Author's Note: For any of you who may be interested I have started posting a fantasy story on Fiction press dot com. It is listed in the fantasy section and the title is The Girl with the Red Eyes. The address for it is www dot fictionpress dot com /s/2520841/1/ The story has nothing to do with Naruto or any other anime and is totally original.
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Twenty days had passed. Ebisu had spent the last five working on getting Naruto's taijutsu to a respectable level. He dearly wished it had not been necessary as it took time away from other things. But as he had told Naruto, the foundations had to be firm before you could build on them. And he had an idea.
On the morning of the twenty first day he let Naruto know just what he had in mind.
"All right Naruto, so far we have greatly improved your chakra control, you have learned a pair of wind jutsus, and you have greatly improved your taijutsu."
Naruto gave him a big smile. He loved hearing praise. "Yeah I am pretty awesome. So what are you going to teach me next closet pervert?"
Ebisu frowned. "Naruto I have told you before to stop calling me that."
"Can't."
Ebisu quirked an eyebrow. "And why can't you?"
"Because that's what you are and I call 'em like I see 'em. If you want me to stop calling you that stop being a perv."
"How rude," Ebisu shook his head. "Well never mind. Now, what I wanted to let you know is that I only have one more new technique to teach you. Once you have learned it we will spend the remainder of our time perfecting what I have taught you."
"What?" Naruto sounded more than a little upset. "You're only going to teach me one more thing?"
Ebisu shook his head. "Naruto have you any idea how long it takes most ninja to even acquire one jutsu? Despite what it might seem you have done extremely well. The jutsus I taught you are an A-rank and a B-rank and you learned each in less than a week, that is nothing short of spectacular."
"Then teach me more jutsus! I promise I'll learn them!" Naruto pleaded.
Ebisu shook his head. "I'm sorry Naruto but there just isn't enough time now. The technique I'm about to show you will likely take awhile for you to get down. There simply won't be enough time after that for me to show you anything else and have it ready in time for the finals."
"Well show something anyway! If you teach me another jutsu I promise I'll work on it on my own after I make Chunin."
Ebisu grinned. Well no one could ever say the boy lacked confidence. A thought occurred to the teacher and the grin became a smile. "All right Naruto there is one more jutsu I can teach you. If you can get this technique down to my satisfaction I will teach it to you on our last day together. You won't be able to perfect it in time for the exams but it should be helpful to you in the field." Naruto began bouncing up and down. "However," Ebisu said sharply. "There are two conditions to my teaching it to you."
"What? Tell me."
"First, this jutsu is lethal there is really no way to safely use it without risking the life of your opponent. Therefore, even if you should feel you have learned it you are not allowed to use it in the finals. And you are forbidden to ever use it against a fellow leaf nin."
Naruto nodded his head seriously. "Got it, it's for enemies only. I won't ever use it on anyone from the village." He paused to think about it. "Well unless they're a traitor or something like that."
Ebisu nodded. "All right and the second condition, if I teach it to you, you promise to never call me a pervert or anything like that again."
Naruto stared at him. "Is this a bribe?"
"Yes."
Naruto began to laugh. "All right Ebisu-sensei, it's a deal. So what are you going to teach me now?"
"I'll demonstrate, wait right here." As Naruto stood there Ebisu slowly walked away until he was about a hundred yards. "I want you to watch me closely."
"Ok," Naruto called back. He was curious as to what Ebisu could possibly want to show him from so far away. He certainly wouldn't be able to make out any hand signs. Then as he was watching Ebisu just suddenly seemed to disappear.
"Still watching?" Ebisu's voice spoke from directly behind him.
Naruto jumped around to see his sensei standing there with a smug smile on his face.
"How did you do that?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Was that a jutsu?"
Ebisu shook his head. "No, that was a ninja technique commonly referred to as, 'forcing.' It was originally developed by the Sanin Lady Tsunade. What it basically does is allow you to focus your chakra into a certain point in your body making it far more powerful than normal. She had such superb chakra control she could actually shatter boulders just by focusing chakra into her fist."
"Shatter boulders?" Naruto sounded excited.
"You won't be able to do that." Ebisu pointed out.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"To be able to focus your chakra tightly enough to do something like that takes extraordinary control. My own chakra control is excellent, much better than yours Naruto, but I could never do it. It's pretty unlikely that you would ever be able to."
"Then what's the point of showing me something you don't think I can use?"
Ebisu grinned. "I don't think your chakra control will ever be strong enough to turn part of your body into a weapon. But given your current level of control and the huge reserves you have you should be able to do other things, such as work your legs and arms at great speeds."
Naruto's eyes widened. "That's what you did! That speed reminded me of Lee and Guy-sensei."
Ebisu nodded. "You could get the same effect with months or years of intensive physical training. What Guy can do is actually superior to this since he doesn't have to use any chakra. But since you don't have that kind of time to devote solely to physical training you can use forcing to achieve the same effect. Now normally most ninja would avoid this technique except in an emergency."
"Why?"
"Because it burns through your chakra very quickly, most would just think the price of using it too high. But given how huge your reserves are it would make sense for you. Also it will act as a force multiplier."
Naruto looked lost. "Huh?"
Ebisu sighed. "What I mean is this technique will make your other abilities more powerful. Your taijutsu will be far more effective with the added speed. Your shadow clones will become far greater weapons. This ability combined with the amount of chakra you have will make you far more effective on the battlefield."
Naruto imagined a hundred shadow clones all moving too fast for the eye to follow. He recalled how Lee had clobbered precious old Sasuke before the exams.
It doesn't mater what your eye can see if your body is too weak to act.
He recalled Lee saying those words as he was kicking Sasuke's butt. Naruto began to shiver with excitement at the thought of facing Sasuke with that same sort of speed. I am so going to kick the Uchiha's butt!
Naruto began jumping up and down. "Hurry up and teach me this!"
With a chuckle Ebisu began doing just that.
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The last day of training arrived.
Hinata stood exhausted before her father. For the last thirty days she had pushed herself to learn the techniques her father had shown her. Except for her times with Naruto she had devoted herself totally to her training.
Hiashi looked at his daughter, and the tiniest of grins appeared on his lips. "You have done very well Hinata. I expect you to do equally well tomorrow."
She stood up straight and looked her father in the eye. "I promise to do my very best."
He nodded. "Your training is now complete Hinata, get some rest and be ready for tomorrow. The finals will be very challenging." He turned to go and halted. "Hinata?"
"Yes father?"
His slight grin expanded just a fraction. "I am proud of you." With that he quickly left the family dojo.
Hinata stood there in shock for a moment, and then finally smiled.
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"We are done now Naruto. I have taught you all that I could in the time we had. I hope it is enough."
A sweaty and dirty Naruto nodded his head gratefully. "Thanks Ebisu-sensei, for everything." He looked down a bit embarrassed. "You know I wasn't really thrilled when Kakashi dumped me. But I'm glad now. You've really taught me a whole lot and I'm thankful."
"You are very welcome Naruto. I am very glad I got this chance to get to know the real you. And… and I want to apologize to you for my earlier behavior." He gave the boy a deep bow. "I am sorry for the way I first treated you Naruto."
Naruto blushed. It felt weird to get acceptance from someone who had glared at him not too long ago. It felt weird but good. "It's all right." He mumbled.
Ebisu grinned. "You know Naruto I have had a great many students but you, far and away, are the best."
If it was possible his blush was getting darker. "You're just saying that to be nice. I know I'm not much of a student like Sakura or teme. I was dead last for a reason you know."
"I believe that if your teachers had not been biased towards you then you would have excelled. Naruto, don't underestimate just how much you have learned in the past month's time. And don't think so little about your ability to learn. As time passes you will learn more and more and your skills will only increase. I have no doubt at all that you will become a great ninja."
Naruto's usual exuberance was completely vanished as he looked up shyly at his teacher.
"Do you really believe that Ebisu-sensei?"
"I do."
"Thank you, not many people really believe in me. Hearing that… thank you." Naruto didn't seem to have anything more to say.
"You're very welcome Naruto. I look forward to cheering you on tomorrow." He smiled. "I'm also betting on you pretty heavily so I expect to make a lot of cash."
That brought a smile to Naruto's face and he began to scratch the back of his head. "I won't let you down Ebisu-sensei."
"Now since I won't be teaching you anymore I've decided to give you a small gift."
"Are you buying me ramen?" He asked excitedly
"I thought you were meeting with Hinata tonight?"
"I am but you could pay for it."
Ebisu shook his head. "A man should pay for his own dates Naruto." He took out a scroll and handed it to the young boy. "Here, I know you'll put it to good use."
"Is this a jutsu scroll?" Naruto took it and held on to it like it was made of pure gold.
"Actually I made it especially for you, there are eight jutsus written on it. I am sure they'll all be of great use to you. Once you've learned them come find me and I'll give you another one. And I hope that if you should need me at any time in the future you will come see me. I will be happy to help you in any way I can."
That was when Ebisu was ambushed.
"THANK YOU SENSEI!!" Naruto leapt up and glomped on to him.
Ebisu quickly looked around; fearful people would see a twelve year old boy attached to his chest.
"Uhm, yes, that's good, you're very welcome, ah, well," Ebisu tried patting the boy's head but he continued holding on. "Don't you need to get ready for Hinata?"
"Oh that's right!" Naruto finally let go. "I need to get going. Bye sensei!"
Ebisu let out a relieved sigh that no one had seen that.
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In a nearby tree Jiraiya was scribbling in his notebook. That would make a great scene for his next book. He had already decided it would be about an introverted young woman who was a teacher of the ninja arts and a closet pervert.
He would call the character Ebisa.
