A Nugget of Advice, Chapter 19

"Are you serious, Jiraiya?" Naruto heard a woman say as he stepped into the Hokage's office for his weekly training with the Hokage. Naruto knew it was Tsunade when he heard the voice. "He just got out of a coma!"

"I understand that but he's the strongest shinobi we got. He's going to be needed out there."

"You guys are really that desperate?" The Senju woman sucked her teeth.

"Why are you sounding so incredulous, Tsunade?" Jiraiya supported the left side of his face with his hand, giving her a flat stare. "Didn't you see our hospital situation? If the doctors there are overworked, our forces are strained too. It isn't like our enemies are letting us lick our wounds from the Invasion."

Sighing, Tsunade rubbed her temples. "So, you want me to do, what? Have him ready tomorrow for a mission?"

"We can't hold out much longer. Our village needs our best shinobi up and running," the Hokage answered. "Kakashi's talents are needed on some high-rank missions that recently been popping up. A contract here and people need to die – you know, normal shit." A slight smirk appeared on Jiraiya's face. "Besides, you know how we shinobi get. We get stir-crazy if we're in the hospital for more than a week. I'm probably doing Kakashi a favor."

Tsunade glared at her fellow sannin. "I can't believe you said that."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, my dear. Oh, that old adage has never been so appropriate. I hope you haven't forgotten that with how long you've been out of the game," the Hokage uttered, giving her a raised eyebrow.

"That's exactly one of the reasons why I hated playing the game."

"Yeah, well, life often works the opposite way you want it," Jiraiya retorted. After a brief sigh, he continued, "Anyway, we'll talk about that later. Thanks a lot for your help, Princess. You probably should go take a break."

The Senju woman snorted. "I ain't one of your jōnin, Hokage-sama."

"Yes, yes," the white-haired man waved his hand. "Keep on reminding me. I may forget." A knock on the door and Jiraiya called to it saying, "Come in, Naruto."

"Ah, hey," Naruto greeted the both of them. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, come in, as I said before. Tsunade was about to leave. Unless you want to stay and observe Naruto's training…?"

The blonde woman seemed to be contemplating that for a moment before she shook her head. "Nah, I'm going to take my break in stride. Besides, if I'm going to need to get Kakashi back to tip-top shape, I can't spare any unnecessary time."

"Alright then. We'll link up later in the evening." Tsunade nodded at the Hokage stiffly before exiting the room.

Naruto turned his head towards Jiraiya after seeing the woman leave. "Kakashi-sensei is going back into service so quick?"

"Just like I told Tsunade, kid, Kakashi doesn't the luxury to be sleeping. Not when he has the title of jōnin. You'd do well to remember that," the Hokage grumbled, looking over paperwork on his desk. A frankly intimidating stack of paper stood on the village leader's desk. After a bit, Jiraiya groaned and got up from his desk. "If you want this job that I got, you'd do well to remember the bane of paperwork too."

"Heh, when I get the hat, I'm using the Kage Bunshin for everything," Naruto declared with a smirk. He put his left fist on his hip and rubbed his nose cockily. "Not everyone is blessed with my chakra reserves."

"Lucky bastard. Probably the smartest thing you ever thought about in your life." The Hokage grunted. After throwing down some paperwork in disgust, he huffed, "Alright, enough talk. Let's get to your training today."

"Oh, yeah, speaking of training, I can't wait for tomorrow!"

"Hmm?"

"I got some sparring to do with that bastard, Sasuke!" The blond pumped a fist. "I'm so going to enjoy kicking his-"

"Oh. Yeah, sorry but uh, canceling that training idea, Naruto," Jiraiya spoke, shaking his head. "You got a mission tomorrow."

Naruto frowned. Another mission? He just got back from the stint retrieving Tsunade. "Not like I'm complaining but that was quick."

"Believe me, it's annoying sending people out so much. Especially all this damn paperwork, but thanks to getting royally fucked by that invasion we had a month or so ago, we've been giving out missions like hotcakes."

So much for showing Sasuke up. "What's up this time? Do I have to worry about 'those people' when I'm out there again?"

"No ninja is safe on any mission, Naruto. Safety is a lie." The Hokage folded his arms. "That said: this mission isn't expecting their presence. Believe it or not: you're safer out there than here because at least they don't know where the hell you are. In Konoha? It's only a matter of time."

A bead of sweat appeared on his temple. "For what?"

"For them to show up."

"This is an entire village though…" Naruto scratched his head at Jiraiya's mind-boggling comment.

"Doesn't mean much. I mean, they can pass in secrecy by making it in, especially since they got Itachi Uchiha in their group, or they could do something else like attack us head-on. These men are trying to capture you and whoever else has a bijū. If they are that confident in doing so, they are probably confident enough to attack a village for it."

The blond only sighed in response. Jiraiya smiled at him. "Don't worry, kiddo. We're whipping you into shape anyway. I got some plans for you. Let's get to work on your training."

"What about the mission?"

"I'll give the details for you tomorrow, say, about 10 am? Don't worry about it though. You got different issues anyway. Like a bijū's chakra to control or learning some newer techniques, or even keeping the foundation on what you got intact. Come along now."

Naruto held in some grumbling as he and Jiraiya left the room.

"Hmm…" Jiraiya looked on as Naruto struggled with the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox and his new one-tailed state. "Tenzō, cut it off."

"Kill that man, Naruto! Do not let him-" The Kyūbi was silenced as Tenzō forced the chakra to retreat back into the boy. Naruto didn't feel himself fall to the ground; he only heard the Kyūbi's throes, screaming for Tenzō's bloody murder.

After a while, the boy sat up. He shook his head and stumbled back to his feet. The Hokage looked at him with some concern. "You alright, kid?"

"Ugh. Besides how weird it feels having the demon's chakra being forced back into me? I think I got a headache. Right now, the fox is cursing obscenities in my head. It really doesn't enjoy me asking for chakra just to subjecting myself – and therefore it – to Tenzō-san's Wood Release. It said Tenzō is a 'walking human garbage bag.'" The blond chūnin quickly turned to the ANBU, raising his hands in a placating manner. "Uh, no offense, Tenzō-san."

"None taken," shrugged the ANBU operative.

Jiraiya raised a hand to rub his chin in thought. "It's not going to be easy controlling this new form of yours. I assume that's how it's going to be every time you gain a tail. Compared to the initial jinchūriki form, this new form is a huge jump in power and influence from your tailed beast, Naruto. It's going to take a bit of time training that power. Maybe a few weeks."

"Maybe if I use clones to speed up the process-"

"Then that's a bunch of clones Tenzō and probably even me would have to subdue." Jiraiya cut down the idea quickly. The man sent Naruto a wry grin. "Some things just can't be solved with the Kage Bunshin, my boy."

"I highly doubt that," Naruto remarked, sticking his tongue out, but dropped the clone technique hand seal.

"Alright, Tenzō. You can go now. I can handle the kid alone."

"Yes, sir." Tenzō disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto ran a hand through his yellow locks of hair. He walked over to his teacher. "Well, that sucks then. What can I do now with this Kyūbi crap?"

"I'm trying to work on something to help you speed up this training but honestly, you may hit a wall before I get it."

"Get what?"

Jiraiya got off his seat from a log post and dusted off his pants. "Information. You see, there are a couple of jinchūriki out there who had to go through the same type of training as you. I have reason to believe that there is a sort of special way for jinchūriki to learn how to control their tailed beast's chakra."

"I'm feeling a 'But' here."

Chuckling, Jiraiya continued, "But getting said information is hard because it's being guarded as a secret. One particular hidden village is guarding the info we need to their chest and I'm trying to employ diplomacy to get it."

"Which village is that?"

"Kumo," came the forthcoming answer of the Hokage. "There exists some sort of secret to controlling a tailed beast. As you know, however, we aren't exactly on friendly terms with that village, with the whole Third Shinobi War-"

"And that Hyūga clan stuff that happened a few years back."

In response, Jiraiya blankly stared. Naruto frowned. "What? Didn't expect me to know?"

"Your Academy's records kind of sets that precedence."

Naruto huffed in annoyance. "Yeah, well, I remember it."

"That's right. Kumo tried to snatch a Hyūga child up when she was only three-years-old. Kumo has blood on their hands."

"If that's so, can't we just gain the jinchūriki secret ourselves without them knowing?"

"Possibly but I'm not trying to put that on the table for usage just yet. I rather diplomacy than trying anything. These people wanted to go to war because we killed one of their ninjas for attempted kidnapping, albeit one who was a high-ranking official in their village. I can imagine what something like stealing a top-ranking secret like that could do. Since that particular event with Kumo, a cold war of sorts has existed between us. Little skirmishes or two with Shimogakure, Kumo's allies, are somewhat common these days."

"I get it…"

"But," Jiraiya stopped, pausing to drink a bit from his canteen. "I got something that they might be interested in knowing."

"And what's that?"

"Why, the Akatsuki of course. Many other hidden villages have jinchūriki like you, Naruto. It just so happens Kumo needs to worry about them more since they have not just one, but two."

Naruto gawked. "Two?! How the hell did they get two of them?"

"Don't know but they got them. All I do know from my information on the ones that I have discovered is that Kumo has two; Suna has one, which is Gaara, of course; Iwa has two as well; not too sure about Kiri since getting information on them is hard at the moment due to some civil war going on; and Taki, which isn't one of the Big Five, has one.

"Ah, I'm getting off track though. I know that Kumo has a personal stake in this because one of the people who are their jinchūriki is the Raikage's brother." Jiraiya finished, with his young student taking in all that information at once.

"Wow."

"Yeah. You'd be surprised how close a jinchūriki is usually associated with a Kage. Gaara was the son of the late Yondaime Kazekage."

Naruto slowly nodded, stewing on that. He couldn't help to think where did he fit in this supposed rule. He was close to the Sandaime Hokage; the Yondaime Hokage had apparently done the deed of sealing the Kyūbi into him; Jiraiya was currently his teacher. Were the jinchūriki kept close to their leaders in order to keep them in check? He supposed he was no different then if that was the case. He was getting stronger but he also was seen as this sort of political tool to be had. All ninja in a way were tools he supposed, no matter how bitter that tasted in his mouth. Still, the fact that he never got a chance to choose this path irked him greatly.

He got off that train of thought before it came any sadder and angrier than it did. Training had to be held. "Alright, so, what to do now?"

"Now, I got a question for you. Do you remember that scroll Sarutobi-sensei gave you?"

"Uh, yeah, I do. I already read it and learned all five of the ninjutsu on it."

"No, not those. It doesn't matter if you learned them. That's your training on your own time. But still, good job. No, remember that other thing?" Naruto's face went blank before he gave it a bit of thought. Jiraiya attempted to help a bit more. "Remember a certain seal on the scroll?"

"Oh! Um, oh wait!" Naruto sighed, lightly smacking his face. "Yeah, I do. Sarutobi-jiji put a seal on it and said I needed to learn fūinjutsu in order to unlock it."

"So, that's what we're going to do."

"I'm learning fūinjutsu? What does that entail?"

Jiraiya produced a scroll and unsealed it on the ground, revealing paper, an ink well, and a calligraphy pen. "Lots and lots of writing is going to be involved. So, get prepared."

Naruto frowned as he started to sit down in front of all the stuff Jiraiya brought out. "Writing? I thought I was doing training, not writing essays. What does this have to do with seals?"

"What do you think seals are made of? They are kanji, words, and other symbols sequenced in the right manner to create formulas that range from simplistic to complex. Something simple as drawing out words and symbols creates actual tangible effects in the real world and you've seen how effective it can be. Especially since you been hit by a few before." Naruto couldn't deny that, especially since that missing-nin Shiro could have killed him when he paralyzed Naruto on that mission. Orochimaru also did something funky to the blond boy's chakra, back before in the Chūnin Exams, using a seal.

But Naruto wasn't still too keen on doing a bunch of writing. "It sounds cool to do in battle but incredibly boring to practice."

"It is for someone with your short attention span," Jiraiya quipped, earning Naruto's huff.

"I don't need to confirm or deny that."

Guffawing, Jiraiya retorted, "Yeah, it's not really something youngsters like yourself want to do. All you guys want to learn is some strong-ass ninjutsu or some powerful fighting style to 'crush your enemies.'" The Hokage finished off dramatically, to which Naruto snorted. "But the subtle stuff is what makes a shinobi good. The mind is the most dangerous weapon in any good shinobi's arsenal. Imagination is boundless, unlike a ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu's effect. Seals can do lots of things. Say you needed chakra? Well, create a seal that can absorb chakra. You want to contain an endless array of weaponry you collected over the years but can't possibly put it all in your house? A scroll can take up an infinitesimal amount of space in your house while inside the scroll, space is infinite. Whatever effect you need, a seal can do it for you."

"Okay, that does sound awesome, I won't lie." Naruto grinned. He grabbed the ink, pen, and plenty of scrap paper. "Okay, let's do it. What are we doing?"

"We're going to go over the basic prerequisites – so to speak – before I even have you working on fūinjutsu."

"Alright. Anything I need to know first?"

"Step 1: handwriting. Lemme see your handwriting for a second. Start writing out your name." Naruto got a bit nervous. Scribbling out something quick, Jiraiya saw it and he didn't mince words. "Yeah, mmhmm. Just like it was with the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Your handwriting is pretty atrocious."

"Gee, thanks, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto said sarcastically back, his cheeks burning in embarrassment.

Jiraiya shrugged. "I wasn't much better anyway when I was a kid, so don't feel too upset. Well, Step 2 comes into play now, which is improve on your handwriting. This is going to be something you have to do on your own. It might take a while. When I feel like your handwriting isn't chicken scratch anymore, we'll move on."

"Any tips on how to improve it then?"

"Simple: practice. Maintain a relaxed grip but not too relaxed. Practice the little things like your name or writing out a few words. Nothing too complicated but you need to practice. Every day starting on. Your words need to be a bit more legible."

"To who? I can read my handwriting just fine." Naruto folded his arms.

"What if you need to make a seal that is legible to others? Or maybe legible to the universe?"

"T-The universe...?" Naruto sputtered in askance. "What do words gotta do with the universe?"

"How else are you supposed to manipulate the outside world with them?" Jiraiya smiled mysteriously, which only served to increase Naruto's confusion. "These effects created on the seals are tangible, so, therefore, your words need to be seen. Not just by yourself or people or creatures or other things. It has to be seen and understood by the universe itself."

"The way you're making it seem, it's like the Earth and the universe has eyes and is alive."

"Now why is that so farfetched? Plants bloom and blossom and then wither and die. Animals roam the land from big to microscopically small. Nature is alive and breathing. Chakra essentially is life energy from the universe. Chakra is made of both physical and spiritual energies manipulating the forces of the universe. Humans regularly couldn't manipulate fire or quickly move without chakra. Take chakra away and man only has his fists, blades, and stones to fight with. Everything in existence that has life has chakra and the universe is the source of it. It's not so weird to think that the universe is alive and breathing. Maybe not air like you and me, but it's there."

The blond started holding the bridge of his nose. After a shake of his head, he acquiesced, "Alright, maybe it's alive. Can we move on? This is becoming too spiritual for me anyway. I get the gist of what I need to do. Neater words equal better effects."

The Hokage was keen on correcting him. "Better effects come with experience. You're looking for tangible effects."

"Alright. At least I can use my clones for this kind of work."

Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully at that. "Hmm… I would advise against that."

Naruto blinked owlishly. "Huh? Why not?"

"Let me ask you something. Are you much of a writer? Someone who likes or even tolerates a bunch of schoolwork?"

"Uh… Not really, if you want my truthful answer."

"Then, I think you should do this on your own and not with shadow clones. If you don't have much motivation to do this, then why would your clones have any better of a drive?"

Naruto stopped to think on it for a second, stumped. The man had a good point. He wanted to learn how to use seals offensively or in battle but the menial intensive writing that was probably going to be involved and the learning of symbols and scribbles would bore him. He was the type who liked working things out physically, not on a paper. Until he got past that level of writing this stuff, then he probably would be better off doing so.

He sighed, ending his musing. "I guess you're right."

"Don't be too impatient, kid," Jiraiya remarked with a smile and a hand rubbing through Naruto's hair. "This won't even take that long to get down. All you're doing is practicing your handwriting. That's it. Keep reminding yourself that and enjoy the small rewards. Besides, I have a feeling that improvement will come soon for you. After all, it's in your blood as an Uzumaki to dip into fūinjutsu anyway."

Naruto perked up at that, excitement bubbling up. "Speaking of which, the Uzumaki. You said you would tell me about my clan."

"That I did but aren't you getting tired of me lecturing and stuff? I'm getting tired of talking." Jiraiya yawned and stretched. He reached to his back and gave Naruto a small scroll. "Here. This scroll just has a few notes on them. If you want a more expansive history of them, maybe visit the library. I just shorten down to a description that will suffice you a bit for now."

"Alright, thanks."

"No prob. Alright, so you got two things to work on, and the Kyūbi stuff will be handled. One last thing before you leave. So, how comfortable do you feel with your Earth Release ninjutsu?"

"Pretty good." Naruto smiled, proud. "If anything, I learned plenty of Earth ninjutsu since the Chūnin Exams."

"Hmm, perform one. Any technique, really."

Naruto grinned and contorting his fingers from boar to tiger. Jiraiya obviously remembered the Doton: Yomi Numa as it was his very own technique taught to Naruto. A dark brown pool of adhesive mud stuck to Jiraiya's feet but the older man looked unbothered. Jiraiya nodded. "Nice. In control, not an overt huge pool like I thought you would make, and I can't easily escape. Very nice." Then the pool disappeared and Jiraiya stood back on solid ground. Naruto didn't turn the effect of the ninjutsu off, so that was the Hokage's doing. Probably some sort of ninjutsu to counter the mud's effects or even a fūinjutsu to get rid of it. "Alright, time for the second test. Take up a piece of dirt from the ground and shape it into a kunai for me."

Naruto consented silently, scooping up some loose turf from the ground and in seconds, shaped it perfectly into a kunai made of dirt.

"Harden it," Jiraiya commanded, and the kunai became rock. "Soften it." It liquified and became barely kept together mud. "Alright, let it drop and show me your hand." Naruto dropped it and showed him a perfect clean hand without any sort of grime on it. Jiraiya smiled. "Very nice, Naruto. Alrighty, you're almost a step close to mastery of Earth Release."

"'Almost?'" Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"You learned Nature Transformation with Earth Release and you learned Shape Transformation. Now, you need to combine both the effects."

"To do what?"

"To start creating your own ninjutsu, my boy. That's the point of learning those two steps. Sure, lots of journeymen shinobi merely learn how to use basic Nature Transformation and just learn their element's ninjutsu to fit their purposes, barely incorporating Shape Transformation." Jiraiya grinned at him. "Not to worry about that though because you already know a lot about Shape Transformation, whether or not you realize it."

"How so?"

"Perform the Rasengan for me."

Naruto did what he was told, producing a sphere in his right hand. "Okay… what now?"

"What do you think I've been teaching you since you've been trying to learn that technique? All that time you've been learning how to shape chakra and move it to make a perfect sphere which is the highest form of shape transformation. Because you learned and mastered the Rasengan, you now have a great deal of mastery over shape transformation."

"And that means I pretty much am close to mastering my element, right?"

"Or even just being able to pick up on ninjutsu involving shape transformation a bit faster anyway. Now that you mastered both, you're ready to make your own elemental ninjutsu, with your own intended effects. So, that's going to be your next project. Besides working on the steps to fūinjutsu, I want you to make your own Earth Release technique."

"Heh, are you kidding me? Hell yeah. I can for damn sure do this."

"That's the spirit!" Jiraiya ruffled his student's hair. "And with your clones, that'll easily speed up the process. Well then, have a technique by, say, the end of this month, and we'll work on whatever you want."

"Hmm… Whatever I want, huh?" Naruto thumbed at his chin.

"You don't have to figure out now, you know." Jiraiya chuckled. "Still, fantastic work you have done so far. You're a far cry from what Ebisu said you were before."

"Oh yeah, Ebisu-sensei. I haven't seen him in a while. Hmm…" Naruto rubbed his head as a big grin appeared on his expression. "Still, thanks, Sensei. Couldn't do it without your help."

"No, you could have. I didn't do anything with that Earth Release stuff. Ebisu and you did the wet work. Alright, that's it for today. Put all the material I gave you back into the scroll, please." After doing so, Naruto watched as Jiraiya resealed the scroll. The Hokage then handed it to him. "See you later, Naruto."

"See you," Naruto responded with a wave and disappeared in a flash.

He reappeared back in front of his house with the scroll in his hand. He opened the door to his abode and took off his sandals in the doorway. After locking up and entering his living room, he plopped the scroll onto his table.

Remembering what happened today, he sighed, took off his clothing, and started to make an afternoon snack. He would tackle this writing business later on. Then some more light training before eating dinner.

Then tomorrow, mission time.

Oh, wait, that reminds me, Naruto thought suddenly. 'I gotta spill the news to Sasuke before I leave.' He brought up a hand seal to make a clone but thought against it. The idiot Uchiha would probably destroy it. At the very least, he could go and see him himself.

After an hour of practicing his writing and the afternoon snack, Naruto put back on his clothing and left towards his front door again. He had a feeling he would find Sasuke training still in the training grounds his clone found him in earlier today.

"What do you mean you won't be able to come tomorrow?" Sasuke gave Naruto a dark glower.

"I mean I won't be able to spar with you because I got a mission tomorrow, bastard. What? You've become hard at hearing or something?"

"Your clone said that you would be available-"

"And now I'm not. I didn't choose to pick up a mission. The Hokage said I had to."

His former teammate scoffed. "Quite convenient for you."

Naruto could hear the implication in that statement. "Ain't nobody scared of you, Sasuke. If you wanna fight, we can fight at any time. Just after my mission. Unlike you, I'm a chūnin. If the Hokage says I have a mission, then I have one."

The Uchiha glared over at the blond for a few seconds before huffing. "Whatever. Get out of my face. I'm going back to training."

"Hey, the hell? 'Get out of my face?' What's that all about?" Naruto felt his irritation arise when Sasuke started to walk away. He grabbed the Uchiha's shoulder to hold him. "Hey, listen to me-"

Sasuke slapped his hand off his shoulder, refusing to turn at him at first. The black-haired orphan then spun around. Sasuke had some nerve looking so damn furious. "Shut up. I'm tired of your attitude."

Naruto was livid. "Oh, you're tired of my attitude?! Dude, ever since that shit in the hospital, you've been nothing but a prick," Naruto spat out. "I said I was sorry and you're still being a bitch!"

"I don't give a shit about your sorry. You think just because you got a promotion, suddenly, you're top of the crop? You're an inept loser still."

"And yet here you are getting mad at this 'inept loser.' What happened to your cool, stoic mood, you bastard? I think if you're getting pissed at me, you're the loser here." The blond mocked.

He quickly caught Sasuke's fist. "Nice try."

The Uchiha started to hiss through his teeth. "I got an idea. How about instead of waiting until you come back from your mission we fight right now?"

"I'm not doing it." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Besides, we need Sakura first to be the referee-"

"Fuck Sakura. We can go toe-to-toe right now." Sasuke smirked. "That's what you wanted, right? The chance to kick my ass? We can do it right now, Naruto. How about it?"

The blond shook his head. "I'm not trying to get hurt before tomorrow. Sorry, but I got some more training to do today before-"

"Fuck your training! Stop rubbing it in my face!" The Uchiha roared out, slamming a kick to Naruto's side.

An audible "oof" came from Naruto's mouth and the Uzumaki teen was forcibly lost grip of his Uchiha rival. He stumbling a bit before he balanced himself again. Naruto glared at Sasuke. Said teen smirked cockily at Naruto. "Oh, that got a response out of you. How about we stop talking and fight already?"

Naruto wanted to slap that shit-eating grin right off his annoying rival's face so much, balling up his fist. He tried taking in a breath and calming down. "I told you. I got training to do tonight at home which doesn't involve fighting. And then, I'm preparing for a mission tomorrow. I can't go around and fight you. Grow up, Sasuke."

"How mature." Sasuke scoffed mockingly. "To me, it just seems like you're a scaredy-cat. Just like how you froze up in our first mission together with those Kiri-nin."

"Fuck you, Sasuke," Naruto hissed. "I come here and break down the news in the nicest way possible. I try to be nice but no, you just have to be the asshole, right? You're sick of my attitude, well, I'm so sick of your shit too. If I didn't have more things to do, I'd already knocked your lights out."

"Hn, you can right now."

"Don't tempt me." Naruto stood up straightly. He gave Sasuke a glare before snorting contemptuously. "Maybe I did get a bit more mature because I don't feel the need to go and be a little bitch because I'm jealous of someone."

"What did you say?" Sasuke growled in a low and dangerous tone.

The blond wasn't fazed. "Admit it: you're jealous of me. I didn't think you were before but now I see it. All these comments, especially that whole 'rubbing' my training in your face, tell me different. What 'rubbing' in your face am I doing? I don't need to do that. You're just taking it like that. You know why? Because you're fucking jealous of me. And I know why.

"You hate that I got to chūnin-rank before you; you hate that I am becoming stronger; and you're scared that maybe, just maybe I could match- no, beat you in combat now," Naruto finished. He then became vaguely aware that Sasuke stared back at him with a weird glint in his eyes.

"Beat me, huh?" Sasuke asked softly. Suddenly, Naruto understood what was happening as a familiar fire-like pattern scattered across half of Sasuke's face. The jūinjutsu of Orochimaru, even in his death, still was on Sasuke's neck. Kakashi-sensei had stated he placed a seal on Sasuke to prevent the cursed seal that Orochimaru placed on him from working. Yet it worked on Sasuke's own willpower and somewhere down the line of their argument, Sasuke had lost all control.

In a blink of an eye, the distance between him and Sasuke closed. In a blinding speed, Naruto got slugged in his face by Sasuke. Another punch targeted his nose and Naruto felt it break. Gasping, Naruto watched as Sasuke grinned viciously at him.

Furious, Naruto summoned a clone and had it attack Sasuke at his side. The boy already knew it was coming as he destroyed the clone but it only served as a distraction. The Doton: Yomi Numa technique was completed and the adhesive mud was now sticking Sasuke's feet in place. "The hell was that about, huh?!"

Sasuke didn't look too bothered as he chuckled. "So, the dead last picked up Earth Release, huh? That's a shame for you that I learned an element to counter it." Sasuke then did a few hand seals, which confused Naruto when it finished off with the tiger hand seal. That indicated a Fire Release technique. Fire Release didn't counter Earth last time he checked, especially the relatively weak one Naruto had seen Sasuke perform countless amounts of time. Nevertheless, Naruto moved away as Sasuke shot out his signature ninjutsu: Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu. The array of small fireballs flew at Naruto but only served distract him.

Naruto realized what Sasuke meant by countering his Earth Release however when he arose from the loosening dark mire with an aura of electricity. Sasuke jetted to the chūnin with a speed that was superior to his. There was no time to counter the move. Naruto switched with a log that sizzled as Sasuke hit it.

The aura disappeared. Sasuke whipped his head at Naruto with an increasingly disturbing smirk. Naruto brought his hand up and created a plethora of shadow clones. His clones would either overwhelming Sasuke by numbers or merely serve as distraction tools while he gathered some breathing room to think up a strategy somewhere. Naruto honestly did not care.

The destruction of clones begun. Naruto got quite an abundance of memories as Sasuke decided to stick to taijutsu while his clones floundered. In close quarters, Naruto wasn't a slouch but Sasuke's taijutsu was better than his. He was also faster, thanks to the influence of the cursed seal, making it difficult to catch him. Not without using the Kyūbi's power, which Naruto refused to show in front of Sasuke.

Still, the clones had a trick up their sleeves as they slid in and launched Sasuke in the air with four kicks to the Uchiha's body. Sasuke shouldn't have been able to recover so quick but he did, deflecting a clone's drop heel kick from the air. Sasuke then destroyed all the clones Naruto made with another familiar Fire Release technique he knew from him: the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu,

The fireball hit the ground and a vortex of flame ripped through the clones, turning them into smoke. Naruto stood in the middle of the flames, coughing at the smoke and intense heat. The fire disappeared as Sasuke dropped down into the area he was. He had a manically look in his eyes. Grinning, Sasuke started performing some hand seals. Lightning arose in Sasuke's hand. This time, Naruto knew exactly what it was that Sasuke was doing.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He summoned blue chakra in his right hand, swirling it. He readied himself to counter the Chidori. Both of them dove at each other, the roaring sound of their ninjutsu drowned out them calling each other's names wildly.

And then Naruto felt a hand grip his wrist as he was thrown away. Remembering his lesson from that trip to Tanzaku Gai to get Tsunade, he cut off the Rasengan from his hand and let himself tumble to the ground. Without doing so, an unnecessary explosion would have followed and he might have ended up injured.

The Hokage cleared his throat. "Hmm, so this is what I see when I go out and walk around the village for a bit. Two idiots trying to kill each other with dangerous A-rank ninjutsu, hmm?" Jiraiya walked over to Naruto, giving him a scolding glare. "Especially you, Naruto, who's supposed to be a chūnin and all."

Naruto exclaimed, "Jiraiya-sensei! I didn't start this."

Ignoring what his wayward student said, Jiraiya sighed. "I'm getting quite tired reminding you of your rank, Naruto. You're such an idiot – even when you're not trying to be."

Sasuke recovered and stood up to look over at them. Orochimaru's jūinjutsu already deactivating, he clutched his neck in pain. Jiraiya was already upon him. "And you, young man, that was quite irresponsible using that accursed seal on your neck. Didn't your teacher, Kakashi, tell you that you're supposed to keep it in check?"

Instead of commenting, Sasuke merely stood up and bowed. "…I apologize, Hokage-sama."

"Hmph. You absolutely morons. No more fighting. Go the hell home already." Sasuke woodenly nodded at the Hokage but before he left, the Uchiha gave Naruto a pointed stare. He disappeared in a Shunshin.

Naruto watched him go, clutching on his aching face and wincing. Jiraiya derided him with, "Yeah, I bet that hurts, doesn't it?"

"Ugh. Sensei, believe me, I really wasn't trying to train with that bastard or fight or anything. I was telling him that I had a mission tomorrow and he attacked me out of the blue."

"I heard enough. I'll get someone to heal you but after that, go home." Jiraiya glared over at his student. "I don't want to see or hear any more shenanigans. I am this close to removing you from that mission I have laid up for you. If you're just going to get yourself trapped in a fight, then how can you handle yourself out there? Regardless of whether or not he started it, you should have just left."

Naruto bit his lip and bowed. "Yes, Sensei. Sorry, Sensei."

Jiraiya grunted. "Stay here for a moment. Lemme get Tsunade." Then, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto to take in a deep breath and sigh. He sagged, sitting on the ground in a slump. What a mess of things he had helped create. He really provoked Sasuke, even if the bastard had to go and piss him off. He really hadn't learned a damn thing.

'Jiraiya-sensei is right. I am an idiot.'

End.

A/N: Sasuke's edge meter increases and Naruto starts becoming self-aware. Oh, joy.

I was debating if I wanted to keep things short between them and have even more build-up, which is why this chapter wasn't released earlier. However, I think it's better this way and I like how it came out. More stuff to come soon.

Translation List:

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu – Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique