Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Naruto

Chapter 10: No Pain, No Gain

Naruto stared at black eyes that looked back at him warily. He was sweating bullets, nervous about the reaction of the possessor of those eyes. Naruto started scratching the back of his head, an old nervous tick that was representative of his current state. The two individuals were standing a few meters apart in a forest clearing. It was early morning and the sun had just risen, the only noises were the birds chirping to each was an awkward silence hanging in the air between Naruto and the individual he was with.

"Will you please tell me why you dragged me out here, Uzumaki-san", the possessor of those black eyes asked coldly.

Naruto flinched. He had woken up early and asked Izumi to meet up with him so he could tell her something. He was hoping to patch up the relationship between him and her, after his outburst the previous night. Naruto knew he went too far. He was afraid that he had made her mad and judging by the tone of her voice and the lack of using his given name, he figured that he was right.

"I uh, just wanted to say um… that… I mean I wanted to uh", he stuttered.

"Get on with it", she snapped.

"IwantedtosayI'msorry", Naruto choked out, barely able to understand.

"Excuse me, what?"

Naruto sighed. He sucked at sincerely apologizing. He had never done it too often, usually opting to come up with excuses or shifting the blame instead. But he knew it wouldn't work with Izumi, and he couldn't afford to lose whatever little positive opinion she held for him.

He took a deep breath, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry", he said slowly this time.

Izumi raised her eyebrow, "Why?" she asked just as coldly.

Naruto thought she looked beautiful mad. He had only ever seen her when she was in a joking and bantering mood, so this was a first for him. Naruto quickly broke eye contact and looked her up and down. Her raised eyebrow, along with her pursed lips, and pale angular face made her look elegant. Her eyes were a raging storm that were mesmerizing. Her lean figure was leaning to one side with her hands on her hips. She was wearing her usual ninja attire that she managed to make look fabulous. Izumi started fingering the kunai strapped to her leg. She was beautiful, but she was also scaring the shit out of him.

Naruto gulped, this could end poorly.

"Yesterday, I put myself under a lot of pressure because I felt like there were a lot of expectations on me. I also felt like I was failing you guys. You were the one person I didn't want to fail and so when I felt that I did, I kind of snapped. I said some things I should not have and for that I'm sorry", Naruto took a pause to take a breath. While pausing, Naruto saw that Izumi was staring at him with her striking eyes and that some of her anger had diffused. Naruto finally added, "I guess I'm just not used to anyone expecting anything from me."

Naruto was looking down somewhat ashamed at that fact. Tears were filling in his eyes, and he saw them fall out of his eyes and into the bright green grass below him. He felt slender fingers under his chin, forcing him to look up. Izumi had closed the gap between them and made him look her in the eyes. None of the anger that was there previously was currently present. Naruto found himself staring at them in awe. He was constantly surprised at the beauty of her eyes, he never thought before that the eyes of a girl could make him weak in the knees, but hers did.

In a soft voice she addressed Naruto, "Naruto-kun, you have the potential for greatness, more so than any person I have ever met. The people who thought you would never amount to anything were ignorant fools. That's why, I guess we, as your teachers expected so much from you. Naruto-kun, you are special, that's why we don't you to ever be hurt. But, as teachers, we failed in realizing that your training has been neglected and that the expectation of you being able to keep up with, possibly the most intense training program ever, was unreasonable." She paused, her voice starting to break. "But, last night, when you said that I'd be happy if you were killed, it hurt me. I've lost too many loved ones in the past, and most of them were my fault. I was hurt that you seemed to have a death wish, and it was because of me. I was reminded of my failures and I tried to keep you at shoulder length to try to protect you", she was now openly crying, tears running down her face. Naruto's stomach tightened at the sight of this girl crying in front of him. Izumi gave a bitter laugh, "But, you see that only lasted less than five minutes."

Naruto lifted up his hands to her face and wiped the tears from her eyes. He brightly smiled, not a forced smile, but his natural one. The whole forest clearing seemed to be illuminated for the two individuals, "I'm not going to leave you, I'll fight the whole world if it's to stay by your side, and that's a promise. And you know I never break a promise."

Izumi seemed to be infected by his spirit as she smiled too. She rolled his eyes at his bravado, "Alright, Mr. hotshot, but how are you going to do that if I can beat your butt with all of my limbs incapacitated?"

Naruto smirked, accepting her bait, "Easy, I'll train my ass off."

He removed his hand that was still cupping her face and walked away from the clearing that the two had shared. He was still grinning as he walked to the grounds where his sensei were meeting him.

He had been too far away to hear Izumi whisper, "Damn, he knows how to get a girl's heart racing."

Naruto never did see the blush that was adorning her face.

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Kisame was the first one of his teachers to make it to the forest clearing. Naruto, who was sitting down in the center of the training grounds, was in the middle of stretching his intensely sore muscles.

"Good morning Nii-san", Naruto greeted in a cheery voice.

Kisame groaned, "I'm not your Nii-san. As far as I know, you have no siblings. And even if you did, I doubt they would have blue skin." This was the first time that Naruto had called him his 'Nii-san' and to say Kisame was not a fan of the mushy term was an understatement. He may think of the boy as his brother but, he would never admit.

Naruto heard the irritation in Kisame's voice and couldn't help but grin, "Whatever you say", Naruto paused for dramatic effect, "Nii-san".

Kisame face palmed. "Anyway, what's got you so chipper in the morning? Don't you know it's too Goddamn early in the morning for anything happy?"

"Not much, just went for a stroll in the woods", Naruto casually lied.

"So you talked to Izumi. That's good, you were both a wreck last night. Plus, this way I don't have to hear the two of you bitch about your little love spat", Naruto turned incredibly red at both the speed in which his lie was detected, and the implications.

"L-love spat?!" Naruto sputtered

Kisame was now trying to hide his grin, "Why yes, a love spat. Isn't that when two people who like each other have a small argument that temporarily halts the relationship, only to be fixed when the two admit their feelings to the other?" He said, deceptively innocently.

"You really think I l-like Izuki?!"

'Jeez does this boy not know anything about having a poker face', Kisame thought.

"Well don't you?" Kisame asked, with a grin. He was unable to hold it in after all.

Naruto looked defeated, obviously his teasing tolerance about love was ridiculously low. "Only a little crush", he mumbled.

Kisame decided that was enough for the moment, this exchange was a success in that he has a weapon to use against Naruto, if he ever becomes too big for his britches.

"Now was that so hard for you?" Kisame's face turned serious, "Izumi's a special girl who has issues with dealing with losing loved ones. But, because of this, she has the capabilities to act incredibly understanding and loyal. I think you two are a good match for each other."

Naruto just nodded, kind of shocked by the swift attitude change. Naruto was about to say something when he was interrupted by the presence of the rest of his masters. All of them had just arrived.

Konan was standing off to the side as usual, looking impassive. Obito looked like his usual bitter self. Sasori had brought a puppet with him to tinker with. Kakuzu was tapping his finger over his crossed arms, looking incredibly impatient. Izumi was looking at Naruto with a slight smile, who had to hide a slight blush at the sight of her. Pain was trying to dust himself off after he was sent flying by Konan due to a stupid comment. HIdan was trying to find a random animal to torture with his ritual, saying something about Jashin was complaining about not meeting a quota. And finally, Kisame was glaring at Deidara, who just kept wiggling his eyebrows, as if they shared an inside joke. Whatever that was.

Pain spoke up, "Naruto, are you ready for your second day of training?"

Naruto nodded.

"It has been brought to our attention that we may have been pushing you too hard, so we agreed to make it a little bit easier for you."

Naruto shook his head, "No, don't go easy on me, I want your full force training."

Izumi appeared concerned, "Are you sure about this Naruto-kun? Because these idiots don't know how to hold back."

Pain agreed, "Yeah, especially with how bad yesterday went, are you sure?"

Naruto nodded, "I'm sure."

Obito piped up, "Just give the boy a chance, he might surprise you."

Deidara couldn't help but comment on this, "Boy? Obito, why are you talking like you're old? You're only in your twenties."

Obito blushed at being called out on it.

Pain cleared his throat cutting off the argument that was bound to happen. "Fine", turning his attention to Naruto, "as you wish, we will not hold back. I hope you are prepared, for we will go all out to try to break you. Kakuzu, you're up first, get him in shape."

Naruto paled at this. He knew that this was going to be painful. But, he had to this to fulfill his promise to Izumi. He had to not only survive his training but excel at it. And so hell began for Naruto.

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One year later:

Standing in the clearing were two figures standing across from each other, settling into their taijutsu forms. The much taller figure with orange hair wore a black cloak with three red clouds on it. He settled into a unique form that focused on solid defense and hard hitting offense. It was possibly one of the most advanced forms of taijutsu, seeing as it required an incredible amount of conditioning to use. The figure was calm and composed. It was a man known as Pain who had gone through a war and lived to tell the tale. His confidence in his abilities were earned.

The average heighted male was a still growing fifteen year old with blonde hair. He had slight whiskers on his cheeks under his bright blue eyes. He was wearing all black clothing that was neither too loose nor too constricting. It looked odd with his bright hair and eyes. He settled into a style of Taijutsu few ninja use that focuses on speed and fluidity to confound opponents on both offense and defense. It used the fingers as piercing instruments instead of punches, and a wide variety of kicks. Despite his young age, the boy, named, Naruto looked very confident.

"Can we get this started old man? I really want to get started on learning some more advanced stuff", complained Naruto.

"I already told you, the fundamentals can be the deadliest weapon for a ninja if applied right."

"Well I know that, but, I also know that there are some people that are impossible to defeat in a head on fight without at least some jutsu", replied Naruto.

Pain sighed, he wasn't sure whether his disciple was smart for realizing this, or dumb for thinking he had to fight everyone head on. This was the argument he had with his disciple every day ever since he had mastered the 'snake strike style'.

"But you don't have to fight them head on if you-"

Pain was cut off when he barely had enough time to turn around block the strike headed for his heart. Pain grimaced, it was a smart trick by Naruto that would have killed any lesser opponent. No sooner had his strike been blocked, that Naruto went for another strike with his other hand. Pain grabbed it just in time. He turned and threw him across the clearing.

Naruto dug his heels into the ground intentionally, causing dust to fly into the air. It hadn't rained recently. For a brief moment Pain couldn't see his opponent, however he quickly sensed the blonde teenager.

"You know that I don't require sight to fight you right?" Pain asked, trying to figure out Naruto's plan.

"I just did it for kicks and giggles"

This made Pain shudder, Naruto never did anything for kicks and giggles. He always had some sort of devious plan going on. Pain got even more on guard. Lucky for him too, a blur of black came into his vision and he barely had enough time to brace himself for the kick to his left side. It broke through his hasty block, opening up Pain to his opponent's mercy.

Naruto took full advantage and got as many strikes in nonlethal spots as possible. Two hand strikes to the chest. A kick to the knee. A hand strike to the arm. A kick to the head. Another hand strike to the gut. One attack led to the next so perfectly that Pain had no chance to even respond, they were just blurs to him. Each hit was incredibly painful due to the speed of them. He knew he would get bruised everywhere and he felt a few of his teeth get kicked out.

'Damn it', he thought, 'I let him use his style in the situation that it was perfect for.'

Naruto went for the final blow, a roundhouse kick to the head. He was just a bit too slow, and Pain caught it.

He grinned with blood making his teeth red, "Payback time."

He delivered a punch to Naruto's prone gut, sending him to hunch over. Pain delivered a quick knee to the head and threw him again across the clearing. Instead of landing gracefully, Naruto rolled a few times violently before coming to a stop.

Naruto felt a violent pain in his gut as the wind was knocked out of him and felt warm liquid gushing out of his now broken nose. He had dirt and blood all over his clothes as well.

With great difficulty he stood up and faced the man who was now running at him to go for the finisher. Pain was incredibly confident that this would be the last move of the spar. Naruto now charged at him as well. Pain pulled back a fist when he was within a meter of its intended target. Pain grinned at the feeling of knowing he would punch the brats lights out. Only he didn't. His punch had swung through midair. And he was lying on the ground. What the hell happened?

He felt a hand on his ankle and realized what happened. Before he could amend it though, a strike from Naruto in the pressure point paralyzed him from the neck down.

"Damn it, you got me", Pain admitted.

Naruto laid down on the ground next to him with his chest heaving and blood dripping down his face. It failed to obscure his shit eating grin. He had gotten his speed, endurance, and strength up to par for Kakuzu. He can evade Deidara for days. And he had the chakra control of a God now (it did help that he was motivated to impress the teacher). The only thing stopping him from moving on to the advanced training was that for months, he had yet to best Pain in hand to hand combat. It was frustrating as hell.

"Finally *breath* beat *breath* you", he managed to get out.

With a pop, the pressure on Pain's ankle disappeared.

With the fight now over, the observers of the fight all came out from the trees they were hiding in.

The first to speak up was a grinning Kisame, "You little bastard. You set up a shadow clone and sent it underground waiting for that moment to trip him up didn't you?"

His answer was a larger grin from Naruto.

The next to speak was Izumi, who ruffled his hair as he still struggled to breathe, "Good job little bro, I'm proud of you for finally beating Pain."

Naruto frowned at the title that Izumi used. He knew she used it often, but it soured his mood every time.

'I don't want to be your little bro though', he thought to himself.

His depressing thoughts were interrupted by Pain, "Well seeing as you beat me, you passed the final area of the basics. You can finally work on the advanced part of the training, which include Sasori with his chakra strings, Izumi and her genjutsu, Konan for stealth, and Kisame for Kenjutsu. However, don't forget that you will still review and train in the basics", reminded Pain.

Naruto nodded, his good mood returned. He got up to do celebratory dance but was stopped due to the pain in his ribs from the punch earlier. He winced in pain.

Izumi went to him panicked at the sight of him hurting and tried to get him to go to the medic. She put her hand on his shoulder for support. But, Naruto refused. "I need to keep training."

"Why do you need to keep training so hard? You need to be strong but you have time. Take it slowly before you injure yourself permanently. Your big sis doesn't want to have to take care of you twenty four-seven, then what will your future wife think of you being taken care of your sister", she tried to tease.

Kisame just face palmed at the mistake she made.

Naruto snapped, "You wouldn't understand why I want to train so hard, because apparently you've forgotten already. I can take care of myself fine, thank you very much, I won't need my 'big sister' in the future."

Izumi stared white faced at Naruto, "Oh", was all she said.

An awkward silence ruled over the ten members of the Akatsuki.

Birds chirping and the breeze were the only noise around in the forest clearing. That is, until Obito spoke up, "Unfortunately, she is partially right, Naruto, you should rest today and then train hard tomorrow."

"But-" Naruto's protests were interrupted by Obito raising a hand.

"However, if you want to do something productive today, then we can at least find out your chakra nature."

"Finally!", Naruto exclaimed, "I've been wanting to learn that ever since you told me about it."

Obito pulled out a chakra paper and explained how it works, "Just send your chakra into this paper and depending on what it does, decides what nature you have. If it rips in half, you have wind nature. If it bursts into flames, you have fire nature. If it dampens up, you have water nature. If it crumples up, you have lightning release. And if it turns into dirt and crumble away, you have earth nature. Based on your father, I would guess you have at least Wind nature", Obito guessed as he gave Naruto the paper.

The rest of the Akatsuki looked intently, curious as to what his nature was. But nothing happened.

Kisame chuckled, "Naruto, you know you're supposed to send chakra into the paper right?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, "I am though."

Kisame rolled his eyes, "here, I'll show you how it's done."

Kisame grabbed the piece of paper from Naruto and sent his chakra into it, immediately it became soaked with water.

Izumi snorted, "wow, Kisame, no wonder you're a virgin. Paper seems to be the only thing you can get wet."

Kisame turned red, which looked weird on his blue skin, trying to think of a comeback but couldn't.

Izumi had a smirk of victory.

"Here Naruto try again", Obito said handing him the paper. Naruto tried again by putting chakra into the paper only for nothing to happen. This time Izumi tested it out and the paper immediately burned.

Naruto tried this five times, and each time failing, only for someone else to show him up.

Finally, Obito had an idea, "Izumi this time activate your sharingan as he pumps in chakra to the paper, make sure he's doing it right."

Izumi nodded and obliged. She channeled chakra to her eyes and they turned red with the tri-tomoe. She was watching the now frustrated Naruto do everything as he was supposed to do. After another failed attempt, she shook her head in disbelief, "He's doing everything right."

"And the chakra paper seems to be fine", added Deidara.

"So could it mean…" wondered Konan, her eyes wide in realization.

Pain nodded his head, "I think it means he has no chakra nature preference."

Obito widened his eyes, "I mean , I've heard of having five chakra natures, but to have none, is that even possible?"

Naruto looked disappointed, "Of course it would be me to not have one", he mumbled.

Pain shook his head, "This may be a blessing in disguise, this way you can be well-rounded. Hopefully, all this means is that it would be difficult to teach you the most difficult jutsu from each nature, and we were not going to teach you those anyway. It would just needlessly sap your chakra. Remember-"

Pain was cut off, "Work smarter, not harder", Naruto finished the saying like he heard the saying a thousand times, which he probably had.

Pain spoke to the whole group, "I don't know what this means for Naruto's training or his future as a ninja, or even the cause of his lack of a nature. But, I do know this, we will make him into the strongest ninja since the origin of shinobi history."

This earned a chorus of "hell yeah's" and an exuberance of cheering.

"Now, let's get ready to train our asses off."

Chapter 10 finish

A/N: Sorry it took so long. This month has been a rollercoaster of events and emotions, which I won't go into since you probably won't care. I also hit some writers block, I think. All I know is that I knew where I wanted to go five chapters from now but, I didn't know how to get there. I had flip flopped on the events of this chapter so many times that I had to write a separate one-shot to just get away from this story for a bit (I'm pretty proud of it too). Anyway, here it is and it's a few hundred words longer than usual, so hopefully that'll make up for the wait. Please don't kill me for brother-zoning Naruto, you have to remember that although Naruto did say he would be there for her, Izumi still has issues with losing loved ones and it's not gonna be fixed immediately, that will go into more detail later. I got a complaint about this going too slow so I sped it up a bit. I plan on jumping another three years next chapter to where his training is finished. I hate to do it but I'm done with set up and want to get to actual plot soon. So… sorry for the monster author's note, but this is where I can give my thoughts on the progression of the story and it's not to increase the number of words, I don't give a shit about number of words. Hope you enjoyed and please review.