Sarutobi's mind was moving unbelievably fast, even though outwardly he remained as calm and serene as he sat behind his desk as he ever had been. He wasn't sure if he'd ever heard of a set of Genin's first mission outside of the village turn sour so very quickly, particularly with all of said Genin coming back alive. Quite how all three Genin had come back unscathed was still a mystery to him.

Yet here they were, having just finished briefing him on the C-rank mission they had just undertaken. Kakashi and his hastily erected, temporary team. First mission and they fight a pair of Jonin nuke-nin, with an outlandish, if nothing else, form of fuuinjutsu.

Much more worrying was the prospect of Akatsuki's involvement, and the idea that Jonin level shinobi from Iwagakure were already targeting Naruto; news that Kakashi had sent him in advance of their arrival. But that was another meeting for another time. Preferably one with Jiraiya present.

"Undoubtedly, you have all done extraordinarily well to come back unharmed, let alone with the mission fully accomplished." Sarutobi began, addressing the Genin more than he was Kakashi. "Any mission where you face enemies of the calibre that you faced, is automatically at least of an A-rank, and you will be credited and paid for one. You have all shown that you are going to grow into fine Konoha shinobi. You may each take a three day respite from active duty to recover. You are dismissed."

The three Genin nodded their thanks to the Hokage, and left the office, Naruto with a grin that would have put the Cheshire cat to shame.

However, Kakashi remained, his face as serious as it could be, with just the one eye showing.

"Just a brief thing, Sandaime-sama. Suna's jinchuuriki, the boy named Gaara. He and Naruto met. He's taken, shall we say, an interest, in Naruto. I'd like to recommend he be kept under a tight watch when he arrives in Konoha for the Chunin exams."

"He openly threatened Naruto?"

"Attacked him on the street. Promised to finish the job."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at that. It was common knowledge that Gaara was unstable, Suna almost never allow him to move around the village without an escort to prevent incidents.

"Thank you Kakashi, you are dismissed."

The Next Day

Naruto heaved himself off of the floor, having finished the final part of his morning warm-up, wiping his brow which had just started to sweat as the cool morning air was displaced by the warmer air of the day. It had occurred to the blonde the previous night during a meal at Ichiraku's, that since he had been given time off, he wouldn't be required to meet up with Jiraiya, which meant in turn, Jiraiya more than likely would make no effort to be there to train him.

Which meant that for the next three days, he would have to train himself if he wanted to get anything done, which at first left him at a loss with what to do with his time. He obviously had a lot he could work on, but deciding exactly what should hold priority was difficult to say the least. His first move had been to send a handful of Bunshin to the library, a place that Naruto was still blown away by it's potential usefulness. A few to scour the place for something that looked interesting, and another set to expand his knowledge on the basics. He had now totally nailed the entire Academy curriculum, and then some. He had a pretty sound knowledge of the continents geography, and a good overview of it's history, along with it's current politics. He knew basic chakra and ninjutsu theory, and had gone far beyond the call of duty in terms of strategy and battle tactics, thanks mostly to Kakashi's advice.

He had identified chakra theory as the next place to expand his knowledge in. He was incredibly eager to get to a point where creating his own ninjutsu was a possibility, and even more than that, Yuugao's words about the idea of 'chakra mastery' resonated deeply with him. He had yet another few clones in the library specifically for the purpose of building on his knowledge of chakra itself.

Which left the physical side of things. The fun stuff.

He could continue to work on integrating his Sansetsukon with his fighting style, both as a staff and in it's 'released' form. He had begun work on that during his mission to Suna, and when he had attempted to use his Sansetsukon against the statues, it had still been incredible awkward. Fortunately, Yuugao had apparently stopped by his house at some point, and left a scroll detailing the basics of the weapon. Grips, basic attacks, blocks, stances. All individual pieces Naruto could merge into his overall fighting style.

Which, at some point during is training with Yuugao, Naruto had realised would be the key to his style. Yuugao was trying to push him to take bits and pieces, little snapshots of other styles, and use them to construct a versatile style that had a response for every situation. The first moves he had learned with the woman were taken, mostly, straight from the Academy taijutsu forms. Basic blocks, punches and kicks. The bare essentials of any style, the foundations, if you will. From there, it was down to the blonde himself to build. If he felt he needed to work on his holds, and grappling, he could research styles that emphasised grappling, and pick the bits that suited him, the parts that matched his rhythm as he fought. It was an ingenious idea, and one that bolstered his already high levels of respect for the woman.

Taijutsu was of course, the next area he needed to work on. He had a set of core moves and stances, but they were the most basic of moves. And although with the help of his Bunshin he had the learned to a very good level, every shinobi to ever wear a headband was familiar with them. He needed to start to expand his knowledge, and working what he knew into a more defined way of fighting, a clear 'fighting philosophy'. He had a few scrolls, again provided by Yuugao that he had read through, and had selected parts of it that he believed work fit in with his way of fighting. Now all he needed to do was to learn them and see if it would work in practice.

Next up of course, was ninjutsu. In actual fact, ninjutsu was the area he was most happy with. For a rookie Genin, his range of ninjutsu was incredibly impressive - a testament to the usefulness of Kage Bunshin when learning ninjutsu. However, his control was an eternal sore point with the blonde. It needed refining, and that would in turn refine his ninjutsu. However the only exercise he knew was the ping pong ball technique he had learned from Iruka. On the surface that particular exercise looked incredibly difficult, but for someone with his amount of chakra, it actually wasn't. All you needed to do was learn how to expel a particular amount of chakra across an increasing surface area. It had been difficult at first, purely because his control was that bad in the first place, and he found it hard to maintain a constant level of chakra expulsion. Most shinobi could do it in their sleep. It looked like he was going to have to pay another visit to Iruka to see if he knew any more exercises.

That, was a hell of a lot to work on in three days.

Naruto grinned. Fortunately, thanks to a combination of the Kyuubi and the Forbidden scroll, Naruto was rarely short on time.

Shikamaru took in the looks on his the faces of Ino and Choji. Utter surprise. Choji had stopped eating the BBQ they had ordered. Ino's mouth was actually hanging open. He smirked at the blonde and raised his eyebrow accusingly.

"Catch any flies yet, Ino?"

Her mouth shut audibly, the sound somehow giving the Nara significant pleasure. If only she'd shut it more often, she'd be far less troublesome.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that we're shinobi now. The mission I was on, it- well, it went wrong. Me and Naruto were left well out of our depth, while Kakashi fought against two Jonin."

"How'd you make it out, Shika?" Choji had carried on eating, and asked mid mouthful, causing Ino to wrinkle her face up in disgust, the only thing preventing her from saying anything was the fact that Shikamaru was talking.

"Naruto." He fought back a smirk as their reactions mirrored exactly how they were a few moments ago. "I have to admit, even I didn't see it coming, but he's been working his ass off since the exam. He was like a whole knew person, guys. I learnt more about him in those three days then in the whole time we spent trying to figure the guy out in the Academy."

"That doesn't answer the question, though Shikamaru. As much as I wanna know about Naruto, God knows I've been trying to crack that particular puzzle for long enough, it still doesn't explain how you beat those statues." This time it was Ino who piped up, her own food, unlike Choji's, completely forgotten.

"It does, in a way. I told you he had worked his ass off, didn't I? Naruto fought them all pretty much by himself. His skills have gone through the roof. I was- well, I was near useless. I couldn't do a thing. He only took a hit when I got trapped and he rushed to come and save my ass. The medic on our team, Hana, was certain it should have been bad. And the guy jumps up like it was nothing when I was about to get flattened, to bail me out again."

"He's gotten that much better?" Ino sounded incredulous. And she had every right to be. They had on Genin teams for three full days when Shikamaru was summoned for the mission. By rights, he and Naruto should never have been on that mission. The fact that Naruto was now being trained by one of the most legendary ninja around in Konoha today would help explain that. But not even Jiraiya could get Naruto that good after three days. Which meant he'd done it by himself, in the month between the assignments and the exam.

"Well, that adds a whole other dimension to the puzzle." She grumbled under her breath, after seeing Shikamaru nod in confirmation.

"But Naruto isn't the main issue here, as troublesome as he is. It's the fact that someone I consider a friend had to put themselves at risk - risk their lives - because I wasn't strong enough to be useful in that fight. I don't want to be in that position again. I've been lazy about being a ninja, and because of it, Naruto nearly died trying to keep me alive."

"And take it from me, anyone else here would have been in the same position had they been there, and I know he would have done the same for any of you had it been any of you. I don't know about you guys, but I think we've been slacking off in our training, especially with Asuma, and he's been letting us get away with it so far. I say we find him, and let him know we want to take it up to the next level. What about you guys?"

Ino and Choji glanced at each other, before nodding their agreement at Shikamaru. They had learned to trust the Nara when he was serious about things over the years, and he was certainly serious now. Ino especially, would have been indignant at any hint she had been slacking, whether true or not, but she knew the look in Shikamaru's eyes. If he said they needed to step it up, then they did.

"I think I feel my ears burning... And what was that I heard about 'training'?" Their sensei's voice stopped any further conversation dead. They turned to face Asuma, who had just lit a cigarette, and placed it to his lips. "Glad to see you're ready to start getting serious about being a shinobi, the kid act was starting to get old. But, before we do anything, I want to show you all something. Follow me, I've already payed the bill."

The three Genin exchanged a curious glance, before moving to follow the Jonin out of the restaurant.

"Chakra control exercises?" Iruka scratched his chin in thought, even as he tried to hide his surprise at the question. It still surprised him quite how far Naruto had come in such a short space of time. A few months ago, he would have laughed in your face if you told him Naruto would be seeking him out looking for chakra control exercises rather than ninjutsu.

"Well, there are two that will be the most useful to you, as an active shinobi, and they are pretty much required learning for any shinobi." Naruto nodded eagerly in response, to that, his concentration totally focused on his old teacher. "The first, is called tree-walking. The idea behind it is simple, and very similar to how the ping-ping ball exercise works. You need to expel the right amount of chakra from your feet to stick you to a tree's trunk, on a constant basis. To master the exercise, will involve being able to walk, run and fight on the trunks and branches of trees."

Naruto nodded again. The premise made sense - to be able to fight on any vertical surface would require you to get your control to a point where one could maintain the chakra needed to stick without having to think about it or concentrate on it.

"The next is harder, as it requires you to constantly regulate the amount of chakra you expel. It's an exercise called water walking, and it is very much what it says on the tin, if you will. The idea is to once again channel chakra to the soles of your feet, except this time, you have to match and vary the amount of chakra used, to the flow of the water beneath your feet. Once again, you should finish being able to walk run and fight while doing this. They should both end up being instinctual to you. Does that help you, Naruto?"

"That's exactly what I was after! Thanks Iruka-sensei, I'll get started on them right away!" And with that, the blonde disappeared with a puff off smoke.

Iruka just shook his head and smiled, before turning back to the papers he had been marking.

"What the-" Ino's exclamation was cut short by way of Asuma placing his finger to his lips, indicating that she should be quiet.

The Jonin had led them well out of the centre of the village, into the forested outskirts where the shinobi training grounds where. They were going to one they hadn't been before, and when Asuma indicated that they leave the path and take to the trees, the Genin had wondered exactly had been going on, and what the Jonin had to show them.

What had greeted them as they finally reached the training ground, and had stopped in the trees overlooking it, had stunned all but Ino and Asuma into silence.

"Just take everything in for now, I don't want to disturb him. Each part of what's going on. I want you to remember every single thing that's happening. It'll help me explain it to you." The Genin just nodded, in a confused, and shocked silence.

The sight that had greeted the trio, had been one of well over thirty Naruto's, all grouped up and performing different kinds of exercises and tasks. Some were working through what looked liked taijutsu kata, others where practicing with a weird staff split into three sections, while some where scrambling up and down trees without the use of hands. Others worked through hand seals, with different Naruto's firing out different jutsu, some a raiton jutsu, some a pair of fuuton jutsu, and others a katon jutsu that the Genin had actually seen Uchiha Sasuke use before.

"Are you ready to go?" Asked Asuma after a few minutes, and with he confirmation of the Genin, he led the way from the clearing, back towards their own training ground.

"So, Asuma-sensei, are you gonna explain to us why you took as to see Naruto train? Or, better yet, tell us exactly what he was doing with those Kage Bunshin of his?" It was Shikamaru, who asked the question, any hint of his usual lazy drawl replaced by an almost serious curiosity.

"I almost forgot you would have seen the Kage Bunshin before, Shikamaru. Well why don't you tell me what you know of their capabilities, and I'll start by filling in the blanks for you all."

"Well, I know the Kage Bunshin is an advanced clone technique - like a step up from the Bunshin - and that they are solid, so are able to fight like a normal person. They can also use the same jutsu as the creator as far as I could see, so must take some of the user's chakra. And I remem-" Shikamaru paused, and his eyes widened as he remembered Naruto using his Kage Bunshin as a recon tool. "They can transmit they're memories back to their creator. Which would also means they're independent and conscious, to an extent."

"That, is a very good analysis, Shikamaru. It is a very powerful, and also chakra intensive ninjutsu. Most shinobi below Jonin are unable it perform it at all because of how much chakra it uses."

"Hang on, if it's so dangerous, and uses so much chakra, how come Naruto can do it? And use so many? I mean he's just a Genin, like us." This time it was Ino who jumped in, unable to hold back the first of a great many questions brewing in her mind.

"He's not a Genin, like you, though." Asuma countered, once again reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. "Naruto has abnormally high chakra reserves. He has more than me, or any of the Jonin who took on graduating teams. In fact, there are only two or three Konoha shinobi I can think of who beat out Naruto for pure amounts of chakra, and one of them is the Sandaime."

"That," Shikamaru began, biting back the shock at Asuma's rather outlandish proclamation far better then the rest of Team 10. "Would explain why he found the Academy jutsu so hard, wouldn't it? If his reserves really are that big, trying to mould small enough amounts of chakra to do something like a regular Bunshin... Well, it's be really troublesome."

"I promise you, Shikamaru, that as Genin, particularly rookies; not one of you can begin to comprehend the amount of chakra Naruto actually has at his disposal. You all saw how many Kage Bunshin he had on the go, correct? Well, just to put things in perspective for you, if anyone in your class were to attempt just one, besides perhaps Sasuke, it would kill you. You quite simply don't have enough."

"But that's not really the point I'm trying to make." Asuma continued, not once taking his eyes away from the Genin that had sat themselves down in front of you. "Shikamaru, you were only half right when you said they transmit their memories. It's probably more accurate to say they transfer their experiences. Every thing a clone sees, Naruto sees. Everything they learn, Naruto learns. If a clone spent an hour practicing taijutsu, or studying or working on jutsu; then no matter what they actual Naruto had been doing, when that Bunshin dispels, it will be as if Naruto himself had done it."

The three were once again stunned into silence at the implications of what they were hearing, the potential of the Kage Bunshin was incredible.

"But Naruto had at least thirty clones in that field, possibly more! That means if he were to train for an hour with thirty, that would be like he had done thirty hours of training! And knowing Naruto... He'll have been there all day!"

"I can tell you he has been there since the early morning. His sensei asked me to keep an eye on him while he was out of the village. However, the ridiculous amount of chakra aside, there is another cost to the jutsu, one that is far more pressing to Naruto himself."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at that. The chakra required for the jutsu was insane, if Asuma was being honest, and he knew full well that Naruto could throw out Kage Bunshin like cheap candy, which meant that compared to him, Naruto was absolutely overflowing with chakra.

"When I said that everything the clones experience is transferred to Naruto, I mean everything. Including fatigue. If he has five clones practice taijutsu for a day, he will feel like he's trained for five days straight when they dispel. Worse still, it hits you all at once, knocking all of the energy out like you've been punched in the gut. He has thirty clones in that field today, all doing intense physical activity. That is essentially, a months worth of training. And he will feel like he's done just that at the end of it."

"That is the level of commitment Naruto has to his goal. I've met the kid, spent some time with him. I know enough to know he'll be out there again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that."

His goal. Shikamaru immediately thought of his regular proclamations that he would be Hokage, before he realised that since graduation, Naruto had never once made it in the same way that he had during the Academy. And that was when he remembered something else the blonde had told him.

'I get what being Hokage really means. A Hokage has to be the best, not because they want people to care, to see them; but because they're the ones who have to protect everyone. Every ninja, every civilian - a Hokage has to be able to ready to fight for everyone, no matter what it takes. And, once I realised that, I realised that it's exactly what I want to do, too. Konoha is my home, and the home of those precious to me, and as cheesy as it sounds, I'll die before I let anyone hurt them, or it. But, as I am I'm not nearly strong enough to protect everyone the way I want to. So I've got to train as hard as I can, for as long as I can, until I am that person that can protect everyone. And I won't fail. I'll become Hokage, and I'll keep everyone safe.'

Having seen what the blonde was putting himself through to achieve that aim, and having heard the conviction in his voice, Shikamaru was finding it ever harder to doubt that he would eventually achieve his goal.

"Then we'll just have to match that commitment, then, troublesome as it is."

"Shikamaru have you gone insane?!" Ino as good as shouted at that, forgetting herself momentarily. "You heard Asuma-sensei! There's no way we can do what Naruto is doing! Not a chance!"

"Yeah, that may be true. We're no stamina freaks, and we don't have his chakra or anything like that, you're right. We just can't keep up with a guy like that. But I told you before; he wouldn't think twice about putting his life on the line in a fight for any of us, and I guess if you're okay with just sitting back and letting him do that, then whatever. But I'm not. I'm not gonna be the guy that drags everybody else down, and has to have other people save them all the time. I'm not gonna be the guy who's friends die because he wasn't strong enough to do anything about it. That would b far more troublesome than all the training in the world."

The Genin couldn't see it, because they were too engrossed in their own thoughts and conversations, but Asuma was prouder than he'd ever been. His kids were figuring it out all by themselves, the entire reason why Konoha had been so strong over the years, why it produces powerful ninja after powerful ninja. The Will of Fire. That way of being that had mystified and eluded Asuma for much of his younger life. The very thing that Naruto wielded utterly instinctively, and had showed Shikamaru without realising he was doing anything unusual.

"I- You're right Shikamaru, I'm sorry." Ino's apology was genuine, and she was genuinely taken aback by the sincerity of Shikamaru's words. Something Naruto had said, or done really shaken the Nara up, and once again, Ino found herself curious about the blonde. Not only that, but Shikamaru, was as usual, totally right. "I don't want to be that person either." Words which were true, admittedly, but Ino knew she was easily the weakest of the three of them, and if any one was going to be 'that' person, it would be her.

"Me neither!" Choji chimed in happily. He had utter faith in Shikamaru's words, especially when he was in the kind of mood he was in now. Choji could see that something had changed with the Nara, and that it was probably for the good of all of them.

"Well that's good!" Asuma intervened, flicking the remains of his cigarette to the floor. "Because tomorrow, I plan to work you all into the ground."

Shikamaru blanched. Perhaps it wasn't too late to take it all back?

Asuma cracked his knuckles, a wide smile on his face. That was a no then.

Damn you Naruto. This was most definitely all his fault.

The Following Day

Naruto was trying incredibly hard to focus on his spar with his Kage Bunshin, rather than the fact that he had several other pairs of Bunshin close by, all sparring. Most of all though, he was trying not to think particularly hard about how this was all occurring on water.

It was currently mid-afternoon, and needless to say, he was pretty happy with his progress, considering he'd only really been at it for a day and a half. Tree walking had been a cinch, and had only taken him about an hour to get it right, followed by another hour or so of doing what he was now doing on water, for it to become instinctual.

His progress with his ninjutsu had been the most pleasing aspect of yesterday's training, however. He had decided to set some clones to work on increasing his speed with hand seals, and on trying to get some of his more basic jutsu to the point where he could perform them seal-less. Fuuton: Goukuuhou had been the first one he cracked. He couldn't explain it, the jutsu just felt natural to him, easier to perform. If he didn't know how rare a wind affinity was, he would have guessed that he was one. Unfortunately, ninja supply shops didn't stock testing paper regularly, so he had no way of finding out for sure. Raiton: Kaminari Muchi had followed closely behind, and Naruto was incredibly happy with that, even as his other Kage Bunshin continued to work on the rest of his ninjutsu.

What's more, he could feel his taijutsu coming together more and more every hour he worked on it. Every time he dispelled a set of clones, he could feel things getting a little tighter, a little smoother, a little less awkward, and it felt good. Working in more pieces was proving slightly more difficult however, and he was fast finding out what looked good in theory didn't always work in practice. Yuugao had left him with the basics for three different styles and he was having a lot of difficulty figuring out what he should be taking from them and what he shouldn't at a glance. It seemed to him that the only real way to tell would be to try it in a spar, which, even with his Kage Bunshin was proving time consuming.

"Hey, Naruto!" The blonde heard the familiar voice call out and turned face it, forgetting about the Kage Bunshin that had been chambering a kick at him; and was subsequently sent tumbling to the ground, as the kick made solid contact with his ribs. Well, tumbling to what would have been the ground, had he not been sparring on water.

Soaking wet, and thoroughly embarrassed, Naruto swam to the shore, all too aware that the person who had called his names was in hysterics just a few feet away as he climbed out of the water.

"What's up, Hana?" For some reason, Naruto sounded less than enthusiastic that somebody had witnessed that particular episode, which made the Inuzuka girl laugh even harder. It was then Naruto noticed that she had three dogs with her, identical triplets, judging by the brilliant, snowy white coats the three shared. They all stood at knee height, and to Naruto looked closer to wolves than dogs, especially compared to Inuzuka Kiba's dog, Akamaru.

"Oh, nothing." The girl said, in between sniggers. "Just enjoying the show."

Even the dogs looked amused, as Naruto tried to squeeze out the plain black training shirt he had been wearing in place of his armour and normal shirt.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah - what are you really here for?" The blonde grumbled, all the while moving on to trying to shake out his hair.

"Well actually, Naruto, I was wondering if you wanted to spar with me and the Haimaru brothers? Thing is, I haven't really had any proper practice, or even a proper since I decided to become a medic-nin, because of how much time studying and learning medical ninjutsu takes. Seeing you fight on our mission reminded me exactly how out of practice I am. What do you say?"

Naruto got a good look at the girl standing in front of him. She'd come dressed in black shorts designed for easy movement and flexibility, and was wearing a green jacket, reminiscent of a Jonin flak jacket, that added extra protection. Her hair was tied tightly up and out of the way into a neat ponytail, so that it didn't impede her vision. Naruto could tell instantly that this wasn't going to be like sparring with Sakura, or even Ino; who as much as he liked them, especially Sakura, seemed to care more about their looks than any kind of shinobi training. Hana was every bit a proper kunoichi.

"I don't see why not - hang on." Naruto dispelled the Bunshin he already had out in sets of five, and tried his best to ignore the sharp pains in his head every time he did so, and was invaded by their memories. The fact that a slow, dull ache had begun to flare up in his calves didn't help in the slightest. He knew it was the fatigue kicking in, and tried not to worry about it too much as it tended to disappear after a quarter of an hour or so. "What are the rules?"

"Just keep it casual I guess, no bladed weapons and no serious jutsu sounds fine to me."

"Agreed." Naruto replied, stretching out his arms, trying to look as nonchalant as humanly possible. In truth, he was struggling to take his eyes away from the Haimaru brother furthest to the right. He couldn't get over how sharp it's teeth were, nor could he shake the feeling the bastard was grinning at him. Biting back a gulp, he turned his attention back to Hana. "Let's get this show on the road shall we?"