The Path Of a Hunternin

Old Acquaintance

A little over two weeks passed ever since Naruto began his training under the toad's tutelage and the blond was now seating in a meditating position on the top a platter while balancing himself on top of the mountain. Surely, it was a rather gruesome test for him to learn how to use natural energy instead of relying on one's inner chakra. He certainly did remember every path very clear in his mind.

Flashback on

As soon as Naruto and Jiraiya arrived at Mount Myoboku, the blond took his time to study this strange and somewhat peace environment. The sun managed, with its majestic light, to illuminate the entire set of mountains and forests that surrounded the toad's village. His training would have to be increased, since he didn't have enough time for a full-time training, so a crash course would have to do.

The blond heard the explanation on how to use the energy that nature provides and he actually felt it to be quite easy, at least in theory. The problem with him, though, was that unlike Jiraiya whom could merge with the toad in order to complete the transformation, the fox's simple presence didn't allow the elder toad to sync with the boy, leaving him to learn how to gather nature chakra all on his own. Impossible wasn't a word that could be described for Naruto's attempt, rather the fact that no one ever succeeded and the fact that those who tried it in the past now were a part of the many frog statues that adjourned near the oil waterfall in front of them. The method was simple, enough, but the consequences were deadly. The blond figured that with the kage bunshin level of training, he could learn how to gather natural chakra faster.

Therefore, he summoned three kage bunshins and had each rub the oil on their respective bodies. However, quite suddenly, the four Narutos began to transform into a toad more appearance, before the elder toad smashed them all with a black staff, giving Naruto both the headache from the hit and from dispelling his kage bunshins. He would curse the damn toad not to do this anymore.

"I'm very much obliged to do this Naruto; otherwise you'll end up as one of them"

Transforming into a toad statue, wasn't on his plns, so he obliged without question. He, then, heard the little toad named Fugasaku explain about the theory behind using nature chakra.

"You need to unite body and mind so you could see the nature chakra that surrounds us. Now, let's try again, because from what Jiraiya-chan told me, your time is rather short"

After hearing some lecture from the absurdly little toad and nodding in understanding, Naruto once again summoned three kage bunshins and repeated the process only for the toad like appearance to return and the usual bonk on the head was received.

Flashback off

Naruto needed close to a week only to get adjusted to the new source of chakra. Fugasaku and Jiraiya in front of him watched the blond in meditation with a smile on their faces. No human had ever managed to draw on nature chakra without the help of a toad to serve as a medium and the perverted sannin was very proud of the blond for overcoming such an obstacle. Naruto didn't have time to learn the toad's taijutsu style, but that could be taught to him easily once he has more time available.

For now, only training in using nature chakra will have to do and the fact that with it, Naruto's jutsus would already improve, Jiraiya felt confident that he would give any Akatsuki member a run for the money. He noticed with amusement as a blue bird landed on Naruto's shoulder, before seeing the blond opening his eyes to look at said bard for a while. The problem was that the bird disrupted Naruto's concentration, thus making him lose his balance. The fall was quite large and Jiraiya looked at the toad worrying over his student, before he remembered that one of the attributes of nature chakra was that it managed to absorb most of the impact, leaving only a minor bump to the user's body. A hundred meters down, Naruto was holding his head in order to stop the headache, while at the same time, cursing the stupid bird who had to ruin his concentration.