Naruto:A New Path

How To Improve

Naruto was walking towards the ninja academy. It was now around eleven in the morning so it would be recess at the academy meaning that he could talk to Iruka. Earlier today Naruto had had an epiphany of sorts and sought to make himself stronger but he had no idea how. All that Naruto had done before was beg for a new jutsu and now that he thought about it, it really wasn't a way to get stronger. Sure you had a powerful jutsu but if he didn't have the proper training then the jutsu wouldn't be at its fullest strength and it would take time to hit a skilled opponent. Naruto decided that in order to improve he would go to the root of things, in this case the academy. Iruka had known Naruto almost as long as the Third and had a good idea of what Naruto's shortcomings were.
The blonde entered the academy and headed for Iruka's classroom. It was a little nostalgic to walk in the hallways of the academy and he couldn't help but smile at the memories. Sure they weren't the happiest of memories since he had been an outcast and had been alienated by everyone but there were still some happy memories. Like the times he would play pranks with Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba. Those had been simpler times where he would only worry of what flavor of ramen he would get if Iruka took him out to eat. Now he had to worry about missions, getting stronger and most of all protecting those precious to him.
"Hey Iruka sensei," Naruto said with a smile.
"Naruto?" Iruka exclaimed with a smile, "Long time no see. What are you doing here?"
"Well…" Naruto trailed off and turned his gaze towards the opened window that had a clear view of the academy students playing ninja. Iruka gave Naruto a concerned expression. It wasn't normal for Naruto to be serious. Naruto's fists tightened before he looked up at Iruka again, this time with determination burning on his eyes.
"I want to get stronger." Naruto said in complete seriousness, "I want to be able to protect those close to me and in order to do it I have to get much stronger."
"Naruto." Iruka whispered with a small smile. He was proud that his former student had found a drive to get stronger. Many ninjas had different drives, some had revenge, need to be recognized and some did it for honor.
"So I wanted to ask you about what you think I should improve on." Naruto looked at Iruka with nothing but seriousness written on his face, "I know that you haven't been my sensei for a long time but I want to know what my weaknesses were when I was here."
Iruka smiled proudly at his student, leave it to Naruto to surprise him like this. "Well Naruto back when you were here you had little to no talent in genjutsu. Your ninjutsu was…" Iruka thought back to the Sexy Jutsu and cleared his throat, "Your ninjutsu showed great promise while your taijutsu showed little. I know that you have improved in both of those, your match with Kiba proved it, but I see that you still have some problems with genjutsu."
Naruto ran a hand thorough his hair, a habit he had when he thought of something to be difficult. "So you're saying that all my skills need work?"
Iruka shook his head. "Not at all Naruto, what I'm saying is that your genjutsu was the one that needed the most work." He said. "I suggest that you go ask Kakashi what he thinks also since he's the most familiar with your current skills."
"I got it." Naruto smiled at Iruka and walked to the door. "I'll go look for Kakashi-sensei now, thanks for everything!" With that Naruto ran out of the room with a smile.
Iruka chuckled. "That Naruto… he never ceases to surprise me."
Naruto was currently on Team 7's training grounds. He had been looking for Kakashi in several places but hadn't found him. He had first tried the bookstore that Kakashi visited frequently. Next he tried the memorial stone but he hadn't been there either. With no more options Naruto decided to look on the training grounds.
"Yo," a voice said behind him.
Naruto almost jumped out of his skin and glared at Kakashi. "What the hell was that? You can't just go and appear behind someone like that!"
Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto. "I see that you were looking for me."
Naruto gave the jonin a puzzled look. "How did you know?"
"Easy, I've been following you." Kakashi said. "When I was going to the bookstore I saw you approach it. At first I thought that I would finally meet another person who enjoyed the perfection that is the Make-Out series but I saw you leave and go to the memorial stone it was at this point that I knew you were looking for me."
Naruto smiled at his sensei. "Well I do have a favor to ask."
"What is it?" The jonin asked.
Naruto's face turned serious and he looked at Kakashi in the eye. "I want you to tell me what my strength and weaknesses are and to tell me what to improve on."
Kakashi raised a visible brow at this. It wasn't typical Naruto behavior to ask for an evaluation. Just yesterday he had been shouting that he would pass the chuunin exams without breaking a sweat. "What brought this change, Naruto?"
Naruto sighed and clenched his fists, he really didn't want to remember the nightmare. "I just felt as if I wasn't strong enough to protect my friends." Naruto turned his gaze towards the small lake on the side of the training grounds, "I want to get stronger in order to protect them."
Kakashi gazed proudly at his student, if only his sensei could see him. "Well Naruto from what I see you have a lot to improve on but not by a lot. First you have to expand your jutsu list so far you only know the shadow clone. I'll give you some scrolls with jutsu depending on your elemental affinity, but we'll get to that later. You also have to work on a way to dispel genjutsu since you have no talent in it."
"Your taijutsu is neither bad or good so I suggest picking out a style and working on it." Kakashi took out a small paper from his pocket and handed it to Naruto, "Now I want you to pour some chakra into the paper, this will tells us your elemental affinity."
Naruto did as instructed and watched as the paper split in half. "What does that mean sensei?"
Kakashi nodded before taking out a few scrolls. "It means that you have a wind affinity. This is probably the most dangerous element since it's not only powerful but also really hard to control." Kakashi gave the scrolls to Naruto, "Those contain some of the wind jutsu that I have copied over the years but you cannot attempt to use them until you have trained with wind chakra."
Naruto nodded at Kakashi. "Don't worry Kakashi-sensei I give you my word that I won't do that." Naruto gave a confused look and ran a hand through his hair, "But how will I train with wind chakra?"
Kakashi eye-smiled at his student. "Well Naruto in order to be able to use wind jutsu safely you need to complete two exercises. First you have to split a leaf in half using your chakra." Kakashi picked up a leaf and split it in half, "The cut has to be clean, if it isn't a perfect split then you have to try again until you get one. The second exercise is much like the first only this time you have to cut a rock in half. This will require more chakra meaning than the leaf exercise but I'm sure you'll pull through."
Naruto smiled in excitement. "Thanks Kakashi sensei I'll do my best." He pocketed the scrolls and turned to leave. "See you later sensei."
"Naruto wait," Kakashi instructed.
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
"I want you to meet me here tomorrow at ten in the morning, we'll discuss your training for the chuunin exams." Kakashi said, "I don't want you to be late."
Naruto sweat dropped. "This coming from you sensei." Naruto deadpanned, "Fine I won't be late." With that Naruto left the training grounds, set on splitting the leaf that same day.
Naruto sat against a tree with a leaf on hand. He had been trying the leaf exercise but couldn't make the smallest of cuts. It had been four hours since his talk with Kakashi and Naruto now knew why Kakashi had said that wind was the hardest element to control. Naruto was always the impatient one and so he couldn't stay still for a long time. It was one of the other things Naruto would need to work on since he would probably have to do stealth type missions in the future. Naruto gave a foxy grin thinking about all of the missions he could take when he got stronger. Sure he wanted to be able to protect his friends but that didn't mean that he would dedicate his whole life to it.
Once again Naruto poured chakra into the leaf. For some reason his chakra control had gotten a lot worse and he wasn't able to focus it. He tried to think of sharp things as he tried to mold his chakra. He finally pictured a sword and tried to imitate it with wind chakra. When he finally got tired, Naruto looked at the leaf and fall a small nick on the bottom. It wasn't much but it was something, at least it showed that he was on the right track.
Naruto grinned. "Only a few adjustments on the chakra and I'll be able to cut the leaf in no time!" Naruto, again, poured chakra into the leaf before trying to make it take the shape of a sword but it was too hard to focus his chakra, "Damn, I need to work on my chakra control again. I guess I got a little rusty somehow."
Naruto noticed that it was getting late. If he had to guess he would say that it was at least six in the afternoon. He heard his stomach growl and decided that it was time to eat, maybe a visit to Ichiraku's would get his chakra control back to normal. Naruto sighed happily and got up. He stretched a little before going back to the village. He had gone to a small clearing near Team 7's training grounds and found it to be a good place for his training. He could have gone to train at the actual training grounds but there were always people going there and that would surely disrupt his training.
Naruto dismissed those thoughts. He was now in town, thanks to him jumping through the roofs of the village, and he could smell ramen in the air. The very meal that had been made by gods and brought to the humble hands of humans. He took in the smell and closed his eyes, letting his nose guide him to his next meal. He suddenly bumped into something soft and fell on his butt.
"Watch where you're going!" He heard a feminine voice snap, "Naruto?"
Naruto opened his eyes and was met with platinum blond hair and blue eyes. "Ino?" Naruto got up and dusted his pants, "What are you doing here?"
Ino's eye twitched. "Aren't you supposed to help me get up?" Ino was still where she had fallen and pointed at herself.
"Why would I do that?" Naruto asked in confusion.
Ino sighed. "Just help me up, will you?" Ino held her hand up and Naruto took it on his. The contact of their bare hands touching made them both blush lightly, "T-thanks."
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Sure no problem." He noticed that Ino was on her civilian clothes, meaning that she was probably on a break from her ninja duties, "So, what are you doing out here?"
"I'm out looking for something to eat." Ino explained, "Since my parents are away I don't have anything to eat at home."
Naruto nodded in understanding. "Hey, how about going to eat with me?" Naruto smiled at Ino and took out his frog wallet, "I'm on my way there since I'm pretty hungry since I've been training all day."
Ino looked slightly shocked. "You want to go with me?" Ino had a light blush on her face at the thought of being asked out to eat by a boy. It was true that she acted like a flirt around Sasuke but deep down she was a shy girl, not Hinata level but still shy, "A-are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure, let's go!" With that Naruto took Ino's hand and ran to Ichiraku's, just smelling their ramen from far away had his mouth watering. He was completely unaware of Ino's light blush of course.
The two entered the stand and sat down. Soon a man wearing an apron came out. The man had a face that talked of joy and peace, it gave the stand a homey feeling. The man's name was Teuchi and he was one of the people who didn't hold any resentment for Naruto because of the fox sealed inside of him. He and his daughter, Ayame had been some of the first people that were precious to Naruto.
"Hey there Naruto, who's your friend?" Teuchi asked with a smile.
Naruto grinned and pointed to the fellow blonde. "This is Ino, she was looking for a place to eat so I took her here." Naruto explained, "Where's Ayame?"
Teuchi grinned and crossed his arms across his chest. "She went out to buy some ingredients for a new flavor of ramen I'm creating." The man knew what this would do to the boy and the reaction was always funny. Naruto's eyes widened and his body stiffened. Ino looked at him oddly and noticed that he was shaking slightly.
"A new ramen flavor!" Naruto exclaimed with glee, "Are you looking for someone to give you their opinion?"
Teuchi chuckled and shook his head. "Thanks for volunteering Naruto." Teuchi said, "As always the first two bowls will be on the house."
"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed in happiness. It might have looked like a bad move on Teuchi's part but considering what Naruto consumed it wasn't so bad.
Ino looked at Naruto oddly. She hadn't seen this side of Naruto ever since she met him. He was still loud but he looked calmer and happier than all the other times she had seen him. When she thought about it, she never got to know the blonde. When they were in the academy she wasn't interested in getting to know him. Unlike the other kids, who treated Naruto like the plague, she treated him like she treated everyone else. It wasn't until Naruto beat Kiba, taking everyone by surprise, that she was interested in learning more of the blond.
"What will you two have?" Teuchi asked with a smile.
"I'll have miso ramen and keep them coming." Naruto smiled and turned to Ino, "What are you going to get?"
Ino took a menu from the table and skimmed through it. "I'll have one bowl of chicken ramen." Ino put the menu back down and saw that Naruto was looking at her funny, "What's wrong?"
Naruto eyed Ino oddly and looked her up and down. "Why are you getting only one bowl? You should get more than one." Naruto said, "The ramen here tastes so good that you have to have more than one."
Ino frowned. "I'm not like you. I have to keep my figure and I can't go eating as many ramen bowls as I want." She crossed her arms and turned away from Naruto.
"Why'd you get mad?" Naruto asked with an odd look, "It's not like you'll gain weight. We're ninja we're always exercising. Why are you watching what you eat?"
Ino sighed. "You just don't understand woman Naruto." Teuchi arrived with the bowls and set them in front of the two teens, "Unlike you, I control what I eat."
Naruto and Ino walked on the streets of Konoha. They were on their way to Ino's house since she said it was what a gentleman was supposed to do. Naruto didn't really understand this but simply did as Ino instructed. The sun was setting and there were a few people walking on the streets. Ino noticed the looks they gave to Naruto but saw that he was blissfully unaware of them. They were the same looks parents would give Naruto when they went to pick up their kids. It was a look of fear mixed with resentment. She was pulled out of her thoughts when a hand was waved in front of her.
"Inooo, hey Ino are you okay?" Naruto continued to wave his hand until Ino pushed it away, "So you are alive after all."
Ino blushed in embarrassment. "What do you want?" Ino snapped with a tick mark.
Naruto pointed at the houses on the street. "Where's your house? You said that it was on this block but you didn't say which one it was." He explained.
Ino sighed. "I don't know Naruto, maybe it's the house that has a sign with my last name." Ino pointed at a house with a sign that read 'Yamanaka Flower Shop.'
Naruto pouted and crossed his arms, "That's a lot of talk from someone who had four bowls of ramen."
The air got cold and Ino glared at Naruto. "What was that?" She hissed with a tightened fist.
Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. The two walked to the house and went in. Naruto looked at all the different flowers displayed on the shop. He had always been a little interested in gardening, he had a few plants on his apartment to prove it. He was first interested on them when he learned that some plants had different uses. Plants grew around Konoha so it was no trouble for Naruto to pick wild ones and put them in a base, the flowers being an awesome color orange was just icing on the cake.
Ino looked at Naruto in confusion. "What are you doing?" She had seen Naruto staring at the flowers and was wondering what he was up to, "Are you interested in flowers?"
Naruto smiled and shook his head. "I own some plants but I'm only a little interested in them." He explained. Ino looked at Naruto in wonder. The teen was full of surprises, she would have never thought that energetic Naruto would have the time to do something as calming as tend to flowers.
"Well thanks for agreeing to go with me." Naruto said, "You're actually the first person that has agreed to go with me other than Iruka-sensei."
Ino smiled at the blonde. "It was actually kind of fun, getting to know you I mean." She found herself blushing lightly and scolded herself for being so shy deep down.
Naruto returned the smile and walked over to Ino. "I thought so too. We should go out again sometime." Naruto asked with a glint of hope on his eyes, "If you don't want to I'll understand."
"N-no it'll be fine." Ino responded, "I'd like that. You're a really interesting person and I'd like to get to know you better."
Naruto gave his foxy grin and put something on Ino's hand. "I have to go. I'll see you later Ino!" With that Naruto ran out of the store.
Ino watched Naruto's retreating figure and smiled. He was certainly an interesting person who she wouldn't mind getting to know better. She felt like she could be her own self when she was with him and knew that they would become good friends, the white rose on her hand was proof enough of that.
The next day Naruto was up by eight in the morning. He took a shower, got dressed ate a light breakfast, since he had a little money left from the Zabuza mission. Naruto had put most of his money on what he called his 'I'm out of ramen' money. He didn't care much about material possessions and so it was rare of him to use money buying material things. He would only use the money for food and bills.
After finishing his morning routine Naruto had gone to the training grounds. It was eight thirty in the morning but he figured that he could use that time to work on cutting the leaf. He was glad with his progress so far. Now that he had the basic concept of the exercise down everything else would soon follow. The only thing that made it harder to cut the leaf was his terrible chakra control. He guessed that it had gone down due to natural causes but would ask Kakashi about it later since he still had other things to worry about. For one he didn't know where he would get a new taijutsu style. He couldn't ask just anyone since most were already training their own students. It was at times like this that Naruto wished Kakashi had Gai's enthusiasm. Naruto pictured Kakashi wearing a green jumpsuit and striking a 'nice guy' pose for just one second and instantly knew that Kakashi was okay the way he was.
When Naruto got to the training ground he began to work on the leaf. He wished there was a way to make the training go faster but knew that he was also training on controlling his emotions. He had read about meditating once before during his academy days. Meditation was a way for a ninja to get to know their own bodies chakra wise. Naruto thought about doing this some other time since he didn't have the time to meditate at the moment, Kakashi would arrive soon.
"Good to see you're already here Naruto," came the voice of Kakashi. It had been two hours since Naruto had arrived but he didn't complain. In fact, Naruto was glad that Kakashi had been a little late since it had given him time to work on the leaf. So far he had made miniscule progress but it was progress after all.
Naruto noticed that the closet pervert was with Kakashi. What was his name? Ebusa?"
"This is Ebisu one of the best jounin in Konoha." Kakashi explained, "I'll be training Sasuke and will be very busy with it. Ebisu will teach you a kind of chakra control. It's called 'water walking' it's similar to tree walking only this time you have to use your chakra to stand on something that is not solid."
Naruto frowned. He knew that Ebisu was one of the people who thought of him as a pest. "I got it Kakashi-sensei." He would keep quiet for now. If the man had agreed to train him who was he to object.
Kakashi eye-smiled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto and Ebisu alone. It was a good thing that the man wore glasses since Naruto hated the look he was surely giving him.
"Let us go now Naruto, I'll show you to our place of training." With that the man leapt away with Naruto trailing behind him. Naruto noticed that the man was going a little too fast but didn't voice his opinion. Complaining didn't get him anywhere on the past and wouldn't get him anywhere now.
They arrived to a local hot springs. For some reason the place always had costumers though the climate at the Konoha was mild. They would close whenever it got too cold but it almost never happened, they lived a few hours away from a desert for crying out loud. This is why Naruto was eying Ebisu in confusion. He had no idea why they would train in a hot springs and was beginning to think that the man wouldn't train him.
Ebisu cleared his throat. "Okay Naruto do you see that hot spring there?" The man pointed to a lone hot spring before proceeding, "You will train on your water walking there."
Naruto walked to the hot spring and looked confused, "What's so special about this hot spring?"
Ebisu chuckled, "Let's just say that it will motivate you to do your best."
Naruto shrugged and stood on the edge of the hot spring. He gathered chakra on his feet and stepped on the water. His feet sunk a little but it was okay otherwise. It wasn't until he put his other foot on the spring that he sunk. The moment his skin touched the water Naruto jumped out with a yell and glared at Ebisu.
"What the hell was that? That thing is boiling!" Naruto exclaimed with a frown.
"It is necessary for your training Naruto. Now get to it again!" Ebisu exclaimed in a commanding tone. Naruto scowled and continued to try to do the exercise.
After three more failed tries Naruto ran a hand through his hair and growled. This exercise was really annoying and the boiling water didn't make it any better. He suddenly heard the sound of giggling and turned towards the sound. The giggling came from an old man peeking through a small hole at the woman's hot springs. Naruto frowned; here he was training to the bone while some old man was spying on woman. He saw that Ebisu, ever the gentleman, was stomping towards the man with a frown.
"Excuse me sir but what are you doing?" Ebisu asked with a frown.
The man turned away from the small hole he had made on the wall and frowned at Ebisu. "I'm doing my research now be a sport and leave." The man turned to the whole again and began to write furiously on a small notepad he had taken out of his coat.
Ebisu tried to move the man away but the man proved to be too quick and sidestepped. Before anybody knew what happened the man made a giant frog appear right on top of Ebisu. The poor man was knocked unconscious on the spot.
Naruto stared at the white-haired man in awe, "Who are you?"
The man turned to Naruto and smiled. He jumped on top of the toad, both of them ignoring the groan coming from Ebisu, and stroke a pose. "I am the great Jiraiya of the Sannin!"