Asuma, very much so reluctantly, allowed Naruto to enter his house to wait while he prepared the required equipment.
"Asuma sensei, do you ever open your windows, or is the smell just so strong that even opening doesn't help" Naruto pinched his nose and tried to fan the smell away from himself.
"What smell?"
"Cigs" Naruto replied
"Hahaha, Kurenai complains about the same thing" Asuma laughed as he placed a few sheets of paper into his pouch
"Alright, let's head off"
Naruto jumped up from the couch and placed his hands behind his head
"Ever tried quitting?" Naruto asked
"Never tried, never will" Asuma responded with a grin
"Care for a pack?" Naruto took out a pack of his homemade cigarettes and asked
"For free? Well, if you insist" Asuma hadn't even finished speaking when he swiped the pack away from Naruto before tucking it away.
Naruto rolled his eyes
"One of em is poisoned" Naruto added
"...you cruel brat, how can you do that to an innocent cigarette?" Asuma gasped
"Well, of the twenty, nineteen are fine, so you have a one in twenty to get it" Naruto shrugged nonchalantly
"And what about the following sticks" Asuma's lips twitched
"Life is just one big gamble, one single misstep will change your life forever" Naruto spoke with a profound look.
"....I'd rather my misstep be caused by something natural, not being poisoned by my own students" Asuma was a little speechless, but he kept the entire pack nonetheless.
He doubts Naruto would poison it, even if he did, it wouldn't be something severe. At most, he'd smoke it only at home, where he is safe.
-Training ground-
"Since you want to learn chakra infusion from me, I'm guessing you've been taught of your chakra nature?" He asked
"Uh....I'm pretty sure it's wind, no?"
"How did you know?" Asuma asked with a smile
"I use the rasengan, and when I tried to infuse my chakra into it, it started to alter the flow of wind around it, since then, I assumed my nature was wind" Naruto replied as he formed the rasengan, and showed him the two effects he can create with it.
Asuma nodded faintly
"It makes it easier if you understand your own nature, just to make sure, infuse some chakra into this" He took out a piece of paper and said
Naruto grabbed it, and shortly after, the paper started to wrinkle
"Yep, it's definitely wind"
Asuma then took out two short blades.
"These are chakra blades, they are sensitive to chakra, and can be infused with it quite easily" He said as a faint blue aura coated the blades, but the exterior looked sharper than the blade itself.
He then undid it, and passed one blade to Naruto
"Try channelling your chakra into it"
"I've tried before, every time I do this, it ends up just covering the weapon, it becomes more like a blunt weapon at that point" Naruto said as he coated the blade with his chakra.
But unlike Asuma's blade, his chakra wasn't as sharp, simply covering the blade.
"You know the concept of sharpening blades, right?" Asuma asked
"Yeah, you sharpen a blade by consistent maintenance on a whetstone, grinding the sides so the edge is sharper"
"Wind chakra is very similar to blades, when you coat the weapon with wind chakra, you don't just coat it, you need to let the wind split into two, then let the two grind against one another, much like the process of sharpening a blade" He exclaimed
"Sharpening a blade? Two halves..." Naruto muttered
He closed his eyes and started to form the coat of chakra around the blade. A faint breeze blew past Asuma, and he felt it gather around the blade in Naruto's hand.
'That's some ridiculous amounts of chakra' Asuma's lips twitched, he knows Naruto's capacity is massive, but seeing it in person is quite the sight to behold.
*Whoosh*
The blade in his hand was completely coated, and the blue chakra extended beyond the blade's length. When Asuma took a closer look, he realised that the chakra around the blade was constantly moving, unlike his previous attempt.
It was sloppy, almost crumbling under the movements, but he could tell that Naruto is going in the right direction. It wasn't the same as his own, but it seems to be more fitting for Naruto, so he just watched silently.
Naruto opened his eyes, and the wind dispersed
"Good attempt, your chakra control is definitely good enough, you're just not yet used to the movement of chakra during the process of infusion"
"Mn, I will keep working on this, thank you sensei" Naruto said
He was genuinely grateful, the advice that Asuma had for this was enough for him to understand what he was lacking, and broke down the wall he was facing all this time with chakra infusion.
"Try throwing it" He said as he threw his own blade at a tree, causing it to pierce through completely, and sticking into the tree behind.
"Alright" Naruto infused the blade with chakra, and threw it at the tree.
*Thud*
He heard the sound of impact, and saw that the blade was practically fully embedded into the tree, but it didn't go through like Asuma's did.
"When you get used to it, your blade should go through the tree without issues, and that isn't the limit, if I wanted to, it can go through multiple trees, I just don't want to walk the distance" Asuma rubbed his nose with a proud smile
"Or is it a metaphor for how you will only penetrate one woman in our life" Naruto gave him a sly grin and asked
"...oi oi oi, you're asking for a beating you brat" Veins bulged out of his forehead as he held his knuckle over Naruto's head.
"Hey now, Kurenai sensei will be glad to hear that y'know?"
"Like hell she will!" Asuma yelled as he knocked on Naruto's head
Naruto couldn't even avoid the strike since they were so close, and could only hold his head in pain.
"Urgh, Asuma sensei, take a joke dammit"
"I did take it, I just didn't take it well" Asuma replied with a sneer
"Dah, I walked into that one" Naruto sighed
Naruto then went and retrieved the two blades
"Will it only work on these chakra blades, or can I infuse chakra in anything" Naruto asked as he handed them to Asuma
"Anything will work, chakra blades are just more easily handled since they have attributes that are compatible with chakra" He responded
"Alright, can I borrow one of those blades? Just a few days"
"No" Asuma tucked the blades away and said
"Why do you want to learn it anyway? From what I've seen, you don't use any weapons, and rely more on jutsus" Asuma asked
"I'm learning a bit of everything so if I ever run into opponents that can't be dealt with through one method, I have other methods to do so" Naruto replied
Asuma thought for a bit
"It's fine to have variety, but when the scope gets too big, you tend to lose sight of what you're looking for, make sure you can properly use everything you can learn" He said in a low voice
"Yes sensei~" Naruto saluted
"You can keep practicing on your own, when you need tips, you can come find me" Asuma said
"Are you sure it's not because you're lazy?" Naruto grumbled, the training session was very short, and he was a little unsatisfied.
"Hahaha, good that you know, see you next time" Asuma waved his hand and walked off
"Grrrr, I gave him that pack of cigarettes for nothing" Naruto cursed
Naruto sighed and decided to continue practicing chakra infusion. His first successful attempt was enough to give him a rough idea on what the finished product will look like, and he got a feeling that the result will be different to what Asuma showed.
He took out a kunai, and began chakra infusion like he did before. But before he could start grinding the wind chakra, he ran into another problem. The kunai isn't nearly as effective as the chakra blades in terms of conductivity, so the chakra that he infused into it wasn't flowing as smoothly.
"Well, starting from step one I guess" He sighed and sat down on the spot to start practicing it once more.
Now he realised why Asuma rejected him the first time, the training for this is indeed time consuming, and with how packed his schedule was back then, he wouldn't have the time to train this.
-Next day-
Naruto returned home to recharge his clones, and decided to just stay there to practice, resulting in a full day passing in a flash. After a full day worth of practice, his proficiency went up quite a bit, and he was able to achieve what he did yesterday with a normal weapon.
"Phew, it's not perfect, but this has increased the lethality of my weapons" Naruto smiled
*Knock*
Naruto walked to the fron door, wondering who it was that came to find him so early in the morning.
"Hello Naruto" He saw a black haired woman smiling at him
"Kurenai sensei? Do you need me?" Naruto asked
"Yes, the thing is, Shino is currently away, so our team is one person short, I asked Kakashi and he recomended you" She replied
"Oh, cool~...do I get paid extra?" Naruto rubbed his hands together and asked with a grin
"....uh, no" Kurenai replied
"And with that, you have lost me" Naruto said, his expression became blank as he spoke
"..."
"You don't have a choice" She replied with a smile, but this time, it carried a hint of coldness that made Naruto shiver.
"Fine~" Naruto sighed
He placed his hands behind his head
"So, what mission is it?" Naruto asked
"A tracking mission, a rogue shinobi has stolen a scroll from the village" She replied
"Uh, a rogue who was able to steal from under the nose of the village...is being pursued by a team of genins?" Naruto's lips twitched
"Correction, two genins, and two jonins" Kurenai chuckled
"A team of kids and one caretaker" Naruto added
"I won't deny that, but Kakashi has guaranteed your skills, and the enemy is a high ranking Chunin at most, they're just very good at escaping" She said
Naruto lifted a brow
"Alright, when do we start?" Naruto asked
"We'll head off this afternoon, you have two hours to prepare"
"Kay~, oh right, Asuma sensei told me yesterday that he will only ever sleep with one person in his life, after that, he won't look at anyone else" Naruto said with a grin
"Wh-What's the point in telling me that?" Kurenai blushed a little as she asked
"No reason~" Naruto chuckled
*Bang*
Kurenai knocked on his head
"Don't tease an adult" Kurenai huffed, but she looked quite pleased.
Naruto rolled his eyes, why do the adults like to hit his head? The only instructor who has yet to do so is Guy, but that's because he hits him everywhere else during training...
In preparation for the mission, Naruto packed different types of poison and antidotes, as well as a few contained beast bombs.
He then met with the rest of the team at the front gate
"You're early" Kurenai smiled
"Though it's normal for the most important person to arrive last, I can't have you all wait on me since Kiba will definitely be late" Naruto shrugged
"Real thoughtful of you" Kurenai rolled her eyes and said, it was just a roundabout way to saying he's still the most important person even if he doesn't arrived last.
"I'm glad you can understand the troubles I go through for others, some people just aren't appreciative enough" Naruto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair
"...on second thought, just shut up" Kurenai said, speechless about his utter shamelessness
Naruto chuckled
"So, where's the little Hyuga girl and the pair of dogs" Naruto looked around and asked
"Hinata's been here for a while now, she's been observing you from that tree, as for Kiba, he's probably sleeping in" Kurenai replied
"Huh?" Naruto turned around, and would you believe it? Hinata was seated on a tree branch, observing him from above...
"That's awesome" He gasped
"What? The staring from the distance? Cause it sounds more concerning than anything"
"Nah, she's got the look of a predator, that looks hardcore" Naruto said with glistening eyes
"...I can't with you" Kurenai sighed
While Hinata continued to just sit on the branch (for some reason), and didn't join up with the group (for some reason), Naruto began to inqire about the mission.
"What was stolen? Is it a forbidden jutsu or some secret text?" Naruto asked
Kurenai coughed
"Kids shouldn't know about it"
"Hah? The hell is that supposed to mean?" He questioned with a suspicious look in his eyes
Kurenai's lips twitched
"You'd rather not know, seriously"
"Now I'm curious, wait, could it be I'm right, it's a forbidden scroll, but in the 'other' direction?" Naruto asked
"Perhaps" Kurenai coughed again
"Damn! So spicy, tell me, you gotta spill the tea, what's it about?" Naruto asked
Seeing the look in his eyes, Kurenai was at a loss for words.
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"For refrences" Naruto spoke with a dead serious gaze
"H-Huh!?"
"For references" He repeated with the same serious gaze
"...now I have questions for you" Kurenai stared at him suspiciously
"I'm straight" Naruto said directly
"Hah, fine" Kurenai sighed
"The scroll depicts the history of our village, but the context is rather...twisted, it explains how Madara and Hashirama were actually lovers, and their quarel led to the great war back then, it's obviously fake, but it contains a lot of information regarding the war, so we kept it all this time" Kurenai explained
As Naruto listened, the more his eyes widened
"Damn that's spicy! I knew those two had something between them, that scroll must be real, whoever wrote it was a master scholar" Naruto said
"It's really not" Kurenai sighed
"Yo am I late?" At this moment, Kiba ran over with Akamaru next to him
"No, you're Kiba" Naruto replied
"....huh?"
Pfft
While Kiba was confused, Kurenai turned to the side and let out a faint snicker.
"What's that about? I'm confused" Kiba scratched his head and said, utterly confused by Naruto's joke.
"Proves your level of intelligence" Hinata landed next to them and said
"Hah? The hell do you mean by that!" Kiba exclaimed
*Bark*
Akamaru let out a bark towards Hinata as well
"Aw, who's a good puppy, come here, give Naruto a hug" Naruto opened up his arms and said
"Hah, Akamaru only listens to me, so-"
"Arf" Akamaru immediately leapt into Naruto's arms and began nibbling on something in Naruto's hand.
"..."
"Seems like he's not as loyal as you make him out to be" Naruto grinned as he placed Akamaru down
Kiba was speechless, he really did feel betrayed...
'My specially made snacks, how can a puppy resist?' Naruto smirked in his heart
Naruto then chuckled and headed over to Kurenai and Hinata
"Alright, let's go retrieve the ancient p*rn scroll" Naruto said with a grin
"It's not a-...forget it, let's just go" Kurenai sighed in defeat
"Wait? The what scroll?" Kiba who followed up was stunned, while Hinata was just as confused.
Naruto simply just laughed as he followed Kurenai. When she took them out of the village, she handed them a map each.
"The X on the map marks places that the thief has been seen in, and the circles are potential places he will go to next to replenish supplies" She said
"So we have people watching him already? Then why are we even doing this?" Naruto asked
"This mission is meant to act as training, otherwise, a retrieval mission wouldn't allow for planning time, we'd have set off immediately" Kurenai explained
"Oh...then why am I here!?"
"Moral support" Kurenai replied
"..." Naruto glanced at Hinata
'Definitely her moral...' He thought
"Kids, this is a good experience to learn about tracking, every shinobi should learn the basics at least to be successful"
"Or just have a big enough information net so you can track someone down no matter how far they are" Naruto added
"Do you have such an information source?" Kurenai asked
"Nah, but it's the level of laziness I desire"
"Naruto, sometimes I wonder if you hit your head as a kid" Kurenai said
"Sensei, my goodness, how can you say that to a student? I am shocked and apalled! Argh, my heart, it hurts, to think I'd be attacked by my own sensei" Naruto sighed bitterly
"I think you're great the way you are" Hinata nudged in and said
"Aw, thanks, now don't get too close" Naruto placed a hand on the side of his cheeks and smiled
"..."
Kurenai and Kiba were left speechless, to think he'd be so direct about telling her to stay away from him. It was somewhat amazing actually, to meet someone who's willing to be so direct with a girl.
"No" Hinata replied
'So direct! Both of them are just so direct!'
"Hinata, I honestly respect you, but that's about as far as it goes for me" Naruto said
"You respect me?" Hinata asked
"...right, sensei, which town are we heading to?" Naruto asked as he opened up the map
"Smoothe" Kiba chuckled
"Thanks, now shut up" Naruto rolled his eyes
Kurenai pointed out three different towns they can consider going to, before letting the three of them decide where they should go.
"Judging by the pathing he's shown so far, the third town is the most obvious choice, but at the same time, it's so obvious that the second town thus becomes the likelier choice" Naruto said as he pointed at the map in his hand.
"Go on" Kiba nodded, not really making sense of what he said, but nodded to pretend he understands.
Seeing that he didn't understand, Naruto got an idea
"However, that could be a strategy to lure us into thinking that he will not go to the third town, while in actuality, he does, but then again, if we are led into such a thought, he can take advantage of it, and go to the first town instead while we are busy thinking of the second and third town" Naruto said, knowing that what he said is utter bullsh*t, but continued as he knew Kiba will get confused.
"U-Uh, yeah, what he said" Kiba nodded foolishly, while Kurenai pinched between her brows.
The moment Naruto began spouting all this crap, she realised he was just messing with Kiba.
"Naruto, take this seriously" She said in a low voice
Naruto shrugged
"I am, I'm stating many different possibilities" He replied
"...."
"Alright, jokes aside" Naruto created a rasengan, then ripped the map to shreds
"Naruto!" Kurenai was speechless, and started to doubt Kakashi's words. How is this in any sense reliable?
Naruto then reached out one hand
"You two, pass me your maps as well" Naruto said calmly
"Naruto, I'm going to need an explanation" Kurenai said in a low voice as she stopped the other two from even going near Naruto with the maps in their hands.
Naruto smiled
"Cause this ain't training if they have everything given to them on a spoon, if this is a real pursuit, then the team will not be given a map that accurately tells them where the criminal has been, or where they are likely to appear, it's a foolish method that should be used to train toddlers" Naruto replied
Kurenai paused, what he said made sense, however...
"This team has never been on a retrieval mission before, so it is just to get them to understand the basics" She responded.
"Oh~...I still believe actual experience is best for growth" Naruto replied
"Perhaps next time, but for now, I want them to just understand how the missions will usually go down" Kurenai sighed, now, she somewhat understands why Kakashi says Naruto is often too mature.
What Naruto said is very on point, and even she understands why he would say so. However, the team she is leading just has too little experience, so she'd rather start from the very beginning.
"Fine" He didn't want to delay the mission any further, so he compromised
"I think Naruto has a point" Hinata suddenly spoke up
Kurenai started to feela headache, Naruto was one thing, but if Hinata starts it as well, it probably won't be long before Kiba decides it would be fun to join in...
However, before she even spoke, Naruto knocked Hinata on the head
"Hinata, when you're on a mission, you do not let your emotions cloud your judgement under any circumstances, I can tell why you said you agree, and I will not allow such reasons to be the deciding factor during a mission" Naruto said in a low voice
"I-I wasn't" Hinata tried to refute, but the way she spoke made it quite obvious that Naruto hit the nail on the head.
Kurenai was once more stunned
'He...He's a little too reasonable for his age, isn't he? No wonder Kakashi and Asuma kept complementing him'
"Looking at the map, I'd say it is most likely he will enter the third town, but just in case, I can send a clone to the other two" Naruto said
"What good will a clone do? They'll just get popped" Kiba rolled his eyes and said
"Two things, first, information gathering, if the clone does get popped, I will receive information on where the target is, second, my clones are practically walking markers for me, if it turns out the target is in another town, the clone would have left a flying raijin mark for me to teleport to after it gets popped" Naruto responded
Kurenai listened in awe, Naruto's ability to plan ahead for situations simply made the mission so much easier, and as the leading jonin, she has never felt her mission be easier than it is now...
"We'll do as you said then" Kurenai nodded
"Alright, plan is set in motion, let's go" Naruto created two clones that he had leave in different directions
The group then head off for the designated town, and moved as fast as they could through the trees.
"Hinata, how's the training with nii-san?" Naruto asked
"It's going well, Haku-san is improving quickly, and helps me improve as well" Hinata smiled
"That's good, what about Tayuya?" Naruto asked again
"Uh, Tayuya-san...well, she's still impossible to beat" Hinata sighed
Naruto smiled
"I heard you two forced her to use her trump card, don't look at how she usually is, she's strong enough to beat me if I'm careless" Naruto said
"Really?" Hinata asked
"Yep, she's not someone to mess around with" Naruto chuckled
[How can that wench beat you when you have me?] Kurama objected
'When we fought last time, she did not use her curse mark, if she did, she'd be ten times harder to handle, unless I go all out, I have no real ways to beat her, our last victory was due to catching her off guard as well' Naruto replied
Last time, he relied on the flying raijin mark to catch her by surprise and teleport her to him, resulting in the win. But she surely won't be caught by the same trick twice, so the next time they battle, it would be much more difficult.
[Tch]
"You have a brother?" Kiba asked
"Recently" Naruto replied
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"It means what it means, I got a brother recently" Naruto said with a serious look
"Uh...cool, you should introduce your bro to us some time" Kiba grinned harmlessly
"Just don't fall in love with him if I do"
"Hah!?"
"I said what I said"
"You're frickin weird dude" Kiba said
"I know" Naruto responded
"Sensei, can we have a different team member?" Kiba turned to Kurenai and asked
Kurenai's lips twitched. Honestly, the way Naruto speaks really makes her want to change him out as well, but his skills are the real deal, so she's been putting up with it.
During travel, Naruto took out his kunai to practice chakra infusion. When Kurenai noticed this, she couldn't help but feel curious.
"Did Asuma teach you?" She asked
"Kinda, he gave me a few tips, then just ditched me, he wouldn't even let me practice with his chakra baldes, that petty f**k" Naruto sighed
Kurenai lifted a brow
"You got this far with just some tips? Impresisve"
"I know, praise me more" Naruto said with a confident smirk
"Act a little more humble next time" Kurenai sighed, Naruto is good in every way, except that stuck up attitude of his.
"The word humble simply doesn't coexist with me" Naruto shook his head and replied
But then he added
"Of course, if it can reap me benefits, then I can be as humble as you need me to be" He said with a shameless smile
"..."
Naruto laughed
"We're about to arrive at the first town, Kiba, do you know the first step?" Naruto asked
Kiba scratched the side of his cheeks
"What?" He asked
"Well, he's a lost cause, Hinata, what about you" Naruto turned his head to Hinata and asked
Hinata tilted her head to the side and thought for a bit
"Have Akamaru find any scent left by the target?" She said
"Now that's a good head on your shoulders, Akamaru, you're up" Naruto said
"Arf" Akamaru barked
"Kiba, translate"
"What am I? The interpretor for Akamaru?" Kiba growled at Naruto in a low voice
"Well, at this point, yeah, that's all you are"
"...urgh, he said he will do his best" Kiba groaned
So all he mounts to is being the translator for Akamaru? He's not even comparable to his companion now?
"Wait, my nose is just as sensitive as his, why not have me help as well" Kiba suddenly thought of this and asked
"It is? Nice, that speeds things up nicely, we're counting on you, Kiba" Naruto said
"Hahaha, it's nothing" Kiba rubbed his nose and said bashfully
'Too easy'
[Way too easy]