"More power, my young student! Gather up your youthful fury, and strike your enemy with it! Pound him into a new tomorrow! Show him what the Leaf Village's lotus can do!"
"Yes, Guy Sensei!"
As soon as the darkness from the previous night had lifted, tree leaves began to dance in the warm sunlight. Ninja and citizens alike woke early and began to tend to their daily routines. These two ninja not only dressed alike, fought alike and had similar hair styles, but they also had some of the most abundant energy in the village. Waking up before the sun had even fully broken the mountains, they were hard at work training; a passionate student, and his even more passionate teacher, fully embracing their ninja way. Might Guy and Rock Lee.
"Alllllright Lee," Guy enthusiastically announced. "Before I head off on my mission, let's bring this spar to a shining conclusion. Come at me just like you did with those training dummies. Come at me…with the power of youth burning your soul!"
While Guy clenched his fist tightly and shook it, a broad smile on his face, Rock Lee dashed around the grassy training field in unpredictable, spasmodic movements. Flashes of green followed by trails of flying dust soared right past Guy more than twice, making his soup bowl haircut flow in the breeze right along with it. The man couldn't have looked happier.
"Ahahahahaaaa! That's it! Do you feel it, Lee!? No enemy can withstand the pure power of effort!"
In an eruption of earth, the elite jonin phased out of sight. A fraction of a second later, a deafening sonic boom was created from two fists colliding far above the ground. Lee and Guy flew away from each other, landed, and vanished yet again. Multiple explosions of sound burst from the little training field this time, as fists and legs struck against one another faster than the speed of sound. Truly, this was a perfect example of the Will of Fire.
But the only example it was not; an extreme one maybe, but certainly not the only one. Not far away, in the very same forest containing that training field was another perfect example. Another pair facing off in a bout of training.
"That's it Akamaru, soak those bugs! Show 'em how we use teamwork! Haha!"
A swarm of jet black insects, resembling a cloud of swirling smoke, was hailed on by a rain of yellow liquid. Their master, Shino Aburame, didn't even have to move an inch for the insects to form a hole in their mass, so for the liquid to travel through their numbers safely to the ground.
"It won't work, Kiba." Shino whispered, flexing his fingers out to his sides. The cloud of bugs hissed and dispersed over a wide area, before all closing in on Kiba and his dog, Akamaru.
"Oh yeah, well I got news for you Shino, neither will that!" Kiba barked. Crouching on all fours, he dug his nails into the ground, his chakra starting to stagger. His fangs and claws growing longer, he snarled with tenacity in his voice. "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry! Fang Over Fang!"
Just as the insects came within a foot from Kiba, a small, twisting typhoon tore out of their enclosure. Unable to land on something spinning that fast, the bugs were forced apart, and to retreat to Shino's sleeves. The typhoon came to a sudden stop far away from Shino, and Kiba fell from it and onto his feet gracefully. Akamaru joined him by his side, and growled menacingly while Kiba sneered, his twin canines showing.
"Care to try again?" He mocked. "No grand prize this time, but you could still walk away with some dignity at least!"
"Bring it." Shino dared, his insects flying from his sleeves once more.
Even without the presence of their sensei, the genin of the Hidden Leaf trained to become stronger and stronger every day. Kiba and Shino always went at it with the utmost seriousness.
But more still, the Leaf Village had more than members of squads out training this early. Even the sacred clans of the village were already hard at work developing their skills. Above all the rest stood the Hyuga, who took pride in their heritage of passed down techniques more than any other clan in the Hidden Leaf. The Gentle Fist, and the equally deadly Byakugan.
"…"
"…"
An equal distance from one another, Neji Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga stood in battle-ready poses. Their chakra-filled eyes focused on one another so perfectly, that nothing was invisible to them; even the other's chakra network was in distinct detail. A single movement could provoke either to strike, and it was this tension that weighed down on them. Hearts were pounding, bodies were sweating, and trained hands were more than ready to jab at their opponent relentlessly.
"Do your eyes see true, Hinata?" Neji asked, his foot scuffing the light dirt. "I wonder if you could actually beat me, now."
"They do. I…I've become far stronger, my brother. You of all people should have surmised by now my strength." The timid girl responded, her bravery showing through now that she needed it most.
Neji flew for her, and the dance of two Hyuga's fighting began. Palms and finger jabs glided past one another, kicks twirled in overarching swings, only to slam back down to the ground, and all the while their eyes never broke in connection. Dirt and chakra filled the air, and all accomplished through this ancient taijutsu art.
"Well, you're certainly stronger than you used to be, I will humbly admit that." Neji smiled. "But I am eager to see how just how much you've grown."
Hinata nodded slightly, retaking her stance, and as did Neji. Once again the two remained like statues, giving the dust a chance to settle back down.
"And it's all thanks to you, Naruto." Hinata thought to herself, her eyes glancing towards the sky. There was a light wind blowing. "You're the reason I've been able to become stronger. Thank you."
"Ah….AH!...AH-CHOO!" Naruto sneezed, neck making a sharp tingle of pain as his head jerked downwards. Great, he thought. What, now did he have a cold, too?
Until that sneeze, the blonde had still been lazily cuddling with his sheets, but now he was upright in his bed and wide-awake. He turned towards the clock on his bedside. 11:20. For…some reason he felt like that was important.
"Ughhh, okay come on, get out of bed, get out of bed..." he grumbled to himself, forcing his body from the comfort of the sheets and pillow, to standing upright. Looking at himself in the mirror, it was even more obvious he had to get going. Hair a mess, shirtless and nothing but his green and orange-designed underwear on, and not to mention without breakfast, he was hardly a menacing ninja to be feared among his enemies at the moment.
Naruto's gaze traveled from his tired face, down his front and to the seal on his stomach. Like a trigger, the events from yesterday all came rushing back to him in one heart-sinking realization. Brow furrowing, the boy glared at the marking.
That goddamn fox. Why the hell did he have to be involved, and like this? Within the next hour, the demon that had nearly eradicated his home, and had caused him the utmost pain and suffering was going to be here, in the flesh. How could they actually trust him? He was sinister, malicious and evil; there was no way he was going to keep to his word…
Fingernails digging into his soft belly, teeth clenched, Naruto took a deep breath and tried to think. Maybe he could convince them that this didn't need to happen; since when did he need that old pervert, or anyone else to teach him anyway? He could train fine by himself. If he needed sparring partners he could just make shadow clones for pete's sake. On top of endangering things by bringing that fox around, it was as if they were insulting him. Maybe he couldn't learn new jutsu for a while, whatever, but he could develop on his own just fine!
"Alright Grandma, Pervy Sage…" He said aloud, his decision made. "And you, you stupid fox. There's no way this is going to happen. It doesn't need to. You hear me? I don't need your help! Nobody needs your help!"
Naruto's lazy bones attitude left his system within seconds, and was replaced by a burning passion; a passion to knock some sense into his hokage, and sensei, in one fell swoop. He threw on a black t-shirt, his sandals, headband and outfit, and was out the door within moments.
"…Heh, ya know, it's always so quiet in here. At least, when you aren't ordering missions or listening to Shizune freak out over something." Jiraiya said, opening the floor for conversation with the quiet old lady sitting behind the Hokage's desk. But Lady Tsunade's mind was anywhere but on small talk. Intently overseeing the village outside her windows, she was keeping a sharp eye out for spiky blonde hair making a bee line for her mansion.
"…And if you're looking for the knucklehead, it's still a bit early." The Toad Sage continued, calmly leaning back against the wall. "He's still got at least another half an hour before noon."
"If I know him, he'll be here far before that." Tsunade said simply. She chuckled over the top of her clutched hands. "He's not just a knucklehead after all; he's a passionate, reckless knucklehead. And I dare say he's gotten even worse with you having been around to reinforce that."
Jiraiya sprouted a wide grin and nodded. "Haha, indeed, Jiraiya the Toad Sage never produces a student who has all the time in the world to wait around! Hahahahaha!"
"Here we go." The fifth said, finally leaning back in her chair and spinning around to face her door in a single motion. Jiraiya stopped mid-laugh.
"Here goes…what?"
It was Tsunade's turn to smile.
"Oh you'll see. In three…two…one."
Jiraiya had just put his hand to his hair to scratch it in confusion, when the Hokage's front door was flattened against its hinges. In her doorway stood the knucklehead in person. With a determined look on his face, and a scowl that even a mother couldn't love, he marched into the room, firmly slammed his palms onto her wooden desk, and got his face as close as he could to hers.
"I'M NOT DOING IT!" He shouted. "You and the Pervy Sage may trust that fox, but I know him, and there's no way he'll keep his word! He's just as twisted as Orochimaru! I don't CARE if there might be a war, and I don't CARE if the Akatsuki are stalking after me, or that nobody can train me right now, I don't…"
Naruto's stream of consciousness began to lose traction, and as did his angry outburst. His lip quivering, he stepped back and looked at his Hokage straight in the eyes. She hadn't budged nor blinked since he had begun.
"It's just that…" Naruto went on, voice lower and more brooding than before, as if he was still deep in thought. "Why do we need to resort to him? Why? Even if nobody can train me right now, it shouldn't be a big deal!"
Jiraiya remained silent, eyes closed while he blended into the wall. As far as he was concerned, he had done his part with this; he had spent most of his evening last night explaining the entire thing to the kid. It was time for him to hear it from the Hokage herself.
Tsunade gave a heavy sigh and crossed her arms tightly. Her expression was cold and hard.
"It's time for you to make a decision, Naruto." She said, and for a second it looked like Naruto was going to blow his top for ignoring his statement. "…training by yourself is important, and using clones to spar with and test your skills with is a good idea as well."
Her bright red-colored nails tapped down against the desk. She laid her head in her other hand, elbow on the table. Naruto looked hopeful, but at a loss for words.
"But it's nowhere near enough. Any single member of the Akatsuki is easily a match for Kakashi or stronger, and on top of that, it isn't just Itachi and his shark friend Kisame anymore. All of the Akatsuki are active, and god knows they're all opportunists. If you run into any one of them, you'll be abducted, and killed when they suck the Nine-Tails out of you."
Jiraiya opened his eyes and stared at the Hokage as she continued to spell out Naruto's future for him, right there in black and white.
"And that's why," she lead on. "You need guidance on how to attain the next level. No more shadow clone training by yourself, no more going slow so you can master one thing at a time. You need to develop quickly, and it needs to be sooner rather than later."
The office was so quiet for a few seconds that the faint sounds of people chattering and walking about in other parts of huge building were completely audible.
"…And as I told you yesterday, Naruto," Jiraiya stepped in, his wooden sandals clopping against the polished and equally wooden floor upon going to his student's side. "We're up against the wall. One of the most stressful parts of a war is this situation we're in; the time before it's officially a war. As we try to continue missions and other daily functions, we're also in the dark on whether or not something will happen, and if so, where, when and how it'll be done from. It's like trying to grab smoke with your bare hands, and on top of that, not knowing if the smoke you're trying to grab is even the right smoke."
"Every shinobi is needed, or we could all be in dire trouble." Tsunade played off. "We can't prepare for the worst case scenario from two opposite countries, and spare Kakashi, Jiraiya or any other high-level ninja to train someone at your development level at the same time."
Naruto's bright blue eyes shook more than his clenched fists. Feeling helpless and without power, he avoided eye contact with either of them. Every time they went on, his insides boiled more and more.
"…Someone at 'my' development level? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" He growled.
"You're far enough so that not just any random chunin or special jonin can teach you." Jiraiya smiled. "Only those like me who have worked with you for a long time, know how you tick, and are also of high skill level can really get you along at this point, and quick."
Jiraiya put his palm down on the soft, spiky hair. "So at the same time, you're not far enough so that you don't need a sensei anymore. You've mastered all the generic skills and basics, but you need to develop more jutsu, and assimilate it into your own unique style. Rasengan and Shadow clones won't cut it against enemies like the Akatsuki. And at hand, the fox is-"
"-the only one who knows me and what I can do best. Right?"
"Right."
The young boy's stomach felt like a freshly broiled pot of ramen; he could almost feel the bubbles and steam filling up his insides. He wanted to fight back, to throw something, to break something, anything, just to let out his rising feeling of being a powerless child. They had no idea how he felt about this, and they wouldn't listen even if he tried. His entire body shook.
"We're done explaining." Tsunade concluded firmly. "Now, make your choice Naruto. We won't force you, but I can certainly guarantee that while bringing your inner beast out in this manner may be risky, you, along with every other person in this village will be at an even greater risk if we don't."
"…"
Jiraiya found himself caught between trying to physically help the boy calm down a bit, or to just leave him be. Naruto showed no signs of about to storm off, or to shake the sannin's hand from his head, so he simply kept it as is; still and laying there.
"Be trained by the demon that's made my life miserable…or be abducted and killed by the Akatsuki." Naruto said, his eyes finally rising again to match Tsunade's. She stared right back.
"…You and the Pervy Sage seem to believe he won't turn rogue and betray us. So all I have to say is…if I've suffered this far, Grandma, then there's no way I'll let this stop me either." He declared, thrusting a thumb at himself. "If I'm gonna be Hokage one day, I've gotta struggle through tons of crap I don't want to do. So go ahead, let's get this over with!"
Tsunade's smile appeared again. She promptly stood up from her chair, and pushed it into the desk. As if on a mission, a purpose in her every movement, she walked around to the front of desk and leaned against it.
"Glad to hear it. Now, come in!"
A few seconds afterwords, the door to the office opened, and Naruto looked over his shoulder to find a tall ANBU member with a peculiar mask and brown hair standing in the doorway. Like all ANBU he was as still a statue when he wasn't in the middle of an order. If you weren't looking at him, you wouldn't even know he was there. Naruto always found them to be a bit dodgy, like that…
"Wait here for me to return. I'll give you your assignment then. I won't be gone long." Tsunade said.
"Understood." The man replied. His voice was very calm and patient.
Before Naruto could even ask about him, the Fifth Hokage strode right past both him and Jiraiya and out of the room, calling after them to join her. By the time they had exited, she was at the other end of the hallway.
"Come on you two, pick up the pace!" She yelled hurriedly, leaping from the metal railing of the outdoor staircase, and running vertically up the cliffs of the Hokage Faces. The complaints from Naruto about where they were going and the loud clanks of Jiraiya's sandals came not far behind by the time she had gone over Sarutobi Sensei's cheek. Every passing stride against the rocky outcropping, and they grew closer and closer to the place in which the jutsu would need to be cast.
"And prepare yourselves, too." She thought, cold chills scampering over her skin at what she was about to willingly do. "We're about to witness something that I may very well regret."
With the rising of the sun near its peak as the day went on, a new chapter in the life of not only the Nine-Tailed Fox's jinchuriki, but for the entire Village Hidden in the Leaves was about to begin. The two sannin and the Nine-Tails reached a deserted section of the village, there behind some buildings atop of Hokage faces, and with a hand-sign, the three of them vanished in a puff of smoke. Anyone around who had happened to see them had to believe they had gone somewhere else.