Chapter Six
"Today, the fun really begins," Naruto said with a grin. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were at the same training grounds as yesterday. He had led them over to a small pond on the far side. Today they were going to start an intensive chakra control boot camp.
Naruto crossed his fingers and silently created six clones. The six clones all took off in different directions. Sakura and Sasuke sat there, no longer in shock at how effortless creating those clones was for Naruto. Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out three slips of paper.
"Do you know what these are?" Naruto asked as he handed them each one and held one up between his fingers.
"Chakra paper?" Sakura asked as she rubbed her fingers along the matte finish of the paper.
"Exactly," Naruto replied with a thumbs up. "Ero-sennin spent most of his time teaching me chakra control and nature transformation. It was more important for me because the Kyuubi interferes with my chakra by constantly releasing its chakra into my network. It gives me a larger supply of chakra than most people, but it negatively affects my chakra control. Once I started to get the hang of chakra control, I was able to do things like creating clones exactly where I want them instead of right next to me, make them stronger so they last longer, or even make them weaker so I can keep as much of my chakra as possible."
"What's that have to do with nature transformation?" Sakura asked as she looked at the paper and back to Naruto.
"Mastering your chakra's nature affinity is one of the hardest chakra control exercises there is. It also makes learning the jutsu of that element easier for shinobi, making it more efficient to use that element in battle. Also, combining it with mastering shape transformation allows you to create your own original jutsu."
"So, what do we do?" Sasuke asked impatiently as he eyed Naruto. His eyes were once again bright red, having recovered from the previous night's fight.
"Channel your chakra into the paper. Its reaction will show us what your nature affinity is." Naruto channeled his chakra into the paper, and it quickly split into hundreds of tiny pieces. "Mine is wind." Naruto took a step back and took in a deep breath. Twisting his body, Naruto suddenly lashed out with a punch into clearing to his right. A blast of wind flew from his fist, shredding the grass beneath his fist, and continued forward about six or seven feet. "Once you've mastered your affinity, creating that element from pure chakra will be relatively easy but not very useful in battle." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Now you two do it."
Sakura held out her paper between her fingers and channeled chakra into it. The paper crumbled into dust between her fingers, and the dust floated down towards the ground.
"Earth," Naruto muttered as he turned to look at Sasuke.
Sasuke held the paper in the center of his hand and channeled chakra into it just like Sakura and Naruto. The edges of the paper curled, and the entire paper crumpled.
"I was expecting it to burn," Naruto said with raised eyebrows.
"Me too," Sasuke said as he looked at it in slight surprise.
"Lightning it is then. That's good though, Kakashi-sensei is a lightning user too."
"Time to start my newly created just this morning chakra control boot-camp lesson!" Naruto said with excitement.
Sakura and Sasuke both glanced at each other before looking back at Naruto with what could only be described as suspension and doubt.
"Alright, watch me," Naruto said as he casually walked over to the edge of the pond they were standing at and stepped onto the water. Naruto casually walked to the center of the pond and stood -there on the water's surface. "Like tree climbing chakra directed towards my feet is what's keeping above water. There is a difference between the two, though. The water's surface is more delicate and easier to break if you use too much chakra. Water is fluid, and you must be too. Anything can change the surface tension of the water or disturb the body of water. Anything from the wind to each step you take on it can change it." Naruto took another step causing ripples under his feet. "The amount of chakra you use must be in flux."
"Oh wow," Sakura said as Naruto walked back across the surface of the pond. "So, you have to constantly adjust the amount of chakra you send to your feet to stay above water?"
"Until it becomes a subconscious effort," Naruto replied as he made it back onshore. "Go ahead and make shadow clones; they'll focus on water walking until they run out of chakra." Naruto reached up to a low hanging branch and plucked out several leaves. "You two will focus on nature transformation."
"Shadow Clone," They both called out as they crossed their first two fingers.
Identical copies of Sasuke and Sakura stood just a few inches from each of them. The two of them walked over to the pond to tentatively get started on water walking without hesitation.
Naruto walked over to Sakura and Sasuke and handed them each a leaf. "Now you're going to recreate the reaction the chakra paper had on these leaves using only your chakra," Naruto said as he held up a leaf and split it in half with ease. Dropping the remaining bit in his fingers on the floor, he handed them each on.
"How do we do that?" Sakura asked as she stared at the leaf in her hand questioningly.
"Focus on turning your chakra into its element. It's different for everyone. Sakura, try imagining your chakra as pebbles grinding the leaf into dust. Sasuke, you're going to want to imagine your chakra as pure energy coursing through the leaf. Contracting and expanding at the same time. At least that's what I would do."
Naruto walked away as the two of them started to focus on their leaves. Naruto would be surprised if either of them made any progress with them today. He hoped that by teaching them both water walking and this at the same time, they could feed into each other. Using what they've learned from water walking for nature transformation and what they learn with nature transformation on water walking. Both exercises required chakra control. To control the amount of chakra used and the control needed to turn that chakra into an element.
"Sorry I'm late," a voice called out from behind Naruto. Naruto turned to see Kakashi there leaning against a tree, reading his book. "I see you got started without me." He paused to look up and watched his students. "Good idea having them learn both at once. It should help them out."
"That's what I'm hoping for, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a grin as he scratched his head.
"What about you?" Kakashi asked as he looked at Naruto with his one eye. "What are you working on today?"
"Well, I have two clones working on water transformation, one on fire transformation, two on kenjutsu, and one on fuuinjutsu," Naruto said as he rubbed his chin.
"That's impressive," Kakashi said with a sigh. "Most jonin only ever master two or three at the most, and you're already working on three."
"You've mastered all five, though, haven't you?" Naruto asked as he leaned up against a tree. "I've heard the stories about you. You're the strongest ninja in this village aside from the Hokage."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Kakashi said deadpanned as he walked over to Naruto. "Jiraiya-sama said that your taijutsu could use some work."
"Yeah," Naruto said with a nervous chuckle. "I'm not all that strong or fast. I usually rely on my clones or ninjutsu in a fight."
"There's no doubt that you're meant to be more of a midrange ninjutsu specialist. That doesn't mean we can let your taijutsu fall behind, though. In a fight between another ninjutsu specialist, it may give you the advantage." Kakashi walked over to Naruto and pulled out a scroll. "This is a technique a colleague of mine uses. Though this is a much more modern version of it."
Kakashi unrolled the scroll revealing five seals surrounded by other characters. The fifth seal in the middle was the largest. It was flanked by the other two seals on either side.
"Do you know what these are?" Kakashi asked as he held the scroll up for Naruto to see them. Naruto ran his eyes over the characters and nodded.
"They're gravity seals."
"Exactly. Think of them like old-school weights or weighted gear. Except without any of the bulk. Normally I don't see the benefit of training like this like Guy does, but in your case, it might be worth doing for a short while."
"Because of the fox," Naruto said as he stared down at the seals on the scroll. "It'll heal me while I use them, building muscle faster than someone normally would."
"Exactly," Kakashi hummed as he looked at Naruto. "This method is only beneficial for the long term if you plan on being a taijutsu specialist. You, on the other hand, will see results in a matter of weeks instead of months."
"Let's do it then," Naruto said as he turned and showed his back to Kakashi. Naruto felt Kakashi move behind him until he was standing just a few inches from him. Kakashi lifted the scroll and positioned it, so the largest central character was pressed against the base of Naruto's neck.
Kakashi made a quick hand seal and focused his charka into the scroll. The seals beneath glowed a faint blue before they started moving. The ink seemed to slide off the paper and collapse into the center seal. Kakashi removed the scroll to reveal the largest seal on the base of Naruto's neck. Then the characters started to spread out and travel down his body underneath his shirt.
Naruto felt a warm tingling spread down his neck and over his shoulders and down his spine. The feeling spread down his arms and legs before stopping at the wrists and ankles. After a few seconds, it faded away. Naruto pulled his shirt sleeves up to reveal the character for zero at the base of each wrist. Naruto was sure matching characters were now resting on his ankles.
"The seal is easy enough to release," Kakashi said as he rested a hand on the back of Naruto's neck. "I don't expect you'll have to, though, before the exams." Kakashi focused his chakra into the seal on the back of Naruto's neck.
Naruto felt his body instantly become heavier than it had before. He stopped himself from stumbling, but barely. Checking his wrist, he saw the characters for 25. Kakashi had added an extra 25lbs to his body, equally dispersed to each limb.
"With the way, your body should heal; we'll up this by 10lbs every day and see how that goes," Kakashi said as he stepped in front of Naruto. "The best way to get acclimated to this is going to be exercise. While they work on chakra control and nature transformation, we'll work on your taijutsu and stamina."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Naruto said with a smirk as he stretched his arms. "I'll go take a dozen laps around the training ground."
"50," Kakashi responded as he leaned up against the tree and opened his book.
"50 it is," Naruto muttered as he shrugged off his haori and jogged away.
Naruto let out a loud groan as he, Sakura, and Sasuke left the training ground for the evening. It'd been a week since they'd started training, and Kakashi had upped the weights on his body to 95lbs. Not to mention the hours of brutal sparing with the copy-cat ninja. Kakashi defiantly didn't take it easy on him, and he was still holding back.
"What are you complaining about," Sakura muttered as she shuffled along beside him. "You didn't spend all day falling in the water."
"Technically, neither did you," Naruto replied as he walked through the streets of Konoha.
"Well, it feels that way," Sakura muttered as she looked away from the blond.
It'd only taken Sakura and Sasuke a few days to master basic water walking. Now the two of them were working on ingraining it into their self-consciousness, with Kakashi and Naruto constantly disrupting the water beneath their feet. Both of them had made some decent progress on their leaves, though. It still took them a few minutes to do it, but now they could complete the exercise every time. Once they could do it instantly, Naruto planned on moving them onto the next step.
"Sasuke isn't complaining," Sakura said with a smile as she looked at the dark-haired ninja. Sasuke remained stoic as the three of them walked along as a group.
"That's just because he doesn't want to look weak," Naruto said as he waved her off. "He's as best as we are, but he thinks if he doesn't complain about it like us, he'll be tougher or look cooler. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"
"Hn."
"That's what I thought," Naruto muttered as they approached a crossroad. "I'll catch up with you all later."
"Where are you off to?" Sakura asked in a sing-song tone. Sakura knew precisely where that road led.
"You know where," Naruto responded with a laugh as he turned right, leaving the other two behind. "See you tomorrow." Naruto waved behind his head and kept walking down the street. Naruto was headed towards the Hyuga clan's compound. He hadn't seen Hinata out and about all week, and he wanted to pop in and say hi to her.
Naruto didn't have many friends, and he'd just spent the whole week with two of them. He wanted to see a different face for once. Naruto walked down the street with his fingers laced behind his head as he tried to ignore the looks and whispers directed towards him. News of his arrival had spread, and the clamor it caused had died down a bit over the last few days. That didn't mean people automatically forgot about him, though. Plenty of people were still more than happy to cross the street to avoid him.
Naruto had counted himself lucky when he'd found a swordsmith in the village that was more than happy to sell him a couple of bokkens and replace the blade on his sword. Naruto had been sending a few clones every day to practice with the bokken. However, Naruto wasn't sure how efficient it was since he didn't know anything about kenjutsu. He doubted it could hurt, though. Naruto had also made some great strides with his water and fire nature transformation. Naruto was having a much easier time creating water from his chakra and was still working on the first part of fire transformation.
Naruto stopped a few steps away from the entrance to the Hyuga clan compound. Naruto stepped forward and looked around. He couldn't see anyone nearby. He'd expected there to be guards or something. As Naruto walked through the compound, he couldn't help but admire the large green lawn spotted in maliciously trimmed bushes that led to a large manor. As Naruto got closer to the main house, he could hear people fighting.
"That was pathetic, Hinata," A deep male voice called out among the grunts and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. "Again! This time don't let your guard down."
Naruto looked around and saw a large tree near the main house. Naruto pumped some chakra into his legs and leaped up onto one of the lower branches. Naruto scaled the tree and in a matter of seconds. Once he was level with the manor, he leaped from the tree and landed on the roof lightly. Naruto crept forward until he reached the apex of the roof and looked down. In the middle of the manor was a large training stage with a large tree in the far corner.
Hinata was currently sparing with what looked like a younger version of the man standing on the wooden deck wrapped around the training stage. She was younger than Hinata, with long black hair as opposed to Hinata's dark blue. Naruto crouched and narrowed his eyes as he watched the two of them exchange blows. Hinata was at a disadvantage and constantly on the defense as the younger woman constantly barraged her with blow after blow. Hinata was covered in scuffs and dirt as she tried to block each attack over and over.
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched them exchange attacks. Right before each hit, the tips of their fingers seemed to flare up with chakra. Naruto inched a bit closer and kept an eye on Hinata. After a few more blocks, he saw exactly what he was looking for. A flash of blue charka just as the younger girl struck Hinata in the arm. 'Pressure points,' he thought to himself as he raised his eyebrows. Ero-sennin had told him they used a style of taijutsu that worked with their Byakugan, but that's it.
Naruto's eyes trailed over to the man standing on the deck watching over them. He was tall with tan skin and long black hair. He was wearing a simple white kimono and brown haori with a blue obi tied around the middle. He was standing there with a stern look on his face. He had a sharp angular face, and the veins around his eyes were raised and bulging.
There was a sharp cry, and Naruto shifted his focus as the younger girl landed a blow to Hinata's chest, sending her flying into the ground roughly. The younger girl stood there over Hinata, smirking at her. Hinata got on her knees and, with shaky legs, picked herself back up and lowered herself into a stance Naruto didn't recognize.
"Enough," The man called from the porch as he stepped down into the training stage. "We have an uninvited visitor!" He said loudly as he looked up at Naruto. Naruto jumped off the roof and landed a few paces away from Hinata with a thud.
"What brings you to the Hyuga clan's main house Uzumaki Naruto?" The man asked as the veins in his eyes relaxed and disappeared under his skin.
"I stopped by to see Hinata-chan," Naruto said plainly as the stern man looked Naruto up and down. "I was going to come through the main door like a normal person, but then I heard the fighting and got curious."
"Next time you come by, be sure to speak to someone at the door and announce yourself." The man said as he turned towards his younger daughter. "Come, Hanabi, we can discuss your improvements inside." The man started to walk away before he turned to look at Hinata. "Your performance is lacking. It's not befitting for a main house Hyuga. You know the consequences if you don't improve."
"That was pretty harsh," Naruto muttered as he turned to look at Hinata with a large grin. His smile quickly faded as he saw her expression. Her face was beet red, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. She was staring down at the ground doing everything she could to avoid looking at Naruto.
'I can't believe Naruto-kun saw me like that…I must have looked so weak.' Hinata thought to herself as she stared at the ground. She could feel her face glowing bright red.
"That looked like a tough fight," Naruto said as he sat down on the edge of the wooden deck and rubbed his chin. "Your sister must be a prodigy if she's that strong at such a young age."
"Yes, that's what father says," Hinata said softly as she continued to stare at the ground. "I haven't been able to beat her for a few years now."
"Her fighting style doesn't suit you," Naruto said as he looked back at the training area. "She's aggressive and emotional even if it doesn't show on her face." Naruto looked back at Hinata with a thoughtful look. "You're a more defensive fighter. You don't want to hurt anyone unless you have to. Let alone your sister, I'm guessing. I bet if someone tried to hurt her or someone you cared about, you'd send them flying."
Hinata looked at Naruto shyly, her eyes still downcast. "Thank you, Naruto-kun, but you don't have to try and make me feel better."
"Are you kidding? I'd want you on my team any day. If anyone tries to come at me, I can send you in to deal with them." Naruto said, smiling at Hinata. "You'd protect me, Hinata-chan."
"O-of course I would, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered softly as she looked away again as her bangs fell in front of her face hiding her smile.
"I think I might know a technique that would augment your taijutsu well, though," Naruto said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "It's a powerful technique. It probably won't help you beat your sister, though, unless you become a more aggressive fighter. It would make a decent trump card, though."
"What technique?" Hinata asked softly as she looked back at Naruto inquisitively.
"Well, I don't personally know it myself. I mean, I know it in theory, but I never bothered to learn it myself."
"Why not?" Hinata asked as she moved to sit down next to Naruto.
"It's complicated to be honest," Naruto said with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head. "Short answer, though, is I don't like the person who created the technique." Naruto looked and smiled at her. "My master has been trying to get me to learn it for the last six months or so, but I want to create something unique, something unconnected to him." Naruto leaned back on his hands and looked up into the sky. "I think, though, that if you learned it, there are a lot of things you could do with the concept with your fighting style."
"I-if you think it would help," Hinata said as she trailed off. 'Naruto-kun wants to teach me something!' "I promise I'd do my best to learn it, and I wouldn't disappoint you."
"You wouldn't disappoint me," Naruto said with a chuckle. "Like I said, I don't really know it myself, just the theory. I'll write it down and bring it to you sometime soon. I'll tell you what I know and help you where I can. I've seen it done a few times."
"That would be nice," Hinata muttered as she looked back down at the ground. She could feel her stomach doing flips as her face burned.
"Are you going to be in the Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, my team will be entering; Father was insisted that we at least try even though we've only been genin for a few months."
Naruto and Hinata spent another hour or so talking. Well, mainly Naruto as Hinata just listened to him. Naruto told her more stories about Jiraiya and about his training with his team, and how Kakashi spent all day beating him up. Soon though, another Hyuga came out and summoned Hinata inside and bade Naruto farewell. Naruto and Hinata took the hint and parted ways.
"I'll see you soon, Hinata-chan," Naruto called as he walked away towards the main house exit.
"See you soon, Naruto-kun," She called back in a timider voice than Naruto's.
The weeks continued to pass as Naruto, and his team continued to train. Sakura and Sasuke had completely moved on from water walking. Sasuke, who had started using two clones a day, worked on the second step of his nature transformation training. Sakura was still having trouble making it through the day with one clone, but her chakra reserves had gotten larger, and if possible, her chakra control had gotten even better.
"Alright," Naruto said as he dragged his feet behind Sakura. Once Naruto had gotten to 165lbs, Kakashi had decided to reduce the rate of the weight gain to just 5lbs a day. Now Naruto was dragging around a staggering 200lbs with him. "What I'm about to teach you is something I only know the theory of and can't do myself. I've seen it used but in no way know exactly how it's done."
"We're going to have to figure most of it out on our own then!" Sakura said with a confident smile. "We've got this," Sakura slammed her fist into her open hand excitedly.
"That old drunk Tsunade created this technique," Naruto said as he stretched his arms and neck. "Basically, what you want to do in theory is build chakra into your muscles while fighting. Then release it in bursts to increase your strength."
"Kind of like pumping chakra into your legs to run faster or jump higher?" Sakura asked as she stroked her chin.
"Yeah, but much more controlled. There has to be a buildup in the muscles that is released at just the right moment."
"Sounds like the ultimate form of chakra control," Sakura muttered as she narrowed her eyes and stared down at the ground.
"It can increase your strength 1000 times if used correctly," Naruto said as he moved to stand in front of her. "Knowing that you're going to have to figure out the rest on your own. That's all Ero-sennin told me about it. Naruto crouched down into a taijutsu stance. "The best way to figure it out is to try and do it. Don't worry about me either; I'll heal up if you manage to pull it off."
"I'll figure this out," Sakura said determinedly as she too got into a taijutsu stance.
"Begin!" Naruto shouted before dashing forward.
"I can do this," Hinata muttered as she held a rubber ball in her hand out in front of her. Hinata focused on her chakra and started pumping it into the ball in her hand. As she channeled her chakra into the ball, she began to spin it counter-clockwise. The ball began to shake and shutter as her chakra turned uncontained inside it. Hinata grabbed her wrist with her free hand and started to increase the chakra she was channeling inside the ball.
Suddenly, the ball stopped moving, and Hinata let her arm fall to her side and let out a deep breath. The ball fell to the ground and rolled away. 'I can't do it,' she thought to herself as she panted. 'I told Naruto I wouldn't disappoint him.'
"Catch."
Hinata's head snapped up as the ball came flying back at her. She snatched it out of the air with ease. Naruto was standing a few feet away with a grin on his face. He was covered in sweat and a bit of dirt from training call day.
"Good catch Hinata-chan," He said with a laugh. Naruto leaned up against a tree and slid down the trunk into a sitting position. Hinata had taken to training at her team's usual training ground in the late afternoon hours. Naruto would come by sometimes and check on her progress. "So, you've moved onto the rubber ball? That's kind of amazing."
"Thank you," Hinata said softly as she looked down at the rubber ball. "I don't think I'll get much farther, though."
"Not with that attitude," Naruto said as he leaned his head against the tree. "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's a hard jutsu. The fact that it only took you a couple of weeks to get past the first part is pretty awesome. You need to have more faith in your abilities."
Hinata didn't say anything as she planted her feet and held her wrist with her free hand. 'I'm not going to give up on this. Naruto-kun has faith in me.'
Naruto sat and watched Hinata continue to try and break the rubber ball for another 30 minutes or so, just relaxing at the foot of the tree. He was kind of amazed at how far she was getting with such basic tutoring. Naruto barely knew how it worked in theory, and she seemed to pick it up with ease eventually though Hinata tired out and came to join him at the base of the tree.
"How are things going with Hanabi?" Naruto asked casually as he spun a kunai on his finger. They both knew what he was really asking. Over the last couple of weeks, Hinata had opened up a bit about how her home life was. Between her sister and her cousin, Neji, things weren't that great. They both were incredibly talented ninja that seemed to look down on Hinata and tease her constantly.
"About the same," Hinata muttered as she rested her against the tree. "I still can't beat her in a spar, and father is getting more and more disappointed in me."
"I don't get it personally. Why the Hyuga's are so old school," he muttered. "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, even Hanabi and Neji." Naruto dug the blade of the kunai into the ground absent-mindedly. "Seems pointless to me. You're a strong ninja, and talented too. They're too harsh on you."
"How's training going?" Hinata asked with a slight smile on her face. She could still see the sheen of sweat sticking to his skin from training all day. 'He's so strong; he spends all day training with that weight on him and then still comes to help me after.'
"It's going," Naruto chuckled airily. "It hard and super intense. More intense than my training with Ero-sennin, which is good. I feel like I'm really improving this way under Kakashi." Naruto dug up a chunk of earth and stuck the kunai back into the ground. "Sasuke is incredible, though. I can't believe I'm training with someone like him. The leaps he's made over the last few weeks are crazy. He'll catch up to me soon enough."
"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Hinata frowned a bit as she looked at Naruto's expression. Was he sad? Or was it something else?
"Yeah," Naruto replied as he started to spin the kunai again. "For him, it is. It's great, don't get me wrong, but Sasuke is a real genius. Not like me. He's done things in weeks that took me months. It comes second nature to him. Eventually, he might surpass me."
"Well, you're helping him, right?" Hinata asked as she looked away from Naruto, her cheeks a light rosy color. "You get to tell him all the things that you had to figure out on your own and everything Jiraiya-sama told you. Not to mention Kakashi-sensei is there."
"That's true," Naruto hummed as he looked at Hinata with a smirk. "I guess I was enjoying being that much stronger than him. At least a little bit. It makes me want to work even harder and get even stronger so he won't surpass me and leave me behind."
"Well, even if he does surpass you and leaves you behind. I-I'll be here N-naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered a bit and looked away as her face flushed bright red. If Naruto noticed it, he paid it no mind.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan." Naruto leaned his head up against the tree and sighed. "Once the exams are over, we should go out to dinner again and celebrate."
"W-w-what?"
"Release!" Kakashi said loudly as he pressed his hand to the back of Naruto's neck. The black ink on the back of Naruto's neck seemed to glow blue before evaporating away.
"Ahhh," Naruto let out a sigh of relief as over 200lbs of weight was lifted off of his body. Naruto rolled his shoulders and arms as he tried to get used to the feeling. "This is weird," he muttered as he lifted his legs and jogged in place.
"You have three days to get used to it before the exam," Kakashi said casually as Naruto continued to move around in odd ways. "Go take a few laps around the pond and mix in some sprints. Then we're going to have a little fun."
"Got it," Naruto said as he took off at what he thought would be a light jog, but it was much faster than he thought it would be. Naruto took a second focus on his body and adjusted his speed. It had been a long and busy five weeks. Naruto had focused on a few different things over the last few weeks. He'd spent weeks training with kenjutsu with his clones. He was using scrolls and other guides purchased around Konoha. He'd continued with his water nature transformation training and was almost as good with it as his wind. He had started the second step of his fire nature transformation as well. At the same time, his clones worked on all that Naruto himself had spent most of the five weeks sparing with Kakashi with weights to get faster and better with his taijutsu. Naruto still wasn't an expert at taijutsu, but he was admittedly a lot better than before.
Naruto smiled and waved as he passed Sakura, who waved back. Sakura had come the farthest of all three of them. She could now use two clones, though not as efficiently or nearly as long as Sasuke. She'd made it to the second stage of earth transformation training and had, by all accounts, almost mastered it. Chakra control was Sakura's specialty, so it didn't surprise Naruto that she'd gotten that far with it. Also, he was pretty sure she was making some decent headway in mimicking Tsunade's taijutsu technique.
Sasuke had come far too. He'd spent most of his time with Kakashi learning all he could about his Sharingan. He'd made good progress with lightning as well but couldn't yet produce pure lightning from chakra. Kakashi let him copy a good number of lightning and fire jutsu. Along with all that, he and Sasuke had started extra sessions at night after their official sessions. Since Naruto was horrible at genjutsu, they'd spent countless hours with their clones practicing genjutsu with Naruto as the gunnie pig. Sasuke, like Naruto, was more of a midrange ninjutsu expert than a genjutsu expert, but he was getting a lot better at them.
Then there was Hinata. Naruto had been spending quite a bit of time with her after training. Helping her with the technique he'd told her about. They'd gone out for food a couple of times too. Naruto couldn't help but smile as his thought drifted to the white-eyed kunoichi. If he was honest with himself, he'd grown quite fond of her over the last few weeks. She was stronger than she thought she was and determined. Hinata was still working on breaking the rubber ball but was getting closer and closer to breaking it.
Naruto finished his 6th lap and stopped to take a breath. He'd cleared the lake faster than he thought he would, even after he'd slowed himself down to something that seemed closer to his original pace.
"Now that Naruto is here, we can get started," Kakashi said lazily as he kicked himself off the tree he was leaning against. 'Time to see what these three are made of now.' Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny golden bell on a thin red ribbon. "Sasuke and Sakura are familiar with this little bell. The objective is simple. Get the bell, and you pass this test. If you fail to grab the bell, I'll withdraw you from the Chunin Exams and restrict us to D-ranked missions only."
"Sounds fun," Naruto said with a grin as he looked at Kakashi.
"You'll regret saying that," Sakura said with a small smile as she stretched her arms.
"You'll need to come at me with the intent to kill, or else you'll have no hope of passing," Kakashi said as he reached up and lifted his headband. Kakashi opened his scared eye to reveal his Sharingan.
"I know this is supposed to be a team test," Naruto said as he crossed his fingers, "but honestly, I want to have a one on one go at Kakashi-sensei quickly if you two don't mind."
"Are you serious?" Sasuke snapped at Naruto as he shot an annoyed look at the blond.
"Multi-Shadow Clone!" Naruto called as he smirked at Sasuke. "Dead serious," he said to the other boy. As the words left his mouth, no less than 16 copies of Naruto surrounded Kakashi. The clones descended on Kakashi quickly. The real Naruto was lost in the sea of copies as Kakashi immediately went on the defensive. The clones were weak and not using any chakra. Their attacks were messy and frantic as they telegraphed each punch. Kakashi made quick work of all of them.
"Water Style: Dragon Bullet," Naruto was above Kakashi, who snapped his head up to look at Naruto. Naruto molded the chakra in his chest and opened his mouth. An impossibly large amount of water blasted from his mouth. It quickly took the shape of a large dragon barreling down on the copy-cat ninja.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall," Kakashi called out as he flipped through the air. As he landed, he slammed his hands into the ground. A large thick curved wall of solid earth sprang up in front of him. The giant water dragon hit the wall with enough force to kill an average person. The dragon fell apart as the sides of the wall crumbled under pressure. Water flooded the area below them, causing a few inches to sit on the ground.
As Naruto landed, he smirked as he saw the large chunk of earth that had been gutted from the center of the wall. One more hit would make it crumble. 'Time to test out my new speed.' Naruto thought as he pumped chakra into his legs. Naruto kicked off the ground and ran towards the wall. The young ninja almost disappeared as he sped towards the wall. Naruto leaped over the wall, drew several shurikens, and launched them at Kakashi's last known location. Naruto landed behind the wall, ready to strike. Kakashi was gone.
"1,000 Years of Death," The voice came from below Naruto. By the time Naruto realized it, it was too late. Kakashi burst from the ground; his first two fingers pressed against each other and extended straight out. Kakashi pushed all of his weight into the attack as he extended his arms and thrust his fingers between Naruto's butt checks.
Naruto screamed in pain as he both jumped and was propelled into the air. Naruto's scream was short-lived, however, as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi smoothly ducked a kick from Naruto as he fell out of the air.
"That was dirty," Naruto said with a grin as he fell into a taijutsu stance. Naruto rushed towards Kakashi as fast as he could. Naruto and Kakashi engaged in a fight that was quickly shown to be one-sided. Kakashi easily dodged Naruto's fists and kicks as the young ninja tried to advance on him. Naruto was finally able to slip a punch in that Kakashi was finally forced to block. Naruto's small victory was short-lived, however. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled him in. Knocking Naruto off-balance, Kakashi grabbed his collar and pulled him down as he drove a knee into Naruto's gut.
Kakashi recognized the shift in chakra right before his knee connected with Naruto's gut. He'd swapped out with a clone. 'Impressive,' Kakashi thought to himself as Naruto disappeared with a pop.
"Ready?" Naruto asked with a smirk. He'd just swapped with his clone as Kakashi tried to knee them. The clone had been standing behind with Sakura and Sasuke, explaining Naruto's plan to them. "Another clone is going to attack him in a moment. Once that happens, we strike together and take the bell. He won't expect It."
"He'll expect it," Sasuke said shortly as he looked at Naruto.
"He's right Kakashi-sensei is going to expect it." Sakura agreed as she nodded towards Sasuke.
"Well, we have to try something," Naruto rolled his eyes at them. "Let's stick with this and see what happens. Unless either of you have anything better to try." Sasuke and Sakura stayed quiet as they looked at Naruto. "I'll take that as a no then."
"Third times the charm!" Naruto shouted as he rushed out from behind a tree. He launched a kick at Kakashi, who dodged it easily. Naruto regained his footing and lashed out with his fist. Kakashi avoided it and jumped back a few inches.
"I'm disappointed, Naruto," Kakashi said as he dodged another kick. "I expected better from you, to be honest. Instead, you rushed in head first, ignoring your team and leaving them behind. I'm disappointed you're not doing better in general."
"I can take it up a notch, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a smirk. Naruto quickly drew a kunai into a reverse grip and slashed at Kakashi's arm.
Kakashi leaned back, dodging the blade with ease. However, he could still feel the bite of the edge in his arm. He looked down and saw a shallow cut just above his elbow. 'He's forcing wind chakra through a kunai without a chakra blade!?' He was brought out of his thoughts as he was forced to draw a kunai to block Naruto's quickly. He watched Naruto's kunai bite into his as wind chakra sheered the metal away.
"See ya!" Naruto grinned, and then he exploded with a gust of wind. Kakashi jumped back just as the blades of wind slashed at his vest. Had he been any closer, he'd of had a chunk of skin torn out from his chest.
"Earth Style: Dragon Bullet!"Sakura shouted.
Kakashi turned his head in time to see a large dragon made of mud burst out of the earth. The dragon shot several dense balls of dirt at Kakashi. Kakashi landed on the ground and quickly pumped chakra into his legs to jump back into the air with a flip. The balls of mud plowed into the ground with enough force to tear the earth up.
"Wind Style: Vaccum Bullets," Naruto shouted from the side. Naruto exhaled several small blasts of wind chakra from his mouth that scattered around Kakashi. It was Naruto's second most powerful ninjutsu after his wind clone. Naruto smirked as Kakashi hopped back to dodge the air blasts with ease. Right into the water laying there from Naruto's previous jutsu.
"Lightning Style: Thunderclap Arrow," Sasuke molded lightning chakra into his hands and then threw them out, releasing the lightning. Several bolts of lightning sped down towards the large puddle of water left by Naruto's jutsu.
'Smart,' Kakashi said as he pumped his legs with chakra into his legs and leaped into the air. His Sharingan caught sight of several kunai coming his way. Kakashi quickly drew a couple of shurikens and knocked two of them out of the air, ignoring the third that had gone too wide to hit him.
"Got him," Naruto said with a smirk from the ground a few feet from Sakura. With a puff of white smoke, the kunai transformed. It was one of Naruto's shadow clones. The clone reached out and wrapped his fingers around the bell dangling from Kakashi's waist.
'Nice try,' Kakashi thought as he pulled out a kunai and twisting through the air. He brought the blade down into the clone's shoulder. Kakashi felt the blade sink into the clone's shoulder, but it didn't disappear. Warmblood splashed against Kakashi's face as his eyes widened.
"Got you," Naruto grunted in pain. Naruto quickly grabbed Kakashi's wrists as the two of them landed on the ground and rolled. Kakashi tried to pull his hand off the blade, but Naruto's grip was too firm, and he didn't want to hurt Naruto even more. Kakashi was kneeling over Naruto, who was still hanging on to his wrists.
Then Naruto was gone, and Kakashi was left kneeling over the ground staring at Sasuke, and there was no kunai in his hand.
"He'll see through it," Sasuke said lowly as Naruto crouched in the trees.
" Maybe, maybe not," Naruto said softly as he looked at Sasuke. "We've been working on genjutsu for weeks now, and you have two Sharingan to his one."
"We'd have a few seconds at best before his Sharingan saw through it."
Sasuke crossed his fingers, and a second Sasuke appeared before them. The clone scowled at Naruto before quickly transforming into a kunai.
"Let's do this," Naruto muttered as he snatched the falling kunai out of the air.
The kunai flew past Kakashi, and with a puff of smoke, turned into Sasuke. The shadow clone looked up and locked eyes with Kakashi. The clone pushed the chakra into its eyes and molded it quickly. He felt the chakra connect with Kakashi's and watched as Kakashi brought an empty hand down on his shoulders.
"Got you," the clone grunted as it held Kakashi there with hands as tightly as it could. The two landed on the ground with a loud thud and rolled a bit.
"Genjutsu," Kakashi said out loud. Standing, he turned around to see Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura standing there. Sakura was holding the bell between her fingers with a smile. The Sasuke on the ground disappeared in a puff of smoke. "I wasn't expecting you to use genjutsu Sasuke," Kakashi said as he looked at his team with a blank look. Then he smiled and gave them a thumbs up. "Good job. Had anyone else tried to use genjutsu on me, the Sharingan would have seen through it immediately."
"Told you it'd work," Naruto said with a grin as he pumped a fist into the air.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sakura muttered as she resisted the urge to cheer loudly.
"I can't believe we beat Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a wide grin as he laced his fingers behind his head.
"It's not like it was a real fight," Sasuke said back to Naruto as he crossed his arms. "Though we did get the bell this time."
"Good job, all of you," Kakashi said earnestly as he pulled his headband back down over his eye. "You each used your training to its full extent. Using the jutsu I taught you and Naruto with your speed, you kept me occupied while you came up with your plan. Exactly all the things chunin need to demonstrate were shown here today." Kakashi looked at each of them for a moment. "You're all ready for the Chunin Exam, and I wouldn't be surprised if all three of you pass."
"You hear that!" Naruto said excitedly as he elbowed Sasuke gently. Sasuke scowled at him and brushed him away. "Oh man, if we pass, I can start training with Ero-sennin again!"
"I doubt that'll happen right away, Naruto," Kakashi crossed his arms and looked at Naruto with a lazy look. "You still have to get some real ninja missions under your belt before they just let you go apprentice with somebody like that. Besides, I just got you. There are plenty of things for me to teach you as well."
"I know, I know," Naruto said, waving Kakashi off. "Becoming a chunin is just the biggest step to overcome to getting out of here again." Naruto laughed and laced his fingers behind his head.
"You want to leave already!?" Sakura asked in shock. "What about Sasuke and me, and not to mention Hinata?! You're just going to run off and forget about us like that! That's rude!" 'What an emotionless jerk! Just wanting to take off and ditch us like that!'
"Oh, come on! It's not like I wouldn't see you all around. Besides, I made a deal with Sasuke I can't go back on." Naruto laughed as Sakura shook her fist at him.
"Shut up, idiot!" Sasuke snapped as he glared at the blond.
"What deal!?" Sakura demanded as she looked between the two of them suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing serious," Naruto waved his hand again with a large smile. "Don't worry about it!"
'He's so stupid sometimes,' Sasuke thought to himself as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the blond.
"Either way," Kakashi interrupted them abruptly. "You have two whole days before the exam. Take that time to rest up and get ready for the exams. You're going to need it. That means no clone training either. You need mental breaks as well."
"Yes, sensei," The three of them chimed at the same time. Kakashi seemed to smile at them before disappearing a swirl of leaves.
"Ah, Naruto!"
Naruto walked into the small weapons shop and smiled at the older man behind the counter. He was tall and well built. He had short brown hair with grey streaks in it. The weapons shop was small, but the walls were lined with dozens of weapons—all unique and different in their own way.
"I have everything you ordered here, including your new equipment." The man reached down behind the counter and pulled out three packages wrapped in brown paper. Then he turned around picked up a long narrow box. Setting it down on the counter, he lifted the lid of the basic brown box, and Naruto peaked his head over.
"It's a chakra blade, just like you asked. I didn't make any modifications to the hilt or anything else. The rest is all original, just like you wanted."
"It looks good as new," Naruto said with a large smile. His Jian was resting on the bottom of the box. The blade looked brand new and shined with a bright polish. Naruto lifted it up out of the box and stepped back. He spun the sword in his hand and gave it a few cursory swings. Naruto ran his fingers over the flat of the blade and down over the swirling whirlpools.
"It's from Uzushio, isn't it?" The man asked as he smiled at his handy work. "It must mean a lot to you."
"I found it in The Land of Rivers being sold off at a stand." Naruto ran his thumb over the familiar swirl of the pommel. "He had no idea where it was from and thought it was just some beat-up sword." Naruto set the sword back into the box. "A piece of my home being sold like junk in a downed run stall."
"A little young to be from Uzushio, aren't you?" The man asked knowingly as he crossed his arms.
Naruto looked at him and gave him a small smile before turning his eyes back to his sword. He looked at it for a few more seconds before he closed the box.
"I'm an Uzumaki," Naruto said as he took a deep breath. "Uzushio is my real home." Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a wallet. "How much do I owe you?"
"300,000 ryo for everything," Naruto pulled out ten bills and handed them over to the man. He moved over to a till on the edge of the counter. He quickly slid Naruto's money in, pulled out several bills, and handed them back to Naruto.
"Thank you," Naruto said as he slid the bills back into his wallet and shoved them away. Naruto gathered his packages and balanced the box with his sword on top of them.
"Come back for anything you need any time, Naruto," the man replied as he leaned back against the wall.
"Took you long enough," Sasuke was sitting on the edge of the small deck in front of the house Naruto was staying at.
"Kakashi-sensei told us to rest," Naruto said as he stepped up onto the deck and looked down at Sasuke. "It's good advice we need to be fresh for the exams. They're brutal, and people die during them sometimes."
"I want to see how far I've come," Sasuke said without and additional context.
"We both know how much you've improved. We don't need to fight."
"I need to see for myself. The last time we fought, It was practically a joke to you. Besides, you've been pushing a lot of the training off on Kakashi." Sasuke crossed his arms and locked eyes with Naruto. "We had a deal, and for the most part, Kakashi's been pulling most of the weight."
"Not this again," Naruto muttered as he slid open the door with his foot. He stepped inside and set his packages down. "You know, at the end of the day, I taught you something no one else ever would have. You'd spend the next five years training to be strong enough to fight Itachi, and I just cut that in half for you." Naruto shrugged off his haori and tossed it to the ground. "You'd think that'd be enough. If this is what you want, I'll fight you again. That's it, though. The next two days, we rest."
"Deal."
Naruto and Sasuke made their way to the training arena in silence. As they entered the arena, Naruto turned and locked eyes with Sasuke.
"No shadow clones to watch this time. If you want a serious fight, you're going to need all the chakra you have." Naruto stretched his neck, moving his head from side to side. "You sure you want this?"
Sasuke didn't say anything. He just locked eyes with Naruto and slid into a taijutsu stance. After a few moments, he gave Naruto a slight nod.
It was instantaneous. Naruto was on top of him almost faster than he could track. Sasuke barely had time to dodge his kick. Sasuke dropped to the ground and swept at Naruto's leg, but the blond kicked off the ground and backflipped. Naruto reached into a pouch and pulled out two kunai. He launched them at Sasuke before landing. Sasuke drew his own kunai and swiped them out of the air.
Sasuke charged at Naruto, his Sharingan glued to him. He launched a fist at Naruto's face, and his Sharingan focused on the subtle twitches in Naruto's left arm. Sasuke blocked Naruto's uppercut instinctively. Sasuke lifted his right leg to kick, but he was too slow. Naruto dropped down and brought his fist down behind Sasuke's left knee. Sasuke felt his leg give out as he lost his balance and fell. His Sharingan saw Naruto move, but he couldn't react. Naruto sprang up from his crouch and spun. His heel connected with Sasuke's chin sending him reeling.
As Sasuke rolled in the dirt, he ran through a couple of hand seals. Naruto charged at him, prepared to attack again. "Lightning Style: Static Arrow," Sasuke got on his knees and threw his hand out. Two arrows of pure lightning shot from his hand. Naruto was too close he couldn't dodge. The two arrows slammed into his chest, sending him flying back. Naruto shouted as the electricity coursed through his body.
Naruto rolled back to his feet and crossed his two front fingers. "Shadow Clone," A second Naruto appeared, and Naruto grabbed his clone by the wrist and threw him into the air. Sasuke launched a kick at Naruto he dodged easily.
"Water Style: Spinning Water Drill," Naruto's clone called from above. A large stream of water shot from its mouth and quickly formed a massive spinning drill made of water. It barreled down on Sasuke, who jumped back to avoid it. It slammed into the ground where Sasuke had been standing just a half-second too late. Naruto rushed and buried a fist into Sasuke's stomach.
Sasuke doubled over in pain as Naruto drove a fist into him. Naruto had been faster than him before their training now; it was no competition. His Sharingan could barely keep up with him, and even when it did, he was too slow to react to it. Another fist collided with his jaw jerking him to the side. Sasuke was able to dodge the follow-up kick and fell back into a handspring putting some space between them.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire," Sasuke compressed a large amount of chakra in his chest and expelled it through his mouth. A large flaming dragon head shot like a bullet out of Sasuke's mouth directly at Naruto. The flaming dragon head opened its mouth and engulfed Naruto before slamming its mouth shut and exploding. A large pillar of fire filled the training arena. For a moment, Sasuke stood there, shocked. Had he gone too far?
Naruto saw the dragon head charging at him. Quickly he reached out with his charka. Finding his clone and locked on to it and molded his chakra. It was instantaneous. Naruto was standing in a tree on a branch just behind Sasuke. He smirked as the dragon head exploded. Then he looked down at Sasuke and jumped from the branch. 'Time to end this.'
Naruto landed with a thud behind Sasuke. Sasuke spun and brought his arms up to block. Naruto was too quick. Naruto stepped forward and landed a blow to Sasuke's face. He didn't stop. Naruto kept on with his assault. His fists rained down on the raven-haired nin. Sasuke tried to block and dodge where he could, but he couldn't keep up. He threw a fist at Naruto, who stepped to the side and avoided it. Bending his right arm, he launched his elbow at Sasuke. It collided with his nose, and there was a loud wet crunch. Naruto felt warm blood splash against his face and over his shirt. Sasuke's face snapped back, and he lost his footing stumbling back.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm," Naruto called out as he finished his last hand seal. He clapped his hands together and then spread the connecting them at his index and thumb. An immense blast of wind shot forward and slammed into Sasuke's stomach. It launched him into the air before depositing him onto the ground roughly. He rolled through the dirt before coming to a stop.
"We're done," Naruto said as he wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve. "This got way too intense too fast."
"We're done when I say we're done!" Sasuke shouted as he got back to his feet. He was glaring at Naruto. "I didn't spend the last five weeks training just to be embarrassed like this!"
"You have no idea how much stronger you've gotten. You're too focused on the end result. You won't be able to catch up to someone like Itachi in just a few weeks!"
"Don't say his name!" Sasuke barked. Sasuke spit out a mouth full of blood and glared at Naruto. "You have no idea what this means to me! I won't back off, and I won't slow down! Not until he's dead!" Then he pulled out two kunai and charged at Naruto. Naruto moved to block, but this time Sasuke saw it before Naruto even started to move. Sasuke weaved under Naruto's block and slashed at him. Naruto moved back, but Sasuke was there. He could see each move Naruto was going to make before he made them. His eyes felt like they were on fire, but he could see everything now. Every move before Naruto made it. It took all of Naruto's speed just to avoid Sasuke's preemptive counterattacks.
Sasuke was relentless in his attacks. Naruto barely had time to dodge or block each one. He was using all the speed he had. Naruto locked eyes with Sasuke for a moment as he dodged a slash aimed at his face. His eyes widened. Three tomoe-shaped marks now spun freely in Sasuke's crimson eyes. 'He's so desperate to prove he's gotten better…' Naruto ducked a kick but was hit again when Sasuke jumped up with his other leg and brought his foot into Naruto's face. Sasuke folded into a back handspring, and Naruto took the advantage to get as far from Sasuke as possible.
'If I'm going to "win" this, I need to keep my distance for now,' Naruto thought as he regained his barring's. 'Let's test out those eyes.' Naruto crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone," Four Naruto's appeared in front of Naruto and dashed at Sasuke. Naruto followed at the rear, but when the first one engaged Sasuke, he quickly pumped chakra into his legs and leaped into the air. Naruto flipped overhead and landed on a branch hanging over the arena.
Naruto watched as his four clones engaged with Sasuke. Sasuke was once again at a disadvantage. Even with Sharingan, his body couldn't keep up with everything he was seeing. Naruto was still faster than him, and fighting four of him was even harder. 'Incredible how much of difference those eyes make.'
Sasuke growled as he tried to dodge and block a flurry of kicks and punches from Naruto's clones. They were just as fast as Naruto himself. Even though he could see every move they were going to make before they made them, he still couldn't keep up! His eyes were able to close the gap between their taijutsu when it was one on one, but four one put him back on defense again. Sasuke felt a fist collide with his chin. He stood his ground and launched a kick that was blocked by one clone. Another drove a fist into his stomach while a third kicked out at his knees. Sasuke jumped back and found his footing.
'Finally!' A clone kicked wide, leaving an opening. Sasuke ducked a punch and rolled into the clone. Springing to his feet, Sasuke drove a kunai into its stomach. The clone doubled over and disappeared. Turning, Sasuke used the same kunai and threw it at an advancing clone. It ducked and found Sasuke's second kunai forced into its head. It, too, disappeared. There were only two left.
Sasuke blocked a punch and then a kick. Sasuke ducked another punch just as the second clone lifted its leg to kick. Stepping forward, Sasuke slid his heel behind the foot of the clone and shoved. The clone tripped over Sasuke's leg just as the raven-haired nin turned and wrapped his arm around the outstretched fist of the last clone. Pulling the clone closer to him, Sasuke headbutted the clone hard enough it disappeared almost immediately. Turning without missing a beat, he drew another kunai and launched it at the last clone on the ground. It rolled away and got back on its feet.
Then it disappeared. Sasuke was left standing there, winded blood still pouring from his nose. His lower face was red and sticky with dried blood. "Come on! Let's finish this!" Sasuke shouted. His red eyes scanned the area looking for Naruto.
"This was supposed to be a quick fight just to see how far you've come," Naruto called out from behind Sasuke. Sasuke snapped around to lock eyes with him. "We've done enough tonight. Either one of us could have accidentally killed the other tonight. Not only did we find your limits, but you also pushed past them." Naruto reached into a pouch and pulled out a small square mirror used for seeing around corners. He tossed it at Sasuke's feet.
Sasuke bent over and picked up the mirror. He lifted it to his face and stared at his eyes. They were bright red with three tomoe-like marks spinning around his pupils. His Sharingan had fully matured. He tossed the mirror aside and locked eyes with Naruto.
"We still don't know who's stronger," Sasuke snapped as he lowered into a fighting stance.
"We both know who's stronger," Naruto said calmly. He sighed deeply and stretched his neck, moving his head to the left and then to the right. "But if you need to see it for yourself to be satisfied," Naruto trailed off as he looked at Sasuke. Naruto took a deep breath and pushed his chakra into his legs. Augmenting his already incredible speed, he launched forward.
Sasuke's eyes locked onto Naruto, looking for any opening. He knew what was happening before it happened. Naruto stopped suddenly and launched himself into the air. Sasuke's eyes watched as Naruto ran through several hand seals.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm,"
'Wind Style: Gale Palm,"
They both pushed out their outstretched hands as two blasts of wind-infused chakra met in midair. However, Naruto's jutsu quickly overpowered Sasuke's. Naruto had more chakra and had mastered wind nature transformation. Naruto's jutsu pushed past Sasuke's, and they both exploded just a few feet above Sasuke's head. Sasuke was thrown backward like a rag doll. His body rolled through the dirt and out of the arena.
Naruto landed on top of Sasuke with a light thud. Crouching down, Naruto pressed the tip of a kunai to Sasuke's neck.
"It's over," Naruto demanded as he locked eyes with Sasuke.
"It's over," Sasuke conceded as his red eyes faded to black, and his tomoe marks shrank into nothingness. Naruto stood and grabbed Sasuke's arm. He lifted the other ninja and moved him to a nearby bench. Naruto dropped him onto it thoughtlessly and stood there with his arms crossed. Sasuke looked up at him and resisted the urge to sneer. Naruto was mostly unharmed. There were a few scuffs on his fists and a couple of dull yellow bruises from where Sasuke had hit him, but otherwise, he looked totally fine. He looked more beat up after training sessions. 'Is the gap in our strength still that large?'
"Don't move," Naruto said as he reached forward and grabbed Sasuke's nose. Naruto quickly pinched it between his thumb and index finger and pulled hard. Sasuke let out a shout, and there was a loud wet crunch as his nose was moved back into place.
"Fuck you," Sasuke spit out some more blood that had made its way into his mouth.
"Make sure you ice up and put some healing ointment on your bruises," Naruto said as he sat down next to Sasuke with a deep sigh. "The exams are in two days. We don't want to give anyone an advantage.:
"There's no way any team is a strong as ours. Not after the last five weeks." Sasuke groaned as he leaned back wiped the bottom of his face with his bare arm. Naruto's eyes lingered on the smeared blood on Sasuke's arm for a moment before he looked up into the sky.
"You never know," Naruto hummed softly. "Neji Hyuga's team are going to be in the exams. They've been genin for over a year."
"Which means they were too weak to pass the first time."
"Maybe," Naruto hummed as he continued to stare up at the sky. "Either way, rest up the next two days. Just in case." Naruto stood and stretched. "That Sharingan of yours…it narrowed the gap between us almost instantly." He turned to look at Sasuke with a serious look. "Don't become over-reliant on it, or it'll get you killed."
Sasuke watched as Naruto walked off towards the house he was staying in. Leaning over, Sasuke stared at the ground and scowled. "I'm coming for you, Itachi." Sasuke spit out one last bit of blood and stood up, and made his way home.
A/N: Decided to edit this tonight. I'm sure it's not perfect. Please let me know what you think and leave a review.