Chapter 1 The Beginning (first few months)
The morning was still cool and the fours heads and the one in construction were still covered in shadows and the details of each expression were hidden. The sun wasn't that high in the sky, and the village was only beginning to wake up. Calls of civilians greeting each other as they began to open their various shops and booths echoed in the air. But Naruto barely noticed, his complete attention was on the group of people standing before him, some with watery smiles, others with smirks, but most of their expressions were warm and Naruto felt so warm and wondered if he was going to burn out as easily as he thought.
There was a time there would have been no one at the gate, but now…now, Naruto closed his eyes tightly to stop from crying. Didn't he already resolve himself not to cry? That last night had been his final weakness.
The goodbyes had been hard, despite Naruto's resolve; he found it harder to be certain when faced with the very people he had made his promise for. Before becoming a genin he had never been outside the village, and suddenly he found himself leaving home longer and more often. But this trip that he was about to embark on, was going to be for three years. Without his teammates…without his remaining teammates. The desire to change his mind quickly faded under the pain of the knowledge that Sasuke was outside these walls too. He promised he would become stronger, and bailing before he even began was not the way to go about it.
"I'm looking forward to our rematch, dobe." Kiba was saying, his puppy on his head, a smirk on his face, Naruto tried to match the smirk but the term dobe shot an arrow though him…Sasuke's own smirking face flashing before him and he was honestly thankful when Lee seemed to take that as his cue.
"YOSH! THE FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE IGNITING IN KONAHA!" And the green clad ninja was suddenly bouncing in front of him, his face stretched in a grin showing his white teeth "WHEN YOU COME BACK, WE'LL HAVE REMATCH TOO! FOR IF YOU CAN BEAT MY RIVAL…!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"Hn, ignore them." Kakashi-sensei was suddenly in his line of site, blocking the commotion behind him, and placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his head, "Ma, I expect you to come back safely, Naruto."
Naruto met the eye of his most confusing instructor and tried to hide the raging storm of emotions inside him with his usual fox grin, it caused his eyes to squint close and hide his emotions neatly.
Kakashi-sensei was different from all the other adults in the village. There had never been hate in his eye or in his voice. Neither had there been indifference that the others held towards him. He had never hesitated in touching him. Often he had gone out of his way to always lay a hand on him, whether it was from running his fingers though his hair, resting on his head to restrain him or lightly whacking him on the head, when he felt that he was misbehaving. Naruto had never felt a blow for the sake of violence against him, only a tight grip on his shoulders was the closest he came, and Naruto never even had an imprint of the grip afterwards. There had never been a sting of feeling bruises healed from Kakashi, except in sparring, and even then he was careful to never cause serious harm. Embarrassment yes, but harm, no.
Kakashi-sensei would appear randomly in his window with a basket of vegetable and fruits that he tried to get him to eat, sometimes literally feeding him by restraining him to a chair, claiming that he needed a variety of foods. Naruto had even come back to a refrigerator of fresh produce and cabinets stocked of groceries, with a note on the table reminding him not to eat ramen so much.
And yet still this man had once chosen Sasuke over him, when he needed all the chances he could get. Giving his training into the hands of another adult who until that time had shown the same distain and distrust of the rest of the villagers. Kakashi was a complex confusing man, and Naruto found he couldn't keep his ground with him, changing the rules without giving him a copy like the village, but unlike them, giving him hope that it was a game he could actually win. It was…
"Be careful Naruto." Iruka sensei's voice broke through Naruto's thoughts and his cerulean eyes turned their attention to his darker sensei.
Iruka sensei had been the first to give him hope that he could change the village's mindset against him. His eyes that were now filled with concern and worry, used to be indifferent. He had never been like the other sensei's, refusing to train him, but he had treated him like he was simply a part of the scenery. Until, one morning, while he was sitting after school on his usual swing with the rain falling over him, Iruka-sensei had held an umbrella over his head and offered to treat him to a bowl of ramen. The indifference in his eyes, gone like it never existed. A gentle kindness in his eyes had replaced the expression. Somehow, sometime when Naruto had been unaware Iruka sensei had seen him, truly seen him and decided to give him a chance that no one else had given him.
They had walked a few days after their saying goodbye. Jiraiya-sensei leading them towards a river, where they camped near. Naruto had barely patient, he had been excitedly guessing what type of training they were going to do, and what super jutsus he was going to learn, doing all he could, to ignore the sickening sensation inside him. He had left the village only two times before without his team. The first was for his team, he had left because his team had needed him to. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei had been injured in the hospital, in some type of coma and he had needed baba-chan to heal them. The second time he had left had been to go after Sasuke, when he had left them, under this crazy assumption that Orochimaru could make him go stronger. But this time he was leaving without his teammates, and he wasn't going to be gone for a few months, but years. Three years...three long years without his team and family, alone with only his hopes and dreams...but he could train. He could get stronger. Strong enough that he wouldn't lose his precious people. That he could protect them.
Being told that he was going to have start from scratch again, and had to forget all that he had been taught, isn't just harder than it sounded, but impossible. But Naruto found that his sensei had a similar attitude to him when he heard the word impossible and refused to relent from the matter, no matter how loud and long Naruto protested. Naruto had made a promise to become stronger, to be strong enough to protect his precious ones, to be able to handle anything that came after them, and he couldn't get stronger repeating past training.
But even Naruto, as stubborn and determined as he was could not stand against the baka ero-sennin stubbornness, and after a week of arguing, demanding, threatening and even trying to bribe him, he gave in. He rather repeat the blasted past training than have no training what's so ever. Annoyed, but vowing to go as fast as possible so he could actually move on to useful training and level more power jutsu likekuchiyose no jutsu and the rasengan, he finally accepted he would have to humor the old pervert.
Forced to stand for hours in one spot holding basic stances was mind numbing and making Naruto fear that he wasn't going to fly though this training as fast as he thought. And was threatening his resolve to humor his sensei. Hell he feared that he would even be done with this by the end of their three years. It took an entire day before the baka-sensei even allowed to him shift his weight to his left leg, and another whole day before he was allowed to transfer to his right leg. By the end of the first few days he was angry again, annoyed by the ridiculously stupid training and even more annoyed and disgusted at his wasted time. He could have trained by himself and been far more productive.
"Back to the beginning! Ha!" Naruto snarled to himself as he scrubbed in the cold river that they had been camping near. The cold water did nothing to help his mood and served to make him madder. But he couldn't help it, he was now cold, wet and miserable and had an entire wasted day behind him. He couldn't see the point of this training. How was standing in one spot for hours training?
Didn't the teme understand that he had a teammate he had to get back? A precious person lost to him, right now in the hands of snake freak who wanted his body and not in the perverted away either. He had already lost one precious person at the snake bastard's hands; he didn't want to lose another. Naruto needed to get stronger. He wasn't getting anywhere like this. He needed to learn actual attacks, had to get stronger! Stances weren't going to get him stronger, he didn't need to go over moves that he had done back at the academy, he had graduated, didn't he! He had even been nominated into the Chunin exam and had made it to the final round, and hadn't even lost against the strongest genin of their village and Sand's village. He probably would have won, if the Sound and Sand hadn't invaded. He needed to learn stuff like the rasengan and other powerful moves, not stuff that academy kids learned, but stuff powerful ninjas knew. He had been helpless, if Lee hadn't shown up...
His angry thoughts were broken when he realized he had torn skin, looking down at his scratched arm, he watched as the scratch faded as if never had been. But his angry fog was gone. The pain, no matter how brief had been enough to change his mind. Fine, if the old pervert wanted him to do useless things, then fine, he would. He'll do them the best he could, and fast as he could, so that the stupid jerk would stop testing him.
The first weeks of training passed by agonizing slow. Naruto would be forced into stances, many of the stances where not what he had learned in the academy, but what the ero-sennin claimed was in the academy's curriculum when he was a student. The stances he had learned were apparently incorrect. He had been taught to bend when he should have kept his leg straight, or to keep straight when he should have bent. The positions he had been corrected into were awkward and he didn't understand why he couldn't just stick to the ones he knew. Naruto didn't understand what the big deal was, so he dipped a little more than he should, have faced a little more slanted that necessary. But his sensei was relentless and forced him to perfect in his stances. If he had to be bent thirty degrees then he would be bent at thirty degrees. If he had to shift from his toes to his heels before he flexed the muscles in his shin, then heaven help him. He had to shift just so, there were no skipping steps.
What started out as an adventure and an opportunity to become truly strong enough quickly become torture. Day in and day out his life had become stuck in an endless cycle. From sun up to sun down everything was the same. Even the scenery was the same. It felt like he was back in the death forest in the middle of the second exam, trapped in that damn genjutsu, passing the same trees over and over again. The only break in his routine was his dreams, but even they were becoming stale and similar to one another, blurring together until he couldn't tell if he ever had different dreams.
Ero-sennin woke him before the sun was even up, the moon still ruling the sky. Taking him back to the night he left home, the moon illusive and still out of reach, sending longing though him. He would eat a bowl of rice and drink hot green tea to combat the morning chill; he dreamed of a bowl of ramen, tasting a rush of various flavors, rather than the bland meal that he had been given. Naruto cursed himself for finishing his last instant ramen in his first week. After the meal was forced down his throat, dishes were scrubbed and washed, left out to dry, while they began their routine for the day.
Jiraiya-baka would get comfortable on a rock and begin to scribble whatever perverted filth he thought of, working on his books, and look up long enough to order him into his stances. In truth, he rarely even looked up, but Naruto had learned that he didn't have to, to notice when Naruto gave less than his best. The blonde haired student shuddered remembering his cruel punishments he had endured for slacking.
He had been bored to tears and annoyed, standing in the stance of the snake for over a few hours. Slowing moving his weight from the center to his left leg, then back to his center, then to his right leg, before repeating. He had gone through the motions so many times that he thought he could scream, trapped with only his thoughts for company. And frankly there were only so much he could think about to keep himself entertained. In fact he had been trapped in his thoughts, that his thoughts were beginning to creep into negative bits, and he was beginning to see the red eyes, hear the chirping of birds and feel a white fiery pain though his chest, and himself falling back towards the water. Hating himself for those dark memories that were beginning to surface from where he shoved them, and not wanting to dwell on them or even think about, it was over and done with. The past, and should stay there where it belonged.
Naruto blamed his sensei, if he had actually taught him something useful, rather than waste his time, he wouldn't be suddenly thinking about it. Angry and wanting to lash out, but not being able to, he decided he wanted to punish him, and since he couldn't do anything physically, at least he could actually get him another way. It didn't matter if the man even realized it not; it wasn't like he was even paying attention. Naruto began to rebel quietly, instead of shifting properly, by using his sole of his feet first before adding pressure to his shin then to his hip, he skipped a few steps. He choose to shift his weight by pushing with his heel, but he skipped the steps in between from the lower leg, straight to his hip. Naruto repeated his little cheat a few times, before he felt confident to add in another twist to his gesture of 'sticking it' to the baka-sensei and he didn't completely stop in the center, but went from the left to the right. He was going this new cheat the second time, when his sensei suddenly stood up.
"Enough." The long white haired man put down his notebook and glared, "Fine, if you don't want to this properly then I have another activity for you to do." His glare had been replaced by a smirk, and Naruto gulped as he wondered if maybe had bit off more than he could chew.
There was no wondering left, Naruto found himself forced to hold two buckets full of water in his hands, with his arms straight out, and level like a fence, while he balanced on top of the river. He wasn't allowed to let his arms drop, or a drop of water escape the bucket on the pain of repeating this exercise every day, all day until he could keep complete the exercise. The river was much harder to stay on top up, unlike the pond that he had practiced on. It churned under his feet, and made concentrating hard, but what made it harder was that he had dodge the objects that his sensei would throw at him at random times.
Needless to say, by the end of the day Naruto was soak, arms were sore and unable to be lifted from his side, making it hard for him to eat, and he was bruised from the objects he hadn't able to avoid due to the restrictions he placed on him. He was also very reluctant to go against his orders and deviate from the directions he's given, for a while.
When Naruto began katas, Jiraiya had him go though them achingly slow. Each step carefully done and weight shifted perfectly. But thankfully when he was performing them to his sensei satisfaction, he would begin to speak. He would lecture on various different subjects, and Naruto was grateful for it, that he clung to the time that Jiraiya would begin to speak.
"There are many different forms, but there are thirteen I want you to learn. The Rat, the Snake, the Dragon, the Frog, the Rooster, the Horse, the Tiger, the Monkey, the Dog, the Boar, the Rabbit, the Cow, and the Cat." Jiraiya had begun to explain, after he made Naruto go through basic stances. After each form was said, he shifted to his stance, showing an example of each form. "They were designed to give you certain strengths when you fight but like all attacks they also have their weaknesses, and if you study one form of them long enough, you'll quickly learn them.
Naruto had to bite his lower lip, torn out of his grumpiness at some of the positions his new sensei had done. Some of them looked plain silly, the frog had him dropping to the ground, hunches on his heals literally positioned like a frog, the rooster had him little stuttering and his head bobbing. His humor was quickly gone by the next sentence.
"You won't just learn one but all of them. Like I started, each stance has a weakness against the other and you need to make sure you can use all of them. Only when you have them all down, and to be satisfaction, will I allow you to focus on a certain fighting form."
His sensei forced him into the basic stance again, and made him adjust his foot work, and his stance for each form.
"The rat is swift. It's not an offensive form, but a defensive one. The rat's purpose is to push your opponent back, so that you can get away. The form sacrifices strength for speed. Watch closely; see how the shift from stances is subtle. It's meant to be done in a way that your opponent isn't aware of the move you're going to make."
Naruto watched but he couldn't really see what his sensei was talking about, and so far what he heard about the rat form seemed useless. A defensive form for the purpose of running away seemed like a cowardly waste of a form. Why would he want to use it?
His loud protests were ignored and he was forced to position him into the rat form anyway.
"The Snake is considered to be balanced. It's both offensive and defensive. It's considered a brother to the rat's form. Their core is very similar, but where the rat had sacrificed strength, this form doesn't. It is fast and strong, but it's also very flashy. The rat was meant to conceal and keep attention away, the snake attracts attention. It works to keep your opponent off guard."
His heels were practically glued to each other, and swaying back and forth made him feel clumsy and sure that he was going to fall head first.
"The Dragon is offensive, is strong, fast and steady. It will not allow ground to be given to your opponent."
Naruto's eyes widen at that, now that seemed more like it. He wouldn't mind being taught that form. It sounded super cool! And just what he needed to grow stronger!
"The frog, is defensive, and relies heavily on legs. The arms basically useless and its fighting technique makes it hard on the opponent to track you, because you never stay in the same spot and you jump." He forced Naruto's knees to bend, and fussed until his hips were perfected parallel with the ground. A few leaps like attacks showed Naruto had the technique was meant to be used, not that it helped. As Naruto spent days dropping into the stances for each form when demanded, he often fell head face, like he feared he would do with the snake form.
"The Horse is defensive, and is like the frog, in its legs are the primary strength, but here the horse treats the arms as the same as the legs. The legs and arm techniques can break a bone, with implied enough force."
"The tiger is offensive. All the techniques are designed to be the first hits, its defensive techniques is basically to dodge."
"The monkey is defensive, and its greatest strength is confusion. It's designed to be chaotic and is perfect when fighting in trees."
Naruto couldn't stop his mind from whirling and picturing how that could be useful. That form appealed to the prankster within. While he didn't like the defensive part, he didn't mind making chaos.
"The rooster is meant to claim territory and intimidate. It'll literally a form that's meant for speed, not for power. But if you go fast enough, power won't be needed. It's meant to propel your opponent out of your territory."
"The Dog is loud and meant to scare. You can use power, but it's not meant for continuous fighting, but it's meant to take your opponent out, if he doesn't run. It's mainly designed to defend your allies. It keeps you in front of them, and herds your opponents away from them, if performed and used correctly."
Naruto could see how it useful, and wouldn't mind using it. He didn't see how half these forms were for him. But the dragon, the monkey and the dog had least appeared useful.
"The Boar is both for offensive and defensive, like the snake. It's meant though to charge forward and react instantly. It's not a form that uses tactical knowledge, but instinct."
"The Rabbit is defensive, it's meant to use your environment and keep yourself unnoticed when faced with a stronger opponent. But if your opponent gets close enough, you can strike fast and painful, before disappearing again. It's perfect for tactical fighting, not instinctive."
Naruto frowned, as he faced to hunch down and basically hop. He didn't like this form either. Pure defensive and it was just another cowardly form.
"The Cow is both defensive and offensive. While it leans to defensive, it can be used for offensive. This form uses both your feet and your hands and lots of power. It's a slow form though, not designed for speed."
"The Cat is meant for speed, and it's both offensive and defensive. This one leans towards the offensive. It's an aggressive and will use anything and everything you have on you and in your environment. This form is meant to make your opponent even regret think on trying to take you on."
Naruto thought that form made a lot of since, sense he was wary of the damn neko that belonged to the fire lady, it was vicious and not an assignment he looked forward too.
He hopped, he leapt, and he wiggled and swayed; always changing to suit the style he was demanded to take. He spent hours shifting to the left and right, turning to the back and then to the front. He shifted on the balls of his feet, the heels, and sometimes the sides. He would have to take careful measured breaths, if he inhaled to deep or too short he would have to begin again. Naruto could only pray for noon to arrive, while he searched the depths of his mind for distractions. Careful enough to keep an ear open, his previous lapses having taught him the penalty of not paying attention. The punishment for his deviating and not taking the exercise serious, paled in comparison to his punishment of being distracted.
He hated it. He hated the time he had to him own thoughts. Hated the poison that he had deeply embedded in himself, that rose to the surface when he had time to think. He had gotten good at burying the bitterness and hate that the villagers had inspired in him. Had decided to become hokage so he could stop the bitterness and had dug deep inside and buried it under, everything. But now with constant alone time, with only activity he could do was think...he couldn't keep it suppressed. It kept rising, trying to surface and make him accept what was happening to him.
Naruto began to live for two things, the infrequent trips to town for supplies and the even more infrequent lectures that Jiraiya gave. For the trips, it was because he clung to the break in routine and actually seeing other people, than just his reflection and his sensei. The second because it gave him a break from his thoughts, he got to focus on something else beyond his own mind.
Every night he went to bed disgruntled, he had learned nothing. Nothing that he could see helping him grow stronger, he felt that his time would have been spent on at least grow stronger, he felt that his time would have been spent on at least changing that stupid neko, he could would have gotten paid and doing something!
Instead he would shift into the stance demanded. Sometime the monkey and he would have his feet spread and he would be in the snake stance, his ankles almost touching as he swayed back and forth, careful to keep his body loose. It was hard. He wasn't used to keeping each form straight. And Jiraiya refused to let him just focus on only one form, like the rest of the ninja's he knew did.
A part of Naruto wondered if his way of sabotaging him. Just keeping it legal but placing it under a different game. Showing him different stances to be able to explain that he tried training him, Naruto just didn't get the stances right. He didn't want to believe that. He believed himself a good judge of character, he knew the indifferent look the older ninja population gave him, or of look of hate that the younger ninjas supported when they saw him. Knowing now of the law and what he contained, he understood the looks, and could even sympathize with them. Having met the demon inside him or even Gaara, who terrorized his village and even his siblings, but this guy had already taught him something useful. Had recognized him and had even taught him moves that the fourth had used and created.
He was confused and sick and tired. And desired action. How much longer could they do this for?
TBC
Okay, I know it's going slow, it's meant too. This is the three year training broken down. It will eventually have some action, and actual Justus moves. But right now, Jiraiya has to literally start from scratch. Naruto has been sabotaged in his training and he's also in the wrong mindset. To him the only way to get stronger is to learn insanely powerful moves. But we saw against Kiba, Naruto is a lot stronger in power than Kiba is, but he only wins due to using sneakiness? Well so he had a seal on him that only messed with his chakra, Naruto needs to learn the basics. His basic sucks, everyone has said it, no one really done anything about. Kakashi tried to Ebisu but Naruto went straight for the more impressive ninja…
Oh and to note, this won't be a Kakashi bashing at all. I feel Kakashi did the best he could with the most anti team he's got, and pressure from above. The last Uchia, arrogant and stupid, listening to the guy who killed his clan (not knowing why of course) has made no secret that he wants revenge. Sakura, a fan girl who is in 'love' with Sasuke and hates Naruto, and book smart but ultimately useless for anything but bait. Naruto, the demon brat, who has every reason to destroy the village for his treatment, who is not very ninja like. Wears bright orange, is loud, can't follow basic directions (go hide means charge at a very powerful upper ninja) and is determined to get powerful, fast. And seems to think, like Sasuke it should happen instantly. Has a crush on Sakura and dislikes Sasuke. Yea, go team. He was working to make them a team. He had six months with them, six months. So yeah, no bashing of Kakashi. And for those who would point out the chunin exam as an example, it's not really a great comparison for favoritism. More of nessary. Let sees Orchimaru appeared and tells Kakashi he plans on taking Sasuke from the village, and now Gaara, who has proven to be blood thirsty and crazy, who freaked because Lee made him bleed, is his opponent. Versus Naruto who has Neji, a fellow ninja of Konocha who makes it quite clear throughout the match with Hinata who he hates, that he lets them quit. Hinata was the one who kept getting back up 'stupidly' willing to die to impress a boy… He just expected Naruto to lose, Sasuke was going against a killer.