Disclaimer: No, I do not own Naruto. And no, I'm not giving Rue to anyone. Don't even ask.

{12}

"Oh come on, you have to go!"

"Really? I didn't remember such an order."

"Why you don't want to go?"

"Because I don't."

"Please, Narutoooo."

"I have something to do."

"What?"

"Something."

"~sigh~ Can't you do this 'something' later?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I can't. Because I don't want to. Because it's a waste of time. Because it's annoying. Because you're starting to annoy me. Pick one."

"What Is going on?"

Naruto and Sakura turned towards their teammate who just landed next to them. Sasuke changed his usual white shorts into long black pants and wore a matching long-sleeve jacket. It was getting colder and colder every day. Naruto took to wearing his cloak on a daily basis, and Sakura changed her biker shorts for leggings and wore a long sleeved red shirt underneath her dress. They could of course keep warm using chakra, but it was like holding a small weight on an outstretched arm. At first it was nothing, but after a whole day it was taking its toll on their chakra reserves.

Well.. on Sakura and Sasuke's reserves. Naruto didn't really see the difference.

"Naruto is being an idiot." Sakura responded, exasperated.

Sasuke glanced at the redhead before turning back to her with a puzzled expression. "That's something new?" Naruto glared at him, but he just shrugged with a twinkle of amusement in his onyx eyes. "What it is this time?"

"He doesn't want to go to the festival."

"Why?"

"He won't tell."

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a rose eyebrow. The redhead just shrugged and muttered, "I have something to do."

"Oh, come on, Narutooo!" Sakura whined, "I'm sure Rue-chan would love to go."

"And she is going. With you, if I remember correctly."

"But she would love to go with you!" She insisted, but Sasuke stopped her with a wave.

"Leave him."

Sakura turned to him with her 'kicked-puppy' look. "Sasuke-kun! We were supposed to meet with the others, catch up with our classmates."

"If he doesn't want to go then you won't persuade him." Sasuke responded, stuffing his hands in his pockets, totally unaffected by her betrayed glare. "And now that you mentioned the others, it is even less likely."

Sakura huffed, but before she could say anything else Sasuke added, "Come on, we should start."

Their started their morning run. They were sprinting through the whole training ground, running through clearings and forest alike, trying to move undetected and stay quiet. Naruto of course didn't have any problems with that. Even at full speed they were losing sight of him and they weren't sure whether it was him or the wind that was making the noise.

Sasuke wasn't bad. He was still forgetting that every time he touched something it was making a sound, and had a tendency to swat aside branches and leaves instead of passing them by, but he was quite hard to spot, especially now, without his bright white shorts to give him in.

Sakura was the opposite. Her pink hair and bright clothes didn't help her in stealth operations. Coupled with the fact that she seemed to lack this feline grace, this ability to move with your surrounding that Naruto and Sasuke possessed, she was pretty easy to see. She was trying to counter it with a widespread genjutsu, but it was giving her away if someone felt it, and such technique, not concentrated on specific person but affecting everyone around, was very taxing on her chakra reserves, small to begin with. But she could be very quiet, so quiet that she didn't have problems with sneaking on Sasuke…

"… we could meet with the others. I'm sure that Rue-chan would love to…"

… at least when she tried. Today she seemed hell bent on announcing to everyone around where she is. What other reason could she have to keep pestering him if he already said that he won't go?

It wasn't that he wouldn't like to go. He would gladly take Rue to a festival, partly because he knew how happy it would make her, partly for those few hours of forgetfulness when all his problems and worries would go away. But not in Konoha. Anywhere else, yes, but in Konoha, no. He knew that his presence would only lead to violence.

After all it was on this day that he killed for the first time.

Sakura continued to pester him as they started stretching. He was starting to became grudgingly impressed – she was coming up with new and new reasons without repeating herself – when he suddenly rose his hand in a 'silence' handsign. She saw on his face that he wasn't just shushing her because he was annoyed. She saw that emotionless mask slipping over his face.

"Someone is coming."

{12}

Naruto entered into a room and frowned. When the chuunin dropped into their training ground and told him that he was requested in the Academy, not really hiding his look of unaltered hatred, his mind immediately whirled with possible reasons. Naruto's thoughts were ranging from stupid ones about Council finding a way to send him back to the academy and under their jurisdiction, to his constant fear that somebody found out about his relationship with Rue and hurt her.

By the time he reached the Academy his mind went back to that night when he found Shiho-nee, only this time he saw Rue, crying soundlessly in the…

But when he opened the door to the classroom that he was supposed to go to he didn't see any hate filled looks or weapons or blood or crying mutilated girls. True, Rue was there, but she was just sitting on the desk in the front row, swinging her legs with that innocent air around her that only little girls could pull off. She seemed totally unaware, or rather ignoring, the glare that was directed at her from one Umino Iruka, who was standing in front of the teacher's desk with his arms crossed on his chest.

When Naruto opened the door inside the classroom they both turned towards him. Not that he himself made any sound upon entering, but he realized long ago that it was almost impossible to enter any room without a sound. He may have not made a sound, but there always was a background noise – someone talking down the hall, noises in other classrooms, even the wind that was coming through the windows. It was almost nothing, but it was all it took for someone alert enough.

"Hello Iruka, you summoned me?" Naruto asked, dragging the teachers' attention away from Rue, who brightened at his sight. He would have to talk with her about this. They had to keep appearances, especially now, with the festival so close. Maybe he was a bit over paranoid, Iruka was after all the only teacher that was fair to him, and most people didn't see what they didn't expect to see. Still, at times like this the young genin really wanted to be rather safe than sorry.

The chuunin sighed. "It's Iruka-sen…" he stopped mid-word before chuckling quietly, "I guess I don't have to correct you anymore." The corner of Naruto's lips threatened to rise. No matter how many times Iruka tried, he called him 'sensei' only twice.

With a shrug the redhead asked, "So, what is it about?"

Iruka turned back to his little student with a scornful look. "This little lady, along with another boy, got into a fight with three other students. They are still in the infirmary, two of them unconscious."

Naruto frowned. A fight… a fight between academy students... they were training to become Shinobi, and yet they were making a fuss over a fight. Naruto weren't sure whether he should cry or laugh.

But this still didn't answer the question...

"Okayyyy… and what I have to do with this?"

"Well, normally we wouldn't bother you, but since one of the boys received a slight concussion," Rue looked down with a sheepish expression, "we had to summon Rue's guardian."

The temperature in the room dropped as Naruto pinned the chuunin with an icy look. Despite the fact that he was taller, ten years older and a teacher, Iruka couldn't suppress a slight shudder when he saw this look.

"And how do you know that I'm Rue's guardian?" Naruto asked, trying to keep his tone even, but there was an undertone of threat in it.

Iruka's eyes widened a bit, but he quickly composed himself. "Don't worry, I'm the only one who knows here. Hokage-sama told me in case of an emergency."

"And you call this an emergency?" Naruto's undertone of anger becoming more prominent with every word spoken.

"Well… uh, maybe I shouldn't have…"

Naruto shock his head, cutting him off. It wasn't Iruka's fault. Well, not only. The Old Man had to tell somebody at the Academy - though Naruto would've appreciate it if he would ask him first – but he surely didn't impress on Iruka how much Naruto wanted to keep it a secret. He didn't know that Naruto was always making sure that nobody saw them coming into the apartment. That he was making sure that there were always his teammates around whenever he was with Rue in public, so that it would look like she was clinging to all three of them, not just him - it wouldn't look strange for the little girl to cling to her three 'saviors'.

But should someone connect the fight between some students and the fact that 'the Demon' was summoned to the Academy…

"Don't worry Naruto, she's safe here…" Iruka tried to reassure him, but Naruto interrupted, his death glare intensifying.

"Shiho-nee was safe too, right?" he spat. The chuunin's eyes widened. They didn't know what really happened to Naruto's foster sister. All that the academy knew was that one day she came to the class with a dead look in her eyes.

And not a month later she was dead.

Not wanting to answer any questions about Shiho, Naruto turned to Rue, who was observing them with wide green eyes.

"Hey, Little One, what is it all about? Who started this fight?"

She didn't look like she wanted to talk about this right now, but she relented under his frown. "They were making fun of me," she signed, "We were out practicing kunai throwing, and they started laughing and taunting me…"

"And you attacked them?" Naruto asked, out loud and through the handsigns. "What did I tell you about picking fights?" Rue looked down, "You were supposed to settle it subtly, not when everybody is looking."

"I wanted to," She exclaimed, as much as you can exclaim through handsigns, while they both totally ignored Iruka's sputtering. "I was going to ignore them, but that other boy," she used a handsign that Naruto didn't know. It reminded him of 'Konoha'… and maybe something from 'monkey'? "…started to yell at them to leave me alone."

"And they started fighting and you decided that you can't let your prince in the shining armor fight alone," Naruto ended for her. She blushed and pouted at him, but before she could sign anything Iruka finally found his voice back.

"Naruto! What are you teaching her?! She can't…!"

"She is going to be a kunoichi," Naruto interrupted coldly, "I'm not saying that she should settle everything with her fists, but she can't be afraid to use force. Or maybe in the future she should run to the Hokage whenever someone threatens her?" He paused for a few seconds, but Iruka didn't answer. "Though," he finally said, turning to Rue, "I thing that she used too much force. Concussion?"

The little girl looked at him sheepishly, and he was sure that if she did not need her hands to speak, she would have scratched the back of her head. "I think I hit him a bit too hard," She shrugged and added, "He surprised me."

Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Surprised you?"

She fidgeted on her desk, looking embarrassed, "He was standing to the side. He wasn't laughing at me with the other two. He only joined when it all started and I… over reacted."

Naruto sighed and turned to Iruka. "What happens to her now?"

The teacher thought for a second. "Well, she wasn't the one that instigated the whole thing, she was only helping Konohamaru, so I think that a warning would be enough... and it won't happen again, right?" Rue nodded eagerly under his narrowed eyes.

"Hmmm… you think it would be a problem if I take her for today?" Naruto asked.

"Well, we still have taijutsu practice later, and a bit of history about Second Shinobi War, but I don't think that it'd be a problem for her if she misses them. Why?"

Naruto allowed a tiny smirk to appear on his face. "Well, it looks like she has too much energy in those little fists," his smirk widened when he saw the wary look that Rue send him, "I'll give her something to use it on."

{12}

"…no place for fear in a fight. I'm not saying that you can't feel fear. Only an… left palm an inch higher."

Rue, covered in sweat, dirt and bruises, nodded and attacked, punching him in the guts with her right arm while simultaneously trying to grab him with her left.

"Only an idiot or a psychopath wouldn't be afraid of a fight. But you can't let your fear control you. If you let it affect you, you'll be too afraid to attack, because you may make a mistake…"

Naruto sidestepped both hands, outstretching his leg and adjusting her left foot so it was a bit wider, lowering her weight center.

"…you won't use an opening, cause it may be a trap. And that will be your end."

Naruto jumped back, disengaging from the girl before he asked, "Where are Sasuke and Sakura?"

Rue didn't look around. "Sakura is at four, reading. Sasuke at five, sharpening weapons."

Naruto nodded before asking again, "Tree on your seven. How many birds are on it?"

Rue frowned slightly before she answered, "Three."

"Four. One is hidden behind the leaves on the left."

The little girl pouted, "That's not fair. You are using your sixth..." She hesitated, looking for a proper sign.

"Life is not fair. You should know that better than anyone." Naruto felt a stab of guilt when sadness appeared in her eyes, but he already decided that tip-toeing around it will not help her. "This is a fight, Little One. I'm your enemy. I have to defeat you, cause my only other option lies six feet under the ground. I will use everything, every advantage, every opportunity, every weakness. If it means that I have to use a Change to look like your father, then I will."

Rue hung her head, looking down at her feet. Naruto gave her a moment, but when after a ten second she still didn't look up, he sighed soundlessly, darted forward and swept at her legs, making sure to go slow enough for her to react. Had she been watching him, that is.

"So, what did you learn today?" he asked, with the corner of his mouth risen, as he watched her turn on her back and sit up, groaning soundlessly.

"Never hesitate. Don't look away from your opponent. You are mean," She signed, glaring at him.

"Oh, stop it Rue-chan. You're making me blush." Naruto coed girlishly, bringing a hand to his cheek.

Rue tried to maintain her glare, but she lost the fight with a wide grin that forced itself on her face. Naruto let his hand fall, revealing a small smirk, before he turned towards the village. "Someone is coming."

He felt how Rue shifted into a position which allowed her to move faster, how one of Sakura's hands left her book and strayed towards her hip pouch. He heard how Sasuke's whetstone slowed.

Judging by the position of the sun it was probably Kakashi. Probably. But still... safe than sorry.

It looked like his paranoia rubbed off on his teammates.

The figure disappeared and they all felt a pulse of chakra as Kakashi appeared in front of them, "Yo!"

"You're late," Sakura deadpanned, standing up and putting her book in her waist pouch.

"Maa, maa, I'm sorry," Kakashi responded with an eye-smile, not sounding sorry at all. "I saw a black cat on..."

"Don't lie," Naruto interrupted, "'Icha Icha' is on sale."

Kakashi's eye widened slightly, while Sakura glared at him, huffing in a righteous feminine fury. The jounin seemed at a loss of words, before his eye narrowed. "You know Naruto, sometimes I can't help but wonder. How do you know those things?"

Sakura quickly caught up, turning her burning green eyes on Naruto, but the redhead only smirked, "Cause yesterday a few Academy students," Rue shifted from one foot to the other, "pranked certain perverts who were getting a bit too excited about it."

Kakashi's eye widened again, this time with a hint of nervousness in it, "Ebisu and Hiroe... it was your work?" He asked, turning to Rue.

The grey haired girl shrugged, "It was," the handsign she used in the Academy for the kid that helped her,"...idea."

"So what are we going to do today?" Sasuke interrupted, clearly impatient.

The jounin looked at them for a few more seconds before he finally concentrated and took out three scrolls. "We are working on chakra today," he said, tossing one scroll to each of the genins, "I showed you a few exercises to basic chakra control, and I hope that you're training," he threw a pointed look at Naruto who already sat under a three with a book in his hands, Rue leaned against him, taking out a book of her own. "I also showed you elemental manipulation, which allows you to use elemental chakra, basically changing properties of the chakra itself. It allows you to put more power in your techniques, or preserve your reserves, if you look at it from the other side. What I'm going to show you today is shape manipulation. As you can guess, you will use it to change the shape of your techniques, for example creating a small, precise attack, dividing your jutsu into few, or making it go around your opponent's defence."

"Wait a second," Sasuke interrupted, "I have to shape my chakra to use Phoenix Sage Fire. Is it something different?"

"No, that's shape transformation. At the rank of Jutsu you have access and your disposal, training shape or elemental manipulation is not required. The hand signs needed for the Jutsu are enough to use the Jutsu. The crux only appears when one seeks true mastery of his Jutsu. Let's take your Great Fireball Jutsu" said Kakashi. "You could demonstrate it"

Sasuke grunted and went through the needed hand seals. Sasuke took a deep breath and released an impressively large fireball, scorching the grass and the trees it collided with. Kakashi nodded. "I don't need to be a sensor to see, that you needed much less chakra than back when you graduated. Allow me now, to demonstrate the Jutsu"

Kakashi's pace of going through the hand seals was on a whole different level but the fireball was around the same size, maybe even smaller. Yet, the genin could feel the heat of the Jutsu and when the Jutsu collided with the trees, eating itself through the forest farther than Sasuke's fire jutsu could have hoped to. It flew much faster and left a trail in the earth. Naruto eyed their sensei suspiciously. "You weren't using that much more chakra than Sasuke, were you?".

"Correct. It was an estimation, how much chakra Sasuke actually pumped in, so it might be a bit off but my point is. My skill in elemental manipulation increased the heat and my shape manipulation increased the impact. There are a lot of things you can do with fire" The one eyed man focused now on Sakura. "With earth jutsu, you can increase the density of the rock or the viscosity of mud. Things like that, which will make it an important skill for you. The Earth Jutsu we have in Konoha are mostly either of a defensive or supporting nature. You already need a creative mind for Genjutsu so it would be good to use it on your Ninjutsu as well"

The pinkette nodded and Kakashi turned to Sasuke.

"For you it won't be something that you will use for quite some time. Lightning is very hard to control, and you won't start with the more advanced shape manipulations until you reach A, maybe B-ranked techniques. Shaping and directing it is not exactly the hardest thing, objectively looking, but controlling it, so that it won't dissipate or disperse every which way requires a lot of skill, in both manipulation."

Finally, the jounin turned to his last student. Naruto didn't look like he was listening at all, but Kakashi didn't looked like it bothered him. He was already used to the Uzumaki's antics. "You, Naruto, are on both sides of the scale in the same time," he spoke, "On one side, it would be easier for you than the others, since you already started. Even the most basic wind exercise requires you to shape your chakra. On the other hand, completely controlling wind element is impossible. You can direct it, you can compress it to some degree, but it will sooner blow up in your face than allow itself to be completely contained. Wind is tricky like that"

Naruto nodded slightly, half of his mind concentrated on the seal in front of him. 'How did they make it affect only one thing?'

"What about fire?" Sasuke asked.

'Pyro.'

"And water," Naruto added. He didn't try anything with water element yet, but it would be good to get as much information as he could.

"Fire is pretty similar to lightning," Kakashi explained, "It's marginally easier to contain and shape, but they are on pretty much the same level (You think? I personally think fire is rather easy to shape . By the way, if your enemy is throwing at you controlled lightning or small, hot fireballs, that is your sign that he is highly skilled. As for the water, it's pretty easy to control, as long as you remember to go with its flow and to keep it moving. Water chakra that stops is damn hard to move and it takes a lot of time."

"Flow?" Sakura asked.

"You know…" Kakashi hesitated, looking for proper words.

"Like with the river," Naruto said, "Swimming with the river is easy, you can also swim to its side, but swimming against it, against its 'flow' is much harder."

Seeing Sakura nod in understanding Kakashi regarded the redhead with interest. "Have someone ever told you that you would make a great teacher?"

"Yes," the pinkette said before Naruto could answer.

"Okay then," said Kakashi after a few seconds of silence. "Well, let's move on. What I'm going to show you today is not exactly a standard exercise. Standard exercise consists of using your chakra to move patches of sand into certain shapes. But my cute little genin are too good for that," He put his hands on Sasuke and Sakura's heads. The Uchiha swatted at his arm, while Sakura just glared with a touch of resignation. "We are going to do something a bit different. It was actually my sensei that showed me this exercise," he took Sakura's scroll, "As I said, it's not a standard exercise, but I learned that it will teach you more," he unrolled the scroll, exposing a normal storage seal, before summoning a… balloon, "Your task is to burs the balloon"

He outstretched his arm with the balloon laying on his palm. As they watched the balloon started to distend, slowly, then faster, until it finally burst violently, splashing the water that was inside all around.

"You have to use your chakra to move the water inside, increasing the pressure inside," Kakashi explained, waving his hand to get rid of the water. "There are a few dozens of balloons in each scroll. Don't worry if you don't grasp it right away. It took me over a week to do this, and I had more training before than you. Now…" He clasped his hands, "…I have to go. Be good, work hard, and don't fight with other kids."

"Wait a second!" Sakura screamed as the jounin started to turn around, "You came late a few hours, gave us a new exercise and a half of an explanations and now you're leaving?!"

"It's because I believe in my kids," he responded with an eye-smile. Sakura didn't look impressed. "Look, it's the same as with the nature manipulation. I shouldn't have shown you this before you become chuunins. I started on your elemental training because I wanted to confirm my theory about Naruto…"

"And you wanted to give us something to do so we won't bug you about more training," Interrupted Naruto.

"…normally, your genin days would be spent on making soldiers out of you, on giving you a proper mind-set," Kakashi continued as if the redhead didn't say anything. Which, if you thought about it, wasn't really a denial, right? "You seem to already reach that level, that's why I decided to move on. But officially you are still genin, so…" he trailed off.

"Just admit that you found a new edition of your porn and can't wait to read it," Sasuke muttered.

"Come on, do you really think that it's all I do in my free time?" He received two blank looks and a teasing smirk.

"Well, you also go quite often to that tea shop," Naruto said. His smirk widened when he saw Kakashi's eye widened.

"Tea shop?" Sasuke asked with a rose eyebrow.

Naruto shrugged. "There is that rumour going that Copycat Kakashi fancy a certain brunette at a tea shop near the Kigitsu district."

"Rumour?" Kakashi asked.

"Gossip." Naruto confirmed, simultaneously informing the jounin that it wasn't anything bad, though he should watch out.

"So you're leaving us because of a girl?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"I…"

"Shouldn't a sensei put his students on the first place?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"It's a…"

"I hope that she is at least pretty…" Naruto thought out loud, with his own small smile.

"IF you have to know…" Kakashi said loudly, glaring at his amused students, "… there is a jounin meeting in half an hour."

"Which means that you still have at least two hours before you go, right?" Sakura asked with an innocent look on her face.

Kakashi grumbled something about 'ungrateful brats' before he turned around and jumped away.

"You really think that he has a meeting?" Sakura asked.

"Well, this didn't sound like his normal excuse," Naruto mused, "And the Chuunin Exams are coming. There would be a million and one thing to discuss, without even including the fact that Kakashi is our sensei."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, summoning a balloon from his scroll, "Let's get it over with."

{12}

Naruto quickly found another similarity between nature and shape manipulation.

It was hard, long and frustrating.

According to Kakashi, Sakura had near perfect control over her chakra, so it wasn't a surprise that it only took an hour for her balloon to start moving. Now, after three hours, it was rolling all over her palm. But it didn't look like what Kakashi has done. When the jounin demonstrated it, the balloon was spiking in every which way before it burst, while in Sakura's case it looked like the water was just rolling from side to side, distending in some kind of a weird disk.

Still, it was better than her teammates.

Sasuke's balloon was barely moving. No matter how hard he tried, or how much he glared at the balloon, it was just lightly twitching on his palm. His eyebrow was also twitching. Thanks Kami that he wasn't prone to losing his cool. Otherwise his mounting frustration would make him do even worse, which would only frustrate him even more, which would make him do even worse, and so on, and so on...

Really, it was a good thing that he wasn't easily frustrated. And that twitching eyebrow was just a sign of effort...

...

Naruto didn't have any problems with making the water move. Kakashi was right, his previous training gave him a huge head start. It only took him about half an hour to make the water move. But about an hour later, when he was reaching the level that Sakura was at now, he stumbled upon a problem. He destroyed his balloon. But not like Kakashi, when it was ripped apart from the inside pressure. It looked more like sliced with a kunai. It took two more destroyed balloons before he understood. He was unconsciously using wind chakra. His abnormally strong affinity, that allowed him to grasp everything wind related with insane ease, was now interfering when he was trying to do something non-wind related.

So, while normally shinobi had to learn how to use elemental chakra, Naruto now had to learn how to suppress it. And should he ever want to try another element, he would have to suppress his wind affinity and then add another.

One of his greatest strengths just became his weakness.

'This is going to be a pain,' Naruto thought while copying his teammate and glaring at the next water balloon.

He could really use something to release his frustration on now.

"Oh!"

*Splash*

"What the…?"

Naruto looked up. He was in the same place as when Kakashi leaved, sitting under a tree at the edge of the clearing, with Rue sitting at his side with a book in her hands. Sakura was few feet away, sitting high on a branch and looking down with a horrified expression. And Sasuke was sitting right under her…

…with wet hair and shoulders.

"I'm really sorry, Sasuke-kun, it slipped…"

Naruto started chuckling. It looked like Sakura lost control of her swaying balloon and it rolled of her hand, falling straight on Sasuke's head. His hair was dripping water, taming slightly his 'duck-butt' hairstyle, though it was still sticking up…

The redhead's chuckling quieted when an idea popped into his head, turning into a devilish grin.

"…I'm really sorry Sasuke-kun, I didn't mean…" Sakura stopped her feverish apology when another balloon collided with the side of the Uchiha's head.

"What the fuck?" Sasuke growled, turning to Naruto, who gave him a teasing smirk.

"Well, I definitely meant to" the redhead said, enjoying the sight of a twitching eyebrow. "Look at the bright side Sasuke! Now you don't have to worry about this month's shower anymore."

His teasing was working. He could almost see the fury in Sasuke's eyes as a vein started to pulse on his temple. But then the Uchiha closed his eyes and took a deep breath, visibly calming down. A smirk blossomed on his face as he opened his onyx eyes again.

"You know what that means, right, Dobe?" He asked quietly. Naruto would say that he sounded dangerous, if not for the note of humour in his voice.

"Come on, Teme, we both know that you won't be able to hit me." Naruto chirped in a taunting fashion.

"Oh really?"

Naruto caught the flying balloon, sending a mocking smirk at the Uchiha. He threw it back and quickly added another one.

"Come on Dobe, you can do better than that," Sasuke called, catching both colourful orbs and throwing them right back at his teammate. Naruto caught one and sidestepped the other, but he wasn't prepared for the third one. It slammed into his hand, drenching his left sleeve.

"You were saying?" The Uchiha mocked. Sasuke used one of the weaknesses of Naruto sixth sense. Flying objects were leaving a cone of disturbed air behind them. If you threw something in that cone it was hard for him to sense it, making the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu double as dangerous for him than for other people. And, as Sasuke pointed out a few times already, Naruto was depending on his sixth sense a bit too much. The not-so-at-the-moment-but-still-so duck butt haired teammate of his was right. Only because he hasn't met someone who can, or rather does since Kakashi probably could with ease, fully exploit his weaknesses doesn't mean that there aren't.

Still, this time the only consequence of his mistake was a wet sleeve, Naruto just grinned, rising a hand with a balloon. Sasuke smirked back at him, mirroring his movements.

"Guys! Stop!" Sakura yelled. They both turned towards the pinkette. "We were supposed to be training, not fighting like a five-year-old children." She swung her legs, preparing to jump down.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke. The Uchiha also turned to him. They exchanged matching, mischievous smirks.

*splash**splash* "Kyaaah!"

Two water filled balloons hit Sakura, one in her left shoulder, the second straight in her face. She had no chance to evade them. They threw them when she was mid-air. She could of course try to block them with her hands, if she had watched them that is.

She hadn't.

Silence fell upon the clearing. Aside from the initial scream Sakura didn't let out a sound. She hung her head, her expression hidden behind the veil of wet hair, water dripping form the pink ends. Naruto bend his knees in preparation. When the pinkette was screaming in rage, it was normal. Dangerous, especially for your ears, but normal. But when she became silent… it was time to start worrying.

Killing intent flooded the clearing.

Sakura rose her head. Her emerald eyes held a dangerous glint to them and she wore a smirk that looked strangely out of place on her normally kind face.

"Oh, you are going to regret that boys," she said … promised quietly.

Naruto ducked under the balloon. There was no point in trying to catch it. It was thrown with too much force for the thin fabric to handle any other kind of force. He sidestepped another balloon, stepping right in the path of the third one. The redhead turned to Sasuke, who was watching him with a teasing smirk… until he himself was hit in the arm courtesy of their female teammate.

Everything stopped. They stood in a perfect triangle, looking at each other with matching grins. Nobody moved a muscle. Everything went completely still. Even the birds stopped their songs and the wind quieted. It was as if the forest itself waited for the next move.

And, as if on some unspoken signal, they moved.

Naruto ducked under the oncoming balloons and then rolled to the side, evading the next one, hidden in the slipstream of the first one. 'I won't make that mistake twice,' thought Naruto, catching another balloon and throwing it back at Sakura. The pinkette rolled back to avoid it and then pushed from the ground mid-roll to jump over the next balloon, allowing it to fly harmlessly beneath her.

Soon it became clear that they were too far from each other. Balloon were not kunai. It created too much air resistance. It was too easy to avoid. So they came closer. It made the game much more exciting. They had much less time for reaction.

Soon they were wet from head to toe, though Naruto fared a bit better than his two teammates. His sixth sense gave him an unfair advantage. But as he said to Rue earlier, there was no such thing as a fair fight. Unfortunately his teammates seemed to know it too cause they ganged up on him, making sure that he was between them all the time and pinning him under a constant fire, pushing him to defence.

"What's wrong Naruto? Why are you not attacking?" Asked Sasuke as the redhead ducked under two balloons, sidestepped another one, caught the fourth and jumped over the last two. He sealed the caught orb. You should never hesitate to attack, but you should also know when to attack and when to wait.

But it quickly became obvious that they would not let him attack. He had to get out from under their onslaught. He jumped to the side. His teammates moved as well, not allowing him to escape, but the slight lull in their attack gave Naruto enough time to create two water clones. They jumped at Sasuke and Sakura, taking their onslaught on themselves, allowing the redhead to jump into the forest and disappear between the trees.

It was the testament to the force behind their throws when both clones dispelled upon being hit by the balloons.

"Wait, don't!" Sakura yelled when Sasuke moved to follow Naruto, "We won't find him there. It would be a death trap."

She was right. Thanks to Kakashi's training and Naruto's tips Sasuke and Sakura were much better at stealth and observation than some chuunins, but they still were no match for their redhead teammate.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed, "I guess the next move is his."

Naruto also cursed. He was hoping that at least Sasuke would jump after him. Well, whatever. He had to think what to do now. There was no point in throwing balloons at them. They moved to the middle of the clearing, so they would have a lot of time to react. He could of course spawn a few dozens of water clones, but it seemed like a bit of an overkill to him. This wasn't a fight to death after all. So, he needed a distraction… or a partner.

Suppressing a grin Naruto sneaked towards Rue position. The little girl was no longer reading a book. Instead she was hiding behind a tree, watching the clearing with a smile on her face and anticipation in her eyes.

Naruto crouched behind the grey-haired girl and whispered.

"Little One." Rue turned around with wide eyes. "Two on one is a little unfair, don't you think?" The girl answering grin could only be described as devious. Was it weird that Naruto's chest swelled with pride? Nah, it probably just told him he did something right. "Come."

They both sneaked deeper into the forest. There Naruto took out another storage scroll and sealed inside around three dozen balloons.

"Come on Dobe! Are you going to hide all day?" They heard Sasuke scream.

He gave Rue the scroll and whispered, "Go to the other side of the clearing. Throw when they turn to me. Then it's up to you."

The girl nodded and went away, still with that adorable smirk of a little devil. She was getting better Naruto noted, as he observed her progress. He could still see her, obviously, but still, she was good. Definitely better than an Academy student.

When Rue got into position Naruto unsealed five balloons. He put three on the ground of himself, took two in his hands, took a deep breath…

And started throwing.

"Sasuke-kun! Watch out!" Sakura called, jumping to the side. She ducked under another balloon and threw her own at Naruto, but it looked like she was aiming blind, cause it flew two feet to the left of his position. Sasuke on the other hand must have noticed him, cause his aim was true. Naruto caught this balloon and then ducked, hiding inside the bush. In the same moment he heard three splashes.

"Naruto! Clones are not fair!" Sakura yelled.

The redhead stuck out his head and yelled back, "There is no such thing as a fair fight, Sakura!" Honestly, how many times he had to repeat this? Was there a seal to record his wisdom so he didn't have to repeat it all the time? It would probably be wind based and …. "But I'm not actually using clones," he pointed to the place where Rue was before.

The pinkette looked at the tree in confusion before her eyes widened. "Rue-chan! How could you?!" She called in a hurt tone of voice.

"Well, I guess she likes me more than you," Naruto teased and ducked under the oncoming projectiles. He quickly moved away when another balloon flew into the bushes.

Knowing that this trick won't work on them anymore Naruto quickly came up with another idea. He started sneaking towards his accomplice. He reached her just in time to see a balloon tear through the branches and hit her in the left arm. Her hair was also wet. Naruto quickly grabbed her and used substitution with a log on the other side of the clearing, rescuing her from a few more balloons that flew through the leaves.

"What happened," he signed.

"I don't know," she responded, "They must have saw me and started throwing through the branches."

Naruto nodded. "Okay. I have another idea. Take as many balloons as you can carry and throw them in front of me. You don't have to throw them hard, just so that they are in front of me."

The girl nodded, unsealing a few balloons and throwing taking them into her arms. Naruto unsealed a few more and put them on the pile in her hands. He then started making handseals.

Rue tossed the balloons. As soon as they were in the air Naruto used Wind Style: Gale Palm to propel them forward. The multi-coloured orbs flew much faster than when they threw them themselves. In addition to the number of the flying projectiles, it was impossible for Sasuke and Sakura to evade them. Naruto grinned when he heard numerous splashes from the clearing and felt the balloons connect with his teammates. He turned to Rue with a smirk…

…which disappeared when he felt something fly towards them. And it wasn't a balloon.

A kunai stuck into a tree next to them.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed seeing a tag attached to it, but it was too late.

The tag exploded in a burst of light and sound. It was one of the ones that Naruto improved, adding noise to the standard flesh. The ringing in his ears attested to the fact that it worked pretty damn good.

In the next moment he was hit by three balloons in quick succession, He quickly pushed the ringing in his head and concentrated on his sixth sense. Sasuke and Sakura were up on the trees and he could feel even more orbs in the air. He quickly reached towards Rue. Two more balloons hit him before he managed to use Substitution.

The game continued for about an hour. They tried many tricks to drench each other even more than they already were. Sakura tried her luck at sneaking up on him using a genjutsu. She did pretty good, but her illusion couldn't replicate his sixth sense. She just couldn't know what it felt like. Sasuke used himself as a bait and then quickly used Substitution to surprise them. Naruto used Change to look like Kakashi and walked straight into the clearing. Sasuke recognized it, but he was too late. The redhead managed to get a good hit on them before running into the forest again. It was then that Naruto noticed that the Uchiha was using his clan's doujutsu, Sharingan. It was how he managed to find Rue when she was sneaking through the bush. He was trying to pin Naruto with it as well, but he only managed to drench a fox that wandered around.

Naruto was crouching in the brush, trying to come up with some plan to draw his teammates between a few traps that he set up when he sensed someone coming. He sneaked closer to the tree line and watched as a tall figure jumped down from the trees.

It was Kakashi.

The jounin took into the sight; many destroyed balloons scattered around the ground, a scorched tree on the right (Sasuke using a wrong tag or going a little overboard, Naruto wasn't sure which) and two of his genins standing in the middle of the clearing, wet from head to toe, each holding a balloon in their hands and discussing something quietly.

"Ummm… what is going on?" Kakashi asked, coincidentally using exactly the same words that Naruto used when he was impersonating him.

Sasuke and Sakura both turned towards him… and threw their balloons.

The jounin must not have expect it at all, cause he didn't even try to avoid them. Both of the liquid filled orbs hit him straight in the face, drenching his face, mask, shoulders and hair. Somehow his gravity-defying hairstyle reminded unchanged, despite the water dripping from it.

"Come on Naruto, do you really think that you can trick us with that again?" Sakura scowled.

Naruto walked out, suppressing an urge to burst out laughing. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop the corner of his lips from rising as he spoke, "Ummm… guys?" His teammates turned towards him, "That's not me this time."

His smile widened to smirk in the same time as Sakura's eyes widened in realization. Sasuke just looked resigned as he slowly turned to his sensei.

"Kakashi?"

The jounin scowled at them, pinning them under his one eyed glare. "I'm sure that there is a good explanation to this, right?"

Naruto couldn't help himself. He knew that it would only make things worse. They were already in deep shit, judging by Kakashi's face. But he really couldn't help it.

He finally burst out laughing.

{12}

'They started early this year,' Naruto thought, 'it's not even four yet.'

A dozen or so villagers were going down the street. They were quite drunk, judging by their swaying walk and slurred speech as they loudly asked everyone whether they saw 'this cursed Demon' lately.

Normally the mobs wouldn't start to gather before seven or even eight in the afternoon. Though on the other hand three years ago they tried to catch him the day before, so maybe he shouldn't say it as if it was a rule. They were only civilians so he didn't have any problems in escaping them, but they have found his apartment and trashed it. He had to move out.

The best way of learning is to learn from errors. Naruto learned to start hiding few days before the festival.

It was saying something about your life if the day you hated the most was your birthday. Though Naruto had some perfectly good reasons to hate that day. Chronologically looking, it was that day that his parents died and Kyuubi was sealed inside him. It was the day that marked his first visit in the hospital, cause the patrons in the orphanage went a little overboard and were afraid that he would die… or rather that were afraid of Hokage's punishment. Totally coincidentally it was also the day that he was poisoned for the first time. It was also on that day that he was thrown out of the orphanage… though on the other hand it was actually a good thing. It was on that day that he first saw someone die because of him, when a drunk villager tried to follow him through the roofs and fell. And a year later he saw how much it cost to be with him, when a mob chased him and Shiho-nee away from the Ichiraku, destroying their stand in the process, and then killed a foreign merchant that tried to defend them, barely even noticing as they trampled him.

And it was a day that he felt his loneliness the most.

Once he learned why they were so much more aggressive on this day he started to get out of everyone's way when the festival came closer. When Shiho-nee was still alive she was spending those days with him, despite how much he tried to persuade her out of it, but with her… gone, he was all alone. He even got out of the village twice. He probably should have tell somebody that nobody was guarding the sewers, but something stopped him. Maybe it was just his paranoia, maybe it was something else.

Right now he was sitting high on a tree, hidden by the leaves. They were all yellow and brown, but they still covered him very well. Damn, the civilians wouldn't even be able to climb that high, and Naruto learned long ago that not many looked up.

He looked down. A young boy, maybe six-year-old, was running, screaming and laughing, away from a man who was wearing a mask and had his hands over his head. The kid grabbed a mask from a stand nearby, put it on, turned around and charged. The man feigned fear and started running away, making sure to not go too fast. The boy followed him, not looking at anything else and almost bumping into a few people. He continued his charge, roaring in his childish voice… until he tripped and introduced his face to the ground.

A young woman ran over to the kid. She picked him up, rose his mask and wiped something from his face before lowering his mask again and pointing at the man that was standing a few feet away. The boy charged again, and the woman watched him for a few seconds with a fond smile, before she turned to the stand with masks and paid the merchant for the one that her son took.

Naruto wondered what his mother would do in a situation like that. Would she smile at him fondly and just pay for the mask? Or would she scold him for taking something without asking and make him give it back, apologizing to the merchant? Or maybe she would pretend that she didn't notice, glad to save some money? Would his father play with him? Or maybe he was the stern type, like…

'Stop it, Naruto!' He ordered himself, 'Your parents are dead… or maybe not, maybe it was just a lie so that you won't learn that your mother was a prostitute and your father was an idiot that knocked her up and either don't know that you even exist or didn't have the balls to acknowledge you. That they let Yondaime take you, so that they don't have to take care of you. You don't know. And you will never know! There is no point in 'what if's, so don't do this to yourself, idiot!'

Many of the street runts were like that. Fantasizing about their parents, imagining that they were someone important, that they leaved them because they had to, because there was no other way. Hoping that one day they would find them and take them away from the streets. From this disgusting gutter that was their life, where they had to fight for every scrap of food, where they had to sleep in the sewers so that they won't freeze in the winter. They stayed in their little imagined worlds, living from day to day, just existing. And they died, because if you don't take matters in your own hands and do something about them, then nothing will change.

It was a lesson that Shiho-nee taught him.

He looked up. The sun hid behind the horizon a while ago, so it was probably around six or seven. The sky lightened up with thousands of tiny, white dots. Konoha also lightened up, from the lamps, neon's, candles and hundreds of lampions hung up between the buildings.

The corner of Naruto's mouth rose. No matter how much he sometimes hated this place, no matter how much the village hated him, no matter how many people in it didn't want to see him ever again, no matter how lonely he felt in this place, in moments like this he couldn't deny it.

Konoha was beautiful.

Hearing a familiar laugh, he looked down. Sakura and Ino were laughing loudly, pointing at Rue. The little girl, garbed in a grass green kimono with white flowers at the bottom, was holding a cotton candy, with a lot of the sweet treat on her lower face, which made her look as if she had a beard, especially with addition to her grey hair. The girl glared at the two older kunoichi, which only made them laugh harder, before whipping the cotton from her face and licking it off her fingers, her eyes lighting up at the taste. Still chuckling Sakura wiped the rest of the little girl's face and showed her how to it her treat properly.

The corner of Naruto's lips rose again. After everything the girl went through in her short life she deserved a bit of fun.

Someone landed on the tree. Naruto tensed immediately. When the figure started moving towards him he shifted his position so that he could react in a blink. He concentrated on his sixth sense. Shorter than him, bulky clothes, no weapon that that he could feel, hair that reached its shoulders. Nothing that could help him identify this person.

Well, it was already here…

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing, Sayuri," the redhead responded, relaxing slightly. He didn't really know her, but she wasn't a threat. "Shouldn't you be down there with your friends?"

"I just needed a quiet moment." It was weird to see her in a brand new, midnight blue kimono with fireworks motive randomly displayed all over it. Naruto never before saw her in anything other than her shinobi clothes, clearly second hand, though always well kept. Sayuri was an orphan like him. Konoha had an Orphan Fund that helped kids that lost their parents, but it was barely enough for an apartment and living. "What about you? Why aren't you down there?" She asked, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Got tired of the crowd."

The girl gave him a critical eye. "Bullshit. You look more like you are going on a mission, not to the festival."

Naruto looked at her in surprise. He always remembered her as a quiet, soft spoken girl. And now she swore (mildly, but still) and called him on his bluff.

'Guess not only her appearance changed in the last few months. Well, it would be disappointing if there was no improvement'

"Said the girl that has hidden a knife on both hips and senbon at her wrists," he responded out loud.

It was her time to be surprised. She looked at him for a few seconds before chuckling and sitting down at the branch opposite of him. "Hello Topic Change, it's nice to meet you."

Naruto suppressed a smile. He used the same words when he tried to befriend her when they were starting the academy, back when he still played the idiotic, loudmouth clown role to get some attention.

Back when he still didn't know.

"You're not going to show up at the meeting later, aren't you?" Sayuri asked.

"Is that a trick question?" Responded Naruto, guessing that she was talking about the meeting with their classmates that Sakura mentioned a few days ago.

Sayuri sighed. "I know that you are not exactly the most outgoing person, but don't you think that you're going a little overboard? Even Sasuke came a few times to our class meetings!"

"Sasuke? So it's not 'Sasuke-kun' anymore?" Naruto teased.

The girl shook her head with a mock pity. "You know you really should work on subtlety when you are changing the topic."

"Fine then. I have a real question. Why is suddenly everyone worried about my social skills?" The redhead asked in exasperation.

"Because Sakura is bitching about it and it's starting to get annoying."

Silence fell upon them. Naruto looked down at the milling crowd. Sakura, Ino and Rue were still there, playing some game at one of the stands. The redhead consciously let his eyes roam the whole crowd, knowing that Sayuri was still observing him.

"You know, I also didn't want to go to the festival," she spoke after a few minutes, her voice much softer, "I wasn't really in a mood to celebrate on a day of my parents' death." Oh, right. She also lost her parents in the Kyuubi Attack. Naruto wondered, how would she react had she learned the reason of all those lonely nights was sealed inside him? "But then I thought that… well, don't you think that our parents would want us to enjoy the life? To move on? They wouldn't want us to stay cooped in the past, but rather… go outside?"

Naruto didn't respond. He couldn't stop his bitter thoughts that his mother would want him outside tonight. She would have a lot of clients tonight or worse.

He knew that he could be totally wrong about his parents. It was perfectly plausible that they were shinobi that died in a fight, or some civilian merchants from the destroyed part of Konoha, or just random travellers that happened to be in a wrong place in a wrong time. But life taught him to always assume the worst. If something surprised him, then it was at least a nice surprise.

"All right, I have to go," Sayuri said, standing up and straightening her kimono, "Ayuri is already going to bitch that I left her alone, and I still have to say hello to Sakura and Ino. See you around, Naruto. Don't be a stranger." With a final wave she jumped down into the streets.

Naruto sighed seeing her make a beeline towards Rue and the others. She was sure to tell them that she met him and, knowing Sakura, she would come up here and drag him to the festival, whether he liked it or not, probably with Rue's help.

With another resigned sigh he stood up, put on the hood of his cloak and jumped in the opposite direction. In the darkness it was unlikely that somebody would recognize him. And even if they did, he could always hide or outrun them.

He always runs.

Because while Shiho-nee taught him many things, she never managed to teach him how to stop running.

{12}

Naruto returned to his apartment two days later. He triple-checked to make sure that he was alone before he unlocked the chakra lock on the window. The room looked just as he left it five days ago, but the strand of hair that he left on the window sill was missing. He jumped inside and checked the rest of the apartment. It looked all right, and the second strand that he left on the handle of the front door was still there. It wasn't a perfect indicator. A gust of wind could blow it away. But if it was still there, then he at least knew that nobody came that way.

Good. Nothing was more depressing then coming to a destroyed apartment, with thrashed belongings, ruined furniture and words like 'DIE DEMON' or 'WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE' painted on the walls after a few days of running and hiding from angry, bloodthirsty mob.

"Not that you need any help in depressing yourself," Naruto muttered out loud, before forcing himself to stop this line of thoughts. He unsealed the supplies that he took with himself. He unrolled the sleeping bag to air it a little, dumped the clothes in the washing bin, activated the seal that would alarm him if someone tried to enter.

But nothing could take his mind away from the fact that he was alone.

He took a quick shower and then went to the kitchen. He didn't have anything fresh, so he took out a cup of instant ramen and put the water in the kettle. He chuckled, remembering the time when he ate only ramen. Few months after he met Shiho-nee, when he started making enough money to allow himself to be a little picky, he decided that ramen was all he needed. For a few weeks he lived on the noodle dish, be it from Ichiraku or its instant counterpart, until finally Shiho-nee had enough and beat into him the need for a proper feeling. Literally.

If there was some kind of the afterlife Naruto was sure that she was looking at him now with that strange mix of amusement, exasperation and reprimand.

He was in the middle of his second cup when the seal alerted him that someone breached its boundary. A few seconds later someone opened the window in the big room and jumped inside. Naruto quietly put away the chopsticks and unsealed a kunai from the glove that was laying on the table. He was pretty sure that he knew who this person was – after spending so much time together he could recognize her with just his sixth sense – but after the last few days he was a little jumpy.

So sue him.

He slowly walked through the small hall into the room. Just as he suspected, Rue was just putting something on the low table. She turned around and jumped back when she noticed him. Apparently she didn't hear him coming.

He was pleased to see one of her hands hovering over her hip-pouch. It was a healthy reflex.

"Hey, Little One," he greeted her quietly.

"Hello," she signed, relaxing and giving him a slight smile.

"I was just eating some ramen. You want some?"

The girl shrugged and nodded, Naruto waved at her and went into the kitchen, idly noticing that she picked up the object she put on the table and took it with her. When she put it on the table in the kitchen he saw that it was a small package wrapped in brown paper.

"What is it?" He asked as he put the kettle on the stove and turned towards Rue.

"It's for you," she signed before picking it up and giving it to him. When he took the package form her she continued, "Happy Birthday Naruto."

Naruto was shocked, so say the least. "How did you know that it was my birthday?" He surely never mentioned it to her… or anyone else for that matter.

"Ayame mentioned it, when you were on a mission in Wave Country," she explained.

Naruto nodded and carefully unwrapped the package, unrevealing a black scarf and a coupon for the Ichiraku Ramen. He picked the slip of paper and looked at Rue with a rose eyebrow.

"The coupon is from Ayame and Teuchi," she signed, "I didn't know what to buy you, but I noticed that your scarf is a bit rugged…" She trailed off, clearly anxious to see his reaction.

He picked the scarf. It was completely black, but he didn't recognize the material. It resembled slightly a ninja wire, just softer.

He frowned. He didn't give Rue any money lately. He was giving her some pocket money earlier, but he didn't remember giving her any since…

"Ichiraku," he realized, "You started working there to buy me a birthday present."

The little girl shrugged. "I mentioned your birthday to Ayame. She wanted to give me money to buy you a present, but I didn't want to just take it, so she proposed that I can work it off…" She once again trailed off, before hesitantly signing, "Do you like it?"

Naruto felt the corner of his lips rising. "I love it."

Rue beamed. The fact that she went to work just to buy him a present meant to him more than anything she could buy… but he was sure that she knew it. She was really smart after all.

"Thank you, Rue."

The girl blushed. Most of the time he was using the 'Little One' nickname when he spoke to her, so she knew that he really meant it.

The kettle started whistling. Naruto poured the water into two instant ramen cups and sat at the table, picking his unfinished one. The silence was stretching so he quickly went into another topic.

"So how was the festival?"

Instead of an explosion of excitement and blur of handsigns that Naruto expected a frown appeared on Rue's face as she looked down at her ramen. The redhead instantly started going over possible reasons. Did she hear someone talking about him? Maybe she saw a drunken mob going through the streets and searching for him? Maybe they asked about that 'Red-haired Demon' and she realized that it was him?

Rue looked up and Naruto was alarmed when he saw moisture in those huge, green eyes. "You were in the village. You went to the festival," she trailed off, "Why didn't you want to go with me?"

Naruto felt relief wash over him. With how smart and mature she was, much more mature than nay other nine-years old, he sometimes forgot that she was still just a little girl.

"I was in Konoha," he confirmed, "but I didn't go to the festival."

"But Sakura's friend said that she talked with you right before…"

"Yes, she did. And yes, I was. For about three minutes. I wanted to make sure you had a good time. Going to that particular festival is very dangerous for me, Little One," he interrupted gently.

Rue looked at him for a moment, before she signed slowly, "Is it one of those things that you can't tell me?"

Naruto cringed inwardly, seeing the hurt in her eyes. He didn't respond for a long moment, almost as long as this whole conversation as he warred a war with his mind.

And finally he came to a decision.

"Rue," he spoke, immediately getting her whole attention, "You had history lessons already, didn't you?".

Rue nodded slowly, not sure what Naruto was getting at. "Had you any about the more … recent history?".

"What do you mean?"

The genin closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths to steel his resolves. "I am talking about thirteen years ago. October 10th, thirteen years ago"

{12}

Well, here you go.

A bit of a filler here. We have more fluff with Rue, some fun time from Team 7, Naruto being a bit emo (I know, I know, but considering what day it's, give the guy a break, will ya?), a bit of the readhead's past, and finally Naruto finally tells Rue about his furry roommate. Considering their relathionship, and the fact that she never fought against Kyuubi, or felt him like Kakashi's generation, or even heard of him that much, since she was living in Konoha only for a few months, it wasn't much of a risk really, but hey, bay steps, right?

As for the title of the chapter; At first I was going to use simple and forward "October 10". But then I noticed how similiar it's to chapter 8. Also, if you think about from Naruto's point of view: he just spend a few days hiding from literally everyone, alone on a day when most of the villagers are having fun, recalling all the things that happened to him and to those who he cared about, and yet to him it's JUST another year. Fitting, don't you think?

One last thing before someone asks; no, I'm not going to teach whole Team 7 the Rasengan. I just wanted to add the water fight scene, and it didn't seem too off. Hell, I'm not yet sure whether or not I will hive Naruto the Rasengan. I'm still working on that.

Well, that should be all. Big thanks to Faroffinho for Beta reading.

Until next time,

Aiedaill