Hey guys and gals (or should I say shinobi and kunoichi?)! I'm sorry for not posting for awhile, I've been caught up in school. Also, I got into drawing again and it's been eating up at my time along with school. To make it up to you, I'll recommend an AMV and I'll post a chapter this time. Madara Uchiha "Indestructible" AMV is honestly amazing.

Hope ye like this new chapter! REVIEWS KEEP ME ALIVE!

Naruto never did go visit his brother or his friend in the hospital room, instead he resolved to train. He believed that a weakling would never be accepted by his village, much less become it's Kage.

Naruto did have a dream, and it was what kept him going every day. He had learned of the Fourth Hokage, the First and Second in the Academy and ever since he decided he would surpass all of them. He found that nothing came easily to him, and that Genjutsu in specific was difficult, given his Kage level chakra reserves.

He was glad that at least something was advanced or noteworthy. He felt useless at times, a waste. He never wanted his father, the Legendary Copy Nin to be associated with a loser, so he trained. Hard.

He trained in Chakra nature manipulation the same day he learned it existed. In the Academy they had explained it as simple, but even using a training method he and his father developed, using shadow clones, it took Naruto a month to master his three strongest natures.

Naruto was entirely oblivious that the sole fact that he had three natures naturally meant that he could be easily regarded as a prodigy, but Kakashi decided to keep it that way. Naruto was naturally inclined towards Wind, Fire, and Lightning jutsu, while training in basic use of earth and water as mainly defensive abilities.

Though not proficient with the last two natures, Naruto had enough skill to perform water bullet jutsu and a small water wave jutsu as well as earth walls and slight terraforming jutsu. Nothing too advanced, but it still shot Naruto up into easily Chunin if not even Mid-Jounin level chakra manipulation. His jutsu execution still needed much practice and his combination moves were still in their infancy.

Nonetheless, Naruto loved training as it usually kept negative emotions away, letting his own will power and determination wash over him.

It helped that he met a great group of training and sparring partners.

A weapons expert, two taijutsu specialists and a Hyuga. A truly interesting Genin squad.

It was a day in the summer, when the sun was at it's peak and the heat was closely following that Naruto had been training in Taijutsu when an odd pair came up followed by two others that seemed to be dragging themselves there by sheer willpower.

He waved and smiled out of courtesy and quickly resumed training. It was a surprise when a kick was thrown at him, leaving him no option but to block it. He was dazed by the enormous force put behind the blisteringly fast kick only to find the younger of the two odd ones. He wore a nearly skin tight, yet breathable and clearly fashionable, green jumpsuit. Naruto assumed that the one behind him cheering was his sensei, given the same jumpsuit.

"Hey! What was that for?" Naruto exclaimed at the boy whose leg was still firmly pressed against Naruto's forearms.

"I am Rock Lee, the Second Blue Beast of Konoha! My Sensei Maito Gai told me that he found you a worthy sparring prospect! I have surpassed most of my classmates in Taijutsu, save maybe Neji there." He immediately let his leg fall to the ground as he sat down in a lotus position and looked up at Naruto, inquiringly. "Are you willing to train with me?"

Naruto realized what was going on then. Kakashi had told Naruto that one of his closest friends was an expert Taijutsu specialist, having made Jounin with it alone. He was by far one of the greatest fighters that the village had to offer.

And Naruto was being offered his tutelage!

"Yeah, sure!" Naruto eyed Lee's orange leg warmers for a moment and then continued, "but only if you remove your weights."

Lee was taken aback, and Gai merely smiled, having expected as much from this child in particular, given his parentage. Both biological and adoptive.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, by the way."

"Ok, Naruto-kun. I will oblige by your condition. However, I must warn you… you won't win." He said with a confident smile. "That isn't to say you're weak though. I can tell you have tinder, slowly igniting. Your potential flames of youth are astonishing!"

Naruto smiled, yet his eyes twitched nervously at the sudden outburst, which quickly followed by a few tears of joy and some shouting between student and master.

"Alright! Naruto-kun, it's time we begin, don't you think?"

With that, Lee got into a stance and sprinted at Naruto, faster than anyone could perceive, all Naruto could hope to do was anticipate his movements. Lee's strong and fast strides broke the ground underneath his feet, reducing it to chunks of rock and dirt as he flew at Naruto entering combinations and throwing Severe Leaf Hurricanes whenever the situation allowed.

Naruto was no novice at on the dot strategy and with his knowledge he deduced that Lee's Taijutsu was a perfect version of the Goken, a very specialized and powerful style.

He smiled at this realization.

"Lee!"

Lee stepped back, still in his stance and smiled brightly, responding, "Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"You're not the only one who has experience using Goken! I never did tell you what my dream was, did I?" Naruto exclaimed, an excited glimmer in his eyes.

Lee was taken aback, he was half expecting another Taijutsu user. Naruto's skill and speed in defense was above average, but he lacked the perception to keep up in the offensive. Even so, he found Naruto a worthy sparring partner.

This comment also spiked even more curiosity in Gai, seeing that his rival's son was truly remarkable, his overall skill as to be expected.

"I'm gonna be the ultimate shinobi! The best Hokage yet, I'm gonna surpass 'em all!" Naruto yelled, his voice guttural and savage, filled with an incorruptible determination and hunger for greatness.

The pride that shone on the Nin who was hiding in the treetops, quietly watching from above was quite clear. Kakashi never lost confidence in his son. Not once.

Naruto entered an altered Goken form, one that both Gai and Lee recognized as Sairento kyōdo ken(Silent Strength Fist) , a technique mastered only by high ranking Jounin or Anbu Black Ops Captains. Lee's smile grew into a smirk.

"I must acknowledge you, Naruto-kun. You are yet to even be Genin, yet, I feel as though I may actually have to watch out! You're truly inspiration, a fuel to my flames and passion!" He cried as he leapt into the air to perform an axe kick. It narrowly missed Naruto whom moved out of the way, jumping sideways off of a nearby tree and rocketing back with a flip kick aimed at Lee's center mass.

Before Lee could dodge or block his blindspot, the hit connected and it sent Lee into a couple of trees, completely uprooting one of them.

Naruto did it without making a sound.

'I remember Kakashi telling me that he was training Naruto to defend himself, but this looks like he's grooming his son to be the Hokage he dreams to be! It probably reminds him of Obito,' thought Gai, thoroughly impressed by the seamless transfer of energy, and the maintenance of momentum through the entire motion. It looked almost as if it was one large fluid motion.

Rock Lee picked himself up wiping a little blood from his lips. "Naruto-kun, you never cease to amaze."

And the sparring continued for an hour, until Lee ended it with a deciding haymaker to Naruto's gut in combination with a knee to his ribs. They were rewarded along with TenTen and Neji, Lee teammates, with ramen and dango. Naruto got along very well with TenTen, however, Neji seemed cold and distant. He treated Naruto with utter disdain. He ignored this and enjoyed his meal with some new partners in training. He would need to get to know them better before fully committing to being their friends, as he didn't wish to disappoint them. It was just something he was forced into believing by the villagers whenever he walked about on his own.

He was just a disappointment. Vermin.

Naruto, ever since that day trained every Friday and Monday in the afternoon after classes with Maito Gai and his student.

He was offered a green jumpsuit, as reward for finally defeating Lee in a spar, but turned it down. He was sweat-dropping the entire time.

So it was to their usual training spot where Naruto went, needing to release some tension and pent up emotions. He was truly fragile at times, though his happy and hard-to-break attitude made others believe otherwise.

He saw Gai and Lee there, already sparring. He walked up and sat down to watch.

Once they finished, he called them over and began to talk with them.

"Gai-sensei, could I request something of you?" Naruto asked.

"Why, I don't see why not, my youthful one!" Gai heartily exclaimed in response.

"I'd like to fight you. I have just got out of the hospital and I want to see if my skills have dulled. Please? I really just want to test myself against you."

Gai stood and pondered, massaging his sore chin.

'Damn, Lee, you got me good… Now, what about Naruto? Hmm...' Gai thought.

"Yes! I shall spar with you! I too want to measure the intensity of your flames!"

Gai leapt backwards and entered his stance. Naruto followed suit and waited for Lee to give the signal.

"Yosh! May your youth excite this battlefield! Fight!"

Gai shot forward, creating huge gusts of wind and tearing the very earth below him from it's foundational rock.

Naruto stood, unmoving.

Gai brought his fist back and just as he was about to make contact, he noticed something.

Naruto's eyes were morphing, he seemed paralyzed, but miliseconds before contact, the transformation was complete. All that Gai saw before being punched through several trees and eventually hitting a boulder, was a blaze of ethereal purple and a raging orange.

Gai was astounded and dumbstruck. He knew immediately that the only thing that could have read and predicted his move so perfectly was a fully evolved Sharingan, or some other doujutsu.

But Gai also knew that Naruto had no such bloodlines. He had limited relation to the Senju, through his mother, and of course Namikaze and Uzumaki blood.

He sped back to Naruto, deciding that he would have to see for himself. He found that he would have to analyze Naruto's eyes.

Before he could reach the clearing they started the fight in, he was met with a shin to his stomach and a leg to his back once he doubled over in pain and surprise.

"Silent Strength Fist: Strength Technique! Power Kick Volley!" Naruto shouted as Gai was launched into the river below.

He got up and smirked at Naruto who was already coming down, ready for a Vertical Drop kick yet Gai blocked it with one hand before deciding to call the fight. He had to inspect Naruto's eyes as the curiosity began to eat away at him. As he looked into Naruto's eyes, he saw no difference from the usual blue.

"Naruto, why were you in the hospital?" He asked with his usual joyful and inspired voice.

"Something happened to me and Sasuke in the woods when we did a blood brothers ritual, since then, my eyes have changed. I have abilities now." Naruto explained matter of factly.

'I don't think that he realizes that if he has a doujutsu even similar to what I thought I saw, then not even Itachi, Hell, even Madara Uchiha himself, stands in front of him in terms of visual prowess. If Naruto has the Rinnegan, then…'

To be honest with himself, Gai didn't even know what that would mean for him and the village.

So he punched Naruto in the face.

Gai deduced that as of now, Naruto's visual prowess was a defensive ability, naturally activated in response to danger. Kakashi would have to train Naruto to activate by will.

As expected, the transformation began, and as time slowed for Gai, his perceptive speed matching his physical speed, he saw the final transformation.

A Rinnegan, as depicted in many ancient books about shinobi history, but different. It had orange tomoes, and a fiery orange Chakra. A glowing purple filled in the rest of the eye.

Naruto dodged the punch and stood in his Primary Defense stance.

"What the hell was that for, Gai-sensei?" He cried out.

"I just wanted to test something. Come on, we have to time to lose! We're in the springtime of our youth and in this beautiful season we must reach the Hokage's tower!"

Gai then scooped up Naruto, waved to a now crying and cheering Lee and took off to tell the Hokage of his discovery.