The Will of Fire
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Author's Notice: Hey everyone I'm back with the latest chapter for some of my stories, I cannot thank you guys enough for the overwhelming support for my news stories most notably this one. It really surprised me how successful their debuts were, and all of that was thanks to you guys. Hope you guys continue supporting and tuning into my stories, as I said before my schedule has freed up so now I can probably update a bit more regularly. Last semester my schedule was packed but now it's chilled down a bit giving me a lot freer time for other activities such as this one right here.
Also for those people wondering about Naruto's intelligence or his tactical ability don't worry. My plan is to have Naruto slowly but surely improve himself in those regards but he won't suddenly turn a quick 180 and become like Kakashi 2.0 or something. He'll keep the endearing factors about him while slowly gaining more and more tactical knowledge and intelligence, I never liked how Naruto was always so quick to rush into things but I get that it's a part of his character. He'll still have that but at the same time it will tone down eventually with experience and whatnot, as he begins to learn the true nature of being a ninja let alone a Chunin. He'll begin to experience how he can't simply run into every conflict.
Also for those wondering yes, I decided to change the first chapter of my story the Legendary Three, I was working on the plan for the future chapters of my story and with my original premise I found that the plot ended up being too generic and basic so I changed it. I don't know how you guys will feel about it but I decided to experiment with the idea so I re-created the first chapter all over again and this time when I worked on the future chapter plans personally for me I found it more unique and interesting compared to my original ones. Also for those interested there is also now a poll on my profile concerning the possible Kekkei Genkai combos Naruto will have the in the story so if you're interested please head over and vote. I'll probably only leave it for a week or two. Once again sorry about the change of my story but thanks to you guys anyway for the support, I hope you all bear with me because I personally for one believe this new premise is much more promising than the original especially at how it strongly relates Team Seven to the Sannin more and more. I really wanted to parallel the two groups and this premise gives the best chances for that.
Thanks again everyone for the support, please continue to favorite and follow this story and my other stories. If you guys also have any questions or suggestions for any of my stories feel free to leave a review or to pm me. I'll try my best to answer any questions or concerns. I really appreciate all the love and support and thanks so much guys. Hope you guys enjoy the latest chapter.
Chapter 2: Bells
The young blonde groggily stood up from his bed, he hazily used his arm to wipe his eyes before a large yawn escaped his mouth. Naruto grunted something indiscernible as he was forced to wake up from the knocks on his door. It was so early in the morning and he was still deprived of the proper eight hours of sleep he craved. The newly promoted Chunin gingerly walked over to the door, and upon opening it he was rather annoyed not to find anyone there. Instead there was a plume of smoke and a small note on the ground, Naruto before reading the note already knew this was Kakashi's doing.
He then picked up the small note on the floor and briefly read it, it confirmed to him it really was from his sensei. It told him to meet by Team Seven's usual training ground later that day for a quick meeting then team training now that everyone was back and fully recovered.
Naruto headed back to his home to get ready quickly, he cooked himself a quick and simple breakfast before going to shower and change into his new Chunin uniform for the first time. The young blonde checked himself out in the mirror after changing and although his new outfit really lacked orange, he had to admit it looked pretty good. He couldn't help but smirk proudly at his new uniform, this was the symbol and the representation of his new promotion and his major achievement of becoming a Chunin.
The young blonde had on a long-sleeved black shirt with his Chunin vest on top, with it was black pants which had a kunai holster attached by the right thigh. Then finally he had standard black sandals to go with the look. Along the pockets of his pants and the chunin vest Naruto held his new equipment, on the breast pocket was the latest bingo book, and attached to the lower back of his new vest was a small tanto ready to be used at any moment.
With everything prepared and ready Naruto headed out in search of his team in their training grounds, he only hoped that this time Kakashi wouldn't be late. He had to wake up early today and if that was all for naught Naruto would be annoyed.
Training Ground
Kakashi sat on top of one of the log stumps in the training ground reading his Icha Icha book, he was waiting patiently for the final member of his team. Earlier that day he had already called Sakura and Sasuke and those two were waiting alongside him, in all honesty it hadn't been that long thus far he just chose to notify Naruto last since his house was the most out of the way from his three students.
As per usual Sasuke was sitting down patiently while Sakura tried talking to him but of course her effects were all ignored by the stoic Uchiha.
Kakashi paid no attention to his two other students by now he was used to their usual antics, but he was really looking out for Naruto's arrival. The Jonin could barely contain the small grin on his face, lucky for him he had his mask help him conceal it from the others. He had gotten news yesterday of Naruto's promotion alongside Shikamaru and he couldn't be prouder of the young Uzumaki.
Naruto had worked hard for this and he proved to Kakashi and many others that he would be a formidable ninja in the future. And speak of the devil the young blonde arrived walking over to the trio at a cruisy pace with his hands on his pocket. Kakashi smiled as he closed his book and placed it back on his pocket, Sakura and Sasuke also noticed the arrival of Naruto and the two were surprised to say the least concerning Naruto's change of attire.
The newly promoted Chunin waved his hands at his team, "Hey guys long time no see, good to be back" Naruto greeted exuberantly.
Sakura's eyes widened in shock as Naruto grew closer and as she managed to get a closer look towards Naruto's new outfit, "Kakashi-sensei what's with Naruto's new outfit? Is it what I think it is?" she asked in utter disbelief.
Kakashi chuckled and nodded at Sakura, "Hai Naruto over here just got recently promoted to Chunin by the new Godaime Hokage Tsunade-sama" he explained before proudly ruffling Naruto's spiky hair, "Congratulations on the new promotion Naruto, I'm proud of you".
Naruto beamed at the masked jonin, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I still can't believe I was made Chunin by the old lady" he replied loudly.
Sakura and Sasuke remained rather silent in utter disbelief that Naruto would be the first to get promoted to Chunin among the three of them, it was a safe bet it would've been Sasuke but it appears the underdog ended up getting promoted first.
"Hey guys what do you think? Pretty cool, right?" Naruto asked confidently as he turned around to proudly brag about his new uniform.
"Naruto is this some sort of prank because if it is this isn't funny, did you really get promoted to Chunin?" asked the lone kunoichi of Team Seven.
Naruto nodded profusely, "Yeah Sakura-chan can you believe it? It feels cool no longer being a genin" he replied swiftly with a smile on his face.
"Wow, I guess congratulations are in order. Nice one Naruto, are you the only who's been promoted?"
Naruto shook his head, "No it's not just me Sakura-chan, Shikamaru was also promoted to Chunin" he admitted.
'Cha what the fuck, how did those two dead lasts get promoted before Sasuke-kun?' Inner Sakura asked in utter disbelief.
'I know what you mean inner, but to be fair Naruto has grown stronger. I mean Sasuke-kun admitted he did singlehandedly beat that Gaara guy. Maybe the idea of Naruto getting promoted isn't as far-fetched, but Shikamaru as well? That lazy bastard how did he get promoted?'
'I know right, but still how did they get promoted but Sasuke-kun wasn't? It just doesn't seem right cha' complained Inner Sakura.
"Hey Sakura-chan you alright?" Naruto asked out of concern.
Sakura blinked before shaking her head, "Yeah I'm alright just lost a bit of focus for a second there" she replied with a nervous chuckle.
Naruto nodded, "Okay then I believe you I guess" he replied before looking at Sasuke, he nodded at the young Uchiha but Sasuke simply scowled refusing to acknowledge Naruto or his promotion.
The young blonde raised a single eyebrow, "What's his problem?" he asked himself.
Kakashi noticed this and decided to break the tension, "Congratulations again Naruto, I heard about your promotion yesterday and I decided to call a meeting for a few reasons. One being to properly congratulate you for being promoted to Chunin, I remember when I was first promoted, it was one of the proudest days of my life and I'm sure it's yours as well" he said.
"What's the other two reasons then sensei?" asked Naruto.
"The first is to gauge all your skills again, it's been a while since we've been a proper team again with the whole Chunin exams and everything after then. You've all trained with different people around that time and now I just want to see how much everyone has progressed since our last proper time as a team" he explained, "The other reason is to discuss the new team dynamics now that Naruto is a Chunin. I'm sure Tsunade-sama already explained everything to you Naruto, but now that you're an actual Chunin you won't have to be with this team all the time. You may be sent on other missions with other teams or you might choose to join other missions you see fit. In the instance of that or whenever you are in a mission with us I'd like to discuss how the team will function. Everyone understand?"
"Hai Kakashi-sensei" replied Naruto and Sakura, as Sasuke simply nodded in understanding.
Kakashi clapped his hands before pulling something out his back pocket, he revealed a pair of bells bringing out a sense of nostalgia to the team.
"You three already knows what's the point of this exercise. I'll put the timer to thirty minutes, I won't be holding back this time but that only means I'll be expecting you three to work together this time. I want a proper challenge unlike last time and I'm looking forward to seeing how much you three have grown since then" he said before vanishing leaving a plume of smoke.
The three genin shielded their eyes as the smoke engulfed the area, soon as it disappeared so did Kakashi as the Jonin was nowhere to be seen.
"Dammit Kakashi-sensei is back at it with his tricks" said Naruto, "Alright guys let's go look for Kakashi-sensei" he said before summoning ten shadow clones to help him look all over the place.
Sasuke scowled before unleashing his Sharingan to help him search for their sensei, Sakura decided to go follow Sasuke in hopes they'll soon find their sensei.
The original Naruto ran all around the training grounds in search of Kakashi, then for a quick second he stopped as he felt one of his clones disappear. He felt an odd sensation as if he just saw the trap that defeated his shadow clone, after a few more seconds he felt a few more of those sensations. He could now tell and perfectly remember just what those traps were and where those traps were place.
'Huh what an odd feeling, I might have to ask sensei about it later' he thought to himself.
He continued to run aimlessly until he felt one of his shadow clones being dispelled by Kakashi himself, he then grinned and summoned a few more shadow clones, their duty was to find and gather Sakura and Sasuke while he went after Kakashi himself.
The young blonde ran towards the direction of his sensei and there he found him leaning towards a tree reading his book.
"Oh, I see you found me Naruto. Quite impressive indeed" he said before placing the book in his pocket, "Now show me what you got"
Naruto grinned before running at Kakashi engaging him in a small taijutsu fight, he went in with a flurry of attacks but of course they were neutralized by Kakashi. But he had to admit Naruto's taijutsu wasn't as sloppy or random as it was once, it was still a bit unrefined but improved significantly since their first bout. Naruto then jumped back seeing how taijutsu wasn't working at all.
He wiped away the small blood stain on his cheek before unleashing a hand seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he yelled. Now he summoned ten shadow clones and all of them jumped at Kakashi.
This time Kakashi was serious, he pulled out a kunai and began to quickly slash away Naruto's clones before landing a proper kick to the original's gut. But as soon as Naruto was sent back flying from that kick, he heard a voice from the opposite direction.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"
He turned back to see Sasuke arriving with Sakura as well, Kakashi reacted quickly forming new hand seals himself. Naruto saw this he quickly stopped nursing his gut and he summoned a shadow clone to help him with his jutsu.
Kakashi on the other hand yelled out "Doton: Doryūheki" as a wall of earth sprung forth from the ground protecting him from Sasuke's attack, as soon as the fire died down the wall fell back to the earth.
It was then Naruto decided to strike, he jumped at Kakashi and the Jonin only just noticed him in the last second, he used a Shunshin to replace his body with a nearby tree stump.
"Rasengan" yelled Naruto.
Naruto then plunged the blue ball of chakra into the tree stump causing it to explode and blast off far away from the sheer impact and strength of the attack.
Sakura and Sasuke were shocked at the jutsu, they couldn't believe a power like that came from Naruto.
The young Uchiha clenched his fists, 'What the fuck was that? It seemed stronger than my Chidori' Sasuke thought to himself in anger and frustration.
"Whoa that was cool, what was that Naruto?" asked Sakura.
The Chunin cursed his luck his sensei managed to escape just in time before appearing just behind him a second later, he put his right hand on Naruto's shoulder with his left hand placing a kunai to his back so that he wouldn't attack him.
Kakashi couldn't help but whistle in appreciation of the jutsu, "Impressive Naruto it seems Jiraiya taught you well. I'm amazed you managed to learn the Rasengan already, quite the power A-Rank jutsu is it not?" he asked.
Naruto grimaced as he felt the kunai scratching his back, "Yeah I guess you could say that sensei, Ero-Sennin taught it to me and I managed to get it down in a month" he admitted proudly.
Kakashi nodded, "A month you say? Not bad, not bad at all" he replied before jumping back to give himself space, "But you still have a long way to go"
The Jonin then began to unleash his own Rasengan in his right hand, Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief before pointing at Kakashi in shock.
"What the hell sensei? You know the Rasengan as well?" he yelled in disbelief.
Kakashi nodded with a smile underneath his mask, "Why yes Naruto, I'm one of the few people who knows this jutsu. I mean I was bound to learn it, I was the Yondaime's student after all" he replied.
"Kakashi-sensei what is this jutsu anyway?" Sakura questioned curiously.
"This my dear Sakura is called the Rasengan, one of Konoha's most powerful and notorious jutsus. It is an A-Rank jutsu created by my sensei the Yondaime Hokage and it took him four years to create it. Since then only Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin and I have learned how to form this jutsu, until Naruto here"
Sakura's expression was of utter disbelief as well, she couldn't believe that Naruto managed to learn a jutsu so rare and powerful. Maybe she really did misjudge Naruto, I mean he did show his strength and skill in the Chunin Exams, it turns out he isn't really a dead last after all.
"Enough of this talk let's continue" yelled Sasuke as he ran at Kakashi while forming hand seals.
"Chidori"
Kakashi turned to dodge the attack before landing yet another powerful punch this time of Sasuke's gut.
Sasuke skidded a few meters back before cursing his luck, Sakura then ran up throwing a few shuriken at Kakashi but the Jonin managed to quickly dismantle them with his kunai. Until Naruto jumped up again with a brand new Rasengan, he jumped up to dodge their attack instead colliding the jutsu with a nearby tree. While up in the air Kakashi braced himself for yet another attack from Sasuke.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"
This time Kakashi defended himself with Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu knowing that water would beat fire.
Kakashi then landed back on the ground and as he did his stopwatch conveniently rang marking the end of the thirty minutes, he clapped his hands marking the end of the exercise and although he was practically unscathed he was impressed. I mean after all no one expected the three of them to defeat Kakashi in his own game after all.
"Quite impressive you three, you've all grown especially you Naruto and I'm more than proud to witness you all grow right in front of me. You three still have a long way to go but you three should feel proud of how much you've grown, and as for you Naruto you really showed me today that you do deserve the rank of Chunin. The Rasengan is a powerful jutsu so use it well and be careful with it, in the wrong hands it could be devastating" he explained.
Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "Hai sensei arigato" he replied before Kakashi ruffled his hair.
"But remember Naruto, in fact this goes out to the three of you. Never feel satisfied, you can always improve one way or another and the worst thing you can do is stagnate no matter how strong you are, because there is always someone out there growing stronger"
"Hai sensei" replied the three students.
"Well then with that out of the way we have to go onto team dynamics with and without Naruto. As a Chunin Naruto will not be able to join us for every mission seeing how he might be called forth for other missions by the Hokage herself, and in the chance of that we either carry forth as a three-man team or sometimes we might have another genin or even a Chunin every now and then join us for that mission. Seeing how we'll most likely only deal with C-Rank missions the most we're more likely to have another genin replace Naruto for the duration of the mission"
"What about when Naruto's with us then sensei?" asked pinkette.
"Well when Naruto is with us he shall effectively be second-in-command straight after me" said Kakashi as both Sasuke and Sakura's jaws fell to the ground, "Say it isn't so sensei. Are you sure about this?" asked the kunoichi in distress.
Kakashi nodded, "Yup it's only fair seeing how he outranks you two. Look past the Naruto of old, Naruto proved himself enough to deserve the title of Chunin and in ninja rulebook the leadership goes down from ranks, until you two both reach the level of Chunin Naruto will remain my number two" he replied.
Naruto cheered jubilantly, "Hell yeah that sounds cool sensei" roared the young blonde while raising both hands into the air.
"Don't let it get to your head though Naruto, you'll still have to follow my orders" warned Kakashi, "And if I hear about you misusing that privilege I could take it away as easy as I granted it"
Naruto gulped nervously before rubbing the back of his head, "Don't worry sensei you won't regret your choice, I won't screw this up I promise" he answered back.
"But overall, I do believe in Naruto's ability and you two should as well, he is your teammate and you two have witnessed what he can really do" Kakashi said directing it into Sasuke and Sakura, "Naruto has shown an unorthodox ability in tactics and strategy but he is quite skilled in it, it is just very unconventional. Our mission in Nami no Kuni showed that, Naruto managed to save me from Zabuza and Naruto even managed to defeat Neji and Kiba with strange tactics. He can do it"
"Very well Kakashi-sensei, I guess we don't really have a choice on the matter" Sakura sighed in defeat.
"Ok then, with that done I suppose we can start training as a team again" he said as he eyed the three of his students, "All three of you have different skills and varying levels of powers and different specialties and I think it would be best to train you all differently"
"Ok then what do you have in mind then sensei?" asked Naruto.
Kakashi's glanced over to the young Uchiha, "Well for you Sasuke the plan is to help you out a bit more with the Chidori and work on your Sharingan a bit more" he answered as Sasuke nodded in understanding.
"As for you Sakura, you will be trained in increasing your chakra reserves and physical fitness. From what I saw a while ago Sakura you still lack the chakra and physical stamina required from a ninja, but you do possess amazing chakra control. But before I could teach you some jutsus we'll first need to increase your chakra reserves so that you won't suffer from chakra exhaustion"
"Then finally there's you Naruto, we'll have to work on your chakra control but I can also help you out with your Rasengan. We can make it more powerful and more efficient if we can improve your chakra control so that you won't have to use a shadow clone to form the Rasengan. Other than that, I believe it's time we uncover your elemental affinity"
"Elemental affinity?"
Kakashi nodded, "That is the element you are naturally best skilled in, personally for me its lightning. Usually this is a skill Chunin begin to learn but a few genin are gifted by learning this earlier on, an example of such is Sasuke. He may be a genin but he has begun to learn lightning but also other than that he also has a natural affinity towards fire. It's very rare to see someone your age with one element let alone two" he explained.
Sasuke smirked proudly while Sakura cheered by hearing that, "Wow that's so cool Sasuke-kun" she yelled but to no avail seeing how Sasuke quickly brushed it off as nothing. The opinions of Sakura didn't matter to him, it was only Kakashi and Naruto. So far for him Sakura had yet to do something to catch his attention, Kakashi and Naruto on the other hand has seeing how deceptively skilled they were.
"So when will we start training then?" Sasuke asked growing excited by the prospect of improving his Chidori and Sharingan skills.
"That will have to wait tomorrow, I'll train all of you individually. Two of you will have a shadow clone accompany you while one of you will have the real me train you, so that no one feels there is any favoritism I won't tell you which one is the real me. But tomorrow me and my clones will each pick one of you up and we will train in different areas of Konoha, areas best suited for the training regimen I have planned for the three of you"
"Before then however we are all going to eat out as a team, in Ichiraku's Ramen" said Kakashi as Naruto jumped up and down out of excitement, "I think it's only fair I treat you three out to some food not only to celebrate the reunion of Team Seven but for Naruto's promotion as well"
"Well then let's go guys Ichiraku's Ramen is waiting" Naruto yelled excitedly, his two teammates sighed at this but they had to come along regardless, Sakura was at least happy she had more chances to spend a little bit more time with Sasuke.
Kakashi could only chuckle as he watched his three students, so much has changed in the past few months and yet it appears nothing changed from the three of them. They were still very much like the three snot-nosed brats he first met during their first team meeting on the rooftops.
"I hope you three brats never change" he told himself as he watched the three of them run off"
The Next Day
Naruto was in the process of washing his dishes from breakfast when he heard yet another knock on his door, this time upon opening it he was already prepared for the day and unlike the last time there was no plume of smoke and note on the ground, instead it was Kakashi himself in the flesh right in front of his door.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, you ready to begin training?" he asked exuberantly.
Kakashi nodded as he smirked underneath his mask, "Yo Naruto I'm ready, I'll bring us to our training ground" he said before grabbing Naruto by the wrist and using Shunshin to take them to their training grounds in a mere few seconds.
"Alright then Naruto you already know what we are going to train in, it's time you learn your element. But before then I should probably give you a lecture about the five basic elements, there are Fire, Earth, Lightning, Water and Wind. Everyone has an affinity to one but some people are blessed with an affinity to two or even three elements and those people contain a very rare power known as a Kekkei Genkai. The Sharingan and Byakugan are also Kekkei Genkai but they are of the Dojutsu sort while there are also elemental ones" he explained as Naruto tried to wrap his head around all this new knowledge.
"An example of an elemental Kekkei Genkai would be Haku's with his Ice Release, it is a combination of both Wind and Water, when a person has a natural affinity for both he or she is given the Kekkei Genkai of Ice. Other examples would be the Shodai Hokage's Wood Release with his natural affinity for both Earth and Water. Do you follow me so far Naruto?"
"Yeah I think I kind of understand it so far sensei" replied the young blonde.
"Well then from the five basic elements all of them have an advantage over one of the other elements and have a weakness against one. The rotation goes as such: Fire is strong against Wind but weak to Water, Earth is strong against Water but weak against Lightning, Water is strong against Fire but weak against Earth, Lightning is strong against Earth but Weak against Wind, and finally Wind is strong against Lightning but weak against fire"
With that said Kakashi then handed Naruto a strange piece of paper which the blonde stared at out of confusion, "What's this supposed to be sensei?" asked the blonde.
"That Naruto is called Chakra paper it is what you use to learn what your natural affinity is. When you apply chakra to it the paper will begin to alter in a certain way. If your affinity is towards fire the paper will ignite, with water it will turn damp, with earth the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away, with lightning it will wrinkle and with wind it will be cut in two" he replied before pulling out another piece of chakra paper for himself.
Kakashi held out the paper and applied a small amount of chakra to it and soon the paper began to wrinkle indicating his affinity was towards lightning, "As you can see Naruto this shows us that my affinity is lightning, and depending on what you get I'll make a training routine for you" he said.
Naruto nodded before concentrating on the piece of chakra paper, the young blonde breathed nervously before applying his own chakra to the piece of paper. After a few tense seconds, the paper began to slowly slice itself in two. Naruto's eyes widened in shock while Kakashi simply watched on in intrigue.
"Interesting it turns out your natural affinity is towards wind" he replied as Naruto smiled brightly, "Wind is one of the more attack based elements in the spectrum and it can be quite powerful. But unfortunately for you Naruto wind is the one element I cannot use just yet, had you gotten lightning, earth, water or fire I could have easily taught you a thing or two but unfortunately I cannot use wind"
"Most of the wind users can be found in the Land of Wind, the lands as you can guess are all named after the main affinities most commonly found in the region. We are in the Land of Fire and as such the most common affinity is to fire, and the same idea goes for the Land of Water with the element of water, the Land of Earth with the element of earth, and of course the Land of Lightning with the element of lightning"
Naruto clenched his fists in frustration, "Dammit why can't I catch a break. Don't you know anyone who can teach me wind though?" he asked in annoyance of his poor luck.
Kakashi nodded, "Lucky for you Naruto I do in fact know someone who is perfect for that role. I for one cannot train you in wind but if so ever you do acclimatize yourself with that element and when you're ready to branch off to a new element I'll be more than willing to train you in a second element. But for now, you'll have to learn off my friend, much like you he has a natural affinity for wind. Quite a rare thing in the Land of Fire, there are only a few natural wind users in Konoha"
"Ok who is this person then?"
"It's the Jonin sensei of Team Ten, Asuma Sarutobi"
"Oh, Shikamaru's sensei?"
"Yup we can go talk to him now if you want. I'm sure he'll be more than willing to help with your elemental training"
"Ok then Kakashi-sensei, oh but before we do go there's something I want to ask you"
"Sure thing Naruto shoot"
"It has something to do with shadow clones, during our bell test yesterday I noticed something strange. When my clones from afar were dispelled by the traps you laid out, I felt as if I was there. It was weird I can't exactly pinpoint what that was"
Kakashi knew exactly what it was, "That is actually the reason behind why that jutsu is considered an A-Rank jutsu, other than its taxing chakra usage. The jutsu was developed by the Nidaime Hokage not only for combat but for information gathering. When a clone is dispelled the memories transfer back to the user and as such this was a technique used by many spies and the like. Actually now that you mention it Naruto it can be used with your training routine"
"How so?"
"Normally a person cannot sustain this sort of routine but a person of your immense chakra reserves might be able to do just that. The shadow clone jutsu once dispelled delivers its knowledge back to the original and if so then we could teach your shadow clones a few jutsus and when they dispel you will have learned that jutsu yourself"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "Whoa that sounds so cool" he yelled in excitement.
"But watch out though Naruto, when you dispel shadow clones with knowledge make sure to dispel them slowly a bit at a time to allow your brain to process all that information. If you were to instantly dispel hundreds of shadow clones at once after having them learn one jutsu each then you'll only bombard your brain with too much information. You'll only end up frying your brain in the end so watch out for that this might bite you in the butt if you're not careful"
The young blonde gulped nervously before nodding in response, "Hai sensei I'll make sure not to overuse it too much" he replied.
Kakashi nodded, "To keep things safe I recommend sticking to only around twenty clones or something and as you get used to it we'll build up to more, but now that is more than enough to speed up the process. Also another word of warning don't relax thinking you have this skill everything will be easy, this cannot help with your physical ability. If you make a clone do a hundred pushups all that work won't transport to your body so you still have to put in the hard yards yourself" he explained.
"Alright sensei I'll keep that in mind"
"Good, now let's head off and look for Asuma shall we"
With Team Ten
Asuma watched on as his team trained in their respective clan techniques for the devastating effects of an Ino-Shika-Cho trio. The team had just celebrated the day before at their usual BBQ joint at the surprising promotion of their one and only Shikamaru Nara. Asuma was proud of his student he saw something in him and although he could be a lazy slacker most of the time, when he actually tried he proved to be a quite the formidable foe.
From his two students, Choji was pleasantly surprised at the promotion of his best friend while Ino was in a state of shock and disbelief. Her state was further enhanced when she heard that Naruto was the only other person to be promoted to Chunin. How Naruto and Shikamaru two of the dead lasts of the academy got promoted to Chunin before Sasuke Uchiha their rookie of the year was beyond her. Choji on the other hand was once again happy for Naruto as well, him and Shikamaru were two of his friends growing up alongside Kiba. The four of them were troublemakers in class always ditching class, playing pranks of the teachers, never paying attention and even sleeping during the lectures.
Asuma continued to focus on his three students, it appears their chemistry was improving with each passing day, maybe one day they could reach the heights of their fathers before them. The Sarutobi was soon brought back to earth when he heard a familiar voice call out to him from not so far away.
"There you are Asuma, I've been looking for you" said the voice, the Sandaime's son turned around to see his fellow Jonin sensei Kakashi walking over with his own student Naruto by his side.
"Hey there Kakashi, how's it going?" he greeted, unknown to him his three students ceased their exercises when they noticed their arriving visitors.
Ino's eyes widened in shock as the sight of Naruto in his Chunin uniform, "Well I'll be damned, looks like the lazy bum wasn't lying after all. Seriously how did it end up with you two earning the promotions" Ino complained to the lazy Nara.
Shikamaru merely sighed at the platinum blonde girl, "Troublesome, have a little faith" he replied before raising his hand to greet his fellow Chunin Naruto.
"Yo Naruto" he said.
Naruto waved back with a smile, "Hey Shika how's it going. Good to see you too Ino and Choji" he greeted as the two genin waved back at their former classmate.
Asuma shook Kakashi's hand firmly, "So what brings you two to my neck of the woods?" he asked jokingly.
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, "Well Asuma I came here to ask you a favor" he replied.
"A favor what kind?" he asked while squinting his eyes at the masked Jonin, "Because if it has something to do with Icha Icha again forget it, Kurenai almost killed me when she found out"
Kakashi waved his hands while chuckling nervously, "No it isn't anything like that, it has to do with Naruto. I tested his elemental affinity and it turns out he has a natural affinity towards wind and as you know that is the one element I am unfamiliar with" he replied swiftly.
Asuma nodded in understanding, "I see, well as a fellow wind-user I'll be glad to help Naruto out" he replied, the young blonde beside Kakashi pumped his fists up in celebration.
"Hell yeah thanks Asuma-sensei"
The Sandaime's son chuckled, "No problem Naruto" he replied before turning back to his three original students, "Well gang it looks like Naruto will be joining us for training from time to time. I'll be having to teach Naruto some wind techniques but you guys can carry on with your Ino-Shika-Cho formations and joint techniques"
The three nodded in result before carrying on with their training before the arrival of the two visitors from Team Seven. Asuma then turned back to Naruto and Kakashi, "Keen to start today Naruto?" he asked as Naruto nodded furiously.
"Someone seems excited well then I suppose I can show you one or two of the simplest yet versatile wind jutsus there are" he said but before he could carry on Kakashi tapped Naruto on the shoulders.
"Naruto, I promised to help you out with your Rasengan and as we discussed before if you can summon a few shadow clones I can take those shadow clones and work on that jutsu on them while you and a few of your other shadow clones work on some of that elemental training with Asuma"
The young blonde agreed before carrying on summoning ten shadow clones, Kakashi decided to go and take the ten with him. He planned on splitting them up into two groups of five, one would focus on more chakra control while the other half will work on the Rasengan.
But before Kakashi could leave he heard Asuma call out to him, "Wait Kakashi did I just hear that right? Did you mention the Rasengan?" he questioned sternly.
Kakashi grinned underneath his mask, "Yeah Naruto here learned the Rasengan, he's still a bit unrefined with it but in time he might end up as good as Minato-sensei was with the jutsu" he answered confidently.
Asuma was left shocked by that statement, he looked down at the grinning Uzumaki kid before shaking his head, "Turns out you really are full of surprised aren't you kid" he said before leading Naruto to a different area of the training field.
Once they were a bit farther away from Asuma's three genin students, he grabbed a few leaves from the tree while displaying it to Naruto.
"One exercise to help you get a hang of using the element of wind is by slicing this leaf with your wind chakra alone like this" he said before applying chakra to slice the leaf in half like he said, "It won't be anything like chakra paper since a normal leaf won't be affected as much by chakra as chakra paper is"
"Other than that, I suppose I can teach you a basic wind jutsu or two as well, these are both simple C-Rank jutsus and I'm sure you'll be able to learn them in due time" he said before weaving through a few hand seals, "Fūton: Daitoppa" he yelled before unleashing a strong gust of wind to nearly uproot a nearby tree. Naruto stood in place with goosebumps appearing on his skin.
"That was so freaking cool" he yelled out excitedly, "You mean to tell me that's one of the simpler wind jutsus? What's the other one?"
"The other one is best used with projectiles such as shuriken since it strongly enhances the strength in which they are thrown" he answered before throwing a few shuriken at a nearby tree trunk, he then swiftly performed the necessary hand seals for his other jutsu, "Fūton: Reppūshō" he yelled.
The strong gust of wind accompanied the projectiles increasing their speed and power until they managed to fully lodge themselves into the thick trunk of the tree.
Naruto couldn't help but grin at the prospect of learning those techniques, they would surely make him much stronger than he was today.
"It would be good to learn these basic wind jutsus Naruto but remember prioritize the leaf cutting technique first" he explained.
"But why sensei? Why can't I just learn those jutsus instead? Why do I have to put some of my shadow clones to learning that leaf thing when I can just learn those jutsus already?"
"Simple Naruto, that is because you must first learn to master the use of wind chakra. You can theoretically learn and use those jutsus already but their power will be lacking from what I just showed you, if you first master using wind chakra then all of your wind attacks will be much more potent and devastating" he explained before showing a half-assed version of the same jutsus he just used a while ago. Although they still did the job they lacked the power and effectiveness of the ones prior to his original showing.
"As you can see Naruto if you first master the usage of wind chakra the power and quality of your attacks with be much stronger, that and it will help you learn the more advanced and powerful wind techniques. Now, you are learning C-Rank techniques, if you want to learn the B-Rank, A-Rank and even S-Rank you must really perfect your control of wind chakra"
"Very well sensei, I guess I understand. Let's get started then" he replied with a grin before summoning ten more shadow clones. He split them into two groups with five working on the two jutsus, while the original Naruto and the other five clones worked on the leaf cutting exercise.
Asuma simply smiled watching Naruto try his hardest, "You saw something in this kid dad and I guess I'll trust your judgement this time. If a kid this age could learn the Rasengan already I'm sure he'll be able to learn some pretty powerful jutsus soon enough" he slowly muttered to himself outside of Naruto's hearing range.
Later that Day
Naruto was walking back to his apartment covered in sweat, he was panting uncontrollably. He was making progress with the two wind jutsus and the Rasengan, but he was finding the leaf cutting exercise a bit more difficult. He asked Asuma for advice and the Jonin gave him the best advice he could but this was something Naruto really had to find out and experience himself. Asuma knew it was going to take Naruto a lot of time to master this but he had faith in the boy, he could early on how determined and dedicated he was to his craft and eventually his hard work will pay off.
On his way, back though he accidentally stumbled upon his kunoichi teammate walking back to her own place nursing her own bruises. He watched her from afar and he could tell she too was covered in sweat probably from the intense training from Kakashi. With his remaining energy, he ran over to her, he called out her name in the streets.
"Hey Sakura-chan" he yelled while waving his arms, the pinkette turned back and found his Chunin teammate gingerly running towards her, she hesitantly waved back but she could barely do so due to the soreness of her body.
"Hey Naruto, how was your training with Kakashi-sensei?" she asked while the two walked off to a random direction.
"It was pretty cool, it turns out I have a natural affinity for wind so Kakashi-sensei asked Asuma-sensei for help in teaching me since Asuma-sensei also knew how to use wind" he explained, "He then showed me some cool jutsus and whatnot"
"That's nice, why are you following me though Naruto? Isn't your house like the opposite direction of mine?" she asked curiously.
Naruto chuckled while scratching the back of his head, "Well yeah but I decided it would be cool to catch a up a bit just the two of us. Speaking of which want to come with me to Ichiraku's sometime?" he asked almost pleadingly.
Sakura thought about it for a bit but shook her head in the end, "No I'm alright Naruto thanks anyway, I'm on a strict diet and I wouldn't want ramen to get me fat or something" she replied.
Naruto looked dejected for a few seconds, something Sakura easily took note of. But then he bounced back with a smile, "That's alright then Sakura-chan maybe next time" he replied. Soon the two walked in relative silence, it wasn't awkward it was more of the sense that they were far too tired as it was.
Until they finally reached Sakura's house, the two stood by the doorstep. Sakura didn't really need Naruto to walk her back but it felt kind of nice for someone to do that for her, "Well then Naruto I guess I'll see you again sometime soon, thanks for walking me back" she said before entering her house.
Naruto waved a small goodbye, "Yeah see you Sakura-chan" he said in a meek tone. He still felt bad about the rejection all he wanted was for he to acknowledge him and if she were to accept one of her dates then he knew he was going to treat her right, but that was easier said than done seeing how she never really accepted any of his date requests and how she seemed madly in love with Sasuke instead of him. He began to walk back with his hands in his pockets as he kicked the rocks in his way, he couldn't help but clench his jaw at the thought of how Sasuke treated her.
Sasuke had no idea how lucky he was, for Naruto he'd do anything to capture the heart of Sakura but for the Uchiha all he had to do was give her the time of day and she would be swooning. He couldn't help but feel jealous of his rival, this was the one thing that annoyed Naruto, how he would do anything for Sakura and yet she still loved the teme despite how bad he's treated her.
Unknown to Naruto the door to Sakura's house opened yet again and he failed to hear small footsteps running towards him. He was caught off guard when he felt someone grab his hand, turn him around and hug him. He opened his eyes and an immediate blush adorned his face at the sight of Sakura.
"S-S-Sakura-chan?" he stuttered nervously.
"I forgot to thank you for saving me from Gaara" she replied swiftly as a blush also adorned her own face, "Sasuke-kun told me about it and I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't be here today had it not been for you saving me that day"
Naruto nodded not knowing really what to say, "Any time Sakura-chan you know I'd do anything for you" he replied. Sakura looked up at him and smiled, she then tiptoed a bit before giving Naruto a small peck on the cheek causing the two of them to blush up a storm.
Naruto felt like he was in heaven but then he was brought back down to earth as a fist collided with his head, "Ow Sakura-chan what was that for?" he asked as he nursed the bump on his head.
"That was a onetime thing alright Naruto, if I hear you told anyone about this prepare yourself for a world of hurt you hear me?" she yelled in anger but Naruto noticed there wasn't any real malice in her voice and he could still see a tinge of red on her cheeks.
Naruto chuckled softly before nodding his head, "Yeah alright Sakura-chan don't worry. I guess I'll see you around" he said as he watched Sakura walk back to her house. But unknown to him he failed to see the small smile on the girl's lips.
The young blonde then dusted himself before walking off, this time in a much better mood than a while ago. A smile graced his face as he strutted back to his apartment.
'Maybe things aren't so bad after, maybe just maybe I might have a chance'
Glossary
Fūton: Reppūshō – Wind Release: Gale Palm
Fūton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Rasengan – Spiralling Sphere
Chidori – One Thousand Birds
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique
Doton: Doryūheki – Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
Shunshin – Body Flicker Technique
Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu – Water Release: Water Bullet Technique
Author's Note
Hey everyone, here is chapter 2 I hope you guys enjoyed. Like I said sorry about the latest remake of the Legendary Three as I said I just felt that this route had more potential than my original one, plus I wanted to experiment with a different type of story seeing how generic and basic some of my stories were getting as if they were following the same plot almost with different premises. Anyway, also check out the poll and vote to see what kind of Kekkei Genkai combo you'd like Naruto to have in the Legendary Three, that poll will only last for like a week or two depending on how I feel. Please continue supporting my work I really appreciate it everyone, please favorite and follow and if you guys have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a review or to pm me directly. Thanks again everyone hope you all enjoy the latest chapter to my stories.