Flashback to 3 days after Naruto is exiled, Somewhere in the Land of Fire. Naruto's POV

"Kit, we have to get to work immediately! Danzo will probably send his ROOT ANBU after you soon. We should try to meet Jiraiya as soon as possible. Summon Gamakichi and tell him to please tell Jiraiya to meet us at the Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves. We should start training on our way there. Summon me." Kurama rambles.

"Jeez, you're bossy. Fine." I've been training with Kurama in my spare time, so I was never as knuckle-headed and incompetent as everyone thought. I've been drilling the summoning jutsu hard, and I've been trying to come up with variants for the rasengan. No luck yet though. I summon Kurama. A cute lil angry nine tailed fox appears next to me. I summon Gamakichi.

"What's up bud?" Gamakichi asks.

"I have to ask a favor of you Gamakichi. I need Jiraiya to meet me at the Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves in three days." I say.

"On it. Seeya, Naruto." Gamakichi says, and in a puff of smoke, he vanishes.

"Now then Kit. I have summoned for you a 30 pound (13.6 kilograms) weighted vest. You will wear it wherever you go. I have also added weight to your ninja tools, your utensils, and all other items you carry. I will gradually add weight as time goes on. For now, this should be enough to make everything a struggle. I'll put the vest on you, and we can start running." Kurama tells me. He puts the vest on. I feel it instantly.

"How am I gonna do anything in this Kurama? And how are you going to add weight on?"

"You are gonna deal with it. I cast a jutsu on that thing that makes it so I can add weight whenever I want. If you get annoying, I might just throw on another 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms)."

"You're so mean to me Kurama!" I whine.

"That earned you another 10 buddy." Kurama chuckles as my knees buckle. "Come on Kit. Get up. We gotta go fast if we want to make it to the Naruto Bridge in 3 days."

"Alright, alright." I say as I get up. I pick up one foot and notice that my sandal is weighted. This is going to be a long 3 days. I start on my way, sweating already. About 20 minutes later, two bandits block my path.

"Empty your pockets, kid!" They say to me.

"That's rude. You're gonna regret trying to mug a ninja." I say unenthusiastically. My old knuckle-headedness seems like it's been absent after my exile. It's kind of weird not having that idiotic shroud covering my thoughts. I'm glad the exile woke me up to the monstrosity of Konoha. But what about Sakura? What about Sasuke? Kakashi Sensei? Kakashi Sensei was never really there for me. Always off training Sasuke. Come to think of it, he didn't really seem to care about me all that much. Sakura had always hated me, I guess. Figures. I was pretty annoying anyway. But it still hurt. A lot. Even though I had already known she wasn't interested in me, and was even annoyed with me at times, those words of hate coming from the girl I loved tore my emotions and my self esteem apart. Konoha doesn't deserve my mercy, I've decided. Much like these thieves, who had the audacity to attack an exiled shinobi like me, genin or not.

"Ha! You runt? A shinobi? Don't make me laugh! Empty your pockets!" One says. This guy really is an idiot, isn't he? These dimwits are really beginning to tick me off. Arrogant moron number one is first. I'll wait till they attack me. Arrogant moron number one pulls out a kunai. I've been practicing. I can now hit bullseye on the target with shuriken almost every time, just like Sasuke. As he lunges, I pull a shuriken from my pouch, and knock the kunai out of his hand.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I cry as I make the handsign. Six clones appear, and we all pull out kunai of our own. My clones move to surround the bandits as we close in. Suddenly, we all jump at the bandits, and start slashing. But as we make contact, the bandit's substitution is revealed. They're ninja? Just as I realize my mistake, Kurama speaks for me.

"Kit, run! Those aren't ordinary bandits! They are ROOT ANBU in disguise! I'll try to boost your speed! Conserve your chakra, and run as fast as you can! I'll take the weights off if we need to."  I turn, and take off as fast as I can. My shadow clones make a formation, grab my feet, and catapult me as far as they can in the opposite direction of the bandits. I salute them, and start tree jumping as fast as I can with these horrendous weights.

"They're closing Kit. I'll have to stall them. I'll summon myself." Kurama says.

"No Kurama! You're the only true friend I've ever had! I won't let you go off to fight them alone!"

"Relax, Kit. I've got thousands of years of experience under my belt. Plus, I'm very versatile in my human form. I'll make it out." Kurama says as he summons himself behind me. As I look back over my shoulder, I watch my best friend engage the enemy. I see his long crimson hair, his black cloak, and his dual katanas as he jumps in the other direction. I can't let his efforts be in vain. He is risking his life out there so I can escape. In desperation and a maelstrom of resolve, I send chakra to my legs, and my speed triples. I can make it out. I can do this.