Chapter 36

Two months later, Karma was satisfied with his training enough to take the time to finally complete his promise to Hiruzen and train Konohamaru. Orginally, he didn't plan to do it at all because Tayuya could handle it for him, but he figured he should at least do that much. It wasn't like he disliked the old man. Other than being a little too forgiving, he was a good guy.

Aside from that, Karma was also interested in what Naruto's supposed student's capabilities were. Naruto himself was mediocre in everything other than his chakra, ridiculous strength, endurance and ingenuity. None were things that could be taught. On the other hand Karma himself excelled in agility, chakra control, genjutsu and now, he was growing better at weapon usage. These were actually things that could be taught. Well, mostly. He was good at genjutsu because of his eyes. He could also teach the kid taijutsu, he wasn't the best, but

he wasn't too far behind.

"Where should I go find the old man's grandson... probably the Sarutobi residence..." Karma spoke to himself since Tayuya wasn't there. She was still doing the job of convincing Tenten to give up whatever she wanted to do. Tenten said it was being a weapons master, but Karma had the same goal. What she did was nowhere near what he thought one should do. She simply fired shuriken and kunai from storage scrolls, though she was pretty good with a bo staff, she needed to find something else to do. He decided to check the Sarutobi residence since even if Konohamaru himself wasn't there, he would surely find the old man there.

He was met by Hiruzen at the entrance to the Sarutobi residence. "Hello, Karma! What brings you here? Are you finally going to train my grandson?"

"Yeah, old man. Could you tell him to meet me at Training Ground 12 tomorrow morning? I'll finish up my own training for the day." Karma replied.

"Oh! Have you made any progress with that technique? And what about that- what was it again; 64-slashes?" Hiruzen continued the conversation.

"Yeah, I've made progress. Though, it's only barely satisfactory. As for the Sixty Four Slashes, me and Chima found a better and faster way to perform the technique." Karma smirked. The Hyuga Clan technique was by no longer a taijutsu technique in his hands.

"Chima? Oh that's right, your sword. You really should focus on Taijutsu as well, you know. The body is just as much of a weapon as anything else." Hiruzen remarked.

"I'll get to that later, but it's not my focus right now. When I really feel like it, I'll ask Neji or Lee for some spars." Karma replied. "See you around!" He called as he left.

"That kid. Maybe after Shisui has his chance, he can be Hokage... Ah, but he doesn't have any interest in it, then I'll just leave it to Naruto." Hituzen sighed as he went back into his home.

The next day, Karma was up early at six in the morning at Training Ground 12, thinking about how he could prove his superiority by training Naruto's student. If he could make Konohamaru surpass Naruto, it would be an obvious show of his superiority. He was kind of excited.

Six hours later, Karma had torn up the Training Grounds practicing by himself. Konohamaru had yet to show up, and Karma was getting sick of waiting. Apparently Konohamaru wanted to be Hokage, like Naruto. That definitely wasn't happening, at least, not as far as Karma was concerned.

Just as Karma was about to leave, Konohamaru arrived with his two friends, Moegi and Udon. "Konohamaru Army Corps reporting for duty!" Konohamaru posed with his sidekicks. "Oh, sensei, you really tore the place up, huh? Are you gonna teach me how to do it?"

"Eh? No-" Karma started.

"Eh?! You won't? That's lame! The old man said you would make us strong, but it turns out you can't?" Konohamaru asked.

"I can definitely make you strong, but I can't teach you all my techniques." Karma answered. "Well, let's start with what you guys are good at? Your goals as a ninja, and whatever else is relevant."

"I'm going to become Hokage!" Konohamaru yelled.

"I'm going to be the prettiest Kunoichi!" Moegi yelled.

"I want to be a successful ninja." Udon stated.

"I see. Junior Hokage, climb that tree, without your hands. Run chakra to the soles of your feet." Karma instructed.

"I think I'm gonna need more instruction-" Konohamaru started.

"You'll figure it out yourself! That's how everyone in my family did it! You two, Pretty Girl, Udon, you will be sparing. Once I'm satisfied with your performance, one of you will switch with Junior Hokage. Oh by the way, when you've successfully climbed a tree, you'll be moving on to walking on water." Karma said.

"Hey, how come you only call Udon by his name?" Moegi asked.

"He has a reasonable goal, so I respect that." Karma said simply.

"What's unreasonable about mine and Konohamaru's?!" Moegi yelled.

"Ailane is and always will be the prettiest Kunoichi, so you should aim for second. Konohamaru, you were so late, I have no faith in you becoming Hokage. Even Naruto isn't late, especially if it's training." Karma silenced her. "Now, begin! You're not stopping until you drop from exhaustion and I'll drag you back tomorrow for more. This'll continue until I get bored or something."

"EH?! No way!!" Konohamaru yelled. "First of all, I'm here because the old man forced me to, so I don't have to do that!! Second of all, how are you so sure you can teach me anything?! Naruto told me about you; you don't even have a secret technique like him and Sasuke do!"

"Yeah!" Moegi agreed.

"I do now. Kind of. It's complete, but I think it can still be improved plenty." Karma said. "Besides, mine's better than theirs and if you don't want to get stronger under my tutelage, I really don't care. It's not as if I'm doing this because I want to teach you. It's just more proof I'm better than Naruto if I make you stronger than he's able to." Karma shrugged. "If you want to quit, go ahead."

"Then show us and we'll decide!!" Konohamaru commanded while pointing at Karma.

"Come to think of it, I can get my own disciple or disciple's if I want. Guess I'll just have to hope I eventually find some worthy people." Karma had a sudden epiphany and left behind a shocked Konohamaru Army Corps to go find Hana Inzuka or Tsume. If he wasn't going to leave Sasuke's mom alone, why would he leave Kiba's?

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Author's Note: I think I may have overestimated my writing ability. Publishing 2 a day makes me feel like I need to write more, so then I put unnecessary pressure on myself. It makes me struggle to come up with things to write, so I'm going back to 1 chapter a day. I want to be able to constantly improve my quality of writing through experience, not reduce it because I put unneeded pressure on myself for no reason.