The Beginnings of Training

"Uzuki Yuugao. A pleasure to meet you."

Naruto paused panting slightly, whilst uncharacteristically considering his next move. His new Sensei was good. Like, really good. They had been sparring for around twenty minutes now and he hadn't managed to land even one hit on the the woman. She was relentless too. Constantly pushing him, probing him for weaknesses in his form and forcing mistakes from him every time he went on the offensive. And not a single error or slip in his defences went unpunished either. Every time he presented an opening it was ruthlessly taken advantage of. Quite frankly he was running out of ideas, and already he could feel the slow onset of fatigue; a relatively alien feeling, and one that he hadn't been forced to experience too many times before.

Uzuki Yuugao, on the oher hand had an entirely diferent train of thoughts. On the outside, the polite smile she seemingly always wore when her face was not covered by an ANBU mask, was kept firmly in place; refusing to slip as she seamlessly blocked aloppy attack after sloppy attack from the blonde in front of her. It was a wonderfully easy way of masking her emotions, as the smile fitted her physique and demeanor perfectly. Whilst wearing that smile she was the docile, polite and kind girl that never had a bad word to say about anybody that was constantly underestimated by enemy shinobi.

After all, how could a harmless little girl like her be a capable shinobi?

That of course was before the enemy realised that same 'harmless little girl' had just driven a katana through their chest cavity, brutally puncturing a lung before leaving them to drown in their own blood.

So it was fair to say that over her relatively long (for a shinobi, anyway) career, she had perfected that smile and mastered it, until it was just as much of a weapon as her katana. This of course meant that she was incredibly good at keeping that smile from cracking due to her emotions, no matter how strong they were.

And make no mistake, despite the frustratingly placid smile she religiously worked to maintain as she sparred Naruto, Uzuki Yuugao was furious. So furious in fact, that the smile had on more than one occasion nearly fell from it's place as she carefully analysed the blonde's movements. It was blindingly obvious to her, that he had been sabotaged. The taijutsu he was using was sloppy, almost like a street brawler as opposed to a shinobi. But it was not down to him not having memorised the forms he had been taught, or that he had not worked hard enough to make what he had learnt instinctive. His combat instinct wsa spot on too. He recognised the makings of attacks very quickly and instantly moved to counter. Only to find that he could not move in the way he wanted to, or that his body was in the wrong position to defend himself.

His taijutsu was as butchered as the Academy records told her. But it had not been butchered by Naruto. All the signs were there, she could see where the 'corrections' to the standard Academy forms had taken place. Things that would seem unimportant to Naruto as he learnt in practise, but they were things that in combat could mean the difference between life and death. Things like how his left foot was angled ten degrees further right than it should have been, preventing him from being able to pivot effectively.

It was quite monstrous really. They had actively altered Naruto's taijutsu in order to get him killed in the field, and she was willing to bet most of Naruto's other deficiencies could be put down to sabotage. However, this left an entirely new problem. Naruto had worked incredibly hard to make these forms almost instinct, just as he should have done. Which now meant he was going to have to un-learn it, which was both a difficult and time-consuming process. He would have to practise anything she taught him, use it in spars, until it became more instinctual than what he had already learnt.

"Okay, Naruto-san. You may stop now, I have seen enough." Yuugao said, as she eyed the slightly winded boy in front of her. His stamina was good, but clearly needed work on.

"Yuugao-sensei, you don't need to bother with all that formal stuff. I don't really like it all that much."

"But Uzumaki-san, that would be improper..." She answered, eliciting a loud groan from the blonde. "...But if you insist, then I will stick to Naruto for the moment." She paused, waiting for the boy to realise she had been teasing him, and continued just as he figured it out. "Now then what did you think of our little spar?"

The blonde in front of her didn't need too long to come up with an answer.

"Well my taijutsu sucks, I couldn't land a hit on you! I was too slow to react every time you attacked, I could tell you were gunna, and then well... I couldn't move into the right position to do anything about it!"

"You're actually more right than you realise. You're basic form is all wrong, and it is preventing your body from reacting as quickly as you want it to. I was fighting at a Genin level, you should have been able to do much better."

"But I made sure my forms were all right! I spent ages with the taijutsu instructor getting them right!" Naruto protested angrily.

"I'm sure you did Naruto. Tell me, who was you're taijutsu instructor at the academy?" Yuugao prompted, already having guessed the answer.

"It was Mizu-" Naruto stopped as the realisation hit him. Mizuki had intentionally messed up his taijutsu! All because of that bastard fox! The voice of Yuugao-sensei distracted him from his thoughts, and he turned his attention to what she was saying.

"Don't worry too much about it Naruto. This is why I'm here remember. Perhaps I had better tell you about the secret purpose of these guarded training grounds."

Naruto perked up instantly, he had been curious about why they had come here as opposed to one of the other, easier to access grounds.

"These grounds are used by shinobi for one of two reasons. Firstly, they are used by small clans who do not have private training grounds, in order to secretly practise their family techniques. Secondly, they are used by shinobi who are developing their own techniques and need to field test them in secret to prevent others from stealing or copying them. In a village that used to have dojutsu such as the Sharingan, areas such as these became a necessity to ensure privacy."

Naruto's eyes widened as he caught on to what his new sensei was telling him.

"So, after realising that it would be incredibly difficult to find an existing style that would suit you; the Hokage decided that I would help you come up with a style unique to you. Hence, the secret training grounds. We can't have any one stealing your work now, can we?"

Naruto shook his head furiously in disagreement.

His own, totally unique taijutsu style? Yuugao-sensei was awesome!

The Sandaime breathed out a steady stream of smoke as he contemplated how one Uzumaki Naruto was getting along with his new sensei. He had already been impressed with Naruto's progress over the past three days. He had discovered the secret behind the Kage Bunshin on the very first day, and had used it incredibly effectively to catch up on what he had missed on the academy. Thus, he had been able to use his time with Iruka to improve his chakra control.

He had also been impressed with the amount of maturity that Naruto had shown. He had identified his weakest areas; and had, if somewhat reluctantly, worked furiously to improve himself. But that was not all. Naruto was still twelve years old, and ninjutsu was still ninjutsu. The Hokage had of course been aware of the blonde's extra-curricular ninjutsu studies, and had seen how the boy had not only limited himself to C-rank techniques and resisted the urge to head straight for A-ranks jutsu; but he had done nothing more that memorise what he read, until he had developed the appropriate control for the jutsu in question.

Fuuton: Goukuuhou, a C-rank wind technique developed by Sarutobi Asuma. However what is not commonly know was that the Yondaime, had spent an entire year just before he became Hokage with various shinobi of note, developing ninjutsu with them. Asuma had been, one of those shinobi Minato had worked with, and Fuuton: Goukuuhou was the only C-rank jutsu the duo had come up with; instead focusing on producing a slew of A-rank Fuuton jutsu. It was practically his birthright to learn it.

"I've just seen something very interesting at Training Ground 56."

Sarutobi looked up tiredly to see his student jumping down from his usual perch on the window.

"Ah, Jiraiya. You finally came."

"What the hell is the point of this again?" The Naruto clone grumbled, his hands fixed into the single ram seal required from the Kage Bunshin.

"You understand the basis of the style we're going to try to create, correct?" Yuugao questioned, patience not faltering, despite the fact that this wasn't the first time one of the Kage Bunshin she was working with had complained.

"Yeah, it's going to be based on using pairs of Kage Bunshin to create a flexible and maneuverable style that combines power, speed and unpredictability." The clone replied in a sing-song voice, almost as if it was reading from a book.

"Correct. Now, how much control do you have over where your Kage Bunshin appear?"

"Almost none." The clone answered, knowing it had already been defeated. He watched as Yuugao's grin became slightly smug.

"Control over when and where your Bunshin appear is vitally important for this to work. That is where you come in, you are to practice focusing on where the bunshin appear in relation to the original. The second clone, is working on being able to delay how quickly the bunshin appears, allowing for even more unpredictability, a key element to the style you are trying to create."

The Bunshin muttered and grumbled under his breath, and whilst Yuugao suspected what was said wasn't exactly polite, the clone got back to work, focus, at least momentarily, renewed.

She glanced over to the original Yuugao, who was working with another slightly larger group of energetic blondes, teaching pairs of them a single 'set move'. This was the term she gave to the fundamental movements in almost all taijutsu styles, basic punches kicks and blocks; the building blocks of hand to hand combat. Naturally, he took to this far easier than he did perfecting the nuances of the Kage Bunshin, it's benefits were far more apparent. All the same, it was astonishing how quickly he learned when he set his mind to it.

"You're seriously thinking about putting on a team with Kakashi and the Uchiha?" The Sannin inquired, as if the mere suggestion of doing so was entirely ludicrous.

"It's the best team for him. We can't break up other, cohesive units just for Naruto's benefit. It would destroy their functionality. Where else would he fit Jiraiya?" the Hokage questioned, an unusual glint in his eye; as if he had just come up with something thoroughly cunning and evil. By the way he was openly smirking at him, Jiraiya wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Sensei, Uchiha Sasuke is an exact mirror of my bastard of a team mate. I would bet all the smut in the world on him going the same way. Itachi wasn't even half as arrogant as that kid is, that in itself kills any chances of those two developing any kind of teamwork. Sure, Naruto would try and form a bond, but the Uchiha would never reciprocate it in the same way. On top of that, you've got Kakashi'. He's under duress from the grizzled old bastard Danzou, as well as half of the damned village; to focus on Sasuke, even at the expense of his other team-mates. It's not the kids fault, and i know all too well that he chomping at the bit to teach Naruto; but Naruto isn't as stupid as he comes across, he'll spot what he perceives as favouritism almost instantly. it just doesn't work."

"Neither does putting him anywhere else Jiraiya. The Ino-Shika-Cho combination is completely impractical to separate, and Kurenai's team of the Hyuuga, Inuzuka and Aburame is pretty much perfectly balanced for a recon team. Team 7 isn't just the logical choice, it's the only choice." The Sandaime took a breath as he looked at the growing frustration on his former student's face. He cared so much for the boy, but had always found a reason as to why he couldn't get involved with him. Sarutobi suspected that it was initially his grieving that prevented him from taking in his godson, who bore such a striking resemblance to his father. then, as time passed; and Naruto's life became progressively worse, it was guilt that kept the Sannin away. That and the fear of rejection. Which was entirely natural when you thought about how Naruto could potentially perceive events.

No matter, it was time for him to go in for the kill.

"Of course someone could take the boy as an apprentice..."

Jiraiya looked like he had just been winded. He opened his mouth repeatedly, before closing it immediately after, genuinely lost for words.

"Naturally, the council would fervently oppose such a suggestion; but there would be nothing they could if, say, one of the Sannin wanted to." Sarutobi placed a great emphasis on the word Sannin, driving his point even further home. Finally jiraiya had collected his thoughts enough to actually speak.

"Absolutely no way! I can't teach him, what about the spy network? Someone needs to keep an eye on Orochimaru. Besides, I swore I wouldn't take another pupil after Minato, and I meant it. The kid would probably hate me anyway, once he learns what I am to him." Jiraiya paused, somewhat startled that the last sentence had left his mouth. "I just...can't. If there's nothing else, sensei; I need a drink"

Jiraiya didn't wait for confirmation before leaping from the window by which he entered. Sarutobi didn't stop smirking. He knew his pupil would come around.