Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!

Sarada opens up, speaking.

"First, you will need to learn chakra control, which is how to channel your chakra into Jutsu. You shouldn't quite be learning this yet, but you can thank your grandpa. Chakra is our inner life essence. In a way, it's like blood; without it, we'd die. In order to learn how to channel your chakra, you need to learn how the chakra network works. The chakra network is, somewhat formed like the human skeleton. It spreads down through your fingers, toes, everywhere. Although you can enhance how much chakra is in each part of your body by manipulating it, learning to manipulate chakra requires intense focus. You must be able to concentrate on nothing but your chakra network until you get the hang of it. Learning won't be easy, but in the end, it'll prove to be worth it. What you have to do first, is focus on your chakra network. I want you to weave the Tiger seal, and concentrate your chakra. Try and focus it into your hands."

Namaru nods, and weaves the Tiger seal. He closes his eyes, and zeroes his focus on his chakra network. This action, somehow, sparks something, and Namaru's entire body is completely coated in a veil of pure white chakra. Sarada gasps, and Namaru opens his eyes to see why his mother was gasping...only for the aura to disperse as soon as his eyes are open.

"What's wrong, mom? Did something bad happen?"

Sarada shakes her head vigorously.

"Nope. Nothing at all. Just, uh, go back to what you were doing."

Namaru shrugs, and picks up where he left off. Once again, the aura appears, and Sarada instructs Namaru on what to do next.

"Don't open your eyes. Now, just concentrate on your chakra, and try to focus it into your hands."

Namaru does as he's told, and finds that the assigned task is easy to do. His white aura flickers, completely disperses, then reappears tenfold on his hands. The aura is so dense, that Sarada can't even see Namaru's hands through it. Sarada thinks to herself for a second, and gives Namaru her next set of instructions.

"Now, I need you to try and reduce how much chakra you're using."

Namaru, try as he might, can't seem to do this. Suddenly, as if Namaru knew what to do, he shifted his hands into the Rat seal, and the aura dispersed. Sarada's eyes widen, and she begins to grow confused as to how Namaru knew that to do. Suddenly, Namaru's eyes open, and he weaves the same hand seals Sarada had weaved when she cast her Fire Ball Jutsu, as if he had been using the jutsu his entire life. Once he gets to the Tiger seal, he shouts:

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"

Directly after shouting, Namaru creates one of the biggest Fire Balls Sarada has ever seen from a Genin. Once Namaru completes the Jutsu, he immediately collapses. Sarada runs over to him and catches him. Namaru looks up at her and whispers.

"Did I...do that...right?"

Sarada responds with a tear in her eye.

"You did wonderful, Namaru. Let's just get you home, and we can try this again tomorrow."

"Okay..."

Namaru passes out from exhaustion, and wakes up, the next day, in his bed, with Sarada kneeling by his bedside.

"Is something wrong, mom?"

"Not at all. I was just gonna see if you were alright. You wouldn't wake up this morning, so I made sure your teacher knew you weren't going to be at school today. Looks like I made the right decision. Here it is, 4 o'clock, and you're just now waking up."

Namaru interrupts her.

"Are we still going to go training today like you said yesterday?"

Sarada seems a litte shocked that Namaru is so eager to continue training.

"I, personally, wouldn't, but if you're actually feeling up to it, sure."

Suddenly, Inaga burst through the door, worried.

"Is he alright? I hurried here as fast as I could from the Land of Rice Paddies."

Sarada looks at him hurriedly looked at Inaga, and assures him.

"Namaru is just fine. He just woke up, actually."

Inaga looks relieved.

"Good. I'm you're okay, little man."

Namaru gives Inaga a bummed look.

"Could you not call me that? Only dad calls me that."

Inagan shrugs as he teases Namaru.

"But dad is hardly ever here, bud. Someone's gotta fill his shoes."

Inaga heard a voice behind him.

"-And it definitely won't be you."

Inaga jumps, frightened, and sees Sasuke standing before him. Sasuke continues his thought.

"If anyone is filling Shirane's shoes while he's out, it definitely won't be a Genin, especially a child. I don't care if you graduated the academy early. I'll be the one filling Shirane's shoes while he isn't here."

Inaga pipes off.

"And what about when you aren't here, either?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes.

"Then your mother will fill both places. You don't have any right walking around this house, giving any orders until you're an adult, a Jonin, and the house is yours."

Sasuke looks at Namaru, leaving Inaga speechless.

"Good. He's awake."

Sasuke, then, disappears, and Sarada looks at Namaru.

"You ready?"

Namaru goes to move his covers, and Sarada stops him.

"I didn't mean immediately. You aren't decent. I had your Grandma take a look at you to make sure there were no injuries."

Namaru looks under his covers to find that he's completely naked, and quickly covers himself back up with fear-filled eyes, and looks at Sarada.

"Okay, well, I'm going to get dressed. If you guys could please leave me to do that privately, that would be VERY greatly appreciated."

Sarada chuckles, stands up, and ushers Inaga out of the room. As she's leaving, then closes the door behind her. Namaru quickly stands up, and makes himself decent before someone else walks in. As soon as he's finished getting ready, he heads downstairs and looks at Sarada.

"Now, I'm ready."

Sarada gives him a nod.

"Alright. Let's go."

Sakura is sitting at the dining table, reading. She looks up from her book to see Namaru getting ready to leave with Sarada. She decides to ask what they were up to.

"Where are you two going?"

Namaru looks over at Sakura with a response.

"We were going to go training."

Sakura's eyes become filled with rage as she looks at Sarada, and she flies off the handle.

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE! HE JUST WOKE UP FROM YESTERDAY'S EFFECTS, AND YOU'RE ALREADY WANTING TO TAKE HIM BACK OUT THERE? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HIM?!"

Namaru looks at her and responds with a monotonous tone, starting to get frustrated, himself.

"It was my idea. I want to go train so I can master the Fire Ball Jutsu."

Sakura begins to calm down a little, but is still mad as she responds.

"Trying to master the Fire Ball at 5? Are you two crazy? There's no way a kid can do that."

Suddenly, Sasuke appears behind Sakura and speaks.

"I did it when I was 5."

Sakura turns around and jumps back, screaming as Sasuke scared her.

"Also, it was my idea to have Namaru master the jutsu. Just like Sarada, Namaru is a prodigy. There's no reason he shouldn't be able to master it before he enrolls in the ninja academy in a few years. If he can't master it, he won't be allowed to enroll."

Sarada speaks up.

"Actually, Dad, I feel like he will be able to master it very easily. Yesterday, he created a Fire Ball much larger than I have ever seen from any GENIN, let alone a 5-year-old."

Sasuke looks surprised by Sarada's comment, before Sarada continued.

"But, at the same time, something weird happened. When he focused his chakra for the jutsu, he was shrouded by a pure white aura."

Sasuke's eyes widen before he responds, sounding mildly panicked.

"Namaru, come over here. Quickly."

Namaru does as he's told, and walks up to Sasuke. Sasuke, then, coats his fingertips in chakra and strikes Namaru in his 6-Tails seal. Sasuke sternly says the name of his jutsu.

"5 pronged seal."

Namaru passes out from his 6-Tails chakra being sealed even further. He falls limp in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke, very quickly, notices Namaru isn't breathing. He quickly places Namaru on the floor, and ushers Sakura over. Once Sakura kneels down next to Namaru, Sasuke speaks.

"I don't know what's going on, but he isn't breathing."

Sakura gasps and quickly gets to work. After a quick analysis, she discovers what is wrong.

"Sasuke. You sealed his primary source of chakra. I feel like the 6-Tails siphoned most of his chakra. He doesn't have enough chakra to keep himself alive, right now. You have to release the seal you placed...right now. He's still alive, but if you don't act immediately, he won't be for too much longer."

Sasuke gives Sakura a concerned look, and responds.

"I don't know the release to this seal. The first person who pops into my head, who can release it, is dead. That's Jiraiya. Naruto might be able to release it, but I don't know."

Suddenly, Naruto bursts through the door, concerned.

"Sarada called me. I left a clone in my place. What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke gives a guilty look.

"I used Orochimaru's 5 pronged seal to cut off Namaru's access to his Tailed Beast's chakra. Apparently, the Beast has been siphoning Namaru's own chakra reserves, so he is unconscious, not breathing, doesn't have enough chakra to keep himself alive, and I don't know the release to the seal."

Naruto looks at Sasuke and rolls his eyes before speaking to Sasuke.

"You saw what that seal did to me when Orochimaru used it on me. Why would you use it on a 5-year-old? He isn't even in the Academy, yet. I swear, Sasuke, sometimes you can be such an idiot."

Naruto coats his fingertips in chakra, and presses them to Sasuke's placed seal before screaming,

"5 pronged seal release."

Namaru's chakra network quickly floods with chakra again, and he wakes up a few seconds later, breathing heavily. He looks up at Naruto before speaking.

"Lord Hokage? What are you doing here?"

Naruto dismisses Namaru's question and turns to Sarada.

"You two have some unfinished training. Why don't you take Namaru out to train? Sakura, you join them, just in case. Inaga, get back to your mission. I never gave you permission to return to the village. Your mission is not yet complete. There's something I would like to talk to Sasuke about, privately."

As soon as everyone's gone Naruto turns his back to Sasuke, and begins speaking softly.

"Why would you use that jutsu on a kid, especially your own grandson?"

Sasuke tries to justify his actions.

"His Tailed Beast took over. I was trying to prevent it from happening again."

Naruto, still irritated, comes up with a quick response to what Sasuke said.

"And in the process, you nearly killed him. Maybe, next time, you'll think about using your Sharingan to see his chakra before you act impulsively, like I used to do. Sometimes, I swear, you can act like such a kid. We're in our 30's, Sasuke, almost 40's."

Sasuke looks enraged as he just stares at Naruto and begins screaming.

"I was trying to do what was best for my family; to protect them."

Naruto, somehow, keeps an aura of calm about him as he responds.

"I get that you were trying to protect your family. I don't have a problem with that. What I have a problem with, is that instead of fully thinking the situation through, you acted impulsively, and instead of protecting your family, you almost hurt them more by killing your youngest grandson."

As Sasuke's last remark he just says,

"The last thing this village needs is another Jinchuuriki,"

and disappears.

[Author's note real quick: At this current point it has been a couple months since my last upload, which I apologize for. I had a lot of life stuff to work out, plus, I hit a writer's block, and got really lazy when it came down to my book. I will continue trying to upload more frequently. Once again, sorry.]

Meanwhile, at the training grounds, Namaru is focusing his chakra to use, yet another Fire Ball.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"

Out of Namaru's mouth erupts a Fire Ball the same size as his first. Sakura and Sarada stand there absolutely dumbfounded that a child could have this much chakra. Sakura turns to Sarada and begins to speak.

"How could a child possibly have this much chakra control, let alone this much chakra, period?"

Sarada turns to her as Namaru continues training.

"I have absolutely no idea. Maybe dad would know?"

Sasuke appears behind them as if on queue and begins speaking which, at this point they're used to.

"I've watched his last couple Fire Balls. I believe, even though he was possibly unconscious during the whole ordeal, that, somehow, he remembered everything that Tailed Beast did and now has the skills the Tailed Beast utilized, more specifically, the chakra control and the power behind it, not to mention the fact that he, now, has no choice but to access his Tailed Beast's chakra. I believe with the Six Tails being from the Mist Village, he may grow more proficient with Water Style than Fire Style, but that's totally up to him. Have you tested his chakra nature yet?"

Sakura and Sarada exchange glances that give Sasuke his answer.

"I'll take that as a no."

Sasuke looks up and screams between Namaru's Fire Balls.

"Namaru, come here for a second."

Namaru, being only 5, listens to the older man that he knows absolutely nothing about, except the fact that he's the young child's grandpa. Once Namaru gets close enough for them to hear, he begins to speak not even sounding remotely exhausted.

"What's up?"

Sasuke pulls a strange piece of paper out of his pocket, and hands it down to Namaru while speaking.

"I need you to hold this for a second and focus your chakra into it."

Namaru looks confused as he responds.

"Why? What does it do?"

Sasuke begins to grow annoyed, but remembers he's dealing with a kid, and tries to keep his cool.

"Just, please. This is important to me, and does involve you, too."

Namaru gives a slight nod, and holds the strange piece of paper. He focuses his chakra into it, and the paper quickly becomes damp. Sasuke gives a sigh, and Namaru is now even more confused, but also finds what just happened to be cool, as he begins screaming.

"Woah! The paper became damp. That was cool!"

Sasuke lets out another sigh before looking down at Namaru.

"The paper's reaction shows you naturally have a Water Chakra affinity."

Sarada jumps in.

"Then how can use the Fire Ball Jutsu so proficiently?"

Sasuke gives her a swift glance.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Since his Tailed Beast has a Water Nature and he's using its chakra-"

Sasuke suddenly stops himself as he realizes something, himself, before continuing.

"That's it. His Tailed Beast's chakra nature is water. What if he was born with a natural affinity for fire, but since he barely has any of his own chakra left, his Tailed Beast's nature is shining through in the litmus test. For all we know, the thing is helping him utilize his own affinity in order to create the Fire Ball in succession using its chakra."

Sakura adds her own input.

"So what you're saying is, instead of thinking for itself, the Six Tails is helping him?"

Sasuke responds.

"Exactly. I'm, now, thinking since the entire Tailed Beast was sealed within him, he has to make room for his own chakra. Unlike in Naruto's case, where only half of the beast was initially sealed, Namaru had the entire beast sealed within him. Either that, or it knew he didn't naturally have the chakra to support his Dojutsu, so it provided its own chakra as support."

Namaru is just looking up at them all listening to their conversation, not understanding them at all. He eventually speaks up.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Sarada looks down at Namaru, before changing the subject

"That's enough training for today."

Namaru grows a little upset.

"Come on. I'm not even remotely tired. I can still keep going."

Sasuke mutters under his breath so Namaru can't hear him.

"Because of that thing, you never WILL be tired."

Sasuke disappears as Sarada and Sakura usher Namaru home. By the time they get home, it's dark, and Sarada orders Namaru to go to bed. The next day, he wakes up to go training by himself. Once he gets to the training area, he finds his father training there. He quickly hides behind a nearby tree, hoping he wasn't spotted by the training Shirane. He watches as his father weaves a long series of hand seals before he screams.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

A giant dragon made of water rises out of the lake in front of Shirane. It dances around on the sky before crashing back down into the Earth, turning the ground into mud. Shirane lowers his arms to his sides, closes his eyes, and stands there in complete silence for a short amount of time. Suddenly, he speaks.

"You can come out now, Namaru."

The ashamed young Uchiha pokes his way out from behind the tree he where he was hiding, and Shirane continues.

"Did you think I didn't know you come out here to train? Just because I'm hardly ever here doesn't mean I don't get letters from your mother."

Namaru has few words as he runs toward his father to give him a big hug.

"You're back."

Shirane smiles lightly as he replies.

"Yeah, but only for a short while. Lord Kagura gave me a couple days to be at home with you guys. While I'm here, I would like you to get in as much training as possible."

Namaru lowers his head with a quiet response.

"I guess you need to keep your strength gauged even while you're gone, huh?"

Shirane just chuckles.

"Namaru, I said I would like YOU to get in as much training as possible. I want to see how far you've come and maybe, with that awesome chakra control I've heard so much about, I could show you a couple Water Style jutsu."

Namaru's eyes light up.

"REALLY?!"

"Of course! I'd invite Inaga to train with us, but 1: he's out on a mission, and 2: He's already well versed in Water Style from when we were living in the Mist and I was there more often. He already knows about half of the Water Style jutsu that I know."

Namaru interrupts his father.

"Does he know the one you just used?"

Shirane shakes his head.

"No, he doesn't. Neither does anyone else. It's a jutsu that I created from the original Water Dragon Jutsu. In it's own right, it's like being hit with 3 Water Dragons simultaneously, which is devastating for the opponent, but is also very chakra-taxing on the user. It requires so much chakra to use, that it has been recorded as a forbidden jutsu in the Mist Village."

Namaru looks up at his father in awe at the fact that he knows a forbidden jutsu. It didn't matter to him that his father created it. What mattered to him was just the fact that it was known. Namaru looks to up his father, not just as a role model, but as a powerful ninja. Shirane looks down at Namaru, seeing the desperation in his eyes and smirks, then nods.

"Let's begin."