-4 Months before the Chunin Exams-
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
Naruto was very excited to meet the super awesome sensei that is supposed to train him today. He apparently knew the Uzumaki Taijutsu style better than anyone in the elemental nations.
His expectations were high.
Which is why he was a bit worried when the training grounds he walked into suddenly turned into a beautiful sunset on a shore with two green-clad shinobi hugging each other very tightly.
"What the f-"
"OH! You must be Naruto-kun, Kakashi said you'd be joining us this youthful morning." The older one from the identical looking pair spoke up, swiftly interrupting Naruto's rather un-youthful remark before it could be said. He was a tall man with the biggest brow's Naruto had ever seen and a prominent bowl-cut.
"U-Uh yes, are you Maito Gai?" Asked a very confused Naruto. He was pretty sure this was a cruel joke Kakashi played him; he was already planning his revenge. Just as Naruto was asking his question, a pretty girl with two hair buns followed by a boy with long hair and big pearl white eyes walked in the clearing.
The man puffed out his chest in pride, "Indeed I am. Konoha's best Taijutsu specialist at your service!"
"These are my youthful students!" Gai started pointing at the three young shinobi beside him, instructing them to introduce themselves.
"YOSH!" Came an unexpectedly loud voice. "MY NAME IS ROCK LEE, KONOHA'S BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU, NARUTO-KUN!" Proclaimed the green-clad genin as he shook Naruto's hand vigorously.
The pretty girl, seemingly unbothered, walked out to him next "Hi! My name is Higurashi Tenten, my father runs a shinobi store, you should stop by sometime." She said, smiling warmly.
The last Genin just scoffed at Naruto and walked away to train in some weird fighting style Naruto couldn't recognize.
"What's up with him?" Naruto had half a mind not to start a random fight out of nowhere but that boy's attitude made him wanna punch his face very hard.
"Don't mind Neji, he's just a bit impolite." Not even Tenten seemed convinced by her own explanation of his attitude.
Naruto muttered quietly under his breath, "Somebody better take that stick out of his ass 'ttebayo…" Before turning to look at the man who was going to be teaching him soon.
After exchanging some pleasantries, the two other genin of - the now revealed- team 9 left to join their teammate in his training so Naruto and their sensei could talk about whatever it was he needed.
Naruto looked at Gai in excitement, "Is it true you know the Uzumaki Taijutsu style better than anyone Gai-sensei?" He asked.
The man in question flashed the brightest smile Naruto had ever seen and gave the boy his Nice-guy pose. "Indeed I do, young Naruto!" The Jonin exclaimed proudly once more.
Naruto brushed off the feeling, focusing solely on how exciting it is to learn his family's style, he didn't care if the man teaching him was a bit eccentric.
To be fair, his own sensei reads porn in public all the time.
"Thank you for agreeing to teach me dattebayo!" Naruto gave the man a warm smile and a polite bow.
"Why of course young Naruto, it is my honor to teach Kushina-sensei's son."
"Kushina-sensei?" Naruto's face was now full of shock. Hearing his mothers name was still unfamiliar to him and left a weird warm feeling in his chest, but for her to be referred to as Sensei?
Gai chuckled and knelt down so he could look at Naruto at eye level, boisterous attitude momentarily gone.
"I'm surprised my eternal rival didn't tell you, your mother helped me become the shinobi I am today, it truly is my honor to teach you."
Naruto was incredibly moved by Gai's words and he didn't know how to react, noticing his loss for words Gai simply ruffled his hair and stood up.
After the new teacher and student duo finished exchanging pleasantries Gai entered what Naruto would learn to call his sensei mode.
"The Shīru-Ken or Sealing fist is the Uzumaki's Taijutsu style, Kushina-sensei taught it to me back when I was a Genin. The style is made to facilitate combat fuinjutsu." Naruto just recently discovered combat fuinjutsu was a thing and even though his level was nowhere near enough to perform seals without the use of ink and brush he was beyond excited to try it out.
"It consists of swift movements and a level of unpredictability which requires agility and speed." Gai analyzed every reaction he got out of Naruto as he explained, Kakashi had informed him of Naruto's interest in fuinjutsu and he could see the spark in Naruto's eye at the prospect of learning how to fight like his mother.
"That is what we'll be working on today, I'll give you a scroll with the Taijutsu katas for you to memorize later, in the meantime you'll be using this." Gai gave Naruto 4 sets of weights and instructed him to place them on his wrists and legs.
"It's important for you to strengthen your body, the weights will allow you to increase your speed and the training you'll be doing will make you agile and flexible. From now on you will always be wearing your weights and we will adjust them everytime moving with them becomes too easy for you."
Naruto was both excited and worried about the kind of training Gai would be putting him through, he was starting to wonder if Sakura would be doing something similar with Kakashi.
"You're late!" At this point Sakura yelled at his sensei purely on instinct. "Only 15 minutes though."
She knew Kakashi was making an effort to change himself for the better and now only got late to things that weren't important. She really didn't mean to yell at him, it just happened.
"Maa maa Sakura-chan, I got lost on the road of… getting what you'll be using to train today." Kakashi eye-smiled at her.
"Before we start…" Kakashi was now looking pointedly at her "There's something I want to talk to you about."
Sakura only responded by giving Kakashi a nod.
"Sakura… you're not a good shinobi." Said Kakashi with brutal honesty.
Sakura was gaping like a fish. She was now painfully aware that she wasn't as good as she initially thought but that statement felt like a low blow.
"You're physically weak, you're uncommitted and those diets you put yourself through make you look a bit malnourished." Continued Kakashi. Sakura wanted to retort but wasn't allowed by her sensei.
"That being said, your chakra control is extremely good, and while it is true that people with lower chakra pools are generally graced with higher control, yours is pretty impressive." He complimented.
Sakura beamed a little at her sensei's praise, it would seem like she wasn't a complete lost cause.
"We got a tough wake up call…" Trailed off Kakashi. "I trust that you will now be giving your all in your training, you have the potential to be great and that's what I want you to achieve. Will you take this seriously?" Asked the Jounin
"Yes sensei!" Said Sakura with renewed vigor.
"Very well then." He tossed Sakura a scroll and a set of weights for her arms and legs, after she finished putting them on he started explaining.
"You'll be learning the Mori no ken or Forest fist, the Senju were a clan that specialized in more than one skill instead of just one or a few, as is the case for most of the clans in Konoha." Kakashi never liked how the clans in Konoha only specialized in one single area and neglected almost every other one, you could feel the admiration in his voice when he talked about the Senju.
"That's how they earned the title of 'The clan with a thousand skills'. Their Taijutsu was very straightforward in order to compliment their many abilities."
Sakura always liked to study and learn stuff, she didn't know Kakashi was so knowledgeable and she didn't know he was this good at giving lectures, she now called this Kakashi's sensei mode.
"For that you'll need core strength, which is what the weights are for, you will also become faster but the type of training you'll be doing will favor mostly the strength of your body, this compliments the training Naruto will be doing." Explained Kakashi.
"Why is that sensei?" Asked the genin.
"The taijutsu style Naruto will be learning is focused on swift movements and agility, I'm sure he will be using weights as well. The difference is the training you both are going to do, you won't be as fast as Naruto and Naruto won't be as strong as you, that's not to say you will be slow or he will be weak, I'm pretty sure you get what I mean."
And she did, Sakura knew not a lot of genin did this kind of training, she was just starting with weights and she knew her weights would only get heavier as time goes by. She might never be as fast as Naruto but she was sure she'll be faster than most genin in the village were.
Naruto limped his way to the training grounds his team used, the training with Gai was hell for him. He was forced to run around the whole village for hours wearing weights, he had to do all kinds of core exercises and he even had to do weird stretching; he just couldn't figure out why being able to do the splits would be helpful.
At least he'll start practicing Katas tomorrow.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Yelled Naruto before collapsing in front of the man
"Nice of you to join us Naruto." Said Kakashi giving Naruto an eye-smile.
Sakura was lying in the grass right by his side, she tried to greet Naruto but all she managed to blurt was a grunt.
Just like Naruto Sakura had to do some core exercises and running around, she also had to do tons of squats, sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups and even more sit ups but this time hanging off a tree branch.
The look of pure joy visible in Kakashi's eye when he had her do pull ups with a rock tied to her legs will forever haunt her.
"You hurt me Sakura-chan, I thought we had a great time together." Kakashi mocking her only irked her more.
If Sakura had the strength to do it she would've flipped him off.
"How was training with Gai, Naruto?" Kakashi was curious about how things had been with his self-proclaimed 'eternal rival'.
"Youthful" At first Naruto thought the whole youth speech was fun, now he couldn't even think of the word without wanting to hit his own head really hard.
"You can both rest for a little bit before having lunch, I brought you a balanced meal to replenish your energy and before you ask Naruto, no, it isn't ramen." Said Kakashi much to the young boy's chargrim.
"Ramen is good and I won't forbid you to eat it, but you also need to eat more stuff, without a proper and balanced diet you will always be short, is that what you want?" Asked Kakashi.
Naruto was quick to shake his head, if eating a little less Ramen was what it took for him to grow taller then so be it, he was very self-conscious about his height.
"I understand you didn't have anyone to teach you properly, so I will add cooking to your lessons, luckily for you I'm a very good cook." Said Kakashi while puffing his chest, not that the collapsed Genin could see it anyway.
Kakashi felt a little sad about having to teach Naruto, it wasn't that he didn't want to, he just felt like he should've a long time ago. He knew the Sandaime constantly treated Naruto to lunch but that wasn't enough for a boy who loved eating Ramen 24/7. He was going to make this right now though, better late than never.
After the duo finished resting the team started to eat, Kakashi had decided he would be putting more trust on his team so he lowered his mask for them to see while they ate without making a big deal out of it, sadly for him, the genin were so hungry and focused on their food they didn't even notice.
Their loss.
"Look alive kiddos, we will start your ninjutsu training right now, afterwards we will run some team drills, chakra control exercises and I'll let you go." Kakashi grabbed a leaf from a tree and unsealed a lighting bulb out of a storage scroll from his pocket.
"Sakura, before you learn any Doton jutsu you must be able to control your affinity. You could learn Doton jutsus or jutsus of any other element without doing the exercise but this will allow you to perform every jutsu with a lower cost, the same goes for you Naruto." Kakashi told them, going into his sensei mode once again.
"The first step to mastering your affinity is to turn this leaf into a rock, to do it you need to focus your chakra in a steady flow around the leaf and harden it." He explained as he handed Sakura the leaf, he then walked towards Naruto and handed him a lightbulb.
"Yours Naruto is a bit trickier, what you have to do is channel your chakra into the lightbulb, you should be able to feel a 'spark' if you try to focus your affinity, once you do hang on to it and direct it, too little and it won't turn on, too much and you'll overcharge it and maybe even make it explode."
He really hoped Naruto's lightbulb would explode at some point, Kakashi felt like it was wishing for Naruto to have a hard time but he bought a lot of them and they weren't exactly cheap.
"This is a chunin level exercise, most shinobi like myself learn jutsu without mastering their affinity." Kakashi was a prodigy, hailed as a genius from a very young age, he managed to learn different jutsu before starting work on his nature transformation and even more after he got the sharingan, had he done the exercises earlier he probably would've had a much easier journey through the ranks.
"I'm having you do this so you'll have an easier time down the road and more efficient use of your chakra."
"What does that mean, sensei?" Asked Naruto.
"When a Shinobi gains control of their natural affinity, the jutsus they use become less taxing on their reserves and more effective; that's what I like to call Elemental Mastery." Naruto and Sakura both made 'wow' faces and that for some reason made Kakashi feel incredibly good, he even started subconsciously puffing his chest.
"That doesn't mean you won't be learning any jutsu until you master the exercises, I will give you each a few jutsu from each of your affinities including wind, we are doing this so you don't waste a lot of chakra; speaking of which…" Said Kakashi getting his genin's attention.
"Chakra control is a very important skill to have, especially for the more complicated and fine arts like Genjutsu, Iryo Ninjutsu and to a certain degree Fuinjutsu." That earned a groan from Naruto, chakra control exercises were a pain in the ass for him and now he will have to do them constantly if he ever hoped to become good at Fuinjutsu.
"We will do nature transformation for a while and then we'll train your control. You know how to climb trees already but you're going to practice until doing so becomes instinctual, when that is finished we'll move towards water walking, is that clear?"
"Yes, sensei!"
"Get to work then."
Kakashi was proud of his genin, they were dedicated and knew how to work hard. He didn't expect them to master their affinities for at least a month but seeing them try was fun, he'll arrange for Asuma to teach them wind after they finish this.
The sound of glass shattering interrupted Kakashi's thoughts and he turned around to see Naruto holding a broken lightbulb, he chuckled and gave Naruto a new one.
This should be fun.
"That was great, we'll meet again tomorrow, same time, same place, dismissed."
After exchanging goodbyes Sakura left quickly, she wasn't in the best of shapes and she was very aware about it but Kakashi's training had been torture for her; it was good Tsutsuji got her out of that stupid diet, if she could she would actually eat a horse right now.
Before leaving Naruto had one more thing to do, the last time he talked to Kakashi alone he left saying some stuff that the Jonin maybe didn't want and he felt like he needed to apologize, that's why he walked up to his sensei looking a bit nervous.
"Kakashi-sensei, can I talk to you for a minute?" Asked the nervous blonde.
Kakashi was a bit confused at first when Naruto started referring to him as sensei again, he knew Naruto would and should always refer to him as sensei when they were on oficial shinobi business like training but that was already over by now, but he understood the boy needed time to process everything that was just revealed to him though.
Naruto never knew his parents and even though he wished for them terribly, putting a name to them was even more painful for him.
He felt incredibly happy when he found who his mother was, when he found out she loved him.
He also felt incredibly sad, but the Sandaime explained to him it was bound to happen, giving the person you longed for a face and a name allows you to feel connected, but it also allows you to feel their absence even more.
Kakashi understood Naruto was going through a similar grief again and he wouldn't push him into anything.
"Yes Naruto?" Asked Kakashi, shaking his head away from his thoughts.
Naruto took a deep breath before answering.
"WellIjustwantedtosaysorrycuzlastnighticalledyouyouknowthatandididn'taskbeforey'knowandidon'twantyoutobeuncomfortableorsomethingttebayoitsjustthatwellyouknowi-"
"Naruto, please slow down for me ok?" All things considered, Kakashi was surprised by Naruto's lung capacity.
Naruto sighed, he was hoping Kakashi would catch all of that quickly and he wouldn't have to talk about this for long but it would seem that wasn't the case.
"It's just that I-" Another sigh
"I called you Nii-san last night and it was kinda a spur of the moment y'know? It's not really a big deal I guess, Konohamaru calls me that and we're not related… I guess I just don't want you to be uncomfortable. It's just that you said my dad was like a dad to you too y'know?"
Kakashi now understood what this was all about and knelt in front of Naruto while ruffling his hair. "I was surprised for sure but… I do like the idea of having a little brother."
Naruto looked at him and released a breath he didn't know he was holding, his visible eye watered a little and he hugged Kakashi out of nowhere.
Kakashi was surprised by the hug but after catching his bearings he returned it. It was easy to forget Naruto was still a 13 year old boy, a 13 year old who grew up with only one person he could truly call family, a 13 year old who just lost his first and for the longest time only friend.
"How about we go to your place so I can teach you how to cook a good dinner, and we have that talk about your parents you asked for?" Kakashi suggested.
Naruto released Kakashi from the hug and smiled warmly at him.
"Yes Nii-san."
The dinner with Kakashi had gone pretty well and Naruto was surprised to know Kakashi didn't lie when he said he was a good cook. After the dinner was done Kakashi told Naruto he'd do good to see what was on his mother's scroll and promptly left so he could do it alone.
That is what Naruto was doing right now, he opened the scroll with a drop of his blood and got access to a series of storage seals inscribed in the length of the whole thing. He got everything out of the scroll to see what it contained and found some books on sealing and a few scrolls he hadn't opened but guessed were clan jutsu or Uzumaki seals. He was going to start reading through them when he found a letter addressed to him.
Naruto's heart skipped a beat and he shakily picked the letter up before unfolding it, he wondered if Kakashi knew something like this was on the scroll and that's why he was so adamant on Naruto doing it alone but he was thankful for it nonetheless.
To Naruto:
If you're reading this it means I'm dead, Minato said I was a little paranoid in thinking about writing this in the first place but I think you can never be too sure y'know?
I can't even imagine what it must've been like for you to grow up without a mother and I hope to Kami you had your father to support you and guide you along the way.
I wrote this letter in hopes that if it ever came to it you could carry on our legacy as Uzumaki and could keep on making our ancestors proud.
The scroll Hiruzen gave you contains a copy of the fuinjutsu guide that took me and your father from novices to true masters, a few of our clan's seals and some of our clan jutsu as well as information on something I'm pretty sure you will like as much as I do. Work very hard in your skills and in your studies, I was never the best at academic stuff so I know how frustrating it can be but you should still try your best.
I hope you're living the best life you possibly can and I hope you're happy. I don't know what age you're going to be when you read this but I'm sure the old man won't wait more than 16 years so I'll give you some instructions about the 3 shinobi prohibitions.
The first one is money, make sure to save most of the money you'll get as pay from your services as shinobi if you choose to be one, if not make sure to save from your salary on whatever job you go for. Try not to become addicted to gambling and spend your money wisely.
The second one is alcohol, drinking is good but you need to learn how to control yourself, don't let that big pervert get you hooked on anything dangerous.
The third and final prohibition is women, to be honest I don't really care who you date as long as it is a good person like your mother, just make sure to love her a lot.
Make good friends, you don't need to have a lot as long as they're good and loyal people.
I don't know what you're doing now but there's very little that you could do short of defecting and becoming a missing nin that could make me mad at you.
At the end of this letter there's a seal holding a picture of your father, you and I, kinda.
If you had to read this it means I wasn't there for you but always remember that your mother is immensely proud of you and loves you very very much dattebane!
-Uzumaki Kushina.
Tears fell on the paper Naruto was holding with shaking hands. He was beyond glad he had this to feel connected to his mother but he couldn't help but feel sad at the fact that she isn't there for him.
After Naruto calmed down a little he channeled some chakra in the seal at the corner of the letter and unsealed a picture, in the picture was a tall man with blonde spiky hair wearing the Konoha shinobi uniform and a white robe with red flames in the bottom; hugging a beautiful woman with long crimson hair and the most beautiful violet eyes he has ever seen, she wore a green dress on top of a white undershirt and was very very pregnant.
Naruto looked at the beautiful picture of the family he never knew and hugged it tightly close to his heart for a few minutes.
After his reminiscence was over Naruto started going through the material left for him, he sorted out the books on fuinjutsu and supplementary scrolls based on the level and sealed them in a separate storage scroll, he would go over all of that with his Jiji as soon as he got the chance.
Next he found a scroll with the Uzumaki Taijutsu style katas Gai had already given him so he resealed them on the scroll it came from. Next he found a beautiful Katana and a scroll with his mother's kenjutsu style.
Naruto wasn't sure if he was going to be a swordsman, he wanted to make his mother proud but he could do that in different ways, he still vowed to learn the style to perfection even if he didn't feel like using a sword was for him. He might not want to be a Kenjutsu master but that didn't mean he couldn't pass on his new Katana and style to someone else.
He then found a scroll that contained some Uzumaki seals and barriers just like his mother's letter said. He couldn't really make heads or tails of any of that yet so he resealed them in the scroll they came from.
Lastly, Naruto found another much smaller scroll protected by a blood seal, he cut his finger open and put some of his blood on the seal to reveal its contents and found what his mother said he would probably like as much as her.
In the scroll were instructions to use a special Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai, Naruto was worried he might not have inherited it from his mother but he tried not to worry about something he wasn't sure of yet.
She believed he would and that was enough reassurance for him.
'Kongo Fusa huh? That does sound cool'
-2 Months Before the Chunin Exams-
The training of the Genin in team 7 has been very productive so far, after weeks of training both Naruto and Sakura mastered the first step of their nature transformations. Kakashi had also arranged a meeting between them and Sarutobi Asuma the son of the Sandaime, the only shinobi with a wind nature Kakashi knew in the village.
Training with him had been fairly easy and it was good for Naruto and Sakura to bond with the members of team 10.
Naruto now felt like he could call Choji and Shikamaru friends.
The whiskered boy was now making his way to the Sandaime's house through the Sarutobi compound to continue his fuinjutsu lessons with the Kami no Shinobi, he has been making steady progress and quickly reached level 4 out of 10 and was very close to reaching level 5. The Hokage had explained it was from that point on that leveling up became much harder and took a lot more time but he was still excited.
He just couldn't understand why he ever thought fuinjutsu was boring, it was like the coolest thing ever.
The Sandaime still congratulated Naruto for reaching such a level in so little time, few people got there and not many were able to grasp the complex art that is sealing.
Naruto's use of Kage Bunshin to speed his process was remarkable, the Sandaime advised him to use a Kage Bunshin to study while he practiced his calligraphy and put in practice some of the things he learned, all in all, Naruto was now one of the few competent fuinjutsu practitioners in the village, he wasn't the best by any means but he was getting there.
"Naruto-Kun! How is my future Hokage? It's been a long time since I've seen you." A guard in his grandfather's house interrupted his thoughts, greeting him warmly.
"I'm doing fine, Kaeya-san." Naruto beamed at his comment and gave him a big toothy grin.
The last time Naruto had been here was when he was still a young kid, his lessons with the Hokage had all taken place in the man's office twice a week but he was told to come to his house this time around.
"Here to see Hokage-sama?" Asked the guard.
"Yes, he told me to come this time around, is he busy?"
"No, he said he was waiting on someone and I'm guessing that someone was you. Did you notice-"
"Konohamaru following me? Since I stepped foot in the compound, I'm just ignoring him" Interrupted Naruto
"Alright then, off you go" The guard chuckled.
Sarutobi Konohamaru was the Hokage's biological grandson, Naruto knew about his existence but never actually got the chance to meet him up until shortly after he graduated the academy when he was turning in his picture for his shinobi ID.
Apparently Konohamaru knew Naruto was the surrogate grandson of the Hokage and wasn't very happy with not getting the attention all to himself and tried to 'ambush' him and 'take him down' but tripped on his scarf.
Naruto laughed at him and that irked Konohamaru even more, he confronted him and got hit by the older boy in return.
That's what made Konohamaru admire Naruto, he treated him like he would treat anyone else, he didn't see him as the honorable grandson and even called him by his name instead of his title, that's when Konohamaru decided Naruto was the one who would be his 'boss'. He actually quit on it for a bit when he found out Naruto also wanted to become Hokage but then he figured he could just be the Hokage after him.
Naruto was about to enter the old man's house but decided to confront Konohamaru before his training.
"Konohamaru, you need to work on your disguises."
Konohamaru got out of his square shaped rock and addressed Naruto.
"Nii-chan, let's play Ninja!" Demanded the young kid.
"I'm sorry Konohamaru, I have lessons with Jiji right now, maybe later?" Suggested the whiskered blonde.
Konohamaru puffed his cheeks and stomped his feet on the ground in annoyance.
"You always say the same!" Konohamaru sticked his tongue out and puffed his cheeks in protest.
"Tell you what Saru, next time I have a free day I'll play with you alright?" Proposed Naruto, unknowingly giving the young boy the same nickname Hiruzen's sensei had given him a long time ago.
The child simply nodded and happily left Naruto to do his own thing with the Hokage. Naruto walked in the house and saw the old man sitting in his living room in front of a wooden box.
"Hey Jiji." Greeted Naruto.
"Welcome Naruto-kun, I take it Konohamaru-kun didn't cause you any trouble?" Asked the Hokage.
Naruto didn't ask how the old man knew about their encounter, he was already used to him knowing everything.
"Not at all, I should make some time to play with him though, he's persistent y'know?" Joked Naruto.
The Hokage chuckled and smiled warmly at him "Indeed he is."
"So, why are we doing the lesson here today, Jiji?" Asked the curious blonde
"There's something special I had made for you and it's now ready. Do you remember what you told me about your mother's sword?" Asked the Hokage and he received a nod from the young Shinobi in front of him.
"I had these made for you." Said Sarutobi, giving Naruto the wooden box.
Naruto opened the box and in them were two short black metal staffs with grey tips.
"These are twin staffs made of chakra conducting metal, the grey tips are ideal for you to channel your lightning affinity and electrify your enemies, using the twin staffs dual handed if you choose to do so would work pretty good with your Taijutsu style." Explained the Hokage.
Naruto got both staff of the box to get a feel of them and was surprised with how good they felt on his hands, this truly was the type of weapon he wanted to use.
"Do you see the little seals engraved in the uncolored tips?" Asked Hiruzen and Naruto nodded.
"If you put them both together and channel chakra into the seals they'll merge and create a large staff you can also use to fight and add your wind affinity to your fighting." Naruto did as he was told by the wise man.
To his surprise the seals glowed a little and then the staffs became one without a single fissure visible, if one didn't know it was originally two staffs you wouldn't be able to tell.
"Do you like it, Naruto-kun?" asked Hiruzen.
Naruto undid the seal, put the staff back in the box and hugged the man tightly.
"I love them, Jiji, thank you so much." Said Naruto.
"That is great news, I'll give you a scroll with my own Bojutsu style for you to learn if you choose to do so." Hiruzen was hoping Naruto would say yes, he wanted someone in his family to pick up on the art and was sad that his son leaned more towards the trench knives, it was thinking of him that he thought of having this gift made for Naruto.
"Yes Jiji, I'll learn it and kick your old ass with it 'ttebayo!" Naruto, always the energetic one.
The Hokage chuckled and patted the boy's back.
The boy could use the staffs in two different ways, the seal in them allowed him to turn it into a full staff he could use to practice Bojutsu, it would make Sarutobi extremely glad to have him inherit his style.
He would have to send a thank you gift to his student for coming up with the seal, he could've done it himself had he wanted to but he thought it would be nice to involve the perverted sannin in the gift somehow.
"There's a strap in the box you can tie in your back to carry them with you, now, how are your studies going?"
"Well I think I'm doing well, though I did trap Sakura-chan yesterday on that barrier you had me learn by accident…"
"So, how was training with Gai today Naruto?" Asked Kakashi.
The teacher and student duo were having dinner together in Naruto's apartment, it had become something of a tradition between them to have dinner together at least once a week, at first it was mostly to talk about Naruto's parents but now they just talked about whatever was on their minds and bonded with each other.
Naruto appreciated having a big brother figure he could talk to, he always had the Sandaime but he was a busy man and Naruto didn't want to trouble him with unimportant stuff while he was working but Kakashi had made it a point to be available for him ever since they started training.
Kakashi appreciated the change of pace in his life, he enjoyed being able to lay back a little and just talk about anything and advise Naruto on whatever the boy relationship grew leaps and bounds in the two months they had been hanging out.
"It's been good, Gai-sensei is great 'ttebayo! The only problem is that Neji guy." Said Naruto
"Neji? The Hyuga Prodigy?" Was Kakashi's curious reply
"Yes! He's super rude and he's always talking about some stupid fate stuff and says Lee's a failure! He said that about me too y'know? He stopped sometime after I learned the Shīru-ken but he never even apologized, he just said it was fated I would learn it." Fate this, fate that, to Neji that's what it was all about and Naruto was so sick of it by now.
He got incredibly annoyed with Neji everytime he trained with team 9 because of him, Lee and Gai's youthful talk became berable when you got used to it but his constant belittlement of everyone he didn't deem worthy irked him.
"He does seem like an interesting character." Kakashi has a good idea of why the Hyuga boy acts the way he does but it isn't something he can just go around telling everybody.
"Whatever… there's something I want to show you." Said Naruto.
Kakashi was taken aback by Naruto's sudden mood change but he complied anyway and gave Naruto a nod.
The whiskered blonde stood in front of him and closed his visible eye while he concentrated.
After minutes of intense concentration, a golden chakra chain shot out of Naruto's forearm and swirled around him for a little before retracting and going back into his arm.
"Neat trick huh?" Naruto had a cocky smile on his face, very aware that Kakashi would be surprised.
Kakashi's eye was the size of a plate and his mouth hung open enough that it almost touched the floor. After picking his jaw from the floor Kakashi got himself back together and started laughing.
"Yes Naruto, neat trick."
-A Month Before the Chunin Exams-
"What are we doing here?" Asked a curious Naruto.
Kakashi had taken him out of the village on his free day and brought him to the top of a mountain they were just done securing, they had more traps than necessary in Naruto's opinion.
"It's time you learn how to properly use your Sharingan Naruto." Explained Kakashi.
Up until this point Kakashi had stressed to Naruto the importance of not becoming reliant on any tool, he only allowed Naruto to use the sharingan to get used to his predictive abilities during their spars but nothing more.
It also served to ease some of Dr. Teruya's concerns, she was beyond confident in the effectiveness of Naruto's new eye, but she had also burned into Kakashi's brain the importance of letting Naruto's body time to heal and assimilate the new eye, meaning a few weeks of rest as opposed to using it minutes after the transplant.
That struck Kakashi a bit low.
She had apologized after, saying that it wasn't her intention to insult him, she only wanted to make him realize their experiences weren't the same when it came to how they got their transplanted eyes. Maybe having been forced to use the eye right after he got it was the reason why Kakashi suffered great strain from using it.
That was the beginning of her new project.
Dr. Teruya was researching a way for Naruto to be able to turn his sharingan eye on and off, she knew it would never be possible for Kakashi because of his circumstances. Naruto not only had a somewhat safe transplant but also a formidable body and incredible genes.
She firmly believed it to be possible.
Back in reality, the boy in question started feeling a little uneasy, he was excited to learn how to control Sasuke's gift but he also felt worried he might disappoint his late teammate.
"We'll stay here for the night and we'll return to the village tomorrow morning. From now on we will come here once a week until you can use your eye without trouble."
Naruto nodded at his sensei's explanation and got ready, this was going to be a hell of a weekend.
-A Week Before the Chunin Exams-
The Genin in team 7 had made excellent progress in these past few months.
Naruto had taken to Fuinjutsu like a sponge and was fairly decent in Raiton Jutsu much to Kakashi's delight.
Both him and Sakura were also versed in wind manipulation and had some Futon jutsu on their belts.
He had also made progress on his clan's Kekkei Genkai but that was his and Kakashi's little secret.
The girl on team 7 had taken a great liking to Genjutsu and had according to Kakashi a 'slightly concerning imagination' - Naruto still can't decide if that was a compliment or not -, she followed Kakashi's advice and managed to learn the basics of Iryo Ninjutsu and to top it off she now had a few Doton Jutsu on her repertoire.
Kakashi couldn't be more proud of his team and couldn't be more sure of the decision he had made regarding a certain upcoming event.
"Here." Said Kakashi, giving both of his students a paper slip.
"These are the forms you need to fill out if you wish to participate in the chunin exams." Explained the Jounin.
"The Chunin exams?" Asked Sakura.
"Yes, this was one of the reasons I trained you so hard the past 4 months, I can say without a doubt you both are more than ready for this." Said Kakashi, giving them both an eye-smile.
"Don't we need a whole team to participate?" Asked Naruto, a bit sad that he won't have his fallen teammate there with him.
"You are a whole team Naruto, the Hokage and I decided it was in your best interest to remain as you are, while it isn't common for a team with less than 3 members to enter the exams it is not unheard of." Reassured Kakashi.
"You don't have to participate if you don't want to, I also don't expect you to land a promotion on your first attempt, treat this as a training exercise and give it your all okay?" Asked the Jounin.
Both genin nodded and smiled at each other.
"Very well then, go to room 301 at this time in 7 days with your forms ready if you wish to participate, Ja ne!" Kakashi poofed in a cloud of smoke and the Genin were left to their own devices.
"Wanna hear something I learned on the guitar?" Asked Naruto
Sakura quickly nodded, everytime Naruto learned a new song he played it and sang it to her. Naruto was a really good singer, it was a shame only Sakura got to listen to him sing.
-The Day Before the Exams-
"Team 7 feels a bit off nowadays don't you think?" Asked Sakura.
"You mean without him?" Replied Naruto.
"I think you are both looking at this the wrong way." Said Kakashi, gaining confused looks from both of his students.
"Sasuke will always be a part of Team 7…" He said with a soft look in his eye.
"How can we be team 7 if we're missing a member?" Asked Naruto.
"Sasuke will always be a part of the team…" Kakashi looked into one of his vest's pouches and out of it got a small Uchiha crest pin which he then put in above his heart just like his students. "As long as we always carry him with us."
Naruto and Sakura both stood up and walked to their sensei, embracing him together, Sasuke might not be present with them, but if they tried hard enough, they could still feel him watching over them.
AN: This is officially the last chapter before the Chunin exams, what I consider to be this fics first real arc.
There's a few things about this chapter I think are worth mentioning.
Kakashi and Naruto: As you can see in the chapter I decided to give them both a brotherly bond, it's in a way me writing what I wished we could've gotten from canon.
Fuinjutsu: This is honestly my favorite art in the Naruto universe and it saddens me a lot that it's definitely the least explored one, that does however give me more freedom in terms of actually writing it and coming up with something that makes sense. Most fics that use fuinjutsu frequently in the story came up with a system divided in 10 levels. I decided it was reasonable and included the idea in this story as well. The first 5 levels (in this story) are oriented towards the sealing of objects and the manipulation of different tags (explosive/smoke tags) with the fifth level being the first to seal chakra. Barrier jutsus are Fuinjutsu and they classify as the sealing of chakra. That is why the first 4 levels and to a certain extent the 5th are easier to acquire, they come at little risk and only require dedication and study.
Naruto's Weapon: Homeboy doesn't use weapons in canon other than Kunai and Shuriken and that's honestly not bad but I really wanted to give him something cool, regularly people tend to lean towards the sword or staffs, I don't particularly like swords but I love the Bo-staff and that's why I chose to go that way, the reason I had him get them as 2 short twins staffs that combine into a bigger one is because I love Nightwing and he looks super cool doing exactly that. (You can expect some other DC references down the line, a few Star Wars references too, there's one in chapter 1 actually). This choice of weapon is technically somewhat canon, he does use two of his Gudoudamas as rods when he gets the six path senjutsu.
Glossary:
Kongo Fusa: Adamantine Sealing Chains
I would like to address a comment left by dredix in the last chapter, they pointed out that the summary was misleading and after careful consideration I realized it was true, I worded it in a weird way that left a lot of room for interpretation. I of course already updated the summary. dredix also pointed out that I skipped time a lot and it's true, this is where it stops though, I failed tu explain why I chose to do it that wat in my previous notes so I'll do iy now. When it comes to Naruto's childhood you can pretty much write whatever you want as there is little we know about it, I chose not to because nothing that happens in Naruto's early childhood besides his birth was relevant for this story. In the first chapter I rushed through the whole wave arc because I didn't want to write canon again up until the events of the bridge. It's been done so many times that I don't find it interesting anymore.
That would be all for this chapter, do leave your opinion and suggestions in the comments if you wish, I appreciate the criticism and it can only help me grow. It would also mean a lot to me if you guys followed the story and added to your favorites, that's if you're liking it so far of course.
Be safe!