Lightning Empress

ch.1: The first spark...

"Look brat, you need to learn how to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra so you can summon the boss toad. I'm done training you, you have to figure it out on your own from her or it will lose its meaning," Jiraiya said to me. To my shame my eyes widened, was he abandoning me, just like all of my other teachers had?

"Wh-what do you mean? You're not going to train me?" my voice probably betrayed some of the pain his words caused, because a flash of regret passed across his face before he flicked my forehead and sent me flying with some parting words.

"This is it Yuuki, trust your instincts and you will succeed..." the unspoken followup was all to clear on his face, 'I hope...' And that more than anything frightened me as I flew out of the brush his flick had sent me into and over the edge of the ravine hidden by the foliage.

My eyes widen and a frightened scream rips itself from my throat as I begin to plummet towards what will probably be a messy death, unless I can stop myself somehow. Maybe if I try to use the tree climbing exercise with my hands I can slow myself down enough to catch myself on one of the rocky protrusions dotting the side of the cliff. I desperately channel my chakra to my hands and reach out to grab a passing spike. I quickly wish I hadn't when the hard and apparently sharp stone rips up my palms, turning them into a bloody mess that quickly spreads over my clothes and face as the wind causes the red liquid to fly back at me.

He said that I would have to summon the boss toad to succeed... but I don't have enough control over my chakra to channel that much energy safely... I look down at the now faintly visible bottom, the only thing I can really see is sharp rocks and what looks like a river, but that does little to reassure me, chakra or no, no human could survive a fall from this height. I have to summon the boss toad or I'm going to die.

That particular train of thought brings to mind a flash of one of Jiraiya's speeches during the past week.

"Yuuki, your problem is that while your chakra levels are large enough to summon the toad boss, your body subconsciously limits the amount of chakra you can release at once so you do not damage your chakra system severely in the process. This limit will increase with training and time as your body grows stronger and more able to handle massive levels of instantaneous chakra discharge.

"Right now the only way for you to circumvent that limit is to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, which is far more potent than a normal human's. You will need to contact the fox and convince it to part with some of its chakra... somehow."

And just now he said to trust my instincts, well right now my instincts are telling me to fuck the damage and force out as much chakra as I can! That is precisely what I do a second later, reaching deep inside myself and dredging up every last ounce of chakra that I can call. It works, I feel my body suffused with more chakra than I have ever felt before, it was the most incredible thing I have ever felt, like a blazing flame filling every part of my small frame.

Then something strange happens, I feel that flame turn to something that feels more like electricity coursing through every fiber of my being, but instead of the burn I associate with the flame or electricity, it feels as if it is strengthening me, reinforcing my body a hundredfold. Then, before my widened eyes, the chakra, my chakra, begins to manifest around my body in a crackling shroud of sparks and arcing lines of lightning. My vision sharpens to an almost painful level of detail and the world slows down to a snail's pace as I approach the rocks, now just a few seconds away. I mentally cringe, I have no time to summon anything, but the raw power I feel running through me makes me forget about the jutsu as I bring my legs in line with the earth and bend my knees slightly...

-Lightning Empress-

Jiraiya waits at the edge of the ravine, 'Come on brat, you can do it... I have faith in you Uzumaki Yuuki.' A half minute passes, then a minute, and Jiraiya quickly begins to worry about his student's daughter. She should have summoned Gamabunta by now, a few more seconds and she wouldn't have the room to summon the toad boss; five seconds pass, then ten. "Oh, kami... she won't have enough room to do the summoning anymore! Dammit!"

Then, not a second later, he feels a spike of power that nearly stunned him physically from the magnitude of it, and none of it was the Kyuubi's, all of it was her own chakra. He lets out a clearly audible sigh of relief, but he is quickly panicked again when there is no expulsion of the energy, as if it was just maintaining itself inside of her.

Then...

Krakaboom!

A deafening bang that sounded more like a lightning strike heard from a few yards away than anything else rocks the immediate area as a strong static charge fills the air.

"What the hell? What was that, it sounded like a lightning striking!" Jiraiya exclaims as the ringing in his ears slowly fades away. Then, just as his hearing was returning, a buzzing hum filters up from the ravine. He raises an eyebrow a second before both of his eyes involuntarily widen as Yuuki's chakra signature rapidly rises up from the bottom of the chasm, moving at a speed that would have made Maito Gai green with envy.

Then, amidst a corona of purplish white lightning, Yuuki explodes over the top of the drop.

"Yuuki! Thank kami!"

-Lightning Empress-

The landing was hard, but instead of my body breaking on the rock shelf, the rock broke under my body as crackling and snapping arcs of electricity spread from my point of impact, spreading cracks across the ground and scorching the stone black. I also heard a thunderous concussion like a lightning strike issue from my point of landing.

I look at myself surrounded in purple-white arcs of light in wonder, what on earth is this power? Whatever it is, I want to master it. Something that could let me survive a mile high fall completely unscathed was worth perfecting.

I look back up the chasm and let a fierce grin spread across my face. Time to test this new power out! I ran at the wall, and ran up it, subconsciously channeling the exact amount of chakra for the tree climbing exercise to the soles of my feet. I ascend at a rate that I know should have reduced my vision to an incredibly narrow tunnel, yet it didn't affect the clarity of my vision at all, and there was no tunnel effect. What on earth is this power? I can't help but wonder if the Kyuubi has anything to do with this, but I brush it off as a thing to ponder later as I reach the top of the ravine.

There was Jiraiya, looking incredibly happy.

"Yuuki, thank kami!" his voice is so full of relief that it is almost palpable. I lock my eyes onto him, fury burning inside me.

"You bastard! You could have killed me with that stunt!" in an effort to stop myself from smashing his face in, I slam my foot down onto the dirt, making the ground shatter all around me.

I look around, "Holy shit... I did that?" then I feel the chakra leaving me, and I suddenly feel bone tired. I see the aura of lightning around me fade and I lose control of my motor functions, falling forward as darkness claims me...