Painfully Aware with So Much to Learn

Chapter Twenty-three: Training

It had been a few months since Kiba had confessed and Naruto was still certain that he was a bother.

Iruka kept kicking him out to spend 'quality time' with his boyfriends so Naruto was here again. Wandering the streets of Konoha looking for someone who didn't give him those eyes when he saw someone a small distance from the gate. He walked toward the gate out of curiosity.

Walking turned into a sprint when he saw Shikamaru, limping with a grim look on his beaten face. Choji and Ino walked beside him, dirt accentuating the streaks of tears that were long dried. Naruto had known that team ten had gone on a mission but he never expected this.

Naruto helped the team get to the hokage, being sent right out of the room so that the sanin could do her specialty.

The first to peep their head out the door was Ino. "Naruto, you better get home." She said in an abnormally small voice for the brazen blonde. Naruto was about to argue but one look into the kunoichi's swollen red eyes had him aware of the volume of the matter. So he dipped his head a bit and left without a word.

Something bad had happened to Shikamaru and it made Naruto sick to his stomach, kicking a rock along while going any which direction, trying to analyze like the Nara's.

'Shikamaru got put on a mission a week ago, he said he was going to track an akatsuki member.' Naruto went over, looking for clues. 'He said he was going with his team, and I was worried because the akatsuki is dangerous.' He noted. 'Were their casualties? His team was all their though, Choji, Ino, and A--' he froze where he stood. 'Asuma died.'

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trudging along again, Naruto had always hated the thought of death. Old memories of Asuma visiting Naruto's apartment with Jiji when he was a toddler flashed through his mind. How Asuma always flirted with Kuranai and offered help to Naruto when he was struggling with his wind nature.

'Shikamaru's sensei died. I always saw Asuma at the Nara estate, this must have hit him hard.' He thought, hoping beyond hope that Shikamaru would be okay.

Then Naruto did the next best thing he could do in the situation.

He visited Konohamaru.

He knocked on the door politely, being met with wide navy blue eyes. "Nii-chan!" The boy chirped, tackling the blonde nin in a hug. "I've never had you visit me, as expected of my rival!" He said happily, looking up at his older brother figure while still holding tightly onto the back of his turtleneck. (A/N: he's still wearing the same thing as in homecoming because I can't fashion and it's his clothes.)

"Ne, Konohamaru, do you want to learn a new jutsu?" Naruto offered, knowing the tiny brunette would take him up on his offer.

The honoured grandson's eyes sparked with admiration and excitement as he nodded vigorously. The blonde teen let out a small laugh, slightly hollow but it seemed the genin didn't notice.

Konohamaru stood tall in the worn dirt of training field seven, waiting for instruction. Naruto had to admit he loved the determination the Sarutobi showed. "Okay Konohamaru, I'm going to be teaching you an A rank jutsu, one that's very deadly and with only three people who know how to use it. Do you think you can master this in ten days like I did?" He asked, purposefully egging his younger brother figure on.

"UN! I CAN MASTER IT IN NINE DAYS!" He boldly proclaimed, trying to beat his proclaimed rival.

"I like the spirit Konohamaru! Now I'll show you what this jutsu can do!" He said, summoning two clones and ordering one to get water balloons and rubber balls. He made a rasengan with the other clone and shoved it into a thick tree, deteriorating the trunk into more splinters in front of an amazed brunette.

Konohamaru snapped out of his awe and raised his hand. Naruto sighed at the gesture. "Yes?"

"I can't do shadow clones like you Nii-chan." He said with a bit of a pout.

Naruto's eyes widened before he sweat dropped. "Well we can fix that, shadow clones are only a B rank jutsu so we'll start with that."

Naruto's ignorance to the skill of avaredge people seemed to allude him as he spent the next hour teaching Konohamaru the shadow clone and even then he could only make three. "Okay, now we'll move on." He got a water balloon from the pile that had been retrieved long ago. The water in the balloon began to spin until the balloon popped. "The rasengan is pure, spinning chakra that can give off a thousand cuts in the blink of an eye, spin the chakra in the water until the balloon pops." He ordered. An energized 'Un!' was all the response Naruto needed before he went to sit at a nearby tree and watch his 'student'.
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Sorry this chapter is pretty bad but Wattpad is being weird and I've got some serious writers block so updating might slow down for a little while. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for reading!
~Gracie