Up before Juuri the next morning, Naruto sighed as he stood and looked out the window. He wanted to get this training done with, but he also wanted to make sure that what happened with Jiraiya just before they found Juuri, didn't happen while training. That wouldn't be a good thing at all.
"Naruto?"
Looking over at Juuri as she stretched while she sat up, Naruto smiled. "Morning sleepy head." Going to her as she stood up he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "Sleep well?"
Nodding as she smiled up at him, Juuri sighed. "I did actually. What are you doing up so early?"
Letting her walk away from him and toward the bathroom, Naruto sighed as he went back to the window. "Trying to see if I could think of what is going to happen when my training starts today. Shikamaru was in charge of it so I don't know what to expect with it."
Walking out of the bathroom, now dressed, Juuri gave him an odd look as she walked up to him. "But he is your friend right? He was there when we went to the Sand. He wouldn't do more than you can handle would he?"
Dropping his head, Naruto sighed. "It isn't that. Like I told you, before you, I was impulsive. I would run with a half a thought and not think twice about it. It always got me in trouble and in some ways caused problems for those with me. I just hope he doesn't still think I am that even after seeing I am not."
Hugging his arm, Juuri sighed as she closed her eyes. "I am sure things are going to be just fine." Dropping her eyes she sighed as she fisted a hand on his clothes. "Though I can say that I am not looking forward to you leaving."
Pulling his arm away from her and wrapping them both around her from behind, Naruto smiled. "It's alright. I will be with teammates that will help me, just like last time. And you will be with your father. Everything is going to be fine and I will be back before you know it."
"I hope it goes fast." But then she laughed as she looked up into his perfect blue eyes and sighed. "Though as you go through the ranks of ninja, and work toward Hokage, I am going to have to get used to you being gone on missions some aren't I?"
"Yeah but by the time you have to really worry about that, you will know this village like the back of your hand, and have loads of friends. I promise." Kissing her, Naruto then sighed as he laughed when her stomach growled and she dropped her head. "Come on. We will stop and get some Ichiraku on the way to the training field."
Just as they left the apartment though he could feel eyes on him. He was so being followed at the moment. 'Root no doubt.'
X
It was mid morning by the time that he reached the training field, and not only were all the genin that he graduated with there, but so was Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and a few others. "What is everyone doing here for this?"
"Precautions." Stepping up it was Shikamaru who sighed. "Just want to be better safe than sorry. You know what I mean."
Seeing the look in his eyes, it was clear that Jiraiya got to talk to him last night. "Right."
"Juuri can come over here with us." Sakura was there grabbing Juuri and pulling her from Naruto. "You get to meet everyone else while we watch. Naruto can get a pretty one track mind while training." But then she glared as she looked up to see Sai coming out from the trees. "And of course he shows up."
Looking over at the strange kid that was rather pale, Juuri turned back to Sakura with a questioning look. "Sakura?"
"We will explain that to you later on. Right now, we are going to hang out over here with everyone else while Naruto trains." But just as they kept walking, Sakura focused her chakra and tapped her foot just a little harder, and sent a vibration to everyone there. Leaving a large gap where Sai was now standing so he didn't feel it.
Looking back to see Sai, Naruto sighed as he turned back to Shikamaru. "So what am I doing?"
"Well Kakashi and I actually came up with this together." Looking at Kakashi as he came up next to him, Shikamaru sighed as he pointed to the tree. "We know from when we went on the mission to go and save Gaara that you know what your clones are actually used for. If you hadn't we were going to show you when training started. But not only can they be used to gather intel, but they, especially in your case can be used in training."
"Use my clones for training?" Naruto didn't quite know what they were talking about. He knew he could get information from his clones, but not train with them.
"That's right." When Naruto's eyes pulled to his, Kakashi sighed as he crossed his arms. "Just like if you were to make ten clones right now and send them to ten different places where there was a scroll. Each clone would pick up the scroll and put it in their pack and then release the jutsu. Once all ten were done, you would then have all ten scrolls. It works the same way with training. If you train with ten clones, what would take you ten months to learn would only take a month. If you train with a hundred, it would go even faster."
"And if I train with the number of clones that I can make, what would take me ten years should take me a week." When Kakashi nodded, Naruto smiled with a nod. "How many clones am I making?"
"First Naruto you need to get a lesson from me."
Turning to find Asuma standing there, Naruto blinked. "Why do I need to do that first?"
"Because you make so many clones that there is no way one explanation would get through to all of them. If I explain it to you, then when you make the clones, they will already know what to do." Asuma then held up on of his blade and let the chakra encase it. "See how just by incasing it, the chakra is bumpy." When he gave a nod, he then focused on making it a blade. "Fine and sharp. Just like you do with your chakra chains how you picture them to make them appear. This is the same exact thing." Handing him a leaf, Asuma held another one and cupped it in his hands. "Do just like this. Focus your chakra and cut the leaf in half." When he moved his hand, the leaf was cut full in half.
Turning to Kakashi, Naruto blinked. "Doing this with clones will help me get it faster right. So how many clones do you want me to make?"
Pointing to the tree behind him, Kakashi closed his eyes. "One clone for every leaf on that tree." He then opened his eyes as in a puff of smoke there was hundreds and hundreds of Naruto's all doing the same thing. 'I think he may be more like you after all Minato. At least on this one.'
X
Watching from the tree line, Sai wanted to get up in the middle of them and see exactly what was being said and how they were going to train him in chakra nature. Part of his mission was to gage just how strong Naruto was or wasn't, get the scrolls and take out Sasuke when they found him. He had no intention of ever making friends with them. He didn't have any feelings so that wouldn't work anyway.
But when he settled on what he knew was the real Naruto he had to admit that this wasn't the same Naruto he had heard stories about before. He was focused and calm. But then his eyes went wide when he saw the glare in his eyes as he looked right at him. The look in them was perfectly clear. He knew. He knew that he had other orders than to fill in for Sasuke. 'But how did he figure it out? There is no way that he knows what they are I know that. Someone must have told him. He couldn't have gotten that smart in the two years he was training with Jiraiya could he?'
