Kishimoto owns Naruto and all derivatived works.
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Prologue
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Naruto sighed as he looked out over Konoha from atop the cliff holding the faces of the four Hokages of Konoha.
Sure, he was going to become Hokage some day, he knew that, but entering the Chunin exam…
His mind drifted back to the mission that he and his team (team, ha!) had completed in the Land of Waves. During the mission, all he had learned was tree-walking. Sasuke had managed to awaken his shinug… shoring… Sharingan, that was it, giving him a massive boost. Even Sakura had come out better with her perfect chakra control and Kakashi-sensei giving her taijitsu tips, but what had he learned?
Tree walking.
And he still wasn't very good at doing it.
His only real Jutsu was his Kage Bunshin and they were only really good for weakening an enemy since they burst too easily.
He needed to learn more Jutsu, but how? Kakashi kept refusing to teach him, spending time helping Sasuke with his fire jutsu and Sakura would simply pound him again.
Naruto sighed. He just wasn't ready. Unless he used the Kyuubi's chakra like he did on the bridge, he was hopeless. Even Sakura could beat him in taijutsu and she was using the basic Academy style, not the advanced form that Mizuki had…
Naruto snarled as he finally made a connection that he really should have made months ago.
He was the only one taught that style and almost everyone could beat him in a spar. Mizuki had taught him a bad style and only his pain tolerance and sheer stamina got him through the real fights.
There was no choice.
Until he got better, until he learned a proper style and got some more Jutsu to use, he just wasn't ready for promotion.
He'd send a Kage Bunshin tomorrow to wish his team-mates good luck while he went to the library to search out scrolls on taijutsu.
Naruto nodded as he rose from his seat, unaware that his decision had just changed the course of the future.