Strongest Shinobi

It had been a few days since Danzo had received the order to disband the Root. Izana had greatly enjoyed the peaceful days coming in its wake as the village seemed to return to normal. The civilians were less hostile to the Uchiha, while the Uchiha were more focussed on training than on rude remarks towards them. As time passed, the ones who were rebuking or cursing the Uchiha were stopping, as no reaction came from it.

Izana couldn't help but smile a little as the whole situation surrounding the Uchiha finally seemed to let up.

Entering the training ground at his own house, Izana could see Sasuke vigorously training, while Naruto looked on from the side. The two had become a bit closer and had agreed to train together. Naruto didn't do so well with the ninjutsu techniques so Sasuke had proposed they train together.

Naruto was all too happy to agree and like that the two of them were becoming friends.

"Sasuke, Naruto, how are you doing? Is the training going well?" Izana said as greeting as the two ran towards him.

"Izana! Father has started to teach me the Great fire ball jutsu. He even spends a bit more time with me to oversee my training." Sasuke happily replied as he demonstrated what he could already do concerning the Great fire ball jutsu.

Forming the hang signs, Sasuke took a deep breath as he activated the technique. A middle sized ball of fire came from his mouth with a acceptable level of heat radiating from it. The fire ball was a big as a brown bear, but it wasn't even near half of the acceptable size.

Still, it was a good try for an Uchiha who hadn't used it a lot.

"It is more than decent for someone with your chakra pool, Sasuke. You should train a bit more in your chakra control and try to increase it little by little. The technique should be easier to execute when your chakra control becomes more refined."

Izana said as he patted Sasuke on the head in praise.

"I will!"

Sasuke said as he sat down to begin circulating his chakra to increase it and refine his control.

"What about you Naruto?"

Naruto smiled widely, though a bit of worry was also visible.

"My taijutsu has improved, but Iruka-sensei has told us we need to be able to use the clone jutsu to graduate and I'm not good at it."

"How about you show it to me, maybe I can figure out what is going wrong."

Naruto nodded at Izana's words as he used the needed hand signs. A puff of smoke appeared beside Naruto as a pale looking fragile clone slumped down on the floor. As soon as it appeared it took only a second for it to disappear again.

"See. It just poofs away and it doesn't look a lot like me at all."

Naruto said as he plopped down on the floor.

"Hmm, how good are you at your chakra control? From what I see, you should have enough chakra reserves, so te main problem should be your control, as the clone jutsu is one of the more basic techniques."

"I dunno. It kinda feels like whoosh, then flop flop and is gushes out like splash when the technique activates. I don't really get it though."

Izana facepalmed at the explanation. This kid really couldn't explain things well enough. He wondered how Naruto could be Minato's kid. Though this was probably one of Kushina's gene's at work.

"Alright. Naruto, I'm going to do something and you're going to activate your cloning jutsu while I do that."

Naruto seemed a bit confused at what Izana was getting at but still nodded.

"Step in front of me, your back turned to me."

Izana instructed as Naruto did just that. Izana placed his hands on Naruto's back as he closed his eyes and let fine strands of his chakra flow through Naruto's body.

"Now show me how you do your cloning jutsu."

Naruto nodded as he once again formed the hand signs and began to gather his chakra.

Seeing Naruto's chakra move slowly to his stomach, Izana continued to observe right up to the point of the activation.

As the clone appeared and disappeared, Izana retrieved his hands.

"Well, it is what I thought it was. Your chakra control is just not up to par. Especially with such a great amount of chakra as you have. It makes it even harder to control than normal. This is what I want you to do Naruto."

Izana grabbed a hand ful of leafs in his hands and handed a few to Naruto.

"I want you to concentrate your chakra on your skin, like this. If you do it right and control the amount flowing through, you should be able to let the leaf stick to your palm."

Izana showed Naruto, letting a bunch of leafs stick to his palms.

"What I want you to do is let leafs stick on your body on multiple places. Like your face, your hand palms, your arms and your stomach. This forces you to channel your chakra all across your body at the exact same chakra tension. Do you think you can do it?"

Izana said as he looked Naruto in the eye.

"I don't know. I'm not that good at it, but I will try."

Izana shook his head.

"Do it, or don't, there is no try. Saying you want to try doing it just makes you assume you will fail. You need to belief you can do it. Set your heart to it and practice as much as you can to perfect it."

Izana said as he patted Naruto on the shoulder.

"I will let you feel one time how your chakra needs to flow."

Izana grabbed Naruto's hand as he poured a small sliver of his chakra back into Naruto's hand. This time it was contained to only his hand and not his whole body.

"Now concentrate. Feel my chakra, feel how it moves, how much I use."

Naruto concentrated deeply as Izana performed the leaf exercise and let the leaf stick to his hand.

Retrieving his chakra, Izana let go of Naruto's hand and ruffled his hair.

"Did you get it?"

Naruto nodded, shook his head and then nodded again, though he looked a bit confused.

"I think so. I will go practice."

Naruto said as he joined Sasuke in practicing. Izana smiled at the duo sitting down besides each other as both continued to practice their own exercises.

Walking back inside towards his room, a shadow panther revealed itself as it handed a piece of paper to Izana. Feeling a special kind of chakra seal on it, Izana looked questionable at the panther.

"A civilian handed it to one of our scouts. It is address to you, Izana-sama. It was said the message was from a mutual friend."

Izana nodded as he dismissed the panther. He could feel a familiar chakra signature on the paper. Letting his chakra flow through the seal, the content was revealed. Reading it thoroughly, Izana couldn't help but smile at the good news. Burning the letter, Izana went to his room as he wrote a reply. Forming his own personal chakra seal on the paper, Izana summoned Yoru and handed it to him.

"Yoru, I trust you to deliver this to the Land of Sound. Hand it to the leader residing there. He should know for who it is as soon as he recognises the chakra signature."

Yoru nodded as he took the message and dashed outside.