an:/ alright. I had to remove someone's review because they thought that because I said Naruto was "strong/smart" in my summary, that I should "go fuck [myself]". Well, as attractive as I am, I'm just not into that stuff. Just kidding. But seriously. When I mean strong/smart, I mean prodigy like. Sure the Naruto in the series is actually freaking badass right now and he's more intelligent than meets the eye. But mind you, he wasn't a jounin at 12 so shut your trap. Geez, I don't see the same comments on all the other "smart/strong" Naruto fanfics, cut me some slack will ya? Anyways, as for the other comments, you guys are awesome. I love you all! Motivation skyrockets every time. Alright, let's get to the Narusaku, amiright?
Rei took Sakura to training grounds 15. There was a pond next to a large open field of grass. Sakura took her time to look around. There was a huge wall around along with a table at the center. There was a shed towards the front and another one near the pond. Rei went inside a shed and pulled out a large body scroll (1). Rei motioned to Sakura to follow her. They reached the center of the field and Rei slung the scroll over her back.
"Alright, Sakura-chan, I got a quick briefing from Naruto's clone that your affinity is earth and you're interested in being a medic ninja. Well, You're in luck because I'm both. I was trained by none other than Nohara Rin. Amazing right?"
Sakura looked in awe. Nohara Rin was renown in the medical world. She was trained by Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and trained by Senju Tsunade, the Sannin. Her medical skills were legendary, second to her teacher, Tsunade-sama.
"Though, I'm not as good as Rin-sensei, I've got some knowledge that can help you. My medic skills are around chuunin level, high enough for you until the chuunin exams. Alright. But first, we gotta get that affinity down. It's funny because only a small amount of medic nin have earth affinities, usually they have water. But hey, Tsunade and Rin have earth affinities so that must count for something."
Sakura nodded, eager to learn.
"Now, the trick to the leaf exercise is to feel as if the leaf is as hard as rock. Pump in your chakra and think of that feeling."
Sakura grabbed a leaf and started pumping.
"It's okay if you do the bunshin, I guess."
Sakura looked up.
"H-hai, Rei-sensei"
"Haha, it's so weird to have the prefix at the end. It's gonna be hard to get use to it."
Rei chuckled as Sakura blushed a little. Sakura made a shadow clone and had both start the leaves. Rei watched Sakura.
"So, Sakura, tell me about yourself. How were you in academy? Do you have any dreams?"
"I was okay in academy, I was in the same strategic class as Naruto-sensei. But I was in the normal classes for other subjects-"
"Whoa! Grade 5 strategic class for a 1st grader? Amazing! Why hasn't Naruto told me that he had a genius on his team? Oh wait, because he's one himself...He's seen it all. Damn genius"
"Maa, I'm not that smart. Naruto-sensei made the best strategies in class."
"Speaking of Naruto-sensei, do you like him?"
Sakura froze and turned bright red, sending a spark of chakra into the leaf, making it instantly crumble into dirt. The bunshin next to her dispelled from the spike of emotion. Sakura's attention moved back to the small amount of brown dirt on the ground before picking up a new leaf.
"W-what are you talking about"
Rei smiled.
"Maa, don't worry. Though he's a genius at being a shinobi, he's a total blockhead when it comes to affections. Don't let it get to you."
"I-I still don't know what you're talking about."
Sakura continued to blush as she made a bunshin next to her. Sakura tried to keep focus on her leaf but couldn't. Damn blondes.
Rei smirked a bit. She moved closer to Sakura and whispered into her ear.
"So is it a jump his bones kinda thing, or a love filled heart kinda crush?"
Sakura's bunshin dispelled again and Sakura blushed furiously. She cocked her fist back and went to punch Rei. Rei dodged and chuckled. Might as well start on taijutsu.
"W-what are you saying Rei-sensei! We are just twelve years old!"
"Well shinobi don't live that long, might as well starting livin' the life at twelve."
Sakura aimed for another punch, dodged once again by Rei.
"Ho-ho. Sakura has a more fiery personality than meets the eye! You're not as passive as we all think."
Between punches, Sakura explained.
"Most of the women in the Haruno family develop what is called an inner self. This inner self expresses the person's desires that they cannot voice in reality. It usually helps against genjutsu and low level Yamanaka jutsu's even though Haruno's aren't really a ninjas."
Rei, intrigued, continued dodging and asked.
"So you're inner personality is a fiery attitude that you wish to release. What are scared of? Naruto being scared of you?"
"N-no."
Sakura looked away, blushing. Rei shifted out of stance and put her hands on her hips.
"Come on, then. Show some of that fiery personality, I'm sure he'd like it."
Sakura aimed another punch but Rei only dodged again.
"Is that all you got? You won't make it to chuunin with this kind of Taijutsu."
Naruto got Sasuke to isolate his lightning affinity and Konohamaru with his fire affinity.
"Alright guys, good job. Because of your larger than normal reserves, it took a bit longer than normal. I was um, kinda kidding when I said the leaf exercise would take months. It normally would take a week or so. But since you had the bunshin and you're an exceptional group of genin, under the tutelage of the great Namikaze Naruto, you got it in 4 hours."
"Shut it, Naru-yaro. That was torture. You made us do five freaking bunshins! Do you know how crazy that is!?"
Naruto suddenly got whacked to the ground by two people. He turned around to see Sakura and Rei, both with hands on their hips.
"Yeah, Naruto-sensei. What were you doing making them do five bunshins?"
"S-sakura?"
"Answer the question, Naruto. Why were you making your genin do a number of bunshin's only a chuunin could do?"
"R-rei...t-they had big reserves, I just made use of that."
Naruto gulped as both girls cracked their knuckles. Sasuke and Konohamaru were shocked at Sakura's change in demeanor.
"S-sasuke, Konohamaru, t-training tomorrow, 7 o'clock. Be there-"
Naruto darted out, chased by the two girls.
"Get back here, Naruto!"
"Sensei!"
A week went by as the three genin continued to train with Naruto and Rei. Rei was able to get the jounin, Rin, herself, to teach Sakura a bit of Medical jutsu and some of Tsunade's taijutsu style. Naruto was able to get Sasuke to practice two of his affinities separately. The Uchiha never really showed up afterwards as he trained more at home, under the instruction of his father, naturally. Naruto taught Konohamaru more fire techniques, including some of his own fox style techniques. He also taught Konohamaru henge after seeing the reports from academy saying he wasn't that good in class. Sadly, Naruto decided that it would be a good idea to teach Konohamaru, Oiroke no jutsu.
"Alright, Konohamaru. Now that I have faith in your henge skills, let's work on the Oiroke no jutsu."
"Oiroke no jutsu?"
"It-is-the-best-freaking-jutsu-EVER!"
"Really? What does it do?"
"It makes some of the toughest ninja's faint from blood loss. I got Iruka-sensei down for this one, I've got multiple tokubetsu jonin down, and I've got the great sannin, Jiraiya under my spell."
"Whoa! It must be really powerful! Teach me!"
Sadly, the girls saw what they were doing once again. Naruto was chased down to his house where his mother learned what he did, then she followed the girls to find her son. The group of girls charging at Naruto multiplied as each learned what he taught.
"Come on! Can't you let the guys indulge a little?"
"NO!"
Naruto accelerated at the sound of a chorus furious girls responded. Naruto looked on the bright side, this was great training. He was outrunning some female anbu, a sannin, the habanero, several jounin and chuunin, and Sakura. If he could outrun this pack, he can outrun anything. But he needed a break. Hiraishin it is.
"YOU COWARD~!" Echoed through the entire village as Naruto flashed somewhere out of sight.
Minato called forth all the jounins. Naruto entered the meeting, disheveled with leaves caught in his blond locks. Once he got home from the chase last night, Kushina immediately set the punishment as a spar with her the next morning. By spar, she meant, I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of you, and it's legal,-ttebane. The jounins watched the son of the Hokage enter with an annoyed look.
"What's up, Hokage-sama"
Minato sighed at his son's tone. Of course Naruto was mad that his own dad didn't save him from the wrath of Kushina. He'll have to clear that up later.
"Alright, all the jounins are present. This is very important meeting and I would like everyone's undivided attention"
All the jounins tensed up as Minato's expression hardened.
"The country that was going to hold the chuunin exams was attacked two days."
A series of gasps flew around the room. It died down for the next information.
"I had a meeting with the four other kage's yesterday (2) and we've decided that the chuunin exams will be held here in Konohagakure no Sato. And because of the need for new chuunins in case of a war breaking out, the chuunin exams have been pushed forward. It will be in exactly one month."
There was a mass of groans and Naruto's forehead dawned a huge tick mark.
"You mean, instead of nine months of training, we have exactly ONE FREAKING MONTH TO TRAIN GENIN?"
Everyone's attention was drawn back to Naruto.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, but that's the way it is. I'm sure you're genin are ready-"
"-they're not."
"They are still enrolling."
The jounin turned their attention now to Uchiha Fugaku. His arms crossed as he looked at Naruto.
"Uchiha Sasuke will take this coming chuunin exam and his team with him."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"It appears I have no say in whether my genin team is ready or not."
Minato coughed.
"At this point, it doesn't matter. You have one month to get the genin informed and ready. This chuunin exam can help boost our economy, we will be having lots of tourists and future clientele. Alright, the jounin with genin teams enrolling, please step forth."
Asuma, Gai, Kurenai, and Naruto stepped forward.
"State if your team is entering. A quick yes or no will suffice"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"Yes"
Naruto paused at his turn, he turned to Fugaku and saw his harsh gaze. Naruto kept the eye contact locked as he hissed through his teeth.
"yes"
"That concludes this meeting. You're dismissed."
The three genin waited at training grounds seven for the sensei to show up.
"You'd think that Naruto-nii would should up considering we only have nine freaking months to prepare for the chuunin exams. He probably thinks we have all the time in the world! You know, nine months zooms by real fast"
"Hn."
"I'm sure Naruto-sensei is having a meeting or something, I didn't see any jounin on the way here."
With a yellow flash, Naruto appeared in front of the three genin. They were used to it so they turned to face Naruto, unfazed.
"You're late, Naruto-nii. What took you?"
Naruto clenched his fist as he looked to the floor.
"I have some...bad news for you three."
The three genin tensed as they saw Naruto's eyes, laced with anger.
"I'm afraid the chuunin exams are moved up. They are going to be held in exactly one month."
"That's okay, Naruto-sensei. We can always take it next year-"
"You can't. You can't skip out. I- I submitted you three into the test."
Naruto's teeth clenched in anger. If he had a choice, he wouldn't. It was like sending lambs to slaughter, his genin just weren't ready.
"What? Naruto-nii, you can't be serious. We aren't ready! You know that!"
"I know, I know. I was...f-forced."
Sasuke realized what was going on. His father had forced his sensei to put them into the test. Sasuke twinged a little in guilt. His teammates weren't taking this well. But he needed to rise in ranks and gain more power. He had a goal to fulfill and his teammates aren't going to get in the way.
"Please, Naruto-nii, you gotta do something."
"I'm just going to have to train you double time in this next month. In a sense, I'm not as worried for you as I'm worried for the other teams. Their genin don't know elemental affinities like you, they haven't been trained by multiple senseis."
"H-have faith in yourselves, you three are exceptional genin in Konoha. An upcoming Rin and Tsunade, a Sarutobi, and an Uchiha. You three are the epitome of skilled genin, you can do it. I didn't mean to call you guys out on a free day. I'll give you today off, but tomorrow, training will be really hard. Sasuke, I know you're being trained by your father, so it's not mandatory for you. But you two, this next month, I expect you two to have full nights sleep, nutritious meals, no passing out after training. I will be working you three to the bone. Alright, meeting tomorrow at 7:00, I'll be on time so don't slack."
Sasuke shunshined away. Konohamaru smiled and said something about having challenges that were nothing to the future hokage. Sakura just stood there, frozen.
"N-Naruto-sensei."
"Yes, Sakura?"
"I-I'm not ready."
Sakura started crying. She couldn't do this. She didn't want to put her team down, but she wasn't physically ready. She didn't have the body fit for a kunoichi. She felt weak, unskilled.
"S-sensei, I'm not ready!"
Naruto's guilt got heavier as he felt a tug at his stomach. He put his hands on Sakura's shoulders.
"Sakura, I'm sorry I put you through this. I didn't have a choice. Sasuke's father forced me to pass the three genin. You understand, he has more power than I do, as an adult, in a sense."
"I-I don't want to put my team down, I don't want to hold them back..."
"You won't Sakura. You're skilled. You've got Rei and Rin to help you. You've improved the most this week and you just got to believe in yourself. We've got a month. During that month, I'll help you get to the level you need to be. Do you believe me?"
"I-I, I'm just not ready..."
Naruto bent down a little to see Sakura's face. She couldn't fight the tears that were building. She was trying to hold them back, appear strong with that fiery attitude that Rei helped release. But it wasn't working. She just felt so weak. She grabbed a handful of Naruto's vest and pulled her closer to him. She started to sob, chanting she wasn't ready, she hugged him tighter.
Naruto was frozen in place. No one except his family had ever tried to hug him. He didn't really know how to comfort Sakura. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Sakura's frame. It was really small. Smaller than his mother's. He felt his flak-jacket get a bit moist.
"It's okay, Sakura. You can do this. You're stronger than you think. Alright?"
Naruto inwardly panicked as Sakura didn't stop crying. What was he going to do? He tried a few things his mom did to calm him down when he was younger. He rocked her side to side a little, rubbing circles on her back to calm her down. He muttered a few comforting words, words that he didn't know who they were directed to. Who was he trying to calm down, Sakura or himself? He was just as nervous as Sakura was. He couldn't help but feel immense guilt for sending three people he learned to care about into a test that could well be their deaths. Who was he saying it was going to be okay to?
(1) Those scrolls that Jiraiya and Naruto had that hang around their lower back.
(2) I know traveling takes a couple days, but since Minato is there, he can just flash them all to one location in an instant
an:/ alright, alright. Not the Narusaku you were hoping for, but I'm working on it! I don't believe relationships come to people like bees to honey. The real shindig happens after Chuunin exams and what not. Now I have revived Rin Nohara DUN DUN DUN. hahaha but seriously. I just love Kakarin so Rin being alive is just my dream...in a sense. We've got an antagonistic Fugaku, I know its horrible, but hey, we haven't meet Hyuuga Hiashi yet so lol. k bye.
Tsugi no Jikan! (next time)
Naruto's training month comes to an end, Chuunin exams commence! Are the three ready?