In case it had been forgotten I dont own Naruto or any of the characters
Chapter 10: The Month Before The Finals
(Training ground 2 the day after prelim)
"So what are you going to teach me erosennin" Naruto asked eager to learn what the toad sage had planned for his training
"well as you are aware your opponent is a Hyuuga who are masters of close combat so we are going to work on your long range skills because at the moment you only have one D rank Fuuton jutsu for long range and that is only effective when used in collaboration with kunai or shuriken so first we are going to work on your nature manipulation at least until you can cut a leaf then I have two new Fuuton jutsu for you to learn" the toad sage informed his young apprentice.
"but I still cant get more than little cuts out of the leaf I need some help from a wind user and I cant find Asuma-sensei anywhere" the blond whined
"thats ok anyway make as many clones as you can and send a few out to look for him while the rest keep on at the exercise" Jiraiya said and the clearing was filled with over a thousand loudmouth blond's
"ok now set your clones to work we have other things to discuss" the old pervert said
"sure what is it erosennin"
"its your clothes"
"my clothes?"
"yes there horrible I mean I cant have you representing the Mighty Toad Sage Jiraiya dressed like one of the signs at the strip clubs and I have been to them all in this town there that exact shade of orange, don't you have anything else to wear" the old sage asked
"Well Bushy Brows sensei gave me this" Naruto said producing a green spandex one piece but before Naruto could attempt to replace his clothes with it his sensei had stolen it and was currently burning it with a fire jutsu and then he buried the ashes
"you are never to be seen in one of those do you understand me!" Jiraiya shouted shaking the blond for emphasis "now I know you like orange but you have to much and can we tone down the colour I mean that is way to bright I think they use those jumpsuits on the docks in water country to warn ships when theres a fog" he finished
"ok ok I get it new clothes so are you gonna come with me or are you just going to let me get overcharged like I always do" Naruto asked
"hell yeah im coming if I left you alone you would probably come back in a Hawaiian shirt and track pants" the sage joked
(Clothing Store)
"there that looks much better on the eyes gaki now you look like a real shinobi" Jiraiya said proudly as Naruto stood there admiring his new outfit
Naruto wore black Anbu pants with a rusted orange trim and a black combat jacket with the same burnt orange on his arms and down the zipper, on his feat he wore standard black combat sandals.
(think Naruto's outfit in shippuden but the colors reversed. I didn't want to change his style too much)
after paying the correct price as the store owner was to intimidated to attempt to con the poor boy while in the presence of one of the sannin they left.
On the way back Naruto and his clones were sent the memory of a rather informative meeting with the jonnin sensei of team 10.
(With Naruto's clone 30 minutes earlier)
'damn it where is Asuma sensei even Shikamaru didn't know' the clone thought
several minutes later he found the jonnin walking with Kurenai and decided this was his best chance of getting information out of Asuma without the rest of team 10 knowing what he was doing
"Asuma sensei, Asuna Sensei I need your help with something" the blond clone called out
stopping in his tracks the chain smoking ninja turned to see Naruto running to catch up to him
"what do you need my help for shouldn't you be training with Jiraiya-sama" Asuma asked
"I need your help with wind manipulation I cant seem to cut my leaf properly so I was wondering if you could give me some pointers because both Kakashi sensei and erosennin said you were the best person to talk to about it please can you help me" the blond pleaded
'erosennin? Oh right Jiraiya man this kid must have guts to call him that and elemental manipulation is a skill that takes years to master he could get the leaf cutting exercise down in a month maybe but thats rare oh well why not let him waste his time Shikamaru is going to need all the help he can get and what the hell he has a fuuton affinity like me and that's rare enough as it is let alone in fire country' "ok Naruto meet me at training ground 15 in 5 minute's Kurenai ill catch you around …. …. Kurenai …. oh damn she left me" the chain smoker finished with a sweat drop
Naruto arrived at the training ground at the same time as Asuma who proceeded to take out his trench knives.
"So a wind affinity hey that's rare do you know any fuuton techniques yet" Asuma asked passing Naruto a knife which he accepted questioningly
"yeah I know Fuuton: Gale Palm that Kakashi sensei taught me but that's it" the blond admitted
"ok that's alright after you master wind manipulation you should be able to do most low ranked fuuton techniques with no hand signs and that becomes very useful in tough battles because you no longer need to wait till the hand signs are complete to perform a jutsu allowing for an advantage in battle the better your control over an element is the less it gives away in battle now I want you to channel your chakra through that blade and I I will do the same and we will throw them at that tree at the same time you ready" receiving a nod in affirmative from the blond they both began to channel there chakra
Naruto watched as a casing of blue chakra surrounded the trench knife but also saw a noticeable difference in the shape of his chakra case and Asuma's
"what am I doing wrong yours looks like it has become an extension of the blade whilst mine looks weak and wavy" the blond moaned
"just watch now throw the blade at the tree the I will do the same" Naruto complied and saw as his blade went most of the way into the tree far further than it should have at the strength he had used
when Asuma lazily tossed his blade at the tree however it passed straight through and imbedded deep into the dock behind
"when using wind element chakra I find it best if I imagine my chakra like two blades sharpening by sliding against each other remember that sharpen your chakra like a blade" Asuma said
"wow thanks Asuma sensei ill let the boss and the others know now" the clone said before dispelling to return the information to the original
'so it was a clone all along looks like he already knows the secret of the kagebushin' Asuma thought impressed greatly by the boy
(with Naruto Jiraiya and clone's)
after receiving the information from the recently dispersed clone cutting the leaf was completed with little difficulty and they began working on the Fuuton: Great breakthrough jutsu and Fuuton Air bullet's jutsu
"that's enough for today gaki we are going to continue working on this for the rest of the week till you can perform them fast enough that they would be effective in a tough battle where every second counts" Jiraiya said causing the clones to start to disperse in groups of 5
"so what are we going to do the rest of the time if were only going to work on this for a week" Naruto questioned
"well in the second week your going to work on your fuinjutsu, and taijutsu" Jiraiya paused before continuing "on the third week we are going to work on controlling the fox's chakra better as you can only use the yokai cloak for around a minute before you become you begin to loose control of your emotions"
"what about the final week" Naruto asked
"nothing at all I want you to rest up so your not injured for the finals also I have to travel to Kumo to deliver some rather disturbing information to the Raikage, I will be back in time to watch your match so don't worry, oh and one more thing before we go and get something to eat I want you to double your weights" Jiraiya said as he got up and began walking away from the training ground with Naruto following closely behind
"alright but um erosennin couldn't you just put on some gravity and restriction seals I read about them in those books you gave me on intermediate seal theory but there was no designs to follow" the blond asked
"well I could but I wont" the toad sage replied casually
"what why not" the younger of the pair demanded
"because that is advanced sealing and until you know how to perform the seal and remove it safely yourself it is to dangerous to use why do you think Gai uses weights instead of restriction seals its because he knows the dangers of using a seal you don't understand completely" the elder of the pair lectured
"ok I get it" Naruto nodded in understanding as the pair walked on towards Naruto's favorite ramen bar
The week went fast and Naruto had mastered the two Fuuton techniques to a level that Jiraiya had been impressed and moved the blond onto attempting to cut the waterfall but was not having much success as he could only user four clones because of the size of the waterfall.
at the start of the second week Jiraiya had tested Naruto's skill in sealing by asking him to perform the seals he knew and any he had created after witnessing the pepper smoke seal in his match against Kiba had been intrigued with what else the boy had come up with after all you don't become a legendary prankster without being creative.
"your skill is excellent in the seals you know however before you can go onto the advanced and then master level seal work you need to be able to draw the seals a lot faster as some seals like large suppression seals would be to difficult to carry around like standard exploding tags and storage scrolls" Jiraiya stated after inspecting all of the intermediate level seals Naruto had produced.
nodding in acceptance Naruto created a large group of clones and sent them to work attempting to draw the seals faster
"now as for your own designs well quite frankly there genius for example this seal here is a multilayer seal with a remote trigger instead of a time delay over a explosive tag that responds only to the person who placed the seals chakra I haven't seen work like that since the Yondaime" Jiraiya said obviously proud of his students work
"heh thanks erosennin Im still trying to increase the range the trigger seal will work from but I figure it would still come in handy if I ever have to set up traps without knowing the time of arrival that way I wont need a tripwire to activate the seals" Naruto explained
"once you can draw a working explosive tag in under 30 seconds we will move you on to the advanced fuinjutsu theory and hopefully by the end of the week you can get rid of the weights and use restriction seals, now while we work on your taijutsu by sparing" the white haired man said getting up and waited for Naruto to get into his stance which he mirrored
the rest of the week was spent mastering and learning new seals with his clones while having his ass handed to him by the toad sage in there spars he found it annoying that despite how badly he was loosing Jiraiya had refused to allow him to take off his weights but at the end of there time working his reaction time was much better and had been able to replace his weights with the restriction and gravity seals, the energetic ninja wasted no time learning them as soon as his sensei allowed him to move on to the advanced fuinjutsu theory and aplication.
As well as his first two weeks went the third was nothing but a failure no matter how hard he tried to master kyuubi's Yokai cloak he couldn't keep his emotions in check no matter how much meditating he did
"I still cant get it all I have been able to do is go from one minute using the cloak to two this is so frustrating" Naruto screamed in frustration as this was the last day of his training
"you have to keep your emotions in check when you use the cloak otherwise you will loose control" the Gama sannin replied
"its not that easy erosennin do you know how much of a pain in the ass that stupid fox is to talk to he wont give me his chakra unless my life is in danger or I get angry and order it out of him and then I suspect he only does it because if I am angry I cant use it for long consciously" the blond whined
"yes I can see how that would be a problem but still for a jinchuuriki to have access to even a single tail of yokai at your ages is extremely rare for a higher level bijuu and the kyuubi is the strongest and most difficult" Jiraiya explained
"wait so there are other people like me" Naruto asked feeling sorry at the fact that other people may have been put through the same kind of life that he had
"yes there are 8 others to be exact and some of them are even helpful to there containers like the nibi whilst others are nothing but giant masses of hate like kyuubi or the ichibi" Jiraiya explained
"Damn it why couldn't I get a nice one" Naruto sighed still thinking about his rather heated relationship with his Bijuu
(Flashback)
Naruto was falling down a cliff with no chance of survival unless he summoned a toad large enough to carry him to safety but the next minute Naruto was no longer falling he was in what appeared to be a sewer with water all over the ground
(Mindscape)
Naruto walked forward looking around until he came to a large room with a gate Naruto looked inside but saw nothing just as he turned to leave he heard an otherworldly growl.
"Ah so it appears my container has come to see me, what do you want pathetic mortal this may be your mind but it is also my domain" A voice roared out as a large spectral fox came into view glaring at the intruder
"so your the kyuubi huh well your size is impressive I will give you that but it seems to me your the pathetic one to be traped inside me" Naruto responded trying not to be intimidated by the menacing creature behind the bars
"YOU dare insult me the great Kyuubi no Kitsune if I wasn't in this cage I would tear you into a thousand piece's now tell me what you want" the fox ordered
"well im sorta falling to my death at the moment and I need your chakra to help me" Naruto demanded
"no" was kyuubi's only response
"what!, damn it you stupid fox if I die you die, your living in my body now I want my rent" Naruto yelled
"very well I will allow you to borrow my chakra when you need it but don't think I will allow you to use it as you please" the fox sneered
(End flashback)
"its fine I didn't expect control over the fox to be easy but we will try again later" Jiraiya informed the downbeat Naruto "now I want you to enjoy your week off go see your friends I will be back the day of the exams so encase I don't see you beforehand good luck that hyuuga doesn't stand a chance"
Naruto spent the next week relaxing and on the final day before the exams ran into Shikamaru on the way to the hospital
"hey Shikamaru whats up you ready for tomorrow" Naruto asked
"oh hey Naruto yeah im ready I guess at least I have a bye first so its not as troublesome" the lazy nara replied
"so what are you doing I was heading to the hospital to see Lee do you wanna come with" the blond asked
"yeah why not Choji was sent in yesterday because he ate to much so I guess I should go see him" the pineapple hair ninja said
after the pair had seen Choji who had somehow snuck in a bag of chips to the hospital the boys made there way to Lee's room upon entering they saw the red haired Suna ninja standing in front of the bed sand dancing around his body in anticipation
"Hey what are you doing here" Naruto asked
"I need to kill him to prove my existence" Garra replied turning around
"what do you mean you don't need to kill to do that" Naruto yelled
"I have been killing before I was even a day old I killed my mother in childbirth and since then I was shunned excluded and ignored because I have a demon in me and in the end the only way I could feel alive was to kill the looks on the faces of the people before they died of fear they acknowledged my existence" Garra said the look in his eyes becoming twisted
Naruto was shocked by the statement 'a demon?... Then he must be like me... no hes not like me I at least had people who showed me some affection jiji, Ikuka sensei and the Ichiraku's is this what I would have become had I been completely alone a cold blooded psychopath who has to kill to feel alive'
"then when I was nine I started getting targeted by assassins my father hired to get rid of me as I was considered a failed weapon being alone made me strong, strong enough to kill everyone who has tried to kill me" Garra finished with a demonic chuckle
Garra turned back from the stunned boy's with the intention of finishing off his intended victim but before he could act the timely arrival of Gai forced the Suna ninja to leave.
After leaving the hospital Shikamaru turned to Naruto and asked "So do you think he was telling the truth about having a demon sealed inside of him"
"he does im sure of if" Naruto responded "well I will catch you tomorrow Shikamaru cya" and with that the two boys went there seperate ways Naruto to ichiraku ramen and the lazy nara walked home deep in thought.
The day of the exams were finally here and Naruto got dressed and had a large meal before heading off to the stadium upon his arrival he made note that Sasuke was not there and neither was Dosu from the sound team but thought he would wait and see what happens, looking up to the hokage booth he saw the hokage and another man with a similar outfit however he had a hat with the sign for wind on it rather than fire.
"Good morning lady's and gentlemen and welcome to the chunin exam final's unfortunately one of our contestant's has had to pull out so there will be a change to the fourth match it will now be Subaku no Temari Vs Shikamaru Nara, now let the chunin selection tournament begin" the hokage said getting cheers of approval from the crowd
"Hello my name is Genma and I will be your proctor for today's event rules are simple, the winner is the last man standing killing is allowed altho it is frowned upon I can also step in and call an end to the match if needed, now can all the contestant's apart from those in the first match please move to the viewing area, the first Match is Hyuuga Neji Vs Uzumaki Naruto" the proctor finished placing a senbon needle in his teeth to chew on while the other contestant's other than the stoic hyuuga and the energetic blond left the tournament floor
"now Hyuuga Neji ready?" Genma asked reciving a small nod in acknowledgment
"Uzumaki Naruto ready?" "
you know it"
"then … …. Begin!"
End Chapter