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"Oh man," Naruto paced fretfully, "What does Grandma Tsunade want now?"
He had been summoned to the Hokage's office. At first he had hoped it was some urgent mission, but there did not appear to be anyone else there, so he decided he had been wrong. The Genin wracked his brain for anything he might have done to get himself in trouble.
The door opened, and a well-endowed woman, seemingly in her early thirties, emerged. Her hard brown eyes fell on Naruto, and for a second her expression was one of unfading affection. But before he could see that, she assumed an arrogant smirk.
"Ah, Naruto," she said with feigned disdain, "What are you doing here?"
Instantly all thoughts of playing it polite vanished. Naruto pointed at her and shouted, "Are you going senile, old lady? You told me to come here!"
"You ungrateful whelp!" she raised a fist, "You should be grateful to receive an invitation from a beautiful, important, young woman such as myself."
"You haven't been young since long before I was born."
"Do you want to take this outside?" she advanced menacingly. They glared at each other for another second, before breaking down into peals of laughter.
"Come inside," the Fifth motioned into her office.
"Ladies first," Naruto both bowed and winked. In response, she pushed him through the door.
"So why did you want me to come here?" Naruto asked, settling into one of the chairs opposite her desk, "Do you have a special mission for me?
"No," she grinned mischievously, "You could almost say the opposite is true. I'm going to be your new sensei, for a little while at least."
"Really? That's awesome," Naruto almost leaped out of the chair. But then his eyes narrowed, "Wait, you're not going to teach me healing jutsu, are you?"
Tsunade frowned slightly as she thought about that.
"No, I was not. But now that you mention it, that's not a bad idea. I think all ninja should know the basics of medical jutsu, in case the team's medical-nin is missing or injured. If Sakura got hurt, you'd want to be able to help her, wouldn't you? And with the amount of chakra you possess, even if you don't have any talent for healing, you might be able to save someone through brute force."
"But that's not why you are here today," she digressed, "There are certain aspects of your ninja skills..."
The Hokage was cut off by a quiet knock on the door.
"Good, your training partner is here," she turned and walked back to the door.
"Partner?" Naruto sounded dejected.
"Yes. Your history shows that you advanced fastest when you have someone at your own level to either compete against or help. So I picked another ninja in need of similar assistance to work with you."
"Come in, Hinata," the female Sannin said as she opened the door, "You are just in time to hear me go through a list of Naruto's shortcomings as a ninja."
"Hey!"
"Oh, no, I don't... I can come back later," the daughter of the Hyuga clan took a step back from the door.
"No, no, come on," Tsunade caught the girl's shoulder and gently pulled her into the room, "This is part of your training."
The Hokage sat down at her desk, and both of the young ninja's fidgeted as she placed their files in front of her. After a few moments of review, she addressed them.
"Hinata, you wish to some day attain the rank of Jonin, is that correct?"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," the Chunin bowed her head humbly.
"And, Naruto, everyone knows your dream is to one day be the Hokage. Although it is not technically required, if you cannot become a Jonin, you stand little chance of becoming Hokage."
"So what?" Naruto asked defensively.
"Well," Tsunade opened his file again, "Unlike the rank of Chunin, which can be achieved through natural talent and luck, a Jonin needs strong technical skills. And on paper, you are the weakest ninja in the village."
She turned the paper to face them. Naruto's face went blank with surprise, and Hinata blushed in embarrassment.
"As you can see, all of your weapon and Taijutsu skills are ranked at E or D level, except for light throwing blades. To qualify as a Jonin you must have at least 5 C rank skills in each category, and either two B Rank or one A Rank."
"The list of Ninjutsu you know is short but not out of range, considering the number of A or S Rank techniques you know. But your Genjutsu is intolerable. You have no techniques, and have never successfully released Genjutsu. And your Chakra control is below average."
Naruto looked like death-warmed over at the frank and negative portrayal of his experience. His would-be-romance looked at him with pity.
"Of course, that is only on paper. You have a natural talent for unarmed combat, and are among the strongest, quickest, and toughest Ninja in the village. And with the incredible amount of Chakra you possess, your lack of finesse has not been a hindrance. You are more than qualified to be a Chunin, and I believe that you will pass the next exam. But a Jonin requires more than that."
"Hinata." When the Hokage said her name, the young woman jumped.
"You have achieved A Rank in Gentle Fist Taijutsu, but your other unarmed skills have suffered, almost to the level of Naruto. Your weapon skills are almost adequate, and you are qualified in both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. And your Chakra control is top-notch. But your Chakra reserves are below average for a Ninja of your age and experience. This is due in part to your Chakra control, and the efficiency of the Gentle Fist style. You have rarely been forced to stretch the limits of your Chakra."
The Byagukan's heir nodded blankly at her review. Naruto recovered enough to empathize with her, reaching out to touch her forearm.
"Grandma Tsunade, that's too cruel!" he glared at their leader.
"No, it is just honest," she shook her head "I believe you both have it in you to achieve the rank of Jonin. So, you will both be working with me on your Taijutsu and your Chakra. I have devised a training regimen that will allow Naruto to work on his control, and Hinata to push herself, while you both work on unarmed combat."
"OK, then, what's the plan?" Naruto was guardedly optimistic.
"First, I am going to teach you both the Ranshinsho."
"That jutsu you used to screw up Kabuto's movements?"
"The same. You will both be required to maintain the flow of energy for the duration of our training sessions. And since you both have a secondary affinity to lightning, the technique is well suited for you."
"Wait, my chakra element is wind," Naruto protested.
"Your primary element is wind, as Hinata's is earth," the legendary ninja lectured, "But many shinobi, including the two of you, have a secondary affinity. Not as strong as the primary, but stronger than the other three."
"We both have lightning for a secondary element?" Hinata's voice trembled slightly at the suggestion. Tsunade turned away to hide a kindly smile.
"Correct. The Ranshinsho requires the use of elemental recomposition to convert your chakra to electricity. This will be where it will help Naruto. And the technique takes more chakra than the Gentle Fist; so maintaining it for an extended period will push you, Hinata. I also borrowed some of Gai's chakra weights, should just the Ranshinsho become too simple."
"When do we begin?" Hinata asked.
"I will meet you both at the academy at 1 PM. I have asked them to set aside one of the rooms with the sparring dummies," she answered, "You are free until then."
Hinata bowed deeply as she stood, and hurried out of the room.
"Naruto," the Hokage's gentle voice caught him before he left the room.
"I'm sorry for embarrassing you like that in front of Hinata. But you needed to know. And you might want to seek out additional tutors for your weapon Jutsu and Genjutsu."
"Well I would be better with weapons," Naruto offered, "But the old pervert didn't think they were that important. And there was one in particular I liked, but he just made light of it."
"Which weapon?"
She appeared surprised by his answer.
"That is an unusual choice," she agreed, "But there are two people in the village who have mastered it."
"Who?"
"Iruka Umino and Anko Mitarashi."
"Really?" Naruto was overjoyed, "Iruka-sensei can teach me?"
"Anko is more skilled..." Tsunade informed him, already knowing his preference.
"Well, maybe I'll ask them both, just to be safe. See you in a couple hours." He ran out the door.
Naruto left the building at a sprint, not knowing he had an invisible stalker. As soon as he had slammed the door, Tsunade had opened a sealed drawer in her desk, and removed the Hokage's treasure. With no one to teach her, and only vague instructions, it had taken her almost a year to master; but now she could use the crystal eye to perform the Clairsentient Jutsu. Thus, without their knowledge, the Fifth continued to spy on her new students.
"Wait up, Hinata," Naruto said as he caught up to her. He met her eyes with concern, "Are you OK? Grandma Tsunade was too harsh."
"What... Oh, I'm fine, Naruto. I basically knew everything Lady Tsunade told me. Her intentions were good, it is just a little tough to hear out loud."
Then she gave him the same appraisal, "But what about you, it must have been even harder for you."
"Nah," Naruto shrugged, "You know I don't worry about that kinda thing. Those stupid papers have nothing to do with the real world."
He chuckled, however she had come to know him well enough to hear the hollowness in his voice. She had once called him a 'proud failure', but she could now see that it was at least partly a façade.
"Anyway," the Leaf Genin quickly changed the subject, "I've got something to show you. Come 'ere."
He gently dragged her into the small meditation park next to the Ninja Operations building. The watching Sannin's eyes narrowed in suspicion, what was he doing?
"Ready?" Naruto released her. He raised his right hand, cupping and spreading his fingers.
"One." He proclaimed. A tiny Rasengan, only a half-inch in diameter formed over his pointer. Tsunade carefully controlled her amazement, despite being alone. Wrapping the chakra strands into such a tiny sphere should have been almost impossible for Naruto.
'But why did he start coun...' she started to ponder, only to be interrupted.
"Two," the fox-faced boy created a second, identical Rasengan over his middle finger. The Hokage's eyes widened against her will to hide. She signaled rat, ox, dog, and serpent, and said "Chakra Mask."
The Genjutsu she cast over herself allowed her to see chakra, though not so precisely or efficiently as the Byakugan. As she suspected, both of the miniature spiraling spheres were perfect. It had taken Jiraiya years to be able to form two Rasengan at the same time. She was starting to doubt...
"Three!" Naruto conjured a third orb over his right ring finger, and Tsunade's jaw dropped.
'What are Jiraiya and Kakashi playing at?' she thought angrily after she regained control. Even if it was only for this one technique, forming and maintaining three Rasengan was a feat of incredible chakra control. Had those two really undervalued Naruto's abilities to that degree?
'Or,' she suddenly wondered, 'has he advanced this much in the five weeks he has been training with Hinata?'
"Four," Naruto struggled to get the word out. Still more chakra began to twist and flow over his pinky finger, but the energy destabilized, and exploded, taking the third swirling sphere with it.
"I still can't get the fourth one..." he sounded somewhat dejected, dismissing the first two as well. Tsunade sank back into her seat with a sigh of relief.
"No, that's excellent, Naruto," the pale young woman cheered him, "And I have something to show you too."
She took out a child's toy, a hand sized rubber ball. The female Sannin's attention was again ensnared.
The heir to the Byakugan held the ball lightly in both of her hands, almost as if to pray to it. After a second, the surface of the plaything began to rapidly distort, as though a tiny shinobi was attempting to punch her way out. After another moment, the sphere exploded, sending rubber shrapnel throughout the clearing.
"Hinata, that's great, you mastered the second phase!" Naruto hugged her impulsively, and the girl's face started to glow red.
"Tomorrow, we can start on the last step." He let her go, and plucked a bit of latex out of her hair.
"Yes," she nodded back, smiling.
The Fifth pushed her chair back from the desk, breaking the jutsu.
'He's teaching her the Rasengan,' she leaned back in her chair, suddenly feeling every one of her... forty years. Her mouth twitched upwards at the personal deception.
'These kids are too much,' she thought.