Hey guys, sorry it's taken so long to update, but summer's almost over, and people have to get ready to go to school. Then again, I say "Hey guys" although it doesn't really look like I'm getting a whole lot of feedback. (deep, sorrowful sigh) If you guys don't say anything, I won't really have much to work with. The whole point of writing a story, is for people to read it. Anyway, my little complaining session is over, but seriously, people, I need feedback. Also, the chapters are going to start getting a little longer pretty soon. Well, here you guys go- Chapter 10.
Chapter 10- Training
"I guess this is the right place, huh?" Naruto says, kicking at some dust on the ground. Natsu nods. "Yep, now lets get started. Just so you know, magic isn't like jutsu. It's not really all that complicated. You don't need everything to be exact, at least not with elemental magic. Your personal magic is different." Wendy nods, looking to Sakura. "Natsu is right. With elemental magic, you pretty much just will it to work and it will do so. You kind of have to feel it. Other magic, like healing magic takes intense concentration and focus. One slip up, and the whole thing can blow up in your face."
"Then again," Natsu starts, "this probably won't mean anything to you until later. Right now, you just have to worry about your training, which will only last as long as you allow it. To complete your training, you only have one goal." Naruto grins, showing his fangs. "Yeah, doesn't sound like real hard training to me. What do we need to do?" The two genin look at their mentors, while Natsu and Wendy look at each other. Suddenly, the two mages nod simultaneously. "Your goal," Wendy begins, pulling something out of a pocket on her skirt. She holds the objects out so Naruto and Sakura can see. The two genin stare in open-mouthed shock as Wendy hands one to Natsu. The sky maiden looks back to Naruto and Sakura, and finishes her sentence. "Your goal, is to take these bells. Start now."
"Whaaaaaat?!" Sakura and Naruto exclaim in unison. Natsu laughs, jumping forward using a low sweeping kick to try to knock Naruto off balance. "Yeah, we got the idea from your old sensei. By the way, if you keep talking," Natsu starts, blowing a small fireball towards the boy, "you're gonna get burned." Naruto jumps away, sniffing the air. "Hey, something's burning, Natsu-sensei." The fire mage grins. "Yeah, your hair," he says, pointing to Naruto's burning head. Naruto jumps back, quickly patting his hair to put out the flame. "Hey! How come you get to use magic, and we can't use our jutsu?" he asks. Natsu points to Sakura, who is using her chakra empowered fists to come agonizingly close to Wendy. Natsu laughs again. "I never said you couldn't use your jutsu. That's a rule you made on your own."
Naruto grins. "Alright, let's do it your way," he says, making his signature hand signs. "Shadow clone jutsu!" he yells, creating five clones directly in front of him. Natsu jumps forward, immediately destroying two of the five who had tried to take him head on. "Wrong move, Naruto," he says as another clone is destroyed. "Is that so?" Naruto yells, running forward, a shining blue orb in his hand. "You took out some clones, but gave me enough time to get one of my most powerful attacks ready," he says, plunging the ball into Natsu's stomach. Naruto grins, feeling the Rasengan connect with Natsu. The fire mage's eyes roll back as he flies backwards, hitting the ground about 50 feet away from Naruto. The young ninja jumps in victory. He runs over to Natsu's body, looking down on the mage. "Natsu-sensei, are you alright?" He bends down, to look into Natsu's face. Natsu's eyes are open, but rolled back. "Natsu-sensei?" Naruto grabs him. "Na-ru-to," Natsu whispers. The boy leans down further to catch Natsu's words. "Yes, sensei?" "You should have taken the bell." Natsu finishes while grabbing Naruto by the collar of his tracksuit and throwing him back to the spot where they started.
"That was a dirty trick," Naruto says, standing up and dusting himself off. He grins, holding his hand out. "I did," he says, showing Natsu the bell. Natsu stares, open-mouthed at the young boy. "When did you-?"
Naruto laughs, lightly tossing the bell into the air and catching it. "When I made my shadow clones, I had five of them. You took out three, leaving me with two. It only took one clone to create my Rasengan, which left one. When I charged you with my Rasengan, my clone got behind you and took the bell. Actually, it wasn't that hard." Natsu continues to stare. Suddenly, the fire mage laughs. "I knew you could do it. Unfortunately for you, Sakura was able to grab the bell way faster. Anyway, let me show you what would have happened if I hadn't let you take the bell. Go ahead, charge me." He holds out two fingers in an effort to provoke Naruto. It worked. As they begin, Sakura and Wendy walk over. Wendy shakes her head. Sakura gives her a sideways glance. "What is it?" she asks. The sky maiden frowns. "Naruto is about to find out what Natsu can really do. We were holding back earlier. You see, our plan was never to try and stop you from taking the bells, we just wanted to see what you could do. If he wanted, Natsu could have taken you, Naruto, and me on, and we would have never been able to get close." Sakura gasps. "Is he really that powerful?" Wendy nods, pointing. "Watch."
Naruto again summons his clones, bringing out six this time. Natsu groans. "Aww, not this again." Naruto grins. "If you got up from the last one, I'll just have to hit you harder this time." Three clones rush forward, in an attempt to drive off Natsu. The fire mage laughs, taking two out with a kick and the last with an elbow to the temple. Deciding to have some fun, he laces his arms behind his head. "Anytime you're ready, alright? I won't even block you." Naruto grins, disbanding the last three clones. "Glad to hear it. I used three clones to make this one, so it's a lot stronger than the last!" The ninja runs forward, again aiming for Natsu's stomach. Wendy looks at Sakura. "Watch carefully. This is what happens when you recklessly rush into a battle and don't understand what you are actually up against." "That's right," comes a voice from behind them. Sakura turns around to see Natsu leaning his head on Wendy's shoulder. "He has a lot to learn. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to teach him everything. We need to move on. Sakura, watch Naruto." The baffled kunoichi turns back to the yellow haired ninja. Running forward, Naruto plunges the Rasengan into "Natsu's" stomach. Suddenly, "Natsu" bursts into flames, throwing Naruto back. The real Natsu covers his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter. He turns to Sakura. "That was just a fire clone, something I came up with a while back. Watch this." Natsu closes his eyes, concentrating. Immediately, another clone appears behind Naruto. Clone-Natsu laughs. "You missed me, Naruto." The ninja turns around, to see clone-Natsu's hand right in right in front of his face. Clone-Natsu's hand was in a position where the index finger was curled, the last three fingers straight out. Naruto moans. "Aww crap."
The flick hit him like a bullet train, sending Naruto flying backwards, head over heels. Wendy jumps up. "Natsu! Are you trying to kill him?" she asks, running to Naruto's body. Natsu laughs. "No," the real Natsu says, joining Wendy by the unconscious boy's body. Wendy puts her hands on Naruto's chest, allowing her healing ability to do it's work. A stormy look in her eyes, she turns to stare Natsu in the eyes. "We will talk about this later." Natsu pales, leaning down to Naruto's side. Quickly, he grabs the boy's shoulders, shaking him back and forth like a madman. "Hurry, Naruto, wake up or Wendy's gonna kill me." He looks to the blue haired dragonslayer. She shakes her head. "Consider yourself already dead," she growls, helping Naruto to his feet. Clone-Natsu walks over, going to stand by the real Natsu. Naruto opens his eyes, looking around. Seeing the two Natsu's, he scratches his head. "Hey, I think I'm seeing double," he says, staring. Natsu snaps his fingers, dismissing the clone. Naruto jumps back. "WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED? NATSU-SENSEI CAN MAKE CLONES TOO?" he exclaims, falling down on his butt. Sakura facepalms herself. "I swear, Naruto, sometimes you act so over dramatic." Natsu starts to laugh, but, feeling Wendy's cold eyes on his back, decides to cough instead. "Either way," he begins,"You guys are ready." Sakura and Naruto look at him questioningly. "Ready, what do you mean?" Sakura asks. Naruto nods. "Ready for what?"
Natsu grins. " Wendy and I have decided that your jutsu alone is not enough to take on the Chaos village." Wendy nods. "When I healed that ninja who showed up at the arena, I found out that there wasn't only chakra that head been used to make the injury. There was a distinct trace of magic as well. This means that the Chaos village not only has jutsu, but can use magic too. Normally, jutsu is not as strong as magic, so if your village tried to take on the Chaos village now, you would all die, and we can't let that happen." Natsu picks up again. "The only way for you all to take on magic, is to use magic." Naruto and Sakura frown. "What are you getting at, Natsu-sensei?" Naruto asks, tweaking his headband. Natsu's grin spreads even wider. "Naruto. Sakura. Welcome to dragonslayer 101."