A/N: 1. Let me first start by paying homage to the legendary Toriyama Akira sensei, creator of the universally acclaimed and loved Dragon Ball (and all its successors.). On 8th of March, the news of his passing was the first thing I saw when I opened my YouTube feed. Well, I have not been a regular dragon ball watcher/reader. I have only ever watched it as a kid, long ago and I have forgotten most of it. But he is the inspiration behind all the mangakas that followed, Masashi Kishimoto, Eichiro Oda, Tite Kubo, Kohei Horikoshi and so on and so forth. So, his passing is an irreparable damage to the shonen world. I wish to convey my sincere condolences to all the fans of his work. Rest in peace Toriyama-sensei. You will always be alive among us through your works.

2. Well, today's the birthday of our beloved editor GBAboy313. Happy birthday buddy. I hope this chapter is good enough as a birthday gift. Thank you very much for your continued support. Not only in editing the chapters, but also hitting me with ideas to make the stories more colourful, interesting and expansive. Without you, I don't know where I would have been. So, wish you all the health, happiness, luck and creativity in the world.

3. I know. I know. Its been too long. All I can say is that I was unable to write in February, so I couldn't publish last month. As I said in the author's note of One Year Early, I have gotten a bit busier than I was last year. Also, sometimes I end up hitting some minor writer's blocks. Thankfully none have been major yet and with GBAboy313's support, I have been able to overcome them. But Guardian is a long-term project and I believe that keeping the quality of the story intact is extremely important. GBA can tell how many times I have been nervous about my writing quality having fallen. So, I hope you all understand why sometimes the gap between two chapters become a bit longer than they are supposed to be. We are currently going through the OG Naruto timeline and instead of showing a time-skip, our plan is to go through the time-skip or at least a year of the timeskip within the scope of Part-1. However, when we reach a point from where Shippuden will have to be started, I will have to put this fic in a six-month hiatus, since I need to figure out the arcs, the storyline the villains and everything else. Don't worry this hiatus is not going to be within this year, but when it does come, I hope you will all be kind enough to allow me that break. I need it to make sure that this story doesn't lose its quality. Let me also thank you all sincerely for being patient with me through this longer gap. And let's get on with the chapter.

CHAPTER 40: YAKUMO KURAMA: AN ABANDONED PROTÉGÉ

*Two days had passed since Naruto and Hinata had trained the Konohamaru gang on tree walking and water walking. The day after Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon had mastered tree walking, Naruto and Hinata didn't waste time in teaching them water walking as well, which the kids got for the most part, though they (Hanabi included) were quite shaky on the water, but still, they were on the right track nevertheless.

"Morning Kiba, what's up?" Naruto greeted as he just got out of his apartment after having breakfast. Today, Hinata wasn't training with him, rather she had gone to Gai to learn the basics of the inner gates. And Naruto, he had thought of practicing by himself some before Hinata showed up.

The Inuzuka boy looked a little down. "I wanted to train with you." Kiba said looking sideways.

"Huh? That's new…" Naruto said raising an eyebrow.

"To get better, you have to start somewhere, right?" Kiba responded.

"I suppose."

"You know how I also scream about being Hokage and all that… like you."

Naruto nodded.

"Well, you are actually putting in the hard work to earn that title, but here I am…seeing my sister all roughed up in the mission to grab that damn Uchiha…that was a rude awakening. I realized that either I really had to put in the work behind my aim of being Hokage or just shut up about it. I saw how you and Hinata fought for your conviction. I don't know if I would have had the same confidence in myself if I were in your place…"

"Kiba…"

"Hehe…you think of me as some dumb fool and coward now, don't you?"

"NO WAY!" Naruto shot back. "Listen Kiba, I didn't grow stronger by some magic. Remember the prelims, I was worse than everyone in the class till then. No jutsus excluding shadow clones, crappy chakra control, messed up basics, no taijutsu, nothing. So yeah, I can fully understand where you're coming from. And if you are serious about getting better to be able to lay a claim on the Hokage's hat." Naruto's tone became serious. "Then I will support you. If not for anything else, then for the sake of having a worthy rival. The teme is a rival for me, but to have a rival who actually wants to be Hokage…" Naruto smirked. "You have to make damn sure that you'll make this competition worthwhile."

"Huh?" Kiba groaned in annoyance. "You are talking like you have that hat in your hands already!"

Naruto's smirk intensified. "Nope I don't, but I won't be letting you take it."

"I won't let you take it either!" Kiba shot back.

"That's the spirit. But you should know that I am already a step ahead. I have made chunin already. You have some catching up to do."

Kiba almost growled. "Anyways, you wanted to train?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's train. Head to training ground 7?"

"You got it!"

And the two friends/rivals headed to the training ground concerned.

"Can you teach me the shadow clone jutsu?" Kiba questioned. "If I learnt it, then I have a new gatsuga technique I wanna work out with Akamaru."

Naruto frowned: "That's a forbidden technique. I wasn't even supposed to learn it. It's forbidden because it places a lot of strain on your chakra. I can teach it but I can't sense your amount of chakra so I can't tell you if you could survive or burn yourself out from making a clone. Even one clone is hell from what I hear. Most people don't have Uzumaki chakra volume or a Biju in them to back them up."

"Gotta take a risk then." Kiba commented. Akamaru let out a nervous 'yip'.

"Alright…this is the hand sign." Naruto made the cross seal. "Do this and focus chakra, don't put too much, Hinata-chan tried that and got almost knocked out. I didn't know about this side effect at that time. So, make sure that you're not putting in too much, alright?"

Kiba nodded and made the cross hand-seal following Naruto's instruction.

"Here it goes…Shadow clone jutsu!"

*Puff*

"I did it! I did it!" Two Kibas exclaimed.

"Not bad mutt boy…" Naruto said with a grin.

"Who're you calling a mutt boy, you idiot blonde!" The two Kibas shouted in unison.

Akamaru eyed his now two masters and yipped in confusion.

"Alright!" The two Kibas bumped their fists with open palms. "This looks easy enough."

"Well, Kakashi-sensei told me that I can consider shadow clones truly mastered when there won't be any smoke when I summon the clones and that I can perform the jutsu without weaving the hand-sign." Naruto explained. "So, if you wanna truly master it, then you have to make sure of that as well."

"Got it, Naruto, so what's next?"

"Umm…how about going on ten laps around Konoha and then sparring some?" Naruto suggested.

Kiba had done a single lap around the village…but that wasn't immediately after using the most chakra consuming technique ever, Kiba managed to keep from overdoing it thanks to Kurenai's teachings, but that didn't change the fact that he was barely staying on his feet and felt like he was about to fold over like paper in a windstorm.

"T-ten laps?"

"Well, me and Hinata-chan can do fifteen to twenty laps nowadays. Bushy brows can do like a hundred. Even Neji can do like thirty. Kakashi-sensei can do a hundred and Gai-sensei…" Naruto himself gulped and whispered in Kiba's ears. "About two hundred and he claims that he can still keep going…"

"T-That's i-insane! Is everyone strong here insane?!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Well, Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei demand a lot of work and effort when they are actually in the mood of teaching. And Gai-sensei insists on doing all this training with weights attached. See?" Naruto showed Kiba the weights attached on his legs. The Inuzuka got even more dumbfounded.

"Even Hinata does it all with weights attached?"

Naruto nodded. "Well, yeah. She adapted to weights training much quicker than I did…though she also uses arm weights for training her arms to move faster for strikes and to be able to keep up, I had to my weights a bit. And all of Team-5 does it too. Especially bushy brows but all of them. And if you want to do some serious training, you should put on weights as well."

"I get what you're saying…good grief." Kiba said wondering just how insane the training regimens of his friends were getting. But he needed to catch up. "I fell behind big time…huh? BUT THERE'S NO WAY IN Hell I'll keep letting that happen!"

"Yeah! That's the spirit! Let's go!" Naruto raised his fist in the air and he and Kiba went about going on the laps around the village.

Kiba's chakra exhaustion promptly caught up with him and he spent an hour on the ground after the first lap.

Naruto made sure to have Kiba maintain a brisk pace after the dog boy recovered.

And as they lapped around the village…

"I've even heard that Gai-sensei can do a hundred laps around the entire village, upside down, on his hands…" Naruto stated…

"WHAT!?" Kiba exclaimed. Gai was just seeming to be more and more insane with each new thing he heard about the man. Is that how he was so powerful that he wiped out almost the entirety of the Yukigakure army by himself?

"I KNOW! I'm half convinced he's either some god or avatar of a god of physical fitness or strength, or he's some eldritch horror from beyond the veil trying to pretend to be human and yet it unconsciously screws with reality in some situations and it is a fitness nut. Either would explain so damn much." Naruto stated with a distant and blank look in eyes.

Naruto coughed and then tried to move on from his thousand-yard stare flashback. "A-anyways, I was wondering. Perhaps, you should learn about opening a gate or two. Your gatsuga is pretty fast and hits really hard. But with the inner gates opened, it will be even faster and harder."

"You've got a point, but if I open an inner gate, I'll be faster than Akamaru. In order for the gatsuga to work, we need to match our pace…otherwise we risk screwing it all up. You think Akamaru can learn this?"

"I dunno. Ask Gai-sensei. I heard once that his self-punishment challenges led to him juggling kittens and that nurtured them to be ninken…but from what I think, I guess Akamaru is too young and little at the moment for that. Maybe in a year or two when he gets bigger?"

"Yeah…sounds about right. Guess I'll see about getting with Gai-sensei about that."

"Yeah, and besides, even if Akamaru can't master it at the moment, if you know it, then if for some reason you need to pull a gatsuga by yourself or with you and your clone, then you will be able to do a good one, with a gate opened."

"That makes a lot of sense…that way I can cover for Akamaru when its needed! You're smarter than you look, Naruto."

"Hehe…Wait, a second…GET BACK HERE DOG BOY!"

And the two continued their laps around the village. Though it was more Naruto trying to catch Kiba for the backhanded compliment.

And after the laps and after Naruto's rage finally settled, the two went for a light spar. Kiba tried various attacks using the gatsuga while Naruto dodged and blocked him using the inner gates.

The blonde had to admit, the gatsuga carried quite the punch and now Kiba was honing it even further using earth chakra. He had to use two to three gates depending on the speed of the attacks to be able to dodge and block.

It should be noted that Naruto stuck to Taijutsu and didn't use anything else. It was a spar. Otherwise Kiba would get his ass kicked.

This spar went for an hour and by the end, Kiba was exhausted

Needless to say, the boys were covered in bruises.

"Man…*pant* you sure quite pack the punch…it's like you're a totally different person from the Naruto I fought in the prelims…*pant*."

"I gotta admit, you've improved too…the gatsuga has gotten a lot faster and hits a lot harder." Naruto responded.

"Thanks. I'll keep improving it *pant*."

"Yeah…it'll be deadly…but make sure to add other tricks and don't rely solely on your clan techniques…"

(Somewhere, a Blonde Bomber cried tears of joy at someone sharing his philosophy…as he rained clay constructs down on his opponents and declared explosions were true art)

"I know. Kakashi-sensei pointed that out…quite clearly during our last mission…*pant*."

And with that the boys had trained for the day and Naruto put his weights back on, having had to remove them earlier to face Kiba's gatsuga and dodge it using the inner gates.

The boys made their way home through the outskirts of Konoha and it was then that they noticed a girl, painting.

Intrigued, the two glanced at her painting. From their position, the academy was visible. And they saw that the girl was drawing the academy and then she drew a lightning bolt falling on it.

And as soon as the painting was completed, they saw a lightning bolt falling on the academy for real and its building getting razed to the ground.

Though in seconds, Naruto got back to reality and saw that the academy still stood. But it had clear signs of burn damage on parts of it.

"Genjutsu. A damn good one at that. Not one placed on a person but on reality itself. I've heard of monsters able to inflict damage in dreams that becomes real on their victims, but to see an illusion that does the same is almost unbelievable." Kurama commented from the mindscape.

'For real…genjutsu can be this real!? Some of the burns remained even after the illusion faded.'

"That has to be a Kurama clan member. Probably the Yakumo girl Kurenai mentioned. That most likely was Demonic Reality, but weak and subtle. The effect being slipped in through more basic illusions." Minato commented.

'Yeah, she looks like our age…so yeah, certainly possible. Oh shit, I forgot that Kiba's here too!'

Naruto saw Kiba having a panicked look and on the verge of freaking out. Before he could do so, the blonde placed his thumb on Kiba's forehead and let out a burst of Kurama's chakra. 'Kai!'

And the genjutsu for Kiba was dispelled as well. But a few more burn marks slipped into reality.

"What the hell!?" Kiba yelled.

The girl glanced back, her expression blank, but her eyes were unnerving. Hate and rage.

But before any party could say anything, an ANBU popped up out of nowhere.

"It's time to escort you back Ma'am." The ANBU stated. The girl nodded and left with him.

Naruto and Kiba stood there confused.

"Let's follow her! She can do that powerful genjutsu…it's like seeing Kurenai-sensei in action, but she's so young…I wanna know how that shit was possible!"

"I know…But she's having ANBU escorts and we definitely don't want to run into trouble with the ANBU. Let's keep our distance. I remember Kurenai-sensei once talking about a genjutsu prodigy. So rather than following, we should find Kurenai-sensei and ask her about it." Naruto suggested.

Kiba deflated and grumbled: "That makes sense. Running into trouble with ANBU…Shikamaru would call it too troublesome…" Kiba commented with a bark of agreement from Akamaru…

(Shikamaru sneezed in his sleep before grumbling: "Troublesome dog…")

*Later, Kurenai's place*

The two boys had gone straight to Kurenai after witnessing the girl on the outskirts of Konoha.

Kurenai sipped some tea from her cup as she heard the description from Naruto an Kiba about the girl and her genjutsu powers.

"Hmm…good observation, Naruto. That girl you saw indeed was Yakumo. Even when her kekkei-genkai is sealed, her genjutsu prowess are still so good that its frightening. And you are not wrong in your assessment that she can reach a mastery of genjutsu of the level of mine at her age, Kiba." The genjutsu mistress explained.

"I can totally understand why Ero-Sennin wants her to be a ninja ASAP. That was some powerful genjutsu out there. If I didn't have my own special trait, we might have never recognized it." The blonde jinchuuriki commented.

'So, Naruto being a jinchuuriki allows him to be invulnerable to genjutsu?' Kurenai thought to herself. The records from the academy showed Genjutsu was his worst subject. It didn't surprise Kurenai. Jinchuriki plus Uzumaki heritage equals a massive chakra reserve that would take massive dedication to keep under control. Genjutsu relied on fine chakra control, even breaking it. But being a jinchuuriki did allow those few with access to powers held by the Biju. Perhaps the Biju held a power that invalidated most genjutsu? Supposedly, Kumo's Killer B was impossible to effect with Genjutsu, with those who tried to entrap the Rapping Jinchuuriki in illusions sharing horror stories about their best and strongest illusions being torn apart like metaphysical wet tissue paper.

If that was the case, he could definitely help her with Yakumo's issue. She would need to confirm that with the Hokage though and obtain his permission since Jiraiya had officially made Naruto his apprentice.

"You two have made a very useful and important observation. Yakumo-chan is indeed a genjutsu prodigy whose prowess would be a great help to the village when she hones and masters her bloodline limit. However, there is a reason why she is provided with security from the ANBU corps. Her power is unstable and can pose a mortal danger to those around her if she loses control over the power or herself. So, I would advise that you two keep away from her for the time being. I will be dealing with this issue personally."

"Got it sensei!" The boys affirmed.

Kurenai nodded. 'She shouldn't be able to mould chakra to create genjutsu. The seal has degraded. Her Demonic Reality has atrophied but it is clearly regaining its potency.'

*Meanwhile at the Hokage tower*

Kakashi stood before the author of his favourite novels, who was busy arranging some papers and scratching his forehead in annoyance every now and then.

The copy ninja blinked and watched in amusement as the new Hokage went through the loads of paperwork with so much stress and tension. He was mentally thankful to whatever Kami that there was that he was not sitting on that chair. He can at least have all the time in the world to go over his 'precious' when not on any mission or training his students.

But then again there was another existential crisis all the fans of the Icha-Icha novel series were reeling through. Jiraiya would now be unable to do much writing! Which meant super extended delays in publication of new issues, let alone new novels!

Now Kakashi had to curse whoever had made Jiraiya the Hokage. Alas, the one that had been behind Jiraiya having been pursed to take the hat was an even bigger fan of the Icha Icha novels. And he was going through that same existential crisis while crying streams of tears. ("What was I smoking that day?!" Hiruzen roared to the heavens but received no answer)

Finally, after some time, Jiraiya was able to sort all the documents. The super pervert sighed. "I wonder what makes the gaki so damn interested in this seat and hat. I'm pretty sure he would run home the second he sees all these piled up papers on the table and never scream about being Hokage again. *Phew*…what a mess! Kage's bane is the barest minimum and humblest expression of this nightmare. Damn you, sensei!" Jiraiya mumbled and Kakashi sweatdropped hearing the complains of the perverted sage.

The gravity defying hairdo nearly fell over before the sweat drop fell to the ground with a loud splash.

Finally, Jiraiya looked up. "Yes, Kakashi, what brings you?"

"Erm…well…I was here to talk about Uzushio, Jiraiya-sama…"

Jiraiya's looks became serious.

"Uzushio? What of it?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well, Hokage-sama, we both know who Naruto is and how deeply he is connected to that ruined civilization. I think it would be a grave injustice to him if we don't let him visit the place at least."

Jiraiya wondered about that. The cyclops had a point. That could be done without really having to tell Naruto about his parentage. (Of course, Jiraiya has no idea that Naruto already knows of his parentage and his parents are living inside his head)

The toad summoner took a deep breath. "You do have a point Kakashi. However, those ruins are very dangerous, if I am allowed to be generous in my wording. In order to defend their land from the overwhelming enemy attack, they turned that place into one gigantic mine-field, full of exploding seals. There could still be more traps than safe ground in that place. It will be a very dangerous area to explore."

"You are indeed right, Hokage-sama. However, exploring the place would not only be of benefit to Naruto but to Konoha as well." Kakashi responded.

"I agree. But we can't have Naruto explore that place by himself." Jiraiya commented.

"You are indeed correct, sir."

"Well, I can assign this mission if you are willing to go along." Jiraiya stated.

"I would be delighted to but…."

"The Chunin exams in Suna?" Jiraiya asked.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, I need to prep the team. Kiba needs to improve. And Hinata while having improved by miles since her and Naruto came together, still can learn a bit more. And I want to focus on the team and prep them as much as I could before they face the exams."

"Hmm…"

"Also, you assigned Hinata to me due to her lightning affinity. However, I am yet to teach her much about it, so I have my work cut out. I have seen her working a jutsu until she was able to work something similar to the Chidori out…so I need to see how good she is with the lightning release. You also gave me Kiba to teach him things related to ninken and improve his tracking skills." The copy ninja explained.

Jiraiya side eyed Kakashi, "Not gonna mention his earth affinity?"

"Copy Ninja." Kakashi stated while motioning at himself.

"Hmm, fair enough, seems that you won't be available for Uzu then."

Kakashi gave the most tired 'No Shit, Sherlock' expression he could.

"Well, in that case the only other one as capable would be, Gai, who can keep continuing the training he is giving Naruto on taijutsu. My only worry would be that Naruto would take too much after Gai and use that eyesore green spandex and a bowl haircut." Jiraiya finished with a nauseas expression

Kakashi gulped. If he allowed that to happen, Kushina-sama and Minato-sensei would have him summoned to the mindscape and strangle him to death there.

But still Gai was the only option to carry out such a mission. So, when your poisoned you might as well eat the whole plate.

And unlike Kakashi himself, Gai's team was well trained already and could be trained further while on a mission…and it would be good for Naruto's experience as a chunin to work with different teams.

"I wonder if I should send sensei along as well. He is old and might be a bit…reluctant, but he is the only one apart from me who is good enough with fuinjutsu to detect and disable the advanced seal based-traps that could be there still."

Kakashi nodded to that. "It would definitely be a good idea, Hokage-sama. Sandaime-sama can tell things about the history of Uzu and also help with any dangers still there."

"Hmm…I will request sensei then. He might be interested in going on a real mission with the gaki."

*Meanwhile, near the Hyuuga compound*

Our favourite lovebirds met up after their day's activities.

"How'd it go for you, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked after the two met up and hugged.

Hinata smiled, despite her body aching all over, in spite of the ice water bath she jumped for after that voluntary torture. "It went really well. Gai-sensei drilled me on all the workouts I need to do to be able to open the inner gates eventually. He said that since I am already training with you, my body is far more prepared than a novice. So, I might be able to open the first inner gate soon!"

"That's amazing Hime. You're sure to kick ass dattebayo!" Naruto said with a grin.

Hinata giggled "Thank you, my darling. What have you been up to?"

"Training with Kiba. He wanted to spar with me, so we did some good sparring. Gotta admit his gatsuga is packing quite a bit more of a punch than last time. We also saw that Yakumo girl that Kurenai-sensei was talking about and witnessed her genjutsu powers."

Hinata listened with interest.

Naruto explained as if acting out the scene. "So, we saw that she drew up the academy on a canvas and then drew a lightning bolt striking it. And then I saw a lightning bolt striking the academy and burning the building to the ground! I was so scared. And then Kurama snapped me out of it!"

"If Kurama-san had to step in, then she must be quite formidable with genjutsu." Hinata commented with a thoughtful expression.

"I was wondering if we should back sensei up about this Yakumo girl. She seemed quite distressed talking about her. You have the Byakugan and can dispel genjutsu at will and Kurama can help me out. We can definitely step in and help do something if her genjutsu snaps out of control."

"You are correct, Naruto-kun. I would definitely want to help Kurenai-sensei with this, she has helped me a lot."

"You're right! But no one has said anything to us about this…gah, I'll talk to Ero-Sennin and see if he can send us with Kurenai-sensei to deal with this Yakumo girl."

Hinata nodded. The couple made their unanimous decision about assisting Kurenai.

"And if we're denied still, we can always go by ourselves, tail Kurenai-sensei, observe, and jump-in if needed." Naruto whispered in Hinata's ear.

The midnight blue-haired girl giggled. "That sounds exactly like you, Naruto-kun." She whispered fondly.

And with that, the couple headed to their respective homes for the day after a quick kiss and hug.

END

EN: 'When you're poisoned you might as well eat the whole plate.' Anyone who doesn't know, this is basically the Japanese equivalent of the phrase Pick Your Poison.

A/N: And done! Finally, we managed to get another chapter and get through. I believe that the next chapter will come without an extended delay. But just in case something goes south, I sincerely apologize in advance.

We will be going through the Yakumo Kurama arc within the next few chapters and hopefully it will be entertaining enough, though it won't be and can't be as action packed as the previous two arcs. It will be little bit before we hit something as action packed as the Tsunade retrieval and Yukigakure arcs, but I hope and believe that it won't be a problem. And that will be all.

See ya all in the next chapter. Cheers and peace.

RaNK001 out.