OK let's get started. For all of you who think the NaruKure coupling was too quick, rest assured that I'm going to be going farther into their relationship this chapter(a flashback to why she's so accepting of Naruto), to give it more substance. Also, it's not too hard to believe that Kurenai would fall for Naruto since he is a good person. Also, I do believe that Kurenai would handle the idea of a harem well for a number of reasons. One, Kurenai is the overseer of Hinata, and Yakumo(super genjutsu clan filler girl), so she'd have to understand clan laws. This means she'd already knows what's going on. Two, Naruto is the kind of person that not only draws people to him, but also brings out the best of them(citing my sources would be Shion). This means that he would be able to win over Kurenai without a fault. Three, is the fact she knows what his life was like, so she would want him to be as loved as possible(it's called not caring about circumstances, but what is best for the person).

Now onto another part of the NaruKure thing. I never said 'love' between the two of them. Naruto did get possessive, but he gets a lot of that from the nature of Kyuubi's chakra. Consider them in the beginning stages of boyfriend and girlfriend. I can honestly say that I never outright loved any of my girlfriends right from the start. It's simply impossible, excluding the best friend scenario, but that is almost non existent anymore. As for the talk about mates that is simply the more beast like mentality that is transferred to Naruto through containing Kyuubi. That is the final say on the Kurenai matter unless you have a better idea then re-writing a chapter, because I'll ban the next one who says re-write on the pairings. I don't like to do that, but I simply don't have the time to re-write a chapter. If you have a suggestion to make it better through a flashback or something, I'll accept the help with open arms and ears.

Also, a few of you must be starting to understand my direction with Kushina, as a few of you are making educated guesses. I will only verify through a personal message if you make a slightly disheartening comment(or if I want to) in the reviews. And while on that topic.... how 'bout more of the reviews. There's like a thousand people who read this, and all of them can review, but only about 25 or so do so every chapter.

Also, the fight with Zabuza. Naruto isn't super powerful. In the anime Zabuza states that Haku is possibly stronger then him. So if Naruto beat Haku with Kyuubi's unwilling help, then he can surely go toe to toe with Zabuza if he is given the chakra freely along with his Dojutsu. This leads to Naruto getting exhausted, he used a powerful technique that wasn't close to mastered and his control is still technically shit. He's gotten better, but not by much. This also leads to Kakashi's short battle with Zabuza. Zabuza was injured in an area that is very debilitating. When hit in the rib cage your ability to flex or shift your body, arms, and legs is severely limited because of the pain it causes. This made Kakashi's victory easier(also Kakashi was using the Sharingan to watch the entire fight, which made him exhausted).

Another matter that needs to be addressed is that Sasuke still thinks himself superior. There is a reason, don't worry. As for Sakura, well she is delusional. She believes herself beautiful...*shudders*. Any who, Naruto does not like Sakura, and has never shown interest in her.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, nor do I care that I don't own Naruto.....*Goes to the corner and cut's self* Really I don't...... I'm... I'm just a.. uh.... masochist, yeah that's it a masochist.

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Chapter 4- Training in Wave

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It was about half an hour after the fight with Zabuza, that we find our hero and his companions at a medium sized house. Tazuna was in the lead, with Naruto carrying Kakashi behind him, with the rest of the group following a few feet back. As the group reached the door, it opened to reveal a beautiful young woman with black hair and dark eyes.

Tazuna, smiling now, yelled out, "Tsunami, my beautiful daughter, I'm back!"

Embarrassed by her father's actions she said, "Father stop that, and who are our guests?"

"These are the super ninja that protected me on my way here. They will be staying with us. Tsunami-chan(I believe family in Japan usually calls the younger members of their family -chan and -kun. if I'm wrong, please inform me.), I need you to set up the two guest rooms for them. The boys will be in the room on the ground floor and put the girls on the second floor."

Naruto, deciding that he'd rather not spend time with a brooding Uchiha spoke up, "I'll stay on the roof if it's alright. I could... uh... keep watch... yeah that's it alright." as he finished he was smiling and scratching his head in a sheepish manner.

Tazuna just nodded, while Tsunami smiled and said, "Shinobi-san, why don't you stay in the room. It has to be more comfortable then the roof."

Naruto smiled and said, "Oh, I just like being outdoors. Add that to the fact that the rooms are going to be crowded and that there should be a guard then it makes sense for me to stay up there." then mumbling under his breath, "besides, at least I'll have some peace and quiet." Naruto was silent for a second before introducing himself and those in his group. Afterwards Tsunami lead them into the house and showed them around before they gathered in boy's room.

Kakashi, having just woken up, interrupted the conversations going on around him, "Hey, where am I?" he asked, puzzled before he remembered what had taken place. "Oh yeah, Zabuza. Hey guys." he greeted the others who acknowledged him with a nod.

Kurenai, being the senior ninja while Kakashi was incapacitated, told him briefly about what had transpired since his fight. When she was finished, Kakashi said, "Shit... I knew I forgot something."

Concerned, Sakura asked, "What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Turning to her, he replied, "Zabuza is still alive." The genin were shocked and tried to deny it, but Kurenai nodded and said,

"Yeah, now that I think about it senbon needles can put the user in a death like state, so it's not too hard to believe."

"That's what I just figured Kurenai. You all know what this means right? Zabuza will be back, and probably with more shinobi. This means it's time to train. Tomorrow everyone needs to get up at 0600 hours and meet up at the edge of the forest. We will go from there."

"But what if someone attacks while we're gone sensei?" Sakura inquired.

Kurenai stepped in and said, "That shouldn't be a problem. It's going to take at least a week to recover from those injuries Naruto-kun and Kakashi inflicted."

Satisfied with the way things went the group broke for dinner. While making there way to the table a small boy walked into the house and looked at the group. He then looked at his Tsunami, and then over at Tazuna and yelled, "Jiji!!" With that he hugged Tazuna, who said,

"Hi Inari, these are the super ninja who guarded me." After being introduced Inari got a scowl on his face and said to the group,

"Your all just going to die." With that he ran up the stairs before anyone could respond to what he said.

Naruto, his eye twitching, said, "What a brat." with that said the group proceeded to eat and head off to bed.

Tsunami was still trying to get Naruto to sleep in the house when Kakashi spoke up and stated, "Tsunami-san, Naruto will be fine. He has difficulty imposing on others, outside of ramen that is. Just let him be and he'll be fine."

Tsunami wasn't relieved, but nodded her head, and went to bed.

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The next morning finds our group of ninja in a clearing in the forest.

Kakashi nodded to himself and said, "OK, the first thing we're going to do is teach you how to climb trees."

Kurenai smirked as most of the group scoffed, while Sakura said, "But sensei, how does this help us? We already know how to climb trees."

Sasuke gave a 'Hn' in agreement, while Kiba yelled, "Yeah, what the hell? How is this gonna make us stronger."

Kakashi, joined by Kurenai, decided to show them instead of telling them, and proceeded to walk up the tree without their hands. Kakashi looked on lazily and answered the question with, "Because you will be learning to climb them with only your feet and chakra. This will increase your control, and your reserves if you do it long enough." Satisfied with explaining, he and Kurenai threw kunai at their respective genin's feet and told them to start.

Naruto decided to speak up and said, "Uh, Kakashi-sensei, I already mastered this."

Kakashi was surprised and asked Naruto to explain.

"Well it all started the second time I failed. I couldn't do the Bunshin no Jutsu so I went to talk to oji-san...."

Flashback:

Walking out of the academy Naruto sits on his swing while watching everyone get praised for becoming ninja. Getting tired of it he started to leave only to be stopped by Sasuke and his fangirls.

Sasuke decided to flaunt his 'superiority' and looked at Naruto and said, "Hey everyone, it looks like the dobe is being transferred to our class. Guess he's going to replace Kiba as the dobe."

Naruto just walked away while his new class started to talk about how he was a dobe. He decided that there must be something he could do to get better so he decided to ask Sarutobi.

As he entered the Hokage's office he called out, "Hey, oji-san."

Sarutobi was surprised, but used this as a break from paperwork. He looked at Naruto and frowned when there wasn't a hitae-te on his person. He then said, """Hello Naruto-kun, how can I help you?"

Naruto decided to get to the point and said, "Oji-san, I can't seem to do the Bunshin no Jutsu and the teachers aren't helping me. Do you have any ideas on how come it's so hard to learn the jutsu?"

The Sandaime was silent for a minute before asking Naruto to flare his chakra so he could see how much he had. Naruto agreed and soon his chakra surrounded him in a blue cocoon that expanded about three feet from his body. When he stopped the Sandaime said,

"Hmm.... just as I thought. Naruto you are incapable of learning this jutsu." Naruto frowned at this, and was about to say something when Sarutobi continued with, "So, how about I give you a better bunshin to learn and also, if you agree to learn this bunshin, I want you to learn another technique. It's not a jutsu, but it is helpful. It's called Tree Walking. I'll give you a scroll so you can learn it. It'll help with your control for now."

All Naruto could do was nod. Seeing that Naruto wasn't down anymore, Sarutobi smiled and got the two scrolls he needed. He told Naruto to memorize the Bunshin scroll before he left because he couldn't take it with him. When Naruto finished reading, he stepped back and did the single hand sign required and called, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

Immediately10 clones appeared and Naruto wasn't even showing signs of chakra depletion. The Sandaime decided not to mention it when Naruto asked,

""Oji-san, this jutsu allows the user to remember everything the clone experiences, right?" Sarutobi nodded, and Naruto continued with, ""So why don't you just use them to do your paperwork?""""With that said Naruto thanked the Kage and walked out the door to learn tree climbing.

Meanwhile back in the office Sarutobi was banging his head on his desk while screaming about how a 12-year-old could beat something a Kage couldn't.

Flashback Kai:

The group of shinobi sweat dropped at the end. Kakashi was the first to recover and said, "OK then, do you know water walking Naruto?" Seeing that Naruto shook his head Kakashi smirked and said, "OK, follow me."

As he led Naruto away, Sasuke and Sakura were fuming. Sasuke because Naruto knew something he didn't, and Sakura because Naruto showed up Sasuke. Kurenai deciding it was time to train sent the genin to their trees.

Over with Kakashi and Naruto we find them at the dock behind Tazuna's house. Noting they had arrived Kakashi put away his book and said, "Okay Naruto, what you have to do with this exercise is basically what you did with tree walking except that you need to keep regulating your chakra. The reason for this is that while the tree is solid, water is not, which makes it much harder to walk on as you have to sometimes lessen the flow or add to it. Understand?"

Naruto was quietly processing what he was told for a second before nodding. Kakashi smiled and told him to begin before pulling out his book and walking away.

Naruto decided to speed up the process so with a cry of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu) he summoned 100 clones and sent them to walk on the water. At first all the clones fell into the water, but after a little while they started to get the hang of it and started jumping around. Seeing that they had accomplished gaining the ability he called for them over and said,

"OK guys, we got this down, now let's improve this by pairing up and fighting on top of the water. No weapons or jutsu. Straight up taijutsu is all you are allowed to use. While you do that, I'll create some Chishio Bunshin and we'll do the physical aspect of our training." His response was an army of 'Hai'. The clones then went back to the water as Naruto pulled out 10 viles of blood and did the blood seal before throwing said viles. Moments later 10 blood clones were standing and waiting for their orders.

"OK, one of you will do sit-ups until we finish and another will do the same with push-ups. Another will run laps around the village while walking on the water that surrounds the island until I say stop. Two will first do the Kenjutsu kata's, and then will finish by sparring in Kenjutsu. Another pair will do the same except with Taijutsu. Two more will build up our resilience. One will kick a tree with both legs repeatedly, and the other will do the same put by punching the tree. The last clone will have an all out spar with me to see what level I'm at." With that all the clones and Naruto got to work. A few hours later Kakashi came across the sight of Naruto's training and told him to call it a day. Over the next 10 minute Naruto had all the Bunshin either disperse, or he absorbed them. When he was done he summed up how he felt with 4 words,

"I feel like shit." before he collapsed. Kakashi just smiled and picked him up and brought him to Tazuna's house where he laid Naruto on a couch. As he finished his duty as a sensei he sat down in a chair and started to read his book in peace. Unfortunately said peace wouldn't last as Kurenai and the other genin decided to show up at that moment. Upon seeing Naruto out like a light on the couch, Sasuke smirked and said,

"I guess the dobe just can't handle training, huh? Pretty weak if he knocks himself out with a chakra exercise."

Sakura, wanting to impress Sasuke(or be a bitch, I'm not to sure...) squealed, "Yeah, what a baka. I knew he couldn't compete with Sasuke-kun."

Team 8, while having similar thought, though much kinder, were shocked at just how much Team 7 hated each other. Kiba was mumbling about disloyal pack members, Shino was buzzing, Hinata was fuming that her friend(remember she doesn't like him more then a friend, and if she does it will be more sibling like), and Kurenai was fuming at the pure disrespect of Sasuke and Sakura towards Naruto.

Their thoughts were interrupted however when Kakashi said in a lazy voice, "No. Naruto has a special way he trains. He does a combination of Kage and Chishio bunshin training. It increases the effectiveness of his training, but the drawback is what you see now, though in all honesty the same training won't work with any other person utilizing it."

Sakura, dumb as always, said, "Why is that sensei? Surely Sasuke-kun could do the same training with twice the results as the baka."

Sighing, her answer from Kakashi was, "A few reasons really. One is that it's a clan technique from Naruto's mother(Naruto told Kakashi while he was absorbing the blood clones), but that's only the blood clones. Two, kage bunshin requires reserves only Naruto has to master and use to train efficiently in, and chishio bunshin are ten times as costly as kage bunshin. Three, and most importantly is to be able to utilize the technique like Naruto does, you'd need his healing factor. And Sasuke, don't attempt to force Naruto to teach you these jutsu. If you do you'll kill yourself even attempting them."

With that said Sasuke went to brood while Sakura fawned over the faggish(note: I have no problems with homosexuals. Whatever you do behind closed doors is up to you. I just really hate Sasuke sometimes) emo. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata sat down and discussed their training. Kakashi read his book, while Kurenai decided to read her own book.

A few hours later after Naruto had woken up and everyone had eaten, Naruto asked Kurenai if she had the time to talk with him. So we find them up on the roof of Tazuna's place sitting side by side without a word. Naruto was, however, in a dilemma. He wanted to find out exactly why Kurenai was so easy to accept him, why she was okay with the idea of him having a harem and of course why she could care for him. He decided the best way to do it was straight forward like always, so he said calmly,

"Kurenai-chan, I've been wondering."

A bit nervous, she replied, "About what?"

"Why are you so accepting of me? Why do you care about me?"

Kurenai sighed and said, "It's actually from awhile back. I used to be indifferent and uncaring when it came to you. You see, my entire family were shinobi at the time that Kyuubi attacked. And I was the only non-shinobi at the time so I was sent to the shelter(Kurenai is 18 in my story, Anko is 22, and Hana is 16). My entire family was killed that night, and I was angry at you for it. But that changed one night."

Flashback 6 years ago:

It was night and Kurenai was celebrating the fact that she had just become a chunin. She had gotten drunk, and was now stumbling towards her house. As she was attempting to walk past an alley a shadow erupted from it and pulled her in. This immediately sobered up her mind as she began to struggle. The shadow punched her in the stomach, winding her, and allowing for the time to get control over her. As Kurenai looked up she gasped at what she saw. It was Hyuuga Shin. The man she had defeated in the first match of the final round of the Chunin Exams. Shin was a Main branch clan member, and had been owned by Kurenai during their match.

Shin sneered at her and snarled, "You may have beaten me in the exam, but now I'm going to show you the only thing women are good for. Being whores!" With that said, he proceeded to tear of her clothes while ignoring her cries for him to stop and her pleas for someone to help her. When he was satisfied with her state of undress, he un-zipped his pants and placed his member at her slit and said, "That's right bitch, scream and cry for help, cause no one is going to come." He reared back and was about to penetrate her when something hit him, hard.

When Shin had regained his bearings he noticed something. He had a piece of metal sticking out of his stomach area. He had his Byakugan activated and he saw that it was a fatal wound. He was already starting to get dizzy from blood loss and without further ado he collapsed. The person who had stabbed him was none other then Naruto. He had his hands on his knees and was hunched over dry heaving.

He had heard Kurenai's screams for help because he had just escaped a mob out for his blood and was on his way home. He had run straight for where the scream had come from and what he saw made his blood run cold. Just that day in the academy the teachers had gone over the risks of being a shinobi or kunoichi in detail. When he had learned what rape was, he was outraged. Now he was seeing it being attempted, so he decided to end the person. He pulled out one of his new kunai the the Sandaime had bought him and launched at the arrogant Hyuuga, slamming his body into the elder male's and stabbing him in the stomach. Naruto had realized that he had just killed someone, and was now shaking, and was in tears. He wasn't sad over killing the man as he had stopped the unknown woman's rape, but he had just killed a person.

Kurenai, having already made her first kill, snapped out of what had just happened and moved over to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him. She proceeded to rock him back and forth while he cried, and continued until he fell asleep. That night, after dropping Naruto off at his apartment, Kurenai came to the conclusion that Naruto wasn't a demon. That a demon wouldn't have saved someone from rape, that a demon wouldn't protect someone, and a demon definitely wouldn't feel bad for killing someone, let alone cry. Kurenai hadn't realized it yet, but she had started developing feelings for her savior right then and there.

Flashback KAI:

Kurenai was in tears at the end of her story and Naruto was shocked. He did remember that, but he had thought it was a dream. The next morning he had woken up un his bed and just shrugged it off. Naruto snapped out of his shock and pulled Kurenai into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. He then proceeded to rub her back and whisper comforting words to her. After she had calmed down a bit, Naruto had tilted her head up to look him in the eyes(he had taken off his sunglasses). He tilted his head to the side and kissed her lightly on the lips. Kurenai reacted quickly and deepened the kiss.

When they broke for air Kurenai buried her head in Naruto's chest, while he rested his chin on her head. After a few minutes of silence he said, "Kurenai-chan, I want you to know two things. I will always protect you, and I love you."

Kurenai blushed and said, "I love you too Naru-kun."

After a while they had shifted positions to where Kurenai was sitting between Naruto's legs with her back against his chest and his arms around her waist. It wasn't too long after when Kurenai, and then Naruto fell asleep. When Naruto had finally went to sleep, a shadow moved to reveal a smiling Kakashi. All he did was nod his head once in acceptance of the woman his sensei's son had chosen and went inside to sleep himself.

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Done. Sorry for the wait, but exams, portfolios, essays, you know. I might not work on this for the next week or two for a few reasons.

1) I want the poll to get more votes and I want more reviews for this story.

2) I decided to put the two stories I had you voting for on the back burner since no one else voted and it ended in a tie.

3) I'm coming up with a new idea, and I might tell you, I might not.

4) I got some particularly nasty flames the other day, but I promised this chapter to some people.

5) I found out that a family member just died. While he and I weren't very close, he still was family.

Now onto other business. I hope you like the NaruKure moment. Sorry if the scene was too cliche, but it is the best type of scene to use. Don't question how Naruto got out of killing a Hyuuga. Shin tried to rape Kurenai, that puts the Hyuuga clan in a bad light. This incident would also explain why Kurenai watched over Hinata, since Hiashi would more then likely try to prove to her that no one else in the Hyuuga would try that on her.

Also, I repeat. I WILL NOT rewrite a chapter EVER! DON'T ask. Suggestions are welcome. If you have questions put them in your reviews, I'll message you about it. If you want to keep your question private, message me with it. I'll answer all questions.

Anons, this is for you. Quite a few of you like my work, but some of you are attempting to ruin it for others. Truth is that I have actually gotten about 96 or 97 reviews at the point this was updated. I deleted those reviews because they were flames. All flames will be ignored and deleted. Think of it as them being eaten by me because the writers of said flames are pathetic worthless trash who are not fit to lick dog shit off my boots. To the anons who ask good questions or offer advice on how to improve, or just give a proper review(saying what you didn't like in proper words), thank you. You guys are the reasons I don't make it so only members can review. Flames, in my opinion will be described below

1) Insults and/or hurtful words designed or written for the intents and purposes of making others feel like shit.

2) Disrespectful/racial comments.

3) criticism without offering ways to improve.

Thank you for reading. Please review and tell others about my story if you like it.

Have a nice day,

Arthur