Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
To Dumbledore: Than you for the review and the advice, much appreciated.
I hope you all like the chapter.
A small hand reached out from a small bundle and put turned off the silver alarm device before he untangled himself from the pose and lay on his back for a few seconds. He had been performing these exercises for ten months under Leah's tutelage and every time he thought they would get easier, he would be proven wrong.
The exercises, he had been told, were to increase his agility as well as his flexibility.
"You're a lot smaller than your mates and it is expected that you will have less brute strength. Of course as you grow you will become stronger but for now your size should allow you to be able to easily manoeuvre around your mates as well as give you an advantage when it comes to speed."
That was what Leah had told him when they had started doing this.
"If you delay any more then you might be late."
Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked into the calm purple eyes of the white haired chibi that stood over him.
"If I am late then I shall do twenty extra laps around Konoha!"
With that he sprang up, slung the handle small bag that was resting on a chair close by over his shoulder and ran out the door to meet his 'running buddy' as he was called by Naruto.
"That boy has been hanging around Gai way too much." With that she also disappeared in a, to reappear only seconds later in the small training ground where her charge was due.
Leah watched as Naruto came upon the field where she was sitting and he pouted causing her to laugh.
A moment later a green blur appeared and once it settled down you could make out the spandex clad form of the jounin, Maito Gai, Konoha's foremost expert on taijutsu and Naruto's 'running buddy'.
Ever since they had met two months previous and the eccentric man had gained Naruto's trust by giving him a set of training weights, they had met very often and soon it had become Naruto's habit to meet the man early in the morning for some exercises and an early run. Naruto got up as early as 5:00am every morning, performed Leah's stretching exercises and then an hour and a half later was out to meet Gai. At first the exercises had been done in the afternoon after the Academy was over, they helped Naruto to relax but as of recent, he now performed them in the morning as well as in the afternoon.
"Alright Naruto, because you are now on a most youthful break, the exercises to fan your flames of youth shall be increased by two hours!"
Geez, couldn't the man keep it down. Despite the fact that the three of them were out at this time, it was only 6:00am.
That was right, Leah thought. It was the holidays. She sighed as she watched Naruto and Gai do push- ups as fast as they could. Despite the fact that Naruto had changed his weights recently, he was still doing pretty well, though this was only the beginning. Because Naruto now had a greater portion of his day to himself, his training schedule would have to change.
His schedule as of late, dictated that he get up at 5:00am, stretch with Leah till 5:50am, exercise then run with Gai till 7:00am, attend the academy from 8:00 till 3:30pm, perform target practice or skipping till 4:15pm, break, then stretch exercises from 4:30 till 5:00pm, homework till 6:00pm, dinner till 6:30pm, study or homework till 7:00pm, get ready for bed( take a bath, brush teeth etc.) till 7:20pm, playtime till 7:45pm(no matter what anyone says, children need time to be children, regardless of how little the time), cool out time till 7:55, then light outs till 5:00am the next morning. Well considering the small distractions that could not fit in, such as the change of venue and others, this was how his schedule should look.
His schedule was really tight which was why Naruto had his weekends to himself once lunch was over (Fridays not included).
Two things had changed though which would cause all this to change. The first was that Naruto had mastered using his subconscious to a level that was acceptable enough so that he could now use some of the time in there to study and the rest to practice using his mind. The second event was that it was now holidays meaning he had at least seven and a half extra hours to burn and no homework.
It was for this reason that Leah had kept him in for an extra hour and Gai was going to keep him running and performing all other sort of exercises till 9:30 when Naruto would inevitably have to leave to get some breakfast.
"That's it Naruto, let your flames of youth explode!" the taijutsu specialist declared as he performed another one armed push- up.
She watched as Naruto pushed himself up in what would be his hundredth and eight push up.
Might as well help, she thought with a shrug and with that she walked over to Naruto and sat down on his back.
Naruto watched as Leah got up from her place on the log and came to sit on his back. He would have shaken his head at her but he really couldn't with the sudden addition of weight. She always did this during his morning sessions with Gai, every time she seemed heavier than the last. Naruto had been puzzled when she had taken her normal place and he wondered what she was thinking.
Ah well. He thought as he continued to concentrate on his morning routine.
Naruto flopped back onto the grass after Gai had left the field.
"Come on lazy bones, move your butt, it's time to get breakfast." Leah said as she nudged his side with her feet.
Naruto groaned and rolled over. Even though he never actually sparred with the man, the exercises he was put through always made his muscles feel sore for some minutes after it was over. There were sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, splits of all types and then the running. The running was always the worst. Naruto's stamina was tested as he was pushed to his limits, then beyond, then even further past his limits- he was pushed past his limit's limit.
He felt a small pressure on his back and looked up to see Leah, at his size, giving him a massage. He lay there for the next few minutes as her fingers worked their magic, eventually ending with a foot rub.
"Thank you Leah, you have got to teach me how to do that sometime." He said as he sat up.
"Okay."
"Now to Ichiraku's for a well-deserved breakfast!" he said springing to his feet energetically.
"Na-"
But he cut her off "Please," he begged, making his eyes as big as he could. "It is the first day of the holidays after all, so can't we celebrate it. Please, I entreat of you."
The now shrunk weaver looked at the figure in front of her and shook her head at him.
"Fine-"
"Yes!"
"But no more than two bowls and you must have a side dish of salads for each plate."
"Okay! No problem!"
He gave her a nice guy pose and she saw his teeth sparkle in the sunlight.
She stared wide eyed at him for a second before climbing to his shoulder and taking a seat there. It looked like Gai was having more of an effect on him than she originally thought.
Teuchi Ichiraku was currently working at the ramen stand with his young daughter Ayame. This morning was a little slow. Business hardly ever picked up before noon and now as he stood there his mind wondered to the boy who was by far his favourite customer: Naruto Uzumaki.
The boy had become scarcer these days. Teuchi noticed that he only ever came to the shop three times a week, never came in the mornings- even on weekends, never bought more than four bowls at a sitting and always bought one salad dish. Teuchi felt that the boy might be trying to improve his diet. He had also noticed that the boy looked more robust and less tired than previously. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that the boy had stopped pulling pranks.
Teuchi knew about the pranks because the boy had often come here after he pulled an all nighter in an attempt to pull a prank either early in the morning or late at night. To be honest he had worried about the boy: the bags under his eyes which should not have been there, the haunted look he sometimes wore or the faraway look he had in his eyes as he watched the rapidly cooling ramen broth in his bowl.
"Hey ya Teuchi ojii- san, Ayame nee- san!"
A loud and very familiar voice called out.
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" The voice of his daughter asked with surprise evident in her tone.
"What? I always come here right?"
Teuchi looked back and noticed that Naruto tilted his head to the side like a little bird and he had to smile at the cute expression.
"That's not what I mean Naruto. You never come here in the morning anymore."
"Oh that. Today is the first days of the holiday, so I came to celebrate with some ramen,"
"Oh? Then will you have your usual?"
"Nah, just two pork ramen and two salad dishes should be fine."
"'kay."
Once the dish was set in front of Naruto he began to eat at a fast yet controlled pace. Not a single drop of broth reached the table and this made Teuchi smile. Naruto had also learned some table manners and that never failed to amuse him and make him feel nostalgic. All the changes in Naruto could be chalked up to one thing: Naruto was growing up.
"Again!"
The sound of running. The sound of something scraping against tree bark. The sound of falling- thud.
"Again!"
The same sequence.
This took place over and over again. Sometimes with more success than others; though a definite pattern had begun to form. At least he seemed to be improving.
They could have used MRA for this. Let Naruto freeze himself at that time in his memory when he got just the right amount of chakra to his feet. He could then analyse the amount of chakra and use that in this situation. Unfortunately, while Naruto was coming along well in retrieval of memory, he still was not at the level where he could use MRA well enough even in rather simple situations.
Naruto lay on his back panting. He had being doing this for some time now without too much success. This chakra control exercise.
Normally, this exercise, as he was told, was something that was taught by a jounin sensei but Naruto needed it so he had gotten Kaya- sensei to teach him soon after the flower exhibition. She had agreed because, she knew without it he would never be able to fully master the three academy jutsu.
They had been taught the three basic academy jutsu at the beginning of the second year, with a little luck and a lot of practice, Naruto had managed to get down the henge jutsu but nothing else. He had done a bit of research, finally he and Leah had come to the conclusion that he had way too much chakra thanks to his rabid pet.
A little more research had given him the answer to his problem: chakra control exercises. He had acted immediately and gone to the only sensei which was not hostile towards him. Kaya had been more than willing to help, she had given him a simple exercise that involved him sticking leaves on his body. He had practiced that and about two weeks before they had closed he was done learning it. Soon after that he was able to perform the Kawarimi but not the bushin. Kaya seemed to have predicted that and she taught him the basic of the tree climbing exercise with the promise of her help if he ever needed it. Since then he had been working on the exercise.
"Alright, it's time for lunch so we'll try again later tomorrow."
"Yes," He nodded at her and he put down his hand so that she could climb up it and to his shoulder."
"So what's next sensei?"
Leah smiled at the title. She just loved being a teacher.
"Well, I think we are going to eat first, and then you have to study history and a bit of finance,"
Naruto knew that by that she meant all the wars that had been fought. From there he could pick up various strategies and tips. He hated finance; it sucked just to put it simply. The figures always made his head hurt even though Leah assured him it was only the simplest stuff which she taught him. When she called finance was half an hour of reading financial reports in Konoha and learning about stock markets and banks and investments. He absolutely hated it and yet he had to do it every day. It was a useless waste of money which could be spent on ramen. He withheld his groan.
"After that we can have a little target practice, then a game of chess or shogi, whichever you prefer."
This time he did groan. During the school term he only ever played that game with Leah and he always got soundly defeated in a quarter of an hour, he then had to listen to her lecture him about what he did wrong and fully explain her strategy to him. Forget the fact that she was millennia older than him, he still disliked it.
"Then after I beat you-"
Naruto growled a little and she smirked at him.
"We can camp out for the night, learn a little about astronomy and nature, and maybe play a little blind man's bluff." She finished off and Naruto smiled happily.
This was one of his favourite lessons and he was always allowed to stay up an hour later than normal.
He and Leah would go to a small secluded spot only two of them knew about. They would first lie on the grass and just relax before setting out their sleeping things (Leah made herself look like a girl his age) then they would stare into the sky and Leah would point out the constellations or teach him how to navigate using the sky or teach him a song or a story or tell him about plants and hunting and animals and natural poisons. They would talk and laugh. Sometimes they would play tag keeping Naruto blind folded all the while as he tried to locate or avoid Leah- he knew that it helped sharpen his other senses and teach him stealth. After wards they would eat smores before they would retire and he and Leah would hum till he fell asleep. It was fun.
"Hey Leah,"
"Yeah?"
"You should tell stories this evening."
"We'll see…"
The overhead stars blinked in the night sky. The moon cast a silvery light on two figures sitting atop sleeping bags; one figure speaking and the other listening with rapt attention.
"The dog approached the creature, absolutely sure that it could beat the creature despite the fact that the creature was bigger than it was. It snuck up behind the creature slowly, its mouth opened in a snarl. Just as it was about to pounce, the creature turned to face it and the hound was struck with fear. Not only was this creature several sizes larger than it was, it also had bigger and sharper teeth, stronger looking jaws, sharper claws and an obviously better build. Immediately it turned and fled from the majestic looking creature with the mane." The feminine voice said.
"What a coward. He should have at least stayed to fight if he thought he was strong." The boy said.
"Now what do you think this lesson with the fox and the hound is about?"
"Never be arrogant." The male voice responded.
"Why?" she prodded?
"Because if you are then you are going to underestimate your opponent and then you may lose."
"Anything else?"
"Try to find out as much about your enemy as you can before you attack. That way you at least have an idea of what you are up against before you attack."
"Good Naruto. Those are lessons that you do not apply only on the battle grounds but also in your everyday lives. Don't ever get ahead of yourself. No matter how good you are there is always someone out there better than you, let that thought keep you grounded. When you interact with people always keep your head clear and try to make a fair judgement without letting your ego get in the way. When something is the truth, it is the truth but never dismiss someone because you have a superiority complex."
Naruto nodded his head, eyes fixed on her as she continued to speak.
"At the same time do not ever develop an inferiority complex. Always give yourself the credit you deserve and never depreciate yourself. There are people, people who are fine warriors and are blessed with wonderful talents but because they are too busy looking down on themselves they can never fully use it. There is a limit to how 'humble' you can be. I want you to remember that you are one of a kind, so instead on focusing on what you bad traits and comparing yourself to others, focus on your good traits and how you can use them to your advantage."
"'kay Leah. But if I never focus on my faults then how am I ever going to get rid them?"
"That's not what I meant." She said shaking her head.
"No?"
"No. What I mean is that you shouldn't let them get you down- make you sad. When you can't do something as well as others that does not make you worthless. That does not mean that you should ignore them, it just means that you should not let them ruin your life. Understand?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Good. And that completes Aesop tales 101 for today."
"This Aesop guy, what was he like? Do you know? He must have been a great guy right?"
"To some extent, he was. But he was still rather ordinary: ate breakfast, slept, was lazy: that kind of thing. On occasion he was rather foolish and in a way that led to his death. He was arrogant where he shouldn't have been. In Delphi, the city of his death, he got ahead of himself because of a woman whom he had an unrequited love for, though no one ever found out about this. He got angry at her slight and he told insulting tales to the people, in an attempt to best her, which made them toss him off a cliff. He was foolish."
"That sucks."
"Yeah it does, doesn't it." She nodded in agreement.
"Hey look there's Sagittarius, the bow man. Can you see him?"
"I can see him."
Naruto lay back in his sleeping bag and stared up at the sky "I wish sometimes that times like this could last forever. When it's just me and you out here. No one trying to deny my existence and no crazed fur ball wishing I were dead. And we could look up at the stars and I feel like I belong here."
"I know what you mean. The sky is so big and it over whelms you in a way while at the same time it makes you smile."
The boy nodded his head as he continued to lose himself in never ending inky blanket above him. Leah nodded before rolling over on her side so that she could face him.
"Why do you want to be hokage so badly?"
"Hm?" he looked over to where she was for a second before he turned away "Well, I always wanted to become hokage so that they notice me. Now I want to become hokage so that people can see that I'm not the fox."
She rolled over again so that she was once more on her back and facing the sky.
"I understand your point but somehow that's not a good enough reason to want to be a hokage." Her voice was soft and far off.
"It's not?"
"No, it's not. Tell me, how do you become strong?"
"You train really hard." her question had thrown him slightly off balance and he had now stopped watching the sky to gaze at her intently. In the light he could see her nod her head at his answer.
"Now tell me, how do you gain strength?"
"Huh?"
"Yes you heard me right."
"You train harder?" still unsure what she meant. Weren't they the same thing. "Aren't they the same thing? When you are strong you have strength right?"
"Wrong! The two are not the same, not in my book anyway. To become strong you must train, to gain strength you must have something driving you- something you fight for. What do you fight for? Your ambition? Do you fight for your beliefs, your friends and loved ones. Why do you fight? What is your reason? I fight to protect this beautiful world and everything and everyone in it, I never want to let it get destroyed so I become stronger so that I can protect it."
"Do I really need any other reason?"
"Power without a proper direction leads to destruction. So find something precious to you and fight to protect it so you can gain real strength."
The silence in the small clearing stretched on broken by the sound of night creatures and the rustle of the tree leaves as they were tickled by the night breeze.
"You don't need to understand this yet," Leah continued "but because you are you, I know you will soon get it so don't let it bother you okay?"
"'kay." He answered in a voice that was subdued before letting out a yawn.
Leah giggled slightly catching the sign that her young charge was about ready to retire to his subconscious world. She began to hum in a soft voice the tune to his favourite lullaby and he joined in for a bit before dozing off.
To her Naruto had come a long way, through the trials and tribulations. Her sudden question was triggered by the situation in Sunagakure. The young jinjuurikii had very recently under gone what was a traumatising experience for him and had come to his decision to fight for only himself. That was a path she never wanted Naruto to follow, a path of isolation and pain. True strength never gained by fighting for only yourself. Already Naruto had those whom he would do anything for, he just had to realise it.
The hokage was bored. The most entertainment he had all day was the arrival of the genin team who had arrived with Tora. Even the cat had seemed strangely subdued, probably due to the fact that its attempt at escape had once more been foiled. Oh what he wouldn't do to have Naruto play a prank. He could offer the boy some form of payment to do something, the only thi9ngh that stopped him from doing that was the thought of the resulting paper work.
"And so with the bandits…"
The chuunin in front of him droned on and on and on not even trying to hide the fact that he was so completely and absolutely bored.
"Hey old man!" A loud voice broke through the haze in the hokage's brain and he looked around hopefully.
Everyone else turned their head to face the loud blond that stood in front of them. Even the interrupted chunin looked happy for the distraction.
"Hey old man can I help? I'm bored!" The boy told them and then there was silence.
"You should be more respectful when addressing the hokage and of course you cannot help! What are you doing here anyway?" a scarred, brown haired man that Naruto had never before met told him.
"Can I?" he asked again, disregarding the man and staring straight at the chuckling hokage.
"Why the eagerness all of a sudden Naruto kun?"
The scarred man had to gape at the way the hokage took the boy's address.
"See, today is my day off because school starts tomorrow and I don't have to do anything" Leah had insisted he take the day off from training to relax before he returned to the academy the following day "I'd already gone running and drawing and taking care of my plants and I wanted to read my history book and as I was reading it I was wondering what it would be like to be a real ninja. Then I remembered Kaya sensei talking about this and about how all the ninja had to report to you so I wondered, maybe if I helped here I could learn all about the ninja and about the ninjas. Can I? Please¬"
"Alright Naruto kun, you can stay,"
The scarred man was at a loss for words.
"Thank you!"
"If you have any questions then you can ask Iruka." The hokage finished, with a twinkle in his eye.
Here the brown haired man spluttered at his superior.
"Who's Iruka?"
"Oh that's right you two haven't been properly introduced yet. Iruka Umino,"
He gestured to the brown haired chuunin that stood staring wordlessly at everything.
"this is Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto Uzumaki, this is Iruka Umino."
Naruto studied the man intensely before giving a little bow "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Iruka san."
The man turned from the small boy to the hokage. The loud boy, somewhat rude boy, was now replaced by a very polite little boy.
"Are you really serious about this hokage sama?" he really did not want to be rude about it but his brain was having a hard time processing it. This boy was extremely young and a well- known trouble maker: the Kyuubi brat.
"After all he is only five, he can barely write,"
"Actually, I'm six and I can write very well. Kaya sensei said so."
Wait sensei. That meant…
"Do not worry about it. Naruto will not cause any trouble, will you?"
"No hokage sama."
At this Iruka slowly nodded before making a move to sit down. Naruto saw this as acceptance and immediately rushed to the empty seat beside Iruka, flashed him a smile and then turned to the front to let the forgotten chuunin finish his report.
Naruto smiled happily as he left the tower. The time in the mission room had been interesting for him. The oral mission reports had been for D rank missions, completely and totally boring, and C rank missions, mildly entertaining, and then those had not been detailed but the little they said had been enough to set his over active imagination spinning.
He had also learnt how the mission rankings work and now had a slight idea of how they worked. As an added bonus, he had made a friend with the scarred man, Iruka, who seemed like a nice person. Not a wasted day at all. The hokage had also said he could help any time he wished and Naruto had agreed to come over for a couple of hours over the weekend that way he could talk to Iruka while learning one of the most important tasks to a hokage.
He looked up to the sky wondering just where the days had gone during the holidays though he thought the time was well spent. He had gotten the basics of the MRA down so he could now use the most basic functions of the ability but he still needed practice in that area. He had also managed to learn the tree walking exercise though he still couldn't do the bushin- he would request Kaya sensei's help once he returned to classes. He had not done much else save change his training weights and Gai seemed happy with his progress. All in all it was a pretty good holiday.
"oof!" he grunted as someone ran full tilt into him.
"I-I'm sorry!" the panicked voice came from on top him and he opened his eye to see a small girl, around his age quickly yank herself up and look down at her feet.
Was she crying? He couldn't see because her face was turned down wards. He stretched out his hand when suddenly-
"Hinata sama!" a man suddenly ran up to her and stood between her and Naruto.
"Hinata sama, it's time we return to the compound."
"Y- yes Ko san." And with that she was dragged away.
As she left she turned her head around giving Naruto a look at a pair of white eyes.
So she was a Hyuuga. He was a little taken aback and very awkwardly raised a hand in farewell to the little girl, offering her a smile as well. The girl blushed and quickly turned her head forward but then turned around shyly again. Even as she walked away and was lost into the crowd he caught the second look and he smiled slightly, sad that he would probably never get a chance to talk to her, especially if that Ko guy had anything to say about it, she seemed like a nice person, not as stiff as all the other Hyuuga he had seen around.
"Oh well," he shrugged his shoulder; but even as he did that he couldn't help but turn around and stare at the path where the girl had disappeared and as he did so he smiled once more before he began to walk away and was also lost in the crowd.
Left, left, right, over, down, left, left, under, right , now!
The bigger of the boys shot a hand towards his smaller counterpart. The smaller boy dogged and flipped back in the process using his feet to sweep up some dust to the older boys eyes. The boy instinctively dropped his guard to rub his eyes allowing the younger one to sweep him off his feet and the hold a fist to his face in a gesture that told the boy he couldn't get up.
"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Kaya called.
"What? That's not fair, he cheated!"
"No he didn't Kaito. The rule was that you don't use any weapons which he didn't. Next time you should not be surprised by such a move. No matter what keep your feet firm and do not drop your defence. Now shake hands so that we can move onto the next round."
The older, brown haired boy growled at Naruto before reluctantly complying. And even then under his breath he whispered the word 'cheater' before leaving.
Naruto just shrugged his shoulders. To be honest the boy was a lousy fighter, so much so that Naruto wondered if he ever practiced, and Naruto could pick out the thousand and one things wrong with his fighting style, which the basic one that they all needed to learn. In between practicing it in his subconscious, where he slowly and painfully tried to make the style work for him, during the holidays and nights and getting his new friend Iruka to, in his spare time during the weekends, help him train Naruto was now rather well versed in this style. The boy had left Naruto many openings which were pathetically easy to spot, given how well versed he was in the academic taijutsu style; Naruto had just chosen not to take them.
Naruto walked back home slowly once the last lesson for the day was over. He had left quickly without any target practice because Leah had said she wanted to teach him a new skill which could not be practiced while he slept.
Speaking of his chibi friend, his life had changed somewhat drastically since she arrived. No it changed drastically even before that but he could not remember when or who caused it. His life was in many ways the same: the villagers, teachers and most of the students still treated him like a pariah. But in many ways it had improved. If not for her he might still have been having those nightmares, he would still have been having too much trouble with his homework and annoying Kaya sensei with his empty bravado which meant right now he would not have Kaya sensei as his friend who was willing to help with his school work. If not for her he would not have left the house to run around early in the morning and as a result he would not have met Gai, his running buddy. If he hadn't met Gai then he would not have the speed to dodge and counter most of the attacks thrown by his class mates. If she had not gotten him to study then he would not have discovered why he could not perform the basic academic jutsu, he was still having problems with the bushin but that was okay. It was all these factors that would allow him to pass the end of the years exams in a couple of weeks instead of being sent back to start afresh with next year's entrants.
To be honest he knew that he would be bottom of the class instead of among the top five if she had not come along. It was not that hard to get into the top ten seeing as he put in way more effort into his training than most of the others. His strength was not the best but that he compensated for with his speed.
Most of all he was glad for the company she provided and the fact that she cared about his well being and his diet and his performance at school. It was also fun to take part in the adventures she spun in his mind while he was asleep and the stories she told and the songs she sang.
He pushed open the door to his apartment and smiled.
"I'm home!" he called.
This place was home. He smiled happily as he dumped his bag on the sofa and ran to check on his potted plants. The potted garden in his balcony, over a month ago, after his birthday, he had planted the strawberries and he couldn't wait till they were fully grown. Best of all was the fact that he could actually attend the flower exhibition which was annually organised by foreign parties and so he could afford to maintain his garden.
"I see you're home short one. Welcome and please take a seat." Leah said in a mysterious voice suddenly appearing behind him, her legs crossed beneath her in a meditation pose.
He did as she asked, crossing his legs beneath him in an imitation of what she did.
"Good, short one," she said once he had settled. He wondered how she could tell, seeing as her eyes were still closed "now the skill which I will introduce to you today is a skill which will take several years to master. Your mind, body and patience will be pushed to the limit and even then you may never learn it. Are you ready to begin this journey which may never be completed knowing that the effects on your body may be quite… dangerous?"
"Yes, oh white haired one." Naruto replied without any hesitation. If she was ready to teach it then he was ready to learn it.
"Good," she opened her purple eyes and leaned forward slightly before whispering in a conspiring tone "tell me short one, what do you know about micro sleep?"
So? What do you think? Good, bad, strawberryish? Thank you for reading.