Chapter 12: The Next Stage!

Chapter 12: The Next Stage!

"We need to hit someone, now," Kurotsuchi said looking up at the dark night sky.

I huffed, "do you have a dojutsu to see in the dark?"

She grumbled, "would you rather we wait here like sitting ducks and for them to kill us?"

"Or we go out and fall into one of their traps and then they kill us," I argued back.

She huffed and turned to the sound genin on our team, Sidra, "what do you think Sidra? Should we move out or stay here?"

The sound genin looked up from the small camp site he made, "I think the tree huggers right. Going out in the dark will leave us at a disadvantage, especially if we don't know how the others are going to attack."

Kurotsuchi threw her hands up in frustration, "I'm surrounded by cowards!"

"Cowards live, and more importantly, patient cowards win," I told her as we all sat around the samm camp fire.

The Iwa kunoichi sighed, "fine, then what's the plan oh fearless leader?"

"First thing's first, Sidra, the treasure item please," I asked. The sound nin tossed the bag we were given by B and I quickly took out the item inside. It was a wooden statue of a falcon, nothing too special.

"What are you going to do with it?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"I'm going to hide it," I opened the inventory and moved it behind me. I then slipped the statue into it and reveled my now empty hands, "ta-da!"

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes, "it's obviously behind you," I turned around, hands still up, "what the...how?"

I turned to her and winked, "Konoha secret."

She blushed, "you...you didn't put it up." he pointed upwards with her finger.

"What?! No! Why would I do that to myself!" I cried out.

Sidra laughed, "oh this is priceless! I knew you tree huggers loved wood, but this is too much!"

I grumbled, face planning myself as my two new teammates laughed at my expense. "If you must know I put it into a storage seal somewhere on my person. The only way anyone can access it now is if I give it to them. So even if we get beaten and are knocked unconscious, they won't get the statue."

Kurotsuchi nodded, "not a bad idea. Good job tree hugger."

"I hate that nickname," I sighed as I took out the map I had made of the valley before and rolled it out. I then took out a piece of paper which had all the new teams marked on it. "This is where we are," I said pointing on the map, "and these are the teams we have to face."

Kurotsuchi groaned, "that map you have is different from the one on the academy walls," she said taking out her own map.

"Same here," Sidra nodded taking out his own copy.

I smirked, "that's because I switched the maps. Before everyone realised they should copy down the maps I made a fake and then replaced that with the original. You all copied down the fake I made, this map here is the real one."

Kurotschi hissed, "fucking tree hugger. I should have known you would have tried something."

"That's...impressive," Sidra nodded, "I'm impressed, I didn't think you tree huggers had it in you to be this sneaky."

I shrugged, "you shouldn't make assumptions on stereotypes Sidra, they could get you killed. A konoha ninja can be ruthless, a Suna ninja can smile a Kumo ninja can have a normal personality and an Iwa ninja can actually have brains."

"Hey!" Kurotsuchi huffed. She rolled up her map and threw it into the fire, "anyway, this is useless. But I'm glad, at least we now have an advantage over everyone else. Who else knows you made the switch?"

"Everyone from Konoha," I replied.

"Hm, and they all have copies?" Sidra asked.

I shook my head, "no. I only made one copy and that' with Neji. Here, he's in team 4 with a sand genin and a kumo genin. I suggest we avoid him, he's a Hyuga, he'll see us coming a mile away, plus he has the real map."

Kurotsuchi nodded, "agreed. I also suggest we avoid team 3, Gozu is on that team, my large team mate with the small beard."

I nodded, "sounds good. I also suggest we avoid team 9, that's the one with Rock Lee in it, and believe me, he's someone you don't want to fuck around with. He does 10,000 push ups for training everyday and runs around the village a hundred times for stamina training. If he and Neji had a sapr I honestly can't tell you who would win."

Sidra's eyes winded, "woah...okay then, teams 9, 4 and 4 are off limits."

"What about your teams?" Kurotsuchi asked, "anyone to look out for?"

Sirdar sighed, "to be honest? No. They all aren't that dangerous."

I groaned, "no, they are. They are all at least a strong as you, one is even stronger."

Sidra snapped to me, "and how do you know that leaf boy?"

Oh, anger, I struck a nerve, "I'm a sensor, I can sense other people's chakra levels and to a certain degree their strength."

Kurotsuchi raised an impressed eyebrow, "really? Then tell me, who's the strongest out of us three?"

I turned to her, "you are."

Kurotsuchi smirked, "well, maybe you are a sensor after all."

"Wait, this chick is stronger than me?!" Sidra asked looking shocked.

I nodded, "yes, a lot stronger. But then again, she is the granddaughter of the third Tsuchikage and the great great granddaughter of the first Tsuchikage. So it would be stupid if she was weak."

Kurotsuchi's eyes narrowed as a kunai came by her side, "how did you know that?"

I looked at her, "you do realise if you kill me you get kicked out of the exams right?"

She moved, grabbing my neck and slamming me into a tree with her kunai pressed into my throat, "how! Did! You! Know?!"

I sighed, time to lie, "your eyes. Their a very rare colour. We know that the Tsuchikage belongs to a clan with something to do with bees. And one of their main traits is pink eyes...plus I overheard your goons talking about how they need to protect you. Wasn't that hard a leap."

Lie successfull!

Kurotsuchi clicked her teeth, "those damn morons."

"Now, are you going to keep threatening my life princess?"

Kurotsuchi huffed, moving away and sheathing her kunai, "don't tell anyone what you know," she told Sidra and me, "if you do I'll melt your fucking face off!"

I sighed, "why are the hot ones always so crazy?"

Kurotsuchi looked at me with a growl, "what did you say?"

"I called you hot," I shrugged, "oh, and crazy."

The Iwa kunoichi growled and walked away, "I'm going to bed, you two better not come anywhere near me or else I'll slit your throat!"

"You can't go to bed," Sidra called out, "we need to establish a night watch! Weren't you the one complaining about getting killed in your sleep?!"

Kurotsuchi stopped and turned around, "fine. You, tree hugger, you take first watch. Then comes bandages and then me. There, we established night watch, happy?"

"You can't sleep away from the team," I told her, "we stick together, even if you want to slit my throat. It would be kind of pathetic if you got kicked off the exam because you threw a hissy fit and ran away."

Kurotsuchi growled, "fine!" she kicked dirt into the fire killing it, "get to rest."

"Not yet," I told her taking out an empty scroll and began to write down a seal, "if someone is coming for us then they'll track the smoke the fire gives off. According to the map there's a small enclave right over that ridge," I pointed over my shoulder, "we'll sleep in there tonight."

"Fine," Kurotsuchi sighed, "anything else oh fearless leader?"

"Yes, get up, both of you," I motioned for them. Luckily the both obeyed without much resistance. I moved them away from the camp fire while I placed several seals in and around the fire, "there, perfect."

"What are they?" Sidra asked.

"Proximity sensors," I told him before covering the seals up with dried leaves, "anyone comes here will trigger it and alert me immediately. The sensor will then explode like a mine covering the targets in paralytic poison. So, while we rest, if someone is foolish enough to try and track us through the fire, they'll be sorry in the morning."

Kurotsuchi shrugged while Sidra looked intrigued by the seals. We all quickly went to the enclave, it was a small ditch underneath the tree that we could all fit into. Sidra went first, followed by Kurotsuchi and the myself.

Slowly the other two fell asleep, with ample warning from Kurotsuchi to Sidra and myself not to try anything while she slept. I waited and kept watch, and it was around 3 in the morning when I felt my proximity alarm go off.

Immediately I shook Kurotsuchi and Sidra awake. "W-what?" Kurotsuchi asked rubbing her eyes.

"We have movement, someone's come into our trap," I hissed at her as Sidra slowly came too as well.

"Right, let's get them," Kurotsuchi said as we sneaked out of the enclave and climbed up into the trees.

They followed my lead as we came upon our old campsite and found a sand nin, a kumo nin and a sound nin all gathered around the fire pit, pushing embers aside while the sand nin followed the tracks we left behind.

"Do it now," Kurotsuchi hissed into my ear.

"Right," I made the ram seal and the three enemy nins snapped upwards and spotted us.

"There!" the sound nin cried out, but before they could even move the seals I had placed exploded outwards, causing them all to be covered with yellow powder I had gained from my pokemon dungeon battles.

"W-what's happening?!" the sand nin cried out, "I can't move!"

"Someone help!" the kumo nin cried out.

I sighed and jumped down, followed closely by my teammates, "you guys are seriously lame. Did you really just fall for that? I mean come on! Did' you even think before you stepped into an enemy camp? Morons!"

"Yup," Kurotsuchi smirked, "but who cares. Their mistakes are our gains. Now," she cracked her knuckles, "who's face do I have to break to get the treasure from?"

"B-bite me bitch!" the sound nin cried out.

"Oh, so it's you," Kurotsuchi chuckled evilly as she approached him, but before she touched him I stopped her, "hey, what's gives?"

"Don't touch with your bare hands," I pointed at her naked palms, "they are covered with poison powder."

"Oh, right," she chuckled, "didn't see it there," she took out a pair of gloves and then grabbed the sound nin and dragged him behind a tree. And.

"ARGH! NO! Please no! NO! Don't hurt me! Please!" the man's screams were loud, oh so very loud.

Kurotsuchi came back smiling and in her hands was a wooden tiger statue, "we only need one more to go!"

"Right, now, to deal with the rest of you," I took our another seal and put it on them both, instantly they fell down like a bag of potatoes.

"You really are just full of surprises aren't you?" Sidra whistled.

"Kind of yes," I nodded, "now, we need to get a move on, I hope you guys got enough rest because that's the only sleep you'll get for sometime. Let's move," we ninja hopped onto tree branches and began moving around, running away from the campsite and the downed team.

"You know, we could ask you the same thing," Kurotsuchi said, "you were the one keeping watch, you're probably more tired than the both of us."

I sighed, "nope. Insomniac. I don't need to sleep for three days in a row before I lose focus and start getting drowsy. I'll be fine."

"That's good to hear, but if you're going to slow us down that's unacceptable," Sidra said in a warning tone.

I chuckled, "don't worry bandage boy, I won't slow us down. Now come on, one more statue and we can get of the forest and into a bed."

"Right," they agreed as we all ran around the forest, checking out clearing and other areas where we know people would set up camp.

Night slowly turned into day and around noon time we found them, team number 3. Gozu, the big Iwa dude, Kauri, the red haired kumo kunoichi and another kumo nin whose level was 25, so not worth remembering.

Kauir was crying out, "that's not what Kumo is about rock head!"

"Bite me cloud bitch," Gozu grolwed. nove(l)bi(n.)com

"H-hey' that's not very nice," number 25 said out stammering.

"Oh? You want to do something about that pip squeak?" Gozu asked.

"Shit," Kurotsuchi hissed as we observed them from far away, "we can't attack this team."

I sighed, "we have been searching all day. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Gozu is a member of the explosion corps, he's not someone to mess with. Plus if he sees it's me who's attacking.he would not even try."

"So what's the problem?" Sidra huffed, "if he wants to behave like a love sick puppy and roll over and die, who cares? All we want is the statue. I say we go down there, you order the gorilla to attack his team mates while we take care of the kumo nin. Then after we're done, order him to give you the statue, done and done."

"I will not abuse my grandfather's legacy just to pass a stupid test!" Kurotsuchi hissed, "I'm better than that, I don't deserve to be treated like a useless woman who can't even cut her nails without a big strong man helping her!"

"Sesh," Sidra rolled his eyes, "you have issues Kurotsuchi."

The Iwa kunoichi growled, "yeah, I know."

"Fine," I sighed, "no attacking...but let's just observe them. The way they are yelling someone else is bound to track them down as well. Let's move back, around 300 feet, that's the maximum range of my sensory abilities, that way I can keep an eye on them and they won't know we are even here."

Kurotsuchi and Sidra nodded, "good idea," Kurotsuchi said as well all moved back, following them from afar.

It was around sundown when things began to pick up again. I had pretended to 'sleep', upon Sidra's insistence that I needed to be wide awake for the task ahead, when I felt three chakra signatures approach team 3.

I immediately got up, startling Kurotsuchi and Sidra. "What's wrong?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Someone else is attacking our prey," I told her as immediately we all ran, and the closer we came to them, the more I realised I recognized one of those chakra signatures. "Shit!"

We came upon team 3 being attacked by team 4, or rather, Neji's team. We hide in the shadows and watched as Gozu and Neji fought, the Iwa ninja ill prepared for the Hyuga's quick strikes that close his chakra points.

"So? What do we do now?" Sidra asked.

"We wait and see who wins and then attack the winner," Kurotsuchi suggested.

I nodded, "sounds like a plan. And since Neji will be weakened, we can take him," we all agreed and so we stood back and watched the two teams fight.

Neji took on Gozu, the Hyuga's fighting style going up against the larger boy's almost clumsy fighting style. Neji didn't give him a moment's rest, he just kept going and goin, striking hard and fast.

Kauri and the kumo ninja on her team were double downing on the sand and kumo ninja on Neji's team, but it seemed they weren't quite upto the mark as Karui's flawless swordsmanship and the teamwork put the attackers on the defence, forcing them back.

"Sidra," I turned to the silent sound shinobi. He nodded, listening, "start playing your shamisen, slowly mix your chakra into their system without them noticing, the moment one side wins, activate a genjutsu and trap them."

Sidra nodded as he took his three string guitar and began to strike it slowly, releasing a slow tune that seemed to mix in well with the noise of battle.

"Something's wrong!" Neji suddenly cried out as he disengaged from Gozu, he turned to us and narrowed his eyes, "Yami!"

"Shit!" I hissed, "I forgot about his eyes!"

Kurotsuchi hissed, "fucking moron! Fine, we attack! Shidra and I will take care of the weak ones, you take care of the Hyuga and Gozu!"

"Right," I leaped out of the trees along with my team mates. I saw Kurotsuchi and Sindra strike the unobservant members of Neji's team, taking them out of the battle immediately before engaging Karui and her kumo team mate.

"Great, two tree huggers!" Gozu hissed as I landed in their battle field. We faced each other with equal spacing in between, all three eyeing each other.

Neji and I moved as one, an unspoken agreement formed between each other. Gozu would be the first one to go down.

I threw a dagger at Gozu, he ducked, but just then Neji slipped into his defences and began hitting his gut several times over before suddenly Gozu vanished in a puff of smoke, releasing himself with a rock.

I used my chakra sensors and turned around to see Goz moving through hand seals for a jutsu. I quickly moved through hand seals of my own, we both finished with the tiger seals.

"Explosion style: Straight shot!" The ground began to explode in a straight line, coming right at me. I leaped to the side, avoiding the line of destruction before exhaling several fireballs from my mouth.

"You're gonna have to do better than that tree hugger!" Gozu laughed as he jumped away, but I had a plan. I used the fireballs special ability which allowed me to control them to a certain degree, allowing the balls to curve and hit Gozu in the back.

"Argh!" he cried out falling forward, before hitting the ground Neji slipped into his defence.

"I have you in my sights," Neji whispered as he began to spin like a top, using his palms to strike Gozu ten times over and throw the Iwa ninja over his head and away from us.

We then looked at each other, Gozu was down, we could see that. That just left the two of us. Neji slipped into his taijutsu stance and me into mine.

"I guess we can have that fight after all huh Neji?" I asked smirking.

The Hyuga nodded, "it will be...enjoyable."

I smirked underneath my mask, "only one problem. We aren't academy student's any more, and I'm not in the mood to show off, so" I charged chakra into my fist, Neji's eyes winded as he slipped into his defence position. He thought I was going to hit him, how wrong he was.

"Collapse!" I cried out, slamming my fist into the ground.

-100 CP!

The ground collapsed down as the entire field began to crack open. Boulders of broken stone flew into the air, and with them, Neji.

"Only problem with taijutsu," I said leaping into the air and launching a kick into Neji's gut, the force throwing him back into a tree. I landed and immediately took out a containment seal and slapped it on his forehead, "it's only as good as the ground you fight on."

I began to search through Neji's things someone as arrogant as him would dare give a mission item to anyone else. And a minute later I was proved right, finding a snake statue stitched inside his belt.

I put it away in my inventory and took off the status seal. He moaned but didn't wake up, one of the side effects of the seal. He'll be awake in an hours time, more than enough time for us to leave.

I turned to check Zumo's body, I'm sure he had another treasure on im, but when I turned, he was gone. I cursed, whatever, I ran to my teammates side to see how they were doing.

I came upon them standing over four unconscious ninjas, Kurotsuchi smirking in victory while Sidra tied up their unconscious foes.

They noticed me arrive, Kurotsuchi asked, "well? Did you win or what?"

"Neji's down and I got his statue giving us three, enough to pass," I told them the good news first.

Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow, "and Gozu?"

I sighed, "he got away."

"Damn it," she hissed, "if we got his statue that would have meant only two teams would qualify instead of three! Can you sense him?"

I shock my head, "he must have used that traveling in the Earth jutsu you guys know."

"Damn!" Kurotsuchi growled.

"It's fine," Sidra spoke out, "we have three, we qualify, so let's get our asses to the tower on the double."

"Agreed," Kurotsuchi nodded as she got off her human stoll and winced in pain, holding her side.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Just a scratch," she hissed. I looked down and saw a trickle of blood moving down her hands, I could see a long gash on her side.

"That looks like more than just a scratch," I sighed.

"Can you move?" Sidra asked.

"Of course I can! I've been injured, I'm not a cripple!" Kurotsuchi yelled back.

"Here, let me see it," I said gently removing her hand from the wound. Kurotsuchi looked worried, but did remove her hand, "hm, not too deep, I can heal it."

"You know medical ninjutsu?" Kurotsuchi asked sounding surprised.

I nodded, "yup," I moved through the hand seals for the medical jutsu and activated the green healing palm, pressing it over her wounds gently, allowing my chakra to heal the cut and stop the blood lose.

When it was done I moved the hand away and sighed, "you should be fine now."

"T-thanks," Kurotsuchi stuttered looking at her now healed side.

"Here," I took out some bandages, "in case you reopen the wound." I saw her REP score go from -20 to 0. Progress I guess.

"Right," Kurotsuchi nodded as she took them and put it away, "we should get going," she said as she cut the tied up ninja loose.

"Why did you do that?" Sidra asked, "I just finished tying them up!"

Kurotsuchi shrugged, "they could wake up and have the idea of still qualifying by stealing some other team's treasure. Either way it's less people to worry about for us."

I hummed, "she's right...alright, that's enough chit chat, let's move," and with that we took off, heading towards the lake in the middle of the valley and the tower in the middle of the lake.

By night time we came upon the lake and jumped onto the lake, landing on the water and running forward. Luckily we all knew how to walk on water, or else boy would that have been an awkward piggy back ride.

Soon we arrived at the shore of the island the tower was on when I sensed something off"hey Kurotsuchi!"

"What?" she asked we stepped onto dry land.

"You remember what I said about going out on a date after this?" I motioned with my hands, my teammates both noticed my signals, 'three ninja's, ambush.'

Kurotsuchi smirked, "dude, you can't handle me! You're too young!" 'How strong?'

"Hey! I'll have you know I've been told I'm a fantastic kisser!" 'mid genin.'

"So you two get to go on a date, but what about me?" Sidra sighed, 'we can take them'.

"Well.I'm not into guys if that's what you mean," I snorted, 'I'm ready.'

"And I don't like dating people whose faces I have never seen," Kurotsuchi chuckled, 'let's do this'. We walked upto the steps of the tower, I noticed people moving from one corner.

"Okay, so what I'm hearing is you'll go out with me me if I show you my face right?"

"Yup!" Kurotsuchi nodded, her left hand drawing a kunai.

"Hm, okay then, I'll do that. Where would you like to go first? Me? Personally, I like-," I dashed away to the side, the highest level, 31, came forward to block the strike, allowing his team mates to jump away.

I grinned, "hey Omoi, how's it hanging?"

"Shit," the white haired genin from Kumo growled as he disengaged and jumped back. He quickly began to go through hand seals before creating a sphere of lightning chakra in his left hand, sending it flying at me.

"Nice," I leaped away, I saw from the corner of my eye the lighting bolt turn and come at my back. I instantly used the substitution jutsu and switched with a stone, moving five feet away.

I can't engage with him directly, that sword of his makes him deadly in close combat and the lighting jutsu makes him a great mid-range fighter. But, I had just the thing to level the playing field.

I moved through hand seals, Omoi blinked, "what are you doing?"

I smirked, "hidden mist jutsu!" I cried out as my charka went out into the lake next to the shore we fought on and pulled out a heavy mist covering both Omoi and I. The others luckily we're far enough that they knew not to come into the mist, leaving just me and Omoi inside.

"I can't see," he hissed out as he swung his sword around, trying to push the mist back, but ultimately it was useless.

"Yeah, neither can I. But you see, there's a little trick I have up my sleeve," I closed my eyes and let my chakra sensory skill take over, allowing me to gauge his position. I smirked, he kept moving around, trying to find the exit. I pulled out ninja wire and prepared for a scorch style jutsu.

I snuck up closer to him, Omoi randomly swinging his blade to try and catch me. I ducked under a particular swing and tied the ninja wire to its sheath, channeling chakra to it to make sure the blade's sharp edge doesn't cut the wire.

I moved a few feet behind him now, sucked in a deep breath and ended the hand seal pattern a with half tiger and half bird seal, spewing out flames from my mouth, 'scorch release: Dragon's breath!'

The Hokage's widened, "yes, I am. You already know?"

I shrugged, "I'm a chakra sensor remember? I figured it out a long time ago. Actually it was a few days after I met him."

Lie successful!

The man looked shocked, "and you didn't say anything? Nothing?"

I blinked, "well...you didn't either, so I figured there must be a reason right?"

Lie successful!

"Yes...there was," the man looked at me with calculating eyes, "all these years, you knew, and you didn't once feel ...scared?"

I chuckled, "Naruto's a moron, why would I ever feel scared of a guy who I consider a dumb little brother? The Kyuubi on the other hand, yeah, maybe, but Naruto and the Kyuubi are totally different, so what's the point? I'm a finjutsu specialist lord Hokage, I know the difference between a sealing scroll and the kunai inside of it."

The man's REP scored leaped to 65. He smiled, "you're a very mature person Yami, always have been. I'm glad Naruto got you as a brother...it makes me happy to know he won't be prosecuted for being what he is."

I smiled, "thanks for those kind words. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a little brother to see and congratulate on making genin!"

Hokage nodded, "right, dismissed."

I left his office and quickly went back to my place, walking in and calling out, "I'm home!"

"Yami!" Naruto called out from the dining room. I walked in and found him eating some instant ramen for dinner.

I scowled, "two weeks and you're eating instant ramen again. Honestly Naruto, I told you nutrition is important!"

"Hey! Don't diss ramen!"

I rolled my eyes, "whatever," he got up and quickly charged into me, giving me a tight hug, Is milled as I patted his back, "it's good to see you again Naruto. How have you been?"

"Great! And hey, check it out!" he ran into his room and came out with a headband, an old one that looked to be well used, "I'm a ninja too! I'm a genin Yami!"

I grinned, "alright! This calls for a treat! Come on! Let's go out for dinner!"

Naruto blinked, "but I was just having dinner."

"Would you rather have instant ramen or Ichiraku ramen?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Ichiraku!" Naruto grabbed his tracksuit jacket and in moments we were out the door.

We had lunch late into the night, Ayame and her dad kept it open just for us. We payed, giving the family of two a big tip, and took a slow walk around the village that was slowly growing quieter.

"So then Iruka sensei tied this around my head and called me his most favorite student!" Naruto said with a smile as he finished his story about how he got to be a genin.

I smiled, "cool story Naruto, damn, I wish mine was half as exciting as yours was! All I had was a boring test!"

"Hehe, that's because I'm awesome!" Naruto cheered.

I smiled, "that you are," we walked in silence for sometime before I spoke up, "Naruto, I'm sorry about Mizuki...I didn't realise he would use your faith in me to rock you like that."

"Haha, don't worry about it!" Naruto said with a big smile, "he tricked us all! Even Iruka sensei was tricked! Do worry about it!"

I smiled, "right."

Naruto smiled as we kept walking at a slow pace towards our home. Slowly though I noticed I noticed Naruto's smile falling down, I saw him taking side glances at me and looking conflicted.

I sighed, "okay, what is it?"

Naruto blinked, "what do you mean?"

"You keep looking at me with worry Naruto. What is it? Spit it out already," I smiled.

"Well...it's just.it's something Mizuki said...before he attacked me," he looked nervous, scared even. Why...oh, the Kyubi thing, he doesn't know I know. He probably thinks I would leave.

I smirked, "oh and what did he say?"

"He said...he said...he said that I was the Kyuubi," Naruto spoke in a low tone.

"GASP! What?! You're the Kyuubi?! What?! How?! Oh my! I'm going to faint! Help someone help!"

Naruto's eyes widened in fear, "Yami please! I promise I won't hurt you I..why are you giggling?"

"Bahahaha!" I exploded into laughter, "oh you face! It's perfect!"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "this isn't funny Yami! I'm being serious here!"

I chuckled, slowly wiping away a tear, "I-I know idiot. I've always known."

"What?! You knew?! All the time you knew?!" Naruto looked pissed.

I shrugged, "yup. What, you think someone as amazing as me couldn't figure it out?"

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"Does it matter?" I asked with a smile, stifling his anger. I ruffled his hair, Naruto stood just a few inches shorter than me, "you're my little bro Naruto, it doesn't matter if you have a giant fox living inside of you, heck that just makes you a little cooler than normal people. I don't care what you are Naruto, just who you are."

Naruto's eyes began to water and he hugged me again, I smiled as hugged him back. We stayed like that for a few moments before I broke it and smiled, "now come on! You have a week before team placements right?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "yup!"

"Great! Then I can spend the week training you!"

"Really?! Any jusu I want?!"

I nodded, "as long as it's not dangerous, then yes."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered as we quickly went back home.

The next day:

The next day Naruto woke up bright and early, obviously he was excited to learn some cool new jutsu. We traveled to training ground eleven, hopefully my team mates wouldn't mind.

"Alright! What do I learn first?!" Naruto asked eagerly, "oh, can you teach me that blue fire one that you do?!"

I chuckled, "sorry Naruto, but you lack the chakra control needed to perform that jutus."

"Chakra control? What's that?" he asked stupidly.

I sighed, was he really this dense? "Chakra control is how much chakra you can control without it leaking out. It's a major part of a ninja's tool kit and something that can mean the defrence between life and death."

"Cool!" Naruto said giddly.

I smiled, "glad you think so. Now, here's what we're going to do. You see that tree over there?" I pointed at a nearby tree, "you're going to climb it."

Naruto blinked, "but I can already do that!"

I smirked, "without using your hands, watch," I walked to the tree and walked straight up it's trunk and stood upside down on a branch, "ta-da."

"Woah! That's so cool!" Naruto cried out.

I smiled and detached myself, landing on my feet, "and if you're really good you can also walk on water."

"Cool! How did you do that Yami?! Teach me!" Naruto said with his eye lit up.

"This is how," I then began explaining the process to him, going into detail on how it should feel and how Naruto should behave. He got to work quickly, using a kunai to mark his progress.

While he did that I took out the scroll the Hokage gave me and began to read it. It wa honestly amazing and very in depth when it comes to how chakra is molded when making a hand sign.

I got the gist of it, I think. Basically every hand sign you make changes the path way of the chakra in your body, shaking it up as it were. This allows the chakra to become active and perform certain roles.

I grew curious though, just what did each hand seal contribute into a jutsu? So I got to work.

By nightfall I had a working theory, and Naruto was half tired, panting in sweat as the kunai stuck a quarter up the tree.

There were twelve hand seals each based on the zodiac symbol. It went a little like this:

Tiger- fire and earth release jutsus

Bird- wind release

Dog- water release

Snake- lighting release and a few earth release jutsus as well

Then came the specialised hand seals;

Dragon- usually involved with projection type jutsu, like fireball

Ram- used to channel chakra, usually the at beginning of most high powered jutsus

Rat- used for focusing chakra into specific use

Ox- Allows for a build up of chakra after initial formation of intent of use

Hare- Usually used in jutsus that is involved with chakra infusion into body

Horse- Helps control volatile chakra

Boar- used to focus chakra into a specific portion of the body

Monkey- used to disperse chakra, for a wide area effect

I had the list figured out, I finally understood how each worked and understood how I could manipulate them. And now since I could understand what made a jutsu up, I could get to work figuring out how to make moe jutsu for myself, instead of just combining them randomly.

But again, that would take a long time, if only I could somehow get more time...I turned to NAruto, who was now snoring. No, not more time, more mes!

The next day:

"So you want me to teach you the shadow clone jutsu?" Naruto asked.

I nodded, "yup. It would really help with my training, I have a month before the chunin exams and if you teach me it would really help."

Naruto hummed, "well...I guess, but you better teach me a cool new jutsu after this!"

I smiled, "fine, I promise. If you teach me the shadow clone jutsu, I'll teach you a wind release jutsu, one strong enough to uproot a tree."

"Yata! Okay, here's how you do it."

Three hours later:

I sighed as I tried again. First I formed the cross hand seal and poured chakra into my whole body, just as Naruto instructed, it took a while, but thanks to my perfect chakra control I finally understood just how it felt to extend your chakra out so much.

It felt like you were pouring a cup's worth of paint onto the floor and trying to make it fit the entire ten by ten square feet of floor space. No wonder only trained ninjas with high level charak is allowed to do this.

But what I lacked in chakra, I made for in control!

"Shadow clone jutsu!" I released the chakra at once. And unlike so many times before, now I felt something;

Ping!

You have learnt a new jutsu!

Shadow clone jutsu, B rank

Divide your chakra equally into different portions to a copy of yourself.

CP cost- X (depends on user)

Durability of clone- 20% of user's own health

Time limit- INT minutes

-1,875 CP!

There was a puff of smoke as a perfect carbon copy of me blinked in surprise. He looked down and touched his body, "this is...I'm a clone?"

"Amazing," I said moving closer to him, looking him over as he did the same to me, "what do you remember last?"

"The jutsu skill being created," he responded.

"Were you made with the knowledge that you were a clone?" I asked.

"Yes...I did...it was like...what else could I be?"

I smirked, "glad to know you won't try to snatch away my body."

He snorted, "as if I would ever do something that stupid."

"Ah, it's so nice to have such an amazing conversation with someone of equal wit."

"And not half bad looking either," he grinned, "no wonder chicks think we're hot."

"Dude! We're hot! Do you know what this means?! We can so get laid!" I snickered.

He smiled, "hell yeah! Although," he sighed and hanged his head, "puberty is going to be a bitch."

I sighed, "don't I know it."

"Hey Yami!" Naruto cried out, standing upside down from a tree branch grinning as he twirled a kunai in his hand, "stop talking to yourself and look at the amazing me!"

The clone whistled, "not bad, only a day and he already mastered it. Remember how long it took us?"

I sighed, "yeah..anyway, let's not waste any time, you remember what the skill limit said, you only have as many minutes as our INT stat allows us."

The clone opened the stat box, and more importantly I saw him open the stat box. Hm, maybe he could use the gamer abilities too? I wonder what would happen if we both use the inventory.

"It's a good idea," he spoke up, "we should try it tonight."

"How...oh, right, clone, same thoughts. You're right, we'll explore this further tonight. Now, how much time do you have?"

"36 minutes, might as well make it 30 for all the time we wasted," he said.

I nodded, "agreed. You need a task, since we're interested in Swift release go into the library as see if you can dig up old records of a Konoha ninja with that."

"Oh right, it came in that movie with the dude who tried to kidnap kekkei genkai users and eh mentioned the Swift release was one of ours. On it, see you later Alpha."

I smirked, "by Beta," and then he took off. I turned to Naruto who was blinking in surprise, "what? Never see a guy talk to himself before?"

"Ah...no."

I snorted, "alright, come down here, I'll show you the hand seals for the jutsu."

"Hell yes!" He backflipped and landed on his feet. "Show me! Show me!"

I smiled, "right, this jutsu is called wind release: Great Breakthrough. You might want to practise holding your breath."

Half and hour later the clone dispelled sending memories into my head. He was in the process of following a promising lead when the jutsu cut itself off. I really need to invest in the INT stat more often now.

I made another clone every half hour, Misa was confused as to how I kept walking out without her noticing every half hour, but I managed to convince her it was just an upset stomach.

Naruto and I practised his wind jutsu into the night and by midnight he had actually managed to create a proper blast of wind strong enough to topple a tree back. I smiled at that, hard work always payed off.

I had a clone take him home and then turned to the empty field and turned to my CP bar. It was regenerating at a rate of 50% every 30 seconds, meaning in half a minute my charak level was back to full. OP chakra control for the win!

Anyway after I reached max CP I focused on creating more shadow clones, this time diving my chakra into 10 parts.

-3375 CP!

There were ten puffs of smoke as a huge portion of my chakra was sapped away. We all began to sweat a little, not enjoying the feeling.

"Quick, open your stats and see if all you'r chakra is regenerating," I said as I saw them do just that.

"No, it's not moving," said the one nearest to me, "the cap is at 375, it seems if you create a clone with that much chakra, that's it's limit."

"Alright...use a fireball at that tree," I pointed to a far away tree.

The clone did that and it got a message of the chakra it used, but none of us did. Good, at least I won't be spammed with message regarding other clones.

The clone that fired the jutsu looked at his stat and nodded, "okay, it's regenerating the hundred CP I lost, but it's stuck at 375."

"Okay, so you're like my little cell jrs.," I said with a hum, "all my skills and strength, but weaker."

"It's so strange we all know that reference but can't understand where it comes from," said one clone, causing us all to sigh.

"Anyway, we should see if the whole dungeon time stopping thing actually works," said one clone.

I nodded, "right. Three of you stay here, the rest come with me to the park, time to test this out."

The clones nodded as three stayed behind discussing about chakra and hand seals while the rest of us went to the park. We arrived quickly and walked out the glowing blue symbol.

"Hey, why don't one of you try and touch it this time," I suggested, "I want to see if it will work on clones as well."

"Right," a clone stepped up and pressed against the blue leaf symbol and we all waited...and waited. But he was right there. Eventually he got back up and shrugged, "it didn't work...which is a first."

I hummed, "must only work for me. Damn, that's too bad, kind of hoping I could just use you guys to grind."

"That is if we can even gain EXP like you can," one clone suggested causing the rest of us to node.

"Only one way to find out, grab onto my shoulders," I told the others as they did that. I selected the blue leaf as the dungeon options came up, this time I might as well go with the latest dungeon level, number 7.

The world changed, and once again I found myself in a valley between two mountains and a small river flowing in between. It seems that after number 5, the dungeons just repeated themselves, with stronger pokemon.

"Alright everyone, try to see if you can access the pokemon menu," I ordered.

They tried and the clone next to me grumbled, "nope. Can't access it."

I sighed, "inventory?"

Clone grabbed a stone and tossed it to another one, he then opened the inventory and put it inside, appearing in all our menus.

The clone who opened the inventory grinned "yup! Plus it seems that for every item we put in our inventory, it shows up in all the other ones as well! It's like instant teleportation! We can so use this on information gathering mission! Send a clone in, taake a super secret scroll and put it into the inventory and boom! The main guy has it!"

"We know," another clone rolled his eyes, "we all thought off the same idea."

I smirked, "great minds think alike!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Alright, first things first, let's see if you guys can gain EXP as well, because if you can, that would be amazing! Gives new meaning to the word grinding!" I smiled.

"Right," a clone stepped forward, "I'll go out and find whatever pokemon is spawning in this forest and get rid of it. See you all in a few minutes," and with that he took off.

I turned to the clones, all looking at each other, "so..." I began, "how are we going to handle our love life?"

"Isn't it obvious?" a clone shrugged, "we go for the chick with the biggest tits. So far, that's Samui."

"Man, we really have a boob fetish huh?" another clone sighed.

Another nodded, "yup...hey, do you think we should try and see if Hinata-"

"-Hell no! You know she and Naruto ends up together!" I eylled out.

"But Sakura and Naruto are closer in this timeline, what could be the harm," another huffed.

"Yeah, c'mon, we all know you're thinking about it!" another clone called out, "you've seen how massive her chest gets!"

"And you know the massive crush she has on Naruto," another clone argued, "as if we could ever make her forget him. Please, she would sooner die for him than be with anyone else."

I sighed, "why aren't there any chicks with a massive rack in this village?!"

"Well there is Anko," one clone suggested.

"Too crazy," another argued.

"We like crazy," one smirked.

"Plus she has a snake fetish...you all know what that means right?" We all shuddered, we hated snakes.

"Well there's always Tsunade," one clone shrugged.

"Except she's an old hag and her breast are probably sagging by now," a clone argued back.

"What about Mei? The Mizukage?"

"Future Mizukage," I corrected, "plus she's like 30. But she does have an amazing rack...and has red hair...and blue eyes.damn it! Why are all the hot chicks older than us?!"

"I'm back," the clone from before landed before us and looked around, "what are you guys talking about?"

"Boobs," a clone sighed.

"Oh...right. Anyway, I looked around, this level is filled with Pikachu and Raichu for starters. I defeated five pikachu's using wind juts and gained their fur as loot items and a sac that stores 5 CP of lightning chakra, but only half the EXP that was listed under each pokemon."

I sighed, "alright...that isn't so bad. So you get only half, but since there are ten of you that means I can get EXP worth five people, not half bad. Alright here's the plan," I took out all my pokemon and released them.

Flamer, Blaze, Cuter, Basher and King came out and looked down in surprise seeing eleven versions of me. I smiled, "alright, here's the plan, five pokemon, ten clones. This is the main base, I'll stay here while two clones and basher one pokemon move out and fighting off this dungeon's pokemon. Any clone get's dispelled or runs out of time, I'll create another and send over immediately. Then when the boss arrives we'll all work together to defeat it. Any questions."

The clones smirked, "you know that we don't have any."

I smirked back, "great, move out!" And with that my grinding session began.