Naruto's POV

I picked up the note that Kai-chan left and read it out

Knowledge and skills are what you seek

Come along the strong and weak,

This place is for the young

For every daughter and every son

Kaitlyn G

"Um? Sasuke any idea?"

"Nope" we just stared at the note thinking and still nothing

"When she said the riddles would get harder she wasn't joking." Me and Sasuke were just spacing out until I heard some call me

"Hello... earth to Sasuke and Naruto are you even listening?"

"Huh?" we turned around to see Shikamaru, 'oh I forgot he was here'. "Sorry about that Shikamaru, we were just trying to figure out this riddle Kai-chan left." I explained

"Oh, so that's why you guys were spacing out, be careful Naruto you might hurt yourself." He said with a plain face then smiled

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!!!"

"Hey, look there's Choji, CHOJI WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" he shouted out to gain his attention, I forgot about what he said and just looked over to Choji who was walking up to us.

"Sorry Shikamaru" Choji apologised

"What happened to you?" Shikamaru questioned

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it, that guy who gave us that note, and balloons gave me all of these potato chips..." he showed us the potato chips, there was a lot "... If I would agree to stay behind until the paint balloon fight was over.

"So, that was the reason, okay then back to the riddle, can I see it." Shikamaru asked, I handed him the note and he read it. "Now this is only a hunch, but I think that it's the Academy." He deduced

"Well it's the only idea we got." Sasuke said

"TO THE ACADEMY!" I yelled out to only get yanked by the collar, from Sasuke. "Sasuke! What was that for?!"

"You idiot! We need a plan first"

"Yeah we need a plan if we're going to get that trainer of yours." Shikamaru said

"We?" Sasuke said giving Shikamaru a questioning look

"Yeah? We, it was fun here, so I would like to see what else that trainer of yours has instore. Choji will help too, Right?" Shikamaru gave choji a 'say yes' stare, choji nodded not wanting to go against him.

"Cool, you're going to help us, yeah this is really going to be the best, right Sasuke?" I turned to look at Sasuke, he said something like 'whatever, better chance of getting her' but I could tell that he was having fun.

"What's your plan any way?" Sasuke turned to look at Shikamaru

Shikamaru motioned us to come together, to discuss the plan he had. After hearing his plan, we all agreed on it.

"You guys got that?"

"Yup!" I nodded

"Sure" Sasuke nodded

"Yeah" Choji nodded while eating more chips

We headed off to the academy, since it was the only lead we had. Once we got there two girls we know from our class came running to our direction, then pushing me out of the way to get to Sasuke. Now I remember why I hated him, Sakura and Ino were clinging to Sasuke arms. From the looks of it he was not happy bumping into them, he had an annoyed face and I was still on the ground. I got up from the ground and went to Choji and Shikamaru, we tried to think about were to search for kai-chan. I looked around and spotted Kiba, Hinata and Shino, I yelled out to them and they all turned to see me and the others.

"Naruto! How's it going, you too Shikamaru and Choji" Kiba greeted

"N...N...Naruto" Hinata stuttered

I ran up to them saying hi and then asked if they have seen Kai-chan. Shino answered saying that Kai-chan came, gave them a note then left. He mentioned to Hinata saying that she had the note, she handed me the note then turned red and ran away. I was confused but went back to look at the note and read it to the guys, it said

Good going, you figured out the riddle to the third Checkpoint

Now I have only been at the academy for 2 weeks

But during that time, I had a favourite subject

That, is where I will be waiting for you

See ya there

Kaitlyn G

"So? Naruto, what subject is it?" Shikamaru asked

"It's... it's ugh?"

"You Don't Know!"

"Yeah, I do! It's umm...?"

"It's Art"

"Huh?" I turned around to see Sasuke "Sasuke? How do you know that?" I asked surprised that he got away from the two fangirls

"When I first meet her, she was drawing, and she told me that she loved art, so it must be the art class, that's where she'll be." He explained "Naruto don't you live with her."

"I ugh... shut up" he smirked "Any way, Kiba, Shino you guys want to help us" me and Sasuke explained to them what we were doing and our plan for when we find her.

"Hm? Well we got nothing better to do so why not" said Kiba and Shino nodded, we were about to leave until

"Sasuke-kun!" two fan girls shouted and Sasuke just kind of pushed all of us to run for it. We ran to the art class as fast as we could, losing the two fan girls in the process, Sasuke sighed in relief.

"Alright after running from some of Sasuke's fan girls, are you guys ready for the plan." Shikamaru announced, we all nodded and got ready to enter, Shikamaru sent Kiba and Shino away to wait for their signal.

We walked in, and there was buckets of paint balloons inside waiting for us, all the chairs and fragile stuff were gone leaving a clear room, then there she was, Kai-chan in the middle of the room facing her back to us then turns around to look at us.

With a smile on her face she said "So, you two found out that to win this game you're going to need more than just the two of you. In the ninja world you need to be strong, yes, but even the strong need help, sometimes, and that's where your friends and companions come into the picture." She explained "Oh, hey potato chip! Thanks for before" Kai-chan said to Choji and Choji seemed to kind of like the nickname that she gave him. I couldn't help but think how accurate it was.

"No, thank you for all the potato chips" Choji said to her with a smile

"Now I didn't get your friends names Naru-kun."

"Oh, this here with the potato chips is Choji and the other one is Shikamaru." I introduced them to her and they greeted her

"Hm? So Choji and Shikamaru" She said pointing at them after finding out their names, until... "nah... I'll just call you Potato Chip and you Pineapple head, OK"

"WHAT! PINEAPPLE HEAD!" Shikamaru yelled, me and Sasuke started to laugh and Choji too

"But trust me it's not as bad as the first nickname I gave Sasu-chan, it was Duc..." she didn't finish that because Sasuke threw a paint balloon at her, she dodged it.

"Don't even think about it." Sasuke said then gave her a scary stare with a dark aura around him

She smiled "Well then, let's begin." She started to throw paint at us, we tried our best to dodge them, but she was fast. I was the first to get hit, after Choji got hit and Shikamaru and Sasuke were the last ones to get hit. "Woowho, yeah! Now let's see if you guys can get me this time, I won't throw any, I'll just dodge." We picked up more paint balloons and started to attack, but even though she was in a small art room she could dodge all of them, Shikamaru then gave us a look say to start the plan. We got into position, and surrounded her at the back of the classroom then got ready to go at once but kai-chan noticed "Oh so you do have a plan after all, sorry boys but that won't work." We threw all at once but ended up hitting each other, she jumped to the front of the classroom then laughed "I told you guys to get me not each other" After she said that we started to smirk "Hm? What are yous smirking for?"

"Because we know that confronting you wouldn't work so that's why we had to come up with a plan." Shikamaru explained

"yes, but it didn't work" she said

"Who said the plan was over and that it was just us four. DO IT NOW!!!" after Shikamaru said that, Kiba and Shino came falling on top of kai-chan, they came out of the air vent that was above her. After we found out where she was hiding Shikamaru remembered that there was an air vent on the ceiling big enough for us kids, all we needed to do was lure her there under it.

Shino and Kiba were told to hold onto her and so Kiba was on top of her while Shino held on to her legs to keep her still. "What! Hey, let go!" she yelled out

"Naruto! Sasuke! Do it now!" Kiba yelled

We both threw a paint balloon at her, it went flying in her direction and in that time, she smiled. The paint balloons were a direct hit paint were all over her face, I jumped into the air and yelled "WE DID IT!!!" I turned over to Sasuke and we fist bumped, both of us smiling until...

"Poof!" Kai-chan was gone

"Wait what happen!?" I asked loudly, Kiba stood up after fall to the ground

"I know what happened, we've been up against nothing but a shadow clone, she tricked us."

"Damn! Of course, she would." Sasuke said then grunted his teeth

"Hey, hate interrupt, but this was where she was after she disappeared." Shino told us and there in his hand was another note