chapter 11

Aggravation and Training

Disclaimer: I don't own any manga plot lines, so I make my own. Unfortunately the characters remain in the ownership of their original creators. (That doesn't mean I won't mutilate them beyond recognition though)

"Ahhahaha. Is that your mission today? Cleaning up sewage. How fitting, loser!" The other two, who appeared just as ragged looking as Kiba, looked over and saw what Kiba was laughing at and joined in. Well, Sakura joined in. Sasuke just smirked.

"Hn, so the dobe finally found a job worth his stature. I'll make sure the maintenance department sends your jumpsuit over right away."

To their annoyance the blond just ignored them and started to walk away.

"What's wrong baka? Taking some sewer cabbage home to your little whores? I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

Naruto froze mid-step. "Sakura-san. Unless you want to walk around bald for awhile I suggest you never call Hinata-chan or Haku-chan that again." He turned slowly to the side and fixed his gaze on her. Ice blue orbs met green as he stared at her hard enough to make her shrink behind her teammates. "Insult me all you like, I'm used to it, but insult them and I will make your life hell."

The ever arrogant Uchiha scoffed but noticed the box he hadn't really seen before now, making him ponder a bit. The fact that it was locked intrigued him as anything locked was usually a secret, and any secret the dobe had should be revealed to him, especially if it could make him stronger. "What's in the box dobe?"

"Cleaning supplies." Naruto's voice was quick and even, betraying nothing.

"You're lying. No one locks up cleaning supplies, now tell me what's in the box."

"Cleaning supplies." He still didn't waver.

Sasuke took a threatening step forward, but stopped and smirked as he saw two of his favorite people coming down the street. Koharu and Homura saw the Uchiha in the street ahead and smiled, then saw who he was talking with and sneered. "Good afternoon Uchiha-sama. You mustn't associate yourself with such...savages. Come now and let us talk about your placement in the upcoming chūnin exams."

"I would love to Mitokado-san, Utatane-san, however this dobe took it upon himself to take something precious to me. I can't leave until I get it back."

Quicker than their ages should have allowed the two elders snapped their heads to the blond. Seeing the only thing of possible value being the box in his hands, they assumed that must be the object in question. "You, boy! You give him that box back this minute."

Naruto saw Sasuke smirk at him and bit his tongue. "Apologies councilors, but this is not his. This box belongs to me. It holds my possessions and I am the one holding the key. The only thing I may have taken from the Uchiha would be his pride."

"You filthy lying brat. Give Uchiha-sama his belongings now or we will take you to the Hokage!"

"Lead the way." He said easily, though with much distaste at their haughty attitude.

The two infuriated council members pointed towards the tower and Naruto sighed as he started walking as he began leading two read faced councilors and a smirking team seven through the streets of Konoha, right to the Hokage's office door. "Last chance monster. After this there is no going back. Stealing another persons property is a serious offense."

Not even signifying he heard them Naruto opened the door and walked in. He was met with the smiling face of Hiruzen, but that smile quickly turned serious as the man saw the boy's own expression followed by who was behind him. "Hello Hokage-sama. Your councilors seem to be in a bit of a tight spot and asked to come see you. I escorted them here along with team seven as per their request." Naruto took a seat in one of the nearby chairs setting the box pointedly on his lap. An action that was not missed by anyone in the room.

Sarutobi turned to his two advisers. "So, what brings you to my office this time?" How he wished he was allowed to use ear plugs in his job.

"Hokage-sama, this boy stole Uchiha-sama's possessions and refuses to return them. As this is a matter between two ninja we decided it should be handled by yourself as per your recent turn around on such matters dictates." Really all they wanted to see was the boy that he held in such high regard be shown as the trash he was, but they still managed to hiss out their distaste at the man for no longer being lenient enough to allow them to exact their punishment themselves.

"Is this true Sasuke-kun?"

"Hai, Hokage-san. I was walking with my team past one of the village parks that had been shut down due to a sewage leak. As we passed by he jumped out and took my box. I was lucky to have Mitokado-san and Utatane-san pass by and see my plight." It was almost scarey how the words rolled out of his mouth so easily.

Hiruzen was immediately skeptical. Sewage spills were normally taken care of quickly and he would have gotten a notice as soon as it happened and another when it was fixed. What puzzled him more was that there were no active sewer lines near any of the village parks. He turned to Naruto in time to see a wink. "Is this true Naruto-kun?"

"Of course not Hokage-sama."

"The boy is obviously lying Hiruzen!"

"I believe I was talking to Naruto-kun Homura, not you. Now I expect silence until he is finished with his side of the story. Continue Naruto." He glared at his advisers, daring them to speak out again.

"I was finishing my mission of cleaning up what was left of a sewage leak when I locked up my cleaning supplies and headed out to go home. Team seven happened to be passing by and decided to make some jokes about my mission, but that stopped when Sasuke-san noticed the box in my arms after Sakura-san pointed it out by saying it was a gift for my...roommates. When I told him it was cleaning supplies he called me a liar and asked me again. I told him the same thing and that's when the councilors showed up. He told them it was his box and when I refused to hand it over...well here we are." The stress on what was in the box wasn't lost on the old man as he quirked an eyebrow.

"May I see the box Naruto-kun?" Naruto stood and set the box on the Hokage's desk. "Tell me Sasuke-kun, what exactly is inside the box?"

Sasuke wavered for a minute. He was so certain that the box would be handed over that he hadn't given it a thought. His mind worked quickly though and he gave a devious smirk even if the dobe was telling the truth he would still do anything he could to get one up on him. "Cleaning supplies." Everyone was surprised at his answer except Naruto who just smirked.

"Well then, would you mind opening it up so we can see?"

"I can't he stole the key too."

Naruto fished the key out of his pocket and fearlessly tossed it to Sasuke. "Go ahead Sasuke-chan. Unlock your cleaning supplies."

Sasuke confidently walked over to the box. Putting the key in the hole he gave a twist and heard the satisfying click as the lock was released. Grasping the sides of the lid he lifted it and was puzzled when the whole box lifted off the desk. "Must be stuck." He shook it a few times trying to get it open but failed miserably.

"What's the matter Sasuke-chan. Is the box too strong for you?"

"What did you do dobe?"

"What do you mean what did I do? It's your box remember?" Sasuke just gritted his teeth. "Maybe if you deactivated the security seal you put on it to keep your cleaning supplies from getting stolen you would be able to open it easier." Again he winked at the Hokage who was trying his hardest not to laugh.

Sasuke looked all over the box but for the life of him couldn't see a single seal. He slammed the box down on the desk, causing a few pens to clatter to the floor. "Open it dobe!"

"But it's your box. Shouldn't you open it?" Naruto himself was close to cracking up.

"I SAID OPEN IT!" Sasuke pulled out a kunai and got in a fighting stance.

"Uchiha Sasuke! There will be no fighting in my office. If you don't put that weapon away at once I will have you thrown in a cell for threatening a fellow Konoha ninja. You're already on very thin ice with me, so don't try my patience." The Hokage scowled at the boy, who returned his glare before replacing the kunai in his pouch.

"Apologies Hokage-san. I am later getting home than I intended so my emotions are agitated. I ask that he remove the seal he obviously place on my box of cleaning supplies so that we can prove he's a thief and I can get home."

Sarutobi just rolled his eyes and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun will you please remove the seal?"

Naruto took a piece of paper out of his pouch and swiped it over the lid of the box. An intricate seal array came into view that spread across the entire box, covering every side and even seeming to go inside the box as well as under the locking mechanism. He turned the hinged side away from the Hokage, so that it would open in such a way that the others couldn't see the contents, and motioned for him to open the box. The room's occupants waited with baited breath as the Hokage lifted the lid and looked at the contents of the box. He quickly snapped the lid shut and glared at the Uchiha, his teammates as well as the two advisers. "Uchiha Sasuke, you will leave this room immediately along with your team. Count yourself lucky that I don't have you arrested for attempted theft, but I assure you if this happens again I will not hesitate to do so." They were shocked.

"B-but Hokage-sama, what about Uchiha-sama's possessions?"

"I'm sure he will find all his cleaning supplies safe and sound at his house where he no doubt left them."

"May we ask what is in the box Hokage-sama?" Sakura inquired.

"Not cleaning supplies."

"So Naruto-baka lied! He didn't know what was in the box either. He probably stole it from someone else. If there is anything useful in there it should go to Sasuke-kun. He deserves it more than anyone."

"Haruno-san. I simply used one of the most valuable tools in a ninja's arsenal. Hokage-sama understood this when I let him know. I knew there weren't cleaning supplies in the box as I am the one that filled the box. What is inside is for my eyes, and the eyes of those I trust only. That is why it was sealed and locked." Not even looking he resealed the box and clicked the lock shut.

Sasuke smirked as he held up the key to the lock for Naruto to see. Naruto though just held up a half ram seal and said "Dizurobu." Immediately the key turned to dust and Naruto pulled another one out of his jacket. To show to the once again furious Uchiha. Before the boy could attack again though he was reminded of his orders.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you were ordered to remove yourself from this room. If you do not do so I will be forced to assume insubordination." With a snarl Sasuke glared between the Hokage and Naruto before stalking out of the room. Followed by the rest of team seven and the advisers, all of whom sent their own glares at the boy who had once again slipped away unharmed.

"Sorry about that Hokage-jiji. I tried to convince them earlier, but some people are just too set in their ways, especially when it involves me, or the teme. Look at the bright side though. At least team seven is starting to try to work together. I have to say though, their clothes don't look nearly ragged enough to have gone through much punishment...pity."

Sarutobi chuckled. No matter how dire the situation the boy always seemed to find a way to make him smile. "Don't worry, Kakashi is probably just giving them a small break between their chores. I'm sure they will look even worse for the wear later. Go on Naruto-kun. I'm sure you had a destination for all of this, and I'd hate to keep you from it any longer. Besides, I have to see how the Uchiha's mental examinations are going. From what I saw we may need to double check...everything."

"Thanks Jiji-san. Haku-chan is probably already at the gate wondering where I am. If I don't hurry back we're going to end up with spoiled food, and I'll never hear the end of that." He bowed and left the office after grabbing his box and headed home. One thing about that team seven, they were an endless source of aggravation and amusement that was for certain. His assumption was proven correct as he found Haku waiting outside the gate with a bunch of bags, and surprisingly Hinata was there as well. Unfortunately it seemed the crowd from the Hokage's office just happened to be traveling this route to get wherever they were headed, advisers included. Both sides seemed to be at a standoff as he walked over to them, coughing loudly when he was right behind them. "May I ask what the occasion is that team seven and two advisers would see fit to stare down my girlfriends in front of my house?"

"Don't you dare talk to us like that brat, and how dare you call this your house. This is the house of Yondaime-sama and only Sandaime-sama has the rights to enter here."

"Well that was true until recently. You see he decided to open this place up for purchase and I just so happened to be there when he did. I bought it up immediately and now it's mine. If you don't believe me we can go see Hokage-sama again, but I don't think you want to be embarrassed in front of him twice in one day. Now, if you don't mind we would like to get our things inside before the food spoils." He pushed through them rather rudely and made his way to the gate. He unlocked it and let the two girls in ahead of him. He was about to walk through himself when he was sucker punched from behind and ended up crashing into his front yard. He got up slowly as he heard footsteps rushing towards him.

He could see Haku and Hinata rushing towards him from the opposite side, but it wasn't them he was looking at. In the reflection of the house's front window he could see team seven rushing through the gate, readying attacks, heading straight at him. Behind them the two advisers turned their backs on the scene clearly not caring what happened to the boy. They were too slow though, all of them. In a blur of motion three kunai thrown by Sasuke were cut to the side and in a fluid set of movements three genin were sent flying backwards onto the path. He advanced on them slowly as they began to get up while holding their stomachs. "You try to frame me and steal my property, then you attack my back in front of my own home. You trespass without permission and assault me three on one. You are not ninja, you are no better than brawlers. Get up!" They had made it to their hands and knees, but were 'helped' up as Naruto kicked each of them in the chest from the side then clipped their legs with his heel forcing them upright. They landed unsteadily on their feet, dazed but now standing. "Run..."

It wasn't a suggestion it was a command. One that two of them were smart enough to follow under his icy glare. Sakura and Kiba half ran half limped out into the street before collapsing again causing Koharu and Homura to turn at the clamor. What they saw both frightened and infuriated them. Two members of team seven lay on their sides holding their stomachs while the Uchiha stood unsteadily glaring at the bane of Konoha they attempted to enter the gate but were forced back by the sheer amount of killing intent along with a thin sheet of ice forming a barrier.

"Your teammates made the right choice teme. Too bad for you."

"My teammates are weak and pathetic."

"No, your teammates are smart. Allow me to show you the door." In another blur of motion Sasuke was sent flying backwards right through the ice and between the two stunned advisers before stopping when he hit the building on the opposite side of the street. Naruto stayed in the same position as when his attack connected as he let out a slow breath. Feet spread one behind the other, bent at the waist arms even and fists out in front of him, it had been an extremely powerful two handed frontal attack that none of them had seen happen. Calmly he walked to the gate, closing and locking it. Not once taking his eyes off the two stunned elders until he was finished. Then, without a word, he turned and went inside the house.

Snapping out of their dazes first, Haku and Hinata exchanged a look before gathering the bags they dropped and rushing inside, slamming the door behind them. An action that brought Homura and Koharu out of their dazes. They exchanged glances before their faces turned from shocked to angry and they helped a semi conscious Sasuke up before walking him to the hospital on their way to the Hokage tower for the second time that day. Sakura and Kiba were force to make it to the hospital on their own, for once accepting each others' help as they used each other for support. Luckily for him, Akamaru had been at Kiba's side when Naruto retaliated and had not been given an attack command by his partner yet, so he was uninjured but he still whined at Kiba's now rather obvious stupidity.

Inside the house the three residents unpacked the bags in silence as they put the food away. Once that was done Naruto disappeared into the back yard leaving the two girls to follow. They found him in the meditation area already trying to relax. Rather than question him them joined him as the three sat in silence, attempting to ease their minds. Both girls were too agitated though to stay still for long so they settled for cleaning up the area a bit, glancing at the blond every now and then in concern. It would be hours until he moved, and the two would make numerous trips between the house and their boyfriend to stretch their legs. Hinata was the most surprised as she had never seen Naruto stay in one place for so long unless he was asleep. When he finally did open his eyes though, they were both caught off guard as he acted just like normal.

"Good afternoon ladies." He leaned over kissing each of them. "How was your day?" Yup this was their Naruto. The one who always worried about others over himself.

"Naruto-kun, what happened? You seemed awfully...angry."

"Sorry if I scared you. The teme is just getting on my nerves a lot more lately, and now he has the council elders following him around like lost puppies. I'm willing to bet that they're the reason he isn't in chains right now. If they give you trouble again let me know, by any means necessary. I am afraid that what I just did isn't going to end well for any of us, and if I could I would escort you both around myself, but we know that can't happen." He got up and they walked back to the house. "So, how were your mornings?"

"Eh, I just got groceries so not too exciting until I got home." Haku looked to Hinata waiting for her reply.

"Ano, Naruto-kun I have a favor to ask..." Naruto turned to her with an unasked question in his eyes. "Ano, Kurenai-sensei is a genjutsu specialist, and...well, she knows some ninjutsu and taijutsu, but I don't feel like she will be able to teach my team very well in certain aspects. I am more used to taijutsu, Shino-san has his bugs, and Harume-san sticks mostly to ninjutsu and is trying to learn kenjutsu." Naruto waited patiently for her to finish. "I-I was wondering if you would be able to train us."

His eyes widened. This wasn't something he'd counted on. He had expected something more along the lines of him finding her someone to train with, not training them himself. "Uh, Hinata-chan, I'm not exactly used to teaching...and wouldn't Kurenai-san be angry if someone else were to teach her students? I mean I'm only a genin too."

"Ano, Kurenai-sensei was the one who suggested that we find someone to teach us in what we needed to learn, while she would teach us what she could in the mornings. So I kind of brought you up to Harume-san and Shino-san. They said they would think it over, and Kurenai-sensei didn't seem too put out by the suggestion even if they were all a bit skeptical. Kurenai-sensei has us signed up for the chūnin exams and I don't want to go in them as...w-weak as I am now." She waited nervously as they watched him debate it in his head.

"First of all Hinata-chan, you are not weak, so I don't ever want you to think that about yourself again." Both of the girls were shocked at the sternness of his tone, but eased a little when his eyes softened. "If you feel I am worthy of teaching you then I will try to do so, but I also have to train myself and Haku, so my time with each of you will be limited. It won't be easy though. There are only about three weeks left until the exams, so I will be pushing you all extremely hard. Tell them tomorrow that they will come here in the afternoons if they want to train with me, but if they aren't serious about getting stronger than they shouldn't even bother showing up. My training was, and will be a lot harsher than what we went through at the academy." He then sighed to himself. "I'm going to need more supplies." Picking his box up from where he left it on the kitchen table he made his way to the basement and into the library with two curious girls following him.

"What's in the box Naruto-kun?" Haku asked as she peeked over his shoulder.

"My personal...collection, well part of it anyway. You will be welcome to use almost anything in here and supply yourself as you need as often as you like. We will also use these to train." As he was talking he started unsealing scrolls, quickly organizing them on the bare shelves. The two lady's eye's widened seeing the vast number of jutsu being laid out.

"N-Naruto-kun where did you get all of this?"

He turned to them scratching the back of his head. "Well I've kind of been collecting them for a long time. Let's just say they were no longer of use to those that held them, ok?" It was obvious that he didn't want to divulge all of his sources, so they left it at that despite their curiosity.

Deciding the least they could do was help, they soon had a bit of a chain going on with Naruto unsealing scrolls as the two girls set them on shelves. They separated them by element so it wouldn't be a complete mess later. Luckily for them Naruto's parents must have had the same thought as most of the racks were already labeled. Naruto soon overwhelmed them though as he could unseal scrolls much faster than they could place them on shelves, and after awhile they were working up a bit of a sweat trying in vain to keep up. Naruto set down the current, now empty, scroll that he had been working on. Taking out the next few scrolls they groaned at the aspect of the small mountain beside them growing, but instead of unsealing these he turned and placed them on an unlabeled rack before closing the box and turning to them.

"The rest of this is going up in the office. I'm going to go get some more supplies after I put these up there. Feel free to take a break if you need to. I should be back in less than a half hour, unless the elders or team teme decide to grace me with their presence again." They nodded, a little too tired to talk as he made his way up the steps.

As soon as he was out of sight they mock collapsed. "I can't believe he has more. Where did he get all of this?" Hinata looked at their handy work thus far and though the shelves were far from full, it was still an impressive library. Haku was more interested in the scrolls he hadn't unsealed and crawled over to them inspecting each as her smile grew and she laughed earning a confused look from the pale-eyed girl. "What's so funny Haku-chan?"

"I know where he got at least some of this collection from. When we were on the mission at Wave, after he freed me, we took out a lot of mercenaries. These, I'm willing to bet, are some of their weapons. See? Each one is labeled as a type of weapon. The only troubling thing is that, unless we took out a lot more thugs than I thought, he has far too many to cover what he would have gotten from them. The only thing I do know is he's been a collector for a long, long time." Both girls went over the scrolls out of curiosity seeing what weapons they contained. The variety alone shocked them before the quantity did. He even had weapons that weren't normally from this portion of the elemental nations and others that were not normally wielded by ninja. Once they had satisfied their curiosity on the weapons scrolls they got back to the remaining pile of scrolls and started shelving them again. It was a bit more relaxed than previously without the blond to pace them.

Almost exactly a half hour later their girl talk was interrupted as they heard footsteps above them as the front door closed. They had to admit it was a little creepy since they couldn't see who it was. Only Naruto had a key though, so they weren't worried. It gave them a small thrill instead as they followed the footsteps across the ceiling as they made their way around the first floor. They could tell he stopped in the office first, but they soon started getting nervous at the prospect of stacking more scrolls as the footsteps made their way to the cellar door. Naruto soon revealed himself now carrying two boxes, much to their dismay. He smiled broadly at their looks, laughing at them a little on the inside.

"Don't worry, it's mostly just more weapons." He tried to ease their minds, but it didn't do much as they registered the word 'mostly'. Mostly out of two boxes could still mean more than they already had done. Grumbling a little they set back to work and soon were once again swamped in scrolls as Naruto easily sped through unsealing all he had brought. A large stack of scrolls now sat in the middle isle of the room as they slowly filled in the racks from the front to the back. For ease of movement it was silently agreed that they'd just fill in the sections as they got to them causing the pile to shift every now and then as scrolls were moved out of the way. Once again they were surprised at the variety as foreign jutsu were revealed. Most surprising of all though was when Hinata found some clan specific techniques. Including some from her own...former clan. She didn't want to think her boyfriend was a thief, but clan jutsu were normally closely guarded secrets. To have such a vast quantity of them was disturbing to say the least.

"Naruto-kun. Why do you have Jūken scrolls?" She held out a small stack towards him as he took a break from his sorting of the weapons scrolls to look at her.

"The trash."

It was a simple answer, but he hadn't even blinked. "You found clan secrets...in the garbage? ...How?"

"Well, eventually scrolls start to get old, so they tend to be rewritten every few years and the old ones are disposed of. Some clans burn them or bury them, The Nara's have a ceremony to completely destroy them, the Aburame pile them up and have their bugs eat them. Other clans are less careful and rely on the Konoha maintenance department to dispose of their family secrets. Keep looking there are a lot more in there. Hyūga scrolls, Yamanaka scrolls, Akimichi, and even Uchiha. Bet teme would be pissed if he found out I had those. There are no laws that say you can't take someone's trash as your own. Hell the maintenance guys even encourage it sometimes, less for them to haul around." He gave a shrug and turned around again before realizing he'd forgotten something. "Haku-chan you'll probably find one or two that you might want to take a close look at. Awhile ago we must have had a family member of yours here for the chūnin exams. They're in pretty bad shape, but I'm pretty sure they have Hyōton stuff in them."

Neither missed Haku's wide eyes as she looked at the wall of scrolls in front of them. Eyes searching she looked for the most dilapidated scrolls in the stack. Due to the stack being three scrolls wide there were many she couldn't see, but she already saw some that were worse for wear and she dove into the scrolls with renewed energy as she threw them into their spots on the racks. As soon as Naruto was done with the weapons he joined in from the other side as all three of them worked the pile lower and lower. To her it seemed like hours as her targets slowly revealed themselves. 'Uchiha, Uchiha, Hyūga, Kaguya, Senju, Yamanaka, Hyūga. Wait, I'm looking at clan scrolls. My family wasn't really a clan, we were far to few and spread out for that.' She began searching again, but the pile was dwindling fast with the three of them working on it. Tears started to sting at the corners of her eyes as she frantically began to toss scrolls to the side, not even bothering to put them on the shelf anymore. 'Where. Where, where, where, where!' She couldn't help herself as tears began to fall, she was so close to having part of her family back yet she couldn't find it. A hand suddenly appeared in front of her holding something. The waster in her eyes made it too blurry to make out what it said, so she looked up pleadingly to the one offering it.

Naruto was smiling down at her as she made out Hinata walking up behind him with something in her hand as well. Naruto turned to her and saw what she held then turned back to Haku. "They're right here Haku-chan. They're right here." He put a hand on her head, stroking her hair gently as she shakily touched her only known bond to her family. "Be careful, they're fragile. If you want I'll copy them to another scroll later."

She tenderly took the scroll from him and read the label. 'History of the Hyōton.' She opened it and the first thing she saw along the cracked parchment caused her to collapse into him sending scrolls flying in various directions. Tears openly flowed as she cried out and hugged him tightly. The scroll lay all but forgotten nearby as her emotions drowned out any thought.

Hinata picked the scroll up, curious at what had sent her friend into such a fit. The first section displayed a family tree. She followed the splits down to the last lines. To the far left must have been the person's family who carried the scroll as one name was circled and the pair connected to it were sub-labeled chichiue and hahaue. Reading across she soon found a name she recognized on a nearby branch. 'Amagawa Haku (itoko)' She set the scroll down and crawled over to Haku. She whispered in the girls ear just loud enough for Naruto to hear. "Congratulations Amagawa-chan." They spent the next hour rocking her until she fell asleep in their arms, emotionally exhausted. Naruto picked her up and took her to her room while Hinata followed behind with the scrolls. After tucking her in they quietly left to finish up in the library. They had quite the mess to clean up from the frantic search, but they would do it with a smile knowing that their family member no longer had to use the name of the man that killed her parents. She was finally completely free of him.

• • •

It would be a couple hours until a red-eyed Haku came back downstairs and they couldn't be sure if she'd read anymore of her scrolls but they weren't about to pry. Finding out such details about your life was bound to be a shocking event for most people, so they settled for hugging her gently as they led her to the kitchen where their first, real, home-cooked meal waited. It was nothing fancy since Hinata didn't really do much cooking at the Hyūga manor and Naruto mainly ate quick meals, but between the two of them they managed to throw together something half decent. From the look on Haku's face she'd tasted better, no doubt being with a missing-nin on the run made one adapt to relying on one's own abilities more. She didn't complain though. They were finally eating together in their house. No glares to be sent their way. No loud-mouthed, close-minded people to yell at them. Just the peaceful company of each other.

After dinner Naruto disappeared into the office, which was pretty much silently agreed upon as being his by now, since it was his house no matter how much he said it was theirs too. They had enough room in their bedrooms anyway, so it didn't bother them. They wouldn't have been able to find a reason for another room anyway, but Naruto on the other hand had no troubles whatsoever. One thing he liked about the office was that there was plenty of workspace. Minato had been known to be a seal master and as such there were seal making supplies everywhere. High quality brushes, a decent stock of parchment. The only thing that didn't seem to resist the calling of time was the ink, which had separated too much to be of much use. He had his own ink anyhow so that was alright, but having so much workspace...now that was something he could use. There was a large desk in the center of the room with a long counter behind it that wound around both walls. The only wall not sporting a surface was the one with the doorway. Under all of the counters were cabinets, along with a couple on the walls. Where there was empty space sumi-e paintings filled in the gaps making Naruto think a bit. 'I wonder if I could use my sealing techniques to make paintings. I'm already halfway there in some cases...' He decided he would have to try his hand at painting if he ever got some free time, for now though he had work to do. If all of team eight was going to come to him for training he would need to figure out just how to help them.

Over the next few hours Hinata and Haku would stop in at various times to give their input on what he could do or bring him a snack or something to drink. They were always thanked and smiled at, sometimes kissed, before he would get back to work. The only time they stayed for more than a few minutes was towards the end of the night when he started to work on seals. Like the council before them they were mesmerized at his work. They kept going from dazed stares to amazement at the intricacy and care he gave to each one. The most surprising part, aside from making one seal into many, was that he never stopped. Each seal seemed to be created in one long fluid motion, then a sudden stop before he would finalize it or sealed something into it before continuing his brush strokes. Whenever they would ask him what a seal was for he would simply tell them they would find out soon enough and continue on with his next seal, never breaking his pace. When he had finally set aside his last finished sheet for the time being and stretched, they were astonished by just how long they had been watching him.

"Naruto-kun that was beautiful."

"Heh...Thank you Hinata-chan, but it's late now and I think we could all use some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow, especially you two, and we'll need all the energy we can get. I have a feeling after the day ends tomorrow you're going to hate me a little bit."

"We could never hate you Naruto-kun."

"Save that thought for after tomorrow is over." They got a little nervous at the comment, but shrugged it off. They loved him, so it didn't matter what kind of training they were going to go through. They would support it.

With a kiss goodnight they left the office and went to their separate rooms. Naruto fell asleep easily while the other two would be up thinking about what kind of schedule he could have set up for them. Sure he thanked them for their suggestions, but not once did he say that he was definitely going to use them, nor did he give away any of his own ideas. Eventually though their exhaustion, both mentally and physically, won out and they passed into dreams of growing stronger than they ever previously imagined.

• • •

The next morning Naruto gave the first half of the day to Haku for her to go through her family scrolls, which she was more than happy to do. Meanwhile Naruto was back in his office finalizing the training schedules for the small group he would be training. It was taking longer than he had hoped, but he had to make sure that he found something they wanted to learn and made sure he pounded it into them. It would be great if they all wanted to learn the same thing, but chances of that were slim, probably closer to none. Hinata had already told him of two completely different people. Herself and Harume. Hinata would be mainly after taijutsu while her teammate was looking ninjutsu and possibly kenjutsu training, but then he also wanted to introduce them to other aspects to see if they were interested in some other fields as well. Hinata and Shino were so used to their clan jutsu that they may not have been exposed to much of anything else, and therefore may not know if they would like something else if they had tried it. A few things they would be working on though would be strength, speed and trapping as those were things that would need to be covered no matter what they wanted to train in.

As he was working he could see Haku out in the yard practicing something, but apparently not having much luck with whatever it was. He could tell she was frustrated, but she wasn't giving up, and that was something to admire. There were too many ninja who would find something difficult and just move on to the next thing. Sure they still ended up with a decent amount of skills, but if they had taken the time to learn that one difficult jutsu, or that one tough taijutsu move it could have made the rest of their training that much easier. Eventually it would pay off and the training methods they learned to use to learn the difficult skills would be used towards learning even more challenging skills that would make them even stronger.

Getting enough of a training schedule to last a good while, possibly even longer than the exams depending on how fast they learned and how motivated they were, he decided a break was in order. Looking back out to Haku he saw her still struggling on the same seals she had been previously. He felt bad leaving her learning on her own, but she used a bloodline he didn't have. Logically only another Hyōton user could help her, but what could it hurt to try? Grabbing some drinks he made his way over to her and noticed the sweat on her brow as small veins bulged at her temples and a grimace creased her face. He may not be able to help her with her jutsu, but he could at least distract her enough to calm her down.

"Hey Haku-chan, how about a break?"

"I...*hah* *hah*...can't. I'm...*hah*...too close." Her eyes were half lidded, but he could see the determination in them.

"Right...come on let's go." Despite her protests Naruto handed the drinks to a clone as he picked her up and dragged her over to the meditation area. He sat her down and handed her the glass of water, but she set it aside and stood back up.

"I...*hah*...need to keep...going."

Naruto just shook his head at her. As she tried to stagger out of the area he grabbed her from behind and sat down with her in his lap. "What you need to do, is take a break. If you keep going like you are you'll end up in the hospital from chakra exhaustion." He picked up her glass and put it back into her hand forcefully. "Drink."

"I'm not...thirsty."

"It wasn't a suggestion." He held her gaze when she glared back at him, letting her know that he was dead serious. After a minute she gave up and slumped into him, pouting as she drank the cool liquid. "If you get tired or frustrated you need to take a break. Otherwise you are just going to get more frustrated as you wear yourself into a vegetative state."

She paused momentarily in her drinking. "This is how I've always trained though."

"And who was it that taught you how to train like that?" He felt her tense. He knew exactly who it was, and he knew what he said would hurt her, but he had to break her of that habit. "He had nothing but ill intentions for you which is why he worked you to near death just to get what he wanted faster, even at the cost of your health."

Haku lowered her head in defeat. "Then what am I supposed to do? Laze around and let my family's techniques sit there, forgotten? I owe it to their memory to push forward."

Naruto took her now empty glass and set it to the side, but when she moved to get up he kept his grip on her. "What your supposed to do is honor their memory by becoming what you were supposed to, not what you think they would want you to become." He moved his hands to her shoulders and began to rub them, earning slight moans in response as her tight muscles were worked loose. "If you push too hard though you risk burning yourself out, and that is something I highly doubt they would like, and I know I wouldn't. No jutsu is worth ending your carrier before it starts."

Haku was torn though. It was hard to hear that the way you've always done something was wrong. She knew it was wrong, and she could feel it was wrong, but she still kept doing it out of habit. Why did she keep doing it? 'Kami, that feels good.' How did Naruto know how she should train. Shouldn't the way she trains be unique to her? 'Where did he learn how to give a massage?' A few minutes rest couldn't hurt could it?

Soon Haku was asleep in his lap as Naruto kept massaging her stress away. He smiled as she leaned back into him, dozing lightly and finally relaxing. It was this scene, about an hour later, that got rather rudely interrupted as a small swarm of insects began to gather around Naruto's head. He didn't need to look at them to know exactly what they were or who sent them. "Alright, alright. Let him know I'll be there in a minute." As the insects flew off he did his best to lay Haku down gently. She didn't seem to want to let him go though so he removed his shirt that she was gripping tightly and let her hold onto it, which she happily snuggled into leaving him in only a tight mesh undershirt. He debated making a quick stop to get another shirt, but shrugged it off before heading to the front gate to let in his company for the day.

Naruto was pleasantly surprised when he got to the front gate. He was expecting the three genin, but he didn't think their sensei would show up to. "Kurenai-san I didn't expect to see you here as well."

"What, you thought I would leave my students to a genin without at least seeing how he intends to train them?" She smirked at the boy who would think so highly of himself. Sure she heard how good he had handled himself, as Kakashi raved about him often enough when the jōnin-sensei would hang out, but he was still just a genin. "I have to make sure my students get adequate training if they are going to make it through the exams. So if you don't train them properly then I will make sure they find someone who will."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at her. 'So she thinks me incapable of making them stronger? Does she think I'm weak myself?' He ushered them inside the gate before closing and locking it behind them, noting the shadows they seemed to have gained on the way there. He brushed it off though. Even if someone was following them there was little they could do from outside. The walls of his estate were tall and he had already set up many traps, so he kept his mind on his current entertainment. The three who had never really been inside the property were looking around appreciatively as they made their way around the house to the back yard. "Kurenai-san. If you don't mind me asking, what makes you think me incapable of training your students?"

"Well the fact that you were not long ago an academy student yourself may play a small part in it. I have heard of some of your exploits and no offense, but you can't believe everything you hear."

"You are the genjutsu mistress of Konoha also known as the 'Ice Queen' of Konoha. You are the jōnin instructor of team eight, best friend is Anko Mitarashi, you often accompany her to the dango shop for a quick snack. You are very strong in genjutsu as it is your main passion, but because of spending so much time on it you are sub-par in taijutsu and ninjutsu for your rank. You use a kunai to kill a target if they aren't completely overcome by a genjutsu itself, but other than that you have no remarkable kenjutsu skills. Please, stop me if my information is incorrect at any point."

Kurenai was almost speechless. Here was a boy the same age as her team yet he pinned her so easily. She scowled at him. "And just where did you get so much information about me? Some of those details are not supposed to be public knowledge."

"I keep my ears open. You seem to have an awful lot of chūnin and jōnin admirers. They should learn to keep their mouths shut, but then that's what you get for showcasing your skills I suppose."

As her team winced Kurenai was starting to get pissed. "Oh so now you're the expert? I think you need to be knocked down a few pegs." She got into her taijutsu stance, which sadly was still academy style, though she modified it slightly to suit her agility and made it more fluid. "Tell me what good information is when you're outclassed."

"I will make a deal with you Kurenai-san. If you can beat me I'll let you have your say in who trains your team."

"Deal."

"You don't want to know what happens if I beat you?"

"I'm a jōnin for a reason. I don't think I have to worry about your petty fantasies."

"So be it." He shuffled his feet a bit, getting ready for her. 'Just like everyone else. Underestimate the genin.'

She did a few hand signs and hit him with one of her mid level genjutsu "Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!" He stood there completely still. The only sign that anything had happened was a quick jerk when the jutsu hit him. Kurenai smiled and sauntered over.

"Kurenai-sensei what did you do to Naruto-kun." Hinata was worried about her boyfriend.

"Don't worry, he just thinks we're still staring each other down." She bet down, putting her face inches from his and whispered to him. "Isn't that right Naruto-kun? You don't even know what I'm saying to you right now. You're probably to busy looking at 'me' and having impure thoughts aren't you you little pervert." She smirked at her little victory as her neck started to itch. Bringing her hand up to scratch the annoying feeling she froze as she felt the unmistakeable chill of metal at her fingertips. Naruto blinked and smiled at her.

"That was a nice attempt Kurenai-san. Now about our little bet."

He didn't get to finish as Kurenai snarled and jumped back. Rushing through hand signs she called out her next attack. "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!" Her team watched in horror as Naruto began to scream and shake. They looked to their teacher who seemed to have a sadistic grin that they had never seen before. "You see brat. If I don't hold back than you get burned way too easily." She listened to the boys screams as if they were music in her ears. The pitch change, the small gurgles, the pants for breath before...laughter?

"Wow...That one was pretty good Kurenai-san, but it's too bad you didn't finish it when you had the chance. Now it's too late." They saw a small glow around his wrists and feet before he suddenly vanished. Once again Kurenai felt that familiar itching, but this time she didn't have to move her hands to know what it was. One kunai was at her neck just inside the collarbone, the other was at her sternum. "You see, if you give the enemy even one second to think you will be giving them one second to come up with a plan. Sometimes one second is more than someone needs."

Once again she got away. This time by ducking and rolling to the side. As she came up her grin was gone, and in its place was a snarl that had seldom been seen on the usually calm woman. "You should listen to your own advice. Magen: Jubaku Satsu." Kurenai's snarl turned into a look of shock as she once again had a kunai against her. "H-how?"

"Congratulations Kurenai-san, you made me take it up a notch." He pointed to where he had been for Kurenai to see the Naruto caught in her illusion go up in a puff of smoke. "Now, would you like to continue?"

Kurenai hung her head. She knew she couldn't do more. She had already used far too much chakra as it was and she had no idea just what all he was capable of. Thinking back she realized he had only really used one technique on her. The rest was nothing but speed and breaking out of her genjutsu. "I yield." She felt like crawling into a ball right there. She was forced, in front of her team, to admit defeat...to a genin. "Do what you want to me." This not only surprised her team, but also Naruto.

"What are you talking about?" He narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"You won the bet so you get your way right?"

"...As appealing as your...assets are, I am not the kind of male who would go after a woman just to have her. Not to mention I'm still rather young to even think about doing such things."

Kurenai fixed him with a glare. "And yet you collect them like trophies! I'm not blind you know. I've seen you around with Hinata and that other girl, Haku. Parading them around like ribbons on display." How she hated men like him. That was her whole reason for becoming a genjutsu mistress. She wasn't physically strong, and she really didn't have much talent in anything but genjutsu, so she poured her all into it. She was even so confident in her skills that she made a bet with the other jōnin that if they could beat her in a distance match that she would be willing to let them have her. The only ones foolish enough to go after her soon fell unconscious at her feet after screaming all of the air out of their lungs. One reason why she was the genjutsu mistress was because her genjutsu were unusually strong. She could make even a basic D-rank genjutsu into a very strong attack that would fell most opponents.

Naruto let go of her causing her to stumble forward a bit. "If that is what you think of me than you know me even less than I thought you did. I do not choose who wants to be around me. They chose it themselves. If they wanted to leave then they are free to do so. I would be sad, but I would let them go and hope they can find something or someone to make them happy." Kurenai looked to Hinata who nodded in confirmation.

"You still allow it. What kind of man other than a pervert would want to have multiple women?"

Naruto smirked a bit. "I'll be honest. What man wouldn't. I'll bet even Shino would want more than one woman if he could." To their surprise Shino gained a bit of a blush at the comment. "But that doesn't mean I want them for anything other than their company. I won't force them to do anything, I won't even ask them to do anything, nor do I want to do anything. As I said before, we are far to young for that but when we get older, if they still feel the same way, then who am I to deny them. I just want to see my precious people happy no matter what."

"Fine! Then if it's not me you want what do you want?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to give an evil smirk. One that sent shivers down even Shino's spine. "Simple. You're going to join us in training."

• • •

It was late afternoon before they had finished for the day, and everyone was practically dragging themselves through the yard, well, everyone but Naruto. Even Kurenai was a heap as she felt her muscles protest with every movement. They all made a mental recollection of what had been the most hellish training day they'd ever had. First Naruto had made them line up and reveal their ankles, wrists, stomachs and lower backs. This caused blushes on the female side as they exposed their skin, but it got a bit complicated when it came to Kurenai. She was wearing her normal dress making it rather difficult to show some of the correct places, but Naruto was adamant about having those places exposed, so begrudgingly she did so but not before making Shino give her his jacket to put over her now exposed panty-clad waist, which only got revealed after the boys had turned around. Then it was Harume's turn to blush as a portion of Shino's physique was displayed. While it was nowhere near Naruto's at least he was wearing a shirt...even if it was mesh.

After everyone was exposed he quickly went from one to the next, drawing seals on their skin. Another thing that Kurenai was not too comfortable with. In fact she was so uncomfortable with it that her opinions woke Haku who groggily made her way over to the group and joined them. After a bit of arguing and Naruto showing off his own seals Kurenai let him continue with promises of death if he did anything fishy. When all the seals were finished he pushed a little chakra into each one then told them to get up. That had been the most amusing part for him. All of them had tried to get up thinking it would be a normal task, but were soon sent back on their asses as they found out just what the seals did. It was another yelling match for Kurenai, but he calmly reminded her that this was his class now and they were to do as they were told. Which began with laps. He made them run until they dropped then let them rest as they drank some water to replace their lost fluids.

Once again Kurenai was embarrassed as her lack of physical strength was shown. Shino and Haku were able to keep up with her for the most part, but Naruto ran around lapping them all. At one point Harume yelled at him saying he was cheating and his weights were different, which was technically true. She was brought to reality though when he offered to make hers more like his. He explained as he added another line to hers that each line made the weights heavier. She found out just after he reactivated it exactly what he meant as she could no longer move the leg that he had changed the seal on. He laughed at her for awhile before removing the line and setting it back how it was. Only a few then reinspected Naruto's visible seals and were astonished by the intricate patterns of lines they saw. They were almost like tattoos, and when asked Naruto told them that the amount of weight each line added was proportionate to the length and width of the line. He just decided that rather than making a whole bunch of lines, or lengthening one in a spiral like many ninja do, that he would instead make designs as he increased his weights.

After their rest they had some sparring to see where their taijutsu was at. Then some jutsu practice and questioning about their likes and dislikes as far as techniques go. Naruto already knew them, but he felt it would be beneficial if they all knew each others. Once they all knew what the others were interested in Naruto brought out his surprises, in other words what he was really going to train them in. "Haku-chan is learning her families ninjutsu, and she already knows how to use throwing weapons so I'll be helping her with the ninjutsu as much as I can as well as a little taijutsu. Hinata, we're going to look at your taijutsu and see what's wrong with it."

"Ano, what do you mean? I use the correct forms of Jūken. Father just said I needed to practice more...a lot more." She lowered her head in shame. "The council...believed me a lost cause."

"No, it just doesn't suit you." Kurenai was shocked. Jūken not suiting a Hyūga? She almost wanted to laugh at the boy. "You are far more agile than any other Hyūga I've seen, so we'll be modifying your style to fit your body. I would also like Hinata and Haku to work on medical jutsu as well since both of you have interests there. I'm not very good in that field, but I'll help where I can. Shino, you rely too much on your bugs, but I have a fix for that. Your dad seems to be interested in what I'm going to teach you as well, so don't worry about too much conflict there. You will all be learning traps, namely seal traps, but Shino will be learning them the most." He took out a scroll and unsealed something. When the smoke cleared he was holding a short rod with a small prong on one side and a rope attached to that same end. "Harume, this is a jutte. It will be your first step in kenjutsu training. Depending how you do with this we can move to another weapon more suiting your natural style." They all were about to get up to start, but stopped when they saw Naruto go back to his scroll. Another puff of smoke and there was another object sitting in his lap. "Kurenai-san. This is your new best friend." He walked over to her and had her hold out her arm. A few lashings later and there was a senbon launcher strapped to her forearm and a quiver of spare bolts at her waist. "Your genjutsu is great, but as I showed you you will need something against someone who can break it. This will keep them away to give backup time to arrive, or until you can cast a strong enough jutsu. Also this." Another puff of smoke and a kodachi was in his hand. It wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but good enough for their purpose. "This you will use if they get too close. It's small enough to maneuver if you're caught In a tight spot, but long enough to keep people away." Now he stood and they followed.

"Naruto-san these weapons are a bit to expensive don't you think? I mean we appreciate it, but I know weapons aren't the cheapest of things to acquire." Harume was obviously torn between admitting this and just keeping the gift.

"Harume-chan. Your jutte came from a crooked police officer from Wave country. He joined Gatō's men to attack Wave and he lost this along with his life, so believe me it won't be missed. Kurenai-san your senbon launcher is also from wave from a random mercenary under the same circumstances. Your kodachi on the other hand, I can't tell you where it is from...yet, but I can say that its previous owner won't miss it either." This was one of the weapons he'd gotten from a chūnin hopeful out of the forest of death, but they didn't need to know that right now. He would let them know later though. They would have to realize that it wouldn't be a picnic.

"I...see..." Harume muttered, realizing now why the rope on her jutte looked reddish in places. After all, blood doesn't wash out easily.

"Now I won't train you anymore today. I want you to familiarize yourselves with what you already know and get used to doing those actions with the weights on. Tomorrow we'll begin the true hell and I promise you that, by the time the chūnin exams start, you will hate me. You are welcome to use this area so you don't have to worry about people watching us train, and anything you do learn from me will only be practiced here. That way other teams won't know what to expect as I'm sure there are already some that are trying to gather information on who they can. No contact though. Kurenai-san I would like to speak to you before you go." Getting a nod from all of them he walked towards the house along with Kurenai and into his office.

Kurenai spoke up as Naruto took a seat behind his desk. "So you found something important I assume?"

"You were followed on your way here. I didn't see who, but you should keep an eye out when you're training from now on. If you want you can do your training here, so you won't need to worry about spies. This of course will only be allowed when I am present here as well due to there being secrets here I do not wish to reveal. If I were to guess I would say that I'm being watched as well by the council, but they probably already know that you're here so it's too late to worry about that. A bit of advice though; the civilian council has no real hold on what we ninja do, so if they start asking questions, you don't have to answer. Also they may have some unsanctioned ninja confront you as well. If one comes to you asking questions and claiming to be from the ninja council you have the right to question it in front of the Hokage himself. I ask that you take such actions because while you may not worry about them finding out about the things your team is learning, I cannot afford to let anyone know about my abilities or training methods outside of those I trust. I plan on making us some of the best before this exam and I don't want to let what we're doing here get out to other teams. Especially team seven."

The entire time he spoke he had her fixed with a stare that made her flinch whenever he emphasized a point. When he had finished she nodded, uncertain of why exactly he was so concerned, but trusting his instincts a bit more after how he showed his ability to train, or at least work people into the ground. He had given them weapons too. No matter how he acquired them they were still worth something, and that something was a lot more than what she had expected coming from what she thought a genin-sensei could or would do. "Why are you going so far to help my team? Won't we just end up learning each others' strengths and weaknesses? Or are you using this for your own intelligence gathering?"

"You think I'm trying to get the upper hand on your team?" Naruto deadpanned. Then to Kurenai's complete amazement he broke out laughing. "You do remember that my girlfriend is on your team right? The one that I asked out after graduation. If anything, when we meet each other in the exam we'll be helping each other as much as we can. You're still welcome to do your own training with them in the mornings though."

"..."

"If you don't trust me you are free to have your team do as you see fit. Know though that they will be training in the open where those shadows of yours can see. Plus you, or they, would have to take the time to find people who can actually train them in what they need to know to survive. Are you able to take that risk?"

"..."

"I'll see you tomorrow Kurenai-san."

A/N: This will be the last, more or less, filler chapter before the exams start. I'm not going to go into detail about their training as there is no real point since most of it would be strength training and tactics.