Dead Eyes (Naruto)

Part 10: Dogs and Flowers

-Naruto POV-
It had been two months. I was at training ground three, sparring with Kakashi. He was finally putting in the tiniest bit of effort against, he still read his book while fighting, but he started glancing up every now and then. I had been managing to dodge every twentieth strike or so, which was a massive step up from none.

I'd been training my senses with Shisui and Itachi when he had time. I would stand in place staring straight forward and they would throw a kunai right past my face. The kunai would have kanji written on it and a scent attached to it. The goal was to identify the scent and read the kanji as it flew by. They would rotate kanji and scents to keep me on my toes, then when I got it, they would throw the kunai faster. It was yielding many results. I'd been training my hearing by arguing with Sasuki and firing back as fast as possible.

Dad's physical training was brutal. I started at 3:00 AM every morning and did physical training until 6:00 AM. Much of it was lifting and moving things. At night I'd do speed training for an hour, or I was supposed to at least, I upped it to two hours and added my own regimen to it. On top of that, I practiced Kenjutsu with Ma and Hijiji everyday for at least an hour.

I also spent time expanding my lungs in order to take in more natural chakra from the air. I'd recently learned that it was called Sage Chakra and the technique I'd developed already existed and was called Sage mode. I practiced my new techniques once a week, I'd been making very slow, but steady progress.

I'd still been making time to train with Hiashi, though I hadn't seen Hinata much at all. I hadn't seen much of my graduating class at all. Between all my training and my team taking on weekly C-ranks, I didn't have time to meet with them at all.

Sasuki had been training with Itachi a lot lately, apparently she'd been coming up with genjutsu left and right lately. She had also gotten a physical training regimen from dad, so we trained together for a bit in the mornings.

Suisha had been getting lessons from various Jonin around the village. She was learning all kinds of new things and ways to use her corrosion. She had gotten a physical training regimen from one of Kakashi's Jonin friends.

One day I was practicing my sword skills with a heavily weighted boken. I was drenched in sweat and fighting against Ashina in my clones body. I was only wearing a pair of black pants. I had wind shift active and I could feel something creeping up on me. My clone popped and I switched to practicing my stances.

I spun at the last second to find Kiba and Akamaru behind me. His eyes were wide. "Woah Naruto... you've changed a lot." He said.

I grinned. "I know right? How have you been doing Kiba?" I asked.

He grinned. "We've been good! Team 8 has a 100% mission success rate." He said pridefully.

I nodded. "I heard. Your team is ranked right behind mine. Now then, what brings you all the way out here?" I asked.

He chuckled. "The Hokage sent for you." He said.

I grinned. "Race you!" I called out before flash stepping away.

I arrived in front of my house and jumped up to the window. I grabbed my new outfit and went to the bathroom. I quickly washed up and got dressed. I was wearing a dark blue sleeveless Gi that showed off my chest, instead of a belt holding it closed, there was a fairly thick brown rope. For pants I was wearing black fitted shinobi pants with bandages wrapped around my calves. I had my hair down and my headband on. I wrapped my arms in bandages and had new gloves. Instead of having it on my waist, my katana was on my back.
(To give an idea, without the neck thing.)