A Competent Teacher

During his two-and-a-half-year training period, Naruto learned much more than anyone expected. Jiraiya taught him everything he knows, and more. Everyone knew he'd come back stronger, but no one knew he'd be this good.

Two figures walked through the main gate around midday, and stopped just inside to take a look around.

"Wow, we're finally back home aren't we, Jiraiya-sensei."

A large man wearing a red vest laughed, "Well duh, I hope you still recognize this place after being gone for so long, Naruto."

The two shared a relieved laugh, and began making their way towards the Hokage's office. Along the way, they met some familiar faces.

"Hey Akamaru, is that who I think that is?" Kiba asked his large, furry partner. The dog barked happily, and ran up to the blonde, "You're right, smells just like him."

The dog tackled Naruto, and lapped at his face, "Easy boy, hey you've gotten big, haven't you? It's good to see you too Akamaru!"

The dog let him up, and Naruto waved happily to some of his old friends.

"Hey Hinata, Kiba, Kurenai-sensei and… Shino! It's good to see you all again! How've you three been doing the past six months?"

"G-Good, Naruto-kun. We heard you w-were coming back soon. How w-was the rest of your trip?" Hinata asked, fingers pressed firmly together in their usual fashion.

"Awesome! I learned so much, I feel like I could take on the world right now! You all seem to have gotten stronger too, but you're also the same people I remember."

Jiraiya grabbed Naruto by the back of the neck, and started to push him down the road, "Sorry everyone but we need to go see Lady Tsunade, I'm sure Naruto can catch up later."

And off they went to the Hokage's office.

The Konohamaru corps, now dubbed Team 7 themselves as they had graduated from the academy, were accompanying Sakura to the main gate to pick up a report. Halfway there, they also encountered Team Kurenai, who mentioned Naruto's return. Sakura sent the genin to grab the report for her, and then turned on her heels and took off for her master's office.

Upon arriving, she saw that Naruto and Jiraiya-sensei were already there giving a formal report. Shizune was in the room as well, meaning with Sakura's arrival the only one missing was…

"Hey, Obaa-sama, where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Three years ago, Tsunade would have crushed Naruto under her hand for saying that. Now though, she just smiled. She had learned that anyone worthy of getting a nickname from the blond meant the world to him, so she tolerated the name. Besides, it's not like she looked her age, right?

"Take a look out there, you'll find him."

So Naruto went to the window and went to open it, but noticed something in the reflection.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Hey Naruto! So, you're finally back. I've been wondering when you'd show up."

He smiled, the most honest cheesy smile anyone had ever seen, and said, "It's good to see you, Sakura-chan."

She smiled softly, "It feels like old times, seeing that grin."

"The only thing missing is Sasuke." A voice said from outside the window.

"Kakashi-sensei! The gangs all here, huh! But uh… yeah, I guess he's the only one missing."

Sakura visibly flinched at the name, but Naruto didn't seem as bothered as Kakashi expected.

"That's alright, we'll find that teme and bring his duck-ass back to the village once and for all!"

At the mention of Sasuke's name, the mood in the room turned somber, but after Naruto's declaration everyone brightened up, some even smiling.

"Alright, alright, enough small talk. Tsunade-hime, you mentioned a test for Naruto here?"

"Not just Naruto, but Sakura as well. The two of you will be evaluated against one of my strongest ninja. You'll be facing-"

"Me."

The two former teammates smirked, and looked at their old sensei.

"So, Naruto and Sakura-chan versus Sharingan no Kakashi eh? This'll be good, dattebayo!"

That night, the two met their sensei at their original training ground. Out of sight in the trees, the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Shizune were prepared to watch the battle.

"So, has the brat improved? Can he really take on Kakashi?"

"Even between the two of them, I'm not sure they could take Kakashi. Even you or Jiraiya-sama would have a tough time beating Kakashi," Shizune said jokingly. The three of them knew that even Kakashi didn't stand a chance against Jiraiya, probably not Tsunade either.

"I don't know Tsunade, the last full on fight we had he left me with this," the Toad Sage said, pulling his shirt up and revealing a large scar in his side, "I think he could win on his own to be perfectly honest with you two."

The two women gasped in shock, "He's that strong? Already?"

"Hey, Kakashi was a jonin at what, 14? Itachi was an anbu captain around that age too, why is it such a surprise that he's that strong?"

The two medic-nin conceded defeat, and decided to let Naruto's actions do the talking.

"You know the rules, get the bells and you pass the test. You have until… oh, let's say sunrise, shall we?"

Naruto and Sakura nodded, and squared off against their old teacher. They waited for Kakashi to give the signal, both remembering what had happened last time.

"I expected you to attack me already, Naruto. Seems you have matured, eh? Alrighty then, let us begin."

Just as he finished talking, Naruto blurred forward in a burst of speed. When he left, Naruto was more of a power type. He could take a lot of damage, and dish it out just as much. Now however, it seemed that Naruto had put more focus into speed, and that caught Kakashi by surprise.

They engaged in a battle of taijutsu, with Kakashi's sharingan out in full force. The jonin suspected that, without that eye, Naruto would be wiping the floor with him. The boy had gotten so much faster, and his taijutsu style had changed completely. It used to rely on blocks and big hits, now it focused on deflections and counters.

"You've gotten much better Naruto. I'm surprised, I didn't think you had it in you to beat me in Taijutsu. Then again… it is my weakest ability!" the cyclops stated, breaking free from Naruto and blurring through hand signs faster than the eye could see. He launched a fireball, ten feet around, at Naruto. Before it could hit, a loud slam caught the two combatant's attention as the ground broke up around Naruto. The blond fell into a small ravine, and the fireball passed harmlessly overhead.

"You boys didn't forget about me, did you?"

Sakura dove for Kakashi, throwing a direct punch to his chest. He couldn't dodge in time, so he chose to block.

Big mistake.

Kakashi went flying backwards at least twenty feet, finally stopping after he slammed into a tree.

"Well, you've both improved greatly in your Taijutsu. I suppose I'll have to up my game a bit if I'm to keep up in a two-on-one… First gate, Open!"

The air around Kakashi filled with power as he opened the first of the chakra limiting gates, and his chakra levels practically doubled. His speed before was frightening to most ninja, but now it was ridiculous.

Sakura could still handle his strikes, but Naruto didn't have the strength to deal with them anymore. He went from deflecting to outright dodging, keeping his distance and generally making sure Kakashi couldn't lay a hit on him. He stuck with defense, leaving Sakura to go on the offensive.

Naruto finally got caught, and Kakashi landed a massive blow to the chest. However, Naruto managed to grab Kakashi's arm just before the hit, and trapped him. Kakashi was left wide open for a punch from Sakura!

She took the opportunity and threw a haymaker at her former sensei, pulling back just before hitting him so instead of taking his head off she would merely knock him out.

The punch landed, and Kakashi exploded in a flash of light, his lightning clone shocking the two teens.

"We should have expected that…"

"Yeah, we never did give him enough credit. His laziness masked the fact that he's a genius, one of the best. I'll have to go all out to get those bells for us, 'ttebayo!"

Sakura looked at Naruto, confused, "You haven't been going all out? You're already moving so fast!"

He chuckled, and sat down in a meditative pose, "Keep him distracted for a minute? After that, it's game over."

Sakura shrugged and reengaged Kakashi-sensei, keeping her blows fast and light so as to keep him distracted. She could have tried to go for a winning hit, but wanted to see what Naruto had up his sleeve.

The minute was up, and Naruto didn't disappoint. One second he was sitting on the ground; the next Naruto was swinging a punch at Kakashi's face. While Kakashi was surprised at the sudden speed, he was still fast enough to react thanks to the sharingan. He dodged the blow, and… was hit?

Kakashi went flying, for the third time that night, and slammed into yet another tree.

"After this, I'm going to be stuck in a hospital bed… what was that technique anyway?" Kakashi asked the normally-loud blond, who had remained strangely quiet the whole fight.

"Frog Kumite, it's the taijutsu of the Toads on Mount Miyaboku."

Kakashi stood up, and looked Naruto in the eyes. What he saw surprised him for two reasons. The first, because his eyes had changed. Where they were normally blue and light, they had turned yellow and had a black horizontal bar in the middle. Orange pigmentation surrounded the edges, and his face looked much more rigid than before. An air of power surrounded the blond, an air that Kakashi knew he wouldn't be able to deal with.

He reached for his belt, to grab the bells, and noticed they were… gone.

"Shadow clone, Kakashi-sensei. I hit you, clone grabbed the bells. One for me, one for Sakura-chan. Looks like we win!" Naruto laughed, tossing the second bell to his crush.

Tsunade was glaring at Jiraiya, "You taught him what?!"

"Sage Mode, and it wasn't all me. The toads insisted on it, said he had more potential than me. And they were right, the kids a natural!"

Tsunade smacked Jiraiya on the back of the head, "How is he mature enough for this? What makes you think he's responsible enough to use one of the most powerful abilities that's ever existed?"

Once again, Jiraiya just laughed, "Hime, you know as well as I that I care more for my students than anyone. I wouldn't risk his life like that. He's grown in ways you cannot even imagine."

The Hokage just sighed, clearly not buying it but willing to wait for an explanation.

"Everyone knows that Naruto has insane chakra levels, right? Well, turns out he can do something that most can't because of that. He used shadow clones to train, and he used a lot of them. In the first year, he had completed learning everything I had planned for him. In the second, he had learned every one of my signature jutsu, at least all the non-type specific ones. And the last six months he focused on Sage mode. He even learned his chakra nature, and now he's working on adding it to his jutsu."

Tsunade was shocked, to say the least. To say the most, the woman was amazed. It had been years since a single ninja had grown so much so quickly. Hell, even Orochimaru hadn't progressed that fast back when he was a genin. At this point, Naruto was Jonin level at least.

"Say, Tsunade-hime, do you think you could make an exception to the rules and do a field promotion? I think the kid has shown he deserves to be a chunin, hell even last exam he probably deserved it from what I am told."

"The council wouldn't let me promote him last time around, but I'll see what I can do. He did do a lot during the skirmish with Sky country after all, so I suppose a field promotion could be in order."

After their battle, Kakashi treated the two to ramen. He did want to go home and read the copy of Icha Icha that Naruto had gifted him, but after such a resounding defeat he felt he owed the two more than just a pat on the back.

While they ate, Kakashi kept staring at Naruto trying to figure out just what the hell the kid had gone through to become so powerful.

So, new story. I'll try to alternate this and New Leaf as best as I can. I started rewatching Naruto again, shippuden specifically, and decided that this would be a fun take on it (I'm actually watching it as I write). I hope you enjoyed, if not oh well. Have a nice day any way.

Hn.