A Kumo Ninja

by feltyminotaur61

What would happen if the treatment Naruto received from the citizens of Kono was just to much to take? What would happen if he decided to leave? How would the world change if Naruto became a ninja of Kumo? This is my first attempt at fan fiction so it might be spotty. Abandoned. If anyone wants to use, let me know.

3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise nor do I make any money off of my work. This is done entirely for fun.

Wow, managed to finish another one. It was way harder than I had hoped it would be. I've decided to set myself a due date to help motivate myself. From now on, I will update by the 15th of every month. I hope that helps.

I want to thank everyone for catching the "Kono" slip. I have since changed it and corrected it for all the previous chapters. I'm sorry if the typo lessened anyones enjoyment of the chapter.

I want to thank everyone for liking, favoriting, or commenting. I never expected for anyone to read this let alone like it and your support just makes my day a little better.

_A Kumo Ninja_

Naruto was frustrated. This was a fairly new sensation for him, or rather an old one. He had often been frustrated in the orphanage when he was treated unfairly by the matrons but when he was thrown out he had not really had time for emotions.

Now, in Kumo, he had time to experience emotions again and he was glad for it. He just wished that frustration was an emotion that had never come back.

Finally he threw the the scroll in his hand on the floor.

"AHHH!" He screamed. "Why won't this work!?"

Naruto took a long moment to try to get himself calm again. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths until his desire to scream faded away. When he was once again calm, he moved over to the scroll that was resting where he threw it.

Naruto leaned down and picked up the scroll. He slowly smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed and looked it over again. He put the scroll on his table and slowly went through the hand signs, making sure that they were as perfect as he could make them.

He felt his chakra moving inside of him, flowing in interesting ways as his hands moved. Finally he reached the last sign and felt his chakra flare. He looked around the room to find that absolutely nothing had changed.

"Gah!"

After a few more deep breaths Naruto felt calm enough to think again. He knew that he was definitely doing something wrong but he had no clue what it was. After another moment of deep contemplation he knew that there was only one thing to do.

Naruto picked up the scroll again, left his apartment and moved down the hall. After only one more minute of hesitation Naruto knocked on the door. The door opened immediately, as if the person inside was waiting for him to show up.

Naruto walked in and looked up at Mabui, his eyes as large and pathetic as he could make them.

"I couldn't do it."

Mabui smiled gently down at him.

"Of course you couldn't do it. It takes quite a bit of time for a person's chakra to develop enough to do jutsu. That's why the academy starts when you're ten, not when you're six."

Naruto shook his head vigorously.

"No, that's not what I meant. I could do that water jutsu that the doctor showed me fine and I can feel my chakra moving when I'm trying to make a clone but it just isn't working."

Mabui blinked in surprise and frowned.

"You mean you can actually feel your chakra moving as you do hand signs?"

Naruto nodded his head.

"Yes. My chakra moves around as I make each hand sign, just like with the water one. It's just that at the end, nothing happens."

Mabui nodded her head slowly as she thought about what he had said. After a minute of thinking she nodded her head as she reached a decision.

"Let me get C here. This is a little over my head. Just wait a minute please."

Naruto went to ask a question but stopped when he realized that Mabui was gone. He shook his head and moved further into the room. He took a seat and decided to pass the time by making hand signs to see just how his chakra moved.

Naruto didn't have to wait long. After only five minutes of making motions, both the hand signs that he knew and random ones to see how his chakra reacted, Mabui and C appeared in the room again.

Naruto got up and C turned towards him.

"Mabui-san tells me that your trying to learn some jutsu and that your having trouble. She also tells me that you can feel your chakra moving but that nothing happens."

Naruto nodded his head but decided to to speak. He had nothing to add to what Mabui had already told C. After another moment C realized that Naruto was not going to speak so he decided to continue.

"Uh, alright then. Why don't you just do what you normally do and I'll see if I can find what's wrong."

This time Naruto replied.

"Alright, no problem."

He again went through the hand signs, his concentration so total that he missed the amazed look that formed on C's face. When he reached the end of his hand signs he exclaimed "Clone Jutsu".

Naruto felt his chakra flare once again. He looked around, just as excitedly as when he had tried the technique before, but his face fell as he realized that once again, nothing happened.

Naruto sighed and turned to face C, a look of total helplessness on his face.

"See? My chakra moves around and it gets released but nothing happens! Not even smoke! I've tried it like twenty times and nothing seems to work! What am I doing wrong?"

C stared at Naruto for a moment longer before he managed to compose himself. Finally he answered Naruto, his voice still showing the amazement he felt.

"Uh, wow. Um. I have to say that you got the hand signs correct but that your chakra didn't move quite right to each sign. I also have to say that you put way to much power into the technique. Completely overpowering a technique will also cause it to fail."

Naruto nodded his head as he thought about what he had heard. After a moment he nodded his understanding. Then he turned around and made the signs again.

"Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto glanced around the room excitedly only to once again be met with disappointment. He frowned before letting a look of determination settle on his features.

"Clone Jutsu!"

"Clone Jutsu!"

"Clone Jutsu!"

"Clone Jutsu!"

Finally Naruto reached his limit.

"Ahhh! You have got to be kidding me! That's the smallest amount of charka I can use! Why isn't anything happening!"

Mabui decided to intervene before Naruto had a chance to get angry.

"Look Naruto, it's alright if you can't do a jutsu on your first try. Most shinobi take months to learn a new jutsu. You have years to practice before you can even think about becoming a shinobi so you have time."

C nodded from his place beside Mabui. He knew that she was trying to keep Naruto from getting discouraged and he agreed with her decision.

"That's right. Besides, I mentioned that power wasn't the only issue that you had with the jutsu, you are also molding your chakra differently than most people so you need to figure that out as well."

Naruto nodded his head dejectedly. He knew that they were more experienced and they knew what the were talking about but he wanted results quickly. He had gotten that water jutsu quickly so he had hoped to get others just as fast.

Finally he straightened up and nodded his head, decisively this time.

"Right! No problem. No matter how much work I have to do I'll get this down. I have to if I want to be the strongest shinobi ever after all."

Mabui sighed in relief, she was glad that the incident hadn't damaged his confidence in himself. She smiled at him and decided to offer her help.

"That's great to hear. Now then, I'm not sure how to go about fixing the way you mold chakra but learning to control your chakra is common enough. I'll teach you an exercise you can do so you can decrease the amount of chakra you use."

Naruto jumped up and down from excitement.

"Wow, really? Awesome! What is it? What do I have to do?"

Mabui laughed to herself and tried to get him to calm down a little.

"Alright, settle down now. You need concentration to do this, at least at first." Once Naruto calmed down enough to pay attention she continued her explanation. "This is the most basic chakra control exercise. It's called the object sticking exercise. What you do is use your chakra to stick an object to your body. The objects start off small and light but get heavier and larger as you get better."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically to show that he had understood her and looked around for something to use for the exercise. Mabui smiled at his drive to learn and handed him a blank scroll from her desk.

"Now then, most people start by sticking things to their foreheads. They use other places to increase the difficulty. Remember that too little chakra means that the scroll falls off and too much chakra causes the scroll to fly away."

Naruto nodded, placed the scroll on his forehead and used the least amount of chakra he could manage. He gently pushed it from his forehead into the scroll.

As soon as his chakra touched the scroll, it exploded from his grip, flew across the room and tore itself to pieces. All three people in the room stared at the destroyed scroll in amazement.

Mabui was the first to react.

"Well. That was too much charka, I guess this will take a while to learn."

Naruto nodded his head and accepted another scroll from Mabui.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto frowned in concentration. He placed the piece of shredded scroll on his forehead and gently pushed chakra into piece of paper immediately tore itself from his grasp and blew across the room.

He got up and headed to the pile of destroyed scrolls that rested against the wall he was facing. Before he reached it, however, he was stopped by C's voice.

"This isn't working."

Mabui immediately tried to argue with him.

"What? What do you mean? This takes time. You just..."

"No." C interrupted. "It's not working. Naruto has been trying this same exercise for three hours now and not one change had occurred. I'm not saying a noticeable change, I mean any change at all. That means this exercise is useless."

Naruto's face fell.

"I'm trying the best I can. I just..."

This time C interrupted Naruto.

"Relax. I know your trying as hard as you can, in fact most people would have taken a break an hour ago. It's not your fault your not getting the exercise, it's just impossible for you right now."

Mabui frowned and went to argue with C's opinion. C noticed her open her mouth so he quickly continued.

"What I mean is that this exercise simply uses too little chakra to teach you anything. You have so much chakra that you completely overpower the technique and get nothing from it."

Naruto looked downcast, how was he supposed to be a great shinobi if he couldn't use any jutsu. C saw how depressed Naruto was getting and he hastened to relieve his worry.

"That means we need to come back to this exercise later, when you have better control. To get that control we just have to start you on a different exercise, one that uses more chakra."

Mabui slowly nodded her head.

"I guess I can see your point. If he can't do object sticking exercise we can start him on wall walking. It uses a lot more chakra so he will have better success with it."

C shook his head in disagreement. "No, I don't think that would help either."

Mabui blinked in surprise. "What? Why?"

C pursed his lips for a moment, thinking deeply on how best to describe his thoughts, before he relaxed and began an explanation.

"The wall walking exercise does use more chakra but it also requires more finesse than Naruto has right now. That finesse is usually gained by doing smaller exercises like the one before. No, what we need is a chakra control exercise that uses a lot of power with little finesse right now. We can go back and work on finesse once he can control the amount of chakra he uses."

Mabui nodded her head slowly in response.

I guess that makes sense." She paused before continuing more confidently. "Alright. I just know the basic control exercises so I guess we will have to do research or make one up."

C smiled at her reply.

"No we won't, I have just the technique that will help."

He turned to Naruto to continue his explanation.

"Most chakra control exercises focus on allowing a shinobi use minimal amounts of chakra for jutsu or increasing the control they have over their chakra so they don't waste chakra when they use is useful for most ordinary shinobi and ordinary techniques. That being said, some techniques only get stronger when overpowered and those kinds of chakra control exercises leave a shinobi ill prepared to use them."

Naruto nodded to show that he understood what he was being told.

"To help train shinobi to utilize large amount of chakra, there are other techniques, ones that use a lot of power with little control, at least at first. I think we will start you on one of the most advanced and work your way down until you can control your chakra enough to do the delicate work."

Naruto pumped his fist into the air. He was so excited that he would be able to learn to control his chakra.

"Alright! I'll work on this until I master my chakra. Then I'll learn all the techniques I can until I become the most powerful shinobi in the world!"

C smiled and began explaining the exercise.

"This technique is called the chakra bubble. It works on the principle of chakra repulsion."

Seeing Naruto's confused expression, Mabui jumped in to explain a little about chakra.

"You see, Naruto-kun, chakra is a strange force that no one really understands. What we do know is that in its most pure form we can use outside of our bodies, that's what we use in chakra control exercises, chakra has a push-pull nature. That means that up until a certain point charka pulls thing to it. After that point, chakra pushes things away from it."

"Right. Most of the exercises we mentioned before used the before point to pull things to you or you to things. This exercise is based on that after point to push you away from things and things away from you."

Naruto took a moment to absorb the information about chakra. That seemed like it could be useful late. Finally he nodded his head to indicate that C could continue.

"Now this exercise in its final form creates a bubble of chakra around you that pushes everything away from you, including the ground, until you can float with without damaging the ground."

Mabui turned her head sharply to face C.

"What? That technique has to be ridiculously complicated and has to require much more finesse than wall walking. You can't expect Naruto-kun to learn this technique with no prior training."

C waved away her concerns.

"Now, now. I wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't have a plan. Just listen."

Mabui nodded her head guardedly. She didn't want C to get Naruto's hopes up with an impossible dream.

"You are right to say that the technique is impossible to learn with no prior training. That being said, there are a few steps that someone has to do before they get up to completing the technique that will be perfect for Naruto-kun. Once he can finish the steps he can right now, he can move to a lower level exercise and complete the chakra bubble later."

Naruto decided to jump into the conversation. He didn't like that Mabui didn't think he could learn this technique.

"I'll learn the chakra bubble in no time at all. I'll even master the technique before I join the academy. That's my promise."

Mabui and C smiled at Naruto's enthusiasm and childlike confidence.

"All right then. When we get to the point that I feel we can move on to another exercise, I will tell you how to continue this exercise. Just don't focus on the chakra bubble to the exclusion of your other techniques."

Naruto nodded solemnly and promised to not get distracted.

"You also have to promise to follow the rules I give you about learning this technique. It uses a lot of chakra so it can be very dangerous."

"Alright. I'll be careful."

"Good. Now, the first rule is to always practice this technique outside. It can be very destructive, especially in its initial stages, and you don't want to damage any buildings. I'll show you a place you can go to practice."

"I understand C-san"

"The second rule is that your are not to practice this technique for more than four hours a day. This must be in blocks of at most two hours at a time with at least a three hour break in between. This technique uses a lot of chakra and if you're not careful you can get chakra exhaustion which is dangerous."

Naruto frowned in disappointment at not getting to practice constantly but nodded his agreement.

"The final rule is that you are not to show anyone how to do this technique. If anyone tries it without properly knowing what can happen and without proper instruction, it can be quite dangerous."

When Naruto finished giving his agreement for the third time, C began to explain the actual technique.

"The chakra bubble is very complex. To finish the technique you would have to release the exact same amount of chakra out of every tenketsu on your body simultaneously, then use shape transformation to shape the chakra into a bubble and push enough chakra into the technique to levitate while keeping enough control to keep from damaging the area under you."

Naruto's eyes got huge as he listened to what he had to do. He didn't understand everything but it sounded complex and difficult.

"Like I said earlier, this technique has many steps to getting that far. The one we'll start with is actually the levitating. To do this you have to push chakra out from your feet until you can stand on your chakra like it was the earth. Don't worry about damaging the ground or how high you end up when you're stable, that's for later, you just need to get stable first."

Naruto grinned with joy, flying, or at least levitating, sounded awesome. His excitement was cut short when Mabui decided to cut in.

"That sounds really dangerous, especially because Naruto-kun doesn't have have any control and has massive amounts of chakra. He could blast himself high in the air and get hurt by the fall."

C had anticipated her objection and had a reply ready.

"I plan to have him practice on training ground seventy-six." Seeing Naruto's confusion, C decided to elaborate. "Training ground seventy-six is primarily used for learning to enhance your muscles with chakra. While learning it is possible to enhance your muscles to the point that you can seriously hurt yourself by moving incorrectly. That training ground had a special seal to stop dangerous movement safely."

Naruto nodded excitedly once again. He jumped up and made to run to the door.

"Alright! Let's get going! The sooner I learn this the sooner I can become a powerful shinobi!"

Mabui chuckled to herself but stopped him from leaving.

"Just on minute Naruto-kun. I have a few more things I want to talk to you about before C shows you this technique."

Naruto pouted in disappointment but sat down.

"Aww. What is it? I want to learn how to levitate."

C snorted in amusement but Mabui ignored him and put on a serious expression.

"I realize that you want to become a powerful shinobi, the most powerful shinobi in the world in fact, and I want to help you achieve your dream. That being said, I also want you to train as safely as you can so I want to go over some rules you have to follow while training."

Naruto nodded his head, trying to be as serious as he could be. No one had ever cared about his safety before and it felt nice to be wanted.

"Now, the first and probably most important rule is that you are not allowed to do physical conditioning."

"What!? Why!? How will I become a powerful shinobi if I can't train?"

"Naruto-kun, calm down. I'm not saying that you can never train, in fact you will definitely have to train as you get older. I'm just saying that you can't train until you get older."

Naruto frowned as he asked his question again. "But, why?"

Mabui sighed at his expression. She knew that if she didn't explain herself to his satisfaction he would go off and try to train by himself. She didn't want that, he could get seriously hurt.

"Listen Naruto-kun, the body of a child is constantly growing and changing as you get older and are exposed to different stresses. This means that if you put too much strain on your body you could seriously damage yourself."

Naruto frowned, clearly not agreeing with what she was saying so she continued her explanation.

"Physical conditioning is all about putting stain on your body and letting it heal. That kind of strain could seriously hurt you until you get older. At the very least it would stunt your growth."

Naruto nodded his head very slowly.

"So when does it get safe for me to start training?"

Mabui frowned in thought and glanced at C. He thought for a moment before answering Naruto's question.

"I'll answer that one Naruto-kun. As a shinobi with medical training I know a lot about the human body. Generally, the best time to do physical conditioning safely is after your body hits its maturity. Around the age of twelve or thirteen I would guess."

"But that's so long." Naruto whined. "How am I supposed to be a shinobi if I can't train until I'm twelve?"

Mabui sighed at his stubbornness and decided to compromise a little before he decided to ignore their warning.

"You can do some exercises, just not the amount that most shinobi do. Too much exercise in too short a period of time is what causes the damage I'm worried about. You have to work your way up gradually, at least until your body starts to mature, then you can really start physically training."

C threw in some more support to make sure that Naruto would follow thier advice.

"Besides, you already have so much to do that you wouldn't be able to really focus on physical conditioning."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Really? What do I have to do?"

C smirked inwardly as he caught Naruto's attention. It looked like the they had gotten through to Naruto after all.

"Well, first you have to work on chakra control. That will take a lot of time. Then you need to fix your problem moulding chakra. After you finish that you can start to learn ninjutsu and genjutsu. They use chakra so you can do as much training as you want."

Mabui quickly continued before Naruto could protest that it wasn't enough.

"You also need to learn the skills shinobi need to survive. Things like first aid, wilderness survival, stealth, and strategy. If that isn't enough you have to earn how to throw kunai, shuriken and senbon, how to identify, use and counter poisons and how to make, detect and disarm traps."

Naruto's eyes grew wider and wider as the two shinobi added more topics he would need to learn. C started to smirk outwardly as he threw out a few more topics.

"And on top of all that you can start to learning a taijutsu, a kenjutsu and/or a bukijutsu style. You can learn the forms, how to use the weapons and get some muscle memory before you start physical conditioning to make yourself faster and stronger."

Mabui also saw how big Naruto's eyes were getting and decided to make sure that he was far to busy learning to worry about intense physical conditioning.

"If you're really good you can also learn things like nature transformation, shape transformation, chakra flow techniques, fuinjutsu, how to use your bijuu's power, how to use your kekkei genkai and possibly start making your own techniques to use."

Naruto's eyes were so wide that C thought for a moment that they would fall out of his head.

"Whoa! That's a lot of stuff. I have to learn all that before I can become a proper shinobi?" Naruto asked nervously.

Mabui chuckled and began to ease Naruto's worry.

"No, no. You don't have to learn all that to be a shinobi. That's just the kinds of things that you need to learn to be the strongest shinobi in the world. We'll start you off slowly and add more as you show you can handle it."

Naruto sighed in relief. "So, what are we gong to start with?"

C's chuckle gained Naruto's attention once again.

"Have you forgotten already? We were just about to start your chakra control lessons. Most of the things on the list are difficult or impossible to do with poor chakra control."

Naruto nodded sheepishly. He had forgotten about what they were doing, first in his disappointment at being told he couldn't train and then at his worry about how much he would have to learn.

"You can also start learning some shinobi skills like first-aid, trap making and wilderness survival while you have to rest." Mabui added. "I will lend you some scrolls you should read. You can learn a lot from them and they will get you ready for practical lessons in each subject."

When Naruto nodded his understanding Mabui continued with her previous topic.

"Now then, before we were interrupted I was telling you the rules I expect you to follow while training."

Naruto looked down sheepishly. He knew that it was his outburst that had caused her to stop her list of rules and kept him from training for even longer. Before he could apologize Mabui spoke again.

"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun. Just remember and follow the rules. Alright?"

"Alright Mabui-chan. I know you're just looking out for me so I'll do as you ask."

"That's good Naruto-kun. Like I said before, the first rule is that you're not allowed to follow a shinobi physical training regime until you're older. The second rule is that you're to follow any and all instructions we give you about an exercise. Limits like the one C gave you for the chakra bubble exercise are supposed to keep you safe so make sure you follow them."

"I will follow your instructions Mabui-chan, C-san, don't worry."

"Good. The third rule is that you have to take care of yourself while training. That means no skipping meals, staying up all night, or pushing yourself to the point that you could hurt yourself. You need to be in top condition or you could hurt yourself badly."

"I understand Mabui-chan."

"I mean it Naruto-kun. You also have to take breaks from all training to just be a child, not just taking breaks to study shinobi skills in between chakra exercises and your physical training."

"But, why?" Naruto pouted. "I want to learn to be a shinobi as fast as possible. Why do I need to stop training to just do nothing?"

"Naruto, this is very serious." C answered Naruto's question, his face as serious as Naruto had ever seen it before. "Being a shinobi is a dangerous profession. Death will be a constant companion, you will have to deal with the darkest parts of humanity, and you will see and possibly do many terrible things. Shinobi who don't have some kind of coping mechanism will break under the strain they are placed under. Taking time to just be a kid will help you later, when you are an actual shinobi yourself."

Naruto nodded hesitantly. He remembered how he felt when he had killed that bandit from before and realized that he would have to kill again. He suddenly felt a little better about taking time to just be a child.

"Alright C-san. I understand and will make sure to take breaks when I can get them."

C nodded his head, sad that he had to reveal such a harsh truth to the young boy but pleased that Naruto remained resolute and that Naruto would listen to his advise. Mabui continued by finishing her rules.

"The fourth rule is you need to come to either me, C or B before starting a new training exercise. We need to make sure that you're learning safely and can give you tips or help to make sure you get the most from training."

"No problem Mabui-chan. I'll come to you before I start training anything new."

"Good. The final rule you have to follow is that you are not allowed to teach anyone anything we teach you without our permission. Some things we are teaching you can be dangerous if they not performed correctly or they are done by a person who is not ready. Only we can tell if someone is ready or not to learn the things we're teaching you, so come to us if anyone wants to learn what you're learning."

Naruto nodded his head to show his understanding.

"Alright Mabui-chan. I will follow your rules."

Mabui smiled. "Good. When we're training, call me Mabui-sensei. You can call me Mabui-chan again when were done. Now follow me closely. I'll show you to the training ground the first few times you do this training but you'll need to remember how to get there for later."

Naruto jumped up and followed Mabui closely. He was excited that he was one step closer to accomplishing his dream.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto walked through the streets of Kumo, his hand in his pockets and a huge grin on his face. It was barely even one week after C had shown him how to start the chakra bubble exercise and while he had not mastered the first step, or even really completed it, Naruto was making serious progress.

C had been very impressed at how fast he was progressing with his chakra control. C had even predicted that he would finish the exercise by the end of the next week and master it enough to move on by the end of the month.

He was doing less well on his reading but no one was disappointed by that. He had tried his best to puzzle through the scrolls on his own but had ultimately had to go to Mabui for help.

Mabui had been angered when she found out that no one had even bothered to teach him to read. She had immediately begun to teach him how to read whenever she could and Naruto soaked up the knowledge like a sponge. Mabui had told him that he would be ready to start puzzling through the scrolls she had originally given him in another two months.

None of that was what had put the smile on Naruto's face however. The event that had Naruto so excited was the large festival that was going on around him. He was not actually sure just what the people around him were celebrating, but he was celebrating his new beginning as a citizen of Kumo.

Naruto finally decided that his first destination had to be one of the many carnival game stalls that lined the streets. He tried to see what every stall around him was doing so he could pick the best activity for himself, but found that he was too short to get a good look into each stall.

Finally Naruto gave up on his attempted reconnaissance and decided to just pick a stall at random. He closed his eyes and span around, upsetting many of the people trying to walk past him, and found himself facing a small hut that had few people around it.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders at his random choice and headed in the direction he was facing. He quickly ducked through the crowd and pulled himself up into one of the many seats facing the interior of the hut.

Inside the small gaming hut was a small, mousy looking man. He was dressed in a bright coat with rhinestones scattered across it in the shape of constellations that seemed just a little too large for the man inside.

Naruto quickly noticed that there was only one other person sitting at the stall with him. The person was a young, blond girl that he thought was around his age. She was wearing black, shinobi style pans and a pale pink shirt. The girl looked over at the noise he made when he sat down and a huge smile grew across her face.

"Alright!" The girl exclaimed. "Finally!"

Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Huh?" He asked intelligently.

The girl snorted. "I've ben waiting ten minutes for someone else to want to play this game. He only lets people play it in pairs because he wants people to compete for prizes."

Naruto looked over at the mousey-looking man. He nodded his head in what Naruto could tell was fake enthusiasm.

"The little lady is correct." The man replied in an unnecessarily grand voice. "You need two people to play this game. It's more exciting if there can only be one winner."

Naruto looked back at the girl and she explained a little more.

"This is the only game that i've found so far that has shinobi gear as prizes."

Naruto's head snapped back towards the man only to receive another nod.

"The lady is correct again. I am proud to announce that this is the only stall in the whole fair that uses shinobi training gear as prizes. Instead of getting stuffed animals or action figures you can win training shuriken or blunted kunai."

Naruto jumped up and down in his seat excitedly. This was so much better than he had originally thought. Not only did he get to play the fun games other kids used to talk about but he got training material out of it to.

"That's awesome! What do I have to do?"

The man immediately jumped into the quick, precise patter of a man who had given a speech many times before.

"This is the amazing Shinobi Games! Here you have to compete with a partner by throwing ping pong balls into the cups to get prizes. Blue cups are one point, red cups are two points, green cups are five points and the gold cup is worth an amazing ten points. At the end, the person with the most points wins and gets to choose a prize based on how many points they have."

Naruto frowned as he thought about the rules. "What about the other person though?"

The carnival worker shrugged. "They're welcome to try again later."

Naruto bit his lip in indecision for a moment before he shrugged and nodded his head.

"Alright, I'll play."

The girl and the man both smiled, apparently this wasn't a popular stall. The man added the last few rules now that he had reeled them in.

"Great. It's five ping pong balls for fifty ryō. It's also against the rules for any active duty shinobi to play, too easy for them."

Naruto nodded and handed over the fifty ryō. The girl had evidently paid before because the man immediately handed over the ping pong balls to each of them.

Naruto picked up the ball and bounced it in his hand. He took careful aim and threw the ball. It flew threw the air at the gold cup, bounced off the rim and landed in a blue cup.

He groaned in dismay before trying again for the same results. He finally decided that the gold cup was just too difficult for him and went after a green cup instead. He threw two more balls before glancing at his opponent.

He watched as she threw her last ball into another green cup and tallied up her score. He quickly realized that she had gotten four green cups and a blue cup. Thinking that he had no way to win this he tossed his ball without looking at his target.

Naruto quickly looked up however when the man declared "Winner. The boy with the yellow hair."

To Naruto's amazement his last ball had fallen directly in the gold cup that he had tried to hit in the beginning. He was shaken out of his shock when the girl got up.

She quickly walked away with a frown on her face. Naruto wanted to tell her that he would play her again and that she shouldn't be so sad but he was distracted by the mouse-like man.

"You got a total of twenty-two points that means you can get anything on these shelves totaling up to twenty points."

Naruto glanced at the shelves the man was pointing to. Sitting on the shelves were training shuriken and kunai, a grappling hook set, some climbing gear, a small spool of ninja wire and a small training sword.

He glanced at the price tags and thought about all the cool things he could get with his points but stopped when he remembered the girl he had won against. Finally he decided and, after he grabbed the items he took, ran in the direction the girl had gone.

He caught up to her fairly quickly, her pink shirt and small stature making it easy for him to find her. Naruto ran up to the girl and smiled at her. She blinked in surprise at seeing her recent opponent, unsure just why he had tracked her down.

Naruto saw that she was confused so he decided to take the innovative.

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and you were really great back there."

The girl blinked before blurting out her reply.

"What? But I lost."

Naruto shook his head at her answer.

"Nah, you did way better than what I did. I was just really lucky. You were really precise."

The girl let a small smile grow on her lips.

"Heh. Well I've been trying it all day, I should be pretty good by now."

Naruto's grin grew wider.

"Ya, you totally should have won, that's why I want you to take this."

Naruto handed over the small bag that he had been holding. The girl reached into the bag and puled out a set of black, fingerless gloves with three thin, straight blades attached to the top by a steel plate. The girl let out a small gasp and looked up at Naruto. He blushed lightly as he explained himself.

"I saw that you were looking at those climbing gloves earlier and you really should have won so I got you those."

The girl was still looking at him in shock so Naruto rambled on.

"I didn't really need any of the stuff he had as prizes, I mean I'm only beginning to train as a shinobi and I'm no where near where I need to be to. ..."

He was interrupted when the girl gave him a quick hug. This time Naruto was the one shocked speechless as the girl rambled on.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I've been trying to get these gloves all day. This is the only place that I've been able to find gloves like these for under one-thousand ryō. It's just that I wasn't very good at first and then no one wanted to play and then you came along and. ..."

Naruto interrupted her with a chuckle.

"Hey, it was no problem. Like I said, you really should have won."

The girl smiled at him and took a moment to calm down. When she started speaking again she was much more like she had been back at the game stall, excited and happy but under control.

"Thanks. I've always liked climbing and these will help a lot. I've wanted a set since I saw them but it takes so much money to get them from a store."

Naruto was nodding his head in agreement when the girl seemed to remember that she hadn't introduced herself yet.

"Oh, right. How rude of me. I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Yugito Nii and I want to be the greatest kunoichi in all the elemental nations."

Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Wait, what? Did you say you were Yugito?"

The girl's smile dipped a little and her eyes narrowed.

"Yah. You have a problem with that?"

Naruto shook his head hurriedly.

"No, not at all. It's just that the raikage told me to look out for you. He said that you were cool and that we had a lot in common."

Yugito's smile grew back to what it originally was.

"Oh really? What did he say?"

Naruto looked around for a private place but quickly found that he couldn't find one. He gave up after a moment and spent another minute trying to figure out how to tell her about his bijuu without anyone else over hearing.

"I guess you could say that we have a lot in common with B-san as well."

Yugito blinked at his short answer after taking so long to think of a reply. Then she analyzed exactly what he said and froze.

"Are you making fun of me?" she asked dangerously.

Naruto shook his head as seriously as he could manage.

"No. All three of us have a lot in common. I'm supposed to keep it a secret for now but I'm allowed to tell you."

She nodded very slowly before holding up two fingers near her waist. Naruto looked around as well before answering her with nine fingers. Her eyes grew wider at his reply.

"Seriously?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Yah."

"But, but how?"

Naruto looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to them before replying as vaguely as he could manage.

"I only moved to Kumo recently. Before that I was in Konoha. B, C, and Mabui rescued me and brought me here."

Yugito took in his story before nodding her head. She was extremely intelligent and was able to get quite a few details from the short story and she had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

"Wow. That's, actually really cool. And your around my age too."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"It is really cool." He paused for a moment as he tried to figure out how to continue the conversation. He really liked talking to Yugito, it was almost like he had a friend his own age.

"So, where were you going before I stopped you."

Yugito blinked at the change in topic but realized that there was nothing else that could be discussed outside of a secure place so she just went along with it.

"Uh, I was going to find someplace to eat. I've been sitting at that stall for five hours now."

Naruto nodded his head nervously.

"Ah. I see. Do. I mean, would you, like to, uh, maybe, uh."

Naruto was interrupted by a laughing Yugito.

"Sure Naruto-san. I would love to get to know you. Why don't you come with me to get something to eat and then we can explore the fair together."

Naruto sighed in relief and grinned.

"Heh, that was way more awkward than I thought it was going to be. What do you like to eat?"

Yugito grinned fiercely and relied with a fervor that he had never heard related to a food before.

"Sushi!"

_ Scene Break _

Naruto concentrated as hard as he possibly could. First he connected with his chakra, a process he had done so many times already it was as easy as breathing. Then he carefully pushed the chakra down to his legs.

He had learned to be careful the hard way. Too much chakra, to fast would cause his legs to feel like they were burning, and would overload his tenketsu. He'd had to stop training for three days after he'd done that.

Once he had a strong enough flow he gently pushed it out through the tenketsu on his feet. Naruto felt his chakra flow out of his body like it had countless times before. He started by pushing gently, causing him to wobble gently five inches above the ground.

Slowly he increased the flow of chakra through his feet. He stopped focusing on his surrounding or his balance on the pillar of chakra he was forming, only the stability of the pillar mattered.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Naruto, the pillar under him stabilized. He felt emotions traveling through him, shock, joy, excitement, before his pillar of chakra started to destabilize. He quickly pushed the emotions away and focused on the pillar.

After a moment that seemed to go on forever the chakra pillar stabilized again. Carefully keeping his focus on his chakra, Naruto opened his eyes. And promptly fell to the ground, four feet below him.

Naruto felt the hidden seals around him catch him and slow his fall, a feeling he had become familiar with over the fast two weeks. Normally this feeling came with a spot of disappointment but this time Naruto felt nothing but pride.

He had finally got it right. For just a couple of moments he had actually been levitating on a stable pillar of his own chakra. He glanced up at his sensei, C, who had been watching him practice. C had a large smile on his face as he approached Naruto.

"Maybe I was just seeing things but it looked like you got it that time."

Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he replied to C's playful taunt.

"You didn't imagine it, I finally managed to levitate!"

C nodded his head to show his appreciation of Naruto's work.

"You did didn't you. I have to tell you that that is the fastest I have ever seen someone complete this portion of the chakra bubble. Of course most people can't work as long as you without getting chakra exhaustion, but then again, they usually have much better control then you do."

Naruto's smile grew larger at the praise. He really was advancing in his goal. At this rate he'd be the best shinobi in the world in no time.

"So what now, C-sensei?"

C put on a fake shocked look.

"What do you mean, what now? Now you do it again."

Naruto put on his best pout, not that he would ever call it a pout, it was much more like his manly pleading look, and whined at C.

"Aww, but why? I finished the exercise didn't I?"

C squatted down so he was at Naruto's eye level.

"You did complete it, yes. And if I was any less of a good sensei I would allow you to move on to the next exercise. What you really need to know though is that while you did manage to complete the exercise I gave you, you have no where near mastered it."

Naruto looked at C's expression and knew that what he was saying had to be important, he only ever had that expression when what he was saying was vitally important. Knowing that, Naruto tried his absolute best to listen and understand.

"I don't get it. What do I have to do?"

C could see that Naruto wasn't understanding his idea so he tried to put it in a different way

"Look Naruto, the difference between a good shinobi and a great shinobi is that a good shinobi learns many techniques while a great shinobi masters many techniques."

Naruto instantly knew that he wanted to be a great shinobi, he wanted to be the best, so he asked for some more answers.

"What does it mean to master a technique?"

C smiled at Naruto's question, he knew that mentioning 'a great shinobi' would get Naruto's attention.

"That depends on the technique Naruto-kun. Generally you know you have learned a technique if you can use it and you know you have mastered a technique if you can use it naturally, with the least amount of effort possible."

Seeing that Naruto was lost, C decided to give some concrete examples.

"For things like taijutsu or kenjutsu, you know a move if you can pull it off but you master a move when using a move becomes natural to you, it becomes something you don't have to think about to do. For ninjutsu or genjutsu, you usually master a jutsu if you use the least amount of chakra necessary to pull off the technique and if you can do it without at least some of the hand seals."

Naruto nodded his head slowly.

"So in this, I would have to be able to balance instantly without thinking about it?"

C nodded his head back and forth to show that Naruto was partially right.

"Kinda, if you really want to master this move you have to be able to do things like build the pillar in under ten seconds and then be able to fight on it. We aren't going to go that far, for us, mastery is being able to stand on the pillar and deal with distractions without falling."

Naruto got a stubborn look on his face. C had just told him that great shinobi had to master techniques and was now telling him that he wouldn't be mastering this. That wasn't going to go over well with the young jinchuriki.

"No, I'm going to master the levitating like you said before."

C looked surprised at his defiance.

"Oh? Why would you want to do that? It will take much longer to train you up if you try to completely master every technique I teach you."

Naruto nodded his head, his face filled with determination.

"You said that a great shinobi needs to master the skills that they learn. If I want to be the best shinobi in the world I need to be a great shinobi. I don't care how long it takes, I'll master every technique you give me ."

C smiled at Naruto's promise.

"That's a really good attitude to have. Just remember that mastering a technique takes time and that focusing on mastering a single technique can be worse than just learning a few techniques."

Naruto nodded his head slowly, clearly not understanding. C cast around for another way of stating his point before coming up with the perfect way to explain it.

"Having one mastered jutsu would be better than having two learned jutsu but mastering that jutsu could take the same amount of time learning three jutsu would take. You have to balance your time between learning and mastering techniques because both have their downsides."

"What is the downside to mastering techniques?"

C was glad that Naruto was asking questions, he really was becoming a better student every day they worked together.

"Mastering a technique takes a lot of time and leaves you with a single technique. No technique is unbeatable so if anyone can defeat your technique you have nothing to fight with. Learning techniques is faster so you have more to use, making you harder to defeat but someone who masters techniques could be better than you which would also be bad."

Naruto nodded his head confidently.

"So wouldn't it be best to just master a lot of techniques?"

C laughed at his student's question.

"Of course it would, but that takes a long time. Some day you'll get to that point if you work hard enough but that's a while off. Now why don't you get back to practicing, if you want to start mastering techniques you'll need all the time you can get."

Naruto took one last moment to make sure he would remember this lesson before running back to his practice spot. A small grin on his face and more determined than ever before, Naruto began concentrating.

_ Scene Break _

Naruto wandered down the street trying to find something to do. He had finished training and didn't feel like reading more scrolls so he left his apartment to wander Kumo. He felt that he had been working hard lately and that he should take a "kid" day.

The only problem with that is that he had never really had time to do things normal children did so he was unsure what to do. Naruto walked around aimlessly for an hour before a noise caused him to stop.

The noise was a faint clicking sound, like whatever had caused it was far away or muffled. The only reason he had heard it was because he had been training to hear the click most mechanical traps made when triggered like the scroll he was reading suggested.

He immediately froze and looked around, hoping that he hadn't stepped into a trap. After a moment he realized that he was being foolish and relaxed. He was on a busy street and people were walking all around him. If they had no problem with a trap then he wouldn't either.

He took another step and froze when he heard the sound again. Naruto frowned and decided to listen more closely. After a moment he heard the click again. The sound was actually fairly rhythmic and muffled, the only reason he had heard the previous clicks was because they were slightly louder than the rest.

If Naruto had one fatal flaw as a shinobi it was his curiosity. Now that he heard the faint clicking sounds he had to know what was making it. Following his ears, something he had gotten fairly adept at back in Konoha, Naruto headed off into a small side alley off the street.

The back alleys of Kumo were designed by shinobi to help in the event of an invasion. They were long, twisting mazes that connected with the sewer and each other to form a second set of streets that could take you almost anywhere in Kumo.

Naruto followed the sound through the twisting maze. The sound got louder and Naruto could tell he was getting closer. After a quick four minute walk, Naruto came up to a small, enclosed garden hidden.

The garden had large brick walls that were taller than most men could climb. There were only two entrances to the garden that he could see, one into the building the garden was connected to and the other a small hole in the wall that was next to him. At some point the entrance to the house had been bricked up, leaving the hole the only entrance to the garden.

Finally having caught up to the clicking noise Naruto slowly crawled through the small opening in the wall. The garden had obviously seen better days, most of the plants were dead and the few that remained alive ran everywhere. Sitting in the center of the garden was a small fountain, that once ran with water endlessly, but was now dry and cracked.

Naruto headed towards the dry fountain which was the source of the sounds he was following. He slowly crept up to the fountain and peered over the lip that was designed to keep water in when it still worked.

Sitting in the center of the fountain was a young bird. The bird was mostly brown but it had white feathers around its tail and in the underside of its wings. The feathers around the head were more golden in color leading to a sharp hooked beak and a pair of golden, almost glowing eyes.

The bird was steadily tapping at a metal grate to produce the sound that had attracted Naruto. The grate was supposed to help keep things out of the drain but it had rusted, leaving small holes. Naruto bumped into the lip of the fountain causing the bird to look at him. When the bird moved it revealed that the bird's foot had gotten caught in one of the holes in the grate.

Naruto climbed into the fountain and approached the bird. The bird watched him carefully as he approached as if trying to determine he was a threat. Naruto slowed down even more, he knew just how dangerous animals could be if provoked.

Naruto slowly reached out towards the bird's leg, attempting to help the bird free itself. The bird let his hand get close before whipping its head around. Naruto snatched his hand back as fast as he could but the bird was faster. The bird's beak dragged along the side of Naruto's hand leaving a long, deep cut.

Naruto jumped backwards away from the bird, worried it might attack again but the bird just sat there, his blood staining the edge of its beak. Naruto slowly examined his hand and saw that the cut was already beginning to heal. A proper diet and a real home cleared a lot of the strain his kekkei genkai had been under, speeding his healing up considerably.

After one minute of work the cut stopped bleeding, allowing Naruto to refocus on the bird. He noticed that while the bird had not moved from its spot it was still watching him intently. Frowning to himself, Naruto sat back on his heels and tried to figure out what to do.

He didn't want to just leave the bird trapped, it would starve to death and Naruto wouldn't wish that on anyone. He also couldn't help free it if the bird kept attacking him. He also couldn't go for help because he wasn't sure he could find this place again.

Naruto approached the bird again but this time sat outside of its range. He decided to try to calm the bird down by talking to it.

"Hey now, how did you manage to get in there?" He asked gently.

The bird tilted its head to the side but continued watching him.

"You look like your stuck and I just want to help." Naruto continued.

The bird tiled its head the other way.

"I can help you get out, allow you to fly again, you just have to let me help you."

The bird did not respond in any way.

"If I reach out, you don't attack me. Alright?"

The bird looked like it was considering his words. Finally the bird let out a short screech.

Naruto was surprised that the bird responded to him. Even worse, he had kind of understood what it said.

"Of course I'm not trying to trick you, I really just want to help. I know what its like to be trapped and hungry and if I can help then I want to."

The bird looked like it was considering his reply before letting out another screech.

"Hey. No need to be paranoid or anything. I could just walk away, then where would you be?"

The bird let out another screech, different than the ones before and ruffled its feathers. Naruto briefly wondered if he was insane to think that a bird could have a conversation with him but he decided to reply anyway.

"Hey now, there's no need for that. I'm just saying that its alright to get a little help every now and then."

The bird considered his words for a while before letting out another screech and moving its head away from its leg. Naruto briefly hoped that he wasn't being tricked, that beak hurt damn it, but reached out to the bird again.

The bird watched him closely but made no move towards his hand. Naruto finally reached its leg and began to feel around the grate that held the bird's leg trapped. The grate had given way under the bird's weight and a piece of metal was wrapped around its foot.

Naruto gently grabbed the metal and began to pull. The rusted metal parted easily under his grip and he gently pulled the bird's leg free. The bird hoped away from the grate and landed on the lip of the fountain. Naruto made sure not to move in case he startled the bird.

The bird just stared at Naruto for a long moment before giving another screech.

"Your welcome." Naruto replied automatically.

The bird considered him for another moment before letting out a screech that sounded very self-satisfied.

"Wait, What? What do you mean I'll do?"

The bird gave a short screech as if explaining.

"My nest? You mean my home? You want to come home with me?"

The bird gave a very deliberate nod which convinced Naruto he was not crazy.

"Uh, alright I guess. You'll have to find your own food mostly and I usually train most of the day so you'll have to find something to do but you can live with me."

The bird gave another shriek to show its acceptance.

"Now then, we just need a name for you?"

The bird let out another shriek causing Naruto to pause.

"You have a name already? Well, what is it?"

The bird let out a call that was like a cross between a bark and a cough.

"Lyth, huh? That's a great name. Well hello Lyth, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I think we'll be great friends."

The bird let out a call full of joy and Naruto started laughing.