Naruto 1. A Coin Toss

There were chances in life, odd bends of fate that caused things to go one way sometimes, and other times they went in the opposite direction. Sometimes those changes are massive, with entire armies falling in battles they rightly should have won. Other times, those changes are small, when a butterfly flaps its wings at the wrong time, causing an eye to move away, just before they would have seen the face of their one true love.

Sometimes though, a small change, can make big things happen. During an era called the Third Shinobi World War, a man was left adrift. His village, one that had been dwarfed by strong neighbors, was destroyed in an attack. The elders laid dead at his feet, the attacks fleeing into the rain, leaving the man alone to mourn. A hastily dug grave served to cover the bodies of his fellows, and he was left with a choice. One he chose to leave up to a coin.

In most times, the coin came up tails. Thus he would go north, and offer himself to the Tsuchikage. The Kage, seeing a man with a bloodlimit that might be useful as the war dragged on, took him as a mercenary, giving him many missions. These tasks he fulfilled with the strength of his heritage, cutting down swaths of enemies, crushing resistance beneath his power, blowing away whole legions, only to vanish in a flash.

The war ended, and the man was now bitter, alone, and very much old. So when an assignment came to patrol the borders of the Land of Fire, he took it. He then found a patrol from the other side a bit too far on the Rock side of the border, so he struck, slaying one of the three, and injuring another, leaving him alone against a blond haired man, who had claimed to be returning home to see the birth of his son. The man from Rock battled him, and injured him, before falling to the Yellow Flash, dying unmoruned in the forest.

The injuries he inflicted may have been something greater than most would know, as the delay kept the Yondaime from his village, and when a seal was broken, his speed wasn't what it should have been, so a great monster was able to close with the village, and many lives were sacrificed upon it's claws. A seal was made, and a life was begun that would lead the world through a war, and show all a path that was different.

But sometimes, a change can happen. In some times, the coin came up heads, and the man instead went south, his blood limit a boon to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Instead of the coldness, the man found warmth. Instead of being alone, he found a friend, and then a love. A woman who, nine years after he had arrived, had their child. Tragedies can happy in the midst of miracles though and she passed giving birth to the next generation.

Then a seal was broken. A woman in a cave far from the village cried out, and something came from within her. It's power was overwhelming. It was opposed by the Man however. He had aided the Yellow Flash of Konoha, and the two stood before the thing, staring at a mountain of red fox, which growled down at them. Both saw the hate that filled those eyes, and neither moved, as they prepared to defend their home.

"Minato!" shouted Hiro, as he leapt into the air. His feet seemed find purchase even in open sky as he moved like a red rocket, slamming hard into the paw that had been aiming for his friend, diverting it just enough that it missed.

"Are you almost done yet?!" cried out the man, as the beast he fought hopped back, its landing sending a quake through the ground they probably felt all the way back in the village.

"Not yet, this is the most complicated Seal ever cast, and it must be perfect," said the yellow haired man, as he made seal after seal with his hands, the signs of jutsu he was casting appearing in the air about him as he kept going.

"That pervert you call a master would be faster than this!" shouted the man, as he charged forward, unable to hear the response of his friend through the roar of fury that came from the Kyubi no Kitsune. The man roared right back, curling his body into a ball in the air, and beginning to spin. Out of the spin came pouring black chakra, which formed a shield of nearly impenetrable power.

The kyubi's jaws locked on that shield, the teeth digging into it, but finding no way to pierce it, the monster shook its head, tossing the man aside, who uncurled and drew his hands back. Instantly, shining white chakra came from his finger tips, the stuff forming into long blades that shone like moonlight in the sky as he bounced off a tree, and dove for the surprised tailed beast, who roared out in pain and anger as the bladed dug home.

The thing was chakra given form and flesh, but the blades were of the same make. While smaller, and only a drop in the ocean of power that flowed from within the beast, the blades still hurt it in a way few mortal techniques could, driving the thing to take to the sky, jumping so a mountain was between them, even as the man leapt backwards himself, landing and then vanishing into a red blur that stopped beside Minato atop Gamabunta's head.

"How much longer?" he said, his voice barely a whisper as his breath came in ragged gasps.

"A minute more, but I need him to be still for a moment. Can you hold him?" asked Minato, and Hiro looked at him, before staring across the valley at the Kyubi, who's red eyes now shone like furious suns.

"It will be the end of me, but then, we both knew this was our last battle," responded Hiro, and Minato could do nothing but nod at him. Idly, Hiro wished they hadn't been so brash. The pair of them, some of the strongest in the village, him with the Four Gods Blood Limit, and Minato with all his skills, earned through hours of study, had ordered everyone else back. No one else needed to meet their end today, though he doubted many who had thought they would save the village knew this would be the two's final battle.

"Then I shall see you on the other side. Let us hope our wives forgive us for entrusting our children to Sarutobi," said Minato, finishing up one last seal, causing a noise like the ringing of a great bell to echo around them. That noise was then counterpointed by a howl of pure killing intent, as the kyubi charged over the mountain towards them.

"Til we meet again," Hiro told him, and then breathed in deeply, gathering the last of his chakra to him, exhausting even the energy that kept his heart beating as he did so, but giving him enough strength for one last assault.

"Dance of the Four Gods!" he cried out as he shot forward, chakra of red, black, white, and blue bursting from every part of his body, his clothing, battle armor thick enough to turn a blade, tearing itself apart from the inside, as the man dove towards his enemy.

"Speed of the Phoenix!" he shouted, and the instant his foot touched the ground, the red chakra flared, and he was gone into a blur.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" he added, curling into a ball again, a shield of black chakra surrounding him once more. This time he slammed home hard, smashing into the monster's face, causing even it to break a tooth as the force of the impact drove it back, and the man rolled over his snout, and onto his back.

"Claws of the Tiger!" he screamed, his body telling him it was over, but his will forcing it forward, as blades of chakra leapt out of his hands, which he held at his side, his fingers pointed downwards, so the technique dug into the kyubi's back, gouging a line into it, before the man hopped from it's back, landing behind it, and forcing it to turn around to face him, putting Minato at the monster's back.

"Roar of the Dragon!" he said finally, his voice nearly giving out on him as he brought his hands to his face, and blew. A gale of wind that shredded trees came from him, and smashed into the kyubi. That thing's flesh did not yield to the wind, but even it felt the stuff ripping at its form, the distraction serving its purpose, as a great hand of chakra grabbed the kyubi from behind, surprising it, as it was dragged into the form of Minato, the seal locking it within him.

Then the pair died. Either both at once, or one and then the other, it mattered little. The pair fell, their bodies pushed beyond their limit. In Konoha, a cheer rang up, celebrating the safety of the people, even as the shinobi looked dour and grim. They would find the bodies of the pair a few minutes after they fell, to be taken back to the village and buried with all honors, heroes to their people. Few even acknowledge in the lead up to the funerals, two young boys being sent to the orphanage, two boys who's names were changed so that none would suspect their heritage, at least, for a time.


	2. The Great Cookie Caper

~Eight Years Later

There are some things that are so different because of one little coin. In many Konohas, the orphanage was full of children. Dozens of youths whose families had fallen in battle, either as brave shinobi, their blades flashing in the night, and then going dark, or as civilians, those who lived normal lives, many of them giving up those same sparks to protect their children.

In many Konohas, one little boy was different. The masters of the orphanage would never say why, but this one was the source of the children's pain and suffering. In many Konohas this boy would be shunned by the other children, who didn't doubt the words of the elders. The boy would begin to act out because of his isolation, pulling pranks, and making it those who chose not to look at him paid for their ignorance, earning himself quite the name amid the populace.

In many Konohas...this one was different though. The Fox had taken only two lives, willingly given. One had been a hero, the other a name known for power, but both were mourned by the people only so long as such things happened, tragedies, but not personal ones. The shinobi mourned longer, and sometimes, in their darkest moments, an eye would be turned to a blonde babe in the orphanage, a blade would be drawn, but then it would sheath. A sacrifice had been made, and with no blood to taint the child in their eyes, they left him alone.

So it came to pass that in this Konoha there were only two young boys at the orphanage. Oh, there were many who would pass through the door, but most found homes within a fortnight or less, as Konoha was a loving city, and would not let the children suffer long without a family. Only these two were left, for one would always be passed over, and the other could not be taken without the first, for that was what the Hokage had ordered.

"Sticky Fingers to Snatcher, do you read me?" asked a voice in the darkness.

"Snatcher here, are we clear?" came the response, from somewhere below. In the shadows cast by a strong beam of light, a form rustled, its tiny limbs unfolding from its position in the dark as it crept along, belly pressed flat against the surface, before its head came out of the darkness to look into the light.

A small boy's head was visible now. no more than eight years of age, his eyes sparkled purple, and his hair was a lustrous silver sheen that hung close cut against his head. He closed his eyes tightly against the blast of brightness that assaulted them, but after fluttering them open and shut a few times, he could see beyond, and found the hallway outside the room they were in was empty.

"Snatcher, you are free to snatch, I repeat, get them now," said the boy hanging upside down, and behind him, another form came up, soon fully bathed in the light, his body was smaller, and just a bit stockier than his companion. Though younger, he was already obviously more muscled, and many an adult said he would grow into a strong young man, sometimes with just a hint of worry in their voice.

The tiny form, bright blonde hair with spikes in it, and blue eyes that seemed like sapphires in the right light, moved with the swiftness and grace of a young ninja. His tiny hands grabbed onto the edge of a counter, and pulled his frame up it, while his partner's gaze went up and down the hallway outside. Behind him, the lookout heard the clank and clatter of dishes as they were pushed aside, before, with a near silent cry, he knew they'd struck gold.

"Yatta," said the blonde, and the silver haired boy looked back, and then motioned for him to come to the door, so they might escape. Above the pair, in the second story, a young woman moved forward, humming to herself as she cleaned, getting ready for a visit from a very important person. As she cleaned, she noticed a certain door in the sleeping quarters was open. One which she'd locked to keep two particular headaches inside today.

"UZUMAKI! YUY!" came a shout, and the pair of boys froze, the blonde with the cookie jar in his hands, the silver haired boy just standing there, before he turned to his friend and partner.

"Bolt!" he cried, leaping over the doorfames top, and landing on the ceiling. He then dashed off down the hall, soon followed by the blonde, who ran along the floor, stuffing cookie after cookie into his mouth, knowing already that their flight was pointless. Behind the two, the door to the second floor came open, and both boys stopped where they stood, staring at the woman who stood there.

"You two!" she screamed, and rushed towards them. The woman, a few years short of thirty, was faster than either boy could hope to be, and so she scooped up first the blonde, and then the silver, holding them both in her arms as she somehow got the jar of cookies away from Naruto, and stuck in the shelf as they passed.

"What have I told you two about snacking between meals?" she asked, as her arm bundles struggled to get away, the silver haired one jumping for the ceiling, focusing his chakra into his hands, while the blonde did the same, trying to get his own energy into his legs, making him faster. Of course, the one holding them was a kunoichi herself, retired but with all her skills intact. As such, she was easily able to disrupt their attempts, pushing a little of her own chakra into their bodies, and causing them both to collapse on the floor.

"Aw, man," said Naruto, as he and Heero were hauled upwards, lifted in one hand each by their ankles by the surprisingly strong matron. Of course, it was only as she rose that she noticed that they were now in the front of the orphanage, and more importantly, that her visitor had arrived.

"Oh my, Hokage Sama, I'm terribly sorry," said the former ninja, bowing, while still holding the two boys by their ankles. To their credit, both boys bowed towards the leader of the village.

"Heh, quite alright. I see your two wards are being as rambunctious as ever," said the old man, leaning down with one of his warm, grandfatherly smiles on his face.

"Indeed. These two are quite the handful, especially now that there's no one else for them to play with," said the woman, a bit of sorrow reaching into her voice. Not that she was sad to have the house mostly empty. No wars, no big disasters going on, and most families were stable enough to take on an extra mouth or two. Good times for all in Konoha, except for two little boys.

"I noticed that the young Mr. Yuy was running on the ceiling. It seems that lesson in chakra control is doing him some good," commented the old man as he helped the former kunoichi flip the two over and set them on the ground. Neither boy attempted to flee at this point, either out of respect for the old man, or perhaps because they knew if they tried the kunoichi herself would probably kill them.

"It would seem so. Only three weeks with the technique, and he can now walk on any flat surface. A few more, and I'm sure he'll be able to walk on water," said the woman, a hint of pride seeping into her voice, as she looked down at the lad, and then turned towards the blonde boy.

"This one's control is still rather lacking, but I must admit, he's already good at using his rather abundant reserves to enhance his strength," she added the last while ruffling her hand through their hair, getting affectionate grins from both boys.

"Ah, perfect. Now then, why don't you two both go upstairs for a moment, so your keeper and I might have a discussion?" asked the old man, and the two boys, showing far more respect than one might have guessed, bowed deeply, and then rushed towards the stairs, the blonde leaping up two at a time, and the silver haired one changing course so he was running on the wall instead.

"They look happy to be told to go to their rooms," remarked the Hokage as he and the woman moved themselves to a large open sitting room, the sun beaming in through a nearby window onto some pallets, on which they sat down.

"Heh, they're hoping this means I'll have forgotten about them stealing those cookies a few minutes ago, but they are sorely mistaken about that. I'll have them washing the windows on the whole house for the next week," the matron of the orphanage assured him, a rather wicked grin crossing her lips as she readjusted her kimono for better comfort, before turning to find the Hokage with a rather deep look on her face.

"What?" she asked, knowing that those sorts of expressions meant he was thinking on something she wouldn't like.

"It concerns those two, and finding a home for them," he said.

"You mean, someone is willing to take them, both?" she asked, having heard nothing of this, but finding a spark of hope in her heart for it. Of course, the old man shook his head, dousing the spark before it could grow.

"Many would take the child who bares the Blood of the Four Gods, but none would take the Fox. It's a shame really, but I know their fathers would want the two to grow up together, so I've been looking into alternatives. After all, they'll be starting the Academy next year, and as such, they need to be out amid the people," he said, and then withdrew something from his robes. The item was just a sheet of paper, but what was written on it instantly caught her eye.

"A house?" she said, looking up and down the sheet, which was a deed. It took her some few minutes to finish, and then to think of the property it represented, a small home on the edge of the city, just within the walls.

"Inheritance for Heero. His father lived here after his wife died, intending on purchasing a bigger home when his son was coming of age, but..." the Hokage trailed off, looking up towards the heavens as he did so. The matron of the orphanage just nodded.

"So, you're going to let them go to the Academy?" she asked at last, as she passed the paper back to the old man, who quickly rolled it up and placed it in his sleeves.

"They seem adamant, and it's impossible to deny they're already skilled with chakra use," he said, and she nodded. Heero was already able to maintain a wall run or a ceiling hang for minutes at a time, and Naruto...she'd seen the boy busting blocks one day, his fist glowing with chakra as he pumped more and more into it. Those two would one day be great ninja, possibly the greatest in the village.

"You do know what Naruto said his intentions are, correct?" she asked.

"He informed me the last time I was here. He wants my job, and he'll be welcome to it when the time comes," said the old man, and the woman looked at him. She was middle aged, as such things were measured, nearing the latter half of her thirties, and the old man, well, he was far older. He'd been of the age to retire since she was a girl, and when he finally had...a year was all the rest he'd been given, before the event. The years since were etched into the lines of his face, but he still seemed hard enough to do what needed to be done.

"And Heero's goal is much the same. To master the Jutsu's of his forebears, and then take them one step farther," she said, regretting again the decision that had been made without her, to give the boy his father's diary. It had been what had taught the two the chakra control techniques they were using. Barely eight years old, and the two had abilities she knew some genin would envy. It wasn't right to grow up so fast.

"Indeed. As such, they need this. Their goals require the Academy to train them, and students there, cannot be living here. I would wish it could be different, but...," he trailed off, and the matron just nodded. Suddenly, a whistling sound came to her ears, and she cursed to Kami that she'd forgotten the water. Excusing herself, she rose, rushing towards the kitchen, leaving the Sandaime to his thoughts. The Clans of Konoha would never allow an orphan who lived within the walls to learn in the Academy. Too many of them could be plants from another village, spying for their homes. No, they had to have homes in the village, even if that meant a child living alone in some tiny apartment, or in this case, two young boys in a small house.

"Here we are," said the matron as she returned, bearing a tray with a few cups and a kettle on it. The things were simple affairs of tin, but they allowed the flavor of the leaves to soak into the water as it was poured inside, allowing the two adults a moment of respite, before they spoke again.

"It would be best if they had the year before the Academy started to be adjusted, and do not think we would leave the pair alone. Kurenai has returned, and I want her to watch over the boys, seeing as she won't be leaving us any time soon," the Hokage informed her between sips of sweet tea, and the matron nearly let her surprise show on her face. Kurenai was a jonin, one of the best genjutsu users Konoha had. She was also nearly broken. Her team, it had taken a mission and returned shattered. One of her teammates dead, the other his coils destroyed, never to use chakra again.

"I would think she would need some time to recover," was all the woman said, and the Hokage nodded solemnly.

"Normally, I would agree, a few months of rest, but this is a special case. Apparently she blames herself for the mission failure, for not seeing through a genjutsu before it claimed her teammate, and requiring the other to injure himself to break. She is not to blame of course, but she does, and I think caring for two others, might help her to open up," was the only explanation that was given, as the matron nodded, wondering idly what it must have been like for the woman, to have lost so much, so suddenly, as the two adults sat there, planning out how to move the boys into their new home, and towards the next step of their lives.


	3. Showing Off

"You mean, this is ours?" it had been the first words out of both their mouths when they'd been brought to the shack. It was small, by Konoha standards. Two bedrooms, a single bath. The big difference between most civilian housing and it wasn't readily visible from outside, but once you got in, there was a door to a staircase that led down to a training room. Of course, all of that was almost a decade out of maintenance. The lock on the front door was broken, but still locked, meaning a failed entry attempt.

The windows were locked, this time with no one having tried to jimmy them open, and many of the floorboard creaked horribly as you put weight on them. The training room was full of cobwebs, and various rats among other things had chosen to make their home down there. The two boys saw this place, something that many might consider just tearing down and building it again, and they smiled. To them, this was a palace, a fortress that belonged to them alone, and they set about making their castle shine.

Naruto took the underground, Heero not wanting to get near the bugs, while Heero took care of more delicate operations, fixing a few shingles on the roof, and cleaning the cupboards and various utilities. Even better they found a machine downstairs to wash clothing, an automatic one, which the two, who remembered hours of that particular chore at the orphanage, usually when they got caught doing something, were grateful for.

All told, it took the pair the better part of a week to get the place back in order, but when they did, the place looked like a home again. The floors sparkled, the lights all turned on, save one in the bathroom that refused, and better yet, they'd found a library. Well, Heero thought it was a good thing, though Naruto felt the space could have been used for more training equipment.

"You just like to read because of that journal," complained Naruto once, not that Heero denied it. He had read his father's words many times, absorbing every iota of information, and this, the library his father had acquired, told him even more of the man. Most of the books were manuals for various techniques and jutsus, none of which the boy's could use yet due to Heero's low reserves, and Naruto's difficulties in limiting the amount of chakra he used. Others though, they were story books, tales that the young boy found fascinating as he read through them, wondering if his father had intended to read them to him.

It was two weeks after the pair had moved in that they had their first visitor. A girl visitor at that. Old, but not quite as old as the matron, she had stunning red eyes, and moved with the grace befitting a kunoichi, which instantly earned the two prospective ninja's respect. Her voice didn't hurt either, as she yelled at the two, telling them she was their new landlady. She would be checking up on them to make sure they were behaving in ways befitting Konoha, and more importantly, weren't slacking off.

She kept that promise too, coming by at least once a day after that, always insisting they have a bit of tea, made with fresh leaves, and with a single drop of honey in it, ready for her, a ritual they learned to respect after Naruto had slipped her some hot sauce instead of honey, and both of them had somehow ended up in the middle of town wearing dresses that had more frills than fabric.

She was fair, however, soon coming to view the boys with the warmth only a young woman could have with children. She taught them things, insisting on forcing Naruto to read, and getting them both to learn their numbers. More exciting though, she helped them with their training. Naruto's control made it hard for him to do more than basic exercises, but he was determined, she had to admit. Better, some exercises he excelled at.

When she'd revealed she was genjustu master, a true prodigy in the art of illusions, they'd begged until she'd started to teach them what she knew. Unfortunately, Naruto proved incapable of breaking illusions he was under, where Heero did it with ease. At least until she showed him a trick. Chakra pulse, a way to dispel any illusion, a strong burst of chakra to push away the enemy's. For most, it was a trick that left them gasping and vulnerable, for Naruto...

"Chakra Pulse!" had cried out the young boy, and then he let fly with the technique. His reserves were large, she'd known that, the kyuubi was after all, within him. But this was on a whole other level. Most pulses traveled maybe a meter, possibly two, from a jonin user. She'd heard tales of some who could take it up to ten, though it would nearly kill them. This boy, not trained yet in proper use, somehow got his to go almost a twenty, by her estimates, and only seemed winded. Heero's attempt wasn't bad either, able to gather the needed chakra easily, controling it ways most chunin would envy. The pair of them would be quite formidable when their coils developed to the point of allowing them to mold chakra for jutsu.

The pair impressed her over most of the year as well. Heero with his control, and desire to learn, and Naruto with his drive and determination. The former would look at a problem, and either solve it right away, or move on to something that would help him solve it, unlocking knowledge of a thousand small things while doing so. The latter was more direct. He would find one problem, usually the hardest he could, and hit his head against it until he beat it down. He used that approach with everything from math, to chakra control training. He even mastered tree climbing after a month of training on it.

The three of them became a unit, sometimes seen around town, but usually staying in the boys' home to work on something. People grew used to the sight of them, and it soon became common knowledge that Naruto would one day be among the most powerful Ninja of the Leaf, possibly in all the world. That gave an odd sense of pride to the people, knowing that one so young in their village could already grow so far. Heero meanwhile could almost always be seen walking on walls, and hanging from ceiling, until he collapsed from chakra exhaustion, showing the same talents his father had, making the people even prouder to know that the pair of them would be protecting the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Months passed, summer for the boys, turned to autumn, and then to winter, and finally, at long last, to spring. The leaves became bright green, and flowers bloomed. More importantly were the spring classes. And thus one day, a pair of young boys awoke, their heads swimming with ideas of what they would find inside the building on the far edge of town, and their bodies practically screaming to be allowed to show just what they could do. With the sun just peaking over the walls of the village, a trio of figures came in sight of the Academy, two bouncing with excitement, while a third just grinned at them.

"Alright you two, you know what I expect of you, right?" said the woman leaning down so her head was at their level.

"To do perfect in all our exams," began Naruto, this task having been given to him specifically.

"To not fight, or make trouble for anyone in the school," said Heero, smirking as he remembered some of the things Naruto had planned for them to do to the teachers, only to have their plans found and burned by Kurenai a few days ago.

"And most importantly, never forget there are those of us who care for you. Being a Ninja is hard work, but we of Konoha can carry any burden, if it's borne together," she finished, and the two smiled at her while nodding.

"Hai oneesama," they said together, giving her one last hug before the three turned back towards the school.

As they got closer, finding, as she had expected, a small group of around thirty students already waiting with their teachers, she began to study faces. There was a Hyuga in the class, a girl she thought was named Hinata. She stood proud and formal, snapping at a few of the others sitting around. Most of her ire seemed to be directed at a boy with a dog, who could only be one of the Inuzuka if he was a hair, who either ignored her, or responded in a pithy statement that got him smacked. Beside them sleeping beneath a tree was another boy, who wore his black hair like a pineapple above his head. It took her a moment to remember he was one of the Nara clan.

There were two other girls standing there as well, talking and chatting in the ways only young girls could. One had pink hair, the other blonde. The latter she recognized almost instantly, she stood just like her mother, a Yamanaka. The former was probably from a civilian line, as were most of the rest. It was nice though to see a clans borne chatting so friendly with someone who wasn't. Behind them was a boy who was big enough for any two of his classmates, his girth telling any who knew that he was Akmichi, one of those capable of becoming giants.

Off to the sides, each at opposite ends were two figures she hadn't expected. The first was an Aburame, that was made quite clear by his face concealing collared jacket, and those glasses covering his eyes. The other had to be an Uchiha. He wore their crest, and none but one of them would ever wear that, otherwise they would find themselves facing summary sentencing by one of the Uciha run military police squads. They were less than kind about such things, and no one was fool enough to oppose them.

The teachers drew her eyes next. The first was one she didn't recognize, at least not by sight. His eyes though, as he turned to face her, made his identity known. Only one member of the Hyuga's clan taught at the Academy. The other was Mizuki, a long time instructor at the Academy, one of her generations best teachers. He'd applied at the place almost as soon as he'd become a chuunin, and had, after some investigating, been given the position. She wasn't ever sure she liked that man, who always seemed to have some ulterior motive, but she decided to smile at him anyway as she brought the boys to the two men.

"Hello Hizashi, Mizuki," she said, bowing respectfully towards them. Her charges, looking at her, mimicked the motion perfectly, going only a few inches deeper to show more respect towards the two teachers.

"Ah, the lovely Genjutsu Mistress. I had heard you'd adopted a pair of young lads," said Hizashi with a rather disarming smile, crouching down so he was looking the two boys in the face.

"Hey! Oneesama didn't adopt us, we live on our own," declared the blonde boy loudly, and the silver haired one nodded.

"We live in my father's old house, so we can train and prepare for the life of Ninja," he explained.

"Oh really? Well then, looks like we've got some overachievers in this lot. Ms. Kurenai, would you care to stay? We were just about to assess this crop of students before we took them inside for classes," said Mizuki, and though he was trying to sound pleasant, something about his voice made it sound like he was sizing them up to be executed.

"I'm afraid not. My own work has been clamoring for my attention, and now that the boys will have someone else to deal with them, I must get back to it. Though I do hope to get a full report when I come back," she said, looking towards Hizashi, who nodded warmly at her. The kunochi then made a single hand sign, and vanished with a whooshing sound, leaving the boys waving their hands towards where they figured she'd vanished to.

"I really wish I could do that," commented the pineapple head, as he joined the two boys standing before the teachers.

"You will be able to someday, Shikamaru. For now, everyone, line up, and come here," said Mizuki, and the children, some faster than others, obeyed. Soon standing in a ragged looking group in front of the two instructors.

"It's time to assess your skills. Now I'm sure most of you know your letters and your numbers, right?" asked the group, and got a few nods, some stronger than others.

"Good, anyone who doesn't know those at least, will once we get you into class. For now though, we want to see how good you are at chakra molding. Some of you, I'm sure, can already preform a few basic techniques, but we, as teachers, need to see what we have to work with," he told them, motioning towards an open training area just behind the school, and then waving his hand so that the children would follow. They did so, some seeming excited by the prospect of showing off what they could do, others looking around nervously.

"Alright, who has a technique already learned?" he asked, and several hands shot up, Hizashi doing a quick count.

"You seven, step forward," he said at last, weeding using his byakugan to find those who had chakra reserves enough to do something without exhausting themselves.

"So, who would like to go first?" asked Mizuki, and Naruto instantly stepped forward.

"Okay, this is one Onee Kurenai taught me to deal with genjutsu," he declared, and then began to strain. The two teachers, having expected something related to that, were then surprised as, instead of doing hand seals, the boy just crouched. It took them only seconds to realize what was going on, as chakra visibly began to come out of the boy, like blue fire.

"Hinata! Byakugan off!" shouted Hizashi, turning his own eyes back to normal, and grateful to see his niece do the same, because a second later, Naruto released his technique.

"Chakra Pulse!" he shouted, and a wave of blue chakra swept over everyone present. The second it passed, Hizashi reactivated his byakugan, wanting to get a good read of it, but was startled as the glass like wall just kept going, reaching almost fifty meters before petering out. Expecting to turn back and find Naruto dead, he was surprised to see the boy only collapsed in a heap, breathing hard, and pouring sweat, but otherwise fine.

"Troublesome," was the first word to be heard, as Shikamaru seemed to recover fastest from what they saw. The two teachers meanwhile, looked at each other. Both had known Naruto contained the kyuubi, any adult Ninja of Konoha did, but this? This was a feat that they would never have expected of one so young, and worse, both knew he would be able to go farther.

"Excellent work, Naruto," said Mizuki as he recovered, smiling at the boy, "Of course, it goes without saying, anyone seen trying to copy the techniques we see today without an instructor helping is expelled."

That statement seemed to dampen some spirits, as the children, those able to already mold chakra if not use it in jutsus, had just seen a technique that was simple. Of course, none of them realized that a pulse going even a few inches from their bodies would probably kill them. Worse, Naruto recovered quickly, getting back on his feet and smiling at the crowd.

"Back to the class. Now, who wants to go next?" he asked, and the Nara boy stepped up, obviously wanting to get this over with. His technique was their clan specialty, where he stretched his shadow out to grab Hizashi, forcing the two of them to move to his body, before releasing him. Of course, his reasons for wanting to go quickly was revealed, as he went to the group already pestering Naruto, and added his own questions to it. This meant that Choji, who enlarged his fist to five times its normal size and cracked a training log, only got a few people watching him. He didn't seem to mind, as he went right back to munching on a bag of chips, while watching the others.

The Aburame boy went next, his bugs pouring out of his suit, and causing the training log Choji had cracked, was reduced to dust in a few seconds. It also, for some reason, caused Heero to give the boy a wide berth as he walked back towards the group of students. That left only Sasuke, Heero, and Hinata to show their stuff. After both boys begged off, Hinata called them both bakas and decided to demonstrate her clan's taijutsu, having her uncle step forward, and do a small series of katas with him, arms and legs moving into blurs as the two got into their grooves.

"Naruto, what do you think I should do?" asked Heero, as the demonstration of the two Hyugas went on.

"Just do that juggling trick you should nee-san last month. It impressed her, didn't it?"suggested the blonde, and Heero nodded thoughtfully, as he got back to where Sasuke was standing, just as the two white eyed fighters broke apart, bowing deeply towards Mizuki.

"Excellent, showing, both of you. Alright, who wants to go last, and who's up next?" asked the teacher, and Sasuke stepped backwards, indicating his desire to go last, while Heero stepped forward, and then looked around.

"Um, can we go to that stream over there?" he asked, pointing to a small stream that ran through the training ground for water type jutsu training. The two teachers, curious what the silver haired boy had planned, acquiesced, taking the whole group to the stream, and then staring with interest as the boy took off his shoes, and stepped into the water. Well, they had expected him to step into it, to show off some water jutsu. Instead he stepped on it, demonstrating a level of control that most genin would envy as he made his way to the middle of the stream.

"Now, deep breathe, focus, and..." as he spoke, he took in as much air as his lung would hold, and then did something that surprised the teachers. He splashed one foot through the water. It was a neat technique, infusing the sole of his foot with enough chakra that it went down into the liquid, without causing the other to lose its hold. More than that though, the splashed water sailed far higher than it should, arcing over his head, and then landing in his hand, forming into a sphere that he tossed between his hands.

"Incredible," said one of the two teachers, both surprised by the showing this year. Naruto's pulse, Choji's growth, Shino's bugs, Shikamaru's shadows, Hinata's byakugan, and now this. Better yet, the boy added a sphere to his juggling, without lose a drop to the first, then a third orb joined them, and finally a fourth, all going in a circle in front of the boy.

"Now do the colors thing!" shouted Naruto, the two teachers wondering what he was talking about. They only wondered for a moment though, as one of the orbs fell into Heero's right hand, the tips of his fingers brushing against it, leaving streaks of glowing white chakra in the liquid. When he tossed it aside, it was almost fully white, and the second reached the hand now, turning black as midnight as he infused chakra into that. Finally he added red, then blue to the other two, creating a spinning wheel of colored orbs in front of him, until he suddenly jerked at something, his body going ridged, and everything falling apart, him splashing down into the stream.

Instantly Mizuki reacted, holding out his arm to keep the students back, while Hizashi bolted forward, grabbing the boy, expecting to find him exhausted of chakra after the display. Instead he was reaching around behind his back, grabbing at something, that Hizashi finally plucked off him. One of the kikai insects, which he let return to Shino as he set Heero down. Instantly, the soaking wet boy, stopping on the ground hard enough that his steps could be heard, marched up to the Aburame boy, and held at his finger accusingly.

"Keep! Your bugs! Off me!" he declared, before stalking off towards a tree and walking up it like it was nothing, finally stopping on a wide branch and then dropped into a meditative stance upside down. The eyes of both the teachers, and Shino went from Heero, to Naruto, who grinned and scratched at the back of his head embarrassed.

"Yeah, Heero has this thing with bugs. He doesn't like them," said Naruto.

"At all!" shouted the boy in question, without even breaking his stance. The two teachers looked at each other, and then shook their heads. It was a quirk some people had they knew, but to have such a reaction, well, it was disappointing.

"Impressive. Most people cannot sense a kikai," said Shino, before returning to the rest of the group, a statement that the two adults realized was correct. Most people never even knew the bug was there, thanks to chakra and pheromones from the thing. Someone who could sense them like that might have some useful skills later.

"Alright, well now, Sasuke, you're next," said Hizashi. The Uchiha nodded, then walked a bit away from everyone, standing in the center of the training area. The two teachers watched as Sasuke, brother of Itachi, leaned back his head, held his fist to his mouth, and breathed into it. The chakra in his breath and on his skin sparked against each other, and within a heartbeat, a fireball, almost a good meter wide, sprouted in the air above him, sailing high, and then fizzling out. He held it for almost a full ten seconds before his chakra ran out, and he started to sway.

"Fantastic work, Sasuke," Mizuki said this while rushing to the boy's side, helping him stand up as he walked him back over to where the other kids were, letting him set down, and then coming to the front with Hizashi.

"I want to thank everyone who stepped forward today, and know that just because you weren't showing off today doesn't mean you won't ever get the chance to show your skills. Combat practice is once a week after all. Now then, all of you, follow me, and we'll take a break from showing off your physical skills, and get to work on the mental ones," as he finished, Hizashi heard the usual groans from the students. Most would come to welcome the rest that the classroom allowed, but for now, he took them into the Academy building, letting Mizuki run towards their shared office to send off some reports about the morning.

"Students, this will be the class you're assigned. Most of you will rotate with other teachers, but for many of you, this will be your sensei for the next few years. I hope you learn to respect him as much a the rest of the staff does, and remember. Goof off on him at your own risk, because this teacher sees everything," the byakugan user smirked at this, and opened the door to find the teacher in question just finishing sorting through the papers. He turned towards the door, his red eyes shining.

"Ah, Hizashi, I take it this is the group responsible for that pulse that just happened?" asked the young man, who looked barely a decade older than the students.

"Indeed. We're going to be submitting our report on this morning's activities to the Hokage later today. Would you like it if a copy found it's way onto your desk?" offered the man, as the students, seeing the pair of older men talk, began to file into their seats.

"That would be nice," he responded with a warm smirk, Hizashi then left the room, closing the door behind him, and leaving the students with their new teacher.

"Alright class, I think some of you in this room might know me," he said this while looking to towards the seat Sasuke had taken in the back. "But for those of you who don't, my name is Uchiha Itachi, and I'll be your teacher for the next few years, or at least until you die."


	4. Classes Begin

The next few days were spent in the classroom, as Itachi tested his students. Sadly, this mostly involved actual paper tests, finding out what they knew of history, math, and even a bit of science surprisingly. The questions were designed with stopping points in mind, to see who knew what, and then post the results on the chalkboard. Each subject, from History to Spelling was listed, with the top three in each field finding their names written under them.

"Alright class. This is how the rest of this year will work. I have on this board, the names of everyone in the class," upon saying that, he motioned for another board to be wheeled in by one of the other students.

"Now then, let's see," Itachi took the next several minutes to put marks under every name that appeared on the test results. When he was done, it was clear that Hinata was out ahead, with her part of the board full of marks, while the closest behind her, Sakura, had less than half as many.

"Alright, that looks to be it. Before I continue, might I ask you children how many of you know the name Hatake Kakashi?" he said, turning to face them. A few hands shot up, while others just looked around, the name sounding familiar to some of them, but not enough to draw a face from their memories.

"Ah, so a few of you have then. Excellent. For those who don't know, Kakashi is the leader of Anbu Black Ops," Itachi let that fact hang in the air, and to his amusement every member of the class got wide eyed. Everyone in Konoha knew the name Anbu, and knew that it was the elite, the best of the best in the ninja world.

"Heh, it seems all of you know what Anbu is, but for those with any doubts, Anbu is an organization made of the best jonin and chunin in the village, and to be their leader is to be only one step below the Hokage in terms of power. Many even believe Kakashi is stronger in some respects, as he is the known by another name I'm sure many of you have heard, the Copy Cat Ninja," this fact was out of his mouth for an instant before it drew he desired reactions. As he'd expected, with most of his class coming from known clans, they all knew that title, and knew it's bearer's reputation.

"You many now be wondering why I bring that name up. Truth is, I asked Kakashi for a favor. You see, he and I are old friends, and he knows how hard it is to get you kids to focus, so he came up with a creative idea," Itachi accompanied this with a flaring motion of his arm, gesturing to the board behind him.

"Every month, during class, I shall take note of the best scores in every subject. First place will earn you three points, second two, and finally third will earn a single point. At the end of the lessons, I shall total up your scores, and the winner will be able to request some extra education, namely Hatake Kakashi shall impart on you one his thousand techniques," that news stunned everyone, as their minds went to all the rumors they'd heard. Kakashi could level mountains, and turn back rivers. Once he even walked out into a hurricane, and with a single jutsu, made the wind stop. These were the stories told about the man with the Sharingan Eye, the only non-Uchiha to have one.

"Of course, just to damp your wild imaginations, we, myself and Kakashi, will be working up a list of ten for the winner to select from, techniques we believe they could use. So don't get your hopes up on some massive thunder jutsu that can crack mountains. That doesn't mean they won't be intense, however, far beyond those techniques normally taught to young people," this was said with a knowing smirk, seeing the wildly varying fire behind those tiny eyes, going down to almost nothing, to becoming roaring fires as he finished. Many instantly cracked open their books and began skimming them, absorbing facts, dates, and formula like tiny computers, something that made their teacher laugh to himself as he took his seat.

Not that that was the end of the surprises, as the next day was given over to combat training. Every student was given a number, and set in a line. A mini tournament then commenced, with everyone told to show off their best taijutsu. One might have expected Hinata, a member of a clan famous for their Gentle Fist technique, who had already gotten to show off a bit of it, to be the best in the class. She would have been too, if the taijutsu trainer, Hizashi, hadn't expressly forbidden chakra use during the fights, claiming he wanted to see how they did without first, before he let them give it their all.

"Excellent work, Mr. Uchiha," said the white eyed man, as another opponent fell to the red eyed boy. His seventh consecutive win. Naruto was up next though.

"Enjoy the taste of victory while it lasts, because it's about to turn sour in your mouth!" declared the blonde, reading off a note that Heero had given him.

"Alright then, let's make this quick," was the only response Sasuke gave, dropping into a fighting stance, with a cocky smirk on his face. Naruto, either showing his own confidence, or his recklessness, charged right at the Uchiha boy. Of course, he'd been training the last year with a master of misdirection, and used those skills well, ducking at the last minute into a slide, something the Uchiha's stance gave little protection against.

The pair then fought in earnest, as Sasuke, surprised, but not daunted, kicked off the ground lightly, intending on landing on Naruto hard as he passed beneath him. Before he got close enough though, the blonde boy spun on one hand, changing his slide to the side, as he flared out his legs. A scissoring motion caught Sasuke's feet as they landed, and with a twist, he was put face down on the mat, with Naruto quickly rolling over on top of him.

"Not bad, baka," was Sasuke's response, as he did something with arms, rotating them in a very quick motion so that Naruto was forced to back off enough to let Sasuke break free, the red eyed boy coming back to his feet, and dropping again into a fighting stance. Naruto, screaming in frustration as they should have been game, drew himself back into a similar looking stance, his feet placed closer together though.

Sasuke saw this, and realized it gave him a slight advantage, as he moved forward, chambering a kick just so that he could knock the other boy off balance. Naruto caught the kick, however, using his elbow in just such a way that it smacked hard into the Uchiha's ankle, the pair of them crying out with their shared pain, but their stances allowing Naruto to spin forward with his other foot, clipping Sasuke on the side of his head with it, and sending him flying. When he came to rest off the mat, and out, he looked around in shock, and then started to laugh.

"And I thought this was going to be a boring school year," he said, and rose to his feet, shakily, but still, and then bowed to Naruto, who returned the gesture of respect, before going to the center of the mat, to keep the fights going.

The rest of the matches proved no where near as exciting, with most students knowing only basic katas, or maybe a few from their families styles. In the end, the hierarchy was established. Sasuke was at the top, with seven wins, and Hinata right behind with six. Naruto was in the middle, having lost to his second opponent, only having the single win under his belt. Heero lacked even that, losing to Sakura in his fight with the pink haired kunoichi in training. So the class was ranked, from strongest, to weakest.

The next week was spent with Mizuki, learning the fine arts of Ninjutsu. Everyone paid rapt attention in that class, even those who probably already knew the basic seals and techniques from family members. Most were disappointed that the first lesson was on a simple chakra technique, something like Naruto's chakra pulse, but far easier for those with less of a reserve. This technique, requiring only a single Monkey seal, was simply a way of measuring how much chakra the students had, as their bodies flared out with the stuff.

"Good, good, next," said Mizuki as he wrote down something on his clipboard. The student had flared a good three inches, and held it for a full minute. That was a good reserve for her age, and Sakura smiled as she joined Ino, who'd only had slightly less. Next up was Hinata, who bowed to the teacher, as she made the handsign, and her chakra flared. This time it was almost a good foot out from her body, like a blue fireball engulfing her. She then proceeded to hold that for the required minute, and when she released, she looked winded, but not exhausted, showing she might have actually been holding back a little.

"I would expect nothing less from the Hyuga heir," said the teacher with a smirk, bowing his head towards her. Hinata, finally getting a smile out of her rather chiseled face, bowed back. She then ran over to the rest of the class, many of whom began questioning her, asking her for tips on training chakra reserves and the like.

"Okay, Sasuke, show us what you can do," asked Mizuki, and the Uchiha looked from Hinata to the teacher, before nodding, and then doing the handsign. His flare was almost twice what Hinata's had been, the charka pouring from his body in a bright red stream, before petering out just as the minute ended, and the boy was driven to his knees, sweat pouring down his body. Obviously, he had been trying to show up the Hyuga heir, but still, Mizuki whistled. This crop of students was quite a bit better than any of the years he'd been here.

"I will have to remind you, Mr. Uchiha, that this was supposed to only be what you thought you could handle. We want to train you here, not kill you. Still, impressive," he admitted, being rewarded with a warm smile from the boy, who joined the others on the side of the class room, conversation redoubling as both he and Hinata were pestered for training tips. The next up turned out to be the blonde haired Uzumaki, whom Mizuki just shook his head at.

"No need, Naruto. We saw what you could do with that pulse at the beginning. So why don't you go to the stand with the class?" he told the boy, who was already doing the handsign. Mizuki, even if the students couldn't, already felt the chakra surging inside Naruto from just that simple motion. It wouldn't due to have him show up those from high ranking clans. More importantly, he didn't want any of the students to kill themselves trying to one up him. Naruto, looking disappointed, walked towards the rest of the class, but then joined in with them in asking what sort of training the Hyuga heir had been through.

"Okay, Mr. Yuy, you're up," he told the silver haired boy, who walked next to him, and then dropped into a fighting stance for some reason. He then went through an odd looking handsign, something like reverse snake, but with the thumb extended as well, before going to the required Monkey seal. Mizuki found that odd, but then went wide eyed as he had to retreat from the chakra flare, which extended a good meter and a half from the boy's body, shining white power flowing from him. Obviously Heero, whom Mizuki knew was constantly running on walls in the village, had built up quite the chakra reserve, but still, this was quite a bit more than he would have expected.

The minute passed, and Heero stood there, getting a few looks from the various students, while Mizuki just stared, finally looking down at his clipboard and marking off what he thought the boy's chakra reserves were. Naruto's of course, had an infinity symbol next to it, but Heero's got a number more than three times that of Sasuke's, as the boy barely looked fazed by what he'd done, either having been holding back on purpose, or instinctively somehow. That meant his actual reserve had to be quite a bit higher than even what he'd shown.

"Excellent work," was all he said, as the boy joined his brother on the other side of the class, where many questions were directed at him. He heard Heero start giving the usual explanation for tree walking, and idly Mizuki wondered how many of his students would be running on walls and water before the end of the year. Of course, he still had the rest of the class to do, and after a few more students of more average reserves, he got down to the business of teaching them how to be true ninja.


	5. Learning

"Freedom!" came the cry from the boy running on all fours, the puppy on his back clinging tightly to him as he ran off into the distance. The group behind him, either smiling after him, or seemingly embarrassed to be even distantly associated with him, followed as a much more leisurely pace.

"Baka," said Ino as she and Sakura walked together, their steps almost in perfect unison, and their stances similarly slouched, looking like they'd had their life force drained out of them.

"You said it. How does he have so much energy left?" asked Sakura, as she stretched her arms out, getting a rather satisfying series of pops from her fingers.

"He got every answer wrong, and just spent the time we were supposed to be testing playing with his puppy," said Hinata, as she came up on the pair. They then began the usual female game of comparing notes on the test, discussing who got what right and the like.

"I can't believe they remember all that. I barely remember what I wrote for my name," said Choji as he opened another bag of chips, stuffing a handful of them in his mouth as he walked.

"That's because you're giving up too soon. This was the last test before Kakashi's prize is handed out, and everyone else just stopped trying," said Naruto, as he and Heero walked together.

"Not like anyone is even close to Hinata, anyway. She's going to win this year's prize, but Itachi-kun said you can't win twice, and that means next year is all mine," proclaimed Sasuke, smirking at the others.

"This years isn't over yet. We have a chance. A slim one. If she got every answer wrong, and we got every answer right, on this test, one of us could get that training session," said Heero, pulling a sheet out marked with the points for the year, and with the additions and subtractions for the final.

"A troublesome thought. Do you really think she'd miss those questions just to give you two a chance?" asked Shikimaru as he brought up the rear.

"No, not really. But a one in a million chance, is still a chance," admitted Heero.

"See, we've still got it. Now, who's up for getting some of the best food in Konoha?" asked Naruto.

"Since when did my mom start cooking for you?" asked Choji between mouthfuls.

"He means that ramen place he likes so much. Sorry, but I've got better food waiting for me at home. Besides, Itachi and dad said I needed to go straight home after the test. Later Bakas!" shouted Sasuke, before leaping upwards onto a rooftop, and then running towards the Uchiha district.

"I am afraid my father made a similar request for me to report my expected results. If you're free tomorrow, however, I'll try to make some time," said Hinata, as she turned from the group at the next intersection, going towards her home.

"Likewise. Sometimes parents can be so troublesome," said the pineapple headed boy as he turned down the other road. Choji left next, followed by Ino and Sakura, who were going to the Yamanaka compound for post semester celebrations together.

"I see. My own progenitors have not made a similar request of myself. Would it be alright if I accept the invitation?" asked Shino, using his finger to push his glasses up his nose.

"Um, what?" asked Naruto.

"He means he doesn't have to rush home to his parents, and it would be a pleasure," said Heero, and Naruto nodded. Heero and Shino were...interesting. Heero never stood close to the kikai user, but he did seem to be one of the few who would talk to him regularly. The rest of the class either ignored him, or at most, involved him only when they were doing a group activity.

"Then let's go!" shouted Naruto, who bounded onto the nearby building. Heero and Shino looked at each other before following, Heero running along walls, while Shino just seemed to fly, his soles barely touching ground before leaping off again. With that sort of speed, the three of them made it to Ramen Ichiraku within moments, slamming into the seats by the counter one right after the other.

"Hey, Teuchi! You there?" cried out Naruto as he spun himself to a stop in his seat. The other two were much more gentle, slipping inside almost silently compared to the boy in bright orange.

"Heh, well hello Naruto, Heero, and...Shino, wasn't it?" asked the man behind the counter as he came out, holding a large bowl in his hands.

"Hai, Mr. Teuchi," said Shino, bowing his head a little towards the man.

"Excellent. Well, the broth is boiling now, so it'll be just a minute before I can bring out the noodles. So why don't we shoot the breeze a little first?" asked the man as he set the bowl down on the counter in front of him.

"Sure," said Naruto.

"I hear you boys just finished your first year at the Academy. All on your way to being fine Ninja then, huh?" he asked this with a smile, as he settled himself down onto a stool behind the counter, making him a good head taller than the boys.

"Indeed. One year of three completed. Two years remain until we can take the test for genin," said Shino.

"What about those early tests Mizuki was talking about? Couldn't we take those before the next semester, and then graduate this year?" asked Naruto.

"We could, but I doubt it would do us any good. If you do that, you'd be with those guys in E class, or maybe D class if you did it next year. Those guys are way better than us with jutsus," said Heero, remembering the times their class had been invited to look on the older students training.

They knew a few jutsus now, mostly sticking with the basic ones like kawarimi and henge, body replacement and disguise. Those had taken them months to master, but now, all of the kids in class, a good twenty-three of the original thirty-seven, could preform the techniques with some degree of regularity.

"Yeah, I saw that one guy, Hinata's brother or whatever, doing kawarimi five times in a row," admitted Naruto.

"Neji, and he is Hinata's cousin, and Hizashi's son," corrected Shino. Before more could be said, a loud ringing sound came from the back of the stand, causing Teuchi to rush back. When he got the water off the boil, he called out for the boys orders, and in a short amount of time, all three found bowls in front of them.

Speech stopped for a time as the trio ate, Teuchi smiling as the boys seemed to enjoy his ramen. It took them a few minutes to finish the food, Naruto slurping up the last bits of broth from his bowl, while Shino ate much more quietly, seemingly taking in the ramen a noodle at a time, leaving a few pieces on the counter, where his bugs ate it. Heero meanwhile ate with a more normal flare, not slurping it down, but just eating, finishing his off last, and setting the bowl in front of him.

"So, do you two truly believe you have a chance at acquiring the prize?" asked Shino, as he let the bugs crawl back up his sleeve, while Teuchi collected the bowls, taking them to the back to wash them out.

"It's possible. Not likely, but thanks to the studying Naruto and I have been doing, we've got the second and third highest scores in the class," said Heero. Most of the class had let their studies lag a bit, sometimes not turning in all the assignments, or just goofing off during tests. They all still fought their best during actual practice, either taijutsu or ninjutsu, but few of them felt the need to push themselves, with the prize being so far out of reach.

As such, Naruto and Heero, who still wanted that prize, worked for it. Heero studied every scrap of information he could, learning the names of all the Kages of every village, and able to rattle off the rice production of the Land of Grass with only a moments thought. His scores in such things proved his studying worth it, as he regularly came in second on tests of memory and knowledge, only losing out to the Hyuga heiress.

Naruto was the surprising one, though. He had a head for numbers that would have made anyone in the regular civilian school's envious. He could look at a word problem on a sheet, telling you where a target was, and what supplies you had, and come up with a plan of attack that maximized resources. Better, in the tests on practical traps, he'd been top of the class, even beating Hinata in that one.

Together, they'd maintained their status as two of the smarter students. Of course, their physical exams were a different story. Naruto was good with taijutsu, but his style left something to be desired. He could do each move of their studies individually well, chambering a kick perfectly, timing and executing a block that would stop even a powerful blow. It was bringing them together that he had trouble with, either failing to take advantage of openings, or worse, leaving himself open to a counter to any move he made. He had an advantage of stamina though, and rarely stayed down long, usually just throwing himself into the fight until his opponent fell down, exhausted.

Heero was a different story. He was sitting average with his taijutsu, able to regularly throw his opponents from the ring. But if it came to a full fight, when Hizashi let them all use their jutsus and family techniques, he almost always lost. Naruto at least powered through, either tanking hits that would fell any of his classmates, or letting them knock him around, then recovering quicker than they could. Heero failed at that, always. He could dodge decently, and was good with basic moves, but as soon as Hinata activated her Byakugan, or Ino started with that mind technique of her's, he was always down and out.

"Then I shall wish you both good luck," was all Shino said before casually strolling down the street towards his family compound. Naruto and Heero looked at each other at that point, then realized that Shino had failed to pay for his meal, as Teuchi asked for money. Both of them groaned at that, but paid out of their limited funds, before starting for home themselves. Once there, they trained a bit, watched some shows on TV about people in tight jumpsuits and hard helmets fighting obviously fake monsters, and then went to bed.

The next day they found themselves in class, staring at the board as Itachi rambled on and on about the various things their tests had demonstrated. Namely that some of them just weren't cut out for the life of Ninjitsu, and asked, politely, that three of the remaining students leave. The three, some of the lowest scores in the class, did so, thanking Itachi for the year of study he had given them, with Itachi noting that while they might never be ninja, they were still citizens of the Leaf, and that came with a pride all its own.

"And now, I believe it is time to announce the winner of our little contest," said Itachi with a smile as he turned to face the remaining score of students. Beside him stood the board on which the points had been tallied. Hinata's of course, had the most, by far. Heero and Naruto were leading the pack behind her, with Sakura being behind them. In last place was, surprisingly, Shikamaru, who lost even to Kiba, who had one mark under his name for his third place spots during a math test which have the class had just skipped.

"Of course, this final, as I said before we started, will be worth ten points, which should tip the balance a bit," as he said this, everyone saw the paper he turned to first was Hinata's, and as predicted, he marked down all ten points for her, putting her well out of reach of any of her classmates.

"Well now, I suppose there isn't much use in marking down the rest of this. If you'd care to come out now?" he said this to the room at large, and every student looked around, wondering what he was talking about, only to all be surprised as a man just sort of appeared beside their teacher, reading from an odd colored book, and standing there like he had been there all along.

"So, did you find someone worthy to pass on my skills to, Itachi-kun?" asked the man in a sing-song voice, lowering the book as he spoke. Behind the book was a mask, obscuring his face. In fact, the only thing anyone could see of him was his eye, a thing of near black that pierced through the classroom, staring into their souls.

"I might have, Hinata, if you will come forward?" asked Itachi, and dutifully, the Hyuga heir rose from her seat and came to stand before her teacher, and the man running Anbu.

"Thank you, Sensei, but I must decline this honor. My father has insisted that, as the heir to the Hyuga clan, it would be improper of me to deny the learning of a great technique from Kakashi-san to my fellow students. He insists that I allow one of them to take this, and he will instead be instructing me over the break on one of our clan's great techniques," she said this all with a formal bow, showing respect to the two men, before walking up to her seat again, and then sitting down. The class, stunned for a moment, turned towards the two older men for direction.

"~sigh~And here I spent all night coming up with a list of techniques a Dojutsu user would find useful," said Kakashi, pulling out a piece of paper from a pocket on his vest. He then made a single handsign, and the paper, flew from his hand, and burst into spectacular multicolored flames, impressing the class, and distracting them as Itachi went back to the board, and pulled out the tests again, quickly going over them to tally up points in his head.

"Hmm, Kakashi?" he said at last, gesturing for the Anbu captain to come towards him. The teacher made a single handsign, and the two were suddenly encased in a white sphere, one that no sound could penetrate, and no eye could pierce, leaving the students to their own devices.

"Are you crazy?! They just offered you one of Kakashi's techniques, and you turn it down?" demanded Ino, spinning her her seat to face the white eyed girl.

"My father has said, and I will obey. Besides, he's not wrong. Our clan has many techniques that I don't know myself, and they'll be more easily incorporated into my Gentle Fist style than some random one that Kakashi happened to pick up on a mission," the matter of fact response got a few nods from the class, who all turned back towards each other. Everyone was just about to start wondering who would win the prize, when the white sphere popped like a soap bubble, and the two men looked towards the class.

"Heero, Naruto, would you two come up here?" asked Itachi, and the two boys turned back towards the class again, before Naruto bounded towards the front of the room, leaping over desks to come to a halt near where the teachers stood. Heero, either showing composure, or just not having the same boundless energy, took the steps down to the teacher's level, and then bowed towards him.

"Hai, sensei?" asked Heero.

"After a great deal of number crunching, it came to my attention that the two of you have tied for first place in the class room. Normally, I would now require you to do some form of competition to determine an overall winner, but Kakashi..." he left that hanging as he motioned for the one eyed man to continue.

"After much debate, a coin flip, I have decided that I can teach both of you one technique. Since it will take me most of the night to come up with a list of appropriate techniques though, I'll meet you at your house tomorrow, say around eight in the morning?" said the man, and both boys eagerly nodded, their heads swimming with fantasies of the abilities they would soon wield against their classmates, while everyone else in the room was staring daggers at them, for having swiped the prize at the last minute. All except Hinata, who wore a small smile on her face.


	6. Prize

"ARGH! Where is he?!" demanded the blonde boy wearing his orange uniform. His hands rubbed back and forth through his hair as he shouted his frustration at the sky, and then effortlessly flicked a kunai into his hand, hurling it at a nearby training log, lodging the projectile deeper into the wood than his light frame would reasonably allow.

"No idea," said Heero, trying to keep his voice level as he sat in the corner of their training room, hanging off the ceiling in a crossed legs position. He was, if one looked closely, only being supported by a single toe, which shone slightly with glowing chakra in the nail.

"ARGH!" he shouted again, and pulled the kunai out, before proceeding to launch into an actually rather expert routine against the offending log. If he'd ever done that in training, he would have destroyed even Hinata and Sasuke without much trouble. Luckily, he didn't think hard enough about that, and instead was rewarded with a cracking sound as the log split in two.

The pair of them had been down there since waking up at six in the morning, getting ready for their meeting with Kakashi. It was now a little past eleven, and though they'd been listening the whole time for their doorbell, and making sojourns to front door every few minutes or so, nothing had been seen of him.

"Do you think he reneged on his promise?" asked Naruto, his breath coming out in huffs, this being the fifth log he'd destroyed since eight o'clock.

"Doubtful. Itachi would never have promised us something that he didn't intend to deliver on, and he seemed to know Kakashi quite well, considering how the Copy Cat addressed him in class," said Heero as he let himself fall from the ceiling, rolling as he hit the ground, and then popping back up to his feet. The two boys, covered with sweat from their work outs, decided to go up to the ground floor and wait out front again.

The two were just climbing the stairs, when the doorbell rang, and they looked at each other in shock. They then started tripping over their own feet to be the first to get the door, the pair arriving there almost within the same heartbeat, and quickly throwing open the door to reveal not one, not two, but three people standing there.

"Hello boys, have you been good?" asked a feminine voice, which caused both boys to whoop with excitement, ignoring the other two despite their frustration with the late arrival, and instead pounce on Kurenai, who caught both boys in her arms, and hugged them close.

"Oneesan!" they shouted together, and the three just stood there, the woman basking in the love that flowed from the pair, before finally they all got to their feet and just looked at each other.

"Where have you been?" asked Naruto after a few seconds of silence.

"On a mission, which is something you'll learn more of when you've grown up a little. For now, just know that I've gotten copies of all of Itachi's reports about you, and I want you to know, I'm proud of both of you," she told them, gesturing towards Itachi, who smiled down at the boys.

"Indeed, a fine pair of young ninja here. You raised them well, Kurenai," said Itachi, which got rather full of themselves grins from both boys, before the third member of the party spoke up.

"Ah, touching Itachi-kun. I didn't know you cared about anyone except that little brother of yours," said Kakashi, earning a rather wicked glance from Itachi, one that passed right over the boys' heads.

"You're late!" accused Heero suddenly, pointing a finger straight at the one eyed man, who then mimicked the motion, pointing a finger at himself.

"Me? Late? Never, I arrive exactly when I intend to," said the one eyed ninja to defend himself.

"You did say in class that you would be here at eight in the morning. If Kurenai hadn't asked me to seek you out, I think it would have taken you another hour to arrive," responded Itachi.

"Ridiculous lies and slander. I said I would be here at ten, not eight," said Kakashi with a childlike glint in that eye of his, as well as a smile beneath his mask.

"Need I remind you that it is now past eleven, and approaching midday?" said Kurenai, causing that grin to deflate a little, before he slapped his hands together, and then rubbed his palms against each other.

"Change of subject. Who's ready to learn a technique from me?" he said, leaning down towards the two boys, who looked from each other, towards their big sister and teacher, and then back to Kakashi.

"We forgive your tardiness," said the two graciously, getting Kakashi to just stare at them, while Itachi and Kurenai took a moment to stare at the back of his head, and then laugh as a single drop of sweat was visibly sliding down the side of his mask.

"I believe the boys have you pegged, Kakashi," said Itachi, as he motioned for the pair of them to join the adults in the yard. Soon, all five were standing there, the boys looking expectantly towards Kakashi.

"Now then, your oneesan and I had a long discussion about the prize, and after much debate-" "After I threatened his most prized possession" "-I have decided to gift Naruto with a technique that is normally taught only to experienced Jonin." said the masked Ninja, with a small injection by the kunochi next to him.

"And for Heero's prize, Kurenai and I will spend the next few days working with you on your family's technique. Hopefully, with some personal tutoring, we can actually begin to bring you the skill to use them. Are these acceptable terms?" asked their sensei, and the two turned to each other, making mumbling noises as they brought their heads together that were really just gibberish to make it seem like they had taken any time at all to make the decision.

"We accept your decision, Kurenai, sensei, koki otoko," the said, bowing to each in turn, causing the first two to grin at the third.

"When did I become Late Man?" asked Kakashi in a voice that would have garnered some sympathy from his audience, if the boys still weren't a little mad at him for being late, or from the other two if they didn't know him. So they took some time to discuss where to train, with Kakashi and Naruto heading to one of the training fields by the school, while Kurenai, Itachi, and Heero went back inside to the private training room.

"Alright, I've seen you make the colored chakra before, but just to refresh, can you make some of the white now?" asked Itachi, and Heero nodded, dropping into a stance, and then making a handsign. It was a Tiger, of a sort. The sign seemed to somehow be inverted, and as Itachi watched through his special eyes, he saw the boy's chakra pour into the sign, and come out in a pearl white that glittered through his body's chakra network.

"Always interesting to watch that," he commented, holding his hand out towards Heero, who took it, and allowed Itachi to examine him for a few minutes, before motioning towards the pile of logs, some broken, some whole, and then set one down on a training mount for Heero.

"Now, slash your 'claws' at this log," he asked, and Heero focused. He'd done this exercise a dozen times a day, the claws being the easiest of the Four Gods Techniques. Breathing in and out slowly, he brought his hands out to his sides, holding them there and then pushed his chakra out through the tips.

Slowly, the white mist began to take shape along his nails, growing out as shimmering blades about a foot long apiece, before he shouted, leapt forward, and struck with them. As always, the claws did nothing. Their essence crashed into the wood, and then dissolved like so much smoke, shattering into nothingness, and leaving Heero standing there, looking like an idiot.

"Hmm," was all the Uchiha said as he walked over towards the log, and looked closely at it with those special eyes of his. The Sharingan could see things not even the esteemed Byakugan could, looking at the same thing. For instance, the Byakugan would have seen the log, the chakra within it dead because it wasn't part of the tree. The Sharingan could see deeper than that, looking at the dead chakra itself, rather than those flows along which it once moved.

"Interesting," was all he said as he got up, and held out his hand towards Heero again, the boy giving his own, and letting the man inspect it as thoroughly as before, even poking it this time.

"Any idea how he makes that work?" asked Kurenai after a few moments, while Itachi stood back, stroking his chin in thought.

"A few ideas come to mind but...Heero?" he said at last, after letting that but hang in the air for far too long for the boy's liking.

"Yes?" he asked, a note of hopefulness seeping into his voice.

"I know you have your father's journal here. Might I see it?" he asked the boy, who stood there for a minute, his own face scrunching itself up in thought, before nodding.

"I think that would be okay, but you both have to close your eyes. That means turning off the red ones too," said Heero, and Itachi grinned at the child. He shut his eyes and held them closed for a few moments, before opening them once more, revealing the marks of his Bloodline gone from them.

"Alright, Kurenai, if you would join me in that corner?" he said, motioning towards a distant place in the room. The pair strode over there, and then waited for several seconds, before Heero moved from his spot, the sounds they heard from him indicating he was moving some tiles around on the floor, and then a click, followed by a door swinging open, and then shutting quickly.

"Okay, here you go," said Heero, holding out the journal to Itachi, the spot on the floor he'd been fiddling with being quite obvious from the gap in several floor mats that hadn't been there before. Rather than berate his student for lax security, the Uchiha heir instead opened he book, while turning on his eyes again, and quickly skimming through it.

One of the other advantages of his eyes over those of the Hyuga, one he knew his clan took advantage of far too little, was that it allowed one to look at a piece of paper, and perfectly recall the contents of it. So within seconds, he had read the entire journal, something that had taken the boy before him almost a year, and then he handed it back to him with a smile, nodding towards him as he turned around, and turned off his eyes. A few more seconds of noise, and then the boy replaced the mats where they had been, before calling out to the pair to turn around.

"Did that help any?" asked Heero expectantly, and Itachi smirked down at him while nodding.

"It helped. I want you to make those blades again, this time, hold them," he ordered, and Heero did just that, the claws coming to his hand much more easily this time, as ten, foot long rods of roiling white chakra danced from his finger tips.

"Excellent, now, tell me, what does it feel like, holding them like this?" inquired Itachi.

"It feels like...like it always does. I can feel the chakra, but nothing else really weird," he responded.

"And what does your father's journal say about it?" said Itachi, continuing to stare at Heero's hands.

"It says they're supposed to feel heavy, like lead weights when they move, but I can't get them to feel any different," the boy said this while launching into an open hand routine of his taijutsu training. His fingers seemed no less agile than before.

"Indeed. Now, have you tried adding anything else to the white chakra?" asked the instructor as he walked around Heero.

"Um, you mean like the other colors? I tried that once, and all I got was a headache," he admitted as he stopped in mid kick.

"No, I mean like your own chakra. You said you can feel the chakra in the blades, but have you ever tried to mix that with your original chakra?" he asked, and Heero just stood there for a moment, and then sighed as he focused inward. Repeating the techniques he'd been perfecting over the last two years that let him hang from ceilings, or run sideways along walls, he pushed his chakra out towards the tips of his fingers.

"Wha?!" he shouted in surprise, as his fingers became heavy at the merest touch of his chakra. The blades on the end changed physically as well. What had once been just rods of roiling mist like energy coalesced into solid forms, seemingly becoming blades of light, that he now held out at arms length, like at any moment the claws could leap off his hands and bite him like snakes.

"Incredible, even I can feel the chakra from them," commented Kurenai, who had been standing back, letting Itachi work with his student, her little brother. Heero, still a bit dazed, just nodded, and then turned towards the log he had slashed at before.

"Claws of the Tiger!" roared the youth as he bolted forward. His gait was not as sure as before, his hands feeling the weight of his technique, like lead gloves which threatened to weight him down. He didn't let that stop him, however, moving with the practiced grace of an Academy student, slashing in two flashes at the log, and then stopping just beyond it, holding his hands out to his sides so the claws formed about him like wings.

For a moment, it seemed like it hadn't worked, like the simple solution had failed, but then, the log fell apart. Not into just two pieces either. It had been slashed both horizontally and vertically, the small pieces of wood clattering to the floor with a dull sound, as the claws from Heero's hands retracted back into his body, his face lighting up as he turned around.

The next moment he was falling, and Kurenai rushed forward, her own training taking over so that before he had even touched the ground she had her arms around him. Checking first for a pulse, and then for breath, she held him there for several seconds, before turning to Itachi.

"What happened?" was all she asked, curious why her Heero would have fainted like that, when she knew he could hold the mist like claws for over an hour if he really tried, and that was before the Academy.

"Exactly what it looks like. Chakra exhaustion. His father's journal said it was common for the technique to do this to even older practitioners of his family's kekkei genkai," he admitted, as he walked over to her, and used his eyes to observe every channel of the boy's chakra network.

"Luckily, your little brother has a chakra capacity I would normally associate with chuunin, if not jonin, so he was able to take it. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that, now that he knows how it works, he'll be able to maintain the claws for a time, before this happens," he told her, motioning for her to follow. He sat down on one of the mats, and waved for her to place Heero's sleeping form beside them, before she joined him.

"So, will he be able to do all four of the techniques?" asked Kurenai. Her memories of Heero's father were of someone who'd only seen him from a distance, but she knew such skills were as formidable as the Yellow Flash's, possibly more so, if properly utilized.

"He could, but only the Claws and the Armor would leave him alive. The drain of the techniques are each an order of magnitude over the last, according to the journal," he explained calmly.

"So he should stay away from the Speed and the Roar then," she said the last as a matter of fact, and Itachi just nodded to it, looking over at the body. He saw potential there, the potential to bring ruin or prosperity to Konoha, depending on the whim of the user.

"Indeed. I had expected this to take much longer than it did. A few days at least to unlock the power hidden in his blood. To know it was hidden so simply shames me. If I had but known, I would have asked to see that journal sooner," he admitted, lamenting all the time wasted there, vowing to himself that he would not be so careless next year with his students' potential.

"It worked out better this way. He has the grounding in the basics, rather than relying on one set of skills. That sort of thing could kill a ninja, if they aren't prepared," she said, and Itachi, after a moment of thought, nodded, remembering stories of kekkei genkai users who were so dependent on their blood skills, they fell in battle the instant a counter could be made. Even his own eyes could prove to be such a crutch, as his clan found out from time to time.

"Well then, I believe I shall leave you two alone. When he awakens, remind him not to go beyond himself just yet. Konoha will have more use for him alive than dead," said the Uchiha with a matter of fact tone to his voice, but Kurenai wasn't fooled for a moment. Itachi saw his students as part of his family, and would have blamed himself should one of them fall.

"Domo, Itachi sensei," said Kurenai at last, and that brought a ghost of a smile to the Uchiha's lips, before he made a single handsign, and vanished, leaving her alone with Heero, whom she began to tend to.

Author's Notes:

I honestly started this story on a whim, after reading the ending of Naruto and feeling...unsatisfied with the conclusion of the manga. The anime is worse, in its own way, but still, many plot points and things that happen after the time skip just kind of make me mad, and so, before I go too much farther into this, I want to state for the record some things that are indeed different regarding this universe, as opposed to the canon one that do not come from that coin flip.

1) Madara Uchiha was a guy. He lived several generations ago, during the founding of Konoha. He did some stupid stuff, and ended up getting himself killed because he refused to accept that there were those who were better than him. He's still honored, somewhat by the Uchiha, for helping to found the clan, but otherwise, he's a historical footnote.

2) Tying into the above Obito is dead. Is Tobi still in this? Well, that's something for another time, but yeah, Obito died after the events that messed Kakashi up.

3) Chakra is a living force of the world, as described when it was being introduced to the audience, and which became a major plot point in one of the movies, rather the results of some guy eating a really good piece of fruit. Seriously, that was stupid.

4) Just to confirm this, considering the last point, yes, there was a ten tailed beast that got changed into nine other beasts of power. His backstory is different here, considering the above, but yeah, there's that.

That's all I've got for now. If I think of anything else, or if you have any questions regarding this fic, please feel free to note me, and remember to review as well as favorite, reviews are how I know I'm doing good with this.


	7. An Army of One

"Huh?" said Heero almost three hours later when he slowly opened his eyes. His first thought, upon waking, was that he felt like he'd been hit with a truck. Every muscle in his arms felt sore and over used, while his head felt like it was going to explode. Slowly, groggily, he rose from his position, and looked around, having to blink the blurriness from his eyes.

"Heh, awake finally I see," said a comforting voice, and Heero turned to find his oneesan in the room with him, sipping on a cup of tea, while he laid down on one of the bedrolls in the sitting room of his home. Startled, he instantly tried to hop to his feet, only to find himself swaying, and then, in the blink of an eye, Kurenai was standing beside him, her arm on his shoulder to steady him.

"Woah, woah there. You've just had quite the experience, so let's take it a little more slowly," she chided, holding him up, and then lightly letting him set back down at the table in front of him, before she took her spot opposite, staring at him.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked, and Heero, looking back in his memory, was taken aback a moment, before slowly nodding.

"I finally accessed my kekkei genkai," he said simply, and then held out his arm. He felt the white chakra within him, just a little, held back from before. It took him only a second of focus to create inch long claws for his left hand, which he slashed out with, cutting through an apple in the center of the table, which fell into pieces, one of which he offered to Kurenai, who took the piece of fruit.

"Indeed. You have access to a set of skills that no one else in the village does. Great Power, Greater Responsibility," she said the last in a dull monotone, the oath of the ANBU, the protectors of the village.

"I accept what comes with my blood, and hope to live up to the legacy of my father," said the boy simply, sounding far older than his ten years should allow. Kurenai just smiled at him.

"Now, I do have some things I want you to promise me before I leave today," she said this in that serious tone of voice that told Heero if he didn't listen, he would regret it, and so he stared at her intently, memorizing what she said.

"You mustn't try to use the Speed of the Phoenix, or the Roar of the Dragon until you are at least out of the Academy, and even then, only if I or Itachi say you can," she began, and Heero nodded. He may not have understood everything in the journal of his father, but even he knew that some of his clan died using those techniques, the drain on their chakra too much to handle for some.

"Good, and as an added precaution, I want you to hold off on practicing with the Armor of the Tortoise until you can maintain your Claws for at least ten minutes, at one meter long," she added this for her own peace of mind, and Heero nodded at that too, staring at his fingers, but wisely not trying to summon his claws for the moment.

"Beyond that, I want you to know I'm proud of you. You've taken your first steps towards being a great ninja, a ninja who will surpass your father, and hopefully grow the Yuy Clan to be one of Konoha's great families," she told them this, and it got a smile from the boy, who was about to start questioning other things, when a series of loud footsteps from outside attracted their attention.

Normally, one couldn't hear someone in Heero and Naruto's home without them being right at the door, but this time it sounded like the entire Konoha Corps was coming to their doorstep, causing Heero and Kurenai to hop up, and then rush to the front of the house, Kurenai swearing a little under her breath.

When they reached the front, they saw something that nearly floored Heero. It was Naruto and Kakashi. Or rather, it was three Kakashi's leading about a hundred Naruto's up to the door, the Naruto's marching in perfect lock step, until the one in the lead held up his hand, causing them to stop, in almost perfect formation, making it look like Naruto was about to invade his own home.

"Kakashi!" shouted the kunoichi as she leapt towards him, anger dripping from her voice, along with killer intent.

"I told you to teach him Kage Bushin, not try to kill him!" she came to a stop just in front of him, her fingers going to a kunai that she kept in her pouch.

"You wound me, my Red Eyed Mistress of the Mind," said the one eyed ninja, his hands going over his heart like it was in pain, only to be startled when one of his clones puffed out, Kurenai's kunai sailing through where it had been, without anyone present having seen her move.

"Explain yourself," she demanded, and you could visibly see Kakashi sweating.

"Well, in truth, I did try to get him to limit how much chakra he puts into the technique at first. After a few false starts, including some rather horrid looking monsters, Naruto picked up on the technique itself. Except he had to make at least three clones, no matter how little chakra he tried to use, and so, we ended up with these extras," explained the man all in one breath, and then backed up a little as Kurenai turned to face her blonde little brother.

She looked over the group. Her eyes weren't Sharingan, but she was not the foremost master on genjutsu in the village for nothing. She could feel chakra in the air when jutsu or other techniques were used, and she could manipulate that energy, pushing it back against it's user's mind to make them her puppets. All the clones though, just as a Kage Bushin should, felt normal to her. If Naruto switched placed with any of them, she wouldn't have been able to tell, and she supposed, after sighing to herself, that that was the purpose of the technique.

"If that's true then, I'll forgive it, for now," she told him this while walking over to retrieve her kunai, slipping the sharp weapon back into it's pouch, and then walking over towards the lead Naruto.

"I'm very proud of you, Naruto. This technique is difficult. It normally takes weeks of trial and error to get it right. To see you succeeded in a single day is incredible. Your brother and you are well on your way to achieving your dreams," she told him this while hugging him, Naruto going red for a minute at the compliments, only to hear what she'd said and turn to his brother.

"You mean you can do those tricks from your dad's book now?" he asked eagerly, and Heero nodded, drawing his left hand up, and then holding out his fingers while he made five more inch long claws.

"Cool! Are they really as sharp as the book said?" he asked again, and Heero smirked in a rather evil looking fashion.

"Let's find out, line up some of those clones," he instructed, and Naruto, a bit too swiftly for their taste, had the clones line up.

"Claws of the Tiger!" cried out the silver haired boy as he leapt forward. His strides were still a little slower than his usual, but he slammed into the clones hard enough that his claws buried in the chest of the first, second, his momentum finally dying around the tenth, as each clone in turn popped into chakra smoke.

"Oh, oh wow, that would hurt," said Naruto as he received the memories of each clone in turn, feeling those blades easily slip through the chakra made skin, bursting each one like a bubble.

"Yeah, but it makes me so slow. I'm gonna have to retrain every taijutsu stance over the summer to make use of them at all," he admitted, letting the claws vanish back into his fingers, the one and still only a bit under one hundred boys going back into their house, the clones adding comments to the conversation for Naruto as they did so, soon leaving Kurenai and Kakashi outside.

"How many tries did it actually take him to get the Kage Bushin?" asked the kunoichi as soon as the boys were out of earshot.

"Over four hundred, but each failure only made him work that much harder until he could do that," admitted Kakashi, the number making Kurenai's eyes bulge for a moment, before she regained her composure. She knew Naruto's prisoner would give him great stores of chakra, effectively unlimited if she'd understood Sarutobi's words right, but still. To use the Kage Bushin more than twice in a day could kill a jonin, one of the reasons the technique tended to take at least a month to learn.

"How many can he make at once?" she asked him, curiosity getting the better of her, and Kakashi just shook his head.

"I honestly was too afraid to ask him to do it. I didn't even bother explaining the technique's limits either. Too few can do what he does to have really pushed it to that sort of limit, so I merely explained the memory sharing ability, and left it at that," he explained, and for a moment, just a moment, she wanted to admonish him for that lax bit of oversight, then she looked back into the home of her 'little brothers'.

The clones, the clones were partying with the boys. Not acting like they were extensions of Naruto's will, or simply copies given basic instructions. They were independent entities, each with their own will. Some were fighting over snacks, others were just kind of sitting there, obviously thinking about things. Naruto had created actual copies of himself, his true essence, and if he could do that, who's to say what the limit of the technique was for him.

"Aren't you going on a mission tomorrow?" asked Kakashi, changing the subject abruptly enough that Kurenai had to switch mental tracks to answer.

"Yes, I have requested that Sarutobi allow me to be a jonin instructor for a squad in two years time. In order to earn that privilege, I need to prove myself, so he's giving me a few extended missions," she explained, and Kakashi nodded.

"Heh, sounds like you already know at least some of those you're going to want on your genin team," he told her, and Kurenai didn't deny it. She wouldn't have if she could, after all, everyone in the tower knew she cared for the two boys, even if she refused to be a true mother for them. Though more often than not, the village discouraged such connections between a jonin sensei and their team, these two were exceptions to a lot of rules, so why not one more?

"I won't ask that you visit them, since I know you have your own duties, but if you could, would you come back here some days, and make sure they're alright?" she asked him, and Kakashi seemed a bit surprised at the blunt request. He then got a rather thoughtful look in that one eye of his, before nodding.

"Of course. After all, there's a future Hokage living in this house, and it would be in the best interest of Konoha to make sure he survives to lead us into a glorious golden age," said the man, smiling beneath that mask of his. He then went off with a few pleasantries, and Kurenai went inside, finding both boy's celebrating their good fortune with their training, and she promised them both she would be there when the graduated from the Academy.


	8. Training

~ One Week Later

"Alright...hit me!" said the silver haired boy, sweat dripping down his face as his purple eyes turned dark again. The blonde in an orange suit nodded, a bit apprehensively, before making the hand sign of the ram, and then shouting out to the world.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he cried, the words echoing around the training ground they were in. The empty field and trees were obscured by a lair of smoke an instant later, smoke the seemed to roil and turn like a living thing, before it finally started to fade with an errant breeze. As it blew away, forms became visible in the haze, dull expressions of people, that slowly but surely began to resolve, finally revealing a hundred versions of Naruto, all standing in a battle stance, ready to attack on command.

"Claws of the Tiger!" responded Heero, holding out his hands. The words seemed to trigger a change in him, his stance getting lower, more focused, while his hands seemed to shimmer with white light for a moment, before that light focused itself at his finger tips. The light then shot outward, soon forming ten, meter long blades, almost as tall as Heero himself. The tips of his pinkie blades actually brushed against the ground, slicing small cuts into the earth, that the boy barely noticed.

"Go," was Naruto's command to his various selves, before leaping away. Experience had taught him not to stand too close to this fight, a small patch on his sleeve showing him what could happen if he let those blades on his brother's hands touch him, so he was flying away, while every clone rushed forward, some drawing kunai, others with their fists or feet out in front, all charging in a wild dash to reach him first.

The lucky clone that did so, one with a kunai, found himself impaled on one of the blades, as Heero began to dance into the throng, his movements sure and swift as he cut through clones half a dozen at a time. Each hand was splayed out, fingers as far apart as he could, giving them impression of some skeletal bird flying with bone wings into the center of the sea of orange, that began to explode into clouds of smoke with staccato series of pops to provide the music for the encounter.

From his perch on a branch, Naruto looked down, and whistled, impressed. His clones were doing better this time, the experiences of them slowly filtering into his brain so he could remember how each one fell. Now threw anything, no projectile weapons, as they'd learned to avoid that. A clone, made with his gear, still had cloned gear. So if they hurled a kunai, and Heero cut it, the kunai, and the clone that threw it, would both pop, meaning that each one, instead, was trying to get close enough for the kill.

As the claws spun around Heero, it was obvious none were going to get that close. Hitting that one meter mark meant death. One of the clones even pulled out Naruto's secret weapon. It was old, and dented, with knicks all over the blade, but it was a real katana the blonde boy had found on the training grounds. He had thought, maybe, that a real blade, one not made of chakra, could at least halt the ones on his brother's fingers. Instead the sword was cloven into three separate pieces, each one falling to the earth as the clone that held it to guard himself, found it sliced clean through.

Naruto watched the dance for over five minutes, until, at last, the final clone fell, and Heero instantly withdrew his claws. He'd been learning to be careful with the things, especially after nearly taking off Naruto's arm with it that first time they'd had him against the clones. When the blades were gone, only then did Naruto jump from the branch, landing lightly on his feet, and then giving a good look around the field. Everywhere, one could see small scars on the ground, where claws had met earth, and the earth had yielded as easily as the air.

"Awesome. You've gotten a lot faster," said Naruto at last, and Heero, breathing heavily, and looking like he was about to fall over, nodded.

"The Claws are moving more easily," he admitted, not trying to summon them to show off. Where before his movements had been hampered by the things, making even a single hand swipe with them take a full second if not slower. He wasn't quite up to the point where they were weightless, but his progress was still surprising.

"Again?" offered Naruto with a rather wicked looking grin for a ten year old. Heero responded by picking up a handful of dirt and hurling it at him.

"Hey, hey, I was kidding!" he shouted, holding up his arms to guard his face, and then brushing it off, before following Heero over towards one of the trees, and then sitting down with him.

"So, do you think the others are going to improve as much as us, during the summer I mean?" asked Naruto, and Heero, after thinking about it, shook his head.

"No way. Hinata is a maybe, whatever her dad teaches her is going to be powerful, but even then, I think our kekkie genkais are stronger than the Hyuga's," he said, and Naruto nodded. They'd agreed, early on, that Naruto's overflowing chakra, and Heero's control of the same had to be in some way connected to their blood.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Just wait Sasuke, I'm so gonna kick your butt," said Naruto to himself, holding his fist in the air. The sight of it made Heero grin, then, a second later, he was sound asleep, his breath coming in even breathes, and his eye gently shut. Naruto, looking over at him, shrugged, and rose to his feet. He wouldn't have admitted it, but three hundred clones in an hour was approaching his limit too, so with another ram sign, he summoned only twenty, and had them start on a dozen different training exercises, five reading books, five on some taijutsu stances he'd seen in a few books, and then ten...

He stopped, his thoughts going back over what he'd just been thinking off, and then he got another rather evil smirk on his face as he ordered the remaining ten to start on some chakra control training, while he himself rushed off to the library, mindful of Kakashi and Kurenai's warning not to let more than of himself be seen in Konoha for now, at least until school started. About twenty minutes later, Naruto, hauling as many books as he'd been allowed to check out, came back into the training ground, and ordered every clone still left(Two had popped from the chakra exercises, and three more from the taijutsu being a bit too rough for them) to start reading.

An hour, and many failed experiments later, Heero was fast asleep. He dreamed not at all, his mind too exhausted to think of any flights of fancy, and so he just drifted in peaceful slumber. Then something happened. Everything around him grew hotter than fire. Blue flames leapt through his body, speeding along his veins, and nearly stopping his heart as his eyes shot open, a single view of Naruto in his vision before it popped into smoke, and he shot to his feet, a kunai in his hand somehow as he looked around, thinking he was under attack.

"Hey, hey, hold it!" shouted the blonde boy's voice in his ear, and it took a second before Heero recognized it, his weapon drawn back, about to hurl at the source of the noise, until it clicked in his brain, and he paused.

"What?" was all he could get out as he stood there, staring at Naruto, wondering what he'd done to him. Then he realized something. He was awake. Not just not asleep in some lethargic state like someone who'd used all their chakra, but actually awake. Pocketing the kunai, he did a test, using the inverted Tiger Seal to produce more white chakra, and then forcing it through his fingers, soon creating blades again. Staring at his hands, wondering how Naruto had caused this, he turned to his brother, withdrawing the claws as he moved towards him.

"What?" he repeated, and Naruto grinned in that way that said he was proud of himself, before one of the clones behind him held up a book. it had the red cross symbol of a healer on it, and a page had been dog eared so it opened to it instantly.

"I had an idea for learning jutsu from the books, you know, like Kakashi learn a million techniques or something. Well, turns out most of them are a long way out of my league in control, but some are easy, just pump a lot of chkra into a seal and go," he explained, the clone setting the book down in front of him.

"This one caught the eye of one of my clones, and after discussing it amongst myselves, we figured it would be useful, so the clones kept trying it until they got it to work," he said this while Heero read the page. Most of it, like Naruto had said, was way beyond the Academy trainee's level. He understood maybe one word in five, but the pictures were very detailed and one technique in particular seemed to be simple, this one being a technique to transfer chakra from one ninja to another.

"Um, is this safe?" asked Heero, looking down at the warning about the technique. Most of them were pretty long, but this one was simply about control, and how if you screwed it up, it would indeed give the other person your chakra, but it would do permanent damage to your coils, possibly rendering you unable to use chakra ever again.

"If I were using it, no way. But I don't use it, my clones do," he said, and pointed to a few clones who were still practicing it, going through the three hand signs, and then touching the ones next to them. Every clone that used the technique popped, just like the one had healed him, but just like he had, each clone receiving from the technique seemed even stronger.

"I even found out something cool. Hey, come here!" he shouted, and one of the clones that had been standing back from the group came forward. This one seemed to be a bit nervous, and Heero wondered why. He didn't have to wonder long of course, because as soon as this one came in range, Naruto pulled out a kunai, and stabbed the clone in the leg with it. The thing flinched, but otherwise didn't seem to be in any pain, Heero wondering how it could take the kunai through the leg, as he could see blood, and even a bit of bone sticking out of the wound. Of course, it took him another second to process that last fact.

"Your clone is bleeding," was all Heero said, and Naruto nodded.

"I know. When you overcharge a Kage Bushin to an extreme degree, like say, enough to make a hundred normal clones, they become as solid as I am," he said, and then with a flick of his wrist, he stabbed the clone in his heart, causing the thing to disperse with a bamf sound.

"Fatal damage is still fatal though, and they die just like I would. Can you image how much damage I can do with this?" he asked, and Heero's mind was already going through a few basic scenarios. Naruto, after one year in the Academy was already in the top fifty percent of taijutsu users. Add in that the clones could do everything jutsuwise that Naruto himself could, and if he could make even a few of these, he would literally be a one man army.

"So, ready for some more training?" asked Naruto, and Heero looked at him, with that evil looking grin, and then got one that mirrored it. Naruto was growing stronger every day, it wouldn't do to fall behind, so he whipped his hands out to his side, summoning those claws again, and then slashing them through a nearby tree, which fell to the side, before turning to find himself facing three hundred boys in orange suits, all of them grinning wickedly, before shouting and charging.

"Claws of the Tiger!" he returned, entering the dance of death with a whirl of glowing white blades.


	9. Showing Off Again

Those waning days of summer, waxing days of autumn. The leaves on the tree are mostly still green, but here and there, a golden bit of color can be found. The winds bore the sweet smell of flowers in their last bloom, and the air echoed with the cries of children. Most of them about how school sucked and they didn't want to go back to classes, and sit in front of a boring teacher droning on and on about some daimyo who lived a millennium ago, and how his impact was still being felt today.

That was how it was in most civilian class rooms, even those in the Leaf. Those students who would be forced to learn facts and numbers. To know the names of all the important lords and ladies of history, lest they be forced to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Academy however, was mostly silent. Only the cries of the new class, Class A, could be heard, as the teacher sent them through paces, having them show off, and being both pleased that they were eager to learn, and somewhere, in the back of their minds, a bit miffed that it was class B that everyone was going to be talking about.

"Okay kids, I'd like to be the first to welcome you back to class," said Itachi as his students filed in. Of the twenty that had left his class at the beginning of summer, a short two months ago, now only eighteen came back. The two who weren't present had parents who had, after seeing their scores, had decided their prodigy would be safer in a lest deadly line of work, and after some shouts, threats, and slamming doors, the two had agreed, leaving only these students behind, who's families fully endorsed their chosen roles in the Leaf.

"Thank you, sensei," came a chorus of responses, and it made the young man behind his desk smile as he closed his eyes, and then opened them again, revealing his red eyes to class, and looking them over with vision that could pierce one's soul. Each child had improved over the months, as none of them would have slacked off in their training. He could see muscles where there had been none before on most of them, and some even seemed to hold themselves differently, more confident in themselves than before.

Some though, were different. These students, his brother included, had started to come into their own. Sasuke burned brightly, his chakra flowing through his body like a great river of blue fire. The same was, interestingly enough, the case for the Nara boy, who's chakra reserves had more than doubled over the summer. Ino and Sakura had almost quintupled though, beating out even Sasuke in raw amount, and both rapidly approaching Hinata in their control of their power.

Two shone brightly though, almost blindingly so. Naruto had always had a lot of chakra, of course, but his small coils had always made him look like a man who contained a star inside him, someone who would eventually burn himself out. Now that fire raged over his whole form, a sea of barely contained azure flame, with some potentially worrying flecks of red. Next to him was Heero, who showed the most improvement. Even compared to his previous chakra reserves, he had to have grown at least an order of magnitude stronger, if not more.

"Now, I'm sure all of you are excited to learn what it is will be doing on our first day back, so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We're going to take a test," he said the last with that condescending tone a teacher used on their students to deliver bad news, and as expected, more than half the class groaned in frustration. He only smirked harder as he reached under his desk, and puled a stack of papers out to set it loudly down on top of it. As he did so, he hit a hidden switch under the lip of the desk, and part of the wall behind him swung open, revealing a hidden door to the gym that was behind the classroom.

"If you will all follow me," said Itachi as he rose, leaving the papers where they were, and very gratified to see the surprised looks on the faces of his students. Even the usual unflappable Shino, and his own brother, seemed curious about this turn of events. They walked through the door, into the sparing gym, where Hizashi and Mizuki were already waiting, smiling at them.

"A ninja, is a living weapon," began Itachi as he turned to face his class while standing between the others.

"But too many focus on the latter half of that statement, ignoring the former. We live first, and are weapons second. We must learn to harness the former, to sharper the latter against it. So it has been in the Leaf since it's founding," explained Mizuki.

"You have proven you can learn, and by coming back here, you have proven the desire to be sharpened. From now on, lessons of pen and paper will be the rarity, and fighting will instead be what we teach you," finished Hizashi.

"From now, until the end of the year we'll have sparring matches at least once a day. You will be ranked, and just in case you're curious, the prize is still up for grabs. The top ranked combatant, disregarding Mr's Yuy, Uzumaki, and Ms. Hyuga, will be taught a single technique by Kakashi. Is that understood?" asked Itachi, and was gratified with the light shining on a few faces. Kiba's spirit seemed to rise the most, though given he wouldn't have stood a chance in an academic challenge, this was to be expected.

"Excellent. So, since they're already out of the running, why don't we have Mr. Yuy and Ms. Hyuga to start?" as Itachi said this, he and the instructors did a single hand sign together. Smoke filled the area around them, and when it cleared, they were sitting at a table, papers in front of all of them. Itachi then motioned with one hand towards the mat, a prompt which made Heero and Hinata enter the ring eagerly.

"How was your summer?" asked Heero, as he proceeded to go through some warm up stretches, as Hinata did the same, working some kinks out of her muscles.

"Not bad. Father and Uncle taught me a lot over the summer. Do you know what your elemental affinity is?" she asked as she did a few flips onto the mat, loosening herself up.

"My what?" responded Heero.

"Elemental Affinity. A ninja's chakra tends to move best with a certain element. Fire, Earth, and the like. There' some special paper they make to test your affinity. Turns out, my affinity is water," she said this while taking a fighting stance finally, both hands held out in front of her. Heero, seeing her as ready, took a similar stance, his feet placed widely apart, while his fingers curled like animal claws on his hand, while Hinata's were perfectly straight.

"Oh, did that help with your training?" queried the boy, before he was forced to start dodging as Itachi rang a small bell, and Hinata charged forward, her hands flashing by so fast they were almost invisible to him, causing him to dodge first left, then right, and having to roll backwards to avoid a follow up.

"Heh, yeah. Turns out, Gentle Fist's main technique line is much more earth natured. A few of the users in the clan are water aspected though, and they began teaching me a new style," she told him this while leaping forward, trying to drive him before her, and straight off the map. Heero let her take him right to the edge, before leaping over her head, spinning in the air, and then coming down into another combat stance.

"I must admit, you've gotten more fluid with your strikes," said Heero, who, having sparred against the Hyuga girl the previous year, remembered her as being a direct fighter. Even without using the Gentle Fist, he strikes were direct, and usually powerful. Now she seemed to flow into each set of strikes instead, gently moving like a tide, and then striking like a tidal wave.

"Thanks. You've definitely gotten faster yourself," she admitted, diving forward, and then rolling on the mat, before sweeping her legs at his chest. Heero had to bring up his arm to block the kick, and even then, he was nearly thrown, his stance breaking as he gave ground, and his body landing on a hand, before he flipped back to his feet.

"Enough banter, just finish this one Hinata!" shouted Ino from the sidelines, and Sakura was soon taking up the cry with her best friend. Most of the class seemed to already know who was going to win this match, and were telling Hinata to get on with it.

"Seems, I'm the crowd favorite, despite your training. Would you like to give up now?" she asked the boy, and he grinned at her, before dropping into a meditative stance, his fingers doing a weird seal she hadn't seen before. Quickly she turned on her eyes, and saw the chakra in his body, more than her father she was surprised to see, was being filtered through that sign, turning black.

"You can't be serious," she told him, and then focused inside herself, drawing on her blood to focus her chakra into her hands. With a thought, the tips of her fingers began to glow a little. Not as much as Naruto when he super charged himself with chakra, but far more than her fingers had last year.

"I am always serious," he declared, and then punched his fists together. Out of that meeting of his fingers poured the black chakra, visibly spreading over his body, causing Hizashi and Mizuki to look on with surprise, while the class just seemed stunned. only Naruto and Itachi didn't seem shocked at this sight, and they wore grins on their faces as Heero's black chakra skin crawled over his whole body, from head to toe.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" he shouted at last, and Hinata just stared at him. Her eyes couldn't see him anymore. His chakra network, his body, nothing. Her byakugan saw only the black outline of Heero, as he stood there, making a gesture with his fingers telling her to bring it on. She didn't disappoint him, charging forward, figuring his defense was nothing compared to her offense, which had never failed to net her the win during the previous years sparing matches.

She struck like a cobra, her hands vanishing, and then reappearing only to jab fingers into the chakra flows of Heero's body. Of course, everyone in the class expected Heero to do that jerking dance they all did when struck with the power of the Gentle Fist. Instead, the silver haired boy, who was now outlined in roiling black chakra mist no matter how you looked at him, just stood there, taking very hit like it didn't even touch him, only blocking his face with his arms until Hinata finally had enough and leapt away.

Even she seemed surprised as she did so, just staring at Heero for several long seconds, like what she was looking at was impossible. Heero himself though didn't seem to bothered, coming out of his block just to grin casually at her. He then saw something that surprised him, and when the others followed his eyes, there were a few gasps of shock from the class.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked, concern in his voice, and Hinata finally looked where he was to find her fingers, her delicate weapons, were damaged. Her finger tips were burned, her pointer finger on her right hand almost black, with a small column of smoke rising from it.

"Um, do you want to go see the medicnin?" asked Heero, and Hinata just stared at her hands for a few heartbeats longer, before she suddenly whipped her right hand out in a side punch that should have sent the silver haired boy sprawling. It did startle him, and he had no time to block as the fist impacted his head with a crack of bone and sinew. However, it was not his skull that cracked, it was her fist, and having his answer, Heero resumed the fight.

Well, to call it a fight was over stating it. The battle lasted only two more blows, as Heero did a side kick to Hinata's left, his movements slow, slow enough that had Hinata been thinking, she would have jumped away from them. She wasn't, however, and instead took the blow hard, so hard that it tore through her guard and sent her sprawling. Heero then followed that up with a single punch, straight at her midriff, once again slow, but with enough power behind it that Hinata went sailing, landing outside the sparing ring.

The rest of the class were so surprised that for a few seconds, no one said anything, as Hinata, with obvious effort, picked herself up from the ground. Her stance was steady as she got back to her feet though, not even the bitter taste of defeat keeping her from smiling. A challenge at last to her prowess as a ninja. That was the thought that crossed her mind as she bowed, a bit too carefully, to her opponent, who returned the gesture of respect, while banishing the outline of black chakra, returning to normal.

"Excellent fight, both of you," said Hizashi as he approached Hinata, his eyes going up and down her body, looking for any sign of injury. A few bruises came to his eye easily enough, and a rib that might have cracked had the fight gone on for another few seconds. As it was though, she seemed fine, just exhausted. Her fingers even looked okay to his byakugan. The coils at their tips seemed a bit out of shape, probably from having the chakra attack of the Gentle Fist rebounded back into them, but they would recover.

"Thank you, Uncle. Might I go to the medicnin now?" she asked, humility entering her voice. Hizashi was a bit surprised at that. His niece was usually one of the more confident members of the Main Family. Never flaunting her power and position, but never forgetting what it meant. He smiled at her accepting defeat so gracefully, and nodded.

"Indeed. I shall escort you there myself. Itachi?" he asked this, turning to the red eyed man who was staring at Heero.

"Go on," he said absent mindedly, and Hizashi looked where he was. Heero stood there, that black chakra still swirling about inside him, seemingly not at all drained from the barrier of it he had just used. Understanding Itachi's distraction, the Hyuga Branch Family member said nothing, and merely led his niece from the scene.

"How long can you maintain that barrier?" asked Itachi at last, and Heero just grinned at him.

"I'm not sure. We timed it a few weeks ago, and I got it up to about three minutes, but I think I can do it way longer now," he bragged to his sensei, who nodded gravely, adding several notes on his sheet, and marking the edge with a particular symbol, one that would be important later that night. He then waved his hand for Heero to walk to the other side of the room.

"Okay, after that surprise, Naruto, Sasuke, would you please approach the mat?" asked Itachi, and the pair did so, stepping into the ring. Neither needed to stretch, so they just took their positions on the opposite. Once both seemed comfortable, Itachi's bell let out a sharp tone, and the pair rocketed forward.

"What was that thing your brother used? Was that what you learned from Kakashi?!" demanded Sasuke as their fists met between them with a hard, almost bone cracking clack. Neither boy even seemed to notice that they should be rolling on the floor in pain though, as they instead each followed up with a rolling counter, Academy perfect stances carrying their feet together so they smacked together at the ankle, the momentum of the blows forcing the two apart.

"You didn't ask your brother what it was we learned?" countered Naruto, standing stock still, favoring his right foot a bit, while Saskue mirrored him, favoring his left.

"Of course I did, baka. I asked him over and over again, but he refused to tell me," Sasuke responded while gathering up all the force his could, and then kicking forward, his right foot swinging high, while his left came low, trying to force the Uzumaki boy off his feet. Naruto saw the blow coming a mile away, and did a flip into the kicks, getting between them before Sasuke could bring them together in a very powerful scissoring motion which would have probably knocked the breath from Naruto's lungs.

"Well then, I suppose I can enlighten you as to what I learned, if nothing else," said Naruto as he rolled back onto his feet, and then turned with a rather infuriating grin on his face.

"I learned how to make clones," he told the black haired boy, who just stopped for a second at the news. Clones were what they had finished on last year, though none of the students had perfected the technique yet. His brother had, after some wheedling, admitted that Bushin tended to be one of the graduation requirements of the Academy. But to learn just those from Kakashi, Copy Cat Ninja and Master of a Thousand Techniques. He was stunned just long enough for Naruto to squat into a focus stance, and make a single Ram Seal with his fingers.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he shouted, and with a bamf, disappeared behind a thick wall of chakra smoke. It cleared slowly, but before it was all the way gone, three Narutos burst from inside it, each coming at Sasuke from a different angle. That was the point of the technique of course, illusions to throw you off but...what was that word he'd said before...oh no.

"Kage?! Shadow clones!?" he cried out, and quickly dodged a set of three fists and feet as they came around him, forcing him into stances that his father would have called disgraceful for an Uchiha. His brother meanwhile, was impressed with Sasuke's dexterity and flexibility at such a young age. He threw himself into every dodge, bending almost in half to get away from the three Narutos. The instant he had an opening, he did a backflip through them, getting some distance between the two, until he could get into a fighting stance again, and then go on the offensive.

He jumped eagerly into the fray, his eyes shining with that sparkle of a young man finding himself challenged. Where before he'd been near the top of his class, with only Hinata really able to match him when he went all out, now, with the clones, Naruto was proving just as formidable. He knew something of the technique though, the clones would be weak. A single good hit would pop them, that meant he just had to find the real Naruto, and then dispel the clones quickly. Luckily for him, the Narutos seemed a bit slow to defend themselves, and the first one he struck took it right in the chin, with a loud enough bone meeting bone sound that some of the students winced at it.

Before that Naruto was done falling to the ground, Sasuke attacked his remaining two opponents. Briefly, he considered a Katon technique, but remembered the mess fire jutsus tended to make, and just went with punches. Each fist found its mark as he charged forward with his arms outstretched, his muscles screaming at him as he slammed his blows home, punching both Narutos hard in the gut, and sending them flying into the air, where they...rolled onto the mat, and then stood up, one of them obviously slowed by the attacks, holding his chest in pain. The other just seemed to grin at him, while he heard cracking knuckles, and looked behind him to find the first Naruto he'd hit standing up, his chin bruised, but seemingly not feeling it at all.

"Impossible," came a word from several mouths at once. Mizuki and Sasuke said it as one, while the rest of the class who knew the technique, either through parents or just stories, were stunned by what Naruto's clones had just done.

"Impossible is just a word people use when they don't have the will to go farther. I've been told it's impossible for some orphan boy to become Hokage, just like it's impossible to make a Shadow Clone that bleeds. I will show you all that I can make the impossible, possible," he said this while all three Narutos pulled kunai from their belt, and as one cut into their palms, a small trickle of blood running onto the mat, before they charged again. Sasuke tried to defend, but his mind told him what he was seeing just couldn't be. Worse, the three Narutos struck better this time, none of them holding anything back, so the Uchiha boy soon found himself pummeled by blow after blow, until finally he was tossed from the mat, Itachi ringing his bell, ending the match.


	10. Precautions

"You cannot be serious," said the man sitting in the chair beside the desk, staring at the reports in his hand. They said things that...well, he'd been doing his job for several years now and seen some very odd things, but this was just unbelievable.

"I swear to Izanagi it is true," said the other man, and everyone in the room nodded gravely. They knew Itachi, knew he wasn't given to exaggeration. Worse, they had the word of Mizuki, and the students to confirm it.

"Shadow Clones who can bleed. This technique would render a single ninja into an army," said Ibiki at last, continuing to stare at the reports in his hands.

"Worse, Heero seems to have chakra reserves on par with a Kage. He's ten," said Kakashi, reminding the gathered men of that fact as well. It seems the two had really been doing some sharpening over their summer break, and had both come into power that would make any of the men in this room jealous.

"He'll be eleven in a month," countered Sarutobi, a bit of worry creeping into his voice. He knew of course that it wasn't much of a counter, but one had to work with what they had.

"Does Danzo know yet?" asked Ibiki at last. The man, a power within the village that even the Hokage sometimes had trouble keeping in check, might have done something drastic if he knew just how much power two young boys now held in their small bodies, with their very easily manipulated minds.

"No, I ordered the students not to speak of the matches to anyone, saying they needed to be kept secret for my little contest. I then impressed upon their parents that if they spoke of it, any information was to be considered an S Ranked Secret," said Itachi, and everyone nodded. Only the Hokage could actually declare something to be that level of Secret, but if someone as respected as Itachi said so, most people of the village would give up their life before revealing it.

"Good, that's one problem nipped in the bud then. What about the larger issue of the boys though? More importantly, what do we tell their 'big sister'?" asked Kakashi, and all the men in the room shuddered a little bit. They weren't responsible for this, and in reality this was a fantastic development, but the training required to get the boys to this level so quickly? It had to have been dangerous, more than likely life threatening, and none of them had even known about it, let alone tried to stop it. The Mistress of the Mind would not be happy with Kakashi, but would like as not spread her anger around to both the Hokage and Itachi.

"For now, that problem can be put on hold. I sent her on an extended mission to the Land of Grass. She should return in about three months, if all goes well. In the meantime, perhaps we should consider withdrawing the boys from the class, maybe even graduating them to genin," the Hokage offered, but Itachi and Kakashi both shook their heads after a moment's thought.

"No, it wouldn't be prudent to do that. If for no other reason than Kurenai wishes to be their jonin sensei herself. There's also the fact that, as of now, the students know of their skills. To withdraw them would only risk spreading that information farther," said Itachi, and Kakashi nodded his agreement.

"We're just lucky no one noticed them at the training ground when they were practicing these things. If Iwa or Kumo had learned of this, we'd already have at least a dozen Hunter-Nin in the village aiming for the boys' heads," added Kakashi to the mix of statements.

"How did they hide that, anyway. I thought you were keeping an eye on them for their big sister, Kakashi-kun?" said Itachi suddenly, and one could see a sweat drop rolling down the Copy-Nin's face as he scratched at his cheek in embarrassment.

"I'll admit, they were a bit more devious than I thought. I came by once a week, every Wednesday, but never saw them do more than taijutsu or henge practice. To know they were literally doing this behind my back is actually another point in their favor," admitted the one eyed man. This seemed to be the truth enough so that the others turned their minds to other things, though each didn't truly believe Kakashi had put forth his best effort in his role as observer of the two.

"What protection do the boys have as of now?" asked Ibiki suddenly, causing the other three to turn to him, before Kakashi produced a little book from his back pocket.

"I picked out three teams of my most trusted ANBU operatives to take a round the clock guard duty for them, just in case something did get out about their abilities without us knowing about it. I trust all nine of them with my life, and so I told them what they would need to look out for, and to stay out of the boys' way for now, just to make sure they're safe," said Kakashi, looking over the list of names again, before putting the book back into his pocket, as if reassuring himself of his faith in those men and women.

"Perhaps we should have been doing this all along," commented Ibiki, more to himself than to those in the room.

"It is possible, yes. But I felt it best to keep eyes away from the boys. Their lineages would make them a target, and the best way to keep a secret like this is to make sure no one knows there's a secret at all," said the Hokage in response to it. Ibiki nodded at that statement, but still felt that he should have pressed the issue.

"So we have two Academy trainees that should be at least Chuunin now, if not higher. They aren't slacking off in their training either. I watched them in their basement, and saw Heero fighting against five different Narutos, all of which took hits that would have broken any Genin in the village," said Itachi, flashing his red eyes to show how that might have been accomplished. It caused the other three men in the room to fall silent.

"For now, we shall do nothing more than what we have. The ANBU teams will continue to guard the two boys, make sure no one suspects how powerful they already are, and hopefully we can keep others from spreading this news too far, for now. If there's any change at all in the situation, I want to be informed immediately," the old man finally said, and three heads nodded in unison.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama," said the voices, before they each left the room, allowing the old man a private moment. Looking after them, he turned his head to a set of pictures hanging on the side wall of his office, several of his old teams, and of the friends he'd know in his life. One in particular caught his eye now, of a man wearing his official robes, his yellow hair seemingly almost electric in the light of the picture, while next to him stood a silver haired man with purple eyes, the two smiling as they made faces at the camera.

"You two knew this would happen, didn't you? That the boys would beat against each other, pushing themselves harder and stronger, to surpass both of you. I think this qualifies as the greatest success of your lives, not counting our Konoha's safety ten years ago," said Sarutobi, and opened a draw in his desk, out of which he pulled a small bottle, which he saluted the two with, before taking a long pull on.


	11. Extracurricular Activities

Days passed as men and women, young and old, were moved around at the Hokage's orders. Soon, two boys were told to practice their skills only in their own home, to keep secret the powers that continued to build inside them. Families asked questions of their own progeny, who either said nothing, or told all, as was their will. But even so, each child, seeing the power of their classmates, pushed themselves harder and harder, growing in their own ways.

Autumn gave way to Winter's cold winds, and snow covered much of the Land of Fire. Training provided the heat though, and sweat covered the training mats every day as the children sharpened themselves against each other. Every match seemed to reveal something new. Naruto's clones, powerful though they were, were still clones, and had minds that weren't quite as fast as the original, so they could be confused easily. Heero's armor, while nearly impenetrable, was heavy enough that he couldn't move like a ninja could, limiting his mobility, and providing opportunities for those who could exploit them.

The class settled into a routine, with ranks determined, and with only minimal changes. Heero, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke stood at the top. The first with his armor able to simply push his opponents from the ring, the second with her touch able to paralyze her opponent, the third with his multiple selves, no one ever quite sure which was the real him, and the fourth, his strikes powerful and direct enough to drive his foes before him. The fifth rank in the class changed almost daily, as those below jockeyed for position. Sakura one day landing a lucky hit on Ino, causing their friendship to strain. Shino showing off a bit more dexterity than normal to knock Kiba from the ring, and of course, every once in a while, Shikamaru stepped up to be the ninja everyone in the class knew he could be, if he weren't so lazy.

~The Final Day of Class Before Winter Break

"Freedom!" shouted the boy, his dog barking from his back as he held on. The pair gleefully howled together as Kiba ran on all fours, snow being flung all about him from the previous night's storm. His classmates followed behind in small groups, bundled together against the biting cold air.

"Is he gonna do that every time we have an extended break?" asked Sakura as she watched him charge off. Next to her, Ino just sighed, her breath coming out in a cloud of steam that caused her to huddle closer to Sakura for warmth, the two shivering. The rest of the class chose to walk slower than was normal, even the usually exuberant Heero and Naruto seemed to take the uncharacteristically cold weather as a sign not to just go running off into it. This slow pace allowed a set of footsteps to catch up to them as they walked home.

"Excuse me, boys?" asked a voice they knew well, and both turned around to find Hizashi who had spoken, as well as Hinata and Neji standing behind them. Three Hyugas seemed immune to the cold, standing there in the ankle deep snow, before they bowed to the pair, who returned it as gracefully as they could in their winter coats.

"Hai, sensei?" asked the two boys in almost perfect unison.

"Oh, don't be so formal now. We're not in class, and I came to ask you something. My brother wanted to meet the other top five students in my class, who could give his daughter a hard time. Normally, we'd extend the invitation through the family, but you two are an exception," said the white eyed man rather warmly, and the two looked at him.

"So, you want us to come to your house?" asked Naruto after a second's thought.

"More specifically, dinner tonight. If you two are busy, I can tell Hiashi that we'll need to reschedule, but we would be honored if you would grace us with your presence," said the man, and the two boys stared at him, turned to each other, and then back to him.

"Um...who else will be there?" asked Heero.

"As I said, this honor is extended to the top five students of Class B. So Hinata, and you two of course, as well as Sasuke and Shikarmaru. Beyond that, it should be a closed affair, I believe. Just our immediate family," answered their teacher.

"Oh, okay, cool. We'll be there then. When should we arrive?" asked Heero.

"We should have preparations for the meal completed in around two and a half hours, so five o'clock would be the best time to arrive," said the white eyed man, before bowing again, and walking off. The two kids by his side bowed towards the two boys as well, a bit deeper than their elder, before following. Of course, the instant the three were gone, they bound off into the sky, leaping over roof tops, and finally finding Shikamaru only about a quarter of the way to the Nara household.

"Shika! Wait up!" shouted Naruto as he leapt down from a rooftop, landing in a snow drift that buried him up to his neck. Heero, instead ran down the side of the building, and stood on top of the snow.

"Huh? What do you two want?" asked the boy. Out of another student the tone would have indicated annoyance, but Shikamaru always said things like that, and his eyes tended to be how you tell what he really was thinking, in this case, the single raised eyebrow indicated he was curious why the two would come barreling through the snow to talk to him.

"What do we wear to dinner tonight?" blurted out Naruto, and Shikamaru stared at him.

"Uh, whatever you want?" responded the pineapple headed boy, growing confused.

"He means to dinner at the Hyuga residence. We've been invited, and so have you and Sasuke, since we're the top five in the class other than Hinata" explained Heero, and Shikamaru got a rather odd look on his face, before stroking his chin with his finger.

"Troublesome. I knew I shouldn't have tried to win against Ino," responded Shikamaru, while motioning the boys over to an alley so he could sit on an empty crate.

"Well, you did, so what do we wear? I mean, we don't have those fancy kimonos or robes or whatever," said Naruto, pulling at the orange jumpsuit he always seemed to wear. In actuality, he had over three dozen copies of the outfit, all with pockets in various places for storing things from weapons to snacks.

"Well, if they're inviting us tonight, and in this weather, I doubt it's a formal event. Just clean yourselves up from class, and you should be good," he explained, and the two boys nodded.

"What about food, should we bring some?" asked Heero, and Shikamaru shook his head.

"No, if we're going to be guests of their house, they'll provide the meal. But be on your best behavior. It'll make trouble for all of us if one of you starts to act up," he warned, and then started off towards his home, murmurs of 'troublesome' coming from behind him, before he vanished into the snow. Looking at each other, the pair of boys leapt into the air again, and made their way along the streets to their home. Once there they striped off their school clothes and set about cleaning themselves up as best as possible. Luckily, the pipes did warm, as well as freezing water, allowing for them to bathe comfortably despite the weather. With their bodies clean, and their best clothing on, which consisted of a school standard jumpsuit for Heero and Naruto's signature orange, the pair found themselves outside the Hyuga compound, just as the winter sun began to set on the horizon.

"Welcome to our Clan's Home, Yuy-san, Uzumaki-san," said Neji as he greeted them at the gate, after they'd run the bell. He bowed, a little less deeply now that his father wasn't watching, but still respectfully towards the two, who returned the gesture.

"Arigato, Hyuga-senpai," the two said together, getting a small grin from the white eyed boy as he led them into the Hyuga's Compound. The place looked...well, like a smaller version of the village outside the high wall. Paths had been dug through the snow between the homes, and it was obvious were places like wash house and even a store were, as people brought bags and baskets from those filed with laundry or food respectively. Neither boy tried to react to the sights around them, to the knowledge that this whole place was owned by a single family, and yet, their eyes showed their wonderment at it, which only made Neji smile wider as he led them to the largest home in the compound.

Once inside, they were instructed to take off their coats and shoes, which they promptly did so, Heero's ending up looking just a bit neater than Naruto's pile of garments, before both were permitted into the home proper. The home was sedate, rather than opulent, as one might expect of one of the Four Noble Clans. The walls were simple, adorned only periodically with the symbol of the Hyuga's House, and only a few tables stood in the halls. On those tables were pictures, some of single people, but most of families, all smiling at the camera or the artist as they stood there. The last of these was obviously Hinata, a picture of her, her father, and her sister.

"Ah, here they are now," said Hizashi's voice from the room they were led to. Inside they found Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, a young girl who was obviously Hinata's sister and...two Hizashi's.

"Father, Uncle," said Neji, bowing to both men, before taking a seat at the table, crossing his legs beneath him as he sat on the pillow. Not wanting to be rude, Heero and Naruto did much the same, before taking their own places at the table.

"So, you are the two who regularly beat my daughter in contests of strength, if not of mind," said one of the Hizashi's. His voice was different though, a bit older sounding, like he was tired, but refused to go to bed.

"That's mostly Heero, Hyuga-sama. His armor renders the Gentle Fist a bit more gentle than fist," said Naruto simply, getting an elbow to the chest for his trouble, while everyone around the table just blinked at the bluntness of the statement. Then the Not-Hizashi Hizashi burst out laughing, having to set his tea cup on the table before him as he slapped his knee.

"Ah, so that's how that works. Now then, since you already know my brother, Hianta, Uchiha-san, and Nara-san, allow me to introduce Hinata's sister, and my daughter, Hanabi," he said this, gesturing towards the girl beside him, the two respectfully inclining their heads to the young girl, who couldn't have been more than six years old. Oddly, she carried herself like an adult, already, as she bowed gracefully from his sitting position towards the pair.

"As for myself, I am Hiashi, twin brother to your sensei, and leader of the Hyuga Clan," he said this while pointing to himself, and then to the crest of his family hanging on the wall behind him.

"Now, I want you all to eat well, I have a few questions, and a request of you four, when the meal is done," having said this, the man snapped his fingers, and seemingly having been waiting hours for that signal, several panels along the wall slid open, and out of them came several members of the Hyuga clan bearing trays of food. The group then ate, only the sound of clinking chop sticks and dishes to mar the silence of the mealtime. Not that any of the four guests ate like the Hyuga, who seemed to be able to levitate the food without effort, whereas Heero and Naruto seemed to have trouble with it. Even Sasuke seemed to not be able to mimic the Hyuga's grace, and Shikamaru didn't even try. Luckily, the meal was small, by the standards of growing young boys, and ended in a few minutes, leaving the group around the table after the dishes had been cleared away.

"To business then. You boys are the ones best able to match my Hinata at combat, and as Winter Break is coming, I would ask a favor of the four of you," said Hiashi as he sat there, his face looking very serious.

"My daughter is the heir to our clan, and her strength is our strength. As such, I would request that you help her train," he said this with a bow that was far deeper than should normally be given to children, and the four boys, sitting next to each other, were silent.

"Um, not to be a downer, but don't we already do that? School training and everything," commented Shikamaru, and Hiashi shook his head.

"You compete there, pushing her harder, but I want more than that. My daughter is the future of our clan, and I want her to be the very best she can be. You four have proven, many times, to be her equal in combat. Neji, my nephew, has proven this as well. His mastery of the Gentle Fist style is a testament to his hard work, and dedication," as he said this, Hiashi placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, causing a bit of red to sneak into Neji's cheeks, before he banished it, and just swelled his chest out with pride.

"Still, against him, all she can do is get better against the skills of her own clan. You can offer her more than that. You can provide challenges the clan could not, and as such, she could provide you with the same, pushing you farther than you ever thought possible. I ask this of you, not as the head of one of the great clans, but as a man who wishes to see his daughter blossom into her true power, would you help me?" he said this, pushing himself off his seat, and then laying with his forehead pressed into the ground. The four boys looked at each other, and then, with a sigh, Shikamaru gave their answer.

"It will be troublesome, but, we agree to help sharpen Hinata to a fine edge, as she sharpens us," he told the man, who smiled as he rose to his feet, and then began to discuss details of the arrangement, Naruto and Heero mostly caring about more food, while Sasuke was more concerned with getting help awakening his Sharingan. Shiakmaru, as one might expect, was just going along with the flow, but if one knew him well, one might have noticed his eyes studying every detail of Hiashi, trying to divine the reason he might make this request.

~Later that night

"They agreed to this a bit too willingly," said Hiashi as he talked to the men in his sitting room. Before him were some of the most powerful men in Konoha, including its current leader, the master of its ANBU, and the heir to one of the four noble clans.

"They are young, and this sounds to them like an opportunity to gain greater physical power. Young men care about such things, not yet understanding that such power is the least of which a man might wield," commented the Third as he sipped from a cup of tea Hiashi had provided.

"True, and I do like the idea of my Hinata gaining such power as well. I must admit, I have not been as much of a father for her as I would have liked, but Hizashi seems to be picking up the slack in that area. Heh, he read her a bedtime story tonight," said Hiashi, his shoulders slumping a bit as he spoke. All three men in the room nodded their understanding, though only one had children with which to compare the experience. To be the leader of an organization like the ANBU, or to be the head teacher at the Academy meant the other two knew of time constrains one's position could put on one.

"So, you will make sure the boys will be protected?" asked Itachi as he poured himself another cup of coffee from a pitcher of the bitter tasting liquid.

"Of course. This was a most interesting idea, might I ask which one of you came up with it?" asked the head of the Hyuga clan as he sat there, and both Itachi and Sarutobi looked towards Kakashi.

"Well, it was my suggestion. Your clan is one of the most prominent, so having private training sessions with them would increase the notoriety of the boys, but at the same time, if they ever seem just a bit too strong, it would be chalked up to training with Hinata, and not to other abilities," explained the one eyed ninja.

"And by bringing in two others, you further dilute the gossip, spreading it around. A most interesting idea indeed," said Hiashi as he looked at a wall. Through it, he could see his daughter, asleep, a smile on her lips. She had a good home life, a loving uncle, a warm, if distant, father, and a cousin who encouraged her, even when he was beating her like a drum. She didn't have many friends outside of the clan though, and never invited any to their home. Perhaps this would be a good experience for her.


	12. Konoha Thirteen

The training with Hinata began the next day.

This training was great for everyone involved, as the boys and Hinata learned to function as part of a team, with the sides changing day to day, either in one on four matches, or just in teams of two and three. The most common tended to be, at Hiashi's insistence, Heero and Naruto vs the team of Hinata, Sasuke, and Shikamaru. The two worked well together, having trained for years with each other, showing a level synchronization to their attacks that the other three just couldn't match. Worse, after a week of such matches, Heero learned a new trick with his armor. How to expand it, and cover the original Naruto, allowing him to make clone after clone and send it against the other three.

Not that those three let them win every time. They had their own prides to think about. Sasuke especially was relentless when it came to combat. Within the indoor training ground of the Hyuga, ringed on all sides by chakra blocking seals, he was able to cut loose fully. He tended more towards Katon techniques, showering the arena with fireballs and swirling vortexes of flame. He also proved to be the fastest of the five Academy students, often able to vanish to the naked eye, only to reappear somewhere different, launch a single attack, or move into a taijutsu combination, and then vanish again before any retaliation could be had.

Shikamaru was less driven, but didn't want to let his clan down, especially after learning from his dad he would be informed of how well his son did, and would act appropriately if he embarrassed the Nara's in front of two orphans and two other clan heirs. So he fought on, revealing as he did, something important regarding Heero's armor. It didn't work against his shadow jutsu, so he was able to hold him, and since his chakra still lasted longer than Heero's, he could literally just stand there waiting for the other boy to run dry. Worse, he seemed to enjoy the technique, often using it against all four of the others just to show off.

Hinata was just as driven as Sasuke, and had more to lose, as it was her clan's ground she was fighting on. She didn't disappoint either her father, who would sometime come down for the matches, or her uncle and cousin, both of which were always there egging her on, telling her she could do it. Their confidence in her was her pillar, and she would ram that pillar into the defenses of the boys, disabling every Naruto clone, taking down Sasuke by barreling through his flames, assaulting Shikamaru so fast he had no time to use his shadow, and dodging Heero until her chakra ran out, and she could lay the finishing blow on him.

Not that Heero and Naruto learned nothing during the training. Naruto learned that his clones, if they used henge they did not just seem to change shape, they transformed physically. At first this was used merely to give them longer reach, or make them larger, at that cost of some durability, but eventually he learned he could make weapons with them, a single clone throwing a dozen shuriken at a time, and any that missed would then transform back into clones, and throw even more of the same, overwhelming his opponents. Worse was when he used the cover of chakra smoke to have them change into floor tiles or the ceiling, having them transform back at the perfect time for an ambush.

Heero's learned himself how to both expand the Armor of the Tortoise, and how to reshape the Claws of the Tiger. Bringing his fingers together would turn the five small blades into a single large one, as wide as his hand, and the added width allowing them to hit when he would otherwise allow an enemy to dodge. They also learned that no matter how you touched the blades, they still cut, even if what you were slicing at didn't appear to be an edge. Luckily, the unfortunate person to learn this was one of Naruto's clones when he tried to leap onto the wide blade, only to have his feet torn to tattered shreds, before dispelling.

On the third week of their training, the five were happy to find Neji wishing to join them. They allowed him of course, and his first session was a five on one match against him, one he won with surprising ease, dancing through Sasuke's guard, and then paralyzing him, before tossing the younger shinobi into Shikamaru, who found his shadow technique stopped by the body, only to then be stiffened himself by the older boy's gentle touch. Hinata didn't stand a chance, as she knew she wouldn't, her fluid, water technique unable to come close to actually breaking his solid, rocklike guard, while he let her crash against him like a wave against a shore, and then shut her down with two quick jabs.

Naruto, despite his advantage in numbers fared very poorly against the elder Hyuga, who always seemed to know exactly which one was the real Naruto, despite Hinata and the others of her clan assuring them that Shadow Clones were indistinguishable from the original. Of course, Neji knew this, and also knew that Shadow Clones were more mental copies, than physical ones, taking on the appearance of the clone maker using them as they knew themselves to be. That made it easy for him to slip a small magnet onto the original Naruto's person, in such a way that he hadn't noticed, and the technique failed to copy it because he was unaware of it, allowing Neji to always know which one was the ture opponent.

Heero stumped him for a while. The Armor prevented him from simply paralyzing him as he had done to the others, but the young Yuy-san's speed had been improving with all the training. Whereas before he had moved like a normal person weighed down by heavy metal armor, now he moved like a ninja...weighed down by heavy metal armor. The difference was still extreme, and made it hard to dodge him, but then Neji made a discovery. The armor came out of Heero's tenketsu points like a geyser of chakra. This geyser left a small gap right in its center, as long as the Armor was skin tight, so miniscule that one couldn't see it if it wasn't right in front of them, but just enough that precision strike rendered the boy paralyzed, though still unable to be attacked as only the nerves in his body were disabled, not his chakra network itself.

This total rout caused the other five to look up to the young man, who, being a branch family member, if one of excellent skill, was not used to such accolades. Even in his class, where he was top of his game, and where it was widely known that he was the most skilled user of the Gentle Fist style of his generation, he was still looked down upon by a few. Most didn't care, of course. To them, he was of a clan, and that meant status, and more importantly he was skilled, but even those had a doubt in the back of their mind, always thinking that maybe he wasn't as good as they thought he was, and maybe he would one day be surpassed by the heir of the main family. To have said heiress sitting there, hanging on his every word as he critiqued her stance, like he'd done when they were children, was very gratifying for Neji.

So they trained, pushing each other harder, faster, stronger. Their bodies became the weapons known as shinobi, and their spirits became the free flying hopes and dreams of the young. Hizashi reported everything about the matches to his brother, of course, who would then summarize them for the Hokage, Itachi, and Kakashi, all of whom listened to tales of children displaying skills far beyond their years. Each fight seemed to grow more complex, and with Naruto, an almost unending wellspring of chakra, able to use an advanced medical jutsu to recharge them, they fought many times a day. At some points, the Hokage had to wonder what sort of people they would grow up to be, fighting the way they did, but he always smiled as he heard Hiashi report on how they acted at meal times, breaking bread, sharing jokes, and above all being children.

Then the break passed, and the five plus one returned to the Academy. Soon, the five in Class B dominated their peers. No one could touch them as they fought like demons, a comparison that sometimes seemed to make the teachers nervous when it was applied to Naruto, not that any of the students making the statements noticed. Still, they had to admit, the results were just fantastic, and every teacher was placing bets one which of the five would be the first to get to each ninja rank, from genin to jonin. Some had even started a pool based off which of the ones might becoming Hokage one day, with Sasuke being the stand out favorite as he showed both power, great control, and the fact that he would one day awaken his Sharingan, despite said fact not being true in every member of the Uchiha clan.

More noticeable to some though was Neji. Always at the head of his class, if only for his kekkei genkai, he had improved so dramatically over the month long winter break that the teachers were having to dream up more difficult scenarios for him to fight under. First against two other students, then against three, then limiting him to only his martial skills. And yet it did not stop. Where before at least one of his class could take him down from time to time, either someone using weapons or techniques that used ranged attacks, or by just being Rock Lee, who was hands on the best taijutsu user the Academy had seen in at least a generation, and was going to be Might Guy's apprentice when he came of age, at least according to the pair, who would often launch into declarations of their admiration for the others skills.

Still, even his might was unable to penetrate the barriers Neji threw in front of him. Either his arms would move with such suddenness that it was impossible to get between them, or he would simply not be where you thought he was a second ago. Every fight against Neji ended the same way, with his opponent on his butt, and Neji standing there. He didn't try to earn animosity from this though. Instead he was always there to help his fellow students. Offering a hand to help them rise, and then walking them through their stances to improve their own speed. That one student was able to start bringing his fellows up with him was a marvelous thing for the teachers of the Academy, and they thanked Kami that this year might not end with just one team being selected, as had been the case for the previous five years of the Academy.

Time moved forward, as the other students, seeing how good their classmates had gotten drove themselves harder, pushing either their families to teach them more of the ninja arts at home, or just doing research on such things if the family were not known to be skilled ninja. Everyone found a niche and stuck to it, while those who found themselves overwhelmed decided to pull out, going back to the civilian life that was full of far fewer hurdles. Soon enough, the summer had arrived, and Class B, which had started out with over thirty students, had been pared down to just ten. Each one had grown into a ninja though, sharpened to a razor's edge, and able to do things that would have seemed like magic to a normal person. Better, this constant give and take of training seemed to have created friendships that the teachers knew were the kind to last a lifetime.

Over the summer break, and at the insistence of their remaining classmates, the five and one, became the ten and three instead. The ten were everyone left in Class B, their skills enough now that they could keep up with the five who had been so dominate throughout the year, while the three were Might Guy's team, Neji and his two teammates, the boy known as Rock Lee, who was quite simply the best taijutsu user in the village barring only his sensei, and Tenten, a girl with the eye of a hawk, and the weapons of an army. These three tended to watch, along with their sensei, but every once in a while, it would become a ten on three brawl, as the young class tried to take down the three elders. It tended to turn into a chaotic melee when that happened, with the younger students abilities being so eclectic a mix, while the elder genin simply showed off better team work, often isolating a single opponent and taking them down, before moving onto the next.

Parents were invited to watch, along with the Hyuga who now made a habit of going into the training room whenever they had a free moment, just to see the kids fighting. Many commented on Naruto's creative use of clones as healers when they saw it, as the boy's near bottomless well of chakra allowed him to recharge his friends, allowing for the matches to go on for hours, even when their teachers knew that such things should have been beyond the younger generation. Some, like Sakura's civilian parents, were more thankful for the invitation to the Hyuga clan compound, and barely seemed able to follow the matches, despite their best efforts. Others, like Shino's parents, would often just sit there, impassive until the matches were done for the day, whereupon his mother would run up to him to congratulate him, while his father would give him a much more subdued congratulations as they made their way home.

Even Fugaku, a normally somber man, seemed to light up as he watched his heir grow in power. He had selected Sasuke as his heir, over his brother who had indicated he had no desire to lead a single family, and wanted to guide the village itself to power. Fugaku had always, somewhere in the back of his mind, resented his eldest son for that, as the boy's strength would have given the Uchiha even more power within the village, but as he watched the fights, he came to see the wisdom in Itachi's course, as the students his son had been teaching for two years became a fighting force on par with any he had seen. Many a conversation were being had between the heads of the Hyuga and Uchiha clan regarding this behind closed doors, about what this could all mean for Konoha, but few things could ever be agreed upon between the two, and they tended to leave angry at some slight they believe the other had made against them.

Soon rumors spread, as they tended to do. Though only immediate family had been invited to the Hyuga compound, every member of that clan knew of the matches, and that allowed the news out, if a bit garbled. Apparently there was a new fighting force of veteran shinobi being trained in secret. The Konoha Thirteen, who's skills would surpass even the legendary Sannin. It was said they could cut through mountains, part seas, and take cannon blasts from battleships straight to the face, and still go on. The Hokage, at first, tried to suppress the idle chatter, but Itachi actually encouraged him to let it spread. After all, while a few words would slip, the sheer amount of rumors regarding the children made it all but impossible to find out the truth, and what was more believable? That Konoha had thirteen students who were growing in power like stars shooting into the heavens, or that Konoha was training a new fighting force?

So the rumors spread. Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and even Kiri heard the news of Konoha's new strength. Some in the halls of power in those villages began to feel threatened, but none would challenge them. Konoha was already first among the villages in strength, and they all knew it, so instead of wasting resources on an attack, they merely increased their own power as each saw fit. Some outside the villages heard the rumors, and had their suspicions about the sources, but they were either too wrapped up in their own worries, or had plans already in motion. In the shadows some things moved, most merely to stay well away from Konoha's borders, others to strengthen a wall between them and the Land of Fire's ninja village.

So the summer turned to Autumn. The Ten and Three became the Ten, as Might Guy took his team on their first C Ranked mission. Meanwhile the Ten were forced to return to the classroom, Itachi reminding them that though they were now skilled, they were not yet graduated. He made sure the next year tested each and every one of his students, pushing them even farther than they had thought possible. Teams and bounds were forged, as combat practice focused on group tactics now. The class divided into teams, which Itachi seemed to take a perverse pleasure in changing on a daily basis. Sometimes it was a single student against the class. Sometimes one side had to rely only on their taijutsu, while the others could use any skill they desired. And then came weapon training, which revealed something interesting for the class.

Heero, who's armor still tended to be a trump card in any fight, had rarely showed off his claws to his classmates, but when it came to weapons training, he enjoyed carving his way through every sword, staff, kunai, and chain the others could muster. No mortal forged steal could stop his claws, though he was always careful to avoid hitting his classmates with them. It was discovered that if a weapon was charged with chakra, it could resist those shining white blades, but only a little. It would slow down his swing, but never stop it, so the class mostly learned how to dodge him, getting around him as his kekkei genkai slowed him enough that even Choji could run circles around him now.

The training in teams forged bonds, strained friendships, and began to teach the children tactics that they were otherwise ignorant of so far. They fought hard, trained harder, and they learned from the older generation, taking each lesson to heart. Soon enough, Autumn gave way to Winter, which then gave way to Spring at last. When Spring had finally arrived, Ten young shinobi took their graduation exam, and as a one, they passed. Everyone had high marks, with Class B averaging out to have the highest ranking of any class in the Academy's record. So Ten youths were thrust onto the scene, and decisions needed to be made. Team assignments had to be arranged, parents had to be contacted, and Jonin had to be tapped to be sensei to the youth. The Academy was over, now began the life of shinobi for those would would one day be known to every corner of the Elemental Nations.


	13. One Rainy Night

It was raining in Konoha. A rare thing for this time of the year. It made life miserable for those on the ground, as they tried their best to stay dry. Luckily, night had fallen quickly, and many had been able to retreat to their homes, away from the pounding waters falling from the sky. Only a fool went out in this weather, which meant the ANBU patrols had been increased, as they crisscrossed Konoha's length, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Some, training by Kakashi, would stop in their routes to help one or another citizen with their lives, aiding an old woman in getting bags to her home, or helping a man find his child, who had decided to stray far from home. Those of Danzo's ROOT did not do these things, their eyes sometimes straying to those who did, and then turning away with a scoff.

The gate guards, too, could not rest. Though many of them were not as attentive as they might have been, their eyes were all facing outward, all watching the five sets of covered torches that, even in the rain, illuminated the area before the village, allowing them to see at least a hundred yards out. They were, of course, amusing themselves in the rain, playing cards, which they idly tossed into a pot, while moving hands around to try and make the best combinations. Only when a shadowy form came to the edges of their vision did the men look away, for an instant, checking each other for weapons and armor, before the two in charge this night came to the edge of the overhang, naginata's pointed towards the sky, while their fellows behind pointed them right at the visitor.

"I think that's far enough," said the head of the guard, and the figure stopped, so they could see them better. The figure was a lone rider, on a single horse, the looked positively drenched. The mane and coat appeared to be dripping enough to fill a bucket, and as the rider pulled the horse to a stop, it tossed its head about, drops hissing as they hit the flames. The mount was a lovely roan, they could see that easily enough as the rider expertly turned the mount, and then threw back the cloak they were wearing, to reveal a lovely woman, and one whom they had been expecting all day.

"You are late, Jonin Yuhi," said the man to the woman as she stared at him. Her red eyes seemed duller than the last time he'd beheld them, though that had been some months ago during her last assignment out of the village.

"This weather is not conducive to travel, as you would well know. Am I granted entry?" she said irritably, flipping the hood of her cloak back on. The men looked towards their leader, as he made a single hand sign. While not a full ninja, the guard leader was able to sense chakra, and scanned the one before him, looking for any sign of jutsu that might be used to fool his senses. Finding nothing, he nodded towards his fellows, and they swiftly moved towards the barred gate, knocking on it with the ends of their spears, hollow things that produced a very unusual sound.

"You are welcomed in Konoha any time. For now, the Hokage left orders you were to come to him the instant you arrived. I believe he is still in the Tower," he said this as the great gate creaked slowly home, with a sound like a great monster's jaws opening wide. Kurenai just nodded, clicking her tongue as she took her mount into the city, the eyes of a dozen ANBU on her after her first step, several moving on ahead to give warning of the woman's coming to those gathered in the Hokage's Tower.

Of course, the Tower itself was still awake at this time of night, as a group of men met. All were of a rank that they might have simply spent this rainy evening in the comfort of their own homes, goodness knew the Hokage's tired old bones could use the rest. They couldn't rest though, as they went over the forms, again and again in front of them. Many questions needed answers before the next day dawned, and if they had to be here until the sun broke through the storm and laid it's golden head upon the mountains again, so be it.

"I just don't see what else we can do," said Kakashi finally, leaning back in his chairs and rubbing his eyes. Beside him, Itachi nodded gravely.

"Ten graduates, it is unusual for an Academy class to have two full teams pass, let alone three and one to spare," said Itachi, going over the records of the previous years. Some classes, of course, had every potential ninja fail, leaving a blank year for the teachers, some would have a single team pass, usually those dragged along by one of the members. But ten? That was highly unusual, and for the most part, a sign of great fortune for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was also a very large problem as genin teams, and ninja teams in general, tended to be three member affairs. Normally you would just fail the lowest member of the class, force them to repeat a year so they could find some classmates with skills in the next batch, other times you would simply slot the spare into a team that lost a member, but in the last three months, not a single position had opened up.

"Can't fail Kiba, his pack would throw a fit, considering he passed the written exam, barely, but aced the physical. Hinata, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji are all clan heirs, to fail them would bring dishonor on us, and some very frightening talks with their parents. Ino has to pass, since Shikamaru and Choji are, that leaves Heero, Sakura, Naruto, and Shino," said the voice of the instructor as he rubbed at his eyes a bit, trying to blink away some of the sleep that had entered them.

"Heero and Naruto are not an option. Those two would refuse to be separated, fail one, and the other would refuse to go, leaving us with one less Genin, rather than one too many. Shino is an option, but I don't think the Aburame would feel right if we failed their boy. Sakura is too well known among the civilian population, to fail her would be to tell them only those born to us could be ninja, and that could cause riots," said Hizashi as he got up from his seat, pouring himself another cup of coffee. He offered the pot around, getting a few to hold out their cups to be refilled, before he retook his seat, and they began to go over the names again. Each time, they came to the same conclusion. None of the Ten could be failed, and yet, not a single team had an opening, so they were left just spinning their wheels.

Just before they were about to start again, there was a knock at the door, and Itachi, being the closest, opened it to admit an ANBU wearing a wolf mask into the room. He said nothing to the men, and instead raced to the side of the Hokage, whispering into his ear for several seconds, and getting the old man to start a bit, before he rose to a standing 'awaiting orders' stance. The Hokage quickly motioned for the ninja to leave, and just before Itachi could latch the door shut behind him, Sarutobi stopped him with a gesture.

"It would seem that our final Jonin instructor has arrived, so why don't we wait a few moments and let her come," he told the gathered men, who all seemed to stare at each other at the news. All of them knew who he was talking about. Kurenai had returned from her extended diplomatic mission. A year and some months she had been absent from the village, doing one last mission to make sure she was ready, and to give the two boys she called otuto-kun, her 'little brothers', time to develop into fine, strong ninja. They all knew she was going to be in a foul mood this night, having been gone for so long tended to put even the most nonplussed ninja in a bad way.

Down below, in the garrison at the Tower's bottom, they were proved right, as a few civilians came up to her, to take her horse, and got the sharp side of her tongue when one made a wrong move towards the beast. She said he was named Faran, and was to be kept in a good stable, as he was a gift to the Hokage from the King of the Land of the Shadows, a man named Treize. They were quick to fall over themselves to comply with her instructions, especially not to touch the horse's shoes, at least until she returned later. Once that was done, she made her way to the Tower with a deliberate slowness, climbing the stairs with a purpose as she tried her best to dry out from the pouring rain. At the door to the Hokage's meeting room, rather than his office, she straitened her hair, and then opened the door. Inside were men, all of them. She recognized the faces too, and knew what the group had to have been discussing. These were the two jonin instructors for Heero and Naruto's class, as well as Itachi, Kakashi, and Sarutobi himself.

"Ah, I see the weather got to you too. Did you enjoy your mission?" asked Kakashi in his sing-song voice. The response he got, had he been a normal man, would have been a deadly one, as Kurenai's kunai flew so fast that the other men in the room didn't even see her arm move. Luckily, Kakashi was far from a normal man, and easily moved his head out of the way, the weapon sailing past him, and burying itself into the wooden wall up the hilt, with an echoing dull thunk.

"It went that well, huh?" joked Kakashi, at least until one of the tips of his hair fell off, the strands separating into a small shower of strands, which gave his one eye a very worried look. Ignoring him, Kurenai went up to the Hokage's seat, and bowed respectfully to him.

"I bring you greetings of King Khushrenada, of the Land of the Shadow. He sends his best wishes, and desires trade with your fine nation," she said in a rehearsed manner. The Hokage quickly offered her a drink of some steaming tea, and a seat, both of which were gladly accepted.

"Excellent news then. Before we bring you in on our meeting, why don't you give us the details?" asked the wold man in that kindly way of his. Sitting there for a moment, seeming to absorb the heat from the cup in her hands, she took a deep breath, and began. The men in the room, most of whom had only found out about this land, far to the west, past Earth and Wind when the Hokage had assigned Kurenai to visit it, listened with rapt attention.

"The Land of the Shadows is, as we had been told, a land like Iron, with no ninja to speak of that I could find. Instead of Samurai though, they rely on their relatively distant position to the Elemental Nations to keep the peace," she began, blowing on her cup to dispel the steam, and then draining the thing in a single gulp, before holding it out so that Kakashi could refill it.

"They have great technology there, on par with what I have heard the Land of the Sky did back in the old days, before..." she let that statement hang in the air. Sky was a sore spot for many in the room, as it was a relatively isolated place that Konoha had destroyed a generation ago for rising above themselves. At the time, it had seemed necessary, but hindsight said otherwise.

"I saw a flying machine while there, and the armor they use in combat. These armors, twice the height of a normal man, both protect, and enhance the wearer, allowing them to break boulders, and cut down a mounted man with a single slash," she said this while pulling out a book from a hidden pouch on her robes. The book appeared blank at first, but a single hand sign from her allowed the men to see the many intricate drawings on the pages of these mighty armors.

"More, they have medicine the likes of which I have never seen. They raise mushrooms in the darkness of their hidden land, that come in a variety of colors. I saw a man, nearly torn in half, eat one with a sickly green hue to it, and within seconds he was fine. Another, a man I would estimate to have been no more than a fifty kilograms on the outside, ate one with a red top, and moved a pack that I knew weighed at least twice that," this news came with more pictures, of several different mushrooms, with colored tops and their effects listed out besides.

"King Khushrenada said that these would be the trade goods, for good steel from our nation, as well as consideration in future dealings with other nations," she told him, and the Hokage nodded, wondering just how much they would have to trade away for even one of these miraculous fungus. He said nothing though, as Kurenai passed him the book, which he flipped through a few times, before opening a hidden pocket in his own robe, and shoving the thing inside for later.

"Excellent news indeed then. Which of course, brings us to the business before us," he said this, and pushed a set of files towards her, letting her read through them for a few minutes, before turning back to the Hokage.

"All of these numbers, they're real?" she asked, and the old man nodded, her red eyes reflecting something from deep within, the shock of this news, before she kept on reading, finishing with Heero and Naruto's files, before setting them all down.

"Ten fine ninja for the Leaf. I don't see why this would be a problem," she said, and the men nodded.

"The problem is teams. I don't have any current Genin squads with openings, and even if I did, these kids are just too powerful for most of those that we currently employ. We can't fail any of them either, to do it to any of them would be political suicide in one way or another," explained the Hokage.

"Then make a four man team," was Kurenai's sudden answer, and the men just stared at her, dumbstruck.

"And how would that work?" asked Kakashi after a few seconds of just sitting there.

"Give me Hinata, Heero, Naruto, and Shino. I'm sure I can my otuto can handle themselves, and Hinata seems to be among the more powerful of the group in the class. I'm sure I can teach her a level of chakra control that even the Hyuga can't match," as she said this, she breathed on her tea again, this time getting a small gout of flame out of her mouth, as she used a sealless Katon jutsu, one that heated the tea to the perfect temperature.

"That's three, but why Shino?" asked Hizashi.

"I see here, neither of you broke Heero from his fear of bugs," she said, pointing to the file for the boy. Though he could be found hanging around Shino sometimes, it had been noted many times that Heero's fear of insects remained, and that Shino's insect techniques were one of the few ways the class had found to always get around his guard, the sight of the things sometimes causing the boy to freeze up if they were too sudden.

"While the Aburame clan is one of the few larger clans that use such techniques, they are not the only ones. More importantly, control are what he and Hinata need the most training in, both the Gentle Fist and the Kikai techniques revolve around such skills. Heero can use the skills to farther his abilities as well, and if Naruto could be trained to stop wasting so much chakra, he would be a force of nature," she explained, and all five men in the room just looked at each other, before the Sandaime burst out laughing.

"And here we were, arguing for hours about this, and she comes up with a workable solution in minutes. Sometimes I wonder why I never offered you my job," said the old man, as the others let out sighs, and then the planning of teams began, as each Jonin in the room went over their plans for the following day's testing of their new pupils, as well as how they would train them later. The next day, Konoha would be made stronger than ever before, as three new Genin Teams took to the field.


	14. A Jonin's Test

"So, who do you think will be on what team?" asked Sakura of Ino as they looked around the class. Most of the others were sitting there, too nervous to talk, but the two girls at the back decided to break their own tension with a bit of gossip.

"Well, I already know I'm gonna be stuck with Lard and Lazy," commented the white haired kunoichi, motioning towards the pair, who were sitting off to the side. Choji was, as always, eating, this time from a bag of chips he'd brought in with him. Shikamaru looked like he was napping in his seat, but both girls noticed his eye open ever so slightly at the sound of his name, before it closed again.

"Yeah, that's not fun. Ooh, you think I'll be on the team with Sasuke?" asked Sakura after thinking about it for a moment. Ino just shook her head. She didn't see what Sakura saw in that boy. He was a bit withdrawn, sure, but he wasn't the broody sort that most girls loved. He was also a total hard ass when it came to the matches, heck, he'd used the final tests just to bump himself up to the top rank in the whole class.

"If you do, that means you'd be on dog boy's team too. Is that really worth it?" asked Ino, and Sakura seemed taken aback by the revelation. After all, it was common knowledge that the best, and the worst, tended to be paired up on Genin teams, to balance them out. Looking down over the class, Sakura studied the two boys, Sasuke, sitting there, his face a stone mask, showing nothing, while Kiba seemed to be really asleep, given his snoring.

"Totally worth it," whispered Sakura, before the door at the front of the class opened, and Hizashi, Itachi, Mizuki, and three others walked in. The three, a woman and two men, wore no standard uniform, but all had the head protectors to show off that they were ninja of the leaf, and lacking the vest, well that tended to mean that these would be the Jonin instructors, causing the entire class to fall quite, as Kiba was awoken by Akamaru kicking his ear with his foot, and Shikamaru just sort of popped up.

"Alright students, it's time for the next phase of your training. Today you will be assigned a Jonin instructor, and your team numbers. It took us all night to come up with this list, so you lot better appreciate it," said Itachi with a sly grin on his face, before motioning towards the ones beside him.

"First team, Team Seven, Jonin Instructor, Umino Iruka, the Barrier Ninja," as he said this, a very kind looking man stepped forward, a set of three scars on his face forming a star shape that looked like he'd only barely avoided getting his eyes cut out. The class, respectfully, kept silent as the man gave them a bow.

"Team Seven's members will be, Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. Please step forward," the three students got up as their names were called, and then walked towards the front of the class, Sakura trying not to grin back and Ino as she stood between her teammates, and bowed deeply to her new sensei.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," the three said in unison, accompanied by a bark from Akamaru, before they all turned, and stood at perfect attention, facing their classmates.

"Second Team, Team Ten, Jonin Instructor, Sarutobi Asuma, Master of Blades," as he said this, another man stepped forward. Where Iruka was warm and inviting, this guy seemed a bit more laid back. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else right now, and a cigarette in his mouth formed a small pillar of smoke coming from his head.

"Team Ten's Members will be, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino," as this was said, each of the named students rose from their seats and walked to the front of the class, without Itachi's prompting. One could hear a whispered, 'troublesome', but you couldn't be sure if it was coming from Shikamaru or Asuma. Regardless, the three stood in front of the man, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," they said, just as the others had, in unison, as they had been told to do.

"Third team, Team Fourteen, Joinin Instructor, Yuhi Kurenai, Mistress of the Mind," at this, the only kunoichi stepped forward, grinning at the four remaining students, all of which wondered who would be left behind.

"Team Fourteen's Members will be, Hyuga Hinata, Yuy Heero, Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino," he said this, and several eyes turned a bit wider as they faced him. The four, of course, needed no prompting to rise from their seats, surprise showing on Hinata and Heero's face, while Shino was impassive, and Naruto seemed too excited to really care, as he rushed down to stand in front of her.

"Oneesan, it's great to see you again," said the blond boy to her, and she smiled at him, while rubbing her fingers through his hair.

"You too, Naruto, but isn't there something you should say to me first?" she asked, and then Naruto seemed to remember where he was, bouncing back to stand with his three teammates.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," said the four, Naruto and Heero a bit faster than the other two, before they leapt forward, and hugged the woman. The teams were then taken by their Jonin out of the Academy. Iruka lead his team towards a training ground, urging the kids to keep up with him as he leapt through the town. Asuma, meanwhile, seemed to just be strolling lightly as he took his group towards a restaurant he liked in town. Kurenai was in agreement with Asuma, though she took her group to a cafe on the side of the village, instead of a full restaurant. Here, she took a seat, and had everyone order drinks, before they got down to the business at hand.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering why there's four of you in this team," she said at last, as she sipped at a cup of tea. The students, trying not to react, just nodded at her.

"The truth of the matter is, it's a case of politics getting involved in the Academy. Normally, when a class has too many graduates, the extras are either sent to an older team that has a vacancy due to promotion or injury. If no teams are available, then you simply hold back the last student in class for a year, and let them get a bit better, before making them Genin," she explained this, as the students began to understand.

"Politically, we were a class of mostly clan heirs, failing one of us would have been a sign of favoritism, as there were certain members that simply couldn't be cut," said Shino, finishing the thought they were all having.

"Indeed. To cut any of the heirs would have been problematic, yet each of the other options had their own problems. Since I already have a connection to two of you, it was my decision that I could handle a four man formation," she told them this as she drained the last part of her cup, and gently set it back down int the saucer.

"As such, I expect each and every one of you to give me your best. I'm putting my reputation on the line with this team, and if any of you fail to live up to the expectations of the village, or myself, I will make you regret it," as she said this, her red eyes flashed, even in the bright afternoon light, causing her Genin to swallow a little, before nodding solemnly.

"Good, we have an understanding. Tomorrow morning, report to Field Twenty-Two at eight a.m. sharp. There, I will see what I have to work with, and we shall begin to plan out both our daily schedule, and how to go about making you the best damn team in Konoha," saying this, she made a single hand seal, and vanished. Not even the kawarimi could make one do that, as it would leave an object of equal mass in its place. She, however, was just gone, causing her students to stare at the spot where she had been.

"So, that was your Oneesan?" asked Hinata, setting her own cup down in front of her.

"Yep, and she's just as good as I remember. She'll be able to teach us loads of tricks. She's the master of genjutsu, and I bet she could kick the butt of anybody in the village if she set her mind to it," said Naruto with a note of pride in his voice for his 'big sister'.

"Interesting," was all Shino said as he pushed his glasses back up his noes. The four stayed at the cafe for a while longer, discussing things of about the school, and their thoughts on the coming trails from Kurenai, before everyone went their separate ways. Heero and Naruto decided to go to bed early that night, rather than train. Shino had dinner with his parents, his father encouraging him to keep up with his schoolmates, while his mother heaped praise upon him for passing his class, while encouraging him to bring his squad over some time. Hinata meanwhile spent a large portion of the night in her clans training hall, her father running her through the basic stances, and then testing her himself. As was predictable, she lost the fight, with the older ninja wiping the floor with her. He still complimented her technique though, noting that she did better than last time, before allowing her to go to bed.

The next day found the rising sun at six a.m. greeting a set of four new Genin on training field Twenty-Two. They had arrived almost to a minute, and spent several hours working with each other, planning things that ranged from group strategies involving all their particular skills. From Hinata's eyes, Heero's claws, Naruto's clones, and Shino's bugs, every resource they had was put on the table. They began to run through various scenarios, making crud pictures in the dirt in front of them, and moving rocks and sticks around to represent forests, mountains, and a dozen other things besides as they went from retrieving a single document hidden in a base camp, to assaulting a mountain fortress. Heero even threw in fighting giant monsters with giant robots, one of his and Naruto's favorite shows having that be a major feature of it.

Six turned into seven, and finally eight, as the students stood back up, each staring towards the village with expectant eyes. Less than a minute later, Hinata tapped out a signal on her thigh with one arm, causing Naruto to crouch down as he gathered up chakra into his body, focusing it inside himself, gathering the stuff into a tiny ball in his chest. Without saying a word, he released that pent up ball of power, allowing a wash of chakra to spread over the area, which soon blew away the image of the trees in front of them, the genjutsu projection shattering beneath the onslaught. When it was cleared away, a woman was standing there, possibly having been there for a few minutes, but not much more, and her eyes seemed dazed, the normally wickedly sharp reds, dulled to an almost pink hue for several seconds, before she was able to shake herself from her doldrums and stand up straight, staring at them.

"Hmm, a chakra pulse, just like I taught you," she said as she came to her senses. The Genin in front of her didn't react as she chuckled at their form. Obviously, they had learned a few basic signals in class, and had come up with a few non-verbal ones of their own.

"A chakra pulse is the best method of dealing with genjutsu that's being used to conceal an opponent. It will not only disrupt the illusion, but since a concealment genjutsu is anchored to an opponent's own chakra points, it will forcefully rip the illusion away, disorienting the foe for several seconds," said Naruto in a text book manner. Of course, for anyone but him, that answer was wrong, as pulses like that tended to be draining affairs. Even the one he'd just made, of only about twenty meters, could have seriously crippled a Chuunin's chakra reserves, and even some Jonin couldn't have hacked it. For Naruto though, there wasn't the slightest sign that he even felt the drain on his chakra as he stood there.

"An excellent point, and an excellent maneuver," she complimented, as she motioned her trainees into the center of the training ground. There, she stood for several seconds, looking them over with her once again crimson gaze. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to have found, as she nodded to herself, and then reached into a hidden pocket in her robes, pulling out a small figure.

"Alright then, you've passed the first test, in near record time I might add. So I'm going to give you the second now, and you had better pass it, otherwise I'm going to have to send all four of you back to the Academy to train for another year," she declared this, and expected it to affect them somehow. Instead, they just stood there, awaiting her commands like good little ninja. She wasn't sure what to make of that, considering she hadn't seen her boys in almost a year, but she silently complimented Itachi and his fellow teachers for ingraining in those two the same stoicism that had already been a part of Shino and Hinata.

"In my hand, is a token. It's just a simple little thing, carved of common jade. I want you to take it from me," she said, holding the thing closer to them so they could clearly see it. The green thing was in the shape of a mahjong tile, with the Leaf emblem carved into the nearly translucent surface.

"Are there any restrictions on what tactics we might use?" asked Shino.

"I would have to say none, though I do intend on living to a ripe old age, so you might want to go easy on me and avoid a killing blow," she said this, and got a series of nods. Then Shino started snapping his fingers. It had to be a code of some sort, though it wasn't one she recognized as everyone on the field nodded. Then Hinata started to snap as well, Shino going faster as she did, as if they were having some kind of argument, at least until Heero snapped once, cutting them both off.

"When do we begin, Kurenai-sensei?" asked the silver haired boy, bowing towards her in respect.

"Any time you want," she told him with a smile, leaping away, slipping the tile into one of her hidden pockets, and landing a good twenty meters from her previous position, expecting them to leap at her the instant she said that. Instead all of her new genin leapt away themselves, putting almost thirty meters between her and them, as the snapping resumed. Oddly, Heero did not join in with it, before he made an odd looking hand seal, covered by Naruto's body so she couldn't see it.

"P-2-R!" shouted Heero finally, and then dropped into a crouched battle stance. Watching him, she kept a wary eye on his compatriots, trying to make sure he wasn't a distraction of some sort. Then red chakra surged out of his body, the Genin uniform he wore taking on an odd, bloody coloring from the stuff.

"Speed of the Phoenix!" he screamed, and then vanished. Kurenai was aware, somewhere in the back of her mind that a breeze passed by her face, and then she turned around to find Heero there, smirking at her. Before she could really process that, a huge explosion went off in her ears, while a force like a train seemed to slam into her, disorienting her and tossing her backwards. If she had kept looking she would have seen Heero's eyes roll back into his head, only for his green uniform to vanish in a puff of smoke, replaced by Naruto's orange one. A single ram seal, and she was faced with twenty of the blonde boy's forms charging from that position, her own body flying right into the group of them. All of this took a single heartbeat, and made the kunoichi proud to have helped start these boys on this path.

Not that she made it that easy for them, twisting in the air in the way only a true ninja could do, and bringing her foot down on one of the copies faces. Luckily, as the report had told her, he could only make a few of those super clones, and so her foot popped the first it came into contact with, and the rest she dealt with using only two thrusts of her arms, tossing needles in a rain over the position. Unfortunately, none of the Narutos were real, the twenty popping as soon as they were touched by the simple weapons, leaving her alone on the grass as she turned towards the position of the other students. Her eyes were able to lock onto Hinata and Shino, as well as behind them, a Naruto escorting an unconscious Heero from the battle.

Quickly she thought up a dozen strategies that would have disabled all of them at once, but decided to give them a fighting chance, and instead bolted forward, moving so fast that she might have seemed to vanish. The team was ready for her though, as the instant she got into range, Hinata leapt towards her, her fingertips shining in that way only the Gentle Fist style allowed. If even one of those blows was allowed to connect, the chakra in the fingers would flow into her, sealing up her own chakra network, and possibly even paralyzing her, so Kurenai didn't allow that touch to happen, instead grabbing Hinata's wrist and then spinning on her heel, causing the girl, who had been overbalanced forward, to go tumbling, even as her foot swung upwards, becoming a brace on which she could hold the Hyuga heir, leveraging her momentum into a powerful kick that sent the white eyed girl flying into the nearby trees.

Kurenai, before she had even finished the backflip she'd used to toss Hinata, spun in the air again so she was facing forward as Shino, a group of three Narutos came at her. They struck as one, Shino's feet going for her knees, while the Narutos tried for a one-two-three combination attack, designed so that if she dodged any of the other two strikes, the third would definitely hit her. Of course, that sort of strike required that she was in the same position when they reached her, but instead of striking her down, the kunoicih pulled out the needles again, flinging two at each of the Narutos' knees, the joints locking up around the hits, and causing all of them to tumble forward. The heap of limbs tangled themselves around each other, while Shino charged onward, his fists held in the mantis position as he got within range, and tried to power through her defenses.

Of course, the mantis style of taijutsu was not without its flaws. Every blow from that stance had to be prefect, cutting down the foe with sharp strikes like the insect for which it had been named. If even one strike failed to hit home, you would leave yourself open to a counterattack, and as Shino struck, he found himself striking at only empty air as Kurenai simply hopped over his attack, and then made a single hand seal in the air. As she landed, she sent chakra from her hand, into the ground, while her voice rung out with the attack name. The doton jutsu was a simple one, her will grinding the earth and dirty into a slippery bit of oil, a puddle of which formed from the point she'd touched the ground at, and the slick spreading quickly. The three Narutos, just starting to pull themselves apart, found the stuff lapping at their position, and suddenly the ground held no traction for them, causing them to get swamped back together, and then pushed away until they slammed into a tree.

Shino, meanwhile, found his stances could not hold up, as he first tried to back away from the growing puddle, only to find that it seemed to follow him as he got farther away, finally hitting his feet, and causing him to slip right out from under him, landing on his backside with a splat sound. Kurenai was on him in an instant, and manacles of earth sprouted out of the dirt, holding him firmly against the ground at his wrists and ankles. He, of course, tugged against them the instant they were on him, but he found the bindings as solid as stone, and began to snap his fingers again, telling Kurenai that this fight wasn't over. She was proved correct when two dozen Narutos charged from the trees, some of them using the substitution jutsu to somehow teleport towards her, a feat she would not have believed if she had not seen it, as she had to block dozens of incoming blows.

Each strikes was almost flawless, like the clones could see through each others mind. She idly wondered if he might have picked up a technique that would allow that, as she seemingly effortlessly dodged through the series of attacks, turning a punch here, blocking a kick there, like she was a dancer working through a routine. Said routine soon allowed her a moment to strike back, her left foot colliding with a Naruto's jaw, sending him flying backwards, where he bounced on the ground, then rose up. He didn't even seem to feel the welt growing on his fact, and instead jumped right back into the fray, making her wonder just how powerful these clones were, so she tossed them aside with a single wind technique, and struck again, this time deliberately aiming for the clone she had struck at first. To her surprise, this time the clone just popped, at the barest touch of her fist, turning into a cloud of smoke around her.

That was incredible. Naruto had apparently learned how to create clones capable of taking a single hit. That must have required a control of his chakra usage that, while not that incredible as it was probably still more than a Jonin used, it meant he was getting better. Before she could really consider the implications of that, the other clones attacked again, recovering from her gale force wind blow away, and resuming their attack. What's more, even more Narutos came from the woods around her, adding more fists and feet to the melee around her. Sighing, she decided to end this, and pulled out a single kunai from her pouch. Rather than throw the thing she leapt upwards, the Narutos staring after her, not sure of whether to follow, or to let her land.

She didn't let them have the chance to decide. The whole point had been, of course, to get their eyes on her. The gaze of the clones was caught easily, and with a single hand seal, the Mistress of the Mind cast a genjutsu. A trained ninja might have closed their eyes, or thought to turn away, but Naruto was despite his power, still just a trainee, so his gaze never wavered, his stare connecting with her red eyes. Chakra rushed out of those orbs, a wave of the stuff colliding against the clones, who all seemed to waver on their feet, and then collapse onto the ground. Some popped as they fell, their chakra already depleted by the fight, others created a racket as they snored.

Kurenai, satisfied with the result, landed amid the pile of bodies, and turned towards Shino. As she had expected, one of the clones had used kawarimi to switch with him. She didn't let that bother her though, as she focused inward, and then outward, letting her senses expand to fill the clearing, and then move into the forest. The Byakugan and the Sharingan might be able to see around solid objects, but far too many ninja seemed to forget that you had other senses, other ways to track down your target. Listening to the forest, she heard the sounds of the animals around her, and then, after a few seconds, she could hear it. The subtle bamf noise of more clones being created greeted her ears, and the kunocihi smirked to herself as she opened her eyes again, before rushing forward.

The trees exploded with a hundred more Narutos, and some Shinos, Heeros, and Hinatas as well, all with their eyes closed. Not that they seemed very impeded by the lack of vision as they charged forward. They did only seem to move in small groups, rather than attacking all at once, maybe five at a time, and their movements a little stilted. Still, every one she popped was instantly replaced by another, the flow of combat coming easily to them. She didn't give them any sort of chance this time though, plowing through the middle of their formation, and doing several rapid spinning kicks into them. None of these clones were more than the basic type, so they exploded satisfyingly with every strong blow, and she entered the woods around the training area as the last of them fell to her.

She leapt into the trees, and then used the limbs to vault herself faster than her legs normally could, landing amid the four Genin with her kunai drawn, even as they prepared to leave their hiding spot. Shino was still a bit slow, thanks to his earlier fight with her, Heero was unconscious, and Hinata seemed to have hurt her back, probably having slammed hard into one of the trees when she was tossed into the woods. Naruto was the only one still up at one hundred percent. As such, he drew his own kunai and charged her while the other two grabbed Heero and tried to make a break for it.

Kurenai gave them only a second before she began to go through hand signs. First a raiton, her fingers crackling with lightning as she touched the tip of Naruto's blade, sending a pulse of electricity into him that made him slump to the ground. She then did a simple doton technique she released through her feet, quickly liquefying and then hardening the ground beneath the feet of Hinata and Shino, trapping them. She was on guard for any or all of them to disappear in a puff of chakra smoke, but surprisingly, none of them did, instead, the two trapped in the earth tugged at their ankles for a second, trying to free themselves, before gently setting Heero on the ground, and turning their necks to face her.

"We acknowledge you caught us. We well not try to flee anymore," said Shino, and Kurenai smiled again. She knew far too many genin that might try to keep fighting in this hopeless situation. That was, in fact, the point of the test. Some fights were unwinnable, and you had to be able to recognize them. The mission always came first, in every hidden village, but in the Leaf there was no honor in throwing your life away. After all, bad assignments happened. A single piece of flawed intelligence might...her thought train derailed as she allowed her students release from the ground, and Naruto rose to his feet. Her thoughts weren't derailed by that though, instead, they were derailed by her hand going to first one pocket of her suit, and then another, looking for the leaf tile.

"Looking for ~cough~, these?" asked Naruto, coughing out a bit of steam as he held out his hand, revealing the five jade tiles she'd had hidden on her body. Obviously, that was going to require some explanations.


	15. Missions and Bets

"Alright, I believe it's time you four walk me through what happened," said Kurenai, sipping at her tea. She'd taken them to the same cafe as yesterday, the proprietor being a friend of her's, so she'd gotten him to open up just a little early for her. She had planned to bring them here, of course, but she'd also planned for the training to last until at least eleven in the morning, not to be over in five minutes, and for them to succeed.

"What did you want to know, sensei?" asked Shino as he sat there, right across from her, and in the middle of the team.

"When did you get the tiles from me?" was her first question.

"Oh, that was me. When I used Phoenix to make that sonic boom, I kind of riffled through your pockets on the way past. Hinata was the one who saw there were five of them though," commented the silver haired boy.

"That clicking code, thinking back, it seemed random, and no where near complex enough to be a language. You somehow were talking to each other, correct?" she asked next, and the four nodded, three of them. all but Heero, pulling at their collars, and revealing a single blue beetle sitting on the inside of their clothing. Heero himself tried to look away, either embarrassed that he didn't have one, or just not liking the sight of the things. Or both, perhaps.

"These are special insects from a holy land in the west. My clan makes use of them, sometimes, as alarms, as their wings make an awful racket when they are removed from either water or a chakra source for long. My father discovered, however, that when you allow them to grow together, their wing beats synchronize, and if one moves, the others move with it. In such a way, they can actually be used as transmitters, of a sort, though their range is limited to a hundred meters or so," explained Shino, and Kurenai nodded, her mind reeling a little with this information. Most squads developed techniques for trading information quickly, without talking, but if Shino's bugs could do what he said, her squad was at a serious advantage there.

"We determined that Heero's speed would allow him to grab the tiles, and then Naruto and he could flee the battle. We did not understand why there would be more than one, but I believed the best course of action was to simply take them all and escape. You thwarted the second stage of that plan, as I underestimated your abilities," said the kikai-nin, with a respectful bow of his head towards his jonin sensei, who laughed to herself.

"The point of the test was actually to see if you would keep fighting a hopeless battle. Each tile has small cuts in its surface so that I can do this," as she spoke, she pulled one of the tiles off the table, and then snapped it into a dozen pieces, turning into into the consistency of fine sand, which she then let go into an errant breeze.

"You were to try and get the first, which I would smash just before you could. I was then to offer you a second chance, and then a third when you failed there. I hadn't expected you to go through my pockets, or to be able to move that fast," she admitted, as she sat there, staring into her cup.

"Then we did the impossible?" asked Naruto, a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"Heh, in a way, yes. Of course, don't take that to mean you would pass a second such trial as easily. I only had notes to go on about your abilities before. Now I have seen you in action first hand, and would not underestimate you," she informed him, and that bright, shimmering look of pride behind his eyes faded a little.

"After acquiring the tiles, Naruto switched his clone with Heero, and then the clone made other clones by dividing it's chakra between them. We had hoped this would delay you for the time needed to escape. When that failed, Hinata and I tried to cover the escape," continued Shino.

"Why did Hinata attack me first?" asked Kurenai, remembering the order of the events.

"Honestly, I had believed my Gentle Fist style could paralyze you before you could catch us, and we could actually take you prisoner. I suppose I was overconfident," admitted the Hyuga heir, her gaze turning down, and Kurenai reached over the small table to put her finger under the girl's chin. Raising her face up, she could see a bit of shame in those white eyes, shame at her own lack of skill, shame at her overconfidence, shame at her underestimating her sensei, or some mixture of all three.

"You still did better than most. And remember, I knew exactly what those glowing fingertips meant, not every ninja does. In that fight, superior intelligence on the enemies abilities made a huge difference," she explained to the girl, who seemed to brighten up a bit with the words of her sensei.

"So, then I took out the Naruto clones, and Shino charged me. After I took him and some of the clones out, Naruto had more attack me as a distraction. Tell me, how did they teleport like that though? Space-time jutsus are among the most advanced techniques, and I know for a fact that their not part of the Academy's curriculum," she asked.

"Well, the clones are just made of chakra right? We use kawarimi to switch position with something else, locking our chakra onto it and just sort of popping between the two, right?" asked Naruto, and Kurenai nodded. That was the basic form of the technique, it was also why you tended to use logs or the like, living things to do the switch. It required it, or so she had thought.

"Since the clones are _made_ of chakra, they don't have to have something to lock onto other than just some of the stuff, and it's in the air around us, right? Living energy sort of thing? So I figured, why not just switch them with the air itself? It took me almost six months to make clones capable of doing it, and still be good in a fight, but I think it paid off," he bragged a little, and Kurenai had to agree. The ability to teleport like that, as long as there was chakra in the air, would be almost godlike in some hands. Of course, it would also require being close to sources of great chakra, so the places beyond the Elemental Nations would be a bit harder to use the technique in, but with a little practice...

"Alright, after that, I noticed these clones were different in more ways than their ability to just randomly teleport. Namely, they could take one hit a piece. How did you discover that?" she asked this while putting down an empty tea cup, and Heero refilled it without thinking from the pot in the middle of the table.

"That trick I knew about that first summer. Most people don't have my bloodlimit, so they don't have enough excess chakra to create more than a few clones, I think Kakashi said at most he could make five at a time, and that was exceptional. I could make a lot more, even back then," he explained, grabbing a cookie from a small dish on the table, and quickly downing it with a single swallow.

"Anyway, I found I could make clones just like me if I used enough chakra to make a hundred or more on just one. But the more I make of those, the more draining it is. Like it starts at a hundred, but the next needs two hundred, and then three, and then up again. Since I couldn't make a whole squad of me's, I tried to just put a bit more into each one, and found, putting enough chakra for twenty clones into a single one, I could make one able to take a punch or good smack," he explained, and she nodded at his reasoning. She also tried not to show a reaction to his thoughts on how he had so much chakra. Most of the children of his class thought the same, or so the reports she'd read said. It wouldn't do to dispel that illusion, at least not until they were older.

"So, you made a few clones like that to send against me, while you recovered Shino and Hinata, and then tried to escape. I must admit, you would have gotten away if those clones had been of second variant, rather than the original kage bushin," she admitted, both to herself and to her students. Had they been like that, it would have been impossible to tell that the originals weren't mixed in with the group, limiting the techniques she could use against them, and giving her students enough time to exit the training grounds.

"Heh, Shino suggested that when Hinata saw you coming after us, but I didn't have enough left in me right then to make too many of the second level clones, so I just made as many first level as I could, and we tried to run," conceded Naruto.

"Excellent work then. If I hadn't had knowledge of your abilities, you might have been able to make good on that escape," she complimented them, seeing each of their faces light up at that.

"However, never assume that any opponent you fight is ignorant of what you can do. You must always be on guard, and have a good grasp of both your own limits, and your enemy's. That is one of the first rules of being a Ninja of the Leaf," she told them solemnly as she set her teacup down, and then looked in the sky. This training was supposed to take all day, a few hours at least until they caught her that first time. To have them succeed at what was supposed to be a training about learning failure...well, it made her task of training them to be even better more daunting than it already was. She hoped, deep down inside, she was really ready for this, and sighed as she turned back towards her students.

"I was going to start us on missions tomorrow, but seeing as how we now have almost the entire afternoon free, why don't we go to the Hokage's Tower and accept our first mission, just to get your feet wet?" she suggested, and all of them leapt to their feet, their cups and plates quickly cleaned off, with Naruto pocketing the remaining cookies for later. Smiling at her squad, Kurenai left a few ryo on the table for the meal, and then motioned for them to follow her.

Almost half an hour later, they were standing in front of a home. The place appeared to be a little run down, with numerous shingles on the roof having cracks or just being missing. Beside the home were two green houses, as well as a large garden. This home belonged to one of the Leaf's many herb growers, not one of the largest, but still one that supplied many pharmacies, as well as the Tower itself with the plants and medicinal herbs that went into the making of things like soldier pills. Odd that it would be so worn down, but then, the owner of the home came out, and it was obvious why. The man was on crutches, his left leg in a cast that went all the way from the toes, up to his hip.

"Ah, finally, someone from the Tower accepted my mission," he said as they approached.

"Hello sir, you must be the owner of this home, and yes, we accepted your mission," said Kurenai as she drew nearer to him, and bowed slightly, a show of respect that her Genin mimed.

"So, who do we fight?" asked Naruto, his eyes going all around, only to get a swift smack to the back of his head by Hinata.

"Baka, didn't you read the request back at the Tower?" she asked, and then motioned for Shino to pass along the paper. The taller boy did so, allowing Naruto's eyes to quickly take in the words on it, before he went rigid.

"So we're just repairmen then?!" he demanded to know, a statement that got even Heero to rub the bridge of his nose in annoyance at the attitude. Interestingly, it was Shino who didn't seem to be frustrated by it, stepping past a rather perturb looking Hinata to stand in front of him.

"Our rank is Genin, not Chuunin, Jonin, or Kage. As such, we must handle those tasks as our skills are up to. To prove our skills to those above us, we must make the Leaf stronger, and we do so by helping the village and those in it. Only after we have shown we can strengthen the Leaf, can we be allowed to show how strong it has become," he stated simply, and Naruto seemed to think on this for a few seconds as he passed the mission paper back to the other boy, and then finally nodded.

"Okay, so let's make this the strongest Leaf in the world, what do we do first?" he asked, eagerly throwing himself into the mission now. Shino clicked his fingers together, and as Kurenai had expected, she could hear whispered words coming from his mouth. Suddenly, Hinata stepped forward, and her eyes flared, veins appearing along their sides. Her gaze went slowly over the compound, taking in details that no one else could see, before she stepped back, and began to snap her own fingers to cover whispered words.

"Heero, how long can you move at increased speed?" asked Shino after a moment, and Heero almost fell back from being startled by the words. Luckily, he caught himself on the mailbox, and then focused inward, his hands going into the odd inverted Bird Seal, before he turned towards Shino.

"A few minutes, and then I'd need Naruto to give me a recharge," he said, and Shino nodded, before clicking his fingers together again, the sound of a series of snaps filling the air, before Naruto nodded, and then went into the house. When he came out, there were over two dozen of him, all jockeying for position, before they started off down the streets of Konoha, all separating and going their own ways.

"Naruto will handle the deliveries for us. Hinata and I shall tend the gardens, and you can repair the roof. I assume you have experience at that?" asked the older boy, and Heero nodded.

"Naurto and I have been doing that since we were eight. I'll have this thing patched up in ten seconds flat," he declared, and then crouched down, his body soon flaring out with the red chakra, before he declared the movement, and vanished, stacks of shingles on the ground, as well as a ladder, a hammer, and some nails, all seemed to vanish at once, as a blur began to move over the roof, everywhere it passed the gaps and cracked shingles vanishing behind it.

"This would be easier if he'd just wear the beetle," declared Hinata as she and Shino made their way into the back. The garden, once tended with love and care, still showed signs of it, even if several parts of the once straight rows of herbs had become broken and stilted. Shino and Hinata stood at the garden side for a few seconds, before Hinata flared her eyes again, and then whispered into her collar, not even doing the snapping to cover it. Shino, nodding at her voice that only he could hear, reached down and let a small trail of bugs out of his jacket, the kikai working their way into the garden like a small line of ants. In seconds though, it was obvious what they were doing, as various other bugs began to swarm out of the herbs, being driven out by the ninja insects.

After that was done, the two began the work of tending the garden, taking the precise amount of effort necessary, no more or less. Each action was measured out so they got the most benefit for it, and even the gardener seemed impressed as they went, straightening his beloved herbs, and making the garden look fresh and clean. In only a few minutes, their work was done, the plants now in perfect rows again, and each one watered to perfection. Even as they finished, a blurry form joined them at the garden's edge, staying well away from Shino as he recovered his swarm, and soon an orange clad boy fell out of the sky, landing lightly beside his teammates, and assuming a ready stance before his sensei.

"I believe this job is completed as ordered," declared Shino as he rose, and took his place beside Hinata in line, and Kurenai and the gardener went over their work. Naurto had delivered all the waiting orders, the roof looked good, not professional grade, but still a far sight better than it had been, and the garden itself was nearly immaculate. Looking at her watch, Kurenai was forced to keep her eyes in check, as her team of four had just done in ten minutes what should have taken at least an hour's work.

"Fine work, my young friends, fine work indeed. It almost makes waiting a week for someone to take my request worth it just to see you attack the task with such vigor. Gives a man hope for the future of his village," said the man, looking over their handiwork, a bit of awe in his voice, as he went back into his home. For her part, Kurenai smiled at her students, and then led them back to the Tower, taking another mission the instant the first was turned in. Then another when that was finished. Then another. This pattern repeated itself for five hours, during which time her team completed almost a dozen missions, and would have done more, as Shino noted, had they been allowed to take multiple missions at once.

"For today, I think that's enough," said the Jonin as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun, turning to her students. Behind her were four children covered in the dirt and grime that came from a hard day of work. Oddly though, none of them were slouching or otherwise showing that they were tired. In fact, it seemed that Naruto wanted to keep going, his eagerness obvious in his face.

"Tonight, I'm going to request that each of you work on your chakra control exercises, and then meet me in Field Twenty-two at eight a.m. for some team training. After that, we'll see how many missions we can do again," she told them, and the four bowed to her, before they started off towards home. She watched them each make their way home, the two boys taking to the rooftops, while Shino and Hinata took a more dignified strolling pace through the streets, both of them seemingly having the day catch up to them as they took their time.

The very moment they were out of sight, Kurenai, who had been waiting for five o'clock, bolted from the scene. Her pace was such that she would appear to be a red blur along the roof tops, scattering a few birds that took to the cool evening air as she raced along the city, until she came to a halt right outside a bar. Stopping just long enough to brush herself off, and straighten her hair, she walked inside. The place had just opened, and already it was near capacity, as Chuunin and Jonin gathered here, sipping at drinks, and many recounting stories to each other of missions or times long past. She took only a second to spot the pair she wanted, sitting at the bar, one with his head smacking repeatedly into the counter, while the other just leaned back, puffing on a cigarette.

"I see you two must have had a similar day to mine," she commented as she walked up to the pair, taking the seat to the side of Iruka, who finally stopped banging his head, and looked at her, his forehead showing that he had been doing that since the barkeep had let him in.

"You mean one where your Genin are mutants, and do things you couldn't have done at that age, if at all?" asked the famous Barrier Ninja, getting a nod from the kunoichi as he sat up in his seat.

"That's the day alright. So, what tests did you go with?" she asked, holding up a finger, and soon having a bottle of sake and a small cup placed in front of her to mirror her compatriots.

"I decided to stick with just them fighting me. It took everything I had just to keep them off balance, every trick and skill, and even then I only barely won. These kids should just be made Chuunin and get it over with," admitted Asuma as he sipped at his drink, not even bothering to remove the lit cigarette from his mouth.

"I went with the bell test, an old stand by. Get them to think only two of them can pass, and then see if they come together. I had to use a dozen barriers just to keep Sasuke contained. Kiba was even worse, he was so fast I finally had to resort to laying trap barriers, and even then it took four in a row to finally catch him. Then it all turned out to be a ruse as Sakura snuck up behind me and snatched the bells. I wanted to smack them by the end, but I have to admit, they were good," said Iruka, as he just picked up his bottle and took several swallows from it.

"Heh, I used the old tile test on mine. Didn't even get to break the first one, they snatched all five from me right away, and then proceeded to try and run," she aded to the pot, and all three nodded.

"What is wrong with these kids?" asked Asuma at last.

"Nothing's wrong with them, it's just with Naruto's help, they trained harder. Did you ever get to catch one of their matches over at the Hyuga compound?" asked Iruka, and Asuma, who'd heard rumors about something like that, but had never bothered investigating, shook his head.

"Naruto knows a medical jutsu that lets him transfer chakra to others. I don't know when he picked it up, but he used it liberally in those matches, to keep everyone fighting for hours at a time. When you can just keep going when even the adults would fall over exhausted, it only makes sense that you would improve yourself exponentially," explained Iruka, the other two, neither of which had ever watched one of the matches, just nodding to each other, before they grabbed their own bottles, and took long pulls on them.

"So, now what?" asked Asuma as he set his drink down, watching with some interest as Kurenai kept draining her's until it was half gone before finally letting it go.

"We train them. They're great fighters, and already know squad tactics well. Given even a little push, I'm sure they'll be as great as the Sanin were back in their generation," said Iruka, and the other two just looked at him, before remembering the skills the kids had shown off in their tests. These children were exceptional, and not all of that was just special training. Each one had talent for the work of a ninja, and each had been perfecting their roles for as long as they had known them. The Konoha Thirteen rumor had called this generation, and they would go on to live in infamy. Asuma finally set his bottle down, and watched, a little awed, as Kurenai continued to drain her's for a few swallows, before putting the half empty bottle back down.

"So, did you start them on missions yet?" she asked, when she finally set the bottle back down, and the two men nodded at her.

"I gave them the old, Catch the Cat mission, since the Fire Diamyo's Wife's cat had escaped into town again. I remember when my team took that mission the first time, it took us almost four hours to find the thing, these kids did it in two," responded Iruka.

"I asked for something a little more physical, and found a mission to tear down one of the old houses outside the wall of the village. I had hoped to see what the kids were capable of, and I got my wish. In three quick jumps, Shika was able to use some shadow technique to lift Ino and Choji off the ground. Then Ino tossed Choji even higher, before the kid did that Bullet Tank Technique and smashed into the building like a meteor, demolishing it in a single move," added Asuma.

"I had my students running ragged over the town for five hours after they passed the Tile Test so well. In that time they did everything from gardening and delivery, to chopping firewood for a potter, to filling in potholes. Eleven missions in all, and they wanted to do more, but the Tower was out of D-Ranked missions for the day," she said simply, and then smirked at the reactions she got. Iruka had been sipping at his drink, but a sudden intake of breath caused the ninja to just start coughing, forcing him to pound at his chest, while Asuma's cigarette flared a little as he sucked on it, reducing the thing to so much ash that fell into a tray he suddenly had in his free hand. After recovering, Iruka's coughing fit subsiding and Asuma pulling another stick from somewhere, they turned to her.

"Are you going for the record?" asked Asuma as he took a short drag on the new cigarette to get it flavorful.

"I wasn't originally, but now I think I am. I was going to see if either of you was up for a wager too, but seeing as how your teams aren't doing nearly as well, I think we can safely say you'd lose," she said, sipping at her sake, and causing the other two's faces to go through a series of emotions, from anger, to shame, to a little bit of pride in the Leaf, and finally, to acceptance. They of course, knew what she was doing, goading them that way, but neither one was going to give up on a challenge like that, no matter if it was just basic psychological warfare.

"Most missions in the first week, not counting today, and we see if we can beat the Sannin's number?" proposed Iruka after a few moments, holding up his bottle. Asuma and Kurenai looked at him, then at each other, before banging their bottles against his.

"It's a bet. We'll work out terms once it's over," said Asuma, before guzzling down the rest of his bottle, and then getting up. He had a few home visits to make now, so he might actually have a chance to win this one. Iruka and Kurenai, for their part, stayed in the bar for a few more hours, before heading home, their minds spinning with plans on how to make the most of their time with their Gennin for this week.


	16. Records Unbroken

The next morning dawned, and three teams of Genin met their senseis to learn that they were going to be worked to the bone over the next week with missions. The stated reason by the three Jonin was that they wanted to really push the kids to be the very best that they could be. The actual reason was of course, the bet they had made the night before, with each Jonin wondering what boon they would ask of the other if/when they won. Still, the morning practices were informative for the young ninja, as each Jonin went over group tactics, in one way other another, and began to show them just how much they had left to learn, running the kids through their paces before the eleven o'clock hour struck, and they were all off to the Tower of the Hokage, and their first missions of the day.

Each team hit the ground running, either buoyed up by promises of new techniques, in the case of Kurenai, threats from parents, in the case of Asuma, or just plain pushing them towards being the best, in the case of Iruka. Each team took a job, and quickly established the pace of their work, as by the end of the first hour, each team had done two missions, and it only went up from there. Interestingly, despite being able to throw entire hordes into each mission, courtesy of Naruto, Team Kurenai was not the fastest worker. That went instead to Team Asuma, who's three Genin seemed to function as a single unit, Shikamaru the Planner, Ino the Information Gatherer, and Choji the Muscle. Every job they finished with the bare minimum of effort, turning in slip after slip to the Tower, who refused multiple requests of the teams' Jonin to allow them to accept more than one at a time.

By the end of the first day, with the sun setting, the three teams were about even, with Asuma's Genin doing eight missions, Iruka's a solid seven, and Kurenai's another eight. Each team was encouraged by their respective sensei, each told to get plenty of rest, and given only basic exercises to do, so that they would have plenty of energy in the morning. The Genin weren't fools, however, and each team soon learned of the pace the others were working at, trading stories, and then deciding that, no matter the reason behind it, they all liked the missions, and more importantly that each D-Rank mission completed brought them one step closer to the C-Rank that would allow them entrance to the Chuunin exams.

So they dove into their work, each team now knowing that their pride was at stake, and that there was a record to break. The next day saw all three teams breach the double digits on missions, with Iruka's edging out the competition that day as Sakura, the brains of her team, had the two rather rough and tumble boys doing everything with a bit more efficiency than the day previous. The day after saw Kurenai's team taking jobs of a nature that allowed their skills to shine through, breaking the other two teams totals over their knee as they clawed their way up to the top of the heap, only to find that the following day saw them in dead last due to a botched job outside the wall that had taken them all day.

So the groups did their work, and all over Konoha, life got better. Pot holes were filled in, homes were repaired, animals were caught, and weapons were sharpened. Everywhere the Genin went, you would find smiling faces, save for a few of their fellow ninja who felt the children were doing far too much work, either because they were afraid of them burning themselves out, or just jealousy that there were fewer jobs to pick from. Still, even the harshest naysayer had to agree, the kids were truly something else. The final day of the wager, they went all out, finishing up with one three team job that involved repairing the Tower itself, a job that had been languishing in the back log of missions for almost a year. And then it was over, and the three teams were brought into the Hokage's office, for a chat.

"One Hundred and Fourteen. That was the number of jobs the Sannin were able to complete their first week as Genin. I would take more credit for that, but in truth, that was mostly Tsunade and...well, it wasn't Jiraiya's work, let's leave it at that. They did everything they could to earn themselves a place in village history, and throughout the last week, you Ten have done the same. I have heard the rumors that the town would literally fall apart if you weren't there to hold it together, and that sort of reputation is something to be proud of," said the old man in the seat, the students swelling up with pride, even as a few of them turned to the others. Some had known that Sarutobi had trained the legendary trio, but for others that information came as a bit of a shock.

"Sadly, some records are almost impossible to beat, and I'm afraid, despite your best efforts, you have not unseated my team from their first place finish, though I want you to understand how much good you have done regardless. Between the three teams, you have accepted and completed two-hundred-fifty-two missions," as he said this, the Hokage pulled out a bucket from behind himself, and then turned it over onto his desk, covering the thing in mission slips, all of them bearing the green stamp of completion.

"This is an accomplishment worthy of the Sannin themselves, and so, I desire to reward you as such," the old man, gratified at the flummoxed looks on the faces of the young, none of whom had really be keeping track of the total number of jobs they'd been doing, swept the papers back into the bucket, and stored it under his desk so the papers could be refiled later.

"In honor of this, I think it's a safe bet to say that you are up to the challenge of a harder mission type, and so I have personally gone over the requests waiting to be selected, and hand picked what I think are missions just right for the skilled Ninja I see in front of me," so saying, Sarutobi made a flourishing gesture with his hand, and three papers seemed to appear in it, all mission envelopes marked with the letter C, as well as a number. Of course, he failed to add that thanks to the Genin's efforts, the D-Rank mission backlog was quite literally empty, and he had been asked by several prominent members of other Genin teams to get those 'mutant freaks' out of Konoha for a while, so other Ninja could make a living.

"To make this fair, I want you each to select your team leaders, and have them stand up, and I'll get you each to select a number in turn," he told them, expecting, as many young people their age would do, to have an argument in front of him, one had could then watch the Jonin deal with, just so he could see how they did so. Instead of harsh words though, each team simply sat there, as three different Genin stood up, one from each. From Kurenai's, it was Shino, standing tall and proud, while to his left, Sakura took center stage, and to her left Shikamaru stood up, looking a little bored with the whole proceeding, yet his gaze never left the envelopes in the Hokage's hand. Seeing this, and waiting a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, remembering that first time he'd had to get Orochimaru and Jiraiya to recognize Tsunade as their leader.

"Alright, reverse alphabetical order then. Shikamaru, pick your number," commanded the Hokage, and the boy tilted his head down, as he began to stroke at his chin for several moments, before finally nodding.

"Give us the third mission...Hokage-sama," the last was added after a light cough from behind him, that came from Asuma, whom the Hokage just smiled at as he undid the string on the envelope and passed it to the young man.

"There is a special breed of animal, a deer of sorts, in the Land of Grass that someone there would like to have for himself. The mission requires live capture, so be sure to not injure the thing too badly," he said, and Shikamaru nodded, probably thinking about his own family's symbolic animal, a herd of deer on their land, as he took the mission post, and resumed his seat.

"Alright, what fate do you decide, Ms. Haruno?" asked the Hokage.

"Well...let's go with the first mission, Hokage-sama," she said, giving him a respectful bow, which he returned as he opened the envelope.

"This is a group mission, much like your repair job this afternoon. The boarder between Konoha and Iwa is becoming slightly more active than we would like, so we're reinforcing our patrols there. A senior Jonin is your mission contact, and he will give you your marching orders when you arrive. It might interest you to note that the Might Guy's team is already there, having taken this mission up a week ago," he added, passing the pink haired kunoichi the letter, who took it, and smiled as she showed it off to the other two in her team, who both smiled back at her.

"That leaves you with the second mission Shino. This one's a bit harder on the feet, but still sounds like something you will enjoy. There is a bridge builder, he came in three days ago, requesting that we send him some guards for him and his assistants as they build a bridge out in Wave Country. Apparently a small band of bandits has threatened him, and he thinks he'll be safer with some ninja at his back," so saying, the Hokage passed the final mission post to the Aburame boy, who took it, and then resumed his seat.

"Now that you have your jobs, I will advise that you make ready. None of these missions will be as quick to finish as your previous work, and will require you to exert yourselves even more to complete. Know, however, that Konoha herself has confidence in all of you, and wishes you all good luck," he said this, and the Genin rose from their seats, all of them giving a concerted thank you to their Hokage-sama, before leaving the room, and leaving him with their Jonin instructors.

"So, when did you decide to start sabotaging their efforts?" he asked bluntly, as he reached beneath his desk and pulled out his pipe. He didn't even make a hand seal as he projected a katon jutsu into the tip, igniting it.

"We agreed on that by the end of the third day. They were blazing through their missions at such a speed that we felt if we allowed it to continue they would run the office out of D-Rank missions completely," responded Iruka, who was surprised when the Hokage laughed at the answer.

"If that's the case, you should have pulled them out of this on the second day, as I must report there isn't a single D-Ranked mission left in the backlog. We do have some coming in slowly, but for a while, many of the adult Genin will have to find other sources of income," he informed them, and all three looked at each other, a bit taken aback by the news.

"So, they tied at eighty-four apiece. Even if you were slowing them down, that's still an accomplishment. Have they invested the money they were making?" asked the Hokage, interested in what the young had done with enough money that they could have bought a good sized house in almost any district in Konoha.

"I believe the clansmen have had their money added to the accounts of their families, who have been trying to hide just how much that comes out to. Sakura says her father, being a civilian, has been using the funds she brings in to expand his own business," said Iruka, the Hokage nodding at the news.

"Heero and Naruto are using their money to expand their home. They've already purchased an automatic washing machine, as well as some equipment for their underground training area. If I overheard them correctly, they're looking into expanding the space, so they can train more efficiently there, and out of sight of prying eyes," added Kurenai.

"So they're being smart with their money then. That's good to hear. Some rumors came to me through the ANBU that certain individuals were showing an interest in them for the funds they were making, but if they've already begun using them, they're less likely to be targets," said the Hokage, puffing on his pipe for a few moments, before rising from his seat and going to the window. Outside, he could see the group of young Genin exiting the Tower. Each of them seemed to be celebrating their good fortune, even the usually laid back Shikamaru and stoic Shino looked to be bouncing around as the group made their way into the city.

"I wish all of you the best of luck on your missions, then," said the Hokage at last, turning back towards the three Jonin, who heard the dismissal in his voice, and rose from their chairs. The three bowed respectfully towards the old ninja,before taking their leave, each having their own preparations to make for tomorrow's journeys. Smiling he watched as the kids vanished towards some unknown destination, probably that ramen shack that Naruto liked, and then he turned back to his desk. He had a few more bits of paperwork to do himself before the night was out, and in the morning he would see his son off on his mission.


	17. Journey's Beginning

"This is the best Konoha has to offer?" demanded the old man as the team entered the room where he had been waiting for them. He'd been waiting for days now, waiting for one of the Leaf's elite to take on his mission. He had, of course, expected someone tall, powerful, brimming with the sort of energy that the shinobi were known for. Instead, standing before him was a woman, which he might have at least tolerated considering he knew some of the ninja were female, and quite formidable at that, but the others were children. None of them looked to be even teenagers yet, and they still carried themselves with that soft reassurance that came from youth that had not been lost to the harsh world yet.

"Probably not, but they are among the best Genin in the village. I'm sure you've seen them around lately, if you've been staying in town," commented the red eyed woman, and the old man was about to launch into a tirade about how children this young should still be on their mother's apron strings, when he stopped and thought back. Over the last three days, since he'd come into town, there had been kids about their age around. Always the same ten, and doing everything imaginable. He'd even asked one of the locals about it, and called them the Konoha Thirteen, saying they took on more missions in days than most adults did in a month.

"So they can fix a house or catch a cat, so what? Does that really make them qualified as guards?" asked the old man finally, and the kids seemed to be taken aback, one of them snapping his fingers in rapid succession. When the others responded, save the silver haired boy in the back, he figured that one had to be the leader, only for the tall boy with sunglasses to step forward.

"Sir, we are prepared to prove ourselves to you, if you have some objective that could be completed with ease within these walls," said the boy, and Tazuna nodded at him. This was the attitude he liked to see, and taking a moment to stroke his chin, he snapped his own finger and reached into his sack, pulling out a long rod of metal.

"I came here to compare some Wave Country steel to the product of your Fire Nation stock. It does indeed compare favorably, but it's still just metal. Ninja, or so I'm told, can break stuff like this with just their bare hands. Do that, and I'll admit you're able to do guard duty," he offered, figuring the kids would give up, and then he could get a team of real ninja to guard him. Instead, they resumed their snapping, before turning to the silver haired boy, who stepped forward.

"Does it have to shatter, or just get cut?" asked the boy, who purple eyes seemed to shine with excitement, in a way that honestly worried Tazuna, but he let it slide off his mind as he held it between his fists.

"Either way, I'll be sat-WHAT THE HELL!?" the formally calm man didn't even finish his statement, instead the boy slashed with one hand, his fingers glowing at the tips with shining, white light. Then the rod fell, pieces of it clattering to the stone floor at his feet, with five smooth cuts in it, dividing it cleanly into seven pieces. Jumping back, the bridge builder stared at the kid, who just stood there, his face now impassive, as he seemed to nonchalantly lean down and pick up the pieces, before presenting them to the older man.

"This...this was good steel," he said at last as he inspected the bits. He'd been intending on showing his apprentices what real steel was like, the stuff they could get from the forges in Wave Country being less than ideal specimens. He'd tested it himself, and knew his best tools would have taken a few minutes to cut the piece, and not only had this boy made five incisions, but each was cleaner, with smoothed ends, than he could have ever hoped to do.

"Will there be any farther objections?" asked the tallest boy, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as the other boy resumed his place at the rear of their formation. Tazuna, looking at the bits of metal in his hand, back to the kids, and then back to the bits, idly shook his head as he put the pieces in his pack.

"I am Tazuna, Master Bridge Builder, and I humbly apologize for doubting your skills," he said at last, his normally crotchety attitude still subdued by what he'd just seen.

"I am Shino, to my left is Hinata, to my right Naruto, and Heero you have already met. The apology is unnecessary though, our age makes others underestimate us as well, but we promise, as long as we breathe, no harm shall come to you," said the taller boy, motioning to each as he spoke, and they bowed in turn. Tazuna, in respect, bowed back, and then shouldered his pack again. Each of the children copied his motion, and then they set out to the village gate. The trek through town saw many smiling faces, all waving at the children as they passed, one young boy from a flower shop even coming out to give the white eyed girl, Hinata, a flower, before blushing furiously and running off. Smiling at this turn of events, the old man soon fell into the middle of the formation, striding beside the woman he knew as Kurenai from the shinobi at the Tower desk, as they came in sight of the gate.

"Your group is the last to leave, I see," said an old man in a wide brimmed hat that Tazuna recognized as the local ruler, the Kage. Still shouldering the pack on his back, he couldn't bow as deeply as he would have liked to this powerful shinobi, but the others seemed to make up for it, the children nearly folding themselves in half in reverence for the old man.

"That was my fault, Hokage. I made the mistake of doubting the skill of your young ninja. Not something I plan on repeating," responded the civilian, and the old ninja smiled at him in response.

"An honest answer, and one I hope many others repeat, as underestimating a ninja gives that ninja power over you. Now, I have business at the Tower, but as the groups before you, I wish all of you luck, and swift journey," said the Hokage before starting off into the village, several shadows at his back that just sort of materialized out of the darkness, the ANBU guarding their rulers. Once he was out of sight, the gate guards easily let the small group through admitting them onto the open road. The dusty trail, covered with the wheel ruts and footprints of a million who had gone before, was gentle on them this day, the sun shining overhead allowing the small group to by a few miles out in only a handful of hours. This was the point when Hinata clicked her fingers once, and the others in her group, even Tazuna, were instantly alert.

"Sensei, sixty-five meters ahead, two ninja are using a genjutsu to conceal themselves. They're right on the road, and since you said this path was not used often, I must assume they are here for us," whispered Hinata, her vision focusing like a lighthouse beacon straight ahead, staring at the pair. Kurenai, who lacked her student's vision thought on this for a moment, considering the words coming out of the bug on her collar, when Shino's voice spoke up.

"Naruto, prepare a chakra pulse, small focus, straight at the pair. Hinata, you and I will disable them while they are stunned from the pulse. Sensei, if you will signal Heero, have him protect Tazuna," said the boy's calm, even tone, and instantly the group began to follow his direction, Naurto changing his stance midstride, still walking forward, but his hunched over body starting to look a little blurry as he gathered the charka in his abdomen. Seeing no reason to doubt the plan, Kurenai did a set of three quick handsigns, not jutsu, but close to it, and Heero, who had been waiting for the instruction, walked a little faster, coming forward, and then putting his hand on Tazuna's wrist, causing the old man to want to pull away, but finding the boy's grip just a bit too strong, and the look in his eyes told the old man not to move too much as they continued on their way.

"Naruto, release at ten meters. Hinata prepare to signal," ordered Shino, and the others didn't make a single motion as they kept walking forward, the entire group trying to look like they were just normal. They kept their pace the same, and only Heero's altered position would have told anyone something had changed, something the pair of ninja, who turned out to be in an illusion of a puddle, didn't notice. So it was that the group got within the ten meters.

"Now!" said Hinata emphatically.

"Chakra pulse!" cried out Naruto almost in the same instant, the light blue wave of lifeforce washing over the group, and then slamming hard into the genjutsu of the two ninja ahead, their eyes unfocusing, as their thoughts were jumbled around, causing them to sway on their feet. The instant the wave had passed, the other two Genin rushed forward at the pair, as Heero pulled Tazuna close.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" he shouted, and suddenly a dome of black chakra surrounded himself and Tazuna, protecting them, just in case there was more to this ambush than there seemed, as Hinata and Shino slammed hard into their targets. The two men, covered with armor of their own, and having a chain strung between them, were still too disoriented to defend themselves as the Hyuga and the Aburame struck. The former's fingers glowed slightly blue, and she launched into a series of devastating strikes, her finger tips seemingly only slightly pushing against her foe, but each touch caused his body to jolt and spasm, as his joints locked up and then went numb. Shino's attack was similarly unimpressive, his hand reaching out, and his sleeve bulging as he touched the man, but instantly a whole swarm of his kikai spewed forth from his body, covering the head and shoulders of the man he'd attacked.

Normally, the two ninjas, known as the Demon Brothers, might have recovered from this attack, using their synchronized strikes to push back the younger shinobi and then counter them. This strike took less than ten heartbeats though, and neither of the two recovered in time, as the kunoicihi's touch disabled one, and the bugs from Shino did the other in. Shino's bugs were, of course, used to his expanded chakra capacity, almost at the level of the elders of his clan thanks to his training with Naruto and the others from the Academy. As such, they took only a few moments to deplete the other man's body of the energy, leaving both men crumbled heaps on the forest floor, awake, aware, but unable to move as the older kunoichi stepped forward, her eyes red with hate for them.

"Explain yourselves," was all she said to the pair, the larger of the two staring contemptuously back at her as the bugs that had covered him slowly marched back into Shino's jacket. He even tried to spit at her, but his weakened body allowed him little power behind the motion, and so all he really achieved was a line of drool running down his chin, causing Kurenai to growl as a wave of killing intent poured from her. A single hand seal and her eyes glowed brightly even with the sun high overhead. That light seemed to cover the brothers faces, the elder's eyes rolling back in his head as he passed out, while the younger's body began to shake.

"Good, you, explain yourself," she commanded, leaning down so her face was right over his. He seemed to let out a wordless scream as his twitching, but nearly immobile form tried to scoot away, getting barely an inch before he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck by the kunoichi, and then slammed hard into a nearby tree with a single hand.

"Now!" she demanded.

"ZabuzaorderedustokillthebridgebuilderhewastoldtodosobyGatowhodoesn'twanthimtofinishbuildingthebridgeandandendinghisruleoverthelandofwavesDON'TKILLME!" said the man in a single quick breath. Kurenai, looking into his face intently, as if trying to suss out if he was somehow lying to her, then just sighed, and with another hand seal she caused her eyes to stop glowing, the one in her grip being let go to fall to the ground as she turned from Demon Brothers to where Heero and Tazuna were still being protected by the young boy's Armor.

"Heero, drop it, I want to talk with Tazuna now," she said, and the boy did so instantly, the black chakra dome dropping, before he stepped away to stand with his squad, and watch as she approached the older man.

"You said bandits in your request. Simple, every day bandits, did you not?" she asked the man, who backed up as she came closer to him, despite him being almost half a foot taller than her.

"Now listen here, I-urk," he had seemed about to say something more to her when she did something to cause her eyes to glow again, this time subtly, like the embers of a stoked fire, just waiting to consume his soul.

"You said just bandits, not ninja. Were you aware that if you had mentioned them, we wouldn't have sent a Genin team on this job? That if we had known about this we would have raised the rank of the request to at least a B, if not an A, considering the one he mentioned, Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, is an A Ranked Missing-Nin from the Kiri," she demanded this while putting her hand on his shoulder, and without effort pushed him down to his knees, so now Tazuna was looking up into her bright red eyes.

"I...I couldn't...I wouldn't...I was desperate...I...we couldn't afford anything else! I'm sorry, but we used all the money we had just getting me here. I barely had enough to a C-Ranked mission, and even that seemed to be a good graces sort of thing, according to the man at the desk. I couldn't go home without someone to protect me though. If I did that, they'd just...they'd just kill me," he said this while going even lower, his own guilt over the lie he'd had to tell flooding his brain, and causing him to bow into the dirt towards the woman before him. Tears could be seen in the corners of his eyes as he rose to a sitting position then, and just stared up at her. For a long, silent moment, she regarded him as she would a rat, her gaze going over him slowly, before she turned back towards her students.

"All of you, grab the two who attacked us and follow me. We're going back to the village," she said, and turned on her heels, about to walk away. Before she got even a single step, she felt a heavy weight grab her robe, causing her to stop and turn towards where Tazuna had a death grip on her.

"Please! I'm not kidding! If I return alone, they're just kill me! They'll kill everyone in Wave!" he declared to her, and she, her eyes still burning, contemptuously tugged her robe out from his hands and began to walk away again, leaving the man a sobbing wreck on the ground. She only stopped, a half a dozen paces, when she failed to hear the sound of other footstep behind her. Stopping mid stride, she turned her head, to find her students, instead of grabbing the prisoners, to be helping Tazuna to his feet.

"That was not a suggestion. That was an order," she told them simply.

"It's a bad order then, Onee," said Naruto as he pulled a bit of cloth from a pouch on his waist, allowing Tazuna to blow his nose into it, and then clean his face up a bit, before handing it back.

"I would normally be against disobeying an order from my leaders, but in this case, it would involve leaving an innocent to die, and that would violate my morals all the same," declared Shino, and Kurenai allowed the burning red eye's illusion to drop away as she walked back towards them.

"This scum lied to the village. If we were any other Genin team, one of you could have died in this ambush, only a few miles from the village, and then we would have had to return with someone dead, and it would have been his fault. Does that sound innocent to you?" she demanded, and Shino seemed to consider her words for a moment, before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"And for that, we should demand future concessions from him and his land. For now though, he needs help, for a situation that sounds like it is not his fault. We would be remiss if we simply allowed him to go home, only to die," countered Shino simply.

"This Gato the ninja mentioned, he's a shipping magnate. His wealth is on par with a hidden village. How many mercenaries does he have, and how many ninja besides you two?" asked the woman, kicking the shinobi she'd been questioning. The man grunted something unintelligible in response, and Tazuna stepped forward.

"He has an army in mercenaries, mostly toughs with swords. When we tried to fight them, there was at least one for every five people in my village, and I know that wasn't all their forces. Only four shinobi though. We figured it was just all he needed," admitted the old man, and Kurenai nodded.

"So well over a thousand then?" she asked, and the man nodded silently.

"So, one thousand civilians, and two remaining shinobi. Long odds, but not indomitable," responded Shino, and Kurenai stared at him, before running her fingers through her hair and growling in frustration.

"We're you listening?! Even if we defeat everyone he has, his bankroll could buy him even more!" she shouted at them.

"Unlikely. If he could afford more shinobi of a rank equal to Zabuza, he would have done so before now. A single ninja is worth a hundred regular soldiers, isn't that what we're always taught?" asked the boy, his eyes staring into her from behind his glasses, and his teammates nodded with him.

"True enough, especially where you and your class were concerned, but even so, this mission has just become a lot more dangerous," she told them, her tone evening out as she spoke.

"We are Shinobi of the Leaf. Whatever mission we take, be it assassination or simply rebuilding a shed, there is always danger. That should not deter us from our path," quoted Hinata as she stood beside Shino, the other three standing tall beside her. Looking into each face, seeing the determination that only youth could really bring, Kurenai just stared back, before finally shaking her head and sighing.

"I must be crazy," she said to herself at last, before suddenly pulling a kunai out from somewhere, and pointing it at Tazuna.

"You and I will talk, once the bridge is completed, on how you plan to repay the Leaf for the lies you told us. For now though, as my team wishes to go on, we shall. Know that I hold you as responsible as Zabuza if one of them is hurt, however," she informed him, and the old man, his eyes now dry, just nodded solemnly, before she turned from him, and back towards the Demon Brothers.

"You two will stay here, until one of you is well enough to walk, then you will aid your brother and go to the gates of Konoha. There, you shall request that you be remanded to the custody of Ibiki. Is that understood?" she asked, her eyes flashing as she made a series of quick hand seals. The genjutsu was easy to place, as the pair were both still mentally and physically exhausted from having their chakra drained or blocked. Neither could resist the command, and just nodded. With that matter dealt with, Kurenai shouldered her back, and motioned for everyone to follow her on the journey to the Land of Waves.


	18. Demon of the Hidden Mist

The boat's motor whirred in the water below, creating a small wake as the slightly overloaded craft made its way through the mist darkened water. Around them, sound was muffled, only the gentle crashing of waves against the reefs and rocks could be heard. It was slow going too, they'd been on this boat since early that morning, their sixth away from the village, and soon to be within a day's walk of Tazuna's village, according to their boatman, Kaji. The man himself seemed nervous as they silently slid their way through the water. At first, one could assume it was because the sea around the Land of Waves was full of hazards and debris of wrecked ships, but as they drew closer, his nerves only grew more rattled, until he nearly jumped out of his skin when Naruto shouted.

"Look at the size of that!" he said, pointing towards a nearby shadow in the mist. The group looked where he was pointing, and slowly but surely that shadow resolved into the form of a bridge. It was a large one too, one obviously designed for dozens of people and carts to cross at a time, a bridge to the future that Tazuna wished to leave for his people.

"Be quiet!" said Kaji in a venomous whispered shout, getting everyone to look at him funny, even as the bridge builder himself shook his head at the man.

"Kaji, just get us to land. Once we're there, you can run away, and never look back," the older man told him, and Kaji nervously nodded his head as he gently began to carry them forward. The others looked from the young to the old, but then sat back down, Naruto told quietly by Shino to maintain silence until they were ashore again. Naruto made to protest, but his Onee-sama's touch on his shoulder made him bite his tongue. Several minutes later, showing just how far the bridge had come, the team made landfall again, getting off the boat just as the rays of the sun began to burn away the fog. Stretching themselves, the Genin watched as Kaji, who said nothing more to them, sped off into the sea, leaving them there.

"He's fearful of Gato, I presume," said Shino, more as a statement of fact than anything else. Tazuna, for his part, just stared after the man in response, before turning to them.

"Everyone here is afraid of that man. And with reason. He's a monster, and we know he's behind dozens of disappearances. Entire towns are gone, just because of his ambition," said Tazuna as he shouldered his pack, and then started on towards home. The Genin, staring out after the man who fled, found themselves not so negatively disposed towards him as they followed the old man's lead and walked on.

"So he's taking slaves then?" asked Hinata, a slight chill to her voice. Slavery was, for the most part, illegal within the Elemental Nations. Treaties and such said pretty words that told any who would take another as property that they would pay for such a violation of a human's(Or other intelligences) right of freedom. In practice, it wasn't always so cut and dry. Iwa had their POWs, people grabbed from villages and forced into hard labor. Ame was said to treat its entire population like slaves, all in service to their leaders.

"We don't know," said Tazuna after a moment of dark reflection. It was true too. None of the 'disappeared' had ever turned up, and it wasn't like Gato was afraid of letting people know he was a killer.

"Heero, your knowledge is better than mine. What crops or the like can be raised in Wave that are either difficult or impossible to do elsewhere?" asked Shino, and the silver haired boy stopped in his tracks, before he began to rub his chin in an odd way. The thumb holding just under the jaw, while the pointer finger scratched at the tip of the chin. He seemed lost in deep thought for many moments, everyone waiting, before he finally snapped his fingers.

"Dust. It's cultivation is difficult in the drier air around the Nation's. Mist and Wave would be some of the few places the plant could thrive, and Mist banned the stuff a generation ago," he said at last, and the others looked at each other. Dust, a powerful narcotic, was said to increase a man's reaction time an order of magnitude or more. It made the stuff very valuable to warlords and the like, but it came with dangers. Most people who took it became berserkers at best. They would lash out at those around them, enemies, comrades, even family. To the one under the effects of Dust, it didn't matter, just more blood to fuel them. Of course, this condition persisted until the user literally died from their heart bursting in their chest.

"That could be problematic. How long ago did Gato begin his operations here?" asked Shino, motioning for everyone to continue on their way, Tazuna followed suit, wracking his brain for the information.

"About three years ago, or at least, that's when we started to notice. He could have been doing things for a bit longer," said the man at last, and the Genin in sunglasses nodded, a few lines of worry leaving his face.

"Good, then he wouldn't have had his first crop yet," said the boy, and Tazuna sighed in relief. He knew the drug they had spoken of by reputation only, but he knew almost nothing about how to grow it.

"Two more years though. He'd have to clear out every civilian in that time, or risk someone learning of the source. Most of his thugs would need to go too," said Hinata gravely, and the Genin all fell silent as they absorbed that bit of information . So they walked on in silence, none of them speaking as their heads went over and around the information they had.

The walk was peaceful at least, as the morning began to wane a little, the sun rising high into the sky. It failed to burn away the dark mood as it had the mist, but at least without said fog it was easier not to fall into depression at what they were stepping into. Unluckily, focused as they were inside, none of the Genin, even Hinata who had her Byakugan on, though focused straight ahead to give her the longest range, noticed the attack coming. Instead they were startled when their Jonin sensei brought them up short with a held out hand, her ears perking up and listening.

"DOWN!" she shouted suddenly, diving for Tazuna, whom she forced to the ground. Her students needed no such effort on her part, and fell flat against the dirt, waiting for the strike. It came a heartbeat later, had her warning been any slower, it most certainly would have cleaved into them, as a huge sword, larger than even Shino, burst from the shrubbery, and then embedded itself with a dull wooden thunk into a tree a few feet down the road.

"Damn, I was hoping to get him with that first strike," said a voice, and everyone turned from scanning the woods, to face a man who was now standing on the handle of the massive blade. Leaping down from the thing, as the Genin rallied and drew weapons, or merely assumed fighting stances in a protective line in front of Tazuna, the man hefted the blade out of the tree. The sword came free with a crack, tearing a huge chunk of the trunk out with it, and causing the massive tree to fall to it's side, as the man turned to face them.

"Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist," said Kurenai, causing her young Genin to tense as they realized who it was they were facing. This man, his body covered only by a pair of pants and a set of straps across his chest, while his face was covered completely by a mask, stood tall and proud. His head bore one other accessory as well, a hitai, which was emblazoned with the symbol of Kiri, which had a long, deep scratch through it. The symbol of a Missing-Nin.

"I see those two idiots blabbed about me, Miss. Knowing that though, I have a proposal for you," as he spoke he brought his weapon, which must have weighed more than all four Genin combined, around to point at them. The motion was slow, deliberate, but so smooth that it was obvious he felt the weight of his weapon only slightly. Had he chosen, he could have simply tossed it again, and instantly resumed the attack.

"That man is my target, not you. Surrender the Bridge Builder, and I will allow you to leave here alive," offered the man, and the Genin only tightened their ranks more, as Kurenai kept her eyes focused on Zabuza, their red sheen in the open air starting to glow just a little.

"A kind offer, but one we must decline, I'm afraid. Our mission is to protect this man until he can complete his work on the bridge. Nothing will deter us from that charge," she said simply, and the man sighed, while shrugging his shoulders.

"Nothing to do about it then, other than kill you," he said easily, and stooped down, his legs cocked back, as if they were catapults, ready to vault his body forward.

"I couldn't agree more," said the Mistress of the Mind, and then locked eyes with the man in the mask. Instantly her eyes shone like small suns, and the mind of Zabuza found itself lost in the darkness, the infinite void about it impossible to escape, as lungs, heart, and brain, now separated from that thing called a soul, all stopped. Of course, this would have been an instant victory, had Zabuza and his weapon not collapsed in on themselves, like they were made of paper and someone was crumpling them up. As they fell, the solidity of man and tool became liquid instead, and he landed with a loud splash on the ground.

"Water clone!" said Kurenai, looking towards where he had fallen, and then twisting around. Her senses, heightened by chakra, reached out as far as she could. Nearby she heard the loud breathing of Tazuna and her students, and farther out, she could hear the rough, coarse laughter of the enemy.

"An interesting technique, Genjutsu Master, Yuhi Kurenai. Yes, I know you too. You have quite the bounty on your head with Iwa and Ame, though to be honest, my current job will pay more than ten times what your worth. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, however," said the man, and Kurenai's eyes suddenly turned to find him at the edge of a small lake she was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. A subtle Genjutsu then, one she hadn't noticed. Worse than that though, it gave him ample supplies from which to cast more of his water clones.

"Assume defense pattern Delta-Niner-Alpha. Make no moves unless I order it," whipsered the kunoichi into her collar, and watched as her Genin tightened their perimeter around the old man. Heero, even without a bug to relay the order, fell in perfect step as well, his hands forming an inverted turtle, as he made the black chakra to guard himself and his friends.

"I'm afraid I can't offer you your life again, but if you don't move too quickly, I can promise you your death will be quick," said Zabuza as he hefted his sword again. Kurenai looked at the weapon, one of the Seven Swords of the Mist. It's edge had ended the lives of score of shinobi, and even as she began to think of ways to kill this man, she realized that sword was going to be one of her biggest problems.

"I'm afraid I can't promise the same to you," she declared, and then struck forward. her hands going to hidden pouches in her sleeves. It seemed to those watching that she somehow produced a dozen kunai, and a hundred senbon needles out of thin air. The shower of weapons struck at the male shinobi, his blade whipping out like a whirlwind, scattering the weapons away, even as Kurenai got close to him. Her eyes tried to lock with his, tried to force him to gaze into her deep orbs, but she was denied the chance as a second Zabuza suddenly blasted out of the water behind the first, and then brought his blade down towards her, ready to cleave her in two.

A second later, and she was gone, her form seemingly melting away into nothing, as the Zabuza from the water found he couldn't stop in time, so his blade instead came down hard on the one who had been standing at the water's edge. That one felt the touch of the sword on him, and then nothing, as this clone burst into froth, which spilled all over the ground, as the Zabuza from the water landed almost exactly where he had been. Standing, he looked out towards the targets, and found the kunoichi standing there as she had been before, seemingly not having moved.

"You cast a genjutsu that made me think you were coming right for me, in order to get me to attack you. An interesting tactic," commented this Zabuza, who had his eyes closed now, as he faced his opponent. Her Genin wondered why she didn't take that moment to attack, but then saw the older ninja spin around and toss a kunai at something in the woods. Whatever it had been, animal or bug, or something, was gone in a flash the next instant. Kunai with explosive tags, and as they watched, he pulled out a dozen of them, ready to throw at the slightest sound.

"Still, don't think a single trick will save you. I have a few of my own, after all," as he said this, he crouched, the kunai vanishing from his hands as he made a single hand seal. Whatever he was doing seemed to take a moment, and Kurenai looked around, trying to see some other angle to attack from. Those kunai were a danger, to be sure, but nothing she would truly have to worry about. No, it was that sword of his, the kunai were merely there to pin her in, so he could use his weapon to take her down. Still thinking, she was startled when a low hissing sound came from behind the shinobi, and then cursed her indecision as the water behind him erupted into a geyser that leapt a hundred meters into the air, and then evaporated, casting a cloud of mist over the whole area.

"Damn!" said the kunoichi as the mist covered her. The stuff was obviously chakra infused, and it dampened every sound around her. Drawing a kunai, she let her senses spread out again, only to hear nothing around her. Everything was blocked, and her eyes saw only the mist. That was doubly bad for a Genjutsu user like her, as all her best methods of attack relied on eye contact, an eye contact that had just been rendered impossible to make.

"Heh, I can feel your muscles tense. Worried?" came a voice from behind her, and Kurenai spun around, her weapon brought up to defend herself with, only to find that the mist behind held nothing, instead the attack came from her left, a kick to her side that she only just managed to dodge, flipping away from the shadow of movement, and then landing a few feet away.

"Ha! You're just as good as the Bingo Book says," came the voice again, this time from her right, and she quickly charged it, scattering the mist behind her a bit as she tried to drive the kunai home, only to be brought up short as she realized that she would be near where the Genin were.

"You can project your voice with this mist," she said suddenly, so the Genin could hear it as well. The laughter in the fog now seemed to come from all around her, like there were dozens of Zabuza's surrounding her.

"Good call there, Mistress. More importantly, I can feel every move you make while you're in my mist. Make any move to leave, and I'll just kill those kids and the old man. I might do that anyway, if you don't provide enough fun," said the man, his voice coming from behind her. Then he attacked from the same direction, his shadow suddenly visible in the fog, and causing her to only just catch him out of the corner of her eye. Holding her kunai up, focusing chakra into it, she took the blow from his sword head on, hoping that her power would neutralize his. Unfortunately, his blade was better suited for chakra focusing, and so it sliced through her defense, and would have cut her in two, had she been even a little slower, sliding away from him, and then facing him through the gap in the mist her movement made.

"Excellent. It's been a long time since I got a real work out," claimed the man, before swiping his hand in front of him. This caused the mist to coalesce again, concealing him once more.

"Sensei, I can see him now, but only barely. He's coming in on your left...NOW!" the voice of Hinata came from her collar, and with a desperate tone, she warned of the attack. Luckily, Kurenai was faster than the big brute, and so her counter was quick enough, knowing where he was coming from, to stab him with a few senbons as she darted past, causing the man to cry out in pain as the unexpected attack hit home. She had hoped, somehow, that her needles might blind him, but her luck was not that good today, and instead they merely peppered his arm with pain, making him scream a little as he pulled the needles free from his flesh.

"That hurt you little bitch!" said the man, before he charged again.

"Forward left, six degrees to," said Hinata's low voice, and Kurenai reacted as he came in view, again dashing past him, and throwing a few more needles, and cursing her lack of kunai. These needles bit into his flesh as well, but somehow he was able to spin on his heels. She was already too far gone for the sharp edge of his blade, but with her senses dulled by the fog, she couldn't see the flat side of it until it struck her in her chest, driving the air from her lungs in a single wheeze, and then tossing her back. She flew through the air a short ways, until she finally slammed with an almost bone cracking crunch into the trunk of a tree. Her vision began to tunnel, but she forced herself to remain awake as she shakily rose to her feet.

"Onee-sama!" came Heero and Naruto's voices through the mist, and she knew the two were prepared to come to her rescue, foolish as that might have been.

"Stay back you two. This is my fight, and I won't have your interfering," she declared, trying to keep desperation out of her voice. She wanted to order them to run, to just take Tazuna and go, or maybe just abandon the old man, but she knew neither of them would. Shino and Hinata would refuse the same order. This was a mission, and you didn't give up on one, and you never left a teammate behind. That was the shinobi way of life.

"Bravado will only get you killed faster, Mistress of the Mind," said Zabuza's voice, and Kurenai turned towards the source, only to be blind sided as he came from behind her instead, where the tree should have been, causing her to roll forward, and then suddenly keel over in pain as her back muscles refused the order to bend the right way.

"Hinata, target. Shino, DnD. Naruto, secret and rescue!" shouted Heero's voice suddenly, and Kurenai wondered what he was babbling about, only to be shown a moment later when suddenly a pulse of chakra washed over her. More importantly it washed over the mist as well, causing the stuff to be pushed away as if by some great wind. The next second, she found herself grabbed by Naruto's his arms coming under her's, and dragging her off the ground, just as Zabuza swung at her position, intending on bisecting her. In the distance, she saw Shino and Heero charging Zabuza, while Hinata ran into the woods, then she saw nothing as green covered her vision, leaving her two young Genin to battle.


	19. Claws vs Kubikiribocho

"This mist is too thick, can any of you see anything?" asked Heero as his eyes tried and failed to pierce the veil around him.

"Even my queens are unable to smell anything," admitted Shino, wishing he'd been able to help in some way. With no information to go on though, he was simply out of his depth.

"I can make out how the mist moves, but it's impossible to spot details. There's just too much chakra in it," said Hinata, her eyes able to see the ebb and flow of the chakra infused mist, but unable to make out anything beyond a few wakes as shapes moved through it.

"So we just sit here and wait for Onee-sama to win? That's not really my style," said Naruto, audibly drawing his kunai, "just give me a target, and I'll take them down."

"We would risk hitting Kurenai sensei if we attacked right now. It would be most beneficial for her if we maintain the post she gave us," said Shino, the order implicit in his tone, and Naruto growled in frustration, but din't make any farther moves as they listened to their teacher and this man banter a bit, while the sound of the fight seemed to echo all around. Behind them, standing tall and proud was Tazuna. He knew this was to be his final moment. The kids were good, he would be the first to admit that, but Zabuza was on a whole other level. He would face his end on his feet, and staring death in the eye...the eye...

"Girl, you said you can see the mist moving, right?" asked the old man.

"I can, but thanks to that I can't see the chakra signatures of anyone else. It's all just a rolling haze," she said.

"Can you see the gaps in the mist then? Places where it isn't? If so, then you should be able to tell who is who by that, shouldn't you?" responded the old man, and Hinata, her eyes bulging a bit, cursed under her breath, and then refocused her vision, bringing into sharp focus the visions of the two combatants in the mist. With that info, she was able to start feeding Kurenai battle data. With her help, she saw her teacher injure the other man, only to have him counter her counter, the sound of the strike audible even through the mist, possibly because Zabuza wanted them to hear their hope die.

"Oneesama!" the two boys beside her blared out, their teeth clenching, and both assuming an attack stance by the look of them. Neither moved though. How could they attack, not knowing where to do so at.

"Naruto, pulse, as lightly as you can," said Heero at last, and the blonde boy seemed to pause for a second as he considered this, and then simply followed the instruction, gathering chakra for only a heartbeat in his chest, before pulsing it out. This pulse caused the mist around them to fade, and they could again see the world around them. Shocked, Hinata turned her eyes back on, and faced towards where Kurenai lay, waiting for Shino to order the attack.

"Shino, you and I will attack Zabuza. Your bugs and my Armor can hold off his attacks. Hinata, get clear with Tazuna, make sure he's safe, you can see threats coming the rest of us never would. Naruto, pulse as wide as you can, clear this whole thing up, maybe it will disrupt him like having a Genjutsu torn down, and at the very least we can see everything, then get Kurenai and run, before sending every clone you can to help," said Heero, and Shino only took a moment to think it over before nodding, giving them the go ahead. Heero repeated his plan in code phrases, shouted into the mist so that Kurenai would hear them coming, before Naruto pulsed.

Instantly they moved, Hinata grabbed Tazuna, her arms knocking him from his feet as she lifted him bodily and then leapt into the nearby brush and shrubs, trying to put as much distance between her and the fighting as she could, while still keeping her Byakugan active to see everything. Naruto, just as the pulse left his body, charged forward, he grabbed his teacher much as Hinata had Tazuna, and disappeared as well into the treeline, while Shino and Heero made a beeline straight for Zabuza.

The Missing-Nin was no fool, the instant his fog was gone, he knew he was about to be attacked, and even as he let go of his grip on his weapon, abandoning the sword for the moment, he began to run through a few handseals. His intent was to create a half a dozen water clones to send after his targets, but the speed of the two boys surprised him. The tall older one, with his sunglasses glinting in the sun as the mist completely cleared from overhead, and the shorter silver haired boy, both of them going straight for killing blows.

"Impressive," he complimented them, using subtle movements trained over a lifetime to dodge their first attacks, and then following up with a kick that scattered the pair, forcing them back. Instantly his hand found the hilt of his blade, and he drew it effortlessly from the ground, swinging it straight for the pair, hoping to get them in the first swing.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" shouted the silver hair, and suddenly a black outline seemed to grow around him, one that Kubikiribocho, his blade which could cleave through any armor he'd yet faced, failed to cut. Worse, the body seemed so confident in his armor that he grabbed at the blade, his hands wrapping around the edge and the back, and then yanking backwards with all his might, trying to wrest the weapon from Zabuza's grip. The Jonin was not to be disarmed by some Genin pup though, and instant Heero found himself flying as the older shinobi twisted his grip on his blade, and spun with it, causing his swing to arc over his head and then toss the one still gripping it away.

He didn't stay away long, Heero going straight back into the fight, while Shino began to cast about with his swarm. the kikai flew through the air without wings, trying to find a perch on the ninja who was their host's foe. Their tiny legs skittered in the air, and their pincers clacked together to create an awful racket, one that Zabuza recognized. Knowing that the touch of even a few of those bugs was going to drain him of yet more chakra, most of his own reserves having been wasted on the mist jutsu, he swung his blade at them. Somehow, despite only touching a few, the swarm found itself all touched by the sharp edge, and many an insect fell bisected to the ground, causing the normally taciturn insect-nin to growl a little at him.

The older ninja could only glare back before he had to hold his blade out, catching the attack of the still black outlined boy on it, the fist clanging against the metal, and then being followed up with a kick that Zabuza took to his midriff, before hurling the boy away again, this time as hard as he could into the brush, hoping to at least get himself some room to kill the insect user. Unfortunately for him, the instant the silver haired boy went into the brush, a hundred copies of the orange suited one burst out from it. Each had a kunai in hand, and all of them struck with them, forcing the Jonin back as quickly whirled his sword around, cutting into thrown kunai, which popped those clones who'd thrown them.

"Shadow clones?!" said the older ninja incredulously as he punched at one that got too close. He'd figured that they were just normal bushin when they'd come at him like that, but as more and more poured out of those woods, he came to realize that they were far more than that, and far more dangerous. Worse, his arm was starting to slow a bit, the small holes where senbons had found their mark bleeding profusely. Realizing that, he decided the best way to deal with this group of upstarts was just to overpower them completely, so he swung his sword around, forcing the shadow clones back, and then leapt into the nearby lake, already making handseals in rapid succession.

"Suiton, Great Waterfall!" he shouted as he landed, his chakra already focused into his feet, and instantly reacting with the water around him. Normally this would be the sort of attack to use against only a Jonin, or at least a group of Chuunin, but these kids had demanded more of him than he would have expected, and so he determined to just destroy them. About him, the water surged upwards one more, but rather than rising in a slow pillar, it surged high into the sky, and then fell again, arcing over the masked ninja, and then slamming hard into the woods in front of him. Said woods were hit like they had been struck by a flash flood, trunks and roots cracking in turn as trees were washed away.

"Heero! Naruto! Kurenai!" shouted the insect-nin as he rushed forward, doing a series of handseals himself. What he was doing, Zabuza didn't care, and instead drew his weapon, feeling the weight of the thing now with his nearly depleted chakra reserve. Surging forward like the water, he stuck with the full force of a tidal wave, hoping to at last score a kill he could watch in this fight. Only to have his attack thwarted as one of the orange boy's clones switched with the insect-nin at the last moment, causing it to puff out of existence, while the taller boy turned to face Zabuza, reminded of the fight he was in. Before he could launch another attack though, the silver haired boy, without his black outline, burst from another nearby brush, and struck, his fingertips shining white as he did so.

"Claws of the Tiger!" he screamed, and Zabuza raised his sword in defense. He recognized the style of technique, if not the technique itself. Chakra blades were a poor man's substitute for real steel. He'd defeated plenty of opponents who believed their power was the equal of his blade, and he aimed to prove this one wrong directly, slashing forward with his weapon as the boy came in range. The two blades met with a crackle of power, as the chakra of Zabuza, infused into his weapon, struck back against the power within Heero's blood, the white blades shining brighter and brighter as he pushed more of his chakra into them, until at last, one had to give. With a cracking sound like glass being stepped on, the Claws shattered, causing the boy's purple eyes to go wide, even as his hand screamed at him in pain.

"Gah!" cried out Heero, falling forward and rolling as he did so. This allowed him under Zabuza's counter strike, the older shinobi only just recovering his own footing, trying to skewer his foe. Of course, as Heero rolled, his right hand, the one that had held the blades, came into contact with the ground, and suddenly he was gripping his wrist with his left hand, the right telling him he had abused it, and now making him feel like he was burning inside. This moment of painful torture would have been brought to an end by the masked shinobi's blade, as he raised it high overhead and tried to bring it down and crack Heero's skull open, only to be met with raw earth as he brought it down, an orange blur in his face snaking its way around the strike, and then kicking Zabuza in the face, while in the distance of their battlefield, Heero was being helped to his feet by Shino.

"This battle is lost. Retreat has become our only option," said Shino as he tried to drag Heero away with him, only to have Heero toss him away, the boy staggering to turn around and face Zabuza again.

"You disagree," intoned the insect-nin as the silver haired boy stood there, his stance shaky at best, and at worst barely able to keep himself upright.

"Retreat hasn't been an option since this guy started the fight. We win, or we die. Those are our choices. If we run, we'll just drag out the dying part," said Heero, and Shino, after a moment to think about it, agreed, drawing a kunai, ready to face his end with dignity, only to have Heero place his arm on his shoulder, pointing to the three Narutos currently fighting their enemy.

"Get Naruto to steal his kunai, and throw them at the ground, I want him in the air, so he can't dodge me," said Heero, and Shino nodded again, giving the order, and watching as, with a hand that would make the great thieves envious, the Narutos stole the kunai with the exploding tags on them, passing them between the them as even more poured from the tree line.

"What is your plan? Speed to stab him? Roar to destroy him?" asked Shino, wondering just what tactic he should use in conjunction with Heero's own attack.

"I'm going to use my Claws again, this time as a Katar, and slice into his blade. See the little cuts I made the first time?" he asked, and Shino looked closely at the blade, which currently stabbed into one of the Narutos, causing him to vanish in puff of smoke, and then swirled around to decapitate a half dozen more, their bodies vanishing as well. Of course, in the light from above, the glint of the steel edge did indeed have small nicks in it, tiny patches where it wasn't as smooth.

"Your hand was damaged the first time, are you sure you can do it again?" asked Shino in response.

"My right hand feels like it's on fire, and I doubt I'll be able to use it again for a few days. I still have my left though, and I'm confident it will work," he said, smirking at Shino, who merely nodded. He then gave orders to Naruto and Heero, telling the latter where to stand and then jump when the attack was launched, while informing the clones of exactly where to stab each kunai. Meanwhile, Zabuza kept the fight going, noticing how the other two weren't running, and hoping their attention was fully on him. He expected their Jonin was recovering as well, trying to pull herself back into this fight, but she had taken a big hit, and would need time to recover. Better, he saw a slight bit of white, that he gave a single handsign to, as he kept the dance with the orange clones up, the white bit vanishing an instant later.

In the woods, beside the line of destruction his master had forged, Haku raced along, his feet seemingly never touching the ground or the trees as he went. Every motion one of deliberate power, as he looked around for his target. Zabuza wasn't usually one to forgo the pleasure of a kill like this, so Haku knew this was serious, and it required his full attention. Finally, he found his enemy, a single girl and an old man, standing just far enough away that they could here the battle in the di9stance, if not see it, and they reacted to each pop of a clone as it echoed through the woods around them like it was stab to their own bodies. Haku, seeing them distracted like this, drew out his senbon needles, and waited for the opportunity to strike.

"Now!" Shino said, and Naruto launched the kunai with tags at Zabuza's feet, the clones grabbing onto the man as the weapons fell, as if to try and hold him in the blast. Zabuza, who hadn't noticed the kunai were not on his belt anymore, was surprised by this, and then he twisted his body in a spin, causing the clones to be scattered, as the far stronger Jonin pushed against them, and then kicked out, the force of his foot hitting them enough to pop all but three before he leapt into the air, getting just above the blast. Of course, as he went into the air, he saw that silver haired brat again, his left hand coming towards him, even as more of those chakra blades grew from the finger tips. With no way to dodge in the air, Zabuza had to hold out his own sword against this, his brain wondering why the boy held his hand like that, before the formally thin blades from his fingers formed into a far thicker one, and then slammed home against his blade with a crash like thunder.

"Please work," whispered Hinata as she looked towards the lake, her eyes with veins bulging from their sides. She had moved away from Tazuna by a meter and a half to get a better view with her Byakugan, and so, gasped when out of the brush burst the form of someone in an ANBU get up, who silently rushed at Tazuna, a shower of senbon needles flying from the figure's outstretched hands.

The lakeshore crackled with power as the two blades fought against each other, Zabuza silently cursing these kids. This should have been an easy fight, maybe taking a second to punch through the Genin's guards, and then just killing them. Even their sensei had been easier than he had expected, though he knew that to just be a mismatch set of skills. Genjutsu against his mist was a bad fit, after all. Still, this fight should have been over in less than a minute, not the protracted thing it had become, and he aimed to end this now, surging his chakra into his weapon, and was gratified as the boy's fingers began to tremble, the blade on his pinky braking with another glass like sound.

The sound of the blade breaking was matched by the sound of the senbon's soaring through the air, hitting home in Tazuna's chest, and causing the old man to crumple over, dead. Haku, the one who through the needles, allowed himself a smirk, as he pulled out some more, and dove for the girl next, her reaction speed far too slow to keep pace with him as he slashed at her with his needles like they were claws, ripping into her throat, and watching her fall.

Another blade broke a moment later, but it was at this point that Zabuza noticed his own sword wasn't doing so hot. The Claws of the Tiger were biting deep into the cut they had already made, and now were more than an inch inside his weapon. Growling like an animal, he pumped more chakra into the steel, trying to strengthen it against the assault. Whatever he had hoped though, it came to pass that with a sound like a 'shing' Heero's Claws cleaved through his blade, the metal rending down to a smooth edge, which separated into two pieces as it fell back to the ground, allowing the two shinobi at last to fall apart from each other, landing on the ground heavily.

Then Haku fell still. Not because of the sound, though that might have been enough if he'd heard it. Instead his stillness was one forced on him as the girl and the old man wavered and vanished like so many visions in the desert. He'd been tricked, his foes had used some Genjutsu on him, and before he could do anything, three figures emerged from the brush, the girl, the old man, and the woman whom Zabuza had taken down. Haku made ready to do battle with all of them, only to have the girl, her white eyes shining like furious stars, leaping forward at him as the tips of her fingers shone brightly with chakra.

"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!" she shouted, and then her arms vanished into blurs. Haku's speed was at least at Chuunin level, if not Jonin, and he was growing faster all the time, yet he couldn't see anything as the girl's hands touched him. He felt it though, as spikes of chakra went into his body, forcing closed his tenketsu. Each strike seemed to make the world a duller place, as colors became less bright, smells less sharp, and even sounds became muted. His sense of touch never wavered though, as each strike was like a knife, cutting into him, and causing his muscles to seize painfully. When it was at last over, and the girl stepped away, Haku found himself paralyzed, unable to do anything at all but look into the eyes of the three.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all," said Zabuza as he rose to his feet again, looking at his Kubikiribocho. The sword, which had slain a thousand men at least, was broken. The blade had been sliced clean, and while a master smith might be able to salvage it, a lesser one would just tell him to melt it down for scraps. Of course, he wouldn't do that. His blade was one of the Seven Swords of the Mist, and each possessed a power that went far beyond steel. Smiling, he began to flow chakra into the blade, intending on using this brats blood to reforge his weapon, it might even give the sword a new ability or two. So thinking, he swung the sword at the kid, only to stumble a bit as he did so.

"What the?" he asked, looking down at the thing in his hand. Of course, as he did, a dozen more of the orange ninja boy's clones attacked. Zabuza didn't even seem to feel them though, grabbing one by the throat easily, and then using it to beat the others off as he looked at the weapon in his hand. Focusing again, he tried to put chakra into it, only to have the blade simply hang there, limp in his hand. The energy went from him, into the steel, and then out again, the blade taking the chakra as ground would, no longer as one of the Seven should.

"Impossible!" he shouted, trying again, idly breaking the neck of the clone in his hand. He tried several times, barely registering the continued clone attacks, until, after almost a minute, he screamed. It was a scream born of rage, pain, and loss. This sword was part of him, part of his history, and his destiny. This was the symbol of his power, and now it was so much metal, unable to take in the chakra of its wielder. He saw red now, and his eyes focused through the clones towards the object of his new found rage, the silver haired boy, who was being helped away by three clones.

Zabuza struck like a thunderclap, the remains of his sword cutting through the clones around him, before he tossed it at the retreating boy, intending to slice him in two with the toss. The clones saw it coming, and leapt over the attack, but as they landed, they had to toss Heero forward, the silver haired boy continuing to stagger away as the clones tried to face their foe. The older shinobi would brook no resistance, his fist coming down like lead on the clones, all three popped in a single blow, Heero looking back at him, and seeing death in his eyes, only just able to summon his Armor, the black outline a few millimeters thick against his skin, before the overhead swing struck down at him.

The blow was enough that, with Heero's thin armor, he could feel it. His spine raged at him for the pressure, his knees nearly buckled, and the ground underneath his soles gave, as a blast of dust and debris spread out. When the cloud had spread out enough to allow one to see, Heero found himself almost to his knees down in the dirt, the blow having driven him into the earth like a spike for a tent. And then another blow landed, this one causing him to descend an inch more. Then another blow came, this one slower than before, weaker. And then another, and another, each successive blow having less and less power behind it, until Zabuza at last realized something was wrong, and looked behind him.

Behind him stood the insect-nin, and the orange boy, both staring at him with a bit of hate in their eyes. Following their gaze, Zabuza found his back covered by the taller boy's Kikai, the bugs digging their pincers and feelers into his flesh, and quickly gorging themselves on his chakra, which had already been drained by the battle. Realizing he was lost, but wanting to take them with him, he reached into his pouch, and tried to draw a kunai with an explosive tag on it, only to remember that the orange one had stolen those from him, and so he just turned to the silver haired boy, staring down at him, before his eyes rolled into the back his head, and fell forward, finally toppling the boy as he did so, both hitting the ground with a loud thump.


	20. Arrival in Wave

It took almost half an hour for everyone to reassemble, mostly due to the destroyed section of the forest making it hard to get around. It didn't help that Kurenai was limping a little, her normally agile gait replaced with a loping one as she had to drag one foot forward, her hand constantly held behind her at a point on her back she knew was bruised. Of course, she also knew that a normal civilian would have had their back broken by the impact she'd sustained, so that was lucky at least.

"Team, report," she ordered as hey finally came to a calm spot near the lake shore.

"Two enemies captured, Naruto has used a large amount of chakra creating clones to help fight Zabuza, and you have been injured as well. Heero's right hand is unusable for the moment, and all but the thumb and pointer finger on his left are in the same condition. My swarms have also been reduced to less than a quarter of their usual number," said Shino in that deadpan voice of his. The group knew him well enough, however, to hear a tinge of sorrow in his voice. He loved his bugs, in the way all Aburame did, and to have so many of them fall like that, it had to hurt.

"Tactically, we won, at a cost. Had he kept the Demon Brothers in reserve, rather than sending them ahead, we would likely now be dead. That performance will need to be improved," said the kikai-nin, and Kurenai nodded, before smiling at them.

"This team has preformed beyond my expectations, honestly. Even with the mist's obvious drain on his chakra, and the injuries I inflicted upon him, Zabuza was still a Jonin, and no push over. Had you been a normal team, we would not be having this conversation. Don't be too down on yourselves now, and know that you've made me very proud of all of you," she said, and all four of her Genin puffed up a bit, Tazuna finally breaking out of a mute trance he'd been in since they'd seen Zabuza on the ground.

"What are you going to do with them?" asked the old man, taking a step towards the fallen shinobi, in his hand, they all could see a kunai blade, apparently picked up off the battlefield.

"Normally, they would have died in the fight, and there would be no need to decide that, since they are alive though, I was going to discuss it with my Genin," admitted Kurenai, eyeing the man cautiously.

"What would the law of the Land of Waves call for?" asked Shino after a few seconds, and Tazuna just stared down at the pair on the ground, his fist white around the handle of the weapon.

"A trial by the Lord of Wave. There hasn't been one of those for a long time though. Now we'd just banish them, but these two. This man, and his apprentice are murders...killers. An entire village wiped out in a single night, with no survivors, just wet ruins, and a few needles. I knew some of those people they killed, I wanted them dead," he admitted, holding the knife in his hand up to his eyes, and then looking down at them. It was obvious what he was thinking, and Kurenai began a few hand seals, just in case. Luckily, the old man was no killer, not of the defenseless, and so instead of doing something that would require action, he turned to the group.

"Now I just want them gone, gone forever. Can you make that happen?" he asked, and Kurenai thought about it for a moment.

"Can you summon Kaji again?" she asked him, and he nodded absently to her, as she turned towards Naruto.

"I know you've made a lot of clones already today, but how many of the true clones can you make?" she inquired, and Naruto seemed to go into a meditative stance, his hands held just apart at his chest as he looked within himself for the answer.

"Ten. But I'll be wiped for a week if I do that. Like that time I tried to recharge everyone at once in the Hyuga Training Ground," he admitted, and his teammates nodded, remembering one of the few breaks in their training they had gotten, this one because Naruto had so exhausted himself he hadn't been able to move for ten days.

"Then I want you to make eight. Hinata, Shino," she said this turning to the other two, who stood at rapt attention.

"I have a special mission for both of you. Clones alone won't cut it if these two wake up, but between you, you can keep them both paralyzed and exhausted of chakra. That should allow you to get them to Konoha. Once there, turn them over to Ibiki, tell him they're our prisoners, and we want them processed. The Hokage will likely want to talk with you as well, but inform him I'm invoking my right as the leader of the team that caught them to keep them there until I can return. We'll figure out if they should go back to Kiri, or perhaps somewhere else, once we have time to do so," she explained, and both of the Genin nodded at her, watching as Naruto focused inward again, before making the single ram seal. A puff of smoke came from him, that soon formed into eight perfect copies of himself, each of which grabbed an arm or leg of the prisoners, before standing by for commands.

"Come on then, I want these two out of the country by noon," said Tazuna, dropping the kunai and then guiding them back to the shore. The trek took an hour, since they wanted this done quickly, but had the burden of the two unconscious shinobi to worry about. Twice in that time, Hinata called a halt to have Shino use his Kikai to drain some chakra from Zabuza, who seemed to rouse, if only for an instant, only to pass out again as his energy was stolen, and then his muscles frozen by the touch of Hinata's fingers. After they reached the shore, Tazuna showed them a small hidden flare cannon, that he had Shino and Naruto help him drag to the edge of the water, firing off the bright light from inside, and waiting for Kaji to show. To his credit, Kaji made it within ten minutes. Against his credit, the instant he saw who was waiting, he turned around, gunning his motor as fast as he could away from Zabuza.

"Kaji you idiot, get back here!" shouted Tazuna after the fleeing man, who, very cautiously, began to approach again, his hand on the motor the only part of him they could see as he slid almost silently up to the shore. It took several extra minutes to convince him that the two killers were knocked out, and going to stay that way, and half an hour to finally get him to agree to take the prisoners and the shinobi across. The Naruto clones, to save on room, henged into chains and shackles, that then fastened themselves around the wrists and ankles of the prisoners. After all that, as the afternoon sun in the sky finally started to wax into an evening one, the boat left, puttering out of sight at a speed that was rather indicative of the pilots desire to have the business done with.

"That's a load of my mind, knowing both of them are gone," said Tazuna, before starting off. Thanks to injuries, exhaustion, and just general feelings of lethargy, the team was forced to march at a slow pace, and only approached Tazuna's village as the moon began to rise. They were greeted by only a few sullen faces, no guards, no patrols, just people, slowly dragging themselves through their lives. A few brightened on seeing Tazuna returned, but the old man pleaded sleep, and led his beleaguered band through the streets with only a few pleasantries, before finally coming to a large two story house, and leading the group inside.

"Father!" shouted a woman, who threw her arms around the old man as he entered their home, a young boy did much the same, both of them nearly at tears as they quickly shuffled Tazuna and the Konoha Ninja's inside, locking and barring the door, as the woman began to set out food for them.

"Team Fourteen of Konoha, this is my daughter, Tsunami, and her son, Inari," the woman nodded at the introduction, smiling at everyone, while Inari just sat there, looking them over like he was trying to size them up for a fight.

"My family, this is part of Team Fourteen of Konoha. Kurenai, Heero, and Naruto," he said, gesturing to each in turn, and the three bowed their heads respectfully towards the woman, and towards the boy, though Naruto was eyeing him right back.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, isn't it Inari?" said the woman as the last bowl was put down, and she took a seat at the table with them.

"You look like you guys lost a fight," was the first thing Inari said to them, and everyone around him seemed to freeze as they processed the statement. Naruto was the first to recover, hopping up to stand in his chair, and pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

"We didn't lose! We won and beat everyone's butt!" he declared, Kurenai quickly pulling him back into a sitting position as Inari stood up, pointing his own finger at a growling Naruto.

"And yet you still look like you lost! How are you going to protect my grandpa from Gato's men? How?" he asked.

"Inari, these two boys, along with their friends and the young lady here, beat Zabuza," said Tazuna quietly, barely lowering his bowl from his mouth to speak before raising it up once more to resume his meal. This seemed to turn the boy and woman to stone for a moment, as they rattled that fact around in their heads. These two boys had beat Zabuza?! Even with help that was impossible. The stories of that murder had him taking out whole groups of armed men who'd stood against him. There was just no way these two, no matter how much help they'd had, had been able to do that.

"Really?" asked Inari at last, and Tazuna nodded.

"I told you, we kicked all the butt today. That jerk is on his way out of the country right now, along with his apprentice. Better yet, we already beat up those two jerks that worked for him, so the only thing Gato's got left to throw at us are thugs, and they're not even close to our level," said Naruto triumphantly, cracking his knuckles to punctuate his point. The boy and his mother sat there for some time in silence, before the meal resumed, talk no longer being something either wanted as they thought on everything that was going on today, and what it would mean for tomorrow.

The three ninja were put up in a small room, the only free one in the house, which they made the most out of, Kurenai quickly being told by the boys to take the bed, while Naruto took a small couch, and Heero took the ceiling. Kurenai questioned what he meant by that for a moment, but Naruto assured her that Heero did that sometimes, as he walked up the wall, and then laid down against the ceiling, with a blanket clinging to him through chakra use. Looking at him, reaching out her senses to make sure he wasn't about to fall, she decided it was at least good training for his chakra reserves, and went to bed.

OoOoO

"What do you mean Zabuza hasn't reported back?!" demanded the old man in the chair in front of them. The other men in the room, far larger, and all armed with weapons that looked wickedly sharp, still winced at the tone. This was, after all, the man paying their checks. Said man was breathing hard, his hair shaking a little as his nostrils flared. Fury was evident in his gaze, and it wasn't long before he got up from his seat and walked over towards a small vase set up on the side of the room. Screaming bloody murder, he rammed his fist through the expensive piece of pottery, that some servant quickly replaced and swept away the debris.

"That vexes me," he said at last, breathing calmly now as he settled himself back into his chair. The men around him watched as he spun the seat a little, his fist resting on his cheek as he thought of the current situation.

"How many men are still here in Wave?" he asked, and another servant stepped forward with a small ledger in hand.

"Currently, not counting sir's personal body guards, there are one-thousand-three-hundred-ninety-two mercenaries of the various companies sir employs," said the little pencil thin man, and Gato nodded, going over the figures in his head. With his personal guard, a good two-hundred strong, that was almost sixteen-hundred guys in Wave, a good sized army considering the size of the country, all things considered. Still, Zabuza was his trump card. That man was worth an army in battle, and his assistant, as much as he looked like a waif, had been every bit as vicious and powerful. Their loss really put a crimp in his power structure for a while.

"How long would it take to gather everyone up?" asked Gato.

"Everyone, sir?" asked the ledger holding servant.

"EVERYONE!" screamed Gato, not willing to tolerate even the hint of a questioning of his orders at the moment.

"Um, uh, it will take approximately seven days to assemble the entire force, but it would leave many of your ventures on the island unguarded sir," said he servant, fumbling over his words, and Gato nodded at that. His operations had been growing swiftly, and his men were serving more and more as guards rather than toughs, keeping the people in line. Withdrawing them would likely allow some of the locals to escape into the woods of Wave Country. It would take a while to round them all back up, and worse some might even get out of Wave, to spread rumors about what he was doing here. Overall, it would be a big risk.

"Get them, and remind every worker that if they even think of 'quitting' we'll exercise our permanent retirement options on anyone left. That should keep the majority of them in line," he ordered. It would also make them less likely to talk, considering they would feel responsible for the death if they did get away. The men in his chamber bowed to Gato, and then left to carry out his orders, two of the larger men taking up guard positions outside the door, and leaving the shipping tycoon alone with his thoughts.

This was one of those times where he almost had to laugh at fate. He'd been dealt a wild card, and now had to play the hand close to the vest. His forces were weaker without Zabuza, that was sure. At the same time though, Zabuza's fee made up a good ten percent of this operation's overhead cost. Even if he managed to come back, the fact that the bridge builder had returned when he'd promised that he'd kill him before he could meant Gato could bargain down his price to a pittance compared to what it had been.

He'd still have to take out the bridge builder, of course. That guy was going to spoil the whole job if he finished that bridge of his. Still, almost one and a half thousand men. Whoever was protecting the bridge builder, by all reports a pair of boys and some woman, wouldn't be able to stand up to that. What's more he had other avenues to pursue now. Zabuza wasn't the only ninja for higher in the elemental nations. Gato could, if they somehow failed here, reach out to say, that Akatski group, or whatever their name was. They weren't cheap, but they were even stronger than Zabuza. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, but a savvy businessman didn't invest all his coins in a single venture.


	21. Time in Wave

The next day dawned bright and clear, and breakfast at the Tazuna residence was done in silence, before the three ninja accompanied him to the bridge. There they found his workers, a half a dozen men who seemed wary of the three being good enough to guard them. Tazuna, knowing how to motivate his men, spun the tale of their great battle with Zabuza, leaving out no details as he described the grand fight, or at least the parts he had seen, and as he spoke, wonder, admiration, and a little bit of fear crossed their eyes as they stared at the shinobi.

The men then attacked their work, which had laid fallow while they awaited Tazuna's return. The ninja, watching them did their best to stand guard, but the instant no eyes were on them, they slumped down, nearly drained. Even the Mistress of the Mind found herself sore from the events of the day before, her body only just recovered enough to allow her to walk normally, and her 'little brothers' were not even that recovered, with Naruto winded from a simple chakra exercise, while Heero's hands refused to move correctly, meaning he couldn't form seals, though he still at least had chakra to burn.

They watched as the bridge builder and his men worked, the boys asking question of their onee while they waited, with Naruto focusing more on the tools, while Heero wanted to know the techniques of the men. Kurenai answered as best she could, but found herself having to ask one of the men during a lunch break some of the questions herself, finding that despite their rough exteriors, the men working for Tazuna were quite friendly, and very willing to discuss their work with anyone who showed an interest.

The second day, the ninja were very obviously better, with Kurenai's stride returning to confidence, and her back straighter than it had been yesterday. Naruto was better as well, having recovered at least some of that boundless chakra reserve during his sleep, and finally able to make clones again, while Heero's left hand seemed recovered enough to make basic seals. This newfound energy, and their own interest in the bridge being built before their eyes compelled them to offer assistance to the team working.

Tazuna at first refused, after all, they were just boys, but thinking back to the battle he'd seen them fight, he decided to allow them to earn their keep. He set Heero to cutting the metal needed for supports, instructing him on the precise nature of the necessary cuts, all the angles and shapes needed, while assigning Naruto's gang of a dozen clones to helping in a more brute force way. The two boys, motivated to impress their onee, performed whatever labor was assigned them well, and Tazuna whistled in astonishment as the sun set over a bridge that was already further along than he had expected.

The third day was much the same, with Naruto having had the clones the previous day 'return' the chakra to him through the medical jutsu, he was now able to make about three dozen of the things, which dove into their labor at a pace that made the other men working for Tazuna more crew chiefs than hired help, directing the various orange clad boys in their labor, while Tazuna himself had Heero's claws constantly making more cuts, not just in metal but stone and wood as well. By the time that day ended, they were at least a week farther along than had been expected.

It was day seven, mid day, with the sun high overhead when Tazuna called for a halt. In the distance, he could see the mainland. This job, which should have been months in the doing, was almost over. Watching the boys in front of him, Heero moving his two hands freely, the Bridge Builder knew who he had to thank for the speed of his work. The crew did as well, and had actually offered to take the boys to a celebration at a local bar once the work was done, an idea their onee quickly killed with a glare from those red eyes of hers.

"I must admit, this has been some of the best construction work I've ever seen. With Heero's precision and just how well Naruto listens, all the clones working as if they were one person. This bridge is probably the best built in the whole of the Elemental Nations," said Tazuna to Kurenai over a cup of coffee as they watched the two boys eating with the rest of the crew, trading stories, laughing, and otherwise enjoying themselves.

"I agree, these skills will help them later in life. I will remind you though, there will be a cost for all this," she told him, and Tazuna, rather than let that statement, the reminder of his lie, darken his mood, only smiled at her.

"Ms. Yuhi, we owe the Village Hidden in the Leaves more than we can ever repay. Ask it of Wave, and we'll do everything in our power to help," he assured her, and Kurenai, looking into his eyes, found no hint of deception in them. He truly meant the offer, the blank check he was holding out to her, and with his influence, he likely could offer them all of Wave if the Fire Daimyo wanted it. She was about to start naming a few specific trade goods that would be nice to have, when a set of sounds began to echo over the bridge.

The first sound was the tramping of feet, a lot of feet, more than even Naruto's clones, and the second was the rattling, the clear, metallic rattling of weapons and armor as they smacked against each other. Looking back, the ninja instantly went on the defense, taking their positions between the sounds and Tazuna and his crew, with Kurenai drawing a single kunai, while Naruto somehow pulled a bola from somewhere, and Heero stood with his hands obviously ready to make his claws.

"Ah, this is such a far walk, you truly are the best bridge builder in the nations, Tazuna," said a voice, and the bridge builder himself tensed at the sound, as slowly a mass of shapes resolved themselves from the distance, a huge army of men walking forward onto the bridge, their heavy metal boots clacking against the stone of the bridge's surface, before they stopped from a single motion of the man in front of them.

"Gato," growled out the old man behind the shinobi, who all took a moment to register what it was he had said, and worse, what that meant they were facing. He looked small, compared to the toughs behind him, but despite that, he had that power behind him a leader tended to. His black suit looked newly pressed, and those shades he wore over his eyes glinted wickedly in the sunlight.

"Yes, Tazuna. I came here to see the result of your defiance of my orders. Didn't I tell you that this bridge project or yours was wasting time, time better spent getting your young ready to tend to my farms?" asked the gentleman as he stepped forward from his mercs, all of which held their weapons drawn, smirking at the guardians in front of them. They had heard these were the ones who beat Zabuza, and yet, they were a woman and two brats. Either Zabuza was as overrated as some of them thought, or these kids and their mom had taken credit for something someone else had done.

"And I told you, we won't be intimidated anymore. We refuse to live in fear of you and your company. This nation, Wave, belongs to her people, and with my bridge, I will give them the strength to fight back against you, and bring you to justice," declared the old man, holding one of the tools of his trade out towards the businessman like it was a weapon.

"Heero," whispered Kurenai as the two continued to banter, posturing at each other.

"Oneesama?" asked the silver haired boy.

"How much of the red chakra can you make?" she responded, sidling closer to him.

"Depends on what you want me to do. If you want me to punch that Gato guy so many times he resembles ground beef, I can do that," offered the young boy, and Kurenai smirked at the mental image, but shook her head subtly so no one else could see it.

"No, that comes later. These toughs toys, do you think you have enough in you to take away all their weapons and armor?" she asked, and Heero looked out over the gathering of men. They stretched away, far into the distance, farther than even a ninja could see, but none of them held their weapons tightly. They seemed to think they might not even use them, given how more than one was leaning on their sword like a cane.

"I think I can," he offered, and Kurenai turned towards Naruto, this time speaking directly into the beetle on her collar.

"Heero is going to disarm these thugs, once he does that, I want you to make as many shadow clones, first level version, as you can, and have them surround the mob," she instructed, and Naruto, nodding openly, began to stride backwards, so he was between his brother and sister and the bridge builders.

"Huh?" said the two old men simultaneously, as neither had been paying any attention to the ninjas as they'd been shouting veiled insults at each other. They watched now as both boys made their move simultaneously, the silver haired one putting his hands in front of him in some odd gesture, while the blonde got into a guard position behind them.

"Speed of the Phoenix!" shouted Heero after a second, pushing as much chakra into the reverse bird seal as he could. An explosion of red followed, and then he vanished to the view of everyone else. To Heero, the world took on a red hue, and he watched as everyone around him seemed to freeze, their eyes open, their mouths frozen, all like statues of flesh. Quick to get to work, he rushed forward, not risking burning himself out, he moved at civilian speeds, walking right up to the nearest tough, and finding that the axe in his hand was easy to pull out of his grip, and his armor was only loosely buckled, allowing the small boy to quickly disarm him.

Around them, the toughs felt wind, a lot of wind, almost like a typhoon in human form was about them, and crimson crossed their vision. The thugs tried to close ranks, gathering themselves closer together to offer each other some form of protection, but as the red wind passed, they found themselves stripped of their gear. Weapons, armor, even a hidden guns and explosives were taken from them, and after a few seconds of wind, they all looked back towards the bridge builder, where their gear was piled up behind him, with the silver haired boy standing in front of it, sweating, panting, and grinning at them.

"Kage Buushin No Jutsu!" shouted the blonde as the silver haired boy reappeared, and suddenly there was another sound around them, like a series of bombs going off, causing every one of the thugs to cry out in terror, thinking that they were dead, especially as the bridge was covered in smoke. However, that smoke did no damage, and when it cleared they realized that they had a bigger problem than just bombs, as the bridge around them, before them, and behind them was now covered with the orange clad boy, the ones in the back of the 'army' seeing him for the first time, and just staring.

The blonde boy grinned like a beast, those faces in unison going feral as half of them reached out their right hand towards the ones next to them, who made a motion with their hands. With another burst of smoke, half the boys vanished, to be replaced by a startling eclectic varity of weapons that the remaining half pointed at them. Spears, swords, shields, axes, chains, and dozens of others wicked looking armaments were pointed down at the thugs in unison, which drove them closer as they began to look for a way out.

In the front of the army, Gato stared at everything. How had this gone so wrong, so fast? And more importantly, how could he take control of the situation again. After all, they were just kids, even if there were a lot of them. His mind was still rolling around ideas when the woman stepped forward, a smirk on her lips that mimicked those of the blonde boy's clones. Her red eyes, as sharp as a blade, bored into Gato and the men beside him, before she made a single handsign, and began to speak.

"This is the woman whom you all have decided to threaten, I'm using an old ninjutsu trick to speak to you. If you want to live through the next five minutes, you had better listen," she said into her hands, and the words seemed to echo through every ear nearby, the boys included, who seemed as startled as the thugs for a moment, then stepped back, going into guard positions, with their weapons held at the ready, waiting for a command.

"My students and I are protecting the Tazuna and all of Wave now, and we have disarmed and surrounded you, as you can clearly see. I think it would be best if you surrender to us. Any who agree, please lay down on the ground, with your hands behind your head," she instructed, and almost as one, the thugs did so, knowing when they were outmatched, and not wanting to die. Soon, the only one still standing on the bridge were Naruto and the clones, the bridge builder and his men, Kurenai, and Gato. Heero was sitting down, still breathing hard and nearly passing out from chakra exhaustion.

"This...this isn't over," said Gato, impotently, and Kurenai smiled at him. It was a cold thing, and he flinched at the sight of it, and then nearly tried to bolt when she took a step forward, but found his feet seemed to be firmly glues to the bridge, while around him, the mercenaries began to crawl away, giving him a wide berth as she strode up to face him.

"Oh, but it is," she told him as she got close, whispering only in his ear now, before she reached forward, flicked his glasses off his eyes, and then stared into the orbs. Her red eyes seemed to grow larger in his vision, becoming moons in the sky, and suddenly he found himself falling into them, screaming in terror as visions of horror began to play across his brain, while outwardly, he just stood there, shaking.

"Good, I believe that's all of you. There's a village, about half a mile from the bridge, that has been abandoned. Our troops will escort you to it, and you'll stay there tonight. In the morning, when the bridge is finished, you will be allowed to cross and exit Wave. From there, you are free to go, but remember, this Country is now under our protection, and returning here would be a very bad idea," she told them, the whisper in their ears seeming to cut directly into them.

"What about our gear?" asked one of the braver ones, and Kurenai laughed at the question, not sure which of the prone mercenaries had spoken, but deciding to answer.

"Your weapons and armor are the property of Wave now, and will be sold to cover expenses for what has been done here over the last few years. It goes without saying, your contracts with Gato are now in default, but if you have personal funds, you might be able to purchase the gear back," she told them, and she could hear some growls of dissatisfaction at those statements, but they didn't argue when she told them to rise, and Naruto's clones began to guide the army towards the village, soon leaving only them and Gato on the bridge.

"You...I'd heard a ninja was an army by themselves, but you people are just something else," said Tazuna, breathlessly.

"I'm glad you think so. Now, since we have captured this slime, I believe we can call your debt paid," she said, gesturing to the still shaking form of Gato.

"What?" asked Tazuna, barely conscious of what she was doing.

"The penalty for what Gato did in your nation, growing Dust, is the forfeit of all assets to the ones who captured you. As long as Wave is willing to back our claim, we now own Gato's Shipping Empire, and all the liquid assets he has," she explained, and Tazuna, still a bit numb, just nodded his assent to the plan. Kurenai smiled at him, warmly, and then called her boys to her side. Of course, exhausted, neither could be of any help with the bridge that day, but as close as they were, the crew was able to go a few more feet that day, before retiring.

That night, the boys slept in the bed together, as Kurenai just stared at them. Heero hadn't even argued when she'd ordered them there, telling him after doing what he had, that the silver haired boy did not have the chakra to stay all night on the ceiling. Mind, having felt the chakra he'd been using, he should have had anything left, neither should Naruto for that matter. They had used more in those few minutes that she thought anyone had in all of history, with those thousand plus clones, and maintaining the Speed of the Phoenix long enough to disarm them.

The next day, the bridge was given a temporary extension, just strong enough for the toughs to cross. In the middle of the mass exodus, two forms came the other way, with Hinata and Shino staring at the horde, and demanding answers of their sensei and the two boys, getting a full account of what they had done. Shino only nodded his approval at how everything had happened without the need to shed blood, Hinata however, having spent some time in Konoha looking up facts about Gato, went wide eyed at the statement of Gato's assets now belonging to them.

"Does this mean you three directly, or Konoha in general?" she asked, and Kurenai smiled at her.

"That is for the Hokage to decide," she said, and Hinata stared at her smile for a long moment, before she and Shino offered to help finish the bridge, and while Heero remained exhausted, Naruto set what clones remained to aid them as well, allowing the bridge to be completed by the end of the day, much to the cheers of the people in the village, who threw a lavish party, or as lavish as they could make it, for the ninja who had helped them. Food, drink, and revelry were had almost till the dawn, which saw even more cheers as the first caravan left Wave to begin trading with another nearby village for necessities.

Three days after, with the caravan returning under clone guard, having run into only one group of bandits that had been dealt with, the ninja departed quietly, hauling the still stunned Gato with them, while Naruto sent a few clones on Kurenai's instructions to gather all of Gato's belongings, and more importantly, some money caches he'd hidden in Wave. Had Kurenai been less loyal, the money they had claimed from this alone would have allowed them to live like kings anywhere in the nations for the remainder of the boys lives.

She didn't tell them that, of course, and merely instructed Naruto to have his clones bring the stuff with them, as they returned to Konoha. Behind them, an old man rose from his bed, seeing the room he'd gifted to the ninja empty. Walking out of his house, he watched a group of figures disappear into the morning fog, and silently thanked all the kami in heaven for his fortune in Konoha's choice of guards. At the same time, he felt a pang of pity for whoever it was who would go against those boys in the future.


	22. Trading Tales

Thanks to Gato's slow speed, even when carried by Naruto clones, it took them almost a full week to return home, but as the sun reached it zenith on the sixth day, Team Fourteen was within sight of Konoha. Cresting a rise, they could see the village in the distance, with the Hokage Monument in the rear, and the great tower of the Hokage before it. Somehow, the mere sight of home seemed to revitalize the group, with Naruto and his clones whooping in joy as they ran down the hill, Gato grunting through his gag as he was tossed about.

"Ramen, here I come!" shouted the five copies and the original in unison as they ran, and the others behind him grinned, before the trio of genin took off after him, hopping along the trees, while their sensei hung back, keeping an eye on all of them, no matter how much she wanted to join in the impromptu race they were having. Mind, her urge to join was mostly to show up the young, as they made great time, better than anyone their age should have been able to make, so that within a few minutes, they were before the open gates of the village.

"Ah, Kurenai, so good to see you again," said a familiar voice as the team settled down in front of the wooden wall. In front of them was a sight they were all acquainted with, Hizashi, who stood there in his perfectly clean, white kimono, bowing to the young and their teacher as they came closer.

"Uncle," said Hinata, returning the bow deeply.

"Teacher," echoed the three boys, and the clones as well, all giving the same bow to the older man. Kurenai didn't say anything, but did bow her head in respect for the older man.

"I take it, something is afoot, if a clan member, and an active teacher, is waiting for us," said Kurenai as she raised her eyes, and the white eyed Hyuga nodded at the assessment.

"You cut straight to the heart of the matter, as always Jonin Yuhi. The prisoners you have already claimed as your own have caused much stir in the days before this, and I see you have more yet with you," he said, gesturing toward the bound and gagged Gato.

"Indeed. Hyuga Hizashi, may I introduce to you the former shipping magnate himself, Gato," she told him, and then smirked as those normally dull eyes went a little wide. Of course, he'd heard some rumors from his niece and her friend when they'd been questioned by his brother, but they had refused to say much, and the Hokage had been unusually quiet on the matter of who or why Zabuza, an S Ranked Missing-nin had been on the C ranked mission that Hinata had been on.

"That….answers many questions, but raises far more," he said, trying to connect how this series of events came together.

"You will likely have your answers soon, but for now, we must report to the Tower on our mission," said the red eyed woman, and Hizashi, after a stunned moment, nodded.

"Of course, please, do not let me keep you. However, I would like you all to know you are invited to the Hyuga Compound this evening for a repast. Your former training mates will be in attendance," said the older man, and the others suddenly had very bright expressions on their faces.

"You mean the other teams finished their missions first?" asked Naruto, still looking happy that the others were fine, if with a slight glint in his eyes of jealousy at not being the first to return.

"My son and his team, as well as Iruka's, returned just this morning, along with the border guard. I believe Asuma's team came back three days ago, and have accepted our invitation for tonight. With you four, that brings the whole of the Thirteen together again," he said this with a warm smile, and the genin smiled back. A few more pleasantries were had, before the team went off towards the Tower, all talking about the questions they would need to ask of their fellows tonight about their missions, while going over the details of their own, so their story could be the most epic.

OoOoO

"This is intolerable! I demand to speak to my lawyer! My agent! My BANKER!" shouted the little man on the floor of the Hokage's office, rolling around, trying to break the bonds that held him. The Hokage, for his part, let the tiny, insignificant man squirm for a while, enjoying this far more than he should have, but the memory of Gato's decisions that had hurt not just the Leaf, but all of the Elemental Nations, allowing him a very dark moment, before he made a single handsign, causing Gato to seemingly freeze in place.

"That is definitely Gato. Are you certain there is enough evidence to convict him?" asked the Hokage as he looked at the team in front of him, and Kurenai nodded, pulling out several sealing scrolls from her pouch, and placing one on the ground in front of her. With a small application of chakra, she caused it to open, spilling out a dust plant, as well as several signed statements of those from Wave who had been forced to grow the thing.

"If this is less than sufficient, I'm sure we can return to Wave and collect testimony directly for whatever court we throw this jackle to," she explained, handing the papers to the Hokage, who read them for the next several minutes, his eyes bulging out as he was assaulted with accounts that included every kind of crime imaginable committed by Gato's thugs over the last few years. Considering all they'd put them through, it seemed quiet moral of the people to simply kick the offending mercenaries out of their country, rather than kill them. Mind, without their gear, those mercs were likely to end up getting killed by some bandit in the woods, so perhaps it was a cruel mercy.

"Everything here seems to be in order. Considering the size of his assets, however, I believe I will need to hold a full summit of the Kages to decide just what to do with Gato's shipping empire," he explained, and Kurenai nodded again, before pulling one of the other sealing scrolls out of her pouch, and opening it as well. Inside was a crate, as large as she was tall, and several times as wide. A flick of her wrist against the side caused the wooden panel to fall off, revealing several stacks of ryo, more than even the Hokage had ever seen in one place before.

"What is all that?" he asked after a few moments of stunned silence.

"We were able to clean out every safe house, storehouse, and cache that Gato had hidden over wave. All of them were full of ryo, and I decided to claim them as payment for our mission, considering Wave itself couldn't pay the fee for the A-Ranked this turned out to be," explained Kurenai.

"You mean, you're claiming it for yourselves?" he asked, wondering if she was planning on using this fortune for something.

"No, Hokage, for the village. If it chooses to reward us for our efforts, my team and I won't say no, but we present this as the spoils of our conquest to the Hokage, and ask him to do with it as he deems fit," she told him, and he looked from the fortune before him, a pile that outshone his own not inconsiderable funds, and probably those of every single family on the council individually, if not all of them put together. Gato must have had a good portion of his company converted into liquid funds to have had such a nest egg laying around.

"I will, of course, need time to decide such a thing, but I want you to know, I am very proud of you, Kurenai, and your genin, for not keeping this to yourself. I will admit, I don't think I would have been so forthcoming with this information should a fortune of this scope fall into my own hands," he admitted to them, and the genin seemed to take this as a compliment. For a moment, just that briefest instant, he could see the pained look in Kurenai's eyes as she placed the money back into the seal, and then handed the scroll to him. the young could be free with the fortune they had found, mostly due to their inability to comprehend its size.

"If that is all, Hokage-sama. My team and I have been invited to the Hyuga compound for the evening meal," she said, rising, and the Hokage held out his hand to stop her.

"I'm afraid, Jonin, that you will not be able to attend. Yourself, along with a small group of other jonin, are to report to the tower's secure meeting room in three hours. There is a matter to discuss," as the Hokage spoke, he got a very serious look in his eye, and the woman nodded at him, before leading her team outside without another word. They quickly compared notes, estimating how long it would take them to get cleaned up, and finally decided to meet up outside the Hyuga gate in two and a half hours, with the youth hoping that the business was nothing too serious, but offering their support for any mission the Hokage might have for her, a thought that made Kurenai feel far safer than she should have, considering their rank.

OoOoO

"You guys did what with that money? Do you idiots have any idea how much you had in your hands?" said Shikamaru as the teams met at the table. Interestingly, the other teams jonin senseis were called to the meeting as well as Hiashi, which allowed the thirteen young genin to dine basically on their own, ignoring the various branch family members that served the meal. Of course, most tried to insist that they sit and dine with them, but the servants assured them that would be against their training, and left the group of youth to their gossip.

"We know it was enough to buy a clan name, but Kurenai said it wouldn't have been right to keep it," said Naruto innocently, and Shikamaru just stared at the idiot, before slapping his palm against his forehead and groaning.

"Right? You could have made your own right if you had that sort of cash," he complained, before Ino shut him up by shoving a bit of food into his open mouth, nearly choking the pineapple headed boy.

"You greedy bastard, you have an animal boss on your land, and now you want money too?" complained the blonde kunoichi. The others agreed with her assessment, as they all began to trade stories again, as apparently, Team Fourteen wasn't the only one to have run into trouble on their assignment. In fact, all of the Konoha genin teams had had trouble on their missions, which had been way outside their rank, but other than Team Ten, they'd all succeeded at them beyond expectations, and even Team Ten had come out far ahead.

"So, you're saying that your guy lied to you too?" asked Heero as he chomped down on some dumplings that tasted sweet on his tongue going in, but somehow left a salty aftertaste as he swallowed.

"Yeah, but unlike your guy, this one was just being an asshole. He hired us because he was having trouble capturing the Deer Boss, Aspen, but failed to tell us that's who he was hunting, otherwise I don't think any of the villages would have agreed to it," said Choji, who scarfed down three bowls at once of...well a lot of various foods. Oddly, despite the speed at which he ate, it was obvious he was enjoying the taste of everything that touched his tongue.

"Not that we realized that at first. We only knew there was a white deer in the woods he wanted caught, and while the thing was good, we were better, with Choji driving the thing in front of him, my coordinating with him, and finally lazy bum here trapping them with a shadow jutsu," added Ino, and Shikamaru looked for a moment like he wanted to complain about the title he'd been given, but then just shrugged it. An argument with Ino was too troublesome to fight for him, and he went back to eating what he could before Choji ate the whole meal.

"Once we had King Aspen good and caught, we took him back to this wicked awesome castle the guy lived at. Of course, it was there that was realized who it was we'd caught, and learning that, Asuma refused to let us deliver him to the guy, who tried to skewer us like pigs with a rain of arrows that blotted out the sun," as Choji spoke, he raised his chopsticks over his head, and made an arcing motion with them like they were arrows, ones that plunged into a dumpling that then vanished into his mouth.

"But I thought the boss animals were huge? Isn't the Boss Toad the size of a mountain?" asked Sakura, as she very delicately sipped from a small cup in front of her, showing far more manners than most of the clan heirs around her, especially considering her origin as a civilian.

"Well, yeah, normally. But they get that big because of chakra build up. King Aspen was nearly out of it by the time we caught him. This asshole warlord had been hunting him for years, without stopping, and depleting him. Even when he was a normal deer by looks though, the idiot's henchmen couldn't catch him, so he decided to hire ninja to finish the job. Of course, we was too cheap to hire anyone but the cheapest mission for it," explained Ino.

"Anyway, we fought our way out of there, knocking guards and walls down as we went, and Sensei Sarutobi even blew his weapons stockpile up on our way past. We protected King Aspen the whole way too, with Shikamaru doing most of the heavy lifting for once," added Ino, looking proudly at the pineapple head, who seemed to blush for an instant under the praise.

"My family likes deer," he said, as if that explained it.

"After we scattered every guard he sent after us, we hightailed it back to Konoha, and King Aspen accepted our apology for what we did to him. Shikamaru's family then extended an offer to him, to make his court on their land, along with the deer they care for, and he agreed. He also offered us the chance to make a contract with him," said Ino, and held out her thumb which had the telltale bite mark of a summoner already starting to form on it. Choji and Shikamaru, when she turned to them, did much the same, showing off similar marks.

"Wait, why did he need a new place to hold court? I thought the animal courts all had their own land?" said Kiba, who emerged from the carcass of an elk he and Akamaru had buried themselves in at the beginning of the meal, seemingly obviously to the conversation around them as they loudly chewed.

"Most of the animals have a set place for court, like the Mountain of the Toads, the Castle of the Cats, or the Swamp of the Snakes, but the Deer Court is migratory, like the deer themselves. Of course, while he and his recover from the whole being hunted down thing, we'll be hosting them here in Konoha," explained Shikamaru, and Kiba looked very thoughtful for a moment at that.

"Okay, cool," he said rather flippantly, before diving into the meat again, causing Sakura to shake her head in despair, and Ino reached out a hand to pat her on the shoulder in a gesture of sympathy.

"What about you guys? Didn't you six end up on a mission together?" asked Naruto at last, and Sakura nodded.

"And three other teams as well, including the overseeing jonin, that gave Konoha two score extra eyes as the border, should Iwa try anything," said Neji.

"Yosh, it was quite the sight, to see so many of our fellow Leaf-Nin together," declared Rock Lee, as he took a large swallow from the jug of non-alcoholic beer provided by his sensei.

"Yeah, but we kind of expected so many of us gathered together would keep Iwa from trying anything. It did keep Iwa from moving, but it didn't keep that crazy lady from coming after us," explained Tenten.

"What could one person do to twenty ninja?" asked Naruto, and everyone from that mission looked dour for a moment, as a shadow crossed their faces.

"She used some genjutsu on some of the Iwa genin. It made them think they were jonin in the Third Ninja World War, and they fought like it, shouting about how we were going to kill them, and using all sorts of techniques no sensible genin would even try to use," said Sasuke darkly, before taking a long pull on a saucer of sake he had somehow been given.

"They fought like monsters, even when they burned themselves out, they still tried to kill us, and ignored every injury we inflicted," added Sakura, her tone showing how much the event had hurt her.

"Were you forced to take their lives?" asked Shino, nearly startling everyone, as it was the first words he had spoken all evening. The response was immediate though, as everyone shook their heads.

"We fought to disable, jonin's orders, while he and the rest of our teachers took on the woman. She….she was the only fatality, but her actions have made so many Iwa genin unable to use chakra ever again," answered Tenten, and a long explanation of the battle followed, with the genin telling tales of their counterparts using techniques that shattered their coils, or broke limbs. The other Konoha genin had trouble sometimes dealing with the sheer ferocity of the techniques, but those of the Thirteen had been able to assist them, making it so no one from Leaf suffered any lasting damage.

"Once the genin were all down, we went to help the jonin, but they didn't need us. The woman was already down, taking on all those jonin at once, there was no way she was going to win. Then she pulled out her trump card, her whole fest was lined with explosive tags, enough to take out a block," said Sakura.

"Might Guy, he saw her activate them, and then did something, his body turned all red, and he charged her, faster than I've ever seen anyone, even Heero, move. He punched her so hard she went flying, and then he ordered everyone to get down. When the tags went off, there was a deafening blast and a blinding light, followed by hurricane force winds that knocked down trees all around us. When it was over, though, everyone was alive, and we gathered up our prisoners and returned to Konoha," finished Sasuke, and the meal became very quiet, even Kiba stopped his gorging to contemplate how far that woman had gone to hurt them, and for reasons that no one would ever know now.

"Such is the life of a ninja," said Neji at last, and the others all nodded after a time. Death was something that one faced every time they went out on a mission. No matter how that death came though, be it for an enemy or an ally, it was sobering, and the meal continued in silence for a long time afterward, as their young minds considered all that they had experienced on these missions, and considered what lay ahead.

OoOoO

"Ah, Guy, it's good to see you up and about," said the Hokage as the last of the jonin entered. The bowl haired man smiled at his elder, trying to put on a good face, but everyone present could see the slight limp in his step. He'd opened the Fifth Gate on his mission, according to reports, and would likely not recover fully for several weeks, even with regular visits to the Konoha Hospital for medical treatments. Still, it was obvious he had saved the lives of everyone on the mission doing it, and the other jonin gave him a respectful nod as he took his seat amongst the other three.

"I'm sure you're all eager to learn why I have summoned you here this evening," began the Hokage as he pulled his pipe from his mouth and set it aside.

"You want to see if we think our genin are ready to take part in the chuunin exams that are coming up in three weeks," said Iruka, surprising everyone sitting there, as to date, there had been no official word on when the exams would be taking place. Even the Hokage was taken unawares at this announcement, and the youngest of the four jonin smiled at his peers.

"My father is helping a friend run his hotel, and they've been getting reservations from across the hidden villages for their best rooms," explained Iruka without needing to be asked, and everyone nodded at that, while Sarutobi seemed amused by how mundane a source it was, especially considering how tight security was supposed to be for such an event.

"Sometimes, it is the most mundane of leaks, that give away the whole game," said Asuma, causing everyone to nod again, as the Hokage rose to his feet, and then laid several files out on his desk.

"Regardless, Iruka has the right of it. Normally, ones as inexperienced as your charges would not find themselves participating in the exam so soon, after all, the majority of them haven't even been genin for a year, but I'm sure by now, you all are aware of how special those children are," he told them, and then opened the files with a wave of his hand. The folders then spread out a few pages each, showing statistics of each child, their estimated chakra capacity and skill level, not one of which had a stat that was lower than chuunin, and some were jonin across the board.

"I would typically allow you, their teachers, to determine when they were ready to take the promotion exams, but in this, I feel I must insist that they are put in the running, especially considering how they performed on their recent missions," this got everyone to stare at each other. Stories had already been trade amongst the older ninja in regards to their mission. While they had, for the most part, downplayed the accomplishments of their students to their faces, this was only to prevent them from growing overconfident.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba had held off fifty genin, all using techniques and skills that exceeded that rank, and were closer to the level of chuunin, in the recent border skirmish. Better, despite their opponent's overwhelming number, they had kept casualties to a minimum, and of those that had engaged them, only five were rendered incapable of using chakra, and then only because the techniques they had used were simply too much for the Iwa genin's young bodies, and not because the Leaf Nin had done wrong.

Neji, Rock, and Tenten had fought twenty apiece themselves, though separately, rather than as a unit. They had shown proficiencies that were far beyond their years, however, disabling their opponents quickly, and easily. It had gotten to the point that Rock Lee had fought his way to the other, much more normal genin who'd been struggling, and saved a number of his peers, while Neji helped coordinate counter attack efforts, and Tenten provided not only additional weapons, but long range support as well.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were just as impressive. Not only in catching King Aspen, and then convincing him to make Konoha his court for now, but also in escaping the warlord's castle while carrying the Deer Boss with them. While Asuma had merely said he was proud of them, he knew that any other team of even chuunin would not have come out of that sort of fight unscathed, and seeing the skills of his young charges made him swell with pride, even though he knew most of their skills were not of his doing.

Shino, Heero, Hinata, and Naruto were equally impressive. Even if it had been a single opponent, rather than dozens, Zabuza was still an S-Ranked Missing-Nin. That meant he was amongst the most dangerous in the Nations, and to fell not only him, but his apprentice in so easy a manner, without killing themselves or unduly injuring either of the pair, well it was incredible, and made even Heero and Naruto's capture of the toughs pale in comparison, as those mercenaries had lacked training or cohesion, with only numbers on their side.

"I take it, you agree?" asked the Hokage as he watched their faces change and alter with their thoughts and emotions.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, all of them are ready to wear the vest," said Might Guy, and this got unified nods from the other jonin.

"Then prepare them. The other candidates will be arriving within a fortnight," he told them simply, and they all stood, bowing to the Hokage, before racing out the door. Smiling after the, the Hokage began to gather the files on his desk up, and place them back into the shelves where they belonged. He smiled at them, as he placed the last one in the 'special interest' section of his organization, and then got back to his own paperwork, while considering just who would be running the betting pool on this years exams, and how much money he would have to throw at the bookie.


	23. Examinations

The next day, the Konoha Thirteen were told to meet their jonin at the Hyuga Compound, and all of them were there just as the sun crested the Hokage Monument, their stances ready for anything. Their jonin were ready for their young pupils this time, and had been waiting for them at the meeting place since well before sunrise. Thus as the Hyuga branch family members awoke, they all got to witness the sight of the gathering in their halls, and most quickly made themselves busy elsewhere, to give the group time to themselves.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why we called you here today," said Iruka as he sat before the children, with the other jonin, as well as Hizashi and Hiashi Hyuga, behind him.

"You want us to fight in a tournament style match up to see which one of us is the best?" offered Kiba, a rather feral looking grin on his face as he said it, before any of the adults could respond, he got a whack across the back of his head from Sakura, causing him to whine a bit as he rubbed the sore spot.

"Idiot, what would that prove?" she told him. Iruka found it difficult to hide a smile at his young wards and their eccentricities.

"It wouldn't prove anything, Ms. Haruno, but I must say, Mr. Inuzuka isn't far from the mark," admitted Might Guy, and that got Kiba to stop rubbing his head, and instead turn to face the pink hair girl, while sticking out his tongue and making a face at her.

"So, do you actually want us to fight, Father?" asked Hinata, and her father shook his head, before motioning so everyone was looking at Iruka again.

"Not right now, no. There will be fighting however, as the chuunin exams are to be held soon, and your names have been entered into the registers for them," explained the man, and this caused Naruto to hop up with a shout of yatta, while Shikamaru buried his face in his hands, a muffled troublesome heard from him, and Kiba and Akamaru let out duel howls. The others had far subtler reactions, though everyone did show some surprise at least. It was Shino, however, who rose to his feet, a hand raised to bring silence, which fell over the group much more quickly than one might have expected of ones their age.

"It is uncommon for genin of our experience and age to participate in these exams. Given the data, I surmise that allowances are being made to us due to our recent successes in our missions?" this was asked as a question, though it was obvious he was just trying to confirm it.

"In part, yes, that is true. Your missions, no matter what you might have heard, were of ranks far above C, and as only one C-Ranked mission is required for a team to apply for the exam, we felt the skills you demonstrated made you more than qualified. There is, however, more to our decision than that," as he spoke, Iruka made a few handsigns, and then pressed his hand into the floor. A small hiss, a pop, and a hidden floor panel slid away, allowing Iruka to reach inside and pull out a small crate, inside of which were several file folders.

"I doubt I must tell any of you this, but your skills are quite exceptional. In the Academy, everyone here demonstrated abilities that one would not expect to see before their first mission, and since you left, this group has done things that have defied what would be considered normal for genin. The eldest completed more C-Ranked missions in a year than any other team on active duty, while the youngest completed more D-Ranked missions in a week than most teams do in a year, and after those feats, you went on to complete missions that should have required teams of jonin, if not half of Konoha's ANBU," he said, opening the folders and tossing particular sheets onto the floor in front of them. The genin took only a few glances to see they were stat pages, written up about themselves, and every stat was noted as being at or near jonin level.

"Normally, as your teachers, we would never inform you of this, it is best to keep your heads small, considering your age, but we feel we must impress upon you how far you are already along. This has two reasons. The first is that we feel you might not realize just how impressive your recent showings were, and we want to tell you how proud we are of you. The second is that we want you to know that if you fail to make chuunin, we'll know it was because you weren't trying your hardest, and that can have grave consequences for those that embarrass Konoha through laziness," said Asuma, and almost every eye went to Shikamaru, who looked rather blase about the attention.

"Yeah, yeah, lazy bum," he said, and Asuma just shook his head in despair at the boy's attitude.

"But I thought the last part of the exam was a tournament? Doesn't that mean only the winner can advance?" asked Rock Lee, as he looked down at his sheet. His had the only red marks on it, zeroes in the fields that required molding chakra. His taijutsu scores, in contrast were higher than any three of the others combined.

"The tournament is important, yes, but it is not winning a battle that is important. The exam will test everything about you. Your knowledge of ninja tactics, your understanding of how to command a unit, and yes, your combat abilities. These things together will determine who advances and who does not. The winner of the tournament could fail, while one whom they defeat is given the vest, or everyone who gets to the tournament may be granted promotion. It depends on the judges, and your own showing," explained Kurenai, and everyone seemed to go numb for a moment after hearing her.

"How long do we have to prepare?" asked Neji.

"There are three weeks remaining until the tournament begins. In that time, we ask that you gather here, in the Hyuga Compound, as you did in your school days. We, along with a few interested parties, will be providing your with additional training as a unit, as well as individual lessons where we deem them most needed," explained the kunoichi jonin. This caused the genin to fall silent again as they considered this, and more importantly how hard they would need to prepare for this test of their skills.

"It goes without saying, you can prepare on your own, if you feel it would be best, but here, we will offer you every resource at our disposal," said Hiashi, and that seemed to tear it. The children rose, and then, as one, bowed to their elders.

"Thank you, for agreeing to teach us," they said in unison, and then assumed ready stances. Within a minute, the training began.

OoOoO

Three weeks went by in a flash, as the genin trained constantly. As always, Naruto's seemingly bottomless well of chakra allowed his fellows and himself the ability to keep going, even after their teachers bowed out for a rest. Of course, with several teachers, all of whom seemed eager to test the kids, they never wanted for direction to their lessons. From Might Guy, who brought weights and had them strap them to their bodies, to Kakashi who blindfolded them, before hurling blunted kunai at them, to Hizashi who ran them through mental exercises and reading lessons, every teacher had a different method, and a different goal in mind.

They attacked each test like starving lions attacking a zebra, tearing through them at breakneck speed. By the end of the training, when they gave up the extra weights and gear, not one student hadn't at least doubled their physical strength, and in Naruto's case, he quintupled it, asking for more weights later. Better, speed and reaction time had risen at a similar rate, as Kurenai led them through exercises where they let their chakra react for them, moving faster than their brains could process.

Outside, the genin and visitors from foreign lands arrived, but the Konoha genin had no time to talk to them, with many a student being escorted home by their teacher or one of the Hyuga, because they were so drained by training. Not that their actions went unnoticed by the villagers all of whom were already cheering for the young people, with some going so far as to offer them free gifts in what few hours they had to spare, while always shouting encouragements towards the youths. Not one of those mentioned that they now had money riding on the children's performances in the coming exam.

Still, it was soon the morning of the Exam, and the kids all smiled at each other, all as prepared as they thought they could be, mentally, physically, and even spiritually in a case or two as they stopped at shrines to pray on their way to the building where the first part of the Exams would be held. There, they passed by a few waiting groups of people, some foreigners who were giving last minute instructions to their students, as well as the townsfolk who offered their wishes for luck to the youths, who thanked them as they entered the building, with the doors slamming shut behind them.

Walking inward, they found the hall to the third floor was crowded with people of all ages, their only joining feature being that every one of them wore a hitai of one of the villages. At first, the Thirteen wondered what was going on, but it soon became obvious as they grew closer, and the shouts of some of the genin grew clear. Apparently someone on the floor above was preventing people from entering the hall where the first part of the exam was to be held, and so far no one had been able to get past them.

"Hinata?" asked Shino, and the girl used her eyes to see everyone around them, hoping to offer an alternate route to their destination, but then sighing as her eyes saw something else entirely.

"Naruto, would you please let loose a chakra pulse, enough to cover the building?" she asked, and without asking way, the blonde boy did it, trying to be as gentle as he could, but still getting a glass like wave of the stuff to wash over the entire block. This had multiple results on the ninja outside who had been trying to blend into the crowd suddenly being revealed, but the largest result was that the genjutsu on the stairs scattered like dust in the winds, revealing that they were still on the ground floor, not the second, and that the two who had been blocking the way already wore chunin vests.

"Wha?" said one of them his eyes glazing over as the wave of chakra passed him by, ripping away his illusion, and stunning him for a moment. His partner, who's genjutsu had been far less intense, as he stayed the same size and only hid his vest, looked around, trying to spy who had done that. In the crowd, two of the 'genin' were also exposed, their faces going dark as they looked around. Of course, thanks to the crowd, no one noticed the thirteen as they filtered through the crowd, everyone finally going into one of the side rooms, where the crowd broke into smaller groups.

"So, tests within tests," said Neji as he took a seat on the ground, leaning his back against a wall. Everyone else got comfortable as well, nodding at the assessment.

"They are trying to see if we're worthy of being promoted. Chuunin tend to only take C-Ranked and above missions, and considering our recent experience, we know those can be dangerous," added Sakura, to a round of very sullen faces. Most of them had honestly expected this to be easy. They'd spent a month in intense training, going over everything they could, but if more of the tests were like this, well, it wouldn't be as easy as they expected.

Looking around, they were the youngest in the test by far. The closest in age to them were a few other Konoha genin they didn't recognize, being at least eight years older. None of the others looked younger than that. At least, until Naruto pointed, spotting some people their own age standing in one corner. All thirteen looked towards them, and then quickly looked away as the genin, Suna by their hitai, stared at them. That wasn't what made them look away, however. It was the eyes of the red headed boy, eyes that spoke only of death and pain.

So they sat there, waiting for the proctor to call them, and began discussing specifics of what they expected. The chuunin exams were different every year, according to Kakashi. Some years they just did big brawls and saw who was standing afterwards. Other years, they were races around the village the exam was held in. Still, each village did determine the tests, and Konoha was their home. They figured, from looking over past exams, they would be tested in mind, endurance, and then battle. That meant this building was likely to be a written test of some sort.

"Hmm, so many of the youth here today," said a voice, and everyone turned suddenly to see a young man none of them recognized. Like the rest, he appeared to be at least twenty, unlike most, his hair was his most striking feature, resembling as it did Heero's, though with a slightly lighter shade, ash rather than silver. He walked over to them, and squatted down just outside their circle, two who were obviously his own team standing behind him.

"Are you here to participate in the exam? At such a young age, that is impressive," he said this was a genuine note of amazement in his voice.

"Our sensei believe we have earned the right to compete and see if we are ready for promotion," answered Ino, and the young man smiled warmly at them.

"Impressive indeed. Still, this is obviously your first time taking the exam. Would you like some advice from someone who has taken it seven times before?" he asked. His team behind him seemed annoyed with how chipper he was, but the Thirteen nodded, making room for him in their circle. It was nice to get at least some friendliness from the room, which seemed so hostile most of the time. Not that they didn't understand, the exam was a competition as much as a test, and only the best would earn the right to wear the vest.

"So, what do you think of the test so far? I bet you're grateful to whoever dispelled that genjutsu downstairs, right?" asked the ash haired boy, and Naruto grinned at him.

"Yeah, you should be grateful to me, shouldn't you?" he said, and the young man stared at him. That pulse was a common enough skill, if not a useful battle tactic, that he knew what sort of chakra drain it put on the body. To hear that this blonde haired boy was the one to do it...then he started. He'd been just looking at the young people, wondering who they were, as rumors had been floating around about a group of youth who were exceptional in every way, but looking at them now, he counted exactly thirteen in their group, and remembered another rumor about thirteen shinobi in Konoha.

"Most impressive, for one of your age. Might I get the name of the one to whom I should be grateful?" asked the ash haired boy, and the blonde seemed about to answer him, when a dark haired boy stood up, and pointed at the young man.

"Why don't you offer us yours first?" he asked, flashing his eyes, and the ash haired boy again got a shock, as he say red in those eyes, Sharingan. Immature, undeveloped, but still, the signature eyes of the Uchiha.

"Hmm, how rude of me, Sasuke. My name is Kabuto," he offered. No one seemed shocked that he knew who Sasuke was, mostly because everyone knew the Uchiha clan heir in Konoha. The introductions then went around the circle, before finally Kabuto gestured behind him and gave the names of his teammates, Yoroi and Misumi. He then did something odd, pulling out a deck of cards.

"Yes, I will have to add you to my data. Of course, that will only be useful if you and I have to retake the exams, and I'm sure you feel that is an insult," he said with a sarcastic smirk. Kiba, however, leapt to his feet, and pounded his chest.

"Damn straight it's an insult. We're gonna be chuunin at the end of this," he told him, and Naruto nodded his agreement.

"Believe it," he added, and Kabuto just smiled at them, a warmth in his eyes that made them all at least feel friendly to him.

"Well then, how's about I share some data on your opponents? Make your jobs just a little easier. This is my seventh exam, and I've been gathering all kinds of information about everyone who competes," he told them, pulling out one of the cards, and then spinning it on the floor in front of him.

"Seven times? You failed this thing for seven years?" asked Naruto, seemingly only just now realizing how tough the exam itself would be.

"Oh no, I've only been allowed to participate the last four years. After all, the exam is held three times a year, and I skipped some of them I didn't feel ready for," he answered, and that seemed to bring the whole mood crashing down. Shino, however, looked around the room, remembering his offer, and pointed to a team in the corner.

"You offered information, do you have any on those Suna-Nin? They seem young for participation in the exams," he asked, and Kabuto smiled.

"Oh, and what would you know about being too young to participate?" he responded, while suddenly pulling a card off the top of his deck. He then placed it on the floor in front of him, spinning it beneath his finger as he'd been doing with another one, but this time his finger tip glowed with chakra, which then released into the card, causing it to flip over as he pulled away, showing a picture of the three genin, a Suna jonin, and several statistics.

"I don't have much. They're newcomers to the exams after all, but what I do know is they're good. That red headed one especially. He's Gaara of the Desert, and he's got a reputation as a tough, brutal opponent. No idea how many D-Ranks he's done, Suna doesn't like to release that information, but I do know he's done at least eight C-Ranked missions, and even a B. The most unusual thing though, is that he's never been injured on a mission as far as I know, not even a scratch," that declaration got everyone's attention. Not one of them had truly escaped unscathed from their recent missions. Sure, nothing critical, but still, to never take a scratch, that meant Gaara was something else. Shino seemed about to ask another question, when a nearby door opened, the creaking sound it made somehow silencing all talk in the room.

"The exam is beginning now. Follow me to your first test," said an old man, a Konoha-Nin by his hitai, but not one most recognized. Most did not included some of the Thirteen, however.

"That's Ibiki, he's part of the Interrogation Squad," offered Shino, saying it loudly enough that Kabuto would hear, possibly as a favor to the young man for his information from before. Still, the ash haired man nodded in thanks, as everyone soon followed the scar faced man out of the room, towards their future.


	24. Chunin Exam: First Test

The room to which the genin were led was a large auditorium, with levels of seating. It looked like an old classroom, which made sense as it was. The genin were instructed on specifically where to sit, with the teams of three obviously divided and space throughout the room. There was some grumbling over the state of affairs, with more than one of the older shinobi complaining about how they wanted to fight, not take some test. They did as they were told though, and when everyone was finally where they belonged, Ibiki stood in front of them.

"Now, I'm not going to explain this twice, so clean out those ears of yours and listen up," he told them in that gruff voice of his.

"This will be a written test, simple and easy, just to see if you're smart enough to know which way to hold a kunai," as he spoke, he went through a quick series of seals, and then with a staccato of pops, papers appeared in front of all of them. No chakra smoke, just one minute blank desks, the next minute papers. That spoke of a level of control that even the most jaded genin in the room took notice.

"On those papers are nine questions, picked from previous missions. You will have one hour to solve all of them, at which point I will present the tenth and final question to you. If you are caught cheating three times during this test, you and your entire team are disqualified. If you choose to drop out now, your entire team is disqualified. If you die because the questions break your brain, your entire team is disqualified. If I don't like the way you look, your entire team is disqualified. Do you understand?" he said, smirking at the genin.

"Hai!" went the entire group, and Ibiki nodded, making one last seal, and causing pencils to appear, before he took a seat at the teacher's desk, and other shinobi wearing ANBU masks appeared in chairs that ringed the room. It was impossible to see the eyes of those ninja beneath their masks, but everyone knew they would be watching for cheaters, and there were a few nervous gulps from the young people, before the rattling of papers, and the scribbling of pencils could be heard.

The questions were challenging, no doubt. They dealt with everything from advanced trajectory calculations, to political history, and even one on the phases of the moon. A few of the genin complained still about how stupid this was, but after a few minutes, only the sound of the pencils scraping across the papers could be heard, as the genin attacked the problems before them. For the Thirteen, the test was challenging, but most of it was basic knowledge, things Hizashi had them going over in his lessons during the three week training session.

After the first thirty minutes, most of the Thirteen had finished their tests, only Kiba and Shikamaru being left out. The former was seemingly having trouble remembering, and had to keep requesting new pencils when he chewed his current one until it broke, whereas the latter seemed totally disinterested, with nary a mark on his paper as he balanced the pencil on his nose. That last seemed to cause everyone around him, even his team mates, to glare at the pineapple headed boy with death in their eyes.

"Hmm, interesting," said Ibiki to himself. He'd done the proctor for exams before, but never in his career had he seen such a good showing. The half hour marks was typically where the class had been thinned to less than a third of its normal size, but this group had only lost five teams so far, and most of the others were finished, or near finished with their tests. His plants were the farthest behind, in actuality, mostly because they had a schedule to when they answered their questions.

"Since it seems most of you have completed this phase, let's move onto the final question a bit early. Are there any objections?" he asked, and was greeted with silence.

"Good. Now, before I present you with the final question, I must warn you, this one comes with more consequences than just missing a few points," he began, standing up, and then striding next to the covered blackboard beside him.

"Unlike the previous questions, this is an all or nothing stroke. If you miss this question, then all of your work was for nothing, as I will instantly fail you, not just from this exam, but from all future ones. You will no longer be allowed to take the chuunin exam so long as you live," he told them this in a dull, almost dead tone, and it seemed that was the proper way to handle it, as many of them seemed just as dull to his warning, taking several seconds for their eyes to light up, as the information reached their brains.

"What kind of bullcrap is that? What was the rest of the test for if only the last question matters?!" shouted the Inuzuka boy, slamming his hand into the desktop in front of him.

"Yeah! Besides, we know people here have taken the exam before, what do you mean we won't be able to if we fail?" demanded Naruto, Ibiki knowing him by sight, considering his history, and the recent prisoners in his holding cells courtesy of the boy's team.

"Every exam has its own rules to follow, and to your great misfortune, I'm the one making the rules this year. But you don't have to try and answer it. The tenth question is optional, and I'm offering you all the right to back down, leave this exam. Maybe next year, the test won't be so hard," as he spoke, he reached his hand up behind his head, and then began to undo the bandages that covered his scalp. Slowly, he let the cloth fall away, allowing everyone to see the scars that crisscrossed his body.

"This is the way of shinobi. You can succeed at nine-tenths of the mission, but fail right at the end, and you and your team aren't going home. Are you willing to risk that? Your lives and theirs on a gamble like this?" he asked them, and many of the young ones seemed taken aback by the signs of his life. The older ones were blank though, and he could see so many of them were doubting themselves. Yes, he was about to-

"Just get it over with then! We beat that Zabuza creep, and Gato's army of thugs. No way is some stupid word problem going to get the best of us!" shouted Heero, and Ibiki wanted to sigh, as that name rang out over the classroom. You could actually hear a pin drop, as so many in the room recognized both names. The silence mostly came from the former, however, as he was known to be one of the strongest missing-nins in the Nations, and to have some kid declare that his team had beaten him, well, it was both unbelievable, and yet, the type of thing you wouldn't say unless it were true.

"A shinobi should also know when it is time to brag, and when he should keep his mouth shut," said Ibiki, but the purple eyes beneath that silver hair didn't seem to hear him, as they stared back into his. Finally, he let the kid win their contest of wills, and then looked around at the teams about him.

"Does anyone else have something to say?" asked Ibiki, and got almost no looks back, as half the class was staring at the silver haired boy still.

"Is there anyone who wants to back out now, and save your careers?" he asked as a follow up, and this got some to finally look at him, but no one seemed willing to back down. Sighing and rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Ibiki smashed his fist into the wall, causing the shade covering the blackboard to shoot upwards, slamming home with the sound of a thunderclap, and revealing words beneath. Of course, the only word that could be made out was 'Pass'.

"It is my pleasure to say that everyone else in this room passed the first part of the chuunin exams," he declared, taking his seat again, and causing everyone to just stare at the blackboard for a few seconds.

"What the hell?! Where's the question?" demanded the Inuzuka again, and Ibiki almost found himself chuckling at the foolishness of youth, not realizing when they were getting off lightly.

"You stayed in this room, you were willing to risk your futures, your lives, on this one question. That's the test of a true shinobi, knowing that despite the danger, he must keep going regardless," explained the scared man as he began to wrap his head back up.

"Now, can one of you men please go summon Anko for the next phase?" he asked, and one of the chuunin along the walls nodded, before rushing out of the room. A few moments later, one of the nearby windows was assaulted by a huge harpoon like thing, with a scroll around it, one that unfurled into a banner reading, 'Mitarashi Anko, Second Exam Proctor' in huge letters.

"Ibiki, you must be losing your style, there's way more of these punks left than there should be," said a voice, and suddenly one of the exclamation points at the end of the banner glowed, a woman stepping out of it to stand before the class, her eyes going around with a hungry glint to them.

"There are quite a few good candidates among the crop this year," responded Ibiki, keeping his voice calm and level. The woman, smirking, just thumbed her nose at him, before turning towards the class with a feral grin on her face.

"Oh, you say that now, but I'm sure I can cut the chaff out of this wheat. By the time I'm done with these kids, I'm gonna leave a good two-thirds of them on the ground crying for mommy," she told them, a rather crazed glint in her eyes.

"Two thirds?" questioned Sakura, that would be almost ten times what had been dropped in the first phase. What was this crazy lady planning?

"Alright, squad leads, you remain here, I'll give you details on where to meet up tomorrow, and you can pass them out to your teams later. Everyone else, get going, and remember to sleep well tonight. It's the last time you might be sleeping above ground," the way she said it sent shivers down the spines of a few of the genin, but everyone rose from their seats, the team leads coming forward.

"Okay, I'm bored of this shit already, so I'm gonna make this quick. You idiots are going to meet me at the Forty-Fourth Training ground tomorrow morning at nine sharp. Any team that's late by even a second is disqualified, do you got me?" she told them, and she got a series of nods.

"Good, now get out of my face," she ordered, and a few of the team leads bowed to her respectfully, before they all exited the building, some meeting their teams as they went. Going to the window of the classroom, Anko along with Ibiki watched a large gathering of Konoha genin come together outside, and then walk off towards the streets that led to the Hyuga compound.

"So, that's the Thirteen," said the crazy lady as she watched them go. A few of their fellow examinees were watching them as well, but considering the size of the group, and the fact that a few senior jonin met up with them, no one made a move.

"Indeed. I don't think a single one of them had to cheat on my exam, which isn't surprising when you consider the fact that Hizashi helped me to prepare it," said Ibiki, with a chuckle.

"Do you think he rigged the test?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"No, nothing like that. He probably had them going over everything he could, and those kids absorbed it all. They'll make chuunin for sure at the end of this. If they survive the next two phases," he told her, before going around to collect the papers. Anko, nodding, left the room, to prepare for the test herself. A few details still needed to be worked out, after all.

OoOoO

"Forty-four, isn't that the Forest of Death?" asked Kiba as he scarfed down another roll from the table the group of genin were sitting at. Around him, everyone nodded somberly, not for the first time wishing their jonin had joined them for the meal, but they'd been told that until the second phase was done, it was best to keep a slight distance, lest the other villages complain about favoritism.

"Yeah, that's the place that chews up and spits out chuunin teams. What do they expect us to do there, do you think?" asked Choji, a bit of nervousness in his voice.

"Hey, lardass, we're going to be chuunin after this. That means they expect us to be up to the challenge of that place. Maybe burn it down or something," offered Ino.

"No, that would be inefficient. The most like scenario, given the size of the training area, and the density of the woods is an endurance challenge," responded Shino.

"With a diameter of ten kilometers, it would take even a ninja a few hours to cross the territory, and with teams of us going in, that'll slow us down even more. So we should probably pack for a few days travel, like we did for our C-Ranks," said Sakura, and everyone again nodded at the suggestion. They then went over specific preparations they were going to make, before the meal concluded and they fanned out, everyone going home to assemble supplies and tools they would need to meet the challenge ahead.


	25. Chunin Exam: Second Test Begins

The next day found the close to four dozen teams of shinobi gathered outside the gate to the massive training ground. Everyone, from the oldest, to the youngest, shuffled nervously as they waited for the test to begin, and silence reigned in the middle morning sun. Anko, for her part, was waiting as well, her eyes darting around. Oddly, unlike Ibiki who had several helpers with him, Anko seemed to be alone for her part of the exam, only a tent she was standing beside to keep her company as she waited.

"Nine, and not one complaint out of any of you for the wait. I'm impressed," she said as the sound of an alarm clock could be heard from inside the tent. She then motioned for the team leads to follow her inside, snapping her fingers to close the flaps of the tent behind them. The teams then had to wait in even more silence as whatever was going on inside the canvas tent proceeded to happen without their input. Finally though, after what seemed like an eternity, the tent opened up again, and out of it came their leaders, carrying not only stacks of forms, but also scrolls as large as their torsos.

"Alright, everyone here needs to get the wax out of their ears and listen up," said Anko as she came out at the end of the train of leaders.

"As you can see, this training ground is one of the largest, most extensive ones Konoha has to offer. In here, you'll find some of the nastiest surprises, brutal beats, and tricky terrain that the Fire Nation's got. At the center of this place is a tower, a large structure you can see from a kilometer off. Your test is to get to that tower in five days," she said.

"That's it? Just get to some moldy old tower?" asked one of the Suna-nin in the crowd, and Anko smiled that feral grin of hers.

"Oh, you think it'll be that easy? This place, Training Ground Forty-Four has another name you know. This is the Forest of Death. Most chunin who go in here never come out again, and those that do are often crippled for life," she told them, a mad glint in her eye like she was enjoying the mental image of them dying in there.

"That's not all, kiddies. In addition to making it to the tower, you must have your entire team still combat capable. Anyone who dies in here, or become unable to fight disqualifies their whole team, so they'll know who screwed them over when they get to the underworld with you," she continued, and then held up two of the large scrolls, one in each hand.

"Of course, that's not the only condition. As you may have noticed, I gave every team here one of two scrolls. One scroll has the symbol of Heaven on it, the other the symbol of Earth. In order to pass, you must have one of each of these scrolls in your possession when you make it to the tower. That means that only half of you can actually pass this test, and that's if some of you aren't ruthless enough to destroy your scrolls just to screw the other guys over," she told them, chuckling rather evilly.

"Five days, everyone's alive, two scrolls. Still sounds like a cakewalk," said the blonde Konoha genin from the other day, grinning right back at her, and cutting off her evil laugh. That seemed to annoy her, but she, after a few seconds of looking like she was going to kill the brat, actually laughed again this time with a note of real happiness in her voice.

"Oh, that's rich kid. Let's see you keep that optimism up. Okay, everyone come with me to the gate, and leaders, pass out those papers," she ordered, and led the group towards the gate that was the entrance to the Forest.

"Normally, I'd give each one of you genin your own entrance, and you'd have to find each other in this place. Unfortunately, since there happens to be so many of you, I can't do that just now, and have decided to do something different. Everyone, hold those papers your team leaders gave you up towards me," she ordered, and after looking around nervously, everyone did so. Anko, grinning the whole time, snapped her fingers, and suddenly everyone cried out as the papers flashed blindingly, forcing them to cover their eyes, and then blink away spots.

When they slowly recovered, everyone was startled to find that Anko has somehow made the other teams vanishing, leaving them alone in front of the gate with her. Looking around, obviously disturbed by the turn of events, at least some of them anyway, they began to ask questions all at once, and Anko just held up her hands to ask for silence in the clearing, as everyone had been trying to talk all at once.

"For your information, I just cast a very complex genjutsu, provided by Konoha's very own Mistress of the Mind. For the next hour, you won't be able to see, hear, smell, or even taste each other. That means that I can send each and every one of you in through this one gate, and have you spread yourselves out without having to wait. I'm a genius, right?" she said, laughing evilly again as she snapped her fingers once more, the large chain link gate creaking open behind her.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!" she ordered, and suddenly every shinobi leapt into the woods, no one touching each other despite being blind to their presence. Watching them vanish into those woods, Anko wondered idly how many would never come out of there alive again, but then shrugged. They wanted to be ninja, well, this was how ninja lived. Risking your life was just one more trial on the road. Another snap of her fingers closed the gate behind the genin, seals around the fence activating to contain the chakra of the trainees, and keep anyone from interfering in the test.

OoOoO

"Team Kurenai here, can everyone hear me?" asked a voice from Naruto's collar, a slight buzz to it as the words came out of the wings of the beetle. Everyone in the group could be heard, at least everyone but Heero, as all of them now carried the beatles on their collars, a gift from Shino during their meeting this morning, given without anyone around them being the wiser to what they meant.

"Team Iruka confirms," said Sakura's voice.

"Team Asuma confirms," said Ino in almost the same tone.

"Team Guy confirms," came Neji's voice at last, and the team nodded, Hinata giving a hand sign to Heero.

"I can see a clearing a few hundred meters ahead with my Sharingan. We should meet up there, and see if we can discuss this," said Sasuke's voice, a chorus agreed to his plan, and minutes later the Konoha Thirteen were in that clearing, blindly feeling each other.

"This is so weird," commented Naruto, as his hand felt something that all the rest of his senses said wasn't there at all.

"I know, right. I can't even smell you," said Kiba, gently pressing his hand against the warmth in front of him, warmth he knew to be one of his fellow Leaf-nin.

"So, what do we do? Should we divide up like they want us to, or stick together?" asked Tenten through the beetles.

"No, we should stick together. We may have a lot of power, but all the other squads in this test are older, and most of them have far more experience than us," responded Ino.

"Isn't that cheating though?" asked Rock Lee.

"Nothing is disallowed in the exam, as long as we can pass it. Sticking together gives us the best chance. It's the same as using contacts in the land your mission is taking place in. That's taking advantage of your resources," explained Neji, and one could hear the bowl headed boy's oh in response.

"So, do we just wait here for an hour for this thing to wear off or what?" asked Kiba.

"No, I think Naruto can fix this with a pulse. If you would be so kind, Mr. Uzumaki," said Sakura's voice, and Naruto himself blushed at it, before standing up and then gathering chakra. It was only for a moment, and he pushed it out as lightly as he could. Despite this, the pulse covered half the clearing, and it still caused most of the Thirteen to swoon a bit, with Kiba falling back onto his bottom as his senses went wild.

"Wow that's a rush," said the canine ninja, holding his hands to his head to try and stop the world from spinning. It took a few minutes for everyone to recover, and when they had, the group showed off their scrolls to each other.

"So, one Heaven, and three Earth. That means we could send one team ahead. Let those who feel the weakest continue on their path for now," said Neji, and Hinata glared at him.

"Cousin, I doubt any of us would take that as any sort of compliment," she told him, and Neji just stared back at her.

"True, but if one team would be less useful, it is an option to consider," he countered. Before the pair could say anything else, Sakura coughed, and drew their attention to her.

"None of us are going to be going ahead without the others. We've agreed to stick together, and that's just what we'll do. We're the Konoha Thirteen, our village's secret weapons," she told them, and everyone nodded.

"So, we just have to find four other teams, beat them up, and take their scrolls. Sounds like an easy job," bragged Kiba, rolling his shoulder to limber it up.

"We shouldn't be overconfident. Our enemies are thought to be able to be chunin now themselves. Even with our advantage in numbers, we should be cautious," advised Shino, before pointing towards Hinata, Neji, and Sasuke.

"You are our dojutsu users. Can your eyes pierce this genjutsu we are under and find our enemies?" asked the kikai-nin, and the three rose. The two Hyuga closed their eyes for a moment, and then veins popped out of the side of their head, their gaze much more intense when they opened them, gazing into the woods around them. Sasuke's was far less dramatic. Between one blink and another, his left eye, the only one active so far, turned red with a single sigil on it, and he scanned about them as well.

"I've got something. It's not a team, but there are some branches moving weirdly about a hundred meters in that direction," said Neji after a few minutes, pointing, and the other two turned to face him.

"I've got them in my sights as well. I can just make out impressions of them. This genjutsu is good," commented Sasuke.

"Our onee is the best," responded Naruto with a note of pride in his voice, before everyone leapt towards the direction the dojutsu users indicated. Following their directions, Naruto began to charge a pulse, throwing it just as they got in sight of the odd limb movement. The pulse, focused into a seemingly harmless ball, exploded outward as it struck a tree, and suddenly three suna-nin faded into being, their bodies seizing up as their minds reeled with the experience of having a genjutsu torn away.

"Grab them!" shouted Heero, suddenly flashing red and vanishing. A moment later, he reappeared with one of the sand shinobi in his grasp, and a few heartbeats after, Kiba and Rock Lee did much the same, the group landing on the forest floor a few moments later.

"That was way too easy," commented Kiba as he landed next to the rest, and Naruto nodded at the statement.

"We have superior intelligence, and a weapon they had no way of countering. Do not expect all our battles in these woods to go as smoothly," countered Shino as he pressed his fingers into pressure points on the bodies of the older genin, watching as their bodies shuddered for a moment, then went limp as they were rended unconscious.

"Yeah, just think if these had been Gaara's Team. I don't know about you, but they looked plenty tough to me, and they might have pulled out of this," added Choji as he helped search the leader's bag, finally producing a Heaven Scroll a moment later.

"Alright, two more of those and an Earth, and we've got this in the bag!" declared Kiba, howling with Akamaru, at least until Sakura smacked him on the back of the head.

"Weren't you listening when we told you not to be overconfident?" she scolded, while the others looked at their prisoners.

"So, what do we do with these three?" asked Shikarmaru after a few seconds.

"We send them back to the gate. Naruto, make a few clones and take them there. Hopefully, the edge of the forest will be safe enough, until the exam ends," said Sasuke, and Naruto, after looking to Shino to confirm the order, did just that. Once the dozen clones carrying the three were out of sight, the team spent the remainder of the morning looking around, trying to find teams to take down easily, but as the sun reached its zenith, they realized the other teams must have already moved on, and made to do the same. That was when all the trouble started.


	26. Chunin Exam: Forest Encounter

"Everyone, halt," said Neji, the first words spoken by anyone in a good hour, as they'd been searching for the other teams to take their scrolls. Everyone did as instructed, landing on a set of branches around the older Hyuga boy, who was staring off into the distance intently. Activating her own Byakugan, Hinata stared with him, and he turned to her, as she seemed to get a worried expression on her face to match Neji's.

"You see him as well, correct?" asked the elder, and the younger nodded, pointing towards the distance for the others benefit.

"There is a man, he appears to wear the hitai of a grass-nin, about a quarter of a kilometer ahead. He looks to be waiting for us," she explained, and everyone just looked at each other.

"Does he look like someone from the exams?" asked Ino, and Hinata shook her head.

"No, I don't recognize his face in the slightest, and what's more, his chakra network is...odd," she said, searching for the right word to describe what she saw.

"Odd how?" asked Sakura, wondering what it might be.

"It looks like he has several networks, lines of living energy moving through his body, but all tied together by a single, strong chakra, which coils around the rest like some kind of serpent," explained Neji, and that brought another round of staring.

"So, should we avoid him, try to go around?" asked Choji.

"I don't know if that would work. I think he's waiting for us," answered Neji.

"Well then, I say we go meet him. We're the Konoha Thirteen, after all. Why should we be scared of some lone guy?" bragged Kiba, and Akamaru on his head barked out a positive response to the boast.

"I don't know. A single shinobi, in the middle of the test held in the strongest village in the Nations? That says danger if I ever heard it," said Shikamaru.

"Oh, come off it, lazy bum. You just don't want to have to fight him because it would be a lot of extra work," chided Naruto, obviously on Kiba's side.

"If avoidance is impossible, it would be best to meet the threat on our own terms," added Shino, and everyone nodded at that assessment. A minute later, the Konoha Thirteen leapt into the clearing where the man was standing, all of them landing on a huge tree branch in a single line, each with their techniques ready and waiting to throw at this fool, in case he got any funny idea.

"Oh, my prey have come to me so willingly, kukuku," laughed the grass-nin, standing there, in the center of the clearing, exposed, and seemingly at ease.

"We would request to know who you are. You do not appear to be an entrant into the chunin exams, and no one save those who are should be in these woods," said Shino, projecting his voice with a genjutsu Kurenai had shown her team.

"Oh, the children wonder who I am? Kukuku. What a waste of thought that is, to wonder who your executioner is. Still let me count you," as he spoke, he staggered back, his body bending in an odd way, like his bones weren't there, and oddly, they got the impression of a snake from his movements, as he raised a finger, and began to count.

"One, two, three, ten, thirteen. Yes, you are the Konoha Thirteen," he said, more to himself than anyone else, and everyone was wound tightly like a spring, ready to attack the instant he made a move.

"We don't know what you're talking about," shouted Neji down at the man, who clicked his tongue and wagged his finger at him.

"Oh, no no no. You shouldn't lie to your elders, Hyuga Neji. Children who speak lies, must be punished," he said this, and then moved. To say it that simply is to underplay it, he was one moment standing in the center of the clearing, the next moment, he was on the branch, right in front of Neji, a crazed grin on his face. Before anyone could react to this almost teleportation like speed, he slammed a fist into Neji's chest, knocking him away into the woods. He then quickly slapped his hand onto the branch they were standing on, and leapt away as chakra visible moved through the wood.

"What in the?" said Sasuke, wondering aloud what had just happened. His Sharingan, the greats dojutsu ever, had been unable to follow the man's movements, and worse, he had no idea what technique that was he'd used. Well, he knew as soon as everyone else did, when the branch suddenly bamfed, chakra smoke pouring from the thing, which cleared as the branch beneath their feet writhed and squirmed, revealing glistening green scales, and a hissing head with soul piercing yellow eyes.

"Snake summoner?!" said Ino incredilously, leaping away as the snake's head came down towards them, mouth open, ready to devour all twelve of the remaining young people at once. The strike, despite its swiftness, missed entirely, as the children leapt into the branches. Of course, now that there was a battle on, they unloaded onto their opponent, Sasuke breathing a stream of fire at the serpent, hot enough to melt steel, while the others all turned to look outward, staring into the foliage for the summoner.

"Scatter!" ordered Shikamaru, his eyes darting everywhere. The same moment they heard the bamf again as the snake's scales proved little protection against the Uchiha's flame techniques, reducing it to ash as the first tongue of fire touched it. Around them, everyone tried to divide up, Naruto began to summon clones, not hundreds, not yet, just a few true clones, ones that were as solid as he was. In the meantime, Heero was converting chakra, trying to get as much of the red as possible.

Sadly, neither of them were the first targets. Instead, Choji, who had increased his mass, became the first object of the snake summoner's attention. Even as Choji tried to swell his body upward, growing larger, the snake man came from behind him, and struck with the same blinding speed as before. However, there was obviously far more power this time, as he drove Choji off the ground, his body flying through the air, and then slamming hard enough into the nearby trees to completely blast through two, before finally stopping when he hit a boulder outcropping.

"Nobody hit's lardass like that but me!" shouted Ino, drawing the eyes of the snake man to her. This was what she wanted of course, as she locked eyes with him, and then used her mind swap jutsu to try and get inside his body. Of course, the other recognized the technique from their training, but none of them recognized Ino as her eyes suddenly turned blood shot, and a single drop of blood began to drip from her nose. An instant later, the normally confident girl was screaming on the ground, holding the sides of her head, as she complained about snakes.

"Kukuku, such a frail mind you have, young lady," said the snake man, and then he twisted around a kunai thrown by Shino. Of course, this was only really impressive because the throw had come from straight behind him, and he'd somehow seen it coming. He then turned towards the kikai-nin, who said nothing, as swarms of insects came out of his body, pouring over the woods in a great writing mass towards the snake man. For his part, the snake barely seemed to notice the attack, still grinning madly.

The insects touched the snake man, whose body suddenly exploded outward, turning into a rich, black smoke. Sensing the death of the vanguard of his allies, Shino pulled his swarms back into his body quickly, barely losing a hundred of the thousands of bugs at his command. Of course, as he pulled them back, he only just noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye, and could only put up a paltry block when the snake man seemed to fold out of a nearby tree trunk, smashing him hard and fast, sending him flying into a nearby tree with a grunt.

Standing there, seemingly reveling in his victory of the kikai-nin, the snake man was assaulted by two sets of fists and feet, as Hinata and Sasuke struck together. Using their dojutsu to silently coordinate their strikes, they threw a flurry of blows at the snake man, but found him blocking and dodging every one like it was nothing. Worse, he someone switch positions with Hinata in the middle of one of her katas, causing Sasuke to strike her in the middle of her chest, before he and she were grabbed by the neck, and slammed hard into the tree branch they'd been standing on.

Rock Lee quickly came to their rescue, his fists actually connecting with the snake man's face, and knocking him away from his friends. Not that he did any real damage, as the snake man leaned into the blow, allowing the impact to propel him only a few yards, before he landed lightly on another branch. Growling at the mocking face he saw, Rock reached down and pushed the latches on his weights, the ankle and wrist contraptions snapping off easily, and falling to the ground. Even without being flung, these things hit with enough impact to make craters, and when the bowl haired genin moved, he did so with almost the same speed as the snake man.

"You want to see real speed!" shouted Kiba, as he and Akamaru joined the taijutsu master in his charge. Somehow, the two seemed to vanish as the nin-dog bamfed into a clone of his master, and they began to spin. A tornado of claws, fangs, and fists which bore holes in the woods around them, before they struck towards the snake man, who also had to deal with Rock's assault. The two together were at least able to force him back, the swirl of force just barely missing him a few times, even as he redirected every punch or kick rock threw, somehow turning every blow aside with practiced ease.

"Kukuku, your skills with the more mundane arts are quite good. Still, they are the least of my abilities," laughed the snake man, who then lived up to that moniker as he leapt away, and then threw out his arms. Those limbs somehow transformed into serpents, and the two who were attacking him were far too close to avoid their strikes, the twin snakes each taking one of the boys. The first wrapped itself around Rock Lee, pinning his limbs to his side in a flash, and then squeezing him hard enough to make his breath come out in a hard wheeze. The second entered the tornado of Kiba and Akamaru's power, which instantly fell away to reveal two Kibas bound together in much the same position.

"Guys!" shouted Tenten, throwing two perfectly arcing kunai, which buried themselves in the heads of the snakes, causing the two summoned serpents to vanish. She followed up with whipping out two large scrolls, as thick as her torso. With a flap of their parchment, she caused a rain of weapons, swords, axes, kunai, and a dozen other types, to rain down on the snake man. This only seemed to amuse him as he dodged his way easily through the rain, even bouncing from one weapon to the next, before he got to the branch where Tenten was and smacking her with the back of his hand, sending her flying.

"Gotcha!" came a sudden shout, and the snakeman looked down to find his shadow was odd looking. Below, on the ground, Shikamaru was making an strange handsign, and his shadow was stretching out onto the tree that the snake man was standing on. His body frozen, the snake man couldn't do anything for the moment, as a pink haired girl appeared behind him, and with a quick set of hand seals, slammed her palms into his back. Recognizing the feeling of a medical jutsu, one designed to stun him for a while, the snake man just laughed again.

"Huh?" was Sakura's response. The jutsu was one she'd been practicing with Iruka as part of her medic-nin training for her team, and she had seen it work on the genin at the border. This time, however, the strike seemed to have no effect at all, as the snake man just twisted his body. She didn't wait for whatever counterattack he had planned, and used kawarimi to leave before he could make good on it. Shikamaru was then treated to the sight of the snake man somehow causing his own shadow to explode into fire, a line of it moving down the truck towards the shadow-nin.

"Dammit!" he shouted, tossing a kunai with an explosive tag into the truck nearby, while leaping away. The blast scattered the shadows, saving him from whatever effect the burning shadow would have had on him. Of course, it didn't stop the snake man from coming after him himself, which he did. Luckily for the lazy bum, he was saved as a rain of orange clad ninja suddenly fell from the sky right onto the snake man, a pile of them coming down kunai first trying to impale him with their weapons.

"Oh my, such large chakra reserve you must have," commented the snake man, as he began to fight back. The first clones to reach him found their kunai stolen and thrown at their fellows, before they were bodily hurled at others. Of course, these were second level clones, not first, and the impact only made the ones struck mad, even as those dealt fatal blows popped like firecrackers. The rain continued unabated, even as the snake man danced through the mob, doing seemingly no damage against the endless horde.

"Still, all you know is one trick. Quite boring when you get down to it," added the snake man, who suddenly stood stock still, even as the clone rain continued. Before the next set could reach him, however, his body glowed bright green, chakra pouring from him in waves.

"Chakra disruption wave!" shouted the snake man, and a pulse of green chakra poured from him. It looked, somewhat, like Naruto's own chakra pulse in all but color. However, this one felt weird, as it passed by you. Where Naruto's was a breeze, strong and stiff, but just kind of there, this felt like the biting chill of a winter wind, tearing through you. It also had the effect of popping every clone it touched, the bamfing noise of them filling the clearing, even as the original Naruto cried out in agony, holding his head.

"Such one trick ponies are easily done in by someone who knows all the tricks of the ninja trade," said the snake man as he walked over to where Naruto had fallen to the ground. Smiling that crazed smile, he looked like he was going to stab Naruto with his hand, right in the blonde boy's stomach, when a red tinted blur shot from the brush, and slammed into him hard enough to force the man back.

"I've got four tricks myself, but I only need one to beat you," said Heero as the blur resolved into him, the bright red chakra of the Phoenix pouring from his body. This, for whatever reason, did seem to catch the snake man off guard, and he only had time to block as Heero charged again, the force of the blow carrying them both into the woods. The sound of their battle soon resolved into blasts of sound, as Heero broke the sound barrier with his speed, and the snake man apparently did likewise.

As the two fought as blurry after images of shinobi, the others of the Konoha Thirteen gathered in the clearing. Each of them save Shikamaru and Sakura was injured. Nothing severe, luckily, but enough that none of them was feeling at one hundred percent, as they rubbed bruises, and in a few cases broken bones that they had gained from their attempts to fight the strange snake man. Rushing between everyone, Sakura was quick to place her hands on the affected areas of their body, soft blue chakra glowing from her hands.

"That feels great Sakura. Since when were you a medic-nin though?" asked Choji as felt his cracked skull mend at least a little at her touch.

"Iruka's been teaching me on the side. He noticed I have great control of my chakra, even if it's not quite as much as everyone else. It makes me a good canidate for a healer, and I'm hoping to be the best in the village. If we get out of this," she told the large boy, before moving on, healing as much as she could of everyone's wounds. Ino's and Naruto's proved the most difficult, but after a liberal application of a general healing technique on their heads, they at least stopped squirming in pain on the ground.

"So, anyone got any idea who this snake guy is?" asked Kiba, rolling his newly healed shoulders, trying to get feeling back in them.

"Simple. Only one Snake Summoner in Konoha's history would interrupt a chunin exam. Orochimaru," said Sasuke, and everyone, even those who had been thinking the same thing, just sort of stared into space blankly. The second greatest traitor in the history of Konoha, and for some reason he had come looking for them. That boded ill for their future.

"We can still beat him, right? I mean, we're the Konoha Thirteen! No way one guy is gonna beat us," declared the dog ninja, trying to look brave, but when he attempted to fall into a fighting stance, he nearly fell over due to his still bruised ribs.

"He was a Sannin. One of the Legendary Three Ninja. Even if we're good for our age, he's one of the great figures of history," said Neji simply, his stance showing that his back was still out, despite Sakura's healing.

"Heero's fighting on his level, and we've all been able to beat him at one time or another," declared Choji, and Shino shook his head in answer.

"Heero is buying time. His speed is his only weapon now, and no doubt Orochimaru is simply testing him. Tales speak of the snake summoner's countless techniques, and yet, against us, only his taijutsu was used. He said so himself, this is the least of his powers," answered the kikai-nin.

"Did someone say my name?" came the snake man's voice, and suddenly all noise in the clearing stopped for a heartbeat, before a blast of sound and force nearly knocked everyone down, while also kicking loads of dust and debris into the air. When the currents of wind died down, they all stared at Orochimaru, standing there, a few bruises on his face from where Heero had at least been able to touch him, but still, the silver haired boy was currently being held a foot off the ground, his neck tightly gripped by the snake summoner's left hand.

"I must admit, you have impressed me. I know of few who could push me as far as you children have, and most of them are Kage. It would be a shame to slay you now, at this level, but I must find the one I'm looking for, and if he hasn't revealed himself yet, then I will have to push harder," as he spoke, Heero, grunting, his body covered in cuts, bruisers, and at least one leg being broken, slowly raised his hands so his fingers pointed towards Orochimaru.

"Claws of the Ti-!" he began to shout, obviously hoping to skewer the snake man when he wasn't looking. His shout was cut off by a gurgling noise, as blood slowly began to pour out of his mouth, and everyone stared at him. Orochimaru, without seeming to move at all, had stabbed Heero through the heart, his hand sticking clear out of the back of his chest, fingers dripping with blood.

"Kukuku, you are an impertinent boy, interrupting your elder like that," said Orochimaru, dropping Heero like a load of beef onto the ground, where the boy slumped into a pile of limbs and red liquid. The instant he hit ground, everyone moved all at once, those who could throwing everything they had at Orochimaru while Shikamaru grabbed the body of the fallen boy, and brought him back to where Ino and Naruto lay.

"Sakura, heal him!" shouted the pineapple headed boy, before leaping into the fray with his friends. Quickly, Sakura rushed to Heero's side, placing her hands over his still bleeding wound, pushing enough chakra into her palms that they glowed like little blue stars.

"No, no, he's losing too much blood. I can't heal him," she started to say, and kept her technique going, trying to force his body to stay alive.

"Heero, don't die," she said in a whisper, and with those simple words, Naruto's eyes shot open. Looking around, he saw Sakura, sitting over the fallen body of Heero, the grass around him stained red with the growing puddle beneath him. In that instant, Naruto had a vision, a vision of his life without his brother there by his side, testing him, pushing him to be better than himself. He saw himself alone, facing the village, never one of two, just a singular boy, left to himself. Somewhere inside him, Naruto felt his heart break, and then the world turned red in his vision.

"What in the world?" questioned Shikamaru as the battle around him stopped. Orochimaru, who had been in the middle of dodging a swipe of Kiba's claws, turned towards the source of a roar that sounded like something straight out of the underworld. Oddly, the sound, which frightened all the genin to their cores, making them unable to move, only seemed to make the snake man giddy, and he pushed Kiba down, not even bothering to punch him anymore, as the brush below their battle parted, and figure slowly walked out of it.

Covered in red, the genin thought for a moment that it was Heero, using his speed to heal himself or the like. Then they felt the bloodlust in that red chakra. Where Heero's red was like a warm fire, pale and light, this was a blazing inferno, threatening to burn down the world in its fury. Inside that cloak of chakra, they soon saw the face of Naruto, which was warped into a feral version of itself, the whiskers on his face seemingly glowing with the chakra, while his teeth all seemed to be sharp fangs in his mouth.

"You're dead," he said simply, and then shot forward. His speed wasn't quite what Heero or Rock Lee's had been, but it had a power behind it that neither of them could match, the trees bending away from him as he struck outward. Orochimaru just continued to smile, letting the boy come, and catching his fist with his hand. The snake man's face finally faltered then, going from that mad, mocking grin, to a grimace of pain, as the sound of breaking bones echoed over the woods.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, and instinctively struck out with his other hand, trying to push Naruto back, but the genin caught his wrist in his other hand.

"YOU DIE NOW!" he shouted, and a wave of the red chakra came off his body, the force of it knocking everyone backwards, and nearly pulling Orochimaru's arms off with the blast. Sadly, the snake summoner seemed to have anticipated this, and somehow made a single handsign with his caught hand, bamfing away, and forcing Naruto to look around for him. When the blonde genin finally caught sight of him, he was standing upside down on one of the upper branches of the tree they were in, staring at his hand.

"I believe you broke my hand, how interesting. I would have expected nothing less of the Container. Still, I know who you are now, so I shall take my leave," he told him in a rather pleasant tone, and Naruto roared at him like some kind of beast, leaping upwards and plowing through Orochimaru, who exploded into more of the black poison smoke he'd used on Shino's insects. Naruto barely seemed to notice the smoke, but as he landed, his stance leaned to one side, and he seemed to be close to blacking out.

"Naruto!" shouted Rock Lee, leaping to catch the boy, who tried to weakly push him away, but he could barely put any strength into the push. His eyes then slowly closed, the red chakra dispersing into nothing, even as tears streamed from his eyes.

Below the battle, Sakura could only hear the sounds of it, but even she felt the wave of red chakra as it passed over her, knocking her away Heero. Strangely, when the stuff touched the fallen genin, she got the briefest glimmer of gold in her vision, and watched as the hole in his chest somehow started to fill itself it, his wounds and bruises seemingly healing like magic as the wash of red power went over his body, while his eyes shot open, their silver sheen turning just as gold for that instant.

"Kurama," she thought she heard him whisper. But not in his own voice. No, this sounded like a woman speaking through him, before he passed out again, leaving her to gather him up in her arms, and carry him to the others so they could regroup, and compare notes.


	27. Chunin Exam: Revelations and Murders

"What is the status of our comrades?" ask Shino as he rolled his left shoulder, trying to get feeling back in it after their battle.

"Everyone is in the healing trance, just like Iruka showed me. Their injuries should be healed in a few hours, if I did it right. Ino, Heero, and Naruto are the ones I'm really worried about though," said the pink haired kunoichi, staring at her handiwork. Most of the others had easily agreed to be healed, and with the revelation that Shino had used his bugs to cushion him, and thus didn't require it and could remain on guard with Shino and Sakura, even Kiba, the most recalcitrant, had said yes. Mind, having Sakura poke him in the side and cause him to nearly fall over in pain had helped.

"You did everything you could for them, right?" said Shikamaru, from where he was meditating, holding a barrier of shadows at the front of the cave they'd decided to hide in, just under a tree near their battle site with Orochimaru. Neji, once he could walk, had tried to demand they move farther on before resting, but Sakura had insisted they not move Heero too much, considering she knew his heart had been torn in half, and really, him being alive was a miracle she wasn't willing to risk.

"I've given Heero as thorough an examination as possible, and he seems fine, I've neutralized the poison in Naruto's system as well as I can, and I did the genjutsu release techniques to help Ino's mind recover. Yeah, I think that's the best I can do with my training," she admitted, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Then you can rest easy, knowing you have done all within your power to help them," said the pineapple haired boy, as he gently flowed more chakra into their cover, muffling the sounds outside, as the scene grew slightly darker.

"Then I believe it has come time to discuss our recent performance against Orochimaru," said Shino, and the other two had their expressions turn dark, as depression began to set in.

"You mean about how we utterly failed against him, despite outnumbering him?" asked Sakura, and surprisingly Shino shook his head.

"I have doubts that any other group of thirteen save the Hokage and a select group of jonin would have been able to match him as well as we were able to. Remember, while we are the best of our generation, that generation is still young. Orochimaru's experience in real combat, and in the shinobi arts are far in excess of what we could bring to bear against him," said the kikai-nin, and Sakura's expression seemed to brighten, at least a little at that explanation of events.

"Still, only Heero was able to hold him off for more than a few seconds, and I think that was down to Orochimaru restricting his chakra use to taijutsu techniques and a few summonings. If he had come at us full force, we would have been wiped out for sure," said Shikamaru, and Shino stared at him through his sunglasses.

"I do not believe that is so. We were, until his first few attacks, attempting to treat him as a threat on our level. Had he used any overt techniques, I would like to believe we would have approached him with far more caution than we did," countered Shino.

"We were overconfident, that was for sure. We took out that suna team so easily, it felt like nothing could stop us. We know better now," said Sakura finally, leaving the three in silence for some time.

"You heard what Orochimaru called Naruto, right?" asked Shikamaru at last.

"The Container, he said he was the one he was here for," answered Sakura.

"Container, there are few conditions that would require such a title be given to one so young, and only one that fits the facts of what we know of the Uzumaki heir," said Shikamaru, never opening his eyes as he sat there, and the three team leaders went back over their lessons. Mizuki, at one point, had had them studying ways to quickly increase a clan's power. One of the most direct ways was to seal something inside one of their own to make them stronger. Specifically, a Tailed Beast.

"How long have you known?" asked Shino suddenly, and Shikamaru shrugged.

"About a year and a half. During my private sessions with him and everyone else, before the Thirteen were formed, I wondered about him, and births are a matter of public record. It didn't take much digging to find the truth. What about you?" explained the Nara boy.

"I didn't realize it until recently. I had always assumed it was just some kind of Blood Limit, a power passed from parent to child like Heero's abilities. However, during our walk back with Zabuza I began to grasp how much chakra he puts into his clones. No power passed through blood would allow such a thing," answered Shino, and Sakura just sat there. She knew exactly what they were talking about, but until they brought it up, she hadn't really thought about it until this last fight. Naruto, the happy go lucky boy from school. The boisterous, completely unserious kid who was the reason they were the Thirteen in the first place, must contain one of the Tailed Beasts. And not just anyone of them either, but the strongest of all, the Kyubi no Kitsune.

"Beyond us, how many of the others do you think have figured out his secret?" asked Sakura, looking over at the ten silently sleeping bodies.

"I would rule out our elders. Those three were not in our class, and I have a suspicion that Mizuki's lesson on the Tailed Beasts was something outside the normal curriculum. Of the others, maybe three. Naruto and Heero are so used to his abilities, it is doubtful they think of them in those terms. Kiba is, to put it bluntly, not bright enough to have put the pieces together. Choji wouldn't care one way or the other, and probably hasn't thought about this too deeply. Only Ino, Sasuke, and Hinata would have both the knowledge and understanding to put it together," espoused Shino.

"No, I doubt that Sasuke and Hinata have realized it yet either. Sasuke's a jerk, always focused on himself first, everyone else last, and now that he has a Sharingan active, he'll be even more dedicated to personal advancement. As for Hinata, she's way too distant to care about Naruto. He's a clanless loser to her, the heir of one of Konoha's oldest families. No, Ino's the only one who would have any idea, and since she wasn't awake for his rage filled transformation, she won't know any better," countered Shikamaru, and the other two nodded.

"That begs the question. Should we tell any of them about this? Don't Heero and Naruto at least, deserve to know what's going on there?" asked Sakura, and that silenced them all again, as they each ran their brains over the scenarios of how the others would react. Mostly, it was as they were. Naruto, no matter what was inside him, was one of the Thirteen, their group, or pack as Kiba would say. They weren't truly close friends, Sakura couldn't tell you what Choji's favorite food was for instance, but they were comrades in arms, and that meant something to a shinobi of the Leaf.

"For now, the best course of action would be to maintain our silence, and keep an eye on Naruto. The outburst from earlier seems dangerous, but we don't know enough about his seal to understand it. Perhaps one of the jonin wo-," began Shino, and then stopped in mid word, as three forms resolved themselves out of the bush. They moved slowly, cautiously, taking in the whole of the clearing as they walked, their formation a triangle, with them facing outward and spinning to maximize their visual coverage.

"Woah, someone really did a number on this place," one of them finally said, as they reached the center of the clearing, their eyes darting everywhere, surveying the damage done to the trees and forest in the course of the fight with Orochimaru. Beside him, Shikamaru heard a kunai unsheath, but quickly reached over to place his hand in front of Shino, who seemed ready to attack the three.

"My Shadow Copse Jutsu will keep them from noticing us, unless we make an aggressive move," explained Shikamaru, and Shino, rather reluctantly, placed the kunai back in its holder, and recalled his swarm he'd been extending outward.

"You felt the chakra and killing intent, right? You think Gaara was responsible?" asked one of the forms, whose hitai could finally be seen. He was a Suna-nin, as were his compatriots, all of whom seemed rather freaked out by the sight around them.

"No, this is something else. Look, no sand at all," said the tallest and obviously oldest of the three, pointing towards some of the damage they'd done to one of the trees nearby.

"Wait? Another jinjuriki? Who would send one of those into an exam like this?" asked one of the other two, a bit of worry in his voice.

"We are," commented the third, and the second shrugged.

"Yeah, but we're doing it for a reason. Most of the villages I know of just keep them under lock and key, or promote them when they hit a certain age," retorted the second.

"It matters little. This damage, and the feeling of the chakra was obviously another jinjuriki. We should inform the Kage as soon as...as…" the eldest's words trailed off as he looked towards something out of sight of the three hiding under the trunk.

"Are you the ones responsible for this?" asked a voice, sounding almost dead to the leaf-nin, like the words of someone whose will had been destroyed by a genjutsu.

"No, we came here to investigate after defeating a few Ame-Nin for their scroll. It was like this when we got here," said the eldest, bowing his head respectfully towards the speaker.

"Pity," said the voice, and then suddenly tendrils of sand shot from where the speaker was standing, moving almost as fast as Orochimaru, and quickly grabbing the three suna-nin by the throat, lifting them off the ground, even as they struggled to pull the things off them, their gear falling to the ground at their feet, including the packs of supplies they'd been wearing.

"Gaara, no! You know we need everyone for the Plan," said a female voice, her tone both one of worry and fear.

"Yeah, we need every body we can put a hitai," said another male voice. The first speaker didn't respond though, instead walking forward. When he finally came in view, the three ninja started a bit, even Shino. The sand was coming from the gourd on the back of the red headed Suna-Nin they'd noticed back during the first exam, the only ones close to their age in the exam at all.

"You, you threw a rock at me, when I was two," began the boy, walking closer to those he was choking, the one he was talking to already slightly blue in the face.

"You, you put a rotten tomato on my plate when you made my food once," he said to the second of the three, who struggled to try and kick the smaller boy, but Gaara stayed just out of his reach, not allowing him to come close at all.

"And you tried to use a kunai on me. Ducking away into an alley before I could kill you," he told the eldest, who, as he was approached, pulled a kunai in the here and now, tossing it with all the strength he could muster towards the red headed boy. The sand reacted with lightning speed, and suddenly another tendril of the stuff came out of the gourd, smashing the offending weapon to the ground hard enough to shatter the steel it was made from.

"Yes, I believe I should kill you," Gaara said in that dead voice, raising his right hand, which somehow caused even more sand to pour forth from the gourd.

"Sand Coffin!" he cried, the first emotion he'd shown, as the sand wrapped itself fully around the genin before him, covering their bodies completely, leaving only their faces exposed.

"Gaara, no!" shouted the girl, coming into view, as expected, it was his teammate. before she could get too close, however, the third member of their team dropped beside her, grabbing her shoulders and holding her back. For their part, the three in the sand were shouting at Gaara. Not begging for their life, however. No, they were calling him a monster, telling him he was a demon, and how even if he lived to a ripe old age, no one, anywhere, would ever love him.

"Sand Burial," was the only response of Gaara to all this, clenching his raised hand into a fist, and the sand around the three clenched with it. Sakura turned away, not wanting to see this, and Shikamaru wouldn't have opened his eyes, even if the Shadow Copse jutsu didn't require him to keep them closed to maintain their hiding place. Behind his sunglasses, only Shino watched, as blood began to spill from inside those sand cocoons, as bones broke, and last gasps of air came out as one strangled cry.

"That was unnecessary, Gaara," said the older boy on his team, and Sakura finally opened her eyes to see the Sand-Nin recollecting his sand, the stuff snaking its way into the gourd, before the top part of it became a cork that sealed the stuff in again. In front of him where the remains of the boys he'd murdered, though it was hard to tell that the lumps of raw, dry meat were ever once human. Even their red blood was gone, leaving only muscles, sinew, and bone fragments in a disconcerting pile on the forest floor.

"Yeah, we already have both scrolls too. We didn't need to," began the female, only to be silenced by Gaara turning to stare at her. He said nothing, however, and just stared for a moment, before walking back into the trees, the other two glancing at each other, then at the piles, before following. Inside their hiding place, the three Leaf-Nin ground their teeth. Killing in the line of duty was one thing, but this? This was straight murder. Those boys hadn't been a threat to the three. Heck, they were from the same village.

"When we leave, we need to collect the scrolls from their packs. That leaves us with only a single Heaven scroll to find. Once we have that, I would advise all of us to make our way to the tower at the center of the Forest, with all speed," said Shino, and looking at him, and then towards the remains of the three Sand-Nin, Sakura nodded, while Shikamaru just swallowed. Being a ninja was becoming even more dangerous than they had imagined.


	28. Chunin Exam: Arrival

The three hours passed in silence after Gaara's display, as the three genin considered what they had witnessed. They were ninja, trained to kill, that was part of their skill set, but casual murder of one's own allies, no matter what slights they had done against you, was another thing entirely. Each of the Konoha shinobi had their own thoughts, which they stored away as the sun outside passed the afternoon mark, and slowly began to slide into evening, deepening shadows beyond their hiding place telling them it was time to awaken their comrades.

"Release!" shouted Sakura as she made the handsign, pumping her chakra into the technique, hoping it would be enough to awaken everyone. Luckily, it seemed to, with even Ino, Heero, and Naruto rising from their positions, rubbing at sore shoulders or limbs, getting the muscles to loosen.

"What happened?" asked Ino as she rose to her feet. Having missed most of the battle beforehand, they had to go over everything, while everyone else began to test their bodies. Sakura's technique seemed to have worked for most everyone, with only a few sore spots, rather than broken bones or bruised muscles afflicting them now. During the telling of their tale, they found that Naruto's memories ended at the point where his clones were destroyed, and Heero remembered next to nothing after he began to fight Orochimaru.

"Guy was faster than anything I've ever seen. Normally I can move quick enough that everyone else is just statues, but he wasn't just keeping up, I think he was faster than me," declared the silver haired boy when pressed on it, and that got everyone else to look at each other nervously. They'd seen how fast he was moving, and if Orochimaru really was that quick, then there was little question that he was just toying with them the whole time, and if he'd been fighting for real, they wouldn't be alive.

"We're lucky that Naruto unlocked whatever his Blood Limit was, then. If he hadn't driven him off, I don't see us winning that fight," commented Neji, and everyone else agreed, with the three guards looking towards each other apprehensively. The moment passed though, and they described what happened after everyone was asleep, including pointing towards the piles of what used to be people just kind of laying in the clearing.

"Woah, he really trashed them," commented Kiba as the group finally walked out of their hiding place, Naruto doing his usual clone trick to give the three some of his chakra, so they could keep up with those who had been resting.

"Yes, but it's worse than that. Look at the pile. I don't see a single drop of blood in the whole thing, just a few grains of sand at the mouth and eyes," added Sasuke, his Sharingan moving up and down the bodies, even as Shino walked over to where their packs had fallen. With the help of Neji and Hinata, the kikai-nin was able to disarm a few traps that had been sewn into the bags, before finally pulling out the scrolls they needed, as well as a few others supplies he felt would have just gone to waste being left here.

"So, should we bury them, or what? I mean, no blood means no predators are going to smell them, but just leaving them here to rot feels kind of wrong," commented Heero. The others agreed, but before they could discuss how best to dig holes with their current gear, Sasuke did the entire job for them, making a few handsigns and then slapping his palms on the ground, causing the earth to yawn open for a moment, and suck the remains down into itself, before slamming shut.

"When the heck did you learn that one?" demanded Kiba as he stood there staring at the spot.

"Baka, we were fighting Rock Ninjas when I unlocked my Sharingan. You don't think I saw some of their techniques?" chided Sasuke, and with that, the group made to leave the clearing, the forest turning into a wicked looking place as the sun set. Still, with three dojutsu users in their group, they were prepared for anything, and everyone had techniques readied, just in case they ran into Gaara or Orochimaru again. Of course, the hope was they wouldn't, and could find one more group to take the scroll from, and then rush to the tower so they could tell the jonin their what had transpired.

Their route eventually took them by a clearing where they could see a group of Ame-nin sitting around a small fire, talking of life. The three dojutsu users held the others back from assaulting the obvious targets though, and directed Shino to send a few of his allies into the bushes nearby. When they heard the distinctive thump of bodies hitting the dirt, the three in the clearing turned, only to be attacked from the other side by Tenten, who opened one of her scrolls, and sent a shower of weapons towards them.

The instant the first blade hit home, the ninja in the clearly popped. Not like Naruto's clones, but more like soap bubbles, their bodies turning into foam. The clones, water mixed with acid, hiss and bubbled along the metal, and Tenten, retrieving her blades, tossed many a sword or axe aside, declaring them useless, as she stored the rest back where they belonged. Kiba and Lee, in the meantime, dragged the unconscious bodies of the real Ame-nin out of their hiding place, and with a feral grin, Kiba pulled a heaven scroll from their packs.

"Awesome, now we just need to make it to the tower, right?" he asked, holding the scroll in his arms. This should have been a victorious moment, all the things they needed to pass the second stage of the exam, but everyone looked from that scroll, to the two they'd taken from Gaara's kills, and none of them felt very happy with how things had played out.

"So, what about these three? I don't feel right just leaving them here, not with Gaara and Orochimaru wandering around," commented Sakura, and the others debated for some time what to do, eventually having Shikamaru use his shadow jutsus to hide them much the same way he'd hidden the Thirteen, with Neji leaving a note telling them of the dangers in the woods, and informing them it might be best to head back to the gate. That done, they started for the tower, which proved to be the easiest part of the task, as the door was wide open.

"Hmm, it says to open both scrolls, and put chakra into them. Does that mean we should do it one at a time, or all at once?" asked Kiba as he read the sign in the entry hall. It took a few minutes of discussion, but they decided to go in turns, with the elder team, Lee, Neji, and Tenten, taking the first turn. Opening the scrolls, they set them in the space the wall told them to, and then the three team members say in front of them, Neji in the middle, and they pushed chakra from their hands into the paper. With a bamf sound, and a billowing cloud of chakra smoke, Hizashi appeared, smiling at them.

"Excellent work my young pupils you have...what happened?" the man's smile instantly vanished when he saw the group in front of him. While Sakura's healing had fixed the worst of their injuries, they still had bruises easily visible over most of their bodies, and Hinata and Sasuke's faces were torn in many places. Worse, their clothing had not been repaired, and many a genin among the Thirteen would need to take some time to do some sewing, or just change out of their destroyed garments.

"We ran into some difficulty, Father," was all Neji said to the man, and Hizashi nodded, stepping forward.

"I see, was one of the other teams such a match for the Thirteen?" he asked, hoping this was simply the result of the exam itself, but he knew of no team amongst the participants that could have so injured his son and the others in this manner.

"We do not believe so, but then, only two teams were faced by us, and they fell prey to our skills easily. Still, it would be best if our allies were looked after by the medic-nin. As we are uninjured, Myself, Sakura, and Shikamaru should be the ones you debrief for the moment," said Shino, and there was a bit of bickering from the others, but after looking at them with his Byakugan, Hizashi agreed with the insect-nin, sending the others off to the medics, before bringing the three into a side room, where their jonin, along with other Konoha ninja, waited.

"Hmm, despite your injuries, your teams were the first to make it through the exam, you should be proud of that accomplishment," said Hizashi as they entered the room, and the three following him looked at each other for a moment, before turning to him.

"Gaara and his team haven't arrived yet?" asked Shikamaru, and Hizashi shook his head.

"No, should they have?" asked the Hyuga as he took a seat with the others.

"Indeed, he has both scrolls already, we know this for a fact. If he's still out there, then he's likely hunting others. Perhaps being a jinjuriki he feels the call of battle in his veins?" commented Shino, and that seemed to bring the elders in the room up short, as they looked at him.

"A jinjuriki, in the exam? Why would Suna let someone like that participate?" asked Iruka, and Shikamaru gave a dismissive shrug.

"Well, Konoha let Naruto do it, and he's got the Kyuubi in him," said the pineapple haired boy casually, and once again, the elders were silent as their minds processed what he'd just said. It was Guy who finally coughed, breaking the stillness that had held for some time.

"Perhaps we should allow the youths to tell us their tale, and then we may seek the answers to our questions, and offer the same to them in turn?," he offered, and within a minute, the three were giving their account of the second test, with minimal interruptions from the jonin, who simply listened, even when they were told Orochimaru was the one who had so hurt their young charges. They didn't doubt the youths, or ask them to confirm, instead allowing them to play out the battle with words, followed by quick accounts of what Gaara had done to the Suna-Nin, and finally their easy battle with the Ame-Nin that had given them their final scroll.

"Very disturbing indeed," said Iruka as the tale finished, leaning back in his seat, and the other jonin present, the four team sensei, Hizashi, and the two exam proctors just nodded.

"It would only be worse if Danzo had been the one they ran into. At least Orochimaru is considered a villain. Too many of that man's ROOT still consider him to be their leader, despite his actions," commented Ibiki, and that got a few looks from the children, but when their elders offered nothing more. the merely waited.

"You say the other Thirteen do not yet realize what Naruto is, are you certain of this conclusion?" asked Ibiki, and the three nodded.

"We do not believe it is possible for the others to know. Sensei Guy's team has the intelligence in Neji and Tenten, but lacks the knowledge, given that we believe the lesson on jinjuriki was not normal curriculum for the Academy," said Shino, the question implicit in his phrasing, and Hizashi was the one who responded.

"It is not, and had I known he'd taught that lesson, I would have reported him. Naruto's...condition let us say, is a secret to all in the village, S-Class," said the white eyed man, and that made the eyes of the three genin go wide. Such a secret was the thing they killed over, and they were glad now that they had not spoken of it with their teammates.

"It was decided, after the Fox was sealed in him, that knowledge of his prisoner among the civilian population would have caused a panic, maybe even calls for his execution, and as the details of the technique used by the Fourth wasn't widely known, it was decided that only those who needed to know would be informed. Those of us in this room needed to know, given our positions or links to the Thirteen. In general, however, even the majority of Konoha's ninja are unaware of Naruto's prisoner," explained Ibiki in that dull vice of his, probably the same cadence and tone he used in his interrogations.

"We shall keep this secret then, if that is the Will of Fire, but it is my opinion that Naruto and Heero really should be told...Heero doesn't have a demon or the like inside him, does he?" asked Shikamaru after tapping his fingers on his chin in thought a moment, and Asuma shook his head at the question.

"No, Heero's power is a true Blood Limit, passed down by those of his village for generations before he ended up here. His father and Naruto's were friends, and that is why they were kept together, as dictated by the wills of their fathers. Luckily, unless questioned heavily, few even amongst shinobi have given the pairing more than a passing thought," he answered, and once again, the chamber fell back into silence for several minutes, as the genin and their elders thought on what was said, until Shino finally spoke.

"So, Naruto is the son of the Fourth then. Interesting," was his statement, and that seemed to come as news to both his companions as Shikamaru and Sakura's eyes went wide, even as a few of the adults just swore under their breathe, having hoped the three before them wouldn't put that together.

"He is. Does that change anything?" asked Haizishi.

"The Namikaze estate is his rightful legacy. I assume it will be given to him, when he comes of age?" responded the kikai-nin, and everyone in the room, without even thinking on it, nodded.

"It is known publicly that an heir to the Fourth's line exists, even if there is no knowledge of who it is. As such, his estate and assets are being held by the Village, until such time as the heir comes of age," explained the Hyuga, and that got a nod from the three.

"Then there is no objection. If that is all, I believe we need to rest along with our teams. Though we are uninjured in comparison, we have all been awake since early this morning," so speaking, Shino rose, and the two beside him did likewise, bowing to their sensei and the others, before exiting the room, the elder generation trusting them to find their own way in the tower, as they sat down to discussing this turn amongst themselves.

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting," said Iruka, and the others in the room stared at him.

"How many here knew of Naruto's parentage before today?" asked Hizashi, and only Ibiki and Kurenai's hands rose, causing the others to look at them in askance. Apparently, not even the Hokage's own son had been deemed worthy of the knowledge.

"I see. I myself was ignorant as well, though with it staring you in the face, it becomes obvious. It seems only you two were trusted, and I believe we can all guess why," said the Hyuga, and that got a nod from the others. Kurenai's link to the two boys was known to everyone in the room, even Anko had learned of it earlier, and likely had been told who they were before she took up the role of their caretaker. Ibiki was Ibiki, and had likely as not learned of it using his own resources.

"Not that that changes anything. The boy's parentage matters less than his prisoner," commented Iruka, and that too got a round of nods, before discussion turned to what to do of Orochimaru and Gaara. It was decided, after less than an hour, to have Kakashi send ANBU teams into the forest. Doubtful they would find the Snake, but still, it was possible they would get lucky, and Naruto's injury had weakened him more than he'd let on. Otherwise, the decision was made to wait, as the moon of the first day began to dip, and the sun of the second began to rise, leaving four tense days of waiting ahead.


	29. Chunin Exam: Preliminary Round 1

The fifth day came quicker than they had expected, and it brought some startling revelations. For one, the test had weeded out far more of the teams than had been expected given how many had remained. With forty five teams having made it to the second stage, it was expected that at least a third would pass, but really, only seven had. Four were the Konoha Thirteen, who had passed in record time.

The other three were another Konoha team, Team Forty-Two who included Kabuto, and had made it to the tower on the third day. The sixth team were a group from the newest village, the Village Hidden in the Sound, and had arrived early on the fourth. The final day had ended with Team Baki, the team with Gaara and his siblings coming in just before the sun went down, the red haired boy smelling of blood, and telling them no other teams would be coming.

This still left twenty two participants, far too many for the public tournament that was planned for the end of the month. When the Sand Trio had said they were fine, and a quick medic-nin examination had deemed them fit, every remaining genin was guided towards the tower's basement, where reinforced barriers seemed to line every wall, and the place had a feeling like a bunker designed to survive the end of the world itself. At the very bottom though, they found a most unexpected thing.

"Hmm, so these are the ones who passed," said a man standing in the center of a huge arena, a place obviously designed to withstand anything a ninja could throw at it. The statement he made was not a question, just a fact, and as he looked up at them, he actually smirked, making his sickly appearance even worse somehow, as the bags under his eyes looked like they were about to eat his eyes. He then coughed, a hacking, disgusting thing, before simply vanishing, causing the genin's eyes to dart around, finding him standing by a large board, with the Hokage and Kazekage behind him.

"My name, since none of you are going to know it, is Gekko Hayate. I'm one of the best examiners in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and it's typically my job to make sure jonin are up to snuff before they can take off the vest and don their personal garb. Today though, I've been asked to come down to your level, so I hope you'll put on a good show," he said this through another round of coughing, but every shake of his body seemed to take him somewhere else, appearing suddenly in front of each genin in turn, before finally appearing right under the big board.

"Now, I'm sure you're used to this, but I'll be brief. There's too many here to have a proper public tournament between you all. Too many by twice that amount, so we're going to have some private preliminaries now. I'll be judging you, and if you put on a good enough show even here, you might be allowed to wear the vest without making it to the public affair. Still, don't expect to meet my standards easily. I judge jonin, and you kids aren't going to impress me without some fancy stuff," as he spoke, the sickly man snapped his fingers, and suddenly the board above him lit up, a large display on it flipping through their names in alphabetical order, before settling on Hayate's own.

"How this is going to work is simple, I have a randomizer here that's going to select matchups, and you're going to fight. I don't want anyone holding back here though, so to make this more interesting, teams are dissolved now. That means you pass or fail on your own. No riding the coattails of your betters, and no dragging someone else down with you," this caused a gasp from some of the genin, who had expected their teams to remain united. Worse, as the names flashed again, in possible matchups, they noticed that team members would be allowed to fight each other.

"Of course, to go with this new direction of not holding back, I will expect this round to turn deadly, if anyone here wants to back out, now is the final chance to do so," looking up at the twenty two on the balcony above him, Gekko seemed to be waiting for someone to say the words, but when not a single voice or hand rose, he continued.

"Not that death is the preference here. If I deem you unable to fight, either because of injury or simple knock out, I will declare the match over. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tries to continue a match once it has been called, is disqualified. If you're a clan heir, a kage's child, or just some punk off the streets, you'll be declared out of the running for chuunin no matter how well you fought. Do you understand?" those last words seemed to echo around the room, but as he got only nods or hate filled stares from those above, he seemed to think his message got through, and with another cough, he appeared atop the large display.

"Alright, now that that is out of the way, let's move onto our first match," as he spoke, he kicked the display from above, the thing buzzing as the names spun on faster, some of the matchups even being between the same person, until at last, Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku stood highlighted.

"You two, get to it," he said, in an annoyed voice, coughing again, and appearing on the floor again, just in front of the display. The two ninja made their way to the floor, Shino slowly, deliberately walking towards a flight of stairs, and then taking each step one a time. His opponent, Zaku, simply leapt down, and then smirked at the kikai-nin as he got down to his level.

"Aburame Shino, a member of Konoha's Team Fourteen, the only four man squad in the village. An expert at his family's techniques, most of which involve the kikai, ninja insects able drain chakra," said the young man, ruffling his hand through his spiky black hair, smiling in a way that spoke of multiple psychosis. His shirt didn't improve matters, the beige colored thing having the word death printed on it three times, as if once wasn't enough. The bands he wore on his arms spoke of whatever he was wearing beneath being something odd too, with holes in them where his actual skin should have been.

"You know much about me already, Abumi Zaku. Should I feel flattered?" responded Shino, looking around the room, seemingly disinterested in a match. His opponent smiled all the broader, and he even gave out a single barked lauh.

"Nah, not really. I just asked around about you after that silver haired moron during the tests blurted out he and his beat Zabuza. That guy's famous, and I figured anyone able to beat him is a real contender, someone I can make my own name off beating. Shame you're just a bunch of punk kids," as he spoke, he lifted his right arm, and slowly placed his left thumb under the armband he wore, getting it deep into the fabric, before pulling hard, grunting as the covering tore asunder, revealing his arm, and causing many looking to gasp.

"Heh, still, I suppose breaking a few bugs is at least a start," he said this while showing off his arm, a thing that looked normal enough, till you noticed the holes. Deep gouges bored into his flesh, yet seemingly not wounds in the normal sense. No, they looked more like holes one would find in a flute, and as he moved his hand, some of them closed, while others opened, and one could already hear the dull whistling noise coming from the arm as he moved it around.

"Yeah, that should be just the right frequency," and so saying, Zaku spun his arm in the air rapidly, causing a shrill, piercing tone to echo over the arena, one accompanied by several cracking noises, as the Aburame leapt backwards, his coat wiggling a little.

"Yep, just right. I figure guys like you depend on your bugs so much, that without them, you're pretty much done, so I captured a few specimens while we were in town," he said with a cocky grin on his face, as he dropped into a one handed fighting stance, his left arm at the ready, while his right hung at his side, visibly shaking with vibrations as the tone continued to resound around the arena.

"You believe you can fight me with a single arm?" asked Shino, seeming to be curious, rather than insulted by his opponent's confidence.

"Oh, I know I can, want to know why?" he asked with a smirk, and then shot his arm out. Suddenly the band covering it was torn to tatters, which flew in every direction, as an almost visible wave in the air moved out from it. Like a powerful explosion, the floor of the arena was shattered as the blast of sound passed over it, creating an impression in the stone and tile, even as Shino dove to the side, rolling out of the way just in time for the blast to smash into the wall behind him, sending a shower of dust and debris into the air.

"That's why. You can't get close to me, and without your bugs, you've got nothing to use at range," gloated Zaku, before firing another pulse, chakra briefly visible flowing from the holes in his arm, and once again, Shino was forced to dodge, this time leaping forward as he did so. Closing ground quickly, he tried to strike hard, only for Zaku's arm to come into a blocking position, a crescent shaped wave of sound pouring out of his arm, and picking up Shino, tossing him away, but without doing too much damage.

"Fascinating," said Shino, and before he even hit the ground, his arms whipped out, a shower of kunai emerging from his sleeves. Zaku just kept smirking, using his free arm to batter the wild rain aside, even shaping the sound wave so that the majority of the blade wound up turning and fly straight at Shino, who had to dodge again, this time leaping through his own weapons, and a followup blast of sound that he only barely got out of the way of.

Still, neither combatant looked fatigued in the slightest, despite Shino bouncing, and the drain the sound techniques should have been on Zaku. The arena, meanwhile, looked far worse for wear, with several of the spectators having taken steps back from the cracked walls beneath them, and even a few leaping up beside Heero, who was standing on the ceiling looking down at the pair.

"You might as well just give up now. No way are you ever getting near me, and even if you could, I can just blow you away with a wave of my hand," he mocked, doing just that, creating a small breeze that blew over Shino who stared at him impassively. Behind his glasses, one might notice his eyes, going over every nearby surface, until he finally spotted what he wanted, and leapt upwards suddenly. His angle wasn't towards Zaku though, who took a step back, arm at the ready. Instead, Shino would land several yards to the side, even as he went through a set of handsigns in rapid succession.

"Slick Liquid No Jutsu!" he called out, his palm slapping the stone beneath him, and instantly causing an expanding puddle of goo to come from where he touched it. Zaku, seeing the puddle, tried to step back again, but his feet weren't fast enough, the puddle reaching him in seemingly no time at all, and the moment it was on him, his feet slipped from beneath his body, sending him sprawling to the ground with a splash, a grunt of surprise more than pain escaping his lips.

"What cheap trick is this?!" he demanded, trying to get up, only to find the puddle covered everything around him, which meant his hands and feet couldn't find any traction at all. Not that he had long to try, and Shino leapt upwards again, and this time he seemed ready to fall right on top of the sound-nin, a kunai finding its way into his hand as he fell.

"You really think it's that easy?!" shouted Zaku, and waved his left arm, creating another wave of sound, but he underestimated his opponent, who actually chuckled as he was blown away by the sound, while on the ground, Zaku found himself sliding across the floor like a missile, slamming hard into the wall of the arena. The crack of skull meeting stone was audible for several seconds, and when everything was at last silent, the sound-nin was still, his head at a painful looking angle as he lay there.

Hayate, leaping forward, held his hand up to keep everyone quiet, as he knelt beside the genin, his fingers to his neck, and then just shook his head. Rising, he coughed once, and then appeared atop the display, kicking it with a foot, and causing the name Abumi Zaku to fade, while Aburame Shino's name glowed brightly. Snapping his fingers, a door seemed to appear from nowhere on the wall, out of which stormed to medic-nin, who placed the body of Zaku on a stretcher, and then carried it out of the arena.

"First fight winner, Shino by knockout. Hopefully, the medics can keep Zaku from developing a concussion, but otherwise, he'll be fine," he said, and Shino nodded, climbing the stairs to stand by his teammates again a minute later, while Hayate, once Shino was clear, snapped his fingers again. The arena appeared to melt as the sound passed over it, and a moment later, it was whole once more, as Hayate kicked at the display again, the list of remaining combatants spinning around inside it, as it picked the next fighters.


	30. Chunin Exam: Preliminary Round 2

"Kinuta Dosu, Nara Shikamaru, you're up," said Hayate as the display lit up with those two names. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Shikamaru leapt down into the arena, and a moment later, a sound-nin joined him. This one was the oddest of the bunch, his body hunched over like he had some kind of growth on his back, while most of what one could see under his large trench coat was covered with bandages, only his left eye exposed to the open air, and looking towards the other body with a smirk.

"So, you want to explain your powers like your friend did, or?" asked Shikamaru as he got into position for the match. Rather than answer though, Dosu attacked, his fist suddenly flying out, and forcing the young Nara heir to start dodging immediately, going on a fast and furious offensive.

Of course, the attacks themselves were slow, with his heavy coat and hunched over frame, allowing Shikamaru to weave through them, and then punch out with his fist, his face grimacing as he hit the right forearm block, which clanged against the strike. Leaping back, Shikamaru began to rub at the hand, which appeared to have been badly bruised. Dosu, rather than press the attack, retreated himself, smirking beneath his bandages as he seemed to find something very amusing about the whole thing.

"Ow, that really hurt. You're using that coat to hide armor or something?" asked Shikamaru, and as if in answer, Dosu pulled up his sleeve, revealing a metal armguard that that holes similar to those his partner had had in his arm.

"Oh no, this isn't armor, this is my Resonating Echo Speaker. I use it in my style as both weapon and defense. Like that idiot's arm, it focuses sound. Unlike his talent though, this one isn't about generating huge blasts, no, it has a much different skill," and as if in demonstration, he banged his hand against the metal thing, which dinged like a bell. The sound passed over almost everyone else without comment, but Shikamaru seemed to be in pain as the echoing tone washed over him, driving him to his knees with a cry.

"Yes, it's the power to strike my opponent anywhere, once I learn their harmonic frequency. A bit of pressure, and I can make the world spin, a sharp rap on it, and I can make you feel like your ears are bleeding. Add a bit of chakra, and I can even make you die," as he spoke, the sound-nin walked casually towards Shikamaru's body, and then with a sharp kick, sent him sprawling onto the floor.

"This is so disappointing. All those rumors one hears about the Thirteen, how strong and powerful they are, how skilled at combat, and here you are, rolling around on the floor," with that he banged on his armguard again, this time causing Shikamaru to scream, and one could actually see a few drops of blood flow through his fingers as he held them against his ears. Hayate, looking down, wanted to call the match, as that seemed to be it, but as Shikamaru never passed out, he let it continue.

"Yes, I suppose I'll just have to deal with this sort of disappointment. Now, which leg do you think I should take first?" he asked, chuckling as he reached down, but just before he could, Shikamaru withdrew his hands from his head and struck out, sending a handful of blood into Dosu's eye, causing him to cry out in pain himself as he leapt away, already trying to rub the stuff out. While he was backed away, Shikamaru drew a small line on his wrist, and then made a single sign with this hands, before pounding them into the ground.

"Summoning Technique!" he cried, and with a bamf of air, chakra smoke filled the room. Grunting, Dosu banged his hand on his speaker again, and then again when he failed to hear the desired cries from out of the smoke, which slowly cleared to show Shikamaru, now astride a great deer, a huge specimen, a four point buck. The thing stood there, towering over Dosu at almost ten feet tall. The sound-nin cursed as he leapt back again, while Shikamaru sat on the things back, glowing with obvious chakra.

"Heh, didn't think I'd have to pull this one out so soon, but there you go. Kinuta Desu, meet the Healer of King Aspen's Court, the Great Prince," he said, patting the back of the beast he sat astride, smirking down at the other ninja as he began to bang furiously on his Speaker. Each impact caused Shikamaru to wince, but it seemed like the brown deer beneath him was able to keep pace with the injuries, healing the leaf-nin as he kept smirking down at his foe, who suddenly pulled a kunai out of some hidden pocket and grasping it in his free arm.

"Just what I needed!" with that declaration, Shikamaru shot to his feet, and then made an odd handsign. Instantly, his shadow stretched out in a technique familiar to any ninja of Konoha. The dark tendril, moving at the speed of darkness itself, grasped for Desu's shadow. Joining the two together as they touched, and causing the sound-nin to jerk violently to a halt, his grip on the weapon going white. With that done, Shikamaru somehow produced his own kunai from somewhere, letting the thing gleam wickedly in the arena's light as he held it up.

"Heh, wish I knew the advanced forms, since then I could do this without having a kunai of my own, but whatever," as he spoke, Shikamaru moved his arm, holding his free hand. Desu, despite obviously struggling, mimed the motion perfectly, holding up the arm with the Speaker on it, and slowly rotating it over, so the straps that held the metal thing to his arm were shown. With a quick stabbing motion, the tip of his kunai and Shikamaru's buried themselves in their arms, and then slowly worked their way up, cutting deep into flesh, and in Desu's case, straps, the Speaker clattering to the floor with a racket.

"I suppose I could make you smash the thing, but I figure that's gonna take more time than you have before you bleed out. Surrender now, and I'll have the Prince heal you," offered the Nara boy astride his summon, and below him, the sound-nin looked like he wanted to say something, but nothing that Shikamaru wanted to hear. Sighing now, murmuring troublesome to himself, the leaf-nin held up his free hand again, Desu's arm rising to show it was covered with a thick trail of blood, even as Shikamaru's own wound was healing.

"I really hate to do this to you, but I'm not gonna back down now," and with that, he stabbed his own palm, the kunai in his hand easily tearing through flesh and sinew to emerge on the other side. Desu's hand, despite all his efforts, soon did likewise, and the sound-nin's voice howled in pain. Still, after the initial cry, he made no other sounds, and looking cold, Shikamaru began to literally twist the knife, slowly carving a circle into his own palm, that he pushed the kunai completely past. Desu, breathing and sweating, copied the motion, a huge puddle of blood forming on the ground around him, before finally, mercifully, he collapsed, his eyes shutting even as he hit the floor.

"Nara Shikamaru wins," said the proctor for the exam, and Shikamaru, nodding, leapt from his steed, his hand already healing before their eyes. The summon, without prompting from its summoner, went over and licked the injured man on the ground, the spit and saliva vanishing into his skin, sealing the cuts on his arm.

"Heh, easier than I thought," said the leaf-nin, as he rubbed at his hand, the hole closing up, as the medic-nin rushed to the floor. One of them insisted on looking at Shikamaru's injury, before the pair placed the still unconscious Desu on a stretcher, and carried him from the room. With that done, Shikamaru sent the Prince back to Aspen's Court, and then lazily walked up the stairs back to the balcony around the arena, and then quickly collapsed. Even with his chakra reserves, summoning was not an easy technique.

"Not bad you lazy bum," commented Ino, smiling at him, as he opened one eye and smirked back. Hayate, with another kick on the display, caused it to spin once again, soon displaying the next two fighters.

"Tsuchi Kin, Akimichi Choji, fight time," he said between a cough, and the last of the sound-nin, looking rather dour, leapt from her spot onto the arena floor. Meanwhile, Choji shoved the last of the bag of chips he'd been eating into his mouth, and then placed the crumpled up bag in a pouch at his waist, before he walked towards the stairs, soon joining her on the arena floor.

"So, you're another one of the Thirteen then?" Asked the last of sound-nin as she began to stretch, considering her opponent.

"I am, and if you were smart, you'd surrender now. I'm one of the strongest, and I don't want to have to hurt you to prove it," said the rotund boy as he just stood there, impassive as a boulder, his green combat suit wrapping tightly about his waist.

"Heh, you really think that intimidates me? Those idiots on my team were not even close to me in terms of skill. Besides, what can a fat ninja like yourself really hope to do against someone with my kind of speed," she said, and then whipped out an arm. Several small, almost invisible senbons filled the space between the pair. Choji, either uncaring or just not fast enough, let the needles come, and a few buried themselves in his flesh, as his arm shot up to protect his face, the green on his suit soon having patches of red to go along with it, as he lowered his arm.

"Not bad, you are really fast," he said as he looked at his skin, and then began to withdraw the needles slowly, deliberately one by one, letting them ting to the floor. Kin, staring at him, let him do it, wondering just what kind of trick he was playing at, even as she got another barrage ready, this time including the ones with bells, figuring a few showers like that could end this in short order.

"Still, now I think I want to hurt you. No one, calls an Akimichi fat," he said this in the same level tone as before, and then he moved. It wasn't fast, it wasn't sudden, but it was focused and powerful, as his right arm pulled back like he was going to punch the air, and then it shot forward. Kin only had a moment to realize her mistake, before she leapt upwards, sending another shower of needles towards the arm, which had grown large enough that his fist was taller that she was.

The appendage was thick skinned, and the combat suit had grown with it, the sleeve now thick enough that every needle, and even a kunai she'd mixed in, just bounced off the protection, even as the fist itself slammed hard into the wall behind where she'd been. It shook everything, and those watching the fight had to grab the railings or risk falling to their knees as the quake passed over them. When it was done, and the kunoichi was once more on the ground, she was stunned into silence as she looked to find cracks covering the wall, and a slowly dissipating cloud of dust as the arm drew back.

"That...that would have killed me," she whispered breathlessly as she looked on, her expression shocked, as if she hadn't realized before that the ninja life was dangerous. She was shaking, looking vulnerable, and Choji, looking at her as he dusted off his knuckles, felt a twinge of sympathy for her. He was about to ask her again if she wanted to back out, but just before the words left his mouth, another shower of senbons, this one faster came at him. His reactions weren't the fastest amongst the Thirteen, and even as he tried to raise his hands, he could feel the sting of one of the needles burying itself in his cheek, only missing his eye thanks to him turning.

"Heh, don't underestimate me because I'm a girl!" She screamed, rushing the male shinobi with senbons seeming to materialize in the air in front of her. Choji flailing, was able to force her to hop backwards, extending his arms and making them grow so they were like morning stars as they smashed into the ground. Then she made a mistake, she leapt into the air to avoid one of the strikes, limiting her options, even as he suddenly moved far faster, his hands growing out, and his palms coming together on her, smashing her like an insect.

Everyone stood there, as Choji held his hands together in the air in front of him. The boy, with his arms and hands so huge as to dwarf the rest of him, would have looked comical, if one didn't know that there was a person caught in his grip. After a moment had passed, Choji opened his hands, and Kin, unconscious, fell to the floor with a sharp wrap that seemed to echo over the silent arena. Above, Hayate looked at Kin, feeling her through the arena to gauge her abilities, and shook his head.

"Akimichi Choji wins," he said, coughing. The cough, as before, seemed to be a sign, and the arena repaired itself as the medic-nin rushed in, shaking their heads at yet another injured genin, before carting off the kunoichi. Choji, returning to his position up above, pulled a bag of chips from seemingly nowhere, and he watched as Hayate kicked the display beneath him, the names of the remaining genin flashing over it, selecting the next pair to do battle.


	31. Chunin Exam: Preliminary Round 3

"Yamanaka Ino, Tsurugi Misumi, time to fight," said Hayate as he kicked at the display. As before, the signs of the previous fight, every crack and broken tile, seemed to wash away, leaving a pristine arena for the next round. Walking calmly down into it, the white haired girl sized up her opponent, an older leaf-nin, rather than one from outside the village. She almost felt bad for the guy, going up against her, but she wasn't about to let her team down and fail now, not with the others having passed their contests with such ease.

"Hmm, so, you're one of the Thirteen then? One of those rumored special forces, who are as strong as the ANBU?" Asked her foe as he faced her on the floor. The man's face was hidden behind a mask, a small cloth thing that moved with him in an odd way, not even shuddering as he spoke, and only his eyes, gleaming behind a pair of large glass, gave him any kind of expression at all.

"I am, and I am that last part too. We train all day thanks to someone in our ranks, and our chakra capacities are well beyond our years," she told him, not trying to brag, just telling him straight out that he had no chance.

"Oh? And you think a little training is going to make you good ninja?" Asked Misumi as a follow up. His tone, oddly, was not mocking as one might expect, but instead curious, after all, the rumors were too widespread to be just hot air, and he'd already seen demonstrations of power far beyond what would be expected of first year genin. No, he was taking her very seriously as he stood there, loosening his joints.

"Preparation is important, yes, but we've already taken down opponents way harder than your average Genin. My team, for instance, captured Aspen, the Deer Boss, and then rescued him from some idiot Daimyo who wanted him as a trophy," she told him, this time a bit of bragging entering her tone as she shrugged, as if the mission hadn't been the most harrowing experience of her life.

"Ah, so you're on the same team as the Nara," responded Misumi, adding that to his planning as he prepared to strike.

"Yep, and we can do this now, thanks to Aspen," the instant the last syllable left her lips, her finger found itself cut by a kunai in her off hand, which then drew a small line on her wrist. Before Misumi could stop her, she slapped the hand down onto the ground. A cloud of chakra smoke began to spread out, covering the arena again, but even before it cleared, one could hear hooves, a lot of hooves, clacking against the tile floor, a cacophony of snorts accompanying them.

When the smoke cleared, Ino was astride one of the deer in the same way Shikamaru had been, but unlike his, her summons was different. For one, the one she was standing on was humanoid in shape, with massive hands holding a pair of wicked looking long spears, and standing a good thirty feet tall, with the young kunoichi riding on his shoulder. For another, almost a hundred bucks, all as large as the Healer, stood at his hooves, their four legged bodies nearly covering every inch of the arena floor on Ino's side.

"I'd like you to meet Benjamin and his crew. These guys are the Deer Court's best enforces. If I were you, I'd surrender now," she said, and as if to make the point clear, the giant deer she was standing on twirled his spears in an expert kata, moving through the motions so fast his weapons whistled, all without budging her from his shoulder.

"Now, this is an….I will ask, one of them, that one, to come nearer. I will not attack it," responded the genin after a moment, and Ino looked at the deer, who looked back towards her. Ino and Benjamin nodded, and the buck troted forward, his sharp hooves leaving small marks in the tiles as he got closer. Stopping within reach, the buck stood there, his horns glinting wickedly, and Misumi just stared at him, before reaching forward, running his fingers through the buck's fine coat.

"They're really there...you summoned this many…" he said, the awe in his voice easy for all to hear, before he took a step back.

"I surrender. I know my limits, and this many opponents is far outside the range of my skills," he said, idly redoing a latch on the inside of his sleeve. Inside, a few pills that contained sealed water for use in his water clone technique sloshed. He could make about half a dozen of the things, and had hoped to overwhelm his foe, but with a hundred and one against only seven, it wasn't hard to see how that battle would go.

"Yamanaka Ino wins by withdraw," said Hayate, kicking the display to make her name glow. Ino, for her part, clapped once and gave a rather childlike bounce, even as the deer she'd summoned vanished in smoke. The two leaf-nins then went back to the observation area. The moment they were back up there, another kick and the display was spinning through the names of the remaining combatants, stopping on two after a few moments.

"Sabaku Temari, Inuzuka Kiba, you're next," was all he said as the names became clear. The second of those names howled with excitement as he, and his puppy, leapt from the wall, landing in the arena heavily. Temari, looking down at him, wondered idly what she'd gotten herself into, and unhooked her fan from behind her, using a single stroke of it to kick up a gust that she rode down to the floor, landing far more lightly than he had, and then standing there staring at him.

"So, I gotta fight you. Man this is gonna be a bummer. I was hoping to have more of a chance to show off," said the leaf-nin as he looked his opponent up and down, quickly going into a series of punches and kicks that flew fast and furious in front of him, as if to show off how fast the fight was going to be over. Temari, puffing out her cheeks, considered just knocking the fool aside with her fan, but then let out a breath in a harsh sigh.

"So, you think a girl is no challenge for one of the Thirteen?" she asked, hefting her weapon up and pointing it towards him accusingly. To her great frustration, he laughed at her, falling back so his puppy jumped off to the floor.

"Are you mocking me?!" she demanded, swinging her fan at him, creating a stiff wind that forced the Inuzuka to plant his feet firmly on the ground to keep from being blown away, even as dust from the previous matches got kicked up, making a small cloud on the arena floor. When it passed, he held up his hand, getting Temari to pause her attack for a moment.

"Sorry, sorry, heh, I wasn't laughing at you being a girl. You see that pink haired girl up there?" he said, pointing a thumb behind him, Temari, backing away so she could keep him in her sight, looked up to find a pink haired girl grinning down at her while cracking her knuckles.

"That's Sakura, she's on my team, and right now, I think she's the strongest of us all in terms of raw strength," he explained, and Sakura giggled in a very girly way, before bringing her foot down on the wall. Said foot caused a shudder Temari could feel from where she was, and it even caused a large crack to form beneath her, making the Sand-Nin's eyes bug out before she took control of herself.

"Yeah, you see, I don't have any issues with you being a girl, and if I did, Sakura would totally twist me into a pretzel," he explained.

"Then why are you so confident I won't be a challenge?" she asked, and he grinned at her, holding up two fingers in front of him.

"Well, first off, because you're a weapon user. I know your type, I fought plenty of them at the border a month or so ago. You guys depend on those big tools you lug around everywhere. You need them, or your style just doesn't work right. At least with Tenten, she can use a lot of weapons, you guys need that specific one," he said this while pointing his free hand towards her fan, and Temari almost seemed to hold the weapon defensively against her, as she folded it back up, not disputing his point, but also not admitting it.

"And what's the second reason?" she demanded, and his grin turned feral.

"Because Akamaru's already behind you, and he's gonna take your weapon," he said, and Temari spun on her heels, bringing her fan out in an offensive posture. Before she could send a blast of wind at the puppy though, she felt a pair of strong hands grab her, as Kiba shot forward, and then grabbed at the fan. At the same moment, a pair of very tiny, but powerful, jaws latched onto her wrist causing her grip to weaken. The result was clear, as Kiba flipped end over end, landing just behind her, her fan now in his grip.

"Yeah, like that," he said as he turned towards her. Temari quickly looked at him, then at her fan, and then considered her options carefully. She was a Suna-nin, a class of ninja not known for giving up easily. At the same time, she was also trained well enough to know when a fight was unwinnable, and as galling as it was, Temari knew she didn't have the power to win this fight without her fan.

Even more galling was how easily that had worked on her, thanks in part to her anger. He'd made her mad first, and then using the cover of the dust she herself had kicked up to hide the dog getting off. After that he'd distracted her, getting her to turn around like that. If she'd been thinking more clearly, she would have jumped, not turned, but he'd gotten her so riled up that she had acted on instinct rather than training.

"You're smarter than you look," she said at last, a smile coming to her lips as she realized she'd been beaten by brains, not brawn, and then held up both hands.

"I concede," she declared, and her name faded, while Kiba's name shone brightly on the board. Twin howls came from the boy and his dog, who walked forward, and held out his hands. Returning the fan, before the two went back to the balcony to watch the remaining matches.


End file.
