The first sound wasn't the song of an early bird or the distant murmur of the city beginning to stir; it was a sharp, firm knock on his bedroom door. A single impact, so forceful that the thin wood of the shōji screen vibrated in its frame, taking with it the last vestiges of a chaotic dream about giant ramen bowls and talking snakes.
"Brat! Get up!"
Tsunade's voice cut through the door, not like a drill, but like the growl of a bear woken up too early. There was no trace of the alcoholic slur from the previous days, but she didn't sound like the impersonal drill sergeant from his nightmares, either. There was a familiar harshness to it, an impatience that seemed aimed specifically at him.
Naruto shot up on his futon, a sudden movement that tore a dull groan from him. A sharp pain in his shoulder, a burning ember under the skin, reminded him of his injury. He turned his head toward the window, blinking. The sky was a pale gray slate.
"Grandma Tsunade?" he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. "What's wrong? Is something on fire?"
The door slid aside with a controlled but undeniable force. Tsunade's figure filled the doorway, silhouetted against the dim hallway. She wasn't holding her sake bottle; she was fully dressed, arms crossed over her chest, with an expression that, while stern, lacked the cutting edge of the past few days.
"The only fire you're going to see is the one I light under your ass if you're not in the courtyard in five minutes," her tone was blunt, but it held an almost imperceptible hint of something else. It wasn't an empty threat; it sounded more like an exasperated warning. "The bet's still on, or did you already forget?"
Naruto blinked, his brain still catching up.
"Five minutes? But it's still nighttime."
"For a shinobi, night is just a day with worse lighting. And for you, it's training time you're wasting by whining," she retorted, and for an instant, her eyes softened a fraction before hardening again. "And put on something decent. I'm not patching up that orange rag if you tear it. You're going to sweat for real today."
Without waiting for a reply, she closed the door with a firmness that wasn't quite a slam. Naruto sat there for a moment. The change was subtle, but undeniable. She was no longer the distant gambler who looked at him like an annoying insect. She was still tough, yes, but it was the toughness of an impatient teacher, not that of a stranger who couldn't care less.
A strange smile, a mix of pure terror and an electrifying thrill, slowly spread across his face.
This is new, he thought as he stood up with a sudden burst of energy. This is good.
Four and a half minutes later, Naruto burst into the inn's backyard. The morning air was cold and sharp. Shizune was already there, standing by a small wooden bench with her usual arsenal of medical supplies. She offered him a smile that seemed more genuine and less nervous than on other days.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun. I see you were on time."
"Of course I was!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his hands together to generate heat. "I wouldn't miss it for anything!"
"I'm glad," Shizune said, her gaze drifting toward the porch. "It seems Lady Tsunade woke up with… renewed energy today."
"That's great!" Naruto interrupted, his enthusiasm foolproof. "It means she's finally taking this seriously! That she actually believes I can do it! Today's the day, Shizune, I can feel it! I'm gonna get it today!"
Just then, Tsunade appeared on the porch. She was holding the red rubber ball in her hand, tossing it lazily into the air.
"Enough chatter, or your morning racket is going to make my head explode," she said, her voice cutting off the conversation. Despite the words, there was no venom in them; she sounded more like she was making a familiar complaint. With a casual motion, she tossed the ball to him. Naruto caught it on the fly.
"You know the drill," Tsunade continued, walking calmly down the steps. "Go on, surprise me."
That last phrase, spoken almost in a whisper, ignited something in Naruto. He nodded, his cheerful expression replaced by focused seriousness. He sat on the damp grass and, with a small puff of smoke, a clone appeared beside him.
The process began. The clone placed its hand over Naruto's to channel the chakra. The original focused on the rotation, trying to recreate the promising feeling from the previous afternoon. The ball vibrated, and the water inside began to churn.
"Almost... almost got it..." he muttered through gritted teeth.
But the energy was unstable. Just when it seemed about to yield, the chakra spun out of control, and the ball shot off, hitting a stone wall with a dull thud.
Naruto's clone scratched the back of its head.
"That was close."
"'Close' isn't good enough!" the original snapped, slamming his fist on the ground.
He tried again. And again. And again. Each attempt ended in frustrating failure. Frustration began to build in his chest, a hot tide of helplessness.
"You still don't get it, Naruto," Tsunade's voice came from the porch. The use of his name surprised him; he was no longer "brat." Her tone was one of pure frustration, yes, but it was the frustration of a mentor, not the disdain of a spectator. "You keep trying to force it with sheer stubbornness. You're just like..." she cut herself off, shaking her head. "Your chakra is a jackhammer. You're all brute force and zero finesse."
Naruto looked up, his face flushed.
"So what am I supposed to do? It needs power and spin!"
"No, that's not it. You're making a mess," she answered, but this time she stood up and walked purposefully toward the corner with the rocks.
She stopped in front of the largest one, a piece of gray granite.
"Watch me carefully," she said, her voice taking on an authoritative edge, but her eyes were fixed on him, making sure he was paying attention.
There was no flashy stance. She simply planted her feet, closed her fist, and for an instant, an aura of pale, almost invisible blue chakra enveloped her hand.
Then, she struck.
The sound was a deep, sharp CRACK. The rock didn't explode; it shuddered, and then, as if it were made of sugar, it crumbled into a pile of hundreds of uniformly sized pebbles.
Naruto's jaw dropped.
"Do you see now?" Tsunade said, turning to him. She dusted off her knuckles, which were perfectly unscathed. "Anyone can destroy. It takes control to take something apart piece by piece. Your strength is a hammer, but I'm going to teach you to turn it into a chisel."
She walked closer, her shadow falling over him.
"Listen closely, because I don't have the patience to repeat myself. The problem is that you're trying to do two things at once in that thick head of yours: push and spin. Those are two different commands, and your chakra doesn't know which one to obey."
Naruto frowned.
"Then how do I do it?"
"You don't do it in two steps, it's a single one," she explained, her tone blunt but undeniably instructive. "It's not a push that you add a spin to. It's a push that is a spin. Think of a corkscrew: it spins to move forward. The energy has to be born from your palm already in a spiral. Stop thinking of a storm, think of a drill."
The direct analogy clicked in Naruto's mind.
"A push that spins..." he repeated softly.
He sat down again, a new understanding shining in his eyes. He summoned his clone.
"Hey," he said to the clone. "Just keep the flow steady. I'll do the rest."
The clone nodded, infected by the new seriousness.
Naruto closed his eyes and visualized the tip of a drill forming in his palm. The clone's chakra flowed, and his own energy was born spinning. The ball vibrated, this time in a stable, centered way. The surface began to cave in. It was working.
"Hey, idiot!" his clone's voice rang out sharply. "Your wrist! You're bending it!"
Naruto's eyes snapped open. His wrist was slightly flexed.
"You're losing all the pressure at the last second!" his own copy scolded him.
"Shut up and let me focus! It's not that easy!" he retorted, but he knew the clone was right.
He straightened his wrist, aligning it perfectly. He felt the chakra flow correct itself, the "tip of the drill" becoming sharper. The rubber ball groaned, a high, tense whine, and cracks appeared on its surface.
And then, with a clean, deafening POP, it burst.
The shockwave of water drenched them completely. The clone disappeared with a smile, and the original Naruto fell backward, exhausted but euphoric.
"I did it!" he panted. "I really did it!"
Shizune ran to him.
"That was incredible, Naruto-kun!"
"Not bad," Tsunade's voice interrupted them. Naruto sat up and saw her standing there, arms crossed. There was a shadow of a smile on her lips that vanished as quickly as it appeared. "For an idiot who needs things spelled out for him."
Despite the insult, Naruto felt it was the greatest compliment she had ever given him.
"You're not done yet, not by a long shot," she said, her tone turning serious again. "That was the second step. The third is the hardest: you have to do it all by yourself, without clones. And for that," her gaze became almost protective for an instant, "you'll need more chakra than you have. A lot more. Don't blow yourself out trying."
Naruto stood up, his determination blazing.
"I can do it! I'll master it before the week is over!"
As Shizune bandaged his raw hand, her tone softened.
"You should rest. Pushing yourself harder now will only cause damage."
Seeing the urgency still burning in Naruto's eyes, Shizune began to speak quietly.
"You know... he was just like you... Nawaki."
Naruto looked at her, surprised.
"Lady Tsunade's little brother," she explained with a melancholic smile. "He had your same energy, your same stubbornness. And the same dream. One day, after failing at a jutsu, I found him frustrated. I asked him why he didn't give up. He smiled at me, with that same smile of yours, and told me, 'A dream isn't something you reach, Shizune. It's something that pushes you forward. If I give up now, the dream gives up with me.'"
Naruto was silent. He looked up at Tsunade. She still had her back to them, but her shoulders were tense. He saw the sister who had lost a dreamer, and he understood the weight she carried, too.
"Thanks, Shizune," he said quietly.
He stood up, his hand bandaged. The pain was a reminder, but the story was fuel.
"Hey, Grandma Tsunade!" he yelled with renewed energy.
She didn't turn around.
"Get ready, because this brat is about to show you a perfect Rasengan! I'm going to master this jutsu, and then I'll make you come to Konoha to watch me become Hokage! I swear it on my dream!"
Tsunade remained motionless for a long second. Then, she let out a barely audible sigh, a sound that was a mix of exasperation and something akin to affection. She shook her head slowly, a gesture that said, "this kid is incorrigible." It wasn't a surrender, but it wasn't a rejection, either. For Naruto, it was a victory as great as popping the rubber ball. The battle for the Rasengan continued, but the battle for the Sannin's heart... he felt that, finally, he was no longer fighting it alone.