Reaching For A Dream by Noodlehammer

Chapter 10

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

11 Genin were making their way towards the well hidden, private training ground of Uzumaki Naruto. Most of them had been wanting to speak to him about being the Uzumaki clan head and the son of the Yondaime for a month now. On top of this they had recently learned that he was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, making them even more anxious to talk to him. Even Sasuke wanted in on that conversation.

They had managed to badger his location out of Ayame, which had taken a great deal of reassuring that they held no hard feelings against Naruto due to his Jinchuuriki status. None of them had even known that Naruto had a private training ground. They were quite shocked to learn that he had made it himself, meaning that nobody except him truly knew about it.

The Sandaime's funeral had been 2 days ago. Naruto had only been present for as long as strictly required before vanishing back to his training, giving no chance for anyone to talk to him.

They passed through what was obviously a training area. It had logs that were clearly used for punching and kicking, as they were looking worse for the wear and had more than a few bloodstains on them. There was also a clear running track, along with a bunch of large rocks that looked as if they got moved around a lot, if the drag marks were any indication.

"Man, he sure doesn't know the meaning of taking it easy." Kiba said in wonder, looking at the bloodstained logs in particular.

"Naruto overflows with youth during training, if I am not mistaken, then the seals on the trees over there increase the gravity in the training ground." Lee said admiringly. This was his kind of training.

"You mean he keeps the same type of seal that he used to defeat me active while he trains?" Neji asked disbelievingly. He had barely been able to move with that seal active and Naruto kept it active for training?

"No doubt he also has his resistance seals active as well." Lee confirmed, making everyone look at the spandex clad Genin incredulously. Training with that kind of insane handicap should have left the blond barely able to move, much less train effectively.

They kept walking forward, passing a tree that had Naruto's clothing hanging on it. All of it, underwear included and they could hear the burbling of a slow moving river nearby.

"Err, maybe we should come back later." Sakura suggested, having no desire to see her teammate in the buff.

"Since you're here already, then you might as well get this over with." Came Naruto's voice from behind a large rock.

They all jumped a bit, not having expected him to be that close. They moved around the rock, to find the blond that they had been looking for lounging in a fairly large pool that had been created artificially by the use of an improvised dam.

The water was quite clear and he was obviously naked.

"Well, what are you here for that's so important that Ayame would tell you how to find this place?" Naruto prodded.

He would have been upset with Ayame telling them about his private training ground, but he knew that she was just trying to look out for him. She was of the opinion that he should try to make some friends among his graduating class, even if they were barely more than a bunch of kids.

"Well umm, we were..err, curious about you being the son of the Yondaime and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." Ino said awkwardly, trying hard to look anywhere except the water that wasn't doing much to hide his lower body. The others were attempting the same thing.

"What about it?" Naruto asked in a disinterested tone.

"Well, being the son of a Hokage is a big deal, especially the Yondaime! I bet you must have been excited to find out, huh?" Ino continued, now getting more into the conversation.