Act II: Chapter 2

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"It is shameful…"

I jerked up in bed, and my instincts took over. In a moment, my katana was in my hand and pointing at the figure speaking. My katana appeared right beside his head, and he didn't even move or react to the weapon that was close to killing him. Hiruzen must have known that the katana would appear slightly to his left to have a non-reaction like that.

How would he really know that though? Was it because he had seen me use it before, and was able to deduce and remember… I'm not nearly awake enough for thoughts like that.

My body ached at my quick movement, but at least it didn't hurt as bad as yesterday. I had aches and sharp pains all day after I left my hospital bed.

"...that you have enough coffee to drink four cups a day for an entire year, and yet you have not a single tea bag, tea pot, or tea cup." The Sandaime continued just as I sealed the katana in my wrist once again.

I looked through the doorway of my bedroom to the living area of my apartment to see four clones doing a variety of things. Two of them were pouring over the newest fuinjutsu scroll, and two held a rasengan in their hands. I needed to be able to summon it faster, if I was ever to use it in battle.

'Hot tea was simply not a part of my culture in my last life, not that I can tell you that. Coffee on the other hand?'

"Would you attack me if I said coffee was better?" I asked as my hands went to my face and I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

He looked at me like I had just killed his dog. I ignored it and climbed my way out of my bed, before getting dressed. I only slept in underwear and I didn't feel even slightly bad about nearly flashing the old man. He shouldn't have seen his way into my bedroom otherwise. I had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't really care anyway. He was a ninja and a father, he was way past making a big deal out of that.

"It seems your education is lacking more than I expected. I'll add that to the list." He said as he brought a cup of black coffee to his lips. I expected him to wince or something, but he actually handled it perfectly.

"I was going to ask about that yesterday. Are you offering to apprentice me?" I asked, being very forward before walking into the kitchen. He followed me, cradling the coffee in his hands.

"Consider it my retirement plan." He responded casually. "I always did enjoy teaching and if I'm allowed to pat myself on the back for a moment, I'm quite good at it." He finished with a grin. I retrieved a coffee mug and grabbed the pot before pouring my own cup of coffee. Although unlike him, I added milk and sugar to it. I wasn't quite hard enough to take it straight.

Once he saw me add the milk and sugar though, he offered me his own cup. I chuckled as I added the same mixture to it. Once he drank that, his face soothed a bit. No words were spoken about it.

"I accept." I told him without any hesitation whatsoever. Who would? The opportunity to become the apprentice of a kage was not something many shinobi could boast about. And to be included in that list of names was already an honor.

"Good! Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. Guy has done a phenomenal job with your physical and taijutsu prowess. That will not change." He said as he leaned on the counter of my kitchen.

I quickly went about making us a breakfast of diced potatoes, bacon, and fried eggs. Simple and yet so delicious. I saw the way his eyes looked at the cutting board and ingredients. It was easy to tell that he would want some of his own. It was the least I could do because of the opportunity he was presenting me with.

"However, I will take over your instruction in summons, chakra, politics, history, and battle tactics. Do you have any objections?" He asked just as I finished dicing all of the potatoes we would need.

"Will I have a say in the material I will be learning?" I asked curiously as I dropped a pan onto the stove and began heating it up.

"With politics, history, and tactics, no you will not. The other areas will be flexible and may change as you continue to develop and discover interests." He answered, which was perfect for me. I wanted to be able to explore my own ideas as I currently did. His vast knowledge on chakra was really the gold mine.

"That sounds perfect." I told him.

He nodded and continued to drink his coffee as I made us breakfast. Just like last time, he scarfed the plate of food down like he hadn't eaten in a few days. Already, I knew that my food bill would probably double in the near future.

'Worth it.'

He didn't continue our discussion again until we were both done eating and I had cleaned up the kitchen.

"How many clones are active, and what is their purpose?" He asked. I noticed his eyes were on the clones still in the living room, pretending that they didn't hear him.

"Four working on what you see, two sleeping." I answered immediately. I realized yesterday that Tsunade's instructions only applied to my physical body. My clones would suffer from my injuries, but I wouldn't suffer from mine, and they could train as they needed.

"Where are the other two?" Hiruzen asked simply.

"Sleeping in generally uncomfortable positions. In a tree, behind a dumpster, on the ground in the forest, etc. As sensei says, everything is an opportunity to train." I told him. It was not something I enjoyed doing, but it was something that I needed to do. I had a potential to be on long term missions, and I would need to be able to rest wherever I was at. I had mastered that ability already. It was actually kind of worrying how well I could sleep in a tree. Really, how well I could sleep in general.

"Not many people have that foresight. However, I wouldn't make it a habit. Already you sleep too well, you should have heard the coffee pot making in the kitchen when I arrived. You should have reacted to my footsteps, and even my chakra." He berated. He actually made a good point, and I would have to adjust for that.

I nodded at him, accepting the information before I snapped my finger and looked towards two of my clones. One of them got a mischievous look on his face and shoved a rasengan into the back of another clone that was studying and not paying attention. The hokage looked at me with raised eyebrows after that same clone dispelled itself.

I closed my eyes for a moment, and allowed the chakra to return to me. The memories fell into place, and a small headache formed for the briefest of moments. I learned that the fuinjutsu scroll was infinitely harder and more in depth than the last. It also seemed to focus on the applications of storing chakra, which was perfect for me and my plans.

My headache disappeared as one of my sleeping clones woke up and stabbed himself with a kunai. That was the final straw for the final 3 clones. When it was all said and done, I was perfectly balanced out with no more headaches and four more days worth of knowledge in my head.

"They have your personality." The Sandaime muttered, before reaching in and grabbing a scroll out of his robes. He offered it to me and I took it before opening it immediately. I tried not to let the dark thoughts of what happened the last time he offered me a scroll in my apartment. Thankfully, it wasn't a secret mission to kill the son of a kage and jinchuuriki.

It was a sealing array. I was slowly gaining more and more comprehension of fuinjutsu but I could not decipher what it was meant to do by a mere glance. I could tell that the beginning aspects of it were meant to accept chakra, and that the middle was meant to convert it to an unknown chakra source before it finally took shape into the world as a… cube it looked like. But there were many aspects of the seal that I didn't understand the purpose at all.

"That is the sealing array for the barrier that Orochimaru erected. It was strong enough to contain 7 kage level shinobi fighting within a 100x100 yard cube. Would you like to know the best part?" He asked as he explained what I held. I looked at him expectantly.

"It was held together by 4 shinobi with jonin level reserves, and they could have continued for another few hours." He revealed, as if it was a grand accomplishment.

In reality, it was a major accomplishment. To produce the same results without the seal would require kage level chakra control, and then concentration on the user to hold it and still be able to fight. With the amount of reserves that I had, I could create 4 shadow clones to hold the barrier up for a long time if what the Sandaime said is true.

Many many ideas fell into place in my mind about the application of the seal. I could trap a kage inside of it. I could protect myself and my comrades with it until help arrived. I could…

'What if I can shape it differently than a cube?'

"I can already see the wheels turning in your head, Naruto." Hiruzen said as he produced another scroll in his hands and laid it on the kitchen counter beside him. It looked to be a simple storage scroll. "Study the contents of this scroll, and do what you will with the sealing array. We will talk soon."

He set his coffee mug in the sink, and walked out. The entire time, my mind whirled with possibilities.

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I landed silently, and allowed myself to slide backwards on the dirt of the training ground to gain distance. I didn't rush in and engage my opponent again. I was too busy trying to suck in more air into my lungs. Sweat poured down my frame, soaking my clothes and armor. My headband managed to absorb the sweat and stop it from leaking into my eyes.

Lee was being nice today, and he didn't pursue. I think he was secretly enjoying our light spar.

Well it was light for him. It was my first one since I had left the hospital 5 weeks ago.

"You sure this isn't too much Naruto? It's only been a week since you got out." Guy asked from his position on the side of the training field.

'He still hasn't told us where Sakura is.'

"Tsunade says I heal quickly. I might be a little out of shape but I'm ready to go!" I answered as I charged back towards Lee. Truth be told, I did lose some strength during my coma. But that wasn't the real reason I was so tired and sweaty.

No, the real reason was the fact that I was currently wearing more weight on my frame than I had before the invasion. I had built the weight function into my armor, and as soon as I left the hospital this morning, I activated them. It felt like I was carrying a truck on my shoulders. To be fair, I could tell that Lee had increased his weights recently too. Although I would continue to rapidly close the distance between us.

I felt a familiar chakra signature shunshin in the training grounds.

"Hold on, we have a visitor."

I had just leapt off of the ground to lead with a Leaf Hurricane when Sensei had said that. Lee, having fast enough reactions, just ducked and let me fly over him. When I landed, I turned to see Sasuke standing there with a frown on his face.

"Bring it in guys. We need to have a discussion." Guy told us with a wave. I did as he asked and sent chakra through my body in a very specific pattern. It was the newest jutsu in my repertoire, the shunshin.

I appeared right next to Sasuke. He didn't even flinch like I wanted him to. But the red eyes with three tomoe swirling inside of them clued me into the fact that he probably saw me mold the chakra and was prepared for it.

"You've mastered them. I'm impressed." I commented as I saw the state his sharingan was in.

That got the reaction I wanted. He frowned even further at me if it was possible. He was surprised that I knew that much about the sharingan, huh? I couldn't help but think how surprised he would be if I revealed everything I knew about the sharingan, including its origins and how far it can go.

"Thanks…" He muttered as Lee arrived next to us. I winked at my sparring partner because of his jealous gaze. He would never be able to use the shunshin or any other jutsu. In his eyes, I could master anything in a day. Little did he know, I could train a month's worth in a single day. It just simply wasn't fair.

"Lee, Naruto. Sakura wanted to be here to deliver the news herself this morning, but her new position requires a lot of dedication. After the Chunin exams, and finding Naruto in the position that she did, she decided that she wanted to pursue being a medic-nin. Today was her first day." Guy revealed. He didn't waste any time did he? Just rip the bandaid off then Guy…

Lee frowned and I could tell that this was the first he was being told about it as well. It actually surprised me as well. I had given her the suggestion before the chunin exam finals, but I hadn't expected her to jump on the decision right away.

"The orientation for medic-nin is intensive. She won't be able to make any missions with us for the next month or so, and even after that it will be sporadic." Guy explained, dropping an even bigger bomb on us.

'She's basically off the team, and that's why Sasuke is here.'

"That is where Sasuke comes in." Guy said while gesturing towards the genin.

"What about Kakashi and Neji?" The words slipped out without me really thinking about them. I hadn't seen either of the two ninja's in the village since I was out of the hospital. Nor had I sensed them in my general vicinity.

Sasuke scowled at the mention of the two. I would definitely have to inquire as to what would cause that kind of reaction from the boy. Or was it his curse seal that was already infecting his mind and thoughts.

"I will only answer, because it ties into the reasoning behind this team. Because of the invasion, it would be easy for the other villages to deduce we are weaker than we have been in a long time. We lost many chunin and even a couple jonin during the battle. Kakashi is on our borders reminding our enemies and allies that we are not weak. That is all I can say for him." Guy answered quickly, and efficiently without revealing any important information.

"Neji, however, has had the opportunity to receive an apprenticeship underneath Jiraiya of the Sannin. I don't think any of us need an introduction to him do we?" Guy asked.

"Hmph." Sasuke huffed a bit. He had yet to master his emotions. He was jealous.

I couldn't help the small amount of emotion that swelled in my chest at the revelation that Neji was already on his 3 year training trip with Jiraiya. That was supposed to be me, in another life. I forced the jealousy and resentment at Jiraiya and Neji away. I was a different person, in different circumstances, than Anime Naruto.

Not only that, but I had the Monkey Summoning Contract. I didn't need the toads. I had the 3rd Hokage, so I didn't need Jiraiya's training. The jealousy was unwarranted, but it took me a moment to remember that.

'I wonder if Jiraiya ever considered me like Kakashi and Tsunade did…'

It was hard for me to accept that I would never have the bond that Anime Naruto and Jiraiya had. He was like a father to that Naruto. He would never be like that for me.

"That is an honor." I managed to croak out. I tried to sound genuine, but I wasn't sure if I accomplished that.

"Favoritism towards the Hyuuga, if you ask me." Sasuke muttered. He didn't even try to hide his resentment.

"Jiraiya is a fuinjutsu master, one of the last in the Elemental Nations. Surely your eyes have shown what Neji is…" I said vaguely.

Guy's eyes snapped to me sharply, with a deadly look behind them.

"Don't sensei, I fought beside him against the One-tails. It's obvious now." I told him seriously. I had literally witnessed Neji control two tails of Kurama's power. I had no need to hide my knowledge of his status anymore. Hell, the entire village would know by now.

Guy's eyes softened as he realized that I was correct. Although he glanced towards Lee, who was looking between us confused.

"The point is, Sasuke. Jiraiya might be the only person capable of helping Neji control that aspect of him." I continued, being vague for the sake of Lee, who still stood there out of the loop. I felt bad for him, I really did. But I wasn't sure if I could reveal that information.

"Are you talking about his chakra?" Lee asked, putting some dots together. "I've been meaning to ask you about that sensei."

Guy looked at me with an absolute murderous look in his eyes. I held my hands up passively. "He saw it himself! He just doesn't know what it means." I defended, hoping he wouldn't just bitch slap me off the face of the planet.

"The reason Sasuke was placed with us is the same reason Kakashi left the village for a while. We need to make a show of strength. Naruto is chunin, but we all know you two can fight at the same level. We will be a front line team. We will face strong opponents because we will get the high value clients." Guy explained, ignoring Lee's inquiries about Neji.

Sasuke perked up a bit once he heard that.

"You can expect a lot of B-rank missions to start. You two will enter the next chunin exams and one of you will win it! Am I understood?" Guy asked as he pointed towards the two Genin on the team.

Sasuke was damn near smiling at this point. I understood why too. Guy was telling him that he was about to get the special treatment he thought he deserved. All I could think of was how much we were going to get put through the ringer to get everyone up to snuff. B-rank missions carried a high probability of getting bumped up to A-rank. That meant enemy jonin.

"I need everyone to understand something, so I'll just come out and say it. You three have been chosen as the next, most likely, Elite-jounin after my generation is gone. We have a long way to go until that comes to pass, but we will start today."

Guy didn't let me react to the information, nor did he allow the others to. Instead, he reached into his pocket and produced a set of weights before handing them to Sasuke.

"Time to train, and this time I'm not taking it easy on you."

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"You've been doing this every day since we graduated?"

I turned to my new teammate with a grimace. My right lung had begun to hurt sometime during our training. It was just a cramp, which I thought would be normal. They had to regrow a lot of it, it was just out of shape. It would take me a week or two to get back into the swing of things.

"On a smaller scale. It was never this bad." I said as I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. We were both headed in the same direction out of the training grounds. Eventually, he would divert from my path to make it to the Uchiha Compound.

"No wonder you've grown so much. Kakashi's training was more focused on teamwork." Sasuke grumbled as he let his discomfort show on his face. A rare thing for the boy.

"Yea, but I need to give you a little warning. I heal a lot faster than others as an Uzumaki. I wouldn't compare your growth to mine, it won't be fair to you if you do." I told him. I could have worded it a little better but I was in a lot of discomfort from the intense training session Guy had put us through. Not only was it extreme physical exercise, but afterwards we had to spar him at our highest speed.

It hurt.

"What do you mean? Like a Kekkai Genkai?" Sasuke asked as his sharingan flashed on for a moment.

"Yea, something like that. It pisses Lee and Sakura off." I chuckled as I said the last part. "It's why I recommended she go medic-nin, so that she could heal her muscles every night and keep up with me. I didn't expect it to pull her off the team though." I explained.

I was doing a bit of manipulation to be totally truthful. Sasuke was still a flight risk in this life, and by his attitude alone during the start of the mission, I was worried he would still defect to Orochimaru. I honestly didn't mind if he did that, because of how powerful he would become. But I also wasn't the man that could bring him back to the village, somewhere down the road. We weren't best friends.

Konoha didn't have a future anime Naruto. I couldn't be him. But I should do everything I could so that they did have anime Sasuke. So I either had to become good enough friends to stop him from leaving, or to bring him back. So if I could give him something to allow him to cheat this world a little bit, why not right?

He got a thoughtful look on his face. "You think that would speed up muscle growth?" Sasuke asked, as if he was pondering the idea.

"It makes sense, right? You considering going medic-nin?" I asked curiously from the look on his face.

"Oh no. But I do have access to a vast library…" He muttered.

I snapped my finger. "And because of your eyes, you would just have to see someone do it once and copy it. Smart…" I said, acting like I figured out where he was going.

"Exactly…"

We walked in silence, until we eventually split away from each other.

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"Alright, go ahead." I called out to my clone on the other side of the clearing.

He nodded and slapped his hand to the ground. This new jutsu was a work in progress so he concentrated on the ground next to his hand for a few moments. It was way too long for it to be applicable in a battle, but I knew that I could have it battle ready once I perfected it.

"I think I got it!" Clone #1 said as he stared at the ground in front of him.

"This is so badass dude! We can actually make seals with only our chakra now. Why didn't we ask for the second fuinjutsu scroll earlier?" Clone #2 said to Clone #3.

"You two shut up and get ready." I called out. This was a big moment in our fuinjutsu career and growth. I could understand their excitement, but they had a role to play. I ignored the whispers of them telling me to fuck off.

"Ok here we go!" Clone #2, the one with his hand on the ground called out.

I felt him finally apply chakra to the seal on the ground beneath him. A red wall materialized in front of him. It was designed to be 10x10 ft, and it looked to be about accurate. Without breaking out a tape measure, I wouldn't know for sure. That wasn't the important parts. The important thing was that it worked!

"Holy shit it worked!" Clone #2 said, voicing all of our opinions.

"How does it feel?" I asked as I called out to the clone holding the barrier.

"Stable!" He called out quickly. "It also takes surprisingly little chakra. It's like a replacement jutsu! I can hardly feel it."

I ignored the 'well we are a badass with a shit load of chakra' comment from Clone #3.

"Awesome!" I cried out. "Let's test its durability." I told him as I waved Clone #2 over. "You're up!"

"Let's fucking go!" Clone #2 practically screamed in joy, before shunshining in front of the barrier. He wasted no time in racing through hand seals before taking in a large breath of air. It was our most advanced fire ninjutsu, and not something you would want to be on the other end of.

It launched from his mouth in a white hot flame towards the wall, and when it hit I could feel it in my chest and the ground at my feet. It lasted for a couple of moments as Clone #2 poured all of the chakra he had left into the technique. I had to shield my eyes from the light and heat it gave off on impact.

When he dispelled, I couldn't even sort through his memories because I was too busy staring at the aftermath. The grass leading up to, and spread around, the barrier was burnt to a crisp. Some of the flames were spreading through the grassy area, and a couple more clones ran forwards to stomp them out.

The barrier came out completely unscathed, as did the clone behind it. Clone #1 had a nasty grin on his face, and I could see sweat on his frame, but he didn't look charred or anything.

"That was fucking hot, but it never touched me! The barrier barely budged!" He called out like a kid that just got off his favorite roller coaster.

"Ok I can't wait anymore. Time for the real test!" Clone #3 held out his right hand, and a blue orb of spinning chakra materialized into the world.

He wasted no time in priming his chakra, and sprinting forward. He would have disappeared from view for anyone who wasn't a mid-chunin. But I was able to track him the entire way. My eyes were on the rasengan in his hand. I had no clue which of the techniques would win.

"Ha!" He shouted when he shoved the rasengan forward.

For a moment, the barrier held. But Clone #3 was not finished, he pumped all of his chakra into the rasengan, just as Clone #2 had done into his jutsu. The rasengan in his hand grew in size by another five feet across to form into a proper Big Ball Rasengan.

Then all I could hear was the sound of cracking glass. The barrier jutsu that Clone #1 was holding gave way to the S-rank technique that was the Big Ball Rasengan. Both of my clones dispelled in the ensuing destruction that the technique caused. The barrier disappeared once the source of it's chakra left.

I stood there with my mouth open in shock. All of my clones were the same way. The barrier was fucking strong! It tanked a normal rasengan like nothing, and almost held under the big ball rasengan. That meant that in its current form, it was already an A-rank defensive jutsu and I had finished the seal work the day before. I already had tons of ideas on how to improve on the technique.

My nearest clone summed it up perfectly.

"Holy shit that was awesome!"

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A/N: Boom!

The 3rd Hokage has made his intentions known. He will be a supplemental teacher that will work with Naruto when he has down time. Even though he lost an arm and is forcefully retired, you know that he is going to have plenty of duties within the shinobi corps. Because of this, he can't dedicate all his time to Naruto.

On top of that, Naruto got cleared for field duty early because of his heritage. Chakra is bullshit huh. Injuries like he sustained and then back in the field a month and a week later? Crazy.

Another few snowball effects of Naruto's presence and the changes of this world. Neji and Jiraiya have already left the village for their training trip. This is a bit earlier than when Naruto and Jiraiya left. By a couple of months at least. I will try to work in why that is in later chapters.

Sakura got pulled from the team, but don't worry she won't be gone forever. I plan on having her be a vital part of the story at some point when she gets stronger and more useful.

With Neji gone, Tenten dead, and Kakashi away, that left Sasuke in limbo. A perfect opportunity to form a little team and give them to Guy so that he can give Sasuke the improvement he wants. Naruto also tries to influence the way that Sasuke develops. Really, he is just trying to keep the boy in the village. We shall see if it works!

Finally we get to see some of Naruto's seal work start to flourish. This is a big hint towards his development in the future. He's trying to counter a lot of the massive jutsu in the future and it will become apparent how pretty soon.

Let's talk in the reviews!