Legacy of the Toad Sage
-12-30-2013-
Training
AN:I own nothing.
"Wow I didn't expect the brat to actually get a bell. Gai did work with the kid's taijutsu."
"Have faith in your pupil, Jiraiya-kun. Naruto-kun could do amazing things if he would only put his mind to it."
In the Hokage Office Jiraiya watches the end of the bell test through his sensei's crystal ball with a smile on his face and a sense of growing pride in his chest. Naruto had worked so hard every day this past month and it felt good to see the boy be rewarded for his efforts.
"Will you be heading out now Jiraiya-kun?" It was unexpected when Jiraiya had suddenly arrived, asking if they could watch Naruto's test together but it was an enjoyable experience if nothing else.
"Not yet. Just one last thing." He takes out a scroll from his vest and unfurls it on the table. "While it was nice getting to watch the brat, that's not quite why I came back. I knew he could pass all on his own anyway." There is no small amount of pride in the Toad Sage's voice as he speaks of his god son.
"Then what is it?"
"I found this a little ways out of the road."
He channels a small amount of chakra into the scroll and with a puff of smoke its contents are unsealed. On the parchment lies a severed hand, completely shriveled up as though one had sucked all the moisture out of it. A chain is tattooed onto the skin by pitch black chakra that slowly fades. The two men can feel it. The pure malice and hatred emanating from tattoo burned into the skin.
Sarutobi narrows his eyes. "That's the third one we've found this year."
"Yeah. Even fewer than we found last year but it's the biggest one yet."
With another application of chakra the contents of the seal are back in their storage. Rolling it back up Jiraiya makes to leave. "I'll drop this off before I leave. Got to make sure to tell Ibiki."
"We found another piece of Mizuki."
-0-0-
"This color band doesn't really work with the rest of my clothes…" Naruto says sitting atop one of the stumps in the center of Training Ground Seven as he looks at the black fabric connected to his Konoha headband. It is the next day and he as well as his team are waiting for their sensei.
"Hn." Sasuke grunts leaning on the stump next to Naruto's while Sakura stared at him.
"So what color should I change it to? Red? Yellow? Orange?"
Sasuke turns to Naruto with a flat look. "Of those choices one of them wouldn't make you look like a clown and even that's depending on the shade."
"Which one? Yellow? Orange? It's orange isn't it –ttebayo!?"
He would face palm but he is an Uchiha and Uchiha do not palm their faces. "Idiot."
Inwardly the raven haired boy muses how odd it is that Naruto seems to be less annoying than he was back in the academy. For the most part the yellow haired boy acted the same but at the same time it just didn't annoy him as much as it did back then.
"So what have you been doing this past month?"
Blinking for a second at the question Sasuke takes a second to come up with an answer. "Training. You?"
"Yeah I was training too except a couple of days…" a visible shiver runs up Naruto's spine and he blushes slightly. "Freaken Ero-sennin…"
Sasuke's eyebrow raises. "Sennin? How do you know a sage?"
His lips twist into a scowl and Naruto crosses his arms over his chest. "Yeah apparently this guy's helping me because he knew my parents but he's a massive perv. Did you know that he wrote that super smutty book that Ero-cyclops always reads?"
"I don't see what you have against the book. Who cares if it has smut as long as the plot and characters are decent."
Sasuke's eyes widen as Kakashi appears in a puff of smoke behind him and wraps him up in a hug. "Finally someone who understands!" the man says, tears running down his visible eye. It had been so long since someone had understood the magnificence of Jiraiya-sama's books!
"Get off me!"
Minutes later after Naruto and Sakura have managed to rescue Sasuke from Kakashi's embrace the four are seated to discuss their plans for the day, Sasuke making sure that Naruto is in between him and the masked shinobi.
"Normally after becoming genin the team does D-rank missions to familiarize themselves with the village and then move onto C-ranks when the jonin sensei feels they are prepared. But I get the feeling that if I did that then Naruto-kun is just going to make a Kage Bunshin and go goof off."
The boy nods with no shame whatsoever. Why should he do something boring if he can just have a clone do it for him?
"-and Sasuke-kun would rather train."
"Hn."
"-and Sakura-chan…" the man trails off looking towards the kunoichi of the team.
"Ah I'm fine with whatever Sasuke-kun wants to do!" she says waving her hands in front of her.
Kakashi nods. "Ok. I think today we'll do some training exercises and maybe do some missions in the afternoon if you all still have energy. Naruto-kun do you know how to do tree walking?"
"Yeah Ero-sennin taught me it after I was able to do the leaf balancing."
"Do you have anything to do while I teach Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan or would you like me to give you a scroll with a jutsu?"
"Really? Thanks Ero-sensei!"
'Well at least it's a step up from Ero-cyclops…' He thinks with a sweat drop taking out a scroll from his pouch. "This is an A-rank ninjutsu created by the Sandaime himself. It's based off the Kage Bunshin so you shouldn't have too much trouble with it."
The scroll is instantly disappears from his hand as Naruto runs off, jumping in joy…
"Just you watch Ero-sensei I'll have this jutsu mastered in no-"
… before he falls flat on his face.
"Naruto-kun you ok?"
The boy manages to lift a shaky thumbs up. "My muscle control might be a bit messed up from using the gates yesterday -ttebayo."
Kakashi nods. "Ok Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan come with me and we'll get started on the tree walking exercise."
As the three walk off Naruto, with great effort, rolls onto his back. Holding the scroll up in front of him he unfurls it and begins reading.
-0-0-
"The basic idea of this exercise is simple." Kakashi says, standing in front of Sasuke and Sakura.
"You want to channel chakra to your feet to stick to the tree, like this." He forms a ram seal and walks to the tree. He places one leg on it and continues to scale the tree until he stands a good five meters above them.
"Too much the bark will shatter. Too little and you'll slip."
"What's the point of this training Kakashi-sensei?" while she could see how being able to walk on vertical surfaces would be useful she didn't see the point of this training.
"First it teaches you chakra control." He drawls with a flat look. "To bring out the proper amount to the proper area. That's what this exercise is supposed to teach you."
"The amount needed to stick to the tree is small, but the feet are the hardest part of the body to channel chakra to. Theoretically if you were able to master this you could master any jutsu."
"Second is to develop the stamina needed to control chakra properly. The more complex a jutsu, the more control you need in order to use it to its maximum potential. Take for example Naruto-kun's Kage Bunshin."
"You see the smoke that forms when they are created? That's excess chakra that he's wasting because he doesn't have the control to use the exact amount of chakra needed to create a clone."
"This applies to all jutsu in general and not just the Kage Bunshin. Hand seals are basically means of assisting shinobi in shaping their chakra. Theoretically with perfect chakra control or is one is familiar enough with it, they could use that jutsu with no hand seals or preparation time."
"There are exceptions of course. Some jutsu require pure chakra control to form and others you simply dump as much chakra into the jutsu as you can. But those jutsu are few in number and their secrets are closely guarded by their creators."
"You won't learn anything by me just talking all day. The best way to learn is by experiencing it for yourself." Two kunai impale the ground in front of the genin.
"Use these kunai to mark how high you make it up the tree. Then use that mark as your goal and try to surpass it. You probably won't be good enough to just walk up the tree first so take a running start."
He jumps off the tree and takes out his Icha Icha to begin reading. Sasuke takes a running start, getting four meters up the tree before it the bark under his feet explodes. The kunai slashes a mark just above the blasted bark and he flips, landing in a crouch.
"Hey this is pretty easy!"
Both Sasuke and Kakashi look up and see Sakura sitting on a branch about ten meters off the ground, her legs handing off the branch.
"Very impressive Sakura-chan." Kakashi's eye drifts towards Sasuke. "Perhaps the Uchiha weren't so elite after all." He drawls in a mocking tone.
The raven haired boy growls and turns back towards his tree. 'Damn you Kakashi-sensei! Now Sasuke-kun hates me!' Sakura thinks, glaring at the one eyed man. He shrugs and goes back to his reading.
She walks down the tree and pants, slightly out of breath. "What should I do now Kakashi-sensei?"
From behind his book Kakashi glances at her. "While you have exceptional chakra control your stamina is fairly low and your chakra pool rather small. Try to go up and down the tree ten times to improve them. If you can't then rest and try again."
She nods and goes back to her tree. Another loud crack and Kakashi sees Sasuke return to the earth, a slash on the tree just centimeters above the last. He turns his head to see Naruto slowly going through hand seals, still lying on the ground.
It is moderately cool with a slight breeze, the sun's harsh rays dampened by the overhead clouds. All is nice and peaceful…
"Oh Aiko-chan you naughty naughty girl. Huhuhuhu."
-0-0-
"Train me!" shouts a small child with brown hair and an oversized scarf as he chases a yellow haired boy clad in orange as they run through the streets of Konoha.
"Damnit –ttebayo, I'm only a genin! Why don't you just go ask that elite tutor of yours!?" the boy shouts back. If this was how he acted in the academy he wasn't sure that he could blame those instructors for not wanting to teach him back in the day.
The day started so well. After waking up, boss had created a clone to go register his shinobi id as well as pull a prank on Hokage-jiji. Nothing big, just a small harmless joke that he had come up with after Ero-sennin had told him about his own female team mate. The old man would probably appreciate it from what Naruto could tell! What with that book he tries to hide in his desk…
-0-0-
In 'his' office, Sarutobi Hiruzen the God of Shinobi and Sandaime of Konohagakure is mad. No furious is a better word to describe the white hot rage that burns inside 'him'. It had been the start of a good day. Getting in early 'he' had created some Kage Bunshin in order to take care of the massive smile of paperwork that seemed to have somehow grown overnight. Only a few minutes afterwards 'his' surrogate grandson had come in with 'his' shinobi registration. A quick hug and the boy had been about to leave when 'his' actual grandson, Konohamaru, had burst in, loudly claiming that he would defeat his grandfather and become Hokage.
He had then proceeded to trip over his scarf and smash face first into the floor. Getting up he immediately blamed Naruto, and Naruto being Naruto had loudly protested, hitting the brat over the head and telling him that he was going to be the next Hokage.
After that Naruto had left saying something along the lines of 'boss said to go to the library…', Konohamaru immediately giving chase for some reason or another. But the second Naruto had stepped foot out of the Hokage tower a puff of smoke had enveloped Hiruzen, leaving 'him' in 'his' current predicament.
The door creaks open and 'his' secretary pokes her head in. "Um Hokage-sama you have a ten o clock appointment fo- Hokage-sama!" she yells her eyes widening seeing the person behind the desk.
At the desk a beautiful young lady sits, her long dark brown hair in two pigtails. The Hokage robes hang loose on her curvy frame and rather large breasts strain against the male robes. Her skin is light and flawless, the conical Hokage hat sitting on the desk in front of her. Two bangs frame her face and her eyes are hidden by said hair. Two lines run vertical under the outer corners of her eyes, distinct facial markings that belong to only one person in all of Konoha. Her fists lay on the desk, visibly trembling in rage.
The brat had somehow applied his Oiroke no Jutsu on to 'him'
"NAAAAAAAAAAAARRRUUUUUUUU-
-0-0-
-UUUUUTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Yep that is definitely appreciation the clone thinks. Not anger the likes of which only a male could understand but appreciation for a good joke. However with his slight lapse of concentration his pursuer is able to catch up.
"Stop following me! I need to go to the library so I can become the best Hokage ever!" the clone shouts at the shorter boy. Really why couldn't the brat just take a hint.
"No way! For this past month gramps has been going on and on about how you're going to be an awesome Hokage when you're old enough to inherit the title. But I need to become Hokage first so you're going to teach me!" The boy yells pointing a finger at the clone.
The clone who will now be referred to as Naruto scowled. "Why would a brat like you want to become Hokage? You wouldn't even be able to protect yourself, let alone the village."
"I need to become Hokage so that people will start seeing me as me instead of the 'honorable grandson of the Sandaime'. I couldn't care less about protecting the idiots in the village!"
Anger flares in Naruto's eyes and he hits the boy over the head again. "Brat that's not the right reason to want to become Hokage!"
"Yeah, well what is it then!?" Konohamaru yells back
Naruto's face shifts into a more neutral expression, his eyes squinted. Konohamaru shifts uncomfortably.
"Alright brat follow me."
-0-0-
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
His chakra shapes and forms but does not release. It instead harmlessly dissipates into the air.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
His fingers fumble through the hand seals. Normally he would instantly go to start practicing the jutsu but the scroll said that if he couldn't make the hand seals fast enough it would reduce the effectiveness of the jutsu.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
While he had practiced many things with Ero-sennin during the month he spent training, hand seals were not one of the things they practiced. Probably because it was something he could easily do on his own.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
This is so booooorrrring. He would rather create a clone to just do this for him but he was limited to three clones per day for non-combat purposes when Ero-sennin was out of the village. Naruto didn't want to accidently go over his limit or the Ero-sennin would find out. The Ero-sennin ALWAYS found out.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
He shifts his legs slightly, and winces at the slight pain, his shredded muscles slowly regenerating. Since he had learned to use the gates(he could only open two) there had only been one time before when he had used them and that was to get away from Anko after they had gotten into a fight over a very important matter. It didn't help that Ero-sennin had tied him up afterwards and had the women teach him the bird and the bees while reading from his latest book.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger.
He closes his eyes and slows his breathing to calm himself down. The heat drains from his face, and the memories of bad touches disappear.
Ram. Rat. Bird. Boar. Tiger. Duck.
Wait. Duck?
"What do you want Sasuke?" he says to the duck haired boy staring down at him with an odd look on his face.
The Uchiha turns his head to the side and a blush forms on his cheeks. "You know how to do the tree climbing exercise right?"
He stretches from his position on the ground and shifts his hands to under his head. They were slightly sore from spending so much time practicing the hand seals. "That's right."
An awkward silence. The look on Sasuke's face could now be described as one tasting something extremely foul that they knew they would have to finish. "Could you… Could you give me some tips?"
"Sure."
He blinks owlishly. "Huh?"
"I said sure. What? Did you expect me to make fun of you or something?"
"Uh… actually yeah."
Naruto shrugs and jumps to his feet. "Well I probably wouldn't have been able to get it myself if it wasn't for Ero-sennin helping me so it would be hypocritical for me to make fun of you for having trouble."
The two walk over to the tree where multiple slash marks are visible, the highest one being seven meters from the ground. "Ok show me what you're doing."
Sasuke nods, focusing chakra to his feet. He dashes forward, his feet sticking to and peeling off the tree perfectly. Just under seven meters his footing slips and he falls, not before he marks his progress just above the last cut. He lands in a crouch next to Naruto.
"Well I'm not sure what to tell you. You're doing a lot better than I did at first. -ttebayo" Naruto's arms are crossed as he looks up at Sasuke's progress. "But… it looks like you're thinking about something else while you're doing this."
"Tch." Sasuke looks away. Whatever it is he obviously doesn't want to share.
"I won't ask… but it would be better if you cleared your mind. Chakra uses physical and spiritual energy so if your emotions are restless your control won't be as good."
He nods and stands up, making the ram seal. This time he makes it a full meter above his last mark. When he falls there is a smile on his face. Naruto nods and turns to leave but stops.
"Hey Sasuke… you don't have to tell me if you don't want… but if you ever need someone to talk to I'll be there."
Sasuke scoffs. "Why would you care?"
He turns and gives the raven haired boy the nice guy pose, complete with pinging teeth. "Because I want to be Hokage!"
-0-0-
"Uwaahhh!" Konohamaru says as he steps across the Hokage Monument and stares at the village below. It is the afternoon as the sinking sun bathes the village in twilight, giving it a sort of ephemeral beauty.
"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" the boy turns to see Naruto standing next to him, his blue eyes open and gazing at the village. A soft smile is on his face and a slight breeze ruffles his hair
"Yeah…" Konohamaru says slightly out of breath. Naruto couldn't blame the boy as this was one of his favorite hangout spots when he was little. Stepping towards the cliff Naruto takes a seat, crossing his legs. He motions for Konohamaru to sit next to him and the boy hesitantly does so.
The two sit there for a while, simply appreciating the beauty of the village, until Naruto breaks the silence. "So brat why did you want to be Hokage again? I think I already know it but I want to hear it to make sure." His tone is oddly soft, like an elder sibling talking to their younger.
Glancing at Naruto, Konohamaru wraps the ends of his scarf around his neck. "Ever since I've been born I've always been seen as 'the honorable grandson of the Sandaime', never as Konohamaru. I want to become Hokage so that people will acknowledge me as me, not as just my grandfather's grandson!"
Naruto chuckles and grins at the boy "You know that was the same reason I had for wanting to become Hokage a while ago. But my sensei told me that it was wrong and now I understand. The Hokage isn't acknowledged because he is the Hokage, rather he is Hokage because he is acknowledged."
"I uh… don't understand."
"Think about it this way. You said you would become Hokage by beating your grandfather right? Because he's the strongest person in the village right?" the boy nods "Well if you beat him could you protect Konoha like he did?"
"… I could once I grew older maybe…"
Naruto raises a finger "That's just it. Hokage-jiji didn't become the strongest after he became Hokage but he became Hokage because he was the strongest. Because he was able to protect the village through the past three Great Shinobi World Wars. Because whenever anyone in this village is in danger they know they can rely on him."
Standing Naruto spreads his arms, as if to envelope the horizon in a hug. "I want to be acknowledged like that. For people to look up to me, to depend on me. That's why I want to be Hokage. Because that means people will have acknowledged that I'm someone they can depend on. Like Hokage-jiji and the Yondaime."
Letting his words hang in the air Naruto continues to stare at the village below them. But Konohamaru doesn't respond and Naruto begins to worry. However when he turns around he almost falls off the cliff when he sees that his companions eyes have widened to ridiculous proportions, tears about to fall and both respect and worship present in equal parts.
"Naruto-niichan… that's the wisest thing anyone's ever said to me!"
'Nii-chan?!' "E-eh? Really –ttebayo?"
"Yeah!" Konohamaru shouts jumping up "My shinobi tutor is just always like 'You must follow my instructions as that is the shortcut to becoming Hokage!" he says tilting his head and mimicking said tutor's way of pushing up his glasses. Unfortunately Konohamaru didn't have glasses so it looks like he is just flicking someone off.
"What?! Why would you want to take a shortcut to becoming Hokage? That just means that you won't be as strong as you could have been!"
"Yeah and that's why you should train me!"
"You're really back on that again!?"
As the two bicker under the setting sun they don't notice two shadows disappear from the forests behind them.
-0-0-
"The boy's not that bad once you actually meet him is he?" Sarutobi idly inspects the seal that the brat had managed to slap onto his back earlier in the morning. It wasn't the first of its kind that he had ever seen but it was definitely one of the best.
To his side, leaning against the rails of the Hokage Tower, Ebisu pushes up his glasses. "I am surprised Hokage-sama. From what I had heard around the village I expected him to be a loud mouth braggart with no skills whatsoever to speak of."
A sweat drop forms on the back of his head. "Well let's just say the month he spent with Jiraiya-kun did helped him a lot more than we thought it did."
"Of course. Thankfully it seems Jiraiya-sama's good qualities have rubbed off on him."
'Not just his good qualities…' Sarutobi thinks with a flat look, staring at the 'gender bending' seal in his hand.
"Well then Hokage-sama I will pick up the Honorable Grandson at the same time tomorrow. I'll take my leave."
"Ah one moment Ebisu-kun." Sarutobi reaches into his robes and pulls out two scrolls. "If you could please deliver these I would be in your debt."
"It would be my honor Hokage-sama."
-0-0-
AN: Short chapter, but I had a lot of trouble writing it. I already have the next chapter written for the most part so with a little bit of touching up it should be up by tomorrow. Sorry about the mishap with the update yesterday. I accidently uploaded the wrong chapter and yeah. Anyway Follow, Favorite and Review so I know how to improve!
