Chapter 40: Lord Fifth, Rooted Instruction
The hour was early, the Sun only just beginning its trek upwards to give a gray glow to the waking village. Due to his new position, it was a necessity to wake up early so he had enough time and freedom to dedicate himself to the only student he officially still had under his direct instruction. Now, that didn't mean that Kakashi would only focus on Sasuke from now on, leaving the other two members of his first genin team by the wayside, but it meant that he would be seeing less and less of two of his precious students. It was an arrangement disliked by all involved and it took a lot of down-talking to calm the trio in his office the day before, however Kakashi felt like it could do a lot of good in his kids' development. They all showed the most progress in the month leading up to the Chunin Exams and there was no reason that the same wouldn't be true from now on.
The best he could do now to keep them together is to push from a distance. Three times he hinted at them to meet independently after their individual training sessions and he would make sure that they listened.
That could be for another time, though, as right now it was time to teach. He was asking quite a lot for the boy to match at such an early hour, but if any of them were able to maintain it, Sasuke was the one. So, in order to not stretch their time together too thin, Kakashi made sure he was up and dressed on time and flying toward the top of the Hokage Monument at a fair pace. Despite being Hokage, and thus experiencing a change in rank, Kakashi kept his regular jounin attire. Did he get fitted for some more official clothes for important meetings? Sure, but Minato-sensei didn't walk around in the heavy robes that Hiruzen did. That was enough precedent for Kakashi to follow without too much grumbling from the traditionalist crowds.
Naturally, even with him leaving at a fair hour, Kakashi was still meeting Sasuke in a clearing amongst the spires that filled the top of the Hokage Mountain. Hard, orange-ish brown stone covered the ground in its entirety, the trees that lined the top of the mountain thinning considerably and into nothing the farther you walked on the mountain top. Sasuke stood with his arms crossed and determined eyes following the Kage's movements closely as they met at the center of the clearing to begin their training session.
"I hope you're ready, Sasuke. I mean to push this a little quicker than usual today, you see I have a few errands to run before I go to the office." Kakashi kept his tone light-hearted but the words were serious nonetheless. He would have to run through faster and harder today to give Sasuke legitimate work before he had to leave. Fortunately, there was no frustration in the young Uchiha's expression. Kakashi half-expected this situation to be heated at the least given that the mantle of a Kage would loom over the training session, but whatever fire that burned in Sasuke's eyes was enough to see past such things.
Kakashi ran him hard, put him through drills that were reminiscent of those that Anbu trainees saw and then pushed harder. Sasuke wasn't a boy that needed Jutsu to be thrown at him, his eyes would pick up that slack and Kakashi already did what he could to discuss genjutsu utility through visual prowess to the best of his ability. What Sasuke needed was to be pushed physically. Naruto was granted all the physical capabilities one could ask for, but Sasuke was just human. There was no mythical beast hidden and no blood inheritance to compound on top of that beast, so Kakashi would make sure that he wouldn't need those physical gifts.
When Sasuke was a panting mess and covered in so much sweat that it made the surrounding area humid under the rising morning Sun. Not a single complaint was uttered nor were there questions of a possible pause for breath, and so, Kakashi didn't give him one. When the physical exercises and drills were done, they went straight into chakra refinement. Sure, he wouldn't be a medical specialist, but Sasuke needed to refine himself until he couldn't so he would never be limited by the quantity of chakra he had. From experience, Kakashi could attest to the torture of chakra exhaustion and the burden it constantly put on Kakashi to be mindful of his chakra stores.
Whatever juice the Uchiha had in the tank after the physical portion was gone after the demands of chakra training. Minute control of chakra was as mental exhausting as running across a country was physically exhausting. When they were done, the day was truly starting and it would soon be time for Kakashi to attend to his errands, but with a glance at the winded boy that long since removed his flak jacket, Kakashi decided to go fishing. Walking up next to the boy, the Kage took a squat near the boy's head to cover his student from the Sun's rays. Noticing the shadow in his face, Sasuke squinted an eye open at the silent Kakashi.
"What?" The Uchiha sighed out breathily, the word almost lost in his panting. Kakashi diverted his gaze upward to a stone spire for a second, knowing that the question would bring some tension from his student. In his own sigh, one will less exhaustion but more exasperation, Kakashi then returned his gaze downward.
"What happened to you and Naruto? All we could decipher was some kind of genjutsu, but not of what or even what technique was used. You were both out for five days and then you both woke up to dive head first into training. You I understand, given who you faced, but Naruto hasn't left our old training ground since he woke up and barely sleeps. I need to know what happened before I can help." His tone matched the heaviness of his mind when he thought about the situation himself. Genjutsu was the most brutal tactics a shinobi could use against a foe given the ability that it presents. The torture of the mind is always more lasting than the torture of the body.
Sasuke didn't answer right away, only closing his squinted eye before falling silent for a time. At first, Kakashi had thought that he was just being ignored, but then Sasuke spoke up again.
"We were reminded how much work we have to do. I don't know what Uzumaki saw, but if it was close to what I did, then like me all he wants is to be stronger. If you want to help, make sure that happens, sensei." Sasuke then did fall into silence after his gloomy words, the way the boy's head turned after he finished speaking made it look like he was prepared for a nap on the hard stone he lay upon. With a nod that went unseen, Kakashi stood from his squat, making Sasuke face finch at the returned shine on his face, but the Kage didn't leave right away.
For a minute or two, Kakashi lingered and his gaze stayed on Sasuke's near-sleeping face. The lack of restful sleep was still evident in the purple that lined under his eyes and Kakashi had no doubts that he would be seeing the same on Naruto's face. To most, Sasuke's resigned words would be considered nothing substantial, a lack of a true answer, but it was enough for Kakashi. Whatever they saw was enough to thrust them into an almost desperate drive for strength toward one thing or another. Clearly, Itachi was Sasuke's driver, what he was working toward, but Naruto was still a question mark.
Turning on his heel, Kakashi made to walk away, but then stopped after a few steps to turn back to Sasuke despite the boy not being able to see him.
"I hear that Sakura will be at Training Ground 3 this afternoon, I imagine that Naruto won't be far behind. Keep up the good work Sasuke, depending on how quickly you progress I might have to show you something of my own design. Something worthwhile." A groan in what could only be assumed was understanding came from the downed student and Kakashi left that as his leave from their new grounds. Sure, he didn't need some kind of half-hearted attempt at faux-motivation for Sasuke like dangling a Jutsu in front of his face for effort. Given today's session, Sasuke may benefit from being dissuaded from training so hard, but Kakashi wanted to make sure that his student knew he was working toward something. That his words didn't go unheard and that Kakashi would work with him to get the young Uchiha where he needed to be.
Anything else would only push the boy away and into a path that nobody would wish to see him on.
With only little time to complete his errands before reporting to his duties, Kakashi leaped from the top of his late sensei's head to bound over to his next destination in a single movement. As lightly as he could from such a jump, Kakashi landed on the roof of a near-dilapidated apartment complex and walked down its side to the nearest window. As nimbly as he could, Kakashi creeped into a narrowly opened window to land in a kitchen and dining area of a humble dwelling that he hasn't been inside in some time. Walking over to a rickety cabinet mounted above a counter, Kakashi snatched a ration bar before taking a seat at the old dining table tucked near a corner away from the kitchen space.
He knew he wouldn't have to wait long, assuming of course that the resident of the apartment wanted to make it to their training on time. So, silently, Kakashi waited to hear stirring from the room opposite of the one he waited in. Within a few minutes, the ringing of an alarm clock started blaring loudly, but was silenced almost immediately and the sound of a bed's creaking immediately followed.
"He must've been awake already to be 'awakened' so quickly. Sleep is still coming hard." He idly thought as he was soon met with the sight of Naruto pawing his long-sleeve shirt over his head as he stumbled into the room. There were a few grumbled complaints, but the shirt was situated over long blonde spikes as a flak jacket was shrugged directly over it.
When Naruto finally situated his clothes, the boy paused to take in the sight of Kakashi with a confused eyebrow arched upward. Idly, Kakashi noted the purple that he rightly assumed to still hang under the blonde's eyes but left it at that.
"Yo." Kakashi greeted his student, technically former, with exaggerated cheeriness. Naruto huffed before he walked to snatch his breakfast from the same cabinet that Kakashi dug into. Only when Naruto sat down did the Kage begin eating his own "breakfast".
Without openly showing his face, of course.
"What do I call you now?" Naruto called out between his bites, causing Kakashi to look at him with a questioning look. Only when Naruto met his gaze did he continue. "You're the Hokage, for now, and you aren't teaching me anymore. Does that mean I have to call you 'Lord Hokage'? I'm used to calling you sensei, so it's weird to call you anything else."
Under his mask, Kakashi smirked at a memory the blonde unearthed of himself asking Minato-sensei almost the exact same question. It only felt right to give his former student a similar answer as the boy's father gave him.
"Call me whatever makes you feel comfortable, Naruto. You're my student first and foremost, even if we aren't technically a part of the same team." The blonde nodded at the words, hair drifting lightly through the air from the movement, but sighed as he did so.
"Hokage-sensei it is." The boy said in almost annoyance, making Kakashi chuckle lightly at his words. Reaching over the table, Kakashi ruffled through Naruto's hair as he moved to stand from his seat.
"I know you have to leave for training, so I'll make the visit quick. I want you to know that you can always come to me for questions about anything, the Hokage thing aside. Don't be a stranger and I'll visit whenever I can. I'm always here to help you through it" Kakashi pinched his eye to reassure his words to the boy with a makeshift smile, hoping that he got his point across.
"Thank you, Hokage-sensei, really." The title got another laugh from the Kage as he turned back toward the window he entered the apartment from with a shake of his head.
"Don't make that a thing, Naruto. It's really horrible." Kakashi creaked the window open with a little resistance in the old frame, but before he escaped through it, he turned back to the blonde just as he did with Sasuke. "'Sasuke told me this morning that he was going to meet up with Sakura at Training Ground 3, he wanted me to pass it along to you so you can meet them this afternoon."
When Naruto nodded at him, Kakashi gave a final wave before leaping through the window to his last objective before going to the office. His feet landed on the ground in a stiff thud from his few story fall, and as if he hadn't just jumped from the top of the complex, Kakashi began a leisurely stroll down the road. Only a pair of turns gave the young Kage a line of sight to his third student that was currently on her way to her puppeteering lesson, or so he assumed. Sakura's pink hair was in stark contrast to all else around her, making her quite easy to spot, and Kakashi wasted no time to sift through the bodies of traffic that were on their way to do this or that.
In only a couple minutes, Kakashi was walking alongside Sakura to wherever she was headed, but the girl seemed too distracted to acknowledge him on her own. A couple blocks of silent walking and green eyes wandering everywhere but to the girl's left to spot the masked man, Kakashi decided to put his fist up to his mouth and in a single, unnecessarily loud cough Sakura twisted her neck to look at him with widened eyes.
"Kakashi-sensei!?" Sakura exclaimed slightly louder than she had to in her surprise. The man gave the girl a squint of his eye as he ruffled her hair to match her greeting.
"Fancy meeting you here, Sakura. How've you been?" His blatant dismissal of her surprise earned Kakashi a glare from the girl, one of many and certainly not the last, but Sakura answered all the same. He was quick to note the change in his student's expression in response to his question.
"I'll be fine, Kakashi-sensei. I don't like that Team 7 isn't together anymore, but there's nothing I can do about it." Sakura sighed out solemnly. The dour acceptance of her own words was evidence of a long thought struggle that likely stuck with the girl the entire day before and would probably continue on for some time. However, that was precisely why he was here.
"Well, keep your head up, Sakura. Just because you three aren't on my team anymore doesn't mean you can't see each other. In fact, I just came from Naruto's apartment and he said that he and Sasuke were meeting at our old training ground. Naturally, he was going to pass it on himself but he didn't know where you'd be so I took it up for him." The little white lie came out of his mouth just the same as any truth would have. In all honesty, it was a childish ploy, especially from a Kage of the Elemental Nations. But, as far as he was concerned, it was necessary childishness to make sure his little kiddies stayed in a tight-knit group.
Kakashi didn't want to know how the two boys would spiral out if they didn't have any contact with people outside of their instructors.
"Thank you for telling me, sensei. I'll be there." The mood of Sakura lifted slightly at the story he told, and he knew his job was through when it did. Sakura was the only one of the three that had any social skills that passed the bare minimum. With the social butterfly of the group on board, he was sure that she could do any heavy lifting from here.
"Of course, Sakura. Not to be rude, but I have a lot of menial paperwork to read through and orders to give. Visit my office if you need anything." Kakashi waved along his final words just before he flickered away from the young kunoichi who left him with a warm smile.
In a rush, Kakashi was already at his new office, leaping through the windows behind his desk and landing quietly in the chair. Sure, he was a little late, and therefore extremely behind, but the price was worth the nudge he gave to his three students. That, and he had to admit that he would miss seeing them all so regularly and he had to make that up somehow.
Besides, he was the Hokage so it wasn't like he had to report to anyone.
"You're late, Lord Hokage." The old voice shattered his previous thoughts in an instant. In an exasperated sigh, Kakashi met the stern gazes of Homura and Koharu as they sat in the chairs that sat just in front of his desk.
No one to report to didn't mean there was no one to disappoint.
He had thought that his initial insertion into traditional shinobi life was a one-time scenario to help out his old captain. Then, he had thought that he was being utilized in an emergency situation to take the place of Kakashi in a few open duties. Now, though, Tenzo was sure that he was going to be a permanent fixture in the standard forces. As opposed to regular thought, Tenzo was quite unsettled at the thought of no longer being within a black operative organization.
Be it ROOT or the Hokage's Anbu, he was always in the shadows of their world.
Today was the first day that he would be officially registered in the records of the village, it would be the first time he was to follow through a whole day of training, and his only student was arguably the most crucial member of their entire shinobi corps. When Tenzo took over Naruto's individual training during the preparation for the Chunin Exams Kakashi was still the fixture of the regimen. Nothing that Tenzo did was without permission from his former captain, but now he was to handle it all. Sure, Kakashi would still input here and there, but the new Hokage made it clear that he wanted Tenzo to take the reins of his former student's development.
"I know this isn't what you're used to, Tenzo, but you're the only one I can trust with him and you're uniquely qualified to handle him." he had said. Truly, it wasn't a necessary reassurance because Tenzo would follow his orders no matter his own discomfort, but it was nice to have the confidence of the Hokage. It was also nice to have some practical use for the abilities that were forced upon him at such a young age.
Tenzo's thoughts were halted as he stopped behind an old wooden door in the alleyways off to the side of the Leaf's main road. It wasn't a well-kept alleyway as trash was pushed into the seams where the buildings met the ground, puddles littered the uneven ground despite there not being significant rain in months, and the dark and dirty off-shoots were dank with the smells of countless things that no one wanted to stick around. It wasn't as if he was in a particularly dirty part of the village, much less he was in the most seen area, but with so much attention to keeping what people saw clean, oftentimes the undesirables just get pushed off to where they'll be forever unseen.
Tenzo could empathize.
Putting the thoughts of hidden trash away, Tenzo took a step to knock on the aged wood of the crooked door in front of him. Just one single, strong knock and he took a step back to wait for an answer. No more than a few seconds passed before he heard the rhythmic beats of wood on wood, and soon they stopped only for the door ahead of him to give way to the stern visage of Danzo. Normally, Tenzo would've contacted the man at the front of his establishment, but with the man not seated in his makeshift post, Tenzo decided to go through the back.
"Lord Danzo," Tenzo gave a customary head nod at the man in respect, "I believe you have something for me." There was a second of pause as the elder let his eye look idly on at Tenzo before he turned in place, leaving the door open for the jounin to follow behind him.
"I suppose it is understandable to keep some sort of consistency for the boy. I do hope you're up to do what is necessary to develop our weapon, Tenzo." Danzo spoke as stiff as he always did when there weren't any other eyes upon him. No warm smiles and gentle tones were left for Tenzo in private. Why would there be? He saw the absolute harshest of the man who was digging in a humble desk, pulling a few scrolls with his hand after leaning his cane against the wall.
After seeing the worst, why would he be treated with an act that he couldn't be fooled by?
"I will do as I am needed to for Naruto. Those are my orders." Tenzo waited at the center of the room near a small coffee table, waiting as Danzo walked back to Tenzo with the scrolls in hand and wooden cane forgotten. Instinctively, Tenzo looked for possible escapes through his periphery as Danzo approached him. He knew how badly the old man wanted to have Naruto for himself, and who was to say that he didn't have contingencies to get rid of Tenzo for that opportunity? He likely wouldn't, but it was Danzo himself that taught him to consider such things.
"I know you will. Do not be hesitant to ask for my aid in the future either, not for him." Danzo handed Tenzo the scrolls, all of which had the character for "Wind" inscribed on them, just as was asked. "These are the very basics. Nothing should be learned until these are mastered flawlessly. A proper practitioner of Wind Release only needs these three to delve into the skill set by themselves."
Tenzo slid the three scrolls into the clasped pouches in his flak jacket before focusing back to Danzo. The man's single eye was piercing into Tenzo, solidifying the seriousness of his words with the surety of all else. He gave the man another nod before he sunk into the wood of his floor, not allowing the man to see his back as he left the establishment to head toward the training ground he was to meet his permanent student.
To his surprise, Naruto wasn't at the grounds when Tenzo arrived. Peering up to the sky, the Sun looked to be in the proper place, albeit he couldn't truly decipher minutes, but it was close enough. Yet, here he stood, at the grounds that Naruto last met him in front of a small pond in the river that passed through the village, and Naruto was nowhere to be seen. So, Tenzo simply stood there and waited for the boy at the heart of Training Ground 6 until he saw the crown of blonde hair come clear in the distance of the path that led to their grounds with hands carelessly crossed behind the boy's head.
It took a few minutes more for Naruto to fully arrive in front of Tenzo, and when he did, blue eyes stared intently into the jounin's own. The leisurely stroll he approached with melted into the utmost seriousness with arms falling to the boy's sides and a crease forming in his brow. Most younger shinobi needed more experience to be able to pass between the carelessness of a civilian and the seriousness of shinobi life, but Tenzo was pleasantly surprised at Naruto's grasp in that maturity that wasn't there even a couple months ago.
The quiet sizing up between the two lasted only a few short seconds before it was cleared by a shallow cough from Tenzo.
"It is good to see you again, Naruto. As I'm sure Lord Hokage has informed you, I will take over your training from now on." Tenzo paused briefly to ensure the blonde was following, subtly letting the unspoken question form between them. When his unasked question received a silent nod, Tenzo continued. "I understand that you were working through the exercises to develop your Wind Release affinity, have you completed them?"
Instead of answering him, Naruto's eyes looked to the ground. Specifically, blue eyes fell to the bank of the pond that sat behind Tenzo, and when those blue eyes widened slightly in recognition, the chunin walked toward the bank of the pond and retrieved a fairly decent sized stone that lay in the dirt. Normally, the second step of Wind Release training, after cutting the leaf to learn the process of transforming raw chakra into wind, the purpose was to learn how to concentrate that elemental change into something usable in a fight. The stone is an obstacle that requires power to get through, but then again, those rocks fit within the palm of the user's hand. The rock, or stone, was large enough that the boy's fully extended fingers, as his palms hugged each side of the stone, were barely able to scrape against each other.
Despite the rock's unnecessary size, a deep inhale followed by an expulsion of bladed chakra from Naruto's hands made the rock cut into two clean halves all the same. Without supplementary hand seals, the use of so much concentrated raw chakra was no small feat and more than a little draining. However, given who his student was, Tenzo supposed it was pointless to dwell on such things.
"Good, then we can go directly into the first part of your training." Tenzo unclasped a button of a pocket on his flak jacket to pull out one of the scrolls that were just given to him by Danzo. As Naruto walked back around to the other side of Tenzo and away from the pond, the scroll was tossed toward the chunin. "Lord Hokage informed me that you had an affinity for reading through scrolls, so I hope this will be enough. Wind Release is not my strong suit, should you have issues we will need to look outward for further help"
Under traditional circumstances, Naruto would've been paired with an instructor that had either a natural affinity for Wind Release or someone who was able to learn the manipulation at one point or another. Unfortunately, Tenzo's Wood Release was the extent of his elemental transformation. The combination of Earth and Water Releases in the bloodline ability left no room for further development. Furthermore, Wind Release wasn't too common in the Land of Fire as a whole, making options limited for Naruto's potential instructor. Kakashi, though, stood by the claim that Naruto could figure out what he needed from reading the scroll himself as he did with the Academy ninjutsu to pass the test and the Body Flicker early on as a genin.
Ideally, that would mean that Danzo's direct involvement would be limited.
Tenzo let the chunin read through the scroll before he spoke up again, clarifying a few things before Naruto began trying to pick up the technique.
"When learning this Jutsu, the hand seals must become second nature to you. No different from learning the Summoning Jutsu from Lord Jiraiya, mastery of the hand seals comes before all else. When you've sufficiently demonstrated understanding of the technique, we will work on incorporating it into your fighting naturally." After he explained their process to Naruto, Tenzo took the privilege of clasping his hands together, threaded his fingers to allow a mass of roots directly behind himself intertwine together to form a chair for him to sit in. The blonde ahead of him only raised an eyebrow at Tenzo as the man took a leisurely seat before the boy sat on the grass to begin cycling through the hand seals as he read them from the scroll.
Normally, ninjutsu, especially elemental ninjutsu, was lorded over a bit more harshly when it came to rookies. At Naruto's age, it was more pertinent to ensure that they had the physical faculties to handle the stresses of a higher ranking shinobi, but Naruto was far away from that. There was no amount of running Tenzo could put the boy through to help his cardio, and even less for functional strength that could be useful to him.
No, this was a rare case where the young chunin needed to be fed techniques to diversify himself and build a strong foundation for the years to come.
"Kakashi-sensei is going to be the Hokage from now on, isn't he?" Naruto's voice called out with a hint of sternness, concentration still showing in the boy's furrowed brow as he was performing his hand seals as quickly as he could with his eyes closed. To the jounin, the answer to the question was obvious. He saw how poorly the Third was doing firsthand, and should he pull through, the legendary Hokage would not be able to go back to leading the Leaf. Kakashi was the Fifth Hokage of the Leaf with or without the official ceremonies.
"He will." He knew that Kakashi didn't want that information fully public yet, not without having a clear indication of Lord Third's future, but Tenzo wasn't specifically ordered to keep silent on the matter with his new student and found it poor tact to start lying immediately into this new arrangement. That, and it was hard to justify keeping it from Naruto. The young chunin had few that he could tell that weren't in the know already.
To the blonde's credit, there was no shift in focus. The same hand seals were weaved, the frown in the boy's face remained but never deepened, and silence reigned through the training ground.
Tenzo had expected to be here the majority of the day without seeing much substantial progress. It was the first elemental jutsu and Tenzo expected a learning curve for a boy that was notoriously slow at picking up information within the Academy. That's not to say Naruto was dumb or lacking, but it was an indication that Tenzo expected to apply to their training. However, Lord Fifth's words seemed to ring true just as the first hour passed when blue eyes opened and one more cycle of the hand seals before extending his palm outward toward empty grass with his thumb tucked inward.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm." The words were strong and confident, and so was the chakra that flew from the blonde's hand. Wind swirled around the extended palm in a smooth motion before it accumulated and released from the hand. In a discharge of chakra, the small amount of wind chakra exploded out into a spiraling, contained tunnel of wind that blew outward into the empty space. Given that the boy was seated on the ground, the gale of wind kicked up dirt and unrooted grass on weeds in its path before dissipating away.
Brown eyes traced back from the first attempt at the technique that was given to the boy not much longer than an hour ago, meeting the slightly disappointed face of the young chunin. Sure, it wasn't a perfect display of the technique as the spiral of the wind was a little oblong and the chakra was a little unrefined, but it was nothing to be disappointed with. No sooner after the dust of the first attempt settled, Naruto was already preparing the next go at it. As the boy began to push through several tries of the jutsu, Tenzo watched as the technique refined itself in a surprising fashion as the intensity of each Gale Palm grew. Naruto even turned back to the scroll splayed on the soft grass at his side to reread it every few attempts before he was content with rolling the scroll back up and returning it to Tenzo with the smallest glints of triumph in his cerulean eyes.
The jounin stood as he accepted the scroll handed to him, securing it back within his jacket while roots fell back into the ground below him. Tenzo matched Naruto's gaze with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"Now it's time to work on practical uses of the jutsu." Kakashi was impressively good at making their squad uncomfortable with a few simple words when he was captain of Tenzo's initial Anbu team. He wasn't the best at it himself, but Tenzo's words along with the all too familiar root that now connected the two shinobi at the shins made Naruto feel the same things Kakashi's words would bring him and his squadmates. "I'll give you the freedom of acute retreats, but no running. You are to attack me as you normally would with the incorporation of the Gale Palm you've just learned."
The trepidation lingered in Naruto for a few seconds before he shifted back into a serious gaze that met Tenzo's own. Before any attacks could be thrown, Naruto launched himself backward as quickly as he could, eyes focused on the gnarled root that joined them. When Naruto was no further than 10 yards away, the root's slack disappeared and Naruto's retreat was stopped entirely. A few more futile yanks of his leg and Naruto looked prepared to start their session.
Without wasting any time, Tenzo launched forward and the true training began.
Their first time together, some might've said that Tenzo was rough on the Jinchuuriki. Especially so when they partook in this particular exercise as it was usually a one-sided beatdown. Now, in this new arrangement that was established to promote a more long-term relationship between Naruto and Tenzo, between teacher and student, people would probably say so even more. The jounin made no attempts to give Naruto any easy room to work with, he only pulled his punches enough so Naruto could return for the next day, and there was no indication at any point that he showed that he would let up. The only time there was reprieve for the blonde chunin, it was Tenzo allowing a brief water break before they began again. They ran amok in the empty grass of the clearing, in the denser forestry around them, and on the pond that they stood near so Naruto could fight him in any scenario and still be able to use the Gale Palm effectively.
When they finally stopped, it couldn't have been more than an hour past noon. The Sun hung high in the sky that Naruto looked toward from his back on the ground. Bruises formed on the chunin's face where there wasn't blood leaking down, blonde hair was matted and dirtied from their many scuffles, and clothes that were once fairly clean now laid dirtied off to the side, long removed in their fighting. Despite the dour state Naruto appeared to be in, Tenzo new that most of the damage would be gone in the night and was quite honestly more worried about his own bruising more so. Not in his body, though, as Naruto didn't land too much that would be problematic, but he did land a few shots which was impressive as it was. No, Tenzo briefly wondered how his fists would hold up in their constant training. Last time, he was forced to wrap his hands during training and tend to them afterward. Looking at the opened knuckles on his hands and the red blotches around the swollen joints, he could only assume the same would happen only for a longer amount of time.
"Take the rest of the day to recover and we'll meet again tomorrow morning." Not that it would be any different from today. They were in for a monotonous time together as Tenzo meant to ensure full comprehension in his student before moving on. However, instead of any indication in the affirmative, or even plain silence, Naruto only gave him an annoyed groan.
"Can't." Was the only word the boy spoke and it was filled to the brim with ill-hidden disgust. "I have to meet my team soon."
Tenzo had to catch himself from replying to Naruto immediately. He had to prevent the reflex of correcting the boy and reminding him that Team 7 was no longer a team. Kakashi made it clear that he wanted them to be an unofficial team despite the circumstances as well as the connection that Naruto felt to his two former teammates. It was also not lost on Tenzo that it was Kakashi that told him to end their training at that time, but he didn't mention any of it to Naruto as he gave his goodbyes and left the blonde for the rest of his day.
Knowing Kakashi, he already assured the team he'd just disbanded would meet just as he hoped.
Surprise, surprise motherfucker the King is back. Had an interesting weekend away and now we're back. In all honesty, it was weird not typing anything for those few days because it's literally been daily for so long, but I had a good time doing what I was doing. Now that it's all done, we're back to regularly scheduled programming, my friends.
It was easier than expected to get back in the swing of things, I hope the new chapter is taken well. I mean...this was typed weeks ago, but all the same.