The Journey to Be the Greatest

by TheUlitmate1

After a series of eye-opening events that happen to Naruto, he starts to take being a ninja more seriously.

7. Chapter 7: Evaluation and Dinner

I hope everyone is having a lovely day and I want you to know that I have some news for everyone

Firstly, sorry that I haven't posted a while, but I have been dealing with some stuff. I found out about a couple of weeks ago that my Aunt was diagnosed with Stage 4 Brain Cancer and only has so long left. My mom, sister, and I are going to be heading out to where she lives to spend some time with her before the inevitable happens.

That and if this wasn't obvious. Ino will be in the Harem which is a sure thing now. The Harem size will be within the 3-6 range.

Because of this, I have made this a much longer chapter than the previous 6 chapters. Thank you, everyone, for all the support this has received, and I hope that everyone has an amazing day. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 7: Evaluation and Dinner

1 WEEK LATER EVALUATION DAY

Naruto had been training nonstop for the past week with the material he had been given. He had been given his all in his calligraphy, which was needed if you wanted to learn how to create seals. You need to have pristine and near-perfect writing to create seals because one minor mess up and you were either in a black ink mess or in an explosion. He had trained for nearly 14 hours every day starting from 6 am to 8 pm with some breaks for himself. He had worked on the calligraphy himself while he sent 5 clones to learn and read Fuinjutsu Theory and his Elemental Affinities.

With the amount of stuff, he was working on he created a schedule for himself to work on certain things for certain days. His workouts went like this:

Sunday: Calligraphy Practice and Elemental Leaf Exercises

Monday: Calligraphy Practice and Elemental Leaf Exercises

Tuesday: Calligraphy Practice and Chakra Control

Wednesday: Calligraphy Practice, Physical Training, Taijutsu Kata review on Hummingbird Fist

Thursday: Learning how to make Storage Scroll, Elemental Leaf Exercises, and Reading

Friday: Evaluation Day

He also explored the rest of the compound and found a Study Room to put all his books into and he was glad to clean up the mess in his living room. He had asked the old man how big the compound property was as it was secluded enough away from everything, and he said it was the fourth largest compound just behind the Hyuga's, Nara's, and Inuzuka's. The land he was on was beautiful. Lush trees, open grass areas, as well as a large pond with a stream that runs right there on the property. He could see why the compound was placed on this part of the Leaf Village.

He had learned that for Wind training he had to cut a leaf in his chakra, for Water training it had to be done by making a leaf soaked with water, and for earth training, you needed to crumble it to dust. He had sent 10 clones for each other his elemental training. He had an easier time learning when he figured out how to make the leaves do the job. His Wind affinity is taking the longest for some reason. His progress on the leaf is about 95% of the way through the leaf. The book said it had to be a straight cut and he wouldn't stop until it was done. He often thought of two sharp knives grinding against each other to cut the leaf. He also wondered if you were able to stack leaves on top of each other to increase the potency of your Wind affinity.

For his Water and Earth training, he could soak about 90% of the Leaf and make the leaf turn to 85% dust. He would have to ask for help on finding jutsu for his affinities later but there are later stages of his Elemental training that were to increase the potency of how powerful your affinity was to be. Though as far as his training went, his Elemental Manipulation would be great in the future.

He had finally learned how to make a Storage Scroll after five attempts of black ink exploding on his body. It took him about 3 minutes to make but that time could be increased with the do time. He didn't know how but Fuinjutsu was something that felt natural and he was genuinely interested in learning it compared to other things he had learned in his life.

His team was on their way to the Hokage office for the Evaluation and he was excited and knew today was a good day because Kakashi was only about 5 minutes late which by his standards was pretty good. They had finally made their way to the tower when he saw the other teams there. Teams 8, 9, and 10 were there chatting away with each other. That was when Naruto had gotten sight of the Might Gai. Tenten was right when she said his fashion sense was horrible. Then he saw the Gai mini-me. Rock Lee. Both had eyebrows that could scare the enemy. That was when Gai zipped over to Kakashi.

"HELLOOOO, my eternal rival how are you doing on this youthful day," he said giving a nice Guy pose.

"Fine," Kakashi said hiding behind his book.

"That is just great, how about after this youthful testing, we do a competition."

"Did you say something," asked Kakashi staring at Gai.

Gai face faulted, "AARRGH, your coolness is something I never understood Kakashi."

Naruto walked over to Tenten who was hiding behind a facepalm.

"I see what you mean by fashion sense Tenten," he said looking at him and getting up off the ground.

"Yeah, I don't know why he dresses like that," she said.

That was when Lee noticed Naruto for the first time. Zipping towards him. "Hello there, my youthful friend my name is Rock Lee. I saw that you were talking to my friend Tenten," he said putting a handout for him to shake.

"Naruto Uzumaki," was all he said before being cut off by his hand being shaken very aggressively.

"Pleasure to meet you. Tell me Naruto-kun, do you think anything can be achieved with hard work?" he asked, flames showing in his eyes.

"Oh, course why wouldn't I? With enough hard work. You can be out anything you set your mind to," he said.

"Then we are one in the same Naruto. We shall be rivals and push each other to limits never seen before," he said putting an arm around him.

"Wait I didn't agree to anything," said Naruto stepping back from him. He then felt two arms on him.

"Lee quit pestering Naruto please," she said sighing.

"I am sorry Tenten. I meant no offense, for my punishment I will run 40 laps around the village," he said with vigor in his eyes.

"Your team is a bit…interesting like you said," Naruto said as Lee was doing pushups.

"Yeah, I got used to it so…"

"Hey, Naruto," he heard a familiar voice. He saw Ino coming over to him smiling.

"Oh, hey Ino, what's up."

"Oh, nothing much. Remember that you are having dinner with us tonight," said Ino happily.

"Yeah, yeah I remember," said Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, who is this," asked Tenten.

"Tenten this is my friend Ino Yamanaka; Ino this is my friend Tenten Higurashi an upcoming weapons expert," he said as they looked at each other before shaking hands.

"Pleasure to meet you," said Tenten with a smile.

"Same for you," said Ino.

"Alright everyone please come with me to the Hokage office," said a Jonin with a senbon in his mouth.

Teams 7, 8, 9, and 10 walked into the office to see various Jonin and the Hokage in the middle of them all.

"Welcome everyone. This is something that we like to call Genin Evaluation Day. Every six months different ranks are tested to see how much they have improved, and progressed, and to see where you all stand. As you can see there are different Jonin around the room to see how you do in different jutsu areas. We have Genma Shinarui and Hayate Gekko here will record your weapons throwing. We have Kurenai Yuhi who will test you on Genjutsu. Asuma Sarutobi will be testing Elemental Manipulation if you have done any of that training. Anko Mitarashi will be testing your Chakra Control abilities. Might Guy and Kakashi Hatake be testing you in Taijutsu. Kotestu and Izumo will be testing your Ninjutsu here. Aoba, the Jonin in the shades will be doing an IQ test for everyone. Finally, I will be testing anyone learning the Fuinjutsu art," he said looking at Naruto at the last part.

"There are plenty of ninja arts to choose from and start in. Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Weapon throwing, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, poisons, herbs, and even the rare Bojutsu are just a few examples. The reason I bring this up is to have you all know that you can choose any arts to learn from to improve yourself."

"The whole point of these exams is to do your best so try not to sweat it. The thing I did not tell anyone is if any of you do well. We will be handing out rewards or incentives to anyone who went to those designated areas and did well or surprised them. You will be handed out those awards after I look over the reports to see how you did and I will determine what is handed to you so make sure to do the best you can. You all will have to take the tests where you have learned the skills from. For example, if you are testing taijutsu, ninjutsu, and your IQ then that is all you must test yourself on. Once you are done with the tests you are done for the day. So let us get started. Everyone, please go and take your IQ test first then you will move on to the areas you would like to go to," said Hiruzen as he gestured towards Aoba.

After 90 minutes everyone was done with the IQ test, and they could move on. Naruto saw that Taijutsu had Lee, Neji he assumed, Kiba, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Ninjutsu had Hinata. Genjutsu had Ino and Shino. So, he went to the most logical place with other people, Weapon throwing. Tenten was standing there expectingly waiting for him to come over. He smiled, wanting to make a big deal out of it.

"Oh man, I sure don't want to do weapons throwing, there is no way I want to do with that Tenten girl," he said chuckling. Tenten was crossing her arms scowling lightly tapping her foot.

"Come on Tenten, you know that I'm kidding," he said walking over.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said hitting him. This resulted in Naruto overreacting to the pain. "Ouch, please stop this abuse. Is there anyone to help me from this girl," he said with anime tears falling down his face. Genma and Hayate chuckled at the display.

"Alright, you two come on and let's get this over with. My name is Genma, and this is Hayate. You don't have to call us Sensei or anything like that. Not yet anyway," he said going to a training room specialized for the two of them. They made it to the room for of targets where Hayate spoke, "*cough*cough*, already. Each of you will be given *cough* 20 kunai and 20 shurikens to throw at stationary targets. Then it will be followed by the same thing *cough* but with moving targets. Understand." Both Genin nodded.

"Good. Naruto come with me, Tenten go with Hayate over there." Both Genin went their separate ways and Naruto went to a different side of the room with kunai and shuriken laid out.

"Just throw them at the targets when you are ready and then we will move on to the moving targets." Naruto nodded and grabbed the kunai ready to aim.

"You got this kid," said Kurama who was now watching.

"Thanks, Kurama," he thought.

Naruto started to hit the targets one by one. He was nailing all of them so far with speed and accuracy. He reached the final kunai and shuriken hit the target in the air with a clunk. He had gotten 20 for 20 for each.

"Excellent job kid, 20 for 20 on both is pretty damn good. Keep it up. Alright, you stay there, and I'll get the kunai, then we will set up the moving targets. Naruto stood there as Genma summoned Shadow Clones to get the kunai.

"Kid, you should test out your eyesight now. I've been waiting for this," he said a little bit excitedly.

"Sure," was all he said as he started to put chakra into his eyes.

Genma was standing next to him again, "Alright kid, get your kunai and shuriken ready and I will pull this lever and the targets will come down from the ceiling. On your mark," he said.

Naruto opened his eyes, and they were now slitted bright blue eyes, "Go," was all he said and Genma pulled the lever.

The targets started to fall and something Naruto noticed was they were moving a lot slower than he thought they were going. Naruto started to the kunai and shuriken hitting the targets. He missed a couple but was still hitting them well. When he was done, he stopped channeling chakra to his eyes and stared at Genma.

"Damn, good throwing kid. You got 19 for 20 on kunai and 18 for 20 on shuriken. That should be all for you unless you have anything else." Naruto shook his head no and Genma nodded, "I would honestly recommend you learn how to throw and use senbon. You are precise on throwing and in all honesty; I think you would be good."

Naruto looked at him, "I'll think about it."

"Good. Well, Naruto, I think that your friend is going to be here a while as she is a weapons user. You can leave and go take other tests while she does this."

"Alright. Thanks for testing me," he said exiting.

"That was some of the power kid. The enhanced eyesight allows you to increase your reaction time. Thus, allowing you to see the targets slowly."

"Nice. I just hope I did well," he thought opening the Hokage door.

"Kid you did pretty good all things considered. That Tenten girl and the Uchiha will likely be the only ones to do better," he said stretching.

Naruto was back in the office being the only Genin in there. His options were either with this Anko lady, Asuma-sensei, or the old man. He decided to go with the lady since he didn't know her and needed to do all of these tests anyway.

"What's up brat," said Anko smirking.

"Not much, but my name is Naruto, and not brat," he said glaringly.

"Nope, still calling you brat, you brat," she said smirking more.

"Alright, come on what are we doing for these tests," he said annoyed.

She laughed and gestured towards the window, "We need to go outside for this test," she said grabbing him by the color and jumping out the window with Naruto screaming for help.

"Uh, Dad. Was it a good idea to have those two together," asked Asuma.

"Maybe, maybe not. But it will be good for the both of them," he said leaning on the desk.

OUTSIDE

"You know, you can warn me if you are jumping out a goddamn window crazy lady," yelled Naruto.

Anko just chuckled, "No, I don't think I will. That and don't call me crazy if you know what's good for you," she said in a sickly-sweet smile.

"Ooooooookkkkkkay then," he said just staring at her skeptically.

"Well, my name is the sexy and single Anko Mitarashi. You may call me by my first name and nothing else. I don't do any of that formal shit, so no Anko-sensei, Anko-san." Naruto just nodded and waited for her to speak again trying to not look at her provocative clothing.

"Alright so the plan is to show me the chakra control exercises you can do," she said pulling out a dango and notepad from her tan trench coat jacket.

She watched with interest as Naruto ran over to a few trees getting some leaves and coming back. He took off his headband and placed a leaf on his head. Anko thought this was a good time to tease him.

"Brat that is an academy exercise. Don't tell me that is all you can do." Naruto grunted in annoyance. "Not even close Anko-ssssaaaannnn," he said to annoy her back. It worked as she glared at him. Naruto placed all the leaves on his fingers as he just stared at her. She was a little more surprised that he did the next stage of Leaf Sticking Exercise and wrote it down. He then started to spin the leaves at a high-speed surprising her more. He remembered her sensei Orochimaru doing this with her when she was a little girl learning about chakra control. The Leaf Spinning Exercise required concentration and focus to not blow up the leaf.

"Impressed yet Anko," he said puffing out his chest mocking her in his way.

"Not even close brat," she said chewing on some dango.

"Then how about this," he said shoving the leaves in his pockets and walking up the tree.

Anko was quite suprised now as he didn't need to get a running start to run up the tree. Naruto then went onto a branch where he was now upside down and started to take out the leaves. Anko just stared at him as the 10 leaves were back on his fingers again with the one on his forehead as well. Anko was inwardly satisfied that a Genin was able to do this. She knew that you could combine the two exercises to get more out of it but didn't expect this brat to do it at such a young age. That was when he started to spin the leaves; her eyes widened at that. Naruto was just standing there upset down on the branch spinning all eleven leaves on his body. He did this for another 30 seconds before jumping down and landing gracefully on the ground.

"How was that Anko?" he asked, giving a foxy smile with his eyes closed. He felt his cheek get cut and when he opened his eyes Anko was right behind him. She bent down and licked his bleeding cheek.

"You know, it takes a lot for me to be impressed and I must say that what you did was awesome. For a Genin that is. It is quite impressive to combine the exercise for more of an effect." Naruto couldn't help but stiffen at the mixture of emotions he was feeling.

She let go of him and started to walk to the door back inside, "I'll have to keep an eye on you brat. You are interesting," said with a devilish smirk. A red blush was on his face when he caught up to her to go and take the next test. He made it back inside to see Guy and Kakashi were back along with Kotetsu and Izumo and were waiting to see where the others would go. Sasuke went to the Elemental Manipulation area with a smug look on his face.

He passed Naruto while remarking, "Looks like I will be the only one going to this section, dobe."

"No, I'll have to go there later 'cause I'm doing Taijutsu right now teme," he said going over to Kakashi and Guy's section.

"There is no way you know Elemental Jutsu dobe," he said sneering.

"You're right, I don't yet because I have been learning the leaf exercises, so I'll just have to show him that," he said before going over to Kakashi and Guy's waiting section.

Sasuke huffed and went with Asuma. Naruto stood there waiting for them to go to the next room when Ino and Hinata walked over.

"Hi, Ino. Hi Hinata. How are the tests for you guys,"

"Pretty good, I doubt that I will be at the top though," said Ino waving her hand.

"Um…I think...I…I am doing well, Naruto-kun," said a quiet Hinata with a blush on her face.

"Hey, Hinata, are you feeling ok, your face is pretty red right now," he said starting to walk over to her. She hid behind Ino who was shaking her head.

"She is fine Naruto, she is just a bit nervous for the exams," she said patting her on the shoulder.

"Oh ok, her clan is good at taijutsu anyway so she shouldn't have to worry about anything," he said seeing Kakashi and Guy coming back from their break.

"Alright my youthful students follow us to the training room down the hall to begin this youthful exercise," he said running to the next room.

Kakashi sighed gesturing to follow them. They made it to the room with Guy bouncing on his heels. Kakashi remarked something to Guy, "Guy, could you please not scare them with your "overwhelming youthfulness" as you call it," as he put it into air quotes. Guy calmed down but was still excited.

"Alright, my youthful friends. The plan for this test is for us to test and gauge your Taijutsu in power, speed, agility, and other factors. My eternal rival here will be fighting you all in the Academy style, the Tiger Fist, while I will be sparring with you if you have any other Taijutsu styles you have learned. How about we have our female blonde go first," he said while Kakashi was already in the stance ready to right.

"Good luck, Ino," said Naruto with Hinata right next to him.

Ino nodded and got into position. The fight started with Kakashi swinging, with Ino deflecting. Naruto looked towards Guy who was watching intently. "Guy-sensei."

"Yes, my youthful friend," he asked looking at him.

"Sometimes I forget you all have to really hold back in how much power you use on us," he said looking at Ino get kicked across the room.

"That is true, Naruto-kun. If you are worried about the spars, then you have nothing to fear. I know strength when I see it. I hope you know another Taijutsu style so that we can spar," he said giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Guy-sensei."

Kakashi then put a hand up, "I think that is enough. Firstly, Ino you are tired, secondly, you need to improve on your physical strength. Some of the punches I barely felt. Thirdly, your stances have some slight openings but that is why we are here, so that we can improve. Overall decent job," he said with an eye smile.

Ino gasping for air walked over to Naruto leaning on him for support. "Well, that's one thing I need to work on," she said looking at Hinata.

"You're up Hinata," she nodded meekly walking over to Kakashi. She got into the Tiger Fist and readied herself.

"You go this Hinata, we believe in you," said a smiling Naruto.

Hinata blushed slightly and got slightly more serious about her crush giving her confidence. When the spar started, Ino started to talk to Naruto, "Hey Naruto. Do you think you can help me with some things in my training," she asked looking away from him.

"Yeah sure, what would you need help with?" he asked, giving her his full attention.

"Well, we can talk about that later when we go back to the compound. Say what other Taijutsu style do you know? I saw you use it on the bridge a while ago."

"It is called the Hummingbird Fist. It relies on overstimulating the opponent with a mix of speed, power, you know a little bit of everything," he said with Guy listening intently. He hadn't heard from the Hummingbird Fist since Lord 4th used it back in the day. He would have fun sparring with him. Hinata was only slightly panting when Kakashi held up a hand.

"Hinata, you did well. You have a slight opening on your left side but as far as everything goes. I expected nothing else from someone from the Hyuga clan. You should be proud. Just make sure to be more aggressive," he said.

"Good job Hinata," said Naruto as he walked up to get ready to fight. Hinata smiled and blushed going back to Ino. Proud to have her crush compliment her.

"I hope you have been working on the basics Naruto," said Kakashi lowering himself down.

"Oh, I have sensei. Just wait," he said smirking.

"Your other senses should kick in here kid," said Kurama.

"Got it," thought Naruto.

Naruto was waiting for Kakashi to make the first move, so he didn't go in like the last this happened for the bell test. Kakashi then moved towards him with his leg cocked back. Naruto ducked under it thrusting forward his fist being caught by Kakashi. He then heard a quick gust of air from below his feet and dodged the leg sweep Kakashi sent his way. Naruto rolled back regaining his footing, looking at him. Kakashi was a little surprised that he reacted that quickly. Maybe he was taking what he said to heart and did work on the basics.

Naruto then charged in at fast speeds throwing a punch at Kakashi's gut and pushing him back slightly. Guy was a little surprised. Only Lee, Hinata, and Neji were able to push Kakashi a little bit but that was natural as they were born and bred Taijutsu fighters. Guy started to stare intensely at Naruto to see what he would do next.

"Wow. Naruto is pretty fast and strong," said Ino.

Hinata nodded agreeing with her, "Yes, Naruto-kun has always had that strength and speed. He just hasn't had the chance to show it." Ino nodded, "Yeah, I am glad that Naruto showed me what I was doing wrong and following Sasuke. Better now than never though," she said watching Naruto aiming a kick at Kakashi's side.

After a few more minutes of fighting, Kakashi held up his hand to Naruto who wasn't even tired. Naruto and Kakashi just stared at each other before he said,

"Naruto…great job," he said with an eye smile.

"I am glad that you have considered what I said in relearning the basics and in essentially mastering the Tiger Fist. You have improved drastically, and you should be glad about that. Maybe I can even help you out depending on how well you do during this examination," he said rubbing his neck from the unexpected pain. Naruto gave the biggest smile he had ever done. Hearing something from Kakashi-sensei made him feel amazing.

"Excellent job my youthful companions. Now other than Hinata who I know has the Gentle Fist, do either of you two have a taijutsu style," he asked pointing at the two blondes. Ino shook her head no while Naruto raised his hand saying, "I have. It's called the Hummingbird Fist," he said with Kakashi's eyes widened. He didn't think Naruto knew another Taijutsu style, let only his sensei's Taijutsu style he created. He was still rubbing his neck wondering why the hell it felt like it was burning. It was starting to get annoying.

"Guy I am going to go to the bathroom real quick," he said heading to the door.

"Sounds good my rival," he said giving him a thumbs up. Kakashi left the room leaving the Genin with Guy.

"Alright my youthful Hyuga, let us get started," he said getting into his own Taijutsu style. Hinata was about to go to the middle when Naruto grabbed her hand. Hinata blushed at the contact and stared at Naruto.

"Listen, Hinata, I know that you are nervous about not doing well but you need to forget about that. I know that you will do well because I believe that you will do great in this spar," he said still staring at her. She looked away blushing. He didn't have to do this for her even if she was being shy about it.

"Hinata, the first step to being successful is believing in oneself. But more importantly, I believe in you. So go out there and give it your all," he said giving a foxy smile. Hinata's blush never wavered and smiled before going out to give it her all, a newfound determination in her. Naruto stood beside Ino who was looking at him.

"What were you doing?" she asked him.

"I was giving her confidence, she seems to not be confident in herself, so I said I believed in her and then got all red again for some reason," he said scratching his cheek. Ino wasn't sure what she was feeling but Naruto talking to all these girls didn't sit well with her. First the chick with the buns and now the Hyuga heiress, she didn't want them to be around Naruto. She would have to think about this feeling later.

IN THE BATHROOM

Kakashi was in the bathroom looking where the burning was on his neck to see nothing there. He started to rub it with water, and it helped but it felt like something was messing with his head. He just wanted to help his students now that he thought they were up to par in most areas. Maybe it was something to do with stress. He pulled out his book to try and forget about the pain.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and got into her fighting stance charging at Guy. Guy already had the advantage. Firstly, he had been practicing with Neji for the past year, but he didn't expect whatever Naruto said to her to affect her this much. Secondly, he knew how to reopen his Tenketsu points by surging his chakra through them to force them open. Guy sidestepped Hinata swinging his foot down on her only for it to be knocked away by a palm strike. Hinata unleashed some blows from the Gentle Fist hitting some of his Tenketsu points and numbing parts of his arm. Guy flared his chakra to his arm reopening the points and swinging his palm strikes towards her. They were dodged at first but landed a few to her side. Hinata threw a few more palm strikes at Guy that contacted his leg. He backed up pulsing his chakra into his leg. Hinata didn't let up as she kept trying to hit more Tenketsu points. She was a bit confused because he was able to open the points she had already sealed. She got a hit on his arm before said arm swung at her hitting her side. Hinata jumped back and was slightly tired, so Guy decided to end this here and now. He gathered himself swinging his leg once again, "Leaf Hurricane!" he yelled as a gust of wind pulsed towards her. She couldn't dodge as she crossed her arms in an X over her body taking the blow. Hitting the wall in the process. She slowly got up when Guy helped her.

"Simple put. That was remarkable Hinata-chan. Your Gentle Fist is something that very few can use effectively, and you did amazing. You were able to hit me a few times with quick and precise movement from your finger strikes, and palm strikes that you closed some of my Tenketsu points," he said showing her the small dots on his arms from her attacks. "Keep improving and you shall be a better Taijutsu user than you already are right now," he said giving her a good guy pose.

Hinata nodded blushing at the praise. She then bowed and thanked him for the spar going back to Naruto and Ino. Naruto smiled and said, "You did great like I said you would. I told you that you had nothing to worry about," he said. Hinata blushed more now nodding at what he said.

"Naruto-kun it is now time for your youthful spar," he said gesturing to go over to the fighting area. Naruto looked at the two girls who wished him luck and went to fight Guy. Naruto got the fighting area and shook out his muscles, loosening himself up before the fight. He lowered himself down getting into the Hummingbird Fist stance. Guy awaited the first move when he didn't see Naruto anymore. He looked behind to see Naruto swinging his leg at his head. He knew this was a Taijutsu-only spar, so this was just pure speed he was using. Guy quickly maneuvered out of the way dodging the kick. Naruto landed back down swinging his fist at Guy's face. Guy caught his fist smiling at Naruto.

"Such speed and so young. Makes me wonder how he would do against Lee or Neji," he thought.

He started to swing his fist when Naruto broke free of the grip Guy had on him and swung a palm strike to the chest making a direct hit to Guy's sternum. Guy almost lost balance but steadied himself.

"Let's see how fast you can go Naruto-kun," he thought crouching down.

Guy vanished from his eyesight and Naruto felt the hairs on his neck stand up. Reflexes kicking in, Naruto leaned back to see Guy's fist swinging where his head once was with a surprised look on Naruto's face. Naruto then adjusted his body to perform a leg sweep on Guy who jumped over it. Guy brought down his leg on Naruto, who caught it firmly. Naruto was smiling while Guy was staring seriously.

"He has the strength and speed to compliment this taijutsu style and I dare say he is doing well against me right now," he thought.

He pushed himself off Naruto while he was staring at him, who wasn't out of breath yet. He decided to use the same move as he did on Hinata. He propelled himself to spin rapidly at Naruto. "Leaf Hurricane," he yelled once more. The great gust of wind was barreling towards Naruto who was now out of sight. Guy spun around to block a punch from Naruto once again.

"He must be fast to be able to dodge my Leaf Hurricane Technique. Impressive."

Naruto stared at where Might Guy once stood as he disappeared. Guy now had Naruto in a headlock. Naruto struggled to get out of it as Guy tightened his grip, starting to choke him out. Naruto conceded and tapped on Guy's shoulder letting him go. Guy started to chuckle.

"My my Naruto-kun. That fight was most youthful, you did an incredible job. You managed to surpass my expectations with your speed and the strength you had in those punches. You indeed will be a good Taijutsu fighter in the future. Remember though Hinata may not have been as fast as you but her precising is something that she made up for. Keep improving and soon you will be able to challenge my students Lee and Neji."

Naruto sighed, "Was I close to beating you then." Naruto looked to see Guy was laughing to himself. "Oh, you weren't even close. You did pretty well though as I had to ramp up the speed and strength. But there is a reason why I am an Elite Jonin ninja, so don't sell yourself short. Now let us go back to the Office to take more tests," he said pointing at the door. Ino made it alongside Naruto who was in awe.

"Awesome Naruto. You were zooming all around and were able to push him. You have improved a lot," she said looking at him.

"Yeah, I have improved the past couple of months. Makes me wonder what it will be like in a couple more months," he said pondering. "Guy-sensei wasn't wrong though. Hinata was better at Taijutsu than me but that was because her clan specializes in it. So, yeah good job Hinata," he said looking at her. She twiddled with her thumbs not looking at him but silently acknowledged she did well.

"Kid you did good," said Kurama tiredly.

"Hey Kurama, how was I able to have a sixth sense of when he was going to hit me? It felt like I was able to feel him coming at me, but it wasn't because I could sense his chakra."

"That is because that is part of the power. Call it Fighting Sense if you will. You don't need chakra to sense it but you will sense it if it is within the needed range."

"Nice," was all Naruto thought.

Soon they made it back to the office to see many of the others were back. Tenten had just finished her weapons throwing and that is where everyone else went. Tenten decided to join Ino and Naruto over with the Ninjutsu section. Hinata waved goodbye as she had to go to the Genjutsu section because she had to the Ninjutsu test.

"Holy crap Tenten took you long enough to do the weapons throwing," Naruto said teasingly.

"I don't want to hear it Naruto. I have so many weapons it isn't funny so be quiet," she grumbled.

"Alright you three, let us go get some Ninjutsu done outside. I think that we are going to need it," said Izumo.

After teleporting them to a nearby training ground. Nothing too exciting happened. Tenten performed the academy three moderately quickly, but because of her focus on weapons, she did have too much in Ninjutsu. Ino did the academy there as well, but she used the Mind Transfer Jutsu which was used on Izumo who wrote on the notepad 'Ino was awesome' with a chibi Ino on the side.

When it came to Naruto, he surprised everyone by using Henge and Substitution Jutsu with no hand seals. Not to mention he could Substitute with something from 75 feet away. Then Izumo went over to Kotetsu and whispered something in his ear. Who then whispered in Naruto's ear.

"Guys you can't be serious," he said blushing slightly.

"Oh, come on. It would be funny," said Izumo chuckling perversely.

"I am not doing that jutsu so here. Especially when there are girls around here," said Naruto gesturing to the two of them.

"What is the jutsu anyway Naruto, it can't be that bad," said Ino.

"Yeah, now I want to see," remarked Tenten.

"No. I am not doing that with them here," he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ok fine you spoiled sport, I will teleport them back so that you can do it, but you still have to do it because it is a ninjutsu Naruto," said Kotetsu.

"Fine," he said uncrossing his arms.

"Anyway, there was a request from the Hokage asking you to make as many Shadow Clones as possible to see if you can make more than what you made a couple of months ago," said Izumo.

Naruto nodded forming the ram sign. "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled out. Naruto's filled the training ground to the brim. Tenten and Ino were in shock at how many there were. Izumo and Kotetsu knew he could make a lot of them, but this was a bit excessive. Izumo started to count them along with Kotetsu. It took about 8 minutes, but they stopped counting to talk about it.

"I got about 1500. How many did you count?" asked Kotetsu.

"The same thing," said Izumo turning to Naruto. "You can dispel them now kid. We counted about 1500 of them. That is a lot. More than anyway can make anyway."

Ino and Tenten fell to the ground. "1500?!" They both shouted in unison. "Naruto, that's so many.' Some of the Jonin probably couldn't even get to like 50 or even 100," yelled Tenten.

"I did say I have a lot of chakra and that is one of the traits of being an Uzumaki, ya know," he said scratching the back of his head and looking sheepish.

"But still that is so much," said Ino waving her hands around frantically. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, and it was Kotetsu.

"Listen, Naruto must perform a jutsu that he can't do in front of you both. Understand," he Kotetsu trying to hide his blush. Tenten and Ino looked at him in confusion and annoyance. Why couldn't they see this jutsu? They didn't have enough time to think as they were teleported back to the office. Kotetsu teleported back to the field. They sighed knowing they would have to ask him later.

Kotetsu and Izumo waited intently for the ultimate ninjutsu of Naruto's creation. Naruto was just staring at them and sighed.

"Alright let's get this over it," he said forming the ram seal.

"Sexy Jutsu." Naruto then puffed into a cloud of smoke. Izumo and Kotetsu then saw a girl with whisker marks, and her blonde hair was done into two pigtails. Clouds wrapped around her naked form and Izumo and Kotetsu were about to pass out.

Naruto turned into Naruko and said, "Hello boooooys." As soon as the words left his mouth. A nosebleed sent Izumo and Kotetsu flying backward from nosebleeds and tumbling several times with perverted smiles on their faces.

Naruto changed back shaking his head, "Guys come on. I didn't take you for perverts," he said knowing he now had some blackmail for them both. Izumo wrote down some notes wiping the blood from his nose.

"Sorry Naruto, but all jutsu that you know must been done," he said teleporting him back to the office.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Izumo," Naruto said waving his hand.

Naruto looked around and he only had two sections left. Most of everyone else was done as they didn't have that many tests left. The old man was out of the office and was probably testing Tenten, so he had to do the Elemental Manipulation training. He walked over to Asuma who cleaned his nails with his trench knives.

He looked up and saw Naruto, "About time kid. Dad said how you have been practicing on your Elemental Leaf Exercises." Naruto nodded and Asuma took out 3 leaves.

"He said you had three of them and because you don't know any elemental jutsu yet, we can just do it in here. As to which three is something he did not tell me." Some of the other Jonin looked on in interest seeing as Genin was learning Elemental Exercises. Naruto placed the first leaf into the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes thinking of two blades sharpening onto each other. In the room, you heard a rip from Naruto's hand. When he opened his hands, you saw a clean cut into the leaf. Naruto gave a foxy grin as he now had completed the first stage of the Wind Exercises.

"Huh. That is why he didn't tell me. He wanted me to see firsthand you were a wind user like me," he said writing it down on a notepad.

Naruto grabbed the next leaf, attempting to soak it. After about a few seconds the leaf that was in the palms of his hands was soaked all the way through. He showed Asuma which didn't surprise him. Naruto was an unpredictable ninja, but he predicted that because he was an Uzumaki, he would likely have a Water affinity. He then moved on to the final leaf which would be used for his Earth affinity. He concentrated on making the leaf turn to dust. After about 10 seconds, he opened his hand to see that the very tip of the leaf was still green.

"Dammit. I was so close to getting that exercise down," he said grumbling.

Asuma wrote down some information on his notepad and patted his head, "You did great kid. Learning all of that from Shadow Clones is no easy feat. So be proud of the fact you were able to learn all of this within the time of five or six days."

Naruto nodded and smiled, "Yeah, I just need a little bit more training, I guess."

"I find it kind of ingenious for you to use Shadow Clones to help you with this training. You can amp up the progress from what you learn," Asuma said leaning on the wall.

"Yeah, it'll help me learn stuff I find interesting in the long run," he said.

"Naruto. I wanted to let you know that if you need help in your wind training just come to me and I can get you pointed in the right direction," he said sitting back up.

"Sounds good Asuma-sensei," he said giving a thumbs up. Lord 3rd walked back into the room where he saw Naruto talking to his son and smiled. Naruto has progressed far in just a couple of months, and he couldn't wait to see where he would stand in the next few years.

"Naruto-kun are you ready for your final test," asked Hiruzen. He nodded and Hiruzen gestured to follow him. Naruto opened the door to see that Ino was in the waiting area waiting for him to finish up his tests. They opened the door across the hall to a blank room with some ink and paper.

"So, tell me Naruto-kun. What have you learned in Fuinjutsu this past week?"

"I've learned about different types of seals and how you need to practice your Calligraphy constantly because one minor mess up and you either get black ink all over you or you get exploded," he said remembering his previous failures earlier that week.

Hiruzen chuckled, "Well you are just starting so I don't expect you to be perfect. Do pray to tell what you have done with seals. Have you learned to make any?" he asked in curiosity.

"Yep, it's something simple but it is a storage scroll. I'll show you," he said grabbing ink and a scroll. He sat on the ground and started the process of the seal for the storage scroll. Hiruzen was impressed with Naruto's progression. He assumed he would take Fuinjutsu like moths to a flame because of his parent's knowledge of seals and he assumed right. After a few minutes, Naruto made a storage seal without mess-ups, and he was satisfied with his work. Hiruzen grabbed the scroll and examined it. He nodded with his approval and tested it by sealing his Hokage hat into the scroll and it worked just fine. He then unsealed the hat, placing it on his head smiling.

"Well, Naruto-kun. Making a storage scroll is the first step into Fuinjutsu, so technically, you are a Level 1 Fuinjutsu Beginner. I'll have to fill that out on your record as well as the other information." Naruto smiled and stood up putting the sealing supplies back.

"Well, looks like I am done for the day. How about you, old man?" asked Naruto opening the door to the hallway.

"I have a meeting to talk about all the results about you 12 Genin to see how all of you did. Then I have some paperwork to use and then I can go home and rest these old bones. Maybe visit my grandson Konohamaru," he said with a finger to his chin.

"How is Konohamaru anyway?" he asked curiously. It has been a long time since he has talked to him.

Hiruzen chuckled, "Well, since you taught him that Sexy Jutsu of yours he has been giving Ebisu a hard time."

"That's good but there is something I wanted to tell you," Hiruzen saw the look and asked, "What is wrong Naruto-kun?"

"I am surprised you don't use Shadow Clones to speed up the paperwork," remarked Naruto.

Hiruzen just stood there. His mind was blank. He was flabbergasted that he was a 68-year-old man, The God of Shinobi, The Professor, and a kid just gave him the solution to beating paperwork.

Hiruzen bent down and hugged the boy tightly. "You are a genius Naruto-kun. Thank you so much. I will now have more free time to do stuff that I want," he said letting him go.

"Well, I am awesome, so it was only natural that I was the one to come up with the idea," he said flexing his arms. Hiruzen chuckled and shooed him away. "Alright, have fun at your dinner at the Yamanaka's," he waved as he walked down to his office.

Naruto walked down the hallway to see Ino reading a magazine. She looked up and saw Naruto and smiled, "About time you finished," she said putting down the magazine.

"My fault. I had to take a lot of different tests," he said as he walked to the door.

Naruto had Ino lead the way as he had no clue where to go from there. They got outside the Hokage Tower and made their way to the Yamanaka compound.

"Wait, what tests didn't you take?" asked Ino.

"Genjutsu," he said looking a bit sheepish. "I need better control and I don't have any knowledge to break out of any Genjutsu at all."

"Well, you've improved a lot since the academy so I wouldn't sweat about Genjutsu right now anyway," she said waving her hand. There was a comfortable silence for the next few minutes, but she looked around to see people sending death glares at Naruto. She looked at her fellow blonde and noticed he didn't seem to notice the glares. He either was ignoring them or he was oblivious to what was happening around him. She was going to go with the precious choice.

"Dang Naruto what the heck did you do to all these people? They look like they want to pulverize you," she said.

Naruto hid the look of nervousness and said to her with a confusing-sounding voice, "I'm not too sure why. I think I might've pulled a prank on them back in the day and they are still holding a grudge or something," he said shrugging his shoulders.

Ino looked at him curiously and tried to see if he was lying or not, "Naruto, there is no way that they would hold a grudge for something like that at all. Especially for that long if it was a few years ago."

"Well, I don't know Ino. I have no clue why they are looking at me like that," he said gesturing to a few people walking by them. Ino just locked eyes with him but didn't see any lie in them and dropped it.

"Fine, I'll leave it be Naruto. Besides we are here," she said pointing to the clan compound entrance.

"Thank goodness. I thought she was never going to leave me alone," he thought wiping his forehead.

"Kid. As much as I hate to say it. They will find out eventually," said Kurama.

"I know that. I'm just scared that everyone I know will look at me the way the other villagers do," he replied to him.

"Yeah, I know but still. There will come a time when they find out and you will have to explain to them. They will either accept who you are or not. The good news is that they will be more likely to be understanding because they grew up with you but don't worry about this right now. Focus on dinner and all that," said Kurama lying down on an open field of grass.

Naruto mentally nodded and followed Ino up to the entrance. He looked down the street and saw that this was all owned by the Yamanaka. He looked to see a few tea shops, clothing stores, and then the Yamanaka Flower Shop, where Ino works.

Ino let the way to the gate to talk to the guards, "Guys this is Naruto. He is having dinner with us tonight, so he is good to come in," she said hands on her hips.

The two guards looked at each other and nodded. "Enjoy the meal kid. Lady Kana always makes a great meal," said the one on the left. Naruto smiled and nodded, "Thank you." Ino and Naruto entered the compound, and he was baffled at the sheer beauty and size of the place. Entering the compound, he was welcomed by the sight of an amazing garden with a fountain in the middle. Flowers of all kinds laced the buildings. Tall, small, long, flowering, colorful, and even dazzling different designs of flowers were everywhere. Small and large houses were scattered throughout the area. He looked to see children, adults and the elderly were all smiling at laughing having a great time. He noticed that not everyone was blonde but not every clan member was going to have the same hair color.

"Say Ino, I thought all Yamanaka had blonde hair," he said still marveling at the place.

"Most of us do. I'd say about 85% of all Yamanaka do but the ones that don't were likely married into the clan. One of them was my mother. She has dirty blonde hair," she said pulling him to their house.

"I won't lie Ino. This place is amazing," he said.

"I can tell you think it is amazing. I am pulling you to our house because you are still looking," she said continuing the trek to the house, grunting from the exertion.

"Alright, we are here," she said stopping. Naruto wasn't surprised that this was the largest house in the compound area. He could also tell the flowers and gardens were a staple if you were a Yamanaka. He stepped into the house to be greeted by a woman humming a tune in the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm home and Naruto is here," she said cupping her hands around her mouth. A woman then stepped out of the kitchen drying her hands. She was tall for a woman standing around 5'9 with her hair done in the same style as Ino's, just with dirty blonde hair.

"So, you are the famous Naruto, Ino-chan has talked about so much," she said bending down to his level.

"Ino talks about me?" he asked a little surprised.

Ino, who was a little bit embarrassed looked away slightly. "Well duh, I kind of had to because I had to explain what happened to me on the mission."

"Oh, I guess that makes since," said Naruto.

"Well, Naruto-kun. My name is Kana. I hope that you will enjoy your stay while you are here. It will be a while until Inojin-kun and Inoichi-kun come home. Inojin-kun is working in T&I and Inoichi-kun has a meeting with the other clan heads about something," she said switching her gaze to Ino.

"Thanks, Mom. Come on Naruto, I got to show you around," she said excitedly.

"Hold on a second you. Naruto-kun could you give me your shirt to wash? You have some black splotches on it," she said pointing to his shirt.

Naruto looked down to indeed see he had a bit of a mess on his shirt from making the sealing scroll earlier and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh, you don't have to do that Lady Kana."

"I insist, now come with me and give me your shirt," she said walking to another room. Naruto sighed, taking off his shirt and leaving his fishnet shirt underneath. He handed it to Kana who threw it into the washer and still had her hand out. "Your other shirt as well." Naruto complied and handed her the shirt. Kana looked at Naruto who was slightly embarrassed being shirtless in front of her. Ino was right Naruto did look skinny for his age and that was probably why he was short. When Ino told her how skinny he was she didn't believe her but seeing it firsthand was a completely different story. She handed him a shirt and he quickly put it on and thanked her for the clothing. Ino dragged him off to explore their house and the flower shop. Kana went to the kitchen to have a very filling meal for the lot of them. The least she could do for Naruto saving her baby girl was to make him a filling meal.

THE COUNCIL ROOM

The Council Room. A place where important, semi-important, and completely useless meetings happened. This meeting, however, was important as it pertained to the future shinobi who would like to be in the upper ranks in the next few years. Around the council room table, today sat The Shinobi Clan Heads, The Elders, as well as the Hokage to discuss what transpired between the tests taken today. Surrounding the walls were the Elite Jonin and Jonin who took the tests for the Genin. Many were grateful that this did not involve the Civilian Council as they would bring up useless info or present useless topics.

You have Tsume Inuzuka, a feral-looking woman with her dog Kuromaru sitting next to her, the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan. Inoichi Yamanaka head of the Yamanaka clan. Unkai Kurama the now head of the Kurama Clan. He originally was a part of the branch family but because of his brother's death, he was put into the position of clan head until their daughter Yakumo Kurama could take over. Shibi Aburame head of the Aburame clan and a very quiet, intelligent man. Shikaku Nara, leader of the Nara Clan, is another intelligent shinobi with his hair done in the same style as Shikamaru. Chouza Akimichi a very fat…*cough*…I mean a very burly man who is the clan head for the Akimichi. Finally, Hiashi Hyuga is a stoic and calm man who is the leader of the current largest clan in the Leaf Village, the Hyuga. The three elders were at the other end of the table across from the Hokage. Danzo Shimura, Kohura Utatane, and Homura Mitokado or Hiruzen past teammates.

There were three empty chairs as of now, as one was meant for the Senju and Uchiha. One of which was not old enough and the other one was out of the village. The Sarutobi clan didn't have a chair as Hiruzen was the Clan Head as well as the Hokage. Hiruzen knew he would also have to have to at a spot for the Uzumaki eventually but that would cross paths later. Hiruzen arose from his seat when Iruka came in with all the results.

"Thank you everyone for taking time out of your day to come to this meeting. We are here today to talk about the Genin Evaluation Exams. Iruka Umino will be passing around the results of the tests each Genin had. It is written in an in-depth summary of what happened in the tests and the progress of our Genin. That and as we know the Chunin Exams are within the next month or two depending on how Kazekage and I handle it. That is the other reason we have Genin Evaluations at this time so that we can see if they are ready for them in time." He took a deep breath as Iruka dished out all of the results to the figures around the table as well as the Jonin standing around the table and the Hokage.

Many of them started to sift through the results with some ready about their children first before anything. It was about a few minutes before they heard a chuckle from Guy.

"Well, it doesn't surprise me from the youth my students have as Lee-kun and Neji-kun place 1st and 2nd in Taijutsu," he said smiling brightly.

Hiashi smiled slightly, "It appears Hinata-chan is third in Taijutsu." He was a little worried as the child to the clan head needed to be strong, but he didn't need to worry about that. He might have been hard on her but it is needed for her to be strong.

"God dammit Kiba. 7th in Taijutsu," growled Tsume. She would have to train him more later.

"Hiruzen, I do have a question," asked Danzo eyeing him.

Hiruzen had to hide a curse when he saw his old teammate, "Yes Danzo?"

"Since when did our Jinchuriki start to learn about the Art of Sealing?" he asked curiously.

"His name is Naruto, Danzo. You would do well to remember that. Besides it is written in there that he started last week," hoping for a raise out of the war hawk.

"One week and he is already Level 1. Interesting," he said to himself more than anyone.

Hiruzen didn't like that. He hated to have Danzo around and knew that he should have killed him years ago, but he had useful information, and he didn't have enough evidence against him right this moment. Otherwise, his head would be on the chopping block.

"He isn't wrong," said Shibi looking at Naruto's results. "One week and he has progressed that much is impressive, to say the least," he said quietly so no one would hear him.

"It appears the ones with the best chakra control are Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, and Hinata Hyuga," said Unkai. "They could make great medics or Genjutsu users."

"That is a possibility, but that seems to be the only thing that Haruno has going for her," said Tsume.

Chouza chuckled, "You are lucky that her mom isn't up here otherwise she would have your head."

"Who gives a damn what her mother thinks. Based on her test she has intelligence and chakra control. She needs to step it up or she will get killed at one point," she said looking over more papers.

"Well aside from that, it appears that the Uchiha has a lot of availability in terms of learning ability," said Koharu.

"Yes, it appears that he possesses quite a few Fire jutsu. He has Fireball Jutsu, Great Fireball Jutsu, and Pheonix Flower Jutsu. Damn Kakashi, what the hell have you been teaching him?" asked Anko a bit surprised.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head looking like Naruto, "Well he unlocked his Sharingan a little while ago and he asked for some help on refining and learning that jutsu."

"You should focus more on Sakura Haruno," said Kurenai. "We do not have a kunoichi with fangirl tendencies representing the village when she is on missions," she said eyeing him. She then turned to Asuma and asked the much-needed question.

"What about Ino? Does she still have her fangirlish mind?" asked Kurenai.

"She has gotten rid of that mindset because of what happened in our previous mission. I'm sure everyone here has read that," stated Asuma calmly. Many of the shinobi nodded at that. Most were pissed someone would do that, but others had other opinions.

Homura cleared his throat before speaking, "Even if what the Uchiha did was wrong. We require Shinobi now more than ever. On top of that, we need the Uchiha so we can have more Sharingan-wielding shinobi in the future."

Danzo nodded, "I agree with that."

"What a surprise," said Inoichi trying not to lose his cool.

"Alright moving on. Now that we have glanced over or looked at the information provided to us we should talk about the ninja more specifically. We shall go in alphabetical order starting with Shino Aburame."

"I think that he will make a fine shinobi, but he should be more social. No offense Shibi but Aburame are not exactly talkative," said Chouza.

"He is trying Chouza-san. It is hard to talk to others when you are outcasted by the rest for being considered weird, as others put it," responded Shibi calmly.

Inoichi responded, "Though the kid is decent in every category. Fast hand seals for the academy three, Aburame Clan jutsu, as well as a decent IQ and head on his shoulders. I think that he will be all right. He will likely be the first Chunin from this group."

Many of the others agreed. They shifted to Chouji next. Chouza sighed slightly, "I know that Chouji's faults are obvious. He is gentle by nature but when he is serious, he can do some serious damage. I am in the middle of trying to tell him that being nice and being mean is like a switch that you turn on and off. He has gotten more serious like Asuma has said over the mission in Wave."

Unkai nodded, "Akimichi are very powerful. I believe that Akimichi are the most underutilized ninja that the leaf villages have potential. I believe that with time he will be one of the strongest ninjas physically."

"That is a pretty big compliment coming from you, old geezer," chuckled Tsume.

Unkai grumbled, "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Hiruzen nodded, "Agreed. Chouji will likely be a powerhouse in the future. I would imagine that he will surpass Chouza but that won't be for a long while. His IQ is average but that can change with learning. Ok, next we have Sakura Haruno. I understand that some of you think she needs to improve and yes that is true. But who else has something to say about Ms. Haruno."

Anko sighed, "The fact of the matter is she scored almost last or was in last in every category except in her IQ test. She placed 3rd in that but IQ will only get you so far. I mean that Nara kid has more abilities than she does. Taijutsu was last, ninjutsu was last, and Genjutsu was 4th but that was because she was one of 4 people who did it. Kakashi has a lot for her to improve upon and it will take some time, but she can be turned around," said Anko crossing her arms.

"Agreed. You need to start focusing on your team Kakashi," said Shibi staring at him.

Kakashi put his hands in front of his chest in a placating manner. "Now, now. Every Genin team that has ever existed has its flaws, qualities, and quirks that make the team shine in their way, but I realized that my team of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno are going to start to be trained in more specific areas or even in," he said rubbing his neck again. Danzo was eyeing him carefully. He would have to see what he says about his future weapon.

Hiruzen nodded and looked through his papers. "That is good Kakashi. Now how about this future weapons user? Tenten Higurashi."

"She is a fine kunoichi. She works he butt off every single day alongside us," said Guy with a good guy pose.

"*cough*cough*…Lord Hokage, if I may."

"Of course Hayate, you are free to speak. We are merely sharing our thoughts of this young ninja."

"Tenten Higurashi is an excellent weapons expert. *cough* She did not even miss a target a single target on the weapons-throwing portion. She even used senbon, bow & arrow, and sealing scrolls containing throwable weapons."

Many nodded in acknowledgment. "That is how a kunoichi should act. Not like most of them that come out of the academy now," stated Tsume petting Kuromaru.

Kakashi stepped forward, "Her Taijutsu was decent as well. Though, that is because of her being on Guy's team."

Genma stepped into the conversation as well, "The thing that seems to be a flaw with her though is that she does not seem to have a short-ranged weapon aside from the kunai, senbon, and shuriken. She should learn more about short-ranged weapons and not long-ranged weapons as that can be bad if that option is taken away from them," he said.

Inoichi looked confused, "Wait she doesn't know anything about swords or anything along those lines," he looked turning to Guy.

"Well my youthful friend, she does. It's just she doesn't use them as much as her long-distance weapons," he said.

"Oh I see," said Inoichi.

"Do any of you think she is Chunin material?" asked a curious Hokage.

Many shook their heads no. Guy thought about it for a moment before speaking. "As much as I know how much she has improved this past year or so. I do not think she is Chunin material yet. I do not think that Lee-kun or Neji-kun are not ready either." Many were shocked that even after a year he thought they were not ready to be Chunin yet. Then again many never became Chunin in their careers.

"Alright then. Next up are the two Hyuga, Hinata and Neji. What do we think of them?" asked Hiruzen.

"We Neji is a prodigy but that Hinata doesn't seem to have too much going for her," said Koharu.

Hiashi eyed her carefully before sitting up and speaking. "I will admit that Neji is a ways ahead of her but the fact that she placed 3rd in Taijutsu right behind Neji negates what you are saying," he said calmly.

"How the heck did she even place there anyway?" asked Unkai.

"Well Naruto Uzumaki was in the room waiting for his Taijutsu spar when he said some words of encouragement to her and I dare say she left quite a mark," Guy said showing them some of the damage she left behind. Many were shocked that the shy and quiet Hyuga could do this much damage to him.

"As the conductor of the spar. Her overall speed was slow but her precision and speed in her attacks was amazing," said Guy.

"What do you mean overall speed and speed in attacks?" asked Chouza.

"Well overall speed is running, jumping, and other movements towards the enemy. However; speed in attacks is how quickly you can hit the opponent you are facing. I am saying she was faster in her attacks than she was when she was running towards me," said Guy.

"Ah I see," said Chouza.

"So Naruto-san was able to persuade her to do better. I'm not too surprised," said Shibi quietly.

Inoichi glanced over at Shikaku who was ready the files carefully. Something he didn't expect him to do as it was too troublesome. "Hey, Shikaku. Are you going to talk at all or is it too troublesome," he asked quietly.

"I am holding my tongue because we seem to have glanced over someone who has real potential," said Shikaku still analyzing the pages he had.

"Who is it?" he asked curiously.

"Someone you know," he said smirking. Inoichi sighed and went back to the conversation.

Hiashi was becoming more and more angry at the fact many seemed to be doubting her daughter. He was pleased that Naruto said something to help her in the spar but many seemed to doubt the potential she had as a Taijutsu fighter.

Hiashi cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone in the room, "The fact of the matter is Hinata has a lot of potential as a fighter in the Gentle Fist. The downside she has is she is quiet and is afraid to show her true self in front of others. Yes, Neji is spades ahead of her but the fact that she placed Third after Rock Lee in 1st and Neji in 2nd shows she has what it takes to be a great fighter," he said with a stoic face.

Homura looked at Hiashi in slight irritation. "The point we were making is that the shinobi world is no place for quiet and shy ninjas. Besides, Neji has more potential than she does and can be a very formattable shinobi."

Hiashi showing slight irritation as well said back to him, "If I am not mistaken ninjas need to be quiet if they are to have stealth," he said smirking. Homura growled at that response but was stopped by Hiruzen's glare. "Alright, enough of this, and let us move on."

"Next we have Kiba Inuzuka," said Hiruzen.

"It appears he is decent in a least every category he tried in," said Shibi.

Tsume eyed him carefully, "What do you mean?"

Shibi pushed up his glasses before inhaling, "You see, Kiba-san is someone who has the potential to be exceptional but he is currently average in every category. Taijutsu was 7th, Ninjutsu was 7th, Weapons throwing was 8th, and Chakra Control was also 7th based on his chakra levels. So in conclusion, Kiba is about as average as you can get."

Tsume glared at him, "He isn't average Shibi."

"According to these scores they say otherwise," said Kurenai a little upset Kiba didn't higher.

"What have you trained your team in anyway Kurenai?" asked Tsume wondering why her son was only average after extensive training.

"Tree climbing, weapons throwing, speed and physical training, a little bit of Genjutsu for a while. I am starting to think it isn't lack of ability, but it is more the brash attitude he has because it isn't because of the lack of training as we do that every day," said Kurenai.

"I wonder where he gets that from," said a chuckling Chouza. Tsume grunted crossing her arms. Hiruzen chuckled slightly, "It isn't Kiba is a bad shinobi or an average shinobi Tsume. You just have to break him of his brash and hard-headed attitude and he will be fine."

Tsume just nodded and nailed that away from later. "Looks like we are continuing to my youthful Lee-kun," said an enthusiastic Guy. Many sighed at his attitude but had grown accustomed to it long ago.

Inoichi looked at the reports of Lee in front of him, "The thing about Rock Lee is that he is a very special case. He is unable to use chakra from hand seals because his chakra coils are too small to expel anything. He is only able to use Taijutsu as well as some weapon throwing."

"Lee-kun is very determined and hard-working. He does every that is asked of me and I mean this very seriously. His Taijutsu skill is around High Chunin, maybe Low Jonin," causing some unrest among the clan heads.

"I am not doubting your skill as a Sesnsei, Guy but are you so sure that Lee is that high in the spectrum for Taijutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"Indeed, my rival," said Guy with a firm nod.

"This doesn't make sense. He can do the Tree Walking Exercise but is unable to use chakra. Can someone please explain this to me?" asked Unkai.

Guy cleared his throat before speaking, "Well Lord Unkai, Lee-kun is unable to use and expel chakra through ninjutsu like this," he said forming a Shadow Clone before it dispelled. "However, that does not mean he is unable to channel the chakra needed to do chakra control exercises. He will also likely be able to Water Walk in the future," he said. Unkai nodded in understanding.

"I still can't believe that you do not think that Lee or Neji aren't ready to be Chunin with that kind of strength," said Homura.

"With all due respect Homura-san, it isn't the strength or power that makes someone Chunin, it is the maturity, the mind, and the knowledge that makes someone a Chunin." Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "Agreed, while I personally think that Lee and Neji are strong they are not ready to be Chunin yet."

Everyone glanced over to Shikaku who knew his son was next and sighed, "Shikamaru is someone that is…different more or less," said Shikaku. "He is incredibly smart, I'll give him that. With an IQ around the 200 range, he will be a formattable shinobi in the future. What is troublesome is with a mind like that he will likely be a Chunin come the time when the nominations happen. At least he is starting to train a little bit more than usual, even if it is just a small amount of training."

Surprisingly Danzo spoke up, "I agree with the assessment that Shikaku has said. He is someone who will likely be a Chunin." Many nodded at this as Nara was likely to be someone who became Chunin before anyone else. Even if they were lazy bastards, their brains compensated for the lack of everything else.

Koharu smiled, "Now we are onto the Uchiha."

Homaru nodded happily, "I think that the Uchiha is well-rounded enough. Most Uchiha before the massacre were well-rounded shinobi. He placed 5th in Taijutsu, 1st in Ninjutsu, 1st in weapons throwing, and 4th in chakra control. As I said he is well diversified and as long as he doesn't have any more incidents."

"Could you guys suck him off anymore," said Tsume exasperatedly. Both of them grew tick marks on their heads and started to grow angry. "It is not that we are "sucking him off" as you put it, we just are acknowledging him as a shinobi as the power he has to be one."

Inoichi growing annoyed with the elders decided to put in his two sense. "Listen, I understand that Sasuke is and will likely be a powerful shinobi. But, the fact of the matter is can we not treat him as if he is some sort of prodigy."

"How do you mean, Inoichi-san?" asked Danzo curiously.

"The point is that the only reason he is called the "Uchiha Prodigy" to begin with is because he is the only goddamn Uchiha in the village. You could do that with any clan if they were the last one left. I will admit Sasuke does have some potential but if you were to compare him to Itachi, or hell, even my son. He is nowhere near the capability to others."

Even if they verbally didn't show it, many agreed with this statement. Nearly everyone in the village fed the ego of the Uchiha to the point where he expected anything handed to him or even would do anything to get it himself. He even has the Civilian Council in the back of his pockets.

Danzo kept his composure before replying, "Quite the bold claim Inoichi-san. Especially when your son Inojin is considered a prodigy himself. It doesn't sound any different to me."

"That is different. The Uchiha has one member left loyal to the village while the Yamanaka has a little over 200 members. There is a BIG difference when you have someone from the same clan to compare them to."

The Hokage let a bit of killing intent into the air silencing the men, "All right let us settle down and continue. While I do think Sasuke is a decent shinobi who will excel in Ninjutsu, Elemental Ninjutsu, and possibly Genjutsu, it is the attitude aspect that worries me."

Danzo spoke to reply to Hiruzen, "Well I could take him under my wing to teach him…"

"No. Horrible idea," said Hiruzen immediately.

"Give me one reason why," asked Danzo slightly irritated.

"We do not need another Itachi." Danzo was about to open his mouth to speak but he was right. He kept it shut knowing he had nothing to say to help him.

"Troublesome. To be honest, this kid could be a liability more than an asset in the future if he falls down the path of revenge he so seeks from killing his brother," said Shikaku adjusting himself in his seat.

"Kakashi, you are the brat's sensei. Tell us how he is," asked Tsume.

Kakashi sighed and started to speak, "Sasuke Uchiha is a very promising ninja. With himself unlocking the Sharingan, he will be able to copy jutsu with his eyes activated. Quite frankly, it makes it easier on me so he can just learn at the drop of a dime." Everyone sweatdropped knowing that Kakashi would find anything to make his work as lazy and easy as possible.

"I mean about the attitude he has," said Tsume.

"Oh, we I haven't noticed anything. The only time he shows this is when he gets jealous of Naruto over something small. I will let anyone know of changes in his attitude though." he said waving his hand lazily.

"Speaking of Naruto. We are now on Naruto Uzumaki," said Hiruzen slightly smiling, wondering how this conversation would go.

"Wasn't the kid at the bottom of the barrel in terms of class level in everything back at the academy," asked Unkai.

"Yes, but he has improved greatly since then. Why? I do not know," said Shibi.

"We underestimated him," said Shikaku.

"How so Shikaku-san?" asked Homura.

"Well, if you were to look at his scores. Chouza could you please tell me where Naruto Uzumaki place in all of them?" he asked.

Chouza responded for him. "4th in Taijutsu, 2nd in Ninjutsu, he knows Elemental Manipulation, he is a Level 1 Fuinjutsu Beginner. 3rd in Weapons Throwing, nothing in Genjutsu, Chakra Control was 5th, and his IQ is…What the Hell?! 140! That makes him 2nd in IQ."

Everyone started to grab the papers on Naruto. As it was, Naruto was second in IQ. Everyone put the pieces together and realized this kid was something to look out for.

"Wait I do not understand. If his IQ was in the 90s before how could it increase so much?" asked Inoichi.

Hiruzen sighed, "It didn't. Cat!" he said. Right next to him was an Anbu kneeling next to him.

"Retrieve me Naruto Uzumaki's latest IQ test from his files," he said. The Anbu nodded and in less than 10 seconds later, she was back holding it in front of him. He laid it flat on the table and stared at it. Looking at the paper in this light showed him that some of the answers were purposely erased and replaced with wrong answers. He felt stupid as he had never seen it in the Hokage office before.

"Well, it appears his scores were tampered with. This was taken two years ago. Meaning that Naruto would have an IQ of 120 at that time. If the answers were left alone," he said rubbing his temples. He was getting too old for this.

"Then why did he act so…ignorant to begin with?" asked Chouza.

It was Shibi's turn to speak, "Why? He probably used it as a defensive mechanism. People are more afraid of someone smart than someone who is unintelligent. My clan would know," said Shibi.

"That is quite a big gap though for intelligence. Shikamaru has an IQ in the 200s, Naruto has one in the 140s, and Haruno has one in the upper 130s at the moment," said Koharu.

"Troublesome, anyway back to what I was saying. Based on this information, Naruto is likely the most well-rounded out of these right in front of Sasuke."

"Third in weapons throwing for someone without an ocular Dojutsu is quite impressive," said Hiashi.

"Agreed but we should asked the instructors how he did and then we evaluated him," said Unkai.

The instructors that had Naruto broke down everything he did. From Gemna to Anko, to Guy to Asuma. Everyone talked about what he did and accomplished for his tests. Many were surprised at the immense growth he had achieved. Kakashi was happy for Naruto, he could start training him.

"The thing I find most interesting is that Uzumaki-san has three elemental affinities. I think most of us at this table had two if I am correct," said Hiashi.

"Or they are either somewhat common or not common at all. Like I said, he is being underestimated, though I would like to know what he has done these past two months to progress so much," said Shikaku.

"I should let all of you know that he is using the Shadow Clone method for training to accelerate the progress," said Hiruzen.

"That's kinda genius, to be honest, Especially with all that chakra he has" said Asuma.

Danzo stood from his seat surprising most around the table. "It is clear that Naruto Uzumaki is going to be the best here in the far future. If he can use the clones effectively then I do not understand why you do not let me train him."

Hiruzen rubbed his temples again before standing up as well, "Danzo for the final time you are not training Naruto. We do not need another mindless drone trained from the organization you used to run. I agree he will be a great ninja but if we were to have another Itachi who is to say he would leave the village? A ninja who has good and kind emotions will be way less likely to leave than a ninja whose emotions have been erased. Look at Orochimaru and Itachi." Danzo sat down and grunted. Hiruzen satisfied.

"Are you saying Naruto would leave the village," asked Shikaku.

"No. It's just if you get rid of the emotions of someone they are more likely to have those thoughts. I already provided two good examples," he said thinking about his past student. "Anyway moving on, do we think that Naruto is Chunin material in the future?"

Hiruzen looked to see 5 nods of approval, the most yet with the rest saying no. Those saying yes were Shikaku, himself, Chouza, Inoichi, and Asuma.

"I won't lie, I would have to see it firsthand to judge it myself," said Tsume with many others agreeing with her.

"Alright let us finish this up so we can be down with this. What do we think of Ino Yamanaka?"

"Well, if what Asuma-san said was true then she will be fine. If she continues to improve, we will have someone like Inoichi-san on our hands," said Shibi.

"She needs to work in the area of chakra reserves and strength but other than that she is hard-headed and quick on her feet," said Inoichi proudly.

"As her sensei, I think she will be a remarkable konuichi in the future but she will not likely be Chunin material anytime soon. I started her in some physical training to get her going in that area. I'll probably teach her Water Walking soon along with the other two," said Asuma.

No one else said anything which indicated that it was Hiruzens turn to speak. "Well thank you all for coming to see the results of the Genin and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day. I will come up with the rewards for the Genin for all of their hard work. Dismissed." With that, many Body Flickered out of the office or walked out the door leaving Hiruzen in his thoughts.

"I should keep an eye out on Naruto-kun. Danzo has a look in his eye again and I saw that with Shisui and Itachi. I'll have to monitor Naruto-kun through my crystal ball now and then," he thought smiling happily making 5 shadow clones and heading home early for the first time in years.

YAMANAKA COMPOUND

"I still find that crazy though," said Naruto.

"What?" asked Ino.

"How big this place is. I mean it is enormous and smells like flowers everywhere."

Ino laughed, "Well duh, it is a compound Naruto."

"Ino time for dinner," yelled Kana.

"COMING!" she replied grabbing Naruto's hand and pulling him down the stairs.

Kana saw Ino smiling with a daze and dizzy Naruto. "Alright, you two wash your hands I think Inojin-kun and your father with be here any minute now," she said taking her apron off. Naruto looked at the food happily. "This smells amazing Lady Kana." Kana smiled and patted his head, "Oh please don't call me by such a formal title. You may call me Kana."

"Alright, Kana-san."

That was when the door opened to reveal a slightly tired Inoichi with a smaller version of himself behind him.

(Just a reminder that Inojin looks the same as he does in Boruto without the pale skin.)

Inojin was fairly tall. He knew that Inoichi was around 6'2" and he was standing at 5'8". He had a slimmer build compared to most but his eyes showed exhaustion. He had a blue long-sleeve shirt with a gray battle vest and a gray trench coat somewhat similar to his father's. He also wore black Anbu pants and black sandals.

"Honey, we are home," said a smiling Inoichi.

"Good. We were all going to leave you two nothing," she said getting a plate. "Now come on Ino-chan, Naruto-kun. You may get your food, the other two need to change."

Naruto nodded and got behind Ino. As Ino was getting some teriyaki chicken, Naruto looked to see Inojin slightly glaring at him. He shifted slightly under the gaze he was receiving. He then left leaving a confused Naruto. Inoichi said his family didn't hate him for the fox but this was a different feeling. That wasn't a glare he would get from the villagers but something different. It couldn't put his finger on it.

Naruto grabbed some of everything from teriyaki chicken, rice, and strawberries; his plate was full of everything offered. He was happy because he had never had a meal like this. The three of them set their plates down when Inojin and Inoichi came down. Inoichi walked over and kissed Kana on the lips, "This meal looks amazing honey."

"Save some of that until later, we have a meal to eat," she said winking. Ino covered her eyes, trying not to see this display of affection. Naruto looked the other way with Inojin getting some food on his plate slightly blushing. Everyone had their food on the table and they started to dig in. Inoichi looked over to Naruto and asked him, "So how was your day Naruto?"

"It was fine Inoichi-san, lots of fun, dominated the competition," he said flexing his muscles. Ino shook her head smiling. "Yeah, Dad you should have seen the amount of Shadow Clones Naruto made, just take a guess."

"Shadow Clones?" asked Inojin curiously.

"Yeah, Inojin, but just guess."

Kana chuckled, "At least one."

"Mom stop it. Be serious please," she said pouting.

"He is a Genin, the fact is making a Shadow Clone means he has a lot of chakra but probably not a lot," said Inojin eating some chicken.

"He made 1500," said Inoichi looking at his son. Inojin choked on his food with Kana gasping.

"My god, that's more than anyone has made in a long time," said Kana shocked.

"I know it was an entire field of Naruto's. It was awesome," said Ino.

"You know, it is amazing that a dead last can progress so quickly," said Inojin looking at Naruto.

Naruto swallowed his food and stared hard at Inojin, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You were and probably still are dead last, the stuff that you do now won't help you. Just because you saved Ino doesn't mean anything to me. For all I know you could just be trying to use us you OWW…" he yelped. Kana had kicked him on the foot.

"Listen here Inojin Yamanaka. You should be grateful that Naruto-kun saved her life. If it wasn't for him she would be six feet under right now," she retorted.

"Whatever. He is just going to use us like the rest of everyone who isn't part of the clan does."

"Inojin that is enough. Now, if we can have a nice and peaceful dinner. How was your day? Son?" He asked making it clear in his tone that if he tried anything else he would be punished.

Inojin looked at his meal, "It was alright, Ibiki-sensei was as hard as usual. I did perfect my Water jutsu and I am going to be learning a Lighting jutsu as I finally finished the Lightning Leaf Exercise," he said smiling lightly at the progress he was doing.

Kana clapped happily, "Oh that is wonderful, you will be a Jonin in no time. That is only in a few months or so after all."

"No way you have a Water affinity too," Naruto said excitedly. Inojin looked at him weirdly.

"How do you know your affinity?" he said a little surprised.

"He has three of them Inojin. He has Wind, Water, and Earth affinities. What is funny Naruto is I have a Water affinity as well. That passed onto Inojin-kun here and it will likely pass onto Ino-chan," Inoichi said gesturing to each of them.

"So, Naruto, what do you train and what are your skills," asked Inojin trying to figure him out.

"Well I have been training in a Taijutsu Style called the Hummingbird Fist. I don't know any Genjutsu, but my chakra control has improved drastically, I know a few ninjutsu and I plan on learning the elemental ninjutsu. Pretty good at weapons throwing, that and I am officially a Level 1 Fuinjutsu Beginner as of Today," he said smiling.

"Interesting," was all he said going back to eating.

Naruto looked a bit sheepishly at that. He wanted to be nice to the guy but he was making it hard, awkward, and weird. He still did not know why he didn't like him.

"Yeah I need to start working on everything at the moment," said Ino.

"You'll be fine Ino. It is better to fix what you are doing wrong now than to never fix it," Naruto said looking at her.

"There is truth in those words," said Kana.

"I'll even help you like you said," said Naruto.

"That would be nice. I didn't think that my little Ino-chan would be asking for help," said Kana pinching her cheek.

"Stop it, Mom," she said embarrassed.

"I am going to go into the library. Thank you for the food Mom," said Inojin getting up and placing his dish in the sink, walking away.

Kana turned to Naruto and sighed, "Listen, Naruto-kun I am sorry about Inojin-kun. He has trust issues if it isn't that 3 of us or anyone he doesn't personally know," said Kana sadly.

"Why is that?" he asked curiously.

"Because he was friends with Itachi Uchiha before the incident," said Inoichi.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, Itachi may have been ahead of him but that didn't change the fact he was friends with him. Best of friends. The day he found out he did that to the Uchiha clan, he shut himself out to nearly everyone minus myself, Kana-hime, Ino-hime, and a few people in the T&I department. It also didn't help when he killed one of his other friends a boy by the name of Shisui Uchiha," said Inoichi wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"That's….crazy. Did he kill this Shisui guy then?" he said looking in the direction where he went.

"That was a rumor, but everyone has been saying it for so long that no one knows if it is true or not true and the only one who knows is the Hokage but you don't want to go and ask him because it is an S-class secret. Punishable by death," he said quietly.

"It is hard for him to connect with people, but when he does you have a friend for life," said Ino.

"Then I guess I will have to try to make him trust me," he said smiling his foxy smile. The others smiled and nodded at his proclamation. They enjoyed their dinner in silence with Naruto thanking them for the company they gave him.

Ino had run to her room to clean up and Kana decided to bend down to Naruto's level. She grabbed his shoulders and gave him and tight hug. Naruto complied and hugged her back.

"Naruto-kun, thank you for saving my little daughter. It means the world to me. I have seen too many die before and I don't need to see anymore," she said rubbing his back.

Naruto wouldn't lie this felt amazing and he wanted to savor this feeling as long as he could. After a few seconds, he replied to her. "It was no problem. I'm sure that anyone else would have done the same thing."

Inoichi leaning on the countertop spoke up, "Naruto, a lot of ninjas wouldn't do that. What you did is something that very few would have done, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

"Like I said it was no problem but I should probably get going. I don't want to be a bother more than I have to be," he said going towards the exit. He was stopped by Inoichi.

"You are not a bother kid. Besides she has to say goodbye to you." As if on cue, Ino ran back downstairs to see Naruto there.

"Guess you probably have to get going huh? Well let me walk you to the gate," she said going to the door.

"Thank you Kana-san, Inoichi-san. Your food was amazing. I hope we can do this again sometime," he said practically being dragged out by Ino.

"He is a good kid. Better than most even with his upbringing," said Kana. All Inoichi did was nod his head and he and his wife retreated to the kitchen.

OUTSIDE

"Thanks for coming to dinner Naruto. It was fun having you over," she said smiling.

"Oh yeah, it was no problem," with his hands interlocked behind his head.

Ino stopped him by the gate, holding her hand up and she started to speak. "Listen Naruto, I want to thank you," she said a bit more quietly.

"But, you just did," he said confused.

She sighed, "Yes, I did but I want to thank you…for, well…saving my life. I never did it properly," she said shyly.

"Yeah, it's fine. You don't have to thank me, Ino-chan," he said looking at her. She then went up to him looking at him in the eyes and hugged him tightly. Naruto wrapped his arms around her and smiled lightly. Ino was right when she said hugs felt good. Neither of the two realized that Naruto added the chan suffix to his name. They let go, and Ino waved goodbye as he left through the gate. Soon enough Naruto left her sight, and she went back to the house. Inojin shook his head closing the blinds. He sat back down on his desk looking at a picture of himself, Itachi, and Shisui when they first entered the academy. He never understood why he didn't destroy the picture, but it was a good memory before things turned to shit. He then glanced at a photo of his family and smiled. He wouldn't stop until he was strong enough to strong enough to protect his family and to make sure they were safe from Itachi and his grasp. He would become a Jonin, then an Elite Jonin. He just needs to master his second affinity so he can take the Jonin test.

KAKASHI'S APARTMENT

"There we go. Training regimes for the three of them. Now I need to…" *CHOP*. Kakashi fell limp to the ground and stood behind him as a Root member. "Now what Lord Danzo?" he asked.

"Firstly I need to amplify the pain on the seal. Orochimaru's seal isn't as strong as I would like it to be on him. His will is strong but I need to make sure he sticks to what I want," he said forming handseals and placing a seal over the current one.

"Permission to speak Lord Danzo," asked the Root member.

"Granted," he said getting up and walking over to the three scrolls he had out.

"What about the people he has already made friends with? Uzumaki-san has made friends with Team 10 and Team 9, he might even make friends with Team 8. What should we do about that if we are to make it seem like he has no one so he will turn to you?" he asked cautiously.

Danzo looked at Kakashi before burning the scrolls he held in his hands aside from the Uchiha's. He pulled out another scroll writing down what he thought would seem reasonable for group training so no one would catch on.

"I have several backup plans in case that happens. One is to outright capture him and fake his death, but we will use that as a last resort. As for his friends and acquaintances that he has made. We will have to work around that. You also need to remember that he is 12 years old and his mind can be manipulated more easily than others," he said looking at what he wrote.

Water Walking

Weapons Throwing

Sparring

"Looks good, Lord Danzo," the Root member affirmed, observing Danzo's meticulous notes.

Danzo nodded, satisfied. "Yes. His mind is still malleable. We will ensure his loyalty by isolating him from any significant bonds and reinforcing his dependency on us even if we don't say who we are to him. If we handle this correctly, he will have no one to turn to but us."

"Understood, Lord Danzo. What are the next steps?"

"First, increase surveillance on Uzumaki and his interactions. I want detailed reports on his activities, conversations, and any training sessions he has with other teams."

The Root member bowed, his face expressionless. "It will be done. What about Kakashi Hatake?"

Danzo glanced at the unconscious form of Kakashi. "He will be a valuable asset. We reinforced the control seal on him and we will be fine."

The Root member nodded, proceeding to apply additional seals to Kakashi. "And Orochimaru's involvement?"

"Orochimaru has his agenda. While his seal serves a purpose, our interests must remain paramount. We will use his methods but enhance them to ensure absolute control over Uzumaki. Just remember this will take time."

Danzo's expression turned calculating as he reviewed the new scroll for the group training. "Uzumaki must remain unaware of our influence. His training must seem genuine and beneficial. We will make him stronger."

"Of course, Lord Danzo. Anything else?"

Danzo looked at his operative with a final, stern glance. "Remember, the future of the village depends on our success. Uzumaki Naruto must be shaped into the weapon we need, regardless of the cost."

The Root member bowed deeply. "I will not fail you, Lord Danzo." He teleported away, leaving Danzo alone.

Danzo then unwrapped his right eye looking at Kakashi. He opened his eye to reveal a Mangekeyo Sharingan, "Kotoamatsukami." Kakashi twitches slightly.

"Well, Kakashi-san. You will have the memories that you felt as if you should train your team individually but in the end, I have made you feel as if group training is the better option," he said rewrapping his eye. He teleported out of the room leaving with a newfound sense of pride at what he accomplished.

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