AN: Hello everyone! First and foremost, I would like to give a shout out to my beta reader festa1984!
This chapter will cover most of what happens in the one month between the Preliminaries and the Finals of the Chunin Exams.
As always please review so I can get a better understanding of what my readers think of my work. It's hard to continually improve if my readers don't give me feedback.
Enjoy!
When Naruto woke up, it was already well past noon the next day. As he got out of bed, he noticed something was off. His clothes no longer fit him as well as they used to. He was at least 2 inches taller and had much more muscle mass than when he entered his meditative state less than 24 hours ago. Never had he felt so strong or so alive.
"I take it you like your make over."
"You can say that," Naruto smiled. "Is this the effect of our deal?"
"No. This is the result of my Yin chakra returning to me. Since I am whole now, my powers have returned to me."
"Powers?" Naruto questioned.
"Yes. Each biju has unique ability. My younger brother the Ichibi grants that Suna boy control over sand. One of my most prized abilities is chakra replenishment. I can take the natural energy of the world around me to replenish my chakra indefinitely."
"So how does this affect me?"
"The seal your parents put on you gradually converted some of my chakra to become yours. Because I am complete, the amount of chakra converted has increased dramatically thus the extreme change to your appearance and body in such a short amount of time," the Kyuubi explained.
"You don't seem to be perturbed in the least that I am absorbing your chakra at a faster rate than before," Naruto mumbled.
"It would take many centuries before your reserves could even begin to compare to my own," laughed the Kyuubi. "With the return of my chakra replenishment ability, I can replenish my chakra much faster than you can absorb it."
"Wait a minute…..You said that was one of your abilities…What else can you do?" asked Naruto.
"You'll have to just wait and find out for yourself brat," said the Kyuubi. Naruto could almost imagine it smirking at him.
A few moments of silence occurred as Naruto took in this information.
"By the way, since when were you smart enough to use big words like perturbed?" joked the kitsune.
A rather large tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead as his left eye twitched uncontrollably. Mutterings of "stupid fox" and "thinks the sun shines out of his ass" were heard as Naruto left to get some ramen.
Lunch was a rather pleasant experience. Naruto enjoyed well over two dozen bowls of ramen as he told Teuchi and Ayame of his advancement in the Chunin Exams.
After lunch, he went to the Konoha shopping district to find new clothes. Finding something orange yet tasteful wasn't easy to do.
"Excuse me ma'am. Do you have this jumpsuit in orange?" ask Naruto.
"Orange? What are you crazy? Do you have any fashion sense at all?" the shopkeeper asked incredulously.
Naruto answered her with a glare. The shopkeeper merely scoffed and went off to attend to another customer.
"I'll have her know that orange is awesome!" said Naruto with a fist pump.
"Orange? Awesome? In what alternate reality is that possible?" said an amused feminine voice behind him.
"What was that?" Naruto asked turning around to meet the gaze of a smiling Sabaku no Temari. The civilian clothing and bags of clothing let him know that he wasn't the only one clothes shopping today. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the difference in Termari's appearance from civilian clothing to ninja gear.
"She is a rather fine specimen to look at, isn't she brat? Much better than that other teammate of yours," said a certain devious fox.
A rather large blush appeared on Naruto's face. "SHUT UP ERO-KITSUNE!" he screamed in his head.
"In no way shape or form, will orange ever be fashionable," Temari teased snapping him out of his stupor.
"HA! When I become the greatest shinobi in the world, people will be dying to wear orange!" declared Naruto still trying to hide his blush.
That got Temari to raise an eyebrow. "Bold words, can you back them up, Naruto-san?"
"You'll see in a month now won't you, Temari-san?" Naruto grinned.
"I guess I will. I'll see in a month then Naruto," stated Temari walking out of the shop.
"Of course, Temari-san," Naruto chuckled.
"Oh and drop the suffixes. They don't really suit me," she said turning back around to face him.
"Alright. Good luck in the exams…Temari-chan," Naruto teased.
Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the noticeable twitch in her eye before she left the shop.
As Naruto left the shop, an ANBU appeared before him.
"Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you," said the ANBU.
"I see," was Naruto's response. He had been expecting this. The Old man probably wanted to know what changed in Naruto. That was fine because Naruto had some questions of his own that needed answering.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was very concerned about the sudden changes to surrogate grandson. From reports, he learned that Orochimaru had placed the Five-Pronged Seal onto Naruto. He hoped nothing disastrous happened to the Kyuubi's seal.
Was it him or was the Naruto that walked through the door slightly taller than he was yesterday?
"Have a seat Naruto-kun," said the Third. "First, I must congratulate you on making it to the Finals. Your match against Kiba was most impressive."
"Thank you, Old man. But let me guess, the real reason you want to see me is to talk about my recent changes, isn't it?" asked Naruto.
"Yes, I wish to inquire about your more aggressive nature recently," the Hokage stated calmly. Though, on the inside, he made a note about how this Naruto was far more direct and to the point than before.
"I finally got tired of everyone treating me like I was a demon," Naruto said in an even tone.
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun," the aged Hokage said, bowing his head in shame.
"Why do people hate me old man, why!" Young Naruto cried
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, it will be better" the third hugged the child who cried in his arms.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU ALWAYS SAY TO ME!" Naruto roared suddenly.
He was huffing now "Jus…just stop saying that" his voice was breaking.
"Alright" was the only thing the Third could say.
After several minutes of awkward silence, Naruto began his most important question, "Why didn't tell me my father was the Yondaime?"
At this, the Third's eyes widened to comic proportions. "Naruto, how did you—?"
"It doesn't matter. Just answer me. Please! Just this once, answer my question," Naruto pleaded.
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a rather long sigh. "Your father was beloved by the people of this nation as a hero and as the strongest shinobi ever produced within these village gates. But outside of the Land of Fire, he was feared and hated—especially in Iwa. Your father alone won us the Third Shinobi War. I can't even begin to imagine how many Iwa ninja he killed with his Hiraishin no Jutsu. That jutsu alone gave him the first and only "Flee on Sight" order in the Bingo Book. Even today, Iwa is still crippled by the damage your father inflicted on them. By giving you your mother's last name I was trying to protect you from possible Iwa assassins as well as politics."
"Politics?"
"Yes, politics. Do you know my adviser Danzo? He has always wanted to train you to be one of his emotionless ROOT pawns "for the benefit of the village" or so he says. Being the son of a former Hokage and the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi would make you an amazing weapon to have in his back pocket both militarily and politically," answered the Third.
"I see, and what about the villagers? Was there nothing you could do about them?" Naruto asked.
"I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm sorry. There was no way I could stop all the ignorance and abuse of the civilians without revealing your identity. All I could do was make a law forbidding anyone from speaking about it directly that way at least the children in your age group would grow up not knowing the burden you held," explained the Sandaime.
"It didn't help me make friends did it?"
"No, I suppose it didn't. Most parents ended up telling their children to stay away from you," sighed Sarutobi. "I hope one day you will find it in your heart to forgive me and the village."
"I don't know if that day will ever come Jiji-san. There are just too many memories, too much pain, and too much loneliness to ignore. I don't want revenge or just punishment, but I don't think I'll be able to forgive either. I just want to move on" said a somber Naruto.
"I see. You have indeed become strong Naruto. Minato and Kushina would've been proud," smiled Hiruzen.
"I know. They told me. They left some of their chakra inside my seal. I saw them last night," said Naruto enjoying the genuinely shocked look on the Third Hokage's face.
The Third let out a boisterous laugh. "Your parents were stubborn until the end!" He reached for something in his desk and pulled out what looked to be a picture frame. "This is something that you should have," he said handing the picture over to Naruto. "I meant to give this to you once you became a Jonin and were ready to finally learn the truth."
It was a picture of his mother and father on their wedding day. Naruto couldn't stop the tears from coming out once again.
"I also want you to have this as well. Think of this as a memento from your father," he said handing over a three-bladed kunai with strange markings on a longer than normal handle.
"Hiraishin…."awed Naruto.
"Yes, this kunai made your father the most feared man to ever walk the elemental nations. Maybe one day you will be able to recreate it, but first you'll have to study up on fuinjutsu if you want to do so," said the Old man.
"Do you have any scrolls on fuinjutsu?" Naruto asked. He remembered that both his parents had been experts at the obscure ninja art.
"I'm afraid I don't, but I have something even better; I have a teacher in mind for you," smiled Sarutobi. "You should go meet him by the hot springs today. But first," he reached into his desk again—this time to pull out your piece of paper, "I want you to first channel chakra into this."
Naruto nodded and began channeling his chakra into the paper. He watched as the paper glowed blue for a brief second before splitting down the middle while the two halves, one became soaking wet and the other wrinkled to bits. Sarutobi went wide eyed at seeing Naruto have three affinities.
"Amazing," the Third whispered. He was attuned to three elements. He smiled softly; it seemed fate smiled at the boy. For the third time today, he went into his desk this time taking out three scrolls.
"Well, it seems you have three elemental affinities Naruto-kun. That's very impressive for someone at your age. You seem to have high affinities in wind, water and lightning. Now these three scrolls here have three jutsu for each of your three elements." He put them out for him to take.
"My Naruto don't be a fussy eater…eat a lot and grow up to be a big boy. Go to bed early and sleep well, take your bath every day." The voice coughed she sounded to be in pain "make friends, it doesn't matter how many. Just make sure they're real friends…people you can trust even a few is enough. And study your ninjutsu…I was never good at it, maybe you will be."
"Ninjutsu…"
"Take it my boy," the Third smiled.
"Th…thank you," Naruto bowed a bit.
"It's what you deserve Naruto-kun. Train and get stronger," the Old man smiled as Naruto put them in his pouch.
"I will I promise. Old man I won't let you down!" Naruto promised. "I won't let you down either mom…"
"I know you will," the Third smiled that boy never did.
Naruto hugged the Old man and thanked him one last time before leaving.
It was not until after Naruto left, that Hiruzen acknowledged the presence sitting outside his open window.
"You're going to have your hands full, Jiraiya," smiled the elder Hokage.
"His personality is a mix of Kushina and Minato. Hopefully he didn't inherit his mother's temper," joked the Toad Sage.
"His potential is indescribable. Three elemental affinities and the Kyuubi alone would make him a force to be reckoned with. Of course, he'll need a lot more chakra control than he has now."
"Then I'm going to give him his birthright! If he can master that then his chakra control problems should disappear," stated Jiraiya.
"That's going to raise some eyebrows— a young boy that looks like a younger Yondaime using one of his signature techniques. Iwa will be up in arms," said Sarutobi with a touch of concern.
"Then I'll just have to make sure he's capable of defending himself by the end of the month then, won't I?" laughed Jiraiya. "Of course, I'll have to do a check up on that seal of his first to make sure the snake didn't damage it. Maybe Minato's and Kushina's presence changed the seal some."
The Third nodded, "Be sure that you do. After all that he's gone through, I would love nothing more than for Naruto to show the village what a splendid ninja he can become."
The Toad Sage simply nodded and left in a swirl of leaves.
The Third looked up at the portrait of the Yondaime. "He will grow strong Minato. I can already see it in his eye; he's going to surpass you one day, I'll make sure of it!" he declared.
Needless to say, Naruto was absolutely giddy about the possibility of learning so many jutsu from the scrolls in his hands. He briskly walked back to his apartment trying to get ready to meet his new sensei for the month at the hot springs.
"Wait a minute….hot springs? Why would my sensei be there?" he thought. His train of thought was broken when he noticed his silver-haired Jonin sensei leaning against the railing of his apartment.
"Hello Kakashi-sensei. No porno book today?"
"No, not today. Although, there should a new edition out next week. No, I'm here to talk to you today," said a surprisingly serious Kakashi.
"Oh, and what would this be about sensei?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
Kakashi let out a sigh. This was going to be long and hard to explain. "Naruto, I want you to know how sorry I am. I've let you down in more ways than just as your sensei," he said before pausing. "I know I wasn't the best sensei to Team Seven. I taught you guys teamwork, but nothing to better yourselves individually. As a result, Sakura barely put up a fight against Ino."
"Sasuke simply fell back on his clan techniques and Sharingan to help him pull through. You on the other hand, relied solely on instincts to win your match against Kiba. You showed strength no one else thought you had. Now by the looks of those scrolls, it seems like you are learning elemental jutsu for your affinities."
"Naruto, I know that I can't take credit for it, but I'm proud of the ninja you've become. I don't know if anyone's ever said this to you, but many times you can know how strong someone is simply by looking at them in the eyes. And in your eyes, I see someone who's been able to overcome the hardship he's dealt with his entire life and resolved to become stronger. Your parents would be so proud."
"I know they've told me," smirked Naruto. At Kakashi's shocked expression, Naruto idly wondered if everyone's reaction he told this information to would be as funny as Kakashi's and the Old man's.
" How? How did—?"
"They left some of their chakra in my seal," Naruto said giving him the same explanation he gave the Hokage.
At this, Kakashi had to chuckle and shake his head before he adopted a more downcast expression.
"I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but I was on your father's Genin team. Your father…was a great man; he was like a second father to me when my own took his own life and your mother became something of an older sister to me as well. One of my greatest regrets in my life was not being able to shield you—his son—from the hate and abuse you took at the hand of the villagers. When I was a part of the ANBU, I would often guard you from ninja or villagers that would try to harm you. But I couldn't always protect you due to my other duties as an ANBU operative that would tak me out of the village and I couldn't adopt you because of how suspicious it would be for the Yondaime's last living student to adopt a small child that looks exactly like him."
"I know you are tired of hearing it, but I'm truly sorry Naruto both for failing you as a sensei and as an older brother," finished Kakashi.
"An older brother?" questioned Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes. Your father was like a father to me as well so I guess I can call you my younger brother," one-eye smiled Kakashi.
"I already talked to the Old man. I understand the situation you two were placed in because of my father's prowess as a ninja. Had you adopted me, Iwa would've sent their entire ANBU team to try and assassinate me," started Naruto. "And as for your failures as a sensei, how about you remedy that now? I could use some advice learning my Wind, Lightning, and Water affinities…aniki,"grinned Naruto.
"Three affinities huh? You are definitely Konoha's most surprising ninja," chuckled Kakashi. "You know, the Kage Bushin you are so fond of using can definitely help you out in your elemental training. Did you know that any experience you gained by your clones are returned to you? The total amount of experience the user gains is multiplied by the total number of clones being used to be trained."
At this, Naruto's eyes widened at the implications of this new information.
"Oh, that will definitely speed things up," said the voice in his head.
"Now as for your affinities, I don't know any Futon Jutsu, but I've copied a few Suiton Jutsu and Raiton is my main affinity. I'll definitely send over a few scrolls of Suiton Jutsu whenever your sensei says you're ready to learn them. As for Raiton, I've decided to teach my otouto my first original technique."
Kakashi's eyes gleamed. "I'm going to teach you the Chidori."
Later that day, Naruto found himself at the Konoha hot springs. Again, he wondered why he was here. Perhaps, it was to use the hot springs water to learn the water walking exercise Kakashi had told him about?
His musing was interrupted when he heard rather perverse giggle—one that he often heard from his new aniki when he read his trashy porno books. Following the sound, he saw a rather tall man with spikey white hair and large scroll on his back bent down behind the fence of women's hot spring scribbling down notes.
"Wow….this guy is a total perv," muttered Naruto.
"Be careful. Appearances can be deceiving ningen," said the demon fox. It seemed to be talking a lot more recently.
"HEY YOU! WHY ARE YOU—?" Naruto shouted, only to be stopped by a hand on his mouth.
"Shhhhhhh! Be quiet kid! Are you trying to get us in trouble?" the pervert asked in a whisper.
"Who are you and why are peeking on the women's bath?" asked Naruto finally breaking free of the man's grasp.
"Why I'm doing research for my book series!" he exclaimed as a familiar book magically appeared in his hand.
"So you're that pervert that writes those trashy porno books!" accused Naruto.
"They are not some trashy porno books. They are works of literary art! And I'm not a pervert…..I AM JIRAIYA—THE SUPER PERVERT!" he declared happily.
Naruto sweat dropped at the last part of his rant.
"Jiraiya-sensei? I thought you told me to stay away from him," mused Naruto.
"As you should! He's a pervert!" Kushina huffed.
"A p…pervert?"
"Yeah…he tried to peek on your mother and me during the process of creating you," his father said clearly embarrassed at the turn the conversation had taken.
"So this was my dad's sensei. I hope he didn't corrupt my dad…or me for that matter" Naruto thought.
"So you're Jiraiya…" Naruto said walking closer to the man.
"Ah! So you've heard the Tales of the Gallant Jirai—" Jiraiya began to brag until Naruto gave him a rather hard kick in the man zone. This left him on the ground moaning and groaning in pain.
Somewhere in the village of Konohagakure, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Hatake Kakashi shivered in fear and moved to protect their family jewels.
"That was for peeking on my parents during their alone time," said Naruto walking away.
About 3 minutes later as Naruto was walking back toward his apartment when Jiraiya finally caught up to him.
"So you really met your parents yesterday?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, I did Kyofu. My father wanted me to stay away from you so you don't corrupt me," he smirked.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and muttered something about "disrespectful blonde gakis."
They shared a moment of silence until Jiraiya spoke again. "So you're wondering why left you alone right?"
Naruto simply nodded.
"I don't know if you know this, but I run Konoha's entire spy network. I'm the one who works to make sure that nothing threatens Konoha. It would draw too much attention if a Sannin suddenly adopted a child that looked like his previous apprentice. And I can't handle espionage missions while taking care of a small child."
"Is that why you're back? To stop your Sannin teammate from getting the Sharingan?" Naruto questioned.
"Perceptive aren't you? Yes, part of the reason I'm here is to make sure whatever my snake of a teammate is planning fails. The other part of the reason I'm here is to see what's going on with my God son after all these years, to train him so he can protect himself, and to give him part of his legacy," Jiraiya grinned.
That last part caught Naruto's interest. "Legacy?"
"Yes, I'm going to give you the Toad Summoning Contract and teach you one of your father's signature techniques," Jiraiya started. "The Rasengan," he finished creating a swirling ball of blue chakra in his hand.
"I can tell you also want to do some elemental training as well, correct?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to abuse the hell out of the Kage Bushin to speed up the process," Naruto grinned.
"So, you know the secret of the Kage Bushin. That would definitely speed things along. But can you really handle it? The amount of chakra needed for that sort of training is pretty high," the Toad Sage asked.
"I think the fur ball in my gut can handle it," Naruto stated.
"If you're going to use my chakra, you'd better make sure you actually do get stronger. I will not get shown up by the Ichibi," said the Kyuubi. "And I'm not just some fur ball, brat!"
"So, you're going to use the Kyuubi's chakra? Is that wise?" asked a concerned Jiraiya.
"Yeah. We have come to an understanding of sorts. Apparently, as long as I refer to him as Kyuubi-sama he'll share his chakra with me. We even fist bumped on it," Naruto tried not to laugh as Jiraiya's eyes bugged out.
"Well, if you are going to be using its chakra, you just might be able to master all three of your affinities by the end of this month. You also want to learn some Fuinjutsu as well right?" asked Jiraiya. At Naruto's nod, Jiraiya continued, "Ok. Here's what we'll do. Every day you will create 200 Kage Bushins for elemental training starting with Wind since that was the first element that showed up and an extra 20 to learn and practice Fuinjutsu from one of my own Kage Bushin. By using the Kyuubi's chakra, you won't have the problem where your chakra is evenly distributed among your clones. Afterwards, we will go to lightning because water will be the hardest for you to use during the exams."
At Naruto's questioning gaze, Jiraiya continued, "Water is much much easier to use in the presence of a body of water. The finals will take place in a dry stadium so learning Suiton Jutsu won't be incredibly useful for the exam. That's why you'll be learning it last. After you've learned the Rasengan, we'll be working on your strength, speed, and Taijutsu. Does that sound good to you?"
Not finding any fault in the plan, Naruto simply nodded.
"Good," the Toad Sage said unsealing a water balloon and throwing it to Naruto. "Now I want you to pop this balloon using only your chakra."
Four weeks later, Naruto was on his bed reading Jiraiya's first book. The last month had been hellacious. After learning the Rasengan, Naruto's physical training under Jiraiya began. Early on, even with his enhanced physical abilities due to the Kyuubi, he was still no match for Jiraiya. But through the use of weights and gravity seals, Naruto's strength and speed increased dramatically. He had mastered nature manipulation for both his wind and lightning elements. He could now manifest his wind chakra into his Taijutsu and use the Chidori—he even found a way around the tunnel vision problem with the Chidori.
But he did run into some problems. His progress with Fuinjutsu was slow moving as well as his water manipulation. As Jiraiya had said, it was extremely hard to manipulate water without a body of water already present. Also, because he lived in the Land of Fire, there was a distinct lack of Wind and Lightning Jutsus to learn. As a result, he had to resort to trying to create his own Jutsu, but that too was also slow moving—though he had been able to create a few through using known Jutsu for inspiration. Also, Naruto learned from Jiraiya that Wind manipulation was several times stronger when used in conjunction with a weapon like Temari and her fan. But given that he only had one month, he couldn't possibly learn how to use any weapon with enough proficiency to use in the Finals. Despite all that, Naruto, Jiraiya, and even the Kyuubi were confident that none of the prospective Genin would be able to hold a candle to him. Jiraiya had also drawn up some Chakra-Suppressing Seals just in case Gaara's little friend wanted to come out and play.
According to Jiraiya's spy network, there were rumors of dealings between Oto and Suna. The fact that Orochimaru had shown up at the second part of the Exam and that Suna's Jinchuriki was a part of the Chunin Exam Finals made their plan very clear. War was coming. If worst came to worst, Naruto would have to unveil some of his more powerful Jutsu to stop the invasion. Since that was the case, Naruto made it his goal to end all of his matches as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"Hey, Ero-Sennin! Can you give me a copy of your first book?" Naruto asked.
"Don't call me that gaki! But I'm so happy that you're finally becoming a man. Here's a First Edition autographed copy of Icha Icha Paradise!" Jiraiya cried anime tears of joy.
"Not your first Icha Icha book, you perv! I meant your first ever book—the one where my parents named me," Naruto finished in a quiet voice.
"Oh, I see. Alright, I think I still have my original manuscript for that one. I'm going to give you the last two days before the finals off so you can rest. You can read it then while I help the Old man prepare for Suna and Oto," Jiraiya grinned.
Naruto read the title of Jiraiya's first book. "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, huh?"
"Soon, Konoha will learn the Tale of the Ultra Badass Ninja," he smirked turning to the first page.
There were mutterings in his head from a certain demon fox about it being "more like the Tale of the Utterly Stupid Brat," but since he didn't asked for that certain demon fox's opinion, they were promptly ignored.
Once again. Please review so I can understand what my readers thought about my work.