Chapter 4: The Build-up of a Weapon
A piercing scream broke the peace and calm of Konoha that noon. All over the village, people turned their heads wondering what the hell caused such a noise. Those who knew Naruto assumed it was Sakura beating him to a bloody pulp (yet again). Sakura was thinking, has that Naruto been after a girl other than me?!?! And Naruto was only thinking AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the HELL did I sign up for this for?!?!?!?! As two highly skilled Iron Fist taijutsu specialists beat him the worst he had been beaten in his life. Thankfully, the Kyuubi kept him from receiving too serious damage, and healed all ailments as soon as they were inflicted. Finally, after a few minutes of relentless "training," Naruto got fed up of the intense pain, and without thinking used his new eyes to see how his chakra flowed, and directed it perfectly. He gathered his chakra to both his right and left hands simultaneously, spinning it tightly in perfect sphere on each hand. A roaring sound made itself heard, and as Guy and Lee hesitated, Naruto used his Byakingan eyes to see both of them (one in front one in back) and forced his hands into their stomachs.
"DOUBLE RASENGAN!!!" Both ninja instantly doubled over, and were sent flying back in opposite directions, spinning wildly the whole time. "Wow," said a shocked Naruto. "Who would have thought that these eyes would be able to help me perfect the Rasengan with only one hand, and allow me to direct two at the same time. This is incredible. I could even see how much power I put into them, and in doing so prevented injuring them." He paused, "Well, not too seriously anyway." He chuckled to himself. "Better check on them." He directed chakra into his eyes, and thought to himself how little effort that it took to start the eyes and maintain them. "Byakingan!!!" Instantly, his vision expanded to a perfect 360 degrees, and expanded outwards as well. He saw Lee laying 15 yards away to his front in the middle of a spiraled trench, and he noticed Guy wedged tightly between the branches of a tree about 12, after having smashed through 5 or 6 of them.
"I'd better help them," mused Naruto. He formed the all too familiar crossed hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!" Instantly, another Naruto appeared out of a puff of smoke, and raced off to help Guy. The real Naruto went in the opposite direction to dig Lee out of the ground.
"Up an' at'um, Bushy-brows. No napping during training! Your flame of youth will extinguish! Hahahaha!!!" Naruto shook Lee awake, and helped him out of the hole. Lee winced at the residual pain.
"Ouch. Naruto, what the hell did you hit me with back there? I feel like I am on fire. That hurt more than Guy sensei's most rigorous training." Lee rubbed his gut, and noticed his jumpsuit was torn in a spiral pattern.
On the other side of the training field, Guy was woken in a very similar manner as his pupil. The key difference was that he woke with a start, and punched Naruto with enough force to shatter a mountain. Naruto damn near folded in on himself, and with a poof, disappeared. "Wow, good thing I used a shadow clone for your sensei, Bushy-brows," commented Naruto.
"Yes, Naruto, that was a wise move on your part."
"LEE!!!!" bellowed Guy across the field, "ARE YOU OKAY?!?!?!"
"YES SENSEI COME OVER HERE!!!"
"OKAY, LEE!!!" shouted Guy as he zoomed over to his prized pupil. "What is it you need, Lee?" Lee pointed at Naruto.
"We must train Naruto differently, sensei. I feel that if we continue the way we were, we will only be blasted away again."
Guy rubbed his chin, pondering. "You're right, Lee." He paused to think. "I know, he can spar lightly, one on one with you so you and I can assess his abilities."
"Hai" said Lee.
"Uhh…ok." Said Naruto.
"Right. Begin."
Naruto and Lee faced each other and bowed. They then took up their fighting stances. Lee was in his typical feet together stance, with one arm up in front, palm facing in, and one arm behind his back. Byakingan! Thought Naruto, and he activated his new bloodline. Within the time it took to blink, Naruto was mirroring Lee's stance…perfectly. Lee was unfazed. With barely a move to most eyes, he sprung at the blond. Naruto, however, did not have normal eyes, and noticed the slight changes in his face, arms, back, and legs that allowed him to accurately assess what Bushy-brows was about to do, and he reacted accordingly.
"Leaf Hurricane!!!" yelled Lee, spinning in the air aiming a kick at Naruto's head. Naruto ducked, and watched the shifts in Lee's abdomen and back as he twisted in the air, and came down for a spinning kick to the legs. Naruto saw the intention before it happened, and he reached out and blocked Lee's kick, surprising the green-clad genin, and allowing an opening. Seeing this, Naruto made his move. He swiftly whipped around for a spin kick of his own, but Lee's expertise beat Naruto's genius eyes, and he sent Naruto flying with a roundhouse underneath Naruto's own that was aimed to the stomach. He then used his Dancing Leaf Technique to mirror himself behind a soaring Naruto. "This is the fun part, Naruto. See the Power of Youth's potential!"
Without warning, bandages flew around Naruto as they did around Guy not ten minutes earlier. The difference was, while Guy knew how to counter and didn't, Naruto did not, but Naruto actually tried. Using his Byakingan, he assessed the levels of chakra flowing through his chakra network, and he watched the flow as he directed them to form little bursts out of points under the bandages. The bandages proceeded to rip under the pressure of the chakra needles, and fell away. There was one thing Naruto hadn't accounted for: Lee's extraordinary speed.
Despite the bandages being thrown aside, Lee changed his grip from the bandages around Naruto's back to around his wait, and wrapped his legs around his neck. Spinning at high speeds now, the vortex that was Naruto and Lee plummeted towards the ground. "PRIMARY LOTUS!!!" At the last second, Lee unwrapped his legs, and landed on his feet, with Naruto's head resting a mere half-inch from the ground.
Naruto placed his hands on the ground and sprung out of Lee's released grip. Lee did nothing to stop him. The match was over.
"Very good, Naruto!" said Guy, coming closer. "I have now assessed your Iron Fist taijutsu abilities, and know the appropriate way to train you."
"Good, so what do you have to tell me, Bushier-brows sensei?"
Guy remained unfazed on the exterior, but inside he blanched. What?!?!? My eyebrows aren't THAT bushy…are they??? "Well, Naruto, to be honest, you fight so academy style that it is no wonder that you only held out against Lee for that short amount of time. Remember how badly Sasuke was beaten at the chunin exams by Lee, and he wasn't even at full strength. Lee was about to use his Lotus then as well, but like now, I'm sure he would have stopped the attack in time," he smiled his shiney smile and sent the nice guy pose to Lee, then turned back to Naruto. "The difference between you and Sasuke is a few years experience, and the fact that your eyes not only contain the Sharingan as Sasuke's do, but the Byakugan as well. This allowed you to pinpoint the weak places in the cloth, and therefore shred the bandages with chakra. Neji learned to do the same thing after Lee caught him in the Lotus, but the difference is that Neji then managed to use his Kaiten, the Rotation Jutsu, in the air, therefore expelling Lee into the ground, and Neji landing spinning on his feet."
Naruto pondered this for a moment. "Okay, that makes sense."
"Okay, Naruto, I want you to try something…I want you to perform the Leaf Hurricane that Lee used against you during the sparring match a few moments ago."
"But I didn't bother to copy it, Bushier-brows sensei"
"JUST DO IT, NARUTO!!! TRUST THAT YOUR FLAME OF YOUTH WILL ALLOW YOU TO COME THROUGH!" said Guy in an unnecessarily loud voice.
"H-HAI!!!" he focused on what he had just seen. "Here it goes!" He gathered his legs and leapt from the ground, spinning in the air with a kick aimed at head level, then dropped swiftly to the ground to follow up with another spinning kick aimed at ankle level. "LEAF HURRICANE!!!" he yelled during the execution of the attack. He pulled his leg back in, and immediately assumed Lee's fighting stance without thinking. He then formed a look of shock on his face. That was…so easy. "Wow, I didn't even have to think, my body just knew the technique I wanted to do, and did it. I can't believe this! So this is what the Sharingan feels like!" he grinned, "This Iron Fist taijutsu will be easy! Just show me once and I'll have it down!"
"It's not that simple, Naruto," exclaimed Guy. You cannot just know the techniques for you to do them. Your body must also have the strength and speed to keep up. For example, activate your Byakingan." Naruto obliged. Guy whirled around once, disappeared, and then reappeared behind Naruto, and shattered the tree that was standing there. "HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"Now you try, Naruto." Naruto saw that Guy had not in fact disappeared, and his eyes tracked the movement of his body out and around Naruto to the tree, and then saw how the blow to the tree used no chakra, just like his startling speed. Naruto took up the Iron Fist taijutsu stance where Guy had been standing.
"HAAAA!!!" yelled Naruto as he flew through the air, out and around Lee, and slammed his fist painfully into the tree. He barely chipped it, and sensed he had not been moving as fast as Guy. "I see now, Bushier-brows sensei, how can you teach me speed and strength?"
Guy and Lee got evil twinkles in their eyes, "Well…" they said at the same time.
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Naruto groaned as he trumped up the stairs into his apartment. He wasn't expecting training to be so damn hard. He flopped on the bed, making it bow. "Damn these extra weights. I'm not going to get faster or stronger anytime soon with this much weight on. An extra 250 pounds?!?! That is wayyyyy too much." He continued grumbling as he fell into a deep, restorative sleep.
Naruto stood in a flooded out hallway. There were pipes lining the ceiling and water dripped from them into the flood. Naruto looked around curiously. Why am I here? He walked down the familiar route to the great golden gates with a seal on them. The Kyuubi's menacing eyes and grin glared out at him from behind the gates.
Youuuuuu…why do you test my patience sooo? The Kyuubi rumbled. In less than 24 hoursss, you have managed to damn near kill yourselfffff. I am growing weary of healing you so constantlyyyy. And those weights on your arms and legs are such a painnnnnnnn. I must unconsciously heal those muscles that you have ripped. While this accelerates YOUR growth…it greatly annoys meeee to keep doing this. Don't be the fool who makes meeeee madddddd. The Kyuubi blazed at him in fury.
Well, ya damn fox, you reside in MY body and follow MY rules! Just because YOU have to keep ME alive based on your seal and desire to live yourself, you shouldn't complain. While it sucks now, it makes BOTH of our jobs easier when I'm not getting injured to the brink of death and you need to be healing destroyed organs and such. So shut up and stop complaining.
If you actually usedddd meeeee, you wouldn't have the problem of nearly dying. You could simply let me take over and fight for youuuu.
No!!! I do this my way only, Kyuubi! Be gone! And with that, the image shattered, leaving Naruto to sleep in peace through the night.
The next morning, Naruto woke up feeling as refreshed as ever. That is, until he tried to get out of bed. He found he had great trouble moving. He looked down at himself, and noticed he was wearing weights. With that, the previous day's work came back to him, and he grimaced in anticipation. "Here we go again…"
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Like yesterday, Naruto met Lee and Guy bright and early at the training ground for his Iron Fist taijutsu conditioning.
"Alright, Naruto…to get your flame of youth burning bright, there's nothing like a little morning exercise to warm-up before a nice hard day of training."
"Yes, Guy sensei!!! Let us introduce him to the rigorous training that we do every day!!!"
"Umm…guys…can you just tell me what it is already?" Naruto asked, looking rather annoyed. It's wayyyyy to early in the morning for this youthful flame or whatever it is they have, he thought.
"Yosh! Running 500 laps around the village is what we do to warm up! It works up a nice morning sweat so we can get ready to go!" He looked down at his new pupil and noticed the horrified look on his face. He also realized Naruto was wearing the bright orange jacket he always wore. "Look, Naruto, since you are new to this and you have weights, you need only run 150 laps around the village." Naruto's horrified look diminished ever so slightly. 150 was still a big number. "There is only one thing you must do first." Naruto looked confused. "You will not last ten minutes in that orange jacket. You need to stop at the clothing store and get a new training outfit. I know you know I would love for you to wear the green jumpsuit, but I know you don't want to. So get what you choose. You may take the weights off, and run full speed there and back with Lee. He will tell you what is acceptable material for the type of training we shall be doing. Then hurry back and put the weights on for your laps."
"Right," said Naruto. He undid the weights and let them fall to the ground with a thud. Then he and Lee raced full speed to the clothing store. Lee was still light years ahead, but Naruto noticed his speed had slightly increased after less than a day with the weights.
When Naruto and Lee arrived at the shop, Naruto went right for the most orange looking outfits he could find. He found a jumpsuit, a warm-up that consisted of pants and a jacket, though it was different from what he had, and he also saw an orange, form-fitting under-armor shirt with black pants.
"This is perfect!!!" an excited Naruto exclaimed. "Will this work, Lee?"
Guy's favorite student looked it over, felt its weight, and measured its stretch. "This should be ok." He said, handing Naruto the shirt. He then took the pants and performed a similar check. "These should be okay too, Naruto. You have a good eye for training gear." Lee shot him the nice guy pose.
Naruto grabbed 5 shirts and 5 pairs of pants. He also bought an extra pair of ninja sandals, knowing that he would be running every morning for the foreseeable future. He went to the checkout counter, paid the fee, and headed to his apartment to drop the stuff off, Lee at his side.
"So, Lee, what kind of things will we be doing to train me?" Naruto queried.
"Well, Naruto, we are doing laps of the village to warm-up, then we will do a stretching routine, then we do physical testing/training like at the academy, but harder. And finally, we practice our taijutsu skills." He noticed Naruto paled considerably. "Don't worry, Naruto, at the end of the week, you will be a master of the Iron Fist taijutsu, and you will be able to hold your own against me. Possibly even Guy sensei." At that, Naruto brightened up a bit. "Right, let's go Naruto, you need to change, and then run."
Naruto went into his apartment, and came out five minutes later in his fitted under-armor shirt and his black training pants. He also strapped on his new ninja sandals. "Let's Go!!!!" exclaimed Naruto, pointing at nothing in particular. He sweat dropped when he noticed Lee had ignored him and had just started walking without looking back.
Naruto caught up with Lee and kept pace with him as they walked back to the training ground. They found Guy waiting for them.
"Naruto, I like your choice of clothes for training, but I don't understand at all why you insist on that orange color."
"Have you seen your leg warmers?" Naruto countered.
Guy major sweat dropped, and Lee's eyes ignited into flames. "Don't you dare insult Guy sensei!!! If you do I'll—"
"No, Lee, that's quite alright. The boy really does have a good point." Both green beasts of Konoha looked down at their leg warmers and noted they were in fact bright orange. "Oh well, nothing to do now. Let's RUN!!!" And with that, Naruto strapped on his weights, and they all took off. Well, to be accurate, Guy and Lee took off. Naruto barely went a tenth of their pace.
After about a lap of the village (Lee and Guy were on 58 or 59), Naruto was beat. He was sweating bullets, his legs dragged, and his breathing was extremely labored. As Guy and Lee passed him yet again, they took note of his slow progress, and Guy yelled, "Okay, Naruto, ten laps should be enough for you. But you need to work up to me and Lee's standards."
"Gasp!!! Wheeze!!!" was the only sound Naruto managed to get out. Maybe ten was manageable. As Guy and Lee took off again, Naruto felt some hope that he would only be doing ten laps as compared to 150 or 500. With that thought, he started attempting a jog again.
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It was around noon when the three Konoha ninja finished their "morning warm-up." Guy and Lee were still pumped and ready for action, but Naruto was collapsed by a tree.
"Alright, Naruto, now it is time that we begin our stretch session."
Naruto watched as Guy and Lee took on impossible positions. After watching them for a few moments, he decided he would do his own form of warm-up/stretching. He sunk into a straddle and performed a few stretches, then put his legs in front for a few more. He then stood up and stretched his arms, chest and back. Finally, he decided to go through some tai chi forms he knew.
Though they did not say anything, Lee and Guy took note of Naruto's routine, and decided that tomorrow they would incorporate it into their own stretch routine. Meanwhile, oblivious, Naruto continued to manipulate his body in the calm, slow movements that were the tai chi forms Though he struggled maintaining the slow control of the forms, he did manage to do them without seriously altering his forms.
Half an hour later, Guy called an end to their stretching session. "Alright, students, your flames of youth are good and ready for training now! Now, the first order of business is to test Naruto's physical abilities." He looked over at Lee, "Lee, I already know your limits, and so I would like you to do 2,000 sit-ups, 1,500 push-ups, hmmm, let's see 500 thumb handstand push-ups, and…15,000 cycles with the jump rope."
"Yes, Guy sensei!!!" Lee shouted at an unnecessarily loud volume.
"Naruto, I would like for you to follow the same order as Lee, but simply do as many of each element as you can. I will count what you do, and will devise a routine for you that you can use. This will be under your maximum, as we need to build up your strength AND endurance. The weights provide the strength, the repetitions provide the endurance. Now BEGIN!!!"
Naruto grumbled something about suicide and being worked to death, but Guy failed to notice as he took a look at Lee to see how he was doing. Naruto lowered himself to the ground, and began his sit-ups as Guy counted them out loud. When he got to 527, he could not do another one, and dropped his back and head to the ground.
"Very good, Naruto." He made note of Naruto's number on a small piece of paper he pulled from his ninja gear bag on his back hip. "Now move on to the push-ups." Naruto let out another groan of pain and resentment, but obediently rolled on to his stomach and began his push-ups. Wow, thought Guy, even for someone who has been lazy since before the academy, he still is doing very well. This is pretty damn close to what Lee was able to do when he started with me. Is it that demon within him giving him strength? No, I've seen what happens when the beast comes out, and he is defiantly under control, and on his own power. It must be something in his blood. (None but those present at the creation of the serum knew of Naruto's lineage, so Guy is merely drawing connections here.)
Meanwhile, while Guy was musing to himself, Naruto began to get sloppy in his form. Finally, after 392 push-ups, he dropped with a sigh. Guy took note on the paper, "You are doing good Naruto, you are almost halfway there. Now let's move on to the thumb handstand push-ups.
"But, I can't actually do that, Bushier-brows sensei," exclaimed Naruto.
"That's okay, Naruto, neither could Lee when he first became my student. Use this tree over here as a support for your back." Naruto moved over to the tree, assumed a handstand with his back against the tree, and began his reps. After three, he fell flat on his face. "Alright, Naruto, now we are going to move on to the jump rope. Naruto picked up the jump rope and began. Even with his weights, and the exhaustion in his muscles from the day's previous strain, he managed to go for 9,491 rotations. Guy was dumbfounded. Lee, when he first started, only managed around 4,000. This kid was really something to match Lee in a test of agility. He had some serious potential that much was certain to Konoha's Green Wild Beast.
"I am impressed, Naruto," he addressed the genin with a happy expression on his face. "Now that we are done, let's move on to your taijutsu training. First, you are going to kick this log here 500 times with each leg, then punch it 500 times with each hand. After that, Lee and I will begin to teach you the destructive techniques that make up the Iron Fist taijutsu style."
Naruto brightened, and he began kicking the log with all the force he could muster. He managed to get through all of his punches and kicks with fairly little effort, and smiled at the thought that this was getting easier by the second: the weights seemed to be falling off his body the more physical labor he did. This was going well.
"Yosh! I am finished, Bushier-brows sensei!" exclaimed an excited Naruto. It was already 3:00pm and he was anxious to begin his actual taijutsu training.
"Okay then, Naruto. I am going to have Lee demonstrate the technique known as the Hidden Primary Lotus. I want you to use your Byakingan and copy what he does." Guy made some hand seals, naming them as he went. "Ram, Serpent, Boar, Monkey, Dog, Ram…Summoning Jutsu!!!" He slammed his open hand to the ground, and in a puff of smoke, a life sized training dummy appeared. "Now, Lee, I want you to perform the Primary Lotus on this dummy. GO!!!"
Lee assumed his stance, and in an explosion of speed, ran in circles around the dummy. He then zoomed up in front of it, and kicked straight up into its chin. The dummy soared up 30 feet in the air, and Lee crouched to the ground, then vanished. He reappeared behind the dummy, using the trademark Dancing Leaf technique. Finally, he grabbed around the dummy's waist with his arms, and around its neck with his ankles. "PRIMARY LOTUS!!!" he yelled, and spun so fast the telltale mini cyclone formed, and slammed the dummy into the ground, causing it to burst to splinters as Lee leapt off to the side at the last second.
Naruto's miraculous eyes tracked the entire attack in slow motion, and the eyes activated the section of his brain that allowed for a photographic memory, storing the technique away for later use.
"Summoning Jutsu," Guy yelled again, and another training dummy appeared. "Now, Naruto, it's your turn to try it. Take your weights off this once, and once you are done, immediately place them back on.
Naruto nodded and unhooked the weights from his body. Immediately he felt free and unrestricted in his movements. He took up Lee's stance, and ran in circles around the dummy. While not as fast as Lee, he was faster than the average genin, or even the average chunin. He then swung up under the dummy and performed the upwards kick to the chin. The dummy sailed up about 20 feet, and Naruto crouched for the Dancing Leaf. He appeared behind the dummy, and copied Lee's hold on the dummy. He then spun as fast as he could, and slammed the dummy head-first into the earth, leaping away at the last second.
When he landed, he used his Byakingan to see that the dummy had been blasted apart, and formed a crater in the earth nearly as big as Lee's had. He smiled, realizing the full potential of his eyes, and his kekkei genkai. Guy nodded in approval, and walked over to where Naruto was still in a crouch from his landing.
"Good job, Naruto. That is your move for the day, now put on your weights and spar with Lee."
"Hai," said Naruto. He strapped on the weights, activated his eyes, and took up the Iron Fist stance opposite Lee.
"Begin!" exclaimed Guy, and the two flew at each other.
Lee unleashed his attack first, a series of rapid punches, each of which Naruto caught in his hands. Then Lee followed up with a kick to the side. Naruto ducked under it, then proceeded to sweep the green-clad genin's legs out from under him. As Lee fell, he twisted in the air and landed in a handstand, and began kicking at Naruto as he walked up to him on his hands. Naruto blocked all the kicks, and then forced Lee to do a handspring to avoid a raising foot. Naruto pumped a little more chakra into his eyes, and Lee started moving in slow motion. Naruto sprung towards him, and ducked under a slow moving punch, and planted one of his own in Lee's stomach. The genin doubled over and Naruto followed up with an upwards knee strike to Lee's chin. Lee's head and body snapped back, and Naruto spun and planted a savage kick to Lee's stomach, causing Lee to fly backwards into a tree. Naruto went to attack him as he regained his footing, but he moved out of the way at even greater speed. Naruto noticed the weights lying by the tree, and then rapidly ducked and jumped as Lee went for a Leaf Hurricane to his exposed back. Naruto then spun around, and was promptly slammed in the face by Lee's fist. He flipped over backwards and landed on his front. He jumped to his feet, and gave Lee an uppercut to his chin. He followed up with an upwards kick, followed by a double uppercut. With continued pounding, Lee rose into the air, and Naruto flipped up over him. Since he wasn't allowed to use any ninjutsu this was more difficult, as he usually used shadow clones for this technique. As he cleared Lee's uprising form, he came down with a furious ax-kick to the stomach, sending Lee plumiting to the ground. "Naruto Uzumaki Barrage!!!" He yelled.
When Lee hit the ground and Naruto landed beside him, Guy announced, and the winner is… Naruto!!!" Lee picked himself up and out of the hole, and congratulated Naruto.
"Congratulations, Naruto, you have come far in these two days alone. Just wait," he observed, "by the end of the week, you will be unbeatable in Iron Fist taijutsu, save by me and Guy sensei!"
"Keep in mind, Busy Brows, I just beat you."
"Yes, but I wasn't using my full power. That must wait till your tournament."
"I'm looking forward to it, Bushy Brows."
"As am I, Naruto."
"Alright you two, that's enough for today. I will see you tomorrow at the same time for training." Exclaimed Guy.
"Hai," said Naruto and Lee, and they both left.
When Naruto got to his apartment, he fell immediately into a peaceful sleep, with only subtle undertones of the Kyuubi's annoyance at his muscles that needed repairing.
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The next day, Naruto awoke refreshed once again, and he felt the burden of his weights had lessened once again. After his breakfast of instant ramen, he went to meet Guy and Lee for their run. He was pleased, today he managed 50 whole laps of the village with minimal effort, but Lee and Guy still finished their 500 with him lagging behind at 50.
The day progressed similar to yesterday, only the new regiment was in place as opposed to testing his limits. When it came time for his actual lesson, it was only noon this time.
"Okay, Naruto," said Guy, "today we will be able to learn multiple moves, as we have an extra three hours today." He flashed the nice guy pose. "The first thing is the Ultimate Lotus. Lee must open five of his eight gates, but I sense you will not need to open any. And if you do end up needing them, consider this move off limits. Opening your gates will increase the power of the Kyuubi flowing through you, and that is too much to risk." Naruto nodded in understanding.
Guy summoned another dummy, and Lee proceeded to open five of the eight gates. He opened in the same way as the Primary Lotus, only after the Dancing Leaf technique, his body seemed to vanish to the normal eye. To Naruto's eyes, however, Lee was moving very slowly. "Ultimate Lotus!!!" he yelled as he was pushing off of the trees and ground. Lee pummeled the dummy from all sides, completely obliterating it to dust. He landed and sealed his chakra gates, panting at the effort. Naruto stood there in shock. Because of the Byakugan's influence, he had seen Lee's chakra activity go from nothing to blinding in the matter of a few moments. His chakra activity was staggering, and to top it off, it wasn't blue like normal chakra, nor red like demon chakra, or purple like cursed chakra. Instead, this chakra was green. After a few moments, he recovered and looked to Guy.
At Guy's command, he approached another summoned dummy, and mimicked Lee's moves exactly, minus the intense green chakra. His dummy was also reduced to dust in a matter of seconds.
"Excellent work, Naruto," exclaimed Guy, "now let's learn another new move. This one is called The Morning Peacock."
Guy opened his gates, all the way up to number six, and took up a peculiar stance. He stood on one leg, with the other up in front of him like he was stepping for a high step, and his arms were spread to the sides, palms facing out. He burst from this position so fast he left a crater in the earth, and proceeded to pummel a tree with fists moving so fast and powered with so much chakra they appeared to be flaming. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was the only sound emitted from Guy's mouth as he blasted away at the tree, it too turning to dust.
Guy landed, sealed his gates, and gestured to a tree for Naruto. Naruto took up his stance, shifted to the Peacock's telltale Crane Stance, and mimicked Guy's attack, down to the crater in the ground and the furiously flaming fists. When his tree was gone, Guy nodded his approval. Lee and Naruto sparred again, Naruto won again, and they all went home.
That night, as Naruto lied on his bed in agony, he was once more transported to the flooded room of the seal, and the fox spoke to him again.
Listen, Runt. You are doing too much by way of training. You are relying too heavily on my ability to heal you, and I am getting extremely annoyed. You should be grateful to me, and to your father, the Fourth Hokage, for sealing me inside such a runt. If it wasn't for me, you would be in the hospital right now due to physical breakdown of your muscles and bones. No, you stupid fox. My father, the Fourth, had a kekkei genkai, a special bloodline trait. This trait allowed his body to undergo extreme strain without snapping. You know this, and you are only complaining to me so that when I train tomorrow I will tap your power and you can attempt to use these eyes of mine for your own purposes. I am not letting that happen. So give it up, shut up, and let me sleep. And with that, the flooded chamber dispelled, and Naruto drifted to sleep.
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The next day progressed much in the same way as the previous three, only his number of laps increased by 100.
"Great job, Naruto!" exclaimed Lee and Guy at the same time. Both were pleased that their training was paying off.
"Alright then, today, instead of teaching you a new attack, I am going to teach you to spar like an Iron Fist taijutsu user. Are you ready?" asked Guy.
"Yes, Bushier-brows sensei, I am more than ready!!!" Naruto had a look of excitement on his face. He knew how badly the academy taijutsu worked. It was completely owned by Sasuke's montage of copied Iron Fist and Uchiha style taijutsu. There is no question, he thought, with my montage of practiced Iron and Gentle fist taijutsus, plus the use of the Byakugan on top of the Sharingan, I will defiantly beat Sasuke this time. I WILL bring him back to the village for Sakura. I cannot break my promise!
"Alright, Naruto, I want you to use your Byakingan to observe me and Lee sparing. Watch our form, and note the differences between our style and that of the academy."
"HAI!"
With that, Lee and Guy took up positions opposite each other. They bowed, and Naruto applied chakra to his eyes. Byakingan!!! His eyes turned red, his temples bulged, and a ghost of the Sharingan pupils appeared. He watched closely as Lee and Guy faced each other. Neither one moved. Then, without warning, Lee moved behind Guy, and aimed a kick at the back of his head. Guy ducked under the kick, leaned forward, and curled his leg up behind him to catch Lee in the chin. Lee deflected the blow, and leapt to the side. He disappeared, and reappeared on Guy's left side, and threw a powerful, fast moving punch at Guy's ribs. Guy caught his fist, pulled him in, and kneed him in the chest.
Lee flew backwards, and Guy ran after his flying pupil. He caught up and went for a roundhouse kick, but Lee caught his arm between his knee and elbow. As the two separated, Guy called, "Naruto, take note of that. It is called a cross block: very difficult to do based on timing, but your Sharingan/Byakugan combination should speed up your reflexes and slow down time to you enough to allow you to do this with ease." He then leapt back as Lee appeared in his face with a shoulder sent into his teacher. Guy flew back, flipped in the air, landed lightly on his feet, and then followed up by catching Lee around the waist as he charged, and spinning to throw him in the other direction. He followed behind his again soaring student, and launched a series of rapid-fire punched to his stomach and chest.
As Lee was forced backwards through the air, ha managed to hook his legs around Guy's torso and neck, and then Landed on has back, dragging his sensei with him. Without warning, Guy reached back, jabbed a spot in Lee's knee causing him to release, and grabbed his leg. He dangled Lee upside down, pulled a kunai and placed it at his heart. "Dead," he observed. He tossed Lee up and he landed on his feet. They bowed.
"Great! Got all of it!" said Naruto as he deactivated his eyes. Without warning, Lee attacked him with a roundhouse kick, and without thinking, Naruto's body took over and cross blocked his leg right at the knee. Lee winced in pain, but noted Naruto mastered the technique.
"Naruto, when you use that move, be sure to go easy on your comrades. Any more force than that and you would have shattered my knee and possibly severed a tendon there as well," exclaimed Lee as Naruto released his leg.
"Right."
"Okay, that's all for today. Go to practice at field 22, Naruto," said Guy, "make sure you have al of the things you have learned this week down, as Lady Tsunade will be coming tomorrow to evaluate your progress. You want to make a good impression, right?"
"Hell yeah I do!!!" yelled an overexcited Naruto. With that, he zoomed off to field 22.
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The next day, he arrived, and managed to do 300 of the 500 laps that Lee and Guy did. His training went much the same as before, but this time Tsunade was watching. She looked impressed.
"Well well well…this is certainly impressive, brat." She smiled at him. "You are doing very well, it is difficult to tell you have weights on at all." She said after his jump-roping.
"Thanks, Grandma Tsunade." He grinned his foxy grin. "Wait till you see my moves."
"I can't wait, Naruto." He turned to go to Guy, and she chuckled to herself. Well, my surrogate younger brother is certainly well on his way to his dream of becoming Hokage. He is doing all of this on his own, the only influence of the Kyuubi is the healing factor. He certainly is an amazing kid.
"Okay, Granny Tsunade, check it out!!!" yelled Naruto as Guy summoned several dummies.
"I'm watching, Naruto! Do well!"
"You betcha!!!"
With that, he took off his weights and assumed the Iron Fist stance before the first dummy. He vanished in Tsunade's eyes, and ran circles around the dummy. Without warning, he appeared under the dummy, and viciously kicked up into its chin. The dummy flew in the air, and Naruto performed the Dancing Leaf. He grabbed the dummy in the body-bind hold, and spun towards the earth, smashing the dummy to the ground. "Primary Lotus!!!" He leapt directly to the second dummy, and performed the same entrance. This time, however, he moved his body even faster, and attacked the dummy from all sides in the air, obliterating it. "Ultimate Lotus!!!"
Tsunade's eyes widened as she watched Naruto's impressive display of power. But she was in for more. He landed in the crane pose with his arms outstretched and punched the dummy so fast he appeared to be on fire. "ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The dummy was blasted to pieces.
Finally, when he landed, Guy and Lee attacked him simultaneously. Lee took the left and Guy took the right. Naruto yelled "Byakingan!!!" and activated his eyes. He leapt into the air, landing with a foot on each green clad man's shoulder. He reached down and flipped off them, pushing them down in the process. He landed nimbly on his feet, then dodged Lee's Leaf Hurricane and countering with an uppercut to his chin as Lee rose. Lee flew back into a tree, and Guy came in from behind and went to grab Naruto. Naruto whirled around and attacked with a series of furiously fast punches, and Guy flew back. Lee came again to attack him, and Naruto caught his flying leg in a cross block. He then took Lee's leg and flung him into Guy, who was approaching from the left. Lee knocked into Guy and both ninja hit the ground. Finally, Naruto pulled two kunai and threw them at the ninja, and they buried themselves in the ground next to their heads with a thunk.
As Naruto went and helped Lee and Guy up, Tsunade clapped in her approval. Very good, Naruto. Take the weekend off. Rest, recover, and go easy, for next week you begin training with Hiashi, Hinata and Neji in the Gentle Fist Taijutsu, and the use of the Byakugan portion of your eyes. You will also learn to control your chakra to fine perfection, so be ready. With that, she turned and left for the Hokage tower.
"Okay, Naruto. Before you go, there is one thing I want to teach you." Said Guy.
"What is it?"
"…………Dynamic Entry!!!!!!!" shouted Guy. With that cry, he leapt into the air towards Naruto's exposed back in a flying sidekick. Naruto didn't even have time to activate his eyes before Guy's foot slammed into his back, sending him flying 15 feet.
Naruto got up, rubbing his now throbbing back, and activated his eyes, Guy whirled around and perforemed his move on the closest tree. "Dynamic Entry!!!" SMASH!!! The tree splintered, and Guy said, "This is the move you will always enter with. Well, when you have no need for stealth, anyway." Naruto nodded. "Well, that is all, Naruto. I enjoyed teaching you, and I will see you when your tournament begins. You will be fighting either me or Lee. We shall see. On that note, Let's go, Lee. You have more work to do!" Guy and Lee both turned to Naruto and flashed the Nice Guy pose, complete with the bling smile. The two then left Naruto, who took his weights and headed home for a nice weekend of rest.