33

Chapter 33: Konoha Dealings

The next day was much the same as the first for Naruto only without him having to listen to the council. Instead Temari had woken him up and taken him out to breakfast and afterwards had asked for a spar. He found out that the girl was quite good with Fuuton jutsu and her fan. She and Naruto had eventually swapped some jutsu with each other as well as compared notes on their uses for wind chakra.

He had also spent some time with Gaara. And he could honestly say that he had never had a more… amusing, was the appropriate word, time. Naruto had introduced his red haired friend to the fine dish that was ramen. It was to his surprise and great joy that the Suna Jinchuuriki loved the dish almost as much as he did, between the two of them they had devoured upwards of sixty bowls, causing the ramen stand owner there no small amount of shock, nor joy when he had received the money for making the food.

After that they had walked around the village and talked about Jinchuuriki things, comparing notes on Bijuu. Naruto had also asked about how well his suppression seal had worked and was assured by Gaara that it worked perfectly.

Another amusing thing was all of the looks the pair were getting. Naruto, with his rambunctious attitude was almost always cracking jokes, laughing and just having a good time. Seeing someone like him with Gaara, who said ninja was not trying to kill and actually talking with and listening to said blond telling jokes, was something of a shock for the village populace who was used to having him as a psychotic killer. Naruto actually hoped that this in some way made the people of this village realize that Gaara was just as human as they were, and was deserving of their respect.

Other than that not much else had happened with the soul exception of Kyuubi telling him some more about herself. This time it was about how she had gained a human form. Turns out that the only reason Kyuubi had managed to gain this form was because family of humans.

Flashback…

'I had noticed them at the edge of the forest,' Kyuubi said as she lay down in the bed and closed her eyes. "I instantly recognized them of course, I had seen quite a few humans before them," She frowned for a moment, "by that time I had gotten rather tired of having to deal with their constant attacks and had been looking for some way to get them to stop without having to sully my hands with the task of killing them." Naruto sweat dropped as he heard the last bit.

"I watched as the two adults watched the small little girl running around and as I watched them an idea began to form in my head, if I could look human then those damn humans would never bother me again." Kyuubi turned her head to see Naruto leaning against the wall right next to her, "I wasn't really sure to go about the task of creating a human body, but as I watched the girl I became curious, I had wondered to myself, what would it be like to be that little girl?"

"I didn't think you would care to wonder about such things," Naruto commented.

Kyuubi sighed, "I do get curious about some things Naruto-kun. My fox form was not just random chance occurrence. From what I understand each Bijuu's form is based on one or more of the primary aspects of their personality. I am a fox, I was blessed with incredible intelligence and cunning as well as a curiosity about things I see and don't understand."

"I thought cats were the curious ones."

"Cats and foxes are distantly related," Kyuubi said before frowning, "at least I think they are, I never really studied animal anatomy so I could be wrong."

Kyuubi paused for a moment before continuing, "Normally I'm able to control my curiosity but at the time my mind was also wondering how I could create a human body for my own use. Anyways, as I watched them my body began to shrink and I began to change. Before I knew it I was an exact replica of that little girl I had been watching."

"After that I had come out of the forest and mimicked what the girl was doing, seeing me the family decided to take me in and raised me."

"Do you ever miss them?" asked Naruto, curiosity clear in his voice.

"Of course not," Kyuubi scoffed as she shook her head. "I had never really gotten attached to them, they were humans and though I looked like one I was not." A smirk graced the redhead's lips, "I think they always knew something was different about me, I was much more reserved than their daughter and did not like to be held or even touched. I tolerated it at the time because I was trying to learn how humans interacted with each other, it was one of the key gaps of information I had on humans."

"You know, you still don't seem to know much about human interaction," Naruto replied dryly.

"I didn't say I cared enough to interact with humans myself," Kyuubi shot back. "I had only observed them for the most part. Once I had gotten all the information I felt was necessary I began to manipulate them as I saw fit. I would manipulate my 'parents' into treating me like I was the queen of the house and my sister was essentially my servant and go between for other humans that were not a part of my…family."

"Once my body began to come into its teenage years I began to expand my influence. I had learned rather early on that the boys would cut off their own arms just to be near me. I ended up using my beauty and charms to influence them as well, my influence continued to expand in the small town I essentially grew up in until I practically ruled it."

Kyuubi shrugged as she ended her story, "In the end when I had lived with them for seventeen years learning all I could about how I could best use humans; then I left, and I never looked back."

"And so your form now is that of the girl who you had gained the image of?" asked Naruto, he did not comment on her life, he knew enough about Kyuubi not to get angry about her manipulative ways. It was just the way she was and there really wasn't much point in getting angry anymore.

"No, this is my form," she replied, "as I grew up my looks began to differ from hers and as I changed forms I would take on specific physical aspects of the person I changed into until my form became complete."

"So you can transform into another person? Did you do that often?" asked Naruto.

Kyuubi laughed, "I have always been changing how I look to suit my needs. I had found out that I hold the ability to shape shift, I believe it is something that only I can do; though you can to a certain extent as well."

Naruto blinked for a moment before he realized what she was talking about, "You mean my Kage Henge?"

Kyuubi nodded, "Yep! Anyways, this form that you see before you is actually my body's representation of myself. My complete form if you will that I gained sometime around fifty years after I left the people who raised me. I always have this 'base' human form that I return to after transforming into whoever I have previously. Whenever I disengage my transformation this is what I become."

"And what about the tails and ears? Those aren't part of your base form are they?"

"No," Kyuubi admitted, "but I dislike having to hide them, I did so when I traveled but since I am stuck here I have no need to hide my appendages."

Naruto looked thoughtful as he went over what she told him in his head, "So have you ever transformed into a guy before?"

"Nope. I tried once, but for some reason I was never able to do it," Kyuubi paused and hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure why but my theory is that, when I first transformed into a human, it was into a girl. I grew up being 'raised' as a girl while I was in my first human form. This gave me a female perspective. Because of that, even though I am technically just a mass of youki, I have the mindset of a woman and therefore am a woman."

"I see…" Naruto clicked his tongue in mild thought, "I wonder why I can transform into a female then?"

"Who knows…maybe you're just more in touch with your feminine side."

"Yeah maybe I- hey wait! Are you telling me I act like a chick?" Naruto glared at the vixen.

Kyuubi gave him a cheeky grin that was eerily reminiscent of his own, or was his similar to hers? "Well I didn't want to comment but…"

"That's cruel Kyuu-chan," Naruto sniffed. "Sometimes you're so mean, I think I'm gonna cry."

"Aww, don't feel sad Naru-kun," Kyuubi cooed as she modulated her voice, much like she used to when using her beauty and charms to turn men into slaves. Unlike with other males she had used it on, Naruto merely felt a small shiver run down his spine.

"There's nothing wrong with that, and a lot of girls seem to like you so I wouldn't worry," the redhead frowned at the thought of other women, unworthy human women pawing at her container for a moment, before shaking the thoughts away.

That was true, Naruto thought to himself, completely missing the look Kyuubi had as he considered what she said. He had received three kisses from three different girls in the last two months, "I suppose that's true." The blond looked over at the redhead, "Does Kyuu-chan like me too?"

Kyuubi looked over at him for a moment, unsure what to do. However when she saw the teasing grin on his face she knew he was trying to goad her, much like she had done in the past. She smirked at the thought that anyone would actually be able to get the best of her. She decided to make sure he knew this by setting her head back in his lap and nuzzling against him.

"Damn it Kyuubi! What the hell are you doing!" asked Naruto in a loud and embarrassed voice.

"What?" Kyuubi looked at him innocently, "You asked a question, I was just hoping to answer it for you in the way I thought worked best."

Flashback…

Yep, good times for one blond future Hokage.

It was the day after that, which the alliance treaty was signed and Naruto was currently standing just inside of Suna's gate as he got ready to go home. "Looks like this will be the last time I see you guys for a while," The blond smiled at the three Suna Siblings.

"I'm glad you're gonna be gone you goddamn cheeky brat," Kankurou said, though there was no real malice in his voice.

Naruto merely grinned at the kid before Gaara stepped in front of him, "I look forward to seeing you again Naruto-san."

Naruto smiled, "Me too Gaara."

He held out his hand. Gaara blinked for a few seconds before realizing what the blond wanted and grabbed the hand, shaking firmly. A moment later Gaara leaned in to whisper in Naruto's ear, "If you hurt my sister I will kill you."

Did he just play the protective brother card on me? Wondered Naruto while looking at the redhead Jinchuuriki in no small amount of surprise. Well he has been getting more protective of his brother and sister as of late…well maybe not so much Kankurou as he has Temari.

The blond was knocked out of his thoughts as Gaara stepped back and Temari stood in front of him with her hands behind her back and a coy expression on her face. "You take care of yourself Naruto-kun. I expect to see you again when I'm back in Konoha or when you come back here."

"You got it Mari-chan," Naruto thumped his chest. "Next time you come to Konoha I'll take you out to Ichiraku's where they serve the best food in the world!" Gaara knowing the blonde's favorite food licked his lips at the thought of the noodles that had subsequently become his own favorite food.

Temari just smiled, "I'll hold you to that." She closed the distance between them and gave Naruto a hug and another kiss on the cheeks.

"R-right," Naruto stuttered with a small blush on his face. Temari grinned while Kankurou gave a snicker, causing the blond shinobi to glare at the puppet user. It left a moment later as he grinned at the trio, "I'll see you guys later!"

Naruto turned around and let loose, taking off like a jetfighter and kicking up sand as he made his way out of the village.

Naruto had cut through the desert and forests of Kaze No Kuni and Hi No Kuni respectively at a ridiculous pace, making it to Konoha within the record time of one day. Since it was nearly night time and Naruto doubted Tsunade was awake, either from being tired from the day or drinking herself into a stupor, one or the other, Naruto decided to get some sleep before giving his report.

The next day Naruto arrived at the Hokage's Tower and greeted Shizune at the front desk, "Hey Shizune-nee-chan. How are you?"

Shizune looked up and gave Naruto a large smile, "Naruto-kun, it's good to see you. How was your mission?"

"Meh can't complain," Naruto shrugged before giving a grin. "The company was nice and I got see some new places so over all it was good."

"That's good, you can head on in to give your report, Tsunade-sama should be available," Shizune gestured towards the door.

Grinning Naruto slammed the door open, "Helloooo baa-chan!"

"You're so lucky I'm comfortable brat, or I would have pounded you into the Hokage Monument," Tsunade said from her position on the couch. She was holding a bottle of sake in one hand and a saucer in the other. Meanwhile a Kage Bunshin was sitting on at her desk working furiously on the paperwork.

"I see you're putting my knowledge to good use," Naruto smirked as he entered the room and sat down on the couch next to Tsunade. "You look quite comfortable."

Tsunade grinned as she took a sip of sake, "I have to admit, you're a genius for coming up with this. Shizune can't even complain because I usually finish my paperwork sometime before lunch. So I take it the mission was a success?"

"Of course. Were you expecting any less?" Naruto grinned as he held out the scroll that held the treaty.

Tsunade grabbed the scroll and tossed it to her clone who caught it before setting it down on the desk and continued working. "Not really. So do you want another mission, or do you have other plans in mind?"

"You know I'm not really sure," Naruto stood up and stretched before turning back to the blond woman with a grin. "Since I just did a mission I think I'm gonna get some more training in before going on another mission so soon."

"Alright brat. Have fun but don't cause problems," Tsunade waved him off.

Naruto favored the blond Hokage with a grin, "Me? Cause problems? How could you even think I would do such a thing?" The blond shinobi jumped on the window sill, crouching down before he jumped out, "Later baa-chan!"

Naruto wondered back over to his apartment our favorite blond was in for a surprise when he found Tenten standing on his doorstep, "Ten-chan?"

Tenten turned around and her frown turned into a small smile, "Hey Naruto-kun, how are you doing?"

"Not bad," Naruto walked up to the bun haired girl and favored her with a smile. "I just got back from a mission. How have you been?"

"I've been good. Our teams been pretty busy with missions recently, but most of them are D-rank. Thankfully, Gai-sensei says he'll have us doing more C-ranks soon, once the village's repairs get done."

"Man I'm so glad I don't have to do D ranks anymore, what with being a Chunin and all now." Naruto looked the girl over, "So is there any reason you're here, or was it just cuz you miss me so much?"

Tenten blushed a bit at seeing Naruto's grin but tried to at least make it seem like she had not missed him, "Don't be so full of yourself. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

Naruto let his grin fall as curiosity overcame him, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Remember when we went on our…date," Tenten blushed as she looked down. "You promised me that you would tell me why you were so hated."

Naruto sighed as he heard this. The truth of the matter was that with all that had happened and all the things he had done since then caused him to forget about his promise. But now that she had brought it up he did remember, "Why don't you come inside and I'll tell you about it."

Leading Tenten inside his apartment Naruto directed her towards a couch while he went into the kitchen, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Tenten looked over to see Naruto looking around in a cupboard, "Some tea would be nice if you have any."

Naruto nodded to himself as he grabbed some leaflets, a tea kettle and two cups, and then proceeded to make some tea. Finishing up he poured the hot water into the two cups and brought them out to the living room, sitting one of the in front of Tenten who thanked him.

For a moment Naruto was silent before he managed to work up the courage to get started, "My birthday is on October 10th, the same day the Kyuubi attacked our village…"

And so he told her, he spoke of the Kyuubi being sealed into him, how he had never learned of this until he had been tricked by a traitor. He told her about his meetings with the Kyuubi and that it was in fact a she, something Tenten had been ecstatic to find out. Apparently it was a big morale booster for Tenten knowing that the most powerful being to ever exist was in fact, female. After that it was the only thing she seemed to care about saying it proved women could be even stronger than men, go figure.

The only thing Naruto did not tell her was that he was half demon. He had just given her knowledge about him holding a demon; he was not sure how she would react to learn he was a demon.

Naruto had even relented and finally told her everything about his A-ranked mission in Nami No Kuni. From fighting the Demon brothers, to meeting Zabuza, meeting Haku and then Haku's eventual death. Tenten could understand why he had not told her, the story being sad enough that she could not even find it in herself to be jealous that he had met a member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nannanin Shu.

By the end of his tale Tenten could not help but sigh, "Ok, so I do understand why you never told me any of this, and I can see how you would be scared of letting friends know about. But I'm gonna tell you right now…that you're an idiot."

Had Naruto not been seated he would have face-faulted. As it was he merely sweat dropped, "May I ask why?"

"Well for one, my dad told me to never let anyone other than myself judge you after we first met. Another thing is that I know you very well. You can't honestly think I would believe someone who acts as goofy as you is a demon. Though from what you've told me, Kyuubi isn't really bad…" she paused and tapped her chin in thought for a moment before adding, "Though I wouldn't call her misunderstood either. And lastly I can tell the difference between something that's been sealed and the thing it's sealed into. It's like how I seal my weapons in a storage scroll. Just because I seal my weapons in the scroll, does not make the scroll the weapons that are sealed into it."

Naruto smiled at how Tenten seemed to just accept it, were he a lesser man he would probably be crying. Thankfully he wasn't a lesser man; he was one of the manliest men this side of Konohagakure.

'You keep telling yourself that Naruto-kun,' Kyuubi piped up and burst his delusions of grandeur.

'You're so mean Kyuu-chan,' Naruto gave the equivalent of a mental pout, 'sometimes I really hate you.'

'Aww, I love you too.'

"Naruto?" said blond looked at Tenten who seemed concerned. "Are you crying?"

"Huh?" Naruto rubbed his eyes to see tears. Trying to make a quick cover up he rubbed his eyes dry, making sure to ignore the laughter from Kyuubi echoing in his mind. "Pft! Of course not, I just…got something in my eyes is all."

"Uh huh," Tenten withheld a giggle. "Yeah you do, you've got tears in your eyes."

Naruto scowled when it became obvious that his bun haired friend did not believe him. A few seconds later though it was replaced by a smile before the blond surprised Tenten and engulfed her in a hug.

Said girl blushed a bright red as she felt steam pour from her ears, and she might have actually pulled a Hinata and fainted had she not heard Naruto speak, "Thank you."

The words were soft, heartfelt and somehow gave Tenten a warm feeling that spread from the heart to the rest to her body, "Your welcome." She returned his embrace, deciding that for the moment, she would just enjoy the feeling.

The following weeks were filled with C-rank missions and training for Naruto. Most of his missions were fairly easy. He would usually lead a squad of Genin, often one of the squads from his graduating academy outside of the village on simple missions. These would normally consist of things like border patrols, escort missions, guard missions, reconnaissance and the very rare bandit hunting. He did go on a few B ranks where he would tackle more bandits and even missing ninja with a group of Chunin and Jonin on occasion, but they were rare.

His training was progressing as it usually did. Naruto had begun diversifying his training even more, not with his Kage Bunshins but with himself. After his morning routine Naruto would usually spend time either sparring with Anko, Team ten or the other rookie teams, which had been dubbed the Konoha nine, having been called that due to the fact that they were all Rookie Genin who had made it passed the second stage of the Chunin Exams despite being in their first six months of active duty.

In fact that was one of the things he was doing right now.

"Gatsuuga!"

Naruto dodged the living drills that Kiba and his dog Akamaru had become as they both barreled towards him. He made sure that neither one of them stayed from his sight to long as he analyzed the dog-nin and his canines moves, trying to discover any weakness he could exploit.

Over on the sidelines were Kurenai, Hinata and Shino, all of whom were watching the battle.

"Naruto is pretty fast," Kurenai commented as she watched the spar. "Very fast actually, I think he has gotten faster since the Chunin Exams."

Shino gave an almost imperceptible nod, "It is obvious that he is going easy on Kiba-san. You can tell by the way he is prepared to leap out of the way long before Kiba-san or Akamaru can hit him."

"N-Naruto-kun has gotten r-really strong hasn't he?" Hinata said, never taking her eyes off the fight. "O-out of all the genin w-who participated in the Chunin exams N-Naruto-kun was the only o-one to get promoted," The other two said nothing but gave a silent agreement.

Back with the battle Naruto had finished analyzing the jutsu Kiba and his dog used. It was a taijutsu move much like the ones Lee and Gai had. Only this one relied on rotating one's body and using the claws that were a genetic trait of the Inuzuka clans Kekkei Genkai to become a drill and tear the flesh off of opponents. While powerful if the jutsu hit, it had a lot of weaknesses. One being that it only moved in a straight line, meaning unless you had something to bounce off of, you could only really use it once. Another was that it was slow to gather the necessary amount of rotation to generate enough power to become a drill. And the last, was the weak spot right in the very center of the drill when it came at you.

It was this weakness Naruto exploited. Waiting until the two came at him from opposite sides in the hopes of catching him off guard, Naruto crouched down and when Kiba and Akamaru were practically on top of him lashed out. He jumped into the air, spinning his body in a corkscrew, and sent a foot towards Kiba and a fist towards Akamaru. The foot smashed right into Kiba's head, stopping his forward momentum and using the generated kinetic force to launch him backwards. Akamaru had the same effect, but being much smaller it was not as pronounced.

"Ouch! What the hell! How come I can't hit you!" Kiba growled as he rubbed his head.

Naruto looked at him for a second before shrugging, "Your jutsu depends on several conditions to be met before it becomes ideal for use. The first is you have to be faster than your opponent. The second is you have to catch your opponent in a position where he can't use the weak spot I just hit."

"And the third?" Kurenai interrupted with her own question as she and the other two Genin came on the field.

"There is no third; so long as those two conditions are met the jutsu should work just fine."

Kiba glared at the blond a bit before sighing, "Since when did you get so smart?"

Naruto gave Kiba a grin, "I've always been smart, everyone else was just too stupid to notice."

'Lies.'

'Aww, c'mon Kyuu-chan! Do you have to ruin it for me?'

Kyuubi's laughter passed through his mind, 'Yes.'

'Spoilsport.'

Naruto shut off his mental conversation and grinned at the members of team eight, "So who wants to spar next? Or perhaps all three of you should give it a go!"

Naruto grinned as he walked off the training field an hour later, leaving three unconscious Genin and an exasperated Kurenai behind. As he made his way into Konoha proper he never noticed a small figure following him.

Hyuuga Hanabi watched as the blond who had defeated Neji and nearly won the entire Chunin Exam walked down the street. Much like her sister had before her, the young white-eyed girl had taken to following the whiskered blond around, studying him the way one would study a science experiment.

She continued to follow the blond as he passed around a corner, only to stop when Naruto seemingly disappeared.

"Is there a reason you're stalking me?"

"Kya!" Hanabi let out an undignified shriek as she spun around and saw Naruto standing behind her with an amused expression. The young Hyuuga did her best to gain her lost dignity as she glared at the blond, though that only served to increase said blonds amusement.

"You know if you're going to stalk someone you should do it properly," Naruto tilted his head to the side as he gave the girl a smirk. "I knew you were following me the moment I left the training field." When the girl continued her glare Naruto sighed, "Look, are you gonna stare at me all day or are you gonna tell me why you were stalking me?"

Hanabi flushed but was determined not to let the obnoxious blond get to her, at least not anymore then he already had. "I was not stalking you as you so succinctly put it," she claimed with a huff.

"Oh?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "So what would you call trying to tail someone without letting them know you following them?"

Hanabi blushed again but it soon turned into a scowl as she glared at him. "You defeated Neji-nee-san," she said, completely ignoring his question.

Naruto blinked as she stared at the girl curiously, "You're related to Neji? Well, of course you are with those eyes. So, how are you related to him?"

Hanabi's right eyebrow twitched, "Obviously, I'm his cousin."

"I see," Naruto nodded, "and you're stalking me because I kicked his ass and you're upset."

"I am not upset!" Hanabi growled as she began to lose her 'Hyuuga cool.'

"Uh huh and I suppose red is your natural facial color," Naruto stated as he looked at the girls red face.

Hanabi's face began to take on a shade of purple as she stared at the blond who was mocking her. She looked like she was just about to explode, or implode, whichever came first. However, she did none of that as she seemed to take a hold of herself and her face regained its Hyuuga look.

"I don't know how an idiot like you managed to beat Neji-nee-san," Hanabi mumbled under her breath. However it was loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"Well if you'd like to find out how I beat Neji, you're welcome to try and find out Firecracker," Naruto smirked as he saw Hanabi's face change colors again.

"What did you call me?" Hanabi asked with a cold glare.

Naruto grinned, "Firecracker, you've got such a feisty attitude I figured the name suited you. Why? Don't you like the name little Firecracker?"

"Don't. Call. Me. That!" Hanabi ground out, punctuating each word.

Naruto just laughed, "Yeah, not gonna happen Firecracker." The blond gave the girl a condescending pat on the head. When Hanabi tried to Juuken strike him the blond disappeared in a swirl of leaves, reappearing right behind her. "Boo!"

"Kya!" Hanabi yelled as she spun around in shock, she had not been using her Byakugan so she had not realized Naruto had reappeared behind her.

"So are your eyes defective or something?" asked Naruto, picking out his ear with his pinky. "Cuz Neji wouldn't have been caught by surprise had I done that."

"I didn't have them on," Hanabi ground her teeth.

"Well, maybe you should turn them," suggested Naruto. "That way I won't feel as bad when I humiliate you."

"RAH!" Hanabi shouted as her Byakugan turned on and she charged Naruto.

A frontal assault? Naruto mentally questioned himself. Is she serious? Even at my dumbest I would never have done something like that against a superior opponent.

Of course, like always, Kyuubi decided to make herself known with a condescending remark. 'Yes you would have.'

'Kyuu-chan, why are you always so cruel?' asked Naruto as he dodged several Juuken strikes, got behind Hanabi and knocker her out with a chop to the neck. He picked her up before she could fall and began hopping onto the buildings.

'Just making sure you don't get a big head,'she commented idly. 'So what are you gonna do with her?'

'Just drop her off at the Hyuuga compound,' he said.

Naruto looked over at the eager weapons user in front of him and could not help but smile at the way she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Since you're so excited I believe we should begin," Reaching into his left kunai holster he pulled out a small slip of paper. He held it out to Tenten, "I'm sure you know what this is."

"Of course," Tenten nodded as she grabbed the slip of paper and began channeling some chakra into it. When she did the entire slip crumbled into dust.

"Hmmm it looks like your element is Earth," Naruto murmured, "I myself am not an Earth-user, however I managed to gain some scrolls for all of the elements in case you were one that I wasn't."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "This is actually a good element for you since you're a weapons user you tend to focus more on long range and offense, whereas the Earth element is a mainly defensive element."

Naruto pulled a scroll out of his cloak and tossed it to Tenten, "That scroll contains the first exercise needed to train your element as well as three basic jutsu I want you to learn. I'll be here if you need help but since I don't know much about your element it will be best to try and figure this out on your own as much as possible."

"I got'cha," Tenten said as she looked at the scroll. She looked up at Naruto for a moment before embracing him, "thank you Naruto-kun."

Naruto felt his face get a little warm, but that did not stop him from returning the girls hug, "Your welcome Ten-chan."

While Tenten began trying to turn a leaf into dust Naruto created several dozen Kage Bunshin and began to spar.

He slipped down low as one of his clones through a punch, grabbing the arm and throwing his clone into another one, causing them both to dispel. Spinning on the balls of his feet he kicked a clone in the face, however, it disappeared and was replaced with a log. Naruto was so shocked to see one of his clones using the Kawarimi that he ended up getting a fist smashed into his face.

"Alright! That does it!" Naruto shouted as he began to go all out on his clones. The battle soon degenerated into a free for all as all the Naruto's did their best to kill each other. Soon enough Naruto had several large rips in his clothes and was bleeding from numerous wounds, his clones really weren't holding back.

"GAH!"

All of the battling blonds stopped and turned to look at Tenten, who looked constipated as she stared at the leaf in her hands.

"Having some issues, Ten-chan?" asked Naruto, startling the girl so badly she threw the leaf up in the air.

"I can't get this stupid leaf to turn into dust," Tenten said with a large pout on her face.

"Aw, don't you look cute with that pout on your face," teased Naruto.

"S-shut up," Tenten mumbled as a blush spread across her face.

"Anyway, try this," he said, kneeling down and grabbing a leaf from the ground. "When I use my element I often think of my wind chakra as two sharp blades grinding against each other to create a finely honed point." The leaf within Naruto's hand split in half down the center.

"Your element is earth, and your exercise is to turn the leaf into dust, I would think that imagining the grainy feel of texture and dust would help you with this exercise."

"You think that will work?" asked Tenten, staring at the new leaf in her hand.

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged, "as I said, I'm not an earth element. I'm just guessing here, but it may help."

Tenten took a deep breath and closed her eyes again, feeling and focusing her chakra. Naruto gave her what encouragement he could, and while she did not manage to turn a leaf into dust, she did manage to dry a leaf out a little bit.

(A few days later…)

Naruto entered the weapon shop owned by Tenten's father and was able to easily spot said girl sitting at the counter in the back.

"Hey Ten-chan!"

Tenten looked up as the door to her father's shop opened and smiled as Naruto came in, "Hey Naruto-kun! Is there something I can do for you? Or is this just a social visit?"

"A little of both actually," Naruto grinned as he walked up to the register that Tenten was sitting at. "I'm leaving tomorrow for some kind of mission, Tsunade-baa-chan wouldn't tell me what it was. I think I pissed her off when I drank nearly five human sized containers of Mount Myoboku sake without her."

"You really shouldn't call Tsunade-sama by such rude names," Tenten frowned at the blond. She was on the fence of being mad at him for calling her idol such a name, and finding his use of such a derogatory name funny. "And you really shouldn't have drunken all that sake."

Naruto gave a half assed shrug as he grinned, "It's a term of endearment Ten-chan. I called the Sandaime Ojisan, I call Jiraiya Ero-sennin, therefore Tsunade is baa-chan."

Tenten just sighed, "Whatever."

"Yeah anyways. So I suppose first we should get to business," Naruto set the weights he had gotten when he first became a Genin on the desk. "I need to get new weights."

"Why? What's wrong with these ones," She frowned in thought. "These are some of the most durable equipment we have Naruto-kun. They're supposed to last for years."

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he gained a sheepish expression, "Well I kinda reached the maximum amount of weight these things possess. So…"

As the blond trailed of Tenten's eyes widened, "You've already reached the maximum weight limit! Naruto, the maximum amount of weights for these things are two hundred pounds! Each!" There is no way he could have reached that level of weight in just under six months, not even Lee had increased his weights that much in that short a time! It was simply wasn't possible, was it?

"Tenten. Are you forgetting?" Naruto placed a hand on his stomach causing her to flush with embarrassment. She had been told about the benefits of being Kyuubi's container, one of which was the regeneration of his muscles, causing them to be nearly twice as strong each time he ripped them.

"Right, I forgot," Tenten came out from behind the counter and went over to the sections with the weights. Looking at a few different sets she chose the one she felt would work best for Naruto, "This is the best selection of weights we have in stock."

Tenten handing Naruto the box before she opened it up and took one out; unlike his other weights, which actually looked like weights, these ones were dark red wrist and ankle bands with what Naruto recognized as weight seals on them.

"They use a seal to increase the weight," it was a statement.

"That's right," Tenten nodded. "Unlike our other weights that use a chakra conducive, lightweight metal, these ones use seals. Because of this there is no actual limit to the amount of weight you can put on them. At least we have never found a limit; people have to wear them in order to activate the weights so the most we have seen added was six hundred pounds to one of them."

Naruto nodded, "I'm guessing they're expensive?"

"10000 yen," Tenten confirmed.

Naruto had never been so thankful that he had started doing exclusively C and B-ranked missions. The amount of money he had gotten had nearly tripled, giving him a nice sum of cash that he had saved up. It also helped that his two Kage Bunshin Akira and Kian had also made quite a bit of money. He had even managed to get a bank account now where he put most of it away.

"That is pretty pricy, but thankfully I've got cash to spare," Naruto followed Tenten back to the register where she rang him up. After paying for the weights Naruto took a moment to put them on. When he got back up he gave the bun haired girl a smile. "And now that the business is out of the way, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me?"

Tenten's face instantly became a nice shade of red. "L-like a date?" Naruto had never actually asked her out to dinner before. The thought brought a tingling warmth to it that traveled down her spine.

Naruto, noticing the increasing hue on her face tapped his chin, "Well it doesn't have to be if you don't want it to. But if you do I would be more than happy to take you on a date."

Tenten's face seemed to light up for a second before it fell. "…I don't…will it be like last time?" When Naruto turned a confused look on her the weapons mistress elaborated, "I don't want to go somewhere where people will be rude to you because of..."

"Ah," Naruto understood what she meant as he remembered their last date had not gone well due to the waitress. That Tenten was concerned about his happiness brought a small smile to Naruto's face, "I wouldn't worry about that. I've found a place that I know won't kick me out, so if you're still interested in dinner the offer's still open."

For dinner Naruto had taken Tenten to a small but nice restaurant called the Golden Leaf. It was a diner style restaurant located on the outer section of Konoha's market district. The place was not fancy or anything but it was nice.

When Naruto and Tenten walked into the front door and up to the desk where the hostess stood they both noticed her stiffen. However, as Tenten began to get worried the blond surprised her when he spoke, "I would like the reserved seat under the name Fuujin please."

The blond allowed himself a small smile as he saw the widening of the hostess's eyes, no doubt having been informed about the names meaning. He also noticed that the woman gave him a smile, though it was obviously forced, "Of course, right this way."

Naruto began walking forcing Tenten to walk with him and knocking her out of her slight shock. They were eventually led to a private booth where the pair sat on opposite sides of each other, "A waiter will be with you shortly to take your orders, have a nice stay."

When the hostess walked off Tenten turned to Naruto, confusion evident on her face, "What was that about?"

Naruto chuckled a bit before explaining, "On one of my recent missions, a B-rank one where the team I was on had to eradicate a small nest of bandits and missing ninja, I managed to find and rescue a woman by the name of Okawa Kikyo who had been captured while traveling. Turns out she's a citizen of Konoha and had been on a trip to find rare ingredients from other countries in order to spice up the menu of this restaurant."

Tenten blinked as the words registered in her mind, "So I take it she's the owner of this shop?"

"No, her husband is the owner, while she works the menu," Naruto smiled a bit. "When Kikyo-san told her husband about how I rescued her I guess he just had a change in heart, because the next thing I knew he had found me after I had been returning from a mission and told me that if I ever wanted a place to eat, I was welcome here."

"I see," Tenten smiled. "That's actually kind of cool. So what about the name Fuujin? What was up with that?"

"Oh that," Naruto gave a dismissive wave. "I didn't want them to lose customers because of me, so he created this private booth. Fuujin is the alias I came up with for when I want to dine here. Since my elemental chakra is wind natured I thought it would be a good idea since Fuujin means Wind God."

Tenten covered her mouth to hide a small laugh, "A little grandiose of a name, don't you think?"

Naruto gave a pout as he crossed his arms, "I wanted something cool, that and I couldn't think of anything else."

This time Tenten let out a rather loud laugh, causing Naruto to puff up her cheeks comically, "It's not funny!" However, this only seemed to make the girl laugh that much harder.

She managed to calm down in time to deliver her order when the waiter came, and after that the two made some more small talk. Most of their discussion was centered on various new weapon designs the two were trying to come up with.

Naruto, having for the most part turned away from pranks with only his sarcasm and occasional torturing of Sasuke and Sakura being the closest thing that could be considered as such, had put his pranking mind to other uses. One of those had been to help Tenten design new weapons or improve old ones. They had come up with several different weapons, a few of which Tenten's father was in the process of making and a few that were unfeasible for the moment and had been put on the shelf.

After dinner they had walked around one of Konoha's parks before Naruto escorted Tenten home, getting a kiss on the cheek good night, much to Kaito's, who had been watching from inside the shop, disgruntlement. After that Naruto went home, knowing that he would need a good night's rest for whatever mission he had to go on tomorrow.

The next morning Naruto found his way into the Hokage tower. He paused and thought for a moment, should he go through the front door, or the window? Making a decision he channeled some chakra through his feet and jumped up all the way to the window to the Hokage's office. "Good morning baa-chan!" Naruto greeted, ducking under an empty jar of sake.

"Good morning brat/Hey what's up brat!"

Naruto blinked when he heard the other familiar voice in the room, "Anko-nee-chan?" A grin worked its way on his face as he saw the purplette. "Hey! What's up? Am I going on the mission with you?"

"Yes you are," Tsunade interrupted before Anko could say anything, causing said woman to pout. "You guys have two more people who are going to be going with you. We just need to wait for them."

As if on cue the door opened and two people walked in, "Hokage-sama, Izumo and Kotetsu reporting for a mission."

"Izumo? Kotetsu?" Naruto looked at the pair as he scratched his head, "You two are finally getting away from your gate guarding duty?"

The pair looked over at him before grinning, "Hey Naruto." Kotetsu scratched his cheek with his index finger. "I guess we are. A good thing too, I was getting bored guarding that damned gate all day every day."

"I don't see how you can complain," Izumo shook his head. "Guard duty is an important job. We're protecting the citizens of Konoha every day, you should be proud of that."

"Is that what you tell yourself to go to sleep at night," Naruto grinned at the brown haired Chunin. "Seriously dude, I don't know how you people can sit there day in and day out. The monotony must be killer."

"Ahem," Tsunade coughed into her hand to get everyone's attention. "Now that I have your attention." The busty blond woman tossed a scroll to Anko. "Your mission is to escort and guard the Daimyo of Kiba No Kuni (Land of Claws) to Tatsu No Kuni (Land of Iron) and then guard him during a negotiation process he is having with the Daimyo of Ta No Kuni."

"Isn't Tatsu No Kuni that Samurai nation?" Naruto commented as he tapped his chin and looked up at the ceiling in thought. "The one that's managed to maintain its autonomy through all three great shinobi wars?"

"So a B-rank then?" Anko pocketed the scroll. "Well it's not exactly what I had in mind, but I suppose it will do."

"Actually due to the oddity of this mission it will be considered A-rank," Tsunade corrected, getting Anko to turn back to her. "You see the Daimyo from Ta No Kuni has hired bodyguards from Kumo. As you know it's something of an oddity to have two different ninja villages on the same mission, and while we are not on unfriendly terms with Kumo anymore, I certainly would not call us friends either."

Anko hummed for a moment, "I suppose that makes sense. Still I can't see anything going wrong."

"There are a lot things that can go wrong on a mission like this," Naruto gave the woman a smirk. "I mean you're going on this mission right?"

"Oh ho, looks like the brat's grown a pair since he became a big bad Chunin," Anko grinned, licking her lips a tad. "Looks like when we get back I'm gonna have to take you down a peg or two."

Naruto gave a grin to match the purple haired snake summoner, "You think you can still beat me like you used to? You're welcome to try, just don't complain when I kick your ass six ways to Sunday."

"Ha! We both know that you're a thousand years to soon to beat me."

"You know you keep lengthening the amount of years it's gonna take me to beat you every time you say that. You must be in need of an ego boost if you're expanding your yearly limit like that."

Tsunade received several tic marks on her head as she continued listening to the two bickering, and a part of her wondered if it was a good idea to send them on a mission. Meanwhile Izumo and Kotetsu were looking back and forth between the pair, placing bets on who would win this war with words.

"Oh for the love of- Will you two shut up!" Tsunade shouted, her anger getting the better of her as she threw a paperweight at Naruto and a sake bottle at Anko.

Both of them ducked under the thrown objects and turned to look at Tsunade, "Sorry about that boss lady/ baa-chan."

Tsunade rubbed her head as she felt a serious headache coming on from the pair, "Just go…your employer will be at the North gate within the next two hours."

"Alright! Everyone get your shit together and meet by the North gate in two hours!" Anko shouted, raising her fist in the air.

"I'll see you all then, Later Baa-chan!" Naruto grinned as he towards the open window and jumped out. The others left in their own way, Anko shaking her head and leaving in a Sunshin while Kotetsu and Izumo left through the door.

Tsunade sighed and pulled out a bottle of sake, "maybe it was a mistake to let those two take a mission together."

"Curse that damned brat!" Orochimaru cried out, taking deep heaving breaths as the pain in his arms and now his whole body felt like it was on fire, "Damn him! I'll kill that stupid blond Genin the next time I see him!"

"Orochimaru-sama you must calm down," Kabuto entered the room, frowning at the way his master was thrashing about. "If you keep moving so much you're going to injure yourself even more."

"Kabuto-kun, what have you found out for me?" Orochimaru gasped as he ignored his subordinate's words.

"Not much I'm afraid," Kabuto pulled out a scroll and unsealed the files from it. "This was all I could get, and there was nothing here on Naruto. It seems all information on him is kept completely confidential. Only the Hokages themselves can access those files and with the Sandaime gone…"

"The next one in line is to be Tsunade, and I doubt she would let me look at them," Orochimaru finished Kabuto's sentence in a murmur, his mind working at the possibilities that this new information might hold. "And what of Sasuke-kun?"

"It seems we have some more troubles here as well," Kabuto pushed up his glasses before looking at the information that had been given to him by Orochimaru's mutually beneficial partner. "It seems that Naruto managed to combined two Fuja Hoin seals together to create a more powerful seal. I am sure you have noticed that you can barely even feel the power of the curse mark you placed on him."

Orochimaru nodded, "Yes I had been wondering about that. After finding out that blond brat managed to get rid of his own, I tried connecting to Sasuke's only to feel just a small pulse. Are you telling me that in addition to getting rid of his own seal, he also managed to completely seal off Sasuke-kun's?" The thought left a bad taste in the Snake Sannin's mouth and served to aggravate him further.

"Well not completely, as you said you have been able to feel small twinges from the seal," Kabuto said.

"Hmmm…" Orochimaru frowned as he tried to sort things through. If the seal was closed off as much as he thought it was, then controlling Sasuke from here would be a problem. However, by that same token he knew that there was no feasible way to get him out of the village. Even if he came willingly they would still have to deal with that blond brat, and Orochimaru was not willing to waste valuable resources until he was sure he could procure Sasuke. "For the now there is nothing we can do about Sasuke-kun, not until we find some way to slip him out of Konoha without anyone's notice." The pale skinned man paused. "I want you to gather a list of our shinobi who are not listed in Konoha's registry."

"What do you plan to do Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kabuto.

"Kukuku, you'll see Kabuto-kun, you'll see."

Omake: What happens in the Forest of Death, stays in the Forest of Death:

Naruto entered one of the deeper and more secluded sections of the Forest of Death after having just gotten back from a C rank mission with Team Ten while Asuma had gone out on another mission. They had gone on a routine reconnaissance mission that had ended with them being forced to terminate a small group of bandits. Despite the minor setback of some douche bags that thought they could take on a group of ninja, the mission had gone off without a hitch.

And now Naruto had some important business to take care of.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

There was a large puff of smoke before Gamabunta appeared within the clearing, "Eh? Oh it's you. What do you want brat?"

Naruto grinned at the toad boss, "I remember you saying something about needing to have a drink with you before I can truly be your summoner."

"Yeah, what of I-" Gamabunta blinked before he realized what was going on. He gave a low chuckle, which due to his size made the ground shake a bit, "In that case I'll need you to summon me back in a few minutes while I get the sake."

Gamabunta disappeared in a puff of smoke while Naruto prepared the seal that, if he was correct in his theory, would allow him to turn off his regeneration and actually get drunk.

Sometime during the night Team nine had been assigned a mission inside the village, one that was ranked as C-rank due to the place the mission was taking them. Apparently there were some rather odd noises coming from the Forest of Death and no one knew what to make of them. Because Mitarashi Anko was currently away on a mission, it was obvious she was not the reason for this disturbance and some were afraid it may be enemy shinobi or some scavengers of some kind.

It was not quite a well-known fact that Naruto often frequented the place. Out of all the people who knew him, only Tenten and Anko herself knew that the blond trained in the Forest. However, since Tenten knew that there were many things in the forest and the reports claimed it was odd noises that sounded like croaking, she figured it could not possibly be Naruto and thus remained silent.

Gai was in front of the formation, being the one who led the team especially when they were in a potentially dangerous place. He was followed closely by Neji who was their spotter with his Byakugan, and he in turn was flanked by Tenten and Lee. Normally having such a high level mission within the village would have excited the normally excitable Lee. However, given their present circumstances and where they were going even he knew to be cautious, "Neji-kun, can you spot anything yet?"

"Not yet," Neji shook his head while they traveled. "Whatever it is we're tracking it's far out of my range. Where did Hokage-sama say the noise was coming from exactly?"

"She did not know," Gai answered. "Since few ever venture into the Forest of Death the noise was only heard from the outside. No one has any clue where the noise comes from."

"Well I don't hear any noise now," Tenten commented. "All I hear is-wait! Do you hear that?"

They all stopped and listened and found that they could indeed hear something, though it was too far away and garbled to determine what. "I believe it is coming from the northeast," Gai placed an ear on the ground. "Neji activate your Byakugan and let's head in that direction."

Neji did as told and the group was on the move once again. As they got closer to the source the group began to hear the sound far more clearly and realized what it was.

It was singing.

Neji who had his Byakugan active saw something up ahead, "I see something ahead of us. It looks like a-" his eyes widened in surprise and he face-faulted, causing the others to stop.

"Yosh! Neji-kun are you ok? Did you trip over a most un-youthful root or something?" Lee looked around for something that his eternal rival might have tripped over.

Neji ignored them as he began speeding over to the direction of the singing. The others quickly followed him, being forced to catch up. When they finally did they were in the clearing and found a very surprising and very shocking sight.

Ten large barrels of what the group easily guessed held sake, judging by the stench in the clearing, were littered around the area. Sitting near the bottles was one very large and very drunk, toad. Even more surprising was that Naruto was also there, sitting right next to the Gamabunta and he too looked rather wasted. Both Naruto and Gamabunta had a large human-sized saucer right in front of them, and both were singing…pirate songs.

"Sixteen men on a dead man's chest…"

"Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!"

"Shot/Shot!"

The pair picked up the saucers in front of them and began guzzling down the saucers of sake. It was a great surprise to see that Naruto seemed to be keeping pace with the large toad, though there was a little bit of overspill since the saucer was just too big for his mouth so a bit, quite a bit of the sake would slosh over the side. Not that he seemed to care that some of it was drenching his clothes. The pair set there saucers down and laughed. Right before they started singing again.

"Gai-sensei, these two are doing some most youthful singing I have ever heard in my life!" Lee exclaimed as tears ran down his eyes, "I must join them in this youthful excursion and fan my own flames with my youthful singing voice!" Lee ran over to them and began to sing, causing both Naruto and Gamabunta to look at Lee before looking at each other, shrugged and began singing again.

The other three merely watched this…odd sight with weariness, curiosity and embarrassment respectively.

"Um…Gai-sensei," When Gai turned to look at Tenten she continued. "Now that I'm pretty sure we found the disturbance, what do we do?"

"You know Tenten-chan, I'm not sure."

I'm giving credit of the Gamabunta scene to Kenchi's Sealed Kunai, I got the idea from one of the chapters where Naruto confronted Bunta about his father, and another scene where Team Ten found him training in the Forest and decided to twist it and have them find him while drinking with the large toad boss. That's why I have it as an Omake rather than an actual scene in the story.