Kakashi knew that there wasn't a lot of time before the chunin exams started, but he wasn't wasting any more time. He had three genin that all needed to work on surprisingly different skills. That was a tall order for any teacher. Which was why he was so grateful to have help.
All three rookie teams were entering the exams. So was Team Guy and an older team. Fifteen genin in intense training would strain most villages' ability, but Konohagakure was the largest and arguably most powerful of the Hidden Villages. They had clans bigger than some villages. And many of the genin entering the exams were, if not heirs, still considered up-and-coming members of those clans. The Aburame, Inuzuka, and Hyuuga clans took those genin within themselves for training in their hijutsu techniques. The Yamananka, Amikichi, and Nara clans cooperated a bit more because of how successful they were when collaborating, but Asuma found himself with a fair amount of free time on his hands.
And so, Kakashi found that the clanless genin had been pooled. Naruto, unacknowledged heir to the Uzumaki clan and hidden heir to the Namikaze legacy; Sakura, the intellectual prodigy with few gifts at application; Sasuke, the Last Uchiha; Rock Lee, the ultimate expression of the taijutsu specialist; Tenten, the maiden of thrown weapons; and finally Hinata, who was considered too worthless to train by her clan, as they focused on Neji and Hanabi.
Kakashi did not sigh at this last member of the effectively clanless, but only because it would have been a masterful understatement of the tragedy there. It was not fate that the prodigy got better while the timid fell behind. Fate, in all its terrible callousness, was not that cruel. Such neglect only came at the hand of human nature.
In any case, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy found themselves splitting up this group not by whose team they were on, but who needed what training. Yes, they would be rival teams. Yes, they would contest against eachother for glory and honor. Yes, they may be pushed into lethal combat against these fresh founded friendships. But this was the Village Hidden in Leaves, and they were strong because of their teamwork. Ultimately, it was loyalty to the village, to everyone who wore the Leaf headband, that was important not just to genin, but to all ninja. And so they would train together, as equals.
Mostly.
Kakashi had Sasuke to himself, almost exclusively so. As the only ninja left with the Sharingan (missing nin and unconfirmed heavily classified suspicions aside) Kakashi was the only person who could even try to help Sasuke understand his dojutsu. He also taught lessons to everyone regarding jutsu and combat theory; how to mix up ninjutsu and taijutsu, when to try a genjutsu and when to use more lethal tactics, and deceptively simple techniques that enhanced control and other fundamentals that jutsu masters forgot but were critical to excellent shinobi.
Kurenai focused unsurprisingly on Hinata and Sakura, but she taught everyone about genjutsu. It was fairly obvious that Sakura was the only one who really had the aptitude to take it far, but everyone would have at least a basic dispel going into the exam.
Asuma taught ninjutsu. He focused on Naruto, helping him bring out the elements of his kekkei genkai, but everyone except Lee and Sasuke would add something to their arsenal from his training.
Guy was…Guy. He taught everyone with the Fires of Youth, showing blatant favoritism to Lee but neglecting no one. He was utterly unimpressed by Team Seven, however, and vowed to do what Kakashi could not and turn them into rampaging forces of taijutsu mastery.
Naruto and Lee were the only ones with the stamina to keep up with the regimen of training they found themselves in. Amazingly, Hinata was a close second…on those days her schedule and Naruto's aligned.
"No more," Sakura gasped. "Please."
Guy frowned. "Very well," he sighed. "Five minute break. Lee, get a water keg, would you?"
"Yes, Guy-sensei!" Lee yelled, running out of the training ground.
Guy helped Sakura to her feet and then over to a fallen log she could sit on more comfortably. Sasuke was likewise worn out, although not as hard. And finally Naruto was rather impressively still going, although he was breathing fairly heavily. Guy understood that his kinjutsu allowed him to replenish chakra by consuming wind and water in conjunction, and apparently it was of limited effectiveness when only one was available. Or perhaps it was the humidity in the air? Not important at the moment. "You all need work," he said flatly.
Sasuke looked at the jonin with a scowl, while Naruto just looked confused. Sakura was in no shape to object, nor was she dumb enough to disagree.
"Sakura has the furthest to go," Gai said. "Stamina, technical skills, tactical choices, all of it. Sasuke, you need to work on your forms. You've been learning moves with your Sharingan, haven't you?"
Sasuke stilled slightly and nodded. "Hn." Wasn't that a way to get stronger? Yes, yes it was.
"That is a crutch," Guy said firmly. "You have new moves, but you don't know them, you mimic them. You will need practice and training to smooth them out into a coherent style. Remember, a move you have mastered will always be stronger than a move you merely know."
Sasuke thought that over. "But I don't know what to master," he confessed.
Guy smiled. "A most youthful answer!" he encouraged. "Focus on a core. Moves and styles that are widely applicable, versatile. If you copy techniques useful in specific circumstances, that is not bad. It is only unyouthful to rely on such techniques."
Sasuke nodded at that. It made sense. Strength wasn't about having the biggest bag of tricks. After all, That Man did not know more jutsu than the rest of the Uchiha; he was simply better at what he did know.
Guy turned to Naruto. "And you have the same problem as Sasuke," he said.
"Eh?" Naruto asked.
"Your kinjutsu gives you tremendous strength and endurance and resilience," Guy said, "but you don't have the skills to make good use of it. And your forms…whoever taught you Leaf Style needs to be retrained himself."
"That would be Mizuki," Naruto growled. Damn traitor was still bringing him down!
Guy nodded. "With your strength, I imagine it is hard to find people to train against," he said.
"Yeah, kinda. Sasuke and I go at it, but it doesn't really help much."
Guy smiled slightly. No doubt the Uchiha made great use of substitutions and other jutsu to avoid the blows Naruto could deliver. "I believe Lee will be a better match for you. It is unfortunate that we do not have another Dragon Slayer in the village," he mused.
Konohamaru took a deep breath and held it as he stared at the target. "Karyu no Hoko!" he yelled, exhaling a gout of flame. He dropped to one knee and stared at the burning target with a mixture of shock and pride.
"You did it, Konohamaru!" Moegi cheered.
A hidden ANBU suppressed a groan. So much for hoping that Naruto's pointers on the technique wouldn't bear fruit.
Ninjutsu training was fairly specialized. The kunoichi didn't have any nature training yet, and even if they had the chakra to make use of it (Sakura didn't) such training was much longer term than they really had the time for. Asuma sent them to the hospital to begin medical training. Not that they all had particular skill there – Tenten especially had no desire to be a healer – but their teams were all lacking a healer type and, for various reasons, the boys in their squads were not going to be picking up those skills on their own. In truth, it had been an easy sell. Hinata was genuinely interested in healing, and had the personality to be an excellent medic; Sakura was enthused at gaining a skill that let her support her Sasuke in a way Naruto couldn't; and Tenten had a year of missions under her belt that included a fair amount of injuries that she had a healthy respect for the usefulness of basic field medical jutsu, even if she had no intentions of pursuing the skill beyond that.
That left Asuma training Naruto mostly. "Now, we know that you can use ice techniques," he started. "That means you can use water and wind techniques, too."
"Yeah, jiji told me that," Naruto said eagerly. "Which do we start with?"
"Whichever one is easier," Asuma said, holding up a stack of paper squares. "This is called chakra paper. If you funnel chakra into it, it will change to react to whatever element is most dominant. Water chakra makes it soggy, while wind chakra…" He focused for a moment and with a sharp crack the paper split cleanly. "Wind chakra splits the paper in half."
"What about ice chakra?" Naruto asked.
"Kekkei genkai chakra isn't that predictable," Asuma confessed. So what I want you to do is remember your treewalking lesson. Hold back the ice and funnel pure chakra into the paper. Hopefully it will react to either water or wind."
Naruto took a piece of paper and settled himself. Hold back the ice. Nothing but chakra. Gentle, steady. Don't force it. Too much and the ice will break free. He heard a crack and looked down. "I did it!" he cheered.
"Primary, wind," Asuma said approvingly. "Good, that makes this easier. You know, I'm the only other wind ninja in Konoha."
"Really?" Naruto asked. "It's that rare?"
"Around here it is," Asuma agreed. "Now wind chakra is used to cut. No other chakra has the short range attack power that wind has. As you learn to bring it out, you should find it easier to make ice with sharp edges, ice that cuts faster and hits harder. Are you ready?"
"I'm ready!" Naruto enthused.
Asuma smiled and plucked a leaf from a tree, handed it to Naruto. "Then split this leaf in half."
"Eh?" Naruto asked, images of wielding mighty jutsu crashing around him.
Asuma plucked another leaf and held it in his palm. "Most people take years to bring out a nature transformation. And to get to a second is harder, but faster because they just need to focus on changing what they usually do," he explained. "You can already pull off a nature transformation, apparently effortlessly. So now you jst need to learn," he covered the leaf with his other hand, "to pull out just the wind chakra," he revealed the leaf, now split in half, "and use it. After that, learning Futon jutsu won't be harder than learning anything else."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah! Although I don't really get it at all." He looked at the leaf and put it between his hands.
Half an hour later, Asuma had a collection of frozen, but otherwise unscathed, leaves. "This is going to take a while," he observed. "Don't get discouraged. Remember, wind chakra is steady and sharp."
"Steady," Naruto muttered. "And sharp." Frozen leaf no jutsu struck again and he cursed, reaching for a new leaf.
Asuma chuckled. Knowing Naruto, he'd get the knack of it in the middle of the exam itself.
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(Posted Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:51)
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