NARUTO
Destiny Breaker
Adjusting
Naruto sat uncomfortably in the chair setup in front of the Hokage's desk, hands together and feet dangling over the side, while at the same time he was scrutinized by not only Hiruzen Sarutobi the Third Hokage himself, but also by several other respective members of his shinobi forces. The elder was at the center of the group, flanked by two ANBU, and accompanied by Iruka, Kotetsu and Izumo, the latter of whom were sporting bandages and had their arms in sling, all of them taking up space around the desk and staring at the Kyuubi's jinchuriki.
On top of that, it was deathly silent.
As a matter of fact it wasn't the silence in the chamber that was so nerve rattling for the normally open and loudmouthed Naruto, it was the fact that everyone present in the room had their eyes fixated on him. Not to mention that it felt like he was in an interrogation hall since the windows' blinds were covered and the entrances were sealed shut, with silencing and stun tags pasted over the doors and glass panes.
The blonde twiddled his thumbs anxiously, all the while looking around and admiring the pictures on the walls and taking in the purple carpeting. There were quite a lot of unique additions made to the room by the current reigning Hokage above all of the other standard equipment, including the viewing orb set up right beside the elder on the desk. Naruto was able to identify these many aspects and changes to the room thanks to the many hours he had spent touching up on the Hokage's environment in preparation for when he would eventually take the throne.
Although, it wasn't much of a throne; it was basically a chair with wheels on it that swiveled.
It was pretty cool.
"Umm…" Naruto murmured, looking over at the Third Hokage nervously. "C-Could I… try sitting in the big chair for a bit, oji-san?"
The pipe in Hiruzen's mouth switched sides in a huff, and the blonde slinked back a bit at the visual response.
It was a good thing he could read emotions so well. He was very personality conscious.
"Okay… never mind…" Naruto then carried on with whistling.
The Third Hokage breathed deeply on his pipe as he considered the boy seated before him carefully, and after due analysis and thought, waved his hand. At that address the two ANBU guarding the elder phased out of sight, disappearing from the room and leaving the invited shinobi on their own for the time being. Once his bodyguards were gone, Hiruzen then removed his pipe and placed it on the desk in front of him so that he could focus all of his attention on the jinchuriki gazing uneasily at him.
"Naruto," the village leader began, drawing the blonde's full attention to him. "I heard about what you did last night out in the village after you left my house. You defeated Mizuki, and you saved Izumo and all of the villagers present in the area from a powerful C-Rank Fire Release technique that could have caused considerable damage had it exploded. You also returned the Scroll of Seals back to me safely, after confirming the rogue shinobi's defeat."
The jinchuriki nodded at the summary of last night's events read out to him in full, and gulped. Boy, he sure hoped he wasn't going to get into trouble for this. It wasn't even his fault the scroll was stolen. It was Mizuki disguised as him. For an issue as big as this and over something so small, yet so incredibly valuable to the village, the Genin knew he was going to be penalized in some way. Time under Iruka's wings over the many years he has attended the academy has taught him many things, if not the one that seemed like the most significant detail being explored here; that people were pretty short tempered when it came to treasured items being stolen.
There was no way the elder was going to let him go so easily.
Naruto flinched when he heard the man cough and clear his throat.
The suspense was killing him.
"I must say… I'm very impressed with you," Hiruzen smiled.
"Huh?" Naruto pointed at himself.
He had received quite a lot of praise from Kotetsu, Izumo and Iruka for his actions from yesterday, and was applauded by the villagers for his efforts. From them alone it was a bit of a shock, but never had he expected to be acknowledged by the Third in the same manner and with a smile to boot... what with the interrogation arrangement and everything.
He blinked away his surprise when the village elder resumed his speech.
"You defeated an opponent that was able to bring to heel myself, and later two other Chunin level shinobi simultaneously, in spite of being severely wounded himself. What you accomplished out there was quite a feat, particularly for a newly promoted Genin," Hiruzen stated. "I believe your actions last night merit some kind of a reward."
"R-Really," Naruto grinned while rubbing the back of his head bashfully. He then smiled down at the large desk laid out before him and pointed at it. "Then… could I…?"
"Sorry Naruto, you're not strong enough to be Hokage yet," the Third exclaimed, well aware of what he was going to ask next. The Chunin standing around also smiled in amusement, Iruka in particular who gave a light chuckle.
The elder then slid open the drawer next to him and pulled out a file. Flipping it open, he revealed an old photo of Naruto pasted onto the introductory profile page and to the other documents related to him. From the amount of papers there were, Kotetsu and Izumo assumed from where they stood that it was filled with all sorts of clutter from years of troublemaking.
The village leader paid the contents little mind and pulled out a pen. "I'll add this accomplishment to your permanent records and classify last night's events as an A-Rank mission. You'll be paid well for this Naruto." Hiruzen glanced up at the boy in question to see him grinning and still swinging his legs back and forth on his chair. "You should be proud of yourself."
"Thanks," Naruto exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.
The jinchuriki then became distracted by some other thought lingering over his mind, and brought his right hand up for inspection. Though he didn't receive as many injuries as Kotetsu and Izumo did in their battle, he was still pretty shaken up from his brief skirmish with Mizuki. While the fight had been catastrophic for the Chunin, all the wounds Naruto had sustained were merely shallow bruises and a couple of cracked ribs. However, he hadn't had these injuries checked out at the hospital yet, not to mention they were no longer distinctive or present on his body.
He couldn't even feel the broken bones anymore. They were all healed up.
It was quite a puzzling development.
Last night had left him with many questions he wanted to ask and needed to be answered. Of course, now that he was in the presence of those who were with him at the events of yesterday afternoon, in addition to them being people who knew him best, it was the most convenient time to start asking.
"There's one thing that's bugging me," the boy began meekly, while looking up at the shinobi present. "How was I able to stop that giant fireball technique that Mizuki-baka threw at me? My hand just tapped it and it disappeared into thin air, and it didn't even hurt me one bit…"
"Actually, I'm wondering about that myself," Izumo stated, looking over at their village leader questioningly. Kotetsu and Iruka accompanied their fellow companion with nods of agreement, all three Chunin quickly becoming immersed in deep contemplation over the miracle that they had witnessed the other day. It was baffling.
"With the proximity between the target and the user, it would have been impossible for Naruto to have effectively countered with a defensive technique in time... even if he could use jutsu. I didn't see him weave any hand seals or generate any chakra whatsoever to defend himself," Kotetsu spoke, gesturing towards the boy in question. "If you ask me, a Wind Release technique that didn't require any seals whatsoever would be the most logical explanation, since his counter against the Fire Ball Jutsu didn't manifest itself as anything other than an atmospheric disturbance. There was nothing…"
The Third Hokage murmured to himself, pausing for a moment in his scribbles. He then propped himself up on his elbows on the surface of his desk, and laced his fingers together. Resting his chin on his hands, he looked over at Naruto and began analyzing him intently from the head down.
Unknown to the other shinobi of the, he was just as perplexed and curious about the boy's unique ability as the next person.
However, in spite of his unfamiliarity with the issue, the well educated man had a vague idea as to what the technique could have been, and what it's properties entailed.
"Iruka, you took the boy down to the hospital yesterday, didn't you?" Hiruzen asked, earning an immediate nod from the Chunin.
"Yes, Hokage-sama…"
"What did the doctors say about his condition?"
"Well… it's umm… pretty hard to explain," the scarred man replied, turning towards his student sitting close by and listening in on their conversations with absolute focus. "Doctor Emi Hyuuga was the one who performed the diagnosis on Naruto's body. Aside from his right arm, the rest of his body's chakra network is in perfect condition. The passages aren't obstructed by anything and his tenketsu are in perfect balance. It was only his right arm she had trouble discerning."
"How so?"
"It's not damaged physically in any way, it's just functioning abnormally. All I know is that it prevents him from performing ninjutsu with regular seals, and that for some reason it disrupts his techniques and the techniques of others," Iruka stated with a shrug. His expression remained serious as he gave the Hokage and to those listening a thorough breakdown of the issue. "That much I gathered from my talk with her."
"So that's it," Hiruzen Sarutobi replied and looked over at Naruto, who was glancing between all of them curiously.
The old Kage took his time to take in the boy's condition and the new information shared with him by his teacher. Hiruzen had made a note years ago to keep tabs on Naruto's progress and development ever since he was admitted into the academy, which was why he always had his file on hand, and ever since his first failings at ninjutsu has kept an even closer eye on him. Apparently, his problem was most troublesome. There were no faults or irregularities in his physical form that would warrant serious medical treatment and it certainly wasn't the Kyuubi or any lack of chakra that was the cause of it.
However, there was something lingering at the back of his mind that the elder was overlooking.
He just couldn't place it.
"It's his right arm only though? Why?" Hiruzen murmured. "In other cases, chakra nullification isn't simply localized to a single part of the body. It only occurs if that part of the body is severely damaged or the body itself is unable to use chakra at all. The only other explanation I can think of aside from damaged tenketsu points or a genetic abnormality is that the boy's chakra was purposely sealed off or displaced." He tapped his fingers impatiently, his expression conveying the sense that he was stressing severely over the boy's predicament. "Fuinjutsu. Techniques that powerful are only used on prisoners down at Hōzukijō and by shinobi formerly of Uzushiogakure. However, it doesn't just distort his chakra in his arm; it utilizes it and produces a field that disrupts other chakras as well. Could it be…?"
Hiruzen's eyes widened and he looked up ever so slightly. The light gasp that accompanied his change of expression didn't go on unnoticed by the three Chunin and Naruto. All those present focused ever more closely on the elder as he lowered his arms to his desk and kept his train of contemplation straight and true.
"That must be it then," Hiruzen raised his hand to his chin and rubbed his beard thoughtfully, "An Uzumaki Clan secret technique composed of self-replicating seals pasted onto his chakra network at a specific location. It must be an incredibly powerful technique if its primary function is to disturb the spiritual, physical and natural energies surrounding him. There are only a handful of people I know who can use jutsu originating from Uzushiogakure of that level…"
"Kushina…"
"Hmm… what was that, oji-san?" Naruto asked, hearing a name.
The old man smiled and laced his hands together, placing them back on the desk in front of him. "I believe I mentioned this to you last night when you broke into my house to read my collection of scrolls, Naruto. There are a lot of things in this world that I have seen and learned, and there are many things that I have in depth knowledge of. How to run a village, the whole country's history, famous shinobi, battle tactics, jutsu… but the strange ability in your right arm is something I'm not too familiar with." He nodded towards the jinchuriki whose smile visibly fell. "However, what I do know is this. The anomaly that has enveloped your right arm is able to neutralize any technique used on you, including entire bodies of chakra, by just coming into contact with the jutsu or the user in question. I'm not entirely sure whether it can dispel any form of jutsu, but I suggest that you find out for yourself."
"Really?" Naruto blinked and looked down at his right hand. A moment of consideration later, and a wide grin spread across his lips. "That is so cool!"
"Cool indeed…" Kotetsu frowned at the boy's luck. "Wish I had that ability…"
"There is a downside to this though," the Third Hokage interrupted, drawing everyone's attention back to him again. "Because the technique is fixated to your right arm, your own chakra is nullified whenever your right hand comes into contact with your body, or more accurately, your left hand during the hand seal process, effectively cancelling out your ability to manipulate chakra. It's the sole reason why you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu because your chakra is being suppressed at the same time."
"Oh…" Naruto looked at his right arm again. "So… I can use either one but I can't use the other. This is very strange…"
"It's inconvenient if you ask me," Izumo looked over at the village elder. "That means he's going to have to learn jutsu that he can use that doesn't require his hands coming into contact with one another…"
"Exactly," Iruka said with a smirk. "That is why he's going back home to study before team allocations in two weeks time, aren't you Naruto?"
The blonde haired shinobi nodded with a wide grin. "Yup! I'm going to learn awesome new techniques that don't need my hands!" He pumped his right fist into the air, indicating that he was thrilled by his recently discovered gift and the various possibilities it had behind it. "This is going to be cool!"
Later that day…
Some hours later…
"It's not cool… it's not…" Naruto groaned as he glared down at the pages of the article in front of him, hoping that the words would read themselves for a change. As flexible as it was for him to study at home, at his own kitchen table without being glowered at by his teachers constantly, reading was still reading. "It's sooo boring!"
Naruto wasted no time getting back to whatever work he was given by Iruka and Shiho in order to improve his skills and increase his knowledge in the shinobi arts. It was a prerequisite.
His fight with Mizuki the other day was a big wake up call for him in more ways then one. After all, you don't learn anything of real value from just winning; because all it really does is stack up on a person's ego. A person would need to have their butt kicked pretty good to learn that life was hard.
Mizuki beating down Kotetsu and Izumo, and kicking him around with little effort showed Naruto something. Both of the Chunin, who had fought to take back the Scroll of Seals and defend their village, were strong, stronger than him by far. If the traitor was able to floor them within seconds with so little effort, then Mizuki would have had little trouble with him if he had stepped up to trade some of the punches. Naruto realized that he needed to build up his intellect in the martial arts in order to come up with strategies on the field, as well as techniques to get passed a stronger opponent's defenses. Brute force alone wouldn't serve him any if he had to walk through a field of traps set up by a cunning warrior.
He needed to fight on their turf, and carefully.
However, after going through a couple of his books on tactics, Naruto came to a surprising understanding that brute force did matter in a lot of the areas of close quarter fighting, and that it also came hand in hand with strategy. The jinchuriki had a lot to consider in regards to shinobi combat and survival, which was why he was reading from the books specifically picked out for him by his sensei, despite how boring each item was.
Still, he had to learn how to get in close so that his new dispelling technique could be used in conjunction with his brawling style of taijutsu. He had been able to take out Mizuki with a single hit, not just because of his own strength, but also due to his technique temporarily shutting down the chakra in the man's body to deliver maximum impact. This meant that the Chunin's natural defenses against conventional attacks had been lowered considerably in that instant, to the point that his body was unable to take the full force of the hit.
It was a contributing factor to the now hospitalized Mizuki, recovering in ANBU Interrogation Headquarters.
In spite of his accomplishments, Naruto was spurred on by the words that Iruka had always told him back at the academy whenever he rushed ahead, that "Konoha wasn't built in a day". This, and the fact that he felt he was still so far behind everybody else and was being mocked because of it, compelled him to read on.
He flipped over to the next page, a stack of more books from the library on his right shadowing him and his notebook open on his left.
After soaking in the next chapter and scribbling down more important details into his pocket book, the blonde sighed and closed it up. Tossing the Survival Guide Volume II aside, he then focused attention on the stack of other thick almanacs sitting beside him that he had to go through. He ran a finger up and down the pile, rubbing his chin in silent contemplation before grabbing one of the more interesting looking ones about explosive tags.
Figuring he could learn something cool from that item, he opened it to the first chapter.
"Introduction: Properties of explosive powder…" Naruto grinned and stuck his nose into the pages. "Now this sounds interesting…"
The book Naruto actually picked up after nudging aside the survival guide for a breather turned out to be quite appealing to him. It wasn't just simple enough to understand, but the article also possessed a lot of potentially raw power. It gave him so many new ideas, yet also encouraged the readers of the book not to take the art of crafting explosives too lightly. That was what the other book was also for; how not to get your legs blown off or something like that.
Explosive Tags: How to Master their Fire was quite a compelling read none to say the least. Naruto had his nose buried in it for most of the day to follow.
He lay down on his couch to read and when he heard his stomach start complaining, he popped down to Ichiraku's Ramen for his favorite miso delight. Hell, he read all the way down there and didn't even lower his book for a second when he sat down at the bar stool. He would only trade hands with the book whenever he needed to take a sip from his broth, enjoying both a good meal and a good read at the same time.
Teuchi and Ayame were pretty perplexed by how Naruto was so fixated on his book. For all the times they had known him as a customer, he would always talk about how cool being a ninja would be and compliment them on their fine ramen. Today however, all they managed to get out of him was a hello, his order, several 'aaas' and 'mmms' from every time his spoon met his mouth and a thank you when he left. Admittedly they hadn't seen that much discipline in reading since Kakashi last came by with the new issue of Icha Icha Paradise tucked under his arm, which earned him more than a few glares from Ayame.
From his trip from home to his exit from the ramen bar, Naruto read on and on and on, carelessly bumping into pedestrians who were also paying little attention to the road in front of them. Unlike the other times when the young jinchuriki went about crashing into stuff, he was normally followed by flaks of shinobi in pursuit of him.
It was an odd sight to see him walking around all professional like.
It was particularly perplexing to his classmates Sakura and Ino when they saw him walk by reading.
Both girls were locked in a deep conversation when they spotted the familiar blonde jinchuriki marching towards them, and stepped aside in time to let him through when they noticed he wasn't paying attention. From there, the two girls took their time in watching him duck right under a man carrying a crate across the road and other miscellaneous traffic, as if he knew the people were there in the first place. Despite being completely fixated on his compelling read, he skillfully avoided injury and resumed his autopilot route.
"What in the world is Naruto doing?" Sakura asked.
Ino placed her hands on her hips and shrugged. "Beats me. Who cares what he gets up to in his free time?"
The pink haired girl glanced back at the platinum blonde and pointed in the direction the reputed 'idiot of the class' had gone. "B-But… he's reading! I've never seen him read before, let alone pick a book up to start with."
"Maybe he's trying to impress someone," Ino shrugged back and turned heel, walking off with her nose in the air. Sakura followed suite, but not before sparing a glance back at the blindly strolling youngster that went by.
After strolling around for a bit with his thoughts running wild with the possibilities the book was sharing him, he then thought of something.
Stopping in the middle of the road, he held the book out a bit and analyzed it. He then thought back to the other books he had back at his apartment and how many they were.
These thoughts shadowed him with dread.
"I can't read without slacking off in my physical exercises and I can't train without wasting all the time I could be using to read all this important stuff. I can't perform one task without neglecting the other…" Naruto shut his book and held it at his side as he pondered these new thoughts. All the while villagers were passing him by one after the other, some of the shooting curious glances in his direction as they walked by, wondering what he could be doing standing in the middle of the street the way he was. "I need to find a way to balance my time… but how…?"
His mind then worked its way back to the academy, and he cursed his luck when he figured out a way he could probably be in two places at once.
"Right… the stupid Bunshin Jutsu. If only I could use Jutsu in the first place…" Naruto frowned and glared down at his right hand. "One of my many disadvantages. Great. So what's the point then? I remember from that Scroll of Seals thing... or the Academy Basics Handout whatever... damn... I need to take it easy on the books, there's just so much to know. Anyway, a person could absorb the information of a shadow clone thingy when it dispelled or was destroyed, basically producing two existences from one, two points of view and two routes of learning, while cutting the user's chakra in half depending on how much energy they want to expend, as well as their learning time. I think I got it right... meh. But I CAN'T USE HAND SEALS BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID ARM! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO BE REMINDED?"
He felt like screaming and tearing his own limb off for that fact. However, just as he was beginning to mull over it, he then remembered something else.
"Wait… jiji said that I could probably learn how to use jutsu with only one hand!" He looked down at his left hand instead, and flexed his fingers. After considering the other, unaffected limb for a few seconds, he then nodded his head and looked around. "Okay! New task: time to experiment. Now where can I go to train where there's some space…?"
It took him a short time to figure out where he needed to go. Remembering that Konoha had plenty of reserves designed for these kinds of purposes, Naruto then hurriedly made his way in the direction of one of the village's many forested areas.
He couldn't wait to try out his theory. But at the same time, he was fearful of the results.
The Third Training Ground
To say that Naruto wasn't pleased was just a bit undersold. However, he still couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment as he looked upon the clone he was actually able to make.
Following through with the hand seals he learned back in the Academy required for him to produce the Bunshin no Jutsu, Ram-Snake-Tiger, he attempted to create a clone. He started with his two-hand approach to make sure that the next phase would not be a fluke. Again, as always, he was unable to produce any clones.
So then after practicing going through the motions with his left hand only for the better part of an hour, he then asserted himself in the stance necessary, and with his right hand extended so that it would not interfere, weaved through the hand seals. It was incredibly strange using only one hand, since he had been practicing trying to manipulate chakra using both for most of his years of practice. Nevertheless, after gathering his chakra at the pit of his stomach and flipping through the required signs, he was rewarded with two simultaneous puffs of white smoke.
Glancing behind him to marvel at his very first successful jutsu with anticipation brimming in his eyes, he was immediately let down when he saw the two doppelgangers he was able to produce lying flat out on the floor, pale white and lifeless. The poor duplicates were practically dead the moment they were summoned.
Naruto scolded as he looked at the two lifeless bodies slumped on the ground with drool leaking out of their mouths, before marching over and tried to pick one of them up. As soon as he came in contact with it however, it disappeared in a puff of smoke when his right hand nudged it. He then went to pick up the other one, this time with his left hand, and attempted to shake him awake. He had no idea how he was able to pick up what was supposed to be a shell of chakra or an illusion in the first place, but he guessed it had to be the insane amount of chakra he had put into it that contributed to its mass and physical manifestation.
Receiving only a groan from the lifeless drone in response, Naruto then shook his head and slapped it across the face with his dispelling hand. The copy disappeared a split second later.
"Okay, so now I know I can use jutsu with my left hand," Naruto said while holding up the limb in question. "But not successfully. Damn, my first ninjutsu and it craps out on me."
Rubbing his chin in thought as he looked at his left hand from back to front, he began thinking about what other jutsu he could accomplish. Figuring that perhaps his chakra was always in constant imbalance and that the regular clone jutsu didn't comply with his own chakra network, he then looked towards an alternative.
He didn't just leave the Hokage mansion with a new idea, but with a couple of the jutsu he had read from the Scroll of Seals in mind. The very first one that was on the roll out was something called the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was described as an S-Rank technique because of the amount of chakra it took from its user to create the number of clones. The exact number of clones was left undetermined, but Naruto figured that with his huge well of chakra, it would be sufficient enough for him to produce at least one clone.
The hand seal was easy, as it was a technique specified hand seal where one would cross the left over the right. Knowing he couldn't use his right, he compensated for the lack of the other by simply forming half of the ram seal. Concentrating hard, he then began manipulating his chakra as instructed from the scroll and began to output it for the number of clones that he willed.
He actually broke a sweat attempting to accomplish this, as he had to mold the chakra without his right hand, which he kept extended away to prevent it from interfering.
It was incredibly difficult. However, after a couple long minutes of getting the feel of his chakra and shaping it to take the form he was intending to create, he then unleashed his technique. Through practice of the hand seals he was able to get the general idea and feel of how to produce jutsu with one hand. But when done practically in conjunction with his chakra, it was a whole new experience. After years of tries and fails, it was a big shock to him to finally start getting it down.
The jutsu he used seemed to come naturally to him. The technique he performed felt quite different from when he tried to perform the Clone Technique before hand. The moment he allowed the technique to manifest, puffs of white smoke exploded around him to form a thick cloud that covered the area around him.
He waved his hands through the air to clear it and so when he turned around, he saw a swath of about half a dozen clones standing behind him. The copies were all perfect, right down to their outfits and skin texture. The copies were also looking at themselves, marveling at how they came into being, with the user also blinking in astonishment.
He had to shake his head several times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"Wow… I… I did it!" Naruto grinned and let out a laugh, punching a fist into the air. "Yatta! The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu actually worked for me! YES!" He then walked over to the clones, which were all now looking at him.
"Hey boss."
"Awesome, isn't it?"
"This is pretty cool."
The copies then began to mingle, with the user looking from one entity to the other, walking a full circle round the group before stopping directly in front of the first three. He then raised his right hand with a grin.
"High five!"
"Alright!" The two Narutos exchanged pleasantries, but the moment the clone touched the user's right hand, it exploded into a cloud of smoke. The other clones looked over in surprise, where they saw Naruto standing in the mists of the last clone with a look of surprise. Blinking several times, the real Naruto glanced down at his right hand and nodded his head in understanding. "Oh right… my dispelling ability. Damn… I have to come up with a name for it." Clenching his fist, he then pointed up at the remaining clones standing in front of him. "Okay you lot, I need a name for the technique in my right hand! Start throwing any suggestions out!"
"Righty!"
"Shield!"
"Hand of God!"
"Fist of Awesomeness!"
"The Annihilator!"
"Sheldon!"
"No… you morons! Those are all stupid!" Naruto shouted, before beginning to pace around to think. In the meantime, his clones continued thinking up names amongst themselves while also bumping fists with one another. They observed that though the original Naruto, their creator, had the ability to dispel jutsu in his right hand; they also noted that they didn't. So, weighing up their collective knowledge from the original, they determined all on their own that it was safe for them to use their right hand on each other to congratulate and make gestures, without fear of hitting each other by accident.
One of the clones dispelled itself the moment this realization was made. Seconds later, while Naruto had his back turned to them and was distracted over thinking up a name for his right arm and thinking about what other possibilities it had, he was suddenly hit by what the one clone had learned.
He blinked and spun around to see only four out of his six clones remaining. He scolded and pointed at them.
"I didn't tell you to dispel… hey… wait," the boy double-backed at the new information in his head. "Hey, it actually works and… m-my ability in my hand doesn't transfer onto the clones? How strange." He glanced down at his right hand in surprise. "So… does that mean the clones can use jutsus with both hands in my place?"
"Probably," one of the copies spoke up, raising his hand as if he were in class, while the other clones stood around him staring at the original. "You split your chakra evenly between us, boss. We may be copies but that doesn't mean we can't use other jutsu!"
Enthralled by this, Naruto grinned and punched his fist in the air again. "Alright! Awesome! This is getting better and better! I've got so much more to learn now! Maybe this can work out for us after all!" He then walked back over to his clones, stopping several feet from them to assert his position as the original. "Okay, if this thing with my right hand is going to stick around, then we'll have to practice using only one-handed hand seals from now on. I also need to practice with the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu some more so that I can get used to it and the amount of chakra I need in order to break even with my copies each and every time."
"It shouldn't be that hard."
"You know that you can use us to speed up the time you need to train, boss," another clone exclaimed, thumping his chest. "We can practice using hand seals and gathering chakra, and we can also experiment with some of the other jutsus you want us to learn! You can count on us!"
"Yeah, but we need to practice using only one hand!" the copy behind the last clone to speak stated, slapping the offender over the head. "Don't you listen, dumbass?"
"Okay, Okay, no arguing! You're all right!" the original Naruto shouted, stressing order between them. The clones stopped glaring and returned their attention to him. "We're also going to have to learn to fight in groups, and become comfortable fighting independently, separately, and with a reasonable amount of space between us when collaborating as a team, so that you don't get dispelled by my right hand by accident."
Naruto looked down at both of his hands, flexing his fingers to emphasize the difficult and problems he would be facing with his training. "My taijutsu is fine when it's just me, but if I'm using the Shadow Clone Technique, my strength and chakra is split up between us. That means I need to get stronger and faster on my own, so that a high amount of it can be transferred into all of you guys. That means more physical exercises. We can work on team dynamics later."
"So… what do you want us to do?" a clone spoke up, raising a hand.
Naruto grinned and reached into his pocket, pulling out the book in his hand. "You guys are gonna help me study!" He handed the article in question to the clone in front of him. When the clones gathered to analyze the book given to them, Naruto then stepped away and formed the trademark, one-handed seal for the Shadow Clone technique. "Let's do it!"
Puffs of smoke exploded around him again, this time at a much faster rate. When the clouds cleared, they revealed more clones, about a dozen this time, all of them appearing to join their brothers fawning over the book. The original turned towards them and admired his work, noting that all the clones were once again exact copies of him. The clones also looked amongst themselves, before turning towards the original with and giving him their absolute focus.
Naruto then pointed at the group in front of him. "You four, practice the Henge no Jutsu! Over there!" he directed them towards the trees, yelling as if he were a company sergeant in the army.
The clones saluted and ran off to perform the task, the original screaming orders after them. "Remember, only use the left hand! You four!" Naruto pointed at the next group of clones, who all stood to attention rather clumsily. "Practice this jutsu; the Kage Bunshin! Over there! Go, go, go!" The jinchuriki hurried the clones off, who all saluted and went over to their corner of the field in a hurry. This left the last four, with Naruto turning to them and pointing. "Alright, lastly I want you four to practice the Kawarimi no Jutsu! Practice it until you can replace yourselves with anything. Go! Go!"
Those clones ran off, with Naruto turning back to the previous four to see them still looking over the book. The original clicked his fingers to get their attention. "As for you guys, one of you stay and read," the blonde stated, nodding to the one who held the book. That copy nodded and walked away, whereas the remaining three remained. "You three go back to my apartment and bring me all of the books I have on the dining room table. I plan on staying here for a while."
The clones did as ordered and ran off, leaving the original standing in the middle of the training grounds with his clones all around him, performing all sorts of chores.
Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his left, careful to make sure that his right hand didn't move from his pocket. "Boy… this is going to take a while," the jinchuriki murmured and looked up, with his left hand still situated behind his head. "I have to relearn everything I was taught in the Academy over the past two years… this sucks!" Sighing, he then cracked his head to the side and removed his jacket. He marched over to where the three training stumps he could see were, the three pillars offering a rather tempting challenge.
The newly appointed Genin grinned as he walked towards them.
"It's gonna be tough, but I know there are a few things I can enjoy…" Naruto took a stance in front of the logs, glaring them down as if they were actual opponents. "Come on!"
The following week…
Naruto spent all of his free time, including most of his nights, juggling between both his physical exercises and his reading. Because he had practically hammered the aspect of training into his head years ago, he wanted to make sure he had everything he was relearning covered, not just to satisfy himself for his sake, but also to make Iruka and everybody else he knew proud. Which was why for most of that first week before team allocations, Naruto devoted himself completely to Training Field 3.
It was quite fortunate for him that for most of those seven days the field was practically empty, meaning that he could completely cut loose without the concern of being kicked out.
The young jinchuriki found an appropriate balance between both forms of physical and mental practice by using his newly acquired Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and by the end of the week, not only had he been able to go through and master all of the basic techniques from his two years of learning at the academy, but he was also able to improve and adapt them to his unique fighting style. Because he realized that he would have to quite literally battle any opponent he was confronted with, with one hand tied behind his back, he made sure that his body and that all of the shadow clones he produced were suited to the concept of using only one hand for performing jutsu. This area was perhaps the most difficult phase of his training regime.
At the beginning, Naruto had to first get accustomed to the idea of using jutsu, as well as getting acquainted with the techniques he was supposed to know, mostly because he had been unable to perform any ninjutsu up until this point. For someone like him, a mere novice, the first time he used the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and dispelled all of the clones he had created at the same time at the end of the day, it came as quite of a shock to him at the amount of information and strain he collected. He literally passed out that late afternoon and woke up in the middle of the night covered in ants.
But after significant practice with the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu over the next couple of days, in which he spent a lot of that time sparring with them to get used to the amount of chakra he outputted and divided between the numbers he averaged, he was then able to properly assign the clones tasks. The first two days was simply getting used to the technique, the days to follow was spent excessively expending as much chakra and energy as he could relearning everything with his left hand. He was thankful he was quite ambidextrous and adaptable; otherwise he wouldn't have progressed as far as he did in that week.
In order for his fighting style to work, he had to alternate between two different fighting forms involving both his more dominant left side and his more important right side. He figured that if he was to counter jutsu effectively, then he had to make sure that his right side was facing forward when that jutsu came at him. This also gave him another concept on which to focus on.
He learned from practicing with his clones that he could dispel jutsu and perform his multi shadow clone jutsu simultaneously. This further encouraged him to learn how to fight with only one hand, so that whenever he picked up melee weapons or shuriken, he would always wield them in his right hand so to free up his left hand to administer either jutsu or equipment that would allow him to escape, such as smoke pellets. He made sure to practice with both hands so to add balance to his style.
It was quite fortunate that he had an incredibly high growth and recovery rate, compared to other shinobi from his age group. He found that after every individual day he spent training, he actually progressed forwards in his abilities in leaps and bounds. This revelation, prompted him to train even harder the next day, and the day after.
All of his improvisation and hard work also came hand in hand with what he learned from the books. A lot of his poor clones were subjugated to hours of study, and though he suffered severe backlash from the amount of information he absorbed with all of his clones dispelling at once the end of each session, he still took in quite a bit of data from each individual clone's experience. Tactics, survival and strategy were his primary focus on the books, as he was already getting the concepts of jutsu down quite well.
At the same time, he also found more and more interest in the art of Explosive Tags.
Because he was so used to fighting hand to hand and that explosive tags were quite lethal when used in bulk, Naruto came up with an idea of how to implement the paper bombs into more close quarter fighting. So as to not expend chakra needlessly using jutsu all the time, he discovered that fighting using weapons and equipment that didn't waste energy creating was quite an advantage in the field. He had seen Mizuki floor both Kotetsu and Izumo with the absolute minimum, and where physical practice and strength came heavily into play when it boiled down to locking swords, Naruto was going to capitalize on that, and insure that his attacks packed more of a surprising punch.
To sum it all up; physical workouts in the morning and heavy training of his taijutsu style, with which he would work on himself, then academy basic jutsu practices with one group of shadow clones, where they would perfect his Henge, Kawarimi and his Kage Bunshin techniques, and finally, reading and studying with the other group. A supplementary set of clones would also practice with varying levels of explosive tags he had bought from the shinobi supply store, and so as to not waste money in the future buying them, read up everything he could find on how to make them. It was pretty much all catch up for Naruto, while at the same time strengthening what he did know and then some.
It was no surprise that by the end of the week, he was pretty much knackered.
That Saturday morning, after having breakfast and rereading one of the chapters on creating explosive tags, he left two shadow clones at home to read some of the new books he had borrowed while he went on a refreshing walkabout of the village.
Shockingly to his reputation, he wasn't using the time he had on hand to scope out any places for a new prank to play or any mischief he could manage. He had had enough of that already.
This period of reprieve was simply to soak up the scenery of the parts of the village he didn't know.
His morning stroll took him around the back of the Hokage mansion, the academy, and then around the mountain.
In all his time spent in the village, he had no idea what exactly was behind the Hokage Monument sitting proudly at the neck of Konohagakure, and it wasn't hard to believe that the young Genin was overcome with curiosity enough to make him take a hike that day.
Though the roads around the mountain were heavily forested and thick with brush, it wasn't that big of an effort for him to navigate through it all. It was just like a giant nature walk, only it was closer to home rather than far out of the country. It was very pleasant.
Along the way, the jinchuriki took his time minding the surroundings and listening to the silence. It was quite a change from village life, where all he was able to hear were the ramblings of strangers, the mutterings of crowds and the smells that came with it.
Out here, it was peaceful and at least smelled nice.
It took him close to an hour to march around to the other side of the mountains. At first he thought he would hit more forests or some part of the village of Konohagakure he hadn't visited yet. What he encountered was more of the former than the latter, and when he eventually hit the dark side of the woods behind the towering cliff faces, he could not believe what he discovered.
The trees in the area he ventured into were simply massive. The sight of them after breaking over the crest of a hill literally had him stop in his tracks. The trees completely outgrew themselves to the point that they looked like brush covered hills hiking up the sides of the mountain from a distance, but Naruto didn't know that. From where he stood at the mouth of trail he had been following, he saw trees to the left and right rising up towards the sky, towards the mountain itself. Most of the vessels he calculated to be at least twenty to thirty stories in height, and due to the amount of leaves clouding the canopy, almost blocked out the sun.
The biggest tree out of all of them however, was a giant red wood planted closest to the mountain side, or what Naruto first thought was a red wood.
After following a different, rocky path carved through nature to another, larger clearing in the middle of the forest, the boy was able to get a better idea of how big this red wood was.
The tree was gargantuan. Its radius alone was the length of a football field, and its height was about fifty to seventy stories, or more. It was definitely equivalent to the height of the Konoha Monument, but due to it being situated behind the village's main landmark itself, people simply didn't notice. It was an absolute marvel.
Naruto gawked as he gazed up at the behemoth, having to shield the ridge over his eyes with his hand to block out the rays of sunlight hitting the clearing, while he craned his neck upwards towards the canopy. The sun managed to cut through the forest of leaves high above, but that was a minor deterrent. What Naruto was more interested in, was calculating the tree's actual height.
However, from where he stood amongst its apartment block sized roots, where smaller trees and figs were also growing, was that any answer he was more than likely to come up with, would have been a rough estimate.
"This tree is incredible…" Naruto murmured. "It has to be at least… a hundred years old!"
"Yes, it is," a voice spoke up from behind the youngster, almost making him jump.
The spiky haired jinchuriki wheeled around to face the person that was addressing him, and was surprised when he came face to face with an elderly man. He blinked in surprise and shook off the jolt he received, and turned towards the man to better determine whether he was friend or foe.
A quick scan of the senior gave Naruto a good idea of his appearance; a old man around his eighties, wearing ninja mesh, a brown tunic, track pants, sandals, and had a wok on his back with a basket full of kitchen utensils. The individual also had dark skin and wrinkles on top of a seemingly decrepit form, with grey hair tied into a bun. He was also smiling brightly, and in spite of his age, seemed to glow with liveliness in Naruto's eyes.
The Genin was a bit taken aback upon completing his analysis. "Oh. Whatcha doin all the way out here, gramps?"
The man couldn't help but chuckle at the boy as he waddled over. He wielded a thin staff of some sort, but it didn't look as though he was using it to support him. This indicated he was still in pretty good shape.
"Why, I live around here, son," the elder replied, "I simply came outside for a little bit of fresh air, and to reacquaint myself with my neighbors." Upon stating his reasons, he then pointed back in the direction of the forest from whence he had come from. With that gesture, he then looked back at the boy with his hand placed behind him and an ever present smile on his face. "My name is Kosuke Maruboshi. I am a shinobi of Konohagakure, just like you."
(Author's Note: Look up Kosuke Maruboshi on Naruto wiki; you'll know who I'm talking about.)
"R-Really? Wow," Naruto exclaimed, giving the individual before him a good look over again. "You must be, like… a really strong ninja then. I-I mean… no offense jiji, but you… you look really…"
Kosuke chuckled. "Yes, I know, I look old. I've been an active shinobi for over fifty years now, which youngsters like you may think is quite remarkable due to our occupations. Still, after all these years I have survived and I am still fighting fit. But, don't let appearances deceive you," the elder chuckled and walked around the rookie Genin he was speaking with, keeping his eyes focused on the youngster to show that he was still addressing him. "True, I am strong… if I may be modest, particularly for a person of my age, but… not as strong as you may think. In fact, I'm still just a Genin…"
"Huh?" Naruto gaped at the man, caught off guard by what he had just heard. "Y-You're a Genin?"
"Indeed," Kosuke said and stopped walking so that he stood level with the boy, as if they were side by side. His body remained facing the giant tree, yet his head was clearly turned in his companion's direction. "Fifty years as a Genin. You would think I would've been promoted by now."
"Yeah. Oh… I-I mean…but… h-how… you… I…" Naruto pointed at the elder, his eyes reflecting his disbelief. "I mean… you really are a Genin?"
"Take my word for it. After so many years of being a shinobi, I've chosen to remain as I am. I've grown quite comfortable with the idea of being a Genin for the rest of my life," Kosuke laughed lightly, before turning to look up at the tree Naruto had been so awestruck by. When the jinchuriki saw him turn, he too focused his attention on the pillar of strength standing before them. The giant became the center of their attention. "Beautiful… isn't she?"
"Y-Yeah. She's amazing," Naruto murmured.
Though he didn't know much about nature or trees, Naruto had this long standing idea in his head that told him plants couldn't grow to that size. It was purely something taken out of fiction, something that defied the laws of physics. Nevertheless, this titan he and Kosuke were facing at that moment had managed to grow into a juggernaut, a model specimen for all others to behold.
"I remember when I first found this tree when I was a little boy. It was no bigger then a potted plant," Kosuke exclaimed, gesturing down towards one of the smaller vegetation's at the gigantic tree's base. When Naruto also looked towards where he was gesturing, he saw a fig no bigger then a peach tree that would normally be found in a backyard garden, growing in between its roots. "I was eleven years old back then, a Genin serving under Tobirama Senju; the Second Hokage."
Naruto caught onto this and looked at the elder in surprise. "The Second Hokage?"
"Yes. He was a remarkable man, a person who taught me many things," Kosuke smiled, his mind taking him back to a much simpler time. "He was also bold, powerful and wise. Heh… he was also the one who clued me onto this tree's existence after one of my missions… instructed me to find it and watch over it, in hopes that one day I would find peace with myself. Since those days, I have watched this tree grow, nurtured it, and protected it. I made it a part of my daily routine to always visit it and stand by her side for a bit, to check on her."
"You did that, gramps? For all these years?" Naruto smiled slightly at that thought. "You're very loyal."
"It was just something I fell into the habit of," Kosuke glanced over at him, grinning a little bit wider. "This tree is called a Hinoki; one of the rarest, largest and most beautiful trees in the world. They say that the First Hokage planted its seed here behind Konoha's mountain in order to preserve his memory and the memories of his loved ones. As a shinobi who desired peace, unity and balance, he felt that this tree was a perfect monument to hold up that idea, and one that will never wither." The elder then gestured towards its trunk, which practically formed a wall before them. The archway of tunnels at its roots created wells, and preserved what looked to be springs of all sorts, blossoming with life. "Ever since that day it was first planted, this tree has grown and blossomed. It also played its part in helping the past Hokages grow and become the great men that they were and are remembered as today."
"Really?"
"The tree is impossible to climb." Kosuke gestured up and down its trunk, emphasizing both its height and structure. "Years of evolution have prevented any person from scaling it or cutting it down. It is strong and rigid, with its surface is coated with a sap that only the most nimble of animals can negotiate. Even for a shinobi, getting to the first branch is one of the toughest challenges of all, something only a strong ninja can accomplish. They'd have to have years of experience climbing trees using chakra to keep them planted."
"Using chakra to climb trees?" Naruto queried. "How do you do that?"
"Oh. You haven't learned the tree climbing or water walking exercises, have you?" Kosuke exclaimed, looking over at the boy, who shook his head. At this admission, the elder murmured and turned back towards the tree, still smiling. "Then why don't I teach you?"
"Huh?" Naruto blinked.
"I've climbed this tree several times myself, but have been unable to make it to the very top," the elder pointed and led Naruto over to it, with the boy following in his footsteps with great interest. "I would like to see you try to make it all the way."
"What? C-Climb… all the way up there?" Naruto looked up as he strolled further into the gigantic tree's shadow. The sheer height and the thought of the drop had the boy gulp. "Mmm. I don't know."
"The Third and Fourth Hokage used this very same tree and area to exercise, and strengthen themselves in the art of the shinobi," Kosuke exclaimed, stopping Naruto just short of the base and gesturing him to the area around him. He used his staff to point out random spots of the clearing, before redirecting both of them to their main subject. "Since the time Hiruzen Sarutobi was able to make it to the top, only a handful of other shinobi have tried to accomplish the same feat, with each and every one of them coming up with their own ways of reaching the canopy of the Hinoki." Kosuke placed his hand against the surface of the trunk, and rubbed it in a comforting manner. "The Third climbed it all the way to the top, so did the Fourth, with many other shinobi using the challenge to perfect their techniques and extend their range. Those who make it to the highest point are destined to be the next Hokage."
"Really? That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, turning towards Kosuke with a fire lit in his eyes and soul. Walking up to the senior shinobi, the boy grinned while gazing at the man admirably, who returned his expression with a curious one. "Please jiji, could you teach me how to climb this tree using chakra? Please, please, please…"
"So… you desire to become a great shinobi as well, like the Fourth?" the elder asked, looking down at the boy curiously. Naruto nodded his head vigorously.
"Yes! Please! It's my dream to become Hokage; so that everyone will acknowledge me and recognize my existence! I want to be able to protect everyone, just like Hokage-jiji, Iruka-sensei, Kotetsu and Izumo! I will do anything to fulfill this dream!" Naruto said eagerly.
He meant every word he spoke, which struck a chord with the elderly shinobi. With his attention focused firmly on the boy, Kosuke smiled and nodded.
"Of course lad," the senior Genin chuckled at his insistence, and turned to face him completely. "I said that I would, didn't I? If the goal of becoming Hokage is what you truly desire, then who am I to deny a fellow comrade? If you feel you are up to it, then I shall oversee your training personally."
"Yatta! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto bowed to the man, grinning from ear to ear. "I will not let you down!"
That very next morning…
In an effort to impress Kosuke and to accomplish the task of reaching the top, Naruto started training immediately. However, his trials up the side of the tree didn't go as well as he had hoped.
After a few hours of practice on some of the smaller trees surrounding the Hinoki, the jinchuriki then sized himself up against the big boss. It looked like a grueling climb, something that could easily be compared to any mountain or cliff anywhere in the world. But no matter how long it took, no matter how hard it was, and no matter how many times he fell, Naruto was going to get to the utmost point of this tree.
But life was a real bitch…
Almost instantly after just hiking several feet up the vessel's side, he was quickly let down… over and over and over again.
To be brutally honest, he had been working at climbing the Hinoki since yesterday afternoon, an effort which was slowly killing him on the inside… metaphorically of course…
For what felt like the hundredth time in a row, Naruto crash landed hard against the lumpy earth of the tower's base, after making it only about forty feet up. His feet had slipped on their own accord upon dragging him about a couple of inches passed his previous mark, before giving way and sending him falling flat towards the ground with a loud thud seconds later.
The boy groaned when he opened his eyes and stared straight up towards the canopy of the towering behemoth, the tree almost looking as though it was laughing at him from where he lay. Amidst the wind and the bare morning sky seen peaking through the surrounding treetops, it looked like the whole forest was swaying in Naruto's eyes.
But then again, he could have simply suffered a minor concussion or was seriously exhausted from all of his efforts.
While Naruto remained sprawled out on the ground, catching his breath, the senior Genin Kosuke overseeing his progress sat quietly on the sidelines close to the edge of the clearing, about forty yards away with his wok on a fire. The elder was cooking breakfast for the both of them, humming a cheerful melody while at the same time casually laboring away.
A highly frustrated Naruto growled and sat up, rubbing his sore head and back. He directed an intense glare at the massive beast making his exercise so exceedingly difficult.
"It's been twelve hours, and since yesterday I've only managed to climb about twenty five feet!" Naruto thought with a loud groan as he retraced his previous steps, fully aware that he had about a mile or so to go. "Man, this tree is slippery!" The blonde then turned towards one of the other, smaller trees Kosuke had instructed him to climb to get a better understanding of the concept of climbing through use of chakra.
In a word, they had been way more of an enjoyment to scale than their gargantuan mother, something that kind of peeved the jinchuriki off. His mentor had informed him that about every single shinobi in the world could scale and fly through the tallest of normal trees as if the practice was second nature, and that only a handful of skilled Chunin and Jonin could possibly make it to the first branch of the Hinoki. Those included in the count, aside from the past Kages, included shinobi like Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, Danzo, unknown members of ANBU, Aoba, and other people Naruto never even heard about. Heck, he was pretty vague about most of the list he had been given.
Nevertheless, the thought of other people accomplishing the same task several years older or around the same age made Naruto want to try even harder, but at the rate he was going at he figured he wouldn't be able to make it to the first branch within a month. To reach the top would take two and a half, at least. Not to mention he wasn't all that confident that he could practice straight on, day in and day out, and cut down on the time needed for sleep. He was already knackered from just twelve hours of this.
"Those ones were much easier!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the redwoods surrounding the clearing.
Kosuke chuckled upon hearing the boy's cry of despair, yet continued to thoroughly mix the stir-fry he was cooking up. "It took Hiruzen Sarutobi three months of practice before he was able to climb the whole of the tree in one go, Naruto-kun. Back then, it was a lot shorter and he was a senior Genin at the time. But the Hinoki grows many times faster then bamboo, so when he was finally able to reach the top, it was already level with the noses of the Hokage Monument. Use this as a side thought to inspire you, as you train to surpass him."
"Oh, I will," Naruto said and leapt to his feet. Stepping back a few, he then faced the tree down as if it were an opponent and took a stance. "But I'm not going to give up! I will make it to the top of this thing within a week! That's a promise!"
With a primal roar, he charged at the trunk and leapt at it. Slamming his feet into the side he began sprinting up it, maintaining absolute control, balance and consistency over his chakra as he advanced more and more. Concentrating on the tree and only the tree, he climbed and climbed, with the absolute belief that he could make it passed his current record.
Several seconds later though, his foot slipped along the surface again and the boy stalled in his ascent. He shouted out in surprise when he started to fall, but before he had the chance to hit the ground, he back flipped and landed on the grassy clearing on his own two feet, this time with a light tap as opposed to his regular thuds. Huffing in a crouched position, he then took another stance and with another roar, charged at the tree.
"AGAIN!"
This process continued on for the next few minutes with the only sounds present in the entire forest coming from the boy shouting curses and words of encouragement at his body, providing something of a back theme to the normally peaceful surroundings. Curious animals drawn to the commotion watched on from their hiding places in the woods as Naruto tried again and again to keep himself planted to his tree. However, with every attempt from then on, he made it at least an inch or so further every time. It often jumped with him climbing a foot or two further, before he inevitably lost balance and fell back the way he came.
On about the fortieth try from his invigorated restart, he fell, and once again landed, crouching on all fours to absorb the impact of the drop. With the thought of taking off again set firmly in his head, he set himself into a sprinting start, only to stop in mid-launch.
Panting for breath and looking in an even worse state then before, the boy glared up towards the tree with a tight scowl. For several seconds onwards he stared, catching his breath and reenergizing his body for possibly another attempt, his eyes locked onto the sheer size and glory of the tree. Heh. It was quite funny. No matter how many times he looked at it, even though he had been trying to scale it for some time, it always appealed to him as an impossible entity to conquer.
But that didn't mean he was going to flat out give up on admiration and respect for the towering life giver.
Still, fatigue was overcoming, and with a sigh he stood straight up and walked over to his mentor. Kosuke smiled when he saw the boy begin to approach and quickly divided both rice and stir-fry between them, setting a bowl on the tree stump in front of his student. When the young jinchuriki sat down before the fire, he just lain collapsed, allowing exhaustion to take over his weary form.
"This is ridicules," Naruto groaned, running a hand down his face and wiping sweat from his brow. He wiped his palm over his dirty jacket, looking over at the elder with an almost resigned expression of disgruntlement. "No matter how hard I try to hold onto the sucker, I just keep falling."
"It's because the surface of the tree is like a running waterfall," Kosuke exclaimed. "Your chakra is attempting to keep you planted against an ever changing surface. Unlike regular trees the sap of the Hinoki oozes out of its pores to form a very fine, delicate, but also extremely versatile layer, with the microscopic densities upsetting your grip with every step you climb. Why not try treating it as if you were walking on water?"
Kind of taken aback by the words and amidst his panting, Naruto leaned into a more appropriate sitting position and stared at the man curiously. "H-How would I do that?"
"Think of the tree as if it were the surface of a lake or river," Kosuke exclaimed, setting down his ladle and collecting his own bowl of rice and vegetables. He then held out a single chopstick at the tip of his finger and balanced it on it so that it bobbed sort of like a seesaw. "Water is in a constant state of movement and unlike a solid, its molecular density isn't as tightly packed. Therefore, you must adapt your chakra control to the tree like it is a continuously changing surface like water or mud. If you can do that, then you can climb any tree and cross any lake." Kosuke smiled and then directed attention to his meal. "It just takes time."
"Hmm… it's very complicated," Naruto squinted in confusion as he mulled over the tips given to him by the elder. "But… I'll try." The blonde picked up his bowl and eating utensils. Sniffing the meal and testing the temperature he then dug into it, joining the elder in breakfast. Since he wasn't that much of a fan of vegetables, Naruto first tried picking around for the more meaty substances available. However, unable to hide from the whole content of the feast and that most of it consisted of vegetables, the boy eventually resigned to his fate and dug into the beans and other slices. The first few bites had the youngster reel back in surprise. "Wow, this is delicious!"
"Yes, I've been cooking for years," Kosuke replied, swallowing the food in his mouth. "When you've been out on as many missions as I have, you pick up more than a few things. You learn how to cook for yourself, forage, learn what plants are good for you, what herbs are bad for you, and you learn how to survive. It's one of my specialties."
"Well, either way this is great, oji-san," the jinchuriki grinned, gesturing at the meal. "You're an excellent ninja and a fantastic cook! It's true. I don't even like vegetables that much, yet this food is filled with them!"
"Why, thank you, Naruto-kun," the senior Genin replied with a gracious bow, and continued eating.
They ate in relative silence from then on, surrounded by nothing but earth and wood. But it wasn't to last.
Before Naruto could tucker away on his second serving, he heard a rustling in the trees behind him and glanced over his shoulder. All eyes locked onto the undergrowth, where both he and Kosuke saw two shadows step into view. They appeared to hang back for bit, before eventually stepping into the light of the sun. The jinchuriki expected intruders, but to his surprise saw that it was the two clones he had left behind at his apartment to study the books he had left for them. From the state the two were in, they looked as though they had spent hours trying to track him down.
"There you are, boss!" the clone on the right shouted, brushing leaves off of his shoulder. "We've been looking everywhere for yah!"
"We got worried when you didn't come back home last night!" the other clone exclaimed. Shaking off the long distance they had traveled, both of the copies walked over to their host, who was currently in the process of scowling them for interrupting his meal.
"Why the heck didn't you guys dispel when you finished?" Naruto grumbled, lowering his bowl.
"Well… we finished the books we were reading, but then we got bored and decided to go look for something else to do," the first clone spoke up, crossing his arms to affirm his position on the subject. "We didn't know where you were or what you were doing, so we had heaps of free time to kill… but then we got bored of walking around as well and went searching for you instead."
"It took us forever… but now… here we are!" the other copy exclaimed grandly, looking around the clearing. "What a nice place."
Kosuke chuckled at the sight of the doppelgangers arguing with their master, the elder clearly amused by the fact that his temporary student could even share a conversation with his clones. Shinobi who had had experience with the clone jutsu never had the privilege of talking with the bodies they managed to produce, let alone maintain them for an extended period of time. But then again, the elder had predicated things up until this point, what with the boy's character and potential.
"Yeah, well, it would have been easier if you guys had just dispelled, so that I could get the information you tw…" Naruto was about to grill his doppelgangers out for their stupidity, when his mind eventually swung around onto an important realization.
Blinking as he stared at his shadow clones the young ninja then slapped his hand to his forehead for not coming up with this answer sooner. Cursing himself, he turned back to Kosuke and, before he could fall into a tirade of yelling and put downs on himself, he set his food down on the stump he was using as a chair and table, and grabbed his hair with his left hand. He reigned himself into a more appropriate mood.
"Kami, I am so stupid!" the jinchuriki cried out. "Shadow Clones! I can use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsuto speed up my training! Geez!" The boy turned to the two copies he had out and willingly dispelled them, the two doppelgangers vanishing into puffs of smoke. With a renewed grin the boy turned back towards his mentor. "I can use my jutsu to… oooh…" His mind then instantly became dead weight when he was simultaneously hit at close range, with the combined knowledge and experience of his two clones' twelve hours of long life. The rebound from the maintained technique nearly knocked him out, and since he was exhausted from his other exercises, it meant the aftereffects hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oohhh… mind crap."
"Take it easy, Naruto-kun," Kosuke exclaimed, jabbing his chopsticks in his direction. "Don't want to work yourself too hard."
"Ugh. It's not that bad after you get used to it," the boy replied, shaking off the affects of the dispelling clones, despite his head still spinning from the wipe out of memories. "It was just two clones and hours of information to take in at point blank range. Anyway… as I was saying, I can use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to speed up my tree climbing exercise and get me to the top faster. I can use whole bunches of clones to scale the one tree at the same time, and then dispel them to absorb the experiences and techniques necessary to make it work."
"Hmm… good plan," Kosuke nodded, holding his bowl up again to continue eating. "Try it out. See how it goes for you."
Eager to give it another go, Naruto hurriedly finished his second meal and thanked the cook. After setting the bowl aside, he then hopped back to his feet and directed his attention towards the goliath tree, the seemingly unbeatable opponent. With the Hinoki set squarely in his sights he formed the trademark one-handed hand seal and conjured up the necessary number of clones he would need to make it up the tree in the allotted time. Explosions of smoke engulfed the entire area and within seconds, it was filled with a platoon's worth of about fifty, ragged looking copies.
Despite his chakra already being stretched to the limit thanks to the training, Naruto set himself his mark. The clones, though exhausted, were pumped and ready for action. All at once, they lined up, dropped low, and went for it…
"Wait a second, Naruto-kun," Kosuke exclaimed, stopping the army dead in its tracks.
All the doppelgangers froze, eliciting some groans and complaints from the horde. Relaxing, the original standing at the back of the pack turned around to face the elder, responding to the call. The senior Genin, still in the midst of eating, jabbed his chopsticks in the boy's direction and then towards the tree.
"There are more ways then one in which you can try reaching the top of Hinoki," Kosuke exclaimed. "Why not, instead of attempting to climb like Hiruzen and Minato did, you try jumping to the top of the tree? Aim towards the skies, as they say."
"Jumping? Skies?" Naruto blinked, moments before frowning when reality caught up with the advice he was just given. "Come on gramps, that's crazy. Nobody in this whole damn country can jump that high! I would have to be able to fly to even reach the top of this thing!"
"Think of it as flexibility in your training," Kosuke explained, dipping his chopsticks back into their bowl. "Let your clones negotiate the tree. If you also wish to perfect your taijutsu, why not try leg extension exercises?"
"What are those?" Naruto asked, stepping out of the line up of clones.
"If you have chakra, you can climb a tree by scaling it with your feet alone," Kosuke then smiled more brightly at him. "However, think about what would happen if you didn't have any chakra whatsoever to help support you up the tree. What will you do then?"
"That's easy," Naruto said while stopping and placing his hands on his hips. "I would simply climb the tree through my own strength. I've been unable to perform any ninjutsu whatsoever for years or use any of my chakra up until just a few days ago. I think I know a thing or two about fighting under my own power and pushing my body's limits…"
"Ahh… but there's the point. As an alternative to just exercising your control over your chakra, you can instead continue increasing your own body's natural strength and dexterity," Kosuke stated. "A shinobi doesn't just rely on his chakra. A smart, calculative shinobi also relies on his own fitness and capabilities beyond the limits of his spiritual and physical energies. Hiruzen Sarutobi is able to jump to the top of a red wood in a single bound. Think about what you can accomplish by strengthening yourself beyond that point…"
Naruto blinked at this and rubbed his chin in thought. Looking back, he saw his clones lose interest in the conversation and direct themselves towards the tree. They scaled it on mass, some of them falling, some of them climbing on, before eventually pushing off. The clones did it in waves of dozens at a time, falling like rain and running back up like a stream. Though the original admitted that it would probably take him a lot longer to reach the top through chakra alone, he then considered the possibility of cutting that time completely in half.
With an affirmative nod, the original turned back to Kosuke.
"What do I need to do?"
Several minutes later…
"THIS IS INSANE!" Naruto cried out in misery, while at the same time trying to carry the massive boulder sitting on top of his back, strapped to him by high-tension rope. "I CAN'T MOVE! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
The jinchuriki's screams scared a flock of birds from their perch and they flew screeching away from the forest. Meanwhile, the one who had disturbed the natural order of things was nearly hunched over with what could only be described as an incredibly heavy, lumpy and uncomfortable weight on his shoulders. Not to mention his forearms and his legs… all of his limbs were held down by stones, also bound to him by rope. The totality of the mass precariously balanced on his small frame all stacked up in the end, and while the weights on his arms and legs were enough to prevent him from walking straight or even walking at all, the giant boulder about the size of a hay wagon he was carrying kept him firmly planted.
Each step was as painful as passing a kidney stone.
On top of that, Naruto was starting off this exercise in his underwear, with no sandals, no headband, or any excess gear of any kind.
"GOD DAMMIT!"
"Try to keep the curses to yourself my boy," Kosuke chuckled from where he sat on a fallen log several meters away, hands propped on his walking cane as he watched the youngster work. The commotion of the clones in the next clearing running up and down the Hinoki was practically drowned out by this new event. All the while, the old man continued to wear his perfectly cheerful smile as if it were a daily routine in his life. "It does a person's character good to maintain a firm yet vigorousoutlook. The world was built upon the words of wisdom, a sharp stick and a strong backbone. Don't let one aspect about your personality outweigh the others."
"This ROCK is outweighing everything!" Naruto growled, taking another step forward, his entire body trembling. His legs were shaking the most and with every step he took through gritted teeth, he had this constant dread gnawing at the back of his mind that he was going to fall over. "I don't see how… gra-argh… I will ever be able to jump from tree to tree, let alone run, with this… argh… thing on my back!"
"Sometimes you have to learn how to run before you can walk," the senior Genin exclaimed.
"Iruka-sensei used that on me too! AAAARRRGGGHHH!" Naruto bellowed out and took another step. Whether out of pain or anguish he didn't know. It hurt either way. "I CAN'T WIN AGAINST MY TEACHERS."
"Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat," Kosuke sung.
"HE USED THAT ONE AS WELL!"
As the days passed…
Naruto was put through hell on earth, within reasonable grounds and without any verbal abuse from his teacher whatsoever. Kosuke was, to put it in brief, a really nice man, not one to curse, glower, or raise his voice from impatience. He had patience to spare. Years of being a ninja and taking missions alongside many of his other fellow shinobi had molded him into a superb individual, and Naruto knew this just from looking at him. However, it wasn't just on appearances. It was also for a fact that the elder shinobi had this warm aura about him that the jinchuriki felt was okay and was far from the leers and sneers that he had had directed towards him from the rest of the villagers. Konoha's Eternal Genin was definitely a wise, kind, considerate, and judging from his aura, a powerful warrior.
The only aspect that sort of balanced the scales on the fondness of his character was that he was very prompt and tended to take the stages of training two steps at a time. Obviously, Kosuke wanted Naruto to get the tree climbing exercise and body strengthening down at the same time within the week, which showed just how gentle hearted he could be in addition to being extremely disciplined.
A part of Naruto considered this trait to be evil…
The man simply pushed and encouraged him by being nice to him. That was a whole new level of evil that the jinchuriki only expected to come from Iruka. If it weren't for the hundreds of years of age difference, the blonde swore that the two of them would have gotten along tormenting him quite swimmingly.
As for the training, it was tough.
No, beyond tough.
Carrying around boulders on his back while at the same time stretching his chakra on the clone jutsu to the max was the hardest trials he had ever been through in all of his years of education and practical exercises.
He was certain he was making record breaking leaps in his progress, because by the end of the week he felt that he had propelled himself way above the academy graduate averages.
This knowledge came with the experiences and pain.
The first day of tree climbing was very similar to his first day of using jutsu. It was essentially a crash course in getting the feel of the exercises and taking it from there. On the second day, he took it up a notch, combining the tree climbing exercises with his jutsu and leg extension training.
The latter perhaps meant more to him then the tree climbing.
While the clones handled the chakra aspect of the training, he had to bear with the strength enhancing. His body got the workout of a lifetime on that first day dragging stones, as he forced himself from a slow crawl to eventually a steady walk. By the time afternoon broke the horizon, he was jogging at a gentle pace through the forests and hills behind Konohagakure's mountain.
Then he passed out.
He woke up several hours later in midday, where he was once again greeted by a smiling Kosuke and a delicious breakfast.
The training took yet another step up when Naruto then had to work on upper body strength in conjunction with his running route. His temporary teacher took him to the mountain side and got him to climb the cliff to the top with the boulders. The jinchuriki, as usual, took this as yet another challenge. In so doing, he pushed his body to its max, improvising with whatever ledge he was given and pulling himself up to the next one.
However, he didn't succeed the first time. In fact, he was sent tumbling down the near vertical mountainside at least three times with his heavy baggage still strapped to him, but always managed to pull himself back up and start again. This was then followed up by a run across a wide open river, which was flowing quickly in the direction of the village. Some people would consider the next exercise on the canal strange and ungainly, but it wasn't an ordinary one. It was a shallow causeway with slippery rocks and pebbles at the bottom, and Naruto was instructed to run clean across with barely a break in the water's surface.
Kosuke expected fine, lightning fast footwork and not a single ripple.
Needless to say, Naruto nearly drowned more then once when he fell in and had to be pulled back up. The frequent dips equated to the amount of sweat he had shed that entire day.
Following that ridiculously difficult trial, he was then ordered to climb trees under his own power and to negotiate the branches high above the ground. As shinobi, they were required to scale branches, vines and tree trunks of all shapes and sizes, even the smallest ones, with zero disturbances that would alert their targets to their presence. Naruto on the other hand, had to do this with extra weight, and that meant pushing passed what he had achieved back in the academy when the students were expected to climb trees and leap from branch to branch till it was as natural was breathing.
A ninja with a backpack full of supplies: no problem. A ninja with heavy feet and a carrying the equivalent of a farm cart on his back: a completely different story.
Naruto was drilled again and again until he got it right, and for him that meant climbing back up the tree every time he toppled over or his perch broke. He had to train his body to take the weight and match it with the most flimsiest and weakest of platforms. If he could do that, then he could traverse any terrain with the heaviest of weight a shinobi could possibly carry.
The boy was not going to give in without a fight.
Even if that meant Kosuke sitting on top of his boulder as he did press ups with his legs.
In order to make his body strong enough so that it was naturally used to enormous amounts of weight, Naruto performed all forms of leg strengthening exercises in between each of his sessions. Between his laps, the cliff scaling, navigating the rivers running down the mountain and the tree climbing, the jinchuriki did squats, leg raises, and balancing the boulder on his feet with the elder shinobi drinking tea on top of it. Whenever a drop of tea was spilt when the boulder was off balance, Kosuke kindly asked Naruto to repeat.
Two days later, with only three days from team allocations, Naruto made outstanding progress.
Kosuke grinned proudly as he watched Naruto complete his laps with barely any sweat or effort at all, trailing up hills and jumping over fallen logs with ease, as if he were a normal runner navigating and hurdling obstacles. His progress only grew more so towards the afternoon of that very same day, as the boy was able to scale the cliffs of Konoha's mountains and its trees without expending much energy at all.
The river running still posed a bit of a problem though, as he was unable to prevent his feet from sinking into the surface. But that fact would later become overshadowed by more of his accomplishments over the following days and nights.
Soon to be wiped clean as Naruto leapt towards the tree tops…
The physical workouts and the chakra building exercises added all up to the equivalent of three months of training. The boy's naturally insane growth rate and durability aided him in his success.
With Kosuke sitting on top of his boulder as he ran his laps on the last couple of days, Naruto had perfected his timing and balance to the point that as he ran, the senior he was also carrying was able to drink his tea without a single drop spilt. The jinchuriki also showed off his increased speed, agility and acrobatics by performing elaborate jumps from certain points across a rocky surface, and flipping over huge logs and boulders scattered around the forest, all with the weights still strapped to him. He even managed to propel himself across the river with barely a ripple made by his footsteps at all.
By the time of his last day, Naruto was sailing through the treetops with his boulders in tow, traversing vines and running down thin branches with a wide smile on his face. The more he progressed and pushed himself that day, the higher he went. Soon enough, he was leaping from tree to tree high up in the canopies.
However, the only obstacle that remained was the Hinoki proudly situated behind Monument Mountain, overseeing his accomplishments and his progress.
Morning of the last day of the break…
The day before team allocations...
Naruto grinned as he came barreling into the clearing, performing a series of dynamic flips before landing on his own bare feet with a light thump. Straightening up, he then dusted himself down and looked up at the giant boulder on his shoulders to see Kosuke still sitting in the same spot with an impressed look on his face and a beaming smile. Picking himself up from his seated position, the elder then hopped off of the 'backpack' and waddled out of the way so that he could face Naruto completely.
He gestured towards the boy, who stood waiting patiently for his fellow shinobi to comment on his development.
"You did splendidly," Kosuke exclaimed, nodding in approval, "Perfect balance and superb speed and agility. On top of that, you also displayed great strength and confidence." He then glanced over his shoulder towards the Hinoki, the giant tree that has shadowed them for the past week. With the sun breaking through its canopy, signaling the start of an early morning, Kosuke took this as an appropriate sign and turned back to his student. "I believe you are ready, my boy."
Naruto blinked, staring at the elderly shinobi in surprise. "A-Are you sure?"
Kosuke nodded and craned his head to the side, while tapping his staff to the ground. "You may remove your weights now."
The blonde smiled in understanding, and promptly removed his arm and leg weights first. After which, he then removed the large boulder's straps from around his body, which had been adorned like the bands of a backpack. The giant stone hit the ground with an earthshaking thud that caused the trees to rustle, dust to fly, and made Kosuke bounce on the spot at its impact, literally digging into the soil beneath the tree.
Naruto stretched his sore arms and legs, finding that his whole body was shockingly lighter and that his laziest movements alone were much faster then before. The world seemed to tick by at a much more labored pace once he had removed the tons of weight from his body.
"Wow… this is so weird," the Genin exclaimed, looking down at his hands and feet. "Moving isn't hard at all anymore. I feel like I can do anything."
"Your body has reached a new level of natural strength and endurance that ordinary people wouldn't be able to accomplish in years, not without incredibly hard work," Kosuke stated while looking the jinchuriki up and down. "I knew you would be able to complete the challenges I set out for you, because your body has an outstanding growth rate, and that you also had the guts to do it. Anyone else would have crumbled."
"Really?" Naruto looked up at the elder in surprise, who nodded back affirmatively.
"You surpassed my expectations," Kosuke stepped back. "Now… give it a go." He tapped the ground with his staff. "Just push off of the ground, as if you were skipping on your toes…"
Naruto nodded and looked down at his feet, stretching the appendages at the ends. He took a moment to breathe and to mentally prepare himself for what was going to happen next. He had no idea what the results would entail, but he felt it had to be something big.
He only had to bend his knees ever so slightly to acquire the necessary stance and once he felt that he was ready, he gently pushed off of the ground. The results he had been expecting to achieve from his whole week of overly strenuous exercises with tons of weight placed upon him at the insistence of Kosuke, was to merely bounce off of the ground a meter or so above his normal skipping height.
However, there was something different.
The cool refreshing breeze rushing passed him, and the feel of gravity relinquishing its never ending hold over him, told him that something wonderful had just happened.
Shockingly enough, his effortless hop turned out to be something completely different from what he was expecting, when a mere foot high jump turned into an easy ten story leap. His 40 kilogram body gracefully floated effortlessly into the air like a leaf caught in an updraft. Blinking in surprise, the boy's eyes cast downwards when he realized he was still climbing after several seconds and fifteen stories, and saw Kosuke far below looking up at him with a proud smile.
Naruto's astounded expression then transformed into a full blown grin and he dove for ground zero. As soon as he hit solid earth, he then crouched and sprang back into the air, the jump tripling by the second when he literally rocketed past his previous height and soared onwards.
"WHOOHOO!" Naruto hollered out in triumph, scaring birds from their roosts and watching them fly off. He flew further towards the skies, easily blitzing right by the birds he startled and the tallest red hoods in the area.
But he didn't stop there.
Thanks to his small size and weight distribution, in conjunction with the training he received, he achieved better results then even Kosuke had been hoping for. The old man noted from the ground that the boy was breezing past previous records, even Hiruzen's in just one leap.
Within seconds of making his best jump ever, Naruto reached the utmost highest branches of the Hinoki before his flight pattern began to slow. Moments later, the boy could see the very peak of the tree stretching towards the clouds, with its highest leaf fluttering on the wind.
The atmosphere, sound and temperature easily changed at the altitude the jinchuriki has reached, an immediate transition in comparison to scaling up the whole of Konoha's Mountain, which took about an hour or less. Naruto managed it in the blink of an eye. Thrilled, the young Genin grinned excitedly and quickly dove back towards the ground, making sure to slow his descent and balance out his landing. Ten seconds later, he touched the center of the clearing with merely a tap.
As soon as he landed, he then crouched low and grinned up at Kosuke standing right beside him.
He wasn't going to stop now.
"Watch this, jiji!" With a laugh, Naruto then propelled himself even higher, kicking up dust and leaves in an ascent equivalent to that of a kunai thrown at full speed. About ten seconds later, he surpassed his previous mark and went even further. In fact, he reached such a height that he could practically see the entire village of Konohagakure across the flat top of the mountain and the wall encircling the ninja capital. After a hang time of about five seconds, Naruto then dove towards the very top of the tree.
Making out the highest leaf he could find, he dove straight into the bushes crowning the Hinoki and grabbed it, before landing on the branches within and beginning a quick descent through the tree.
He slammed his feet into the tree's arms and, using his chakra, slicked his grip against the surface of the pillar of wood. Within moments of touching down Naruto found himself sliding down the branches of the tree, ducking and dodging other branches as he surfed through the canopy. The boy cheered out with every jump and loop, exchanging branches every so often, before eventually hitting the center trunk and switching to it. He tried to make the slide down as elegant and stylish as possible, putting his back up against it and cart wheeling just for the fun of it. Eventually, a minute or so later, he reached the base, and willed himself to stop just a few meters from the ground.
Arms folded, he skidded to a stop with his feet still planted against the tree, leaving him hanging horizontal to the ground.
Looking up, he grinned up at Kosuke and showed him the leaf he managed to snag.
"Let's see old-man Hokage beat this! Hehe," the jinchuriki exclaimed happily. The elder Genin chuckled and gave him the thumbs up.
"Well done, Naruto-kun," Kosuke spoke, putting his hand behind him and looking up at the tree. "You've progressed even further than than I had predicted. Your extra training with your shadow clones has also continued to your boost in strength and capabilities. Why don't you try just climbing to the top?"
"Sure. Be back in a bit!" Naruto unfolded his arms and turned around so that his back was facing the ground. Crouching low, he set himself into a sprinting start against the tree's side. Adjusting his footing, he raised himself and sprang into a run, arms hanging out to keep him balanced while he tore up the towering trunk.
Kosuke watched him progress up the tree's side little by little, unrelenting in his route.
It took about a minute before the youngster eventually left his sight beyond the lower branches of the tree. To put it into perspective, the tree's height was perfectly level with the top of the mountain, with the lowest branches being about half way down it. The rest of the empty trunk was about thirty to forty stories alone. It was a gargantuan tree, and no matter how many times you could stand under it, even the senior Genin couldn't believe his eyes.
About ten minutes later, the old man at the base of the tree was once more greeted with the sight of Naruto sliding back into view. Concentrating chakra at his feet to give him enough traction, the jinchuriki, for the second time that day, skated right down the side of the Hinoki. Easily maintaining his balance and a steady speed, he then pushed off and dove towards the ground. Moments later, he landed right in front of Kosuke, crouching to absorb the impact.
Panting, the boy rose to his feet and faced his teacher, who smiled and nodded to him.
"Get to the top alright?"
"It took a while," Naruto huffed, wiping his brow with the back of his arm. "You wouldn't believe how many squirrels live up there."
Kosuke chuckled. "Hope you didn't scare them," the old man replied, feeling both relieved and proud of his temporary student.
Now that he was assured that the boy had accomplished his goal for the week, with renewed confidence in his dreams to becoming Hokage, the elderly man now felt that his duty was done, and slowly turned heel. With a gentle wave over his shoulder, Kosuke started for home, leaving the area at a leisurely pace so that he could further enjoy the day that had started. It took Naruto a few seconds to realize that his mentor was leaving him and tried to follow.
"Where are you going, jiji?"
"Home of course," Kosuke exclaimed and stopped, turning towards the youngster slightly. "I said that I would teach you how to climb this tree and I did. There is nothing more I can do for you now, accept to tell you to keep getting stronger and wish you the best of luck for the future."
Naruto stammered and stepped forward some more, not entirely convinced that things were over between him and his teacher. "T-There has to be more to it than that, sensei! How will I be able to maintain this strength I achieved? I know this isn't enough for sure… not against a veteran Chunin or Jonin. I'll still need to get stronger if I'm going to become Hokage some day. What should I do?"
The senior Genin nodded his head affirmatively, understanding the boy's worried inquiries. "Keep working hard, Naruto-kun. Always encourage yourself to train to improve your skills, and push yourself to reach even greater heights. Take every victory and every defeat as another stepping stone to an even greater accomplishment, and let each of them be a lesson for you to learn from." Kosuke turned back around and began walking away, his sights set on the forest ahead. "Protect your comrades and good luck. If you ever need me, come find me…"
The jinchuriki was about to follow after him with more question, but quickly opted against that course and stopped. After hearing what Kosuke had to say, the boy knew right then and there that things between them were done… for now. Both had accomplished what they had set out to do for that week, with outstanding results. Realizing this, Naruto simply let out a sigh after watched the elderly shinobi disappear into the shadows of the forests, humming the same gentle tune the blonde had heard him sing over the past several days. As soon as he was gone, silence fell over the forests before the sounds of birds and insects filled in the gap that was once held by the two of them training.
Naruto looked about him, isolating each sound that emerged from the underbrush, and turned back towards the Hinoki behind him, craning his head to look up towards its canopy one last time.
After gazing at its crown for several seconds, the boy smiled and saluted to it.
"Thanks a bunch. You… you don't know how much this means to me…" Naruto grinned. "It might take a while, but I promise… I will become Hokage some day."
With that said he then quickly got himself dressed, and after making sure he had everything he had arrived with on his person, the jinchuriki then started his own way home. Hands in his pockets and feeling lighter than ever, Naruto set his sights on tomorrow.
"I can't wait to show everybody how strong I've become…" It was this thought that made the Genin more excited then ever about the coming days. He sprung with each step he took, putting his hands behind his head and imagining all of the possible things he could now accomplish with his new ability.
However, after considering the various prospects running through his head of openly displaying his jumping capabilities in front of his classmates to prove that he was ready to be a shinobi, the boy then paused in mid-thought. Looking ahead, he stopped in the middle of the trail for a minute.
Looking a bit surprised, the Genin then looked back the way he had came, where he spotted the Hinoki standing in the middle of the clearing.
Everything that has happened to him over the whole of the two weeks came back full force, making the boy reassess his decisions. The values he had taken to heart, the sweat, the pain, the weight he had managed to take, and the experiences, it was all his and his alone to carry. Self indulgence was one thing, but to brag about his increased strength to others was another story entirely. A ninja was supposed to present him or herself in a manner that was dignifying. Their personality would speak stories about their character, where they could use their attained strength and skills to protect others, and not look down upon them.
With that idea in mind, the boy then shrugged the thought of bragging off of his shoulders and shook his head, continuing his march for home. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, sleep deprivation finally catching up to him.
"Nah. A shinobi needs to carry as many surprises as he can when entering the battlefield. It's best that I keep this to myself…"
However, upon dispersing that topic in question, something else that he had been keeping in the dark came back to him.
He had completely forgotten about it, thanks to all of the retraining and training he had been put through…
"Oh yeah… that's right. I haven't named the technique in my right hand yet…"
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note on the Chapter (Read before reviewing):
I'm a little bit tired of Sasuke always being conveyed as the strongest and most genetically gifted out of the entirety of the Rookie Nine, so I decided to do something about it. Naruto has just as much potential swimming through him as everybody else, so I'm fixing it in the most realistic way possible. I'll also fix up the others a little bit, but I'll stick as close to the series as possible.
So before you start commenting on the improbabilities in this chapter, consider this:
Sasuke was able to take down Zabuza's clone after a week of just the tree climbing exercises, and match Haku's speed when he awakened the Sharingan (wtf?). He was also able to learn the Chidori and increase his speed to match Lee's in just a month during the Chunin exams, and had accomplished so much more than Naruto over the two year gap to a level equal to that of a Kage in Shippuden. Why couldn't Naruto? I always feel the author keeps neglecting him. What's more, he gives Naruto so many more problems with everything he learns then Sasuke; like his arm being damaged using Rasenshuriken, the fact he can only use it twice, his Sage Mode limit being fifteen minutes with such risks gathering the natural energy, his inability to transform into Nine Tails after controlling it, the Tailed Beast Ball he has yet to master… ARGH! It annoys me. He has all these problems while Sasuke has very little, especially in Shippuden.
Naruto has a very high growth rate, as shown when he was able to increase his strength and speed to match Kakashi's when he learned how to manipulate his Wind Element, and took down Kakuza. His clones increased a training period of a year or so (can't quite remember) and compressed it down to a week… or something like that. It just baffles me that he didn't make such a leap before in the two-three year gap (maybe because Jiraiya was such a lazy ass when it came to training him, I don't know). Either way, if Naruto really pushed himself in the earlier stages in the series, he could be more on par with Sasuke or Neji, without any help from the Kyuubi.
At this point in the story, after relearning his jutsu with one hand, doing the tree climbing exercises and the leg extension exercises, he'll be a bit more competent when it comes to the missions now. He may have gotten stronger, but not that strong. He's a bit above Sasuke's level overall. I won't be giving him any made up or new jutsu, just expanding on the basics he's learned, the Kage Bunshin and his taijutsu. He may be able to use jutsu now, but I'm not going to give him anything flashy, just make him smarter in battle. He'll still have his screw-ups, but not as humiliating like in the series.
I took this tree idea after watching takes on the Naruto Ninja Storm game, when you're learning the tree climbing exercise and the tree you ran up went for quite a while. Giving Naruto a tree that was hard to keep hold of normally from the canon exercise was an idea I've wanted to use for a bit.
Also, I'm not going to reveal the real ability in his arm just yet. It'll be some time… WAY later in the story.
Stick around, it'll get better. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Note: I took this idea from the Samurai Jack episode of Season II. That was so cool! Now Naruto can jump good! lol