Hey guys I had this idea after thinking about a plot centered with Naruto not having any special relationships like being the son of the fourth hokage and at the same time thinking about unique ways to use the shadow clone jutsu while I was writing a fanfic called "So I stand alone," where Naruto fights Lee in the prelims; yeah that shit we all would like to see even though we know lee would own Naruto. The thought that hit me was this, "Lee can't do the clone jutsu but can use chakra, Naruto can't do the clone jutsu but is able to use the shadow clone jutsu…!" this fic is centered around that thought. its a two part oneshot. Enjoy…FOR THE LOVE GOD REVIEW!
I don't own Naruto, if I did it would be more epic.
Night has settled on the village, on the rooftop underneath the full moon stood a tall old man with long white hair with two bangs covering the sides of his head with a fore protectors with the kanji for "oil" on it. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants and red sleeveless kimono jacket with yellow swirls on each side along with red traditional sandals and hand guards. This man is Jiraiya. Jiraiya had his arms crossed with his back against the railings as he peered down at the sleeping form of the young blond boy he spent half the day training. On one hand the kid was both an idiot and talentless, on the other he was hardworking and tenacious. Good and bad qualities, honestly it had him interested in investing, but… The sound of footsteps drew his attention.
It was another man in a typical konoha black wear; he wore his forehead protector like a bandana and as well shades even though it was dark. As soon as he got to the railing Jiraiya spoke to him.
"Sorry about that Ebisu," he spoke, "It was not my intention to steal your student."
"It's okay," Ebisu said, "to be honest I'm more angry about your actions earlier."
"What can I say," Jiraiya said with a smile and shrug. "Research is precious but it's also ephemeral, I have to cherish each moment I can get. Naturally I can't let anyone get in the way of that."
"Right…" Ebisu, clearly not convinced, "more importantly," he said catching Jiraiya's interest, "the hokage has had us searching for you, but we could never determine your whereabouts. To think I would find you here of all places…" Jiraiya had a serious look on his face, "He'll be pleased."
"I take it you haven't informed him yet," Jiraiya received a nod in reply, "good, I'd like to keep it that way."
"HUH? But why? Surely you are here because Orochimaru."
"Unfortunately no," Jiraiya said, "Its my nature not to get myself involved with unnecessary trouble."
"WHAT? Surely you know that if Orochimaru were to be stopped it would be by you. Another one of the three legendary sannins, I know the hokage is strong but…"
"I understand," Jiraiya said with a sigh, "I also understand that the third Tsuchikage is still able to do his job as well. Besides, you should keep in mind that Sannin is only a label given to us, Ebisu. It's not one I'm very fond one either."
"I understand that, but we need your power Jiraiya-sama!"
"You guys will be fine," Jiraiya said, "Oh by the way, stick around."
"Huh?"
"I'm handing the kid back to ya tomorrow," after he saw Ebisu's shocked expression, he scratched his nose and explained it a bit more, "well what did you expect? I did say ephemeral moments didn't I? I'm a very busy sage; I only stopped for a quick peek. Besides, the jutsu I plan on teaching the brat isn't exactly something that needs my direct input. You could probably teach him the ropes and you're more patient; I, however, am not. Besides, it's just the summoning jutsu, you don't need any physical effort."
"Just the sum-your giving him the toad contract! Well not that I'm complaining but you can't just leave him, you understand Naruto's situation don't you?"
"Hm," Jiraiya nodded as he looked at the, "he's the Kyubi jinchuriki. To be honest I would like to teach him how to draw out the biju's chakra and control it. But this kid isn't even aware of the fact that the 'red' chakra comes from the kyubi, he isn't even aware of the seal on is stomach; otherwise he would have noticed the extra seal overlapping the original seal."
"Extra seal," Ebisu said with an alarmed expression, "Orochimaru?"
"Yeah, it was messing with his chakra flow, I've dealt with it. From the kid's account, he can only use the chakra in situations of extreme emotional stress or mortal danger. While I understand your concern, it isn't something that requires my direct input either."
"What?"
"Look Ebisu, yes I'm strong, and teaching a jinchuriki to draw out the biju's power is definitely a job suited for me. But we're not talking about drawing out a tale's worth of chakra; it's only a smidge. You can handle that."
"W-well," Ebisu said caught off guard by the logic, "I understand that but-"
"But isn't he your charge? Wasn't the responsibility trusted to you?"
"Well yes it was, but given who you-"
"Then there's no need to delve into this matter any further. Besides you of all people should know what my track record is with students. You did stalk me for a while to try to decipher a way to produces more people like the fourth hokage."
"I…" Ebisu sighed before he let out an embarrassed blush, "I did."
"Look, students with lots of potential just happen to fall on my lap, that's all, they would have become great even without my influence. Besides, my students tend to meet the worst end. He's better off with you, Ebisu, someone who actually specializes in teaching and has no bad luck."
"I…" he sighed again, "If there's no other way to convince you then I guess that's the end of that matter" Ebisu said as Jiraiya nodded. "To be honest I am a little relieved. If his teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, and his opponent, Neji Hyuga, are considered natural born genius, then Naruto is raw potential. As you have experienced first hand, he's definitely lacking the facets of a proper shinobi, but his quick healing factor, his stamina, his tenacity and his inhuman amount of chakra…just thinking of the possibilities if he was trained properly…Hm?" Ebisu let out when he didn't get a reply. He then realized that the sannin was gone. "Why does everyone always do that!" he whined.
"WHAAAAAAT," Naruto whined as he stood before Ebisu next to a river while Jiraiya was crouched underneath a bush peering at three women splashing water at each other. "But didn't he beat you with one move too?"
"One move, you used two moves," Ebisu said, "besides that, I was unaware of Jiraiya-sama. Had I known it was him I would have done something more drastic."
"Like?"
"Bribe his toad."
"Nooooo~" Jiraiya whined as the girls left, "come back~" Then he let out a depressed sighed as he stood up, "Well speaking of toads, that's what I'm teaching you. Well no, actually I'm just giving you the jutsu and letting Ebisu pick things up from there."
"Huh?"
"Hey kid, did you forget the deal we had yesterday? It was only to help your training because I knocked out Ebisu. He's all right now and I have things to do. Besides, this sort of thing is something best suited for Ebisu. He's a special jounin you know."
"Arrg, but he's weaker then everybody else! Even I'm stronger!"
"Do you really want to go through the trouble of finding out again," Ebisu asked with a smile as he pushed up his shades with his index finger. Naruto felt a little tense, "or do you want to get on with the training and not waste time? We have less then a month now. If we add the time spent coming here, the time you wasted back at Konoha, and the time your wasting right now…."
"Alright I get it," Naruto, "Let's get going!"
"Calm down," Jiraiya said as he approached, "this jutsu is entirely different. Your training so far has been molding and releasing a controlled amount of chakra, hence the tree climbing exercise and the WoW exercise."
"Wow?"
"Walk on Water," Ebisu clarified for Jiraiya.
"Oh."
"But this time," Jiraiya continued, "in order to do the jutsu you need to release a large amount of chakra. Imagine it like this, up to this point all you have been doing is releasing a small glass full of chakra, what you need is a whole liter of chakra-no-a bucket full!"
"But there is a problem with that," Ebisu said.
"Huh, a problem?"
"Yes, while large amounts is important, quality is also another factor. After all, no mater how you multiply it, zero times any number is still zero, and one times any number isn't any better. To perform the jutsu master jiraiya intends to teach you, you would have to either use up most of your chakra or use the biju's chakra."
"T-the biju's chakra," Naruto stuttered, "I can do that?"
"Kid, the red chakra," jiraiya said, "People are only born with one type of chakra. So a second source is beyond extremely rare. The only explanation is that they are getting chakra from a different source, like say a biju."
"Wait so you know, old man?"
"YES-I know," Jiraiya said as he grabbed Naruto face and started playing with it "I. Am. a. SAGE, a SAGE" he let out before he let go of Naruto's face.
"Okay I get it, pervy-sage," Naruto said rubbing his cheeks, causing Jiraiya to sigh.
"This jutsu would be completely impractical for you unless you drastically improve the quality of your chakra or use the red chakra."
"However, we are aware that you can only use the red chakra in extreme situations," Ebisu cut in, "so we need to find a method to draw out the red chakra."
"Well I got one," Naruto said as he rubbed his face. "I'll just use up all my chakra so that the only chakra I have left is the biju's red chakra." Ebisu looked at Jiraiya.
"Could that work?"
"How the hell would I know? I'm a sage but I don't know everything. But it is worth a shot."
"Alright then," Naruto put his hands together, he waited for a while, molding up as much chakra as he could. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" Then about forty clones came into existences. "Alright, lets see who's the best me, dattebayo!"
"YEAH," was the chorus he received.
"WAIT!" Ebisu yelled, "Shadow clones remove your forehead protectors, since I'm training Naruto this is a good chance to see where Naruto's skill's lie. I'll also thrown in a genjutsu here and there…DO IT NOW!" The shadow clones did so. "Good, now then, BEGIN!" And then the sounds of huge fight filled the river. Through out the entire time Ebisu was frowning. Naruto was sorely lacking in the fundamentals, not that he could blame Kakashi.
Kakashi was given such a mismatched team. While Sasuke Uchiha was the best of the bunch, a genius deemed rookie worthy of the title "rookie of the year" and skills to prove it. His other two teammate however…Sakura Haruno, though smart and resourceful, her skills were severely undercut and Naruto Uzumaki's only saving grace was his stamina, chakra reserve, b-rank jutsu, and pain tolerance. The first thing anyone could do in the situation Kakashi was in is to improve the teamwork so that the team has a chance of surviving and then bring the levels of the other two teammates up to par with Sasuke.
By the end of the scuffles with the clones, Naruto ended up being the last one standing, unsurprisingly.
After a quick chastise from Ebisu about his skills, both Ebisu and Jiraiya went on and explained the summoning jutsu and how it works. It needed to be dumbed down a lot but Naruto got the point across. Jiraiya summoned the same toad he used to knock Ebisu out and then the toad extended its tongue and unrolled a scroll. Jiraiya then instructed Naruto to bite his thumb, write his name in blood, mark his prints and palm with blood, and stamp the scroll. Then Naruto gathered chakra at the palm of his hand and then he slammed it on a flat rock yelling, "Summoning Jutsu!" And then what afterward was a…
"…A tadpole?" Jiraiya let out in a low voice with his lip shrunk, eyes narrowed, and face darkened. The toad he was sitting on even let out a sweat drop. Naruto could swear he heard Ebisu's shades crack. "This kid's got no talent," Jiraiya mumbled. Then he straightened up. "Well whatever," he said as he sat comfortably on the toad's back. "Not my problem anymore. LETS GO!" And with that the toad jumped away really fast.
"AH! WAIT!" Ebisu yelled but the toad was already jumping at full speed. So he stood there with his mouth hanging open while Naruto stared at the tadpole he summoned. Ebisu sighed as he turned to look at Naruto. "Well standing around and staring blindly will not get anything done. Naruto dispel it and try the jutsu better again."
"Um…how do I do that?"
"…" Ebisu groaned as he rubbed his face. "It's going to be long month…."
The rest of the day was spent with Ebisu giving Naruto tips and yelling at him to get the jutsu down. Hell he was expecting a toad the first time, but now even getting something with legs could count as an achievement. The sun was setting and Naruto wasn't even up to tadpoles with legs yet. Ebisu sighed sitting down on a large stone while he leered at Naruto who was huffing while lying on his back with his eyes closed.
This doesn't make any lick of sense, Ebisu thought in his head. He spent an entire day casting the jutsu. Granted its something even most jounins are unable to do, but Naruto is capable and he spent the entire day training. So why does he have such poor results? Even someone without talent should have made progress by now. Jiraiya-sama had already removed the only possible obstacle, so what is it? If I recall, he failed the exams all three times. He couldn't create an appropriate amount of clones not to mention their quality. How he even learned the shadow clone jutsu is beyond me…wait…wait!
"Naruto," Ebisu said standing up, Naruto sat up at the call.
"Yeah, on it, summon- "
"No not that!" Ebisu said interrupting Naruto.
"Huh?"
"The shadow clone jutsu, go through all the hand seals this time."
"Um…okay," Naruto said in confusion Naruto ran through the handseals, normally he needed one hand seal but this time he went through the whole set. It was when he got to the last one that Ebisu face turned serious. "Shado-"
"Stop!" Naruto nearly fell.
"Again? C'mon I'm wasting time, what's all this about?"
"Hopefully not a case of tasteless irony."
"Huh?"
"The clone jutsu, do the clone jutsu. It shouldn't be a problem now right."
"Yeah but what's the point?"
"Just do it," Ebisu said sternly. "Naruto, just do it, I might be able to figure out what's wrong with you."
"Um…" Naruto had no response to that. He quickly ran through his most hated set of hand seals, "Clone Jutsu!" There was a brief smoke…and the result was…
"What the hell?" Naruto said as he looked at his pale tasteless illusion imitation of himself. "I-I don't understand," he said. It was understandable; he knew a more advanced jutsu, so why couldn't he do a basic one?
"Naruto look at me," Ebisu said, "that was the most basic of genjutsu. Substitution (don't like kamwari) is the basic ninjutsu. Substitute with the washed out log down there."
"Um…" Naruto looked down at the log, Naruto quickly ran through the hand seals, "Substitutions!" At first nothing happened, Naruto grinded his teeth and used more chakra to perform it once more. Still nothing. This time he used a whole lot more and it went.
"You used a lot more chakra?"
"Yeah? What's the big deal what's going on?"
"How much more?"
"Um I-"
"Naruto, be honest, there's no time for embarrassment I want the truth right now," Ebisu said sternly as he approached.
"Um…a lot more. It took more effort than creating a shadow clone does. "
"That was what I was afraid of," Ebisu said as he crouched to Naruto's level. "You can use henge, the transformation jutsu easily but have troubles with the other basics like the clone jutsu and substitution. At first I thought it was just you having troubles managing your chakra, but its something else."
"W-what is it."
"…Its you, Naruto. Please understand, now that I have a better understanding I have a plan on how to train you…so do not freak out."
"Uuuuuuh, okay…what is it?"
"…"
"Are you serious?" The third Hokage asked Ebisu with his eyes wide open. Right now it was only the Third Hokage and Ebisu in the Hokage's office. It was dark outside and he sent Naruto to sleep.
"I'm sure, it's tasteless irony but that's what it is. I stake my career on it. But keep in mind that it does not effects Naruto to a serious degree."
"But how? I've seen him pull off ninjutsus, he can do the shadow clone and the henge."
"Yes but they hid the problem. No, his chakra also hid the problem. It's thanks to his chakra and the shadow clone jutsu and as well as who he is that no one bothered to dig into it any deeper. But rest assured that I have plan to deal with him now that I know his true condition. To be honest, right now I have my shadow clones running around to my colleagues and collecting any favors I have. Truth be told, I would have asked Jiraiya-sama but he had already left. Kakashi and his other student are also nowhere to be found."
"So you came to me instead..." The third hokage finished as he puffed out smoke, yes he was currently smoking his pipe thanks the great revelation about Naruto. "I can already guess how you are training Naruto. Yes I know the technique, but it's not practical enough for me to use and I don't know if it suits Naruto either, not to mention one month isn't enough time for that technique."
"Believe me I thought about it and I've thought about it hard on my way back to the village. It is the perfect technique for Naruto," Ebisu spoke sincerely.
"But it is an extensive jutsu that takes more than half a year, never mind a month."
"I know, but if you don't faith in me. Have faith in Naruto," Ebisu said as he bowed. "Please."
He waited for a while and he heard the hokage let out a puff of smoke. "Very well." Ebisu smiled as straightened up. "But this will also mean that you will know how to perform the jutsu, so I want to make it clear to you. Naruto gets priority; you are not allowed to train yourself in it during the time he is under you. In addition, you are not allowed to teach this technique to anyone else no matter the situation. Is that understood?"
"Yes I understand, Hokage-sama!"
"Good, come closer. I will only tell you once so listen well and make it clear to Naruto that he can't tell anyone else."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"