The difference she made

It was nine o’clock in the morning and Sasuke arrived at the pier to see the boy who managed to get him thinking straight leaning against a post.
“So you ready to train?” Naruto asked him.
“Yeah, where’s your friend?” was the raven haired boys reply.
“She’s a genin so she has to go to team training and do missions, so she’ll be here somewhere between five and six o’clock in the evening,” stated the spiky haired blonde.
“So what will we be doing before then?”
“You’ll see,” said Naruto.
-
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the training ground Naruto and Seikou frequented and as soon as they got there Naruto decided to tell Sasuke what they would do first.
“Alright, first things first, some light sparring, taijutsu only.”
“Alright, don’t cry when you lose,” Sasuke said with a cocky smirk etched on his face, then again who could blame him, he had NEVER lost a taijutsu match against anyone in his class.
They both entered their respective stances and dashed at each other, only for Sasuke to launch a right hook that Naruto effortlessly ducked under before launching an uppercut that knocked Sasuke a couple of inches into the air before following up with a sharp elbow to the gut, knocking the raven haired boy to the ground.
To put it bluntly Sasuke was shocked, no one had ever got past his guard so easily, not even Kiba and he came from a clan that specialises in taijutsu, so whoever this Naruto guy was, he was definitely stronger than the others in his class. Sasuke got back up and they continued to fight with Naruto decimating him for about an hour before he was unable to stand from exhaustion and bruising, at which point Naruto decided it was time for a break.
“Dammit how did you get so strong?” he asked the blonde.
“Would you believe that less than two months ago I was completely useless at taijutsu?” Naruto asked him.
“No I wouldn’t, your far too good for just two months of training,” was Sasuke’s reply to his question.
“I’m only this good thanks to having a photographic memory, I was able to learn the style in less than two days, and then spent about six weeks just practicing and sparring to get my muscle memory up to the level of my skill. You see, for some reason I don’t know, the instructors at the academy are always trying to hinder me, it’s as if they were trying to keep me weak, if I never met Seikou-chan, I would still be weak,” Naruto explained to the last Uchiha.
“Whoa, that’s quite a lot to take in,” exclaimed the recovering dark haired boy.
“Yeah, anyway you ready for the next part of our training!” shouted the blonde who wasn’t even slightly winded.
“If we’re going to be sparring some more then no,” Sasuke claimed.
“Meh, we’re not sparring this time, this time we’re going to climb trees,” Naruto said getting a sweatdrop out of his new training partner.
“Climbing trees?” Sasuke said questioningly.
“Yeah, but we’re not allowed to use our hands.”
“How the hell do we do that?” the raven haired boy asked.
“By gathering chakra to the soles of our feet we will use it to stick to the side of the tree while we walk up it, but if you use the wrong amount of chakra, you either won’t stick or just blast yourself off the tree,” explained Naruto.
“Alright then, let’s do this!” shouted Sasuke happy that he has got a new technique to try out, even if it wasn’t a jutsu.
-
It was around about one o’clock and we find Naruto and Sasuke in a local tea house getting a quick lunch, and some coffee give them some extra energy for their training.
In their training Naruto had managed to get about halfway up the tree, when he was about a fifth of the way up at the end of last night.
Sasuke had managed to make it about an eighth of the way up now and was steadily improving.
Now when you consider that the trees they chose just so happened to be about 40feet tall and they were doing quite good now.
“So, are you enjoying training with me?” the young blonde asked.
“Well it sure beats training on my own if that’s what you mean,” Sasuke answered with a smile.
“Yeah you can say that again.”
“So how are you doing in the academy?” Naruto decided to ask.
“I’m the top of my class, no one has ever beaten me in taijutsu spars before, that’s one of the reasons I was so surprised at how easily you threw me around. I have to say though, the worst part is fangirls, they refuse to accept that I don’t want to date them, plus they all focus so much on me that they completely ignore their training,” Sasuke stated with a slightly depressed tone in his voice.
“If they’re so focused on you then why don’t you just say, ‘I don’t like weak girls,’ that would probably get them to focus on their training don’tcha think?” Naruto advised him.
“Maybe, but then again they don’t actually listen to a word I say, they just hear what they want to hear,” the dark haired boy explained.
“Oh that type of person, that will be a pain in the ass to deal with huh,” stated the blonde.
“Yeah, anyway you ready to do some more training?”
“Let’s go,” Naruto replied as they left the store and headed back to the training grounds to see if they could improve upon their marks.
-
Seikou arrived at the training ground expecting to see Naruto either training into the ground or having a quick rest, NOT him talking to a raven haired boy in a blue shirt.
“Hey Naruto, who’s you’re friend?” she called out to him across the field.
“Oh Seikou-chan, this is Sasuke, Sasuke this is Seikou-chan,” Naruto introduced them.
“Hi, uh sorry if I’m intruding but Naruto said it was okay,” Sasuke said to her.
“It’s okay, I’m just surprised, Naruto-kun never told me about you,” she told him.
“Well that’s because we only met last night, though he managed to get me thinking straight.”
“He got you to think straight?” she said questioningly.
“I sorta found my big brother after he slaughtered my family, and I kinda listened to him when he said that he got so strong because of hate,” Sasuke admitted.
“I see, so what have you two been doing?” she asked them.
“First Naruto kicked my butt for about an hour, then we moved onto tree climbing,” Sasuke said.
“Uh Naruto-kun, you do realise that I only taught you that exercise so you could improve your chakra control to a point that you could use a basic bunshin right?” Seikou asked.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t hurt for him to learn it as well,” Naruto said with a small smile.
“(sigh) I guess you’re right, so how about we work on your kunai and shuriken throwing?” Seikou asked.
“Yeah that would be great!” Naruto shouted out.
-
It has been a month since Naruto and Sasuke started training together and all in all everyone’s progress was great. Seikou had managed to convince Genma to teach her a more advanced chakra control exercise, which turned out to be water walking, which she taught to Naruto and Sasuke when Naruto proved that he still couldn’t use the basic bunshin after getting tree climbing down. Her nature manipulation was coming along nicely and she could now use a basic Suiton: Teppodama though it took quite a bit of effort for her to do so. She was also improving with her skills at reading people though she still had trouble with some genin and could only read a small amount of a chunin, if any at all.
Everyone’s taijutsu had improved to the point that they could all be considered at least low chunin in skill, but their physical strength meant they could not stand up to an actual chunin, though they could easily kick any normal genin’s ass.
Sasuke had taken to practicing his katon jutsu and soon found that after learning the water walking technique, his limit went from 2 a day to almost 6 a day, proving to him just how useful the chakra control exercises really were. He had also been taught the basics of reading a person’s body language but was still at the beginners stage.
Naruto on the other hand had finally managed to learn the basic bunshin, after which he started to memorise his chakra flow when performing jutsu so that he could try to get it to flow without the hand seals, which he had already managed to do for the kawarimi no jutsu, which meant that he could perform the jutsu even if his hands weren’t free.
So to summarise, Seikou was now high genin to low chunin level, Sasuke was mid to high genin level and Naruto was about high genin level, not bad for just a couple of months training.
-
“Hey Naruto, what year are you going into at the academy?” Sasuke asked.
“Huh, oh I’m going into my final year, why?” was the quick reply.
“Oh, I guess we won’t be on the same team then huh,” came the raven haired boy’s dejected answer.
“How long is it until you’re in your final year?” the blonde asked.
“(sigh) two years.”
“Heh, well I was the dobe last year I guess three months won’t change that huh?” Naruto said with a small smirk.
“What are you getting at?” the raven haired boy asked.
“Simple, I will fail the next two years, then we should end up in the same year, right,” Naruto informed Sasuke, “then when we are in the same class, I will play the part of the dobe while you take rookie of the year, afterall the teams are always balanced so the worst is placed with the best.”
“What! You would actually do that!” Sasuke shouted in disbelief, he simply couldn’t comprehend that Naruto, the strongest person his age, would willingly be the dobe to rig the team placements.
“Yeah, you’re one of my friends, with Seikou-chan, the Ichiraku’s and Hokage-ojisan being the only others, of course I’d do it,” Naruto said with conviction.
“Thanks,” was Sasuke’s quiet reply.
“No problem.”
“Hey Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, how are you guys today?” came the call from Seikou as she walked up to their training ground.
“We’re doing great Seikou-chan, we were just talking about rigging our grades so we get placed on the same team,” Naruto informed her.
“Oh so you’re going to be entering the same year then,” Seikou stated.
“Actually I’m going to intentionally fail twice, then we can pass the same year,” was the blondes response to her statement.
“Oh, well as long as you don’t get depressed about it, then I guess it’s okay,” Seikou claimed, “anyway, Naruto-kun I managed to get some of this,” she then pulled out a small piece of paper and a handbook, “if you channel your chakra through this we’ll be able to find out your chakra’s nature,” she continued as she gave the sheet of paper to him.
“Thanks Seikou-chan! You’re the best!” he shouted as he gave her a quick hug before quickly channelling his chakra into the paper, though it didn’t stop him from noticing the small blush on her cheeks, even if he decided not to call her out on it.
It sheet split in half and Naruto looked at Seikou who simply said, “Wind.”
“So I’ve got a wind affinity huh, does that book say how to use it?” the blonde asked.
“Yep it sure does, here you go,” she said as she handed the book to Naruto who immediately started to read it.
“Okay then, let’s get this started,” he said after reading the section on wind chakra. He then walked towards a tree and picked a leaf, which he quickly placed between his hands and started to concentrate on converting his chakra.
-
The day was drawing to a close and we find Naruto, Seikou and Sasuke eating at a small restaurant that the Uchiha clan owned and therefore, Sasuke now owned.
“I can’t believe you actually managed to make some progress with your wind chakra today,” Seikou moaned, “It took me a whole four days just to make a slight amount of progress and you go and make a cut on your first day.”
“Heh what can I say, I’m just that awesome,” Naruto stated with a grin as their orders arrived.
“As you once told me, arrogance can get you killed,” Sasuke decided to add his two cents.
“Only when it’s real,” Naruto said seriously, “so should we get eat before our food gets cold?”
“Yeah sure,” Seikou said.
“Agreed,” chimed Sasuke.
-
It has been two weeks since Naruto started learning nature manipulation and much to Seikou’s jealousy he had managed to get it down. He was now skilled enough to convert his chakra in a couple of seconds and he quickly realised that if he channelled his wind chakra through his kunai, they would cut straight through pretty much anything they came across, which came as a real shock to Seikou and Sasuke when his kunai flew straight through the target and got imbedded so deep in a rock that they couldn’t reach the handle during target practice. Sasuke was even kind enough to give Naruto the futon scrolls in the Uchiha library.
Of course today was the day that the academy started back up, which of course meant that their time together would be cut a bit.
And so the year began.
-
Nine months later we find Naruto leaving the academy, he had just failed like he said he would, and he was VERY glad that he could get three months off of the academy, he had to think extra hard to NOT pass.
Of course over the course of the year Naruto had learned three futon jutsu, they were Futon: Daitoppa , Futon: Reppusho both which were C ranks, and the B rank Futon: Atsugai . He had also managed to come up with an interesting little chakra control exercise which involved placing senbon under the tips of your fingers and using chakra to stop them from falling to the ground, it proved to be very good at improving everyone’s chakra control and teaching them how to send their chakra to multiple places at once.
His chakra control had improved enough that he could actually use genjutsu, such as Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu and one of his favourite, Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu . His improved control also meant that he was capable of performing all but Futon: Atsugai without hand seals.
Sasuke was a similar story, though he wasn’t quite as strong. He was capable of doing the academy basic jutsu without hand seals but anything more complicated was out of the question. He had learned the two genjutsu as well, but the ninjutsu he learned were Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu , Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu and Katon: Karyu Endan . His skill at reading people however shot up when Naruto nearly caught Sasuke when he was practicing his Futon: Atsugai which resulted in Sasuke activating his sharingan, though he’s never shown it to anyone other than Naruto and Seikou.
Seikou’s progress was the smallest of the three, with her skills in reading people allowing her to read most low level chunin. She finally managed to get her nature manipulation down after learning Naruto’s chakra control exercise, and she learned the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu and Suiton: Mizurappa along with the two genjutsu.
So to put it simply after a year of training, Naruto was mid to high Chunin, Sasuke was about mid to high Chunin as well, and Seikou was about low Chunin.
-
“Hey Sei-chan, bro,” Naruto called out to Seikou and Sasuke.
“Yo,” came a VERY Kakashi like greeting from Sasuke.
“Hey Naru-kun,” Seikou called back before giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
Yep as you probably guessed it, during the year, Naruto and Seikou got closer and have been dating for approximately three months now.
“So what you wanna do?” Sasuke asked the most obvious question at the moment.
“Well I want to learn my secondary affinity, what about you Sei-chan?” Naruto responded.
“I just want to get something to eat,” she claimed.
“So should we go to Sasuke’s restaurant?” Naruto asked.
“Sure, we haven’t been there in a while,” the raven haired boy claimed.
“Hai lets go,” Seikou practically yelled out.
-
After getting something to eat, they arrived at their usual training ground, where Seikou proceeded to unseal a pair of rather large books.
“Alright Naru-kun, these books focus on nature manipulation and drawing out your other natures and the other focuses on Fuinjutsu, which would you rather look at first?” She asked him.
“I think I’ll look at the one on nature manipulation first, what about you bro?” Naruto said as he turned to Sasuke.
“Meh, I think I’ll try to get my sealless jutsu arsenal increased,” he responded.
“Alright then, let’s see,” the blonde said before he began to read the large book, “okay, so the first thing I need to do is learn how to suppress my wind affinity, that’s going to be a pain.”
And so for the rest of the holidays Naruto worked on drawing out his secondary affinity, which just so happened to be water, while Sasuke tried to improve his skill with his katon jutsu and Seikou tried to improve her suiton jutsu.
-(yet another year later)
If you were to ask anyone if Naruto was a genius, the answer would be unanimous, No. Of course, if you knew his actual skill, there would be absolutely no doubt in your mind that he was, after all how many 11 year olds do you know who have brought out all three of their affinities? Not many, yet Naruto has managed to, even if his earth affinity has only just been brought out. The fact of the matter is that he can use several C rank and a couple of B rank jutsu for his first two natures, with the B rank suiton jutsu being the Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu . He was also at an intermediate level of skill with seals, even if his ability to examine a seal was as high as a seal masters, he simply lacked the knowledge to create high level seals, yet. Of course since he could figure out what a seal meant, he tried to translate the one on his stomach and he quickly put it all together, he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no kitsune. Of course he decided to share this with Sasuke and Seikou the day he found out and they simply told him that he was Naruto and the Kyubi was the Kyubi.
Sasuke had managed to draw out his secondary affinity which turned out to be lightning. He quickly decided that rather than focus on learning raiton jutsu, he would focus on using raiton chakra to increase his performance, mainly by stimulating his muscles to work harder. He had also decided to take up kenjutsu and had even bought a Katana made of special chakra conductive metal allowing Sasuke to pour his lightning chakra into it to increase its cutting power.
Seikou had yet again improved the least, but then again her progress isn’t exactly slow, Naruto and Sasuke were just growing at an insane rate. She had improved upon her suiton jutsu, learning how to perform some without handseals and managed to learn two B rank jutsu the Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu and Suiton: Suijinheki , her overall skill was also increasing with age. She was also allowed to enter the Chunin exams and managed to pass first time, so she now had access to higher rank learning material, not that she really needed it, afterall she had complete access to the entire Uchiha library.
So to summerise, Naruto was about low to mid Jonin level, Sasuke was about high Chunin to low Jonin level and Seikou was about mid to high Chunin level.
And this year, Naruto and Sasuke would be in the same class.