Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, and neither is Final Fantasy. I just own my personal copies of the manga/games :)
Dance of the Pyreflyes, Chapter 10: Training regime
by Chronodt
Naruto waited outside Sakura's house. A clone of him, actually, the true one has been kidnapped by Jiraya at the crack of dawn, barely giving him time to get dressed and eat a few cereals. The pervert even refused to let him eat instant ramen, 'because it would take too long to cook'. And after he saw him create ten Shadow Clones, he hijacked most of them to give them specific jobs. He sent a couple to Ebisu sensei, one to read Ebisu's book on the wind element jutsu, one to do water walking, one to Iruka to do basic punching and kicking, henged as an academy kid in Iruka's morning class, one to do target training, one to revise ALL chakra control exercises he knows (excluding water walking) and left the other three to do whatever Naruto created them for. One went out as Akiko, one continued practicing seals and the last was here. He actually didn't protest. A quick Scan on the pervert showed him he was actually the real deal. He was probably stronger than the Hokage himself, and by a good margin! He was a toad summoner (well.... being the Toad Hermit and his summoning one before him was a big clue) he could power himself up even beyond the scanned level by using something called "Sage Mode" and his favorite jutsu were so numerous that the Scan just got lost after the first few. He had a natural Water affinity, and acquired Earth and Fire as secondary. Even Lightning and Wind were no slouch, just not at the level of the others. So this was a Kage-level ninja... he is actually more than impressive!
Yesterday's … Talk with mom has been really... enlightening. He couldn't remember ever being so embarrassed. At first he though mom was … no he couldn't think about it. Not about her. He went red just by remembering. She also explained that most girls his age were more interested in the 'mature' kind of boy because as girls they grew up sooner. And that Sakura-chan didn't really like Sasuke per se, she probably liked a pedestal she and the other girls built of a "Sasuke Uchiha" and worshiped that icon. Naruto still didn't completely understand it. Mom even tried to explain that what he was feeling for Sakura was something like that, too. He could scarcely believe it, but mom said it...
While waiting for Sakura to wake up, he made a mental catalog of his interactions with the pink-haired girl. Even if it pained him, he realized his mom was right. He had built a "perfect Sakura" in his mind and ignored every hint or even every proof that would deviate from that image. He had a crush on a girl who didn't really exist, and that more than everything hurt him.
With new resolve, he decided to get to know the TRUE Sakura, while trying to ignore Sakura's obsession, remembering that she, too, was loving a boy who didn't truly exist.
The first step in getting to know the true Sakura-chan was helping her get training, or even accompanying her to see Sasuke at the hospital. He just would add visiting Lee and Hinata if she didn't want to leave the Uchiha. Chouji wasn't hurt very much and was probably already home.
Two hours later, Sakura finally left and Naruto showed himself, hailing her.
"Sakura-chan, good morning."
"Naruto...what are you doing here?" she didn't look too annoyed, but evidently wasn't in a good mood either.
"Yesterday, Kakashi sensei left me to a jonin to train for the finals, but I wanted to be sure he left you something to do. I wouldn't put past him to completely forget about you..."
Sakura seemed surprised by his thoughtfulness, and said: "Kakashi left me a couple scrolls for a training regime..."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Just scrolls? She needs help in the physical department and she needs to see with her eyes what a true training regime is. Better take her to Ebisu sensei.
Naruto then said: "Come with me, I'm taking you to Ebisu sensei. Scrolls can't compare to actual instruction in what you need."
Sakura started to protest, since Naruto was actually offering to share his instructor, but he seemed to read her mind and said: "Actually, I'm no longer mainly training with him. Yesterday, while I was training at the hot springs with Ebisu sensei, I met a self declared Super Pervert. Ebisu sensei tried to stop him, but was defeated in a second. He turned out to be Jiraya, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, one of the legendary three ninja, and he is a seal master. He..." he couldn't tell her about either his seal or the Oiroke, so he had to … twist the truth a little: "... he was a little impressed of my knowledge in seals, and this morning he kidnapped me from my bed at the crack of dawn and told me that the got the Hokage to give him permission to train me until the Finals."
Sakura was surprised. One of the Sannin was actually impressed with Naruto?
"You are a clone, aren't you?" said Sakura, connecting the dots.
"Yes, the Boss is now with that pervert." said Naruto. "And to give you an idea of how much a pervert he is, he is THE author of Sensei's orange books."
Sakura froze. One of the most renowned ninja of her village... wrote that smut?
"Just don't dare to copy him, Naruto!"
"Even complaining it's useless. I told him in his face that his book was trash and he was a pervert, but he simply told me I didn't understand art and replied that he wasn't "just" a pervert, but a super pervert. He is actually proud of it, if you can believe it!"
Sakura was appalled.
"I hope becoming weird is not a requirement to rise to the higher ranks, or I will be content to remain a genin forever!" said Sakura, with heartfelt passion, remembering Kakashi and Gai.
Naruto thought about it for a while, and shuddered, too.
They talked of little things on the way to training ground 34, the training ground assigned to him by Ebisu sensei for their training. Sakura saw the jonin hard at work to guide a clone of Naruto through target practice and another practicing hand seals to become faster.
"Ebisu sensei, I brought to you a new student!" said Naruto
Ebisu turned and saw the two coming.
"Naruto... er..number three I guess, what do you mean a new student?"
"Well, since Jiraya-sensei took over my training, you are free to take a new student, aren't you?"
"Uh.. technically Kakashi didn't assign me Sakura..."
"Did Kakashi sensei ask you to train me specifically? Or did he ask your help for his team? Or his student? If so, Sakura-chan is one, too! Sakura has been left completely to herself for the whole month, you know!"
Ebisu thought back about the wording of Kakashi's request, and realized the brat was right. Kakashi's body language and tone implied Naruto's training, but...
"You are right, Kakashi DID tell me to train one of his students, and now due to the Hokage's orders you are Jiraya's. Your new teacher is just asking me to help a couple of your clones, and I can fulfill Kakashi's request by training Sakura."
Sakura smirked on that well thought sidestep of rules she just heard. She had been lucky, really. Naruto used his lucky streak of nailing Jiraya-sama for his own training to help her, too! And she was glad that Ebisu... sensei she guessed... was a good person to exploit that little loophole for her benefit.
"Let me see Kakashi's training regime and then I'll see your actual ability. Let's start with a simple spar...."
"Ok, brat, the warm-up is done." said Jiraya, to the real Naruto. After three hours of running, jumping, stretching, evading fireballs, traps and pits he … said this was just the warm-up??
"I want to see now how far you are in your family jutsus."
"Not very much, I'm afraid. I barely know Cure and Scan, and I perfected them just before or even during the preliminaries. I'm learning to open the Gates to summon the Guardians, but I just began yesterday with the theory behind it. The fox's seal is stopping almost all of my White Chakra."
Jiraya nodded. He was woefully behind what an Uzumaki of his age would be, but he couldn't refute the facts, he examined the seal himself. He was actually surprised the boy had any White Chakra at all in his system, baring an injury. Jiraya smirked, also, because he noted the brat's respect for him skyrocketed a few minutes after being woken up. Surely he used that Scan on him, and realized his magnificence.
"Ok, brat. There is nothing I can help you with your family jutsu, so you'll have to practice them in your own time. Since your clones are learning stuff for you, you'll learn something they cannot. I'll teach you how to summon toads."
Naruto was about to ask a question, but was silenced by Jiraya's gaze.
"Yes, yes, I know you have your family's summons, and they ARE good, I can tell you. But they don't preclude you from learning ninja summons as well, because they are summoned in a completely different way. They will add a great deal of versatility, because unlike your summons you can use them as messenger, scout and are great company as well."
The old pervert bit his hand, made a few handseals and slammed his hand on the ground, yelling "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A spider net of seals left his hand and with a poof of smoke a large toad appeared. He dropped a very large scroll from his mouth and waited. Jiraya took and opened the scroll before Naruto, who was a little apprehensive. His mother told him to sign this very contract if the pervert offered it, saying something along the lines of 'it is only right' or something similar. He hoped he wouldn't regret it later, but he decided to sign it. Following the old man's instructions, he bit his hand and signed the scroll with his blood, including his fingerprints. Giving back the scroll to the toad, Jiraya then showed him the handseals for the summoning jutsu.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto, and in a poof of smoke a tadpole appeared.
"You SUCK!" yelled Jiraya. "Use more chakra, you damn brat! The summoning technique is done for brain dead people just like you with tanks of chakra and no control! You just have to pour in all you can!"
"Shut up Ero-Sennin! Do you usually pour all your chakra in a technique you know nothing about?" replied Naruto.
"What do you mean 'know nothing about', brat! This is amply covered in the academy material!"
"Well, if you forgot about it, I'm the 'damn fox brat', you pervert! If it wasn't for Iruka-sensei I would have learned nothing in that poor excuse for an academy!"
Jiraya was actually surprised by that comeback, especially the rage behind it, but covered it well. It actually made sense, those stupids...
"So, now that you 'know', get to it!" yelled Jiraya.
Naruto repeated the jutsu, and this time the scroll bearer toad returned in a puff of smoke. Naruto actually swayed a little from the effort. Even if he didn't deplete his chakra reserves, he never expended that much chakra in a single go. He was used to divide it, yes, but not expel so much of it in a single burst.
"Again!" yelled Jiraya.
He complied, and for an hour he summoned smaller and smaller toads as his fatigue grew. The last one, who called himself Gamakichi, actually remained around after seeing his summoner faint dead before him.
"What happened to him, pervert?" asked Gamakichi. As the son of Gamabunta he heard plenty about Jiraya, all of it bad.
"He just overextended himself. It's good, though, soon his tenketsu and chakra pathways will be able to accommodate such a great expenditure of chakra to summon bigger toads. And don't call me pervert!"
Gamakichi didn't understand a thing (and ignored the rebuke), but he guessed it was senseless babble and ignored the pervert.
"Alright, Sakura. It's enough." Ebisu said, after the kunoichi hit the wooden post for the 300th time. "Kakashi's schedule was right to the spot, and his evaluation of your actual level very good. Still, I'd like to supervise your training, seeing that you have a number of smaller problems that this schedule won't cover. I'd like also for the two of you to learn more advanced traps since you are at a good level for a genin." he said, looking at a Naruto's clone, too. "For Sakura, I'd add a specialty that would make use of her perfect control, such as genjutsu or a medical-veterinary field, possibly both. While fixing your body and taijutsu will just get rid of a weakness, you have to cultivate strength, too. To round it, I'll also add a few low level elemental ninjutsu of your primary element."
"Chaaa! Take that, Ino-pig!" said Inner Sakura, imagining a beaten up Ino and a smiling Sasuke.
"Thank you for your words, sensei!" said Sakura, actually happy for some true suggestions for her career, and promising herself to look at those two fields to see if she had any talent in it.
Akiko was terrified.
After Mom's speech yesterday, she was really conscious of what a boy would want to do to her, even if she made herself as … well, not unattractive, but as invisible as she could be and still be in character.
Meeting with that Yasha guy maybe was a bad idea, but she wouldn't give up! She had a mission to do! After all, girls in infiltration mission had to do things like these or even worse (shudder) to complete them. She wouldn't expect any less from herself! And she had to hurry! The pervert surely told the Hokage that she knew of the Uzumaki Clan, and could be removing that scroll even now!
Naruto woke up near the river, hearing the usual giggle of his perverted sensei.
"So, you woke up, bro!" said a voice near his head.
A toad, that he barely remembered to have summoned just before falling exhausted, greeted him.
"Oh, hello. Sorry, I was really out of it when I summoned you. What's your name?"
"I'm Gamakichi, and the next time you call me, remember to give me some sweets!" after that he vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"So he stayed behind just to tell me that?" Naruto said, annoyed.
"Our sleeping beauty awakens." said Jiraya, still looking in his spyglass. "Are you ready to continue? I want you to summon until you are on the verge of chakra exhaustion!"
With a grumbled: "Yes, Ero-sensei" he resumed his summoning practice.
For hours he summoned toad after toad, getting to know a few of them, but this time, as soon as he started summoning the smaller toads, Jiraya told him that it was enough for the day. His lower chakra regenerating rate was starting to make itself known!
"Jiraya-sensei..." asked an exhausted Naruto, still on the ground. "What.. what can you tell me of my parents?"
Jiraya looked a little sad, but said: "I cannot tell you anything about your father, brat. But... since you already know about her, I will tell you about Kushina. The Hokage told me you were supposed to know of her identity only after you reached chunin rank. You would have known earlier if we thought you inherited her bloodline, too, but..."
Naruto laughed acidly for a moment. It always came back to the fox, the bane of his existence.
"I knew your mother since she was a newly minted jonin, so I don't know of her earlier days. She was fifteen, then. She was a real beauty, with red hairs and a body to die for and.. uh..." Jiraya suddenly felt a spike of killer intent from his pupil and decided to go on. "Er.. as I was saying, I had only a single mission with her, together with one of my old genin squad, that the world now knows as the Fourth Hokage, and Tsume Inuzuka, your preliminary opponent's mother. We were at war with Iwa back then, and we didn't have much time to fraternize. Not that she gave me the time of the day, that is." Naruto exhaled a relieved breath. Jiraya heard, but didn't say anything. "We had to get to know each other abilities, so Kushina actually shoved us a few of them, and I can say I was impressed..."
Jiraya lost himself in reminiscing that mission, and went on to recount the events, taking care of ever naming the Fourth Hokage or his relationship to Kushina
Akiko smiled, looking at the Clan Archives. That Yasha was a really gullible fellow, no wonder he was still a genin even at 18. He swallowed hook, line and sinker her story about her interest of the recent history of lost Clans, and even brought her in the Tower. The Archives were not true sensitive material, but still its access was supposed to be monitored. Still he didn't allow her to handle the scrolls, but that wasn't a problem. Except the fact that Kushina Uzumaki apparently was the last member ever recorded in her family scroll.
It was suspiciously convenient.
Waiting for a momentary distraction of the other genin, Akiko created a Shadow Clone and made him transform into an empty scroll. Akiko swiftly added it to the pile.
Examining a few more Clan Scroll to not arouse suspicion and taking a few notes (including the fact that Neiji's father was the identical twin of Hinata's and marked as deceased, as well as both mothers) they left the Archives. The clone, left behind, dispelled his henge, changing itself into Akiko. Best to lose just the cover if she had to abandon the mission.
Taking the Uzumaki scroll out again, she unrolled it, and examined the place where her and her father's name should be, and tried to use a bit of White Chakra in it.
"Bingo!" though Akiko. Two names appeared in the empty spaces, obviously one the son of the other. They were Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. Unfortunately, no other Uzumaki were still living...
"Namikaze Minato, eh? Why do I have the feeling I have already heard of him?"
Akiko let the White Chakra go and the scroll returned to its previous state, then replaced the scroll in its rightful place and dispelled herself. Next step, discover the ninja history of her father!
Jiraya finished with his story. It was nothing exceptional, just a "minor" A-rank mission during wartime to get rid of a shipment of supplies for Iwa's front line ninja. However the pervert managed to catch his mother's quirks really fast, so he suspected that even if they had a single mission together, they got to know each other outside of them, too. He was also fascinated by the Fourth Hokage, even if the pervert never called him by name, just using "brat" just like he did with him. During the pervert's story he even got back the Archive's clone information, but he didn't dare to ask Jiraya about Namikaze Minato. So he asked about someone else.
"Ero-Sensei, the Fourth taught Kakashi sensei, right?"
"Yes, brat, and don't call me that!"
"So.. why did Kakashi sensei ignore me an Sakura, then? I'm sure the Fourth didn't ignore his teammates.."
Jiraya sighed, and appeared to search for an acceptable answer.
"Brat, you must realize that he is a human being, too. Your sensei is one of the greatest ninja of this village. He was a perfect ANBU commander, but has forgot what being a genin is, since he was promoted to chunin at 6."
"At... at six?" Naruto asked, shocked.
"Yes, he had been raised as a ninja from a very young age, and as an incredible prodigy he managed to become a ninja at 5. he became jonin at 13, and a few years later he entered in ANBU, becoming rapidly a captain. His only previous experiences with teaching is with his fellow ANBU, the elite, already well experienced ninja who know their strength and weaknesses, as well as how to address them without being told."
"So... he simply forgot that we are just beginners?"
"Yes, I think it is so. Sasuke is rather similar personality-wise to how he was at his age, and he too has been raised by some of the best ninja around. Kakashi probably sees a bit of himself in him, as well as something else, but this is a personal matter of Kakashi that I won't disclose. By giving you a personal teacher and Sakura a few scrolls is a very good first step for him."
"But not enough..." said Naruto, finally understanding a bit more about his lazy sensei.
"Yes, probably not enough for Sakura, but he DID give you a good teacher, and then I took over, brat, don't forget it!"
"Yes, Ero-sensei!"
"Damn brat!" said Jiraya, kicking Naruto in the river.
"What do you mean Sasuke is not here?" said Sakura to the nurse.
While going to the hospital, Naruto's clone and Sakura went to Ino's flower shop to get a few flowers for their friends. Ino decided to tag along.
"He left very early this morning with his teacher."
"So, a wasted trip... Hinata and Lee cannot receive visitors, yet, and my Sasuke-kun is away." said Ino.
"Your Sasuke kun, Ino-pig? Since when?" said Sakura.
"Since I first saw him, naturally, Forehead!"
Naruto silently withdrew. Better not get involved, thank you very much. He looked at the trees outside and wondered what Kakashi sensei was teaching Sasuke, right now...