AN: I own nothing

The next two years went by fast, the boys had made steady progress, they had good stamina and the leaf exercise had become as easy as walking to the two of them. They were at low genin level and were slowly but surely approaching mid genin level but the stronger they got the harder it got for them to improve.

It was January and they were a month away from entering the academy, training at their training grounds facing each other about to spar another round when Itachi appeared in the middle.

"Big brother, you didn't say you'd be coming here today" Sasuke said but ran up to greet Itachi anyway, he wouldn't complain, his brother had been far too busy since he had joined the ANBU, having him train them would be nice. Itachi smiled at Sasuke and Naruto, he'd missed spending time with his little brother and Naruto was nice to be around too, the boy was like a ray of sunshine.

"Boys, it's been a while" Itachi said calm as always. He got three strips of paper from his pocket and handed the boys one each then kept one for himself. "This is chakra paper, an expensive piece of paper but if you apply your chakra to it." Itachi demonstrated and his piece of paper caught on fire and burned to ash.

"Senpai, I think you burned it" Naruto said seriously. Itachi chuckled and explained, "On the contrary Naruto that was supposed to happen, chakra paper reacts to one's primary affinity. If it is fire it'll burn, like mine just did. If it's water it will get wet, if it's earth it crumbles, if it's lightning it wrinkles and if it's wind it will tear"

The boys infused the paper they got with chakra, Sasuke's paper wrinkled and Naruto's tore. Itachi looked a bit surprised at both of the results, "Uchiha usually have fire nature like myself, I suppose I'll have to teach you a lightning jutsu" He saw Sasuke's disappointment at that statement so he continued, "Though it isn't unheard of for us to have other affinities. It just means you'll have to work a bit harder in order to learn fire jutsu Sasuke. Having a wind affinity in the land of fire is also rare, few shinobi can use it well here in the leaf and even fewer have it as their primary affinity"

The boys nodded at this taking in all the information Itachi was giving them. Naruto asked a question he had, had since they tested their affinities, "So which is better, lightning or wind?" Itachi rolled his eyes at this, he should have known that, that's what they would want to know, "Each affinity has its strength and weakness, what's important is knowing when to use a jutsu"

Naruto nodded vigorously "Yes, yes, knowing when to use a jutsu is as important as knowing how to use the jutsu, you and Shisui senpai tell us this all the time. What I want to know though is which is better" Naruto finished with a smile

Itachi sighed, "Wind is weak against Fire, fire is weak against water, water is weak against earth, earth is weak against lightning and lighting is weak against wind. That doesn't mean however that there aren't ways to overcome these weaknesses. Almost all jonin in the village have mastered two affinities. When deciding on a second element to add to your arsenals think about your strengths and weaknesses, don't just do it to one up each other."

Naruto still had a big smile on his face, "You hear that Sasuke, I'm better than you." He laughed obnoxiously "Ha. Ha. Ha. That's right, cower in fear at the sight of the great Uzumaki Naruto!" Sasuke just sighed and Itachi face palmed as this was going on.

Itachi turned his head a little to the left, "You can come out now, Shisui." Shisui appeared in the clearing with a grin, "I guess I can't hide from ANBU level senses." He said teasingly, causing Itachi to roll his eyes.

"Since you know a few wind jutsu you should show Naruto one and I'll show Sasuke a lightning jutsu, as I've been exposed to a few." Itachi said, "Keep it D ranked please" he added, it wouldn't do for Naruto to mistakenly injure himself while practicing.

"Teach Sasuke the Body Flicker while you're at it, I promised I'd teach them how to do it." Shisui said with a grin.

Itachi and Sasuke went to the one side of the clearing and Shisui led Naruto to the other side


Sasuke followed his brother he was glad Shisui showed up to teach Naruto, it had been a while since he got to spend time with Itachi, the ANBU black ops kept him very busy. He understood that all of his missions were super important for the village but still, he missed his older brother.

"The jutsu I'll be teaching you is called the Lightning Bolt jutsu, and just like its name suggests." Itachi went through a few hand signs, extended an arm forward and from his hand came a short bolt of lightning that struck the target. "It is trickier than it looks to aim this jutsu, it will leave minor burns on your target and have them numb for a bit."

Sasuke looked at his brother and grinned, he went through the hand signs for the jutsu and fired at the target, he missed by a small margin and narrowed his eyes, "You're right, it is very tricky to aim"

Itachi gave his brother a look of pride, "Very well done Sasuke, you've done extremely well. For a beginner to even pull off that jutsu first try with no instruction you really are a genius and one day you'll be even better than me." He smiled at his younger brother. He had missed him that had been the reason that he sent Shisui with Naruto.

Sasuke smiled at his brother "Just you wait I'll completely master this jutsu by the time the academy starts" he went through the signs for the lightning bolt jutsu again trying to adjust his aim, this time he missed by a slight margin on the other side of the target. He forced down the frustration that he was starting to feel with a deep breath and went through the signs again and was finally able to hit the target.

Itachi smiled at his brother, "That's enough of that jutsu for now. Save some chakra for learning the Body Flicker." He proceeded to walk Sasuke through the process of learning the jutsu.


Naruto followed behind Shisui, "So senpai what kind of wind jutsu will you be teaching me today? Something cool I hope, like a jutsu that lets me make tornadoes or a hurricane?" Naruto asked with stars in his eyes.

Shisui laughed, "Unfortunately most if not all low level wind jutsu are defensive, I'd teach you a C rank but Itachi can be scary when he wants." Naruto deflated at that but Shisui continued, "Don't you worry though my young disciple, I think I have the perfect D rank wind jutsu for you… It's called the Propelling Winds jutsu." He finished with a grin.

Naruto closed his eyes and seemed to be in deep thought, "Senpai, that doesn't sound cool at all." Shisui laughed at Naruto's seriousness, "Trust me Naruto if you completely master this jutsu you'll be one of the coolest ninja in the village." Shisui went through the hand signs for the jutsu slowly, stretched his arms behind him with open palms and he was shot forward very quickly, probably three times as fast as Naruto could currently sprint.

Naruto's eyes widened. Shisui smirked, "You see my young disciple, without the Sharingan you'll never be able to use the Body Flicker to my level, but if you master this jutsu to the point where I've mastered the Body Flicker then you'll be able to out maneuver almost anyone, which is basically as important as being faster than them."

Naruto ran through the hand signs pointed his hands back and was blasted forward, he would have knocked himself out against a tree if Shisui hadn't appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the shirt as he moved past. "When you master this jutsu you'll be able to control your speed more accurately and move extremely fast. Though you'll need an open space to practice, I'm sure you'll eventually be able to do it without hand seals. Like the Body Flicker hardly anyone takes the time to learn this jutsu to its fullest potential and that's a shame."

"Senpai I know I said wanted to learn the Body Flicker, but can you teach me another jutsu instead?" Naruto asked, fully intent on mastering and improving the jutsu he just learned.

"Mmh, okay I'll teach you a D and eventually a C rank earth jutsu." Shisui said understanding what the blond was thinking. He went on to say "I can guarantee that the next jutsu Sasuke learns will be a fire jutsu and even though fire and earth are neutral to each other it's a good way to balance the two of you… also you can't tell Itachi about this."

Naruto gave a beaming smile and bowed, "I promise that I won't senpai." Shisui seeing that the boy was serious nodded, thinking to the jutsu he'd seen ninja perform with his Sharingan. After a while he was sure he had the perfect two.

Shisui went through the signs for the Earth Clone jutsu, it made a strong but slow clone that could take two strong hits before dispersing and couldn't perform any jutsu. A clone rose from the earth and stood next to Shisui, it rushed Naruto at speed he could handle. Blue eyes widened when Naruto realized he could hear the steps and see the clone's shadow.

He dodged a kick from the clone by ducking under it, he charged while the clone's leg was and landed a kick on the clone's stomach and it jumped back. When it came at him a second time it was more serious, 'It's faster this time and it doesn't look like I'll be getting another free hit.' Naruto thought while furiously dodging punch after punch and kick after kick. An idea came to him, he jumped back and waited for the clone to rush at him again, and when it did he positioned himself a little to its left and waited for his opportunity.

It came when the clone was going for a jab Naruto dodged by jumping backwards, before he landed he was already going through hand signs, he pointed his hands back as soon as he finished, having just landed and the blond was launched forward and hit the clone with a heavy shoulder charge in the stomach, it slowed down his momentum a lot and broke apart.

Shisui smiled, he knew he'd made the right decision teaching Naruto that jutsu, the blond had a chaotic mind and would most likely come up with very interesting ways to use that jutsu, the spar he'd witnessed told him that he would most likely make very good use of the clones as well. "Very good Naruto, learn the Earth Clone jutsu and I'll teach you another Earth Jutsu when Sasuke learns the Grand Fireball." He showed the blond the hand signs again, "Now you give it a shot."

Naruto tried and a brown brittle looking copy came out of the ground, it took a step and crumbled. Shisui laughed "Don't worry keep practicing and you'll get it eventually."

"Sure senpai." Naruto nodded, "There's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about but please promise me that you won't tell Sasuke about it" Naruto said almost shyly.

That had Shisui kind of worried Naruto wasn't the most outgoing kid but he was never shy around the Uchiha, if anything he was bold. "Sure kid, hell, I won't even tell Itachi he's the one you have to worry about when it comes to telling Sasuke things." That got a giggle out of Naruto.

"Thanks senpai" Naruto said looking down, "You see I've been having this dream"

'A dream huh? That's what has him so shaken?' Shisui thought with a raised eyebrow and that made Naruto fidget even more.

"Well it's more like a nightmare you see? I think it's been happening every night for the past two weeks. In the dream I'm in a forest, it's late at night and the stars and moon are out. There are a few different paths to take but something keeps pulling me down the same path every time. I follow it until the end and it leads to a field." Naruto looked to Shisui to see if he was still listening. Shisui, seemed hang on to every word and was looking at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

Naruto continued after a bit, "In the field there's a giant metal gate that goes as high as the sky, the gate is locked and it's very dark behind it. But I can feel something scary and dangerous is behind it, I always shout, 'Hello!' and when I do two giant eyes open and look at me then I hear a roar from behind the cage. I get so scared it's like I'm frozen in place then a deep voice from the cage tells me to run and not to disturb its' sleep but I can't move, I'm always too scared to move. At that point something red and thick comes crawling towards me so I run as fast as I can. I always wake up with my heart beating very fast."

Shisui was quiet for a while and that scared Naruto a bit. 'So Naruto has made contact with the Ninetails huh? I see it must be because of his constant meditation' Shisui thought but out loud he said, "You know Naruto as ninja we face many times when we are scared maybe for our lives or our comrades lives, what is important in these situations Naruto is to be courageous and face your fears, confront them."

Naruto looked at Shisui sadly, "Senpai I'm not like you I'm just so scared in those moments." Shisui laughed, "You think I don't get scared my young disciple? Everyone gets scared but to do something, despite being scared that Naruto is what courage is, besides…" Shisui said with a smile "If you can't face a little nightmare how are you going to face your fears in real life?"

Naruto grinned at that "You're right senpai, thank you!"

Shisui was wondering if he'd made a mistake or not by encouraging his student to talk to the Ninetails, 'Well if summons are intelligent why would the Ninetails be any different, I just hope Naruto's smart enough to avoid getting manipulated'

Sasuke and Itachi appeared at that moment, "You learn anything you can use Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a grin, Naruto answered with one of his own, "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we."

Itachi interrupted before the boys could begin bickering about who was better, "It's getting late, we should get going, mother will be displeased if we stay out longer and you should go too Naruto."

Naruto nodded at that if he was late again he'd be on toilet duty, at least when he started at the academy the old man said he could live on his own if he wanted, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks again Shisui senpai." Naruto said bowing.

"You see Sasuke, that's what we call respect" Shisui said as everyone was leaving the clearing. "We can't blame Naruto he's always been a bit stupid" Sasuke shot back.

"Hey! I heard that!" Naruto called from the other side of the clearing as they all walked home.


AN: You'll notice that I changed Naruto's mind scape I did this because of his slightly different upbringing and mentality, though it is a silent lonely forest because he is still a bit lonely.