Naruto swallowed as he processed the story Shizune gave him. The woman lost her little brother and her fiancee, who happened to be this girl's uncle, in a year. And the latter's death could have been avoided had the old man and the council put more effort into this medic corps.

"Certainly explains why she's pissed at the old man." Naruto didn't like how much of a reason she had for leaving. It made it a lot harder to be pissed at her. "Why couldn't she just be a bitch for the sake of being a bitch?"

"Now do you understand?" Shizune glared at Naruto, hoping the jinchūriki would see reason. "She's been in torment ever since."

Naruto frowned as he got flashbacks of Neji and soon delved into thought. He couldn't knock some sense into the woman like Neji, something he learned in their fight, but maybe winning this bet would do something.

Naruto sighed before explaining. "Well, I can't bow out now. She'll no doubt think that I'm chickening out of the bet and I can't be Hokage." Naruto scowled. "And I refuse to lose to her."

Shizune gaped in alarm. "But the pendant-"

"I can give it back," Naruto added. "I wasn't joking when I said that I have a ton of money from the 4th. I don't need the money that pendant would make me and the strength technique would be more useful anyway." Naruto then walked around Shizune and to the door. "And besides, this is about proving the greatness of the Hokage more than anything else. As long as I make the 'greatest medic' eat her damn words, I'll consider this a win."

Shizune swallowed hard. "I hope that you can help her. Give her the hope she's been bereft of for so long."

"I'll damn well try," Naruto said before pausing and turning to Shizune. "Hey, you're a medic right?"

Shizune blinked. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

Naruto thought of fucking her and upgrading his chakra control but dismissed it. A medic would most likely know when her body starts acting up from unexplained arousal, so using his pheromones would be a bad idea. Plus, even if he managed to bag her, Tsunade would gut him in a flash before Jiraiya managed to stop her.

"If only the other women of the Shinobi world was as easy to force fuck as Sakura." Kyūbi sighed.

Naruto mentally shrugged. "It wouldn't be that satisfying anyway." He thought to the fox before asking Shizune. "Could you help me with some chakra control exercises? I can learn it through my clones and get better using chakra for this training."

Shizune paused. That would be a huge boon to this training that Naruto was undergoing, but could Tsunade find out? She shook her head. "Unlikely. After everything that happened, she's probably drinking herself into a stupor and Jiraiya is trying, and most likely failing, to talk some sense into her." With a mustering of her will, she agrees. "Alright, I got something for you."


Kiba was blissfully dead to the world, drooling softly into her pillow. She and her friends spent the last two days getting worked harder than they'd ever been before and weighed down by god know how much on top of that, until their arms and legs felt like they were going to fall off, all while the tormentors she'd naively thought of as elder genin effortlessly kept pace without letting her see them sweat.

And the way her treacherous teacher Kurenai had merely watched her pain and suffering with an amused grin hadn't helped.

But her bed and Akamaru would never betray her! No, her soft and fluffy mattress and equally soft and fluffy puppy were her only true friends in the world…

"WAKE UP KIBA-CHAN! WE HAVE ANOTHER EXCITING DAY OF YOUTH TO BE HAD!"

And then the sanctity of her refuge was breached, along with her eardrums, as a boisterous roar jolted her out of Dreamland. Bouncing upright with a shriek, the Inuzuka and her dog speared Lee with twin death glares.

"Do you need to do that every morning?!"

The spandex-clad genin just smiled back at Kiba pleasantly. "How else would I get you up for training?"

Behind her, Neji sighed. After seeing, and especially after participating, in Lee and Gai's insane training regime, he could see how had Lee to grown by such an insane amount. But the training regime was more exhausting than anything he had experienced in the Hyūga clan, if not as painful.

Tenten was of a similar mindset. How could she not be, after needing one of the beds Gai summoned to the training grounds for the genin to rest? After that humiliating defeat to that fan swinging punk, she had been galvanized to get stronger to ensure a failure like that would never happen. And while she had no intention of backing out now, her sensei's training was utterly murder on her body.

Kiba grumbled, picking up her puppy and getting off the bed. "What're we doing today?"

"Gai has a surprise for today," Lee said cheerfully, running off. "Get your weights, Run the mile two times, and meet with the others at Gai sensei's house!"

Kiba groaned with the others. "Only two miles?" Kiba thought in mixed frustration and desperation. "The surprise was obviously something horrible..." She shook her head. "No time for bitching. I asked for this."


As Neji and co stumbled back into the house, their training clothes stained with sweat, the wonderful smell of coffee, and the hiss of frying bacon welcomed them.

Sakura, Shino, and Hinata, even worse off than the others, staggered in after them, breathing heavily and collapsing into the closest chairs. The three younger genin had gone a half-mile less than Neji and Tenten had, but the elder genin couldn't bring themselves to be annoyed by the lower standards their new friends were being held to. Sakura needed it, and it helped that they never once complained or hesitated, no matter how worn out they obviously were or how much they lifted.

Kiba and Hinata didn't even think that would come when they extended the opportunity, knowing that Aburame usually doesn't partake in taijutsu at all. Shine's rebuttal to that was short and to the point.

"My teammates are training harder than ever to help the Hyūga clan fix itself. Why wouldn't I assist them in fixing an issue that has plagued our village for so long?" And that was that.

"Great timing!" Gai said happily from his place at the stove. "Breakfast will be ready in just a minute!" He punctuated her statement by flipping another pancake onto a huge stack and pouring more batter onto the skillet.

A large breakfast had already been displayed. The table was creaking under omelets, sausages, and bacon that were arrayed in three sizable piles on it. It was a meal only ninja that burned through calories as fast as they ate them could reliably finish.

With so many humans and a ninja hound scattered around the room, the meal was pandemonium, but it was a sort of chaos that Kiba was well used to. Even the Hyūga took it all in stride, though that probably had more to do with being too tired to care.

The massive heaps were depleted quickly, and eventually, the food was all gone. As everyone contributed to the cleanup, Kiba turned to Gai and braced herself. "Aright… what kind of training are we doing today?"

Sakura, hearing her question, whimpered for a second before taking a deep breath and steeling herself.

"Ah. Yes. That." Gai nodded at the question. "Fine, fine. The surprise has two parts, and here's the first: Take the rest of the day off."

Neji and Tenten stared at their sensei in dumbfounded shock. As did the other genin.

"...What?" Shino stated, visibly surprised and relieved.

Lee resisted the urge to laugh as Gai explained. "I already have the baseline data for you all, and you have all worked very hard and shown great flames of youth. But you've only started this extreme physical training, unlike Lee and I, who have been working for a year at least. Keep on your weights unless they start hurting, but other than that you can go about your business."

"...Welp." Kiba leaped off her chair with Akamaru. "I'm going to see Kurenai and train up my chakra control. Who's with me?"

"I am." Sakura walked off with Kiba. "I could use some genjutsu training from a master at this point. Thank you for the training, Gai sensei."

"I plan on asking my father for ways to increase my hive count," Shino added, following the other two out.

Neji and Hinata both got up after that. "I wanna improve my Jyūken with Neji-San," Hinata said.

"I could use some training with our clan's style as well," Neji added. As they left, Neji turned back to Lee and Gai. "Thank you Gai sensei."

"Don't mention it, my pupil!" Gai gave a thumbs up, his signature smile clear on his face. "It was my civic duty to kindle your flames of youth!"

Lee turned to the last one in the room. "What are you planning, Tenten?"

Tenten leaned back, a satisfied grin on her face. "Just resting here for the moment. I'll practice my aim in a bit. You guys gonna start your training now?"

Gai immediately stood up. "But of course! Come, Lee! Let us further explore the springtime of our youth!"

"Yosh!" Lee added.


"Gatsūga!" Kiba roared as she and Akamaru tear through a bunch of targets laid around the training grounds.

With a sigh, Kiba drops out of it to see the place utterly leveled. She whistled at the devastation. "Damn, Akamaru. Gai's strength training is kinda insane."

"You can say that again," Kurenai admitted. After noticing the rise in motivation that Naruto gave Kiba, the newbie Jōnin capitalized on Inuzuka's newfound desire for strength, encouraging the work out with Gai and helping Sakura with genjutsu after they were done. And speaking of Sakura...

Kurenai looked over to see Sakura practicing the genjutsu she gave her. The pinkette had taken her friend and sensei very hard, and thankfully not in the way a normal girl would. Instead of breaking down or moping around until they get back, she started training to get better so she could help them when shit hits the fan again.

However, such an endeavor would be rather stagnant without help, so when Sakura walked up to her and asked for help, she had to oblige. It didn't hurt that Sakura had more talent in genjutsu than her whole team combined if not her graduating class, no offense to them. Even Shino, who had the calm tone and chakra control to work with such illusionary tactics had to feed most of it to his last time she had a genjutsu prodigy as a teammate...well Sakura was far less likely to endanger the village or anyone else.

Although part of doing this with so little need for provocation was guilt from getting utterly destroyed by Itachi so easily. She sincerely doubted that Sakura would ever be able to fight the Uchiha prodigy in a genjutsu battle, but the other people he teamed up with likely wouldn't be that protected by the Hell-Viewing Technique or anything like that.

"Ah, got it!" Sakura smirked as she completed the Jutsu. A second later, Kiba swerved to one side as a look of fear slipped across her face. She growls and puts her hands together with a loud "Kai!". A few seconds later and, to Kurenai's surprise, the genjutsu holds for a bit before cracking. This was impressive as she had drilled genjutsu breaking into all three of her students as hard as possible with respectful results.

"Your genjutsu talent is incredible," Kurenai stated, walking up to the exhausted pinkette. "When did you get so good?"

Sakura shrugged. "I had insane chakra control for my age from the start. I just started to use it." She then got back up, a little slowly due to mild chakra exhaustion. "Motivation is one hell of a drug."

"True dat!" Kiba concurred, getting back up after with Akamaru. "After getting wrecked by Naruto, I knew that I needed to get better and fast!" She then made the seals for the Man-Beast Clone. "And I will get better!" She and Akamaru then blitzed into another set of Gatsūga.

Kurenai looked at the two drills tearing through the trees and targets on the grounds. "Hopefully this motivation sticks." She sighed.

"It will." Sakura smiled, trying out her Jutsu again. "Naruto tends to inspire anyone he sets his eyes on."


While Kurenai was overseeing the refinement of Sakura's genjutsu and Kiba's Inuzuka techniques, Shizune was helping Naruto boost his chakra control. The training was far more large scale than the suicide runs of Sakura and co, however.

A few hundred clones of Naruto were merely practicing the Rasengan, creating the ball, and maintaining it as long as possible. A few dozen slammed their Rasengans into the ground and made new ones quickly after to train how fast he can manage them. And a few after that were practicing the first step with both hands, one-handed, and were going to practice the second step when they could pop the balloons in both hands at once.

The second group was practicing Nature Transformation in Earth, Wind, and Water. A hundred clones were focusing on leaves, trying to cut, grind or soak as many as they could. This was particularly difficult as the leaves didn't conduct chakra as well as paper, and the goal was to obtain at least Chūnin level mastery of all three. A herculean task for even Jōnin to accomplish, if only because of the time limit he had.

The last and most harrowing training a group of clones was partaking in was Shizune's advanced chakra control exercises. Exercises learned from Tsunade Senju and the 3rd Hokage themselves. It was also the exercise that Naruto himself was partaking in and the one he was divulging the most clones in.

"This exercise is simple in concept but extremely difficult in execution," Shizune explained, placing a bucket of water in front of her. She then dips her hand in the water and when pulling it out, the entire mass of water is stuck to her hand, still, in the shape of the bucket, it was in. "I use my chakra to control the water of the bucket down to the molecule." The water then shifts into a hand covering her hand, moving in accordance with the limb controlling it. "If you can pull that off, you might get an elemental Rasengan down."

Naruto looked at the water limb intently. This was clearly an insane trick to try and get down in so little time, but the pride of the Hokage, if not Konoha itself was on the line. Losing, let alone quitting, was not an option. "Alright then." Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this."

Creating a bucket was as simple as making four small Earth walls in a square shape and pouring water from a nearby lake into each one the clone. The chakra control exercise itself was less so. Even getting all of the water out of buckets at once proved impossible for Naruto and his clones at first, and after half of the clones from the other groups had dispelled from running out of chakra, most of the clones barely progressed. Before long after that, he simply hit the floor from chakra exhaustion, most of his clones popping soon after.

Shizune sighed as she helped the jinchūriki to a sitting position. Naruto scowled, panting heavily as he felt his first case of chakra exhaustion in...gods know how long run through his body. Normally, having a hot woman caress his body would be an enjoyable experience for the blonde ninja, but his body was simply in too rough a shape to truly appreciate it. Sweat was running freely down his forehead and neck. His headband was thoroughly drenched in it, as was his white undershirt and most of his sweater.

"Fuuuuuck." Naruto groaned as Shizune healed the stress in his muscles for using so much chakra in so little time. The memory overload from having so many clones pop at once was also a huge distraction. "Is this what feeling wiped is? No wonder so many people don't bother improving their skills."

Shizune sighs. "Well, you're progressing more than most people your age could ever achieve, so there's that?" She finishes up the procedure and lifts the boy to his feet. "I'd normally say not to do more training today, but your tenant seems to be fixing you up as fast as I can."

"One of the benefits of being me," Naruto smirks. "Although the sky-high metabolism is an unfortunate side effect of that super-fast healing. I'm starving." With Shizune's help, he walked toward the town the Sanin was staying at.


Temari growled as she wrestled at her handcuffs in her cell, trying to find a way out of her mess she had been thrown in. "Damn it all. What do I do? Can I even do anything locked up and waiting for people to interrogate me?"

The invasion had been a complete disaster and Suna was left Kageless, and unlike in Konoha, there was a distinct shortage of people capable of replacing her father. Kankuro might in a few years, but he was far too young and immature to handle that hat. His sensei Baki was smart and politically savvy enough, but couldn't hold a candle to the other Kazekages in strength. And most people in the village were elite Jōnin at best, competent to be sure, but nowhere near Kage level.

"Although," Temari growled, hate flooding her heart. "It's not like anyone could do better than the daimyo and Dad!"

Rasa was responsible for practically everything wrong in her life, and literally everything wrong in Gaara's. The man used the redhead in an experiment to create a living weapon, killing their mother in the process, and when Gaara proved incapable of controlling the monster HE put in her, declared her a failure and tried to kill her god knows how many times. And when Gaara started going insane as a result, he did little more than limit what contact with her she and Kankuro had.

The result? The poor girl turned homicidal at 6. And was a remorseless murder machine at 12. "And I couldn't do a damn thing about it." Temari seethed. Helping her sister was ultimately a lost cause, Rasa didn't want his weapon to endanger his kids that he actually planned on succeeding him, especially after Gaara had been deemed a failure, and she and Kankuro were too scared of her to extend that bridge very quickly. And before long it was too late.

"Not to mention the invasion itself." She thought, remembering the reason she and Gaara were here in the first place. "Suna has been steadily decaying for several years thanks to our Daimyo, who has reached even greater levels of stupidity, and has been looking for a way out of its slump, but when all hope seems lost, a new village appears out of nowhere and offers us a way out. Via shooting an alliance with the only village we can trust in the foot. And the leader of the new village came from the one we invaded." A groan tears out of her. "It was way too suspicious...but it didn't matter because we didn't have other options and dad wanted to take the vampires in this village down a notch. And we were fucked over by a traitor and a scoundrel. And now the village is down a jinchūriki and a Kage."

"Hello there."

Temari jumped as she heard a voice from outside her cage. A quick look showed a random blonde Konoha ninja, one she knew came frequently but couldn't be bothered to remember, starting at her. "What do you want?" She snapped.

"Your compliance for one." The Konoha ninja stated.

Temari's eyes narrowed. "I already told you everything about the invasion and anyone I've seen in Oto, little as that is." She stood up in frustration. "I don't have anything else to tell you."

"We are aware."

"Then why-"

"The simple fact is that one of the ninjas you battled has claimed you as P.O.W." The blonde stated casually, causing Temari to still. This was something she knew could happen to her, especially considering her being the daughter of the Kage. Rasa explained it to her more than more even. But the fact that she was basically a slave to whatever bastard laid claim to her.

"Who?" She rasped.

"That is classified." The blonde man retorted. "He is currently out on a mission but won't be gone for more than a week or 2."

Temari dropped back on her bed, frustrated defeat coursing through her mind. She was screwed, wasn't she? There was always a small chance that Suna would get her back. Gaara was one thing, but they didn't have any real reason to keep her, and Konoha rarely killed captives that were well behaved or young. So she thought she would be sold back to Suna to make a few quick bucks, but clearly, that wasn't happening. She would be a concubine at best, and a slave at worst.

The blonde left, departing a message. "I suggest you don't do anything about this. Even if you don't care for what happens to you, your behavior might influence what happens to your sister."

Temari jolts as the man leaves, panicked thoughts. "What? How did he- Yamanaka?!" Temari seethed at not realizing sooner, her thoughts seemingly blinding her. Shaking the thoughts away, she starts to think about who would want her.

"Probably not any of the girls." Temari thought. "Shino and Shikamaru don't seem like someone that would grab an unwilling girlfriend. ...Naruto? The jinchūriki?"

The girl was easily able to tell that Naruto was a jinchūriki. The insane reserves and glares given at him in the village were clear warning signs. Not to mention the fact that she felt a demonic presence other than Shukaku as she was lead away from the fight. She didn't let it slip that she knew as that would ensure she would never leave, but the Yamanaka had clearly picked it out of her head. Speaking of jinchūriki...

"I hope that Gaara's okay." Temari thought hopefully.


"Gaara-San, it's time to wake up."

Gaara yawned as she got up from her sleep. Something she had enjoyed immensely since she came here. Mother had always told her not to sleep unless she wanted her to come out, but after these people cut her off from her mother, she could sleep for extended periods without repercussions. She still hated them from cutting off mother from her, but this was almost enough to offset that.

People asked her about her favorite foods, places, and colors. Gaara hadn't known the answer to those questions. Growing up the way she had, she didn't have a preference for...anything other than blood really.

The only question she could answer was her favorite color, a tie between red, for blood, and gold, for mother.

Although she didn't need blood to assert her existence...wherever she was though. They did it for her. They seemed to actually want her around. Not in the way Naruto did though, and she vastly preferred that.

"How are you feeling?" The man asked.

"Bored," Gaara replied. "There's nothing to do."

"I have books that you can read." The I.T. ninja stated.

"You mean those propaganda books you gave me?" Gaara growled distrustfully, causing the ninja to go still. The last books she had been given were easily identified as useless propaganda books made to show how amazing Konoha is and how much better it was compared to all of the other villages. She already had no intention of going back to Suna so such things were irrelevant. Granted, the only reason she wanted to stay here was Naruto, but they didn't need to know that. "Give me something else."

"We don't have anything else." The I.T. ninja frowned, shifting in his seat and unknowingly revealing a book in his pocket.

"What's that then?" Gaara asked, pointing at the book in his pocket. The I.T ninja paled as he grabbed the book. She could make out the words 'Icha Icha' and some scantily clad girls on the cover.

"Err... " The I.T. ninja paled, trying to find a way to not give this pre-teen girl his porn book. "I'm afraid this is an adult book. Far too lewd for you."

Unfortunately, his explanation proved his undoing as Gaara walked up to the front of the cell and outstretched her arm.

"Give it," Gaara demanded. "Ninja are effectively adults the day they're inducted, so that's no excuse."

"What the hell did her dad do to her?!" The I.T. ninja thought incredulously, partly cursing the dead man for sticking him in this absurd situation. "...I'm going to hell for this." He thought before putting the porn book in the slot of the cage and pushing it in.

Gaara took a look at the first page, and to the shock of the man talking to her, quickly got invested. "I reiterate, what the hell has the people in Suna been doing to her?!"

Gaara more or less ignored the man's shock at the situation. She wasn't intending to read for the porn (yet). She was reading for more information on this sex thing. How best to please Naruto, how best to please herself, and more. The lack of pictures made it hard to tell for sure, but she was rather determined to make the day that Naruto comes back a great one.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Gaara," said the man, still feeling awkward for giving the girl that book. "If you need anything else, let me know."


Naruto growled as he stuck his hands in the water and pulled it out. The water still stubbornly refused to listen to his will. Looking around showed that most of his clones were having similar success. And what's more his chakra was to run dry again. Unsurprising, considering that he was working on this for literally hours, but infuriating all the same.

After eating, the half-demon had gone straight back to the training grounds and hadn't stopped working on chakra control since then. Shizune had already given all the help she could and was currently with Tsunade and Jiraiya, at least to his knowledge. Not that he cared, all that mattered to him was getting the complete Rasengan down and proving the glory of the Hokage. This wasn't just creating a possibly Kage-level Jutsu and achieving something the 4th Hokage couldn't. However, it was almost night and next to no progress had been made.

"Not if only this water would stop being difficult!" Naruto growled viscerally as the water dripped from his hand.

"Wow, have you been working all day?" A familiar voice chastised.

Turning sharply, Naruto spotted Tsunade leaning against one of the many rock outcroppings in the area. She looked better than the last time he'd seen her at the bar where they had fought four days earlier. She was sober now, yet it was clear that something was bugging her.

"Yes." Naruto snapped, him and his clones glowering at the Sanin. "My stamina and chakra allow me to work for hours on end without stopping. The clones also make it easier for my mind, body, and chakra to retain information from training. It actually how I got the Rasengan in a week."

Mildly impressed by the sophisticated training method, Tsunade glanced around at all the shadow clones plunging their hands in the water and trying to pull the water out of the buckets. "Did Shizune teach you that trick?"

Naruto paused a bit before admitting it. "I asked for some help. I may have gotten the Rasengan in a week, but it took working nearly sunrise to sunset every day of that time to get it down, and still only got it down in the middle of our fight." Naruto shrugged. "I might've been able to make an elemental Rasengan with more elemental training, but I wanted to be sure that I didn't blow my hand off in the attempt."

"Wait a minute, have you attempted even a single elemental Rasengan yet?" Tsunade demanded incredulously.

Naruto felt a drop in his gut as Tsunade called him out. "...Didn't want to fuck up my arm."

Tsunade chuckled at being able to one-upping the brat. "Just what type of Jutsu are you trying to make?" Tsunade asked, out of curiosity since it was likely she'd not be seeing it anyway. "Earth Release? Fire Release?"

"Earth," Naruto replied. "I'd rather not let anyone pop a Rasengan I make so easily. I'm fairly sure that adding Earth Release Chakra to weapons makes them tougher. I'm applying that same logic to a Rasengan."

"That's...actually interesting," Tsunade admitted. "And considering how common the element is, it is the easiest to work within most Jutsu."

Naruto smirked. "Why thank you, ma'am."

The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air and impacting into a rock ledge fifty meters away and all the clones popping soon after. It was only after he fell out of the imprint he'd engraved into the rock that he felt it: a sharp stinging slap mark on his cheek and a blinding headache from the mass clone popping. "Holy shit that feels familiar. What the hell happened?"

"The Senju struck you," Kyūbi stated. "Apparently, she takes as much issue with her age as Mito did."

"OW!" he cried out as he cradling the mark tentatively, completely ignoring the look of rage on the old woman's face. "That hurt!"

"Don't call me that, brat!" Tsunade snapped, dangerously.

"And why not?" Naruto asked, turning an accusatory glare at her. "You are old, you know?" The sight of the throbbing vein on Tsunade's forehead brought up memories of an angry Sakura, prompting Naruto to shut his mouth. "Bitch."

"What was that brat?!" Tsunade raged.

"You just reminded me of someone I know," Naruto said, still slightly rubbing his cheek. A cold chuckle came from his mouth. "A real fangirl with a big forehead and an even bigger temper."

"And why do I-?"

"Her favorite hobby was smacking me around before we became teammates," Naruto said. Though his voice was casual, his face suddenly hardened, most likely from unpleasant memories that followed.

Tsunade noticed the sudden change in attitude. It would seem that what Jiraiya had told her of the boy's early life was correct.

"Tell me something, brat," she said as he came back towards her. "Why do you still stay in Konoha? I know your life there was hard, cruel, and unfair. No one liked you or wanted to be around you. So why not run away? Why stay loyal to a village that clearly doesn't want you?"

"...I have a few reasons not to leave." Naruto said slowly, having clear difficulty explaining his motivations. "First, there are some people that give a shit about me, and I have no intention of abandoning them. Second, I would probably get killed or dissected by the other hidden villages, not a few months after I did so. Iwa in particular would want to kill me to get back at my dad and get another bijū on top of that. Third, I'll be able to lord over everyone that treated me like shit and execute everyone that straight-up tried to kill me. And finally..." Naruto swallowed, trying to get the last reason out. "...I'm not going to give the pricks in the village the satisfaction of running me out of the village. Giving in to the demands of people that hate me for being born? Fuck. That."

Tsunade felt a reluctant form of respect in the brat at that declaration. She never really cared about what people thought about her, especially after leaving the village, but to shrug off all that hate that was piled on him for so long was incredible.

Naruto plunged his hand in the water channeled his chakra into the water as hard he could. Raising his hand out, he grinned at seeing every drop of water leave the earth box he made. The water wasn't maintaining its shape, but none of the water left the hand.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered. "Finally!" It wasn't perfect, but it was progressing. And he still had a few days to work with. "Anything else to say, Tsunade Senju?"

"...Not bad." Tsunade admitted, putting her hands on her hips. "But you still have a long way to go before you perfect the Jutsu of the 4th Hokage."

Naruto smirked. "I know. But I refuse to give up."


Six days later...

Gai hummed to himself cheerfully as he strolled down the dirt road towards the house, not hindered in the slightest by the load he was carrying under each arm. The loads in question groaned softly as their bodies kept screaming at them for pushing them so hard.

The spandex-clad Jōnin just chuckled in response as he nudged open the door of Kurenai's house. "We're back!" he announced, carrying the insensate bodies of his students inside.

"So I see," Kurenai noted, assessing the pair of still-groaning apprentices. "And how are you two feeling?"

Kiba managed to lift her head just enough to give her sensei a look. "Everything's sore, my sweat causing my shirt to cling to my pits, and I think Akamaru's gonna puke."

Whine...

"Oop, nope. False alarm." Kiba tracked back as her partner whined in her ear. "Still tired though."

Dangling from under Gai's other arm, Sakura whimpered. "What level of hell are we on, again?"

"Earth," Hinata explained, having just left the showers. "Showers free. Shino, Neji, and I just got out."

Kiba and Sakura groaned before played a quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Kiba won, and gratefully dropped onto a nearby couch with Akamaru as Sakura painfully hauled herself upright, grumbling all the way to the bathroom.

Gai strolled over to the kitchen and started washing his hands in the sink, ready to help his fellow sensei prepare lunch.

After a glance at Kiba and her puppy to verify they were already dozing and hearing the shower turn on, Kurenai leaned in closer to Gai. "In all seriousness, what do you think?"

"They're doing excellent," Gai answered exuberantly. "Kiba's already in great shape due to her previous Inuzuka training, unsurprising considering how focused on taijutsu they already are. And Sakura and Shino's flames of youth are driving them to improve greatly, Sakura almost as well as Lee! I'm honestly impressed."

"And your students?"

Gai chuckled sheepishly. "While I rather would've made Neji come out on his own, his and Tenten's loss has spurred them to improve, and the former's flames of youth have finally burst through the oppression of his clan! If only emotionally." His smile quickly grew elated. "And Lee has taken his rival's adoption of our training exceedingly well. He's been working harder than ever to maintain his edge over his teammates!"

"Seems like Naruto won't be the only one to improve greatly over this time," Kurenai replied, cooking something eggs and bacon. "Wonder how he'll react to all this."


Jiraiya couldn't resist letting loose a long whistle of amazement at what he saw. "Wow."

The rugged prairie had been completely transformed in the past week; numerous stone boxes were arrayed with water in them, clones of Naruto sticking their hands in and pulling the water in them out.

Another group of clones was grinding leaves up with Earth chakra. This group was notably smaller than the former, most likely because he ironically needed chakra control more than the elemental training to mix it in with the Rasengan.

With a quick look around, he was able to see the real Naruto sitting at one of the water boxes. Normally, this would be near impossible to accomplish without sensor skills, but Jiraiya was able to tell how exhausted this Naruto was compared to the rest. He then strolled over to the boy with a cheeky grin. "Hey, brat." He stated, before asking. "How's progress on the Rasengan?"

"I've gotten good enough to try mixing an element into the Rasengan," Naruto explained with a scowl. "Trying to get all of the steps down on the Rasengan while adding an element to it is inhumanely difficult. The ball usually just pops whenever I try, painfully in case of wind chakra." It was at that point that Jiraiya noticed multiple cuts and chakra burns on the hand Naruto wasn't dunking in the water. Unbeknownst to Jiraiya, Kurama had even thought of using Ice or Magnet Release for the Rasengan after multiple days of failure. But that had ultimately been delegated to their last resort. He didn't want to spill the beans about his deal with Kurama before he got his new house, let alone before he officially made Chūnin. Although he was personally curious about what a Magnet Release Rasengan would even do.

"Damn." Jiraiya whistled again at Naruto's work ethic. "How long have you been working on this Jutsu?"

"It may be all the experience of training with clones and getting all their memories, but I don't think I've been doing anything other than training, eating, and sleeping this whole week." Naruto sighed, pulling his hand out of the box. The water came with him in the shape of the box, before slightly sloping downward. "I've certainly felt like I've been doing this for months, if not years."

"I'm fairly sure you haven't been working for years," Jiraiya said flatly. "But I can say that you have been working for the whole week straight. No breaks as far as I know."

"Ugh." Naruto groaned, stunned at how much time he spent in these damn grounds. "This is the last time I make a bet like this."

"Really?" Jiraiya asked cheekily. "I thought that the pride of the Hokage was on the line in this bet."

Naruto gave his fellow pervert an exhausted glare. "I think you should be taking this more seriously."

"I am." Jiraiya put his hands up in surrender. "But you should know that Tsunade doesn't really think like that about the old man and your dad. Take it from someone who knew her as a kid."

Naruto frowned. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Jiraiya sighed. "You probably will with Orochimaru running around." He thought.

"Besides," Naruto said, yanking the water out of his box again, making it the same shape as the box. "I've already spent all this time on this Jutsu and it will be insanely powerful when I'm done. Not to mention I already have everything I need now. Might as well finish it." He dumped the water back in the box. "Speaking of which, I'm running out of time get this damn Jutsu. I probably have the control to get it down."

"Can't argue with that," Jiraiya admitted as he walked away. "Although having him finish this Jutsu is gonna be a great boon to his ascension to Hokage, greater than even he knows. It is the completed form of Minato's own Jutsu."


Shizune wondered how far Naruto had progressed.

Ever since she'd found him on that first day, Shizune had been periodically checking up on him during the evening hours. Now that tomorrow was the end of the bet, it was best to see if he had gotten it down yet and help if not. If he hadn't gotten it down now, he probably wouldn't by tomorrow without the assistance of someone. Which wasn't something they could allow. Not now, when Tsunade finally might get a reason to help herself.

Tsunade's self-inflicted depression had been going on for some time now…quite a while. It was high time someone got her out of it. Shizune had been hoping that Jiraiya and his rambunctious student might have been able to do it, especially after Orochimaru showed up. "How dare he try and use Tsunade's loved ones like that…can't Tsunade tell that Orochimaru is just using her?"

All of her thoughts came to a sudden stop, however, as she sensed a huge amount of chakra being used just up ahead. "What the-?" She sped up to see what was certainly one of Naruto's attempts at the Rasengan. When she came upon the Prarie, she saw Naruto focus a huge amount of chakra into a Rasengan. But it was easy to see that this Rasengan was different from the other. The color was far different, changing from a clear light blue to a glowing dark brown that bordered on black with small stones hovering around it. It was also slightly smaller but far more concentrated and potent, radiating power that could be felt from where she was. A huge smile spread on both her and Naruto's faces as the situation became clear.

"Fuck yeah!" Naruto laughed as he held the ball in his hand. "I finally did-erk!" His victorious yell cut short as his arm suddenly lurched to the ground. "What the hell?!"

Shizune's smile slipped off her face as she realized something was wrong. Naruto seemed to be having trouble lifting the concentrated ball of what seemed to be Earth Chakra. Was the Rasengan too heavy to work with? The bottom line, she had to get in there. "Naruto!" She called out, running to the jinchūriki.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be the worst possible decision she could make. "Shizune?!" As Naruto turned in alarm to see Shizune, his concentration split and his arm lurched to the ground with a crack. Naruto screamed in pain as his arm dislocated from his shoulder and Rasengan fell from nerveless fingers and hit the ground.

A shockwave comparable to the gravest of dust explosions went off as the Earth Rasengan seemed to detonate on the ground, the earth being sucked into the point where it did so, but not before a blast of chakra sent everyone flying. Shizune was blasted backward almost as fast she was running and hit the ground with a painful thud. She regained consciousness just in time for Naruto to crash to the ground. The point where Naruto's Rasengan hit the ground could be called a hill at least, the ground having converged at that point.

"Naruto!" Shizune screamed as she ran across the devastated area to the now thoroughly unconscious jinchūriki, wondering what just happened.