A/N: Okay, so up to Naruto realizing shit went down because of him speaking out last chapter was how much I had written before I decided to cut this into a third chapter instead of a crazy-long second. I know some people will be annoyed I did that instead of keeping it together for more headway into canon in a single chapter, but it's my choice; I want to have a vaguely uniform amount of words per chapter.

By the way, forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but the Byakugan seeing elemental affinities is canon as of the Shippuden movie. So there's that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"Human speech

'Human thought'

"Jutsu/Demon speech"

'Demon thought'

Let's begin

It had only been two hours since Iruka announced the graduates for the Academy, and he had come to tell the Sandaime the news.

He wasn't exactly happy.

"...I'm afraid I didn't hear you, Iruka-kun... could you repeat that?" The Sandaime asked of the Chuunin instructor with great patience and a stern face.

Iruka gulped in slight fear of his commanding officer, but relayed the results of the Graduation Exam nonetheless. "O-only seven children graduated, Sandaime-sama. Th-the rest weren't ready." He repeated with hesitance.

"And what do you mean... they weren't ready? How did you come to this conclusion?" Hiruzen asked slowly.

Here, Iruka sighed. "Naruto opened my eyes, Hokage-sama. After he aced the bukijutsu section..." He made an effort to point that out, to Sarutobi's joy. "...the students accused him of cheating because he beat Uchiha Sasuke. That appeared to be the breaking point for him, and he snapped." Here, Hiruzen grew worried; it was never good for a jinchuriki to snap, especially one he considered a grandson. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. "Instead of explaining it, I managed to acquire the video from one of our outside security camera's; it captured his speech." He retrieved a cassette from his pocket and gave it to the Sandaime.

The Hokage took it and inserted it into the player in his desk, a projector descending from the ceiling and playing what the camera captured, Hiruzen watching with rapt attention when it concerned his grandson-figure. He watched Naruto explain the moral grey area that was the shinobi way, that their misconceptions about right and wrong should be left with the samurai, that they would be expected to do horrible things for their village. Then he mentioned this was the true depths of his skill, that titles like dobe and Rookie of the Year were meaningless in the real world; his examples brought a smile to his face, before it fell to a pained frown. Then things turned a bit darker when Naruto gave them an ultimatum: shape up, or die out in the field, forgotten, and in the cases of the kunoichi, a fate worse than death. Then he called Iruka out on the fact this speech should be handled by him, by all teachers, and that the curriculum was a mess, changed from his sensei's harsh training to a more laidback regimen for these peace times. Naruto quoted Tobirama-sensei, and Hiruzen unfortunately saw merit in his words. These peace times wouldn't last, and the shinobi of the next generation should be prepared. The disturbing amount of what were most definitely fangirls - the scourge of his career when he was announced as student to both Hokage and heir to the Sarutobi clan - didn't lift Naruto's mood, either. Then Iruka jumped in, explaining the things they would be asked to do, and making the observation - which Hiruzen could now see was accurate, it was plain to see on many of their faces - that a lot of them weren't ready.

Then things became wonderful.

Naruto, once asked, said he did it for their good, that he wanted them to succeed, to become something great, each one of them. That they could be amazing, if they really tried.

When the video finished, Hiruzen took a moment to collect his thoughts, a content smile on his face. 'Oh Naruto-kun... you truly represent the Will of Fire.' He made a decision. "Iruka-kun, while he pains me to say this, your observation was valid, and I'll accept these results. We'll have to completely rework teams, though, so I may need your help with that." He said, receiving a nod. "And I'll talk with the Academy Head about changing the curriculum." He assured.

"Uh, won't you have to talk it over with the Council, Hokage-sama? You did for changing it in the first place." Iruka asked, confused.

His answered was a fist slamming in a desk, causing him to jump. "To hell with the Council! They'd see it the curriculum never change! And we both know they wouldn't budge if I mentioned Naruto-kun by name." It was a sad truth. "Plus, if I actually went through the trouble of putting it to a vote, they'd badger on about it being unnecessary. The civilian half know nothing of shinobi troubles, so they would see it as pointless, and my own teammates have grown complacent... and sadly so have I. I am Hokage, and this is a dictatorship first and foremost; they are advisors, and I take their words as a luxury, not a necessity." The Kami no Shinobi was back, and he was on the rampage!

And Iruka couldn't be happier.

"Oh wait! Hokage-sama, there are some interesting things that happened with Naruto, as well." Iruka mentioned before he forgot.

"Hmm? And what would that be?" Hiruzen asked.

"You know Naruto has always hated tests, as that was his weakest subject? Well... he finished it much earlier than usual. And he was one of the top scores." That raised a brow on the Sandaime's aged face. "And I already mentioned his perfect score on the bukijutsu; he didn't show any improvement over the last week. And the ninjutsu section... Hokage-sama, he performed all three seallessly... and without saying them." Iruka dropped the bomb.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed in thought; only masters of the technique can invoke a jutsu without seals, and he had personally never encountered someone who could invoke a technique without saying it. Though, now that he thought about it... saying the technique's name was technically pointless. It didn't finalize the chakra molding or anything like that, and it didn't continue it like seals, so it really wasn't needed. It was more of a luxury.

"Perhaps this is his true strength he mentioned, Iruka-kun. He could have trained his control in secret until he mastered them to that level. And not saying the technique isn't that big a deal; it doesn't really affect the technique like seals. It's more like reflex, if you want to think about it like that. We do it simply because that's how it's always been. He could have been hiding all this because, let's face it, if the villages caught wind of the 'demon child' showing high proficiency in the shinobi arts, they'd do everything in their power to interfere with that. " Hiruzen reasoned, as sad as it was, assuaging the Chuunin in a sort of morbid way; he felt this surprise would only be the first in a long line of them under the title 'Uzumaki Naruto.' "Now, let's work on those team assignments." He said, receiving an appreciatory nod.

(With Naruto and Hinata)

Once Naruto got Hinata to wake up and give him an answer, they finally made their way to Amaguriama, of all places. It was Hinata's go-to place whenever she went out for a snack; she explained it as 'her Ichiraku's.' That got a chuckle out of Naruto. Apparently she was obsessed with this place.

Once they got something to eat - Naruto red bean soup, Hinata cinnamon buns - he attempted to strike up a conversation with her, and made the mistake of looking at her as she ate her precious sweets.

He never thought it would hurt to see something adorable. But now he did. He felt his heart clench something fierce when he spied her chewing on a bun like a little hamster.

He immediately seared the image to his brain using the Sharingan portion of his Hakumeigan and its visual copying ability.

"S-so, Hinata-chan, who do you think you'll be paired up with?" It was much easier to talk to her while not looking at her.

Hinata made some sort of inquisitive noise and looked at him while still eating, and he tried desperately to not make eye-contact. It was nearly criminal how adorable she was right now.

She stopped eating to give her thoughts. "Uh... well, usually Hyuuga are filed into teams specializing in either tracking or front-line assault, depending on the individual. Given myself, I believe I'll be put into a tracking team, and thus my teammates will be along the same vein. So that would put me with Kiba and Shino-san." She answered, with slight sadness since that meant she wouldn't be with Naruto-kun. The blonde was surprised at the lack of stuttering on her part, but it was for the better. "What about you, Naruto-kun?" She asked.

Finally registering the question, Naruto's face screwed up in concentration, causing Hinata to subtly giggle at it; she found it cute. "Well... despite my scores on the Exam, I'm still dead last, so that would put me with the Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year, which would be Sasuke and... technically, Sakura, but since she didn't graduate, that leaves that spot open. I guess they'd go for the 'runner up' of her position, and that's you, Hinata-chan." He explained, finally looking at her when he deemed it safe for his heart.

Hinata was incredibly elated when she noticed the lack of an affectionate honorific when he mentioned Sakura, and the thought that she might actually be on a team with him because of the whole debacle he raised. While Hinata was never one to say anything bad about anyone, she didn't particularly care for the rosette, since she repeatedly denied Naruto-kun's affections, violently. Granted, his answer did raise up the point of fixing teams since there were only seven graduates. That left one odd man out. It also meant this generation's Ino-Shika-Cho team wouldn't come to fruition; she pitied Iruka-sensei, since he would have to explain it to Inoichi-san why his 'princess' didn't graduate this year. Hopefully Ino got her personality from her mother, and that Inoichi was more level-headed.

With that, the new graduates ate in a comfortable silence, light smiles on their faces until they finished, Narut paying for both of them and the children going their separate ways, Hinata to her clan compound to tell her father of the news, and Naruto to... nowhere, really. All the other kids went home for the reason Hinata was now, he didn't really know anyone outside of the Academy, and almost the entire village despised him, so... training? Guess so.

(Thirty minutes later)

Taking what amounted to a jaunty pace to get him, Naruto immediately went to his backyard, created a fission clone to start on the physical exercises. He also created a normal solid clone to have it get him familiarized with his various jutsu.

With the multiple sessions and breaks, Naruto would stop at 10:00 tonight, otherwise he'd roll over into the morning after. But even with that, he'd still get 18 hours of training in nine and a half! This fission technique was nearly as broken as the Rinnegan, but like the doujutsu, he didn't care; so it was with a wide grin that the Naruto 'twins' set about their physical training.

While they did that, the Kage Bunshin Naruto set about getting used to the various jutsu the original knew. While only a quarter of the originals strength and chakra capacity, that was still more than most Jounin, so it should be fine with feeling out these jutus, especially with the perfect control he had.

With that, the clone started on Fire Release techniques, as this was Hi no Kuni. With that decision, the clones mind exploded with an encyclopedic knowledge of all the fire techniques, he just needed to pick and choose.

Over the course of the first session of two hours, fifteen minutes, the clone fired off fire technique after fire technique, finding that most of them centered around normal fireballs of various sizes, or dragons, with a few notable exceptions such as blades, ash of all things, or just giant walls of flaming death. Thankfully, the clone launched them all skyward so as not to impede the two Narutos' progress or set fire to the field.

Not even feeling a drain on its reserves, the clone moved right into Wind Release as they took their first break. Fuuton techniques mostly centered around blades, bullets, walls of crushing force, balls of, technically, the lack of wind, and the occasional small-scale natural disaster. There was even a dragon one; the clone began to detect a pattern...

Anyway, well into the second session for the physical-training clones - well, technically they're both the real Naruto; fission techniques are confusing - the clone moved on to lightning. Almost immediately, the clone happened upon Baa-chan's Ranshinshou, a technique it would require one of the clones, or some other live guinea pig, to test on, the clone was forced to move on. The clone happened upon Sasuke-teme's prized technique he skewered the original with, twice: the Chidori! Ohoho, happy days!

After manifesting the technique, the clone moved on to shape manipulation variants, such as blades, senbon, chakra flow through a spare kunai, currents along the ground, you name it! Then of course came Kakashi-sensei's stronger version, Raikiri, and it's, albeit smaller, variants.

Aren't these techniques technically foreknowledge of some kind? They'd be jutsu Sasuke would use, and the clone felt he would in less than friendly circumstances. Apparently not, since Kashin-chan wasn't saying anything.

"Anything."

Oh you're cute...

Anyway, the clone moved on to techniques it knew - from reading on his books from school - belonged to the current and previous Raikage... both named A. Was that some form of tradition? It's weird. Anyway, the Rariatto and Jigokuzuki variants proved deadly; those trees never saw it coming... And the Raiton Chakura Modo was insane with the speed it afforded the clone; thankfully it also enhanced its reflexes so it didn't slam into any, dispelling itself and possibly interfering with the physically-working clones. Then came the spears, blades, normal bolts, hey a clone technique, dragon, and even defensive walls and domes.

Finding the other two were already midway through the third session, the clone decided to pick up the pace with Earth Release.

Boulders, more than one variant of dragon, the Tsuchikage's floating technique, various armors, spikes, walls, uses of mud, projectiles, a couple golems, some supplementary subterranean techniques, a couple weapons, a clone technique, and oh my Kami, a wac-a-mole technique... Today was a good day.

Moving on to Water Release, the clone happened upon stuff he remembered Zabuza from Nami using; neat. More dragons, whirlpools, tidal waves, sharks - like that fish guy with Itachi in Tanzaku Gai? - even some medical water techniques, as well as bullets and bubbles.

By the time the clone finished with the last water technique, it just noticed the sun was well and gone, the moon high in the sky, and the original Naruto and his clone heading inside. Dispelling itself - since it technically didn't learn anything new, it was more like re-learning - and giving the original a feel for the five elements, the two Naruto's headed inside and went through the same motions as last night, knocking the boy right out when they fused back together.

(The next morning, Shinobi Academy)

Having gone through his morning ritual and breakfast with no real excitement, Naruto left a clone to continue last night's work of familiarizing himself with the sub-elements, now, and personally met up with Hinata outside the Academy and they walked inside together, sitting at the same seats as yesterday, never breaking stride with their conversation. Naruto mentally noted how empty the room felt with only seven people in it.

Not talking about anything of particular import, Naruto and Hinata were interrupted when Iruka came in, the former with what was possibly the now-shortened list of new teams. "Good morning, everyone. I trust my speech from yesterday is still fresh in your minds..." a tic mark formed when he received less than positive responses, more than half the class giving him so-so gestures. "...anyway... with that, I'll move straight into the teams. Team 1 will now consist of Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Aburame Shino. Your Jounin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. And Team 2 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in circulation from last year. Uchiha Sasuke has been permitted an apprenticeship under Hatake Kakashi. I commend you all on passing, and look forward to seeing you attain greatness in the name of Konohagakure no Sato. Your sensei will be here shortly." Iruka announced, before nodding to them in farewell and leaving.

'Geez... two teams... technically. Granted, there are still the graduates from last year, but this year... I feel really bad; not just for all the people I kept from graduating for opening my big mouth, but for what it did compared to last time. There were ten teams last time, and I just cut that down. I know mostly everyone didn't take it too hard, but still...' Naruto lamented when the sheer gravity of his actions showed itself. True, there were still some students that blamed Naruto for their failing, but it was overshadowed by the students that, with their eyes open to the truth of the matter given by both Naruto and Iruka, actually appreciated his effort and sought to better prepare themselves. Besides, it wasn't like they were going in for another four years; those negative ones need to lighten up...

Now actually observing the new teams, Naruto wanted to exclaim how unfair it was that Sasuke had a sensei to himself, he understood that the gray-haired man was there just to teach Sasuke about his Sharingan once he unlocked it. And it wasn't like he wouldn't teach him extensively; he knew that from the last time, hehe. Plus, Team 2 had... him.

Enough said.

Anyway, once that thought process was done, he noticed Kiba get up to sit beside them, filling the row with the Inuzuka to his left. With a fist bump to Kiba, finding he was actually really cool about him getting all friendly with Hinata, since he expressed his, and everyone's, relief that it finally happened, coloring Naruto's cheeks at his sheer obliviousness, he turned his thoughts to eventually training with them. He technically knew all their techniques, but without a ninken partner, he couldn't really use Kiba's, so it was moot. Hinata, however, could help him with his Juuken... if he somehow managed to bullshit his way out of getting executed or whatever for an outsider knowing the techniques of a clan. Question was, how to go about that...

Eh, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

And like clockwork, the door slid open to reveal both on-time Jounin.

"Team 1, meet me at Akmichi's Barbecue." Was all Asuma said before disappearing in a Shunshin.

"Team 2, meet me at Training Ground 8." Kurenai ordered, disappearing in a flurry of rose petals.

Five children blinking owlishly - nothing fazes Shino - soon split up and went their destinations, Naruto leaving Sasuke with a bit of advice to take a short nap.

Of course, the last Uchiha ignored him. Hey, he was just trying to help.

(Training Ground 8)

Kiba, Hinata, and Naruto finally appeared at the training ground and found Kurenai waiting for them.

"H-hello, Kurenai-san. I-I guess I'll be calling you Kurenai-sensei now." Hinata greeted, revealing she knew Kurenai before being in her team, something Naruto didn't notice last time.

"Hello, Hinata." Kurenai returned with a smile. "Well, usually we'd be Team 8, but someone saw fit to change that." She commented, finding amusement in Naruto's blushing face as he tried to look anywhere other than towards her. With a chuckle, she assuaged him. "I'm kidding, Naruto-san; the Jounin sensei were informed of what happened yesterday and, while we were initially shocked, we believe you were right; there were too many students that just weren't ready to be shinobi. Though... we didn't particularly comprehend how many until we were told, so that was a bit disheartening about the curriculum. Oh, speaking of which, Hokage-sama wanted me to personally tell you that he's going to change it, like you mentioned." She informed the boy with a smile, which he returned with joy; that was one step closer for everybody to better themselves. "Anyway, with that out of the way, usually I'd test you to see if you were ready to be shinobi but... well, thank Naruto again. Technically, the new parameters of your Graduation Exam contained the test I was going to give you, so of course you pass. The test would have also shown if you can perform adequately as a team, but I can train you in that. So, let's start introductions, then we can go right into training and missions!" She said with false cheer, as she knew the horror that was D-rank missions, but she, like many Jounin, enjoyed the look on genin's faces when they saw what their missions were when their hopes of saving princesses, conquering fortress, etc. came crashing down around them.

Did that make her a bad person?

Point is, it hyped up Hinata - if you could tell - and Kiba enough for that, but Naruto was curiously scowling; did someone tell him? Well that was no fun...

"Ano, h-how do you want us to do introductions, Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"I'll go first, then you can use mine as a base. I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, I like shochu, vodka, and training in genjutsu, I dislike sweets, perverts, and slackers, my hobbies include having evening drinks and refining my genjutsu, and my dream is to turn you three into superb genin of Konoha." She introduced, gesturing for Kiba to go next.

"Hey, I'm Inuzuka Kiba. I like most meats and training with Akamaru, I dislike really anything not chewy and cats. My only real hobby is walking Akamaru, and my dream to bring the Inuzuka clan to glory as clan head." Kiba introduced with a grin.

Next was Hinata. "M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like zenzai and cinnamon rolls..." She blushed when Naruto nodded in remembrance. "...a-and training in my Juuken. I dislike shellfish and people who prejudged others, and my hobby is flower-pressing. My dream is to one day unify the Hyuuga clan and abolish the very tradition that divides it." She said meekly, though ending with a determined, if still shy, expression.

Smiling at her, Kurenai gestured for Naruto.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like red bean soup, ramen, and training. I dislike people who prejudge others, like Hinata-chan..." He took some sort of joy from seeing her blush. "...and my hobby is really just training. My dream is to be Hokage, of course!" He was forced to state the obvious, but he didn't care; it's not like that changed because he nearly died!

Chuckling at his exuberance, Kurenai clapped her hands together. "Okay, that's done then. So now we can move straight into training. First, I want to spar with each of you individually so we can point out your strengths and weaknesses, then work from there. Kiba, you're up first since you were introduced first. That means you next, Hinata, then Naruto." Kurenai pointed out, ushering them to the edge of the field and standing apart from Kiba and Akamaru. "This spar will be two parts, taijutsu then ninjutsu. That means none of your clan jutsu, Kiba, until I say; taijutsu only. Understood?" She said in a voice they would come to know as her 'Jounin instructor' tone.

Nodding, Kiba fell into his clans' taijutsu stance, Akamaru beside him.

"And... begin!" Kurenai yelled, staying in place as Kiba lunged at her, already a mark against his brashness, though that was probably a given for Inuzuka. For the beginning of the taijutsu section, Kurenai would stay on the defensive to see Kiba's form and find any errors she could help him with, then she'd go on the attack to see how good he was at defending.

Backpedaling, ducking, and sidestepping was the name of the game as Kiba and Akamaru's teamwork was flawless, as was expected of an Inuzuka, especially the possible heir; it was still up for debate because of his sister, but she seemed complacent with her vet position, so who knows? The main problem with trying to find holes in his form was the fact that it was a clan taijutsu style, so she couldn't really critique as much as she wanted, since it would eventually go against their style, and heaven-forbid she recommend a different style altogether! No, she'll stick with just finding places he could improve on, minimizing lapses in activity when he put too much force behind certain attacks that left him open, or a bit of improvisation that stayed within the realms of his style. While taijutsu wasn't her best subject - that'd be genjutsu, obviously - it wasn't her absolute worse; she liked to keep that and ninjutsu trailing just behind genjutsu, so as not to become too specialized, and thus weakened.

Her mental timer went off, and she sprung on the attack, putting Kiba in her previous position as she refused to let up.

This section revealed numerous holes in his form, which was possibly to blame for the style; Inuzuka taijutsu was known for being aggressive and repeatedly hammering the opponent until they dropped. It wasn't the best for being on the defense, but that could be improved on.

When she had felt that message got across, she jumped back. "Okay, now you can begin using ninjutsu; nothing lethal or aimed at vital points, though." She signaled.

Grinning, Kiba felt it was time to cut loose! "Yahoo! Let's go, Akamaru!" He whooped, to his barking compatriot, before dropping to all fours and becoming enveloped in a thin layer of chakra; the Shikyaku no Jutsu. Lunging forward at a greater speed than previously, Kiba spun until he was comparable to a drill, while Akamaru ran beside him to aid in either distracting Kurenai to be susceptible, or attack her should he fail. "Tsuuga!"

'Fast, but nothing I can't handle; should watch out for Akamaru, though.' Kurenai observed, rolling to the side to dodge Kiba and sliding her arm under Akamaru's waiting jaw and using his momentum to send him flying with Kiba. Both genin and ninken landed on their feet and turned to face her, moving right into the next attack.

Naruto and Hinata were watching them from the side, the former calculative in his observations, his thought process similar to Kurenai's. 'A bit too direct, but slightly compensated for by having Akamaru aid him. From what I remember of the Chuunin preliminaries, that technique and the dual variant are literally all Kiba has.' He sighed. 'This is the problem with clan techniques; outside of them, the individual is extremely limited, and all but dead in the face of someone who can tank through them or is too skilled for them to be effective. Hmm...' He took a moment to stare at Kiba with his Hakumeigan active, hidden under a genjutsu. 'Okay, so his affinity is Earth; I should recommend he learn elemental jutsu to expand his repertoire, clan restrictions be damned! Speaking of...' Glancing at Kurenai and sidelong at Hinata, he found their affinities were Fire and Water, respectively. 'I can probably help Hinata-chan, too; Kurenai-sensei is a Jounin, she won't need my help.' With that decided, he deactivated his doujutsu and continued watching the spar, spying Kiba use his Gatsuuga with a transformed Akamaru.

About ten minutes later, Kurenai called for an end to their spar. "Okay Kiba, that's enough. Now I expect you to sit and listen to my observations of your flaws and do something about them to better yourself." She ordered with a light glare, knowing Kiba would rather ignore her pointing out his flaws like most Inuzuka, or people in general who disliked having their flaws pointed out.

Flinching at her perfectly pegging his personality down, Kiba reluctantly listened to her point out his flaws.

"First off, you're probably predisposed to immediately lunging into the fray with the intent to finish the fight quickly. We'll be working on stopping that; jumping into a fight without knowing what your opponent is capable of is more likely to get you killed. Though I will applaud your forward thinking of having Akamaru aid your initial attack instead of both of you attacking. Your taijutsu style leaves too many gaps, either from putting too much force behind an attack, or simply not being fast enough. I'm sure you're not that proficient in it yet?" She asked, receiving a slightly embarrassed nod. "Makes sense, then, so you'll need to work on that at home since we obviously can't help. Lastly, even though this is something we can't immediately do anything about, Akamaru is a bit too small for certain attacks to work completely; if he was larger, my attempt to use his own momentum would have failed." With a shrug, Kurenai finished and turned to Kiba's teammates. "Do either of you have anything to add?" She asked.

Hinata merely shook her head. "N-no, Kurenai-sensei; you said everything I could have." She said.

Nodding, Kurenai turned to Naruto for say anything.

"I actually have something to say. Kiba, I think relaying solely on your clan techniques is a mistake, and will sorely cost you one day. I think you should incorporate other techniques, including elemental jutsu." Naruto commented in a no-nonsense tone; much like the Academy, he said these things for the betterment of others.

Kiba himself was torn between scowling at Naruto for what he observed as him besmirching his clan teachings, and giddy at the thought of elemental jutsu. Despite himself, he had more than once thought of learning techniques other than his clans jutsu for the future.

Kurenai made an impressed noise. "Interesting, Naruto. I can see the merit in your words, and now that I think about it, that'd be a good idea. I know plenty of low-level jutsu that I can teach all of you, so I can help with that. Kiba, do you know your affinity?" She asked him.

"Uh..." Was all Kiba could really say. The Inuzuka clan didn't really dabble in elemental jutsu; it wasn't forbidden, or anything, but there weren't that many practitioners of elemental jutsu in the clan.

"It's earth."

"Hmm?" Both genin and Jounin grunted quizzically, turning to the blonde.

"His affinity. It's Earth Release." Naruto elaborated.

"...And how do you know that?" Kurenai asked with a raised brow.

'Moment of truth...' "My... doujutsu can see... affinities." Naruto responded hesitantly, rubbing his arm.

All three of his teammates blinked in shock.

"Y-you have a doujutsu, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with a face Naruto found really hard to look at without something hurting.

"Y-yeah, I have one. It manifested on Saturday, and a letter from my parents explained what it could do." 'Gee, this a deep hole I'm digging.' He explained.

Kurenai suddenly went very pale. "Your... your parents, you say? So... you know about them?" She asked.

"Yeah, I thought you were an orphan." Kiba commented.

"Well, I still am, but I went to jii-san and asked about my parents. He decided enough was enough and finally told me who they were, and gave me a letter they left." Naruto explained, a fond smile on his face at the thought of the letter.

"Who's 'jii-san?'" Kiba asked.

"Oh, that's what I call the Hokage!" Naruto elaborated with a smile, chuckling when everyone nearly face-faulted.

"...He lets you get away with that?" Kiba asked. "Wait, hold on, more important thing! Why did Hokage-sama keep that from you? That's messed up." He pointed out, letting the first question drop.

"Well, my dad made a lot of enemies, both inside and outside of the village, and Kumo went after my mom once, so there's that." Naruto explained without really saying anything important.

"Geez, what'd they do?" Kiba asked, shocked.

'Damn you, Kiba!' "My dad handed a village its ass on a silver platter in the last war, and my mom had special chakra and the Sandaime Raikage was a greedy asshole." Naruto summarized eloquently.

Nodding, since the infamous Sandaime Raikage was known for his roughshod methods, seeing as how he was to blame for the Hyuuga Incident.

As the victim of the event, Hinata was predisposed to dislike Kumo, so she could relate to Naruto's mother. However, she, as well as Kurenai, detected his evasiveness on actually giving names, and she thought about any notable shinobi that 'handed a village its ass' in the Third Shinobi World War. Mentally cross-referencing Naruto's physical features with any shinobi of note, Hinata came to one conclusion. 'Naruto-kun's father is the Yondaime Hokage!' It was painfully obvious; he had his hair color and style, and his eyes, and even his tender nature from yesterday.

Kurenai, of course, knew who Naruto's parents were, as she was an acquaintance of Kushina, and she thanked Kami that he had the wherewithal to not mention names in front of a loudmouth like Kiba. However, from her face, Kurenai could see that Hinata deduced at least one of Naruto's parents, and probably the more obvious one, given the Yondaime's shared features. Then she finally thought about what he actually said; she didn't know about any doujutsu from either of his parents, so maybe it just skipped a generation. Then that begged the question...

"What can it do? And what does it look like?" She asked Naruto with crossed arms.

Seeing that Kurenai didn't say anything about Naruto's evasiveness, Hinata let it drop and turned to Naruto to pay attention.

'Shit, I didn't think this through completely. Uh... Okay, definitely can't divulge parts that are obviously part of the Sharingan and Byakugan.' Deciding to buy some time, Naruto activated his doujutsu for them to see while thinking up some bullshit.

At the sight of his exotic-looking doujutsu, his teammates all let loose simultaneous 'oohs' while taking closer looks.

"I can see chakra, elemental affinities and it allows me photographic memory, visual genjutsu prowess, affinities for sub-elements, and six 'Paths' with their own abilities." Naruto explained, mildly annoyed he had to divulge this much information about his doujutsu, even if it wasn't everything, but if he wanted his shinobi career to go relatively unimpeded, it was a necessary evil.

Kurenai blinked owlishly. "That's... that's a lot of abilities. Isn't that a bit unfair? And what do you mean by Paths? Are those more abilities?" She asked.

"Hey, it's not like I made it like this; this is just how it works, or at least what the letter from my parents said. But if you're gonna be like that, I won't explain the Paths." Naruto was allowed to be a little petty, right?

Mildly perturbed, Kurenai huffed. "Just tell us so we aren't distracted in the future if you pull some impossible crap." She recommended.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." He said before raising a finger, beginning to tick the Paths off. "Tendou, the control over attractive and repulsive forces. Shuradou, transformation with various mechanical weapons. Jigokudou, interrogation/soul stealing and restoration of physical injuries. Ningendou, mind reading via soul stealing. Chikishudou, summoning any animal. And Gakidou, absorbing all forms of chakra." With six fingers up, he said this all flatly, mentally finding amusement in their gobsmacked expressions.

"That's... that is the biggest pile of bullshit I have ever heard. Your eyes can do all that, plus that stuff you said before?!" Kiba asked indignantly and not entirely unjustifiably.

"...Did I forget to mention it can also apparently evolve?" Naruto added, a minor plan in motion.

"So it can get even more power?! That's so unfair!" Kiba complained whilst throwing his hands into the air.

"...Normally I'd talk about how being a shinobi is unfair, like yesterday, but even I'm inclined to agree with you. Apparently, it can actually assimilate the abilities of other doujutsu. Apparently, from the little bit of history in the letter, these eyes are actually the doujutsu of the first natural wielder of chakra, and thus their doujutsu actually had all the abilities of doujutsu we know of today. Their descendants were actually born with an infinitely weaker doujutsu, but they can copy others, like it's trying to get back to the prowess it once had. The last wielder, my grandfather apparently, didn't have these Paths, but upon encountering someone with something called the Rinnegan, he got those powers, so that means there's someone out there with at least those crazy powers." Naruto lectured, mentally in awe at his capacity to bullshit; this was all by the seat of his pants!

"The Rinnegan? You mean the doujutsu of the Rikudou Sennin of legend? It's real? And wouldn't that mean your eyes should be the Rinnegan if they're the eyes of the first chakra wielder?" Kurenai asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Actually, I said first natural chakra wielder. According to the legend in the letter, these are the eyes of the Rikudou Sennin's mother, a woman who naturally had the Byakugan..." He rested a hand on Hinata's shoulder as an example, finding she didn't really pay attention as she was deep in thought. "...but she gained the abilities of what we know as the Sharingan and Rinnegan by consuming the fruit of the Shinjuu, a monolithic tree grown from the earth soaked in the blood of those who died in seemingly endless wars. After she gained those abilities and extremely potent, nearly god-like chakra, she gave birth to twins, one of which was the Rikudou Sennin, both of which were born with chakra, and thus were natural wielders. The Sennin was then the ancestor of the Uchiha and Senju clans, the latter of which the Uzumaki branched off from, and his brother was the ancestor of the Hyuuga clan." He relayed a lightly modified portrayal of the origin of chakra.

"Wow... just... wow. How does no one else know about this?" Kurenai asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, considering Kiba's face, I'd say because people would feel knowing this would completely wreck their preconceptions of chakra and history." Naruto responded, gesturing to Kiba's frozen visage that gave the impression he might be catatonic.

"A-ano, Naruto?" Hinata spoke up to get his attention.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"D-does that mean you copied my doujutsu?" She didn't look particularly annoyed if he did, mostly just quizzical.

"Oh, no, it's a conscious action. Plus, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't do that since I'd be stealing from you and your clan." Naruto responded chivalrously.

"Ano... i-if you want, you can. I can help you learn it, and maybe you can help me with my Juuken." Hinata offered courageously, possibly ignoring how her clan would react if they learned of this. She didn't care, as long as it guaranteed time with Naruto.

"Oh... oh wow. Uh, if you're okay with that, Hinata-chan?" He asked, only to receive a meek nod. "Okay then." He made a show of concentrating on her eyes, lightly blushing when it forced him to concentrate on her face. "Okay, I think I did it." He announced.

"T-try to see if you can extend your vision or change it in some other way." Hinata advised.

Nodding, Naruto purposely took a while until he activated the extended vision. "Whoa! I can see pretty far!" He said excitedly. 'I should be a fucking actor...'

Smiling, Hinata nodded. "G-good, now try and see if you can observe chakra more acutely." She advised.

Nodding, Naruto again purposely took a while to achieve it, but eventually 'succeeded.' "Hey, yeah! I can see the pathways and tenketsu." He made a show of whooping in exhilaration.

"Well, while this bit of Hinata-Sensei Education Hour has been fun, let's get back to training, yeah?" Kurenai teased, taking joy in Hinata's rapidly reddening face from her stealing the spotlight.

"...I'd watch it." Naruto commented flatly, to laughs all around.

"Well Hinata, it's your turn. Remember, taijutsu first, then ninjutsu. That also means no chakra usage until then." Kurenai lectured while they got into position.

Hinata's eyes widened at that last tidbit; the Juuken relied heavily on the usage of chakra with their taijutsu, otherwise it'd just be them poking their enemies. The Hyuuga clan was more strict than other clans about augmenting their styles or using elemental jutsu, which was why she was viewed as a failure due to her repeated attempts at changing her usage of Juuken to work with her flexibility. So she'd have to resort to forceful palm thrusts and even punches and kicks.

"Begin!"

Like before, Kurenai took the defensive position for now, merely reacting to Hinata's assault. Already she found a flaw in the Juuken as a whole: without chakra, a Hyuuga can't leave lasting damage. Granted, there won't be a lot of moments where they would be unable to use chakra, but as shinobi, they should be ready for anything. That Hinata wasn't taught this showed the flaw in clan teachings.

Granted, Hinata seemed to adapt well enough, using punches and kicks to assault her; she could just see the Hyuuga elders huffing in indignation. Of course, there wasn't that much force behind them, both from her lack of practicing this style, and of course her age and size. Beyond that, there were the obligatory holes in her form as a genin. Kurenai was slightly apprehensive as her mental clock ticked down towards the offensive section, but it was for the best. With that, she lunged at Hinata and began her light assault, mentally wincing whenever her blows landed. There were even more holes in this form for defense, but that was a given due to the lack of chakra.

Finally enough time passed and Kurenai jumped away. "Okay Hinata, you can use chakra and ninjutsu now." She announced.

With a grateful look on her face, Hinata nodded and went through the handseals a beginner in the usage of Byakugan required to activate it, the veins on her temples bulging as she fell into the legitimate Juuken stance. With that, she lunged at Kurenai and attacked her, succeeding where Kiba failed in actually harming her, though she had the wherewithal to unseal the tenketsu she blocked, but the pain remained. Of course, as a Jounin, Kurenai was able to deflect - because blocking wasn't an option against a Hyuuga - more than half of the blows, and return her own, but Hinata was able to fluidly blocked and deflect them, reinforcing herself with chakra.

"Okay!" She announced, causing them to break away. "That was very good, Hinata. Now of course, come observations. Of course, as a Hyuuga, your taijutsu style relies on chakra usage, so taking that away from you is a massive blow, but you showed competent adaptation. We'll need to work on your strength and speed, both for attacking and defending. Now your usage of the Juuken is great, at least to someone not from the clan. Though... I could've done without the sealed tenketsu, even if you unsealed them." Kurenai lightly complained, rubbing her arm over one of the tiny red dots, pouting slightly, extracting a giggle from Hinata. "Do either of you have anything to say?" She turned to the boys.

"That was amazing Hinata! You were like water, moving and flowing when you were fighting Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba raved good-naturedly.

Hinata was practically glowing from her blush.

"I agree with both Kurenai-sensei and Kiba; you were obviously showing distress from not being able to use chakra, but you seemed to manage yourself well enough in your adaptation. When you were able to use chakra, it became simply amazing. Of course, I'd still recommend you learning elemental jutsu; your affinity is water, which seems appropriate." Naruto praised/advised.

Hinata's blush nearly went nuclear from her crushes praise, but she agreed with him on jutsu.

"Well that just leaves you, Naruto." Kurenai piped up, the blonde switching places with Hinata before he fell into a... peculiar stance.

He raised his right leg so he was standing only on his left, and raised his right arm above his head, bending at the elbow so the back of his hand was parallel to the back of his head, and limply reached his left arm forward.

"...What the hell is that?" Kiba asked flatly.

"It's my taijutsu style, Kakuran." Naruto explained simply.

Realizing this might be part of Naruto's hidden talent from the Academy, Kiba merely shrugged and remained silent.

"Begin!"

Naruto immediately kicked off towards Kurenai, going into a vertical spinning kick that Kurenai wasn't prepared for the force behind, but she managed to backpedal enough to dodge a majority of the damage it might have inflicted. Naruto didn't miss a beat and allowed himself to land on his hands, extending his legs and rotating himself as fast as he could, forcing Kurenai to put her arms up to block, wincing at the force again, before she pushed his leg back, knocking him off balance.

Rolling away and rising to retake the odd stance, Naruto stepped forward and thrust his left arm forward, only for it to be deflected again, but he followed up with a scorpion strike of his right arm over his head, freeing his arm from her grasp. He used his own momentum with a light jump to spin himself and bring his heel down. She grounded her stance and blocked it as much as she could, but still grit her teeth from the force behind it. 'What does this kid eat?!' She pushed him off and swept his arm out from under him that he used to support the secondary scorpion attack.

Using it to his advantage and rolling to the side before Kurenai could attack, as he realized it was about time for her to, Naruto took up a different stance to accommodate the switch. It was relatively simple, a forward-facing horse stance with his hands in knife positions, the right arm curved down, palm up, and the left raised above his head and the hand pointed forward, palm down. The position of his arm had the uncanny affect of casting his face in darkness, only his eyes visible to everyone, slightly unnerving them at the seriousness in them at the moment.

Getting over that, Kurenai lunged forward and went on the attack, idly wondering why Naruto had more than one taijutsu style, but brushed the thought off. Attempting to exploit the obvious opening, even though she knew it was probably a trap, she was met with what was expected, a counter.

Naruto quickly grabbed the fist she attempted to lodge in his stomach and threw it to the side with enough force to spin her, violently ramming his fist into the small of her back, sending her tumbling forward slightly, taking no pleasure in the slight outburst of pain.

Kurenai got to her feet and put a hand to the rapidly bruising area, wincing from the pain, and used chakra to dull it, before she got back into her own stance. She was starting to regret this whole affair; that kid hit hard! But she was a Jounin, so she'll suck it up... hopefully.

Lunging at the boy again, Kurenai attempted a low kick at his shins, only for Naruto to block with the side of his leg and use his foot still on the ground to push her back, using his lower body as a coiled spring she stepped on.

"Okay then... you can use ninjutsu now..." Kurenai commented, feeling a lingering sense of dread at giving him the green light for it.

Nodding, Naruto took another stance?! It was even simpler than the previous stance, but Kurenai now knew that might mean nothing but bad news for her. His legs were in the same stance as before, but his upper body was in a heavy slouch, his arms hanging limp in front of him, his fingers splayed like claws. Kurenai spied his hands and feet glowing with chakra shaped like claws, wondering if this style was related to the Kyuubi in any way.

Shrugging that off, she lunged at him and continued their spar, immediately regretting it when Naruto swung his arm and the chakra claw around his hand extended and actually grew, smacking her in the left side and sending her skidding to her right.

'Yep... Totally regretting letting him use chakra. Time to step it up, then!' Kurenai decided, bringing herself up to Chuunin levels and tactics now.

The spar became pretty even after that; Kurenai using a unique brand of gentaijutsu, minor illusions masking her moves and letting her get more than a few glancing blows on the boy. Of course, given his position in the team she could already foresee, he just tanked through them and continued attacking. The longer the spar went, the more Kiba realized Naruto's stance was similar to the Inuzuka taijutsu style, but there were enough differences that he wouldn't raise a stink over it; those chakra claws were insane, though.

With a final clash, both genin and Jounin jumped away from each other. "Okay... time's up..." Kurenai announced, panting lightly, sort of regretting facing all three of them in a row, and just fighting Naruto himself; he was indeed a stamina monster, and he could most definitely outlast her in a straight-up fight.

Nodding, Naruto straightened himself and cut the flow of chakra to his extremities. "That was fun, Kurenai-sensei; can we do it again some time?" He asked with a broad grin.

Kurenai gaped when he showed no signs of fatigue, and actually wanted to keep going; stamina monster might be an understatement... "U-uh, sure, Naruto. Later. Now..." She turned to Kiba and Hinata. "Do either of you have any observations to make?" She asked.

"Yeah, firstly, why did you take different stances for each part, Naruto?" Kiba asked a question on his mind since the defensive portion.

"Because I used different styles; you know I used Kakuran in the beginning, and I used Kageken for the defensive part, and Kitsune Tsume for the chakra portion. I have three different styles; two for attacking - one utilizing chakra - and one for defending. I plan to actually combine them into a single, new style in the future." Naruto explained, finding amusement in everyone's gobsmacked faces, including Hinata's adorable one. Though he noticed Kurenai's paling face; probably at the mentioned of Kitsune Tsume.

"A-ano, Naruto-kun, how did you come upon these styles?" Hinata asked.

"They were also in my parents' letter. Kageken was my father's style, Kitsune Tsume my mother's, and Kakuran was compensation Kumo gave my mother for her kidnapping." Naruto answered, just rolling with these fabrications.

"Now, as for any flaws I would point out... honestly, I can't really think of anything. Your Kakuran was extremely unorthodox, and you appear to have trained in what flaws there might have been. Kageken was... painful. Though, so far it appears to be a style based entirely on reacting; you'll most likely run into enemies that intend for you to strike first or can exploit your openings, deliberate or not, faster than you can react, so we'll work on that. Kitsune Tsume was quite interesting; I don't think I've ever seen someone use a style like that with its use of chakra in extending attacks. I assume you've trained it so the chakra drain is negligible?" Kurenai asked, receiving a nod. "Well other than all that, we can still work on your speed and reaction time, though if you want to train in strength... warn me first." She commented, rubbing her arm, pouting at his chuckle. "Well Team 2, that's our first training session, so let's start on missions!" She announced cheerily, getting Kiba and Hinata hyped up.

Naruto scowled at his short-term future of D-rank missions; this was going to suck.

End Ch. 3

Happy Birthday to me! Yeah, I'm updating this a day after my birthday, as a present to you guys. Not sure if this is a 100% sign that my writers block is gone, but I'd like to think it is.

Anyway, this chapter shows the repercussions of Naruto's actions last chapter; there are now only two teams, and Sasuke is by himself with Kakashi. (Shippers, no! You stop that!) As such, instead of Team 7 or 8, Naruto is in Team 2! Of course, Team Gai is still around, so no worries about Youth deficiency XD And I'm making Naruto like, the best liar ever with all the bullshit he's spewing to cover his ass. And I just came up with that 'assimilating doujutsu' stuff as I was writing it, so I'm no better! Whoo!

...That's not something to be proud of, is it? Don't care!

And yes, Naruto had a case of 'Hnnnnnnngh!' when having lunch with Hinata. The cute can hurt, people; don't think otherwise.

Not much more to say after that, just tell me what you think.

Ja ne!