Well here I am with chapter four. Sorry that I took so long in updating. Intended to update on Friday before I went off for an Independence Day mini-vacation, but I proofread through it, and it was so choppy that I decided not to. Not that it isn't still, but in my opinion it's more fluid that what it was. This chapter is longer than the first three chapters combined, so I hope you forgive me.
For those who read the latest Naruto chapter (Chapter 454)...anyone else think the Mizukage is a babe? I seriously considered writing a FF where Naruto gets exiled, goes to Kiri, becomes a Kiri-nin, becomes completely infatuated with the kage, etc. Her hair is hot.
I was very pleased to have received so much positive feedback.
If you care enough, I'll put up when I expect to have the next chapter uploaded by on my profile from hereon.
There will be yet more sexual jokes, and some profanity. If you are a teenage reader, and feel that this should be bumped to a mature reading, please don't hesitate to tell me through a private message or a review.
One more thing...I discovered that Naruto had a wiki (should have figured this out sooner) and went to the character profiles. In the manga, Shizune is 28 when Naruto is 12. In this fic, Tsunade has been out of Konoha for only 14 years, so she was 36 when she left. Shizune left at 5, so she's 19 now. Naruto's 12. Okay, there's the time line. I should have done my research from chapter one. I found and fixed more errors from the first three chapters AGAIN. Hopefully at last it's perfect. Most likely not.
Well, that's my opening rant. Here's what you really came here for...hopefully.
"And there you have it Tsunade," Jiraiya finished with a heavy sigh.
Tsunade did a couple small nods in acknowledgement. Most of what the council had to say didn't interest her at all. They would basically give her everything she wanted while she still lived in Konoha, but that was a given. Nothing was offered to her that she couldn't get for herself if she became the Hokage. No, the only thing that interested her was when Jiraiya began to talk about Naruto. She had heard about Jinchuuriki during her travels. She knew that they would be scorned, ridiculed, and basically outcast from society. So the fact that Naruto seemed to be as happy as he was and more or less sane was of some interest to her.
But even that was currently nowhere near as interesting as the conversation going on a couple of tables from them. Jiraiya may have been telling her what the council said, but both of them had their attention focused on Naruto and Shizune.
Jiraiya remembered that day. For him, he understood where Sarutobi-sensei came from; the Hokage had to sacrifice a few to save the masses. The leader of a village had to look at the big picture. He never did tell this to Tsunade, because he knew she wouldn't listen, and frankly, he wasn't sure if he could have either if he was in her shoes.
Tsunade was stunned. Shizune had never even spoke to her about that day. During the retelling, memories of her time with Dan flooded through her brain. The first time they met, their first date, their first kiss, the time she gave him her grandfather's necklace, their first night together, and lastly, the best out of all of them, the time he went on one knee, held out a ring, and promised to love her always.
Tsunade faltered. She still missed him. In the dead of night, her thoughts always trailed back to him. And that day. Oh did she hate that day. Her sensei sent her fiancé to his death. He later told her he did it for the village. That was absurd. Dan needed to die to save the village? And the villagers...they cheered so loud when that spy was executed. They were cheering for an event that occurred because of Dan's death. They were cheering for something Dan had to die for.
He also died to protect the identity of Minato Namikaze, the genius prodigy that sensei was grooming to be the Yondaime Hokage. Her fiancé died to protect the man who would eventually give her missions? The man who would become her leader? The man who took the title Dan had worked to get his entire life?
No. She wouldn't do that. To do anything of the sort would be an insult to Dan's memory, and more importantly, of their relationship. To her, Sarutobi-sensei and the entire village had essentially betrayed her. She couldn't live in Konoha any longer. She had found Shizune waiting for Dan at his house. He had mentioned Shizune to her in passing. The expression Shizune made when she told the little girl that her uncle wasn't coming back this time was something she would never forget. She managed to convince Shizune to follow her, after promising the little girl that she would never leave her. Both of them left Konoha one year before the second war ended, and they hadn't gone back since.
While sorting through her memories, Tsunade noticed Naruto walking over to her table. "Ero-sennin, I'm really tired. Shizune-chan's really tired too. Can we leave now?"
Jiraiya noticed that Naruto was indeed tired, as he was barely stifling yawns, and his eyes were drooping. Then he looked at Shizune. She looked emotionally spent. Her eyes were puffy from the few tears she couldn't hold back, and her posture could have represented 'exhaustion' on a motivational poster.
Deciding that everyone could benefit from some sleep, (he himself had taken far more shots of sake than he was used to; keeping up with Tsunade was so difficult...) Jiraiya gathered Naruto and Shizune and hand signaled Tsunade to follow him to the nearest inn. Sadly enough, Tsunade was more sober than Jiraiya at the moment due to the jutsu that she developed, which she told earlier she had affectionately dubbed 'twenty shots of sake can't get me drunk' jutsu.
The group of four entered the inn. Jiraiya asked for two rooms, and the innkeeper summoned two keys from what seemed to be thin air. Was he a seal master?
The foursome walked to their room silently, each having their own reasons for staying quiet. When they got to the rooms, Jiraiya posed them all a question.
"Hmm...I wonder," he began. "Who should I room with?" Naruto looked a question at Jiraiya, completely confused at what Jiraiya was saying and way too tired to give a damn. Tsunade however noticed where Jiraiya aimed to go with his train of thought. She closed her eyes and began to draw chakra to her fist.
Jiraiya promptly answered Naruto. "No offense Naruto, but I've been rooming with you for the past month or so. It's getting a little old, right?" Naruto nodded, not necessarily in agreement. He just wanted the conversation over and his body parallel to the floor, supported by a bed.
Jiraiya continued on, pleased with Naruto's answer. "Then that leaves us no choice! Shizune! You room with Naruto. I shall room with Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya was grinning at the sheer brilliance of his plan. It was perfectly rational that a man would want to change roommates after rooming with the same one for over a month. It was also perfectly rational that a man should room with a woman. It was also rational that he would perform research on the body of the earthly goddess, Tsunade, and through his writing, share the results of his research with all the men in the world. With that said, a man's ability to think rationally goes flying out the window after taking over ten shots of sake.
Tsunade let him know how she felt about his proposition through a chakra-powered fist that sent the super pervert thirty feet down the hallway. In the afterswing, she caught one of the two keys that Jiraiya dropped. All this with her eyes closed.
"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled. Shizune got out of her reverie. "Hai, Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade opened the door to their room. "Get in here."
Tsunade entered the room, and Shizune followed.
Naruto had dozed off during the exchange, and opened his eyes only after he heard a thud from pretty far away. He saw Jiraiya sprawled on the floor, and didn't see Tsunade or Shizune. Having no idea what the heck just happened, he walked over to Jiraiya.
When he got there, Naruto realized Jiraiya had taken a beating. His entire face was bruising rapidly, and his body seemed to be twitching. Naruto however was a little confused after giving Jiraiya's face a second look. Why the heck was ero-sennin smiling? Hearing a low murmur from Jiraiya, Naruto bent down, and heard, "perfection...round and firm...succulent..."
Naruto had heard enough. He more or less had an idea of what happened. Stupid ero-sennin probably tried to take a peek at Tsunade-san's breasts, and partly succeed, upon which Tsunade beat the hell out of him.
"Baka ero-sennin..." muttered Naruto. He took the room key that Jiraiya had managed to hold on to, went into the room, found the bed, collapsed on it, and went to sleep without changing. What a day...
It was the dead of night. Shizune had been sleeping for a couple hours, and she would undoubtedly need many more after what happened.
Tsunade's thoughts of Dan were much more vivid tonight. Try as she might, she couldn't get him out of her thoughts to think about other things, let alone sleep. She didn't bring any sake from the restaurant, so she couldn't drink herself to sleep tonight as well.
When the memory of his proposal came up again, she couldn't stop a few tears from shedding. She was glad that her love for him was this strong after all these years, but that only meant it hurt that much more. There was nothing she could do to have him back in her life. Wait a minute.
Her thoughts then went to her meeting with Orochimaru earlier in the day.
Flashback
Tsunade and Shizune were walking by a Castle when the sun went out. Tsunade turned her head towards the sun to see what was impeding the sunlight. Her eyes flared in surprise; it was the last person she had expected to meet. Orochimaru...
Orochimaru and some goofy looking kid wearing glasses with a gray ponytail jumped down from the castle. They landed about five feet from them.
Orochimaru looked at Tsunade and smiled. Tsunade narrowed her eyes in response; that smile of his meant nothing good. The glasses kid just stood behind to the right of Orochimaru, and Shizune looked at Orochimaru's arms, wondering what on Earth could have done that.
The silence lasted for another minute before Orochimaru broke it. "Tsunade, it has been so long. You haven't aged a day I see. Perhaps you have succeeded where I am still trying and developed an immortality jutsu? If so, you must tell me all about it," Orochimaru finished, turning his smile into a knowing smirk.
Tsunade chuckled as she slowly blinked and turned her face away from his. When she opened her eyes, she was staring at a lone cloud lazying by through the sky.
Smiling, Tsunade decided that she wanted to be a little lazy today, and indulge herself with some gambling and sake. It had been over a day. "Orochimaru, just get to it. I don't want to be here, you don't want to be here, so why don't you just say what you have to say so we all don't have to be here."
Orochimaru agreed. There were other things that needed his attention at the moment as well.
"Tsunade. I paid Sarutobi-sensei a little visit not too long ago." Tsunade opened her eyes a little bit in surprise. Orochimaru then broke out into the most genuine smile he had in him. "Let us just say that I am still here, ku ku ku..."
Tsunade understood the implication. Orochimaru had killed Sarutobi-sensei.
"My victory was not without injury, Tsunade," Orochimaru continued on. "Sarutobi-sensei invoked Shiki Fuujin, in a desperate attempt to kill me. He however could not finish the task, and sealed only my arms. I need my arms fixed Tsunade."
She widened her eyes at the mention of the reaper death seal, but mentally snorted when he asked her to heal him. For someone reputed to be a genius, he really didn't understand the emotional bonds people create between each other. Or maybe it was that he couldn't; after all, if he could, would he have done what he did?
She thought of the raining night when she had moved heaven and earth to get to Nawaki as fast as she could upon hearing that he had been severely injured in a mission. When she arrived at where he was being treated, her teammates were waiting for her at the entrance. Jiraiya's face turned ashen when he saw her, triggering her to break out into a cold sweat. Jiraiya told her that he had died, and held her as she cried her heart out. Certainly one of Jiraiya's better moments.
But not Orochimaru's. All that snake-loving git did was tell her that they had trouble identifying him due to the sheer amount of blood and damage to his face. He did that with a smile. He couldn't contain his mirth for what he told her next, that they couldn't even identify him through fingerprints because both arms were torn off.
Bring her consciousness back to the present, she gave Orochimaru a once over. His arms were an unnatural black. If they were sealed off, then that meant that they were basically a tumor to his body. He would soon begin to feel the effects of necrosis, if he hadn't already begun to experience them. Running through the symptoms of necrosis quickly in her head, she smiled when she go to 'intolerable pain.'
Misinterpreting her smile as a 'yes,' Orochimaru grinned widely and walked towards her when Tsunade calmly replied, "No thanks. I decline."
Orochimaru had a dumbfounded look on his face and immediately stopped advancing towards her. He almost looked hurt. Then she realized she had a golden opportunity to get back at him for what he said about Nawaki so many years ago. Oh this is going to be fun.
Orochimaru paled (he turned a fainter shade of white). "Tsunade, what--"
She cut him off. "I don't even recognize your arms. I mean, they're so black and all. Can you even do jutsus anymore?" She then laughed out loud to her heart's content, and proceeded to walk away, leaving a very confused Shizune to wonder what just happened.
He was somewhat miffed at her response, and a little bit surprised that Tsunade, who many years ago was little more than a fangirl towards him, would refuse this opportunity to help him. He didn't expect this reply from her. Quickly trying to come up with a solution, Orochimaru gave Tsunade an equally bright smile when he realized that he could offer her something he knew she couldn't refuse.
"Heal my arms Tsunade, and I will give back to you the two men in your life that you loved more than life itself."
Tsunade flinched and immediately stopped smiling. Shizune gave Orochimaru a vicious glare and prepared her senbon for an attack.
Orochimaru grinned. This had the exact effect he wanted.
"I will say it again Tsunade. Heal my arms and I will give you your little brother and fiancé."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth in anger. Shizune lost her cool and fired off two quick senbon at Orochimaru, who blocked it with his arms by turning his body. They flopped around uselessly, but had managed to stop the attack. Orochimaru grinned. 'First time these useless arms were of service; I didn't even feel that.'
His grin quickly faded as Tsunade threw a punch into the nearby wall, leaving nothing but dust. Her eyes held nothing but repressed fury as she quietly said, "Don't fuck with me Orochimaru."
Never one to let others have the last word, Orochimaru chuckled and left her with a parting shot. "Don't forget Tsunade, I know all about you. More so than anyone else alive. Probably." Tsunade's eyes narrowed once more. "Let us not forget that I know of your one weakness." Orochimaru said as the blood trail from his arms had finally gotten to his fingertips and fell onto the ground. Tsunade, noticing the blood, instantly paled, and went down on her knees, shaking and holding herself.
Kabuto's left eye raised up in surprise. Hematophobia? This is most surprising. For a medical ninja to be afraid of blood...
Kabuto shook himself out of his thoughts, and addressed the shaking Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, for us to bring back your brother and fiancé, we will need two bodies. Please have them prepared in two days. We will meet you in the grassy fields to the east of the next town."
Kabuto poofed out of existence and Orochimaru sunk into the ground, leaving behind a shaking Tsunade and a troubled Shizune.
End Flashback
She had never even considered taking the offer. As if that snake would ever live up to his end of the bargain. But as it was, she was an emotional wreck at the moment, and wasn't thinking clearly. She surprised herself by leaving the room through the window.
She began to walk around the town. All the children that made the streets so lively earlier on had gone back home. The streets were quiet now. There were hardly any traces of life. There wouldn't have been any, if it weren't for her and two drunk men being ushered out of a bar by the owner.
"Get out and stay out! You are no longer welcome here!" Yelled the owner as he slammed the door in the taller drunk's face.
The two drunks beat on the door for a couple seconds, yelling incoherent gibberish. They quickly grew bored, and proceeded to walk down the road. Well not 'walk,' so much as stumbling and bumping into each other every other step. They had managed to get about ten steps down the road before the taller one collapsed on the shorter one and they both fell asleep where the fell.
Tsunade walked over to the two drunks. They reeked with the smell of sake, but this wasn't anything she wasn't used to. She gave them a closer inspection. They were some ugly looking men. Their hair looked like it hadn't seen water in months, and shampoo in years. They had some grotesque looking scars on their faces. They probably got cut there in some fight, and didn't bother to wash it out, which triggered an infection. Both men were seriously overweight, and wore little more than rags as clothes.
Tsunade did not find the view pleasing. Ugh, even Jiraiya's better looking than these two worthless drunks...
Then it hit her. Two drunks. Two sorry excuses of human beings who probably went from town to town, stopping at local bars, ordered a ton of food and sake, got roaring drunk, and had the owners kick them out to avoid having to pay. She played her meeting with Orochimaru back in her head. Her thoughts then raced through all the memories she had of Dan and Nawaki. She could do it. She could have them back in her life. The only cost would be these two drunks, which no one would miss.
Tsunade stared at the drunks for a good ten minutes. In that time, the taller drunk had started to drool, and it ran down his face and into the shorter drunk's open mouth. Gross, thought Tsunade as she waged a war with herself on what she should do.
Another ten minutes later, Tsunade's face suddenly went blank. The war had been won. She silently drew a kunai, and began to walk toward the two drunks.
"Tsunade-sama, what are you doing." said a feminine voice.
Tsunade flinched, and looked to her right, in the direction of the inn. There stood a girl wearing a dark kimono and a white undershirt. Shizune.
Tsunade quietly put her kunai away. "I was going to break in, and steal some sake. I had trouble falling asleep, and some sake would have done the trick," she replied. The drunks had collapsed in front of a bar of all places. Oh well. It made for a perfectly plausible story.
Shizune nodded, which Tsunade noticed. Even in the dark, her eyesight was superb. "Tsunade-sama, you know breaking into a bar is illegal," she began. "If you wanted some sake, you know that I have an emergency stash of sake for dire situations."
Tsunade was genuinely confused. "But I thought I went through that stash the second day we left Grass Country."
Shizune smiled. This time, Tsunade did not notice. "Oh that. That's not the emergency stash. That's the 'I know you didn't pack enough sake and you're going to cry about it later' stash. The real emergency stash is something you are ignorant of, so that it is used in truly desperate times," she finished as her smile turned into a grin.
Tsunade took a deep breath and lowered her shoulders in relief. How like Shizune, to prepare so well. She knows me better than anyone.
"Okay, okay. I won't break into the bar." Tsunade said. Shizune nodded, and proceeded to head back to the inn. She stopped when she realized that Tsunade wasn't following her. Turning around, it looked like Tsunade was checking the drunks to make sure they wouldn't die of alcohol poisoning in the night.
Shizune waited for Tsunade to finish, but Tsunade said, "Shizune, you head back first to the inn. I'll be there shortly. I promise," she added as an afterthought.
Shizune stood still for a couple of seconds, before slowly making her way to the inn. She wasn't even on her fifth step when she quietly said, "They won't come back. Whatever he does, it...it won't be them."
She then began to walk back to the inn without looking back.
Tsunade closed her eyes. She had just finished her ethanol cleansing jutsu on the shorter drunk, so the two idiots should be perfectly normal by daylight. Whether they'd be happy about that, who knows?
She got up and tried to go back to the inn. She tried, in the sense that she got up and faced the inn, but she did not take a single step towards it. She stood completely still for a couple seconds before turning her head at the two drunks again, giving them a really hard look.
The sunlight peeked through the windows and landed on Naruto's face. Going to sleep a little later didn't seem to do him much damage. He woke up feeling every bit as energetic as he normally did. If there was anything he was proud of, it was his stamina.
He looked around for Jiraiya, but couldn't find him. When he looked around in the room, he realized that he had left Jiraiya outside in the hallway. Ah. Oops?
He washed his face, brushed his teeth, made himself look presentable, and left the room. To his surprise, Jiraiya wasn't where Naruto had left him last night.
He then went down to the entrance of the inn, where Jiraiya was waiting for him at a table. Naruto walked over to him, and to his utter delight, Jiraiya had a warm bowl of miso ramen.
Naruto was salivating, and could only form the words 'miso...ramen...me...want...' before he took a breath, and smelled the ramen. That was the breaking point. He could wait no longer. He all but dive bombed into the noodles, barely picking up the chopsticks before tearing into the ramen with a frenzy.
Jiraiya chuckled as Naruto began to choke from trying to eat too much at once. He hit Naruto a couple times on the back, as he told him to slow down. Naruto growled in response, but did slow down a bit. Jiraiya procured a cup of water from seemingly nowhere, and gave it to Naruto, who took it eagerly.
In less than three minutes, the bowl was completely empty. You could have washed the bowl ten times, and it wouldn't look as clean as it did right then.
Naruto burped, and let out a satisfied sigh. "Ero-sennin. You. Are. AWESOME! How did you know I wanted to eat ramen for breakfast?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "Kid, that's all you want to eat for any meal."
Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah."
Jiraiya then looked over in the direction Naruto came from, and said, "Tsunade and Shizune haven't come out yet. I wonder why."
This train of thought went down the gutter fast.
Jiraiya started to grin lecherously as he prodded Naruto and whispered in his ear, "Hey kid. What do you think they're up to?"
Naruto didn't understand what was going on. "Sleeping. Why?"
Jiraiya let out an exasperated sound and whispered again in Naruto's ear, "You know what I think? I think they're doing the nasty. I think they're...doing it." Naruto started to turn a shade of red as Jiraiya got to thinking. I should be doing research. What the heck am I still doing here?
Jiraiya proceeded to leave quickly, but Naruto grabbed his arm and said, "Oh no you don't you ero-sennin. You're not going to do your research on Shizune-chan."
Jiraiya was about to protest, but realized the kid had a point. Shizune was way too flat chested and underdeveloped for his tastes. Tsunade walking down the forbidden path would only be glorious and deserving of him to perform research on if her partner was as equally well endowed as she was. If not, it would be a travesty. And odds are they were just sleeping anyways.
Jiraiya sat down at their table and asked Naruto a question. "So brat, while we wait for Tsunade and your Shizune-chan to come down, there anything you want to do?"
Naruto growled at being made fun of, but there in fact was something that he wanted to do. And this was as good a time as any to ask for it.
"Ero-sennin," Naruto began. "I'm stuck at learning the rasengan and need some help. Could you..." Naruto faltered. Given his days at the academy, and even as a member of Team 7, it was hard for him to ask someone for help. Naruto took a deep breath, steeled himself, and put his heart on the line again. "Could you help me out?"
Jiraiya smiled. The brat hadn't asked him for help once throughout their entire search for Tsunade. He gave Naruto the bare specifics, and Naruto somehow managed to perform what was asked of him, greatly surprising Jiraiya. But the rasengan was a fickle thing, and seasoned jounin couldn't do it properly, and that with proper tutelage. How was a genin supposed to figure it out on his own? Then he realized that Naruto had taken a big step in asking him for help, and further realized that Naruto had trusted him enough to ask. Thanks kid, I won't let you down.
Jiraiya stood up with a yawn, clearly bored with it all. "Yeah, sure brat. It's not like I have anything to do anyways. Come on, let's go work on it somewhere private." Jiraiya led the way out of the inn.
Naruto followed him quietly without uttering a word.
No one saw the huge smile on his face.
"I just don't get it, ero-sennin!" Naruto exclaimed as he fell on his butt, exhausted. He had been at it for over two hours, and no luck. He just couldn't get the third step down.
Jiraiya just stared at Naruto. The kid did get it. He hadn't had this much success in training anyone with the rasengan since, well, ever. He tried to teach Kakashi, the Yondaime's student, but that ended up disastrously. In fact, in his frustration, Kakashi gave an all-out effort in creating the rasengan, only to come up with a ball of lightning that sounded like a thousand birds chirping.
Kakashi later found out that the thing he made was an extremely effective assassination jutsu, but it required much more chakra than the rasengan. Jiraiya just told him 'If it works for you, great.'
Now here he was with Kakashi's student. The kid had progressed further than Kakashi ever had. He understood the concept of swirling the chakra in different directions without having each flow of chakra be impeded by another flow going in a different direction. He had managed to concentrate so hard that he burned a hole in his hand, which made the chakra flow faster, which added power to the technique. What Naruto could form was the rasengan. He just had to do the third step, which was to cover what he could already form with a thin yet strong layer of chakra that prevented the swirling chakra from escaping out, maximizing the damage inflicted at one spot.
Naruto at the moment looked extremely upset with himself. He looked like he was ready to give up. Jiraiya decided it was time to be a little serious and let Naruto know just how close he was.
"Naruto." Jiraiya said, which made Naruto lift his head up and look at Jiraiya. "You have no idea, no idea at all, at how much progress you've made so far."
Naruto looked at Jiraiya dumbly, and began to protest. "But ero-sennin. I can't do the third step. It's so hard. It takes every bit of control I have to even form it up to the second step, and that's with a kage bunshin!
Jiraiya chuckled, and decided to let Naruto know the history of him trying to teach the rasengan.
"Kid, I've tried to teach the rasengan to several ninja in the past. They were all top notch ninja who had outstanding records as members of ANBU. None of them got up to where you are right now. You have come the farthest out of anyone I have tried to teach."
Naruto went still for a moment, before breaking into a earsplitting grin. "You really mean that ero-sennin? You're not trying to pull a fast one on me are you? Are you?" Naruto was jumping up and down, his previous exhaustion completely forgotten.
Jiraiya laughed out loud in a manner similar to a fat dude who climbs down chimneys and gives free presents near the end of each year. "I kid you not Naruto. It's the truth."
Naruto started jumping around faster, ridiculously pleased with himself.
Jiraiya began talking again. "BUT, I did say that the third step was the hardest part." Naruto stopped his jumping, and mumbled something about ruining his moment. "The third step isn't the hardest part conceptually. It's in fact, the easiest to understand. It's just the hardest to do. There's nothing you can really do to learn it faster. It basically comes down to chakra control, pure and simple. If you have the control, you can do it. If not, you can't. That's all there is to it."
Naruto looked down at the ground upon learning of this. "So this means I can't do it, huh." He was blinking back tears. "I tried so hard to learn this, ero-sennin, I really did. I thought I could do it, but now you're tell me that I...can't."
Jiraiya chuckled, and ruffled Naruto's hair a bit before giving his reply. "I didn't say you can't learn it ever. I meant that you can't do it now with your current level of chakra control. All you have to do is work really hard on your chakra control. Practice tree climbing until it becomes second nature for you to do so. Practice water walking until you it's no different to you than it is to walk on solid earth. Practice holding a leaf to your head until you don't even realize that you're doing it. If you work on your chakra control, there is no way in hell that you won't be able to use the rasengan someday." Jiraiya finished confidently.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya with awe. He could still learn the rasengan! And not only that, the ero-sennin gave him some additional training that would help him become Hokage! In a couple sentences, Naruto's respect for the toad sage had rose several notches.
Jiraiya laughed wholehearted at Naruto's expression. "Yeah, I only teach the best you know." Naruto grinned. "I think Tsunade and Shizune are definitely up by now. Heck, it's almost lunchtime. Knowing her, she's at that restaurant again on her thirtieth shot of sake. Let's just go there first. I'll bet you she's there." Naruto chuckled and shook his head. Thirty shots by lunch? Holy crap...
Sure enough, Tsunade and Shizune had woken up, and were currently eating lunch when Jiraiya and Naruto had entered the restaurant.
Shizune, upon noticing Naruto, gave him a warm smile and waved for him to hurry up. Naruto hesitated just for a second before breaking out his trademark smile and hurrying over to her. It looks like she's okay. Jiraiya chuckled. Young love...how sweet it is. He briefly wondered if, in a couple years, he would be performing his research on the two of them. He then looked at the two. One was a hyperactive midget and the other was a reserved older woman. Nah...
Naruto took a seat opposite of Shizune. "Naruto-kun, I ordered two plates of tonkatsu for you. I saw that you were hungry after only eating one last night." Shizune said.
Naruto was extremely pleased. She understood that he wasn't completely satisfied with one plate, and she had ordered ahead of time, so that it would get here much sooner.
Naruto only had to wait a couple of minutes until the waiter brought the tonkatsu. Very hungry from training for the past two hours, Naruto dug into his plate with vigor.
Shizune chuckled when she saw how eagerly he was eating. She poured some water into an empty glass, patiently waiting for him to start choking on his food from eating too fast.
On cue, Naruto began to cough, and she gave him the cup of water, for which he was extremely grateful.
"Ah, whew. I coulda died there. Thanks Shizune-chan." Naruto said before he renewed his attack on his plate.
Shizune had already finished her meal and was quietly sipping on a cup of tea while amusing herself by watching Naruto eat. Tsunade and Jiraiya were quietly chatting about some of the finer details about what they talked about last night. Once that was done, she asked where the hell he was this morning.
"Jiraiya," Tsunade began. "Shizune and I waited over an hour for you two to show up. We thought you were still sleeping. I got sick of waiting and opened the door to your room to find you guys not there. I figured that you guys came down here to get something to eat, but you weren't here either. I was going to go to another restaurant when they brought this really expensive looking sake bottle, and well, you know me..." she finished with a grin.
Chuckling, Jiraiya took a sip of his tea and responded. "We were up before you two. I already ate, and I found some miso ramen that someone threw away, and I gave it to Naruto for breakfast." Naruto stopped eating for a second to look at Jiraiya in utter shock while Shizune narrowed her eyes at Jiraiya in distaste at what he had done.
Laughing out loud, he told them it was a joke, and would Naruto please learn what a napkin was.
He turned his attention back to Tsunade. "I was teaching Naruto a jutsu while we were looking for you two. He almost has it, but he got stuck at a certain point. He asked me for help, and I went out trying to help him out while you were snoring the day away."
Tsunade punched Jiraiya on the top of his head. "I do not snore you peeping bastard." While Jiraiya was massaging his scalp, Tsunade asked him, "So what about this technique is he having trouble with?"
Jiraiya grinned and said, "Oh he isn't having trouble with the jutsu, per se. It's just a matter of chakra control. He's still too young to have the control he needs to use this jutsu."
Tsunade began to laugh loudly. Very loudly. It actually took her around twenty seconds to quiet down.
Jiraiya didn't understand what exactly was so amusing. "What's so funny?"
Tsunade, who had just about stopped laughing, replied, " The brat has crappy chakra control? I've never heard of a Hokage wannabe who even had average chakra control. There's no way he can ever be Hokage."
Naruto's head shot up, and Shizune looked reproachingly at her sensei. "Tsunade-sama---" she began, but Naruto cut her off.
"Ero-sennin said that no one had the chakra control needed to use this jutsu when they were my age," he said monotonously. Shizune turned to look at Naruto, surprised at his tone of voice. Tsunade herself was surprised. She expected the kid to blow up and start yelling about how he was the greatest or something stupid similar to that. Heck, Naruto startled himself with his answer.
Tsunade quickly recovered. "Hey brat, I don't know what Jiraiya is thinking, but Shizune here had enough chakra control to be a hospital medic-nin when she was thirteen.
Naruto flinched. Sakura had mentioned things about medic-nin to him in the few conversations that she didn't do him physical harm. Did she want to be one? Medic-nin were at least chunin level ninja who had extremely high chakra control. They specialized in medical jutsu to heal combat wounds, or treat patients in a hospital.
'So it is possible for ninja my level to have very high chakra control,' Naruto thought. The Hokages were nothing but the best, and I have a long way to get there, he mused.
Shizune gave Tsunade a very hard look while Jiraiya inwardly was fuming at Tsunade. Shizune had high chakra control for her age because her chakra reserves weren't anywhere near what Naruto had. Factor in the Kyuubi's chakra, and it's a miracle the kid has enough control to perform a henge.
Naruto finished his second plate, and let out a satisfied sigh. He turned his head to look at Tsunade, who he noticed was smirking at him. He decided that he needed to tone her down a little.
Naruto put his hands behind his head, leaned back into his chair, and put a lazy grin on his face. "Well if you're chakra control is so great, then why don't you become Hokage?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed in anger. He knew that one would tick her off. Now for the haymaker. "And what do you know anyways? You're just a vain old hag who refuses to look her age. You're old enough to be a baa-chan. Hey you know what? That's what you are. A baa-chan. Tsunade no BAA-CHAN." Naruto finished, with a heavy inflection at the end of his little speech, grinning victoriously.
Tsunade snapped. Nobody called her old, let alone call her a....baa-chan.
Realizing that she was imagining his very slow and painful death, Tsunade shook her head, got up, and pointed at the door of the restaurant. "Outside. Now," was all she said.
Naruto recoiled. He was a dead man walking. He pushes her buttons a little bit too hard and now he was paying the price. He tried to create a light atmosphere and get out of the whole mess.
"Tsunade-sama, think about this for a second..." Naruto stuttered. "You don't really want to kill me...you're just upset that you're so old." Tsunade's entire body tensed up. Shizune shook her head and sighed while Jiraiya was cracking up. The kid needed to learn to think before he talks.
Without saying another word, Tsunade walked over to where Naruto was sitting, picked him up by the cuff of his orange jacket, threw him over her shoulder and walked out into the street. Naruto tried valiantly to break free and run for freedom, but it wasn't going to happen. Tsunade had a death grip on his jacket.
Upon exiting the restaurant, Tsunade threw Naruto about twenty feet down the street. It was lunch time, so the streets were alive with the children once more, and people were going about their business. It held such an air of tranquility that Naruto lost himself for a moment. It probably would have lasted longer had Tsunade not punched a crater into the ground.
Tsunade slow rose up and released a bit of her chakra to let Naruto know who was the queen bee around here. All the townspeople ran indoors, grabbing the children and ushering them inside as well.
In less than a minute, the alive, thriving town had disappeared. Tsunade looked at Naruto, who was angry that she had turned the street into their battlefield. They could have clearly gone to the fields where ero-sennin taught him earlier. For disrupting this peaceful village and inciting a needless fear into the villagers, Tsunade was going to pay.
"Baa-chan," Naruto asked. "You could have beat me up outside of the town. Why did you do that?"
Tsunade was quickly getting tired of the way the little brat was addressing her. "I couldn't wait long enough to beat your head in," she replied.
Jiraiya and Shizune came out into the street to hear that last statement. Shizune gave one last attempt to save Naruto's well-being. "Tsunade-sama. Stop acting like a little child. Please stop this."
Tsunade answered her by lifting up her left pinky finger and spoke to Naruto. "I'm going to only use this finger to beat you down. I'm not going to need anything else. You can try whatever you want. I doubt you'll accomplish much," she finished with a grin.
Shizune was getting frustrated. These childish antics of her sensei were quickly growing old. "Tsunade-sama please--"
Her words got cut off as Naruto let out a scream and charged at Tsunade.
Naruto was fuming inside. She'd beat him with her left pinky finger? No one underestimated him and got away with it. He'd show her that not only would she have to use more than just one finger to beat him, she was going to lose if she tried.
He threw a right hook at Tsunade's face, which she quickly dodged by squatting, and threw her left pinky at his chin, lifting him off the ground. Naruto fell on his butt, and was slightly dazed from the hit. Wasting no time, Tsunade stood over him, and flicked his forehead protector with her left pinky, sending him thirty feet down the street.
Naruto slowly got up, dusting off some of the thicker patches of dirt that got on his jacket. Tsunade grinned, and egged him on some more. "I didn't think that this fight would be this easy brat. With what Jiraiya was saying, I expected to have to use both pinky fingers against you. I have to say I'm sorely disappointed."
Naruto was incensed. A disappointment? She had some nerve to say that. If there was anything that he tried not to be, it was that. Ero-sennin was also watching this fight, and he wasn't going to let him down.
Naruto formed a hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
A smoke cloud formed to Naruto's right. Once it cleared up, the Naruto on the left was holding a blue ball of chakra while the Naruto on the right was disrupting the flow of the chakra in seemingly random places.
Shizune's eyes widened as she finally learned what jutsu Naruto had been working on. The rasengan? The Yondaime's jutsu? Oh Tsunade-sama, why did you not ask him what he was working on? Of course he doesn't have the control to do the rasengan; elite jounin have trouble with it. She was secretly glad that the jutsu he was learning was such a high level one; surely Tsunade-sama would recognize her errors and stop this stupid fight.
Tsunade on the other hand was shocked. 'The kid was learning that?' And not only that, what he had formed looked to be the real deal. It looked exactly a genuine rasengan. If it weren't for the fact that she knew it was an incomplete one, she would have been a little afraid. Well, performing a jutsu's one thing, and executing it's a whole another monster. She doubted that he could hit her even if he had managed to form a perfect one.
The Naruto on the right poofed out of existence. Naruto went full speed towards Tsunade with the intention of scoring a direct hit on her body.
When he got to within five feet of Tsunade, Naruto aimed the rasengan directly at her stomach, yelling "Rasengan!" Tsunade sighed. The kid had no sense of tactics whatsoever. A direct attack with no feints? No misdirection? It was as if he believed she was going to stand still and let him hit her. You've got a long way to go brat, if you ever want to be Hokage,' she mused.
Tsunade stepped to the left and caught his right arm, holding it away from her. The rasengan quickly dissipated.
Looking down at Naruto with a smirk, she was surprised to see him smiling. What's he smiling for?
"What are you so happy about, you little brat?"
Naruto wrenched his arm from her hand and said, "You used your entire hand. Five fingers."
Tsunade looked at her right hand, and was surprised. She had forgotten about her little declaration after seeing the brat form a real looking rasengan. She couldn't let him know that he won. She didn't have it in her to admit defeat.
Tsunade shrugged. "Eh, I was just being nice. I could have moved farther and dodged it all together. I just didn't want you tripping and hitting yourself with that thing. It would have been a bitch to heal."
Naruto nodded, secretly very pleased with himself for getting out of the fight without suffering too much damage to his ego and very little damage to his body. He was about to walk over to where Jiraiya and Shizune were standing when Tsunade turned towards Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya! Are you trying to teach this kid the Rasengan?! What's the point of teaching him this technique when he can't even master it? Filling his head with stupid dreams! To actually think that he'll become Hokage someday!" (1)
Naruto stopped moving. Jiraiya gave her a venomous glare. There was only so many times you can put someone down.
Shizune was simply stunned that Tsunade could be so cruel. She began to walk over to Naruto to reassure him when he abruptly turned around to look at Tsunade.
He gave her one of the biggest smiles he'd ever made.
"Okay, everyone else in history stunk it up trying to rasengan. So what. I'm not them. I'm me. Uzumaki Naruto. I won't know I can't do it unless I try. If I end not not being able to do it, well, I'll do what Kakashi-sensei did and make my own variation of it. But you're not stopping me from trying. No. Way." Naruto finished.
Tsunade almost smiled. The kid had more confidence than anyone she had ever met. He had scored some serious points with that comeback, and it dawned on her that the brat was slowly growing on her. It was impossible for her to not like anyone who resembled Nawaki and Dan to such an extent. What can I do to help him...
Oh yea. I'll bet against him.
Tsunade grinned. This was so foolproof that it was genius.
"Okay brat, you want to make a bet?" Tsunade asked. Naruto was a little confused; this was not what he was expecting her to say.
"I'll bet that you can't learn the rasengan in...three months," she said, holding out three fingers. Naruto's eyes narrowed. Three months? He'd been at learning the rasengan for over a month already. He didn't need three months!
"...you'll buy me all the sake I want for a month." Tsunade said, grinning.
A feeling of dread came over Naruto. He didn't expect to lose the bet, but the mere idea of having to buy sake for Tsunade had him breaking out in a cold sweat.
Naruto reflexively shivered. If anything, he sure as heck was going to be motivated to learn the rasengan as soon as possible.
He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head and asked her a question, "Oi baa-chan, what do I get when I learn the rasengan?" He opened his eyes to see Tsunade charging at him. He couldn't process what was happening fast enough, and before he knew it, she had him in a headlock.
'Again with the baa-chan.' Tsunade thought angrily. 'What the hell is wrong with this brat?'
Naruto was struggling against her for all he was worth. In other words, he got nowhere. She had him in a death grip and wasn't easing up in the least.
Hearing a lecherous giggle, Tsunade turned around to see Jiraiya writing furiously with the definition of 'perverted smile' on his face. Confused, she looked down at Naruto and realized that she was holding his head to her chest. Tsunade broke out in a faint blush, and was in the process of letting him go when Naruto stomped on her foot as hard as he could.
That did it. Any thoughts of letting him off evaporated into the hot summer day. She renewed her death grip on his head and broke out in delighted laughter when he heard his muffled screams of pain. She was a little surprised. Knowing Jiraiya, she thought the kid would be a full-blown pervert. As it was, the kid wasn't even breaking out in a nosebleed.
So the kid's not a pervert eh? Let's see how far we can take this. Giving Jiraiya a devious smile, she moved Naruto's head so that it was right in her cleavage. Jiraiya guffawed like a horse and proceeded to write even faster before the stimulation was too much and he broke out into a titanic nosebleed and passed out on the floor. Tsunade smiled. Tsunade 1, Jiraiya 0.
Naruto realized that his situation had become even more dire. Instead of just having his face being flattened like it was earlier, now it was being crushed from the left, right, and middle. On top of that, someone turned out the lights. It was very dark where he was. Getting a little desperate, he moved his head in what few directions he could and began to fight against her even harder when he noticed a faint glint of light. He stopped moving his head around and tried to concentrate his eyes on where it came from. He found it again, and for whatever reason, couldn't stop looking at it.
When Tsunade felt Naruto go still, she wondered if the kid passed out. Letting him go to check if he was still conscious, she found that he was, but he still wasn't moving. Knowing rigor mortis takes more than half a day in this heat, she pushed him hard away from her.
Naruto was unprepared for the shove, and almost tripped on his own feet. He managed to stay on his two feet while never taking his eyes off that glint of light, which turned out to be a green stone that she was wearing as a necklace. He had no idea why he couldn't tear his gaze from the stone, and had even less of an idea why the stone had such power over him.
Tsunade noticed where his eyes were staring at and groaned. 'Sigh, I was wrong. The brat's been corrupted by Jiraiya. He's just a lot smarter in getting what he wants.'
Quickly getting sick of a little brat ogling her goodies, Tsunade decided to get him to stop by embarrassing him. "Hey brat," she began with a seductive smile. "Like what you see?" She gave him a wink for good measure.
Naruto realizing what part of her body the stone was at, was about to sputter out an apology when he realized her game. In the past month traveling with Jiraiya, Naruto had observed Jiraiya performing "research" a number of times. Over time, he came to a gradual understanding of how men and women tease each other.
He blew Tsunade the biggest raspberry he could, and said, "Who'd want to stare at your old, saggy, baa-chan breasts?" Shizune let out a gasp and put her hand over her mouth. Realizing that Naruto was about to meet Kami-sama, she offered the venerable Kami a quick prayer. Kami-sama, please protect Naruto for the next ten seconds. He knows not the words he has just uttered and the wrath he has just unleashed...
Tsunade's eyes were replaced by two blue pools of chakra, and she was radiating chakra from her body in such large amounts that Naruto briefly wondered if she had pulled a Rock Lee and opened a celestial gate. He didn't have to ponder for long, as Tsunade charged at him silently, her desire to kill him overpowering the immediate area.
Naruto felt it, but stood strong. When she was halfway to him, he asked a question out loud. "That stone, what is it?"
Tsunade was brought to a complete stop, her chakra and killing intent gone as soon as it erupted. Her shock was obvious in her body language and her surprise even more so in her tone of voice.
"What...stone....are you talking about."
Naruto didn't budge. "That green stone that you're wearing as a necklace."
Tsunade inwardly flinched. The stone was the last memoir she had of her grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage of Konoha. It's monetary worth could have supported a small village for years, and the sentimental value it held to her was above priceless.
She had gone to great lengths to hide it. The stone seemed perfectly complacent when she was wearing it, but the lure it held to others was great, and the last two people she let have it ended up being referred to as bodies within the year.
Tsunade shrugged, and dismissively said, "It's nothing brat. Nothing at all."
Naruto straightened out a bit, and gave her a smile. He was pleased at her response. "Well if it's nothing to you, baa-chan, when I master the rasengan, I want that." He pointed at the stone for emphasis.
Tsunade was shivering inside. The brat had no idea what he was asking of her. She had only given the stone to the two people she loved unconditionally with all her heart. And it broke her heart each time she had to claim it again from their lifeless bodies.
Outside, Tsunade was an emotionless statue. "No can do brat. This stone's worth a small fortune. You can bet that you'll master the rasengan, the karyuu endan, the Shiki Fuujin AND the Hiraishin in three months, and I won't take it." Tsunade thought this would stop the brat from asking again. After all, she threw three of the Yondaime's jutsu in there, and the kid always perked up when that man was mentioned.
Naruto was musing. He had no idea what the Shiki Fuujin or the Hiraishin were, but he knew the karyuu endan was the apex of fire jutsu. He had overheard Kakashi-sensei mentioning it to Sasuke. It created a massive flame in the shape of a dragon that seemed to have a mind of its own. The flames were several times more intense than the fireball Sasuke could already form, and required a very high affinity with fire, whatever the heck that meant.
In other words, he had no shot of learning the karyuu endan, which meant he couldn't win that stone as a prize. Given the way she mentioned all four techniques, he figured that there was nothing he could bet to learn in three months and have her accept. Naruto then suddenly perked up.
Two words in that statement were the key. Three months. What if he offered to learn even just the rasengan in a much shorter time span? It didn't have to be impossible by any means, he just had to make her think that it was impossible. After all, she thought three months was impossible, because she dictated that term to him when she made the bet. 'Huh,' Naruto mused. 'When did I get so smart?'
Naruto began his attack to get Tsunade to agree. "Oi, baa-chan." Tsunade shot him a look that promised death by castration. "I'll bet that I can learn the rasengan in...one week, if you bet that necklace. Also, if you bet it and I lose, I'll buy you twice the sake for twice as long."
Tsunade couldn't stop the surprise from showing up on her face. One week? Given where he was at the moment, mastering the rasengan in a week was impossible. You can't just suddenly wake up one day and control chakra. She knew. She tried. REALLY hard, in fact. It hurt her a lot when she failed. She still winced when she recalled trying to hold one hundred leaves to her body while running up and down a tree that she had doused in water. Oh, she also tried to do it blindfolded, being told from Jiraiya that practicing tree climbing while being blindfolded greatly improves your control.
What happened that day was that she lost half the leaves before she even got to the tree, and she couldn't sense where the tree was. She ran face-first into the tree, ruining her clothes and cutting up her face.
In the end, the lesson learned was that chakra control is something gained over a long period of time. Not one week. It was impossible for him to master it in a week. It wasn't even her opinion; it was just a fact.
With that knowledge in mind, Tsunade agreed to the bet. What she didn't realize was that she was subconsciously throwing her heart out there one last time. "Okay Naruto. If you learn the rasengan in one week, I'll give you my grandfather's necklace."
It was her grandfather's? Oh well. Naruto didn't really care at the moment as he jumped for joy. He had convinced Tsunade to bet the necklace. Still, one week was a pretty harsh deadline. He looked at Jiraiya and said, "I'm going to go practice it. I only have one week! That's not a lot of time."
Jiraiya had just woken up from his stupor and caught the last bits of the conversation. He didn't know what Tsunade has bet, but he didn't really care. He nodded, and Naruto broke out into a full-blown sprint towards where he had practiced earlier in the day. Jiraiya decided that the kid was probably better off trying to figure out chakra control on his own, and went back into the restaurant. After all, he still had to finish writing what he started. Tsunade saw this, and proceeded to follow Jiraiya.
Shizune looked at Naruto quickly disappearing into the fields, and at the two sannin making their way into the restaurant to get drunk. As Tsunade walked back into the restaurant, the village came back to life.
Shizune then wondered what she was going to do. She did know that the last thing she wanted to do was follow Tsunade back into the restaurant. Being with Tsunade does things to you, and getting sick of the smell of sake is one of them. Deciding that she wouldn't be able to tolerate the smell of sake so early in the day, she dropped Tonton off with Tsunade and began running towards Naruto.
Looking back to see Shizune running to Naruto, Tsunade chuckled. Help him all you want Shizune. I'm going to enjoy my sake.
"Shizune-chan, do know what I'm doing wrong?" Naruto asked, frustrated out of his mind. He'd been at practicing the rasengan for over an hour, and didn't feel like he had made any progress."
Shizune pondered her answer. She knew that he really wasn't doing anything wrong. It was just that his chakra control was woefully inept to hold what he could already form in place.
"I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Naruto-kun," Shizune began. "I just think it's, as Tsunade-sama said, your lack of chakra control. You're having trouble keeping the second step rasengan you form stay in a perfect sphere. Because of that, any thin layer of chakra you produce to perfect the third step and master the rasengan is instantly broken.
Naruto sighed. The rasengan truly was an incredibly difficult jutsu. To even do the first step, a ninja had to have sufficient chakra control to swirl around an amount of chakra in enough different directions. While maintaining a spherical shape. Many people can't even do that, as they either don't have the chakra control or the chakra capacity to practice it enough to get it down. If you get past the first step, you then had to pump a lot of chakra into it for power, making control and capacity an even bigger issue. While maintaining a spherical shape. Then the last step was to create a thin layer of chakra that held the entire thing together, keeping the power inside. The spherical shape is emphasized in the final step more than ever, as even a small mistake in the shape at some point would burst the layer of chakra holding the swirling chakra together.
Naruto's demeanor instantly became bright when he went over everything that made the rasengan so difficult to learn. He knew that when he mastered it, he'd have at least chunin level chakra control, if not more, and that he'd have a really powerful jutsu in his arsenal.
That said, he again reached an impasse in his training, but this time, ero-sennin wasn't around to help him out. Shizune was though, and from what he remembered, she was a prodigy at chakra control. He figured that she might be able to point something out to him that might help him out. And even if she didn't, he liked talking to her.
"Shizune-chan? What should I do differently to learn this jutsu? I don't think I'm going to learn it by doing what I did for the past hour for another week." Naruto asked her.
Shizune for her part had already been mulling over what Naruto could do for the past twenty minutes, and she had come up with a pretty good solution, if she did say so herself.
"Naruto-kun, why don't you try to form a smaller rasengan first?" Shizune asked him. Naruto looked a question at her. He had no idea where she was going with this.
Shizune smiled at his confusion and began to clarify things for him. "See, it's like this Naruto-kun. When you're a baby, do you instantly learn how to run?" Naruto shook his head. Of course not. Babies can't run. They can't even walk. They first learn how to crawl. Then walk. Then...Oh...
Shizune continued on, though she saw the light dawn on his eyes. "No they don't. They first learn how to crawl. Then when they master crawling, they learn how to walk. Once the master how to walk, then they begin to learn how to run. So what I'm suggesting is for you to create a smaller rasengan first. If you can do that, then gradually put more and more chakra into it, until you can create a normal sized rasengan, mastering the jutsu." Shizune finished on a high note.
Naruto came to that conclusion before she finished, and he had already tried to create a smaller rasengan than before. To his horror, he found that this was proving to be even more difficult for him than the normal sized one.
Naruto was quickly becoming frantic. The prospect of wasting all that money on Tsunade's sake was quickly becoming a reality, and he was scared for Gama-chan's well-being. "Shizune-chan, I'm having even more trouble with the smaller one. What's going onnnn!!!" Naruto finished, unable to stand still.
Shizune was stumped. The rasengan ate up quite a bit of chakra. There was no reason for him to have even more trouble with a smaller one than he did with a normal sized one.
When Naruto began nagging at her again, Shizune became a little frustrated herself, and snapped back at Naruto, "Then try making a really big one and work your way down!"
It wasn't in a harsh tone, but that was the first time she had ever raised her voice at Naruto. She immediately regretted doing so, and tried to apologize to him, who had turned his back on her.
She slowly began to walk over to him, saying, "I'm...sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to snap back at you. It's just that, well, I really want you to learn this jutsu...and prove Tsunade-sama wrong!" She finished in a determined tone.
Naruto's answer was to summon a kage bunshin, and create a rasengan far bigger than what he had been creating before. Shizune was in awe at the sheer amount of chakra Naruto seemed to have. Her awe quickly turned to joy as she noticed that this rasengan was far more spherical than what he had produced before, and the shaped seemed to be much more stable. When Naruto finally performed the third step on it, he had managed to keep the shape for a whole three seconds before the rasengan destabilized and died out.
The kage bunshin poofed out of existence, leaving an exhausted Naruto panting for breath. He had put quite a bit of chakra in that rasengan, but it wasn't any more than what he needed to create fifty kage bunshin, which he normally can do without even breaking a sweat. What tired him out was the amount of concentrating he had to do to keep the rasengan together. It took a lot out of him and his head was hurting from concentrating too hard.
Mistaking his panting as chakra exhaustion, Shizune quickly rushed over to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, are you okay? Are you feeling chakra exhaustion?" She was very concerned for his health, as chakra exhaustion could knock people out for weeks, and made no attempt to keep the worry out of her voice.
Naruto turned around to see Shizune's face making a worried look on his behalf. He was touched that she was worrying about him so much. He didn't want her to worry, but to have someone concern themselves with your well-being was truly a pleasant feeling. His mental exhaustion more or less gone, he jumped up and started skipping around her with a huge smile on his face, yelling "Yatta!" each time he landed.
Shizune was startled when he shot up, but quickly relaxed when she saw that it wasn't chakra exhaustion. She couldn't keep a smile out of her face after seeing how happy he was.
Naruto then yelled to her, "Shizune-chan you were right! I just have to create huge rasengans and work my way down to a normal one! You were right, you were right you were right!" Naruto exclaimed as he began to skip around her even faster. He didn't keep that up for long, however, as he landed after one particular skip, he shot towards Shizune and enveloped her in a bear hug.
Shizune jumped a little in surprise. Naruto was short for his age, so he only came up to her shoulders. Her thoughts quickly faded from how tall he was to how much she was enjoying the hug. It had been over fourteen years since her uncle last hugged her. Tsunade wasn't much for physical contact outside of causing bodily harm to others. Traveling around with Tsunade meant that she couldn't date. In other words, human contact was a very scarce thing in her life, let alone a hug with as much contact as the one Naruto was currently giving her. She could feel the strength of his body through how strong the hug was. But most importantly, she felt his warmth. The body heat of another person. It was such a warm and pleasant feeling. Wanting more contact, and to applaud his progress, Shizune gave him a little hug back.
Naruto felt her hug him back, and it triggered a feeling that he never felt before. He just knew that from this point on, he would always do his best to make Shizune happy. That smile she made when he was skipping around her was something he wanted to put on her face every second she was around him. That smile full of mirth and affection, without any trace of deception.
Letting her go, Naruto grinned sheepishly at Shizune. "Sorry about that Shizune-chan," he said as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand.
Shizune smiled back in response and let him know she didn't mind. "It's alright Naruto-kun, it's not like I was offended or anything by it. In fact, I got the feeling that you really liked hugging me, with how strong your hug was and all," she finished, teasing him. Naruto blushed turned his face away from her to hide his embarrassment.
Shizune then decided to probe. "So Naruto-kun, did you like hugging me?" Naruto, still looking away, tentatively nodded. Shizune mentally grinned. So he liked it too huh? I'm...glad. "Well I'll tell you what. If you master the rasengan in a week, I'll give you a hug Naruto-kun. How's that sound?"
Naruto's face broke into a huge smile. "You really mean that Shizune-chan!" He asked of her. He looked like he was having trouble staying still long enough for her answer. 'He probably wants to jump around again'. Shizune thought, laughing at the mental image. When she nodded, Naruto did a single jump while yelling "whoohoo!" in celebration before landing and quickly running away from her. When she asked him what he was doing, he looked back at her and yelled, "I need to master the rasengan faster than ever now! I'm going to train all day and all night! Just you wait Shizune-chan! I'll have it mastered before the week ends! You can count on it!"
Shizune chuckled before she walked over to under a tree to watch him practice. She was still in awe at his seemingly limitless stamina. How he could produce rasengan after rasengan that big and practice control was beyond her. It broke the rules of chakra and nature as she knew it.
Then she looked at his eyes, full of determination and vigor. She thought that his eyes were quite comely with that glint. Shaking her head, she proceeded to stop that train of thought.
As time went on, Naruto was training every bit as hard as when he began, if not harder. Shizune began to notice the muscle definition on his arms, and the few times he failed to keep the rasengan under control, the following explosion kicked up a sizable gust of wind, revealing his stomach for seconds at a time. From the few times she saw it, she noticed that it had quite a bit of definition for a twelve year old. However, each time she thought that, she looked at her face, and reminded herself that he was only twelve. His face still had a bit of baby fat left, and it added to his childish personality.
As Naruto finished his second hour of training, Shizune began to doze off. It amused her that he seemed to show no signs of fatigue after two strenuous hours of training where she was struggling to stay awake from just watching him. Her eyelids were slowly becoming heavier and heavier, as sleep threatened to overcome her. Before she did give in, she thought of Naruto in a couple years, without the baby fat, and much taller than he is now. The picture of him in her mind was a very attractive young man who had her in a very warm hug. He was taller than she was by a head; now she was the one resting her head on his shoulder during the hug. Her imaginary Naruto had a very toned body, and he somehow instantly lost his shirt during the hug. She broke the hug and stared. And stared.
Performing the first lecherous smile of her life, Shizune drifted off into sleep, fantasizing about a future Naruto that would hold her as warmly as she would hold him.
"...Shizune-chan, wake up. Shizune-chan!"
Shizune groggily woke up. Wiping her eyes with her hands, she opened them to see Naruto's face right in front of her. She jumped back a little in surprise, hitting the tree she slept on with her head.
As Shizune yelped in pain and massaged the sore spot on her head, Naruto laughed and sat down next to her. She felt his body heat radiating from him, and noticed a subtle desire to get closer. Seeing no reason not to, she moved to him until his arm was touching hers.
To her delight, Naruto didn't flinch, or move away from her. If anything, he relaxed into her arm, giving her a warm feeling inside. When Naruto let out a yawn, she was surprised that he tired himself out. Then she took a look at her surroundings.
The sun was setting in the horizon, over a distant mountain that she couldn't remember the name of. She surmised that he trained for roughly seven to eight hours straight, which was, for lack of a better word, insane. She was surprised at how much stamina Naruto really seemed to have. Then again, she shouldn't have been surprised. She was beginning to realize that Naruto was a surprising person. He had surprised her with his spontaneous hug, and he surprised her again with how long he trained. 'Was it for the necklace or the hug, Naruto-kun' she wondered.
Suddenly feeling a weight on her shoulder, Shizune turned around to see Naruto's head on it. He had fallen asleep on her shoulder. 'He's probably exhausted from training so hard for so long' Shizune thought. She looked at Naruto's face. He had his mouth closed in a serene smile, and he was breathing softly. He took off the hitai-te at some point during his training, as it was in his hand. It revealed his entire face to her. She loved how his whiskers seemed to wiggle each time he took a breath. She carefully moved her other arm to touch one, upon which he grimaced, made a face, and went back to sleeping normally. She thought that was the cutest thing she ever saw, and found it very difficult to resist the impulse to do it again.
Looking at the sun setting in the distance, she realized she had found a moment of peace in her otherwise busy, wandering life. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reveling in the moment, and doing her best to fixate it permanently into her memory.
After she believed she had done so, she looked at Naruto again, and realized that she too was still quite tired. Making herself comfortable as best she can without bothering Naruto, Shizune put her head on his and began to doze off, the two of them keeping each other warm with their respective body heats. She figured his body heat would keep her warm enough to stay out here for a couple hours before they had to go back to town to rest up for tomorrow.
Shizune perked up at that thought. Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the day Orochimaru asked Tsunade-sama to give her decision on whether she would heal his arms or not. She was worried only for a second though, as she knew Tsunade-sama would refuse Orochimaru's request. 'And then what?' She thought. 'Would Tsunade-sama go back to Konoha? Probably not. She'd just continue to wander aimlessly throughout the continent, and Jiraiya-sama and Naruto-kun would go back to Konoha.' Her heart ached at the latter. She would continue to follow Tsunade-sama, and Naruto-kun would go back to Konoha. This was really the last time that she had to be with him. Blinking back a few tears, she decided that all she could do was enjoy the time she had left with him, and proceeded to rest her head on Naruto's again. She decided that it was awfully comfortable; far more than a pillow was. 'I wonder if they sell Naruto-kun pillows at Konoha,' she thought to herself, giggling at the thought.
She got all the laughs she could, because she was sure there weren't going to be many tomorrow.
On a wide field, green as far as the eyes can see, two men stood facing two women. Only thirty feet separated the two groups. The sun stood high over them all, bearing witness to the meeting.
"So do you have the bodies ready, Tsunade?" Orochimaru asked.
Tsunade in response pulled out a scroll, and performed a hand sign. A small cloud of smoke appeared, and two bodies fell onto the ground. Shizune gasped in utter horror. The drunks from two days ago?
"Ku ku ku, I knew you would do it Tsunade, I knew it!" Orochimaru exclaimed, extremely pleased that he read her correctly. "Let us conduct the exchange like we would prisoners. Tsunade. Bring the bodies halfway. I will then bring Nawaki and Dan back, and you will heal my arms. Is this to your satisfaction?"
Tsunade in response picked up the bodies, and proceeded to head over there.
Shizune was stunned. This wasn't happening. "Tsunade-sama, how could you! You said you weren't going to do this! Even if he brings them back, it won't be them. It won't be them Tsunade-sama! Please don't do this! You'll regret this for the rest of your life if you do. Please DON'T DO THIS TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune yelled with tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Tsunade did not respond to Shizune's cries. She just carried the bodies to the halfway point, dropped them, and walked back to Shizune without uttering a single word.
Shizune was on her knees crying silently by the time Tsunade made it back. Her mind was refusing to accept what was going on. Tsunade looked at Shizune, who looked back at her pleadingly. Tsunade's facial expression remained impassive, as she turned to Orochimaru and uttered her first words. "Get on with it," she said tersely.
Orochimaru grin got even wider. "Tsunade-hime...you're fighting with yourself inside aren't you?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed in response. "Ku ku ku...do not worry. You are making the right decision. I knew you would," Orochimaru said as he and Kabuto began to walk to the two laid out bodies.
Tsunade's face went back to the impassive expression she had at the beginning. Shizune realized that Orochimaru was walking over to the bodies, and prepared her senbons to kill him. She lined up her first shot and proceeded to fire...when Tsunade stepped in front of her.
Shizune, from the shock more than anything else, stopped her shot. Tsunade looked over her shoulder at Shizune and said quietly, "I want to see them."
That was it. Shizune couldn't take it anymore. No longer having the strength to hold her tears back, she began weeping uncontrollably. She bent down even further, covering her face with her hands, refusing to accept what was going to happen.
Orochimaru stood directly in front of the bodies, and Kabuto, using Orochimaru's chakra, began to perform the kinjutsu required to bring back Nawaki and Dan. When he completed the last hand sign, he yelled "Edo Tensei!", and put his hand on the ground. Nothing happened.
A quick breeze went by as Tsunade allowed herself a small smile.
The corpses exploded.
AU: I wanted to get to the sannin fight and have a Naruto/Shizune scene, and this was what I came up with. Next chapter will be the sannin fight. It won't be canonical. I'm not sure how long I'll take, because I want to plan it out with some detail.
As always, reviews are most welcome. I haven't had a single flame yet, which somewhat surprised me. However, don't feel obligated to be the first.
Please forgive idiotic grammar mistakes. I'm uploading this chapter at three in the morning, and just spent four hours working on it after getting home at nine at night.
(1): Quoted directly from what Tsunade says in the anime.