Will of Fire

Disclaimer: Naruto is a product of Masashi Kishimoto, so I don't own him.
Legend: "": quote, "italic": thought, italic: Japanese word, (): translation/explication, underline: techniques (check the end for invented techniques).

Chapter 3: The ape and his pillow!

The darkness of the night had covered the sky as Naruto found himself in the fourth phase of his personal training. He had been training for the last five hours and still had the energy to pull a few more. One would have expected him to be tired by now, considering the day he just had with Kakashi and his bell test, but that would have been a serious underestimation of his will.

Of course he did take some time to rest before beginning his grueling schedule. He had slept for two hours and then ate his favorite meal ramen at the Ichiraku Ramen before coming to training area 51. Then he ran 400 laps around the field, did a 1000 push ups, 1000 sit ups, then a full two hours of shuriken/kunai weapons training, took a thirty minutes break to eat a grilled fish he had caught and cooked, finally landing at his taijutsu training which he had been practicing for the last hour. He was now getting comfortable with the 200 pounds of training weights he had started to wear since three days, which for his showed great progress. He was a strong believer of the 'no pain no gain' mantra so he always pushes his limits beyond his initial capabilities. Thus when he would get to comfortable with the current training weights he would add another 50 pounds.

That is if he gets some pay from missions soon, being an orphan wasn't a luxury when it came to cost of living. His home was considered a ghost house, his room was so small that adding another person would be asking too much and his windows had wholes in them thanks to some the villagers, who used to throw a rock or two when ever his birthday was on, which coincidently happened to be also the same day Yondaime had defeated the Kyuubi and died. He was planning to move when he would have a bit more money thanks to his new jobs as genin but after realizing who he was, he knew it would be a damn long time before he would be able to afford a better home. After all, the law of demand and supply did not work when it came to him. Most villagers would overcharge him or limit his selections to the worst possible product, which he managed to live by all these years.


At the moment however, his mind wasn't on his social status but rather on Kakashi. The jounin had obviously tricked him like the rest, but putting him on a dilemma. He said he would explain to him how train on better manipulating chakra but he did not tell anything more. After the test, Naruto had made a valiant effort on reviewing his old class scrolls on the subject, which gave him a good explication on chakra but nothing about how to master it. Thus he was back to square one and was starting to feel betrayed. Just then his new sensei appeared in front of him out of nowhere as if he could sense when people where thinking about him.

"Hi Naruto, I see that Hokage-sama guided me well, so this is where you train every night. Sorry for making you wait, we had a long chat about the team and time kind of ran by faster then I had expected. He was very pleased to learn that all three had passed successfully…" said Kakashi.

"I think you meant, all three that you made us pass, because we simply had way to much potential to pass on Kakashi-sensei", interrupted Naruto, which hit his sensei like a low blow.

"You sure are a dagger, Naruto, taking nothing for granted I see. Anyway, I came here because of our little promise earlier. I am still not sure if what I have planned for you is the right path, so I need to see you give me a demonstration of this jutsu of yours for better assessment", explained a nervous Kakashi.

"You meant, you wanted to see my okaen (inflame) in action because you cannot believe a 12 year old kid, considered an idiot can't possibly come up with something like that. For a moment, I really thought you came here to help me out, but now I see that I have to make you believe of my abilities to get the usual prejudices down. Okay, fine by me, just next time ask it straight away, I hate when people twist their words trying to act nice", corrected again the boy.

"Okay, I guess we started on the wrong foot. I shall be straight with you when it comes to speaking about you from now on. Yes, it is true I am somewhat skeptical, but not because I don't believe in you. It is just that it is very rare for a 12 year old to come up with such a deadly jutsu as Sandaime think it is. As for the help, well I told you earlier in the day that we will be training together from tomorrow and the chakra manipulation exercise will be an essential section of that training. Chakra isn't a thing you can master in a day. It may take you years to master it. It is the essence that makes a shinobi greater then the average man. For the moment I just wish to see what you came up with out of curiosity", explained a smiling Kakashi, who just felt another low blow from his student's words.

"Your argument is fair enough, so I guess I will show it to you, but you mustn't reveal its existence to anyone till I fully master it. We better go to the open field section and you better be more then five meters away from me, make that ten for safety reasons", said the boy.

Naruto was thrilled that the Hokage thought so highly of him. After all, if what Kakashi said was true then indeed Yondaime's path was proving to be the right step on his life. Kakashi on the other was more excited that he was getting to learn more about the boy. When he had taken this assignment, he always thought Naruto would be the toughest one to handle. He had a record of not being commendable and added to the emotional stress he might have endured all these years especially with the recent revelation about his link to Kyuubi would have no doubt assured that. But it turned out that he would be last of his worries between his two possibly depressed and tormented students. Sasuke won that round without contest while Naruto turned out to be the opposite. They were clearly on the opposite end of the scale, one an ice, the other a fire. He wish he could be like Naruto, all cheerful after being hit by a train, it was certainly a quality that would have helped him get rid of his past regrets.

Upon arriving at the designated location, they placed themselves. Kakashi placed himself five meters away from the boy must to his insistence claiming that he was prepped for immediate retreat if it went beyond the marker. However, after seeing him perform the okaen the jounin was secretly glad that the flames spread up to seven meters and four meters high. Had it been ten and he would be burned seriously even possibly die, given the intense heat the jutsu had released and the land was still burning. After a second trial, this time he being ten meters away, Kakashi was sure his assessment was correct. Naruto's jutsu was perfect for him, but given that he had no control over the range due to lack of chakra manipulation it was especially a hazard. It was clear to him that Sandaime was also right on the money about Naruto's possible abilities thanks to being Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. It was even clearer that it was a solo jutsu to take out either large amount of targets or simply defending against multi-direction strikes.

Either way it wouldn't benefit the teamwork aspect much. Especially, the fact that Sasuke may pull a tantrum upon seeing the devastating power and Sakura may get scared by it. After all, Sasuke was the power hungry of the three while Sakura was one who lacked confidence. Kakashi confirmed Naruto's suspicion about not being able to use it around them even after mastering it fully. So they both agreed that when he does master it, Naruto would only use it when he has his back against the wall, while Sasuke and Sakura are far away. At least till Sasuke learned that he doesn't always have to be the strongest member of the team.

To end his visit Kakashi handed the blond haired boy a scroll. It was a gift from Sandaime for helping Konoha in the capture of Mizuki and for proving his loyalty to him and not opening the scroll of forbidden seals. The scroll contained the first jutsu on that scroll, the tajuu kage bunshin (multiple shadow clones) along with its simpler part the kage bunshin (shadow clone) with detailed explication on how to use them effectively and master them. Naruto was overjoyed when he saw what his little unintentional favor had brought him and began to jump like a monkey in excitement.

However, Kakashi quickly calmed him down, explaining that this jutsu wasn't a joy and it could potentially kill him if he used it wrongly. He then added that Naruto should leave tajuu kage bunshin for after getting some control over his chakra and that he should not start learning the kage bunshin right away. He wanted him rested for tomorrow as he won't be merciful if the boy didn't pay attention to his trainings. The jounin also added that he couldn't master it in a night either since it was a pretty complicated jutsu so he better take it slowly. After which, he ordered Naruto to go and sleep while he departed on his own path.

Unfortunately, Kakashi had underestimated the young boy's resilience once more. Naruto not only spent the rest of night deciphering the jutsus, but also mastering them and understanding their pros and cons. It was easy thanks to Sandaime's explication, thanks to which Naruto realized that he would be only able to summon one shadow clone if he wanted to be able to take strong hits like his janken rendan (rock-paper-scissors combo) and be able to summon only four of them if he wanted them to withstand multiple blows.


The training however, cost him his night of sleep, which allowed him to only nap for six hours and it was on the training field itself something he was quite used to doing, ever since he started to train secretly. When he did awake the next morning thanks to his trusty alarm clock which he had brought along, he only had five minutes before Kakashi's training would start, so he got up and ran like raging bull to be on time for the meeting. But given his lack of sleep he sluggish and fell back a sleep after listening to Kakashi's lecture a few minutes after arriving there.

Upon seeing him a sleep Kakashi sticked to his words and decided to give him the deserving punishment: another humiliating sennen goroshi (thousand years of pain), also commonly known as kancho (ass poking). Thus the blond haired boy found himself waking up, as he flew in the air with his ass in pain.

Sadly Kakashi had no idea the havoc he had just unleashed upon himself. It so happens that Naruto has a bad habit of going 'ape mode' when he is awaken the wrong way. This is basically a moment where an unconscious and half to sleep Naruto acts like a raging gorilla and does not rest till he had pummeled his aggressor. Of course, given that her still has very little control in chakra means that the aggressor would most likely get beaten like a rag doll with shear power. So Kakashi, unknowingly nearly got blown of by Enjinmon (ape-man monster, a name given by Sakura for this particular state of Naruto), if he hadn't realized that something was wrong with his pupil which was pretty easy to guess given that Enjinmon even walked like a gorilla. He survived by doing his usual trick of switching himself with his kage bunshin, while hiding himself underground, thus allowing the poor clone to take his punishment for him.

Satisfied that he had avenged himself, Enjinmon, got back to his usual task that is searching a good comfy place to sleep on, which turned out to be non-other then Haruno Sakura. Thus from this day, Sakura now affectionately called Makura (pillow) by Enjinmon, had become his go to resting place and disable mechanism of the spell. This was because when he would gave her and fall a sleep on her chest like a baby, Sakura's inner-defensive woman protection ability would surface and this would earn Naruto a Herculean smash from his pillow. This would lead to the awakening of the real Naruto with a large bump on his head and with no memory of his crime. She would also be the first girl out of a select few to be immune from his rude awakening.

So from that day forward, Kakashi would purposely awake Naruto with a kancho while making sure Sakura was near so that he get's to enjoy the little soap opera his two students would deliver him. This would be one of many such soap operas that make his new family enjoyable. The only one not wanting any path of such a family would be Uchiha Sasuke who would drop his head down and curse his luck by brooding silently. He really was a pain in the ass.

After Naruto woke up, Kakashi reminded him to not fall asleep again and proceeded to the sparing segment, which would be the first exercise the team would do every time they trained together. The team were setup as a one on one competition, with team one being Sasuke vs. Kakashi while team two was Naruto vs. Sakura. Team two did not appreciate their selection as Sakura wanted to be with Sasuke and Naruto knew Sakura wasn't in his league when it came to sparing. But neither can deny the Uchiha's firm demand, which proved Naruto's point of being a conceited pig head. He would have Kakashi and nothing else, thus for the sake of love for one and team for the other, they both agreed to be sparing partners.


Of course that being said, it still didn't help Naruto's case who even with the added 200 pounds of training weights found himself over powering and far more agile then anything Sakura can handle. She was a slug compared to him, with basic taijutsu style that made him cry inside. She didn't know how to kick properly and even less how to guard herself from an attack. So instead he decided to help her become better at both of those things so that at least she wouldn't make a fool of herself in real battles. This required a lot of patience from him, but he took it anyway realizing the alternative was far worst. That is, having to be the damsel in distress rescuer for the rest of his teaming career.

He began by explaining to her that to be effective in taijutsu a shinobi must his assets to his advantages and that for her that asset was her legs. He explained that being a girl, she was naturally more flexible then the boys and her long slim legs offered her with the gift of great reach and high angle kicks, if she learns how to extend her legs properly. Kicking was a delicate situation, it can land tremendous blows but it also leaves the user open for a counter attack of equal measure. You also have to add the subject of balance when kicking as if the user is in a bad position he may lose his stability and that is just asking for pain. Hence, the first rule he imposed her to obey when kicking someone is to kick somewhere where it will be most efficient in landing the kick as well as causing the most damage and that happened to be the head of the opponent.

To give her an example of his explication, he asked her to kick him, with a side kick then a followed by a spinning kick. As he had explained her kicks were poor. She was taller then him but both of her kicks camp up to his chest and arm respectively. He then asked her to repeat the two kicks and each time he grabbed her legs and showed her how he gained advantages over her. Then he showed her the advantage of kicking higher, that is that the user weather he lands or misses still forces his opponent to work for the opening, as he is forced to at least his head away and that is one far less chance of an immediate counter-attack.

Of course, Sakura was hesitant at trying high kicks, mainly because her mom had taught her that females don't kick high, it is disgraceful. One must note that Mrs. Haruno was a civilian and in her mind a girl must follow the traditional and ultra conservative way. That is getting ready to be a wife came above everything else. Raising legs higher usually gave glimpse of their panties and in worst case it could break their purity. Hence ruin the chance to get married into a good family. She was already against the idea of her daughter becoming a shinobi, which Sakura got away with thanks to her father's support, who happened to be one She would be damned if her daughter disgraced herself before settling down.

So when Naruto was forcing her to get her kicking angle from 120 degrees to 150 degrees she was fighting against it at first. From his point of view given her flexibility she could easily land a 160 or even170 degree kicks with a little bit of training, but getting her over 120 was a hard work due to her constant resistance. He could care less to her mother's plea, especially giving such a stupid statement without even explication to Sakura. He told her to go and find the reason for such statement before starting to believe in it. Thus, Sakura's resistance was defeated and she started to perform high kicks.

Kakashi who was keeping an eye on them while sparing with Sasuke was impressed how good Naruto was at teaching and even more at convincing. He was happy that Naruto made Sakura better, if only she knew how lucky she was getting this much help from him. He didn't bother them even though they were somewhat off-track. After all if she could pick a thing or two and improve then it would allow her to spar with him in the future and he already trained heavily at nights so he could afford to give away such privilege.

Kakashi also knew the reason why Mrs. Haruno made such comments but he like many others knew that times had changed. Girls weren't just for getting married now and theories such as kicking higher can lead to accidental lose of virginity was a pathetic statement as it was never proven. Besides, when you are a shinobi you got far worst thing to worry about then losing your virgin status, things like surviving.

After lunch, Kakashi introduced the kinobori (tree climbing) training to team 7. It would be their main exercise to getting better at controlling their chakra. The goal was simple. They had to learn how to climb a tree by simply walking up on it with chakra without using their hands for support. He gave a detailed explication on how controlling ones chakra made them better in battles and the additional bonus that came with this exercise that is increasing their stamina through constant practice. He also gave other benefits of controlling ones chakra such as the abilities to run faster, to hit harder and improve their precisions. After a brief explication of the steps they must follow to do this exercise and handing each a kunai as markers, the group started the exercise.

The first trial results showed the difference between the three students when it came to controlling their chakra. Naruto had the habit of using lower amount of chakra then required, while Sasuke uses too much. Only Sakura was perfect at it, it was one of her best fields, but unlike the two other her stamina was next to nothing compared to them, so she also was feeling the heat in this exercise. After a few more runs, Naruto was still the lowest achiever and saw that he wasn't progressing faster then Sasuke who was doing a better job then him. So in an attempt to gain higher ground, he went to ask Sakura for some advices.

It was here that Kakashi realized how good a team the two formed as now Sakura was able to return favor of the earlier training by helping him with this one. She told Naruto that he must first seek the right amount of chakra to have his feet stick on the tree and once that is done, then can he try to climb the three. Her words was a new revelation to him and he thanked her greatly for her effort. Thus following her guidance Naruto began to show great progress, for which Kakashi was delighted. It showed him that the bonding between team members had already started. He only wished his lone wolf, Uchiha Sasuke, would join in. It took a while for that to happen, Sasuke was still progressing using his flawed method and refusing to ask for any help, but even his arrogance to a hit when he realized that Naruto was gaining on him. So he went and asked him on what info he had gotten out of Sakura and soon enough he was also following the same method. Of course the team was far from reaching the top of the tree but they were undoubtedly making great progress.

The next segment was most likely the favorite part for all three genins, as it was jutsu training. Kakashi had selected 4 D-rank jutsu scrolls for them to learn. Each would chose one of the jutsus and learn it then after learning it they can trade with the others and learn another one till they learned all four jutsus, which their sensei considered to be essential for a genin. The jutsus were doton shinjuu zanshu (earth element inner decapitation), kage shuriken (shadow shuriken), shunshin (body flicker) and kanashibari (body paralysis).

Given their personality, Kakashi was certain that Sasuke would go for shinjuu zanshu, Sakura for kanashibari and Naruto for kage shuriken. This was because Sasuke had already experienced the earth elemental jutsu, while Sakura may not know the jutsus but knew the names enough to go for something that may help her slow her opponents down. As for Naruto, he wouldn't know what each jutsu are so would most likely go for the one which was more offensive. Although Kakashi got his prediction for Sasuke right, Sakura would have gone as he had predicted too if it wasn't for Naruto. Once again, Naruto took him off guard by selecting shunshin, which allowed Sakura to go for kage shuriken. Now the jutsu he had selected wasn't bad but it was more known to be used outside of battles rather then in the battles. Only one shinobi really did use it in battle and he happened to be the Yondaime Hokage.

Now this may be the reason why Naruto had selected it except for the fact that he wouldn't know what jutsu Yondaime used to use, these matters were highly classified. The only reason Kakashi knew was because he was his sensei. This meant that the boy went purely by coincidence, but then again given that he was devious, Kakashi feared it may have been for other reasons and indeed it was. For Naruto, the shunshin fitted as a bridge to link his other jutsus. Coincidently just like Yondaime he planned to use it to start of his attacks, as he believed nothing more is damaging then deceiving your opponent with a flash. Now for that it meant that he would have to apply the shunshin like Yondaime did, which was without any visible elements involved. This was an extremely hard task, but he was confident he would come up with it some how, he always did.

For the two other, they were somewhat relieved that Naruto had taken such a 'useless' jutsu, as both Sasuke and Sakura believed it was useless given Kakashi's explication. They were happy because both thought that out of the three Naruto would have the toughest time learning jutsus and that meant that he it would take longer for him to trade it. Meanwhile, they could swap the better ones between themselves while he struggled with his first one. Thus each went on their own corner to practice their new jutsus and as everyone thought Naruto was having the most difficult time.


That night, Naruto worked his ass off to learn the shunshin after his usual training with the additional two hours of kinobori exercise he added to his regime. After a few hours he had mastered it like the scroll had indicated, but he wasn't satisfied. He was using leaves as his teleportation mechanism and he wanted it to be like an instant teleportation. So he promised to work hard to find a solution to his problem.

Meanwhile, at the Haruno household, Sakura gave a detailed review of her training to her mother, who really wasn't enjoying it like her daughter. Her first problem was the realization that Uzumaki Naruto was in her team. Second was that he was sparing with her daughter and third was high kicking part. She was one of those fervent believers that Naruto was actually Kyuubi itself, so the image of him in her daughter's team was already too much, sparing with Sakura was overboard. She would have a chat with her husband to see if that could be changed she hoped it dearly. Her ideal solution would be to have Naruto change the team, as Sakura liked Sasuke who was from a noble family, thus a good choice for a husband. As for the kicking part, she decided to give her daughter the full 'girl talk' about sexuality. After her sudden lesson it was clear that Sakura would never dare to raise her legs that high again, she certainly didn't want anything that could harm her chance with Sasuke. Satisfied of her work, Mrs. Haruno then chatted with her husband about the other problem and the man promised to have a word with the Hokage first thing in the morning.

The following day, Kakashi had an uneasy talk with Sakura's father, who was guided by the Hokage to address him problem to the teacher of the team. He tried to persuade the jounin to kick Naruto out of the team, but Kakashi wasn't as considerate as the man. He told him that Naruto would stay on the team and he would most likely spar with Sakura weather they liked it or not. Naruto makes Sakura a better shinobi and if he was too blind to see that it was his fault. He added that as a shinobi, he should be more realistic then stupid belief of the villagers upon the boy, because one of these days he will greatly regret the mistake of mistreating him upon false beliefs all these years. Seeing that the stubborn jounin wouldn't heed to his words, Sakura's father departed unhappy, silently cursing the gratitude the demon boy was getting.

Upon training time, Kakashi day became lighter, thanks to none other then Uzumaki Naruto, as the boy had fulfilled one of his dreams: a live action of 'icha icha paradise'. The story started when he was training Sakura during the sparing time. Thanks to her mother's lesson, she categorically refused to high-kick stating that it was a matter of social status. She really had no intention of talking about sexuality with him and tried to end it with that, but he being stubborn kept requesting for a clear reason. She attempted to get away from the subject by subtlety telling him that it was something that involved her life after her kunochi duties. Note that as Naruto had told Kakashi, he didn't like that type of talk, so he told her to say the truth straight in his face. His statement made Sakura realize that he really wasn't socially educated, as most people would understand the hints she gave out. Given his personality he probably never had the 'talk' yet and she wasn't going to be the first to have that talk, certainly not with him.

"Look it is something that your parents will tell you when you get older, just drop the subject now. I have my personal reasons that is all", she told him.

"I don't give a crap about your personal reason. I already wasted a day to train you so either say it or do it. Also I will have you note that not everyone is fortunate as you. I lost my parents at birth, so if there I am offending you with just say it", replied back the boy.

"You were orphan since birth? Wait, then who raised you? You certainly had someone taking care of you, they can make you understand it", said a surprised Sakura who was unaware of this info.

"That's none of your business. Just state the reason or go find someone else to train with. I am not going to waste my day on you", yelled back the boy prompting an intervention from Kakashi.

"Okay, what's going on you two? This isn't a place for arguments you know", said the jounin, who came over to see what the shouting was about.

"Kakashi-sensei, explain to him why I cannot high-kick. He needs the 'talk', he is being obscene again", explained Sakura.

"I see it's that subject again. First of all, Sakura I would like to realize that whatever you may have been told about the 'female high-kicking folklore' has never been proven and as a kunochi it's your survival that matters above all else. So by doing this you are limiting your self. As for you Naruto, if she doesn't want to improve it's her fault, change the subject", explained Kakashi, as he also felt that he didn't want to give that 'talk' to him.

"Hey I never said I wouldn't train on it. I just won't train with him on that. If it is someone like Sasuke-kun, I would be okay with it", said a shy Sakura, as she blush at the taught of training with Sasuke.

"Finally the truth, if you want him so bad why didn't you just ask for it. That settles it I guess, Yo Monkey-boy get your ass here and train with your admirer. It's your day to spar with her anyway. Let's go Kakashi-sensei, I want to profit the maximum of my sparing time with you" said a happy Naruto.

"First, my name isn't Monkey-boy dobe, last I check you were the one who act likes one. As for your request, I categorically refuse! Get back here Kakashi, we aren't finished by a long shot", answered back Sasuke.

The answered destroyed Sakura's dream once more and proved again that Sasuke was a 'coincided bastard' as Naruto called him. Kakashi was pretty displeased by his star pupil's comment. But seeing that Sasuke was to stubborn to change in a day and that the process had to be gradual, he tried convince Naruto to either spar with Sakura lightly or teach her one of his many animal style he uses. The boy replied that none of what he used applied to her as his was mainly based on speed, inconsistency and critical points. None of which suited Sakura at, it would be like asking him to do the monkey dance style Sasuke uses, which the Uchiha reminded him to be capoeria. The jounin then told him to find something else to train her in and as a proposition he suggest on her blocking skills. The turn of events really displeased Naruto, but he also recalled that he had made a promise to play the game so now he had to assume the responsibility. Thus even though he hated it, he agreed to work on Sakura's blocking skills.

Thus the two groups went their separate ways once more and where the real fun started. Sakura was starting to feel weak again, as Naruto was showing a bit of his displeasure on the instruction. He wasn't being nice and helpful like the day before, his explication were hard and straight to the point. He told her to show him how she would block a palm attack from him. As she took guard and he launched his attack, Kakashi interrupted both of them to remind Naruto to not be so hard on poor Sakura. This earned Kakashi massive cursing from Naruto, who was so busy yelling that he forgot where his palm was going, while Sakura was simply taken by the distraction. As a result, he accidentally groped Sakura's bosom. Feeling violated, Sakura's inner self-protective reaction or 'wrath of a woman' took over her and she gave him one of her Herculean punches, while calling him a pervert, which sent him flying on a nearby tree and took the rest by surprise.

"What the hell was that for you damn girl? On top of that you dare insult me? God you really hit like an ape, I was wrong I may have a style for you after all", yelled Naruto as he got up from the blow.

"That is what you get for daring to touch my breast while my guard was down, you bastard! Why you degenerate and savage nincompoop, you dared to make fun on my looks, take that!" yelled Sakura, as she ran towards him and delivered a combo with her Herculean power sending Naruto crashing on another tree.

"What breast? You don't even have any and it was an accident, besides you shouldn't be even complaining because you are supposed put your guard up! The monkey style isn't also based on your face, stop acting as if I care about how you look and concentrate on the damn training", yelled back Naruto, which earned him another Herculean level combo from Sakura's part.

Meanwhile, the amused spectator, Kakashi, was living dream. This was exactly like what his book described what would happen in the given situation. An annoyed Sasuke reminded him that they were still sparing but Kakashi instead grabbed him and gave him a lesson on social welfare.

"I hope you learned some key points about woman today, Sasuke. First, never grab them like that. Second, never compare them with something ugly. Third, never ever complain on their assets or looks. Failing either of them will earn you the 'wrath of a woman', got it?" said Kakashi, while pointing out Naruto's flaw.

"Are you sure it isn't Naruto you should be giving this lesson to before he ends up getting himself killed by Sakura?" reminded him the Uchiha, at which point Kakashi leaped into action and stopped Naruto from committing another error, thus calming the angry Sakura.

Remarkably, even after taking such a beating, Naruto had no trouble getting up on his own, proving to Kakashi that he was a brick wall. The jounin then explained Sakura that what Naruto was talking about, the monkey-style, was actually a real taijutsu style. He then allowed Naruto explain in detail. After her brief informal session, Sakura learned that this style mainly based on power, flexibility and irrational strikes. She had the first two requirements but her last one only came during her 'wrath of a woman' session. Given that she has no clue what she does at that moment, she needed guidance. Naruto's solution was simple he would just have to force that part of her out again by imitating their last arguments.

He asked Kakashi if that would be a good solution. Now Kakashi would love to the reenactment of the moment but decided an easier way then all the verbal insults. He whispered in Naruto's the word 'Makura', which was another trigger for Sakura. A dumbfounded Naruto repeated the word out loud and soon enough Sakura gave him a Herculean punch in return. It didn't take him long to connect the dots, thus after finding the code word for her power activation, he used it to get her to hit him ten times, hoping that she felt the sensation enough to recognize it. Of course, this might have worked if he had told her previously about the plan, like Sasuke pointed out clearly, but he didn't and it took him ten additional hits to get that sensation.


All this happened within the first hour of their sparing exercise. By the second hour they had visitors. Sarutobi Asuma and his group, the team 10, composed of Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji dropped by. Asuma had selected the same field for their three day survival training session and was surprised to see Kakashi and his group there. Thus team 7 took a small break to chat with team 10. Well it was mainly Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Asuma. Chouji was more interesting on munching his chips, while Shikamaru took a nap and Sasuke kept of sparing with Kakashi, not giving the jounin the opportunity to join the chat.

Ino being Sakura's eternal rival on the conquest of Uchiha declared that she had mastered a new jutsu and that her team was now perfectly in synchronization unlike Sakura's, which turned their verbal feud on. This was interrupted by Naruto who although didn't know Ino enough congratulated on her luck, declaring that he on the other hand had a conceited bastard on one side while a overly demanding Uchiha fan girl on the other. Ino seeing that the comment pissed Sakura, decided to join in and share his pain so that she could use it against her rival in the future. Naruto wasn't that dumb though, he clearly pointed out her plot. He also declared that given she is also a Uchiha fan girl, she most likely is the same as Sakura, pointing all the things he thought Sakura did to him in the morning to get on his nerves. Ino immediately reacted to that as she didn't wish to be compared to the 'forehead-girl'.

"Hey, just because I am a girl doesn't mean I am like her. I for one take my shinobi career seriously, it is my primary and main objective in life, everything else comes after it. I don't give a damn about social status either, if it is effective I will learn it", said the blond haired kunochi.

"You mean you wouldn't mind practicing high angled kicks with me, even though we don't know much of each other? Wow, I guess I was wrong then. Sakura must be one of a kind to impose so many restrictions. God why couldn't I have you instead of her in my team, at least I would have someone who wouldn't complain or whine about all day", replied Naruto.

"If it is effective, I have no problem with it. I am always up for learning new things, show it to me and I can guarantee you that not only will I learn it, but I will also make better kicks then Fore-head girl here", answered Ino.

This angered Sakura more as now Ino was gaining favors in her own team. She silently reminded her, what was in stake by doing those high-kicks, but Ino stuck to her word. She really didn't care about such conservative beliefs, because she was a modern girl.

To prove her point, she asked Naruto the steps she must perform and did it without any hesitation. Of course her legs weren't as slim or long as Sakura's but she was a gutsy girl. She asked Naruto if he would mind giving her a few private taijutsu lesson when he was free, which even took him by surprise. She explained that unlike Sakura she didn't have the luxury of having such helpful teammates. Shikamaru and Chouji where good in team work, but very lazy when it came to training, so she tried to gain those experiences where ever she could. Unfortunately, Naruto told her he really didn't have such free times. If he did he would have gladly helped her. Ino thanked him anyway, while Sakura was about to explode on what she was seeing. Never in her life would she have expected, Ino asking Naruto's assistance and Naruto agreeing to it. She really didn't like their interaction and decided to break it up by adding in that this situation was promising for her, as it meant Sasuke would be free for her alone. That was enough to spark another verbal assault between the two girls.

Seeing that they were at their bizarre war over Sasuke again and that Sakura won't budge from her break, Naruto decided to talk to Asuma who was sitting by his other two pupils watching Kakashi and Sasuke in action.

"Say Asuma-san, since all three of your pupils are busy, would you mind sparing with me? I could really use the assistance", asked the boy.

"Erm, why don't you spar with Kakashi then? I am sure he is good enough to take on two of you at a time", asked Asuma, as he puffed his cigarette.

"The coincided Uchiha bastard won't allow that. Besides both of us together would become a handful for him. Come one, how about you versus me? I promise I won't hit you hard, ok?" asked again Naruto with a sad puppy expression.

"I am sorry Naruto, but I cannot interfere with the development of your team. You must address this problem to Kakashi, if you are not getting enough time, you have the right to demand some", explained Asuma.

"… I guess everyone is the same when it comes to me huh? Oh well I tried, I guess I better go and train by myself then. It's much better then asking for help and I already know what the rest of his training are anyway", said Naruto disappointed, as he started to walk away.

Kakashi seeing Naruto leave stopped him immediately stating that the training wasn't over and that he should stop Sakura from arguing with Ino and get her back into their training. This of course wasn't much welcomed by Naruto.

"You want to spar with Sasuke, fine. You want me to spar with Sakura, also fine. Now you want me to be your freaking baby-sit her too? Not fine! I am sorry Kakashi-sensei, but I didn't become a genin to baby-sit another genin. I am willing to help, but as long as they want it. I am not going to lower myself and beg to them to help them. I have better things to do then to do that. I know the training schedule now, so I know what to train on by myself, since no one seem to be interested in training with me. I will see you when I need something, till then ciao", said the boy, as he made one more step towards the exit.

"Naruto you can't just do that, I know you can train by yourself. This session is to get you guys to bond better and become better team wise. Besides, you still have about thirty minutes left on the sparing exercise, who would train that with?" replied Kakashi.

"Before giving me the lecture about your teamwork, maybe you should remind it to the ones who need to understand it. As for sparing, you expect me to spar with Miss 'I will train Sasuke and not Naruto' over there? I got a better chance sparing with a raccoon then her, but let us stop, why go to insults, when I can have this: kage bunshin. See, I got this thing I can use to spar with and you know the best thing about it? I can punch it and kick it however I like and it still won't complain. Watch!" said Naruto as he punched his own shadow clone with all his might, followed up with a multiple combo the clone took all the hits without collapsing.

"You managed to learn it in two days? How?" asked a dumbfounded Kakashi.

"No I learned it the night you gave it to me. It was easy the old man gave me all the needed instructions. As for the one you gave, I haven't got it to the way I want to use it yet, but I should be within a few days. Till then I guess I will go with the way most other use it. That is like this, now ciao and enjoy your teamwork", said Naruto, as he used shunshin in combination with leaves to teleport himself out of the training field, just before deactivating his shadow clone.

"No way, he also mastered the shunshin in a single night! This kid is simply full of surprise, but damn, why did he have to leave now. This team seriously lacks bonding…" thought Kakashi, as he was still recovering from his first shock.

"I see that you got quite a few impressive students Kakashi, but as impressive as they are they are missing the aspect of teamwork and team bonding even more. Maybe you should do what I am doing and take them on a survival camping trip for two nights. It's just a suggestion, think of it as a repayment for the harm I did, coming here with my group", said Asuma who followed their discussion.

"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for the idea. Well better get back to the two others, this one can handle him self. He just needs to get some fresh air to cool himself … I hope", replied Kakashi.


Unfortunately for Kakashi, it would take two days for Naruto to cool himself and even that was mainly because he needed to exchange his given jutsu scroll for another. During that time Naruto trained all alone with only the assistance of his kage bunshin. He added elements of Kakashi's exercise to his own and even took them to an extreme level. He turned the spraining exercise to a continuous non-stop three hours of live action. The kinobori exercise was now five hours. In total he was training fifteen hours per day.

Four of those hours were concentrated on the shunshin and okaen. For the shunshin, he achieved his goal by the start of the second day, when he realized that he could use the silent wind as a substitute for leaves when teleporting. Since it was invisible and hardly noticed by anyone, he could easily use it to trick his opponent and appear out of nowhere.

The progression on completing the okaen was helped by Sakura's chakra training advice. Thanks to it he came up with a temporary solution that would go by trial and error. He figured if the range of the okaen is dependent by the concentration of his fiery chakra then what he had to do is find the exact output that would cover five meters. Doing this his jutsu still won't be complete but he can still use it with assurance, later one when he has mastered chakra manipulation he would be able to do any range or intensity he wished but for now this was sufficient. To help himself he drew a circle around him at a radius of five meters and encircled it with rocks. Then he kept on trying the okaen till he reached the flames reach exactly five meters and memorized the amount. He then kept on using it at that amount until it became second nature to him.

This solution was great for him, as mastering chakra manipulation was not an easy task. He was doing great at kinobori but that was also like his current okaen, meaning that it was based on one chakra output at all time. He was certain that a master could manipulate their chakra at will. This would allow them to counter any obstacles, even say trying to walk over an area that required a constant fluctuation of the output and he was far from that.

Of course, as he was improving so were the others, mainly Sasuke who benefited greatly from sparing with Kakashi. By being there he also benefited on learning the 4 D-rank jutsus faster. Although Naruto mastered his first, it was Sasuke who would claim the title of the fastest learner. The Uchiha was the first to master the shinjuu zanshu then move into kanashibari, as Sakura still hadn't finished with the kage shuriken. She also being present got the benefit of second place and took the shinjuu zanshu, because Naruto was penalized for missing two days of team training, which left him with her jutsu.

However that being said the one who got the short end of the straw was Sakura. Without Naruto there she didn't get any help on her taijutsu development. Kakashi was too busy sparing with Sasuke and she was too afraid to displease the love of her life to ask for their assistance. By the second day she was starting to what Ino meant about her being lucky to get support from a guy like Naruto. Without him around she couldn't advance further her understanding of the monkey style or it's techniques. She had to admit, even though she didn't like the name, it kind of suited her. She hoped he would be back soon she was already getting board of using a tree as her opponent.

As said earlier upon his return he was punished and that punishment came from two fronts. Kakashi refused to give him another jutsu scroll for a day and he was told that should he miss again this punishment would reapply. Thus his two day hiatus ended. The one who was really happy about this was of course Sakura, who now put more effort into her training. This new Sakura took Naruto by surprise, as he was expecting her to be her usual complaining self. He figured she was doing this because of Ino. It's something he never understood in girls, but at least now he had another button to press on her when she wasn't cooperating. A little add-ins about how Ino would be delighted to train with him was enough to light up his pink haired compatriots.


At the end of the day's training, Kakashi announced his two nights of survival exercise plan. It was to get them to bond as a team, as teamwork wasn't really high during their team training schedule. Sure, Naruto and Sakura were getting good at working together, but Sasuke was always on a world apart and his big ego wasn't appreciated by Naruto either. They were more like rivals then teammates and although they may work together in assignments, they simply couldn't stand each other in other things. As for Sakura, let's just say that adding Sasuke in the equation always meant total teamwork breakdown between her and Naruto. So as Asuma had proposed him, Kakashi decided to go with the jounin's idea. After all, Asuma was most likely the best genin teacher in Konoha. He made a living out of training them and the current team 10 was his fifth assignment in the domain.

Unlike Asuma however, Kakashi wasn't going to make this a small camping trip in training area 60. No, he knew that if he wanted these three brats to work together, he would have to put them in perilous situation and the answer for that was always the forest of death. As the location's name indicated it was the most dangerous forest surrounding Konoha, a virtual jungle with live predators and eerie scenery. He made it even tougher by adding some restrictions to this special training. First, they couldn't bring any camping equipments other then their cloths they wore and weapons they would carry in missions. Second, they had an injured member, who would be played by him so that he can watch them in action without being able to offer any support.

He would also like a leader to rise from the group and coordinate their actions and they would have to choose it democratically between the three. Obviously Sasuke, being the front man for everything in his life, decided to nominate himself for the job and Sakura being his bewitched admirer voted him. Naruto who already knew the outcome of the democratic leadership didn't even bother to vote, as it didn't matter. He knew that if Sasuke told Sakura to ditch herself in a pool of mud, she would most likely do it. Of course, both Kakashi and himself knew that Sasuke was biting a pie bigger then himself, but they went with it anyway. There is a saying that a person learns from their mistakes then being taught out of the mistake, they just hoped it worked for the Uchiha and his fan girl.

The best options would have been to have Naruto play that role, sure he didn't have any experience on the given field, but neither did the two others. On the other hand, thanks to his intense training rituals he had the most experience on sleeping in the wild and living in the wild. He could easily implement them to make their situation better. After they were given a small map of their field of play, Naruto pretty much had an idea what to do. Sakura was feelings tense, while Sasuke was a bit worried but he wasn't going to show it to the others. To him a shinobi never shows his fears, it is a weakness and he as an Uchiha cannot have such fears.

This was another aspect that differentiated him with Naruto. Sasuke obeyed the codes like the bible. Naruto is a breaker of codes, as he wouldn't hesitate breaking them if it involved a good reason.

As for Kakashi, he just hoped he didn't overcomplicate his life. Before the members left for the night, he gave Naruto an interrogation look trying to understand why he didn't oppose the selection of the Uchiha. He was still perplexed on how this young boy's mind worked. If there was one conclusion he could come up with it would that Naruto was a rational boy with a highly irrational mind. You could never tell what he had in mind but you know he had something and even that is if you knew him enough. If there was something Kakashi wished in ten years time, it would be to never end up facing him in battle. He was already pulling rabbits out of his head now, by then he will also have the physical and shinobi skills to outclass him in every possible way. It kind of reminded him of his sensei that was another man Kakashi wished he would never have to face in actual battle. That guy also was cunning and highly irrational, but in the end his plans always came up as winners.

Thus, each members of team 7 parted their ways perplexed on how they would approach the situation that awaited them tomorrow, even the teacher.

End of chapter 3


A/N: Alright hope this does it for now. I know I didn't manage to complete the goal I had setup for this chapter, but after 16 pages I came to realize that it would take two chapters to complete that work. So the next chapter will be on the survival training trip, which will have some hilarious events like this one. It will also have a quick summery of their D-rank missions before the wave arc. Then we will go into the Konohamaru part by having Naruto blackmail Sandaime into giving them the famous Wave arc mission, while getting Konohamaru gain interest in Naruto.

As for this chapter, yes it is out of the original storyline but it was necessary. Needed it to add some Son Goku like Naruto aspect to the storyline, some jokes similar to what Toriyama gave us in the beginning of Dragon Ball (arguably the best part). Unfortunately (damn haven't I used this word a lot this chapter) unlike Mr. Toriyama I cannot go too much onto sexually explicit jokes, or will force me to rate this story M-rated or even worst. We also see many struggles between the team, which is what most of my reviewers like. I guess that what comes from a 22 year old. We don't use physical weaknesses to limit our characters but psychological weaknesses. Hope this also answered some of the critics between the NaruSaku storyline (some people just want the poor girl to fry in hell don't they). I also used a bit of NaruIno to get the main pairing a thrill (Guess what I plan to use NaruTema to boast the NaruSaku relationship too laughs evilly. Sorry I didn't use Shikamaru much, but his time will come. Sasuke will also have his time to shine, but he will get stomped a lot too, so Sasuke fans don't take this as a bashing. R&R please and keep them coming, I need motivation you know? Shingen