Obstacles

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto went flying off the course as an explosion blasted him away. Killua was collapsed on the floor in laughter as Naruto got blown up by another "paint bomb." Killua had special ordered them from the weapon shop run by a specialist. Naruto's favorite orange jacket and pant combo was permanently died a neon pink.

"This is priceless!" Killua giggled madly as Naruto went running from the flurry of kunai.

"You can do it Naruto!" Gon cheered as the boy narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap. Naruto angrily shook his fist, unable to say anything as he tripped another wire sending rocks flying at him.

"This is impossible! You guys are insane!" Naruto cursed having ever chosen them as teachers. A rough estimate of the sun (it had just barely been over the horizon when he arrived) had him running the obstacle course for over two hours now. Killua and Gon constantly reset the traps when they began to run out. They seemed to have a limitless quantity of materials to use at their disposal. At one point, they had managed to secure rabid forest animals to chase him. He suspected Killua had bribed Gon into doing some strange forest mojo-thingy. The boy did have the senses of a dog, so it wasn't that inconceivable.

Naruto dodged another flurry of traps sent his way. These aren't going to work anymore! He withdrew a kunai and did his best to dodge the oncoming shuriken, a few striking him in the shoulder, to be replaced by a log. He had learned within the first hour to make apt use of the substitution jutsu.

"Good use of a substitution!" Gon clapped from the other side of the field. Killua was gone—most likely replacing the traps. "You're getting the hang of it!"

Were they kidding? There was no way he was getting used to this! He blocked another kunai that shot out of the woods. This simulates a battle well. It's way tougher than anything at the academy! Naruto spotted a dent in the ground made from the disguised mines. It was just barely noticeable, but there was a slight difference in color from the surrounding grass. He hadn't noticed it two hours earlier. He jumped to the side. He veered back to where Killua and Gon were waiting.

There should be a trip wire and five mines here! He searched the ground and spotted the wires and suspicious grass patches. Gotcha! Believe it! He grinned and nimbly ran through the traps. I barely pulled that off though. I'm starting to get tired.

He landed right in front of Gon and straightened his back to stand. "It looks like I made it through, huh?" He rubbed his nose with a cheeky grin. "That wasn't so ha-"A fist sent him flying back to start. He skidded to a stop and opened his eyes to stare straight at the sky. WHAT?!

"What the hell did you do that for?" He pointed towards Gon.

"I was supposed to spar with you when you got through the obstacles."

"You should at least give me time to prepare!"

Killua shoved his hands in his pocket as he looked at Naruto blankly. "I told him to do that. Eventually, we want you to be able to spar on the obstacle course. Gon and I can already do that."

"Eh? Why?"

"Think about it. Just because you get through an enemy's base doesn't mean you can stand around and gloat. You can get attacked at any moment." He flashed across the field in the blink of an eye. Naruto leapt backwards. He didn't want to get another punch to the face. Killua poked Naruto's jacket. "If this was a real mission, you would be dead over a hundred times now. That's not counting when Gon punched you."

"I'm not a jounin. You can't expect me to this kinda stuff!" Gon had made his way across the field and was now standing next to Killua.

"You can," Gon stated, "if you want to. It takes practice, but I saw you. You were really fast, and you learned how to spot traps. You are getting better," Gon grinned, "so don't give up!"

"I got better?"

"Ah," Killua said, "Think back to the beginning. You had no idea where the traps were or what to expect. You got skewered several times too. But now, you can substitute if you need to. There are still a ton of things to work on, but it takes a while."

Naruto's resolve hardened at those words. They were right. He wouldn't get better overnight, but he would get better. He would find some cool jutsu to learn from gramps and then he would show Sasuke who's best! "Ah. Thank you. I won't let you down, Gon-sensei, Killua-sensei!"

"Right. I'm going to show you how to fight." Gon lashed out with a fist. It skimmed Naruto's face by a centimeter. "Come on! You'll only get better by practicing against someone better!" The fight preceded and Killua watched from the sidelines making observations.

Gon's style relies more on brute strength than precise strikes. Naruto seems to favor the same thing, but the Academy style doesn't compliment his personality. To add to this, everybody in the academy is taught the same style; therefore, they do not get a wide range of styles to experiment with. By fighting Gon, Naruto should be able to gain experience as well as create his own style. Still, his punches are too wide and leave him open to counter attack. Killua was sure of one thing though. Naruto was the type to learn by doing. Now that he had someone to properly train him outside of the classroom setting, he would improve dramatically. He wouldn't become a jounin immediately, but they could get him up to chunin in a year.

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Really, though, I do appreciate it. So, Naruto is getting trained. As for this, Naruto will improve but not drastically. It's unrealistic for Naruto to be insanely strong without any actual combat experience aka "life endangerment." He's going to be just a little bit stronger than genin.