A year too early
Disclaimer:
Chapter 2: Training commences
(next day - Naruto)
It had been a day since Naruto's conversation with the Sandaime Hokage. When he got home he sent a clone to the library to read one of the books, any book, the more random the book was, the better.
It took some manipulation, but he finally got his clone to go with the promise of ramen. The clone returned, ate some ramen and dispelled. That was when Naruto was hit by a great rush of information.
He stumbled slightly as he took a seat on one of his kitchen chairs. The book was about the five great shinobi nations, all the Daimo from beginning to when the book was last updated, the clans, the leading clans, clan alliances, then the hidden villages and following that all the Kage to ever hold the position.
Naruto was so amazed by all this information - information that he attained through his shadow clones hard and diligent work - that he brushed the slight throbbing in his head to the side. Though after a while it soon ceased, and then he found that he couldn't recall all the information that his clone transferred to him, soon all he could remember were the fundamentals of the information. Namely, the five Kage, the five villages, and that before hidden villages there were clans. Apart from that he couldn't recall the names of the clans, nor the Kage - except for the Kage of Konoha - and the Daimo.
"So. .I guess I have to study the books? Or maybe do it myself until I'm good enough or maybe. . .uh study with more clones? Yeah! That's what I'll do."said Naruto thoughtfully. "and. . Maybe I should ask Iruka-sensei for help."
He went to sleep that night, with thoughts of becoming stronger in mind.
When Naruto awoke, he quickly showered, brushed his teeth and inhaled a bowl of ramen. He donned his orange pants, a black shirt and his forest green goggles dangled around his neck. He rushed out of the apartment taking a swig of milk before he left, he made a face at the taste.
Naruto arrived at the academy, he was lucky to find it open. He hesitantly entered, not wanting to get into trouble if he was caught on the grounds out of actual academy designated hours.
Naruto went straight to his old class, taking note of the empty and desolate academy halls and classrooms. When he reached his classroom he peaked through the doors window, he couldn't see anyone in the class, so he decided to count this as a bust, that was until he noticed the door in the class open. It was the door that adjoined Iruka's class to his office.
Naruto entered the class, walking silently, and that's when he found Iruka packing a number of files and papers into boxes.
"Sensei?"said Naruto.
"Oh, Naruto? What are you doing here?"asked Iruka confused yet not surprised.
"I was wondering if I could talk to you sensei, what are you doing anyway?"asked Naruto, oddly subdued.
"I'm packing my stuff, I move classes with you guys next year."answered Iruka, giving Naruto a concerned look. "What did you want to talk about?"
Naruto paused for a moment, seemingly gathering his thoughts. "Iruka-sensei, I'm weak. You said it yourself, I'm clumsy, I'm not the hardest worker."Naruto took a breath. "I know you right that's why I want to be stronger."
Iruka beamed at him."I'm so proud of you Naruto." praised Iruka. "Not everyone can admit their faults. Not everyone can admit their weakness."
"That's why I'm here sensei -" Naruto suddenly stopped, while grabbing his stomach. "I'll be right back!"
Naruto bolted out of the room leaving Iruka feeling nothing but confusion. "What the? I hope his okay."
(Naruto - toilet)
Naruto sat in one of the stalls in the boys bathroom, his face screwed up in concentration. Loud noises were escaping from the stall. "Man! That milk must of been spoiled."
It took a short while before his little bout of diarrhoea ceased and stomach cramps stopped. "The fox must be good for something!" Naruto left the bathroom, not even bothering to wash his hands.
When Naruto returned he found Iruka sitting at a table patiently. "Ah sorry about that sensei."said Naruto as he scratched his head sheepishly.
"What was that about?"asked Iruka.
"Uh, well it kinda embarrassing. ."Naruto trailed off.
"Its okay Naruto I wont laugh at you."said Iruka.
"Uh, okay, well I had a little diarrhoea." said Naruto. "I guess the milk was spoiled, heh, could of been worse if I didn't have the kyuu-"
"Shh!"Iruka had jumped over to him and covered his mouth. "Don't just talk about it out-loud like that, it is still an s-rank secret and secondly, you need to be more careful with your health, you're going to be a ninja and that means death, you don't need to increase your chances of dying by being careless with your health."
"Man, you worry too much sensei."Naruto brushed him off. "As long as I have the ky-ur-um it in me I don't have to worry, besides I always heal fast."
"No Naruto, you have to take care of yourself because if you don't, your life wont be the only one at stake, but those of your teammates as well."
Naruto cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean sensei?"
"We covered it this year Naruto, whatever. ."sighed Iruka. "since I have your attention I may as well explain it again."
Naruto nodded at Iruka, his eyes squinting, a clear sign that he was concentrating.
"So, there are various ninja ranks, some are sub-ranks or part of a certain department, but there are four main ranks."Iruka listed off his fingers. "Genin - the lowest rank - chunin, Jonin and Kage. In Konoha - though most of the ninja nations have adopted our system - there are usually squads of three. When ninja start out it is three genin and their jonin-sensei or superior."
Naruto nodded, in understanding. "When a genin squad is promoted to a chunin squad they usually form their own team of three, the missions with their sensei become less frequent and thus they are a team of three. Though recently, we have been incorporating a four squad system, the four squad system is composed of three combat or assist-type ninja, and a medical ninja."said Iruka, his lecture tone morphing into complete seriousness. "So, can you see how your carelessness may cause problems for your team?"
Naruto squinted at him thinking about it, Iruka gave him time, it was certainly humorous to watch him wrestle with it. "Because my teammates will have to save me, and then they might die trying to save me, and it will be all my fault."
"Exactly, so tell me again why did you come here?" asked Iruka.
"Because I'm weak, and I need your help to become strong. I know that I have to train, but I don't know what to do."said Naruto.
'The better question is what not to do.' thought Iruka. "You're asking for help?"Iruka asked instead.
Naruto looked down. "Yes, you said yourself that just because I can do an advanced technique, like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu), it doesn't make me a ninja." said Naruto." I need you to help me become a ninja."
Iruka was a silent for a moment, "Your clothes, they absolutely have to go."
"What!? Why? They're really strong, and ninja need clothes that can protect them."said Naruto indignantly.
"That may be true, however it has one major flaw. It is orange." said Iruka.
"So what? Orange is awesome."
"You asked me to help you become a better ninja, this is what I'm doing, and orange is almost as bad as wearing black in the daylight.. You need clothes that are more soft, neutral colours. Like light grey, and brown, it makes stealth easier." said Iruka.
"Aww but I don't need stealth I'll just whack everyone bam! And then I don't need stealth!"said Naruto, grinning.
"No, if you want me to really help you, you're going to have to follow all of my orders no matter how it makes you feel on a personal level." said Iruka. "but if you don't want my help. . ."
"What. . !arrgh fine! I'll get other clothes damn it!"Naruto grounded his teeth.
"Great!"exclaimed Iruka. "Help me take my stuff to the next class, and rest of it home, then we'll go buy you new clothes before you can chicken out."
"But my money isn't with me."said Naruto.
"That's okay its on me."said Iruka, before Naruto was able to refuse. "Relax its only one outfit, and besides you're helping me carry my stuff, so it not like you're getting it for free."
Naruto nodded, only slightly placated. "Fine. . But I'm carrying everything." said Naruto crossing his arms and leaving no room for argument.
"You couldn't possibly-"said Iruka.
"Wanna bet?"asked Naruto, his grin stretching so wide he looked akin to a fox, he crossed his fingers in front of him and said. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three clones appeared in a puff of smoke. "Don't you worry Iruka-sensei, we've got this." said one of the clones.
"Oi - oi!" said the other clone. "Who made you the leader."
"I did," said he first clone, "now pipe down!"
"Oh yeah!" said the second, throwing a punch, while the third clone snickered at their actions. The first clone was popped by the second, then the second turned to the third, his laughing was progressively becoming louder, while the original sank back in depression, a rain cloud over his head. "You think this funny do you?"
"Hell yeah!" laughed the clone. "You were all like who made you leader, and he was like I did, then you were like oh yeah and then you punched his light out!" chuckled the clone, then he noticed a punch aimed at his face. "Yeah like that - oof!" and then the clone popped into a cloud of vapour.
Naruto sighed dejectedly, then he made a hand seal dispelling the last clone. "Man this is so embarrassing!"
Iruka only stood to the side trying not to outright laugh at Naruto's expense.
Naruto formed the seal once more. "Alright listen up!"said Naruto as the smoke cleared. "You three need to carry those three boxes, no fighting, that's an order."
"Hai Oyabun!"the clones chorused.
"Sensei where do you want the boxes taken?" asked Naruto.
"Class 206." said Iruka.
"You heard him, take the boxes there and then dispel."said Naruto, his voice commanding.
"Hai!" they saluted and then picked up a box each and marched out of the classroom.
"Phew, at least they listened to me."sighed Naruto.
"Okay lets get this box to my apartment, and then its to Higurashi for your new clothes." said Iruka.
(Higurashi - shinobi tools and equipment)
Naruto scanned the shop as he walked in, his eyes wide with awe. Then he back tracked, and returned to the entrance. In the front of the shop there was modest sign in appearance. It simply said: Higurashi - shinobi tools and equipment. It wasn't even above the store, it was a simple sign written by hand in the window of the store. Though one thing of note was that the hand writing was flawless, artistic even.
Naruto then took a careful look at the store, he quickly ran around it, then he returned to the store. "But that's impossible! This store cant be this wide! The wall is supposed to be there, and there, not theeeeeeeere! And theeeeeeeere!"exclaimed Naruto.
"Daddy says that he uses seals for that but I'm not sure how, all I can use are storage scrolls." said a girl that appeared beside Naruto.
Naruto jumped back in surprise. "Gyaaaaaa!"
The girl laughed heartily at him."Did I scare you?"
"Don't do that! My heart almost ran away!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Meh, think of it as training, you're going to be ninja, so this will teach you to pay better attention to your environment." said the girl, a hint of a smirk at her lips.
Naruto cocked his head curiously. "How did you know that I want to be a ninja?"
"Well that's easy, this is a store for ninja. Weapons, scrolls, chakra ink, shinobi clothes, training weights, mundane or chakra, chakra paper, if its ninja related, we have it!" said the girl. "Plus you're here with Iruka-sensei, you must want to be a ninja."
And indeed they did, because the store was filled to the brim with weapons, some were uniform, and others followed a certain style, that seemed to change slightly. Clothing of all colours, armour, scrolls both big and small, the list just went on and on.
"whoa, this place is really filled up."he was impressed. " and you're so smart!"
"So what are you here for?"she asked.
"New clothes, mine are. . .too colourful, yes that's it." said Naruto. "Oh and I'm Naruto by the way, future Hokage 'ttebayo!" Naruto finally took notice of her appearance, she had brown hair done in two tight buns on her head, brown eyes, she was beautiful in a athletic sort of way. She wore a pink qipao with red trimmings and yellow fastenings, dark green pants with combat wraps around the right leg, a kunai holster over the wraps, a ninja-tool pouch at the hip, blue shinobi sandals. "And uhh, what's your name?"
"I'm Tenten, my father runs this store."said Tenten. "and I can see why you need new clothes, yours are hideous."
"Hey! That's mean!"exclaimed Naruto.
"Yes, but it true, those clothes are an eyesore. Do you want me to help you pick out your clothes?"she asked.
"No."Naruto said stubbornly. "Just show me where the strong clothes are and I'll pick out my own clothes."
"Sure,"she chuckled. "we have armour and mesh-wire sewn in with the clothing."
"The clothing."said Naruto.
"Okay, go over there. You have enough to pay for it, don't you?"she asked.
"Iruka-sensei is paying."
"Okay, in that case the dressing rooms are there in the corner, just ditch your old clothes there, they will be taken care of."said Tenten.
Naruto nodded, before he scoured the store in search of new clothing. He soon found two shirts to his liking, then a pair of pants, new shinobi sandals, he decided to get additional accessories with the clothing, just to give him more protection.
Naruto walked into the changing room, he decided not to heed Iruka's advice, he was going to look cool. Naruto changed, he now wore a sleeveless high-collared black shirt shirt, a fishnet undershirt, grey forearm-protectors, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate behind the palm, dark grey pants with combat wraps around the right thigh and both ankles, grey shin-protectors, black shinobi sandals.
When Naruto returned Tenten gave him a whistle of approval, gaining a blush from Naruto.
"Its better than the orange I suppose."sighed Iruka. 'though he should of went for less obvious colours.'
"Okay lets go pay for all of that, I'm sure my dad will be at the counter." said Tenten.
When they arrived at the counter, there was a man leisurely leafing through a magazine. he had short dark hair cut into a buzz-cut, brown eyes, and a jagged scar running across his right cheek till half of his right ear, he was well built, yet lean. He wore a simple black shirt, a rebreather dangling from his neck, a animal-hide apron, the rest of his outfit was hidden behind the counter.
"Tousan, they're buying all the stuff that the gaki's wearing."said Tenten.
"Oi!oi! You're no older than me." said Naruto indignantly.
"You're still a brat."said Tenten.
Naruto ground his teeth. "Tenten stop mocking the gaki." said her father.
"Oi! Oi! Ojisan I heard that you made this shop super big, but its small on the outside." said Naruto, "You did that with a fuinjutsu formula!"Naruto grinned sounding impressed with himself. "right?"
"Yes," said the man sounding impressed that he knew so much for such a simple boy, oh he knew exactly who Naruto was, or more precisely what he was. But besides for his pranks the boy had a reputation for being immensely stubborn and stupid. Those kinds of people simply did not learn. "By the way the name is Daichi Tosuke, not 'ojisan'."
"Wow that's so cool! Can you teach me?"asked Naruto. "please Daichi!"
"No." he said simply. "fuinjutsu is not something I can simply teach you, besides I don't have the time to teach fuinjutsu to a complete beginner." upon seeing his downcast expression he sighed. "Look if you master level three I'll take you on as a student."
Naruto grinned. "Just you wait, I'll master level three in no time!"exclaimed Naruto.
"Yeah whatever gaki, just give me my money." said Daichi.
Iruka dished at the cash. "Naruto is a bit of handful, sorry about that."
"Its fine."said Daichi.
(Ichiraku ramen - Naruto and Iruka)
Naruto slurped his noodles greedily, though he was careful enough to not mess on his shirt. Ayame had gushed at the sight of him of course.
"Aww Naruto you look so cute with your ninja outfit. I can see that you will be handsome one day." she smiled brightly.
'Its not supposed to be cute. . .and besides I'm handsome now.' though he still found himself blushing.
"ruto. . .Naruto are you listening?"asked Iruka.
"Uh, yeah sorry I just spaced out there for a moment."said Naruto sheepishly.
"Geez you're always so distracted Naruto."Iruka sighed. "Anyway, I was saying that I think we should meet at training ground three, so that I can help you with everything else that you need. We only fixed you clothes, you have a long way ahead before you can say that you're truly an excellent ninja."
"Hai sensei!" saluted Naruto.
"Just bring a few scrolls and writing supplies, will ya?" said Iruka.
"What I'm takin' notes?"Naruto asked, aghast.
"Well there isn't any way that you're going to be able to remember everything I have to say so you better take notes, and if you're serious about using fuinjutsu then you better get used to writing, not only writing, but writing neatly." said Iruka.
"Fine!" Naruto threw his hands in the air.
(next day - training ground three - Naruto and Iruka)
Naruto had sent a Kage Bunshin with money to Higurashi shinobi tools and equipment to buy a few more outfits, he ordered the clone to by a shirt similar to the one he wore, except it wasn't high-collared shirt like he wore right now, but it had sleeves, and pants that he wore except they varied in colour, along with that he asked the clone to buy a few pairs of shinobi sandals and Shuriken and kunai.
"So, I have brought you a few scrolls on areas that you need to focus on." said Iruka. "Now I'm going to be honest with you and I don't want you to get angry, I'm only doing this to help you."
"H-Hai."said Naruto, hesitantly
"Okay, your Taijutsu is very bad." Naruto wanted to interrupt but Iruka quickly continued. "Yes I know that you are third in the class Taijutsu tournament. However that is only because you tank through all of the hits you get, and you're so strong that even a glancing blow is strong enough to slow your opponent down enough for you to finish the job. That, however is your only saving grace, you telegraph your attacks so much that even an infant can tell what your intentions are."
Naruto looked down, but wrote everything Iruka said on a scroll that he brought with him.
"Further more you posses absolutely no form or technique and I know exactly why." said Iruka, Naruto looked up. "its because when you were younger, you were so strong and durable that nothing your opponents did could hurt you. So you got bored, and stopped learning Taijutsu, especially the different forms, locks and grapples that go with it."
Naruto sighed in dejection. "You're right, I suck at Taijutsu."
"It nothing you cant fix, you just have to work at it."said Iruka. "moving on, your chakra control is horrendous, but as a bonus you have a lot of chakra. So you have to improve your chakra control or you wont ever pass the academy. Even if you know the Kage Bunshin, I wont accept that, I want you to master the Bunshin for graduation."
"Fine, but how do I improve my control?" asked Naruto.
"I have two chakra exercises in a scroll for you, they will both help with your chakra control. But I want you to use the leaf concentration exercise first, this will teach you to concentrate and likely help you focus on material and retain it. I mean, in one night you mastered a jonin level skill, with enough concentration I'm sure you could be runner-up for the rookie of the year." said Iruka.
"What you mean runner-up?"asked Naruto.
"Well even if you are better than Sasuke, the rookie of the year is not the one who scores the highest in the last year, but the one who scores first consistently throughout their time in the academy. As you know its quite impossible for you to become the rookie of the year."said Iruka.
"Maybe not, is there a Jutsu to go back in time?" asked Naruto. "then I can go back in time and teach my younger self the Kage Bunshin and make him focus on school and then I'll be rookie of the year this year."
Iruka sweat-dropped. "No there isn't any Jutsu like that."
"Damn!"sulked Naruto.
"Naruto there is no shame in coming second, and if you're better than Sasuke then its just a title, nothing more." said Iruka in encouragement.
"Yeah! You're right I don't need to be the rookie of the year. I'm better than that."said Naruto. "So what's next sensei?"
"Genjutsu, you will likely never be able to use it, and you are completely susceptible to it." said Iruka.
"Uh, what?"asked Naruto in confusion.
"Ninja will be able to easily take advantage of the fact that you cant use Genjutsu or tell when one is being placed on you." said Iruka, in simpler terms.
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that." said Naruto.
"I did." said Iruka, rolling his eyes.
"How do I fix that? You said you don't think I can use it." said Naruto.
"I did, but you can train to recognise when you're under the effects of Genjutsu, and train how to dispel them." said Iruka. "That way it will no longer be a weakness to you."
"But how? I cant use Genjutsu, so who will train me?"
"I will, but only when you have proven that you have completed the second chakra control exercise." said Iruka. "Now all that you have left is your weakness in Shurikenjutsu, all I have to say is train. You need to train everyday to improve your accuracy, its a vital skill to have when you're low on chakra, or you cant use chakra for one reason or another. Finally, your theory work is very important and you pay very little attention to it."
"Aww come on sensei, how will knowing what some guy or chick did over a hundred years ago help me?"asked Naruto.
"That's only history, there are many more subjects; maths, science, geography, chakra theory, strategy. . .it goes on and they all help you in their own way."seeing that Naruto wasn't convinced Iruka explained. "Lets say that you were on a mission, and you needed to infiltrate a fortress, except the fortress has chakra barrier around it that stops those that aren't keyed into the seals from breaching it, and a chakra suppression barrier inside of that, with alarm and alert seals all over the building. It seems impossible to get in doesn't it?"asked Iruka.
"Well yeah." said Naruto.
"Now what if there was 'some guy' that built a series of underground tunnels and bunkers under the location of this fortress, many years before it was built? And you remembered that from your history lessons and the rough location from your geography lessons? You would be able to infiltrate the fortress and bypass its defences by using the theory lessons that you studied in the academy." said Iruka, in full-lecture mode.
"Well when you put it that way. . ."Naruto trailed off sheepishly.
"Exactly, now I know just telling you to study is stupid, because you wont, you need to be interested, you need to be motivated. So, when you get home I want you to practice the leaf concentration exercise until you can keep the leaf on your forehead for twenty minutes, then I want you to keep practising with it until it takes little to no conscious effort." said Iruka. "So, as motivation I'll get you scrolls on fuinjutsu and even give you some help with it if you complete the concentration exercise."
"Yosh! I'll master it no time!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Good." Iruka grinned. "now I want you to take all these scrolls and pack them neatly in your apartment. They have information on all your theory subjects from first year until now. Taijutsu kata, form, grapples, locks, each divided by level - beginner, intermediate, advanced - Shurikenjutsu, chakra control and so on."
Naruto nodded. "Thank you sensei." then his eyes widened when Iruka started unloading small scroll like objects from his pouch and flak jacket.
"They have seals on them that shrink their size, you only need to pulse your chakra into them to deactivate the seals and pulse your chakra again to activate the seals." said Iruka. 'thank Kami Hokage-sama knew of such a seal.'
"That sure is a lot."Naruto said shakily.
"Well you wanted my help."said Iruka.
"Fine, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him, a small cloud of smoke covering his person, when it cleared two clones stood beside him.
They each took a number of scrolls and placed them in their pouches, as did Naruto after taking several leaves off of a tree and storing them into his pouch with the notes that he had taken for the day.
"I'll see you when I master the leaf exercise."grinned Naruto.
"Soon then."smiled Iruka.
"You-"said one Naruto
"Bet-" said another.
"Cha!"finished the other, as they left the training field.
"Whoa I didn't know that we could do that." said one of clones when they were clear of any audience.
"Yeah, me neither."shrugged the other Naruto. "its really cool though!"
"Yeah think of the all the pran-"said the third Naruto, before he sighed in dejection. "Oh yeah, no more pranks."
(Iruka - training ground 3)
"Naruto. ."said Iruka. "You truly could become Hokage if you work hard enough. Not just Hokage but the best Hokage yet. Who would of thought? Naruto Uzumaki interested in seals, heh! I still cant believe it." chuckled Iruka. "still though, he makes the impossible, seem possible. Completing the Kage Bunshin in twelve hours is enough evidence of that."
Iruka smiled. "I'll become the teacher of a future Kage! I'll be just as famous as Jiraiya-sama!" and then he flickered out of the area after forming the tiger seal.
(Naruto's residence)
When Naruto got home he immediately got to work, he sorted out all of his scrolls, packing them all into a shoe box and sliding them under his bed, only keeping the scroll on the leaf concentration exercise with him.
He pulsed his chakra into the scroll and it increased its length. He opened the scroll and got to reading through it. The basics of it was that he had to concentrate his chakra to his forehead where a leaf would lie, the chakra would have to be constant and not fluctuate in any way. The technique taught students how to control their chakra and concentrate.
"Better get to work!" Naruto grinned, he pulled out ten leaves from his pouch and set them on the table. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" a great plume of smoke perforated Naruto's whole apartment and when it cleared there were ten Naruto's standing in the apartment - Naruto and nine clones.
They each took a leaf and placed one on their foreheads, then they all scrunched up their faces and channelled their chakra to the point in their foreheads where the leaves resided and instantly the leaves where blown off of their forehead rocketing off into some point or another in the apartment.
Naruto's clones ran after their leaves, bumping into each other on their way to the leaves. "Oi! Get out of my way!"
"You're the one in the way!"
"Both of you shut up and help me get my leaf, its under the couch!"
"Do it yourself, mines on the ceiling fan! How the hell I'm supposed to get that!"
And then it was an all out brawl leaving only one clone and the original who promptly bopped his clone and the head, dispelling it.
"This is going to take some time."sighed Naruto, while he gathered all of the leaves. He placed each leaf near a wall and far away from the next leaf. He then took a deep breath and formed the modified ox hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Naruto was once again surrounded by clones and he said "Go get a leaf, a bowl of ramen to the clone that is able to master the leaf concentration exercise, and no fighting or no ramen for anyone besides me."
"Hai!" they saluted, before disappearing to a designated leaf. They sat, as did Naruto and scrunched up their face in concentration and placed the leaves on their forehead. The leaf immediately launched into the wall in front of the clones. "Ramen," said one of clones."its for the ramen."
"The ramen."all the clones and Naruto chorused.
By the end of the day Naruto and his clones were able to hold it for a few seconds before the leaf blasted into a wall, some could hold it for a longer duration, while others a shorter duration.
Naruto trained for three hours that day, so with his time plus that of his clones he had trained for thirty hours. So when twenty seven hours of constant concentration, frustration, dreams of ramen and chakra focus came rushing to him all at once without time to process it at all. The ending result was Naruto being knocked unconscious and his head hitting his kitchen table.
(Naruto - the next morning)
"Ahhh! What hit me!" Naruto groggily pushed his face off the table. 'I feel like the Hokage monument fell on my head. Wait. . .is this your revenge?!" exclaimed Naruto, pointedly looking at the window and at the Hokage stone faces.
"Damn. .this hurts so bad." said Naruto holding his head. "I just need some Ramen. .yeah"he drooled .
Naruto got to work on making himself ramen, and that's when he began to see things whenever he closed his eyes. He saw a leaf blasting off his forehead, but it was all wrong because he was sitting at the kitchen table when he practised the leaf concentration exercise. This leaf blasted against the wall. "My clones memories then." then Naruto began to feel what his clone felt, frustration, anger. Then the clones thoughts. "I need that ramen!"
He had absent mindedly finished his bowl of ramen while he sifted through the memories. It had taken him an hour, and he was finally done with all the memories, a large grin on his face. "So my clones have other ways of doing it different from each other, and I can put it together, and so can my clones next time! Because they know what I know."
Naruto changed into a black high collared shirt with long sleeves, black pants and shinobi sandals. "I need to ask jiisan how to process those memories, I feel loads better after doing it."
Naruto left the apartment taking the last sip of a carton of milk that was in his fridge. It was the same milk from two days ago.
(Hokage's residence)
"So, how have you been Naruto? I see that you've changed your outfit to something more ninja-like." said the Sandaime.
"Hai, Iruka took me shopping two days ago, and I bought more stuff yesterday." said Naruto.
"So what can I do for you?"asked the Sandaime.
"its about my training jiisan -"said Naruto.
the Sandaime cut him off. "You know I cant help you, I'm too busy with my Hokage duties."
"Its nothing like that Hokage-jiisan, I just need to know how to process memories with the Kage Bunshin, I already got lots of help from Iruka-sensei." said Naruto.
"You trained with the Kage Bunshin and got a big headache because of it?"asked the Sandaime smirking.
"How did you - you know what I don't care. Just how do I process the clones memories without bursting my head open first?"asked Naruto.
"First you need to only dispel one clone at a time, over time the number may increase but for now its important that you only dispel one clone. Next you will need to meditate in preparation for the memories, clear your mind and allow the clones memories to take priority, that way you will be able to sort through-" said the Hokage.
"I've got to go, sorry!" Naruto took off running while he clutched his stomach.
"Just come back here tomorrow, I'll have a scroll ready for you."shouted the Sandaime after him.
"Okaaay!"
(seven days later)
Naruto had retrieved a scroll on meditation from the Sandaime the day after his stomach incident. It was also then when he decided to be less careless about what he consumed, the diarrhoea was terrible, and he didn't want to deal with it any more than he had to.
It took Naruto seven days to complete the leaf concentration exercise to the point where he could keep the leaf on his forehead consistently for twenty minutes. Each day he trained for three hours with nine clones. This amounted to two hundred and ten hours - or eight full days, and eighteen hours - that was the same as training everyday for eight days from midnight to midnight, then a ninth day only short of six hours to be a full-day. The process of sifting through the memories were made better by Naruto's attempts at meditation. He couldn't really meditate, but it allowed him to focus on the memories that were coming in from each clone that dispelled.
Seeing that he completed the leaf concentration exercise to an acceptable degree Naruto went through the hand seals for the clone Jutsu. Concentrating all his attention on Jutsu - that was one of the benefits of the leaf exercise, he found it much easier to concentrate - a clone appeared beside Naruto, there was nothing wrong with it, but after three seconds it lost its colour, and then fell on the floor looking dead and deflated.
"Damn it! And I was so close too!"exclaimed Naruto.
Naruto created ten Kage Bunshin leaving them each with a leaf and told them to focus on the exercise. He would master the exercise if it was the last thing he did. "try walking around with the leaf on your forehead, and don't fight!" he said before leaving.
(Iruka's apartment - Naruto)
Naruto knocked on the door to Iruka's apartment. He soon heard footsteps and Iruka opened the door. "Naruto? Would you like to come in?"
"Yeah." Naruto walked in remembering to take off his shinobi sandals. They walked into Iruka's living room, the room was a clutter of paper and folders all over the place. "Uh, what is this?"
"Oh, its my lesson plans. Its a little untidy though."Iruka chuckled sheepishly.
"Its more than a little sensei." Naruto grinned.
"Yes, well in my profession tidiness is a luxury and getting all your work down is a priority."said Iruka then he asked."So, would you like anything to drink?"
"Water. Just water." Naruto said, his expression becoming pained as if he had remembered something particularly horrible.
Iruka brought Naruto a glass of water, he had a cup of tea himself. "What can I help you with Naruto?" asked Iruka.
"I can now hold a leaf on my forehead for twenty minutes. You said if I could do that you would teach me fuinjutsu." said Naruto.
"Oh yeah I did. Though as you can see I cant teach you now." said Iruka, taking a sip of his tea. "But you don't need my help, not for this part anyway, I'll teach you fuinjutsu during the academy year. For now you can busy yourself with improving your calligraphy."
Iruka disappeared into the back, when he returned he a black case, and two big pads of clear white paper. "On one of these pads there are words, and the other is clear of any kanji, this will be where you practise your calligraphy. In this case there are brushes of different sizes, as well as ink of different qualities and colours."Iruka then procured a scroll from his pouch after setting all the equipment down. "This scroll teaches you how to hold the brush, how much ink to use, how to speed up your writing speed and how it all relates to fuinjutsu."
"Whoa that's a lot!"exclaimed Naruto.
"Why do you think so few people are even interested in fuinjutsu, let alone actually learn it."said Iruka. "Anyway when you have improved your calligraphy to an acceptable degree, it should preferably be the same as your reference. I want you to show me, and if I think its good enough I want you to increase the speed at which you write, and after that I want you to decrease the size. When you're able to do all of that, then I'll teach you the basics."
(Naruto's apartment - seven days later)
Naruto had completely mastered the leaf concentration exercise. He could now walk around with it stuck to his head, without paying it any mind whatsoever. In fact he had leaf stuck to his forehead while he practised his calligraphy.
It was a severely slow going affair, his hand writing went from barely legible to legible to a certain degree but he pushed on. While he practised his calligraphy his Kage Bunshin(Shadow clones) - which each sported a leaf on their forehead each read a scroll on basic anatomy and physiology. When Naruto practised his calligraphy his clones had copied all the information from one scroll to several others, so that they could all study the same thing at the same time.
It was after his clones dispelled that and Naruto sifted through his memories that he learned of muscle memory. He also learned that it was a mental skill. "So I can learn Taijutsu kata, Shurikenjutsu and calligraphy with my clones!"
(two weeks later - Naruto)
Naruto had used his clones to improve his calligraphy everyday for two weeks. They practised for about four hours each day with ten clones. This amounted to four-hundred and twenty hours of training. Basically seventeen and a half days. His calligraphy was now completely legible, though he still had a ways to go before it could be deemed acceptable by any length.
Everyday when Naruto created his clones for study they would stick a leaf to their foreheads and keep it there while they practised their calligraphy. This added a whole five seconds more to the life spans of his clones, however they couldn't move no matter what he did, as soon as he tried they would simply fall over and deflate.
While Naruto's clones trained mentally, Naruto trained physically. Each day he would run around training ground three trying to best his previous days time. Along with that he did push-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, crunches and stretched.
He didn't have long before the academy would take over the rest of his time, so he aimed to make the best of the time that he was given. He had only eleven months left to become stronger than Sasuke, or at the very least become the runner-up rookie of the year.
A/N: I'm so amazed by the response that I got from the first chapter, it truly is astonishing. Thank you. Now then, this chapter was mostly a filler, I'll try and get the academy over and done with as soon as possible. I also tried to make Naruto's training with the Kage Bunshin semi-realistic. Thoughts, comments, drop a line and tell me how you feel, any suggestions are welcome.
Naruto will soon begin his fuinjutsu training, I have plans for this don't you worry my good readers. I don't think I've read a story that will have the things with fuinjutsu that mine will have. It may just end up annoying all of your or you will like it. Also since its obvious that Naruto is going to fuinjutsu, drop some suggestions of what you would like to see, fuinjutsu wise.
I'm still up in the air about elements, I think I have one chosen, but the other is a mystery and I think I'm going to keep it at two elements.
I'm also thinking of writing a Naruto with siblings fic, so keep a lookout.
Yeah I'm not answering any review because they would spoil the story, though I am taking all your reviews and suggestions into consideration. Be warned though, Naruto will be much stronger than canon, some may consider him op, not now but later on in the story, like after the three year training trip.