Author Note
Okay, now the man disappointed everyone with the manga 488. Granted, Naruto acknowledged he needs to train his skills, but come on man. For god's sake, Hinata was standing right there and Naruto did nothing. Come on, at least make him remember what happened, upon looking at her. No, instead Naruto talks about Sasuke and Ichiraku Ramen. I would go even more ballistic right now, had the man not revived Tsunade in the end of the manga.
Also, it was a very emotional episode when Naruto found out about Jiraiya's death. Man, I was already sad from only reading the manga, but seeing the anime was tough and the music that came along…very intense, that's for sure. Now, we'll get to see Naruto's Senjutsu Training and, then, it's Pein's time baby. Hopefully, Kishimoto won't create more filler between the two events. That would suck greatly.
Now on to the chapter.
Chapter 26 – Self Underestimation
Beta: Kyuubi123
Another two weeks passed by in Konoha and not much occurred in our blond hero's life.
Akatsuki was still due to show their faces and the Hokage was getting more and more apprehensive each day. That's the thing with postponing the inevitable, one day you'll have to deal with it and Tsunade was getting a bad omen that when it came, Konoha wouldn't be prepared to deal with S-ranked criminals. Her plan to face them was simple enough, yet challenging. For each organization member, Konoha would select one of its elite shinobi to deal with them and, of course, an Anbu squadron would serve as backup.
Granted there were a lot of jounins that could rival Akatsuki in Konoha, but as Hokage, Tsunade couldn't afford to take such risks. Kakashi, Aoi and Jiraiya had both the experience and skills to back them up, whereas Naruto had only the skills. His only problem, so far, was the lack of experience. All the members of Akatsuki were vicious criminals, people that survived numerous battles like Kisame as he happened to be one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.
Itachi was also a veteran and his mastery over the Sharingan placed doubt on Tsunade's mind regarding the jounin who would be facing him.
Hatake Kakashi was the perfect opponent for every enemy, but not an Uchiha and especially not Uchiha Itachi. When it comes to a battle of doujutsu, the natural user held the advantage in battle. Tsunade was considering facing someone else against Itachi. Perhaps an elite Hyuuga would suffice against someone with the Sharingan. The Byakugan would spot every single genjutsu casted and dispel it immediately.
'I wonder if Neji would be the better choice'
The Hyuuga prodigy was, in Tsunade's opinion, the best fighter amongst the clan. Well-rounded and very adapt in reorganizing his strategy even in the middle of the fight, Neji received a great number of complements both from his sensei Gai and the Hyuuga patriarch Hyuuga Hiashi. Suddenly, a knock was heard and Kakashi entered while reading his all time favorite book.
"You called for me Godaime?" Kakashi said, alerting Tsunade's attention.
"Ah Kakashi, just the man I wanted to see, come in please and close the door."
The Jounin obliged as he took a few steps closer to the Hokage's desk as he kept his book inside the kunai holster and placed both hands inside his pockets.
Kakashi had just participated in a B-ranked mission and returned yesterday, it couldn't be possible that Tsunade would issue another mission to him so soon.
"Kakashi, I'm going to ask you a question and I want your opinion. I want you to think about the answer for a minute. Take as much time as you want to respond." Tsunade asked, earning a nod from the jounin as she continued. "Right now, do you feel capable of beating Uchiha Itachi in a fight?"
The question surprised Kakashi greatly, but the dead serious look on Tsunade's face proved that this wasn't a joke.
So, he set his mind to think about the current events and how his last fights against Itachi turned out. Kakashi remembered the first time when Itachi casted the strongest genjutsu in existence and sent him to the hospital for weeks. Actually, it was only because of Tsunade healing him that he managed to awaken.
Last time, he couldn't do much against Itachi when his team managed to rescue Gaara from Akatsuki. In terms of skills with the Sharingan, there was no doubt in Kakashi's mind about Itachi's superiority. However, one vital fact was that Kakashi had yet to face Itachi after he managed to tap into his clan's white chakra. Right now, Kakashi couldn't give Tsunade what she was asking of him. In the past, he would gauge Itachi stronger than him. But right now, he just didn't know. Sasuke was similar in skills with Itachi and Kakashi managed to beat him. Granted Sasuke had two separate sources of chakra and could replenish, but Kakashi beat him.
"I don't know Tsunade-sama, frankly I just don't know." Kakashi said, but Tsunade didn't voice her opinion, at least not yet. She had a feeling that Kakashi had more to say. "There are too many variables to consider. I cannot give you a definite answer."
Tsunade closed her eyes in contemplation.
Indeed Itachi had yet to show his true power and Kakashi had yet to fight with everything he had. Who's to say Kakashi wasn't at Itachi's level. Still, Tsunade wasn't convinced that sending Kakashi would be the best option against Itachi.
"Tsunade-sama..." Kakashi said, alerting the Hokage's attention. "May I ask the meaning behind this question?"
"You know that Akatsuki will come for Naruto if not now then very soon if what Jiraiya said is true. The pervert and I came up with a plan to stop their advance and protect both the village and Naruto. Each member will be faced by one of our shinobi. Jiraiya, Aoi and Naruto are already prepared to face them. Aoi and Jiraiya will face Pein and Naruto will face Kisame. Itachi, though, so far is undecided. Normally, you'd be the one to face him, but I'm worried about his doujutsu superiority. I was considering choosing a Hyuuga, maybe Neji to face him."
Despite the indirect jab and complete lack of faith in Kakashi's skills, he maintained a level headed mind and responded with all sincerity. His resolve was firm in the manner of accompanying Naruto to the grave, if necessary.
"Tsunade-sama, Naruto is my student no matter what happens. With all honesty, I prefer to die fighting alongside him then sit back and watch others do it for me. I mean no disrespect, Tsunade-sama, but if my student is going to a battle of death, then I shall always be by his side" His tone was calm, but Tsunade could see Naruto's influence on the once stoic Kakashi. She had the decency to smile at this.
Normally, it's the student that incorporates the master's habits, but this was the first time she saw the master incorporating the student's habits. The Hokage remembered when Kakashi managed to awaken Hatake Sakumo's white chakra. Certainly, Kakashi was his son.
"I see your resolve is firm and no matter what I say, you'll go with Naruto. Still, I have my reservations concerning Itachi's Mangenkyou Sharingan and how it easily bedridden you four years ago." Tsunade said, earning a nod from Kakashi.
"I've been experimenting for some time now with my father's chakra and I've been researching some of his notes hidden in my clan estate. I remembered reading something about a specific skill that my father used, which was able to beat the majority of genjutsus. Hopefully, while it won't be able to neutralize Itachi's Tsukyomi completely, it may serve as an advantage."
Tsunade remembered hearing something about Sakumo expanding his chakra in a way that he created a type of field around his body, interfering with genjutsu techniques.
"Then, I'll be restricting your mission assignments, Kakashi" Tsunade said, surprising Kakashi, but she continued. "Right now, gaining any form of advantage against Itachi's genjutsu is your top priority.
"Understood…"
===With Naruto and his team===
The two weeks under Naruto's guidance did wonders for the three genins. More so than any one of the three had realized.
Taki and Aoshi managed to add some new jutsus to their arsenal and Taki's speed in hand seals improved considerably. Naruto invented an exercise to aid him. It consisted of creating pressured situations, like throwing a kunai just when the genin initiated the hand seal sequence or charging at him while causing as much noise as possible, disrupting the young man's confusion. Now, Naruto could even attack him with ninjutsu but Taki wouldn't deteriorate from his resolve and finished the hand seal before Naruto's technique reached his target. Certainly, this counted as one point in favor for the blond as a jounin-sensei, seeing that this would be his first time actually teaching a team of genins.
Last but not least, Kaoro. Naruto took a special liking to the little girl, seeing as no matter what Naruto threw at her, she didn't complain at all and completed the exercise.
The girl's resolve to improving her skills was perhaps even greater than Naruto's and the drive to always improve was evident on her face. Seeing that Kaoro had an affinity for wind, Naruto had a tough path in front of him. He had two weeks to teach her wind manipulation, a feat he managed in a short time but only because he had a huge chakra capacity at his disposal and of course, the hundreds and hundreds of kage bunshins used to help shorten the time needed.
In the beginning, Naruto feared it would take too long for her to even complete the first step, slicing a leaf in two.
But what Naruto wasn't counting on was that because of his abundance in chakra, controlling his chakra accordingly was almost impossible if not for the bunshins. Kaoro, though, didn't have that problem. He didn't know if the girl had an excellent grasp of chakra control because of her family lineage or perhaps Aoi's guidance had something to do with it. Regardless the fact was that the girl managed to slice the leaf in four days, much to Naruto's amazement.
Because of this, low level techniques already could be done, but Naruto wanted her to be able to perform the second stage.
Of course, slicing an entire waterfall seemed possible to him because of his clones, but Naruto learned that actually the point behind the exercise is to slice water molecules, rather than the waterfall itself. So, Kaoro's training was transferred to a peaceful lake near their training ground where she proceeded to slice the water in two. And while this exercise took her longer than the leaf exercise, Kaoro managed to complete it in only a week, thus completing the necessary requirements for wind techniques.
Granted it would be only the C level ones for a while, but with time she would be able to start learning the B-ranked ones and hopefully A-ranked as well.
The girl for her part was ecstatic. Upon each objective completed, she would jump in the air and punch the air with such vigor that practically forced a smile on Naruto's face. Kaoro now felt ashamed for doubting Naruto's skills as she admired him the day he treated her as a ninja not some lady in distress that needed to be saved by her peers all the time and for that she respected Naruto even more.
"Okay Kaoro, let's practice one more time, shall we?" Naruto asked as the girl nodded with much enthusiasm.
Doing a couple hand seals, Kaoro gathered enough air inside her lungs for a simple yet useful technique.
Fuuton Daitoppa no Jutsu (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Jutsu)
As she exhaled the thin layer of wind from her mouth, Kaoro started molding the chakra necessary to expand the element's force until it transformed into a gust of wind. While it wasn't powerful enough yet to yank a few trees, the girl was almost there in Naruto's book.
"Very good. Now, keep practicing the technique but remember not to exhaust your chakra supply. I'll go check on the other two and see to it that one doesn't kill the other. When you feel that you can't do anymore, come join us"
"Understood Naruto-sensei…"
So, Naruto left the girl practicing her first elemental jutsu while he went to check the other two integrants of the team.
It was a difficult task to teach powerful jutsus to genins, basically because they didn't yet know all the consequences of a jutsu backfiring. So, Naruto always wasted a couple minutes of his training to teach them about the many dangers that surrounds high level jutsus and the finesse required to perform them. Actually, Naruto thought he did a good job explaining the idea, but when he heard three simple words coming from Aoshi, Naruto froze instantly.
Katon Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile Jutsu)
Naruto immediately appeared to witness Aoshi gathering as much oxygen for the technique inside his lungs, before the genin exhaled the technique towards Taki. The prankster, for his part, only grinned though as he made some hand seals of his own to block the offensive fire jutsu.
Doton Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall Jutsu)
As the fire missile reached Taki's position, the mud wall rose just in time to block it, but Naruto knew it wouldn't be enough to hold an A-ranked fire technique such as this one. The fire was so hot that it was digging a hole through the mud wall and he could see Taki focusing as much chakra as he could to strengthen the barrier, but to no avail.
Vanishing within a small tornado, Naruto suddenly appeared in front of Taki as he made a sequence of four hand seals.
Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Wall Jutsu)
The rise of the water geyser was enough to stop the fire technique from burning Taki or perhaps even killing him. Naruto's presence surprised the two fierce combatants as they ceased the battle. Both knew they were in trouble, since Naruto warned them not to use these techniques against one another, specially the karyuu endan technique as it was considered the strongest fire technique ever created.
"I'm not even going to open my mouth, because by the look of your faces, you realize what could have been the consequences, had I not been here to stop it. Taki would be killed by his own teammate for that matter and I'd be stuck with the sad task of informing your parents about it."
The look on their faces was proof enough of their regret concerning their safety and Naruto knew the lesson was learned. Aoshi wasn't aware of his technique's potential, since he had yet to test it against the mud wall jutsu. Taki, well, he just wanted to gloat about the awesome defensive jutsu he learned that could stop all techniques from hurting him. Naruto had one more lesson to tell these two, before he continued their training.
"Look, I've taught you jutsus that normally no jounin should. Not only are they chakra taxing, but also as almost happened, bad consequences may arise from poor judgment. What is worse is that I'm responsible for your three's well being and that won't change even with Aoi around. If something happens to either one of you right now, guess who will be blamed for it?" Naruto said, earning apologetic nods from both Aoshi and Taki.
"Okay, now I've seen you learned your lesson nicely. Now, continue with the training but for now we'll restrict to taijutsu only…"
The two nodded and charged at each other with nothing but plain taijutsu. It would be like this until their muscles were sore, but at least Naruto won't need to worry about telling some parent the terrible news that their child had died on his watch. A jounin-sensei had the responsibility over his genins after all, right?
By this time, Kaoro arrived and took a seating next to Naruto as she saw the taijutsu battle between her teammates.
Naruto could see she was panting for lack of breath as practicing the great breakthrough technique could do that to you. Besides what happened, Naruto was very proud of all three of the genins. Certainly, no one would say he screwed up with them when Aoi got his team back. Still, Naruto wondered what it would be like having these three as his permanent team. Little did he know, though, that two people were right now discussing this very topic.
===In Tsunade's office===
Aoi and Tsunade were now conversing about his mission in Waterfall Country. It was scheduled for him to return two days from now, but the agreement between Konoha and Taki was signed earlier than expected, freeing Aoi sooner than expected. Konoha was expanding its influence on other hidden villages and Taki was the next one. Their academy program worked wonders for the genins in Suna, so Tsunade took that opportunity and extended Konoha's services to Taki in exchange for their alliance with the hidden village in the leaves.
Actually, Fubuki, the village leader, showed great interest once Konoha offered this agreement. Still now he was grateful to the village especially the old Team Seven for saving his village against the missing-nins. Also, it came to Tsunade's attention that the waterfall village's genin program lacked the necessary knowledge of teamwork and survival skills and these two happened to be Konoha's very foundation of what a genin should know.
"So, when will they sign the contract and send it to me, Aoi?" Tsunade asked, as she leaned on her table.
"A few days no more than that. He just asked for a chunnin team to collect it after he informs us. At first, Fubuki didn't appear to be such a paranoid individual, but I guess I was wrong. I could see him checking his surroundings all the time, like he was expecting someone to attack him at any time."
"No doubt, he lacks the necessary experience to run a village. He's too young after all. I was equally afraid when the Godaime Kazekage took his throne. Gaara is the same age as Naruto and he has been a kage for almost three years now. Luckily, that kid is smart and knows when to listen to his elders, because if not, Suna would be ruined."
Aoi knew about the young Kazekage Gaara, former jinchuuriki of the Ichibi bijuu. He even had a meeting with him as a representative from Iwa's Anbu one time when a Suna missing-nin crossed the border and tried invading Iwa.
"Speaking of Naruto, how is he treating my little genins?" Aoi asked, earning a smile from Tsunade.
"Quite well actually. I believe our plan worked like a charm, Aoi-san. The genins have all warmed up to the brat and he even corrected some flaws you weren't able to. Taki's speed with hand seals greatly improved and little Kaoro just learned wind manipulation. Aoshi was already a genius, but Naruto gave him some new jutsu to increase his repertoire of jutsus. The problem, now, is keeping Aoshi and Taki from killing one another..."
Aoi suddenly laughed at that, since the rivalry between the two was staggering. On a number of occasions, the old jounin had to step in and meddle with their fight in order to save one from the other.
"Rivalry is healthy, Tsunade. It drives them to improve"
"Forgive me if I don't share your opinion, Aoi. A lot of rivalries here turned out to be bad for the village. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were rivals, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui were rivals, Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were rivals. I just hope nothing bad occurs with this one. So, we are in agreement regarding Naruto, right?
The old man just smiled and nodded as he turned his back and grabbed an old and scattered Anbu mask from his back pack.
"I guess it's time to return to the shadows..."
Seconds later, Aoi vanished within a swirl of leaves, leaving Tsunade alone to do her line of business.
He, then, appeared on the streets as he callously walked throughout the streets of the village he learned to call home. The sun was on the verge of setting and the last rays of sunlight brought a sense of warmth to the village that couldn't be felt in Iwa. There, instead of leafy trees and beautiful scenery, all Aoi could see was dark rock and mountains surrounding the hidden village of stone. Some of the villagers greeted him as he passed by and he greeted them back.
The people in Konoha were friendly to the old jounin as he passed through the streets and entered the training grounds area.
He had a specific destination in mind and he didn't stop for anything. He could spot a great deal of shinobi sharing the training grounds and some were practicing his art, doton manipulation. But the only training ground he was interested was the one where his four students were now located. In a few minutes, training ground number seven appeared in the horizon and four silhouettes could be seen. As he approached even further, he could see Naruto's eyes following his movements as expected. Aoshi and Kaoro were next to him and Taki, to Aoi's surprise, was making a long series of hand seals quite fast and precise.
Indeed, Naruto did a good job with the boy as he saw Taki gathering chakra inside his body.
Doton Doryuu Taihou (Earth Release: Mud Cannon Jutsu)
As Taki exhaled the strong beam of mud, the attack hit a thick rock a couple meters before piercing it as it continued on through some trees. No doubt that was a high B-level technique Naruto just taught the boy. What remained, now, for Naruto's training to be adequate was whether or not the genins would be able to cope with so much knowledge. It didn't matter, though, Aoi concluded. In two months time, these three would no doubt pass the Chunnin Exams that will be held in Sunagakure.
"You returned earlier than I expected you to." Naruto said, alerting his student's before they turned their faces to meet their other sensei Aoi.
Immediately, all three of them, except Aoshi of course who just walked, jumped on their sensei and hugged him with force. Naruto smiled at the scenery and closed his eyes, before approaching the happy group. Aoi, after placing Taki on the ground, looked at his most worthy student yet with a smile on his face. The sun was beginning to disappear on the horizon and the team's training was done for the day.
"Say you three, why don't we have some dinner at the Barbeque Place, I'm buying"
Needless to say, Aoi's offer was met with shout of happiness which didn't bode well for Naruto, since he thought all of them enjoyed the food of the gods called ramen. He even pounded a bit, until Aoi turned his attention to him and asked him to dinner.
"Naruto, would you join us for dinner? It's the least I can do to repay you for taking care of them, especially Taki and Aoshi. These two can be a handful"
Aoi's enthusiastic grin was staggering and Naruto smiled back.
"It was nothing Aoi-sensei. Indeed, they are a handful, but talented genins nonetheless. If you don't mind, though, I'll skip the dinner invitation. I…" Naruto was about to finish his train of mind, but stopped once Kaoro appeared in front of him, before looking at him with puppy eyes, quite to the blond's chagrin.
"Naruto-sensei, come with us please…"
'Oh man…so young and already using those eyes of hers' Thought Naruto as he figured his date with Anko wasn't until two hours.
"Okay, Kaoro you win, let's go old man."
"Don't feel bad Naruto, it's hard to say no to her once she shows those eyes."
Naruto smiled as he could see the girl's face brightened up, while storming to the restaurant dragging the other two with her. Aoi and Naruto remained a few distance away from the genins as they had a lot to discuss. Right now, the skies were smiling at Konoha and its villagers, but it may not be the same once Akatsuki came.
"I trust you've been training, Naruto. Surely, S-ranked ninjas are no playground…" Aoi asked as he saw his team of genins talking with each other and discussing some new techniques Naruto taught them. Naruto nodded solemnly, though he wished they would be able to deal with the group without risking the village's welfare.
"I've been training, alright. But I don't think it's enough to deal with those guys. Ever since Kyuubi's chakra merged with my own, my techniques' strength increased severely and my speed is now doubled. Trouble is that I don't know what they are able to do and quite frankly, I have a feeling they know exactly what I can do." Naruto said, with a lost look on his face. He wanted nothing more than the death of each and every one of that organization.
Aoi, for his part, looked at Naruto for a while before facing his team once more.
"It's not wise to underestimate your own skills Naruto." Aoi said, surprising Naruto as he continued. "Your knowledge of the ninja arts far surpassed all of our expectations and it's my belief that Akatsuki won't be able to beat you. Granted they don't come with subterfuge for advantage, but seeing as your girlfriend is a jounin and everyone you know is already chunnin level shinobi, I guess taking some hostages to convince you won't be an issue. The only thing we have to worry about is the possibility of them working together to capture you"
"Even if they succeed in capturing me, they would be severely disappointed. What are the Hokage's plans if they appear?"
"Beat them one by one, I guess. Off the top of my head, I'd imagine both me and Jiraiya would be there to back you up. Of course, Kakashi will be there as well, so placing one against the other would be our best option. It would stop them for pairing up against you. Though, who would be paired against whom, remains to be decided"
By this time, the five were walking throughout the streets of Konoha as the sun had set and the street lights were already doing its job.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei will be against Itachi, that's for sure; a battle of doujutsu. Besides Kisame, to whom I believe will be an incredibly tough opponent, I don't know the rest of the members. At least, not the ones that are still alive that is."
"Kisame, I believe, would be a fine opponent to measure your skills against, Naruto."
'Great, now my sensei is delusional' Naruto thought as they group entered the barbeque place.
"You can't possibly mean that I'm on Kisame's level Aoi-sensei. The man has about twenty years ahead of me in terms of experience. Plus that damn sword of his would suck up all my chakra dry" Snarled Naruto, quite to Aoi's disappointment, but he knew the source of Naruto's self doubt. It was when the two engaged the first time that Aoi was playing with him the whole time. Naruto believed that nothing changed from that time and that Kisame would be doing the same thing.
Still, no words would manage to convince a fighter like Naruto, so Aoi considered convincing him through his fists.
"Still don't believe in yourself, huh. Tell you what, tomorrow meet me at training ground number 7. Tomorrow is the genin's day off. If you manage to beat me, then you'll believe as I do that you are ready for them."
Naruto eyed Aoi with concern, though the man's proclamation managed to increase his battle spirit. As the group chose a table, Taki rushed with his order, disorienting the waiter a bit, before Kaoro landed a punch on his head yelling at him to slow things down. After all the orders were taken the group now started a heated discussion regarding a hypothetical battle between Aoi and Naruto, earning a sigh in dismay from Naruto and a happy smile from the seasoned Anbu.
"No doubt, Aoi-sensei would wipe the floor with Naruto-sensei. I've seen him dealing with four ninjas at once on that mission we went to Suna four months ago. With one jutsu, he wiped them all out." Taki yelled with severe enthusiasm. Aoshi, despite his reserved demeanor, wasn't much in favor of Naruto, since he believed that age on the battle field was far superior to skills alone. Naruto knew this was a lost battle, until Kaoro rose from her seat.
"You two don't know what you're saying. I've seen Naruto-sensei slice an entire waterfall using only wind manipulation. I doubt Aoi-sensei could ever top an attack like that."
The look of shock on Taki and Aoshi were too much and Kaoro took great pleasure in stating how skilled Naruto was in front of her peers. Still, the fact that at least one of the team was on Naruto's side was enough for Naruto to smile in appraisal, until a familiar voice interrupted what he was about to say.
"Well, I'm starting to be a little jealous…" Anko said, as she appeared from behind Naruto as she caressed his golden locks.
Naruto looked up to see his girlfriend smiling at him, before looking at the little blond girl that stood up for her boyfriend.
"Hey Anko-chan, everyone meets Anko-chan my girlfriend. Anko, the smiling one over there is Taki, the one with a constant frown is Aoshi and the girl's name is Kaoro. Also, you've met Aoi-sensei already, haven't you?"
"Nice to meet you everyone." Anko said, as she took a seat next to Naruto.
Aoshi maintained the frown on his face, though when he looked at Anko's features, his face was starting to change in color. Taki wasn't so controlled as he started drooling, before Kaoro smacked him on the face and told him to stop drooling.
"Anko-san, I apologize for their behavior, it's very inappropriate" said Kaoro as she bowed to Anko.
The snake jounin looked to Naruto for a moment, then at Aoi.
"No worries there kiddo, if these two were chunnins or above, trust me they would be sent flying straight to the hospital. I'll let it slide for now" Anko smiled deviously, as she grabbed a kunai and started playing with it in a menacingly way, scaring the shit out of the two genins. Naruto, for his part, smiled at his girlfriend's all time favorite hobby, scaring little genins.
In the end, the couple's date turned out to be a very nice dinner with the team as they continued the discussion regarding who would win in a fight between Aoi and Naruto. With Kaoro and Anko supporting Naruto, while Taki and Aoshi favored Aoi. The girls quickly bonded as Anko started teaching some nice stuff about how to treat the other sex's lack of respect. Now, Naruto would have to watch out for the rise of a new Anko if Kaoro absorbed even half of what Anko was telling her.
===At Training Ground Number Seven===
Aoi and Naruto were now facing each other in the middle of the training field, but Aoi was now in different clothes. Regular Anbu cargo pants, a light blue vest and a ninjato was on his back. The only part missing from a full Anbu wardrobe was the mask, but that soon was filled as Aoi placed a plain scattered mask with the symbol of Iwa on the mask's forehead region. Just from looking at the mask, Naruto could see the number of battles Aoi faced throughout his life.
Plus, that mask must have been Aoi's only treasure in Iwa, seeing that he could have changed that mask at least once.
"I'm sure that mask means a lot to you, Aoi-sensei" Naruto said, as his hands rested casually inside his pants pockets.
"It's something only an Anbu or ex-Anbu can understand, actually. The things we saw, the atrocities we are forced as shinobi to do…well sometimes it's better to wear a mask then to show your face to the whole world."
Naruto couldn't see Aoi's face because of the mask, but he could feel the heavy burden behind the experienced voice of a man that could rival the Sannin in both skills and experience. Naruto was caught by surprise once he felt a major shift in the wind. He realized in surprise that the man in front of him was different. This wasn't the kind old man who tried very hard to forget everything that happened in his troubled life.
Now, Naruto was in for a preview of what every one of Aoi's enemies felt before being killed.
Suddenly, Aoi grabbed his ninjato and charged at Naruto with speed that he couldn't keep up. A sudden countenance appeared in front of Naruto, before he grabbed his kodashi and stopped Aoi's attack, only seconds away from slicing his throat. What was more surprising for the blond was that Aoi pressed on with his sword, before Naruto could feel the blade almost touching his jugular. There was no doubt in his mind that Aoi wasn't joking around, so it wouldn't be nice to let him have his way. Naruto focused chakra to his muscles all of a sudden and forced Aoi away from him as the blond charged Aoi with both his swords. He attacked Aoi with his katana with a diagonal slash, but Aoi simply evaded and twisted his body to land a powerful kick on Naruto's stomach.
The blond skidded a bit but otherwise he was fine.
Aoi's kick wasn't aimed at any pressure point, serving only to grant a little distance. Naruto charged Aoi with his twin sword style. Charging with the kodashi, Naruto saw Aoi moving his ninjato to defend, before he moved his right arm to attack with the katana. Aoi was surprised, but he adjusted to Naruto's deception, defending the kodashi's strike, before making a quick kawarimi to replace his body with a tree log.
Naruto knew what would happen next as he sensed the usage of chakra from his right as he placed his sword back on each respective holster. Suddenly, Aoi started a long series of hand seals, before he gathered mud on his throat.
Doton Doryuu Dangan (Earth Release: Mud Shot Jutsu)
Different than little Taki's technique, Aoi's was much faster and very difficult to dodge. One of the shots managed to scratch Naruto's arm, but the rest he managed to dodge. Once the last passed by him, Naruto started his own series of hand seals, as he conjured a plan in his mind.
Fuuton Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Wind Sword Jutsu)
Aoi could see the wind sword approaching, forcing him to evade it fast otherwise Aoi would suffer the same consequence as the waterfall. However, as soon as Aoi evaded, he was surprised to see Naruto right in front of him. Aoi wasn't fast enough to block the blond's kick as he went flying. The seasoned shinobi managed to flip his body and land on the ground safe, but Naruto wasn't through as he charged Aoi once more with a sequence of punches. Quickly grabbing a couple of shuriken, Aoi threw them at Naruto, catching the blond by surprise.
Quickly grabbing his kodashi, Naruto managed to deflect the projectiles, but when he finished, Aoi was already by his side with his ninjato inches away from slicing him in half.
Naruto did one back flip once to escape. He did another and while in mid-air, Naruto initiated a series of hand seals. Aoi was suspicious for a moment, as the earth below Naruto started to shatter. But he was surprised once Naruto finished the last hand seal.
Doton Tetsu no Yari (Earth Release: Iron Lance Jutsu)
Immediately, two iron lances shot out from the ground straight towards Aoi. The lances pierced his skin and sent the old jounin straight towards a tree where he was pinned there like a target. Naruto, for the life of him didn't believe this to be the end, although the site of his dead sensei was too much to erase from his memory. Naruto wasn't surprised to see that Aoi's body transformed into mud, which earned a smile from the blond.
The real Aoi charged at the blond from behind with his sword, but Naruto managed to block it by using his kodashi.
The old jounin was surprised to see another Naruto on his back, but he was ill prepared to block the clone's incoming kick, before he was sent flying. Naruto charged him instantly, though Aoi surprised him by doing a long series of hand seals, before flipping his body, imitating Naruto's movements and smashing his hands on the ground.
Doton Doryuso (Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears Jutsu)
Suddenly, as Naruto foreseen the appearance of the spikes right in front of him ready to pierce his skin, he focused chakra to his legs and jumped high to the air, while doing a long series of hand seals now for a fuuton jutsu.
Fuuton Suidou no Tatsumaki (Wind Release: Tornado Tunnel Jutsu)
The wind around Naruto suddenly started spinning until it created a horizontal vortex. Naruto sent it towards Aoi with such speed that Aoi barely managed to avoid, but with gust wind techniques, either you avoid it completely or the force of the wind will end up dragging you along, hence why Aoi ended up being dragged by the force of the wind towards a sizeable rock. Figuring that the impact would hurt immensely, Aoi did the only thing he could against this strong technique.
He replaced himself with an unscathed tree log that rested next to Naruto as he landed on the ground.
Naruto didn't see anything, because he was focused on maintaining the technique. The tornado hit the rock with such force it managed to cut a sizeable chunk out of it. The blond was surprised, and only on mere instinct, did he move his kodashi fast enough to block Aoi's ninjato slash coming from his blind side. Naruto was wondering what the hell happened as Aoi pummeled him with strong sword slashes, forcing Naruto on the defensive. The old jounin suddenly managed to break Naruto's guard until he positioned his ninjato inches away from the blond's jugular.
"That was a good fight, Naruto. But I'm afraid you'd be dead had I been from Akatsuki" Aoi said, as he was panting with exhaustion. Fighting a stamina freak like Naruto was hard enough in the past, but now that Kyuubi's chakra mingled with his, it was like fatigue wasn't a part of Naruto's dictionary. Nevertheless, Aoi supposed that Naruto was beat, but the sudden smile on his student's facet told him otherwise as two swords were suddenly positioned on both sides of his neck.
"You're saying…old man"
Aoi smirked and dropped his ninjato on the ground in surrender. Naruto did the same as now the two stood before each other. Aoi was still recovering his breath a bit. If this fight went on much longer, Naruto wouldn't need to focus on killing Aoi. As he looked at Naruto, Aoi had a sense of pride he long ago lost as the hardships of the Anbu life were too much for him to handle. Out of all the ninjas he trained, not one of them had as much vigor and strength as the jounin in front of him.
For the first time in Aoi's life, he smiled as he saw a true shinobi from the younger generation, to whom he could pass his knowledge to.
"I trust that with the result displayed today, you've stop underestimating your skills?" Aoi said, as Naruto nodded with a smile on his face, but Aoi wasn't through talking as he now knew Naruto's capability to receive the ultimate technique "Naruto, I believe it is now time to teach you my signature technique. You have excelled in your skills throughout these months and I believe you're ready to learn the technique that could very well save Konoha one day just like I used it to save Iwa. I'm about to teach you the ultimate defense Doton Tetsu Toride (Earth Release: Iron Fortress Jutsu)"
As Aoi was speaking, Naruto's pride was rising more and more. No one truly knew, but a complement from Aoi meant a lot to the blond, more so than anyone else. More than Jiraiya, Kakashi, Iruka…Aoi-sensei became a true sensei to him and he couldn't be more honored to have a man like him to teach him how to be a legendary shinobi.
"Now, I have to replenish my energy a bit, so what do you say we hit your favorite restaurant Ichiraku Ramen, before I teach you the technique, huh?"
The noise in Naruto's stomach was the best answer he could give, which earned a warm laugher from the old man.
Author Note
It was my intention to do a simple prelude before Akatsuki's fight against Konoha. Before a life-altering battle, our hero wasn't sure whether or not he could defeat Akatsuki.
Now, just as Konoha, Naruto is prepared for the battle against the red cloud organization.
Stay tuned for next chapter.