Chapter Five

"He's late!" Sakura huffed as she crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "Of course, he is," she muttered angrily as she kicked the dirt ground.

"Man, I knew I should have just come at 8:45 like I said." Naruto huffed as he sat on a low branch of a tree. Naruto let himself fall backward with a sigh, hooking his legs on the branch with his knees. Naruto let his arms fall over his head as he stared over the training grounds upside down. "This is so boring!" Naruto whined loudly.

"Maybe instead of whining about it, you could own up to your part of our deal and start training me." Sasuke snapped from just below Naruto's head. He was sitting against the back of the tree with his arms crossed. He shot Naruto a glare with his scarlet eyes.

"Once we know what Kakashi wants, I'll start training both of you. What I'm going to teach you is going to take you all day and maybe even tomorrow to master." Naruto replied, laced his fingers behind his upside-down head.

"Both of us?" Sasuke growled irritatingly from below. "It was supposed to be just you and me."

"Yeah, well, I invited Sakura along. She is our teammate…the stronger she is, the less weight we have to carry."

"Whatever," he huffed as he turned to glare at the empty field in front of him. "As long as she doesn't slow me down."

"I won't, Sasuke," Sakura muttered softly. "I promise I'll work hard to catch up to both of you."

Naruto frowned, having expected a different reaction from the pink-haired kunoichi. Naruto looked between Sasuke and Sakura with narrowed eyes. Sasuke was paying no mind to her while the red-faced girl kept glancing back at him.

"Pssst," Naruto hissed at Sasuke. He looked up, still glaring at him. "Is something going on between you and Sakura?" Naruto whispered. Confident their teammate wouldn't hear them. Sasuke took a deep breath and looked away, not bothering to acknowledge Naruto's questioning.

Naruto hung there for several more minutes before groaning in irritation and releasing his hold on the branch. Naruto gracefully flipped down off the branch and landed next to Sasuke with a low thump. He didn't make any move to acknowledge Naruto's presence. Naruto looked over to see Sakura sitting in the grass under the shade of a different tree, picking at blades of grass.

"Well, if Sensei isn't showing up anytime soon, might as well not waste any more time," Naruto shouted. Sakura and Sasuke both looked up, and Naruto motioned Sakura over. Sakura got up, and half jogged over to the boys, stopped, and looked at Naruto attentively. "Alright then, before we get started, Sakura I promised you an answer as to why I left and why everyone seems to hate me."

"You sure you want to tell them?" A lazy voice said from behind Naruto. Naruto jumped and turned around to see Kakashi crouching behind him. His little orange book was open, and his one eye was scanning the pages casually.

"You're late!" Sakura shouted at Kakashi while pointing a finger at him. Sakura was showing a completely different side to herself than just a few minutes ago when Sasuke insulted her.

"Sorry," Kakashi said sheepishly. "I got stuck helping a friend of mine make homemade ramen for his sick girlfriend."

"That sounds like a lie," Naruto muttered as he stared at Kakashi. He couldn't believe what Sakura said about him was so true.

"It's defiantly a lie," Sakura huffed as she rolled her eyes at their sensei. "You know we rely on you for our missions and training. This is serious stuff!"

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." He replied as he flipped a page in his book. "Your missions are officially suspended for the next five weeks."

"What? Why?" Sakura asked in shock as Sasuke and Naruto both looked at Kakashi questioningly.

"We're suspending missions so you three can train and learn to work together as a team." Kakashi stood up and slipped his book into one of his pockets. "The culmination of that training will be for participation in the upcoming Chunin Exams."

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted with a wide grin on his face. 'Once I'm a chunin, I can leave with Ero-sennin again and complete my training with him.'

"Really? Are you sure we can be ready for that in time?" Sakura asked as she looked between the three of them. "Sasuke and Naruto are probably ready, but I don't want to hold them back in exams."

"I can get you up to speed, no problem!" Naruto said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned at her.

"So, since Naruto has already agreed to train you two. I'll be here to assist you all with what he already plans on teaching you." Kakashi said as he looked at each of them. "If we can get the two of you closer to Naruto's level, then you should have no problem passing these exams."

"Alright! Five weeks of pure training that's perfect. I can't catch you both up in just five weeks since I've been training like this for about a year, but I've learned a lot from Jiraiya and my own mistakes, so we should be able to make pretty good progress."

"Well, let's get on with it," Sasuke stated shortly as he crossed his arms.

"Great, we can cover everything in one go!" Naruto turned and looked at Sakura. "The Yondaime put a demon inside of me when I was born. That's why everyone hates me."

"Wh-what?" Sakura frowned as she looked at Naruto in confusion.

"The Yondaime couldn't kill the Kyuubi," Naruto said with a sigh. "It was too powerful to kill. He supposedly did the only thing he could. He sealed the demon away. Ero-sennin said it had to be a baby because their chakra network isn't fully developed yet. If he had put it in an adult, it would have killed them and released the Kyuubi all over again." Naruto lifted his shirt and molded his molded his chakra. Black ink seemed to rise to the surface of his skin, spreading out and forming an intricate seal. "That's why everyone hates me because inside of me is the demon that attacked the village all those years ago."

Sakura took a step back from him and looked at him with wide eyes. Naruto clenched his teeth as he waited for her reaction. Sakura wasn't like Sasuke. Sasuke only cared about strength and what others could do for him. Sakura was, for lack of a better word, undamaged. Naruto had seen firsthand how ordinary people usually react to the news.

Sakura took a step towards him and then wrapped her arms around him to Naruto's surprise. Kakashi smiled underneath his mask as he watched his two students. He'd been worried about Sakura's reaction to the news.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said softly as she let go and stepped back, her face flushed. "It sounds to me that you helped save us all. You should've been treated better. I wish I could go back and be your friend back then. It must have been tough being all alone and not knowing why."

Sasuke looked away and sucked his teeth as he stared out into the training ground. His eyes were focused on a dummy in the distance.

"That boy in your class," Uchiha Mikoto said softly as she and Sasuke walked towards the Uchiha compound. "The one with the blond hair…you two should be friends." She ran her fingers through his hair gently before ruffling it.

"Don't worry about it!" Naruto said with a loud laugh as he tried to lighten the mood. "We're friends now, and thanks to this guy," Naruto patted his stomach. "I know a kick-ass training technique almost no one uses except a few jonin level ninja."

"Well?" Sasuke asked, speaking up finally.

"Right," Naruto nodded and crossed his fingers. "Watch closely with that Sharingan Sasuke. Shadow Clone." There was a small pop, and a puff of smoke as an identical copy of Naruto appeared. "Alright, I'm going to close my eyes and turn my back. Sasuke, you hold up however many fingers you want."

"What's the point of this?" Sasuke asked out loud as he held up four fingers. The Naruto clone smirked at him before disappearing.

"Four," Naruto said, facing away from them. He turned back around and looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. "Do you get it now?"

"The clone saw the fingers Sasuke put up," Sakura said as she looked between them. It was as if a light turned on behind Sasuke's eyes as his normally stoic facial expression shifted to shock.

"You remembered what the clone saw."

"Exactly."

"Before we get carried away here," Kakashi said, interjecting in their conversation. "What Naruto just showed you both is a B-Rank forbidden jutsu for a reason. For a standard user, that jutsu divides their total chakra in half, leaving the original without half their chakra. Not only that, the influx of information from the clone can be harmful to the mind."

"The reason I can use it so easily is because of the Kyuubi," Naruto said with a shrug. "I can create about six of them and have them all work on different things. The Kyuubi gives me more than enough chakra to use it effectively and heals my mind after the influx of information."

"How does this help us then?" Sasuke asked as he narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"Well, because you two can both learn to use it the same way I do. Just not as much."

"Normally, I'd say no to something like this, but since Naruto has been using it for so long. I'm going to allow it in moderation and under my supervision." Kakashi said seriously as he looked at each of them individually. "We'll start slow with breaks every hour to process information and recoup. We'll build up your tolerance to its effects."

"For you, Sakura it's going to be important to only ever use one, especially at first," Naruto said as he looked directly at her. "You have small chakra reserves as it is. If you try and use more than one clone, you'll hurt yourself. However, since you have such small chakra reserves, this training technique should help you grow them. You'll exhaust almost all of your chakra each day and let it replenish overnight. Like a muscle, it should start to get bigger. Everyone has a limit. Their chakra reserves can only ever get so big, though."

"Eventually, with enough practice, you'll be able to control how much chakra to give each clone like I can. You can give it the bare minimum amount or give it more so it's more durable. Also, any unused chakra returns to the user, but that probably won't be the case while training." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"This technique won't work for well for taijutsu either," Kakashi interjected as he eyed them all. "The clones can learn the moves, but the muscle and stamina gain won't transfer over its good for muscle memory only."

"So, what are we going to use them for?" Sakura asked curiously as she looked between Naruto and Kakashi.

"We're going to start with the basics. chakra control." Naruto said as he crossed his arms. "Once you two have mastered water walking with the clones, we'll move onto nature transformation, which will help with chakra control. Eventually, your clones will be the ones working on chakra control, nature transformation, learning new jutsu, and we'll be working on our taijutsu."

"The first step is learning that technique, then?" Sasuke asked as he looked at Naruto.

"Yeah, and we want to learn it as soon as possible." Naruto took a few steps back and crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone," six identical Naruto's appeared with low pops. Each of them looked around for a moment before taking off in different directions. "I'll send my clones to go run some errands and work on chakra control and nature transformation."

Sakura and even Sasuke looked impressed as Naruto sat there with a grin on his face. "Now it's time for you both to practice." He turned to Sasuke. "You saw it with your Sharingan, so you should be able to copy it, right?"

"Shadow Clone," Sasuke crossed his fingers, and as his body seemed to imitate the way Naruto molded his chakra automatically. Sasuke felt half his chakra move through his body, plummeting from his stomach and down into his feet. As it left his body, he heard a low pop and turned to see an almost identical copy of himself standing there. He almost instantly felt light-headed and nearly swayed. The clone quickly disappeared, and he felt his chakra come rushing back to him.

"The Sharingan allows Sasuke's body to copy unconsciously and imitate the seals and the way the body molded the chakra," Kakashi said as he looked at a bewildered Sasuke. "That doesn't mean his body can handle the use of the jutsu especially since his Sharingan is so new. He isn't used to performing new jutsu like that."

"Kakashi-sensei, how does the Sharingan work anyway? Naruto asked.

"The Sharingan can see things that the normal eye can't see. Things like subtle muscle twitches and micro-expressions. It also facilitates a sort of translation of that information in the user's brain, allowing them to know what someone will do instinctively. It also lets them see things that are moving so fast that others might not see. That, along with its ability to see chakra and giving the user the ability to remember everything they see, lets a Sharingan user copy someone's jutsu and movements. With enough training, you can avoid needing the Sharingan to recall or use a jutsu, but only once their body has become used to using it. The user also needs to master nature transformation for it to be viable. If Sasuke copies a water-based jutsu without any knowledge of nature transformation or chakra control, the jutsu will always be weaker."

"That's incredible," Sakura said in awe as she looked at Sasuke. "I knew the Sharingan was a powerful Kekkei Genkai, but I had no idea it could do all that."

"Well, since Sasuke can perfume the jutsu why don't you work with him on getting used to it, and I'll teach Sakura."

"That'll work," Kakashi said as he took a step forward and started leading Sasuke away from them.

"Alright, then Sakura!" Naruto said as he turned around. "You saw those hand seals, so now you just need to know the theory." Naruto reached up and scratched his chin. "So basically, what you want to do is kind of like the regular clone technique. You want to mold your chakra in your stomach and expel it out. However, with this jutsu you want to meld as much chakra as you can and expel it out through your feet."

"My feet?" She asked, looking confused.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a shrug. "It's where your shadow connects with your body. At least that's what Ero-sennin said when he taught it to me. I think the chakra travels through your shadow and uses that as the mold for the clone before it appears. Like a way to give it corporal shape."

"Alright then. Let's give this a try." Sakura took a step back and crossed her fingers. She closed her eyes in concentration. A slight blue aura whipped up around her as she melded as much of her chakra as she could. "Shadow Clone,"

There was a familiar pop and puff of white smoke. When it cleared, a disfigured Sakura sat mangled on the ground. The clone had legs where the arms should be and feet where her nose should be. To top it all off, her usual pink hair was grey and lifeless. There was a pop as it disappeared, and Sakura swayed on her feet.

"That was a good start," Naruto muttered as he crouched down rested his chin in his hand. "Let's do it again, but this time picture yourself clearly in your mind, mold your chakra, and do the jutsu."

"Right," Sakura nodded and crossed her fingers again.

It took about two or three hours before Sakura was able to produce something that looked like her. The last attempt was an almost exact copy of Sakura minus her hair and eyelids. After the disturbing image disappeared, Naruto clapped his hands for her.

"That was a good attempt! We're almost there!" He said happily as he stretched. "We need to take a break. Why don't we get some food and rest up a bit? I think you'll get it by the end of the day."

"Really?" Sakura asked as she looked at him in surprise. She took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. Even though each clone returned the chakra, it had it would return less and less each time. She was starting to run low on chakra and was getting a bit light-headed.

"Yeah! It took me almost an entire day to learn it the first time. Honestly, I was only able to get it right by forcing it. I put so much chakra into it. I made 100 clones."

"100 clones?" Sakura asked in surprise. "That's insane!" 'How much chakra does he even have?' She asked herself as she tried not to be envious of her friend.

"Yeah, it took me almost a year before I could control how much chakra to put in each one, and even longer to learn how to give them enough not to blow up when they got hit." Naruto and Sakura started walking towards Kakashi and Sasuke. Kakashi was casually sitting up against a tree in the shade while Sasuke stood a few feet away panting.

"We're going to go get lunch!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi and Sasuke as they approached. "Come on it's best to take a break when training like this, or you'll burn out."

"I'm fine!" Sasuke snapped at Naruto as he panted deeply. "I don't need a break right now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said as he waved his hand dismissively at him. "We all get it, Sasuke. You're the strongest, and you don't need to rest. But see, Sakura and I are weak compared to you, and we need some lunch and to recoup our chakra." Naruto laced his fingers behind his head and made eye contact with Sasuke. "Now be a good and noble teammate and join us, so we don't feel lazy for eating lunch."

"You don't have to recoup anything," Sakura said as she looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "All you've done is sit there and watch me.

"That's all you've seen," Naruto said in a faux mystical tone as he stroked an imaginary beard.

"You need a break Sasuke," Kakashi said as he flipped a page in his book. "Go get some lunch with them, and rest; we'll get back to this in an hour."

"You coming with us, sensei?" Naruto asked as he looked at the one-eyed man.

"Nah, I ate a big breakfast and haven't done much today," he said as he flipped a page in his book once again.

"Alright," Naruto said as he turned around and started walking off towards the edge of the training ground. Sasuke and Sakura followed him a bit, not saying anything until Naruto stopped in the shade of a large tree and sat down.

"I thought we were getting lunch," Sasuke muttered in an irritated tone as Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion.

"We are," he said lazily as he leaned up against a tree just like their sensei. "Any second now," he muttered as he looked around. As if that had been the magic word, a dark orange and blond blur dropped from the tree.

"Here you guys go!" Naruto's clone said with a grin as he held up a bagged package. He set it down on the ground and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The clone's memories instantly returned to Naruto as he remembered going to get lunch after spending all morning looking for a weapons shop to repair his sword and finding one. Naruto had spoken with the owner, who'd assured him he could replace the blade with little effort after Naruto described the damage to him and what he wanted. The clone had then gone back to his place with Sasuke and doubled back to drop the sword off.

"See, these things are useful, right?" Naruto said as he leaned forward and opened the bag. Inside were four identical store-bought bento boxes. Naruto passed one out to Sasuke and Sakura before taking one. Then he pulled out three water bottles and handed them each one, and took one for himself.

"Thanks again for the meal Naruto," Sakura said with a small smile as she opened her box. Inside was rice, shrimp tempura, cucumber sunmono, and an onigiri.

"No biggie," Naruto said as he snapped his chopsticks apart. "Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu," Sakura replied cheerfully.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he started eating as well.

Naruto and them ate their lunch with him and Sasuke, splitting the bento he'd gotten for Kakashi. After lunch, the three of them sat in the shade for several more minutes before Sasuke got too antsy to return to training and left them to meet up with Kakashi. After about another 30 minutes of resting in the shade, Naruto looked up at Sakura.

"Ready to go again?" Naruto asked as she looked over at him.

"I think so," Sakura said as she stood up and stretched her arms. She walked a few paces away and stood in front of Naruto a few feet away.

"You've mastered molding the amount of chakra you need, and you've gotten good at sending it out through your feet. So do everything you already know how to do while trying to picture yourself as best you can."

"Got it, Shadow Clone," There was a soft pop and a puff of white smoke. There was an exact copy of Sakura standing just a few paces to her right when it cleared.

"Awesome!" Naruto called as he stood up in excitement. Naruto watched as Sakura and her clone looked at each other for a moment. Before the real Sakura swayed on her feet a bit, Naruto rushed over in a blink of an eye and held her steady by her shoulders. "Let it go, Sakura."

Sakura closed her eyes and willed the clone to disappear. There was a faint pop, and she suddenly felt a large amount of chakra return to her. She let out a sigh and reclaimed her footing as Naruto backed away.

"I did it!" She said excitedly as she turned around towards Naruto, grinning.

"Now, let's do it again," he said with a smile as he stepped back and crossed his arms. "Do it as many times as you can before the day is over."


Naruto sighed as he walked through the doors of the Uchiha Compound. Today had been a long day, but both Sasuke and Sakura had learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu at the end of it. Sasuke had been able to create two clones without much effort towards the end of the evening, and Sakura managed a solid one. For training purposes, though, Sasuke would have to stick with one at first since two was still a considerable strain on his chakra. Overall, Naruto was relatively impressed with his teammates.

"We made a deal," Sasuke's voice rang out from the left. Naruto turned to see Sasuke sitting on his wooden patio staring at Naruto. "The deal was that you would train me and help me get stronger, and you'd even help me kill Itachi." Sasuke stood up and walked over to Naruto, his face passive. "In return, I'd agree to leave Konoha and become a missing-nin helping you rebuild Uzushio." Sasuke crossed his arms. "Last I checked, it was Kakashi training me out there today. I'm not going to help you if you're going to come up with one idea and pass it on to my sensei."

"Our sensei," Naruto said with a flippant tone. "Who said that's all I had for you?" Naruto asked with the unfamiliar bite of frustration in his voice. "You know you've been pushy these last couple of days. Inviting me to live here, always asking to train on your terms, and not to mention your attitude. Let's get one thing straight here. I can rebuild Uzushio on my own, and if I wanted it, I could kill Itachi on my own and take that away from you for good." Naruto took a step forward, locking eyes with the cold-faced ninja. "What I saw was a mutually beneficial partnership that could make both our lives easier. I was hoping that we could become friends."

Since they had met, Naruto had been relatively cheerful outside of a few spots of seriousness here and there. Even once they had gotten out of the meeting with the Sandaime, Naruto had bounced back pretty quickly. The Naruto standing there now looked every bit as cold and as severe as Sasuke usually did.

"There aren't a lot of people out there that can understand what we've been through," Naruto said as he seemed to calm down a bit. He looked up into the dark navy sky and seemed to drift off for a moment. "We both have no parents and no friends. Both were ostracized from the village for the same reasons. People try to avoid us like plagues because we remind them of a tragedy that wasn't even our fault. At least none of the villagers have tried to kill you for it." Naruto paused and took a deep breath. "I guess your brother did try and kill you, though." Naruto turned and took looked at Sasuke with a small fake smile. "We're more alike than you think."

"No, we're not," Sasuke growled as he glared at the blond-haired ninja. "You never had parents or a family. You don't know what it feels like to lose them; you've always been alone."

"You know," Naruto said as he smiled at the red-eyed teen. "That also meant for the first eight years of my life I didn't know what love felt like." He looked away again as he looked off in the distance. "I didn't know what it felt like for someone to worry about me, or who cared about me, or wanted me to succeed. Sometimes I didn't even know where my next meal would come from, or who was going to replace my ripped underwear, or if I was going to get beat up again in the middle of the night by a bunch of middle-aged has-beens." Naruto shrugged and turned back to Sasuke. "We can stand here all night and complain about who had it worse, or we can get some of that training you want so badly in."

Sasuke sat there and stared at Naruto in silence. He had been so absorbed in his pain and trying to kill Itachi he'd never thought of what life might have been like for Naruto in the village. Naruto told him about the Kyuubi, and he had known that Naruto was an orphan and that he'd left the village, but he never put it all together. He had a one-track mind, and that one track was Itachi.

'Maybe…maybe if one person knew how it felt. If one person could come close to understanding my feelings, it is Naruto.' Sasuke thought as he sighed and locked eyes with Naruto.

"Finally," he grunted as he walked past Naruto towards a small training ground nearby. "Next time, just say we can train instead of wasting our time with all that. We have goals we need to accomplish."

Naruto smirked at Sasuke's back as he started to follow him. Maybe Sasuke wouldn't be so difficult to get along with after all. Naruto followed Sasuke down the path lined with houses and took a left with him. After passing another large building with the Uchiha crest on it and some stalls, they came to a large clearing. It was a circular clearing surrounded by large flat white stones making a kind of arena. It was large enough for two accomplished ninjas to spar in and far enough away that they shouldn't cause any significant problems.

"Create two shadow clones and set them to watch from above," Naruto said as he shrugged off his haori. He set it down on a stone bench several feet from the training area. "Make sure they're watching from two different angles." Naruto turned and stretched his neck to back and forth. Sasuke created the shadow clones with surprising ease, and they each took off in different directions.

"What's this for?" Sasuke asked as he stepped into the clearing. He stood there still staring down at Naruto.

"You'll find out," Naruto said with a grin as he rubbed his nose. He two stepped into the arena and turned to face Sasuke. "I'm guessing your good if we skip the bullshit seal of confrontation stuff?"

"Ready when you are," Sasuke said as he bent his knees and got into a taijutsu stance.

"No, you're not," Naruto said with a smirk. Naruto vanished as he pumped chakra into his legs and shot forward.

Sasuke's eyes widened at just how fast Naruto was. He was almost as fast as Haku, the ninja; they both fought in Wave Country. However, his Sharingan could see the ninja clearly as he rushed forward.

Naruto approached Sasuke and threw a fist at the ninja. Sasuke dodged to the right and moved to strike back when he lost his balance. Naruto slipped his right foot forward behind Sasuke's and pulled it forward, causing the ninja to lose his footing. As Sasuke stumbled and fell forward, he fell into Naruto's elbow face first, which dazed him.

Turning quickly, Sasuke dropped low to the ground and kicked out with his leg in a sweeping motion trying to knock Naruto off his feet.

Naruto jumped back into a back handspring and pushed himself off the ground with his hands. As he flew into the air, he quickly drew out several shurikens and threw them as he twisted through the air and landed on his feet.

Sasuke watched as the shuriken glided through the air at him. Just like with Naruto's speed, he could see them with complete clarity. Reaching into a pouch, he drew out an equal amount of shuriken and threw them at Naruto's, knocking them out of the air with ease. He didn't stop there as he drew out two kunai and launched them right at Naruto.

Naruto quickly jumped back out of the way of the kunai and promptly found his footing. Just as Sasuke charged at him, he looked like a black and blue blur as he raced towards Naruto, who just barely blocked the turning kick aimed at his head with his forearm.

Sasuke hooked his foot around Naruto's forearm and forced it down. He pushed himself off the ground using his other foot and used Naruto's forearm as a base for his other foot to spring off. As he flipped through the air, he ran through several hand seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball," Sasuke called as he brought his fingers up to his mouth and released the chakra he molded in his chest through his mouth. A large stream of fire poured from his mouth, forming into a giant fireball. As the last bit of flame left his mouth, the fireball soared at Naruto on the ground.

Naruto watched as the giant fireball launched towards him and jumped back as he flew through several hand seals. "Water Style: Water Barrier" Naruto quickly molded a large amount of chakra in his throat and then opened his mouth. Water blasted from his mouth, forming a large wall in front of him and wrapping around him. The fireball slammed into the water and exploded into a wave of hot steam. The hot steam filled the area clouding Naruto's vision.

Sasuke smirked as the steam filled the area, and his eyes narrowed on Naruto. He could easily see Naruto's silhouette in the haze. Sasuke pumped chakra into his legs and dashed forward. Sasuke's body cut a path through the steam as it parted for him as he ran through it. Sasuke jumped through the air and spun over Naruto. Landing behind him, he watched as Naruto turned to strike him. Sasuke dodged the fist and buried it in Naruto's stomach. He pulled back and launched a spinning kick at Naruto's head. His heel connected, and Naruto flew through the air before landing with a splash. As Naruto landed, his body turned to water and fell apart. 'Water clone?'

Sasuke looked around his Sharingan, darting around the mist. 'Front, back, right, left' Sasuke checked his surroundings, trying to find Naruto when he felt a slight chill on the crown of his head as the air shifted. 'Above!'

"Wind Style: Gale Palm," Naruto released wind chakra into his hands and compressed it drawing in natural air around him. Clapping his hands together, he threw them out at Sasuke, releasing a mighty gale of wind.

Sasuke jumped back several paces as the wind blasted into the earth where he just stood, causing it to blow apart violently.

Naruto landed as the steam was cleared from his Jutsu. Drawing a kunai, he held it in a reverse grip as he charged at Sasuke, slashing at his chest.

Sasuke dodged the slash and drew his kunai. The two exchanged rapid blows, the kunai bouncing off each other. The ring of clashing metal rang out through the still night air as Naruto pressed his advantage as Sasuke continued to back off when Naruto advanced. Blocking where he could and dodging Sasuke's kicks and punches with his free hand.

Sasuke's eyes were starting to burn with the strain of using his Sharingan for this long. Having it activated all day and now using it in battle took its toll on his eyes and chakra. Not to mention using that jutsu after having made two shadow clones. Sasuke was almost empty, and soon he'd have to let go of the Sharingan. 'I need to find an opening,' Sasuke thought as he blocked a fist aimed at his face and blocked a slash to his stomach. 'If I can't find one, I need to create one.' Sasuke stopped a stab at his shoulder, drew another kunai, and slashed up towards Naruto's face. Naruto's assault finally paused as he moved back to avoid the slash. Sasuke spun quickly and launched a kunai at Naruto with all his strength.

Naruto stepped back and swayed to the right, dodging the kunai. Sasuke was on him instantly. He had come at Naruto full speed thrusting the remaining kunai at his face. Naruto reached up and grabbed his wrist. Naruto flipped his kunai in his hand into a regular grip and thrust it forward to stab Sasuke in the ribs. Naruto stopped just as the tip pierced Sasuke's shirt.

"I win," Naruto said with a grin. Sasuke's face was inches away from Sasuke's as he held the ninja's arm over his head and the tip of his kunai pressed against his ribs.

"That so?" Sasuke asked as he

Naruto felt the air shift above him. Sasuke's foot connected with the top of Naruto's head as it snapped forward, and his chin was pressed into his chest. The Sasuke he was holding onto disappeared with pop and a puff of smoke. Naruto fell backward as he stumbled.

'A third shadow clone?' Was Naruto's last thought as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What?" Sasuke asked out loud. Then he felt it. The cold steel of a kunai pressed against the back of his neck.

"I win," Naruto said with another grin. Sasuke was standing in front of him as he pressed the tip of a kunai into the back of his neck. "Time to eat," Naruto said with a grin as he, too, disappeared.

Sasuke stood there, his eyes now black; his Sharingan had faded away with that third shadow clone. He was standing in the make-shift training arena by himself with no sight of Naruto.

"Come on, Sasuke!" Sasuke turned to see Naruto sitting on the bench with a large bowl of ramen in his hands. There was a large paper bag on the bench next to him. "I got you some too!"

'I never even fought him,' Sasuke thought as he stared at Naruto, who looked perfectly content eating ramen. 'His clones are just as strong as he is. I couldn't even tell the difference between them even with the Sharingan.'

Naruto watched with a smile as Sasuke came over to sit down on the bench. "Before you eat, release your other two clones," Naruto said with a grin as he slurped his noodles.

Sasuke closed his eyes and focused on releasing his clones. It happened almost instantly. He felt his chakra return to him. At the same time, hundreds of images flashed through his mind. He felt a sharp pain in his head for a moment, but it passed quickly.

"Do you remember the fight?" Naruto asked as he set his empty bowl down and reached into the bag. He pulled out two more takeaway bowls of ramen and handed one to Sasuke. Naruto pulled the plastic lid off his and dug into it.

"Yeah," Sasuke grunted as he set the bowl in his lap. "You left almost immediately after the fight began." Sasuke pulled the lid off his and set it aside as he snapped apart some chopsticks. "I didn't even notice the switch.

"But your clones did," Naruto said through a mouth full of noodles. "When did I make the switch?"

"During your back handspring. Right after you threw the shuriken." Sasuke stirred his ramen with his chopsticks. "I was focused on blocking your shuriken."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you were able to land a blow," Naruto said with a laugh. "I didn't expect you to make a third shadow clone. That was a good idea. More importantly, did your clones see what you did wrong?"

"Yeah, every opening I didn't notice during the fight they saw. They knew a dozen different ways to beat you."

"Something like that comes with experience. The more you fight, the easier it is to see those openings. You can use your clones to notice them quicker. Learn to hone those instincts faster."

"You took it easy on me," Sasuke grumbled as he glared down at his ramen. "Your clone could have beaten me at any moment."

"Yeah, but think of it like this. I've been training with these clones for almost a year now. At first, I only used two or three, but now I use six. So really, I've been training almost three years longer than you." Naruto finished his noodles and started to drink the broth. "You are a genius though," Naruto said as he paused. "Once you get the hang of training like this, it probably won't take you long to catch up to me."

"The longer it takes me to catch up to you, the longer it'll take me to catch up to him," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. 'I'd of never landed that blow on Naruto if he hadn't been trying to teach me this lesson. If I can't even beat a fellow genin…'

"There's a limit on how strong someone can get. Even for someone like him." Naruto said right after he finished the last bit of his broth. "Stop worrying about it for now and just focus on getting stronger." Naruto turned and looked at Sasuke with a grin. "Eat that before it gets cold. It's a shame to waste good ramen like that."

Naruto and Sasuke didn't exchange any more words as Sasuke finished his food. The two of them parted ways afterward to head to bed and get ready for the next day—their first actual day of training for the Chunin Exams.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. School got the best of me for a bit. I just finished writing Chapter Eight and will probably start Nine tonight. I should have Six up sometime tomorrow. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!