Inheritance

Fragmenting

6.

Naruto ducked a vicious right hook and struck back at empty space, only for bristly white hair to expand around his throat tightly and yank him harshly to the floor courtesy of a smirking Jiraiya. He gasped harshly for air, even as he summoned a trio of Kage Bunshin and set them after the Sannin. They were swatted aside like they meant less than nothing even as Naruto dragged himself to his feet.

This was how much of his training with Jiraiya had been going. The bastard had been relentless since they had gotten out of the forest, sparring with him at several levels above where he was at. Naruto had grimly accepted the task, particularly as Jiraiya had provided him a courtesy he didn't tend to - he had sat down and explained why it was necessary the evening the training had started.

The civilians didn't know it, nor did many of the shinobi underneath the level of Jonin but Konoha was going to war.

Well, going was perhaps a stretch - war was coming to it.

It was something Jiraiya and himself had talked about previously, and he had picked up on the hints and clues from his sensei and the Sandaime. To have it confirmed though sent an uneasy twisting and pulling in his stomach that had absolutely nothing to do with out of date milk. This was the village he had sworn to protect, and now it's enemies were moving against it. Naruto was action personified, and now he was being forced to wait sitting on his thumbs while their enemies maneuvered themselves into position to strike.

Their only advantages lay in the fact their enemies did not know they were expected, and that they had made the mistake of choosing to fight on this villages home ground.

He glanced to the side, where Uzuki Yuugao - the special Jounin that had worked with him before Jiraiya had taken him on - was putting Hana through her paces. She wasn't being taught by Jiraiya but since they had worked together for the first time and had entered the Chunin exams together, they had sort of formed an unofficial team. Since Yuugao-sensei had been assigned to Naruto as a teacher and as protection, she had decided she could help with the training of the pair of them.

The four of them had spent the previous two days training hard. Not only to be ready for the Third Round, but to be ready for the coming fight for their home. Far more than rank was on the line now. His role, it seemed, was to fight and subdue Gaara before he could unleash his tailed beast. They were being attacked by a combination of Suna and Oto, led by Orochimaru. Jiraiya was adamant that he and the Sandaime would have their hands full with the snake Sannin, leaving very few shinobi in the village that possessed the knowledge to seal Gaara and therefore fully neutralize the threat he posed. Even killing him could unleash Shukaku, and simply defeating him might do the same. It would be down to Naruto to seal him.

Worry had been turning his stomach in knots ever since Jiraiya had told the whole truth of the invasion to him. The deaths of at least some of those he sought to protect was surely inevitable, and the thought made him want to empty his stomach. Jiraiya's fist suddenly collided with his jaw, making his head ring like a bell and sending him to the floor like an unwanted children's toy.

"You lost focus again, gaki. You switch off once the fighting starts worrying about who might and might not make it and you'll be dead before you can blink." Jiraiya hauled him to his feet by the back of his shirt. "You'll be no good to anyone once that happens, Naruto."

Naruto scowled petulantly as his sensei dropped him back onto his feet, but mostly because he knew the old pervert was right. Death was inevitable in war - he just wished he could accept it like a shinobi was supposed to. Ironically, accepting he couldn't change it made it easier to prevent what deaths he could but dragged him closer to being the kind of shinobi that stopped caring about the deaths and only cared about the victory. It was anathema to him and he was terrified of it, of having to become that to save everyone.