The next morning found Naruto up bright and early as he decided now was the time to start his training. Rather than going to his usual training ground forty three, he had decided to head into the Forest of Death so that the chances of people actually seeing his jutsu were nil. Using one of the many clearings he knew of that had a low probability of the Forest's creatures trying to kill him, Naruto set up a basic genjutsu/fuuinjutsu around the area, as well as a Security seal to alert him on the off chance that someone did actually enter his sanctuary.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared Naruto found himself with not his standard three hundred clones, but instead five hundred clones. He scratched the back of his head in confusion, What the hell? I didn't use enough chakra to make five hundred clones. So why…?
'Did you forget Naruto?' Kyuubi spoke up from within the seal.
Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion as the vixen's voice entered his mind, 'What do you mean Kyuubi? Am I forgetting something?'
Kyuubi resisted the urge to sigh, 'You're a Hanyou now. That means you are not using chakra but youki, or at least a variant of youki. Due to its potency, you do not need as much to get the same effect from one of your jutsu.'
'That's right! You said something about that…hehe, I guess I forgot!'
Within the seal Kyuubi rolled her eyes, 'Obviously.'
Naruto frowned as he looked at the extra Kage Bunshin, 'So what do I do now? I mean, I don't need the extra two hundred clones…'
'Didn't Hatake give you a scroll?' Kyuubi asked, 'It may have something your clones can do in it.'
Naruto blinked, 'Oh right…' he reached into his pouch where he had put the scroll yesterday. He looked at it for a moment before unrolling it and reading its contents.
Naruto,
I made this for Hokage-sama to give to you when you woke up. First off, I would like to tell you how proud I am of you for beating an opponent as fearsome as Gaara. Though I would recommend you be less reckless next time it would save some of us a heart attack, that being said, good job.
It was here that both Naruto and Kyuubi sweatdropped as they saw a chibi drawing of Kakashi giving them an eye smile and holding up one of his hands in the peace sign. Shaking his head Naruto continued to read.
Now I have started training Sasuke for this month because in all honesty I feel he needs it more than you do. However, I don't want you to be left out or think that I have forgotten about you. Which I why I have written down several jutsu on this scroll for you to learn, jutsu that you won't be able to get anywhere in Konoha due to the fact that I copied many of them during the war. I know that your elemental affinity is for wind, however that does not mean you can't learn jutsu from other elements, it will just take more chakra. There are four jutsu for each element, as well as a few non-elemental jutsu that I feel will prove useful to you.
Good luck with your training and I hope to see how you do in the finals.
Kakashi
On the bottom of the scroll Naruto found a list of twenty four different jutsu ranging from E-rank to B-rank; four from each element, each giving an E, D, C and B-ranked jutsu, and then four non-elemental jutsu of the same ranking.
'Well at least he didn't leave me high an' dry eh Kyuubi?' Naruto chuckled a bit. He knew the real reason Kakashi had to train Sasuke, having finished his reading on shinobi politics several months ago he knew that the council would be on his sensei's back to train the Uchiha heir. And as Konoha's 'demon brat' they would raise hell if Kakashi took time to train him.
'It's better than nothing,' Kyuubi replied, she did not much care for jutsu but as they were what humans used they could be useful to Naruto.
Well at least now I know what to have my extra clones do.
Naruto looked up at his clones and began to give orders, "Alright guys, I want three hundred of you to separate and do our original routine! The rest of you are going to grab this scroll and work on some jutsu. I want you to choose one, and then work on it with fifteen clones at a time until they dispel. Rotate like that every time a group dispels or learns the jutsu! Start from D-rank and work your way up."
"Ossu!" The clones shouted as they went off to do their thing.
With the clones off to do their training Naruto decided to speak with Kyuubi about his own training, 'Ok, so what are you going to be teaching me Kyuubi?'
'Teach you?' Kyuubi asked and though Naruto could not see it, he could imagine the sly smirk on her face, 'Who ever said I would teach you?'
'Kyuubi…'Naruto warned as he really did not want to deal with her when she was like this.
'Alright fine…' Kyuubi sighed, a part of her was angry that he wasn't letting her play. Before the chain of events that led her to being sealed inside of a human vessel, she had always played with words when using her charms and looks to 'woo' men as it were, though she had figured that Naruto may not appreciate her natural tendencies for the moment, so she decided to let it go.
'The first thing I am going to teach you is the first technique I ever made. It's called a Youki whip. Essentially it's a whip made of youki that you use to slash or tie up objects. Depending on how good you get the power behind the attack can be low powered enough to leave only light bruises, or be so strong that it can cut through even the toughest metals.'
'And this is your first technique?' Naruto asked incredulously, 'Remind me to never get on your bad side.'
Kyuubi smirked, 'I don't think it would work. You seem to get on my bad side no matter what I say.'
'Ouch,' Naruto winced, 'that was harsh, though the same can be said for you.'
'Touché.'
'Alright so this technique, how does it work?' asked Naruto wanting to get started.
'Right well the key to using this technique is rather simple. All you need to do is channel youki to one of your fingers and then will your energy to 'extend' outward. The length of the whip can vary depending on how long you want it and how much youki you put in it. The only difficulty that you may have is maintaining the shape. The shape of the whip needs to be perfectly smooth and of the same thickness everywhere, which will also be the same radius as your finger, yet it must also be completely flexible so that it's pliant enough to use like one would a normal whip. Now I want you to begin, use the trees to practice on.'
'Got it Kyuubi,' Naruto channeled some of his youki into his left pointer finger, watching in fascination as the energy surrounded his finger. He had not noticed it before but it due to his energy now being a perfect blend of chakra and youki, the color of it had gone from a deep blue to a royal purple. He shook his head and refocused his thoughts on the forming a whip.
Several tendrils appeared and coalesced together around his finger before extending out to form a whip, which began to pool at Naruto's feet. The spiky haired blond lashed out at one of the trees, but was disappointed when it fizzled out before it hit.
Frowning he tried again, several tries later and he was no closer to getting the technique to work, 'What the hell? Why didn't it work?'
Within the seal Kyuubi gave a thoughtful frown as she resisted the urge to laugh at Naruto and instead watched him work on the technique, 'It seems you don't have enough control over your youki to form the whip like this. Try using your index and pointer finger.'
Naruto nodded and followed Kyuubi's advice, the purple energy formed again and the tendrils reformed before taking the shape of a whip. It was noticeably thicker this time, and when Naruto lashed out at the tree it left a small gash across the surface.
'Hmmm, not bad for a first timer, especially since you've only just recently switched from using chakra to youki,' Kyuubi complimented as she observed the damage done through Naruto's eyes. She paused for a moment as she thought of what to say next. Should she tell him what he did wrong? Or should she maybe she should just have him move on to another exercise since he could at least form the whip?
Damn it! This is harder than I thought, Kyuubi complained as she tried to think of how she should talk to the blond. Truth was she was still weary of his power; it was not as strong as hers of course. But it had still been very strong, and with this new mutation on the seal that held her she was limited in what she could actually do; were it to come down to a fight now Kyuubi was not sure if she would win.
'Kyuubi?' Naruto called as he waited for the red-head to elaborate.
'Huh?' Kyuubi snapped out of her thoughts before realizing that Naruto was calling her. 'Oh, erm… sorry, I was distracted by something.'
Naruto frowned but decided not to question Kyuubi for the moment, 'It's alright, so do you have any advice for me?'
'Not at the moment no, it will just take practice to master,' Kyuubi paused as she attempted to gather her thoughts, 'I think that's fine for the moment Naruto, I just wanted you to get an idea of the technique for now. I want you to continue your physical training instead, and come back to this later.'
Naruto nodded and looked down at his weights. Since he no longer had to constantly have them on to keep in shape he had turned them off. Deciding on a weight Naruto began channeling youki through them.
He gave a surprised yelp as his entire body crashed into the ground, creating a crater where he impacted. What the hell!
For several seconds he tried to get back up only to find it impossible. Fuck! I forgot I don't need as much youki as I do chakra!
He heard a giggle in his mind and growled a bit while blushing from embarrassment. He looked at his left arm and groaned.
Six hundred pounds.
Damn it! No wonder these are so heavy! Naruto struggled to move one of his hands so he could drop the weights and restart. It took several minutes but he was eventually able to get the weights to a good setting of 180 lbs. for his arms, 200 lbs. for his legs.
Nodding his satisfaction he looked at his resistance training seals. Those had not been removed since he wanted to keep his true speed hidden unless needed. Right now they were still at level four. Since his body had already adapted thanks to his transformation he decided to change the seal to level five. When he was less experienced he probably would have changed it several settings higher so that he could faster, well, faster.
But having learned that everything was like a stepping stone when training Naruto made sure to master each level with and without the seal on, that way he could function without tunnel vision when he was no longer using it.
Satisfied with the amount of difficulty he had, Naruto began his workout.
For the rest of the week this was how Naruto's routine went. Having his clone work on their usual routines of chakra control, wind manipulation, which had become more of keeping himself in form since he had no more exercises he could do right now. Taijutsu and fuuinjutsu, which had now become his clones' brainstorming and attempting to make their own seals to use; he had several projects which were starting to bear fruit, and it was his hope he would be able to put them to use in combat.
His other two hundred clones continued working on the jutsu list he had, it was his hope that he would be able to get down at least a fourth of the jutsu in it before the month ended. Of course it was much harder to learn most of them because he did not have an affinity for some of them, but with the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu he was able to make steady progress.
Other than that he continued his physical exercises and worked on the chakra whip himself. He could have made clones of course, but for some reason he felt that Kyuubi's techniques should be learned by him and not a clone. Maybe it was something to do with his pride? He still managed to make good progress and had begun working on changing the density and power behind the whip.
He continued doing all of this until Friday, when he had his date with Tenten.
Naruto entered the Higarashi weapons store to pick up Tenten for their date. He had decided to wear civilian clothes for the occasion, which consisted of khaki colored pants, a white button up shirt with the Konoha insignia on the back, and a pair of black shoes. Even is head band was at home, letting his spiky hair hang freely to fall into his eyes.
"Naruto-san," Kaito said as he spotted the blond shinobi. "I assume you're here to pick up Tenten for her date?"
Naruto gulped when he sensed the warning tone in Kaito's voice, "Yes sir."
Kaito nodded, "Tenten! Get down, your date's here!"
"DAD!" The embarrassed shout came from upstairs.
Chuckling a bit Kaito looked back at Naruto before his expression turned serious, "Before you go on this date with my daughter I have a word of advice for you…treat her right, or I'll give a first-hand personal demonstration on how well my weapons work."
Naruto paled a bit at the implied threat, he had of course been threatened before, but something about the tone in Kaito's voice said he would really go through with it, and probably enjoy it too.
"You don't need to worry Kaito-san, I would never do anything bad to Ten-chan, or let anything bad happen to her." Naruto replied, mustering up his courage, which seemed to have fled during Kaito's threat.
"That's good to hear." Kaito laughed, causing Naruto to blink as the tension disappeared, "I rather like you, much more than that Neji boy she seemed so obsessed with before. So it would have been a shame to kill you."
Not sure whether Kaito was being honest with that last comment or not, Naruto decided it would be best to just nod and put it in the 'scares the shit out of me' category of his brain.
A few minutes later Tenten came down the stairs, "Sorry for taking so long Naruto-kun." She said as she came the rest of the way down the stairs and looked at Naruto. She blushed a bit, "You look really nice, I feel kind of underdressed with what you're wearing."
"Thanks," Naruto grinned as he looked down at his clothes, then back up at Tenten's. She wasn't wearing much different, the only difference being her shirt, which was still a Chinese-style shirt, but green with a gold dragon coiled around the left side and a little longer, going down to her mid-thigh. "Doesn't matter, you look beautiful the way you are."
Tenten's blush deepened a bit but a smile came onto her face as she looked away bashfully, not used to someone actually complimenting her on her looks.
Naruto chuckled, this was one of the few times he was somewhat grateful for the Icha Icha books and Anko's continuous teasing and her reading of said books to him. He held out his arm and smiled, "Shall we go?"
Tenten smiled as she encircled his arm with both of her own, "I'll see you later dad!"" Tenten called as she and Naruto left.
"Make sure you're back by 10:00!" Kaito yelled after them. He watched the door closed before sighing in worry. "Great, first she wants to be a ninja and now she wants to date…at this rate I'll probably die of a heart attack sometime in the next few years."
As the pair walked down the village Naruto made sure to engage Tenten in as much conversation as possible. Reason being? He did not want the bun haired girl to notice all of the hostile looks he was currently getting. When he had first gotten back from the preliminaries he had gotten looks of curiosity and even a few that reminded him of the kinds he got from the girls back in Nami No Kuni. However that had only lasted for a few days until people realized who he was, then it was right back to glaring.
And because he did not want to ruin Tenten's date with any negative connotations, and that she had not been with him in public, he made sure to keep her attention away from the civilian populace.
They entered the small restaurant and Tenten led Naruto over to one of the booths that lined the walls. Picking up a menu Naruto waited nervously for someone to take their order. Not because this could technically be considered a first date, no he had been pretty much desensitized to that thanks to a mixture of Anko and his time spent with Haku in Nami. He was sure that if it were just that, he would not be nervous at all.
What made him worry was the fact that he was not entirely sure the people here would sell him anything. He had only ever been able to eat at Ichiraku's, hence the reason it and by proxy, ramen, had become his all-time favorite food, aside from the fact that he loved the delectable noodles.
Naruto turned his head when he noticed a waitress come over to their table. He also noticed when she stiffened and turned a glare upon seeing him.
"Can I take you order miss?" the waitress asked in a stiff voice.
Tenten frowned as she heard the odd inflection in the woman's tone, but could not ascertain as to what it could be for, "Yes I would like Udon with chicken and a side of vegetables please."
The woman nodded, "Your order will be right up." She very swiftly turned around and began to walk away.
However Tenten immediately noticed a problem, "Excuse me, but you didn't get my friend's order."
The woman stopped for all but a moment before continuing on.
"Hey!" Tenten shouted as she stood up, and Naruto noticed she was quickly gathering attention to them. "Are you listening to me!"
"No I heard you." The woman said, turning around, "However, we don't serve…his kind here!" She hissed as she pointed at Naruto, spitting out the word his like it was some kind of vile toxin.
Naruto winced as he noticed the attention that had now been turned onto him, which all became glares as soon as they realized who he was. Tenten had not yet noticed this however as she glared at the woman, "What do you mean his kind! Do you have some kind of problem with him!"
"Tenten," Naruto said in a low voice, hoping to get her to stop drawing attention to them.
However Tenten was not listening at the moment, being far too incensed that some bitch was being an ass to her friend, "Because if you do have a problem then I'll-"
"Tenten!" Naruto said a little firmer as he grabbed her hand. Said girl looked down at him to see him shake his head, "There's no need to cause a scene. Just let them give you your food and we can go somewhere else."
Tenten frowned as she looked at him, "But Naruto-ku-"
"Tenten please," Naruto said, his eyes no longer showing the confident borderline cocky person he had become. Right now they were pleading, "Please don't get worked up about this over me… I'm used to this."
That last statement, said in such desperation made Tenten grit her teeth, "No, if they're not going to treat you, then I don't want to waste my money with this establishment." She reversed their grip so she was no grabbing his hand and pulled the blond up, "C'mon we're leaving."
She did not leave any room for argument as she handily dragged Naruto away, slamming the door open on her way out.
"The nerve of those people!" Tenten huffed as she pulled the blond along, "I can't believe they would so blatantly refuse a customer! What kind of idiots are they!"
Naruto did not speak up until Tenten had finished her rant, "I'm sorry Ten-chan…"
Tenten looked at him with an odd expression in her eyes, "Why would you be sorry? None of this is your fault."
Oh it is, you just don't know it. Naruto did not voice this out lout and instead asked, "Maybe we should just head home."
"You want to cancel our date?" Tenten asked in surprise, "Nothing's been ruined, we just have to go to another establishment."
Naruto winced, "No…it wouldn't matter if we went to another establishment. They would do the same thing, some might not even let me in…"
"What do you mean?" asked Tenten, confused.
"I mean it's like this everywhere I go," Naruto spoke, keeping his head down so that his hair covered his eyes. "Haven't you ever wondered why the only place I ever took you was Ichiraku's? Or why I always meet you there instead of pick you up? Or why whenever we hung out after our spars I would just find a spot in the training field to sit at?"
Tenten frowned. Truthfully she had never thought of that, in fact, she had not even noticed. But now that he had brought it up it was easy to see he did do all those things. As she began to replay all the times she had spent together with the blond, she began to notice another thing.
The people around Naruto were giving them a wide berth. She cast a discreet glance towards one of the people who were passing and frowned at seeing them glaring at Naruto. Because her dad had never hated the blond, she had never been subject to the prejudice that had been raised against him. Oh she had noticed that he was not well liked in the academy, no matter what grade you were in everyone had heard of the prankster king from hell, Uzumaki Naruto. But she had always thought that the whispered mutterings when academy instructors would talk about him or when the civilians would occasionally talk about him were for a prank he would pull.
Naruto had not done any pranks since he graduated. And yet the people here were glaring at him, not just glaring at him, but glaring at him with enough hate that it made her shiver and it wasn't even being directed at her.
She looked over at Naruto who had not moved since he had spoken. He looked extremely vulnerable right now. She wanted to ask him why he was hated but decided a more private place would be better suited for a talk like this.
Grabbing his hand again she pulled him along until they were well enough from the more crowded streets. Sighing she stopped and turned around to face Naruto again.
"Naruto…what was all that about?" she asked, trying to get a look at his eyes. "Those people, why were they so…?" she wasn't even sure what to call it. Hateful? Vengeful? The emotion was too intense to really come up with an appropriate word.
"I'm sorry." Naruto whispered, "I can't tell you…"
"Why not?" Tenten asked with a frown, "I'm your friend aren't I? Don't I deserve to know these things about you?"
Naruto could not hold in the wince, "I…please don't make me tell you…"
"So you're not going to tell me? Do you not trust me?"
"No!" Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at her, "Of course I trust you!"
"Then why won't you tell me!" Tenten shouted, frustrated with how the blond was acting.
"Because I…" Naruto shook his head and began again, "There are things about me that you simply don't know… things that will change your opinion about me if you do know."
He saw her open her mouth but forestalled her with a hand, "Even if you accept what I say, it would still change your opinion. It may be a positive influence, but it may also be a negative influence. But no matter what happens it will change what you think and feel about me. I haven't told you this, but you were the very first friend my age that I made and I don't want to lose that friendship."
Tenten's eyes widened at the new knowledge. She had not realized that. Naruto seemed like such a likable person, sure he was kind of loud and tended to say more then he should, but he had toned it down since she had first met him when he wore that hideous orange jumpsuit into the store. To hear that he had no friends until her was both surprising and sad.
"I still think you should let me know," She said at last.
Naruto sighed, "I can't… not yet." She was about to protest but stilled her mouth when he said yet. "I promise I'll... I'll tell you after the Chunin Exams…I know it won't make that much difference but, but this isn't something I can just come out and tell someone."
"Why?"
"Because it's something I only just found out about six months ago," Naruto replied. "I'm still kind of trying to deal with this knowledge myself. It also happens to be an S-class village secret that will get anyone but me executed if they even talk about it."
Tenten had not thought she could be any more surprised than she had been before, but this new one threw her for a loop.
"So before I tell you, I want you to think about whether you feel it's really worth knowing. This will also give me the chance to…gather up my courage, so to speak." Naruto looked down at his feet, "I know it might not seem like it makes a difference, but I..."
"I doubt a month will change my desire to know, " Tenten said, interupting the blond with a shake of her head. When Naruto looked back up at her she smiled, "But if it will make you feel better, I'll wait,"
Naruto smiled, "Thank you, and… I'm sorry for ruining our date."
"Who said our date is ruined?" Tenten asked with a grin, grabbing his arm again and walking towards a specific part of town. "We may not be able to go to some restaurant, but I know this great ramen stand we can go to."
Naruto chuckled a bit as he felt relief that Tenten was willing to wait for him, and still wanted to go on this date despite the terrible start they had with it.
That decided they had gone out to Ichiraku's before Naruto had escorted Tenten back home. He was supremely grateful that Tenten's dad was somewhere in the back of the store when he and Tenten arrived, because he was sure the man would castrate him if he saw Tenten giving him a kiss, even if it was on the cheek.
If for no other reason than that, Naruto had decided that the date was a success. And so many people got to watch in shock and a small amount of fear as Naruto danced back to his house, laughing like a madman.
For the Saturday Naruto had continued his training until Sunday, the day he normally let his body rest and the day he had a date with Yugito. Learning what he could and working on his physical fitness and jutsu. There was only one issue that had come up and that was when the blond had noticed Kyuubi acting distant, well more distant than usual.
Flashback…
(Saturday)
Naruto grinned in satisfaction as he watched the tree fall to the forest floor as it was sliced all the way through. It was one of the small trees that seemed to line the bottom of the forest, but it was still a decent size. 'Yes! I think I got this technique down Kyuubi. It's too bad I can't test it on steel, but I really don't know where I would get some for such a random purpose. So what's next?'
He waited a few seconds but frowned when Kyuubi didn't answer him. 'Kyuubi?' Naruto called her name several more times and when none of it got her to answer decided to travel into the seal.
Naruto found himself standing outside of Kyuubi's small hut when he entered his mind. He walked up to the door and knocked on it a few times. When he still got know answer he knocked again, and frowned when he still got no answer.
Despite his slight fear of getting on the red-head's bad side he opened the door and walked in. he spotted Kyuubi as soon as he entered. She was lying on her large velvety bed, facing away from him. He knew she already knew he was here and so didn't bother masking his presence as he walked up to the bed. He crawled onto the bed and sat next to the vixen's slowly breathing form.
"Kyuubi, I know you're awake." Naruto said, watching her for any movement, "What's eating you? Normally you would have at the very least insulted me by now…"
"Nothing," Kyuubi said, however Naruto noted that her voice was distant.
"You can't lie to me. In fact you're the worst liar I've ever had the pleasure of meeting." Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and noticed it stiffen, "now why don't you tell me what's wrong."
However Kyuubi was unable to answer as her mind was focused on the hand Naruto had placed on her shoulder. There was an unusual warmth radiating from the hand that had spread from her shoulder and through the rest of Kyuubi's body. That, combined with her shock at someone actually touching her, having the gull to touch her, left her speechless.
"Kyuubi?" Naruto continued to shake her, wondering what the hell was up with the woman, she had never acted like this before. "C'mon…tell me what's wrong; you know I can't really work on the stuff you want me to if you're not even around to critique me."
It took a few seconds, but after a moment Kyuubi seemed to relax and turned around to look at the blond, "Look, nothing's wrong I'm just… not feeling up to doing anything today."
"Are you upset because of what happened yesterday?" asked Naruto, taking a shot in the dark. However when he saw Kyuubi look away he knew he had hit the nail on the head, "That's it isn't it? The way that waitress treated me bothers you doesn't it?"
Kyuubi scowled, "Of course not! Why would I care about how some foolish humans treat you? The only thing that I care about is that you allowed such trash to treat you like that!"
Rather than get angry Naruto just smirked, "If that was what you were concerned about you wouldn't act so distant." His smirk widened as Kyuubi looked away, "I'm right aren't I? It bothered you to see how she treated me." The blond shook his head, "you know I'm surprised, you never seemed to care about me being hated before."
Kyuubi frowned for a moment and for an instant her eyes showed a small flash of emotion that was too quick for Naruto to catch. A second later she scowled at the blond and sat on the bed facing away from the blond, "I don't care about you, or how you're treated beyond how it reflects on me… now leave."
"Fine," Naruto stood up and was about to leave before deciding to pass a parting comment. "You know, I don't blame you for what happened anymore. Sure I may still hold some resentment towards you, but you seem to be just as much a victim as me... and I guess everyone, even you deserve a second chance. Consider this yours."
Kyuubi's eyes widened and she turned around only to see Naruto had already left.
Flashback end…
After that little incident Naruto had left Kyuubi alone, and eventually she came back as if nothing had happened. Though even though they had tried to get back on track, both had noticed a small shift in their relationship, though neither could tell what it meant.
After that Sunday had rolled around, which was the date Naruto had a date with Yugito.
"This is really nice," Yugito commented as she and Naruto sat by one of the lakes that could be found in Konoha's many parks. "There's almost no vegetation in Kumo, so I don't often get to enjoy nature like this. It's really beautiful here."
Naruto smiled, "I suppose it is. I've lived here my whole life so I guess I've taken it for granted." The blond slurped up some of the noodle goodness that Yugito had brought for him, "Mmmmm. Ramen…"
Wanting to do something she had never gotten to do in Kumo, Yugito had decided that she wanted to go on a picnic. When Naruto had met up with her she had already gotten all of the food prepared, some of which included Naruto's favorite noodle dish.
"I don't know how you managed to guess my favorite food and I don't care," Naruto moaned in appreciation. "If you're trying to get on my good side, I'd say you succeeded the moment I smelled this delectable dish."
Yugito choked on her food a bit as she began laughing, "Actually it was no guess. It was rather easy to find out what you liked and buy it. After all, 'gathering accurate information is necessary for a shinobi' right?" she said in her best Naruto voice.
"Hardy har har," Naruto grunted in sarcasm, before slurping up more ramen. "You're just lucky I have this ramen so I can't stay mad at you."
"Aww. Are you saying you would be mad at me?" Yugito gave him the puppy dog eyes…kitten eyes, which on her exotic feline eyes looked incredible sexy, "I was only teasing."
Naruto blushed a bit but still favored her with a grin, "Well…I guess I wouldn't be too mad if I didn't have ramen."
Yugito matched his grin with her own before taking a bite out of her tekkadon, "We both know that you wouldn't be able to stay mad at all. I've only known for a little while but I know you're too sweet to stay mad at me."
"Don't look too into it. I just can't stand the thought of making such a pretty girl cry," Naruto huffed as he looked away, grinning when Yugito began to giggle "Hey Yugi-chan, I was wondering something?"
"Hmmm?" Yugito hummed around a mouthful of food.
"While I only saw a little bit of your ability, you strike me as someone who is way too skilled to be just a Genin."
Yugito smirked, "What makes you say that?"
"Well for one, your walk. It's the same kind of walk I've seen in many of the Jonin-senseis and a few other veteran ninja I know. You act more confident than the average Genin as well, and unlike the average Genin you don't hold any of their arrogance. There was also the speed you used in that battle with Kiba, the only person I know who is that fast besides myself is Lee, and I get the feeling you were holding back. That technique you used as well also looked like a very high level jutsu and complicated." Naruto listed off, "So I was just wondering, how are you still a Genin?"
Yugito debated on not telling him before shrugging, it didn't really matter in the end whether he knew or not, and the Raikage had not specifically told her not to tell anyone, "Truthfully I'm not. I was just never technically given Jonin status, or even Chunin status. Most of my younger life was spent training, and after that the Sandaime Raikage wanted me to gain more experience and had sent me out on solo missions…" There was a small pause and Naruto frowned as he saw a fleeting moment where pain had been evident in her eyes.
I guess she wasn't always respected in Kumo, Naruto thought to himself.
Not sure what to do he gave Yugito's hand a small squeeze, causing her to smile before turning back to what they were talking about, "I'm sure you know how important these exams are, and not just for the genin but for their village."
Naruto nodded, "I understand a bit of the politics and economics involved." He looked at her as he thought about what she was saying, "So you're here to basically showcase Kumo's power, and in turn, get more jobs for your village. Being held in Konoha is just a bonus since we were once enemies, this shows that your village's ninja can survive even under hostile conditions."
"Something like that." Yugito smiled, "You know, you don't like to act it often, but you're pretty smart."
"Meh, I studied hard. I actually don't pick this stuff up easily; I had to really work my ass off to learn anything, especially this kind of political crap." Naruto grimaced as he remembered all of the studying he had to do, "It took a while, but I'm pleased to say that for the dead last of his graduating class, I've done pretty damn well."
"You were a dead last?" Yugito asked, not believing it.
Naruto nodded, "Unlike in Kumo where you actually received ninja training, my training was stunted by bigots who didn't want the demon to become too powerful." He shrugged, "That was another part of the reason I did so many pranks you know? I figured if I'm not gonna get the chance to learn anything in class because of the teachers constantly sending me out on trumped up charges, I might as well do something that would actually get me in trouble to make it worth my while."
Yugito shook her head, sometimes human stupidity tended to amaze her, "Then that just shows how strong you really are, as well as how much potential you have. How long have you been a Genin?"
"Six months," Naruto answered.
"Six months…" Yugito whispered. Now that was shocking to her. She had him pegged at maybe a little under her in strength without her using the Nibi, and she was pretty damn good, on par with ninja of the level around Hatake Kakashi if not better. For him to grow this strong in six months was unbelievable. She smiled at him, "I guess you really do have potential."
Naruto beamed in pride, feeling pleased that someone else acknowledged him. Even if she was from another village, "Of course! After all, I am going to be Hokage one day."
For the next hour or so of their time at the lake the two blonds talked about anything and everything they could think of. Yugito even surprised Naruto by unsealing a shamisen and playing for him, he had to admit she was very good. After her performance he had asked her if she would be willing to teach him, after all he figured it would be nice to have a hobby. When she agreed Naruto had once again been surprised, shocked and embarrassed when she had decided to teach him with a more hands on approach.
Yugito had made him sit with his back against her chest while she used his hands to show him the keys. Of course he could not even think about what keys were what or what notes they made. The only thing that had been on his mind were the feel of her amazingly firm and rather sizable bust pressing into his back, and the feel of her deceptively soft hands over his. By the end of their picnic Naruto knew nothing about playing a shamisen. However he did know that it would be next to impossible for him to deny that he was not a pervert, or at least very close to one.
After their picnic Naruto had offered to walk his fellow blond to her apartment, which she accepted with a grateful smile.
"I had a lot of fun today Naruto-kun," Yugito said as she turned around to face him. "Perhaps if we have some more free time before the finals we can do this again?"
"Y-yeah," Naruto replied, the blush that had been on his face since his 'music lessons' had still not faded. "I would love to spend some more time with you."
Yugito smiled as she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, right on top of his whisker marks, making it feel like he was on fire. When Yugito moved away Naruto saw the smirk on her face and knew she was aware of what that did to him. How she knew that particular bit of information he did not know, but he secretly vowed to get her back somehow on their next date.
As he left the apartment he was unaware of Kyuubi watching what his date like a movie. 'Some of those moves she put over him were pretty good.'
She did not want to admit it but that cat woman was pretty decent at seduction techniques, even if she was being… gentler with Naruto so as not to push him away.
'Maybe I could do something like that to get him to listen to me more,' she thought about that for a second before deciding it wouldn't work. 'If I did that he would realize what I was doing, and I still don't know how this seal works so I have no clue if he can restrict my powers or not. Best not risk it…'
What she did not admit, even to herself, was that the thought of doing something that may make Naruto lose what little trust he had in her left her feeling sick to her stomach.
(The Next Day)
"299… 300 *Pant*… *Pant*." Naruto dropped onto the ground as he finished his physical training. With his demonic ability to regenerate any damage done he had taken to increasing his weights every time he trained, pushing his body far harder than he had before. Naruto grunted as he lifted himself into a sitting position and dropped the weight. He leaned back on his hands as he took a quick breather.
'Time to get back to work Naruto,' Kyuubi commented, smirking as she watched the blond work up a sweat.
Naruto grunted in acknowledgement as he stood up on somewhat wobbly legs, 'Am I going to be working on the youki whip?'
'No, you've actually got a fairly good grasp on it. It's not perfect, but you can continue working on it later. It's time to work on the next technique I want you to have. It's called Kitsune-bi (Fox Fire), it's a powerful flame I created that, at its strongest it can match those of Amaterasu. And before you ask, yes, it is the one I made around your hands when you fought Gaara. To start, I want you to build a fire since it's easier manipulate then it is to create.'
Naruto did as asked, making a small fire pit and creating a fire with a basic Katon jutsu. 'Ok, so what now?'
'Now I want you to send youki to your chest and mouth as you inhale. And then when you exhale, send all of your youki towards your mouth and into the flame.'
Naruto did as instructed, channeling his youki into his chest and mouth. When he felt he had a decent amount he exhaled, sending the youki into the flame. Naruto watched with an odd fascination as the flames went from red and orange, to ghostly blue and dark blue.
"YATTA!" Naruto shouted as he jumped into the air, "I got it!"
'No you didn't,' Kyuubi decided to burst his bubble. 'You managed to increase the flames strength however that's all you did. First you need to maintain the flame, and then you need to increase its power. Remember I said at its hottest my flames could compete with the black flames of Amaterasu, when you manage to master the Kitsune-bi the color of your flames will be white, the anti-thesis of the black flames. Now, try again and this time, maintain the fire.'
Naruto blinked before his shoulders slumped, 'Fine…'
'You don't sound very enthusiastic Naruto. Should I take that as a sign you don't want to learn?'
Naruto's eyes widened, 'N-no! I do!' The techniques he was learning were far too good for him to pass up, no matter who he learned them from.
Kyuubi snickered a bit, kami it was so fun to rile the blond up sometimes, 'Alright then, get to work.'
For the next week this was his focus. He would do his morning workout, then he would work on the Kitsune-bi, afterwards he would work on the Youki whip some more, then cool down with his afternoon workout. His training had eventually started to become so intense that Naruto was forced to keep a Kage Bunshin on hand so it could drag him back to the apartment, since on most cases, Naruto was simply too tired to move, or had already lost consciousness.
(Six Days Later… Sunday)
It had been a full two weeks since the one month training period had started and Naruto had finally decided to follow Sarutobi's advice and head over to the hot springs. He was thankful when the person working the front desk was a female who looked to be around his age, meaning she did not know about his tenant and would not refuse him entrance.
He entered the hot spring area clad only in a towel. He gave a loud sigh of relief as he entered the hot water and leaned against a rock; having never been to a hot spring before it was definitely a novel experience.
I'm soo going to have to come here again, He thought as he stretched himself out, feeling his muscles loosen under the hot waters.
Closing his eyes Naruto drifted off for a bit, letting the soothing warmth send him to sleep.
Only to be awakened several minutes later by the sound of giggling.
He opened his eyes and glanced in the direction the sound was coming from, where he saw a white haired man dressed in kabuki clothing with a large scroll strapped to his lower back, hiding in a small bush as he peeked through a crack into the women's side of the hot springs and scribbled furiously into a notepad.
Now having spent as much time as he had with Anko, Naruto did not particularly care about perverts. His belief was that if a female can be as perverted as Anko was, then it was perfectly acceptable for a male, after all, fair is fair. However because of his hyperactive senses, the blond shinobi found that all he could hear was that blasted perverted giggle and the man's pen furiously scribbling on his note pad. And it was beginning to fray on the last of Naruto's nerves.
'Hey Kyuubi, wanna see a prank?' asked Naruto as an idea to deal with the pervert popped into his head.
'A prank?' Kyuubi perked up, while she was not really much of a prankster herself, a part of her had enjoyed watching Naruto do them; it had been one of the few things she had found amusing when the blond was younger, 'Sure…what do you have in mind?'
Naruto snickered, 'You'll see.'
Naruto went through a few hand signs before disappearing in a puff of smoke, before turning into Naruko. Standing up Naruko walked over to where the old white haired man was scribbling away, using all the stealth skills she had picked up from out running the ANBU in her youth.
She grinned as she felt Jiraiya stiffen in surprise when she slid her arms around his neck, and then shock when he felt the feminine assets smash up against his back.
"How would you like to see a woman up close, instead of peeking from a distance," Naruko said in a seductive voice.
"Hehehehe." The white haired man grinned, blood dribbling down his nose, "Oh yeah! Come to pappa! I knew one of you ladies would be unable to keep your hands off me!"
The old white haired man spun around, however as soon as the man was facing her, Naruko smashed a fist under his chin. The old pervert let out a yell as he was launched into the air and fell back down, on the other side of the hot springs.
"EEK! PERVERT!"
SMASH!
"TAKE THAT YOU PERVERT!"
CRACK! BASH!
"HOW DARE YOU!"
BAM! POW! WAM!
"LADIES! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! AAAIYYEEEE!"
Returning to his original form Naruto sat back down in the hot springs and smiled as the kabuki man flew back over the fence, hitting the ground hard where he began to occasionally twitch.
'Not bad Naruto,' Kyuubi said as she assessed the tactic,'I think it was overall good, but you could have done the whole Kitsune seductress act better, maybe have made him fly into the females side through a nosebleed. I give it an 8/10.'
'WHAT!C'mon Kyuubi,' Naruto whined. 'I've only done this a few times. Besides you saw what he was doing. I doubt seeing a naked chick would faze him, even one as hot as me.'
'Then that just means it needs more work,' Kyuubi said with some finality.
Naruto sighed; I just can't get a break…
'What was that Naruto?'
'N-nothing.'
"Ugh…" Naruto looked over to see the white haired man groaning as he sat up. "What hit me?"
"I believe it's called righteous female fists of fury," Naruto commented with a snicker. "Though from the looks of your wounds and that you're still conscious, it looks like you're used to getting this sort of punishment. And since it seems you're so used to this, I'd have to assume that your some kind of masochist and this is how you get your jollies."
The white haired man glared at Naruto, "Hey show some respect gaki! Do you know who I am?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Do I care?"
The man huffed however he quickly grinned. "Get ready gaki! From the east to the west…"
Naruto watched the man start hopping from foot to foot in a weird dance while he made some weird introduction. Sighing the whiskered blond did what he felt was the best thing to do at the time. He ignored him.
When the man was finished Naruto looked back at him with a bored expression, "I'm sorry did you say something?"
Kakashi suddenly looked away from Sasuke's training and pumped his fist into the air, "I knew I would get one of them one day!"
Sasuke just looked at his sensei like he was a complete idiot.
The white haired man immediately face faulted, "Were you even listening to me!"
Naruto picked at his ear, "Not really, no."
"You damn gaki! You need to learn to respect your elders! Especially one as great as me!" The man puffed up his chest.
"Respect is earned, not given," Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Besides, you don't seem to be much more than a pervert."
The man seemed to gain new life as he grinned at Naruto, "Ah! That's where you're wrong! I am not just a pervert! I am a SUPER PERVERT!"
"Did you girls hear that!"
"It's that pervert again! Let's get him!"
"Yeah!"
"Uh oh…" The man paled as he realized shouting that out in the hot springs may not have been the best. He looked back towards the blond, only to find him gone.
That was when he heard the fence to the other side of the hot springs get smashed open, and he turned to see the women, fully dressed in their clothes and holding bats.
And they were all wearing ANBU clothing.
The white haired man whimpered, "Mercy?"
Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha, making his way towards Ichiraku's after his trip to the hot springs was ruined by the arrival of the annoying white haired pervert. As he made his way to his favorite ramen stand he was stopped when a voice yelled out to him.
"Oi! Gaki!"
Naruto turned around to see the white haired man coming up to him, "What do you want?"
"You ruined my peeki- I mean research!" The man scowled at him.
"You mean peeking?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, "What's your point?"
"I expect you to apologize!"
Naruto blinked owlishly at the man before he started laughing, "Hahahah you can't…haha…you can't be serious! You expect me to apologize to you!"
The man's right eye twitched, "That's exactly what I expect you damn gaki! It's the least you could do for ruining my research!"
Laughing some more the blond shook his head, "There is no way I'll be doing that anytime soon. It's your fault for peeking into the women's side of the hot springs. I didn't tell you to do that. The only way I would even consider apologizing was if you made me."
The white haired man smirked, "Well that's fine gaki, we can do it this way if you want."
Naruto shook his head, "You think you can beat me? I'd like to see you try you- WHAT THE HELL!" He shouted as he felt something latch around his waist. Naruto only had time to see something pink before he was being hauled into the air with the white haired man jumping after him.
It was some time later that whatever had grabbed Naruto deposited him in the middle of the Forest, with the white haired man.
Naruto stood up and growled at the man, "You stupid pervert! What the hell do you…?" He stopped and blinked when he noticed the large toad standing right next to him. He looked over at the man before turning his attention back to the toad, and then to the man again. Finally, it clicked.
"You're Jiraiya of the Sannin aren't you?" Naruto shouted in surprise.
"Ho ho, so you have heard of me eh gaki?" Jiraiya smirked, "Yes it is I, the great, the gallant Gama Sannin of Mount Myobokuzan! Jiraiya-Sama!"
Naruto sweat dropped, "I swear to Kami you Sannin are a bunch of freaks. First I run into that stupid pedophile Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, and now I find out that you're a 'super pervert'. What's next, the last Sannin is chronic gambler with an alcohol problem!"
Somewhere in Hi No Kuni a blond woman sneezed while playing a game of cards, and losing badly.
"So you ran into my old teammate eh?" Jiraiya knew this already of course, but appearance had to be kept. "That's pretty impressive that you survived."
"I guess." Naruto frowned, "Not like he couldn't have killed me at any time. He wanted our team to survive so he could give Sasuke and I some kind of gross hickey. Stupid pedo bit me!"
He brought a hand up to where his cursed seal had been. "I got lucky, since I h- am special, the cursed seal didn't get a chance to take effect."
"Kid I already know about the Kyuubi," Jiraiya stated, thinking that was why the cursed seal had not taken affect. "But that's not important, what is important is that you now know who I am, and so realizing and basking in the might of my greatness you must apologize for your atrocities against me and acknowledge me as Jiraiya-sama."
"Right," Naruto sweatdropped before an idea came to him. "How about you help train me, so that I can kick ass during the finals and maybe I'll acknowledge you, how's that sound Ero-sennin?"
"What did you just call me!" Jiraiya yelled out. "I am a Sannin and demand respect! I won't train some gaki who doesn't understand that," The Gamma Sannin smirked. "Besides what makes you think I'd want to train a little pre-pubescent brat like you?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man before a grin etched on his face, "Well, I just thought you would like to be able to say you trained a Hokage."
Jiraiya crossed his arms, "Been there, done that."
"What do you…oh yeah, I forgot you trained the Yondaime," Naruto mumbled. "Well wouldn't you want to be able to brag that you trained two Hokages?"
He noticed Jiraiya still didn't look convinced and sighed, "Well if that won't convince you, how about this? Oiroke No Jutsu!"
There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared it revealed Naruko, completely naked except the wisps of smoke covering her unmentionables.
She wink at the now nose bleeding Jiraiya, "Will you train me now Jiraiya-sama?"
Jiraiya nodded as he began to drool, "Yeah, I'll train you in anything you like, you pretty little thing…"
Naruko gave him a pout as she stuck a finger slightly in her mouth, "You promise?"
Jiraiya nodded dumbly as he grinned, "Of course! And you know that the great Jiraiya-sama's promise is worth its weight in gold!"
There was a puff of smoke and Naruto was back to normal, grinning like a loon. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow Ero-sennin!"
Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Jiraiya to blink for a few minutes before smirking, "Kid's definitely interesting at least."