"What's wrong with me, this isn't working." Naruto said in frustration.
"There might be a way to help you master Sage Jutsu Naruto boy." Fukasaku said. "Come with me."
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked curiously.
"There's a special type of water only found here, if helps draw nature energy into your body before you learn how to do it naturally." Fukasaku said. "Of course this method isn't without its risks."
"I can handle it." Naruto said. "No problem."
"I sincerely hope so for your sake, because if you can't balance the nature energy that flows into your body well you see the frog statues all around you correct?" Fukasaku asked gesturing to the surrounding statues.
"Yeah, what about them?" Naruto asked.
"If you lose control of nature energy you'll start to change into a toad, and then well you see what happens after that." Fukasaku said calmly.
"Wait, you're not serious are you?" Naruto asked nervously.
"Don't worry Naruto boy, I'll be keeping an eye on you in case you start developing any toad like characteristics." Fukasaku said calmly.
"Alright, let's get started." Naruto said as Fukasaku took a brush and applied a small amount of water to his arm.
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"Zetsu, where is the leader?" Yakumo asked quickly. "There's a matter that needs to be brought to his attention."
"I've taken care to inform him already of Itachi's unfortunate demise and Sasuke's return to the leaf village." Zetsu said calmly. "Our priority is to ensure the capture of the nine-tails jinchuuriki."
"Wait, but we still haven't captured the eight-tails." Yakumo said. "If we seal the nine-tails first everything we've done will be for nothing."
"Exactly, that's why you're going to capture the eight-tails personally." Zetsu said. "Your talent for genjutsu will be invaluable in capturing him."
"Do you mean that the leader is currently heading to the leaf village?" Yakumo asked.
"Not quite, he needs to prepare but the nine-tails will be in our possession soon enough." Zetsu said calmly.
"I understand. I'll capture the eight-tails." Yakumo said calmly.
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For his first attempt he's certainly doing much better than I expected, Fukasaku thought before Naruto started turning into a toad.
"Ouch, what was that for?" Naruto asked after Fukasaku smacked him on the head.
"In order to keep you from ending up as another statue decorating the mountain I'm going to have to knock the nature energy out of you." Fukasaku said calmly.
"You could have mentioned that involved hitting me in the head." Naruto said in annoyance. "Let's try this again."
"Well said Naruto boy." Fukasaku said with a smile.
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"Alright, what happened before Itachi's mission?" Sasuke asked. "What was the other option you could have taken?"
"Do you remember a man named Shisui Uchiha?" Homura asked calmly.
"The name rings a bell." Sasuke said calmly. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"Just like Itachi and you, Shisui awoke his own Mangekyõ Sharingan. However unlike Itachi's three jutsu his eyes awoke to a different jutsu completely." Homura said calmly. "A genjutsu known as the Kotoamatsukami."
"Kotoamatsukami, what kind of jutsu is that?" Sasuke asked.
"It implants a command into the mind of the target without their conscious awareness. Anything you want to ensure happens will happen without fail." Homura said calmly. "Shisui was willing to cast a genjutsu on the entire Uchiha clan and prevent the coup-de-tat before it began."
"Then why was Itachi ordered to massacre the clan, if this genjutsu is as powerful as you say it would have been simple to accomplish Shisui's goals." Saskue said.
"The official records say that Itachi murdered Shisui, however the truth is that he committed suicide before getting the chance to cast the Kotoamatsukami." Homura said calmly. "Without his genjutsu the only option left to us was to eliminate the Uchiha clan before they rebelled against the leaf village."
"It isn't impossible to transfer Shisui's eyes to someone else, Kakashi is proof of that. The Kotoamatsukami could have been cast by someone else even if Shisui was dead." Sasuke said.
"No, because when his body was recovered Shisui Uchiha didn't have either of his eyes. They had both been forcibly removed from his head." Homura said. "If we had the opportunity to use the genjutsu we would have done so, but that option was lost to us."
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"How are you two doing out here?" Shima asked noticing Naruto's toad like appearance. "He's not doing very well is he?"
"Naruto boy is definitely improving at an astounding rate, though as you can see he still has some work to do before he'll be able to use sage mode in a fight." Fukasaku said while hitting Naruto on the head again.
"Come on, what am I doing wrong?" Naruto asked in frustration. "There has to be something I'm not getting."
"You've made remarkable progress Naruto boy." Fukasaku said calmly. "Not even Jiraiya boy did this well the day he learned about sage jutsu."
"He's right you know, at this rate you'll be a full fledged sage before you know it." Shima said calmly.
"I guess, I just feel like something's going wrong." Naruto said in annoyance.
"What do you mean, from my perspective you're doing fine." Fukasaku said calmly. "This isn't something you can learn in a day."
"It's not that, I feel like something's blocking the nature energy from flowing through my body like chakra." Naruto said. (1)
"That's strange, I didn't notice anything like that but there might be someone who would." Fukasaku said thoughtfully. "Though before we do that you're more than welcome to join us for dinner."
"Thanks, that sounds good." Naruto said respectfully.
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"Kakashi, they're improving a lot faster than we thought. If this keeps up we might end up learning from them." Guy said.
"You have a point, I wasn't expecting them to work together quite so efficiently in such a short amount of time." Kakashi said. "Still, the real question is how Naruto and Sasuke can work with the others."
"I wouldn't worry about them, they'll be just fine Kakashi. You should know that better than anyone." Guy said calmly.
"I hope you're right Guy." Kakashi said thoughtfully.
(Naruto is progressing in his sage training, and Sasuke has learned of the reason for the Uchiha massacre. Next chapter the leaf shinobi will continue training to defeat the akatsuki. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)
(1) (Orochimaru's jutsu to link his life to Naruto's is also preventing Naruto from accessing sage mode.)