I don't Own Naruto.

Bold is Supernatural speech.

Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.

-Chapter Six: Naruto Sensei-

Naruto had gathered all his equipment, and set off for the training field where he would meet his trainees. By the time he'd gotten there, his three students were already there.

"I'm glad to see that you're enthusiastic to train." Naruto grinned. He removed a number of scrolls, unsealing all manner of equipment. The massive heavy bag that stood on it's own, weighing in at around two hundred pounds. There was the rope and a pair of posts, small striking mitts, and candles.

"You've got a weird way of training sensei." Torimaru said.

"The heavy bag is for Jon, the candles for Ashiru, and the rope for you." He set them to work doing basic exercises like clapping push ups, sit ups, squats, and a run that he'd claimed would be short, but ended up being more than five miles. When they were all out of breath, Naruto began on his personal training with each of them. With Jon, he simply gave him a certain distance to push the bag with blows, and a limited number of blows to do it with. He had to push the bag fifty feet, and could only hit the bag two hundred times. This would force him to focus on power rather than the number of times he hit. For Torimaru, the rope served it's purpose the to bind his hands at a certain length, forcing him to keep his moves tight, the striking mitts were also for his training. The candles were for Ashiru's training. He would lash out with strikes, using only the wind from his blows to extinguish the flames. Then he would go to one of Naruto's clones and hit the training mitts a set number of times within a time limit. Naruto, in the course of his trainings had learned to manipulate the clones for all purposes. He could have them take blows that were not fatal and survive, he could make them explode, they could perform jutsu, and many other things.

Naruto watched his students train. Jon was having a great deal of trouble moving the two hundred pound bag, to meet his quota, his blows would have to move the bag three inches each time. At first, it seemed no problem, but after about sixty blows or so, he began to tire, and the blows were weaker and weaker, but when he reached around one hundred and twenty, he began attacking with renewed vigor, having reached less than half the distance, he began attacking the bag with powerful blows that he had no energy to deal from. The fifty foot mark came at one hundred and ninety five blows.

"Good, now try and manage the same distance in only one hundred and eighty strikes."

"Do you have any idea how hard this is?" Jon said, exhausted.

"Yes, I can manage fifty feet in just two blows, but I'll show you four." Naruto demonstrated the power he had hidden in his lean physique. The first blow knocked the heavy bag back ten feet, the second was leaning on closer to fifteen feet, the third was also fifteen, and finally, the third was the same distance. "I practiced like this a whole lot when I was with my teacher. And I used a heavier bag, one that was on a bungee cord, as well. So if I didn't do it fast enough, then I'd start from the beginning again." Naruto said, Jon's face showed pure shock, realizing the amount of power he must have.

"How much heavier?"

"Three times the weight. I had gravity seals on during the normal training, and I was allowed to take them off when I did this." Naruto grinned.

Jon started his training with renewed vigor yet again. Naruto now knew what it felt like to be Jiraiya. Next was Torimaru, who was fighting an imaginary enemy. Naruto held up his mitt encased hands, allowing Torimaru to feel the feeling of actually hitting an object rather than air. It was then that he saw that while his moves were tighter, he still telegraphed his moves. Thinking for a moment, he produced a pair of sticks. He handed one to the boy.

"Hit the stick, only use your front arm, and don't move anything above your shoulder." The stick he held firmly felt as Torimaru cocked the stick back. "Stop, stop, Do it like this." Naruto bent at the elbow, and with a snap, knocked the stick from the boy's hand. The boy took his stick and tried again, the movement felt odd, but after a while, Naruto observed the boy getting a handle of the stick. "The stick is simply an extension of your range, instead of a strike." Naruto demonstrated a left hook. "A punch or kick, it's all about keeping the strikes close to your center. Where you're most balanced." Torimaru soaked up the information in much the same fashion as sponges soak up water. He had a clone take hold of the stick, having Torimaru strike it, sometimes while moving, and at different ranges.

Ashiru was having the most trouble, he was a strong boy, no doubt, but he was slow compared to the others, and could not extinguish the flames.

"Come on, hit these, let's make you faster." Naruto held up the mitts, letting Ashiru hit them. "You know your problem? You're trying to hit as hard as before, but faster than before, attack lighter, and faster, working the strength up as you progress." Ashiru's hits became lighter, but also became faster, noticeably so. "Just like that." Ashiru had not had any real problems other than that, he kept working the mitts, the blows didn't get noticeably stronger, but he kept at that fast pace. At around noon, they all broke for lunch, and then came back to training for a while longer.

When an ANBU came to the grounds, he brought with him a letter from Konoha.

Dear Naruto,

How is life with you in Suna? Sasuke and Sakura left for the Land of Snow on the morning of the day you'll be getting this. Sasuke has changed a great deal. Did you know he finally got Sakura to drink sake? Well anyway, how are you doing Naruto? I hear that you and Temari went on a date, how was that? Well, there's not much news, you've only been gone for a week, write back, I want to hear about your life in Suna.

Signed,

(Scribble)

Tsunade

Naruto smiled, he was glad to know that even though he was out of the village that someone was thinking about him. He tucked the letter away, wanting to save his reply for later. His surrogate team continued their training for a while longer yet, until about five in the evening, when they finally broke for the day.

"I want you to be here so we can train every morning, it'll be from eight to lunch time."

"Yes sensei." They all said. Naruto dismissed the boys and went to his current home. When he arrived, he found that his small pile of stuff next to the couch was gone.

"Where is my stuff?" Naruto asked.

"It's in your room, Kankuro moved his stuff out of the guest room." Temari said. Naruto nodded and went into the room to find his stuff sitting neatly against the wall. He went off to take a shower, and when he had finished, arriving in the living room clad in shorts and a t shirt, dinner was waiting for him. He'd started eating, when Gaara walked in, setting down the oversized hat worn by all kage. They ate dinner together, talking about their days.

-Outside the land of snow-

Sasuke and Sakura had been walking all day, the sun was beginning to set. They were just on the borders of the land of Snow, and the temperature was already around -5 degrees, the snow wasn't falling, it was a clear day, but the cold weather was taking its effect on them. Sasuke was wearing the cold weather version of an ANBU outfit. Instead of the sleeveless, skin tight shirt, he was wearing a long sleeved version. The fabric was a perfect insulator, it was designed for the cold weather. Over his vest, he had a thick cloak. He wore boots instead of sandals. Sakura had also changed her attire, she was wearing a pair of black pants, and a red sweater, she wore a cloak as well.

"How much farther do you think we have?"

"Only a few miles, maybe four of five." Sasuke had always been a good judge of distance. They continued walking in silence until Sakura broke it.

"Hey Sasuke, what made you want to come back home?"

"I…I felt…out of place as a missing-nin. I wanted to be back home, where I could stop running." Sasuke's breath misted out in front of him. Sakura's eyes fell to the ground So it wasn't because he wanted to see me. She thought, but then turned her efforts into making it to the village without freezing instead of being sad.

As time passed, Sasuke began feeling tension build between them. He sighed. "You're sad. What's wrong."

"I'm not sad, I'm fine." She smiled. He looked at her, a serious look on his face.

"I may have been gone for a long time, but I still know you Sakura. What's wrong?"

"Alright, alright. There's no tricking you is there? I'm sad that you didn't come back to see me Sasuke. I really wanted to be the reason you returned. But I guessed that was too much to ask."

"You were part of it. And Naruto. I had family again with you guys. I didn't show it, but I really loved being there with you guys." He said.

"So…I was like family to you?" I almost wish it was what I'd thought now.

"No, Naruto was like family, you were always kind of annoying, but I could tell that you weren't another fan girl, when it came to it, you fought, tooth and nail for us." He smirked over his shoulder. "And now you've grown up, into the most beautiful Kunoichi I've ever met." Sakura blushed when he said that.

"Y-you really think that I'm beautiful?" She could feel her face warming up.

"Yes Sakura, I do. You would have to be blind and gay not to see how beautiful you are." He suddenly got an image of his brother in his mind, he chuckled. "Where's that tough girl that I've been with most of this trip?"

"Shut up." She scowled at him. She then smiled. "So what do you think it's going to be like, the land of snow?"

"It's in a deep valley, we'll be walking about a quarter mile down hill to get there. Lot's of trees there."

"You've been there?"

"Several times, since it has no ninja village there, they post a lot of missions that are up for grabs by vagrants. Many of them are well paying."

"Why are we going to train medics then?"

"Because they're going to build a ninja village. The current king is very old, when the prince takes the crown, he wants to have his own ninja village."

"Oh, how do you think that's going to do?"

"The man that is going to be the lord of the village is very strong, and very loyal. I fought him once, he won by a long shot, the man was just too strong."

"Is the last, mighty Uchiha admitting defeat?"

"I'm not the last Uchiha, Madara is still around. He's the real leader of the Akatsuki." Sasuke said, his voice the epitome of serious. "And yes, I'm admitting defeat." Sasuke smirked, "I've never been able to do that before. Their banter continued, most of it was just to keep their minds off the biting cold, that continually gnawed on their extremities.

When they finally reached the edge of the valley, they looked down to see the village sprawled about inside the valley, Sasuke was right, the village had a natural defense, one that discouraged large numbers, the trees that were packed close together made it difficult for an army to move through them.

-Sunagakure: One month later-

Naruto carefully observed the three students, Jon's style of fighting transformed from the traditional Muay Thai fighting style, to a style called Toriyameru no Kobushi Do, the way of the intercepting fist. He led with his right hand, instead of his left, his jabs were lightning fast, and still carried some power, his straight punches from his rear hand were powerful as well. His kicks and knees were a force to be reckoned with.

They'd started training for a full day after all three decided that they'd prefer a full day's training.

Torimaru, the one who'd previously had trouble with his overall style had preferred basic taijutsu and a kodachi.

Ashiru had also chosen the way of the intercepting fist, it fit him, a powerful build, quick, accurate blows, I all seemed to fit for him.

Currently, Naruto was jingling the two bells in his pocket. "Alright, for this test, I want you to get these bells." Naruto smiled.

-Chapter Six: End-

Author's Note: The Way of the intercepting fist is Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. The translation I have here is the literal Japanese translation, which technically means The Way of the Cancelling fist, but it's the same thing essentially.

Anyhow, This took a long time to update, I'm sorry for that, but Things have been strange round here.

If you have any questions, anything, just contact me.