Non-Author's Note: Here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Chuunin Exams: Interlude

Sakura slammed her fist into the punching bag in front of her with frenetic energy.

It rocked back hard on its chain. An ominous creak sounded from the tree branch it hung from.

No chakra that time. When it swung back, she pumped as much chakra as she thought safe into her fist, releasing it on the moment of impact. She made sure to monitor it for kickback, carefully being aware of where all her chakra was at all times as parts of it rolled back up her arm in the form of a shockwave.

The bag burst open, swinging round hard enough to loop up and over the tree branch. Sakura ducked, and it kept going, over and over until she stuck out her arm and clotheslined it. Its innards littered the forest ground around her. She made a mental note to stop by and wish Tenten luck for her match against Kankuro.

Experimentally, she packed more chakra into her fist for a second try, picking a tree this time.

She had to be ready for the third round. There was no more free time for the next month- she was going to train herself into the ground every day and every night, using every exercise Kakashi had taught her to strengthen her chakra. She knew her body wasn't as tough as her opponent's, so she needed more speed and raw power.

Kakashi had offered to help her train, but she'd told him to focus on Sasuke and Naruto. More than anything, she wanted to feel like her victory was her accomplishment and hers alone- she wanted to feel l like she'd won because of the blood, sweat, and tears that she had wrung out.

She trained until the early morning, beating trees until her hands bled, punching until her chakra was gone, doing push-ups and sit-ups and every exercise under the moon until every part of her ached. She practiced her genjutsu on a kage bunshin, practiced the jutsu Naruto had taught her until she could make five of them. She ran laps around her village, swam laps in the lakes, spent hours in the heat under the sun until her shoulders were tanned, and gradually piled on the weights to her body as she went until she felt like she couldn't breathe. Then, when they felt natural, she wore more.

After all, to beat Lee, she needed to take things to the next level.

"How'd it go with Kabuto, Kaka-sensei?"

"The Hokage caught him in the middle of sending a message to Orochimaru," Kakashi replied, flipping to a different page in his book. "Izuna's intel was invaluable."

Naruto smiled. "We're investigating the Sound team as well, " Kakashi continued, before his eyes turned to upside-down U's and he beamed. "As well as Yoroi."

"Eh? Yoroi? Why him?" Naruto asked, wishing he could raise his eyebrows.

"He was acting suspiciously after the exam, and made contact with the Sound team," Kakashi said. He had set Naruto's sword on the table beside the bed, reclining in a chair beside him. "His two teammates as well. The Hokage's worried we could have more than just Kabuto as the mole in our midst."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, lacing his fingers together over his abdomen. He'd been unconscious for the whole first day of his hospitalization, having put himself into a pseudo-coma to repair the damage. Day two was shaping up to be boring, as he couldn't see and his book wasn't in braille.

He was getting twitchy.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, feeling awkward. He didn't elaborate.

A slow sweatdrop ran down Kakashi's head. "Want to tell me what?"

Naruto sighed. "I get twitchy if I don't read my book every day."

"Ah. Want me to read it to you, then?"

Naruto paused. "…all right." He felt around on his wrist, where he'd painted a storage seal onto his skin. With a small press of chakra, procured the book he always carried around, encased in a black cover so the title was obscured, and handed it to his sensei. "Be careful with hit, yeah? It's the only copy I have."

"Won't get a scratch on it." Kakashi smiled even though Naruto couldn't see it. He flipped it open to the first page, pausing.

A fond look passed over his face. "Something the matter, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, nothing, " Kakashi grinned. "Nothing at all."

He began to read. Chapters slipped by with no interruption, feelings of nostalgia assaulting him in waves as he spoke, before a silence from Naruto made him glance up. The blond was asleep, head tilted towards him, one hand clutching the bed sheet. Rin gave the two of them an affectionate grin.

Smile growing, Kakashi pulled the covers up over Naruto's shoulders, pausing by the table to examine the book in his hands. He glanced out the window, pushing it open so he could leap onto the roof.

He would return later with the book in hand, slipping it into Naruto's pouch, hanging off the other chair in the room. As non-expressive as he was, Naruto would alert him when he found it, as his scream of over-enthusiastic joy would echo throughout the village.

Several hours later, Anko caught him as he was returning from the Uchiha Estate, having been to visit Sasuke. "Hey, Kakashi," she called out with a grin, "Ibiki found evidence on that Yoroi guy. I'm heading over for an extra-special session with him. Wanna come?"

Kakashi turned around, a frightening gleam in his eye. "It has been too long since I visited T&I headquarters…"

"So, are you gonna kill me or what? If you do, the fox's gonna get out, and he's gonna rip the raccoon apart, whether or not he has to go through you," Naruto commented lightly, reaching up to poke some of the sand floating above him. "That's not preferable, since I like you."

Gaara snarled, clenching his fist. The sand closed around Naruto's hand, but there was no bite. "Why can't I kill you?" he demanded. "Why can't I prove my existence?!"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because you aren't a monster."

"Shut up," Gaara demanded.

"You know, you don't have to prove you exist by killing people," Naruto replied, reaching his hand further to try and see if Gaara was close to him or not. "If you wanted, you could have people who cared about you and loved you."

"Love," the other boy mocked under his breath. "Love is worthless."

The door slid open. "What in the-" Naruto heard Shikamaru utter.

"Gaara of the Desert," Sasuke's voice called out, cold as ice. "Remove yourself from my teammate's hospital room or I will do it for you."

"C'mon, Sasuke, we were having a heart-to-heart."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"That'll be quite enough," Gai said sternly, Lee right behind him, and Naruto wondered why so many people had come to see him.

"Bye, Gaara," he called out in a friendly manner as the Suna nin left after promising to murder Sasuke.

"Are you all right, Naruto-kun?!" Lee asked, rushing to his side. Naruto grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Lee sweatdropped, deciding not to mention the fact that Naruto had aimed at the space beside him.

"I'm okay, Rock Lee. Almost all new." It had been three days, and the Kyuubi had healed everything but his eyes. He was adjusting to the rush of Bijuu chakra he'd undergone, and was excited to try transformation again soon.

He got the feeling large rivers of tears had started to stream down Lee's face. "I'm so glad! Naruto-kun fought most youthfully in the preliminaries! I have full faith you will be able to defeat Neji, despite his overwhelming power." Naruto sweatdropped. The guy sure was dramatic.

"Thanks, buddy. How're you feeling going up against Gaara, Sasuke?" Naruto asked cheekily, beaming.

Sasuke snorted. "Just get those bandages off, idiot. I need a training partner."

"Aw, what's Kaka-sensei? Chopped liver?"

"More like chopped dog meat." The two smirked. They didn't actually think that of Kakashi, but it was a running gag to tease him even when he couldn't hear.

"You better be careful, too, Shikamaru. Your opponent's strong."

"How troublesome," the boy sighed. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Choji got food poisoning. Thought I'd swing by."

"Ah. Well, you did well, though. You're the only one from Teams Eight or Ten to make it to the finals," Naruto went on. "Otherwise it's just Team Gai, Team Kakashi, and Team Gaara."

"Don't they have a sensei?"

"Yeah, but I can't be troubled to remember his name, and Team Gaara sounds better."

Naruto whistled as he ambled down the street, in his own little world.

"-pervert!" Someone yelled. Pausing, Naruto glanced away from the road. He'd strayed near the hot springs, thinking he'd go have a peaceful bath; he'd just been released from the hospital and taken the bandages off his eyes.

He'd gotten a visit from Team Eight, where Kiba made a show of saying Naruto had his respect now and Hinata fainted, as well as the rest of Team Ten. Ino had brought him flowers. Shino hadn't said much, but Naruto had heard an odd buzzing sound emanating from him.

Kakashi had hung around for the first two days of his hospitalization in a paranoid mood that someone would try something. Naruto really hoped Sasuke didn't mention catching Gaara in his room. Or the nurse that tried to give him cheaper off-brand medication instead of the expensive meds they had pumping through him. Or how someone had tried to give him something with gluten, to which he had a sensitivity to and spent days after ingesting with joint pains and a general aura of fatigue. There was a reason Ichiraku's had altered their menu for their #1 customer.

Konohamaru's sensei was passed out on the ground. Naruto stopped in front of him, reaching out with one foot to nudge him. No response.

A giggle caught his attention. Looking up, he instantly recognized the person in front of him.

"Hey! You're that guy from the alley! What, being a pervert wandering the streets at night isn't enough for you?"

The man looked over his shoulder, wearing a derisive expression. "Eh? What do you want, brat?"

Naruto's eyebrow started to twitch. "Peeking on the women in the hot springs, eh?" He wanted to just walk off and read his book in peace, but unfortunately, Sakura had instilled too good a sense of justice in him concerning such matters. How troublesome.

Great. He was starting to sound like Shikamaru.

"Well, I have just the thing for that," he said, pulling a large blue orb of clay from his pouch. He'd found molding his own bombs from the stuff worked much better than trying to collect random objects to use as bombs or make them from steel or scrap metal. "Here, ero-sennin."

"Ero what?" Jiraiya asked, wheeling around with narrowed eyes. He jumped slightly when the orb bounced towards him, catching it in both hands. "What's thi-"

"Have fun," Naruto said, hurrying down the path. Jiraiya watched him go, confusion dancing across his features, before shrugging and tossing the ball over his shoulder as he went back to the hot spring.

Mere milliseconds after it left his hands, it detonated.

Naruto smiled, listening to the shrieking of the man behind him as he pulled his book from his pouch. He flipped it open, freezing in the middle of the path.

A signature stared up at him from the title page, a little bit sloppy and overly fancy in places, and he could tell it had been written with suppressed excitement while the author had still been a bit skeptical. Before he knew what he was doing, a shriek left his mouth, and he bounced several feet in the air, the unearthly noise escaping him rising in volume.

He landed in a tree, collapsing to a cross-legged position and clutching the book to him as he screamed. "DOG-SENSEI IS THE BEST!"

He had quit screaming, but was still trembling when Jiraiya came storming into the trees below him. "Oi, brat! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Naruto tipped himself over and fell out of the tree, falling with a harsh thud to the ground that made Jiraiya jump and give him a confused look. He rolled over, still in the same position, tears streaking down his face. "I got an autograph," he whispered.

"…what?" Jiraiya asked, sweatdropping. His hair was singed.

"My favorite book in the whole world," Naruto said, shooting up with a grin. He couldn't even be angry with the pervert anymore. "My sensei got me the author's autograph!"

"…hold on," Jiraiya said with narrowed eyes. The Hatake brat had tracked him down mere hours earlier with a copy of his book, saying he had a number-one fan more enthusiastic about even his Icha Icha writing somewhere. "What book?"

Naruto, still on cloud nine, flipped it open to showcase the signature.

Jiraiya stared down at his own signature, resting directly under the words The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. "...Oh."

The book in Naruto's hands had been his only company in his early years, when he hadn't known Sasuke or Sakura or even Iruka. Sarutobi had given it to him as a birthday present, unable to spend much time with him back then, and he'd learnt to read with the book, reading it over and over and reveling in the fact there was a hero with his name. It had inspired him to become a ninja and picked him up when he was down and discouraged. He'd wanted to get the author's autograph, but Sarutobi had apologetically told him it was impossible, as he was a wanderer outside the village.

And then Naruto was bawling, forgetting himself for the moment as a wave of emotion hit him.

Jiraiya freaked out. Just his luck, Iruka had been walking by, and as soon as he caught sight of Naruto crying- for real, not fake-crying as he sometimes did to manipulate people- he felt pure, unadulterated rage build in his chest. As Jiraiya was Utterly wigging out, he didn't see Iruka's strangely Dynamic Entry-like kick until it was too late.

He barreled through three different trees, skidding to a stop off-screen as Iruka knelt down and frantically began trying to calm Naruto down.

"Iruka-senseeeei," Naruto wailed, wrapping himself around the man's midsection while still clutching his book in one hand like a lifeline. He'd been caught up in memories of his childhood, completely forgetting Jiraiya was there, and hadn't even noticed their exchange. Under normal circumstances, he kept himself composed, and never cried in front of anyone, but he was overcome with a sudden rush of affection for the man who'd taken care of him while the memories were so fresh in his mind.

Iruka mistook it for distress, normally able to discern between Naruto's emotions easily; however, Naruto hadn't reacted in such a way for years.

Jiraiya came stumbling out of the bushes, twitching. "What is going on?" he cried

Iruka glared at him. "You tell me." He could have sworn he'd seen the man before, and it bothered him that he couldn't remember.

"I don't know! He said he got my autograph and then he just burst into tears!"

Iruka's brow knit together in confusion. "Naruto-kun?" he asked, rifling a hand through the boy's hair. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Eh?" Naruto glanced up, tears still streaming. "Oh, nothing's wrong, sensei, I just," he held up his book, sniffling.

Iruka examined it. "I see," he said, a little relieved. He wasn't annoyed- he was one of the few who knew of the story's significance to his student. "Well, I must apologize," he said, connecting the dots. "Jiraiya-sama."

"Eh?" Naruto squinted at him, puzzlement spreading out across his face, and turned to face Jiraiya. "You mean…"

"That's right," Jiraiya grinned. Depression marks came down over Naruto's head. "My favorite author is just a little pervert?" he murmured.

"Eh?! I am not a little pervert!" Jiraiya yelled, a tick growing on his forehead.

"Oh yeah?" Cheek twitching, Naruto stormed over and pointed at him. "Then tell me, what are you?"

"AhhhAHAHAHA, " Jiraiya threw his head back and cackled. "I'm a big one." Iruka facepalmed.

Naruto shook out of pure anger. "Oh…great…that makes all the difference…"

"Naruto," Izuna groaned, floating out of a tree, "this guy is an idiot."

"Did little Jiraiya-chan grow up like this?" Toka asked with a sweatdrop, not far behind him.

What followed was the most dramatic introduction Naruto had ever seen in his life. His eyebrow had started twitching by the end of it, and he was quite disillusioned with his image of the author of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. "You call that trashy smut a novel?! It's just an excuse for you to peek at women in the bath house!" he shouted.

Several screams caught their attention as the women stampeded out of the female side of the house a ways away. "No! Look what you did!" Jiraiya wailed. "You're ruined my peeking- I mean my research!"

"Dirty old man," Naruto drawled, wearing a petulant expression.

"It was rather inappropriate of you," Iruka agreed with disapproval. He filled in for Tobirama giving people disapproving looks.

"You little-!" Jiraiya shook his fist at Naruto, raging at his deadpan expression. "I'm a serious artist who's inspired by the youth and beauty of female form, that's all!"

"Sure, " Naruto smirked, "just like I'm inspired by the shrieking and heart attacks that transpire when I blow people like you to smithereens." His hand strayed towards his explosive pouches.

Sweatdropping, Iruka grabbed his wrists, laughing nervously. "Now, Naruto, there's no need for that." He really didn't want to get caught between a ticked off Naruto and a Sannin.

"Eh? I admit your little stunt back there had some merit, but a brat like you couldn't take a sannin like me on," Jiraiya bragged, poking Naruto in the forehead.

"Oh…" Naruto copied Kakashi's eye-smile. "Really?"

"Naruto," Iruka said in a stern tone, making the boy wince. "You just got out of the hospital. Even you have your limits." His eyes strayed to the boy's arm and stomach.

"Oh, come on, Iruka-sensei, I'm as good as new! The fox healed everything real good."

"Eh?" Jiraiya blinked, having not expected them to speak so openly about the Kyuubi.

Iruka set his hands on his hips, glaring down at him. "Even so, you tried to transform part of yourself into the Kyuubi when you weren't ready!" Jiraiya's mouth popped open. "Your chakra system needs more time to adjust."

Well, he isn't wrong, Kurama said, examining his claws.

"You have less than a month before the third round of the exams! You'll want to make a good impression and you'll need to be at top strength." Iruka's face twisted. "You may have won your match in the preliminaries, but you were dead on your feet! Any other genin would have died."

"Sasuke and Sakura were in bad condition too!"

"Orochimaru didn't stab them!"

"What?" Jiraiya asked, alarmed.

"Are you kidding? It's FINE, sensei!" Naruto groaned, lifting his shirt and pointing at his stomach. Above where the seal rested, not visible when he wasn't channeling his chakra, there was a thin line, the scar that had appeared from Orochimaru running him through. "See? It's gone!"

Iruka pressed his lips together. "Hold on, " Jiraiya said, feeling like he'd been left out of the loop. "You've already started Jinchuriki transformation?"

Naruto gave him Uchiha Expression #34. "Duh. Weren't you listening, old man? I'm pretty sure Dad wanted me to learn how to work with the Kyuubi, anyway."

Jiraiya froze. "…did you just say 'Dad'?"

"It's nice to see you again, Jiraiya, " Sarutobi said, breathing in the smoke from his pipe.

"You too, sensei," Jiraiya replied. He looked a little bit lost as he sat beside Naruto in the office, Izuna and Toka peeking into the miscellaneous notes littered through the notebook sitting on top of the large scroll the Sannin carried about.

"I saw a ghost in the forest. I think he was streaking," Naruto said, staring at the desk with confusion muddling his features. Sarutobi gave him a concerned look.

"What." Jiraiya replied.

"Ignoring that," Hiruzen deadpanned, "Jiraiya, I was beginning to think you'd gone and died of alcohol poisoning."

"Are you an alcoholic?" Naruto asked, swiveling to look at him.

"What- no! I am not an alcoholic!" Jiraiya scowled.

"I hope you aren't. You seem like the type to die from something like that."

"Regardless, it is well you returned at this time. We've recently uncovered several moles within our forces," Sarutobi said, lacing his fingers together in a way that reminded Naruto of Sasuke. "Orochimaru is planning on invading the Leaf during the third round of the exams."

Jiraiya's expression went serious. Naruto thought he looked like Tobirama, just tanner and with wilder hair and a different facial structure. He wondered if they were related somehow.

"He has manipulated the Sand into allying with him by disposing of their Kazekage and taking his place," Sarutobi continued. "Their Jinchuriki, Gaara, plays a large role in this plan. They plan to start the invasion by placing the crowd under a genjutsu during his match with Sasuke."

"We're not killing him," Naruto interrupted in a dull voice.

Sarutobi's eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't suggest-"

"Your idiot friends on the council will. We're not killing him," Naruto repeated, expression blank. "It's because of humanity's treatment of the Bijuu a need for Jinchuriki ever arose, and I could very well be just like him if it weren't for Iruka and Sasuke." The occupants of the room winced at his bluntness. "If he gets out of control at the exams, I'll deal with him. I don't want anyone else fighting him. They'll kill him." A glare settled on his face. "Sasuke understands this."

"You haven't discussed it with him-?"

"Sasuke understands." A Kakashi-smile overtook his face, making the Hokage sweatdrop.

He cleared his throat. "I've already begun making plans for a counter-attack with minimal casualties," he explained to Jiraiya. "We'll start evacuation as the finals are underway until those in the stadium are the only ones left. To avoid alerting anymore spies, only a select few jounin and chuunin outside of the ANBU squads I've assigned to posts will be aware of what will happen. After the evacuation is complete, the Mechanical Eight Trigrams Formation will be activated. I will have a squad operating the walls on a local closed radio frequency so we can coordinate our defense."

"I'm sure that Konohagakure is strong enough to defend against an attack from Suna, especially since we have a month to prepare for it," Jiraiya said, stroking his cheek with his thumb. "The only two wild cards are that Gaara kid and Orochimaru himself. Do you know what he'll be doing, sensei?"

"Orochimaru will attempt to attack me in the kage box, " Sarutobi replied. "I'm not sure how or how he plans to separate us, but he will devise some way to make sure the Leaf shinobi do not interfere."

"Ero-sennin should fight him with you, jiji," Naruto said. "No offense, but you're getting up there in years and he'll probably try something sick like raising the dead. He knows that jutsu, right?" Both Sarutobi and Jiraiya's frowns deepened.

"That's another problem. Whose genetic material does he have?" Jiraiya asked, running a hand through his hair. "If he's got the previous Hokages, or, hell, Uchiha Madara, we're screwed."

"Sometimes I wish Tobirama-sensei had never created that technique," Sarutobi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. At that, the ghost behind him looked a tad sheepish and irritated at the same time.

Naruto eyed him, trying not to grin. "I think he does too."

The Hokage squinted at him. "Naruto-kun."

"Yes."

"Do you mean to imply the ghost in my office is actually Tobirama-sensei?"

"…ghost?" Jiraiya asked awkwardly.

"I see ghosts, " Naruto explained to him with a bright smile.

Jiraiya looked at him with Are you crazy? all over his face. "Sensei, does the brat need mental help?"

"No, Jiraiya. He does see ghosts," Sarutobi replied, setting his pipe down so he could rub his temples. "He's the reason we caught Kabuto in the first place. And evidently he thinks doing this to me is funny." He remembered vividly several times he had complained about something his predecessor had done.

Naruto snickered.

"That reminds me " Izuna said suddenly, floating over to Naruto's ear. "I found a lead on Madara. I need you to help me with something next month."

"Kay," Naruto whispered back. They both straightened with matching eye-smiles, while Tobirama eyed them suspiciously.

"I will let you get to your training, Naruto. I'll discuss the details of our plans with you later." Naruto nodded, sliding out of his seat with a grin.

"Yup. Have a good time with the new Icha Icha book this old guy brought you," Naruto said, throwing Jiriaya a glare. Both adults coughed awkwardly, Sarutobi especially now that he knew his teacher was in the room with him, and Naruto slipped out the door with a wave.

"So," Izuna said, floating along beside him with his arms folded behind his neck, "going to train with Kakashi?"

"Nah. I want him to focus on Sasuke- he really needs the extra help with his Sharingan, and he has the most dangerous match ahead of him. Sakura's training mainly on her own, too, although I hear she's getting a little help from Anko-sensei on ninjutsu."

Toka blinked. "So who's going to train you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'll figure something out," he yawned, retrieving his book from his bag. Both ghosts faceplanted.

Non-Author's Note: Here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!