First off, let me say a masssive THANK YOU for the reviews! I'm over 100 now! This is seriously exciting for me~!

Onto the story!

Chapter 7: Training

Neither blond was remotely certain if they would end up dreamwalking together. But when Naruto managed to finally fall asleep despite his excitement, he ended up in a strange new place he's never seen before. Flowers filled the entire room, growing from the concrete and dirt patches scattered throughout. Colors, shapes, and sizes of all kinds bloomed around him and he was stunned by the display.

"Naruto?"

His father's voice drew him away from the fascinating sight.

"Is this my psyche thing?"

Minato smiled. "More or less."

"It's weird looking, but kinda pretty," Naruto decided.

"I agree, though I think I'd go with unique instead of weird."

Naruto grinned. That was exactly the sort of thing his dad would say. He felt like he was finally getting used to the idea of a parent.

"Do you want to move somewhere else, or stay here? I can take you anywhere your chakra flows."

Naruto mulled over the question. He really liked this room, but there wasn't too much space. If he ruined one of the beautiful flowers, he thought he might cry.

"Let's go back to the orange room," Naruto decided.

"Alright, hold onto my hand," Minato said, holding his arm out.

"Can't I just grab your shoulder or something?" Naruto asked desperately.

"No," Minato stated.

Naruto made a face somewhere between bashfulness and chagrin, but acquiesced. Minato tried to hide his smile, but from the souring of Naruto's expression, he figured he hadn't really succeeded. He towed his son straight through the concrete walls of the room.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, but then his eyes doubled when he looked down. "WOAH!" The two of them stood above a veritable river of glowing energy. "Is that my chakra?"

Minato nodded. "This is your circulatory system."

"So cool!" He took a step forward to see it better and the floor suddenly fell out beneath him.

"AHH!" He shouted in terror, flailing desperately as he began to fall.

Before he fell very far, the grip on his hand tightened and his father stopped his descent. With a few heaves, Minato pulled his son up onto the invisible around him. "Be careful not to wander off on your own. You aren't adjusted to moving through this place. It takes a lot of mental focus and control to make a small platform to stand on." Minato looked very seriously at his child "If you fell into the river, I don't know if I could find you."

Naruto's face paled dramatically and he swallowed. At least he knew now why his father demanded he hold his hand. He clasped it tighter unconsciously.

"Don't worry Naruto, I won't let you fall." His father assured him with a light smile. Naruto nodded, but still felt shaken from his near fatal plummet. Minato continued to guide his son over various streams of chakra and through a couple odd rooms that Naruto barely had time to register fully. Eventually, after an indeterminate amount of time, they arrived in the orange room.

Though his mental manifestation didn't get weary like his physical body did, he still collapsed on the floor, more out of habit than anything else.

"Did that last room have a bunch of stray cats?" he asked with a bewildered tone, "What the hell was that about?"

Minato shrugged. "It's your subconscious."

Naruto shook his head numbly. He honestly had no idea what to think. He stated it aloud to his father who smiled before jumping into an explanation about the general setup of his mind.

"Everything in your mind is a stream," Minato started. "Your chakra flows through various parts of it, your thoughts move through in odd rivulets, and even your feelings grow here. That's how I can catch some of your emotions and trains of thoughts. They flow through your chakra system too."

"That's crazy!"

"Kind of neat though," Minato said with a smile. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"What are we gonna do?" Naruto asked curiously. They could do the kata in the real world and that was generally what they spent the most time on in his dreams.

"I thought we could talk strategy," Minato said with a firm voice.

"Eh?" Naruto's face grew despondent.

"Naruto, your first opponent, Neji, comes from a very well-known clan in Konohagakure."

"Yeah, I know that," Naruto huffed.

"The benefits of that though, is that their style is also somewhat general knowledge in the ninja community.

"So you know how to fight them and stuff?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I know how their chakra and style work," Minato answered. "I studied every style I could so I could make new jutsu. Though I have never gone against a Byakugan user personally."

"Hmmm," Naruto uttered aloud, dissatisfied.

"Someone who could probably help you more is Kakashi. He's gotten into a scuffle or two with Hisashi-san —the head of the clan— if I'm remembering correctly."

"Really?" Naruto asked, excitedly. He was going to be so prepared for this battle!

"With that in mind I'd like to go over the Hyuga's history and then a few more general fighting strategies, like I did before your preliminary match."

Naruto wasn't so big on the idea of strategy, but his father's advice had come in rather handy. "Alright, so what's first?"

Minato smiled.

"History. When Konohagakure was founded, there were four clans . . ."

Kakashi arrived at the red bridge about five hours later than he'd said he was. With that in mind, he found he couldn't be tremendously upset to find his student dozing in the grass.

"Naruto," Kakashi said. There wasn't a single stir. Kakashi sighed. He needed to work on that with Naruto. A ninja should be ready to wake up in a single moment at the slightest sound.

Kakashi placed his book in his pocket before he approached his sprawled out student. Cracking his knuckles, he proceeded to line up his shot. With a single swift movement, he began thoroughly tickling his student.

Naruto started laughing helplessly, kicking a flailing uselessly against the sudden onslaught.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing?" Naruto managed between his uncontrollable giggle.

"Hm, what do you mean?" Kakashi asked mildly, not pausing at all.

After a few minutes, which by the end, Naruto was completely out of breath with aching sides, the gray-haired jonin pulled away.

"Sorry I thought you could use a little help waking up."

"I'm up, I'm definitely up! Just don't tickle me anymore!" Naruto exclaimed scooting away quickly, eyeing him with blatant distrust as he regained his breath.

Kakashi sighed inwardly. "So Naruto, what have you been up to recently?"

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, do you know anything about the Hyugas?" Naruto bypassed his teacher's question.

"Well, I may have picked up a few things over the years," Kakashi said slowly. He smiled a little inside. He found it amusing that of all three of his students, Naruto was the only one to ask him about his opponent so far. Gai was his ultimate rival, (so he was told,) and he knew his style intimately. Beyond what Kakashi had told Sasuke, the Uchiha hadn't asked anything else. Shino was a member of a clan in Konoha, and Kakashi always did his research on the clans. It was likely that her other jonin-sensei Ebisu told her some of the functions, but Kakashi he had seen them in action with his sharingan, and saw how their mechanics of how their jutsu worked— something beyond rare.

But he obviously wasn't going to volunteer any information unnecessarily.

Naruto seemed to understand when to ask for help though. Kakashi recalled the time they were learning how to tree-walk and how he had turned to Sakura for advice, while Sasuke was too proud.

"Well Naruto, the Hyugas are central clan in Konoha."

"I know that." Naruto cut in bluntly. "The Hyuga clan is one of the four noble clans of Konohagakure. All members have the Byakugan, a bloodline trait that lets them see through solid objects and even the chakra circulatory system, and expel chakra from any of the chakra-points in their body. The gentle fist is considered the strongest taijutsu style in the village. The current leader is Hyuga Hisashi, and he came to power after his father died, and he had a twin and—"

"Slow down Naruto," Kakashi urged. "I didn't know you had done so much research."

Naruto grimaced. "It was terrible."

"Don't you see how useful it is though?" Minato asked in Naruto's mind. "Now you don't have to waste what little time you have with Kakashi listening to a lecture."

He had a point but Naruto still crossed his arms petulantly.

Kakashi wanted to smile at the reaction, but he was more surprised than anything. "I don't really know what you want me to tell you about them."

"I want you to tell me how they fight. What stance they have and all that!"

Kakashi blinked. That was a surprisingly excellent request. With his sharingan, he remembered every detail of his fights with Hisashi when they were both training as chunin. Kakashi nodded after a moment before moving away from the bridge and towards the trees. Naruto followed along eagerly. Kakashi summoned the memory into his mind.

"The general stance of the jutsu is like this," Kakashi demonstrated, fluidly moving into position.

Naruto walked around it, trying to memorize it.

"Naruto, this is probably the most important part of the gentle fist taijutsu. The stance is a powerful one that allows for quick defense and attack in very close combat situations. See how the arms are posed, ready to bat an attack away or jab forward." Minato informed him.

Naruto nodded along. "So I should avoid close combat and attack from far away?"

"Yes. That's—"

"Exactly right Naruto," Kakashi said, surprise laced in his voice as he dropped the stance. Naruto froze and his father rubbed his head sheepishly. They'd both forgotten they had an audience.

"I remember his and Hinata's fight," Naruto said, "It was all close, nothing far away."

"It would be a good idea to learn some jutsu for mid-distance fighting, since that would be the best place to stand."

Naruto's face lit up. "I got a perfect one!"

"You planned that, huh?" Naruto asked his father.

Minato chuckled

"Really? What is it?" Kakashi queried.

"Uhm, Futon r—" The official name always tripped him up. "Gale palm," he said instead.

Kakashi carefully hid his utter bewilderment at that announcement.

"Where did you learn about that jutsu, Naruto?" He asked.

"Uhm, a scroll . . ." he finished lamely.

Kakashi stared at him piercingly. That was a jutsu Minato-sensei used, and Kakashi would bet money that it was Jiraiya that taught it to him. The Sandaime had said he was back in town. Naruto's reluctance to talk about it was interesting, but he imagined it could be for a while range of reasons. There were very few people that were as complex and strange as Naruto was, but Jiraiya was certainly one of them. If Naruto didn't want to share the truth about his sensei, then Kakashi wouldn't pry.

"Alright." Kakashi said, grinning inwardly when his student almost fell over in surprise.

"Do you think he bought it?" Naruto asked, straining himself so he could talk mentally.

"Not at all, but let's not push any further."

"It's a good jutsu for this fight," Kakashi began. "How much progress have you made?"

"Well, I got the amount of chakra right, but I can't add it slowly enough."

"Will you show me?"

Naruto hesitated before he held out his loosely clasped hands. Kakashi noted that the pose was perfect.

Naruto honed in on the palms of his hands and forced himself to slowly add chakra, but in no time flat, the jutsu blew him off his feet. Typical.

Kakashi nodded to himself. It was as he expected Naruto couldn't integrate the chakra slow enough. Instead he injected large bursts that ended up blowing his hands apart, making the chakra spiral wildly out of his grasp. The jutsu had to build slowly enough that the user could adjust their hands to keep it in control.

Naruto picked himself up sullenly.

"Naruto, come over here and let me demonstrate for you," Kakashi said as he drew on the memory of this jutsu from years ago.

His student quickly moved over to his side eagerly. He'd never been able to see what it really did and was psyched for the demonstration.

Kakashi brought his hands together, echoing Naruto's stance, and his own sensei's stance. Taking a deep breath, he slowly began gathering chakra in between his palms. As he did, he couldn't help but notice what a good jutsu this was to teach Naruto. Though it was a wind jutsu and was supposed to require wind chakra, the raw chakra gathered between the palms was generally enough to replicated the main features. Without the sharp edges of the wind chakra, it wouldn't release sharp airstream blades, but for the chunin exam that wouldn't be a pro, since knockout was the priority, not death or max damage. Jiraiya really knew what he was doing.

Kakashi could do this jutsu in seconds flat, but he slowed it down so that Naruto could see the chakra slowly build up.

A fat swirling tornado of chakra sat in his hands by the time he finished adding chakra. He held it at that point, letting Naruto 'oooh' and 'ahhh' as he looked at it from all kinds of angles.

"Stand back," Kakashi directed. Naruto quickly obeyed, moving behind his sensei.

Kakashi had been careful not to mold his chakra into wind energy, so when he released it, a strong gust blew out of his hands, tearing forward. An unlucky tree in its path was almost ripped up by its roots. After a few more yards it finally dissipated.

"Oh wow!" Naruto exclaimed. "That is so awesome!"

"Do you know what I mean when I talk about the slow build?"

"Uhhh, sorta." Naruto scratched his head.

"Why don't you try it a few times? It'll be a while until I need to meet up Sasuke again."

"I'm pretty much 100% sure you're lying," Naruto said, clearly noting the irritation and annoyance coming from Sasuke. Kakashi shrugged.

"Well okay!" The blond was never the type to turn away help, especially when it came from his jonin –sensei who had proven repeatedly that he was strong. A while ago he would have been bouncing off the wall in excitement, but since his father had begun training him, he felt much calmer about it all. He felt more confident in himself in general. His father ruffled his hair inside his mind.

"You've always had the confidence Naruto, I only help you hone it."

Naruto smiled before cracking his knuckles and pulling his hands together. However, it wasn't the position Kakashi was expecting.

He blinked as twenty orange-wearing shadow clones filled the area.

"You know what to do everyone," the original spoke and the replicas nodded in perfect harmony.

Failed jutsu quickly filled the area. The explosions destroyed several clones each time, making Naruto growl before replacing them. Thinking about the sheer amount of chakra Naruto was blowing through made Kakashi's head hurt. Kage-level chakra, no doubt about it.

"I take it you figured how to train using shadow clones then?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"It was in the forest when we were spying on the Iwa team. I scouted them and stuff and then I destroyed the clone. Sasuke asked me some dumb question about what they looked like and I realized that I knew even though I didn't see it myself."

The real revelation didn't happen exactly like that, but Naruto figured it was close enough.

"Impressive Naruto," Kakashi said lightly, "Your powers of observation are certainly growing."

Naruto smiled at the compliment.

"Anyway, I'm going to reunite with Sasuke before he gets any testier. See you later." Leaves swirled where Kakashi once stood. Naruto shook his head. Sasuke was going to boil over one of these days and Naruto felt it would have something to do with Kakashi-sensei. At least he hoped so. Anyone was fine so long as it wasn't Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, after watching what Kakashi told you, I got an idea." Minato spoke up. "You can disperse your clones."

"What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly. Poofs covered the area as the space emptied.

"A lot of the time, when a person is working on chakra control they use a mental image to help them. When you walk on trees, what do you think about Naruto?" Minato began.

"Eh? Well I think about spreading a really thin coat of chakra on my feet and then it works."

"The key part of that is that you imagine a thin layer." The Yondaime explained. "Medical nin often train the really detailed work by imagining that their chakra is one big pile of sand. Then they imagine picking up only one or two pieces of sand."

"That sounds hard!"

"It is," Minato assured. "But I thought of a great one for you though Naruto-kun."

"What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Imagine you're making instant ramen."

"Haa?"

"Wait, Naruto-kun," Minato reminded, making his son cross his arms. "In this scenario, you hold the noodles in between your hands, okay?"

"So is my chakra the water then?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly." Minato nodded. "But the water is boiling hot, correct, so you must be careful with how you pour it."

"I still don't see how this helps . . ."

"Naruto-kun, when you pour the hot water onto the noodles, do you tip the entire kettle of water over it?"

"No," Naruto said, like it was obvious.

"Of course not, if you tipped it too far the water would spill everywhere. There isn't sufficient air in the kettle, so too compensate the water comes out in large bursts. You'd probably burn yourself. No, you start pouring the water in slowly. When there is more air in the kettle, you can pour more quickly."

"So I should imagine that I'm pouring boiling water in my hands which have instant ramen in them?" Naruto asked. In his head it seemed pretty stupid.

"Basically."

The genin looked dubious but held his hands out.

"Close your eyes, Naruto-kun."

Naruto complied. His brow furrowed as he tried to imagine what his father said. It was easier than he thought truthfully. The ramen was in his grasp, and he just needed to pour in the water. He tried to slowly add the water from his hands but found himself flying off his feet before he could even open his eyes. The blond genin pouted. He'd failed even quicker that time around! Sheepish laughter came from inside his mind.

"Perhaps that analogy doesn't really work for you, but you should try it a few more times just in case."

Naruto sat up and frowned before crossing his legs and folding his arms. He hmmed in deep thought. There was something not right about the scenario his father was describing. Naruto knew ramen-making intimately, and he knew something was askew . . .

"Naruto?"

"I got it!" Naruto exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

Clear surprise came from his father. "What is it, Naruto?"

"Just wait, lemme see if it'll work." Naruto's paused. "And don't cheat either!"

"Naruto, I promised not to look into your thoughts, remember?" His father reminded kindly.

Naruto shrugged. Sure the Yondaime said that, but it wasn't like Naruto would actually know. Then again, he supposed that Hokage's didn't really lie . . . He shook the thoughts from his mind. Naruto wanted to try his new trick and see if it would work.

He assumed the same stance from before, with his legs spread a little to prevent himself from being knocked over from the kickback, and his hands a little bit apart from each other. He felt his father's curiosity and carefully moved the sensation to the back of his mind.

Instead, he visualized holding a cup in one hand, and a tea kettle in the other. He had to add it slowly or he'd overfill the cup in his hand and the broth would spill out. He didn't want the cup to overflow. That would suck if the broth spilled on his table. He really liked the broth . . .

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a fat tornado in his hands. His concentration broke and he was blown off his feet, but the fact remained.

"I got it!" He shouted in triumph as he jumped to his feet.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks dad!"

"What changed?" His father inquired.

"I used one hand to hold the noodles and added the water with the other! You can't add water both directions."

Minato blinked before smiling. His child was truly brilliant.

"Let me try it again. With clones this time!" He exclaimed, drawing up a dozen replicas.

"Neji is going down!" they crowed.

Before any of them could pull their hands together, they were bent over clutching their stomachs.

"Naruto-kun?"

"I think Sakura-chan is really, really, mad at someone." Sakura's emotions didn't tend to bother him as much as Sasuke's did. They also seemed weaker most of the time. But rage was something she was very good at.

"I wonder what made her so furious."

"As long as it isn't me, it's fine," Naruto said, righting himself as he forced himself away from her emotion.

Minato sweatdropped. He was getting eerie echoes of his relationship with Kushina.

Naruto finally stopped after performing the jutsu at least twelve more times. Minato figured the extensive use of the jutsu, coupled with the constant replacing of clones, his son would be getting a little tired.

"Do you have the energy do some sparring?" Minato asked, "I know you're probably getting a little tired—"

"No way! I got tons of energy! I'll spar with a bushin."

"Okay, but don't make too many—"

Thirty Naruto's filled the area.

"—clones." Minato finished lamely.

"Oh, whoops." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. "You all, get out of here!" Thirty identical poofs signified the departure of the batch of replicas.

"That wasn't really what I meant." Minato sweatdropped. "Aren't you tired?"

"Not really." He frowned. "Do you want clones, or not?"

"If you aren't too tired, then I suppose we can continue training," the Yondaime said eventually. "Can you make more clones?"

"Of course!" After a flippant wave of his arm Naruto placed his fingers in a familiar hand-sign. "Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

The Fourth Hokage blinked as twenty more Naruto's filled the area. Each was looking around at their surroundings idly as they waited for orders from the original. Naruto never seemed to fully reach his limit. That would certainly be something to look into for later.

Looking at the assembly before him, a thought suddenly struck him. "There isn't another one of me in there with you all? I mean, can each of you feel my spirit within?"

The original started in surprise. That wasn't something he'd considered before. A replica in front finally answered. "No, just the boss."

The clone confirmed his suspicions, but also hinted at another fact to be uncovered.

"I wonder . . ." He had to check. "Naruto, ask your clones if they can hear me."

Before the original Naruto could even open his mouth, the mass replied, "We can hear you just fine,"

"Just as I thought," the Yondaime could no longer contain his excitement and it rolled off of him in waves.

"Huh? What happened?" his son asked, picking up on his father's mood.

"Because there is an open mind-link between you and I, there are similar ones between me and your clones."

The looks on his son's and all of the clones' faces were confused at best. A handful half-understood what he meant, but didn't know what it implied.

"This is a great asset."

"Why?" None of the orange clad ninja grasped what he was getting at.

Minato paused. He knew that his son struggled to grasp theory. Using visual and real world examples worked much better. He'd decided to do a different approach than just walking through it though. Guiding his son towards the answer would help him to start making these conclusions himself later on. He hoped.

"Naruto, when you and your clones fight an enemy, how do you usually decide what tactic you'll use during the fight?"

"Well they know what I'm thinking when they come out."

"Yes, yes, but after that," he stopped and abandoned that train. A word problem with a story would be better. Or at least more engaging. "Say you're protecting a group of civilians from bandits," Minato proposed. He barely kept his face together when in unison all the clones sat down on the grass around the original.

He cleared his throat. "Well, you and your clones are fighting the bandits when one of them starts to use make handsigns for a jutsu—" A clone cut him off with a question.

"I thought he was a bandit?"

Minato blinked. "He's a shinobi-bandit."

"That doesn't seem very likely. If he's a shinobi, he wouldn't have to attack people for money, he could steal it. Ninja are waay sneaky," a clone from the back pointed out.

"He can't because he's a really bad shinobi."

"Why is he a bandit?" another Naruto asked.

"For money?" Minato hazarded a guess, "Now he started to—"

He was cut off once more, but this time by the original who was scoffing at the bandit's behavior. "If he needs money then he should just take missions from his village."

"He defected."

There was a chorus of "Huh?" and blank looks all around

"Left the village." Minato hastily explained.

From the left, there was another question. "Ne, which village is he from?"

The Yondaime bit back a weary sigh. "It doesn't matter."

"It does too matter, cause then we could figure out what kind of jutsu he'll use," an orange-clad replica said and the rest of the mass nodded along in agreement.

So Naruto did have a point, it was technically relevant, but not to the story he was currently trying to tell. "He's not wearing a headband," Minato deadpanned and there was a rise of disappointed groans.

A curious question once more put off his return to his narration. "Why did he leave the village to begin with?"

"Because the love of his life chose to be with someone else," the Yondaime made up the excuse quickly. "So he's starting a jutsu—"

"Did she know he loved her?"

"Uh, no—"

"Why didn't he confess then?" The clone seemed oddly angry with the shinobi-bandit's imaginary behavior.

Minato scratched the back of his head. "Well—"

"He could have been shy," a clone on the left suggested.

"I think he still should have," the Naruto clone in the front said. "That way she could have decided who she wanted to be with, knowing he's interested; At least then he won't have any regrets."

"Yeah, she probably loved him but didn't know if he felt the same way! He shoulda been up front with how he felt!" a clone from the back proclaimed.

Minato sighed as he watched his son carry on a conversation over his head with his own clones. Naruto was such an excitable boy. That had its pros and cons. When Minato was trying to keep his attention or make a point, it generally fell under the 'con' category. Everything else was a pro though, (for the most part, getting so excited for ramen couldn't be that healthy.) Minato found himself fondly exasperated.

"That was a dumb reason to defect." All of the Narutos were feeling proud of their new vocabulary.

"Yeah, I get rejected by Sakura nearly every day and I'd never defect over something like that. He should have valued his village more," the original spoke decisively.

"Well maybe it isn't too late," the clone from the front put forth pensively.

"Yeah, maybe he could go and apologize to his Hokage and then—"

"Actually, Naruto, it would be his 'Kage.' The Hokage is Konoha's Kage, so wherever he hailed from, the leader there would have a different title before 'Kage.'" Minato corrected automatically.

"Oh," They all took in the knowledge eagerly.

The Fourth tried to seize the momentary pause, "As I was saying—"

. . . And was subsequently thwarted once more by one of the many replicas.

"Well if the Kage accepts his request to un-defect then he could go talk to her again," a clone advocated.

"What if she's married?" one clone asked.

There was muttering through the congregation. There was always a possibility that would happen.

"He should still tell her so he can get it off his chest. That way they both know where they stand." another replied.

There were nods all around. "Yeah! And maybe if it doesn't work out, at least he won't have any regrets and he can move on."

"That's true . . ." a tentative clone eventually conceded.

A sudden thought occurred to one of the clones and he gasped "Wait, will he be alive to do this by the end of the story?"

"Oh yeah! Dad, does he live?"

Suddenly, the Yondaime found himself under the imploring gaze of at least a twenty pairs of identical blue eyes.

A wry grin broke over his face. "You want me to actually finish the story then? You were doing a pretty good job yourself."

The orange congregation had the sense to look sheepish as they realized what they'd been doing.

"Gomen, gomen," they apologized in sync. Minato could only smile and shake his head at his son's antics.

"Where was I, ah yes, so you were fighting the poorly-skilled shinobi-bandit who defected from his village because a girl broke his heart, though it's his own fault for not expressing his feelings—"

"Da-ad!" His son(s?) said in annoyed and embarrassed tones.

The Yondaime couldn't resist the last shot, but he let it drop and returned to his figurative example. If he wasn't careful, he might lose his chance to talk if someone asked another question. He coughed and hastily jumped back into his story.

"He's starting an unknown jutsu. While he's making the handsigns, you want to take the chance and attack him while his guard is down. You decide that the best way would be to attack from behind. What do you do now?" Minato asked his son, before adding more. "Keep in mind that you personally can't leave the villagers alone to attack him, because if he pulls off the jutsu and the clones you leave behind are destroyed, there won't be anyone to defend the civilians."

Naruto snorted. "That's easy, I'll just send one of my clones sneak up from behind."

"How will they know what to do?"

Minato felt a tick of anger at Naruto as his son shot him a look that clearly betrayed that Naruto thought Minato was being stupid. "I'll tell him."

"Ah, but if you say it out loud, the enemy will know what you're planning," Minato pointed out, smiling inwardly as his son realized what he meant.

"Then I'll whisper it to a clone," Naruto countered, a mild frown overtaking his face.

"You don't want to draw any attention to yourself if you can help it."

"Ah, well I'll be super sneaky then."

"There's a better way though," The Yondaime said with a secretive smile. Watching his son puzzle over this was actually pretty entertaining.

"Hmmm, well, then I'll make another clone and they'll know what I want to do 'cause I made them when I had the plan in mind."

Minato was delighted by how far his son was thinking things through. Still, he was missing something vital. "Now you've drawn attention to the clone you just created. Besides, you're in the heat of battle and you don't have any time to spare to do a jutsu; you have to act instantly."

Naruto was silent for a minute before he groaned and rubbed his head furiously. "Maa, you're making this too complicated!"

"No I'm not." The stern tone quickly caught Naruto's attention. "There is a very real possibility you will face situations like this in your career as a shinobi. One day or another you'll have to make tough decisions and formulate quick plans to escape tough situations like this one. In moments like these it could mean life or death to yourself and those around you so it is crucial to be prepared for every possible circumstance." Minato paused and took in the leaves that were gently blowing through the wind. Hopefully Naruto wouldn't be in those types of situations for a while. Minato grimaced. Knowing the path of a shinobi firsthand, he doubted it. Either way, he just had to have faith that his son would know what to do if and when a situation like this occurred. It was Minato's job to help him prepare for that eventuality.

The older man let exhaled heavily. "This is a talk for another day though. For now, let's focus back on our shinobi-bandit, ne?" He finished with a light smile to ease the mood from its serious setting.

Naruto nodded, he was very agreeable moving back into the word problem. "Well, then, what's the answer?" Naruto asked curiously.

"That isn't the question to be asking," the Yondaime said. "How could you let your clone know what to do without talking or drawing any attention to yourself?"

"Gah! I don't know. It isn't like I can talk to them in my mind," Naruto huffed.

Maybe Minato could give him one last hint. "Naruto the color orange is hideous."

A chorus of indignation rose at his words. Minato replied with the mental equivalence of sticking out his tongue. More outrage poured out, however the original hadn't responded with the rest the second time, instead, he was thinking quite hard.

"They all heard what you said," Naruto began slowly, and Minato smiled, though he remained silent. "You can talk to all of them, so that means you can tell all of them what I'm thinking!"

Minato beamed with pride. "Exactly! I can relay what you want to say to them and no one else will know what's going on."

The clones were tittering excitedly. The implications of what Minato had just revealed were sinking in and a similar level of excitement finally swelled up to challenge his father's.

"You see why this is so helpful? You can now have instantaneous contact with your clones."

"So they don't have to destroy themselves to pass on information! I can keep all my clones and never have to destroy them.

Minato blinked as his son took it a step even further. "That's a great point." He mentally ruffled his son's hair. Naruto blushed lightly at the sensation but couldn't help but lean towards the feeling.

He jolted away suddenly, grimacing.

"What is it?" Minato asked with concern.

"Sasuke. I think . . . he's really mad right now." The rage made his stomach hurt. The feeling was very strong, making it hard to resist.

"Do you remember what you all discovered? About when here are two emotions?"

"The stronger one wins . . ." Naruto nodded to himself before he tried focusing on something strong— like the joy of his own accomplishment. He was doing so well! He was learning so much. He got an awesome jutsu and he was getting fast and powerful and he would show everyone that he was capable of so much more than they thought. He was someone— not a nobody.

By the time his trail of thoughts finished, he was pleased to note the anger had vanished. He grinned at his success.

"Alright! I kick ass at this emotion thing!"

"I don't know if it's a competition . . . but yes, yes you do."

Kakashi jumped over the trees to his meeting point will Sakura. When he saw the irritation on her face, he jumped down from the tree a little ways away and pulled out his book. With complete slothfulness, he slowly meandered towards her.

"You're late!" She exclaimed at him when he entered her sight. Frustration lit her entire expression.

"Am I?" He asked, looking upwards.

"Yes! You told me to be here at one, it's almost five right now!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi smiled. He realized she was especially upset because today was Sunday, and as she had so brashly informed him, she had engagements to keep. He hadn't planned that, but what a nice coincidence.

"Well, I'm here now, so why don't we stop wasting time, and get to work?" he asked, shutting his book.

"Wasting time—" Her teeth grit together and the fist she had formed at her side was trembling with rage.

Excellent.

"Let's spar," he said lightly.

"Oh sensei, you're going to regret that choice!" she exclaimed before coming at him furiously.

They sparred heavily for fifteen minutes, Sakura growing more and more frustrated as time went on.

Kakashi frowned. He wanted her angry because it usually made her more aggressive and less likely to second guess herself. Normally, for a ninja, assessing and reassessing one's actions was a prized quality. However, with Sakura, whose insecurity ran rampant, it was only in her anger that she found any initiative. This though, was too far.

He held a hand up and stepped back.

She was breathing heavily, still glaring at him as she relaxed her guard.

"Calm down, your rage is clouding your mind." He pulled his book out. "We can't make progress like this. When you're too angry, you lose focus. When you feel very calm, you're too tentative. It's a very delicate balance. It'll take time to find it."

"I'm not getting stronger at all!" She exclaimed, staring at the ground with frustration. Upset lurked around the corner but she resisted.

"That's all relative," Kakashi said idly from behind his book.

She sighed heavily. Sakura already knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, compared to Ino I'm pretty strong, but compared to Naruto and Sasuke-kun I'm really weak!" Inferiority built in her chest. "How am I supposed to catch up to them?"

"Sakura, you aren't as physically strong as Sasuke or Naruto," Kakashi said, ignoring her downhearted expression. "It isn't all to do with you in particular, but from an objective standpoint, women are generally physically weaker, they can't build as much muscle. However, they are no less dangerous despite that," he informed her. "Cunning, is something in particular I have noticed many kunoichi have over men."

"I don't think I'm very cunning sensei," Sakura said unenthusiastically.

He ignored her. "Your strength in particular, lies in other places. In order to compensate for the fact you are physically weaker, you need to take advantage of every resource. Do you remember your preliminary match against Choji?"

She nodded. The victory was something she still reveled in.

"You didn't win that match by strength, you did so by innovation. That's what examiners are looking for in a chunin," Kakashi said "Don't forget that this is why you're in the exam. You don't need to beat every person to pass, you just need to show your strength. Use what you have, and stop forcing yourself to fit what you assume to be a mold of strength. There are more kinds of strength than physical."

Sakura's face had blossomed at his words. Light filled her eyes along with a determination that made him smile. She stood up, mentally refreshed. Sakura fell back into a fighting pose. Kakashi subtly smiled before standing as well and putting his book away.

"Alright then, once more."

She leapt at him.

"Sensei, how is Sasuke-kun?" She asked. "Is he doing well? I mean of course he's doing well, I just mean—"

"Sasuke is working hard just like you to become stronger." He assured her before he tilted his head lightly. "Don't you already knew how he is?"

"Well, I mean, I get a lot of frustration, which makes sense with all the intense training he's doing. Sometimes I get confidence but that doesn't really explain how he is."

Kakashi nodded. That sounded about right from what he observed. "Sasuke is doing fine. He struggles just much as you do when learning something new. On the whole, he's the same as ever." Reticent, with a thread of arrogance running through.

"Um Sensei," Sakura began hesitantly, "Do you know if Naruto's gotten a jonin to teach him?"

Kakashi stared at her curiously. Jiraiya was teaching him, but he wondered what Sakura was getting at, so he replied, "I don't think so, why do you ask."

"Well, I just get tons of happiness and uhm victory from him. It's a little weird, huh?"

"Sakura, Naruto has taken a very wise approach to this training," Kakashi said.

"Naruto? Wise?" she asked incredulously. Naruto rarely had wise insights. Lucky ones at times, but never wise.

"He has his moments," Kakashi said, echoing her thoughts. "I think it you could profit from his new training philosophy too."

"What is it?"

"Naruto is doing basic conditioning, tackling each part of his training one by one. First by working on flexibility and speed, then memorizing Kata, and then water walking." He paused, "By breaking it up into baby steps, each time he achieves his goal, he feels success, which helps him keep motivated. I imagine that's what you're getting from the bond."

"Baby steps are the only way Naruto knows how to move," a slightly vindictive part of herself said. Another part considered her sensei's words. It appeared as though Naruto had struck gold on another lucky realization. Then again, she took it back, he probably hadn't realized yet what he'd done.

"Talk to Ebisu-sensei about it and see what he has to say," Kakashi suggested, "It can really improve your mentality, along with improving your core, which is never a bad thing"

"Is that how you train sensei?" Sakura asked.

"No, I don't have the patience." He smiled. "To be honest it surprises me that Naruto does."

"Me too," Sakura replied, sighing in relief that she wasn't alone in her assumptions.

"Well, I hope you'll keep at this, you're developing well so far."

She smiled brightly.

"You probably should head back, if I recall someone has family dinners to attend on Sundays." She blushed furious at the reminder of her rash words.

"I'll see you on Tuesday Sakura," he said giving her a wave before disappearing.

She stared a while at where his body was before she looked upward at the fading light.

"Just wait Sasuke-kun! I'll show you how strong I've gotten. I deserve to be up there with you!"

She then realized the sun had gone down and ran home quickly, knowing she was in trouble.

Naruto was heading home when he saw a pink head quickly moving down the street a little ahead.

"Ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried in delight as he ran towards her.

"Oh, it's you Naruto." She sighed. It looked like she was going to be late to dinner. She didn't stop walking though, making Naruto run a little to catch up to where she was.

"Hi! How is your training going?" he asked, genuinely curious.

She hesitated a moment. She really wanted to vent to someone, but this was Naruto. And besides that, they were technically competitors.

She also didn't want to talk to him because from what she felt from his emotions his training was going great. Unlike her own.

"It's so-so," she said.

"I bet it's great!" Naruto pushed, "I'm getting a lot of irritation; especially today!" he began, trying to urge her along. "Sometimes you're all sad, which I'm kinda curious about but being frustrated only means you're learning something really hard and cool which—" He stopped as he felt a wave of anger rise.

"You're such an inconsiderate jerk!"

Minato winced as the pink-haired girl smacked his son. Without another word, she spun on her heel and angrily walked away.

The Uzumaki personality tended to rub people the wrong way initially. He remembered very distinctly Kushina's difficulty making friends when she first came to the village. There was something abrasive and standoffish about the personality. At least that is what people had told him. In all honesty, Minato didn't see it. Instead, what he saw was an astonishing uniqueness and brazen belief that burned brightly. Kushina was such a fiery and spirited woman, and Minato was pleased beyond words that Naruto had inherited that aspect from her. Though Kushina hadn't been born in Konohagakure to begin with, the Will of Fire burned more brightly in her than in anyone else Minato had ever met. Seeing that in his son made him incredibly proud to be his father.

It would only be a matter of time for the initial abrasiveness of Naruto's personality to wear down the outer shells of those around them, and as they opened up more, they would finally begin to see his son for who he really was. Minato greatly looked forward to that day. For the time being, he sent his son the equivalent of a pat on the head.

"Don't worry about it too much."

"It really sucks sometimes," Naruto admitted, scuffing his shoe.

"It gets better," the Yondaime assured.

His son nodded reflexively, but Minato knew he didn't really believe him.

"Your mother hated me it he beginning," Minato revealed.

"Eh?!" Naruto cried in surprise, making several heads in the market turn his direction. He gave them sheepish apologies even as a few people glared. Deciding to move away entirely, he jumped on the rooftops and ran towards the monument.

The sun was setting and he wanted to see it from the best view in the village.

"I don't believe you," Naruto said eventually when he settled himself down on the crown of the Sandaime's head. He decided to think his responses instead of saying them just in case someone else came up to the monument to watch the sunset.

Minato chuckled. "It's true. She thought I was useless and unreliable."

"But you're the Yondaime!"

"I wasn't always, Naruto." He sighed, "When I was younger I was pretty quiet— I was when I was an adult too, now that I think about it. Anyways, I never really spoke up about things and your mother, oh she was very upfront about her feelings."

Naruto absorbed the details eagerly but said nothing, worried his father would stop. He had yet to ask about her, waiting for his father to bring up the subject. Sometimes, when he didn't know Naruto was watching, his father got sad and distant feelings. Naruto just knew he was thing about his wife— Naruto's mom.

"She used to think I was really weak for a lot of those reasons and kept that thought all through our academy days. It wasn't until we were ten or twelve that she changed her mind," he said. "I always liked her though, from the first day I saw her and her red hair."

"Red hair . . ." Naruto carefully packed the fact away, never wanting to forget it.

"The point I'm trying to make, is that people change their minds. You'll probably be turned down a lot when it comes to love, but in the end, I know things work out. If not today than in the future. It may not even be Sakura—"

"Eh?! But she's the prettiest smartest most best kunoichi in the whole village!" Naruto exclaimed aloud.

"And if it isn't her, then that'll be okay because you'll love that person more than you love Sakura now."

"I don't know if I believe you." Naruto spoke petulantly, regaining his mental focus.

"That's fine." He smiled. "I'm sure you'll end up with someone who loves you anyways."

"Sakura-chan."

"Maybe."

"Ne . . . Dad. Can you tell me about mom?"

Minato froze mentally. He'd known this was coming, but he still felt unprepared. Their last moment together, bleeding on one another as they attempted to save their son— he'd never be able to get the image of her tearstained face. She wanted to see Naruto grow up so badly, to be his mother. In the end Kushina had only been his mother for a few hours. In that time though, she'd been the best mother in the world . . .

Now was not the time to being up such stories. Not when Naruto had an important fight ahead of him.

"After you become a chunin, I'll tell you everything you want to know about her." Minato said eventually.

"But what if I don't make chunin this time?" Naruto asked, concerned for the first time about the third round.

"You will." Minato smiled. "Don't start doubting yourself now Naruto. That just isn't your style."

A slow smile spread over the blond genin's face, growing into a huge, bright grin.

"It isn't is it?"

"No, not at all." He ruffled his son's hair.

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Alright, this is the end of the Prelims Prep, I think. Also, the end of what I already have written out. Next update might be in a while.

Thanks for reading though, I hope you like the direction I took it.

Also, keep voting on the poll. The answer is pretty goddamn clear, but here's one last chance to change things.

I should note that romance would never be the leading part in a story. It would be a progression.