It had been a year and a half since Naruto's first attempt at meditation. Now, Naruto spent at least an hour meditating every day. The Kyuubi had been teaching Naruto all kinds of things: stealth, chakra control, language, impulse control… the Kyuubi was fully committed to Naruto's personal development. When Naruto started the ninja academy a few months ago, he was a good bit farther along than the other students, but at Kyuubi's behest kept a low profile. The interactions Naruto had with other students were kept to a minimum, and Naruto spent most of his time in class doing discrete chakra control training. By this point Naruto could water walk without issue, and simplistic shape manipulation exercises were easy. The Kyuubi was pushing Naruto to perfect his first genjutsu within a month.

Every Bijuu is known for some special abilities granted to its container: the one-tails has sand manipulation, the two tails has mastery over fire, the three tails has its protective shell and unique water techniques, the four tails has lava release, the five tails has boil release and steam techniques, the six tails has water-style-based acidic jutsu, the seven tails can fly and use its scales to blind foes, and the eight tails grants ink jutsu. The Kyuubi is not on this list for one simple reason: its previous hosts could not access the Kyuubi's abilities properly. As a kitsune, the Kyuubi has a disposition towards trickery and deceit, making demonic genjutsu its special ability. However, both of the previous nine-tails hosts specialized in seals and ninjutsu, both arts that do not require chakra control of the degree that genjutsu demands. This is why the Kyuubi has been instructing Naruto in chakra control… if the fox has its way, Naruto will have perfect chakra control before he graduates the academy.

Four months later…

A few third year students were cornering Naruto during lunch and attempted to intimidate him, "Hey blondie, we have a special surprise for you. Hand over something valuable and we might not show it to you." His mind racing, Naruto took a few deep breaths… "I'm fine, just gotta use what Kyu taught me." The miniature thugs were slightly confused when they saw the scrawny first year calm down. Normally, other kids would be shaking in their boots. What happened next was even more confusing to the coercive crew. One second, the blonde smiled, and the next, he disappeared… along with the money the third years were going to spend after school. An ecstatic Naruto was just around the corner, happy that he could pay for ramen that night. "Kyu was right, this is fun."