Don't Give Up

Allison Illuminated

::

Academy II

::

The explosion ripped through the dirt ground of the training field, launching Naruto backward and sending smoke pluming into the air, a deep crater left behind in the ground where a decent clone had been standing a second earlier.

Iruka stared at the crater in mild shock, too stunned to pay attention to his student clambering to his feet from under the tree he had crashed into. "Naruto..."

Naruto smiled weakly at his instruction, trying to ignore the world spinning around him. "Tha's na s'pposed t'happen, is it?"

"It's… not exactly what I would have in mind," Iruka admitted. "You may have created an effective explosive jutsu. Not many Genin, even, can do this much damage to so many training grounds. You have a talent for it."

If the chunin on patrol had been walking past the east side of the village, he would have stopped and stared; from Training Grounds Twenty-One to Twenty-Five, giant craters pocked the worn ground. The earth jutsu team would be working long hours fixing the grounds again. Naruto's awe at the power of jutsu had worn off last week. Now, after three weeks of trying to make his Clone Jutsu work, he was beginning to feel exasperated.

But that didn't matter! True Hokages never gave up, no matter what! Naruto knew his explosions were getting a little smaller every time. Just a few more weeks, and he'd be ready for graduation!

He shook his head to make the spinning go away. "Alright, 'Ruka-sensei, let's go to the next training ground!"

"No, Naruto."

WHAT? "WHAT?"

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging his old scar. "Look, I get that you want to learn this jutsu, but I can't come out and supervise you every time you want to practice. You need to find a way to control your chakra, or else I'm going to make you wait until we start working on this jutsu in class."

Naruto's world shattered around him. Iruka-sensei doesn't want to teach me anymore? Naruto widened his eyes in panic and ran to Iruka's side. "But that's not for a whole year!"

"I know." Iruka looked down at Naruto and sighed, pressing his lips tight together. "Your chakra develops as you age, you know. It's possible that waiting a year will allow you to do the jutsu without, ah..." He waved a diplomatic hand at the crater behind them.

"But I need to be the best to be Hokage!" Naruto protested.

Iruka gestured for the two of them to sit down. Plopping onto the ground in a pouting cross-legged position, Naruto huffed and looked away. "Naruto."

"What."

"Look at me."

Naruto looked at Iruka. His teacher was frowning, but his eyes were as kind as always. "I don't wanna stop."

"I'm not telling you to stop." Iruka sighed and settled down at Naruto's side. "Naruto, how long do you think it takes to become Hokage?"

How long? Naruto blinked, trying to figure out the answer. "Well, Jiji's super old and he's Hokage… So I guess, uh-" His eyes widened in horror. "OH NO! Only super old people get to be Hokage?!"

Iruka laughed. "Well, not everyone is as old as Hokage-sama, but yes. Most of our Hokages only became Hokage after they served for twenty, thirty years. The youngest Hokage was Minato and he was twenty three."

"That is old!" Naruto exclaimed, to which Iruka looked vaguely chagrined.

"Maybe to you, but you're only ten, Naruto. You've got time to train, to get strong. I don't know if you have enough knowledge about chakra and technique to pull off the Clone Jutsu just yet."

"Well, that's why I have you." Naruto gave Iruka a cheeky grin. "If I just hafta know something, then you can teach me!"

"I will teach you, Naruto," Iruka said. "It'll just have to be in class, when everyone else learns about it."

"But-"

Once more, Iruka sighed. Reaching over, he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto… Look, I'm not going to stop helping you outside of class altogether. Everyone deserves to learn how to read, and just because it comes harder to you than some kids shouldn't stop you from being able to read books in class like everybody else. But I can't keep doing this every day. If you make a real breakthrough, I promise I'll come out and see, but until then, I need you to put your energy here into trying harder in class, okay?"

That was what Iruka said, but all Naruto heard was I can't keep doing this. No matter what happened at Academy, Iruka-sensei had never stopped believing in him. If he didn't want to keep training him, then- then- Naruto wasn't sure what that meant. He doesn't care? He doesn't want me to be Hokage? Naruto's eyes watered and he angrily wiped at them.

"Don't give up."

Naruto blinked as Iruka got to his feet. "Huh?"

"You're a bright kid, Naruto." Iruka smiled at him, adjusting his ninja headband. "You've managed two of the three Academy jutsu a year before other kids and you have enough chakra to level half of Konoha's training fields. I know you're smart. Instead of coming up with crazy pranks, use that mental energy to figure out how to control your chakra, okay? I know you'll figure it out."

Naruto didn't really register what he had said until he was already walking away. "Wait! Iruka-sensei!"

"Yes, Naruto?" Iruka turned around and regarded him.

Why don't you want to help me anymore? The question never left his lips. Instead, anger swelled in his chest; he would show Iruka that he should keep practicing with him. Standing up, Naruto pointed at Iruka and yelled, "I'm gonna prove you wrong, dattebayo. I'll do the Clone Jutsu without your help, you'll see!"

Iruka should have walked back over and kept helping him; in reality, the academy instructor just smiled and walked away.

Naruto stared at his crater in utter desolation. Three weeks of training, and that was the best he could do? Worse, now he had lost his only teacher (and one of the only people in the village who could stand his presence, a voice in the back of his mind whispered). What was he supposed to do? He didn't know how to control his chakra. Why would Iruka tell him to learn something without teaching it to him? He was a teacher; it didn't make sense.

Don't give up.

There was no way Naruto would ever give up! He'd prove Iruka wrong and learn chakra control, and that would be that.

::

Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty!

Sakura let the pebble drop off of her palm and cheered in excitement. Finally! I finally managed a minute! "Isn't that amazing?" she asked her stuffed animals. One particularly expressionless bear stared back.

For the past few weeks, Sakura had done little but work on her chakra exercises, much to the confusion of her friends and classmates. Even Sasuke didn't seem to know what to make of her new phase- and if Sakura was being honest with herself, neither did she. Ino and her were even back on speaking terms, for crying out loud! Something had changed, and Sakura couldn't quite figure it out.

She could feel how much her chakra reserves had expanded, in any case. They were like a living, muscle. Sakura felt stronger, lighter on her feet – if this was what being a ninja felt like physically, then she was all for it. She had been burning off so much energy that she had even forced herself to stop dieting so she could work for longer. Maybe I've gone crazy!

But even if I have, do I want to stop?

In between her knees, Sakura's copy of Chakra Manipulation and Mastery was opened to the fourth chapter. Her checkout from the library had expired; Sakura had begged her parents and they had agreed to get her her own copy. "Let's see," she muttered. "Why does it say all these exercises require more chakra!? I've got plenty, right?"

And suddenly, there it was. On the page, a man crouched sideways on a wall, a kunai held between his teeth. "The Art of Wall Walking," the chapter header read. Sakura's eyes widened. Yes. This was what she wanted to learn; real ninja skills, not something silly with a pebble! Leaning in, she skimmed over the first page.

Exercise. Exercise. Strength. Chakra-reinforced muscles. Exercise.

Sakura hung her head in utter despair. "Why is half of chakra about exercise?"

The control, she figured she could manage. Sure, she'd been practicing for only about a month, but it couldn't be too hard, right? And if Sakura could control her chakra, pushing it into her muscles couldn't be all that bad. But the book made the situation crystal clear.

If Sakura ever wanted to do things with chakra beyond basic exercises, she would need to start working out, stat.

So, with a grudging heart, Sakura found herself clearing all her meticulous notes about technique off her desk and started drafting an exercise plan.

#1 – Running

#2 – Sit-Ups

#3 – Push-ups?

#4 –

What exercises were there besides those three?

Sakura banged her head against her desk with a moan. "I don't wanna do this..."

Suddenly, she got an idea. There was no way in all the world that she was going to do any of this alone; that would just be miserable. No, if I want to get any of this done, I need to find a training buddy.

And Sakura knew just where to start!

::

"Oh, Sa-su-keeeee!"

Sasuke turned around and glared at Sakura, who had interrupted his training. "What do you want?"

Sakura gave him her best angelic grin and batted her eyelashes. "Would you like to train with me? I have a whole exercise plan worked out-"

"No!"

"What?!" Sakura gaped at Sasuke as he turned away and resumed his kata. "But you didn't even here what my plan was! Don't you care about getting stronger?"

Okay, so maybe that was a little more manipulative than what Sakura had been going for, but hey, if it worked, what was the harm?

Sasuke slowly turned back around, this time with a violent fire in his eyes. Sakura wilted a bit and took a step backward. "I don't have time for pathetic fangirls who have nothing better to do that come up with ways to get closer to me," he snarled. "Go away."

"...But I was being serious," Sakura mumbled. Tears prickled in the corners of her eyes- what? Sasuke's rejected me plenty of times but I haven't cried over it in years. "I-"

His anger didn't leave, but Sasuke's tone softened a bit. "Well, maybe next time you're serious about something you show it instead of groveling!"

Show that you're serious.

Sakura couldn't help it – sheburst into tears and ran away. Sasuke didn't want her around even when she wanted to do something he cared about! How was she supposed to find a training partner now?

::

Naruto tiptoed up the aisle and sat down next to Shikamaru, a wild grin on his face.

Shikamaru stared at his classmate. "Was that supposed to be sneaky?"

As if he hadn't heard the question, Naruto pointed right in Shikamaru's face and yelled, "Ha! I'm sitting here already so now you can't make me leave!"

"Uh..." Blinking, Shikamaru tried to figure out the blond enigma before him. "You know that Chouji usually sits there, right?"

Naruto waved a hand, scooting into Shikamaru's side and wiggling his butt into the bench to get comfortable. "Oh, that's fine! I can be super skinny, dattebayo!"

"You're just going to come back if I kick you out, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

Shikamaru groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. This guy… "Troublesome."

::

Sakura shifted nervously from foot to foot on the other side of the street across for the Yamanaka flower shop. She had been standing there for ten minute, trying to build up the courage to cross the street and find Ino. Something about the sting of Sasuke shutting her down was making her nervous; if Ino said no as well, who else was she supposed to ask to exercise with her? Naruto? No way!

This is silly! All I need to do is ask her, why is this so hard?

But are we even friends anymore? Will she say yes? Will she care?

She wanted to claw at her hair. "Why is this so hard?!"

"Why is what so hard?"

Sakura jolted backward in surprise to find Ino standing next to her, giving her a curious look. "Ah! Uh, um, Ino! Hi! I, uh-"

Ino stared at her, her pupil-less eyes as impossible to read as ever. "You were staring at my house? I was waiting for you to come in, but you didn't, so..."

She knows I was out here?! Sakura opened and closed her mouth a few times, words escaping her. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you?"

To her chagrin, Ino smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh, I kind of figured that. Want to come inside?"

And Sakura realized that she really, really did.

In the past few years, Ino's room had barely changed. There was still her vanity, covered with make-up Sakura had never ever heard of; her costume trunk, which now had an oversized stuffed fox sitting on it; and her big bed with the gauzy canopy, a family heirloom that had been perfect for playing save the princess as little kids (they had taken turns being the ninja). A perfect vase of white lilies, always fresh, sat on the dresser.

Ino pulled Sakura in by the hand because she was too busy staring at everything and anything around her. They fell onto the bed together, and Ino waved a hand in front of her face. "What did you want to talk about?"

Sakura pulled herself into a sitting position and took a deep breath to rid herself of the nostalgia. "I-" I have this great idea to get Sasuke-kun – don't you think he'll just want to date us if we work out more?

Except Sakura didn't think that. Now, she wasn't sure Sasuke would ever want to date her at all. Show that you're serious. Sasuke-kun had given her that advice. Maybe…

So, instead of what she had been planning to say...

"I really need a partner to exercise with me because the book says that the only way I can ever do any of the advanced exercises is if my physical energies meet up with my spiritual energies and I tried to do the wall-walking but I couldn't hold myself up on the wall and-" Sakura babbled until Ino held up a hand to cut her off.

"Wait, you're asking me to… exercise with you?"

Sakura blushed and looked down at Ino's skeptical tone. "Yeah. I don't wanna do it alone."

Ino frowned. "Why me?"

"Well..." Sakura traced a circle on the bed, blushing deeper. "I asked Sasuke-kun if he wanted to train with me first, and he said no, and I wasn't sure- He's the only one who trains like that outside of class, y'know? And I-"

"Ha! I knew it!" Ino sneered and shook her head. "This is just another one of your plots to date Sasuke-kun before me, isn't it! Well I'm not gonna fall for it! No way am I going to lose to you, Forehead-Girl- Wait, are you crying?"

Sakura definitely wasn't crying again; her lower lip was just trembling a bit. "It wasn't for that, okay?" she shouted back.

Ino sat back, shaken but still skeptical. "Then what was it for? You know Sasuke doesn't like-"

"I don't care! I asked him for help and he called me a pathetic fangirl and told me I wasn't serious!" Sakura cried.

"But why would you ask him for help?"

"I told you, he's the only one who works so hard outside of class. You know that's one of the reasons I admire him!" Sakura dug her fingers into her sock in agitation, leaning forward. "I though he at least cared-"

"Ha!" Ino scoffed. "Like he would care."

Ino's words dug even deeper into Sakura's wounded emotions. "Well, at least he's honest about how he feels about me! And I thought that maybe if it wasn't about dating for once that he might actually see that I'm not just his fangirl but-"

"So you admit you were trying to gain Sasuke's affection!" Ino lifted her head triumphantly, vindicated in her thoughts.

"MAYBE IT ISN'T ABOUT SASUKE-KUN, OKAY?"

Sakura's voice echoed through the Yamanaka household, bouncing down the stairs. Taken aback, Ino couldn't do anything but gape at Sakura, who was breathing heavily, halfway in disbelief about what she had just said. Not about Sasuke…? But- No, I came here because it wasn't about Sasuke, didn't I? She threw up her hands in agitation. How did this even become a conversation about Sasuke in the first place? I was asking about exercising!

"Ino? Sakura? Are you alright up there?" Ino's mom called up the stairs.

Ino blinked, coming back to her sense. "Yeah, Mom, we're alright!" she called back.

Sakura was not alright. Sakura wasn't sure what she was. She felt kind of light, like waking up from a strange dream to find the morning sun reflecting onto her face. I…

"Who else was I supposed to ask to exercise with me?" she found herself saying. "The only people I ever talk to are Sasuke, who hates me, and you and everyone else who wants to date Sasuke, and all of you also hate me. The only other person who talks to me is Naruto! I mean, god, Naruto. What was I supposed to do?" A shameful hot tear trickled down Sakura's face. "I just want to not be pathetic. I mean, I've barely beaten anyone in out class in a fight-"

"You've beaten me," Ino muttered.

"-and I've finally found something I'm good at and I just-" Sakura sniffled. "I thought that maybe he cared, beyond dating- And was that so crazy? We sit together in class every day! He- he knows me, and I- But no, he didn't care at all! He didn't care that I want to get better! And all because of stupid Shikamaru and stupid chakra and the stupid book and I'm stupid for thinking I could be a better ninja in the first place and-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Shika? What does Shika have to do with all of this?" Ino tapped her cheek. "I wouldn't exactly call him stupid..."

Sakura's shoulders slumped. "People with ambition have to do real work, or else they never get what they want," she muttered. "That's what he said."

"He told you that?!" Ino burst out laughing. "But he's the laziest person in Konoha!"

"That's what I said."

Ino looked relieved, like she didn't have to care about what Sakura was saying anymore. "Well, if you're all worked up about something that idiot said, then don't be! I mean, you're already way ahead of the class on chakra stuff, and you're still number one for the girls, so-"

"But he's right." Sakura said it with conviction she hadn't realized she had. "I have to- I need to-"

She trailed off, leaving Ino confused again. "Ambition? You're ambitious?"

Sakura's brow furrowed, but she nodded. "Yeah?"

"For what? Sasuke?"

Sakura tried to imagine it like she always did – Sasuke would come home from a long day of work, and she would be waiting in the kitchen with her ninja headband – no, wait, apron – no, headband- what? - and he would say- I don't have time for pathetic fangirls-

"No!"

Ino was taken aback. Not Sasuke, she mouthed; after a long moment, she stared at Sakura. "Well," she said slowly, "if your ambition isn't about Sasuke, then… what is it?"

"I..." Sakura blinked, feeling empty inside. "I don't know."

A gust of wind slipped through the wind, rustling the lilies in the jar.

"I hate exercise," Ino said softly.

Sakura smiled back, feeling weak. "So do I."

"I have to work the store some days."

"I know."

"Yamanaka are supposed to have more physical than spiritual chakra by nature." Ino drummed the comforter. "It's for our family justu, or something. I can't take it too far, even if I want to. And the elders dictate what jutsu we can learn as academy students, so I don't know if I'll be able to help you, much. My father will want me to wait until Iruka-sensei gets to chakra before I start the exercises. He already makes me meditate and do family exercises. I don't think I can try any of the things you've been working on."

"I don't have a clan," Sakura whispered.

Ino sighed, reached out and put a hand over Sakura's. "I know."

"Do you hate me?"

The look that Ino gave Sakura spoke magnitudes; she just wasn't exactly sure what they were. "Tell you what. How about we meet here an hour before Academy starts every day and we'll see what we can do, okay? I can't promise you anything, but-"

Ino stopped talking when she found Sakura's arms thrown around her. Smiling, she hugged her old friend back. "Thank you," Sakura told her, her face pressed into her lavender scented hair. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"You aren't stupid, Sakura," Ino murmured back. "You're already a way better ninja than I'll ever be."

And for a moment, Sakura believed that maybe, just maybe, Ino was right.

::

Shikamaru hated when things didn't make sense.

Usually, that meant that he had to do something about it.

Take, for example, class today. It should by all rights have been a typical Monday. Instead, Naruto (who had made a habit of being the third man at Shikamaru and Chouji's table) wasn't even pretending to pay attention and was clearly ten feet deep in an unbreakable funk. Sakura and Ino burst into class, together, ten minutes late, completely out of breath. When Iruka had questioned them about where they had been, Ino shrugged and Sakura just appologized before proceeding to walk in the opposite direction from Sasuke when Ino went to take her normal seat. That seemed to boggle even Iruka, really everyone in the class except for Naruto, who ought to have been the most interested in the new development in his blatantly obvious crush!

Well, Sasuke didn't seem confused either, but he was Sasuke. That was expected.

"What's wrong with everyone today?" Choiji whispered to Shikamaru after Iruka tore a long, longing gaze away from Naruto and started teaching.

"I have absolutely no idea."

::

"Alright, so this is the kanji for transfer," Iruka said, pointing at two characters he had underlined on the scroll for the Clone Jutsu. He and Naruto sat together in Naruto's darkened apartment, crouching over Naruto's cluttered kitchen table. Naruto shifted back and forth unhappily as Iruka taught, only partially taking in what he was being told. All he could think was he doesn't want to teach me. "I want you to practice writing that one now, alright? The jutsu talks about transferring an image of yourself to another place, as opposed to your chakra itself. It's important to remember that this transfer is actually done in your mind, not outside of your body. In that way, the Clone Jutsu is closely related to genjutsu, or illusions."

Naruto scribbled the kanji down on his piece of paper a few times, his hand-writing somewhere in between horrible and illegible. I don't care if Iruka-sensei want to teach me or not! I'm gonna learn it no matter what. "So all you gotta do is think about it? That doesn't seem that hard."

"Exactly!" Iruka beamed at Naruto. "And that's where the hand signs come in, right? The image in your mind provides the template, and the handsigns dictate how that image is portrayed."

"But I don't understand," Naruto said. "Why d'you gotta have an image of yourself, dattebayo? Can't I just copy myself?"

Iruka's beam vanished, and he sighed. Naruto's brief moment of accomplishment left just as fast, leaving him right back to feeling like a chastised six-year-old. "The Clone Jutsu isn't a true clone, Naruto. There are much more advanced jutsus where you do create true clones, but those can be extremely dangerous and require more chakra than any academy student has, even you. As long as you keep trying to do the jutsu like that, you won't succeed. You're too young to invent a true jutsu from scratch. It requires a lot of theory that even more Chuunin don't know."

No fair! Naruto was already projecting enough chakra to learn the more advanced clones; he just knew it! Why did he have to learn a technique he was bad at when another one was much easier?

He told Iruka as much.

"The hard things are often the things most worth doing, Naruto," Iruka told him. "Besides, you won't be able to graduate from the academy unless you learn how to make a clone."

Naruto blinked. Blinked again. And got a brilliant idea. "So if I learn the jutsu, then I can graduate?" he exclaimed.

Iruka suddenly looked wary. "Yes, but-"

"Yatta! Okay, Iruka-sensei, I gotta go practice the vision thing now!" Naruto jumped to his feet and ran over to his shoes. Putting them on faster that anything else he had done that day, he grinned at Iruka and threw the door open.

"Naruto, wait-"

But Naruto was already out the door. He had a new plan, a plan that would be certain to win the village's approval and make him Hokage! After all, how many ninjas could say that they had graduated from the academy early?

::

The first week that Sakura and Ino trained together in the morning, they did five rounds of ten push-ups, ten sit-ups, and a lap around the Yamanaka compound.

The second week, they did five rounds of twenty push-ups and sit-ups and two laps around the Yamanaka compound.

The third week, they added a sixth round and started doing pull-ups as well.

The exercise was hard and exhausting. Sakura had never kept to a strict exercise regime in her life, even counting the academy, and it took a toll on her. She started sleeping ten hours a night. She was late to class for the first time in her life, and she was too tired to even care. Worst of all, the Yamanaka elders strictly forebode Ino from doing their work out two days in a row, so half the time, all Ino could do was sit by and watch her train.

But it worked.

Sakura could feel herself getting stronger, and it was incredible. Halfway through the third week, some of her constant soreness started to fade away. Her pebble exercise lasted for five minutes, then ten, then thirty. Because it was so easy and non-intrusive, Sakura could do the exercise during class and nobody would notice (except for that one time when she passed out and Naruto volunteered to take her to the nurse. That wasn't fun.)

Sakura still hated exercising with a burning passion. The physical activities themselves were miserable. But, given how much better it made everything else in her life, she wrote them off as a necessary evil.

And the best part of all was, without Sasuke to come between them, Ino had become her best friend again.

She didn't quite know what, exactly, she felt towards Sasuke. She still admired him and found him attractive, but it was… tainted, in a way. So, instead of dwelling on it, she just pushed those thoughts aside and focused on whatever was in front of her. More often than not, that was Chakra Manipulation and Mastery. Sakura had just about memorized the fourth chapter, the one that described tree walking.

There was one line she had zeroed in on. According to the book, once a ninja could do the pebble exercise for an hour straight, they were ready to move to tree walking. Sakura just needed half an hour longer, and she would be ready.

Maybe her study habits had gotten a little obsessive. Maybe nobody in the class but Ino knew quite what to expect from her anymore. Sakura was okay with that. It wasn't like their expectations of her had been accurate in the first place, she told herself.

On the fourth week, Sakura and Ino decided to try and lap Konoha instead of doing their normal running.

"This is insane," Ino muttered. They stood in front of the flower shop; she was busy tying her hair back into a tighter ponytail. "You know that Genin train by running laps around the village, right?"

Sakura shrugged. Once her mom had gotten wind of her morning training, Sakura had begged her to find a dress she could run in so she wouldn't have to wear shorts or pants. The end result of that extended shopping trip was a red qipao with cut sides that she could wear with tights. It was perfect; her mom had bought her three. Now, with her dress and a matching hairband, she didn't have to bother changing before working out like Ino. "You said you thought we were ready for it, didn't you?"

"Can I take that back?" Ino asked.

Sticking her tongue out at Ino, Sakura started jogging, already eyeing the village wall down the avenue. "C'mon, let's go! We can skip the Hokage monument if you really think it's too far."

Ino groaned and ran after her. "Slave driver."

No matter who was tired and who was ready to sprint ahead, they always ran together. They talked about nothing and everything. It was perfect.

To Sakura, it became obvious very quickly that running around the village was leagues harder than anything else they had done together. Ino was ready to quit before they even made it a fourth of the way around the wall. By the time they hit the quarter mark, Sakura was ready to follow Ino back to the flower shop.

"Come… on…" she wheezed. "Let's at least… make it… to… the end of the... training grounds."

"Do we have to?" Ino groaned, doubled over with both hands on her thighs. "I think I'm gonna puke."

And before Sakura could respond, Ino staggered over to the nearby railing and retched over the edge. Sakura made a face and ran to her side. "Ino!"

Ino retched again; gagging and spitting over the edge, she hung her head. "Maybe we should be done for the morning."

Sakura was about to respond when she caught a glimpse of something yellow at one of the further training grounds. No… It couldn't be. But, sure enough, there he was; Naruto Uzumaki stood in the middle of a crater-filled field, staring straight ahead with intense concentration. Sakura widened her eyes when he launched into a combination of hand signs and shouted an inaudible jutsu name. For a moment, a hazy yellow outline appeared a few feet away from Naruto, who whooped in joy and started dancing. As soon as he did, the outline exploded, leaving a little crater where it had been. Flipping moods like a light switch, Naruto fell to the ground in despair.

"Hey, Ino," Sakura said, nudging her with her elbow. "Look over there."

Ino gagged and shook her head. "I'm a little busy right now! God, this is what I get for letting you talk me into starting to eat breakfast again! I had great diet going, and now all that extra food Mom's been making is, well-" She waved at the grass below the wall.

"No, really. Is that Naruto?"

Looking up just in time to see Naruto's jutsu explode again, Ino hummed. "You're right. What do you think he's doing?"

Sakura stared at Naruto, trying to pick expression out from a distance. Naruto, the biggest idiot in the class, is out practicing jutsu? "I think he's trying to make a clone," Sakura said faintly.

Ino snorted. "Clone Jutsu isn't supposed to explode."

Sakura laughed, but her eyes didn't leave Naruto. "Sure, but we haven't even tried it yet, have we? That's material from next year."

"Maybe he's trying to impress you?" Ino pushed herself to her feet and nudged Sakura, he face starting to return to its normal color. "Come on, I feel like I swallowed a rat."

She let Ino lead her back to the flower shop, but for the rest of the day, all that Sakura could wonder about was Naruto.

::

Iruka wasn't sure what he expected when Naruto came to his class after school and begged him to let him show of his Clone Jutsu, dragging him off to one of the training grounds.

If I had had a choice, I would have kept teaching the kid. That's what Iruka had told himself for the past two months, even as the bitter guilt of watching Naruto disconnect further from class and shoot him bitter glances during their study sessions ate him inside. One-on-one training was favoritism, pure and simple, which was a dangerous proposition for a teacher responsible for thirty kids. His time with Naruto had begun to affect his grading and his sleep. Still, I feel bad for him. He's living on his own, most of the village hates him, and Shikamaru and Chouji are the only ones in class who tolerate him.

He wasn't sure why Shikamaru had decided to start letting Naruto hang around him, but Iruka was more than pleased that Naruto finally had some semblance of friends.

What Iruka hadn't expected was that Naruto would pull out an almost functional clone jutsu.

Unable to move due to intense concentration, Naruto could only smile at Iruka. Next to him, a semi-amorphous yellow and orange blob shimmered with barely contained power. "Look, Iruka-sensei, I did it!"

At Iruka's cue, Naruto dispelled the clone and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. Iruka remembered to shut his mouth and speak. "Wow. That's- Naruto, compared to where you were the last time you showed me, that's incredible."

Naruto beamed, and Iruka cursed his soft spot for the boy, and not for the last time. "I told you I'd be ready to graduate! I told you!"

Graduate? "When do you think you're graduating?"

"Next month!"

No. A million reasons no. Naruto was nowhere near mature enough to be on a Genin team- to go on missions- or worse of all, god forbid, kill people. Iruka wouldn't stand for it. He had too much left to teach him.

"Naruto..."

But before Iruka could say another word, the same look Naruto had had when he had stopped doing jutsu training with him was back, and it was heartbreaking. Naruto looked terrified. Iruka pinched his nose and sighed. I can't believe I'm about to say this.

"Look, your clone's gotten a lot better, but it's still not good enough for you become a Genin," Iruka said, kneeling down so he could be on the same level as Naruto. "Your clone needs to be just as perfect as your henge and substitution, and you also need to have mastered your shuriken and kunai jutsus."

Naruto met Iruka's eyes in determination. "I can do it, dattebayo!"

Iruka pursed his lips, sighed. "Well, then I suppose I'll see what I can do. No promises, but I just might convince the Hokage to let you test next month."

"YES!" Naruto cheered and jumped to his feet. "I won't let you down, Iruka-sensei!"

You've already far exceeded my expectations, Naruto, Iruka thought as he watched his student celebrate. I just hope that everyone you meet in life can be as kind to you as me.

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[A/N] Wow, was the reception on this fic overwhelmingly awesome. A hundred followers on the first chapter? You guys…

To the reviews complaining about anti-book sentiment – Naruto isn't too hot at reading, which is why Iruka is teaching him. In a society like Konoha where far more people learn trades than get proper formal education (ninja are a minority), I think someone like Teuchi who believes that practical learning is more effective than reading makes a lot of sense. He's a nice contrast with Iruka, who is shocked to learn Naruto can't read properly.

I'm not perfect on canon unlike some of my other fandoms, so we're just gonna role with the punches :)

Thank you to Nosfe, luffyssjg, SlyUzimakiVii, Wyle23, Miroku Kensei, ByteTheFoot, Abstractty, Kuman, Zabzab, MM995, preservedpearls, AkabaneKazama, LadyWilliams, and two guests for reviewing!

Allie