Only the strong survive

by Salem52

On a mission outside of the wall, something is discovered that could very well save humanity from total destruction, or rather someone. Watch as the war against titans changes with the introduction of soldiers known as shinobi. strong/dojutsu naruto semi-dark/cynical naruto(Still human though, and respects those who deserve it). pairings undecided(If any). NOT YAOI.

8. Lack of preparation

Hello my peeps, how's it been? Has life been good? Great. Sorry for the long wait, I have been in Canada for the last six or so weeks, and I couldn't bring my computer with me, so no story *silent crying*.

But now I'm back! And ready to roll. Last time we saw the battle at Shiganshina, as well as a glimpse at some of the more…interesting titans.

Now I think you guys would like to get to the story. Let us begin.

"Lack of preparation, be it mental or physical, can make a coward out of any man," – Trey FitzGerald

(Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Naruto)

"Greetings, my name is Naruto Uzumaki,"

Eren watched as the man who had saved his life, the life of Mikasa, as well as the life of his mother, bowed to them. All of the trainees just stood still, either not knowing how to respond, or just to stunned to return the bow.

Naruto straightened up, before giving a nearly undetectable sigh.

"I guess manners will be the first thing they learn," thought Naruto. He returned his hat to his head, which he had taken off for his introduction. He folded his arms in front of him and just stood there looking intently at each and every trainee, sizing them up. It was several minutes before he spoke again.

"You are the 104th trainee squad, and the first to participate in a newly-instated training regime. In this training, there will be two groups. Group A and group B. Group A will be receiving the standard training and will be, more or less, operating exactly like all of the trainee squads before you. The top ten will be able to enlist in the military police and the rest will go into either the Recon corp. or the garrison. The majority of you are inevitably going to go into this Group A." Naruto paused, taking a deep breath, before continuing, "Group B will be operating a little differently. Those who are in it will be trained to become as proficient as humanly possible at killing titans. You will be humanity's ace in the hole. If you choose or are chosen to go into group B, you will not be able to go into the garrison or the military police; you will be going into the recon corp. That said, you will be more powerful than any other, being trained to do things you would have not thought possible,"

When he said that, many in the group listening to him who had been considering going into this "Group B", immediately shot that idea down, hoping to be able go into the relative safety of the military police or if that failed, at least go into the job that didn't require them to go against titans twenty-four/seven. All of their thoughts were interrupted by Naruto's voice.

"Those who wish to join Group B, come to the front of your rows. Those who wish to join Group A, stay as you are, Shadis will collect you," the whole group of trainees just stood there, silent, much like they had been for the duration of Naruto's speech.

The lack of movement was broken by Sasha blouse's hand rising in the air, obviously wishing to ask a question. Naruto raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes trainee Blouse?"

"Which group has better food, or do they both get the same?" asked Sasha.

The girl behind Naruto broke her stoic façade, when she snorted at the question. Naruto also had a small smile of amusement.

"Ah, a soldier who thinks with their stomach," Replied Naruto. When he said this Sasha pulled her hand down and looked at the ground, blushing in embarrassment.

"It was only a question," she muttered to herself, but despite her distance from Naruto, he could still hear it. He laughed.

"It wasn't an insult, as they say an army moves with their stomach," replied Naruto, "and to answer your question. Group B's better funding, as well as its need to look after our trainees' bodies, makes it so that it would have the better food out of the two,"

"Oh," said Sasha simply, "well, then I know where I'm going,"

With that said Sasha, walked to the front of her row. It wasn't long before more started coming forward, until there were ten trainees standing in front of the rest.

The first to come up after Sasha was a group of three. Leading the group was a tall boy with short, blonde hair and gold eyes. His broad chest combined with his height gave him a very intimidating look; well, as intimidating as a twelve year old boy can be. This boy's name was Reiner Braun.

Behind Reiner Braun was another boy, he had short brown hair and was also very tall, being slightly taller than Reiner. But whereas the blonde boy was broad and intimidating, the brown haired boy was lanky and meek, giving off a vibe similar to a beaten puppy. This boy's name was Bertolt Hoover.

Next to Bertolt stood a blonde girl. She was the shortest of the trio, but also the most muscular, being very well-developed for a child of her age. She had shoulder-length blonde hair pulled up behind her head with bangs hanging down in front of her right eye. She had blue eyes that conveyed little about her, and her demeanor was of major indifference. Her name was Annie Leonhart.

It was soon after them that Eren and Mikasa walked forward, anxiousness coming off them in waves. Armin came not too long after when he saw them both up there. While he was aware of Eren and Mikasa's connection to the man in front of them, he didn't have that same connection and thus felt a little like a fifth wheel, at least in their current situation.

Surprisingly, the next to come up was Connie Springer. His uniform was scuffed up and his hands and knees had dirt on them from when Shadis had dropped him on the ground. He walked up next to Annie, and saluted…properly. He, despite his seemingly-stupid demeanor, was the first to do this, and for that he earned a small smile from Naruto. When the others saw this, they followed suit, but it was obvious that they had forgotten.

The last to come were two girls, the first one was a little blonde girl named Krista Lenz. She had a short, petite body and was one of the smallest children in the whole squad. She had blue eyes and a very kind, almost surreal, demeanor.

The second girl was probably as different from Krista as you could be, without having her change gender all together. She was very tall, not just for a girl but in general, being taller than both Eren and Connie. She had brown hair, hazel-colored eyes, and many freckles. She gave off a very untrusting and secretive demeanor that caused many of the trainees to instinctually dislike her. Her name was Ymir.

After a while, when it looked like no one else was going to volunteer, Naruto nodded before turning to his side and addressing Shadis.

"I have enough, Shadis-san, you may take the rest," Naruto turned to face the ten trainees in front of him, but said nothing instead waiting for Shadis.

"ALL RIGHT MAGGOTS!" yelled out Shadis from the side of the trainees, "THOSE OF YOU TOO PUSSY TO FIGHT TITANS, FOLLOW ME,"

Shadis turned and started marching toward the cabins, which were located on the east side of the training area. The trainees that did go into Group B turned and followed suit. It wasn't until all of the trainees had left and were a fair distance away that Naruto spoke to the ten in front of him.

"For those of you that chose to come into Group B, congratulations. You are now part of the Recon corp." stated Naruto, "Do you have any questions?"

The group of children in front of Naruto looked uneasy, not really being able to think of anything right at the moment. Eren wanted to ask if he remembered him, but he wanted to do so privately. He might have thought of a question, but he was beaten by Connie.

"Um, Uzumaki-sempai, you really meant what you said right? We are going to become powerful right? That wasn't just something you said to get us to join?" asked Connie meekly, still a little apprehensive after his spat with Shadis.

Naruto looked at Connie, chuckling.

"Connie-kun, first off, call me Naruto-sensei, or if not that then just sensei. That goes for the rest of you as well," said Naruto addressing the rest of the children there. "And to answer your question: do you see the girl behind me?" replied Naruto, gesturing towards the girl behind him at the end of his response.

"Yes," said Connie.

"She has been my student for close to three years, the same amount of time I will be training you." Naruto turned around and addressed the girl, "Chana-chan, could you show them your latest creation?"

The girl nodded, before walking in front of Naruto. She then continued through the line of older children until she stood three or so meters in front of them.

"Watch this closely. It is quite something," said Naruto nodding toward Chana.

All of them turned around to look at the younger girl who was standing in front of them.

Chana took a deep breath, before bringing her hands up and blurring through flurry of hand signs ending on the seal rabbit.

"Raiton: Douteki Hiyaku Usagi no Jutsu (Lightning release: dynamic leaping hare technique)"

Her right hand speared forward and from the tips of her fingers leapt a rabbit that quickly moved across the dry ground of the training ground. Every place it touched blackened with the heat that the rabbit gave off. The rabbit had a trail of blue lightning coming from behind it. It made it about thirty meters away before exploding into a dome of electricity.

Chana turned around and saw ten completely shocked faces. She smirked a little, before bowing with a flourish of her hand. As she reached the lowest point of her bow, she blurred from her position and disappeared.

The trainees started searching for Chana with their eyes, although they were all looking in the wrong direction. It wasn't until Naruto coughed, getting their attention, that they saw her standing behind and to the side of Naruto.

"Does that answer your question Connie-kun, or do you require another demonstration?" inquired Naruto.

Connie just stood there shaking his head, too awed to speak. Naruto nodded, before looking over the group as a whole.

"Are there any more questions?" asked Naruto. After a minute had passed, Naruto was about to resume his instruction when Mikasa spoke.

"Sensei?"

"Yes Mikasa-chan,"

"Were you the man that was at Shiganshina three years ago?"

Naruto stood there for a moment, before crouching down and looking at Mikasa with a critical eye, then shifting over to Eren. He looked at them for a minute or so before nodding.

"I thought I recognized you two, you were those two children trying to get your mother from under the crushed house, right?"

Mikasa nodded before looking down and grabbing the band holding her hair back. Being reminded of the death of her surrogate mother did not hold well with her. Naruto nodded before standing up.

"I would ask how your mother is, but I think I know what happened. She participated in the 'expedition' didn't she?"

Both Mikasa and Eren nodded.

"Heh, what a load of bull that was, but I suppose it was a necessary evil," stated Naruto, he paused when he noted the heated glares he was receiving from Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.

"How can you just call the death of two hundred thousand people a 'necessary evil'!" asked Armin, anger lacing his voice.

Naruto looked at Armin, his eyes softening slightly.

"Who did you lose?" asked Naruto softly.

"My grandfather! And don't dodge the question," stated Armin heatedly.

"Armin-kun, what do you think would have happened had we not sent them," inquired Naruto, his eyes hardening.

Armin angrily turned away, but didn't respond, despite the fact that he knew perfectly well what would have happened.

"We would have all starved, you, your grandfather, everyone. Your grandfather died so that you could live." stated Naruto.

Armin faced Naruto again, furious.

"It still isn't right, no matter what, YOU SHOULDN'T SEND SOMEONE TO THEIR DEATH JUST FOR THE PURPOSE OF DYING!"

"Then do something about it," replied Naruto, "Train, get strong, so that you can prevent that from happening again. Or get into a position where you make that decision,"

Armin looked at Naruto speechless, before looking down, tears involuntarily coming to his eyes. He stood there for a few moments, just crying, before wiping his eyes, looking up at Naruto and saluting.

"Hai, sensei," he said softly.

Naruto nodded, before looking over the group of children in front of him.

"Are there any more questions?" asked Naruto, this time everyone stayed silent.

"Good, I assume your belongings are in your cabins," stated Naruto.

All of the children nodded.

"Okay, I'll give you twenty minutes to gather you things and meet me at the entrance to camp."

All of the trainees saluted before running toward the cabins as fast as possible.

Naruto shook his head in amusement at how militaristic they were one moment, and childish the next.

"I guess they are still just children, despite their inevitably messed up childhoods," said Naruto to himself.

"Why would their childhoods be messed up, sensei," asked Chana walking up next to Naruto and looking up at him.

"My reasoning is quite simple: what child would willingly enter into the military at age twelve, to fight the . . . "

"That's rich, coming from the man who comes from a world where children can, and do, enter the military at age four, and are killing people by age eight," said Kurama, interrupting Naruto.

"Damn it Kurama! You can't do that while I am in the middle of talking, people will think I'm insane or something," replied Naruto.

"Sensei, is everything alright?" queried Chana.

"SEE! This right here proves my point," exclaimed Naruto in his mind.

He looked down at Chana and smiled.

"Yes, Chana-chan, everything is fine, I just phased out for a bit. Let's start heading toward the gate," replied Naruto, still a little off from Kurama's sudden intrusion.

Chana looked at Naruto oddly, shaking her head before blurring and appearing thirty meters away, heading in the direction of the gates. It wasn't a moment later before Naruto blurred away as well, leaving the cracked dry field of dirt empty and desolate.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Armin sighed, for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, as he looked out of the window of the carriage. The dry, hot land that was south Wall Rose had given way to the dense green forest of eastern Wall Rose. Since the loss of Wall Maria and the Great Forest, the forests of eastern Wall Rose had been the main source of wood for the kingdom.

Armin turned away from the window and looked at the other occupants of the carriage. There were the three that lined up after Sasha, and the two girls to join last. Nobody spoke to one another. No one really even moved much. They all just stayed silent.

Armin sighed again before once again turning around and looking out of the window. He would have liked to have been in Eren and Mikasa's carriage, but his cabin had much farther away than theirs and he had taken much longer than they. So, when he finally made it to the carriage, everyone had already loaded up and he had been left to go into the only available spot.

He had tried to engage in conversation, but the only responses he got were simple "yes" or "no" answers. He had eventually stopped asking, leaving the entire carriage in an uncomfortably awkward silence. That had been eight hours ago, and by now Armin was really tired of the silence.

He turned away from the window and looked at everyone. They were all sitting three to a side with Reiner and Bertolt sitting across from one another, Annie sitting next Reiner and sitting across from Ymir, and with Krista sitting next Annie and across from Armin. Besides the obvious convenience of placement, being right across from him, Krista also looked the least intimidating out of everyone in the carriage, which prompted Armin to talk to her first.

"Um, Krista-san," asked Armin, just trying to get a conversation going.

"Yes?" replied Krista, a little tentatively.

"Uh," Armin hadn't actually thought about what he was going to ask her, so he asked the first thing that came up, "What district are you from?"

Armin gave a mental sigh at asking a completely legitimate and normal question. But the moment he did, he saw Krista's eyes widen and become slightly frantic.

"Um…I, uh…Utopia, I come from Utopia," replied Krista, calming down slightly after answering.

"Oh, ok," stated Armin, not really being able to think of something to continue the conversation. Utopia wasn't really known to produce anything unique, or to do something that made it different than any other city other than being the staging point for the Northern Scouting Legion. It was only a name to Armin.

There was another awkward silence causing Armin to sigh again and resume staring out of the window.

"Um, I'm sorry about your grandfather," reengaged Krista, feeling unsure as to whether this was an ok thing to say, but felt that it was some way to resume the conversation, as she too didn't like the awkward silence that had been permeating the carriage for the majority of the ride.

Armin looked at her for a moment before getting a faraway look in his eyes.

"Thanks Krista," replied Armin, before leaning back and looking up at the roof of the carriage, "He was a great man, a genius actually. Always thinking of the future, despite his old age, he didn't deserve to die like he did…I miss him every day,"

"You say he didn't deserve to die like he did? But he died fighting the titans. Isn't that a good, honorable death?" Krista flinched when she saw Armin's heated gaze.

"Perhaps fighting the titans is an honorable death, but that was not the reason he died. He died so that there would be fewer mouths to feed. Sensei is right; I need to become stronger to prevent something like that from ever happening again,"

Krista was about to say sorry and drop the subject, when another voice entered the conversation.

"He died so that you could live? How is that not an honorable death?" rang out the voice of Annie.

"He died over food! Over bread and water! How can you say that is an honorable death," replied Armin heatedly.

"And that food, that 'bread and water', is what has kept you alive to this day. He died so that you could live. Every time you say he died for nothing, you are disrespecting his memory. Food is a valuable commodity. Don't ever forget that simple fact: without food there would be nothing,"

Armin looked away angrily, before sighing with a defeated look on his face.

"Remember Armin-san, your grandfather died for you, no one else, just you. You should thank him and live your life to the fullest. Because, in truth, you are living for both yourself and your grandfather," with that said Annie stopped talking, and resumed staring at the wall above Ymir's head.

Armin sighed once again before looking out of the window, wondering how long it would be before they all reached their destination.

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(The Next Day)

It was nearing evening when a duo of carriages could be seen ascending a large hill located near the middle of the eastern forest of Wall Rose. These carriages were carrying the ten trainees from the 104th trainee squad, who were looking in awe at the hill and the surrounding area.

Covering the top of this hill was a large fortification made of wood, stone and brick. The building looked like the bastard child of a military fort and an aristocrat's mansion. A large area in front of the main building was filled with young trees and well-cut grass. A bailey was located near the main building, with a curtain wall extending around the base of the hill surrounded by a deep ditch.

Around the main building were five houses. Each house was different from the others both in style and in the materials used to make them. They were all arrayed in a star-shaped pattern around the central building with equal space between each. A small stone wall encompassed the entire estate. A large iron gate was located on the side of the wall facing the front of the main building.

The carriages pulled up to the large iron gate before stopping, their drivers holding their hands in front of themselves in the tiger symbol before disappearing in a puff of smoke. It wasn't a moment later that Naruto stepped out of the leading carriage. He walked up to the iron gate that, upon closer inspection, had no seam down the middle and was, in fact, a solid piece of metal.

He extended his right hand and touched the center of the gate. The moment his fingers touched the center of the gate, a seal appeared briefly on the back of his hand, dark black, before fading back to the color of skin. When he removed his hand from the gate, it started to shake, then sank unnaturally into the ground, leaving a gaping hole in the stone wall. Naruto turned around and walked back to the carriages and knocked on the first before walking to the second. He opened the door and popped his head in.

"We have arrived, gather your things," after he said that, Naruto took a step back to allow the trainees some room to come out.

Reiner and Bertolt were the first out, with Annie and Ymir following and Armin and Krista following them, all of them were carrying standard issue military rucksacks filled with what little belongings they had. They all stood in front of Naruto in a line, seemingly awaiting his instruction. Naruto looked over to the first carriage to see the other trainees standing similarly in front of Chana.

"Hm, it seems that Chana has earned their respect with her little lightshow earlier," thought Naruto to himself.

He returned his gaze back to the trainees in front of him. They were all a little frayed around the edges from two days of travel with only one small break, and looked like they could use some rest. He whistled over to Chana, getting her attention. He beckoned her over and she obeyed, bringing her group with her. About half a minute later all ten trainees were lined up in front of Naruto. Chana stood next to him, as if she were a lieutenant and he, her commander.

Naruto looked at them all, analyzing them.

"All of you," said Naruto addressing them for the first time since the journey began, "look around you, this place is now your new home. You will be living inside of the large building in the center of my estate. Chana shall be your general trainer; it will be her task to get you physically fit. She will have you in the mornings and I shall have in the evenings. If you have any questions, she will have your answer. Any questions you may have now, however, can wait until we get you all situated. Follow me." With that said, Naruto turned and walked through the gap in the wall left by the iron gate. It only took a moment for everyone else to follow. When the last person stepped through, Naruto flicked his left hand, and a black seal appeared briefly before fading. The iron gate that had sunk into the ground when he had initially touched it rose up until it resumed its place, looking as if it had never been moved.

Naruto cut a brisk pace from the gate, so it only took the group about five minutes to reach the steps of the main building, but when they stopped everyone accept Chana and Annie was slightly out of breath. Naruto turned around to see this and mentally sighed.

"Chana will have her work cut out for," thought Naruto as he coughed to get their attention.

"I would like to set some ground rules. Firstly: you are now family. Treat each other as such. Don't put one another down; push each other to be the best you can. When one of you falls, I expect all of you to help them up. Secondly: as you all saw there are several smaller buildings around the main building. The one closest to the building is the bailey, which is where all of your food will be prepared," At the mention of food, Sasha got a faraway look on her face, slightly drooling.

"You are allowed inside this building whenever you like, although you will only have access to food during meal times. The five small houses near the wall are off limits. Anyone caught there will be severely reprimanded. This also goes for my study, which is located at the top of the central staircase," Naruto took a breath before continuing, "Those are more or less the only rules you need to follow. Know that if you do anything questionable you will be met with consequences. The only other rule I have is this: if you do break the rules, make sure you are not caught. Am I clear?"

Naruto was met with a round of "Hai, sensei." He nodded.

"Chana will direct you to your rooms; I will be away for the rest of the day, use this time to explore the estate, dinner is in two hours." With that said, Naruto gave a little wave before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

All of the trainees stood there unsure of what to do until a cough from behind them grabbed their attention. They all turned around to see Chana standing in front of the large double doors of the estate. She had a bored look on her face.

"Follow me," said Chana, before turning around and opening the doors.

Mikasa was the first into the main building, and seemed awestruck by what she saw. The following trainees had similar reactions, so Chana stopped for them to get a good look at their new home. The floor of the main room was made of an expensive-looking hardwood; massive tapestries covered the large stone walls. Where someone would usually expect a high ceiling with such a large main room, the ceiling was low, probably only about nine meters from the ground, short in comparison to the length and width of the room. In the center of the room was a large spiral staircase that connected the first floor to the second. To the right of the staircase was a door that led to the bailey.

Chana, deciding that they had enough time to gawk, headed towards the central staircase. They ascended two floors before stopping on the third. The third floor was, more or less, a long hallway with doors lining either side. At the either end of the hallway there were two large stained glass windows one facing north and the other facing south, the one facing north was red and the one facing south was blue. Chana walked toward the north window until all of the trainees had filed in and could easily hear her.

"This floor is where you shall be living," started Chana, "boys shall be located on the right, girls on the left. At the end of the hallway, near the blue window, are the restrooms and bathing rooms. Mixed bathing has been prohibited. Sensei hasn't assigned chores yet, but the waste disposal from the restroom will be one of them, as well as cleaning the pots,"

At the mention of taking and cleaning the chamber pots, many of the trainees felt queasy.

"Hampers are located inside your rooms, washdays shall be once a week." Chana sighed, as if she didn't want to speak anymore, "If any of you are religious, you can find a shard of 'The Wall' in the wardrobes located inside of your rooms, as well as copy of the scriptures inside your bedside table."

At the mention of "The Wall" cult, many of the trainees cringed. "The Wall" cult was a group of fanatics who worshipped the three walls as gods. They believed that when they prayed to the walls, they gained strength to keep the titans out and since the fall of wall Maria they had gained many followers. In the last three years, they had also attained incredible political influence with both the king and queen publicly partaking in the practice. They were an incredible detriment to the military though, believing that any modification to the wall, be it placing a canon or patching up a crack, was a heinous crime that should be punished severely.

"I wonder what happened to Pastor Drake," thought Eren, remembering the pastor that had been in Shiganshina before the breach in the wall. He remembered how he would always berate Hannes, saying that his job was unholy and that he should quit and become "one with the wall", whatever that meant. He looked up as Chana picked up where she left off.

"If you have any questions, my room is this one. If I'm not there, then I am in the forest training and you'll just have to wait until I get back," said Chana pointing to her left, towards the door closest to north window on the girl's side. "You shall be bunking together, two people to room."

"There are five boys and five girls. Will there be one person with a room to themselves, or shall the odd one out from both sides bunk together?" asked Mikasa.

Chana stopped and quickly counted before sighing and looking at Mikasa.

"Are you volunteering?" asked Chana, still in her bored monotone. Mikasa walked over to Eren before grabbing his arm.

"This is my brother, we have been sleeping in the same room since we were kids. It wouldn't be anything new,' replied Mikasa.

"Great, now that that is solved, partner up and choose a room. Also, make sure get to bed early. Training starts at dawn. Meet me at the iron gate. Anyone that is late will be doing double work. Dinner is in a little under two hours in the bailey. Don't miss it. Lights out is at nine bells,"

With that said Chana turned and entered her room, closing the door behind her. Everyone stood there for a moment until Reiner shouldered his bag and started to walk towards the stairs before turning right and entering the boy's side door closest to the central staircase. Bertolt was close to follow and entered in after him.

Armin turned towards Connie before extending his hand with a small smile on his face.

"Looks like you and I are going to be bunk mates, my name is Armin Arlert,"

"Huh?" said Connie as he looked over at Armin and his extended hand, apparently he had been spacing out. Armin got a slightly exasperated look on his face.

"I said my name is Armin Arlert, we are going to be bunk mates."

For a split second Connie looked like he didn't really comprehend Armin until the metaphorical light bulb shined above his head. He smiled back goofily before grasping Armin's hand and shaking.

"You probably already know my name, but I am Connie Springer from Ragako village," replied Connie.

"Yea, but I think it is better to introduce yourself personally," stated Armin matter-of factly. Connie nodded before picking up his bag and going for the door closest to the north window, across from Chana's room. Armin just shrugged before picking up his bag and turning towards Eren and Mikasa.

"I guess I'll see you guys at dinner. I'm going to try and get know Connie better, since, you know, I might be spending the next three years with him," said Armin as he turned and followed Connie to their room.

Sasha walked up Krista and held out her hand.

"I'm Sasha Blouse; would you like to be bunkmates?"

Krista became very flustered at the direct introduction. She nodded before tentatively taking the hand.

"I'm Krista, Krista Lenz," said Krista meekly.

"Great! Which room would you prefer to stay in?" asked Sasha. Krista was a little out of her element and a bit slow to come to an answer.

"Um, wherever you want, I guess," Sasha just nodded before taking Krista's hand and leading her to the room closest to the stairs on the girl's side, saying about it was "closer to the food."

This left Annie and Ymir staring at each other for a few moments before they both grudgingly shook hands, shouldered their rucksacks and headed to the room next to Sasha's and Krista's room.

Mikasa and Eren watched them all before turning to each other.

"So, Mikasa, which room do you want to stay in?" asked Eren. Mikasa shrugged.

"I would have liked to stay in one of the rooms closest to the stairs, but since those have been taken, how about the room next to Bertolt and Reiner," replied Mikasa.

"Sure I guess, I just hope Armin's alright with us not being next to him," said Eren.

"Eren, he is twenty feet away, he'll be fine," deadpanned Mikasa. Eren grunted his agreement, before shouldering his bag and heading towards the room next to Reiner and Bertolt. He reached for the handle, but right as he touched it, a large gonging sound rang throughout the whole estate. He stopped thinking that it had something to do with him. The gonging noise occurred four more times before it faded away.

"Ah, the time," thought Eren, relieved. There had been a clock tower in Shiganshina, as well as a small clock tower in the town he had stayed at before enlisting. They had just never sounded like this one. While the other clock towers had bells, this bell sounded more like a hanging cymbal used in some of the parades, back when Shiganshina had parades.

Eren grasped the door handle more firmly and turned it pushing. The room was quite small and very symmetrical. There was a window opposite the door; on either side of window were two small wardrobes. Two cots, with three inch military mattresses, were in front of the wardrobes and each cot had a footlocker at the end. There was one night stand under the window, in easy reaching distance of both cots. On the nightstand was one, very large, beeswax candle.

Eren walked in and placed his rucksack on the cot to the right. Mikasa came in after and placed her rucksack on the remaining cot before opening it up and dumping out the contents on her bed. Eren followed suit. The majority of the things in their rucksacks were clothes, but there were a few small items in there as well. Located at the bottom of Eren's rucksack was a small, leather drawstring bag. The bag jingled with coins and constituted the total life savings of Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. Eren took that first and immediately put it inside of his footlocker.

"I'll find a better place later, but that will do for now," thought Eren.

Mikasa took a needle and thread that she had from when Carla was still alive. She took that and put it on the bedside table. She also had a knife that was given to her by Eren when she was a child. The blade was smudged and wasn't nearly as shiny as it had once been, although the handle was quite new, looking like it had hardly been used. She took that and placed it under her pillow. Eren took out a similar knife, although this one showed signs of wear, both in the blade and the handle. Eren followed Mikasa's suit and placed the blade under his pillow. The only other thing remaining was Eren's book of letters. Grisha, being a doctor, was one of the few people outside of the children of aristocracy that could read. So he took it upon himself to teach Eren his letters. A similar thing occurred with Armin and his grandfather, who was another one of the privileged few who could read. Even after his father disappeared, Eren still practiced his letters, reading when he could and writing when he could acquire ink. He took his book of letters and put it in the bedside drawer on top of "The Book of Scriptures."

He then started folding his clothes and putting them inside his wardrobe, with Mikasa doing the same. After all of their clothes were put away, Eren laid down on his cot, tired from the last two days of travel. Mikasa, instead, opened the window to let some air inside the room, which was slightly stuffy from disuse. Eren looked up at Mikasa when he felt the fresh air enter the room. He sat up and turned his body so that his legs hung over the side of the cot. Mikasa sat down across from him. Both remained there in relative silence until Mikasa decided to speak.

"It's really him," started Mikasa. Eren nodded.

"Yea," replied Eren, thinking back to when he first saw him in Shiganshina.

"It's interesting," stated Mikasa.

"What?"

"Well, you always used to say how you would be like him and kill all the titans. Well now you can learn from him, and not only that, you get to go into the recon corp. after that," explained Mikasa.

"Yea," said Eren, distractedly.

"What is it Eren?" asked Mikasa, concerned.

"Well, it's just, with all the things that have happening recently," started Eren.

"You mean coming here," replied Mikasa.

"Yea,"

"What about it," inquired Mikasa.

"Well, what if I can't do it, I mean, what that girl did. I never even imagined something like that happening…ever, not even in my wildest dreams. What if I don't have what it takes? Will I just go back to Group A? I just…I don't know what I would do," explained Eren. Mikasa reached across the space between the cots and grabbed Eren's head so that he could not turn away, forcing him to look directly into her eyes.

"Eren, stop that line of thought right now. You will not fail, you will succeed. We have been through a lot together; we lived through Shiganshina and worked our way through life. We will get stronger and we will kill all of the titans. Don't ever forget your dream." With that said, she let go of Eren's head and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" inquired Eren.

"Sensei told us to explore the estate. We still have half an hour before dinner, so I think that we should do just that: explore," replied Mikasa turning around and exiting the room. Eren was a little put off by the sudden mood change, but decided that he shouldn't make a fuss over it, so he just dropped it. He got up and headed out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, he thought about the years ahead of him and what to expect. After standing in his doorway for close to five minutes thinking about that, he finally came to the conclusion that he really didn't know what to expect and that he should just let it come as it would.

And with that thought on his mind he walked out from under his doorway and down the central staircase. At the bottom he saw Mikasa waiting with a slightly annoyed frown on her face.

"What?!" asked Eren defensively. Mikasa just sighed, before turning and heading towards the main doors. Eren shook his head, knowing perfectly well why she was annoyed. He followed her out of the main building and into the estate where they spent the next half hour exploring the various odds and ends of the place. When they heard the bell toll seven they headed back to the main building for dinner in the bailey. The meal was already cooked and waiting for them when they arrived. The others soon joined them and they all ate honey glazed venison, cabbage, and potatoes. After dinner, they piled their plates together and left them on the table, not knowing where the kitchen was. Then they went up to their rooms and went to sleep, all of them tired from their long journey.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(One month later)

All of the trainees shivered in the crisp, early morning weather. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, and didn't do anything to warm them. It had been one month since they had arrived at Naruto's personal fort. And just like Chana had promised, their day started at sunrise. The first week or so was hellish, because, once again, Chana stayed true to her word that anyone that was late would be doing double work. During that time, they also learned that she was a metaphorical slave driver when it came to their conditioning. When Naruto told them that they were going to be the best, they really didn't think of how they would actually be going about it. The only person that could, sort of, keep up was Annie who, through sheer physical conditioning, ws by far the most fit. When questioned about it, all she would say was that her father had been a harsh teacher.

After two hours of hard work, which would be around six bells in the morning, they would have breakfast. After breakfast they would spend the next six hours working their asses off, which would normally result in them puking their guts out. One day, during the first week, Connie had been complaining, wondering why Chana wasn't doing any of the work if she was still one of Naruto's students. Chana just shrugged and told him to work harder. She explained that she had already done this and working with them at the pace that they were going would be easy. When Connie challenged her on that, she just shrugged once again, before jumping into the workout and completely blowing all of them away, eventually finishing it before any of them had reached halfway. Needless to say, Connie's complaints had stopped after that day.

After the six hours of work, they would eat lunch in the bailey, before spending two hours doing various chores. Naruto had assigned them all rotating shifts, with someone doing something different every day. After that they would spend four hours with Naruto. Thus far, all they had been doing was meditating and dynamic stretching (i.e. yoga). It had been difficult for the majority of the students to get accustomed to sitting in the same pace for four hours straight or spending five minutes doing the first movement of a motion. Naruto had told them that before he could teach them how to do anything more advanced, he would first need them to know their own bodies.

"You need to feel your body when you are meditating," he would tell them. "When you breathe in, feel how your lungs expand, how your diaphragm pushes into your stomach. When you move, feel how your muscles contract or relax."

After those four hours with Naruto, they would have three hours to themselves, before lights out when they would have to go to sleep. This had been going on for a month. With them being much farther north than when they were trainees under Shadis, for however short a time that was, the mornings and days in general were much colder than when they were in the south.

The trainees lined up in front of the iron gate and waited. Within moments, Chana appeared in front of them in a swirl of leaves, similar to how Naruto had left them on the first day they were there. She nodded to them before turning around and touching the gate, a black seal briefly appearing on her right hand. The gate shook for a moment, before sinking unnaturally into the ground like it had done with Naruto on the first day. The first morning when Chana had done this, it had been quite a shock to everyone since they had all been inside the carriages when Naruto had done it. Now though, after seeing it done every day, they were quite accustomed to it and paid it little mind as they followed Chana through the gap it left in the wall. When they all went through, Chana flicked her left hand and the black seal appeared once again. They all heard the grinding sound the gate made as it rose out of the ground and resumed its place on the stone wall. Chana walked about twenty meters until the path that they were on dipped down and to the side to begin its long spiral around and down the large hills. She turned around and waited as the trainees arrayed themselves in a line in front of her. Chana clapped her hands together and interlocked her fingers, before pushing her arms in front of her, cracking her fingers. After doing that, she got a slightly predatory smirk on her face, unusual for her usually bored and stoic behavior. Apparently working them to the bone got a rise out of her. That was one of the only times the trainees saw some actual emotion from her.

"Okay, you know the drill, jog down the hill, you got thirty minutes. Stay together, you know the phrase, 'You're only as strong as your weakest link.' If someone falls behind, all of you will go back and help that person. I would rather see all of you fail together, than see all except one person succeed. But I shouldn't have to say that since you all know that. Now let's get going, thirty minutes! See you all at the bottom." With that said, she gave a wave before crouching down, back-flipping off the side of the hill and landing in one of the trees near the bottom.

A few of them, mainly Sasha and Connie, shook their heads at the over-the-top manner at which their "trainer" left them.

"Damn, can't wait till I can do that," said Sasha, as she took her place near the front of the group. When they jogged, they would always jog in a line, with Bertolt usually leading the group. Due to his long legs, he was one of the better runners. Next would be Reiner, as the second tallest. Following him would be Sasha and after her would be Eren and Mikasa. Ymir would be behind Mikasa, with Connie behind Ymir. Armin would be behind Connie. Krista would then follow Armin. Being the smallest; she was the slowest runner in the group. Annie was the best runner, and always took place behind Krista and Armin so that she could keep them going if they fell behind.

They all ran at a brisk pace, not necessarily a sprint, but definitely running hard. It was probably a three mile run from the top of the hill to the curtain wall at the bottom and they definitely didn't want to see what Chana had in store for them should they fail. So they ran. After three miles of excruciating running, they finally made it to the bottom.

Chana was waiting, sitting on top of the curtain wall, above the portcullis. She smirked at seeing them all out of breath.

"You made down in twenty eight minutes, so you get two minutes rest before we resume," said Chana as she jumped down to the ground. She turned and faced the portcullis, before walking up to it and placing her right hand on it. The seal appeared on the back of her hand and the portcullis shook before slowly sinking into the ground, much like the iron gate in the stone wall around Naruto's estate. When the portcullis had fully gone down she walked up to the edge of the ditch surrounding the curtain wall and held her right hand out over it. The seal appeared on the back of her right hand briefly before fading. A moment later, the ground where Chana was standing started to shake and a wooden bridge started to move out of the ground below her feet until it extended all the way across the ditch. She turned around before whistling, gaining the attention of the group of trainees. She didn't say anything, instead motioning with her hand for them to come hither, effectively telling them that their break was over.

They all silently resigned themselves to the fate of having to do an incredibly harsh workout as they followed her across the bridge. Like with everything else having to do with the seal, the moment they all came off the bridge, Chana flicked her left hand and both the bridge and the portcullis resumed their previous places.

They all followed Chana for about half a mile into the forest along a small path that they had, more or less, created. One month of trudging along the same stretch of earth will do that. At the end of the path was a large clearing. There were a few things inside this clearing, mainly ropes and logs of varying sizes. The rope was hanging from the trees and the logs were arrayed in a line, smallest to largest. On one side of the clearing was a small stream that was relatively high with the winter rain that fed it further upstream. Alongside the stream were a few buckets for drawing water, in case one of the trainees needed a drink. They all walked to the center of the clearing before arranging themselves in a circle around Chana, who led them through a series of stretches and a general warm up. After fifteen minutes of that, she sent them to their work out which was climbing the ropes on the trees without the use of legs, in between each rope climb, the person had to partner up with someone their own size and pick up one of the logs and carry it four hundred meters down the path, before turning around and bringing it back, twenty times. This was what they spent the next hour and a half doing before heading back to the fort for breakfast. They had to jog up the hill in forty five minutes, or else they would have to run all the way down and back before they could have breakfast. They did not make it, and spent an additional hour and a half going down the hill and back up.

When they came back up again, they found Chana waiting on the stone wall, next to the iron gate, eating a bowl of porridge. They all stared up at her, equal parts angry, disbelieving, and hungry.

"Aren't you supposed to wait for your charges before you eat," accused Connie? While nobody else would actually say it, Connie had voiced what everyone else in the squad was thinking.

Chana took another bite before wiping her mouth.

"I did wait, and then I waited, and waited, until I got hungry and just decided to wait for all of you on a full stomach, rather than an empty one. Besides, I'm a lot more bitchy on an empty stomach. You don't want to see me being bitchy now do you?" said Chana in a sarcastically sweet voice.

Connie just paled slightly, before shaking his head. Chana just nodded before reverting back to her normal bored self. She tilted her head back and gulped down the rest of her porridge, before hopping down and placing her hand on the iron gate. Per usual, it sunk into the ground and the group of tired students walked through the gate, before it rose up behind them again.

They went to the bailey and walked in, got bowls and scooped themselves some porridge from a very heavy looking pot. They all sat down at the long table near the kitchen.

"Wow, I feel hurt, you all walk in here, and not a single person noticed me. How cruel," said an obviously sarcastic voice from the end of the table.

Many of the trainees were stunned. They had all been so hungry they didn't even realize that there had been a person in the bailey at all. But that wasn't what had them stunned. At the end of the table was a man dressed in doctors scrubs with wavy, shoulder length, blonde hair…and he was Naruto. He wasn't dressed like Naruto, nor was his hair or his voice anything like Naruto's, and yet, it was Naruto. He had Naruto's face and while his body was slightly less muscular than Naruto's, it was still Naruto's body. The only noticeable difference between the two was that this Naruto's left eye was sewn shut. They turned away from him when they heard a very audible sigh from Chana.

"They weren't supposed to see you for another year C. Why didn't you hide when they came in?" asked Chana in an annoyed voice. C just laughed, before pointing his spoon at Chana.

"You were supposed to be in and out of here an hour ago, so don't go pointing fingers," replied C, before he focused on the ten trainees. He looked like he was about to say something, before he was cut off by Connie.

"Naruto-sensei! Why do you look like that, and why are you wearing those clothes?" C got a flat look, before pointing his spoon at Connie and looking at Chana.

"Not exactly the smartest, is he?" asked C, addressing Chana. Chana shook her head before walking over to the tub and grabbing the ladle.

"Afraid not," replied Chana as she spooned herself some more porridge.

"Ah, well. Tis to be expected, I guess," Connie didn't really comprehend all that they were saying, which was proving their point in the regard to his mental prowess.

"Anyway, to answer your question Connie-kun, I'm dressed different than Naruto, because I am not Naruto. Well…not in the sense you're thinking of at least. But don't worry about that, you can just call me C-sensei, ok?" answered C.

It took a while for Connie to wrap his head around the concept but he eventually came round to it and nodded.

"So, C-sensei, will you be teaching us anything?" asked Armin. C got a thinking look on his face before putting his spoon back into his porridge and nodding.

"Most likely, yes. Once Naruto has your chakra activated, I should probably be taking over some part of your schedule," replied C. He looked down at his porridge, before leaning back and extending his hands in the air, cracking being heard from his back.

"C-sensei, what is chakra?" asked Reiner. The group of trainees looked over at him, as he rarely spoke. The only people in the trainee squad that actually spoke to everyone on a regular basis would be Connie, Armin, and Eren. They all shook off the momentary shock of hearing Reiner actually speak and looked back at C to hear his answer.

"Naruto really hasn't taught you all anything, has he?" said C with a sigh.

"He's teaching them exactly like he did with me," interjected Chana. C looked at her before looking down shaking his head.

"Anyways, Reiner-kun," said C, looking back to Reiner, "Chakra, is the energy that is contained within everything. It binds us all together, and without it, nothing would exist. The chakra that you would be concerned with, would be the chakra within yourself. Everyone is inherently born with chakra. Even in your fetal stage, you have chakra. You've all seen the things that Naruto and Chana can do. No normal human being should ever be able do the things that they can do. It's chakra that allows them to do this. All that meditation and stretching and stuff that Naruto has you guys doing for four hours every day, is not just so you can balance better. He's trying to have you find your chakra, a place in your body you can tap into it with ease."

"Is there an easier way to find your chakra," interrupted Reiner. C just looked at him for a moment, before sighing.

"You know, it's not nice to interrupt, and I was getting to that. There are three ways for your chakra to be activated: one, your parents were chakra users and used chakra frequently when you were in the fetal stage. Two, you do what Naruto is having you do, and search for the chakra within you," C sighed for a moment, as if looking hesitant about saying the third way, "third, you have a foreign chakra enter your body and forcibly activate it,"

"Why can't we just do the third option then, and start doing something more productive?" inquired Armin.

"Well, for one, it is extremely painful. Imagine if someone poured boiling hot fire into your veins and left it there to sit for a few days, and you'll get an idea on the level of pain you'd be in. Secondly, it is not as elegant as the first two options. It would be like if you tried to open a walnut with a canon. You'd get the job done for sure, but you'd have to find the pieces of the walnut afterwards."

After C said this, everyone became silent, not even eating their porridge. C just looked around before leaning backwards and cracking his back and smiling.

"Well, I should be getting back to my work; it was nice speaking to you all. I'll be sure to see you around the estate, now that I don't have to avoid you. Cheers," said C, before grabbing his porridge and disappearing. Chana just looked at where C had been, before shaking her head and sighing.

"You have ten minutes to eat your fill. We are behind schedule, so you will have to work extra hard if we want to get to sensei within a reasonable time," stated Chana as she started to eat her second bowl of porridge.

C smiled as he heard the distressed sounds coming from the bailey. He looked around the main room before heading toward the double doors marking the exit.

"You know Naruto, Chana really is a slave driver. You couldn't have picked a better physical conditioner," said C, seemingly to no one. The area behind C started to distort, before taking shape and eventually turning into Naruto. He had a visible frown on his face.

"You weren't supposed to alert them to your presence until they all learned how to activate their chakra," said Naruto, being more annoyed than angry.

"Oh, come off it," replied C, "Do you have any idea how annoying it is when you want to perform experiments and you have to wait until a bunch of brats have to leave before you can do it, or having to sneak around your own home to avoid being seen? You don't know, so let me tell you: It's extremely annoying, and I'm not the only one that thinks that, the others do as well."

Naruto just sighed, before heading toward the central staircase; he stopped at the bottom and turned toward C.

"The damage has been done, and I know you told them about the three manners of chakra access, so I guess I'll start setting up the seal room. Just know that since you seemed so keen on meeting them, you will now be teaching them on Thursdays and Sundays," with that said, Naruto walked up the stairs. C just watched him go up the stairs, before turning around and heading towards the main double doors. Instead of opening them though, he touched the middle of the doors with his right hand, the same black seal that had been on Chana and Naruto appearing on the back of his hand as well. The doors shook for a few seconds, before a large white seal appeared on the door. Right after that they swung inward, toward C.

Instead of opening up to the estates though, like they would have had C not touched them; they opened up into an underground hallway with doors lining the sides. Each door had a slot in the middle, and there were small hanging lights above every door, making the hallway look like it belonged in an insane asylum. As he walked in, he flicked his left hand and the double doors of the main building slammed close behind him before shaking for a few seconds. C turned around and watched as the door stopped shaking. The white seal appeared on it before it disappeared entirely, being replaced by a clear plastic door that saw into the main room house. C smiled to himself.

"I love my seals," said C to himself as he turned around and walked down the hallway. He walked for about fifty meters before turning left and into a room with a desk to one side and a massive green chalkboard embedded into the wall opposite of the door. It was blank and had a small layer of dust on it. He walked up to the chalk board and passed his hand over the surface, as if he was passing his hand over a faithful sword that hadn't been used in many years. He did that for a few minutes, getting rid of the dust. He then walked over to the desk and pressed a button located on the bottom of one of the two drawers. A part of the wall behind C made a hissing sound, before sliding out. C turned around and looked at the part of the wall that slid out. It looked like a box, with one side being the same color as the wall, a very sterile-looking white. The rest was made of a fine hardwood. Inside the box was a single piece of chalk, on the back of the chalk was a small seal. C picked up the piece of chalk gently, like it was a piece of expensive glass that he didn't want to break. He lifted it up and looked at it, as if appraising a gem, before quickly pushing in the small slot on the wall and rushing over to the chalk board.

He wrote a small equation on the chalk board, which quickly disappeared into the chalk board, as if it was ink sinking into a piece of cloth. Suddenly the chalk board turned white, before green started to seep into the white. Then it turned back to the green it had been before. C then wrote another tiny equation, before it too sunk into the board. From the sides, many equations started to scroll onto the board until it was almost completely filled with white from the equations. C quickly went to work clearing space. He started crossing through many of the small equations near the edges of the board, causing them to disperse into dust and return back into his piece of chalk. He repeated this over and over until there was only one large equation in the center of the board. He placed his piece of chalk on the beginning of the equation, before pausing for a moment. He stood there, just holding the piece of chalk at the beginning of the equation, a conflicted look on his face, before he just shrugged and dragged his piece of chalk across the equation, effectively crossing it out and causing all of the chalk particles that made up the equation to gather on the tip of his piece of chalk until it was around six inches long. He sighed, before bringing his chalk piece to the very to right of the board and started writing out a schedule for the trainees.

"If I'm going to teach them, I'm going to teach them to my best, and I need you to operate at my best," mumbled C to himself, as well as the chalk board.

After standing and writing on the chalk board for awhile, C finally created his first training regime that literally took up ninety percent of the chalk board. He clapped his hands together, making sure to not break the chalk, and smiled. He wrote down a small equation on the ten percent of the board, which quickly peeled itself off the board and formed itself into a chair, which C promptly sat in.

He put his hands behind his head, feeling pleased with himself. Until the chair was pulled out from under him and he landed on his butt. He got up and quickly turned around to see a small version of himself rapidly turning the corner of his "office."

"I swear you little bastard, I'm gonna rip your freakin' head off," yelled C as he chased a dwarfed clone of himself all around the underground complex.

Up in his study, Naruto smiled to himself, feeling as if he had received some retribution, in the form of a pranking C "mini-me."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

All of the trainees were lined up in the gardens of Naruto's estate. This was the place where Naruto had met them every day for the last month. This time though, Naruto was late. He was usually there waiting for them, sitting in a lotus position near one of the flower beds. Interestingly, despite it being winter, the plants in Naruto's garden never wilted and always stayed in bloom. The garden was near the back of the estate and was fenced off against any wildlife that might try to disturb it. The only way to get in was by a small iron gate that required one of the seals to open.

The trainees were considering seeking out Chana when Naruto appeared in the center of the gardens in a swirl of leaves and flower petals. They knew this was the real Naruto because he was dressed in the clothes of Naruto and also had the same waist-length, spiky hair that Naruto always had.

"Good day, my students, have you worked hard?" said Naruto in a calm voice. He always started their sessions with similar statements; always in a very calming voice that made any of the wears of the day seemingly flow out of your body.

All of the trainees nodded. Naruto nodded in return, and just stood there. The trainees didn't really know what they should do. While Naruto had been their teacher, he had also been somewhat distant from them, not really engaging in conversation with them, instead focusing on the lesson, wholeheartedly. So they didn't know how to exactly broach the question that they all wanted to know. They all looked at Naruto as they heard him sigh.

"I assume you all have something you want to ask me?" said Naruto wearily.

They were all somewhat shocked that Naruto could read them that easily. If only they knew that Naruto had spent the last twelve hours preparing for their question.

"Um yea, Naruto-sensei," started out Armin, probably being the most tactful out of all of them, "We all met C-sensei this morning, and we got into talking about chakra and about how it is the thing that allows you and Chana-sempai to do all of the stuff you do,"

Naruto nodded, "Continue."

Armin nodded and took a deep breath before going on, "Well, he said that the eventual goal of all of our mediation and dynamic stretching, was the finding and acquiring of our chakra,"

"It seems that Armin-kun spent a while preparing this little speech of his, I rarely hear such an intelligent tongue on one so young," thought Naruto as he nodded for Armin to continue.

"Sensei, please take no disrespect, for I mean none," said Armin tentatively, Naruto chuckled slightly at how roundabout Armin was at asking his question.

"I promise you Armin-kun, I won't take any offense, now say to me what you want," replied Naruto.

"I speak for all of us when we say that the meditation hasn't exactly been the most exciting thing we have done while here. And when we talked to C-sensei, he told us about a way to acquire our chakra much easier and quicker," Naruto laughed morbidly.

"Quicker: definitely. Easier: not a chance in hell," replied Naruto, "He told you about how painful the experience can be as well, did he not?" Armin nodded, "He probably described it as fire running through your veins, but the pain from having a foreign body of chakra forcibly enter your body without any kind of exposure to chakra larger than your own, that pain is indescribable,"

All of the trainees paled a bit at that description.

"However, it is very efficient, and you will have access to your chakra after the procedure, and we would be weeks ahead of schedule if you all do partake in it. That was what you were going to ask me wasn't it? If I could enter into your systems with my own chakra and forcibly activate your own," said Naruto, directing the last part of the statement towards Armin.

"Hai," replied Armin, nodding. Naruto nodded before looking at the rest of the trainees.

"Is that what you want, to have immediate access to your chakra at the cost of intense pain?" asked Naruto to the rest of the trainees. The rest of the trainees looked undecided. Naruto saw this, before kneeling so that he was eye level with all of his students.

"Whatever you decide, make sure you decide it as a group. Don't have one person take it and the rest not, and vice versa. I will leave you so that you can make your decision. When you have made your decision, touch the gate and I will appear," with that said, Naruto got up and looked at his students one last time, before putting his right hand in a half tiger seal and disappearing in a blur of leaves and petals.

All of the trainees just stayed standing there for close on ten minutes, unsure of how to go about this discussion.

"Well…," all of them looked towards Armin who had spoken, "I guess we could all take a vote, and if we are undecided we could talk it out," all of them nodded, not being able to think of something else.

"Well, for taking the chakra thing, raise your hand," said Armin, raising his hand. Out of their group eight raised their hand, but when Bertolt saw Reiner raise his hand, he quickly followed, making it nine vs one. The one left was Sasha.

"We said if we were undecided, that we would talk it out," said Armin, sitting down on the ground. Everyone else followed suit, and they moved themselves into a rough circle.

"Sasha, you should start," Sasha looked down at the ground in the middle in the circle, a small blush on her face, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.

"Well, Naruto-sensei said that it would be indescribably painful. That means that any pain you felt in your life couldn't even compare to the pain we could feel if we do this. I mean, I'm perfectly fine with doing meditation and dynamic stretches. I don't need to get my charka, or whatever, right away. And, you know, pain. I really don't like it," with that Sasha ended her "argument."

"Anyone else want to give an opposing statement," after Armin said that, Connie raised his hand.

"Do you want to go Connie?" asked Armin.

"Um, no," replied Connie, looking down in the circle, similar to what Sasha had been doing a moment earlier.

"Well then what is it Connie?" asked Armin, he had a guess, living with Connie and all, but he still let Connie ask first.

"Um, what does 'opposing statement' mean?" Armin had a mental sigh, as well as a "called it" type moment, before responding.

"An opposing argument, is something you would say when you are trying to convince someone that thinks differently than you, to your own line of thought," it took Connie a moment before he slowly nodded.

"Well, then I would like to say something," Armin nodded before giving Connie a "go ahead" gesture. Connie looked over at Sasha.

"Um, Sasha-san, with chakra, imagine the food you could take from the kitchen. You said that you couldn't get in because the door was sealed, right? Maybe you need chakra to activate it," suggested Connie.

"I guess," replied Sasha unsure.

"Sasha-san, if you take the procedure, I will give all of my lunches for the next three months," stated Ymir, everyone looked at her disbelieving, well…accept Sasha, who looking at Ymir like her meal ticket, literally.

"Now Ymir-san I hardly think that's fai-" said Armin.

"Shut up!" interrupted Sasha, pointing her finger at Armin, before moving it over to Ymir.

"You're saying that if I take this chakra thing, that I get all of your lunches for the next three months!" inquired Sasha excitedly.

"Yes," replied Ymir, trying to suppress a smirk at being able to sway Sasha so easily.

"Deal!" replied Sasha, getting up and shaking hands with Ymir. Everyone else sat there gawking at Ymir and Sasha, Ymir for making that absurd deal in the first place and Sasha for actually taking it. It made everyone realize just how susceptible Sasha was to her stomach.

Armin looked at them both before shaking his head and getting up.

"Well now that we have that resolved," said Armin, "we should let Naruto-sensei know,"

He walked over to the entrance of the garden, but right before he touched the door, he turned and looked over at all of them.

"Are you all sure?" asked Armin, making doubly sure that they were all firm in their decision. When he saw all of them nod, Sasha included, he nodded himself before touching the door to the garden.

The moment his hand touched it, Naruto appeared in a swirl of leaves and petals behind them.

"Have you made your decision?" inquired Naruto. He had actually been in the garden with them as they decided, but they didn't need to know that.

"We have decided to…to take the procedure," replied Armin. Naruto looked over all of them, before nodding.

"Ok, follow me," said Naruto as he walked through them and to the door of the garden. He touched the door and the seal appeared on it. It shook for a second before opening for them. He led them around the main building and to the two main double doors of the estate. He walked in, and they all followed. But instead of going anywhere, Naruto just stayed in the main room until all of his students were in with him. He then closed the double doors and touched the center. The doors started shaking, but unlike with C where a white seal appeared on them, a dark blue seal appeared on them. Naruto took a step back as the doors opened inward. Inside of the blue seal doors, was one large, dark room. The room was so big that it required large stone pillars to hold up its roof, and like C's hallway, this room was underground, giving it a slightly eerie sensation.

Naruto walked forward and was about to close the doors until he realized that none of his students had followed him in. They were all in shock that a door could open up to more than just one area.

"Follow me," repeated Naruto, nudging them out of their shocked states.

He turned and continued walking into the room, until he was at the very center. When he felt all his students pass through the doorway, he flicked his left hand and the doors slammed shut, causing a resounding echo throughout the entire room.

At the very center of the room were ten circles, evenly spaced around an eleventh circle. It looked like a circle of circles around a central circle. The ten circles around the central circle were slightly smaller than the central one and all of them were connected by lines of very elaborate seals and kanji. The circles were actually made of seals themselves, just very small ones. Also, all of the seals were written in blood.

Naruto walked into the seal array, making a point of not stepping on any of the lines connecting the ten circles to the eleventh, until he was standing directly in the center circle. The trainees were all a little distance away, unsure of what to do. Naruto took a deep breath before turning towards them.

"Ok, now I want you all to stand in one of the circles surrounding me. Be very careful and make sure you don't smudge the kanji, and for your sakes make sure you don't step in it. All of the trainees nodded before finding a circle to stand in. When they were all in place, Naruto slowly turned and looked at each of them, giving them one last chance to back out.

"If you don't want to do this, you don't have to. No one will think any less of you if you do back out now," said Naruto, making a point of looking at Sasha. When all of them shook their heads in, he nodded.

"Alright then," he clapped his hands together, before slamming them into the ground on either side of him.

"Fūinjutsu: Asshuku (Sealing technique: Constrict)" called out Naruto.

Yellow bolts raced along the lines that connected Naruto's circle to the ten circles around him. Inside of their circles, all of the trainees felt as if there was some great pressure holding them in place. They were so restricted that they could only move their eyes, and even that was a struggle.

Naruto then looked up at the trainees in front of him, mainly Connie, Sasha, and Eren. He mentally apologized to all of his students, before he started to pump his chakra into his own circle, causing it to glow blue. The blue glow slowly moved along the lines towards the outer circles.

As the blue glow reached their circles, all of the trainees eyes simultaneously opened, the constricting pressure on their bodies preventing them from even screaming. Just like C had said, it felt like someone was pouring liquid fire into their veins, except the liquid fire was moving like cold molasses, burning inch after agonizing inch at a snail's pace.

They didn't know how much time had passed by the time it had finished, it could have been a minute, or it could have an eternity. All they knew at that moment was pain, pure and adulterated pain. The first to pass out was Krista and Armin, then Connie. After Connie went, Bertolt and then Sasha, Ymir passed out soon after. The only ones to last throughout the entire ordeal was Reiner, Annie, Eren and Mikasa, and when Naruto released the technique holding them in place, they all fell to the ground in quivering masses.

Naruto slowly stood up and stretched out his body, staying in the same place for three hours really made his body stiff. He looked at his students, passed out or otherwise and sighed. He went around the circle and flipped his students that had fallen unconscious on their side so that they wouldn't choke on their tongues or the vomit that would come. The students that were still conscious he propped up in a sitting position against one of the pillars. When he finished he walked up to the four that had stayed conscious, but found them all asleep against the pillars.

"Heh, they're tough little things, aren't they?" said Naruto to himself, although he did get an answer.

"Yep, it's surprising how strong and fragile the human body is," said Kurama inside Naruto's head.

"And how would you know?" accused Naruto. Kurama just laughed.

"I've been killing you guys for centuries. I know, trust me," replied Kurama.

"I hardly think that you can make that statement justifiably, since you were also the size of a mountain and hid the mind of B for the majority of those centuries," thought Naruto in response.

"Meh, don't argue with a force of nature," replied Kurama. Naruto just smirked.

"Whatever you say," thought Naruto.

"Really, well if that's the case I want a-"

"Mute," Naruto cut off Kurama by effectively shutting down conversation for a while.

"I need to use that more often," thought Naruto, before shaking his head and walking over to the double doors. He placed his right hand on it and the blue seal appeared on it before the door opened outward, into the main room. Naruto turned around and looked at his unconscious students, before sighing and placing his hands in the cross seal. Five clones puffed into existence around Naruto, before walking to the nearest student and picking them up and out of the large underground cavern and into the main house. Then they carried each trainee up the central staircase and put them in their respective beds. They did this process twice until it was only Naruto left in the room. He walked over to the seal array which had long since dried up from the amount energy passing through it. Naruto looked down at it, feeling nostalgia, when he looked at it. When his country, Amegakure, found itself in a war against one of the five great shinobi villages, he had to get a lot of shinobi, quickly. And due to Ame being the battle ground for several other shinobi villages, the amount of orphans in Ame and the surrounding areas was massive. So he did one thing that gave him large amount of potential shinobi, quickly. Conscription. He had, at one time, performed that operation en masse, and it usually always ended like it did here, with everyone passing out from the pain. But the orphans were given the proper instruction and were fed well and trained even better. Despite the way that they had been forced to serve in the war, many of them were staunchly loyal to Naruto. Naruto shook his head.

"Thoughts for another time," thought Naruto as he walked to the central circle and smudged out a specific kanji facing the door. Right as he disturbed it, the entire seal array started fizzing, before dissipating into microscopic particles, barely visible. By the time Naruto exited the room the sealing array could hardly be seen. He turned in the doorway and blew into the room. The minor wind was all that was needed for the seal array to completely disappear. Naruto nodded in approval, before turning and walking all the way out. As he left, he flicked his left hand and the doors slammed shut behind him, the blue seal appearing before turning black, then disappearing.

Naruto headed toward the central staircase and all the way up the two flights of stairs until he came to the third floor. Before he even walked into the hallway, he could feel the steadily growing chakra signatures of all ten of his students.

He looked into each room, making sure his students were alright, even though he had the memories from his clones. He finally made it over to Chana's room and found it empty, which could only mean she was out training.

"Good girl," thought Naruto as he closed the door to her room. As he walked up to his study, he felt a presence behind him.

"You know, although I don't have your 'all seeing' eye, I still have extremely good senses. What do you want C?" The air behind Naruto distorted, much like it had when Naruto had hidden from C. A moment later, C was standing behind Naruto.

"How are they doing?" asked C.

"They're fine. The procedure went off without a hitch," replied Naruto.

"And their…mental states," asked C.

"Well, I haven't spoken to them, as you should have guessed, but I think they will be fine. Those kids are extremely resilient. They would have made fine shinobi," said Naruto, smiling slightly.

"They are going to fine shinobi," stated C.

"No, they're going to be weapons of mass destruction, not shinobi," replied Naruto, sighing.

"True, but you can still teach them to be shinobi. You know that there will be people after them once they gain enough influence. You can prepare them against things like that," suggested C.

"I suppose," replied Naruto.

By this time they had reached Naruto's study. Naruto opened his study door and turned around.

"Well C, I suppose you will be going back to your chalk board, so have a good night and prepare yourself for tomorrow," Naruto turned around and entered his study.

"Tomorrow?" asked C perplexed. Naruto smiled as he closed his study door.

"It's Sunday," with that said, Naruto closed his study door and locked it, before heading up another flight of stairs inside his study and entering into a large bedroom. Naruto changed out his clothes and dressed himself in some pajamas, before closing down for the night, his last thoughts being on what he would be teaching his students over the following months and years.

"Shit," thought Naruto, as he fell off into the land of sleep, "I forgot to close the door to the garden,"

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Well…I think that was a good chapter.

This was probably my favorite chapter by far, since we actually get to go forward.

While I have an idea of who I'm going to train what, I would still like to hear what you guys think, it helps a lot.

Seriously, I had one review back on my second chapter that completely changed my story because it brought up a potential plot hole that I could later have.

Anyway, what I want to hear about from you guys, my glorious fans (if I have any), is who you think should be taught what, since I'm going to have Naruto train them all in specific facets of shinobi techniques.

The techniques or styles that the character learns should reflect in their personality (i.e. if a person has a brash, unsubtle personality, they might be more suited to brutal, wanton destruction than elegant killing)

Anyway, if you guys have an idea, put it in a review, or PM me, I'm always open for new ideas.

So with that, I will say good night (since as of this moment, I am typing this message at 3:21am exactly) and that I look forward to hearing from all of you guys.

Salem52, signing off.