AN: YO! Guys I’m hella sorry for once again taking so long with the updates. But without further delay, here’s the next chapter.

Oh someone accused me of pedophilia because I have Yuugao in the pairing with Naruto. She’s NINETEEN IN THIS STORY! WAY LESS OLDER THEN HIM THE SHE WOULD BE IN CANON! Heh heh Sheesh. I explained this once already.

Now then on to further issues. I have posted a CHALLENGE in my profile. I would like to see someone take it up.

Chapter 15

Children and foreign shinobi

Naruto paid little attention as Yugito snuggled into his chest. His mind was focused on going home and getting to bed. The winds passed freely through his hair and over his face as he soared through the air and towards his destination. The steady hum of his wings filled his mind with its peaceful melody making him close his eyes for a second to fully enjoy the feeling.

Then a hand stroking his cheek snapped him out of it.

“You look so peaceful Uzumaki-Kun. I like that look,” said Yugito as she continued to stroke his cheek.

Naruto merely shrugged and said, “Up here is where I find true freedom.”

It was true. The power of flight was something most if not all humans longed for. Only a very select few have actually accomplished this. Naruto being one of these people understood fully what a gift he had been granted. He had to admit to himself that he loved it up in the sky.

However he would have preferred it alone for one simple reason.

Yugito’s hand was beginning to stray south. “Mmmm Uzumaki-Kun,” she slurred out, half asleep.

Naruto’s face twisted into a mix of annoyance and embarrassment and he quickly shot towards the ground. Yugito was forcefully taken out of her daze by this sudden descent and before she could ask what he doing, she was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.

“H-hey!!” she began but stopped when she saw that Naruto was already heading down the street towards the complex just a block away. She sprang to her feet and rushed after him.

“Why’d you drop me like that?! I was comfortable!”

Naruto huffed but refused to turn around. He opened the door and stepped inside but not before one last comment.

“Yeah, too comfortable.”

Then he was gone. Yugito huffed and followed him inside. She tried to catch Naruto again before he headed into his room but she was just seconds too late. And no amount of prying was going to get his door open again.

“Oh you’re no fun Uzumaki-Kun!” she said as she stalked away.

Inside the room Naruto removed his helmet and his scarf with an air of calmness about him. The only indicator of anything different was the slight blush on his cheeks.

“Damn Yugito, She’s bolder then Yuugao” he muttered as he flopped down onto his bed, removing his armor as he did so.

Jeez and he thought Yuugao’s constant hugs and kisses to his neck or forehead were bad enough. He shifted his gaze upward and closed his eyes. He was tired and just wanted sleep.

But it was not to be so for as soon as he closed his eyes his security puppets started going haywire, alerting his senses of intruders.

Already he could hear the other occupants of the puppet guarded apartment complex rushing towards the disturbance and he gave a sigh of annoyance. He got up and headed there at a normal pace. There was no need to run. The intruders would be dealt with before he even got there. That is unless an extremely powerful enemy had managed to sneak in.

But what met him at the front door nearly made him face plant. It was the same for the other occupants of the complex as well as none other than Konohamaru and two other academy children were suspended in the air by the numerous ropes and wires designed to ensnare intruders.

“Uh he heh How you doing?” asked the Hokage’s grandson with an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. Neji sighed and headed back inside. Hinata followed him while Yugito snickered.

Naruto examined the three children with a raised eyebrow before he spoke in a flat monotone voice.

“What do you want?”

There were numerous answers Naruto expected to hear from the children. He expected angry yells, demands for apologies and pointless begging for their lives.

However their answer shocked him and the others.

“Will you train us Naruto-Boss?” asked Konohamaru, pure sincerity in his voice as he asked his question.

Yugito instantly broke out into hysterical laughter and collapsed in a fit unable to remain standing in her mirth.

Naruto had one thing to say to this.

“What?”

“Train us!” said Konohamaru with a huge smile. “I’ve never met anyone like you and you can FLY! You’re awesome man! You gotta train us! We’ll make you proud I promise! We’ll never slack off or anything!”

“… What?”

Yugito’s laughter intensified which caused him to look at her with a twitching eyebrow. “Leave if you’re going to be an idiot.” The Nibi Jinchuuriki gave a glare mixed with laughter before she turned a walked away. “Sure thing Uzumaki-Sensei hahahahahahahahahaha!”

She vanished around a corner just in time to avoid the numerous shuriken and the katana stabbing into the wall where her head would have been.

He turned back to the three children with annoyance clearly displayed on his face. With a few finger movements the ropes and wires released the children, dropping them unceremoniously in a heap. They groaned for a couple of seconds before they scrambled to their feet and stood at attention.

“Names?” asked the blonde.

The girl reacted first, jumping in front of the two boys and striking a pose. “I’m Konoha’s sexiest Kunoichi, Moegi!”

The snot nose boy with glasses jumped to Moegi’s left and struck a pose as well. “I’m Undon and I love math.”

Konohamaru just stood there grinning. “You already know who I am.”

“We’re the Konohamaru-Corps!” they all said together. Naruto was slightly aware of Yugito’s laughter effectively doubling and he swore he heard a few chuckles from Neji and Hinata. He felt his annoyance grow again as he eyed the three children.

“Leave,” he said as he turned to head back inside.

The three children felt a huge arrow pass through their souls as Naruto closed the door in their faces.

“Damn that one cold ninja,” said Konohamaru.

“I think I actually felt ice on my shoulders from that one.”

Moegi nodded with a slight pout but before she could say anything Konohamaru’s grin returned. “That’s alright though. You’ll come around Naruto! I won’t rest until you train us!!” Then he took off, his two friends in tow. And all three children ignored the stares from the villagers.

Inside Naruto sighed and headed back to his room. “My week…just got worse.”

And it was true. Over the next week Naruto was consumed with a feeling he hasn’t felt since he was ten. Foreboding. The Kono-Corps as the three children had taken to calling themselves seemed to be everywhere. It was like they had their own impressive spy network in the village! (He refused to believe how true that was despite the fact that the rest of Konoha kisses Konohamaru’s ass in a pathetic attempt at sucking up to the Hokage) They appeared wherever he was, ambushed him at every corner. And they had such small chakra reserves he had trouble determining them from the rest of the civilian villagers around. Every minute of every day Naruto was outside his complex they were there. Like a stink that never quite went away, with their voices high and childish constantly ringing in his ears, “Train us!” C’mon train us!” “You know you want to.” “Come on!” “Think of the possibilities!” “You’ll never find greater students.” “Come on Boss!”

They attempted to tackle him once while he was heading to one of the only two weapon shops in the village that didn’t scorn him and they nearly got their heads taken off by his blade. This action caused numerous villagers to gasp.

On the second day they once again tried to get into the complex and were hospitalized for the rest of the day due to the extremely deadly poisons laced in the kunai knives that had sprayed them. It took a bit of convincing on Sarutobi’s part for Naruto to hand over the antidote.

On the third day they took to stalking him wherever he went while looking for opportunities to trap him. They had even partially succeeded once when Undon appeared from behind his camouflage against a fence, making Naruto look over with an annoyed look, missing the other two until they had effectively trapped him with ninja wire…for three seconds before Fox Naruto freed him and tried to kill the children.

On the fourth day they openly attacked him with training Kunai, flinging them at the puppet user six at a time each and causing Naruto to capture every one with chakra strings and fling them back. It they weren’t blunted they would have torn right through the children.

On the fifth day the three disguised themselves as a rock…that was square and proceeded to “Stealthily” follow him around until finally Naruto growled and slammed his earth rune glowing hammer into the ground causing a literal wave of ground to nearly crush them…and numerous villagers.

Oh and the fact that Yugito, Yuugao, Suichi and even Neji had taken to calling him “Sensei” didn’t help.

The sixth day yielded exploding paint bombs and a huge graphitized message on the side of the complex, “YOU WILL TRAIN US!” And that was the last straw short of killing them once and for all.

He took to flying. HIGH above Konoha. WAY up there where NOTHING could get to him.

Until the seventh day.

That was when he finally caved in.

Because any child that could get the ANBU Tenzou to grow the message amongst the trees, “TRAIN THE KONO-CORPS NARUTO!!!!” in the forest so he had no choice but to read it from above obviously deserved at least a speaking to before he denied them for the ten thousandth time that week.

So he flew down to the nearest training ground and waited.

And sure enough.

“Ha! I see you decided to give up eh? I knew you’d change your mind.” Konohamaru would have stepped forward if Fox Naruto hadn’t suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke and held its Zanbatou as the boy’s throat.

“The only thing I’m considering changing my mind on is whether or not I should kill your annoying ass.”

Konohamaru sweat dropped and gave a nervous laugh. Naruto sighed and moved the puppet away from the boy and back to his side where it stood almost protectively. The three children looked on in wonder at the doll.

“That’s amazing,” said Moegi. “It’s so beautiful. I’ve never seen a puppet like this one!” The other two agreed. Naruto watched the three children as they examined the puppet with nothing but the purest of wonder and curiosity and couldn’t help himself. With a bit of blood over the seals on his arm, the rest of his puppets save for the ROOT appeared in puffs of smoke. OniTenshi towered above the children and seemed to eclipse the sun as it spread its massive black wing and waved its tentacles. Yoshino looked to be truly alive standing serenely next to the massive one winged puppet with her eyes closed. Danzo stood with his rope spear dancing about like a snake ready to strike and Mizuki stood with arms crossed and tiger ears flicking to and fro like he was actually hearing things. Then there were his two newest additions. Zabuza stood there tall an imposing dressed in a cloak and shouldering the Kubikiri Houcho. The blade was glowing with the runes for water and for wind and the cloak glowed with shadow runes. He looked like a wraith. A very special puppet Zabuza would prove to be in the future. Haku stood there next to Zabuza slightly behind him, a cold mist spiraling around him slowly and calmly, waiting to be used. An Ice mirror formed behind him and reflected the sun brilliantly.

The three children felt their admiration for Naruto reach all new levels.

“Wow.”

Naruto did a few finger movements and had his puppets do a few things relating to their abilities and the children watched for hours as Haku made ice sculptures, Zabuza melded with the shadows, Danzo and OniTenshi seemed to have a conversation and Mizuki try to hit on Yoshino only to be slapped.

As time went on Naruto found himself getting more and more into it. He made his puppets do a lot of different things much to the enjoyment of the children. He re-enacted battles, had them spar and even had Yoshino kiss Konohamaru on the cheek.

Finally as the sun was setting, Naruto snapped out of it and resealed his puppets. The Kono-Corps were disappointed but still extremely happy. They had never had such a great day with anyone.

“Explain to me,” began the puppeteer as he got to his feet. The three children looked on in full attention.

“Why Me? Why seek me out to the point of risking death? Why not ask for some other ninja to train you? Do you simply wish to learn the puppet technique?”

He had to know. No child was insane enough to purposefully drive the easily angered and bloodthirsty puppet using Kyuubi Jinchuuriki of Konoha without some sort of good reason other than training. No child wanted to learn to play with dolls anyway. He had heard enough people say it enough times. Truly no one knows the potential of the puppet technique.

So he eyed the three children with a cold emotionless gaze, keeping his blue orbs trained on them as to make sure he saw no hints of deception or ulterior motives.

Konohamaru was the first to speak.

“Because… You’re different.”

Wow

THAT certainly was an answer he wasn’t expecting. Because he’s different? Ha! What Irony! He would have laughed if it was in his nature to do so. Instead he frowned a bit.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked, emotionless. Konohamaru didn’t have an answer and neither did Moegi or Undon.

The blonde sighed. “I am…Uzumaki Naruto. My rank is Special op Nin of Konohagakure No Sato. I am the soon to be most powerful puppeteer on the planet. I feel extreme dislike for over three-fourths of this village and have no qualms about killing people for even looking at me the wrong way. And that includes annoying children.”

They gulped.

“My reputation is not a good one here. Surely your teacher has told you as much?”

Konohamaru glared. “That sap? All he talks about is shortcutting me to the position of Hokage. He’s a total ass kisser. They all are. But…you…”

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

“You’re different. You treated me like any other bratty kid would be treated. You’re strong and you won’t go easy on me. That’s why I want you to train us.”

Naruto saw through the boy’s mask instantly. The boy thirsts for acknowledgement, a new identity, a boy trying desperately to rid himself of his grandfather’s shadow. Of coursed he’d latch on to perhaps the only person besides his grandfather to see him as an actual child and not some title. How…unique for a boy with royalty such as his. He examined all three of them. They were so…pure, so innocent. Their big eyes seemed to glow as they stared, hope shining just below the surface of their retinas.

And yet he just knew they did not know what they were getting themselves into. Training with him would destroy their innocence in a matter of days. Naruto was never one to sugar coat anything. They would learn all of the dark truths about the world through his training. Were they ready for that? Perhaps not. But then again, he wasn’t entirely ready to find out about the Kyuubi while suffering from a mass beating either. But still he had. And he had survived, grew strong because of it.

He looked at the children one more time and noted with the tiniest bit of amusement the signs of impatience beginning o surface on their faces.

He sighed. He just knew he wasn’t going to hear the end of this.

“Fine.”

That was all that needed to be said.

“YATTA!!!”

(Scene change)

Sai stood before the complex with a duffle bag slung over one shoulder and a large sketch pad over another. His mind was contemplative. He wasn’t used to living anywhere so open. The corridors of ROOT were practically all he knew. And he couldn’t identify the emotion the sprung up when Yugito stepped out and said, “Hey! About time your pale ass got here! Come in and pick a room. I don’t know where Uzumaki-kun went.” She chuckled. “He’s probably running from those three kids.” Sai didn’t get the chance to say anything before he was pulled into the complex. He mentally noted that the security puppets didn’t attack him.

“Naruto-San must shave programmed me in already.”

“Come on I’ll introduce you to Neji and Hinata,” said Yugito as she continued to drag the boy through the complex.

---

Days went by. Naruto made due on his promise and proceeded to teach the children the basics of Human anatomy, poisons, and chakra control. The three soaked it up like sponges in their constant attempts to impress their new teacher. Many had quite a few negative things to say when they saw the honorable grandson and two other young children following the blonde Jinchuuriki around the village openly calling him Sensei and Boss. But they were also smart enough to say it in the privacy of their own homes.

To Konohamaru, Moegi and Undon, Naruto proved to be a…brutal teacher. Some of the things he told them honestly scared the hell out of them. The way he described how a ninja could kill another person had made Moegi go pale and Undon shudder. Konohamaru took all of this better than the other two as he is from a ninja oriented family.

Naruto was actually a bit impressed when the children continued to train under him. He hadn’t expected them to last this long. Hell he had thought that they’d run off screaming and calling him a sick freak after the first day but it wasn’t so. They kept coming back. And it made him actually put more effort into training them.

“So what are we learning today Naruto-Sensei?” asked Moegi as she and the other two children followed him through the village towards the academy. Numerous villagers glared at Naruto’s back as the small group passed them but the blonde ignored them in favor of answering his unofficial student’s question. “Your chakra control still needs improvement,” he said. “So I will teach you to walk on water using your chakra.

The three children beamed. He had already taught them the leaf floating and the tree walking exercise and the three had learned it pretty damn fast, amazingly so for children their age. In fact numerous ninja were gaping as Konohamaru calmly walked sideways on the buildings still following Naruto.

“Really!? Awesome!” yelled Konohamaru as he pumped his fist in the air. Undon merely gave a smile.

Naruto nodded and picked up the pace a bit. “Hurry up. The hot springs are right up the street,” he said. The three children chorused, “Hai!” and began to jog in order to catch up to him. None of them saw the ninja hidden in the shadows, scowling.

“So that’s where the Honorable grandson has been, ensnared by the filthy demon’s false persona.” He followed after them, determined to save the three children.

It took almost no time for Naruto to arrive at the hot springs with the children and when he did he turned and faced them.

“Now then,” he began as he focused chakra to his feet and walked right out to the center of the steaming water. “In order to successfully do this, you must keep a steady flow of chakra in your feet. Use the chakra to create a platform on the water while at the same time fusing it with the water and forcing the water itself to become strong enough to support your weight. Too little chakra and you will sink.”

The three children nodded, full at attention and with eager smiles. Naruto stared at them for a minute before he glared a bit. “Well? Get to it.”

“Oh! Uh right!” said Moegi with an embarrassed blush. Naruto nodded as the three approached the water and leapt over to small bridge where he sat and observed.

“Ah! Hot! Hot! Hot!” Naruto hid his amusement quite well as Konohamaru scrambled out of the water at a frantic pace.

“Focus more chakra,’ he commanded as Konohamaru approached the water again.

The day wore on. The Kono-corps grew steadily better and at a quick pace. Naruto was not surprised in the least. These three children had a talent that was just waiting to be unleashed upon the world. He was actually a bit impressed with them. They had proven to be very dedicated. No matter what he told them to do, they did it with no complaints whatsoever.

And finally as the sun was beginning to set, he called them over. He found it…odd that he was actually staring into the hopeful eyes of three children. This was actually far beyond what he’d actually experience. Sure there were the few women and girls that were suddenly attracted to him and the few male acquaintances he’d unwittingly acquired in the last few months but it was still odd to know that there were actually children hoping for his approval, his praise.

He gave a sigh and spoke. “Not bad,” he said. “You’re actually picking it up faster than I did.” The three beamed up at him and he couldn’t help the slight smirk that graced his lips. “But you still have a bit to go. Then after you master that I will teach you how to make Chakra strings.”

The three would have jumped for joy but Naruto hardened look forced them to reconsider. It didn’t stop them from smiling though.

“Now go on. Study at your own pace until tomorrow. I want you to be able to recite to me every bone in the body by then.”

“Hai!” they said before the leapt to their feet. “See ya tomorrow Naruto-Sensei!” Then they were gone. Naruto smirked again. “Ambitious brats,” he said as he activated his wings and prepared to shoot into the sky. “I hope you realize now Ebisu-San that I will do them no harm. I am more than just your famous demon.”

The he shot into the sky at and impressive speed. A second later Ebisu appeared with a slight glare but also an…intrigued look on his face and for the first time, he found himself doubting his thoughts towards Naruto.

---

Two months later Suichi was knocking on Naruto’s front door. “Ay man! Open up in there! I know you can hear me dammit!” There was a brief sound of rustling clothing before the door swung open and revealed Yugito.

“Don’t you know how early it is? People are trying to sleep in here!’

Suichi ignored the girl and wheeled himself in. “Hey Naruto! Ya mind explaining to me why I found this on my porch!?” And after that sentence he pulled the sitar out from behind his back and shoved it forward. The problem was that it wasn’t Naruto he had thrust the weapon at, it was Neji, and he looked just as annoyed as Yugito. “Why must you be so damn loud you obnoxious simpleton?” he growled out as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and gave a yawn. Suichi glared. “Up yours ass wipe,” he said.

Neji just sighed and headed to the kitchen to get a cup of tea. Yugito took one look at Suichi’s weapon and sighed. She knew what this was about. She had heard Naruto talking to himself about it.

“Uzumaki-Kun isn’t here right now. He’s out with those three kids.”

“At eight in the morning!?” was Suichi’s reply.

“Yes, and on a Saturday. When normal people are trying to SLEEP!”

Suichi growled and replaced the weapon on the back of his chair. “You tell him I want to see him got it?”

Yugito shrugged. “Alright alright don’t get your panties in a knot.” And before the boy could reply Yugito wheeled him back outside and closed the door.

“God dammit.”

Inside, Yugito went to the nearest couch and collapsed. “Damn loud mouths,” she said before she closed her eyes and passed out.

---

Naruto who was unaware of Suichi’s plight stood at a training ground with Konohamaru, Moegi and Undon, watching as the three held out arms and wiggled their fingers, causing the chakra strings extended from the tips of them to wave around like snakes.

“Good,” said Naruto, causing the three children to smile broadly. The last two months had been extremely productive for all three of them. Konohamaru, Moegi and Undon knew more about the human body than most others now and their chakra control was far advanced. There were some Chunin that couldn’t even do the things they could.

And Naruto’s knowledge in runes was progressing pretty fast as well. He had long since mastered the basic nine and was moving on to more advanced stuff. Things like speed enhancement runes, more defense runes and even a rune made to permanently keep a blade sharp. He had of course added these runes to the numerous weapons his puppets used.

Word had also spread to every corner of the village that Naruto was training the honorable grandson and two others in his arts, and while it was generally a good thing to know that a powerful ninja was helping with the development of more powerful ninjas, in Naruto’s case there were mixed reactions. Numerous people were generally happy to know that the boy was opening up. But then there were the numerous and very ridiculous rumors on how Naruto even came to be training the children. While some knew the truth, there were those that were still ignorant and had come up with some truly felonious and totally retarded theories. Then there was the fact that everyone knew that Naruto turned the poor saps he killed into his puppets and were fearful he would teach the children that as well. Naruto had contemplated that, but then reconsidered. Perhaps when they were older.

He eyed the three children as they continued to play with their chakra strings and nodded in approval. The three had come a very long way.

“Here,” he began as he tossed a tattered scroll to them. “This will begin you on your path to the art of puppetry. Keep that scroll safe and study hard from it.”

Konohamaru examined the scroll and gave a huge smile when he read the title. “Thank you Sensei,” he said. Moegi and Undon gave smiles as well.

“We won’t let you down.”

Naruto nodded, not really caring if they somehow failed to live up to his expectations or not. They were their own people after all and he wasn’t one to pointlessly sadden a child with something as little as standards, especially since he had very few standards himself.

The three children began the study the scroll instantly and Naruto just sat and meditated, The Kyuubi was always eager to instruct Naruto on runes. After all, the faster Naruto learned them, the closer he was to freedom outside of the seal.

(Scene change)

Yuugao turned her report into the Hokage and rushed home. She’d been on a mission for nearly Two weeks and she was in desperate need of a bath. That and she couldn’t wait to see Naruto again. She hoped that seductress Yugito hadn’t done anything while she was gone. She knew Naruto was nearly immune to the affection of a member of the opposite sex but that still didn’t oust the chance that he might give in, especially to someone like Yugito, a fellow demon container and very openly expressive with her intentions for Naruto.

The purple haired woman was three fourths the way home when someone called out to her. “Hey Yuu-Chan long time no see!” The woman almost groaned but held it in and turned around. “Hey there Anko,” she said. “How have you been?”

(Scene change)

Later on in the day Naruto became of something very quickly. There were a whole lot of faces he did not recognize in the village and he almost stopped in surprise when a rather attractive young foreign woman smiled affectionately at him.

“Hey what’s wrong Boss?” asked Konohamaru, temporarily peering up from the scroll he and his friends were reading. Naruto ignored the boy and continued to look around. There were a lot of new faces. He briefly wondered what was going on before it all came back to him. “Heh,” he began. “It’s that time already?” He looked up at the sky. It was around noon. The sun was at its highest point in the sky and beating down on the village. So the Chunin exams were about to begin. Perhaps he should report in to begin his duties to Hokage-Jiji.

He was taken out of his thoughts when two people came around the corner in front of him. The raven haired Uchiha gave a teasing smirk as soon as he saw Naruto and his three apprentices but held in his comments and just opted for a greeting. Uchiha style.

“Uzumaki,” he said with a nod.

“Uchiha,” was Naruto’s response. Then he focused his attention on the girl partially hidden behind Sasuke shyly. “Haruno.”

“H-Hi, Naruto,” she said.

The last couple of months had proved a large test for Sakura. She was afraid of Naruto and her mother hated his guts. However, Sasuke was friends with blonde and so were several others. She had been around and had heard mixed stories about him. She knew about his demon. Everyone did at this point as Naruto expressed as much without a single care in the world, and Naruto himself, although a bit cold and emotionless wasn’t really all that bad. He seemed to enjoy being around his small group of allies and he was extremely talented. She knew it was him that had motivated both her crush and Hanabi to train so hard, gaining power not natural for people their age and rank. She was also willing to say that Naruto was stronger than Sasuke. Not something fan girls are easily willing to accept.

Plus, the fact that he didn’t kill her when they first met merited some points. She knew Naruto was itching for Council blood and saying the wrong thing could easily lead to death, and she, being a council member’s daughter should have been a prime target. But he generally left her to her own devices, even briefly smiling in amusement whenever she went fan girl on Sasuke. However she was still intimidated by his presence and sought out Sasuke for comfort, hiding behind him like a little kid. It was pathetic in her eyes but she couldn’t help it.

“Still training I see?” asked the Uchiha, once again looking at the three children who ignored him in favor of reading more of the scroll.

Naruto said nothing. He just nodded and gestured toward s the three. “They’re persistent, but gifted as well.”

Sasuke nodded. Like many other’s he too had seen the three children trailing Naruto, walking on the walls, sprinting across water and pranking poor unsuspecting villagers using their newfound knowledge on the human body. They had talent. Even he could see that.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura for another minute and asked, “Where’s Hanabi? I figured you three would be getting ready for the Chunin exams.”

Sasuke looked up in thought. “Hn, perhaps that’s the reason Kakashi told us to meet him in an hour. But I haven’t seen Hanabi today. Maybe she’s at home practicing her kaitens.”

Naruto nodded in agreement. Hanabi worked more than the others on her specialized moves, feeling she had something to prove, what with being younger than everyone else and all.

“Who’s Hanabi?” asked Konohamaru. That name sounded familiar but only slightly. It was then that he noticed Sakura and Sasuke.

“And who’s the pink haired babe with the big ugly forehead and flat chest?”

Sasuke actually sweat dropped as Sakura seemingly teleported at Konohamaru. “You little shit!” she yelled with a fist raised.

Konohamaru gulped and looked towards Naruto for help and gasped as he saw the blonde already walking away. “Sensei you traitor!” he yelled before he took off, Sakura hot on his heels. Moegi and Undon sweat dropped as well. “He’s so impulsive,” said the little girl.

Naruto was actually going to respond when he heard an “Oof!” then a “Watch where you’re going ya little brat!” The he heard Sakura telling someone to, “put him down!”

Without a word Naruto and Sasuke vanished, leaving the two other children to catch up.

Sakura glared hard at the young man before her as he hoisted Konohamaru up by the front of his scarf. “Little punk, smacking me like that. Looks like someone needs to teach you a little lesson in manners.”

He raised his fist. Sakura glared harder. “Hey! We already apologized you big bully so put him down!” The young man did no such thing. He merely scoffed and brought his down. There was a loud crack and the young man cried out in pain as a rock surrounded by fire smashed into his wrist.

“UGH! What the hell was that!?”

He dropped Konohamaru who immediately ran over to Sakura.

“I wouldn’t mess with that one If I were you, Suna Nin.”

Both he and the young woman he was with turned their heads to the left and saw Sasuke glaring down at them, utter hatred shining in his eyes.

“Whoa! Local hottie!” thought the girl. The young man scoffed again and massaged his fist. “Oh? And why not pretty boy?”

Sasuke smirked and leapt to the ground. “Because, you could end up dead.”

And before the Suna boy could react, the bundle on his back suddenly came to life. Four bladed arms burst from the bandages and grabbed the poor sap in a tight embrace, cutting deep gashes into his body and causing blood to fall to the ground. Sakura gasped and so did the Suna girl. “W-wha!?”

“Hmm such a basic puppet,” said a voice that sent chills down their spines. The puppet squeezed tighter, cutting off the young man’s breath.

“S-Show yourself!” exclaimed the girl. She expected numerous people to emerge from the shadows. An image was already in her head. So it was a huge shock when a younger man of about twelve appeared and stared into her eyes with ice cold voids swimming with merciless intentions, his arm extended and a single finger pointing towards the Suna Nin, a chakra string attached to her brother’s puppet from his finger.

“I-Impossible!” she gasped out as the blonde approached. The blonde’s look intensified and so did the Suna Nin’s struggling.

“Suna ninjas here for the Chunin exams no doubt.” He cut the chakra from his finger, releasing the puppet and the young man. “I suggest you watch how you act while in this village. This is the only time I will warn you.” Then he turned away with the other Konoha residents following. Sasuke sent one last smirk over his shoulder then they were gone, leaving two stunned Suna Genin and one genuinely surprised read head.

The girl finally recovered enough to approach her injured brother he was on his back, looking up in shock and the only thing he could say was, “He knew…the puppet technique. He… Temari…Who was he?”

The girl shook her head. “I… don’t know.”

Up in the trees the read head gave a sadistic smile. “Perhaps…he can give me a challenge.”

Naruto didn’t know it yet but this was the beginning of his rise… to legend.

Kind of a corny way to end it but it’ll have to do. Anyway tell me what you thought. And take a look at the challenge on my profile. Until next time

PEACE!!! :D