Naruto: I make my own way!

How did someone like Sora became friends with Namikaze Minato? Why does Minato have such high level of trust with someone like Suzuki Sora? To answer these questions, it's imperative for us to rewind back to the first chapter and then rewind again to 5 months back in April, right after Sora's birthday.

(Four years ago, April 25th.)

Suzuki Sora, 4-years-old, was finally given permission to leave the house to play. Why does he want to play? Because he's a kid and he want to have some fun of course!

But there was a small problem with that, Sora didn't know how to socialize. He always distanced himself from others in order to not become a painful memory in the eyes of his friends.

That however has now backfired into him being unable to talk to others properly. Sora spent the whole noon searching for someone to play with, but he wasn't capable to say even the simplest thing.

Sora was about to stop all that useless searching until he heard s thud behind him. An old granny just fell and dropped her groceries.

Sora immediately ran towards the elderly woman and began to grab item after item until he was about to grab the last one, only to be snatched away by another kid who was also helping the elderly woman.

He was Namikaze Minato.

Sora was surprised by Minato's speed; he didn't expect that a kid around his age was that fast. Sora hadn't thought much about training since he was enjoying his childhood, so he really didn't get any ideas about the ninja gig until he met Minato.

"Ah, sorry." Minato apologized as he held the item, orange, in front of Sora.

"No problem. Give me a hand with the granny here." Sora said as he took the orange and placed it on a bag.

Minato and Sora carefully lifted the granny up and she smiled at them.

"Such good youngsters, have some candy." The granny took out two candies.

"Ah, I didn't do much, he did most of it." Minato gave Sora his candy.

"Well, then I'll give you one." Sora extended the other candy towards Minato.

"No, really, it's fine. I don't need a reward or anything." Minato smiled sheepishly.

"Who said this was a reward? This is simply a small gift just because today's my birthday." Sora smiled back and placed the candy in Minato's hand.

"If it's your birthday, shouldn't you keep it then?" Minato asked.

"Not really, I'll eat so much candy I might get sick." Sora laughed.

Minato fidgeted with the candy before taking the wrap off and eating it.

"Yum." Minato said unconsciously.

"Right? Candy tastes better when shared." Sora replied.

Minato felt embarrassed that he spoke out loud and blushed a little.

The granny laughed softly as she watched the interaction, making the two kids look at her in confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that the two of you remind me of two kids I met ages ago. One was straightforward and confident while the other one was more reserved and had trouble expressing himself. Regardless of that, they were both really good friends that always had the other's back." The granny explained as she took her groceries and began to walk away.

"Eh… a friend like that, I wish I had one." Minato contemplated the idea while looking at the back of the granny.

"I know, right? It seems that life would be thousands of times better with a friend like that." Sora agreed.

A friend that would always have your back, also known as a bro. That's the highest position of respect that any male friend can achieve.

"Ah, yes, I'm Sora, Suzuki Sora." Sora held his hand for a handshake.

Minato looked a bit reluctant but shook his hand.

"Minato. Namikaze Minato."

"Wanna play around the village?" Sora.

"Sure." Minato.

Both kids ran through the village while playing. It was just a simple interaction with some twists here and there, but that interaction made changes in both kids.

Minato gained some confidence and chose his path as a ninja of the hidden leaf, whereas Sora managed to finally enjoy the happiness of having a good friend.

(Back to the present, year 47)

Now, both kids stood at opposing sides, facing each other in combat for the 1st place.

There was no anger, hatred, or resentment in the eyes of either. They both wanted to fight each other for a long time without holding back. They just didn't have any reason to do that until now, well, Minato had but Sora didn't, he knew that Minato would destroy him easily.

But now, Sora felt quite confident, in this last month, coupled with his last two years of theory brought fruit. He managed to create 3 E or D-Rank jutsus that he can use. Although he can't say how good they are compared to the three basic techniques that the academy teaches, he's quite proud of himself.

"I hope you're both ready. Form the unison sign." Makoto.

Sora and Minato walked towards each other and held out their dominant hands, right hands, and formed the unison sign. Then, they both took some steps back and waited for the signal to attack.

"Now, Begin!" Makoto declared.

Both Minato and Sora rushed at each other and clashed with their forearms. Both friends clashed but Minato was quickly gaining the upper hand. Sora pushes both his arms and Minato's upward and delivers a headbutt.

But Minato used the impulse from his arms going upwards the lean back and avoid the headbutt. He also took the opportunity to use the inertia to deliver a kick to Sora's jaw. Sora couldn't move his body anywhere else but forward so, he jumped high enough to avoid the kick.

He repositioned himself mid-air and attacked Minato with a drop kick, but the blond was already with his hands on the ground and sprung himself to kick Sora's feet.

They both pushed each other back but since Minato was already on the ground, he recovered faster. He made some hand seals and various copies of Minato appeared near the area where Sora would land.

It was the E-Rank jutsu: Clone Jutsu.

(Apparently, I made a mistake. Narutopedia says that the three basic techniques that the academy teaches are actually E-Rank Ninjutsus, except for the Body Flicker Jutsu, that one's a D-Rank.)

The clones have no physical mass whatsoever, but their purpose isn't to cause damage but rather disorient the enemy.

Sora landed and is now surrounded by Minato's clones. Normally, one can tell the difference between real and fake quite easily. Since the clones have no mass, just focus on their feet and see of they're kicking the ground bellow them.

This time is a bit harder unfortunately. Minato made the clones move clockwise and he's also running among them, how does Sora know? Well, for starters, there's a good amount of dust rising from the fast running.

'Seems like I can only use "that" jutsu to counter his Body Flicker.' Sora thought.

Sora made some hand seals and closed his eyes.

Minato didn't want to let Sora use whatever jutsu he was about to use so he went to attack him with his clones. Minato sent some clones to attack Sora in order to see if he could make him waste his jutsu.

But Sora didn't move and let himself be attacked by the clones. He has a rough understanding of Minato's tactics, and he weighed that he wouldn't directly attack him on the first move, but he would send his clones instead.

Minato saw the flaw in his plan and decided to attack in synch with his clones. He went with 4 clones and all of them were attacking from different angles. Just as he was about to land an attack to Sora's head, he saw Sora's body emitting a light white hue and easily evaded each attack for only an inch.

Sora noticed the light breeze when Minato's fist grazed him and immediately delivered a back kick to shoot Minato backwards. Once the clones dispersed after contacting Sora, Minato recovered and clutched his chest.

'It wasn't that strong, but that's only because Sora's physical fitness is being limited, otherwise, that would've hurt. What was that jutsu.' Minato pondered as he noticed the white hue diminishing off Sora.

Just like him, everyone else, more carefully Hiruzen and Makoto looked intrigued at what just happened.

"Sandaime-sama, do you know what Jutsu Sora has used?" Makoto asked.

"Hm… it seems I've underestimated the talent of this kid." Hiruzen stroke his beard.

"What do you mean?" Makoto.

"The jutsu he just used could be called a variation of the Body-Flicker Jutsu, but its actually quite different from it." Hiruzen recalled the light hue coming off Sora's body.

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand." Makoto admitted shyly.

"It's okay, given the timeframe we were given its normal you can't understand it. Allow me to explain from scratch." Hiruzen.

"Yes, Sandaime-sama." Makoto paid attention.

"Usually, the jutsu works by enhancing the user's movement speed using chakra. By focusing chakra on the legs to then propel themselves at incredible speeds, covering long distances in an instant. While this is effective as a way to cover a short distance, it comes with the demerit that some ninjas' senses can't keep up with their own speed." Hiruzen explained.

"This jutsu however uses that burst of speed to engulf the whole body while also enhancing the reaction speed of one's mind. In other words, more than just the body bursting with speed, the mind is also enhancing itself with speed, allowing more control on one's actions while cancelling out the drawbacks that the Body-Flicker Jutsu has." Hiruzen finished.

"Amazing. To use such jutsu, no, to create such jutsu at such a young age is amazing." Makoto complimented.

"Indeed, it is however, it seems that there's also some drawbacks to it." Hiruzen looked at Sora.

Sora was gasping slowly for air due to the tiredness but smiled after seeing Minato fall back.

"Why does Sora look so tired? He barely activated the jutsu for five seconds." Makoto wondered.

"There are two reasons as to why." Hiruzen explained again.

"Firstly: Sora's chakra reserves are too low; he can't perform the three basic techniques due to how small his reserves are so, using such jutsu even if it was for 5 seconds is tiring for him. Secondly: Sora's body isn't strong enough to handle the technique." Hiruzen.

"You see, a simple burst of speed is inoffensive enough for the body, even if they're kids it should be no problem. But Sora's jutsu forces the whole body and even the brain to function beyond their normal speed, the straining in the body is greater than the Body-Flicker jutsu despite being more cost-effective." Hiruzen.

'Not to mention that his own body's already restraint by the seals, the fact that he managed to do such a thing must've been for his unique chakra control that allows him use the chakra efficiently and almost cero waste.' Hiruzen thought as he looked at Sora.

Minato realized that Sora got tired quite fast but didn't lower his guard, someone like Sora wouldn't be so easily defeated by exhaustion.

"What do you call this jutsu?" Minato asked.

"Heh, it's the Ninja Art: Shippū Shungeki! (Gale Instant Strike)" Sora.

'Man, adapting the Pokémon move: Quick Attack was quite hard. But the chakra it consumes is too little compared to the Body-Flicker. I activated it too soon and wasted some chakra, but I'll get better as time goes by.' Sora thought.

'The issue right now is that Minato won't fall for such technique easily so, I need to think my next plan carefully. To make matters worse, my attack barely did nothing, curse these debuffs!' Sora cursed mentally.

Minato focused his gaze on Sora.

'What a cool name! I also want to create a jutsu with a cool name! No! Focus! Given his chakra reserves he can't use the jutsu for too long, and his strength is also on the weak side so it shouldn't matter much whether his attacks land or not. I need to deliver a good hit or catch him in a grab to defeat him.' Minato.

Minato went for the offensive once again but this time he went alone and charged at Sora. Sora activated the Gale Instant Strike to attack as well. Minato allowed himself to be hit but grabbed Sora's arm and punched him in the chest.

Sora grabbed some hand from the ground and threw at Minato's face. Minato covered his eyes with Sora's arm. Sora got both of his hands together and performed three seals before Minato managed to continue his assault.

The punches went towards Sora's face and chest, but Sora didn't bother with counterattack Minato's punches. Makoto wanted to end the fight since he thought that Sora had given up, but the Sandaime stopped him, he could feel that for some reason Sora's chakra appeared to be increasing with each hit Minato delivered.

Minato felt that something was wrong and wanted to finish the fight with a chakra enhanced punch. But the punch was caught by Sora's left hand. Just then, a white glow spiked out of Sora's body as he raised his head and looked at Minato, his yellow eyes glowed as the light shined off of Minato's blue eyes.

'Oh no! this!' Minato realized his mistake too late and received a punch in the abdomen.

The punch sent Minato back by several meters and he clutched in pain. Just as he looked at Sora, expecting a follow up, he noticed that the white aura immediately dissipated as if it never existed.

Sora panted even heavier as he almost lost his footing, Hiruzen looked at Sora and was marveled by what he had done. Not only did he accumulated the chakra that Minato poured in his attacks, but he also regulated the strength to not injure Minato too much.

"I call that one...… Ninja Art: Hangeki Choryoku (Counterattack Power Storage)" Sora spoke as he gasped for air.

"You absorbed the chakra from my attacks... and gave them back to me." Minato did the same and kept rubbing his abdomen to ease the pain.

"Neat trick, right. I was originally planning to steal someone's chakra or something but got this instead. Don't ask me how I discovered it could give the energy against another opponent." Sora.

'Thank you Pokémon for the Normal-Type Move: Bide. A move where one endures two attacks and then retaliates with the double of strength of said received attacks. Since my father knows some chakra from his work, I asked he to attack me with some chakra in order to develop and then practice this jutsu. The best part is that since it mostly uses the opponent's chakra as fuel, I can save a lot of mine.' Sora.

'Too bad that the drawback is too much for my current body. The next jutsu might be my last for this battle.' Sora got up and looked at Minato.

'That attack took too much out of him, he must plan to finish this battle with the next technique. I know I can outpace him, but I don't want to win like that, I'll solve everything in the next clash and win this battle.' Minato took a resolute stance as he locked eyes with Sora.

The next moment, they dash at each other while performing hand seals. Both Minato and Sora rushed at each other and prepared their fists and swung their fists at each other while they were dashing.

For all the kids the scene was too fast to follow, for Hiruzen and Makoto it was traceable, and for Sora and Minat it was as if time had stopped, and they were only focused on delivering their last attack to the other.

Sora and Minato were inches of each other's faces when a single thought passed through Sora's mind.

'I win.' Sora.

*SWISH*

In the last second, literally the last timeframe to receive the attack, Minato's body was replaced by a log, and he appeared above Sora. Sora punched the log, sending it back while Minato threw his fist right at Sora's back and connected.

Sora was punched downwards as Minato used his body weight to further push him down. Just as everyone thought it was Minato's victory, Minato noticed something was off. Sora's body felt harder for some reason, as if he was punching wood.

"Ninja Art: Gōtai no Jutsu (Hardened Body Technique)" Sora spoke from below Minato.

From the Pokémon world once again, Sora recreated the Normal-Type Move: Harden. The move's effects are quite simple: to raise defense. Sora managed to defend against Minato's attack and even though he was pushed downwards, the damage was nearly nothing.

Minato was about to retreat but Sora caught his fist and impulse himself off the ground.

'I'm about to pass out from running out of chakra, I've got to finish this right now!' Sora.

He grabbed Minato and slammed him against the ground before putting him on a headlock. Minato started to jab Sora's sides and face with his hands, but Sora wasn't letting him go.

'Let go!' Minato thought.

'Not a chance!' Sora thought.

Both of them began to grunt as neither was gonna let the other beat him.

"Makoto, separate them." Hiruzen spoke.

"Understood, Sandaime-sama." Makoto spoke and immediately dashed towards Sora and Minato.

With a swift movement he separated the two of them and laid them on the ground.

"I declare this match to be over. The winner of the match is: Suzuki Sora!" Makoto exclaimed.

After hearing that, Sora collapsed but remained his consciousness. Minato immediately went towards him and helped him get up to take him to the infirmary.

"Hehe… I won…" Sora.

"Yeah, but I don't think we'll have the chance to fight like this too often." Minato replied while holding Sora carefully.

"I know. By the way, I'm not that delicate, my seals and entire chakra system is alright. I'm just so tired I might as well skip class for today." Sora.

"I'll take you both to the infirmary." Makoto spoke as he approached the kids.

"It's fine, sensei, my friend will take me there, won't you, Minato?" Sora.

"Right, next time I won't lose." Minato declared as he walked slowly alongside Sora towards the infirmary.

As the two kids left, the rest of students remained there in awe of the battle they just saw. A battle of that magnitude was just between two kids around their age, they needed to step their own training up a notch or else they would look bad in front of their clans.

Shikaku Nara felt a headache coming from his father.

Makoto didn't say anything else and just smiled at the two kids. If only everyone had a friendship like that, it would be wholesome.

"This generation is extremely exceptional." Makoto couldn't help but to say out loud.

"I couldn't agree more." Hiruzen spoke while walking towards Makoto.

"Sandaime-sama." Makoto.

"I trust you will guide them properly, Makoto." Hiruzen smiled.

"Yes, Sandaime-sama!" Makoto nodded.

Hiruzen nodded back and started to walk towards the exit, still pondering about the new jutsus a little six-year-old kid managed to develop.

'Three new jutsus just like that, I can't wait to see how spectacular he becomes as he grows up.' Hiruzen smiled, confident that the Hidden Leaf would be in great hands in the future.

In the nurse room, Minato and Sora laid on the beds with satisfied faces. Sora managed to win against his genius of a friend and Minato finally managed to fight Sora while he was giving his all.

"You have to teach me those jutsus." Minato.

"After I remove my seals, with your chakra you'd be bullying me when using Gale Instant Strike." Sora 'complained'.

"True, also, how did you come up with such a cool name?" Minato asked.

"It's not that hard. It comes naturally, here, I'll give you a pitch. If the jutsu is about spitting a giant kanji of fire made of fire, how would you call such jutsu?" Sora.

Minato pondered for a while before answering.

"Ultra Divine Purgatory Will of Fire Flame!" Minato yelled excitedly, waiting for Sora's response.

To his surprise, Sora looked as if he was about to gag out of something.

"Dude, I almost died out of your cringeworthy name, that name is horrible." Sora commented honestly.

"You think so? I thought it was quite alright." Minato looked genuinely confused, he really like the name.

"Just Katon: Kaen Baku (Fire Release: Fire Blast) is enough of a good name." Sora said deadpan.

"Ooh! That name's catchy! You have a great naming sense, Sora." Minato praised.

"Yeah, speaking of which. How long are you gonna be here? The nurse has already healed you." Sora asked.

"Well, she said that since classes today were only practical, and we aced the test, we have the day off while the sensei teaches the rest of the class some Taijutsu lessons." Minato.

"Neat. I'm gonna sleep here till the end of the day, wake me up by afternoon, please." Sora said as he prepared himself to fall asleep.

"Goodnight Sora." Minato said as he got comfortable in his own bed.

"Goodnight Minato." Sora immediately went to sleep.

The two friends fell asleep on the nurse room until late afternoon. Overall, it was a great day at the Ninja Academy for Sora and Minato, the friends till the end.