By Silver Dragonfly
Chapter 02 - Training: Fox-Style
teammate waved lightly back at him before she chased after Sasuke who was already
well down the path since he had headed off as soon as Kakashi-sensei had dismissed
them from the day's mission and training. Kakashi gave a casual wave then followed
suit, vanishing in his usual 'poof' to go make the team's report. Right, now for some
fox-style training, Naruto thought to himself as he headed off towards a section of
woods he had made a regular training location.
Within moments of arriving he had set down to work with the occasional comment from
Kyuubi guiding his progress, a routine that had become a daily practice since their
return from the Wave Country. The first thing to do had been to start working on
building up his physical strength. With his strength built up, not only would his speed
and stamina improve, but also his body would be able to handle the sheer power of the
nine-tails for longer periods without causing such an energy drain. In other words,
Naruto would be able to draw on Kyuubi's power without draining his own energy
reserves to nothing.
Now the more flashy or professional way to do this would have been to wear weighted
clothing throughout the day, and steadily increasing the weight as the wearer became
accustomed to it. However, Naruto did not have access to the weights, let alone
clothing that could hold them, so he was left with only one other option; hard physical
labor. Not his first choice in activities, but his determination to prove himself came out
on top. Which lead to Naruto's discovery that chopping wood worked wonders on the
shoulder, back, and arm muscles. The north end of the clearing had quickly begun to
sport a neat stack of cleanly chopped wood at least a good three feet high. And then
of course hauling the huge dead trees that Kyuubi insisted he use (rather then cut
down the living), had already added extra muscle to his legs.
Then Kyuubi had both suggested and demanded that he continue with the tree
climbing exercise that Kakashi had given him in the Wave Country. Naruto had
grumbled good-naturedly at the start, but when he hadn't even made it half way to the
top on his first run, he knew Kyuubi was right. Then of course there had been the fact
that the trees both in and around Konoha were much older and larger then those he'd
climbed in Wave Country. "An older forest equals older and larger trees,"
Kyuubi had responded to Naruto's comment on this fact. Despite the new challenge, it
wasn't long before Naruto was standing at the peak of the tallest trees surrounding his
training area.
It was just after completing a trip going down rather then up, that the fox kit appeared.
No sooner had Naruto's feet hit the solid earth, then there was a small bundle of
orange-red fur and fluff leaping around his feet, yipping and barking gleefully.
Naruto laughed and squatted down to view the kit on a more equal level.
"So what are you doing here?"
The kit's response was to leap onto Naruto's chest with an excited yip. Naruto made a
squawk of surprised as the unsuspected movement sent him backwards to end in an
orange heap with the red-orange ball of furry energy licking his face. Naruto laughed
while struggling to pull the kit away from his face long enough to sit up.
Kyuubi's laughter echoed his own, "Looks like you've found a new playmate
Naruto."
"What? I can't play with him now..." Naruto responded and then looked in surprise as
the kit backed away with an almost sorrowful, yet hopeful look.
"And why not? You play with Konohomaru and his friends often enough."
"But..."
"How hard is it to play with a fox kit? Besides you might learn something from him."
Naruto sighed in defeat, but then grinned at the kit. "All right. So just what are we
supposed to play eh?" In response the fox-kit darted in, tugged Naruto's pant leg and
then darted off again, pausing just before entering a thick hedge to see if Naruto was
following. Naruto smirked and the got up into a crouch. "All right, but I'm warning
you-- I'm a pro at this game."
Kyuubi snorted. The fox kit yipped, then was gone leaving Naruto to try and keep up.
Sandaime smiled as he watched Naruto fruitlessly chase after the fox kit. Naruto was
good, but the kit was better. If this became a regular occurrence, Naruto's skill would
grow rapidly. His eyes drifted to focus on the stack of wood lying neatly in a pile.
Perhaps he could assist the boy-- after all it would be a shame to let all the work he put
into cutting the wood go to waste. It wasn't much, but by taking care of it for the boy
he'd keep the paranoid villagers from taking advantage of him. And perhaps it's
time I saw too it that he acquires some of Yondaime's old possessions...
**********
Naruto sighed as he slipped off the well-worn forest paths and started on a zigzag
roundabout path towards his training area. The last few days' missions had been very
low-level menial tasks. To counter-act those missions, Kakashi-sensei had stepped up
their training. Naruto had almost been tempted to skip his own private session, but then
remembered the fox kit that had been loyally arriving to play their own versions of
tag, hide-and-seek, and sparring. Although the sparring was more practice at dodging
then actual fighting. The kit was a lot nimbler then he looked, and Naruto had found
himself working hard to dodge the little guy's 'attacks'.
Naruto lifted his arms above his head in an attempt to stretch out his muscles as he
entered the clearing, and then froze. Something was different. Someone else besides
him had been there. His eyes focused as he scanned the perimeter, and then stopped
upon where his neatly stacked pile of chopped wood should have been. Instead there
lay a small brown paper parcel next to a worn looking leather case. Naruto frowned,
and carefully watched the surrounding area as he slowly stepped into the clearing. He
cautiously approached the items without letting down his guard, sensing Kyuubi's
tenseness as well. There was a small scroll with his name on it tied to the package, he
paused and looked around him carefully once more before reaching out to the scroll.
Now while normally he would have just dived right in, excited that somebody would
actually leave him a gift, that there was one here in this place was what had him tense.
As far as he knew NO one knew he trained here, and he'd been careful to leave no
clear tracks leading to or from the village. Yet here the package was. He slowly
unbound the scroll and began to read the neat handwriting inside.
Naruto -
I've seen your hard work and thought these could help. I sold the wood for you to
purchase the weight harnesses. When these break or become to small, just take them
to the store to get them fixed or adjusted. The sale of the wood left you enough on
credit to cover at least the first time you may need the repairs or adjustments. The
leather case belonged to your father and contains various training weights of the sort
that fit with the harnesses. He would have wanted you to have them, and I encourage
you to make good use of them.
- your ever watchful Guardian
Naruto sat down with a flop. He'd done it again, or at least he'd assumed his mysterious
guardian was a he. He'd never actually met him, and most of the time forgot the
supposed guardian even existed. Then he'd do something like this. Completely
unexpected, but fully useful and often times needed. Always the item or items had
signified that someone out there besides Iruka or even Kakashi was keeping an eye
on him. But... this was the first time there had ever been any mention of his parents. He
knew that they had both died around the time of Kyuubi's appearance, but he had no
idea if they'd died in the fighting or not. He sniffed and struggled to wipe away a few
tears, mumbling something along the lines of he was fine as he sensed Kyuubi's
questioning thoughts.
Taking control of his emotions once more, he opened the plain paper wrapping to find
as the note mentioned, heavy-duty training harnesses. He quickly stripped off his
orange jumpsuit to slip on the harnesses over his t-shirt and shorts, and then moved to
carefully open the leather case. His eyes lit up in delight at the rows of neatly packed
weights ranging in size, thickness, and weight. He picked out a few, feeling their
weight before deciding which set to start out with and then hooking them onto the
harnesses. This accomplished, he donned his orange jacket and pants once more.
With a huge fox grin he shouted and punched a fist into the air. Now he could really
get to work, and with that he began.