Chapter 20 - Satisfaction

Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke all limped into the classroom the next day, hanging onto each other for support. For once, even Sasuke and Naruto weren't arguing. Jiraiya had dropped them off in front of their houses last night after training and they were all just too tired to care about anything at the moment.

Iruka saw them enter the classroom, and turned to face them. He saw their condition and asked: "Are.. you three alright?"

"Iruka-sensei… Make it stop hurting…" Hinata said, looking at him with dead eyes. "My whole body… I'm so sore."

"It.. Can't be that bad, can it?" Iruka had heard that Jiraiya was going to be training them, and they might be a bit tired during classes for the next few weeks, but he didn't expect this.

Naruto looked at him and whimpered. "I moved my mattress to the floor because I couldn't pull myself into it last night…"

"You.." Iruka was going to speak but Sasuke interrupted him.

"I slept on my porch… Izumi-san found me this morning…" He looked half dead, hanging off of the side of Hinata.

"Alright, you three go to the nurses office. Get a medic-nin to look at you, they can soothe your muscles." Iruka said, looking at them in sympathy.

"No.." Hinata said, struggling to their desk.

"We're not.. That.. weak." Sasuke grit his teeth and pushed forward, eventually collapsing into his seat.

"If we give in, Iruka-sensei, we lose." Naruto said, clutching his hands into fists.

"You'll lose?" Iruka looked confused.

"This is a war, sensei." Hinata nodded gravely. "He can smell weakness."

"He eventually made a promise to teach us a ninjutsu if we hung on for three months without complaining, just to shut Naruto up because he kept complaining." Sasuke explained.

"Well all we were doing was physical conditioning over and over again! And I had to do almost twice as much as you two!" Naruto tried to defend himself.

"That's because you have a freakish amount of endurance." Hinata glared at him. "And he didn't let the both of us stop until you were worn out."

"Alright, alright." Iruka cut in before they could argue. "As long as you all don't collapse during any classes, I won't make you go to the medic-nin. Now class is about to start, so try not to fall asleep." Iruka walked away from them to begin homeroom.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"How's he doing?" Jiraiya looked up from his desk to see Rō standing in front of him.

"His tenacity is impressive, reaction times are good, but his overall strength and stamina leave a lot to be desired." Rō thought for a moment before continuing. "I'm going to focus on those two areas for the first month. Raising his endurance will be the most crucial step. I also need to increase his ability to work under stress and mental exhaustion."

"What's your overall impression of the man?" Jiraiya asked, leaning back in his seat.

"He's a fine shinobi, but was never given the training he needed to truly shine. I wish I was able to train him from an earlier age. It's always more difficult the older they are." Rō sighed. "We'll get there though."

"Glad to hear your assessment was about the same as mine." Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "Alright, you're dismissed. I want a report once a week going forwards. Keep me up to date."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Rō bowed and left the room.

Jiraiya looked back down at the folders on his desk. He had three of them open right now, a student academy photo of Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata were seen in each of them.

'Now what am I going to do with you three today…' Jiraiya grinned, looking at their files.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

The next three months were like a fever dream for Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke. They had classes for the first half of the day and training with Jiraiya the second half. They had never been so continuously exhausted before in their lives, but they were finally seeing the results of their work.

"Alright you three, that's enough for today. Workouts over." Jiraiya called out to the three who were just completing a lap.

"Huh?" Hinata said, surprised. "That's it?" She wasn't doubled over in pain and exhaustion. She hadn't even vomited today, which she wasn't complaining about, but it was weird.

"That's it." Jiraiya nodded as they ran over to him.

"Why are we stopping so soon Jiraiya-shishou?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked dubious as well, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Hah!" Jiraiya laughed. "This is always my favorite part."

The three looked at him in confusion.

"What you all did today, that you're thinking of as a short workout, was what you all did everyday the first week of training." Jiraiya grinned at their looks of shock. "Surprised?"

"Are you serious?" Hinata asked, squinting her eyes.

"What, you don't trust me?" Jiraiya asked.

"No." The three responded at the same time.

"That hurts.." Jiraiya made a mocking grimace. "And after I've been so good to three of you…"

He sighed after he realized none of them had let down their guard yet, still looking at him as if he was lying.

"I'm being serious. What you just did was what had you in tears three months ago. It's also the pre-workout I'm going to have you do every day before training starting today."

The three finally relaxed a bit.

"So… what are we doing with the rest of our time then?" Sasuke asked.

"Well I believe I have to keep up my end of the bargain don't I? You got through three months without complaining. I mean, there were tears, but that doesn't really count I suppose." He looked them over. "Even I'm a bit surprised at your growth. You three are like different people physically."

"Alright." Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Who here knows their natural affinity when it comes to chakra nature transformation?"

Hinata pointed to the three of them one at a time as she listed them off. "Wind, fire, fire."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at her in surprise. "How do you know that?"

"I know things." Hinata said simply, and Sasuke just nodded along. He was used to her knowing random things like that and just took her word for it.

Jiraiya tested the three of them anyway, using chakra induction paper. Naruto's paper, split in half, while Hinata's and Sasuke's burned to ash.

"Huh. She was right." Jiraiya blinked and looked at Hinata. "You've never been tested before?" He asked the two boys, who shook their heads.

"I can understand knowing Sasuke's was fire, he's an Uchiha and most of them have a fire affinity, but how did you know Naruto's affinity?" Jiraiya asked Hinata.

"She won't tell you." Sasuke answered. "I've given up trying to figure it out."

"I know things." Hinata said again.

Jiraiya just shook his head and moved on. "Alright, well if you want to learn any ninjutsu requiring nature transformation, being able to control your element is the first step. Though before you have the control to do that, you need to learn how to finely control your chakra. So I'm going to first teach you how to channel chakra to your feet to walk on walls and water."

"We can walk on water!?" Naruto asked, excitedly.

"Really..?" Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he was an idiot.

"Sasuke and I can already do that, Jiraiya-sensei." Hinata pointed out.

"Hah!? You can!?" Naruto looked over at the two of them in shock.

Hinata just nodded in confirmation. "Shishou taught me and I taught Sasuke. We learned a long time ago."

"Hm. Well I guess you two can start with the training I had in mind then. Naruto, give me a moment to set them up and I'll teach you how it's done." Jiraiya said, as he pulled out a scroll.

He laid the scroll on the ground and activated it, causing two braziers to appear in a puff of smoke. He lit the coal in the braziers and a fire took hold, flames flickering in the wind.

"Alright Hinata, Sasuke, take a seat next to the braziers, one each. I want you to study the flame, watch how it moves. Feel it out with your chakra and try to integrate it into the fire. When you're able to move and control the flame with your own chakra, you'll be able to move onto the next step."

Jiraiya then looked over at Naruto who was looking at them in jealousy. "Naruto, come with me. I'll teach you the basics of controlling chakra outside of your body. It shouldn't take that long, we'll make use of your kage bunshin no jutsu."

Naruto looked up in excitement. "I forgot I could use that! Hah! I'll catch up to them and surpass them in no time!"

Sasuke took that as a challenge and sat down, studying the fire. Hinata did the same but just grimaced. 'He's right. He probably will catch up in no time.'

Jiraiya left the two of them behind and set out with Naruto to the woods.

Hinata and Sasuke just sat there in silence, staring into the fire.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Keep your guard up maggot!" Rō shouted, throwing a punch and having it collide with Hayate's chin. "Watch your foot placement!" Rō moved in quickly with a kick that Hayate blocked. Hayate stepped forward and threw a punch. Rō grabbed his arm and threw Hayate over his shoulder onto the ground.

There were similar fights happening all over the training ground. Hayate and Rō each had made several shadow clones and they were fighting each other. While the shadow clones couldn't help Hayate with physical condition, when they expired they would transfer over their experiences, including any progress they made while training taijutsu.

Hayate and Rō had each made 6 clones, reducing the amount of chakra in themselves to 1/6th of the usual amount. Hayate had been doing this for the past month, and although he was exhausted, he was also making progress.

Three of his clones were fighting with blindfolds on, and the other three were fighting while only watching the feet of Rō's clones. The day before they had been deafened, the day before that, they had an arm or leg tied off. They were rotating through different handicaps, learning how to fight in case they were ever debilitated on the battlefield.

Rō took care to go just hard enough to push the clones, without destroying them, and he had made sure the clones were up at all times fighting. It didn't matter whether Hayate was also sparring, or if he was doing other training sessions, Hayate would only dispel them when he went to sleep.

Sleep was probably what Hayate missed the most about the outside world. Since he started this hellish boot camp, he would be told to sleep at odd intervals, and he never knew when the next chance of sleep would be. He didn't know what time of day it was down here in the bunker, but he estimated he'd been here for roughly three months.

Whenever he was sleeping he would also have to worry about Rō coming up with a new way of waking him up. It started with a hose spraying him down, then it was a loud explosion, meant to shock and disorient him. Sometimes Rō would just attack him, to see if he was on guard or not. The first time Rō attacked, Hayate had ended up taking three kunai hits and had to be healed by a medic-nin.

He was getting better though. He was now used to getting either next to no sleep, or only sleeping lightly for a few hours at a time. He would instantly wake up now if someone so much as touched the doorknob on his room's door. It had actually been about five days since Rō had managed to sneak up on him, and tonight Rō told him he'd be getting a new room.

"All right, that's enough." Rō told Hayate after having just knocked him to the ground again. "Pick yourself back up, I'll take you to your new quarters."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Hayate shouted. Hayate wasn't sure when he started to instinctively shout that back. It had been a few weeks into training, he decided. When he started, he would just grin and bear it, deciding it was better to give in since he'd be working with the man for half a year, but eventually it became second nature. Hayate wasn't sure what to think of that.

Rō led him back down the long hallway, stopping outside of a new room. When he opened it, Hayate almost cried tears of joy. There was a bed. An actual bed! There was also a closed off bathroom, couch, table and fridge.

"Congratulations maggot." Rō said, smiling. "You earned this!"

Hayate just walked inside the room, savoring the luxury that was a normal apartment room. He took the first hot shower he'd had since he got here, ate a meal with the food in the fridge, and collapsed in an exhausted heap on the bed, closing his eyes and falling to sleep.

Rō watched Hayate sleep for about two hours on one of the surveillance monitors that was hooked up to a hidden camera in Hayate's new room. "This is always one of the hardest parts for them. Let's see how he handles it."

Rō flipped up a glass cover that was protecting a button on the panel in front of him. Rō pressed the button and watched as a spark lit up on the couch, starting a small fire that quickly began to spread.

Hayate woke up with a startle. Smoke was filling up the room and he looked over to the couch that was completely set aflame. The fire was begging to spread towards the bed Hayate was on.

He rolled off the bed to his feet but instantly collapsed. 'What's going on…' Hayate thought to himself. 'How did I not notice the fire when it was first lit?'

He tried to form hand seals to create water to put out the flames, but his vision was blurry and he didn't have complete function over his hands. It took him much longer than it should have and when he finally conjured water to put out the flames, they had already destroyed over half the room. He was now soaked, nauseous, and his eyes and throat hurt from the smoke.

Rō burst into the room, kicking the door open. "Sloppy maggot!" He roared. "Not only did you not check for traps when you first entered the room, you didn't even check for poison in the food!" He berated Hayate. "There was sleeping medication mixed in with the food, maggot!"

"Obviously you can't handle this new room! Back to your old one! Move it!" He picked up Hayate by the collar and pushed him out the door.

Hayate just let himself get thrown into the hallway. He felt defeated, both mentally and physically. He eventually got back to his old room and laid down on the cot, falling into another uneasy sleep.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

It was three days later that Sasuke had finally finished infusing his chakra with the fire in the brazier in front of him. He watched as the fire moved how he wanted it to, changing the flames into different shapes and patterns.

"Finally done." Sasuke said with satisfaction, looking over at Hinata with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, pretty boy. Eat it up." Hinata was still struggling to get the fire to move the way she wanted. She could feel her chakra in it, but it kept slipping away from her. She gave him a reproachful look before sighing and going back to work.

Naruto had finished learning how to climb up surfaces yesterday and currently had about two dozen or so shadow clones trying to walk on water.

'I need to figure this out soon! I can't let myself fall behind both of them. Naruto should probably have figured out water walking by tomorrow at the latest with his shadow clones helping him. Which is totally cheating! Ughhh!' Hinata let herself get distracted in her thoughts and felt her hold on the flames slip away from her again.

"Damnit!" She yelled at the fire. "And quit smiling at me like that!" She rounded on Jiraiya who was watching in amusement.

"Hey now, there's no need to get angry." Jiraiya said in a placating tone. "Just keep at it. As for you Sasuke, it's time to move onto the next step."

"I'm going to teach you a C-rank ninjutsu that you should be familiar with." Jiraiya smiled as Sasuke, who looked at him in interest.

Jiraiya went through a series of hand seals before shouting: "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He took a deep breath and unleashed a stream of flames from his mouth that rotated, folding in on itself and forming a large ball of fire that exploded on the ground about five meters away.

"T-that's!" Sasuke stuttered out.

"The great fireball technique." Jiraiya confirmed. "An Uchiha specialty. I thought it was appropriate."

"Show me again." Sasuke demanded, looking determined.

"Alright, come with me. We shouldn't disturb Hinata's training." Jiraiya told him.

Sasuke nodded and followed Jiraiya to another part of the training grounds.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Come one, come on!" Naruto shouted again, looking at a bell in front of him. There were a series of them hanging from a taut rope that was spread between two stakes in the training ground. There were a dozen bells and Naruto had a clone in front of each of them. It was his goal to infuse chakra into the wind in order to move the bell and cause it to ring.

"It's not a race!" Hinata snapped at him. She was still trying to control the damn fire in front of her.

"Says you!" Naruto smirked. "Sasuke's already learning a ninjutsu! We can't fall behind!"

"Ughh. Don't remind me." Hinata was distressed. It had been 2 days since Sasuke had been taken away by Jiraiya to practice the great fireball technique.

Jiraiya walked back over to them. "How's it going you two?"

"I've almost got it! Today for sure!" Naruto grinned. "She's still stuck though."

Hinata gave him a dirty look, before turning to look at Jiraiya. "It keeps slipping away from my grasp. It feels like I'm trying to hold a wet bar of soap. What am I doing wrong?"

"Hmmm." Jiraiya thought for a moment. "Have you tried using your byakugan?"

"Huh..?" Hinata looked at him in confusion for a moment before realizing what he meant, and facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that..?" She groaned.

Of course she should be using her byakugan. She could use it to see the flow of her own chakra in the fire! She could figure out where she was going wrong, rather than just feel it out blindly. She was just so used to not relying on it that it hadn't even crossed her mind.

'I made a mistake.' Hinata thought to herself, activating her byakugan. 'I need to make sure I use the advantages I'm given. Not relying on it is one thing, but I actually gimped myself without even realizing it.'

Now looking at the flames, she could see her chakra winding about the flames. She watched as she manipulated the strings of chakra and watched them fuse into the fire. Whenever she saw one of the flames start to slip away, she tightened her grasp on it, coating it in her chakra.

She practiced for about another hour before finally calling out in excitement. "I got it!" She looked over at a distraught Naruto. "I take back what I said, Naruto, you were right. It was a race."

Naruto looked over at Jiraiya. "Shishouuu.." He groaned. "Why couldn't you have waited until tomorrow to tell her?"

"Alright you two, cut it out. Hinata, don't tease Naruto, and Naruto, focus if you want to catch up. Don't worry so much about what the others are doing." Jiraiya said, shaking his head at them.

"Sensei, I would never." Hinata gasped and looked at him in mock hurt.

"Alright Hinata, I'm going to teach you a different ninjutsu than Sasuke. I think this one will work better with your fighting style. Pay attention." Jiraiya turned to look at her, going through the hand seals slowly. "Katon: Kitsunebi!" He shouted, conjuring ten fireballs in a circle in front of him. They slowly rotated around him and pushed forward with a palm, sending one of the fireballs flying out about ten meters. It hit a training dummy in the distance and exploded in a ball of fire.

He went through a rapid series of palm attacks, each palm colliding with a fireball and shooting it out away from him before it exploded. "The fox fire jutsu mixes ninjutsu nature transformation, accuracy, and taijutsu speed. It will work well with your Hyūga's gentle fist style." He explained.

Hinata just watched in awe. "Yes! All the yes!" She stood up excitedly.

Naruto looked on in envy. "Why do they get fire and I get stuck with stupid wind…"

Hinata snorted. 'You say that now. Just wait until you learn the rasengan. I wonder if Jiraiya will teach him that now? Probably not, but I guess we'll see."

"Cheer up Naruto, wind can cut your enemies to shreds." Hinata said, looking at him.

"She's right." Jiraiya confirmed. "Wind can be particularly destructive and it can also be used defensively. It's extremely versatile."

"Alright sensei, how do I get started training?" Hinata asked, turning to face Jiraiya again.

"Follow me then." Jiraiya said, walking off with Hinata following close behind.

They walked over to a secluded area in the training ground, away from any trees. There was another brazier here, though it was a lot bigger than the first. The flame in it was roaring, about as tall as Jiraiya.

"Alright, before learning to conjure the flames, I want you to practice the hand seals and use the technique to draw out the fire from the brazier. It's a lot easier to use existing flame than create your own." He explained as he demonstrated what he meant.

Hinata nodded as she watched him use the hand seals and channel chakra into the flame, gripping onto ten balls of fire and pulling them towards himself.

"Alright. That shouldn't be too difficult." Hinata noted.

"I'm glad to see you regain your confidence. I'll check on you periodically." Jiraiya said before leaving.

"Right!" Hinata said to herself. "Let's get started."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"There!" Hayate shouted, throwing a kunai. He heard the distinctive sound of a kunai being blocked and clattering to the ground.

"Good!" Rō shouted. "Again."

Hayate was standing in the middle of a room, blindfolded and concentrating. He was trying to pinpoint Rō's position as Rō moved around.

Hayate stood still for a few moments before rapidly turning and throwing a second kunai in a direction. The kunai flew across the room with pinpoint accuracy and Rō caught it before it hit him in the face.

"Good perception!" Rō called out.

Hayate felt a moment of satisfaction, before quickly ducking and dodging a punch that had been going for his head. He raised his arm in a block and felt a kick collide with his arms. Hayate struck out and felt someone block his punch. He then quickly dodged another punch, pushing out with his legs and making room, throwing two more kunai.

Rō blocked the kunai and dismissed the clones he had sent to attack Hayate. Rō smiled at the man's progress. They were nearing the six month deadline and he had surpassed Rō's expectations.

"Alright, take your blindfold off maggot!" Rō ordered. "Your perception has reached a satisfactory level! We're testing taijutsu now!"

The two men quickly vanished from where they were standing and reappeared in front of each other, exchanging a series of blows. Hayate had never thought he'd be able to move this fast. If he went back in time and fought his past self, he'd be able to kick his own ass as easily had Rō had.

The two men sparred for about an hour, with Rō landing only a few hits on Hayate, and Hayate managing to hit Rō only once. It was the first time Hayate had landed a blow on his sensei and it surprised him as much as it surprised Rō.

"Good shit, Hayate!" Rō shouted with a smile of pride.

"Hayate?" Hayate asked, confused. "Not 'maggot'?" It had been the first time Rō had used his name since they started the training in earnest.

Rō snorted. "A maggot wouldn't be able to land a hit on me."

Hayate, despite the frustration he'd felt towards this man for almost half a year, found himself laughing. He laughed so hard, he had to stop to catch his breath afterwards.

"Alright, we're going to spend the last few days going over a training regimen that I want you to keep up even after our training together has ended." Rō said. "And when your precious apprentice has become a genin, you can get her started as well."

"She's going to hate me if I put her through the shit you did to me." Hayate said, rubbing the back of head.

"It's better she be alive to hate you, then be dead because she isn't prepared for any situation." Rō stated. "Besides, I've been keeping in touch with Jiraiya. I think she might surprise you!"