Sarotobi stood around at the training grounds waiting for his students. Today was there second lesson, this time a time for choosing what type of jutsu each student wanted to excel in the most. The sun was high and bright by the time the students got there. Jiraiya was beaming, Tsunade wore a calm expression, and Orochimaru had his usual blank stare.

"Finally! You're all here! Why are you all so late?"

Jiraiya gave a questioning glance, "what are talking about? We're on time!"

"No you're not!" Sarotobi said as his face slowly grew angrier, "it's….," Sarotobi made a hand at the sun, "it's….8:30. Huh, you are on time. Well then never mind, let's begin. And, it's time for one of the most important questions I will ask you three. Consider the choice before you answer," Sarotobi says as he makes a face at Jiraiya, "that means you, Jiraiya."

"Well? What's the question? Get on with it, old man!"

"My question is…what type of jutsu do you want to excel in? Ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu?"

Jiraiya got so excited that he could barely hold in his joy.

"Alright, I will give you only a couple of moments to decide what type of jutsu you want to master in."

Tsunade and Orochimaru sat down and thought while Jiraiya is jumped up and down the whole time waving his hand.

"And……time's up! Tsunade, Orochimaru, stand up."

"Oh! Oh! PICK ME! WOO! OVER HERE!"

Sarotobi gave a heavy sigh. "Alright Jiraiya, what?"

"I wanna master taijutsu! YAH. And kick butt where ever I go and show my awesome strength!" Jiraiya starts kicking and punching the air like he's a kung fu master.

"As much as to expected from you, Jiraiya."

"Mmmmm….Tsunade, how about you? What type of jutsu are you interested in?"

Tsunade gave a determined look, "I wanna master in ninjutsu! See what being a real ninja is all about!"

"Hmmmm…interesting. Yes, Jiraiya is made for taijutsu, but Tsunade for ninjutsu? With her strength she would be awesome at taijutsu. And then no doubt that Orochimaru will be interested in genjutsu. This will be difficult. All three different people for all different jutsus. Not to mention I'm probably not fit to teach genjutsu."

"Orochimaru, that leaves you. What type of jutsu would you like to master in?"

"Genjutsu…and ninjutsu."

Sarotobi gave a taken aback expression. "Really? Two jutsus? Are you sure you're up for that?"
"Yes. I want to become a master of two…and eventually three."

"Quite the ambitious one aren't you?"

"Well, it won't be easy. You will have more training to do than Tsunade or Jiraiya. And once you're sure you want to do both. There's no quitting. You rather go all the way or no way. Understand?"

Orochimaru gave the slightest of nods and a flick of his eyes.

"Now, is there anything specific technique of any sort that you're looking to master?"

Tsunade anxiously raised her hand and waved it through the air fervently. Sarotobi smiled and called on her. "Well…I wanna be able to summon something, preferably a powerful animal whenever I need it. And I want it to obey me willingly."

Jiraiya's ears perked up and joined in, "yah! That's sounds totally cool! I wanna try!"

"Really? You guys want to learn the summoning jutsu?"

Tsunade and Jiraiya enthusiastically replied, "Yes".

"Well then, you actually happened to pick a rather easy jutsu. Although, it will take some time to master. Now, before we establish how to learn this, I first need to know what animal you want to summon specifically."

Tsunade raised her hand again and spoke in a hurried tone, "aren't there different scrolls? I mean for different groups of animals, depending on their abilities?"

"Yes, indeed there are. There are four groups: the ones that jump, the ones that pounce, the ones that strike, and the ones that slither."

"Well…what animals are in each group?" Tsunade asked quizzically.

"The ones that jump are the toad, monkey, the cricket, and however strange it sounds; the flea .The ones that strike include the spider, snake, scorpion, and wasp. The ones that slither include a slug, a snail, a salamander, and an eel. And finally, the ones that pounce are a wolf, a lion, a tiger, and a jaguar. Now, even though the last group probably sounds the most powerful, they are extremely hard to control, very few people are able to gain to use those animals willingly."

Jiraiya put his thumb and his forefinger to his chin. "Well, if I can't have the coolest one, then I'll go for the second coolest one, I choose the frog of the ones that jump!"

Orochimaru nonchalantly raised his hand. "I pick…the snake from the ones that strike."

Tsunade followed, "I pick the slug from the one that slithers."

Jiraiya made a face at Tsunade and said obnoxiously, "ewe…why do you want that? A slug is so useless!"

"Shut up! I think a slug's cool! A frog is the animal that's stupid."

Jiraiya and Tsunade break out in a cat fight and Tsunade won by getting the final hit before Sarotobi had to break them up.

"Eh-hum, now students, in order to use the summoning jutsu, you must sign a contract."

Sarotobi goes into stance and three scrolls pop up out of the air and land squarely on the ground. Each scroll rolls out to reveal a long line of names printed in blood. "You must sign your names in blood to be in allegiance with your animal. Also, under your name put the animal you wish to summon. Otherwise, you will summon all four animals at once and that could get very messy in battle."

Each student hurriedly signed their name and gave the scroll back to Sarotobi.

"Alright class. Now I will show you a finished product of the summoning jutsu." Sarotobi got into stance again and had a very tense face. He bit his thumb to make a small cut revealing some blood. Then, he shot out his arm and slammed it to the ground exclaiming, "SUMMONING JUTSU." And before anyone knew it, Sarotobi was riding a giant yellow and orange salamander. "Alright class! Give it a try! But remember, you need to focus the chakra in your hand and you need a 'blood offering' every time you try the jutsu."

Tsunade was the first to raise her hand and yell out the incantation. There was a small little 'poof' on he ground and out came a baby slug. Tsunade stuck up her nose at it in frustration that it was not a giant impressive animal. Orochimaru was the next to try and got the same 'poof' sound. But instead of a snake, he got an egg the size of his hand. As usual, Orochimaru gave an expressionless gaze. Jiraiya was the next to try with a smug smile on his face. "SUMMONING JUTSU!" This time, there was a big cloud of smoke. And, to everyone's surprise, out came a giant frog half the size of Jiraiya.

Jiraiya immediately went into a little triumph dance. Tsunade balled out, "hey! How come he's the best?! Jiraiya sucks at everything else!" Jiraiya stuck his tongue out at Tsunade. "Sarotobi sensei?" Tsunade inquired.

Sarotobi stood quiet for a minute as if struggling to formulate the right words.

"Well, Tsunade, it does not surprise me that Jiraiya is the best at this technique."

"It doesn't?" Orochimaru and Tsunade asked in unison.

"No. you see, this is a taijutsu technique. And Jiraiya has the type of body and chakra flow that's naturally suited for taijutsu. So naturally, he's the best at the summoning jutsu. You will find that what ever you have an aptitude for, you will be better at the technique than your peers who don't excel in the same thing."

"Makes sense," Tsunade commented. The three continued the technique through the whole day. While Tsunade and Orochimaru did not have much success, Jiraiya already became the master of the technique. On the way home, Jiraiya was cheering loud enough for have of Konoha village to hear. "WOO! I HAVE SO MUCH TALENT I'LL BE THE HOKAGE FOR SURE!"

Tsunade pouted and muttered, "Stuff it Jiraiya."

Jiraiya stopped his cheering and asked, "Why are you so mad?"

"No reason, I just wanna get home."

Jiraiya shrugged and breathed, "Whatever."

NEXT DAY

The next day was warm and sunny. Everyone for once was on time and the lesson started earlier than usual. For the first part of the lesson, everyone still worked on their summoning jutsu. Tsunade managed to promote to a slug that was about two feet long versus her usual hatchling. And Orochimaru managed to have a hatched egg/ snake ling.

After awhile, Sarotobi made them stop and announced that they were moving on to something new. "Ok. Today's lesson will be about chakra control."

Jiraiya gave a bored sniff and retorted, "We've already learned about chakra control! All through the years we had to be at the academy! Teach us something else new! That summoning jutsu thing was awesome!"

"Well, Jiraiya, this isn't just about chakra control. Maybe a visual will help you understand more." Sarotobi started walking toward a tree. He kept walking until his face was an inch away from the tree. But, to everyone's wonder, he didn't stop there. Sarotobi's feet were no longer walking forward but up. He was walking up the tree with his feet as he would on the grass. He stopped at a tree branch so that he was standing upside down.

"You see, Jiraiya. This isn't just about chakra control. Today students you will learn a skill that is key to being a ninja- excellent chakra control and the ability to walk on surfaces of all types by using chakra. What makes this a challenge is that your feet, the place where your chakra needs to be drawn to, is the hardest place to keep chakra. First, focus on channeling your chakra to your feet and keeping it even. Then, give yourself a running start to give yourself some momentum for getting up the tree. As your control of chakra improves, you won't need as much of a running start until you can merely walk up to a tree and walk up it."

Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, all took about twenty paces away from the trees. Jiraiya and Tsunade sprinted towards their trees hoping to push themselves all the way to the top. Orochimaru merely started walking and walked up the tree as if it was second nature.

"Ahhhh, Orochimaru, I see you've already learned how to control chakra through your feet. Very well, just keep walking up and down the tree as long as you can.

By the end of the day, Jiraiya and Tsunade were sweating and panting heavily. They had only managed to get up about half way up the tree. Their eyes narrowed with envy as they saw Orochimaru merely walk up and down the tree effortlessly.

The sun was setting and the sky was orange. Sarotobi dismissed class for the day and everyone headed home. Out of the three, Tsunade was the most down trotted. She had a look of disappointment on her face. "Ugh, why can't I be good at anything? Compared to Jiraiya and Orochimaru I'm just worthless. I can't walk up trees, I can't summon cool animals…at this rate I might just consider being a house wife…"

"Hey! Hello!"

Tsunade looked up startled. Jiraiya was waving his hand in front of her face.

"Are you ok? You seem…strange."

Tsunade, a little startled at Jiraiya noticing quickly said, "No, I'm fine."

"Alright. See you tomorrow Tsunade!" Jiraiya quickly walked back to his house. Tsunade slumped back to hers with a little smile on her face happy that someone cared about her.

All of a sudden, determination spread over Tsunade's face. "I know what I'll do. Starting tomorrow I'm gonna try my best. And through that, I'll just know that I'll become a good ninja!"

TO BE CONTINUED…….