True Mastery

NINJA ACADEMY

Naruto had mastered the chakra control exercise his father had told him to do within a week. He had finished the second step in a month, and the third step in two months. Now, it was time to show it to his father.
He sat down on the floor and waited.
In seconds, his father called him in. It still annoyed him that he couldn't enter his own head.
Minato was brimming with pride. He was just waiting until Naruto showed him the exercise. Naruto's face was going to be so surprised when he would tell him that it was a "kickass jutsu".
Naruto held out his hand, and Minato leaned forward in anticipation. A ball of chakra grew in Naruto's palm.
At first, Minato was really happy. Looking at it more carefully, the smile on his face dimmed.
"Naruto", he began slowly, "It isn't rotating. It's just a plain ball of chakra."
Minato held out his hand and showed the technique again. "It's supposed to spin."
Frowning, Naruto spun the ball, but it didn't have much effect. Minato corrected him, "No, Naruto, it has to spin in all directions from the very beginning."
"Do I have to learn it again?" whined Naruto.
Minato sighed. They had a long way to go.
Sasuke was, well, he didn't really know. Angry? Yes, he was, at his father and brother, for making him think he was going to die. But then it had helped. Overjoyed? Getting the second level of the Sharingan was a huge achievement, because now, he could copy jutsu on his own. Sasuke settled for annoyed.
In reality, Sasuke actually would have been horribly injured if not for the timely evolution of his Sharingan. Although, after getting it, he had beaten the crap out of his assailant, so there was some satisfaction.
Getting back to the clan grounds had been easier with his Sharingan. Using the shunshin was messy without a guide, and even then, Sasuke couldn't control himself while moving. He couldn't keep up with the speed of his own shunshin, even with the Sharingan.
Inspiration struck Sasuke. He sat bolt upright as his mental wheels turned.
Shunshin- Not very useful. Body too fast for the mind to keep up.
Lightning style: Overdrive- Not very useful. Mind too fast for the body to keep up.
This was quite possibly the best idea Sasuke had ever had.
Several more months passed until it was time for Sasuke and Naruto to enter the Academy. Sasuke quite accurately prepared for boredom. Naruto naïvely prepared to learn.
Their first month of classes went well. There was the incident where Mizuki-sensei had asked Naruto a question randomly. Startled, Naruto had accidentally sent chakra to the seal he was doodling onto the desk. That had earned him a visit to the Hokage's office, who had told him to only draw explosive seals on paper.
Sasuke was also having problems. He was far too young to deal with fangirls! And his fangirls seemed to have an army, led by a blonde Yamanaka. They had several tactics, designed mainly to get skin to skin contact with him. He tried to escape them the best he could, but it was really difficult for someone as young as him to handle a gaggle of single-minded fangirls.
He was excelling in every single class. His father would have previously said that that was what was expected of an Uchiha. Now, he said, "That's what I expect from my son."
The only one who could hold a candle to him was Naruto. Sasuke smiled, thinking about the blond kid. They were most definitely rivals, competing in every subject, and proceeding to beat each other up in taijutsu. Sasuke was definitely much better in taijutsu than Naruto, but the blond hit much, much harder. His ribs twinged in phantom memory.
Sasuke could feel that people were scared of Naruto. He had no idea why. They didn't treat him badly outright, but they made comments in passing. Saying he was dangerous. Naruto never beat them up. He was too kind-hearted for that. He just kept on at his dream of being Hokage. When Sasuke had asked him about his motivations, Naruto had said something about continuing the legacy.
That was not to say that Naruto didn't have fangirls of his own. But they were far, far less aggressive than Sasuke's fangirls.
Also, Sasuke only had fangirls, and no admirers. But in the first week, Naruto had managed to gather not only two open fangirls, but also one "secret" admirer. The Hyūga heiress.
Two or three boys had been picking on Hinata. Not knowing the proper conduct in this kind of scenario, Naruto had tied them up and brought out his kunai, apparently planning to offer their heads to Iruka-sensei when he came back.
A sharp "No!" from Sasuke, and a loud "NOOOOO, NARUTO, DON'T! COME WITH ME TO THE HOKAGE" from Iruka-sensei had been quite enough to make sure that Naruto didn't kill them.
As Sasuke reached the class, he felt a sense of dread. Peering into the classroom before entering, his dread was confirmed. Ino had directed her army of Sasuke fangirls to various seats in the class, making sure that wherever Sasuke sat, there would be at least one fangirl adjacent to him, with whom Ino would presumably change seats.
Before Sasuke could worry for too long (Itachi had told him that fangirls were dangerous and could be fatal), a familiar blond clapped him on the back. Sasuke turned, and Naruto brought a finger to his lips.
With a burst of smoke, Naruto transformed into Shino, and then proceeded to sit directly next to a fangirl. The fangirl moved one seat away. Naruto took the seat she had previously been occupying, and Sasuke took the seat Naruto had been sitting in. Naruto transformed back into himself, and they sat side by side in pleasant silence, ignoring the glares Ino was giving Naruto.
A few minutes later, Iruka-sensei walked in. He went to the teacher's table and took out several papers. Turning to them, he barked, "What are you supposed to say when a teacher walks in?"
Everybody except Shikamaru stood up and bowed. "Good morning, sensei."
Iruka-sensei nodded. "So, today is our monthly assessment, and I expect you all to score well in all the sections."
Sasuke's eyes were bright and eager. A test! He excelled at those, and so had Itachi, back in his day.
After a thankfully brief written test, they were taken to the field for physical tests.
Sasuke smirked upon seeing that the first test was on shurikenjutsu. He gathered four shuriken in each hand and threw them, hitting all five of the targets from varied angles. Smirking, he stepped back, and then cringed from the multiple female cries of "Sasuke is so cool".
Sasuke stood on the sidelines and watched the rest of the students throw shuriken. A few, like Shikamaru, hit all the targets in the center. Others like Ino got in glancing hits. Chouji got in just one hit.
The only one as impressive as Sasuke was Naruto. No, he didn't execute a flashy move. He didn't throw multiple kunai at once. But every single throw sank in deeply, till the handle. His strength was remarkable, and every hit was dead-on. Iruka-sensei ruffled Naruto's hair, and said something to him. Something about ramen, if Sasuke had lip-read it correctly.
After they were all done, Iruka-sensei announced, "Next, we are going to have a taijutsu assessment." Chouji stepped forward to show his katas, being the first roll number alphabetically, but Iruka-sensei shook his head.
"No katas today. We are going to have a tournament of sorts."
Sasuke smirked ad looked over to Naruto, who looked back, with a giant grin on his face. Naruto's face gave off a 'watch me, teme' sort of vibe.
Sasuke's first few opponents were unnamed side characters. Their only purpose was to accentuate the difference of Sasuke's style and Naruto's.
Naruto was the kind of fighter who jumped in, a mass of flailing limbs. Sasuke was smoother, with twirls and fancy kicks and flips. Both were incredibly dangerous. After Naruto knocked Chouji unconscious, and Shikamaru gave up, Naruto and Sasuke were the last ones left.
Sasuke's fangirls were mostly unconscious, with the exception of Ino, who cheered as loudly as she could. Sasuke looked at Naruto, then to Ino, and back to Naruto, gesturing his irritation. Naruto smirked and signaled something to Hinata discreetly, who nodded and presses two fingers into Ino's spine.
With that taken care of, Sasuke lunged at Naruto, who readied a devastating punch. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled himself upward, and brought down a kick onto Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto clenched his teeth and grabbed Sasuke's leg. Swinging Sasuke around, Naruto threw him towards the crowd.
Sasuke twisted his body. Gathering chakra to his feet, he propelled himself forward from Shikamaru's shoulder. Naruto stopped him inches from his face, and kicked him in the chin. By the time Sasuke stood up, Naruto had a whirling ball of pale blue chakra in his palm.
Iruka's eyes widened, and he jumped forward and grabbed Naruto's wrist.
"Naruto, ninjutsu is not allowed!"
Naruto frowned. "But Sasuke used chakra too."
"Using chakra to strengthen your body is part of taijutsu."
"But this is a chakra control exercise."
"No! It's not, it's a jutsu."
"It's not, the Hokage told me that it's a chakra control exercise." Naruto neglected the fact that it was the Fourth Hokage, and not the Third, who had told him that.
Iruka opened and shut his mouth a few times. Then he said, "Chakra control isn't taijutsu, Naruto."
And that is how Sasuke got the highest marks, and Naruto got the second highest, along with a trip to the Hokage's office.
After asking Iruka to leave, the Third Hokage asked Naruto, "When did I tell you that the rasengan was a chakra control exercise?"
Naruto frowned. "Rasengan? What's that?"
"The rasengan is the most famous jutsu of the Fourth Hokage. How come you don't know the name of the jutsu you were performing?"
Naruto looked incredulous. "I was doing a jutsu? But dad said that it was a chakra control exercise."
Hiruzen's eye twitched. In the World of the Dead, Minato facepalmed.
Upon seeing Sasuke's assessment scores, Fugaku smiled and patted his head. "Good job, Sasuke."
Sasuke smiled and wrapped his arms around his father. Fugaku blinked a few times before lifting him up and depositing him in his mother's arms. He muttered something about 'clan head', and 'proper decorum', but he was trying not to smile.
Even more time passed. Naruto made good friends in the form of Shikamaru and Chouji. Sasuke made good friends in the form of Number One Student and Intense Training.
Sasuke didn't talk much with Naruto. He didn't need to. They had a sort of easy friendship, each trying to outdo the other. But they had no hard feelings when Sasuke inevitably outdid Naruto in genjutsu and taijutsu, or when Naruto outdid him in ninjutsu (when they were training by themselves, of course. The Academy didn't think it was wise to teach jutsu to young children. Of course, teaching them knife throwing and allowing them to handle explosives was perfectly normal) and pure physical strength. The only time they got angry was when they got equal marks in shurikenjutsu.
Naruto would look as if Iruka sensei had kicked his favourite puppy. Sasuke would look as if Iruka had kicked his clan's favourite puppy. Both expressions were completely different. Iruka-sensei would facepalm.
Across the world, in Iwa, a yellow haired boy was writhing in agony inside the Tsuchikage's vaults. He had no idea what had possessed him to steal a kinjutsu and use it on himself. His palms were splitting apart in pain. He writhed some more.
After several hours, the pain finally stopped. The yellow haired boy stood up shakily. He looked at the palms of his hand in glee. His hands were split apart by mouths.
Deidara raised his hands and smiled as they spit out two birds. "Art... is an explosion!"
That would have been an excellent line, had his birds not been vaporized by dust release.
"What do you think you're doing, brat?"
Deidara stood to attention, mostly out of habit. "L-lord Tsuchikage?"
Ōhnoki gruffly asked, "Did you cut your forehead protector yet?"
Deidara stuttered out, "N-no, sir."
The Tsuchikage nodded. "Hmm. That's good. You stole the Demon Mouth technique, didn't you? You were always obsessed with explosives."
"Y-yes, s-sir."
"Did it work?"
Deidara held up his hands in response.
"I'm promoting you to head of the bomb squad. Give the news to Ganryu. If he protests, ask him to meet me."
Saying so, the Tsuchikage turned to walk out, when Deidara asked, "You aren't going to kill me, sir?"
The Tsuchikage turned and guffawed loudly. "Why the hell would I do that? You survived the kinjutsu, so you're more useful to me alive than dead."
He added, as an afterthought, "Do well, and I might promote you to jōnin sometime soon."
Deidara saluted. "Yes sir!"
"And make sure that my granddaughter sees you as a brother only, and not in any lovey dovey sense."
Deidara flushed red. "S-sir?"
Ōhnoki patted him on the back and left. Deidara stood there stunned.
Does this mean that we shouldn't have kissed?
Yes, dumbass. That's exactly what it means.
Sasuke had read multiple scrolls on the topic and was attempting to create his own lightning jutsu. He was currently experimenting with a bolt.
Most unaided lightning jutsu did not go in a straight bolt of lightning, like real bolts did. They were shaped into other forms, precisely because otherwise they would dissipate.
Upon reading scrolls, Sasuke realized that lightning travelled from a negatively charged body to a positively charged body. Hence, to get a straight line of lightning, he would need someone standing opposite to him with a positively charged body.
He closed his eyes and gathered negatively charged lightning chakra in his left hand, and positively charged chakra (this had taken him well over a month to figure out) in his right. He increased the amount and held it forcefully in his palm. Allowing the chakra in his left hand to escape, he stared in awe as a tiny bolt of lightning shot from one hand to the other in a straight line. He let more chakra out the next time, and the bolt was bigger. He let it all out and looked in amazement.
He looked at his right hand. The negative and positive had balanced themselves out, and Sasuke was left with just normal chakra. Sasuke pondered the implication of that.
His new jutsu required some chakra to use, but it didn't actually use up the chakra. At least, not much.
Thinking that no one was watching, Sasuke let out maniacal laughter. After a few seconds, he looked back to see Itachi, who merely closed his eyes and walked away.