Chapter 8:Kenjutsu

Naruto looked at the thousand clones before him working unremittingly at their given tasks. He was now beginning his second week of training and the gravity seal was activated once again. He found that since his muscles had gained the sufficient amount of rest that he was a lot more accustomed to the seal and its physics. He was capable of jogging with relative ease although he still couldn't run at his maximum speed.

Due to the recent scrolls he had received from Jiraiya he now had 7 groups of clones. There were 5 groups of 100, each practicing their given scroll. The scrolls gave detailed instructions on how to accomplish manipulation of their particular element before going on to describe how to perform techniques. From what he knew of the scrolls, they were made by Jiraiya personally and he could effortlessly tell that the frog hermit had acquired a vast amount of knowledge on his travels. He was grateful towards his perverted sensei for all the help he had given him over the past week. He knew that his growth wouldn't be increasing at such a substantial pace without his help.

He looked towards the proximity of the raging waterfall where the remaining two groups were practicing. They were divided into two groups of 250 clones each as he wanted them to finish their tasks as quickly as possible so they could join the remaining groups in learning how to manipulate the different elements. He saw one of his clones manage to travel over halfway up the waterfall before losing his balance and falling towards the plunge pool below. He looked in the direction of the remaining group that was attempting to refine the techniques he knew so that he could execute them with one handed seals. He knew that several techniques would not be capable of being performed with one handed seals however he wanted to know all the ones that could be.

Leaving his shadow clones to their training he prepared to leave to see the Godaime in order to find a sensei to teach him kenjutsu. The wind blew past him roughly as the weather was going through changes due to the season of autumn that had arrived. He looked around at the trees that were once a luscious green, now decaying, and their once bright green leaves crumpling to the ground. He walked forward about to leave the vicinity of the tree he had been standing under prior to a rotting leaf falling in front of his oceanic eyes. He reached out his hand so it safely landed in his warm touch. He took in the leafs characteristics, what was once a organism with an abundance of beauty and strength was now nothing more than a putrefying piece of vegetation losing all it's quality. He crushed the leaf with a reverberating crunch before throwing it to the soft ground below and continued onwards to his destination.

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Sakura walked into the Yamanaka's flower shop in order to meet with her friend. The kunoichi felt comfortable around the various flowers as it was one of her favourite activities to learn about the striking organisms. Once being appointed as Tsunade's apprentice she had learned about the different qualities of various herbs to understand how to concoct medicines that could be used efficiently for healing purposes.

"Ohayo…" The Yamanaka looked towards the entranceway, "Sakura? Shouldn't you be on a mission?" Ino asked her pink haired friend rather loudly.

The medic-nin walked until she was standing directly in front of the blonde girl with only the counter separating the two, "Yeah, I have to meet up with the team in about 20 minutes. I'm not expecting much of a mission since we're restricted to Konoha."

Ino nodded knowing about Sasuke's punishment, "What brings you here? Were you getting lonely?" Ino laughed as she said this.

Sakura was quick to raise an eyebrow however instead of erupting into one of her usual anger filled tirades she crossed her arms over her chest. She quickly began to think about how she would tell her friend the real reason for being here without being overly embarrassed. The kunoichi continued contemplating not noticing her friend's annoyance at her descent into her own personal world.

Ino poked the medic's forehead, "Hey, are you feeling alright? You didn't get angry or anything."

Sakura slapped the blonde's hand away before clearing her throat, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to ask you something."

Her fellow kunoichi stared at her nails with an impartial look on her face, "About what?"

"Um…" Sakura gave out a nervous laugh before continuing, "…it's about Naruto."

The blonde rapidly faced the blonde before a playing smile appeared across her pretty face, "What, is forehead girl falling for the loudmouth boy?"

Sakura quickly vented her anger, "No, it's nothing like that."

"Fine, no need to get angry." She resumed looking at her nails, "What is it then?"

Sakura didn't understand what drove her to ask this from her friend however she felt she had to know, "You said he bought flowers from you," Ino's face had a saddened look upon it which didn't go unnoticed by Sakura; "I just wanted to know whether he said for who."

The blonde looked at her friend, all traces of her previous expression having faded, "He said it was for…someone he's lost."

The pink haired girl looked a little taken aback suddenly feeling slightly ashamed of her inquisitiveness. "Oh…" She gave her friend a small smile before turning towards the exit.

She was interrupted from leaving by Ino's voice, "You know, you sure are interested in his flower buying habits. Worried it was for…some girl." Ino had a knowing smile on her face which the other kunoichi couldn't see due to having her back towards the blonde.

Sakura didn't fully understand the blonde kunoichi's insinuation rather dwelling more on why she was so curious to know the recipient of Naruto's flower. She felt a little relieved knowing that it wasn't for some girl but couldn't entirely understand the feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. She had been feeling like this towards the blonde a lot more often recently. She shook herself out of her thoughts before looking back at her friend with a smile across her face, "Whatever, Ino-pig. I'll see you at the get together."

The medic-nin left the shop whilst Ino had an annoyed glint in her eye; the feeling of lividness building within her.

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Naruto had now been patiently waiting for nearly an hour whilst the Hokage handed out missions to the shinobi's that came. Nonetheless his urge for an excessive outburst was slowly collecting within him as he hadn't got an opportunity to talk to the blonde gambler due to the amount of shinobi's arriving consistently every minute, either for an assignment or to report the completion of a mission. He heard the Hokage mumble something about some stupid ninjas that should've here by now helping her followed by some low voiced profanities that he couldn't make out clearly due to his distance from her position.

A relieved sigh escaped his mouth upon seeing the last shinobi leaving with their mission. He made a move towards the desk of the Godaime before the door burst open with a jounin and his genin team following behind. Naruto felt his patience eradicated as a new feeling of anger rose within him, "HELL NO! YOU ALL ARE GOING TO WAIT WHILE I GO FIRST! THERE'S NO WAY I'M STANDING FOR THIS ANYMORE!"

The jounin instantly had a twitch within his eye at the volume of the loudmouthed blonde whilst his newly appointed team of genin cowered behind him. Naruto felt his rage deflate upon seeing the actions of the fresh genin as the Hokage stifled a laugh at his childish actions. Shizune on the other hand looked on in confused shock.

The jinchuuriki scratched the back of his head, "Heh heh…uh…sorry about that."

He quickly turned to face the Hokage as his apology only had a mild effect on the status of the children. He quickly walked forwards so he was standing a few feet away from the large desk.

"Tsunade-baachan," The jounin and his team looked at the Hokage awkwardly upon hearing the blonde's informal greeting whilst she glared back with a look that said 'you try that and you'll regret it.' "I was wondering whether I could get a kenjutsu teacher."

The Godaime had a thoughtful look upon her face before she looked through a few papers. "Ah, found it." She pulled out a blank paper. Naruto merely looked puzzled before the Godaime proceeded to write something on the paper and handed it to the blonde genin.

"Go to the jounin lounge and ask for Shiranui Genma. Give him this note and he'll understand." The blonde nodded before hearing distinct voices approaching the room they were in. The door opened to reveal none other than Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.

"Tsunade-shisou, sorry we're…" The pink haired medic stopped when her vision took in the blonde shinobi standing with a paper in hand. "Naruto…"

The hyperactive ninja had a large smile across his face, "Hey, Sakura-chan…" He stopped, "What are you all doing here?"

Sakura instantly felt angry at his remark, "Baka! We haven't seen you in over a week and that's all you have to say." The jounin and his team moved out of the way backing into a wall on the side.

"Huh? I saw Sasuke yesterday." The Uchiha wiped the smirk from his face upon being dragged into the combustible situation. The pink haired medic looked at her nonchalant team mate who gave her a simple nod after clearing his throat.

Sakura looked back at the blonde, the fire in her eyes washed out, "…But I didn't."

Naruto looked at the kunoichi who had a hurt expression in her eyes. The blonde felt dire upon making her feel in such a way but didn't realise she would react this way, "Gomen, Sakura-chan…I've been busy."

Sakura felt calmed at seeing the blonde act like his usual self and reassured by his words. She gave him a smile and shook her head, "It's alright."

The pink haired medic felt her cheeks become a little warm before asking her next question, "Uh…Naruto, are you going to be coming to the party?"

The Uchiha felt a smile cultivate his normally expressionless visage whereas the unperturbed Kakashi had a smirk underneath his mask. He lowered his orange book and focused his attention towards the medic and blonde.

Naruto looked up towards the ceiling; he hadn't thought much of the invitation and wasn't really planning on going since he was preoccupying his time with training, "Uh...I'm not sure."

Sakura felt her mood change and the smile drop from her beautiful face, "Oh…"

Tsunade, noticing her apprentice's obvious change in demeanour, quickly slapped the back of Naruto's head, "ITAI!"

He glared at the Hokage caressing the spot upon which he was stricken. Tsunade resumed with an unbothered expression, "Come here brat."

Naruto cautiously moved forward until Tsunade spoke to him so that he would be the only one to hear, "I understand you're training…but you should really spend time with your friends. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself once in a while…"

The jinchuuriki moved backwards standing still for a few moments. He made his way towards the way out but was gripped by Sakura's hand on his jacket as he passed her. He immediately halted his movement whilst the kunoichi stared into his sapphire eyes. Sakura saw his normally vibrant eyes lacking the usual passion and warmth. She quickly realised her actions and let go, muttering a soft apology.

The pink haired kunoichi began assessing what she observed. She knew that something wasn't right; his eyes seemed like a veil desperately attempting to hide something. She was broken out of her thoughts abruptly by a familiar sound, "I'll see you all there."

Sakura forgot all her preceding thoughts as she stared at the position the blonde had been a few seconds before. Unknowingly an uplifting smile was across her face.

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In front of the haphazard blonde were numerous shinobi. Some were standing whilst others were seated however all were engaged in some sort of activity ranging from conversations to playing cards. Naruto had never been in the jounin lounge before but it was a large room with an assortment of furniture as well as a table to the side with basic refreshments. Originally he was planning on shouting for the man named Genma but now realised that there were too many shinobi and he didn't know many of them. Shouting could result in a few kunai thrown his way out of instinct. Observing the people in the room he searched for someone familiar and in the corner was Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai and none other than Hyuuga Neji.

The blonde walked through the crowd of jounins and made his way over to the 3 jounins that were far from the commotion.

Asuma took out his cigarette from his mouth and blew out smoke whilst his eyes fixed upon a blonde figure standing a few feet away from him. "Asuma-sensei."

Asuma quickly had a smirk across his face whilst the genjutsu mistress and Hyuuga simply nodded. The Sarutobi reinserted his cigarette into his mouth. "Naruto, how can I help you?"

Naruto quickly remembered his reason for coming here, "I'm looking for Shiranui Genma."

The genjutsu mistress was the one to speak, "Genma? Why are you looking for him?"

"I need a kenjutsu teacher." The blonde sat down and put his elbows on his knees relaxing a little from travelling with the seal for so long. The Hyuuga raised an eyebrow noticing the tense figure of the jinchuuriki. He decided not to ask but kept an eye on him nonetheless.

Asuma decided to reply, "Genma's currently out on a mission, and he should be coming back soon."

Naruto leaned back, "I guess I'll just wait."

The branch member of the Hyuuga household decided on a new topic, "I'm assuming you have received an invitation."

"Yeah." The blonde continued observing his surroundings.

Asuma, throwing his finished cigarette into the trash, pulled out another and lit it, "So, you're coming?"

Naruto looked towards the bearded jounin, "Yeah…and I'm guessing you're all going to be there also." He directed his attention towards the calm Hyuuga. "And you are too?"

Neji scoffed at being the centre of attention and knowing that it was uncharacteristic for him to participate in such occasions however since his loss to the younger blonde he had mellowed out and enjoyed spending time with his team mates once in a while. "Gai-sensei and Lee can be very convincing." His simple reply bought out a laugh from Naruto.

"Speaking of Gai-sensei where is he?" Upon the end of Naruto's words, the door to the jounin lounge flew open revealing the man clad in his green spandex glory.

The enigmatic Gai ran through the room and arrived upon the location of his student before he realised a certain blonde seated. His mind quickly went to work coming to a drastic conclusion, "Yosh! Naruto-kun has made jounin. The fire within you truly burns brightly." He ended his loud speech with a blinding smile.

The others sweat dropped whilst Naruto gave out a nervous laugh, "Uh…actually, I'm not jounin. I'm just waiting for someone here."

Gai's face faulted, "Do not worry young one, your youth will propel you to new levels." He gave Naruto a thumbs up attempting to lighten the mood before turning his attention to Neji, "Our youthful team has received a mission, come Neji, we must leave."

Naruto saw the energetic sensei leave with his student before turning his awareness towards the other two jounin. An hour passed until a jounin chewing on a senbon entered the lounge and sat opposite Asuma greeting the other shinobi.

"So you've finally returned Genma." The smoker's speech broke Naruto out of his daydream as he looked at the senbon chewing jounin.

"Eh? You're Genma?" The blonde recognised the jounins familiar appearance, "Wait, you're the one who was a referee in the finals of the chuunin exams that I was a part of."

Genma rolled the senbon from one side of his mouth to the other, "Yeah, that's right."

Naruto searched through his pockets before pulling out the piece of paper he received from the Godaime and handed it to the relaxed jounin. Genma took the paper and began to read its contents. Upon reading his eyebrows raised and he finally put the paper in his own pocket. He nodded to the jinchuuriki before signalling him to follow.

The two shinobi left the jounin lounge and walked through the streets of Konoha and arrived at a training ground. The Kyuubi vessel realised that he had never been in this training ground before and observed its dull setting. There were a few trees and the rest was just hard ground.

Genma stopped Naruto and walked ahead standing opposite the vessel. "I've been assigned to teach you kenjutsu. This is my mission for the next few weeks. However, from what I can see you have no weapon to train with."

Naruto had a foxy grin planted across his whiskered face before performing the Souansha Heijin technique. Two swords made of wind materialised from thin air slowly taking shape around his hands. Genma had to stop his senbon needle falling from his mouth. The control the blonde was showing over his elemental affinity was something a lot of jounins struggled with. He also recognised that he had seen a familiar technique when he fought Baki from Suna. However the Suna-nin was only capable of creating one weapon of wind.

He cleared his throat, "Quite ingenious. Weapons created from your element no doubt." He raised his index finger and continued, "However to sustain such a technique would drain a lot of chakra."

"I've got a lot of chakra so that's not really a problem." The blonde stood focused with his weapons giving off a hissing sound.

Genma began to think about how he could teach the genin kenjutsu. He removed his hand from his chin, "Teaching you how to use kenjutsu with that technique rather than a regular sword will be quite different and is probably not possible."

Naruto deactivated his technique with a downcast expression. Genma quickly resumed, "However if you were to get regular weapons. I could teach you the art of kenjutsu and you could apply the principles you learn to your technique."

The senbon chewing ninja removed his weapon from its sheath before throwing it to the Kyuubi vessel. Naruto caught the weapon in his right hand; he observed the katana with interest noting its significant appearance within his mind. "When fighting with a sword, you must always remember to think of it as an extension of yourself. When your mind adapts to such a concept, you'll find that you're a lot more adept at utilising your sword."

The jounin rolled the senbon whilst the blonde carefully listened to his words, "However to truly master such an art, it takes years of practice and hard work. The fact you were already utilising weapons of wind must mean that you have a solid grasp of the basics. This'll save us some time and we can move on to the more complicated concepts."

Naruto nodded with a steel look of determination. Genma smirked before turning to face him, "Then let us begin."

Souansha Heijin - Twin Blades (Original)