Naruto's sensei had told him that he needed to prepare, his friends had told him that he needed to prepare, heck, even the Hokage had come to visit with seemingly the only message being to tell him that he needed to prepare. Naruto begged to differ however, he had no desire to be a chunin and if it came down to spending an entire month trying to prove why he deserved to be a chunin then he preferred to do something else.
Since the end of the prelims he hadn't had much contact with his team, Sasuke had retired to a hospital bed almost immediately after the fights had ended and Sakura had been assigned to train with Might Guy to improve her cardio. Naruto had only seen her once in the past three days and had been about to talk to her when he felt the sudden instinct to turn and run before she saw him. He had avoided her after that, realizing that it was most likely not healthy to go anywhere near her. Sasuke had been asleep since the first day, Kakashi claimed it was because he was still recovering from Orochimaru's seal which he had taken to calling a curse mark, such an odd name, but fitting he supposed. Naruto had taken the first day to recover, the second day to put his affairs in order, cleaning the house and paying for new supplies. Now it was the third day and he had been spending it tailing Kakashi and asking him to introduce him to Jiraiya.
"Why are we going to the baths?" Naruto asked grumpily when it seemed that Kakashi was leading him on a wild goose chase.
Kakashi's eye twitched. "You know that Jiraiya is old right?"
"Yeah."
"So what do you think most old people do in their free time?"
Naruto was baffled by the question. Old people had free time? Then why were they always too busy for him? "I guess they read." A shake of Kakashi's head prompted him to try another guess. "Watch birds?"
Kakashi sighed. "Close enough." With that he led Naruto around to the side of the baths he didn't normally go in.
"Why are we going to the lady's side?" Naruto asked quietly.
"You'll see," Kakashi said, sounding suddenly grumpy.
Sure enough they saw, although Naruto wasn't entirely sure what they were looking at. An old white haired man peering through the slats into the lady's baths. Was this Jiraiya? One of the Sannin? He didn't look like all that, but then again, maybe that was intentional. He must have been gathering some super secret intelligence for the village. It seemed that even the greatest of ninja were forced to revert to the basics when the times called for it. Naruto could respect that.
"Maybe we should come back later," Naruto suggested, not wanting to interrupt the important mission that Jiraiya was fulfilling.
Kakashi laughed and ignored Naruto. "Hey sensei," he called, making Jiraiya jump and turn to face them. "Teach this kid sealing for me, yeah."
The great Sannin, the frog sage, looked his nose down at Kakashi, grumbling something incoherent then turned to look at Naruto, his eyes roving up and down his short figure, assessing his value as a ninja then looked back at Kakashi. "No," he said simply, then turned back to what he had been doing before, completely ignoring their presence.
Kakashi shrugged. "Oh well. I guess we'll have to find you another teacher," he said, turning to walk away.
Naruto ran to catch up and grabbed Kakashi's arm, something that wouldn't have worked if Kakashi hadn't allowed it. "I thought you told me you would get Jiraiya to teach me?"
"I said I would tell him to teach you. He doesn't have to listen to me."
Naruto scowled. "You're a dirty manipulative piece of-,"
"Would you have done as well as you did if I hadn't motivated you?"
"No."
"Mission accomplished," Kakashi winked at him, although it could have been a blink.
Naruto growled. "So I guess we're just going to go back to our normal lessons."
Kakashi winced. "Actually I have to take Sasuke away for some private lessons. Uchiha stuff, you know how it is."
"No," Naruto moaned. "You're abandoning me."
"Only for a month."
"I can do a lot in a month."
Kakashi shrugged. "I can't help you, sorry. You could always go back to Jiraiya and beg him to take you on as his student. Maybe do something to help out with his information gathering, I'm sure he would find your talents useful."
Naruto blinked, suddenly hopeful. "Do you think that would work?"
"There's only one way to find out. You have until Sasuke wakes up to convince him, otherwise it's going to be chakra control exercises for a month."
Naruto shuddered. "I'll make it worth his while."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I'm sure you will. Good luck," he called, waving as he walked away, taking out his small book as he went.
Naruto waved back, then turned to the public baths with an expression of fierce determination. Jiraiya was right where they had left him, peering through the slats and giggling at what was most likely the ease of his mission. Naruto could admit to having felt that euphoric laughter rise up in his chest when things were going well.
"Why don't you use henge?" Naruto asked after taking a place right next to him, startling Jiraiya again.
Jiraiya spun, wildly looking around before his eyes alighted on Naruto. "Oh. It's you. Didn't I tell you to go away?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't think you told me to go anywhere. So why aren't you using a henge? If you're trying to listen in it would be much easier to listen in on their conversations if you're right next to them." He frowned. "Unless you have super hearing. Do you have super hearing?"
Jiraiya gave Naruto a frustrated look. "Listen kid. If it was that simple I would have done it already. It's not so easy to maintain a henge under such extreme conditions."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "But it is that simple." Why would he think a henge would be difficult? Was it the hot water? It must be a test, he was clearly trying to gauge Naruto's skill level. Well this was one test he wasn't going to fail. "Watch," Naruto commanded and placed a henge on himself, using the disguise he had snuck onto Gato's barge with. He was wearing a towel as was fitting in the baths. Once he was sure his henge was in place he brushed past Jiraiya and entered the baths, keeping his ears open for anything suspicious.
While he didn't receive any suspicion there were a few unfamiliar glares. Unfamiliar was fine though, he could claim to be a traveler from Wave. Altering his henge to make it look like he was removing his towel he got into the water and let out a contented sigh. The sigh was of course as fake as his henge, but he needed to act the part of a traveler coming for vacation. As such he needed to look relaxed. The more relaxed he appeared, the more people would reveal around him. Sure enough after a few minutes of his sitting in the hot bath, voices drifted to his ears and what he discovered was enough to shake his resolve.
An underground civilian council that controlled the entire market? What was he even supposed to say to that? His encounters with civilians were sparse, except for doing missions for them and going to their stores he basically had nothing to do with them. Was Jiraiya worried this could turn into a rebellion? As Naruto continued to sit in the bath he started to realize that he was totally out of his depth. This was probably better left for the professionals, test or no. He could try to get involved in their plans, but he was a stranger and they would likely clam up as soon as he approached. No, it would be better to ask the great Sannin for his wisdom on the matter.
When he had been in the bath for what seemed a normal amount of time, he removed himself, taking care not to act scared or out of place. Once alone, he fired chakra from the pores of his body in a crude imitation of the water walking exercise, effectively drying his clothes, then met back up with Jiraiya who greeted him with an astonished expression.
Naruto didn't think it was all that impressive, but he related what he had overheard and the theories he had come up with. Jiraiya continued to stare at him.
"Is there something on my face?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya shook his head, his smile widening. "I've changed my mind. I'll train you if you keep wearing that henge you just did."
"This one?" Naruto asked, becoming the girl with normal clothes this time. "It's really quite easy, I don't know why you would want me to do this one. It basically looks like me, just female."
Jiraiya frowned. "It looks nothing like you. The girl is a blonde and you're redheaded."
Naruto froze, his face going slack. 'Right you are," he said, laughing uneasily. "So uh, why this henge specifically?"
Jiraiya watched him expectantly, as if expecting Naruto to know the answer himself.
Naruto shrugged. "Oh I get it. I will admit my acting is a bit stiff. You want me to get used to acting undercover. That's understandable."
Jiraiya opened his mouth in protest then closed it. "Sure kid. Let's go with that. So what am I supposed to be teaching you then?"
"Fuuinjutsu."
Jiraiya's eyes widened then narrowed. "Do you actually know any Fuuinjutsu?"
Naruto nodded eagerly. "Sure."
"Show me."
Naruto complied, retrieving his sealing book from his bag and proffering it to Jiraiya. It was his reference book, containing all the designs for the seals he knew but without any chakra melded into them.
Jiraiya started flipping through the book, looking unimpressed, but as he got further and further into the book his expression became mildly surprised. "How long has Kakashi been teaching you for?"
Naruto scratched his head. "According to him, since I entered the academy. So around six or seven. I haven't been keeping track."
"These are pretty good," Jiraiya whistled. "I'm surprised you were able to conceptualize the parameters for the liquid storage seal."
Naruto winced. "That one took me a few weeks. Kakashi made me do so much math before attempting it."
"And you also have a seal that I haven't seen before. What is this supposed to do?" Jiraiya asked handing his book back.
"This was supposed to be for sealing sound, to use as a distraction. It doesn't work very well though. I'm trying to figure out how to make the sound come out as it was said instead of all in one go," Naruto said sheepishly.
Jiraiya nodded to himself for a few moments. "I think we have something to work with here. What did you say your name was again?"
Naruto grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki."
Jiraiya blinked then paled visibly. "That's an interesting name," he said slowly.
Naruto frowned. "I suppose. It was probably given to me by the matron of the orphanage I grew up in."
Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "Yes, that must be it. So you don't know your parents?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Well that's okay then."
Jiraiya didn't say anything after that.
"So what are you going to teach me?" Naruto asked. "And how does being in a henge all the time relate?"
"It will all become clear in due time."
"Uh huh."
"Kakashi was about to teach me the nature chakra siphoning seal, but he got a little sidetracked.," Naruto said as a suggestion. "Do you want to start there?"
Jiraiya frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be preparing for the final exam? Learning that seal wouldn't give you much advantage in way of combat."
Naruto huffed. "I don't have any interest in becoming a chunin, I just want to learn sealing."
"But half of sealing is knowing how to use it in combat," Jiraiya said, cracking a smile. "Let me guess, you spent a large chunk of the first two exams laying out a whole bunch of seals that you never got to use or you got caught with your pants down and weren't able to place any seals before a fight started."
Naruto blushed slightly. "Yeah, a bit of both."
"Sealing masters might spend a lot of time preparing seals and setting up traps, but their best work is done in the middle of combat. Sealing isn't just about knowing how to seal, it's about knowing how to control the battlefield without your opponent knowing it."
Naruto sighed. "It's not like I can just sit down in the middle of a fight and start drawing," he pointed out.
"But you can," Jiraiya countered. "Or at least one of you can."
Naruto frowned. "I'm not very good at making clones," he admitted. "From what I've been told it's because I have too much chakra."
Jiraiya's smile widened. "That's good, because what I'm about to teach you isn't a regular clone technique. It's known as a shadow clone. While normal clones are figments of your chakra, when you create a shadow clone you create a self sustaining vessel that holds your chakra and uses it continuously to keep itself together. For most shinobi your age it would leave them exhausted, but if you actually have large chakra stores as you say then you should be able to create one without killing yourself."
Naruto looked at him skeptically. "Should?"
"What's shinobi life without a little risk? Oh and to make the challenge greater why don't you attempt to keep the henge," Jiraiya said, chuckling to himself and making Naruto groaned. "These are the hand seals. Do what you would normally do when putting chakra into a seal, only you're going to put a lot more this time," he instructed and Naruto followed his instructions slowly, making sure not to get anything wrong. A small puff later and Naruto was being faced by another attractive blonde girl that looked just like his henge. "Good job kid," Jiraiya said halfheartedly. "How do you feel?"
"Fine," Naruto said. "I think I'm fine. I don't think I have chakra exhaustion, but I can't be sure. It's been a while since I had chakra exhaustion."
"And how do you feel?" Jiraiya asked, turning to the clone Naruto had just made.
The clone blinked a few times then answered in the exact same way Naruto had done. It was oddly surreal to watch. The clone mimicked him perfectly. Did it have the same thoughts and memories as himself? How could he tell if he was actually the clone or the real Naruto?
Jiraiya glanced Naruto's way and smirked. "If you're wondering how you can tell the difference between yourself and your clone it's pretty easy to differentiate." With that he drew a kunai and moved to the clone's side grabbing his hand quicker than he could see and slicing at the skin, making blood well up in his palm.
"Ow," the clone yelled. "What the hell was that for?"
Jiraiya scratched his head, looking in between the two female Naruto's confusedly then watched as the cut on the clone's hand closed itself, leaving only a faint stain of blood. "How much chakra do you have?" he asked, slightly in awe.
"Did I do something wrong?" Naruto asked.
Jiraiya shook his head. "Quite the opposite," he said without turning away from the clone. "When you created the clone what went through your head at the time?"
The clone answered almost immediately. "A clone that would stand up to scrutiny, even from ninja. Obviously it would need to have blood and limbs, otherwise it might stand out when faced by a Hyuga."
With that Jiraiya burst out laughing. "I think I've just met the bane of the Hyuga. That's a useful tool to have but I would suggest you tune it down a little bit. If the Hyuga found out you could do such a thing you would never be allowed to leave the walls of Leaf again."
Both Narutos paled even through the henge. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"So I shouldn't make them like that?"
"No. Just make them containers for the chakra, they'll be able to work fine if you do that?"
Both Narutos nodded and set about making the hand seal again. Two more girls appeared and Jiraiya's eyes bulged. "You have a lot of chakra," was all he said and Naruto shrugged in response. It wasn't anything new.
"So how is this supposed to help me with sealing?" all four female Narutos asked.
Jiraiya looked like he was getting confused, after looking around a few times he settled for the Naruto closest to him. Well while one of you fight, the other three can draw up seals and apply them strategically."
All four Narutos frowned.
"That's not exactly discreet."
"How do we decide which one fights?"
"Where exactly are we supposed to draw our seals without any flat spaces?"
"Why am I still in this henge?"
Each of the four Narutos had their own comments making Jiraiya groan. "Having four girls fighting over me isn't nearly as fun a prospect as I thought it would be," Jiraiya muttered, only loud enough for one of the Narutos to hear.
"But we're not actually girls," that Naruto commented, letting his henge fall to reveal himself.
"But if we're just creations of chakra doesn't that make whatever form we're currently holding our actual form," another Naruto philosophized, making a third Naruto groan.
"Umm Sensei, this would really be a good time to show us how to tell each other apart," the fourth Naruto commented.
"That sounds like a great idea," Jiraiya said, then showed them all a seal that would disengage their clone form. Three puffs later and the Naruto that had dropped his henge looked around in wonder.
"I thought I was a clone," he commented. He opened his mouth to say something else and felt something hard and fast hit his head. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor with a dull thud, only spasming slightly.
(O_O)
Sakura hated many things. She hated Mondays, she hated coffee, she hated it when Sasuke got hurt and she hated people that betrayed their friends. But right then she thought that her hatred of all those other things paled in comparison to her hatred of the color green.
"Sakura my love, are you alright?" asked Rock as he sped past her for the third time since they had started running, prompting only a hateful growl in response.
She had no idea what she had done to Kakashi that was so horrendous but when she found out she would make sure that whatever it had been would seem a kindness. Oh yes, she would get her revenge and bathe in Kakashi's blood. It was only those sweet thoughts of revenge that drove her on. She would never be able to keep up with Rock, even if she trained like this for the next five years, if only because he would also be training at the same time. It wouldn't have been so bad if Neji and Tenten had been there. Well it would have been worse if Neji had been there, thankfully he was training with his clan in preparation for the final. However it would have been nice to have a little more sane company. Unfortunately it would be an insane person that would train under Might Guy willingly.
"Keep going Lee," shouted Guy from the sidelines. "Inspire her with your youthful fire."
Sakura wouldn't mind setting their youths on fire. Why was Lee there anyway? It was supposed to be personal training with Guy, but Lee had wanted to join. What was wrong with him?
Sakura held back a screech, or maybe she was too exhausted to humor them with one. Either way she would either be dead by the end of the month or be wearing a green leotard. She knew which was more likely and green didn't go with her pink hair at all. "How much longer?" she managed to grit through her teeth, wiping a cascade of sweat from her forehead. This really wasn't how she thought she would be spending the month until the final. Admittedly she hadn't thought she would pass but that wasn't the point.
"Until you can't move anymore," Rock answered without even the slightest hint of dishonesty on his face.
Sakura bit back a sob. It was only the third day. It couldn't get worse than this, could it?
"How about after this we climb up the Hokage monument using only our hands?" Rock offered as if asking her on a date.
She didn't hold back the sob this time. She had been wrong, it could get worse, a whole lot worse.
Once training was finally over Sakura found Kakashi in the hospital. He had been holding a vigil over Sasuke since that conversation with Orochimaru. Both of them knew that it was probably a pointless gesture but Sakura thought it showed that he cared which was perhaps just as important.
"Sensei," she greeted. "I need advice."
"I happen to be a wellspring of wisdom," Kakashi said nonchalantly.
Sakura nodded. "Well the thing is that I have a dilemma. After having looked into where I can apply my skills I was told that the best places I could work to improve are either in medical jutsu or genjutsu. But that was all because of my chakra control. Those two aren't the jobs of the leader though. I was wondering if you could point me in a direction that I could still lead my teammates and be a help to them?"
Kakashi leaned back in his seat, putting away his book. "You are correct. You would most likely do very well in either the medical or genjutsu track. Possibly even good enough to be a revolutionary like Tsunade. Originally when I chose this team I wanted Naruto to be the team leader just because of his skillset. Just because of his ability to take pain he would be the last line of defense and that is essential for the leader, to be able to outlast their teammates in a fight, because if the leader falls first everything falls apart."
"So I'm not leader material," Sakura said, scowling slightly.
"I didn't say that. You're very clever and good at coming up with strategy on the fly. It just means that we have to think about these things differently. There are two things that would allow the leader to outlast their teammates. The one option is to be strong or fast enough to take whatever is coming their way. The other is to be better than your teammates at ending fights."
Sakura frowned then brightened. "So if I can take people down quicker than Naruto and Sasuke I'll be a good leader," she concluded.
"It's not that simple. But for now that should be enough."
Jumping up Sakura started heading out, wincing as every step engaged muscles she didn't know she had. "Thanks sensei. I think I have a plan."
(O_O)
"Ouch," was the word Naruto woke with. Pushing himself up he rubbed his head, trying to massage out the headache while he glared at Jiraiya. "What hit me?"
"Three other sets of memories, perspectives and thoughts can do that to a person. The shadow clone is normally used for gathering intel because it transmits memories back to the creator. The backlash sucks though which is why its not normally taught to genin, even ones with large stores of chakra," Jiraiya answered.
Naruto grunted in understanding, continuing to massage his head. "How do I stop that from happening?"
"Repeated use mostly. By the end of the month you should be able to create at least three clones and keep them around for a while without any harmful backlash."
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Naruto asked, dreading the thought of how he was supposed to get used to it.
Jiraiya shook his head, smirking evilly. "For now I want you to create two clones, each is going to have a different task as well as yourself. Also when creating them this time make sure to consciously recognize them as clones, that should be enough to tell the difference." Naruto did so at his prompting. The two clones that appeared were taking the news that they were clones far better than he would have. Or maybe just as well as he would have. Both of them looked at their hands in wonderment then at each other, pointing to themselves, then to each other and then finally to Naruto who was slightly disturbed by the act. Jiraiya didn't seem to notice though and separated the clones until all the Narutos were out of earshot, conveying some for of task to them before creating a clone of his own to follow one of the Narutos while the real one remained. "Half of the purpose of this exercise it to recall that which your clone has seen and done accurately. Every day you're going to create two clones which will be doing tasks you are unaware of or learning things you don't know yet, it will be your job to repeat all that information to me the next day. After a month you should be able to handle it well enough, mental problems notwithstanding. Now for you I have a very different task," he said, pulling out a small transparent glass ball from his bag. He placed the ball on outstretched fingers, his face tightening as he made the ball roll up his arm, going up and around his shoulders to circle his neck then letting it roll down his other arm to stop on the tips of his fingers, making the ball defy gravity. With that done he threw the ball Naruto's way. "You're going to be doing that for the next few days. It doesn't only have to be your arms, you can feel free to run it up and down your body as fast or as slowly as you want. But you can't let go of it and the ball must not stop moving. Understood?"
Naruto gulped. This was the type of exercise he had been hoping to avoid, but if he had to do it so that he could get Jiraiya to teach him sealing it would be worth it. "I understand," he said, regretting the words almost immediately.
Jiraiya nodded. "Good. I'm going to go back to what I was doing. Come see me when you're able to keep the ball moving and hold a conversation, then we'll start your sealing lessons."
Naruto grumbled to himself but started on the exercise as Jiraiya walked back to his hiding spot around the baths. Naruto had never gotten an explanation as to why he didn't use a henge but then he didn't have time to think about that anymore not while his mind was solely dedicated to the task of holding onto the glass ball with his chakra while still prompting it to move. This was going to take a while.
If there was one advantage to the clone technique it was that the memory backlash sent him to bed quicker than he could have normally managed. If only it hadn't been while he was eating dinner.
(O_O)
Jiraiya plowed through the two anbu guarding the Hokage's door. Or at least to an observer it may have looked that way. However when the anbu appeared in his way to block him he found himself proving to be an ineffective obstacle as Jiraiya phased through him, as if the anbu guard hadn't been there at all. They of course knew who he was, but it was unseemly for people to just barge in to see the Hokage, no matter how important the guest was.
The second anbu stood in the way of Jiraiya but it was pointless for all the good it did as Jiraiya continued on without even slowing. Throwing the door open with a furious expression Jiraiya slammed it behind him before the two anbu could think to follow him in and locked it. Then he bit one of his hands, formed a hand seal and pressed it against the wall. He looked around the room, knocked on the wall a few times and when he seemed satisfied he turned to the Hokage who was calmly sitting and smoking his pipe.
"Jiraiya," he said in mock surprise. "To what do I owe this honor?"
Jiraiya slammed his hand down on the Hokage's desk. "Naruto Uzumaki. Who is he?" he asked, pushing forward Naruto's file.
The Hokage looked surprised by the question but quickly hid it. "So you've met him I see. He truly is an interesting boy, no?"
"Don't mess around sensei. Who is he?" Jiraiya asked, pointing his finger right in the Hokage's face.
Unfazed, the Hokage leaned back in his chair, looking to the ceiling. "Hmm, if I recall correctly he's an orphan of the unfortunate Kyuubi incident. Nothing else much is known about him besides for his being found with the symbol of the Uzumaki."
"So you're telling me that this child isn't the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki?" Jiraiya asked, smiling bitterly but having withdrawn his hand.
"It would be a fine coincidence if he was," the Hokage said. "But I doubt it."
"Then why is he named after the character in my book, the same character that Kushina said she was going to name her son?" Jiraiya snarled.
The Hokage winced almost imperceptibly. "I'm sure it was just one of the nurses. She must have been eating ramen that day. To suggest that Naruto is the same Naruto would be simply unbelievable."
"So if I were to tell you that after this meeting I would go to Danzo and put a little suggestion in his mind about Naruto's lineage you wouldn't stop me?" Jiraiya asked.
"I would stop you regardless. It would be cruel to bring anyone to Danzo's attention, regardless of his or her lineage."
Jiraiya's face fell. "I'm onto you old man."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean."
(O_O)
Three days later Kakashi called for a team meeting to announce that he and Sasuke would be going on a training trip soon and wouldn't be around until the final exam. Sasuke was awake and doing better than before. Due to the occasion it was time for team seven to speak out their strategies for the final exam and what they were doing to guarantee their survival.
Naruto had gotten better at rolling the ball up and down his arms but hadn't managed any variation on its movement over the rest of his body. He was almost good enough to hold a normal conversation while doing it but it was difficult. If either of his teammates thought there was something strange about the glass ball, they didn't express it. While he had done that his other two clones had it easy. One was being taught the art of subterfuge, specifically how to act convincingly enough to fool anyone and, funnily enough, how to seduce the enemy. Something that Jiraiya had a surprising amount of knowledge on for some reason. In fact he had written entire books on the art. He must have been an espionage expert. Although he was told he was too young to read those books for now. The other clone was allowed some form of dialogue with the Sannin, being asked about his background and history and receiving some in return. The stories about him with Orochimaru were of particular interest to Naruto and he took note of them, hoping they would reveal something that could help them later.
Sakura looked like she had seen some improvement in just under a week but Naruto was too scared to ask how she was doing for fear of suffering her wrath. Regardless, she looked more confident now, more energetic and more put together. It seemed that her giggly state was a thing of the past.
Then there was Sasuke, having just woken up. He looked both frustrated to be in bed, yet at the same time he also looked more relaxed than he had looked since getting the seal on his neck. From what Kakashi had said it had caused him no end of pain and had almost killed him.
"The final exam is a tournament, much like the prelims," Sakura started, leading into the conversation quickly and avoiding any awkwardness the meeting might have caused. "The difference is that for once we actually know who we'll be fighting and we have some information on how they fight based on the prelims themselves. We don't need to win to become chunin though, we just need to put on a good show. For now we'll focus on getting past the first round. Once we have a good strategy for that we can talk backup strategies for everyone else. I'm going to be facing Neji, Sasuke is going up against Gaara of the Sand and Naruto is going up against Dosu of Sound. What do we know?"
"I analyzed their fighting styles with my Sharingan," Sasuke grunted, looking like he had just bitten into a lemon as he mentioned his bloodline ability. "I don't have anything for Gaara yet but Neji and Dosu should be easy enough. Neji is primarily close combat oriented because of the Hyuga fighting style. It would seem that the best option for you would be to stay ranged and wear him out. Dosu can hurt you without hitting you, so ranged might also be the best idea for you," he directed to Naruto.
"How does he do that?" Naruto asked. "Is it wind or something?"
Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so. It might have been genjutsu based."
"Must be a very strong genjutsu," Sakura commented. "What about Gaara then? He uses sand from what we can tell it's all he uses. Can you make your fireball hot enough to melt sand?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Not so easily. I thought water might be an effective way of slowing the sand down, but I don't have any permanent solutions."
All three teammates fell into a thoughtful silence. "How about fighting his sand with sand?" Naruto suggested finally. He felt a little bad for suggesting a way to beat Gaara but team seven came first.
Both of his teammates turned to him with a look that suggested they hadn't heard such a stupid thing in a long time.
"Hear me out," Naruto said, holding his hands up and stopping his rolling ball in its track. "Lee was trying to use brute force to break down the sand barrier, but even he wasn't fast enough to take down Gaara's defense. That's obviously because Gaara has perfect control of the sand. So if you want to beat him you have to wrestle control from him. I don't really understand elemental affinities so well but maybe you could add your own sand to his mix and when he thinks he's controlling all of it you attack."
Sakura winced. "It's not that simple. If he has perfect control then it's going to be almost impossible to take his control away. I think that for the moment we shouldn't be wondering how to get through his defense but around it. If Sasuke could attack him without touching him that would surely succeed."
"Perhaps," Sasuke agreed. "Someone should spy on Dosu then. Try to figure out how his ability works."
"Good plan. I concur. However I won't be able to do anything of the sort as long as I have my training with Guy," Sakura said, with a look of dread.
"I won't have time either. Kakashi is taking me away from the village to train," Sasuke added.
Both of them turned to Naruto who let out a groan. "Why am I always the one doing the espionage work?"
"Because you're so good at it," Sakura said, smiling and gently shoving her elbow into his ribs. "We should have a meeting the day just before the exam to discuss our findings and plans. Is there anything else that needs to be brought up before the exam?"
Naruto frowned. He had a lot to bring up. "Just a few things. Stay away from Kabuto. I think Hinata wants to kill me after I beat Kiba in the prelims. And I think I'm going to drop out of the finals."
"What? Why?"
"I think it's because she's in love with him."
"No. Why are you dropping out?"
"Oh." Naruto sighed, then caught the ball a second later as it threatened to fall. "I don't want to be a chunin. I joined the exams because you guys couldn't enter without me."
"But if you don't become a chunin they'll separate us," Sakura pointed out. "We'll have to do missions as team leaders as opposed to just being genin."
"That means they'll separate us anyways," Sasuke countered. "Even when we all pass we're not going to be on the same team for everything, no matter how well we work together."
That made everyone frown. "Let's discuss it again in our next meeting. Okay?" Sakura suggested, receiving nods from her teammates. "Fine. Until then this meeting of team seven is concluded. Best of luck to us all."
(O_O)
The real Naruto approached Jiraiya after a few more days of doing the ball thing, rolling it up and down his body with something that could be mistake for ease but was mostly concentrated habitual efficiency. "I think I can hold a conversation now," he said.
Jiraiya looked impressed. "That was quick."
"I have some experience with directing my chakra to different places in my body to heal injuries," Naruto said as way of explanation.
Jiraiya nodded. "Sit then and hand me the sphere."
Naruto did so then immediately felt strange to not be rolling a ball all over his body. "Am I getting that back?"
Jiraiya chuckled at the yearning in Naruto's face. "You'll get it back, don't worry. This was only the start of your sealing lessons."
Naruto shut his mouth and started fidgeting in excitement. "So are we doing the nature chakra siphoning seal?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "That's something little Hatake can teach you. This is going to be something that only sealing masters can do." Naruto's eyes widened. And Jiraiya continued. "Your first task is this. I want you to seal something inside that glass ball you've been playing with for the past few day."
Naruto's face fell. "That's easy."
"Then show me."
Naruto raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else. Instead he took the proffered ball from Jiraiya and retrieved his brush and ink from his pack. It was harder to draw the seals on the ball as it was smaller but he had plenty of experience making seals in all sizes and it wasn't five minutes later that he had completed his task. At an expectant glance from Jiraiya he sealed his brush inside to demonstrate. With a smug expression he handed the ball back.
"You fail," Jiraiya said, making Naruto falter and almost drop the ball.
"What? Why?" Naruto sputtered, pulling the ball back and examining his seal work. What had he done wrong? Some of the runes might have been a bit shoddy but it worked, isn't that what mattered?
"I can't see the brush," Jiraiya pointed out, looking into the transparent sphere and seeing nothing but air in the hollowed out area.
Naruto nodded. "That's because sealing doesn't actually seal it into the paper or the glass, it's sealed into the ink."
Jiraiya smiled. "I know that. I didn't ask you to seal it into the ink though. I told you to seal it into the ball, didn't I? Am I misremembering?"
Naruto was taken aback. To seal it into the glass? It had never come up. Sealing always used paper because the ink stayed mostly permanent but nobody thought they were sealing it into the paper itself. Or did they? They were sealed into the ink, but how did that make sense? "I feel very confused," he said finally.
"That's the first step," Jiraiya confirmed. "So now try it again. How would you seal something into the ball? And maybe this time don't use the brush."
Naruto stared at the ball and thought about it. "Well I guess I would just have to tell the seal to put it somewhere else," he started, waiting for a nod from Jiraiya, then continuing, by pulling out one of his other sealing scrolls and spreading it out. "Seals are all declared before the parameters are set, the only symbol that's in common with all seals is this one," he said pointing to the largest symbol in the center that everything splintered out from. "I'm going to assume that this one means ink?"
Jiraiya nodded. "That's a fair assumption."
"So then I just need to do the same seal, just using a different word instead?"
Jiraiya's silence was unhelpful. "Try it."
Naruto frowned and started drawing on a blank scroll, instead writing 'glass ball' in the center with parameters much smaller than a normal scroll just because he didn't want the ball to explode. Once done that he held the ball in his hand then looked at the scroll and his frown deepened. He placed the ball over the words declaring it and flared his chakra. Nothing happened. Sighing, he changed tack and after erasing the original seal, started reconstructing the seal on the surface of the ball itself. After a few more minutes he received the same result and turned to Jiraiya. "I give up. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. It could be the parameters, it could be the language, it could be that I have to draw the seal using liquefied glass to make the seal work," he told Jiraiya desperately, his eyes beginning to water. He had never thought he would be so dismal at sealing, especially after all the work he'd put into it.
Jiraiya smiled. "Relax kid. Most sealing masters wouldn't get this on the first try."
"Really?" Naruto asked, brightening slightly.
"Yeah. Even Kakashi can't do this. Or if he can he hasn't demonstrated it to me."
"Whoah."
"The thing is that there's no guarantee that you'll be able to do this either. It's more dependent on what type of head you have. Kakashi has a good head for calculations. He's quick, both in the field and out. But I think you've got a real chance here. You have an interesting head."
Naruto scoffed. "You would be the first one to say that."
"I doubt it. Now for what you were doing wrong. It's the most important part of sealing and don't let anyone tell you any different." He held up the glass sphere. "What is this object's name?"
Naruto looked at him strangely. "You didn't tell me to name it?"
"I didn't," Jiraiya confirmed.
"So it doesn't have a name," Naruto answered. "Because no name was given."
"True. But let's say that you wanted to name this object to make it distinct from everything else. What would you call it?"
Naruto scratched his head, not entirely sure where this was going. "Probably glass ball, or maybe hollow glass sphere."
"Both?"
"Either. I don't know."
Jiraiya's expression didn't give anything away, instead he pulled out another glass ball that looked identical. "How could you name this ball now when you have to compare it to the other ball?"
Naruto frowned. "They're the same aren't they?"
"Are they? If they were truly the same, then if I broke this one," he demonstrated dropping the new ball and letting it shatter. "Then this one should also break, no?" he indicated the still very unbroken ball in his other hand.
Naruto groaned. "They're not actually the same. But they would have the same name."
Jiraiya laughed. "I'm sort of messing with you. You're right, for almost all intents and purposes they would be the same, but you'll see what I mean in a second." He pulled out another glass ball and where was he getting all these balls from, then handed it to Naruto along with the original. "Try to move these along your body like you've been doing over the past few days and tell me if you can find any difference, however small."
Naruto took both balls and performed the exercise, moving them along at a sedate pace. It was more difficult than with one ball as he didn't have to split his concentration originally but he didn't need to roll them around for long. "The glass is slightly thicker on one side," he mumbled. "And it might be a little less oval."
"Good. Now that you've defined the difference can you tell me the original's name?"
"The glass ball that is more circular than the other glass ball."
"Good enough," said Jiraiya. "Now draw that using one symbol."
"Wh. . .what?" Naruto stammered. "That's impossible. There isn't a symbol for anything like that."
"Then think of one."
"That's not how it works."
"Who says?"
Naruto growled. "You're not making any sense."
Jiraiya sighed. "Forget that for now. For your next task I want you to carry on rolling the sphere around, except this time you're going to be doing combat training with it as well against your clones. You're going to have to make sure it doesn't break at the same time."
"And how do I do that?" Naruto asked, getting slightly annoyed at the sound of training.
"You're going to flood the ball with chakra, shaping it into something solid so that if anything comes into contact with it there will be a defense in place. Otherwise dodge. While doing all of this I want you to think about what symbol would most epitomize the glass sphere."
Naruto grumbled but nodded. "Thank you sensei."
"In the meantime I suppose we can start looking into the nature chakra siphoning seal. You never know when you might need one."
Naruto nodded eagerly, excited to get back to things that weren't so abstract.
"In your vast experience how does an explosive tag work?"
"It's a sealed explosion."
"So every time you make an explosive tag you have to make an explosion and seal it inside?" Jiraiya asked with eyebrow raised.
Naruto's mouth opened and closed as he looked dumbfounded. "I guess not. So what? It's chakra sealed in the tag which is then siphoned out through the seal and becomes an explosion."
"Correct. Now tell me, how would you go about sealing an explosion away with your vast knowledge as you've no doubt thought you were doing this all the time?"
Naruto stayed silent for a moment. "A normal tag wouldn't work right? You would need to totally surround the explosion otherwise it would continue to explode. You would have to trap it or have a very strong siphon."
Jiraiya shrugged. "Something for you to think about. I've changed my mind for now. This was a good lesson but I don't want your mind too filled with information. We'll carry on tomorrow. I think one of your clones mentioned interest in chakra strings so we might look into that."
(O_O)
Sakura spent that night in a fevered daze. She had taken too much of the poison. It was one thing to build up a resistance over a year or over a few years, but over a month, that was asking for a little too much. She was sure that if not for her chakra she would be dead already. One more thing to be thankful for then.
The plan was simple in all of its beauty. She was going up against Neji who could incapacitate her with one touch, to have any chance of beating him she would need to be at least able to do the same. The poison was one that would make him dizzy in small doses and knock him on his back in larger doses. It didn't leave the victim unconscious however which was a real shame as it just meant that Sakura couldn't move and she couldn't sleep.
For a moment she wished she was with Sasuke, doing whatever cool training Kakashi had him doing instead of the torture she had to do with Might Guy and Rock, but when she thought about what he had to face she suddenly wasn't so envious. Maybe Naruto and Sasuke hadn't noticed it but she had seen through Gaara. He was a killer and wouldn't regret tearing Sasuke to shreds. She couldn't let that happen, not to Naruto either for that matter. She would protect them, no matter what it cost her.
Already from her training she was sure she could take Naruto in a fight, maybe even beat him. Sasuke was a different matter and that was before he got the sharingan. As much as she hated Guy and Rock their training was effective. Training with weights was also doing some wonders for her stamina, although she was told that it was just to bring her up to speed, she would soon be taking them off and be training without them as she didn't want them to stunt her growth.
In her mind things were fine, but maybe not amazing. Inner Sakura was feeling repressed for not having enough fun, but at the same time her inner glee at poisoning and beating Neji's face in kept her at bay. Outer Sakura was happy or at least content that she was getting closer to becoming Hokage. Sakura could only hope that her two teammates were doing as well.
(O_O)
Sasuke collapsed onto the floor, totally out of breath.
"Get up," Kakashi shouted, looking like he had just woken from a refreshing nap. "At this rate you're going to lose."
Sasuke growled and slowly rose, neglecting to say anything.
"Good," Kakashi said. "Now come at me again. This time don't hold back."
Sasuke would've nodded but he was hurting too much. Instead he activated his sharingan, his eyes turning red the single red black mark hanging suspended. With a silent roar he charged with electricity coursing over his hands.
(O_O)
Naruto had been unsuccessful in finding Dosu for the most part. He had searched the entire village for him even going so far as to use one or two of his clones to help after some prompting from Jiraiya. Using the clones hadn't been such a great idea though after they had disappeared making him throw up in the middle of a random street.
To find someone like Dosu, much like finding Gaara, was like searching for a ghost, which is why he was so surprised when just over halfway through their month of preparation Naruto literally walked into Dosu. Apparently walking into people he hadn't seen was the most accurate way of tracking people in the village, maybe he should just wear a blindfold all day, then he'd bump into everyone he wanted to find.
"Hey Dosu. Friend. Man. What's up?"
Dosu glared at Naruto. "Get out of my way."
Naruto did so, sidling up to stand next to him and walk beside him. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"
"What do you want?"
"Just saying hi to a friend."
"Didn't you try to kill me during the exam?"
Naruto laughed uneasily. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that I tried to kill you. It was more of an attempt to maim. And look at that, no one got hurt. Isn't that great?"
Dosu grumbled and continued to walk, ignoring Naruto's presence. "I was thinking about making a deal," Naruto said only to find his words falling on deaf ears as Dosu plowed on.
"I want to know how your ninjutsu works," Naruto said.
"Why would I tell you that?" Dosu asked.
"Because I'll sweeten the deal," said Naruto grinning mischievously. "If you tell me how you're able to hit people without touching them I'll throw the match for you."
Dosu stiffened, stopping in place. "Are you being serious?"
Naruto nodded. "I might put up a fight to make it believable but it should be easy for you to win. Especially seeing as you're able to hurt me without touching me."
Dosu stared at him confusedly before continuing. "I'll think about it."
"Okay," said Naruto cheerfully, following him.
"Why are you following me?"
"Just walking in the same direction."
Dosu grumbled but didn't say more.
Their walk eventually took them to a large ornate building that looked like it was used to house royalty.
"You might want to get out of here. This is where the Sand kid lives and he probably won't be too happy to see guests," Dosu directed to Naruto, who broke into a grin.
"Gaara's here?" he asked excitedly. "Where?"
Dosu pointed up and Naruto could make out Gaara sitting on a massive fish made of sand, that was amazing. Also two birds with one stone, now he could gather intel for Sasuke.
"Gaara," Naruto shouted, waving a hand frantically. "How are you? Can I come up?"
Two heads popped up from behind some bushes, revealing Kabuto and some Sand ninja.
"Oh hey Kabuto, didn't see you there. Didn't mean to interrupt your uh, your private life. I don't judge or anything, just ignore me and go back to whatever it was you two were doing. I'm just gonna go speak to Gaara, see you," Naruto stammered, blushing heavily, before jumping past them and up onto the roof to speak to Gaara, receiving strange glances from both Kabuto and the Sand ninja as he passed. Dosu was already up on the roof, saying something to Gaara.
"I'll kill you now so that I can fight Sasuke," he said to Gaara, readying a battle stance. "Let's see what's faster, your sand or my sound."
Naruto gaped. "It's sound. Seriously? How does that work? Also why are you fighting him just to get to Sasuke. If you want to fight Sasuke you just have to walk up to him and ask to fight. What is this going to accomplish? Also, hi Gaara, long time. I've been looking for you for ages. You totally killed it in the prelims. That was crazy. How do you do that? Is it like a bloodline limit or did you just teach yourself?" Naruto vomited at them.
Gaara stared at Naruto as if he had just told him that he wasn't actually a redhead which was true and he hoped Gaara never found out.
"Sorry," Naruto said blushing again nut not as badly as after seeing Kabuto and that Sand ninja getting it on. "It's just good to see you again. I really have been trying to find you since the exams. I didn't even think about checking this part of the village. I guess I just didn't see you as royalty, you dress so normal, you know. Now your adoptive siblings look super fancy, well not Kankuro I suppose, but you dress cool. It's probably good for camouflaging in the dessert where you live huh?"
Gaara nodded almost as if being pulled by puppet strings. "It is."
"That's cool. So do you guys hang out often. Are you about to spar? I feel like the roof is a bad place to spar, aren't you worried about hitting Kabuto and his lover while they're doing their thing?"
"Are you doing this on purpose?" Dosu directed to Naruto.
"Doing what?" Naruto asked.
Dosu stared at him then sighed. "Whatever. I'll come back another time. I can see I'm not going to get a word in here."
"No don't go," Naruto called to the rapidly retreating Dosu. "I still have so much to ask." Then Dosu was gone prompting Naruto to groan. He then turned to Gaara with a wide smile. "Well at least I found you. Now we can hang out. What do you do to chill?"
Gaara stared at him, unblinking. "I kill people."
Naruto winced. "One of those huh. Well I do sealing. That's actually our Uzumaki heritage. It's super cool." Gaara looked annoyed but didn't stop him, which Naruto took as an invitation to continue. "Sealing is super awesome but its also super hard. When I first started it was like my teacher was throwing numbers at me, of course I didn't meet my teacher until a few years later but that's not the point. So the first thing you need to now is how to calculate the area of a cube and a pyramid. That's the easy part. Sure anyone can just copy down a seal, but knowing how to adapt is the true art."
"Why are you talking to me?" Gaara interrupted in a whisper. "Do you want to die?"
Naruto shook his head. "Nope. No desire to die here. Do I have to want to die to talk to you?"
"He gets bloodthirsty on full moons," Gaara responded, not answering the question at all but prompting Naruto to look up.
"Wow, so it is. Yeah, full moons always get my blood pumping. Something about. . ." he trailed off while looking the moon. A sense of euphoria passed through him as two ideas connected in his head and an image formed. "That's it," he muttered to himself.
"What?" Gaara asked, looking extremely annoyed.
"I figured it out," Naruto said, grinning widely. "Thanks. Without your help I don't think I would've managed it before the exams. Anyways, enough about me, tell me about yourself."
"I kill people," Gaara said simply.
Naruto winced again. "Is that a hobby?"
"It's my purpose."
"Why would you think that?" Naruto asked, as he had certainly not figured out his purpose.
"A demon was sealed within me before I was born, so that when my mother did give birth to me it was to her detriment. For a few years my father pretended to show me love until he started sending assassins after me, each of which I killed easily. I didn't understand why he would try to kill me until I realized that I was a monster. A monster's purpose is to kill and that is what I am."
Naruto frowned. "I would think it's obvious why your dad was trying to kill you. It's because he thought you were the last remaining Uzumaki and he was trying to kill you because he was scared of the Uzumaki rising up again. That's why they tried to destroy us the first time. He's obviously not your real father," he said nodding to himself. "That's probably why he also made your mother die, to get rid of any Uzumakis that he couldn't control and when he realized that he couldn't control you he tried to kill you as well." He lowered his head. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but we're going to make it better. When we restart our clan we won't let anyone die anymore. Right?" He looked back up at Gaara who looked like he was experiencing the worst headache of his life and was muttering something to himself under his breath.
Naruto was about to ask what was wrong when Kabuto's lover suddenly appeared in front of him, looking annoyed. "I think it's time you left," the Sand ninja said threateningly, taking a step towards Naruto.
Naruto scowled at him. He was obviously trying to prevent Naruto from telling Gaara the truth about his lineage. They were trying to control him even now. With a sigh he nodded. "I guess I have to go now, but it was good to see you Gaara. I might be a little busy but if you want to hang out before the exams just look for the Uchiha compound, I should be there at night at least. Be seeing you." With that he jumped off the roof and waving a goodbye.
Landing he took off through the bushes, taking a shortcut just because he wanted to get away from Kabuto's lover as quickly as possible. This shortcut turned into a lengthy detour as he suddenly collided with another ninja that hadn't seen him coming and they both took a tumble, rolling into another bush over each other.
Naruto groaned and pushed himself up, not at all down for tangling with Kabuto, but it turned out not to be Kabuto, rather it was the sickly leaf ninja that had been making announcements for the chunin preliminaries. What was his name again? He couldn't remember. Oh well he probably wasn't that important anyway. "Let me just say this now," Naruto started. "Just because Kakashi is totally in love with Zabuza that doesn't mean I'm also into men. Also you're a little old for me."
The ninja looked at him oddly and held a finger up to his mouth to shush him and coughed a little, standing up and hoisting Naruto over his shoulder against his will. "There you are Naruto," he coughed. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Come, you still have some paperwork to fill out." With that he leaped away from the district, heading back into town as quickly as his feet would take him while Naruto's head bumped against his back over and over again. Then they were at the Hokage's tower and he propped Naruto up next to the Hokage's office door while he traded words with one of the anbu guard. He patted Naruto on the shoulder then and headed inside. "Thanks," he coughed. "You've greatly aided the Hidden Leaf."
Naruto leaned against the wall and watched the ninja go, still not quite remembering his name. He had missed something there, he had definitely missed something there. Was this about Kabuto's forbidden relationship with that Sand ninja? Wouldn't good relationships with the other villages be encouraged? Maybe it was because Kabuto was a shady guy. Shaking his head, Naruto moved to leave then felt a brick of information hit his head and he instead moved to throw up on one of the anbu guards.
(O_O)
"I got it," Naruto said to Jiraiya the next morning and proudly proffered the glass sphere to Jiraiya. Sure enough, instead of the ink symbol was a circle with one side shaded darker than the other and a cracking illustration running through the center.
"Interesting. What are the zig zags?" Jiraiya asked.
"It's to show that it's glass. That it can break. I got the idea when you dropped the other ball."
Jiraiya nodded his approval. "And it works."
"Yeah," said Naruto eagerly.
"Show me."
Picking up a pebble, Naruto pressed it against the seal and flared his chakra. Faster than the eye could perceive the pebble disappeared and reappeared in the center of the sphere, suspended for a moment before gravity took over and it clanked against the bottom.
"Very good," Jiraiya said. "Not the symbol I would have used, but not bad."
"What would you have used?"
Jiraiya pulled out a scroll of his own and drew an image that was more spherical with a squiggle that Naruto didn't know the meaning of. With that done he pressed another pebble against the scroll and an instant later another pebble joined the one in the sphere still residing in Naruto's hand.
Naruto's mouth fell open. "How did you do that?" he asked, noting that Jiraiya's scroll was some distance away from the glass ball.
Jiraiya grinned. "I don't know what you mean?"
"How did you make it go from there to there?" Naruto asked, gesticulating wildly between the ball and Jiraiya.
"Oh this?" he laughed. "That's your next lesson. We'll be covering summoning jutsu."
"Summoning? Like in the exams those scrolls summoned our instructors?"
"I designed those myself," Jiraiya said proudly. "They were pretty good, no?"
Naruto nodded in awe. After a moment his expression lowered into a frown. "There's just one thing I'm confused about. If you already had the symbol why did you make me think about it?"
Jiraiya's laugh froze and died. "You're a sharp one. The truth is that this was mostly a test. The sealing masters of old may have been forced to come up with most of the symbols, but as for us we already have huge collections of their records and we don't need to waste time trying to figure out what the symbol is for each object. That being said, the thing that set aside sealing masters apart from their students or just those average at sealing was their aptitude for figuring out seals for themselves, being able to create a seal from your own mind is what makes you great."
Naruto stared at Jiraiya expectantly. "Is that what the fourth Hokage did?"
"Yes. But that's a discussion for another day." He paused momentarily, let out a sigh and then continued. "I wouldn't tell anyone this normally. With the fourth I waited for him to figure it out himself and he held onto that modesty well throughout his life, even when he mastered sealing to an extent that I hadn't. But I have a bad feeling about what you're going to be facing in the future."
"What do you-?" Naruto started to say but was cut off by Jiraiya raising a hand.
"Don't interrupt. This is important, so let me say it. I didn't tell the fourth Hokage that he was great and he still became great. I didn't tell him because I was worried he would become bloated with pride. I don't think that will happen to you and I hope I'm not wrong. But I'm going to say it regardless. You have the makings to become one of the greatest sealing masters the world has ever seen. Remember this, no matter where your missions take you, no matter how hopeless anything seems," Jiraiya finished darkly.
Naruto frowned, taken aback. "Are you talking about Orochimaru?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "If its just Orochimaru it will be a mercy. But enough about that. We should celebrate. Do you like ramen?"
"Do I?" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, past conversation forgotten and jumped up to follow Jiraiya to Ichiraku's.
As they sat down to eat Naruto gave Jiraiya an inquisitive look. "Sensei, do you mind if I ask something about when you trained the fourth Hokage?"
Jiraiya nodded. "Go ahead."
"It took me six days to get rolling the glass ball around my body, then another five to figure out the symbol. How long did it take for the fourth Hokage?"
Jiraiya looked at Naruto concernedly. "It's not a good idea to compare yourself to others." When Naruto didn't apologize or back off he continued. "The fourth was good at chakra control. As such it took him only a day to master the control technique."
Naruto's face fell.
"Then it took him two months to figure out the symbol."
Naruto's mouth fell open. "I thought. . ." he started and trailed off.
Jiraiya lifted his head from his ramen bowl. "I did say you could be great. But don't let it get to your head." With that said he lowered his head and continued to eat.
Naruto nodded and looked into his bowl, suddenly losing whatever appetite he'd had originally. Still he shoveled the ramen home when it came down to it. There was no point in wasting a good bowl of ramen.
