3.Training: 1

"So that's the situation, ero-sennin!" Naruto finished, crossing his arms.

Jiraiya stared at his apprentice, telescope forgotten. "Naruto..." He said, standing up.

"Yeah?" The boy responded, slightly nervous. This situation possessed bad potential.

"I'm so proud of you!" Jiraiya said, grabbing Naruto by the shoulders. "I worried that you wouldn't develop a healthy taste for peeping, but this surpasses my expectation in every way!" Jiraiya's leer turned more unpleasant. Crazed, almost. "You'll be so close, and you'll be collecting S-Class pay! Not only that, but the targets are the incredibly attractive kunoichi of foreign nations!"

Jiraiya struck a pose, arms flung out and hair majestically blowing in the wind. "They may be a little old for you, but this is your opportunity of a lifetime!"

Naruto grunted. "So, you'll cover for me?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Definitely!" Jiraiya suddenly turned serious. "Naruto. There is something else."

"I won't take pictures." Naruto said flatly.

Jiraiya sighed, and slumped over. "Well, okay." He straightened. "More seriously, though, what's your appearance going to be?"

"That I can share!" Naruto said. "Oiroke no jutsu!" He exclaimed, and was engulfed in ninja smoke.

A buxom brunette wafted it away. "So, what do you say, Jiraiya-sama?" The girl said. "Am I cute enough?"

"Hell yeah!" Jiraiya said. "I didn't think it was possible, but this appearance actually exceeds the cuteness of the blonde!"

"Oh, you're just teasing me!" Motoko said, turning away with her hands on her cheeks. "I'm not that attractive..."

"No, it's true!" Jiraiya protested. He draped an arm over her shoulder. "In fact, why don't I take you out somewhere, get something to drink? I'm sure you'll have a good time."

"Don't forget who I am... ero-sennin." Naruto responded in his real voice. He ground his heal into Jiraiya's instep, and turned and walked away. "If you want to win women over, you should live up to your self-proclaimed title 'Gallant Jiraiya'... you pervert." Motoko loftily advised him.

"Erk." Jiraiya stumbled. That was harsh. "Still..." the sannin muttered. "I can let it slide because..." He stood up straight. "This is the best inspiration of all time!" Jiraiya said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "I'll call it 'Ichaicha Espionage'!"

Sasuke was tired. Sasuke was sore. Sasuke could feel every nerve in every muscle in his body, telling him he'd gone a little too far, a little too long.

It was great. Losing himself in training, simply becoming stronger, he could forget everything. His brother. His curse seal. Nearly betraying the village.

The Godaime had decided to keep his almost-defection secret. Only a few people outside of his classmates had even learned that he'd tried to leave. She'd decided to keep it secret, even from the ANBU, to 'maintain the morale of the village.'

But she'd really done it because Naruto had asked her to.

Naruto... thinking of him, Sasuke's jaw clenched. The Battle at the End had been close. Very close. He could have won.

But he lost. To the Dead Last, the idiot, the class clown, who pulled out a jutsu greater than Chidori, and a transformation greater than the Level 2 curse seal.

That monstrous red aura showed up in his nightmares, now.

Itachi had been the only one in his nightmares.

Sasuke clenched his fists. How? How had that blonde moron gotten so strong?

How could Sasuke get that strong? How could he-

He abruptly stopped wondering when he had to swing his arms up to catch his fall. He glared over his shoulder.

A brunette, slightly older than him, with a chuunin vest. She was smiling with an incredulous eyebrow raised, and had one leg extended. "Shouldn't the genius Uchiha Sasuke have better situational awareness? You almost plowed into me."

Sasuke huffed. "I was thinking."

The girl chucked, and bent over slightly to offer a hand. Sasuke took one look at the extended hand, looked up at her, and turned away, blushing slightly.

He hauled himself to his feet. "You're pretty arrogant, to go and trip some ninja like that."

She giggled. "Making it sound like I'm not a ninja as well..." She jabbed him in the stomach with a finger. He felt a little disgusted that he responded by indignantly scrunching up.

"...people will think you don't like girls." She finished.

Sasuke turned away. "I don't care what anyone thinks." He shot back, turning to walk away.

"Saying a cool thing like that..." She responded, slightly dreamy. Sasuke held back a disgusted snort. 'Fangirls,' he thought.

"Makes me think you're lying to me." She finished, lightly. That wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Huh?" He said, turning to look at her.

"It's simple." She said, crossing her arms, incidentally forcing her breasts up and together. Sasuke scowled and looked away. "If you really didn't care, then you wouldn't say anything." She leaned forward. "So, I think you're really trying hard to maintain that cold-hearted bastard image!" Then she flicked his nose.

Sasuke scowled, reaching up to bat her hand away. "Whatever. This isn't worth my time."

"There you go again," she said with a sigh, "saying such excessively cool things. It kinda pisses me off." Then she reached out to flick his nose again.

"Would you stop that?"Sasuke growled, reaching out and grabbing her hand.

"Grabbing some girl's hand... you move fast." She said, leaning against him. "Be gentle, it's my first time."

"Gah!" Sasuke said, pushing her away. "Why are you teasing me, anyway? Don't you have something better to do?"

She smirked, an eyebrow quirking up. "You're right, I do." She turned, and started jogging away. She looked over her shoulder, and waved. "See you around, Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke snatched his hand back once he realized he was waving back.

"I see why you keep turning down Sakura now."

Oh no.

Sasuke turned, with a feeling of dread, to see Kakashi leaning against the wall behind him. He had his hands in his pockets, and his little orange book was no where to be seen.

"I hadn't thought of you as the type to like older girls, but in retrospect, it fits your character." Kakashi finished. "She seems good for you."

"It's not that." Sasuke shot back. "I don't know her, she was just being excessively familiar." He shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking home again.

Kakashi ambled along next to his student. "Maa, maa... I think she'd be a good girlfriend for you."

"It's not like that at all." Sasuke growled back.

"Still, I should make sure she's good enough for my student..." Kakashi said, exactly as if Sasuke had agreed with him. "What's her name?"

"I don't know." Sasuke bit out. "I just met her."

Kakashi sighed. "I'm a little disappointed, Sasuke... ninjas should be good at gathering information like that." The man was teasing him.

It bothered Sasuke a great deal that he really was a little disappointed that he hadn't even learned that much. But only a little.

Besides, Sasuke thought, it's not likely he'd ever run into her again.

He was a little disappointed about that, too. But only a little, he reminded himself.

Kurenai was in something of a bind. For the next month, she would have to apply her every waking moment towards getting Naruto ready for the festival. That meant she wouldn't have enough time to train her own genin team.

Being the responsible sort, she felt she should arrange for a substitute teacher for her team.

But there was only one jounin-level ninja that owed her enough favors to give up an entire month of jounin-level missions for genin-level C class work.

Kurenai hoped the experience wouldn't scar her students too badly.

"Anko, I need to ask a favor." Kurenai said.

Anko looked up from the chair she was sprawled out in, inside the jounin lounge. "Yeah?" The special jounin replied, with a bit of trepidation. Anko owed Kurenai a lot... any favor she asked for could potentially be very unpleasant, and Anko would have to agree, really. She hoped it was something cool.

"You want me to kill someone?" Anko said.

"No, no, nothing like that." Kurenai said. With Anko, beating around the bush was a bad idea. "Can you look after my genin team for a month?"

Anko stilled. "Why can't you do it?"

"That's classified." Kurenai said. It was an acceptable reason between shinobi.

Anko grunted. "Yeah, I guess. You sure you want me to?"

Kurenai smiled. "Thanks, Anko. I really do appreciate it."

"No problem." Anko said.

Kurenai walked out. It was nearly one. She'd be meeting with Naruto soon.

Anko rolled back, and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. "A genin team, huh? Shit." She sighed, remembering her genin days. "I think I need a drink."

"You seem to be taking this awfully well, Jiraiya." Tsunade said.

Jiraiya chuckled. "Sometimes, in a man's life, he has to acknowledge that his student has chances that exceed the ones he was given, and in that case, he casts aside his jealousy and happily supports his disciple." Jiraiya flung out an arm. "This is called the compassion of the master!"

Tsunade stared. "You're unbelievable." She growled. "Saying a line like that about peeping on the women's bath?"

Jiraiya frowned. "What else would I be talking about?"

Tsunade punched him out the window.

"Konnichiwa, Kurenai-sensei!" Motoko hailed, jogging up to the genjutsu master. The jounin looked up from where she was sitting, a bench next to the Hokage tower.

"Good afternoon. I was a little worried you might have picked up bad punctuality from previous instructors, but I guess not." Kurenai said, standing up. "So, how are you?" She gestured vaguely. "Walk with me."

"I'm doing great!" Motoko replied, matching stride. "I ran into Sasuke. He didn't recognize me."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Really."

Motoko pouted. "A sensei should have more faith in their student's abilities."

"But, I haven't taught you anything yet." Kurenai pointed out. "I still don't understand how you developed such a good skill at masquerading as other people."

"Oh, that one's easy!" Motoko responded lightly, sliding past a couple out on a stroll. "For the last three years, I've done all of my shopping in Henge no jutsu. I can emulate any age, either gender!" She finished by grabbing her flexed bicep. "Henge is a good skill for me!"

"Why even bother?" Kurenai said.

"Well..." Motoko said, getting quieter, "I'm not exactly the most popular person in the village. I get better deals if I'm not me."

Kurenai hadn't known that it was quite that bad. "I see."

"So, you should definitely teach me some amazing genjutsu, instead!" Motoko said, suddenly genki again. "With a sensei like you, I'll definitely reach a new level of mastery!"

"Hm." Kurenai responded. Teaching someone else the subtleties of genjutsu... it was appealing. Kurenai just hoped that Naruto was smart enough. Well, he wasn't smart enough, if Kurenai was honest with herself. She hoped he was cunning enough.

They were getting closer to a training area.

"Well, first, let's establish the basics." Kurenai said. "How much do you know about genjutsu?"

"They're illusions to trick people!" Naruto immediately replied.

"Didn't Iruka teach you anything?" Kurenai said.

"He tried, but I don't remember things so well." Naruto responded.

Kurenai bit her tongue to keep from saying 'I can tell.' Instead, she began a lecture. "Actually, there are two kinds of genjutsu, and there are two uses for genjutsu."

Making sure the other was listening closely, Kurenai began. "Genjutsu work by manipulating the inner coils of the target and deceiving them into perceiving a false reality. There are two ways to do this. You can either cast the genjutsu over an area, or you can cast the genjutsu into a person."

Kurenai stood straight, and the two were at the edge of a training ground. "Area-genjutsu can affect numerous people, but their effects are severely limited. Also, if someone suspects that they're under it, they can easily break free."

"Yeah, I was caught in one of those during the exam... it made us walk around in circles for hours!" Naruto said.

Kurenai nodded. "That's a good, basic area-genjutsu. By contrast, personal-genjutsu can only be used on one person at a time, and you have to specifically target them. On the other hand, they can have almost any effect, and most people can be hypnotized into believing it's not a genjutsu, as well. These kind are potentially lethal."

Naruto's eyes widened. "I had no idea genjutsu were so amazingly strong!"

Kurenai smiled. It was good for her ego to meet someone so easily awed.

"That brings us to the two kinds of genjutsu." Kurenai said. "Most genjutsu are used to manipulate people's perception of their surroundings to give you an advantage, either during a mission or during combat." Kurenai paused for emphasis. "However, some genjutsu can force effects on the target with auto-suggestion. It's possible to kill someone this way, but worse, this is the foundation of all mind-control kinjutsu."

Kurenai noted, with wry amusement, that Naruto (still with Motoko's appearance) had gone totally still, and was looking at her with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

"I doubt you'll be ready for those in a single month, though. We'll be concentrating on sneaking-type genjutsu, anyway." Kurenai said.

Naruto nodded, a little disappointed. "Well, those are great, too."

"Depending on how you do with this, we'll see about those other kind, later." Kurenai found herself promising.

"Really!" Naruto said. "That's great!" He cried, punching the air. It had interesting effects on Motoko's anatomy.

"Remember what kind of body you're in." Kurenai scolded.

"Sorry, sorry." Naruto said. "So, what jutsu am I learning first?"

Kurenai shook her head. "None."

"Eh?" Naruto said. "But, how am I supposed to learn, if you won't teach me jutsu?"

"First, we need to improve your chakra control." Kurenai said. "As it stands, your control is terrible, right?"

Naruto sighed. "That's what everyone says."

Kurenai nodded. "Well, to improve it, you're going to have to practice That's what we'll do for today."

"Alright!" Naruto said. "Let's get started!"

It had been a long day. First had been shuriken practice in the academy, complete with shouts of "KONOHAMARU, IF YOU AREN'T MORE CAREFUL I'LL POKE YOUR EYE OUT MYSELF!"

Then the ninja office had to assign a hunter-nin. That had run late, until past eleven.

After that, Iruka had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends that he was running low on.

So, Iruka, dog-tired, with a bag or groceries clutched in one arm, hurried home. It was just past midnight, and Iruka had to get across town to where his apartment was.

It was in that condition that Iruka found Mitarashi Anko passed out just inside an alley.

"Anko-san?" He asked, leaning over (but not too close!) as he crouched next to her.

She mumbled something unintelligible, and rolled over.

Iruka grunted. She was stone drunk.

He hesitated to leave her passed out in an alley. The nights were too cold to be sleeping outside, especially with what Anko wore.

Sighing, Iruka hefted the soused special jounin over his right shoulder, and held his groceries in his left arm. It was a little heavy, but not much for a ninja.

As he walked down the street, it suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea where she lived.

"Oh, great." Iruka muttered to himself. He couldn't just set her back down; he didn't want to just leave her somewhere after committing to her welfare. That left just one option.

Iruka would take her to his place.

"I hope this doesn't end badly." Iruka muttered to himself.

Iruka could be foolishly optimistic, sometimes.