Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I an expert on the Naruto Universe.
Chapter 10: Genin
Naruto followed Kurenai in silence as she led him to a bench behind a playground. Young children yelled and screamed their excitement, watched on by their parents. He sat as far from the jonin as possible without appearing to be rude. She didn't speak for a full minute. He looked around for escape routes and how he could get away if she attacked him.
"I'm going to come right out and say this. You need to tell me why you're afraid of me, or I'm going to have to fail all three of you."
Naruto flinched and looked over at Kurenai. He knew she wasn't lying from the look on her face. "How is that fair to Shino-kun and Hinata-kun?" he asked, a little indignant. She'd basically blackmailed him to tell her what she wanted to know.
"You three need to be a team. I need to know how to help each of you. If one of you is hiding secrets, or more accurately, don't trust me as a mentor, then I can't help you three."
Naruto grunted and sighed. "Can't you just... I don't know... tell us what to work on?" he asked.
"That isn't how being your jonin instructor works. It's my job to shape you into competent, mature shinobi. I can't do that if I don't know something as simple as why you're scared of me. How can I be sure you'll listen to what I have to say? Fear is a good motivator, but in the end, it does more harm than good."
Naruto stared up at the sky. He knew he didn't have a choice but to tell her. If he didn't, he'd never have a chance at fulfilling his dream. Why couldn't things be easy? "You use genjutsu," he admitted after a long while.
Kurenai snorted. "That's your reason? You're scared of me because I use genjustu. I told you not to lie to me," she sighed. He saw her shake her head and begin to rise from the corner of his eye.
"That instructor, the one Hinata was talking about, Fumi-san," he said, trailing off. Kurenai paused and sat back down, her attention focused on his face. He didn't need to look at her to know she was growing impatient. "I got in trouble for something I can't even remember, probably because I said something she didn't like. Anyway, another student and I got detention." He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the images that flashed across his mind. His hand shook a little, and he clenched his fist. "She used some genjutsu that showed me... well... I haven't told anyone what I saw. That doesn't matter. It... was bad is all. The Hokage told me the TI use it on enemies of the village."
A long silence stretched as Naruto continued to stare at the sky. A lazy cloud ambled overhead. He just wanted to forget that day. "Do you remember what genjutsu it was, and why are you scared of me personally?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Fumi-san said you were her inspiration and looked up to you. If... well, if she could do that... then you could too," Naruto sighed.
"I wouldn't use genjutsu on children," Kurenai gasped. "I'm not a monster."
Naruto shrugged. How was he supposed to know? Fumi probably did it as an excuse to get at the hated Demon of Konoha. If Kurenai knew the same jutsu, then why wouldn't she take the chance too? "Anyway... the genjutsu she used was... it's been forever," he muttered as he tried to drag up the memory. He didn't want to. "Nara... something or another."
"Hell Viewing Technique," Kurenai hissed. "They let her continue teaching after she used that on children?" Naruto shrugged and nodded. "I'll be speaking to Iruka-san and the Hokage."
Naruto sighed and looked over at the jonin. She had a strange look on her face that he couldn't interpret. "It's not like it matters. Fumi-san went missing. Someone said she was dead, but I don't know if that's true," he said.
"So, that's why you were scared of me?"
Naruto felt a little ashamed, but it seemed like a reasonable fear. He was still leary of being around the jonin. "Yeah," he admitted.
"I will not use genjutsu on you unless it is for training purposes. Even then, it certainly won't be something as drastic as what Fumi-san used. You have my word on it. Look at me, do you accept my promise?" she asked in a firm, controlled voice.
"Uh, yeah," Naruto answered when it became clear the jonin wouldn't take no for an answer. He had a feeling if he disagreed with her, she'd either go off on him or leave, ruining his chances of being a genin.
"Now, let's talk about the other problem," Kurenai continued with a slight crease in her lips. "Your teammates believe someone sabotaged your efforts within the Academy. What are you capable of?" she asked.
"I don't know. What do you mean?"
"Shino-kun thinks you could have graduated early. Why does he think that?"
Naruto almost laughed. "The Hokage would disagree. He basically said I was still in the Academy because it had things to teach me," he admitted with a shrug.
Kurenai sighed and pulled out a scroll from her belt pouch. Naruto watched as she placed a hand on the fuinjutsu seals in the middle of the scroll. A small cloud of smoke obscured three thick folders. Kurenai took the first folder off the pile and handed it to Naruto.
Blinking in surprise, Naruto took the brown folder and opened it. He read for a few minutes before shaking his head. "The Academy really tracks everything," he muttered.
"They need to so the Hokage has a good idea of what type of shinobi you could become. Personalities, skills, and even perspectives are all important. It also helps jonin instructors to understand their genin," she added.
"Well, some of this is right, some of it is wrong," Naruto reported with a wince. "I don't see myself as anti-social. Villagers hate me. It's hard to make friends with people who want to see you dead."
"Why would you think that?"
Naruto looked over at Kurenai. "You really have no idea? Even Anko-san picked up on it," he muttered.
"It would appear, there is a lot I don't know," Kurenai admitted after a moment. "So, tell me about yourself. Forget what's in the folder and talk to me."
Naruto grunted and leaned back on the bench. Some of the things in his file were more accurate than he wanted to admit. "I wouldn't even know where to start," he sighed.
"At the beginning. I want to know about your life."
Naruto did laugh at that. Once he started laughing, he couldn't stop. Kurenai bonked him on the top of the head. "It's rude to laugh," she admonished.
"Right... well... just remember you wanted to know about my life," he chuckled. Naruto debated what to say. Should he tell her the truth? Something about Kurenai made him want to trust her word, but he couldn't. No, she'd use whatever he told her to update his file. His admittedly irrational fear of her had to mean something. Also, someone might figure out things he didn't want anyone to know. Kabuto was right that he should be very careful about who he opened up to. An edited version of the truth then. "My earliest memory is watching two genin fight from the window of my orphanage," he said as he stared at the ground.
An hour later, his voice was hoarse from talking too much. Kurenai interrupted him a couple of times, but not very often. She only asked for clarification on a few things, but other than that, she let him talk. "You told me everything you went through to try to learn to be a medical-nin, but you skipped over why you wanted to be one," she asked.
"I told you, I liked Sannin Tsunade. She was the best of the three Sannin."
Kurenai pursed her lips but didn't press him. He was glad, he wasn't sure what he'd say if she demanded the truth. "I hadn't realized how... tough your life has been," she admitted after a moment. She turned to him and looked him in the eye. "If you work with me, I will work with you. Being a genin will require you to interact with the village on a level you haven't done before. I have a few rules first... if you'll listen."
Naruto blinked and nodded at her suddenly serious tone. "Alright," he allowed.
"First, you will stop using the Transformation Technique to get around speaking to villagers. Second, while on a D-ranked mission, you will not use a disguise or otherwise hide your appearance. Third, you will stand up for yourself. As a genin, villagers cannot, by law, overcharge you anymore. If they do, bring it to my attention. Worse comes to worst, I'll find you... friendly shop owners like Teuchi-san you told me about. Do you understand why I'm asking you to do this?"
Naruto sighed and nodded. "So I'll interact with villagers more. If they see me doing things for the village, they might treat me better," he sighed. "The Hokage had me try that too, but it didn't work."
"Well, you have me now," Kurenai stated as if that solved everything. "I know what the Hokage wants for Team Eight, but I need to know, now, if you are willing to work with your teammates. You admitted that you didn't really know Shino-kun or Hinata-kun."
"You know I will," Naruto almost huffed.
"I know this was hard for you," Kurenai said as she placed her hands in her lap. "Thank you for answering my questions truthfully... well, I know you left things out, but I'll accept that for now. Do you have any questions for me?"
Naruto wasn't sure what to even ask. "No? I don't think so," he eventually said.
Kurenai nodded and stood. She took up his folder from the bench and sealed it back up in her sealing scroll. "Do you want to learn how to escape from genjutsus?" she asked with a smile.
Naruto froze and blinked. "I have... some limited knowledge," he admitted. "But, yes, I would."
"The best way to learn is to have it cloud your senses. If you and the others pass tomorrow, I will work with you on it."
Naruto wasn't sure what to say so he just said, "thank you."
After Kurenai's dismissal, Naruto headed over to his abandoned hostel. He winced when he saw that literally everything he owned had been gone through. Nothing was missing, but everything was out of place and it appeared whoever did the searching didn't care enough to put things back. It took him over an hour to properly clean up and reorganize his belongings. It wasn't until he was almost done did he realize he could have used shadow clones to help him.
Thinking of his shadow clones, he remembered that he copied the two jutus from the Forbidden Scroll. Fishing around in the pouch on his hip, he produced two scraps of paper. "This jutsu allows the user to create one or more copies of themselves at the cost of half their chakra. Additional clones each take a decreasing portion of the shinobi's chakra, up to chakra depletion. Once used, the jutsu can take the life of a shinobi if too much chakra is ripped away," Naruto said loud. The previous night, he knew the risks, but he just couldn't help trying it out. There was something he needed to find, something in his fight with Mizuki that bothered him.
"Clones are created with clothes and tools... yes, yes..." he muttered as his eyes flicked over the paper. "Damage or release will return remaining chakra to the user... used to gather intelligence, assassinate, and... there we go," he continued aloud with a smile. "The experiences the clone makes will return to the user. That's why I felt myself die!"
Just before he got knocked out by the fuma shuriken, Naruto felt like he'd been stabbed, twice over, in the throat. It was a jarring, horrible sensation. "This is going to be amazing!" he shouted to no one in particular.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" he said with a broad smile. Seven clones of himself appeared with identical grins. "Oh, yeah! I have a sparring partner, someone who can get my shopping done, comb the village for medical-nin books, and get other things done too. Oh, yeah," he repeated with a fist pump. "Alright, let's go!"
The Naruto Clones shot the original a feral grin before dashing out the door. Just as Naruto was about to take a step to follow them, he realized he had a dim, ethereal understanding of each clone. It was like a pocket of knowledge, nestled deep within his mind. One clone was vaulting over buildings, just for the sheer joy of the wind on his face, while another used chakra to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Another still shouted and waved to Shikamaru and Choji as he passed the market. The clones were like phantom limbs without him being able to control them. Just as he thought of directing the clones, each paused in their tasks, as if waiting for instructions.
Two hours later, Naruto had his first fight with himself. As Naruto's sharp senbon embedded into his clone's knee, he sensed, through another clone, that someone was coming toward the training grounds. Both clones, his spotter and his training partner, dispersed in puffs of smoke at his quick mental command. The command was so sharp and unfocused, he lost connection to two other clones as well. He bent down to pick up the senbon as Tenten ran into the clearing. "Naruto-san!" she called with a big grin on her face.
"Hello," he greeted.
"You graduated! I knew you would," Tenten congratulated with a laugh. "I thought I heard fighting," she said with a frown as she looked around the clearing with training dummies.
"Only with myself," Naruto joked, trying to suppress his grin.
"Oh, well, are you ready to spar?" she asked as she produced a scroll from her leg pouch.
"I would love to. I need to work off some nervous energy," he admitted.
The next morning, Naruto crawled out of bed, feeling awful. He hadn't gotten much sleep, too excited to experiment with his shadow clones. After a hot shower, he dressed and made his way to Training Ground Eight. He was the first one there, so he sent a few clones to continue their search for more scrolls and books. This time, he didn't limit his clones and told them to find whatever looked interesting for him to buy and read later.
Hinata showed up a few minutes after his clones departed. "Good morning," she greeted with a tired smile.
"Good morning," he shot back and stood. He stretched his back and continued his limbering exercises like Sennin Tsunade's training regimen required of him.
Hinata looked decidedly awkward as she looked around. She shifted from foot to foot and watched him from the corner of her eye. "Ano... what are you doing?" she eventually asked.
Shino appeared, jogging up the path, his long coat bumping against his knees. "Good morning," he greeted before Naruto could answer Hinata.
They both greeted their teammate. "I'm stretching," Naruto told Hinata. "It's great to keep your body limber and ready for real training. If you go into a fight without thinking about your body, you could do damage to your muscles."
"We're going to fight?" Shino asked in a flat tone.
"Who knows," Naruto answered as he crouched down on one leg and stretched the other out as far as he could get. He touched his toes for a count of ten before shifting his weight and repeating the stretch for his other leg.
"I thought we just needed the exercises, Iruka-sensei and Fumi-sensei taught us," Hinata said in a soft voice.
"Naruto is correct about stretching. It's a good habit to get into," Kurenai stated as she walked out of a tree. She didn't step out from behind it, she walked out of the center of the trunk. Naruto did a double-take, trying to make sure he saw correctly. "Good morning," the jonin greeted as she strode over to the genin.
"Good morning," they answered back.
"I see you three are ready to go, good. Now, here's the thing. I spoke with each of you yesterday and know more or less what you want, however, what are you willing to do to achieve those goals?" Kurenai asked as she came to a stop. She looked her charges over with a critical eye.
"What do you mean?" Hinata asked in a soft voice.
"Take these and read it," the jonin ordered as she produced three scrolls. She handed them out with a serious expression.
Naruto opened his scroll and read:
To complete this mission, one must fall. Hand your scroll to the person you think will best be able to finish your objective, and they will hand it to their jonin. If that is you, hand in your scroll now. The one who falls will return to the Academy until such time as they are ready to become a genin in your eyes.
Naruto looked up, shocked at Kurenai. This wasn't what he expected at all. He looked over to see similar looks of shock on his teammate's faces. Even Shino looked shaken. The quiet genin looked over at him before turning to look at Hinata. She looked back down at her scroll and closed her eyes. Without looking up, she thrust it at Naruto. "Take it," she whispered to him.
Naruto frowned and took the scroll reluctantly. He read the same message on her scroll. It took him a second as his brain furiously tried to come up with an answer. He looked up to see Shino and Hinata looking at him. With a small bow, Shino handed his scroll over to Hinata. Naruto realized what they were doing and handed his scroll over to Shino. They all looked at Kurenai who stood there with a frown, her arms crossed under her chest.
"So, you each think the other could complete the mission," she mused. Pointing at Shino, she asked, "why do you think Hinata could finish the mission?"
Without pause, the genin answered, "she's smart and is fast. She could escape anyone pursuing her by using her byakugan."
Kurenai pursed her lips before pointing at Hinata. "Naruto-kun... is really the best in the class," she said with only a slight falter in her voice. As she continued, her face got redder. "He could easily beat both of us in speed and stamina, getting away from any pursuers."
Kurenai raised an eyebrow and looked to Naruto. "Shino has his insects to warn and attack any pursuers. He also is one of the fastest in our class. Of the three of us, he could get away the easiest as he's also quieter while moving through forests," he answered with a nod.
Kurenai looked them over before tapping her foot. "So, which of you stays to block for your teammates?" she pressed.
The three genin shared a look before Naruto turned back, answering before the other two could. "I would," he said a heartbeat before Shino said he would.
Kurenai pursed her lips as if she were unhappy about something. "Why wouldn't you stay, Hinata-kun? You said Naruto-kun had the best chance to get away and complete the mission," she asked.
"I would, but only to delay or draw the enemy off before regrouping," she answered after a moment.
For several long minutes, Kurenai just stared down at them. She didn't say anything. Naruto had the feeling she was waiting for something but didn't want to break the spell of silence. His teammates didn't seem to want to speak either. "Oh, fine then," Kurenai sighed with a laugh. "You all pass."
Naruto felt himself take a breath. He felt his knees wobble a little. It was one thing to know there was a hidden test, it was another to actually pass it. He would be a genin now. Hinata actually fell back, red-faced as if she hadn't breathed at all during those achingly long minutes of silence. Shino of all of them looked unruffled except for the white pallor and sweat beaded on his forehead.
"You're all officially genin," Kurenai continued with a grin. "Have a seat," she gestured to Naruto and Shino as she sat down in front of Hinata. "Team Eight will specialize in scouting and intelligence gathering. Hinata-kun, your eyes can see things the others can't. Shino-kun, your insects can track and find things your teammates might otherwise miss. Naruto-kun, your expertise in the Transformation Technique and experience slipping through the village unseen will be an asset to the team. Also, we'll need someone to screen and waylay anyone who might follow us. This test was to see if you each recognized the assets the others brought to the whole team."
"I... have something else that might help," Naruto admitted. He was reluctant to reveal his secrets, but he felt like he needed to bring more to the table than just muscle and the ability to blend in with villagers. Putting his pointer and middle fingers together in a cross with his other hand, he made five clones appear behind him. The others gasped. "Shadow clones," he finished with a shrug.
"That... I... when?" Kurenai asked in a hesitant voice. "That is a jonin-level technique and a forbidden jutsu. That could kill you!" she all but shouted at him.
"I... might have larger chakra reserves than most. I can't talk about it. Hokage's orders," Naruto answered, scooting back from the jonin's intense glare.
"They are true clones," Hinata commented, her eyes completely white. The veins around her eyes bulged and throbbed as her chakra fed into her byakugan. "That's amazing," she whispered.
"We'll be speaking about this later," Kurenai promised as she eyed Naruto again. "Dismiss your clones."
Naruto did so, but only the ones around him. He was dimly aware of his other clones still searching through places like the library for interesting techniques and even one on the female body. He felt his cheeks flush. With a mental reprimand, the clone vanished with a pop in his mind.
"Well... we'll take the shadow clones into account," Kurenai mused before shaking her head. "Now, as your jonin instructor, I'll be working with each of you on various things. Teamwork will come with time. We will do one to two D-ranked missions a week, no more than that. Three days a week, we will work on information gathering, techniques to infiltrate, and physical training. You'll need to be in even better condition than you are now. Part of your physical training and information gathering will incorporate Chakra Control. I cannot stress enough how important it is to manage your chakra. Eventually, we will be in enemy territory and without support. That is our ultimate goal, to operate efficiently and without detection for as long as possible while gathering information. The Elemental Lands have never been truly at peace. The Hidden Villages all contend for contracts through the Shoguns, merchant associations, and non-shinobi villages. Any information we can obtain will go a long way to helping our village sustain itself in the future."
Naruto nodded thought he understood their purpose as a team. Kurenai looked at each of them in turn. "I will push you," she promised. "It isn't because I don't like you or don't want to be here, but the more blood, sweat, and tears you put in now will save your life in the future. I've watched what Iruka-san had you do during the Academy, but that isn't enough. You need to get better. Are there any questions?" she asked.
The genin all shook their heads. "Good, over the next couple of days, we'll meet here in the morning. Next week, we'll do our first D-ranked mission. I honestly think you three will surprise me and exceed my expectations, but we'll see," she smiled. "Now, let's get a baseline for each of your skills. I hope you're warmed up because you'll be sparring and doing sprints for the next couple of hours."
Hinata buried her face in her hands and groaned. Shino shook his head. Naruto just laughed.
Naruto watched with some amusement as his teammates stiffly made their way home from the training grounds. Kurenai, laughing at Naruto's insistence he could go on for a while longer, told the team to go home and rest. She would see them the next day and start going over what she'd seen each of them needed to work on.
A note was taped to his door when Naruto returned to his apartment. He, and all the other new genin, had to report to the Hokage Residence the next day to have their official pictures taken as new genin. Going over to the fridge, Naruto realized that he'd need to get groceries. With a sigh, he made himself a light lunch of fruits and nuts. An hour later, he got ready to henge into a villager to go shopping when a thought struck him. Kurenai told him he couldn't continue to avoid villagers. He debated ignoring what she'd told him to do.
A few villagers did a doubletake as they saw him walking through the streets. He could hear their whispers and horrified comments that the Hokage allowed him to be a genin. What struck him as odd was that none of the villagers tried to stop him or say anything where they thought he could hear them. Even in the local market, the villagers shopping left him alone. The owner didn't overcharge him, but she wouldn't haggle on a price either. It seemed his new status only went so far. Many tolerated his existence but did so reluctantly or out of fear.
The last of Naruto's clones dismissed itself as he finished eating dinner. The shadow clone version of himself found an interesting book on shaping chakra. Naruto paused, his chopsticks hovering in the air, as the new wave of information assimilated into his memory. His clones, left to their own devices, had found a lot of interesting things around the village, but the sheer volume of information was hard to process. In the space of three hours, memories of five different clones assaulted his consciousness. It was like he'd packed five days' worth of experiences crammed into a short period of time. He felt disoriented and confused as he worked through the new memories.
The next morning, Naruto crawled out of bed with a migraine headache. He could barely remember everything he'd done and only had the vaguest sense of what his clones had tried to learn. By the time he got to the training field to meet with his team, the pain in his skull abated some, but he still didn't want to use any shadow clones if he could help it. Of course, that was the first thing Kurenai wanted to work with him on.
"We'll need to come up with a way to incorporate your clones into the team's options," she said with a frown. "You look terrible. What's wrong?"
Naruto grunted and rubbed his temples. "I let my clones read whatever they wanted yesterday. When they released themselves, all those memories came back," he grumbled.
"That... couldn't have been pleasant," the jonin mused as she looked him over. "We'll worry with your clones another day. Are you capable of sparing with Hinata?"
Naruto noticed the lack of honorific and raised an eyebrow. Kurenai just waited for an answer. "I'm well enough," he answered with a shrug. Maybe some physical training might help his head. It didn't.
As he lay there twenty minutes later, Naruto stared up at the sky, watching the clouds pass by. "You look worse than you did earlier," Shino commented as he came into Naruto's view.
"Hinata is getting better."
"She's working hard at home, I hear," Shino continued with the barest hint of a shrug. "I heard my mother talking about it. Our teammate has spent a lot of time in the public training grounds and not in her clan's compound."
"Really? Which one?"
"No idea."
Naruto grunted a laugh. He sat up and watched as Kurenai lightly spared with Hinata. The blue-haired genin had a look of intense focus as she parried her instructor's strikes with flowing attacks, her palms forward. It was a signature taijutsu stance of the Hyuga Clan. Naruto liked using a claw-fist for chakra-enhanced attacks, but he didn't have Hinata's closely-guarded training.
"Shino, are you ready to again?"
"I'd like to wait a few more minutes. Your blocks are bruising my forearms. My companions are attempting to assess the damage."
"I didn't mean to hit you so hard," Naruto apologized with a frown. He looked Shino over but his teammate showed no signs of pain on his face. "I could... try to use my medical knowledge to maybe help."
"No, I'd rather you no."
"Fair enough."
"Alright, you two," Kurenai called. "Come on over. We're going to take a small break while I talk to you about what I want each of you to work on."
They all sat on the grass in a circle as the jonin pulled a book from her pouch. "Now, this is what I use to review my thoughts for the day. I want each of you to start carrying something to take notes with. We are information gatherers and sometimes spies. Each of you needs to know what is going on around you at all times. Shino, what did you do after you left us yesterday?" she asked.
"I went home and slept," he answered without a trace of shame.
"Okay," Kurenai laughed. "What about after that?" she pressed.
"I went with my mother to get groceries."
"Good, how many people did you interact with while shopping? What were they wearing? How many of them would you say were dangerous or remarkable in some way?" the jonin questioned in quick succession.
Shino looked taken aback. "Uh, I... don't remember," he admitted.
"Hinata, what did you do after leaving us?"
"I went to Training Ground Four," she answered with a faint blush. "I wanted to get in better shape."
"That's why your muscles were sore today," Kurenai sighed. "You have to build up stamina. Not everyone is a monster like Naruto when it comes to that." Naruto flinched at her words. She turned to him. "I don't mean you are a monster or a demon. Far from it. You do, however, have a monstrous amount of energy, chakra, and physical conditioning."
Naruto grunted and nodded. It still stung to hear her call him a monster. He'd heard that all his life. "I understand," he muttered.
Kurenai eyed him for a moment before nodding. She turned back to Hinata and continued, "who stood out to you as either dangerous or remarkable as you came or left the training grounds? What do you remember of your walk?"
Hinata pondered the questions for a moment. "I saw a few chunin, one person in fine clothing that looked out of place headed to the Hokage's Residence, and... well, that's it," she answered slowly.
Kurenai nodded before turning to Naruto. She didn't need to repeat the questions. "I went out for groceries too. I don't remember much other than seeing a lot of villagers," he admitted with a shrug.
"Each of you needs to be more cognizant of your surroundings. Every person you see needs to register within your mind. They might be immediately dismissed for various reasons, but I want each of you to write down something important or outstanding about people you see on the streets. Eventually, I'll expect you to be able to recite exactly what you saw when you walked into a store. Do you understand why this is important?" Kurenai asked as she looked at her charges.
"So, when we get a glimpse of something, like a room, we'll be able to remember every last detail," Shino answered in a flat tone.
"That, and you'll need to do it without concentrating. During our D-ranked missions, I'll ask each of you to do some task that requires your focus, while you are attempting to complete the mission. For example, if you're helping with constructing a building, you'll have to count the villagers and shinobi that pass by. I'll ask you a series of questions about what you either saw, did, or inferred about your surroundings."
Naruto whistled and scratched his head. "We'll be able to do all that?" he asked.
"Not at first, no," Kurenai admitted. "However, starting today, I want you to focus on what is around you. All of your need to open your eyes and take in what you see. Remember it, analyze it, and evaluate it. Those three things I will drum into your heads. The skills I'll be teaching you have far-reaching gains in other areas of your life, such as genjutsu," she said with a look at Naruto. "If your senses are interfered with, you'll be able to tell very quickly. Then it is a matter of escaping the illusion."
Naruto nodded as her words sunk in. "Also using genjutsu would be easier because we'd know what to change," he added.
"I want each of your to focus on your senses at all times. Hear, smell, touch, see, and taste. In that order. Hinata, that might be a little different for you, but I hope it'll help improve what your byakugan sees if you can filter out things with your other senses. Shino, your insects are a little limited in scope, but they give you a powerful advantage. If you know what to mark or attack through logical deduction, then you'll be more competent for it. Naruto, your heightened senses give you a slight edge in normal situations, so use that to give you forewarning of any danger. If something smells off, then it probably is dangerous."
Everyone nodded as Kurenai looked at each of them. "So you want us to write what we see down?" Hinata asked as he looked at the pad in Kurenai's hand.
"Yes, I want you to write down your experiences and what you saw until it becomes second nature to catalog your observations. Remember, analyze, and evaluate. Make note of anything off, or different, about a person, analyze why you marked them, and evaluate what you see. For the next two weeks, I want you to focus on the people around you. Adults, children, shinobi, craftsmen, anything that stands out to you. It will allow me to see how your thought process works and hopefully help you expand on it. Any questions?"
When everyone shook their head, Kurenai nodded and stood. "You're dismissed for the day. Naruto, I want you to wait another day before experimenting with your clones. In fact, we'll work together to get the most out of your jutsu. I might even have a few ideas that will help you in the long run, however, rest first," she ordered with a look on her face that told him not to argue.
"Okay," he answered with a shrug. He still wasn't feeling great even after the physical exertion.
