DISCLAIMER!: I DON'T OWN NARUTO! Thought you'd know by now...

(A/N): OOOHHHHH YEEEAAAHHHH TRAINING CHAPTER!

TO THE STORY!

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Chapter 52: Taking Control

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She instantly ran to Naruto in a running tackle hug. The two teens laughed and Cole, Anko, and Jiraiya watched happily. Jiraiya sighed and his face grew grim. "Times like these really make you forget war is right around the corner." he said with a sigh. Cole kept on smiling and turned to the sage. "Yeah, but it is times like these that need to be treasured the most."

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That night found Naruto wheeling Hinata back to the Hyuuga compound in silence. It wasn't the awkward kind of silence. It was more of a, content, silence. No one had anything to say, not because they couldn't think of anything, but because they didn't need to say anything. They were just happy to be together.

Once they made it to the compound Naruto saw Hinata's father waiting for them at the gate.

"Thank you for bringing Hinata home Naruto-san." Hiashi said with a nod. Naruto scratched the back of his head and nodded back. "A-Ah no problem Hiashi-sama." he said nervously. Hiashi began to wheel Hinata back into the compound before he turned to look at Naruto.

Naruto froze under his steely gaze. "Kick that bastards ass for me Naruto-san." he said. Naruto didn't respond as Hiashi walked past the gates. He didn't say anything until the gates had closed.

"Don't worry...It would be my pleasure."

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The next day Naruto woke up at five in the morning to begin his training. He went to the Uzumaki training ground and began going through warm ups.

He was on his thirteenth lap around the compound when his father came out and stopped him. "Oi! Naruto! Come here! It's time to begin your training!" he called to the blonde. Naruto hurried over to his father. He was just about prepared for anything, but for what his father did.

Cole sat down in front of the boy with his legs crossed. He wave a hand in front of himself in a gesture to sit. Naruto complied but had an eyebrow raised. "I thought we were going to be training?" he asked. Cole smiled at him and raised a hand to stop anymore questions. "Naruto, I said I was going to teach you how to gain further control over Kurama's chakra did I not?" he said. When he received a nod in acknowledgment he continued. "Well, when you are ready to take full control, you will have to fight with Kurama. But that's not we are going to do today. Today you will fight against me. In your mindscape." he explained. When he received another raised eyebrow he continued before the blonde could rapid fire anymore questions.

"What we are doing in there is teaching you how to better control your mindscape. In there you should be unbeatable. You just need to learn how to control the space. So we are going to fight in your head, until you can beat me when I am at my strongest. If you can do that, then you should be able to beat Kurama, understand?" he said while raising his fist. Naruto nodded. "Hai sensei!" he acknowledged as he raised his own fist. Once they bumped fists they were in Naruto's mind.

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They were in his mind for all of twenty seconds before Naruto jolted awake and was breathing hard. "DID YOU HAVE TO SNAP MY NECK!?" he yelled at his adoptive father. Cole looked at him in utter seriousness. Training time was business time. He raised his fist. "Again," he said in a no nonsense tone. Naruto gulped and raised his fist again. This wasn't going to be fun.

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After five hours of start, die, and repeat, Naruto was mentally exhausted. But he was making progress. In the last few fights ha had lasted twenty minutes before he was killed. He was able to distort the room to where he was right in Cole's face or a hundred meters from him at any given moment. He could also bend away most of his attacks. However when Cole used his gravity control that was usually end game.

It was safe to say, by the end of it all, Naruto had a new respect/fear of the man. He was able to kill him in his own mind here he could control basically everything. It should be impossible in theory but he was doing it easy enough. After Naruto caught his breath from the last death (He had his head ripped off by his fathers bare hands...) he looked up to see Cole raise his hand again. "One more time, but this time try to stop my movements and keep me from doing anything right off the bat." he said. Naruto nodded and gulped one last time. He raised his hand and touched his fist to his fathers.

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. . . .Mindscape. . . .

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They stood twenty meters away from each other. They stood in front of Kurama's cage. The fox looked like he was having the time of his life, watching Naruto get his ass kicked over and over again. He even had a little score chart in his cage with a list on whose won and whose lost. So far, Cole was able to kill Naruto 53 times and Naruto had yet to get a decisive hit in.

Kurama raised his massive paw(hand? thing?) and smiled viciously. "Let the massacre, BEGIN!" he roared as he slammed his paw(hand? thing?) down. The shock wave slightly staggered Cole but had no effect on Naruto. Naruto raised his hands and thought. Chains erupted from the ground and tangled Cole in a web of metal. Cole's eyes widened as Naruto smiled broadly. The blonde summoned up Kitsune no Kiba. "Kitsune no Hikari!" he shouted and sent a flurry of red streams of light at Cole.

The Rinnegan barer's eyes hardened as the slices of light came closer. Once they were about to hit him he unleashed a massive wave of gravity, both blocking the attack and breaking the chains. He dashed forward to strike at Naruto but the boy distorted the space in the room and dodged the attack. Cole turned to him and weaved a long set of hand signs. "Katon: Goka Mekkyaku! (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)" Cole exclaimed as a massive torrent of fire erupted out from his mouth. Naruto used his mind to force the fire to miss him. But once he fire cleared Cole had gone missing. He looked around in surprise until he felt a heavy kick to his back send his rocketing across the room. "Come on Naruto! Get creative! Use that hyperactive imagination to good use!" Cole said from across the room.

Naruto snarled before he stood up. After a moment he smirked. "That's right this is my mind!...Hehehehehe time to do something FUN!" he thought as he raised his hands. "SHINRA TENSEI!" the blonde yelled. Cole's eyes widened as he was sent flying through the room. Naruto distorted the room so he was in his fly path. "Chou Odama Rasengan!" he roared as he made a Rasengan the size of a small house. Cole turned his body in mid air and absorbed the attack but then had his arms pinned to the sides of his body by chains. Naruto smirked and took a deep breath. "Katon: Goka Mekkyaku!" he roared and sent the torrent of fire towards Cole. Cole used Shinra Tensei to break the chains and then made rockets out his legs to dodge the flames.

Naruto distorted the room again and Cole slammed into the ground. "Hey come on Dad! Down is up and up is down!" the blonde howl with laughter. Cole got up and smiled with the blonde. "Heh, good job so far, but you still have won!" Cole said as he charged Naruto with Tekki no Hocho in hand. Naruto smirked and distorted the room one last time. "Oh, but I think I did." he said as he felt Cole heave up blood onto his shoulder.

Naruto had changed the room to where when Cole got within striking range, Kitsune no Kiba would appear behind Cole and stab him in the back. Cole's eyes were wide with shock. He then smiled warmly at his son. "Heh, good job...Lucky...hit." the room faded.

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. . . .Reality. . . .

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Cole jolted awake and took a deep breath. "Ahahah! So that's what death feels like!" he said as he flopped down onto his back. Naruto jumped up from his sitting position and cheered for himself. "YATTA! I BEAT HIM!" he cheered as he did a little victory dance. Cole sweatdropped as he watched his son cheer.

A deep laugh filled the field. Naruto turned to see Jiraiya sitting in a tree laughing his ass off and pointing at the blonde. "What the hell's with that dance!" he cackled at the boy. Naruto growled at the older man and sat back down. "Nice of you to finally join us Ero-sennin." he grumbled. Jiraiya face faulted when he heard the nickname. He mumbled something about 'no respect' and 'brats are all the same'. He shook his head and looked at Cole. "So what were you doing anyway? You were just sitting there for like, and hour." he said as he scratched his chin.

"We were in his mindscape preparing him to fight against the Kyuubi. We fought to the death trying to get him to be able to control world to his advantage. Apparently the 54th try is charm." Cole explained. Jiraiya paled at that. "Why would you be preparing him to fight the Kyuubi?" he asked completely stupefied by that. Cole smirked at him. "Because it is the only way for him to gain full control over his power. Kyuubi right now is working with him to get his body accustomed to high amounts of his chakra before we have them do a little chakra tug of war." he explained cryptically.

Jiraiya just shook his head in confusion. "Wait, you said the Kyuubi is helping him?" he asked. This time Naruto spoke up. "Yeah, and his name is Kurama. He's been helping me ever since I graduated the Academy. And if what Dad says is true, then once I beat Kurama, I'll get a huge power boost and be able to control his chakra without any adverse effects." he explained.

Jiraiya just shook his head some more and sighed. "Whatever. Come on brat, its time to work on your summoning contract."

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(A/N): That's it for today!

The next chapter will be the beginning of the third Exam, so tomorrow is the start of NARUTO VS GAARA!

Remember to REVIEW! And as always, I'll see ya next time!