8

Rockon5002: You make several good points and honestly, I feel that the kage bunshin no jutsu is a technique that Kishimoto made without putting much thought into it. Do you remember the battle between Neji and Naruto during the chunin exams? Neji had commented that he could not find the real Naruto because the kage bunshin's Naruto created had their chakra evenly split between each other. Here is the full, legal definition of the Kage bunshin no jutsu that Kishimoto gave when he came up with the idea:

Similar to the Clone Technique, this jutsu creates clones of the user. Unlike the Clone Technique, these clones are actual copies, not illusions. The user's chakrais evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power. The clones are capable of performing jutsu on their own and can even bleed, but will usually disperse after one or two solid blows. They can also disperse on their own. The clones will be created in roughly the same condition as the original.

Shadow clones can't be detected by the Byakuganbecause the clones have the exact same amount of chakra and aren't made from any other substance, making them indistinguishable from the actual person. In the anime, Sasuke Uchiha claims that the Sharingancan distinguish clones from the original, however various events throughout the series seem to indicate that this is not the case, implying that the Sharingan was merely used to keep track of the original's movements.

I like to think of the use of this technique by using pennies. Say you start off with 100 pennies, then you take 50 of them and make a separate pile. That leaves you with 50 pennies and your 'clone' with 50. Each of you can split it again as many times as you want until you only have 1. However, because your body needs a certain amount of pennies to survive you can only split your chakra so many times. If Sasuke has 50 pennies and Naruto has 400 pennies, and the amount of pennies required to live is 25, then Sasuke can only split his chakra once before exhausting himself, making the technique more trouble than it is worth to learn for Sasuke, which is why we never see him use it in the anime (Sakura would die trying because she does not even have the perquisite amount of pennies to split without dying). Now this is not quite accurate since I do not know how much chakra Naruto has compared to Sasuke, but I do know that he has a hell of a lot more. I hope this example makes sense.

Aiten: that's why I said the training method can only help so much. Your muscles remember the moves your clones do, but your body still has to be conditioned to use them.

Meech Macko: His outburst will eventually lessen; I plan on giving him a 'mixed personality'. When more of the story comes out if anyone can guess the people he takes after, I will give them a cookie.

Roshane: I know how you feel, and if this arc was not important to Naruto's development as a character I would not have added it and gone with one of my own arcs instead.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles: Thanks, I'll be sure to change his nickname to that.

Animakingmike: You do have a point. The reason I'm having Sasuke be more of an arrogant asshole is because I feel that he would be jealous of Naruto gaining as much strength as he has in such a short amount of time. That was the whole reason he left Konoha in the first place after all. And since Naruto is showing his strength to early on, he's getting jealus earlier then he would in canon. I will eventually have him mellow out around the same time he does in the canon however, so don't worry.

SuperiorShortness: You do make a lot of good points. Right now Naruto is trying to show his team that he is not the same person he was (in a sense he is showing off) and that he has gotten smarter, by showing that he can glean a lot of knowledge from being given only a little information (You know, look underneath the underneath and all that). I'll try to find some kind of happy medium between the two sides.

So a few people have been asking me to update my other stories. I do understand how you feel about wanting fast updates. But trust me when I say that I can't just write like that unless I have idea's for my writing, I'm not like Kenchi618 who can write five stories at once and come up with a chapter for one of them every other day. In fact, half the time I write I am hardly even aware of what I am writing until I finish it and read the chapter over to make adjustments, I usually just let the words 'flow out' so to speak. I know your getting impatient, but if I were to write my stories without an idea on what to write, they will suck, badly. And I can guarentee that you will hate them and no longer be a fan because of just how shitty they are. Please be patient, I am not adandoning any of my stories and they will have chapters out. I will do my best to get them out before the end of this month.

This is a thank you to all of the people who have given me reviews! I really do appreciate them, and they have all helped me in some way, either giving me good advice and criticism, or inflating my ego to such massive proportions that I sometimes have trouble fitting my head through the door… which is cool in my book!

Another thank you is to my Beta reader Senjuto, who is fucking awesome and can beta my story almost as soon as I send it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is a most unfortunate situation that I have found myself in, but fear not! For I have a plan to acquire Naruto from Kishimoto's hands. All I need is some ninja wire, kunai, shuriken, several dozen explosive notes… and a rubber chicken.

Naruto: Shift in Life

Chapter 8: Meeting the Family

After the battle the group arrived at Tazuna's house. Said house was a decent sized two story house that was sitting on a dock just a little over the ocean.

As the group walked up to the house Tazuna banged on the door, "Tsunami! It's me, open up!"

The group could hear a quick shuffling of feet on the other side before the door opened, and a beautiful woman in her mid to late twenties with dark blue shoulder length hair and brown eyes could be seen. She was wearing a pink sweater, and a blue skirt.

"Tou-san!" the woman said in relief as she saw him. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Of course I'm alright!" Tazuna said with a large relieved smile at seeing his daughter. "It's all thanks to these ninja here."

Tsunami looked over Tazuna's shoulder to see the group with him. "Thank you very much." She said with a bow before she noticed the group of…triplets? Carrying Kakashi who was still completely out of it, "Oh my! Is he alright?" She asked.

"He's fine." Naruto said, deciding to take charge for the moment. "He just has a bad case of chakra exhaustion. Speaking of, is there anywhere we can let him rest?"

"Of course!" Tsunami said as she opened the door the group to enter. "I will show you to the bedroom where you can put him."

Naruto nodded as he and the other genin followed Tsunami up a set of stairs and into a hallway. She opened the first door on the left and let the Naruto clones in. Walking over to a closet in the room she opened it and grabbed a bed spread that she set out on the floor.

"Here you are," She said.

"Thank you." The clone in the front replied as they set Kakashi down. With their job done the two clones dispelled surprising Tsunami, who looked at the smoke where the clones had been in surprise.

"What the…?"

"Kage Bunshin," Naruto answered as he leaned against the wall next to window, making the woman turn to him, "They're just solid copies of myself."

Figuring it was some kind of ninja thing she nodded her head as Sakura sat down next to their sensei. "Are you going to be alright sensei?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Kakashi said in a somewhat strained voice, having woken up some time in the past few minutes. "I just won't be able to move for a week or so."

"What?" Sakura said in surprise.

"It's because of the Sharingan," Naruto said as the others looked over at him. "It's an amazing bloodline, but because Kakashi-sensei isn't an Uchiha it puts a great deal of stress on his body, since it's not built to harness the Kekkai Genkai's full potential."

Sakura and especially Sasuke looked surprised by Naruto's knowledge. Sakura looked from her her blond spiky haired teammate to her sensei, "The Sharingan sounds like an amazing bloodline…but if it puts that much stress on the body, I guess you have to think before using it."

"Dobe," Sasuke said, getting the blonde's attention. "How do you know so much about the Sharingan?"

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and shrugged, "I've been reading a lot lately. Naturally, reading about Konoha's most famous clans was one of my subjects, while there is little about how the Sharingan works, I know the basics. Like how the eyes are able to see through and copy any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu and be able turn any technique back on the original user. Aside from that, Kekkei Genkai come from specific families, or clans, if someone who is not a member from a clan gets a bloodline such as the Sharingan implanted in them it simply can't be used properly. I'm guessing that's why Kakashi-sensei has to keep his eye covered, right sensei?"

Kakashi tried nodding, but when he found it impossible just spoke. "That's right Naruto…I'm pleased to see you're studying so hard."

"Hehehe…" Naruto gave an embarrassed laugh as he rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

The group was silent for a little while after that, thinking about all that had happened and what their next move should be.

"Well, at least we defeated that strong ninja this time," Tazuna said with a relieved laugh. "So we should be safe for now."

"By the way, who was that masked kid?" asked Sakura, she had remembered reading something about ninja who wore those masks before.

"That's the mask worn by Kirigakure's special hunter-ninja team," Kakashi answered. "They are also known as body erasers. Their duty is to completely dispose of a body without a trace. A ninja's body within it has many secrets that can be revealed with a proper examination of a medical ninja. Things like ninjutsu, different chakra types, herbs and many other secrets that will reveal things about the village. For example, if I died, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed. If you're not careful there's the danger that the enemy will steal your jutsu."

Naruto nodded to himself, he had recently read about the hunter ninja forces. Konoha had its own force of hunter ninjas, designed to hunt down missing ninja and kill them before they could become a problem.

"That's why the hunter ninja are around," The rest of the group turned towards Naruto. "In order to protect the secrets of their village, hunter ninja have the jobs of going into the world and hunting down the missing ninja of their village. They're specialists who guard their village's secrets."

"So that Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of?" Sakura asked with a pale complexion as she spoke. "Scary!"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not so sure…"

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura as she looked over at Naruto. "What are you not sure about?"

Naruto frowned as he remembered what he had read about hunters. "When a hunter ninja disposes of a body, it's supposed to be on the spot. That way no one has a chance to discover the secrets they might hold before they can get rid of it. They usually cut off the head and then burn the body with a Katon jutsu. However…"

His mind went back to their encounter with the hunter ninja. "However that ninja didn't do that…instead he left with the body in tow. On top of that, he used senbon to kill the target," having spent as much time as he had with Tenten, Naruto knew a lot about ranged weaponry. After all, when someone is throwing weapons at you and has a huge fetish for said weapons, one tends to learn more then they initially bargained for, "and it didn't look like he was carrying any kind of heavy equipment that could decapitate a person… I'm just…it seems odd that a hunter ninja would be so ill-equipped to deal with the disposing of a body."

"You're absolutely right Naruto., Kakashi said, sounding proud that his genin had been able to figure all of that out. "I've been wondering about that myself. And I have a theory…"

Within the forest just a little ways from where Zabuza had fought the Konoha ninja, the hunter-ninja looked over Zabuza's body. Reaching into a pouch, the hunter took out a tool kit and unrolled it on the ground. The ninja grabbed a pair of clippers and brought them towards Zabuza.

"First I'll cut off the mouth cloth and drain some of the blood." The ninja mumbled, carefully bringing the clippers to bear near Zabuza's clothed face.

Just before the hunter could cut the cloth, Zabuza's hand shot up and grabbed the hunter's arm.

"That's alright, I'll do it myself." Zabuza said in a slightly gasped breath.

"Oh." The hunter said, sounding both surprised and amused. "You've already come back to life."

Zabuza grunted as he grabbed the senbon in his neck and gave them a yank. "Damn, you sure are rough," He grunted as he pulled them out.

"Oh! You're pretty rough yourself, pulling them out like that; you may really die if you pull them out so carelessly." The hunter said.

Zabuza just gave a non-committal grunt. "How long are you going to wear that stupid mask?" he asked.

"I like this mask," The fake hunter replied, "It reminds me of the old days." Despite that, the fake hunter reached up and pulled the mask off, "Plus it was useful for this act. If I hadn't saved you, you would have definitely been killed."

Zabuza glared at his partner, and decided to let the fake hunter know just what he thought of the hunter's selection of pressure points. "If you were going to put me into a temporary death, you didn't have to aim for the neck you know. You could have used a safer acupuncture point," The Kiri missing ninja put the cloth back around his mouth. "You're brutal as always."

His partner merely smiled, "You're right. But we both know how you would get angry if I scarred that flawless body of yours. And the neck doesn't have much muscle; it's easier to hit the acupuncture point there."

The fake hunter examined Zabuza's vitals to see how much damage was done to him that both the fight and the temporary death state had given him. The man had a lot more wounds then usual due to who he was fighting, but the hunter determined he would live.

"You shouldn't be able to move much for about a week. But…knowing you, you'll probably be up and about sooner."

Zabuza at his partner out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "You're so pure and clever, that's what I like about you…"

"Of course," His partner smiled, "I'm just a kid after all." The fake hunter ninja stood up and looked around, "The mist has cleared."

Looking down the fake hunter ninja asked a question, "Will you be alright, next time?"

Zabuza's eyes narrowed and let out something akin growl. "Next time I will defeat the Sharingan."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ZABUZA'S ALIVE!" Sakura screeched, causing everyone to hold their ears and the windows to rattle.

"Keep your voice down Sakura," Kakashi said before clearing his throat. "Think about it, the hunter ninja used senbon to kill Zabuza. But unless it hit's a vital organ, the probability of actually killing someone is low. It's an item used by doctors in acupuncture. Hunter ninja have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the human body. So putting a person in a momentary death-like state would be easy. Let's look at the facts. First, he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing."

"So basically what you're saying is that Zabuza is alive," Sasuke stated, though it almost sounded like a question.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

The announcement that Zabuza was alive seemed to have varying levels of effect on those in the room. Sasuke was smirking, thinking he would get another chance to fight a strong opponent and prove himself as an Uchiha, as well as brining himself one step closer to Itachi.

Sakura looked around in worry, not feeling anywhere near as confident as her crush. She knew that she had no chance of helping in a fight like this.

Naruto was surprisingly deep in thought, replaying what he had witnessed in Kakashi's battle with Zabuza. He knew that he had no chance against a man who could go toe to toe with his sensei. What's more Kakashi had almost been defeated, and were it not for the timely intervention of him and Sasuke, Zabuza underestimating then and a shit load of luck, they would have definitely lost.

"Don't you think you're over thinking this?" asked Tazuna, now worried that, that really strong ninja might actually be coming back. "I mean, hunter ninja are supposed to kill missing ninja."

"One of the shinobi rules is to always prepare for the worst possible scenario," Kakashi stated. "And even if Zabuza is dead, it just means that Gato is likely to hire an even stronger ninja. Either case point to the fact that we need to prepare."

"But…what can we do?" asked Sakura, frightened of even the thought of seeing Zabuza again. This whole mission had gone from bad to worse for her, and she was starting to feel completely overwhelmed. "I mean, we're just genin, and you can barely even move!"

"Hehe," Kakashi chuckled as if he somehow found this whole situation funny, "You guys will be doing some training."

"Huh? Training!" Sakura said in surprise, "Sensei, what's a little training gonna do! Our enemy is someone you struggled against, even with the Sharingan!"

CHA! HE'S TRYING TO GET US KILLED! Inner Sakura shouted.

"Sakura…who saved me while I was trapped in that water prison?" Kakashi asked in a slow tone, the question was rhetorical but it was obvious was point he was trying to get across. "You guys have all improved a great deal," The cyclopean Jonin looked over at Naruto and gave him an eye smile. "Naruto, you've improved the most."

Naruto blushed in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I have a lot of people who've helped me…"

Everyone looked over at him, wondering who was helping him.

He does seem to be a lot better. Sakura thought begrudgingly. And smarter…the way he was talking, it's almost like he's a completely different person!Of couse Sakura was still convinced that Naruto was an idiot who was simply trying to act smart in order to make her Sasuke-kun look bad.

I can't believe the dobe managed to do so well, Thought a miffed Sasuke, recognizing that what Kakashi said was true. He must be getting some kind of help, otherwise there would be no way the dobe could have gotten this good. Who is it though? And why does he have someone teaching him privately, while I, an Uchiha does not?

"Obviously this is just training for you guys to get better," Kakashi continued, unaware of the thoughts two of his genin were having. "Even if I train you, you won't be able to best Zabuza without me."

"But sensei, if Zabuza is alive he could attack at any time!" Sakura protested. "So should we be training..."

"Don't worry," Kakashi assured her. "You have to remember Zabuza was injured to, more so than I was. On top of that, he was put into a death-like state. His body will take a while to recover from something like that. So we'll train until then."

"Finally!" Naruto said, breaking out into a grin. "I didn't think you were ever gonna train us sensei!"

"Ma, Naruto I have trained you guys." Kakashi defended himself.

"Yeah, in teamwork exercises, and even then you continue reading that porn of yours." Naruto shot back. "I'm talking about training to up our individual skills."

"Teamwork is important," Kakashi said with a small shrug.

"I don't deny that teamwork is important sensei," Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "However, we both know that individual ability is just as important. If we can't even fight properly on our own merits, it won't matter if our teamwork is flawless. And you know that had Zabuza not underestimated us because we were kids, Sasuke and I would have been killed before we even had time to blink."

Kakashi conceded that point with a nod. Naruto was right, individual skills were important. However, the silver haired jonin had wanted to pound the idea that teamwork was the most important aspect of a shinobi.

"Why do you guys even bother?"

Everyone turned to the source of the new voice to see a depressed looking little kid of about six to eight years of age. He had blue coveralls on over a yellow shirt and a fishing hat on his head.

"Oh! Inari! Where were you!" Tazuna asked in greeting, holding out his arms as Inari ran to give him a hug.

"Welcome back grandpa," Inari said, before glaring over at the Konoha ninja.

"Inari, say hello to these people," Tsunami said, placing her hands on her hips. "They're the ninja that protected grandpa."

"But mom, they're just going to die," Everyone looked surprised and/or angry when Inari said that. Tazuna and Tsunami just sighed. "There's no way they can beat Gato."

"Man this kid's more emo than you are Sasuke-teme," Naruto commented, grinning when he received an angry grunt from his Uchiha teammate. "Listen here kid, there is no way some idiotic, rich, midget bastard is going to be killing us! When Gato tries to get your grandpa here, I'm going to beat his ass back to the age of the Rikudou Sennin!"

There Naruto goes again, Kakashi sweatdropped at his blond student's shift in attitude. Genius one moment, loudmouth the next. It's almost like he has some kind of two people inhabiting that body or something.

"Pft," Inari huffed. "You must be some kind of idiot, thinking you can go against Gato." Inari turned around and made his way to the door, "If you don't want to die you should leave."

"Inari, where are you going?" asked Tsunami in a worried voice.

"I'm going to look at the ocean." Inari said before leaving, slamming the door shut on his way out.

"I'm sorry about that," Tazuna said in a depressed voice as he looked over at the Konoha ninja.

"Whatever, that kid needs to get his shit together," Naruto commented. "Seriously, anyone who broods more than Sasuke-teme the Emo-king of brood over here has a serious problem."

"Shut up Naruto-baka!" Sakura yelled as she attempted to hit him.

Naruto sighed as he caught the pink haired girl's fist. How long would it take for her to get he was not going to allow her to hit him anymore?

"Seriously Sakura, haven't I asked you to stop hitting me like two hundred times already. I'm not going to let you hit me anymore, I'm not your personal punching bag."

Naruto let go of Sakura's fist, seeing as how she was too shocked to do anything. I swear she never changes, even after this has happened kami only knows how many times.

In the past month his crush had been getting less and less appealing. Naruto did not really know why he no longer really cared for Sakura, except that the more time he spent with her and the more time he spent with her and Sasuke the less he seemed to like her. Of course, it could have been her abusive personality and the fact that she always hit Naruto, but he had been dealing with that for years. He assumed that it was because he was spending time with girls that seemed to actually enjoy being with him. Tenten and Anko actually took time out of their days to talk to him. Often times when he was done training with either one of them they would stay out a little longer and just talk, sometimes they would even go out to get something to eat ven though that consisted mostly of Ichiraku's.

The blond shook his head and banished the thoughts, "Anyway, I think I'll be going to get some rest."

"In that case, there are a few extra rooms for you on the right if you want to take one of them, Tsunami said helpfully.

Naruto gave her a smile, "Thanks."

He left Kakashi's room, moving to one of the ones Tsunami had said was open. As he passed by Inari's room he heard crying. Curious he stopped and channeled some chakra to his ear.

"…Tou-san."

Naruto frowned when he heard Inari's sobbed whispers, sighing he began walking to one of the open rooms again.

(The Next Day…)

The next day Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke followed Kakashi, who was using crutches, outside to begin their training. As they stood in the clearing Kakashi turned around to look at the three.

"Ok, we will now begin our training," He informed them.

"About damn time sensei," Naruto grinned, masking his excitement. "I've been waiting for you to get your sorry ass into gear."

"Ma, no need for such language Naruto," Kakashi said with a sweatdrop. I think Anko's really being a bad influence on him…

"Now, before we begin training I want to talk to you about chakra," Kakashi continued on with his lesson.

"Why even bother asking us that?" Naruto asked. "We already know about chakra."

"Well, since you seem to know it so well, how about you explain what chakra is," Kakashi suggested.

"It's the energy we use to create jutsu." Naruto said in an uncaring manner.

"And?" prompted Kakashi, trying to get more out of the blond.

"And…nope, that's it." Naruto said with an indifferent shrug.

Kakashi sweatdropped again, Definitely a bad influence.

"Right well, I suppose we should just get to training," Kakashi decided it would just be best to get started.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi gave all of them an eye smile. "You are going to be learning…tree climbing."

Sasuke and Sakura face faulted; meanwhile Naruto resisted the urge to sigh.

"How is climbing a tree supposed to help us get stronger?" Sasuke asked with his perpetual scowl in place.

So he doesn't know tree climbing yet… Naruto thought with a smirk. This should be fun to watch.

"I'm glad you asked Sasuke," Kakashi eye-smiled at his raven haired student. "Aside from the simple fact that you'll be able fight on a vertical surface, tree climbing also helps in your chakra control."

Kakashi crutched his way over to one of the trees in the clearing. Bringing up a hand sign for focus, he channeled chakra to the bottom of his feet. He put one foot on the tree trunk, then his other foot. Soon enough he was walking up the tree, seemingly defying gravity. He stopped when he climbed onto a branch and hung upside down. Looking down he saw Sakura and Sasuke looking shocked, while Naruto looked bored.

Could he already know this exercise? Kakashi asked as he stared at Naruto.

"The feet are considered to be the hardest place to channel chakra to. Therefore if you can master tree climbing, you can master any jutsu, theoretically at least," Kakashi explained.

"Hey sensei, I already know this exercise," Naruto informed them, causing Sasuke's eyes to narrow and Sakura's to widen.

"I see. Well then why don't you show me," Kakashi gestured to a tree on his left.

Naruto shrugged as he walked up to the tree, subconsciously channeling chakra to his feet as he began to defy gravity and climb up. He continued walking until he was a little higher than Kakashi and then like him hung upside down on a branch.

Naruto looked over to Kakashi and gave him a cheeky grin. "See? You may now bask in the greatness that is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Well, it looks like you've got a head start on chakra control," Kakashi figured this must have been one of the many things that Anko decided to teach him. "Very well, since you seem to be so good at it, you can teach it to your teammates."

"WHAT!" Sakura and even Sasuke yelled.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at how his sensei was trying to dump 'his' work on him. "Or how about I leave a Kage Bunshin with them and you help me with something I've been working on."

Kakashi actually look surprised at the suggestion. However, he thought about it for a second before nodding. With his chakra nearly depleted he could not do much more than what he was doing now, but he may be able to give his student some advice.

"Very well, I don't see a problem with that. Though I need to see what you're working on in order to help you."

Nodding his head Naruto released the chakra from his feet and flipped over in air, landing on his feet in a crouch, "That's fine sensei. Kage Bunshin No Jutsu,"

Two clones appeared beside Naruto before bringing themselves over to each of his teammates.

"These clones of Naruto's will help you learn this exercise," Kakashi said as he threw two kunai at the two genin's feet. "Use those kunai to mark your progress; I suggest you start by running."

Nodding to himself he walked back down to the ground as well. "So why don't you show me what you're working on?" He suggested as he looked at his blond student.

Naruto nodded, "Alright, but we should probably go somewhere else, that way we won't be a distraction to the other two." Naruto didn't wait for an answer before he started walking.

After a few seconds Kakashi shrugged, pulling out his book and hobbling along after the blond.

Sasuke watched Naruto go with a seething expression. How! How can the dobe be so much better than me! I've always been the best, an elite member of the Uchiha clan. Yet Naruto knows something I don't! Sasuke looked over at a tree and glared at it, as if hoping it would spontaneously combust. I won't let the dobe beat me!

Picking up a kunai, Sasuke ran at the nearest tree.

When Naruto was sure that he and his sensei were far enough away that the noise he made would not reach his teammates, he turned to his sensei, "There are actually two things I want to work on. The first is I want to start working on my wind manipulation training."

"You're already training in elemental manipulation?" Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise. He had not realized that Naruto was working on something so advanced. "You do know that's a Jonin-level exercise right?"

Naruto nodded, "I know, but I already have several jutsu in my repertoire. I don't think I need anymore, rather, I want to be able to use the jutsu I do know more efficiently."

"That would make sense," Kakashi nodded his head. This kid is so weird, one minute he's acting like Minato-sensei and the next he's reminding me of Kushina-san…

"And you say you're a wind user?" he asked.

"Yes," Naruto took out a piece of chakra paper and made it split with his chakra to emphasis his point. "I actually wasn't planning on training in this until I got back home, I was told that Sarutobi Asuma is also a wind user and I was going to ask him for some advice. But if we're going to fight Zabuza and that hunter ninja, I want some kind edge over them."

"Well, I don't know how far you'll be able to get," Kakashi looked thoughtful, knowing the boy would be able to get a decent start on his elemental training due to his Kage Bunshins but he would not likely be able to complete it.

"Chances are Zabuza will be back in action within a week. But it certainly can't hurt." Kakashi paused for a minute before continuing, "Now, I'm not a wind user so I can't actually give you any tips. Thankfully my sensei was, and I got to see him training in his element on occasion." Bending down on the ground Kakashi picked up one of the fallen leaves and twirled it in front of him. "Your first step is to slice a leave in half using wind chakra."

"Hmmm…that doesn't seem to hard, though I'm guessing it's a lot harder than it sounds since it's considered a Jonin-level training exercise," Naruto mumbled to himself.

Kakashi nodded, "Elemental training is a Jonin-level skill. Most shinobi and kunoichis don't even thinkof starting this until they've been a Chunin for at least a year or two."

"Got it," Naruto said. He paused and looked at his sensei for a moment before speaking. "I was also wondering if you could show me the hand seals for the Shunshin (Body Flicker)."

"Shunshin eh?" Kakashi said, once again surprised. A Shunshinwas only a Chunin-level jutsu, but once again it was a jutsu that people didn't bother with until they at least reached Chunin. "Yeah I suppose I can show you the hand seals." Kakashi spoke. After all, it wouldn't hurt any and Naruto may even learn it from just that.

If he's anything like his parents he'll have the jutsu down before the weeks end, possibly sooner…

"The Shunshin is simply the ram seal, much like your Kage Bunshin No Jutsu," Kakashi explained, "However unlike the Kage Bunshins where you imagine multiple clones of yourself. For this you must picture yourself moving at very high speeds. I find it helps if you visualize where you want to be when you use it."

Naruto nodded, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi gave Naruto an eye smile, "No problem Naruto. Now then, I'm going to go…check on your teammates." Kakashi said as he hobbled back towards the clearing his two teammates were still in.

He's probably just going to and read his porn, Naruto thought with a sigh before perking up.

"Well whatever, I've got work to do!" Brining up his hands in the ram seal, Naruto began channeling mass amounts of chakra.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Mass multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

Back in the clearing Sasuke's feet hit the bark of the tree. He channeled chakra into his feet and began to run up. One step, two steps, four, eight, ten, fifteen. He felt the bark blast off of the tree, forcing him to mark his spot before he fell.

Sasuke flipped back down and looked at his progress. Fifteen steps. Damn it! Why is this so hard!

"You're using too much chakra."

Sasuke turned around and glared at the clone. "What?" he asked in a scathing voice.

The Clone sighed. He seriously could not understand how the boss dealt with this shit every day. "You used too much chakra, that's why the bark exploded. If you use too much, it pushes you off, too little and you slip off."

"Hey Sasuke-kun! Look up here!"

Their conversation was cut off as they both turned to the female voice, to see Sakura sitting on top of the first tree branch on her tree.

"Well it looks like she's got good control," Naruto mused.

Sasuke looked at Sakura with a glare, which did not go unnoticed by the pinkette.

Oh no! Sasuke-kun looks mad, and I thought he would be impressed! What am I going to do!

"Sasuke-teme stop glaring at Sakura and get back to work or you'll never be able to get this exercise down," The Naruto clone spoke in an annoyed voice, making the raven haired Genin turn his glare on him.

"Hey, don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura shouted, defending her crush despite said crush giving her a scathing glare that looked like he was trying to burn a hole through her.

"Sakura!" The clone who was helping Sakura shouted. "I know you want to be the center of Sasuke's attention, but I need you to focus on your training."

Sakura blinked in surprise. Naruto's clone was not acting anything like him.

Well, not acting like his idiotic self, She corrected, remembering the way he had been talking recently. They were more like he was when talking about something he was knowledgeable in, something that was still taking some getting used to.

"But I already did the training!" Sakura said with a scowl. Acting smarter or not, there was no way she was going to let Naruto, or his clones, talk to her like that. "You saw me, I can already climb the tree!"

"Really?" the clone asked with a raised eyebrow. "So if I asked you to walk all the way to the top and back down you could do it?"

"Well…" Sakura hesitated. Running up to this branch had tired her out as it was, she was not sure if she could actually walk to the top.

"Exactly," Naruto said as he saw her hesitation to answer. "You may have been able to get up there, but that's only because you have such good control of your chakra. However this also means that there is something else you are lacking."

Sakura frowned, not liking how Naruto seemed to be insulting her. "Are you insulting me?" she asked in a threatening tone.

For the love of Kami! Naruto's clone nearly facepalmed, "No Sakura, I''m not insulting you. Like Sasuke you have both good qualities and area's where you are simply lacking. Only your situation is reversed."

Sakuar gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"You have perfect chakra control; this is because your chakra reserves are so small," Naruto said with a shrug. "It's not all that surprising, since you come from a civilian family, larger reserves are not in your genetics like it would be if you were an Uchiha. Sasuke on the other hand has larger than average reserves, which equates to a lack of control."

I don't think I'm ever going to get used to Naruto actually sounding smart,Sakura thought as she listened. "So then…what am I supposed to do?" she asked.

"We need to get your chakra reserves up," Naruto said as if the answer was obvious. "The only way to do that is to work on chakra control exercises, but go for endurance, rather than simply learning the exercise. Now, I have a friend who helped me when I learned tree climbing. She said that 'you haven't mastered tree climbing until you can fight on a vertical surface for one hour like you were fighting on a horizontal surface'." Naruto said in quote.

Sakura gulped a bit, causing Naruto to smile.

"Don't worry; we're not going to be doing that yet. Right now you don't have the reserves for it. What I want you to do is to start running up and down the surface of the tree. I want you to do this until you're exhausted. You can take a small break when you tire out, but once you're rested, you're going to start over again."

Sakura paled a bit at what Naruto was suggesting to her.

Seeing this Naruto decided to add some incentive, "If you prove that you can be useful to Sasuke, he may pay more attention to you."

That seemed to do the trick as Sakura started running up the tree.

As Sasuke glared at him, the Naruto clone sighed. "You know glaring at me won't help you with your tree climbing. I suggest you use a little less chakra than before."

"I don't need your help dobe!" Sasuke said. He turned back to the tree and began running up it, albeit he used less chakra. For a while it seemed to be going fine until he slipped. He marked his progress and jumped back down. Looking up he glared at his mark. It was only five steps above the first one!

Damn it! Sakura got this in one try! I'm an Uchiha and I haven't even gotten half as far as she has. Sasuke thought as he glared at the tree.

"You need to relax Sasuke," Naruto's voice came from behind him. When Sasuke once again turned his glare on him, Naruto sighed. "Look, I'm trying to help you."

"I said I don't need your help!" Sasuke shot back. "I'm an Uchiha, this is no problem for me!"

"That's not what it seems like from where I'm standing." Naruto shot back.

"I said I don't need your help dobe!" Sasuke grit his teeth.

Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment before he shrugged. "Fine, I'll just be sitting over at that tree, watching as you continue making a fool of yourself teme."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the Naruto clone sat down and leaned back against a tree. He turned back to the tree he was working on. He would complete this exercise without the dobe's help! He was an Uchiha!

As Sasuke continued working, none of them noticed the small figure who was staring at them as it left.

Within their base the hunter ninja watched over the bedridden Zabuza, mixing some of the herbs they had.

"So even you have come back defeated."

The hunter ninja turned his head to see Gato standing in between two thugs. One of them was shirtless with a black hakama, and an eye patch on his right eye. His left shoulder was adorned with a vine tattoo pattern while he had barbed wire tattoos running down his arms.

The other was wearing a baggy gray jacket festooned with many pockets, a pair of black shorts and a black beanie on his head.

Both of them had a hand holding the sheathes of their swords, trying to make themselves look menacing.

Zabuza's partner thought the pair looked pathetic with their posturing.

"It looks like the Kiri Ninja are pretty pathetic." Gato continued as he moved into the room, feeling confident now that Zabuza was bed ridden. "You can't even avenge your men, how pathetic. And you call yourself a devil?"

"…" Zabuza said nothing, causing both of Gato's ronin to start unsheathing their blades.

"Hold on for a moment," Gato held up a hand as he continued walking up to Zabuza. He stopped at the bed and looked down at the Kiri missing ninja, "Hey. There's no need to stay silent."

Gato began to reach out his hand towards Zabuza's throat, but before it could get there the hunter ninja grabbed onto the business man's wrist.

"Don't touch Zabuza-sama with your filthy hands!" The hunter ninja snarled, giving him a glare that looked like it would burn straight through the fat business man.

"Hey let go! Let go you fucking- ARGH!" Gato shouted, only to scream as the hunter ninja snapped his arm, then tossed him back.

The two ronin moved their hands towards their swords. However, their eyes widened when they found the hunter ninja between them, holding their own swords against their throats.

"You shouldn't do that," The hunter ninja said. "I'm really pissed off right now."

Gato and both his cronies began to sweat.

"One more chance!" Gato shouted as he stood up and shook his unbroken hand in a fist. "I'm giving you one more chance to complete this! If you fail, I'll make sure that every ninja in Kiri knows where you are!" Gato and his two thugs left, slamming the door on their way out.

"Haku," Zabuza said, getting his partner's attention. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know," Haku said with a smile, spotting the protrusion in the sheets that showed Zabuza was holding a kunai. "But it's still too early to kill Gato. If we cause a commotion right now, the hunters will be after us again. We must be patient."

Zabuza sighed. "Damn…I hate it when you're right."

"Right about what?"

Hearing the voice, Haku and Zabuza looked over as the door opened to see the Akuma brothers walking in.

Later that night the Konoha ninja were sitting at the dinner table with Tazuna and his family. Naruto and Sasuke were shoveling food down their throats; Sakura had her head on the table and looked like she was going to pass out. And Kakashi was, much to the displeasure of Tsunami, reading his porn.

"So Sasuke, Sakura, how's training going?" Kakashi asked as he flipped a page of his book. He would have left since he finished eating almost as soon as the food had been set in front of him, having eaten so fast no one could even see him take off his mask, but it would be rude to leave while the others were eating.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, somehow still able to make that sound despite his mouth being full of food.

"Ugh…Naruto's a slave driver…" Sakura groaned, not even bothering to lift her head up. Out of all the genin she had had it the hardest, since she did not have the stamina of the others.

"Really?" Kakashi asked turning to look at Naruto who was on his fourth serving of rice. "So how was your training Naruto?"

Naruto stopped shoving food down his gullet and swallowed what he already had in his mouth before answering, "Well…I'm making some progress, but its slow going." Naruto frowned as he thought of his training, "I'm doing better at learning the Shunshin than elemental manipulation however."

What! He's learning the Shunshin! Sasuke questioned in his mind, just adding another reason to be mad at Naruto.

"That's natural," Kakashi said. "After all, elemental manipulation is a Jonin-level training technique."

Naruto's going through Jonin-level training! Sakura wondered in shock.

Sasuke seethed even more at hearing that the dobe was learning something that a Jonin normally learned. Standing up he stomped out of the house, slamming the door closed behind him.

I should have seen this coming…Kakashi sighed. I probably shouldn't talk about Naruto getting stronger in front of Sasuke.

"I wonder what crawled up his ass and died," Naruto looked over at the door Sasuke had stormed out of before shrugging. "Though, I'm surprised it could with that twenty foot pole he's already got sticking in there."

"Naruto-baka! Don't make fun of Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura shouted, standing up and rearing her fist back to hit the blond.

Naruto just looked at her, "Do you want me to double the amount of training you're going to be doing tomorrow?"

Sakura's mouth snapped shut as she sat back down, not wanting to even go through the training the blond had placed on her again much less have it doubled.

"That's what I thought," Naruto nodded his head and turned back to his food.

"Actually Naruto," Kakashi started. "Since you seem to be much farther than your teammates, I was hoping you could go with Tazuna-san tomorrow."

Naruto blinked for a few seconds before shrugging, "Sure thing sensei."

It would just mean he had to wake up earlier and get his Kage Bunshin working. He looked over at Tazuna and gave the man a reassuring grin.

"Well it looks like you'll be saddled with the best protection we've got old man! I won't be letting any of Gato's thugs near you!"

"I'm sure," Tazuna chuckled at the boy's cocksure attitude. After having seen Naruto come up with that plan to help his sensei, he no longer doubted the blond shinobi.

Everyone continued eating for a little while longer, until Sakura noticed something about the picture hanging on the wall behind Tazuna.

"Hey Tazuna-san, what's with that picture on the wall over there?" she asked, pointing to the picture of Tazuna and his family. "It looks like a piece is missing."

The three family members tensed at the mention of the picture. An air of sorrow seemed to fill the air.

"It's…my husband," Tsunami said after several minutes of tense silence, her voice sounding a little choked up.

"The man they called the hero of Nami," Tazuna added in a solemn tone.

Inari abruptly stood up after hearing that and ran up the stairs.

"Inari!" Tsunami said in a worried tone. The woman turned on her dad with an angry expression, "Father! You know you can't talk about that man in front of Inari!"

"What's wrong with Inari?" asked Sakura, feeling depressed for causing such obvious pain to someone else.

"Inari…he lost someone he loved didn't he?" asked Naruto, surprising the others at the soft tone of his voice. "That man…your husband was important to him right?"

"There seems to be some kind of story behind this…" Kakashi added. "Care to share?"

Tazuna sighed as he began to tell his tale. "Inari had a friend that he was real close to, a man who was a father in all but blood. They were very close, like a real father and son…Inari was always laughing and smiling back then…" Tazuna paused as he clenched his hands. "But Inari changed, since that incident with his father. The word courage has been stolen from the people of this land. And from Inari, ever since that day…because of that incident…"

"That incident?" asked Kakashi. "What happened?"

"Before I get to that, I first need to tell you about the man who was called the hero of Nami," Tazuna said.

"Hero?" asked Naruto, getting interested hearing more about someone who had done something amazing enough to be called a hero.

"It was about three years ago that Inari met that man," Tazuna said. "Some bullies were picking on him, trying to steal the dog that Tsunami and I had gotten for him. After arguing they threw the dog into the lake, and then they pushed Inari into the lake as well."

"That's horrible!" gasped Sakura.

"No more horrible than smashing your fist into someone's head for no reason," Naruto mumbled loud enough for only himself and Kakashi to hear.

Tazuna ran a hand through his hair as he gave a sigh, "And it was worse because Inari couldn't swim. However, right then as Inari was drowning, the pooch remembered he could dog paddle. Inari almost drowned that day, however, a wandering fisherman managed to save him. His name was Kaiza, he was a fisherman who came here to follow his dreams. After that Kaiza and Inari became very close. It may have been because Inari's real father had died before he could get to know him, but he and Kaiza were inseparable, like a father and son. It was only a matter of time before Kaiza became a part of the family. And Kaiza was also a man the city needed. There was one time that the damn was overrun with water, and was going to flood the city. Kaiza swum out to the damn by himself and closed it. Kaiza was called the hero of this city. And Inari could not have been prouder." Tazuna paused in his story as his face took a darker tone. "… But then Gato came to this city."

"Gato killed Kaiza didn't he?" Naruto said, causing the others to look over at him in surprise.

Tazuna nodded, "Yes, only it was much worse than that. Gato had Kaiza executed in front of everyone, including Inari." Gasps were heard from Naruto and Sakura, both surprised and appalled that Gato could do that. Kakashi just looked down, he already knew of the hardships of the world and he knew things like this happened more often than others would like to admit.

"From that day Inari changed, he stopped believing in heroes that day. The day the whole city lost hope…" Tazuna trailed off.

For a moment the Konoha ninja were silent as they digested what they had heard. It was definitely a sad story, hearing that a child saw his father figure murdered in front of him.

Naruto stood up and began making his way towards the door.

"Where are you going Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"If you're thinking of training, take the day off," Kakashi said. "If you use up too much chakra you could die."

"Don't worry sensei, I'm just going to have my Kage Bunshin do some work while I sleep," Naruto reassured his sensei. Kakashi nodded while Sakura and the others looked confused. "But I need to get some training in; otherwise I won't be able to prove to Inari that heroes still do exist."

Shunshin- This jutsu is a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed.[2] To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported. A puff of smoke is occasionally used to disguise the user's movements. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily vitalize the body and move at extreme speeds. The amount of chakra required depends on the overall distance and elevation between the user and the intended destination. Shisui Uchiha was feared as 'Shisui of the Body Flicker' (瞬身のシスイ, Shunshin no Shisui), likely referring to this technique.

Another chapter finished, this one somewhat of a filler between chapters. Not much to say, let me know what you think, R&R and all that.