A/N: Hey, guys. Thanks again to those of you who reviewed, and thanks to all the readers!
"Summoning Jutsu!" Came the howl of the toad sage, hopping deftly back onto one foot as his palm slammed on the earth below him, and within two seconds a stream of fire came pouring from the cloud of smoke.
"Shit," Naruto cursed, throwing together a quick cross seal, and creating a large wall of clones to soak up some of the blast. He was sent flying backwards from the shockwave of so many clones dispersing at the same time, and launched, kicking and screaming, into a tree several meters behind him.
"Ugh. Ero-sennin, what the hell was that for?" He groaned, rubbing his head.
Jiraiya, to his credit, didn't brag, settling instead for a slow saunter over to his student, and an extended hand to help him up.
"I noticed that those clones were inefficient. For the amount of chakra you put in, they shouldn't have gone so easily," the Sannin commented, looking much less worse for the wear than his student.
"Well maybe if you'd taught me chakra control in the first place, I wouldn't make such crappy clones," the blond accused, to his chuckling mentor.
The days that followed the training 'breakthrough' turned into weeks, and then months. Naruto was progressing at a solid clip, but Jiraiya wanted to push him; he knew even the regular academy students would have surpassed his mediocre control by a longshot, and progressed to more advanced techniques than a clone. As the two trained in silence, Jiraiya saw one poorly constructed clone too many, and stood up, exasperated. Naruto had improved his taijutsu skills, learning a few basic forms and doing better in sparring, but he still couldn't make one good clone. It didn't make sense, either; Naruto could go all day and into the night doing the same thing over and over, pouring every ounce of himself into his technique, but it never worked.
"Naruto, come here for a minute," the sage commented, and the blond came jogging over.
"What's up, sensei?" He chirped, not even realizing his master's irritation at his repeated failure; to Naruto, he was already the epitome of a ninja.
"This is going to hurt, so just suck it up, alright?" The older man asked, and before Naruto could even blurt out a 'what?' Jiraiya's fingers had lit up with a deep burning chakra, and he jammed his hand onto the boy's stomach.
Naruto careened backwards, the wind thoroughly knocked out of him, and rose slowly to his feet a minute or two later. He wobbled back and forth, teetering from one extreme to the next, but finally regaining his balance.
"What was that for?" He slurred out, glaring daggers at Jiraiya.
"Do the jutsu," he commanded, a stony look on his face.
He'd sealed Naruto's chakra, so that he could only access about a tenth of what he normally drew from. It would feel as if he was drawing the same, but only that minute fraction would actually come out. The seal itself was laughably easy to get out of, if one knew how, but Jiraiya didn't have to worry about the eight year old working his way out of the seal.
"Clone jutsu!" Naruto shouted, and smoke enveloped him. If Jiraiya was right, then Naruto would make another deformed clone, even sadder than the rest, but if he could progress a little with sealed chakra, it might carry over to normal training-
And before the sage finished his thought, Naruto stood next to a perfect replica of himself, down to the absolutely shining grin on his face.
"I did it! I did it!" He shouted, jumping up and down as the clone dispersed. The sage was flabbergasted, but looked at the boy with a neutral face, and nodded his head.
"Ha! Just as I planned! My strike knocked the inspiration you needed into you!" He chortled, even as Naruto began to teeter in his movement. Within a minute, he was on the ground unconscious, having spent his energy in the day's training and the celebration. Looking towards the setting sun, Jiraiya hoisted the boy up, and set himself to finding out what, exactly, had occurred.
It was clear that the jutsu had been a perfect success; it had completed its intended purpose perfectly. As the seal began to wear off, however, Jiraiya could slowly piece together what had happened. It seemed that Naruto had so much chakra, and such poor control, that he put enough chakra into the jutsu trying to make one clone that another student could have used for fifty. He already had a genin's reserves as a new trainee, and still had virtually no control over it. Stifling his chakra was interesting, but not practical, and Jiraiya stored the information away without giving it too much further thought. What he needed was a way to advance Naruto's training without focusing on what he had no aptitude for; Naruto, like he himself, would never be a master of chakra control. The two were both, however, blessed with titanic reserves and a penchant for determination, so he knew that Naruto would soon grow in leaps and bounds.
After a full year had passed from the start of their relationship, Jiraiya sat on a barstool next to his pupil, who was currently spinning it around, giggling the whole time.
"Two miso, please," he requested, nodding to the server.
"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" Naruto giggled, turning to face the steaming bowl in front of him as it was delivered.
"Happy birthday, kid," the sage whispered, as Naruto began to dig in to his bowl. He signaled for another round of ramen, as he himself started on his own bowl. Naruto had received a full first year academy education, he supposed. Maybe not the way the chunin at the academy would have taught it, but it was definitely a start. And, he reasoned, Naruto wouldn't have done well in a classroom, anyway.
Chasing away his serious thoughts on such an occasion, Jiraiya reached into his robe and pulled out a small wrapped package, putting it in front of the boy. All ramen eating ceased in short order, and Naruto looked at it, as if looking for permission. Jiraiya nodded, and he tore into the paper, making a small mess that the server tried dutifully to keep in order. At the end of the maelstrom was a small boy holding a frog plush, and he beamed up at his sensei, looking for all the world like he'd been given a pot of gold as his gift.
"Sensei, you're the best!" He cooed, hopping into the sage's chest, and nearly knocking both of them off of the stool.
"This is my first real birthday present," he said, muffled by the sage's clothes as he spoke into the larger man's chest.
Jiraiya did his best not to wince as Naruto climbed back into his seat, finishing off the bowl of ramen. As he squeezed the frog between his hands, it let out a short, loud 'ribbit', and Jiraiya knew he was in for a long, long night.
As more time passed, Jiraiya had no idea why Naruto couldn't grasp simple chakra control exercises. If his reserves were smaller, he would literally be unable to become a ninja, as his methods were so roundabout and inefficient that it seemed downright wasteful. The gradual improvement of all of Naruto's skills was impressive, but his chakra control held him back immensely even as he advanced as a trainee. Jiraiya needed to pick up the pace, and fast; if Naruto came back as only a standard genin, it would reflect poorly on him as a teacher and Naruto as a student; after all, if a student of a Sannin was only rank-and-file, they truly must have had no skill whatsoever. So, settling on one of his trademark odd approaches, Jiraiya came towards Naruto one afternoon with a sack on his back.
"Naruto, hold on a moment. Stop trying to substitute for the time being, and just watch."
The blue-eyed boy cocked his head in interest and strolled towards the man who was already unloading the sack.
Pulling out a small, nondescript water balloon, Jiraiya beckoned him forward with a finger, and placed it in his palm. Grabbing one for himself, as well, Jiraiya crouched down to his eye level.
"Alright, so this is a new technique I want to show you," he whispered, conspiratorially, to his charge. Eyes bulging out, Naruto leaned in, ready to soak up every word.
Rearing up to his full height, Jiraiya palmed the balloon and focused his chakra casually, spinning the water in the balloon until it visibly spun inside, careening off the sides of its inner surface.
"I want you to do what I just did. Use your chakra to spin the water inside the balloon," he ordered, all movement in his own balloon ceasing. He had no intention of actually teaching a nine year old the Rasengan; to do so would be ludicrous. The exercise of exerting chakra control and power, however, was very useful, indeed.
"So I just have to get the water to spin?" Naruto asked, looking confused; it seemed overly simple, even to him. After all, if he could make clones and was learning to 'teleport', how hard would it be to make water move?
"Yeah, that's it," Jiraiya responded, with a knowing smirk, "And if you manage to do it within a week, I'll even teach you how to breath fire!"
Naruto's eyes shot wide open, and he set to work. Needless to say, at the end of the week, Naruto didn't learn how to breathe fire. Jiraiya, however, was satisfied with his progress; if he couldn't exert perfect control, the least he could do was learn to manifest his immense reserves with powerful outputs of chakra in combat. And, for the time being, that was enough to work on.
A/N: Now, before I get raged at, I just want to say that no, Naruto is not going to learn the Rasengan at age nine. This isn't foreshadowing, and it isn't a tip off to readers, I really am just using the exercise as a chakra manipulation device. The goal wasn't even to break the balloon, just to swirl the water (which he couldn't do well as of this chapter), so no, Naruto has not surpassed himself at age 13 in canon at age 9 in my story. I think I'm going to have another time skip soon, probably close to genin age. I'm thinking either a trip straight back to the village at that point, or a side trip to Myoboku, which would involve a different time arriving back. Any feedback, guys?