The Sandaime, with his new protege, were standing in the Sarutobi's personal, seal-protected training ground. Naruto had been worried that people would hate his Jiji for training the boy, but, the old man insisted that no one would ever find out.
Currently, the Sandaime was testing Narutos chakra capacity. Said boy sat on a large paper, complicated seals on each corner of said paper. Some would just use a jutsu and compare on how much they thought that drained them, but the Yonbushi Chakra Ginmi Fuin (Four Point Chakra Testing Seal) could be used to find an exact estimate.
The sandaime flipped through the 17 hand seals, before touching each corner of the paper with a hand, glowing with pale blue chakra. As he touched the forth, a square shaped grey barrier, 3 metres high, surrounded Naruto.
"Now, Naruto," the Sandaime said, getting the youths attention. "Do you remember how to take out your chakra?"
"Yes! Ram seal and then pull it out!"
"Well good. I want you to take out as much as you can."
"Wait, what happens?" Naruto asked.
"This technique can give me a rough estimation of wherein your chakra capacity levels lie. It changes colour , depending on the amount of chakra, the least being green, the most being blood red."
"Ok! Here goes!"
Naruto focused, setting his hands in a Ram seal. Immediately he was surrounded with a ghostly blue outline, making the barrier turn green. Closing his eyes to better focus, Naruto pulled more out, more, more...as much as he could. He would become a strong ninja, in the name of the log!
The Sandaime's hat flew off its owners head, seemingly possessed. The harsh winds generated pulled and tugged at the Sandaime's cloak but right now he was focused on one thing.
The boy was surrounded by ghostly blue energy. It would have likely been flames, spanning for , roughly, 2 metres in every direction, but due to the barrier it went straight up in an eery blue column. 'Thank Kami for the Inpei no Fuin (Seals of Hiding)'
The barrier rapidly streamed through a myriad of colours. Green, Turquoise, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange, finally stopping at blood red , leaving the sandaime was awestruck. If this was true, then this 7 year old boy had the chakra of 3 jounins!
"Alright Naruto, that will be enough!" The Sandaime exclaimed, releasing the barrier just as Naruto stopped the flow of chakra."You did excellently! That was truly amazing!" He said, answering the unasked question.
"And with this power, I will protect the log!" Naruto exclaimed, his inner zealot making itself known. "C'mon Jiji lets go learn some jutsu!"
However , 'Jiji' would not be budged. "Naruto, we will work on the basics. If you want to EVER use any of the more complicated techniques, you will need to achieve much higher levels of finesse with your chakra. You will need to learn taijutsu and genjutsu, learn to manipulate earth and water chakras...There is a long way to go. Speaking of which, i want to see something..."
The Sandaime was not originally going to do this for several years down the line but, seeing as Naruto's chakra was already so strong, it may just be possible. With that thought in mind, the sandaime pulled out a small piece of paper, giving it to Naruto, who instantly bowed his head, offering a prayer to the log which was mutilated for this purpose.
Deciding not to comment on the weird ritual, the Sandaime began instructing. "Naruto, could you please channel some chakra into the paper?"
"Hai!" At first it was difficult to channel without a seal - to which the Hokage decided that they would soon fix that - but never one to give up, after a minute of a constipated-err, concentrated looks, the paper glowed blue before giving the results.
The paper ripped in half. 'I can't believe it! This young and he already has elemental capabilities?' The sandaime thought, awestruck. Just when he was about to announce Naruto's element, the two halves of the paper once again changed.
One half became soggy, drooping out of Naruto's palm, falling to the floor, while the other crumbled into brown dirt.
"Wow. Naruto, you know this shouldn't be physically possible? You have 3 elements at age 7!" The Hokage said , awed.
"Awesome! Which elements?"
"Air seems to be your most outstanding, with earth and water close behind."
"Epic! I can help the trees and logs with my water and earth!" Naruto exclaimed. "Lets begin!"
The Professor pondered on a stray thought for a minute. 'I wonder. If the tests of the Yonbushi Chakra Ginmi Fuin are anything to go by then he is more than able, in fact, he is probably most suited to it. However, before I introduce it, maybe we should teach him the basics.'
"Ok Naruto, look at these scrolls." The Sandaime said, taking out three scrolls for the young boy. Each was a taijutsu scroll, giving general discriptions, with pictures of example moves. "I know all three of those styles , so before you decide i can give you a quick example."
"But Jiji, why do you know 3 taijutsu styles?" Naruto asked, taking the first scroll, labeled "Senkouken (Flash Fist)".
"Well, there are several reasons, but there are two outstanding examples. First of all, i wanted to be...flexible. I didn't want to be stuck with one style, otherwise, when there is a weakness in it which others can exploit i would be at disadvantage." He explained, Naruto's mouth forming a silent 'o'. "Aswell as that, you need to be proficient in at least 9 styles to become a Jounin, so that was a motivation. Anyhow, i see you have the flash style which revolves around pure, devastating speed and accuracy to decimate your opponent with hand-based moves. Here, I'll give you an example. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!".
Another copy of the aged Hokage was form, the said doppelganger getting into a basic academy style. The real Hokage slipped into the Senkouken stance, before rushing to his temporary opponent.
All Naruto saw was afterimages. He blinked, and the kage bunshin had puffed in smoke. He was awed at the old man's display of speed and agility. He wordlessly opened the second scroll - titled "Toraken (Tiger Fist)" Without further adieu, the hokage once again made a clone.
This time the style was ruthless and brutal, strong, but fast. "This style can also be utilized with weapons." The hokage said, pulling out 6 senbon from his pocket, which he had brought specifically to show the child. He carefully arranged them on his hands, using chakra to stick them to his knuckles, once again beginning the clawing, cat like motions of the Toraken.
After the demonstration, Naruto picked out the last was labeled "Tokuken (Shield Fist)", a defensive style revolving around solid blocks, parrys and counters, which the hokage demonstrated again.
"So what do you want?" The Hokage asked.
"All of them." Naruto said, but, before the Hokage could reject the idea, he said, "But i'll learn the Tokuken first, please. I don't think I'm strong enough for Toraken or fast enough for Senkouken, but i will learn them some day!"
And so began Naruto's Taijutsu training.
After three hours of training, a battered, tired, but satisfied Naruto sat down in front of a steaming cup of green tea. Under the kind visage, the Sandaime was evil, Naruto was now sure of it. That wasn't training, it was torture! For the first hour they had gotten the basics of 5 katas down, and for the next two hours, Naruto would find himself slammed face first into the ground for the smallest of mistakes. His resolve never weakened, as the Holy Log was with him the whole time.
They sipped the green tea in a comfortable silence, Naruto with "The Book of Log" infront of him the whole time.
After around 10 minutes of break, they got back to lessons. The Professor promptly got up, ripped a leaf of an acorn tree and walked back. Naruto gasped, before angrily glaring at the disbeliever. He walked up to the tree, muttering apologies and something that sounded like "Unrespectful old geezers." The blond then picked an acorn off the tree, making a small hole a few metres away to plant it, before returning to the Sandaime, who decided, for the sake of his sanity, not to comment.
"Naruto, watch what I do and try to guess how I'm doing it." The Sandaime instructed, taking the leaf and sticking it to his forhead with chakra. Naruto squinted abit, before deciding.
"You're sticking it to you with chakra?"
"Yes, but how?"
Naruto pondered some more. "You make a sort of suction cup? To stick it?" The old man positively beamed when the young boy got it so quickly. So, he instructed the boy to try it himself.
Naruto took the leaf, tenderly, apologizing for taking it from its family and muttering something about "Passing on to the Forest of Life" which once again, Sandaime carefully ignored.
PFFSHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The leaf flew, landing several meters away , slamming against a tree. "Sorry leaf, tree!" Naruto said, cringing sadly.
'With such terrible chakra control I don't know HOW he managed to learn the Kawarimi in an hour. Maybe...'
"Ok Naruto , since you have so much chakra, we'll not be doing this the conventional way." The Sandaime said, before pulling out a scroll with the kanji for 'Weight' on it. He chanelled some chakra into it, leaving him with a 5 kilo piece of paper in his hand. " Most start with small, light objects, getting larger to build chakra capacity, but since control is your problem, not capacity, we'll be working backwards." He explained, giving the weighted paper to Naruto, who once again apologized to the paper. The Sandaime fought the urge to smack his head. 'We may have another Maito Gai on our hands.'
Out in Takigakure.
The spandex clad man was just about to punch the missing-nin, instead stopping to sneeze violently on the man's face.
'Someone speaks of my YOUTHFULLNESS!'
Naruto took the paper, surprised at the weight, but nevertheless, placed it on the palm of his hand. He gathered the chakra necessary, moulding it to his will, before turning his hand over.
The weighted paper drooped slightly, holding for a second, before falling down to the floor , disgruntling the young boy.
"In the name of the Log, i will try again and again, and if i cannot finish by the end of the hour, I will stay all night trying to do it with a 20kg!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.
For some reason, the Sandaime shivered violently.
*THWACK*
The missing-nin fell to the ground, victim of one of Gai's almighty punches. The said nukenin's teammate growled, charging at the spandex clad man, planning to headbutt him in the face. The Konoha-nin just cupped his hands around his mouth, reminiscient of a Katon jutsu. The nukenin's eyes widened, already too close and too fast to escape, so he just braced himself for the impact of ...
*ACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
...the most almighty sneeze he had ever felt in his life. He flew for a couple of metres before falling again.
'MY YOUTH IS SPREADING ON THIS YOUTHFUL DAY! I WILL LIVE UP TO THE REPUTATION OF THE YOUTHFUL ONE WHO SPEAKS OF MY YOUTH WITH FIERY YOUTHFULNESS!'
By the end of the hour, Naruto could keep it to his palm if he concentrated really, really hard, and even then it was unstable, falling if he got distracted. After the chakra exercise, they studied some jutsu theory, after which they studied ninja history.
"HIstoryyy?" Naruto whined. "You're KIDDING me right? We're ninja! We kick ass in the name of our friends and logs!"
Ignoring the last part, the Sandaime replied,"We must study history so as to learn from others mistakes, to see others battle tactics etcetera etcetera. Many things can be learnt. Now, if you shut your trap, we can start!" The Sandaime said cheerily. "Now the Shodaime...The Shodaime was the first Hokage of Konoha - in fact he was the one who made Konoha. You see all these trees? He made them."
"Don't you mean he planted them Jiji?" Naruto asked.
"No. He made them. He had a rare control over wood, called Mokuton."
Naruto had hearts in his eyes. "Did he worship the log?"
The Sandaime sighed, having hoped this wouldn't come up.
"He was the Log Pope."
"KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Naruto screamed girlishly. "He's my HERO!"
'This is going to be a looooong day..."
For the remainder of the year, that's how Naruto and the Hokage spent their days. The Hokage found himself with much more time and less stress now that he could use Kage Bunshin to deal with the least important matters, spending most of the extra time with the log worshipper.
Said worshipper of logs spent 2 hours every morning meditating in the name of the log, another 2 hours afterwards strengthening his body and conditioning his muscles, followed by a half hour relaxation session, in which Naruto showered, and read The Book of Log. Straight afterwards, the boy worked on the Tokuken for three hours, followed by 2 hours chakra control and 3 hours academics - everything ranging from maths and chemistry to ninja history and jutsu theory.
Naruto's progress was solid, dedicating his work for the Holy Log. This left Naruto with around 3 and a half hours each day to himself.
For the first half of the year, Naruto had spent this time worshipping log, planting trees and studying the Tree Anatomy so that he may some day use the Rogu Chiyo no Jutsu (Log Healing Jutsu). Then half way through the year he had discovered the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) which changed everything.
Suddenly a new boy appeared in the neighbourhood - who if anyone asked was an orphan in the orphanage. The orphanage had so many wards that if anyone asked them about a 10 year old black haired unassuming boy, they'd be able to pick loads of examples.
And so, Kuroke Kenchi came into being, doing odd jobs in his spare time for those who couldn't be bothered to hire for D-Rank missions. Weeding, painting fences, babysitting...The only one who knew of Naruto's second persona was the Hokage himself, who even redirected some D-Rank missions for the young boy. Needless to say the said boy not only gained alot of extra pocket money (most of which he used to buy seeds or save), but he also gained alot of chakra control from keeping up a constant henge for several hours at a time.
And so approached Beat-on-Naru day. But this time, Naruto thought of it as a test of his ninja skills. Throughout the whole day, anyone searching for Naruto to vent some pent up frustration would find them ruthlessly attacked with paintfilled baloons.
At around 6, Naruto went to visit the Hokage in his secret Sarutobi training area while a Kage Bunshin gave the annual speech for the Kyuubi walked into the grassy clearing to find a small table, with two chairs on either side. On the table was a variety of food prepared by the Sarutobi household servants - even though they weren't told who for. Oh, and everything was log shaped.
The sandwiches looked like two halfs of a log, with brown dyed fillings - ranging from the meaty to the cheesy. There were small, sweet rolls and buns, shaped like logs, cups which looked like hollow logs and a cake, shaped like, of course, a log.
"AWESOME!" Naruto screamed. "Thanks jiji!"
The two of them chatted for a while, before beginning to eat.
"Itadakimasu!" The old hokage said, grabbing a logburger.
"I thank the Holy Log for blessing me with the food infront of us, and in it's name I eat!" Naruto exclaimed, taking a logcupcake. They both enjoyed the food, Naruto just happy that his jiji - with whom his bond had strengthened tenfold in the last year - had thought to throw him a party when he could be enjoying his time with other adults.
Said Hokage pulled out 8 candles - all shaped like twigs , of course - and impaled them into the cake, lighting them.
"Make a wish!" Sarutobi instructed, before Naruto blew out the candles, allowing the hokage to cut it up and give him several slices of what seemed to be log-chocolate-cake."Now, presents!" The Hokage said happily.
Naruto's eyes widened, having not expected such a thing. He allowed himself to be lead away from the table to a tree in the corner. The sandaime brought chakra to his right hand, tapping 15 hidden spots on the tree, finally, pulling down a branch (a disguised lever) and allowing some blood to spill on one of the leaves. With a grinding sound, the "tree" sunk into the ground, leaving a hole with a ladder descending down.
"After you," The Sandaime said to Naruto, who climbed down the ladder followed by the aged hokage.
He walked into a dark corridor - dark until the Sandaime activated torches with a burst of Katon chakra on each - which stopped at a dead end with a door at either side. Naruto looked up questioningly, to which the Hokage said "Pick."
Going with his left side, Naruto opened the door, finding himself in a large room filled with all manners of weapons and armours from all over the elemental countries. Naruto was left awestruck.
"Jiji this is all amazing but, why are you showing me it?" Naruto asked puzzled.
"For your birthday...pick 3! One weapon, and 2 of whatever else you want, and i'll teach you how to use them since I think you're mature enough to use weapons now."
"THANK YOU JIJI!" Naruto said, squeezing the old man.
"Need...breath..." 'Jiji' said, breathing heavily as he was released. Naruto was running around frantically, trying to choose.
It took some time but eventually Naruto chose. He came back to the Hokage with some lightweight stealth boots with chakra conductive soles and tips, a pair of fingerless black gloves, reinforced with threads of chakra conducting Obenite Ore to protect his hands and possibly be of use in some jutsus and - his final choice really confused the old man - a jet black whip, 2 metres long, with an ivory handle.
"Why the whip, Naruto?"
"There was an instruction manual next to it!" Naruto said, pulling out the said paper (and apologizing to the log which was mutiliated for it).
"So? You do know whips are very very hard to use and can be complicated? A sword would be much easier."
"I know!" Naruto said. "Look!" The blond chanelled chakra into the handle, a blue kanji glowing. With a snapping sound, the whip became a double sided cross between a staff and a spear.
"Ahh its that whip! My grandfather, Sarutobi Sasuke wielded it. I hope you'll honour his memory."
"I will, Jiji! This is the best birthday EVER!"
"It's not over yet. Come!" 'Jiji' said cheerily, exiting the door, closely followed by a hurrying Naruto. They entered the other door, finding themselves in a huge library full of scrolls. "This is the Sarutobi Library. Pick 5 jutsu and i'll teach them to you - but if they're higher than B-Rank then it'll have to wait till later on this year."
Naruto...for lack of a better word...squealed. This was heaven to his 8 year old mind.
Once again, it took some time before Naruto could choose, but eventually he came back holding 5 scrolls.
"What did you choose?" Sarutobi asked kindly. The Uzumaki child began to read his choices.
"Fuuton: Kazekei (Wind Release:Wind Whip), Doton: Tsuchi Bouei (Earth Release : Earthen Protection), Suiton: Jinsoku Tama (Water Release : Rapid Shot), Fuuton:Chikirinuki Renda (Wind Release: Thousand Cuts Barrage) and finally, Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu."
"You have quite the fanatism for Elemental jutsu." The Sandaime comment.
"No! My fanatism is all for The Holy Log. Anyway THANK YOU SO MUCH! This has been the best birthday EVER!"
"I have one last present for you Naruto. I'm going to teach you ... the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Naruto gasped. "REALLY?"
Thanks to his Ninjutsu theory , he knew all about the training capabilities and was well aware of the possibilities , especially with his chakra capacity.
"Anyway, the handsigns for the kage bunshin is..." The Sandaime began as they left the storage area.
"Specific to the jutsu! I know i know I've been begging you to teach me this for a year remember?"
"Well...go on then, give it a go!" Sandaime encouraged.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
For a second, the world was smoke. Smoke in every direction, an unpenetrable haze, hiding the much awaited results.
And the results did not dissapoint - if anything, they left the two REAL people there ecstatic.
Naruto was everywhere. On trees, on the Sarutobi household - It was as cramped as a KFC chicken pen. Clones were EVERYWHERE - A mass of blindingly bright orange jackets and blond mobs of hair. The best thing was that, Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Naruto...how many clones do you think you just made?"
"I think...around maybe...700..."Naruto said, estimating in his head. Sarutobi's jaw dropped. 700 clones? For an eight year old? "Well i think thats enough for today. You can dispell them."
"No." Naruto replied, before Sarutobi could talk, he turned to his clones. "You! 100 of you go do chakra control exercises!" He ordered, pointing to a bunch on his left.
"Hai, boss!" They replied, running off to some obscure training ground.
"You! Yes the 250 on my left! Split into groups of 50 and practice each of these jutsu!"
"Hai, boss!" They replied. Since all the objects on person got replicated too, they found the five scrolls in their pockets.
Before ordering the next batch, Naruto turned to the stunned Hokage for permission. "Can I use your library? The normal one?"
"Err...sure..."
"You! 20 of you go to Jiji's library and study everything you can get your hands on. Now the last 300 or so...Hmm..."
"Dispel one by one!" Jiji shouted. "You've already got alot of clones out there, probably going to train until their chakra finishes, so best not to overdo it. Now, off you go Naruto! See you here tomorrow, 7AM sharp!"
"Hai, Jiji-sensei!" Naruto turned to leave, sprinting away, but stopping at the edge of the training field. "And Jiji?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. For everything. May the Log be with you!"
That night, when he got home, Naruto summoned another 50 clones to begin the first jutsu in the Book of Log. With the Suiton: Junsei Mizu no Jutsu (Water Release: Pure Waters Technique), he would be able to feed and grow saplings with pure, clear spring water!
There you go, second chapter of "The Log"
Heh i just noticed, Kuroke Kenchi means Black Haired Point of View. I think.
I don't KNOW any japanese, i just use random translators and hope it still looks macho =P
