3 Chapter 3

Authors Note:

Welcome back to another chapter! If you like the content don't forget to follow/powerstone the story.

If you do not like it, please let me know why, so I can improve myself.

If you do not want to wait for the next update here, head over to (P)(A)(T)(R)(E)(O)(N)/Tronic42 and read on. I am up to Chapter 9 over there.

Of course, you do not have to do that! The remaining chapters will be posted here eventually.

If you decide to donate to me, then a big THANK YOU!

(BREAK)

Chapter 3

[Naruto Uzumaki]

It had been a few days since he left the hospital. When he got "home" it was to the site of clothing strewn over the floor and dirty dishes on the table or in the sink. There was even a bad smell in the air.

I really let myself going the past few months.

It was in one word, unacceptable. With the knowledge he now had, he was sure his mother would have thrown a fit. With nine tails hair-show and all.

This brought a small smile with a little bit of unease at the same time. Nevertheless, he first started to pile every piece of clothing in one corner of the room and made his way to the kitchen. After 2 hours of washing the dishes and cleaning out his fridge and the cupboards, the house was in a better shape already.

After looking over his wardrobe and only finding a lot of orange as he expected he was at a crossroad. I really like orange…but thinking on it, it's really not a good color for a shinobi.

Coming to a decision, he, with a heavy heart, tossed most of his clothes in a garbage bag to throw out with the bag from the kitchen clean up.

After all this work and looking around he was oddly proud of himself.

Maybe Naruto's personality influences me more than I thought. None the less, I would curb the strange feelings Naruto possessed concerning orange and his extreme extroverted personality.

(BREAK)

Listening to Iruka talk about the plant life was certainly not one of the things he preferred. Naruto started coming to the academy a few weeks ago again. That was quite the surprise for his classmates, considering he was skipping for more than a month already.

It was not the best decision his previous host did. He was playing catch up at every turn since he started attending classes again. Considering Naruto was the deadlast and could not sit still to learn anything, it was not surprising.

The memories he had of the academy from the Anime did not really help him out much. In his previous life he never paid much attention to the position of the nations and villages on the map. Knowledge of the KSH, or Konoha Standard Handsigns, was not even in the show if he is not mistaken.

So, there was only one thing he could do.

I need to study my ass of.

Collecting all the books he needed to catchup to his peers and studying was all he did the past month. At least with his older and sharper mind, it was not too hard to understand most what was written in the textbooks.

The problems began with learning taijutsu, bukijutsu or even handsigns. At these he had to begin from zero and had no advantage of his previous life. No wonder Naruto did not a single jutsu that required the use of handsigns. The only ones he knew were the ones for the academy jutsu… thought Naruto sheepishly. At least he knew the handsigns for the Shadow Clone Jutsu from his previous memories of the show, but did not use it, because he did not know how to explain the sudden knowledge of a Kinjutsu.

Which was why Naruto spend a good part of his month with trying to learn and form the standard handsigns as fast as possible. He repeated them even while reading and running. Considering they are required for the use of most jutsu, it was extremely important to be more than excellent in them. The speed was not so important at the beginning. Naruto's focus lay in performing the handsigns without a single mistake. After that he wanted to increase the speed in forming them.

He was pretty happy with the overall progress he made. His theoretical knowledge literally exploded in the past month and even the teachers were noticing his different attitude and knowledge. He now could form the twelve handsigns without mistakes, even if he was quite slow. He even grew a bit in height due to changing his diet to something healthier than cup ramen every day for every meal.

Naruto's reminiscing was interrupted with the ringing of the bell, which signaled the end of the academy day.

"Naruto." Interrupted a voice, just as he was going out of the classroom.

Looking back, it was a boy his age. He had black hair, which was tied in a ponytail, which caused his head to resemble a pineapple. His usual bored look was replaced with one of open curiosity.

Naruto of course knew the lazy genius, Shikamaru Nara. He even played with him a few times in the past.

"Shikamaru. What's up?" asked Naruto curiously. Shikamaru was not someone to approach anyone, except Choji easily.

"What happened to you?" the Nara asked directly.

"Wha…What do you mean?" Naruto responded. I should have expected him of all people to notice and question my change of personality, Naruto thought.

"Well, you changed quiet a lot in these past months. Turning from the go happy prankster to getting quiet depressive and not appearing at the academy for weeks. And now you are quiet and if I am not mistaken even caught up with the curriculum of the past few years. Not to mention that you did not shout about becoming Hokage once or pranking anyone for that matter." dropped Shikamaru the information bomb in Naruto's lap.

Naruto in contrast was trying to find a plausible answer for the lazy genius. He could hardly tell him that he fused his soul with someone who watched their life as entertainment…

"It's…complicated." he responded weakly and received a raised eyebrow and silence in return.

"Look. I realized that being Hokage or even becoming a shinobi is not a fairytale where I scoop in and rescue the princess and get popular all of a sudden. I previously thought, that becoming Hokage was the only way to getting acknowledged by anyone in the village, but I realized that that's not the case. I still want to be acknowledged…but my goal just changed. I want to become the best version of myself, that I can possibly be and for that I need to be strong in mind and body, as the old man Hokage likes to preach." Naruto finished his explanation with a chuckle.

"So don't read too much in it. My ambition did not really change. It is more like the method of archiving it did, along with ignoring a few burdens I placed upon myself in my childishness."

Shikamaru was watching Naruto keenly, then let out a sigh and slumped over in his standard posture.

"You are just going to become more troublesome, won't you?" he asked half annoyed, half amused.

Naruto's only answer was a laugh directed at the retreating back of the Nara.

With that done, Naruto made his way to the Hokage Tower. It was time to pay his home a visit.

(BREAK)

Arriving at the Tower, Naruto did not lose any time to approach the secretary and asked if the Hokage was available. Getting an affirmative, he knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Enter." came a voice from inside.

Sitting in the famous Hokage Chair sat the Sandaime and on his desk were mountains of paperwork, he most likely needed to work through yet.

Looking up from the paperwork, Hiruzen's eyes lit up, seeing his successors son looking at him with a small smile.

"Hello, old man. Having fun?" Naruto asked with a chuckle.

Snort. "That was never the fun part in being the Hokage my boy." lamented Hiruzen.

"I am not surprised to hear that. Looking at that mountain of paper dealt a hard blow to my desire of becoming Hokage, ya know." Naruto said, a slight repulsive look overcoming his features.

"Aah. But you don't know the fun part of the job yet Naruto-kun." the old man responded with amusement.

Giving him a curios look, Naruto questioned what the fun part is.

"Nobody can force me to do the paperwork. I can just stop and take a break whenever I want." laughed the Sandaime heartily. "Now, if I am not mistaken you want to visit a specific house?"

"Yeah. It is time to see my home and maybe even learn a few things." Naruto answered softly.

Giving him a soft look and smiling warmly, Hiruzen stood up and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and disappeared with a body flicker.

As soon as they stopped in front of a secluded house, Naruto begin to dry heave and try to get his bearings back. That was probably the body flicker. That was really fast, too fast even. Naruto thought to himself.

Hearing a soft chuckle to his left, he saw the Sandaime watching him with amusement in his eyes.

"It is always amusing, seeing someone's first experience with the body flicker technique."

"Not funny, old man!" grumbled Naruto to himself. "How can you even see where you are going? I could barely recognize a few buildings, but the rest was just a blur. On top of that, it is extremely disorienting." voiced Naruto.

He could recognize a few buildings?! That is nearly impossible when someone experiences the body flicker for the first time. thought Hiruzen.

"That is also the reason why only a few people in our recent history could utilize it in a combat situation. Otherwise, it is mainly used to overcome a short to medium range within a short amount of time." explained Hiruzen.

Everything, I already knew from the anime. "Who can use the body flicker in combat? The speed would be incredible in a fight."

"The speed advantage is also the reason, why a lot of new Genin an Chunin try to use it in combat. Unfortunately, they don't have the experience or the means to overcome the glaring issues of the body flicker, which ultimately cost them their lives." sighed Hiruzen sadly.

"Glaring issues?" Naruto looked puzzled. I only know of one such problem.

"Yes. There are a few, which makes it nearly impossible to use in combat."

Hiruzen held three fingers up.

"The first issue is that the body flicker does not allow one to change direction easily. The user only can move in linear direction, which allows the enemy to anticipate the path of your movement."

"The second issue finds its origin in chakra control. If the user cannot nullify his chakra wastage, when using the body flicker, the destination he aims to stop at, can be predicted." continued Hiruzen.

"What?!" Naruto interrupted incredulously. "But that would destroy the whole purpose of the whole tactic!". I never knew of these problems, thought Naruto.

"That is true, but remember Naruto, this only concerns those with average chakra control. Some Elite Jonin have good enough control to not be hindered by this restriction." lectured Hiruzen.

Naruto nods at that. "How do you even predict the destination of the body flicker?" he asked curiously.

"By sensing chakra." was the simple answer.

"But aren't Chakra Sensors pretty rare?" Naruto questioned confused.

"They are. But not in the sense you are implying. Sensors, who can sense the internal Chakra circulation in shinobi over more than a few meters are very rare. But that is not what I am implying." declared Hiruzen.

"Every shinobi can sense chakra, which is not contained in their body. At least to some degree." he stated.

Hmm. I guess that's true. We never really talked about that in the academy, but it was kind of implied as normal. Naruto mused to himself.

"Ok, but how does that correlate with anticipating the destination of the body flicker?" he asked interestedly.

Ooh. Naruto's vocabulary really improved. Hiruzen thought to himself. Maybe learning of his heritage lit a new fire in him, if his improved performance in the academy is anything to go by. Let's give him a test.

"Why don't you try to find the answer and I will teach you the body flicker if it is correct. Obviously with the condition that you don't use it in combat. At least not as long as you cannot overcome the restrictions of the Jutsu." He enticed the little challenge with twinkling eyes.

Naruto accepted readily and started to think about the question on the spot.

The solution should lie with being able to sense chakra outside of the body. But what good would it do to sense his chakra wastage?...Unless…Yes, that must be it!

"The chakra wastage. That is the solution, isn't it? Using any jutsu, we waste a bit of our chakra. Usually, this cakra just dissipates in the surroundings and has no effect. However, I suspect, that the chakra wastage does not dissipate at the starting point of the body flicker, but at the destination of it. Which would mean the chakra wastage pools at the end point of the body flicker and dissipates there, which can be sensed by the enemy. "Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Well done, my boy." Hiruzen nodded, proudly looking down at the excited youth. "As promised, you will receive a scroll from me after you graduate, with the instructions of the Body Flicker Jutsu."

"Now. Despite the obstacles, the first two points can be overcome, if the shinobi is dedicated enough. Experience and specialized Chakra Control training would be a big step in overcoming them. What is for most people the main hindrance, which causes them to throw the idea overboard, before they even try using it in combat, is the tunnel vision it causes." Hiruzen explained in a 'teaching voice' he adapted, while explaining something in the Ninja Arts.

"Hmm. So, you lose the overview of your surroundings, while using it. Coupled with the first two flaws, it should be very susceptible to counter attacks. Not only is the shinobi using the body flicker potentially giving away their future location, they also cannot perceive anything in their periphery, which is easily exploitable." Naruto scowled to himself.

That is more problematic than I thought.

"Bravo Naruto-kun." Hiruzen smiled down at him. "You found the solution very fast considering, that you had limited information." Maybe he is more like his father than I thought, mused Hiruzen nostalgically. Turning to the house once again, "Now. Let's get inside your home, shall we?" said the old man looking ahead.

Naruto grinned. That was pretty fun. Maybe I should learn more about chakra theory. Something to look up later.

Hiruzen and Naruto looked back to the two-story house and walked to the entrance gate, which had one glowing seal on it.