Lunus17: I suppose it makes sense that you are skeptical regarding the Team ten vs Hidan fight, but hear me out. Asuma, alone, was able to behead Hidan, and that was when Hidan had plenty space to move his scythe around. This particular fight took place in a cave. If you noticed, Hidan did not use his scythe till he tried to attack Naruto. And I don't believe Hidan had enough brain cells to try to retreat to an advantageous terrain. About the mission, well that's for future me to decide. Thanks for the review, really appreciate it!

X-X

"Balancing nature chakra with your own chakra needs very delicate control, but, for some reason, your chakra system is pre- exposed to nature chakra. As a consequence, your body has been subconsciously absorbing and balancing the nature chakra on its own." Fukurou explained. "But, this does not mean that you are using the sage mode to its full potential." He continued. "Sage mode, to its core, is about conscious balance. The very basis of this transformation is awareness. You need to be aware of your surrounding. You need to be aware of your self. You need to be aware of your chakra and you need to be aware of how your chakra mixes with the nature chakra." The owl said.

"I see, but rather than giving this whole speech about balance, how about you tell me what exactly am I supposed to do?" Naruto questioned, impatience dripping from his voice.

"Young blood. Such impatience." He sighed out. "Patience, my boy, is the key to using Sage mode to its full potential." He said, and started moving towards his house, prompting Naruto to follow him.

X-X

Fukurou took him to his house. It was a cozy home. Just as Naruto started to explore, an owl came and sat next to Fukurou. Not wanting to be rude, Naruto,too, sat down across them.

"This is Fuka-chan, my wife." Fukurou said.

"Ah, dear. Is this young Naruto?" the now identified Fuka asked.

"Yes, he is." The owl replied.

"Nice to meet you, youngling. I am Fuka." She introduced herself.

"Hello, Fuka- sama. I am Uzumaki Naruto. It is a pleasure to meet you." Naruto said, introducing himself in kind.

"Ahem." Fukurou scoffed. "It is about time that Fuka and I start cooking, and you, young Naruto are to observe us cooking, without moving." He said.

Lacking the energy to argue, he did what he was told to do and sat down on the sofa in front of the kitchen.

X-X

This was the first week off he had gotten since he had become a shinobi. Apparently, Asuma- sensei had teamed up with the sensei of team 7 to a mission to the wave, a small village near the outskirts of the Fire Nation. He had told them how a business tycoon was trying to take over the territory of the hidden leaf village, and how a guy named Kakashi and he had to assassinate the man. Since this would be a week long mission, the Kakashi guy and Asuma had put the responsibility of training their teams on the sensei of team 8, a lady name kure kure something. He was bad at remembering names, wasn't he? Well, anyways, taking the opportunity, he asked Asuma if he could visit his summons for training for a week. Asuma had agreed and gotten him the permission for a training trip from the hokage. So, here he was, observing an old owl couple cooking.

X-X

"So, why did I have to stare at you for 6 hours?" Naruto grumbled. "Who cooks for 6 hours, anyways?" He continued.

"We do, young Naruto." He said, and came back with a mirror. "And this is why you did that." He said, showing Naruto the mirror.

His eye shadow had grown thicker and had turned into a darker shade of purple.

"What is this?" Naruto questioned, shocked.

"This is the partial sage transformation." Fukurou said. "Follow me." He said and moved out of the house. And Naruto followed him.

Now, they were standing in front of a large rock. "Try punching it." Fukurou said.

"The rock?!" Naruto questioned, shocked.

"Yes, just do it." Fukurou ordered.

"Fine." Naruto sighed and ran towards the rock, and...

BOOM.

A large noise echoed, and the rock shattered into millions of pieces.

"woah." Naruto murmured, looking at his hands.

"This is what you get as a result of the partial sage transformation." Fukurou said, interrupting Naruto's musings. "Senjutsu will also empower your jutsus." He informed.

X-X

"Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu." Sasuke said, exhaling a large fire ball, the heat of which conveyed his frustration.

Yes, Sasuke was frustrated. He felt like he was not improving at all. First, he got stuck with an annoying fangirl and a fatso. Then, his sensei was a lazy jonin, who would rather read his smut all day, than train them. And finally, the same sensei had thrusted them to a lady for training rather than taking them for the A-rank mission he was doing. He had not even awakened his sharingan yet, how was he supposed to catch up to Itachi without his sharingan, anyways?

Even team ten had done an A- rank mission. Was he not stronger than them? Yeah, he had never defeated that red head, but that was the academy. He was sure that if he awakened the sharingan, he could beat him too. After all, Itachi was stronger than everyone when he was of his age.

X-X

She could not thank Asuma- sensei enough. Kurenai's natural chakra nature was water, and that made her the perfect teacher for Ino.

"Water Style: Water Wave!" Ino exclaimed, happy to see the large stream of water coming out of her mouth.

"You have improved quite a lot, Ino." Kurenai said, appreciating the efforts the girl was putting.

"Thank you, Kurenai- sensei. Its all thanks to you." Ino said, very thankful.

X-X

"Shadow Sewing Jutsu." Shikamaru exclaimed as a small thread of shadow became third dimensional.

"That is a vast improvement you have made, Shikamaru." Shikaku said.

"Vast, but not enough. How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed out.

"Indeed, but these techniques are based on Yin release, and these can be improved only with practice." Shikaku explained.

X-X

"Who knew that midget would pull out two A- rank ninjas from his ass." Asuma said.

"Yeah, I really was not expecting that." Kakashi replied

"The young boy, he was quite a fighter. His ice release was pretty solid. Too bad for him, my ash release was the perfect counter for it. How was yours?" Asuma questioned.

"I would've died if it wasn't for Pakkun and the pack holding Zabuza off. That guy was one hell of a swordsman. At least, we got the kubikiribōchō. It would be a good bargaining tool, if we would need one, against the mist." Kakashi said.

"Yeah.." Asuma said, settling into a comfortable silence.

X-X

"So, you are finally using your inherent ability to use senjutsu? Took you long enough. " A deep voice growled.

Naruto was meditating, as per the instructions of the old owl. And well, things happened, and he was here in front of the kyuubi.

"Inherent, you say? Did you, perhaps, know who my parents were?" Naruto questioned.

"You have improved at noticing small things, perhaps your puny mind can, indeed, comprehend more than I thought it could." The Kyuubi mocked.

"You did not answer my question." Naruto replied.

"I am not obligated to answer any of your questions. But, yes, not only I, but many know of your heritage." The Kyuubi said.

"Lies." Naruto scoffed.

"I have nothing to gain from lying to you, and contrary to what you think, I am the only one who has never lied to you." The Kyuubi said, settling his jaw on his paws.

"Indulge me, then. Tell me who they were?" Naruto questioned, trying to not sound desperate.

"Why should I? I have nothing to gain from telling you anything." The kyuubi scoffed.

"Your selfishness is the only reason you are caged in here, perhaps." Naruto said, trying to mock the nine tailed fox.

"A creature like yourself calling me selfish? HA." The kyuubi laughed. "I have been caged for almost a century, just so you humans could have a trump card for the next inevitable war, and you call me selfish?" He asked.

"Maybe you are right, maybe humans are selfish. But, then again, maybe you are wrong. Maybe you are on the other side of the coin which needs to be hidden for the other side to shine. Maybe you are the one sacrifice which needed to be made for the betterment of all the others, just like I was the one who had to be sacrifice to stop your rampage." Naruto said.

"Do not think too highly of yourself, boy. The reason of my attack on Konoha, was also, a human. You delude yourself too much. You have so much arrogance, while you are but a fragile creature. Humans manipulate, humans play dirty and they go to uncalled- for extents to do what they think is right." The Kyuubi growled.

"Thinking highly of myself is the only thing that establishes my existence. Have I not been subjected to enough hatred? Have I not done enough for my village? Why can I not think highly of myself, when I am the only one who thinks highly of myself? You think you are the only one suffering? Don't delude yourself. The chain is not only attached to your neck, the same chain extends to my neck too. This seal not only binds you to me, it binds me to you, too. You suffer from isolation? I suffer from hatred. You suffer from unfairness? Well, guess what? I do too. Don't think I am happy with the shorter end of the stick in my life, but I am doing what I must to survive, and you are only making things harder for me, and ultimately, for yourself. Because, eventually, someone will come for you, and I will be the one fighting for not only my, but your safety too."Naruto said, now breathless, trying to cover his frustration that he was feeling for not getting the answers he sought.

The Kyuubi did not deem it worth to reply, and sent him out of his mind.

X-X

AN: yeah, I am sorry, I could not think of anyway in which the wave mission could go right without the canon teams. And really, the hokage being tricked by an old man seems fishy to me.

Apart from that, I have established the foundation for the sage mode, this fic is about the sage mode, so Naruto will master the sage mode soon enough. I think I should start with the chunin exams, I can't think of any new mission now.

I really like to write the conversations between the Kyuubi and Naruto, tell me what you think about them.

Also, I tried adding different POV, tell me how you like them. Until next time!