7 Rasenshuriken
BOOM!!
The training ground was riddled with massive craters.
Naruto stood amidst his clones. He was trying to combine the Rasengan with his wind chakra to create the Rasenshuriken.
But so far, every attempt had ended in failure.
He had taken Kurama's suggestion to heart, dedicating himself to completing the Rasengan to expand his arsenal. But he was also more than a little irritated. Earlier that morning, Jiraiya had left a note on his table saying he had to do some "research" and meet with some contacts.
Naruto wasn't angry that Jiraiya had left him; he was angry because he knew for a fact that the old pervert was off peeping at women in a bathhouse somewhere instead of actually training him. The Sannin hadn't even bothered to leave any instructions on what he should do until he returned.
"Naruto, take a break and calm your mind before trying again."
Kurama was done watching Naruto fail over and over again. At first, the fox had found it amusing, but now he was just bored. So, he finally decided to step in.
"What do you mean by that, Kurama?" Naruto replied internally. "I don't feel tired."
"I know that, but your anger is preventing you from focusing."
"Fine. I'll take a break." With that, Naruto dismissed his clones and sat down in the shade of a nearby tree.
"What exactly are you angry about, Naruto? From my understanding, you didn't want Jiraiya to know you were training anyway. Yet now that he's gone, you're suddenly throwing a tantrum. Why is that?"
"It's not that he left," Naruto muttered. "It's just that he left without a single care in the world. Just a stupid note saying he had to go. I mean, he could have at least left a shadow clone, or given me some basic instructions to follow."
Naruto sighed heavily as he continued. "It's like he doesn't even care whether he's training me or not. If he didn't want to teach me, he shouldn't have brought me on this trip in the first place."
"He promised he was going to make me strong on this training trip. But looking back at the original memories, and now experiencing it myself, I'm really starting to question why he even brought me out here. My teammates—or ex-teammates—are back at the village getting trained intensely and making huge progress, while I'm stuck here with a neglectful master who only cares about his so-called 'research.' You see, Kurama?"
Naruto stopped his rant there, staring out at the cratered training ground as he took a long sip from his water bottle.
Kurama was quiet for a moment, genuinely understanding where Naruto's frustration was coming from.
"Look, I'm not going to try and justify Jiraiya's actions or anything like that," the fox rumbled. "But you and I both know how this trip originally went. Even without Jiraiya properly training you right now, by my estimate, you are already a bit stronger than the Naruto who returned to Konoha at the end of the canon time skip."
(Note: Two months had passed since the MC became Naruto, and a week had passed since his first talk with Kurama.)
"So you are making progress, and that's all you can focus on right now," Kurama pointed out. "Now, if you have calmed your mind, you have training to do, and I am going back to sleep."
With that, Kurama abruptly cut the connection.
Naruto sat there for a few more moments, letting Kurama's words sink in.
"Ha ha... Hahahaha," he chuckled softly, shaking his head. "He's right. I'm just stressing myself out over nothing... Well, back to training, I guess."
Naruto stood up, walked back to the center of the training ground, and summoned his clones.
Two clones immediately stepped closer. Naruto extended his hand, his fingers spread and palm open, keeping his stance steady and precise. The clones placed their hands over his palm. One began swirling his chakra in tightly controlled circles.
The familiar hum of energy filled the air as blue light began to twist and spin, forming a swelling sphere of raw power. Dust lifted from the ground around them, leaves rustling wildly in the sudden current.
The sphere grew brighter, its rotation accelerating into a perfectly dense ball of chakra, spinning violently in his grasp.
Now, the second clone started to inject wind chakra into the Rasengan.
The sharp, screeching hum of wind energy began to spin furiously around the Rasengan, fighting to take the shape of a deadly shuriken.
TO BE CONTINUE