Naruto waited for Jiraiya at the river for over an hour. He sat back near the riverbank, tossing a kunai up and down lethargically. It was colder today, and he wasn't looking forward to training in the water. Naruto snatched the knife out of the air as he heard the clacking of Jiraiya's sandals approaching from over the hill. He emerged from the foliage and walked over to the riverside.
"Good, you're already here," said Jiraiya.
"I've been here for forever!" said Naruto. "You said dawn. I'm sore as hell from yesterday, and I even got here on time!"
Jiraiya waved his hand at Naruto. "Do you realize I'm a wise and revered sage? There are duties that I must attend to at all hours, sacred responsibilities that must be performed to maintain the harmony of this world."
"Liar!" said Naruto, pointing at Jiraiya's unkempt hair. "You just woke up! Your eyes are all crusty too!"
"Well, I guess I'll just have to make training twice as hard to make up for missed time," said Jiraiya. "On the water, now! Two clones."
"Wait, seriously?" said Naruto. One clone felt daunting enough, if yesterday's training was any indication.
"If you can't handle this, then there's no way you'll be able to control enough chakra for the technique I was going to teach you," said Jiraiya.
"What kind of technique?" said Naruto.
"It's a powerful, secret ninjutsu," said Jiraiya. "And if used properly, you can crank a ton of chakra into it. You don't need to worry about it if you aren't able to keep up with this training though."
"No, I can do it!" said Naruto.
Naruto stepped out onto the water and produced two shadow clones, feeling the immediate spike in difficulty. Maintaining the clones was a small feat compared to enduring the bolt of mental fatigue that Naruto felt upon reabsorbing them.
"Visualize the chakra flowing through your body," said Jiraiya as Naruto caught his breath and went for another round on the water.
Naruto felt the sting of a pebble striking him in the ear. He slipped out of focus, and crashed down to his waist in the river. Jiraiya stood on the shore, tossing another pebble up and down in his hand.
"What was that for?!" said Naruto.
"Don't lose sight of your surroundings," said Jiraiya. "Manipulating your chakra is one thing, but keep in mind that in many situations you'll be simultaneously identifying and evading threats, analyzing your opponent's abilities, and strategizing your next move. Neji Hyuga won't stand by passively while you charge up."
Naruto fell full into the water about a dozen times more that morning. Jiraiya mercifully ended their training at noon again, and Naruto was left even more exhausted than the day before. On the third morning, Jiraiya added a new exercise.
"It's time we start sharpening your combat skills," said Jiraiya. "It doesn't matter how much chakra you can wield if you can't land a hit, or take a hit for that matter." He conjured a shadow clone of his own. "Try to take out my clone—no need to hold back." The genuine Jiraiya sat back in the shade.
Naruto was glad that his grueling chakra control training of the past two days had been postponed, and he couldn't deny that it would feel satisfying to knock Jiraiya down a peg after hitting him in the ear earlier. Sure, Jiraiya made a fool out of Ebisu when they had first met, but Naruto rationalized that it was mainly due to the element of surprise—how strong and fast could this old fart really be? Naruto drew a kunai from his pouch, twirling it on his finger, then sprinted forward.
"Way too slow and obvious," said Jiraiya's clone as he casually sidestepped the assault and delivered a chop to Naruto's upper back. Naruto went tumbling to the ground. He leapt back up and took another swing, but Jiraiya's clone smacked the kunai out of Naruto's hand.
Naruto stepped back and hurled a handful of shuriken, which were swatted down with ease as Jiraiya's clone kicked a small stone at Naruto, striking him in the nose and making his eyes water.
"C'mon, you're not going to even try Kage Bunshin?" said Jiraiya. "I mean it, don't hold back."
Naruto put his hands together and concentrated on gathering chakra—he was surprised by how much easier it was to draw from within, he could feel the powerful flow of energy. "Kage Bunshin!" Six shadow clones appeared around him with a poof of smoke, and they rushed the Jiraiya clone in combination. Jiraiya's clone weaved around them, stepping past wild attacks, and shoving the Naruto clones away.
"Terrible," said Jiraiya's clone as he tripped one of the Narutos. "You're totally uncoordinated. How can doppelgangers be so out of sync?" Jiraiya's clone grabbed an incoming kick and tossed the Naruto clone into the Momoko River. "You need to act in harmony! Otherwise, you're just wasting chakra." The Jiraiya clone performed a spinning attack, knocking all the surrounding Narutos back. "Reabsorb your chakra. We're going to go over some basic taijutsu forms."
Naruto released the jutsu. Damn, he's as tough as Kakashi-sensei.