A Growing Affection

Chapter 63: Jonin Trials, Day 2

"Hang on a minute, Naruto," he cautioned, "I haven't asked you to start yet."

"Well, what's the hold up?" the younger man complained.

"I have to go through the introduction first," the Jonin explained, taking a small slip of cardstock out of his vest.

"This  a Ninjutsu Qualification Examination for the Jonin Trials," he read for  the third time, "To be considered for the rank of Jonin, you must be  able to exhibit at least nine C-Rank techniques, six B-Rank techniques,  and three A-Rank techniques beyond the standard academy curriculum. In  addition, you will also be expected to show mastery of at least two  chakra elements. Finally, at the proctor's discretion, you may be called  upon to exhibit the E-Rank thru B-Rank skills deemed standard and basic  by the Hidden Leaf Village. Your time limit is three hours. Good luck."

Placing  the card back, the teacher studied his student, "So, before you start  in on the advanced techniques, let's do a quick run through of the  basics."

"Kakashi-sensei," Uzumaki complained, "Do we really need to do that?"

"Yes."

"OK," the blonde youth's shoulders dropped as he sighed loudly, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Let's  make it a little interesting," Kakashi suggested by way of consolation,  "To start, create a single Shadow Clone. Then one of you transform into  Iruka, and the other into Anko. Have 'Iruka' attack 'Anko' with a  Shadow Shuriken jutsu, and have 'Anko' use Substitution to escape, and  counter with a Phantom Kunai jutsu. After you finish that set, we'll go  from there."

Naruto nodded as he complied. Even as he split in  two, the copies took on the forms of his Staff-Blade teachers. They  hopped apart, and 'Iruka' threw what appeared to be a single ninja star  at 'Anko'. But two blades struck the log that appeared where 'Anko' had  been, the second having been hidden in the path of the first. As 'Anko'  reappeared six feet to the right of her original position, she tossed a  single kunai at he opponent. But the weapon struck 'Iruka' in the face,  and exploded in a puff of smoke, not having enough substance to even  break his skin. After the smoke faded, both fighters sketched a bow, and  'Iruka' disappeared while 'Anko' resumed the shape of Naruto.

"Very good," the proctor admitted to his student, "next..."

After nearly thirty minutes of different scenarios, Kakashi Hatake finally seemed satisfied with Naruto's grasp of the basics.

"All right, I think that will do it," the Jonin said evenly.

"Finally," Naruto panted slightly, "You ready for my real stuff, sensei?"

"Go ahead," the Jonin was nonchalant.

"Multi  Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed, splitting into seventeen copies.  The duplicates surrounded Hatake, splitting into groups of between two  and four nartuos. The original, still alone and in front of Kakashi,  raised both hands, palms up and his fingers slightly curled.

"Rasengan," the Chunin proclaimed, forming one of the spheres in each of his hands. The others took that as a signal.

"Odama Rasengan," the two Naruto clones behind Kakashi created a six-foot diameter orb between them.

"Fuuton: Rasengan"

"Raiton: Rasengan."

The  two sets of three clones on either side of the original worked in  unison, creating the two elemental variations of the Fourth Hokage's  technique. And after a second of additional shaping, the final two  groups, each comprised of four clones, finished the ultimate forms of  the spherical technique.