Naruto: Rise to a Ninja

"And our first mission today is..." Started master Kakishi. He was an elite shinobi leader who wore his headband over his left eye. His whole life was a mystery. He had White, spikey hair and he wore black leather gloves with metal plates upon them. As well as the Konohagakure Jounin uniform, he had a bandage over his right leg's trousers, just above the knee.
"Survival excercises!"
"Whaaaat?!" Screamed the whole class. One person suddenly stood up, knocking over his wooden chair. Uzumaki Naruto.
"Havent we done all of these before?!" He screamed. "Thats not even a proper mission!" His recognisable yellow hair fluttered in the faint wind blowing into the classroom through an open window.
Someone else stood up. This time, it as a girl with long, flowing pink hair. "Our school days were full of survival training!" Haruno Sakura.
Kakishi sighed and rubbed his headband. "Well then, it looks like I'll have to split you up into teams now... If you go into threes, you can decide amongst you which mission you would like to undertake."
"Three?" Sasuke whispered, sitting back down and crossing his hands in front of his face. "Sounds like too many." Sasuke was the kind of person who swore revenge on anyone who defeated him in battle and hated everything... But there was one person he swore... To kill.
Sakura was more interested in boys than ninjutsu. Sitting down again calmly, she thought about her 'Inner Sakura.' who conferred with her on her decisions. She hated Naruto since she saw him as an obstacle.
Naruto liked eating ramen, plain or with miso. He loved Sakura, yet dreamt to be the Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves. Everyone hated him because of the dark secret that only the adults of Konoha knew about. He sat down noisily, not bothering to re-align his chair.

"The seventh pairing is.... Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura... And Uchiha Sasuke!" Kakishi called out. When he looked up from his list of pairings, half of the class had passed out. "Training begins tomorrow at nine!" He added cheerfully. Everyone glared at Naruto.
"What did I do...?" Naruto whimpered as Sakura threatened to choke him.
"I'm with my worst enemy..." She scowled, wrapping her hands around Naruto's throat.
....
"You're late!" The three screamed at Kakishi who had finally arrived at team seven's training grounds. He merely chuckled and took out an alarm clock from a brown leather bag he held and put it on a tree stump, setting it to ring in one hour.
"All you have to do is get one bell off me..." He signalled to his belt which held two bells attached to it. "...Before the alarm rings. If you don't, you have to go without lunch."
"That's easy enough!" Naruto shouted, balling his fist and Shaking it at his white-haired team leader. "You'll pay for making us wait!"
"Only fools speak so loudly..." Kakishi sighed as Naruto charged toward him, drawing a Kunai from its holster. He grabbed Naruto's hand that held a kunai, whirled Naruto around to face away from him and held the kunai he had at his neck. "I didn't say go."
"So this is an elite shinobi..." Sasuke gasped. He couldn't believe his first impression of Kakishi was that he was very unaware to his surroundings, always late...
"Wow." Sakura gasped at the same time as her Inner self. Everything that had just happened had seemed like a blur.
"Are you ready?" Kakishi released Naruto and pushed him away from himself. "Three... Two... One... Go!" He shouted as a cloud of smoke obscured his vision. Naruto must have released it from his bomb pouch...

"Ready or not, here I come!" Naruto shouted, leaping out of a tree behind Kakishi and landing on the grassy ground with his feet and hands. He stood up quickly an readied himself to punch Kakishi, who span around, revealing the book in his hand. He leapt to the side to avoid the punch Kakishi lightly threw and when Naruto, fustrated, leapt back toward Kakishi for a kick, Kakishi crouched below it, still Reading his book. Naruto growled and puched again from a standing position and Kakishi rolled over, closing his book and forming the sign of the tiger.
"Secret Technique!" He declared, pushing his hands toward Naruto, who yelled as he was catapulted over the treeline, splashing into the nearby lake.
"He's good..." Sasuke growled from the safety of the tree branch he was hiding behind.
"Nooo!" Naruto gurgled, pulling five shuriken from his pouch and tossing them out of the lake, toward Kakishi, who was Reading again. All the shuriken landed on his outstretched finger. Kakishi laughed as he grabbed them and twirled them around.
"No way!" Sakura gasped, looking out from the bush she was lying under. "How are we supposed to-?"

"It looks like we'll have to work together sakura." Sasuke huffed, landing gracefully from a leap behind Sakura. He had just seen what Naruto could do. It wasn't good enough.
"I agree." Sakura replied, glad that the leaves of the bush hid her grin. It was the best thing that she had ever heard. "What's your plan?"
"Look! Naruto!" Sasuke whispered loudly, suddenly pointing to the boy who clambered out of the pond. He was gasping and coughing up water.
"Kakishi! This is our first fight! I thought this was supposed to be fair! I cannot believe you... You are one but we are three!" Naruto lifted his hands up and made the sign of the bunshin. He spun around and pointed a finger at the lake where three shadow clones leapt out from, in artistic fashions, most doing sumersaults. Sasuke and Sakura leapt out of the trees to follow the clones who began charging at Kakishi.
Kakishi gulped, closing his book slightly. Suddenly, something hit him from behind, grabbing his arms and body, locking them in place. It was a Naruto clone!
The rest of Naruto's clones grabbed his feet and arms while the real one prepared himself for a punch to Kakishi's jaw.
"Relax, one punch is all I want!" Naruto boasted at how his position was better than Kakishi's
Kakishi rolled his eyes.
Naruto's vision turned dark.
He awoke to find an annoyed Sasuke and Sakura standing over him.
"What happened...?" Naruto clutched his jaw.
"He used the art of subsitution, we won't catch him at this rate!" Sasuke sighed, crossing his arms.
"We'll have to use his tactics against him." Sakura replied, scanning the area as she spun around. "Naruto, any more ideas?"
"I know how to subsitute. Naruto, you use your ninjutsu." Sasuke quickly said a plan, butting into Naruto's idea.
"I... Fine." Naruto sighed. "Sakura, can you distract him?"
"I would have liked a better job but I can do that." Sakura spoke and scowled under her breath. "Naruto... Trust yourself to chicken out and leave me as bait..."
Naruto sped off into the woods with Sasuke and Sakura in persuit. As soon as they reached the clearing, Sakura gave out a loud scream. The two boys spun around, panic-stricken. Kakishi was holding Sakura at knife point but he daren't kill her... Would he?
"Look. I have your beloved classmate. How would you save her? Sasuke! Kill Naruto, or Sakura dies!"
Anger boiled up inside Naruto. Sasuke wasn't a fan of Sakura but Naruto loved Sakura when she hated him...
"Leave her alone!" Naruto and Sasuke both said at the same time, running toward Kakishi, kunai drawn.
Suddenly, in a cloud of smoke, Kakishi vanished.
"Where?! How?! Naruto froze where Kakishi was before he vanished.
"Look!" Sakura and Sasuke pointed up into the air, where a Naruto clone was descending upon them. Knowing where he would land, Naruto pushed the two out of the way as the clone fell... But stopped.
"He used subsitution!" Sasuke pointed out, looking at a log. The students smiled as the knew where Kaksihi would be.
Tok! Pow! Paf! Bang! Boom!
Riiiiiing!
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura shared the bells amongst each other. Kakishi laughed as he was tied up between the trees. He could escape, but what would the point be as they already had the bells, and now the food that lay in his leather bag?

Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves, was one of five main villages. There was Sunagakure of the wind, Tsuchigakure of the rock, Iwagakure of the mist and Kumogakure of the cloud. There was a Kage for each village, selected as being the strongest or best leader.

"Naruto!" Sakura ran up the street, shouting to the boy who was looking at the Hokage Rock. He turned around, surprised that Sakura wasn't trying to avoid him.
"Hey, you ok?" Naruto asked as Sakura dashed up to his side.
"Yes. I'll tell you though..." Sakura slapped Naruto's headband lightly. On it, the leaf village logo was carved into a plate of metal. "... it's still beyond me how you got your hands on this! Did you take it from someone else, I wonder?"
"Of course not! You obviously came here for something, what is it?" Naruto asked, folding his arms and tapping his feet. He hated liars but loved time wasters but only if it was to do with ramen.
"Oh! Sasuke wanted to meet us in the park in half an hour. I was wondering..." She blushed slightly, looking down at her feet. "If you wanted to go to Ichiraku with me until then?"
Naruto uncrossed his arms, pleasantly surprised that Sakura would ask him out.
"This isn't a date!" Sakura looked up suddenly and growled when she sensed what Naruto was thinking.
"All right..." Naruto sighed, walking over to the bar with Sakura following him. As he stepped down the South main street, he asked Sakura what she'd eat.
"I'll go for sushi. I want to keep my brain in good working order." Sakura smiled slightly.

...

In his house, Sasuke was not so content. He lay awake in his bed, resting and daydreaming. His recent training had taken a toll on his chakra. He was disturbed though. He knew why everyone hated Naruto, what happened to his clan and why his home was deserted...
He opened the window by his bedside, leapt onto the street and closed it behind him. He needed to say something, to find out if Naruto was truly...

...

The third Hokage of the Village Hidden In The Leaves pondered over his shiny, gleaming crystal ball. The ball allowed him to see anywhere in and around the village at any given moment.
He was troubled. Naruto's tutor had another friend who was an elite shinobi too, but not of his rank. His name was Master Iruka. He had lost his parents during the battle with the Demon Fox twelve years ago. It was that incident that had shaped the future of the village. It was thankfully, the fourth Hokage that had been able to seal up the fox within Naruto. However, there was a danger it would find the strength to become free again...
"Hokage!" A familiar voice called out through the door.
"Come in, Iruka!" The Hokage spoke, looking away from his crystal ball.

...

"So, how's the ramen? Asked Sakura as she looked up from her sushi and twirled her chopsticks between her fingers.
"Greaf." Naruto managed to mumble as he wolfed down yet another mouthful of ramen downed in Miso sauce.
"Good. We have to go now though." Sakura ate her last sushi piece. Naruto picked up his bowl and tipped it toward his mouth, allowing the last bits of ramen and sauce to flow into his mouth. He wiped his mouth and brushed aside the drapes covering the entrance to the shop. Sakura stood to follow him.

Ten minutes later, Sasuke arrived at the park, holding a message scroll. Sakura and Naruto also arrived in the next minute.
"Hey Sasuke! What's up?!" Naruto called out, waving to Sasuke from the other side of a small grass patch between them. He dashed over the patch with Sakura.
"Listen, I called you here because I thought you hadn't heard about this and you might be interested." Sasuke handed Naruto the scroll he carried.
"What's this?" Asked Naruto as he unwravelled the scroll. "A cage deathmatch?"
"Yes, east side of town, the red building." Sasuke pointed over to the east side of Konoha, which was behind him. "It's more like a pit than a cage though. It's where the top ninja in the village battle against each other for credidentials and fame. Junior ninja are allowed to fight there."
"That's awesome!" Naruto held his hand up for Sakura to high-five but she merely waved him away.
"So are you going, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, stroking his hair.
"No, I have more important things to do. I doubt the dunce does though." Sasuke gave a slight sneer. "Teleport over there Naruto. "Should be easy enough to figure out what to do."
Ignoring Sasuke's snide comment, Naruto bowed and disappeared in a cluster of leaves.

"No way!" A voice shot through the building. "Gaara's got him cornered!"
"Is something up?" Naruto asked as the leaves around him fluttered down. Someone in front of him span around and saw Naruto. He stepped to the side to reveal a large pit lined with rails that had two people battling inside. The person replied to Naruto.
"This is the Cage. It's Gaara from the land of sand versus Kanto who lives here. Trouble is, Kanto looks pretty much cornered."
Naruto ambled over to the railings. Looking into the Cage, he could see Gaara had a large sand gourd on his back. He had dark red hair and a tatoo above his left eye that said 'Love'. Gaara started to summon up a wave of sand, the sand pouring out of his gourd as he manipulated the chakra within.
"How can Kanto stand much more?!" Naruto gasped, looking over to the exhausted and bruised boy who lay on the floor of the Cage.
"He can't, Gaara's won." The spectator stood idly, looking away from the battle.
"Then why is Gaara..."
The spectator raised an eyebrow but as he heard the whisper of sand and wind, he looked back at the battle, shocked.
"He what?!" The spectator leapt over the railings, using his hand as a support. He landed in front of the beaten Kanto.
"Horse! Tiger! Bear! Bird!" He shouted as he made the signs of each respective animal with his hands. The wave of sand Gaara let loose immediately turned in an arc, swooping back toward him but Gaara summoned a sand wall which the sand crashed into.
"Gaara! It's over!" The spectator shouted, helping Kanto up and perparing to leap out of the Cage. Gaara scowled.
"But I'm not yet sated..."
"Poison sand cage!"
"Wall of water!"
The attack of poison sand created small arrows in the air that were tipped with poison. The wall of water defense created a large bubble around the spectator and Kanto. As the arrows smashed into the water, they dissolved and the poison was washed off, blurring the spectator's view but he leapt out of the cage with Kanto before any more damage could be done.
Kanto sighed heavily as he was placed onto a bed made up of a cloth and pillow. Naruto ran up to him.
"What happened? I thought you were out of chakra!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Chakra means nothing to me. Besides, I was only cornered." Kanto huffed, rolling over on the makeshift bed. "Who are you anyway?"
Naruto grinned. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future hokage of the leaf village!"
"Has anyone told you that?"
"No, but I can get there!"
"Keep dreaming." Kanto nodded slightly.
Naruto turned to the spectator who had saved Kanto. He found it odd that he hadn't said a word since leaping out of the cage.
"What's your name?" Naruto asked, his head turning slightly to the side in question.
"Ah, my name's Soko." He smiled vaguely at Naruto. "From that look in your eyes and your presence here, I can guess that you want to go against Gaara, is that correct?"
Naruto nodded.
"Very well. Just don't die in there."
"I won't."

"Naruto versus Gaara! Match start!" The announcer shouted from above their heads. Naruto was now in the cage with Gaara. He wondered briefly if he had been too reckless but quickly shook the feeling off.
"Naruto... I can't believe you challenged the might of Sunagakure... There is something in me that seeks to destroy yet is barely contained... Sand Gathering!" Gaara slapped the walls of the pit behind him, causing them to crumble slightly. The remains of the small chips of wall made a small sea of sand. Extra sand also poured out of Gaara's gourd and infused within the wall chips. "Imploding Desert Funeral." The sand started to creep up Naruto's legs and drag him down into the sea of sand. He finally raised his bands as Naruto kicked and stuggled to get free. He smacked his hands on the sand.
The desert sea exploded where Naruto had been dragged down. A small crater was formed, meaning Naruto would have been crushed.
"He's serious..." Kanto leant on the railings as he watched the battle. "He could kill Naruto at this rate."
"You haven't heard? Of course you wouldn't have, you weren't part of the academy. It's only a rumor but..." Soko barely finished his sentence before a huge fountain of sand rose up from the arena, fifteen shadow clones rising with it. One of the Narutos held a Raesengan in his hand.
"Desert Coffin!" Gaara quickly summoned his sand upward, toward Naruto, who was engulfed again. However, Naruto quickly formed the hand signs for his clones. Two of them grabbed the Raesengan from his outstretched hand and crashed upon the sand with twelve others.
Summoning a sand wall, Gaara covered himself from all sides except his back to save chakra.
"I don't know what your deal with killing is, but you're about to go down!" The two Narutos with the Raesengan charged toward Gaara who summoned an extra sand wall in front of him. Stepping back, he noticed the two Narutos had dashed over the top of the wall and were now flying toward him, hands outstretched. He used his Desert Coffin again, the sand surrounding the two Narutos and halting them in mid-air.
But he hadn't noticed the other Naruto who was obscured by the sand wall. Naruto leapt over the wall, grabbed the Raesengan from the clone's hands and performed a forward flip, thrusting the ball of chakra into the exposed part of Gaara's sand shield.
It made contact with his body.
There was an explosion of chakra, the cage filling up with blue light. Naruto and Gaara were thrown to opposite sides of the pit In a mess of sand and clones.
"The Fox." Soko grinned.
Kanto stared at him in horror.

"He's amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a better Hokage than anyone who's come before!"
"Indeed. After all, he does have the power of the Fox, the beast the fourth sealed away, the monster who heals his wounds and gives him powers..."
"He also defeated the best Sand has to offer, Gaara."
"Yes, Gaara is also something. His sand seems to have a life of it's own. It keeps Gaara alive, but not in the way he wants to be."
"What do you mean?"

...

"Naruto!" Sakura called out as she gently tipped a bucket of cold water onto Naruto's nose. Naruto moaned and went back to sleep.
"Naruto!!!" Sakura yelled louder this time, pouring all the cold water in the bucket onto Naruto's bed. He sat up with a jolt and ran into his bathroom, screaming.
"He's always like that..." Sasuke huffed.
"I can't believe we have to look after this idiot!" Sakura commented as she threw the empty bucket into the corner of Naruto's bedroom. "He didn't even meet us an hour ago!"
"I can hear you!" Naruto called put from the bathroom.
"Meet us at the Council Chambers then!" Sakura called back. Annoyed, she walked out with Sasuke following her.

Half an hour later, Naruto arrived at the council chambers only to be greeted by a very annoyed Sakura.
"What do you think you're doing, being late at a time like this?!" Sakura advanced toward the doors where Naruto stood.
"Sakura..." Naruto wearily rubbed his eyes, stepping backwards outside again.
"Leave him alone Sakura. At least he's here. They're waiting for us in the audience area." Sasuke interfered, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.
Sakura gnashed her teeth, grabbed Naruto by the scruff of his neck and pulled him inside.

As soon as the three pushed open the doors to the council chamber's audience area, they were greeted with a flood of bright light. A booming voice echoed around the large hall that was decorated with the logos of other villages in existence, even not well known minor ones such as Star and Snow.
"We were expecting you half an hour ago..." The voice began. "Now we can begin."
It was the third Hokage. He sat at a table with two other ninja on the other side of the room. The table was ornately carved in the same fashion as the walls. The Hokage smoked from his pipe.

"What's up then?" Naruto asked in a very informal tone. Sakura felt like punching him, despite being in front of the Kage. Sasuke couldn't care less and as a result, crossed his shoulders and merely listened to the proceedings.
Iruka, who was sitting left to the Hokage, shot a glance at the third. He nodded and continued the discussion.
"Naruto, I'm sure you are aware of the Fox who destroyed the village about twelve years ago, are you not?" He began, taking the pipe out of his mouth and breathing out heavily.
Naruto nodded. He had been told of many of the proceedings over the past few years by Iruka, even though he never found out why everyone e detested him so much.
"And you did very well in the cage. You defeated Gaara more or less single-handedly." The Hokage smiled but noticed Iruka shot him a warning glance. However, Kakishi who was sitting right to the Hokage, intercepted it and allowed the Hokage to continue.
"You should know that there are Tailed Beasts that roam the lands. They have been sealed in many people over the past few years. One of which I can tell you about... "
"Let me guess." Sakura butted in. "With Naruto's chakra, the only beast he would have been able to defeat is the Ichibi, of the Sand."
The Hokage and Kakishi gasped. How would Sakura know such a thing?!
"Who told you this?" Kakishi suddenly stood up, requiring Iruka to restrain him.
"Even though Naruto has high chakra levels, those levels only surpass those of the Ichibi." Sakura turned to a shocked Naruto and Sasuke. "Why do you think I opted not to go to the Cage?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth, turning away. He had it figured out by now but he wasn't going to tell anyone. He knew Naruto was the Kyuubi, the nine-tails demon that surpassed every other beast when released. Even Konoha...
"I'm going home." Sasuke turned to walk out of the doors from the meeting. Sakura promptly followed.
"Be careful around Gaara." The third Hokage warned Naruto, placing the pipe in his mouth again. "He wants to kill you. Everyone."

...

"Gaara!"
Gaara of the Sands was in the cage again. This time however, he fought a Hidden Leaf Genin. Negi. Gaara poured out sand from the gourd on his back as he waited for Negi to prepare his attacks.
However, Negi just stood still, eyes closed.
Sighing, Gaara brought his fists up in front of his face and stretched his arms, summoning up sand that was ready to entwine and crush Negi. He still didn't move.
"Desert Coffin!" Gaara declared, the sand pushing itself into Negi, crushing him. However, no blood appeared on the sand.
"Taiju Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Gaara span around, hearing a voice from behind him. He was immediately kicked in the face by a clone that sent him flying into the sand that dropped down from the wooden log he had crushed. Gaara sat up quickly, part of his face breaking away like a sandy skin.
"Don't let him trick you Gaara!" Someone called out from behind the spectator's railings above the pit. It was Temari, Gaara's older sister. She had blonde hair and a giant Japanese fan was tied onto her back. Her dress was cut in such a way that a diagonal line cut from the top of her left knee to her right hip. She wore netted shorts underneath. Next to her was Kankuro, Gaara's brother. He had two red lines stretching from his eyes halfway to his jaw. He wore a strange hat which looked like part of his one piece "pigskin" suit. He had three scrolls on his back.
"Temari? What are you doing here? I can manage." Gaara scoffed, looking toward his foe. It was none other than an exhausted Naruto with five clones behind him.

"So you're saying you can manage against someone who beat you last time you fought?" Temari huffed. She then whispered to Kankuro. "Naruto wanted a rematch. How else would Negi know Taiju Kage Bunshin?"
"Guess the Hokage told him then. He can't keep secrets." Kankuro leant with his elbows on the railings.
"Gaara! You would really kill wouldn't you..." Naruto gasped, thankful he was in time to avoid the Desert Coffin. If he didn't...
"Why do you fight me again?" Gaara scowled, attempting to keep his sand at bay.
"Why do you even fight in the first place?!" Naruto yelled, his clones vanishing in smoke.
"To quench my thirst for blood..." Gaara grinned, releasing his sand which flew toward Naruto at an alarming rate. Temari was shoved to the side to make way for a new challenger that kept into the pit, landing in front of Naruto. He moved his hands in the direction of the sand at lightning speed, summoning up a trigram. The trigram turned into a shield in front of Negi and hundreds of little sand arrows crashed into it and dropped to the ground.
"I sucked the chakra out of your sand... If a copy isn't good enough, what about the real version?" Negi assumed a fighting stance, his ponytail swishing in the wind as the Trigram faded away.
"Brilliant. But first..." Gaara sneered evilly as more sand poured out of his gourd, transforming into a fist.
"Naruto!" Negi shouted, but he was too late. The fist of sand crashed into Naruto, propelling him into the Walls of the pit. As he dropped down into the sand face-first, the walls crumbled slightly around him and he was buried slightly under the rubble. Negi turned to Gaara, furious, as his sand flew back into his gourd.
"Byugakan!" Negi held the first two fingers of his right hand in front of his face, the area around the eyes crinkling as chakra flooded into them. His eyes were a shocking white. He was now able to see where his opponent's chakra points were.
"Give me your blood... Quench my thirst..." Gaara snickered, crossing his arms and standing upright.

Negi leapt into the air over Gaara. If he could pull of his trademark move, he would win easily.
He halted mid-air.
Something was wrong.
"Gaara!" Temari called out. She had seen Gaara move his wrist only slightly and the sand from his gourd had surrounded Negi in a sphere. She knew what was going to happen next.
Inside the sphere, Negi grew furious. Was Gaara still trying to use his sand that could easily be rendered ineffective? However, trapped in the ball, he couldn't tell what was going to happen next, whether this was a trap or...
A giant fist slammed into the ball, Smashing Negi and the sand into the side of the pit. At the last minute, Negi had poured his chakra into his vital points, strengthening them. As he slid down the wall, he landed on his knees. He barely had time to look up before he heard a series of gasps and Temari's call of: "What have you done, Gaara?!"
Coughing up a small amount of blood, Negi rolled slightly to the side, taking his chakra in again. He surveyed the massive beast before him.
"Shukaku..." He gasped. A huge raccoon with one tail had manifested itself, taking the place of Gaara. Shukaku was the demon of the wind. He was covered entirely in sand.
Shukaku raised a large paw, smashing it down on Negi's previous location before he dived out of the way. Quickly transferring chakra into his eyes, he started a new trigram technique. He wasn't going to let himself be threatened by this beast!
"Sixty-Four Trigrams Palm Attack!" Negi leapt into the air toward Shukaku. He pulled his hands back, ready to strike Shukaku's chakra points and absorb his chakra.
Roaring, Shukaku swatted Negi away from him like a fly. He landed with a mighty crash next to Naruto.

"How much more can they put up with?!" Temari gasped.
"Look! Someone's still alive." Kankuro pointed over to the two ninja lying next to each other. Naruto was groaning and picking himself up off the sand, coughing it out of his mouth. He stood up straight, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
"I have an idea." Temari whispered, pulling two shuriken out of her holster.
"What was that?" Kankuro looked over to her.
"Nothing." Temari dismissed the question.

"Raesengan!" Naruto had managed to awaken himself and he now dashed toward Shukaku with a large Raesengan in his outstretched hand. The clone that had helped him make it vanished behind him.
"Just so you know, an attack used twice won't work on me.". A human's voice came from within Shukaku. Shukaku roared, balling his paw and thrusting it toward Naruto.
Both attacks hit dead on, sending dust and sand into the air. The spectator's view became blurred and many had to leave to clear their eyes. A hole in the wall had emerged where Shukaku had been thrown to. The dust flew out through it into the open air beyond.
"He promised us he wouldn't summon Shukaku again." Temari gnashed her teeth, holstering her Shuriken again.
"He'll have been thrown out there. Naruto will also be dead now." She turned to leave and Kankuro stood up straight to follow her.
A coughing voice emerged from the dust.
"Well done Naruto... That was a good Raesengan you formed there. Good idea on... Using my chakra... For it too..."

"So how hard can a treasure-hunting mission be?" Naruto smiled at the group as he crossed his arms. It had been a week since Naruto and Negi had fought Gaara in the pit. The Treasure Hunt mission had been assigned as a midway test to measure the team's skills.
"Quite hard..." Hinata tapped the first fingers of each of her hands together shyly. "Let's do our best..."
"Of course." Negi crossed his arms as well. "I hope you realise though that The Third Hokage said that if we fail, we will be sent back to the academy."
Hinata glanced at Naruto unnervingly. She whispered to herself under her breath. "Well, your success rate has been low recently..."
"Just don't drag us down." Negi frowned, brandishing the treasure map.
Naruto stared at him with a totally blank face.
Negi led the group out of Konoha's gates, over a large rocky plain with trees surrounding it. A path made out of gravel and dust lay ahead.
"At this rate we'll have found the treasure by lunchtime!" Naruto cheered, looking at the sky. It was about 10am.
"We're travelling at eight miles an hour currently and it's eighteen miles to the treasure." Hinata read out the directions on the map. She pointed to the thick treeline ahead of them. "Let's take a shortcut. If we leap through the treeline, we can cover about twelve miles an hour."
"Let's do that then." Negi leapt onto the high treebranch in front and above him, using his chakra.

An hour later, the group had covered a little over twelve miles as predicted.
"There's a cliff here..." Naruto leapt onto the last treebranch in front of him, crouching down on it. The cliff was approximately half a mile high and was at an elevation of about sixty-five degrees. There were many rocks embedded into it, making it look like an easy climb.
"Naruto, this map says the best way is back here..." Negi surveyed the map with Hinata, pointing a finger behind him and slightly to the east.
"Yeah yeah, know-it-all Negi... Come with me Hinata, this will make a good shortcut." Naruto extended his hand to Hinata, who was crouched on a branch behind him. Negi rolled his eyes, starting off in his own direction. Hinata didn't know why she decided to follow Naruto but she leapt over to his branch and clutched his hand.
And they were off.

As soon as they reached the halfway point on the cliff, Hinata collapsed on a wide, flat ledge, panting heavily.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he prepared to climb the next section.
"Shouldn't we rest?" Hinata sighed, lying down gently and observing the clear sky. "I don't have as much stamina as you do..."
"All right then." Naruto released his grip from the rocks in front of him and sat down next to Hinata, one leg flat and the other bent and his right hand resting upon it.
"Thanks..." Hinata sighed.

Negi, upon reaching the top of the cliff from his alternative path through the trees, was still fit and well. The small patch of meadow in front of him boasted a few sunflowers and dasies. Behind the sunflower meadow, there was a large cave that seemed to be protuding out of the ground. Smiling to himself, Negi set forward, pushing sunflowers out of his way as he walked.
Inside the cave, water dripped off stalactites and there were Many stalagmites on the cave floor. Negi thought this place must have been underground until recently, which was odd as flowers were growing just outside the cave entrance. In the centre of the cave was a large, wooden chest.
"Spot on." Negi smiled again, running onward. He was however cautious of the dark shadows caused by the stalagmites against the afternoon sun outside.

"That battle against Gaara in the cage was amazing wasn't it?" Naruto boasted, flexing his thin arms. "I even pulled off that Raesengan and smashed him outside! I heard after the battle, he was so injured he had to revert back to his own form."
"Sorry, I didn't watch, but I heard some loud sounds from the direction of the red building..." Hinata blushed, tapping her fingers against each other. She suddenly looked up toward the treeline that stretched out in front of them. Naruto's ears suddenly pricked up.
"What was that sound?" He gasped, standing up. "It sounded suspiciously like a smoke bomb being thrown but someone else infused a sleeping drug within it."
"That's a good deduction." Hinata stared at Naruto, wide-eyed.
"Actually it was just a guess..." Naruto laughed sheepishly before two small bombs landed in front of his feet and exploded, letting off a small cloud of sleeping gas. When Negi opened the chest in the cave, the same thing also happened to him.

"Hah!" Negi heard Naruto shout before he eased his eyes open. He tried to move his hands from behind his back but they were bound together by wire. He pushed himself up to a sitting position.
Above himself, Naruto could see a metal grille. He immediately knew he had been imprisoned in a natural rock chamber with Naruto and Hinata. Four people stood on top of the grille but only one was clearly visible. He introduced himself as the contact who requested the mission to find the treasure.
"Who the hell are you?!" Naruto demanded an answer, standing up even though his hands were bound.
The contact merely shook his head, raising an eyebrow as Hinata seemed to wake up too. "Congratuations on finding the treasure. Naruto, is it?"
Naruto bared his teeth and nodded, even though he hadn't actually been the one to find it. He shot a glance at Negi, warning him he had some questions to ask later.
"Konoha, is it?" The contact asked as he smiled wickedly.
Now that was a weird question. He explained further. "I asked the Hokage for several Ninja teams to find some treasure that was dotted at several different points on the map. This means that there aren't many Ninja in Konoha now, is that right?"
Growling, Naruto balled his bound fists and shouted up. "What's the point? Why do you want to make Konoha defenceless?"
The contact turned to his sons and daughter. "What a nice copy." He commented. He then turned back to the Ninja. "For the purpose of disguise. The Hokage, he wrecked our bloodlines, our clans..." He breathed deeply, shaking a fist at the trapped kids. "Our clan died because of him. This incident was psychologically worse than that famous Uchiha incident... Is that right?"
"How are we supposed to know?!" Naruto replied.
"Because I will show you." He turned to leave, his cape flowing in the wind. Naruto heard him ushering his children out of the cave.

"Right. How do we get out? Negi." Naruto turned to face Negi. "You're the one with the brains. You tell us."
Negi looked up at Naruto, annoyed. "You dragged us into this! It's your turn to think of a way out." He turned around on his bottom and put his legs together, huffing noisily.
"I think we're going to die..." Hinata tapped her fingers together behind her back. "Even Negi is avoiding us now..."
"Oh come on!" Naruto roared. "Where's the resolve? The strength! I'm sure someone other than me can find a way out!" Naruto groaned as he sat down on the cold rock.
"Urm..." Hinata gasped quietly and looked up. Through the metal, she could see several exploding tags attatched to the stalactites above them.

Negi, Naruto and Hinata ha managed to get out of the cave. Brushing themselves off after using many jutsu that helped them tunnel through the weak rock, they observed it was around lunchtime now. Naruto was in despair for the clones looked so perfect, if they behaved correctly, no-one may be able to tell the difference. He hoped someone would notice the danger one way or another.

The contact, walking with the clones of the ninja, made his way to the Hokage Chambers. When he came to the gate surrounding the building, the guards bowed and the doors were opened freely.
"Please visit the Hokage, he wishes to see you." One of the guards smiled as he stood up straight again.
"Of course." The contact ushered his clones into the walled area, toward the doors of the building itself.
However, in the chambers, there was a meeting between the third, Iruka, Kakishi and Gaara. This halted the contact's progress. Even so, he found it strange and rightly so, for the same meeting had been held for Naruto's team. The four ended up having to wait over half an hour outside before they could enter. This gave the real team enough time to get to the village.
In fact, they were already there.

"Oh, we're next? Thank you." The contact spoke to the guard as Gaara stepped out through the opening doors and they stepped in. Gaara's eyes flashed briefly as he passed the contact and his clones. He remained in the doorway for a second instead of going out.
"Gaara?" The guard asked as he began to close the door behind the boy.
"Yes?" He replied, turning his neck to see the guard.
"Just spaced out?"
"...Yes." Gaara sighed quietly as he stepped away slowly. The door shut with a bang behind him.

"We have to find them!" Naruto yelled, dashing toward the council chambers and leaping past many citizens carrying large boxes of groceries. Negi followed wordlessly.
"Hinata, do a recon!" Naruto ordered.
Hinata nodded, her face creasing up as she activated her Byugakan and leapt onto the nearest building.

"Please, be seated!" The third spoke, sitting in his own chair behind his desk. The glass windows of his office allowed the afternoon light to shine in and helped his receding eyesight. "Have you completed the errand?" He asked the clone team as they remained standing and the contact sat in a lone wooden chair in the center of the room.
"Sadly, no, but we do have some other news." The clone Naruto spoke, imitating Naruto's voice perfectly.
"Other news?" The third pulled the pipe he had been smoking out of his mouth so he could speak.
This time, the clone Negi spoke. "Yes. You should know, we-"
"Are fakes!" The real Negi smashed the doors open, cracking the windows behind the Kage. As the real Naruto, Negi and Hinata poured into the room, each one of the clones pulled a nasty look of despair.
"Even dogs can't smell the difference!" The clone Negi scowled. He fixed his eyes on the Kage, dashing toward him and leaping over his desk. Suddenly, a sand wall formed in the gap between the two which Negi smashed into, giving the Kage time to leap up and throw his pipe away. Gaara stepped silently through the open door behind the real Naruto. The duplicated Hinata stood up straight and pulled Negi off the desk, starting their signature Trigram technique.
"Stop them!" The real Negi shouted, but it was too late. As the sand wall disspiated, trigrams begun to appear around the two ninjas. It began to take form and spin around.
"Oh no you don't!" The third shouted, grabbing their ankles and performing Kai-Release with one hand each. The technique ended instantly but Naruto's joy was short-lived. The contact dashed toward Naruto and Gaara and with insane strength and speed, pinned them to the walls by their necks with his bare hands.
"What strength!" Gaara choked, struggling to get free. Sand poured out of the gourd still on his back and span toward the contact in an arrow shape, smashing into him and forcing him out of the centre window of the Kage chambers. This maneuvre forced the third to duck below the flying body and release the clone Hinata and Negi.

Rubbing his neck and observing his clone, Naruto assumed a fighting stance. With a sickeningly evil grin, the clone leapt out of the window behind the third with Hinata and Negi.
"I guess their plan failed now the contact is... Somewhere." Naruto chuckled lightly. The group regrouped.
"We have to go after them. Who knows why they hunted the third down?!" Negi coughed and pointed to the window they had dived through.
"You have my permission." The third stood up from behind his desk.
Naruto clenched and unclenched his fist.
"No-one copies me and lives!" He dived through the window. Negi followed. Sharing a glance with the third, Hinata leapt through.

On the streets below the Kage chambers, passer-bys could see lots of people leaping out of the windows. Many were shocked at the prospect of more than one Naruto, Negi and Hinata leaping over their heads. Following them closely was Gaara.
"What's going on?" Sakura wondered in bewilderment as she stepped out of the nearby Konoha library, books in hand, in time to see this event. Looking up into the blue sky, she did not see the oncoming clone Naruto who smashed into her, sending her books flying. As the clone Naruto continued to dash past her, she knelt on the ground, rubbing her eyes and wondering what just happened.
Pulling a book off her head, she opened her eyes slowly, uttering a few words as she did so.
"Naruto, if I see you again, I'll..." She gnashed her teeth, her eyes open. The real Naruto was standing just in front of her, his hand outstretched. Rejecting this invitation, Sakura stood up, furious.
"Hey...?" Naruto gasped before he was punched skyward by Sakura's toughest attack. Flying in the air across Konoha like a shooting star, he wondered what had just happened.

"There goes Naruto." Negi frowned, looking up at the flying object in the sky. He was chasing after his own clone, dashing over the rooftops. In front of the clone was a house with a balcony. Leaping over the rail, it continued to dash forward. Negi followed with the same maneuvre but when the clone reached the end of the balcony, he leapt upon the rail, span around and dropped into the street.
Detecting his plan, Negi activated his Byakugan, his face creasing up and his eyes becoming a solid white. He grabbed hold of the rail and propelled himself to the next house's roof. He decided that being higher than the clone was a good thing as he dashed upon the rooftops and the clone, the streets.
"Bunshin!" The Negi on the streets clasped his hands together, creating the sign of the tiger. Pouring chakra into his hands, two clones appeared side by side and immediately continued running and following the clone Negi.
"Argh!" The real Negi bit his tongue when he realised these clones could be used as a distraction but the worst news came when the clone dashed toward a blank wall ahead of hin and started dashing up it with his two clones. At the top, he leapt up and started the signature Trigram technique.
"Oh no you don't" Negi quickened his pace, throwing himself over a rooftop toward his imposters. What they thought was a simple tackle, Negi's hands were actually infused with chakra that would absorb the other person's and infuse it into his Byakugan...

"Negi!" Hinata gasped from the other side of Konoha, upon the Kage faces in the rock. She had seen him dive toward his clones but her attention was immediately diverted when Gaara brought up a sand wall to shield them from an oncoming strike. There was a faint thud as the sand crumbled down to Gaara and Hinata's feet. It was none other than Hinata's clone who had punched the sand.
"She absorbed the chakra from it!" Gaara gasped as he stepped away from the girl who was advancing toward him. The real Hinata knew that only she would be a match for a chakra absorber because Gaara's sand relied on having chakra in it to be able to be controlled. Feeling ignored, she struck a kick toward the clone who stopped advancing and grabbed her foot with her right hand. She brought the foot up, causing Hinata to tumble and almost slip off the head of Yondaime Hokage.
Thinking quickly, she grabbed the side of the Yondaime's hair and brought her foot up over her head. Not knowing what she was thinking, the clone Hinata yelled as she was thrown into the air, toward the streets.

Naruto's eyes opened slowly to a deserted scene. Sakura and her books were gone. Groaning as he sat upright, he rubbed his head.
Placing his hands together, he performed the sign of the bunshin. A hundred clones appeared beside him, all leaping into the air and setting off to find the falke Naruto.

The fake Naruto gulped as doom descended upon him from above. He looked down at the many things he had bought from the nearby shops including biscuits, ramen, cinema tickets...
He grinned because he knew even though he had been caught, he knew the real Naruto would have to pay for these items...
A grin spread across his face before his vision turned blue, flashed then... Nothing.

"Congratulations everyone." The third spoke silently as he read over the reports of what had happened in the fights. Flicking the paper around in his hands and putting it on his desk, he brought out a new pipe from the folds of his robe and started smoking away. "I have to congratulate you all actually." He smiled, folding his hands in front of his face on his desk.
"Naruto wasn't too bad this time..." Negi shot a glance at the beaming boy. "He did help a bit..."
"And you got us out of that prison!" Naruto laughed at Negi and Hinata, of which Hinata merely tapped her fingers together. She glanced nervously at the boy the Kage was eyeing.
"Actually I have a better plan for you Naruto..." The Kage smiled.
"What's that?" Naruto asked, his curiosity heightened.
"Enter."
The door to the Kage chambers squeaked open to reveal a slightly plump but white-haired man with a strange pointed headband that held his hair up. He wore wooden sandals and a red robe. Distinctive red lines ran from his eyes to under his chin.
"Jiraiya, one of the three Sannin of the Leaf." The Kage smiled.
"So where's this boy you want me to train?" Jiraiya scanned the room quickly with his sharp eyes, falling upon Naruto. He cleared his throat quickly but did not say a word.
"You want pervy sage to train me?!" Naruto gasped.
"He would be most suitable." The kage answered.
Jiraiya gave Naruto no more looks before exiting the room. An uneasy glance at the Kage proved Naruto wasn't so sure about this either but he eventually followed.
"Will he be all right?" Hinata asked quietly once the door had closed.
"Of course. Jiraiya is one of the few that knows sealing..." The Kage returned to his papers.
The Hyuuga shared a glance.