8
The shadow clones had been placed into groups of ten (another one had to be made), there were four groups with each going to focus on a different part of training. The original was going to be focusing on chakra sensing since chakra sensing was going to be using violence, the clones were going to split up and go with the Commander to different areas.
The real Naruto went with the real Anbu Commander who showed to an empty area where Naruto looked around and found nothing.
"You and I are going to be working on chakra sensing, this is the first part of detection training, you will have to rely on solely your chakra to sense where I am going to be coming at you from," explained the Commander "We'll start with my chakra out in the open, then i will begin cloaking it, the exercise is simple I will try to attack you, you must be ready to defend yourself, once you get good enough, we will use shadow clones."
"Why not shadow clones now?" asked Naruto.
"You are not good with this exercise, yet, once you get good enough, then we will work on using your nose and finally I will teach you how to detect an attack that doesn't use chakra like kunai or shuriken," said the Commander.
"Ah, Commander-Sama, I am not trying to be ungrateful or anything but why are you training me, shouldn't it be some instructors or something?" asked Naruto, with a hand on his neck.
"Naruto, to hide the fact that you are in Anbu and to explain your disappearance, me and Sarutobi decided to something unconvential, we made you my apprentice, as such no-one can question where you are without some eyebrows raised as why would they need to know, as my apprentice, I have approved you any technique you like," answered the Commander, truthfully.
"What about my duties?" asked Naruto.
"They are put on hold until training has been completed," the Commander again answered.
"Are you done?" asked the Commander, receiving a nod, he pointed several feet behind Naruto "Good go stand over there."
"Genjutsu: infinite darkness jutsu," exclaimed the Commander after doing the hand signs. Suddenly everything surrounding Naruto got placed into shadow, he couldn't see anything or anyone for that matter, it felt as though he was at the bottom of a hole, a deep dark hole.
"Get ready," ordered the Commander as Naruto took a combat ready position, "begin!"
Naruto looked around but felt nothing but soon got punched in the face.
"Naruto, mold your chakra into a sensor type, then detect where I am coming from," said the Commander's voice coming from everywhere around Naruto. Naruto decided to mold his chakra but could only feel something in the few feet around him.
He then got hit in the face again.
-With the Naruto clones-
Each shadow clone were working on something different 10 were working on Kenjutsu. Those 10 had been split up into groups, four of them were learning different attacks, three of them were improving foot work, and the final three were improving blocking. At times the Commander would come around, give some pointers on the different subjects such as where to place his foot, how to block better and such.
With taijutsu, the Narutos were practising katas, the commander would from time to time, changing footwork and how far the hand were.
Ten shadow clones were working on chakra control, more specifically waterfall walking. In this exercise the clones had to walk up a water fall. This is considered one of the most difficult chakra exercises and should improve Naruto's chakra control to a level where he can do genjutsu because when one water walks, one has to change chakra somewhat constantly but on waterfall walking the change is extremely quick meaning you will have to be able to change the amount of chakra rather quickly.
One of the Naruto clones fell into the water fall and then tried again. The Commander just watched them. The point of this training was to get Naruto to Anbu Captain level, by improving every part of Naruto. With Naruto's hard working attitude it shouldn't be too difficult to get him to Anbu Captain lavel, as he already has the reserves.
And the final ten were working on silent killing and mastering water manipulation (to improve Naruto's chakra control, Team Ro had him do the leaf cutting and water fall stopping exercise, it helped Naruto master want manipulation) . It is not enough to know water release but to master it was extremely useful especially since water was often one of the most versatile elements out there, if any one wanted an example, all one had to do was look at Tobirama Senju.
-With Naruto, several hours later, the sun was finally setting-
It was during the last attack of the Commander that Naruto finally properly blocked it. Naruto was littered with bruises and wounds, there were even patches and puddles of blood hanging around the forest, some big, some small, all showing the painful training Naruto was getting. But clearly it was working as his chakra sensing had improved.
"Good, now Hound, we are going to be doing this every day, it will be with a schedule I have designed, come here at eight am, and begin running through and back the forest until I arrive without chakra, I am most likely going to arrive at twelve, as I have many duties as the Commander so at twelve, you are allowed to take a thirty minutes break from there, we are going to do this training until you have mastered it, understood?" asked the Commander.
"yes, Commander-sama," said Naruto.
"Good, now get out of here and get some rest, and remember to master the water style: water bomb jutsu," ordered the Commander as he shunshined away and Naruto dispelled his clones receiving all the training they had done, it would still most likely still take Naruto a year to get to Anbu Captain level as these were difficult exercises.
-two weeks later-
Naruto had still not mastered anything but his improvement in kenjutsu and chakra control was obvious, the young Uzumaki had gotten higher on the water fall, could now sense his oppponents coming at him while masking their chakra so he had moved onto the next step, (relying on his nose, while Naruto's skills were good, they weren't that good, so of course, there was alot of violence against the poor guy), his taijutsu and Kenjutsu had improved but a lot of work was still needed.
He was still clearly not Anbu Captain level and his water manipulation was getting better. Naruto should have it mastered in a month and had learnt the jutsu the Commander had asked him to.
"Hey Hound," said the Anbu Commander as he dispelled the genjutsu and called Naruto to him, "Kakashi wants you for a C-rank mission."
"What? Why him?" asked Naruto.
"Kakashi most likely wants to get onto a better foot with you, since you are on his old team, so me and Sarutobi have decided to use the opportunity this presents us, to solidify your status as a Chunin and my apprentice as to makes sure no-one starts questioning where you've been, destroy their egos as if Kakashi is to be believed, they think of themselves as the best, " listed off the Commander, with his fingers.
"Okay but aren't I the old man's assistant?" asked Naruto.
"you are but if anyone checks the files, they will find you apprenticed to me, I want to control how that information gets out, control the inevitable backlash and make it seem as though you are working both jobs, though the official reason you are Sarutobi's assistant is to pay back your debt to Konoha for the pranks," said the Commander with a wave of his hand, to which Naruto started laughing.
"Me, paying for the pranks, yeah right," said Naruto.
"One more thing, I suggest you pick up 4 lightning style jutsu from the library, I would suggest lightning style: Earth Flash, Lightning style: thunderclap arrow, Lightning style: 4 pillar bind and lightning style: 16 pillar bind, learn them in that order, this is in order of difficulty, I don't expect you to learn all of them but learn at least the first 2, Kakashi will help you, most likely explain and show how to manipulate your chakra into lightning," explained the Commander.
"When does Kakashi want to meet with me?" asked Naruto.
"Tomorrow, he plans to give them the C-rank then, you will most likely be with them for a week or more as Genin often have to walk or are slower than most," said the Black ops head.
"Wait whose on Kakashi's team?" asked Naruto.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Sai," said the Anbu Commander, as Naruto began to groan, "good luck."
"How much of my skill do I show?" asked Naruto.
"As much as necessary for the mission," said the Anbu's finest.
"Commander-Sama, how long does it take for one to become a Captain?" asked Naruto.
"That is a difficult question to answer, the black ops choses captain based on who is ready, skill-wise, mentality-wise and if we need a captain, you are not yet captain level but you are getting there, your mentality as a shinobi has improved but you are still not captain level there either, when I believe you are ready, I will put you up on my recommendations board so when we need a captain, you might be chosen but do you really want to be a captain so soon,?" asked the Commander.
"Yes, it is the next rank right?" asked Naruto.
"Yes but you have to join a new team which you must lead, you will have to leave this team, though your bonds are strong, when you lead a new team, you might not even form bonds, often they die, you must often make difficult decisions, just ask Kakashi and Tenzo what it is like being a captain," said the Commander. Naruto thought for a few moments and decided that he didn't want to be a captain just yet.
"Commander-sama, how powerful are you?" asked Naruto.
"I am the second most powerful shinobi in the Leaf behind the Lord Hokage."
Naruto realised quite a few things while talking with the Commander, one the man was quite powerful, two, Naruto doesn't want to be a captain just yet, three, his training is being put on hold, four, time to beat his old rival.