I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS ALL RIGHTS BELONG WITH KISHIMOTO, VIZ MEDIA, AND SHONEN JUMP. PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL RELEASE

Thank you for once again tuning in to my story. This chapter is going to be more of a side character building one. So, if you're not into that my apologies. We will continue with Naruto's training with Jiraiya in the next one. This one will be centered around the rest of the Rookie 9.

Chapter 4: Side Characters Story Pt. 1!

Last Time on Naruto: The Darkness Within,

Jiraiya has arrived in the village and spoke with the Third Hokage. He asked why he was needed and Hiruzen Sarutobi told him that Naruto is a potential threat to the village after he discovered his heritage and has no bonds in the village. Jiraiya understands the issue and offers to train Naruto. During his morning run he bumped into a Leaf Genin, who is Rock Lee. They have a discussion and a spar. Naruto is severely out matched. Rock Lee opened the some of the eight gates. The power hurts him and needs go to the hospital. After Lee is admitted, Naruto finally meets Jiraiya. They have a conversation which ends with Jiraiya promising to train the boy. Naruto is excited at the prospect of training with his father's teacher; however, he will want better answers from him about why he was missing from his life. Naruto heads to the training grounds to train for the Academy Exams. There he met another Genin named Kabuto Yakushi. Kabuto explained that Naruto would never be able to pass the exams due to his clone jutsu. He informs Naruto about Rock Lee's Afterimage technique. Naruto plans to learn that! What happens next on Naruto: The Darkness Within? Find out now!

With Sasuke

roughly around 12pm

"Hn! Hmp! Gah!" Someone was yelling while punching a tree.

"Y'know punching a tree like that isn't going to help you much, right?" A familiar voice said. The boy looked over to see the familiar sight of Naruto.

"What do you want dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"I was just finishing up my run. I was wondering if you seen a Genin with really bushy eyebrows." Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, trying to make sense of what he heard. "No. No one comes over here. It's why I train here. Why do you need him?" Sasuke curiously asked.

Naruto started scratching the back of his head and smiles. "Well, he kind of beat me bad yesterday but apparently he knows this after image technique I wanted to learn."

"H-he beat you?" Sasuke astonishingly asked.

"Yeah, with nothing but Taijutsu." Naruto said.

'Nothing but taijutsu?! Naruto is one of the strongest kids in the class and he lost. Dammit! Now I need to surpass Naruto and this bushy eyebrow genin.' "That's interesting to hear. Say Naruto, would you... would you sp-spar with me?" Sasuke asked. He hated to ask anyone of anything but even more so the blonde boy. However, he knew he needed to get Naruto to help him with that seal in the Uchiha Library.

"Did I hear you right? You, the noble last Uchiha, asking me, a no clan loser, to spar? Well, that is something. However, I have to decline your offer because I'm doing some intense training later with a really powerful shinobi." Naruto said.

"What?! What kind of powerful shinobi?" Sasuke angrily questioned. 'What strong shinobi would what to train him over me?' Sasuke had thought to himself.

"Oh, just some old geezer named Jiraiya." Naruto answered.

"You mean Jiraiya of the Sannin? He's going to train you? What for?" Sasuke asked. 'What on earth is going on right now? Why would one of the legendary three want to train him?!' Sasuke thought.

"Oh, well he just wants to make everything better between me and him, y'know? I found out who my parents were and he had connections, deep connections with them and didn't do a damn thing for me." Naruto furthered explained.

Sasuke heard how Naruto's tone changed to that of hatred. "What do you mean you found out who your parents was?" Sasuke asked perplexed.

"Yeah, I guess I lied when I said I was a clanless loser. You see my mother was Kushina Uzumaki of the Uzumaki clan. A clan that was wiped out in the Third Great War by Three Great Nations. They were feared for their Sealing prowess. So Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri wiped my clan completely out." Naruto said.

'He's from a clan so powerful that three of the five great nations wiped them out?! There's no way his clan could've been that strong!' "Wait. How come I never heard of this clan?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, Konoha has erased most of what you can find on them. I'm not sure why. I'll have to ask the Hokage about it." Naruto said.

'Why would Konoha do something like that?' "Well who was your father then?" Sasuke asked.

"Well First let me ask you this. How many people in the Leaf Village have blonde hair and blue eyes?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm, well there's that annoying blonde from our class's clan. Now that I think about it wasn't the Fourt-" Sasuke stopped speaking when Naruto smirked. "N-no way! Y-y-yo-you're the son of the Fourth Hokage!?" Sasuke asked shockingly.

"Yes." Naruto simply answered.

'This is perfect! He will get the archives of the Fourth's jutsu. With that Jutsu I'll be able to kill Him for sure!' Sasuke thought. "Wow. That's surprising." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, well I'd like to talk more but I'm going to have to meet with the goofy sage in a few hours. See ya!" Naruto said. Right before he took off Sasuke stopped him.

"WAIT!" Sasuke said.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Can... can I... can I join you?" Sasuke asked. He felt so humiliated asking the dobe to take him to the Sannin for training.

"Sure I guess." Naruto said. The two left the training grounds to Sasuke's house first.

With Hinata

roughly around 3pm

"You're improving so much Hinata." Hiashi complemented.

"I try to Father." Hinata said while bowing.

"Have you practiced everything that will be on the exam? You will need to beat the Uchiha in the rankings. The last Hyuga to beat an Uchiha in the Academy Rankings was me with Fugaku Uchiha." Hiashi said.

"O-Okay father I'll do my best." Hinata said.

The main Hyuga household has been getting better. Hinata's confidence has skyrocketed after the praise she's received from her father and the elders. She still doesn't want to beat her sister in spars though. She had told her father of this and he understood. The elders saw it as a sign of weakness however, Hiashi seen this as an act of mercy. He's compared the two girls and Hinata is above her little sister. He hated that he had to act heartless majority of the time.

"Well then our training is over for today. Why don't you go out in the village and enjoy yourself." Hiashi said with a small smile.

Hinata bowed and then left. As she left her Clan Compound she seen Sakura walking. She would've said hi but right now she was looking for Naruto to thank him for what he had done to help her. She went to Naruto's apartment and activated her Byakugan to see if he was home.

"Byakugan!" Hinata said as her veins around her eyes became more visible. "Where are you Naruto-kun?" The Hyuga princess asked aloud. She started to walk off when she heard some yelling in the distance.

"Naruto! Why did you expose him like that knowing those Kunoichis would chase use like that?!" The familiar voice of Sasuke yelled out.

"Well that pervert should stop peeping on girls!" Naruto shot back!

Hinata heard all of that and decided to catch up to Naruto.

With Sakura

roughly around 3:30pm

Sakura has been walking around the village trying to find Sasuke. She did this at least three times a week and usually found him at least one out of the three times. She's narrowed down the majority of his spots but today he's in none of them. That's when she seen a group of girls walking in her direction. And leading the pact was none other than her rival for Sasuke, Ino Yamanaka.

"Billboard brow! What are you doing?" Ino had asked.

"Well Ino-pig that depends on why you want to know." Sakura retorted.

"Well I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the bath houses because we found Naruto walking over there." Ino said.

"I didn't realize you had a thing for Naruto. Good that means I can have Sasu-" Sakura was cutoff.

"Naruto walking over to the bath houses with Sasuke." Ino said.

Sakura gasped as that's why Ino was going over there. "Oh well that's funny because I was just headed there myself." Sakura lied.

"Oh really? Then why are you walking the opposite direction of the bath houses?" Ino smugly asked.

"Shut up Ino." Sakura said with nothing left to say.

The group of girls all walked over to the bath house where Naruto and Sasuke were headed. When they get there they see no sign of either boy.

"Ino-pig. I thought you said Sasuke was here!" Sakura yelled.

"Shut it forehead! I don't know what happened. I was only gone for 10 minutes to round the girls up." Ino said.

They go inside instead of peeking in. They see a purple haired woman yelling at the register man.

"Look pal that goofy old pervert and two kids was definitely peeping at us! Hire security ninja if you have to but next time I come here and this happens I'll crush your family jewels!" The lady shouted.

"S-sorry for the inconvenience ma'am. I can reimburse you for you visit if you'd like." The clerk said. The man held out the money.

"Well I guess you live to tell your tales. I'm getting some dango now!" The purple haired woman exclaimed. She turned to see the group of girls. "Say, y'all look like you are the same age as those two brats that was here earlier. What's the blondie's name and the emo kid's name?" The lady asked.

"Why would we tell you?" Ino asked.

"Oh I don't know Yamanaka, maybe I'll tell your clan head some lies. I do work with the man." The lady said.

Ino's eyes went wide at that statement as her dad usually works in the T & I department which means this lady is definitely a ninja and a sadistic one at that. "The blonde's name is Naruto Uzumaki. And the dreamy boy is Sasuke Uchiha. Please don't tell my dad anything." Ino begged.

All the girls stared baffled on what just occurred. Ino was sweating profusely. "Well that's fine and dandy I guess. I'll go teach those pervs a lesson and maybe get that old man too!" The ninja woman yelled. She ran out to go find Naruto and & Sasuke. (More information on this in the next chapter.)

"Ino what happened? Why did you give out their names?" Sakura asked.

"She works in the T department and she works directly with my dad. She is either sadistic or crazy. Maybe both. So it's wise to let Naruto and Sasuke deal with her over their peeping." Ino had said. She hated when men would be pigs and peak on the women. However she still loved Sasuke too. Most of the girls here had the same thought as well.

The girls all nodded. "WAIT SHE'S HUNTING DOWN SASUKE! LETS GO GIRLS!" Ino shouted. The stampede of girls charged away.

With Danzo

roughly around 7pm

"Hiruzen! You cannot allow that oof you call a student to train our Jinchuriki!" Danzo said.

"Our Jinchuriki? Danzo I think you're mistaken. The son of the Fourth will be trained by the man who trained the Fourth! He will become an excellent shinobi, one who may surpass his father." Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

"I know I can train the boy better! Besides Jiraiya needs to have Kakashi around with him just in case the beast tries to break free!" Danzo stated.

"Jiraiya is more than capable of handling himself with the beast." The Third Said.

"Hiruzen! We already got two reports of the Nine Tails causing issues in the village today. One where Jiraiya, Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha were peeping on the bathhouses and another for running into a foreign merchant and his watermelon stand! You cannot allow that fool to corrupt both Naruto and Sasuke!" The bandaged ninja argued.

"Alright, I will speak to Jiraiya about his peeping while he is training Naruto. I honestly don't know why Sasuke was there but that's good if the Uchiha is trained by someone like Jiraiya." Sarutobi said.

Danzo, annoyed, walked out. 'Damn that Jiraiya for messing with my plans. However, not all is lost. I'll figure a way to get Naruto to be my pawn.' He thought as he walked back to his Root Headquarters.

"Torune, tomorrow you are to use your insect jutsu to spy on Jiraiya of the Sannin, Naruto Uzumaki and if Sasuke Uchiha is there you are to spy on him as well. You will gather information on the trio and see if Jiraiya does any idiotic nonsense to corrupt the minds of the two boys. Failure is not an option. You will spy on them until it is no longer necessary. I expected reports every other day unless something ground breaking occurs." Danzo ordered his subordinate.

"Yessir it will be accomplished." Torune said.

Alright everyone I know this was a short one but it's just a side character chapter(SCC) I often see many stories that don't include a few side character stories. Think of it as almost filler, where you don't need to read it for it to further the story much. I don't plan to make side character chapters often but it will happen when I have a long week with work and school! The next SCC probably won't be another four or five chapters. The next one will probably be on Gaara or Tsunade. Alright with that being said I'll see you next Saturday in Chapter 5!