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Hikari to Yami

Chapter 4: Breaking Ground

Inside his mindscape, Naruto sat across from Yami while she had her back to the gates that held the Kyuubi. It was early in the morning that followed yesterday's bell test with Kakashi, and his darker half wanted to speak with him.

"You and I worked fairly well during our final assault on Hatake yesterday," she spoke up with a faint frown. "We managed to catch him by surprise, but we can't expect that tactic to work on every opponent we face. Also, you yourself must improve your synch with both myself and your clones."

"Gotcha. Maybe we could do some mock battles between us and help me get some experience?"

"That will help, but I can only give you so much experience since I'm a half of you, Hikari. You'd need to spar against others to improve more thoroughly."

"Try to find someone who is proficient in taijutsu. You and your darkness lack a true style and only move with basic stances and rough instincts."

"That's true… Perhaps that boy who was sponsored a year before?"

"Didn't you have an issue with him during the team placements?" Naruto brought up.

"Not with him, personally. My issue was the fact that a person with greater flaws than you was allowed to graduate while you had to be tricked into committing a crime before you were granted Genin status. I won't deny that he'd be a useful source of physical training, and I agree with Kyuubi-san that you should seek him out."

Naruto hummed in agreement. "Okay, I'll have a clone search around for Lee. Hopefully, it won't be so hard to find him."

"Very good. Now, we have our first day of training with Hatake and your teammates. Better get going, Hikari."

Nodding with a faint smile, Naruto left his mindscape. Kyuubi then spoke up, "When will you bring up the notion of fūinjutsu to him?"

"In time. Best to have him fix the flaws in his basic skills before moving him to more difficult subjects. And I doubt there's a study more difficult than fūinjutsu."

"I won't argue with that notion, considering how I've been sealed three times now and am only half of what I used to be because of sealing."

"In the meantime, I'm curious about something, Kyuubi-san. I was able to take on the form of fluid dark smoke yesterday. I assume that's linked to my natural alignment to Darkness. But, will this mean that Hikari will eventually get something associated with Light?"

"Possibly… But if he does eventually get some sort of power, it'll awaken only when he is ready or in need of it. We can't force the issue for this."

"I see. I wonder what it will be…"

"Well," Kakashi began after ignoring Sakura calling him out on being an hour late, "I believe it's time we began our first official day of training as Team 7. Now, before you think I'm going to immediately start you on learning any jutsu, I'm not going to introduce you to any new jutsu until I know that you three can work together more effectively. I believe in teamwork above working alone."

"But what if we have issues that we need to work on alone with you?" Naruto questioned, much to the Jonin's interest.

"Such as…?"

"Well, I'll admit that I'm not good at taijutsu. I know a few basic stances and moves, but most of my taijutsu is me acting on some basic instincts."

Sasuke and Sakura looked slightly surprised at Naruto admitting his own faults so readily, considering how stubborn he was during the Academy. Kakashi, on the other hand, was proud to see one of his students accepting that they have faults in the first place.

"Are you doing anything personally to fix this, Naruto?"

"I have a Shadow Clone looking for someone I remembered being a year ahead that was sponsored by a Jonin despite only being able to use taijutsu. I figured that the two of us could train so that I could try and find a style that works, and he gets a regular sparring partner."

Kakashi nodded with his signature eye-smile aimed at his blonde student. "Good. I'm glad to see you taking some initiative in improving yourself." Turning to the other Genin, he continued, "You two should think about doing something similar to your teammate. You can't always rely on your sensei to be able to help you improve as a ninja. You'll find that, on multiple occasions, you'll either need to work on your training alone or with someone else. Now, as to your question Naruto, if you feel like you have an issue, then I'll be willing to help you either fix it or point you in a general direction to do so."

Accepting the answer, Naruto nodded and waited patiently for the team training to commence. In the corner of his eye, he saw that Sakura looked thoughtfully concerned while Sasuke showed nothing, concealing anything with his usually disinterested expression. Mentally, he shook his head at how stubborn the Uchiha was.

He hadn't changed much since the Academy, and that would cost him.

The clone Naruto had sent out had been searching for Lee for almost an hour.

He checked other training fields, but he wasn't there.

He checked the place where missions were assigned, but he only saw Teams 8 and 10 there getting their first D-Ranks; missions that made him gawk at how stupid they sounded.

He even asked a couple of his superior ninja if they had seen him, but they hadn't; though, they did tell him what team Lee was assigned to since the Jonin in charge of it was pretty well known.

So, the clone expanded his search parameters from Lee to Team 9 and/or Might Guy. That had happened about ten minutes ago, but still he didn't have much luck.

It wasn't until he was near the Hokage Mountain that he heard the faint echoes of two male voices yelling at one another. Concerned, he changed his direction and headed toward the voices. When he was able to spot who they were, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Lee and, more than likely, Guy-sensei.

"Sensei, if I cannot finish this exercise, then I will lap the Hidden Leaf ten times while on my hands!" Lee cried out, showing Naruto that the two weren't necessarily yelling at one another, they were just really into their physical training.

"That's the spirit, Lee! I'll do them with you so that your youth could be more motivated to reach my level of physical might!"

"YOSH! A part of me wants to fail this exercise now, sensei! Just so I could be motivated by you some more!"

Officially over hearing two men in green spandex yelling youthfully at one another, Naruto's clone made his presence known to the taijutsu enthusiasts. Once he had their attention, he politely greeted his fellow Genin, "Hey, Lee. Good to see you again."

"Ah, Naruto-san! You've succeeded in becoming a Genin as well! That is wonderful news!"

"Naruto?" Guy repeated, looking interested. "The same Naruto who managed to outwit Lord Hokage and take something from the village vault a few nights ago?"

"In my defense, I thought that I could trust Mizuki when he said that there was a make-up exam I could take," Naruto's clone cut in.

"You misunderstand what I meant, young Naruto. I was actually rather impressed that someone who wasn't an official Genin could get the drop on Lord Hokage successfully."

Sheepishly, the clone explained, "He wasn't expecting it since I haven't done anything like that before, and I managed to take advantage of both that and a weakness I know he had."

Guy laughed boisterously at the blonde Uzumaki's humble honesty. "Truly, you have some untapped potential! Now, may I ask what you are doing up here?"

"Yes, I was actually hoping to talk to Lee about taijutsu."

"What about it, Naruto-san?" Lee questioned curiously.

"I'll be blunt; my taijutsu isn't great and I could really use someone to help me find a style or form that I can work with. I remember that you were really good at taijutsu in the Academy, and I was hoping that you could help me with mine. I could offer you some Shadow Clones to help you practice your own style against multiple opponents in return."

Lee was surprised at how his ex-classmate had complimented him when everyone else from the Academy usually brought him down. Guy, on the other hand, was impressed with the extra steps Naruto was taking to help fix the flaws in his skillset. It showed personal insight and initiative that many fresh Genin lacked nowadays.

"Lee," he spoke up, earning the attention of both Genin, "take young Naruto's offer. So far, you haven't gotten much practice with fighting multiple adversaries at once, and rumors of Naruto's usage of the Shadow Clone technique help me believe he can assist you in that regard."

Saluting, Lee replied, "Yes, sensei!"

"As for you, Naruto," the Jonin continued, "I'm impressed with your drive and willingness to work on your issues. As both thanks for offering Lee some extra training and as a reward for showing such initiative, I'll take some time to look up the forms for a few styles that I believe may help you in your ninja career. I'll present them to you tomorrow evening during the evening conditioning Lee and I usually go through. Is this acceptable?"

Immensely relieved and grateful, Naruto's clone nodded his agreement before bowing respectfully. "Yes, that sounds perfect. Thank you so much, Guy-sensei."

"Excellent! Now, I'm busy giving Lee some personal training for today; so, we won't have need for your clones today. We will start our conjoined training the night you choose the style you wish to learn."

"I understand, and thanks again, sensei. I'll be sure to let Boss know the good news."

"Boss?" both green-clad ninja repeated.

"I'm just a clone, so I wouldn't have been able to offer much help today anyway. Boss created me to find Lee and give him the offer before returning to him with his answer. Good seeing you again, Lee. And I'll make sure Boss knows to meet you both tomorrow night."

"Tell him to meet us by the Memorial Stone," Guy informed, earning a nod from the clone before he took off. Chuckling at what just happened, the Jonin returned Lee to his exercises while once again being impressed with Naruto's intuitiveness.

The boy was already breaking ground with his training.

"That's enough for now," Kakashi spoke up, prompting Naruto to lift his headband from covering his eyes. "Nice job, you two. Naruto, you listened to Sakura rather well. And Sakura, you provided apt description for this obstacle course. You could've completed it faster, but speed will come with more practice."

The two Genin nodded while Sasuke was leaned against a random tree as he watched his two teammates complete the exercise. To help Team 7 improve their teamwork and hopefully build some measure of trust in one another, he had one member blindfolded while a second member acted as their eyes and guided them through an obstacle course of Kakashi's own making.

First up had been Sasuke leading Sakura. They took the longest since he didn't give her the clearest of instructions; usually keeping them clipped and short. Because of this, Sakura was bereft of information that, while minor, could've made the course easier to handle.

Next was Naruto led by Sasuke. The Uchiha's stubbornness showed itself again and he once more gave short-worded orders without much explanation. Naruto learned from watching Sakura struggling and didn't move until after asking Sasuke for extra details whenever he felt that the orders weren't clear enough.

Third had been Sasuke led by Naruto. Part of Naruto's old competitiveness with the Uchiha threatened to show, but he held himself from acting on it and led Sasuke through the course with simple orders that had extra information added when he felt it was needed. This included stray items that the three Genin could've tripped over left behind by their sensei.

Fourth was Sasuke led by Sakura. Their time, in contrast to when Sasuke was leading her, was the fastest since Sasuke started moving by recalling how the course felt during the other times he walked it. Sakura had been left following him and calling out whenever he made an incorrect turn or almost tripped over an obstacle. Kakashi had complimented them on their speed, but reprimanded Sasuke on his impatience.

Fifth had been Sakura led by Naruto. She surprised Naruto by patiently waiting for his orders and allowing him to explain extra details before she made any moves. They had the second smoothest time with the course.

When Sakura was leading Naruto, he offered to walk ahead slowly and let her warn him of incoming directional changes or obstacles to avoid. This proved to be the smoothest rendition of the exercise, and the second fastest overall.

"Now, why don't we all head over to the Mission Distributary and pick up our first official assignment as Team 7?" the Jonin suggested, leading his Genin away from the training grounds and towards the village proper.

Not too long after they reached one of the main streets of the village, Naruto's clone dropped down next to them and approached his creator. "Lee and Guy-sensei agreed to the offer, Boss. Guy agrees that Lee could use the practice of fighting multiple people and he offered to look into some styles that you could choose from tomorrow night. He said to meet at the Memorial Stone."

"Thanks," the original replied, dispelling the clone before he swayed in place and held his head. Slightly blurred images of the clone's talk with Guy and Lee passed through his mind before he composed himself and looked to Kakashi questioningly. "I think I just saw what my clone did earlier…?"

"It's a feature of the Shadow Clone technique, considering how it wasn't meant to be used in the way you do, Naruto. The jutsu was actually created to be a scouting technique that creates a clone of the caster that couldn't be killed by enemy units or traps laying in wait. The dispelled clone's memories then return to the caster, allowing them to see what their clone had scouted."

"That's amazing," Sakura stated, genuinely impressed by the jutsu. "But, why isn't the Shadow Clone taught to most ninja?"

"The chakra cost is too much," Naruto informed her, and she surprised him yet again by showing she was paying attention. "Just one Shadow Clone splits the user's chakra in half. The loss of so much chakra is too much for most ninja, and they exhaust themselves too quickly for them to be effective on the field."

"Naruto's correct," Kakashi agreed. "In fact, the reason Naruto can use this jutsu to the degree he's shown is because he has such vast levels of chakra. Currently, I wouldn't be surprised if his chakra stores matched that of Lord Hokage."

Sakura was amazed at that knowledge while Sasuke scowled enviously. To think that the class dropout had so much chakra to use. It meant that Naruto could, potentially, toss out multiple jutsu like they were candy.

"Well, shall we continue? We still haven't gotten our mission yet, after all."

With that, Team 7 continued to the Mission Distributary.

Having learned from his clone about how stupid D-Rank Missions were, Naruto wasn't surprised when Team 7 was given the so-called assignment of painting some fences for a few businesses that were stationed on the same block. He almost laughed at the look of near outrage on Sasuke's face, but he held back so that he wouldn't cause trouble.

Currently, he and a couple of clones were working on the longest section of the fence. He had offered to paint this part since he could cut the time doing so by the number of clones made. Sakura looked notable relieved at this while Sasuke simply gave his signature grunt and stalked off to a section he wordlessly claimed to paint.

Halfway through the painting, Naruto's form was covered by the shadow of someone behind him. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw that it was one of the business owners who had come to check on Team 7's progress.

"You aren't making trouble, are you?" she asked suspiciously.

While annoyed at being called out, and knowing why he was the only one, Naruto shook his head. "No, ma'am. I'm just about halfway finished with this part of the fence. My clones and I should be done around the same time as my teammates."

"Hmph! You better watch yourself. I've seen the acts of vandalism you've done to other stores and businesses. I won't have you bringing shame to mine."

With her piece said, she turned and walked off while muttering about "fox brats". A sigh escaped him as Naruto turned back around and resumed painting.

"At least her excuse for bothering you was about the pranks you used to pull," Yami soothed, much to his surprise.

'I thought you would've been angrier than that…?'

"I may be your darkness, but that doesn't mean I can't be understanding. True, that woman didn't need to bitch at you personally; but at least all she did was complain and warn you about pranking her shop."

'Yeah, I guess…'

"Chin up, Hikari. As I said, I am a Darkness that will protect your Light. If that means helping you get over the whining of the villagers, then I will do so."

He smiled to himself and mumbled, "Thanks, Yami…"

"And Yami would be…?" a familiar voice asked from beside him, making Naruto tense before slowly turning to see Kakashi standing next to him while reading his book. "I came to check on your progress when I heard you. Is Yami a friend of yours?"

He almost broke into sweat. While visibly showing no interest other than what was in his book, Kakashi was obviously paying close attention to what Naruto's answer would be.

"Hikari, relax. He just gave you an out. Take it."

Mentally nodding, Naruto turned back to the fence and resumed painting it. He hoped to appear casual as he replied, "Yeah. She's a friend I met about a week ago. She's staying in one of the apartments at the complex I'm living at."

"I see," Kakashi replied, lazily turning a page in his book. "Is she a special friend?"

Naruto nearly choked at the underlying tone before the Kyuubi, who was heard snickering, told him what to say. "Not special in whatever gets you off, sensei," he said casually, repeating what the Bijuu told him.

He heard the fox give a bark of laughter as Kakashi seemed to freeze and finally look away from his book, surprise seen in his visible eye. After a minute, he eye-smiled and gave a chuckle.

"I know someone who might appreciate that wit of yours, Naruto. Anyway, I'm glad that you've gotten a neighbor that you're on seemingly good terms with. Maybe I could meet her someday."

"Why?" Naruto questioned, not needing any prompting from Yami or the Kyuubi. "She's just a neighbor that is nice to me. What's so special about that? And why is it any of your business who I talk to?"

"I'm just trying to take interest in the social lives of my students," the Jonin replied easily.

Scoffing, Naruto and his clones finished painting the fence and Naruto returned his brush to the bucket while his clones dispelled.

"Yeah, or maybe it's weird that some random stranger is being friendly to the fox brat…"

Not giving Kakashi a chance to reply, Naruto gathered the supplies he had used and headed back to his teammates to see if they were finished. Watching him go, Kakashi sighed to himself and muttered, "This is worse than I thought… Lord Hokage, we've really messed up…"

With the mission finished, Kakashi dismissed Team 7 for the day. He had to report to the Hokage.

Short chapter, I know.

This was mainly to set up a few things for the future: Naruto's future taijutsu style, learning the secret of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, hinting at possibly getting Light Power, and Kakashi showing concern for the son of his late teacher.

Next chapter will have Naruto working with Lee and Guy and lead into Team 7's first C-Rank Mission. Should I do Wave but make some changes, or should I do something else instead? Let me know in your reviews!

Also, please check out my new poll! I'm hoping you guys can help me clear out my mental clutter in terms of new ideas that won't leave me be.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay supportive of each other.

Dreaming of the Future

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