Kyuubi's Calm Chapter 6: Fireball Jutsu, a naruto fanfic

No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted.

I met Sasuke at the ninja academy ten minutes before sunrise, and he nodded approvingly.

"Today we'll practice the fireball jutsu some more, trying to make it look more like a fireball instead of a stream of flames." We went to the same place again, and this time there were a few more shop owners, and they all glanced over when we arrived, grinning amongst each other. This time when Sasuke showed me the technique, it did indeed look like a fireball. "Now, start with your flame jutsu, the one last week. Have Akira leave, unless you think that incident won't repeat."

"I practiced, and I'm pretty sure it won't." I gathered the chakra, once again feeling the rush of flames in my chest. I let the flames go and they shot into the air to muffled jittering of wonder by the 'audience'.

"Good, now try and shape it in your chest, like a fireball. It'll take a lot of practice, so don't worry if you don't get it. Controlling chakra from inside your body and keeping it controlled outside is very difficult. Try shaping an orb of chakra now." I concentrated on only making a chakra orb, then filled it with fire. When I let the fire go, though, it came out as always. Then next time I formed the chakra sphere outside my body and blew the fire into it, where it swirled and collided with itself three inches from my face. I jumped back and pulled the chakra sphere away, and the flames dissolved.

"Try to make the chakra move with the flames, then our next lesson will be turning the flames in midair if you can manage this one." He sat at one of the shops on the counter and the owner hadn't shown up yet. I concentrated and practiced moving the chakra sphere away from me, keeping it barely visible. When I moved it out thirty feet I tried it with fire.

This time, an hour later, I blew the flames into the chakra as I moved it away quickly, and the chakra shield just held the back half of the fireball pushing it forward. It dissolved thirty feet away, and I figured it would have looked very intimidating to someone in the line of fire. Sasuke finished the lesson there.

"Sasuke, I'm having a get-together tomorrow at the waterfall, want to come? Free food and there'll be swimming and competition games and whatever else anyone can think of. Please come?" I made my best puppy-eyes face and Sasuke looked at me, like really considered. He suddenly began to flush, and I gazed at him questioningly. "What is it?"

"Nothing. I'll see you there tomorrow, what time?"

"Most people will show up around 11. It ends when everybody goes home. See you there, for sure?"

"Yeah. Keep practicing; it'll become much easier to make the fire into a sphere. See you." He gave me a quick nod and walked away. I admired him, and saw what Sakura liked about him, but he just wasn't my type, I suppose. He was good looking, smart, cool, kind, and a great teacher, but I just didn't seem to fall for him. I shrugged and went to go find Naruto to see if I could train with him.

I arrived outside Naruto's apartment and entered the front door. There was a man sitting behind a counter.

"Is Naruto in?" He licked his finger and turned the page of the book he was reading, then looked up.

"Nope. Went out to train."

"Do you have any idea where he went?"

"Somewhere along the river."

"Thank you sir." He'd returned to his book and grunted. I left after a small bow, and went upriver riding Akira. I came to the hot springs section and saw Naruto standing away from a building with his arms folded. It was near where Id trained with him, and I looked around for Jiraiya, spotting him by a doorway. I sighed and nudged Akira forward.

"Hey guys." Jiraiya froze and Naruto glanced over, brightening.

"Hey Yasu! I'm going on a training expedition for a few days with Master; I'll be back Monday night. I'm glad you came by, I wanted to say goodbye." I noticed he was wearing a pack.

"Where are you going?"

"About forty miles out, I think. Nowhere in particular, just survival skills." He came over to Akira and me and started petting Akira, whispering to him something I couldn't hear. Akira's ears flew forward and he nickered. Jiraiya came over acting pretty indifferent.

"Yasu! We were just on our way out of the village. Take care of yourself, okay?" He put his hand on my head, stretching because I was still on Akira, and rubbed back and forth. For some reason the gesture touched me, when it would've ordinarily been irritating. Maybe it was the kindness in it. He looked at me right before he pulled away his hand, walking by. I think he was testing me with that affectionate thing… either way, I was taken aback for a moment and felt an extreme and sudden liking for the old man. I looked back at him and he grinned, waving goodbye. Naruto jogged to my side from Akira's head.

"Take care, Yasu. See you."

"Bye Naruto." Well, he wasn't going to be here tomorrow. I sighed as I watched him follow Jiraiya down the path. I slid off Akira and decided to practice walking on water again. The sunset found me balancing delicately on the water's surface, and soaked through because my thoughts kept wandering and I couldn't focus enough to stay on top. That night I skipped dinner and just retired to bed, planning the next day.

Told you it was short. Well, pay attention: Naruto's coming back Monday NIGHT. Okay. See you next chapter! BTW, I'll skip to 11 a.m. next chapter.