Building Foundation
"Alright now that we're officially Team 7 and gotten some basic D rank missions out of the way, it's about time we started your basic training." Kakashi droned while focused on the current chapter of Icha Icha.
"Come ON, Kakashi-Sensei! We already went through basic training in the Academy. We learned the basic Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu…" Naruto started to complain.
"Some of us more than others." Sasuke dissed.
"… Can we please start getting more advanced training? Anko-Sempai learned her Nature Affinity right out the gate of the Academy." Naruto argued, not complained.
The name drew the attention of his teammates, but Kakashi was surprised. He was obviously made aware of what was dubbed the Mizuki Incident and its conditions regarding Naruto. Kakashi could go with the standard routine of getting all the necessary missions out the way to get to higher missions, but he saw the points Naruto made. While the peace was shaky, it was still a far cry better than the Shinobi World Wars. Should he allow these children to be children or prepare them for the worst?
"Anko and I grew up in different times than your generation. Yours is one of peace that was gained by the blood and death my generation endured." Kakashi countered.
"Besides my idea of basic is a far cry from the Academy standard. First and foremost I am going to completely eliminate you and build each of you up from scratch." Kakashi declared with an eeriness that gave even Sasuke goosebumps.
"Second we will be building the foundation of a solid and true team. Each of you will be your own, but together you will be mightier than you ever could alone. Finally we are going to bond." Kakshi completed his idea of basics before closing his book and putting it away.
With a familiar hand seal, Kakshi easily summoned two Shadow Clones from the void. Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto had their own clone to give them their undivided attention. Lifting up his headband, Sasuke could only look in horror and awe.
"This was my best friend's dying gift to me. He gave it to me… Because he forgot to do so on my actual birthday… Haha the goof…" Kakashi revealed forlornly.
"Naruto." Kakashi looked to the blonde Jinchūriki knowingly.
"Yeah?..." Naruto asked, but he knew what the Veteran Shinobi was leading to.
"Don't make me be the one to tell them. You must tell them otherwise they won't truly understand." Kalashi told him in an oddly serious and sagely tone.
"FINE ALRIGHT! It wasn't like I asked for it… Look guys… I kinda am the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi..." Naruto admitted not able to see the looks of fear or hatred in his teammate's eyes.
"I knew the Kyūbi couldn't be killed." Sasuke knew it.
"In the Academy they taught us the Bijū are nine titanic living forms of chakra. So unlike us, the Bijū cannot truly die and will just regenerate depending on the number of tails they have. They can only be sealed, but they never told us anything about what was used to seal them." Sasuke pointed out.
"That was a lesson in the Academy? How did I miss that?" Naruto was truly perplexed.
"You're a Dumbass." Sasuke sighed hopelessly.
"Oh… Naruto-kun…" Hinata literally shed tears and cried.
Naruto was genuinely shocked at the almost nonchalant attitude his teammates had at his big dark secret. Something that plagued him his whole life without him even knowing about it most of his life. Perhaps Old Man Uzumaki was right in that his peers would be different. Perhaps there was actual hope of forming friendly bonds with his team.
To cement the thought, Hinata shocked all by hugging Naruto and openly crying and apologizing over and over again for some reason. All the years she wondered why. The times she was scolded for following the blonde and being too scared to disobey her father. Why didn't they see Naruto for Naruto? The hard working boy who just wanted people to notice him and give him the attention anyone would want.
"Hinata-chan please. Don't cry I am sorry OK! Whatever I did I am sorry! I NEVER pranked a single Hyūga out of respect for you!" Naruto admitted in a plea to get the Hyūga heiress to stop crying.
Hinata could only giggle and force herself to stop crying; if only because Naruto asked. She dried her tears and explained she was sorry it took her so long to figure it all out but, "You really are my Hero, Naruto-kun." The boy who was sacrificed to seal the mightiest of Bijū,the Kyūbi. The boy who had to endure the pain of loss, remorse, anger and loathing of a generation born in war and assault by a seemingly vengeful force of nature!
It was amazing what just a few words could do to a person. Words Naruto never really heard directed at him and yet he somehow always wanted to hear. They made his eyes misty, but he swiftly dried them with his sleeve and flashed his trademark grin.
"Thanks, Hinata-Chan. I'll make sure to keep the moniker of Hero of the Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto declared!
"Can we please get back to training?" Sasuke almost begged to get out of the fluffy situation.
"Yes, well this was all to make us closer. Naruto being a Jinchūriki is something you would all have to know in the worst case of Naruto losing control over his tenant." Kakashi cleared up.
"Losing control of the mightiest Bijū would be a big problem… Only Madara Uchiha was said able to control it, though father might have..." Sasuke started off vocal and finished the rest almost silently, but Kakashi could read his lips, something the Uchiha cursed himself for forgetting.
"I got Him mostly under control and still asleep. The Uzumaki clan are the only ones able to become Jinchūriki of the Bijū thanks to both Mito-Baachan and our longevity." Naruto pointed out knowing quite a bit about the history of the Uzumaki.
Now that was interesting for even Kakashi. A lot of that wasn't taught in the Academy and even if it was he highly doubted Naruto paid attention enough to memorize such delicate information. He wouldn't push the blonde on it at the moment though. He already had him reveal the Kyūbi. Anymore would be seen as singling him out. Putting his headband down, Kakashi sighed, "Since I am not an Uchiha, the Sharingan can be quite draining on me."
"That's not surprising. The Sharingan is the response to a powerful emotional experience that affects the brain and optic nerve of the Uchiha. A transplanted Sharingan can never be turned off and that constant mental strain is only compacted if the one who has it was close to the Uchiha." Sasuke remarked having been told what could happen should the worst happen among the selective among his clan who actually awoke the dojutsu.
Something a lot of people misunderstood about the Uchiha due to how common their sister dojutsu, the Byakugan was. Only a select few among the Uchiha actually gained their fabled Sharingan. While each Hyūga was born with it in various strengths, the Sharingan was regulated to a questionable 1 in every 100. Those who did gain it had better chances of passing it down than those without. So to lose it was indeed both a disgrace and abdominal.
"Huh. That makes sense…" Kakashi thought about it for a moment before getting down to business.
"Right so to begin your basic training we are going to test your Chakra Control. I'll demonstrate." Kakashi explained before he walked up one of the many trees of the training grounds as if it were nothing. He walked all the way to the tip top of the tree well out of sight of his Genin before he leapt down and landed on one of the lower limbs of the mighty oak. He threw 2 kunai down in front of Naruto and Hinata before calling out to Sasuke, "Did you bring your crossbow and bolts?"
A bit surprised by the knowledge of his newest additional weapon, Sasuke went to his backpack and took out a medium sized scroll and unsealed said weapon. He held and aimed it to get his bearings, before confidently wielding it. Naruto snorted at the basic weapon scroll and its basic sealing matrix. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a few small scrolls.
"I know we're working on our basics, but our equipment should always be top notch. In that case, let me upgrade all of our sealing scrolls." Naruto offered before tossing both his teammates and their Sensei the small scrolls before pulling out another to demonstrate its uses.
Unraveling the scroll to the right released its contents in a plume of smoke and a large stock of what appeared to be random bottles of ink and rolls of paper. Letting it ravel back up, unraveling to the left sealed the contents back in a wisp of smoke. Sasuke was sold and did the same to his crossbow and bolts/quiver. Hinata gratefully placed it in her hoodie pocket as Kakashi placed it in one of his many pockets.
"The goal is to use your channel your chakra into your feet and use that to anchor yourself to the Tree and travel up it. It's known as Chakra Adhesion practice, or Tree Climbing practice for the simple minded." Kakashi explained.
"Use your weapons to mark your progress. Oh I advise getting a running start first." Kakashi suggested.
The three Genin took a moment to focus and feel for their chakras. Sasuke's chakra pool was deep and yet had a chilling darkness to it. Allowing that chill to creep into and channel into his feet was fleeting yet steady. Hinata's chakra pool was shallow and yet finely tuned and ever flowing. Getting it to flow to her feet was a simple yet draining experience. Naruto's chakra pool was overflowing to the point it drowned his feet in chakra. All three dashed towards their own trees and tried to race up to them with varying results.
Hinata easily raced up to the same tree limb as Kakashi while a bit winded by the effort; the tree limb was much higher than the Jonin made it seem. Naruto only got a few feet up before he was launched off by a burst strong enough to imprint his feet! Sasuke got a bit further, but slipped and was forced to leap off and mark his spot with a well aimed bolt.
"Hinata. I want you to use your Byakugan and aid your teammates in this practice. Doing so will help them gain better chakra control while at the same time you while gain a larger chakra pool. While you're doing this, my clones and I will have our Sharingan active for my own purposes." Kakashi explained before revealing his actively spinning Sharingan.
Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched her teammates try once again to get up the tree. The focus and insight of her dojutsu helped her briefly get over her meekness and direct her teammates when they either applied too much or not enough chakra to the exercise.
Team Seven trained well throughout the day and by dusk everyone was thoroughly exhausted. For Naruto it was mentally draining to force so much chakra into not only a single spot but to get it to its smallest amount. For Sasuke it was physically draining to have to push out more chakra than he was used to and embarrassing to find out his chakra pool was so limited. Hinata found keeping her dojutsu active to be a mixture of both mental and physical drain. Even Kakashi found the training fruitful enough. With that he called an end to their training and left in a Shunshin.
"AH! I know I could do it after a decent meal… Hey! Do you guys wanna come to the Uzumaki Mask Shrine? I usually do my training in that area and the Chakra Adhesion practice can be done with the surrounding trees." Naruto offered.
"Hn. I think I'll pass." Sasuke for once politely declined. The Uchiha grounds had sections of trees that would work just as well.
"Your loss. Hinata-Chan?" Naruto offered the Hyūga Heiress.
Hinata blushed and accepted. After all they were teammates and her father's order no longer applied. The Hokage and advisors saw fit to place them on the same team so she was allowed to train privately with him… Privately… Her face almost steamed at the implications but she steeled herself.
The two members of team seven walked through the forests of Konoha until they reached the outskirts where the Uzumaki Mask Shrine stood with a somehow polished ruins. Naruto had prepared to use a transcribe seal tag on the Hinata, but was surprised when she could easily walk through the barrier seals and into the inner shrine without hindrance.
"Why are you surprised? You two have had a bond for literal years, at least from her perspective." Anko remarked appearing next to Naruto from his shadow via hiding in shadow jutsu.
"Yeah… I guess you're right." Naruto admitted before following Hinata inside.
Time as team seven went by far faster than any of them could have predicted. Weeks turned to a few months of meeting at dawn for D rank missions, by midday they would train their Chakra Control and Chakra Capacity so that each of them could build on their foundation. The peaceful times they found themselves in allowed Kakashi to really give his team time to develop without fear of death forcing them to the brink of breaking.
"Alright team seven. I think we can move onto learning everyone's Chakra Nature Affinity and capacity for the sub affinities: yin or yang release." Kakashi explained while holding several slips of paper…
Alright I am going to stop there. Going to level with you all here and admit I have been kicked out and had to move 4 times this year so far. It's clearly been crazy and unstable as far as things are considered, but I am in a better place and hopeful to get more chapters. My apologies for cutting it so short. This would basically be the training montage in the manga and animal except we get less D ranks and more of a focus on a training that they realistically should have gotten well before the Land of Waves. Speaking of! I can promise it will come in chapter 9 with chapter 8 will be one more training montage of elements and bringing the other teams to the forefront. I hope you all enjoy this chapter for what it is and please leave a review of your opinions and tastes. PM me if you have any questions you may feel you don't want to ask in review.