Time Skip - 1 Year

"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!"

Two identical clones made of pure water formed at Naruto's feet. All three held kunai as they sprinted off towards Shisui. The lone Uchiha grinned widely as he easily dispatched both clones with a soft kick to the chest. He sidestepped Naruto's attempt to kick his stomach, taking advantage of Naruto's new opening, grabbing the blonde's leg, throwing him over his back. Naruto wasted no time as he performed a quick kawarimi appearing to Shisui's left side. The Uchiha bent his back backwards sending a sweep kick under Naruto's leg making the blonde fall to the floor. Shisui moved his body until he was atop Naruto, arm around his neck in a choke hold. The whole time his goofy grin never left his face, as he watched the blonde struggle under his weight.

"That was better. You're differently improving my little turtle." Naruto scowled, his face pressed up against the forest floor attempting to gare at his sensei. "I said stop calling me that!" Shisui only smiled as he pushed Naruto deeper into the ground. "And honestly turtle-chan, a genjutsu, on an Uchiha? I've taught you better than that." Naruto's body then sunk into the ground, turning into blades of grass while Shisui used his signature jutsu, the Shunshin technique; or the Body Flicker. In a sudden flash he was about 10 feet away his elbow extended out seemingly hitting air. Suddenly Naruto's body appeared from what looked like nowhere and flew across the training ground and impacted with the nearest tree. He spat out a small amount Silvia, leaving a pretty decent sized dent in the tree. Naruto gave an audible groan. His arm coming up to rub his chest, his ribs felt like crap. He looked up to see his sensei kneeling down at him. His arms resting on his knees as he grinned at Naruto

"I'm proud that you managed to get that genjutsu down so fast."

Naruto gave a silly grin, in the past year since the sudden falling out of his family he had been spending more and more time with Shisui. The young anbu managed to take some time off of his shinobi duties to help train Naruto, and while he was more experienced than the highest academy student, he was only slightly a genin level shinobi. "It wasn't too bad. The only real issue was understanding how the jutsu worked." he spoke as he rubbed the back of his neck. A mannerism he picked up by hanging around with Shisui.

The 'Hidden Person' genjutsu, mainly used for assassination missions. It was a C rank genjutsu that focused more on the fundamentals of genjutsu itself. It wasn't just how good your chakra control was, it was understanding how the cerebral nervous system works in order to manipulate your opponents 5 major senses. Any shinobi could perform genjutsu, it was how precise your chakra control was to really make the illusion convincing. Shisui gave a nod of his head, watching Naruto get to his feet. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"So Naruto how's the academy going? Have you learned anything yet?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders, his eyes flashing suddenly with annoyance. It's been about a year now that Naruto was enrolled in the shinobi academy along with his siblings, and all the clan heirs from the major clans in the village. And like usual, no one batted an eyelash in his direction. Even the teacher of his class was shocked when he read his name, apparently thinking there were only two Namikaze children. And speaking of the two Namikaze children. Last year, during the first real fight he had with his family and hitting Natsu right between the eyes with his jutsu. The next morning he was forced to apologize to his brother and sister. While Natsu got off scot free, no punishment, no scolding. Just an imaginary slap on the wrist while Naruto was grounded for two weeks, with only a limited amount of food at his disposal. He wasn't allowed to go out to eat with them (not like they would have noticed anyway), or go shopping.

"I haven't learned anything at all! All we have been doing is stupid leaning exercises. Stuff we all already know about!" Naruto huffed angrily as he crossed his arms over his chest earning a laugh from Shisui. The Uchiha looked down at Naruto, a grin appearing on his face as he ruffeld the blonde's hair. Naruto pouted up at Shisui "I know that the academy is super boring right now, but they do teach you the basics of being a shinobi." Naruto scoffed at that. Forcefully removing Shisui's hand from his hair "You already taught me the basics. Hell, more than half the class are from major clans in Konoha, who already know the basics!" Naruto said taking a seat on the floor crossing his arms with a huff. Shisui shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against the tree next to the blonde. Looking at Naruto with a fond smile. "Well you still have a ways to go Turtle-chan, it won't be easy getting all the way to the top." Naruto blushed deeply as he jumped to his feet glaring at his sensei

"S-stop calling me that dammit!"

"Hey it's not my fault I caught you playing with some turtles when I got here."

Naruto huffed in annoyance as he tried to push down his growing blush. Shisui tried to fight back a laugh before giving in completely. After his laughter died down he walked over to the blonde. He put one arm on his hip before letting out a deep sigh. Naruto looked up at his sensei and raised a confused eyebrow. That was strange, he had never seen Shisui do something like that before. Naruto started to feel uncomfortable at the sudden silence, he shifted in his seat before he opted to ask Shisui what he was doing. Before he could speak Naruto jumped as Shisui suddenly snapped his fingers.

"That's it!"

"What's it?"

Shisui chuckled as a large goofy grin spread across his face. Naruto suddenly felt a chill sneak its way to his spine. Whatever his sensei had come to realize would not be a pleasant one. "So Naruto." Shsiui said, gaining the blondes attention. Naruto gulped, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He looked around, making sure no one else was here before kneeling down and looked at Naruto deep in the eyes. If he noticed the sweat started to beat down Naruto's face, he didn't mention it. Shisui hummed as he flicked Naruto on the forehead, rather hard I may add. Naruto gave a cry of surprise, Rubbing his now sore forehead before looking up and glaring at his sensei. His face beat red from embarrassment. Before he could yell at the older man he saw a pretty good sized scroll in his hands thrusting it towards Naruto. Naruto had to lean back a bit to get a better look as it was a little too close. Naruto frowned in confusion as he grabbed the scroll from Shisui. "Shisui-niisan what is this?" he said before placing the scroll on the floor and unraveling it. Shisui laughed before taking a seat across the blonde.

"Well I've been trying to think about the perfect thing to finally boost your training into overdrive. And this" he said pointing at the scroll "Is what I have come up with." he finished and Naruto nodded his head in excitement. Once he opened the scroll fully he placed his hand on the little sealing array in front of him channeling a small amount of chakra into it. A sudden poof went off and Naruto swung his hand in the arm trying to rid the smoke that obscured his vision. After the smoke cleared he finally was able to see what was inside. Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking between Shisui and the revealed items. "I don't understand. They look like big magnets." Naruto deadpanned, making Shsiui break out into a fit of laughter. Naruto frowned in confusion, he didn't know what was so funny. After Shisui regained his composure he held up one of the 'magnets' as Naruto called them and told the boy to stand up. Naruto did as he was told and Shisui went behind Naruto and began to tie the 'magnet' around his legs.

"No baka these are training weights. We're going to leave these on your body until you get accustomed to them." Naruto groaned as he felt his legs start to become heavy, he found it a lot harder to maintain his posture. He felt Shisui start to tie the remaining weight onto his arms now. "I still don't get it. How is making me heavy, training?" he said as he slumped his arms down from the sudden weight.

"These weights will get your body used to them, and once you get used to them you will feel that your muscles and body will have grown stronger. And you will see that once you take them off after a while your body will feel as light as a feather, making it real easy to move; therefore making you faster." Naruto looked up dumbfounded. These simple weights did all that? That was incredible! "Wow that's amazing! So how long do I have to keep these on for? A few days? A month? Two months?" Shisui sweatdropped at the rapid fire questions as he waved his hand in the air, a devious smirk forming on his face. "Oh you know only forever. Till we have to raise the amount."

Naruto felt his face fall. His excitement evaporated almost instantly as he looked at upwards, his innocent eyes wide open. A deafening silence fell in the clearing as Naruto digested the words that were fed to him. "F-forever? Like e-ever ever?" Shisui nodded his head trying his best not to bust out laughing.

"Well of course Turtle-chan. You have to keep raising the amount and keep them on constantly to get used to them. So get used to sleeping with them."

Naruto finally gave in and fell to the ground, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the new weights on his body or his broken morale. Shisui rubbed the back of his head in amusement. Lightly tapping the blonde with his foot to gain his attention as he picked up the second scroll that was with the weights. While on the ground Naruto turned his head as he saw the scroll get picked up. He didn't even notice there was another scroll. Shisui placed it next to Naruto "Make sure you read this scroll. It's a B rank genjutsu that's pretty difficult to pull off. Now if you don't learn it by the time I come back from my mission don't feel discouraged." he said. After knowing Naruto for the past year he really started to understand the blonde on a deeper level. He knew that Naruto would likely start to feel insecure and tell himself he wasn't good enough if he didn't learn a jutsu quickly, especially if it was a B rank. Sure it isn't the most difficult jutsu out there, it really was only a B rank since it used a good portion of chakra to cast it. But knowing Naruto, he would berate himself constantly for it.

"It is pretty complicated. So take your time with it, I'll only be gone for about one week."

Naruto frowned as he picked himself off the ground rather sluggish, still getting used to the large amount of weights on his body. He forgot that Shisui was supposed to leave on a mission today. Still he was happy that he took time out of his busy day to come teach him a few things. But he would show Shisui that he could learn this jutsu with no problem! While he was more excited than usual since this would be his highest rated jutsu, it did send some nervousness into his system. But he would make sure to complete it, no, master it before he got back! Naruto grabbed the scroll and something finally dawned on him.

"Hey Shisui-niisan where did you get this scroll? You suddenly just had it with you?"

Shisui raised an eyebrow at the blonde before shaking his head. "No. When I figured it out what to get you I quickly left and threw the scroll together from home."

Naruto's eyes grew to the size of saucers, his mouth falling open in shock as he stared starry eyed at his sensei. "W-wait you left? But I didn't see you move!" Naruto screamed and Shisui gave a hearty laugh "Come on kid they don't call me "Shisui of The Body Flicker just for fun!" he said with a grin as he saluted his student and with his free hand pointed at the scroll in Naruto's hand making the blonde avert his eyes. "Now make sure to study! See you in a week!"

"W-wait Shis…..ui?"

Naruto looked back up to see that he was already gone. Not a single trace of Shisui left in sight. Naruto looked in awe, not believing his sensei was capable of something so cool! This only seemed to push Naruto more into proving that he was a copable shinobi! So without wasting any more time he jumped into a seating position and unraveled the scroll. Not wanting to let any motivation go to waste.

"Now lets learn this jutsu!"

"God this is impossible!"

Naruto yelled as he threw his body backwards onto the forest floor. Looking up into the beautiful blue sky as he threw his arms out as well, they hit the ground with a loud thud as he still wasn't used to his new weights. Naruto huffed as he glared up at the sky, his eyes picking one cloud out of the many masses and sending a chilling glare its way. "This is all your fault! This is supposed to be an easy genjutsu to learn, why can't you just work with me!" he screamed at the cloud. His anger started to get the better as he yelled empty threats at the large mass of water vapor. It has been five days since Shsiui left on his mission and Naruto made basically zero progress on the jutsu. He clenched his fists in irritation, he managed to get the water clone jutsu down in one day. And the Hidden Person technique barely took him two days! He huffed in annoyance as he grabbed his hair in annoyance "Gah stupid ass genjutsu!" He said before sitting up. He pouted as he read the scroll for what felt like the millionth time.

Perfect Rainfall

An illusion which changes the atmosphere into sudden acid rainfall that burns one skin if touched. Must use a good amount of chakra in order to perform this technique, needing enough to trick the sense of one's body.

After glazing over the scroll one last time he crossed his legs and performed the necessary hand seals. He channeled his chakra through his body, feeling it seamlessly pass through his coils. With one last sudden pulse he broke the hand seal, his face scrunching in concentration. He slowly opened his eyes as he glanced to the sky. The sky was now a dark grey in color, dark clouds overtook the setting sun shadowing it from view. Then he felt something wet fall onto his arm. One by one more droplets started to fall from the sky soaking him from the sudden torrent of rainfall. Ignoring the rain he looked back upwards to the same cloud he screamed at earlier, his face getting drenched as he scowled deeply.

"Now you're just taunting me you asshole!"

He picked up his scroll raveling it back up before quickly making his way over to a small clearing he knew was near the training ground. It was some ways away, closer to training ground 13, but it would be the perfect spot to shelter himself from the rain for now. Pushing a bush out of his way he stumbled into the clearing, there was a large open area with large trees outlining it. It had overtaken the area, growing high enough that the bark and leaves from the trees made it so rain could not fall onto this area. Only a small amount of light shone through the leaves making the surroundings super dim. Naruto stopped his trek as he heard a kunai wince by, his eyes growing wide as he followed the sound only to see the weapon embed itself into a poorly made target on one of the trees.

Looking back into the clearing noticing a vague silhouette in the center. Letting his eyes adjust to the lighting he was able to make out the chunin uniform the person was wearing, along with a head of unkempt onyx hair. He saw her open her eyes, silently transfixed as bright ruby iris's caught his attention. She abruptly jumped to her feet, kicking upwards. Her bright red pants captured his attention, not noticing her reach into the pouch on her waist and sending three more kunai into their designated targets. Jumping in the air with a flip, her legs extended out smashing a target to pieces before spinning a kunai into her free hand. Using the blade she stuck it into the ground, gripping the hilt and spun herself around propelling herself back up into the air for extra momentum.

Naruto watched in awe as he witnessed the woman train. He couldn't believe his eyes, he had never seen anything like this before. And before he knew he had to shield his eyes as the clearing erupted brightly. A large fireball exploded into the clearing lighting up the area, she sent another one in the sky using the force to propel herself back down towards the ground. Naruto watched as she landed back onto the ground gracefully. Not a single flaw in her step or mistake in her posture. Naruto was starstruck at seeing first hand fire manipulation. Shisui never used jutsu when they spared or showed off any of his skills other than taijutsu. So seeing real jutsu from somebody else was awesome. Before Naruto could expel his excitement, he felt something sharp go against his neck. He froze as he glanced down to see a kunai pressed up against his neck.

Fear started to leak through him as he noticed the girl he was previously watching was now nowhere to be seen, and the scorch marks that were left behind from the fire jutsu also vanished. Trying to calm down his increasing heart beat he looked behind him to see the percicing red eyes of the girl he was just observing. He felt the kunai press deeper into his neck as panic spread.

"Who are you and why are you watching me? You some sort of perv?"

Naruto shook his head, sacred beyond belief "N-no! I-i was just passing t-through w-w-when I saw you! I swear!" he said frantically. The woman hummed in thought as she finally got a good look at the person she held captive. He was young, much younger then she would have thought from his presence. She sensed him the moment he got in the clearing and waited to see if he was gonna reveal himself or not. When he didn't she decided to act first. Afterall, it's not the first time someone was spying on her. And he didn't seem like the pervy type, afterall he looked like a normal academy student. She pushed down her shame at putting a kunai to the young kids neck, and she would have sworn the kid looked a little familiar. She removed the blade from his neck and put it back safely in her pouch making Naruto sigh in relief. He definitely will never tell Shisui-nissan about this. Naruto looked back at the girl, kicking his feet a little in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry miss. I was training and it started to rain so I decided to come here. If I knew you were here I wouldn't have come!" he said embarrassed. Not being able to look the tall woman in the eye, she offered him a small smile, clearly amused by the kids antics. But she did feel a little guilty.

"No no I should be the one apologizing. I overreacted quite a bit there."

Naruto shook his head at her, putting on his biggest smile "No I understand, if someone was watching me I would be freaked out too!"

He said, making the older woman laugh a bit. He put his hand out extending it to the woman "Im Naruto Namikaze, it's good to meet you!" he said happily. The woman widened her eyes a bit, so that's why the boy looked familiar. Taking in his features once again, the seven year old boy resembled his father greatly. The lighting in the clearing made it hard to distinguish all his features exactly. The woman offered a gentle smile before accepting his hand.

"I'm Kurenai Yuhi. A pleasure to meet you Naruto-kun."

Naruto felt his cheeks start to burn from the affectionate suffix, he scratched the back of his head as she looked at the boy amused, taking in his features one more time. "No wonder you're all soaked, I had no idea it was raining." she said before walking past the blonde and back into the wide open clearing. Naruto followed after her watching as she performed several hand seals.

"Illumination Factor."

Right before Naruto's eyes the whole clearing became clear as day. His eyes going wide as the trees above them opened up revealing a bright blue cloudless sky. Naruto looked around amazed, not believing what Kureani had just done. Kurenai turned back towards Naruto looking into his shocked blue eyes with mirth.

"H-how did you do that!"

"It's a simple genjutsu, it's still raining in Konoha so I just made it so it was clear sunny skies for us alone." she explained and Naruto perked up at the mention of Genjutsu. Practically jumping in place.

"Wait genjutsu? Are you good at genjutsu Kurenai-san?"

Kureani nodded proudly. Her eyes took on a serious note, "Yes, in fact I'm striving to be the number one genjustu user in all of Konoha, it's what I specialize in." she said and Naruto looked up at her in awe. The feeling of pride that Kurenai let wash over her body. She straightened herself as Naruto started to ramble about his own training of genjutsu. As he was talking she couldn't help but wonder what the youngest child of the Yondaime would be out all alone out here training. Curiosity flashed within her mind as she focused her deep red eyes on the boy as he talked. His tone seemed happy, but she could easily recognize the underlying pain hidden in those endless ocean eyes of his. But regardless of the pain they held such warmth that she had never seen before, especially not in someone so young. She watched as he brought one of his hands up to scratch the back of his head as he talked, noticing the tick that he had displayed in their earlier meeting. Kurenai smiled slightly at the gesture, the boy had a cute expression when he was flustered. She blinked, finally noticing the black scroll he had in his other hand.

"And I just can't get this genjutsu down and I've been trying for the past five days!"

"What kind of genjutsu is it?"

Naruto blinked, handing the scroll over to Kurenai. Kurenai gave a quick thanks before taking a seat on the floor motioning Naruto to do the same. After opening the scroll she read over the contents before raising an eyebrow in confusion. Naruto noticed her sudden look "Is everything okay Kurenai-san?"

Kurenai nodded, without looking away from the scroll "Where did you get this jutsu Naruto-kun?"

Naruot tilted his head at the question "Shisui-niisan gave me this scroll before he left on his mission a few days ago."

Kurenai hid her surprise at the mention of Shisui's name. How could she not know who he was. He was assigned as captain to one of her missions a few months ago and he was one of the best shinobi she had worked with. He listened to the whole team and any ideas that they had and even supported the team and was open to suggestions. Not to mention him being of Uchiha descent, he didn't act like one at all. Most Uchiha were arrogant and outright rude, whenever she worked with another Uchiha they scoffed at her for pursuing genjutsu. Telling her it was useless to try and outbeat an Uchiha in genjutsu. Shisui was a polar opposite in every sense of the way. He was kind, humble, and when he was told of her dream he was ecstatic. Telling her he hopes to see her at the top one day. Sneaking a glance back over at the worried Namikaze next to her, how did Naruto and Shisui cross paths? Shisui was a pretty busy shinobi, but he seemed to spend enough time with Naruto for the boy to harbor an affectionate nickname for the man. It seems there was more to Naruto Namikaze than meets the eye. She turned the scroll back over to Naruto.

"What exactly were you having trouble with?"

Naruto slumped down and looked at the ground embarrassed. "I don't know. I'm using the right amount of chakra and the right hand seals. But when I try to cast the jutsu it wont work." Kurenai nodded at his explanation. Standing up she dusted her legs before asking Naruto to demonstrate and try to perform the technique. Naruto nodded hesitantly, before going through the necessary hand seals. Pulsing his chakra as Kurenai watched him under a critical eye. After a few moments of nothing happening Naruto groaned in disappointment. Looking down letting his hair fall into his eyes. "I don't get it, i'm doing everything I can."

Kurenai softened her gaze at the boy, understanding flashing in her eyes. Genjutsu was indeed one of the hardest shinobi tactics to try and master. Which is a main reason more people don't try and learn it after all. But she was pretty certain on why he wasn't able to complete it.

"I think I know what your problem is."

Naruto snapped his head up to Kurenai, "Really? What is it?"

Kurenai took a seat right across the blonde, crossing her legs and putting her hands in a meditative pose. Naruto raised an eyebrow but kept quiet. "Genjutsu is essentially the control of one's cerebral nervous system by taking control of all five of their senses. We are altering their sensory ability to create false imagery that they believe is real. While in theory it makes sense, it is much more than that." she said, stopping for a moment to make sure that he was still paying attention. "But what most people don't understand that in order to appropriately make a genjutsu convincing is the one's understanding of themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Insecurities plague all of our minds on the daily, it dwells deep in our minds refusing to leave, fermenting into depression and fear. By understanding these problems, and coming to terms with who you are as a person, as a shinobi, letting go and accepting will allow your mind to open up clearly. Now Naruto, what is plaguing your mind?"

Naruto let his eyes go downcast, letting his pain surface up in a moment of vulnerability. Refusing to look back up as he tried to gather a single coherent thought that racked his brain. "I guess...I guess it's that I don't feel like I'm good enough for my family. They always ignore me, or are mean to me. Natsu and Narumi get everything they want and I get nothing. The only training I have is from Shisui-nissan since they refuse to train me."

Kureani fought back the urge to gasp as Naruto continued to talk. Not believing what she was hearing. Her views on the Yondaime changed by the second, as she looked at the boy with newfound sadness. Her own eyes falling downcast.

"It's always the same excuse, since Natsu and Narumi are jinchuriki they need the extra training and early lessons. They even forget me on my birthday…"he trailed off his voice sound no louder than a whisper. Shocking Kurenai, he raised his head up to look at her, offering her a smile. A smile that was way to bittersweet for her liking. "But...but i'm happy. I have Shisui-nissan, and now I have you Kurenai-san." he said, his eyes closing, hiding his tears as his smile grew. Kureani pushed her own tears back looking at the person she couldn't believe was only seven years old. She returned the smile, although a bit forced.

"Try and let go of your fears Naruto-kun. I know it will be hard, and there is no rush, so take it at your own place. Then genjutsu will be there for you."

Naruto wiped the remaining tears away from his eyes as he looked at Kurenai once more. He nodded his head. She couldn't help but let a single tear fall down her cheek. Reaching her hand out to affectionately rub the tears away from his face.

"Thank you Kurenai-san."