KG: I….I…Umm…I can explain.

Wifey: (Glare!)

KG: I promise guys! I can explain all of this!

Audience: (GLARE!)

KG: Yes it's not Scattered Feathers or Merging Destinies, but I can…

Both: (GLARE!)

KG: J-Just let me explain!

Wifey: Kill him.

Audience: CHARGE!

KG: Oh no.

Music Of The Month: Stay Alive by Jose Gonzalez.

Quote: "Never give up, and be confident in what you do. There may be tough times, but the difficulties which you face will make you more determined to achieve your objectives and to win against all the odds," by Marta.

One young Uzumaki Naruto never understood why people ignored him. He never actually understood why people never gave him the time of day. After all, he was just like every other orphan in the orphanage…or at least he tried to be. Sure the men and women who worked for the orphanage supplied him with general needs such as a bed, food, water, clothes, and a shower, but anything else was a deep luxury. Whenever Naruto tried to play with other children the parents either excluded him by taking their kids away or by forcing him away. The caretakers didn't seem to like him hanging around the orphan kids either. A lot of this must have trickled down to the minds of the children his age. Perhaps he shouldn't say all, but most of the kids he interacted with scorned him essentially. Naruto wasn't particularly amazed when he thought about it. Sure the rejection hurt, but Naruto supposed it was better to get rejected by kids than to be called mean things by adults. Oh yeah, Naruto didn't particularly understand that logic either, but it helped when it needed to.

Perhaps now looking at it, Naruto should have thanked all of this strife that had been caused to him. If he wasn't left to do things on his own then he wouldn't have discovered some of the other simple joys of life…like reading. Okay, now Naruto would be real here. At first he hated reading. It bored him endlessly, things such as poetry or sappy, happy kids stories, but at one time he ruffled through a random garbage can and found a small book. That book had changed his life. The plot following a tried and true hero who outwitted his enemies was amazing to Naruto's eyes. His imagination took him places as he imagined himself outwitting the parents and kids of Konohagakure no Sato as he laughed from afar.

Perhaps that's what got Naruto so involved in things that had to do with tactics. He had no one to play with him so he figured to just play with himself. Oh yes, it was definitely as lonely as it sounded. Naruto played tic-tac-toes with himself, he played shōgi with himself and any other game he could find.

This essentially started when Naruto was about fifth or six. The Hokage had actually bought him the shogi board and pieces for him. He was a nice man, or so Naruto thought from his experiences. Sometimes on their free days, the father-daughter duo, Teuchi and Ayame, would play with him if they weren't doing anything. Those three were basically the people who interacted with on a daily basis that he could tolerate. Perhaps his tolerance of Konoha has gotten to its lowest point when he was kicked out of the orphanage and when the Sandaime had given him his own apartment. His attitude to the villagers, or perhaps his attitude in general grew colder and colder as he watched from his window as happy families on the streets made their way about their day, laughing and chatting away. It actually annoyed Naruto a little.

Naruto remembered one time when he asked the Hokage about his parents. The man's reply hadn't done anything to sate Naruto's curiosity and it sure as hell only served to make him anger. "You can't bring back the dead," was the old man's reply. Naruto had resolved to find out about his parents on his own, but he hadn't had much luck in that regard. However never let it be known that an Uzumaki couldn't be determined. Naruto was just the definition of the word. Look up determined and you would find Uzumaki Naruto in it.

About five months from moving into his apartment, Naruto started going to the academy. That wasn't as bad as Naruto surmised. He really didn't care about making friends nor about trying to become the best. Truthfully, Naruto just didn't want to be bothered. That seemed to be the silent agreement between the host of the Kyuubi and the teachers at the academy. Oh sure, on academic honesty the teachers graded him fairly, but Naruto never asked questions in class because he knew he wouldn't get a reply. He was happy to fade into the background and go unnoticed unlike a certain Uchiha prodigy. Naruto long since stopped caring about things like that, but he did have to admit that in reading his textbooks he was astounded by the tactics of the Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime and Yondaime. The four truly earned their place as master tacticians. The textbook glorified some of their well-thought out feats and strengths in winning either a battle or changing the tides of a war. This excited Naruto so much that he constantly went to the library for more on ancient battles and winning strategies. Often Naruto attempted to recreate the scenario from his books with his shogi pieces. So often he found himself taking notes on the hows and whys a battle went the way that it did. It helped sometimes that he could go to the Sandaime and have the old man reminisce about the days where he had implemented some brilliant strategies. Perhaps for Naruto it was so much as reading was fun for him, but learning how to be strategic was one.

Naruto often wondered if it was for that reason alone that he bonded with only the Nara heir in the academy. The two challenged each other over a daily basis. While Naruto could have done without Shikamaru calling things 'troublesome' almost every two sentences, he had to respect the Nara's intellect, granted he was turned off by the boy's lazy attitude at times.

However no matter how much Naruto improved mentally sometimes, there was one thing that always puzzled him. His inability to properly manage to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu. Oh he could do taijutsu as good as the next academy student, but his ninjutsu and genjutsu scores were so faulty that it confused even him. He asked the Sandaime if it was probably something wrong with him which had the man take him to the hospital a couple of times. Many times the doctor's told him that it was just the boy's imagination. However Naruto could tell something was off with the way that the doctors had spoken to him. He could tell they were leaving something out, but he never got to find out what those times. So despite his grades and his intellect…Uzumaki Naruto was dead last in the academy. That didn't particularly deter him, but if he were honest then he could have done without the fuckin' mocking from the rest of his peers. Perhaps it was just in children to be mean to one another. Naruto didn't know.

For the majority of Naruto's years until his 12th birthday he had been the dead last without much improvement. There were about two teachers who tried their best to help him, Iruka Umino and Suzume-san. They weren't the most understanding of individuals, but when Naruto had questions…which were few and far in-between, both answered him in the same respect as the other students. Perhaps that put them in a favorable light with Naruto, but for all of their studies Naruto had been unable to perform the Bunshin technique. Well funny as it sounds, he couldn't exactly perform the best of techniques, but he could perform the Transformation technique and the Kawarimi technique. Still Naruto respected both teachers despite the obvious misgivings he could see in their eyes sometimes.

Still perhaps looking on it now, Naruto had been a little stupid when he had accepted Mizuki's offering of a "make-up" test when he had obviously failed to perform the Bunshin technique, he had wanted to make sure that he could pass. As childish as it might have seemed, Naruto hated being belittled, but though he was furious with his teacher, Naruto had to applaud Mizuki's use of tactics. Naruto fell right for it like an attention-starved child. Perhaps, when Naruto thought about it, that wasn't so out of the ordinary. Maybe he wanted to give a celebration to himself for having to work so hard and finally making something happen that he let his guard down. It was actually pretty simple, all of the tactics Naruto had learned over his life, had helped him in retrieving the forbidden scroll. Evasion tactic, hit 'n run tactic, diversion tactic, double-edge tactic, were just some of the ones he had used. It had taken him some time to get into a place where he could learn a technique from said scroll. Naruto thought about learning the Kage Bunshin technique, but he quickly skimmed over it.

In the end, he only managed to learn one technique. It was a scroll about summoning. Deciding to test himself in ninjutsu one more time, Naruto figured he had performed the seals correctly for the technique, but it did worry him when the words quite literally slithered off the scroll and onto the ground. The words then effortlessly snaked up to Naruto's right hand and wrapped around his arm before trailing to his neck and circling around it forming a type of black collar. The seals then settled to the very middle of his right hand. On the seal were a space. Naruto could see the seals burn into his flesh with the Kanji for numbers 1-5 in the small intricate spaces of the seal before it faded away leaving the Uzumaki surprised. It was probably Naruto's first time outwardly expressing a form of surprise. Naruto didn't even have the time to be freaked out or find out what the seals did. He heard rustling in the trees.

Naruto's time with the scroll was ruined as he looked up and noticed Iruka looking down at him. His face was an odd mixture of humor and anger. Somehow, in the stillness of the night while Naruto was getting his ear torn off by Iruka's rambling, he heard something else. Something swirling in the trees. Truly throughout his existence Naruto always only wanted one thing. Naruto truly wished to be just like everyone else. Yet, a few simple words only now made him realize the greatest tactic the Hokage, the shinobi & civilians of Konoha had pulled on him. Heh, he was never normal to begin with. At least not when Mizuki had made an appearance did he understand this tactic. Interesting how he missed it when he was supposed to be a shinobi.

The tactic of…deception. "That's right Naruto! You are the Kyuubi who attacked Konoha 12 years ago!" Mizuki proclaimed as Naruto glared at the floor. Iruka widened his eyes as he turned to see Naruto frozen by these words. Naruto's mind had been racing. He supposed that had made sense. He had been born on October the 10th, the same day as the Kyuubi's defeat and for twelve years since that day he had been mistreated or ignored. His body trembled.

"Now you know why you are hated and why you will forever be the filth of this village. The Sandaime made sure that everyone hated you, that NO one loved you! It makes me wonder who would truly love someone like you! Now why don't you be a good brat and die!" Mizuki shouted as he fling his fuma shuriken in Naruto's face. Naruto could hear the blades hissing through the air and he honestly made no attempt to move. Iruka gasped before he found his strength and desperately charged at Naruto. Iruka pushed Naruto to the ground only for the shuriken to slam into his backside letting out a painful yell from the academy teacher as blood dropped from his backside.

"Why Iruka?! Why would you protect the same demon that killed your parents?!" Mizuki asked. Iruka chuckled as the shuriken seemed to embed itself even harder. With one hand he touched Naruto's forehead. "It's not fair is it Naruto? To work so hard, but to never be acknowledged, I understand that pain well. He's wrong you know. You're smart. Smarter than anyone in the class. You might think you don't care, but I know you do. I know you aren't what they call you," Iruka said. Naruto would have snorted now thinking back to that. Iruka must have thought too highly of him. No, he didn't care about proving himself to others anymore. He sent a small glare over to where Mizuki was standing.

"Naruto, you have to take the scroll and get away. You can't let Mizuki have the scroll!" Iruka said urgently. Oh please, Naruto wasn't an idiot. Of course he knew he couldn't let the man have the scroll. However at the same time, Naruto had a rather hard peeve with being outwitted. He loathed it. He…absolutely…loathed…IT! "Sorry sensei, but that's not an option," Naruto said as he stood to his feet. He quickly dusted himself off from the dirt before he sidestepped Iruka. Iruka watched Naruto in surprise and shock.

"Oh?! The demon is going to fight me?! You who failed the academy test three times think you have a snowball's chance of defeating me, a chunin?!" Mizuki proclaimed boastfully. Naruto could feel his right hand burning as he continued glaring at Mizuki. He tightened his right fist. "…" Naruto didn't reply as he looked down at his right arm. An interesting development. He didn't remember the scroll talking about the sealing lighting up like this.

"Sounds like fun! Bring it on demon brat! Show me the power of the Kyuubi!" Mizuki shouted with a mad cackle as Naruto took a firm step in front of Iruka. A power was coursing through his right arm begging him to be unleashed. Naruto looked down and noticed the kanji for the numbers 3 & 5 light up. "Naruto don't fight him! Just run!" Iruka pleaded, but he only saw Naruto raise his hand into the air.

"Be silent Iruka Umino-sensei. I will teach Mizuki-sensei that NO ONE outwits Uzumaki Naruto! Kuchiyose no Jutsu( Summoning Technique)," Naruto shouted as he slammed his hand into the ground. Iruka covered his eyes as did Mizuki as smoke came over the area. Naruto squinted his eyes for a brief moment before the smoke started to dispel. Naruto, Iruka and Mizuki looked on as…a little girl appeared from the mist. Her pink hair actually reminded Naruto of another of his classmates, a Haruno Sakura, if he remembered correctly though this little girl's hair was probably a shade darker than Sakura's. Her shirt was simply purple in color as well as her semi-pink skirt. Naruto blinked. Had…he miscalculated? He looked down at his hand and noticed both Kanji 3 & 5 were lit. So…why did he only see this little girl here? Why was a little girl here at all?! However something was wrong. Growing up as he did, Naruto had a knack for reading people. Though…perhaps that needed refining given this situation with Mizuki at the moment. In any case, this little girl who looked like someone who shouldn't even be in the academy yet…was stronger than he thought possible. He could see it in her eyes. She gave him a playful giggle before turning around to Mizuki.

"Hey Mister, have you see my bear, Tibbers?" she asked. Mizuki and Iruka gawked though Iruka was the only one showing fear. While it was impressive that Naruto performed a B-ranked ninjutsu…given the blond's record with ninjutsu and genjutsu in general, he had actually summoned an innocent little girl to a full-blown fight. Iruka had to get up before Naruto got this girl killed! "HA! Is this the best that your power has come to Kyuubi! How you killed the Yondaime is far beyond me! I will become the true hero this village deserves by slaughter you, Iruka, and this brat!" Mizuki cackled as he held out a kunai.

"NO! Mizuki, let her live!" Iruka shouted desperately from his place, but a hand from Naruto stopped him. He could feel it in his head. A connection bonding with the girl on the ground and….the shadow in the trees. He knew this girl's name. He also knew the person in the tree's name. Mizuki had to be so sure of his victory that he didn't sense the one in the trees. Naruto snorted. It didn't matter. Naruto would make him regret it!

"Go…Annie," Naruto ordered. The smirk on the girl's face seemed to darken as Iruka and Mizuki watched a small fire come into her hands. "Play time!" Annie said happily and before Mizuki could even question anything a huge fireball fired from the little girl's hands. Iruka and Mizuki gasped.

"What?!" Mizuki asked aloud before he dodged to the side. Annie's eyes followed his form before she tossed another fire shot at him. Mizuki jumped over the fire shot just in time to watch it completely incinerate the tree behind him. Iruka was stunned to silence while Naruto turned back to Annie. He then turned an eye back to the figure in the trees. He could feel it. He could feel…something here. He could…understand it. Their abilities, their names, their…everything. He could feel it following into him. Like pieces of a puzzle, they…completed his being.

The one in the trees awaited his command. Naruto held his hand into the air. "Wait for my signal dattebayo. Annie, make sure he doesn't escape," Naruto commanded. Annie gave another grin before she laughed as she skipped, yes skipped, towards Mizuki as the man landed to the ground. Iruka just continued to watch…stunned. "Was this summoning from the forbidden scroll? What a jutsu," Iruka thought to himself.

Mizuki's world was in utter disarray. How the hell could a little girl command the powers of fire release…without handsigns?! "Is this the demon's power?" Mizuki thought but he didn't have the time to think for long as Annie came up to him. He watched as the fire filled her hands.

"Don't be a scaredy cat!" Annie exclaimed before she fired another volley of fire in Mizuki's direction. Mizuki quickly jumped to the side before tossing three kunai at Annie. She had to be eliminated at all costs. However Mizuki only watched in shock as a wheel of fiery aura surrounded Annie. The kunai effortlessly melted into the flames as Mizuki sucked his teeth. He backflipped through the air as Annie continued to grin. Mizuki looked behind her to notice Naruto glaring at him. He gave a quick glare to Naruto. "So…he's controlling them? Well I'll just take the damn brat out first!" Mizuki thought before he dodged another fire volley. Mizuki flipped over Annie causing her to gasp.

"You failed Kyuubi! Your end is now!" Mizuki said as he swung a kunai at Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes and couldn't resist a smirk. "Checkmate Mizuki teme! Release Ashe!" Naruto ordered. Iruka and Mizuki gasped as a teenage girl dropped to the ground. Everything about this girl screamed…cold. Not the emotion, but the literal feeling. The flames of hell behind Mizuki from Annie and the cold front of Ashe in front of him. Her blue and gold hood, cape, battle skirt and shirt had Mizuki glued, but the thing that gave her away was the solid ice bow in her hands along with five frozen ice arrow. Ashe narrowed her eyes with a solid glare as her hands tightened around her bow. She pulled the string.

"Right between the eyes, Summoner! Barē( Volley)" Ashe said as she flung the five arrows at Mizuki. Mizuki's feet skidded across the ground before he noticed Naruto hold out his hand. Fear overcoming Mizuki, he turned and noticed Annie smiling…fire in her hands. "Shōkyaku( Incineration)," Naruto called out as the flames exploded from Annie's hands. Mizuki glanced at the icy arrows coming for him from the front and the flames coming to him from the back. No! He was trapped! Mizuki wouldn't die here! He wouldn't die to the Kyuubi brat! He wouldn't die to the dead last!

Mizuki tightened his legs and jumped into the air in time as the flames and ice arrows collided exploding in a sea of flowery fire. "Checkmate Kyuubi?! Don't be so damn full Brat! You're a hundred, thousand years too early to think you can defeat me!" Mizuki said, but Naruto merely closed his eyes while Annie and Ashe looked up. Annie was the only one who was surprised.

"Yay Tibbers! I found him!" Annie shouted with joy as Mizuki felt a shadow loom over him. He looked up and the last sight he saw was a flaming…teddy bear before the monstrous fluff toy opened its mouth and severed Mizuki's head from his shoulders with a single bite. The chunin's blood sprayed through the air before falling on Naruto, Ashe, Iruka, and Annie. His body twitched as before going limp. Annie walked over to the body and kicked it slightly. "Beaten by a little girl. Hehehe," she giggled before Tibbers faded back into an ordinary teddy bear. Annie grabbed him while Ashe discarded her bow. Both moved over to Naruto.

Naruto looked at the deceased chunin's body before turning back to Ashe and Annie. "May we continue to aid you, Summoner," Ashe said before vanished. Annie smiled and walked up to Naruto. Naruto gave a small glare when Annie hugged his leg before vanishing away as well leaving Naruto and Iruka alone.

"Naruto…what was…?" Iruka wanted to ask, but he watched Naruto turn back to him. Iruka's gasped in wonder. Naruto's eyes, had they ever been so blue before? Iruka wasn't sure he could remember such a time. Whatever Iruka was going to say died in his throat before he smiled. He groaned as he leaned against a tree. "Naruto…come here," Iruka said, the smile never leaving his face. Naruto narrowed his eyes for a moment but complied and knelt before Iruka.

"Close your eyes for ten seconds," Iruka said. Naruto did so, he was too tired to complain. The ten seconds passed in a blur and Naruto opened his eyes…to see Iruka without a headband. "Congratulations Naruto. You graduate!" Iruka said. Naruto frowned for a moment. He could honestly say that Iruka looked a lot more happier than Naruto could remember. Naruto might have gave the man a thank you…if he didn't pass out just before Iruka congratulated him.

-x-

Two days had passed by since the Forbidden Scroll Incident. Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his chin. "So that's what happened," he said having Iruka nod in an affirmative. The chunin academic instructor had spent the last day getting himself checked out by the medical personnel of Konoha before he was safe to exit just a couple of hours ago. The scar on his back was still a pain, but Iruka made attempts to ignore it. "Hai. He managed to summon people, a little girl and a teenage girl, both had interesting techniques, but by Naruto's commands they were able to overthrow Mizuki. I think his task at leadership and him learning a B-rank summoning technique were worth him passing the course. Hokage-sama, we aren't fooling anyone. Suzume-san and myself were always astounded by Uzumaki Naruto's intellect. He could answer things that some students, not even Uchiha Sasuke, could. Are we really going to fail him?" Iruka asked. Hiruzen sighed as he took a puff of his pipe. The nicotine was refreshing for the stressful day.

"Iruka, you are a highly qualified chunin. I wholesomely trust your judgement in Naruto-kun's promotion. However this little summoning that you claim he possesses has given me some worry. I looked through the forbidden scroll the night it was stolen. The formula for one of the techniques was gone. It sounds like Naruto-kun may have obtained it by unconventional means. If it's what I think it is then not even Jiraiya with all of his experience could remove the formula from Naruto's body," The Sandaime said. Iruka widened his eyes while Hiruzen took a look out his window.

"Kuchiyose: Jigen Kirema (Summoning Technique: Dimensional Rift). It was a technique that the Shodaime had thought about and the Nidaime experimented with. However the technique required too much chakra to work, however rather than throw the formula away…the Nidaime stored it in the scroll for security purposes. It seems that Naruto-kun has it now. That formula is even more complex than the sealing that the Yondaime did against the Kyuubi. I'll have to inform his jonin-sensei when I can," Hiruzen said. Iruka quickly nodded.

"You think this he'll be alright?" the Sandaime suddenly asked. Iruka merely smiled. "I think he's going to astound us all someday," Iruka answered honestly. Sarutobi just nodded with a small grin of his own before moving back to his work. Iruka quickly gave a salute before marching out of the room.

At the opposite end of the village, Naruto laid on his bed looking at his hand. He flexed it and his eyes stared at the summoning formula that wrapped around his arm. Naruto could see the 3 and 5 kanji had changed. Originally they had been blackened, but now they were white in color. Numbers 1,2 and 4 were a mystery. Though, Naruto couldn't forget that feeling when he defeated Mizuki. He could feel that connection of memories. "Ashe, the Frost Archer. Annie, the Dark Child," Naruto thought to himself. As if to confirm his thoughts, he could feel a small tingling sensation in the back of his head.

With a small grunt, he picked himself up. His team placements were tomorrow. He was sure that he was still a buzz from the shinobi due to his debacle with Mizuki. Well, Naruto did get something meaningful out of it and for now that was all Naruto truly carried about. Naruto quickly gave himself a shower, some food, and some clothes before he turned to the headband that Iruka gave him. It sat upon his table. That's right, Naruto had to take that annoying ID picture thing. With a snort, Naruto grabbed the headband, stuffed it into his pocket and walked out of the door.

"Come on brat! Hurry up and give a smile!" The photographer said as Naruto sat on a stool, a face of indifference etched across said face. Naruto really didn't have time for this. He would rather have had the man just take his picture and then let him be on his way. Naruto didn't feel like smiling. He was tired and he needed to get some shinobi supplies. Now wasn't the time for him to worry about a stupid ID and shinobi registration. So one can imagine his mentality when the photographer just sighed. "I'm not doing a retake," he said before he flashed the camera.

The processing didn't take long before it was given to the Hokage. Hiruzen looked at the photo before glancing back to Naruto. "You really couldn't give a smile could you?" Hiruzen chuckled while Naruto frowned. "If I thought a smile was going to benefit me in this profession then I'm sure I would have given one, but I can't think of a time where I would need a smile on my ID to be used to my advantage. You think you should be more lucky that I didn't cover myself in face paint. Although even for me that's ridiculous," Naruto said as Hiruzen merely nodded.

"That is indeed true. Heaven forbid if you had grown to have an extremely outgoing personality and did that, but then we'd really be demanding a retake. Well, at least you're consistent," Hiruzen said before allowing the paperwork to go through. "So how have you been feeling? With…everything going on?" Hiruzen asked. If Naruto was a little less attentive to the nature of the question then he might have just answered regularly. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Discovering that I have the Kyuubi in my body is definitely an unexpected turn of events. Frankly I can't say I don't bear any animosity to the Yondaime Hokage, but I do respect the tactic. Not only did he get rid of a global threat to the village, but he also manage to increase the village's power output through me. As much as i dislike being a pawn, I doubt there is much I can do about it," Naruto said simply. Sarutobi just gave a short nod of his head.

"For what it's worth. The Yondaime did wish for you to be seen as a hero rather than this current result," Hiruzen replied. Naruto merely blinked his eyes before responding. "It hardly matters what he wished for now. The result didn't happen. To be honest, that little wish was hopeful dreaming at best," Naruto said and Hiruzen couldn't help, but agree with Naruto even if he was slightly saddened by the news of Naruto's thoughts.

"And your other problem?" Hiruzen asked taking a look at Naruto right arm. Naruto followed his vision before he sighed. "I will admit that this was my own fault and I let my frustrations get the better of me. I will merely take this as a lesson and learn from it, though the result was a lot better than what I could have probably hoped for," Naruto said. The Sandaime couldn't really argue that and truth be told he didn't want to try. He merely nodded.

"Which why I believe you won't do something like that again. You are dismissed. Good luck with your team placements," Hiruzen said. Naruto just nodded before he stood to his feet. However before Naruto could make it to the door it was busted open. A blue scarf was in front of his vision. "Now I've got you gramps! The title of Hokage is mine!" a boy shouted as he dashed through Naruto's eyes, a shuriken in his hands. Naruto rose an eyebrow before the boy tripped on his own scarf and slammed his face into the floorboards. Naruto didn't look amused by the action and neither did the Hokage. Shaking his head, Naruto opened the door and exited the room just in time to see a jonin pass him.

"Honorable grandson, are you alright?!" the jonin asked. Naruto didn't really want to stick around. That just sounded like a headache waiting to develop. He sure wasn't going to be the one to deal with it.

As Naruto exited the Hokage Mansion, he made his way into the streets. It hadn't taken him long to find a general shinobi store. A quick henge and he had the supplies he needed while still having enough money in his account to pay the month and next month's bills. The rest of the day was actually uneventful for Naruto as he made it back home before the sun fell over the horizon. As Naruto laid in his bed, a book in his hands, he looked out the window at the moon. Strange, had the moon always looked so lovely? Naruto wasn't sure. He just shook his head before turning out his light and going to sleep.

The very next day, it was early so Naruto made his way towards the academy, his headband in his pocket. He hadn't found a place he wanted to put the headband just yet so he settled for having it in his pocket at the moment. Naruto did have to admit it was irritating to have his right arm burning every so often, but he figured that was because of something to do with the summoning formula. Naruto had actually been meaning to try that summoning last night, but he hadn't found a very good opportunity to get away from the village to do it. Considering it was the only technique Naruto knew at this point, sure it was a little sad, but Naruto wasn't about to be choosy with something like this. It was definitely something he could use to his advantage. He planned on doing so.

The academy was finally in sight and Naruto quickly proceeded to open the door. He took notice of a lot of his classmates break from their conversations to stare at him. Naruto surmised it was most likely with him being present when they had been notified of his failure. Naruto looked at them all for a moment before closing his eyes and weaving through some of the students. No one said a word as Naruto pulled up a seat and sat next to the window. He looked out the window, content to just ignore everyone and anyone. Naruto sent a small glare down the aisle and noticed Uchiha Sasuke giving him a small look as well. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Naruto focused back on the window. Sasuke turned forward again.

"Troublesome. Didn't he fail?" Shikamaru thought to himself. While he was rather interesting in Naruto being able to come to the classroom, he couldn't stave off the whys of him being able to come. It didn't look like Naruto had a headband. So what was he here for? Shikamaru just shook his head. With time, conversations slowly started to go about again. It was no secret to anyone that Naruto was an…odd one. It was also no one's secret that he liked to be left alone. Not that anyone went out of their way to be friends with him since their parents pretty much badmouthed the hell out of him. Well he was the dead last so it wasn't much for anyone to think that they couldn't defeat him, but his aura just gave off an tone that he wasn't in the mood to be messed with at the moment.

About ten minutes passed by before Naruto and the rest of the class heard thunderous footsteps. The entire class grimaced as they heard shouting and yelling. "Move out of the way billboard! I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" people heard one feminine voice speak. "In your dreams Ino-pig! I'm the one who's going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" they heard another feminine voice say as the door opened. Everyone deadpanned as a blond girl and a pink-haired girl pushed against each other through the door. Both snarled as they looked at each other. With grunts they noticed the open seat near Sasuke. The pink-haired girl charged at the seat while the blond was nearly left in surprise. The pink girl slid into the seat before smiling.

"Hello Sasuke-kun, how are you doing today?" She asked with a small smile. Sasuke didn't reply to her question, but judging how his eyebrow twitched it was safe to say that the Uchiha was very much unamused by the whole situation. The blonde girl snarled before puffing out her chest and sitting in another seat. "Too slow Ino?" Shikamaru asked with a small smirk. The Yamanaka heir gave him a solid glare.

"Shut it Shikamaru. I'm not in the mood. Not like Sasuke-kun's gonna give Sakura the time of day anyway," Ino said as she folded her arms. However her eyes scanned the room until she noticed a sea of blonde hair just behind the seat that Sasuke was in. Naruto was looking out the window much to Ino's surprise. "Naruto's here? Didn't he fail?" Ino whispered. Shikamaru merely shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the million yen question on everyone's mind. But no one wants to bother him to ask. We all just assume a teacher's going to correct the mess if it gets to that," Shikamaru said. Ino just nodded before turning back to see Naruto not paying much attention to what transpired. Ino thought she could see something black on Naruto's right hand, but her view was too obstructed to be sure. Ino just settled to sigh in frustration as she watched Sakura just smile being next to the Uchiha heir. Ino snorted before she found some other ways of passing the time.

About an hour passed by for the class before everyone heard the door open. Naruto moved his attention from the window to notice Iruka come through the doorway. The chunin gave the blond a small look. Naruto merely watched as Iruka made his way to his desk. "First I just want to tell all of you how proud I am of you and the work you have put into school these years. You are all now true Konoha shinobi and I wish you the best of luck. Remember to look after your teammates and protect the Will of Fire. I will now read off your teams. Your jonin-sensei will come to pick you up after lunch," Iruka said, however before he could read he saw a raised hand.

"Iruka-sensei, what about him? Didn't he fail?" Ino asked pointing towards Naruto. Naruto didn't have to look at the class to know they were all looking at him. However from his peripheral he could see Sakura turn around and see him, a surprised look was etched on her face. It must have taken her a long time to realize that he was even breathing. Sasuke didn't even react to the question.

"Yeah! What's the dead last doing here?!" came a cry from a hooded youth with a canine adoring his wild hair. He essentially voiced everyone's thoughts in a more crude manner before Iruka demanded silence from the classroom. " Quite down Kiba. Now then, Naruto has passed as well in helping with an important matter with the Hokage. If you want to know more then you are more than welcome to ask him when I am able to conclude my business!" Iruka said a little irritably. The Inuzuka heir whittled in his chair before he slowly nodded while Ino looked at Naruto for a second before turning back to the teacher. For many female students…the chant of praying to the gods to give Sasuke to their team had already begun.

"Ahem, Team One, Judai…Seto…Yubel," Iruka said. Naruto frowned before he rummaged through his pack that he bought with him and pulled out a book full of strategy games that a person could play. Naruto pulled out a small pencil. He had actually made it puzzle number 100 before he heard the next team. "Team Seven, Uzumaki Naruto…Haruno Sakura…Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka said which seemed to be the queue for Sakura to jump into the air and squeal before throwing a peace sign to Ino…much to the blonde girl's chagrin. Though Sakura was a little miffed at having the dead last on their team, she quickly knew that the proc outweighed the cons.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at this team. On function, this team was actually a rather weak one. It would have been better to put the top two male students together with the top female while giving the lowest ones the same with all those in the middle of the class average the varying teams. Though Naruto could see the underlying strategy here. Naruto, the dead last, would be inspired to not lose to Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year, and Sasuke wouldn't stand for Naruto being better than him thus a sense of competition was made. It wasn't necessary a bad strategy. It might have worked…had Naruto actually cared about competition with the Uchiha. He actually didn't care about competition with anyone. Now Naruto wasn't ever to be considered lazy, but he saw no benefits in making attempts to prove his ego to someone else. That wasn't his aim. Still these two were his teammates now, he would make due.

"Team eight, Inuzuka Kiba…Hyuga Hinata…and Aburame Shino," Iruka said. Kiba gave a smirk while a shy Hyuga girl sighed before looking at Naruto for a moment. The boy in a trench coat with dark glasses merely nodded. Iruka then moved on. "Team nine is still in circulation so I will move on. Team Ten, Nara Shikamaru…Yamanaka Ino…and Akimichi Chouji," Iruka said. Ino resisted the urge to cry as she not only got the laziest boy in class, but the latest boy in the class as well. Her luck had to have hit a new low. Even Naruto would have been better than Chouji! Aside from her, Shikamaru sighed. Just what he needed, a troublesome woman on his team.

"May you all grow strong and continue to support each other," Iruka said before he left the room. Slowly students started to file out of the room. Naruto quickly took this time to pack his things and make his way for the door. "Hey Naruto, hold up! What work did you do for the Hokage that allowed you to pass?" Naruto turned his head and noticed Chouji was the one to ask. Naruto really wished no one had sought to go into the issue any further. Looking around the room, he noticed most of the clan heirs looking at him for an answer. Even Uchiha Sasuke had a single eye on him. Naruto closed his eyes and released a breath.

"Pest elimination," Naruto said before he walked out of the door which left most of the clan in suspense. Some began to murmur to themselves about what that could have meant. However, no one was able to come up with any definitive results to Naruto's response. The only one who seemed to be thinking it over deeper than anyone else was the Nara heir as he watched Naruto leave.

Naruto decided to indulge himself for once and and made his way towards Ichiraku Ramen. Almost the entire way he had been debating in his mind as he looked at the formula on his right hand. Doing it in the middle of the street was probably too bold for his taste, however whatever Naruto was summoning it wasn't in him to be ungrateful. Living like he did, you learned to appreciate some things. Naruto glanced to his left and then to his right before he moved into an alleyway. "Perhaps I merely have to think about them and the formula will accommodate them naturally. Naruto took a still breath. He held his hand into the air before he slammed it into the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," Naruto said releasing a puff of smoke. It hadn't taken long for the smoke to dispel at all for Naruto stand face to face with the same two girls who had helped him four previous night ago. His blue eyes met the blue eyes of Ashe. He then shifted his gaze to look at the young girl, Annie. She gave him a wide smile while her teddy bear, Tibbers, laid in her arms. "You asked for us, Summoner?" Ashe asked. Naruto turned to her for a moment before lightly bowing his head which seemed to confuse Annie and Ashe a tad.

"I wished to express my gratitude to you both for your help in my affair a few days ago by treating you both to some lunch. Is this a bad time?" Naruto asked. The female frost archer raised an eyebrow while Annie quickly grabbed Naruto's arm. "Lunch! Lunch! Lunch!" Annie said with a wide smile. Naruto gave a soft glare before turning to Ashe.

"We didn't do anything special. We only did as our summoner commanded of us. There is no need to treat us to a meal," Ashe replied rather humbly Naruto had noticed. The blond frowned before turning back to the open streets. "I insist," Naruto replied before walking from the hallway. Ashe barely had the time to say anything else before she blinked. She watched Annie skip with Naruto into the street. Ashe slowly removed her hood and discarded her bow. She walked into the street. A hand helped her block out the sun. It was hot. A lot hotter here than Runeterra. Still for a woman who grew up in the icy hills of the Freljord this was indeed a welcome change. Still when she looked at what the people wore, she had to admit that they wouldn't have lasted long in the Freljord, but Ashe figured she was probably the most out of sorts here. Annie didn't seem to mind, but what else could the frost archer expect from the Dark Child?

Ashe quickly moved to catch up to Naruto. To be honest Ashe and Annie had been effectively surprised to be summoned by the blonde. As far as Ashe knew, she had been having bow practice before something called out to her. It was a good half a second, but her mind was filled with how Naruto lived his life and the situation he was in. Ashe, being a queen, never thought she would let herself before ordered around so easily, but his eyes. Ashe didn't mean to sound like…someone not…her, but his eyes captivated her in about one second when she stared into him. Any doubt she might have had about his capability in giving orders had vanished as soon as she landed on the tree branch. Ashe had definitely had summoners before, but…not one from another dimension. It would do well to watch him in the future. She supposed being treated to lunch wasn't a big deal as she was making it.

Naruto quickly guided Ashe and Annie to Ichiraku Ramen. Not the best place to treat someone, he admitted, but any other place and there would be hassles that he didn't wish to deal with. So, Naruto opened the curtain and guided the two inside. "I apologize for accommodations, but it's all I can truly afford at the moment," Naruto said. Annie quickly climbed up to the seat while Ashe just nodded. She truly didn't mind. Her summoner was paying. It was needless to say that she felt a little obligated. She quickly seated herself alongside Naruto. Naruto wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with Annie in his lap, but he figured that it could have been a lot worse, knowing the girls power.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Rame…oh Naruto-kun, you didn't tell me that you were on a date!" Naruto looked up and noticed Ayame giggling at him. Naruto raised an eyebrow before he sighed at what she was getting at. "These are acquaintances of mine. They helped me so time ago so I am treating them to lunch," Naruto replied. Ayame pouted at Naruto non-humor even though that was how Naruto always was. She just nodded before looking down to see Annie in Naruto's lap. She then looked over and noticed Ashe sitting rather peacefully. Ayame then turned back to the smallest of the group.

"And what would the young lady have?" Ayame asked. Annie glanced up to Naruto for a moment before grinning. "Everything!" she shouted. Naruto's eyebrow twitched while Ayame nearly dropped her notepad. Ashe shook her head with a hard sigh.

"She'll have a small vegetable ramen," Naruto said. Ayame glanced to Naruto before nodding and jotting down the notepad. Annie made a pouting face at him. She then made a face showing just how much she appreciate vegetables. "And what would you have miss?" Ayame asked turning to Ashe. The archer blinked before giving a glance to Naruto.

"I will take whatever he has," Ashe said. Ayame turned to see Naruto pinching the bridge of his nose. "Two miso ramen please Ayame-san," Naruto said. The waitress just nodded and quickly went away to give the order to her father who was in the back leaving Naruto and his two apparent female summons alone.

"Will this continue on?" Naruto asked. Annie and Ashe looked to him. "My summoning the both of you like this. I don't know where the two of you live and I certainly don't know what lives I'm disrupting. I might have to call on you both sometimes," Naruto said. The silence of the area was only matched by the sounds of footsteps outside.

"Well I can't speak for Annie, but this summoning is a definite one. I will admit that I had not known that summoning could take place aside from within Runeterra, however I will assist you if I am able. Your are the bow to my arrow. Point me in a direction and fire me," Ashe said. Naruto had to admit that was a little old-fashioned loyalty servitude if he had ever heard one, but he just nodded and offered his gratitude.

"I wanna play here more! I wanna play lots!" Annie said. Naruto blinked, but he just gave a nod to her as well. "Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto introduced holding out his hand. Ashe looked at the offer for a moment before giving his hand a firm shake.

"Ashe," she introduced. Naruto nodded. He looked down as Annie gave her name as well before smacking Naruto's hand with her own. About ten more minutes passed by as Ayame delivered their food. The food was eaten in relative silence, but a sudden common ground had been made with the three, no matter how small it was.

Ashe had to admit that this food was an absolute delicacy. The way it warmed her body reminded her of warthog noodles back in the Freljord. However this dish had a lot more flavor to it. Ashe could even see Annie eating her foot without a hint of complaint despite it having vegetables in it. She glanced back to Naruto for but a moment and noticed him calmly eating. Ashe quickly turned back to her own food. This could be interesting.

With lunch finished, Naruto, Ashe and Annie exited the ramen shop. "I will be sure to summon you if I require assistance," Naruto replied to her. Ashe merely nodded before she vanished away. Annie gave him one more hug with a wink of her eye before she vanished away as well. Naruto released a small sigh before he looked at the time on a clock in a shop. He should be getting back now.

Naruto made it back just in time to see Sasuke and Sakura still in the room…alone. No doubt the other sensei had taken their students. "Idiot, where were you? We were waiting forever!" Sakura chastised. Naruto sent her a small look before moving back to his seat near the window. He sat himself down and looked into the horizon. He remembered his time with the Frost Archer and the Dark Child. "Hey, don't ignore me!" Sakura shouted. Naruto barely spared her a glance as the girl fumed. Sasuke shook his head.

Being ignored, Sakura just huffed before she took her seat back next to Sasuke. Team Seven sat in the academy room for…thirty minutes. One hour. One hour and thirty minutes. Two hours. "WHERE IS OUR SENSEI?!" Sakura suddenly screamed forcing Sasuke awake from the nap he had been enjoying while Naruto had felt content to continue his reading. He did admit that he shared Sakura's curiosity though not her hate. It was odd for a jonin to be this late especially to pick up students. Then again, Naruto wasn't a jonin so perhaps the guy had some kind of meeting or whatever. Naruto didn't necessarily mind, it did give him some time to think. Naruto didn't know why he had been so calm with Mizuki's death. Perhaps Naruto merely felt the chunin deserved it. He didn't know if he had any real sympathy for someone who took him for a fool.

A shake of the door slider knocked Naruto from his thought as he, Sasuke and Sakura watch the door open. Their jonin sensei came through the door. He looked at the three and Naruto took the time to observe him. He had a lazy look in his eye that wasn't hidden by his headband. His mouthpiece covered his…mouth, but the part that Naruto could easily recognize was the man's gray hair that stood up in the air. All in all, Naruto could feel something radiating from the man. He wasn't someone to be trifled with. "Team Seven?" He asked. Sakura adamantly nodded while Sasuke and Naruto reminded silent. Their sensei gave a short sigh. "First impressions? You all suck and I hate you," Kakashi remarked. Sakura felt the comment smack her over the head while Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Naruto rose an eyebrow before the man hiked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Top of the school. Follow me before I fail you guys," he said before leaving. Sakura remained stupefied at what just happened. "The nerve of that guy! Being late and then threatening us! What kind of jonin-sensei did we get?!" Sakura asked, however she found that she was the only one who cared about the event as Naruto had already left and Sasuke was at the door. Sakura quickly paced to hurry up and not get left behind.

On top of the Academy's roof, the man leaned against the railing as Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke sat on the ground. Well, perhaps it was more Sasuke and Sakura sat on the ground while Naruto leaned against a pillar to the side. The man looked over the three before giving a smile. "Well, now that we're all here. How about we all give some introductions. Ya know, get to know each other better," he said. Sakura quickly raised her hand. "What do you mean, sensei? What do you want us to say?" she asked. The grey-haired man sighed before clearing his throat.

"Well how about your name, your likes, your dislikes, dreams for the future. Things like that," he said. Sakura placed a finger to her chin while Sasuke frowned. "Can you give us an example sensei?" Sakura asked. The man almost gave in to the urge to smack his face with his hand, but he had a cool demeanor going for him right now. He really wanted to keep that going for as long as possible.

"Well alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes. I have many dislikes. My dreams for the future? I haven't really thought about it. Okay, you first pinkie," the man named Kakashi said with a smile while Sakura dropped her mouth to the floor. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched irritably. Naruto gave the man named Kakashi a look. He had heard that name before. He wasn't sure where though. Still he got the essentials and that was all he needed. The man's tactic was plan. Reveal a little to get others to reveal a lot. Simplistic in nature, but Naruto could appreciate simplicity especially when it looked like it was working on his teammates.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I…I guess I like…S-S-S….," she stuttered as she sent a couple of glances to the Uchiha. "My dreams for the future…well I would really like to….," a blush appeared on her face as she glanced to Sasuke again. Kakashi and Naruto saw it, Sasuke was about one to two inches further from Sakura then from where he was. It amused Kakashi. Naruto didn't have an opinion on the matter.

"I…I…I hate Naruto and Ino-pig!" Sakura said with laid down authority in her tone. Now Naruto's eyebrow twitched at that one. What had he done to earn this girl's apparent childish hatred? Was it because he ignored her in the class? If that was the only reason then he felt like he could have dropped it all together which he felt inclined to do even if this apparent 'hatred' of hers was valid.

"Alright good. You next Broody McBroodBrood" Kakashi said pointing to Sasuke. The Uchiha frowned at the name, but continued anyway. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like many things and I dislike a lot of things," Sasuke said sending a small look to Sakura that Kakashi didn't miss. From the shift of Sasuke's head, Naruto hadn't missed it either. Soon Sasuke continued on.

"What I have is not a dream, but an ambition. One that I will fulfill. I will restore my clan and I will destroy…a certain someone," Sasuke said his eyes the picture perfect face of hatred making Kakashi narrow his eyes. Naruto knew who Sasuke was talking about of course. It wasn't actually impossible for him to not know. "Uchiha Itachi, the infamous prodigy of Konoha that managed to kill off his entire clan in a single night. I can see why Sasuke would want him dead," Naruto thought to himself. Kakashi practically had similar thoughts before turning to meet Naruto.

"Alright blondie, your turn," Kakashi called. The air was silent. The only thing that could be heard was the breeze of the wind. Sasuke and Sakura turned to see Naruto with his arms folded and his arms closed. Kakashi gave a small smile. "So are you mute too?" Kakashi asked. Naruto didn't rise to the obvious taunt tactic.

"Naruto would you stop being complicated and just tell him your name!" Sakura hissed underneath her breath though it didn't seem to do much good since everyone heard it. "….," Naruto continued to remain quiet as he kept his arms folded. Sasuke snorted before going back to whatever he was thinking about while Sakura tried to glare daggers into Naruto's skull.

"…Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said and then finished. Kakashi waited for something else, but he didn't get anything else. "Anything else you want to tell us?" Kakashi asked the smile came up even tighter. Now Naruto opened his eyes and turned to his sensei.

"I gave you all what you needed to know. You don't need to know anything else," Naruto remarked a glare of his own to match the small one on Kakashi's face. "He's grown in an interesting way from how I thought he would," Kakashi thought to himself before sighing as he figured he wouldn't get anything else out of Naruto.

"Well alright my cute little students, it's time for your test to prove you're genin!" Kakashi said. He didn't get much further before Sakura interrupted him. "Prove we're genin? But we're already genin. We took the test at the academy! Why do we need another test?" Sakura asked. Kakashi grinned. Oh man he always loved this part of dropping the bomb on students.

"Well Sakura, that test was just a test for seeing who had the potential to become genin. This test is going to truly weed out the rest of you. This test has a 66 percent failure as an average. Out of all of you students, only nine will actually pass this course. Let's hope you three are in that number," Kakashi said with an eye smile. Sasuke glared hard at the jonin while Sakura shuddered. Naruto placed a finger to his chin in thought. "We will begin tomorrow. Meet me at training ground 7 at 8 a.m. on the dot," He said before he hopped onto the railing. He glanced back at them.

"Oh, and word of advice. Don't eat, you'll surely puke," Kakashi said before he vanished away leaving the three alone. "What a weird guy, right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. Sasuke just stuffed his hands into his pockets and got to his feet. Sakura sighed. How did Sasuke make even walking look cool?

"You heard him Naruto. You'd better not be late this ti…what? Where did he go?" Sakura asked. Sasuke noticed the spot Naruto was in and found it vacant. The Uchiha snorted before moving on his own, Sakura not far behind him.

-x-

Naruto entered his home and dropped his pack on the ground. He quickly made his way over to a bookshelf and while he put on a pot of coffee. Why? Why would Kakashi say words like this? They replayed in Naruto's mind as he leaned against the wall.

This test is going to truly weed out the rest of you. This test has a 66 percent failure as an average. Out of all of you students, only nine will actually pass this test. Let's hope you three are in that number," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Weed out? That meant elimination. There was something that genin teams weren't doing that caused the test to be rated at a chance of failure being 66 percent. That was an interesting number even to Naruto. That meant this was something more than half the student body was capable of missing. It couldn't have been something incredibly obvious or Naruto was sure that most of the student body would have gotten it. "Don't eat. You'll surely puke," Naruto replied Kakashi's statements in his head. So they were going to be doing something so strenuous that it would make them puke or he was doing something else.

Naruto leaned against the wall and he placed a finger to his chin. Something was wrong about all of this. Naruto looked up as a sound of steam hissed in his ears. He looked up and noticed his coffee was ready. Naruto quickly poured a cupful before turning back to his bookshelf. He quickly took a book from the shelf and opened it. In the book he saw many pictures of Jonin with their genin in some form of group photo. Naruto took a sip of his coffee. "Out of all of you students, only nine will actually pass this test. Let's hope you three are in that number," Naruto frowned.

"Why only nine? If he wanted us to worry about failing then he would have just said that only one genin in one jonin would make the cut, but he said nine of us would. Three genin for one jonin. 66 percent chance of failure. It had to do with a strenuous activity that would make them puke. Naruto quickly moved himself to a medical book and opened it. "Often times symptoms of puking deal in sickness, loss of appetite, upset stomach, strenuous exercise, nausea, sore throat… "Wait, what? Strenuous exercise?" Naruto raised an eyebrow before he closed his eyes and imagined a few things.

Kakashi said no eating for fear that they would puke from the exercise. 8 in the morning was early, very early for most genin. Naruto could remember a few times where he skipped breakfast to save money to pay rent. He had been irritable a couple…of…times. Naruto widened his eyes. "I got it!" Naruto said before he shook his head and after a while let out a small chuckle. Not bad Hatake Kakashi. Not bad at all. "Interesting tactic Hatake Kakashi. Allow me to answer with my own!" Naruto said with a small smirk. He had half the answer, but he was sure that given enough time he would know the other half as well. There was just some pieces missing to his equation, but Naruto quickly got to work. If he got it right then he would be a genin by the end of the day tomorrow.

Naruto quickly laid out a piece of paper and got to work, his mind reeling as thoughts escaped his brain and onto his paper.

-x-

The next morning came easy enough. First part of Naruto's plan against Kakashi was to actually eat his breakfast which was easy enough. Now he could think clearly and he wouldn't have been as easily susceptible to irritation than he would have if he was hungry. However, Naruto couldn't have said the same for Sakura and Sasuke. Both looked absolutely terrible and even more so he knew they looked more tired than usual. Naruto resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It looked like he was the only who had discovered at least half of the meaning to Kakashi's tactic.

Without a word, Naruto leaned against the fence before taking out the same book filled with strategy games that he had been doing yesterday. "Each door is the exact same as the last. One door go right and five others go left. For every third door on the left, the sixth in the right will change color. Make each door the same color going three doors to the left," Naruto narrowed his eyes before he got to work.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, glaring as she watched Naruto work on his book. She couldn't suppress the irritated look in her face when Naruto didn't answer her. She hadn't eaten and she was a little pissed off right now! "How long are you going to ignore me?!" Sakura asked as she marched up to Naruto, her hands on her hips.

"…," Naruto continued to tune out his teammate as he worked on this new challenging puzzle. Unknowing to him he was actually making Sakura angrier and angrier with his denying of her existence. Sakura scowled as she balled her fists. She held her fist up and was ready to strike the blonde, but Naruto lowered his book and glared into her eyes. He turned the book towards her. "I'm occupying myself with a strategy puzzle while we wait. Are you done?" Naruto asked. Sakura looked at the book in surprise. Sasuke gave Naruto a small look. The dead last was doing puzzles?

"Since when do you do puzzles?" Sakura asked. She had never known Naruto did puzzles. Granted she didn't know a lot of what he did in general. Still the puzzle looked complicated even by her own standards and Sakura prided herself on her intelligence least from the grades she received from the academy. "Rather than worrying about what I do. I would like to ask the both of you a question. Why didn't you eat?" Naruto asked. Sasuke opened his eyes and turned back to Naruto while Sakura stared at the blond incredulously.

"Just as soon as I think you might have a brain, you ask something like that. Don't you remember? Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat or we'd puke!" Sakura said. Naruto brushed off the insult like water before looking over their faces. "Hmph, you both already look like you're about to puke. Especially you Sakura. Looks like you both fell for Kakashi's tactic like he thought you would," Naruto said making Sakura widen her eyes. Sasuke stood to his feet. Dead last or not, Naruto knew something and Sasuke didn't like where this was heading.

"Explain!" Sasuke exclaimed a little annoyed at the assumption of being played. Naruto gave the Uchiha a stern look before looking back at his book. "Kakashi most likely had two things in mind when he told us to not eat. Either he wanted to teach us to fight under conditions where we wouldn't be able to fight in our best like in a real world fight, or he wanted us at our weakest where it would be easiest for him to get rid of us or for us to fail. He said 66 percent of students who undergo this test fail. We can assume that they were at their best when they failed these. The two of you aren't. I would guess that because you two didn't eat this test that we must undergo now has a 75 percent failure chance," Naruto said. Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat before Sasuke took a step forward.

"How does our not eating affect the chances?" Sasuke asked with irritation. Naruto didn't look at Sasuke, but he couldn't stop the sigh that escaped his lips. "We're going to be using our minds, no matter what test this is. Could you two truly think rationally and calmly when you're hungry? Are you sure you would rush into anger because something wasn't working? You're already on low energy and you're going to be on lower energy when this test is over," Naruto said. Sasuke stiffened while Sakura widened her eyes.

The Uchiha growled as he looked at the ground. Just perfect. A test where his very shinobi career was on the line and he wasn't at his very best to even take it! "So what do we do now? If we take this test we're doomed! Kakashi-sensei could be here any minute!" Sakura said. Naruto raised an eyebrow before he placed a finger to his chin. By Kakashi's words if this was a simple test, he could have tested them all individually and whoever failed could merely fail, but he wanted to test all three at the same time. That meant that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke would have to do something together. Naruto needed these two for some reason. He sighed.

"I arrived here twenty minutes ago. It's five minutes close to the meeting time. Whether you both take this advice or not is on you, but given our sensei's behavior the first time we met, I believe he will be late this time as well. He was late two hours last time, it would be safe to assume he'll be that late again. You both have two hours to run back to the village, get something on your stomach and come back here," Naruto instructed. Sakura and Sasuke glanced to each other before Sakura folded her arms.

"Why should we listen to you? Maybe you just want to drag us down with you!" Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other for an amount of time. Let it be known that Uchiha Sasuke was a prideful person. Much less than being advised, he hated being ordered, much less by the dead last of Konoha, but something in Naruto's eyes made Sasuke understand. This was the best tactic they had right now.

Sasuke turned around and walked off. "Sasuke-kun, where are you going? What if he's wrong? What if Kakashi-sensei comes in the next two minutes?! We'll fail!" Sakura protested, but Sasuke marched through them. If he stayed then they would fail, if they left they failed. Well, Uchiha Sasuke was going to choose the path were the failure was lessened!

Naruto watched Sasuke march off until he was out of sight. Sakura followed after him nearly as fast. Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes. Well this was the first step and if, by chance, he was wrong then Naruto would accept the responsibility. But he knew he was right. He could feel it.

In time, two hours passed by as Kakashi came into the clearing with a smile on his face. He wondered how his cute little genin were going to blow up in his face for being late. A small part of him did feel bad making them suffer, but that part might as well have been minuscule. He just couldn't stop thinking about it. He could see the forms of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura in the clearing. Naruto seemed to be the calmest for one who was hungry, but given his attitude from last time, Kakashi couldn't tell if he was hungry or not. However he was most concerned when Sakura was looking at him with surprised completely etched on her face. She looked back and Naruto before looking back at Kakashi. Kakashi blinked. Did he miss something?

"You're late Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted with extra vigor that Kakashi didn't know a girl on hunger could have. He just rubbed the back off is head as Naruto looked up and Sasuke stared at him. "Maa maa, sorry about that. I saw a black cat in the middle of my path so I had to take the long way around the village. Then an old lady was carrying her groceries. I had to help her," Kakashi said. Sasuke frowned while Sakura tightened her fists. Naruto blinked before releasing a sigh.

"Well the sun's in the sky. There is a fresh breeze in the wind. Shall we get started?" Kakashi asked as he walked through the gates. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura followed him until they all stood in the middle of the training ground's clearing. Kakashi stood before them with a smile. He then reached into his pocket.

"Your test is to…retrieve these bells from me. You can use anything at your disposal. Oh also, another word of advice, come at me with intent to kill…or you will never get these bells," Kakashi said holding two bells in front of the three students. "Are you sure Kakashi-sensei? Won't you get hurt?" Sakura asked. Kakashi smiled.

"Oh I think I can worry about myself just fine. You have one hour. If you don't have a bell by that time then you will be tied to a post as you watch me eat my lunch. Also to the person who doesn't have a bell…not only will you be tied to a post…but you will also be sent back to the academy," Kakashi said. Naruto's eyes hardened. There, it was right there. In those sentences the 66 percent failure chance answer was there. Naruto just had to look for it now.

Unlike Naruto, Sasuke's face contorted into a grin. Sakura's eyes grew fearful while Kakashi tied the bells to his flak jacket. "Well, are we all ready?" Kakashi asked. Naruto took a glance to the summoning formula on his arm. He then glanced back to Kakashi. Sasuke nodded. So did Sakura, albeit hesitantly.

"Well…GO!" Kakashi said and without a word, Naruto slammed his hand on the ground shocking Sakura and Sasuke as the blonde spoke. His eyes glared into Kakashi's form. "Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as a puff of smoke came over the area.

KG: It had to be done! (Holds arms) I'm not sorry!

May: How about you finish what you already have before making other nonsense?!

KG: Why are you so concerned about me not finishing Scattered Feathers?

May: I'm not! I'm concerned about…your audience! They're the ones who need it!

KG:…..Since when do you care about my fanbase's needs?

May: JUST UPDATE THE STORY!

KG:….wait. You want me to update because…Oh. my. god.

May: W-What?

KG: Oh. My. GOD! YES! I knew it!

May: You don't know anything!

KG: Well guys, I can stop this first chapter here. He can't summon them all. It will be a continued process.

Available Champions - Right now

Ashe, Annie

KG: This is all he knows he has. I'll continue to keep track.

KG: Well that's all folks. Stay breezy, never give up, review, protect what's important to you, and…SEND ME FUCKIN CREAM SODA!

KG: I ALSO DEMAND ALL OF YOU TO RESPECT THE CREAM!