Training, Strategy, and Study.

Naruto woke up early the next morning and made his way to the field where they would meet Kakashi and start training. On his walk, he saw Sakura waiting.

"Hey Sakura-chan! You're here early, did you ever figure out your relic?" Naruto asked Sakura.

Sakura blushed a little. "Yeah it- it makes me stronger, same as your Pendant." Sakura said.

"That's so cool! I also found a use for the book!" Naruto excitedly tells Sakura, who's nose turns up, thinking that Naruto was using it in a perverted way.

"Oh yeah? Let me guess, it involves becoming invisible and peeking on the women's baths?" Sakura let out a sigh of disgust.

"Huh? No not at all! I actually used it to keep my Ramen hot! You see I usually scarf it down as fast as possible because it tastes best fresh off the stove, but now I can take my time and really enjoy it!" Naruto had made this change this morning, figuring some nice QOL changes would be good to add.

"That's- surprisingly sensible. I mean it's still pretty useless overall, but keeping food hot would be nice." Sakura was looking Naruto over like he was an imposter.

"I also made it so that my clothes would stay fresh! Watch!" Naruto poured some water out onto the grass and picked up some of the mud, wiping it on his clothes. Almost all of it fell out immediately, whereas the rest only came off after some swiping from Naruto. "It's a work in progress. Pervy-Sensei was using the book wrong." Naruto said proudly with a thumbs up.

Sakura continued looking Naruto over, before deciding to call over Neji, who seemed to he on his way to train. She said some things quietly and then Neji turned his Byakugan on, focused on Naruto, and then shook his head to Sakura, before leaving.

"Did you really think I wasn't myself?" Naruto was dumbfounded, sure he had acted childish before, but was what he said so far really that unbelievable?

"I'm sorry, I just- well you've always been-" Sakura trailed off, looking away sheepishly.

Kakashi decided to show up at that moment.

"Alright you two, I know you've both recieved Relics, and you probably want to use them, but I'm telling you to put them away during this training." Kakashi seemed bored, and already had his book out.

"You two are going to face eachother. Afterwards we will get lunch. Winner gets to pick where we go, loser will pay." Kakashi said. "Okay, go."

Naruto set his plan into motion. Usually he would just summon a bunch of shadow clones, tire out the enemy, and then hit em' with a rasengan. Naruto was smarter now, so he could see the merit in a new plan.

A few shadow clones worth of blows later, the real Naruto hiding in the ground, and a small rasengan later, and Naruto had Sakura on the ground, kunai held up.

"My win!" Naruto huffed a little, doing several jutsu in incredibly fast succession left him feeling more drained than usual.

"I'm impressed, Naruto. You've really grown. Now, before we head out for lunch. Explain your strategy." Kakashi said, turning the page.

Naruto helped Sakura up. "Sorry if I was too rough, I think I got a little carried away." Naruto scratched his head sheepishly.

"It's like Kakashi-sensei said, you've really grown, Naruto. I would never have expected that from you." Sakura said, a light blush on her cheeks.

The trio sat down and Naruto started to explain.

"Well.. I just thought that I usually just throw a bunch of shadow clones at the enemy to slow them down and wear them out, but I've gotten stronger, and the Rasengan is a jutsu that can end most fights if it hits, so I just needed a strategy to make sure it would hit." Naruto took a breath.

"So I summoned shadow clones like I usually do, but I made sure I was on the front lines. I wanted Sakura to know that the real me was in the group. So I used substitution a few times, to get her used to it, then I used substitution again, but replaced myself with two clones, that way Sakura would just think I summoned another clone." Naruto continued, getting the occasional nod from Kakashi, who had probably seen through his strategy as he performed it.

"Then I used Kakashi-sensei's hiding like a mole technique, and moved over to where Sakura was fighting my clones, and popped out after she hit the clone she thought was me, and hit her with Rasengan." Naruto finished. Sakura looked even more dumbfounded than she had right after he won.

"You really thought this through." Sakura said.

"He isn't the same boy he was when Team 7 was formed." Kakashi said.

"No, he isn't." Sakura agreed, with a small blush.

"Well.. I guess we better get going. I doubt we have to ask where Naruto wants to go." Kakashi sighed.

"No.. I guess we don't." Sakura agreed.

The trio walked in silence, up past the training area and into the village. They stayed silent up until they passed Ichiraku.

"Uh, Naruto? We passed it." Sakura said.

Naruto stayed silent, walking ahead of them, smiling slightly. Kakashi cocked his head, but continued silently.

"Naruto?" Sakura ran up, waving her hand in front of Naruto's face.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Naruto responded.

"We past Ichiraku." She said.

"I know. I had somewhere else in mind this time." Naruto replied, walking forward.

Sakura stopped walking for a few seconds.

'Poor Sakura, all these surprises seem to be freaking her out.' Naruto thought.

The trio finally stopped in front of Yakiniku Q, a korean style restaurant.

"Yakiniku? Sweet." Sakura almost started to drool a little, before remembering that she had to pay for it.

"You'd better not eat like a pig, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, Naruto just ran inside.

Naruto patted his stomach after eating. He still wanted to leave a good impression on Sakura, so he didn't eat nearly as much as he could've, but he still ate twice as much as Sakura. He wasn't sure how much he ate compared to Kakashi-sensei, since he never saw him take off his mask.

"That was good, thanks Sakura-chan! I'll see you guys later, I gotta head to the Library!" Naruto said, grabbing his jacket and running out.

A minute passes.

"Did he just say the Library?" Sakura asked.

"I think so." Kakashi replied.

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe he changed more than we thought during his time with Jiraiya." Kakashi said.

Naruto realized something during the first hour he spent at the Library. He picked up on Jutsu's really easy, at least where understanding was concerned, as soon as he was finished reading about a Jutsu, it was like he had been taught it by a really good teacher. It just came naturally to him. His chakra control was still fairly bad, and that was holding him back, but as soon as he worked on that, there were all sorts of new options open to him.

Naruto grabbed his book.

'Naruto Uzumaki can understand a page's contents with a glance.' Naruto finished the sentence and turned his attention back to the Jutsu books he had picked out.

Naruto spent the rest of the day at the Library, going through every book on Jutsu he could find, absorbing the information as quickly as he could find it. That night Naruto only had one thought.

'It's time to have some fun.'