"Goodbye Naruto nii-chan!!!" Inari yelled as they were at the gates.

Naruto waved, "Make me proud Inari."

"I will Naruto nii-chan!!!" Naruto smiled.

"Thank you all so much for everything!!!" The villagers yelled.

"No problem!!" Sakura yelled back with a smile on her face.

"Hn," Sasuke said and turned away with a smile on his face. Everyone else on the team waved. They then turned around and walked out of the village.

After a day of walking, they finally decided to settle down and set up camp.

"Now my cute little genin, we need someone to take the first shift on watch duty."

"Kakashi. I'll take watch duty for the whole night. You know I hate sleeping." Naruto responded. Everyone looked at him.

"Naruto?" Sakura wondered.

"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded. "Fine then. Go to sleep my cute little genin." Kakashi smiled at them. The two looked at each other and they both shrugged. Naruto sighed as he watched them all crawl into their respective tents. He jumped up into a tree and sat down.

Naruto closed his eyes and got into a lotus position. He quickly got into Sage mode and searched around the area. He found no one lurking around within 15 miles of their current location and decided to settle down. He went into his mindscape and saw the big, orange, fuzzball laying on his arms, fast asleep. Suddenly, Kurama opened one eye and looked at the blondie standing in front of him.

"Yo, Kurama."

"I'm bored and I'm on guard duty so I can't sleep. Save me from my boredom!!!!" Naruto whined.

"Up all night?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. Talked to Kurama most of the time. Dozed off a little, trained a bit. You know, the usual." Naruto shrugged. Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"You may be commander, but you're still a child. You still need your sleep and rest." Kakashi scolded. Naruto shrugged.

"Meh. No, I don't. I rarely get tired. I once went 3 weeks without sleeping. By now, my body has already adapted to it, besides, I linked my body to Kurama so he does all the sleeping for me. It's very convenient. It's kind of similar to the principle of shadow clones."

"Hmm..." Kakashi sighed. "You're always Kurama, Kurama, Kurama. He hasn't taken my place has he?" Naruto laughed.

"You both were there for me so you both have a special place in my heart that no one can take away." Naruto smiled and Kakashi sighed and pouted. "But you till favor me over Kurama though right?"

Naruto sighed, "I don't have favorites Kakashi."

"Aww come one!!" Kakashi complained.

"Kurama!!! You know that's not true!!!" Naruto scolded.

Kakashi pouted and turned his head away from the fox.

Naruto face-palmed, "Are you guys really older than me?"

They both sweatdropped and laughed awkwardly. Suddenly, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku, and Zabuza came out of their tent after getting woken up by the ruckus outside. Sakura and Haku took one look at chibi form Kurama and suddenly there were flowers surrounding her. They ran to the fox and picked him up.

"AWWWWW!!!!! HE'S SO CUTE!!!!" They both fangirled.

Sakura stopped and looked at the fox, "What? Aren't you just a regular fox?"

"You're starting to sound like an Uchiha too you know, Kurama," Naruto laughed.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and saw confusion in his eyes.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"How does that fox know about the Uchiha clan? He's definitely not normal since he's a talking fox and with nine tails too..." Suddenly, something clicked in Sasuke and Sakura's heads. Sakura immediately let go of the fox and widened her eyes. She backed up a few steps and so did Sasuke. Kurama sighed and looked back up at Naruto who had his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"Guys, it's fine. He won't hurt you." Naruto reassured. Sasuke and Sakura both lowered their stances but still looked skeptical.

"Naruto, that's the nine-tailed fox. He rampaged in the village and nearly destroyed the leaf if not for the fourth Hokage," Sakura said.

"I know that. But something that you both don't know is..." Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Nevermind, you guys aren't ranked high enough for me to tell you this," Naruto sighed as he shook his head. He took a glance at Kakashi who also sighed.

"What do you mean we're not high enough rank?" Sasuke asked.

"What I mean is that this is an SS rank secret that only a few people know about. It can not be shared with mere genin." Naruto explained.

"But Naruto, Aren't you a genin too?" Sasuke asked.

"Well... I told you before. I'll tell you when you become chunin"

Sakura continued to look at the furball in Haku's hands with wide eyes. She slowly approached him with a stick in her hand. She started poking and prodding him which resulted in Kurama getting a tick mark.

Sakura jumped back with surprise and dropped the stick.

Sakura cocked her head to the side, "Naruto?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, "What's the Kyuubi talking about?"

Naruto heard it and smiled. "Sakura, The nine-tails has a name too you know."

Kurama looked up at Naruto and grinned. Naruto winked back.

Sakura cocked her head in confusion. "What? I thought his name was the Kyuubi."

"No, that's only his title, not his name. Most people don't know what his real name truly is." Naruto said as he took the fox from Haku which earned him a series of complaints. Kurama leaned into Naruto's touch and started nuzzling him. Naruto laughed. Sakura slowly walked over to the blondie. She slowly put her hand on Kurama's orange fur in an attempt to pet him. She succeeded. Kurama was skeptical at first but after a while, leaned into her touch and started purring from both their touches. Sakura suddenly lost all her fear she had and she grabbed the bundle of fur.

"AWWWWW!!!!! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE!!! YOU ARE THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! YOU ARE SO FLUFFY AND SOFT AND SOOOO ADORABLE!!!!! AHHHH I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!!!!" Sakura squealed.