A/N: Well hello everyone! I have returned from the winter break and the beginning of a new year! With the new year comes new opportunities, such as waiting over a month to release another chapter for a story. Sorry bout that. As usual, no promises for next time, as I'm always wrong! I will say, however, that I have a bit more free time than usual. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was rather fun to write. Please let me know if you see any spelling or grammar errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Legend of Zelda series, or anything else I may reference. I do own a nice watch. It tells time!

The smell of cigarette smoke filled the air as a man leaned in towards a mirror. He exhaled a cloud of smoke to the side, as he turned his face to the left, bringing a straight razor towards his facial hair which framed his face. He skillfully shaved off a few wily hair, and leaned back to make sure his beard was even. With a smile, he wiped off his razor and breathed out another puff of smoke. He reached up, took the butt of his cigarette out of his mouth, and placed it in an ashtray on the sink below the mirror.

Leaning back from the sink, the man checked himself in the mirror one more time. He reached for a black shirt on the small shelf next to the sink, and put it on. As he pulled his head through, he heard a faint knock echo throughout the small bathroom. He opened the door, and looked down the hallway of his apartment as the knocking once more filled his home. He started to walk towards his front door, while finishing putting his shirt on. He arrived at his front door, and opened it to be met with a pair of crimson eyes.

A wiry smile grew on the man's face as he stared into the luscious crimson pools.

"Well hello Kurenai, what brings you here?" The man asked with a chipper voice.

Kurenai grew a large warm smile, as she stared back into the man's brown eyes.

"I was just in the neighborhood Asuma, and I thought you may want some company," Kurenai responded happily.

Asuma stepped back into his home, and Kurenai stepped in. Asuma closed the door and turned towards Kurenai. Stepping up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her head.

A puzzled look appeared on his face as he felt a slight wetness on Kurenai's clothes and hair. He took a sniff, as the smell of sweat and grass filled his nostrils. His eyes darted to the left at a clock on his kitchen wall that read four sixteen in the evening.

'Strange, she is nearly two hours early for our date.'

"Kurenai?"

"Hmm?"

"Not that I'm not glad you're here, but aren't you a little early?"

Kurenai stepped out of Asuma's embrace and turned towards him.

"Well, yes, but I needed to ask you something."

Asuma raised an eyebrow at the woman he loved.

"And what is that?"

Kurenai held her hands in front of her.

"Well, as you know, my team is all really hurt and Tsunade-sama has put them on medical leave," Kurenai started as Asuma nodded. "Along with them, Kakashi also was injured and is still confined to his home. Tsunade-sama thought it would be a good idea for me to teach Naruto while Kakashi recovers, since I don't have anyone to train."

Asuma smirked at Kurenai.

"Yes, I remember all of that. You told me about it last night."

Kurenai nodded her head.

"Kakashi sent Yamato to watch over us as well as a lesson plan on what he wants Naruto to learn, mainly nature chakra manipulation."

Asuma's eyebrow raised as he quickly deduced why Kurenai had come so early.

Kurenai looked down at the ground in front of Asuma.

"However, Naruto has a wind nature, and I'm not sure how to help him."

Kurenai looked up with large puppy dog eyes.

"I was hoping that you would be able to teach him about wind manipulation, seeing as you're a master at it."

A laugh escaped Asuma as he looked Kurenai in the eyes.

"Oh? And why should I?"

Kurenai slumped at Asuma's response.

'And I planned this routine all way from the forest,' Kurenai mentally whined, 'I guess I could go with plan Anko.'

Kurenai stepped forward and placed her hands on Asuma's chest, and leaned in towards his ear.

"There may be a reward for you if you do," Kurenai whispered into his ear.

Asuma leaned back and looked at Kurenai once more.

"That would have worked better if you didn't smell like you had just finished your morning run," Asuma said with a chuckle.

Kurenai cursed the Konoha weather for ruining her plans.

"Why don't you just ask me normally?" Asuma suggested.

An indiscernible mumble came from Kurenai.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," Asuma said.

Kurenai sighed.

"I'd like you to teach Naruto wind manipulation because you're the best person in the village to do it," Kurenai flatly stated.

Asuma smiled and nodded.

"I'll do it on one condition."

"And what is that?"

"I would like you to work with my team while I take over Kakashi's responsibility."

'Well that's not bad at all,' Kurenai thought, 'and I haven't seen them in a while.'

Kurenai smiled brightly at Asuma.

"Can do, you're the best." Kurenai said as she leaned in and kissed Asuma.

The two pulled apart as Asuma smiled at Kurenai, before leaning in once more. Their lips entwined, as Kurenai took Asuma's hands in her own. They pulled away once more, as Asuma brought up Kurenai's hands to his face. He looked at Kurenai's hands, studying them, and kissed the back of her hands.

"Y'know, I gave you that ring so you'd wear it every now and then," Asuma said as he kissed her left hand.

"Sorry, and I forgot to grab anything from my apartment."

Asuma laughed as he embraced his love.

"Well when we finish your move over, we won't have to worry about that, huh?"

Kurenai smiled as she dug her head into Asuma's chest.

"Until then, we can just get on with our usual plans," Kurenai said with closed eyes.

A feeling of peace came over her as she felt Asuma's chest vibrate with laughter.

"That sounds perfect, but you should probably take a shower before we go anywhere. You smell like you've been out in the heat since dawn."

Kurenai pushed Asuma away and stuck her tounge out him.

"Fine, I'll go shower. Are my things still in the box in the closet?"

Asuma nodded in affirmation.

Kurenai turned away and headed down the nearby hallway.

A gentle smile rose on Asuma's face as he watched Kurenai gracefully walk down the hallway.

"I love you!" Asuma shouted out. His smile widened when Kurenai turned around and blew him a kiss.

"I love you too."

Asuma's eyes slowly flickered to life and the world around him slowly came into focus. He stared at the black hair in front of him, and smiled. Gingerly, he removed his hand from underneath the beautiful woman lying next to him, and turned to his alarm clock on his night stand, which read eleven in the morning. With a yawn, he lazily closed his eyes and snuggled into his pillow.

'Ah this is the life. Good thing we don't have anything planned this morning.'

Asuma slowly sunk into the queen sized bed, when suddenly, he rolled off the side, and dashed to the closet. With a barrage of quiet curses, he grabbed some clothes haphazardly, and left his bedroom while attempting to change into his training gear.

'Please let this be the right door,' Asuma thought as he raised his clenched fist, prepared to knock on the door in front of him, 'I don't need another angry neighbor. I should have asked Kurenai where he lived.'

Asuma took in a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

Twenty seconds passed with no answer. Asuma knocked on the door once more. A minute passed, and Asuma sighed to himself.

'This should have been the one, at least that's what the last person said,' Asuma thought as he pulled a cigarette from the front pocket on his vest, 'Then again, the person before that was wrong as well.'

With a practiced flick of the wrist, a lighter seemed to materialize from nothing into Asuma's right hand. He put the cigarette into his mouth, and lit it while turning from the door. He took a long drag on the cigarette, and stepped away from the door. There was a small clicking noise which caused Asuma to turn back to the door. The door slowly opened, revealing Naruto's head leaning out of the door.

Naruto stared at Asuma for a second, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A loud shout from inside the small apartment echoed through the hall.

"Come on in Asuma-sensei!"

Grumbling, Asuma took his freshly lit cigarette and sealed it inside a small seal on the inside of his shirt sleeve. Apprehensively, Asuma stepped in to the apartment. His eyes widened at the sight before him.

Everywhere he looked, there were clones. He looked inside the living room and saw four clones, all reading different books. One of the clones dispersed, as a look of realization instantly came upon the remaining three. To his left, Asuma heard several clones gasp.

Turning his head, he saw five clones moving around the kitchen, with a large black pot on the stove. A strange green mist was coming out of the pot. The clones started to throw in ingredients into the pot rapidly.

"Asuma-sensei? Are you okay?"

Asuma turned to the voice, to see another Naruto in front of him.

"Everything's fine, Naruto. I was just surprised to see so many clones."

Naruto smiled at Asuma.

"Bah, this is nothing!" Naruto exclaimed, "Wait till you see me when we start training! That is why you're here, right?"

Asuma nodded before answering.

"That's right. Kurenai asked me to teach you wind manipulation."

A smirk appeared on Asuma's face at Naruto's downtrodden look at the mention of his element.

"Oh don't be like that, wind is a great element to have!" Asuma said with a laugh, "Now, I'm sorry I'm late, but we should get started as soon as possible to make up for lost time."

Naruto stared blankly at Asuma, whose laughter turned to a nervous chuckle. A loud pop penetrated the air, causing Asuma to look at the noise. The green mist from the pot slowly started to resemble a skull. His laughter ended and he looked back at Naruto, whose expression hadn't changed.

"Look, Naruto. I'm sorry I forgot, I really am, can you forgive me?"

"Kurenai-sensei never told me when we were training today, or if we even were going to be able to train today."

Asuma's eyebrows furrowed.

'He's right. Kurenai never did tell me what time we were supposed to start.'

Awkward silence filled the small apartment, with only the sounds of something scraping a pot occasionally breaking the silence.

Asuma coughed.

"Well, if now isn't a good time, I, uh, can come back later," Asuma said.

Naruto shook his head as he responded.

"No now is fine, we're almost finished with our experiment anyways."

"Experiment?"

Naruto nodded and pointed at the clones hovering over the pot, and then to the clones who were nose deep in books.

"We found something in one of our books for Ero-sennin's research, and we decided to take a break from learning about the twenty seven different types of trees that may kill you in a forest if it gets inhabited by evil spirits."

A loud pop filled the room, and Naruto winced. Naruto and Asuma looked towards the pot, to see only four clones remaining.

"Why did you destroy him you idiots!"

"He had it coming!"

"Yeah boss, he was trying to get first servings, which we wanted to keep for you."

"Wait, why are you brown nosing boss? We're him you dumb ass!"

Three of the four clones started to fight, while the fourth slowly inched away from the brawl.

Naruto ground his teeth at his dopplegangers. With a frown, he dismissed all of his clones. Slightly woozy from the onslaught of memories, he took a step forward to regain his balance.

Asuma moved to assist him, but Naruto held up his hand.

"I'm fine, but better news, it's ready!" Naruto excitedly explained as he adjusted to his clones' memories.

Naruto happily walked to his small kitchen, Asuma closely behind.

The odor of the concoction assaulted Asuma's nose, causing him to gag, while Naruto simply waded through the smell.

'What in the world did he make?'

Naruto hummed happily as he grabbed a ladle, which had half the handle broken off, and dipped it into the black pot. Asuma gagged once more as the ladle filled with green liquid left the pot. Naruto deftly grabbed a bowl sitting on the counter near the stove. Asuma looked away as Naruto's creation sloshed into the bowl. Naruto grabbed a pair of chopsticks, as he took the full bowl to a small dining table.

"Naruto, what exactly did you make?"

Looking into the bowl, Naruto put his chopsticks into the green liquid. Asuma watched as Naruto seemed to grab something, and lifted upwards. A chunk of green started to emerge from the liquid, causing Asuma to look away and dry heave. He looked back after calming himself, and saw Naruto holding up a noodle from the bowl.

"We found a really old ramen recipe in the book, and decided to cook it for lunch!" Naruto shouted, his voice filled with vigor.

Asuma winced as Naruto put the single strand of noodles in his mouth.

Asuma stretched his arms above his head as he looked at the unmoving cloaked and masked form of Naruto sitting in the middle of the clearing. Looking to his left, he saw Yamato with a puzzled look on his face. Asuma exhaled a cloud of smoke through his nostrils.

"Alright, Naruto!" Asuma yelled, "Enough moping about your failed lunch, it's time to get you started on your elemental training."

Naruto slowly nodded his head, and moved closer to Asuma.

'Why did I trust an old recipe? It tasted like dirt got together with tree bark and went to party with their friend vomit.'

Naruto slumped over with a whimper as he was haunted at the betrayal of his most sacred food. Asuma rubbed his temples in annoyance as he took another drag on his cigarette.

"Naruto!"

Naruto coughed as the cloud of smoke enveloped him from Asuma's sudden speaking. He looked up and glared at Asuma.

Asuma's eyes widened as he dropped his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.

"Now that I have your full attention, you can go ahead and take off that disguise."

Naruto quickly complied as he peeled the cloak from his body. He closed his eyes as he removed the mask, and opened them upon covering the mask with the cloak. He then threw the bundle towards Yamato, who sat cross-legged, waiting for the training to begin.

"Naruto, I want you to tell me what you know about the wind element."

"It's strong against lightning, and weak against fire, while doing okay against water and earth," a bored Naruto droned.

Asuma nodded his head with a smile.

"Correct. Now, what are some things that the wind element, and wind techniques do?"

"Uh, cool someone down on a hot day?" replied Naruto unenthusiastically.

"Hmm. I guess that could work," Asuma said as he rubbed his chin, "But the main use for wind techniques is actually for an all-out offense."

Naruto perked up immediately after Asuma finished talking.

Asuma reached into his side pouch, and pulled out a trench knife. He held up the knife, letting Naruto get a good look. Asuma started to channel wind chakra into the blade, and slowly lowered it to the ground. As the trench knife neared the ground, large cuts split the earth. Asuma lazily dragged the knife along the ground, causing a deep cut to mar the once well maintained training ground. With a well-practiced motion, Asuma returned the knife to his pouch. Naruto walked over to the cut, and slowly lowered his fingers into the earth. He kept putting his hand in, until the earth came halfway up his forearm. He looked up at Asuma, awestruck.

"Now imagine if I had been using any force."

An amazed smile quickly covered Naruto's face.

"How'd ya do that!?" Naruto blurted out.

"It's a realitively simple, yet effective trick," Asuma said scholarly, "All you do is merely channel wind chakra throughout the weapon, and it makes it incredibly sharp and able to cut through nearly anything. Now imagine what an actual jutsu or specialized technique could do."

Naruto's smile widened even more.

'Oh man, I can't believe my luck! This wind technique looks like it could easily be stronger than anything Sasuke could ever learn!'

"Alright!" Naruto shouted as he pulled a kunai from the pouch on his leg, "Let's do this!"

Asuma grabbed Naruto's hand. Naruto looked up at Asuma, puzzled. Asuma let go of Naruto's arm.

"Not so fast kid, you don't even know how to use your wind chakra yet."

Naruto put his finger through the ring on the kunai, and spun it around.

"Bah, it can't be that hard. It's just putting chakra through something! I've done it all the time!"

"And how many of those times did your weapon of choice cut through everything in its path as easily as I just cut through the ground?"

Naruto opened his mouth, and promptly shut it once more.

"Alright, I get it. What do I need to do?"

With a smirk, Asuma stood up straight and looked around the clearing. He spotted a single oak tree thirty meters away standing tall on the otherwise flat training ground.

"First, go bring me a single leaf from that tree over there."

Naruto nodded and dashed to the tree. Seconds later, he returned with the leaf in hand. Asuma held out his open palm. Naruto dropped the leaf into his hand. As the leaf fell, a gust of wind caught the leaf, blowing it away. Naruto watched the leaf float away in the wind.

"Heh, sorry bo-"

"Go get another, and just give it to me."

Naruto quickly ran to the tree to grab another leaf. He quickly came back, the leaf tightly held in his hand. He placed the leaf into Asuma's palm, and stepped back.

Asuma studied the leaf laying in his palm.

"The first thing you will do, is hold the leaf between your hands, like this."

Asuma covered the leaf with his other hand flat open, as though he was praying.

"Next, you need to channel your chakra between your palms into the leaf. While you are doing this, you need to focus your chakra as small and sharp as possible."

Asuma's palms glowed briefly. He then opened his palms to reveal the leaf cut verticaly in half.

"If you did it correctly, you should have cut through the leaf."

"Hold between palms, sharp chakra, cut leaf. Alright I'll go get a le-"

"Clones."

"Eh? What about them?"

"How many can you make?"

Naruto crossed his arms and stared at the ground with a contemplative look.

"I don't know," Naruto said as he looked up, "A lot?"

"Okay then, go to the tree and make 'a lot' of clones and have each of them grab a leaf."

Naruto formed a ram sign. With a smirk, a large cloud of smoke filled the clearing. The smoke slowly cleared, revealing hundreds of clones occupying the area. Asuma's jaw dropped.

'There has to be at least a thousand clones! This kid has more chakra than anyone or anything I've ever seen!'

The clones swarmed the tree, picking every leaf off in seconds. Every clone immediately attempted to cut the leaf with their chakra the second they got their leaf.

'Well Kakashi, looks like you got yourself one hell of a ninja. Guess I should thank Kurenai for letting me see this myself. Doubt I'd believe anyone who claimed to see this.'

"Asuma-sensei!"

Asuma turned to see a slightly winded Naruto next to him.

"What should I do now that my clones are training?"

Asuma smiled at the orange clad teen.

"Seeing as your clones can't help with your actual body, we'll start your physical training. We'll start by sparing. Now!" Asuma said as he threw a sucker punch at Naruto, who barely dodged the attack.

A tiny black bird hopped along a small brown branch. With each hop, the branch slightly wiggled. The bird moved itself to the middle of the branch, and stopped hopping, resting itself after a long day of flying. Suddenly, there was a loud grunt. The bird, startled at the noise, started take flight. A stream of smoke rushed passed the bird, who flew straight through it and into the sky. The branch bounced up and down rhythmically, as a creaking sound came from the wood.

'Too many things point to this being a good decision, and too many point to this being a terrible mistake,' thought Jiraiya as he bounced his pipe in his mouth, 'But what did the Great Toad Sage mean about no toad would know about this time? Obviously something out there knows, but it seems as though he has something agai-'

Jiraiya took the pipe from his mouth and rubbed his forehead with his free hand.

'Why do the toads dislike frogs so much? I'll never understand their petty squabbles.'

"Jiraiya? Are you okay? What did the Great Toad Sage say?"

Jiraiya looked at the source of the voice and saw a worried Shima.

"I'm fine, Shima-sama, just not sure what I should do. The Great Toad Sage said that he knows nothing about these other sages, but he suggested that he knew that something out there does have this knowledge. But the way he said it, with such unusual and uncharacteristic distaste, leads me to believe it has something to do with frogs."

Shima let out a sigh and sat down in front of Jiraiya.

"Well maybe I can help. I may not be as wise as Gamamaru-sama, but maybe I can give you a unique view."

Jiraiya smiled at the small toad warmly.

"Thank you Shima-sama. My first problem is whether or not I should believe the man from the temple about this whole sage business. While his claim of being a sage is somewhat easy to believe, the idea of him knowing everything about Naruto being the child of prophecy worries me. It both validates his claims, and makes him a large target."

Jiraiya looked at Shima for comments.

"Well Jiraiya, from what you've said before your meeting with Gamamaru-sama, you said this sage fellow appeared very kind and not pressuring you into anything. It could be a trick, yes, but you said he felt incredibly genuine, as well as fairly weak. If it turns out this man is truly weak, and means harm to the child, you could easily save him."

Jiraiya placed his pipe back in his mouth, and inhaled. He breathed out a stream of smoke upwards into the air.

"But what if he was lying and was able to greatly hide his true strength, and how would we be able to tell if Naruto was in peril?"

"Well that is a risk, but what if he is right? What if there is something that none of us know of that is coming. Gamamaru-sama himself said that no toad would know of the danger, so how could we prepare him? If this man can prepare Naruto to stop this evil, is it not worth the small risk? Every moment he can prepare could be the difference between success and failure! If you feel uneasy about it, we would easily be able to sneak one of our toads in with him to alert us if things were going wrong, and could bring him back if anything were to happen to him."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and contemplated his choices.

"I think you are right, Shima-sama, but I would still like to know more. Would the frogs really know more about this issue?"

Shima frowned and looked around the small grove. Seeing no other toads, she began to speak.

"They would. The frogs, while quite stupid, have been around for a very, very long time, even longer than Gamamaru-sama has existed. They were among the first of creatures that learned the human tongue, and were even said to form choirs at the lead of ancient humans."

"How would I communicate with the frogs?"

"You wouldn't."

Jiraiya head shook in confusion.

"Then who would?"

"Either myself or my dear husband would. We could easily sneak in and ask some questions. I can see you're wondering why we would sneak in, but that is because the frogs are very untrusting of anyone who is not a frog. However, they are not smart enough to tell the difference between some of us smaller toads from themselves. They've even been known to confuse humans wearing frog masks for frogs as well!"

Shima laughed to herself for several seconds before calming down.

"If you decide to take Naruto to this sage fellow, we'll do our best to make sure you know everything about this time before the toads."

"But if they can be confused by masks, why can't I just go myself?"

"Do you know how to get to their home without getting lost?"

Jiraiya sighed at the old toad.

"Fine, you've made your point. I'll go ahead and tell Naruto to go, but I will go with him. I have some questions I need to ask Hakkai."

Shima nodded and stood up.

"Well I'm glad you finally made a decision. I am going to get started on dinner, do you have any requests?"

Jiraiya smiled brightly at the old toad.

"No thank you, go ahead and make whatever you want, but I may not make it in time. There are still some things I need to do today."

Shima nodded and walked out of the grove.

Jiraiya watched Shima leave. As soon as she was out of sight, Jiraiya reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out the yellow medallion. He felt a strange wave of comfort come over him as the sun glinted off of it. He put the medallion back in his pocket, and stood up. With a huff, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only a small swirl of leaves behind.

A/N2: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, it really motivates me to keep going.