Akira pulled him all the way to the open, quiet field. The cool breeze gently blew against the green grass, emphasizing the lengths of each leaf blade. Naruto stood, awaiting for Akira to present the Oita clan's signature jutsu. She nodded her head and leaped a good distance away from him. As she leapt away, she managed to pull out the scroll from the pouch wrapped around her left thigh and summon the golden bow required for this jutsu. Naruto was impressed by her speed for she had significantly improved in just a week.

"Nice!" He exclaimed.

She gathered all the chakra needed and shaped it into a giant arrow. She managed to do this in a matter of 30 seconds which was again, something that impressed Naruto. Akira scanned her surroundings for any of the targets she used for training and spotted one nearly a kilometre away. Shutting one eye, she analyzed her aim before pulling the chakra arrow back with the string of the bow and releasing it. The blow of the arrow was so powerful, it pulled out the grass it flew over and completely pierced through and destroyed the red and white target along with the log that held it up. A small smirk crept her lips as she slowly set the bow down by her side. Naruto's eyes widened as he examined the state of the broken target and log and gulped hard.

"That's not all," Akira giggled. "I've been working hard on my taijutsu as well!"

She quickly unrolled the scroll and gently set the bow inside the ink circle. She clapped her hands together and he bow disappeared into a puff of smoke. After rolling the scroll back up, she got into a fighting stance, giving Naruto the implication to attack her. Naruto smirked and accepted her taijutsu challenge as he got into a similar stance.

"YOU'RE ON!" Naruto exclaimed before sprinting into battle.

It was an even match between the two as they lasted an entire 3 minutes without landing a single hit on each other. They dodged every punch, kick, and kunai that was thrown. Everything was so fast that if a witness were to blink, they've already missed 10 moves.

'How did she get this strong in just a matter of weeks?' Naruto thought in frustration as he put full force into all his attacks but failed to land a hit on Akira. He leaped backward and summoned 5 shadow clones to jump at her. His plan was to distract her with the others then attack her from behind. Akira quickly made the clones disappear then frantically scanned her surrounding for the real Naruto.

"I win." She heard him whisper in her ear as she noticed him pointing a kunai knife at her throat.

"I don't think so," Akira chuckled.

The girl Naruto seemed to be pointing his knife at suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke which caused Naruto to panic and look around. Suddenly, a hand broke out from underneath him and tightly grasped at his left foot. Naruto screamed in fear but before he could leap away, he was pulled into the ground until only his head poked out.

"H-HOW—" Naruto stuttered.

"Kakashi taught me that one," Akira winked as she looked down at the body-less Naruto.

Suddenly, Akira felt Naruto's hot breath blow against the back of her neck. Her heart skipped a beat causing her eyes to widen and jaw to drop.

"You sure have improved since I first met you!" Naruto said. "However, you still have to manage to keep your guard up at ALL times."

Akira pouted as a sense of disappointment overwhelmed her short victory. She slowly turned her body and put out a hand for him to shake. She forced a small smile upon her lips to present herself as a good sport to her loss. Naruto smiled and accepted the shake.

"Ayo Naruto!"

Naruto's body suddenly stiffened and his grip onto Akira's hand tightened. Akira peeked over Naruto's shoulder and noticed a tall, late-aged man with long, spiky grey hair. Her sight drifted back to Naruto's awkward position and slowly pointed behind him, "Naruto? Some old man's calling out to you, aren't you going to turn around?"

He swiftly shook his head, "N-N-NO LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

He grabbed Akira's arm and was seconds away from hitting the road however, the old man had a strong grip on his white collar, preventing him from doing so. Naruto struggled to escape the man's grasp.

"Now don't be rude Naruto, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" the man asked with a sly smirk on his face.

Akira put out her hand before him and introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Akira Oita."

"You're quite the looker aren't you?" the man said.

Akira could feel her face blush as she awkwardly stared at the creepy smile the man sent her. Naruto managed to escape and yell at the man. He only chuckled before he put his hands up in front of himself to protect him from the raging blonde.

"Alright, I apologize," he said, accepting Akira's hand shake. "My name is Jiraiya Monogatari, Naruto's mentor."

"You must be some mentor, you've trained Naruto very well!" Akira cheered.

Jiraiya chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "Ah well, I try."

"If you don't mind, could you maybe give me some pointers on my ninjutsu?" Akira asked.

"I'm sorry kid, I don't have ti-" Jiraiya was interrupted by the puppy dog eyes and pout Akira was performing for him. She looked so innocent and cute, it had both Jiraiya and Naruto blushing.

"How could I say no to a face like that?"he said.

[ - ]

"Just as we planned… Tsunade is sending some of her little ninja students to escort Midori."

"Don't be so quick to judge, the white fang is among them."

"Yes but, some American girl is as well and Kakashi can't manage to protect them all."

"Do you remember the plans?"

"Midori's capture is our objective and we eliminate anything that gets in our way."