The days passed, and Naruto was struggling with the second step. Aceso had to treat Naruto multiple times, he was exhausted, from this training a lot, and used a lot of ointment. It had been about four weeks now, and Aceso was now walking around the town, she looked at the medicine stand for ingredients. She was really starting to miss the Leaf Village, she didn't think she'd be gone this long, she had gotten much stronger. The surgery was now at a 66% success rate.

Aceso paid for her things and walked away from the stand. She went into another shop and looked around, it had more medical supplies such as pestles and mortars. She turned around and bumped into someone and fell on her butt.

"Ow," Aceso breathed.

" I'm sorry," The person, the voice seemed familiar. Aceso looked up just as the person was turning around. The person had sea form eyes, short red hair, dark eye lining, love written on his forehead, and no eyebrows. Her eyes went a little wide, the person was dressed differently than in the last encounter. The two stared at each other, both a little wide-eyed. Many memories ran through Aceso's head, a lot of good, but also a lot of bad.

" Gaara," Aceso said carefully. " How are you?"

" I am doing good," Gaara answered as he held out his hand.

" That's good to hear," Aceso answered as she looked at his hand, she then grabbed it and he helped her up. " What are you doing here?"

" Checking out the festival," Gaara answered. " Why are you so far from the Leaf Village?"

" Trying to find a certain someone," Aceso answered. " But we've been in this town for like a month."

" We?" Gaara asked.

" Master Jiraiya and Naruto," Aceso answered.

" Hm," Gaara breathed.

" Are you here with your siblings?" Aceso asked he nodded. He seemed gentler than the last time, even kinder.

" I'm sorry," Gaara said as they stepped out of the shop.

" Sorry for what?" Aceso asked.

" For hurting you," Gaara answered as he looked at the ground.

" No worries," Aceso answered as they passed a tea shop. " Are you busy?" She stopped walking.

" Huh?" Gaara asked.

" Want to get some tea?" Aceso asked. "Catch up?"

" Sure," Gaara agreed, they went and got tea and sat in the shop, Aceso stared at her tea, slowly sipping it. He told her a few things since he returned to the sand village, and Aceso told him a few things. Afterward, they went back out, a family was passing them.

" Why can't you and your sister get along like those two?" a mother asked her kids.

" Cause she's annoying," the little boy asked. Aceso and Gaara looked at each other and then at the family.

" Tell me, how do you and your sister get along?" the mother asked the two.

" Oh-" Aceso began.

" By becoming friends as well," Gaara answered.

" Huh?" Aceso gasped softly as she looked up at him.

" We are going to work on your friendship skills," the mother said as the family walked away.

" You seemed surprised by my answer," Gaara pointed out as he looked at her.

" That's because I am," Aceso confirmed. " I thought we weren't friends."

" Can we be friends?" Gaara asked.

" Absolutely," Aceso smiled. " For real this time?" He nodded, and she smiled more. " By the way, I don't think that's how siblings work."

" I don't care," Gaara grunted. 

" You sound like Naruto," Aceso pointed out.

" I learned about strength from him," Gaara said. Then there was a breeze and a flower petal landed flew past Aceso's eye level and continued on going up. Aceso looked to see the flower petals dancing in the light of the full moon. 

" Something wrong?" Gaara asked.

" Hm?" She asked as she looked at him.

" You seem quite upset by the full moon," Gaara noticed.

" I just didn't expect to e gone for two full moons," Aceso answered as she looked at it again. " I've been away from the hospital for way too long."

" Missing your village?" Gaara asked.

" Definitely," Aceso answered as she took out her flower, the petals were wilting, and one of the petals fell off and onto her hand. There was no way the flower she gave Lee was still standing.

" Why do you still have it?" Gaara asked as the wind came by and picked it up.

" Lee gave it to me," Aceso answered as she watched it fly away. " Actually Gai-sensei did, but it's from Lee." Gaara smiled.

" There you are Gaara!" a voice exclaimed, they looked to see Kankuro and Temari running up. " Aceso!" He ran and scooped her up in a hug.

"How are you two?" Aceso gasped as she was being squeezed.

" My leg is doing better," Temari answered as Kankuro put her down. " You practically almost pulled one out with your rope Jutsu."

" I'm sorry," Aceso apologized.

" It's in the past," Kankuro said. " Come on Gaara, it's getting late."

" Good seeing you three," Aceso said, they then turned to leave.

" Since we are allies...if you ever need anything, just send a message," Temari said as she looked back at her.

" You three do the same," Aceso countered. They left and Aceso went back to the place and Naruto met her at the door, he was shaking badly. They went up to his room and Aceso started to treat him, putting bandages on his arms. Jiraiya walked as Aceso was finishing up, Naruto was still shaking.

 " How is he?" Jiraiya asked. 

" Hanging in there," Aceso answered. " This pain is going to last him a couple of days."

" Hm," Jiraiya breathed as he looked down at Naruto. " You can go to bed now." She nodded and went to her room, she sat on the windowsill, staring at the moon.

*****

Over in the leaf village, a flower petal flew into the same room, this time Lee was awake, he watched it float before landing on the bed. He looked at the flower on the table, two petals were left and they were barely hanging in.

****Flashback****

Aceso was holding out a flower.

" I shall be back by the time the last petal falls," She told him

****Flashback Over****

" Where are you?" Lee asked as he looked at the moon.

********

A morning or so later,  Aceso was in the forest again, she set up a little tent, and was running through Lee's surgery once again, in the middle was a little bird, it had back problems similar to Lee's, she didn't want to perform it on an animal. But Naruto said it would be good practice, and if it goes wrong they'll have a funeral for the poor thing. She had everything set up, she started the process. About a few hours later or so Aceso finished, and she dropped to the ground from exhaustion. The tent opened and the bird chirped happily, Aceso put her hand on the bird gently, its back was completely healed, just some medicine and or a little bit more attention and it'll be fine.

" What's going on in here?" a voice asked, she looked over to see Naruto he was panting. He must have been taking a short break from his training. His headband wasn't on his forehead. 

" The surgery was a success," Aceso smiled at him.

" No way!" Naruto exclaimed as he laughed. " That means it will work on Lee."

" A bird is different from a human," Aceso panted.

" Still, this means Lee can continue his dream!" Naruto cheered. " I hope I can fight him myself one day when he's ready."

" Are you planning to fight everyone?" Aceso asked.

" How else can I prove I'm the best ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village?" Naruto asked. Aceso laughed.

" How's your training going?" Aceso asked.

  " More difficult than I would like," Naruto answered as he sat down." I made a hole, but it's not exploding as Pervy Sage did."

" Have you tried putting your own spin on it again?" Aceso asked. " I mean you didn't exactly do it how Jiraiya did with the water balloon."

" Will you come to watch me?" Naruto asked.

" Sure," Aceso agreed. " But I'm not sure how much help I would be." They took down the tent, Aceso put the bird in her basket, and they went to where Naruto was training. Multiple popped rubber balls laid all over the place.

" All right, here we go," Naruto said as he got ready. " I'm doing this, no matter what!" A rubber ball was in his hand, he put his hand over it. " Concentrate, concentrate." He closed his eyes. "Concentrate." Aceso sat against a tree, finding the bird, she put some birdseed in the basket, it was pecking at it.  Naruto put his other on top of the ball and began to concentrate really hard. The air in the ball began to get violent." This is it!" He opened his eyes and took off his hand. " Haaahh!" He began to put his hand all over the ball. As he did the ball began to glow, and his hair was flying back. And then it exploded, sending off loads of energy. He went flying back from the power, the bird start to chirp loudly, Aceso, put her arm in front of the basket, protecting the bird. Dust rose up and it stopped, Aceso saw Naruto was lying on her side, Jiraiya had stopped him.

" Naruto!" Aceso gasped as she got up and quickly went over to him. Steam was rising up from his hand, Aceso knelt beside her brother. She looked at his palm and it was burned.

" Heh, what do you know?" Naruto asked as he looked up at the sage as Aceso took out ointment for burns. " It finally popped."

" Well done," Jiraiya congratulated him. " It looks like you've mastered the second step."

" Come on, then," Naruto insisted as Acesio started to treat his hand. " Let me hear the third one."

" That'll have to wait for now," Jiraiya said. " It's time for us to meet up with Tsunade."

" Did you find out where she is?" Aceso asked.

" Tanzuka," Jiraiya answered. " We are leaving this town."

" Yeah!" Aceso cheered. As soon as they got out of the town and found Tsunade, the faster they can get back to the village.

*****
As soon as Naruto was recharged and they checked out, they were well on their way to their next destination, Aceso was still carrying the basket, that the bird was in.

" Ok, let's go!" Jiraiya declared as he pointed his finger forward. " Eh?"

"Let's go," Aceso repeated after a moment of silence.

" Are you kidding me?" Naruto asked. " Quit acting like a stupid little kid, will ya?"

" What the--why are you in such a bad mood?" Jiraiya asked.

" Well, what do you think? We're still in the middle of my training," Naruto reminded him. " You said there were three steps to learn, right?" He held up three fingers. " Well, I've only learned two of them." He held up two fingers. " Now quit holding out on me."

" Relax," Jiraiya laughed. " You can work on the third one while we're walking." He reached into his clothes.

" What? Are you serious?" Naruto asked in excitement. " Huh?" Jiraiya was blowing up a balloon. " A ballon."

 " Here," Jiraiya offered as he let the balloon float over to Naruto. " Blow this one up." He handed a pink one to Aceso, she started to do as she was told.

" Ok," Naruto breathed as he caught it. " So what's the deal? An ordinary balloon?"

" The first step you learned was rotation. The second step was power. This and final step for you to master is this," Jiraiya began to explain as Aceso handed him the balloon.

 " What do you mean by this already?" Naruto asked after staring at the balloon for a minute. Jiraiya laughed.

" It looks like I'm simply holding an ordinary balloon, doesn't it?" the sage asked.

" What do you mean, looks like?" Naruto asked. " That is all you're doing, you pervy weirdo."

" Let me try again," Jiraiya said as he looked at the balloon, Aceso put her hand in the basket, and the bird hopped onto it. She lifted her hand back up. " Over on my left this time. Let's see what's really happening inside the balloon." A ball of energy formed on his left hand. It was spinning rapidly, it was memorizing. " Take a look at that. Like a small typhoon."

" So then what you're doing in your left hand is also happening in the balloon on your right?" Aceso asked.

" That's right," Jiraiya confirmed. " What do you think? Nifty, huh? " Naruto looked at the balloon in his hand. " Now listen. In the third step you've gotta draw up 100% of what you've learned so far. And then maintain it. In other words, keeping the power and the rotation of your chakra at their maximum. First, visualize a thin membrane just inside the balloon, then compressing the chakra inside it."

" Hey, I think I get it now!" Naruto exclaimed. " Sp this stage us about keeping up the power and rotation that I learned, only this time without letting them pop open a delicate balloon!" 

" Well, you're starting to get the hang of this," Jiraiya said. " Good!" Naruto laughed.

" Wait," Naruto said as he looked confused. " Hold on a second. Why exactly am I going to all this trouble?"

" Come here," Jiraiya said, he threw the balloon back and began to walk away. " I'll show you. " He walked up to a tree. " Watch closely. After the first two steps of training, you get this." He held up his hand, palm facing the ground, chakra building up in it, taking the form of a ball shape. " Ha!" He slammed his hand into the tree, it made a perfect spiral carving on the bark.

" Whoa," Naruto and Aceso breathed.

" Then, once you've mastered the third step--" Jiraiya began as chakra built up in his hand again. "You get this!" He slammed his hand in the tree again, the light was a bit blinding. The chakra ball began going through the tree easily. He stopped and stepped away from the hole he created in the tree. " If you can keep that small typhoon the size of your palm then the energy will be unable to disperse. It will spin faster and faster, and its power will become more and more compressed." The energy formed in his palm again. " And its destructive power will reach its max. So there you have it." Naruto looked at the balloon again. He put one balloon in his pocket and then focused on the one in his hand. He opened his eyes and began to do the hand movements. Moments the balloon popped, letting out the chakra.

" There's no cutting corners here," Jiraiya informed. " Get your power and rotation to 100%m and then maintain them. " Naruto's hands were shaking again. " I told you didn't I? This is an A-rank technique. It's a highly advanced ninjutsu, kid. Just like how Aceso's surgery on the bird was a highly advanced surgery." Aceso gasped and looked down at the creature. " That's enough explaining for today. You can practice on the road." He turned and started to walk.

" Hey, hold on a minute," Naruto protested. " Do we have to rush? Give me a chance to--"

"We've already wasted enough time," Aceso cut him off. 

" " Waiting for you to recover your strength," Jiraiya added. " There's no guarantee that Tsunade will stay in this town much longer."

" What--yeah, but---but--" Naruto stammered as Jiraiya and Aceso began walking.

" It's not like she's gonna bump into some old acquaintance and start reminiscing over the good old days," Jiraiya said.

" We need to get going Naruto," Aceso said. " The faster we find Tsunade the faster we can get back to our village."

" All right," Naruto gave in.