Inheritance

The Power of Combination

Naruto sat a few metres ahead of his Sensei, waiting for his evaluation of where he had gone wrong in his first attempt at a D-rank missions. He was unusually attentive, considering his knowledge that a lecture from Jiraiya was imminent; however the memory of firstly, his failure, and also that of what the failure would have meant in a real mission. His comrades, possibly even a friend, would have been killed. As a direct result of his decisions. Because of his prisoner, he had grown up alone. Other children were told to keep away from him by their parents and carers, and they listened obediently. He had never harboured any resentment towards the children, nor their parents; he had always assumed that it was simply because of something he, or his parents had done (if he even had parents, of course). Even now, when he had at least some of the answers, he found that he didn't hate the parents or children for their actions. Indeed, having come face to face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune himself, he found that he understood the fears of the village perfectly.

However, regardless of this, the damage had been done to Naruto's psyche. His facade was already firmly set into place by the time he had entered the Academy; and to everyone within, he was an eternally loud and 'happy-go-lucky' dead-last. Ironically, looking back, it was his method of coping with his own loneliness that destroyed any chance of him making friends during his time there. The children belonging to some of the major clans he realised, held no ill will to him what so ever. But despite this, the blonde had found himself to drop his mask. And this inevitably put the others off. Of course there were some that didn't outright dislike him. Nara Shikamaru seemed eternally curious and did actually speak to him every now and again, and by association, he also spent some time with Akimichi Chouji who was Shikamaru's best friend. As well as those two, Inuzuka Kiba seemed to appreciate the art of pranking, almost as much as he did. But he would never go as far as to call any of them 'friends'.

As a result, a friend was something he had wanted for as long as he could remember. He of course had precious people now. Iruka, Jiraiya, the Sandaime and even Yuugao; were all utterly precious to him. But they weren't friends as such. They were more like family to him. So to him, the mistake he had made was crushing.

Jiraiya observed his student as he became absorbed in his own internal monologue. It was evident that the blonde had taken the implications of his exercise to hear, which was pleasing as the Sannin had initially been worried that Naruto would not take things seriously. Conversely, Jiraiya did not want his student to be too 'immersed' as it were; as that could tear apart Naruto's confidence, which wasn't as high as Naruto would like people to believe.

"Firstly, I would like to make it clear, that you were not expected to succeed in that mission Naruto. In fact, generally I will be endeavouring to cause you to make mistakes, and sometimes fail as a result." He observed the familiar confused look on Naruto's face, before continuing in oder to cut off the inevitable questioning. "The reason for this, is that it allows you to learn from the mistakes that you do make. If I allowed everything to go to plan for you all the time, it would not punish any errors in your decision making and planning. Learning from actually seeing the consequences of your mistakes, and making changes to your strategy accordingly, is an infinitely better way to learn than me simply telling you where you went wrong. So with that in mind, what do you think went wrong in the exercise we just did?"

Naruto didn't need to think before answering.

"I sent my Bunshin ahead by themselves, whilst i was still fighting your Bunshin."

"That was indeed the most glaring issue. The fact is, you had no real need to do it. I understand that you wanted to keep the cargo out of the way of the battle, but you had my Bunshin on the ropes. It didn't pose a serious enough threat to the mission. As a result, you were separated from them; and as a result, you could not relay vital information about further danger. However, it is important for you to understand that some situations will call for that kind of action. If the enemy was powerful enough, sending some of your party onwards in the hope of giving them a chance of fulfilling the missions objective, is the only option. However, it is a last resort option. It is a strategy that acknowledges that those left behind, will be defeated; and therefore sacrificed for the good of the mission, as well as the safety of their comrades."