Hey everyone sorry about the long wait. I knew this whole chunin a thing was going to get long, so after much deliberation I decided to give to to you all in one shot. Plus a lot has been working against me work, so sorry I apologize; and on top I'm getting married in a little over a week so I've been kinda busy with all that. It did take while but here finally is starting with:
Sharingan Warrior
Chapter 6: Training
Naruto's eyes slowly opened as he awoke, he rolled over and looked at the clock. It was seven in the morning. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and stretched. Then he climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Turning on the water he climbed into the shower and let the hot liquid poor over his body, relaxing his sore muscles. He hadn't really enjoyed his shower the night before, he'd be teen too tired to do anything but get in get clean and get out. Now he let it loosen the tension in his body and soothe his aching muscles. As he stood under the shower the battle with Kiba played over and over in his head. Why had it been so tough, sure Kiba was good but Naruto knew he wasn't on Naruto's level, hell there were only a few at the prelims that were. Neji, that boy Gaara, and maybe Lee. So why had he had so much trouble, he even had to resort to Sharingan which he'd hoped to save for the finals. Unable to find an answer to his question he punched the tiled wall of his shower with a low curse.
Deciding his shower was no longer relaxing, Naruto climbed out and toweled himself dry. Then he wrapped the towel low around his waist and exited the bathroom. He went down the hall and into his kitchen looking for something to eat. He opened his fridge and decided that eating was out of the question, he needed to go to the store. There was a knock on his front door. He walked over and opened it closing his right eye. It was Sakura.
"Oh, hey Sakura," he said completely forgetting about his almost total nakedness. She however noticed it almost immediately.
"Um, Naruto," she said "shouldn't you put some clothes on?" Confusion crossed Naruto's face as he looked down. Seeing his scantly clad body Naruto blushed slightly.
"Ah sorry, come in," he said stepping aside to allow her entrance "I'll be right back." He left the room and went to his own where he quickly dressed in a his blood red tee and black pants, he tied his headband around his right eye and left the room. He walked back out in the living room to find Sakura sitting on his couch patently waiting for him, it was then Naruto noticed the change.
"You got you're hair cut," he said softly sitting down next to her. She nodded.
"Mmmhmm," she said "You like it?" she asked. Naruto could tell from the look on her face she wanted him to approve.
"Yeah I do," he said honestly "it looks really nice." She smiled and put her head on his shoulder.
"You going to see him soon?" she asked. He nodded. Deciding to push her luck a little Sakura asked something she'd never asked before: "Can I come?" Naruto was quite for a long time, so long in fact Sakura was about to withdraw her request when he spoke up.
"Yeah, I'd like that, and I think he would too," said Naruto. Sakura smiled.
They soon got up and left knowing the sooner Naruto visited him, the sooner Sakura could get him out and about. Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto's and laid her head on his shoulder. They walked through the village, keeping to themselves not paying any attention to the looks of interest they were getting. They weren't dating, the were sleeping with each other, they were simply best friends and this was comfortable to them. Their journey took about half an hour but when they arrived they stood at Sasuke's grave for quite awhile. Finally Sakura sank to her knees and whispered to her self.
"Sasuke, thank you for all you did for me and Naruto," she said "I'm sorry I haven't visited sooner but Naruto needed time alone with you, time to heal, he's getting there Sasuke as I'm sure you've seen. Please help him heal, help him let go the burden of guilt he's placed on his own shoulders. I know you bear him no animosity, I'm not sure how I do, but I do. He refuses to forgive himself, help him."
Her prayer to Sasuke finished she stood and returned to Naruto's side. Naruto was silent, reading the words on Sasuke's grave like he had a million times before. The battle on the bridge played in his mind, what could he have done different, he could have stopped the Senbon, he could have stopped Haku quicker, if only he had trained harder, focused more on getting stronger and less on Ramen, Sasuke would still be here.
Sakura watched as Naruto's face grew more and more pained. She knew what he was doing, blaming himself again, coming up with all the things he could have done. She'd been around him enough to know when he was sinking into depression. Deciding to take another risk, she slipped her hand in his and laced their fingers together, she gave his hand a slight squeeze. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her startled. She gave him a soft smile and started to pull him away. Naruto cast one last glance back at the headstone and followed her.
He half expected her to release his hand once she got him away for the grave, but she didn't. She held it firmly guiding them both back to the village square. Once there they wondered around the market looking at all the new items the vendors had. Naruto was standing back a bit watching Sakura look at jewelry when an old man approached him.
"Anything I can help you with son?" the man asked. Naruto looked at the man, his smile seemed real enough which was weird, Naruto never got looks like that.
"You don't know who I am do you?" he asked.
"Oh I know perfectly well who you are," said the man.
"And you still talk to me?" asked Naruto a bit stunned.
"Of course," said the man like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why?" asked Naruto even more stunned.
"Young man," said the old man "I see you around the village quite a bit. Always sulking, always down.
You don't fight the insults, you just take it, never once fighting back. Naruto to me that says you didn't let the Uchiha die, that you fought with him and that Sharingan in your right eye tells me that he meant more to you and you to him than any body else in this whole world. But you still fight bearing the weight of Uchiha's death on your shoulders unable to let him go. Son, until you do you will never be able to harness your true strength.
Realization washed over Naruto like a wave breaking on the shore. Until he let go of Sasuke, he'd be unable to fight to his full potential. That was why he'd had so much trouble with Kiba, he'd been unable to fight with a clear head. A part of him still focused on Sasuke's death. He was distracted.
"What happens if that happens on a mission son?" the old man asked "your friends and comrades would be put in danger."
Naruto was ashamed, he'd once told Haru to never hesitate. All the while being a hypocrite. He glanced over at Sakura, picturing her dead because he'd hesitated, the thought scared him, he felt as much pain thinking about Sakura dying as he had when Sasuke actually had. He looked away and clamped his eyes shut. It was all he could do to stem the flow of tears that he felt threatening to fall. After a minute he got himself under control and looked back at the man. The man was still smiling that kinda smile, something about that smile told Naruto he knew exactly what Naruto was going through. Naruto glanced back over at Sakura, she was chatting happily with the shop owner. She looked over and saw he he looking over at her. Her grin grew even wider, she excitedly waved him over. A small smile playing on his lips he polity excused himself and walked over to Sakura.
"Look," she said. She was holding a picture in her hands. Naruto's face lit on with recognition. It was him and Sasuke as young children. He remembered the day. Sasuke has made a jab at him after class one day and Naruto had gone to confront him about it. They ended up just standing side by side on the dock watching the sunset. Someone must have stumbled upon them and took the picture. Naruto's smiled got a little larger as he took it out of her hands.
"Would you like me to be it for you?" he asked. Confusion played across Sakura's face.
"I thought you might like to have it," she said. Naruto shook his head, it was time for him to start trying to let go of Sasuke.
"I have all I need," he said pointing to the head band on his face. "Here," he handed it back to her and turned to the man running the stall. He handed him the labeled price and thanked him. Then Naruto motioned for Sakura to flow him. She did so and soon had her hand intertwined in his. He looked down at her, she was looking fondly at the picture. One who didn't know what had gone on two minutes before hand would have thought they were the best of friends. Sakura must have felt him staring because she looked up at him, a smile on her face.
"I'm proud of you," she whispered. Naruto looked at her a question in his eyes. "You're trying aren't you? You're trying to move on." Naruto nodded.
"I am," he said. Sakura gave his hand a squeeze and together they walked down the street to meet Kakashi and Haru for training.
When they reached training field seven they weren't surprised to find that Haru was the only one waiting for them, despite their being half an hour late. Haru waved at them from were he was sitting against a tree sharpening the blades of the Demon Wind. Naruto and Sakura slowly made their way over to him. When they reached him he smiled up at them and slipped his shuriken into it's sheath on his back. Naruto helped him to his feet and turned to find Kakashi strolling into the field.
"Yo," he said. Once he reached them he gave the instructions for the training. "Taijutsu only, oh and if you don't mind I thought I'd join you." The three genin looked at each other before shrugging and nodding as one.
"Alright then, Scatter!" said Kakashi and the four broke off.
Haru and Sakura met each other in the middle in the middle of the field each wielding kunai. Sakura blocked an overhead slash and countered with a hard kick to Haru's middle. Haru brought his other arm across his stomach and blocked the kick stumbling a bit. But Sakura was unable to capitalize on the opening because Naruto flew straight over Haru's head a launched a flurry of three kicks the last one being an ax kick that drove Sakura to the ground hard. Naruto landed in a crouch and leaped straight into the air to avoid a kick from Haru. He flipped backwards drawing his two kunai and landed in a low crouch with both his arms held straight out to his side the kunai held in reverse grips. Haru pulled the demon wind off his back and flipped it open. He threw it straight Naruto who vanished from sight and reappeared right in front of Haru. He put a foot on Haru's knee and brought his other leg up in a knee strike. Haru fell backwards right past Sakura who was now up and charging her kunai in hand. Naruto, unable to defend himself in mid air, took a hard kick to the solar plexus. He hit the ground hard gasping for breath. Sakura stood over him triumphantly, she brought her leg down in an ax kick which Naruto avoided by rolling to his left and flipping to his feet. He stared at his two 'opponents' Sakura to his left Haru to his right, they were locked in a stand still.
It then that Kakashi chose to appear. Right in the middle. Naruto didn't even hesitate, he charged Kakashi sheathing his kunai. Kakashi blocked his first punch and countered with a hard kick, Naruto ducked the kick and delivered an elbow into Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi took the hit but didn't move. Naruto flipped away. Kakashi and Naruto stared each other down. Sakura and Haru were motionless, neither wanting to get caught in this fight. Faster then anyone could see, Naruto and Kakashi both pulled their hand bands from there faces unveiling their Sharingans. They charged, the force of their blows created gusts of wind, it ended in a flash. Naruto, starting to get desperate, overextended. Kakashi caught his fore arm and brought the boy crashing to the ground.
"Alright," he said "That's it for today." Is was getting late and he needed to let them get going. Naruto stood up after Kakashi got off of him and pulled his headband down over his face. Sakura walked over to the tree and picked up her picture. Then the three genin left the forest. They decided to eat dinner at Ichirachu's, once they were sat at the bar and their ramen ordered, Sakura and Haru chatted while Naruto listened. They talked about the training they'd just had and more importantly, Kakashi and Naruto's fight.
"What possessed you to charge Kakahsi-sensi like that Naruto?" asked Haru. Naruto gave a short shrug.
"I wanted to test myself," he said
"Well you got your butt kicked," said Haru. Naruto shrugged again and turned to the ramen Ayame had just set down in front of him. After eating for a few minutes Naruto turned to looked at his friends. They were chatting happily, smiling and laughing at the things they were discussing. Sakura had scooted he stool closer to Naruto and was slightly leaning on him.
After their ramen the three friends stood and began to head home. Naruto was in the middle, Sakura to his right her left hand laced in his right and her right arm holding onto his bicep. Haru was to his left both hands behind his head. They decided to spend some time as a team at Naruto's house. They wanted to spend time together just the three of them to breath before really jumping into the hard training for the Chunin finals. They went up the stairs to his apartment and stepped into his small living room, after few hours they all decided to crash in Naruto's livivng room.
Kakashi Hatake sat at the village dango shop with his favorite type of dumpling in front of him.
"Long time no see, Kakashi," came a voice from behind him. He turned to see an elderly man with hair white as the snow in a red Gi.
"M-master Jiraiya?" he said completely stunned "What are you doing here? You haven't been in the village in years." The man sighed and stepped around table table.
"Honestly I hadn't planned to come back this soon, but it's been taken out of my hands," Jiraiya said
"You see I've been keeping taps on that pain in the neck Orochimaru ever since he left the village all those years ago. And now I know he's coming back to the village, if he's not here already." Kakashi let out a gasp.
"Are you serious Master Jiraiya?" he asked
"I'm afraid that I am," he said crossing his arms.
"So that's what brings you back?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes and no," said Jiraiya "I once made a promise to Minato and Kushina that I would watch over Naruto if anything happened to them. It's time I made good on my promise." Kakashi looked at him dumb founded.
"But, uh," he stuttered.
"Kakashi it's not my desire to steal your student," said Jiraiya "Just help with a technique here or there. I know there are many techniques you can still teach him"
"It's more than that," said Kakashi "I don't know if you're aware of it but Naruto has recently received a Sharingan eye and two affinities. As near as I can tell, Naruto has three chakra affinities."
"Three?" asked Jiraiya "No Kakashi that's not possible."
"I didn't think it was either, but Master Jiraiya he does I swear to you," said Kakashi.
"Three? You're sure?" asked Jiraiya.
"Yes, near as I can tell wind, lightening, and fire," said Kakashi "which brings me to my next point, I want to teach him Chidori, but his chakra control is quite there yet." Jiraiya was silent for a while.
"I may have the perfect solution," said Jiraiya "The summoning jutsu will be the perfect way for him to focus his chakra."
"Perfect," said Kakashi "I'll let you take over with the training for the summoning jutsu, then I can teach him Chidori and after that, well we'll see where it goes from there."
"Wait wait wait," Jiraiya suddenly burst out "Did you say Naruto has Sharingan?"
"Yes," said Kakashi running his hand over his forehead. "Nine months ago, My team and I were on a mission in the the Land of Waves. It went wrong, it went so wrong Jiraiya. We were attacked by a rouge ninja named Zabuza, him and his apprentice. Sasuke and Naruto engaged the apprentice in mortal combat. Sasuke was killed. With his last breath, he gave Naruto his Sharingan to replace the eye Naruto lost in the battle. Ever since then he's trained to use it.
"That's quite a story," said Jiraiya.
"It's all true," said Kakashi.
"No, I know" said Jiraiya "Kakashi, Naruto has a long road ahead of him. Naruto is going to have to learn that because of who he is, he's going to have to spend his entire watching his back." Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair and let out a heavy sigh.
"I know," he said "We'll just focus on his training for now."
"Good idea," said Jiraiya "We'll focus on the Summoning jutsu for now and then we'll have to see what happens."
Naruto woke up with a stiff neck. Sat up straight on his couch and stretched trying to loosen his neck. He had spent the night on his couch and was now regretting it. He rubbed out his neck and walked toward the kitchen being careful to step over Haru on the way there. After fishing a glass out of his cupboard he filled it with water from his tap and downed it in three gulps. It did little for his neck so he filled another glass and drank half of it. He walked out of the kitchen with the glass in hand just in time to find Haru stirring from his spot on the floor.
"Ah man," moaned Haru "What time is it?" Naruto took a swig of water and looked at the clock.
"Just about noon," he said.
"SHIT!" said Haru "what time did we go to bed last night?"
"I don't know," said Naruto "Like four maybe," he took another swig of water, and walked down the hall towards his bed room. He inched the door open and peered in. What he found left him completely speechless. Sakura lay in his bed, she was on her back, her pink hair splayed out around her. Naruto leaned on the door frame watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she slumbered. He took another sip of water debating with him self whether or not to wake her. They had to meet Kakashi for training in two hours and Naruto knew she would want to go home first.
"Hey," whispered Haru from behind him "I''m gonna head home, I'll see you for training." Naruto nodded and turned back to his sleeping teammate. Steeling himself, he approached her bed side and gently sat down. He lightly shook her shoulder.
"Sakura, it's time to wake up," he said. He soft emerald eyes fluttered open.
"Na-Naruto?" she asked slightly confused.
"Yes," he said "It's about time to get up, it's already noon."
"Oh, ok," she said.
"I'll leave you to get dressed," he said standing up and leaving the room, grabbing a change of cloths on his way out. He changed in the bath room. He put on a pair of black pants and a midnight blue tee. He exited the bathroom just as Sakura was leaving his room. She gave him a soft smile.
"Sleep well?" he asked her. She nodded.
"You have a comfortable bed," she replied. He smiled.
"I'm glad," he said "We should swing by your place before going on to training." she nodded and together they left the apartment. They quickly made their way across the village, Sakura holding his right hand in her left, her right hand on his bicep. In time they made it to Sakura's house.
"You want to come in?" she asked. He nodded and followed her inside.
"Oh, Naruto," said Aki as he stepped in. "We haven't seen you around here for quite awhile."
"Yeah sorry about that," he said "I've been kinda busy."
"Oh that's ok," replied Aki "Oh I see you took your bandages off, but you still wear your headband over your eye, are you still injured?"
"No, you see I actually have Sasuke's Sharingan eye in my right eye," he said "I keep it covered because I cant deactivate it."
"Ah I see," said Aki a bit confused "well come and have some tea."
"We can't mom," said Sakura "we have to meet Kakashi-sensei for training."
"Oh ok fine," said Aki "just come back after, it's been too long since we saw Naruto."
"Sure mom, I will" said Sakura and with that the two young ninja left the Haruno home.
They were met with a very unfamiliar sight upon entering their usual training field. Not only was Haru there waiting for them, but Kakashi and with him was an old white haired man.
"Naruto," said Kakashi as they approached "You won't be training with the rest of the team, for now you're to go with Master Jiraiya. He's got a couple jutsu he wants to teach you."
"Um ok?" said Naruto raising an eyebrow and looking at the old man. The man in question gave him a goofy smile.
"Alright," Said Jiraiya as he and Naruto stood next to the river "First I'll show you the jutsu I want you to learn." he quickly flashed through five signs before slamming his hand on the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted. There was a cloud of smoke and as it cleared Naruto saw the old man standing on a red toad wish a green and red scoll. "Take the scroll." Naruto did as he was instructed and unrolled it on the ground.
"That scroll is a contract with the Summoning Toads," explained Jiraiya "Passed down from earlier generations of Ninja. Sign your name in your own blood and the stamp the finger prints of one hand on under it. Then build up your chakra and slam it on the ground were you want to perform the summoning. The signs are boar, dog, bird, monkey, sheep."
Naruto let out a heavy sigh as he drew one of his kunai off his hip and sliced open his right thumb. He quickly wrote his name and stamped his right finger prints on the scroll beneath his name.
"Good, now do it," said Jiraiya in a stern voice. Steeling his resolve, Naruto quickly flashed through the five signs and slammed his palm on the ground.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!" he yelled. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear standing on a blue toad with yellow stripes running down his back.
"Amazing!" thought Jiraiya "To Summon a toad that size on his first try. No ones done that since Minato. This boy, with Sharingan and the right determination, he could easily surpass his father."
"What the hell?" exclaimed the Toad "What are you doing over there Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya smirked from where he was on the red toads back.
"It wasn't me who summoned you," said the Sage.
"Really, then who?" asked the toad.
"He's on your back," said Jiraiya "Jump down Naruto, let him see you." Naruto let out a sigh and jumped off the toads back.
"Who are you?" asked the toad in genuine curiosity
"Naruto," replied the young man.
"Well nice to meet you Naruto," said the toad "my name is Gamamochi."
"Nice to make your acquaintance," said Naruto. Jiraiya wore a small frown, he'd hoped the first meeting between Naruto and his new friend would go smoother, but this boy was more withdrawn than he'd thought. Gamamochi's face a bit and he disappeared in a poof.
"Naruto," scolded Jiraiya "Gamamochi is a very shy spirit. When you act like that, it hurts his felling, runs him down. That's something you should probably work on."
"Yeah, maybe," said Naruto partially ashamed of himself. He seemed to have a nac for upsetting people these days. He slouched his shoulders, tucked his hands in his pockets and started walking back to Kakashi.
"Naruto!" came Jiraiya's stern voice "Do not walk away! Do the Jutsu again." Naruto took his hands out of his pockets. He bit his thumb and flashed through the five signs again.
"Summoning Jutsu!" once again a plum of smoke Naruto appeared standing on Gamamochi's back.
"So summoned me back already?" he said.
"Yeah," said Naruto jumping off his back "Look Gamamochi I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to be rude or hurtful. It is nice to meet you." Gamamochi's face lit up. A smile played on Jiraiya's face and he nodded his head.
"You too, Naruto-san," said Gamamochi.
"Gamamochi," said Jiraiya "Naruto may be summoning you off and on the next few days, just to get some practice, please bear with us."
"Not a problem Jiraiya-sama," said Gamamochi.
"But we're done with this for the day," said Jiraiya.
"Ok, see you around Naruto-san," he said.
"See you later, Gamamochi," replied Naruto. With that the toad poofed away.
"Ok," said Jiraiya "Now that we have that down, we need to move on. Naruto I doubt your even aware of it but your body houses two Chakras."
"Two chakras?" asked Naruto a bit dumbfounded.
"Exactly, two," said Jiraiya "One is the one your body naturally produces and the other comes from something else."
"The nine-tails," said Naruto getting a far away look.
"Yes," said Jiraiya "The Nine-Tailed Fox. And with training you can learned to control it." Naruto didn't seem to like the idea of controlling the Nine-tails' chakra. "Don't worry, I'll be here to help you along."
"The only time I used the nine-tails' chakra, I lost my eye," said Naruto "I lose control of my body, I don't like it."
"With the training we're going to be doing, you'll be funneling it into jutsu," said Jiraiya "making the jutsu you use now, even more powerful." Naruto still seemed a bit uneasy but nodded.
"Good, first we need to expend body's own chakra," said Jiraiya. Naruto nodded. Setting his mouth in a hard line, he built up chakra in his chest just like he had countless time before.
"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" he put his fingers to the outer edge of his mouth and exhaled. The fireball was massive, the biggest one he'd ever made. He poured more and more Chakra into it draining himself fast, in two minutes almost all his charka was gone.
"Excellent," said Jiraiya "Now try building up more Chakra." Naruto did as he was instructed.
"No good," he said "It's just the usual Chakra." Jiraiya stroked his chin for for a minute trying to think of a solution.
"We'll just have to keep working on it," said Jiraiya "But for now it's getting late, we should call it a day." Naruto nodded and headed back to his team.
"Hey, Naruto," said Haru as Naruto approached them. Naruto waved in greeting. Sakura started to jog towards him.
"How'd it go?" she asked "Learn anything?"
"Yeah," said Naruto "A summoning jutsu, made a new friend."
"Oh?" asked Sakura.
"Yeah I'll show you later," said Naruto and with that the team and their sensei left the training field.
Over the next few day Naruto worked on his summoning jutsu and controling the nine-tails' chakra. He made very little progress, Jiraiya helped as much as he could but he knew for Naruto to do this he needed to do it on his own.
"Damn it," said Naruto as he dropped to one knee after another failed attempt to build up any of the Fox's chakra.
"I'm not getting anywhere with this," he said throwing a stone into the river.
"Naruto," said Jiraiya "You've come as far as you can with this it's time to move on."
"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.
"You see Naruto," said Kakashi from where he was sitting next to Jiraiya.
"Each thing Master Jiraiya and I have trained you has been to learn something else," he said "With the tree climbing and water walking exercises you learn to control your chakra and release it in a steady amount. Sharingan helped you limit the amount you used but still put it to effect, therefore not wasting any. With the summoning jutsu you learned to control greater amounts of chakra. Now we're moving on."
Moving on?" asked Naruto "but I haven't even mastered the summoning jutsu. Gamamochi only come out once every three tries. Every time else it's that annoying Gamakichi."
"You've got it down enough to move ahead," said Jiraiya, "but I fully expect you to keep working on the summoning jutsu."
"Fine, it's settled I'll work on the summoning jutsu Jiraiya-sensei taught me and learn this new technique ."
"Alright," said Kakashi "this new technique, you'll be learning from me. We have two weeks. Say good bye to the others you wont be seeing them for awhile."
"What?" said Sakura "What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?"
"Naruto needs to focus on his training," said Kakashi "He needs to be away from her. He and I are going into the mountains. We'll be be back in time for the finals." Sakura hugged Naruto, letting out a small whimper.
"Do your best, ok?" she whispered "I'll be waiting for you, come back stronger ok?" Naruto gave her a small smile.
"It's a promise," he said.
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And that's that. Any guesses?