AN: Apologies for the last chapter; I became aware of the fact that the formatting sucked, meaning I will have to look into formatting before posting the next chapter. Oh joy. As such I tried to frantically remove it to fix it but failed to see that changes could take thirty minutes to take effect. Meaning, I wasted thirteen minutes. Regardless, I am beginning to type this chapter after trying to fix the second. The chapters are kind of outlined as things stand, albeit a tad too roughly. I'll still be trying to write and review it over the course of an extended period of time, otherwise mistakes and snap decisions may make the story turn out not as I envision it.
I have looked into formatting and hope having saved the document in .docx format helped. I googled the formatting issue I had and it was advisable to save it in such format. Doesn't hurt to give it a shot, I suppose. My apologies for having made a mess. If it works, I will be updating the last two chapters in order to try to fix them. No content will be changed, of course, unless someone points a flaw out in the man time.
**Day after Team meeting**
Naruto was disappointed; he could tell Hinata and Shino were so too. Kurenai just seemed amused, which was to be expected. She had known what they would be doing from the get go. What were they doing as things stood, one might ask? Cleaning an abandoned house of its belongings. It was every bit as gruesome as one might think because the house had apparently been empty for over a decade. Ownership after the previous owned passed away had never been cleared so the family members never really bothered with it until a week ago. It baffled Naruto, how such a good house could have fallen beneath the notice of anyone, but then again he lived in a crappy apartment.
"Well done." Kurenai called out as Shino and Naruto took the last piece of furniture, a large wardrobe, out; Shino was visibly tired at this point, but Naruto was as full of energy as ever. He had offered to use his Kage Bunshin as manpower, but Kurenai had forbidden it due to the real nature of D Ranks "We should be able to report back in to both the clients and Hokage-sama and to lunch before training. As I told you before, I have ideas for you already. All I ask you is to hear me out before refusing. We'll discuss it over lunch."
Her team nodded, causing Kurenai's lips to twitch into an almost smile; her team was probably giving her the least trouble out of all the rookies. He knew Kiba to be boisterous and Sakura to dislike getting dirty, so Kakashi probably had his hands full as things stood. Shikamaru was lazy and Ino had the same issues as Sakura, albeit to a lesser extent. Only one level-headed person on each one of their teams. She had three; while that didn't mean her team would be victorious, it meant that the next few weeks were going to be easier for her than they would be for Asuma and Kakashi. She smiled as she thought about the former Jonin. As much as she disliked slackers, she did have a soft spot for the bearded Jonin, although she would never admit so out loud.
"Say, Kurenai-sensei..." Naruto said, frowning "... are Genin allowed to take solo D ranks? I was thinking about beginning to save money for a new apartment and to get better equipment."
Naruto made a vague gesture towards his clothes, which had begun showing an alarming amount of worn ever since he had begun taking Kage Bunshin training to heart... which admittedly had been mere days ago. It was insane.
"Not unheard of, but you should keep in mind that you can't do more than a few extra." Kurenai said, much to Naruto's chagrin "Other teams need to do those missions, after all... and there are more Genin than you my perceive."
Naruto nodded somberly and filed it away for later, knowing that he was better off discussing these matters with Hokage-sa... Hiruzen-sama. He was actually quite happy regarding that little development and the tension in his shoulders, ever present, faded away slightly, something everyone in his team took notice of. He was by far the easiest one to read among them all; Kurenai was a Jonin, recently promoted or not. Shino hailed from the Aburame Clan, a clan that taught their children to control their movements and body language since they were able to walk. Hinata always had a sense of calm about her, although those perceptive enough were capable of noticing the fact that such calm was forced due to the rigidness inherent to her movements ad expressions at times. Regardless of the fact that they noticed it, they commented not, each one for their own reasons. Kurenai refrained from doing so to avoid having Naruto clam up; Shino assumed it was due to the fact that he would be able to better his financial situation; Hinata thought nothing about it.
The walk towards the Hokage Tower was uneventful as usual, although Naruto was forced to endure the constant glares and disdainful whispers due to refraining from asking to use his preferred shortcuts; people had almost forgotten he existed. He had been so close... alas, it was not meant to be. He was meant to walk with his team whether he liked it or not. They knew the reason behind them anyways, so they did not take notice of it. Kurenai was actually glaring back, as if daring them to do anything. He didn't need any of that; what he needed was to slowly accept what he had told himself days ago, when he had realized they would never allow him to become Hokage. As such he disregarded their distrustful gazes, their whispers and their general demeanor.
Once they arrived, they went straight to the mission lobby; Iruka happened to be there, filling paperwork in and chatting with one of his colleagues. As soon as he saw Naruto, he tensed up. There was so much he wished to tell Naruto... yet he felt like it would not matter. He had once seen the Will of Fire shine brightly within him. Now, he was no longer certain; his path was one hard to see, moreso for Iruka, who was not that experienced as things stood.
"Team 8 reporting a successful mission, Iruka-san." Kurenai said, mirth evident in her tone as she handed a scroll to Iruka; her team was seemingly sulking for a few seconds before they snapped back to attention "The task was performed to the client's satisfaction."
Iruka nodded, stamped the scroll he had just been handed over after reading it and handed four payslips to Kurenai, who gave one to each one of her team members. The three bowed to their sensei and prepared to leave. Kurenai could tell Iruka's gaze was lingering on Naruto still but she didn't comment. If the Chunin wanted to speak up, he would do so. She was aware of the source of discomfort, as she had heard that her soon-to-be student had been paraded in the village in a manner not dissimilar to that reserved for prisoners of war. Iruka had sadly been unable to do anything and Kurenai knew he did care for her blonde student.
"Kurenai-sensei, what is the deal with these missions?" Naruto asked after they left the lobby "They are not hard or anything, but it feels like a waste for Shinobi to do this kind of thing."
"They are meant to teach you several important lessons before you progress towards our real line of work." Kurenai said, not upset at all by his question nor his remark "They teach you about relying on your comrades, about determining who does what, strategical planning... there's so much more to it that it is not even funny. And we only realize all this when... yes, when, not if... a mission goes South, when you have to takes shots in the dark and act on an unknown territory and situation. Remember that. Everything you will be doing, be it what it may, while under me will have a reason to be."
Naruto nodded, not saying anything else on the matter; yet Kurenai had noticed it, the way his eyes had dimmed as soon as she mentioned things going south. Maybe she had been a bit too passionate in her speech? It did not matter... they needed to hear it and to know what was what and that what they would be doing had the potential to make a difference in the future.
"I concur." Shino said in his trademark monotone "The fact that we are going through a learning process is to be expected. Our positions are barely above those of Academy students, which is to say, civilians. It also stimulates the local economy and keeps money flowing through the village at all times. Even on a crisis, there will never never complete stagnation, for a while. There are also bound to be measures in place to make sure the economy does not really sink."
Kurenai nodded appreciatively and left it at that; they were bound to lean about it once they on the fly as they move up in their careers. That happened to most people; she would need to make sure Naruto was properly educated on the subject herself, probably, as he had no family. Her musings were cut short as they left the building.
"Doesn't matter." Naruto said idly "I will be getting a quick lunch and a quick training session in before we meet. Oh right... where are we supposed to meet again?"
"Training ground thirty seven." Kurenai answered, prompting the blonde to disappear amid the crowd with practiced ease, heading towards a nearby alley; maybe she would put him in charge of information gathering "You two are dismissed for now. Take some time to freshen up and to have lunch. I will see you in roughly one hour and a half."
The remaining two members of Team 8 nodded and left towards their respective clan compounds; they did indeed want to freshen up, as they had worked far more of a sweat than their blonde teammate had. It was simply amazing, how much energy to burn he had. And he was a workaholic of sorts, meaning they would be left behind if they did not kick their asses into gear, something they had discussed the previous day. While they would have discussed about doing so in less crass terms under normal circumstances, doing so in a manner that Naruto would have done had seemed appropriate for some reason.
**After lunch**
When his teammates arrived to the training field, looking far better, Naruto was still at it; he had grabbed a quick lunch (take away; they immediately noticed the box nearby) and had pretty much resumed his brawls against two clones. His move repertoire was still quite limited but he would get there. The progress he had attained in the past two days pertaining Taijutsu was enormous when compared to the near stagnancy of having no regular sparring partner. They were also expected to stick to a specific style in Academy spars, as well as to avoid certain types of blows, so those were not really spars in his book. They were basically a joke to someone who actually wanted to train and get somewhere.
"Why do you train so hard?" Shino asked after an awkward pause "Surely you realize you are already stronger than what the norm for a Genin is."
Naruto aid nothing for a few seconds; he kept at it. Then, suddenly, he delivered two swift blows to his clones, dispelling them. He then turned to Shino, his expression unreadable. Yet before he could answer, Kurenai arrived to the scene, which caused both teammates to nod almost imperceptibly towards one another; they would have this conversation some other time.
"I already have an inkling about what I will be telling you to work on for the first phase of our training." Kurenai said without preamble "I want you to understand and value teamwork, but there will be times when you will need to work solo. You will probably need teamwork to get through the Chunin Exams. However, ff you make it to Chunin, you will need to be ready to lead and to be better than mere Genin at fighting. I expect you to learn about what it takes to be a Chunin and to be able to fight your way out of any hazardous situation. That will require you to learn things outside your comfort zone at times. I will expect Shino to be proficient at Taijutsu, Hinata at other styles aside from the Juken and Naruto at a bit of everything. Any questions?"
"Why does Naruto-san need to know 'a bit about everything'?" Hinata asked after a short pause; Shino nodded, as to support Hinata in this matter, something both Kurenai and Naruto took notice of.
"Naruto has no Clan, meaning he has nothing 'default', to put it bluntly. He does not have the same information pertaining the Ninja Arts than you and Shino have." Kurenai explained "I want him to be at least vaguely aware of what his choices might be before having him pick a specialization, if any. You have your Juken, Shino has his Clan's Hidden Jutsu. Shinobi not belonging to a Clan either pick a specialization early on, like I have, or study a bit of everything and become well-rounded Shinobi. The latter are quite a rarity due to the effort it actually takes. Take Iruka-san and Mizuki-san, for example. Mizuki-san is an expert in Bukijutsu... while Iruka-san has significant knowledge about more subjects than those you may have perceived."
Not even Shino and Hinata concealed their surprise at this point; Iruka-sensei? The one thing they believed he had was a mastery over the theory of what it took to be a Shinobi. It was simply too hard to imagine Iruka-sensei knowing more than he let on, less so about a bit of everything. It simply sounded too out of this world to be true. Yet they had no reason to disbelieve Kurenai. As such, they said nothing and simply allowed the fact to sink in.
"That does not matter right now." Kurenai said after nearly a minute "You need to get working. Every single minute matters as of now. I want nothing short of your best, as close to perfection as possible. Whatever made Hokage-sama decide that rookie teams needed to be ready for the Chunin Exams was, it is going to leave ripples in coming years. I am not aware if he want to wipe out the inherent competition for clients, if he means to use it as a show of power, if it is because most Clan Heirs happen to be in this year's rookie batch. I do not know and I shouldn't even be discussing it with you. But it might be for one of these reasons, all of them or none. And I do not intend to fail this assignment. If any of you gives anything other than their absolute best, you will be unceremoniously sent back to the Academy for at least three more years. You have been warned. With that said, let's begin!"
**Two weeks later**
It had been better than Naruto had anticipated; he had been expecting something long the lines of the Academy, not the hands-on approach Kurenai-sensei seemed to favor. His teammates were similarly pleased, he could tell; they had gotten stronger and more aware with the near-personal level training Kurenai had given them. Naruto had been taught several diversionary tactics meant to b used in tandem with his Clone and a bit more Bukijutsu, as his was barely average. That included traps, which went great when one considered his potential with the Kage Bunshin.
Shino had begun building his speed and stamina up, as instructed by Kurenai; he was supposed to begin working on an evasion-oriented Taijutsu style, for when fighting at a distance was not an option. The goal of such move was to allow Shino himself and his Kikaichu to work in tandem towards exhausting his enemies in such scenario.
Hinata took to her style with no complaints, which would not be a reality had she tried to teach another style to any other Hyuga, Kurenai felt; the girl was, to put it bluntly, a natural. She was not physically strong, but she made up for it with her flexibility and precision. If she began doing what Kurenai had been planning all along, which was to combine the main principle of the Juken along with the katas from other styles, she would be a more unpredictable foe. Maybe she would surprise her and even do something entirely different.
All in all, they were finally at ease around Naruto and seemed to truly accept him. Kurenai had feared they would not work well due to Naruto revealing his status as a Jinchuriki. She had expected this to fail before it set off but here Naruto was, proving her wrong. Maybe she should begin getting used to it, as she had heard Naruto had the habit of surprising people in all sorts of ways, his change still managing to do so until this day.
"You did a good job for the past week." Kurenai said "I will be expecting you to develop the subjects I told you about in your personal time, at your own pace, however. I will be needing our training sessions to impart new knowledge on you. You will need to know what to work on, which subjects to pick and so on. I am trusting you. Take today off. I will be expecting you to have a schedule for your own training tomorrow."
Her Genin nodded, bowed to her in almost unison and left; she had made it clear that she would expect them to respect her and to show it, something they had made sure to do. They all had something to prove and they needed to grow stronger to do so. The fact that they could end up as being more than Genin at the end of it was just a bonus.
**Next day, 5:30 am**
Naruto was at it again, although not doing the brawls had usually done. He was instead working on his physique. He was, as such, doing squats, push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups and the occasional few laps around the clearing to give his arms a degree of rest. Even he looked winded at this point, although he also felt oddly energetic. It was an odd but pleasing sensation, one he could not get enough of. As such, he kept picking up the pace. Faster. More. Less time needed.
Needless to say, once he calmed down, some two odd hours later, and sat down to catch his breath, he felt more tired than he ever remembered feeling. He groaned and tried to get up, only to find he couldn't. Literally. That, in turn, made him panic. He unleashed a torrent of profanities that made his teammates, who were approaching, pause; Hinata blushed neon red, something she had not done for only the gods knew how long. Even Shino looked a bit flustered at the colorful tirade Naruto was relentlessly unleashing, mostly at himself. The blonde was, of course, completely oblivious to the fact that his teammates were there, as was his Sensei.
"As much fun as it is watching you curse at yourself in such creative ways..." Kurenai's voice rang out, her mirth evident; that made Naruto promptly pipe down, which caused Hinata to giggle and even Shino to let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle "... we need to get started, so why don't you get up and tell us what has gotten you in such a foul mood?"
"I can't." Naruto said after a few seconds.
"Come again?" Kurenai asked, perplexed.
"I can't move my legs." he said as if he hadn't been freaking out about it for the last three or so minutes "This never happened whenever I trained before."
Kurenai blinked once... twice... then sighed. She had been expecting this to happen at some point; Naruto was obsessed with training, so it had been a matter of 'when', not 'if'.
"Let that be a lesson." she said "Training hard is admirable, but training too hard might lead to this. Needless to say, we will have to do today's mission without Naruto after dropping him off at the hospital. That means no training, either."
Naruto sighed, resigned to his fate, and nodded. Maybe he could indeed ton it down a bit; he had felt amazing while pushing his body, though. Maybe he could find a balance between that and not over-training. As long as he did not push himself as hard, he would probably be fine.
"Understood, Sensei." Naruto said, tilting his head slightly, as he could not bow at the moment due to his predicament; he then took a scroll from his tool pouch, the only one that seemed to be there "I have written my training schedule down on a scroll, like you asked. Can I be excused?"
Kurenai took the scroll from him and nodded, puzzled. Naruto nodded deferentially once again before doing a sign she recognized. She chuckled as the one of the three clones he summoned used Henge to turn into a stretcher. Then, the other two proceeded to deposit their creator there and to carry him off as Naruto waved. The way the blonde used such taxing Technique for such mundane tasks would spread soon. That meant she would need to pick the pace up, otherwise her colleagues would put their own teams through the gutter to make sure they kept up. She wanted her team to put on the best show possible, as many had doubted the Sandaime's decision regarding promoting her due to her rather accentuated focus on Genjutsu. That and the fact that she was a woman, she thought; most of her colleagues were male. She sighed as she turned to the other two members of her team; maybe she would not do a mission today and give them more to work with. She could tell that they felt like they were still lagging behind Naruto...
**Two hours later**
Naruto sighed as he asked to be allowed out of the hospital; he had already healed even though he had been told it could take days without treatment to get better. Needless to say, he had been waiting for treatment, only to realize he was slowly but surely recovering. As such, he had taken to wondering what he should be doing, using mostly the last two weeks and the results from his Genin Exam as a reference. From what he had gathered, his Chakra Control was sub-par. That meant that, along with his physical conditioning, were the most important things he needed to work on at the moment. He was resilient and could train the whole day, sure, but he wanted more strength to make sure he could pack enough punch whenever he got close and personal.
That meant he would need to split his attention, as his training schedule stressed; he would be dedicating half of his training time in the morning to physical conditioning and the other half to Chakra control exercises (which he intended to consult Hiruzen-sama on). After lunch, he would spar against two Clones as usual; after that came team training, so that part depends on whatever Kurenai-sensei decided to have them work on. His musings were cut short as the doctor who had been examining him disbelievingly discharged him; good. He could go to Hiruzen-sama's office via his own way. He still felt a bit stiff but he would walk it off. He left the building without a care in the world, oblivious to the fact that the receptionist, who saw him arriving on a stretcher and had heard of the damage he had suffered. She shrugged it off soon after, assuming he had been treated and left it at that.
Naruto took to the nearest alley and headed towards the Hokage Tower; the walk there was without incidents as usual, as few people used the alleys for whatever stupid reason. They made his trips far shorter, he did not need to deal with dumb glares and he got to do some stunts while traveling. A win-win-win, in his book.
His inner musings were cut short as he arrived to his destination, which prompted him to calm down as much as he feasibly could; he went by without speaking with the receptionist, straight towards Hiruzen's office. There was no ANBU by the entrance, so he proceeded to knock on the door, his answer being an energetic 'Come in.'.
"Hello, Hokage-sama." Naruto greeted, smiling "I was wondering if could speak with you for a moment.."
Hiruzen made an odd gesture and looked intently at Naruto; then, after a few seconds, he smiled. He looked much younger than he usually did whenever he smiled, Naruto noticed. Then again he needed to be serious most of the time. He DID represent the village at all times, after all.
"We are alone now, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said "What is on your mind?"
"I had to create a training schedule to follow throughout the weak and I realized I was lagging behind with Chakra control." he said, looking visibly embarrassed "I was hoping you'd be able to help me with this, since I kind of overdid it this morning and was unable to tag along with my team."
Hiruzen chuckled, shaking his finger in mock accusation.
"Are you sure you are not shirking your duties to your team and sensei?" he asked, mirth making it more than clear that he was not serious "So soon after becoming a Genin, too!"
Naruto chuckled; he had forgotten Hiruzen-sama could have such a genial disposition. There had been a lot he had forgotten, apparently... then again he wanted to get somewhere with his career. That meant he had began training more seriously, which had, in turn, led to him becoming more distant. Hiruzen had been on e of the few people he had considered precious, along with the Ichiraku family and Iruka, at one point. Now, that list had dwindled. Maybe he should consider remaking his ties with them, if anything because he realized he needed more than training and missions in his life. He had thought about what a life of commitment as a Shinobi would be like and he found himself feeling disgruntled at the idea, as he would either be doing missions or training. He had already become a Genin, so maybe he could take it slightly more easy... or at least find time to speak with the Ichirakus, Hiruzen-sama and Iruka-sensei more often.
"I am sure, Hiruzen-sama" Naruto said, his eyes being closer to what they had once been, much to Hiruzen's delight "You know I like having money and there's no way I would miss a training session out of the blue. I am just a fast healer, apparently. I can't believe I am still easily surprised, but then again they told me the recovery was supposed to take like four days."
"You never cease to amaze me, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said, admiration clear in his tone "That means your physical strength can grow faster than the average too, of course. But it does not matter. I could use a break anyways, so follow me."
**Fifteen minutes later**
Hiruzen had taken Naruto to the nearest training ground, not bothered by the fact that people were openly gaping at the fact that he was walking around the village with Naruto, of all people. It was not as common s one might think for them to see the Sandaime around the village and it was equally rare for them to see Naruto, so the sight of both together was more odd than one might initially perceive.
"You are correct in one regard, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said once he had made sure there were none aside from his ANBU around; said ANBU had also established a security perimeter to give them a degree of privacy "That stems from the fact that your Chakra reserves are vast compared to normal Shinobi, let alone a Genin. This exercise should be easier for you to perform when compared to the leaf sticking exercise you learned at the Academy. It requires more Chakra, after all."
Hiruzen calmly walked towards a nearby tree and walked up the tree itself, which caused Naruto's jaw to hang open; he had heard about this at the Academy but had dismissed it as a stupid rumor. He had a suspicion about what Hiruzen-sama was doing but he needed to be sure.
"I am basically sticking to the tree by focusing Chakra through the soles of my feet and my sandals." Hiruzen explained "That by itself is challenging, but you also need to reinforce your leg and back muscles in order to help the body supposed the weight accordingly... otherwise you may find it challenging to remain attached to the tree without ripping your muscles."
Naruto was still shocked but approached the tree and gave it a try... and was promptly sent flying, causing Hiruzen to actually laugh.
"You're using far too much Chakra, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen chided "Well, I will leave you to it. It may not look like it but the soles are among the hardest parts of the body through which one can mold Chakra through. Once you have shown to me that you have mastered this exercise, I will teach you one, maybe two new things to work with."
With that said, Hiruzen calmly descended from the tree and approached Naruto, giving him a smile and a pat on the shoulder; while he would have liked to spend more time with the blonde, the more he stayed here, the more the work piled up and the more delayed things got. Maybe he should begin looking for someone trustworthy enough to help him sort the paperwork...
"Take care, Hiruzen-sama." Naruto said, smiling sadly; he had enjoyed his short time with the Hokage, which strengthened his will to repair his relationship with his precious people "I will master this before you know it!"
"I do not doubt you will, my boy." Hiruzen said "I know you will be ready for the Chunin exams when the time comes."
Naruto nodded, looked more determined than ever; that was right. Kurenai-sensei had said that she had been told by Hiruzen-sama that they would need to be ready for the next exams, something apparently unprecedented. He would make his team and his precious people proud, dammit. He would be the best Shinobi he could be and stand by his precious people and assist them with their dreams. Protecting the village was already his duty as it was anyways and maybe he would be considered worthy enough of being Hiruzen-giji's guard if he did things right. One thing he did want was to do the missions he had dreamed of when he had entered the Academy.
Feeling more determined than he had in a while, Naruto eyed the tree Hiruzen-giji had used to show him what he needed to learn to improve his Chakra control and proceeded to begin trying to climb it, using a bit less Chakra than last time. Yet again, he was blasted off the tree but he got up all the same. He would tone it down, little by little and get through with mastering this exercise before Hiruzen-giji knew it...
**Next morning, 5 am**
Naruto was already at it once his teammates arrived to the scene; he was practicing something they already knew, only with a gruesome twist. Whenever he fell down from the tree he was struggling to climb, there were two Clones waiting for him. Whenever he fell, the Clones attacked him, forcing him to defend himself before attempting to climb back up. They were once again rendered speechless by their teammate, who seemed hellbent on finding ways of killing himself by training. They had been tipped off by Kurenai that he might be making an appearance in this precise spot at this time. Yet it appeared that he had been at it for some time now.
"Good morning, Naruto-san." Hinata said, taking in the bruised form of her teammate "Me and Shino-san would like to join you from now on, if you do not mind."
Naruto paused before dispelling his clones; he had not expected them to make a move of the likes of this but then again he was not good at reading people and least of all people who could conceal their emotions like they could. Regardless, Naruto could see the merits of training with actual people, moreso his teammates. They would need to know each other's styles later on. As such, he nodded and spoke up.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked, puzzled "My training routine's clearly different than both of yours."
"We discussed this yesterday and were looking more towards actually training together, as a team, against opponents." Shino said "We should be performing our first C Rank soon, if we are expected to be ready for the Chunin exams. We will not be normal Shinobi, that much is clear."
"We need to make sure all of us are as close in strength as possible." Hinata said "No weak links within the team means no holes for enemies to exploit.. I intend to do what most Hyuga do not as things stand, that being learning about Ninjutsu and Genjutsu."
Naruto nodded, deeming it to make sense; they would be competing with their ex-classmates, who were bound to be training as hard them or harder. They needed to get used to working together, to know each other's flaws... and to cover for them. He would probably be their plan B, since he could spam a veritable army. Hinata to strike a balance between his own bold plans and Shino's col, hard logic. Yes, even Naruto could see it. It was simply logic. Maybe he would even gain insight on how Clans worked, since that was not really covered at the Academy due to being something Genin were meant to pick on as time went by and as they mingled with their colleagues. Maybe one of them would turn to be the Hokage one day. He almost chuckled.
"Well, how should we begin?" Naruto asked "I've trained solo since the beginning."
And the discussion went on from there; when they realized they had gotten nothing done, nearly three hours had passed, something that gave Naruto some pause. Regardless of the restlessness, he felt oddly at ease. Maybe it was because he had not spoken this much with someone else since he had become more dedicated. It didn't really matter; they had discussed ideas for training regimes and the ideas they had brought to the table were actually pretty good. Simulating bandit camps, escort missions, pursuit training... simply put, the bulk of it would be having Naruto use Kage Bunshin and having the resulting clones perform a different plethora of roles to suit their needs. Naruto could work with it, as it was what he did on a daily basis and had more than enough Chakra to spare.
"We'll begin tomorrow." Naruto said, frowning "I was under the impression we were supposed to train together, not just talk about it."
His teammates could tell he was not serious regardless of the frown; if he was, his body language would not be as relaxed. Naruto was indeed almost an open book for them. Key word there, almost; he had offered strange insights during their discussion, which meant that there was more to the blonde than what they had initially thought. Tomorrow's session would tell both of them if this would pay off...
**Following day, 5 am**
When they arrived, Naruto was already there once more, although he appeared to e meditating; they could see him twitch and shake slightly, which meant he was not really good at staying still, which was not really surprising. Hinata had already begun thinking about tips to give her blonde teammate over his brawler-like Taijutsu style and Shino about the reckless approaches he took. He didn't seem to notice them, which prompted Shino to cough loudly. Naruto opened his eyes and, once he noticed them, got up, grimacing all the while. It was quite clear he was not used to sitting in such manner and being still for overly long periods of time.
"I think we should teach you how to meditate first and foremost." Hinata commented, watching him trying to work out the cramps on his legs "It is easier if you stretch before and after, too."
Naruto nodded and jumped a few times, as to make sure he was good to go before eyeing them inquisitively. They in turn shrugged, not sure which to do themselves. Naruto thus took initiative and beckoned them to follow him as he began to jog, prompting them to mutely follow him. After a couple of laps, he picked the pace up and so did them. Needless to say, they became aware just how ahead of them he was in terms of endurance that morning; the training field's perimeter was something between one hundred and one hundred and twenty meters and the blonde just kept going. Shino had completed twenty five laps at the accelerated pace before stopping; Hinata, thirty two. The blonde was still going. And he wouldn't stop any time soon, so Shino spoke up.
"I think we should move on to the next part." Shino said, his neutral voice and posture not denoting how surprised he was that Naruto was not even sweating.
Naruto, of course, stopped and eyed Shino, frowning in confusion.
"But I still have thirty seven laps to go." Naruto said, perplexed-
"... how many do you usually do?" Hinata asked, eyebrows raised.
"I usually do between 120 and 150 laps." he said "Since you are here, I was going to do one hundred to save time."
Yes, they would need time to adjust to this insane routine of him; that much they had known... but to see just how much was almost inconceivable. He had managed to do more laps than both of them combined and he was not even winded while they were ready to take a break. They were both glad he was lacing in other areas, because otherwise he might have deemed training with them a waste of time. They were already surprised he was holding back on following his routine in order to train with them as it was.
"Welp." the blonde said "What kind of scenario should we play first?"
"Escort mission?" Hinata asked "Those are among the more common C rank missions, as merchants and caravans often need an armed escort to fend regular bandits off. Formations and contingency plans should be coded, too, so we can execute them as soon as possible."
"Indeed." Shino said, nodding in approval "We should also make sure we establish a leader to give orders between us in case we are separated from Kurenai-sensei."
"Shino." Naruto and Hinata said at the same time, causing said boy to raise his eyebrows.
"Why me?" he finally asked "I am pretty sure both of you are as suitable for this role as I am."
"You're not hotheaded like I am." Naruto said easily "I rush into things and make a lot of mistakes before getting things right. I can't lead you into a dangerous situation when my mistakes may cause you to be injured, captured or killed."
"I concur." Hinata said just as easily "I am prone to hesitating in crucial moments, something I am trying to overcome. That may happen in a mission where certainty and logic are needed. That is where you come in, Shino-san."
Shino nodded in acceptance and left it at that; he was pleased they were able to recognize his processing capabilities and dissect their own weaknesses whilst delegating responsibilities. Most of their colleagues at the Academy would have probably deemed themselves to be the best leaders and fought for it or hampered the efficiency of the team. Regardless, Naruto, of all people, was being quite rational about it. It was no small secret Naruto had once been boisterous and prone to episodes of deeming himself to be more than what he had actually been. The visible changes that had taken place one odd year and a half back had apparently made the blonde mature some, which was good. Shino was not only intending to participate in the upcoming Chunin Exam; he was going to aim for victory. If he could help it, he and his team would take it by storm and win. If they wanted him to be the leader, he would do so with the best of his capabilities... and that meant handling their training sessions and their content as well.
"Then I suggest us to begin looking and using different training grounds," he droned "We will not always have missions in the same type of terrain and getting used to fighting near large bodies of water, mountainous terrain and so on I within our best interests. Pursuit and apprehension training in case our targets escape, being undercover among civilians... we will need to use our early mornings to cover these. And we will need to notify Kurenai-sensei too, so she can either stir us in another direction, give us ides for complimentary subjects we should train or evaluate what we have learned in order to ascertain if it was done so in an adequate manner."
"You've given this some thought." Naruto said, grinning "This is why you should be our leader... you plan ahead, unlike me. Hinata does as well, but probably not as well as you do... no offense."
"None taken." she said.
"Very well." their newly appointed team leader said "I will be writing down a training plan with the subjects I deem to be the best for us to train on our own, discuss it with you, show it to Kurenai-sensei so she can evaluate it and offer input, then we begin."
Both Naruto and Hinata nodded as the latter got up, having used the last few minutes to get some rest before they resumed their training session. All of them were quite satisfied with the results yielded so far, as it was more than mere laps, what they had done. They had a leader and a plan in the making now. They would also be stepping things up soon enough, if what Kurenai-sensei had said was to be believed. The one thing they had to do not was to commit to whatever plan they agreed on. They would win the exams, even if for their individualistic goals. Naruto wished to prove his strength... Hinata, to show her family she had changed... and Shino, his superior tactics and planning capabilities. They would succeed, no matter what.
**End of chapter III**
AN: And another chapter. I hope any potential people reading this have managed to stay healthy thus far and that you will do so in the future. The chapter was as lacking in action as the last one was but hopefully, the next chapter will be somewhat better, action-wise.
I appreciate any reviews and advice regarding formatting if this one fails. Remember, stay healthy, do not leave home unless you really need to and all that whatnot. I hope you all have a pleasant day and see you next time!
