Kurama was as blunt as a hammer, "You don't have chakra coils in your body, kid."
Naruto's reaction was priceless, "WHAAAAT?!"
Kurama chuckled. Naruto's reaction to surprises was turning out to be very amusing. He watched as Naruto seemed to have a panic attack within his own mind. The mind responded to his mental state, shaking violently. Kurama understood just how much that had rattled Naruto.
"Calm down Naruto! I wasn't finished!" he shouted. Seeing how Naruto was showing no signs of calming down, Kurama let loose a small bit of his killing intent, enough to make a jonin sweat.
Naruto, however, was totally inexperienced in experiencing killing intents, therefore his reaction was entirely predictable to Kurama. Naruto instantly froze in his place, all thoughts of Kurama's news fleeing his mind as he registered the new feeling. The mindscape stopped shaking as Naruto slowly turned towards Kurama.
Voice shaking, he asked Kurama, "W-what was t-that?"
Kurama stared Naruto in the eye, indicating he was serious, "That was killing intent. Usually used by shinobis to intimidate each other. Whoever has the higher killing intent is able to make the other suffer illusions of death, if the killing intent is potent enough. I'm surprised though, that you managed to stay conscious", he said with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto was taking deep breaths during Kurama's explanation, trying to calm down. By the end of the explanation, he was almost back to his normal self.
Scowling a bit, he asked, "And you thought that was the best way to calm someone who is having a panic attack?!"
Shrugging a bit, Kurama defended himself, "You have to start someday. Also, that was only a little of my killing intent. You have yet to experience my full killing intent", he finished, grinning maliciously in the end.
Naruto, for his credit, showed no reaction and kept his face neutral. He would deal with this some other day. For now, he had to focus on his chakra problem.
Clearing his throat, he asked, "What were you saying about my chakra coils before?"
Kurama sat up, towering over Naruto, who had to look up towards him, "As I said, there are no chakra coils in your body. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. At least, not yet. You have to first unlock your chakra so I can see if this is a problem or not."
Naruto nodded, now fully in control of his emotions. He then gestured towards the lake, "What is that? I don't remember seeing it yesterday when I changed my mindscape."
Kurama nodded at him, "You would be right. However, do you remember your question to me concerning trauma and your mindscape?"
Naruto tilted his head, his eyes agreeing to Kurama's question.
Kurama said, "Well, that theory applies to this lake as well. You may change your mindscape to anything, but there will always be a representation of what is already there, within your mind and body."
Gesturing to the lake, he explained, "There are two things of importance that you need to know about this lake. Obviously, this represents your chakra, but there are some other things as well.
"The size of this lake represents the size of your reserves. I have minor difficulty in seeing the end of this lake, which means your reserves are impressively large for your age. The depth of this lake represents the density of your chakra. The deeper it is, the denser and more powerful your chakra is."
Naruto was listening intently to Kurama. He had to admit, he couldn't see the other side of the lake, which meant that his reserves would have to be very large. The question that now remained was how deep the lake was.
As if reading his mind [See what I did there?] Kurama nodded knowingly, "You have to dive inside the lake to find out how deep it is. Before you do that, touch the water and tell me what you feel."
Naruto frowned in confusion at the odd request, but nodded. He touched the water and instantly his frown deepened, as if he didn't like the feeling.
Kurama turned his head towards him, asking, "What do you feel, Naruto?"
Naruto removed his hand from the lake, saying, "Like it's incomplete. Something else should be there but it's not."
Kurama nodded his head in agreement, "Okay, that missing thing is your chakra. Once you unlock your chakra, that feeling will be gone. Now, get into the lake and unlock it!" he almost ordered Naruto.
Naruto thought for a moment about how to proceed with this. Deciding it, he jumped inside taking a deep breath.
He swam his hands forward in a sharp motion, pulling them back to go deeper. He kept swimming for what felt like eternity. 'How deep is this lake? How dense is my chakra?!' thoughts like these kept running through his head as he continued to go deeper. Strangely, he felt no need to breathe in this lake. 'Must be because I'm swimming in my own mind', he deduced. Finally, he saw what appeared to be the bottom. His efforts to reach there hastened.
As soon as his hands touched the floor of the lake, he instinctively knew that his chakra was just beneath his him. The floor of the lake was acting as a barrier between him and his chakra. He just needed a way to break the barrier so he could access his chakra.
He decided to dump logic for this situation and force his way like a brute. An idea that would probably not work, but worth trying. Considering that this was his body and mind, the barrier would be only strong enough so he could break it with enough effort.
He pulled his hand back, and punched it ground as hard as he could. He repeated this for nineteen times. On the twentieth time, a small crack appeared on the floor. Naruto noticed the crack and grinned in satisfaction. 'About time you cracked', he thought. Redoubling his efforts, he saw that with every punch, the crack widened. At last, the crack was big enough that he knew it would break in one last punch.
Pulling back his fist, he brought it back down with all the force he could muster. As soon as his fist connected, the ground shattered from beneath him and he was assaulted by absolute euphoria. He felt complete now, the earlier feeling of something missing now completely gone.
But the force with which the chakra was released was so great that he was forced out of the lake in just a few moments, contrary to the time he took to reaching the bottom. The last thing he heard from Kurama before being forced out of his awake was, "Damn, I haven't felt chakra this dense and powerful since the tree hugger himself. But the midnight blue is unusual…"
XXXXXXX
Anko was watching the blonde for almost twenty minutes now. 'Just what is he hoping to accomplish?' she thought. She was getting impatient now.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, she felt it. It was impossible to ignore, given how powerful the presence was. She wheeled around, eyes wide, staring at Naruto. 'He couldn't possibly be….'
Naruto's eyes opened a second before midnight blue chakra exploded from him. It was so dense and powerful that the ground around him cracked violently. Wind was blowing all around very fast by the sheer force of his chakra.
Naruto lifted his hands in front of him, seeing the beautiful midnight blue color of his chakra flowing from his body. It almost seemed to be sparkling. The feeling was so exhilarating that he almost missed Kurama's voice, 'NARUTO! YOU ARE LETTING OUT TOO MUCH CHAKRA! STOP RIGHT NOW!'
Naruto, fortunately, noticed the urgency in Kurama's voice and immediately thought about reigning it in. To his surprise, the chakra stopped exploding from him almost instantly. Unfortunately, he had already expelled too much of it. The sudden coming down from a high like that caused him to fall unconscious on his back.
Anko, who had watched the whole spectacle, was looking at Naruto with eyes wide as dinner plates. 'Was that Kyuubi's chakra that exploded from him? No, the Kyuubi's chakra is orange. The chakra that exploded from him was blue. An unusual, darker shade, but blue nonetheless, which means that the chakra was his!' she thought incredulously.
Her one hand was now on her mouth, 'The amount that he was letting out can easily rival the Sandaime's! But how did he unlock it, and that too so early?'
All kinds of questions were flashing through her mind, but seeing the kid fall unconscious on his back, she rushed to him, checking to see of he was alright. A sigh of relief escaped her when she saw that he had just collapsed from mild chakra exhaustion.
'He must be only five to six years old. Unlocking chakra at such a young age is unheard of! Most children unlock it after spending a year at the academy and this kid does it beforeeven entering the academy?!' she thought incredulously.
It suddenly occurred to her that a blast of chakra like that would have attracted attention of almost all the shinobi in the village. Shinobi training kicking in, she picked the kid up and vanished in a shunshin to the Hokage's office.
XXXXXXX
The Hokage sat in his chair, eyes glaring at the giant pile of paperwork that seems to materialize out of nowhere and just as he finishes the previous file.
He was ridiculously irritated at how it so innocently sat in front of him. 'This is ridiculous! This blasted paperwork has to be a force of nature! There is no end to it, at all! It is always mocking me!'
To anyone else watching it, including the ANBU guards in the room, it seemed hilarious how the Hokage was locked in a glaring contest with paperwork of all things. But the captain of the ANBU group could relate to his boss, having to deal with something similar after every mission they do.
Hiruzen finally lost his patience after staring at it for almost fifteen minutes. So infuriated was the old kage that he positioned his hands into a Tiger seal and took a deep breath, intent on burning the paperwork away.
He was one second from setting the paperwork on fire when he sensed it. The powerful burst of chakra; so powerful that he was sure almost every shinobi in the village felt it, sensor or not.
'What was that? I didn't know any shinobi of mine was capable of releasing chakra at his scale. From what I sensed, it was powerful, overwhelmingly so, but there was no intention in that burst of chakra. No evil or good, it simply was neutral. Just what is going on?' he thought.
He decided that any shinobi who might be near the burst of chakra would respond and report to him shortly. With that, he turned his attention back onto the table and put his hands on it, closing his eyes. Five minutes later, his door was knocked. He answered, "Come in."
The door opened to show his secretary, Ikumi, a middle aged woman, gesturing towards a purple haired kunoichi carrying a familiar child with blonde hair in her arms.
"Naruto, what happened to you now?" he thought in worry as he quickly gestured her inside. Anko gently laid Naruto on the couch in the office and then turned to face the Hokage.
His eyes were hardened, having the look of a true, legendary shinobi instead of the man who was reduced to doing paperwork. His voice had an edge of steel, "What happened, Anko?"
Anko was not nervous at all, as she had done no wrong, "Hokage-sama, I was just passing by the training fields when I saw Naruto Uzumaki sitting in the middle of a training field in a meditating position. I was curious, so I hid from his sight and observed for anything that would happen. Twenty minutes passed and I was about to leave when I saw the most extraordinary thing Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. A burst of powerful chakra and Anko comes to him with an unconscious Naruto? There seemed to be a link here. "What did you witness, Anko?"
"A burst of chakra so powerful that I haven't felt anything like it before, Hokage-sama. The ground around him seemed to crack just by the force of his chakra!"
Hiruzen's eyebrows went upwards in a disbelieving motion, "You mean to say that Naruto here", he gestured to the boy on the couch, "Unlocked his chakra and the burst of chakra from before was his chakra?!"
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Anko nodded in agreement. Hiruzen sat back in his chair, finding it quite hard to believe what Anko had told him. However, Anko had no reason to lie to him. Still, how was this possible?
"Anko", he said to the kunoichi, "Stay here right now until he wakes up. I believe we should hear this right from the source", he said, looking at Naruto.
XXXXXXX
Naruto was lying on his back in his mindscape, staring at the sky. Kurama was right beside him, head rested on his hands, looking content. Naruto sat up, eyes blinking around in confusion, "What happened?"
Kurama replied in a bored tone, "You fell unconscious. It's as simple as that."
Naruto eyes widened in realization, "I unlocked my chakra! So what does that mean for my body, Kurama?" he asked, eager to address the problem of his absence of chakra coils.
Kurama glanced at him, "I observed the release of your chakra. And I have good news. You can still control your chakra."
Naruto seemed to practically melt in relief at that, "That is good."
"I wasn't finished", Kurama's voice brought him back again, "Your absence of chakra coils actually makes it easier for you to control your chakra. You can directly control it, without having to rely on chakra coils. Which means, you will actually have excellent chakra control."
Hearing this, Naruto started jumping around in joy. He would be able to become a shinobi after all! Moreover, his chakra control would be excellent! Kurama was quick to burst his bubble, however.
Continuing in the same lazy tone as before, Kurama said, "You were lucky, however. Most people would not be so fortunate as to controlling chakra without chakra coils."
Naruto stopped dancing around and turned to Kurama with wide eyes, "Then why am I different?"
At this Kurama shrugged and didn't bother to answer, saying only one thing before falling back asleep, "Start training to use it."
With Kurama now asleep, Naruto had nothing to do in his mindscape. 'Might as well wake up', he thought. He walked up to a stream and promptly fell face first into it.
XXXXXXX
It had been over ten minutes since they were waiting for Naruto to wake up. Anko honestly did not know why the Hokage had asked her to wait in his office. But she had to follow whatever the Hokage said, so she waited, albeit impatiently.
Hiruzen on the other hand was contemplating on what to do. He was in his classic thinking pose, elbows on his desk, chin rested on his hands and eyes closed. If what Anko had said was really true and Naruto had really unlocked his chakra, then perhaps it was time to begin Naruto's training. He had thought that Naruto would grow up normally in the academy, but it seemed nothing was normal if it was connected to Naruto. Maybe he could get Anko to train him…
Suddenly he heard a groan from where Naruto was laid. His and Anko's eyes snapped to there as Naruto sat up, looking no worse for wear. His eyes seemed confused as he did not seem to recognize where he was. However as soon as he saw him and Anko, the weariness clouding his eyes suddenly disappeared, replaced by cautiousness.
"How the hell did I get here?" he mumbled as he studied the purple haired kunoichi. He had never seen her before.
The kunoichi spoke in a rude tone, "I brought you here after you successfully alerted the entire shinobi force of this village. What the hell were you even doing in the training field, brat?!"
Naruto suddenly remembered that he had unlocked his chakra successfully and did not stop the full blown grin on his face. "Unlocking my chakra", he replied in a cool tone.
"But how did you know to unlock your chakra, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked curiously. A five year old child unlocking their chakra, without any outside help was simply unheard of. Not to mention how powerful the chakra was.
Naruto did not think that he would be dragged into the Hokage's office to explain how he unlocked his chakra. He needed time to build up a lie about this. Unfortunately, he didn't have it as both of them were looking at him expectantly. So he just gave them his patented 'Making-you-feel-stupid-with-a-simple-look" look.
Both of them sweat dropped, thinking along the lines of 'How does he do that so well?!'
Fortunately for Naruto, it allowed him time to come up with a convincing lie, "Well, chakra is inside everyone right? I thought if I looked deep inside myself, I would find it too. For the you-know-what, right jiji?"
Hiruzen looked confused for a moment, but realized it. Naruto wanted to unlock his chakra to get access to his parents' things left behind for him. But now, time to address the elephant in the room.
"Now that you have unlocked your chakra Naruto-kun, what will you do?"
Naruto frowned for a moment and crossed his hands, causing Anko to hold back her urge to hug him and yell 'Kawai!' The kid looked mighty adorable!
Naruto said, "I will train…..or so I would like to say. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to how I should proceed now. Books have always been the answer to all my problems, but I feel that books can't teach me what I need to know practically", he revealed honestly.
'Perfect', Hiruzen thought with a hidden smile. Normally he would have Naruto wait for another year, letting him join the academy and then letting him learn all he needed. But he knew that Naruto was a naturally curious child. Who knows what experiments he would do to find out what he could do. It would be dangerous to leave Naruto to his own devices, or chakra.
His eyes shifted to Anko, who was watching Naruto and barely restraining herself from glomping him. 'But if he were to get an instructor to teach him early, many consequences could be avoided. Also, since Naruto is a genius, he may not really fit in with his age group, not only because he would be far ahead of them, but also because even his generation keeps their distance from him. I also have this feeling that Naruto and Anko will bond spectacularly.'
He barely kept himself from grinning. 'Naruto can still enter the academy at the proper age and graduate with his age group class. Many of the teachers may not give him proper education because of their grudges against Kyuubi, but that treatment would be null and void if he is already so far ahead. The council will surely protest against this, calling this favoritism, but I can justify myself by saying that the village's jinchuriki must be trained early so he could be ready for anything. The foolish council members will blindly agree to this and if they don't, who are they to go against the Hokage? Oh, the pieces of Naruto's puzzle are falling together wonderfully!' he thought to himself gleefully.
Outward he said, "Then it is probably safer to get you an instructor rather than you experimenting on your own."
Anko finally caught on to the Hokage's plan as she wheeled around to face him with wide eyes, "Hokage-sama! You can't possibly-"
"I appoint Anko Mitarashi as instructor of Naruto Uzumaki, effective immediately", he declared.
Naruto's eyes, along with Kurama's, were wide as dinner plates. This was totally unexpected. Naruto never expected to get a personal instructor. He, the village pariah, jailor of Kyuubi! But he was happy, and that was all that mattered to him. For Kurama, he found it hard to believe that the old monkey had balls big enough to pull this kind of stunt in his age.
Anko protested, "B-but Hokage-sama-" "Do you have a problem with my decision, Anko?" he asked with his voice hard.
Anko immediately stood in attention, "No Hokage-sama!"
Hiruzen immediately smiled, reverting back to his grandfather persona, "Good. I knew you would have no problem!"
Anko sweat dropped at how fast the old man changed personalities. She actually thought that he was showing favoritism, because everyone knew how close he was to Naruto. But she also saw how special Naruto was. But she was not cut out to be an instructor, rather she didn't want to. She was more suited out in the field.
Turning to Naruto, he said, "Naruto, you can go back to your apartment. Anko and I have something to discuss. Also, report to the training field behind this tower, tomorrow morning, at six a.m. sharp."
Naruto nodded and immediately left through the window. Turning his attention back to the special jonin, he said, "Anko, you have to understand that this is necessary. Naruto will face many difficulties in the future, and I fear that by the time everyone acknowledges him and comes to support him, it will be too late. Also, give him a chance. He will surprise you", he said with utmost seriousness.
Anko was hesitant but nodded. Truthfully, she did not want to do this but had to anyway. The fact Hokage told the brat and her to report to the Hokage training fields was a surprise since they were exclusively reserved for the Hokage.
She headed back to her apartment, thinking about how she should go about this.
XXXXXXX
Naruto sat eating his dinner on his dining table. The cooking book the Hokage had provided was invaluable, allowing him to cook food for himself. He made sure to follow the instructions in the book word for word, and the results were wroth eating. I might have some natural aptitude for cooking, otherwise I would have already blown the kitchen up, he mused.
He was eternally grateful for what the old man had done for him. Now that he thought about it, he figured that when he entered the academy two years later, some instructors would be prone to discriminate with him. Perhaps this was the way of old man looking out for him in his shinobi life, he thought.
He finished the dinner and washed the plates. After that he proceeded to his bedroom and laid down on his bed, closing his eyes. Tomorrow will be interesting indeed.
Naruto's eyes opened as soon as the alarm he had set rang. His hand reached out and shut the alarm clock. Waking up at five-thirty in the morning left him plenty of time to get ready.
He finished his morning rituals in ten minutes and dressed in his normal, orange jumpsuit. He went to the fridge and pulled out two bananas, peeling one and eating it at comfortable pace, followed by the second. He finished and looked up at the clock. Five-fifty. 'Best get going', he thought.
He went up and out of the door, making sure to lock it up properly. He hid the key inside the potted plant near the staircase. He exited the building and ran towards the grounds. The sun was o just beginning to rise, so the air was still cool as it hit his face. He smiled as he increased the pace and reached the ground with one minute to spare.
He was surprised to see that just as he had reached the ground, his new teacher also reached at the same time. Her eyes showed surprise at his appearance, but she gestured him to follow her. They arrived in the training ground after Anko said to the guards that they were authorized to use it.
Arriving at the middle of the ground, she said, "Sit down, brat. Introduce yourself."
Naruto frowned at the way she said it but did it anyway, "Naruto Uzumaki, age five years, likes are reading and training, dislikes are the people who can't differentiate between a kunai and a sealing scroll, hobbies are none of your business, dream is to become the strongest Hokage ever!" he began in a monotone, became slightly rude in the middle and finished it with a grin and a thumbs up.
Anko grinned in a savage way after his introduction. Not many people had the guts to be rude to her, but this brat had no problem doing it. 'Time to instill the fear', she thought maliciously.
Grabbing his collar, she jerked him forward until they were nose to nose. In a deadly whisper, she said, "I don't like brats like you who think that just because they are getting special treatment, they are above others."
Naruto replied, unfazed, "And just because you are older and more powerful than me doesn't mean you have to be rude."
Anko smirked and let go off Naruto, who sat back down. "I like you kid, which means that I won't go easy on you! Get up and give me ten rounds of this ground, fast!"
And so began his training. For a whole four weeks, she just concentrated on his physical conditioning. She wanted him to be physically fit for what she was about to mold him into.
She was surprised at how obediently Naruto followed her commands. Whatever she told him to do, he did it without question. She ran him into the ground every day. So exhausted he was that as soon as she announced that the training for the day was over, he would collapse onto the ground, unable to move. She always carried him back to his home, and laid him in his bed. She also left him a bento every time, knowing he didn't have the energy to cook. Kurama always woke him up to eat.
Naruto thanked her profusely every time, but she always waved him away, saying it was the duty of a sensei to care for the student. She didn't want him to know that she was growing fond of him. That would be embarrassing.
Another good thing that both Naruto and Anko didn't know was that every time Naruto came back exhausted, Kurama always healed him up with his chakra. The good thing about this was that after every session, Naruto's muscles would be stronger than before, requiring much more to get exhausted.
Today is the day he would learn to control chakra. And he was excited as hell. After his usual fifteen rounds of the ground (Anko increased them), Anko decided he was satisfactorily warmed up and began explaining chakra control.
"Alright kid, the first step to controlling chakra is to take a leaf and use your chakra to stick it to your forehead like this", she said, demonstrating the exercise.
Naruto nodded before picking up a leaf from the ground and keeping it on his forehead and imagining his chakra creating suction at the point where the leaf touched his forehead. Surprisingly, it took him only three tries to get the amount of chakra right!
On the fourth try, the leaf was easily sticking to his forehead and he stood there smiling proudly. He knew he would have good chakra control due to his lack of chakra coils. Using chakra for the first time felt really good! He simply had to imagine how his chakra flowed and sort of command it to do so and voila! Task accomplished.
Anko stood there, gaping at Naruto. Most kids took four to five days to get this exercise right, and this kid had done it five minutes. Absolutely unbelievable, and outright ridiculous, she decided. 'Does the term 'normal' even apply to this kid?' she thought with a twitching eyebrow.
"Hey, Anko-sensei, now that I've got it, what's next?" Naruto asked with a grin. At this point, he was keeping the leaf stick with only minimal concentration.
Anko grinned. A grin that Naruto never liked. It always meant his doom. "Now", she said, taking out shuriken, "Keep that leaf stuck and dodge these!" With that, she threw the shuriken at him.
It was only his danger sense that saved him from skewered. This continued for almost fifteen minutes and at the end of those, Naruto was heavily panting. 'She looked like she almost wanted to kill me!' he thought, drawing deep breaths.
Anko looked proud, "Well done, Naruto! You successfully dodged the shuriken and kept the leaf stuck to your forehead! Take a five minute break!" Not many, no scratch that, no one managed that on their first try. It was starting to look like that this kid was born to be a shinobi.
She contemplated if she should teach Naruto the tree walking exercise next. A relatively difficult exercise, a Genin level in fact. But Naruto wasn't even in the academy. Still, doesn't hurt to try, right?
After the five minute break was over, she called Naruto and they both walked towards a tree. "Your next exercise would be to climb this tree with only your feet", she said.
Naruto gave her a quizzical look, "Isn't that kind of impossible, sensei?"
Anko rolled her eyes and lightly bonked him at the back of his head, "With the aid of chakra. Honestly, where does your intelligence go sometimes, out of your head?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly.
Anko then demonstrated the exercise, "This is kind of similar to the leaf sticking exercise, except you are sticking yourself to a tree instead of sticking a leaf to you. If you use too little chakra, your foot won't stick. You use too much chakra; you get blasted off the tree. Begin. You can use a running start if you want."
'That would be absolutely pointless unless you have the amount of chakra in your leg right', thoughtNaruto as he walked to the tree and put his right foot on the bark, regulating the amount of chakra required to stick. After he got it right, he kept in mind the amount of chakra and carefully pushed the same amount in his left leg.
Taking a deep breath, he lifted his left leg and put it on the bark, not losing concentration in his right leg. A huge smile appeared on his face as he successfully stuck to the bark. Tentatively, he took the next step and managed not to fall off. He continued this until he reached the top of the tree.
Anko watched all of this with her jaw on the ground, dango long forgotten. There was no possible explanation as to how Naruto manage to walk up the entire tree in five minutes of learning the exercise. Then she released a resigned sigh, 'I don't even want to know anymore.'
This became the norm for everything. Naruto mastered tree walking in two hours, water walking in four hours, and spinning a kunai above his hand with his chakra in one day, all the while dodging Anko's shuriken and kunai.
It was now time to give the monthly report to the Hokage.
XXXXXXX
"What?" he asked blankly.
"It's true Hokage-sama!" Anko insisted.
The smoking pipe had long since fallen off his mouth. This had to some kind of genjutsu. There was no way Naruto mastered all the chakra control exercises in just two days. Anko was a very deadly kunoichi, so any students she took, in this case, Naruto, had high standards to meet.
But for Anko to say that Naruto did all of that in just two days, it was too much. He had no doubt that Naruto was very physically capable, but he had an Uzumaki heritage and as such, had monstrous reserves of chakra that could not be matched by anyone of his age. He expected Naruto to have problems in controlling his chakra, but from Anko's report it looked like he had an excellent control of his chakra.
Anko then slowly asked him, knowing the Hokage was rattled to his bones by the news, "Hokage-sama, can I have your permission to start teaching him Ninjutsu and Taijutsu?"
"…..Granted."
XXXXXXX
Naruto stood in his father's library, looking at the volumes of fuinjutsu his mother had left for him. He picked the first volume and left the house.
Anko had very generously given the next day off to him, which he planned to make full use of. For some reason, he thought, that Anko was very surprised at the speed at which he mastered those exercises. He had been asking her when he could start learning Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, but she always said that first he needed to build up endurance and stamina.
After closing the door to his apartment, he set the thick book on the dining table and entered his bedroom, falling asleep. It was a late night after all, and sneaking around made him tired, especially after his sadistic sensei's training.
His alarm rang at seven next morning. Waking up, he did his morning rituals and made himself some breakfast. 'That reminds me, the stock that jiji gave me will be finished soon. I need to go shopping', he thought.
After breakfast, he picked up the Fuinjutsu volume and started reading.
He finished it in four hours, including the test that his mother wrote for him at the end of the book. 'I didn't know fuinjutsu was this easy', he thought in confusion as he checked the answers of his test.
'It's not, you insane child', Kurama grumbled. He had been seeing and hearing fuinjutsu since the tree hugger's era and frankly, it annoyed the hell out of him. He was much more suited to perform acts of destruction than delicate writing.
Naruto easily ignored him and finished checking the answers. 'All of them correct. No surprise there', he thought smugly. Photographic memory was so useful.
He finished another volume the same day, with the same results in the test at the end of the book. Eight hours of Fuinjutsu was mentally exhausting, he thought. He just slept the rest of the day, waking up only to make and eat dinner, and fell asleep again.
The next day, Anko started his Taijutsu training. "I'm going to teach you my style of fighting, Naruto. The snake style requires you to be light and flexible, capable of quick strikes and counterattacks and weaving in between them."
She then grabbed Naruto's collar, "You will learn and master this style in one year, brat or even Kami won't be able to save you from my wrath", she threatened, enforcing her threat with a bit of killing intent.
It had absolutely no effect whatsoever on him, since he already had a taste of Kurama's killing intent. However, he nodded vigorously. Anko was pretty terrifying, even without killing intent .
The next month he spent learning Tai and Ninjutsu simultaneously. Due to his photographic memory and the peculiar ability of his body, he progressed quickly in Taijutsu. He found that even though it was a formidable style, the snake style did not have the symbolizations of all five elements.
Ninjutsu on the other hand, he felt like he was born to do it. It took him only five tries to master the Henge no jutsu, and nine tries to master the Kawarimi. Two days later, he had mastered the seal less Kawarimi.
But no matter how hard he tried, even with his excellent chakra control, could he perform the Bunshin no jutsu. Eventually, Anko got so fed up that they took the matter to the Hokage, who suggested that the Kage Bunshin no jutsu would be more suited for Naruto. Considering how large his chakra reserves were, it would be impossible for him to squeeze a drop of it that was required to perform the Bunshin.
It took two hours for Naruto to learn the Kage Bunshin and when he did learn it, Anko and Hiruzen, who had come to supervise the teaching of the kinjutsu, were dumbstruck at the amount of clones Naruto could make. A hundred clones at Naruto's age stupefied the Hokage so much that it took him almost fifteen minutes to snap out of his shock.
Naruto soon discovered a very interesting aspect of the Kage Bunshin. He could remember everything what his clones saw or heard. And he had no qualms abusing the shadow clones after that.
He would make a shadow clone study fuinjutsu while he trained with Anko. In eight days, all the volumes of fuinjutsu were finished. He had even learnt how to print seals onto surfaces with his chakra. Now technically, that would make him a seal master, but his mother had written him a note that even after finishing all the volumes, he would have to be tested by a certified seal master to be considered a seal master.
He knew no one who was one so he asked his jiji if he could test him. But the old man had questions of his own.
"You're telling me that you finished all the volumes of fuinjutsu your mother left you in just ten days?" his voice sounded unbelieving.
Naruto nodded; his expression serious.
Hiruzen let out a small nervous chuckle, "Forgive me if I find that hard to believe, Naruto-kun."
Naruto shrugged. He figured he could tell him of his gifts, "When you have a photographic memory, coupled with shadow clones, you tend to abuse it jiji."
Hiruzen looked shocked at the fact, "You have a photographic memory?!"
Naruto nodded, "Yes."
Hiruzen then sighed , "Aside that, I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I'm not a certified seal master and as such, I am not qualified to test you", he told Naruto regretfully. "But my student Jiraiya is. Tell you what, when he visits the village next time, I will tell him to test you. Is that okay for you?"
Naruto figured that he had no choice, "Alright."
It had been two months since Anko started training Naruto, and he had progressed spectacularly. With the most common ninjutsu out of the way, she focused solely on his Taijutsu, which grew by leaps and bounds, but he was still far from giving her a challenge.
After those two months, Anko figure that it wouldn't hurt teaching the boy chakra nature transformations.
Naruto sat in front of Anko, who was standing and explaining the chakra nature transformations. "There are five basic nature transformations. Fire, wind, water, lightning and earth. Each element is connected to each other in a way. Fire is weak against water but strong against the wind, wind is strong against lightning but weak against fire, lightning is strong against earth but weak against wind, earth is weak against lightning but strong against water, water is strong against fire but weak against earth", she explained.
She handed him a slip of paper, "That is chakra paper. It will tell you your chakra affinity. If you have fire it will burn, tear in half with wind, shrink if lightning, crumble to dust if earth and soak wet if water."
Naruto nodded and focused a tiny bit of his chakra into the paper. What happened next blew his own mind away, alongside Anko's. Inside his mind, Kyuubi grinned. Even he did not expect that, but it was a nice surprise.
The paper split into three parts. One soaked up very heavily, the second crumpled up into a ball, and the last one burned to ashes. Anko threw up her hands and walked away, muttering things about having early grey hairs and surprises.
Naruto blinked for a second and then grinned. 'Awesome!'
When the Hokage came to know, he promptly fainted like a schoolgirl. When he woke up, he was convinced that Naruto would grow up to become the most unpredictable ninja ever.
What happened the next three months was chakra nature manipulation. He would make four groups of twenty five, each group practicing a different nature. For the first time, he had a challenge. Changing the nature of chakra was a lot more difficult than he thought. It took him one whole month to master only the first step for elemental manipulation for all four of his affinities. Cutting a leaf in half for wind, collecting water from the leaf for water, shrinking up the leaf for lightning, and burning the leaf to ashes for fire.
The second and final step took him a whole two months. For wind, it was cutting a rock clean in half; for water, it was separating water from other liquids; for lightning, it was cracking a stone into pieces with lightning chakra; for fire, it was boiling water.
Anko had left him to his own devices after he started his elemental training. But she checked on him every now and then. He always teased her on how she was acting like his mother, which always resulted in him having a bruised head. After those three months, however, he met his godfather.
Flashback
He was practicing his Taijutsu katas on the training field when he sensed a presence. He was slowly developing his sensory abilities with the help of Kurama. He turned around to see no one, but he now someone was standing just a few feet in front of him.
"Who's there?" he asked.
The air in front of him shimmered and a man appeared. He wore red sleeveless coat and pants, a green kimono underneath and geta sandals. He had long white hair and was very well built, standing well over six feet.
"So you could sense me. Very impressive. Do you know who I am?"
Naruto answered as if he wasn't even fazed, "Jiraiya of the Sannin."
Jiraiya grinned, "Sensei told me that you mastered all ten volumes of fuinjutsu your mother left you in ten days. I don't believe you", he said in a challenging tone.
Inside however, he was thinking, 'Oh Minato, Kushina, if only you could see your son right now', he thought wistfully.
Naruto was also having some thoughts, 'His tone of speaking would suggest that he was familiar with my mother, but how? I know that he was Dad's sensei, which means he also is a fuinjutsu master. But how close was he?'
Outward, he shrugged, "Doesn't matter if you do or not. Your job is to test me, nothing else."
Jiraiya was a little deflated at how Naruto was acting so detached. He knew that Naruto did not know that he was his godfather, but it still hurt. Reigning in his emotions, he spoke.
"Let's get this over with then."
Three hours later, he stood in the field, staring at Naruto with a gaping jaw. Naruto was standing there, panting. Jiraiya had tested him on every aspect of fuinjutsu. Both written test and how he would apply it in battle. Obviously he lost, but Jiraiya was seriously impressed at how the kid was able to apply fuinjutsu in battle. The versatility was clearly there, along with a touch of unpredictability.
"What is the result?"
Both of them turned to the voice that had spoken. The Sandaime Hokage was standing there with a small smile on his face, as if he knew what the answer was.
"He passes", Jiraiya replied, still in a daze. Naruto nodded at that and sat down with as much grace he could muster. He promptly fell back after that, asleep before hitting the ground, his last thought being 'I finally became a seal master.'
Flashback end
Jiraiya had revealed to him after the test that he was his godfather. Initially, he was downright furious that Jiraiya had just abandoned him to the wolves. But after calming down andthinking it through, he realized that Jiraiya had duties outside the village walls, which is why he could not raise him.
He did not forgive him, saying he will have to earn his forgiveness. Jiraiya looked relieved at that and promised to make it up to him. Before he knew it, one year had passed and it was time for him to enter the academy.
Walking along with his jiji in the school corridors, he wondered if he would be able to make any friends.
Stopping in front of a door, his jiji opened the door, showing a chunin instructor with a scar on his face and his hair shaped into a pineapple ponytail.
"Hokage-sama, is anything wrong?"
Hiruzen waved him away, "Nothing at all, Iruka. I just came here to bring Naruto-kun. He will be starting from today."
Iruka looked at Naruto and Naruto was instantly able to recognize the look. After all, he had received it many times.
Looking into the class, he saw the same look on many of the student's faces. He sighed, 'It will be a long six years.'