Hey there guys! More Sage mode training for you, coupled with problems such as Kurama being a jealous little shit and others! I do hope you enjoy. I like to think I've got a good balance of fluff and bickering in this one, though I admit next chapter is the one people are really gonna wanna see. Anyway please do read and review-I love all of your reviews and they really motivate me-especially at the moment 'cause I've gotten to a real intense bit of the fic and I'm fussing over it.

Naruto spent two weeks simply perfecting her ability to sense the natural energy with the aid of the toad oil-Fukasaku had insisted that they not rush too much, they had the time, and he wanted to make sure that Naruto wasn't rushing too much.

Of course Naruto worked hard and by the time the second week was up Fukasaku no longer had to hit her to stop her from losing focus and taking in too much of the energy.

By the end of the two weeks she was more than able to lift up one of the stone frogs with the Natural energy's help, and with Jiraiya cheering her on in the background.

Then of course had come the next stage of the training. She had to learn how to draw in the energy without the help of the Toad oil.

To do that she had to sit still, as still as was possible, her clones by her side as she always did, and she had to focus.

To help her do that Fukasaku had set up stone platforms on spikes, and she would sit on the platform-that way she had to be completely still or she'd fall a great distance-which happened over and over, though Fukasaku would catch her every time she started to fall.

Jiraiya of course wasn't there during that stage of the training because he was nothing if not distracting.

It was incredibly hard though-Naruto had never realised how much she moved even when she thought she was being still, slight shifts in her weight made a lot of difference when you were trying to balance on a platform held up by a stone spike.

She, of course, had three shadow clones with her doing the same.

It took her a long time to manage it, but after another week had passed, with constant training she found herself able to sit perfectly still, to focus and draw the Natural energy into herself.

She found herself incredibly proud when Fukasaku had pointed out that she had managed to do it without the oil and without any frog like features at
all.

She had achieved sage mode.

She'd been beyond proud of the fact that she'd done it in such a short amount of time really.

When she'd leapt down from the platform and rushed to show Jiraiya, who had almost squeezed the breath out of her, laughing and hugging her tightly before Fukasaku had joined them, and she'd began to spar against them both as the next stage of her training, actually fighting while in sage mode.

Of course she didn't expect to beat them both-but she quickly grew used to fighting in Sage mode, she could give as good as she got as far as she was concerned.

She even snuck out at nights to work on her own little idea for a way to utilize Sage mode for a certain jutsu.

Of course it had been after they'd declared she was finished training in that respect that they came across the problem.

To use sage mode you had to be able to be still and gather Natural energy, that was all well and good, but when Naruto had asked how she was supposed to do it for unexpected fights, especially given the fact that Sage mode didn't last for that long and she couldn't just enter it again without withdrawing from the fight to gather the energy.

She frowned when she was told that, sat at the table with Jiraiya and Fukasaku while Shima was cooking.

"So... how does Ero Sennin do it then?" she glanced at Jiraiya, who chuckled.

"You explain it to her Fukasaku-sama."

"The only way to get around this limitation is for myself and Shima to fuse to you-"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and her mouth dropped open.

"What?"

"Calm down Naruto-chan." Fukasaku sounded amused. "When I say merged all it means is that I'll be lightly attached to your shoulder or back."

"Oh." Naruto relaxed. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"It is important. To put it simply it means we split the roles between stillness and action. Which means that when one of us is moving the other is still and gathering Natural energy."

"In my case I had Shima-sama and Fukasaku-sama on my shoulders in my final Sage mode."

"That makes sense, I think I get it." the blonde grinned, "Should we practice doing that?"

"Yes." Fukasaku nodded, "We will fight Jiraiya-chan, I will gather the natural energy on your behalf."

"That sound-"

"No."
Kurama's voice was sudden and sharp. "No Naruto-chan that is not happening."

"What? Why not?"

"I don't mind you learning Sage mode but I am not sharing you with a bunch of toads!"

"What? Are you insane fuzzball?"

"Uh." Naruto held up a hand, "Ero Sennin, Fukasaku-sama I just need to talk to Kurama a second." she shook her head, "We may have a bit of a
problem."

"What would that be?" Fukasaku's eyes narrowed, "I can't see any problems."

"Kurama is being stubborn. I'm gonna talk to him in our mindscape." with that Naruto slipped into her mindscape, body going limp in her chair.

She let out a breath as she looked around, spotting Kurama curled up-and that was a sign he was sulking, she'd have expected him to be making the most of the freedom that the new seal gave him rather than curled up like that. She sighed, hands on her hips as she moved towards him. "Kurama!
You gigantic asshole what the hell do you mean you're not sharing me?"

"It's not happening." the fox refused to even turn his head too look at her-oh yeah. This was gonna be a tricky one.

"Care to explain why?"

"Because I am not sharing you with them-"

"Kurama you're acting like a great big baby!" the blonde glowered at him, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"You are!" Naruto glared, kicking at Kurama's leg. "You can't just refuse to let me use Sage mode!"

"I don't care if you use Sage mode." the Fox turned his head, giving her a dirty look, "But you're mine Naruto-chan. My Jinchuriki. I am not sharing you with the stinking toads!"

"You're being a child."

"Coming from the literal child."

"What is the point in me even learning how to do this if you're not willing to let me do it during battle-"

"You can use our perfect Jinchuriki mode."

"Oh yeah, sure." Naruto glowered, "That is gonna be overkill for some of our potential enemies Kurama-"

"And Sage mode won't be?"

"Not as much!" Naruto threw her hands up, shaking her head, "I love you Kurama but you're being the biggest asshole ever right now. I shouldn't use your chakra like that unless it's a last resort."

"Why?"

"Because I would rather you remained my secret weapon to use against people like Obito and that Pain guy Kabuto told Sasuke-kun about."

"So you'll just use Sage mode instead. You shouldn't need to you're my-"

"Ugh!" Naruto pointed at him. "You're such an asshole!"

"It's not happening brat! Find another way to use Sage mode but you are not fusing with the toads I won't let you! Besides even if I could it probably won't work. My Chakra will cause issues anyway-"

"So it's not even that you just won't?" Naruto demanded, "But your Chakra will stop the fusion too?"

"Yes. So even if I was willing to let those annoying toads fuse with you they wouldn't be able to fuse properly. To you my Chakra is warm and gentle, and it has changed in my time inside of you, it is gentler now, less corrosive, but still, to those toads it would be corrosive still."

"This is ridiculous." Naruto shook her head, giving Kurama a dirty look, "I can't believe that you're jealous."

"I am not jealous!"

"Yes you are!" with that Naruto was slipping out of their mindscape, pulling a face as she focused on Fukasaku.

"Yeah we have a problem Fukasaku-sama." Naruto rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Kurama says it won't work because of his chakra, also if it would apparently he won't allow it because I'm his-"

"What?" Jiraiya blinked before laughing. "Wait are you saying that the Kyubi, the most powerful of the Bijuu is jealous?"

"Yes." Naruto rolled her eyes, "He's acting like a big baby." she shook her head "He won't let you fuse with me Fukasaku-sama."

"That's most vexing." Fukasaku rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "There must be a way for you to use Sage mode."

"We'll figure it out brat." Jiraiya patted Naruto's shoulder comfortingly, "You'll figure it out I'm sure."

"Ugh." Naruto flopped forward, slamming her head against the table, making Jiraiya laugh loudly.

This was going to be a serious set back.

Naruto's prediction turned out to be correct

They spent months trying to figure it out with no luck. Jiraiya was as supportive as he possibly could be but it was reaching the stage where it was hard to have hope.

She'd tried extending the time she could remain in stage mode, tried decreasing the time it took for her to gather the energy, none of it would make her able to use it in battle.

She groaned to herself, shaking her head and flopping back onto the grass, staring at the sky. "Ero Sennin." her voice was quiet, "What if I can't do it? I don't want to disappoint you." she felt Jiraiya moving, felt him sitting next to her.

"You could never disappoint me brat. Don't you even think that, you hear me? I'm incredibly proud of you already. Have you tried asking if Kurama can think of anything to help?"

"Every day for the past month." Naruto grumbled the words "He has nothing and he's still acting like an asshole over it."

"He's jealous." Jiraiya shook his head, "As crazy as that sounds. He's had you all to himself all these years, of course he doesn't want to share, especially not to soon after you've truly cemented your bond. Besides from what he told you his Chakra won't let it work anyway."

"He could find a way to let it work he just doesn't want to."

"Is this the first time you've really argued with him?"

"Yeah." Naruto admitted reluctantly, "We don't argue. It's always been Naruto and Kurama against the world, now..."

"It's okay brat. All friendships have their ups and downs." Jiraiya chuckled, "Tsunade-hime and I argue a lot, but beneath it all she's one of my closest friends and I'm one of hers. And Rin and Kakashi have argued more than once. It won't destroy your relationship, it'll strengthen it."

"Doesn't feel like it."

"Of course not." Jiraiya shook his head, "You're a kid, everything feels like the end of the world at your age, nothing to be ashamed of."

"I just... I tried so hard Ero Sennin." she felt her eyes filling with tears and she blinked rapidly, trying to force them back.

Jiraiya sighed, grabbing her arm and yanking her so that she was sitting up. "C'mon brat. Up you get."

"I don't want to."

"This is the hardest thing you've ever done huh?" the old man carefully wrapped an arm around her shoulder once she was sat up, "You've never had to train this hard for anything."

"The Rasenshuriken was difficult." Naruto hesitated, biting her lip, "That took years but... it didn't feel this hard I never forced myself into training for it for so hard and so long as I have with this and I actually did it Ero Sennin. I dunno if I can do this."

"Kid this isn't like you. You're tough." he squeezed gently. "Come on, you never give up on anything."

Naruto closed her eyes, leaning her head against his shoulder, "Thank you Ero Sennin."

"It's fine brat-"

"Jiraiya-chan. Can we talk?"

"Yes Fukasaku-sama." Jiraiya got to his feet slowly, pulling away from the blonde. "You wait here Naruto-chan." he made his way over to Fukasaku, and Naruto watched as they moved a short distance away to talk.

Her brows furrowed and she hesitated for a long moment before carefully channeling some Chakra to her ears to enhance her hearing.

"-It's not possible. None of us can think of a way for her to use Sage made in battle Jiraiya-chan. You shouldn't keep telling her to keep going. I know you have faith in the child but you're setting her up for disappointment."

"I believe in her Fukasaku-sama. We can't give up."

"Some people just aren't meant for Sage mode Jiraiya-chan you know that. It's simply not possible. It's like looking left and right at the same time. It can't be done."

"She does the impossible all the time. I believe in her." Naruto let the chakra go, shoulders slumping as she frowned.

Like looking left and right at the same time. She turned her head to look right before pausing, her brows furrowing.

She summoned a shadow clone, eyeing it carefully as it sat down cross legged, meditating and absorbing nature chakra.

Like looking left and right at the same time.

She did that all the time when she had clones.

Was it possible or was she being too optimistic? Really the only way to tell was by testing it right?

She allowed the clone to gather the chakra for some time-Jiraiya and Fukasaku really were deep in conversation, they'd not even noticed what she was doing.

Once she judged it to have been long enough she dispelled the clone-and the memories rushed into her mind as always, and with them rushed the Natural energy.

Naruto felt a smile spreading across her lips as she felt herself enter Sage mode, and she was on her feet, grinning widely as she summoned a second clone, setting it to work.

Then she rushed over to Jiraiya and Fukasaku, a huge grin on her lips.

"Fukasaku-sama! Ero Sennin!"

"What is it Naruto-chan?" that was Jiraiya, and he raised an eyebrow, "You've turned your attitude around."

"Come with me a sec." she grabbed the old mans arm and the toads hand, yanking them with her towards her clone.

"What's going on Naruto-chan?" Fukasaku raised an eyebrow, "You seem very excited, and why are you in Sage mode?"

"Let me show you!" she let go of their hands and released the Nature energy, slipping out of Sage mode. "Are you ready?"

"Of course Naruto-chan." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "What do you have to show us?"

"Just watch." Naruto dispelled the clone and she felt the familiar rush of Natural energy, felt herself slipping into Sage mode.

Jiraiya gasped in shock and Fukasaku's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Naruto-chan." the toads voice was stunned, "You did it. With your Shadow clones drawing in the Nature energy-"

"I can enter Sage mode without needing a toads help in battle-" she was cut off by Jiraiya's loud whoop of joy, and she was swept of her feet and swung around by him as he laughed, and she was laughing too, a bright joyous sound as she clung to the old man. "I did it Ero Sennin! I did it!"