AN: Hello everybody, here to talk about pairing situation again. Kimmimaro is definitely with Hinata for this at this point. Yakumo, I'm planning on pairing with Shino or Gaara. For Naruto I'm down to three options. Yugito, Samui, or Karui. I might decide to make Yakumo an option for Naruto later if their chemistry develops along that route, but the current plan is for a sibling relationship. So yeah, Naruto will probably be with a Kumo girl, just not sure which one. Tell me in the reviews which one you're thinking of!

AN2: Also, since people were confused on why I gave Naruto's team the affinities they had and that one of you commented that there was no synergy between Naruto's elements…Dust Release. I've actually made plans for how their releases play into their eventual growth as shinobi. With that said there is something I want to address in regard to said elemental style…WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE BLOODY JUTSU FOR DUST RELEASE?! Seriously! I could only find the atomic dismantling jutsu where Onoki makes a cube or a cone. That's it. So I'm going to be getting creative with this shit as I feel like Naruto can get REALLY innovative with something like this.

An Overheard Conversation

Chapter 5

-Itachi-

"Are you sure we will find Tsunade-Sama here Itachi-Taichou?" Hana Inuzaka asked him as they entered a small village on the outskirts of fire country.

"This village is the home of both a Sake distillery as well as the location for an upcoming gambling tournament." Itachi nodded seriously, "She will be here."

"Tsunade-Sama is one of the three Sanin, the most famous Kunoichi ever produced by Konoha." Hana shook her head, "I want to say I doubt she would ever succumb to such vices…but I also grew up in the same household as my mother."

"I've heard stories of what Tsume Inuzaka can do when she wishes to relax." Itachi shook his head as he followed the signs to the local inn, "I'm not sure which are truth and which merely rumor…actually, I am unsure if I even desire to know."

"You don't." Hana assured him as they entered the building and saw a pair of women sitting at the bar alongside a pig, one of them well into her cups.

"Tsunade-Sama." Itachi spoke clearly as he approached, drawing their attention as Tsunade turned and saw his new un-slashed Konoha headband alongside the old damaged one.

"Itachi." Tsunade studied him, tension in her shoulders as her gaze turned from him to Hana, "And you're not alone. Let me guess, the old Monkey is demanding my return to the village?"

"That is now why I have come Tsunade-Sama." Itachi shook his head in the negative, completely unphased by the tension in the woman's muscles as she prepared to strike if necessary, "I came here for two reasons. The first was to give a gift of thanks on behalf of myself, Kisame, my soon to be Genin team, and Hokage-Sama." Pulling out a scroll, he unsealed a large gift basked filled with fresh fruit, expensive Sake, and a notice stating that her current gambling debts had been paid off through the Uchiha clan fortunes.

"…What?" Tsunade blinked in confusion as she took the basket.

"I was grateful for you repairing my vision and saving the life of Kimmimaro." Itachi explained, "For this, the Hokage was also grateful and my students are quite happy now. The three have been without any family for some time and have bonded closely with each other. Without your aide this wouldn't have been possible."

"I…um, you're welcome?" the legendary slug princess passed the basket over to Shizune, "But you said there was a second reason you came to find me?"

"Yes, it regards another of my students." Itachi nodded, "She is physically weaker than normal due to a condition of her birth, so I am having the third member of my team, one Naruto Uzumaki, working on his talent for fuinjutsu to make body reinforcement seals for her. In addition to this, I plan for her to learn medical jutsu to further aide in her body's reinforcement and development, I wished to get your advice for where to start and how best to train her."

"You came all this way for that?" Shizune blinked in shock even as Tonton began eating the fruit from the basket.

"Not just that, I have also spent the last three weeks gathering jutsu for Naruto Uzumaki after learning his affinity." Even as he spoke, Itachi felt his eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"Did it not go well?" Shizune asked concerned, "And wouldn't the Uchiha library already have plenty of Jutsu for the five elements?"

"He has the necessary affinities to perform dust release." Itachi told the two seriously as you could hear a pin drop around them, "I went to acquire what I could from Iwagakure…only to learn that the Tschukage has exactly one dust release technique and has done no other experimentation outside of the atomic dismantling jutsu."

"There's only one Jutsu?" Tsunade seemed just as irritated, "Onoki of both scales, one of the most feared Shinobi in the world, a man held on par with my sensei…and he only has one jutsu for his elemental release?"

"I was most displeased to learn this as well. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Naruto Uzumaki seems to be the creative type. I just hope that he doesn't cause too much chaos with any jutsu he develops." Itachi shook his head.

"Didn't you leave him alone with Kisame for almost a month now though?" Hana asked, her expression implying that she was remembering everything he had shared with her about his partner in the Akatsuki.

"…I must change my desire it would seem. I just hope that he doesn't destroy too much of Konoha before I can teach him something of self-control."

"Hah! I'll drink to that kid." Tsunade pulled one of the bottles of sake from her basket, "Come on you two, share a drink with me and I'll tell you what to do with that student of yours." The drunken woman's eyes twinkled merrily, "Behave and I might give you some instruction on what to do with that girl of yours beside you."

"Tsunade-Sama!" Hana and Shizune both exclaimed, one scolding and the other flustered. Itachi just sighed and wondered when his life became so full of energetic people.

-Iruka-

"Thank you for coming Gai." Iruka groaned as he collapsed into his seat, "It'll be a big help."

"Of course my youthful friend!" Gai grinned, giving him a thumbs up while his teeth sparkled "I have to ask though, why did you ask me to bring my genin to the academy?"

"Because I have a student that's too good at Taijutsu for the rest of the class to deal with." Iruka slammed his forehead onto his desk, "He goes easier on his friends to help them work on their Taijutsu but everyone else he demolishes within a few seconds of the match start. I was hoping more experienced genin being trained by you might give him a challenge."

"Don't you feel this is a little extreme? My students have been trained by me for a year now and are far too much for an academy student to handle." Gai frowned, seeming wary of Iruka's request.

"He has the ultimate kekai genkai for Taijutsu, the dead bone pulse." Iruka shook his head, "And we can't order him not to use his bloodline limit or else we would have to order clans like the Inuzaka or Hyuuga to not use their bloodlines which would mean they couldn't use the clan styles that necessitate their usage."

"Bone pulse? This is the boy being trained by Itachi and Kisame?" Gai noted.

"One and the same." Iruka nodded, "If it weren't for the fact that he already has teachers and you have Lee I would have recommended you take him under your wing to teach him the strong fist as he could be the ultimate successor to your style." Iruka thought he heard someone outside the door but brushed it off as likely just a passing student, "The only people he goes easy on during sparring are Naruto Uzumaki and Yakumo Kurama, who are being trained by Itachi-San and Kisame-San as well, along with one Hyuuga Hinata. There are a few students he treats civilly but most he detests due to how they've treated one or more of his friends and does his best to destroy them in sparring matches the moment the bout starts."

"And are Kimmimaro-Kun's teammates as skilled with Taijutsu?" Gai asked, sounding both eager and curious.

"No, Yakumo Kurama has only done some Katas, her body is frail although her team and sensei are working on a solution for that. Naruto Uzumaki isn't the worst at Taijutsu, but he has been focusing more on kenjutsu for physical combat. He has shown an impressive growth with the sword and I'm unsure how much is natural talent and how much is being trained by a member of the seven swordsmen."

"Well, I'm sure my youthful genin will be more than happy to work with the academy students." Gai gave a thumbs up, "I'll go inform them of what you told me."

-Naruto-

"Who do you think we're fighting today?" Naruto asked his friends as they walked outside for their afternoon physical lessons.

"I am unsure." Kimmimaro gave a calm shrug, "Our instructors seem frustrated by my lack of challenge when fighting those training here."

"Attention students!" Iruka called when they arrived at the sparring ring and saw a group of genin waiting for them, forehead protectors gleaming brightly, "We have guests here today to help with the fights. These are Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten Tamura who are from last year's graduating class, Neji here was his year's Rookie of the year. They've come to spar with you all today." Naruto quickly picked up that all three seemed to be focusing on him or Kimmimaro. The girl was looking down at Naruto condescendingly, the weird guy with the big bushy eyebrows and the bowl haircut was glaring at Kimmimaro, while the guy who had the same last name as Hinata-Chan had an expression like what Sasuke usually wore.

"Kimmimaro, can you step forward for the first fight today?" Iruka requested as Naruto's friend stepped forward, "You'll be fighting Hyuuga Neji." Iruka declared as both combatants entered the sparring circle. Naruto recognized the signs of Kimmimaro adjusting his skeleton under the skin to block the Hyuuga poking style of fighting, a trick he'd figured out after sparring with Hinata. "Begin!"

"You should surrender." Neji sneered, "Fate has already declared me the vict-" the taunting declaration was cut off as Kimmimaro shot forward to punch at Neji, the older shinobi backflipping away from the strike easily enough. "Very well, witness divination!" Neji shot forward to strike at Kimmimaro only for the strikes to have no effect. "What?!" Kimmimaro, not one to waste an opportunity, threw a hard punch into Neji's face as the older genin went flying, the rapidly appearing bruise implying that Kimmimaro had hardened his fist just before the punch which sent his opponent flying clear out of the ring.

"Winner by ring out, Kimmimaro Kaguya." Iruka declared, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kimmimaro, do you have enough energy to fight Lee as well?"

"The first match was just enough to let me stretch and warm up, I can fight again." Kimmimaro nodded, subjecting someone else to his verbal daggers much to Naruto, Hinata, and Yakumo's amusement.

"I will show the power of youth!" Lee rushed into the ring, "I hope you're watching Gai-Sensei! I'll show I'm the perfect successor for the strong fist style!" with that, Lee shot forward eagerly, not even waiting for Iruka to declare the fight commenced. Given that this Lee person fought with more than just Chakra poking, Kimmimaro had to actually put in effort for the fight. Both fighters were slugging away and while it was clear that Kimmimaro was stronger, Lee was stubborn enough to keep getting back up till Kimmimaro knocked him out.

"Tenten, you're up next." Iruka shook his head, "Who would you-?"

"The Uzumaki kid." Tenten unsealed a sword, "Let's see if he's really worth the attention of one of the seven swordsmen."

"Okay." Naruto smiled eagerly as he drew the sword that Kisame-Sensei had given him, eager to fight another kenjutsu user.

"Fine, fine. Take your places." Iruka ordered as the class got eager to see a kenjutsu spar, nobody else in the class having any training with a sword to spar against him before, "Begin!" with that, they shot forward, blades flying in shining steel blurs.

"You're not bad." Naruto smiled as they fought, noting she had some skill with a sword but was also not as strong as a person who was dedicated to using kenjutsu.

"I'm the best weapon uses among the genin!" Tenten took his words as an insult as she growled, pushing harder against his sword.

"That's…kind of sad." Naruto shook his head before moving quickly and slashing at her arm. He was already able to outrun ANBU and she wasn't nearly as fast as they were. Swinging his blade again, he knocked her sword out of her cut hand and then put his sword to her throat.

"Winner, Naruto." Iruka slapped his face, muttering about having to find better opponents.