AN- I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.

Shunkou 101- Obviously not- the canon Aoi made off with the Raijin long before Naruto ever graduated the Academy. And no, I reiterate- it will not be a Team 9-some (AKA NaruSakuIno). That'd just be a little too predictable, neh? Once again, I'm not going to say anything about pairings other than that- and that I've already decided.

CHAPTER 3- TRAINING BEGINS

Ino had gotten up early the next morning, and had made it to the training ground with a few minutes to spare. She thought she'd be the first to arrive, and so was surprised to see Naruto already there, and moving through what looked like a taijutsu kata. Although Ino was no taijutsu specialist, she was fairly well versed in the basic Konoha style- well enough to tell that whatever Naruto was practising wasn't it. Whatever style he was using, it seemed to consist primarily of elbow strikes, knee strikes and open-handed thrusts, with the odd backfist- used in a downward swing, she noticed- and a couple of other odd moves mixed in. It also seemed very short-ranged; were he fighting against an actual opponent, he'd have to be standing almost toe-to-toe with them- he wouldn't be able to reach them otherwise.

He clearly noticed that she was there, as he broke off his kata and walked over.

'Morning, Ino- you're early.'

She giggled nervously in response.

'So are you. What was that taijutsu style you were using?'

'Ame Ryuu.'

This was a surprise to Ino- how did Naruto know enough about another hidden village's key taijutsu style to actually use it himself? Naruto answered the unspoken question.

'Aoi-sensei taught me- the Rokushou family isn't originally from Konoha. Aoi-sensei's grandfather was an Ame-nin who was forced to flee into exile.'

'So, you're good at taijutsu as well as ninjutsu? I'm glad I've got you on my team.'

Naruto arched an eyebrow, and Ino blushed- she was, truth be told, developing a crush on the sun-kissed shinobi. Sure, Sasuke was all cool and mysterious and a strong ninja to boot- but Naruto was all of these things too. Unlike Sasuke who'd been in their academy class from day one, he'd just appeared out of nowhere with all these incredible skills. And he was actually quite nice; he was bothering to talk to her where Sasuke would just grunt and ignore her.

'Pretty much. I'm not that good at genjutsu, though- the chakra manipulations are a bit too delicate for me. It's something I need to work on, since you need to be at least C-rank in genjutsu to be a jounin.'

'What else do you need? I've always been meaning to ask 'Tou-san, but I've never gotten round to it.'

'I'm aiming to be a ninjutsu master, so I need to have mastered at least two elements- if not more- and have gotten my taijutsu to around B-rank. If I do that I think I can scrape through with just C-ranked genjutsu.'

Before they could talk more Aoi walked into the training ground, Sakura just behind him, and cleared his throat so that they'd stop talking and listen.

'Alright! We're all here, so we'll start.'

The jounin, looked around at his three students, all of them listening intently.

'We're going to start with some taijutsu sparring. A well-training team of shinobi will fight like a well-oiled machine- to attain that level of coordination you'll need to know each other's abilities as well as you know your own. That means no secrets between teammates as far as your skills are concerned. That's the point of these spars- so that you can get used to how you all fight. We'll be doing this regularly as you train, since you're going to pick up new skills & styles over time. Naruto & Ino- you're up first. Light contact only.'

It wasn't an even fight. It was fortunate for Ino that Naruto pulled all his punches as instructed, since she would've been beaten black and blue if he hadn't. For a start, she couldn't seem to break through his guard; his blocks were slightly different to standard Konoha Ryuu ones, exerting more leverage with less effort. He was quick, too- she could only block about half his strikes, and he didn't bother to pull the ones she blocked- the result being that each blocked punch knocked her back a step or off balance. Then, he started working some of the shorter ranged Ame Ryuu moves into his fight, seeming to transition between this and the medium-ranged Konoha Ryuu almost effortlessly. By the time Aoi call a halt to the fight, she was flushed, sweaty and panting. Naruto was breathing hard as well, although to her dismay he looked as if he'd never fought within just a few minutes. Aoi was sparring with Sakura- an even more uneven contest- to give them both time to recover.

'Naruto, you weren't holding back were you?'

'No, I wasn't. It's just that I've got a lot more stamina than most people, and I recover quicker. I guess you could call it a kekkei genkai, sort of.'

'Wow, that's amazing! I've never heard of any bloodline like that- what else can you do?'

'I heal really quickly- minor bruises and cuts disappear by the morning after I get them. My blot clots quickly too, so I won't bleed to death easily. Last, it gets rid of most poisons- they'll make me sick, sometimes very sick, but they won't actually kill me.'

'That's- that's really useful! It could save your life, over and over again!'

Naruto smiled a little grimly.

'Yeah- but let's hope I won't have to put it to the test too often, eh?'

Aoi ended his spar with Sakura, having seen all he needed to see, and let the girl have a few minutes' rest before having her fight with Naruto. At the beginning Sakura had been eagerly cracking her knuckles, confident she'd beat the baka into the floor- at the end, she was just as tired and aching as Ino had been. After that Ino sparred with Aoi and didn't give a much better showing than Sakura, then Aoi with Naruto- a fight that Naruto eventually lost, though he managed to make Aoi reveal most of his taijutsu arsenal in the process. All that was left was a match between Ino & Sakura, where neither succeeded in gaining the upper hand. Afterwards, Aoi handed a scroll to each of them.

'These are your training schedules, Monday to Friday.'

The three genin opened their respective scrolls, with mixed responses when they saw the training programs Aoi had set out. Naruto acquired an almost manic grin, Ino's jaw dropped, and Sakura spluttered in protest.

'Taijutsu training seven till nine, team training nine till twelve, missions twelve till two, an hours' break, then medical training three till seven- with ninjutsu training instead of Tuesdays and group training on Fridays! Aoi-sensei, seriously- are you trying to burn us out?'

'I've got the same, except genjutsu training on Monday & Wednesday and ninjutsu Tuesday and Thursday. Sakura's right- this is too much!'

Aoi arched an eyebrow quizzically. 'You think that's bad? Tell them what you're doing, Naruto.'

Naruto's voice trembled with pure glee as he read off. 'Taijutsu six till nine, team training nine till twelve, missions twelve till two, an hours' break, ninjutsu three till seven on Tuesday and Thursday, with more taijutsu on Monday and genjutsu on Wednesday. Then an hours' evening break followed by an hours' free practice.'

He leapt up, his grin stretching from ear to ear. 'You rock, Aoi-sensei! You never worked me this hard before!'

The girls were staring at him slack-jawed, and Aoi was chuckling. 'See? Naruto's got a heavier schedule than either of you, and he seems anything but dismayed about it. Anyway, you're looking a fairly typical shinobi training schedule- for those shinobi who care about working their way up the ranks or doing their job to the best of their ability.'

Aoi's voice suddenly turned very very cold.

'You're Konoha ninja, and you're going to be on active duty before long. If you can't handle this, then give me your hitai-ite, walk out of here and don't bother coming back. I don't need shinobi on my team who are anything less that completely committed to their duty.'

There was absolute silence for what seemed like an age. Then, Ino spoke up, determination in every syllable of her words.

'I'm not backing out. I'm a Konoha kunoichi and I'm going to do my job.'

Aoi turned his full attention on Sakura, who seemed to shrink under his stare.

'Well? What do you say?'

The girl took a deep breath, then a second- and then seemed to steady herself.

'I'm in too.'

'Well- as a sign of your commitment, and a reminder of it for yourselves, I want you to remove your hitai-ite from where they are now and tie them around your foreheads, where they should be.'

It took less than a minute for them both to do it, removing the metal plates from where they'd been positioned before- front of the waist for Ino, top of the head for Sakura- and securing them on their foreheads. Aoi nodded with satisfaction.

'That's good. Now keep them there, you hear me? The hitai-ite's not just for decoration, you know- it's designed to protect your forehead.'

'Hai, sensei.' The girls chorused.

'Now, I'd like to talk about what roles you're all going to play on the team, and what kind of mission profile is going to be geared towards. As you've probably already guessed, Sakura, you're going to be the team medic- since genin aren't allowed to enter the medic-nin program, Hana's agreed to teach you. Ino, it's just a short step from your family mind techniques to genjutsu, so you're going to be our genjutsu expert. Finally, Naruto's going to be our offensive powerhouse. With his massive chakra reserves, clones, taijutsu & offensive ninjutsu, he's the best suited of the three of you to a head-on fight- not that I'm not going to make sure that both of you can look after yourselves as well. I'm trying to make it so Team 9 is a generalist team- you'll be able to handle just about any mission profile- from undercover intelligence gathering up to and including assassination. Understand all of that?'

Sakura had started looking more than a little shaken as Aoi mentioned that most extreme of mission profiles. 'Assassination, sensei?'

'Yes. Assassination. What, you thought you could be a shinobi without actually having to kill anyone? By this time next year you'll have had to kill at least one person. If you haven't, it's because you've washed out or been killed yourself.'

The blood drained from Sakura's face. In her blind devotion to winning the heart of the Uchiha boy, she'd clearly overlooked or ignored this important part of a shinobi's job.

'Surprised, are you? Don't be- you were at the academy for four years and had plenty of opportunity to take this on board, so ignorance is no excuse. Any way you put it, being a professional shinobi isn't a safe job, or a nice one.'

She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. Sasuke-kun wouldn't so much as flinch if he heard this sort of thing- she couldn't either!

'I- I'm fine, sensei. I'm not quitting.'

'Good. Now, if we can move on I want to start the two of you on some chakra control training. It's quite simple- you've got to climb a tree without using your hands.'

The girls just stared- they didn't need to say anything, for the looks on their faces made it plainly clear that they were both thinking something along the lines of 'that's impossible.'

'Watch carefully.'

Aoi then turned to face a tree at the edge of the forest and ran towards it. Just as they thought he was going to smash straight into it, he turned a vertical corner and ran straight up it, coming to a halt about halfway up the trunk.

'What you've got to do is release chakra from the tenketsu in your feet in order to stick to the bark. Too little and you'll fall off, too much and the bark will crack. I suggest you take it at a run until you get the hang of it.'

Ino and Sakura ran off towards two trees either side of the one Aoi was using, paused to focus chakra, then launched themselves up the trunks- only to unceremoniously fall straight off. Only the appearance of a pair of shadow clones courtesy of Aoi saved them from acquiring large lumps on their heads.

'Not as easy as it looks, is it? Well, keep at it and you'll get the hang of it eventually.'

'Sensei? Why isn't Naruto doing this exercise?'

Sakura suddenly realized Ino was right- Naruto was still standing back and watching- and whirled around. 'Yes, why isn't he doing this too?'

'Easy. He's already completed tree walking. I'm just about to go and set him a chakra control exercise- and a fairly advanced one at that. Now, get back to work- if you finish, I'll give you something different to work on.'

Leaving the girls with a couple of his clones to prevent any nasty falls, Aoi went over to the third member of his team.

'Now Naruto, I'm going to teach you how to create chakra strings. It's a different kind of control exercise to anything you've done before because it's quite an advanced test of shape manipulation. Watch.'

The jounin placed a kunai on a convenient tree stump, took a step back, and raised a finger to point at it. As Naruto watched, a thin string of blue chakra formed between Aoi's fingertip and the dagger. His sensei then twitched his finger upwards, raising the kunai a foot into the air above where it had rested, before, with another twitch of his finger, making it fly straight at Naruto- who managed to draw one of his own kunai in time and knock the weapon away.

'Well done. Now, put your kunai down on the tree stump. What you've got to do is dribble chakra out of the tenketsu on the tip of your finger, forming it into a string as you release it. Aim to attach it to the ring of the kunai, since that's the easiest way.'

For about an hour Aoi vacillated between the girls and Naruto, offering encouragement and advice as needed. After an hour Ino & Sakura had made it to the lowermost branches of their respective trees and repeated the exercise several times, so Aoi declared they were ready for the next level of exercise. Following him over to the lake set off to one side of the training ground, they were greatly amused by the sight of Naruto standing in front of the tree stump and pointing his finger at the kunai, apparently concentrating hard.

'What's he doing?'

'He's trying to make a chakra string, Ino. It takes a lot of skill with chakra control, but it's a very useful tool- I'll be teaching you both to do it at some point, since you've both got the control. But now, let's focus on what you've got to do, which is walk on the surface of the water using chakra. Again, you've got to expel chakra from your feet to do it. The difference is, this time instead of just focusing chakra in the soles of your feet you have to expel a constant flow- it's a lot more difficult, as you're about to find out.'

Mere seconds later, two simultaneous splashes- followed quickly by two simultaneous squawks of shocked surprise- told him that they had just found out.

By the time twelve o'clock had come around, they were both managing to stand stably on the surface of the water- although actually walking normally was a different kettle of fish entirely. Aoi clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

'Come over here, all of you- that's enough for today.'

The last couple of words he said were obscured by Naruto's sudden outburst.

'Aoi-sensei, I think I've got it! Watch!'

As the boy moved his hand upwards, the kunai lifted off the tree-stump with it. If you looked closely, you could see a thing string of chakra connecting the ring of the kunai to the tip of his index finger.

'That's very good, Naruto. All of you have done very well today. Now, we're going to the Hokage's tower to report for mission assignment.'

Fifteen minutes later…

'Dog walking, parcel delivery, babysitting, shopping, cat capture, litter picking, fence painting… Aoi-sensei, tell me this is just your idea of a joke and I'll let you off the hook this once.'

Aoi shook his head, chuckling at the chagrined expression on Naruto's face.

'Sorry kid, this is it. You're rookie genin- your teamwork is shaky and you've got no actual experience. D-ranks are all you're going to get until I say you're ready to move on.'

Ignoring his outraged students, Aoi walked up to the Hokage's desk.

'How many of those package delivery missions do you have, again?'

'Four of them.'

'I'll take them all, then.'

The silence hanging in the air was oppressive as Aoi led Team 9 to the place where the first mission slip said they were to pick up a package.

'Your first mission not what you thought it'd be, eh?'

Ino almost exploded. 'Not what I expected? You're damn right it's not! I can't believe shinobi have to do chores, even if we're being paid to do it!'

Aoi was still smiling after this outburst.

'Don't take anything at face value- that's one of the most basic rules we have. D-rank missions may seem like mindless scutwork, but they're actually a useful training tool. Package delivery, for example, is a common mission even at jounin level- it's just that you'll be delivering precious cargo and will possibly have other ninja trying to steal or destroy what you're carrying. This is the only time I'm giving you a hint like this though- with each type of D-rank we do, you have to guess the purpose of it.'

The parcel runs were easy enough- the first was for an elderly herbalist who owned a shop in the center of Konoha- he needed a package delivered to a client living near the outskirts of the village. It took longer than Naruto would've liked, since neither Sakura nor Ino had anywhere near his level of stamina and so needed to travel at a slower pace or else stop regularly. Once they'd got there, Aoi glanced at his timer and then eyed the girls critically.

'That took far too long- ninja carrying precious cargo in the field need to move as quickly as possible. I'll make sure you two get plenty of endurance training to build up your stamina. Now, here's where the next parcel's to be picked up from…'

All three genin were flushed and sweaty by the time the last delivery had been completed and they had made their way back to the centre of Konoha. Naruto, courtesy of his freakish stamina, was noticeably less tired than the girls, who hadn't ever focused on real endurance work like this before. Aoi walked ahead of them, leading them towards the Hokage's tower to get the missions signed off and then exchanged for pay slips for each of the genin. Once that was done, the jounin started leading his students into one of the backstreets, away from the village center, and towards a small corner café that announced itself, simply, as 'Shirogane's.' Konoha did have a slew of shinobi-only establishments- mainly equipment shops and bars- but Shirogane's was famous. The clientele were virtually a who's who of great Konoha shinobi- Mitarashi Anko, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai, Gekkou Hayate and many others besides. As Aoi led them across the small, crowded room to a miraculously free table, the sunglasses of the Aburame, cheek tattoos of the Inuzuka and black-pineapple ponytails of the Nara could be seen in places around the room. Gekkou Hayate himself sat at the table next to them, although he was a little too busy with his purple-haired girlfriend, Uzuki Yuugao, to talk to anyone.

A man in late middle age, with an impressive mane of silver hair, crossed the room towards them, leaning heavily on a wooden crutch. As he got closer, the genin saw why- his left ended abruptly below the knee. He clearly noticed Ino & Sakura's shocked stares, since he gave an amused smile.

'I tripped an exploding tag trap in the Konoha-Iwa war. Had to have what was left of my lower left leg amputated.'

Aoi grinned sharkishly at the stunned expressions on the girls' faces.

'Truth of shinobi life isn't pretty, is it? This is Shirogane Enjoji, everyone- he was my jounin-sensei. Enjoji-san, this is my new genin team- Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto, who you already know.'

'It's so good to see you with another genin team, Aoi. Your last lot did so well- sensei as good as you are in demand!'

He turned his attention to the green genin, fixing Ino with a stare from eyes as silver as his hair.

'A Yamanaka- you'd be Inoichi's daughter, yes?'

Ino nodded. 'Yes, I am.'

'A fine shinobi- we were in the same graduating class. Tell him I said hello, will you- he hasn't been by for a week or so.'

It was then Sakura's turn to be given a once-over by the retired jounin.

'Hm- Haruno. First shinobi in your family?'

'That's right, Enjoji-san.'

'Well it has to start somewhere, doesn't it? I'm sure you'll be the first of many Haruno to serve Konoha as a ninja.'

Enjoji shuffled to turn around. 'Well, I'll fetch you a pot of tea- and how about some onigiri and pickles on the side?'

'That'd be nice. Thankyou, Enjoji-san.'

The man just waved the thanks away. 'Ah, it's the least I can do for one of my best students. And it's good to see you with another team of genin. After all, your first all turned out so well!'

As Enjoji moved away, picking his way around tables, Aoi leaned back in his seat and stretched. 'Now, I'd like to talk about the details of the training program I've devised for you- starting with taijutsu.'

He paused to make sure he had their undivided attention. Satisfied that he did, he then continued.

'As you already know, every ninja needs to be fairly proficient in taijutsu. Some- heavy-hitting powerhouses like Naruto, for instance- need to be better than fairly proficient, which is why he's devoting more time to it than either of you. Naruto, I've arranged for you to train with a jounin called Maito Gai, Konoha's greatest taijutsu master. Although I'm familiar with a variety of styles, I don't have much experience with the one he uses, Goken Ryuu. It basically focuses on doing as much damage as possible with each blow- Goken stylists focus heavily on physical conditioning, using weights and other forms of resistance training to enhance their strength and speed. Instead of weights, though, I'm going to put an Earth Chaining Seal on you- it'll increase the weight of your body to make your muscles work harder.'

Seeing that Naruto was nodding in understanding, Aoi turned his attention to the rest of the team.

'Now, you two both need to be at least proficient in taijutsu- it's almost impossible for a ninja to avoid getting into hand-to-hand matches regularly. Instead of going over Konoha Ryuu with you, I'm going to start teaching you Kiri Ryuu, which I think you're better suited to.'

He raised his voice a little to be heard over their splutters of surprise- each hidden village had it's own basic style, and they were normally well-kept secrets. It was extremely odd, therefore, that Aoi would know not only Konoha's style, but Ame & Kiri's styles as well.

'Kiri Ryuu focuses on redirecting your opponent's momentum, using their weight against them, rather than harder, more direct styles like Konoha Ryuu and Ame Ryuu. It includes a lot of kicking techniques too, which'll be good for you since unless you focus entirely on taijutsu, you'll have a lot of trouble matching the upper body strength of male shinobi. I think you'll both benefit from using it.'

Though it galled them both to be told that they were weaker, it was true- during Academy taijutsu practice, neither of them had been able to hit hard enough to really worry any of the boys. Besides, being told that the new style would improve their fighting power mollified them somewhat. Aoi, meanwhile, was continuing.

'I can't decide what direction you're going to take in ninjutsu until I know what your elemental natures are. We'll find out your affinities as soon as I've placed the Earth Chaining Seal on Naruto- the sooner I do that the better.'

At this point Enjoji placed a tray of food down in the middle of the table, and Aoi stopped talking to let them attend to it, using the tea to wash down the sticky rice balls. As the hungry genin finished off the meager meal, the silver-haired proprietor raised his voice from across the crowded room.

'The survival of Konoha, as you all know well, depends on a steady supply of young talent to maintain the ranks of our shinobi. We have some of that youngest, newest talent among us today- here's to Team Nine and their sensei, Rokushou Aoi!'

Saying this, he raised a dish of sake in a toast and drank deeply. All around the room shinobi of all ranks mirrored him, and an appreciative cheer rose into the air.

Back at the training ground, Aoi handed Ino and Sakura a piece of chakra-treated paper each and, once Naruto had stripped to the waist, set about inscribing the complex Earth Chaining Seal on his back. Once he'd completed it- and Naruto had sagged briefly under the extra weight- he took time to explain how it worked.

'If you want to deactivate it- or activate it when you've deactivated it- just focus chakra into the centre of the seal array. You should release it for one hour each day so that your body is accustomed to it- you'll start moving a lot quicker without the weight. You won't ever need to adjust the seal, since it'll automatically increase the weight once you've gotten used to it. Now, get back to your chakra string exercises. I want you to try and pick up five shuriken this time, one from each finger of your right hand.'

Leaving Naruto to work on this new, more difficult exercise- this wasn't something he would be able to complete in just a day- he returned to his other charges to find Ino holding a crumpled ball of paper- that, as he watched, seemed to crumble into dirt- and Sakura a small pile of ash.

'Ino, did it crumple up by itself, or did you do that?'

'By itself, Aoi-sensei.'

If Sakura and Ino had primary fire and lightning affinities respectively- and Ino a secondary affinity for earth (Aoi seemed to recall something about the Yamanaka as a family having an earth affinity) then Team Nine very conveniently had all five elements covered between them.

'Sensei? What does it mean when two things happen?'

Oh yeah- he couldn't ponder the matter right now, he had students to teach.

'It means you've got your family's earth affinity- but interestingly, it's secondary to your own affinity for lightning. Sakura, you on the other hand have a fire affinity- unsurprising, since most Konoha shinobi do.'

The jounin plucked a pair of leaves off a nearby bush and handed them to the two kunoichi.

'This is called the leaf exercise- what you're aiming to do is do to that leaf what those pieces of paper did by themselves- crumple it or burn it. Elemental chakra acts very much like the element itself- for fire, for instance, you have to visualize your chakra burning up.'

By the time the training session had come to it's end- four long hours later- the tip of Sakura's leaf had blackened and was beginning to smoke, whereas Ino had made no progress at all. Naruto had managed to attach shuriken to thumb and index finger and was in the process of creating a third chakra string. Aoi reminded them of the times they had be up and ready to start the next morning, then dismissed them, rolling his eyes as Naruto immediately sprinted off in the direction of Ichiraku's. The boy's ramen addiction was beyond even his ability to deal with.

AN- The Rokushou originally being Ame-nin is, of course, a nod to Aoi's appearance as a Ame jounin (and bad guy) in one of the filler arcs. As for his secondary affinities (Water is his primary one), I gave him Wind because Naruto needed a sensei who could help him master his primary element and Lightning as a nod to his wielding of the stolen Raijin in canon.

NON-CANON JUTSU

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EARTH RELEASE- SNARE (From the story Team 8- credit goes to Viridian)

A D-rank earth technique that causes the ground around the target's feet to rise up and trap their legs.

FIRE RELEASE: FIREBALL TECHNIQUE

A weaker, D-rank version of the Great Fireball Technique

WIND RELEASE: BREAKTHROUGH

A weaker, D-rank version of the Great Breakthrough

FIRE RELEASE- BLAZING WHEEL TECHNIQUE

A C-rank fire technique that projects a wave of flame out from the user in all directions.

LIGHTNING RELEASE: THUNDERLANCE (From the story Chunin Exam Day- credit goes to Perfect Lionheart)

A C-rank lightning technique that projects a bolt of lightning in a straight line.

FIRE RELEASE: OIL CLONE TECHNIQUE

An advanced (A-rank) fire-natured clone technique that creates copies of the user out of black oil- the clones reform when dispersed and combust explosively when exposed to flame. Can be confused for the Mist Servant Technique.

TAIJUTSU STYLES (And their real-word equivalents)

Konoha Ryuu- Karate

Ame Ryuu- Ba Ji Quan

Kiri Ryuu- Hapkido

Look them up on wikipedia if you don't know what they are. I'm aware the last two aren't Japanese martial arts, but just go with it, okay?