Precious Person Chapter 10: Strength, a naruto fanfic

Code: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, because if I did, I'd be rich as hell.

Ben: Dude, first the computer crashed because of you, and then you made the chapter corrupt! What's wrong with you?

Code: Hey, screw off. I spent a good two hours working on the chapter, and I wouldn't screw it up.

Ben: Hey all, this is Ben. Code just happened to lose all of his chapter data, so we had to start from scratch. Well, the other one was from scratch too, but at least it had stuff.

Code: Sorry very much for the inconvenience. Now, prepare for… the next installment of Precious Person. Oh, and sorry for being a lazy, incompetent ass who kept putting off on typing up the chapter.

Ben: Damn right you should!

Code: STFU HOE!

Ben: On a side note, because we're so lazy and we haven't been working on Black Lightning or updating Precious Person, we decided to post up Chapter 9 anyways.

Precious Person

Chapter 9: Strength

Author: To those of you that didn't read my profile, my computer's OS crashed, so I had to reinstall it. In the process, I lost every single one of my Fanfiction chapters… Then, when I started to rewrite the Precious Person chapter, inspired by Thundereaper, Microsoft Word 2003 went and freaking corrupted it, forcing me to delete it… sigh.

----

One Uzumaki Naruto snored softly and quietly, the silence being undisturbed by external noises. His breathing created a slow rhythm, his chest rising up and down to an invisible beat. To the untrained eye, he would appear to have been asleep, but only to the untrained eye. Anyone who remotely knew Naruto, would know of the feelings that were going through the young Genin's mind.

His calm breathing ceased suddenly and his eyes snapped open into full awareness. It was the big day, the day that he began training in preparation for the Chuunin Exam Finals. It was this final stretch of the Exam that would determine his status, as either Genin or Chuunin. To become Hokage, one had to pass through each of the ranks, excluding ANBU. Thus, this was an important turning point, one that Naruto couldn't afford to miss. Also, the flak jackets were cool as hell, and Naruto had always wanted to wear the full Chuunin uniform. But then again, there was not a single drop of orange in the costume... and it didn't say anywhere that it was mandatory to wear such. He could probably get new clothes when he became Chuunin...

Sitting up in his small, yet comfortable bed, he held out his right hand and flexed it, placing all of his concentration onto his open palm. The sweat drops that were on the appendage levitated an inch from his palm, a testament to how hard he had been trying these past few days. The time it took for him to float up the water had drastically decreased, from hours to mere minutes, but still he was not satisfied. To become a Chuunin, one had to show... certain characteristics. One's ability to create winning strategies, to adapt to any given situation, to stay calm even under the direst of circumstances, to be a real ninja.

'Even still,' he thought with a bit of self-pity, 'My mastery over water is disappointing. I would've expected more improvement in the few days that I've been practicing.'

"What can you expect, brat?" Kyuubi growled in an annoyed manner inside of the blond's mind. "Water is a healing element primarily by nature, and can be used to heal even the most grievous of wounds, if used properly. In addition to that, you can also use it for defense and offense. A triple-use element..."

'Meaning that this stupid element will probably the hardest to master out of all five, right?' Naruto finished bitterly. 'Oh for God's sake, why did I have to get this element to master now of all times? Why not any other element?'

Indeed. Out of the four remaining elements, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Fire, the single most difficult to learn was chosen to be the element that he had to master before the one-month training probation of the Chuunin Exams ended. One month. The blond Genin seriously doubted his ability to master the element to battle-worthiness in a single month, let alone two or three months. It was common knowledge that mastering the use of the elements without hand seals was unusual... not impossible, but unusual. Often, such abilities took years to master, and it would require the same for him, as cited by Kyuubi, only that it would take him slightly faster to learn with the kitsune's guidance.

Sighing heavily, Naruto got up and pulled out some clothes from the closet. It was simple, a shirt, jacket, and a pair of pants. As he pulled on a black t-shirt, his mind wandered, thinking of any possible solution to his current dilemma. As he put his ninja pants on, that thought evolved into whether he could find someone to train him or not. As always, Kakashi was going to train Sasuke, but Naruto had to agree with his sensei this one time. Gaara was a force to be reckoned with.

'And he'll need all the help he can get in his match.'

"The Shukaku kid... I doubt that you'd even dare to underestimate him, but be on your guard," Kyuubi warned. "Controlling that sand can't be the only move in his arsenal, or else a ninja of Kakashi's caliber would've taken him out years ago... Yeah, it can't be his only attack, or my name isn't Kyuubi no Youko."

He bound his right leg with bandages and placed his kunai holster over it, double checking to make sure they were filled. Clipping on a weapons pouch to the left side of his lower waist, Naruto's thoughts wandered to the aging Sandaime. Every time he had gone to the old man's office, there had been stacks and stacks of paperwork... It was more than likely that such paperwork would prevent Sandaime from training him. But after Kakashi and Sandaime, who else was there to train him? He dared not go under the tutelage of another ninja, who might very well have a grudge or bias against him.

Pulling on a pair of blue ninja sandals and a thin, orange jacket, Naruto opened the window of his apartment room and jumped off. It was then that he realized that he shouldn't have jumped off of a six-story building. Thinking quickly, he was reminded of his training with Kakashi. Gathering chakra quickly to his feet, and at the same time working to soften the point of impact using his Doton supremacy, Naruto landed on the floor. Oh how painful. It seemed that during the fall, his concentration had been muddled with by his panic, and he had put in far too much chakra, the effect being he landed very hard on the dirt floor. Even with the softened ground, his legs still hurt.

"Nice landing, I give it a seven out of ten," commented Kyuubi, his chortling being loud enough for the blond to hear.

'Shut your trap, you mangy old kitsune!'

"Next time, I suggest you jump from floor to floor, you baka."

'I'll keep that in mind, teme' Naruto countered.

Ignoring the chronic pain that now inhabited his legs, specifically his calves, he hopped onto the nearest building with a chakra-powered jump and hobbled as fast as he could towards the Hokage tower. Perhaps Sandaime had a jutsu that could relieve him of this pain, however slight it was. Then again, perhaps the Hokage would be too busy with paperwork to help him. Even still, a simple healing jutsu couldn't take too long to be an interference to the paperwork, so Naruto doubted that he'd be ignored.

Pretty soon, he had reached the tower, hobble and all, and had begun hopping from floor to floor, window to window, until he had reached the Hokage's personal office. Naruto liked to dub it the 'Paperwork Hell of Doom'. There had never been a time in which there had been no papers on the desk. This was one of the main reasons that were forcing him to reconsider his dream of becoming Hokage. Did he really want to do all that paperwork? Being a Jounin who could take dangerous missions would be so much more... exciting. There was also the thought that continually haunted his mind that the people of Konoha would still view him as an unacceptable person, even if he became Hokage.

'Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there,' he decided.

Peering inside the window of the Hokage's office, he saw the never-disappearing pile of paperwork, with a bored Sandaime reading a book behind his desk. Peering in for a closer look, he made out several of the words, before flushing a crimson red. Normally, a book wouldn't do such a thing to the stoic Genin, but this wasn't just a book... It was a perverted book. Not just any perverted book, but a book from the Icha-Icha series, known for its graphic detail and its being realistic.

'To think that he reads it when he thinks no one is looking,' thought Naruto, dejectedly. 'It seems that every adult in Konoha is a pervert, with varying levels...'

"Huh," Kyuubi scoffed, "This kind of material is child's play for us kitsune."

'I really don't want to know what you damned kitsune do that makes this child's play.'

"I figured you wouldn't," the youkai said smugly.

Huffing in annoyance at the nuisance that was Kyuubi, Naruto opened the window stealthily, using his ninja skills. After all, what kind of ninja would he be if he couldn't even open a window from the outside? Not a good one, Iruka would tell the class. Along with untying ropes, opening windows was ninja basics, something every good ninja knew. Of course, Naruto, being the optimist he was, had gone straight to work mastering the window opening skill. Why? It was quite helpful with his pranks, he could tell you that. Untying ropes was useless when performing pranks, and thus was ignored in favor of something that was actually useful in the blond's risky ventures.

"I never knew that you read books like this, Sandaime-jiisan," Naruto said loudly and suddenly into the elderly Hokage's ears.

Literally jumping out of his seat, Sandaime fumbled with the book, snapping it shut quickly and stowing it away in a hidden drawer, which by chance, Naruto wasn't able to see. Oh well, he'd have many other chances in the future to see what kind of stuff Sandaime stored in such a hidden drawer. If only he left the room... Unfortunately, Sandaime rarely left the room, even to go home. He always stayed after to work on paperwork. Damn the paperwork.

"N-Naruto," the old man gasped, recovering after putting the perverted book away, "What brings you to my office?" 'And why doesn't anyone ever come through the door anymore?'

"I don't have anyone to train me for the Chuunin Exam Finals, Sandaime-jiisan!" Naruto whined. "Everyone that I personally know is busy."

"Hmm..." Sandaime rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring at the ceiling. Naruto looked up but saw nothing. What was so interesting up there?

"Well," he began, "There is one possible sensei left that I can trust with my life, but..."

"He'll do!" Naruto said very loudly, his excitement getting the better of him.

"Are you sure? You cannot change your mind, and mind you, he may not be the best of role models."

Naruto grinned widely. "I don't care! If you can trust him, I can too! Bring it on!"

"Very well", sighed Sandaime. "Your new sensei will be the author of the acclaimed Icha-Icha series... Jiraiya of the Sannin."

----

A slamming noise was heard, a yell thrown, an argument started. That was what was happening in Sandaime's office, teacher and student facing off in a war of words. The current argument: That Jiraiya should train Naruto. The Sennin, of course, rejected it immediately, letting loose the excuse that he needed to perform research for the next book of the series. Sandaime had to admit that he'd hate to wait longer for the next book, but Naruto needed this training.

"I told you a long time ago, sensei, that I'd never again take up an apprentice... Not after his death," Jiraiya growled darkly. "You told me that it was fine, but now you want me to train another gaki?"

Sandaime puffed on his wooden pipe slowly and thoughtfully, contemplating on a solution to getting Jiraiya to do the job that he was asking him to perform. Perhaps...

"I believe that you me a favor," the Hokage recalled. "Oh, it was several favors, I remember now."

"Favors don't involve breaking my earlier vows, sensei," Jiraiya said shortly. "Why doesn't his Jounin sensei teach him?"

"Kakashi is busy training Uchiha Sasuke in preparation for his match against Sabaku no Gaara."

"Uchiha, eh?" reminisced Jiraiya. "I remember how much of an baka Obito used to be, but it still hit everyone who knew him hard when he died."

At these words, an imaginary light bulb went off in Sandaime's head. Kakashi... Obito... Rin... Yondaime... Yes, he could pull out his trump card, a piece of information that would bend Jiraiya to his will, to the point where a bend of his finger would convey his wishes. Of course, this would be blackmail, but it was for a good cause... right?

Sandaime coughed inconspicuously and motioned for Jiraiya to lean over the table to listen. The Sennin, being who he was, sighed and leaned over, fully intent on rejecting his sensei's proposal no matter what he tried to use. Sandaime put down his pipe as he, too, leaned over.

"Tell me Jiraiya, who does that boy remind you of?"

The white-haired Sennin half-turned to glance at the blond that was sitting in the corner, trying to keep from fidgeting too much.

"Blond, blue eyes, impatient, short," he listed off, "possibly very stubborn and loud, idiotic looking..."

Then, he stopped, his mouth open in mid-sentence.

Those were the very descriptions that had been used to describe one Kazama Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage, as a Genin. No matter how many times Jiraiya ridiculed him, he always got up to try again. No matter how many times he failed, he kept at it. Arashi had never cared much for what other people thought about him, and pushed on regardless of his weaknesses. Jiraiya had seen this burning determination, and had chosen him out of the two others of the Genin team to become his apprentice.

Now, here he was, repeating the same thoughts that had been going through his head when Arashi had been introducing himself, and yet, the boy reminded him of his precious apprentice. There was a difference though – the presence of three, sharp whisker-marks on either cheek. Why did those marks remind him of something? That's when his internal light bulb went off. Yes, didn't the baby that Arashi had sealed the Kyuubi into have the exact same whisker marks?

Jiraiya's facial coloring paled as he remembered the rumors that had been flying about Arashi a few weeks prior to the Kyuubi attack... rumors about his child. He had always dismissed them as rumors, believing that Arashi couldn't possibly be slick enough to find a girl and get laid as such. Then, Arashi had appeared in the sealing room with a blond baby out of all things. Blond hair was a rarity in Konoha, with the only other clan having the same hair color being the Yamanakas, and even then, they had platinum-blond hair, compared to Arashi's golden-blond hair.

"The rumors were true, Jiraiya," Sandaime whispered gravely. "Before he died, he made me swear to never reveal his child's heritage."

"Why?" Jiraiya hissed in return. "If you had revealed his heritage, then he wouldn't have had to endure all the abuses in his life!"

"You have to remember, that Arashi had many enemies. Some would even willingly sacrifice their lives in order to kill him. What better than to kill his son, the next best thing? The child of the greatest shinobi in Konoha's history?"

"Nothing else," the white-haired Sennin admitted grudgingly. "I suppose he would've gotten spoiled and pampered, like that Uchiha kid, if the village had found out that he was his son."

"I have to admit, that even while growing up the way he did, he is a great shinobi, and will probably become even greater, should you take him under your wing."

"Alright sensei, you win, I'll train him for a month," said Jiraiya, sighing heavily. "Just don't ask for any more favors like these."

"I won't," Sandaime reassured. "And if I do, it'll be about Naruto."

"That's his name eh?"

"Yes, Uzumaki Naruto." Sandaime looked at the young blond that was now making silly faces to entertain himself while waiting for the adults to stop talking. "For some reason, the name seems fitting..."

"It does," Jiraiya agreed. "Like a maelstrom, he is unpredictable. I can tell you that just by him being his son"

"There is one other matter that we must discuss of, Jiraiya," said Sandaime. "There is the matter of Orochimaru appearing in Konoha's boundaries."

"What!?" Like before, Jiraiya's face paled. "He was in Konoha?"

"Yes, just a few days ago."

Orochimaru, another of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, had betrayed the village years ago, during the time when Kazama Arashi had become the Yondaime Hokage. Whether out of jealousy, of madness, or out of betrayal of not being chosen as the next Hokage, Orochimaru left the village, fighting with Jiraiya in the process. Jiraiya still remembered it like it was yesterday... when he had discovered Orochimaru leaving stealthily through the woods. Of course, the white-haired Sennin asked what his longtime friend was doing, which resulted in a quick lie by the pale counterpart.

Now, one may speculate on this, but Jiraiya wasn't as dumb as he acted. Once he found out about Orochimaru's intentions, he became set to stop him. Throughout their life, they had been together, as teammates, as friends. When one of your only and closest friends tried to leave the village, it was painful. When that friend tried to kill you, it made your heart ache. Jiraiya had fought with Orochimaru, and was on the brink of losing when a passing squad of ANBU had dropped in, forcing the worn out snake Sennin to flee.

Everyday he asked himself, what had made Orochimaru leave the village? What did he not like about the village? It couldn't be just about the rank, or the power, there had to be something deeper. There had to be some other explanation. Thus, Jiraiya searched. He searched all over Konoha for signs about why Orochimaru had left and become a nukenin. For days, weeks, months, even years, he neglected his own life in favor of the pursuit of this knowledge.

That was when he found his ex-teammate's journal, hidden inside of a large, stuffed snake inside of an abandoned laboratory. Reading through it, he had discovered a horrible fact: Orochimaru had been insane even before he had become a Chuunin, a little bit after their Genin years. From his reading, Jiraiya deduced that Orochimaru, while insane, had been only very mildly insane in the beginning, his condition worsening as the years passed by. Jiraiya grieved, for not being able to help his friend out of this condition. Still, he knew that there was no other options. Orochimaru was insane to a high degree, and it would now be impossible to help him.

As much as he hated to even think of it, he had to kill Orochimaru. He had to stop his friend in his path towards the final goal of immortality. Because of this, Jiraiya worked weeks on end towards developing a spy network – the spy network of the Elemental Countries, one that was unparalleled by any ninja country or village. Using this, he began gathering information. The information could be anything from the food listings on a menu to the location of dangerous nukenin. There was nothing that could get around this network, and he used it to locate Orochimaru, following him from secret base to secret base, marking them in his map each time he left one.

Now, Orochimaru had returned to Konoha, where had all began. The snake Sennin was ready, Jiraiya knew. After all these years, the Sennin was here to complete the last stretch of his goal, but Jiraiya wouldn't let him finish it. Nobody would. This was just another reason for him to train the blond gaki, to strengthen, to empower him, to make him the sword that would ultimately defeat Orochimaru. Jiraiya knew Orochimaru, he knew that he'd never be able to kill his friend, even if he had the will. Orochimaru was just too sneaky, slithering through cracks here and there and escaping his grasp.

For now though, there was one thing left for him to accomplish before passing on.

"Orochimaru..." he said quietly. "To think that after only two decades, he's nearly completed what he started."

"Naruto was attacked by him in the Forest of Death," Sandaime informed him. "He put a seal on him, specifically the Gogyou Fuuin."

"Well, why didn't you get someone to unseal it?" Jiraiya asked.

"There is no one in the village that I can trust, other than you and Kakashi, with this task."

"Hey, I've got a question," the Sennin muttered. "Why the hell didn't you unseal it? I sure as hell know that you know it."

"You know that I'm aging," said Sandaime, throwing the excuse shamelessly. "What if I had made a mistake?"

"Senile old coot," growled Jiraiya. "One day, that little excuse of yours won't work on me."

"You're still twenty years younger than me. I'll always have that excuse."

"Hey gaki, come over here!" Jiraiya called out to Naruto. "I need to do something."

"Do what?" Naruto asked in suspicion.

"Just come over here," sighed Jiraiya in exasperation. "It's nothing bad or perverted, I promise you that."

Naruto walked up to the tall... very tall Sennin. He must've been at the least two times his height, possibly three. Now he felt really small.

"Take off your jacket and shirt."

"You said that it wasn't perverted!" accused Naruto. "You were lying!"

"He isn't lying, Naruto," Sandaime said soothingly. "He needs to do something important."

A doubtful expression still on his face, he nevertheless took off his orange jacket and black t-shirt. Leaving them on a heap on the floor, he turned to Jiraiya, who looked to be thinking deeply.

"Alright, raise your arms into the air, like this," he said, raising his arms skywards. "Go 'Banzai!'"

Still skeptical about what the Sennin was going to do, Naruto slowly raised his arms into the air.

"Ban-"

That's when Jiraiya struck, his hands becoming ablaze with blue chakra, he thrust his open palm, fingers stretched outward, and slammed it into Naruto's gut, knocking the breath out of the blond. What followed would've been chaos, had Naruto done something different.

"Gogyou Kaiin!"

"-Hook!"

Naruto doubled over in pain, yelling obscenities at the white-haired Sennin, who at the moment was smirking victoriously over him, as if he had won the war, not merely the battle. This pissed the blond off, who very much didn't like being caught unawares, especially by someone who he was supposed to trust. Then again, he had always done well in the heat of battle, thinking up successful strategies to counter a specific move or style, or to simply overwhelm the enemy.

"What the hell was that for, you asshole!" he half-screamed. "What's wrong with you?"

"Be grateful, brat," growled Jiraiya in return. "I removed the seal that Orochimaru placed on you during the Chuunin Exams. It was serving to seal up Kyuubi's chakra and to muddle with your chakra control. If I hadn't removed it, you would have never made any progress in training, because you would have been held back by the seal. Now, if you could be as kind as to follow me, we can get started on the beginnings of your training, unless you don't want to partake in it.

"Oh hell no! I'm coming with you, you teme!" Naruto said heatedly. "I'm going to improve so fast that your jaw is going to hit the floor."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," grumbled Jiraiya. "You'd be lucky to even survive the training that I'm going to put you through, gaki."

----

Kimi panted heavily as she made her second run around the inside of the walls of Konoha. During her run, she had met with an overenthusiastic Maito Gai, who was also running. She had found out that he did this every other day, to keep his stamina in tip-top shape. Of course, she soon lost interest and tuned out the rest of his message after hearing the word 'youth'. Oh, how she hated that word, especially in the way that he used it. Plus, his bowl-haircut was creepy.

Pretty soon, she had noticed that her blond hair was once again hanging annoyingly over her face and eyes. She set out to remedy that by withdrawing a hair band from her weapons pouch, which normally would've been filled with weapons, and gathered her hair into yet another ponytail. She couldn't imagine why her hair kept falling apart while she ran. Kimi stopped at park bench, leaning against it so that she could catch some of her breath. What was a park doing right next to the wall anyways? In a siege, the walls would go down first, ruining the park.

'The landscapers probably assumed that Konoha was safe and wouldn't get themselves into a war,' she rationalized. It would probably have been true, because ever since the end of the Second Great Shinobi Wars, Konoha had been submerged in prosperity, excluding Kyuubi's attack. Even now, though they hadn't completely recovered from the loss of all those ninja, they were still by far, one of the strongest shinobi nations.

She changed direction, heading towards a training grounds deeper in Konoha, but still near the very edge. Her thoughts wandered back to the Chuunin Exams, particularly Naruto and Sasuke's temporary rampage while being berserk. They had each killed someone... not that that was a serious thing – All three of them had killed at least once – but at that point, they had been enjoying it. Enjoying it. Only the sick of mind actually enjoyed killing, and Kimi knew that neither Naruto nor Sasuke belonged or was supposed to belong in that category of people.

Looking back, she reasoned that it had been Kyuubi's work. That the kitsune had somehow taken partial control over her best friend. Rokubi had begged to differ, hypothesizing that Naruto had seized Kyuubi's power and become what he had become. Of course, Kimi refused to believe this. After all, good-natured Naruto had been her friend for many years, and she would've known if he had been so desperate for such power. Power... what a corrupting influence it was. Very few nukenin actually deserted their home villages for the reason that the village's rule was unjust. Most of the time, it was in search for more power.

"Do you still believe that your little blond friend is completely innocent?" Rokubi questioned, yawning after the sentence. He had just woken up from a nice little nap, to find that Kimi was once again disbelieving of the possibility that he had introduced.

'How can I believe a demon?' she retorted. 'You're trying to crumble my mental defenses.'

"True, you can't believe something like me, but trust me on this, if there was a way to free myself, I would've found it a long time ago."

'What do you mean?'

"There is no benefit for me if I break down your mental barriers. All it would serve to do is make you less of a kunoichi and more insecure, something that could cost you your life, in turn, costing me my life," he explained. "In all truth, it's better for me if you're even stronger, mentally and physically. I do less work, you have a lower chance of dying, and we're all a happy family."

'I suppose... Still, I can't let Naruto give himself to the darkness for that kind of power. To do that, I need to get stronger.'

"What's your reasoning?"

'He seeks power because he wants to protect his friends, me included. If his friends are strong, then he doesn't need to look for more power, because they'll be able to protect themselves.'

"And what happens to his dream of becoming Hokage?" Rokubi replied almost lazily. "How will he achieve his dream without power?"

'Being Hokage isn't just about how much power you wield!' Kimi thought fiercely, slowing her pace to a jog. 'Hokage of the past have shown a capacity to think for the best of the village; they loved the village and sought to protect it.'

"Do you honestly think he harbors no bad feelings and thoughts towards the villagers that have abused him for the majority of his life?"

'What-'

"His pain lives on," interrupted Rokubi. "He lives in constant fear of losing those who are precious to him, and will stop at no end to continually gain power. That power will assure him that he will be able to protect you and his friends from any situation."

'That's not-'

"And then, when the village refuses to acknowledge his power. Refuses to see him as a human being, even after doing all that he's done, he will break. Yes, he will break, and he will flee. Flee to a village where power is appreciated. Kirigakure no Sato for example."

'Don't you ever suggest that!' Kimi roared in her mind.

"Whoever said that I was suggesting?" Rokubi questioned devilishly. "I promise you this, Naruto will do something drastic, whether it is now or in the future. His hidden emotions will bubble to the surface, and he will lose himself to his inner darkness."

'What? How do you know this?' she demanded.

Rokubi laughed harshly, his voice tinted with evil. Without giving a response to her question, his active presence disappeared from her mind. Kimi cursed aloud, drawing several stares, but she ignored this. What did Rokubi mean when he had said that Naruto's pain lived on? Clenching her fists, she slammed the nearest tree with all of her might, creating a medium-sized dent. Any onlookers immediately began walking away, fearing the blond's wrath. Breathing heavily in frustration, she stalked further into Konoha, heading towards the Hero's Memorial. Standing next to the stone in complete silence had always calmed her down somewhat.

Making her way towards her destination, she was reminded of her family. Oh, how she missed them. If she lost Naruto like she lost her family, she just might lose it, and Kimi knew that. Naruto was the only anchor to reality that she had left. Ever since Kimi had escaped from Kirigakure, Naruto had become her support, as a friend... a best friend. Without him, without his never ending support, she would crumble and her barriers would fall.

A few tears appeared in her eyes, threatening to fall. He had become a good friend, and possibly something even more than that, and to think that she could still lose that, after all the two had gone through before and after the years that they had met each other... life just wasn't fair. She placed a solemn hand on the Hero's Memorial, when she realized that she had gotten here unknowingly. She nearly laughed at being so caught up in her memories and thoughts, but became grave once more as she traced a finger over the name Uchiha Obito. After a little research, she had found out that this Obito had been on Kakashi's team, and had died during the Second Great Shinobi War.

'Kakashi-sensei lost his best friend... In fact, they didn't even know that they were best friends... That's just like Naruto and Sasuke. They always insult each other but it's always in a good-natured way.'

She smiled ruefully at the antics of her two friends. Competing with each other, insulting their skills, ignoring and raging at one another. The two, though completely opposite in terms of personality, were friends. Underneath all of the insults and rivalry, they were friends. Naruto was possibly Sasuke's best friend. On the side, one could have more than one best friend, so Kimi supposed that both she and Sasuke were Naruto's best friends. She, the first to acknowledge him, and he, a member of a tragedy, who had experienced the same loneliness as Naruto.

'It's funny how life works,' Kimi mused silently. 'Life takes away your family and gives you caring friends in return. Life takes away your previous life and gives you another, newer and better. And yet, life as a ninja is painfully short, and we should enjoy it as much as we can... yet, many ninja don't. They take their work too seriously, and end up regretting it as they die. I don't want to be like that,' she resolved. 'I want to be able to cherish the memories that I build up here, to always look back upon them and smile in happiness.'

The slowly building tears fell, a sad smile on her face. Her expression turned into one of surprise though, when she felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder. Whirling around in a combat stance, it was met with a hearty laugh from an elderly man. He had many wrinkles and seemed about sixty years old. His bald head only served to support her opinion. His beard was a brilliant white and fell down a few inches past his jaw. His steady, kindly eyes took notice of her tears as he tapped his cane knowingly.

"You cry out of happiness, yet you are still sad, child. Why is that?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"I cry because I am happy that I was able to have such good friends, but I'm still sad because I may lose them in the near future, to the seduction of power," she replied cautiously. She wasn't sure whether or not to trust the old man, so she took care to hide as much information and yet still speak the truth. Though ninja were supposed to deceive, Kimi didn't care much for deceiving citizens of the village, who you were supposed to protect. Well, not telling them about her being a jinchuuriki was another story. It'd be likely that they'd have poured abuse on her as well as Naruto.

"Power," the elderly man murmured, "Such a great thing to behold, yet so vile a thing, corrupting at a human being. Why does your friends seek power?"

"To protect those who are precious to them," she responded immediately, the answer being drilled into her head. Kakashi had explained it thoroughly, that a ninja needed a purpose in life to keep their humanity. Without that reason to live, a ninja would become a heartless killer. Naruto chose to protect his friends. Sasuke chose to avenge his family. Kakashi chose to continue his friend's legacy. Kimi chose to be faithful to her precious people... but that's where the problem struck. What if her precious people didn't stay faithful to her?

"Power, the ability to defeat enemies... Strength, the ability to save and protect people, ideals, and ways of life. They seek power, when what they truly need is strength." He spoke this with soft-spoken authority. "I can make you stronger, give you strength, to protect them from the evils of corruption. With that strength, you could protect your friends and show them the truth. The difference between power and strength."

"What is the difference?" asked Kimi, wanting to know.

"My child," he said, "Strength is a precious thing. It is said that you become strongest when you are protecting something that is truly precious to you. True strength emerges with a person's honest will to protect, allowing them to persevere, to never give up. Though people who are strong may not be able to defeat those who are powerful, those who are strong have learned the meaning of strength, and become even stronger to protect at a higher level. At that point, nothing but the gods can stop that true strength. Much like the incident with the honorable Yondaime-dono and Kyuubi."

"If that is true strength," she began, "then I want to partake in it. I want to protect my friends at all cost, even if it means giving up my own life for them."

"Very well. I, Jiriki Heikin, former Jounin of Kusagakure no Sato, will make it my mission to make you stronger," the now revealed elderly man vowed. " I will teach you the taijutsu style of Heikin, where one uses a balance of speed, power, and flexibility to dominate an opponent. This leaves only one more thing to complete... Are you willing to do this, to train under me?"

"Yes," Kimi said firmly, clenching her fists in determination. "I agree. What are your terms?"

"Hmm," Heikin emitted amusedly, "All I require of you is to never waver in that path that you have chosen."

"Fair enough."

She smiled grimly. She'd probably have to go to hell and back to become strong enough in time for the Chuunin Exam finals. Currently, she didn't mind whether or not she entered a state of near-death, as long as her goal was accomplished. Okay, now she was starting to act like Sasuke... Anyways, it wasn't obsession like Sasuke's, but more of a pure determination to go through with the training process, to reach the end. That was a relief. She wouldn't have let herself live it down if she had become a second Sasuke, broody and emotional as hell. Her grim smile became softer, the topic returning to her friends - Sasuke and Naruto.

'I will become a crutch... a shield. I will halt the evil that lurks inside of you both. Naruto, Sasuke, become stronger, and I'll become stronger in return. Together, we three will become a mountain, and no human will be able to budge us!'

Her smile widened as she spotted in the distance, a familiar head of golden-blond hair, which was consequently following after a head of long white hair.

----

Naruto took in the clothes that the man in front of him was wearing. This man, who was now his sensei, sure had a strange taste in clothes. He had spiky, long white hair that was tied in a ponytail that fell to about hip level. Instead of a hitai-ate, he wore a horned metal headpiece that had the kanji for Oil (Abura) inscribed in it. Over a long fishnet shirt, Jiraiya had on a green, traditional Japanese top. Over the top, he had on a red open vest with yellow circles on either side of the chest that went down to the thighs. As pants, he wore matching traditional Japanese pants, which were green as well. Instead of ninja sandals, he wore a pair of geta, which looked quite strange on him. Unlike Kakashi, he wore a special type of hand gloves. Well, it technically wasn't a glove. All it was was a hard piece of square leather armor that was held down to the back of his hand by a strap. Quite honestly, Naruto believed that Jiraiya looked like a gama. With the horned headpiece and the coloring of the garments, he really did resemble one. Coincidentally, he was also the Gama Sennin of Konoha.

'How fitting,' Naruto thought sardonically.

"Hey gaki," Jiraiya called out, turning his head sideways to give a sideways glance to the short blond that was trailing him, "Tell me, what do you know? What kind of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu do you know? What kind of training have you received? Who did you train under?" He seemed actually interested in training him, unlike some others that Naruto could name right off the bat.

"Well," started Naruto, looking up at the sky to gather his thoughts, "I learned tree climbing, water walking, chakra suppression, stealth, and I also know a lot of high-level ninjutsu. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu, and Katon: Yurika no Jutsu. I also have a mastery over the elements, to a certain degree. Like, I'm working on my Suiton supremacy, while my Doton supremacy is very good. Oh yeah, and I have this crazy doujutsu that has no specific theme attached to it, so I don't know how to name it."

Jiraiya's left eyebrow raised sky-high in surprise at the sheer amount of abilities that Naruto possessed. While the two continued walking further from the center of Konoha, Jiraiya pondered a solution to his current dilemma. Naruto knew too much for him to effectively teach and train the blond, because it would be too much of a hassle to train him in each different area specifically. A sudden idea suddenly hit Jiraiya, as if a hammer had just slammed down on his head. Why hadn't he thought about it before? He even used it, to some extent.

'He has Kyuubi sealed in him, as well as being his son, leading to the fact that he more than likely has a monstrous chakra capacity,' he reasoned. 'Therefore, with that chakra capacity, he can perform a special type of training. The special training. The one that no one alive can use because they don't have high enough reserves. It might only still be theoretical, but the Kage Bunshin training method should do the trick. Man, I am so smart, I should get an award or something.'

"First thing's first gaki, I'm going to start out with training you physically and working on your 'masteries'." Jiraiya began going through the process in his head. "While you improve on your mastery of both of those elements, Doton and Suiton, I'll be training your body to become stronger and faster. Oh, and I'm going to drill in reflexes into that pathetic body of yours."

"How the hell can I do two things at once, old man?" Naruto asked confusion. "Let me guess, make clones." Sarcasm dripped almost visibly off of his words, making Jiraiya grit his teeth in frustration.

'Old man!? Just you wait gaki, just you wait. I'll design the perfect payback for your insolence.'

"That's quite easy," he explained. "You use Kage Bunshin."

"What?" said Naruto, confused even further. "How will Kage Bunshin help me in my training? They're for combat use, aren't they?" Well, he had only used it for combat use ever since he learned it. He had supposed that that was their only function, to assist the user in battle. How Jiraiya explained it, they could help with training. Seemed like total bullshit...

"Before I explain that, let me ask a question. What's the difference between mastery of Doton and Doton supremacy?"

"You don't know?" the blond asked, looking strangely at the white-haired Sennin. "Well, never mind. Kyuubi explained it to me, so I guess you wouldn't know the difference either. Mastery of Doton and Doton supremacy are one and the same, that you should already know. I can interchange the two phrases in a sentence to get the same meaning. The thing is, demons call it Doton supremacy, while we humans call it mastery of Doton. Since Kyuubi is in me and all, he's kind of rubbed off on me, so I use both terms."

"Figures that demons would try to make it that much harder to understand," Jiraiya grumbled, nodding his head in understanding. "Look kid, from now on, call it by the supremacy. It's easier on the tongue, and provides for less confusion when using both." After receiving a voiced affirmative from Naruto, Jiraiya sped up the pace a little. "Come on gaki, at this rate we'll never get there. And you said that I was an old man..."

"You are an old man, you geezer," replied Naruto. "You've got to be fifty years old if you're a Sennin. That kind of age is pushing it, don't you think?"

"Your outfit is too much on the eyes, but I don't comment on it," complained Jiraiya. "So stop complaining about my age. Can I help it if you were born almost forty years later than I was? Gee, stop discriminating."

The two continued in silence, walking past buildings, through streets and training grounds, and crawling through the underbrush, until they arrived at Jiraiya's training spot. It was very nice, a brook running through the training grounds; the same brook that passed through Training Grounds 3, where they had all became Genin. (Note: In Naruto Shippuuden Episodes 001-002, Kakashi tells Naruto and Sakura to go to the 'Third training ground', which turns out to be the same place they turned Genin. Thus, it is now the third, and not the seventh training ground as is commonly stated in fanfiction.) Trees dotted the outer ring of the training area, creating one large clearing in the center. There were no extra noises, nothing other than nature, and it created a sense of calmness.

"Okay gaki, show me your supremacies. Start with Doton first."

Naruto nodded, and settled into a normal fighting stance. Bringing his right arm up to be perpendicular to his body, he turned his hand onto its back and flicked upward using his wrist. Two pillars of earth shot out from the ground at high speed, measuring four feet in length and half-a-foot in width. This of course earned several nods of approval from the Sennin. Then, using the same hand, a look of pure and complete concentration appeared on Naruto's face.

Jiraiya looked on in confusion. Where was that supremacy that Naruto was supposed to be performing? Then he remembered. I'm working on my Suiton supremacy. Looking more carefully, squinting his eyes in the process, Jiraiya could make out half-a-dozen water droplets floating about an inch above the blond's outstretched hand. It seemed when Naruto had said that he was working on it, he meant that nothing had really been accomplished. Man, this was going to be a hard month. Shaking his head in disapproval, he took Naruto by the collar and hauled him across the ground. Ignoring the blond's yells, he threw him into the center of the brook, with Naruto just barely releasing chakra in time so as to not fall in.

"What the freaking hell was that for, you perverted old bastard!" Naruto screamed in annoyance and rage. "Why don't you ever warn me when you go and do this crap!?"

"Shut up gaki," was the reply of the white-haired Sennin. "Being in the presence or in direct contact with the water will help you. Picture it and shape it."

Grudgingly admitting that the Sennin might have a point, Naruto stubbornly refused to voice it aloud, and merely plopped himself down onto the surface of the brook. Closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing, taking in the noise of the running water. It calmed him, gave him a feeling of peace that he rarely felt. He pictured the water, the feel and sound adding to the realness, adding to the image. Concentrating as he had been doing before, he pictured the running water taking shape into a sphere. A floating sphere of water. Hearing a grunt from Jiraiya, he cautiously opened his eyes to look at the final product.

It was a floating sphere of water, just as he had imagined. One problem though. It was only two-thirds of an inch in diameter.

Deadpanning, he turned questioningly towards Jiraiya, who was scribbling fiercely and quickly in a small notebook. Noting that there was nothing perverted in the immediate area, he assumed that the notebook held actual notes.

"Great, gaki," he muttered while continuing to write. "Though you might not think it, that's a pretty good improvement in such short of a time period." Snapping his notebook closed, he closed the distance between himself and Naruto, standing on the edge of the wide brook. "You and I can't really expect for your supremacy to be mastered in a single month, but I'll work you day in day out until it's satisfactory enough to be used in combat. Oh, and make a Kage Bunshin."

Nodding at the first few statements but staring at the last, Naruto nevertheless followed his temporary sensei's instruction, placing his hands into the all too familiar cross. A Kage Bunshin popped into existence, the smoke clouds accompanying him dissipating quickly after the summoning. Taking wide strides across the water, Jiraiya grasped the Kage Bunshin's arm and led him away. By away, it meant going across the entire training area, only to stop at the very edge of the forest.

The Sennin stooped down to the Kage Bunshin's ear level, him being so tall and the flesh-and-blood copy being so short, and began whispering something into the his ear. At the distance the two were at, it was impossible to hear anything, so for the next few moments, Naruto sat and waited. After what seemed to be a few short moments, he could see the eyes of the Naruto copy widen, his mouth opening wide to yell something – before Jiraiya punched him out of existence, the cloud of smoke dissipating as quickly as when he had been summoned.

Naruto blinked once. Twice. Three times. A surge of information entered his head, and disregarding how he had come into possession of that info, he instead processed it. He stood silent for a few moments longer, before his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped. Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Jiraiya, who had once again closed the distance, a smile of amusement on the Sennin's face.

"Y-You... you PERVERT!" the blond screamed hoarsely, shaking an enraged fist in the air. His normally tan face was now a deep crimson, having flushed darkly. A clip from the Icha-Icha series told to a minor would do that, for sure.

Jiraiya grinned in a feral manner, showing off his teeth. He very much enjoyed teasing the blond, just as he had done with his previous blond apprentice. Smile still on his face, he popped out a question.

"Tell me, gaki, how did you get hold of that information? Hmm?"

Naruto stopped his raging abruptly, processing the second bit of information that he had filed away for later access, but had been brought back up by Jiraiya's question. Realization dawned on his face, a mixture of shock, surprise, and confusion appearing. What he couldn't understand was, what was the damned significance of that? So what, Kage Bunshin returned all information when they died, or when they were dispelled. So what?

"Now, take that concept and apply it to training," Jiraiya explained, as if reading the blond's mind and seeing the flying questions. "If you have one Kage Bunshin that studies and works with you on perfecting a jutsu, that training goes two times faster. Make fifty, and that same training goes fifty times faster." He grinned at his own genius. "For many, it's impossible to do because of the sheer amount of chakra needed, but you..."

He stopped there, but Naruto knew the rest of the sentence. He... was a jinchuuriki, specifically containing Kyuubi no Youko, the calamity of the human world. If having such massive chakra stores allowed him to train like such, imagine the possibilities! The paths now opened were tremendously variant. Naruto realized this, as a determined grin appeared on his face. This way, he could become stronger, faster.

"I'll make the real you, you, perform grueling physical training, because only information and mental experience travels through the mental link that you share with the Kage Bunshin," the Sennin told the blond. "Now, if you were training to master a style, this method would work. Nada for actual physical training though. While you do this, we'll have a small amount of Kage Bunshin work on your Doton and Suiton supremacies."

"Why only a few?" Naruto asked. Obviously, he wanted to train fast.

"If you limit the amount of Kage Bunshin that you use, it doesn't wear you out completely and leaves you with enough energy to continue on for the whole day," he explained. "Also, the massive influx of information would be hell on your brain, so until you get used to that, we'll start out in small numbers. Thirdly, rather than keeping up a large amount of Kage Bunshin in a short amount of time, keeping up a smaller amount for a longer amount of time does more help to your maximum chakra capacity. Adding to the third point, it also works on your chakra control, because you need to maintain as minimum use of chakra as possible, yet enough for the Kage Bunshin to be sustained."

"So, it's triple-bladed. It improves how fast I can process information, improves my chakra capacity and control, and improves my supremacies." Naruto looked at the Sennin strangely, as if Jiraiya had grown a second head. "Since when were you so smart?"

"When I'm not using my brain towards training and ninja crap," began Jiraiya, "I use it on more... perverse ideas. Meaning, I can be smart whenever I want to, unlike you."

Ignoring the blatant attack on his intelligence, Naruto once again put his hands together to form a cross.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Fifty Kage Bunshin appeared, all of them sporting similarly eager grins. They were all eager to start training, in preparation for their utter domination in the Chuunin Exam Finals.

"Alright," Naruto announced to them, "Half of you work on the Doton supremacy, and the other half work on the Suiton supremacy. Any questions?"

"How do we split ourselves up, boss?" one of the Kage Bunshin asked, raising his hand for identification purposes. "We're all you, and it's hard to argue with ourselves."

"Janken!" another Kage Bunshin yelled out. "Winners work on Doton supremacy, losers on the Suiton!" The others agreed with hearty outbursts, so Naruto left them to their own devices. He gazed at Jiraiya unwaveringly, giving the older man a look that said, So, what's next? Even his posture seemed to emit that sentence, him standing in an arrogantly confident way and all.

"We're going to train elsewhere, gaki," said the white-haired Sennin, walking up to Naruto.

"B-But ero-sennin!" Naruto yelled in reply, his outburst startling the Sennin and causing his right eye to twitch dangerously, "I heard that Kage Bunshin lose their minds after surpassing a certain distance from the user!"

Jiraiya smacked the insolent blond on the head, partly for the outburst, and partly for the subtle accusation of him not knowing what he was trying to teach. He was a Sennin for God's sake. There was barely anything that he didn't know the answer to!

"Che, that only applies to persons with low chakra capacity, baka gaki!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Because of your maximum capacity, your clones were created with a greater maximum distance before they lose their mind. Remember, the more chakra put into it, the greater the distance. Also, if you pass that maximum distance, they will begin to feed their mind with the chakra that they were created with, to supply their self-thought process."

"How do you know all this?" Naruto's voice sounded suspicious. After all, who wouldn't be suspicious when a pervert like this man suddenly became so smart?

"I'm a Sennin," was the reply. "I've also measured the distance. Five miles!"

"Five miles!? Well, how far are we going?"

Jiraiya grasped Naruto's shoulders with both of his hands, before they disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves. They reappeared on a mountain top, which wasn't really much of a mountain and more of a very tall hill. A sense of nausea appeared in the blond's gut, having been transported at very high speeds through the use of the convenient Shunshin no Jutsu. Wobbling out of the white-haired Sennin's grasp, he turned around to face Jiraiya.

"How the hell did you do that without hand seals?" he asked slowly, still gathering his wits.

"Skilled shinobi," Jiraiya said, emphasizing skilled, "practice their jutsu until it's completely mastered, allowing for them to use it without performing hand seals. Often times, only the most basic can be mastered like this, because of the complexity of other jutsu. You, on the other hand, are a special case." Tapping his chin thoughtfully, he thought up a proper way to explain the blond's difference. "You're eventually going to have supremacy over the five elements of nature, and this will allow you to perform any elemental jutsu without hand seals."

"How does that work?" It was a confusing concept, Naruto knew, but he was determined to learn.

"Once you've gotten your supremacies, you can use it to imagine the jutsu that you're going to perform. You can shape and manipulate it, just like how you manipulated the earth to emerge as pillars, and how you manipulated the water to take the shape of a sphere." This received an understanding nod from the blond, which Jiraiya took as the cue to continue on. "Performing jutsu requires you to manipulate the shape and nature of the element. Hand seals are what turns normal fire and turns it into a fiery dragon, or taking your basic chakra and manipulating it into an element. Another form of nature manipulation is when you take Wind and Water and manipulating the two elements into the Ice element. With your supremacies, you can summon up any element by merely choosing the element, making it so that you no longer require nature manipulation in your hand seals, cutting the number down greatly. Because you can also manipulate the shape as well just by picturing it. Because both shape and nature manipulation are taken down, you no longer have the need to perform hand seals. Get it?"

One confused Uzumaki Naruto cocked his head, shaking it slightly, making Jiraiya face-vault onto the floor. All that time spent towards explaining, and he didn't get it. He was just about ready to smack the blond when his temporary apprentice spoke up.

"There's nothing to worry about though, ero-sennin," he said, having taken a liking to the nickname. "I memorized what you said, so I'll probably eventually understand everything later, when I'm older. Now, what do I do?"

"Punch that large stone that's two times my size in front of you... let's say, five-hundred times as fast as you can," he ordered, smirking devilishly. "Then, follow it up with five-hundred kicks for each leg."

"WHAT!?"

----

Nine shadows stood in a large cavern, the only light in the great expanse coming from the chakra that was outlining their silhouettes. They were mysterious, their purpose unknown. They stood in silence, gazing at each other without emotion. None of their faces were readable from the utter darkness and from the use of a projection jutsu, only their eyes being visible. By raising a single chakra-outlined hand, one caught the attention of the eight others. He spoke, one who had eyes that seemed to be a mixture of orange and red. His voice was distorted, but it was deep and sinister.

"We attack during the Chuunin Exam Finals."

These nine figures were a force to be reckoned with.

They were Akatsuki.

----

Alright folks, I've been doing a lot of research, revolving around whether Katon means 'Fire Element' or 'Fire Release', and whether there is a difference between using ninja and shinobi. From what I've found out, ninja is a basic overall term, while shinobi is more specific towards the Naruto-show people. I've noticed that in the anime, they use both 'ninja' and 'shinobi' as a generalized term, and only using 'kunoichi' to refer to females. Many times, Team Seven has been referred to as 'Konoha Shinobi' in the anime. Thus, I'm going to assume from now on that ninja and kunoichi are plural, with ninja having no gender and kunoichi having a female gender, while shinobi is pluralized. As for whether or not Katon means 'Fire Release' or 'Fire Element', well, the ton at the end of ka is supposed to add a tone that makes it translate to 'Fire Element'. Yet, looking at it another way, ignoring the tone, ton literally means 'release', or 'to set free/ to release'. Considering that performing the hand seals for ninjutsu technically 'releases' the chakra in the form of the jutsu, I'm going to go with 'Fire Release' on this one. Yeah, this was one hell of a thing to research, but I think I've got it down. If you have any comments on these decisions, or know the answer to my problems, please PM me or E-mail me.

Vocabulary

JirikiHeikin – One's own strength and potential Balance

Gama Sennin – Toad Hermit. Thus, gama means toad and sennin means hermit.

Geta – Wooden sandals. Actually, they're more of flip-flops. Unlike sandals, they have no heel, are wooden, and have cloth thong attached to it. When you wear a geta, you put the thong in between your thumb toe and index toe. On the bottom, it's elevated with two horizontal pieces of wood. Perfect for staying out of the mud.

Ero-sennin – Perverted Hermit

Janken – Rock, Paper, Scissors!

Kyuubi no Youko – Nine-tailed Demon Fox

Sannin – Three Ninja

Jutsu List

Fuuin jutsu

Gogyou Fuuin (Five Elements Seal) – A-Rank – A seal that is used to strengthen another seal, the five elements that compose this seal are Metal, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Water. Although it's supposed to strengthen a seal, the user must take care to place it over an odd-numbered seal like itself, so as not to create imbalances in the original seal.

Gogyou Kaiin (Five Elements Unseal) – A-Rank – This is merely the counter-jutsu for the Gogyou Fuuin. When performed, it unseals its counterpart.

Ninjutsu

General

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) – B-Rank – Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creates real flesh-and-blood copies of the user. They can fight, experience emotions, and perform jutsu just like the user. When using jutsu though, they have to use the store of chakra that was placed in them during creation. The amount of chakra in Kage Bunshin can be altered. Any information and mental experience that the Kage Bunshin experiences is also passed on to the user when they are killed or dispelled, which makes it particularly useful for missions involving reconnaissance and stealth.

Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) –D-Rank – This jutsu allows the user to move at high speeds, with an onlooker often mistaking it for teleportation. The user uses chakra to boost their speed and reflexes, the jutsu requiring more chakra as the distance that the user needs to travel increases. Any extra things, such as flying sand or leaves, serve as a distraction for the user's movement, and perhaps for a bit of style as well.

Katon

Katon: Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Blast) – B-Rank – The user emits a large stream of flame from their mouth, which takes the form of a dragon. The fire is extremely hot and very powerful, and is not unlike a flamethrower in its execution. On contact, the dragon dissipates into a ball of fire that envelops the enemy.

Katon: Yurika no Jutsu (Fire Release: Fire Lily Technique) –A-Rank – The user breathes in deeply, expanding their lungs to a normally impossible size with the assistance of chakra, and breathes out a great many fireballs. The fireballs themselves are the size of the ones emitted by Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu, and are just as strong. In return for such power, a huge amount of chakra is used to perform this technique.