Chapter 13: Passing Of The Torch

Sakura walked into the Godaime's office with a stack of papers. The chuunin exams were beginning tomorrow and all the applicant's details needed to be checked and approved. It had been over a week since her date with Naruto and she hadn't seen the genin since. The fact that he had left her there without an explanation, hurt her deeply. She constantly tried to think of something else but her mind kept drifting back to that day. Walking forwards she placed the stack of papers on the desk of the Hokage, "These are all the papers they gave me, Tsunade-shisou."

The medic-nin was returning from the academy, having gone there by request of the Hokage. Team 7 had no missions for the day however Sakura found herself participating in anything possible to help take her mind off Naruto. Tsunade looked at the large stack of papers before slapping her forehead, "I always hate doing this."

The busty blonde pulled the stack of papers towards her and began to look through them. She sighed as she checked the details of the first applicant to make sure everything was in order. She was interrupted as Sakura spoke, "Tsunade-shisou is there anything else I can do?"

The Hokage put her chin on her folded hands as she observed her apprentice. She knew that her date with the jinchuuriki had not gone well. Originally, when she noticed her sombre mood, she assumed Naruto had told her. She was soon proven wrong discovering that Naruto had rejected Sakura without providing any explanation as to why. The significant impact on the pink haired girl was visible even if she tried to hide it. Sakura constantly overworked herself and would now always request missions or some form of assignment to keep herself occupied. Leaning backwards in her chair, Tsunade replied, "I think you should get some rest."

Sakura was surprised by the answer, "I'm not tired yet."

Tsunade shook her head, "Sakura…" She made sure she was careful in how she approached the younger ninja, "You haven't taken a break for over a week now."

Sakura laughed half-heartedly, "That's because I don't need one. When I do, I'll take it."

Tsunade felt sorry for the girl. Sighing, she decided to give her advice, "Even if you try to keep yourself busy…once it's over the thoughts always come back."

Sakura looked away from her mentor, "I don't know understand what you're trying to say."

"Sakura…" She looked at the medic who continued staring at the floor with a downcast expression, "…talk to him."

Tsunade noticed the pain that flashed through her student's eyes as she spoke, "He said no. There's nothing to really talk about."

"He's probably hurting as much as you are…" The Godaime hoped her words would have some effect, "You said yourself that he didn't tell you why. That means there's a reason, make him tell you."

Sakura listened attentively to the Hokage. Her feelings were haywire as she still felt for Naruto but at the same time her heart had been broken. "Maybe he doesn't feel the same way anymore."

Tsunade used all her willpower to not tell Sakura the truth. She knew that it wasn't her place, "If that was really true…he wouldn't have gone on the date in the first place."

Sakura folded her arms, "What makes you so sure?"

Tsunade began to sweat at the suddenness of the question; she avoided it by asking one of her own, "Why have you given up?"

Sakura felt guilty at the words the Hokage spoke, "I haven't given up." Her voice displayed her uncertainty.

Tsunade smirked knowing that Sakura had fell for her trap, "Then prove it. Confront him about your feelings."

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Naruto tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for his mentor to arrive. His arms were folded across his chest as his eye twitched out of irritation. The past week had passed really quickly as he trained extremely hard to get ready for his match with Jiraiya. He had a proud aura surrounding him as he had finally completed each of the element scrolls he had received from the perverted hermit.

Nonetheless as successful as part of his training had been, he had failed in progressing with the Hiraishin No Jutsu. This was causing him to worry as he wanted to learn the legendary technique as quickly as he could, since he wasn't sure of when the Akatsuki could attack. Even though it was most probable they would wait until the finals of the chuunin exams, they could just as easily decide to come earlier. Silently, he was hoping they wouldn't arrive yet as he was planning to exclusively concentrate on the difficult technique over the next month.

His kenjutsu training had been progressing at a rapid rate and he found himself able to stay on par with Sasuke in his spars. The Uchiha was pushing Naruto to his limits but the blonde was also worried about the inquiring eyes his friend had shown him at their last encounter. He was sure the black haired teenager was getting increasingly suspicious of him.

Snapping out of his thoughts he felt the familiar presence of his perverted mentor approaching him. 'About time.' Jiraiya landed a few feet away from his protégé quickly straightening from his bent down position. Naruto felt his anger rise before it exploded from out his throat, "What took you so long, Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya waved his hands in front of him, "Calm down Naruto. I would've been on time but I got distracted with something important." He started giggling.

Naruto shook his head out of frustration knowing full well that he meant he was peeping at the bath house and lost track of time. "It doesn't matter. Let's begin already."

Jiraiya smiled inwardly at the jinchuuriki's eagerness, "You're certainly excited aren't you?"

Naruto grinned as a confirmation towards his opponent. He had been anticipating this battle for a long and tiring six days, training twice as hard. This was the moment he would understand how far his training had brought him. Jiraiya was the measuring stick for him to compare his growth to. He knew that the sannin was around the level of the Akatsuki so he needed to be able to defeat him in order to stand a realistic chance against the formidable organisation. He readied himself as a tingling sensation went throughout his body filling him with exhilaration.

Jiraiya continued staring into the eyes of the younger ninja not daring to divert his attention. He knew that the seal training would have propelled his speed to higher level than his own and his advantage in this battle would be his extensive knowledge and experience.

The wind blew slowly ruffling the hair of the two ninja. The entire training ground was in complete silence, only the sounds of nature protruding through the intense atmosphere. A few decaying leaf blew past Naruto's eyes as he made his move.

Instantly the blonde vanished from his position. Jiraiya, noticing his highly rapid movement brought his right arm up to the side of his head blocking Naruto's punch as it impacted against him. A smirk was across the genin's face as he quickly turned attempting to deliver a kick to the other side of Jiraiya's temple. Anticipating the move, the sannin ducked underneath before sending his right leg towards Naruto sweeping him off his feet. He tried to follow with a palm strike to the young ninja's chin but Naruto quickly positioned his hand underneath him flipping away from the upcoming attack, landing a few feet away from his opponent.

Naruto once again launched himself at his mentor throwing another punch. Jiraiya caught the strike in the palm of his hand before blocking the following kick to his leg. Naruto smiled which caused the sannin to become surprised as he realised another hand speeding towards his face from the side, connecting hard. Jiraiya stopped himself from falling on his back as he flipped to an upright position in midair.

Landing on the hard ground, he gave a smirk as he saw two Narutos staring back at him. 'Impressive, when I caught his hand he distracted me with the following kick. He must've created the clone with his free hand. But if he can do one handed seals, I should be more careful.'

Naruto and his clone manoeuvred themselves so they were on each side of the sannin. Jiraiya stood cautiously with one eye on each of them. The shadow clone ran forward throwing a kunai which Jiraiya dodged by moving his head. He stopped a few feet from Jiraiya before jumping to the side.

"Futon Daitoppa," Jiraiya's eyes widened as he heard the real Naruto yell. Turning around as quickly as possible he put his hands in a guard position blocking the damage of the technique. However the incoming gust of wind blew him off his feet as he flew backwards. The shadow clone jumped towards Jiraiya as he passed him aiming a kick at his face. Jiraiya grabbed the clone's ankle in midair and turned to plant his elbow in its stomach dispelling it.

Landing on his feet he realised Naruto was nowhere to be seen. He quickly looked around trying to locate him with his keen eyes. "Doton Shinju Zanshu No Justu." A pair of hands grabbed Jiraiyas ankles as they emerged from the ground below.

Quickly forming seals, the sannin yelled, "Doton Deido Suberioriru," The ground underneath Jiraiya turned into mud moving forwards at a rapid pace. The sannin jumped out of harms way when he felt Naruto's hands loosen around his ankle.

He heard a familiar poof as he realised the Naruto in his earth technique was a clone. 'He must have had a clone there all along waiting for me. Not bad, you're thinking ahead…' Turning around, he caught Naruto's punch which had been aimed at his head. 'But you have to do better in order to beat me.' Quickly forming a firm grasp around his students arm he threw him in the direction of the waterfall.

Naruto drifted through the air before he flipped landing on top of the plunge pool. He looked towards Jiraiya with a smirk, "So you figured it out huh?"

Jiraiya replied, "Of course, I am one of the legendary sannin after all. You didn't create one clone but two. One of them hid while you and the other one lured me to where he was."

Naruto scratched the back of his head laughing before adopting a more staid demeanour, "Time to get serious."

Jiraiya nodded as he began to run. Naruto awaited the perverted hermit as he approached. The sannin ran across the water throwing a palm strike to the genin's chest. Naruto blocked it and sent his own fist soaring towards the older shinobi. Jiraiya turned avoiding it and drove his right foot into Naruto's stomach sending him flying backwards through the waterfall.

The sannin jumped backwards onto the land as he waited defensively knowing that the jinchuuriki was far from finished, especially since he had only received one blow. Suddenly 5 Narutos jumped out from behind the tremendous waterfall shouting, "Katon Gokakyu No Jutsu."

The five blazing fireballs approached the sannin as he formed seals within seconds. "Doton Doroku Gaeshi," Jiraiya struck his hands on the hard ground raising a large wall made of earth to protect him from the incoming fireballs. He placed both his hands onto the wall reinforcing its structure with chakra to make sure it could withstand the force of the fireballs.

The balls of fire connected with a resounding impact but not being able to break through the defence. Jiraiya began to sweat as he felt the heat but quickly shifted his head to the side as a fist flew past him into the wall made of earth. Naruto, having missed with his initial attack raised his knee striking the older man in the back. He continued with a punch to the side of his face and a kick to the back of his leg, sending the sannin to the ground, followed by a stiff elbow which drove Jiraiya's face into the tough wall made of earth.

Naruto attacked again with another fast punch but his hand met rock as he felt a jolt of pain run through his knuckles. 'Kawarimi.' He was broken roughly from his thoughts as he felt a violent crash into his ribs. Jiraiya followed his punch with a well placed upwards palm strike to the genin's chin sending him a few feet into the air. Naruto attempted to counter by kicking the sannin after being lifted off the ground however the experienced shinobi moved around the strike delivering one of his own deadly kicks to his chest sending Naruto sprawling to the ground.

Quickly regaining his footing, Naruto stared intently at the sannin who was bleeding from his nose. He felt a sour taste in his own mouth before some blood dripped out onto his chin. Jiraiya stood alert, aware of the fact that there were still 5 clones hiding somewhere. 'He used his clones to attack me, remaining behind the waterfall himself. When I defended myself, he capitalised on the distraction to sneak behind me. His skill with his clones is amazing.'

Jiraiya's attention was directly attracted towards Naruto as he slowly reached into his pouch. The sannin's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw the Kyuubi vessel draw a three pronged kunai along with a special seal tied around it. 'He's already learnt it, this quick…which means he may have put the seal on me. No he couldn't have or else he would have used the opportunity by now.'

Jiraiya keenly observed his student as he knew that it was near enough impossible to stop from being fatally attacked when that technique was used. He was going to rely on his instincts as he readied himself. Naruto threw the kunai at his mentor before launching himself into the air. Shock flowed through Jiraiya as there was no flash and the kunai flew past him. He realised he had been tricked as a cry filled the air, "Suiton Teppodama."

Naruto shot a ball of water from his mouth towards Jiraiya. The sannin rolled to his left avoiding the incoming attack before being kicked from behind by a reappearing clone of Naruto. He went flying forwards as he met an uppercut sending him into the air. Two more clones jumped at him from each side attempting to drive their feet into his stomach and back at the same time. Jiraiya twisting slightly avoided the attack as the clones hit each other ending up destroyed. He took out two shuriken, swiftly throwing them at the other two clones on the ground and hitting them.

"You forgot about me." Jiraiya turned to see the final clone approaching from on top, performing a spinning axe kick into his back increasing his rate of descent. Coming within a few feet of the hard surface, Jiraiya was stopped from contact as the real Naruto rushed forwards somersault kicking him in the face making him spin.

Pain rushed through the frog hermits face as he released another shuriken from his hand in mid spin straight towards the clone which was descending from the air, destroying him. Recovering from the well arranged attack, Jiraiya quickly moved back placing some distance between himself and his student.

Naruto stared at his mentor as he regained his stance. 'He's really good. So far it's been equal…but somehow I have to win this.'

The wind blew roughly past both the shinobi as they once again charged one another. They exchanged numerous blows as Naruto connected with the first attack. Jiraiya, recovering instantly, ducked underneath his following punch as he spun landing a sickening elbow to Naruto's stomach. He followed by tripping Naruto so he fell backwards. Bringing his foot down he stamped Naruto in his ribs which made him sputter. Naruto ignored the blood that escaped his mouth, grabbing Jiraiya's leg firmly before kicking the sannin in the stomach sending him flying back.

Naruto flipped backwards onto his feet following the soaring frog hermit. Jiraiya drew a kunai from his pouch, flinging it at the oncoming jinchuuriki. Naruto dodged the kunai and threw his own. Landing on his feet, Jiraiya wasn't quick enough to avoid the fast approaching kunai as it skimmed his shoulder drawing a trickle of blood.

Naruto threw a flurry of punches at the sannin. Jiraiya guarded the punches but his arms were beginning to hurt at the amount of force Naruto put behind them. He stopped guarding them resorting to dodging instead since his arms were beginning to ache. Naruto grinned as he saw the sannin drop his guard and begin to dodge. The seal training had improved his power as well as his speed.

The Uzumaki knew that the older ninja wouldn't be able to dodge for too long due to his speed. Surely enough, after dodging the first 6 punches, Jiraiya was caught with a hard strike to his jaw reeling him a little. Naruto continued the onslaught landing several blows into his mentor's stomach and face before finishing the combination with powerful kick.

Jiraiya was sent rolling across the floor. The sannin got back to his feet staring back at the younger ninja. 'He's got too much stamina. I have to end this now.'

Naruto ran towards Jiraiya as quickly as he could but his eyes widened as he saw Jiraiya perform hand seals. "Doton Yomi Numa." A large wave of muddy water rose from all angles as it neared to swallow up Naruto.

Naruto quickly formed his own hand seals, "Arekuruukaze." Throwing his hands out, a rampant wind circled him before exploding in all directions to stop the wave of water from engulfing him. It was an amazing sight as the wind blew down the rising water away from him submerging the entire training grounds.

Jiraiya jumped out of the way as the water crashed down eventually calming. Looking back in the direction of Naruto, he saw him standing with a grin across his face unscathed from the sannin's technique.

Jiraiya raised his hand when he saw Naruto preparing to attack again, "That's enough."

The jinchuuriki had to stop himself from falling over, "Nani? Why?"

Jiraiya shook his head at Naruto, "This was a test to see how far you have come. I can make a clear assessment of your skills now. There's no need to continue."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Eh? But I thought we'd fight until there was a winner."

Jiraiya raised his fist as he shouted, "Baka! Have you forgotten that you're meant to let your muscles rest once a week? Don't over exert yourself."

Naruto laughed nervously at his lack of insight, "Gomen…I guess I got a little too excited." Looking around, his mouth fell open when he saw the state of his training ground. "Ahh, look what you did Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya looked at the surrounding environment which was covered in muddy water ruining the trees and other vegetation. He reddened and began to wave his hands, "I'm sure it'll be fine after a day or two."

Naruto glared at his mentor, "Where am I going to train now. This was the perfect spot. I can't train in Konoha. This is because of you Ero-sennin!" He fell to his knees before mumbling to himself about perverted hermits.

Jiraiya frowned thinking of how he could change the subject. His mind lit up, "Come on. Stop crying and I'll treat you to some ramen."

Naruto rose to his feet pointing a finger at the frog hermit, "I'm not cryi…ramen?" He started laughing before running past his mentor. Jiraiya inwardly smiled that his plan had worked. Naruto looked back at the perverted shinobi, "You're paying though."

Naruto continued running, heading for his favourite ramen stand. Jiraiya glowered, 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' He followed the hyperactive ninja.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke stood leaning against a wall outside one of Konoha's many restaurant. His eyes were closed and his arms folded. He could hear the people walking past him engaged in their own business. Opening his eyes he saw the person he had been waiting for to arrive.

"Yo," Kakashi held his Icha Icha Paradise book in one hand, waving with the other. He looked at the restaurant Sasuke was standing outside. "I thought you didn't like natto and sweets."

Sasuke ignored his upbeat demeanour standing straight. "I don't. We need to talk."

Both shinobis began to walk away from the open restaurant. Kakashi reading his precious book turned a page as he spoke, "About what?"

Sasuke stopped; his hands were in his pockets as he looked at the jounin, "About Naruto."

Arekuruukaze - Raving Wind (Original)

Doton Deido Suberioriru - Earth Release Mud Slide (Original)

Doton Doroku Gaeshi - Earth Release Earth Shore Return

Doton Shinju Zanshu No Justu - Earth Release Inner Decapitation Technique

Doton Yomi Numa - Earth Release Swamp Of The Underworld

Futon Daitoppa - Wind Release Great Breakthrough

Hiraishin No Justu - Flying Thunder God Technique

Katon Gokakyu No Jutsu - Fire Release Great Fireball Technique

Kawarimi No Jutsu- Body Replacement Technique

Suiton Teppodama - Water Release Gunshot