24 Naruto's Training

It had been a couple weeks after the 'spar' from both brothers. Changes were happening and some were bound to happen faster than others.

Sato sat on the porch overlooking the training grounds.

After the 'spar', the scolding he received from both his mother and his aunt was traumatizing.

Sato and Haku had to both promise to not do anything like that again and only if his mother and aunt gave the ok to use such techniques.

Thinking about it, Sato had a small smile on his face. His mother and aunt really did care for the both of them.

Even if they were to become all powerful, their mother would still worry about them. That brought warmth to him and his brother.

Just after their 'spar' and their impromptu scolding, Fukushima decided to save the boys by intervening. He had stopped both Akane and Midori and asked them permission for something Haku was stunned by.

Fukushima saw the spar and wanted to train Haku in the arts of Hyoton. Haku's prowers were prodigal and he was sure that he would only get stronger.

He wanted to groom him for the seat of next clan head. This news were shocking to all who were present.

Zabuza who was currently Haku's sensei did not mind and he was still on lockdown so even if he did refuse he would only squander Haku's talent.

He gave the 'ok' to start training the boy with a nod of his head.

Akane was also shock by the news but was glad and accepted the proposal. Though reluctantly, she accepted the fact that her father wanted someone to groom for the next head. The clan would only become stronger now that they were somewhere to which they can grow.

Sato, when he had heard about Haku being groomed for next clan head was happy. This meant that he could continue to grow with his freedom like before. He did not want to be tied down with politics and other clan responsibilities.

Doing what he wanted and helping out with some problems was what he was going to do.

After everything was formalized, Fukushima reported to the Hokage about all the commotion that happened within the clan grounds. Although he could keep it under wraps as it was clan affairs and the Hokage had no say in it, he was still on a newfound trust with the Hokage.

He kept the techniques displayed a secret and left out some stuff that he thought the Hokage did not need to know but still gave a rundown of the events.

This got the Hokage off their backs a little bit. The spying was kept to a minimum now.

Peace rang through for the next couple of days.

Both Haku and Sato would often meet with Naruto after he was finished with his team training and on the way home from said training.

Naruto would suggest they go for Ichiraku Ramen after his training. Haku did not mind and would indulge the boy with his addiction. Sato would partake in the consumption of the food sometimes.

It was not healthy to eat ramen as your only meal for lunch or dinner every night. If Sato had his way then he would chastise Naruto for doing so. God could only help the boy then, as he would eat ramen for any of his meals.

Sato overheard Naruto talking about his training with Kakashi and his team. He knew Kakashi was lazy from watching the anime but the real Kakashi was even worse than what was portrayed.

The guy literally only taught them to "Tree walk" and hope that was enough for them. Naruto still doesn't know about his 'Shadow Clone jutsu' and what it could enable him to do yet.

Sasuke was.... well he was still Sasuke. Naruto told them that Sasuke would not try to talk with them at all only when doing the team exercises would he speak a couple of words. After the exercise the only word you would get from the Uchiha was the trademark 'Hn' sound.

Then there was Sakura. Sato just left it at that. The girl was the worse. Not only did she berate Naruto and praise the Uchiha for his affection, the girl did not have any skill at being a genin.

Sure her chakra control was better than her teammates but with her fawning over the Uchiha she does not even notice it.

Sato will not intervene with the team as it's not his place but he was growing fond of Naruto. Naruto just had this talent of worming his way into your shell. If you just give him an inch he would take a mile.

Sato started liking the kid. He and Haku would talk a lot with him. He decided that if Kakashi still did not take Naruto's training seriously in the days to come then he would ask Naruto to 'spar' with him showing him his weakness and what he could improve on.

While Haku would train with Fukushima, Sato sat at the porch and would think of things that would happen. He knew that the "Chunin Exams" would be starting soon and Kakashi would nominate his team for it.

Sato picked himself up and headed for the door. This was usually the time Haku would come drag him for a walk around Konoha and meet up with Naruto.

He decided that today would be when he asked Naruto for a 'spar' and give him advice. Kakashi still had not taken his training seriously and Sato was pissed at him.

Knowing what was to come he decided it would be better for Naruto to at least be able to protect himself. There was no way Sato would have been able to impart the knowledge for Naruto to be able to protect others.

Even if he did, he did not like Sasuke or Sakura and would not help them even if helping Naruto meant helping them.

Sato meet up with Haku at the front door and smiled at him. They both made their way out the compound and headed in the direction they knew Naruto would be after saying pleasantries.

After passing some civilians on the streets, Sato grew weary. The females had only gotten more aggressive with displaying their affections to the boys. Some even went as far as bumping into them 'accidentally' and groped them.

Haku was too kind to fault them for it but Sato was irritated by the action.

'How could these females be so atrocious' thought Sato. Having his body molested was too untolerable.

Fearing the worst, he motioned for Haku to speed up with him and headed towards Naruto. He knew that Naruto was hated because of the Kyuubi and was sort of using him as a guard towards the feisty females.

He had noticed while walking with Naruto that the females who had wanted to grope them were put off enough by Naruto to abandon their ideas and he was glad for it.

But now Naruto was not with them and the looks they were getting were quickly becoming dangerous. Not wanting to find out they sped their ways to the training grounds.

With no trouble, they met up with Naruto coming from the training ground.

"Hey guys, what'cha doing?" asked Naruto.

"Hey Naruto." answered both of them.

"Actually Naruto, I would like to request a spar with you" said Sato.

Naruto paused in his step right before both brothers and had round eyes blinking at Sato owlishly.

Haku also looked at Sato with what seemed to be a questioning look.

Sato glanced at Haku with a look that told him 'not to worry'. He was expecting Naruto to be his over-the-top self and rushed into the 'spar' like he always does. However Naruto took a while before responding to him.

Naruto, once he had heard of the request for the spar was dumbstruck. He was there and witnessed what Sato was capable of on the bridge at the Land of Waves. He had no doubt Sato could skin him alive if he felt like it.

'Then why would he request a spar. With me of all people?' question Naruto deep in his thoughts.

Naruto looked wearily towards Sato but could not find out what it is that he wanted with him.

"Sure..." replied Naruto cautiously.

"Great!" said Sato.

Then all three left back towards the training grounds.

At the training grounds both Naruto and Sato stood facing each other while Haku was in the middle of both.

Then the 'spar' began.

Naruto quickly form a hand seal to perform his favorite jutsu. Making a cross with his index and middle finger with both hands and sending chakra to them.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. ( Shadow Clone Technique )" yelled Naruto.

Then with a 'poof' sound and a cloud of smoke that cleared afterwards, stood in the clearing multiple shadow clones of Naruto with the same orange and blue shoulders jumpsuit. His blonde hair swaying with the wind created from clearing the smoke.

After creating the clones, Naruto brought out a single kunai and the clones copied him. They all rushed at Sato with genin level speed. Performing taijutsu that was more accentuated with a brawling style, he tried to overwhelm Sato and batter him with punches and kicks.

Sato looked at Naruto and his clones. His genin level speed would be alright for handling the genin that would be present during the "Chunin Exams" but was clearly not adequate enough to handle the hidden threats that awaited him.

The Sound Team, Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi were the first threat Naruto needed to be able to match up to and or surpass. Then there was Sabaku no Gaara, who was the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi ( One-Tail ), Shukaku. Lastly the most threatening to them would be Orochimaru, one of Konohagakure's legendary 'Sannin' and former disciple of Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sato did not hope that Naruto would be able to handle Orochimaru, that would be foolish. He just hoped that he would be able to hold out long enough for Anbu to catch up with them if they were unfortunate to meet.

Sato had no clue what ramifications he had with messing with the timeline by saving Haku and Zabuza. Maybe the future would be different now and someone would die in this exam. Or maybe they would be lucky and would not even meet Orochimaru at all.

There was no telling.

Sato was brought out of his thinking when a Naruto clone launched a decent punch to his face. He nodded his head showing that it was an acceptable attack but still not enough.

Dodging Naruto's attack, Sato spun and systematically started destroying Naruto's clones. There was no need to hold back and he needed to show Naruto his weakness.

Haku who was the officiatator this time looked on as Sato just flawlessly destroyed Naruto's clones. He felt bad for Naruto. The boy was improving but it was not enough. His attacks were still wild and telegraphed.

After dispelling all of Naruto's clones Sato rushed forward to Naruto.

"Your attacks are barbaric at most and telegraphed. Not only is it clunky, it was easily readable and lacked any technique." spoke Sato.

"You hoped that with forming clones you would be able to overwhelm your opponent with attacks from different angles which was not bad thinking but to an advanced fighter, it is just a waste of your time." continued Sato.

Naruto gritted his teeth in response. He knew what Sato told him was the truth but he had no one to help coordinate his attacks. He could only watch others and pick up effective moves from them and incorporated them with his own.

Just as Sato finished his explanation he had arrived in front the real Naruto. Picking apart his defense with strong and fast strikes, Sato went about using precision and attacked Naruto.

After he was finished Naruto was on the floor heaving and gasping for air.

"Your defense is also mediocre. Your stamina is commendable and your Kage Bunshin is impressive making that large number of clones. If however the only thing you can do with that number is sit and wait to be attacked then it is useless." spoke Sato again looking at a floored Naruto.

"So far, you've proven that you only have genin level speed and your taijutsu isn't useful. You have no ranged Jutsu and your only style of fighting is overwhelming your opponents with numbers using clones. Sure you can tire them out with your stamina, probably outclassing and outlasting most but with a faster opponent who can destroy them and then strike you down what use is stamina?" asked Sato.

Naruto just laid there hearing Sato pick apart his weaknesses. He could only agree with him as he had yet to learn anything form both his studies or his sensei. He felt down and was depressed. If Sato had been a real enemy he would've died.

Looking at his weaknesses he knew that he had to start training on them. He had to make up for his lack of ranged Jutsu and his lack of an actual taijutsu style.

Sato, standing before Naruto held his hand out to him.

Naruto looked at the hand and then took it, helping himself to his feet he looked up to Sato.

"Now that we've outlined most of your problems, we can work on them." continued Sato.

Haku came to the side of Sato and smiled at Naruto and nodded his head to him.

Naruto was surprised. He started thinking in his head 'Is this why he requested a spar?'. He looked towards Haku and saw him nodded his head to him. 'That's why he wanted to fight. He wanted to show me my weaknesses and help me overcome them. These guys are real friends'.

After realizing what Sato did, Naruto started tearing up. He never had friends like this before. Sure his other friends would hang around with him but he could see the gleam in their eyes. He knew that gleam, it was pride, gloating and self-superiority.

He knew that some of his friends only hung around with him and compared themselves with him to make themselves feel superior. But these two in front of him were not only good pals who spent time with him, they were helping him realize his weakness and were going to help him grow stronger.

Naruto jumped at both boys in an attempt to hug them.

Both Sato and Haku however did not want to be covered in the snot running down Naruto's nose so they attacked him with a punch and a push kick.

Haku had punched Naruto to keep him away from him, while Sato kicked him with a front push kick to the face. They had sent Naruto on his butt and he sat there with a hurt look on his face.

"Ok that's enough Naruto, come let's go get some ramen then we will start working on your training." said Haku.

That was all Naruto needed to hear as he got up and run past both brothers yelling "Ramen!, Ramen".

Haku chuckled at him while Sato just shook his head.

'Naruto has his work cut out for him. He is going to need all the help he can get.' thought Sato.

Then with a ominous smile of his face he let out a dark, sinister chuckle that meant torture for Naruto in the future.

Naruto who was running ahead of the group just stopped and felt a sinister chill run down his spine. Trembling ever so slightly he thought 'Did I just signed my death warrant?'.