The three of them now stood on the other side of the fence, above the town. Jiraiya had a bag full of balloons.

" All right!" Naruto cheered. " It's finally time to get down to business."

" Here you go," Jiraiya offered. " Have a water balloon." He tossed it to Naruto.

" Huh?" Naruto asked as he caught it. " What the heck is this for?"

" Just think about it," Jiraiya suggested. " You saw the Jutsu I performer, right?" Naruto nodded. " And how would you describe it?"

" You sent that guy spinning like a pinwheel," Naruto described. 

" Good," Jiraiya smiled as he held up a water balloon, the water inside was moving around violently. " Spinning. There you go.

" Whoa!" Aceso gasped when the balloon popped.

" With the tree-climbing exercise, you learn to gather and maintain chakra. With the water walking exercise, you learn to release a steady amount of it," Jiraiya explained. " Both of those you've mastered, correct? With the water balloon exercise, you'll learn to create a stream of chakra, spinning it, as you so aptly put it."

" I'm supposed to create a stream of chakra?" Naruto asked.

" Don't worry," Jiraiya assured. " I'll go into more detail on how the Jutsu works once you've gotten a handle of the basics. First, gather the chakra in your hand using the tree climbing technique. Then release a steady stream of it using the walk-on-water technique. And finally, use the chakra to push and churn the water inside of the balloon."

" Wait, a second, I get it!" Naruto concluded. " So what you're aiming for, then, is to spin the water inside the balloon until it eventually pops."

" Attaboy!" Jiraiya cheered.  " You're starting to catch on quicker. OK, we'll train until the sun goes down.

" Yes, sir!" Naruto cheered.

" Aceso you are on chakra replenish duty," Jiraiya instructed.

" Yes, sir," Aceso nodded. Naruto then began to try to pop the ballon.

" Any second now!" Naruto cheered as the water in the balloon began to move. " Look the waters spinning! It's gonna be even easier than I thought to get this balloon to burst!

" Good, let me know when you've done it," Jiraiya said as he sat against a tree. " Meanwhile, I'll just get comfortable. It's time for a little break." He pulled out a bottle.

" What are you doing?" Aceso asked.

" I might as well catch a little shut-eye while I'm waiting," Jiraiya answered as he opened the bottle. " This stuff helps me sleep." He then put his head back and gulped down the liquid.

" Don't get too comfortable," Naruto warned. " This won't take long."

" Yea, yeah, ok," Jiraiya said. " You just let me know when you've figured it out."

" You wait and see!" Naruto exclaimed. " Ha! I'll have this thing down before you even close your eyes, you lazy buzzard! You going to stay awake for this Aceso?"

" Actually, I was going to see if I could find any herbs around here," Aceso answered as she pulled out a small basket.

" Don't go too far!" Naruto exclaimed as he held out the water balloon. " I'll have this down before you pick your first one!"

" Okay," Aceso said before walking away. She went a bit further, till she couldn't see them, knelt down, and began to look.

Naruto is training so hard, that he's going to need a ton of help. Especially since the Atakasi is after him if that group is truly strong. Then everyone else is going to need to get stronger to back him up as well.

BONK! 

" Ow," Aceso breathed as she rubbed her head, she then looked up to see she was under an apple tree. She looked to the side to see an apple was next to her. She grabbed it and sat down. She stared at the apple.

' Well, it's a start,' Aceso thought to herself, she got up, placed the apple down, and walked a few steps back. She didn't really have anyone to teach her, but she didn't have anyone to work with her on her rope jutsu. Aceso then focused on the apple, her eyes glowed green. She held out her hand and started to lift up the apple, she then swiped her arm, her eyes stopped glowing, and the apple hit a tree, bounced off, and smacked into her.

"Ah!" Aceso yelped as she fell back. She continued to train till the sunset was starting to set, she now sat against a tree, she was crushing up a broken mouse nail she found on the ground, into her mortar.

" Aceso!" a voice called. She looked up to see Jiraiya walking over to her. " I'm heading back into the town to continue my research, Naruto is hanging back to continue training. Are you coming back to town?"

" Sure," Aceso agreed as she stood up. " But I'm going to just work on making medicine."

" Good," Jiraiya smiled. The two went back into town, Aceso now sat in her single room, in the place they were staying, she was making more medicine. 

The next morning Aceso was standing by, helping Naruto as Jiraiya was in town doing research.

" I don't have three years to waste on this jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed as he marked a tree with his knife. 

" I'm sure you'll get it sooner than that," Aceso said as she sat against a tree.

" At least you believe in me!" Naruto cheered. " Ok, here we go, Naruto! You're gonna nail this thing today!" Aceso pulled out sketches of Lee's damaged spine on a piece of paper, and her progress with the surgery as Naruto continued to reach his goal.

" What do I gotta do?" Naruto asked in frustration.

" Do you need to use up all your chakra and use the other chakra to do it?" Aceso asked.

" No, this has to come from my own chakra," Naruto answered. " My own strength."

"Hm," Aceso thought.

That night it was a full moon, Aceso was looking out the window, holding her flower. She started to wonder how Sakura and Ino were going, and how the village was coming along. A gust came through, taking off some of the petals, Aceso reached out her hand, but it was too late, the petals were already in the air. The petal flew all over, before entering a hospital room and settled on top of someone's face.

" What the?" Lee asked as he opened his eyes. He picked the flower off his face and examined it. He panicked and looked over to the flower at the side of his bed to see all the petals were there, then looked back at the one in his hand. He then looked up to see that the moon was full tonight. 

****

The next morning Aceso was making more medicine as Naruto trained.

" Gimme a break!" Naruto growled in frustration. " It's been three days and nothing! It stretches but it won't burst! Rotating to the left doesn't make any difference! That dang Pervy Sage knows something I don't. But what?"

" Maybe you have to try a different way to get it to burst," Aceso suggested.

" What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

" Well with summoning jutsu, you had to do it a certain way," Aceso recalled. " But since this is all about focusing your chakra, maybe you need to add your own style to it."

" You think so?" Naruto asked. " How do I add my own style to it?"

" I'm sure it'll come to you," Aceso answered.

****

For a few days, it has been nothing but training for Naruto and Aceso, and research for Jiraiya. One morning Aceso and Naruto were down in the dining area grabbing some breakfast.

" Ok, gotta build up my strength," Naruto said as he grabbed his chopped sticks and the rice bowl, the chopsticks fell right out of his hand.

" Everything alright?" Aceso asked as she looked at his shaking hands. She put her chopsticks down, holding out her hands. 

" I'm not sure," Naruto said as he brought his hands closer to his face. His whole body was shaking, he picked up the chopsticks again and they fell right out of his hand. " Come on!" He was quite frustrated. " Great!" He used his hand and shoved rice in his mouth. " Now I'm having a nervous breakdown. That's all I need."

" Maybe you need more rest?" Aceso suggested as Naruto finally gave her his hands, and she started to heal them. 

" No, I need to train more," Naruto corrected as he pulled his hands away. " I must get stronger! I have to get stronger!"

" Right, " Aceso breathed. After eating Aceso went to grab a few things, she wanted to look at some of the shops instead of training. When she got to the bottom, Naruto grabbed her and she was sitting back down at a table. Jiraiya was with them. Naruto had accomplished the first step of this new Jutsu.

" Sorry about that," Jiraiya apologized to Naruto. " I've just been working day and night, you know, doing research." He then chuckled as Aceso sipped on her tea. " Looks like you did it. Good for you. I guess that little tip I gave you helped out after all." Whiskers the cat meowed at them.

" Actually, I've got him to thank," Naruto corrected as he got up and picked up the cat.

" Huh?" Aceso asked as the cat meowed, it was a white cat with brown patches. Aceso thought of Grain, that kitty had orange, black, and white fur, a tortoiseshell cat. 

" I was watching this guy play around with my balloon and I got a brilliant idea," Naruto explained. " See, he kept knocking it back and forth, which meant the water inside must be going back, and forth too, in different directions. That's when it came to me."

" And what would that be, exactly?" Jiraiya asked. 

" I thought back to when you were showing me what to do the first time," Naruto explained. " I remember how bumpy of the surface got like it was boiling. My problem was, I was making the water rotate, but in only one direction. That's why my balloon was smooth, not bumpy like yours. If it was going to burst, I had to get the water spinning in a bunch of different directions, bumping into itself. So once I finally figured that part out, the rest was easy.

" You found your own way," Aceso noted. " Nicely done, Naruto." He laughed.

" What can I say?" Naruto laughed. " I rule, huh?"

" Ok then," Jiraiya said. " You have successfully completed the first step."

" All right!" Naruto cheered as he threw his arms up and let go of the cat. Whiskers immediately ran away from him, meowing.  " Here, let me show it to you one more time. Want to see it again?"

Instead of going to the shops, Aceso was back in the forest for the beginning of the next step of Naruto's training.

" All right, then," Jiraiya began. " You ready to proceed to the second step now?"

" Yeah!" Naruto cheered. " Enough with the kid stuff. What's next? Weapons, or--"

" There you go," Jiraiya said as he tossed him a rubber ball.

" A rubber ball?" Aceso asked as she tilted her head.

" Ah, come on," Naruto groaned. " You're kidding me, right?"

" Let's see if you can pop this one," Jiraiya said as he held out another rubber ball. The air in the rubber ball moved violently before popping like a water balloon. " And let me tell you, it's a lot harder than a water balloon." Naruto then held out the ball and started to apply the technique he used on the water balloon. The air in the ball moved a little, but not enough to make it explode.

" The first element is rotation, the second is force," Jiraiya explained as he held up his fingers. " But this object is solid. There's no water inside, so it's far more difficult to exert your chakra rotation on it."

" Yeah, I can see that," Naruto noted.

" I'll leave it to you to figure out," Jiraiya said. " And in the meanwhile, I better get back to my research."

" Hey, Pervy Sage!" Naruto called out as Jiraiya headed back to the town. " Don't go away again! Come on, stay and help me with my training! Don't leave me and Aceso out here by ourselves!"

" Stop whining," Jiraiya ordered. " There's one part of this process you don't seem to understand." He looked back. " I said I'd be your teacher, not your father or your best friend. I'm not here to hold your hand. You have to do this by yourself or not at all. Stop being a child and learn how to stand on your own two feet, like a shinobi."

" All right, I will," Naruto said. " I was just hoping before you go you could just show it to me one more time."

" Pay me," Jiraiya said as he held out his hand. Naruto was not too impressed by that move.

" Get out of here, you greedy old skirt chaser!" Naruto yelled as his face turned red as he gave a thumbs down. " You're one to talk about growing up and acting like a shinobi! Why don't you act like shinobi instead of a pervy old bag of bones?" Jiraiya went back into town, Naruto trained and so did Aceso, but not what Naruto was trying to master.