A/N We're finally picking up some steam with this training Arc! After a somewhat slow beginning, we're getting to what is probably the main meat and bones with this. When it comes down to this arc, this is where I'm mostly going to be expanding the cast's abilities beyond what it usually is, but as you saw, I haven't really been focusing on the other two teams, mostly because that is just simply way too many to remember for the most part, and I admit I had to keep looking back to make sure what they have and don't have and the like, which sucks. However, I will be giving some really nice moments to them whenever Naruto runs into them. Might as well list some of my plans for this, as well as answer some things that people may be confused about.

1. He still has training with Hiashi, I know I'm still editing Chapter 6 (currently having 3 parts to edit and I'm almost done editing part 2, but god is it a long chapter to edit I'm sorry!) but I do like that detail there. Hiashi is a great Taijustu user, seeing as most of the Hyuuga clan focuses on it with some exceptions if I recall correctly, so having him train Naruto could get him at least up to speed with Sasuke and more accurately explain his skill at it by the Sasuke and Naruto clash (which if you think about it, Naruto never really was good at Taijutsu at the beginning and then somehow immediately grabbed the skill by the Sai arc, so I guess this is me trying to rectify that in my own way.

2. This story is mostly going to focus around Team 7, mostly because I think that if I try writing more than four or five people in a scene, I forget who's there and it's hard to write dialogue for them. That's not to say the other characters wouldn't be there period, not at all since Naruto still lives with Choji and Choza and the like, but it's more that they have their own arcs and the like that Naruto simply doesn't see. Side stories if you would. So there might be moments where I write a chapter that surrounds their team during this arc, but don't expect much of it sadly.

3. The main skills I want Team 7 to get out of this is actually some that were already introduced. The Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage (yes I finally got the name down, yay.) is what's probably going to become Naruto's signature move in this, making use of the Air Bullet he has already mastered during the last arc and expanding it into different circumstances. But because he's trying to learn this, it'll allow him access to expanding the jutsu to include other ones, such as Rasengan if he ever learns it. Sasuke I'm focusing more on how he can improve his Fireball jutsu, and I'm thinking of making him a trap person since I combined their Taijutsu styles (I had been thinking this since the Academy Arc actually, and it was why the two styles were right next to each other!) where Sasuke would be the main distraction who would lead into the traps that Naruto laid, or vice versa. It's a fun foil over canon where it would normally be the other way around, so I thought it would be pretty cool to see how they would differ in opposing roles. Sakura is a tad different, since I don't think she would truly be around Naruto while training, and instead would be used as a catalyst to see more of the Village itself! All in all, I'm pretty hyped to start this.

With all the boring side-stuff about my agenda over this arc out of the way, let's not delay and just get started with it!

Edit: Had a few typos near the end, I had said they started at 5, when they had started from 7, sorry about that! Also decided to add a little extra scene at the end of the chapter. Thank you dai sennin kurosaki d naruto for calling me out, as well as showing me that Boruto had added to Kakashi's backstory a bit! I never knew that he was actually just an early Genin from the age of 5, I always figured he hit Anbu first, then was pulled out to work on the Genin team with Rin and Obito, but I already committed to that plot line, but I will be using some of that in this story, such as the three of them being on a team for six years together. (How they stayed together for six years, yet it took six years for Kakashi to even open up to them is a bloody plot hole in its own right, but I think I can work with it? I always assumed it was about 2 years or so tbh.) We'll definitely be seeing more about Kakashi's past as he helps Sasuke understand his own latent abilities, so definitely look forward to that.

Also, as I explained ForestHunter21, Combination Jutsus as they'll be called are going to be explained more in depth in the upcoming chapters, but each character will be getting their own one based around their abilities. I figured that with how Jutsu works that it could easily be explained, as well as a fun way to give a callback to their main attributes. As we're aware of, Naruto's is the Multi Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage, but that will not be his only one, he'll have a few more but they will all revolve around the Shadow Clone Jutsu, since that's his main technique proper. By utilizing his Chakra in a certain way, he vanishes and calls up Clones that already have the Air Bullet Jutsu readied to fire at the enemy. Basically at it's full power, it can enhance the strength of the jutsu threefold, but it's a lot more dangerous as a result because you need to have the Chakra to maintain that power, as well as using more hand signs in order to ready the use of the double jutsu. We'll have a better explanation for it coming up in the later chapters as Sakura and Sasuke start wanting to learn theirs, but do note that they are still a long way off for their own techniques, Naruto just got lucky and found the scroll. They're going to be going in mostly blind for theirs until Kakashi helps out when he views them ready.

Also, I have not forgotten about Choza and Jiraya at all, but they are still a long way off before telling their side of the story.

With all that said, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Two and the Same Team Seven Training Arc: The First Lesson

"Huh? Our first lesson?" Naruto looked in confusion as Sakura told them that Kakashi wanted to teach them something. "AWESOME!" He grinned with his outburst, even as Sakura put her fist down somewhat lightly on his head. "Ow..." Naruto whined a bit, but the grin didn't really fade and it didn't really look like he was hurt. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Might as well check it out, maybe he has an idea on how to speed up the technique for you?" Sasuke said while walking away, knowing that Naruto was right behind.

"Boys..." Sakura rolled her eyes with a smile as she collected the forgotten scrolls. One scroll looked interesting to her though as she looked over it, "Oh yeah, Naruto handed him the scroll for the Healing Waves." Sakura reminded herself with a smile as she started walking on over to Kakashi.

Once all three were there, Kakashi motioned them to sit, as he did to. "So, Naruto, I noticed the technique you were using over there." Kakashi started with a eye smile as Naruto nearly exploded to explain it to him, before Kurama spoke out.

"Okay Naruto, calm yourself. I been letting you be yourself a bit more because I know you're trying to be a bit more mature, but it's clear that he has something to explain to you." Kurama said simply as Naruto sighed.

"Yeah I know..." Naruto sighed as Sakura and Kakashi looked at him a tad weirdly for it. Sasuke kinda figured what happened and stayed silent.

"Kurama I assume?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, he wanted me to let you continue explaining, just in case you have something that might help us out about it." Naruto relayed as Kakashi smirked.

"Well, to be honest, I did want to see you do the technique in your own immature way, but I guess I can ask now." Kakashi said as Naruto deadpanned.

"Make him the target." Kurama said mercilessly as Naruto smirked.

"Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet barrage!" He yelled as he quickly went through the seventeen hand signs he knew before disappearing. Kakashi noticed and substituted out of the barrage and grabbed one of the Shadow Clones to throw back down. "HEY! That hurt!" Naruto yelled as the memories assembled afterwards while heading to the ground.

"You did use me as your target, but that was pretty slow." Kakashi noted, "Well, it does make sense..." Kakashi continued on.

"How so?" Naruto asked as Kakashi motioned them all to sit again.

"For the first part, you're only using 17 of the hand signs which is the bare minimal to get the Jutsu to work. If you could learn the other half of the Jutsu, then it would be a Jutsu that many Jonin would be scared to fight. Add to that the amount of Chakra you two hold, and I feel like that Jutsu would help you in a good amount of fights." Kakashi explained as Naruto thought a bit.

"He seems to know a lot about it..." Kurama sighed.

"Probably because he knows what the other half is. Why else would he be so sure of himself?" Kurama thought back as Naruto groaned.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you know what the other half of the Jutsu is?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"I know the signs, but it's a bit tricky to explain." Kakashi started, "Now is time for your lesson, so I want everyone to listen closely. You all learned in the Academy about your Hand signs, correct?" The team nodded, "Well, those Hand signs are just the beginning for Jutsus. When it comes to Jutsus, you channel your Chakra through those signs, directing it to where it needs to go, and using your voice to vocalize the technique to get your body understanding of what Jutsu you are to preform; however, for more advanced techniques, this may or may not work. Some techniques require you to use the raw Chakra and channel it into the hand sign itself, to mold it to where it needs to go, rather than simply having it flow to where it need to go. Such techniques could include the Fireball Jutsu, where the Chakra is stored in the stomach, then molded via the hand signs in order to become the raging Fireball that is released, or the Air Bullet, which operates the same way just with wind instead of fire. When it comes to this Jutsu, you need to have the Chakra already ready before starting it." Kakashi explained as Sakura deadpanned.

"You didn't really answer his question, Sensei. If you know the signs, why not tell him so he can try that?" Sakura asked as Kakashi sighed.

"Because I want him to try and find that out on his own, to find the flow within his Chakra while doing the Jutsu in order to understand it. If he can do that, he could learn Signless Jutsu, where you either have one or no signs needed in order to cast it. For the most part, Shadow Clones are one of the easiest Jutsus in order to make Signless seeing as it's only three to begin with. If you all could master how to understand your Chakra flow, it can help you with any Jutsu, or any path of job you find yourself pursuing in the future." Kakashi continued as Naruto continued his stare.

"Hmm...then could you give me tips whenever I'm doing my signs then? If you can't just do-" Naruto started as the others deadpanned.

"Kurama, stop speaking through him." Kakashi said as Naruto gained a tick mark.

"Yeah, let him say what he was going to say." Another one added from Sakura's comment.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, not bothering to add anything.

"HEY! IT WAS MY OPINION!" Naruto shouted to defend himself. "It's just that Kurama helped me word it better." He continued much more softly, looking away from embarrassment. It was...comparable to a whine to say the least.

"Okay then Naruto. Hmm...you noticed when doing the technique and adding the two signs you found, that the flow of your Chakra felt...off, right?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it felt like something twisted up the wrong way, like when I eat too much ramen and it gets stuck in my throat!" Naruto explained.

"Naruto..." Sakura growled out before sighing.

"Hmm...I guess you could compare it to that, the Chakra flow gets distorted and it doesn't flow as it should for the technique. Using our Hand signs, we redirect it to a flow that...evens it out, like when you get the ramen out from being stuck and it goes down correctly. The thing is, you have the other issue here. You're getting the ramen halfway down and then you're not having it go anywhere. The Chakra doesn't know how to finish it up so it just brute forces it to go down further. Since that's happening, it causes the speed and power of the jutsu to be majorly limited. The jutsu is easily a Jonin level technique when completed, but as it stands now, it may be a mid Chunnin Jutsu at best. What I want you to focus on alongside Kurama is working on your Chakra Flow, understand how the hand signs redirect and shape the Chakra and try to come up with at least one of the seventeen hand signs by the end of today. Don't try to force it and just trial by elimination it, but try to learn how the Chakra flows on its own and work with it." Kakashi explained as Naruto nodded.

"Uh, can I try that now, or...?" Naruto awkwardly asked, looking fully ready to start trying it as Kakashi couldn't stop a snicker from coming out.

"Yes Naruto, you can go about doing that now. I'm just going to help Sasuke and Sakura out with their training while you work on that." Kakashi said as Naruto grinned, got up and ran a bit further into the Training Field in order to be by the pond. Kakashi looked towards Sakura next, who sat up straight in attention.

"Yes Sensei?" Sakura asked as Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Sakura, you're working to becoming a Medical Ninja, correct?" Kakashi asked as she nodded, "Then you realize that Chakra Control will be the most important thing that you can learn, which is why I want you to help Naruto with his assignment, you can check his Chakra through his palms, and help him align it with what you believe the Jutsu needs to be. With this, it will increase your awareness of how to find someone's Chakra, increase your own control of Chakra in general, as well as teach you Chakra Flow." Kakashi explained as Sakura nodded. Kakashi's eye opened a tad ominously, "But do remember to not try to take control of his Chakra to force it. Chakra is like a stream, so simply redirect it. Forcing someone's Chakra is something that is useful for Genjutsu, and you might harm him doing so when he's trying to learn this. Give him advice, but don't try to force your way onto him." Kakashi warned her as she nodded.

"Okay Kakashi-sensei, is there anything else?" Sakura asked as he nodded.

"Just one more thing, tomorrow you will be training with Anko in order to head to the Hospital. I don't know that much about Medjutsu so it's hard for me to give much advice on it, so I'll be trusting Anko to help you out with that since Hinata also showed interest in taking up Medjutsu. She figured that you two learning together might be more beneficial than learning apart." Kakashi explained.

"What about you guys?" Sakura asked as Kakashi gave another eye smile.

"Don't worry about them, they'll be practicing their own stuff as well, so just focus on getting better with Medjutsu." Kakashi said as she nodded and ran towards Naruto to help out. Kakashi finally locked eyes with Sasuke.

"So...what about me?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi sighed.

"Well...We need to have a chat in private first." Kakashi began, putting a few privacy seals around them. "Jiraya let me borrow a few of his privacy seals so I could tell you this." Kakashi explained as Sasuke took a hesitant step back.

"Tell me what!?" Sasuke asked, more demanded from, Kakashi as Kakashi sighed.

Kakashi raised his arm and moved the headband from his left eye as the Sharingan came into focus for Sasuke.

"H-How, HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT!?" Sasuke yelled as Kakashi moved it back to cover it, a tad more exhausted after just moving the headband.

"When I was younger, I was assigned to a Genin team as a Jonin to train me in the art of teamwork..." Kakashi began as a light Genjutsu fell under Sasuke to show him the events while Kakashi explained.

"You see, back then I was angry about what had happened to my father, who committed Seppuku in order to atone for his failure as the clan head of the Hataki clan, to the point where I swore off comrades and quickly rose to becoming a Jonin and Anbu." Kakashi began explaining as images of his father and a younger Kakashi's rage flowed into Sasuke's brain. "That was until the Yondaime, Naruto's father, came to me after another Anbu mission." Kakashi continued as the scene played out in Sasuke's mind.

"Hokage-sama, here's the results of the mission." The younger Kakashi spoke briefly and sharply behind his dog-shaped Anbu mask as he handed the Yondaime a scroll.

"I see..." The Yondaime said as Kakashi made his way to leave, "Wait, Kakashi-san, come here for a moment." He said as Kakashi rolled his eyes underneath the mask.

"It's Dog, Hokage-sama. I'm not off duty right now and I was going to take another mission right after this." Kakashi spoke back as the Yondaime said nothing, waiting on Kakashi to walk over. Eventually, with an annoyed sigh, Kakashi did just that.

"I'm assigning you to a Genin team." The Yondaime said simply as Kakashi recoiled back a bit.

"Why?" Kakashi asked simply as the Yondaime finally looked up at him.

"Right now, you are just going out mission after mission, you're only 12 and yet you continue to bury yourself in missions that could easily get you killed. You never had the luxury of just being a kid and this is my way of trying to help you out." The Yondaime tried to explain as Kakashi scoffed.

"I don't need your help. I'm doing just fine on my missions and I don't need two Genins slowing me down." Kakashi snapped back.

"You don't have a choice Kakashi, this is effective immediately." The Yondaime said, nearly just as coldly as Kakashi turned away.

"Understood Hokage-san." Kakashi said before jumping away into the shadows, the mask of Dog on the table in front of the Yondaime.

The Yondaime sighed before the scene ended.

"That was Naruto's father?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi nodded.

"Minato-sensei was a great teacher for me, but I had other ideas of it. I viewed being on the team as a punishment for not fulfilling my duties correctly, needing to be helped by Minato. The thing is, that wasn't really the case, instead the problem was how I acted. I was cold to everyone and anyone and completed my jobs with no remorse for anything, following to the letter on them to not be like my father, who disobeyed orders in order to try saving his friends. It was for this that Minato-sensei pulled me out of the Anbu, to stop me from falling down on that path." Kakashi explained. "I'll continue the story another day, sadly the Genjutsu is still weighing me down a bit and I don't know if we have the time we need to finish it up, but I want to help you learn the power of your Dojutsu. On top of that, most of your training will be alongside Naruto since your Taijutsu styles collide to become the Shadow Dragon Flame Style in the end. I figure you shouldn't have too much problems mastering your Chakra Flow since you mastered the Fireball Jutsu and you could watch Naruto learn his." Sasuke nodded at the end of the statement.

"I was noticing the Chakra Flow while using my jutsu, and I was working to try lowering the amount of signs I need to use it or learn the Multi-Fireball Jutsu from it. You still haven't explained how you got the Sharigan, but I assume it's a long story." Sasuke said as Kakashi nodded.

"It is indeed, but right now what's important is getting you three started on your lessons. Right now you're mostly practicing together on your individual jutsus, but tomorrow we will focus on improving your body." Kakashi said as he deactivated the privacy seals before taking them down.

"How long has it been?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"Only about ten minutes or so." Kakashi said as Sasuke blinked in surprised.

"Could've swore it was less..." Sasuke mumbled as Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Well, let's keep that a secret between us for now, I'm only really telling you because I don't want you to find out later on and go after me for it on the field. This way you're at least aware of it and aren't distracted in battle." Kakashi explained as Sasuke shook his head.

"In that case, doesn't it make more sense to tell Naruto and Sakura? That way they also aren't distracted?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shook his head.

"Neither of them know about the Sharingan, so they probably wouldn't be able to understand." Kakashi said as Sasuke nodded.

"I can see that, sure for now I'll keep the secret, but if they find out, I'll explain it to them." Sasuke assured as Kakashi shook his head yet again.

"If it comes down to that, I'll explain it." Kakashi said as Sasuke nodded before walking away.

"Hmm...so focus on the Chakra Flow, right Kurama?" Naruto asked as Kurama simply nodded. Naruto appeared within his Chakra Core with Kurama in his shrine area. "Ah, this will help!" Naruto grinned as he realized where he was.

"Well it'll help a bit with seeing it." Kurama shrugged as Naruto started doing the hand signs, seeing a little orb of his Chakra float up towards him.

"It's like what happened last time!" Naruto exclaimed as Kurama nodded.

"I didn't even think you noticed last time, but this is your Chakra manifested, so this orb is basically what you're doing to your Chakra. Seeing how it reacts to your hand signs could allow you to find the other half of the Jutsu." Kurama explained with a yawn as Naruto nodded.

Each hand-sign made the ball grow until the 17th one, where the ball seemed to shift into a wide disc. "Woah...so cool! I wonder what hand-sign goes next..." Naruto said, as Kurama stared at it.

"Hmm...try the symbol you do for the shadow clone jutsu." Kurama asked as Naruto did the symbol for Tiger, watching as the disc deformed and reacted violently with itself, nearly stabbing him as it went away.

"AHH!" Naruto yelled with fear, jumping away before it hit. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Naruto yelled at Kurama as Kurama snickered.

"That was you messing up the Chakra flow, if the Chakra destabilizes here, it tends to attack the user since you're messing up the Chakra Core with it. With how you can be so damn stubborn, it's best if you stay in here practicing in order to make sure if it's correct or not." Kurama explained as Naruto glared a bit before repeating the 17 seals. Once again, the Chakra took a disc-like shape. Naruto stared at it for a bit as he tried remember the hand signs.

"Hmm...a disc-like shape...wait, could that mean we could try Dog?" Naruto said as he made the sign for Dog, noting how the disc didn't destabilize and instead condensed out a bit, sharpening its edge. "IT WORKED!" Naruto exclaimed happily, "DOG WAS THE NEXT SIGN!" He grinned as he celebrated.

"That actually worked. Huh." Kurama said in surprised, "Nice job Kit, now go for another sign." Kurama told him as Naruto nodded.

"Well it looks like its still around the disc-like shape, but it looks a bit more flat, so maybe...Monkey?" Naruto said a tad hesitant as he did the sign for Monkey. The disc wobbled a bit, but didn't really collapsed. But the edge did appear less sharp than before. Naruto stared at Kurama.

"Yeah, this is actually what happened before when we were using the scroll. There's a missing hand-sign." Kurama explained as Naruto felt himself shaken awake.

"Naruto!" Sakura said as Naruto jolted awake.

"Huh, what!?" Naruto said, "Aww, man, Kurama was helping me out with that..." Naruto sighed as Sakura looked at him in confusion.

"Oh, did I interrupt?" Sakura asked as Naruto nodded.

"I learned two of the signs, but I'm missing one in the middle between them. I got that Dog was the 18th symbol, and it looks like Monkey is the symbol after the one I'm missing." Naruto explained, a tad frustrated with himself.

"How did you get those?" Sakura asked as Naruto sighed.

"I kinda followed the ball of Chakra. It was a normal ball until the 17th hand-sign where it turned into a disc-like object and nearly tried to kill me when I got the sign wrong. I tried Dog cause of the disc-like shape and it sharpened. After I did Monkey it kinda...dulled. It feels like it's a wind styled jutsu, but it's missing something." Naruto groaned as he laid on the ground. "It feels so nice here, next to the pond and stuff...I can't believe we're Genin now." Naruto said as Sakura rolled her eyes at the obvious topic change.

"Yeah, it feels like forever ago since we were in the Academy huh?" Sakura said as she laid down next to him. as Naruto made a sound of agreement.

"Yeah...Do you think we should get the Fox Squad back together?" Naruto asked as Sakura hummed a bit.

"Well, we're not really apart, are we? We met them again today, and we're all getting stronger in order to help the village." Sakura explained as Naruto sighed.

"I...I don't know. We didn't even really talk and I barely even got to say hi before we were all dragged away from each other." Naruto said as Sakura rolled her eyes.

"It's been a day you baka, we'll see and talk to them again. Our training is only just getting started and you know that our senseis are planning on having us all train with one another. In fact..." Sakura said as Naruto's eye perked up. "I'm training with Hinata tomorrow at the hospital." Sakura explained as Naruto jolted up.

"Wait, Hinata's at the hospital?" Naruto asked as he misunderstood, much to Sakura's annoyance.

"No, I will be training with her at the hospital to study Medjutsu, Anko-sensei will be taking us there in order to help us learn." Sakura explained as Naruto let out a sound of understanding.

"That makes more sense, hmm...I got a question for you." Naruto started as Sakura looked towards him, "There's twelve different types of hand-signs, right?" Naruto asked as she nodded.

"Yeah, there's: Dog, Pig, Tiger, Horse, Hare, Bird, Rat, Serpent, Monkey, Ox, Dragon, and Boar. Why do you ask?" Sakura listed while performing them.

"Hmm...give me a second." Naruto said as he slowly did the 18 seals he knew so far, imagining the disc-like shape that his chakra was in. Sakura put her hands on his palms.

"I see what you mean, Naruto, this is your current Chakra Flow, right?" Sakura asked, seeing the disc-like shape his Chakra was forming into. Naruto merely nodded while they closed their eyes to focus.

"If Monkey is the seal after, then what binds Dog to it..." Naruto asked aloud while Sakura took a deep breath.

"Follow your gut Naruto, what feels right to you here?" Sakura explained as Naruto took a deep breath as well.

"Dragon." Naruto breathed as he opened his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he slowly did the hand signs for the 18 he knew once again before adding a Dragon hand sign, then followed it up with a Monkey hand-sign. Pain flashed through his eyes for a second as he did the Monkey sign before fading. "W-Well we now know that Monkey i-isn't number 19..." Naruto groaned out, still a bit pained from the sharpness his Chakra flow took on.

"Naruto! You okay?" Sakura looked him over with panic in her eyes as Naruto waved her off.

"It's fine Sakura, just got hit a bit by the Chakra." Naruto said with a trademark grin, "See, all fine!" He continued as Sakura sighed before checking his palm.

"You're right, but...be careful, okay?" Sakura asked as Naruto smiled.

"You're being weird Sakura-chan, but sure, I'll be careful." Naruto said back as Sakura nodded.

The two noticed Kakashi and Sasuke walking on over to them and turned towards him. "Yo." Kakashi said as he looked towards Naruto with an eye smile, "I see you added two hand-signs?" He asked as Naruto grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, it turns out that it was Dog into Dragon. To be honest, I don't really know how I got Dragon, it just..." Naruto stuttered off as a light embarrassed blush filled his face.

"It just?" Sasuke asked to egg him on.

"It just came to me, okay!?" Naruto snapped back, embarrassed beyond belief. Kakashi smiled towards Sakura.

"Don't worry about it Naruto, Sakura was reading your Chakra flow and gave your brain a suggestion on what could be used. So, what shape is it taking in your Chakra?" Kakashi asked as Naruto scratched his head a bit, still blushing a bit from the answer.

"A-A disc-like shape, with razor sharp edges. Oh, but there's this weird thing in the center now after the Dragon sign. The Monkey sign violently reacted to me after which, even though it didn't before." Naruto said as Kakashi gave another eye smile.

"Well maybe it's because it was never Monkey to begin with." Kakashi said as Naruto looked at him as if he was dumb. "What sign is similar to Monkey that could work?" Kakashi asked as Naruto did the twelve hand signs to check, before stopping on Hare. "There you go, try it with Hare into Dragon this time." Kakashi asked as Naruto listed out the now 20 signs in his jutsu.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu: Air Bullet Barrage." He said in a low whisper, seemingly vanishing from all the senses for about five seconds before appearing with Air bullets at the ready, firing towards the ground near Kakashi. The air actually made a small dent in the ground, unlike before where it merely destroyed some of the grass. Naruto landed back down with a huge grin on his face. "I did it! It worked! Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said as Kakashi nodded.

"You had the right idea with Monkey, but the problem is that Monkey works more with Earth by condensing the Chakra flow on up to solidify it. The problem is that this Jutsu needs to be more free flowing, which is why you shape it as a wide disc with sharp edges. The Hare sign works well with Wind and Fire by speeding it up, rotating it to destructive lengths, while the Dragon sign ignites and gives it energy. The next sign will be a lot harder to solve however, and it only gets harder from there with more kickback from mistakes. Which is why I don't want you practicing this without me there to watch over you." Kakashi warned as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I felt that after trying Monkey, it...wasn't fun." Naruto said as Sakura nodded.

"So, Sakura, how do you feel about the Chakra Flow?" Kakashi asked as Sakura sighed.

"I still don't understand it that much, but I did see the shape it was taking in Naruto's core...but it felt overwhelming." Sakura explained as Naruto looked towards him.

"I told you before that I had a lot of Chakra." Naruto said, "Between me and Kurama, we have enough Chakra to fill a mountaintop!" Naruto explained as Sasuke scoffed.

"Don't you mean a valley?" Sasuke snickered out as Naruto waved it off.

"Oh shut it Teme!" Naruto snapped back before Sasuke scoffed.

"Whatever Dobe." The two shared smirks before Naruto saw that the sun was starting to go down.

"Man, it's already midday? I'm pooped..." Naruto said as Kakashi smirked.

"Well, it's time for your first mission." Kakashi said as Naruto paled.

"No, Not a D rank mission!" Naruto said backing away with fear.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura stuttered out, and even Sasuke looked a bit fearful.

"Yes Naruto, it's a D rank mission. Judging from your reaction, Honoke told you about them." Kakashi said as Naruto nodded a tad stiffly, but it wasn't as bad as before. Good...he's moving on a bit more, but it'll still going to take time... Kakashi thought to himself as the team reluctantly followed Kakashi to the Academy once again.

"Man, we see this place a lot..." Naruto said with a scoff.

"I mean, the Hokage's office is here." Sasuke pointed out, "Makes sense if you think about it as reinforcement of what the Ninja learn. On top of that, they can also sit in on a class to help the teacher out or to try and recall something from that lesson." Sasuke explained as Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Huh." He said dumbly as they moved away from the classroom area towards the staircase to the Hokage. Though usually they would take it up, they ignored it this time and continued straight to the Mission Assignment room, where they met-

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed after seeing Iruka handing out the missions.

"Naruto!" He said back with equal joy in his tone. "Give me a sec and I'll be right with you, okay?" Iruka said as he continued handing out missions for a few minutes to other ninja, some who were Academy Students getting their test missions, or trying to earn some cash to help their families out.

Finally, Naruto was next in line for his mission. "So how's being a Genin?" Iruka grinned as Naruto grinned back.

"Well, I may have already learned a Jonin level technique!" Naruto bragged effortlessly before Sakura punched him in the head.

"Idiot! You know that you got 14 hand-signs to go!" Sakura exclaimed as Iruka blinked.

"A Jonin level Jutsu?" Iruka asked towards Kakashi, who nodded. "That's incredible Naruto! How did you get it?" Iruka said with a secret edge towards Kakashi.

"It was in the Genin section of the library, towards the far back. It looked a bit old, but contained 15 of the hand-signs for the Jutsu. With Kurama's help I was able to find two to get the jutsu working, and then we trained and got three more of the signs." Naruto explained with a grin, oblivious to the rising tension of the room between Iruka and Kakashi.

"What jutsu even is it? May I see the scroll?" Iruka asked as Naruto handed over the original worn out scroll, "Hmm...The Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage Jutsu. By combining the Shadow Clone and Air Barrage Jutsus, you can take advantage of unaware opponents to knock them out quickly, or inflect heavy damage upon them." Iruka read aloud, noting the missing signs that Naruto was talking about. "It looks like this was cut in half for some reason, wonder why it was in the Genin section." Iruka sighed. "Whatever the case is, this will help you out immensely Naruto, I would return the scroll back to its original section, but I want to ask the Hokage about it, do you mind if I take it?" Iruka asked as Naruto nodded.

"Either way, I already learned all I could from the scroll, so it's fine Iruka-sensei!" Naruto grinned as Iruka put the scroll away.

"Well, glad to know you're learning some powerful Jutsu Naruto, you got a bright future ahead of you. So, were you coming here for a mission?" Iruka asked as Kakashi nodded, much to Naruto's chagrin. "What kind of mission are you looking for?" Iruka teased, knowing full well that it was D rank mission week for the new Genin, and that no one was looking forward to it. Naruto grunted out some choice words as Iruka couldn't contain his snickering.

"It's just a stupid D rank mission..." Naruto mumbled in his grumblings as Iruka nodded.

"I thought so, well it just so happens that I got a request that I set aside for you all, I figured you would want this." Iruka said as the team looked at him in confusion.

"Set aside? You can do that?" Sakura asked as Iruka nodded once again, getting up and grabbing a scroll he had set aside, before turning it towards them.

"Yeah, we've been getting reports of people falling to light Genjutsu in the area, I figured that with your expertise in the field that it would be a good D rank mission for you all. It's just simply in the village, and it's a Scout/Record mission, where you gain the information, see if you can help people that area currently under the Genjutsu, and then report back to us. If all goes well, it should be good for you all to learn." Iruka explained, handing the scroll to Kakashi, surprising Naruto and the rest of Team Seven.

"All right! We got a fun mission!" Naruto hollered in glee at the thought, even if the mission was set inside the village itself, though it was on the outskirts of it.

"Baka! If you yell it too much, people will go after us!" Sakura bopped his head once again, causing Naruto to rub it, thankful that she was learning to hold back her hits a bit.

"S-Sorry..." Naruto apologized, noting that Kurama wasn't going after him lately.

"Why would I? You're learning to make your own decisions, and I'm just here to help you out when needed, there's no real need for me to go after you if you're learning how to set your own breaks." Kurama explained, having read the thoughts from Naruto, who simply nodded.

"Naruto are you even paying attention?" Kakashi asked as Naruto blinked, rubbing his head a bit.

"Sorry about that, what was that?" Naruto asked as Kakashi sighed.

"I was asking if you wanted to get something to eat, I figured that we had some time before the mission, and was asking everyone if they wanted to eat or if they wanted to train. Both Sakura and Sasuke wanted to train and prepare their items, so I was asking you the same question and you blanked out." Kakashi explained as Naruto blinked.

"Why not train while eating?" Naruto asked, much to Kakashi's grimace.

Leave it to Naruto to answer both... Kakashi thought to himself with a sigh.

"Well, I guess we can train and then all join to eat afterwards." Kakashi said, leading their way out of the Academy and back towards Training Field Seven. Naruto noticed that the people, while still looking at him with some glares, were trying to hide their resentment a bit more. Naruto sighed.

"Don't worry Kit. They'll see your true nature as time passes on." Kurama reassured him as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I just got to get stronger for that!" Naruto said aloud, much to the confusion of the others. He hurriedly shook his hands in front of him, "S-sorry, was answering Kurama there." He explained as Kakashi snickered a bit.

"Same old Naruto I guess." Kakashi said as Naruto couldn't help but keep the grin on his face while they walked on into the field, heading in front of the pond for this one.

"Well, seeing as Naruto and Sasuke have already gotten pretty good at Tree Walking, though they still have a while to go, I might as well start you on the next stage of Chakra Control training, just so you can try it out if nothing else." Kakashi explained, seemingly unsure on if they were ready for the next stage.

"Well, Sasuke and I already reached the top and back without falling!" Naruto fibbed, neither of them even have made it to the top of the trees unless they were both racing each other. Sasuke glared at the lie, but said nothing of it.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "I know better then to believe that one Naruto, I watched you train yesterday so I know you only can run up about halfway of the trees. Besides, I'm merely showing you Water Walking now in order to prepare you for later on when you're actively training with it. As you all are aware, Chakra Control is one of the biggest things for a Ninja, and can turn the tide of battle by way of preserving your used Chakra for when you need it most." The three Genin nodded dumbfounded as Kakashi gave an eye smile to them, before walking on top of the pool water. All three Genin were waiting for Kakashi to fall in like an idiot, but he never did and effortlessly started walking over to the center of the small pond.

"Woah! That's so cool! I wanna do that!" Naruto yelled excitably, already forgetting Kakashi's previous statement, much to Kurama's amusement. Sakura scoffed.

"Cmon Naruto, Kakashi-sensei already said that he's just showing us it can be done! Besides, didn't you hear what he also said!?" Sakura yelled as Naruto blinked, looking confused as Kakashi gave an eye smile, waiting for Naruto's brain to catch back up.

His grin became pure disbelief as he stared at Kakashi, "Y-YOU WERE THERE!?" Naruto yelled as Kurama's laugh barked out the side of Naruto's mouth, much to Naruto's personal annoyance, "HEY! WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING, YOU DUMB FOX!?" Naruto yelled, eye color shifting again and again as Kurama presumably chased Naruto throughout his Chakra Core.

Kakashi rolled his eyes with a smirk as he looked towards the three, four he mentally corrected himself, Genin in front of him. "Okay, now once again, this is merely a demonstration, so I'm not expecting you all to be able to do this on your first go whatsoever, but I want you to notice my form real quick. Who can answer how I'm standing above the water?" Kakashi asked them, Naruto unable to answer through the screams that regularly sounded from his mouth, followed quickly by Kurama yelling words that shouldn't be repeated back towards him. "COME HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" being the least offensive of them all.

Sakura looked around as she raised her hand, Kakashi stared back and motioned her to go on, "Can you move a bit closer to us? You're a bit far away at the moment." Sakura asked as Kakashi shrugged, walking back their way.

"You don't need to raise your hand, but thank you for that I guess. Well? Any ideas you two?" Kakashi assured her, looking towards them both. Sakura wasn't really sure, but Sasuke walked forward.

"Your feet. It's the same principle as the Tree Walking, isn't it?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"Not entirely, but you're on the right track." Kakashi admitted as Sakura caught on.

"Oh I see, you're using your Chakra to adjust to the water, thus keeping a stable platform to stand on!" Sakura called out in earnest as Kakashi smirked.

"You're almost there, but not quite there just yet." Kakashi egged them on as Naruto and Kurama finally stopped chasing each other, but it seemed Kurama caught Naruto as he was the next to talk instead of the body's main host.

"Well, seeing as the Tree Walking exercise is based on coating your feet with Chakra and using it to stick to the wall like you would the ground, wouldn't it be an adjustable Chakra coat to fit the changing levels of the water? What would happen if the water suddenly shifted drastically, would you fall in from not adjusting fast enough?" Kurama asked, curious but unsure of his explanation. Kakashi nodded.

"Indeed, all three of you hit on the head, as for your question Kurama, for the most part I would unless I wall off that change enough for it to not be sudden enough to throw my concentration off balance. The more you practice, the more you can stand the change, but it's by far the hardest of the Chakra Control exercises to learn. If you can master it, it should give you a great control of your Chakra, and be a useful tool in battle as it can apply to other objects as well, be it sand or swamps, the same principle can apply. We'll be practicing your Chakra exercises throughout your missions, if only to make sure that it's not just mindl-team-building exercises, but the progress will ultimately depend on your own selves in the end. I suggest that the next time you all practice Tree Walking, try balancing leafs as well on top of it, as well as slowly moving up and down the tree, changing up your movement to the left and the right throughout. The more varied your actions, the more control you have to extract, and thus the better you'll get at Chakra Control as a whole." Kakashi instructed, the three Genin nodding to the explanation. Even Naruto, after Kurama deemed him punished for now, nodded after getting the run-down on what had been said.

"So how does the whole Water Walking work? Is it like the Tree Walking, but more difficult?" Naruto asked as Kakashi nodded.

"Think of it this way, the trees are solid, unmoving objects that have very little variation in how much Chakra you use. As you no doubt noticed, you have to find that sweet spot, then stick to it in order to consistently climb up trees and walls, however with water, that sweet spot constantly shifts around and moves ever-changing. Once you learn to constantly change to that sweet spot, and not get caught in the trap of finding it once and just keeping it consistent from there, then you'll be able to begin practicing Water Walking." Kakashi explained, getting three nods again. He gave another eye-smile before jumping back on the land in front of the group. "With all of that said, I'll give you the choice, do you want to try to do Water Walking now, or do you want to try the Tree Walking exercise with the leafs?" Kakashi asked as Naruto grinned.

"Of course I wanna try walking on water, what do you take me for Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto yelled out, thumb landing firmly on his own chest as he said it. Even Kurama seemed excited if the crimson glint in his eyes were anything to go by. Kakashi smirked as he moved out of the way, admittedly not expecting for Naruto to lay on the ground.

"What are you doing this time Naruto?" Sakura asked, seemingly trying not to immediately punch him for it, but Sasuke merely stared.

"I want to try walking on water, but first I need to make sure that I adjust to it, Kurama warned me that if I'm too hasty, I'm most likely just going to flop on into the water, and it would be freezing cold." Naruto explained, seemingly trying to keep his feet balanced on the water first before trying to stand up on it, much to Kakashi's pleasure.

"Good going Naruto, you're taking this how I would recommend all of you to start on out, by starting with a stable foothold, you can learn about the water's sweet spot from a more stable nature, then go about walking and seeing how that shifts it around." Kakashi said with a smile, much to Naruto's pleasure. He turned towards Sasuke and Sakura, "How about you two?" Kakashi asked as Sasuke didn't respond, instead sitting next to Naruto and beginning the same exercise, a look of pride riding in his eyes, causing Kakashi to give an eye roll at the boyish action, though he was happy to see it. Sakura on the hand sighed, shaking her head.

"Unlike them, I only just recently starting learning the Tree Walking exercise, I think it'll be better if I practice that a bit more, and build up the Chakra Control to catch up to them." Sakura said, looking a tad disappointed in herself for her lack of strength to join Sasuke and Naruto. Kakashi sighed as he looked at her.

"It's good to know your limits, just because you're limited now, doesn't mean you can't become stronger later. Naruto and Sasuke had been doing this since they were about seven when it comes to the Tree Walking, and you were still able to go farther than they could within their first week. Don't be discouraged Sakura, because I feel like you'll be able to master the technique faster than them since you have much less Chakra to work with, leading to better Chakra Control overall. Alongside that, you been practicing it more since you're aiming to becoming a Ninja Medic, and thus you need that control to begin with." Kakashi reassured her, watching her smile as a result. He nodded before looking back towards Naruto and Sasuke, both of which were still concentrating on their first steps towards Water Walking and gave him only the briefest of glares at the insults, but Sasuke more looked towards Sakura, getting up from where he was sitting and walking towards her.

"She'll need a partner to help her." Sasuke said simply as Naruto rolled his eyes, once again messing up the balance for the water.

Kakashi merely smirked, "Remember to be ready by morning, the mission begins then and we'll be out of training until late into the day because of it, I'll be here for advice, but I'm mostly going to let you three have at it." Kakashi explained as Naruto looked towards him, a light frown on his face.

"Kakashi, can you head back onto the water again?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shrugged, doing just that with his book in his hands. Naruto gulped as he stood up, laying a tentative foot onto the water, and trying his best to replicate Kakashi's amount of Chakra, leading to a snort from Kurama.

"Instead of trying it like a copy, how about we measure the water's Chakra, and try to replicate that?" Kurama asked as Naruto sighed.

"I been trying that, but I'm not really able to measure it. It feels like it changes depending on where the water is, and thus I'm not able to go based on that. If I have Kakashi act as a Chakra Rod to try and even it out..." Naruto said as he put his foot down...and promptly fell into the water.

"Brrr!" Naruto shuttered as he rushed to land, thankful he had been practicing in the shallow end of the pond, with Kurama howling with laughter. Struggling to keep warm, Naruto didn't bother with insulting the fox demon. Kakashi rolled his eyes at this with a sigh.

"You alright Naruto?" Kakashi asked as Naruto sighed.

"I thought I had it right and everything! I could have swore that it would work!" Naruto ranted before sniffling. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Well Naruto, this was an activity that was meant to be outside your reach at the moment. I merely wanted to introduce you guys to it, and I far from expected you to get it in a single try, let alone in a single night." Kakashi said as Naruto rose to complain, before sneezing out instead. "I just wanted to give you three goals to eventually reach as we continue on. You been a Genin for about a day now, and we only have so long to train before you become a Chunnin, so I want to make sure you have reasons to train." Kakashi continued, further confusing Naruto.

"But I-I want to try and do them now!" Naruto whined, much to Kurama's annoyance, but Kakashi didn't show any hint of annoyance himself.

"That's the point of goals. We want to do them now, but we have to work up to them to be able to do them. Let's give an example. You wanted to do Tree Walking before, right? What did you have to do, in order to do that?" Kakashi asked, subtly leading Naruto's brain to the inevitable conclusion.

"I...I had to train with the Leaf Exercise to learn Chakra Control, then slowly adjust myself to the new exercise. Having a rival in Sasuke helped because he drove me to keep going, right?" Naruto asked, Kurama subtly helping with the wording of it all, much to Kakashi's amusement. Naruto seemed to not notice.

"Indeed you did, and now that you hit a similar crossroads, you'll have to train again. Though...there is a way that you could improve it a tad faster, though I don't want you to abuse it." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Despite the freezing chill that Naruto felt, he immediately grinned in excitement, "Really!? What do I do? What do I do?" Naruto begged as Kakashi smiled.

"Please never do that again." Kurama groaned out as Naruto grinned mentally.

"If you promise not to laugh at me like that again." Naruto said, furthering Kurama's groan.

"Fine, fine...just. Don't do that again for the love of Kami..." Kurama answered back.

"Well, you remember how your Shadow Clone Jutsu works, right?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it sends back the pain to me, right?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shook his head.

"Not quite, it copies anything that you has learned and then brings it back to you after it vanishes. Here, let me show you with my own." Kakashi said, not moving a muscle as a shadow clone appeared next to him.

"Yo." The clone said, looking towards Naruto before facing the real Kakashi, "What do you need?" He asked as Kakashi looked towards Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, go with that me over there, and tell him something that I don't know, then I'll dismiss it and I'll know what you said." Kakashi explained as Naruto blinked.

"Wouldn't you just overhear us?" Naruto rightfully asked, making Kurama proud that he respected the Jonin enough to not underestimate him. Kakashi chuckled.

"He'll put up privacy seals, meaning I won't be able to hear you through them, and if nothing else, you can ask me before I dismiss it, and I won't know." Kakashi explained before shooing them off before Naruto could have anymore concerns.

The clone put up a privacy ward as Naruto sighed. "So, I'm supposed to tell you something you don't know, right?" Naruto asked as the clone nodded, "Hmm...I used to think Sakura was cute, but that was before she started attacking me so often, I think it's nice that she's learning healing, but her punches hurt! I just wish that she would ease up on them towards me, and she's obviously trying, but they still hurt a lot!" Naruto ranted, sighing at the end. The clone sighed.

"Well, he did say he wanted something new alright...that'll work Naruto, let's go see the actual me, okay?" Naruto nodded as the privacy wards disappated.

"What did you talk about?" Kakashi asked as Naruto shook his head.

"I'm not telling you!" Naruto huffed as Kakashi looked towards the clone, watching it pop in a puff of smoke.

"Oh, so that's how you feel towards Sakura, I kinda feel for you there, but it just means that if she practices, she'll be even stronger of a hitter, she just needs to control that strength of hers in order to know who to hit, and how hard her punch needs to be. I guess I'll help her with that whenever we get to the strength training." Kakashi casually said, leading Naruto to jaw drop.

"Wha-How!? How did you do that Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted as Kakashi snickered.

"As I said, everything the clone learns gets copied over, including memories and physical training. I want you to only do this with me while we train you to master the Multi Shadow Clone: Air Barrage Jutsu since it can be really dangerous and life-threatening if done wrong, but what you can do is use your Shadow Clones to help you train your Chakra Control, and with that you'll be able to better get a hold of your Chakra. There's a lot we have to go through, but we have the time to go through with it, one day at a time." Kakashi explained, before instructing him to use the jutsu himself.

Naruto nodded, trying to do it with no signs, but failing to do so, instead put his hands together to make a plus sign with two fingers on both his hands, a weird Ox-like sign that Kakashi raised an eyebrow to.

Naruto merely shrugged, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled, seeing a good fifteen Narutos pop up around him as Kakashi looked at them and sighed.

"Any way you can make less? It wouldn't be as dangerous if you limited it to five and yourself." Kakashi asked as Naruto shook his head.

"This is as far as I can lower it, sorry Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as Kakashi sighed.

"Well we only need five clones, so maybe the other ten can help you learn something else?" Kakashi asked as Naruto shrugged.

"What do you think I should have them practice?" Naruto asked as one of his clones poked his shoulder.

"Hey boss, I have an idea. How about we have five practice throwing shuriken and the like, five practice our training style, and then the other five can join you two on what you want. If we have Kakashi-sensei make two clones, he can help us make sure we're doing it correctly and get us ahead in all our current fields." The clone listed with a grin, Naruto returned it as he looked towards Kakashi.

"Works for me, just make sure that you all don't pop at once as that could seriously hurt Naruto in the process. In any case, I'll split you all into groups of four." Kakashi said as two clones appeared on both sides of himself, dragging off some groups. "That group of four will be practicing Shuriken and Kunai, to try and help you more get used to it, as well as helping you out with whatever wacky idea you have for it." Kakashi explained as Naruto watched the other clone take two groups with him. "Seeing as your style eventually becomes the combined Taijutsu style, one set of the four will be working on physical training while the other works through the Taijutsu style itself. This way you'll be ready whenever you and Sasuke need to combine your styles into one." Kakashi continued on, as he looked towards the three clones and the real Naruto beside him, "As for you four, you'll be working on the Tree Walking exercise, but while balancing a leaf in your hand. Once you can get to three leafs per hand, you can work on trying to jump between the trees, and even working to steal your clones leafs, just something to try and force you to keep your concentration in a high stress environment." Kakashi instructed as the four Narutos nodded, gathering two leafs each and starting to try balancing them alongside the Tree Walking.

The training carried on for Team Seven as they went well into the afternoon, only eventually stopping when Kakashi walked to each of them a few hours later, to where he motioned them to head on home. Sakura was rapidly progressing with Chakra Control, and while Naruto had trained with multiple Shadow Clones, he was still much more than exhausted Sakura and Sasuke, he didn't make nearly the amount of progress she did with Chakra Control, but Sasuke wasn't much better either, both having joined Naruto with the training midway through via Kakashi's advice. The three were walking together when Sakura looked at the two of them.

"So...I'll meet you for the mission? My house is this way." Sakura asked as Naruto grinned.

"See you then Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he started walking off towards his own home, looking towards Sasuke with a light smile on his face as he did so.

"Well, my house is also along that way, maybe we could talk a bit more about the Healing Waves technique?" Sasuke asked, trying to make some light conversation as Sakura's smile widened.

"Yeah, I can help you with that." She said as they walked off for the night.

Naruto walked into the Akimichi compound with a yawn, tired from the day as he smiled towards Choji before walking into their house, nearly forgetting that Choza was once again off on a mission. He looked towards Choji, "You're also exhausted, Choji?" Naruto asked as Choji groaned.

"Yeah, Anko-sensei worked us to the bone today. She kept sending that damn pet snake of hers at us and demanding we dodge in time. I still remember the amount of bite marks that she had to heal up from us, it totaled up higher than I could count." Choji explained, getting a wince from Naruto.

"Yesh, I don't envy you on that one..." Naruto said in sympathy, not bothering to block the yawn of his from going out. "Let's get something to eat then head on over to bed." Naruto said as he started cooking for himself, with Choji cooking his own supper. The two mostly ate in silence as Choji broke the silence with a sigh.

"So, what did you learn on your training today?" Choji asked between bites. Naruto shrugged.

"I learned that my Chakra Control really isn't that great. With the amount of Chakra Kurama and I share, I have to work a lot before I can even begin to walk on water. Man I was so excited for that too..." Naruto groaned out, catching Choji off guard.

Choji stopped eating and looked at Naruto as if he heard incorrectly, "I'm sorry, did I just hear you say walk on water?" Choji stressed as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah basically, you use Chakra to adjust to the water like you would for Tree Walking, but you have to consistently keep adjusting to it or else you fall right into it. It's like being on...being on a water bed, trying to stand on those is really hard cause of them constantly moving around and bubbling below you." Naruto explained, thankful of the lessons that he had listened in to about the existence of water beds. Choji looked excited, but continued eating without a word.

"I'm training with you guys tomorrow." Choji grinned as Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"I can try, but I don't know, we're doing our first mission tomorrow, but afterwards for sure." Naruto said, not fully dismissing it, but not entirely sure about it either. Kurama snored in his head as Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well, time for bed Choji, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Naruto said as Choji nodded.

"Night Naruto!" Choji said as they both yawned, before Naruto headed for his room and rested onto his bed, looking fondly at the picture frame that now rested between pictures of his seventh birthday and him with Honoke, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tenzo. It was a picture that had happened earlier in the day, a picture to celebrate being on a team together, and one that Naruto couldn't help but be impressed with. On one hand, he had no idea how it was there so fast, but on the other hand, it looked nice.

His brain spiraling down different reasons until they became a mere blur, Naruto finally fell asleep for the night.

Extra Scene Alpha: "Wait, aren't they supposed to be in the Nara compound?"

The guards couldn't help but stare as Naruto and Choji casually walked on past towards the empty Akimichi house of their leader, looking dumbfounded as they did. They looked exhausted as they stumbled their way to the door, letting themselves in with a key they always had with them.

One of the guards, a large Akimichi woman, blinked as they went on past, before turning towards the other guard, an Akimichi man, "Wait, aren't they supposed to be in the Nara compound until Lord Akimichi comes back?"

Her husband shrugged back at her, "They look exhausted and besides, it's not like they aren't his children, I don't think we really think it's that bad if nothing else." He said before yawning, "Besides, shift's almost over..." He said as the woman scoffed.

"All those calories just made you lazy, shame on you Chanrei." She scolded as the man shrugged once again.

"You want to go into that house and tell his kids off? Have fun with that one." Chanrei told her with a raised eyebrow as she blinked, thought about it, before turning away from the compound.

"Good point. I'll make dinner for us tonight." She said as he smiled, both getting back to work as usual.

A/N Not gonna lie, this chapter just refused to write for the most part! I didn't mean for it to take this long, but I was always busy with something else to the point where I really couldn't do much about it! Thankfully the chapter's over now and I know where we're going next. Yes indeed, the next chapter will focus on the D rank mission that Iruka set aside for Naruto. I figured with what happened during the Pre-Academy, and how all of the Fox Squad showed their skills there, that they might get more missions that are more important than mowing someone's lawn or something. Not to say they won't get those D rank missions, but those aren't going to be the only D ranks they will be getting.

I based this idea mostly from Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles, where D ranks could involve something like finding out about a local supply shop is suddenly closing down, to escorting a minor prisoner a bit from the village gates to the village, things like that. So I figured, why not focus on some In-Village missions that would introduce the cast to some world building while Sakura introduces us to more Medjutsu world building? It's going to be a blast, seeing as I finally have an idea of where this arc is going.

I...couldn't remember if I introduced Naruto to the concept of Shadow Clone Training before, but I'm assuming that I probably did and Naruto just thought it was the pain that was transferred and nothing more, hopefully that clears up that plot-hole lmfao. As for what's next? Well I'm definitely going to be working on Chapter 6 before even beginning Chapter 11, since I still don't have that damn chapter done, so stay tuned for that!

With all this virus stuff going on, just stay home, stay safe, and hey, maybe read some fanfictions.

Over and out! -Char Mossirren