Hey guys thank you all of you for the reviews, alerts and favs; they really made my day. Please keep it up so I know how I'm doing...so a lot of people thinks that my story will follow canon and have Sasuke defect to Orochimaru...since you guys want it then I'll deliver it and mould the story towards it. Now this chapter focuses mainly on training and Naruto's interaction with Sakura. Hope you guys enjoy it and as always please leave a review. See you in the next chapter.

The next day Naruto woke up early and went to Training Ground 7 to start his new training regime with Jiraya though he didn't know what he would be training…perhaps fuuton or kenjutsu since Nartuo excelled in using the sword and he had some experience with the Wind Release kind of jutsus since he was training with the Kyuubi not more than a year ago now; he then decided to do some of the exercises that Ryujin told him about, he had practiced them yesterday after his lunch with Hinata, it was supposed to calm him down and open up his chakra pathways so that chakra could flow through his body much easier. He wondered briefly if it would work but since Ryujin was a 50,000 year old spirit dragon there had to be some truth to it; then mid-way through his exercise he felt someone throw a kunai at him and he instantly reacted by ducking low and bringing his own kunai out to meet his attacker.

"Good form and reflexes kid" Jiraya said from on top of a tree, "but you could improve."

"Jiraya-sensei" Naruto said bowing in respect to the old man.

"And hello to you too Naruto" Jiraya said, "now are you ready for your first training exercise?"

"Yes master" Naruto said steeling himself for what would be a very difficult training exercise coming from one of the Sannin.

"Okay first of we're going to learn chakra control" Jiraya said, "do you know how we do that?"

Naruto thought back on some of the books he head read on chakra control, essentially it meant controlling one's chakra so that it could be quickly utilized in the right place at the right time, and as such one of them happened to be, "Tree walking?" he asked.

"Good so you have read ahead…yes one of the main ways for chakra control is the tree exercise" Jiraya then demonstrated by casually walking up to a tree and climbing until he was literally hanging on one of the branches just through his chakra alone, "of course the hanging bit is a bit advanced and I don't expect you to do it today but that's what we're aiming for this week" he explained with a grin.

"So we need to continually give out chakra on our feet so that we can stick to the to the tree and then walk along them right?" Naruto said.

"Its not as easy as it sounds" Jiraya said with a grin, "I suggest you get a running start first before you start trying" he then jumped down and went underneath one of the trees to watch Naruto have a try at this exercise.

Naruto looked at the tree and wondered if it was as hard as Jiraya said it would be, he decided to give it a shot, he prepared himself to run towards the tree, he gathered as much chakra into his feet as he could and ran full speed towards it; lunging at the tree and for a moment he was running along it and he thought he had it but then he found himself falling and it was only due to his reflexes that he was able to save himself falling flat on his butt, 'Okay…not so easy then I thought' Naruto thought to himself.

"Not so easy hey?" Jiraya asked as he wrote something on a notepad. Then throughout the entire day Naruto tried to complete the tree exercise, he would always use a running start, trying to gather as much chakra into his feet as he could before he started climbing the trees but he would always fail and fall down; Naruto was getting frustrated at this and his eyes began to twitch in response to this, "you have to be patient Naruto" Jiraya said as he continued to write something in that notepad of his, "not everyone can succeed in the first day…it took me a better part of three days to successfully pull this off."

"That long?" Naruto exclaimed, "I guess not everything can be done instantly."

"A shinobi must be patient whenever he is on a mission or training, rushing will only get you and your team-mates killed faster than you can blink" Jiraya said.

"Got it" Naruto said as he tried again but failed and so the next few days was the same, Naruto would try and he would fail while Jiraya would spew some sagely wisdom now and again while he was writing something on that notepad of his. Finally he was able to do it and he hanged on a branch using only his chakra, "I did it Jiraya-sensei" he said.

"Excellent" Jiraya said with a smile, "now we can move onto stage 2 of this training exercise."

"There's a stage 2?" Naruto asked, he was already tired from training and to know that there's a second stage disheartened him a bit.

"You managed stay up on a tree…lets see how you do on water" Jiraya said.

"You can walk on water?" Naruto asked as the duo made their way to a nearby lake.

"Yes you can" Jiraya said and to demonstrate he simply waltzed into the lake and walked on the water and stood in the centre of the lake like it was nothing, "just like that…however you'll need to give off a greater concentration of chakra than on the tree and you also have to repel the water so you don't sink like a stone."

"Okay I'll give it a try" Naruto said as he took off his clothes until he was standing only in his boxers then he gathered as much chakra into his feet as possible then he took a step into the water before standing at the edge of the lake, 'huh…I may pull this off' he thought to himself when he found himself standing on the water; he then slowly walked into the centre of the lake but he lost his concentration and subsequently fell into the lake. Luckily it was only waist deep but Naruto had to try again.

"As I said this is much harder than the tree climbing exercise because you need to constantly change your chakra concentration depending on the atmosphere of the water" Jiraya said as he causally walked across the lake and sat down underneath a tree as Naruto tried again to pull the water walking exercise off. This exercise took another three days to master from which Naruto learned to patiently gather his chakra into his feet then when he analysed the waters he slowly went in and if he managed to do it correctly then he would be able to walk on water but if he lost his concentration then he would sink.

"Excellent, excellent you managed to pull it off" Jiraya said with a grin.

"Stage 3?" Naruto asked wondering if there was a harder stage than the previous two.

"Thankfully no" Jiraya said, "what you just did means that you have near perfect chakra control; now you just have to nurture that until you have absolute control of your chakra" he explained.

"So what do we do next?" Naruto asked.

"Now…now we move on to our next part of our training regime" Jiraya said.

"And what's that?"

"Finding out what your elemental affinity is."

"What does that mean?"

"Well every shinobi has at least one elemental affinity: fire, water, earth, lightning and wind…Jounins have at least two, which are requirements by the way to be a Jounin."

"So what is your elemental affinity?"

"I have a different affinity that you don't need to know at the moment."

"O~kay…so how do you find out what my affinity is?"

Jiraya then took out a square piece of paper and grinned, "This here is chakra paper, paper made from trees that have been fed with chakra their entire life, if you concentrate chakra into it you can find out your elemental affinity."

"Okay then how do I know which affinity I have?" Naruto asked taking the chakra paper.

"If the paper turns to ash then you have fire; if it crinkles then you have lightning; soggy for water; crumbles to dust is earth and splitting it in half is wind" Jiraya explained.

Naruto nodded and held the paper in his hand as he concentrated his chakra into it and before long the paper was split in half, "Hmm…so wind chakra huh?" Jiraya said, "You know who else has wind chakra?" he asked and when Naruto shook his head Jiraya laughed, "Asuma also uses wind chakra…ask him for help once in a while."

"Okay I'll do that" Naruto said as the training session ended for the day.

The next day he went to Asuma, where he knew would be playing Shogi with Shikimaru, along the way he saw Sakura who was now working with her mother on the civilian council; she seemed okay as she was smiling though Naruto could see the pain in her eyes. She saw Naruto and waved at him with a smile while Naruto waved back, unsure of what to do, he decided to have a talk to her once he had talked to Asuma about wind chakra training.

He reached Asuma's house and as he expected he was playing Shogi with Shikimaru, "Asuma-sensei, Shikimaru-san" Naruto said with a bow.

"Oh hi Naruto" Asuma said with a smile, "care to join us for Shogi?"

"No thank you" Naruto said, "I've come here to get some training from you."

"Training? From me?" Asuma said a bit surprised, "But isn't Jiraya-sama training you?"

"He is but he recommended that I take some advice from you regarding wind chakra training" Naruto said.

"So you elemental affinity is wind huh? Like me…okay then" Asuma said getting down, "the first thing that you need to know about wind element is that its wild…if you don't control it well enough then you'll lose control of it and either hurt yourself and your team-mates…or worse case scenario kill yourself and your team-mates" he explained.

"Sounds…unpredictable" Naruto commented.

"It is, wind element are the most unpredictable of the lot so you have to be careful with it, on the other hand it also has lots of benefits" Asuma said, "take my chakra-enhanced trench knife as an example…now if I fill it with chakra then I can extend the range a bit…also if I refine the chakra to a minute precision…" he then threw the trench-knife and it pierced through not only a big oak tree but also embedded itself deep into a boulder behind it.

Naruto was impressed and he could see himself wielding a chakra enhanced Dragon Sword and slicing anything that dare stopped him in his tracks, "So basically I have to refine the chakra to a point that I can cut anything in half whether it be wood or even stone?" he summarised.

"Basically" Asuma said a bit pleased that Naruto got it, "however you'll have to figure it out for yourself how to do that so you can learn" he told him.

"Got it thank you Asuma-sensei" Naruto said as he then ran off to his own training area to take a shot at this.

"How troublesome…" Shikimaru said.

"What's so troublesome?" Asuma asked.

"That…you're practically teaching Naruto how to kick our asses…" Shikimaru said pointing to Naruto.

Asuma gave a light-hearted shrug, "Well then that means I'll just have to teach you guys that much harder" he said with a grin.

Shikimaru sighed knowing what Asuma meant, "Troublesome…" he muttered before he moved his piece and said, "checkmate" making Asuma cried out in surprise at losing for the 1000th time against his resident genius.

As Naruto walked along the streets of Konoha he managed to see Sakura sitting down with a cup of tea in her hand, he also noticed that her eyes were red and that her hands were trembling, despite his hatred against the pinkette for all the mistreatment she gave him he wanted to genuinely see what was wrong with her; after checking that no one was around he cautiously approached her, "Sakura-san…" he called out to her.

Sakura looked at Naruto with an expression of a mixture of anger…and sadness, "Hello Naruto-sama" she said with venom though toned down.

Naruto couldn't help but scoff, "Even now you still look down on me" he said.

"Are you here to gloat?" Sakura asked, "Happy that my dream as a kunoichi has been crushed because of you?"

"I would be lying if I said that I wasn't happy…part of me is happy that you got what you deserved, but I also know that being a kunoichi was your dream…or was Sasuke your dream?"

"Both" Sakura whispered she then shuffled over, "have a seat Naruto-san…"

"At least you called me Naruto-san…that's a start" he said as he sat down beside Sakura; usually he would've been happy that he was able to sit to Sakura since she was his crush since a kid…but now he had a good and caring girlfriend in Hinata so that dream was redundant.

"So how was your training with Jiraya-sama?" Sakura asked.

Naruto then narrated all the training that he underwent with Jiraya and him asking Asuma for advice, he also told her about the various taijutsu, ninjutsu and a bit of genjutsu training that Jiraya put him under so he could be an effective shinobi, "That is really hardcore…and its only been a week since you graduated" Sakura said.

"I know…" Naruto sighed, "I come home exhausted and tired leaving me little time to interact with Ryujin and the Kyuubi" he said.

Sakura flinched as the Kyuubi was mentioned, "I-I'm sure you'll become a great shinobi Naruto" she said.

"So what are you doing now that you're no longer a kunoichi?" Naruto asked.

"I'm working part-time with a family friend, you know the grocer near the square" Sakura said as Naruto knew who she meant though bad memories began to crop up as the shopkeeper always sold him rotten fruits and vegetables.

"And your mother?"

"She's still on the civilian council…though she wasn't happy that you graduated but I told her that she was lucky I was still spared by you instead of having my head chopped off…" Sakura said with tears forming in her eyes as it dawned on her just how close she had come to death.

"Think nothing of it" Naruto said, "my path will no longer be swathe in blood."

"You're naïve if you think that you can always disable an enemy" Sakura said, "but then again…perhaps you can with that mighty sword of yours."

"I'll do what I can but that is what I wished to happen" Naruto said.

"Naruto-san…I…I really don't know what to say, you could've left me for dead and I would've totally understand your reasoning but instead…" a tear rolled down her cheek, "instead you pleaded with the Hokage not to only spare my life but that of my mother as well…"

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing" Naruto said quoting John Powell from which he read in a book, "learn from your mistake Sakura-san, don't be a shallow person who's only goal in life is to attract the attention of one who will abandon you in the end" he wisely said.

Sakura chuckled, "Don't be such a sage baka" she said laughing and poking Naruto's forehead making Naruto smile, 'there's the Sakura I used to know' he thought to himself.

"So are you going to work part-time for now or do you have some plan in mind?" Naruto asked.

"Honestly I don't know Naruto…" Sakura said sadly looking down at her now cold tea, "I can't work part-time for the rest of my life…I have to do something with the training I did in the Academy or I would've wasted a year of my life for nothing."

Naruto thought about this for a while, it was true that Sakura may not be the best in terms of practical training and that was evident in her exam but she was number one in terms of book-smarts and theories though as everyone painfully knows, theories can only take you so far, she was however good on another thing, "Hey Sakura what mark did you get for chakra control?" he asked.

"Huh? 8/10 why you ask?" Sakura asked.

"You know where you can make good use of that chakra control?" Naruto asked, "The Konoha Hospital…you can become a medic-nin."

"Don't you need to be a kunoichi to do that?" Sakura asked laughing.

"Not necessarily…I'll ask the Hokage about it but I'm sure he'll say yes though under certain conditions" Naruto said.

"Hmm…working in the hospital…beats selling vegetables and fruits every day" Sakura said with a smile, "thanks Naruto…for giving me a second chance."

"No problem Sakura" Naruto said, "for someone as talented as you, you deserve a second chance at redeeming yourself."

"Stop it Naruto" Sakura said blushing, "you're going to make me blush."

"Careful…Ino will probably rip your head off if she hears you say that" Naruto said jokingly.

"Speaking of Ino" Sakura said, "do you think I can salvage my friendship with her?"

"Honestly I have no clue on that one…you're going to have to talk with her on that matter but if you're really sorry for what you did I'm sure she'll take you back as a friend though not on the same level as before."

"I have been kind of a jerk haven't I?" Sakura said as she brushed some hair off her eyes.

"As I said, you have a second chance in redemption…don't screw this one up as well."

"Thanks Naruto, I'll never forget your kindness…I'm through with Sasuke and…well…I'm looking into alternatives."

"You do know I'm taken right?"

"I know baka!"

Naruto had to laugh at that, "Damn you really rebound quick Sakura" he said with a grin, "well…just as long as you don't make Hinata jealous I'm fine with a fanbase though not to the same degree as Sasuke-san."

"Yeah now that I think about it we were kind of silly to fawn over him…we completely ignored you the whole time" Sakura sadly said with a bit of humility in her voice.

"Never thought you would admit that in your lifetime" Naruto remarked.

"Things change Naruto" Sakura said, "I have to go back to work Naruto…I'll see you soon okay?"

"Bye Sakura, I'll talk to Hokage about that job with the hospital, dattebayo!" Naruto said with a smile as he backflipped and disappeared with the swirl of the leaves.

"Amazing…" Sakura whispered before she smiled and went back to work while Naruto went off to train with his Dragon Sword.