Naruto panted heavily on the lakes shore, sopping wet and stripped down to light blue boxers. His legs were nearly shaking from exertion. The soaked blonde grit his teeth and clenched his fist. He was so close to mastering the water walking technique, he couldn't stop and take a break now! The sun had started to sink below the tree line, bathing the lake in orange. Naruto would have appreciated this more, if not for his raging contempt for the lake.
Breathing in deeply, Naruto closed his eyes and let his chakra sink down towards his feet. His tenketsu points burned in protest, but Naruto ignored it and stepped forward onto the water. Making small adjustments the young genin took another step, then another, and another. Naruto grinned and opened his eyes.
"Haha! take that you stupid water! Naruto reigns supr- oohhaAaak!" Naruto face planted into the water as his control slipped. The blonde bobbed back up to the surface sputtering for air several seconds later. His arms thrashing in the water as he swam a short distance to shore. The defeated blonde picked himself up out of the lake and stretched out on the grassy ground. The sun was now hidden behind the trees, casting its last rays through the thick canopy. Naruto grabbed his clothes and decided to go back before it became too dark to make out the path home. He would count today as a success.
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Naruto walked out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off. Leaving it on his head he studied himself in the mirror. His straw blonde hair had grown since his time in the academy, and was now just long enough to brush his sea blue eyes. The genin frowned at his skinny tanned arms. He wished he had some more muscle. When he wasn't wearing big clothes like his hoodie or jumpsuit he tended to look even more like a shrimp.
His training was getting stronger in other areas though. Shadow clones were easier to make than ever, he had tree climbing down pat, and water walking was all but mastered. The blonde flexed and kissed his bicep before grinning.
"See this you big pussy Sasuke-Teme! Imma beat your ass once I get Ojisan's jutsu! heheh!" Naruto laughed and jabbed at the air. He walked out of the bathroom with a smile. That night he had dreams of thoroughly humiliating Sasuke and being fed ramen by Sakura as she realized how awesome he was.
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"Mmmm, Sakura I've already eaten soooo much ramennn~… ahh… that's some gooood ramen, oh hey old man… heheh it's good to be Hokage."
*BEEEEEEP…BEEEEEEP…BEEEEEEP* "uhg goddammit!" Naruto slapped the top of his alarm clock and rolled out of bed in a tangle of covers and sheets. Rubbing his bleary eyes as he lethargically drug himself to the kitchen and pulled a carton of milk out of his fridge. The twelve year old made sure to give it a good sniff before taking several large gulps out of the blue container. He did not want a repeat of his last day of the academy.
After dressing appropriately Naruto opened up his door feeling much more awake. Only to slam right into something. The orange smurf looked up to see Iruka's scarred face looking down with warm brown eyes.
"Long time no see Naruto!" Iruka smiled.
"Hey sensei, what's up?" Naruto asked as he rubbed his bumped nose.
"It's been a while since I last saw my most troublesome student. So I thought I'd come by."
The dark haired teacher explained.
The blonde thought about it and realized it really had been a while. Almost a month since he had last seen his old teacher.
"Hehe sorry about that Iruka sensei," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I've been busy because of all my ninja duties and stuff datebayo. You wanna come in sensei?"
Iruka nodded his head friendly and stepped into the apartment. He was pleasantly surprised to see it actually decently clean. He had expected orange paint spilling onto the floor and pallets of ramen in the living room. But instead there was only one or two empty cups in the sink and a few dirty clothes on the wood floor.
"So… what you wanna talk about?" Naruto asked, breaking Iruka out of his silent inspection of his home.
The young teacher about what to say for a second. To be completely honest he had just kind of missed the rowdy blonde.
"I just thought I would ask how being an official ninja's been. I know that the first few months can be draining." The scarred man said, aware of exactly what kind of missions new genin got to do.
"Ah thanks Sensei! I've been doing great!" Naruto exclaimed as he did air punches for no apparent reason. "The old man said if I do some boring chakra exercises he'll teach me a super awesome jutsu datebayo!" Naruto boasted to his former teacher.
"Well if you need any help…" Iruka offered
"Really, That'd be great! I need some help with my leaf exercise. I only can stick it on for a second or two before it shoots off, sometimes it explodes!
'What!? Explodes!? Why would Naruto think that's a normal thing!' Iruka sweat dropped, but tried not to let his surprise show to his student.
"Ahh, Naruto, I don't think is normal for your leaf to explode from a simple exercise like that."
Naruto frowned a little at his sensei's words, it was pretty easy to make it explode, he just put in a little more than the minimum he was able to pour out. "But Iruka it's not hard to do that for me." Naruto tried to explain to his teacher.
"I believe you Naruto, how about we do a little experiment, yeah?" Iruka asked as he headed out the door. The orange shrimp followed behind him and nodded his head.
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The leaf on Naruto's head glowed blue for a second before exploding into shreds.
"Told you, datebayo!" Naruto said as he jumped to his feet. Iruka just blinked
"Ok. It seems that you are putting so much chakra into the leaf that it explodes to release the built up pressure." Iruka said as he he squatted down and rubbed his chin.
Naruto nodded "It doesn't normally do it anymore, but it does when I'm getting mad or frustrated"
"I guess that means that your chakra control has improved a lot!" Iruka exclaimed proudly. "Maybe you'll be able to do a regular clone soon." Iruka joked, patting his old student on the shoulder.
Naruto beamed at his dark haired teacher and nodded his head. "Soon I can get my mega awesome super jutsu, dattebayo!" He exclaimed and pumped his fist. Iruka laughed at his students antics.
"I'm sorry Naruto but I have to go and help at the missions desk, I have my shift today." Iruka was a little sad to part ways with his student, but it had been fun to hang out with him today. The scar faced young man thought of Naruto as a little brother. He could be annoying as hell sometimes, but the sensei still loved him anyways.
"Sensei, thank you, Seriously. I haven't had a lot of help with training or anything the last two months. Soon I'll get my super jutsu thanks to you, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.
Iruka smiled at his student. All he had really done was tell him that he was using to much chakra. Either way he was glad to help his student.
"I've better be going Naruto. Find me if you need anymore help." The teacher told his student. Sauntering away with his hands in his pocket.
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Our hero Naruto spent the rest of the day using as little chakra as was possible to trickle into the leaf on his forehead while doing basic exercises. The blond devil had found that physical activity helped him both focus and cool of when he was in need of it. His talk with sensei hadn't really told him anything he didn't already know, but seeing the man who was almost like an older brother to him for the first time in a while had reinvigorated his fighting spirit that had been worn down over the last couple months. As he punched the wooden pole sticking into the ground he felt a familiar sensation in his stomach and chest warming him against the cold night, the feeling that all his efforts were finally going somewhere. It was a feeling that he had been missing since his improvement at the academy had stagnated, his classmates going ahead of him while he stayed behind, laughing it off like he didn't mind either way.
His fist whamed into the log with a resounding crunch within the hardwood. Naruto hated thinking about his academy days. Everybody always told him "try harder!", "stop goofing around and maybe you could do this!", "focus!". It wasn't his drive that was the problem, he wanted to do those things, but he was restless and needed outlets for his energy. When he wanted to sit down to read, the words would swim and jumble within the page. The academy had been a waste of time. He had learned more from diagrams in a stolen scroll than anything his teachers had tried to beat into his head while ignoring the underlying problems that caused his inattention and lashing out. Naruto felt heat rising up to his face remembering his old classmates laughing at his failing attempts to read aloud. Or teachers yelling at him for losing focus during a lesson. His hands were dripping crimson onto dark earth, and the leaf on his forehead had long shot off into the crisp night air.
"ARGH!" Naruto punched the practice pole one final time before crouching down and nursing his hurt hand. He only took a few seconds before taking off in a sprint around the training field to cool off.
The orange loving fiend finished late as usual, and made his way at a jog for his small apartment. When he arrived he found a plastic bag hanging on his doorknob, heavenly smells wafting out around it. He quickly grabbed it and brought it inside.
It may not be ramen but i figured you could use the protein.
-Iruka
The note was waiting on top of wrapped barbeque, and Naruto quickly disregarded it for the delicious meal.
"I LOVE YOU IRUKA SENSEIIIIII!" he yelled as he started to dig in.
"WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO TO SLEEP!"
Naruto blushed and slowed down his ravenous eating pace at the neighbors reproach to his proclamation.
Ayyyeeee! wassup my loyal fourteen followers, it's been a while. I started this story last summer as something to entertain myself while dying of heat stroke in the back of the car, and hadn't planned on picking it up again, but I reread the first two chapters today just thought, "fuck I am a GOOD FUCKING WRITER!" so decided I might as well continue it. I know I promised chunin exams but I decided to do a little more character development and fluff instead lol. This story is 100% rated only for my filthy mouth and inability to censor bad words btw. If you notice that the writing style might change its because I had half this chapter written for more than half a year now. As always comment what u think. (special thanks to Iepidus for the massive feedback, part of the reason I decided not to rush into the chunin exams yet)