Naruto Broken Shinobi

ch12

"Congratulations on passing the preliminaries you three. You and the Suna team were the only full teams to pass." Kakashi praised to his genin as they left the forest. Stopping outside the chain link fence, Kakashi spun around to face his students. Sasuke had a smirk on his face as Sakura was smiling. Naruto though was scowling and staring off into no direction in particular and Kakashi knew the boy well enough to know why. He was trying to think up a good strategy to use against Gaara in a month. "Now, training plans for the month; I'm going to need to focus on Sasuke to both help him with his Sharingan and because I have experience fighting against the Goken (Strong Fist) that Lee and his sensei Gai practice. Sakura, I can leave you with a few scrolls and notes on genjutsu along with a few physical exercises. I also might be able to call in a favor to have you train with a genjutsu expert for the month but I'm not one-hundred percent on that. If I can though, then I'll send her to you to train with. And Naruto, I believe your godfather will be in town in a day or so. So you could ask him for training or work on your own like you've done before. Unless you'd like me to find someone to help you?" Kakashi asked as Naruto pondered it for a moment.

"No thanks." He answered a minute later while shaking his head. "I should be fine either by myself or with him." Kakashi nodded before turning back to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Okay then. Now Sasuke, I'd like for you to pack for one month. I'll be taking you to a good training area outside the village tomorrow afternoon to get started. This will let you relax from the test and give me time to go call in that favor for Sakura." The Uchiha heir nodded his head in understanding while Sakura looked slightly down since she wouldn't be able to see Sasuke at all during the month since he'd be gone for all of it. "Now Sakura, if I can't get who I'm thinking of then I'll want you to work hard on the exercises I'll leave you. You could even go ask Naruto for help if he's not busy." Naruto nodded his agreement so Sakura let out a small smile before Kakashi turned and started walking away. "Well then team, let's go back and get something for dinner, my treat. And not ramen Naruto." Kakashi added without even looking back, making the blond shut his mouth with a frown.

Later that night Naruto walked home alone. He ignored the glares of the last few civilians out before the sun set while giving nods to the shinobi that did so to him. Word about the genin in the Chunin Exam finals would be spread tomorrow so for now, nobody knew anything different about him than they did beforehand. Stepping into his apartment he froze for a second at the sight of a man at his fridge before realizing who it was and relaxing. "You could've waited for me to get home Jiraiya."

"Aw, but gaki, this is more fun! By the way, you need some more milk." The now identified Jiraiya shot back as Naruto took a seat on his couch. Jiraiya soon joined him, revealing himself to be an older man with spiky and long white hair styled into a ponytail as well as red tear track markings going down his face. Also, unlike other Konoha shinobi, his headband didn't have the spiral leaf of the village but rather the kanji for oil and small horns coming out of the top of it. "So, I heard Kakashi forced you into the Exams this time. You make it into the finals?"

"Yeah, and my opponent is the Ichibi jinchuriki from Suna, a kid my age named Gaara. He uses some kind of sand ninjutsu to attack and defend with it without requiring any hand seals. It activated either on its own or by thought alone."

"Yeesh, sounds tough kiddo. I think I heard about something like that so I'll look into it if I can. Too bad you suck at Suiton jutsu or the match would be a breeze." Jiraiya joked as Naruto sighed and leaned his head back onto the couch's back.

"Is there any reason you're here Jiraiya?" The older man frowned slightly at the tired but still cold tone the boy used before getting into why he did come.

"Yeah, two actually. I've already spoken to sensei and warned him so now I'm onto you. There's a group of S-rank shinobi outside of Konoha called Akatsuki. I'm not entirely sure on their motives or goals but I know a couple things for sure. One is that Orochimaru was once part of the group but then split and is now hiding from them. The other is that they have a very unhealthy interest in jinchuriki and the biju if you catch my drift."