Preparations

Naruto started whistling a small cheerful tune while he was walking towards Training ground 10. Kakashi assigned him to be trained in elemental manipulation by Asuma, the jonin sensei of Team 10 which Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were a part of.

He found them in the training ground training. Ino and Choji were running laps around the training ground while Shikamaru and Asuma were sitting under a large tree with a Shogi board in between them.

The two would move pieces back and forth, Shikamaru would take a piece and Asuma would look at the board in frustration.

"You lose again, sensei. It's 50-0 now." The Nara smirked at Asuma who sighed with a smile on his face.

"Ugh..... I want to eat chips....." Choji groaned as he fell onto the ground, feeling pain all over his body. Ino was feeling exhausted while barely able to stand up beside Choji.

"Stop.... complaining.... I can't.... let Sakura surpass me...." Ino wheezed out. Her body gave up as she fell forward. She found herself landing on something that was rock solid.

That something was Naruto who let Ino lean on him while his Shadow Clones were carrying Choji to where Shikamaru and Asuma were.

"Hey there, Ino." Naruto grinned broadly at Ino who blushed and got flustered at the position they were in.

"H-hey N-naruto...." Ino whispered weakly. Normally she would've tried to beat the shit out of the blonde for doing something like this, but she was too exhausted to do so. And his body was pretty comfortable to lean on so that did the trick.

"Huh? Oh Naruto!" Shikamaru gave a lazy wave to Naruto who waves back at him. Asuma's gloomy expression disappeared as he looked at the blonde Jinchuriki.

"Ah Naruto, you're finally here. I was beginning to think that Kakashi's habit of being late to everything had an effect on you. " Asuma smirked at Naruto who laughed.

"Nah, but I do know how to give excuses like him if I was ever late though. " Naruto replied, his words making Asuma chuckle. Naruto looked down at Ino and wrapped his arm under her butt.

"KYA!~" Ino squealed in shock as Naruto used one hand to carry her towards where her team was. Asuma raised an eyebrow at Naruto's actions.

Naruto placed Ino against the tree and sat down. Ino looked at him with a flustered expression while having a vivid blush on her face. He took out a piece of chakra paper as everyone looked at it curiously.

Naruto channeled his chakra into the paper. Instantly, the paper shredded into multiple small pieces before becoming damp. After that, the small pieces wrinkled and burned into dust.

"Wind, water, lightning and fire release. All are strong but wind is the strongest if the torn paper was any indication." Asuma muttered before lighting up a cigarette.

" You're the only wind element user in Konoha Asuma sensei, so I was hoping you would have some advice. " Naruto muttered as Asuma took a deep puff of his cigarette.

"I was already gonna do that.... Alright, let's get started." Asuma nodded and took out something from his pouch. It was a trench knife.

Asuma's style of combat specialises in the use of chakra blades. His are uniquely-designed trench knives worn like brass knuckles, with a zigzag-shape blade to give them 'teeth'. He often uses them to augment his taijutsu skills.

The blades are made of a unique metal that can be imbued with the user's chakra nature and can act as an origin of their techniques. A chakra blade is a type of weapon that a user can flow their chakra into, giving the weapon additional properties.

Holding it up, Asuma channeled wind chakra into the trench knife, creating a green glow that surrounded the blade.

"When I channel my wind chakra, I often think of it as two sharp edges rubbing against each other in order to create a sharp razor blade." Asuma explained before throwing the knife at a tree.

Naruto looked on in awe as the knife shot through the tree cleanly before shooting through a giant rock behind it.

The knife came out of the rock and imbedded itself to the ground. Asuma smirked and looked at Naruto.

"First, you need to start learning the Leaf Cutting Exercise. The trick is to make the two edges as close as possible to create a sharp blade of wind that can cut through the leaf."

Naruto nodded at Asuma' explanation before going over to pick up the trench knife. He arrived back where Asuma and his team were at before sitting down, examining the weapon.

"This is excellent quality, is the metal chakra conducive?" Naruto asked the jonin.

"It is." Asuma replied while taking another puff of his cigarette. Naruto sighed as he took out his tri-pronged kunai and looked at it.

"Man, I wish this was a chakra blade like yours." Naruto mumbled. Asuma had a grimace when he looked at the tri-pronged kunai.

'This brings back memories. Dad, you're gonna give the whole world, especially Iwa and Kumo Shinobi PTSD with these things.' Asuma thought before shaking his head.

"Don't be down, Naruto. Chakra blades only allow you to channel chakra into whatever weapon you wield easier. It's actually much better to channel your elemental or normal chakra into these weapons since it technically proves that you have more skill than those who use chakra blades. "

"So why do you use it?" Naruto asked him. Asuma shrugged.

" I got it from the Fire Daimyo for free. I would be stupid if I don't use it." Asuma replied simply. Shikamaru was listening to this silently while his eyebrows were furrowing.

'Damn, Naruto is moving into elemental manipulation training already? If he's training in this, what are Satsuki and Sakura training in? I need to seriously catch up, even though it's a drag to do so.' Shikamaru remembered the promise he gave Naruto.

'I swore that I would get strong enough so that when you become Hokage, I would be your Chief Aide. Better start now before it's too late.' Shikamaru quickly decided as Naruto's attention turned towards the Shogi board. Naruto snorted when he examined the game.

"Man Shikamaru, you didn't have to go that hard on him." Naruto commented with a smirk on his face. Shikamaru smirked with him. Asuma took a deep puff of his cigarette to hide his embarrassment.

"Wanna play?" Shikamaru asked while rearranging the board. Naruto nodded.

"Sure. Let's play one game before I start training." Naruto replied. The game quickly started with Asuma sitting on the side observing the game.

Shikamaru gave Naruto the first move. Naruto watched as Shikamaru went after him and moved his next piece almost immediately afterwards. The Nara looked a little startled but moved another piece. Again Naruto moved one of his pieces almost immediately afterwards

Choji and Ino found the energy to sit beside their jonin sensei to watch the game.

[Shogi: Lvl 50]

Shogi was a game that was purely strategic. When playing you used traps, making plans and strategies to take your opponents pieces and eventually placing your opponent's king in checkmate.

It required a knack for thinking several steps in advance, the farther ahead you could plan out your maneuvers; the more likely you were to win.

Thirteen moves into the game Shikamaru was sweating, having already used his 'thinking' pose seven times in just as many moves, he was beginning to feel desperate.

'Geez, when did Naruto get so good at this. It's only been a couple of months.' The Nara thought while studying the Shogi board, thinking about strategy after strategy. He looked up at Naruto to see the blonde staring at the board with a calculative expression.

Looking back at the board Shikamaru calculated the best strategy he could before moving his piece. Naruto then moved his piece right after. Shikamaru looked at the board carefully and moved another piece.

Less than 10 minutes later Shikamaru was down to one gold general, one knight, his bishop and six pawns. Meanwhile Naruto had only lost a gold general and two pawns. It was only 5 minutes later that Shikamaru leaned over the board in shock, trying to figure out how he lost.

"He lost..... Shikamaru lost....." Choji whispered in shock while Ino's jaw dropped to the ground in disbelief, wondering how her genius teammate lost.

Asuma was also gaping at the scene. Having spent so much time trying to beat Shikamaru himself, it was rather hard to see someone else beat him except for Shikamaru's father Shikaku, who is the Jonin Commander of Konoha.

The Jonin Commander is a position in the shinobi system of Konohagakure. As a representative of the regular shinobi forces, they are a member of the council, giving them a say in important matters such as choosing a new Hokage. They are the highest-ranking normal shinobi in the village, but still officially a Jōnin themselves.

And for it to be the Rookie of the Year from Shikamaru's graduating class, was shocking to say the least. Asuma scratched his head while throwing away the cigarette that was already put out by him.

'I've never seen some of those maneuvers before. It's so unpredictable. Naruto managed to beat Shikamaru and only lost three pieces himself. That kind of thing can never be considered luck.' Asuma thought while looking at the blonde Jinchuriki who grinned at Shikamaru.

"This will be the first of many future wins, Shikamaru." Naruto taunted as he raised his hand. Shikamaru sighed and shook it.

"Man, now I need to get better at Shogi too? So troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled as Naruto stood up to head out to the spacious training ground. He then held up his hands and crossed his index and middle fingers.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!"

*POOOF!!!!!*

A large plume of white smoke engulfed the area to reveal a group of 100 Shadow Clones. They didn't waste any time and each grabbed a leaf to work on the Leaf Cutting Exercise.

Asuma looked at the horde of Shadow Clones with the real Naruto in the middle working on the exercise with his clones.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu eh? He knows the secret to it too.' Asuma smirked as he put his trench knife back into his pouch.

"Definitely an interesting kid. It will be interesting to see what another wind element user can do. "

To be continued...