Chapter 2

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto...blahblahblah

Credit to for how to make a fire http://www.wildwoodsurvival. com. I learned something! Check it out actually, the Fire with Water and Ice are both cool and rather innovative!

Not that I'm forcing you. I am not making profit from posting the web address blah blah blah...

Jiraiya and Naruto had traveled for two days along the green grasslands of Konoha and it was testing Naruto's patience, eating away at the constraints Naruto had kept on his love for activity. Meanwhile, Jiraiya was ruffling furiously through a travel book. "Hmm...H...Hot...Hotsprings...right...should be one around here..."

Naruto asked curiously, hoping for excitement, "Watcha talkin to yourself for 'raiya?"

Jiraiya quickly hid his book and smiled sheepishly, "Eh-heh, I'm looking for a suitable...training site, thats it. Yeah!"

"Oh..."

Rubbing his knees, Naruto added, "Hey 'raiya, my legs are tired. Carry me."

Jiraiya slapped his forehead and growled, 'Last in his class huh? Tells me alot...'

"Look Naruto, 'Raiya here sez that if you want to be a ninja, you're going to have to walk all by yourself."

Naruto cried even more pitifully, "But I'm TIRREEDDD!"

Jiraiya sneered in disgust, "Okay then, we'll stop here."

As Naruto dropped relieved to the ground, Jiraiya hauled him right back up by the scruff of his neck. "And here we'll begin training."

Pointing to a rotting log, he ordered, "Kick that log until either it shatters or your foot breaks."

Naruto screamed in protest, "WHAT? Are you insane Jiraiya? How do you expect me to break that log?"

Jiraiya snorted, "Through skill you idiot. Watch -"

Jiraiya charged at a nearby tree before kicking it deftly. Nothing happened for a moment and Naruto was about to snicker when he heard a slight crunching sound. Splinters flew off the tree as it bent inward before breaking in half.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "No.Way."

Jiraiya walked back with his arms behind his head. "Heh, now get to it you lazy bum."

Naruto jumped up vigorously, "Ha, I bet I'll be able to do that in no time!"

He rushed up to the log and hadn't even kicked it a dozen times before he fell onto his knees. "OWWWW!...I stubbed my toe!"

When no one answered him, he looked up and saw Jiraiya walking away with his telescope. 'That bastard, I'll show him!'

Jiraiya was laughing as he walked away. 'That should keep him occupied. Now about those hot springs...heheh'

It was nightfall when Jiraiya was finished with his escapade. He giggled happily at his notebook, 'Oh yeah...the next issue of Icha-Icha will be the best by a long shot. And that bastard Sandaime won't get his grubby little hands on it...'

Cackling madly, he walked back to the log he assigned Naruto. Jiraiya was pleasantly surprised that there was a dent in the log now. He was about to congratulate Naruto when he finally found him stretched out upon the ground and when he saw the bloody mess that was Naruto's leg, he couldn't help but gasp. 'What the fuck was this kid doing?'

Forgetting about his latest achievements, Jiraiya tossed his notebooks to the ground before rushing over to Naruto. Leaning over Naruto he shook his shoulder. "Gaki get-up, Naruto get-up. Wakey wakey!"

Groaning, Naruto got up shakily before shouting, "FINALLY JIRAIYA! Do you know how hungry I am? I swear, I must have starved to death three times over."

Jiraiya reeled back. "The HELL?"

Naruto crossed his arms, "I was hungry."

Jiraiya twitched, "Act like a ninja! If you're hungry, go forage for food or something! Don't fall on the ground! I thought something serious had happened!"

Naruto looked astonished, "Ahh... I never thought of that. Anyway, I think that me being hungry is important."

Jiraiya sighed in exasperation. "Dear god...well then, let me see your leg."

Naruto looked down at his leg, "Wow! I never noticed that it was getting so...bloody I guess."

'Idiot'

Pulling the leg of Naruto's pants up, Jiraiya ran his finger along the leg looking for abrasions, cuts, anything to warrent the excessive amount of blood on his leg. He found nothing. His brows furrowed in concentration Jiraiya examined the leg closer. There wasn't even a mark from recently healed wounds, though Naruto's sandal was completely ruined.

'Is it the Kyuubi thats healing him? Hmm... I'll have to watch him more closely during our training.'

Lowering the pants leg once again, Jiraiya smiled confidently, "Haha, your legs okay."

Naruto smiled too, but uncertainly. There was something about the look Jiraiya had before that scared him. A bucket was thrusted at his head. "Now get some water for dinner Naruto."

"Will dinner be ramen?"

"Just go dammit."

Before long, Naruto returned, his body sagging with the weight of the bucket of water. "This is heavy Jiraiya, help?"

Jiraiya ignored him as he skinned a rabbit. "No. Bring it here."

Naruto dropped the bucket next to his new master and peered over Jiraiya's shoulder at the poor bunny. "Hey, where'd ja get that rabbit from?"

Jiraiya answered brusquely, "The forest, now make a fire."

Naruto pouted angrily, "Why don't you do that?"

Jiraiya glared, "This is training. No idea why the hell they don't teach you this in class, but you're going to need to know how to make a fire."

Naruto glared back defiantly, "So how do I do it?"

Jiraiya sneered, "That's your problem isn't it? No fire, no dinner."

Naruto kicked the ground with his bloody foot before giving a yelp. The 'training' with the log had chaffed his skin raw, even though it had been healed. Grumbling, Naruto walked around the campsite picking up wood which he threw into a pile.

Sitting cross-legged in front of his pile of tinder, Naruto moodily rubbed two stones together. Of course nothing happened, seeing as they were simply random stones Naruto had found on the ground. Even as the stones clacked against each other producing nothing, Naruto persisted harder, confident that, like in the books, it was only a matter of time before the sparks leaped out and ignited the pile of wood in front of him.

After an hour of the sound of rock scraping and the frequent cries of dismay, Jiraiya was actually annoyed at Naruto's incompetency. The infernal rrspps and packks tore at him until he stood up. Walking over the Naruto he kicked the rocks out of the boy's hands. "Okay, I've had enough of your screwing around. Tomorrow, you learn how to make a fire. Gawd, what DOES the ninja academy teach these days?"

Throwing him the smoldering yet appetizing remains of the rabbit, Jiraiya yawned and laid himself onto the ground before closing his eyes. After literally tearing the meat of the rabbit, Naruto rubbed his still aching stomach with a small whimper and followed suit.

The next morning Jiraiya was the first up. He glanced at the snoring lump that was Naruto before kicking it savagely. It snored back just as angrily. Jiraiya sighed and muttering darkly, picked up his bucket and limped toward the river. After filling the bucket with cold river water he returned and dumped onto Naruto. To Jiraiya's delight, not only did Naruto squeal like a girl, a fish also bounced off Naruto's head. "SCORE! I've got breakfast!"

Naruto exploded off the ground tearing at his clothes. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Jiraiya wagged his finger at him, "Tsk tsk tsk, don'tcha know Naruto? Four A.M is when all ninjas wake up!"

Naruto looked at Jiraiya in a combination of shock, disgust and soggy, pitiful wetness. "What the hell! You're trying to kill me! We never have to do any of this stuff in the academy!"

Jiraiya's eyes widened before he started laughing, and he laughed and laughed, until it turned into a coughing fit. Still sprawled out on the ground, Jiraiya gasped out, "Exactly. I really didn't think you were smart enough to realize brat."

Sitting back up, Jiraiya pulled Naruto down with him. "Now you understand. The academy is...well frankly, the academy is incompetent. They'll give you theories, equations, rules, practices, traditions and a whole load of bullcrap. Its not real. When you're in combat, you're not going to be given the angle of the opponent. You're not going to be asked to find the force of the shuriken. You're not going to need to know that when a fuuma shuriken is thrown with a force of whatever newtons, it'll go forty feet on a flat surface. You're not. I'm here to teach you the nitty-gritty. How to survive. While your classmates might be studying the fact that Stone-nin use Rock and Ground based attacks, you'll be learning how to trap animals. You know why? When you're hungry, you can't eat knowledge. You can eat animals though. In any case, no shit Stone-nin use 'STONE' attacks, but the academy will cover it, no matter how redundant it is."

Naruto got up to change his clothes and had his head buried in Jiraiya's backpack when Jiraiya continued, "In anycase, you seem to be tired, or at least not used to waking up at the nice early time of Four o'clock. Neither will ordinary gennins, but when in hostile or unknown territories, the average ninja team gets six to four hours of sleep a day. I am preparing you. This is real ninja training. Welcome to real life."

As Naruto came back, he yawned, "That was a great speech 'raiya. So how bout some more sleep?"

Jiraiya twitched before shoving the bucket at Naruto again. "Get some water. Now - wait, infact, heres another bucket. Two buckets of water. Go on now, shoo..."

Grumbling, Naruto walked off, lugging the two buckets with him. Jiraiya, meanwhile, was gutting the fish and had just finished when Naruto returned. Quickly running over Naruto proudly presented Jiraiya with the second bucket. "Look 'raiya! Blackberries! I found some on the way to the river. Theres a huge bush near the river"

Jiraiya accepted the bucket and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Good job, I'm rubbing off on you."

Naruto scooped up some water from the first bucket before throwing it at Jiraiya, "Yup!"

Dodging the spray of water, Jiraiya took two stones out of his pocket along with a kunai. As he started cutting the stones expertly, he told Naruto, "Hey, go get some sticks for our fire. Gotta cook the fish."

Obeying, Naruto gathered the sticks and when he returned Jiraiya put the kunai and rocks down and proceeded to make a teepee shape with the wood. "Watch this carefully Naruto."

When he was finished, Jiraiya went over to a nearby tree and peeled something off.

Looking at it, Naruto made a face. "Ewww..."

Jiraiya ignored him and kept going, "This is something called tinder fungus and is very flammable. I'll be lighting this on fire before using it to light the pile of sticks on fire."

He then took his stones and put one in each hand. Showing the one in his right hand to Naruto he explained, "This is my handstone which is called pentlandite. I scrape this against the other stone, Quartz to make sparks."

Pointing to the grooves he had carved in each stone though, Jiraiya elaborated, "See these grooves? They allow me to concentrate the heat I aquire through friction to make the sparks and a good fire as well as protect the heat from the wind. Without them, the most I might get is a few sparks but certainly no fire."

True to Jiraiya's word, when he rubbed the rocks together, they flashed and when the sparks rained onto the tinder fungus, the fungus caught fire. Dropping his rocks, Jiraiya picked up the fungus and lit the pile of flames.

Naruto watched with fascination as the flames grew. Jiraiya poked Naruto to get his attention. "Now if we had a 'flatter' fire, I would now ask you to get some rocks so I can cook my fish on them. However, if you did that, you'd have to make sure they're dry or else they'll explode when they touch the fire."

Naruto nodded absently as he gazed into the fire and was broken out of his reverie when Jiraiya planted two sticks next to the fire as splints for the pot he would be boiling the fish in.

"Okay then Naruto, today we'll be practicing making a fire. After breakfast, you'll be making teepee piles of wood until lunch. After lunch, I'll teach you other methods of making a fire."

Handing Naruto a pamphlet titled 'The Basics of Firemaking' he shooed him away. "Report to me at twelve o'clock, and by the way, it'd be a good idea to read the pamphlet and commit it to memory."

Naruto asked, "How do I know when its twelve o'clock?"

Jiraiya yawned as he walked away, "Thats your problem."

Grumbling Naruto opened the pamphlet and started exploring the interesting process of arranging wood.

As soon as he was out of eyesight, Jiraiya made a shadow clone. "Watch Naruto, make sure he doesn't kill himself."

As the clone stole into the trees, the real Jiraiya gave a perverted grin. Taking out his notebook, Jiraiya headed toward the bathhouse.

Three hours later, Naruto sighed and rubbed his stomach. The fish Jiraiya had left had been finished, and it felt like forever since he had last eaten. He thought of bucket of blackberries and was heartened as he looked for the bucket. It wasn't there. 'That bastard Jiraiya must have taken it for himself. Dammit. I'M STARVING!'

Naruto's eyes lingered on the dozens of teepees he had constructed and in the process, exhausting all the branches in the surrounding area. Thinking, Naruto remembered Jiraiya's words : "blah blah blah...forage for food...blah blah blah."

Brightening, Naruto jumped up and raced towards the river, "Berries!"Just before the river came insight, Naruto veered right and crashed into a bush, from which he instantly started plucking berries from. "Mmmm..."

Suddenly he was picked up. "Oh hi 'Raiya, you got any food?"

The Jiraiya clone shook his head, "Its time for the next part of your training."

Jiraiya carried Naruto to the river before depositing him on the ground. "Watch this."

Taking the small plastic bag, Jiraiya filled it with water before bringing the four corners together. "See how I squeezed the water into a pocket? Its now like a lens and I can concentrate sunlight to such an extent that I can burn things."

To prove his point, Jiraiya placed the bag of water above a leaf. Moments passed as the leaf started to smoke before igniting. Handing the bag to Naruto, Jiraiya instructed, "Just practice burning a few leaves. After you're done...wait for Jiraiya by the berry bush."

Naruto looked at him suspiciously, "What? You're not Jiraiya?"

Without answering 'Jiraiya' disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shrugging and making a mental note to ask about this later, Naruto examined the river bank for potential 'targets'.

Just twenty minutes later, the novelty of burning leaves with water had exhausted itself and the lure of food was back as Naruto hurried to the berry bush. Any hope of eating though was extinguished when he saw Jiraiya standing there, looking very impatient. "Okay, Naruto we have one more lesson before you get lunch."

"Aww..."

Taking out his stones, Jiraiya tossed them to Naruto, who lunged for them and missed. Picking them up, Naruto listened attentively, "Okay Naruto, we're going to light a fire to cook lunch with." As the pair walked back to the campsite Jiraiya explained, "Its simple really, just scrape the rocks together and sparks should jump out."

The two sat down as Naruto put the two stones together before letting it loose. Sparks rained onto the wood before flames lept out.

Jiraiya grinned widely. "Good job Naruto, you've learned your first lesson as a ninja. Now you won't freeze to death. Aren't you proud?"

Naruto cheered, "Yay! LUNCH!"