Naruto grinned happily as he walked through the gates of Konoha with the two chunin guards giving him a friendly wave as he walk past. Itachi and Anko walked beside him while Mikoto was behind them all happy to be home.
The two days they had off after the second exam was a welcome put stop for the trio since walking in the hot desert of Suna for three days had taken its toll on them.
After the entire five days were up, they were reported to the Kazekage office where they saw that to their surprise only two other teams had made it. One was the Iwa team while the other was a team from Kumo.
The Kazekage was a man in his mid-thirties with dark plum red hair with tanned skin and brown eyes. Around his eyes he had dark rings around them like he had not had enough sleep and wore the traditional Kage robes.
As he congratulated them he told them all about the purpose of the Chunin Exams and that they were used as a deterrent of war so that it can help build better relationships between the shinobi villages of the world.
Afterwards they each had to pick a number in order to figure out who would fight who in the match ups. It was decided that since there were nine of them; the first three matches would be single matches while the fourth would be a triple threat match.
Naruto ended up picking number 8, Anko got 1 while Itachi got 4. When they revealed what numbers they all got, Naruto found out the names of everyone in the match while also saw who his opponent would be in the first match. Or in Naruto's case who his first two opponents would be.
Anko of Konoha vs. Raido of Kumo
Deidara of Iwa vs. Itachi Uchiha of Konoha
Kurotsuchi of Iwa vs. J of Kumo
C of Kumo vs. Naruto U Namikaze of Konoha vs. Akatsuchi of Iwa
Though Naruto mentally groaned at the thought of starting off with two opponents rather than one, he sucked it in and just got over it. Besides he figured it would be a great test of his strength.
Though he noticed that when he looked over at the Iwa team the girl from the first test was staring at him. At first it looked like a confused frown as if she was trying to figure something out before she scowled a little and looked away.
He decided that girls were just too weird for him to understand.
"Okay everyone." Mikoto said stopping them. "I'm going to go see the Hokage and tell him we're back. The rest of you can head on home and get some well-deserved rest. Though I expect you all to be training for the next portion of the exams." She said as the three nodded.
"Now since I am Itachi's mother as well as sensei I am going to be able to help him every day get prepared for the exams in a month's time. That won't mean I will leave any of you out though. If you want my help just come to Uchiha Clan compound and I will help."
"Thanks sensei, but I think I might get a few of the older jonin to help. Kurenai-san said she would help me if I got past the first two exams as did Ibiki. I might ask them for some help." She said as Mikoto nodded before looking at Naruto
"I might ask jiji and Baa-chan to help me prepare."
Mikoto nodded again but reminded them to come get her if they needed help since she wanted to help all her students equally, which both Naruto and Anko thanked her for. The group departed and Naruto made his way back to his home.
When he arrived home he found it rather more silent then usual and wondered where everyone was until he tried to sense them. To his surprise he sensed Kushina and his siblings all outside in the backyard.
When he walked out he stopped right in his spot and felt a bang of hurt in his heart at the scene in front of him.
There was Kushina holding a kunai in her hand and was showing Eiji and Mito how to properly hold and throw one at a wooden post. Both were using wooden kunai since they were too young to use the metal ones at the moment.
"She's…..teaching them." He thought as his hands shook a little from the scene but quickly shook himself out of it when little Mina who was chasing a butterfly spotted him and let out a happy gurgle as she began making her way over to him.
"Naru!" She said as Naruto eyes softened and bent down to hug her a little and nuzzled her little nose with his own.
"Hi Mina-chan, have you been a good girl?" He asked as Mina happily nodded before giggling madly as she began playing with Naruto's blonde hair.
Despite him not being around much, those around them could see how much Mina adored her eldest brother and was always following after him when she could; though her little legs could not take her very far.
Even though he was distancing himself from his family, there was just a little part of him that could not bear distancing himself from Mina. Plus she had solidified her spot in his heart when her first word was his name much to everyone's surprise.
"Naru-nii!" Naruto heard as the footsteps belonging to a small child were rapidly coming towards him. He looked to the side and braced himself as a blur of blonde with a few red streaks in it jumped into him and hugged him tightly.
"I missed you sooooo much." Mito said as she gave Naruto a big sloppy kiss on the cheek making Naruto hesitate a little before plating a small kiss on the top of her head.
Eiji quickly followed after his sister and hugged his older brother around the waist while Kushina walked up to him at a slow pace.
"Welcome home Naru-chan. Well done for getting into the third part of the exam." She commented as she took Mina from Naruto much to the little girl's dismay.
"Yeah, urm thanks Kaa-chan. I'm just lucky to have a great sensei and teammates." He said as Kushina nodded a little.
"Really, Mikoto-baka is a good sensei? Who knew?" She said teasingly about her friend though stopped when she saw Naruto give her a small glare.
"Don't speak about Mikoto sensei that way Kaa-san. She has done her best and I am forever grateful to be under her tutelage." He said sternly before rubbing his eyes a little and turned around to head back inside.
"I'm going to bed. I'm a little tired from the trip."
Kushina didn't reply but looked at Naruto head back inside with a slightly struck look on her face. "Naru-chan has never glared at me before." She thought before shaking her head. "He's just tired and needs his rest."
She turned around to see her children with slightly sad looks on their faces as Naruto walked away before the twins went back to their wooden kunai practice and Mina went back to chasing butterflies
If she had paid more attention she would have noticed Naruto use san instead of chan like he normally did.
Later on that evening Naruto lay in his bed as he looked up at the ceiling as the light from the moon gently shone through the curtains of his window.
He had stayed in his room to rest for most of the day and only really went down when his father came home and they had dinner round the table.
Most of the dinner talk was taken up by Mito and Eiji who were talking about their day with Kushina while Mina was either gazing into space or was laughing at the funny faces Naruto was making at her.
When it got to Naruto and the chunin exams, he only gave them short answers and didn't get into the details since he was not really in the mood for talking. Both Minato and Kushina frowned a little at that and wanted him to tell them more; however he just stayed mostly quiet, ignoring them when they asked for more details.
Afterwards he took his dish and cutlery and had them washed before he went back to his room.
He was going to visit Hiruzen tomorrow to get some training in for the chunin exams third round and hoped Tsunade and Shizune would join them as well since he knew there was talk about showing him the Shōsen Jutsu which he was looking forward to.
He looked at his alarm clock to see it was 11pm. He was about to shut his eyes before he heard his door open up slightly and could hear little steps coming towards the bed.
He sat up and saw little Mina walking towards him wearing her little purple pajama's while holding her teddy in her arms.
"Mina-chan what are you doing in here? It's late and you should be in bed." He said as he saw her rub her eyes with her tiny hands before she looked at him and put her arms out.
"Stay with Naru." She said making him hesitate a little before he let it be. He smiled and went forward and picked his baby sister up.
He lifted the covers and put himself and Mina under them with Naruto leaning on his side while Mina was snuggled up next to him. Mina snuggled into her big brothers chest as Naruto wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm and safe.
"Lub you Naru." She said yawning before she immediate fell asleep.
Naruto looked down at his baby sister and gently kissed her forehead. "Good night Mina-chan. Sweet dreams."
Just when Naruto fell asleep Kushina past his door to see that it was slightly open. When she took a peak in her face softened and had a warm smile appear on her face when she saw her youngest cuddled up with her oldest.
She tiptoed back before gently and silently closing the bedroom door and made her way to hers and Minato's room.
Next Day
"I am impressed Naruto. You and you team sound like you had quite the experience for your chunin exams. And you finish the second round in three of the five days is an impressive feat." Hiruzen said as Naruto finished recounting the first two rounds to Hiruzen, Tsunade and Shizune who had welcomed him back and told him well done for his efforts in the chunin exams and for making the third round.
"Now what do you know about your two opponents?"
"Well that's just it. I don't really know anything about them. I can only make guesses by their size and personalities. We did not have any chance to see any of each other's abilities."
"Hmm." Tsunade pondered as she thought about it. "You said one was called Akatsuchi who was from Iwa and the other was called C who was from Kumo. How big would you say they were?"
"Very big, bigger than other kids my age." He said making them all nod.
"In that case I can bet they will favor their physical strength and will end up lacking in speed. We can work on your speed and make you faster than ever. Plus I will be drilling you into Taijutsu every day until you can stand anymore." She said grinning making Naruto grin back.
"Plus I bet this boy from Iwa will use earth jutsu's since they are very common for shinobi from Iwa and the boy C from Kumo will favor lightning jutsu's for the same reason." Shizune added with Tsunade and Hiruzen nodding at the logic behind it.
"So we work on his speed along with teaching him jutsu to counter Earth and Lightning. Wind we can do. But Naruto does not have a lightning affinity."
"Then we focus on water and earth techniques. Counter earth with earth and then use water against lightning. The two are both each other's enemy." Hiruzen said.
"Plus I can work on my Kenjutsu and fūinjutsu when I am on my own."
They all nodded and made a quickly plan of what the training schedule for him would be like for the next month until it was time for him to leave for Suna again. Shizune would train him in the mornings until 1. Then an hour break for lunch until Tsunade would get him until two to six. Then in the evening he could focus on his Kenjutsu and fūinjutsu.
"Where are you up to in your fūinjutsu?" Hiruzen asked.
Naruto grinned and got out a small book from the storage seal on his right wrist. "I'm in the middle of level four at the moment jiji. I maybe have a couple of months, maybe a year at most until I am ready for level five." He said.
Hiruzen whistled showing he was impressed. He would be surprised if this time in the next decade Naruto was already at his parents level of fūinjutsu or maybe even higher above them.
"Now that we that covered we can let Naruto know of the new techniques we will be teaching him." Shizune said as Hiruzen and Tsunade nodded in agreement.
"Really? What techniques?" He asked a little excited at the thought of learning something new.
Shizune put her hand out and Naruto watched as a green aura wrapped around it making Naruto realize what it was.
"The Shōsen jutsu." he said as she nodded.
"It's time we taught you how to heal yourself and others around you if the time ever comes. Since you have great control for your age no doubt you will be able to pick it up quickly; though we may have a way of cutting that time down greatly." Shizune added as she motioned to Hiruzen; who then made the ram seal and created a clone next to him.
"The clone technique? But I already know the clone technique."
"Ahh but this is not like the illusion clones." Hiruzen said as he tapped on the clones head showing it was solid. "These clones are very real but can be dispersed if we will it to or they are hit hard enough."
"Plus any memory or action they have or do will go straight back to the original. Normally we would not show this to you since it is a B rank jutsu that requires a lot of chakra, however since your chakra levels are already nearly the same size as Shizune and you have great chakra control, it means we can teach it to you early."
"So any of the jutsu I try and learn will be shortened because the clones will also learn it as well."
"I'm not surprised you figured it out. You are a smart cookie Naru-chan." Tsunade said. "But yes that is what we are aiming for. We will be able to teach you a lot in just a month if you make a few clones to learn it at the same time."
"So for new techniques Shizune nee-chan will teach me the Shōsen jutsu and jiji will teach me the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. Then what are you going to teach me Baa-chan?"
When he asked Tsunade grinned while Shizune and Hiruzen looked a little panicked. No doubt they both knew what she was going to teach him.
"Are you sure you want to teach him that jutsu Tsunade? He might not be ready for it just yet." Hiruzen asked almost in a pleading tone but Tsunade waved it off.
"I have no doubt in my mind he will be able to learn it and master it to a degree in time for the chunin exams. Beside I have never taught this jutsu to anyone before and I think teaching it to Naru-chan would be the right thing to do."
Naruto looked a little confused since he was unsure of which technique Tsunade was talking about since she had a few techniques which she had never taught anyone, not even Shizune.
Motioning him to follow her, Naruto was led outside by Tsunade who had Hiruzen and Shizune following behind them both looking a little pale.
She stood in front of one of the Sarutobi clan training fields that the Sarutobi clan had, but Naruto swear he heard Hiruzen mumbling under his breath.
"This Naru-chan is what I will be teaching you. When people see you do this, they won't want to go anywhere near you."
Grinning to herself she raised her right fist high in the air for the three to see. Her right hand glowed bright blue and Naruto could see it getting denser before it suddenly disappeared around her hand.
"HUUUUAAHHHHH," Tsunade cried out as she brought her right fist down onto the ground and punched it with all her might.
As soon as her fist hit, the entire training field cracked and began burst in a big explosion making a big cloud of smoke and gravelly smoke to go through the area.
Naruto, Hiruzen and Shizune managed to use their chakra to keep them in one place since some damage had been done even from behind Tsunade while the entire training field had been completely leveled.
"Whoa…" Naruto said to himself. He had seen Tsunade use her super strength abilities many times, even in their spars together, but every time it made him look on in both amazement and a little bit of fear.
"Y-You're going to teach me that?" Naruto said in amazement as Tsunade turned around to face him and grinned at him.
"I am, but remember Naruto this technique of mine is very dangerous and therefore you must always be very careful since one false move and all that chakra you build up in your hand could be released to early or too late and will result in your hand being blown to pieces."
Naruto gulped.
"Also you must not teach another person this technique without my approval. The last thing I want are too many shinobi knowing my trademark technique and it somehow being used against us. Understand?" She asked a Naruto nodded his head.
Naruto grinned happily. The three older shinobi smiled at his eagerness but before they could push forward and begin the training an Anbu appeared.
"Tsunade-sama, Sandaime-sama, Shizune-san, the Hokage has requested your presence in his office. He says it is of the up most importance."
The trio all looked in surprise and curiosity to what Minato was asking of them.
"We will be right there." Hiruzen answered as the Anbu disappeared.
"Well Naruto-chan you can stay here if you like and practice or you can head on home and we can begin tomorrow. We best go see what your father needs." Hiruzen told the young blonde.
"Okay Jiji, I'll see you all later." Naruto said as Shizune and Tsunade painted a kiss on his forehead each before they trio shunshined away.
Naruto stood there and watched them go before a thought crossed his mind and took this as a good chance to do something without his parents or anyone else knowing about.
'I think I'll head home. I have something I want to learn and surprise everyone with at the Chunin exams.' He thought to himself before grinning and running back home.
Hokage Office
Tsunade, Hiruzen and Shizune arrived in the Hokage office and were surprised to see Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya and Kakashi all standing there talking amongst them before seeing the new group arrive.
"Ahh I am glad you are all here. Jiraiya here has important information for us which the three of you need to here." Minato said though they could see he had a happy smile plastered on his face.
Tsunade, Hiruzen and Shizune looked towards Jiraiya who looked a bit more serious then he normally did as Kakashi and Kushina stood of to the side.
"The prophecy from the toads have changed and I now know for certain whom it speaks of. The prophecy speaks of two children born from two powerful parents that reside in a leaf will stage a great revolution in our world and will lead us to an era of peace."
The three shot their eyebrows up again as Hiruzen spoke up. "I have an idea of who you mean, but I would like you to say it anyway."
"Mito and Eiji, I know in my gut they are the children of prophecy. I am sure of it as are Minato, Kushina and Kakashi."
"Okay well that's all fine and dandy." Tsunade interrupted as she stood with her hands on her hips. "But why gather us all like this? Surely this is something you could have told us at a separate time."
"Since Eiji and Mito are the Children of Prophecy, we need them to be ready when the time is right. We know it early, but we think it is best to start their training early; to make them as strong as possible for when the times comes." Kushina said which shocked the three.
"Kushina-sama don't you think five is a little young. I mean yes the three of us began training Naruto when he was five, but that was because of the Kyuubi attack. The twins won't have an incident like that during their youth I imagine."
"As true as that may be Shizune-san, the twins are special as we have just found out while Naruto is not. We know what we're doing." Jiraiya said as Kakashi nodded. Tsunade, Shizune and even Hiruzen were a little taken back by the comment from Jiraiya, but it disappeared since they knew just how wrong Jiraiya was. Kushina and Minato to were a little set back by the comment, however did not act on it.
"Anyway with this information we will all be needed to begin training them as soon as possible. We want to create a charter for when we train them and what we will each teach them." Minato said. "We are thinking I will teach them taijutsu, Kushina can focus on fūinjutsu and possibly Kenjutsu, Kakashi will take stealth and trap making. Tsuande and Shizune if you take medical ninjutsu then we can-"
"No."
Kakashi, Jiraiya, Kushina and Minato's head turned sharply to Tsunade who gave them all a glare. Hiruzen and Shizune stood behind her and just had emotionless look on their faces.
"No? What do you mean no Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.
"What do you think it means Hatake? I am not training them. I have already promised to help Naruto with his training for the chunin exams. We already have a schedule for him and the three of us have promised him."
"Hime." Jiraiya said walking forward and touching her shoulder. "The twins are more important. We can easily find someone to take over Naruto's training for the month. I'm sure the gaki will understand. The twins need to come first in this." He said before he felt great pain in his hand as Tsunade grabbed it tightly causing a few bones to crack a little.
"And when will you understand that I won't turn my back on him in his time of need. Unlike some." She said as she turned around and began walking out of the office.
"What do you mean by that? No one has turned their backs on Naru-chan?" Kushina said frowning a little at the statement and felt more confusion when she heard Tsunade scoff.
Tsunade left the room while Hiruzen and Shizune said their goodbyes before leaving along with the Senju woman.
"You alright sensei?" Minato asked as Jiraiya held his hand. "I am surprised Tsunade said no. I thought she would have jumped at the chance to teach the twins."
"Don't worry about her. I will talk to her and I will show her that the twins need her more than Naruto does. We can have someone train the kid right?" He asked as Minato and Kushina nodded. "They need to see that Mito and Eiji are going to need our help a lot more than Naruto ever will. It's for the greater good."
"Right." Kushina said. "However please don't say that Naruto is not special Jiraiya. He is special and I don't want people saying he is not. All children are special." She glared at him a little while Minato sat back and breathed in deeply while Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and hoped out the window while pulling out his Icha Icha book.
"I know, I know." Jiraiya said quickly dismissing it, but not wanting to get on the red heads bad side. "Well I will see you all tomorrow. I however have some research to do…" He said perversely before shunshining away.
"That man will never change." Kushina said while Minato smiled a little at his sensei's antics.
With Naruto
"Good thing Tou-san and Kaa-san are not here otherwise they would probably not approve of me trying to learn what I need for that technique." Naruto said to himself as he quickly opened the door to his father's office and snuck in.
Walking in, he quickly walked towards his father's desk and then bent down on his knees. From underneath the desk he hit it three times before a small cabinet suddenly opened up revealing a couple of scrolls.
He had found this secret cabinet by accident when he tripped over his own feet when he was seven and noticed the small hidden cabinet. After finding out how to get in which was easier then he imagined and was surprised his father didn't put some kind of locking seal around it.
'Bit of a rookie mistake, but Tou-san probably never imagined someone would actually have the stones to do this.' Naruto thought, smirking slightly. 'I don't think that Tou-san would be too happy with this, but he does owe me at least this much.'
As he looked through the scrolls he quickly saw the opens he was looking for. On the side of the scroll it had the rank of the jutsu Naruto wanted to learn.
It was an A rank jutsu that most would have said Naruto was nowhere near ready for but he thought otherwise.
From his right wrist he quickly poofed outs a scroll and brush with a little bit of ink and quickly opened the scroll up and began copying the contents that was written down on them.
Thanks to learning fūinjutsu, his speed in writing was extremely fast and he quickly had all the contents of the scroll written down in less than a minute. His eyes traveled across the copy scroll he had just made checking everything he needed was written on it.
When he saw it did he quickly sealed his equipment away along with the new scroll while placing his father jutsu scroll back in the cabinet and locked it up.
He quickly got to his feet and left the office. When he closed the door behind him he had a small smirk on his face. It never ceased to amaze him that he was able to take jutsu from his mother and fathers library anytime he wanted and never get caught. Heck he even managed to do it one night when they were in the house.
"Then again Shizune nee-san did say I have pretty impressive stealth skills. I could probably paint the Hokage monument in broad daylight if I wanted to and still get away with it."
He knew his father and mother would probably be a bit displeased when they found out but the reaction on their and everyone else's faces when he used said jutsu was going to be well worth it.
After shaking his is head he left for him room when he quickly began study from his fūinjutsu level four book.
Next Day with Anko
Anko panted a little as she ducked a swipe from Ibiki Morino, a man in his early twenties and who worked for the T&I division in Konoha. Since she arrived in Konoha Ibiki had taken an interest in her and shown her a thing or two from time to time.
That and Anko loved hanging around the T&I building. The torturing screams from there were music to her ears.
To the side of the small field was Kurenai Yuhi who was watching Anko fight Ibiki since the two had agreed to help ready Anko for the exams.
'I won't let Naruto and Itachi gap getting any bigger from me. I need to catch up. Especially if I want to kill him one day.' she thought before she charged and engaged Ibiki in Taijutsu while using her snakes to try and bite the hell out of him.
With Itachi
Itachi sat meditating in the middle of one of the Uchiha training fields with his eyes wide open showing his matured Sharingan which was scanning around the area.
After a few moments a barrage of shuriken shot towards him. However Itachi quickly got up and with great speed threw his own shuriken which countered every single one of them.
When he stood up his mother appeared behind him and went towards him with her tanto, however instead of moving he let the blade pass through him. When it did instead any blood being spilled, Itachi merely faded away like a mirage.
"Very good Itachi-kun." Mikoto said as she looked to her right to see Itachi standing their nodding at his mother before her own Sharingan flared as mother and son lunged towards each other.
With Naruto
Naruto breathed easy as he held the sheathed Shusui in his left hand as he crouched on his spot. His eyes were closed and he was focusing on everything that was around him. He could hear and sense everything and everyone around him, which included Shizune and Hiruzen who were watching from the side.
As he finished taking a breath his eyes shot open and with great speed he sped forward before stopping a few meters as a small boulder that was in the way.
His blade was now out of its sheath but Naruto was slowly sheathing it back in. Just before he put the whole way in Naruto muttered under his breath before the clink of the blade being fully sheathed ran out along with a loud crack to be heard.
Everyone looked to see the boulder was now cut clean in two.
Naruto grinned while Shizune looked towards Hiruzen who had an equal grin on his face.