Toads, water balloons and teammates

It had been a difficult first week of a month for teacher and student. At first, it had seemed Naruto wasn't able to focus his chakra if his life depended on it, even with all the focusing training he had done with his teacher and girlfriends. That was until Jiraiya had suddenly punched Naruto in the stomach after getting him to put his hands in the air and showing him the mentioned body part. What Jiraiya hadn't told Naruto was he had examined the seal that kept the nine-tailed fox contained and had broken the additional seal his ex-teammate had placed over it in his attack back in the Forest of ****.

After that it seemed Naruto had done a one-eighty in how easily he was able to control and focus his chakra, though he still had trouble summoning anything larger then a tadpole, even with his insane amount of chakra at hand. Jiraiya had decided to try to draw out the Kyuubis chakra to help in him summoning something, but to do that he had to put Naruo in a life or **** situation. Thus he had tossed Naruto, quite literally, off a cliff to get him to do it properly.

That was how Naruto had come face to face with the burden he had learned he carried. Whether it was a dream or something else, Naruto couldn't decide, but he hadn't taken the Kyuubis lack of respect like anyone elses. He gave it a verbal lashing about how the fox owed him rent for being stuck in his body and how, if he cared at all for himself, he would help to make sure he didn't die.

Narutos attitude had seemed to amuse the fox and it replied that, as a reward for being so interesting, it would give him his demand. Naruto, not seconds after that, managed to summon the chief of toads Gamabunta with the chakra the fox had given him. And just in time too, a few seconds longer and Naruto would have been a shinobi pancake at the bottom of the cliff.

Gamabunta hadn't taken to being summoned as well as one would think. After all, being summoned in midfall was not something he had planned on doing today. Nonetheless, Naruto was excited to see he had learned the jutsu with it being as difficult as it was.

"How was that, ero-sennin?", Naruto asked with a grin as he stood next to the large red toad with a sword strapped to its back. The grin on Jiraiya's face was showing how impressed he really was at Narutos feat. "Very good, Naruto. Guess tossing you off that cliff was the best idea I ever had.", he stated as an annoyed look made its way to Narutos face. "Yeah and if you do something like that ever again, it'll be the last thing you do, old man!", Naruto said as the toad, seeing it was no longer needed disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya nonetheless grinned as he waved it off. "Now now, calm down. It was the only way to get you to use your other chakra. It was either that or wasting time having you burn it off.", Jiraiya said dismissively and added "Disrespectful litte...", before grinning. "But don't worry Naruto, I have another thing you can learn, though I doubt you will master it before the exam. It'll give you something to pass the time with 'till then.".

Naruto gave him a curious look as he stared. "Oh yeah? And what's that? Some other bogus jutsu?", Naruto asked skeptically. Jiraiya however, to answer his question, held out his hand and seemed to concentrate on it. Naruto's less then confident feelings of Jiraiya' intentions vanished as he watched a spinning ball of chaka form in his hand, before he smashed it into the nearest tree to him.

Narutos jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the strange attack hit the tree dead on and it snapped with an audible crack as it gave way. "Waow! What was that?!", Naruto yelled as Jiraiya smirked. "It's called the Rasengan. It was created by the Fourth Hokage and only a select few know exactly how to do it. And best of all, it can't be copied by anyone if they don't know the steps to it.".

Naruto gave Jiraiya a curious look as he explained. "It doesn't use hand seals, so unless you're trained in using it, you'll never be able to learn it.". Naruto, upon hearing those words, was very excited. A jutsu that only a few people knew and one that Sasuke couldn't copy with those eyes of his? It was perfect!

"Bring it on old man! I'll learn this technique in time for the exam! Just you wait and see!", Naruto yelled with enthusiasm as Jiraiya shook his head amusedly. "Naruto, if you do that, then I'll not only give you an all-you-can-eat trip to the restaraunt of your choice on me, but I'll eat my shoe!", Jiraya laughed.

"What makes you think I won't, old man?", Naruto asked with a slight tone of annoyance. "Naruto, I'm going to tell you this straight out: It would be nearly impossible for you to do this! It took the Fourth Hokage years to create this jutsu and it took me months to even get close to master it myself". Naruto however defiantly grinned and replied "Well then, I guess I will just have to prove you wrong and show you like everyone else why you shouldn't underestimate Naruto Uzumaki!", Naruto yelled, making Jiraiyas smirk widen.

"Well, you have the drive, that's for sure... at least for now.", Jiraiya said as he smirked and pulled something from his pocket. It was a balloon! "Hey old pervert, what's that for?", Naruto asked as he watched his new teacher walk over to a stream and fill the balloon up. "This is how you learn it, Naruto.", Jiraiya said, tossing it to him. "Pop that water balloon by spinning your chakra in it. Hell, I'll even give you a hint: One way may not be the right way.", Jiraiya cryptically said as he walked over to a tree.

"Wake me up when you get it right, 'till then I'm gonna take a nap.", Jiraiya yawned before closing his eyes. Naruto stared at the water ballon in his hand before sighing and silently thinking to himself, 'I hope Ino-chan and Sakura-chan are having better luck with sensei then I am.'. And with that, Naruto began the difficult task of trying to pop the balloon.

Kurenai smiled as she watched her two female students fighting each other in a mock battle before her. She was proud to say they had been workig hard ever since the preliminaries had let out. She had seen them gradually becoming better through the last weeks of intense training, and with the exams fast approaching, their impressive growth was being kicked into high gear and their drive was powered by one blond knucklehead ninja.

"Okay girls, listen up!", Kurenai said as her two remaining students stood before her. "You are both not only representing your village in this exam, but yourselves and your team as well. I am proud to say all three of Team Seven passed the preliminaries, but unless you do well in the finals, then all that success was for nothing.". Kurenai was being very blunt today, not sugarcoating it at all it seemed.

"Kurenai-sensei, we can take anything you can give us!", Sakura said confidently as Ino nodded. "We have to get stronger! We can't let Naruto-kun get ahead of us, can we?", Ino asked just as confident as her pinkhaired teammate seemed to be.

"Well, I'm glad your both so eager, because now I'm going to run you both into the ground if it means making you better. Remember, its not enough to win your matches, it's how you win them that decides if you advance in rank. A Chunnin needs to show smarts as well as strength to achieve that rank.", Kurenai said as she looked both her students over. "Ino, your father told me he will be training you in some of your clan techniques, so I will only be training you in the physical aspect.", Kurenai said, getting the blond kunoichi to nod her head. "Sakura, I will be training with you extensively. You're smart, no question about that, but your physical skills are lacking, so I will be teaching you in both aspects.", Kurenai stated, making her nod.

"Um... Kurenai-sensei, where's Naruto-kun right now?", Sakura asked, wondering about her blond teammate as much as Ino was at this moment. "Sorry girls, but he's out of the village, training for the exam with his new teacher. He won't be back 'till the last exam, which means you have no reason to slack off!", Kurenai grinned, seeing the shocked expressions of her students before her. This was news to them obviously, so she wondered how well they were going to take it.

"A whole month without Naruto-kun!", Ino yelled as Kurenai waved off her apparent less then pleased mood. "Now now, both of you calm down! Like I said, he will be back in time for the exam and you girls need to focus on training anyway. Now, let's get you girls ready for when he comes back! You're going to want to keep up with him, don't you?", she asked with a hint of mirth to her voice.

Both Ino and Sakura blushed a bit at the thought. If they were to show Naruto how strong they had become then they would get his attention, not any of the other girls interested in him, meaning they would get to have their fun with him sooner. "We're in!", they yelled at the same moment as Kurenai smiled. Oh yes, this was going to be an interesting month...

Two days before the preliminary was set to begin, a figure walked into Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki, a Gennin that hadn't been seen in nearly a month had just returned with a grin on his face, confident in himself for the moment that he would not only keep his promise to Hinata, but taking a step forward to being the Hokage of the village.

"It's good to be back!", Naruto grinned as he walked the familiar streets of his home. He had missed the village and being away from his girlfriends had also been a problem. He hadn't had any time to tell them he would be gone. He hoped that they wouldn't hold it against him for being dragged off by the old pervert for training, but then again, most of his girlfriends were in it too, so he was sure they would understand at least.

But besides his girlfriends, there were other thoughts in his head. Kin was one of them. He had wondered what his sensei had done with the sound Kunoichi after their one meaningful night. Then there was Temari. No doubt the Sunakagure girl would be looking for him for their second date, and his friends he had last seen in the medcal ward made it into his mind.

All in all, Naruto was thinking over all of the people he knew and cared for, and what they all meant to him. He was so deep in thougt, he was shocked back to reality as someone grabbed his shoulder. "Well well, look who I found here. Been a long time, Naruto.". Hearing his name spoken by the voice, Naruto looked over his shoulder.