A Chance To Be Better by Hagane1
The second exam just ended and Naruto rushed to find his sensei. In the finals, he was matched up against Neji, a prodigy from the Hyuga clan who was extremely proficient in taijutsu. Naruto knew that there was no way to he could win as he was now and only great amount of training could help him. Entering the hospital, he asked for the only possible place Kakashi could be.
"In which room is Uchiha Sasuke?" he asked the woman at the reception.
The woman, instead of giving him an answer, glared at him. "Why would I tell you that, freak?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed and he prepared himself to reply, but the person he was looking for then appeared. "Yo, Naruto. What can I do for you?"
Naruto turned toward the source of the voice and saw his sensei reading his signature book. He walked up to him and voiced his request. "Train me for the finals, sensei."
Kakashi closed his book and sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I'm busy for the month."
"Oh yeah? With what?" he asked with a frown. When Kakashi didn't answer, Naruto scowled. "So you're ditching me for the month so you could train Sasuke?"
Kakashi had decency to look sheepish. "Now, now, I'm not ditching you. I got you a more reliable teacher than me for the month."
"And who would that be?" Naruto asked, his frown not leaving his face.
"That would be me," a new voice spoke, making the two turn toward it. There stood a man with glasses and a bandana-styled forehead protector. "I will be training you for the month, brat."
Naruto looked at the newcomer with barely concealed disgust. "You? So a pervert is ditching me to another pervert."
Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow. "Ebisu? A pervert?"
Ebisu clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth, preventing him from elaborating. "N-nothing important."
Naruto forcefully removed the hand from his mouth and glared at his supposed new sensei. "What the hell would you teach me anyway?"
Ebisu ignored Naruto's snappish remark and pushed up his glasses. "I would teach you what you're worst at."
"And what would that be?" Naruto asked, annoyed.
"Naruto, of the three students I teach in Team Seven, you're the worst at basics," Kakashi replied.
"That's right," Ebisu added. "From what Kakashi and I concluded, your chakra control is terrible, so we would focus on it."
Naruto stared at the two with a look that practically said 'What the fuck?'. "Wait, you would spend entire month improving my chakra control?" at Ebisu's nod, Naruto nearly snapped. "What the hell? How could chakra control help me against Neji?"
"Naruto, chakra control is very important aspect of training. If you cannot control how much chakra you use in a jutsu, you might suffer from chakra exhaustion and die on the spot," Kakashi said matter-of-factly. That however didn't calm Naruto in the slightest.
"And what good would chakra control be if I don't have any jutsu to use? Would you teach me any?" he asked Ebisu.
"If you got your chakra control to a good enough level, I might teach you some D to C ranked ninjutsu," Ebisu replied with a shrug.
"I don't need that!" Naruto snapped back rather loudly, surprising the two jonin. "I'm a fucking chakra monster! The amount of chakra I have is more than you two have together! There is no way that what you're planning to teach me would be any good against the last year's Rookie of the year!"
Kakashi frowned. "Naruto, Sasuke is fighting against an opponent that would more than likely kill him. You on the other hand are safe from that option. Plus, I don't really think that you could beat Neji."
That was it. That was all that Naruto needed to hear, before turning around and walking toward exit. "I better go so you don't lose any time with your precious student. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kakashi-sensei," the last word was spoken with such mocking disrespect that it froze Kakashi in shock. "And the pervert won't need to train me. I'd rather spend the month training alone than with a guy who despises me."
The two jonin watched in shock as Naruto began to walk toward the exit. Only when the door closed behind him did they snapped out of their shock.
"W-what the hell was that, Kakashi?" Ebisu asked. "You told me he was just a happy-go-lucky brat that would jump at any opportunity to train."
Kakashi's eye narrowed. "I thought he was. Doesn't matter though, just go and catch up to him."
Ebisu nodded, albeit reluctantly, and followed after the boy. Much to his shock, Naruto was nowhere in sight. Extending his senses, Ebisu was shocked even more when he couldn't sense the boy anywhere near his position. Rethinking his options, he jumped in the direction of the training grounds, hoping to catch the boy there.
Xxxx
While Ebisu was looking for Naruto, said boy was sitting atop the Hokage monument with a frown on his face. He knew that the pervert wouldn't be able to find him here because, if Naruto didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found. Countles of Anbu could confirm that.
He was mulling through his options. His choices were practically nonexistent. Without a teacher, he couldn't learn anything and he didn't know anyone who could teach him anything. Asking the Hokage for help was out of the question, since the man couldn't show favoritism toward a rookie genin. The old man would probably tell him to train with Ebisu anyway.
Not only that, but he nearly lost his control in front of Kakashi and that was something unacceptable. Without gaining some power to properly defend himself against his enemies, it would be stupid to show who he really was. Groaning, he punched the ground.
'What the fuck am I supposed to do now? There is no way I could beat Neji if I train alone,' he thought angrily.
Sound of footsteps broke his musings and he instantly turned around to look at whoever was approaching him. Expecting the four-eyed pervert, he was rather surprised when he saw an old man with bandages over his eye and cane in his hand instead. On the first glance, the man looked like any old cripple in the village. You would think that you could beat his ass with both hands behind your back and eyes closed. Naruto knew better though.
The way the man walked showed power and experience with each step. The way his muscles twitched every second, he looked ready to defend against any threat in a flash. Naruto could recognize that same posture when he was around the Sandaime. They both looked like frail old men, but they could kick his ass without even breaking a sweat.
Naruto stayed silent as the imposing figure neared with each step. He honestly didn't know what to do or say. Should he run? Nah, if the man was out for his blood, he could catch him easily. Fighting also wasn't an option, due to obvious reasons. Naruto decided to deal with this the only way he knew. With a big-ass grin on his face. "Hey old man, what do you want?" he asked loudly.
The man's face stayed as impassive as it was from the moment he saw him. "Uzumaki, drop the act. I would rather talk to the original than a fake."
Naruto tilted his head in confusion, but the man didn't budge an inch. He sighed before smirking. "So you've noticed?"
A ghost of a smirk appeared on the man's face. "Only a fool wouldn't notice such an obvious act. I am surprised though, how could you keep it up for so long?"
Naruto scoffed. "It was either that or die. Without having some actual power behind my attitude would only kill me."
The man nodded. He knew of Naruto's status in the village and among the villagers. They all thought of him as a village idiot, without any skill at all. As long he was a docile lamb, the villagers wouldn't bother him too much, but he knew that the boy was probably full of pent-up anger and frustration.
"I see you know my name, but I still don't know yours," Naruto said again, breaking the man from his musings. "And what do you want with me?"
"My name is Shimura Danzo and my offer is to train you for the duration of the next month," the man, now revealed as Danzo, replied stoically.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Danzo, huh? I've heard of you from Jiji. Why would you want to train me?"
"As you are probably aware of, you are this village's jinchuriki," at Naruto's nod, he continued. "I will not lie to you, your main purpose is to be Konoha's trump card in possible wars. As you are now, you are no match for even some of the experienced genin. The reason I would train you is simple, to increase Konoha's military strength and power."
Naruto nodded slowly after hearing all of that. Danzo was pretty straightforward man and he wouldn't bend or sugarcoat his words. Naruto could see that the man didn't see him more than a weapon, something akin to a kunai, to be used and, if broken, discarded. He might not like that, but the opportunity was too great to lose.
"What about Jiji?" Naruto asked in the end.
"Sarutobi gave me his permission to train you. He was still sane enough to see the bigger picture and do the right thing," Danzo replied. Naruto was somewhat amazed how the man hid his emotions so well. He was almost like a walking statue, nothing could gouge a reaction out of him.
Naruto stood up and dusted himself off. "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Does that mean you accept my training?" at Naruto's nod, he turned around and beckoned the boy to follow. "Then from now on, you shall refer to me as Danzo-sama."
Xxxx
Naruto blinked rapidly as he tried to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. Somewhere along the way, Danzo called for two of his subordinates and placed a bag over Naruto's head. Naruto guessed that the place they were in at the moment was at a secret location he didn't need to know. What Danzo didn't count on was that Naruto very good at minding his surroundings and could easily locate the base by retracing his steps.
Currently, he was looking at a long hallway lit with numerous torches. The hall branched at several directions and each led deeper into the compound. Naruto was slightly amazed at the sheer amount of space they created underground.
"Let's go," a monotonous voice of one Root ninja was heard and Naruto was led through the hallway. They passed through so many passages that even Naruto with his good memory couldn't possibly remember them all. Danzo and his two cronies walked soundlessly, almost like they were gliding over the floor. Naruto just hoped that he wouldn't end up as emotionless as them after the month ends.
"So, how will you train me?" Naruto asked in the end. That question plagued his mind ever since he accepted Danzo's offer.
"You will find out later," Danzo replied. "I will tell you though, that this training will be gruesome. I will personally attest to it. You will train every day, with minimum amount of breaks and by the end of the month, you will be at low to mid jonin level."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Kind of ruthless, isn't it?" after not hearing a response, he chuckled. "Not that I don't mind. I sure as hell would like to be strong as a jonin in the end. I won't skulk, don't worry."
"If you did, I would have punish you, Uzumaki. I will expect nothing but obedience from you. This training is of my free will and if I see that it bears no fruit, I will immediately stop it," Danzo said with a bit of force.
Naruto only smirked. "Do your worst."
A ghost of a smirk appeared on Danzo's face. He finally had something to entertain himself with for a while.
Xxxx
It was late in the afternoon and the sun was slowly setting, not that Naruto knew of that as there were no windows in the underground compound. Two weeks have passed since he arrived here and he only grew in leaps and bounds. The method of training helped quite a lot as well.
From the moment the training started, Naruto had to make as many shadow clones as he could. It was quite confusing as to why he had to do it, but he did it nonetheless. He was rather surprised when the instructor began to instruct clones on chakra control exercises and other chakra based stuff. When he found out the true abilities of shadow clones, he nearly went to tear Kakashi a new one for never telling him that bit of information.
The original was thrown into a harsh physical training. The amount of push-ups, sit-ups, laps he ran and other physical exercises he did, were insane. Such amount would probably be impossible to finish for anyone other than him, since he was a jinchuriki and had amazing stamina. After the exercises, he was tossed in the ring and would spar with several Root operatives. It didn't matter to them if he was dead tired and barely able to move. 'The enemy wouldn't wait for you to be at your best' is what they would say when he complained.
The sparring was mostly to build Naruto's experience. Fighting various enemies in various quantities was something that can make you grow as a ninja and, since Naruto's clones were practicing the katas, Naruto had very long sparring sessions. Also, there were many Root ninja to fight.
"Again," a cold, emotionless voice spoke when the blond boy was thrown back.
Naruto was in a spar with one of the more experienced Root trainees and was getting his ass handed to him. The trainee was tough and fast, good enough to slip under Naruto's guard and deliver devastating punches all over his body. Naruto was brought down more than he would have liked already in this match, but would stand right up and charge again.
"Alright, that's enough," Danzo finally spoke and the two combatants separated. "Naruto, your taijutsu is getting better every day. Now, you will dispel your clones before resting. Be careful to do it in smaller groups."
Naruto nodded and began to dispel his clones. He had his clones stationed all over the place, working on many other exercises. There were five groups in total. The first one was for taijutsu, where the clones would practice katas of various styles to better prepare the original for a fight. The second one was for kenjutsu and even if Naruto didn't really plan to use a sword, the art itself was very valuable to learn. It wouldn't do him any good to die on the field just because his opponent was more skilled with a blade.
The last three were focused on chakra exercises. One group was created simply for honing Naruto's chakra control with various exercises. Naruto's chakra capacity grew even larger during his time in Root, so proper control was necessary. The second group was created to practice nature transformation. Ever since he found out his elements, Naruto had clones honing those elements to perfection. He was told that it could take months, but significant amount of shadow clones proved everyone wrong.
The last group was merely a jutsu learning group. They would learn multiple techniques that would later be transferred to the original. He sometimes thought that maybe he was cheating a bit in his training, but the look of arrogance on Sasuke's face as he activated his Sharingan, threw those thoughts away. If that bastard could steal other's jutsu, he could milk his shadow clone for every bit of training he could get.
"Get some rest before we review what your clones learned," Danzo said and turned around to go toward his quarters, when Naruto's voice stopped him.
"Danzo-sama, what rank would you give me?" Naruto asked with utmost seriousness. Even though he didn't particularly like Danzo, the man came to him and helped him. He valued the man's opinion as a shinobi, but other than that, he didn't want to have any connection with him. Danzo was the type of person that would manipulate you to do his bidding and then toss you aside like you never existed. Naruto in particular didn't want to be used and manipulated.
"The rank I would give you is chunin. Now rest, I will not go easy on you," Danzo said with his familiar emotionless voice and retreated to his office.
Naruto sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he watched the man retreat. All this emotionless bullshit was really getting on his nerves. While it was true that emotions could be hindrances on the field, completely removing one's emotions was even worse. They could only make logical and rational decisions, which didn't mean that they were always good decisions. They could easily sacrifice a child for an information scroll and that was something Naruto hated about them.
Root was an underground organization that would deal with stuff that Konoha as a village wasn't supposed to be associated with. They could kill with ease, whether a man, woman or a child. Only thing that mattered to them was a mission objective. Everything that stood in between would be destroyed. And they were very efficient too. Sometimes too efficient, considering what he saw when he sneaked into Root mission archive.
Finding nothing better to do, Naruto retreated to his room and went to bed. Every second of sleep in this base was as valuable as a stack of Ryos and Naruto would be damned if he would be tired in front of Danzo.
Xxxx
Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha toward the stadium. The day has finally arrived and Naruto would be fighting Neji in front of many important political figures. He smirked under the hood of his cloak that concealed his identity as he thought about his training in Root.
Naruto was now low to mid level jonin, perfectly capable of defeating many of his opponents. His taijutsu was based on a style that Anbu used, fast and precise. Combine that with amazing speed and raw strength he had, he could break bones without any troubles. His ninjutsu was also amazing. He went with quality over quantity and had several powerful jutsus, both elemental and not, which he mastered. His kenjutsu was good enough so that he could go toe-to-toe with low jonin level ninja. Genjutsu was his weak point, just as before, only this time he could dispel them. Only high leveled and multi layered illusions could hinder him.
Naruto had no doubt in his mind that he could defeat Neji. The Hyuga was a close combat specialist and the Hyugas were widely known for using only taijutsu in a fight. They never branched their skills and that was their downfall. Naruto had long ranged techniques that could really screw up the battlefield and anyone on it, but he would refrain from using them in the exam. No matter how much he disliked Neji, he wouldn't kill him, just beat him up.
Entering the stadium, he saw the other contestants, minus Sasuke, already there and waiting. Not wanting to waste any more time, Naruto approached them and saw that the proctor was changed. Now there stood a brown-haired man with a senbon in his mouth. The jonin looked at Naruto questionably, mostly because of the hood, which didn't go unnoticed by the blond.
"I'm sorry if I'm late," was the only thing that Naruto said when he arrived.
Seeing that Naruto won't say anything else, the jonin decided to introduce himself. "Well, anyway, my name is Shiranui Genma and I will be the proctor for the third exam."
The other genin looked confused as to why Hayate was replaced, but didn't comment on it. Seeing that they still had some time before it began, Shikamaru decided to make some small talk with his former classmate.
"Yo, Naruto," he said with a lazy wave. "What's with the cloak?"
Naruto smirked under the hood. "You'll see."
Xxxx
Up in the stands, other genin that didn't pass were situated by their jonin senseis. They were all eager to see the battles begin and also, who would be on top. Bets were being taken from all sides and most of the money went either on Sasuke or Gaara. One particular genin was looking worriedly at the arena.
"Where are they?" she asked, mostly herself, but was heard by her neighbor.
"I think that's Naruto down there," Ino replied and pointed at the assembled genin in the arena. "The one with the cloak."
Sakura looked confused. "Why is he wearing a cloak?" that question was instantly replaced by another. "But where is Sasuke-kun?"
"Don't worry forehead, he'll be here," Ino said matter-of-factly. "Do you really think he would miss this? And besides, Kakashi-sensei is with him."
Sakura nodded and smiled. "I can't wait to see how strong he is."
"Yeah, me too," Ino added with a sigh. "Do you think Naruto improved? Can he beat Neji?"
At that point, Tenten decided to interrupt. "There is no way that Uzumaki could defeat Neji. Neji was the rookie of the year last year and Uzumaki was the dead-last. He won against Kiba with dumb luck only."
Sakura couldn't help but agree with some of the things Tenten said. Naruto was the dead-last and the battle against Kiba was mostly won by luck. She knew that the blond was strong, seeing that first-hand in the forest of death, but he couldn't possibly measure against a year older rookie of the year.
"Now, now, Tenten," Gai chimed in from the side. "Who knows what could happen. Naruto-kun's flames of youth could have grown hotter over the month!"
Tenten palmed her face at her senseis antics and some other people snickered quietly. Gai was sometimes too enthusiastic for his own good.
"Where is Kakashi, though?" Kurenai voiced her question. "Will he just miss his student's fight like that? Not to mention that his other student is late."
Asuma exhaled before answering. "Knowing Kakashi, he will arrive late, just as usual. He'll probably drag Sasuke with him, but considering who the boy is, they will probably just let that slip."
"My eternal rival's flames of youth have extinguished over the years," Gai said solemnly, much to the surprise of the others. Quiet Gai was a rare occasion. They sweat dropped the next moment though, when Gai returned to his old, loud self. "I will challenge him later so I can enflame his flames of youth!"
Xxxx
"Hello, Kazekage-dono," Sarutobi said as he saw the Kazekage approach. "I trust your journey was pleasant?"
"Ah, Hokage-dono," the Kazekage replied with a bow. "The journey was fine, I assure you. It is good that the exam is held here this time. The trip to Suna could be too much for your old bones."
Sarutobi laughed lightly. "Oh there is still enough juice in these bones, don't you worry. I can still hold my own against many youngsters around the world."
"I am sure you could," Kazekage replied. "But wouldn't it be better if you chose the Godaime?"
"The time for that should come soon," Sarutobi said with a chuckle before he stood up and faced the crowd. "Thank you all for coming to Konoha's Chunin Selection Exam! I hope you will enjoy the matches and stay until the end!"
Xxxx
"Alright, stop yapping and listen," Genma said and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Since Dosu disappeared, Shikamaru will fight Temari in the final battle of the first round."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered at the prospect of having to fight another girl.
"Now all of you except Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji leave the arena," Genma said and the others quickly left. When the three were the only people in the arena, Genma decided to relay the rules. "The rules are the same as in the preliminaries, you fight until one of you dies or forfeits. If I determine that the match is over, I'll step in, is that clear?" receiving nods from the genin, he stood between them and raised his arm. "Then, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuga Neji, begin!"
With that, Genma jumped away from the two, staying away not to get hit by a stray jutsu, but still close enough to interfere if necessary. The two genin stood still, appraising each other silently. This was something that surprised Neji. He thought that Naruto would attack him with his usual loud fashion and dozen shadow clones. To see the usually loud genin stay still for more than few seconds was something rather weird.
"I am surprised that you can be so calm in front of the one who will defeat you," Neji taunted with a smirk. "You should give up, fate has decided that I will win this match."
"Really?" Naruto asked with a hint of mocking in his tone. "I guess I will have to show you that fate has nothing with this match," he then ripped his cloak of him and tossed it away.
The crowd gasped as one when the cloak was removed. In the last month, Naruto improved not only in his skills, but in appearance as well. He had grown at least five inches over the month and his hair grew longer. He completely ditched orange from his clothing and now he wore black pants, taped over his ankles and black sandals. He was also wearing black short-sleeved muscle shirt, along with black fingerless gloves and black elbow protectors. Shuriken pouch was strapped on his right thigh and a kunai pouch was strapped on his hip. His forehead protector was strapped on his forehead, but he replaced the blue strap with black.
All in all, most people in the crowd believed that the Yondaime was back from the dead.
Xxxx
"I-i-is that N-Naruto?" Sakura asked disbelievingly.
"He is… hot," Ino said while drool trailed down her chin as she looked at Naruto's hard muscles.
"Pig you're drooling," Sakura said, startling Ino and snapping her out of her fantasy. 'But she's right. He is hot!'
'N-Naruto-kun, so hot,' Hinata thought and a thin trail of blood trailed out of her nose.
"That's Naruto? Where's the orange?" Kiba asked while looking at the blond.
"He must've realized how bad that jumpsuit was," Sakura answered.
"Yosh!" Lee suddenly exclaimed. "Naruto-kun's flames of youth burn brightly! Gai-sensei, when I heal, I will challenge Naruto-kun for a youthful spar!"
"That's right, Lee! I am sure your spar will be filled with youth!" Gai replied loudly.
"Shut up, Gai!" Anko, who sitting by the other jonins finally snapped. "You're too old to talk about youth!"
"Where is Kakashi though?" Asuma decided to voice almost everyone's question. "I mean, this is his student's match after all."
"Who cares about him," Anko chimed in. "Though his student is quite a hunk," she added with a sly grin. "I wouldn't mind having a piece of him."
"Anko!" Kurenai exclaimed from her side with a blush on her face. "You're ten years older than him!"
Anko waved her off. "Come on, that doesn't matter at all," she said and smirked. "Or maybe you want him all for yourself?"
Kurenai looked away to hide the blush that covered her face. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied with a slight stutter. Her eyes then darted toward the blond in the arena and she had to admit to herself. He was hot.
"Sure you don't," Anko said with a sly grin.
"Something is different about him though," Asuma said after a thorough examination of the blond.
"What could that be, Asuma-kun?" Gai asked.
Seeing that the attention of all other genin and jonin was now on him, Asuma decided to elaborate. "I don't know what really, but something about him just screams power. That look in his eyes shows that he is completely sure that he will win. There is no fear, no doubt, he's a completely different person than he was a month ago."
Sakura looked at her teammate thoughtfully. "Did Kakashi-sensei helped him that much?"
A snort was heard from Anko. "Yeah right, he ditched the gaki the moment he asked for training."
Three jonin senseis narrowed their eyes. "What do you mean, Anko?"
"I was there when it happened, went to get some papers. Anyway, the gaki asked for training and Kakashi just ditched him to Ebisu so he could spend a month with his precious Uchiha," Anko answered with disdain.
Other jonin shared a look. It was not a secret that Ebisu hated Naruto for what he contained and they really couldn't understand why would Kakashi ask him to train the boy. Kakashi wasn't a complete idiot and he had to knew something like that. That raised another question though.
"So Ebisu trained him during the month?" Kurenai asked disbelievingly.
Anko shook her head with a chuckle. "Nope, the kid flipped them off and left."
"Then who trained him?" Asuma asked, slightly annoyed.
"I have no idea," Anko replied with a sheepish grin. "I went to find him later to offer him some training, but he disappeared completely. I swept through the entire village and I couldn't find him."
"Really?" Asuma wondered as he looked back at Naruto. "Well we can ask him later, now let's watch the match."
Other's nodded and looked back at the arena. They did wonder about one thing though, how strong did Naruto get?
Xxxx
"Who is that boy, Hokage-sama?" Kazekage asked as he looked at the confident genin.
"That's Uzumaki Naruto, one of our best genin," Sarutobi replied with a fond smile.
"I am curious how will he fight against a Hyuga," Kazekage said more to himself.
Sarutobi only nodded in agreement. He could only wonder how much stronger did Naruto get in the last month. He still remembered when Danzo walked into his office and demanded to train the boy.
Flashback
Sarutobi sat in his office, doing the only thing he hated, paperwork. The second exam just finished and he barely made it to his office where a pile of paperwork eagerly waited for him. Stamping a paper after paper, he hoped for any sort of distraction and, luckily, something came up.
A knock on the door was heard and Sarutobi gratefully lifted his head and called the visitor in. When the visitor turned up to be Danzo, he really didn't know what to expect.
"What can I do for you today, Danzo?" Sarutobi asked carefully. It's not every day that Danzo leaves his nest to visit him, so he allowed himself to be a little curious.
"Hiruzen, I want to train Uzumaki Naruto for the month before the third exam," Danzo answered emotionlessly.
Sarutobi's eyes widened in surprise. Last time Danzo said that was when the Kyubi was just sealed and he wanted to turn the boy into a weapon. Sarutobi shot that down without a second glance and put Naruto in the orphanage. After that, Danzo tried to get the boy for himself every few months for the first few years of Naruto's life, but later stopped completely. Sarutobi could only wonder what brought this on.
"Why would you want that?" Sarutobi asked with a frown.
Danzo replied almost instantly. "Because the boy is to weak. Compared to the jinchuriki of other nations, he is the worst. If he was a normal genin, his bad skills could be considered normal, but being a jinchuriki, he has to be stronger."
"You want to train him in using the Kyubi's chakra?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow.
Danzo shook his head. "I will leave that to Jiraiya. I am not proficient in fuinjutsu so I don't want to mess with something I don't understand."
"Then why would you want to train him?" Sarutobi asked. "Especially now?"
"There are two reasons for that. The first one is for the public. We don't want our jinchuriki to appear weak. If that were to be found out by our enemies, they could attack us with their much stronger demon containers. Also, the Kazekage will attend the finals and if the Ichibi container is stronger than Uzumaki, it will put a shame on our village," Danzo said with an even tone.
Sarutobi considered the answer and found it quite sane. If they appeared weak, their enemies wouldn't hesitate to attack. The jinchuriki was supposed to be strong and Naruto wasn't stronger than a better genin. Sarutobi knew that Danzo could train Naruto to be very strong in a month, but was that the right choice? "And the second reason?"
"You know that there is some tension between Konoha and Suna?" receiving a nod, he continued. "There is also Otogakure that should worry us. Kakashi said that the village is led by Orochimaru. The presence of both Suna's jinchuriki and team of Oto ninja is troubling."
Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. "You mean invasion?"
"Possibly," Danzo replied. "That is the second reason why I want to train the boy. Against the Ichibi jinchuriki, Naruto has the biggest chance to win, but only if he is strong enough."
Sarutobi still wasn't entirely convinced. "What about Kakashi? Wouldn't he want to train his student?"
"Kakashi asked Ebisu to train him while he trained the Uchiha and Naruto refused."
Sarutobi frowned. "You wouldn't try your mental conditioning on Naruto?"
"I have no plans to make the boy one of my own. All I want is to train him for the good of Konoha," Danzo answered honestly.
Sarutobi stayed silent for a moment before nodding. "Very well, you may train him."
Danzo nodded and turned around to leave, but stopped to say one more thing. "Don't look for the boy, because you won't find him. You will see him in a month."
With that, he exited the office, leaving Sarutobi to return to his greatest enemy.
Flashback End
'Show me how strong you are, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi thought as he looked at the boy.
Xxxx
"Fate has declared me a winner, Uzumaki. You may change your clothes, but you can never change destiny," Neji said.
Naruto snorted. "Fate doesn't exist, Neji, but if it did, it wouldn't favor someone like you," he replied and settled in his stance.
Neji snarled and charged. "I will make you pay for that!
Naruto only smirked as he charged back.