Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Most of you weren't pleased with my last chapter (hell it shows through I the reviews). Frankly, I wasn't too pleased either, but it had to be done. I hope to at least redeem myself with this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 8: Allyourbasearebelongtous (A/N: Yea…I went there)

Kakashi was having a tough day. He had two students in the finals, and both of them were up against maniacs. Well…that wasn't exactly fair. Despite his personal opinion of Gai and his outrageous teaching methods, he was sure that Lee was very well adjusted. He was actually more concerned of Sasuke's opponent after the Uchiha beat Lee, now that one was a maniac. Gaara killed an elder Genin, quickly and without remorse. From what little he saw, and heard, of the boy's abilities, he knew Gaara had some kind of barrier of sand, that always seemed to protect him. Sasuke would need something capable of piercing that shield if he had any hope of defeating Gaara.

Then there was Naruto's first opponent, the granddaughter of the current Tsuchikage. If looks could kill, not even Naruto's supernatural regeneration would have saved him from that last look she sent him. He would need to make sure he knew what he was getting into…or possibly teach him when to fold to a pissed off woman. 'Hmmm, maybe I should get Anko to tutor him for a while. She does owe me a favor…' Then again, it seemed like Naruto was already receiving his own instruction, so he probably didn't even need to worry about the boy.

Kakashi entered the hospital. He had taken both Naruto and Sasuke there for a check up. Naruto to make sure he didn't break anything, which he probably did, during his fight with Akatsuchi. He dropped off Sasuke to make sure the cursed seal, and the evil containment seal, weren't having an adverse affect on his body, which they probably weren't, but better safe than sorry. He specifically told them not to release either of the boys until he got back. Kakashi smiled behind his mask when he saw Sasuke impatiently pacing around the waiting room. The Jounin immediately made his way to the help desk.

"About damn time you showed up, they won't let me leave!" the boy seethed, glaring at his sensei.

Kakashi just shrugged the comment off. He figured the hospital's security, which ranged anywhere from Chunin to Jounin, was what was really keeping the boy here, not his own orders. Kakashi just turned to the secretary at the counter, "I'm here to check out Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." After thinking it over for a moment, he decided to ask, "Actually, is Naruto even okay to be checked out?"

The man scowled at the mention of Naruto, and quickly jotted something down, "Uchiha-san is free to go. Uzumaki was released an hour ago."

"WHAT!" Sasuke yelled. He had been detained for over an hour after his stupid check up and Naruto, who was actually hurt during his fight, was let go almost immediately. What the hell was that?

For his part, Kakashi just glared at the Orderly. Now he had to go around town looking for the boy…an issue that he had specifically been trying to avoid. He momentarily considered putting the man in a Genjutsu. Could he get away with a self-defense plead? If not, he'd probably get fined pretty heavily for doing so. Kakashi just shook his head and turned to Sasuke, "Go get packed."

"Huh?"

"We'll be leaving the village for a while, go get packed and meet me at the Northern gate."

Sasuke nodded and left.

"And do me a favor." Kakashi turned to look at the civilian, who had an arrogant smirk on his face. "Next time you decide that thing needs a checkup, take him to another hospital. Preferably one in a different country."

Kakashi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He counted backwards (10 books of porn…9 books of porn…). He tried to think of happier things (porn). He tried to think of his happy place (a mansion full of porn). He then cut out the middleman and just thought about porn… In the end, all the exercises he learned to calm himself down were rendered moot. 'Okay so the man sent Naruto away to…weaken the seal on the Kyuubi or something…and was probably trying to take over the village.' Kakashi nodded at his explanation. 'Perfect', Kakashi looked at the man before raising his headband from over his Sharingan, "Hey, I know you're not a doctor…but could you take a look at my eye for a moment?"

All else failed, he could afford a little fine.

-x-

"Alright, here ya go Naruto."

The boy grinned, "Thanks Ayame, you're the best." He lifted the large bag in his arms and turned away for his favorite restaurant. He stopped when he came face to face with Ino. "Ino?"

"Oh, hey Naruto?" She looked down at his arms and gave him a small smile. "What a coincidence, I came to get a to go order too."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. "At Ichiraku?"

Ino nodded her head in annoyance, "Yea…obviously."

The blond jinchuuriki just stared at her for a moment before asking, "Since when are you into anything that's cool?"

Ino's eye twitched at the comment. "First off. Ramen. Isn't. Cool."

"Yes it is", Ayame called from behind the counter.

"Don't encourage him!" Ino snapped at the other girl. It was that point that she noticed Naruto walking away with his order. "Hey!" Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Ino. "You asked me a question, aren't you gonna wait to actually hear my answer?"

Naruto shook his head, "Tell me later, I got somewhere to be." And with that, the blond took off.

Ino's eye began to twitch again. Ayame's laughter did nothing to help her bad mood. Ino turned to glare at the girl, "Stop that!"

At a quick pace, it took Naruto a good twenty minutes to reach Yakumo's house. After thinking back to his conversation with Yakumo, he quickly remembered the girl's situation and began looking around the house. He expected to be stopped by some ANBU who would be guarding the area, since, how he understood it, Yakumo was essentially forced to stay here. He wasn't though. Maybe the ANBU only prevented her from leaving, but didn't prevent people from visiting her? That would make sense. If they wanted to really make her a prisoner, they'd probably just put her in a jail cell or something…not just isolate her.

The blond shrugged, and made his way to the door.

-x-

"Ino!" the girl's father called.

Ino sighed before making her way to her father's study. "Can't be home for five seconds without someone needing something", she grumbled. Upon entering her father's office, Ino was immediately met at the door by her father. "What's up dad?"

Inoichi frowned, "I just heard a rumor about your old classmate Naruto."

The girl frowned at the name. She was still kinda annoyed at him for ditching her. "What about him?"

"I heard he used a summoning contract at the Chunin Exams. Is that true?"

Ino nodded. "Actually yea. He summoned three white bears, and they helped him fight off his opponent…who had summoned a stone giant." Ino frowned. She did NOT have the abilities needed to survive some fighting some of the people in this exam. Hopefully, that would soon change.

Inoichi nodded. "Thank you sweetie." With that, Inoichi turned away from the girl without a second word.

Frowning at her father's attitude, Ino just turned and left his office.

-x-

"Thanks for visiting me Naruto-kun, but I wished you had come at a different time."

Naruto frowned at the girl. She looked worse than she did the last time he visited. Just so frail and pale. "Are you sick?" He knew the girl wasn't in the best of health, but he wondered how often she saw a doctor.

"I'm fine, just tired really" the girl yawned out. "I was doing some chakra control exercises earlier, and I think I might have pushed myself too much." Though she looked as pale as she normally did, there was some red in her cheeks, as well as a light coat of sweat. Whatever exercise she did, it must have been a physical one. "I was honestly about to take a nap before you came by."

"Sorry", Naruto said, more than a bit sheepish.

"Don't be, I appreciate the company", she said with a smile.

Naruto looked down at his bowl of ramen. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be tired all the time; probably because it always took him so long to just get a little winded…by the standards of other people at least. "What kind of chakra control exercise were you doing?"

"Walking on water."

Naruto's face scrunched up. "Never heard of that one. Is it hard?"

Yakumo shook her head. "It's just physically demanding", the girl frowned for a moment, "at least for me", she whispered the last part bitterly. The thought of her poor vitality always did make her bitter. If things had been different, maybe she could have been the star her clan had wanted her to be. Maybe her parents wouldn't have died. What if…

"I remember learning the leaf floating exercise, back in the Academy. Oh, and there was the tree climbing one that my sensei taught me."

"The water walking exercise is actually the next stage, right after the tree climbing exercise."

"Could you teach me?"

Yakumo actually giggled at the puppy dog eyes the boy was shooting her way. "Another time", she yawned out. She had been doing that a lot since he had arrive. That last one might be his cue to let the poor girl get some sleep. "When I'm not so tired. I'll try to keep my strength up for the next time you visit me."

The blond nodded and got up from the surprisingly comfortable wooden chair. They both had finished their meals, and he needed to figure out what he was going to do for this next month.

-x-

Naruto had sat down at team seven's training ground. He was immediately contacted by his first real sensei.

The blond sighed, 'Master…' Once again, shame washed over him. He had faced an opponent that he truly had no way of countering, and had relied on others to fight his battle for him. He knew this was what Runa meant when she warned him that overuse of the contract could lead him to be unable to stand on his own feet. He truly didn't know what to say for himself, 'I'm sorry…'

"As you should be." Naruto flinched at her words. "But I believe you understand your mistake well enough and allowances can be made for both youth and inexperience. The real question is: what will you do now?"

Naruto's eyes hardened, "I'll get stronger."

"Don't speak out loud", the telepath scolded, earning another apology from the boy. "However, your answer was adequate, if not simple."

'Can you help me?'

"I'm afraid my attention will be elsewhere for the duration of this month."

Naruto frowned at that, 'Oh'

"Consider this your next test though." Naruto perked up at that. If nothing else, they may be a way he could redeem himself in his Master's eyes. "You have everything you need to get past this test. You have the skills necessary; you simply must refine them to perfection. You have three allies that will be willing to work with you, to spar with you. And you also have a young lady who may be willing to train you in how to withstand attacks of the mind." Naruto immediately thought back to Yakumo. He wondered if she would really be willing to help him train for the exams. While he didn't particularly care for Genjutsu, he also knew he would have to learn it eventually to keep his strengths up. At the very least, like Runa-sensei said, he may be able to learn how to resist illusions. Or even if she didn't want to help him train, he figured he could at least provide the girl with some company. She always seemed so lonely.

"So your next test is simple: win the Chunin Exams. If you succeed, under these conditions, then you will be ready for the next part of my training."

Naruto immediately remembered the Hokage's words. Even if he did beat everyone in the finals, there was still a good chance he wouldn't advance in rank. 'You want me to become a Chunin?'

"A pretty title, but that is all it is. I simply want you to defeat every opponent they put against you."

Naruto smiled at that. He could do that. Becoming a Chunin was harder. Becoming a Chunin meant that he had to impress some random judges, that for all he knew probably hated his guts. But this was easy…well not necessarily easy, but at least more simple. He simply had to have the ability to beat every person that stood against him. 'I'll win.'

"Good. I'll be looking forward to it."

The blond immediately rose to his feet. Without Runa to plan a decent training plan for him, he'd need to do so himself. He had a month to train and become strong enough to beat everyone in the finals, which meant approximately fighting three battles within short intervals. First things first, he'd call on the Panda trio and ask them to help him train…and hope they didn't think little of him. He raised his thumb to his mouth, planning to draw blood to perform a summoning…

-x-

"Hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen looked up to see an ANBU appear in his office, standing at attention. The old man smiled at the masked young man. "Ah, Cat. Thank you for coming so quickly." The man was nothing, if not a professional. Most people said he had taken a chance even allowing the young man to live; most would say he made the correct bet. Now he just had to make sure the last gamble he made didn't turn around and bite him in the ass. "I have a mission for you and your squad. I wish for you to shadow young Uzumaki for a few weeks."

Cat nodded. "Of course sir. Is there anything specifically you wanted me to find out?"

"He used the Kyuubi's chakra to summon three creatures during the exams. I just want you to make sure he isn't doing something dangerous."

"Are we allowed to make contact?"

"If it's unavoidable."

Cat nodded. It actually wasn't uncommon for a ninja to be tailed by a member of ANBU, and it wasn't even rare for the ninja to KNOW that they were being tailed by the ANBU. Reasons normally ranged between 'we think you're a traitor' to 'we think you'd make a good recruit'. Naruto's case seemed to be more along the lines of 'we think you are doing something stupid/dangerous and we want to make sure you stop it'. In that particular case, making contact and letting the target know you are there could sometimes prove to be useful. Good way to put the fear of kami into them and put them on the path of…well…not doing something they and/or someone else in the village would regret later.

"Can we engage?"

"I prefer if you didn't, but I'll allow you to use your own discretion Cat."

That was actually quite a compliment, coming from the Hokage. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

-x-

"Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm, and Fire!"

"EARTH"

"Storm"

"And FIIIRRRREEEE!"

Naruto cringed at the introduction, especially Fire's. "Do you guys always do that?"

"Do what?" Fire asked, examining one of his swords.

"Never mind", the blond grumbled. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to question his summons' antics, especially when he supposedly had to win their respect.

Earth looked at the boy, "So what is it this time? Need us to win another match for you?"

Naruto visibly flinched at that. He blushed and immediately looked down at his feet, refusing to make eye contact. He tried to come up with some excuse, but in the end all he could say was, "Sorry…"

Seconds went by, but Naruto thought they were going by excruciatingly slowly. He wondered what they would say after that. Would they dismiss him as their summoner? Berate him? Laugh at him?

He flinched when he felt a pair of 'hands' on his shoulder. "Hey…don't worry so much about it kid." He looked up to see Storm smiling at him. "We all gotta start somewhere?"

"That's true", Earth chimed in. Naruto turned to the Panda, seeing him crossing his arms over his chest. "While I'm not impressed with our first fight together…at least you're embarrassed enough to see the error of your ways." He smiled at Naruto as well. The blond suddenly felt like a weight was lift off his shoulder. So, at the very least, he still had a chance to prove his worth. "So, why is it that you summoned us?"

-x-

"Finally", Kakashi grumbled when he finally found his blond student. Once again, he was surrounded by those three summons of his, the same ones he used during the preliminaries. Kakashi frowned and turned away. "Well that was a huge waste of time", he grumbled.

He figured that Naruto would be spending time with his own tutor; he supposed that it just came as a bit of a shock to him. It was quite common for a student to have a teacher(s) from outside their current team…usually they were fellow clan members or family member, but another ninja wasn't such a rare occurrence. He just didn't expect Naruto to be the one to find another teacher. Either way, this was a golden opportunity. One of his students was already receiving supplemental instruction, so he could concentrate his time in teaching the other one. He just hoped the blond wouldn't become too dependent on those three.

He reached the Northern gate in record time and landed right next to Sasuke, who had apparently been waiting there for quite some time.

"Your late!" he snapped.

Kakashi actually stared at his student with a mixture of shock and amusement.

For his part, Sasuke just shrugged. "Naruto and Sakura weren't here."

Kakashi chuckled and began walking out of the gate.

"Where is Naruto, anyway?" Sasuke asked, walking beside the Jounin.

"He has other people teaching him." People wasn't the exact word he wanted to use, but he didn't really want to tell the Uchiha whom Naruto was actually training with, else he may become annoyingly jealous again. "Alright, so why are we leaving the village to train?"

"It's easier."

Sasuke frowned, "Easier for what?"

"For training."

"Why will it be easier to train if we're outside the village?"

"Because we'll be outside the village."

Sasuke glared at his teacher's back, the one thought running through his mind was how had no one stabbed this man yet?

"I'm going to be training you-", hearing the older man speak instantly perked the boy up. Maybe he'd actually be taking this seriously. "-to defeat your second opponent. That Gaara kid, from Suna."

The Uchiha frowned. "My first opponent is Rock Lee though."

"Good, I was afraid you weren't paying attention."

Sasuke clenched his teeth in annoyance.

After a full minute of walking, Kakashi added, "Gaara's the bigger threat. He'll actually kill you without a second thought."

The Uchiha frowned, "I fought Rock Lee already and lost, Kakashi." It was a horrible blow to his pride, too. He was supposed to be an elite, and he lost to someone who he later found out was the bottom of his class the year before. That was like losing to Naruto. Worse was, that Lee had done it with nothing but Taijutsu and he had his Sharingan activated. And then there was the fact that the boy, apparently, couldn't even mold chakra. What kind of ninja can't even mold chakra?

"Well obviously. From what I hear, you fought someone that can use nothing but Taijutsu…with Taijutsu. Do you see where you may have gone wrong there?"

Sasuke seethed. "Alright, so what do you want me to do? Light him on fire?" Actually, that idea did seem kinda pleasant. He may be able to get rid of that green jumpsuit and his eyebrows at the same time…he'd probably be rewarded for doing a public service.

"Not at all. It isn't a good idea to light potential allies on fire. They may take it personally."

"May?"

Ignoring the boy, Kakashi continued. "Rock Lee can't mold chakra. Which means that he can't do much more than the water walking." Sasuke actually perked up at that. That was actually a skill he was interested in learning. "That also means he wouldn't be able to use most conventional methods to counter Genjutsu. So, you want to beat someone like Rock Lee easily, hit him with a Genjutsu." At this point, Kakashi turned to glare at the Uchiha. "I believe you actually have one. One you got from one of your teammates."

Sasuke actually looked away from Kakashi at that. Though he didn't know why, it wasn't like he stole it from her or something like that. "I didn't steal it."

"No, you traded it for a date, if I remember correctly." At that point, Kakashi rounded on the boy.

Sasuke paled considerably.

"I won't have my students lying to one another. So, after these exams are up, you better fulfill your end of the bargain. You better take her out on a date…and it better be a memorable and magical experience. Got it?"

You could cut the killer intent, radiating off of Kakashi, with a knife. In the end, Sasuke could only nod.

And just like that, the waves were gone, and Kakashi was back to happy…er…whatever was considered happy for a man like Kakashi. Sasuke personally thought that it was safer to say the man was crazy. "Good. So you'll use the Heavenly Illusion: Raging Tiger, Striking Dragon: Swan flies over the waterfall in the Moonlight on Rock Lee, and then knock him out when the Jutsu takes affect."

Sasuke nodded, still not daring to speak yet.

"For now though, we'll figure out how to deal with someone who has a permanent barrier of Sand."

They continued walking for a few minutes, before Sasuke actually dared to speak. "Out of curiosity, what does that Genjutsu do anyway?"

"Sakura never told you?"

Sasuke frowned. In truth, she probably had told him, he was just too busy to hear her explanation, seeing how he was to busy planning out how to escape her without seeming too rude. He had felt that saying, "Hey thanks for the Jutsu, see ya later", would make him out to be an asshole. Definitely how he was feeling at the time though. "So what does it do?"

"It makes the target drunk…or at least think they're drunk."

Sasuke actually grinned at that. A drunk Taijutsu specialist definitely sounded appealing.

-x-

Earth looked down at the boy in front of him, his two companions off to the side somewhere. The two of them were in the same training field that Team 7 went through their 'survival exam' in. The two had just sparred with each other, which basically involved Naruto showing Earth his Taijutsu style. Both the one he commonly used and the moves he now had his clones use. That had been the first thing that Earth had wanted him to show demonstrate. Unfortunately, the Panda didn't seem too pleased with what he saw.

"Let's move on for the moment." Naruto frowned at that. "So, aside from this Shadow Clone Jutsu, what would you say is your strongest technique?" Earth asked.

"I haven't mastered it yet, but I think the Phoenix Flower Jutsu will be my strongest technique", Naruto answered, almost immediately.

"What does it do?"

"It lets me breath out a bunch of fireballs."

Earth nodded, "Let me see it." Earth gestured in the direction of a nearby lake.

Naruto grinned and went through the hand seals, "Fire release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" the blond immediately blew out three small fireballs into the lake. Steam rose at the points the fire and water made contact. Naruto then turned towards Earth, expecting to see the same excitement he had over it. Unfortunately, Naruto was disappointed. "I'm pretty sure I can do more, but I haven't actually mastered the technique yet."

Earth seemingly ignored the comment, asked, "What else do you know?"

Naruto frowned, but quickly went over all his other techniques. He only had two that could supposedly be used for combat. "Heavenly Subjugation and Heavenly Attraction."

"What do they do?"

"Let's me push and pull something."

Earth nodded and pointed to off the side, "Show me on that Rock."

Naruto quickly turned to the rock that Earth had indicated. It was small, maybe about the size of a football. Definitely something he would be able to push. He extended his arm out, "Heavenly Subjugation." The rock was immediately blown backwards by an invisible force.

That caught Earth's attention. "You didn't have to use handseals", he commented.

Naruto nodded. "Nope

"Something was different with it though. You weren't just using ordinary chakra for that technique." Naruto actually flinched at that. He really didn't like telling people about the Kyuubi. Earth nodded, "Is it the Beast?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Runa told me."

And just like that, Naruto felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. The thought actually made him smile, 'Trust Master Runa to think ahead like that.'

"So tell me, are you using the Beast's chakra?"

Naruto nodded, oddly feeling like he was a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "It's called the pulse. I use a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra, and that let's me use Gravity to push or pull things." As an afterthought, he decided to add, "I can't use it without the Kyuubi's chakra."

Earth thought about it for a moment. "Do you use the Kyuubi's chakra, this pulse, for anything else?"

Naruto nodded, "I use it to summon." The blond frowned at that thought. "But it isn't really the same. I actually link myself to the Fox's chakra, use the jutsu, and then cut it off after I'm done." As an after thought, he decided to add, "Master Runa says I can be taken over if I decide to try and draw out too much chakra."

"What's it called?"

"Huh?"

"You called what you do with the Heavenly techniques, the pulse. Do you have a name for what you do when you link directly to the Kyuubi?"

Naruto frowned, but shook his head. "Master Runa just called it the next step up from the pulse."

Earth turned away from him, "Then we'll call it the link, for the sake of simplicity." At that, Earth actually took a pause, as if sensing something. Naruto noticed him raise his arm up and make a hand sign before lowering it.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, "Is something wrong?"

The Panda just shook his head, "Probably not. Now", Earth pointed to another rock, much larger than the last one, sitting by a nearby tree. "Let me see what that can do?"

Naruto nodded and extended his arm. He thought about it for moment. Establishing the, newly named, link had become something of a habit of his ever since Runa first taught him how to Summon. Something akin to muscle memory. Using the link, without going through the actual Summoning process, caused him to have to think about it for a moment. After about a minute, he was able to mentally separate that particular process from the rest of the jutsu, and established the link with to the Kyuubi…feeling the familiar feeling of drawing the fox's chakra. After that he aimed, attacked, "Heavenly Subjugation", and watched as, not only the rock, but the whole tree uprooted itself and fell over…as did the six other trees surrounding it.

And then he fell to his knees.

"Naruto!"

Earth and Fire were at his side in moments.

-x-

"Oh, shit!" An ANBU hidden in the trees whispered. He wore a Tiger mask.

Another ANBU, one wearing a Rabbit mask, nodded. This one was noticeably the only female in the group of three.

The third ANBU, who wore a Cat mask, added, "Pretty powerful for a technique that didn't even require any seals." After an afterthought he bitterly thought, 'I'm gonna have to regrow those later.'

"I'm sure our leader agrees." The three ANBU turned to see the blue-clothed Panda join them on a tree branch. Tiger actually flinched at being caught spying; an action that earned him a harsh stare from Rabbit. "Yo, I'm Storm. You guys want some ale?" The Panda held out a small bottle of, what Cat presumed to be an alcoholic beverage.

"Hello to you Storm-san, you may call me Cat", the ANBU stated out. "My companions are", He pointed at the girl, "Rabbit", he then pointed to the last one, "and Tiger." Cat then took a moment to look at the Panda's outstretched hand. "You'll excuse me if I decline your offer, though. We're not permitted to drink on duty."

"Oh, no hard feelings", Storm commented, before taking a swig of the bottle himself. "I gotta ask…why are you spying on us?"

"That's classified I'm afraid."

Storm nodded, turning fully to Cat who he, correctly, guessed was the leader. "Any idea when you're going to stop."

"The very moment we are told to do so."

Storm nodded. "I understand. Just kinda annoying, ya know?"

Cat just shrugged, "I apologize for that."

"Are you like, looking for a particular piece of information or something?"

Cat shook his head, "Nothing in particular, no. Though I gotta ask, and we ask this to anyone who will probably be spending a long time in Konoha: Are you a part of some secret plot to destroy the village?"

Storm actually chuckled at the question, "Has anyone ever answered yes to that question?"

Cat nodded, "Actually, to my knowledge, there has been one man, and only one man, to have ever answered yes." Cat subconsciously clenched his fist, "Though that man was nine kinds of psycho."

Storm nodded.

"So, yay or nay on trying to destroy our village?"

Strom shrugged in response. "Well, I can say I'm not planning to destroy it right now. Not sure if that'll change tomorrow morning though."

"Well, I suppose the best we can hope for." Cat looked down to see Naruto finally stand up after the attack. The red clothed Panda, Fire as he understood it, had disappeared again and the boy was left with the one called Earth.

"So…" Storm began, catching the ANBUs attention again. "Just so I understand the rules; if I were to say, grab the boy and make a run for it-"

"We'd have to follow you and step in if you were to try to leave the village or actually hurt someone."

Storm nodded, "What if we found a super secret training field and hid him in it?"

"I'm almost certain that we'd find you, no matter where you decide to try and hide. I can't imagine you know this village better than we do."

A fair deduction Storm admitted. "I suppose not. Okay, what if we were to make a large distraction."

"If you do anything that causes harm to a citizen of this people, damage property, instigate terror, or in general: anything that may put this village and it's people in danger, then my colleagues and I will step in." Cat paused for a moment, before asking, "So, whom did Naruto gain this contract from?"

"Her name is Runa." Storm then began thinking over what Cat had told him. "But if we try to be sneaky without causing anyone harm, is that alright?"

Cat nodded his head. "I can't imagine you will have much success, but I suppose you're welcome to try. Hey, do you guys normally train you're summoners?"

"It's happened quite a bit in the past. Why, is this such a rare occurrence to see?"

Cat didn't answer that question, though he knew that it wasn't. He'd heard stories of Minato Namikaze training with the Toads he so frequently summoned in battle. And there were, of course, other and lesser-known summoners in the village who did the same. "Just curious, really."

Storm nodded, "Well, I should probably get out of your way. I'm sure you have better things to do than to talk to me."

"Nonsense, it was a pleasure speaking with you Storm-san."

"And you to Cat-san. Oh, and if you happen to find out when you're going to stop shadowing my boy-"

"You'll be the first I tell."

Storm nodded and stood on the branch he had been sitting on. He seemed prepared to leave when he turned back to Cat. "Hey, total hypothetical situation…if I were to hire a worker girl for a twelve year old boy, where would I go about doing that?"

"Well, first off, I think you mean a working girl", Cat answered almost as quickly.

"You are NOT going to buy that boy a prostitute!" Rabbit snapped, speaking to Storm directly for the first time.

"Why not?"

Rabbit turned and glared at Tiger…or at least everyone thought it was a glare. They really couldn't tell what she was doing behind that mask of hers. Cat could only sigh in embarrassment. He would have to make those two run drills, especially Tiger, for their behavior today.

"Oh of course not! How embarrassing of me to suggest such a thing" Storm said, looking not the least bit embarrassed. Cat conceded that he may just not be good at reading the facial expressions of a Panda…but he still didn't think it was embarrassed. "What I want is to buy my little buddy some Ramen" he made a pair of air quotes at the word Ramen. "Where can I buy my buddy some Ramen?"

Most of the village knew of the boy's infatuation with that particular food, which is probably why Tiger started laughing, very loudly, at that. Damn rookies. But despite himself, Cat actually cracked a grin behind his mask. Rabbit wasn't amused in the least.

"I'm afraid, you probably won't find any Ramen for a twelve year old boy in this village. I'm sorry to say."

"Well damn", Storm 'childishly' kicked an invisible rock. "Well, I guess I'll stop wasting your time." And with that, Storm jumped off the tree, and into the forest floor.

"Damn…I wish I had a cool summon that would buy me Ramen-OWWW!" in hindsight, Tiger knew he probably should have avoided adding those air quotes. He just knew it.

Cat could only sigh. He would definitely be putting those two through some drills.

"So, I don't think the kid figured out that we were watching him. You think Storm is gonna tell him?"

Cat shrugged, "Probably." He would have preferred to not be noticed by the boy, but it really wasn't a big deal if he knew the ANBU were watching him. Heck, most ninja were tailed by ANBU at some point in their lives for one reason or another. This wasn't really a special case…even if the reasons were somewhat unique. After all, there was a reason that he was assigned to this mission. He frowned, behind his mask, when he saw Storm walk up to both Earth and Naruto.

"Here it goes", Tiger said with a sigh.

Storm leaned over and whispered something in Earth's ear. After close to a minute, Storm turned and walked into the surrounded forest.

Earth then turned and spoke with Naruto in a low tone of voice. The boy in question actually looked better than he did previously. He didn't look nearly as pale as he did when he first preformed that pushing technique.

"What, why?" the boy asked, clearly confused.

"Amuse me", Earth said before turning and following Storm into the forest.

"He didn't tell him?" Tiger asked, clearly confused.

They all watched as the boy did a very familiar hand seal. In a second, Naruto was joined by over five hundred perfect copies of himself. After a moment, they all began walking off in random directions…leaving behind three irate ANBU.

"Hmm, well that's a big F.U.", Tiger commented.

-x-

Earth and Naruto met each other at the training field where Naruto first summoned the Panda trio. Naruto stood before a frowning Earth, looking at the Panda in confusion, "So what was that about?"

"Someone was spying on us." In truth, the fact that they were being spied on didn't really bother Earth, aside from the minor annoyance that is. However, it was probably something that they wouldn't be able to avoid forever, especially since they were leaf ninja, like Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened, "What, who?"

"Let Fire and Storm worry about that, we have more important things to talk about." When Naruto fell, Earth had been ready to pick the boy up and run to the nearest…whatever it was that humans called where their doctors gathered. It had taken Naruto a full minute to stand up and another twenty before he felt that he could actually use the technique again, as he recently confirmed when asked. Obviously the technique had taken a toll on the boy physically. Earth found the technique both strange and useful. On one hand, it didn't require any hand seals, which was a big bonus in his book. On the other had, he had never heard of a technique that required a cool down time. The Panda stared at the seven trees that were now grounded thanks to the boy's enhanced technique. "You feel better, now then."

Naruto seemed lost in thought. He was obviously still curious about who it was that was following him.

Earth clapped his hands to get the boy's attention. "Focus Naruto!"

The blond had the decency to look mildly sheepish at being caught not paying attention. Earth repeated his question and Naruto answered, "I felt better after a minute." After that minute, he had explained the cool down period of the technique to Earth. Earth had all but demanded that he sit down and tell him when he felt he could use the technique again. It had been nearly twenty minutes. Well…at least until Earth asked him to create a bunch of Shadow Clones to lose whoever it was that had been spying on him. "But I can use it again, if that's what you're asking."

Earth nodded, "I guess I should start by telling you never to do that again."

The blond actually grinned at that though, "Oh come on, that was awesome!"

Having the strength to uproot seven, rather enormous trees, as well as pushing whatever else was in the area that was small enough to escape their notice, was pretty impressive. "Can you tell me why you have to wait after using the technique?"

Naruto shrugged, "Master Runa said I should discover that on my own."

"How long?" Earth asked, but quickly rethought his question. "I mean how long do you have to wait if you just did a standard attack?"

The blond shrugged again, "About twenty seconds."

"Can you train that down?"

Naruto nodded, "Master Runa said that if I train enough, I can lower the time and increase the strength." He actually grinned as he thought of increasing the strength of that big attack. He could probably flatten a house with that. He would have flattened that Golem if he knew he could use the jutsu with the link. He instantly scowled at the thought though. That first minute he had been barely able to move. He had just felt so nauseas and weak…he actually thought he had been about the puke. Surprised he didn't.

"Alright, then that is what we should be working on."

The blond frowned for a moment. Before seeing what that technique could do under the link he probably would have been disappointed to hear that. Now though, he definitely wanted to take this technique further than he has already gone with it.

"I'm glad you agree, because there are many creative uses for that trick that you probably have considered yet. Like using it in the middle of a Taijutsu combo."

In truth, he hadn't really thought too much of it aside from knocking someone down and maybe deflecting a jutsu…and more recently leveling a Golem into the ground. Was it bad that he really wanted another shot at that damn thing?

"You ever fight someone with a really nice weapon?"

Naruto nodded, thinking back to the sword used by Zabuza.

Earth extended his arms out, then pulled it back to his body, "You say you can pull things right. Pull the weapon out of his grasp and have a clone run away with it. Just like that, you denied them of a weapon that may be important to their fight style." Earth grinned, "You could even use the weapon yourself, if you know how to." Nothing says fuck you like kicking somebody's ass with their own sword.

Naruto nodded in acceptance, "So where do we start, should I just start practicing on different objects around here?" Naruto asked and actually began looking around the clearing. There were a large variety of stones all around them. Maybe if he set them up as targets. As he was looking around, he noticed that Earth had walked to the edge of the clearing.

The Panda bent down and seemed to pick something up, though Naruto couldn't see what it was. After he stood up, he began bouncing the object in his 'hand'. It was a simple rock. "Unfortunately Naruto, this is where things will probably get a bit uncomfortable." Earth put all seriousness aside, and actually gave Naruto a toothy grinned.

Naruto actually paled somewhat. Was he actually suggesting…Naruto immediately dropped to the ground, just in time to allow the rock to sail over his head.

"Oh that's good thinking. The idea was for you to stop the rock with your Heavenly techniques, but do feel free to practice dodging while you're waiting for it to be usable again. It'll be good practice for the real thing." Earth said, grabbing a rock that was easily as big as Naruto's head.

The fact that he threw it at the same speed as the small one worried Naruto.

-x-

"They say that stealth is the greatest weapon that a ninja can have. I've learned various methods to do the same myself self…to walk like the wind, so to speak. If you want to be a true shinobi, you'll have to learn this lesson yourself."

Naruto could only groan in annoyance. "Why are we here?"

Storm shrugged, "Well if you get caught, you'd be likely to get killed here. If you weren't a clone that is." He said as an afterthought. "A lot of these women have far too much muscle to not be ninja."

"But why here?"

"Why not here? Might as well enjoy the sights while you're here…not that I understand what beauty is to you humans anyway. Plus there's the fact that these woman are way skinnier than I'm used to." Storm grinned, "Give me a three hundred pound Panda any day of the week." Storm actually growled at that.

And Naruto could only cringe.

"How do you humans court each other anyway?"

"Ummm…"

"We normally start by rubbing the delicate back hair."

The clone went pale at that, "Please stop…"

And he did stop…not because of the clone's plea…but because of the loud giggle that was coming from a few meters away. Storm glared, "Hey, that guy is perving in our perving spot. You can't just perv on another Panda's perving spot. We throw lightning at you for that!"

The clone groaned.

Storm made no mention of hearing the clone, he just continued glaring at the man, "It's almost time to go anyway, and you'll probably wanna dispel yourself after this."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked. He got his answer when electricity started crackling around Storm's paws.

"PERVERT!"

To both the clone and Storm's surprise, the man managed to avoid the lightning bolt, despite the fact that he had his back to them. A quick hit from Storm, and the clone dispelled. A second later, Storm disappeared in a puff of smoke himself.

Unfortunately for the man, his targets heard the loud yell and were on him in seconds.

-x-

"Ah!" Naruto blinked in annoyance.

Earth frowned, "What's wrong?" The two had been walking through the forest, back to the village. Though he would have to hide, to avoid stares of the non-shinobi, the Panda had wanted to see where his young charged lived. Which is when the boy had groaned the way he did.

"Storm is a pervert…he took my clone and started spying on the hot springs."

Earth frowned at the information. "You know what your clone was doing when it dispelled?"

And just like that, a light bulb went off in Naruto's head. Most of his clones were told to go out into the forest, and then walk until their chakra ran out and they dispelled themselves naturally. So it wasn't really that big of a surprise when he received the memories of them doing just that after they dispelled. He hadn't really thought much about it. This was much different though…that clone had just gone along with Storm, without receiving any prior orders. So it was a big surprise when he received the memories, and visions, of a pretty graphic conversation. "I didn't notice it before now…" all his clones had been in his line of sight prior to this event. No actually, that wasn't true. During the fight with Aaktsuchi, he had been lying flat on his back, with his eyes closed, when his clones were dispelled. And he knew they had been dispelled. "…but yea, I guess I do."

Earth smiled at the new information, filing it away under, Explore possibilities. Both Naruto and Earth stopped when they saw someone running towards them.

It was a man…

A very naked man…

"FREEDOM!" a very naked man that ran past the two without a second glance.

Earth blinked in confusion before asking, "That happen a lot around here?"

Naruto shook his head before turning back, "I think I know that guy."

"Friend of yours?"

"No, he's just some jerk that works at the hospital."

"Hmmm…"

It took the duo less than half an hour to reach Naruto's apartment. The moment he returned home, Earth began looking around the little apartment. "It's cozy."

The blond shrugged, "It's home." He looked around for a moment before asking, "Would you like something to eat or drink?" Naruto actually wasn't sure what he had to offer. He didn't think he had anything more than instant ramen packs…and maybe water. 'Definitely need to go shopping', the blond thought.

"No thank you, I won't be here long", Earth said, walking over to a nearby shelf. Naruto watched Earth pull a handful of stones from his pocket and place them on the shelf. He then turned back to Naruto and held up a bright red rock between his claws. "This is another exercise I want you to work on every night", Earth said before placing the red stone down amidst the many other, normal colored, rocks. "It's simple, you just have to pull the red one, without disturbing the others."

Naruto frowned. It seemed kinda silly to him.

"This exercise is mainly about control. Plus, if you can do this, it'll help you disarm someone without say…pulling their arm off in the process." Earth walked over to the side and gestured for him to begin. "Though I guess pulling their arm off would be another way to disarm them."

Naruto chuckled for a bit before extending his arm out. Though he was normally confident when faced with challenges…even he had to admit that he didn't have the best control. "Heavenly Attraction." Immediately, he pulled every single rock off of the shelf…and even managed to shift the shelf very noticeably.

Earth nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Keep a good distance away from the shelf. Make a clone to set the rocks back up and keep practicing." Earth commanded. As an afterthought, he decided to add, "I'm going to have a brand new training plan for you tomorrow…we'll discuss it then." And with that, Earth disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto frowned, but did as he was told. A shadow clone appeared next to him and immediately went to pick the rocks up before placing them back on the shelf. Naruto tried again, and even tried to concentrate on the red one, Heavenly Attraction", and came out with the same results. The clone quickly went to gather the rocks and place them back where they were supposed to go. "Heavenly Attraction." He had the same results. "Grraaaahh! This is stupid!" he said, scratching his head. Even worse was that he actually heard his clone laughing.

"Man…you suck!"

Naruto glared at the offending Shadow Clone. "Jackass", he muttered before aiming his technique again.

-x-

Naruto woke up the next morning and went about his morning routine. After making sure he had everything he needed for today's training, including his orange jacket, which he found on a nearby table, Naruto began making his way out the door. However, the thoughts of yesterday, Earth telling him that someone was spying on him, immediately stopped him. He frowned at that thought before making his way to the bathroom, which had no windows. He quickly made a Shadow Clone and sent it to walk through the village.

Thirty minutes later, Naruto left his home himself and headed the opposite direction. He arrived in the same training ground Team seven used, the first training ground he and Earth had practiced in before Earth decided to move. He figured that if he was being spied on again, it would be a good idea not to let the spies know every training ground he liked to occupy. A bit of blood, establishing the link, the correct handseals, "Summoning Technique: Earth, Storm and Fire!"

"EARTH!"

"Storm."

"and FIRRRREEEEE!"

Naruto flinched at Fire's shrill voice.

Earth was on him in a second. "Make a clone and try using one of your Heavenly techniques."

Thinking about that, the blond immediately shook his head. "I can't."

Earth frowned. Or at least Naruto thought it looked like a frown, "Why not?"

"Just can't. Every time I've tried using one of those jutsu with a clone, it ended up failing and just dispelling my clone." Months ago, he had tried going around the cooldown of the techniques by creating a clone and having them perform them. Back then, he had been so disappointed that his plan had failed.

"We'll worry about that later then. Have a clone use the Phoenix Flower Jutsu then."

Naruto did as he was told. The clone only managed to do about three fireballs though. The blond frowned, "Still not good enough."

Earth nodded towards Fire. The sword-wielding Panda just tapped the clone and gestured for it to follow him.

Naruto frowned. "What's going on?"

"We're going to see if you can train both techniques at the same time. You definitely have enough chakra to do both." By the end of the last night, though they had been training for quite sometime, Naruto still had plenty of chakra to spare. "When you begin to run low on chakra, Storm has a few things that he'll like to show you."

Though he already knew the answer, and it frightened him greatly, the blond decided to ask, "Are we going to be training the same way." He had gotten hit by one rock during the training yesterday…and it had hurt like hell. Honestly, he had thought that Earth was taking it easy on him afterwards, since it was the first time they were doing this training. He silently wondered how long that would last.

"Similar." Earth said, as he went to the center of the training field. We walked around the area, drawing something on the ground, with his foot. After a few moments, he finished drawing a circle into the ground, about three meters in diameter. "In today's training…you can't leave the circle."

The blond groaned.

-x-

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Naruto blew out four fireballs into a nearby lake. He grinned at what he saw. "That was the best I've done so far."

"Yea, it's a cute trick."

The blond frowned and turned back to look at Fire, "Cute?"

The Panda shrugged, "It's a nice start, but it's nothing overly impressive. You'll need to learn how to aim it properly if you ever hope to hit anything with it. Wouldn't be surprised if most people around would be able to avoid it all together, though." Fire thought that over for a moment. "Unless you plan to use it with all those clones you like to use."

Naruto's eyes immediately widened at that thought. He put his hands in a familiar cross-shaped seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Immediately another five clones materialized around the original one. They then all turned towards the lake and began another series of hand seals. "Fire Release: Pheonix Flower Jutsu!" The result was about twenty odd fireballs being shot at the lake. "THAT'S AWESOME!"

"Yea…but you're kinda missing my point kid."

Unfortunately, the blond(s) were still too engrossed in their celebration to listen to the Panda. Fire sighed and, with a quick swipe of his swords, the Naruto count was brought back down to one. That quickly put a halt to the celebration.

The clone just smiled at Fire, "Maybe I should try it with fifty?" For the sake of not broadcasting their position to everyone within a ten-mile radius, and possibly burning down a huge chunk of the surrounding forest, Fire immediately put a stop to that plan. Instead, the two immediately went to go find a more suitable training site.

They found it in the form of a large, dirt covered field. "The soil here is pretty moist, so it shouldn't catch on fire." Naruto frowned as he saw Fire pull out one of his swords and start to carve something into the earth. It was a three-foot long bull's-eye, composed of three circles. "If you plan on using the fire technique in conjunction with your clones, then you'll need to learn how to aim properly or you'll never be a serious threat." After a minute, three more bull's-eyes were drawn around the training grounds. "Alright, go stand over there and we'll test your aiming."

-x-

Several hours later

"So what do you want?" Shikaku Nara looked down at the blond man in front of him. Inoichi Yamanaka and Chouza Akimichi had been his best friends for many years. Despite his laid back attitude (read: Lazy) he knew in the bottom of his heart that he'd do just about anything for either of them. That didn't stop him from complaining about it though…if only to keep them from asking for too much. "I do have a son to train." He thought about that or a moment, remembering the joke between the trio, "You have to train Ino as well, don't you?"

Inoichi nodded, still not turning to face Shikaku. "I have a cousin running Ino through some drills. This is just something I gotta do before I can concentrate on Ino. And Chouza couldn't help me", Inoichi added as an after thought.

Shikaku crouched down next to Inoichi, and looked to see whom it was that Inoichi was spying on. He recognized the boy immediately as the Uzumaki boy, the container of the Kyuubi. Shikaku frowned. "You called me into the middle of the forest spy on the Uzumaki kid?"

"You'll never guess what I heard about him. During the Chunin exams he summoned three Pandas", Inoichi commented, staring the boy down. The boy was just standing against the tree. What the hell was he waiting for?

Shikaku nodded, "I see, so he summoned Pandas…" he paused for dramatic effect, then asked, "…am I suppose to know that that means?"

Inoichi sighed, "The Panda contract belonged to my aunt, Kreia. The same one I've been trying to find for years." Inoichi frowned at that for a moment, before grumbling, "She never shared that contract with the clan."

Shikaku smirked, "You sound like a child." That earned him a glare from his long time friend. However, he was able to put two and two together. "So you think your auntie has some connection to Uzumaki?"

"Not a doubt in my mind", Inoichi said, voice full of confidence. "I'm going to use my Mind Body Switch and read his mind for information. I just need you to grab my body when it goes limp."

"You wanna read his mind? Why don't you just walk over to him and ask him?"

Inoichi glared at Shikaku, "You serious? I'm sure that kid hates my guts."

Shikaku frowned. The trio had never hated the boy, or thought that he was actually the Kyuubi like many people in the village seemed to. In fact, they all believed that line of thought was an insult to the Yondaime. However, that didn't stop them from keeping their children away from him, when they were still at the Academy. They didn't hate the boy; they just wanted to protect their own children, and their clans, from the possible repercussions of associating with the 'Kyuubi kid'. Despite all of that, it wouldn't be the first time he had seen the boy associate with those that had previously hated him…that sensei of his from the Academy being the prime example. Heck, he doubted the boy even knew of their actions, and decided to voice this to his friend.

Inoichi sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Oh, he remembers me. I'm sure of it." At Shikaku's look, he decided to explain. "A few years back, I saw him playing alone with Ino and her pink-haired friend. People were sending odd looks their way. I was upset that Ino had disobeyed me, but I took it out on him. I-" the man sighed. Whatever happened, he obviously regretted it. "I yelled at the kid…made a huge scene. I'm sure he remembers me."

Shikaku sighed, "Kami, Inoichi."

"I know, I know. I always feel like shit whenever I think about it."

"Well, nothing says I'm sorry like mind-jacking someone's body."

Inoichi frowned, "I'll do something nice for the kid."

"Like what?"

Inoichi shrugged, "At this point, I'd be willing to vote for him to be the next Hokage."

"Well we both know that isn't going to happen anytime soon, so what else do you got?"

Inoichi glared at the Nara, "What are you the kid's negotiator?" Shikaku shrugged, but then gestured to the clearing. Inoichi turned, just as a Panda, in a blue outfit, came into view and stood next to Naruto.

-x-

Naruto wasn't tired yet, despite the fact that he lost a good portion of his charka with all the training he had done earlier. Though he was curious to see what Storm was supposed to teach him.

Storm looked down at the boy. "This is a good path."

Naruto glanced at the Panda in front of him, "You still haven't told me what kind of training this is."

"Awareness training." Storm paused for a moment. A very long moment. "Earth wanted to test you and see if you are, what you humans call, a sensor. If so, we'll teach you how to use that to your advantage."

-x-

"I think he saw us."

Inoichi shook his head. "I don't think so, he didn't even look our way."

Shikaku frowned. That pause was NOT a coincidence…especially not after talking about awareness training. "Want me to bind their shadows?"

"Nah, this should be an easy enough target", he said as he placed his hands in the Yamanaka signature seal.

"You're gonna try to hit a moving target?"

Inoichi scoffed, "I've hit targets at greater distances, and they were actually aware of my presence. Come on Shikaku, you know I haven't missed in years." The blond man smirked, "I have the longest standing record, of any Yamanaka, for never missing a target."

-x-

"So you think I'm a sensor?" Naruto asked, still not quite sure what one of them was.

Storm just shrugged, "Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if you aren't. Unlike Pandas, and most animals, being a sensor is rare in humans-." Storm paused, quickly reached over and pushed Naruto down.

"AHH!"

Strangely enough, Storm seemed to watch the area that Naruto had just occupied. He seemed to turn his head from the left to the right…as if watching something pass by.

Naruto quickly jumped to his feet and leveled Storm with a fierce glare, "What the hell was that for?"

Storm smiled, "Sorry, thought I saw a spider." The Panda said brushing some dirt off of the boy's jacket.

-x-

Back with the two elder ninja, Shikaku could only sigh as he glanced down at Inoichi's limp body. "So much for the record."

-x-

It had taken the group of Iwa-nins a few days to make it back to Earth country. Upon reaching the familiar landscape they immediately headed towards a fortress that bordered Grass Country, the country that separated Earth and Fire. They would be training there, instead of heading all the way towards Iwa. From the message the group had gotten, the Tsuchikage would be heading to the fortress in a few weeks and, together, they would make their way back to Konoha for the finals.

Their sensei, Kaede, turned to the two boys on the team. " You two go take a nap or something…you need it after losing so spectacularly." They were both understandably embarrassed by there loss. Kaede turned towards her female student and gestured for her to follow her.

"You should go easy on Akatsuchi." Yosuke was an idiot for trying to hold back against a superior opponent. Akatsuchi, she felt, was still cheated out of the win he definitely deserved.

"You better worry about yourself", Kaede responded. The two of them walked into a large, private, training room. "You'll need it after what I'm going to put you through."

"I disagree."

Both Kaede and Kurotsuchi turned to the third voice in the room. It was an old man. Red hair and beard. He had on a strange purple outfit and a brown helmet that somewhat resembled a crown in shape.

Kurotsuchi smiled at the old man, "Master Roshi." She then frowned when she noted something on his back. "Are you wearing a turtle shell on your back?"

Roshi grunted before slipping the straps off of his back and dropping the heavy turtle shell on the ground. "It's a training weight."

"What are you doing here Roshi?" Kaede said with a frown.

"I'll be taking over Kuro-chans training for the remainder of this month."

"Don't call me Kuro-chan!"

Kaede just glared at the old man, ignoring her student's words. "I can teach her just fine on my own."

"No doubt", Roshi replied, hoping to stave off an argument. He knew that Kaede wasn't one of the people who were particularly fond of him. Roshi held up an arm and began concentrating his chakra. In just under four second, a red and orange kunai had materialized in Roshi's hand. This was the reason he was nicknamed Yoton no Roshi (Roshi of the Lava Release). He immediately threw it to the side, hitting a training dummy directly in the heart. The Lava immediately spread and began consuming the dummy in red hot flames and molten rock. It literally melted into the ground. Throughout the demonstration, Roshi's eyes never left Kaede's, "But there are some things that I can teach her and that you can't."

The older woman glared at the demon container before scoffing. "Fine. Kurotsuchi, you're with Roshi for the remainder of the month. I wish you both the best of luck." With that, Kaede turned and headed out of the training room.

-x-

A few days later, found Naruto in the same position. He had just finished training with both Earth and Fire, and now he would be seeing what Storm had to teach him this time. Sadly, he had been confirmed to not be a sensor…so that had been a waste of time. This time, Storm was supposed to be helping him with his Taijutsu though, so he was much more excited at the prospects.

Hearing the Panda's approach, for he once again went to scout the surrounding area, Naruto turned to see Storm walking up to him. He could only stare at the Panda in shock; or, to be more specific, what the Panda was holding. "What the heck is that?"

Storm held the creature up, as if presenting it to Naruto. "It's a platypus."

Quack

Naruto just stared at the thing. "I've never seen one of those before."

Storm shrugged as he held the creature in the crook of his arm and pet it with the opposite hand.

"Why did you pick it up?"

Storm shrugged again before whispering, "I'm gonna use it in a sec." He ignored Naruto's questioning gaze and gestured towards the area he had just come from. "So Earth said you learned how to be a berserker from a scroll. Did you bring the scroll with you?"

Naruto nodded and the scroll up.

Storm gestured the blond over, "Good, we'll go through a spar and see if I can add any moves to the form.

Naruto moved to follow…but immediately stopped. His eyes widened. He was stuck. He couldn't move at all. From the looks of it, Storm was having the same problem. He seemed to be struggling very hard under some invisible force that was constricting the two. Suddenly Storm's arm extended to the left and behind Naruto…holding the platypus just behind the boy's back. Strangely enough, Naruto's arm extended in exactly the same way. "What the?"

Quack

Naruto frowned. Suddenly he stumbled. Whatever it was that was holding him had suddenly let go. He looked back to see Storm chuckling quietly to himself before carefully placing the platypus on the ground. It waddled off on it's own. "What the hell was that?"

Storm shrugged before gesturing in the direction the two were supposed to be walking towards.

-x-

Somewhere behind the two, Shikaku stared down at the limp body of his friend and at the creature that just appeared before him…his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Yamanaka's did NOT posses animals under ANY circumstances. Fact is, there were only three ways for a Yamanaka to detach themselves from a target. The first was a simple hand seal, quick and easy. The second method, which was a bit more advanced, was a verbal command; very useful in case the possessed persons hands were otherwise busy. The third and final method was for the Yamanaka to run out of chakra.

Obviously, a Yamanaka who possessed an animal would not be able to use either of the first two methods to get out of the boy…which left him with the last one. And with Inoichi's reserves, that could very well take hours to actually happen.

So to summarize the mission so far: they had just lost the boy twice, spent five days looking for him (or at least whatever free time they could afford during those five days), had yet to get the information that Inoichi so disparately wanted, and now his friend was in the body of a platypus. In the end, Shikaku could only think of one thing to say about all of this: "Troublesome."

Quack

-x-

Having no desire to stay in the forest for a few hours, protecting his friend from any danger, Shikaku decided to make his way to his Inoichi's home. It was possible one of the Yamanakas had some way to get Inoichi out of his current position. If nothing else though, he could trust them with Inoichi's body, plus platypus.

So, Shikaku started the long walk home, platypus in one hand and his friends collar in the other. Inoichi's body was being dragged, rather unceremoniously along the road. While he probably could have shinobi traveled through the rooftops. Unfortunately, doing so would have meant that he leave his friend turned platypus behind. Small animals, especially ones unaccustomed to traveling in such a manner, did very poorly in the hands of someone who jumped between rooftops.

So Shikaku was stuck dragging the body along the dirt.

Quack

It didn't help that people were staring at him.

Quack

Nor that his friend was really heavy. "You need to go on a diet."

Quack quack quack.

"Can't believe we've wasted so much time on this."

Quack

Shikaku looked down to glare at the platypus in his arm, "Next time you have a target that isn't moving…how about you actually hit him, eh Inoichi." Shikaku's eyes suddenly widened as pain suddenly erupted in his hand. "AAHHHH!" His scream didn't help the whole people are staring thing. Neither did the fact that he had just dropped Inoichi's body. Luckily for the blond man, Shikaku didn't drop the platypus. He just held it in both hands, making sure to keep his hands away from it's hind legs or, to be more specific, its rather painful venom filled spur. "Did you just sting me?"

Quack

Shikaku glared at the thing, looking into it's eyes, "You just freaking stung me!" Shikaku actually shook the platypus at that.

Quack quack quack

"You know what, you're a real asshole Inoichi!" And so he called the platypus an asshole…and the people around him called for the ANBU…

After a few moments things suddenly became, in Shikaku's professional opinion, Troublesome.

End

Omake: I don't think we're following the right one.

Naruto had been sitting in the park for hours, doing nothing but laying on the grass.

In the nearby trees, a group of ANBU had been watching him. Tiger turned to his leader. "I don't think we're following the right one."

Cat grunted.

-x-

The next day, Naruto was playing with some kids, the Hokage's grandson amongst them.

Though not unusual for the boy, the ANBU doubted that he would be doing so during the training month. Tiger turned to his leader, "I don't think we're following the right one."

Cat grunted.

-x-

The next day they followed Naruto, who had met up with Storm, to the hotsprings. The two had been sitting there for a while, just peeking on the woman.

Tiger turned to his leader, "I don't think we're following the right one…but can we please stay?"

An irate Rabbit then tossed tiger into the woman's side of the hotsprings.

Cat just grunted.

A/N: Not sure how much more of this training month I'm going to go into. I may just summarize it, or may go into details on a few things.

Anyway, let me know what you think.