Naruto and the others climb up to the Hokage’s Tower while Naruto keeps an eye on Hinata. Once there, they get the details of their mission- a border patrol. The first step involves getting there and relieving a ninja named Dariketsu, whom Kurenai dislikes for some reason and whom the Hokage is apparently reluctant to entrust with this task.
The assignment is a politically sensitive one, as there have been a number of incidents on that border, especially because of the recent war between the Leaf and Rock villages(see Kakashi Gaiden). To ward off any possible problems, the Hokage has them patrol a few kilometers from the border, and tells them that once their assignment ends in three weeks, they will be informed of their being relieved by someone with a scroll that has a red seal.
Naruto’s desire to express his enthusiasm at this development is curbed by decorum (it seems his canonical willingness to express himself even if most wouldn’t think it appropriate might be going the way of his orange outfit), and concern over Hinata’s condition.
Team 8 leaves the village. Two hours out, they take a break, and Naruto has surprising difficulty convincing Hinata to abandon the weights on her legs; she seems more concerned about her rate of improvement than her condition at the moment.
Naruto then decides to talk to Kurenai when he gets a chance, and comments that her father should not have insisted on training her all night. When the time comes to get moving again, she’s still asleep, so he has to hoist her on his back.
Hinata wakes up, and Kurenai begins to discuss her special training with her, telling her that she must refuse anything that would compromise her ability to perform missions. Kurenai tells her that it is her responsibility as Jonin to make sure Hinata's father is aware of that, an order that Kurenai is aware will bring Hinata into conflict with her father.
Shino and Naruto, being in better condition than Hinata, spar near the inn where they’re staying, and Naruto takes the opportunity to let out his frustration concerning Hinata. Shino notices what is troubling Naruto, as well as how much chakra he has. He wonders if the latter assumption is related to the secret his father can’t discuss with him, and he seems fairly aware about the existence of a secret regarding Naruto for one of Naruto’s peers. Shino canonically played his cards close to his chest for the most part, but he didn't seem this observant.
Inside the inn, the group orders some food. Naruto jumps at the chance to have ramen, while Kurenai wants him to have nutritious food. Naruto wonders what it would be like to be part of a village in which everyone treated him with the same kindness the innkeepers do. Of course, he rules out the other Hidden villages, because 1)He would be considered a traitor, 2)There’s a risk of his new village finding out about the Fox, and 3)He would not only have to fight against those he doesn’t like, but also his friends. He thus decides he and the Leaf Village are stuck with each other, and decides that as such, becoming Hokage will be all the sweeter. This seems to be an unusually bitter perspective Naruto has toward the village.
Hinata joins Naruto, apologizing to him and telling him he was right. As they leave the inn, Kurenai informs Naruto that he looks like the innkeeper’s son, who went to Konoha to train as a ninja, but died during the Chunin Exams, and is thus pleased that Naruto did not take advantage of that kindness, lest he alienate one of the few people who would treat him as something other than a monster. I'm a bit surprised that Naruto, being as cynical as he is, took the innkeepers treating him nicely because of his resemblance to their dead son as well as he did.
Naruto’s mind goes back to how he ended up carrying Hinata, and how she wears her weights because of his influence. Naruto sees that what she’s suffering makes him feel worse than anything he would, and wonders if this is why ninja are advised to not make any friends, to avoid the pain of loss. The closest they get to this is the ideas that ninja should not have emotions, but Kakashi (at Zabuza and Haku’s graves) and Sakura (when confronting Sai in Orochimaru’s hideout), point out that living like an emotionless tool is simply not possible for ninjas.
Kurenai also seems to disagree, having urged Naruto to befriend his teammates, but Naruto begins to question that, making him wonder if Kurenai did this to manipulate him into sacrificing himself if need be, an unusually cynical perspective to take. But Naruto realizes that Kurenai was straightforward with him at Moritake’s. He also concludes that, having trained with taijutsu alongside Guy and Lee, he’s also the most likely to survive in combat, a role not unlike the tank in an MMORPG.
Naruto wonders if this is like what he will do someday as a Hokage, on a village-wide scale, as he recalls a conversation with the Third Hokage, and Naruto ultimately concludes that the possibility exists that he’s over-analyzing things. His assumption is correct; it really does seem unlike Naruto to overthink things or assume that his teachers are planning to use him as a tool and sacrifice him when necessary.
The team stops again, and Kurenaii teaches the others a water-based jutsu to gather water from their surroundings, something that is impossible unless they have a water element affinity(Kurenai, Hinata and Shino’s hasn’t been revealed, but Naruto’s affinity is for Wind- and ONLY wind). To be fair, though, this was written years before the Hidan and Kakuzu arc, in which ninjas’ elemental affinities were revealed, and with Sasuke using both fire and lightning jutsus, it didn’t seem unreasonable for ninjas to be able to do multiple types of jutsus.
Naruto’s turn comes and he uses “Suiton: Condensation” (it’s a bit odd that the jutsu name is half Gratuitous Japanese and half English). However, because he put too much chakra into his jutsu, he summons too large of a vortex of water. This, however, does somewhat miss the point of Ebisu’s chakra control lecture after the Chunin Exam preliminaries in the manga (which was released at the time, although the anime goes for a stripped-down version), which points out that using more chakra doesn’t necessarily make the jutsu more powerful.
Naruto’s teammates wonder what happened, and whether this is yet another prank, but Naruto assures them that it is not. Kurenai advises him to only use the minimum amount of chakra necessary for a jutsu while he’s still learning it, advising him about the “draining” sensation he should be feeling, but Naruto points out that it’s more like relief, like when he goes to the bathroom (an amusing, if likely unintentional, reference to the end of the Sports Festival OVA).
Naruto, on Kurenai’s suggestion, works on controlling how much chakra he puts in, and the size of the impact. Naruto ponders the Nine Tailed Fox’s interference with his chakra control, and wonders why it would do that when it imperils both their survival, although the act of suppressing the fox’s chakra seems to be largely a result of Naruto’s own seal automatically kicking in.
Hinata is amused by Naruto’s efforts, and her mood improves. When Naruto mentions he’s glad to get out of the village, she asks if he ever considers leaving, forcing him to reconsider the question he asked himself the previous day, and causing him to wonder if she’s noticed the way the villagers look at him. He ultimately answers that he’s sticking around so that he will become Hokage, and so that they won’t have to make do without him, thinking about how they might get stuck with someone like Sasuke.
The group settles in for dinner, with a rabbit that Hinata caught and a ration bar. Naruto’s quite impressed with her cooking, and offers to take up her share of other tasks if she handles cooking, much to Kurenai’s displeasure. Naruto, with an excuse about wanting to demonstrate his water jutsu to Kurenai, suggests that this is to help Hinata feel better, since cooking is one thing she feels she’s good at. Kurenai apologizes to Naruto, and it’s a nice change of pace to see her not completely in the right, even if it’s a minor issue.
Naruto concludes something is at work here, but then demonstrates his improved grasp of the water jutsu to Kurenai, and suggests that the difference between large and small amounts of chakra is why he failed to make a normal clone but could make hundreds of Shadow Clones. The difference between the two doesn’t seem to be explained, but I find this explanation implausible; Naruto could simply make a larger number of clones. Naruto expresses his frustration with the fox, and desire to get back at the fox even by jamming a kunai into his stomach, but Kurenai suggests he seek revenge by living well.
Naruto meets with Shino, and shares with him his desire to improve Hinata’s confidence. Shino reminds him that the Hyuugas are a respected clan, but Naruto counters that the Uchihas once were, which is somewhat Harsher in Hindsight given how they were isolated after Madara’s defeat and the fox’s attack in canon (which, as is standard that trope, the author didn’t know about at the time). In any case, it's a somewhat interesting contrast between the Uchihas being apparently Kicked Upstairs, kept under surveillance, and massacred on the orders of Danzo and his accomplices for the sake of the village, and with the Hyuugas being part of a Government Conspiracy.
The next morning, Kurenai teaches her students a jutsu that allows them to punch an enemy with electrical chakra, putting all of them on their second element used. Kurenai is dismayed that the Academy didn’t teach how electricity is conducted. Kurenai tells a story about a Jonin who lost to a Chunin because of this principle, but denies being the Chunin responsible, a nicesubversion of ...And That Little Girl Was Me.
Naruto gets to practice the jutsu, but ends up putting too much chakra in again, and blowing up the tree. Understandably not wanting to risk an “excessive chakra” incident that’s worse than this, Kurenai has Naruto refrain from practicing until they reach the border.
When they reach the border, they notice someone using a genjutsu. Naruto dispels it with a chakra pulse, but they learn that it’s the work of Dariketsu, who’s dismissive of Kurenai and her subordinates, but complies with his orders, ending the chapter.
The author’s note points out that Naruto is more thoughtful than in canon, which is a good bit of self-awareness on his part.
Additionally, Naruto seems to be picking up new jutsus more quickly than is plausible. Consider how he does in canon.
- Shadow Clone Jutsu: Trains all night until he’s practically exhausted, although that only requires one hand sign.
- Toad Summoning: He gets the jutsu down fairly quickly, but spends most of the month working out how to get enough chakra for a big toad.
- Rasengan: He spends about a month working on the jutsu, and at minimum, a few days, on each stage. He finally nails it perfectly during his battle with Kabuto, through a desperate improvisation.
- Wind Release: Rasenshuriken: He spends a few days on it, but the equivalent of hundreds of hours when you take his clones into account. He only gets it as a result of Kakashi’s joke involving making a clone to look left and right at the same time.
- Sage Mode: He also trains with several clones over a period of at minimum, several days(although it isn't established how much time passed between when Naruto returned to the village and Pain invaded), and gets a necessary breakthrough through another “look right and look left” inspiration moment.
Keep in mind that most of the time he jumps to mastering a jutsu, he does so as a result of a sudden bout of inspiration to enable him to overcome a critical obstacle, often brought on by his circumstances at the moment (see Rasenshuriken; he’s mastered the Rasengan for a long time and has recently mastered elemental manipulation, but now needs to do both at once). As such, he seems to be learning a bit quickly in canon. Some would call this a sign of his increased competence, or Kurenai being a better teacher; I call it a case of the author underestimating how difficult learning a jutsu is.
What I liked
- An alternative to the Land of Waves missions that tests Naruto and the others as ninjas.
What I didn’t like
- Hinata seeming too docile in the face of her father’s abuse.
- Naruto seeming too cynical and suspicious, making me wonder how he'll take it when the village warms up to him.
- The Elemental Jutsus. I understand that they didn’t go against canon as it was at the time, but they still don’t seem entirely plausible, even back then.
- Naruto picking up new jutsus more quickly than is plausible.
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