I'm trying to avoid doing author's notes, but since I got an overwhelming question of why I chose water instead of wind for Naruto's natural affinity. I chose it because water can change into many forms; ice, vaper, water, just like how Naruto has many forms. Water finds a way through any object, it crashes, it erodes, it cuts. Naruto finds a way through any object, just like water. That's why I chose water as Naruto's element.

Expansion: Okay so I know people have been asking about Naruto's Rasenshuriken, and I know it's one of his best moves, but I'm already coming up with ideas of what to replace it with! On another note I know I said ice up above, but I was going for solid, gas, liquid, more explaining than saying Naruto will use Ice Ninjutsu.

I apologize for any misunderstandings, I should of expanded more on my explanation above.

Chapter 3: The First Week!

Kakashi raised his hand to catch a punch thrown by Sakura, "You're too easy to read, Sakura!" The jonin viciously kicked his student in the stomach without a second thought, "If I wanted to, I could have ended your life just now!" The two had taken an acre of land which was somewhat barren of grass, but rife with rocky outcroppings as their training ground.

Sakura gritted her teeth tightly as she pushed through the pain. It had been a week since her solo with Kakashi had begun, and it had been one brutal day after another. Ram, Tiger, Snake, Dog, Rat, Ox, Horse, Rabbit, Tiger, Boar, Snake, "Earth Style Barrier!" A wall of earth rose from the ground. Even before the wall finished growing she could hear either kunai or shuriken imbedding themselves in the wall.

Kakashi was fighting at a chunin level in terms of strength and skill with Sakura slowly growing in her own strength. She only had a few seconds before her sensei would continue his assault. An Idea flashed in her head, but she would need to buy time for it to work, "Don't begin daydreaming now, Sakura!" Kakashi told her from on top of the wall.

Throwing down a couple smoke bombs the genin jumped out of the plume, "Earth Style Barrier!" She pushed herself to pull up two more walls, surrounding her teacher. She then sent a multitude of explosive tags hurdling towards smoke. She used her jutsu one last time to enclose Kakashi within the fiery explosion.

She fell on her back trying to fill her lungs with air. Her eyes were closed so she failed to notice the Copy Ninja saunter over to her holding a kunai. Kneeling down he held the sharpened weapon to her throat, "That was a good plan, Sakura, but you need to make sure you keep track of your chakra levels." Sakura was kicking herself, "You don't have as much chakra as either of your teammates, so you can't fight like them!"

The genin slowly opened her eyes, "I had… no other way for the plan… to work…" She said through deep breaths, her voice was laced with disappointment.

Kakashi had to admit to himself that the reasoning was sound, "Instead of locking your opponent in a four-walled death trap, put up two walls then use Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu, this will give you enough time to throw the explosive tags and end the battle."

The jonin stood up and offered his student a hand, "I'm happy that despite the occasional lapses in thinking that you're improving!"

"Thank you, Sensei!" Sakura beamed at the compliment.

"Let's go back to camp and rest." Kakashi told his student, who immediately replied with a grunt as she got up off the ground.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Sasuke Uchiha was completely outclassed by his sensei, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The Uchiha launched a giant fireball towards his opponent before leaping to another branch to escape the relentless pursuit of Kakashi of the Sharingan, 'Not enough!'

The boy's Sharingan eyes spun around as he caught sight of a dozen shuriken flying his way. He quickly pulled out his kunai and blocked all the incoming projectiles. He finally caught sight of movement coming from below him, "Lightning Style: Lightning Bullet Jutsu!" The Uchiha took a deep breath then unleashed a hale of electric projectiles underneath him.

"You're so quick to act, Sasuke." Sasuke took a deep breath as he tried to find where Kakashi's voice was coming from. There had to be some genjutsu in play here, "If I had to hazard a guess of what you're thinking, 'Where is that handsome sensei of mine?'" What was it with Kakashi? Was he, "Trying to get under your skin?"

Sasuke silently cursed as his head curved around to see Kakashi standing behind him smiling, "How?"

The smile fell, "I was an Anbu captain for a few years!"

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Jumping back the Uchiha launched a flurry of fiery orbs shooting directly at his sensei. Sending the flames toward Kakashi Sasuke attempted to make an escape.

Glancing back, he saw that the copy ninja was gone. The last thing he felt before he was knocked out was his sensei's fist imbedded into his stomach. He tried to say a word, but found he couldn't even force a sound out, "We'll talk when you wake up, Sasuke."

It was an hour before Sasuke woke up. He was groggily trying to figure out where he was. The most he could figure out that it was on the ground, and that his pride had been hurt, "Kakashi-Sensei?" His voice was merely a mumble right now. A flask of water was tossed in his lap, "Thanks." He hurriedly opened the flask and greedily drank down its contents.

"As it stands, you are powerful, I'd say low chunin level right now." Every time the student and teacher had sparred it had turned into a battle of attrition that Kakashi always won, "For days now we've fought, and you seem to get better!"

"Thanks." It was simple, but held a good amount of pride in it.

Noticing this Kakashi chuckled, "Don't get cocky, kid." Sasuke looked up to his teacher with a questioning gaze, "You still try to overpower your opponent instead of trying to fight smart!" He admonished his student, "You mastered the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, but you use it as a distraction to get away, which is a good tactic, however, you should use it at the start of the battle. If you use it then you might be able to surprise your enemies and you'd be able to use another jutsu."

"But you know what's going to happen, sensei." Sasuke pointed out.

"I know, yet you need to treat this as if it were a battle against an enemy." Kakashi slumped down to his student's level, "I wonder what we'll have for dinner?"

"I hope it isn't bug tonight." The Uchiha replied.

"Let's go find out!" The jonin smiled and the two made their way back to camp.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Kakashi had set a schedule for Naruto. Every other day he worked with the boy on the summoning jutsu, which was going very slowly, and his water manipulation. Today was one of the days the blonde genin worked on summoning jutsu, "Another tadpole!"

"Calm down, Naruto." It was frustrating, to say the very least. Every day they that Naruto tried summoning a toad it always turned out to be a tadpole that was summoned, "Take a deep breath, and let it out. Keep repeating that until your anger has subsided."

Naruto started to breath deeply, "Why am I having trouble with the summoning jutsu, Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, you suck with your chakra control, but how about I teach you how to walk on water?" Now that Kakashi thought about it, it would probably be best to teach the rest of his team, "Maybe if you have a bit more chakra control you'll be able to utilize the summoning jutsu to its maximum effect." Kakashi knew from being by this stream for the past week that there was a small pond downstream, "Follow me, Naruto."

The two walked for a few minutes until they came across a murky pond filled with the sounds of bugs and the occasional croak of a frog, "Now water walking is a bit tougher than tree climbing. You need to continuously emit your chakra, and you need to keep in tempo with the surface of the water."

"What?" Naruto asked his teacher, "Tempo?"

"If there is a wave you need to fix you chakra with the wave, got it?" The jonin told his student. It would be entertaining to watch how many attempts it would take for the blonde to get it.

Naruto walked slowly to the water then experimentally put his foot on the water. Using his chakra, he was surprised to find that it was a solid surface, but at the same time it wasn't! It was a really weird feeling to the genin. Taking another step Naruto could almost feel how deep the water was, "This is really," He stopped when a small ripple came across his feet, suddenly he was knee deep in muddy water, "Cool."

"Felt like a trip wire, didn't it?" The jonin asked his student.

Naruto nodded, "I think I can get it this time!" Once again, he took to the surface of the water with a shaky step, after shaky step. He crept closer across the water's surface until he fell into the deeper part of this pond, "Kakashi-sensei, I think I should've taken off my jumpsuit." The bright side was that his head was above this water!

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you!" Kakashi awkwardly laughed at the mistake all the while his student slowly made his way to muddy shore, "Just take the rest of the day to practice the water walking exercise, Naruto."

"Alright!" Coming back to shore the boy took off his jumpsuit and tried yet again.

He didn't know how long it took him to get the hang of the exercise, however once he did Naruto was told to keep up it up until he couldn't any longer. It was a long and arduous day, but when it came down to it Naruto was completely devoid of chakra, "Time to get some dinner!" Kakashi told his student.

Naruto was down on his knees in the middle of the pond, breathing heavily. He didn't want to leave just yet, "I can keep going!" His voice was quiet, yet filled with the same determination that Kakashi had gotten used to. This time was different, though. If Naruto ended up using all of his chakra now he would undoubtedly tap into its chakra.

"I don't think that it's a good idea to keep pushing yourself this hard, Naruto!" The jonin went out to his student and offered him a hand, but with the last of his strength the genin slapped it away.

Naruto slowly stood up, clearly warn out, "Do you think any of the past Hokage just stopped because they were tired?"

"You're right that all of the Hokage have pushed themselves to become truly strong, but they also knew their limits." Kakashi knelt down on the water, "You need to rest for tonight, and tomorrow we'll try the summoning jutsu!" Kakashi smiled as Naruto crawled up on his back.

The boy slumped against his teacher's back, "Let me down before we get back to camp, sensei." It went unsaid that he didn't want to be said by a certain person.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Camp, as usual, was quiet. All three genin exhausted with barely enough energy to eat anything, let alone speak. Sakura had been the first to enter camp, so it was her turn to cook. Tonight's dinner was rabbit stew. When Sasuke had returned to camp all the pink haired girl could do was smile with drooping eyes.

For his part Sasuke just stumbled towards the boiling pot, hardly acknowledging his teammate's presence, "Naruto?" The Uchiha struggled to get out his teammate's name.

Sakura just shook her and watched the crackling fire, feeling a bit hurt. She turned to look at her crush and found he was doing much the same as her when it came to watching the fire. Their sensei's shadow clones had long since popped out of existence. Her thoughts drifted from Sasuke to Naruto and wondered if he would be brought back unconscious once again.

The silence was soon broken when the two saw Naruto slowly shuffling into camp followed by Kakashi, "Smells like rabbit!" The jonin had a childish look of pleasure as he knelt to inspect the pot, "A quick bowl then off to bed guys!" His order was met with varying degrees of exhausted grunts from his students

The first to fall asleep was Naruto, then Sasuke, and finally Sakura. The three left the waking world for the world of dreams, leaving their teacher to watch the three, 'They're pretty quiet when they're asleep.'

Off in the distance Kakashi heard the distinct sound of crows cawing, and felt a sense of dread. No, it couldn't be though. That man was long gone from the village, but still something seemed off in the village tonight.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Far and away, in the Hokage's mansion, Hiruzen was in a simple brown kimono. He was looking over a calligraphy piece that he had recently finished while smoking from his pipe, "I've always found that no matter how much I practice my art I make mistakes." He spoke to the shadows in the room, "They remind me that I'm still human, even when people insist on calling me The Professor or The God of Shinobi."

The shadow he spoke to seemed to take a seat, "If all you called me here is to talk of art then I must say that this is time wasted." The shadow's voice was silky and seemed to be an extension of the shadows themselves.

The Hokage nodded, "I understand completely, but don't always be hasty."

"Time is not on my side so being hasty is in my best interest." Taking a seat, the shadow closed his eyes, "I'm guessing you've heard from Lord Jiraiya about the Akatsuki?"

"You are correct." Hiruzen moved to sit closer to the shadow, "A group of S-rank missing ninja gathering together, and I happen to find myself with one in my employ, how could I not summon him to ask if he had joined them?"

"And joined them I have." The shadow pulled out a bag of tea, "I bring tea from Lightning Country, Lord Hokage."

"Much appreciated, but tell me of this Akatsuki." Hiruzen took the bag and stashed it away for a better time.

The shadow sighed, "I can't tell you too much since if this gets out then my position will be tricky, but I can tell you a couple things."

"Don't leave me in suspense!" Replied the Hokage.

The shadow's eyes blazed crimson as his Sharingan spun around, "My partner is Kisame Hoshigaki of Kirigakure," The shadowy Uchiha began, "And it is led from the shadows by another surviving Uchiha."

"Another surviving Uchiha?" The Hokage began, "This is quite disturbing, Itachi, but if this group can recruit someone as formidable as The Tailless Tailed Beast disturbs me more." Hiruzen scratched his head, thinking of what to do before he absentmindedly said, "I think I should start training again."

Itachi's eyes closed for a second before letting out a deep sigh, "My time here is at an end, Lord Hokage." He got up from the position he was in then started to walk towards the door.

Hiruzen stopped him by holding up his hand, "Have you thought of my earlier proposition?"

Itachi grimaced then fazed out from the room. The head of the Sarutobi clan produced his own grimace in return as faced the empty room. Turning back to his piece of calligraphy to inspect it, 'Still a mistake or two, damn these old hands of mine.'

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Morning came to the Forest of Death; however, one couldn't really tell from the canopy above. The forest floor was dark with the leaves blocking any light, save for a few rays jutting here and there. Silence reigned over woods, yet that silence was a simple veil that hid a student and his teacher working as hard as ever, "Naruto, let's try again!" The cheerful voice of Kakashi told his student.

Naruto nodded, "Summoning Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, a small tadpole appeared out of nothing. Yet unlike the past times the genin had tried to summon a toad and failed this tadpole had a set of legs.

Kakashi's smirk was obscured by his mask although it was quite obvious, "We've finally made progress!" Pride seemed to swell in his voice, "Just to be safe why don't we continue with the water walking exercise for another couple of days before we try again."

Time flowed slowly with Naruto as he struggled with his chakra control. It was an uphill battle with his amount of chakra, and that wasn't even counting the chakra of the Nine Tails that was sealed within him. If cultivated right Naruto would turn into a mighty shinobi, but if cultivated wrong his large chakra levels would only hinder him.

For a few extra days the boy kept up with his exercises. Even going so far as to wind up knocking himself out at the end of each day. Finally, the day came when he could try the summoning jutsu again, "Summoning Jutsu!"

This time in place of a tadpole a small rust colored toad popped out of the smoke with a disinterested look on its face, "Who are you?" It asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" The genin proudly told the toad.

"You don't look like much, do you, kid?" Replied the toad. Naruto looked down at it, slightly annoyed, "You should also know that I don't work for free, got it? If you need anything you need to pay me in snacks!"

The jonin looked between the tiny toad and his student, 'Leave it to Naruto to summon a toad as troublesome as he is!"

"What's you name then?" Naruto asked with an annoyed tone.

"Name's Gamakichi!" The Toad, Gamakichi, proudly stated, "Do you even have any snacks?" Gamakichi asked suspiciously. Naruto, for his part, was nervously shifting in place.

He shuffled a bit, "Define snacks."

"I'm out!" Gamakichi started hopping away with a degree of disdain for his summoner, "Don't call me if you don't have any snacks!"

Kakashi watched the toad hop away, "You know, Naruto, I have never seen a summon act like that."

"Useless toad!" Finally mad, the genin went to scream at the toad, but said toad blew a raspberry at him in response.

"Useless summoner!" The two fought like this before the toad snickered and popped off back to Mount Myoboku.

Naruto on the other hand was frustrated by the first toad he had ever summoned, "How did I manage to summon a toad like that!"

It was time to teach Naruto about how to utilize the summoning jutsu, "Alright now that you can summon we can work on how you determine what you summon!"

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" The genin asked with a wide-eyed sense of curiosity.

Kakashi bit his own thumb then used the summoning Jutsu. In the smoke a small mutt came into existence, "This is Biscuit!" The dog nodded, "Now when using the summoning Jutsu you need to think of what you want to summon, instead of just using the jutsu." He explained, "This is why little Gamakichi came forth instead of another toad, why don't you try it again?" Kakashi then added his last piece of advice, "Don't forget to keep an image of a toad you want to summon inside your head!"

With that in mind Naruto slowly came up with an image of what he wanted to summon inside his head. The only toads he could image were those grandma and grandpa toads and that boss toad. That boss toad, Gamabunta, he thought his name was, was a really cool toad, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Gamakichi appeared again, "Leave me alone!" He dispelled himself from the forest without a second thought.

Kakashi got an idea in head, "Why don't you try gathering your chakra?"

The boy nodded then started gathering his chakra. To the jonin it was still utterly insane how much chakra this kid had. It swirled around the blonde genin quickly as he gathered all of his chakra as best he could. With the clear image of the boss toad in his head Naruto yelled out, "Summoning Jutsu!"

The earth began to shake underneath the jonin and genin. The smoke billowed out and filled the forest, obscuring the visibility around them. Slowly the two began to rise into the air, "Who the hell dared to summon me!" The deep, roaring voice of the boss toad asked, "Where are you, Jiraiya?"

"Hey, Boss Toad!" A voice called out from his head, "Its good to see you!"

Gamabunta sent tongue out and snatched the boy from his head, along with Kakashi, "You're that brat Pa wanted me to test, and you're one of Minato's brats, right?" The toad looked over the two, "Where's that fool, Jiraiya?"

"Lord Jiraiya, didn't summon you!" Kakashi nervously told the large summons, "Naruto did!"

The toad raised his eyebrow in skepticism. The thought of a mere boy summoning him was laughable, but considering that Jiraiya wasn't around meant that he might not be lying, "Fine, say that I believe you, why did you summon me?"

"I was practicing the summoning jutsu, Boss Toad!" Naruto replied.

Gamabunta set the two back on his head, "Look kid, you may have earned the right to summon us toads, but to summon me you need to become my henchman!" The giant toad grinned.

"How do I do that?" This toad seemed kind of shady. The genin wondered what he needed to do to earn the right to be this toad's henchman, "Pay you?"

The boss toad's grin slowly turned into a deep belly laugh, "Pay me? You can't bribe me!" Gamabunta began, "What you need to do to summon me is share a cup of sake with me!"

"But I'm just thirteen, I can't drink!" Naruto yelled at the toad, "Come on just let me be your henchman already!" He whined. Kakashi seemed to be sidelined for now, however, his nostalgia in seeing the yakuza styled toad was palpable. Seeing Naruto summoning him was amazing in its own right, too.

"If you can't drink with me then you can't be my henchman!" The boss toad was stubborn, "You can summon Gamaken or Gamahiro, but if you try to summon me again without being my henchman then I'll put you in your place, you snot nosed runt!"

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration, "Even if I could drink, where would I get enough sake for you, Boss?"

"Tell you what, brat, if you come back with me to Mount Myoboku we can share a drink there!" Gamabunta chuckled, "Reverse Summoning Jutsu!" In a flash both Naruto and Gamabunta were gone, leaving a stunned Kakashi.

"Not again!" The jonin let out a groan. The only thing he could do now was wait for his student to be returned to him by the toads. Why couldn't this boy be a little less troublesome, like his other two students?