Kakashi finishes dinner and places rice, miso soup, and grilled fish on the table before calling for Naruto.
Once they were both at the table, they began to eat, and after a moment, they said 'Thank you for the meal'.
Kakashi can't help but smile as he notices Naruto's stunned expression upon seeing food pass through his mask as if it weren't there, a genjutsu that he had mastered long before becoming a chunin.
After finishing the meal, Kakashi led Naruto out to the yard, where he demonstrated the tree walking exercise.
"The trick to this exercise is to focus a fixed amount of chakra on your feet. Too little and you slip off, too much and you damage the tree. Most people would advise you to take a run-up and mark the tree with a kunai to track your progress. However, I suggest you lie on your back and place both feet against the trunk. Gather the amount of chakra you need before standing up and attempting the climb. Do you understand?"
Naruto nodded, lying on his back and doing as instructed, continuously placing too much chakra through his feet, cracking the tree. But each attempt was better than the last.
Kakashi watched Naruto's progress for about an hour, giving hints and advising him not get frustrated, as that only makes it worse. Kakashi watches for another twenty minutes before pulling out Tobirama's training scroll and sitting on the ground, going over the scroll once more despite knowing each word on it.
Closing the scroll after a quick refresher, Kakashi once more sent out a pulse of chakra. He felt the sheer, chaotic vastness of Naruto's signature blue energy, but now, a subtle shift was taking place. A thick, viscous red was bleeding into the blue, no longer just a separate, volatile force, but a slow, churning current that was being assimilated, converted into Naruto's own vibrant energy.
'Quite the beautiful sight, and an envious one too if it didn't come with the chakra control problems.'
Kakashi chuckled internally, watching another crack web across the bark under Naruto's foot.
Focusing deeper on his own exercise, Kakashi tried to expand the area he could sense. After a few minutes of effort, he succeeded, but the information he received was below his usual sensory abilities.
'I can tell when people are at the edge of my sensory range, but I only know they're there, not how strong they are. There's a massive difference between a Chunin and an S-rank ninja, so I definitely need to keep training this.'
-1 hour later-
The long training session had clearly done wonders for his awareness, yet when Kakashi reached for that extra bit of distance, the same frustration cropped up.
Kakashi stood with a sigh, looking over to gauge Naruto's progress. A hint of a smile touched his eyes as he saw the boy halfway up the tree, his expression locked in total, gritty concentration with every step.
'He will make it to the top before the sun sets, but maybe I should stop him; he has the academy tomorrow after all.'
Kakashi debates with himself silently, but ultimately waits it out, not having the heart to stop him from completing the exercise.
As Naruto reaches the top branch, he throws his arms up happily, still vibrant and full of energy despite training for so long.
Walking over, Kakashi nods up at the excited blonde, but stays ready just in case he gets too excited and forgets the steady supply of chakra to his feet.
Thankfully, Naruto remembers that he's still standing at the top of a tree, running down the trunk a moment later with chakra and momentum.
Kakashi reaches out and snags Naruto by the back of his jacket before he can tumble into the grass, helping him right himself before they both walk into the house for a snack of a couple of fruits each.
-Time skip 6 months later-
The past six months have flown by, with training, studying, and getting to know each other better.
Initially, Kakashi struggled to teach Naruto the basic academy curriculum, but he quickly realized the issue wasn't a lack of intelligence; it was a total breakdown in Naruto's foundational knowledge. Because the previous year's material had been so confusing, the current lessons were impossible to grasp. Years of being ignored, or worse, hindered by instructors, had caused Naruto to despise studying with a passion.
With patience, persistence, and the genuine, caring mentorship the boy had never received before, Kakashi stripped everything back. He started from the first-year curriculum and worked his way up, filling in the massive gaps in Naruto's education. Progress wasn't explosive, but it was steady. Under proper guidance, Naruto blossomed, and Kakashi felt a quiet pride watching him come home with improving grades, shifting from failing marks to A's.
Kakashi didn't just stop at books; he balanced theoretical knowledge with intensive practical exercises. He honed Naruto's shuriken and kunai throwing, refined his Taijutsu, and taught him how to leverage his massive chakra reserves to break genjutsu. He polished the basics of substitution and transformation, alongside advanced survival training: recognizing enemy traps, setting his own, and eventually, how to create a "trap within a trap within a trap." Kakashi ensured Naruto learned essential, non-academic skills, including hunting, tracking, water purification, and emergency first aid, preparing him to be a true ninja.
"Agh!"
Naruto threw his hands up in frustration, not being able to create a proper clone despite completing the tree walking exercise and mastering it to a subconscious level.
"Kakashi-sensei, it still doesn't work."
Kakashi nodded, having expected as much, but having admittedly been busy enough with Naruto's other areas of training and his own Fuinjutsu training, now that he solved the sensory loss over distance issue he was having. Closing his book on seals, Kakashi stood up and led Naruto outside, demonstrating the multi-shadow clone jutsu to him, not surprised in the least bit, as Naruto managed to summon thirty clones on his first try.
Chuckling as he watched the thirty-one celebrate, Kakashi mentally reviewed the better rewards he's gotten over the months.
Increase in chakra reserves(Low kage or Quasi Kage tier)
Complete mastery of Purple Lightning and all of its variants
Movement technique- Thunder Step (Similar to Bleach's Flash Step(Shunpo)
Lightning Gun- (Self-made) A fast compressed ball of lightning shot out of the tip of his index finger. (Basically, the jutsu that the Second Mizukage used in the anime, but with lightning, and faster.) (Low A rank technique)
Wind Style, Drilling Tornado- (Self-made) (A spiral blast of wind that has the destructive capability of the second step of the Rasengan. High B rank, would be higher, but pushing more chakra destabilizes the jutsu.)
Kakashi nodded in satisfaction, not displeased at all, not even with the lower-tier rewards like Groceries, kunai, shuriken, senbon, and other such handy, but ultimately buyable things.
"Good job, Naruto. You remember the secret to the shadow clones, correct?"
All the Narutos began to think before a clone thought of the answer first, and was quickly dispelled by a punch from Kakashi, the original. The rest received the memory, and all exclaimed in realization.
"Memory!"
"And Chakra."
A lone clone spoke up, attracting the eyes of the rest.
"What? Just because you're all slow doesn't mean I am."
That clone was quickly kicked in the back of the head and dispelled.
"Ahh, that's what he meant. We get the chakra the clone doesn't use back... Or, well, the original does."
The clone responsible for kicking him realized the meaning once receiving the memory.
Another clone deadpanned.
"You could have just asked him to explain?"
"Yeah, but kicking him was much faster."
Kakashi stepped in, wanting to stop the free-for-all Naruto wrestling match before it could kick off.
"I'm glad that you're so enthusiastic, but don't start fighting. You'll rapidly dispel and give the original a headache. It'd be a lot worse if not for the fluffy friend he has in his belly."
The main Naruto nodded, having been told of his burden two months ago by Kakashi and able to process the information healthily after reassurances from his sensei that he wasn't really what the villagers spat in poorly contained whispers.
"What you need to do is dispel a few at a time with at least one-minute intervals. Or you can all close your eyes and dispel faster and in greater numbers. Doing this will lessen the strain."
The clones took Kakashi's advice and closed their eyes, dispelling in greater numbers much faster with less strain.
Kakashi reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair.
"Good job, kiddo. But I need you to promise me that you won't go too far with the shadow clones. I recognized that look once you remembered the secret to the clones."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Still can't get anything past you, sensei."
"Maybe someday, Naruto, but today isn't that day. Now I need that promise."
Naruto huffed once he realized that his flattery didn't distract him.
"Ok, ok, I promise not to use too many shadow clones when training. Happy?"
"Very. Now.... you up for some ramen?"
Kakashi got the reaction he was expecting, smiling the whole way to the ramen stand as Naruto practically dragged him while chanting 'Ichi-raku ra-men' in a terrible sing-song tone.
-Chapter end-
Keep in mind that the rewards listed are the best ones; I didn't include the standard ones like Kunai, shuriken, food, and other useful, but ultimately mundane items.
I didn't want to hear anyone complaining, 'Why didn't you reward Kakashi?' Maybe it's because I'm thinking of an appropriate reward, or I need time to invent one myself. -
jk jk, but seriously, chill, I'll make mistakes, and you're welcome to call me out on them. But please keep it respectful.