Chapter 17

"Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body and soul." - Charles Buxton

"Genjutsu eh? Naruto...-san." the voice said from the bushes. Naruto's eyes were locked on the rustling before it stopped and out stepped a woman.

"Kurenai-san!" Naruto shouted as he got up and appeared next to her. She blinked as she looked down at his bright blue eyes. "How are you?" he asked loudly, excited to see his friend after so long.

Kurenai smiled slightly, "I'm fine and how about yourself?" she asked politely.

Naruto grinned widely, "I got a new friend." he stated with his eyes sparkling like diamonds. Kurenai's returning smile seemed to widen. "And guess what!" he continued.

"What?" Kurenai asked playfully, indulging his boisterous attitude for now.

"He gave me books on how to train!" he said with a huge smile on his face. His eyes squinted as his smile grew while he talked, "Shika really helped me out. These training books helped me change my training so I get more out of it. Did you know there were better ways of controling your chakra than leaf clinging?" he asked.

Kurenai's wine red eyes narrowed slightly, though Naruto didn't catch it, "Yes, I did. How did you learn of it?" she asked, "Did Kakashi teach it to you?" she assumed.

All of a sudden, Naruto's boisterous attitude seemed to deflate at the mention of his sensei's name, his bright blue eyes seemed to dim and his shoulders slumped slightly, small things that no one would notice if they were normal. Kurenai, on the other hand, is not normal, she is a jounin and she is known for her genjutsu prowess. As such, she picked up on Naruto's body language which basically said, 'I don't like Kakashi.'

"No, Kakashi-sensei did not teach me this." he stated in a more somber voice, his tone suggesting that he didn't want to talk about it. Kurenai quickly changed the subject.

"So, what books did Shika-san lend you?" she asked curiously as she looked at the genjutsu book lying in the clearing. Her mind churning ideas about what Kakashi could have done to warrant such a reaction in Naruto.

Naruto's eyes brightened, "A few but that is not the best part." he smiled again, though it held a hint of sadness, "He said I could keep them!" Naruto stated gleefully. "How to train, Shinobi Rules, Chakra Control + More for those with Higher Reserves, History of Konoha, and Genjutsu for beginners. Were the books he gave me." he said after seeing Kurenai try to look at the cover of his book when he didn't give names.

Kurenai looked down at the genjutsu book, seemingly in thought, as Naruto grinned at her. Naruto was enjoying being in her presence again, it made him feel much better being with his friend. He had eaten at Shikamaru's frequently, so he was used to Shikamaru's company but he hadn't seen his first real friend since those days about 2 weeks ago. He had been worried she had been run off or that something might have happened to her, but she was here now, so he put those thoughts out of his head and focused on her. She was wearing her usual dress. The wrappings that looked more like medical tape than a dress along with her red sleeve and ninja shoes.

"Why History of Konoha?" she finally asked after she had been in thought.

Naruto blinked before a grin that oddly reminded her of a cheshire cat spread across his face, "Did you know there was a clan called Uzumaki?" he asked. Kurenai's eyes locked onto his own squinted ones as he grinned, his happiness was palpable as he continued talking about his family, "They were one of the strongest clans, feared as much as any of the biggest one in Konoha, so feared, in fact, that Iwa and Kiri had to surprise attack them in order to take them out with their full forces before the start of the Third Shinobi War." he said, a hint of sadness creeping into his voice while pride took a much bigger part of it.

Kurenai's eyes were locked onto his own with a seriousness that he had only seen when she had told him to 'come out' when she thought he had been spying on her. So, he continued, "They were feared for two things, the first was some obscure jutsu that only their jounins knew how to use." he said drawing a nod from Kurenai, "The second was... their bloodline," he said causing Kurenai's usually unexpressive eyes to widen in shock. "There were three types, Body, which allowed for an impressive healing factor, excessive chakra pools, and a longer life than most," Naruto repeated almost word for word from the text, something he had memorized since it was the first indication of his family, "the chakra, which was the rarest but also usually the most powerful as it allowed for easier casting of jutsu, the strongest could even make weapons out of their own chakra," Kurenai's eyes were back to their usual size as she took in all of Naruto's information, "Finally, a sensor, which allows for one to sense other's chakra, if the bloodline was strong enough it could allow the Uzumaki to fight without their sight and use only their sensor." Naruto finished with a prideful smile at knowing about his heritage as Kurenai's eyes rested on him with a thoughtful look.

"That's pretty impressive Naruto-san. I'm surprised I never heard of them." Kurenai commented. Naruto beamed at the praise to his clan.

"The best part is that most Uzumaki unlocked two parts of the bloodline, so I can have two parts of it!" he stated with a big smile on his face, "And!" he paused for effect as he saw Kurenai lean forward slightly, "I discovered I was a sensor today Kurenai!" he shouted, his excitement making him forget to add on the honorific to her name.

Kurenai's only response was a smile which caused Naruto's cheeks to burn red as he noticed how beautiful she looked while smiling a full blown smile and she spoke, "That's amazing... Naruto." she said, dropping the honorific off of his own name. Naruto tried desperately to banish his blush but she seemed to just giggle at his obvious attraction to her.

"A-arigatou Kurenai." he stuttered out in response. An awkward pause followed as Naruto attempted to control his blush and Kurenai just stood there seemingly slightly amused at his reaction to her, though it was not unexpected.

"So... how good are you?" she asked curiously.

"I can only feel chakra while they are close right now but it was suggested that increasing my control and practicing with it would increase my range so don't worry! Soon, I will be able to feel everyone in Konoha!" Naruto boasted slightly as he smiled, his blush having abated to just a pink tint on his cheeks.

Kurenai chuckled slightly, "You still never told me how you knew about the advanced Chakra control techniques." she said as her eyes strayed to the genjutsu book on the ground again.

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly as he smiled shyly, "Uh, Shika gave me that Chakra control book remember?" he said which caused Kurenai to nod in admission that she had heard that.

"So you learned it from the book?" she asked for clarification, something in her tone seemed off to Naruto. His eyes looked towards her as he nodded in assention that he had, and saw her tense slightly as her hand clenched slightly. Something he had noticed she had done when the people had glared at him, so he assumed she was slightly angry. He couldn't think of anything that she would be angry about him learning from a book but he shrugged it off as she looked at him.

"What have you learned from the chakra control book?" she asked.

Naruto smiled as he said, "I sort of mastered Surface clinging. I can walk up and down the wall in my apartment and walk across my ceiling but I can't fight on it for an hour just yet." he explained, "I wind up using too much chakra and pushing... off... the wall." Naruto's eyes widened as his problem with his self-made control technique was suddenly solved. He immediately jumped forward and grabbed a leaf up from the ground. He sat down on the ground and closed his eyes as he placed the leaf on his forehead and began to concentrate.

Kurenai watched slightly stunned at what he had done, suddenly moving so fast she had trouble following him. When he settled, she noticed that his eyes were closed and a look of concentration had come across his face, she was slightly curious on what he was doing when she noticed the leaf on his forehead.

"Stick the leaf to your head with your chakra." Naruto thought to himself, he felt the leaf stick and a grin threatened to form but he held it back as he wanted to see if his idea worked. "Apply the same amount of chakra right underneath it to grab it." he concentrated on his chakra and willed it to follow his directions. His lips twitched when he felt his chakra stabilize. "Now, slowly increase the chakra from the top of the leaf all the way down so it slowly pushes the leaf down my forehead to the tip of my nose!" he thought as he applied what he had just realized.

Naruto had discovered that he needed to force the leaf to move, not allow it to move around through some other method and randomly stick to himself again. So, he had taken what he learned through the Surface Clinging and applied it to his own training. Following the method of sticking the leaf to his forehead then slowly pushing it down by increasing his chakra output to push the leaf down by not applying the chakra throughout the whole area the leaf was sticking but simply near the top.

Naruto concentrated intensely as he felt the completion of his control exercise at hand. Slowly, ever so slowly, he felt the leaf begin its slow descent down his forehead, his lips formed a grin as he felt the leaf begin to slide past his eyelids. Once it reached the tip of his nose, he opened his eyes and the leaf floated away as he jumped up and yelled, "Yay! I did it I did it!"

Naruto was jumping around for a few minutes before Kurenai brought him back with a pointed cough. He chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed his head and bowed in apology, "Hehe excuse me Kurenai. I got a little excited." he said. Kurenai grinned slightly.

"It's okay Naruto. Though, I am curious as to what you did?" she asked with a curious look to him.

Naruto smiled, happy to explain what he had come up with to his friend, "Well, Kakashi-sensei kept telling me my chakra control needed to be improved and I didn't know any other way to increase my control past the leaf clinging." he explained drawing a look from Kurenai that seemed half confused and half displeased, he continued before she could speak, oblivious to how she had reacted, "So, I decided to try to use it while we waited for Kakashi-sensei everyday." he let out an exasperated sigh before speaking in a louder tone, "But it was so boring!" he exclaimed drawing an amused expression from Kurenai, "So, I tried to improve it, I came up with the idea of moving the leaf across my body with just my chakra." he finished.

Kurenai's response was, "How did you finish it?" she asked. Naruto then proceeded to explain how he had started his exercise and through all his different attempts culminating in his success today, "That is impressive Naruto. You have made a complicated way of controlling your chakra when you add more leaves." she commented, "Good job."

Naruto blushed but responded, "It's nothing. After all, I need good chakra control in order to be a genjutsu master right?" he grinned cheekily.

Kurenai's shocked expression couldn't be held from her face this time and her voice spoke of it when she said, "A genjutsu master? Why would you want to become a genjutsu master?" she questioned. It wasn't that she doubted his determination, it was just that so few ever thought anything of genjutsu and she had been working hard ever since she became a jounin to prove the usefulness of genjutsu.

Naruto's normally exuberant eyes turned into an fiery blue that seemed to engulf Kurenai's own red eyes as he looked at her with total seriousness, "I had wanted to be a ninjutsu specialist because Jiji had told me I would be perfect for it after I found out about..." he trailed off as he clutched at his stomach. Kurenai nodded as he looked down for a second, "Kyuubi." he stated in a whisper, "But Shika managed to talk me into thinking about genjutsu as my specialty. He said that my creativity and unpredictable plans were perfect for a genjutsu user and making genjutsu." Kurenai nodded, agreeing with Shikamaru's assesment of Naruto, "He also said that it was looked down upon branch and that no one ever really respected it so, I want to become a genjutsu master and then Hokage so everyone sees how great genjutsu is!" he declared as his blue eyes seemed to have a fire burning in them.

Kurenai smiled, not one of those half smiles she had been favoring him with, not even just a happy smile. No, this smile held an emotion Naruto couldn't quite place. It was odd, the feeling it induced in Naruto was one he had never felt before, he felt strong and his chest seemed to swell as he looked upon Kurenai's smile. The smile that, even if he couldn't recognize it, held pride for Naruto choosing such a difficult path. Though soon, Kurenai's smile faded to be set in a a grim line upon her face. Naruto's determination seemed to falter slightly but he looked at her as she opened her mouth to speak, sadness being reflected in her eyes.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Naruto, but..." Kurenai sighed and her eyes darted down before locking with Naruto's, "I don't think you could ever maintain the chakra control necessary to be a genjutsu user." she said softly. Naruto's blue eyess almost seemed to break but he looked down from Kurenai before she caught a good glimpse of them.

"Why?" he asked quietly. Naruto felt his resolve weaken as his first friend expressed a lack of faith within him. He was hurt that she would believe that he couldn't become a genjutsu master, it hurt terribly, but he had to know why. To top it off, she was a genjutsu mistress so she would know if he could become one, just as the book said.

Naruto heard Kurenai sigh before shuffling slightly, "Kyuubi and your massive chakra reserves make it difficult for you to control your chakra, that is why you can't do the bunshin." Kurenai said. Naruto's eyes snapped to hers.

"How do you know that?" he asked curiously, his head cocked to the side as he took in what she had said about his chakra pools, something he had known about.

Kurenai frowned but responded, "All of the jounin-sensei were briefed about all of the graduates this year in case we had to teach you." Naruto nodded and looked back down. An awkward and heavy air settled in the clearing as Kurenai felt the weight of being a person to tell someone that their plans would not work. Naruto was in deep thought.

"You said it was hard." he said softly, catching Kurenai's attention. Naruto looked up at Kurenai and his eyes were back to their fiery blues as he spoke, "Hard, but not impossible?" he questioned.

Kurenai shifted again under his piercing gaze, "No, not impossible but-" she attempted to continue before being cut off.