This is a good story I like the slightly more realistic view point to being a ninja you are taking.

Good story and I can't wait for the updates...this is a nice little twist that gives the story a better "team" feeling early on...Since he didn't get the shadow clones, just regular clone illusions-you probably should give him SOMETHING to balance out the remaining scale, like a D-Rank element jutsu or something...plus, since he didn't fail, he never found out about Kyuubi-land of waves is gonna get complicated for him to say the least when Haku "kills" Sasuke.

Very nice! Keep going!

Shame on me, i forgot to set this to update.

WoW. What an exciting chapter. Thank you so much for making Sakura care for more than Sasuke. You've actually made her likable! Great job! I am looking forward to more of this intriguing story. Thank you.

This chapter was good! I absolutely love your story. I'm curious to see how this plays out in the long-run. In some of the major battles of the series, the only reason Naruto didn't die was his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (as you know, obviously). (: so how will he do without it? Can't wait for the next chapter, so update soon!

hello there CB again. i cant believe you also acknowledged me in your story. i am now going to actually bounce ideas off you now. you see, i actually have a story board in the making of a story very similar like this in a certain aspect of making naruto weaker at first.

but if you really want this story to seriously be different and unique naruto story what i think you want it to be i can give some suggestions.

make original missions. if naruto goes to wave as his first mission hes going to have to put his head between his knees and kiss his butt good bye. having no kage bushin or even normal bushin mean a butt load and i do mean a buttload of attention goes to the real naruto. now how naruto won most of his fights in cannon was he would spam a bunch of clones which would fight the enemy for ten minutes. now what does this accomplish for naruto.

one and most important, it gathers information about an opponents rhythm. which is how an opponents fight. its the certain pace that the opponent runs. which determines everything including openings and how well it is to adapt to it. also it is incredibly hard to change a rhythm. so hard in fact you need an outside source that you know in and out. or more commonly in magna a transformation. such as chakra cloak and such. waht make these transformations so amazing isnt because they are faster or stronger but because the entire rhythm of their fighting changes which makes said increased strength or speed more revelant. if naruto only got a strength boost it would hardly effect said fight.

and the second reason kage bushin in fights is a big one is that kage bushin weakens enemys gets in slowing damage on enemys and wears down enemy endurance. basically a really effective human shield. if naruto has oh i dunno. a 1000 chakra points and makes a hundred clones like he normally does. each clone has 10 chakra points. now what makes kage bushin draining is the fact that each clone has to have the capacity to sustain its form and organs. the reason i think naruto can make so many clones doesnt orginiate on how big his chakra pool is. but how fast it regens. his chakra recovery is enormous which the manga says indirectly on converted the 9 tailed chakra into naurto chakra. so naruto actually doesnt have a super big pool but regens alot. back to my clones. if ten clones die and have 90 clones left each clone has 11 chakra points. because all the chakra the clones held have to go somewhere.

now i have a question i would like to ask you. is this storys power works. the power of youth triumphs the power of wisdom and training or opposite. like will training naruto mean anything. as in naruto wont be able to fight haku 1v1 after learning how to climb trees or what not like they do with the cannon. if you make the increase of strength slow and make naruto work hard i mean really hard and the progress is slow like it is in real life. this will mean less d ranked missions and more training. if you look at the mission states say for team 8. after three years. its like a handful as you can count with your fingers and toes and have left over stuff.

btw feel free to send me a email and ask about anything you want. i am a martial artist. i have been training for roughly seven years in full contact fighting. so i fyou need help writing some training scenes or need some martial arts information. feel free to ask.

I really, really, really love this story. The title threw me off a bit, and I was not expecting much as a result, but the content inside blew me away. Not many authors are dedicated or talented enough to use present-tense the way you do, and the concept is completely original and intriguing. Never have I thought about the kagebunshin as anything BUT a very useful, very helpful technique. It's refreshing to read a story with creativity.

Thank You,

~Kamibi

Interesting.

Nice job. I'm glad you didn't stick to the original plot of the Bell Test! I liked how you did multiple perspectives, too. Great chapter, overall. Update soon!

Loving the story.

In 5 chapters you gave us the first team meating from four points of view and a partially written survival test...

This is well written and occasionally interesting, but you need to prioritize what you put in the story.

Got to agree with you about it stunting his growth early on.

i usually dont review a story that has so little chapters. but this one is written pretty decent. and the fact you are taking something out of naruto and doing something that most storys would never do. make naruto weaker. but in the long run. stronger. so i applaud to you good sir. you have got a reader

Huh, canon Naruto isn't skillful or creative? You must've read a different Naruto than I. Learning the KB saved his life early on and what else did he have? He wouldn't have learned the Rasengan and all the other Rasengan power-up afterwards. I do like the idea of a Naruto that doesn't rely heavy on the KB, but to say he was stunted because of it is ludicrous.