Hey there guys and gals! I know it's been awhile, and I really have no excuse. I'm really bad at updating, but I have a new resolution to update way more often. If it works out, well you'll see more updates. I really like it when I update, so it's not like I don't want to, just not enough time in the day. But I recently read a bunch of awesome fics on this site, and it got me pumped, so here is chapter 8 for you guys!

To Inu-Neko Ayumi: It's rated M for violence and language, and much later, sexual content. Angst will come later on, trust me. :)

To Brandon Graham 88: Thanks! I appreciate the review.

Secret of the Shodai Hokage

Naruto stammered, not knowing what to say. "How can that be possible?"

Kurai smiled. "Do you doubt Hashirama-sama's abilities?"

"Of course not!" Naruto swallowed hard. "But how is it possible, that...that he's still alive?"

"Shhhhh! Don't say it so loud!" Kurai looked around quickly before resuming the conversation. "Well you know how he has Wood Release, right? Because of that, his cells never stop regenerating, creating an infinite loop in his DNA, and thus he can't age."

Naruto was still confused, but he got the gist of it. "But I thought he died in battle?"

"That was merely one of his techniques, a wood clone that bled and died like a human. Very remarkable actually."

Naruto thought for a bit. Hashirama Senju is alive. It's hard to believe. It's even harder to believe sensei told me this. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it ties in to what I'm about to tell you. After everyone thought Hashirama-sama died, he continued working for Konoha's benifit in hiding. Only the Hokages and a few trusted individuals were told, but not even Kakashi-taicho knows." Kurai shifted he position closer to the campfire. "Anyway, twelve years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked, the Shodai Hokage was forced into action. He helped the Yondaime and Sandaime hold off the beast until a masked man intervened. Mina...I mean Yondaime fought this man and forced him back, but not before the masked man caused some trouble involving you."

"Of course you were a newborn, so you had no idea what was going on, but you parents died protecting you from the Kyuubi. Then, not taking their sacrifice in vain, Yondaime sealed the fox inside of you at the cost of his own life. Hashirama-sama chased the masked man, but to no avail."

Naruto thought for a moment. "So the Kyuubi attacking Konoha wasn't a coincidence. It was a planned attack." He paused. "You still haven't told me why your telling me, and not the others."

"You have the Kyuubi inside you. You'll soon learn that's a pass to a lot of restricted information. It makes you special. Gives you an advantage. No one who knows who's inside of you will want to mess with you, for fear of angering you. Your best weapon should be the illusion that you control the Kyuubi. It's the ultimate bluff. But only use it in times of great need."

Naruto nodded gravely.

"One last thing. Very soon, things are going to get ugly. Hokage-sama even predicts there might be another war soon. So stay on your toes, and remember, I'm here for you. You can tell me anything." Kurai smiled warmly, and Naruto grinned alongside her.

"Sure thing, sensei."

The next morning, the gang set off for the Land of Waves again. They made lots of ground, and didn't run into any trouble. After a quick boat ride, and finally crossing into the borders of Tazuna's homeland, they continued their trek on foot.

Kakashi, who was walking next to Tazuna in the front, turned his head back and called back to everyone. "Another few hours and we'll be there." All the genin sighed in relief.

Naruto groaned after a few minutes. "Are we there yet, Kurai-sensei?" Kurai only chuckled and shook her head.

Another few minutes passed by. "Are we there yet, now?"

"No, Naruto, and asking five minutes from now won't change my answer." Kurai rolled her eyes.

After ten minutes of silence, "Okay, I've waited twice the amount as I did before. Are we there-"

"NO!" Everyone screamed in unison.

Naruto just pouted and crossed his arms, muttering to himself.

All of a sudden, Kakashi stopped the group. He felt another's presence lingering in the forest. Then, the presence suddenly disappeared. Kakashi waited another minute before shaking his head. "Nevermind. They're gone."

A few miles away, the Demon of the Seven Swordsman was retreating farther away, back to his base of operations. Two jounin? And one of them is...her. I'll need Haku if I want any chance.

Back to Naruto and the gang, they had continued walking as if nothing had happened, but Kurai questioned Kakashi with ANBU hand signals. He explained that he had encountered Zabuza once before, so he had remembered his chakra signature, and that's what he had felt just now. They told each other to be careful, but non-chalant.

Even with the two jounin on full alert, they didn't catch anything for the next few hours, and by then they got to Tazuna's home town.

He smiled nostalgically. "I'm finally home. Soon, the bridge will be done, and Gato's reign will be over!"

Kakashi, Kurai, and all the genin smiled and the man's determination.

"Alright Tazuna-san, my team and I will escort you to your house while Kurai and her genin scout the rest of the village. The old man and the young woman nodded an affirmitive.

"Let's go Team Shadow." The blonde, red-head, and brunette all followed their sensei eagerly.

No one noticed Sakura steal a quick glance at Naruto's back as his group walked in the opposite direction. Be careful, baka. She smiled as he heard the whiskered boy's loud voice dissipate in the distance. Did I just worry about Naruto?

"Sensei, when are you gonna teach us some really awesome jutsu? Like tree walking, or water walking, or maybe some genjutsu or something." The blonde propped his hands up behind his head in Naruto-fashion.

"That's right, you weren't in the same training program as Shinkei and Izo. In their early years at the ANBU academy, they learned to tree and water walk. That's also where they learned their chakra affinities. But you were put into the program last minute, and at the very end. Looks like I'll have to have some private lessons with you. In fact, we should get that over with right now."

The green-haired jounin stopped and turned around. "Shinkei, Izo. You two are perfectly capable of scouting on your own. Don't split up, and report to me immedietly if you see anything orth reporting. Shinkei, you can use your snesory abilities to locate us."

"Hai, sensei."

"Let's go, Naruto." The blonde genin followed Kurai as the two headed off to find some clearing in which to train in.

"So from what I remember, Naruto, you have three specialties. Shadow clones, which is a very odd specialty I might add, toad summonings, and the Rasengan."

"Well that last one is only thanks to you. I had never really been in a real fight before our first training session. It pushed me to use my shadow clones in different ways, and getting over my poor chakra control was a good use for them."

Kurai nodded as the two neared a nice clearing in the surrounding forest. Perfect for teaching the little bundle of energy.

"Let's work on something you'll grasp quickly, first. Create a shadow clone." Naruto obliged. Kuria then made her own darkness clone, which seemed to morph from her own shadow like liquid. "Now our two clones will go deeper into the forest and play rock-paper-scissors." Seeing her student's confused face, she smiled calmly. "You'll see." The two clones went into the forest.

A minute later, Naruto suddenly remebered beating his sensei in a game of rock-paper-scissors not moments ago. "Wait, what?"

He looked up to the jounin questioningly. She decided to quench his curiosity. "When a solid clone, like water, shadow, darkness, etc. dissipates, all of its memories and experiences get transferred to the original. Now normally this is used for scouting dangerous areas, but for someone like you who has massive amounts of chakra, it can be very useful. Can you tell me why?"

Naruto rubbed his chin, thinking very carefully for a few minutes. "Dunno."

Kurai deadpanned. "Dumbass! You can use it to train quicker! If you have ten clones working on one thing, when they all dissipate, you'll have ten times the amount of experience you actually learned. And since you can create clones in the hundreds, a jutsu that take years to learn could take you a few days."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and excitement. "AWESOME!"

Kurai smiled at his antics. "Yup. Now I want you to create fifty shadow clones and gather chakra at your feet."

Once again, Naruto created the seal and fifty other blondes appeared. They all formed the ram seal, and little dust clouds swirled at everyone's feet. "Good. Now each one of you try to walk up a tree." Fifty pairs of feet were heard trying to scramble, and in less than five seconds, fifty 'umphs' were heard, followed shortly by lots of complaining. But soon, there were more sounds of feet against tree bark, followed by more groans of pain.

This cycle repeated for about thirty minutes until Kurai called over the real Naruto. "Now dissispate all the clones."

Forming the Ram seal, there was a poof of smoke, and Naruto held his head in pain. "Too...much...information."

Kurai quickly ran to Naruto's side and gripped his shoulders with both her hands firmly. "Naruto!" she yelled in concern.

He shook his head and grunted. "I'm okay, sensei. I just had a really sharp pain in my head from all the experiences being tranferred to me."

"You scared the shit out of me, dumbass!" Kurai pressed Naruto's head to her chest, causing Naruto's nose to bleed and his cheeks to flush a deep red. She calmed herself and looked Naruto in the eye, as he was wiping his nose. "Don't dissipate more than ten to twenty clones at once, if you can help it."

"Got it, sensei." Naruto paused for a second, then faster than she could react, wrapped his hands around Kurai and hugged her tightly. His buried head muffled his voice. "That's the first time someone has shown that they care about my safety."

The second he said that, it tugged at the jounin's heart. This poor kid has never had anyone to look after him his whole life."I'm here for you, Naruto. Always."

Naruto pulled away and rubbed his eyes as if to wipe away tears, but when he lifted his hands, he wore a big smile. "Better get back to training, then."

Kurai couldn't help but smile as well.

"Shinkei, did you see that? It seemed suspicious."

"No, Izo. Nor did I see the past dozen or so suspicious things." The brunette rolled her eyes.

"But I really did see something this time!" Izo pouted.

"That's what you say EVERY time." I swear, sometimes I think he's trying to annoy me on purpose.

Izo sighed. We're all alone now. It would be the perfect time to ask her...

"You look troubled, tomato head. What's going on in that usually empty brain of yours?"

Am I that easy to read? Damn. The male genin fidgeted with his fingers and looked down at his feet as they walked. "I, umm, I was w-wondering i-if you, ya know, wanted to m-maybe catch lunch together o-or something later?"

Shinkei stopped and gazed at him for a long time. He was avoiding all eye contact. "Like a date?"

Izo's heart started beating faster and faster, until he thought it was going to burst out of his chest for sure. "Y-ya. Like a...d-date."

Shinkei looked to her left in a downwardly direction, and a sad expression took over her visage. "Sorry, Izo. I don't like you like that."

Izo's heart skipped a few beats, until his brain registered what she had said. Shadows clung to the top half of his face, and his lips quivered.

"I'm sorry, Iz-"

"It's that yellow haired bastard isn't it." It was more a statement than a question. Shinkei cringed as her teammate started walking again abruptly, with a face of pure rage on his face. His voice dripped a venomous connotation. "I'll kill him."

Shinkei gasped and started walking after him. "Izo, I don't like him like that. At least I don't think so..." The girl balled her fists and bumped them against her temples. "I don't know what I feel, but you shouldn't take it out on him. He didn't do anything!"

Izo kept walking, but Shinkei didn't take well to being ignored. "Listen you, asshole. The reason I don't like you is because you treat everybody like shit based on your presumptions." And with that, Shinkei stormed off in the direction in which she sensed Kurai and Naruto's chakra signatures.

Izo stopped with a sad look on his face. "Shinkei, wait! I'm sorry, I can change. I promise I won't judge people. I'll be nicer! Anything!" He ran after her, and slowed as he caught up. "Shinkei..."

She completely ignored him, and he decided the best course of action was to stay silent. Way to fuck it up, idiot. You made her mad, no, furious. Now she'll never go out with you.

Shinkei felt the rest of the team barely a few dozen feet into the forest. As she and her closely followed companion made their way into the clearing, they saw Naruto standing upon a little pond near the other edge of the area, with Kurai watching carefully.

The blonde was cheering excitedly. "I did it, sensei! I'm walking on water!"

"Yes, yes, good job. Now get over here before you fall in again." Naruto trotted over to solid ground and he noticed his two teammates. "Hey Shinkei!" He looked over at his rival. "Hey there teme-" He stopped when he saw the boy on the verge of tears. "Hey, Izo. Are you okay?" The boy simply nodded and turned his head away, covering his eyes with red tufs of hair.

"What happened, you two?" asked the jounin.

"Nothing, sensei. We finished scouting, and there's nothing to report." She shot a menacing glance at Izo, but it softened when it saw his poor state. "Nothing at all," she said in a lower voice.

Kurai sighed. "I'm gone for thirty minutes...and something happens." A pause. "Whatever. Let's get back to Tazuna-san's house. Maybe we can solve...whataver the hell is going on, over there."

An awkward silence settled over the group as they made their way to the old man's house. Expect for the occasional cough and sigh, no wordsd were exchanged between anyone. As they neared the door, Naruto sighed rather loudly. "Well that was awkward."

The rest of Team Shadow deadpanned.

They entered the bridge builder's abode, greetings were exchanged, food offered (and taken), and reports of no movement.

"Wow, it is really misty out there," commented Sakura. Kakashi caught Kurai's eyes, and a silent message passed between them. Be on full alert.

Well, I'm prretty sure this is my longest chapter. Again, I want to say that now that I have my internet, I will be updating chapters every week or so, again. If you have any questions about this chapter, or any previous one, feel free to leave it in a review, or a private message. If not, leave a review anyway! It motivates me to update quicker.

So about the relationships between some of the male and female characters.

Obviously, Izo likes Shinkei. Shinkei thinks she might like Naruto, but she's still confused. Naruto is as oblivious as ever, but will he stay that way? Sakura is shown to have some care for Naruto's safety, but is it more than that? And what of Kurai? What does Naruto feel about her, and vice versa? Will I stop asking questions? Who knows? Not me. Oh, there we go.

What will happen next? Find out in Chapter 9: A Battle, and Naruto's Unique Affinity!