Chapter: 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched on through his crystal ball at the two figures sparring against one another. He had been watching them for quite some time ever since they had started.

The Sandaime looked on as he watched them. He had been doing so for the past couple of days to see how it was coming along and if the younger boy was in any danger. He'd been watching Naruto and Kimimaro ever since they had begun to see how they were doing.

It had been a week since Kimimaro had arrived and the two cousins learned about one another. Since that time Naruto had been working with both him and Team 7. Naruto he could easily tell was showing vast signs of improvement. Despite the struggle at first he was taking to it as he had learned water walking and tree walking ever since he started as well as using his bloodline and Shikotsumyaku. The council didn't know that he had it, no one did. It'd be good if they did not know for now. Particularly Danzo his one time rival for position of Hokage. If they knew he had such a bloodline they would demand that he be brought forward and examined The Kekkai Genkai. At the worst he could be locked up and deemed a threat to all around

He looked on as he saw them. It was easy for the Kaguya, fighting was a natural part of his clan as they enjoyed battle. It was in his blood as the Kaguya clan was a warlike clan and near perfect soldiers. However that had also lead to their downfall as well with the losses they sustained in battles as the clan nearly died as much as they breed.

He had tried, years ago to get the Kaguya clan to convert to the Leaf village. To make allies with them as they had lost much power and many of their allies were gone. But the clan had refused his offer, refusing to give up their war like lifestyle. Even with the promises of treaties and alliances did little to persuade them as the Kaguya, like the Uchihas was a pride clan and refused the aid of another as they viewed weakness like a disease. Still Sarutobi tried to get them to join them as they were diminishing over the years

If they had joined them then perhaps they would still be alive after what had happened seven years ago. With their destruction at the hands of the Mizukage and Mist. He had sent his scouts out to look for any survivors and none could be found.

Except for Kimimaro, the boy had disappeared and despite his attempts to find him had vanished from the world. It was just now, only a year ago that he discovered him in the base of Orochimaru his former student who had made his new headquarters in The Land of Rice. Truth be told he didn't expect him to show up after he had sent his letter to him. It was a fool's hope but it had paid off.

Neither had known about the other as The Uzumaki were destroyed along with Whirlpool thirteen years ago with Naruto's mother the only survivor. By that time the Uzumaki and their once greatness had fallen into history barely remembered. The Kaguya clan suffered the same fate as well.

Sarutobi continued to watch on, to see how the last of the two clans would hold against each other.

"Quicker! Quicker I say!" Kimimaro shouted at Naruto as he threw sharp bone like weapons at Naruto from his ribcage and stomach at a fast pace.

Naruto brought his sword up and deflected them, blocking the weapons thrown at him and preventing them from hitting him. Kimimaro threw a near endless supply of the spike like weapons and Naruto was barely able to avoid and block them

Naruto knowing he couldn't stay on the defensive avoided one and charged him. Kimimaro threw more at him and Naruto responded by ducking and going into a roll covering up any vital areas and them flying overhead.

He slashed at Kimimaro who ducked and kicked at him sending him backwards. Naruto reached into his shoulder and focusing pulled out another two foot long blade. He then brought the blades together at the hilt and combined them into one long double bladed sword.

Kimimaro looking on nodded in approval at what he just did, using his chakra to combine the two into a five foot long blade that he gave a few twirls with.

Naruto charged him spinning his weapon and Kimimaro pulled out his own bone blades and countered his assault, blocking them with his own. Naruto planted his blade into the ground and using it as leverage went to leap and kick him. Kimimaro evaded his attack and hit him in the face with an open palm thrust to stun him.

Naruto backed up a bit and Kimimaro went to slice his head off, Naruto ducked under and dashed past him but didn't swing at him as he had his back to him. Kimimaro turned around and suddenly Naruto leapt up and delivered a back flip kick connecting with Kimimaro's head. The unexpected move caught Kimimaro off guard and Naruto grinned as he landed as it was the first time he had actually managed to hit him ever since they started training.

Naruto went to stab him when a pair of bones sprouted out of Kimimaro's back and blocked it. Kimimaro whipped around and pulled out of his knee a larger more sturdy bone than the previous ones he had done before. Taking the heavy bone in his hands he swung it like a club and Naruto dodged it just in time. Kimimaro swung again and Naruto went to block it and nearly felt his arms go numb by the force of it. Naruto twirled his combined blades in front of him trying to drive him back. Kimimaro swung at him and Naruto pulled them apart back into two blades as he backed away. He slashed at him and Kimimaro swung as well and Naruto's swords shattered upon contact broken by his Club.

Before Naruto could pull out another he was met with a hard blow to his stomach knocking him down. He hit the ground with a thud and groaned. The weapon may have had a barrier on it but that didn't it hurt when he got hit.

"Hmph, you're improving Trash." Kimimaro said and slipped it back into his knee.

"I managed to hit you." Naruto said sitting up.

"A lucky shot…" He responded. "We're done for today. You need to improve your style and balance your style is too sluggish and more suited of a mindless brawler. Shikotsumyaku is a mixture of both dance and battle. Both beautiful and deadly."

"See you tomorrow?"

"No…" He said surprisingly, I have things I have to do tomorrow. "I'll see you again in two days. I expect you to train by yourself in my absence." He said and walked away and Naruto watched him go used to his cool demeanor and stoic form. He rarely if ever showed any other emotion except irritation at times. But on the plus side whenever he called him Trash he wasn't saying in in an insulting way anymore. Almost as if he was pleased with his results of their training.

Naruto then decided to head home.

The next day he was at the training grounds with his teammates and he was busy stretching waiting to see what they would do today when their lazy Sensei showed up.

"C'mon Sasuke-kun, let's go on a date after training today." Sakura said to the lone Uchiha who was by himself.

"No, go away I'm busy."

"Please Sasuke-kun! I know you'll have a good time." Sakura said smiling thinking she could get him. Naruto rolled his eyes having seen it for the hundredth time. Sakura and many of the other girls were oblivious to the fact that Sasuke didn't want anything to do with them. He didn't want to go on a date

"Will you stop being annoying?" He snapped at her.

"Isn't it rude to yell at ladies Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he continued his stretches and then started doing squats.

Sakura glared at him and looked back at Sasuke. "Why do you know about manners Baka? Leave Sasuke-kun alone!" She snapped at him as he did his squats.

Naruto shook his head used to the treatment. He then saw Sasuke approach him.

"Spar with me." Sasuke said although it sounded more like an order. "Give me something to do before Sensei arrives."

"Tch…fine." Naruto responded and stopped his squats and got into a fighting stance that Kimimaro had showed him.

Sasuke got into one and suddenly dashed towards him in a burst of speed aiming to hit him in the head. Naruto was ready and blocked it surprising Sasuke with how he reacted and how he blocked it with no damage. Like he had read what he was going to do. He then threw a kick which Naruto dodged as well showing good speed.

Sasuke glared at him and did hand symbols and fired a fireball at him. Naruto saw it coming and moved out of the way missing it.

"So Jutsus are allowed eh? Fine then, Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and formed ten clones which swarmed around Sasuke. They charged him and he activated the Kawarami jutsu disappearing in place of a log.

"Multi Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted reappearing and doing more hand symbols fired a group of fireballs that hit the clones and dispelled them. "Still trying the same tricks Dobe." Sasuke said to him smirking.

"I've learned a couple new tricks since we started." Naruto answered back as the two continued and Sakura was cheering Sasuke on being his cheerleader.

Sasuke went to attack him but Naruto dodged it and displayed a surprising burst of speed and getting behind Sasuke kneed him in the back.

"What?" Sasuke shouted getting himself back up. How did Naruto do that so quickly?

He went to attack him when Naruto leapt backwards and near the nearby tree. He then started running up it surprising Sasuke again that he was able to walk on trees. How was he able to do that? He was never told or taught about tree walking by Kakashi

"How's he doing that? That's cheating!" Sakura cried out confused as well when Naruto leapt from the trees and threw several kunai and shuriken at Sasuke who covered himself up and was hit by cuts from them.

Naruto landed and charged Sasuke and nailed him in the stomach with a hard punch knocking the wind out of him. Sasuke recovered quickly though and threw a fast punch at Naruto. Naruto quickly pressed himself for impact as it collided with his face.

To his surprise he didn't feel as much pain as he thought he would and heard Sasuke cry out suddenly and withdraw his hand and clutched his hand.

Sasuke shook his injured hand a look of disbelief on his face at what happened. The blonds' face felt like it he had just punched a brick wall. Punching him did more damage to himself and felt like he may have broken a couple of knuckles.

Naruto was confused as well until he thought of something. (That's right. My hardened skeleton. It must also include my face as well, so that means I'm armored pretty much everywhere.) He thought to himself remembering what Kimimaro told him and how much heavier his bones felt.

He went to go on the offensive when a blur appeared in front of them path and Kakashi appeared.

"Hmmm, I guess I should start getting here earlier." He said in between them. "I see you're keeping busy at least." He mentioned to them.

"Sasuke-kun are you alright?" Sakura asked running forward to check. "Your hand's bruised. What did you do to him Naruto!" She shouted at him.

"I didn't do anything, he's the one who hit me." He answered back as she was taking his side again. If the rest had heard about this, that he had damaged the Uchiha he would be mobbed by them within minutes.

"Sensei Sasuke-kun's injured! He should go to the hospital and get that checked out!" Sakura complained. The tone of her voice making it sound like he had a broken neck

"He'll be fine Sakura," Kakashi said waving her concern away. "That'll heal easily enough on its own with no trouble. I suppose we should begin right now."

Naruto looking on rolled his eyes seeing how Sasuke got all the attention as usual.

"Sensei, I want to learn how to walk on trees." Sasuke said suddenly getting his attention.

Kakashi looked a bit surprised at his request. "Tree Walking? That's a bit ahead of you for now Sasuke, you still have much to learn about chakra control before you can do that."

"But he can do it!" Sasuke protested and pointed at Naruto. "He's capable of walking on trees. Why can't I learn that now?" He demanded upset that Naruto could do something he couldn't.

"Is that true Naruto?" Kakashi asked turning to look at him.

"…Yeah," Responded Naruto. "Kimimaro taught me chakra control this week while I was with him. He taught me how to walk on tree and water surfaces while I was with him." He said to them.

"Huh, I'm impressed, I guess Sarutobi chose well in picking an outsider to train you and him only a few years older than you." He said. In truth he had sensed that Naruto had been getting better as of late when he saw him every morning. This Kimimaro person must be quite the teacher.

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked Naruto surprising him "Where is your other sensei?"

"Why?"

"I want to learn under him, He can teach me how to be stronger." Sasuke said clutching a head into a fist.

"I don't know where he went. He said he'd be gone for a few days. Besides he's my trainer. He's helping me not you." Naruto said a bit upset that he would demand him to take him to him.

"If he can teach you of all people how to walk on water and trees Dobe then he must be exceptional. He can train me and make me become stronger. Where did he go?" Sasuke said to him in a pressing manner.

"I told you I don't know, he's my sensei. You're the top Genin, you don't need any extra training." Naruto said to him getting mad that he demand him that he make his cousin train him.

"Naruto stop being rude! Can't you see it's important that Sasuke-kun gets stronger?" Sakura yelled at him.

"Kimimaro-san won't even bother training you anyway, at best you'd be lucky if he gives you a glance. He won't train you, even if you are an Uchiha." Naruto said knowing how his cousin was and didn't really care for who a person was

"Why you…" Sasuke started to say and Kakashi stepped forward

"Alright that's enough both of you. This Kimimaro is under the orders of the Hokage himself to only train Naruto. If he allows it, maybe he can train you as well Sasuke." Kakashi said being the negotiator between the two.

Naruto frowned at him not liking it one bit, he finally had something to give him an edge and help him improve and now Sasuke was wanting it for himself. Wasn't he pretty much praised by everyone for being the prodigy and getting the highest marks in the academy with all the others calling him a future legend. Why'd he have try and steal his thunder now that he's finally getting somewhere with becoming a ninja? It wasn't fair in his eyes that Sasuke could get whatever he wanted.

"Now that's that settled let's begin…"

Elsewhere…

"Where could he be?" A voice said in a building. The voice belonged to a blue haired figure with green lips and he walked with three other people. "He's been gone for weaks. Orochimaru-sama will be pissed if he finds out he's gone!" The angry individual said as the group walked.

"Hell if I know, you know how he is." The second a figure who had a set of six arms said.

"Well it's not like he was doing anything here, besides order us around." The third a large figure with orange hair said.

"Yeah let him get lost." The first one mumbled and you could see another body with him as the others agreed.

"You damn dumasses!" The female of the group with red hair shouted at them. "If something happens to Kimimaro who do you think Orochimaru-sama is going to put the blame on? Once he finds out he's gone he'll skin us alive!" She snapped at them.

The group was known as the Sound Four and were Orochimaru's personal bodyguards. When Kimimaro was with them they were known as the Sound Five and they where currently wondering where he had gone as they walked through the building which served as one of his bases in Oto.

"Geez, since we did you care about Kimimaro Tayuya?" Sakon the leader of the group said to her.

"I don't but I care about living to see the next day stupid!" She responded angrily. "He maybe sick but that doesn't mean Orochimaru-sama considers him useless. If he finds out he's gone and we haven't found him who do you think he'll blame and punish!" She shouted at them.

The others didn't have to answer, they already have a good image what their master would do if he discovered what had happened. Orochimaru hadn't seen or visited The last Kaguya in quite some time and if he discovered he was gone…well odds are the group would be seeing their lives flash before their lives.

If they were lucky…

"Kidomaru why didn't you have your nets around the area so we would've known if he had left?" Sakon said turning the blame to the Spider Ninja with his brother Ukon.

"I can't do it twenty four seven you moron!" Kidomaru shouted. "That takes a lot of time and chakra for me to do it. Jirobo should've been watching him." He said and pointed six accusing fingers at the heavy ninja.

"Hey don't put the blame on me!" Jirobo said as the group argued. "We didn't know he was going to up and leave. Tayuya you go tell him that he's gone. He likes you the best, he may not kill badly you if you tell him."

"Fuck no." Tayuya responded at once not wanting to be the scapegoat.

The group continued arguing and where unaware of a figure approaching.

"What are you garbage arguing about?" The voice said and they turned as one and saw Kimimaro standing there his arms folded across his chest staring at them with a look of distaste.

"What the? Where the hell have you been!" Sakon demanded and walked towards him. "Do you have any idea how pissed off he'd be if he discovered you was gone and we couldn't find you!" He shouted at him.

"Hmph, where I go is not the concern of trash like you." Kimimaro responded as he had returned here to make sure nothing had happened and see to it that Orochimaru hadn't wondered where he went. He didn't see him often but he would get suspicious. But coming back now and then he wouldn't question what he was doing. "I've been out training and I've come to get a refill of my medicine. Now get out of my way." He said and walked past him.

"Ahh! You can't walk around here like you own the place!" Sakon shouted at him.

"Where have you been?" Tayuya asked him her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't be going places with the damn condition your in." She said to him

"Hmph, once my illness passes I'll be back at my previous form." He said as he believed he could withstand it despite the pain it put him in sometimes. Once it passed he would be strong again. "Until then what I do now is none of any of you business. I have things I must do before then." He told her and then coughed a bit.

Tayuya frowned as she watched him go. The others may buy his flimsy excuse but she didn't. Just where had he gone and disappeared to? It wasn't like him to go off like this. Usually he'd never leave unless he was ordered by Orochimaru himself.

The next day Naruto was by himself taking a break from his private training. Since he hadn't come back yet, he was working by himself and practicing his chakra control and drawing out weapons. The blond had been working non stop today and had been determined to show his cousin.

"This bloodline I have, it's something else. I've gotten stronger in a short amount of time. I've learned three times as much working with Kimimaro alone than I have with Kakashi and them." He said to himself and thought back to Sasuke punching him and injuring his hand. "But I've yet to gain anyone's approval. They still look down on me like I'm some dead last loser. I'm not some third rate ninja. I will achieve my dream!"

He thought of the Uzumaki clan he had been told about, his ancestors. He wondered what they were like. Didn't The Old man say they got wiped out due to a Tsunami along with Whirlpool Village the place being completely destroyed by it? Only his mother survived by the sound of it and he never saw her. He let out a sigh, if that hadn't happened maybe he'd have more than just an aloof cousin he never knew about for family.

The Kaguya was his family as well, being his cousins from his mom's side but they too were wiped out and although Kimimaro didn't show it he could tell that he too was lonely that he was the only one left.

"The last ones…heh maybe we should've been put with Sasuke." Naruto said and laughed at his dry joke. "Well I'll just have to keep at it, keep getting stronger, it's time to get back to work."

He got up and got ready to begin when a poof of smoke appeared before him and he saw Kakashi standing in front of him.

"Sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked a bit surprised to see him.

"Hmmm, I was on my way home from The Hokage's office when I sensed you. I was going to wait but I figured you should be the first to know." The Copy Nin said to him

"First to know what?" He asked.

"Since you've been asking him he decided to grant your request, tomorrow me, you, Sasuke and Sakura will be doing a C Class Mission. A change of pace from our previous missions. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He told him and then disappeared in another poof of smoke leaving Naruto at the training grounds.

A/N: That's it for this chapter. Review please.