AN: So, the current plan for timeline is I'm going to do a few chapters for the stay of his last year at the academy to show his current skill level and growth. This chapter takes place a month or two after the first one, just long enough for the 'break' between academy years.

Trickshot

Chapter 2

-Sakura-

"First!" Sakura crowed smugly at her rival Ino who had clearly entered the door behind her.

"Looks like that big ass forehead is blinding you 'cause I was first." Ino growled out, the blonde glaring at Sakura as they had their usual argument over who got to sit next to Sasuke.

"Liar!" Sakura butt foreheads with Ino.

"Skank!" Ino growled back.

"You're both in the way." The voice of her love and future husband Sasuke made Sakura leap back, giving her most winning smile.

"I'm so sorry Ino was in your way Sasuke-Kun." Sakura bat her eyelashes at her future man to be.

"Oh, fuck of Forehead." Ino rolled her eyes as Sakura felt her own twitch in irritation, "He was clearly annoyed at you."

"You're both-" Sasuke brushed past them before pausing and frowning "Who the hell is he?" Turning, she saw someone who wasn't in their class before. They were up in the open space at the top of the room for students to do some physical training and exercise before class if they were early. Unfortunately, she still knew who the idiot was.

"Ugh, that's just Naruto." Sakura rolled his eyes, "He's useless and has already failed the academy twice. My parents said he's also a menace and has a criminal record, to avoid him."

"If he had a record he wouldn't be at the academy." Ino scoffed before frowning, "My dad said to avoid him as well but that was mainly given how a lot of other people in the village seem to hate him. I'm pretty sure I've seen him running away from Anbu after pranks before."

"YO Ruto!" the brash and eager voice of Kiba sounded from behind her as the Inuzaka Heir brushed past her and rushed up to the blond who Sakura was just noticing had changed his hairstyle. It was no longer a shaggy mess but somewhat taken care of, shaved short on the sides while slightly longer on top and in the back.

"Sup Kiba." Naruto grinned, putting down the bow he'd been drawing and letting slack repeatedly.

"Mom wants to know if you're swinging by for dinner tonight." Kiba leaned against the wall by the blond, Akamaru's tail wagging away.

"Dog Breath." Sasuke's tone demanded attention as he approached, "You know this guy?"

"Yeah Teme." Kiba, as usual, refused to show Sasuke the respect he deserved, "He's Naruto. I guess you'll find out in a couple minutes so saying it no won't matter but most of our old Senseis are gone now. Turns out a lot of 'em were sabotaging things here which the Hokage found out after they, uh, 'overreached' while screwing with Naruto last year."

"But I'll pass this time." Naruto nodded, drawing the bow again to his cheek, Sakura noticing his arm straining slightly from the action.

"Pheh, weak." Sasuke sneered, noticing the strain too.

"Better than you can do Ducky." Naruto smirked at Sasuke, eyes flitting to her future husband's hair.

"You insolent little-!" Sasuke glared, snatching the bow and trying to draw it, barely able to pull the string back "The hell is this?!"

"It's a training bow." Naruto takes it back, showing something carved onto it "Resistance seals that let me make it harder and harder to draw as I get used to the old pull. Helps improve my arm strength." Hearing the warning bell, Sakura rushed to a seat, Ino taking the one behind her as they both tried to coax Sasuke to sit next to them.

Sasuke sat in the corner by himself.

-Tsume-

Standing outside the academy, Tsume let out a grin when she smelt her brats approaching "Bout time you lot showed up." She quipped, "Why, that bell rang a whole minute ago."

"What can I say, traffic was terrible." Naruto gave her an impish grin, sharing a fist bump with Kiba, the two having become thick as thieves since she found them in the forest and began to have Naruto come over regularly.

"I see." Tsume shook her head ruefully before leaning down to give Akamaru a scritch behind the ear "And were you looking after these two for me today Akamaru?" the puppy yipped eagerly "I'm glad to hear it." Straightening up, and blasting Killing Intent as the various parents picking up kids who were glaring at her brats, Tsume gave a gesture.

"Come on brats, it's roast boar tonight." Tsume nodded as they set off back to the house where Hana should be back by now.

"Yeeeeeees." Kiba looked pumped to get his favorite dish while Naruto just knew he needed the meat and vegetables. His protests had, thankfully, died when he started growing thanks to proper diet.

"So, how was your first day back?" Tsume asked as they continued on to the Inuzaka compound, wanting to make sure the remaining old teachers as well as the new ones hadn't tried the same shit the removed ones had.

"Boring." Kiba groaned, "It just going over all the stuff they left out from the lectures before. I'm pretty sure the Hokage was hiding there somewhere though. Whenever it looked like a teacher might be about to leave something out, they suddenly got pale, started sweating, and rapidly changed course."

"Tomorrow we're going to be taking a review quiz over what they said today and then going outside to test physical skill." Naruto added, Kiba perking up at the thought of that, her boy always more brawn than brain.

"It was funny seeing Sasuke-Teme get pissed off when he couldn't use your training bow." Kiba snickered towards Naruto, said tool strapped on the blond's back.

"Oh?" Tsume looked intrigued by that, curious at how Naruto's strength had improved since she found him.

"Yeah, I've been noticing lately that I heal really fast." Naruto frowned; expression vacant as he tried to puzzle out the reason why. "It's really helpful for training, but I have no clue why it happens."

"Dude, don't look a gift wolf in the mouth." Kiba chided his friend, "Just be glad you got to show up that self-centered prick and be happy."

"Let me see it." Tsume gestured and for the bow and, upon being passed the weapon, easily drew the string. She was a Jonin and had the strength to match that title, but the bow still took more effort than she expected. She was sure there were even some full Genin at this point who would be unable to draw it back.

"Good progress." She nodded, passing the weapon back, "But how's your aim coming?"

"I've consistently hitting the targets now." Naruto nodded proudly, "And I'm usually able to make at least one or two bullseyes per ten shots now."

"Hmmm, how about a little training incentive boys." Tsume grinned, ruffling the duo's hair as they passed the compound gate "Kiba, if you get a C or higher on three tests or quizzes in a row you pass. Naruto, if you can get up to five bullseyes out of every ten three times in a row, then you pass. Once each of you passes, I'll take you to a shop I know to get you both a piece of proper shinobi gear. Whether that's a melee weapon, a tool, or some armor." At her promise, she saw the blaze of determination in their eyes, the two boys always eager to compete even if it was against themselves or a 'challenge' set before them.

"You're on!" the duo shouted out in unison.

"That's what I like to hear!" Tsume laughed happily as they got to the house, "Now let's get inside and eat before Hana takes it all for herself."

"I heard that!" her daughter's voice carried out from the kitchen.

"I don't hear a denial!" Tsume smirked as they moved to the kitchen to eat together once again.

-Sarutobi-

Head held high, and expression neutral, Sarutobi stepped into the office for the head of the Torture and Interrogation department. The moment he stepped inside, Anko, Inoichi, and Ibiki snapped to attention.

"Report." Sarutobi commanded as he entered, gazing at the notes from the interrogations of those sabotaging his potential genin.

"It's bad sir." Ibiki scowled darkly, "The Academy head was in on this and helped push through any changes he wanted with the help of the Civilian Council Backing him. They removed any mention of the Uzumaki, moved focus to theory over practical, put more and more emphasis on clans they 'approved' of in the histories, and lowered the kunoichi only classes to 'flower crown making' and 'tea parties'. Then there's what they did to the Uzumaki kid directly. Taijutsu? Taught incorrectly. Kunai and Shuriken throwing? Taught incorrectly and poor-quality items provided. They taught him the henge wrong but from what I hear he figured that one out on his own. A substitute was there when they first went over the substitution which is why he has that. For clones they were aware that he had too much chakra to do the basic bunshin, not to mention they were refusing to teach him proper chakra control. There's a habit of marking correct answers wrong on written tests, punishing him when others act out and more. What's worse is we don't know if they did it to anyone else, we were only able to get this out of them as we knew they were sabotaging the Uzumaki kid already. It'll take years to figure out how far back the sabotage goes and start fixing things."

"Damn." Sarutobi ran a tired hand down his face, "I'll put out word to the various clans to subtly check on their members who graduated in recent years and have some of the trustworthy Chuunin offer 'tutoring' to genin and academy students. I don't want word to spread to the other villages of this situation."

"Understood Hokage-Sama!" the three saluted him in one.

"And you're sure the ones left are clean?" Sarutobi gave a serious look to the trio.

"Some of those there still hate Naruto." Inoichi admitted reluctantly "They never took part of any direct sabotage, and only taught what the Academy head ordered them to. Still, I wouldn't put it past them to try something if they get desperate enough."

"Noted. Carry on."