The Windmill Turns Both Ways

Friends

Two weeks passed.

As Naruto began his training, signs of the upcoming war became more and more apparent. The last batch of troops would soon depart for Allied Shinobi Force headquarters, leaving behind the minimum necessary for Suna's defense. Their tools and supplies were sent ahead, and now that almost all of it had arrived safely, the only thing that remained was for the shinobi themselves to leave.

All this happened on the periphery of his awareness. Naruto spent as much time as possible at Mount Myoboku. Training gave him a sense of purpose, even though he still didn't know what he was going to do. Being stronger would help no matter what happened. Taking a new power home when he returned was an exciting prospect, too.

But he saw the others less because of it. They always ate together in the evening—sometimes with one of the Sand Siblings in their own apartments, sometimes out on the town. Naruto was glad for any meal that offered more edible fare than Shima-baa's home cooking, but it was still awkward.

He was stuck between being angry and wanting to make up. He knew they hadn't meant to hurt him. But they were bound to keep disagreeing over his older self's exclusion in the war. At Suna, he mostly stayed in his room.

Things on Mount Myoboku were a lot simpler and happier. Fukasaku alternated between Sage training and the basics of Frog Kata, the taijutsu form specialized for Sage Mode.

Unfortunately, they could only talk about the more advanced moves in theory, because many of them were physically impossible in a normal state. They wouldn't get very far until he could actually use Sage Mode.

Naruto sat in the shade of a gigantic leaf, meditating, trying his best to master 'stillness'. Yamato sat on the grass nearby, leaning back against the stalk of a freakishly large fern. Fukasaku stood ready with his stick beside Naruto.

So far there hadn't been any signs of a transformation, whether good or bad, and it was getting harder and harder for Naruto to sit still without complaint. Perhaps it was to be expected, but the first step was already taking longer than it had for his older self.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he flopped backward onto the grass with a very loud and frustrated groan. "I know I can do this. Are you sure I can't do it the way aniki did? We should try some of that toad oil stuff, at least."

"I told you it's too risky, Naruto-chan," Fukasaku said. "The purpose of the oil is to draw Natural Energy to you, so you can sense and take it in more easily. But you are attracting a lot of energy already. Any more would be dangerous. It's dangerous now."

Naruto sat up and crossed his arms. "I still don't really understand. How do I use it, even if I was able to sense it? Do I just... take a big breath and hope it goes in through my nose, or what?"

Fukasaku scratched his head with a sigh and then put his hands in a ram seal. "You learned about advanced chakra manipulation with the Rasengan, right? You already know how to focus your chakra to a specific point, and how to control other variables like power level and rotation. If I remember correctly, you also learned how to mix Wind Element energy with all of that."

"Eh?"

"Not yet," Yamato interjected from where he sat, shaking his head. "He learned how to use Fuuton a short time before his original Sage training. That was also the first time he used the Kage Bunshin to accelerate training."

"Hmm," Fukasaku mumbled. "You have even less experience than I thought. Nevertheless, as I explained at the beginning, you need to combine the Natural Energy with your normal physical and spiritual energies. It's much like other types of chakra manipulation, except part of what you are using comes from outside of yourself, rather than from inside."