Naruto : Chapter 73

Over the next month all the genins in the finals were really busy, even Shikamaru. He had realized that if he hadn't learned the shadow concealment jutsu there would have been only one outcome of the second round; his team would have died and that scared him more than anything else.

He realized that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he allowed any of his comrades to die if he had the power to prevent it. He had wanted to become an average ninja to have an easy life.

But the additional work he had been forced to do by Asuma and his father had saved their lives in the Forest of Death. So here he was, reading up on the next family jutsu that he was set to learn.

On top of that he was doing physical training together with Asuma, Ino and Choji every morning. He needed speed against a wind user like Temari to escape her long-range jutsus that she would undoubtedly unleash with her war-fan.

Similar things were going on with team eight. They did physical training in the mornings and training with their clans in the afternoons. Even Hiashi Hyuga was impressed with the achievements of his daughter.

She had developed well over the last six months and that she had managed to qualify for the chunin exams finals after only six months of being a genin was impressive. She had also asked him for help with developing a jutsu based on kaiten.

She had flat out told him that she didn't have the necessary chakra reserves to pull off kaiten, but she had way better chakra control than most other Hyugas and therefore she had thought up a new jutsu that was similar in its defensive abilities.

He had told the children of the clan including her sister Hanabi to help Hinata with her training by throwing blunted kunai at her to defend against them. He was curious if she would manage to finish her new jutsu before the finals started.

He was a bit disappointed that Neji hadn't passed too, but that was the result of not being fast enough to get the right scroll. It was a risk that was always present in chunin exams and he would have another chance in six months.

Neji's team had collected most of the remaining Earth scrolls in the forest, but sadly no Heaven scroll.

Shino was working massively as he had got the hardest opponent of them all. Naruto was jonin level, there was no doubt about it and normally he wouldn't be able to beat him. He would need to think of something to take him by surprise. So he had conversed with his father what could work.

He had got some secret clan jutsus that might work, but Shibi had warned him that Namikazes were famous for their speed. Even without his Flying Thundergod jutsu Minato Namikaze had been incredibly fast.

So Shino was also training in his speed to be able to at least doge fast attacks. Shibi had called in a favour from a jonin called Gai who had arranged for Shino to regularly spar with Rock Lee, a genin a year older than him.

The boy couldn't use chakra for nin- and genjutsus thanks to malformed chakra coils, but he was incredibly fast. It was perfect to work on taijutsu and speed against the boy, even if his mannerisms were really taking time to get used to.

...

Kakashi had called Naruto to discuss some things with him. He knew that he needed to keep contact with his team, especially Naruto and Sasuke. It had been the intention of the bonding he had done over the last six months. And he was happy to say that Naruto had opened up to him at least a little bit.

"Hello Naruto, how is your training with Jiraiya coming along?" Kakashi asked.

"Hello Kakashi sensei. My training is going well. We are mostly working on cooperation with the toads and some special jutsus." Naruto said.

"We also think that once I have mastered cooperation with the toads to a certain level they might allow me to sign my clan's summoning contract next to theirs.

Gamabunta said if I could prove that I was worthy of the help of the toads and was willing to use both summoning clans equally he wouldn't void my contract with the toads because the second one is a clan contract and the summons operate in different areas than the toads."

"That's good to hear, Naruto. If I may ask, which animal was the summoning partner of the Uzumaki clan?" Kakashi asked.

"It's sea-gulls. Being an island nation having scouts in the air was invaluable and they also weren't hindered by the sea that surrounded Whirlpool Country." Naruto answered.

"The biggest ones as far as I read in Mum's journal were about as big as doubly to triple the size of a large eagle.

Most of the bigger ones also could use water jutsus and speed attacks. All of them were able to use wind jutsus which makes sense with them being birds."

"That sounds indeed useful. And it wouldn't clash with the abilities of the toads." Kakashi agreed. "What kind of jutsus are you working on? You already had a really impressive repertoire."

"Mostly wind and water jutsus. The wind-jutsus I mostly create myself now because there aren't many out there that are known in Konoha. It's not that much of a surprise because wind elementals are really rare.

I think of the currently active ninjas in Konoha only Asuma sensei has it and of the retired ones I only know of Danzo Shimura." Naruto mentioned.

"How did he take your little visit at the ROOT headquarters by the way?" Kakashi asked.

"It went better than I thought. We managed to come to an agreement with which we can both live. I think he is highly amused, even if he would never show that, ROOTs don't have emotions after all and that crap, with how I manage to confuse all people and still don't get noticed when I don't want to.

He tries tracking me, but I normally easily lose the one he puts on my trail. Though the ink-user isn't bad. Gave me some problems until I found a way to slip away from his trailing me." Naruto commented grinning.

"You honestly enjoy tricking them, don't you Naruto?" Kakashi asked amused.

"Of course I do. Do you know how boring it can be if I only get to deal with the lazy chunin and jonin of the village?

I could outthink the chunin with nine and it only took until I turned ten to force grandpa Hokage to send jonin after me after a flashy prank because I didn't figure out how to do chakra suppression before that and therefore Iruka sensei could find me with his sensor abilities.

When he couldn't sense me anymore no chunin could find me, which caused that finding me was being upgraded to a jonin mission." Naruto said proudly.

Kakashi could only shake his head. He knew that Naruto was a prodigy, but it was a slap in the face of the village military to have this pointed out so directly.

Naruto had been a sabotaged academy student with eight. It showed how much the village needed to improve if a then probably genin level boy could get away from ninjas that held a higher rank than him.

Well, the chunin had been forced to go to boot camp with Gai to make up for deficiencies and the jonin were given to Anko, who gleefully saw to that task.

"So, do you plan to use your Dad's signature jutsus for the finals?" Kakashi asked.

"Probably. It depends how much I am pushed. Shino will do all he can to at least force me to take him seriously. Not that he can really do much as I have too much chakra for his bugs to take from me.

They will be full before I truly notice it. But he is smart and will come up with some good strategies. I'm really looking forward to it. Shikamaru and Temari will also be interesting opponents, depending on who wins the fight.

Shikamaru normally should be able to outthink Temari, but if he doesn't want to face me he might quit after having shown his skills. He got a major shock in the second part of the exams when towards the end his team had the last remaining Heaven scrolls.

He realised that being too weak can get you and your team killed and as much as he likes slacking off, he wouldn't do that at the cost of others' lives." Naruto analysed.

"True. We can expect high-class fights. The one I am a bit concerned about is Choji against Gaara. We have confirmed that Gaara is the Ichibi jinchuriki and it is concerning that he was sent here while Orochimaru is about to launch an attack against the village.

We aren't sure yet if Suna is involved in his plans, but their economic problems would make them an easy target for Orochimaru." Kakashi informed Naruto.

"Don't worry. If Gaara goes too far I will get Choji out of there the last moment. I won't allow Gaara to kill any of my comrades.

The other rookies have proven to me that I can count on them in case I need backup, so I will return that favour when I can." Naruto said, knowing his sensei would be happy to hear that.

"You are aware that I have long figured out the plan to let me connect more to my peers by doing that cross-over training with the other rookie teams and even the rare sparring matches with Gai's team?"

Kakashi chuckled.

"I told the Sandaime that you would. You are too smart to not notice something that obvious. Though it wasn't only for your benefit, but theirs as well. By letting them see your level they were more motivated in their training to not fall back too far behind you.

Some would have complained a lot more about the harshness of the training they had to do if they hadn't seen what they could face by having to go up against you. Which I guess was your intention." Kakashi said.

"Maybe. I prefer having capable backup instead of hindrances. And some of them never did anything wrong to me at the academy. Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba even hang out with me sometimes when we skipped classes." Naruto said. "That was quite nice."

Kakashi suspected that there was more to Naruto's plans, but for now he didn't ask more. He first needed to earn more of the blond's trust, which took a lot of time. But that he revealed as much as he did was already a success.

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