time at the academy, Kakashi had a lot of fangirls. They were basically stalkers and were scary. Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a squeal. "Eee!!! Sasuke-kun is so handsome!!" squealed a blonde girl. " Get off of him, Ino-pig! You don't deserve him!" said a girl with pink hair.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered. Naruto's sweat dropped when he saw their antics. He actually felt some pity for the boy seeing him get pulled apart by the two girls. "You know them?" He asked Shikamaru. "Blonde is Ino, the other is Sakura," he said lazily before he rested his chin on his arms which were crossed on the table. Ino was a blonde girl that wore purple and the other girl was Sakura and she had pink hair and wore pink clothes.

After Iruka got the class to settle down again, he continued the attendance check. "…Naruto Uzumaki?" Naruto raised his hand to indicate that he was present and sensed that everyone's eyes were on him. He noticed that everyone was looking at him curiously, except for Sasuke. Naruto noticed that he didn't really care about anyone and was just moody.

"Who's that?" "What's with the mask?" "He looks so cool with the mask." "He looks kinda cute." Those were some things he heard among the chattering. However, he was not really paying attention to any of them as he noticed something and it caught his eye. Yugao taught Naruto that through a person's body language and face, you can tell their intentions. He saw that Mizuki was looking at him with the same eyes as the other villagers, with disdain and hate. He also saw his hand clenched into a fist. 'I see… He's another one of those who sees me as a demon.' "Maybe you could kill him, kit" Naruto could feel the anger from Kurama's voice. 'Kurama, calm down. You know I cannot do that…yet'

"All right everyone, settle down. Since we are done taking attendance, we are going straight into the lesson. Who here knows any jutsu?" Iruka said while Mizuki took a sit near the teacher's desk. Iruka did not expect anyone to raise their hands but in front of him he saw three hands in the air.

"All right, you three come down here and give us a little presentation of what you can do" Naruto, Shikamaru and Sasuke made their way down to the front of the class. "Shikamaru, you show us what you can do first." "Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered. He made his hand sign and performed his jutsu. His shadow elongated and joined with Iruka's and Iruka started to mimic his actions. He made Iruka do silly dances in front of the class and everyone was thoroughly enjoying the live entertainment. "All right enough!" Iruka demanded and Shikamaru ended his jutsu. 'First day and my dignity is already on the ropes. These kids are going to be trouble.' He sighed. Everyone stopped laughing when Shikamaru ended his jutsu. "Shikamaru, do you mind telling the class the jutsu name?" "It's called the Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) . It is my clan's signature jutsu. You guys can figure out what happens when it's used," He said lazily. After the presentation, he went back up to his seat.

"Sasuke, how about your jutsu?" Iruka asked. "Iruka-sensei, do you mind if we go outside, it's a fire jutsu." Sasuke said. Thus, the whole class left to go to one of the academy's training grounds.

At the training grounds, the class sat on the floor while Sasuke prepared his jutsu. " Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu) !" A large fireball shot out of Sasuke's mouth into the air. "Oh Kami, Sasuke-kun is so amazing!" "He looked so handsome doing it too!" Said Ino and Sakura with dreamy eyes. 'As expected from an Uchiha,' Mizuki thought. Iruka was impressed that an academy student can do an elemental jutsu. "Naruto, is your jutsu destructive?" Naruto shook his head in the negative and everyone made it back into the classroom.

Naruto could only smirk under his mask when he saw Sasuke's fireball. He had to admit it was impressive but he could sense that he is low on chakra right now. That jutsu took 70% to 75% of his chakra. 'Cool move but seems like a double-edged sword if it uses that much chakra. Seems like he could be a good rival though.' When everyone settled down in the classroom, Naruto started his presentation.

"Naruto, please show us your jutsu." Naruto saw that Mizuki was about to sit down and an idea popped in his head. 'Maybe I could have some fun with this' he smirked under his mask at the thought. Just as Mizuki was about to sit down, he used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu) with no hand signs and swapped with Mizuki. This caused Mizuki to fall on his ass as he swapped with Naruto in front of the class. The class laughed as they saw Mizuki fall on his ass.

Naruto almost laughed out loud when he saw the fury in his eyes. 'This demon brat is playing with me. How dare he!' Mizuki thought. "Was that the Kawarimi no Jutsu ?" Iruka asked with a smile on his face. Naruto nodded his head in agreement and went back to his seat. "That everyone, was a jutsu that you will all learn and in fact is a requirement to pass the academy. All right, now let's move on to proper lessons. First we are…" Naruto tuned out Iruka as he started teaching. He got why Kakashi said it would be boring. He had already been taught by Kakashi about it.

After making a fool out of Mizuki, an idea came to his mind. Naruto smiled at the thought. 'The academy might be getting interesting…'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -