Chapter 041

"Ah." Sarutobi nodded his head as he pulled a drawer in his desk open. "That does make a lot of sense actually. Lucky for you I happen to have some affinity paper right here." The aging Hokage pulled out a small slip of paper, handing over to Naruto. "Just channel some chakra into it to learn your affinity. If it's fire it will burn. Lightning will crumble. Water will soak. Earth will turn to dust. And wind will cut the paper."

Naruto nodded as he cut the paper. What happened shocked both of them; the entire paper was torn to shreds. "So wind?" Naruto said, sounding almost like a question.

"Yes… Interesting, it seems you have an unusual affinity for someone born in Hi No Kuni. And a powerful one at that." Sarutobi commented. Of course his father was also a wind type. But for the paper to just get torn to shreds like that, his affinity must be off the charts.

"So is that good?" asked Naruto as he looked over at the old man.

"It's neither good nor bad really." Sarutobi answered with a shrug. "Wind is the rarest affinity here in Hi No Kuni. In fact I only know one person here who has that affinity."

"Really? Who?" asked Naruto curiously.

"My son, Sarutobi Asuma is a wind user." answered Sarutobi.

"He's the jonin sensei of team 10 isn't he?" Naruto remembered seeing the man pick up Shikamaru, Choji and Ino at the genin orientation. The Sandaime nodded in confirmation of the boy's question. "Maybe when I get started on elemental training I can ask him for help?"

"Indeed you can, I believe he trains his team at training ground 10." Sarutobi informed the blond.

Naruto snorted in amusement. "So team 7 trains at training ground 7, and team 10 trains at training ground 10. I'm guessing all of the genin squads have the same training ground as their team number dictates. How cliché."

Sarutobi chuckled. "I suppose it is. Now I'll see you later, I need to get back to my Paperwork." Sarutobi glared at the pile of papers as if hoping it would burn.

Naruto sweat dropped. "Umm… Ojisan?" he said, getting the old man's attention. "Why don't you just use Kage Bunshin's to do your paperwork?" Sarutobi blinked at him owlishly. "I mean… they pass on their memories to the user after they dispel right? So…"

"Kage Bunshin." Sarutobi muttered. Naruto and the two Anbu currently hidden in the room, sweat dropped as Sarutobi began banging his head on the table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! Damn it that's how he completed his paperwork so fast!" The Sandaime sat up and shook a fist at the picture of the fourth Hokage, which the old man could swear was grinning at him. "Damn you Minato!"

"Uh… right… I'm just… gonna leave now." Naruto said. Moving towards the door cautiously as Sarutobi cursed out the fourth with every vulgar word he knew.

As soon as Naruto got to the training ground he held up his hands in the ram sign and called out his most useful jutsu. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Instead of the usual one hundred, Naruto created an extra fifty. Already having their orders, one hundred of the clones spread out and began working on their assigned tasks. Naruto turned to the extra fifty he had created as he pulled out five scrolls from his left kunai pouch. "I want you guys to split up into groups of ten! Choose a jutsu and work on it until you run out of chakra!"

"YOSH!" The fifty blond copies said simultaneously as five of them grabbed a scroll. While they went off to practice their jutsu, Naruto began his exercise routine. He was a little disappointed that he would only get to do this after his team meetings, mission and 'team training', knowing that it would cut into his time. Realizing this Naruto added an extra five pounds to his weights again before starting.

After his workout Naruto got about to cooking dinner, unsealing some of the fish his clones had caught a few days ago. He sat down as he began to cook them over the fire pit.

"Don't even try it Anko." He said suddenly, causing the person who had been sneaking up behind him to pout.

"How did you know it was me?" Anko asked as she moved around him and sat down next to him.

Naruto shrugged. "I figured it would only be a matter of time before you showed up. I just kept channeling chakra to my ears and listened for someone arriving. Since you're the only one who comes here…" he trailed off as his fish finished cooking.

Anko pouted. "It's no fun if you can hear me coming."

"I guess that just means you need to be stealthier." Naruto said as he took a bite of his fish.

"Maybe…" Anko replied, snatching one of his fish from him. She ignored the glare Naruto sent her as she began to eat. "So how was your first day of missions?" she asked.

"You knew that I was going to be stuck doing those chores." Naruto said, his glare doubling in intensity as Anko grinned at him.

"You didn't think you would start off rescuing princesses did you?" asked Anko, her grin increasing as she saw Naruto's look. "You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up?" Naruto said with a blush.

Anko grinned at him. "Your gonna have to make me do that, and your fifty years too soon for that to happen."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, though there was no actual malice. "You wanna bet?"

Anko just stood up with a smirk. "Alright since you're so set on this, I suppose I've got enough time to kick your ass."

(Two Weeks later…)

After breakfast Naruto headed over to his training ground and created the usual one hundred and fifty clones. With his clones working Naruto did his physical training. He had gotten quite a bit more skilled recently, in all the spheres he had applied himself.

His chakra control was a lot better. Naruto's clones had finally managed to float a leaf on each finger. After that he made them spin counter clockwise, before switching direction. When his clones had been able to split their attention so that his clones could spin leafs clockwise and then counter clockwise every other leaf, Naruto had started them on tree climbing. Right now they were able to walk 3/4ths the way up, and run all the way to the top. Anko had decided to give him some advice by saying that he had not actually mastered this technique until his clones could fight while standing on a vertical surface for at least an hour.