What was the difference between intelligence and wisdom?

This was the question Yamanaka Inoichi asked himself as he plopped down on his couch, a tired sigh on his lips and a long worn furrow on his brow, just now finally concluded from a long day at the office.

Some would say that intelligence was possessing knowledge, an intelligent person had the savoir-faire of numerous different fields or areas, such as someone who had memorized entire aspects of a thesaurus, or someone who could calculate complex mathematical figures on the fly. Then, they would say that wisdom was possessing the ability to use said knowledge in the adequate scenarios to achieve the optimum result.

Except, that was not true.

That was the relationship between intelligence and wisdom and not the distinction.

Intelligence and wisdom were somewhat separate, as one could be wise, in the manner of an enlightened monk or spiritual individual, but they would not be smart, such as monks that could neither read nor write.

Likewise, one could be smart, possessing a great deal of knowledge about numerous aspects and fields, but not necessarily wise.

For instance, a scientist who chose to give his children extremely efficient meals and prevented them from eating sweets because he knew the health detriments, but was unable to realize that his children would never understand his perspective.

Unfortunately, it seemed that people regarded intelligence on the higher spectrum than wisdom.

Konoha was gradually running out of wise young shinobi and instead, they were breeding geniuses.

If only his beloved village could have a Sarutobi Hiruzen for every Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi, it would be so much better off.

Unfortunately, most levels of wisdom came with experience, and as such, those greatly in need of it sorely lacked the access to it.

Shameful as it was, Inoichi knew full well that his village was filled with people lacking both intelligence and wisdom.

Most obviously would be the civilians first, who would willingly let their children sign up to the Academy, fooled by the romanticized ideal of the Konoha Shinobi Corps.

They were nothing but glorified child soldiers, child soldiers capable of taking on full grown men twice their size, but child soldiers no less.

Most of them would not live to hit thirty, and those who did would be so scarred by the things that they had witnessed and performed, that they could never live normally ever again.

But the Will of Fire burned strong, how strong it burned indeed.

Fire was the one thing most capable of bringing unlimited destruction to leaves, yet not a soul had noted the irony.

Konoha's Head of T&I shook his head as he let out a deep sigh.

The question and deliberations had not struck him on some utterly odd whim, and he was not usually someone to start thinking about such topics, but perhaps the reason the question had struck him had been because he had been watching his daughter recently.

Ino was his pride and joy, and of course, he had done his best to lavish his little princess the way any father would, but he made sure he never cossetted her too much, especially if she wanted to be a kunoichi.

He was initially adamant against her decision to even enroll, but he had no choice.

Had his daughter said she wanted to become a horticulturist or a botanist or a psychologist rather than a kunoichi, not a single soul in the world, dead or alive, legend or nightmare, would have been capable of forcing him to tell her otherwise.

But of course, his daughter wanted to be a Kunoichi.

He had no choice left but to respect her decision, or lose her love and respect forever.

Despite training to be a powerful, lethal weapon, she was still a young girl though, and as such, he had been more than happy when she showed the signs of her youth, such as an adolescent crush.

His only wish was that Ino would have at least picked a crush that was not so mentally scarred, but in the end, he had left her to her own devices.

Until now.

He had begun noticing in the past four weeks how much his little princess was changing.

There had been a little bit more interest in the way she listened to his tales at the office, and as he explained to her bits and pieces of the psychology that people took for granted.

Then of course, the frequency at which she mentioned the Uchiha's name had hit a sudden decline.

Whereas he could have previously counted a minimum of sixteen counts per day, it had dropped to a mere five, and each time the topic was brought up, she bit her lips, her eyes furrowed, and her nose rose, just a smidgen.

Something or someone had made her re-evaluate her infatuation, and she was inwardly conflicted.

He would usually leave the issues of boys to her mother to handle, not because he was inept, but rather because he felt there would be more of a bond between his wife and his daughter discussing over such sensitive feminine issues.

Of course, when she began leaving the house and returning each day, looking more tired and frustrated than the previous, he decided to intervene.

"Ino-chan, is there anything bothering you that you want to tell me?"

She had pursed her lips.

"Well…"

Her hesitation alone was not a good sign.

"I did something… I mean, I think I did something, to someone, that might've been kind of bad, and I've been trying to find them to apologize, or explain… or something… but…"

Inoichi eased her.

"Calm down Ino-chan, go gently, from the start."

She frowned.

"What do you do when someone just changes? Does things they've never done before? Or if their actions don't match what you know about them?"

Inoichi rose an eyebrow.

"Is this about a boy?"

Ino sighed.

"Yes daddy."

"Ino, I've never really supported your crush on Uchiha Sasuke, but if he's the reason for why you've been so emotionally frustrated –"

"It's not about Sasuke!"

Those words threw Inoichi for a loop, his mind recoiling as it tried to wrap itself around that information.

First, there had been no affectionate suffix added to the name and second his daughter had another crush that wasn't the mentally perturbed survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

"It's not? Then who?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"…It's Naruto that suddenly –"

Inoichi's mind slammed the brakes hard at that point.

Naruto?

As in, Uzumaki Naruto?

The resident prankster of Konoha?

The secret orphaned son of the Yondaime Hokage?

The current container for Kyubi no Yoko, the strongest of all tailed beasts that had ravaged Konoha twelve years ago?

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

Why?

Why couldn't this be easy?

Why couldn't his daughter just be interested in some no-named average boy?

He would have taken a boy with greased hair that wore twenty types of leather and a 'I-heart-mom' tattoo plastered on his left shoulder, over him.

He had no personal bias against the boy, but he did have a personal interest to keep his daughter safe no matter what, and unfortunate as it was, merely being a Jinchuriki put him on the list of people to get Ino as far away from as possible.

He did not fear the boy going out of control, for he trusted the Yondaime's sealing ability, but the sheer power he wielded would put him in the crosshairs of powerful and dangerous individuals.

Individuals that he did not want a thousand feet near his daughter.

He needed to diffuse this situation very carefully.

"Ino-chan, you said Naruto suddenly did what now?"

"He asked me out."

"He – what?"

"I know! That was my reaction too! He's spent half of the time in the Academy pestering Sakura for dates, and she turns him down, and then all of a sudden, he just asks me? Why? Why all of a sudden and then the way he did it –"

She abruptly stopped, and Inoichi's eyes narrowed.

There was information that his daughter was intentionally keeping out of the discussion.

"Anyway, Shika says that it's because Naruto is actually really observant when he's dealing with things that catch his interest."

"He did?"

Inoichi knew that Nara Shikamaru was just as astute as his father, perhaps even more so, but he was lacking in the much needed wisdom that would probably make him surpass Shikaku.

"He did, but it doesn't make sense! If he's so observant about stuff, why do his grades suck so much and why is he the dead last?"

Inoichi swore under his breath.

"Champing breadsticks."

If, and if, what Ino was telling him was true, then there were two possible unfortunate implications, neither of which was comforting, and both of which constituted as threats or serious issues to Konoha's safety.

The first implication was that Uzumaki Naruto was intentionally downplaying all his skills and abilities, for whatever possible reason, and depending on how observant he truly was, it was more than likely that he knew who his father was, and what was sealed inside of his stomach, yet opted to keep it to himself.

When children found themselves out of their depth or seeking knowledge or wisdom, they looked to adult authorities for guidance and explanation.

If Uzumaki Naruto was aware of his true heritage, and of the reasons of the numerous bias against him, and the fact that a giant beast was sealed inside his gut yet had intellectually chosen not to mention it or blurt it out, and continued as though absolutely nothing was wrong, then there was a problem.

From a psychological standpoint it was downright terrifying and it marked him as a greater flight risk than Uchiha Sasuke ever could be.

The second implication of course, was somewhat lighter, and it meant that there were serious levels of bias against the boy, and he was more than likely being either taught wrongly, or intentionally failed in order to ensure that he did not graduate.

It meant that there were shinobi amongst the ranks who had let personal bias interfere with objective judgment, and they needed to be sanctioned and undergo screening to see if they were truly worthy of being in the shinobi corps.

After all, if you let your emotions bleed into your job when all you did was to teach, who was to say that on a mission, you would not choose to let your emotions take sway and then instead of assassinating a target, you let them escape?

Of course, if Uzumaki Naruto was being taught wrongly would he not have complained?

Or was it that he was unaware of the fact? But if he was unaware of the fact, that brought his supposed perceptive prowess into question.

"Daddy, you're making that constipated face again."

Goddamn it Shikaku!

He sighed.

Having that man as a best friend for the greater half of his life had made him paranoid and caused him to analyze things more than was sometimes needed.

For all he knew, Shikaku's son was wrong, and Uzumaki Naruto was not some overly perceptive genius mastermind intentionally hiding his skills in order to be severely underestimated by the Konohan populace whilst he plotted revenge for being ostracized, orphaned and denied his legacy.

"All right Ino-chan, if you want answers, find Naruto and invite him over to dinner."

"I can't! I've been searching everywhere for him for the past four weeks and I still can't find him!"

Oh dear.

"He skips out on the Academy?"

"Daddy, it'd be easier to count the number of days he's been in class than the number he's been outside of it."

Oh no.

"And no one knows where he goes? No one questions what he's been doing with all that extra-time he spends outside of class?"

Inoichi took a deep breath.

It seemed he would be scheduling a meeting with the Hokage soon.

----------------------------------------

[ Alert: Path Quest ]

[ Quest Title: Mastery of the Clone Jutsu ]

[ Objectives: ]

- Increase Chakra Control Skill to level 10.

Or

- Remove Chakra Imbalance Status.

[ Description: Hinata and Tenten have offered their assistance to help Player Naruto achieve proficiency in the clone jutsu, a fundamental skill for graduation from the Academy. ]

[ Rewards: ]

- Skill: Academy Clone Jutsu.

[ Failure: ]

- Fail Graduation from Academy.

- ?

- ?

[ Action Required: Acceptance or Declination of Quest ]

Naruto, Hinata, and Tenten stood in the training grounds.

"So… I'm supposed to walk up the tree?" Naruto's skepticism was easy to hear.

"And this is supposed to help my control so I can make a Clone?"

"Yes. You coat the soles of your feet with a small amount of chakra, allowing them to stick to the surface of whatever you're walking on at that moment." Tenten paused for a moment before adding to that, "Or if not your feet, then whatever you currently need to affix to the surface. For example, if you wanted to hide in the shadows of a dark corner, you could coat your back with chakra and literally stick yourself to the wall."

"Chakra can do that?" he questioned.

He still didn't look convinced.

"Chakra can do many things that normally wouldn't be possible. It isn't only used to create genjutsu and ninjutsu. Surely you have seen ninja in the village running up the sides of buildings and jumping across rooftops."

"Well, yeah…" Naruto admitted. "But I always thought they just moved their legs so quick they were able to run up the walls. I didn't know about the chakra sticking thing."

Tenten nodded in acknowledgement, understanding his assumption, before moving back to the actual training.

"Now, you must learn the proper amount of chakra to use. Use too much and it will cause a backfire, throwing you away from the surface you're trying to adhere to. However, use too little and it won't be enough to withstand your weight and you will slip off."

She briefly glanced at him to ensure he was keeping up with her explanation.

"Many people believe the best way to perform this training exercise would be to run up the tree and mark the highest point you reach with a kunai; but I believe this to be counter-productive." She made a hand motion indicating for him to come to the tree she was standing next to. "The goal of the Surface Climbing Exercise is not to reach the top of the tree, but to learn how to properly adhere yourself to a solid vertical surface and to assist in learning to control your chakra. Now, Hinata is going to demonstrate for you before I want you to try. Watch carefully."

Tenten motioned for Hinata to come up as Hinata tried to calm her heart.

Naruto blinked in surprise as the smaller girl calmly placed one leg on the tree and began walking up the surface.

She stopped halfway up the tree and turned before walking back down.

"Wow, that was amazing Hinata-chan!" Naruto praised as he gave her a wide smile.

Naruto's enthusiastic compliments never failed to cause Hinata to feel good inside. Thankfully for her, she was getting much better at concealing her blush over the past few weeks.

It was a large adjustment for her, since she wasn't used to people giving positive reinforcement of her abilities and skill level.

The best her father or Clan Elders would ever give her was adequate.

"Now," Tenten started while taming the smile that threatened to show from his praise.

"You couldn't actually see it without the use of a bloodline like Hinata's Byakugan, but she used a small amount of chakra to stick to the tree as she climbed. What you also didn't see was her reinforce her body with a very small amount of chakra to counter the gravity that would have attempted to pull down her upper body. When you first start this training, you will have to be consciously be aware of this. However, after a while, your body will learn to instinctively counter gravity's pull no matter the angle of the surface you're standing on."

Tenten took a moment to let him absorb what she was saying.

Even Hinata listened, as she herself didn't know any of this.

She just trained as she was told.

When he nodded, she continued.

"This is another reason why I believe you should slowly walk up the tree. If you were to run, you wouldn't get the full benefit of this body conditioning. Now, I want you to try."

Tenten and Hinata watched him approach the tree and stare down at his right foot as he placed it flush against the tree.

Naruto's leg immediately recoiled away as he was propelled to the ground.

"Damn it!"

Naruto's frustration echoed through the area as he clambered back to his feet, a cloud of dust billowing around him from the door's impact.

Rubbing his behind and trying to salvage some dignity, he muttered, "Guess I used too much, huh?"

"Hmm," Tenten nonchalantly agreed, her arms crossed as she watched him.

"Try again. You already know you need to create a Clone for the Genin Test, which is a little more than a month away. So, you'll need to be able to do this."

Her voice was firm, a mix of coach and comrade, pushing him to grasp the basics that eluded him.

As Naruto squared up to the tree again, his determination was palpable.

But instead of the comedic repulsion that had sent him flying before, this time his foot merely slipped, thwarting his ascent before it even began.

It seemed gravity was not on his side today.

"I think you need some motivation," Tenten mused aloud, a mischievous glint in her eye as she reached for her Kunai pouch.

"Hey, what'cha got there?" Naruto asked, a hint of nervousness lacing his words as he eyed the sharp objects in Tenten's hand.

"Motivations," she declared, a sly smile creeping across her face.

"Now start climbing, you orange monkey."