Author's Note: JEWBUG!...a small insect that lives inside the yarmulkah of every Jewish person. It's what keep their hat on. (no offense meant to anyone…just something I doodled on the side of my notes when I handwrote the story…so I figured I had to work it in somehow…it's even got a lil halo…) On top of this…I got into a fight with my boyfriend whilst writing this…and drew an angry spanish zombie to represent our relationship. Soon to be edited, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5, Training

The basement area was much larger than Naruto was expecting, and it was full of almost everyone he had met at lunch. The place was a giant dojo, covered in practice mats and coated with weapon racks on the walls. Naruto took a step inside, and looked around for Kakashi. He did this because he wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do now that he was at the dojo, and Gaara had stopped talking to him after he had touched a nerve with the whole 'friends' conversation. When he saw the white-haired man instructing Sasuke, his heart sank. I don't want to deal with that boy right now…he thought angrily, turning around as if to leave the dojo. It wasn't worth it if he was going to go through everything again. A voice made him stop.

"Ah, Naruto! You're here; come on over!" Kakashi called out, and Naruto turned back around to face the man. He almost laughed when he saw the angered look on the black-haired boy's face, as Sasuke attempted to dissolve Naruto with his eyes. Naruto took a few brave steps forward, and Sasuke took a few steps away. Naruto stared in disbelief at the boy, we're an entire room away, and he can't stand to be that close? The blonde boy thought, his anger growing. Deciding that he couldn't care less that it would affect Sasuke, he skipped all the way over to Kakashi and gave him a large grin.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out cheerfully. Kakashi smiled slightly at the young boy's infectious optimism. No wonder Sasuke was so angry, Kakashi thought, his smile growing, these two are polar opposites. It took Kakashi a moment to decide what to do with the two boys standing in front of him. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Alright Sasuke, I do believe you and Sakura finally have a third member for your team!" Kakashi told the now miserable black-haired boy. Sasuke's expression was complete and utter rage.

"I'm not working with him." Sasuke stated coldly, turning away from Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi wasn't phased in the least.

"You won't train with Naruto, then you won't train. You're dismissed for the day, Sasuke." Kakashi replied, and then waited a moment for the boy to think about what he had just said. Sasuke didn't move for a moment, though he was visibly shaking with anger. When the Uchiha felt ready to speak, he did, slowly and calmly.

"I'll train with Naruto." Sasuke said, in a flat, unemotional tone of voice. He walked calmly over to one of the weapon racks, and returned after restocking his supply of kunai. Naruto eyed the short blades with mounting fear; he had no knowledge of weapons. Sasuke caught the blonde boy's scared demeanor and a sadistic smile crossed his face. "I'll come at you then, all you have to do is dodge." Naruto took a few steps back, and threw his hands up in front of his face defensively, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I don't know how, this isn't fair! You can't just come at me with weapons on my first day and expect me to block them!" Naruto called out, forcing his eyes back open. Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"This is inappropriate, Sasuke…" Kakashi informed him, but not in a tone that said he was going to do anything to stop the Uchiha. Naruto looked frantically over at Kakashi with pleading eyes, and Kakashi looked away. "Go easy on him." Was all Kakashi said. Sasuke charged. No, no, no! Please no…was all that Naruto could think, save me, someone has to save me…his mind screamed. Sasuke got closer and closer, and Naruto ran as far as he could away from his attacker. Everyone in the room seemed to stop their training and focus in on the fight that had interrupted them. Backed into a corner, Naruto found himself up against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut once more. Someone help me, please! He pleaded mentally, but no one seemed to come. Just as Sasuke was right next to him, Naruto blacked out.

When Naruto opened his eyes he was extremely confused by what he saw. He should have been backed into the corner still, but instead he was in the middle of the dojo. He should have been wounded, but instead he felt better than he had in a while. Sasuke should have been right in front of him, but instead, the boy was all the way across the room, in a corner, bleeding heavily. Naruto gasped slightly when he identified the objects piercing into the Uchiha as kunai. Did the boy stab himself on accident? He thought, and then looked around the room. Did someone come and help me? His mind suggested, but all eyes were locked on him. He backed up, though he wasn't sure where he could go that their eyes wouldn't follow him.

"Naruto, you never told us that you had fighting skills." Kakashi said, and Naruto stared at him, bewildered.

"I don't." Naruto replied, taken aback. "I've never fought a day in my life….I usually run away in situations like that…and that's what I did, ne? I ran all the way into a corner where I couldn't run any more and then I cowered…" Naruto added in a disappointed tone, frowning. Kakashi cocked a brow.

"You don't remember what happened?" Kakashi asked, keeping an eye on Sasuke to make sure that the wounds were nothing serious. The boy was picking the kunai out of his arm, bandages at the ready. Naruto shook his head no.

"How did I end up in the middle of the room? I figured someone must have helped me out, right?" Naruto asked, though he was a little unsure of this.

"You…well, Naruto, you dodged. You dodged faster than I thought possible, and then you took the kunai from his hands and you stabbed him in the arm, and yelled 'back the fuck off, asshole!' at him." Naruto took a few steps back once more, and shook his head.

"No, no you have to be wrong. I don't know how to dodge; I've never seen a 'kunai' before in my life, and would never stab someone! The sight of blood makes me uncomfortable anyways…" Naruto argued, avoiding looking at Sasuke. Kakashi frowned slightly, approaching the blonde boy. Looking back, Naruto saw Gaara giving him a strange look. Granted, everyone was staring at him, but Gaara's eyes were different. It's almost as if he knows something more than everyone else does, Naruto thought, and contemplated going over to him and asking the redhead what it was he knew.

"Sometimes people black out in extremely stressful situations, and their instincts take over. Don't worry about it Naruto. Everyone, back to work!" Kakashi called out, breaking the tension. Slowly but surely, everyone began to ignore Naruto and return to what they were doing. The blond boy, now red with embarrassment, felt like it was the classroom teleportation incident all over again. Damnit, I'm considered weird even among the weirdos! Naruto complained mentally, looking around. As Naruto's eyes fell on an angry, black-haired boy, it dawned on him once more what he had done.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Are you alright?" Naruto yelled, running over to him. Everyone stopped what they were doing in an attempt to watch the impending drama, but Kakashi forced them back to training. Sasuke didn't look at Naruto, he just kept his head down, and his spare hand holding his bandaged arm.

"I didn't dodge…I didn't block…" Sasuke was muttering away to himself.

"Sasuke?" Naruto repeated, taking a step closer.

"I wasn't prepared. I should have done something. I let my guard down…why did I let my guard down?"

"Sasuke?" This time Naruto's voice was a little unsure. What is this kid's issue? He thought, contemplating merely turning around and leaving.

"…it's no good. I won't kill him this way. I have to be stronger…I need more hate…" This particular section of Sasuke's rant peaked the blonde boy's interest. Kill who? He thought, and then frowned that the whole killing thing made him more curious than afraid.

"Kill who?" He blurted out, and then covered his mouth. I didn't mean to say that! He thought frantically. Sasuke didn't answer, and Naruto decided not to press the issue.

"Sorry I stabbed you." Naruto apologized, though it came out a little awkwardly. After all, he wasn't used to apologizing for that sort of thing.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, and Naruto guessed this was supposed to mean "don't worry about it"

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked, pointing to the boy's arm.

"Hn."

"Are you gunna keep training?"

"Hn."

"Are you going to actually talk to me ever again?" Narut asked. Sasuke remained silent. The blonde boy sighed, and walked away. So much for being friends, Naruto thought. Walking back over to Kakashi, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Haruno Sakura next to the white-haired man. He had completely forgotten they had another teammate, and had been too focused on Sasuke to remember he was teamed with the girl he liked. Brushing himself off in an attempt to look more presentable, Naruto wondered what kind of training he would do with Sakura.

"Naruto! You've met Sakura, right?" Kakashi asked The two teenagers nodded. "Great! Well she's going to teach you how to mold chakra." Naruto had forgotten about the more mysterious side of his training.

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to contain his enthusiasm. Superpowers! His mind suggested happily, I'm going to have superpowers!

"Alright, this sounds a little weird, but I'll do my best to explain." Sakura told him, and they began to practice. They covered gathering chakra much faster than either of them had thought possible, Naruto seemed to be a natural at it.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out, grabbing his attention. "What next?"

"It's been a half hour. It takes weeks to learn how to mold your chakra." Kakashi replied in a calm manner, picking his book back up and continuing to read. Naruto was puzzled, he didn't recognize the book Kakashi was reading. I've read a lot, but I've never read a book that looks like that, he thought. Seeing that his accomplishments were being ignored, Naruto spoke up.

"I'm done with this! I wanna learn something new!" He shouted, crossing his arms. Sakura marveled at the kid's openness. I can't believe he spoke up like that, no one's ever done that…except for Sasuke when he's very upset, Sakura thought, continuing to watch Naruto in awe.

"You can't be done learning that." Kakashi retorted, and continued to ignore them both. Naruto walked straight into the center of the room, and after taking a deep breath to quell the embarrassment, proceeded to gather unreasonably large amounts of chakra right in front of the white-haired man. Kakashi was taken aback. "How…?" Was all the man could manage to say.

"I'm done with this. I. Want. To. Learn. Something. New." Naruto repeated forcefully, glaring at the man. Kakashi nodded in defeat.

"Right, right. For the rest of the class you will work on martial arts basics with Neji and his team. They're the best we have at that sort of thing." Kakashi told him, and Temari made an offended noise. Naruto gave Temari a frown that said "I wish I could train with you" and she gave him a friendly smile.

"You'll do fine kid!" She shouted at him, but Naruto didn't feel so confident. Firstly, he had only ever met these people a few times during lunch, and secondly, as he had stated before, he had no training in martial arts whatsoever, and was therefore most likely to embarrass himself.

Naruto spent the rest of the day and somewhat later into the night than he had intended drilling basics with Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten. They covered the basic weapons that were used for protection both ranged and close-combat, drilled basic strikes and dodges, and did some strength training and agility exercises. By the end of the practice Naruto was feeling tired and weak, but accomplished. He picked up his orange jacket off the floor, as he had taken it off during practice, and headed for the door. Neji and Tenten ignored this and opted to let him go, but Rock Lee, because he was overly friendly, decided to stop him.

"Wait a sec, you're going home this late at night? Why not just stay at the school? That's what we do when we've trained this much." Lee shouted, and Naruto considered it momentarily. Deciding that he preferred his own room for now, he turned around and shook his head a polite no.

"I have to take care of some things at my house anyways, but thanks for the offer." Naruto called out, before turning and running out the door. Lee took a few steps forward in concern, but the boy was already out of sight.

"I don't think it's really safe for you to travel alone!" The strange-haired boy called out, but he assumed Naruto was already out of ear-shot, as the blonde didn't say anything in return. Naruto was already running his way down the long-winding driveway out of their high school, enjoying the feeling of running at night. Running in the morning was fairly amazing, but in the nighttime there was always a nice cool draft to keep your system from overheating. About fifteen minutes from his home, Naruto paused to rest. He had been more tired than he counted on from training, and couldn't quite make it home in one burst. Finding a comfortable spot on the doorstep of a nearby apartment, the blonde boy looked around the alleyway he had stopped in. It was a fairly narrow pathway, but you could still get a decent view of the stars. Suddenly the boy heard a rustling noise coming from behind him. Jumping to his feet, he turned and identified the perpetrator. A small kitten was searching through the garbage in hopes of food. Feeling a connection with the orphaned animal, Naruto picked it up out of the trashcan and held it.

"Bad kitty, garbage is no good for you. I'll take you home and get you something good to eat." Naruto comforted the small animal, which struggled to free itself from his grasp. "What's got you so antsy?" Naruto asked, although he knew the cat had no way to tell him what it was thinking. Then Naruto heard a terrifying sound, a loud cackle from somewhere nearby. Snapping back to reality, Naruto held the small cat to his chest and started running in the direction of home. The cackling continued, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer. "Ten minutes to home, tops!" He told himself, picking up his pace. He had completely forgotten about the dangers of having the abilities he did. Damnit, I should have stayed with Rock Lee when he asked…Naruto thought, wanting to punch something out of frustration. Well, at least I got a companion out of it! He thought, smiling. It surprised him that something like that would come to mind in such a dire situation, but for some reason he felt the fear melting away. I can outrun them, he told himself, and if I can't, he continued, I'll turn back and fight them! His mind finished, and Naruto gulped, unsure why he was thinking such things. Naruto fell to the ground, his legs giving in. He supposed he had trained too much to run as fast as he did. Putting the kitten down, Naruto rose slowly to his feet. His followers approached. From what he could tell in the darkness, they were two women.

"Hello little boy." The woman with long black hair taunted. Naruto took a few steps back, and watched as the kitten ran away. He frowned, wishing he had the same option.

"The hell do you want with me!?" Naruto yelled, visibly shaking.

"Come with us, or we'll kill you, un." The blonde 'woman' told him. Naruto noticed that the blonde's voice was a little bit deep to be a woman's. Shaking his head violent, Naruto shouted a brave "NO!" and did his best to assume one of the fighting stances he had learned a few hours before. The two shadowy figures chuckled.

"Aww, isn't that cute. He's trying to fight us." The black-haired girl replied sarcastically. She jumped over so that she was inches from Naruto's face. The boy cowered. "Pathetic." She spat, and punched him in the face. Naruto went flying into a nearby wall, and then crunched up into a ball, trying desperately not to cry. The two attackers merely chuckled some more.

"Just leave me alone…please…" Naruto whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut in reaction to their presence.

"This is going to be no fun at all." The woman called out to her companion with mock sadness. "He's not even going to try." She approached him once more, kicking him. "I'll just knock him unconscious, and we'll drag him back." With that, she picked Naruto up and smashed his head against the wall, knocking him out instantly.