This is the chapter where things really change from the previous versions... I am far more pleased with this version of the story and like the direction this is going in...

How strong do you think Naruto, who was barely genin when he met Azula, could be in one year?

I am thinking Mid to High B... bordering on Low A if he worked hardest and Scratching as Low S with Kyuubi's base powers since it made him jonin level as a Genin... at least in terms of power.

Just a thought...

Also, last thing... the point of Azula's training and debates is teaching Naruto how to think, not what to think.

2 weeks in...

" Flash!" A Wave of sheer chakra shot from Naruto's blade, carving a large gash into three trees. Satisfied, Naruto twisted his blade all the way around, then sheathed it upon his back. " Was that right, Azula Sensei? It kind of reminded me of the rasengan a little, a mix of the water walking and tree climbing techniques."

Soft clapping filled the clearing, sending a surge of pride through Naruto's heart. " Yes, it seems you have gained a firm talent with this technique already, even if your speed could use some work and so could your accuracy. I have a feeling that techniques that use pure chakra are something you excel at. This skill, It is the core of all all advanced Samurai Jutsu. The Samurai Saber Technique has many variations, a few of which I have also created. The Flash Jutsu you just used it the first stage. The next stage is a tad more difficult. Instead of casting surges of chakra via sharp surges of chakra, you must channel a constant stream of chakra which will make your blade sharper, stronger and more durable allowing you to fully take advantage of your strength and speed as you grow in power. I believe you will easily master this the same way you mastered this technique. It seems the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan took the basics of all chakra shape manipulation techniques into one movement. Really, so simple but so powerful." She shook her head, laughing a little. " I wish I had the chance to fight him, but unfortunately I never got that chance."

" Yeah, he beat the Kyuubi and whoever forced it to attack the village." Naruto frowned a little, they were not really sure who forced out the Kyuubi but Azula and Naruto had come to the realization during a debate that it was nearly impossible for the Kyuubi to have escaped it's previous host. Even if she was giving birth, since all Jinchiuuriki females lost power during childbirth and pregnancy, the Sealing skills of Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze and the Third Hokage would have been more then enough to halt any attempts to break the seal. Someone had to have intervened. Maybe it was Danzo, or another ANBU equivalent. Someone powerful enough to defeat one of those three near god like Shinobi, smart enough to shatter such a powerful seal, and skilled enough to escape without being caught. " I think I get why he made the jutsu. It stops handsigns, since it takes seconds to make, as opposed to the long time Ninjutsu handsigns take. Just like the Samurai Jutsu."

" Probably, child. Mixed with his speed and monsterous taijutsu skills and he could thrash an entire army before they twitched a finger... and now that we are on that topic, I do believe we will need to work on your speed. The Flash Jutsu requires speed to truly become dangerous, and without greater speed your taijutsu style and sword skills are useless in an advanced fight. From now on, I want you to start putting rocks in bag and carry it on your back while you train. Once you leave, try to get official weights. Until then I do want you to spend the next hour or so channeling a consistent amount of chakra into these garden tools. They are rusted and useless, so it is alright if you damage them with your chakra. It should assist you in that."

Naruto nodded, reaching forward to grab her spade. "So... when do we start working in seal work? I mean, I have been working on my caligraphy for two weeks, I am a lot better! You can ready my writing now! I just... after reaing that book by Rei Uzumaki, learning my clan was famous for seals, I am almost itching to practice seal work like they did. I mean they were so much of a threat that they could take on three other countries and still do a lot of damage! With that kind of skill I could easily get Sasuke back, maybe take that seal off of his neck too!"

She laughed, a warm hearty sound that belied her advanced age and frail body. "Naruto, you need perfect caligraphy to practice Sealing... however you ought to begin at least understanding seals, and so we will reduce your reading on any given subject by an hour and replace it with seal studies. I will explain the basics to you, so that before you leave this place you should have enough skill to seal all of my books and take then with you."

Naruto smiled, masking the frown he wanted to show. 'But I don't want to leave you... your the only person to ever treat me like a person.'

She seemed to see through his smile, despite himself, her own smile becoming pained. "We always knew your time here would be limited, love... embrace each day for what it is worth, and cherish our time together as you live your life. That is all you can do."

"I'll try."

"""

It took two days before Naruto was good enough to fill the rusted weapons with chakra sharp enough to be used as a weapon and even then it wasn't perfect. He may have chakra to spare, but unlike temporary bursts of chakra this method was far harder. He suspected, knowing far more about chakra control now, that it was the same reason he struggled with the Rasengan... maintaining the chakra push was the hard part. Still, he looked forward to the exercise each day, as he saw noticable improvement and knew he would have enough skill to use it in combat by the months end.

Speaking of the Rasengan, after the third day of practicing with both the rusted items and mastering the Flash Technique, Naruto was summoned to his Sensei who said. "Naruto... In the last two weeks, you have by nessicity neglected your Rasengan training. I want to see what you can you do with it now."

"But sensei, we haven't done much for my control?"

She laughed. "Naruto, meditation is a key in mastering chakra control there is a reason Samurai and Ninja both do this. It is a fantastic training tool. You spend three hours a day on using a sword, practicing taijutsu and mixing the two together, which in of itself is a training exercise for control. You are practicing channeling your chakra into your sword, another exercise. Lastly you have tripled your spiritual energy with your new knowledge, which no doubt has brought balance to your overly physical chakra. I have no doubt your control is not considerably better and I would have said as much even if I could not literally sensed the massive difference in your aura. You were a constantly blazing pillar of fire before, now you are a comfortable campfire... we must be thankful that Jiriaya is not a natural sensor less he would have noticed that change. Now, I want you to try and perform the rasengan, with two hands and then one and tell me if you notice a difference, prove to yourself and me that you have progressed."

Shuddering a little, having not performed the rasegan since he took the life of his attacker, Naruto walked away from his sensei and approached a tree. With both hands, Naruto quickly spun his chakra, pooling it in his hands and compressing it... easily! "Woah! Your right, this is so much easier now! Like ten times easier, why didn't Jiriaya teach me chakra control to help me master the Rasengan!"

"Because he is not interested in your being strong but reliant on the Kyuubi's power from what you told me."

Naruto frowned. "I can't use the Kyuubi's power... I mean I did when I killed my attacker, but... when I use it purposely, I go bersek. Jiriaya doesn't think I know about the scar I left on his chest. " he shuddered. " I saw it last week, I know it wasn't there before and I know he was almost dead after one of our training sessions with using the Kyuubi's power... I hate using Kyuubi's power."

"I can imagine so, but I would like to speak to Kyuubi once our last week here starts. I would like to create an alliance, a deal with the Fox to give you the power to use his power freely in emergencies as a last resort... "

"Yes Sensei... that... sounds better then just stealing it's power. You said that the Tailed Beasts were alive and intelligent, and I spoke to the Fox a few times. If it really was enslaved, like you said, then it has every reason to have attacked the village that enslaved it." Naruto had almost not belived his teacher when she told him that the oh so moral First Hokage literally enslaved the Tailed Beasts, to Naruto he was as bad as the villagers who mistreated him... or as bad as he had been taught the Fox was for attacking. "I am scared but I get it... and I agree with you, Jiriaya doesn't care about actually training me. I will keep my new skills and powers secret til I get back to the village. I think Tsunade will not hurt me or be too suspicious when I tell her about you."

Azula frowned. "If you believe that Naruto, I will agree to allowing her to know the truth... but be careful who you trust."

"I will, always, you taught me that... now... can I do the rasengan one handed?"

As it turned out... he could! Barely and it was weak, but he could do it! Who knew what he could manage in another two weeks!

" Naruto, I think that since you've evolved so much in your chakra control, I want you to spar with at least a dozen clones while on the water or hoping through the woods and on the trees. That should bolster your control and help with battle skills."

Naruto nodded, eager and excited. "Yes Ma'am!"

:::

With more exhaustion then she could bear, Azula watched Naruto as he continued to practice the Rasengan. It was impressive to watch the boy's growth. While she had assumed him lazy and ignorant, which had been true to some degree which had disolved as he trained with her, it was more clear he had mostly had poor teachers and an inability to self motivate and direct. He had needed a steady hand to guide him through the rough patches of training, to smooth out the confusion and give him a base to work with. He needed to be taught how to think, not what to think... he needed to be taught to self motivate and direct more then he needed actual skills. That was actually why she debated with him, taught him rigorous scheduling and balance of time.

The boy had even proved to be adapt at book learning, he just needed to be informed of and proven of it's use to him... at least at first. Now Naruto was eager and happy to learn, expanding himself and his knowledge freely, using his that new knowledge in their debates and sharing with excitment what he learned. Having a ready ear to listen to his excitment and new knowledge encouraged him to try his hardest...

She knew his pace could not last, a month of hard work would exhaust even his stamina but with a powerful base he would be able to become great in a year. When she met him, he was barely genin level. She had seen him spar with Jiraiya. Currently he was easily genin level and by his second month he would be chunin level easily, bar experience but she would change that with some suggestions...like bounty hunting! In a year he would easily be Jonin level, not A rank like Kakashi Hatake or Asuma Sarutobi but easily Mid to High B if he worked hard and had actual fights with real people.

If he continued to bolster his mind, Naruto would be far more dangerous then A rank... his natural talent for tactics was frightening honed in by years of pranking, she was working on his strategy which would bolster him to a far more dangerous level in long term combat. If he ever managed to learn sealing to a high level, he would terrifiying to fight, able to make powerful traps during the course of a fight with his clones. That would help him survive a world that did not care for him, in a village that used him and against that idiot Jiriaya who refused to actually teach him.

And if he mastered a relationship with Kyuubi... at B rank Naruto would be scratching the power to fight S Rank people, or at least survive agaisnt them... and that, that was her goal. Make it so that these Akatuki, who she heard rumors of from her many contacts, would never be able to hurt him...

'Speaking of, I need to inform the boy on the Akatsuki. If they are really after the Tailed Beasts, as I have heard, then Naruto is at serious risk... sigh, so much to do, so little time...'

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was so much fun to write... and I love this new direction, better training and more fleshed out training and relevations... so it feels like Naruto is making leaps not just being told things...

Oh yeah, Naruto knows of his heritage as she told him... we will see flashbacks of his reaction to it... soon enough.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.