Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
A/N: As Fettucini and bnmhj520 pointed out, I've got a lot of grammatical errors and problems with tenses. Honestly, I'm not sure how to fix that TERRIBLE habit of mine. Even if I try and go through the chapters and edit, its hard for me to 'see' them. I now realize my need for beta readers. If anyone is interested, please message me. I will REALLY appreciate it.
Anyways, this is the next installment.
...
An Apprentice to a Sage
Wind
...
Uzumaki Naruto, the young apprentice of Jiraiya no Sannin, growled in frustration. He was sitting in one of Kiri's foggy forests trying to do, what in his opinion, was the stupidest thing in the world - cut a leaf in half. This task was assigned to him after Jiraiya discovered earlier in the morning, through chakra paper, that his apprentice had an affinity to the element of wind.
And so, he's been trying to do the exercise since then with no success, frustrating the young apprentice to no end...
...
'We need to protect them at least until they get to their destination or someone from Rebel Army takes them off our hands.' Jiraiya's words echoed in his head. He told him about the situation the sisters were in and the dangers it entails, a couple of days ago when they got to Kiri's port town, Nakazone.
He growled in frustration as the leaf in his hand stubbornly stayed in one piece. Add to the fact that there were six other copies of him loudly trying to do the same thing, only added to his annoyance.
"Will you all shut up?" He yelled at his clones as he roughly loosened the scarf around his neck, and scratched the spot under his wristbands which now had the symbol for ten. "It's kind of hard to concentrate when you're all grumbling about doing this stupid thing."
His rant was answered by six blank faces, before the clones huddled together.
"Have you ever noticed how much of a bitch our Boss is lately?"
"I think it's his time of the month."
"Yeah, like what Mei had last week."
"Ugh! So disgusting. I don't know why ero-sennin even likes to look at that part of a girl. It bleeds for no damn reason!"
"Yuck! Anyways, can you all believe boss is making us do the stupidest thing in the world? Cut a fucking leaf in half?"
"So stupid! We could be doing something cool like when ero-sensei cut the tree into pieces with a kunai, using his wind glowing trick."
The real Naruto cursed, dispelling the source of his annoyance. "Good for nothing Kage Bunshins." He spat.
He was about to start on his frustrating task again, but was interrupted by soft laughter. He looked around and saw a pretty girl, about the same age as Mei, approaching him. She was a wearing a simple pink robe, tied with a black belt and black shorts. She had long, black hair, brown, gentle eyes, a small smile and a basket of flowers in her hands.
'I didn't even feel her presence or hear her.' Naruto thought. 'It's probably because those damn clones were so loud.'
"You and your clones were very funny." She said softly.
This made Naruto blush. "Yeah... those guys are annoying." He said, scratching the back of his neck.
She went and sat down beside him, crossed-legged on the forest floor. "What were you doing?"
Naruto grabbed the leaf on the floor and showed it to the girl. "Apparently, I'm supposed to cut this leaf using my chakra."
"You're a wind affinity?" The girl asked surprising him. "You're a ninja?"
"Y-yeah and No I'm not." Naruto answered, only to see the girl frown in confusion. "I meant yes my affinity is wind nature, just found out this morning. However, No. I'm not a ninja." He clarified. "Are you a ninja?"
The girl's eyes closed as her body shook with soft laughter. "No I'm not either." She replied.
The two kids were silent for while, Naruto glaring at the leaf in his hand while the girl watched him.
"So... do you need help with it?" She asked. "Cutting the leaf with your chakra I meant." She explained, after seeing his confused face.
This surprised him. "You know how to do it?" He received a nod and the girl demonstrated, quickly and cleanly cutting the leaf in half.
"I've got two natures. One of them is wind, so I had to go through the same training as you did." She told him as she picked up a new leaf and handed it to him. "You've mastered the chakra training exercises right? Tree climbing? Water walking?" She asked and received an affirmative. "Then it's the same principles. You channel your chakra in your hands..." She paused, then smiled when the boy's hands started to glow blue. "... now just imagine splitting your chakra into two rapidly spinning vortexes, and grinding them with each other."
Naruto concentrated at the leaf between his palms, following the girl's instructions. Suddenly, he blinked in surprise and revealed a leaf with a small tear. He grinned after his first major progress all morning. "Yatta!" He yelled.
"Great job!" She praised. "To fully cut it in half, you need to make the separation between the two vortexes as thin as possible."
Naruto nodded and followed her instruction, only to have the same result as before - a small tear. He tried again, but this time, the leaf didn't even get cut. "What?"
"You're getting frustrated, so your concentration is lacking. You need to focus a lot when doing this exercise. In time, you're going to start doing it faster and faster. It took me a while to get this down, so don't be discouraged." She said encouragingly.
"No, I need to learn this quick." He replied. "I need to become strong to protect someone important."
The girl smiled softly. "You're already stronger because of that reason." She whispered.
Naruto was about to reply, but was cut off by a sharp whistle that came from a distance. The girl in front of him quickly stood up and dusted the back of her shorts.
"I'm sorry, I've got to go." She said.
"Wait - ummm... Thank you." He said. "I'm Naruto by the way."
The girl smiled gently. "It was a pleasure to meet you Naruto-kun." She said before she disappeared with a flicker.
'She was so awesome! Damn! I didn't even get her name.' Naruto thought sadly, staring at the spot she vanished from. He then shrugged and made a seal with his hands. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled as an army of clones appeared around him. "You all know what to do! Get to work!" He commanded as each clone grabbed a leaf and proceeded to follow the girl's instructions.
...
It was a tired but happy Naruto that walked in his and his master's shared bedroom. He plopped down on his bed and exhaled loudly.
"How was the exercise?" Jiraiya asked, noticing that it was only a little past noon. He was currently sitting in a desk by the window, studying a map of the land.
"I did it." Naruto yawned out surprising the white haired sannin. "Figured it out all by myself too!" He added, lying.
"Really?" Jiraiya asked, shocked. 'I thought it'd take him at least four days to get it. He didn't even ask me for tips.' He said in his head. 'I can't believe he figured it out by himself.' The sannin skeptically eyed his apprentice before pulling him off the bed. "Show me." He commanded, handing him a leaf which seemed to have come out of nowhere.
Naruto placed the leaf in between his two palms, yawning tiredly before his brows furrowed. He then suddenly straightened up with a grin. "Here." He said, simply giving his master two halves of a leaf, before going under the covers.
Jiraiya stared at the split leaf in his hands, his mouth open. 'Shit! He actually did it.' He said shocked. 'Didn't even take two whole days. I guess he's not as much of an idiot as I first thought if he can figure the leaf cutting exercise by himself.' The sannin said. 'Minato, your son is pretty impressive.' he added and smiled when he saw Naruto grin like a cat in his sleep.
Jiraiya went back to studying the map. 'Hmmm... I'll show him the second stage of chakra recomposition training tomorrow.' He thought, before he remembered the Terumi sisters' dilemma. 'Actually, I should let him start today.' He emended.
The sannin grabbed their gear and gently picked up his now snoring apprentice before smiling. 'I'll let him sleep until we get to Nakazone falls. It's just outside the town.' He said as he silently scribbled a note for Taeko, who was at the post office with Mei, before he left their room. 'Hopefully, no one is there. It's still too cold for swimming this time of the year anyways.' He thought.
...
Naruto slowly woke up to the sound rushing water.
"Ugh..." He groaned, wiping his face which he realized was wet. He sat up and slowly took in his surroundings. "What the fuck!"
"You're finally awake Gaki." A voice behind him said.
"Ero-sensei! What the fuck happened?" The blond boy asked, looking around wildly. "How the fuck did I end up here?"
"I wanted to teach you the next step for learning to control wind chakra, but I saw that you were tired so I let you rest for a bit. Now that you're awake... welcome to the famous Nakazone falls." He said, waving his arms at the massive falls in front of them.
Naruto squinted his eyes as he looked up at the magnificent falls. The entire area was covered in mist, making it hard to see.
"What are we doing here?" He asked, noticing that his body was slowly getting wet because of the mist.
"The second stage of your wind manipulation training is to cut that waterfall." Jiraiya replied grinning.
"What? Cut the waterfall in half?" He asked incredulously.
"Yeah." Jiraiya said as he yelled. "Doton: Doryuu Burijji!" Slamming both of his hands at the edge of the river bank. Suddenly, the ground started to grow extending over the water, before connecting with the bank on the other side, making an earthen bridge.
"Gaki, follow me." He ordered, walking on the bridge until he was at the center of the falls. There, the sannin placed his left hand on the water. "This is what I want you to do." He pushed his hands into the water while Naruto watched in awe as the massive waterfall was instantly split horizontally, in half.
"Wow." He breathed out. "Master, how'd you do that?"
'Master?' Jiraiya thought with a smirk. 'That's the first time he's called me master since I showed him how to walk on water.' He wiped his wet hands on his pants before answering. "You just do what I did, put your hands against the water and cut it with all the wind chakra you can produce. However, to be successful, a tremendous amount of elemental recomposition is needed to be released in an instant." The white-haired sannin explained.
"If I do this, you'll teach me how to do that kunai thing?" Naruto asked, before he received a nod. "Then stand back and be ready to teach me that jutsu."
Jiraiya laughed and moved out of the way. "Go ahead. Try it Gaki."
The whiskered boy nodded. "Watch this ero-sensei." He said with a confident smirk before placing his left hand on the rushing water and yelling, "Ha!" A tiny splash formed around his hand, before the water continued to flow normally again. His brows furrowed, before he did it again, only to receive the same results.
"Damn it!" The blond boy yelled in frustration.
"It's harder than it looks, isn't it?" The sannin asked, smirking, making his student growl.
"Shut up you perverted old man!" The boy spat.
"Alright, this is what I want you to do. Fill this bridge up with your clones. Half of them will be using their left hand while the other uses their right to cut the waterfall. This will force you to learn how to do massive elemental recomposition with each hand, independently." Jiraiya instructed as he hopped to the riverbank.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The blond boy yelled, as a hundred Naruto's lined up across the bridge. "Yosh! Let's do this!" The original Naruto yelled, making the clones cheer as they did exactly as the sannin instructed.
...
"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled for his apprentice. It's been an hour since the blond boy started trying to cut the waterfall.
The original Naruto pulled his hand back from the water and hopped off the bridge to the river bank. "Yes?" He asked, wiping some water off his face.
"I'll be back. I'm just going to follow on a lead." The toad sannin explained, his notebook already in his hand. "Just continue your training and you better not slack off or there will be no ramen for a month for you." He threatened him before he disappeared with swirl of leaves.
Naruto just shrugged and went back to his spot on the bridge. "Let's cut this shit!"
...
It was well into the night, when a tipsy Jiraiya got back. He smiled and laid down as he noticed that the hundred or so Naruto's were choosing to ignore him and continue with their training under the bright moonlight.
'He's really determined with this.' He thought, before shaking his head and succumbing to the blissful unconsciousness the high amount of alcohol in his body was pushing him towards.
Jiraiya's eyes snapped open then snapped close as an explosion shook the ground before he was soaked by the sudden downpour from the sky. "Fuck!" He yelled. His ears were ringing, his head was pounding and his throat felt like he swallowed all the sand in Suna. "I'm going to kill someone." He spat hoarsely as he slowly opened his eyes again, cursing the sun as if it ate his first born child. "Fucking crazy weather. Raining and sunny at the same time." He said as he rubbed his watering eyes.
Slowly but surely, his surroundings stopped spinning. He straightened up and his eyes bulged out as he noticed the state of their training ground. "What the heck?"
"Did that wake you up, ero-sensei?" Naruto asked as he landed beside his guffawed master and wiped his drenched face with the sleeve of his equally drenched shirt.
Jiraiya's head snapped to his apprentice. "What happened?"
The said boy scratched the back of his head and smiled guiltily. "I think I overdid it?" He responded before pulling his orange scarf off and wringing it.
"Overdid it?" The sannin asked, outraged. "You destroyed the falls!" He yelled while pointing at the pile of rubble, water gushing out of every nook and cranny, which used to be the renowned Nakazone falls. "How are we going to explain this?" He asked as his face paled. "Grab your shit! We're getting out of here quick!" He commanded before the pair haphazardly threw their gear and equipment in their packs and ran away from the scene.
The panting duo finally stopped when they couldn't hear the shouts of outrage coming from people, anymore. They looked back then at each other, before their faces cracked into twin full blown smiles.
"You did that with your wind chakra?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yup. I was actually able to cut the water several times already, before I tried to do it with as much chakra as I can." Naruto explained.
Jiraiya sat cross-legged on the grassy forest floor before rubbing his chin in thought. "Hmmm.. As much chakra... I still wonder how big your chakra reserves are, and how big they will get once your chakra system have matured?" He asked.
Naruto shook his head in confusion. 'Why does he always try to figure this out?' He asked himself before he cleared his throat, garnering the attention of his contemplating master. "Remember our deal? Teach me the kunai thingy now!" He demanded.
This made him smirk. "It's really easy actually. You just imagine in your mind that whatever you want to imbue wind chakra on, is a part of your body and your chakra will do the rest." He explained. "The hardest part is putting in enough chakra to the object for it to be actually self sustaining, so that you don't have to keep feeding it." He said, grinning. "But I guess you won't have that problem, eh gaki?"
Naruto laughed. "I guess not." He replied, looking back at the direction where they came from.
Jiraiya produced a kunai from his pouch. "You go through what you learned from the leaf cutting and the... uhhh... destroying - I mean cutting the falls exercises, and you just focus on the item in your hand. I imagine the kunai to be connected to my hands as I allow chakra to flow through it. Once there's enough chakra on it, I cut the flow." He tossed the wind chakra imbued knife in the air and caught it. Naruto watched in fascination as the kunai seemed to have been enveloped in a white cloak of swirling energy. He slowly reached for it and winced as a line formed at the tip of his finger and blood started to ooze out, his hand centimeters from the actual blade of the knife.
"The wind chakra increases the reach and the sharpness of the blade. It is said that wind chakra can cut through anything." Jiraiya said at his apprentice who was now eyeing the blade with maniacal gleam.
"Anything..." He whispered, quickly grabbing a kunai from his pouch. He proceeded to go through the steps described by Jiraiya and smiled as the blade was coated in the familiar white cloak. However, what happened next caught both master and apprentice by surprise.
The kunai seemed to glow before it shattered, somehow producing a tornado that swallowed them and flung them high into the sky.
"Hmmm... that was interesting." The seven year old blond said to himself as he rubbed his chin."I went through all the steps the ero-sensei said, but I got an adverse reaction."
The boy made a seal with one hand. "Oh well... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several clones suddenly grabbed him and formed a protective ball around him - a giant yellow, orange, white and black ball. The giant mass of wriggling Naruto's fell to the forest floor with a loud 'THUD' then a 'POOF'.
"Gaki! You alright?" The Toad Sannin who landed on a tree branch asked.
"Yeah." Groaned the young Jinchuuriki.
"Good. Let's get back to town. That's enough excitement until we've had breakfast." Jiraiya said as he pulled his apprentice up.
...
Mei, currently sitting at the porch of their rented townhouse in the port town of Kiri, was totally and utterly bored out of her wits. It'd been two days since she last saw the perverted boy and his even more perverted master.
If she was more honest with herself, she'd actually admit that she was a little fond of the boy. He was loud, obnoxious and perverted, but could somehow, always bring a smile to her face.
'He'll be cute when he grows up.' She absentmindedly smiled at the thought before-
"Mei-chan!" He waved. "I can see your panties!"
'SMACK' 'POOF'
"Honestly, What the hell kind of greeting is that?" She asked, her face red and fuming while she shook her tingling hand.
"Owww." Naruto groaned as he gently rubbed his cheek. "Poor clone..."
"Where the hell have you two been?" Mei demanded, annoyed that she didn't get to slap the actual boy. "It's been two days!"
"I swear I left a letter before we left." Jiraiya answered. "I said I was going to train the gaki."
"Where's Taeko-chan?" The blond boy asked. "I miss her."
"She's inside-"
"Yosh!" Naruto yelled running past her.
"-making breakfast." She finished, her eyes blinking rapidly.
Jiraiya laughed and slapped the young girl's shoulder. "Come on, let's hurry or Naruto's going to end up eating all the food."
Mei rubbed her shoulder as she glared at the back of the sannin who already walked past her. "No he won't. It's not ramen." She grumbled.
Taeko was happy to see them back. She gave both boys a big hug, much to their delight before she served them breakfast. Throughout the whole meal, Naruto told the sisters what kind of training he did.
"I was supposed to cut the waterfalls with my wind chakra."
"But he ended up turning the whole thing into rubble."
"You destroyed a waterfall? You?" Mei asked disbelievingly. "You can't even manage to eat without spilling some on yourself."
"Yes I can!" Naruto answered indignantly.
The two bickered with each other while the adults watched in amusement. Jiraiya shook his head with a smile, before he grabbed Taeko's hand across the table.
"I'm going to be leaving again later today. I have some business to take care of." He said softly.
"So soon? You two just got back." The brunette replied.
"It'll be just me. I'm going to leave Naruto here. It's too dangerous for him to come." Jiraiya replied. "I'll be gone for about a week or so."
Taeko turned towards the two children currently play fighting, then back to the sannin. "Okay. Be careful Jiraiya-sama. I'll watch over them." She declared and received a gentle smile and a nod.
"Don't worry. You've got Naruto here."
...
"Now gaki, I want you to continue your training and you better not slack off." Jiraiya said sternly. "But don't overdo it."
Naruto laughed at that. "Don't worry ero-sensei."
Jiraiya knelt and gave the boy a fatherly hug. "You need to keep a low profile. If only this thing wasn't so urgent I wouldn't leave you guys..." He whispered, his voice holding an uncertain tone.
Naruto's face hardened as he turned towards the two girls who were watching them from a distance. "I'll protect them. I swear."
"I'm not sure when those Kiri ninja will attack, but I don't think it will be soon. However, don't let your guard down. Also, I've paid a good amount of money to keep their identities a secret, so that'll help." The sannin said as he got up. "Anyways, if you get into any trouble... Kuchiyose no Jutsu." He said as he bit his thumb and summoned a small toad. "I'm going to leave him with you. This right here is Gamakichi."
"Yo." The small toad greeted.
Naruto's jaw dropped. "What the hell is that? How is this little bitch going to help us?"
"Hey! Who you calling a little bitch, little bitch?"
"You."
"Why you- "
The young boy and the small toad wrestled with each other, before they were suddenly pulled apart by an annoyed Jiraiya. "Enough." He snapped. "Naruto, Gamakichi here, is the son of the leader of the toads, Gamabunta." The small toad puffed his chest. "He'll let me know if you guys are in trouble."
Naruto looked at the small toad and stuck his tongue out. "Whatever."
Jiraiya smiled at his apprentice and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And... I think you're ready to learn Fuuinjutsu." He said, making the boy's eyes widen. "When I get back, I'll start teaching you that."
"Yatta!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air.
Jiraiya let Gamakichi go and strapped his gear with the giant scroll on his back. "Don't give Taeko-chan too much of a hard time and don't cause too much trouble. I'll see you guys in about a week." He said over his shoulder, waving as he walked away.
.
Jutsu List
Doton: Doryuu Burijji - Earth Element: Earthen Bridge
Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Mass Shadow Clone technique
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone technique
A/N: What'd you think? R&R please