[1st POV]
(1 month since graduation)
The progress I made with a proper teacher was unbelievable.
I had heavily underestimated a full stat of potential. Perhaps if I had invested in other stats in the review, I would probably start off as a high-kage-level shinobi.
It was truly remarkable.
Jutsus came as second nature to me, like how a young Itachi was able to perform the fireball jutsu after his father showed him once. In terms of battle IQ, what I attributed to my past knowledge was not just that; it was something more.
Ideas and plans I would've never thought of came to me in combat, almost like it was common sense. Like how you knew something you threw would fall. It was just common sense, it was difficult to explain.
That came in terms of fighting skills too. I made huge progress in Taijutsu. When it came to physical training, it was like I was full of steroids as I made insane progress each week.
In just a month of training, Hiruzen told me that I had reached Jonin level. I had not reached that level quite yet, as I was not a master. But my sheer versatility and my susanoo already put me in that tier.
At this point, I have learned a few A-rank jutsu, the most common B-rank jutsu, and I have almost every C-rank jutsu that you could think of at the top of your head.
I mostly focused on B-rank jutsu and above though, as those had real firepower in case of combat. Hiruzen had advised me to focus on just a few jutsu even though I've learned quite a bunch.
Learning jutsu was just that; the Uchiha had thousands in their arsenal. But the trick here was to master jutsu that complemented your fighting style.
Having knowledge of so many jutsu was to know my opponents more than anything.
When it came to my chakra, it had grown large too. The quantity was not to the point where I could easily spam jutsu, but it was enough for a long-drawn battle. It was easy to keep track of my chakra growth with the appearance of my susanoo.
It did not yet look like a proper susanoo, but it was getting there.
With my chakra growth, I had to train my chakra control as well. This was the part where I didn't see much progress, but I was still training. I began training my chakra control by trying to recreate the rasengan. I knew the process on how to learn it, so that had been immensely useful in training chakra control.
I nearly nailed the rasengan as well, even though I only gave an hour after I was exhausted to train it.
"998, 999, 1000," I said after doing the last bit of weighted push-ups.
Sweat rained down my body and enlarged the puddle of sweat under me. But still, I contemplated whether to continue or not. I was barely doing a thousand with this weight a week ago, but now it had become easy and I think I still had a thousand left in me.
I shrugged, "1001, 1002, 1003," I began counting again, thinking to myself that this was too time-consuming, so I should increase the weight of my vest from tomorrow.
I still had three tiers to go before I reached the weight which my father used to train with.
"Okay, that's enough," Hiruzen appeared in front of me with a body flicker.
I was not caught by surprise anymore because I had sensed him long ago and I had gotten used to his speed.
That was another scary part of my progress. If my potential was insane, my potential with speed talent was absolutely terrifying. I was starting to see real use of the Body Flicker jutsu in battle, just like Shisui did.
Not enough to create multiple afterimages, but I could be precise in the middle of the body flicker. My reaction time had grown that much.
I stopped my push-up and greeted the old man with a shy grin. He was always urging me to not push myself too hard.
"What do you mean, I still have a hundred more to go," I said.
"You think I'm deaf, Suyou. Although aged, I still have ears, you know," he said with folded hands.
"You were stalking me again. Creepy old man. I thought I told you to stop stalking children," I said and stood up.
"It is the duty of parents to keep eye on their children. And I consider every kid in Konoha my children," he said.
I fixed my clothes and hair. "Did you bring any jutsu I can practice back at home? Is it lightning jutsu?"
Wind, Lightning and Fire, those were the elements I focused most on and the ones I liked. Wind and Lightning were natural since they deal with speed, but Fire jutsu, I was interested in because it looked cool.
I mean, fire is fire. It's a cool element.
"No. I want you to take a proper rest today. I may have something for you soon," he said.
My eyes became stars, "Really? Is it finally time for a mission?"
"Something like that," he said.
I pumped my fist in the air. The con of having the Hokage as a sensei was that he had no time to do missions with me. Although Jonin level, I did not have any experience like they do.
We contemplated sending me with the other team for missions since he was so busy, but I protested for now. Because most of them were D-rank missions like mowing a lawn or finding a lost pet.
"Then I will go home and get a good rest. Good night, Lord Hokage, and goodbye," I said and promptly left.
He usually supervised my morning training and came to me in the early evening to send me home. That had become our routine for the past month.
I did not head towards the steps and boldly jumped off the Hokage mountain.
The air that rushed past my body as I quickly descended towards Konoha was all I needed to feel all the exhaustion washed away. It was my favourite part of the day to be honest.
I righted myself mid-air when I was nearing the ground. I did some hand signs.
"Wind Style: Stream."
A C-rank jutsu that was often used to deflect projectiles. But if you apply it in a way to break the fall...
A gale came from my body and slowed me down using air resistance. When I landed, I did so softly without any harm. After my feet touched the ground, I pushed off with a burst of chakra.
"Body flicker."
I used the body flicker in rapid succession. My body was not tired so I was able to spam the movement jutsu all the way home. I never became visible to the naked eye as I blurred from roof to roof until I landed on my house.
I reached my house in half a minute.
I took a bath and ate dinner before immediately heading back to the training room in the basement. There, I picked up one of the multiple rubber balls and began practising the rasengan.
I held the rubber ball in my palm, a popular toy in Konoha. I focused my chakra inside the ball, using the solid to guide a perfect circular chakra ball.
I rotated my chakra in both directions. In a few seconds, the ball expanded and exploded into pieces.
I tried to do the same action without having the rubber ball as a guide. The familiar sound of a gathering rasengan filled my ears.
"Today is the day huh," I said with a smile as I watched the ball of chakra grow until it filled my entire palm.
"Rasengan," I called out the name.
In my hand was the famous rasengan, the signature jutsu of Naruto. It was still rough around the edges. My main issue was that the rasengan was still too transparent. You could see the swirling of tiny chakra lines inside.
It was a rasengan but wouldn't have quite the punch yet. The charging time and the focus it took was still not fast enough to be usable in real battle. Naruto was able to add it in his combat style mainly because he could make a lot of shadow clones to distract the enemy while he charged the jutsu.
"Still need more practice," I said and dispersed the greenish blue ball, the colour of my susanoo.
The rasengan was supposed to be a fast jutsu Minato could use while speed blitzing people with the Flying Thunder God. But it was not fast enough yet, which was supposed to be the best attribute of said jutsu.
But this A-rank jutsu should come in handy.
I practiced the rasengan until it was time to sleep. Sleep was just as important as training, so I always made sure to get at least 8 hours in. So I slept early.
I suspect that in another month, I should be able to use the rasengan in any situation.
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[3rd POV]
(The next day)
[The Hokage's office]
"You're always lecturing me like you're my grandfather or something. I'll let you know I'm not just a brat anymore! I am a real shinobi now, a ninja. And I want a ninja mission!!" Naruto demanded, his ass sat on the ground and he wailed his arms around like a child throwing a tantrum.
Everyone in the room palmed their faces. Team Seven led by Kakashi was inside along with the Hokage and some of his secretaries that deal with giving out missions.
"Like I said before Naruto, you just graduated and became a genin one month ago. I think it is still too early to give you missions higher than D-rank," The Hokage said while smoking his pipe.
"But it's so boring!! Finding lost pets, mowing grass, searching for lost items. What's the point of those anyway?" Naruto asked.
"Well, the point is to get familiar with your comrades and slowly develop teamwork and familiarity before you go on real missions," the Hokage answered.
Naruto became silent, "Oh, that makes sense,"
The Hokage smiled, thinking he finally convinced the young hothead. But Naruto continued soon after, "But I still demand a real mission! We've already gotten familiar the past month and the three of us go way back in the Academy anyway,"
Hiruzen shook his head with a yielding smile.
"I suppose," he finally said, much to the excitement of the children.
"Fine, I will give you a C-rank mission. But on one condition, someone else will follow you in this mission," Hiruzen said before making a hand sign and creating a clone.
Said clone immediately left from the window in a blur of afterimage, using the body flicker jutsu.
"Whoa!! You can make shadow clones too old man?" Naruto said, surprised.
Sasuke replied, "Of course, he is the Hokage dumbass,"
"Who do you think you're calling a dumbass Sasuke!" the two were always like fire and water as they glared at each other.
After only a minute, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in Suyou," Hiruzen said and in came his disciple.
"You called Hiruzen-sensei?" Suyou asked and quickly scanned the room.
His eyes clashed briefly with Sasuke's glare before he ignored him and locked fondly with Naruto's surprised gaze.
"Naruto?"
"Suyou!!" Naruto launched himself at Suyou in a bro hug.
"Long time no see! How long has it been, like a year?" Naruto asked while wrapping his arms around Suyou's shoulder from the side.
"It's been a month, Naruto." Suyou said with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know," Suyou said and turned his head towards the Hokage quizzically.
The Hokage began, "Your former classmate here was unable to find his own team, so I took him under me as a student. He has not done any missions so this will be his first, I want him to tag along with Team 7 in this mission,"
"I heard the two of you are friends, so I hope you don't mind," Hiruzen said to Naruto.
"We're best friends, alright!!" Naruto said with a thumbs up.
"Okay then, I will brief you on the mission. You are going to act as a bodyguard for a guest in Konoha..." Hiruzen said and briefed the team on the mission.
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