Catch you on the Flip Side
Chapter I: Training with Mom
Naruto smiled as he stood still in training ground forty-seven. In his right hand swirled a perfectly formed Rasengan. "Rasengan!" he yelled, as he leaped forward, driving the A-Rank attack ninjutsu into a training post. Where the swirling ball of destructive chakra landed, the wood of the training post disintegrated completely, pulverized into it's component atoms by the technique. The entire middle of the post was consumed, and the top teetered for a moment before it fell toward the young boy. Naruto smirked as the top of the post dropped toward his head, and at the last moment reinforced his leg with chakra and kicked the post away from him. It soared through the air, landing several meters from where he stood.
From behind him, his mother Namikaze Kushina smiled. Her nine year old son was becoming such a good ninja. Not that she would ever tell his that outright, though. The child seemed to not only adore any praise given to him, he also used it to feed his already inflated ego. He already saw himself as a prodigy with the potential to surpass his father, the Yondaime Hokage, and each compliment on his ninja skills only seemed to inflate his sense of self worth. Kushina doled out her praise in very small quantities, if at all, in order to try and make him humble. She was quick with punishments and criticisms as well, for the same reason. Despite all of that, she had to admit that Naruto was still a good boy, nearly always doing what was right, once he managed to penetrate the fog of his own greatness.
"Naruto!" she snapped. "Why did you let the log fall toward your head?" He frowned at his mother.
"I was setting it up for the kick. I wanted it to land to my right. He pointed at the half-smashed log lying far to his right."
Kushina frowned again. "What if there had been enemy shinobi nearby? A fancy stunt like that might look cool, but it could get you killed in a real battle. We are ninja, not exhibition fighters. We take the safest and most efficient route to our goals, not the flashiest looking. Next time if you your father's technique on the training post, you will make sure to control it's fall away from you, so you do not have to kick it away. Do you understand?"
Naruto kept his frown, but nodded. "Yes, Mother," he replied. He understood, but he loved to showboat his skills. There wasn't a single academy student anywhere near his skill level, not even the seniors, and he loved to show off his power. When he impressed people, they smiled at him and wanted to make friends. Some of the crazy girls at the academy had even made a Naruto fan club! He pretended to barely tolerate it, but in actuality, he thought having his own fan club was awesome.
Kushina smiled once more. "Now, we'll review the various bunshin," she stated. "What is a bunshin technique?" she asked her son.
"A bunshin technique creates a clone of the person performing the jutsu, composed of either chakra or an element." replied Naruto in a bored tone of voice. He had been over this countless times.
"Good." said Kushina. "Now, name all of the known Bunshin jutsu, their element, if any, and their strengths and weaknesses."
Naruto thought for a moment. "Well, there is the standard bunshin technique, the Bunshin no Jutsu. It's an E-Rank technique which creates an intangible copy that can only be dispelled by the caster, or by being bombarded with a stronger chakra technique, which is any technique really since it's very weak. It's only good for confusing and distracting enemies. It's usually only used by genin because it's so easy to detect and dispel. It works great on civilians, though." He thought for another moment. "The other chakra-only bunshin is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which is A-Rank. It creates a clone composed of a chakra reinforced shell filled with a real chakra circulatory system. They can perform ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, and are capable of independent thought. Physically, they are almost as strong and as fast as their creator. There are two variations of this technique, the first of which is the standard Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which creates a single heavily reinforced clone capable of taking several hits before dispelling depending on the endurance and chakra capacity of the caster. It's downside is that is requires half of the total chakra reserves of the caster, draining them to 50 percent or less when used. It cannot be used more than once, or the caster will suffer fatal or near-fatal chakra exhaustion." Naruto paused for a moment. "The second variation is the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which creates a variable number of clones, determined by how much chakra is used to perform the jutsu and the caster's chakra control. The clones created from this technique are much less durable, dispelling in only one strike, but they have all the other advantages of the primary technique. They are good for fighting large numbers of opponents who are on a lower level than the caster, and for training. They are weak against ninja who specialize in area of effect techniques, though they are great against a single taijutsu specialist."
Kushina was impressed, though she fought not to show it. She was continually amazed that Naruto took the time to not only read every scroll she suggested to him, but also to go back and study them regularly to make sure his knowledge was complete. It also helped that he knew the Kage Bunshin technique, which she had taught him two years before as a training aid. Because of that technique he was able to take in knowledge at a phenomenal rate, and perfect jutsu very quickly.
"Good job, Naruto," she said in a normal tone of voice. "Now, how about elemental clones?"
Naruto smiled. "There are clones for both of the solid elements, water and earth. There are no wind, fire, or lightning clones, however, as those elements are too chaotic to create a solid construct out of. Water clones take hardly any chakra or control to create, and can be made with a single one-handed seal. An average genin could create ten or more water clones. However, they also have many weaknesses. They can only travel a limited distance from their creator before they are dispelled, and physically they are less than 10% as strong as their maker. They can be dispelled by a single strike like a Tajuu Kage Bunshin. Unlike Kage Bunshin, the chakra from the technique does not return to the caster when they are dispelled or their memory, so they cannot be used for training. Their worst weakness is that like most water techniques, they require a large source of water to be very near the caster. The farther away the source or water, or the more scarce it is, the more chakra this technique takes, making it worthless in dry climates. They are very useful for close quarters weapons users, as many of them can be made easily and weapons are replicated out of water as well, including any special properties the weapons may have."
Kushina nodded, and motioned with her hand for the blond haired boy to continue.
"The earth clone, or Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu, is very different from the water clone. They take more chakra to create than fifty water clones, at least. They are made of solid or semi-solid earth, sand, rock, or other inert substance. The denser and heavier the substance the caster chooses to make them from, the more chakra they take to create. Their durability also depends on what substance they are made from. An earth clone made of mud takes the least amount of chakra, about as much as a single Tajuu Kage Bunshin. They can take much more damage than even a reinforced Kage Bunshin, and are the only bunshin that is physically stronger than the caster. The stronger the substance they are made of and the more chakra poured into the jutsu, the stronger the bunshin. Tsuchi Bunshin can only use taijutsu and non-elemental ninjutsu, like the replacement and summoning techniques. Like water bunshin, they do not have a real mind, but using an optional seal when casting the jutsu allows for a weak mental link between the caster and the Tsuchi Bunshin, permitting the caster to relay instructions to the bunshin and for the caster to see and hear what it experiences. Usually, only Jounin and above can create Tsuchi Bunshin, because of their chakra requirements." Naruto paused, looking his mother in the eye. "I suspect there are other bunshin techniques, but these are the only ones I know so far."
Kushina smiled. "That's very good Naruto. There are other bunshin techniques, one of which is the insect clone technique, created by the Aburame clan here in Konoha. There are also several genjutsu techniques which create clones, though they aren't real replications. I too suspect there are several more bunshin techniques that I haven't previously heard of, though I can't even guess what they would be. Tomorrow we will continue your katas, and then have a review of the replacement technique and similar jutsu. I want you to review those techniques after dinner tonight, so that you are ready for them."
Naruto smiled. "Does that mean we're done for today, Mom?" He really wanted to go hang out with his friends and impress his fan club. He loved to train and get stronger, but he also liked to socialize and show off his skills. His best friends Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji were expecting him to come and visit this afternoon, and he didn't want to disappoint them.
"You're all done for today, Naruto. Make sure you're home for dinner tonight, and don't forget to eat all your snacks this afternoon as well," replied Kushina. Because of Naruto's massive chakra reserves, he had to eat at least 10-15 thousand calories a day to replenish them, depending on how much chakra he used. Kushina made him carry around a storage scroll with dozens of huge home made meals, and eat one of them every few hours. His favorite food of all time was ramen, but he was not allowed to eat it very often, as it contained mostly empty calories and almost no vitamins or minerals.
Kushina walked up to Naruto and gave him a hug and kiss goodbye. "Eew, Mom!" exclaimed the nine year old academy student. He stuck his tongue out at her, then ran toward town, smiling and laughing. Kushina smiled to herself as he ran off to meet his friends.
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Author's Note:
I appear to be on a writing streak, so I'm going with it. I don't know if this story will be any good or not, I guess that's for you folks to decide. The general outline for this story is in my "What If" story, which contains descriptions of stories I would like to write. I'm planning for this story to be a pretty standard "powerful!Naruto" story with a twist--Uchiha Sauske and Naruto's social standings, and place in Konoha are for all intents and purposes switched. This will lead to many interesting events unfolding, I hope, and much hilarity.
P.S.: Please read and review! I am hungry for feedback.