22

Naruto: Shift in Life

Chapter 22: Perverts and Training

Naruto grinned as he stood in front of a disgruntled Jiraiya, who was looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. They were a little ways away from the hot springs the two had met at yesterday and it was obvious that the man would rather be peeking then helping him.

"So what am I gonna learn today Ero-sennin?" asked Naruto

"Damn it brat! What did I say about respect?" Jiraiya shouted. What was it with the youth of today being and being disrespectful to their elders?

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Fine oh great Ero-sama. Now what are you going to teach me?"

Jiraiya's eyes twitched a bit before he sighed, I swear if he wasn't Minato's kid. Biting his thumbs he went through a few hand seals and slammed it into the ground, "What I'm going to teach you is this! Kuchiyose No Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

There was a puff of smoked and when it cleared a large toad about three sizes larger than Naruto appeared. It opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue, setting the scroll it held on the ground.

"You're going to let me sign the toad contract?" asked Naruto, blinking in surprise.

He had not actually thought the perverted old man was going to teach him something like summoning. Not only was it considered a Jonin-level technique due to the chakra requirements, but summoning contracts were considered sacred by many ninja. Most summons were held within a specific family or clan, such as the Saru (Monkey) Summoning contract that was held by the Sarutobi clan and the blond knew for a fact that Kakashi's dog summons was a Hatake contract that the man's father had used before him. And while the Toad contract was not a clan-owned contract, it was easily one of the most prized. Along with the Slug contract, which was held by Senju Tsunade, one of Jiraiya's old teammates. It was this contract along with that one and the snake contract that had helped Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru earn their title of Sannin during the Second Great Shinobi War.

Needless to say, Naruto knew of the honor he was being presented with.

Jiraiya nodded, "Of course, I accepted you as my apprentice didn't I? That means you get the special privilege of being one of the few summoners for the Toad contract. Now just sign your name in blood and give your fingerprints."

Naruto grinned as he looked opened up the contract, he bit his thumb and signed the scroll. As he did he looked at the scroll and saw the name that was next to his, "Namikaze… Minato?"

Jiraiya looked over at the blond when he said that, "Yep, that's the Yondaime Hokage's signature. That just goes to show you how awesome this contract is, and how privileged a snot nosed brat like you are to sign it."

"Psht. Whatever, the only privilege I see is that it's signed by the Yondaime. However if an old lecher like you is its holder perhaps I would be better off finding another contract."

Naruto grinned when Jiraiya's eye twitched, "So what do I do now?"

"Now you have to sacrifice some blood each time you use this jutsu and then make these hand seals." Jiraiya showed Naruto a set of hand seals, "To summon. Now let's see what you can do."

Naruto nodded as he bit his thumb and went through several hand seals, "Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke as the spiky haired blond slammed his hands on the ground and a small summoning seal array appeared under it. When it cleared there was a small orange toad with black spots wearing a blue vest.

Said toad lifted up a webbed hand in a wave, "Yo! I'm Gamakichi, who are you?"

Naruto looked at the toad for a moment before he grinned, "Yo! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you!"

Gamakichi grinned, "Nice to meet you too. You got any candy?"

"Uh… sure. Hold on a moment," Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a box of pocky. Hey he may be a ninja, but he was still a teenage kid. "Here you go, it's not quite candy but it's pretty damn good."

Somewhere within Hi No Kuni Uchiha Itachi stopped walking as he felt a strong urge to pump his fist in the air.

"Hey Itachi, is something wrong?" asked his Akatsuki partner.

Itachi looked over at his large counterpart for collecting the Bijuu, "No… let us continue moving, I want to be at the next village before nightfall."

"Hey cool!" Gamakichi took the box and grabbed one of the chocolate covered bread sticks.

"Mmm," He munched on them as he jumped on top of Naruto's head, "These are pretty good. You know something, you're alright. Mind if I stick around?"

"Sure." Naruto shrugged, before looking over at Jiraiya, "How was that Ero-sennin?"

"Not bad," Jiraiya said, not letting that he was impressed. He had only been able to summon tadpoles his first time, "How much chakra did you use?"

Naruto blinked as he looked up, "About as much as I would for eight Kage Bunshins."

Jiraiya nodded, "That's not bad, that means your control must be pretty decent. Normally summoning a toad of Gamakichi's size and status would be about four Kage Bunshin worth if you had perfect chakra control."

The large white haired man eyed Naruto speculatively, "Alright, why don't you use more chakra this time."

Going through the hand seals again Naruto summoned more chakra for the jutsu… a lot more chakra. So much in fact that Jiraiya actually began to sweat when he felt the amount being used.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" This time there was an enormous puff of smoke that covered nearly the whole clearing.

"Jiraiya! Jiraiya you lousy perverted Lecher! Why did you summon me?"

Jiraiya paled, "Out of all the toads he could summon, why did he have to summon him!"

The white haired Sannin immediately went to hide somewhere, no doubt the toad Naruto just summoned was still upset about his last escapade where he had used 'him' as a means to get away from a horde of angry women. Still for Naruto to summon 'him' of all toads. That kid really is going to be something when he grows older.

The smoke had finally cleared and when it did it revealed a huge toad about the size of the Hokage Tower. In his mouth was a large pipe, he was wearing a blue coat and had a large blade strapped to his waist. Naruto easily recognized the Boss Toad Gamabunta from all the depictions of him from the books he had on the Yondaime.

"Jiraiya! Where the hell are you! Answer me!"

Naruto hopped down from the large toad's head, making the creature's eyes immediately focus on him, "Who the hell are you gaki?"

Normally Naruto would have scowled at being called that, but the fact that he just summoned the boss for a summoning contract made him feel he could withstand any insult. And so instead he gave Gamabunta a cheeky grin, "I'm the one who summoned you of course!"

Gamabunta's large eyes blinked for a moment, right before the large toad started laughing, "BWAHAHAHA! You expect me to believe some snot nosed little gaki like you summoned me! Get real! Now where's that pervert Jiraiya!"

This time Naruto did scowl, this toad was getting on his nerves, "Ero-sennin didn't summon you! I did!"

The large Toad Boss was about to send a retort when Gamakichi made himself known, "It's true pops, I watched this kid summon you."

"Gamakichi?"Gamabunta asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"The kid summoned me, I thought he was cool so I decided to stick around," Gamikichi put another stick of pocky in his mouth. "Anyway this kid did summon you. I was right here watching him."

"I see…"Gamabunta looked at the blond, who stared back defiantly much like another spiky-golden haired blond gaki had a dozen years before, "Well I know my son's not a liar so I'll believe you. However, don't think that just because you summoned me means you get to be one of my underlings. We still have to drink together to commemorate you becoming my summoner."

"Well, that might take a while. I don't have any alcohol on me," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Besides, aren't I a little young."

"You're a ninja aren't you? Old enough to kill, old enough to drink wasn't it?" Gamabunta paused, "Hmmm, tell you what, we'll hold off on the drink for later. Tell that perverted lecher I approve."

"Got it!" Naruto shouted as Gamabunta disappeared in a puff of smoke. The blond flipped over and landed on his feet.

"Nice job gaki!" Jiraiya said as he came over to Naruto, "I really didn't expect you to be able to summon Gamabunta out of all of the summons available."

Naruto smirked, "Still think teaching me will be a waste of your time?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he plastered a smirk on his face, "Don't get cocky gaki. You're still no one near strong enough to even lay a finger on me even when I have one arm tied behind my back."

"You wanna bet?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes at the man. He had come a long way since the academy, and was infinitely more patient and calm than he used to be… well calm so long as he was in battle situations and moments that may actually require him to use his brain. But if there was one way to anger Naruto, it was to underestimate him.

Jiraiya smirked as he looked at the blond, "If you think you can take me on then come and try gaki."

Like Naruto many of the other Genin who had made it to the finals were busy training themselves.

"489, 490, 491, 492..." Lee grunted as he continued doing hand stand push-ups… on his thumbs. Standing next to him was Maito Gai who was shouting out… youthful encouragement.

"That's it Lee! Sweat! Sweat and let your flames of youth explode!"

Rather than work on anything new, the pair had decided to simply up Lee's training regime, increasing his weights near daily; making him run around Konoha with boulders on his back; making him destroy said boulders with his fists and feet afterwards. Essentially trying to increase his strength and speed to epic proportions with an insane training method that only they could come up with.

"499, 500!" Lee pushed himself into a flip and landed on his feet, "Yosh! I finished!"

"Attay boy Lee!" Gai gave his student the nice guy pose, "Now that you have finished your youthful warm up. It is time to engage in a spar to fan your flames of youth! C'mon Lee!"

"YOSH!" Lee shouted as he charged at his sensei, disappearing in a burst of speed.

Gai grinned as he too disappeared. A few seconds later the sounds of fist hitting fist echoed throughout the training field as many trees were destroyed and the landscape became more crater and hill like then before.

Neji was sweating as he looked at the training dummy he was practicing on. Getting the technique he wanted to master was turning out to be quite difficult, more difficult than he had initially thought it would. The Jyuuken relied on being able to see a person's tenketsu points in order to close or destroy a person's chakra system.

By using a dummy he had to make an estimation on where the chakra system would be on a person, and go from there. That meant that in this case at least, the Byakugan was useless since he the dummy did not have any chakra coils. It was even more difficult because no two people had there tenketsu in the exact same spot, while all chakra systems were very similar to each other, the minute differences in where the tenketsu points were located meant all the world when dealing damage to them. If the hit was not one hundred percent accurate than the attack, while painful, would be useless in closing a person's chakra coils.

Still, he was determined to get this technique down. He knew that he was going to need a trump card in the finals. That Uzumaki boy had proven to be stronger than he had anticipated when the blond beat Gaara. Though he doubted he would need this for him, the blond was still the dead last of his class. But even so it was still wise to have just in case.

Besides that there was also the Uchiha to content with, another genius from a powerful clan, and the last of his clan to. He had not gone into town much, but many people were riding on the Uchiha to win it all.

Neji scoffed at the thought. The boy was good, no doubts there. But Neji was still certain he would win. After all, it was his fate to win.

Woosh-Woosh-Woosh-Woosh-Woosh-Woosh!

Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-Thunk!

Tenten brought her arm back in after throwing the kunai, like always she hit all of her intended targets. Her aim was perfect.

However even as she looked at her kunai the bun haired weapon user frowned as she thought of her opponent. She was up against that Suna kunoichi, Temari in the first round. From what she had seen of the girl in the final, she was a wind user. For a weapons user like her, that meant nothing but trouble. Any weapon she threw, Temari would just be able to blow away with that fan of hers.

That meant she would have to get in close. However there was still a problem with that course of action. Tenten would have to find some way to close the distance between them in order to use close range weapons. And while Tenten trained with weights, as well as with the speed demon that was known as Lee, she was not anywhere near as fast as him.

However that in no way implied that she was going to give up, not without least giving it her all in the fight. She would just have to train hard and do her best.

Looking at the training dummy she took aim, this time with shuriken.

At an unknown location far from Konoha Sasuke panted heavily. His entire body was laden with sweat and he felt as if someone had put him through a meat grinder. He was feeling pain in places he didn't even know existed.

Sasuke had always prided himself on being a good shinobi. In the academy he trained well above and beyond what was required, spending most of his nights training to the point of exhaustion. He would push himself till his muscles burned and his body ached, going far beyond his body's physical limitations.

Apparently he had not even begun to scratch the surface of understanding what hard training really felt like. Almost as soon as Kakashi had finished paying a visit to a still unconscious Naruto, he had taken Sasuke and left the village. It was here that he began to pick apart Sasuke's abilities and skills piece by piece. And he had started with the Sharingan.

"Activate your Sharingan," Kakashi demanded. Sasuke obeyed immediately and his eyes transformed to the familiar red with single tomoe in one eye and two in the other. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but for the sake of review I will anyways. These eyes will allow you to track and memorize any movement, not only slowing down the perception of time but allowing you to copy your opponent's movement. With a lot of training and practice you will eventually get to the point where you will actually be able to mimic your opponents so quickly, it will look like your moving before your opponent does."

Sasuke nodded, he already knew all of this.

"Now I'm going to punch several centimeters below your solar plexus. I want you to stop me."

It was here that things had become hard for the Uchiha. He had thought he had been prepared, he had his Sharingan, he could track Kakashi's movement and so stopping them should be easy. At least that was what he had thought.

It turned out the Sharingan had a large weakness. It did not matter how well he could track an opponent's moves, if said opponent was far faster than him. Kakashi had hit him, hard. Despite the fact that he had seen it coming, Sasuke had not been able to react in time. While his eyes may be able to keep up with Kakashi, his body had simply not been up to the task.

And so it was with that, that Kakashi had forced Sasuke to work on his speed. To do that Kakashi had Sasuke copy Lee's movements and then push his physical body to mimic those movements… while in combat with Kakashi.

Needless to say Sasuke felt like he was one large bruise at the end of each day.

"Alright Sasuke, break's over. Time to get back to work," Kakashi ordered, making Sasuke, who was lying on the ground panting groan.

Naruto was left panting on the ground as Jiraiya stood over him. It had been a week since they had met, and since Naruto had shown he was more than capable of summoning, the Sannin had decided to help him with his taijutsu...

... Which basically consisted of him beating the living shit out of Naruto every time they sparred.

When the man had said he would beat Naruto one handed he had not been kidding. The half-demon shinobi had known that the difference between himself and a Sannin was large, his defeat at the hands of Orochimaru in the Forest of death had proven that. However his spars with Jiraiya had really shown just how large the gap between their abilities truly were.

The difference between a Genin, even one as skilled as him, and a Kage-level shinobi was like the difference between a human fighting a Bijuu, it was less of a fight and more of a wholesale slaughter as the Toad Sennin continued to shove his foot off Naruto's ass. The only difference the blond had been able to discern between fighting one of the legendary Sannin and a Bijuu was that he could not seal Jiraiya into another person or object in order to win. It was a frustrating turn of events for the blond who was not really used to getting beaten so handily.

Every day after Naruto had made his clones to work on whatever he had set them to do, he would meet Jiraiya in that clearing and they would spar. And Naruto would lose…

…badly.

The worst part for Naruto was that Jiraiya still had yet to use more than one hand to defeat him.

"Not bad gaki, you managed to make me move from this circle," Jiraiya smirked as he indicated that he was out of the circle he had set up and stayed in while he pounded the crap out of his apprentice. "However, it looks like you're still a hundred years too soon to beat me."

Said blond tried to glare at the man as he lay on the ground, but considering how exhausted he truly was it was completely ineffective, "Shut up… Ero-sennin… just you wait… I'm gonna… kick your ass… eventually…"

"If some snot nosed little brat like you actually manages to beat me then that just means I've lost my game and deserve to get my ass kicked," Jiraiya replied as glibly as possible.

He would not admit it, for fear of Naruto's head getting too large, but he had been impressed with the blond. He had heard of his fight with Gaara, who if Jiraiya's reports were to be believed was an unstable Jinchuuriki, but hearing reports on how strong the boy was and actually seeing it were too different things.

Naruto's speed was easily Jonin-level, or what could be considered the standard for a lower level Jonin. Most if not all Chunin would have trouble just seeing Naruto at his full speed, though even a rookie Jonin like Kurenai would be able to keep pace with the blond. His strength was likewise impressive. Whenever Naruto had unleashed a full powered punch he could easily leave decent sized craters, about two times the size of the blonde's fist. What's more impressive was that it was not chakra enhanced like his teammate's punches, it was all muscle power. The kid also had a very powerful, though admittedly unusual fighting style, which seemed to be a mix of styles that he would just switch on the fly to suit the needs of combat at any given time.

He still had a ways to go before he could take on someone of Kakashi's level, and even longer before standing toe to toe with Jiraiya, but the boy was easily making leaps and bounds each time they sparred.

Naruto really had no come back for that, since it was essentially true anyways, "Shut up."

Jiraiya chuckled, "Alright, break times over; get up so I can kick your ass again."

Naruto muttered about 'abusing perverted senseis' as he got back up on wobbly legs and took his ass kicking like a man.

Stupid Ero-sennin! Kami, it feels like someone chewed up, spat me out, stepped on me and then let their dog do it! Naruto winced as he moved his arm in a circular motion; just that base function seemed to hurt.

'You know, you've been moaning and bitching after every spar you have with him,' Kyuubi commented as she decided to tease her container, 'you're starting to sound like a that Hyuga boy. Maybe you should start talking about how its your fate to get your ass kicked'

'That's because I always end up as a giant bruise every time I fight him!' Naruto scowled as he thought of the many ass kickings he had received at the hands of the perverted ninja, 'and I do not sound anything like that ass hole! Don't compare me to him!'

Kyuubi smirked as she took secret enjoyment out of the blonde's suffering, 'Stop complaining, you'll be as good as new tomorrow. You know you're really lucky, anyone else would have felt even worse tomorrow, but you'll be right as rain.'

Naruto sighed, 'I guess your right…'

'Of course I am Naruto-kun.'

Naruto rolled his eyes as he heard Kyuubi add the new affectionate suffix to his name. After their little moment when the vixen had been… down in the dumps? Depressed? He was not quite sure what to call it and she vehemently denied having any feelings of sorrow for him beyond what it meant to her reputation. Really all Kyuubi was known for was nearly destroying Konoha so he did not know how the villagers hatred of him reflected on her, though he had long since realized that arguing with the vixen only made things worse. Whatever the case, after their talk Kyuubi had taken to adding the '-kun' suffix to his name when they spoke. He knew that she was teasing him and trying to goad him into saying something stupid she could capitulate on and tease him mercilessly. it was something he had found out during this month, Kyuubi had an instinctual urge to tease, mock and otherwise goad others, either to annoy them or to somehow further her own goals. It was so insitnctual that Naruto was sure Kyuubi did not even know she was doing it.

Thankfully Naruto was beginning to learn how to not let her get to him, mainly by responding to her words in kind if for no other reason then to not let her win. That was exactly was he was about to do now, however he was distracted when he heard a very loud and very familiar voice echoed from one of the stalls.

"And then…that…bas…tard…he said…NO!"

Naruto turned around to see himself staring at a familiar dango stand, and the only other place besides Ichiraku's he could eat, since Anko had threatened the shop owner with castration when the man refused to let him eat there. Sitting at the bar was Mitarashi Anko, currently drinking a bottle of sake, straight from the bottle. Next to her Naruto recognized the Jonin sensei for Team Eight, Yuhi Kurenai.

"Can you…believe that…that bastard!" Anko was saying to Kurenai, her voice slurring from all the alcohol she had drank, "I try…and practically throw myself on him! And he…he…"

Kurenai sighed as she patted her friends shoulder, "It's alright Anko-chan. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, besides; he really doesn't deserve you…"

"Anko-chan. Kurenai-sensei." Naruto greeted as he walked up to the pair.

The two turned their attention towards him, Anko's face literally lit up like a Christmas tree, "Gaki!" She greeted, trying to hug him, not realizing that the distance between them was too far, and almost falling on her face were it not for Kurenai catching her, "Just the…person I…I wanted to…see…"

Naruto looked at Anko for a moment before turning his attention to Kurenai with an expression that told the raven haired beauty that he had seen the currently wasted woman in this state often enough not to be bothered by it, "How much has she drank?"

Kurenai looked at the boy curiously for a moment before she sighed and pointed a trash can, one which Naruto was noticed was literally filled to overflowing with empty Sake bottles.

"I see…" Was all Naruto said; he had seen Anko drink plenty of times, in fact, whenever they went to get dango she always got at least slightly buzzed. However he had never seen her so drunk she could not even sit in a chair without swaying. "What exactly happened to her? I've never seen her this drunk before."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow at the boy. She knew that he had been spending a lot of time with Anko, her purple-haired friend would talk about the boy every chance she got, telling her how fast he was learning and how fun he was to mess with. She was actually pleased to know that there was someone out there who genuinely seemed to care for Anko.

"It seems she had another run in with Kakashi," Kurenai said.

Beside her Anko mumbled as she lay her head on the table, "The bastard…"

"Apparently, Anko asked him out for a date… again. And got rebuffed… again."

Now that was surprising to Naruto, "I didn't even know she liked Kakashi-sensei."

"From what I know they at least slept together once," Kurenai replied, scowling a bit since she did not feel that Kakashi deserved to sleep with her friend. "I don't think she really likes him, at least I hope she doesn't," the woman scowled at the thought of Anko liking that open, smut reading pervert.

Naruto sighed as he looked at Anko, who was starting to make incoherent mumbling noises. "Well, whatever the case, I think she should probably head home. Last thing we need is her passing out here."

"Good luck with that," Kurenai snorted in a very un-lady like manner. "I've been trying to get her to move for half an hour, nothing seems to work."

"Maybe you're just not using the right motivation," Naruto suggested as he moved over to Anko, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Anko-nee-chan, I think it's about time we get you home."

"Wazzat? Home…" Anko looked at Naruto for a moment with squinted eyes. "Oh… hey gaki… what are you… doing here?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "I've been here for fifteen minutes nee-chan." He grabbed one of her arms and placed it over his shoulder as he lifted her off the stool, "Now c'mon, it's time for you to leave."

"Ugh… don't wanna," Anko protested, though she was so far gone there wasn't much she could actually do.

Naruto did the smart thing and ignored her, "Kurenai-sensei, can you help me get her home? I have no idea where she lives, and she's far too drunk to give me proper directions."

"Sure thing Naruto," Kurenai replied and stood up as well. "Just follow me."

Naruto nodded as he followed Kurenai while practically dragging a wasted Anko. They moved around the village causing many curious stares as they passed. When Kurenai finally got to the apartment she helped Naruto drag Anko up the stairs before getting out a set of spare keys. She opened the door and gestured for Naruto to enter.

"While I would like to stay and help you with her, I really need to be somewhere. I had an important meeting I was on my way to when I ran into Anko, so I'm already running fairly late," Kurenai said.

"Oh? Are you and Asuma-sensei going on a date?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Almost immediately Kurenai turned bright crimson, causing Naruto to laugh, "W-What makes you say that?" she stuttered a bit, not used to actually being called out on something like that.

Naruto grinned, "I play shogi with Shikamaru and Asuma often, often enough to know that you have Asuma-sensei completely whipped."

Naruto laughed again when he saw Kurenai's shocked and embarrassed expression. Deciding he had done enough teasing, he thanked her for helping him and promised to take care of the rest.

Closing the door Naruto looked at Anko, she was still conscious, but barely and seemed to be mumbling about 'dango, snakes, gakis and perverts'. Sighing he hefted her up in a bridal carry, since it would be too difficult to maneuver around in her messy apartment. He didn't notice Anko snuggling against his chest as he made his way around the various obstacles of her apartment.

When he reached the door to her room Naruto was forced to make a clone to open it for him, as well as to pull the covers down so he could set Anko in the bed. The clone had dispelled himself just as Naruto placed Anko on the bed.

He was about to get back up and leave, when Anko seemed to notice the loss of warmth and immediately snatched onto him. Pulling him down onto her before she cuddled him like an overgrown plushy, smothering his head in between her breasts.

Naruto immediately turned bright red as he felt Anko's barely covered chest pressing against his face. Even if he had been in slightly similar situations before, the fact that he was in a bed with her and she was now rubbing herself against him was more than Naruto could take and despite the fact that he could only ever think of Anko as an older sister figure…

…He was also still a hot blooded male

Thus he ended up passing out from blood loss.

Within the seal Kyuubi saw her container's predicament and shook her head, "Somehow, I'm really not surprised this has happened." Even though she was irritated that the snake woman was touching her container she could not hold in a smirk as she thought of what the blonds reaction would be tomorrow, "I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when he wakes up."

Waking up the next morning had definitely been one of the most awkward and embarrassing moment of Naruto's life. He had passed out from another nose bleed as soon as he woke up, and it didn't help that Anko began teasing him mercilessly about sleeping with older women. Of course when he had sufficiently recovered from his embarrassment, he had gotten her back by calling her out on her seeming desire to have fun with children, immediately after saying that he had been forced to hightail it out of her apartment when she began launching her snakes and sharp pointy objects at him.

After that most of the last week had been spent with Jiraiya beating the crap out of him. He would wake up in the morning, get ready, make five hundred clones to train in various ninja aspects, then he would go spar with Jiraiya and lose every time. Often times he would be in so much pain and so tired that Jiraiya had to carry him back to his home.

Not that that was the only thing they had done. Jiraiya had taken to helping Naruto with several seals the blond Hanyou had been working on, and had to admit to being impressed by the teens genius when it came to sealing. The white haired Sannin had been particularly impressed byt the Dayuaru Sou Fuja Hoin that he had come up with to try and help get rid of Anko's cursed seal.

They had also taken to studying. Naruto knew that if he wanted to not only win in the final exams, but excel in them he would need to know more about his opponents. That meant he had to study. And so Naruto had picked Jiraiya's brain on what the man knew of the people he would face. Admittedly it was not much, but the man had a lot of general knowledge that would benefit him. Information on the Hyuga clans taijutsu and Byakugan, or Gai's fighting style, the man even had some basic information on Yugito who Naruto had a feeling would be his biggest challenge. They had spent several lunch breaks trying to formulate strategies on the best way for Naruto to defeat these opponents.

That was how it stayed for the last week, and the only other thing he did that was not training was going on that second date with Yugito that he promised. Thankfully she had realized that he was not welcome in any restaurants except one, and so they had gone to Ichiraku's. After that Naruto had escorted her around Konoha, she had been in Konoha for a little over a month but had not really taken the time to see any of its sights. And so Naruto had shown her some of his old stomping grounds, as well as his favorite spot on the Hokage Monument, right on top of the Yondaime's head.

Soon enough the day had finally came for the final stage of the Chunin Exams.

(Day of the Chunin Exam Finals)

Sarutobi watched with an impassive expression, not letting any hint of his weariness show as the carriage bringing the Raikage of Kumogakure entered the village. While it was perfectly normal for an allied nation to attend the Chunin Exams to watch their shinobi progress, it was a rather rare and unusual event for a non-allied village's leader to do so.

Konohagakure and Kumogakure had not been allies since the First Shinobi War. The Village Hidden in the Clouds had in fact been one of their worst enemies during both the second and third war, second only to Iwa in the Third Great War. It did not help matters that Kumo had attempted to use the peace talks after the Third Shinobi War to make an attempt at stealing the Hyuuga heiress in order to gain the Byakugan. By all rights, Sarutobi should have denied the man a chance at coming to Konoha.

However there were a few reasons he had not. The first was that the Yondaime Raikage was fairly new, having only been in his position for a few years, after his father, the Sandaime Raikage had been ousted for the debacle he had created when attempting to steal the Byakugan. The Yondaime Raikage, who was simply known as A, did not seem to care for the Byakugan and had in fact, sent a formal letter of apology, though due to the body being destroyed when the Sandaime had been ousted, he had not been able to send the remains of Hyuuga Hizashi.

The second reason was Sarutobi's hope that having an extra Kage would serve as a deterrent for Orochimaru's planned invasion. Given the information provided by Jiraiya, Orochimaru's sudden appearance and subsequent marking and attempted marking of Sasuke and Naruto respectfully, as well as his own knowledge on his student, he knew that Orochimaru would not have shown himself unless he was planning to take action against his former home.

A beep on his desk alerted him to a call from a secretary. Pressing a button on the intercom he spoke, "What is it?"

"The Raikage of Kumogakure is here to see you sir."

"Very well, send him in," Sarutobi straightened in his chair and despite his age, presented himself with a strong image.

The door opened and in walked a very tall and muscular dark skinned man wearing the Kage robes and hat of Kumo and no shirt underneath. As the man stepped into the office he closed the door and removed his hat revealing yellowish white hair and eyebrows with a pointed Goatee.

"Hokage-dono," The man greeted in a gruff voice.

"Raikage-dono," Sarutobi greeted, his voice polite and not betraying any emotions. "Would you like to take a seat?"

"I am fine, thank you."

"I understand," Sarutobi looked at the man. "Though you may want to get a little more comfortable. I had not been able to send a message for fear it would be intercepted, however something has come to my attention that I feel you may wish to know before the Chunin Exams begin."

The Raikage raised an eyebrow, interested yet also weary of what the much older and experienced Kage wanted to tell him.

It was a beautiful day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining down upon the village; children were playing in the streets as they made their way to their classes, while a gentle breeze ruffled the many trees in the village. Over all of this the sounds of cheering could be heard as people from all over gathered at the Stadium for the Chunin Exams to begin. People from all stations of life, from shinobi, to civilians, nobles and Daimyos all had come to watch the Finals.

From his place in the arena Naruto watched as people cheered, crowed and placed bets on who they thought would win. Many he knew were here to cheer on his teammate to win, something that caused him to scowl a bit. Why people would think that just because Sasuke was the last of his clan made him invincible was incomprehensible to him.

He sighed to himself as he pulled the large straw hat he was wearing down further to hide his face in shadow, I wonder where the teme is? It's not like him to miss this.

'Who knows Naruto-kun' Kyuubi piped up as looked at the crowd through Naruto's eyes. She was thankful that unlike the seals her previous containers had used to hold her in, this one actually let her see what was going on. 'Hatake is likely going to make the prick late. We both know how bad he is about being on time.'

'I guess. Still you'd think for something this important he would make sure the teme was on time,' Naruto looked around at the other participants from under his hat. 'I guess the teme feels confident that he won't be disqualified because of his heritage.'

Kyuubi scoffed, 'Just another reason to dislike humans in my book. They always did place too much stock on clans and heritage. It was this way thousands of years ago as well, when the ninja world was just starting out.'

'That…actually sounds kind of interesting. Think you could tell me about it after I kick ass here?' Naruto could almost feel Kyuubi's smirk through the seal.

If you do well I might.'

Up in the Kage booth Sarutobi Hiruzen was looking down at the contestants, frowning when he noticed that Uchiha Sasuke was missing, I swear if Kakashi makes Sasuke late for an event such as this…

"Sir, there is still no sign of Uchiha Sasuke," One of his Jonin bodyguards said. "We have a few squads searching for him, but so far no luck. Sir, do you think it's possible that Orochimaru already got to him?"

The Sandaime scowled at the thought, but before he could comment on it he caught sight of his two guests.

"Ah, Kazekage-dono, Raikage-dono, good to see you both," The elderly Hokage gave them a friendly smile.

"Yo," The Raikage greeted, taking his seat on Sarutobi's left.

"Good to see you Hokage-dono," Replied the Kazekage in a deceptively soft spoken voice as he took the seat on the Hokage's right.

"I hope the long journey wasn't too much trouble for either of you."

"It was a little boring, but there was no trouble," The Raikage replied.

"I had no problems getting here," The Kazekage offered. "Though it is a good thing these exams are being held here this year. You're starting to get up there in your years, Hokage-dono. I fear the trip may have been too much for you. Perhaps it's time for you to decide on who will take your place as Hokage."

The old Hokage let out a low chuckle, "Please, don't treat me like an old man. I still have plenty of years left in me. No, I feel I'll be doing this for some time yet."

Standing up Sarutobi made his towards the railing before giving his announcement, "Thank you for coming! I would like to welcome you all to Konoha's Chunin Selection Exams! We will now begin the main tournament between the ten participants who made it through the preliminaries!"

The crowd began to cheer as the Hokage finished his announcement; however a few people were staring at the arena floor. Two of which were the Raikage and the Kazekage, both whom looked over to Sarutobi.

"Forgive me if I am wrong Hokage-dono, but I only count eight participants," The Kazekage said.

"I think your eyesight might be getting worse in your old age, cuz that's all I can count as well," The Raikage put in.

Sarutobi ignored the two comments as he went back to his seat, waiting for the matches to get started.

"Alright you guys, take a look. This is the lineup for the main matches," Shiranui Genma held up a sheet of paper with the matches shown on it.

"As you can see there will be five matches in the first round. Now while the arena is different, the same rules from the preliminaries apply here. This basically means there are none. Matches will be fought one on one until someone dies, is knocked unconscious, or admits defeat. However, if at any time I deem that a fight is over I'll step in and end the match, is that understood?"

"Just one question," Naruto spoke up as he kept his face hidden behind his hat, "what happened to the sickly looking guy? I thought he was our proctor."

Out of all of the people there only Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru and Yugito noticed the man wince.

"His illness came at a bad time and I was forced to sub," Genma replied, "anymore questions?"

Every one there shook their heads and Genma decided to get the matches started.

"Will Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji please step forward? All other contestants go to the fighter's booth."

Naruto watched as the other participants left, leaving him with Neji.

"Man I can't believe Naruto of all people is in the finals," Ino said as she sat next to her pink haired rival for Sasuke's affections. "Especially since he had to go through that Gaara guy; that kid was a monster."

"I know what you mean," Sakura said as she looked at Naruto. "He's changed so much since the time when we were in the academy, sometimes I barely even recognize him anymore."

He really has changed so much; Sakura looked around for a moment before frowning and looking around the stadium,

I wonder where Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun are.

"Man I can't believe how stupid these people are to place their bets on that Hyuuga kid," Anko said in her typical loud, uncaring and slightly childish voice.

Kurenai looked at her best friend and smiled, "So sure he's gonna win are you?"

Anko gave the red eyed beauty a grin, "Of course I am! Can you honestly picture the gaki losing?"

"Had you asked me that one month ago I would have said yes," Kurenai looked into the stadium where she saw the two contestants. She could not see Neji's face, but could very well picture the permanent sneer of arrogance the boy always wore.

Naruto on the other hand was in clear view but his face was hidden by his hat, yet she remembered the confident and slightly bloodthirsty smirk he had on his face, one reminiscent of Anko and could imagine him wearing it now. "However after seeing him take on that Gaara kid, well, let's just say I know who to place my bets on."

"Which is why I put all my bets on the kid," Asuma interrupted the conversation as he sat himself down next to Kurenai. "No way is he gonna lose," a smirk came onto the chain smoking Jonin's features, "he's not only strong but he's damn intelligent too, even if he doesn't like to act like it."

"Oh?" Kurenai raised a delicate eyebrow while Anko grinned.

"Yep," Asuma nodded, "that kid down there is the only person I know besides Shikaku who can defeat Shikamaru in shogi."

"Watch closely Hanabi," The Hyuuga clan head said to his youngest daughter. "Among the Hyuuga, there is no better prodigy than Neji."

"Yes Tou-sama," The little lavender eyed girl replied.

"It's surprising to see the Uzumaki kid is actually fighting in the finals," Kotetsu, one of the Chunin proctors said. "Who would have thought."

"Yeah it is pretty surprising, especially with all the rumors I've been hearing about the kid," Izumo said. "However, I fear it's all over for him now. He may have done well against other opponents, but that Hyuuga kid is supposed to be in a class all on his own."

Hinata looked at the blond boy whose face was hidden under his hat, a small look of longing passed by for a second.

"You alright Hinata-chan?" asked Kiba as he looked over at her.

Hinata looked away from Naruto and towards Kiba. She gave him a smile before taking his hand in her own, "I-I'm fine Kiba-kun, thank you."

Kiba gave the Hyuuga heiress a grin, "So who do you think is gonna win?"

"I hope Naruto-kun win..." Hinata said. "I believe he will win."

"From what you told me of his match with Gaara there's no way he could lose," Kiba reassured the girl. "Anyone who can beat that monster isn't someone I want to mess with."

"Yosh! Show us your flames of youth!" Lee cheered as he looked between his two rivals. Since he was not sure who to cheer for, he decided on both of them.

"Lee, can't you ever just tone it down a bit?" asked Tenten.

"But if I were to do that, my youth would diminish Tenten-san," Lee said. "I cannot allow that to happen. In order to show people how to stoke their flames of youth, I must continue with my youthful encouragement!"

Tenten sighed at her teammate before turning back to the arena floor. She knew who she wanted to cheer for, but because it felt like betraying her teammate she only said it in her mind, Good luck Naruto-kun.

'This looks like it's going to be an interesting match eh kitten?'asked Nibi.

'It does, though I doubt the so-called Hyuuga prodigy will be able to defeat Naruto-kun,' Yugito commented as she turned her attention away from the loud shouts of Lee and back to the arena.

'So sure of your man are you?'

Yugito smirked, not really denying nor encouraging her tenant's claim, 'Of course he'll win. Naruto-kun is a lot stronger than he lets on.'

"The Hyuuga genius versus Uzumaki," The Kazekage said. "This is bound to be an interesting match. Anyone who can take on my son Gaara and win is definitely a strong shinobi."

"That he is," Sarutobi chuckled. "The boy has surprised me time and time again, and I suspect he will surprise me even more before the day is done."

"I had not realized there were any Uzumakis left," The Raikage said, as he gave an intent stare towards the hat wearing Genin. Many had forgotten the famed Uzumaki clan, a clan that had originated from Uzushiogakure No Saito (Village Hidden in the Whirlpool), which was located in the Uzu No Kuni (Land of Whirlpools). However A had remembered from his battles with them in the beginning of the Third Great War, just how fearsome they were with their special chakra and their powerful Fuuinjutsu.

If the young Uzumaki male was anything like his predecessors this would make for an interesting battle.

Sarutobi sighed, "From what I suspect, he is the last of his clan."

The Raikage looked over at Sarutobi before giving a nod and turning his attention back to the arena.

"I get the feeling this will be quite the battle," The Raikage said as he got more comfortable in his chair.

"Indeed," The Kazekage agreed with some amusement.

Show them what you can do Naruto-kun, Sarutobi looked at the boy, even though he could not see Naruto's face, he could feel the boy's confidence. Show the villagers how strong you've become and how wrong they are about you.

Genma looked up at Sarutobi to see the man nod. Nodding back he got started, "We will now start the first match! Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji… Hajime!"

Once the words were out, Neji activated his Byakugan and slid into the Jyuuken style taijutsu stance. Naruto smirked as he took off his hat and threw it towards the wall where a Kage Bunshin was already there to catch it. He then moved into his own stance. As the two stared each other down, the crowd grew silent and watched with looks of excitement and curiosity. Not many knew about the young Uzumaki, but everyone had heard of the Hyuuga genius and was expecting to see how strong he really was.

Naruto let a grin take over his face as he felt his blood begin pumping; he felt adrenaline racing through his veins at the thought of a fight. 'Looks like this party's about to begin, eh Kyuu-chan?'

Within the seal Kyuubi smirked, summoning herself a bowl of…popcorn, how she was capable of creating food within the seal was something not even Naruto knew, which she began to munch on. 'So it does. I doubt you need it, but good luck Naruto-kun.'

'Thanks,' Naruto felt his blood begin to boil with excitement due to the coming battle. He was really going to enjoy pounding this prick into the ground. Time to get this party started...