Chunin Exam Arc: Training

Neither Sakura nor Naruto could find Kakashi once it was all over, so they went their separate ways. Naruto went to see if he could check up on Hinata and Sasuke while Sakura went back home her parents note said they'd be getting back around this time.

She was a little disappointed to see they weren't back yet, but that gave her more time to train for her upcoming match. She'd need to find a way to counter Temari's futon. Sakura looked over as someone knocked on her front door, "coming!"

She opened it to see Kakashi, who waved "Yo Sakura-chan. Some things have come up, and I won't have time to train you all, so I've passed Naruto over to Ebisu-san, and I brought you some scrolls on doton jutsu you could use against the Suna girl. I'd have gotten someone to help, but most jonin and special jonin are busy, and you're pretty clever. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."

"Wow, Sensei, what did a new pervy book come out, and you're all scrambling to read it?" Sakura wouldn't admit to being annoyed by her Sensei not even being able to find someone to pass her off to for this month.

"Hm kind of but not really. It's nothing you need to worry about as a genin you just need to worry about training and showing how much you've improved since the Academy."

He handed over the scrolls and disappeared with a puff of smoke. Sakura sighed and headed back inside to look over the new material she'd head to their team's training ground tomorrow after visiting the hospital.

Naruto was pissed why of all people did Kakashi-sensei think Ebisu the closet pervert would be an acceptable replacement. "I don't want to train with you. I'd rather do it alone if I can't train with Kakashi-sensei."

Ebisu sighed and adjusted his glasses "I agreed to this because I owed Kakashi-san, and... I admit you have inspired the Honorable Grandson where I failed, so I wish to show my thanks by helping you improve yourself for the Chunin Exams."

"Hmph, I don't like you. You don't own up to your perverted ways. I beat you in a fight, why should I let you teach me?"

"Oh, I must prove myself to the genin. Alright, how about this? If you can get away from me, I'll drop this and tell Kakashi-san that I cannot help. If I can stay with you until you concede, I will have proven myself a reliable tutelage source. How does that sound to you, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto scrunched his face in annoyance "don't call me that, and fine, I agree."

"Then, we shall start right away." Ebisu adjusted his glasses "You best start running."

Naruto tore down the hospital halls and was out on the roofs of Konoha in no time. He grinned as it looked like Ebisu wasn't anywhere to be seen. He cheered as he landed on a rooftop only to see a shadow cast over him, and when he looked up, Ebisu was standing there smiling.

Naruto smoke bombed the roof, and twenty Narutos burst out in all directions. The chase went on for hours until Naruto finally caved and agreed to have Ebisu teach him. Ebisu treated him to ramen and explained their training. "Chakra control? I see Sakura practicing it all the time. Sensei says she has the best control out of the three of us. Why do I need to do it?"

Ebisu sighed "because as it stands based on what I've been told from Kakashi-san and from your records at the Academy, you have the worst control not only of your team but of your graduating year. You use almost twice the amount of chakra to perform almost half the amount of a jutsu as the others. The only reason you have managed till now is that your an-" he cut himself off and cleared his throat "because you have a large chakra reserve."

Naruto smiled "I know about my parents Ebisu-san Kakashi-sensei told me all about them. Jiji would only tell me who my mom was, so I had to ask Sensei about my dad."

"So, you know he was the Hokage."

Naruto downed the rest of his ramen "Yep, and now I know for sure I can do it too. If my old man was good enough and my mom had the dream to do it, I can surely become the Hokage one day."

"Maybe but not with that chakra control. Since you're finished, we'll head out and start your training." Ebisu paid and stood "come along Naruto-san."

The two of them made their way to the hot springs, and once inside, Ebisu ran him through water walking and how it would help Naruto.

Sakura walked into the Yamanaka Family Flower Shop. She expected to see Ino's mother at the counter, not Ino herself. "Oh, Ino, you're here? I figured you'd be helping Shikamaru-kun train."

"I'd help that slacker, but Asuma-sensei said he would only need Choji, and mom wanted some time off from the shop, so I'm here. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training?"

"I'm gonna go visit Sasuke to see how he's doing and check on Lee before I get to training. Though I could use a partner, so if you get some free time, would you mind?"

Ino smiled, "of course I'll help you out! I can't help today, but how about tomorrow?"

Sakura smiled, "of course."

There was a bit of silence as Sakura picked out a couple of flowers Ino rung them up, "Have you heard about Lee's condition?"

"No, what have you heard?" She paid and took the two flowers.

"Apparently, they think he might not be able to continue as a shinobi. His injuries are... severe, to say the least."

Sakura gulped and looked at the flowers "I'll see how he's coping. Hopefully, he won't be too down in the dumps about it."

Ino gave her a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Sakura, tell Sasuke and Lee I said hi."

Sakura waved and headed off to the hospital. It didn't take her long to get there and ask the front desk about visiting. The receptionist flipped through some papers, "Hm, they both need their rest, but I can allow a short visit to them both."

"Thank you, that will be fine, actually what about Hinata Hyuga?"

A few more pages flipped before the receptionist shook her head, "she can't have visitors yet."

"Ok, thank you."

The receptionist nodded and led Sakura to Sasuke's room first. Sakura wasn't all that surprised that he had bailed from his hospital bed. They headed to Lees after the receptionist told the other nurses to look for him. It was almost repeated when they arrived to see Lee was missing though they found him right outside the window. The nurse tried, but Lee was insistent on training. Sakura clenched her first, "Lee-kun!"

Lee stopped looking up at her "Did Guy-sensei fail as a teacher? Or do you not listen to his lessons? I'm certain he has taught you the importance of recovery and taking time to heal so that things do not worsen."

She felt terrible at how hurt he looked, but Lee nodded and hobbled to his feet. "I- You're right, Sakura-san Guy-sensei has told me repeatedly to be sure to recover."

Sakura sighed, "I know what they said about you still being a shinobi, but I also know that you won't give up, and you shouldn't, but if you work while you're injured your injuries will not heal right, and you stand less of a chance. Remember Lee-san, sometimes a shinobi needs to be still and patient."

Once they climbed back in through the window, Sakura put the two flowers in a vase "here you get both because Sasuke ran off."

Lee smiled, "thank you, Sakura-san, they are quite beautiful."

"Ino's family has the best flowers. Try not to give the nurses a scare like that I understand your commitment, but rest is important."

"I will do my best for you, Sakura-san!" Lee pumped his fist with enthusiasm, and Sakura smiled and said her goodbyes before heading out after a few minutes.

Naruto had fallen into the hot spring water half a dozen times before he started to show progress. Ebisu was glad to see progress but jumped when Naruto pointed behind him and made a distressed sound before he sank. Ebisu turned around, seeing a man sitting with his back to them facing the wall. 'Ah perfect, if I show Naruto how much I won't tolerate such a thing, perhaps he will stop telling people I'm a closet pervert.'

Ebisu jumped off the water, "Hey you! I cannot allow such degenerate behavior in this place!"

Ebisu immediately regretted his discussion to confront this man when he summoned a giant toad that grabbed Ebisu and smacked him against the ground knocking out the special jonin. "Tsk don't make such a fuss you'll ruin everything-"

"AH! You knocked him out, you perv! I can't believe you're in here spying on ladies!" Naruto yelled.

The white-haired man turned as the women on the other side screamed, and the sounds of doors being thrown open could be heard. "You damn brat! You ruined my research material. Now I need to bail before I get in trouble."

"Aw come on ya old perv I need a new trainer now, and you did that cool thing where the toad appeared. I saw a lady do that in the chunin exams with huge snakes before they were pretty tough, but I beat both the snakes I went up against."

Jiraiya stopped in his tracks towards the exit "You fought a lady with big snakes in the Chunin Exams?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah yeah, she was super tough and beat my team and me, but thankfully we all made it out alive."

"What's your name, kid?"

Naruto grinned, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be Hokage one day!"

Jiraiya gave him another once over and nodded, "you certainly are. I'm Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku. Now you were talking about training? I presume the Chunin Exams."

Naruto nodded as the two started to move again and made their way out of the hot springs. "Yeah, my whole team has made it to the third exam. We're all training separately till the third exam, so you gonna train me ya old perv."

"Stop calling me that! What kind of training were you doing in the hot springs anyways?"

Naruto explained what Ebisu wanted to accomplish. "Hm, you know a place with water where we can work?"

"Oh yeah, we can use the team training ground. Sasuke is in the hospital recovering, I don't know what Sakura is doing, but it should be fine."

"Lead the way then, kid."

Jiraiya followed Naruto to training ground seven and watched quietly as he walked over to the memorial stone that was nearby "Heya Kaa-san, Tou-san I made it through the first two parts and the prelims for part three of the Chunin Exams. I was hoping Kakashi-sensei would help me train, but he said he was busy. I got stuck with Ebisu-san, but now I've got a strong teacher. He's a huge perv, and he says his name is Jirayia; he summoned a toad, which was really cool. I'll be sure to talk again later, for now, I need to train."

"Your parents are on that stone?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto came back over.

"Yep. Kakashi-sensei told me about them. Apparently, he was on my dad's genin team."

"I didn't expect Kakashi to do that."

"You know, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I worked with him occasionally while I was in the village. I also knew your parents quite well."

Naruto gaped, "an old perv like you knew them?!'

"Stop calling me that and yes. Maybe I'll tell you about it after training."

Jiraiya watched as Naruto attempted water waking and fell in almost immediately. The young shinobi climbed out and stripped down to his underwear, laying it all out on a rock nearby. "Hm come here kid I know something that can help. Close your eyes and just circulate chakra, don't worry about anything else."

Naruto stepped closer and did as he was told. Jiraiya looked at Naruto's stomach as the Kuybi's seal appeared. It stuck out right away that someone had put an odd-numbered seal overtop the original seal causing a disruption. "Alright, kid, now raise your hands above your head and give a good holler."

"You want me to raise my hands and scream?"

"Yeah, it'll all make sense in a minute; just do as your sensei tells."

As Naruto did as he was told, Jiraiya pulled his hand back and jabbed his fingers into Naruto's stomach and released the odd-numbered seal. Naruto collapsed gasping "ah, what the hell ya old perv!"

"Haha! Don't worry, I just hit some pressure points to help your flow. Go out on the water and try it again."

Naruto focused his chakra and hesitantly stepped out onto the water. After a few wobbly steps, he grinned and jumped, landing back on the water's surface "Oh yeah! I got it!"

"You have the basics." Jiraiya stepped onto the water "now we can train by having you fight on the water."

The two spent the rest of the day sparing on and off. Naruto took several dozen dips into the river during the fights. As they rested between spars, Jiraiya would have him practice his control. "You have your mother's chakra reserves for sure."

Naruto grinned as he made the leaf stick to his palm before making it hover an inch above wobbling as his chakra fluctuated. His smile faltered, "you know sometimes it doesn't... always feel right."

Jiraiya closed his notebook, "Oh, how so?"

"It sounds crazy, but I've heard this voice before and felt this weird chakra in me then suddenly I can't remember anything and the fight is over. The first time I remember was in the Land of Waves, Kakashi-sensei said I took out Haku, who was way stronger than me. Then again in the Chunin Exams when I fought the snake lady, I mentioned."

"So you've noticed it... You aren't crazy, though I am surprised to hear it talks. Does it talk often?"

Naruto shook his head, "only those two times. What is it?"

"Hm," Jiraiya scratched his chin. "Hiruzen-sensei will be quite mad if he realizes I told you so best not tell him you know about this, ok."

Naruto nodded nervously. "Your father, the Yondaime Hokage, my student, sealed inside you the Kyubi, a demon known as a Biju. Your mother was the... warden, so to speak for it before you. The voice you hear and that strange chakra that floods your system is the Kyubi pushing against the restraints of their seal."

Naruto sat back, letting the lead fall as he processed that information. "The nine tails. What does it look like?"

"A huge red fox as in larger than most buildings. Nine tails, as the name suggests. It's been referred to as the incarnation of rage and hatred. Of the nine-tailed beasts, it is the strongest and most dangerous. I can teach you how to manage it, but not right now. We need to focus on your control so I can teach you how to summon."

Naruto grinned and jumped up "I'm gonna be able to summon toads like you? Or is it different for everyone?"

Jiraiya pulled a small scroll out of his pack and unraveled it. Naruto's eyes lit up as he watched Jiraiya channel chakra into the storage seal, and in a puff of smoke, a larger scroll appeared. "This is the summoning contract for the toads of Mount Myōboku. There are a lot of summoning scrolls out there for a lot of different kinds of summons. I have a good and lovely friend who can summon a giant slug that amplifies her healing jutsu."

"Wow, that's cool. Can you have more than one contract?"

"Hold your horse's kid, yes you can have more than one contract, but we'll start with this once you're ready. Now back on the water, we're going again."

"Yes, pervy-sensei."

By the time the sun had set, Naruto was nearing exhaustion, and Jiraiya patted his back "alright kid, where's your favorite place to eat dinner's on me."

Ino knocked on Sakura's door, and her friend answered she was surprised to see her friend not in her usual red qipao dress, but instead a pair of workout shorts and a loose shirt. Sakura wiped the sweat off her face. "Oh, Ino, what's up? I wasn't expecting you."

Ino shrugged and did her best to look past her. "Figured I'd come by to study up on the basic medical stuff we were going over. Unless I'm interrupting your work out."

"No I finished, I was just about to make dinner. You can help. Come on, we'll eat and study."

Ino pouted as she entered, "making your guest help you cook a meal seems a bit rude."

Sakura laughed, "With how much time you spend here, you're practically family, so come on, get your butt in the kitchen."

Sasuke collapsed on the ground as the sky grew darker, and Kakashi stood over him. "I'm not really one to talk, but you should be resting in the hospital."

Sasuke panted and looked up at his Sensei, "then why did you agree to train me."

Kakashi shrugged, "who knows. Maybe watching what happened to Lee spooked me. That Suna shinobi is going to be tough, so I need you to be prepared for anything."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to use the Sharingan now that this curse mark is on me."

"Just until I had time to start training you. Now get up just because the sun is down doesn't mean we're done training."

The next morning Sakura rolled out of bed and narrowly avoided stepping on Ino, who was still sound asleep. "Come on, sleepyhead, get up." she nudged her with her foot.

Ino groaned and rolled over. "Why? I don't have training this morning."

"Well, I do, and you agreed to help me so up and at em."

"Ugh, why am I such a good friend." Ino sat up, and Sakura patted her head.

"I would be lost without you. Now come on I'll make breakfast as thanks for helping me."

Ino pumped her fist before getting out of bed. "You're the best friend."

"So are you." Sakura headed down to start breakfast.

After breakfast, they headed to Team Sevens training field and were surprised to see Naruto there with a white-haired man. Ino said to Sakura, "I thought Ebisu-sensei was teaching Naruto-kun."

"That's what Kakashi-sensei told me. Yo Naruto, what are you doing?!"

Naruto looked over, distracting him, which was a mistake as the white-haired man kicked him into the water. "Don't get distracted, Naruto, just because some girls are calling you."

Naruto burst from the water and climbed back up "shut it, ya old perv!"

The two made their way over to Sakura and Ino. Sakura asked, "So who's this? I thought Ebisu-sensei was gonna train you."

Naruto spat "he was knocked out by Jiraiya-san, and now he's teaching me. What are you two doing here?"

"Ino is helping me train, but I guess we'll have to find somewhere else-"

"Nonsense Ladies stay here and train. I will assist you if you need it." Jiraiya smiled, and Naruto scoffed, calling him a perv.

Sakura shrugged and got to work sparring with Ino while Jiraiya and Naruto stepped out onto the river again. Sakura channeled chakra into her hair as Ino tried to attack from behind. Ino cursed as her hand impacted the chakra infused hair; she pulled her hand back with several shallow thin cuts on her fingers. "That hair is dangerous now. I'll need to be careful."

Sakura grinned, "Yeah, you do. Can you keep going?"

Ino nodded as the bleeding stopped with the help of some chakra. As they fought, Jiraiya hummed, "She has good control of her chakra to infuse it into her hair that quickly."

Naruto was doing his control exercises as he spoke, "Ebisu-san said Sakura has the best control in our graduating year."

"Hm, keep practicing." Jiraiya stood up and headed over to the sparring kunoichi.

"You girly with the pink hair. Sakura-san, right?"

Sakura and Ino stopped fighting, and Sakura nodded, "yes, Jiraiya-san, do you need something?"

"That move you just did with your hair, where did you learn that?"

"Kakashi-sensei gave me the name of a scroll, and it showed me how to put chakra in my hair and manipulate it though I'm not very practiced with it."

"Interesting, and you've already used it as a shield. If you want to use it more effectively while you're at this skill level, I recommend working on just infusing part of it; you'll have less to focus on and thus better control."

Sakura nodded and infused one part of her hair and, with some focus, got it to curl around to the front and stick out in front of her. Her concentration wavered, and it fell limply on her shoulder. "Wow, thank you, Jiraiya-san."

Jiraiya smiled and went back to Naruto. "Oi kid, did I say to stop? Keep floating the leaf."

A week went by before Jiraiya started to teach Naruto how to summon toads. Naruto could only manage tadpoles for a week and a half until Jiraiya had an idea. He had Naruto exhaust himself sparring Ino and Sakura and his own clones, and once he was worn out, they left Ino and Sakura to train.

Jiraiya took Naruto deeper into the woods and pushed him into a ravine, and Naruto managed to summon Gamabunta. Meanwhile, Sakura got the hang of her various new jutsu and was feeling confident in herself. Jiraiya came by the training field the next day to tell her Naruto was in the hospital with chakra exhaustion and that he'd be fine.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was still camped out in the middle of nowhere with Kakashi, who was drilling him day and night on controlling his Sharingan without drawing on the curse seal while teaching him how to use the Chidori.

After a few days, Sakura and Ino decided to go check on Naruto and Choji after Ino heard he was in the hospital because he overate the night before. They stopped by and grabbed a couple flowers for them and Lee; Ino grabbed a fruit basket. "Gonna tease Choji by eating this in front of him."

Sakura laughed, "that's messed up, Ino, but I'll help you out."

They arrived at the hospital to see the sign-in desk empty, "huh, that's weird; where do you think they are?" Ino asked.

Sakura signed herself in and shrugged, "maybe there was an emergency. I'm sure it'll be fine, come on."

The two walked and checked the clipboards on the doors to see who was in the room. By the time they found Naruto's, he wasn't in there. Sakura put a flower in a vase on the side table. "where is that idiot?"

Ino put the bedding back in place "should we just head over to Choji then?"

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

Choji was another hall over in the same area as Lee. Ino knocked before sliding the door open "Hey Choji." she entered, swinging the fruit basket.

Sakura entered and smiled, "Hello, Choji-kun."

Choji groaned, seeing the basket "Hi Ino, Sakura-chan. What's the basket for? Here to torment me with food?"

Ino giggled as she took an apple and bit into it "Maybe."

Sakura looked out the door before closing it "well, actually since the nurses aren't around." she tossed him an orange "we won't tell anyone."

Choji grinned and started eating as Ino rolled her eyes "You softie."

Sakura shrugged, "Just such a kind heart when it comes to my comrades. Blame my Sensei, he's very big on helping your fellow shinobi."

They talked for a bit, and Ino asked, "so where's Shikamaru I figured he would be here?"

"Oh, he was here, but he headed to check on Naruto, and then they came by before heading over to check on that Lee guy. He's down the hall apparently. They just headed over."

"Guess we can say hi to them when we go see Lee-san," Sakura said.

They said their goodbyes and headed to Lee's room as Sakura opened the door she felt a wave of danger wash over her. Her hand dropped to her kunai pouch as she took in the sight. Shikamaru was holding Gaara in place as Naruto stood there looking shaken. The two kunoichi quickly slipped in behind Naruto and Shikamaru "what's happening here?" Sakura asked as she put a hand on Naruto, feeling him shake. 'Is he scared?'

Naruto jumped slightly, and Shikamaru groaned before explaining. "We came to check on Lee-san and found this guy trying to do something to him. Why are you two here?"

"Visiting," Ino said.

Gaara gripped his head and growled, "shut up! I need to kill. I need to validate my existence!" his sand started to move despite Shikimaru's shadow still holding him.

"Stop!" a voice boomed from the doorway. Gaara's sand stopped as he looked at the door before grabbing his head suddenly. The four genin looked over and saw Guy-sensei standing there glaring at Gaara. "A lot of you are going into the final exam; you can fight it out there."

Gaara growled and disappeared in a rush of sand. Sakura let out a breath she was holding "thank you, Guy-sensei."

He held his hand up and grinned, "don't worry about it now you lot get back to training your youth will burn with a passion the day of the exams!"

Sakura left a flower for Lee, and the group slowly dispersed while processing how Gaara just tried to kill them all. Once the shock was gone, Ino and Sakura went back to training, and in no time, the day of the third exam was upon them.