"I hate being useless." Naruto groaned as he faced the wall as he sat on his butt, his arms crossed. "You guys pretty much carried me to the finish line." 

"We did carry you into the finish line." Itachi corrected, a small smirk on his face as Naruto's smile diminished slightly. 

"Yeah, but I was supposed to help you."

"You did," Izumi called out, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "When we got back to the starting point, there were a lot of dead people, that earth jutsu did a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people, you saved us from that." She said with a small grin, but it was a fake smile.

She was terrified a Genin wielded that type of power. They might even be stronger than Itachi and Naruto, to have killed half the competition with one jutsu. . . She shivered at the thought but hid it well as she looked at Naruto. 

"Naruto," Itachi began. "You carried us to the edge of the barrier, that's almost ten miles out! To shunshin that far, it's quite impressive, a feat that even Shisui-sensei would be proud to know that you accomplished it." 

"I guess," Naruto spoke, turning away from the wall and grinning brightly, the warmth spreading to both of his teammates as they smiled kindly at him. "Okay, now what's next?" 

"Well," Izumi began as she stood up, looking at the clock that was above their door. "The Third Exams are supposed to start soon, I heard it's a 3 v 3, but I'm not too sure. We're waiting for the teams to get here." 

"Oh?" Was all Naruto could get out before Shisui burst open the door, a grin on his face. 

"Welp guys, it's time to go home for a month before walking all the way back!" 

"What? Why?" Itachi asked in a confused tone. "I thought the Third Exams are going to take place next?" Shisui nodded.

"They are, but within a month." He said, holding up a finger. "You see, a lot of people are going to the Chunin Exams, and its also going to get streamed across the Five Great Nations so people from other villages can watch it. It'll take a while for the village to get ready and for everyone to arrive, so we have a month to go home, train and get prepared, and come back." 

"OH!" Naruto shouted, popping off the ground, his grin even bigger. "I get to train with Kaka-nii more! He said he'd teach me something cool when I got back!" Shisui sweatdrop, looking at Naruto awkward. 

"Actually Naruto, we're going to train as a-" 

"And you can have 1 on 1 sessions with Izumi! And Itachi can train with Fugaku-san! It'll be great! Then, we can come back and whoop some butt!" He ran out of the door. "I'm going to go pack I'll meet you at the gate!" 

"Homesick much?" Izumi muttered as she glanced over at Shisui who was smiling awkwardly at where Naruto once was. "Shisui-sensei, you're gonna teach me a lot so I can catch up to these two right?" He didn't answer, still shocked. Izumi hmphed as she walked up to him and stomped on his foot, effectively knocking him out of his trance as he suddenly began shouting curses. 

"DAMN IT THAT HURT YOU BIG FOOTED TODDLER!" He shouted, causing a tick mark to appear on Izumi's forehead. 

"Toddler? Are you calling me that cause I'm short? I'll rip your head off!" She shouted as she began chasing Shisui around the room, shouting at him while Itachi just looked at the two with a bead of sweat going down his forehead.

"Uh, I'm going to go pack too!" 

Naruto ran down the sidewalk of the village, expertly dodging the civilians as he ran to the hotel, a grin on his face.

Training with Kakashi was always fun, the man had been a constant in his life, being there before Itachi, accompanying him when Rin and Obito couldn't, and being there when his parents and little sister died. 

Kakashi was his older brother in all but blood. He appreciated the Anbu Captain and often told Kakashi such, but the older teen would just wave it off. 

Lost in his thought, Naruto didn't notice the look a trio was giving him from ahead, the glares almost setting him on fire from the sheer intensity of them. 

He ran past the trio only to feel his collar get tugged on before he suddenly found himself in an alley, shoved against a wall as a taller man glared at him, an Iwa headband on his forehead. 

"Looks like I have myself a Namikaze!" Naruto only smiled at the man.

"That wasn't very nice." He chastised lightly. "Can you please let me go? I have somewhere to be!"

"I don't think we will," A woman said, crossing her arms, also wearing an Iwa headband on her forehead. 

"Yeah, we need to have a little talk with ya!" Another man said, wearing the same thing as the previous two. 

"What about? Please make it quick, I wanna go home!" 

"Your father killed my wife, her husband, and his father and brother! What do you think we should do to you as tribute?" The man holding Naruto by the collar growled out. 

"I have nothing to do with what my father did. Maybe you should try summoning his ghost to talk to him instead?" 

"Cheeky bastard!" The Iwa ninja growled as he punched Naruto in the stomach, causing the boy to suddenly spit on his face, making his eyes widen in fury as he glared at Naruto."That's it!" With a kunai in hand, he raised it in the air, ready to strike Naruto's smiling face, ignoring the protest of his teammates.

"Repent for your father's sins with your blood!" 

"All you Iwa Ninja are the same," Naruto spoke, causing him to stop, the blade mere centimeters from Naruto's forehead, his smile never disappearing. "All you do is cry and stomp your feet because the Yellow Flash decided to end the war. Maybe if you were competent enough to actually do something, you would've been able to save your families, but you weren't competent, were you? No, you are weak.

"You all are weak. I'm only ten years old and you want to kill me because of what my father did to you, how pathetic does that get? Do you get off on trying to kill a child? Maybe you think you'll get satisfaction from it, but the only thing you'll get from killing me is war. I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage and Shisui of the Shunshin is my sensei, do you really think they would sit idly by and let you get away with this? I think not." The man lost grip on Naruto's collar, the boy sliding down the wall, walking away a little bit. 

"The only reason you laid a finger on me is because I allowed it. I'm a peaceful person, so I won't retaliate or even report you for your obvious insubordination, but if it happens again you are leaving me no choice. But let's be honest with each other, if you did kill me, Iwa would lose the war within just a few days, a week at max. We are smarter than you, wiser than you," He turned his head slightly, his Sharingan active as killing intent filled the alley, causing the 3 Chunin to stand still, paralyzed. "And we are much stronger than you." The killing intent vanished almost instantly as Naruto grinned. 

"But have a good day!" And with that, he disappeared. 

Timeskip

"Kaka-Niisan!" Naruto called out, waving a little. "You told me you'd teach me something super duper cool when I got back, now I'm back!" He practically shouted in the man's ear, causing him to rub his ears as he put a finger in it, twisting it slightly. 

"Oh? Back so soon? But it's only been two weeks?" Naruto nodded eagerly. 

"Yep! We have a month to train before the Third Exams!" 

"Jeez Kakashi, didn't know you had a kid that has you on a leash," Asuma Sarutobi stated jokingly as he puffed his cigarette. 

"Not a leash," Kakashi then stood up, sighing slightly. "And don't you have to go to the capital today?" Asuma sighed, nodding. His father was less than pleased with his decision to do the Seven-Year-Commitment to be the Daimyo's guard, but it wasn't his father's choice.

It was his. 

And so he would go. 

"Yep, I gotta leave in about two hours. So I guess this is goodbye for a while, eh Kakashi?" He stood up, holding out his hand. Kakashi nodded, taking the hand as they shook.

"I'll see you soon, Asuma." Asuma then looked at Naruto, who was looking at him wide eyes. He held out his fist, indicating Naruto to bump it.

"See you soon too lil man! You better be Jounin when I get back!" Naruto grinned, connecting his fist with Asuma's. 

"I'll be Jounin within a year or two! I promise!" Asuma chuckled, ruffling Naruto's golden blonde hair. 

"You'd best, or else I'ma show you what a real Jounin can do and not some loser like Kakashi!" He joked, using his thumb to point at Kakashi. Naruto laughed at Kakashi's expense, a small rain cloud floating above his head.

"I'm hated here, aren't I?" He whispered. 

"Bye Asuma-san!" Naruto called out before grabbing Kakashi and pulling him towards the nearest Training Grounds. "I'll see you in two years! I'll be the strongest shinobi in the Leaf Village by then I promise!" Asuma smirked, taking another puff from his cigarette before dropping it and stomping on it, putting it out. 

"Good kid, I'll see you real soon." 

"Okay Naruto," Kakashi began, looking at his student for the month, almost laughing at the pure eagerness in Naruto's eyes. "I can teach you one of two moves, but not both because they're pretty time-consuming, but worth it in the end." Naruto rose an eyebrow. 

"Like what?" He asked curiously. Kakashi smirked under his mask, holding out his hand as he approached a tree. 

"Now this first technique is what your father created, it took him three years to make and master it, but I'm sure with some help you can do it within the month." Suddenly, a swirling ball of blue chakra appeared in his hand before he dashed forward and hit the tree, grinding it into the trunk of the tree before he pushed forward more, completely shattering the tree into shards, the upper half falling down. 

"That is the Rasengan," Kakashi explained. "It's a sealess and powerful jutsu that can go even further in terms of power and versatility when you add in your chakra nature, but that's something that I haven't even gotten to yet, let alone sensei. So, I leave the task up to you to add your chakra nature to it if you choose to learn this technique now." 

"That looks cool!" Naruto yelled as he grinned ear to ear. "But I wanna see the second one first before I make my decision. Kakashi sighed, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy for him. 

"Okay okay, but pay attention. As of right now, I've mastered this technique, so I can do it without performing any seals, so if you chose to learn this technique, you'll have to learn the seals first, got it?" He got Naruto's affirmative nod before his hand was suddenly engulfed in lightning. 

"This is my original move: Chidori. Lightning envelops the hand before it pierces the target, cutting into even the thickest steel like butter and a hot knife." Naruto nodded eagerly. "Now, I bet you wanna learn your old man's Rase-" 

"I wanna learn Chidori!" Naruto said excitedly, practically jumping up and down with happiness. "It seems so useful and if I practice it enough, I can manipulate it into different forms and that'd be so cool! I'll learn the Rasengan another day!" Kakashi looked at Naruto with shock in his one visible eye before chuckling.

"I need to learn to stop thinking that I've figured you out, Naruto. Okay, now these are the nine hand seals you'll need to. . ." 

"You have to be faster!" Shisui called out as appeared behind Izumi, who's Sharingan-eyes widened before she ducked, a wooden sword flying over her head. She then pulled out her blade and threw it forward, a thin string attached to the hilt of the sword that was tied around her middle finger on her right hand. 

With a kunai in her left hand, she turned around, swiping at Shisui who just jumped into the air, causing Izumi to smirk. 

"Got you!" She whispered, almost giddy with excitement before the thin string attached to her sword glowed a light blue before she whirled the sword at Shisui, who's eyes widened at the unexpected attack. "Sword Shadow Clones!" She called out, using her right hand to form a hand seal before the sword suddenly turned into three, two more strings lacing on her index and ring finger, the blue chakra lacing the strings as well before she manipulated the chakra into moving the swords, attacking Shisui, getting within an inch of the man before he disappeared from view. 

A cold steel blade was placed on the nape of her neck, a victorious smirk on Shisui's face.

"You did good, no, great even. If I were anyone else I would've been in a very big predicament, you've improved a lot, Izumi!"

"Thank you, sensei. But I have to get better, better than Itachi and Naruto!" Shisui grinned. 

"I believe you can catch up to them if you keep working as hard as you have been. Now come on, let's go another round!" 

"Have you mastered the fire jutsu I gave you?" Fugaku Uchiha demanded as he looked at Itachi with an expecting leveled look. 

"Yes, it was easy," Itachi said as he saw three-year-old Sasuke running around the house in nothing but his training diaper, giggling as his mother chased him. "Do you have anything else that you could teach me? Perhaps shuriken jutsu? Or maybe an S-Ranked Jutsu?" Fugaku sat there for a second before his serious demeanor broke slightly. 

"Yes, I can teach you how to cast genjutsu better with your Sharingan since its fully matured, and I can also teach you more way on how to develop your shuriken jutsu, but I'm afraid the S-Rank Jutsu is out of my hands, your mother would kill me." Itachi let a small smile cross his face as he saw his mother walk in with Sasuke in her arms. 

"Yes, yes she would." 

A month later

Naruto Namikaze, Itachi Uchiha, and Izumi Uchiha stood outside the gates of the stadium that the Third Exam of the Chunin Exams was taking place, the roaring of the crowds could already be heard by the trio from the Leaf.

Each of them had a determined look in their eyes, Naruto sporting his usual smile, Itachi having a calm demeanor, and Izumi had a small smirk on her face.

They were ready. 

And done. How was it? Good? Bad? Tell me!

Anyways, yeah. 

NGL, i've been thinking of the next chapter for a while now, and it's going to be fucking great. I can promise you that. I just need to take it slow and not rush into things. 

OMG it's gonna be so good. I promise. 

Anyways, it's almost midnight and I have exams. 

GNIGHT

Til next time my lil demons!