I truly appreciate reviews and suggestions, some of you may even notice that I take your suggestions! Thank you to everyone for the compliments that I have been getting, they make me have a Naruto level of excitement to write the next chapter! Also the last chapter had a lot of grammar and spelling issues, so I apologize for that.
Long Author Note ahead, feel free to skip.
I also split this chapter in half, because it was getting too long, so next chapter will be out quickly since most of it is written already.
One reviewer said they were unsure of having Naruto emulate Jiraiya's clothing, and asked not to have Naruto have long hair. My response is that Naruto has a fatherly-ish figure for the first time in his life, and I think it's natural for him to want to emulate somebody that he looks up to quite a bit. That's not to say that his look won't be changing as he develops new outlooks on the world. In fact, when he goes on his first C-rank mission, he'll have an entirely different outfit on. As far as the long hair goes, Naruto is/will be growing his hair out, it will not be like Jiraiya's though. When it gets to the point where it would be long enough, I'll post the illustration I have of him, I think it looks really natural and cool on him.
Another reviewer asked about my upload time, and if I have chapters stock piled that I put out…. Uh no, I wish I did, but I just write the whole chapter either in one or two sittings, and while I have a general idea of the story outlined, a lot of it is made up on the spot. Unfortunately this means that I will probably have breaks longer than a weak at times, or that I will write myself into a corner due to a lack of foresight. I am determined to not abandon this no matter what though. Nothing is more heartbreaking than finding an excellent story, only to have it be abandoned right before it gets to the good stuff (well maybe having your sensei eat your last cup of instant ramen, that white haired bastard!).
I have decided to use mostly the English translations of jutsu with limited exceptions. I will try not to double up on English/Japanese words (Like saying 3 sannin, ninjutsu techniques, or shadow hokage (although I probably will use this term at some point)) because I find it much easier, and I'm not to the point where the Japanese version sounds cooler for the jutsu (I do like Hiraishin and flying raijin instead of flying thunder god though, and probably will use both of them instead of FTG (That is NOT to say that Naruto is going to learn the jutsu, but it will obviously be referenced given (SPOILER) his father is the Yondaime)) so anyway, It will be cutting down on the translations that are written out as more jutsu are thrown around, and I won't have to look up as many translations as I'm more familiar with the English dub. If you don't like it please let me know in the reviews.
1 year 10 months after Sasuke left Mt. Myoboku — 2 years 8 months after Naruto left Konoha - January
"Pervy Sage, where are we going?" The ten year old asked.
Jiraiya looked at the boy, who had grown a considerable amount in the last two years. "We're headed back to the Land of Fire, I want to introduce you to someone, and you might just run into someone you already know."
Naruto was excited by this, but Jiraiya cut him off before he could further question, "Uh uh uh, you know the drill. What's shinobi rule number 8?"
"Information is like ramen?" Naruto questioned even though he already knew the answer.
Jiraiya nodded. He had told Naruto that information was like gold, to which Naruto responded that gold wasn't all that important to him. He'd rather have a useful metal, like more kunai, or a sword. Most importantly though, he'd rather have ramen. The young blond missed ramen. Sure he still had it when they came across a town, but that was not as often as he would have liked, and the ramen was never as good as Ichiraku's.
"Right, if you want information, you gotta work for it. Would you give away ramen for free?" The boy paled and shook his head vigorously. "Exactly. I wanna see five perfect shunshin (Body flicker) in a row." The body flicker technique was an invaluable one for all ninja, and performing one was not all that difficult. Performing several in a row, especially with a change of direction each time, was very difficult. Stop and starting so frequently threw off a ninja's balance, and could easily result in motion sickness. Something Naruto was currently experiencing as he threw up this morning's breakfast- a rabbit that wasn't quite faster than the blond.
"Ugh, Sensei," Naruto had learned the slightest amount of respect as far as what to call him and when, "can't I do five Gunshot's instead? I never throw up after those, and they're way cooler!" He complained.
"Alright, why don't you shoot five of them at me in rapid succession, and if you manage to hit me, I'll teach you a real flashy jutsu that the Fourth Hokage invented." Jiraiya responded confidently.
Naruto grinned bright as the sun. The Yondaime was his hero, and now he would get to learn one of his jutsu! "You got it Geezer, just let me know when you're ready!" Naruto shouted.
Before Jiraiya could reply, Naruto formed the hand seals, holding the tiger seal at the end, yelled "Water Release: Gunshot" and spat out a ball of water about half Jiraiya's height. The Toad Sage had to give it to him, at least he knew how to use the element of surprise. That didn't mean that Jiraiya had to let him win though. Jiraiya made his own hand seal and shunshin'd out of the way with a grin befitting the ease at which he did it. Naruto made a face at him, and wound up another gunshot, a little bigger than the last, but once again, Jiraiya evaded him. This happened two more times, and after his fourth attempt, Naruto molded the largest Gunshot that he could, a little over Jiraiya's height, and fired it as fast as he could at his sensei. The toad sage flickered out of the way with a careless ease yet again. Naruto was pissed.
"You know Naruto, I think you could improve your spee—" A sixth water gunshot flew at the toad sage faster than the previous five (though smaller than its predecessors).
"YES I GOT HIM!" Naruto shouted. He immediately felt something cold and sharp up against his neck, and wouldn't even risk a gulp for fear of nicking him.
"Now do you see why the body flicker is so important to master, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't respond, instead he just chuckled and poofed into smoke. Up in the nearest tree the real Naruto was beaming at how he had pulled one over on his sensei. He was committing to memory the face that Jiraiya had made, when he too poofed into smoke. Naruto didn't have time to feel shocked, as there was another kunai pressed to his neck.
"Forty years too young kid. That was a nifty trick though. Probably would have had me if your shunshin was faster." Jiraiya laughed at him
"Ugh dammit. I really wanted to learn the Fourth's jutsu, ya know!" Naruto grumbled. He normally could sense where Jiraiya was, something they had discovered came relatively easy to him. Jiraiya however, was very adept at suppressing and masking his chakra, and Naruto couldn't feel even an iota of his presence if the sannin put forth the effort to conceal himself.
"Well Naruto, the Fourth's original fighting style revolved around the shunshin and kawarimi. He used them to move about the battle field with extreme speed. You read about his Flying Raijin in one of the books that Sarutobi sent you right?" Naruto nodded excitedly. The Flying Raijin was probably the coolest jutsu he had ever heard of, and he knew it was the Yondaime's most signature move. He could teleport anywhere, and end a fight in less than a second. He had even been issued as an SS-rank shinobi and given flee on sight orders during the Third Great Shinobi War. Badass.
Jiraiya interrupted his daydreaming of his hero, "Good, well step one to utilizing that jutsu, was already having the fighting style down. If you wanna learn the Flying Raijin, you better master the body flicker and substitution to the point where it's completely natural and you have full control over them.
Naruto nodded again. If he wanted to surpass the fourth, first he had to reach him, and learning what was considered the most dangerous jutsu in the elemental nations was a good start.
The blond flashed through hand signs with practiced ease, and in a split second his sensei was looking at a log. "Don't worry sensei, I'll surpass the Fourth Hokage, just you wait, ya know!" He shouted from the ground a good ways away. Jiraiya let a smirk show, the kid was good entertainment if nothing else.
Jiraiya body flickered down to Naruto, and the two started walking southwest towards the Land of Fire. They had spent the last month in the Land of Hot Springs, Jiraiya meeting with a contact in his spy network, and getting in some extra curricular research while he was there.
"Sensei, permission to use my clones to train with the shunshin?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya sighed, thinking back to the Gaki's 'breakthrough discovery'.
Naruto was trying to get down a new chakra control exercise. He was required to balance a kunai, pointy end up, using his chakra. Essentially he would just be using the leaf sticking exercise, just on a much more difficult object. He kept using too much chakra, and the kunai would almost bounce off of his arm, repelled by his dense chakra. Jiraiya had found him in their camp clearing with ten clones doing the exercise. Jiraiya of course knew that Shadow Clones transferred their memories back to the user, but he distinctly remembered not making it to that part of the explanation, because said blond terror had cut him off.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Jiraiya inquired.
"I'm using my clones to train?" Naruto asked like it was obvious. This made Jiraiya think that he had caught on to one of the more important intricacies of the jutsu.
"Why is that" Jiraiya prodded further.
"Well if one of me can figure it out in a few hours, ten of me's should be able to figure it out in like thirty minutes right?" Naruto asked. Jiriaya nodded at this. While the training time wasn't necessarily pure division-if none of the clones figured out the trick to the exercise, he wouldn't progress past the beginning stages- it still would cut down on training time vastly. While this sounded nice, the downside was extreme migraines and potential brain damage or death. Knowing the Kyuubi and Uzumaki blood combination gave Naruto an unrivaled healing factor, he decided to watch and let the blond work for a little bit. After about ten minutes, one of the Naruto's signaled the rest, and they all huddled up. After another minute, they broke apart and got back to work.
"What was that meeting all about?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well Naruto-7 figured out that if I treat it like the tree walking exercise and try and stick the kunai to me, it becomes easier to balance." Naruto explained.
Jiraiya was really curious now, and then it donned on him. "Wait, are you just using the clones to come up with different ways to complete your training?" Jiraiya questioned.
"Well yeah, what else would they be for?" Naruto replied.
Jiraiya facepalmed. If he took care of the boy any longer, he was going to end up with a dented nose. "Gaki, your shadow clones return their experiences to the user when they're dispelled. You don't have to have them stop to explain to you what they did that worked, you can just pop them, and their memories will become yours." Jiraiya drawled.
Naruto didn't seem to comprehend this. "But they have a different body from me, so they have a different brain, how could I have their memories?"
"Do you remember the night you opened The Uzumaki scroll?" Naruto nodded. "Do you remember when I pushed you into that river?" Naruto scowled, and nodded again. The old pervert had pushed him in several times if he remembered correctly. "Gaki, I didn't push the real you in, I only pushed your clones in. You stayed in the clearing reading the scroll." Naruto's mouth opened and closed like a fish at this. The memories felt real, but they weren't particularly important events, so he couldn't really remember what happened before or after. Maybe that was because his clone didn't exist for very long before, and ceased to exist after.
Jiraiya saw that it still didn't quite line up properly in Naruto's brain, so Jiraiya took a different route. "Show me how well you can balance the kunai." He said.
Naruto nodded and gave it a shot. He made it about three seconds. Jiraiya nodded at this and signaled Naruto's ten clones to move out of the clearing about 30 feet with him. After five minutes, Jiraiya came back with the clones, and popped them one by one. He then asked Naruto to repeat the exercise. He managed 30 seconds this time.
"What's the secret to balancing the kunai?' His sensei asked.
"Well I just have to try and wrap my chakra around the ring and draw it in, just like you told me." Naruto explained.
"Right, but I didn't tell you, I told your clones in the clearing. Do you remember what you were looking at when I told you that?" Naruto thought back to it, and could clearly picture several of his clones in his line of vision. Actually he could remember Jiraiya telling him several times, with different angles of his clones. He could also remember Jiraiya stabbing him in the chest. He frowned and rubbed it.
"I see you've caught on. It's a peculiar feeling isn't it." Jiraiya asked.
"What's that word mean? And don't stab my clones anymore, I can just dispel them ya know." Naruto replied.
"Peculiar means strange, and usually in a particular way. Like a type of strange you haven't experienced before." Jiraiya explained. "And I know you can just dispel them, but it's more fun to stab them because they look like you, and you annoy me." The Toad Sage explained.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. He knew his sensei didn't mean anything malicious by his words, but he also knew that he was going to continue to stab his clones.
Jiraiya laughed at his young charge. "I don't want you using more than ten at a time to train with them for now though, and I forbid you from using them without my permission, and for more than an hour for each clone before dispelling them. The jutsu passes on mental fatigue, so every clone you have will multiply your fatigue each time you pop one. You already have so few brain cells, I wouldn't want you losing any more." Jiraiya's grin was downright evil. Naruto threw a kunai at him knowing it wouldn't hit. He was insulted to see that the white haired man caught it in his teeth. Salt in the wound.
"Fine, I'll follow your stupid rules, but you have to help me with my calligraphy skills!" Naruto said. Jiraiya agreed. The boy had been having some trouble with his writing, and Jiraiya wouldn't let him advance to explosive tags without perfect handwriting. The two bonked forehead protectors, both of which said oil on them. It was an agreement Naruto had come up with when Jiraiya explained they were the only two people in the world with them.. Shaking hands was too stale according to the blond, and not unique enough for him.
Jiraiya was brought out of his mental flashback by the Gaki's vibration. The boy was literally vibrating waiting for permission. Jiraiya thought his new seal would drain some of his energy but he still was just a ball of non stop excitement.
"Very well, ten clones, no more than an hour and a half for each one. You know how to stagger them so you don't get a headache. If you do get one tell me right away." Jiriaya said sternly. Naruto rolled his eyes at him. He had never gotten a headache from using the Shadow clone training technique. When he pushed his time limit and dispelled them all at once, he would be extremely disoriented for a few seconds, but that was the worst of it.
"Yes Pervy Sage, I'll be very careful not to lose any of my precious brain power" The blond grinned at him.
It was Jiraiya's turn to roll his eyes as the blond formed his favorite hand seal, multiplied by ten, and barked out orders to them. All ten clones saluted seriously, and started body flickering around at different speeds and distances. Naruto found it was best that the clones tried different ways of doing a jutsu in order to find the optimal way to do it. Once he found the optimal way, all the clones would focus on increasing speed, power, precision, or volume, depending on the jutsu. The first couple of times he had tried it, it felt like he had only gotten better at being mediocre at what he was practicing. Like he had practiced at a slow pace a lot of times. Once he got the hang of the method, he could figure essentially have ten people try a jutsu or exercise ten different ways, and then hammer the optimal technique home nearly ten times as fast. The initial stage took longer than one would expect, but once he had it figured out, he could improve faster than anybody.
Sensei and student continued walking to intercept with Jiraiya's unknown colleague. Naruto either chatting away with Jiraiya, himself (or to a clone of himself), or Gamakichi, who had just transitioned from tadpole to toad. The small orange and purple toad was more than happy to sit on Naruto's head and chat with him, so long as he was provided snacks. Naruto was happy to have a friend to chat with, and summoned the fist sized toad often while traveling.
—
One hour out of Konoha
"Kakashi, why are we walking at civilian pace"
"Ma, ma, what's the rush my cute little apprentice?" The copy nin asked.
"We could be using this time to train, I can't let that loser get ahead of me." Sasuke replied
"You think he's that strong huh?" Kakashi asked, "Strong enough to take out the mighty Uchiha?" Kakashi elbowed him teasingly. He was well aware of the boy's superiority complex when it came to the academy students.
Sasuke scowled at him. "If you would teach me some of your jutsu I wouldn't have to be so worried. He has Jiraiya of the Sannin teaching him, all I have are my clan scrolls, and you know I can't read any of the good ones until I unlock my sharingan!"
Kakashi eye-smiled at the raven haired boy. He was happy to see the boy he had come to see as a little brother figure had somebody that could challenge him. It was unhealthy to believe that you were above everybody else.
"Well I can't wait to watch you two spar, I'm sure you won't have any trouble keeping up with him." Kakashi chuckled. He had watched the academy spars. The only one who could keep up with him was Shino Aburame because of his tactics, but his insect jutsu were a bad match for Sasuke's fire jutsu. Every other student was outmatched in their best category. He was faster than Kiba, stronger than Choji, if only by a little, unlikely to be smarter than the Nara heir, but it was hard to tell because of Shikamaru's lack of effort, and even better at taijutsu than Hinata, though Kakashi suspected she was holding back.
Sasuke knew he was better than them, and he acted like it, hardly paying attention to any of them, except Shino's occasional comment. When Kakashi told him he was going to get to see Naruto, Sasuke had sharpened up. He insisted he needed to go train immediately. The blond had a profound effect on him.
"You don't understand Kakashi, he beat me. Me." Humility and Uchiha didn't often end up in the same sentence, but Kakashi detected a little bit of it in Sasuke's voice. He was surprised.
"Well oh mighty Uchiha-sama" Kakashi said playfully, "That was two years ago. I'm sure you've grown a lot since then. I bet you beat him easily just like the others." Kakashi couldn't help being defensive of Sasuke's skills, he had trained him after all. No new jutsu, just refining the skills he already had. He knew Jiraiya would be taking care of Minato-sensei's son, and that one day he would be a power house, but he hadn't officially met the boy yet, so he was inclined to believe Sasuke was a lot stronger based on rumors. The copy-nin had no idea just how outdated those rumors were.
—
Naruto sensed Sasuke before he saw him, along with another vaguely familiar chakra signature. He channeled some chakra to his ears and nose, and smelled the two. One smelled like a campfire, probably Sasuke given how often he used fire jutsu and would be practicing with it, the other smelled like a storm and… dogs? Naruto didn't have a lot of interaction with household pets in his travels, but it definitely smelled like dogs in addition to the ozone scent that accompanied lightning.
He heard them next a crackle of a twig, the rustle of leaves, and the gentle thump of grass being displaced. Then he saw them, and was outraged.
"No way Bastard!" Naruto was shocked to see Sasuke, but not because he didn't know he was coming, "I could have sworn I'd be taller than you by now ya know!" Sasuke just smirked his Uchiha smirk, which just frustrated Naruto further.
"Dammit! I bet you have a bunch of cool new jutsu too huh? Well I got news for you, so do I! By the way, who's the dog guy, you didn't bring Kiba with you did you?" Sasuke ignored the question, Kakashi had taken to the tree's, probably to test Naruto. He was weird like that.
"Huh, you think you've got cool new jutsu like your clone huh? News flash loser, ten times zero is still zero." Sasuke said cooly. Kakashi liked to talk trash like this when they 'sparred' and Sasuke had taken a liking to it.
"Urgh I'll show you who the zero is! Toad Oil Bullet!" Naruto shouted as he ran through hand signs. He spat out the oil at Sasuke, but was rewarded with a slicked up log for his troubles.
"Tch, is that all you got, Naruto? You're going to have to be much faster than that to hit me." Sasuke bragged from a tree branch up to his right. Naruto only smiled, before popping into smoke.
Sasuke was on edge immediately, but couldn't react in time. A metal chain snaked its way around his ankle, and pulled him off of the branch. This time he couldn't substitute in time, and four Naruto's held him down by his limbs.
"Hahaha, I got you good, huh Sasuke?" The blond cackled. "Future Hokage: one, Bastard Uchiha: zero"
"Tch, you had that clone made before we even started the spar, that's cheating."
"Uh uh uh," Naruto waggled his finger at him, "Rule number one Sasuke, rule number one."
"And what would rule number one be, Naruto?" A voice asked from behind him. The real him. The one up on a branch a safe distance away from Sasuke. He was so shocked he fell out of the tree. He got up rubbing his backside.
"Oi, who the hell are you? I recognize your chakra from somewhere." Kakashi seemed interested in this, but didn't question.
"Why I'm Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke's big brother figure." Kakashi said. Best not to introduce himself as his big brother. Wouldn't wanna be confused with somebody who was a domestic terrorist.
"I told you I'm not calling you Big Bro." A muffled yell came from where Naruto's clones were pushing Sasuke's face into the grass. "Now get the loser to release me!" His anger was palpable.
"Naruto could you be so kind as to release Sasuke. I believe you won the first round." Kakashi had been thoroughly impressed, Naruto had fought and defeated Sasuke like a shinobi; without following the rules or putting himself in danger.
Naruto nodded, but didn't relax. He could still smell the dog and ozone, but it was coming from where Sasuke had appeared from. He couldn't smell the man in front of him at all despite channeling chakra to his nose. "How come I can't smell you anymore? And why do you smell like dog anyway?" Naruto asked. This confused both Sasuke and Kakashi, though for different reasons.
"I suppose you smell my summons, would you like to meet them?" Kakashi asked, his dogs would love to meet his sensei's son.
Naruto nodded at this, he liked all the toads, he didn't see why he wouldn't like Kakashi's summons.
The Hatake ran through a familiar set of hand seals after biting his thumb, and placed his palm on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu." He called out lightly. Eight puffs of smoke came and went, and standing there were eight different kinds of dogs.
Pakkun was the one to speak up "Yo, boss. What's the mission?" He asked.
"No mission this time Pak. Just wanted to introduce you to my new friend, Naruto." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.
Naruto had not missed the words he used. "Friend?" He asked.
The one eyed Jonin tilted his head and eye-smiled at Naruto. "That is, if it's okay with you, Naruto?" Never one to pass up an opportunity to have a friend, Naruto nodded his head vigorously.
Kakashi chuckled, "Good. Well these are my summons, they're ninken- ninja dogs. Pakkun is the one who just talked, he has soft paws, you should feel them." Pakkun nodded at this and held up a paw, Naruto reached out and felt it. It was really soft, even if this was weird. Kakashi then pointed down the line at the other seven dogs. "That's Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Uhei, and Guruko." He finished.
Naruto waved at the dogs, it's nice to meet you guys, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage ya know!" Naruto shouted, the dogs smiled and wagged their tails at him, and he laughed. "Would you guys like to meet my summons? Their toads and they're super awesome!" Naruto didn't hear a no, so he ran through the hand signs and summoned Gamakichi.
"'Kichi, these are my new friend Kakashi's summons," Naruto listed off their names while pointing them out. "Ninken, this is my friend Gamakichi, he can spit water out, it's awesome!" Naruto yelled. Gamakichi demonstrated by spitting water into Naruto's face, no stronger than an average garden hose. The dogs all laughed, and Naruto sent Gamakichi off to play with them.
"Thanks Kakashi, 'Kichi's never gotten to play with other summons before!" Naruto said excitedly.
"No problem Naruto. Where's Jiraiya-sama?" Kakashi asked.
"The old perv is out finding us dinner." Naruto replied bluntly. Kakashi sweat dropped.
"Alright, I'll go help him. Why don't you and Sasuke catch up? No fighting till Jiraiya or I get back though." Naruto and Sasuke both shouted indignantly that they didn't need babysitters to spar, but eventually relented and agreed after Kakashi rubbed their heads with his knuckles.
When it was just the two of them, they plopped down in the clearing, Naruto laying on his back, and Sasuke cooly sitting up against a tree with his elbow propped up on his knee.
"So…" Naruto said, looking for patterns amongst the leaves of the tree. "Who the hell is this Kakashi guy?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke grunted. "Some jonin who started coming by my house to bother me. He keeps asking me to call him big bro. As if I'd ever do that after what happened with you know who." Naruto nodded from his place on the ground. He and Sasuke hadn't discussed it much, but he knew what his brother Itachi had done.
"If he's a jonin, he must have cool jutsu. Did he teach you any?" Naruto asked, steering the conversation away from sadness and hate.
"Tch. He's been holding out on me. I've heard rumors that he knows a thousand jutsu." Sasuke said.
Naruto sat up shocked at that. A thousand jutsu was a lot. More than Jiraiya knew. Maybe even more than Hokage-jiji knew. Kakashi must be really strong.
"I thought he'd be strong too." Sasuke said, not needing to hear Naruto voice his opinion. "But he acts so aloof all the time, and he's always late for everything. I just can't picture him being deadly." Sasuke said.
"Jiraiya says rule number 12 is that appearances are deceiving. If he knows a thousand jutsu and he's a jonin, he has to be super strong and awesome ya know." Naruto said. He seemed to be slightly calmer when it was just him and Sasuke, something the Uchiha was grateful for.
"You're just saying that because you like his summons." Sasuke replied, throwing a pebble at the blonde's forehead protector. It was the first time he'd seen him with it on, though he knew he was on the verge of earning it when he'd left the Toad's home.
Naruto shrugged. The ten year olds sat in a peaceful silence, both feeling more at ease around each other than they had at any other time in the last two years. There was an unspoken understanding between them.
After about fifteen minutes, Kakashi and Jiraiya came walking into the clearing, the former with a deer slung over his shoulder.
"Alright Gaki's," Jiraiya said "Early dinner first, and then you can spar."
"No shot Pervy Sage! If we're only gonna be here for a few days, I gotta beat the bastard as many times as I can ya know!" Naruto shouted, once again full of energy.
Sasuke grunted in agreement, he too wanted to fight Naruto, on even ground this time, to see where he stood.
"Language, Naruto! … But I suppose sparring beforehand wouldn't hurt." Jiraiya relented, and they moved about 30 feet about in the clearing, and made the hand sign for a friendly spar. Jiraiya said "Alright, on my mark. Three, two, —alright I guess you guys were eager." He said. Both Naruto and Sasuke had taken off at two, trying to get the upper hand.
They started with taijutsu this time, as their teachers often had them do when sparring. Naruto had superior speed and strength, which he had spent a lot of time working on, but Sasuke had much sharper and cleaner form, leading to him having the advantage.
Naruto realized this after several exchanges, and leapt back, running and throwing shuriken that he pulled from the seal on the side of his scroll. Sasuke pulled a kunai from his pouch, and blocked all six of them, before throwing it at Naruto. The blond rolled behind a tree, and ran off in five different directions when he emerged. Sasuke noticed four of them were just running, while the fifth one was watching Sasuke while he moved. 'That must be the real one' he thought, and gave chase.
Pulling another kunai from his pouch, he lunged at Naruto, who just stopped and smiled. The kunai plunged into the boy's shoulder, and he poofed into smoke. Sasuke didn't have a chance to get angry, as he was tackled from behind. Stupid loser blond always pulling tricks.
Naruto stood with his foot planted on Sasuke's chest, a huge grin on his face. "Gotcha again Sasuke, that's two for me!"
Sasuke smirked back at him though, and quickly ran through three hand signs. "You should've restrained my hands Loser. Lightning Release: Paralyzing Palm!" Sasuke shouted, charging electricity up into his palm, and grabbing Naruto's exposed ankle.
The blond felt the charge shoot up his leg, and his whole body went numb, but hurt at the same time. His muscles gave out as they were no longer in his control, and he fell to the ground. Sasuke quickly pounced on him with a knee on his chest and a blunted kunai at his throat.
"That's one for me and zero for you, Naruto. That first one didn't count." Sasuke said cooly.
"Oi, fine you won this one, but get off of me." The Uchiha obliged with a smirk. "I thought you said the cyclops was holding out on you?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke smiled. "He might've given me one scroll for one jutsu. It's basically a D-rank though. Hardly worth my time, but easily enough to defeat you, hn." Sasuke grunted.
Kakashi smiled. Naruto had been good. He fought like both parents from what he had seen. Unpredictability and brawling like Kushina, but strategic thinking and speed like Minato. He was proud of him, and Sasuke too. Watching them interact reminded him of he and Obito, though they seemed to have a better understanding of each other than he Obito had.
The boy's faced off several more times over the next couple of days. Most of their fights ended in a draw, much to their combined frustration. They each had strengths and weaknesses that the other didn't, and fighting each other brought their weaknesses to the forefront of their intention.
By the time they parted ways, Naruto had a drive to increase his proficiency in taijutsu, and weapons skills, and Sasuke wanted to increase his speed and strength to a higher level to keep up with Naruto. Sasuke wanted to find a way to cut through Naruto's Needle Jizo, his weapons skills weren't as valuable if they couldn't cut through his hair. Of course, both boys wanted to increase their jutsu arsenals, though Naruto currently had a more versatile repertoire, Sasuke's were extremely effective, and more offensively oriented. Naruto also desperately wanted to learn jutsu to counter lightning jutsu. Sasuke had told him that was his natural affinity, which left Naruto curious as to what his was. He knew of affinities, but Jiraiya had never specifically focused on the topic, so he didn't know what his was. He was just praying that it wasn't earth, as he knew it was weak to lightning.
Lightning Release: Paralyzing Palm: D-rank Lightning ninjutsu - The user makes the necessary hand signs, and channels lightning chakra across their hand, though it is not condensed like the Chidori. Similar to the Wind Release: Gale Palm in difficulty, though less powerful. Essentially a taser.
The chain that Naruto used on Sasuke is shaped exactly like one of Kushina's chakra chains. It's an Uzumaki training item for people who have the special chakra for it, though Naruto doesn't know that.
Naruto has learned the academy three minus the regular bunshin. In its place, he has shadow clones, water clones (needs water to do this though) and another surprise or two. His Needle Jizo can't cover his whole body like Jiraiya, instead, it just wraps over his shoulder and covers his upper body to protect his organs mostly. He does know Water Release: Gunshot, but any chunin who knows this can likely outdo him at it, especially if water is their affinity. Water is not Naruto's affinity, but like Sasuke learned the fireball in canon, he just powered through learning it because he was determined to match Sasuke(I guess this means he has a rudimentary version of change in chakra nature? I don't know, the story feels inconsistent when it comes to chakra natures, if anybody can use any nature without going through the proper training to change the nature, then I feel like we'd see a lot more than the 5 or 6 that use all 5 natures. Kakashi would definitely have some wind jutsu if it was at all possible.). Anyway, he's extremely strong for an academy student, and would beat most genin, but every jutsu he has could be improved greatly still.
Sasuke has the academy three, great fireball, flame bullet, and now paralyzing palms (which I made up), as well as greater skill with kunai and shuriken, and use of ninja wire. I would say Sasuke's jutsu are all farther along, though Naruto's counter his well so they don't have to be as powerful or sharp. Sasuke has also started his lightning release training with Kakashi, though he doesn't know it yet, and it will take him a really long time to get the first stage down.