BETA: Cmedina1

There had been many times over the years when he had been rudely awakened due to some important thing or another, but this had to be the most ridiculous reason he had ever heard of. It seemed that Naruto had taken his teachings to heart and decided to continue practicing what he learned yesterday, meaning a mass amount of Kage Bunshins. That wasn't problem; no, not at all.

The problem was that he had used his newfound technique to pull pranks left, right, center, and sideways throughout the whole village. To say there was hysteria and chaos everywhere Kazuki looked would be an understatement. One thing he would never admit to, was that he was secretly proud of the kid. Well, he would admit it just to Naruto.

It brought back happy memories seeing the Hokage Monument so colorful, but he was not looking forward to the summons he had received from the Hokage to take responsibility: talk to the blond and teach him that no, pranks weren't the way to go. In his opinion, that would just hurt Naruto's growth since it meant telling him he couldn't get creative and think outside of the box; it was what had save him so many times.

After the talk with Sarutobi (the old man had been more amused, if a little exasperated, than anything at Naruto's pranks), Kazuki went straight to the Academy, not wanting to put the 'talk' off much longer. To his immense surprise, the sight that greeted him when he opened the classroom door made him almost go blind.

The entire room had been painted orange; even the board was now a bright neon color not to mention the only difference between Iruka, the others and the room was their eyes. Not a single one of them had escaped the orange bomb that had gone off.

It took everything the redhead had to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing.

"Kazuki-sensei!"

The redhead peeled his eyes away from the incredible sight to look at the child that now could camouflage very well with the room.

"Sorry for interrupting," He said once he realized the kids and Iruka-sensei stopped talking and were looking at him, "My name is Harada Kazuki. I'm here for Naruto."

"Yatta!" In the span of a second, the blond menace broke himself out of the bindings preventing him from moving. "Did you see the Hokage Monument, Kazuki-sensei? It's the best prank I've ever pulled!" The kid exclaimed as he came to stand in front of the older man.

Kazuki gave him a wry smile, "We'll talk about it later, Naruto." There was no way he could sheer on the kid with Iruka closely eyeing him. And wasn't that something? Iruka alive and teaching. The child inside Kazuki wanted to hug the man but knew he couldn't.

Iruka walked over to them, "I'm guessing you're the Kazuki-sensei my student has been talking about so much."

Before Kazuki had a chance to reply, Naruto spoke up, turning to the chunin, "Hai, Iruka-sensei! This is Kazuki-sensei, he taught me a really cool jutsu yesterday!"

"Is that so?" Was the suspicious reply.

"Yatta! It's how I was here in class at the same time I was outside!"

Okay, that was enough. Kazuki put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and the other one over his mouth.

"Sorry about the disturbance my apprentice has caused." He said apologetically — though not really; it was a really good prank.

"Naruto-baka! How did you get someone to take you on as their apprentice?!"

Kami-sama. Kazuki froze for an instant, before turning to look at who had spoken. Yes, he knew the others were in the room and had kept himself from even acknowledging them, putting his walls as high up and tightly locked as he could. Now, though, seeing Sakura so small and vulnerable—

— He didn't know exactly what he was feeling, just that a current of emotions raged inside of him keeping him frozen.

And it wasn't just because of his former teammate. It was because Shikamaru, Hinata, Choji, Kiba and Akamaru, Ino, Shino, and Sasuke were there looking at him with different degrees of surprise, confusion, suspicion, and calculation.

Kazuki wanted to throw up, but held himself high as he scanned all of those familiar faces.

As he wasn't putting much effort into keeping Naruto within his grasp, the kid shot forward, exclaiming, "I'm going to be the next Hokage —ttebayo! Of course they'd give me a sensei!"

"Then I want an apprenticeship too" Bellowed Kiba, a young orange Akamaru on his head, standing from his seat, "since I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

"Naruto," Kazuki called out softly once he was able to find his voice, cutting off whatever the kid was going to say. "We should get going."

"Wait, Kazuki-sensei. Iruka-sensei was going to test our Henge no Jutsus!"

Kazuki raised an eyebrow, making a mental note to teach the blond not to show off… too much.

Sasuke had been one of the ones who hadn't believe Naruto when he said he had gotten a sensei willing to teach him to be a ninja. Why would he when the blond had the worst grades in the Academy? If anyone deserved to have an apprenticeship, it was Sasuke.

The last Uchiha in Konoha spent most of his time training, honing his skills to get closer to his goal of bringing that man to justice for his crimes, making him Rookie of the Year. No one in the class could compare to him when it came to sparring or throwing shuriken and kunai; he was the best. It still didn't explain why the dead last was getting special training outside of class and Sasuke wasn't.

In his eyes, Naruto was the type of ninja who would get killed in his first serious mission. The blond didn't put enough effort into studying, didn't take his training seriously, and couldn't be bothered to stay still in class; he wasn't going to get very far, if he even graduated from the Academy.

How, exactly, had he landed a sensei before getting his hitai-ate? The question still boggled his mind, especially after the latest prank he pulled.

Never had Sasuke expected bombs filled with orange paint, taking him by surprise when they went off, not allowing him a second to look for cover or a way to get out of their range; in a way, it made him realize he wouldn't have been able to deflect an enemy's attack. However, as he made a mental note to train his speed, someone he had never seen before entered the classroom.

The ninja — he couldn't be anything else since he made no sound opening the door or walking — seemed young, no more than twenty or so. Sasuke couldn't be sure of what rank he was since he wasn't wearing a flak jacket, but the redhead had don on the black uniform that was standard for shinobi, though he wasn't wearing a hitai-ate either.

All in all, the guy didn't look particularly imposing in Sasuke's opinion.

Naruto, like usual, became loud when he saw the shinobi, presenting him to their sensei. Compared to the blond, however, at least Harada Kazuki had better manners.

Sasuke ignored his classmates in favor of studying the redhead. There was something about him that the young Uchiha couldn't put his finger on; it might have been the fact that, like Naruto, the ninja had blue eyes. However, he ignored that — many people had the same eye color, after all.

"Wait, Kazuki-sensei. Iruka-sensei was going to test our Henge no Jutsus!"

The blond's demand brought Sasuke out of his musings.

The dark-haired boy almost scoffed out loud; as if Naruto could make a proper Bunshin.

To his surprise, Kazuki just sighed in resignation before he motioned for Naruto with his hand.

"I can still take him with me after the test?"

"Of course, Harada-san. We will be done for the day after they show their progress with the jutsu."

Iruka called on them in alphabetical order starting with Aburame Shino.

The minutes passed and, with them, every single one of his classmates.

When his name was called, Sasuke, as was expected of him, performed the jutsu flawlessly. However, it was when Naruto was called on that the class went silent — even the lazy kid with the pineapple hair was wide awake and paying attention.

"Here I go! Henge!"

A puff of smoke cleared, leaving in the place where the dead last had been a perfect copy of the redheaded ninja.

Everyone was silent. No one could believe Naruto had pulled that off; he had never before been able to make a henge — all of his tries before weren't worth mentioning.

Just who was this man that, in a day, had the dead last doing jutsu as if the blond had been performing them all his life. Sasuke looked at the redhead in a new light.

"How was that, Iruka-sensei!" Exclaimed the blond, stopping the jutsu.

The chunin was speechless, his mouth hanging low on his face. Like the rest, he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

"Na-Naruto," Iruka swallowed, trying to get his vocal cords to work properly it seemed, "how did you do that?" Sasuke wanted to know that himself. Even if Naruto was a genius (which he was not) there was no way he had been able to perfect the Henge no Jutsu in a day.

The blond rubbed the back of his head, a big smile on his face as if he was proud. The Uchiha mentally snorted; as if Naruto should feel proud of being able to do a jutsu everyone else had mastered months ago.

"Kazuki-sensei taught me chakra control yesterday and had me practice a lot." Was the answer the kid gave.

Chakra control? That wasn't something they had been taught in the Academy.

"You're still building more chakra than what you use." Came the dry remark from the man behind him.

Naruto pouted as he turned to look at the redhead. Harada-san had his arms crossed over his chest and had a blank face through the ordeal, as if nothing impressed him. In the Uchiha's opinion, if Harada-san could be impressed by Academy kids doing Henges then he wouldn't have raised Sasuke's curiosity like he had.

Iruka-sensei looked at the ninja with respect and awe shining through his eyes. "If I may ask, how did you manage that, Harada-san?"

Blue eyes focused on the chunin, inscrutable, "Naruto has more chakra than the average genin," The man shrugged a shoulder, as if that was common knowledge, "combine that with the zero control he had, he would have never been able to master the henge or any other jutsu."

Everyone looked at Naruto, who was rubbing the back of his head, with new eyes, even Sasuke, who soon found his eyes glued back to the redhead. If he had been able to train Naruto to that extent in just a day, then he wondered just how much he could teach Sasuke.

"He does?"

The redhead nodded, uncrossing his arms, "Now, if you'll excuse us, Naruto needs to continue his training."

With that, both of them left, Naruto trailing behind the ninja.

The lesson resumed as normal, but everyone was whispering about the ninja none of them had ever seen before, wondering about how or why he had taken Naruto on as a student. Sasuke, however, just wondered how exactly he was going to get the ninja to train him.

Naruto swam out of the Naka River, where Kazuki had taken him to train for the day, and made another batch of twenty shadow clones.

Kazuki had them fight against his own clone to practice both their taijutsu and water walking. Each time a clone dispersed or fell into the water, he would have the kid do push-ups, laps, crunches, and sit ups then try again to walk on water and spar while the clones that hadn't fallen or disappeared continued to fight the redhead's clone. So far, the longest the kid had been able to do it for had been fifteen minutes and that was definitely an improvement from when he started. Then again, Kazuki was also taking it easy on the kid; after all, this was training not a fight to the death.

The kid could now, however, make the shadow clones without smoke or sound, though he still needed to work on making them without using hand seals. His chakra control, slowly, was getting better.

Turning his head, he looked at the other batch of clones which he had reading scrolls on sealing and practicing calligraphy. The redhead had to admit the kid had gotten pretty good after a day of training; he would soon need to start him on making seals, but that would have to wait for another time.

Another batch of Kage Bunshin were learning new katas his own shadow clone was teaching them, correcting their stances in the process. Meanwhile, a few meters away, another clone taught the blonds how to accurately throw kunai, shuriken, and senbon at fixed targets before practicing on moving targets.

Every ten minutes the Naruto clones would dispel one by one in an interval of five minutes each in order to prevent the kid from suffering the extreme mental strain it would've caused him to dispel them all at the same time; Kazuki had learned that first hand when he had done that exact same thing.

"Naruto." He called his visibly exhausted student, standing from where he had been sitting under the shade of a tree. The blond had been at it for close to six hours now. "That's enough for today."

Panting, the kid tried to protest, "I s-still can go-o, Kazu-sensei"

Kazuki sighed, "One thing you need to understand, Naruto, is that everyone has limits; things they can do and things that they can't. How strong we are shows when we are able to accept that we alone can't do everything and rely on others. It is the reason shinobi are placed in groups of three, to support each other where the other is lacking. Just because you've reached your limit for today doesn't mean you'd failed in any way." No one said anything about not preparing the kid for the genin exam, in Kazuki's defense. And maybe, it would give the one who had been spying on them for a few hours now something to think about.

"Ha-hai, sensei."

He repressed another sigh, looking heavenwards. Naruto was so tired, he probably hadn't gotten a thing Kazuki had said.

"Come on kid, let's get you something to eat."

However, Naruto couldn't make it two steps without collapsing. In less than a second, Kazuki ran forward, preventing the blond from connecting with the ground. He made sure Naruto was secure on his back before carrying him home.

After making sure the kid was in bed (dry clothes on— he had woken Naruto long enough for him to change) and left food, Kazuki left, locking the door behind him — securing the apartment with seals and placing his version of the Hiraishin in the process just in case.

The redhead wasn't surprised when the person he saw waiting outside for him was none other than Uchiha Sasuke. The younger version of his friend had been following them — him — since Kazuki had taken Naruto to the Naka River.

Kazuki put on his best impassive face on, not letting an inkling of the turmoil of emotions currently warring inside of him be seen through his eyes as he observed the 'last' Uchiha.

The kid had taken a shower and changed his ruined clothes if the lack of orange was any indication. The redhead mentally pouted; he had liked how the color looked on the Uchiha.

A moment of silence passed. Kazuki could clearly see Sasuke examining him, though his face was blank; the kid had no experience in how to be subtle and not let his emotions show, especially for experienced ninja to read.

Pretty quickly the redhead grew tired of whatever it was that the child version of his Sasuke was trying to accomplish.

Should he just walk away or say something?

If he walked away, Sasuke would just continue to follow him; the kid's pride would be stung though since he—at this point— thought he deserved to be taken seriously just because he was the last of his clan, not to mention Kazuki would be seen as a snob… maybe.

If he said something, then he would (probably) be seen just as another one of the ninjas who kissed the Uchiha's ass.

Kazuki walked away.

Sure enough, the dark-haired kid followed him.

It was slightly unnerving for the ninja to have the younger counterpart of his best friend follow him around —just like he did when Sasuke came back.

Kazuki had a theory of why this Sasuke was following him, though, and it definitely didn't include protecting him.

No, this Sasuke wanted power. Revenge. He wanted to be strong enough to kill Itachi, avenge his traitorous family.

Was Kazuki going to help him with that? He wasn't sure.

One thing he knew for certain was that he couldn't let Sasuke join Orochimaru.

The Sannin posed a threat to every single person he loved and, no matter how good his intentions were, the snake had continued his experiments on shinobi during the war. 'To create a weapon strong enough to defeat Madara' he had claimed. Any forgiveness Kazuki had granted him had gone down the drain once the former blond had discovered the reason their side had been losing more and more allies. Not even Tsunade had made a move to stop him from killing her former teammate.

Kazuki looked over the village from the top of the Hokage mountain. It had always been one of his favorite places to go to think and relax; the height advantage allowing him to see everything and provided a secure place to rest even though he didn't sleep there.

"Why have you been following me?" He finally asked without turning around.

Sasuke didn't move from his spot a few paces behind him.

"You made Naruto, the dead last of the whole Academy, learn in a day what Iruka-sensei has been trying to teach him for years." Was the monotonous response, as if it was something obvious Kazuki should have known. And he did, but he wasn't about to tell the kid that.

"I watched how you trained him," continued the raven-head, as if Kazuki hadn't known he had been there the whole time, "I want you to train me."

This had been what the redhead feared.

What was he going to do?

The answer was glaringly obvious, but he wasn't about to give in without a fight. After all, Sasuke hadn't made things easy for him either.

"You do realize you'll be graduating tomorrow and will be getting a jonin sensei who will teach you?"

"I do, but I don't know his training methods. I don't know if he would push me to my limits like you push Naruto."

Turning to take in the kid who remained stone still, Kazuki raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"You taught Naruto things not even the Academy teaches, you realized why he kept failing at performing the basic jutsus and fixed it, even his taijutsu is better now because of you."

Those were valid points, Kazuki thought, "Naruto wants to be Hokage when he gets older, but I have another reason for training him. Tell me, Uchiha Sasuke, besides becoming stronger, what is your reason for training?"

The young Uchiha was silent, but finally responded after a moment.

"I want to become stronger than the man who killed my entire clan and bring him to justice."

Kazuki tilted his head to the side, eyebrow still raised, "So you want to kill him."

"Yes." Was the kid's immediate answer.

"Hm."

Kazuki let out a small sigh. This had been what he had feared, he had two options only now and he knew which one he was going to take; he would have to think of something else when the time came.

Straightening, he gave a small nod, "Meet me tomorrow at training ground seven. Pass the message to Naruto too when you see him."

He shunshin'd away, leaving the kid staring at the space where he had been.

Hey everyone!

Thanks kyuzi4869 for letting me know about the Henge/Bunshin test mixup. Like promised, I got it fixed :D

Thank you everyone for the awesome reviews! I really appreciate them and sorry if I haven't gotten around to replying to someone.

My new Naruto story is called "Of Red Eyes And Shadows", which revolves around an OC reborn into the Uchiha family with Itachi as her twin. I'd really appreciate it if you guys checked it out :)

Like always, thank you for your support! :D