AN : Thank you to those of you who reviewed! I'll be posting pretty often due to a rather large amount of ideas bouncing around in my head.

It'll most likely slow down after about ten or fifteen chapters but I'll still post regularly. If the one-shots get enough popularity I might make a series out of it

Again, thank you so much for your kind words, follows and favorites!

Onwards and forwards.

A Test

Get up.

Run.

Don't stop until you have nothing left.

Go!

Naruto heaved himself to his feet, the echoes of his sensei whispering in his ears. Rain pounded down, filling the air with white noise. The dark of night was made almost black with the downpour.

Observe.

Analyze.

Act.

He pushed his hitai-ate up and over the crest of his forehead, tugging it secure. His hair was short but long enough to obscure his vision when damp.

Risk: Slick surroundings, mud prints, noise-awareness compromised.

Action: Distract, take to the trees

He ran forward, catching a low-hanging branch as his momentum peeked. His loose gripped swung him into the air towards higher branches.

A hand dipped into his thigh-bag, pulling out three kunai. His other hand attached three exploding tags to the handles of each weapon. Naruto slid the handle rungs onto his fingers as his feet connected with a thick upper-branch.

Springing forward, Naruto dropped one kunai into the mud beneath him. Mid-air, he crossed his fingers and summoned two clones. In a stroke of luck, thunder broke the sky, covering the tell-tale pop of summoned Kage Bunshin.

Five.

There were no instructions passed. They were clones, they knew what to do. He lost sight of them almost immediately.

Four.

Use your surroundings.

Three.

Naruto flicked a kunai into his free hand and flung it away from him. It didn't matter where it went, that one was just a decoy.

The last kunai he held onto. It was his failsafe.

Two.

The faint but familiar sound of a rasengan being powered sounded to his right.

That's at least half a mile. Perfect.

One.

The blond ninja held one hand in a half-ram sign, focusing his chakra. A massive explosion sounded behind him. Night became day for three counts before darkness descended once more.

Naruto ran on, trusting his clones to either distract his foe or create false trails. Either result was desirable.

He blinked away rain as clone-memory flooded his mind. It had dispelled approximately one and a half miles from him location.

Kunai thrown to the back of the neck.

Analyze.

Enemy type: unknown.

Executed from behind: minimize observation.

Death: separation of spinal cord.

Assumed threat level: Class B based on accuracy

Naruto angled his movement to his right, traveling diagonally. The enemy would move towards him now, assuming he would move away from him. If the enemy's movements were sharp enough, they would miss each other.

He formed the half-ram again and light reigned again for three counts. Naruto summoned two more clones, using the sound to mask the technique.

That explosion was entirely pointless.

His pursuer didn't know that, of course, and therein lied its purpose. Whether the enemy investigated the explosion or not, the seeds of doubt were planted.

One clone simply stopped moving forward, opting to leap higher into the branches. He would dispel himself if he saw anyone coming.

The other clone dashed further right, ensuring they wouldn't be caught by surprise. A smart enemy never gave straight pursuit if there was no line-of-sight.

Naruto blinked as one of his clones dispelled. It was the one that had gone left, not one of his recents.

Slowed by doton, killed by suiton.

Use of natural resources provided by environment.

Assumed jonin level technique by efficiency.

Assumed jonin level abilities through techniques.

Assumed threat level: Class S.

Naruto channeled more chakra to his legs, increasing his speed. It would do more damage to his surroundings but the enemy had his trail now.

Revise strategy.

Cannot match enemy knowledge or technique.

Improvise with surroundings.

Confrontation? Assumed fatal result.

Mission requirements: Infiltration and Information.

Naruto's thoughts spun around his head as he switched directions once again.

Mission requires escape and non-fatal conclusion.

The blonde's smile returned in full force.

Solution? Go fucking crazy.

Fingers crossed, Naruto summoned four pairs of clones plus one. The pull on his chakra was noticeable but barely a drain on his sizeable reserves.

He passed twenty pairs of tags around. They were high-end expensive ones, but cloned tags were noticeably weaker than real ones. Besides, he was learning fuuinjutsu and the practice gained from making more would be good.

His lookout clone dispelled.

Two miles.

He dispelled the second clone. There would be no need for that one now.

The clones broke off into pairs, heading different directions. The spare clone sped forward, ahead of him.

Naruto stabbed the next tree he bounded off, the tagged kunai sinking deep into the wood. He continued for another thirty seconds before triggering it.

That would be the notice for the other clones.

A buzzing filled his ears as massive amounts of wind chakra was generated from multiple directions. The sound cut off after a few seconds. This would be cutting it close.

Zzzthp!

Naruto flung himself to the next tree as a fuma-shuriken cut down the tree he was just on, as well as several others.

Just a bit further…

He dodged several more projectiles before the jutsu began.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!"

Naruto felt the force of the jutsu as it barreled behind him. Trees screamed and cracked as they were felled before the technique. It had been raining for days now, making the technique dangerous.

If there was a shortage of water, one could restrain the size of the jutsu. In a water-enriched environment, however, the Suiryudan no Jutsu gained a mind of its own. It greedily absorbed liquid like a sponge, enlarging itself to monstrous proportions.

Naruto grit his teeth as he pushed more power into his legs. The technique both favored him and made his next move infinitely more dangerous.

He absolutely could not get caught in that jutsu.

Everything blurred around him as he doubled his speed once more. His legs would need a week to fully recover from the strain, but success was paramount.

His focus devoted to avoiding the water dragon, Naruto failed to notice the kunai until it was buried in his shoulder.

He grunted as his footing stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. The weapon grated against his bone but he couldn't take it out. It was stemming blood flow and it would only weaken him.

The spare clone dispelled itself, notifying him that everything was ready.

One hundred more yards.

Muscles and chakra straining, he pushed himself even harder. Any more than this and his body tissue would begin to break down. That had happened once before and growing it back was a pain in the ass.

The roar of the Suiryudan was closer than ever before Naruto dove for the ground. There was a hole in the earth three feet wide, barely enough for him to get through.

He slid into it, coming into a small man-made cavern five foot by five foot. He slammed into the far wall, slapping his hand down on the seal in the middle of the floor.

Translucent purple flickered onto the walls, highlighting seals drawn into the cave walls. Once activated, the seals would be supported by the seal walls. They required a surface to be written on in the first place, however. Because of this reason, it was seldom used despite being one of the stronger defense seal arrays.

A roar filled his ears and shook the ground. The ceiling dirt was stripped away, leaving only the purple wall. That was all that stood between him and the coursing water monster above. The Suiryudan pushed its way passed his prison and then leapt skyward.

Silence reigned for a moment as the water left the ground.

Naruto stared upwards, the world tinted purple as the Suiryudan coalesced once again in the sky. It was at least fifty meters wide and 200 meters long.

"Oh, shit!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and pumped chakra into the seal, strengthening the walls to their maximum. Any further and the seal would overload.

That would have been bad because he would have been dead.

Helpless except in defense, Naruto watched as the massive water dragon roared and dove downward.

For what seemed hours, water pounded the walls of his improvised safe room. Chakra poured out of him, powering the walls against the savage torrent.

In reality, the attack only lasted twenty seconds.

Abruptly, there was silence. Naruto blinked as he realized the attack had spent itself. His safe room was fully submerged in water.

So powerful was the attack that it stripped away the soil above and all around him. Naruto shivered as he imagined what would have happened if he hadn't made it on time.

He noticed the water slowly draining away until there was only half a foot around him. Sauntering toward him was a tall figure.

In Sage mode, his godfather's features were disfigured and he was barely recognizable. Striding atop the water towards him, Jiraiya mimed knocking on the box.

"Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto scowled at his grinning sensei.

"I win! You can't escape! Come on out now and accept your defeat!"

"Fuck off, ero-sennin!"

"I'll break in, if I have to!"

Naruto blinked as several of his clones dispelled. A sly grin filled his features as he stared up at Jiraiya. Said ninja stared at him for a moment before straightening.

That look only ever appeared on Naruto's face in two situations.

A successful prank and when victorious in battle.

Jiraiya was soon learning that in training, Naruto very often combined those two things.

Keeping one eye on the box, he stretched his senses attempting to feel what was wrong.

He whipped his head around at Naruto.

"I can feel the misbalance…what the fuck did you do, gaki?!"

Naruto thoroughly enjoyed seeing his master dance around in confusion. At the last moment, he himself panicked before he remembered to pour his remaining chakra into the seal array. Surviving the Suiryudan had taken more out of him than he had thought.

He hoped he had enough to survive this too.

Heat.

Light.

Noise.

Thunder.

The world turned white.

Naruto scratched at his sore head, glaring at Jiraiya. "My head hurts, asshole."

The white-haired ninja glanced away dismissively. "You mess with nature; you get a beating."

His face sour, Naruto muttered mutinously under his breath. "I still won."

Jiraiya stared at him dumbfoundedly. "Gaki, had I been actually trying to kill you, you would have been dead. That was a fucking bet and you burned down two square miles of forest to win!"

Naruto shrugged.

Jiraiya slapped him on the head.

Again.

It was approximately the fifty-ninth time he had done so in the last two days since said test.

They pushed their way through the street crowd. Naruto studiously ignored his teacher and Jiraiya studiously studied every passing woman.

The two ninja eventually came to their destination, a ramen stand.

Naruto forgot his pain for a moment as he rushed to sit down, followed closely by the elder ninja. He ordered his customary fifteen bowls.

Jiraiya ordered sake which he proceeded to drink straight from the bottle.

As Naruto tucked into his fourth bowl, Jiraiya finally put the bottle down.

"Naruto."

"Ungth, genthi."

Smack. That made sixty.

"Ahem, yes, sensei?"

"You don't fuck with nature, Naruto. You just don't. You'll understand more once you gain the ability to use Sage Mode. Just trust me on this one."

"What was wrong with what I did, sensei? All I did was make lightning."

"Tell me again how you did it."

"I used wind element to fling my clones into the sky, then had them release the raiton tags next to each other in the clouds. This super charged the sky."

Naruto paused to take a bite of his ramen, swallowing before speaking this time.

"The clone that created the seal array also added an attraction seal to the box. This ensured that either way the sky got charged, it would attract to the box."

"What was the point of that, rather than let it strike at random?"

Naruto gestured towards Jiraiya with his chopsticks. "Because you like to gloat and I knew you'd come to me."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "That's not true."

"It's totally true."

"I would have never done that in real combat."

"I know, but I was betting on the fact that you'd come and gloat to me. You never miss a chance to do that to me."

Jiraiya took another swig of his alcohol, somewhat chagrined.

"Tell me something, Naruto, was the result what you expected?"

"It was even stronger and more powerful than what I expected, to be honest. I didn't think it'd be that much."

"That's my point, Naruto. That's why you don't fuck with nature. Nature has rules and order. When you mess with those, they turned to go insane. Nature senses its misbalances and will overcorrect. It will repay whatever you did to it, times a thousand to rectify itself.

Releasing those tags into the sky, it returned it tenfold. You only thought about what you were releasing up there. What you didn't think about was what was already there. It was in the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning was already happening. You cannot force or control nature, you can only guide it. That's what part of being a Sage is. Guiding nature to enhance yourself or your abilities.

Your execution and strategy were good, almost flawless. Your mistake, however, ruined the whole effect. What you should have done was guided the lightning that was already there."

"I don't know how to do that. I barely even know any raiton jutsu."

Jiraiya glared at Naruto, saying, "All the more reason why you shouldn't have used that idea. If you don't have a grasp on how an element works you sure as hell shouldn't be using it."

"But then I would have lost!" Naruto protested around his tenth ramen serving.

"Then you should have lost, dammit!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "You do realize that if you were even slightly wrong on anything you would have died?!"

"Yes?"

"You risked your life over a bet?"

"Well, the bet was to get you to retreat from just one of my attacks, right?"

"Yes, I know what the bet was, gaki."

"Did it work?"

Jiraiya stared at him in disbelief.

"You retreated from the attack. You made the mistake of using a suiton jutsu and then standing on the water. My lightning would have fried you so you retreated.

I won."

Jiraiya's eye twitched.

"You easily could have died, you dumbass."

Naruto gestured grandly at the feast in front of him. "This is the first ramen I have tasted in over a year, sensei. It was worth it."

Jiraiya's body mimed a full body seizure.

"You risked your life, pointlessly, to eat a fucking type of food?!"

Naruto sniffed down his nose at him disparagingly. "It's ramen, you lowlife. My life is but chafe in the wind compared to the wonders of ramen!"

"IT'S GLORIFIED SOUP!"

The ramen-worshiper stood, his stool clattering to the ground. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, ERO-SENNIN!"

"IT'S SOUP, SOUP, SOUUUUUP!"

Naruto pointed frantically behind his sensei. "Whoa, look at that hot babe!"

Jiraiya spun around swiftly. "Where?! Where?!"

He promptly found himself face first in the ground, Naruto's foot occupying the space his ass previously had.

"That's what you get, you disgusting filth. Never insult ramen again in my presence."

Jiraiya sprung to his feet and glared at Naruto. "Ramen? Forget ramen, you dare abuse the notion of a hot babe to distract me? That's is blasphemy!"

Naruto shrugged around his last bowl of ambrosia. "You blasphemed first."

Jiraiya considered this.

"My good student, let us agree to never blaspheme against each other again. I fear we would come to fatal blows over such things."

Naruto bowed his head, clapping his hands together. "Hai! It is agreed!"

Jiraiya retook his seat.

"We digress, let us go back to our previous discussion."

Naruto shrugged once more.

"Not much to talk about. I risked my life, I won, don't fuck with nature, I got ramen."

Smack.

"Owwwwh, sensei! You owe me another bowl for that!"

"I certainly do not!"

"Oi, jiji-san! Three more bowls for me! Make this white-haired pervert pay for it!"

Naruto would have earned himself his sixty-second smack had Jiraiya been paying attention.

Jiraiya was, in fact, paying attention to a rather generous pair of breasts that caught his eye.

As it was, Naruto got three more bowls and Jiraiya got lucky that night.

That was a long one! The idea kind of just took off for me and I couldn't stop writing!

I'm not sure how well it flows but it's three in the morning and I'm not inclined to proof read it. Sorrynotsorry.

It wasn't until after I was done writing that it occurred to me that the lightning thing was similar to what Sasuke did against Itachi.

It was not an intentional copy, I assure you.

Follow, favorite, review! Do all of them or none of them!

If you have to do one of them, please make it a review! Constructive criticism is always appreciated as are flames and roasts!

Or just tell me how much you like my story. I yuk that shit up.

Kariska out.