Naruto fell down the tree and started coughing as his senses took note of the smell filling the area.
Iruka paled and started cursing to himself.
"Well, well Iruka. I never pegged you the type to have favourites." The object of their dismay spoke.
Iruka sighed, "What are you doing here?" The man laughed. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled the smoke.
"Put that thing away!" Naruto yelled, in between coughs. The man laughed, "Sorry kid." The man put out the cigarette and Naruto let out a sigh of relief.
Being free of the cough, Naruto observed the man who Iruka seemed to know.
He was a tall tanned man with black hair and beard and brown eyes. "Asuma, I asked you a question."
The man named Asuma turned to look at Iruka. "I also asked you a question Iruka, it's common courtesy to not answer a question with another question." Iruka frowned, "what do you know of courtesy?"
Asuma just laughed again.
Iruka sighed, "I'm assuming you already know what's going on here. Now, will you report me to-"
"Report you to the old man?" Asuma cocked a brow. Iruka nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not going to put an end to your little… private activity. I don't care that much."
Iruka let out a sigh of relief. "But seriously, why are you both destroying the village's trees? It's called the village hidden in the leaves for a reason, you know. Without the trees it will be just a village."
Iruka looked at the many destroyed trees around him. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. Thankfully, they were in a location not many pass through, if any.
"Hey, can someone tell what the Hell's going on!? Who the hell is this old man, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto, feeling ignored, yelled out.
"Naruto, this is Asuma Sa-" Iruka started but was cut off. "The names Asuma, kid. A Jonin of the hidden leaf." Asuma introduced himself. "Who are you?" He asked.
Naruto pointed a thumb at himself. "Uzumaki Naruto! Your future Hokage!" He grinned. "Oh, you're that loudmouth who keeps painting graffiti on the sandaime's stone face. Nice work by the way." Naruto smiled, "Thank you! Someone finally apprec- Hey wait! I'm not a loudmouth! I'll show you who's the loudmouth, old man!?" Naruto jumped at Asuma who swiftly knocked him down.
"What the hell happened?" Naruto said to himself as he stared at the sky. "You're too young to fight me, kid." Asuma smirked.
"What are you doing here Asuma?" Asuma directed his attention to Iruka. "I've been getting some noise complaints and as a dutiful ninja of konoha, I figured it was my duty to apprehend the cause of discomfort for the people of konoha."
Iruka frowned, "Was I supposed to laugh?" Asuma shrugged. "Care to explain what happened here?" Asuma gestured to the training area where some trees were blown away and some had been heavily damaged.
Iruka sighed and began explaining, knowing he was caught anyway.
"So, now what? Are you going to report me?" Iruka asked. Asuma sighed. He was already craving for a smoke. He looked at Naruto who was glaring at him.
"So chakra control is the issue?" Iruka nodded. "What's his Chakra nature?" Asuma pointed at Naruto. Iruka shrugged, "why?"
"Iruka, did you forget? Chakra nature may help with chakra control. Nature exercises have helped me and many others. And you're supposed to be a teacher."
Iruka stood still for a moment before he slapped his face. "I'm so stupid." Asuma laughed, "don't be like that Iruka, it happens to the best of us." Iruka just glared at the laughing man.
"What are you guys talking about?" Naruto asked curiously. "We are talking about chakra elements or chakra nature. Chakra is divided into five different elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning." Iruka explained.
"Chakra Nature may affect one's chakra control. It is all about the mindset of a person. For example: Someone with an Earth nature has to be grounded, someone with Water has to be fluid and graceful, if that makes sense. Someone with wind must be free and wild, someone with Fire must be destructive and someone with lightning must be sharp and quick." Asuma concluded.
"That makes no sense! What if someone has a fire nature but they don't have that sort of mindset! Can they no longer control their chakra!?" Naruto asked nervously. What if he was unable to perform Jutsus because his Chakra Nature was the opposite of his personality or mindset.
Iruka shook his head, "The mindset thing was made to help the genin and chunin who are just starting their elemental training. It helps them progress. Of course, those who get used to their own Chakra Nature once or are born prodigies do not need to think about these things. Ultimately, your Chakra Nature should not affect your control once you learn to use your Nature freely."
Naruto nodded. "What's my chakra Nature!?" He asked excitedly. "To find that out we would need Chakra Paper and I don't have them on me right now." Asuma chuckled and pulled out a few papers from inside his Jonin vest.
"Luckily for you, I happen to have a few papers here." He handed them to Iruka who accepted them gratefully.
"Now listen closely, Naruto." Iruka held a single paper in his hand. "When Chakra is applied to this special type of paper, the paper will exhibit a specific effect which would allow us to see what someone's chakra nature is."
"It will catch on fire if you have the fire nature. Crumble if you have the earth nature. Become wet if water. Crinkle if lightning and cut from the middle if wind. Understand?" Naruto nodded. As a demonstration, Iruka applied chakra to the paper and it first became wet then suddenly it caught on fire.
"I have two chakra natures, therefore the paper first became wet and then caught on fire." Iruka explained. "Is it normal to have two chakra natures?" Naruto asked.
During these last six months, Naruto had become more attentive and even smarter. Smarter than at least half of his class. Of course nowhere near the likes of Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Shino, etc.
Where once, he might have just slept through class he now listened attentively to the lectures of not only Iruka but the other teachers too. He also became more curious, asking questions when he did not understand something. With him being more attentive and not being much destructive or mischievous some teachers had even begun to slightly warm up to the boy.
Only slightly.
"It's a bit uncommon to have two chakra natures and rare to have three." Iruka rubbed his head shyly. Asuma smirked, "feeling embarrassed Iruka?" Iruka again glared at Asuma.
"Why don't you try, Naruto." Asuma said. Iruka gave Naruto a Chakra paper which he accepted quickly.
"So just apply a little bit of Chakra and…" A rip was heard and the piece of paper held in Naruto's hands split into two. It was a very precise and smooth cut. It looked like he was holding two different papers instead of a single paper that was cut.
Asuma whistled, "Looks like Konoha finally has another wind user, a pretty strong one too." Iruka noticed Naruto looking a bit down. "What's wrong Naruto, do you not like your chakra nature?"
It is common for genin to imagine shooting fireballs or cutting a tree in half with wind and getting the opposite of the element they want. They sulk a bit but cheer right back up once they learn they can use different jutsus of different elements. Chakra Nature just increases the affinity to a particular nature and lowers the amount of chakra itself and the chakra control needed to perform a jutsus of the corresponding element. As long as you have the chakra and control you can use nearly any jutsu.
"It's not that. I just thought I might have two different natures like you. It must be pretty ordinary to have only one nature, huh?" Although Naruto didn't know much about chakra Natures, having two natures would have given him material to brag about.
Asuma laughed. "What's so funny old man?" Naruto glared at Asuma. He shook his fist, as if inviting him to a fight. "Stop calling me old man, kid. I'm the same age as Iruka. Also, having two Chakra Natures is not that uncommon, most only have a combo of either fire, water and earth which are, individually, the most common Natures."
"So what's the most rare element?" Naruto asked, hoping his was rare. "Majority of the Shinobi of Konoha have fire as their nature. Second is water. Third is earth. Fourth is lightning with only a handful of lightning users and the last is-"
"Wind!" Naruto cheered. Asuma nodded, "that's right." "How many wind users are in konoha?" Naruto asked giddily. Asuma held out two fingers. "Two including you." Naruto cheered again. He was super important now. Before he becomes the Hokage he would be known as Konoha's orange storm!
Iruka watched with a smile as Naruto ran around Asuma, yelling and cheering.
Naruto suddenly stopped and looked at Asuma, "who's the second?" Asuma pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He put it in his mouth, Inhaled and then exhaled. Smoke exited his mouth and flew directly at Naruto. "Me."
Naruto looked a little shocked but then started coughing. "Can you stop, old man!?"
Asuma laughed and turned around, ready to leave. "Get used to it, kid." Asuma disappeared with a shunshin, without another word.
"Argh, that old man!" Naruto growled, still coughing. Iruka just chuckled.
The Third Hokage was busy with paperwork when the door to his office opened. "It's rude to enter your Hokage's office without his permission."
"I ran the little errand you gave me." Asuma entered and spoke. Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, sighed at his rudeness. He did not stop doing his paperwork however.
"I know." Asuma stared at the crystal ball on the Hokage's table. "That is a really creepy jutsu." Hiruzen sighed. "Do you need anything?"
Asuma pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled. "As a matter of fact, I do." Hiruzen put his pen down and gave his attention to Asuma.
"What is it?" Asuma put the cigarette back in his mouth and pointed to the crystal ball. "Him." Hiruzen looked at the crystal ball and saw Naruto and Iruka.
"Asuma, you know kakashi-" Asuma did not let him continue. "Lord Hokage, with all due respect, you know why the elders agreed to assign Naruto to Kakashi. He would only be held back there. Kakashi's focus would be on the Uchiha and even if Kakashi wanted to, the elders would not allow him to train Naruto. Plus, they would want Kakashi to enslave Naruto rather than make him a loyal and conscious asset of Konoha."
It was true. With the genin exams quickly coming, this thing had already been discussed. Normally, the council wouldn't bother with Genins but with the knowledge that the last Uchiha and their strongest weapon and fear were in this class changed things. And thus, it was decided that if, and only if, Naruto passed the test, would he be assigned to Kakashi Hatake where he would be monitored at all times.
"You speak as if the boy has already passed the genin exam." Asuma smirked, "I have no doubt he will. Besides, we both have the same chakra Nature. It gets lonely being the only wind user in Konoha."
Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know that Naruto could be a great asset to the village if not held back. He already is loyal to the village. The demon is still sealed, or do you not trust the fourth?"
"Asuma." Hiruzen slightly raised his voice. Asuma put his hands up and chuckled, "Just saying."
Hiruzen sighed. "Very well. You make… valid points. If, and only if, Naruto Uzumaki passes the genin exam will I think of assigning him to you. The boy has only a few months left to cultivate himself enough to pass the exam."
"Thanks dad!" Asuma grinned. Hiruzen sighed again. His age showed as he talked with his son. The only son still alive.
"Why don't you visit Konohamaru now? He has been pestering me recently, wanting to "fight" me. I love him but he reminds me too much of Naruto. Maybe take a load off my shoulders?" Asuma shrugged, "sure, got nothing else to do."
Hiruzen nodded and Asuma left. Hiruzen looked back at the crystal ball showing Naruto and Iruka. "Iruka, I hope you'll be able to help Naruto. For both yourself, me and-" Hiruzen looked towards the Hokage monument, to the most recent edition to the mountain.
"Minato, Why did you have to leave me with this hat?"
Author's Note:
I'm sorry if Asuma's intro felt a bit forced. I just couldn't think of anything that would justify him meeting Naruto.
I have changed Iruka's past just a bit, that's why he is more casual with Asuma.
I also don't remember Asuma's personality and how he acted well so maybe he might act a bit different than canon.
Thanks for reading. Please leave a review and a vote if you liked the chapter.
Peace out!