Italics - thoughts/letters/books/scrolls
Bold - Demon speaking
Bold Italics - Demon thoughts
Underline - Jutsu
-Months 1-6 of Training-
The first six months or so saw Naruto going through the same exercises every day to condition his body to handle taijutsu training and sparring without straining himself too badly.
His daily routine would consist of waking up at around seven or eight in the morning at the orphanage, eating the small breakfast he was provided, and then meeting Shisui on the Hokage monument. From there Shisui would take him to training ground thirty-seven. He would be instructed to channel a small amount of chakra to get past the security seal and then they would begin.
Naruto's training in these early months consisted of a thirty-minute jog around the field, ten pushups, and ten situps increasing as needed. This was designed to push Naruto near his limit and have him get used to being pushed to that point. He would rotate pushups and situps until it was about noon.
Shisui would provide him with a light, but nutritious, bento box for lunch and water throughout the training.
From about one to five instead of more physical training, Shisui decided to have Naruto read up on history and basic battle strategy.
He reads up on mostly Konoha history and clan history with a focus on the clans of Konoha. Shisui puts focus on the village over the world to start with because, as he put it, "if you do not know your home, you might not have a chance to see the rest".
Naruto would prefer to think it's more of a "How can you trust people you know nothing about, especially when you haven't exactly been treated well yourself" situation. He never complained though, some of the stuff he's had to read was actually really interesting.
After that time Naruto was allowed to do as he wished. For the first month, he spent this time figuring out which shops would allow him to shop. It turns out there are a few who either don't hold prejudice or figure if he's willing to pay, that's more money for them so they put any reservations aside to earn more. Either way, he at least knows where he can go for food and other smaller items.
Unfortunately with him not being in the academy yet, he couldn't test any of the shinobi-specific shops, they would've kicked him out regardless of how they felt about him because a random kid can't just enter those.
-Months 6-12 of Training-
The next six months went relatively the same.
By the start of the sixth month, he was doing a forty-five-minute jog, twenty situps, and twenty pushups. Shisui has also started joining him in his workouts. He figured instead of sitting there he could get some work in himself.
Around month eight, Shisui started to teach Naruto the basics of weapon throwing with dulled kunai and shuriken. The throwing practice took the spot of the last hour of his morning exercises before lunch.
The afternoons still focus on the history of the village and the clans that reside here.
On his birthday Naruto went through the same morning training as usual but Shisui said he had something special planned for the afternoon. After lunch, Shisui brought out a wrapped box and handed it to Naruto.
"What's this?" Naruto asks.
"It's a gift, it is your birthday after all or did you forget?" Shisui teases.
"I didn't forget it's just I've never received a gift for my birthday before" he responds with a slightly sad tone.
"Well open it kiddo, this isn't all I have planned but we have some time to kill till then" Shisui says a little sad that he's never received a birthday present before.
Naruto does as he's told and rips the paper off before opening it. In the box is another smaller box that he removes and opens. Inside that box is a tanto as well as a kunai and shuriken set.
"Now Naruto, I'm giving you this tanto so you have options when in a fight later on in life. I'll teach you how to use it after you learn to fight with and without a kunai. For now, I just wanted you to have everything you'll eventually need. You are not to use any of it until I say you're ready, is that understood?" Shisui explains.
"I understand Shisui, thank you" Naruto says tearing up a bit before rushing at Shisui and hugging him.
Shisui pats him on the head and smiles. "You're welcome Naruto."
When Naruto lets go he continues speaking.
"Now I'll hold onto them so you don't have to deal with someone at the orphanage taking them. You have a few hours free before I'll come to get you when it's time for the next part of my plans." With that said, he collects the box of blades and shunshins away.
Naruto decided to stay at the training area and read for a few hours.
After a few hours of reading for Naruto, Shisui reappears in the field. "Alright, it's time for the final bit" he calls over to Naruto who puts his book away, gets up, and walks to him.
"Alright, where are we going?" Naruto asks curiously.
"To get you a birthday dinner, I know a place that is guaranteed to let you eat there" he says.
"What's this place?" Naruto asks again, his curiosity growing.
"A surprise" Shisui smirks and picks Naruto up, placing him on his back, before vanishing again.
When they appear the first thing Naruto notices is the smell and it's amazing. Looking around he sees they are outside of a small stand with a sign that reads 'Ichiraku Ramen'. Shisui leads him inside where he sees the Hokage sitting and waiting for them.
"Happy birthday Naruto" Hiruzen says when he notices them enter and pats the seat next to him for Naruto to take.
Naruto hops up on the stool and hugs Hiruzen "Thanks Jiji"
"You're welcome my boy" Hiruzen says with a smile before handing him a small, paper-wrapped, package.
Naruto looks at it for a moment before tearing the paper away revealing a book that looks a bit worn. The book is titled 'Sealing for Beginners Vol. 1'.
"Shisui mentioned he was getting you a tanto to give you more options when he was giving me a report, I figured I could do the same and impart to you some knowledge that may help you at some point. That's the first book of many to teach fuinjutsu or sealing techniques, that one specifically is the copy the fourth used when he started learning and has some great notes in it. I don't expect you to finish it for a while but when you do I'll give you the next book." Hiruzen says with a smile.
Naruto starts to tear up again but quickly wipes his eyes and hugs Hiruzen again before giving a quiet "Thank you."
"Now how about we eat?" Hiruzen asks while patting Naruto's back as Shisui takes a seat on the other side of Naruto.
He nods and all three of them look over the menu ordering a large miso ramen for all three of them. By the time they were ready to leave, Hiruzen had one bowl, Shisui had two, and Naruto had five bowls of Ramen. Hiruzen paid for the meals and had to leave to get back to the office and finish his work for the night.
As Naruto and Shisui were leaving, Shisui says "I hope you had a good fifth birthday kid."
"I did, thank you for all of this Shisui, it's been my best birthday by a long shot." replies Naruto before they go their separate ways for the night.
At the end of the first year of training the Hokage shows up to see the progress that has been made.
Shisui has Naruto do as he did the first day they started training to show all of them his new physical limits.
He does an hour-and-a-half run at a high pace, twenty-six pushups, and twenty-seven situps. Naruto also gets to show what he can do with kunai and shuriken throwing, hitting all the targets but with only one bullseye.
Hiruzen smiles and claps for Naruto when he's done.
"You're coming along nicely my boy, I'm proud of you for putting in the work to get to this point. Most kids would rather be out playing instead of training. Have you been reading the intro to sealing book I gave you?" Hiruzen says in a warm, grandfatherly tone.
Naruto gives a small smile before responding "Thanks jiji, I might've been the same if the kids didn't avoid me like the adults do so this has been a good use of my time instead of sitting around.
I have read some of it but I haven't given it a look yet, been more focused on my normal training instead of that but I plan to."
"I see, well the kids of your generation will one day make their own choices instead of following their parent's opinions about you. Just gotta show them that their parents are wrong." Hiruzen says in the same tone but with a slight frown that goes unnoticed by Naruto. The same slight frown is mirrored on Shisui's face. "Don't rush yourself to learn it, it's a very delicate art that takes a lot of time to really master."
"I know Jiji but I've never really cared what everyone thought, I'm used to it even if it does hurt a bit and I'll make sure to take my time when I start getting into seals" Naruto says with a slight down tone before returning back to his normal happy self.
"I know my boy, I know. I've got to get back to work now. I'll visit you soon to see how you are doing." Hiruzen gives a wave before disappearing.
Naruto mumbles "I wanna learn how to do that." which causes Shisui to chuckle and the childish antic.
"I might teach it to you one day kiddo once we get past the basics of chakra" Shisui says with a small smile.
Naruto's eyes light up as he spins to face Shisui "REALLY?!"
"Ya kid but only if I feel you're ready for something like that while I'm training you" Shisui says with a light chuckle.
-Months 12-18 of Training-
Upon being taken to the training ground the day after his evaluation, Shisui has Naruto sit down. Before saying anything he pulls out a notepad and hands it to Naruto.
"This is gonna be our new schedule for the coming year. As you can see I'll be teaching you the basic academy fighting style and chakra control. I'll also incorporate fighting with a weapon once I see you have a good grasp of the basics.
Mornings will start with a run, a set of push-ups, and a set of sit-ups. Every other day you'll do either kata's and light sparring with me or chakra control. Before you ask, I won't teach you a single jutsu until I deem your control is up to my standard.
Afternoons will also rotate history and weapon usage. We will be starting on more of the elemental nation's history over just the village." Shisui says while looking at Naruto who was reading along on the notepad.
"Now I know this seems like a lot but I promise you, you can do it. Because of how the adults treat you, I want you to be more than prepared just in case anything happens. Also, I'm not sure if the basic chakra control exercise that is taught will be possible for you due to your large amount of chakra but we will figure that out when we do our first day of control training.
Today I want to go straight into showing you the katas for the academy style and see if it's a style that fits you so I can find a better one if I need to. Tomorrow we will go right into chakra control so I can figure out exactly what you need to start on control. You'll also have Sundays to relax and do as you want because this year of training will be more intense than the first years.
Now before anything I want you to do some stretches so you can still be somewhat warmed up and loose before we begin, I don't want you getting hurt."
Naruto stands up, hands the notepad back, and starts doing some basic stretches.
While stretching he asks "What kind of style is the academy style?"
"Great question, it's a pretty simple all-around fighting style. It's not built for strength or speed but to be a good base for when you become a genin and have access to all the styles we have available. It's basically made so everyone can figure out what their body is better built for. However, I have noticed it suits people naturally built for raw power better than speed. I have a feeling it's not gonna be a great fit for you but it still should be a good base." Shisui answers with a smile.
"So I'm more built for speed than raw power?" Naruto asks.
"Yes you are, unfortunately, because of how often you spent running and hiding when you weren't in the orphanage your body is more conditioned for a faster style. While you could put in a lot of work to change that, a power-based style will never quite be perfect for you.
This isn't to say you won't have power, just that you're more suited for speed." Shisui answers honestly.
"That makes sense" Naruto nods and accepts that while he finishes stretching.
Once he's done, Shisui guides him through the basic academy-style katas, correcting his form when needed. While it's too soon to tell completely, Shisui can already see small parts of the style that are gonna be a slight hindrance to Naruto when it's being put into use in spars and battles. They spend about half the morning working on katas.
About halfway through the morning, Shisui has Naruto stop.
"Now I don't expect you to have learned the style enough to apply it but I do wish to have a spar and see how your instincts kick in during battle and see how you apply all the conditioning we have done so far" He says getting a nod from Naruto.
Naruto walks a few feet away before getting into the ready stance of the style as best as he can.
"Alright Naruto, come at me when you're ready." Shisui slips into the basic Uchiha stance while saying that.
Naruto takes a deep breath before rushing directly at Shisui. He very sloppily throws a punch that Shisui sidesteps while tapping Naruto on the arm and side. Naruto slides to a stop and lunges at Shisui aiming low, just to be sidestepped and tapped on the back of the head and side again. Naruto rolls to a stop and spins around quickly to face Shusui. He runs at him again, throwing another wild punch that gets batted away and using the momentum to spin and try to elbow Shisui.
Shisui knocks the elbow down and pushes Naruto back sending him sliding on his feet, before falling back and tumbling a bit.
"Alright not terrible kid, definitely built for speed but I can see some power. The academy style will do for now and maybe I'll find you something else later on." Shisui states "For now we'll take a break for lunch then we'll go into history after."
Naruto nods and repositions to sitting comfortably. He may have high stamina but sparring, even as short as it was, still took it out of him a bit.
Shisui brings him water and a bento before sitting next to him with his own bento lunch. They spend about an hour talking about what Naruto could've done and how to improve while they eat before Shisui decides it's time for today's history lesson.
After lunch, Shisui gives Naruto a book titled 'An Overview of the Nations' to read. After a few hours of reading and asking Shisui questions, Shisui drops Naruto back off at the orphanage where he spends his night reading some more of the intro to sealing book he was given for his fifth birthday.
The next day, just as Shisui said, Naruto was put right into the first chakra control exercise that was taught in the academy. The leaf sticking exercise.
While meant to be a simple first step to learning to control your chakra, those with larger reserves tend to struggle to limit their chakra enough to perform it effectively but can with enough effort.
Shisui let Naruto spend two hours attempting to pull it off, while watching with his Sharingan, to no avail. After those two hours, Shisui stops Naruto and has him try something else.
"Alright, it's clear with no control you won't be able to pull off this exercise ever, you simply have too much chakra to limit its flow to what's needed. Im gonna teach you the next step up from that, the tree walking exercise.
The concept is the same except instead of focusing on one point on your head to hold a leaf in place you'll have to focus chakra to your feet to stick on a vertical surface. In theory, it doesn't sound much harder but the feet are the hardest point to focus a concentrated amount of chakra too. I'll show you first then I'll watch and help out where I can." Shisui says before casually walking up a tree.
Naruto's eyes go wide in amazement at seeing someone just walk vertically up a surface.
"This exercise also takes a good amount of core strength to not just fall flat on your back once you are off the ground." Shisui tosses a kunai in front of Naruto "Use that to mark your progress starting when you make it five feet off the ground. Also, you may want to take a running start and use the momentum to help you out."
"Okay sensei" Naruto says picking up the kunai. He channels chakra to his feet and takes a running start at the tree, as soon as his foot touches it he's pushed back with the bark breaking off.
"Gonna take less chakra than that kiddo" Shisui says from a branch on the same tree.
That's how the morning continued, Naruto running at the tree and him either being pushed back or slipping. He did make some progress and actually made it to the five-foot mark. He wasn't able to maintain the correct amount of chakra though and no matter what he did today he would always end up falling.
Once lunch came around, Naruto was actually feeling kind of tired. After lunch, they went into more weapon-throwing practice until it was time to go. Naruto again spent his night going through the intro to sealing book.
These six months progressed smoothly under this schedule. After the second day, he went back to getting a warm-up workout in before practicing either the academy fighting style and sparring with Shisui or chakra control.
With the academy fighting style, while not completely proficient, Naruto has started to adapt to it well in the spars. Obviously, he hasn't come close to actually hitting Shisui but he is progressing well enough.
With the tree walking exercise, it's become obvious that control is gonna be his weak point for a long while. He has managed to make it just over ten feet up the tree in these six months but it was a struggle the whole way up.
Naruto's other skills are also progressing nicely. He's up to comfortably doing thirty situps and pushups and an hour jog. He is also up to consistently hitting four out of ten bullseyes with both kunai and shuriken.
In his free time after training, Naruto has read through the into to sealing book twice trying to memorize it. He finds the topic to be surprisingly easy to understand for some reason. He still won't ask for the next book until he can practice his calligraphy so that he can practice the basic seals before moving on.
-Months 18-24 of Training-
Over the next six months, Naruto made great progress in the areas he was focusing on. His chakra control has gotten to a point where he can make it twenty-five feet up the tree. Shisui decided that that was good enough for Naruto to start learning his first jutsu.
-Flashback to Month 20 of Training-
"Im impressed with how far you've come in chakra control Naruto so I've decided to teach you one of the three basic jutsu that are required to pass the academy," Shisui says one morning before training.
"Now I'm going to be honest, im not sure you'll ever be able too ever use this jutsu without some extreme control training because it requires so little chakra and using too much causes it to just fail. The jutsu is the basic clone or illusionary clone technique. Watch the signs carefully as I show them to you." Shisui performs the hand seals very slowly.
Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog. Three clones of Shisui appear in a cloud of smoke next to him.
"These clones are just illusions meaning that they are only good for a subtle distraction but any skilled ninja can figure out which ones are clones and which is the real person. It's easy to spot if you watch for which one is interacting with the environment. These clones won't kick up dust and move grass while moving. Now you give it a try and we'll figure out if you'll ever be able to use it pretty quickly. Use as little chakra as possible." Shisui activates his Sharingan to watch how much chakra Naruto uses.
Naruto nods and goes through the hand signs a couple of times before giving it a real try. This time when he does the hand signs, he channels the bare minimum chakra he can manage. In a puff of smoke appears a very sickly-looking and pale clone lying on the ground that stays for a few seconds before dispelling itself. Shisui can't help but snort at the attempt.
Naruto frowns and looks at Shisui. "Im guessing I can't use this clone then?"
"Was that as little chakra as you can manage?" Naruto nods "Then ya it's unlikely you'll ever use this clone. You used about six times as much chakra as was needed. I still want you to try and manage it for a handful more attempts before we figure out a solution." Naruto's eyes go wide at hearing how much more chakra he used than was needed.
"It was that bad?" Shisui nods this time "Okay I'll try a couple more times." And try he does, every time the outcome is the exact same, a clone that looks like it's on the verge of death.
"Okay, so now what are we gonna do about me being unable to use this clone?"
"What we're gonna do is go ask the Hokage for another clone, you don't need that specific clone just a clone to graduate. The other two techniques don't have a substitute but also will be possible for you the perform. Wanna piggyback to the office or just a hand on the shoulder?" Shisui asks walking toward Naruto.
"Piggyback, it's still easier to handle like that" Naruto says and Shisui just smiles, picking Naruto up on placing him on his back before disappearing in a shunshin.
They appear in the Hokage's office and see Hiruzen surrounded by piles of paperwork and folders. He's so deep into his work that it takes ten minutes before he notices someone else is in the office with him. When he does finally notice he's not alone, he looks up and smiles at seeing Shisui and Naruto.
"Ahh Shisui, Naruto, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Not that I mind the distraction." The aged Hokage asks.
"Well Hokage-sama, I've decided Naruto's chakra control was sufficient to learn his first jutsu from the Academy Three. I wanted to see if he could learn to use the basic clone first because it requires such a low amount of chakra I wasn't sure if he would be able to limit his enough to actually perform it. It turns out it just won't be possible for him even being proficient in the tree climbing exercise." Shisui says "I was hoping you could provide him with an adequate replacement clone to use."
"I see," Hiruzen says "Naruto my boy, can I see you attempt the basic clone?"
Naruto nods and climbs off of Shisui's back "Of course Jiji" He says right before slowly going through the seals again and channeling as little chakra as he can.
Again all it produces is a sickly-looking and extremely pale clone that only lasts a few seconds before dispelling. Hiruzen scratches his chin and looks over at Shisui.
"Did you use your Sharingan to see how much chakra he was using?" He asks.
"Yes sir I did, he used about six times as much as needed every time he performed the jutsu." Shisui answers quickly while straightening up out of habit.
"I see, that is overloading it by quite a bit. What chakra control exercise have you had him doing?"
"Tree walking sir, and he's gotten to a more than acceptable level for what should be one of the easiest jutsu"
"I see" Hiruzen then started rummaging through a drawer in his desk "I figured he would struggle with this one after he unlocked his chakra and already had something prepared just in case" He pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Shisui who caught it easily. "You will need to explain the benefits and drawbacks of that clone though, it should be perfect as it was made with higher chakra reserves in mind."
Shisui nods already having an idea of which clone it is "I'll make sure he understands completely before we even start training on it." He still checks the scroll just to confirm.
Hiruzen smiles and nods "Good, was there anything else?"
"No, sir that was all for now" Shisui replies before picking up Naruto again. "We'll be off and back to training." Shisui gives a salute and Naruto waves before shunshining away.
When they arrive back at the training grounds Shisui has Naruto sit down so he can explain.
"Listen carefully Naruto, the clone jutsu you'll be learning instead is the Kage Bunshin or Shadow Clone. Now this clone is special in many ways. It was created by the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, to be used for infiltration and information gathering.
What makes that possible is that it's a completely solid clone that can function on its own for the most part. When it is dispelled the memories the clone has gained are transferred back to the user. That's a benefit and a hindrance at the same time.
You see a normal Jonin can't make more than a couple of these clones as it splits the user's chakra evenly between the clones and the user. However, someone with a lot of chakra, like you or the first Hokage Hashirama Senju, can make far more of these clones. If too many dispell at the same time it can overload the user's brain resulting in permanent damage as a worst-case scenario.
This is a Jonin-level technique for those reasons. Now I'll show it to you once and we'll spend the rest of the day practicing." Shisui makes a unique cross seal and two clones appear beside him in a poof of smoke. They both walk over to Naruto and ruffle his hair before dispelling before Naruto can swat their hands away. They spend the rest of the day training before Naruto can pull off the jutsu, managing to make a single Shadow Clone just before Shisui decides to call it a day.
-End of Flashback-
Naruto's use of the Shadow Clone since then has improved greatly to the point it takes less focus to summon a clone and he has learned that he can summon seventy when pushing himself to his limit.
He has also gotten to a point in his taijutsu that he won't have any issues using the basic academy style in a spar against most people he'll probably face at the academy, even though it doesn't suit him quite that well. He would still probably struggle to use it in a real fight, but he's also not expected to get into a real fight at six years old. While never actually hitting Shisui, he has steadily been dodging or blocking more of the taps Shisui uses instead of hits. He can't dodge or block them all but he has managed to get to a point where he's blocking or dodging a solid thirty percent of them. Admittedly Shisui is holding back quite a bit and Naruto knows this but it's a lot better than he could be doing if he never had the help.
Naruto's weapon usage has continued to improve as the months go on. He's now consistently hitting six out of ten bullseyes with both Shuriken and Kunai. Shisui had also started walking him through the basic katas in his chosen kenjutsu style over the last six months. He isn't progressing quickly in this area because the tanto is still a little big for him to use properly so not much progress was expected until he grows a bit more anyway.
For his sixth birthday, Shisui gave him a scroll containing the directions for basic blade care and Hiruzen gave him a nice brush, some ink, and a scroll to practice calligraphy in.
Shisui took him to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner again which Naruto loved and was grateful for. He actually got to talk to the ramen stand owner, Teuchi Ichiraku, and learned that he's a good man who doesn't hold judgment towards him at least outwardly.
When the end of the year came around, Shisui had a talk with him at lunch one day.
"Ya know, now that your six you'll be starting the academy soon right Naruto?" Shisui asked.
"I know sensei, I also know that means less training time with you"
"Im glad you understand that kiddo" Shisui says while ruffling Naruto's hair. "I also wanted to ask you to do something while at the academy."
"Ask anything sensei" Naruto replies with a slight frown as he bats Shisui's hand away.
Shisui chuckles, glad that the childness hasn't been lost yet. "I want you to hold back and not show everything. Deception is a key skill in a ninja's arsenal and being high up in the class means nothing in the real world."
Naruto nods and swallows a bite "I understand, I didn't want to be top of the class anyway. Im not sure I could be top of the class anyway."
Shisui smiles "You could be if you really wanted to be but like I said, that title means nothing when you become a ninja so don't push for the top kiddo." Shisui ruffles Naruto's hair again, causing Naruto to try and bat his hand away, before laughing and enjoying the moment.