I'm really glad that you guys enjoyed the preliminary fights. So how bout that Road to Ninja?

"Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act." - Paulo Coelho

Chapter 13: Interval

"Lord Orochimaru, what do you suggest we do?" Kabuto Yakushi inquired. He was honestly curious about his Lord's future choice of actions.

"For now we will have to wait. If we had the allies, we could attack during the Chunin Exams, but it seems we have missed our chance," Orochimaru said with slight displeasure, "All is not lost, Kabuto. Sasuke Uchiha will be mine, and the Akatsuki, whether they are aware, will be our aid." Orochimaru finished with a slight chuckle.

'Patience is bitter. True as that may be, the fruits of patience are undeniably sweet.' Orochimaru thought to himself with a chilling smile.

"Congratulations for your success in the preliminary round," The Third Hokage, Hiruzen, said, "The final round of the Chunin Exams will take place exactly one month from now." Hiruzen finished professionally.

The finalists, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Temari, Gaara, Lee, Shino, and Hinata, stood before the proctors of the exam, the jonin sensei, and the Hokage. Some of them appeared to be confused as to why there was a one month interval between the preliminaries and the finals.

"This is due to the preparations we need to complete such as informing the other Hidden Villages of the results of the preliminaries. Also, this gives you, the candidates, time to prepare as well." Hiruzen informed the candidates with a calm smile, "Now in an orderly fashion, I want each of you to take a slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding."

Each of the candidates looked over to Anko who was indeed holding a small box. "Just stay where you are. I'll come to you." Anko declared. She walked to the candidates and told them to only choose one. As she walked to Naruto, she stopped for a bit.

"So did you do any killing in the Forest of Death?" She asked with an almost excited whisper. Naruto didn't respond as he reached in the box and retrieved his own slip.

Eventually, all the candidates had a slip of paper in their hands. They opened the paper up to reveal that they each had a different number.

The candidates were told to read off their numbers as Ibiki recorded it. This was the method used to decide the brackets for the final round, which happened to be a tournament.

"Ibiki, you may reveal the layout for the finals." Hiruzen commanded and Ibiki did as he was told.

1st Round Matches: Naruto vs. Temari, Sasuke vs. Shino, Sakura vs. Hinata, and Lee vs. Gaara.

Semi-Finals: Winner of match one vs winner of match two, winner of match three vs. winner of match four

Final Round: Winner of first semi-final match vs. winner of second semi-final match

Temari mentally cursed her luck, Sasuke seemed satisfied that he would have the chance to fight Naruto in the semi-finals, Sakura seemed satisfied with her placement, Lee was still crying, Hinata was poking her fingers together nervously, and Naruto, Shino, and Gaara seemed absolutely indifferent.

Shino raised his hand to get the Hokage's attention. "I have a question. Since the finals are being held in a tournament-style, will only one genin receive a promotion?"

"There will be multiple judges, including myself and the leaders of the villages, at the finals that will analyze you in every possible way. They will decide whether any of you are worthy of receiving a promotion. All of you can receive a promotion or none of you can. Both are possible. Does that answer your question, Shino?" Hiruzen responded.

Shino simply nodded in response. In fact, that answered a few questions that were lingering around everyone's mind.

"Good, let us adjourn these exams until next month. Be sure to train hard and rest up." Hiruzen advised.

"Lord Jiraiya wanted to train you personally?" Kakashi asked. Naruto responded with a simple nod.

"Do you think you can get him to sign my book?" Kakashi questioned giddily. Naruto gave him a strange look and Kakashi retracted his question.

Team Seven continued heading toward the outside of the building where Naruto would hopefully meet Jiraiya, and Sasuke and Sakura would rest up and eventually continue their training under Kakashi.

As they made it outside, there was no sign of Jiraiya, so Naruto bid farewell to his teammates and sensei and set out to look for the sannin.

"Where the hell am I supposed to find the old pervert?" Naruto thought aloud. He gave it some further consideration, and concluded that his best bet would probably be at or around the local hotsprings.

To his surprise, Naruto couldn't find any trace of Jiraiya at the hotsprings. Internally, Naruto was severely hoping that the sannin didn't abandon him, or he would have to add him to his hit list. 'That'd be one hell of an opponent.' Naruto thought to himself.

Shrugging, Naruto turned to leave the hotsprings, but when he spun around, Jiraiya happened to be right behind him, grinning.

Naruto's annoyance showed on his face, and Jiraiya took notice of Naruto's growing ire. "Looking for me?" Jiraiya asked cheekily. Naruto's eye twitched in response, but he didn't respond.

"We have a lot to do with very little time to do it, so let's get right down to business. First, I'll tell you about those shinobi who attacked you in the Forest of Death." Jiraiya began and Naruto listened intently.

"They are both shinobi from the group called Akatsuki. The Akatsuki are hunting each of the jinchuuriki for the tailed-beast they contain." Jiraiya explained, "I suspect that after fighting you, the Akatsuki are probably going after other jinchuuriki first before coming after you. That brings us here: I'm going to make a full-fledged shinobi out of you so you'll be able to defeat any Akatsuki member that comes after you."

Naruto was absolutely speechless. Jiraiya's explanation answered many questions he had, but it also created even more questions. For example, why did the Akatsuki want the tailed-beast? Were they just power hungry or were they some radical catalyst group after world conquest? No matter the case, Naruto wasn't going to let the Akatsuki achieve their goals, whatever they might be.

"We have one month before the finals, so where do we begin?" Naruto inquired. Jiraiya grinned at Naruto's eagerness.

"We're going to do a number of things at once. If my understanding is correct, you can make a hell of a lot of Shadow Clones, right?" Jiraiya questioned and Naruto nodded in response. Jiraiya laughed his ass off for a bit, "We're going to have so much fun this month." Jiraiya chuckled some more before jumping away. Naruto felt himself die inside just watching the perverted sannin practically skipping. Sighing, Naruto followed him, staying a decent distance behind just so he could deny ever knowing the pervert if questioned.

Naruto followed Jiraiya until they reached some clearing near the outskirts of the village. Jiraiya created four Shadow Clones and instructed Naruto to create two hundred. When asked by Jiraiya if he felt any strain from dividing his chakra like that, he shook his head. Jiraiya grinned at that.

"We'll break up into four groups. Fifty of you to one of me." Jiraiya instructed. Naruto and his clones followed along.

"That group will work on the Rasengan. That group will begin extensive chakra control exercises. That group will train in elemental manipulation." Jiraiya stated and the groups paired off and began training, leaving the real Jiraiya and Naruto.

"What will we be doing?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Like me, you have exceptionally large amounts of chakra and stamina, so you'll be able to learn Sage Jutsu at Mt. Myoboku." At Naruto's puzzled expression, Jiraiya sighed and bit into his thumb to draw blood. Flowing through handsigns, Jiraiya slammed his palm on the ground, causing a smoke cloud to appear. After the smoke cleared, a small toad waved at Jiraiya.

"Gama, I need the contract scroll." The toad summon opened his mouth, and on his tongue was the scroll. Jiraiya grabbed the scroll and handed it to Naruto whom opened it immediately.

"Just sign your name in blood with the hand that you will use to summon." Jiraiya instructed with a grin. Naruto bit into his thumb, signed his name, and left his fingerprints beneath his signature. Gama took the scroll back and seemingly swallowed it.

"Now I need you to reverse summon Naruto and I to Mt. Myoboku." Jiraiya commanded Gama whom obediently nodded and followed his orders.

"Pervert, what the hell is-" Before Naruto could complete his sentence, he and Jiraiya disappeared.

-going on?" Naruto finished. Jiraiya grinned knowingly, and at that moment, Naruto registered that he was in a completely different place than he was just seconds ago. To put it simply, everything was so green, like a bright, enchanted forest filled with toads.

"Welcome to Mt. Myoboku, sacred homeland of the toad summons. Here is where you will be learning all about Sage Jutsu." Jiraiya said striking a rather impressive introductory pose.

"Oh! It's been quite a while since we've seen you here, Jiraiya-boy." A feminine voice called out from the distance. Jiraiya and Naruto turned to see a small, elderly female toad hopping toward them.

"Long time no see, Shima. How have you been holding up?" Jiraiya questioned.

"I've been well. Pa is still sleeping, lazy toad he is." Shima said with a slight groan, "I see you brought someone with you this time, Jiraiya-boy. What is your name?" Shima asked Naruto kindly.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto answered simply with a nod. Naruto then turned to regard Jiraiya, "What are we going to do about the clones back home? Won't they dispel after they exhaust their chakra?"

"We'll go back every once in a while to create more clones, but our main focus will be teaching you how to use Sage Jutsu. By the end of the month, you'll be worlds stronger than you were previously." Jiraiya said.

Naruto smirked, very pleased. By now, he had all but forgotten about the finals, and now his mind was centered on defeating the Akatsuki.

Back in Konoha, things were very unusual in one specific training grounds with Jiraiya and Naruto's clones. One group was going through the individual steps of the Rasengan. They had already made it through the first two steps, but the third step was proving to be very difficult. Nothing outstanding had happened with the group practicing chakra control. They practiced water-walking, and other chakra control exercises. So, what exactly was so unusual other than the method of training?

The answer was the group practicing elemental manipulation.

One of the Jiraiya clones had mentioned that it was possible to combine two different elements to form one incredibly powerful element. According to Jiraiya, combining two different was near impossible, and it was believed that only those with a special bloodline were capable of doing so.

Naruto's clones wouldn't stand for that, though.

One Naruto clone explained that he had an affinity for fire and wind. Jiraiya's clones thought that over for while. He hadn't come across anyone else with two natural affinities, so he believed that it may be possible for Naruto to combine his fire and wind chakra to form a more powerful element. In Naruto's case, the new element would be Scorch Style. There was only one record of a Scorch Style user, so it was assumed that she, a girl named Pakura, had a special bloodline.

Bloodlines be damned. Naruto, or his clones for that matter, was hell-bent on learning Scorch Style, and nothing short of an excruciantingly painful demise would stop him.

*The Next Day*

Sasuke fell to his knees, cradling his arm. Kakashi had him performing the Chidori to exhaustion, and as soon as he caught his breath, Kakashi had him perform the jutsu once more. The training forcefully strengthened his chakra's potency and reserves. Aside from that, his Sharingan was benefitting from the training as well. When performing the Chidori, he had to see everything or suffer from the severe tunnel vision that accompanied running at the speed necessary to effectively use the Chidori.

Sakura was already very proficient in genjutsu, so Kakashi had offered a very Gai-like method of training; that is, the use of heavy leg weights. Currently, Sakura was performing very common exercises with the added weights. The catch was that Sakura wasn't allowed to use chakra, only her physical strength.

Kakashi took the time to indulge himself in his favorite book series. As Sakura and Sasuke trained, Kakashi happily read his book.

'Doesn't get any better than this.' Kakashi thought to himself as he read a particularly juicy line.

"You need to focus harder, Naruto-boy." Fukasaku instructed. Naruto sat with his eyes closed, unmoving. Learning how to take in Sage chakra was much harder than one would think. Finding the chakra was a problem in and of itself. Of course, he had some special oil to help him, find the chakra, but once he found it, he had to balance it with his physical and spiritual energy. If he took in too much Sage chakra, he would turn into a toad and eventually, a giant toad stone statue. The statues in front of him were a testament to that. He was fortunate, though, for a few reasons. First, he had Fukasaku to literally knock the Sage chakra out of him if he began to change into a toad. Second, he had the use of Shadow Clones.

Hands down, the most difficult part was concentrating with Jiraiya's voice booming in his ears. Forcefully repressing the offending sound, Naruto focused on the Sage chakra once more. He took in as much as his body would allow and could balance. He could feel as the Sage chakra synced with his own. It was different than the previous attempts. Naruto could feel the power surging through him as the Sage chakra flowed perfectly through him.

Naruto's eyes snapped open. There was a red shading around his eyes, and his eyes, themselves, became a light red with a horizontal line where his pupils usually were. He had a few warts on his nose, but otherwise, he had a perfect Sage mode.

"Hey Jiraiya-boy, Naruto-boy is quickly surpassing you." Fukasaku taunted. Jiraiya's eyebrows rose at the thought.

"It'll be years before he surpasses me. Though, he'll be kicking my ass like nobody's business when that time comes." Jiraiya spoke the last part under his breath.

Fukasaku was very curious to find out what Naruto's strength level would be. Before beginning the Sage training, he asked Naruto to try to lift one of the massive stone statues. Whereas, most people wouldn't even be able to budge the statue, Naruto was able to lift the statue slightly off the ground with just his normal chakra. The power boost received by Sage chakra was proportional to the amount of chakra the user possessed. Since Naruto had even more chakra than Jiraiya, he could probably shatter the stone statue with his finger.

"Who's hungry? I've made dinner!" Shima's voice sounded from the nearby house. Fukasaku hopped eagerly to the house, while Naruto and Jiraiya followed slowly, blue in the face. They knew a plate full of worms and plants awaited them, so why rush?

*Two Weeks Later*

Naruto's clones had learned the Rasengan after the first week. For the second week, they worked perfecting the technique. With a group of fifty clones working on chakra control, Naruto's control undoubtedly improved greatly over the weeks to the point where he could pull of a simple paralysis jutsu and make it effective for ten or more seconds. The elemental manipulation group was still attempting to learn the Scorch Style. Progress was slow in that regard, but it was progress, nonetheless.

In Mt. Myoboku, Naruto, Fukasaku and Jiraiya were currently perched ontop of wooden boards on a narrow and very pointy mountaintop. After he first entered Sage mode, Fukasaku immediately had him begin this phase of training. According to Fukasaku, Naruto was a very quick learner when it came to this. Everyone had lost count of how long Naruto stayed balanced and unmoving in perfect Sage mode.

That was something that annoyed Jiraiya when he first saw it. Naruto had achieved a perfect Sage mode while Jiraiya was still taking on traits of a toad, but Naruto didn't have any such traits.

Naruto had perfected Sage Jutsu, and he was prepared to depart.

"Naruto-boy!" Shima's voice drew Naruto's attention, "Here, take this! I thought you would like this." Shima handed Naruto a long black cloak with orange flames adorning the hem of the cloak. Naruto took off his jacket and put the cloak on. Shima smiled proudly.

"Thank you, Shima. Tell Fukasaku I said thanks as well." Naruto said. Jiraiya simply waved from his place in front of Naruto.

Seconds later, Naruto and Jiraiya disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared on the training grounds where they met with Jiraiya and Naruto's clones.

The clones turned to regard Naruto and Jiraiya. It seemed the clones had run out of chakra. Naruto clutched his head as the memories of his clones attacked him once more. No matter how many times this occurred, Naruto could never truly get used to it, and just like every other time, Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious.

And just like every other time before, Jiraiya laughed his ass off at the spectacle.

All that training, man!

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