A New Path

Ch. 38 The New Hokage

Naruto and Anko stood opposite of each other, the latter with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. Judging by the smirk, so early in their training, the blond knew that it would be a long one. He just hoped that it wouldn't be a 'run-for-you-life' kind of exercise again.

A few clones were scattered through the area, all of them training. Naruto had half of the clones working on taijutsu while the rest read over and practiced sealing. He might find the book boring but his clones would be able to do it for him, at least for the time being, he planned to read over the book himself later on.

"Listen up brat," Anko began with her usual commanding voice, "Today we're going to train your overall speed. By this I don't only mean how fast you can move. I'm talking about how fast you run through hand signs, throw kunai and, of course, your reaction time. Even if you were the fastest shinobi in the world, you would be nothing without good reflexes."

"Got it," Naruto nodded, motioning for Anko to keep going.

"We'll be going through this all day so don't go pick fights once this is over," she scolded with narrowed eyes. Naruto flinched under her gaze, wondering if she found out about the previous day's events. "Anyway…" she trailed off before pointing at her feet, "We ninja can use chakra to enhance our abilities. Today I'll be teaching you how to use your chakra to enhance you speed."

Naruto held up a hand, a frown on his face. "Wait a minute…" he glared at his current teacher, "If I could just use chakra to get faster why did you have that giant snake chase me yesterday? If I could have just increased my speed with chakra, then why was that necessary?"

"What's this?" Anko smirked, "Does someone want me to summon the snake again?"

"N-no. Of course not," Naruto yelped while sweating bullets. He had been terrified of that thing.

Anko let out a laugh as she walked closer to the blond. "Well then," she focused chakra to her feet, her pace suddenly getting faster.

The Chunin slipped into his new taijutsu style, already knowing how his teacher liked to 'teach.'

"Remember to use chakra on your feet," Anko pointed out, giving the blond a few seconds to get ready.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, gathering the chakra on his feet. Once he was happy with the results he opened his eyes, giving a nod to his teacher.

"Let's begin then," the snake mistress smirked as she ran at the blond.

The blond Chunin smirked, this would be a fun spar. He took a single step before the chakra beneath his feet suddenly rose too high and shot him up the air.

Anko laughed as she saw the brat being hurled through the air, this would be a fun training session indeed.

Ino focused on the fish beneath her hands. A green glow emitting from them as she tried to bring life back to the dead fish. A trickle of sweat tran down her face as she focused on the fish. She let out a short gasp as the green glow flickered before finally disappearing.

"That's enough for now Ino," Tsunade said as she walked over to her student with a proud smile on her face. The young kunoichi was progressing in an outstanding pace, it reminded her of the first lessons she gave Shizune. It would take time but she would be great in medical jutsu.

Ino nodded as she let out a sigh. Turning to her teacher she cocked her head to the side. "Why did we stop so soon?" it was true. Whenever she began her training with the fish, it would last a lot more than it just did. Either the training was over or her master had something to say.

"I needed to tell you something," Tsunade stated as she crossed her arms, "I will be taking over the title of Hokage."

Ino's eyes widened, an exited smile on her face, "That's great."