Description: After a teammate labels him as the liability on team 7, Naruto goes off on his own and trains for a while before the chunin exams start. Will he become better and accomplish his life long goal of Hokage? Pairings in the future, but not in first part before time skip.

A/N: This is my first fic so please take it easy on me, I appreciate constructive criticism and it always helps me attain a higher level of writing.

Kyubi: Hi

Naruto Characters: Hi

Thoughts: 'I am thinking of something'


After the carnage displayed the unfinished bridge, which included Haku and Zabuza's dead bodies lying next to each other. Kakashi and team 7 decided to head back to Inari and Tsunami's house. All was quiet with the members of team 7, and all of them reflecting on the day's events. Sasuke thinking about how to get stronger than others so he would not get knocked out by enemy nin. Haku had laid quite a beating on Sasuke, even with Sasuke using his sharigan, which was another thought he was pondering. In another room, Sakura was replaying the events of the day and how useless she was. Replaying the events she discovered that she wasn't the only useless one during the fight. Outside of the house though was Naruto who was meditating. Naruto had never taken meditation so seriously before. Naruto was trying to contact the Kyubi and talk to it. All the sudden a noise was heard as a person was exiting the house. Naruto peeked his eyes open to see who it was and he saw pink hair approaching him. He thought he could go back into a meditative mode and that Sakura was going to go by him on a walk into town or towards the bridge but after 30 seconds more, he noticed that she was standing over him and glaring down at him.

"Hello Sakura, you seem mad for some reason". Naruto stated, he was wondering why Sakura seemed so mad.

Sakura didn't say a word for a while; a long awkward silence was present before Sakura finally made up her mind as she found the words that she wanted to say.

"Naruto...." Sakura said in a condescending tone, "Why didn't you help Sasuke during your fight against Haku?" Sakura seemed to be getting angrier by the second just thinking over the sequence of the fight today.

"Sakura, why are you saying that I didn't help during the fight?" Naruto tried to get a read off her face but she had a blank expression on her face. "Surely you saw that when Haku's ice chamber broke that I had chakra flowing around me". Naruto was beginning to get angry thinking about Haku and how his death

occured.

"Naruto, you always have and always will be useless". Naruto had a look of surprise on his face as Sakura stated this. "You are Konoha's number one hyper-active knuckleheaded ninja and always be that way. Nobody will ever take you seriously because you never take anything seriously". Naruto began to shake and anger was rising within him. "You don't belong on this squad, Sasuke or I don't want you here. Kakashi-sensei is the only reason you are still on this team and

I refuse to work with you anymore. You have been an annoyance from day one and I don't want you on my squad anymore and neither does Sasuke". Sakura began to walk away and Naruto had his jaw nearly on the ground due to the way that Sakura just told him off.

"Sakura...wait, why are you doing this to me?" Naruto was beginning to get desperate. Sakura is somebody who he liked, not only as a crush but as a friend as well.

"Naruto, you just have got on my nerves, you did nothing against Haku today, and you attacked Haku after Sasuke had already worn him out. Haku was an easy target and you could trap him with the shadow clone jutsu. I just don't want you on my squad anymore; you are annoying and will always be that way in my book. I will NEVER and I repeat NEVER be your friend." Sakura took a few steps towards the house before she turned around towards Naruto.

"Naruto, you will always be the dead-last. You will never grow up and out of this childish shell that you are in. Your ninja skills will always be on a genin level and you will see as people like Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, myself and the other 4 grow out of our genin level and become chunin and then jonin. You will have to watch us rise to the top while you stay at the bottom with your pranks and childish games."

Sakura stormed off and closed the door to go back into the house. Naruto just sat, his thoughts became dormant all the sudden. Nothing was going through his head as he was just in shock after what he saw and heard. He sat in the same position for another minute before he began to regain his thoughts and senses. Naruto felt betrayed, this wasn't the first time in Naruto's life that he felt betrayed. He had been betrayed before by the village, for he was the vessel for the Nine Tailed Fox aka the Kyubi. The Kyubi had attacked Konohagakure 12 years ago and it took the life of the Forth Hokage to seal it away in a newborn baby. That newborn baby just happened to be Naruto.

"Hey kid, are you going to sit there all day or are you finally going to talk to me"

Naruto's eyes shot wide open in surprise as he recognized the voice. He had just heard the voice for the first time today but it was a voice that he would remember for the rest of his life and never forget it. Naruto slipped back into his meditative state and came face to face with the Kyubi.

"So Kyubi, you finally decided to come out of your cage and talk"

Naruto saw the Kyubi but it was the face only. A shadow could be seen behind him and Naruto quickly assumed that it was the body of the Kyubi. The Kyubi hadlarge red eyes with a shade of brighter red around the eyes. Naruto's eyes wandered down the face of the Kyubi to the teeth, the teeth were very large and hada canine shape to them. Two large fangs were very prominent though, both teeth were at the location where one's jaw would start curving to the side at a larger angle.

"Yes Naruto, I have decided to come out and talk to you for a while. I know of your newfound aspirations to begin training seriously and I have now decided to come out and help you." Naruto observed the Kyubi but Kyubi could tell Naruto had something was on his mind. "So Gaki, what is on your mind?"

Naruto looked up in surprise that the Kyubi would notice such a minute detail with Naruto.

"Kyubi, why did you choose to come out at that moment, I had been trying to call upon you for the last 20 minutes yet you did not appear and I wasn't able to come within to be able to talk to you."

Kyubi smirked; well if the thing could smirk, that action with its facial expression would be labeled as a smirk.

"So Gaki, you do possess intelligence and observation skills..very well, I'll tell you exactly why I came out at that very moment". Naruto looked at the Kyubi expectantly and waited for the answer.

"I feed off your anger Naruto, when you get angry is when you lose your emotions and become unstable. The seal on you becomes weaker and my chakra is able to leak out and I'm able to feed you power. Thus, you become more like me. You're fighting style and emotions become like mine". One day, if you survive that long, you should be able to absorb all my chakra and control it as your will. My main reason for appearing to you and telling you all of this is simple..as long as you or one of your offspring survive then I can still live. For now, your fate is mine as well. So me guiding you along and encouraging you to take this new training to heart and this will help me..."

"..Survive" Naruto stated quickly, Kyubi was in shock that Naruto would cut him off. "I understand Kyubi, you want to survive longer and you are going to survive through me".

"Naruto, I'm going to warn you of something though, that Uchiha boy is danger. His chakra tells of anger and revenge, although you have some sort of bonding with this team, you should consider going out on your own and start training on your own.". "Also, since you are turning a new leaf I'm going to lend you some of my abilities such as a keen sense of sensing chakra. Meaning you are going to be able to tell and track people easier. You are also going to get a stronger sense of smell, although this doesn't sound like a big advantage, it's going to help you in battle."

"Thanks Kyubi, I'll be talking to you again sometime soon. I'm going to consider what you said about training on my own."

With that, Naruto opened his eyes again and snapped out of his meditative state. His feeling of anger returned after remembering what Sakura just said to him about the fight that he had against Haku today.

"Remember kid, I can also communicate with you like this, this personally is easier for me but just make sure that you don't say things out loud. You want to stay as normal to the kids your age, they don't know about me like their parents do."

Naruto took this comment and let it soak in before getting up and heading back into the house. Naruto opened the door slowly and made sure it didn't make too much noise. He waived to Tsunami quickly before heading off to find a certain somebody. He quickly checked the house and found the person that he was looking for. The person he was looking for was talking to Inari. Inari had a look of surprise on his face as he opened his mouth and started to speak.

"Really that happened, he really did do that?" asked Inari with a look of shock and trying to picture a mental image of the event occurring.

Naruto smiled when he saw Inari look so happy. Naruto thought about his past and compared it to Inari's past. He remembered Inari when he first met him. Inari basically was still grieving the death of a male-figure in his life. To Naruto, this was a foreign feeling. Naruto never had a father figure and still to this day doesn't know who his father is. Naruto though, could understand the pain and suffering of being picked on as the boy told the story of how he was rescued after being pushed off a small dock and not being able to swim. Having peers reject you and make fun of you like you are nothing and never be anything. Actually, Naruto had just experienced this feeling. Naruto became so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't see his target turn toward Naruto and usher him to come sit down.

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei and Inari, it's nice to see the both of you together and having a good time." Naruto gave both of them a genuine smile before choosing to speak again. "Inari, I heard Tsunami wanted you to do something for her. She told me that it would only take about 5 minutes."

Inari began to grumble about having to go help his mother while Kakashi was telling exciting stories. Naruto could tell that Kakashi was entertaining him and had Inari completely enthralled with whatever story he was telling.

"Inari, when you come back. I'll also be here and Kakashi-sensei will continue to tell his exciting stories". Naruto gave Inari another geniune as Inari quickly left the room to take the least possible time so he could be back in time for Kakashi to continue his story.

"Kakashi-sensei, there is something that I need to talk to you about" Naruto looked directly into his one eye. Kakashi noted that Naruto looked serious and quickly asked Naruto what Naruto wanted to talk about.

"Naruto, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" "Is it something about what happened today?" Kakashi inquired.

"Actually Kakashi, it is something that happened today but it isn't what you think it is." Kakashi's one visible eybrow raised in the air as if wondering what Naruto could possibly be talking about.

"Today Sakura came up to me and told me that I was completely useless during today's mission" Naruto spat out.

"What!!??" Kakashi said in a surprised tone of voice. Kakashi looked down for a minute and then spoke. "Don't tell her this but she was actually the useless member of the team today, all she did was protect Tazuna and she almost failed at that job. When Zabuza launched himself towards her, she completely froze up like you did with those 2 chunin when we left for the village hidden in the mist."

Naruto laughed at that memory, even though it was a very recent memory. Naruto vowed to himself that he would never do that again in battle. Even in battles in which the opponent was stronger.

"Kakashi-sensei..." Kakashi looked up as Naruto said his name as almost if he were depressed. This was not the ninja that Kakashi knew. This ninja was depressed and had scars on the inside. Not the hyper-active ninja that didn't have a care in the world.

"She said that she and Sasuke did not want me on this squad anymore and that you were the only reason I was on this squad. She just completely put me down and labeled me as the person that will always be taken as a joke because I didn't take things seriously and always be the dead last out of all the ninja in Konoha".

"I don't understand why she would just lash out against you like that unless she really felt that you did nothing, which in reality we know you did and used strategy to beat Haku before Haku sacrificed himself against my lightning blade." Kakashi stated, while flicking his eye side to side trying to remember details about the fight.

"Anyway, I'm over it but I want to train alone for a while". Kakashi looked again in surprise as his one eye widened. "My gut instinct told me that I should train on my own for a while. I just have a feeling that if I am able to train alone for a while then I will be able to be a better shinobi than I am right now."

"I see" mumbled Kakashi. "No offense Naruto, but if Sakura is going to be like this then you should take some time off from our missions and just go out to a training ground and try to perfect your ninjutsu and taijutsu. You have shadow clones so that should help you quite a bit though. You haven't scratched the surface of what the clones are really meant to do though Naruto."

This time it was Naruto who looked up in surprise as Kakashi was about to tell him something about the shadow clones that he didn't know.

"The shadow clones are more for information gathering than an actual offense or defensive, although it is good for diversions, offensive attacks and defensive maneuvers. The shadow clones are for information gathering due to the person who used the clones taking all the information in that was gathered from the clones. Although Naruto, I say use this wisely because if you get too many clones you can have an information overload with your brain and you could lose all the information that you gathered and then lose some more due to the brain needing time to heal. I would recommend that you go to the library and read up on how to do jutsu's on different elements and how to improve your ninjutsu skills and taijutsu skills. Chakra control is important but the tree climbing exercise on larger trees should help with that slowly, or maybe even climbing mountains without using your hands will help. Just be careful on that though."

Kakashi was observing Naruto as he was talking about how to improve his skills and noticed that Naruto really was listening to what he was saying and taking it all in. 'I can really tell he has changed, I would like to have him in this team for a while longer but it's crucial that he gets this alone time away from distractions'. An image of Sakura came to mind and Kakashi frowned.

"I will talk to the Hokage about you taking some time off and the situation. I'm sure he will understand and will let you go train instead of being on a bunch of D-ranked missions with us. To tell you the truth, D-ranked and C-Ranked missions can be accomplished by me alone; this will improve Sasuke's and Sakura's teamwork with each other." Kakashi sighed and then said "Either that or it will be an amusing site for me to see Sakura attempt to flirt with Sasuke and get turned down. She really doesn't realize that he is not interested in her."

Naruto bowed to his sensei and then said "Thank you Kakashi-sensei, you have helped me with my problem. In a short period of time I'm really starting to trust you much more than I did during our first mission. Now if you could excuse me, I have used a lot of chakra and need to go to sleep early." Naruto turned to go back into his bed when Kakashi appeared beside him.

"Naruto if you ever need help or need somebody to talk to then just come and find me, I'm your sensei so I will try to answer all your questions to the best of my abilities."

Naruto turned and looked at Kakashi but then smiled.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei." "You can be assured that I am going to be the best, Believe It!"

Kakashi chuckled as Naruto used his most commonly used expression. It showed that Naruto still had his old fun-loving side but it was apparent it was going to be hidden during this time of transformation into a more serious ninja.

"Now go off to bed Naruto before you fall asleep walking towards your room". Naruto laughed at this comment and then headed down the hallway towards his bedroom. Just as Naruto left, Inari came back in and began to talk to Kakashi again. He was asking about his eye and what was hidden behind that mask. Kakashi sighed and thought to himself

'Guess that means I won't get to finish those last 4 chapters of Icha Icha tonight, I was really wondering how the main character was going to get the information out of the woman spy from the opposing village'.


(Time Skip to the next morning)

As team Kakashi walked across "The Great Naruto Bridge", Naruto turned around to see the creation and the sign exclaiming the name of the bridge. Sakura snorted

as Inner Sakura said 'If the bridge is anything like the ninja then I give it 4 years top before it collapses, wait make that 3 years'. Sakura had a smile on her face after hearing Inner Sakura say that. She looked over at Sasuke who was staring at the ground as she wondered what he was thinking about. Sakura then noticed that it was quiet among the 4 ninjas. This was a rarity, especially since Naruto was on the team; the only sound was Kakashi's laughing when he read something funny out of 'Icha Icha'.

While walking away from the "Great Naruto Bridge", Naruto said that bridge will stand for a long time and provide a relief to the villagers. Naruto thought, that's much like my future. Once I get back and start training on my own then I'm going to be a great ninja and provide the village with the resources necessary for all the citizens to live a happy life. The bridge was just another motivator to Naruto. He had a lot to prove, especially to the whole village of Konoha and he was going to need a lot of training to get to level he wanted to be at. Of course, the shadow clones are going to speed this process up by three to four times, maybe even five. Naruto began to daydream about one day being Hokage, having a lovely wife and protecting the village he loved and the people he loved. Naruto was willing to do anything to make this dream a reality. He knew though, it all started with going back to Konoha and becoming the top genin, which was going to be a hard task by itself.


A/N: So what did you guys think of it?? Please review so I can get some other ways of writing better and improving the story. It's a win-win situation for you guys because you get better writing and I improve my writing style.