The Perfect Shinobi (Part 2)

The Hunt.

Naruto was meditating in the Namikaze garden. It had been a few days since the three shinobi had been punished, and Naruto decided to get back on track. He needed to get stronger. Pain was coming and he needed to defeat him. Right now, he was reflecting on his fight with Nagato. He was trying to find an effective strategy to beat him.

"In the beginning of the fight I tried attacking blind spots of the paths, but every time I tried, they knew I was there. They reacted to fast to be sensors so how was he controlling them so efficiently." Naruto thought. Then he looked back on every time he attacked. "One of the paths was always watching the blind spot of another. They were all watching each other's back, but there was no communication." Naruto thought. Then he figured it out. "It's so obvious. If Nagato was controlling the other paths, then he would need an effective way to use them while not having them in his eyesight. He can see out of all their eyes at once."

"If their eyesight is linked then I can't stop them the normal way. The only time I landed a hit was when Pain was distracted by my shadow clone. For that brief second none of the paths were watching that one's blind spot." Naruto deduced.

"Taking out the paths should be easy, but fighting the last two is going to be difficult. The Deva path is his favorite and his strongest. Perhaps that path used to be his friend when he was alive. Nagato was much stronger when he had only the one path so it's safe to say that the fight will be harder the less paths he has. It would be smart to take out as many of the paths as quickly as possible. Skip straight to the hardest part and save energy. He didn't participate in the fight much with his actual body. I think the second time he will go full out."

"He is definitely the strongest of the paths, being the original. So, if I fight his main body, I should prepare for him to use all six paths, and a possible seventh."

Then he heard footsteps approaching the garden. Naruto opened his eyes and saw Kakashi walking towards him. Something was different though. Kakashi looked sad. The silver haired ninja stopped in front of Naruto and said one thing. "Asuma Sarutobi was killed in combat against the Akatsuki."

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Asuma's funeral was quite large. The Hokage gave the speech, and all of his close family and friends put flowers on his grave. Naruto looked around and saw the Shikamaru wasn't here. Naruto didn't blame him. Going to a funeral when you blame yourself for the person's death feels... disrespectful.

It was a simple mission to the fire temple. They were going to report on a distress signal. From the signal it seemed like it wasn't anything terrible, but when the group found the Akatsuki duo carrying the head of the main monk from the temple they engaged them in combat. The team fought bravely but Hidan eventually caught Asuma under his ritualistic jutsu, and he died in result. Team 10 returned to the village with Asuma's body. 

One of the hardest things a shinobi can go through is losing their Sensei. Usually, a sensei is someone who guides you from the beginning. When you lose them, especially at such a young age it's like a platform was pulled out from under you, and you start to drown. It's only when you learn to swim on your own that your sensei leaves for good.

Naruto placed his flower on Asuma's grave. He then walked away and looked at the crowd. Konohamaru was crying into the Hokage's robes. Kurenai looked frozen while holding her stomach. Kakashi, Tenzo, and Gai were all staring at the grave. Gai was crying, while the other two looked frozen. Then there was Ino and Choji. They were looking for Shikamaru.

Naruto walked up to Kurenai. "I'm sorry Kurenai. This attack was my fault." Naruto said.

A small smile crossed Kurenai's face. "Asuma wouldn't have blamed you."