Naruto found Sasuke by following the explosions.
That probably should have concerned him more than it did. Instead, Naruto changed direction immediately and raced through the trees toward the sound, because explosions usually meant either Sasuke was nearby or something interesting was happening.
Both possibilities were good.
He landed on a branch overlooking a rocky clearing.
Kakashi stood near the center with his hands in his pockets. Sasuke was twenty feet away from him, breathing heavily while sparks of lightning flickered weakly around his right hand.
Naruto's eyes widened.
'Lightning?'
Sasuke thrust his hand forward.
CHIRP-CHIRP—
The lightning collapsed.
Sasuke stumbled.
Kakashi caught him by the shoulder before he hit the ground.
"Again."
Sasuke's breathing was already ragged.
"I can do it."
"Eventually."
Sasuke glared.
Kakashi's eye curved.
"You've been saying that for the last hour."
Naruto dropped from the trees. Prior to this he had just cleared a notification from the system about his growth link with Sasuke.
PING
+2 Agility
+1 Endurance
"Hey, duckbutt!"
Sasuke's head snapped toward him.
His expression immediately worsened.
"What do you want?"
Naruto pointed at him.
"I was going to ask you to fight me. But I don't think you'd stand much of a chance right now."
Silence.
Kakashi slowly looked from Naruto to Sasuke.
Sasuke straightened.
"You're wrong, lets go."
"No."
Both boys turned toward Kakashi.
"What?!"
Kakashi sighed.
"Sasuke can barely stand."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"I can stand."
His knee immediately buckled.
Kakashi caught him again.
Naruto stared.
Sasuke shoved Kakashi's hand away.
"Shut up."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
Naruto grinned.
"Wow. You look terrible."
Sasuke's Sharingan activated.
Naruto's grin widened.
"There he is."
Sasuke took one step toward him.
Kakashi put an arm in front of his chest.
"No."
Sasuke looked up.
Kakashi's tone became firmer.
"You want a real fight?"
Sasuke stopped.
Naruto immediately nodded.
"Yeah."
"Then you don't fight him like this."
Kakashi gestured toward Sasuke. "He's been training since sunrise. His chakra is low, his muscles are exhausted, and he's spent most of today trying to control a technique he learned yesterday."
Naruto glanced toward Sasuke's hand.
"So that lightning thing is what you showed him?"
Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly.
"How do you know I showed him something?"
Naruto froze.
Sasuke looked toward him.
Naruto remembered the System notification.
"...Lucky guess?"
Nobody believed him.
Naruto coughed.
"Anyway! I want a real spar."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"So do I."
That surprised Naruto.
Only slightly.
Then his grin returned.
"Good."
Kakashi looked between them.
Both boys had changed considerably since their bell test.
Unfortunately, neither had become less competitive.
"Three days."
Naruto blinked.
"What?"
"Three days from now."
PING!
Major Quest Generated!
A Rival Worth Chasing
For the first time since becoming Genin, you and Sasuke Uchiha will face one another without enemies, missions, or instructors standing between you.
Sasuke has grown stronger.
So have you.
Find out how much.
Primary Objective:
Fight Sasuke Uchiha in a serious one-on-one spar.
Primary Rewards:
+3 Strength
+3 Agility
+3 Endurance
+3 Intelligence
+100 System Points
Optional Objective — No One-Trick Ninja:
Successfully utilize at least five different combat skills or disciplines during the battle.
Reward:
+1 Intelligence
+25 System Points
Optional Objective — Make Him Adapt:
Force Sasuke to meaningfully alter his strategy in response to your techniques at least three times.
Reward:
+1 Agility
+1 Intelligence
+30 System Points
Optional Objective — Eyes Aren't Everything:
Successfully land three clean attacks after Sasuke activates his Sharingan.
Reward:
+2 Agility
+30 System Points
Hidden Objective:
???
Hidden Objective:
???
Kakashi pointed between them. "You both train normally until then. No deliberately exhausting yourselves beforehand, no sabotaging each other, and no showing up injured because you decided to do something stupid."
Naruto raised a hand.
"What counts as stupid?"
Kakashi stared at him.
"That's concerning."
Sasuke crossed his arms.
"Where?"
"Training Ground Seven."
Naruto's grin grew.
"I want Jiraiya there."
Kakashi's eyebrow rose.
Sasuke looked confused.
"Jiraiya?"
"My new teacher."
Naruto puffed out his chest.
"Legendary Sannin."
Sasuke's expression shifted.
Kakashi noticed.
Naruto continued proudly.
"He's also a massive pervert."
Kakashi sighed.
"That sounds like him."
Sasuke stared between them.
"You have a Sannin training you?"
Naruto's grin became unbearably smug.
"Jealous?"
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Naruto pointed.
"You're jealous!"
"I'm going to kill you."
"Three days!"
Naruto hopped backward.
"Then we'll see who's stronger!"
Sasuke's exhaustion disappeared from his face for exactly three seconds.
"Fine."
Kakashi sighed.
He could already tell neither of them was going to train reasonably for the next three days.
"I'll speak with Jiraiya."
Naruto waved dismissively.
"Nah, I'll tell him."
Kakashi looked at him.
Naruto paused.
"...He'll probably agree."
"Ask him."
"Fine."
Naruto turned toward Sasuke.
"Don't die before then."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"Get lost."
Naruto disappeared into the trees laughing.
Kakashi watched him leave.
Then looked at Sasuke.
Sasuke was still staring at the place Naruto had vanished.
"Don't."
Sasuke glanced toward him.
"Don't what?"
"Turn the next three days into a competition."
Sasuke said nothing.
Kakashi sighed.
"That means you're going to."
Naruto's original plan had been ramen.
Then he remembered his list.
Sasuke.
Sakura.
Shikamaru.
Ino.
Choji.
Hinata.
Naruto counted on his fingers as he moved through Konoha.
"Kiba and Shino."
Two left.
He changed direction.
Ramen could wait.
Probably.
Finding Kiba was incredibly easy.
Naruto found him on one of the training grounds repeatedly throwing himself through a wooden target.
"Fang Over Fang!"
Kiba and Akamaru became a spinning blur.
CRASH!
Wood exploded.
Naruto landed nearby.
"Hey, dog breath!"
The spinning attack immediately stopped.
Kiba landed.
Akamaru landed beside him.
Both turned.
"Oh, hell no."
Naruto blinked.
"What?"
"I'm training."
"Yeah."
Kiba pointed at him.
"Every time you show up, somebody starts telling me things I suck at."
Naruto stared.
"Really?"
"Yes!"
Akamaru barked.
Kiba looked down.
"Not you too."
Naruto grinned.
"So Hinata talked to you."
Kiba narrowed his eyes.
"How'd you know?"
Naruto shrugged.
"I talked to her a few days ago."
That explained several things Kiba hadn't understood about Hinata's sudden interest in team training.
His eyes narrowed further.
"This is your fault."
"Probably."
Naruto walked toward the shattered target.
"That was pretty cool."
Kiba's suspicion disappeared slightly.
"Obviously."
Naruto nudged a broken piece of wood with his sandal.
"So how does it work?"
Kiba blinked.
"What?"
"Fang Over Fang."
Naruto made a spinning motion with one finger. "You spin really fast and smash through stuff, but what's actually happening?"
Kiba stared at him.
"You're asking about an Inuzuka technique?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Because I don't know how it works."
Kiba considered that.
Fair enough.
"It's mostly speed and rotation."
Kiba crouched and scratched Akamaru behind the ear. "We combine our senses and movement. Akamaru tracks with me, and once we start attacking, we're supposed to overwhelm the target before they can recover."
Naruto nodded.
"So you get close."
"Yeah."
"Then spin."
"Basically."
"And if they keep you from getting close?"
Kiba stopped.
Naruto looked at him.
Kiba looked at Naruto.
"Then I get close anyway."
Naruto frowned.
"That's not really an answer."
"It is if I'm fast enough."
Naruto crossed his arms.
That sounded suspiciously like something Naruto himself would have said a few months ago.
"What if they're faster?"
Kiba opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Naruto grinned.
"See?"
"Shut up."
Naruto crouched beside Akamaru.
"What ninjutsu do you know?"
Kiba looked offended.
"Clan techniques are ninjutsu."
"You know what I mean."
Naruto made a hand sign.
"Elemental stuff."
Kiba paused.
"Not much."
"Do you know your chakra nature?"
"No."
Naruto stared.
Kiba stared back.
"Seriously?"
"We specialize."
Kiba gestured toward himself and Akamaru. "Tracking, transformations, coordinated attacks. Inuzuka techniques take enough work already."
Naruto looked thoughtful.
That made sense.
But something Jiraiya had spent all morning beating into his head came back to him.
Specialization wasn't the same thing as having only one answer.
"What if you learned an element that helps you get close?"
Kiba raised an eyebrow.
"Like what?"
"I don't know."
Naruto shrugged.
"Depends what your affinity is."
Kiba looked disappointed.
"Great advice."
"No, listen."
Naruto pointed at the ground. "If you had Earth, maybe you could mess with terrain and make it harder for people to dodge. Wind could give you ranged attacks so somebody can't just stand twenty feet away throwing crap at you."
Kiba's expression slowly changed.
Naruto continued.
"Water could make footing worse. Fire could force somebody to move where you want. Lightning..."
Naruto paused.
He thought about Sasuke.
"...Lightning is apparently really freaking cool."
Kiba stared.
"That's your analysis?"
"I haven't learned lightning!"
Akamaru barked.
Naruto pointed at him.
"See? He gets it."
"He said you're an idiot."
Naruto looked betrayed.
"Traitor."
Akamaru wagged his tail.
Kiba looked down at his hands.
Elemental ninjutsu.
He'd never really considered it.
Inuzuka trained like Inuzuka.
That was simply how things worked.
But the idea of having something beyond Fang Over Fang...
"What nature are you?"
Naruto grinned.
"Wind."
Kiba looked at him.
"Can you teach me?"
Naruto's grin vanished.
"...Do you have Wind?"
"I just told you I don't know."
"Oh."
Kiba's eyebrow twitched.
"Idiot."
Naruto pointed at him.
"Get chakra paper!"
"Where?"
Naruto froze.
"...Good question."
Shino was exactly where Kiba said he'd be.
Standing in the woods.
Naruto approached carefully.
"Hey, Shino."
Nothing happened.
Naruto got closer.
"Shino?"
Still nothing.
Naruto leaned forward.
"Are you asleep?"
"No."
Naruto jumped.
"STOP DOING THAT!"
Shino turned toward him.
"I was standing here."
"Quietly!"
"That is generally how standing works."
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
He was beginning to understand why Kiba yelled at him so much.
"I wanna ask you something."
Shino adjusted his glasses.
"What?"
"Your bugs."
Several kikaichū crawled from Shino's sleeve.
Naruto instinctively leaned backward.
"Yeah. Those."
"What about them?"
"How do they beat somebody?"
Shino became still.
Naruto immediately regretted asking such a broad question.
Shino began speaking.
"Kikaichū possess numerous combat applications. Their primary function is the consumption of chakra, though they can additionally track targets, gather information, obstruct vision, create formations—"
"Okay!"
Shino stopped.
Naruto rubbed his forehead.
"So basically, you want bugs on the other guy."
"Yes."
"And the more bugs you get on them, the worse things get."
"Correct."
Naruto nodded.
"What if they keep the bugs away?"
Shino stared at him.
Naruto waited.
"That depends on the method."
"Like fire."
"Fire is troublesome."
"Wind?"
"Potentially."
"Water?"
"Depends upon volume and species."
Naruto frowned.
Shino adjusted his glasses.
Naruto decided not to ask about species.
"Okay. What if somebody knows exactly what your bugs do and has a way to stop them?"
"I adapt."
"With more bugs?"
A pause.
"Potentially."
Naruto grinned.
"That's what Kiba said."
Shino's insects moved.
Naruto immediately raised both hands.
"Not insulting you!"
The insects stopped.
"Mostly."
One moved again.
"COMPLETELY NOT INSULTING YOU!"
The insect returned to Shino.
Naruto exhaled.
"Have you ever thought about elemental ninjutsu?"
Shino became quiet.
Naruto pointed toward the insects.
"Your clan techniques are really good at controlling where somebody can go, right?"
"Yes."
"So what if you had something else that made them move?"
Shino tilted his head.
Naruto continued.
"Say you can't get bugs onto somebody. Instead of forcing the bugs through whatever they're doing, use something else to make them dodge."
Understanding appeared behind Shino's glasses.
"Then guide their movement into the swarm."
Naruto snapped his fingers.
"Exactly!"
Shino considered it.
Naruto was getting excited now.
"Or the other way around. Use your bugs to make them move, then hit them with a jutsu where they're going."
"Layered threats."
"Yeah!"
Naruto grinned.
"I don't know what element you'd use because apparently nobody knows their chakra nature around here."
"I know mine."
Naruto froze.
"...You do?"
"Yes."
Naruto waited.
Shino remained silent.
Naruto leaned closer.
"Are you gonna tell me?"
"You didn't ask."
Naruto's eye twitched.
"What is your chakra nature, Shino?"
Shino adjusted his glasses.
"That is clan information."
Naruto stared.
Shino stared back.
"Then why did you tell me you knew?!"
"Because you stated nobody knew."
Naruto grabbed his hair.
"YOU'RE WORSE THAN KIBA!"
A few kikaichū buzzed around Shino.
Naruto took a breath.
Then another.
"Okay."
Shino waited.
"Forget your actual nature."
Naruto pointed at him.
"You understand what I'm saying, though?"
Shino nodded.
"Our clan techniques give me significant battlefield control but also encourage reliance upon a single combat system."
Naruto blinked.
"...Yeah."
"Developing a secondary discipline could force opponents to respond to threats that do not share the same counters as my kikaichū."
Naruto grinned.
"Yeah!"
Shino considered him for several seconds.
"You've improved."
Naruto's smile became smug.
"I know."
"I was referring to your tactical reasoning."
"I know."
"You previously attempted to defeat Kiba by—"
"We don't have to talk about that."
"We should."
"We really don't."
Kiba eventually found them.
Akamaru sat on his head.
Naruto looked between the two teammates.
"Okay."
Kiba narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"You both have the same problem."
Kiba immediately looked offended.
Shino remained motionless.
Naruto continued before either could interrupt.
"You're both really good at what your clans teach you."
He pointed at Kiba.
"You get close and overwhelm people."
Then Shino.
"You control space and drain chakra."
Naruto folded his arms.
"But if somebody figures that out, you're mostly trying to solve the problem by doing the same thing harder."
Kiba frowned.
Shino said nothing.
Naruto recognized that as a good sign.
Jiraiya had spent yesterday telling him almost the exact same thing about seals.
Naruto smiled slightly.
Maybe the old pervert was useful.
"So branch out."
Kiba looked at him.
"You're saying we should stop focusing on clan techniques?"
"No."
Naruto shook his head immediately.
"Your clan stuff is probably always gonna be what you're best at."
He thought about his own Shadow Clones.
"But that's exactly why you need something different."
Naruto pointed between them.
"Something that makes the stuff you're already good at harder to counter."
Silence settled over the clearing.
Kiba scratched Akamaru's chin.
Shino's insects shifted beneath his coat.
Then—
PING!
Naruto's eyes moved toward the blue window.
National Crisis Quest Updated!
You've exchanged training concepts with every member of the Rookie Nine!
Hidden Sub Objective Complete!
Train with all of the Rookie Nine before the start of the Chuunin Exam Finals!
8/8
Naruto's eyes widened.
Kiba noticed.
"Why are you staring at nothing?"
"Shh."
Your influence has begun spreading beyond your own development.
The future strength of your peers may now differ significantly from its original course.
Rewards will be calculated as the National Crisis develops.
Naruto smiled.
No immediate reward.
Normally that would have annoyed him.
This time it didn't.
Kiba waved a hand in front of his face.
"Hello?"
Naruto looked at him.
"What?"
"You went weird."
"I was thinking."
Kiba snorted.
"That explains why it looked painful."
Naruto kicked at him.
Kiba jumped back laughing.
Shino watched them.
Then spoke.
"Hinata suggested something similar."
Naruto stopped.
"She did?"
"She wants Team Eight to train together after she recovers."
Kiba nodded.
"Two weeks."
Naruto grinned.
"Good."
Something warm settled in his chest.
He had talked to Hinata because he wanted her stronger.
Now she was pushing her teammates.
And maybe Kiba and Shino would learn something completely new because of it.
Naruto hadn't gotten stronger today.
Not directly.
For some reason, that didn't bother him either.
Then he remembered something.
"Oh!"
Kiba flinched.
"What now?"
Naruto pointed dramatically toward the village.
"I need to find Jiraiya."
Shino tilted his head.
"Why?"
Naruto's grin became enormous.
"Because in three days I'm beating Sasuke's ass."
Kiba's eyes lit up.
"You two are fighting?"
"Real spar."
"Where?"
"Training Ground Seven."
"When?"
Naruto stopped.
"...I didn't ask what time."
Kiba stared at him.
Shino adjusted his glasses.
Naruto's eye twitched.
"I'll figure it out!"
He turned and sprinted toward Konoha.
Kiba watched him disappear.
Then looked at Shino.
"You wanna go watch?"
"Yes."
Kiba blinked.
He hadn't expected the answer that quickly.
Shino looked toward the distant village.
"Why? Because Naruto and Sasuke's capabilities have both changed substantially since the preliminaries. Observing the match would provide valuable information."
Kiba grinned.
"Sure."
Shino adjusted his glasses.
"Additionally, I wish to see which one gets punched in the face first."
Kiba slowly turned toward him.
"Shino."
"Yes?"
"That was almost normal."
Shino walked away.
Kiba stared.
Akamaru barked.
"...You're right. That was terrifying."
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Village: Konohagakure
Rank: Experienced Genin
Stats
Strength: 68
Agility: 83
Endurance: 83 (+10%)
Intelligence: 83
Charisma: 60
Luck: 12
System Points: 360