Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 1
"Sorry Naruto. I can't be much help to you this month. I need to concentrate solely on Sasuke."
"But Sensei-"
"No, Naruto. You shouldn't worry about anything other than mastering the basics. Work from there. Your chakra control still needs work, and your taijutsu, while unique, still has no substance. Until you improve in those areas, I think it's better that I focus all of my energy to Sasuke."
A scowl immediately came onto the face of 13-year-old Naruto Uzumaki. Rightfully so, in the blond boy's book.
He was getting nowhere with convincing his teacher, Kakashi Hatake, to help him get stronger over the Chūnin Exams. He knew his odds, and despise how silly he acted sometimes, he knew Neji's abilities were higher than his own. His taijutsu was impressive, he was agile and light-footed, and he fought smart – even if he was brutal at the same time. He hated to admit that such a bastard Neji had skills, skills that potentially could beat his, but it was true.
Naruto had people harp on his abilities for years. Being on Team Kakashi made the meager level of his abilities come to light even more, and he would be the first to admit that he wasn't as "godlike" as he thought he was in the Academy. He came off that high horse when he fought Zabuza and Haku. This recent fight with the snake man from the second part of the exams in the forest merely cemented that fact. He needed to improve greatly.
He couldn't get over the fact that he was completely beaten by Orochimaru, even under the terrible power of the Kyūbi; the power he once called upon to kick Haku's ass. It didn't even matter that he had the demon's strength. Without any sort of control over it, Orochimaru threw him away like a rag doll, messed with his chakra somehow with a technique, and marked Sasuke with a terrible seal on his neck. A thing that almost killed him. Orochimaru, for what it was worth, could have killed his entire team with just looking at them.
Naruto hated that feeling: the