Chapter 3. Train hard, or train smart? Maybe both?

While Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku's Ramen stand eating his lunch he was trying to figure out what he could do to become stronger. Obviously what he had been doing up to this point wasn't working so well. He started by examining everything thing that he already knew and what he had yet to learn. "Right" thought Naruto. "What do I already know about being a ninja? Well what is a ninja? A super powerful person that knows a bunch of jutsu?" Naruto tried to think back to his academy days about what Iruka Sensei had taught them about what a ninja really was. Luckily for Naruto that was one of the classes that he was actually there for. "Now what did Iruka say? Right, a ninja is an assassin. He is a spy, a tool of the village." The more that he thought about this the more things didn't seem to line up with what he had originally thought about what a ninja was. "Oh hell!" thought Naruto. "I don't even know what a ninja is!" He thought of some of the more prominent ninjas in the village. Maito Guy, Kakashi Sensei, the Hokage, Anko, Kurenai, all of them were powerhouses. They didn't look like trained assassins. They looked like showy warriors. The thing they had in common was this though. They all had prices on their heads. They had enemies. Sure they had feared reputations, but that came with a price.

The more that Naruto dwelled on this the more disturbed he became. If there was one lesson that life had taught Naruto it was that the nail that sticks out-gets hammered. Originally he had wanted to stick out. He wanted the attention. All he wanted was for people to recognize him. Now though, he wanted something else. He wanted to enjoy life. He wanted to live long, to find love, to be strong. Sure he still wished that people would recognize him for who he was; the jailor, not the captive, but he knew that he would have to go about things differently from now on.

Instinctively he knew that by standing out, people would notice him. They would remember him. If he was going to continue with this profession and have a good shot of surviving he would need to become a true ninja. He wouldn't be the flashy powerhouse like his senseis. No. He would become the silent killer. He would become a shadow. No longer would he rush into a fight head on. A ninja was never meant to be a front line warrior. They were supposed to be the assassins. Those that came and went as the wind. He would have no enemies because no one would know who he was. He would never fight fair. He would never fight head on if he could help it. It doesn't matter how strong you are or how many flashy techniques you know, or how fierce you are in battle if all it takes to kill you is a single drop of poison.

As Naruto started to form a new view of what a ninja really was his whole perspective started to change. He started to not just ask himself what would Kakashi Sensei do in a situation, but also what would a true ninja do? It seemed so easy to idolize the ones that stand out. There were many who had forgotten the true way of the ninja. They would spend all of their time training battle techniques and neglect the simple less flashy methods.

With that in mind he hurriedly finished his lunch and ran over to the training field. He knew that his team only had a week of leave to recover from their mission to wave and he didn't want to waste a minute of it.

When he arrived at the training field his first order of business was to go through all of the techniques that he already knew and try and figure out what he could do to improve. He started out with his favorite and main technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. He quickly made ten clones and had them start to go through katas while he sat and watched them. He thought about how a true ninja would use the clones. He mentally made a list of everything that he knew about the clone jutsu and compared it with what he actually used them for. "Let's see" thought Naruto. "I can make multiple copies of myself. What else? Hmm. They can do jutsu too, just not too many or they'll run out of chakra. They get dispersed easily. One solid hit and poof." As the clones kept practicing the katas one of them slipped on the slick grass and fell face forward to the ground accidentally dispersing itself in a cloud of smoke. Naruto absently rubbed his head at the memory. "Wait a minute. My clone fell but I remembered it!" thought Naruto. His eyes widened as he finally figured out the training possibilities for his Kage Bunshin.

Almost on reflex he made the cross seal and started gathering his chakra, intent on making as many clones as possible. Right as he was about to discharge his chakra to make the clones he remembered the original plan. Old habits are hard to break. He released his hold on the jutsu and plopped back down. "Damn. This thinking things through nindo sure involved a lot of sitting down. Right, so back to the clone jutsu. So I can remember what my clones experience. Check. What else can I use them for?" Naruto wondered. Well there are the battle uses for the clones obviously, and I just figured out that they will help me train. What else are they for? What would a true ninja use clones for?"
Naruto spent the rest of that afternoon analysing all the possible uses of the techniques he had. He never realized how versatile the techniques he knew could be. So far he only knew the 3 academy jutsu and the kage bunshin but with those alone he came up with at least 2 dozen new ways to use them.
Now that he had finished analysing everything he knew the fun part would start. He was going to implement the new ways that he had come up with in using the techniques he knew and he was going to milk this village dry. No secret would be safe from him. He would have eyes everywhere.

After sitting down for so long thinking and planning Naruto was happy to be able to stand up and put the plan into action. He was almost giddy with what he was about to do. When all of this was over he would cement his image as the number one most unpredictable ninja. In his mind it was like planning a prank, albeit the most intricate and high stakes prank he's ever done before but a prank nonetheless. If there was one thing in the world that Naruto could honestly say he was good at it was pranking. He doubted that there were many full jounin in the village that could get away with some of the things that he had done. It is no ordinary feat to paint the faces on the hokage mountain in broad daylight whilst avoiding ANBU patrols. In that particular case his bright orange jumper was the perfect camouflage when timedd correctly with the midday sun.

He determinedly made the cross seal and with a giant poof there stood ten identical copies of Naruto. Each one had a specific task. Some scattered off into the other training fields to find a good hiding place and wait for someone to come and use it so he could observe their training methods. He didn't want to steal their techniques unless it was necessary, but he needed to find new things to learn, and what better way to do it.

Other clones hengied into nondescript civilians. Their mission was to go and buy notebooks. Each clone was to learn as much as it could about a clan and their techniques. They would then compile everything into the notebooks. Each clan would have it's own notebook. The last clone had a special assignment though. His was to come up with a new identity for Naruto. Something that he would assume when he needed to not be recognized. This clone would come up with a whole life. He would make new mannerisms, a new accent. Even a new personality. It had to be flawless for what he was planning.

As for the real Naruto, well he needed to train. He couldn't have his clones do everything. He had to balance all of the brain exercise with some good old fashioned physical exercise. Time for some taijutsu practice. When the week is up his team is hardly going to recognize him.