Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any Naruto characters.


Chapter 2: The Second Letter

A month had already passed and Naruto still had not heard back from Jiraiya. It was a month of barely paying attention in school, trying to convince Shikamaru to do something other than watch clouds, and trying to talk to Sakura. Those last two were met with a similar amount of success (zero), but Naruto wasn't ready to give up yet.

"Good morning Sakura-chan." Shikamaru had to admit he was impressed. Even after twenty-three punches, Naruto was as persistent as ever. Of course, he was equally disappointed by Naruto's stupidity (the punches to the head may have had something to do with this), but he was still impressed. "Ugh, go away Naruto, you're annoying!" was Sakura's predictable reply. "But Sakura-chan" Naruto was cut off by a lazy sounding voice. "So are you." Sakura was surprised, but that shock quickly turned to anger. "Who said that?" she demanded. "I did," was Shikamaru's reply. "Sure Naruto's annoying, but so are you. He's willing to talk to you anyway, you should do the same."

"Hahahahaha! Sakura, he just compared you to Naruto. Hahaha!"

"Shut up Ino! He doesn't know what he's talking about." This would be the first argument between the two that Shikamaru would eventually dub 'The Banshee Queens' and, ironically, Shikamaru would never realize that it was partly his fault. Great, the lazy boy thought. I stop her from yelling at Naruto and she finds someone even louder to yell at. Why couldn't I stay home today? Shikamaru's inner rant, and Sakura and Ino's yelling match were fortunately cut short by the arrival of their teacher, Iruka.

"Ok class, everyone quiet down. Today we're gonna do something special. The training posts are set up outside, so everyone line up and we'll head out." As the class lined up to go outside, Iruka heard the buzz of chatter as everyone speculated on what the special activity was. The guesses ranged from fighting each other (Kiba) to ninja hide-and-seek (Naruto) to a sleeping contest (Shikamaru). Ninja tag isn't a bad idea actually, Iruka mused. If the class behaves I may have to add a few games into the curriculum.


As the class reached the training field, Iruka stood in front of the training posts while the class stopped short to observe him. "Ok class, today we are going to do some target practice. The necessary weapons are next to Mizuki," he said, pointing to a white haired chunin sitting next to a crate filled with kunai. "When I call your name, go to Mizuki to retrieve eight kunai. You will then hold them between your fingers like this." The academy instructor demonstrated, holding a kunai between each finger and one between his thumb and index finger. "You will then take aim at the training post and throw them, like so." This sentence was punctuated by the chunin throwing all eight kunai at the post, embedding all eight into the wood.

"You'll notice that these kunai blunted, but they can still penetrate if thrown hard enough, as I just demonstrated. Therefore, I must insist that no one throws any of them at another student, or they will not be allowed to do this again. Is that understood?" After the general murmur of agreement from the students, Iruka turned his attention to the class roster. "Ok, first up, Aburame Shino."


Target practice went better than Iruka had expected it to. Most of the students seemed to be throwing in the general direction of the post, but a few seemed to know what they were doing. Shino managed to hit with four of his kunai, while Sasuke Uchiha had managed to hit with six of them. He was worried for a few students, such as Hinata Hyuuga, who hadn't managed to hit with even one, however. Their ninja careers are just starting though, I'm sure they'll improve over time. As he dismissed class for the day, Iruka believed that he was teaching a special group of future ninjas.


Naruto Uzumaki was feeling much less optimistic. "Aw man. I can't believe I only hit three of them," He complained as he began to leave with his lazy friend. "That's not so bad," Shikamaru assured him. "I only managed to hit with one." "Yeah but you only threw one before deciding that it was too much work and going off to watch clouds." The lazy child put his tilted his head upwards to look at the sky. "Yeah. Today was an alright day after all. I still should have stayed home though." Naruto suppressed the urge to sigh. "Why are you so lazy?" "Why are you so hyper?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"Just answer the question."

"That's too much work."

"Shikamaru!"

"Naruto."

The two continued to bicker until they reached Shikamaru's house. "Did you want to come in?" Shikamaru asked his hyper friend.

"No thanks," Naruto replied. "I gotta go see the old man about something important."

"You've been saying that for a week."

"Well today's the day that something gets here. I can feel it, so see ya later." With that, Naruto began walking to the Hokage's office, saying to himself "today's the day" the entire way there. Maybe I should make some less strange friends, Shikamaru thought to himself as he headed inside. Nah, that sounds like way too much work.


To Naruto's surprise, today really was the day. When he got to the Hokage's office, the secretary told him that the Third was busy, but that a letter had arrived for him.

"Really?" Naruto asked as he began bouncing up and down. "Who's it from? Is it from Jiraiya? What does it say?" The woman smiled at him kindly and held out an envelope. "Don't you want to read it yourself Naruto?"

"Oh yeah. Thanks." The blonde took the letter from her with a shaky hand. After a month of waiting, he would finally hear from his new friend. The boy briefly wondered if he would have to wait a month every time for a response, but he quickly abandoned this train of thought and opened the letter.


Hello again Naruto. It's been a while but the great Toad Sage has finally decided to grace you with his words of wisdom once more. I got your letter from the old man by the way. You sure do love ramen. You know that stuff isn't good for you right? If that's all you eat you'll never grow up to be as awesome as me.

How's school life coming along? The old man told me the academy is a lot different from when I was young (insert dinosaur joke here). He told me that you learn a lot of the village history and theory behind jutsu now. We actually graduated by the time we were six, it seems kinda strange that you just started. You shoulda seen me back then kid, I was amazing. Of course I was the best member of my team. I could do all kinds of cool jutsu's and… I'm rambling, but my point is you're not too young to start learning practical ninja skills. One of the first things I learned out of the academy was tree walking, and since I could do it at your age, I figured you might like to as well. I sent a scroll to the old man for you; consider it a late birthday present. Just ask him and he'll explain to you how it works.

There's a lot that I want to talk to you about Naruto, but these letters aren't really an efficient way of communicating. I'm working on something for that but I still need a little more time. Once I finish it, I'll deliver it to you personally, so we can meet face to face. Sound good?

Your friend,

The Gallant Jiraiya


The secretary was watching Naruto, waiting for him to try to barge into the Hokage's office to claim his scroll. Unfortunately, knowing something's about to happen and being able to stop it are two different things. This was made apparent to her when the small child ducked under her lunge and burst through the Hokage's door yelling "Jiji, gimme my scroll!"

I really should be used to it by now. The woman mused as she walked into the office behind Naruto. Oh well, might as well go along with it. "Hokage-sama, you have a visitor," the woman said with a smirk on her face.

"I see that," the Third replied while looking up from his paperwork. "Thanks for the heads up." The village leader then reached into his desk and pulled out a scroll. "I was going to give this to you later, but I guess now's as good a time as any. Have you already learned about chakra at the academy?" The small blonde scratched his head, trying to remember what he had heard on the topic.

"Iruka-sensei said something about it, but I wasn't really paying attention."

The Third sighed. "Then listen up while I explain it again. You see Naruto, ninjas use chakra in a variety of ways." And the aged man continued his lecture that he was sure the small blonde wasn't listening to.


Well there's the second chapter. The story is moving along pretty slowly but I'll try to move it along quicker. The next chapter includes Naruto's first meeting with Jiraiya and his attempts at learning to tree walk. Anyway, let me know what you think.