Naruto : Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi

At the training ground, Naruto didn't slack off even if his sister was not guiding him, especially since he got the Shadow Clone technique.

As someone who had failed the Cloning Jutsu when it was easy for most people in class already, being able to make a clone was already a significant achievement for himself.

Kiba at the side was fuming with jealousy and a competition.

'How can you use that jutsu so easily! My maa said that was B-rank ya know! She won't even let me learn it yet.' Kiba pouted as he looked at Naruto who was practicing his shurikenjutsu with a bunch of clones. He never knew people could use Shadow Clones to accelerate training either - and it seemed only people who had an extraordinary amount of chakra can use it. Kiba felt hint of jealousy at Naruto's Uzumaki heritage who was said to have vast amount of chakra.

Naruto crossed his arms in smugness.

"Hehe. Because I am talented-ttebayo! I will surpass everyone and become Hokage!" Naruto said with pride. His nose was so up high, showing off to Kiba.

'Hmph! You are just lucky! I won't let you surpass me and I am the one who will be Hokage!.'

Kiba and Naruto bantered on who would become Hokage, though Sasuke felt that was all pointless.

Sasuke at the side looked at Naruto with a hint of bitterness. It was because Sasuke felt his strength and improvements start to stagnate. He could barely keep up with Naruto's Taijutsu now. Just as he thought at least his ninjutsu was superior with his mastery over the basics jutsu, Naruto who weren't able to do a mere Clone Jutsu suddenly, over a single weekend, start to show off how he can use a B-rank Shadow Clone Jutsu, a superior technique compared to Cloning Jutsu.

Add to the fact that in spars, if it wasn't for his Sharingan copying his movement - and then training himself to be able to match Naruto's speed and reaction - Sasuke wouldn't have been able to keep himself ahead of Naruto by that one step. And that one step was because Sasuke had always used his brain more and his Sharingan let him perceive Naruto's movements.

The fact that he had to use his Sharingan at all when sparring with Naruto made Sasuke felt… weak and humiliated.

Naruto may have bigger stamina and an unnatural amount of chakra - and for him that was Naruto's inherent advantage, much like his own eyes. But that should not give him advantage in any of his movements. Naruto's taijutsu was simply from his hard-work. And Sasuke cannot accept he cannot keep up with him without his Sharingan. He felt pathetic, and he hated it.

Back in the academy, Naruto started as the class clown - almost an entire opposite of his sister, who was the class genius next to him. People mocked Naruto for always talking big and seeking attention. But now no one in class except for Sasuke was a match for Naruto. Though Naruto became much more of a loudmouth and was still as annoying if not more with his talking big and how he was going to become Hokage every single day including pestering Sakura each time he showed off how strong he was or something. His only friends was still Hinata, Kiba and maybe(?) Sasuke given they did spend time training in the same field.

For Kiba, both of them dreamed of becoming Hokage. He felt a sense of compadre with him. Seeing Naruto's strength and hard work, he wouldn't let him stepped up more than him.

As for Sasuke, he had the same sense of rivalry. But it wasn't a friendly kind nor out of respect now. But more towards a feeling of weakness and frustration, using Naruto as a kind of benchmark to not fall behind. Perhaps at first he had acknowledged him, and his presence was bearable. But now, it shifted slightly.

Being pressured by Naruto out of all people always left Sasuke with a bitter taste, and it made him push himself more and more. He needed strength for his revenge. Each time he saw Naruto's rapid improvement, Sasuke's frustration grew.

The frustration built up more whenever he saw Naruto being trained by Tsuyu, that bitter feelings amplified even more. It made him recall his own brother, Itachi. Each time he saw the pair together, it brought the memories. From the good times, that quickly turned into horror as he remembered Itachi's cruelty, killing his parents and everyone. He hated the fact that he felt jealous at Naruto more because he had his sister, who had helped him through everything. Sasuke saw just how much Tsuyu emphasized on guiding Naruto and cared for him, in her own ways - both as a Shinobi and as a person.

It made Sasuke felt lonelier deep inside… and because he was lonely in his heart, he too saw Naruto's own loneliness. But for him, that was unreasonable. In fact Sasuke hated Naruto inside for being ignorant enough to not realise and appreciate what he still had. Naruto had always had that person with him, but in Sasuke's view, Naruto never noticed it at all and was still desperate to fill that loneliness with meaningless bonds with so called 'friends'. Sasuke never understood just what was wrong with Naruto to still seek so connection with others when he still had a family.

A random sadistic thought even came to Sasuke, hoping that Tsuyu would leave Naruto eventually so Naruto would know just what true loneliness was. Only when you experience loss would you understand.

Sasuke took a deep breath and regained his focus on his own training.

I need to focus.

***

Naruto returned home after a long day, feeling super exhausted from his use of shadow clones. In fact Naruto had never felt completely tired physically due to his enourmous physical energy - but now with the shadow clones Naruto can completely use his energy efficienly and effectively each day - leading to a complete qualitative leap from quantitative improvements.

Naruto felt more spirited feeling his self improvement. How his Shuriken hits more and more accurate, as if he had drilled it a thousand times when he had only did a hundred today.

His mind returned to his sister, feeling really grateful to her. She was his support and pillar. Although the pillar was cold, she still had his back to keep him standing no matter what. Their birthday was coming again in a few weeks - they had never celebrated so far due to the day being the day where their parents died; at least that was why he assumed Tsuyu never cared. They had a lot of money now though... so Naruto planned to buy her a gift. Using his pocket money although, the money was technically Tsuyu's but it's the thought that counts.

While Tsuyu was out during the mission, Naruto managed to get a craftsman made a nice bracelet with a little gem stone on it. This girl named Ino who seemed really knowledgable about girls stuffs told him it was 'trendy', and a lot of Ino's friends all had them too.

Naruto was excited to give the present.

Tsuyu eventually came back from her mission. Naruto as always, seemed giddy to tell him about how he improved and wanted to show her.

"Tsu-chan! I can hit the target from 40 meters-ttebayo! The training method work. I feel like I threw them a thousand times yesterday!"

Tsuyu just smiled, feeling satisfied that Naruto improved. Though, she wouldn't be satisfied until Naruto catch up to her. Naturally Tsuyu gave him a beating.

Tsuyu with her big brain made Naruto's clones spar with her own clones. In the forest clearing the ANBU watching the siblings thought it was the most bizarre scene he ever watched. Seeing tens of Shadow Clones sparring with another tens of Shadow Clones. As one poofed, another one reappeared. Though Naruto's clones were beaten mercilessly and poofed more.

"Tsu-chan! Why you need to beat me too! The clones were alrea-,"

"Because it is not the same. Come at me again," Tsuyu was cold and strict as usual, not letting Naruto relax even for a second, even if the clones were working already.

After the evening of hard training, both of them were exhausted. But Naruto felt himself getting stronger each time, despite the weariness.

"Good work, nii-san." Tsuyu said in appreciation. Naruto did improve a lot, much to her satisfaction and expectation.

'Hehe… I will become Hokage-ttebayo. I won't stop working hard until I become Hokage!'

"Alright alright. Sure thing. And I guess I will have to deal with you as your assistant." Tsuyu let out a light chuckle. The thought of being a part of Konoha Council while her brother was the Hokage was... not exactly pleasant. Let just say in theoretical circumstances where Naruto was strong enough as a Shinobi he could become Hokage and did it - but the political matter involved in it would have meant hell for the advisory council weren't it...

Would she had a carefree leisurely life as she expected? Sounded like the work will all the real important would be passed onto her...

Tsuyu hoped Naruto would at least try to learn enough about non-shinobi stuffs to at least have a common sense on how the shinobi world work - since he wanted to become a politician and a village leader, and even wanting to hold a position equal to the Daimyo. But books that weren't making him any stronger were like Naruto's kryptonite and even Tsuyu's strictness wouldn't help him on this. Tsuyu just hoped in the future when he grew up he would realise he needed to learn those too and take his own initiative.

As they came back home, Tsuyu went to her room for a second before coming out with a scroll.

"Here." She threw it towards him.

'Huh?,' Naruto catch the scroll and opened it.

'This is… Tsu-chan!,' Naruto look at Tsuyu with wide eyes. His eyes filled with unhidden happiness.

The first page of the scroll was the hand seals to form a C-rank Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. It was just a motivating factor for him and so it was put on the first page.

Along with it, the scroll contained Tsuyu's plan for Naruto to work on his chakra manipulation and Ninjutsu. Due to Naruto's lack of talent for that department, Tsuyu had always emphasised more on his Taijutsu because it was a matter of efficiency - that improving Naruto's taijutsu in the same hour of training bear more result for his ability and helped Naruto having motivation from seeing results. But with the cheating Shadow Clones technique, Tsuyu had a plan in her mind for Naruto to use Ninjutsu at a good enough level.

Even the Jutsu selected required mostly Shape Transformation more instead of Nature Transformation which was more difficult - meaning Naruto would be able to use it sooner and far more effectively compared to jutsu that requires more sharpness in nature.

The plan started with Naruto's training his chakra control first. With goals listed in chronology such as climbing up and down the tree, standing and running on still water and running river surface, and only after mastery of such basics for Shinobi work would Naruto start his training on Wind Nature transformation using leaf cutting method. She got the training method Captain Kaito who was a Wind Release user. Kaito even generously offered to train Naruto in his free time along with herself since Tsuyu was already able to use Earth Release to a good degree and training on second nature to keep their cards open in any situation was always good. Tsuyu accepted the offer - not realising Danzo was getting closer and closer to her brother. Though Tsuyu wanted to have Naruto mastering the basic first before going into nature transformation, so the training with Kaito on Wind Release would be for later.

Naruto felt even more grateful to her. He had always wanted to perform cool jutsu. While Shadow Clones were powerful, there was this cool factor missing.

He already imagined himself blowing wind so powerful - Sasuke was blown up to the sky, turning into a distant twinkling star. Naruto chuckled inwardly at the image.

Just you wait Sasuke-teme! I will blow you so hard-ttebayo!

***