The next day.
The Hokage's office.
Kakashi stood before the Hokage's office. "Lord Third, all of Team 7 passed yesterday's test. They can begin taking missions."
This surprised Hiruzen Sarutobi somewhat. "Oh? All of them passed? Were they that good?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. At first, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had no teamwork whatsoever. Naruto just charged in blindly, Sakura was distracted, thinking only about Sasuke, who was somewhere else, and Sasuke tried to do everything himself without paying any attention to the others. As for Hongshi... he slept the whole time. But toward the end, Hongshi actually managed to bring them together. Their teamwork was very basic, but it was a big change from the beginning."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "Hmm. That Hongshi seems to have an unusual constitution. He took himself and Tetsukado out with an explosive tag, yet he wasn't injured at all."
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. Hongshi's speed is at the very bottom even among Genin, but his strength is tremendous, greater even than that of an ordinary Jonin. His chakra reserves and control are also excellent."
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly stood up. "Hmm... then keep observing him for a while. We'll put Team 13 on hold for now."
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, sir!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had originally planned to separate Hongshi from the team and put him with two others to form a new team, Team 13, but Kakashi's assessment of him had given him a new idea.
The training ground.
Naruto and Hongshi had agreed to train here. Naruto looked at Hongshi, who was asleep with one hand resting on a wooden post.
"(乂｀д´), you bastard! Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! Hongshi, prepare to die!"
"Aw, Naruto-kun, I want to sleep."
"Shadow Clone Thousand Consecutive Attacks!"
Countless shadow clones swarmed toward Hongshi.
"Σ(ŎдŎ )ﾉﾉ What?! Ram-Tiger-Snake-Boar, Earth Release: Hardening Technique!"
Hongshi's body instantly turned an earthy, rocky yellow. He stood motionless, letting Naruto's shadow clones attack him, only for the shadow clones to vanish from the reflected damage.
This went on for ten minutes.
Hongshi yawned, looking at the utterly exhausted Naruto before him. "Naruto-kun, don't always rely on brute force. You need to figure out your own capabilities first, like your chakra nature, chakra reserves, stamina, and so on. If you just charge in blindly, you'll easily suffer for it."
Naruto rested for quite a while. "Chakra nature?"
Hongshi said, "Yes. Your chakra nature determines which kind of ninjutsu you can use. For example, my chakra nature is earth, so I can use Earth Release."
"So that's how it is!" Naruto looked as though he had discovered a whole new world. "Then how do I find out what my chakra nature is?"
Hongshi thought for a moment, picked up a twig, and wrote five ninjutsu on the ground.
"Snake-Tiger, Earth Bullet Technique.
Ram-Horse, Fire Bullet Technique.
Dog-Rabbit, Wind Bullet Technique.
Ram-Dragon, Water Bullet Technique.
Ox-Monkey, Lightning Bullet Technique."
"Naruto-kun, these are the simplest ninjutsu from five different releases. Try them one at a time and see whether you can use them."
"(≖_≖) Hmm..."
"Don't tell me you don't even know how to form hand seals."
"(≖_≖) Maybe I don't."
It wasn't that Naruto didn't know how to form hand seals, but rather that he was extremely unpracticed and had to make them one at a time...
"Snake... Tiger, Earth Bullet Technique... (≖_≖) Nothing."
"Ram... Horse, Fire Bullet Technique... ╮(•́ω•̀)╭ This is so boring. I don't want to do this anymore."
"Σ(っ°Д°;)っ Holy shit, keep fucking going!"
"Dog... Rabbit, Wind Bullet Technique."
Naruto successfully formed an invisible ball of wind the size of a fist. It struck the tree in front of him and tore off a piece of bark.
"All right! I did it! Is my chakra wind-natured?"
Hongshi nodded. "Now that we know your nature is wind, I'll teach you a few D-rank Wind Release techniques. That way, you'll have more ways to attack when you fight Sasuke."
"Awesome! But where did you learn so many ninjutsu? You used a bunch against Kakashi-sensei, too."
"The night we went to get the Scroll of Seals, I read a scroll with lots of C-rank and D-rank ninjutsu and memorized it. I'm going to teach Sakura later, too!"
"Speaking of which, did you even read the Scroll of Seals that night? Don't tell me you fell asleep right at the start, you idiot!"
"No, while you were practicing the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, I was memorizing it. I just haven't needed to use any of it yet!"
The Scroll of Seals contained nothing but forbidden techniques. How could he use them carelessly?
Just then, Sakura's voice came from behind Naruto. "Naruto! Have you seen Sasuke come here?"
Naruto's attention immediately shifted to her. "Ah! Sakura! Come over here! Hongshi's teaching me ninjutsu!"
Next, Sakura used the same method to confirm that her chakra natures were water and earth. Her chakra control was also extremely precise, without a trace of waste.
In the original story, although Sakura had no powerful kekkei genkai, she worked extremely hard and, with her excellent aptitude, grew into a ninja who could hold her own.
Hongshi nodded. "Sakura, you're pretty good. Sasuke-kun's chakra natures are fire and lightning, so between the three of you, you have every chakra nature."
Naruto, however, was unhappy now. "What's the deal?! Why am I the only one with just one nature?!"
Hongshi looked at him calmly. "Naruto-kun, you use a little over twice as much chakra as Sakura to cast a ninjutsu. Even if you had two natures, it wouldn't necessarily improve your fighting ability. Sasuke's probably already off training with Kakashi-sensei. If you want to beat him, you'll have to rely on yourself."
After watching Hongshi fight Kakashi's clone, Sakura admired him greatly. Hearing that Sasuke had gone off to train alone with Kakashi left her feeling somewhat upset. "Kakashi-sensei is so selfish!"
Hongshi smiled. "Maybe it's because he's an Uchiha. All right, we still have a mission tomorrow. Let's train on our own today."
With that, Hongshi wrote six D-rank ninjutsu on the ground.
"Rat-Boar-Tiger, Wind Release: Wind Blade.
Rat-Boar-Tiger-Rabbit, Wind Release: Consecutive Wind Blades.
Rabbit-Dog-Ox, Water Release: Water Gun Break.
Rabbit-Dragon-Rabbit-Dog, Water Release: Water Shockwave.
Tiger-Dragon-Snake, Snake-Dragon-Tiger, Earth Release: Raising and Lowering Earth Technique.
Ox-Rabbit-Tiger, Earth Release: Rock Gauntlets.
Naruto objected. "Why does Sakura get four ninjutsu?!"
Hongshi patted Naruto on the shoulder. "If you learn these two before Sakura learns those four, I'll teach you two more."
Sakura gave a disdainful smile. "Don't cry when you lose, Naruto!"
And so the three of them each practiced their ninjutsu. In the end, Sakura learned six in total. To spur Naruto on, Hongshi taught her two additional C-rank ninjutsu.
Although Naruto had enormous chakra reserves, his chakra control was abysmal. Only after Sakura learned her sixth ninjutsu did he finally master his two.
Hongshi looked at the darkening sky. "All right, it's getting late. Let's head back to the village."
Along the way, Sakura was clearly taking an interest in Hongshi. "Hongshi-kun, you're so strong. Did you train on your own?"
"Yes. I'm on my own, so whenever I have nothing to do, I train."
Even now, Hongshi still had twenty shadow clones training in the cave, day and night without rest.
"Naruto, look at Hongshi-kun. He's nothing like you, always playing pranks!"
Caught in the crossfire, Naruto snapped, "Hey, leave me out of this!"
Hongshi laughed. "I believe Naruto-kun will surpass all the past Hokage and become the greatest ninja!"
Sakura clearly didn't believe it. "Him? He'd be lucky to become a Chunin!"
Hongshi continued, "Genin can become heroes, too!"
In their final battle, those two Genin, Naruto and Sasuke, had fought so fiercely that the heavens and earth changed color and the rivers flowed backward. They had nearly overturned the earth itself...
"Hongshi-kun, thank you for teaching me ninjutsu today. Let me treat you to ramen!"
"Oh, you really don't have to-"
"All right, ramen, ramen!"
"Naruto! I never said I was treating you!"
"Hahaha, after we finish tomorrow's mission, I'll teach you a few more tricks. Oh, Sakura, interested in learning about monstrous strength?"
The three chatted as they left.
Behind a large tree in the distance, Kakashi leaned out and murmured to himself, "So Hongshi learned his ninjutsu from the Third's scroll. But learning so many ninjutsu in such a short time... is he a genius, too?"
With that, his body vanished in a puff of smoke. He was only a shadow clone.
This shadow clone had been there since before Sakura arrived. It was just that, upon seeing Hongshi teaching Naruto ninjutsu, he had stayed out of sight and watched them quietly.