Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Cursed Eyes.

Last chapter, we concluded the first half of the chunnin exam's second part. Naruto, Chouji and Ino faced a lot of dangers both human and nature. Moving on, it's now time for the preliminaries which will settle the second part of the chunnin exams as well as decide the outcome of the third and final part. As most of you have already figured it out, I enjoy writing training chapters, because it gives credit to the skills showed in the middle of a fight. I don't know about you, but I always questioned how Naruto came up with the techniques he uses nowadays. Kishimoto doesn't bother much about this, often preferring to simply show Naruto using all these new never seen before rasengan techniques, as if our hero came up with them out of the blue. That being said, this chapter will consist of two parts. First part will be Naruto's fight in the preliminaries followed by his training.

Before the chapter begins, let's see some of the reviews.

Raidentensho – It's still unclear to me if he'll receive the Mangenkyou or not. The last evolution of the sharingan turned out to be too god-like to me. For instance, Itachi managed to defeat Nagato. Kishi clearly favors the Sharingan over the Rinnegan, even if the story he created showed the Rinnegan as the final part of the mangenkyou sharingan. If I decide to give him the mangenkyou, it won't be obtained like Itachi did, but like Kakashi and Madara. Those who remember, Madara managed to acquire his mangenkyou sharingan through extensive training together with his brother Izuna. However, it's still unclear if an Uchiha needs to face extreme situations to awake the extreme doujutsu through training. Kakashi said he acquired it through training, but what he did wasn't explained. I am more inclined to believe that the mangenkyou can also be obtained by training, but the Uchiha must go through dangerous situations to awake the eye.

PenguinX – I felt that Team 10 had it easy in the forest of death, so I added one small obstacle to give more reality to it. That was all.

Mind-slaver – Wow, Naruto having the byakugan, would be cool indeed. I wonder if someone knows a good story about this. If anyone does, please send it to me. As I explained before, I also have doubts about giving Naruto the Mangenkyou. Sure, it gives him the three god like techniques like Ametarasu, but my goal isn't that. I wish for him to use lava style in the near future, not kill everyone with the black flames. I liked all your ideas of him going to Kiri and then Iron Country. I'll certainly think about it. Because of the kage bunshin, his elemental training will certainly increase up to the point of reaching full mastery over fire and earth. Yamato explained, in canon, that he managed to use mokuton, because both his water and earth manipulation were equally one hundred percent mastered (water in one hand and earth in another, forming the snake hand sign).

Zorobak – The pairing will only begin after Naruto is promoted to chunnin and starts receiving tougher assignments. He'll meet more and more with Itsuko until one decides to simply meet face to face.

Reishin Amara – No, she is not Karin. Her fear was due to Naruto's uncanny resemblance to Minato.

OregonDucks – Because of his spiky hair, Naruto can either have Minato's, Kakashi's or Jiraiya's type of hair. Regarding the armor, I have another idea in mind for that.

Bowtechsniper – Sorry, I don't intend on giving him his mother's abilities. I know it would be cool, but he already has too many abilities to train. Give him more would be god like.

Toby860 – What was announced was that Naruto received Sasuke's eyes. The news of him activating the sharingan is a different manner.

Ok that's if for the moment. Now, let's begin.

Chapter 12 – Preliminaries and training

Beta: Kyuubi123

When the exams ended, those who passed were all lined up in front of the Sandaime Hokage inside a dojo located at the tower.

All the rookie teams from Konoha passed plus two older teams from Konoha, a team from Sound and one from Sunagakure. Since Naruto's team arrived faster than the others, the three of them had enough time to both rest in Ino's case, eat in Chouji's case and train in Naruto's case. Ino's experience with the arachnids ended up giving her a phobia that she hoped to cure when she met her father after the exams. The Yamanaka Clan members were masters at healing phobias, simply because it consisted of irrational fears created by the affected person's mind. Whenever she remembered the episode, her body started trembling unconsciously as if the creature was still in her mind just waiting for her guard to be dropped.

The female member of the team hoped that said fear wouldn't ruin her chances in the exams.

Naruto, for his part, managed to find another spacious room inside the tower, hence he used it for training with his clones. Aside from strict elemental manipulation, Naruto used his mind to create some new uses for the elements. Usually, fire was meant for offensive and earth was for defensive purposes. Of course, he had a couple of offensive earth techniques, in case the enemy's strong against fire. He was considering a new doton defensive technique that aided him in taijutsu. His sharingan allowed him to anticipate movements, but he needed a safety net in case he met an enemy faster than his eyes can predict. He heard of shinobi in Iwa creating earth type body armors and he wanted to replicate it. A known weakness of this technique was that it hindered the shinobi's agility because of the extra weight. If he managed to use the technique on only his arms, he could use the extra protection and not ruin his speed.

Doton Ishi Yoroi (Earth Release: Stone Armor Technique was the name.

He selected a group of bunshin for this assignment while he selected another for fire manipulation. The original one would focus in using both taijutsu and kenjutsu against imaginary opponents. Itachi's appearance taught Naruto an important lesson. He didn't need to fight the elder Uchiha to see just how he paled in comparison to the S-ranked criminal. Also if what Itachi said was true, Naruto would not only have to defeat him but also shinobi much stronger than him. Naruto knew that he had an edge that was imprisoned inside of him. The fox's energy will surely give him the energy needed against his enemies, but Naruto knew he would pay dearly. The stone armor technique wasn't so hard to learn and the clones were doing it repeatedly in order to attest the necessary chakra and the time needed to activate it. The boy needed more, though. He needed to be faster and stronger than his current level. For that to work, he would need to train constantly and always seek improvement, no matter the obstacles.

He would win the preliminaries and come to his sensei for training, perhaps ask Tora-sensei for a more effective pace. He stopped his thinking when the Hokage began to speak.

"For those who managed to pass the forest of death, you've earned my congratulations. These exams are tough for one reason and one reason only; to replicate a stage of war." A few of the genin were startled by this, but the man continued. "The Chunnin Exams were first created when the five hidden villages signed the pact of neutrality between one another. Before, one became a chunnin through their record in the field. Now, in one month's time, those who pass the second phase will participate in a tournament." Hiruzen was about to speak more, but a jounin shunshined in front of him, ushering the Hokage in allowing him to speak. The jounin coughed a few times and then turned to the genin.

"Before the tournament, though, we must address another situation. The number of qualified shinobi in this exam is quite rare; therefore we'll have to reduce it through preliminary battles against each other." The genin were startled by this as many had yet to get some rest. "Unfortunately, for those who arrived almost at the end of the exam, we simply cannot have a large number of fights in the third phase. It would take too long. Now, the board behind me will determine the fights one by one. Before we proceed, though, is there someone here who wishes to withdraw from the fights?" Immediately after hearing this, Kabuto raised his hand.

"I wish to forfeit. I wasted a lot of chakra and just cannot proceed." The jounin simply nodded and scratched his name off the board.

"Yakushi Kabuto of the Leaf; okay you can go." As Kabuto turned his back, a gigantic black board appeared behind the jounin, before the images of the genin appeared. The board started jumbling the names for a while, before the first two names appeared. "First fight of the preliminaries will begin; Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha against Kurama Yakumo also from Konoha. The rest must wait for your turn up the stairs by your right." Kakashi signed in dismay seeing as his genin ended up facing Naruto of all the opponents. Dojutsu wielders were Yakumo's worst enemy. He was already dismissing her as possible candidate for chunnin. Naruto not only had the sharingan but also had extensive training in genjutsu, same field as his student.

In no time, only Naruto, Yakumo and the jounin Hayate remained at the dojo's center.

The Hokage looked at the blond's back for a while, as the secret of Naruto's sharingan was to be revealed to the world. He actually thought it would have been sooner considering that Naruto had told his team about it. However, it turned out that both Ino and Chouji kept their mouths shut about it. The news of a shinobi alive with the dojutsu served to increase the village's income and despite not agreeing with it, Konoha wouldn't survive without clients. Once Naruto used it for the first time in front of everyone, news would certainly spread instantly. Unfortunately, it was for the village. Sarutobi didn't know, though, that Naruto wouldn't be against it as it attracted more of the enemy's attention to him.

At the fight, Hayate eyed both opponents for a moment, before authorizing the battle.

Yakumo went on the offense immediately doing a couple of hand seals while charging at Naruto. Naruto could see her movements without his eyes and was only waiting for her to get closer. He felt his chakra being invaded and smirked at the girl's choice of attack. The genjutsu altered his perception of the reality, allowing Yakumo to confuse her opponent. Quickly activating the sharingan, the blond broke the genjutsu in less than a second and blocked the taijutsu strike. Everyone, besides those who knew, were shocked at seeing the sharingan in Naruto's eyes. The girl was immediately surprised at how fast Naruto broke her illusion. She didn't know much about him, because he never interacted much at school. She knew he received Sasuke's eyes after the Uchiha massacre, but she didn't think much about that at the time. The news of the sharingan was quite troubling. Quickly grabbing a hidden tanto, she placed her left foot forward trying to stab him. Naruto was faster and used a lone kunai to defend. He had the strength in his favor and managed to push her aside.

Yakumo wasn't interested in maintaining the hold, so she backed away and began a series of hand seals for ninjutsu instead.

Suiton Mizurappa (Water Release: Violent Water Wave Technique)

Naruto focused some chakra to his feet as the torrent of water came his way. He evaded it but Yakumo pressed further using the technique once more. Naruto couldn't dodge the technique in mid-air and taking it head on just wasn't smart, considering he was weak against suiton techniques. Quickly summoning a kage bunshin, the clone took him away from the path, before going through hand seals in mid-air. She was a water user, so she was weak against…

Doton Doryuu Dangan (Earth Release: Mud Shot Technique)

Yakumo's agility wasn't as great as Naruto's that she could evade successful shots of mud bullets. Thus all of them reached their designated target. Two hit her chest, other two hit her arms and the last one went straight at her forehead protector. The technique hurt like a bitch as Yakumo was weak against earth techniques. Not to mention the fact that one of the mud projectiles hit her in the forehead. If it wasn't for the mental plate protecting her, she would be unconscious right away. Instead, the woman became extremely dizzy with no sense of awareness whatsoever. She didn't even register when Naruto appeared in front of her holding his sword inches from her jugular and the proctor giving the fight in Naruto's favor. Kakashi and Shikamaru had thought of a different outcome and both were surprised it lasted this long. Kakashi knew Naruto to be way stronger than this and he also knew that he could have ended the battle when Yakumo was close to him.

Perhaps Naruto wasn't all that interested in showing off. Either way, the result was good enough as he passed to the third part of the exams.

(AN: Like I said, I won't bother with the other fights, so I will briefly describe them. For the record, aside from Naruto's fight, the rest is exactly like in canon with a few twists.)

Yakumo was still dizzy while Kakashi escorted her towards the stairs. Hayate meanwhile was waiting for the board to turn on again and decide the next fight. Shikamaru was next against Tsuchi Kin from Sound. The fight turned out to be very funny as Shikamaru captured her shadow and bended his body backwards. Because he was controlling Kin's body, the woman did the same thing and slammed her head at the wall behind her, sending her to unconsciousness. Yakumo had already recovered her bearings and couldn't help but twitch at the way her teammate won the fight. Shikamaru's brilliance was only matched by his own laziness. Thus it shouldn't surprise her that he finished the fight in the quickest way possible. Sakura just cheered for him while Kakashi was busy reading his book. Next, was Aburame Shino from the Leaf against Zaku from Sound. The fight started in Zaku's favor as he used concentrated blasts of wind and got rid of the majority of Shino's bugs. Zaku was becoming arrogant in the field, thus he was unaware that Shino had sent some of the bugs crawling Zaku's leg and closed the sound-nin's air vents located in his hands.

Zaku was surprised as hell when he attempted to use his technique once more only for the air to be blocked and return to his body. His organs ended up taking quite the blow as he screamed in pain and agony.

The next round was between Ino and Sakura. Sakura, at first, believed herself to be on equal grounds with Ino. The two of them became rivals for Sasuke's affection back at the academy. After the Uchiha Massacre, their rivalry diminished, but it was transferred to mere ninja abilities. It turned out that the Yamanaka heir had more to show for herself than Sakura. Sakura at first attempted to fool Ino by attacking with the bunshin illusion technique and land a taijutsu punch on Ino. She was surprised as hell when Ino decided to evade all three Sakuras and then rotate her body and land a fierce kick on Sakura's side stomach. Ino has been training a lot with Naruto and Chouji and thus became much stronger and faster in her taijutsu. Sakura was on the ground in pain when the Yamanaka heir suddenly trapped her on the floor and placed a kunai inches from Sakura's face. Sakura was shocked at seeing the look on Ino's face. Hayate gave her the win, before Ino's face changed to a full and smug smirk at Sakura.

Next up was Akimichi Chouji against Dosu from Sound.

Chouji started the fight by throwing a couple of shuriken at Dosu, before going through hand seals earning a smile from Naruto and Asuma. Dosu widened his eyes when the projectiles were multiplied from five to fifty shuriken. Naruto was the one who taught the Shuriken Kage Bunshin to Chouji as he believed his comrade needed more techniques than the usual clan techniques. Dosu used his special bracelet and emitted a strong sound wave in an attempt to stop the shuriken's trajectory. He was partially successful as a couple reached their target. Dosu flinched in pain, but Chouji was already closing on his position, with both arms larger than normal. Shikamaru smiled the entire time as he saw how much stronger his friend became upon training with Naruto. Dosu tried his melody arm once more but Chouji elongated one of his arms in time and hit the man in the head. The noise of his fists reaching Dosu's face made everyone flinch as they saw the man fly away with his eyes swirling like crazy. The sound-nin was already unconscious when his body reached the far wall.

Next fight was Tenten from the Leaf against Temari from the Sand.

Tenten was considered a prodigy in using weapons, but her opponent couldn't have been worse. Temari's fan didn't need to work much as she blew Tenten's projectiles away easily. Afterwards, Temari had swung her fan with all its might, trapping Tenten inside a hurricane. The woman's screams were buffered by the noise of the hurricane. Temari even had the audacity of easing Tenten's fall with her fan right at Tenten's back. She was already unconscious by then. Kankurou from the Sand was next against Misumi from the Leaf. The strange shinobi's abilities allowed him to pop his bones out of their sockets and use his chakra to manipulate his soft muscle tissue. His victory was at first granted when he trapped Kankurou using his loosen arms. Suddenly, though, another Kankurou emerged from the wraps on the ground, before everyone looked at who was trapped by Misumi's technique. Everyone was surprised to see a puppet. The wooden machine used its extra limbs and squeezed Misumi until he was unconscious, giving the fight to Kankurou.

Next fight was between Inuzuka Kiba and Akadou Yoroi, brom from the Leaf.

The hyperactive shinobi was thrilled to finally go next as he and his dog partner pretty much jumped at the arena instead of simply walking down the stairs. When the match started, it was clear to Yoroi that fighting more than one enemy at a time just wasn't his forte. His technique involve sucking chakra from the enemy and converting into his own. He worked his ass off to struggle with Kakashi's fast taijutsu, but in the end managed to suck the boy's chakra. However, he wasn't counting on the dog coming from behind and landing a fierce bite on his arm, letting Kiba loose. Taking the opportunity, Kiba used his claws and ripped Yoroi's chest drawing a lot of blood. Akamaru was the one who finished the fight using the clan's famous taijutsu called Tsuuga. (Piercing Fang).

The two final matches were Rock Lee against Sabaku no Gaara and Hyuuga Neji versus Hyuuga Hinata.

Both of them were very intense with Gaara winning against Rock Lee at the very end, crushing the bones of his arms and legs. The boy's sensei was the one that carried Lee personally to the infirmary as he looked at the vicious Gaara. Neji also treated his cousin Hinata the same way, almost destroying her heart literally, if he wasn't stopped by the jounin in the room. Once the battles were over, those who won, stood in front of the Hokage. The proctor from the second round Anko announced that they would now grab a number from a black box she was holding. After that was done with, the genins announced their numbers one by one. Quickly sorting the nine genin and the amount of fights, the proctors arranged the matches of the third phase.

"Okay, seeing as there is an uneven number of fighters, the winner of the last fight will progress immediately to the final fight whereas the rest must face two more opponents before reaching the final. First fight will be between Uzumaki Naruto against Hyuuga Neji." To this everyone couldn't help but whistle. Since the Uchiha Clan's demise, there hadn't been a battle between dojutsus. Neji was looking at his opponent and smirked. The sharingan in Naruto set him apart of those considered by Neji as regular. No doubt, it will be an interesting fight. Anko continued announcing the fights. "The second fight is between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari." A loud sigh was heard as everyone turned to Shikamaru. He wasn't looking forward to fighting such a troublesome kunoichi. "The third fight is between Akimichi Chouji and Inuzuka Kiba. The fourth match and last of the regular chart is between Sabaku no Gaara and Sabaku no Kankurou. The fifth fight is between Yamanaka Ino and Aburame Shino. As I said before, the winner of the last fight will advance to the final fight and will wait for his opponent to be decided."

Seeing as her job here was done, Anko turned to the Hokage and nodded.

"Now that that you know your opponents, you'll have an entire month to train and quite possibly incorporate different skills than those showed in the preliminaries. Everyone is dismissed." After the Hokage left with his Anbu guard, the genin returned to their respective jounin sensei in order to check their schedule for training. Asuma was smiling from ear to ear since he had won his bet against the other jounin sensei. All three of his genin managed to qualify for the final round whereas Kakashi and Kurenai only had one genin each. Gai thought that betting was an unyouthful habit and thus chose not to participate. Even if he did, it didn't matter as Gai also had only one genin in the finals. As his three genin appeared in front of him, Asuma had to restrain himself from giving a big hi-fi. So, instead, he lit a cigarette and smiled as the smoke calmed his urges.

"Congratulations all three of you for qualifying. Now, though, I believe we are in a big dilemma." Ino and Chouji looked at the man wondering what was it, but Naruto already knew.

"All three of us passed and we have only one sensei. Plus considering that we'll be facing each other, we need to train separately from one another."Asuma only nodded, but Naruto continued. "Not to diminish your capabilities, Ino, but your abilities are considered supplementary, thus better applied in a team battle. It is better that Asuma-sensei focus this month solely for you. I bet that Chouji will train with his clan and seeing from his face, I bet he wouldn't mind." The Akimichi genin nodded immediately with a big smile on his face. Ino, though, frowned for a while not particularly enjoying Naruto's remark about her being the team's weakest link. Asuma, though, smiled at this and placed a comfortable hand on her shoulder.

"I concur with Naruto, Ino. The Yamanaka Clan members were always the supportive type. I believe it's high time we increase those advanced taijutsu lessons as well as possibly a few offensive jutsu." Ino sighed, but nodded. "I guess I can talk to daddy and see if he has another technique to aid me as well." Asuma nodded while blowing smoke. He then turned to Naruto, since so far the blond haven't come up with a suitable plan for his training.

"What about you Naruto? Do you have anything planned for training?" Asuma asked and Naruto was about to answer, before a familiar voice appeared behind them.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance, Asuma." Kakashi was there with hands inside his pockets. "I initially offered it to Shikamaru, but he is much like his father in that regard." Asuma had to smile at that. He remembered how lazy Shikamaru's father was. Despite the man being a genius tactician, he was lazy as hell. Asuma didn't mind Kakashi teaching Naruto for the month. Kakashi looked at his surrogate brother figure. "So, Naruto, if you want, I could oversee your training for this month. I bet that Kasumi misses you a lot. She will arrive in two days from her mission." Seeing a genuine smile on the usually stoic Naruto was almost rare these days. In fact, his team had only seen it once when they went out to eat together. When Naruto smiled to the scarecrow jounin, both Ino and Chouji knew that Kakashi was close to him; perhaps closer than a mere friendship, maybe bordering on family. Naruto, for his part, figured he could ask Kasumi some pointers on Neji and the byakugan.

With the training settled, Asuma said to Chouji that he would visit the Akimichi once a week to see how he was doing.

They all left the forest together and Naruto promised to meet Kakashi in front of the Hokage's Tower two days from now.

===Two days later and training initiation===

Hyuuga Kasumi was waiting patiently in front of the Hokage's tower for both her boyfriend and her little brother figure.

She had just returned from what could possibly be labeled as the most boring mission she had ever participated in. Most diplomatic missions were, but this one earned the prize by far. It was two weeks of her life wasted and she feared it would take longer to compensate for it. Hours before arrival, she had received a message from her boyfriend's nin-dogs saying to meet him and Naruto in front of the Hokage's tower at precisely nine hundred hours. Coming to think though as she noticed the time, Kasumi felt like smashing her forehead multiple times for not remembering the type of fame earned by Sharingan no Kakashi inside the village. Kakashi was late for most about anything. However, a creepy smile suddenly appeared on her face as she was already counting how many tenketsu she would be closing because of his tardiness. Unconsciously, Kasumi activated her dojutsu while imagining his tenketsu when an image appeared behind her that made her really….really angry.

Instantly vanishing via shunshin, she appeared on top of a rooftop in front of the Hokage's tower right behind two individuals, one with blond hair and the other with gray hair. These two had the audacity of purposely making her wait. When Naruto arrived at the location, Kakashi said something about playing a prank at Kasumi. He went along with it. When the woman activated her byakugan and leaked a little bit of killing intent, both genin and jounin flinched and slowly turned their heads together only to see a great load of veins coming out of Kasumi's face. Oh boy was she angry! Thus Naruto did the only thing he could think of in order to get away of having his tenketsu closed.

"He was the one that came up with the idea." Kakashi's only visible eye widened upon seeing Naruto's finger pointed at him, before he saw Kasumi smiling at him still with the eyes active.

Once at the training ground, Kakashi was placed on the ground by Kasumi and Naruto. The man was simply paralyzed, but Naruto swore he saw the man smiling, despite his situation. Little did Naruto know that Kakashi loved seeing Kasumi's angry look. He constantly did this just to irritate her. Figuring that Naruto wouldn't receive any training today because of the man's inability, he took a seat in front of his big brother figure. Kasumi, though, cleared her throat, calling for Naruto's attention.

"Whoever said you had the luxury of slacking off, Naruto-kun?" She was doing some stretches, which slightly scared the sharingan user. "From what Kakashi-kun told me, your opponent is Hyuuga Neji." The blond got up from his position and nodded at the question. "Well, if I remember correctly, he is considered by the clan a prodigy of the jyuuken. While Kakashi's tenketsu takes its time opening, I'll be sparring with you. This time, though, I'll use my byakugan unlike before." Naruto nodded, while seeing Kasumi's eyes activate once more. He had only time to activate his sharingan, before blocking an incoming strike that was aimed at his chest. His eyes were widened instantly at the sheer speed. His eyes were able to anticipate her movements, but his body almost didn't move in time. He could see a smile on Kasumi's face despite the byakugan activated.

"It seems you're much faster than before, Naruto-kun. However, I don't know if it's the sharingan talking or yourself." Naruto had to snort at the comment.

"This coming from another dojutsu user, that is quite rich." Naruto added with a few punches to which Kasumi blocked. Naruto created a distance between the two as he gathered fire in his lungs.

Katon Dai Endan (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)

Kasumi smirked at the technique, before evading with relatively ease. She saw Naruto waiting at the place she was about to land and gathered a few shuriken, before throwing it at the blond. The genin saw the projectiles and cursed the woman for ruining his plans. With his sword, he diverted the shuriken, before charging once more, this time with his sword in hand. Kasumi nodded with a smile on her face. She knew she didn't have to tell him to come at her with the intent to kill. When it comes to ninja affairs, the boy was strictly professional. She was surprised when the tomes in his eyes started spinning, inducing her in a induced sleep. That was her boyfriend's move! Quickly dispelling the genjutsu, she was surprised to see not one Naruto, but three coming at her from three sides. Focusing more chakra to her limbs, Kasumi acknowledged the increase in both skill and speed.

What happened next, not even the sharingan could've helped the blond.

Kasumi began to spin rapidly before a dome of blue chakra surrounded her, eliminating all the clones. He was sent flying as well, trying to nurse the pain in his chest from the blow. While flying, though, he started hand seals, while using the momentum to flip in mid air and smash his hands on the ground, surprising the Hyuuga. Three stones rose from the ground in key placed around her position, trapping her for good. She looked around searching for a way out.

Doton Ganban Kyuu (Earth Release: Rock Plate Coffin Technique)

The noise of clapping stopped the fight as Kakashi came walking as if he had just arrived and was bored out of his mind.

"An effective technique, Naruto. I remember facing that one a couple times in the war. You've become quite adapt at fire and earth jutsu, haven't you? That's good. Plus trapping a Hyuuga in genjutsu was unheard of." He turned to his girlfriend and smiled at her unasked question. "Despite how irritated you are, you still restrain yourself when you attack me. Your blows weren't as effective as it would be against an enemy. It didn't take that long to heal, then. I have to say, though, Kasumi-chan…" She looked at him wondering what he was about to say. "I believe that Naruto-kun just won this little spar of yours." Oh how he loved to spite her. Kasumi was looking at him with her fierce byakugan. "If you try to break one of the stones and open the path, Naruto will close the other and crush you. If you do anything at all, Naruto will crush you. The only way to escape that technique is either a kawarimi precisely the same time that Naruto closes the pillars or through another earth technique that the user hides below ground."

Rubbing his chest a little, Naruto released his control over the pillars and approached Kakashi. He learned one very important lesson. When a Hyuuga starts spinning, get the hell out of the way!

"From what I saw from your fight, Naruto, I could see a couple areas we can explore for this month. You already know enough to become a chunnin, so we'll focus on improving what you can already do." At first, the boy thought about disagreeing with said logic, but then thought against it. This worked better for him as he could work his side projects without getting caught. Kakashi knew this, though and expected the young sharingan user to question, but continued nonetheless. "From what I saw, your agility increased and you managed to close a few openings you had in your taijutsu and kenjutsu form. I think a certain Anbu helped you with that, right?" Kakashi couldn't help but smile at his student upon getting caught. "Don't worry Naruto, he is a good acquaintance of mine. Now, basically, what we'll be doing is training your body." Naruto gave Kakashi an eloquent response to what the jounin said.

"Huh?"

"Precisely what I said; you already possess the skills of a chunnin, two elements ninjutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu and taijutsu. The only path left to follow is improving your body. Muscle training will increase the strength behind your strikes. Agility training will help increase your speed. Another skill you lack is experience, so you'll be fighting either me or Kasumi-chan at the end of the day. We'll take advantage of your healing ability granted by the fox and do this every day." Kakashi first believed he was crazy in taking advice from Gai in how to train Naruto. The man surprisingly so came up with a few interesting physical exercises similar to what the man's genin Rock Lee goes through every day. While Lee has to rest every now and then because of the strain placed in his body, Naruto doesn't need to, because of the Kyuubi inside of him.

Kasumi wasn't going to question the man, but she somehow knew that Naruto will suffer…a lot. If she wasn't so sure before, she was when Kakashi took a scroll from his kunai holster and dispelled its contents on the ground in front of him.

Gravity worked its magic, though, and two of the weights that fell from the scroll had sunk into the ground. Naruto's eyes were widened beyond normal as he saw the craters while Kakashi still maintained that smile as if it was nothing. Looking at the weights, he could see some sort of order in them. The ones from the furthest right were the smallest. The size of the ones that followed was bigger than the previous one. The craters showed the heaviest, he assumed with a small sweat drop. Without saying anything for the time, Kakashi took another scroll, this time a much larger one and unrolled it on the ground. Making a large series of hand seals, he sacrificed some blood on the parchment before a large smoke covered the training ground. When it settled, both Kasumi and Naruto were speechless. In front of them was what appeared to be a training course filled with obstacles like tree logs, kunai launchers and sword traps. Naruto was now sure of yet another thing. But he had to ask, though.

"Are you nuts?" His answer as expected was a smile.

"I introduce you to Anbu level training course number 15. I had obtained authorization from the Hokage to use it with you. We have one month for you to adapt to at least the third heaviest set of weights. When I say adapt, I say able to fight as if you weren't wearing weights as well as complete this training course before a specific time limit." Despite the smile, Kakashi had in fact a reason he was pushing Naruto so hard and becoming a chunnin wasn't it. Naruto didn't need training for that.

No, the reason was to appease Uchiha Itachi the next time he reported in. Only when Itachi attested that Naruto was ready to face the monsters he said he was working with, then the boy could relax. He saw that Naruto was quietly waging how fierce his training will be in deep and concentrated silence. He could see that Naruto wasted a couple seconds on each set of weight while picturing those holding him down for the first time. Kakashi remembered that Itachi had introduced himself to Naruto just before the exams started. He knew how Itachi enjoyed psychological warfare in his assignments as any genjutsu master does. Kakashi didn't need to ask Naruto what happened to know. Itachi wasn't someone who wasted time stating the qualities of someone, but rather the weaknesses and only the weaknesses. He surely must have put Naruto down a few steps; by saying Naruto didn't have what it takes to beat someone like him. Few remembered the age difference or the fact that Itachi had received Anbu level training since he was Naruto's age.

The boy after five minutes lifted his head up and faced Kakashi.

"I guess I should pick the first ones, right." Both Kakashi and Kasumi watched the genin in silence as he resolutely placed the weights on his legs and arms. There was no doubt in their minds that Naruto wouldn't even think of quitting.

Many would and many had, but not him. That was why Naruto had earned Kakashi's respect and Itachi's even if the latter will never admit it in front of anyone.

"Remember that in order for you to move to the next set, you must retain the same speed you possess as if you weren't wearing any weights." Naruto nodded and stood with the first set of weights. Since it was the first, the strain wasn't so significant, but it was there nonetheless. He got accustomed to wearing no weights, so it was understandable. Forcing his arms a little bit more than necessary, Naruto formed a familiar hand seal, surprising both Kakashi and Kasumi. The boy was wasting chakra with Kage bunshins when he needed it to increase the strength of his muscles. Ten bunshins stood in front of the original one and stared at him for a while. A nice aspect of the bunshins was that Naruto didn't need to give them orders, when he had summoned them with a specific purpose already. Five would maintain his fire manipulation training while the other five would perform earth manipulation exercises. The clones merely nodded and vanished from their position.

Kakashi approached the original who was watching the clones disappear.

"Wouldn't it be better to consume your energy? Chakra is one of the tools you have at your disposal to ease the strain caused from the weights."

"Despite this training being only physical, I can't simply abandon the rest. I have a few ambitions of my own and I want to see them through. One month is just too much wasted time. Chakra wise, though, I simply don't know how much I have or if the concept of chakra exhaustion even applies to me." Kakashi was busy just listening to the boy. "Every day, after the precious hours of sleep, at least when the nightmares stops, I go and train two or three hours with Tori; after that, I start team practices for another three hours. Even then, I still have energy for missions and more training. The fox maybe a curse, but it has given me the benefit or never getting sick, suffering from chakra exhaustion or muscle strain. I shall use it to the full extent, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto didn't even wait for Kakashi to give him an counter-argument, before he began a slow pace throughout the training field, in order to get acquainted with the extra weight.

Kasumi stopped by his side as he looked the blond running.

"His stamina scares me sometimes. A normal shinobi wouldn't keep up with half the chakra waste and is still taken to the hospital for a one week treatment for chakra exhaustion. Perhaps you're all putting too much pressure on him. His body may keep up, but the brain may not."

Kakashi sighed in dismay. He knew it to be one hundred percent accurate. There was only problem, though.

"The problem is that Naruto just doesn't have the benefit of growing at a moderate pace. He has enemies that even the Sandaime Hokage would think twice before facing."

===Two weeks later===

Two weeks has passed since Naruto's training and right now he'd managed to reach half of the training weights placed by Kakashi. If the boy had to describe these past two weeks with only one word, it would be 'gruesome'. His muscles ached most most of the time as he continuously pushed his body past its limit. Having the fox was both a blessing in terms of how long he could train and a curse as well, seeing as despite knowing that his muscles would never be strained, it didn't mean that he wouldn't feel unbearable pain from each step. Regardless, the boy persevered. At first, he saw little merit in this type of training, until he decided to remove every piece of weight on his limbs. The genin couldn't even control his speed anymore. Kakashi laughed his ass off at the time because Naruto ended up being hit by a rather thick tree because he couldn't control his speed.

Because of this, it was decided that before increasing the weights, Naruto would have to waste a few hours to get accustomed to his new speed.

The training course turned out to be lots of fun for the blond. It increased his agility and helped him how to escape from dangerous situations with very little room for escape. He had to remain in the field.

Because of the weights, speed wasn't the only improvement, but the strength behind the attacks. When Naruto removed the weights, his body still moved as if the weights were still on and placed more strength behind the punches. The logs were being beat relentlessly. When Naruto managed to hit Kasumi, the woman had lost her breath instantly. After that, it was decided that Kakashi would be pitted against him in spars, although the man was dreading this also. When Kasumi receives a hit, she directs chakra to the spot so as to reduce the damage. He didn't have that ability. The man had to use his sharingan to completely evade Naruto's punches. Kakashi had forgotten the last time he received a punch like this when he constantly sparred with Gai. Naruto wasn't quite there yet, but he would be soon. The difference between the taijutsu specialist and Naruto was that Gai's strength was entirely focused on his muscles. Naruto had not only that, in smaller amounts of course, but a huge chakra capacity to enforce his limbs as well.

While the original Naruto was busy increasing his body, his clones were busy improving chakra related techniques, going from chakra control, fire and earth manipulation to genjutsu.

The clones had managed to decrease the time necessary to activate the stone armor defense, now taking close to three seconds for each limb and an entire minute for the entire body. The sharingan managed to pinpoint the enemy's movement, so Naruto would know immediately which part of his body he needed to protect. Not to mention the increased damage he could do when he enforced his fists with the technique. The clones that were doing fire manipulation managed to increase the level of control, until one clone was able to release white flames. According to the scroll given by Tori, white flames manipulation was considered a high level fire technique and very few shinobi in Konoha managed to reach said level, those being elite members of the Uchiha Clan and the Sandaime Hokage. This gave Naruto an idea for a jutsu as he could use the same principle of the Dai Endan technique and manipulate white flames to form a high powered mid-range technique towards the opponent.

Katon Shiroi Hidan (Fire Release: White Flames Projectile Technique)

After a few tests, the results were above Naruto's expectations. The wooden poles were burned to a crisp much faster than his usual fire techniques.

It was night time and Kakashi gave Naruto the rest of the day off from training so that his body can rest a bit. Naruto accepted it eagerly. He would take this time and focus on his chakra rather than his body. The training ground happened to be located near a small river, thus the perfect place for him to practice his new fire technique. After stepping close to the river's margin, Naruto began a considerable series of hand seals as he manipulated fire chakra inside his lungs. When the hand seals stopped, Naruto gathered a huge quantity of air as chest even inflated because of it. Using the memory of his clones, he ignited the fire inside his lungs with more chakra changing its color until he could feel the unbearable heat inside his chest. There was a reason this was a high level technique. If something wrong happened, his organs would be burned instead. He expelled the hot white flame towards the river and it illuminated a huge part of the forest that was once filled with darkness.

Naruto needed to exhale every last bit of flame that was inside his lungs, so it he ended up consuming a huge amount of chakra for the technique.

After finishing the technique, he could see that some of it managed to reach the other side of the lake, burning the trees there as well. Naruto realized that something was slightly wrong with it. He needed to focus more in realizing the exact amount of chakra as well as the amount of air needed for the technique. If someone were to evade the technique, he needed to find a way of stopping the technique without endangering his organs. He was about to attempt again, when he heard a familiar voice approaching him.

"A very dangerous technique you got there, Naruto." Kakashi said as he approached the lad with his hands inside his pockets. "I wasn't aware how far you managed to go with fire manipulation."

Naruto knew that said level was only achievable through long periods of time practicing, perhaps longer than his actual age in training.

"Training with clones has its benefits. Ever since I started with them, I managed to cover close to two years worth of training. However, it's still not fully perfected. The technique consumes too much chakra and it's too risky if the enemy manages to evade it. Plus, I have to coat my lungs with chakra so as to harm them. White flames manipulation is quite damaging to it." Kakashi nodded at the kid, seeing as he was taking all the necessary precaution for it. "I thought you're sleeping Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi smiled at the question. Naruto had illuminated the entire area with his jutsu. Probably the entire Forest was awake because of the genin.

"That technique of yours illuminated the entire forest, Naruto. Plus Kasumi can be quite grumpy when she is awakened in the middle of the night. Just don't stay up so late. Tomorrow you'll receive the next set of weights." Naruto nodded and Kakashi went back to the training ground to rest once more. He attempted the technique one more time, this time with less chakra. It didn't pack the same punch as the first time, but he managed to stop in the middle of the technique. He figured that a nice balance would not only pack a nice punch but allow him to cancel the technique in time. Figuring that it was enough for the day, Naruto turned towards the camp where he would be able to close his eyes once more and get some rest. Little did he know, though, that Naruto was being watched by a certain long purple haired Anbu. Itsuko was busy doing a couple of routines throughout the training ground and happened to see the bright sun created by Naruto.

For some reason, she couldn't help but want to check on him. Being an orphan like him, Itsuko remembered how tough it was for her growing up without a family to support her.

She wasn't even originally from Konoha as she was born in Amegakure. Her parents were shinobi from there as well. When she was six, her parents were killed while on a mission in Kirigakure, leaving her alone in the world. Itsuko remembered how despite the gigantic pain she felt upon knowing what happened, it didn't stop her from fleeing Amegakure by hiding inside a caravan that was passing through Fire Country. Being a kunoichi was her dream since she could remember. So she went to Konoha and asked asylum for the Hokage. The kind old man gave her an apartment and some money for her. He even enrolled her at the ninja academy. Itsuko managed to get a job in a supply store at the age of seven and later at a ninja store when she was nine. No matter what happened, Itsuko always found a way to take care of herself. It was something she learned from her father. Once at the academy, she became one of the best students, graduating at twelve years old. When she was fourteen, she was promoted to chunnin and was recruited to the Anbu forces as a junior officer soon after being promoted.

Despite it all, she never forgot the pain of being an orphan. So, like the boy in front of her, she pushed her pain aside and focused solely on her ninja duties. She had acquired some friends along the way, but nowadays they were no more than comrades. The only person who came even remotely close to gaining her complete trust was her sensei Nara Shikaku. He in the end became more of a father to her, offering advice when needed and being there for her when she needed someone to talk to. However, it wasn't enough for Itsuko as she needed someone who could understand her. Only an orphan can understand an orphan, no matter how much a person can claim he or she understands what it is to lose ones parents.

Figuring that appearing out of the blue just like that wasn't the way to go, Itsuko vanished from her position. She waited for a long time to find someone to whom she could relate to. It was no problem to wait a little longer when Naruto gets promoted to chunnin. Perhaps she could even talk to Tori-buntaichou about her coming along to his and Naruto's kenjutsu practices.

===One day left to the tournament===

With only one day left to the exams, both Kakashi and Kasumi were busy heading to Naruto's apartment. The genin managed a great majority of the weights, leaving the three heaviest. His mind couldn't handle the strain of both training his body and mind as hard as he did. Quickly opening the door, Kakashi placed Naruto inside his bed while Kasumi checked his body for muscle strains. Activating the byakugan, it didn't take her long to finish the examination.

"How is he?" Kasumi could sense concern from her boyfriend, but a relieved sigh from her mouth relaxed him.

"He is okay, just completely exhausted. As we speak, I can see traces of the fox's chakra spreading through his body repairing the soared muscles and ligaments. Tomorrow he'll be good as new."

"That is good to hear. We should have stopped sooner, perhaps two days ago. Let's leave him then."

Kasumi nodded, before they closed the door to Naruto's apartment. Tomorrow was going to be very busy for the young sharingan user.

Author Note

Phew, finally!

Well, I thus managed to cover his entire training and now can start the exam.

I first tried to come up with a scene of Itsuko meeting Naruto for the first time, but I thought against it. I wasn't happy with what I was creating, so I changed a little bit. She will meet him soon now.

Please review.

See ya next chapter.