Naruto was standing up with his feet parallel to each other and shoulder-width apart. He was crouching down, bending his knees at a 90-degree angle as he did the wind-mill motions with his hands, carrying weights on his wrists, ankles, and holding two water buckets. He was red in the face as sweat rolled down his body and poured onto the ground. Garou was watching from afar as he was reading a small, black book that Itachi had handed to him, the ladder of which was also watching Naruto, "So, do you mind telling me what the point of that exercise is?" Itachi asked

"Oh, that? Possibly the greatest and simplest defensive motion ever created," Garou replied

"How so?" Itachi asked

"Well, I tried it out a few times while I was out here in the Elemental Nations. So far, I've found that I'm able to block fire, earth bullets, water, lightning, and even wind. Those last two parts at a bit tricky, but it's possible," Garou explained

"So, it's a self-defense motion?"

"Yeah, it's called Mawashi Uke. A basic round-house block that uses the hands to either move or blocks an attack. The idea is to use one hand to block an attack and have one open and ready to land a punch," Garou explained as he turned the page in the book, "Kakashi of The Sharingan... hold up, the white-haired guy's in here?"

"Oh, Kakashi-senpai?" Itachi asked as he looked in the book, "yup, that's him,"

"Huh, say's here he's strong... 193 D-rank, 175 C-rank, 400 B-rank, 290 A-rank, and 39 S-rank... is that how many people he's killed?"

"No, that's the number of missions he's completed,"

"Oh man, that sucks," Garou whined as he looked up from the book as saw Naruto fall

"Ouch!" Naruto shouted as he spilled the buckets of water, "DAMN-IT!"

"Language!" Itachi said

"Bah, who's he hurting? They're just words," Garou said to Itachi, "Naruto! Go fill those buckets up again! I'll restart the timer when you get back!"

"Y-yes, sen-sei!" Naruto stuttered out as he painfully picked up the water buckets and ran to the nearby stream as fast as his legs could carry him. So far, Naruto's physical recovery from his injuries was a great success! Granted, there's a huge scar on half of his arm that goes up to his shoulder... and smaller scars on that side of his body, but you'd have to be looking for them to actually see them. Naruto filled up the water buckets and carried them back to his original spot. He then resumed his stance from before and continued to perform the wind-mill exercises. This went on for another five minutes before Garou and Itachi heard another timer go off as Garou looked at the nearby alarm clock to see that it was 10 in the morning, "Naruto! Time to go home!" Garou ordered, making Naruto put down the buckets

"A-alright, sensei!" Naruto replied as he took a deep breath and ran to the lake to take a bath. Garou went back to reading the book as Itachi made sure Naruto was going the right way, "Garou?" Itachi asked

"Yes?"

"What's your opinion of Naruto?" Itachi questioned

"He's a good kid," Garou replied, "why do you ask?"

"I was wondering... would you be able to teach Sasuke?" Itachi asked

"Who?"

"Sasuke, my little brother," Itachi asked again. Garou thought about it for a second before he shook his head, "Nah, sorry," Garou stated

"And why not?" Itachi questioned

"I've seen your little brother around town. He's missing something, a drive... a special drive, like that of Naruto's," Garou explained

"And what drive is it?" Itachi asked, already knowing the answer

"To prove everyone wrong," Garou answered. After chatting for a bit longer, Naruto came back from his bath and ready to go home, "Alright! I'm clean and ready to go home," Naruto said as he rolled his shoulders

"Okay, Naruto-kun. I'll take you home," Itachi said as he walked over to the blonde

"Later, kid," Garou said as he waved, not looking up from the Bingo Book

"See you tomorrow, sensei!" Naruto replied with a smile and a wave as Itachi and Naruto vanished in a murder of crows.

Naruto and Itachi appeared in front of the Uzumaki-Namikaze Compound as Naruto shook his head, "That's gonna take some time to get used to," Naruto mumbled as Itachi chuckled

"Let's not worry about that," Itachi said as he walked Naruto to the front door. But before he grabbed the door-handle, Itachi snapped his fingers, "I forgot! Today's a very special day, Naruto," Itachi said as he looked down at the blonde

"Really? What's today?" Naruto asked as Itachi smiled and opened the door

"ITACHI!" a voice shouted as Naruto saw Itachi get bull-dozed by Sasuke. Itachi hit the ground as Sasuke wrapped his arms around him, "Where were you!? Mom and I've been waiting for you since this morning!" Sasuke shouted as they heard another voice

"Sasuke! Don't go running off like that!" a woman's voice shouted as a woman with long, straight black hair with bangs hanging on either side of her face that roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She wore a simple dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt and a light-yellow apron normally worn over it.

"But, mom!" Sasuke said as Itachi sat up with him in his arms

"No but's young-man!" Mikoto said as she knelt down, "Are you alright, Itachi?"

"I'm fine, mother," Itachi replied

"Hold on, what's going on?" Naruto asked as Itachi stood up

"Didn't Kushina-Oba tell you? It's a sleep-over!" Sasuke said as Naruto's eyes lit up

"Really?! That's awesome!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs as Kushina slowly revealed herself from the door-frame

"I knew you'd like it! And guess what?" Kushina said as she bent down

"What? What?!" Naruto asked, acting like a small child

"Menma and Naruko are out having sleep-overs at their friends' house. So it's just you, me, Mikoto, and Sasuke-kun!" Kushina explained with a smile

"But what about Itachi?" Naruto asked as he looked over at Sasuke, who was pouting

"Itachi's gotta work," Sasuke whined

"Hehehe, sorry about this, Sasuke. I promise, next time I'll join ya, okay?" Itachi said as he poked Sasuke's forehead

"Next time?" Sasuke asked

"Next time," Itachi assured as he waved them good-bye, "see you tomorrow, Kaa-san! Otouto!"'

"Be careful, Itachi/Ani!" Mikoto and Sasuke said back as Itachi vanished. When he was gone, Naruto looked at his mother, who walked over to him and ruffled his hair, "Why so down, Naruto? It's a sleep-over! Turn that frown up-side-down!" Kushina said a with a smile

"I know, but... something just doesn't feel right," Naruto said as his stomach growled

"That's probably it," Kushina said, smirking as Naruto blushed in embarrassment.

Naruto was sitting on the couch watching TV with Sasuke while Mikoto and Kushina talked in the other room. They were watching a new movie as they ate popcorn, "Naruto?" Sasuke asked

"Yeah, Sasuke?" Naruto replied

"Can you help me get something?"

"What is it?"

"I kinda... left something at home, can you help me go get it?" Sasuke asked

"You're gonna get Mikoto-oba and Kaa-san, right?" Naruto asked

"Yeah, give me a second," Sasuke said as he hopped off the couch and ran to the kitchen, "Kaa-chan! Can me and Naruto go back to the compound and help me get something?"

"I don't see why not," Mikoto said

"Be careful you two! And be back before 10! We have something special for you two when you get back!" Kushina said as Sasuke smiled. Sasuke ran back to Naruto and said: "Come on! Let's go!"

"Alright!" Naruto replied as he got into street clothes.

Naruto and Sasuke ran down the road to the Uchiha Compound as Sasuke knocked on the gates, "Hello?! It's me! Sasuke! Can anyone let us in?!" Sasuke shouted as he noticed that the gates where unlocked, "That's weird,"

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked

"The gate's unlocked," Sasuke answered. Pushing the gates open, Naruto and Sasuke walked through the gate and smelled something bad. Sasuke covered his nose, saying: "What's that smell?"

"T-this smell, n-no way," Naruto said as he was familiar with the smell. A metallic, rotten smell that made Naruto's heart race. They then heard screams from around the corner, "Auntie?!" Sasuke screamed as he ran toward the screams

"Sasuke! Wait!" Naruto shouted as he followed Sasuke. Just as they turned the corner, they saw a man wearing a black cloak and a blank Tora Mask.

He stood over the dead corpses of an old Uchiha man and woman with a bloody katana in his hand, "W-who are you?!" Sasuke shouted in fear

"Another one?" the man said, "And the Hokage's brat... *Sigh* oh well, maybe Lord Danzo will be pleased with two breeding bulls?" the man muttered as he rushed at Sasuke, cocking his fist back to knock him out. Naruto's heart raced even more as he saw the masked man rush at Sasuke. His eyes widened as Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled. His body moved on its own as Naruto got between the masked man and Sasuke. Grinding his teeth, Naruto planted his feet on the ground in a stable stance and swung his arms around, redirecting the punch away from his body and protecting Sasuke.

Without even thinking, Naruto threw several punches into the man, striking his testicles, stomach, and the sternum. They heard the man gasp in pain and fall to the ground as Naruto grabbed Sasuke and started running, "COME ON!" Naruto shouted

"W-wait! What about them?!" Sasuke screamed as he pointed at the dead couple on the ground

"I-I'm sorry," Naruto said as his grip on Sasuke tightened and literally dragged Sasuke away. Sasuke fought as hard as he could to escape Naruto's grip, but it wasn't working. Naruto continued to drag Sasuke back to the front gate, but before they could escape, three more masked people appeared. A cat mask, a bear mask, and a tiger mask.

"We cannot allow anymore Uchiha to live," the bear-masked man said as he removed his sword

"Hold on, that's the Hokage's brat," the cat-masked man said

"Yes, but it's the weakling. We'd be doing all of Konoha a favor," the tiger-masked woman stated as the bear-masked man lunged at them. Naruto didn't even have time to react as Sasuke pulled something out of Naruto's pocket and used it to block the slash. It surprised all of them as Sasuke had pulled the tri-pronged kunai from Naruto's pocket. Sasuke's grip on the kunai wasn't enough to keep it in his hands as it soared into the air, "You little brat!" the bear-masked man said as he stomped on the ground and brought down his sword even faster. Naruto turned his back to the man as he placed his body between him and Sasuke. Naruto waited to be cut down when there was the sound of flickering. Naruto suddenly found himself and Sasuke in the arms of Minato, "D-dad?" Naruto asked as Minato set the both of them down

"Naruto, Sasuke... keep your heads down," Minato ordered as he turned to face the trio.