Wow, I just went to get a short nap of 2 hours and I already saw a lot of people liking this fic (Story favorite). I feel the love. So...as a treat, here is chapter 3! Enjoy! (I'm currently working on chapter 7 so I hope you guys are patient).
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 3
Naruto stood in front of the three sleepy Genins. He woke them up with a small Suiton jutsu and ushered them outside to get started with their training. He stayed up all night coming up with a training program for this group since he didn't want them to end up dead in a ditch somewhere because of Kakashi's laziness. Sure, the man was a powerful Jounin, a prodigy in the shinobi arts, but a lousy teacher.
"Alright, Team 7, we are going to get started with your training today. However, before we begin, I will answer Sakura-san's question yesterday about my skill set." declared Naruto with a smile causing the entire team to wake up fully, attention at maximum that made Naruto chuckle. "The reason why I was given the rank of Tokubetsu Genin is because of my capability with chakra." He raised a finger and channeling a bit of his chakra to create a single thread. He added a bit of Fuuton chakra to the mix causing it to turn green. He flicked lazily towards a small tree, easily cutting it in half. He raised his other hand before materializing a katana made of pure chakra. He saw the looks of awe on the Genin's faces at his demonstration.
"How in the world did you do that?" Sasuke asked in surprise.
"I have unparallel control over my chakra. I started training when I was six years old and it was two years ago that I reached the pinnacle of Shape Manipulation so I can do anything I want with it given time and experimentation." Naruto answered. "My most common skills include chakra weapons and my special chakra threads, as well as utilizing chakra with my taijutsu style. You noticed that it changed color from blue to green, right?" he got a nod from Sasuke. "This is because I also mastered my Fuuton affinity, injecting it into my thread gave it the ability to cut anything in its path instead of capture."
"Wow." Sakura blurted out causing Naruto to grin.
"Right, now that's done. Let's talk about your training program. I'm going to subject you to watered-down version of my training program since I don't want you guys to end up in a body bag after this mission." He said wryly. This admission garnered a confused look from Sakura and Sai but Sasuke was red with anger.
"We're not weak!" Sasuke growled out, insulting at being called weak.
"I didn't say you're weak, Sasuke-san. I merely said that you can't handle my training."
"And why is that?"
"The Uzumaki Clan is well known for our potent chakra and life force. As a side-effect, we have an advance healing factor that made it easy for us to survive in harsh conditions. If I subject you to the real training program then you can easily say that you won't like the results. Torn muscles would be the least of your worries." said Naruto. To drive his point home, he created a kunai and slashed his wrist. He showed the bleeding wound to the Genins who became astounded when the cut started healing at a rapid pace. "See? If you can heal wounds like that in seconds then I would be more than happy to subject you to hell on earth." He said this with a malicious gleam in his eyes that made Sasuke gulp. "Now that we cleared that up, I want you to show me the back of your right hand."
The confused Genins did as requested while Naruto created three identical seals using his finger. He studied the floating seals a bit and found nothing wrong with them. He guided the seals to the Genin's wrist. "Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu: Omomi!" The three Genins winced as the seals painfully embedded themselves onto their skin. Seeing that the seals were properly attached to their skins, he hooked a chakra thread onto the seals so he could activate them using his chakra. "Fuuin!"
The three Genins stumbled as they felt a something heavy settle on their bodies.
"What did you do to us, Naruto-san?" asked Sai with a hint of nervousness.
"I just gave you three my version of training weights. Instead of weights strapped to your arms and legs, the seals placed a designated amount of weight on every part of your body. You are currently at level one, meaning, you have 20 pounds added to your overall body weight. This will help improve your core strength while increasing your chakra reserves since the seal is kept active by constantly draining a bit of your chakra."
"Are these permanent?" Sasuke asked while studying the intricate seal on his wrist, not bothered by the new tattoo since it was clear that Naruto was doing everything he can to help them get stronger, more than Kakashi anyway.
"Yes and no. The seal itself is permanent unless you want me to remove it. No because you can deactivate its effects so you can move without restriction, which is necessary if you are engaged in a life and death situation. At the end of this week, I will teach you how to deactivate and reactivate the seal, as well as how to add weights to it."
"This is a very good training tool, Naruto-san." said Sai with a hint of admiration as he tried to move his hands around, feeling the weights slowing him down.
"Glad you think so, Sai. Now, you will spend an hour going through your individual taijutsu styles. This will help you adjust to the added weight on your body, as well as getting started with your physical training. Begin!"
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Naruto observed the three Genins as they go through the katas of their respective fighting styles.
Sasuke was quite fluid with his movements but Naruto could see that there were plenty of holes in the style itself. He immediately realized that the taijutsu style required the Sharingan to spot the holes in an opponent's stance and attack it mercilessly while their guard was down.
Sai's held more mastery to his style but Naruto could see that the boy lacked the strength necessary to make it an effective ace in battle. His training weights would solve that problem in time if he kept at it.
Sakura mastered the Academy style but she needed to advance her prowess or she was going to get herself killed. He called all three of them, noticing that they immediately stopped and waited attentively for his next training session. He inwardly grinned.
"Alright, you three are doing great and I can see that you are already adapting to the training weights. Starting tomorrow, your will wake up same time as today and do calisthenics. I think you already know what that entails, correct?" he got a nod from the three. "Good. One hour of calisthenics and one hour going through your individual taijutsu style. Aim for fluidity of movements instead of speed. Speed will come in time with practice. Take a 10 minute break then proceed with Tree Climbing which I will demonstrate now."
He walked over to a tree and climbed with only his feet, walking up easily until he was hanging upside down on one of the thicker branches, enjoying the look of shock on their faces.
"This is an advance form of chakra exercise called Tree Climbing. As you can see, I used my chakra to stick to the tree and walked up. You need to find the right amount of chakra to stick to any solid surface. Use less then you fall off. Use more then you're going to blast yourself off the tree. This exercise offers three benefits. One, you will learn to better control your chakra, making it easy for you to regulate your jutsus in the future. Two, this will help increase your chakra reserves. And three, since you are going to walk and run up and down the tree, you are using gravity as an additional weight training that will surely deplete your stamina. The more you progress in this training, the stronger you will become – chakra and strength wise." He turned to Sakura. "You should benefit from this exercise. I predict that you're going to be the first to master this exercise since you have below average chakra reserves. Even if you got this exercise, I suggest that you continue running up and down the tree as a form of physical training. Any questions?"
The trio shook their heads in negative, looking at the trees surrounding the clearing with determined eyes.
"Since you don't have any questions, pick a tree and get started. You will do this exercise until lunch."
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"What did you do to them?" asked Kakashi when he saw his Genins enter the kitchen with tired looks on their faces. They were like zombies as they sat themselves with pained groan.
"I placed my own weight seals on them for training as they go through the Tree Climbing exercise." Naruto informed the Jounin as he sat himself beside the man.
"Weight seals? Don't you think they're too young for that?"
"I only gave them ten pounds of weight, Kakashi-san."
"Ah. No worries then. What will teach them after that?" he asked curiously.
"They will go through the motions everyday even if they mastered the exercise since they will need to develop their core strength. To be honest with you, their foundation sucks and needs to be corrected as soon as possible." Naruto explained. "After lunch, I will give Sakura a scroll containing the basics of medical jutsus since she has the best chakra control of all three. She will be the medic and support of the group. I will ask the boys to show me their jutsus. If they already mastered it then good, if not then I will teach them how to master their individual affinities."
"Aren't you going too fast?" Kakashi pointed out earning him a glare from the teen.
"I have no choice since you're too lazy to train them properly for the last three months." Naruto told the man, daring him to disagree.
"Touche."
"At the end of this mission, I will give them a training program to follow. Please watch over them. You can even add to the training program if you want to."
"Thanks, Naruto."
"Don't mention it, Cyclops."
"Where is Kyuubi anyway?" asked Kakashi, finally noticing that the chibified bijuu wasn't around.
"He should be in the forest hunting for his lunch." Naruto answered with a shrug, not caring where Kurama was since the bijuu could take care of himself.
"Which reminds me Naruto-san, where did you find a nine-tailed fox?" asked Sakura.
Naruto smiled sadly at the pink-haired girl.
"Tell me Sakura, since you read the history of Konoha, in what part did a nine-tailed fox appear?"
"Kyuubi that attacked Konoha fifteen years ago." Sakura answered immediately.
"How old am I?"
"Fifteen…" Sakura trailed off before a look of horror appeared on her face. Sasuke and Sai who was listening to the conversation paled.
"That is an S-rank secret, Naruto." said Kakashi, no trace of the laid-back Jounin in his voice.
"Yes, an S-rank secret that only the Hokage and I can divulge without getting the penalty. Besides, it's bound to come out anyway." Naruto said with a shrug. He turned to the Genins. "The Yondaime wasn't able to destroy Kyuubi, no human can. Instead, he sealed the Kyuubi inside an infant. I guess you already know who the infant was, correct?"
"The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside you." said Sasuke, earning a nod from the bijuu container who was calmly sipping the tea Tsunami brought him. "Why is the Kyuubi out? He isn't what the history books make it out to be."
"Trust me, the history books are all wrong about the Kyuubi and I have no intentions of sharing that secret since that is the Kyuubi's to tell and not mine." Naruto said dryly. He knew the real reason why Kurama attacked Konoha and he had no intentions of sharing that secret unless his partner gave him permission to do so. So far, there were only three privy to that information – him, Kurama, and the Sandaime. "To answer your question, I dabbled a bit in fuuinjutsu and came up with a loophole in the seal the Yondaime used to seal Kyuubi inside me. I struck a friendship with the fox and we acted as partners ever since. I can summon him out of the seal, like a summon animal, but I have full control over his chakra. Currently, Kyuubi has the chakra of a mid-level Jounin. I can give him more if the occasion demands it but I find that unlikely."
The Genins were subdued, their minds running a mile a minute at what Naruto revealed to them. But despite the thoughts that racked their brains, all three of them realized that Naruto was not the Kyuubi, he was merely the container that held the monster that attacked Konoha all those years ago.
"Thank you, Naruto-san." said Sasuke and Sakura at the same time before looking at each other with a raised eyebrow.
"What for?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"I think I can say this for Sasuke and I, thank you for doing your best in protecting us from Kyuubi as its container."
Naruto studied the two and saw nothing but honesty in their declaration. He saw Sai nod at him, agreeing to their statement. He gave them a smile.
"You're welcome and thank you."
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Naruto stood in front of Sasuke and Sai after the two demonstrated all the ninjutsu they know. Sure, they were powerful but they were barely touching the potential these techniques could do. He already assigned clone to Sakura to oversee her training, leaving him to lecture the boys.
"Alright, your jutsus are quite powerful for your age but you barely scratched what you can do with it?"
This revelation shocked the two boys.
"What do you mean? We can do the techniques already." said Sasuke with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, you can do the techniques but there is room for improvement. Watch, Sasuke-san." said Naruto as he turned, facing a rather large tree a hundred meters away. He took a deep breath before breathing out six head-size fireballs that burned the trunk to a crisp.
"That's my technique and you didn't even use hand seals!" Sasuke exclaimed in shock and awe. Sai was staring at him and the burnt tree with wide eyes.
"Yes, it is your technique and I just learned that today when you demonstrated it." Naruto said with grin.
"You copied it?"Sasuke asked in shock.
Naruto shook his head before explaining.
"No, I didn't copy it. I don't have the Sharingan so there is no way for me to copy techniques on the fly." Naruto told the disgruntled Uchiha. "The reason why I was able to perform the technique is due to my proficiency in molding chakra."
"What do you mean, Naruto-san?"asked Sai.
"Hand seals are necessary to mold chakra. Each of the hand seal molds our chakra a certain way, thus resulting in jutsus. For example, the Katon: Housenka no Jutsu requires Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, and Tiger to mold it properly. Rat gives it shape, Tiger changes neutral chakra to fire, Dog gives it speed, Ox gives it solidity, Rabbit gives for stability, and Tiger to fire it off. I studied and experimented how each hand seal interacts with chakra. With that in mind, I have the basic ability of the Sharingan without the bloodline. Through the hand seals, I can determine how the technique is done and since I can control my chakra down to the last drop, I can do the technique without handseals."
"Amazing." Sasuke breathed out. "Can you teach me?"
"No I can't." Naruto raised his hand to stop whatever Sasuke was about to say. "I can't teach you because only you can manipulate your chakra. I read the book in the Konoha Shinobi Library detailing how hand seals affect jutsus. I meditated and practiced with each of the hand seals until I could mold my chakra without them. If you want to acquire this skill, all you need to do is study, meditate, and experiment, same way I did."
Sasuke nodded in understanding. If he wanted to be strong enough to defeat Itachi then he needed to work hard. Naruto definitely did that and he was going to do the same.
"Now watch." advised Naruto as he targeted another tree with the same technique. This time, the six fireballs that came out of his mouth was bigger and faster, burning the tree to ash. "As you can see, with mastery of this jutsu, you should be able to change its speed, size, and power. Sasuke, what you did earlier was the acquisition of the technique, not the mastery of it. If you want to achieve the same level then you train. Do the jutsu while keeping a close eye on your chakra, analyze how the hand seals form the technique; analyze how much chakra is needed for the technique to work, and experiment with the amount. Once you can manipulate the technique, then I can safely say that you mastered it."
"Thank you, Naruto-san."
"Don't mention it." said Naruto while smiling at the boy. "Now, for the next hour, you two will spar using everything in your arsenal. This should give you a form of battle experience and give you an idea when to use your jutsus. This is another sign of mastery. Shinobi use the quickest way to get results, same thing goes in a battle. Use your jutsus and chakra wisely and in a timely manner." Naruto advised as moved away from the boys who were giving each other speculative looks. He inwardly grinned since this would prove to be an amazing fight.
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Naruto dodged the animated lion drawing when it lunged at him with its claws while flicking his finger to wrap a chakra thread around Sasuke's foot before yanking it back, causing said boy to fall to the ground, cancelling the jutsu he was about to use against him. He flared his chakra when he felt one of Sakura's genjutsu trying to invade his mind, effectively dissipating the technique before it could take hold. Deciding that the spar has gone long enough, he ended it by creating two other chakra threads, one wrapping around Sakura, incapacitating her while the other sliced a black tiger in half before wrapping around Sai's neck, mildly choking him and stopping any form of counter.
"Winner! Naruto." bellowed Kakashi, clapping his hands, his eye smile present on his face. "You three definitely improved in only five days. You lasted for half an hour against Naruto."
"We still lost, sensei." whined Sakura. This had been their eighth team spar – Team 7 versus Naruto. They lost and the Genins knew that Naruto was holding back a lot since he limited himself to using his threads and taijutsu.
"I didn't except you three to win against him. The gap in terms of technique and experience is just too great." explained Kakashi. Sakura huffed before doing a few hand seals. The tell-tale green chakra of a medical jutsu surrounded her hand before laying it on Sasuke's shoulder. The teen winced when he felt dislocated bone snap into place as Sakura's healing did its job. Kakashi smiled at how the sole female of his Genin team was using medical technique with only five days of training under Naruto's watchful eye. "You're getting good with that jutsu, Sakura."
"He's a slave driver." said Sakura, wincing when she remembered the training their temporary sensei put them through. Naruto maybe a Genin in rank, but his skills were definitely on par to that of an experienced Jounin. "Besides, healing Sai and Sasuke-kun everyday helps a lot."
"That it does, Sakura." Naruto said with a grin. "I may have trained you three but it is because of your hard work that you mastered it. How's your Chakra no Mesu coming along?"
"Not that stable, Naruto-sensei, but I'm getting there." answered Sakura, done healing Sasuke but scanning the teen to see if there was more that needs healing. It was ingrained into her by Naruto to make sure that her patients were fully healed, giving a complete scan if there were other problems that needs fixing. It was a good advice that she planned on following if she wanted to continue her education in healing. She was happy that she grew strong and could safely say that she was now part of Team 7.
Naruto nodded. It was two days ago that the trio started calling him sensei. He told them against doing so but they were stubborn. It did make him happy that they survived his training. Their teamwork was now above average, making their moves almost instinctive when working together.
Individually, it was Sakura who improved the most. Her chakra levels were now above that of a Genin, nearing high-Genin thanks to Naruto's training regime. She now filled the spot of a support member of Team 7 thanks to her prowess in genjutsu and medical jutsu. She might not have plenty in her arsenal but she was good enough in what she has, not perfect but getting there.
Sasuke took to his advice in experimenting with his Katon jutsus. He couldn't throw them out without hand seals but the chakra control exercise he trained with allowed him to manipulate his techniques, making them stronger and potent compared to before.
Sai's improvement involved the speed of activating his ink-based techniques, as well as a huge improvement in his taijutsu thanks to their daily spar.
All-in-all, Team 7 was ready to face Zabuza again if he does return for a rematch. Naruto was sure that Kakashi would be taking care of the rogue shinobi while Team 7 would face the fake Hunter-nin.
"So, Naruto, any plans for your side mission?" asked Kakashi as the five made their way back to Tazuna's house. He wasn't on guard duty since the client took a day off to relax and Naruto was kind enough to station a few clones outside the client's house just in case Gato or Zabuza decided to attack.
"Not sure yet but I have time. I can either go for Gato now or I can do so after we defeat Zabuza. Either way is good and I'm not in a hurry to get it done." He answered with a shrug. "Besides, considering this is a tyrant businessman we are dealing with, I am quite sure that he would be betraying Zabuza after he gets rid of Tazuna."
"Why do you say that?" the Jounin asked curiously.
Naruto shrugged while watching Team 7 talk to each other, especially Sasuke who was no longer an emo, talking to his teammates as equals.
"It's his M.O. He is a businessman through and through, and a successful one at that. Considering that he hired a missing-nin, he is not obligated to pay Zabuza when the job is done. I'll bet my bank account that he will end up double-crossing our zanbatou-wielding friend sooner or later after he is done with his contract." Naruto said casually before taking a long pull from the lit cigarette before breathing out the smoke.
Kakashi chuckled, remembering the ruckus Naruto caused during one of the Poker sessions at ANBU HQ.
"Considering your luck, I'm not going to take that bet. Ibiki and Anko warned me that you are quite good in profiling criminals and you have the devil's luck."
"They are still angry that they always lose to me at poker?" asked the blonde as his lips quirked into a smile. "It's not my fault that they suck at the game."
"Getting seven Royal Flushes in a row?" Kakashi pointed out.
"It's a game of chance, Kakashi-san. The point is that they suck and I don't." Naruto said smugly. He made a killing that night and Ibiki now owed him a favor. He didn't cash the favor yet since he might need it in the future. Anko wasn't able to pay but the quick look at her 'assets' was payment enough. He giggled, remembering Anko's bountiful blessing.
Kakashi merely shook his head and decided to drop the topic. His mind was focused on the potential battle tomorrow. His gut instinct was screaming and he knew what that meant.
Tomorrow would be the day that he and his team would be facing the Demon of the Mist and only one group would be coming out alive.
The one-eyed Jounin hoped that it was his group.
End of Chapter 3.
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