DISCLAIMER
I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!
A Few Words
A thank you to everyone that read this story so far, a bigger to those that added it to their Fav's or Alerts list, and the biggest yet to those that took the time to review: deltabeta26, redxdragon.
The response to your reviews:
deltabeta26: I need to clarify a few things and your review was a good chance to do so. I meant what i said about there being no godlike characters, but some of you were confused with the way i said it. What i mean is that no character will be too strong compared to the opposition. Also the comparison to Kakashi refers to my oc's relative strength, not Naruto's. I also want everyone to know that i intend to see this through, i am not one to leave things half-done and will not abandon this story.
Redxdragon: Unfortunately i have not seen the movie you mention, because i do not enjoy the way our mythology( Clash of the Titans, Troy etc) and history( 300 ) are portrayed on the big screen. Moving on to your thoughts on chapter 3, i think the canon Naruto would get the ramen no questions asked, while mine did ask when he met Jin at first. But then again, Naruto is Naruto, he likes ramen very much, plus the man did not seem threatening to him. As for the meeting between Jin and Jiraiya, the whole sensei thing is the other way around than what you understood.
Moving on to chapter 4, Naruto's response was not only because of her insults about the position of Hokage, but also because of the personal attack to the Third, and the belittling of his actions. I am glad you like the battle, i was kind of nervous to see if readers liked it, as i am not very comfortable with describing battle scenes yet. If by saying 'buy the farm' you mean get killed, i must disagree. Kabuto is a good boy, better than Tobi i dare say! I think that what was said in the manga was that Kabuto could just perform the Edo Tensei better than Orochimaru, which is plausible, seeing that he is a medic-nin and helped the Sannin extensively with his experiments. Besides, think positively; he might be taken over by Orochimaru if pushed far enough...
Anyways, moving on to Chapter 4 of NAToD ( Naruto: A Tale of Determination).
Chapter 4: The Hands That Guide Me
" If you had not intervened, this may have ended badly. Thank you, Kimimaro-kun."
To Naruto's dismay, a figure started forming from the white stalagmite-shaped rock. Moments later, a white haired man around Kabuto's age with green eyes and two red dots instead of eyebrows was passively looking at him. " Almost defeated by trash shinobi... Pathetic.", he told Kabuto, eyes locked with the blond." You have a powerful technique... Not many can cause this much damage to my strongest type of bone...."
After taking a short look at the whole battlefield, he added, " Don't overestimate your abilities again Kabuto-san...". He disappeared into the bone again, leaving a shocked Naruto and an angry Kabuto.
A big frown was visible on Orochimaru's face; if that boy could perform that jutsu correctly he could be a nuisance in the future, and the Snake Sannin would not want that. The smirk on Jiraiya's face infuriated him; Gathering more chakra, he started attacking with more malice and killing intent than he had even during the Second Shinobi War, aiming a kick to the Toad Sage's head.
Jiraiya skillfully dodged it and jumped on Gamabunta's head; he was getting tired fast, Orochimaru was formidable in Taijutsu even when not using his hands.
The Snake Sannin understood his teammate's condition perfectly but was not about to let him rest; followed him and continued to throw kicks in addition to using his elongated neck to constrict his movements.
" Sawarabi no Mai!" both Sannins heard; one smiled and jumped away; the other glanced around in surprise that some one else had found their battle site.
Almost immediately the ground around Gamabunta started to shatter before giving way to thousands of sharp edged bones that continued growing rapidly; Noticing something wrong where he was standing, the Toad Boss had managed the jump before the bones damaged his feet. Been surprised nonetheless, he had not placed enough power to jump very high, something he realised with horror as the bones were reaching him and fast; he would not be able to avoid them.
Making one handseal, the giant toad shot a ball of highly concentrated water to break them, but his efforts were in vain.
Jiraiya knew he had to do something; he had already realised that his ninjutsu was barely effective, but if he could help even a bit he had to try; he owed it to his long time partner. His hands blurring with the speed he formed the handseals with, he focused his chakra.
" Hari Jizo!" he yelled as his hair grew faster than the incoming bones, and wrapped the giant toad's body, leaving the head and the limbs free. Seconds later the bones reached their target; Jiraiya's overgrown, hardened hair started turning red mere moments after. Gamabunta's yell made his pain known to everyone in the vicinity.
Naruto and his Kage bunshin looked at the sight in front of them stunned; that man's bones were standing a good three hundred meters above ground. Near the center if that forest of bones, Gamabunta was barely moving, still wrapped in what seemed to be Jiraiya's hair, pinned on top of the stalagmites.
The boy whispered a curse; he was the one who summoned him to what appeared to be his death. The guilt brought anger; the anger brought the now familiar red chakra.
" I am sorry..." he muttered, as red chakra started to leak all around him, its density much bigger than ever before.
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Jiraiya released his defensive technique, retracting his hair back; he could feel his old friend breathing heavily, each breath making the next harder.
" I wanted to do this for a long time!" said Manda, his body coiled around one of the bigger bones formed during the previous attack. He showed his sharp fangs at the injured toad and jumped with all his power, aiming at his head.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!", yelled a new voice, followed by the bang signalling the technique's success.
Manda saw a large round object getting between him and his prey; being already in midair, he could not dodge completely. The tremendous force behind the hit he took threw him at the edge of the bone forest, where he managed to wrap his tail around another bone and look at his new opponent.
In front of him was standing a Toad the same size as Gamabunta, purple in color with black marks below his eyes and on his hands. He had two horns above his eyes and wore a strange hat that seemed to be made of the same materials a his shield that was shaped as a sake cup. He had one hand supporting him by gripping a bone and the other was holding his shield up. He also noticed he had a black Sasumata ( A/N the two-pronged fork he carries ) on his back.
While Manda was trying to measure his opponent , Orochimaru looked for his own, the summoner.
He did not have to look hard to find him as he was standing on top of the newly summoned toad. He had brown hair with no headband showing his affiliation, but appeared to be wearing a standard Konoha uniform with one exception: His left side's limbs were not covered by the uniform as it seemed to be torn off. Instead they were covered by cloth wrapped around like a bandage, the hand's was red colored while the leg's had a white color. Jiraiya who was behind the said figure noticed that his Jacket did not have the usual whirl that all the other Jounin or chuunin vests had, but rather a circle with a kanji he could not make out at the moment.
" So it's another one of your failures Jiraiya, although...", he trailed off, trying a bit more to remember before saying it, " your leg was cut off during that incident yet... you seem as if you are completely fine.", Orochimaru said as the enemy summoner looked at him, his hands crossed in front of his chest.
Gamaken was confused. Snakes were a pretty common enemy at Mount Myoboku, so when he saw one that big attacking what appeared to be a fellow toad, he acted instinctively. Taking a better look, he identified the snake as Manda, the Snake Sannin's personal summon; even though he had seen him only a handful of times at best, he made a lasting impression on him. He noticed the extra weight on his head, but his summoner spoke before he had a chance to ask.
" It's nice to see you again Gamaken-san!"
The giant toad's eyes widened in surprise.
" ....Jin-san? Unbelievable... I haven't seen you for about twenty years, since you...", he was interrupted by Jin, who pointed behind and said.
" Sensei and Bunta need help, we'll catch up later."
Gamaken nodded and threw his shield up high. Gripping his weapon from his back, he made a wide slashing arc, cutting all the bones that were stuck in Gamabunta. The Injured toad managed to use his unharmed limbs to move himself out of the area the bones had earlier infested.
Orochimaru and Jin locked eyes for a minute before the older man spoke, " You are an uninteresting opponent..... Kimimaro-kun take good care of you.... Manda, the toad is all yours". He instantly sped away, giving chase to Jiraiya, while Kimimaro simultaneously appeared behind Jin, preventing him from backing up Jiraiya.
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The Toad Sannin was inspecting Gamabunta's wounds. He was no expert, but even he could tell that his personal summon would not last more than ten more minutes at best. Stricken by grief and guilt, he heard his fellow Sannin's loud laugh.
" A fitting end to one so insignificant. Now allow me to let you escort him to the other side.... i feel i owe it to you as a friend and teammate.", he laughed a bit more.
Jiraiya did not answer nor acknowledge any of words. Instead, he sped up and led him away from Gamabunta, intending to finish this fight as fast as he could.
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Shizune was constantly surprised at the way the tide of battle changed every few minutes. She knew that Gamabunta's injury would be fatal unless treated right away, but in their current condition nothing could be done. Tsunade's mortifying fear was ever present; her whole body shaking almost violently now. The black haired woman suddenly heard her master's necklace jingle; she thought she had briefly heard it before but it could easily have been her imagination. She looked to see what it was now.
Tsunade was trembling like a leaf blown by the wind. She felt the weight of her necklace leave her; the little metal chain that kept it in place shifted. She looked down to see what had happened, only to be surprised; it was pointing at something while giving off a faint green light. Following the way it was pointing to , the female Sannin saw Naruto surrounded by red chakra that was forming a shape, with fox ears and one tail. Said boy turned to face her and looked at her with his now red slitted eyes.
" You know Tsunade- baachan, i am afraid of blood too..." The chain holding the necklace was streched, the light emitted more bright.
" But i can't stop here, now .... because if i do, i know that i will see the blood of those i care about so much... and that scares me even more..."
Casting a glance the way the injures toad was he said. " Ero-Sennin told me you are the best medic alive.... Please, help Gamabunta... Protect others from the pain you have suffered... like a Hokage does."
Tsunade put the palm of her hand underneath the crystal.
'Is that you Nawaki...Dan... Are you telling me to entrust your will to him?'. She thought she saw the light become brighter for a second, as if answering her question. Still in tears, she gripped her necklace tightly; the trembling began to subside, the tears gone. In that one moment, Konoha's fifth Hokage stood up for the first time.
" Be safe gaki, we need to talk after all this is over." Tsunade helped Shizune up and they both ran towards Gamabunta as Naruto turned his gaze to Kabuto, who had just finished taking out another team of twenty kage bunshins the boy had sent at him prior to his talk.
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-MEANWHILE-
Jin had drawn Kimimaro away from the battle between Gamaken and Manda; He had noticed his ability to transport himself through the bones he created and intended to take that advantage away. The white haired boy was holding a bone of his about the size of a tanto ( A/N the blade Sai uses), several bones protruding from his forearms, enhancing his taijutsu abilities greatly.
Jin knew he was at a disadvantage; Taijutsu never was his forte, while his opponent's style focused solely on it. His trick might have worked so that he could move well enough to fight, but he doubted he could avoid him for long; he had to outsmart him or use powerful ninjutsu against him. He prepared to dodge as Kimimaro leaped forward with incredible speed.
Forming handseals, Jin pumped chakra to his lungs and took a deep breath.
" Katon:Gouka Dakatsu no Jutsu!" ( Fire Release: Hell Fire Serpent), a huge blast of fire escaped his mouth and took the form of a ten meter-long snake that immediately went after its target. Kimimaro was quick to dodge, not noticing Jin's smirk as he was holding a one handed seal; focusing chakra, he made the fire snake turn back after the white haired boy. Kimimaro sensed the attack coming from behind him and took the necessary measures to stop it; without wasting a sliver of chakra, he started expanding the bones on his back, forming a flexible but incredibly durable bone shield. The attack hit him dead on but he was not phased in the least.
' This is going to take some time...', the brown haired man thought. Seeing the boy form a drill covering his entire left forearm, Jin rushed to avoid yet another strike. Thankfully, the massive drill was slow enough to bypass easily; Having found an opening, he made a handseal and as flame began to gather in his hand, his fist connected with Kimimaro's face, knocking him a few steps back. Even as his face was severely burned, the boy gave an impassive look at his opponent and began forming some handseals of his own. Recognising by the sequence that he was about to launch an earth jutsu, Jin ran towards some nearby trees that were in the immediate vicinity.
Kimimaro slammed his hands on the ground, not bothering to call out his technique's name. Immediately the upper layers of earth around him started to shatter, forming multiple fissures across the battlefield. He called upon his cursed seal's power as dark spots covered his entire body. He remained in the same stance for a bit more, which surprised Jin. Bones erupted all around the tree he was on, destroying it moments after he managed to escape.
Wanting to take advantage of his enemy's immobility, Jin made a handseal and as flame chakra was again in his grasp, he sped towards the white haired boy. He was in for a surprise since his alone prevented him from jumping over one of the small fissures as bones erupted rapidly from inside all of them at the same time. Almost immediately after that happened, Kimimaro noticed that Jin had lost his balance for a brief moment for no apparent reason. Remembering what the Snake Sannin said about him earlier, he decided to test his theory.
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Tsunade was running a diagnostic test on Gamabunta; he had severe injuries and not enough time to be healed. She gritted her teeth at her inability to help him.
" Tsunade-sama, what if we both heal him simultaneously?", Shizune asked; she was still both mentally and physically exhausted from her earlier fight.
" No, there is not enough time... We need a much more specialised treatment... We'd need thousands of doctors , each focusing on a very specific part of his body..." that's when she snapped.
" Katsuyu! We'll use Katsuyu!"
She quickly formed the handseals and called out her technique. A large white slug appeared, a blue streak on its back.
" Hello Tsunade-san. Do you require my assistance?" Katsuyu said as her summoner nodded.
" Katsuyu i need you to separate into tiny copies of yourself and focus the healing chakra we will provide into Gamabunta's wounds. This will take some time, so be prepared. Also , be aware of your surroundings; we are in a battlefield now."
The giant slug nodded and a part of her separated from the main body, forming many minuscule slugs that entered the toads wounds and started distributing healing chakra.
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Kabuto was staring at the face of the Kyuubi, everything about the boy screamed Kyuubi; the red, slitted eyes, the elongated fangs and nails, the pronounced whisker marks and the more than usually unkempt hair. He was even standing on all fours; his chakra tail calmly moving back and forth.
The medic-nin had difficulties keeping up with him now, his speed was more than triple his normal one, his strength too. There was only one way to stop him now; to stop the fox's interference. He activated his chakra scalpels and went forward.
The blond was slowly getting the hang of this red chakra; he could instinctively point the chakra to attack a specific target or moment just with a mental command. It kind of felt like having a third hand, but in a more powerful, evil manner. He dodged the open palms of his opponent and placed a well powered punch to his gut, making him stumble. Going for the follow-up , he sensed a sting near his heart. Glancing forward to see Kabuto, nothing was there.
" Well, did you think that you were the only one able to make a kage bunshin? All it took me was a second to form one and hide underground, waiting for another one of your reckless attacks." Kabuto smirked, his hand still on Naruto's chest.
He leaned next to him and whispered.
" I cut some of your heart's muscles, including your chakra pathways. Say goodbye to the fox's power." he said and let out a slight giggle.
It was true, Naruto could feel it; he had been cut off from the fox's power. He had mere moments to react, so he took all the chakra leaking out of him into his body and he immediately felt the sting that was caused by the medic-nin was stopping. He felt that he was physically safe now, but the connection to the fox had not been restored; he had to make due with what he had. He spread his hand's fingers again, trying to repeat his earlier success, by calling on his remaining Kyuubi chakra.
He sensed the chakra gathering on his hand, but the feeling was nothing like the attempt he made with his own chakra. He felt as if his fist was burning from the concentration of Kyuubi's chakra there, but it didn't matter; he would not waste the chance to get a clear shot at Kabuto. Forming his hand into a fist, he slammed it on the silver haired man's chest. Kabuto winced in shock at first and then in pain, as he had not noticed the blond had healed himself and gathered chakra to his hand.
He was thrown back by the blast, most of his shirt burned and his chest deeply scarred with black burn marks. Naruto looked in shock at the damage he had casued and glanced at his hand to see what that uneasy feeling was.
His whole fist was a mixture of red and black chakra that had burned his skin. It disappeared moments after that, as the Kyuubi's chakra had been completely exhausted. He fell on his knees from chakra overuse, his breathing ragged and heavy. Sparing another glance at Kabuto, he saw him standing up and forming some handseals as green chakra appeared on his hand.
" You should know that the reason Orochimaru-sama has chosen me as his subordinate is because of my extremely potent healing chakra, Naruto-kun... I can heal any injury in a matter of seconds... ", he said as he placed his hand over his wound.
The silver haired man laughed until he suddenly doubled over in pain. Naruto did not see what had happened to him but he noticed blood dripping to the ground below him. Standing up, Kabuto inspected the chakra in his hand. His eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the green healing chakra momentarily turning red before returning to its normal color.
" You ..... corrupted ....my chakra?", he said with barely contained anger. " I WILL KILL YOU, YOU DAMN FO-", he couldn't finish his sentence as he fell to the ground unconscious right in front of the blond.
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Jin looked his enemy in amazement; Kimimaro had six huge bones protruding from his back, each in a different direction, his spine's bones were sticking out and he had a tail bigger than his legs in both length and width. He had also grown the bones of his forearms by one meter on each side. The older man realised his opponent had changed his attack style from close to long range, but as he saw him start seemingly attacking nothing particular, he froze. Bringing his hands up, he started going through a long series of handseals, ready to unleash one of his strongest jutsu.
Kimimaro knew his enemy was hiding something from him and he was determined to find out what. He focused his senses in an effort to sense every bit of chakra around him. Finding two chakra signatures, he ran with all his speed towards them, strengthening his bones even more. Reaching the first one, he noticed with relief that no attempt to move was made and his bone hand moved. A loud bang was heard and Kimimaro was engulfed in flames.
'Katon Bunshin?' the boy was surprised, but he did not fail to notice that his opponent lost his balance again for a second, before standing up again.
' He is using many Katon Bunshins camouflaged and with low level genjutsus surrounding them, and making them explode on impact.... But why did he lose his balance? Why did they not try to dodge my attack?', he thought as he moved to the last one.
' Fuck, he knows... I have to make the handseals in time...'. Jin appeared as calm on the outside as ever, his hands continuing to weave the necessary signs. Hearing the blast accompanied by a flash of light, he started losing his balance, falling forward. He looked forward, seeing Kimimaro heading in his direction and smirked; his hands were holding on the last handseal of the sequence; the dragon.
" Katon : Oorashi no Ryu!"( Fire Release: Raging Storm of the Dragon) , he said slamming his hands on the ground, stopping his fall and activating the technique; his face inches from the ground.
Six dragons made of fire erupted from the ground around Kimimaro. He instantly stopped and readied his stance, expecting a direct attack. It did not come though, as all six of the dragons began circling around him, one a bit lower from the other, forming a pillar of flame. The white haired boy knew that the attack was not at its peak yet and quickly grew his bones in an attempt to form a bone shield to protect himself. The dragons began expanding and becoming blue, then the whole form began to concentrate in the middle of the pillar.
In a swift motion, a newly created blue dragon's head formed and charged the boy, who had almost completely finished his armor; his stomach was still unprotected due to the few bones in that area. As the fire technique connected, a huge flash of light blinded everyone in the battlefield.
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Orochimaru was smiling; Kabuto had fallen unconscious before the Kyuubi kid and if that explosion ahead was anything to go by, Kimimaro was out for the count too.
None of that mattered. He was Orochimaru of the Sannin and he could not lose , not to his stupid teammates, not to anyone.
But he was no fool either; he could feel that this body was starting to reject him, he could not afford to continue fighting anymore. Sensing more closely, he searched for his subordinates, and what he felt pleased him. He started running to the place where the explosion came from, Jiraiya silently following him.
Jin was on the ground, face down. As the smoke cleared, he glanced to the direction of the blast. He was mildly surprised to see the boy still standing, even though most of his bone shield had been either destroyed by the blast or melted away by the extreme heat of the blue flame. His hands were protecting his abdomen, but the brown haired man noticed some blood trailing down his bone-covered fingers.
" Tell me, why use bunshins?", Kimimaro's voice was blank, but inwardly he was curious to see the reasoning behind a technique of a shinobi that damaged him this much; he could hardly stand upstraight.
Jin only smirked as he picked one side of the white cloth covering his left foot and pulled it. The boy's eyes widened.
" A wooden leg?". The leg resembled the human leg extremely well, to a point where everything but the color was shaped like an average man's leg.
" A reinforced puppet- style wooden leg." Jin answered, " A little trick i picked up in Suna after some careful 'observations'. The bunshins are used to move it using chakra strings. Unfortunately, i am not nearly as skilled as a puppet master, so i need a whole bunshin to move just my one leg."
Before any of them had a chance to talk even further, the Snake Sannin appeared next to his minion, while Jiraiya next to his apprentice. Jin could see that his sensei was at his limits; never before had he seen him so exhausted.
Looking at his fellow Sannin , Orochimaru spoke, " Kimimaro-kun, take Kabuto and prepare to leave". As Kimimaro bowed and shunshined away, the snake-like man spoke again. " We will continue this another time Jiraiya.... this is only a small setback to me.... I have all eternity to complete my goals, unlike all of you."
Kimimaro reappeared next to his master with Kabuto over his shoulder and spoke " What about Tsunade-san? Will we not take her with us Orochimaru-Sama?"
" It does not matter now... It is almost time for the transition."
Nodding in understanding, Kimimaro formed a one handed handseal and melded into the ground, as did his master.
Not sensing their presence anywhere, Jiraiya allowed himself to lower his guard, as he fell to his knees from the physical exhaustion.
" You truly look like shit Sensei..."
" At least i am not face down on the mud gaki...", they both laughed a bit, and Jin used his left hand to attach some chakra strings to his legs to enable movement. Standing up, he gave a hand to the Toad Sage and they both moved towards the injured toad.
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Tsunade sighed in relief; she had finished working on Gamabuta with the help of Shizune and Katsuyu and was now patching up Naruto, who Gamaken had fetched as per her request. Even though he suffered from chakra exhaustion and his chakra pathways near his heart had yet to heal properly, the blond was in good mood since he saw that Gamabunta was alright.
Jiraiya and Jin arrived shortly after, Jin supporting Jiraiya while his left hand's fingers making the neseccary movements to be able to walk properly. Naruto smiled at the fact that his sensei was alive and well, but when he looked at the one next to him, he was very surprised to recognise him.
" Hey, you're that strange ramen chef that treated me ramen last week! So i was right after all you were a ninja huh?", at that Jiraiya spoke up.
" As a matter of fact gaki, Jin was also my apprentice; he was in the same genin team as the Fourth Hokage too!"
Naruto was in shock;' A fellow pupil and a teammate of the Fourth Hokage? How did end up becoming a ramen chef then? It is obs-', his train of thought was interrupted as Jiraiya was by now sitting next to him and banged his head.
" I met Jin right after your meeting; imagine my surprise when he clearly numbered each and every one of your abilities! How could you be so careless? He could have been Orochimaru's spy for Kami's sake!" Jiraiya yelled.
" But is was good ramen...", the blond muttered under his breath, " ... bad people can't be ramen chefs..". Jin and Shizune laughed at the boy's antics , while Tsunade looked at the interaction between Jiraiya and hos student with a fond smile.
Putting her hands behind her neck, the blond woman removed her necklace and left it inside Naruto's palm. Everyone was shocked by her gesture so she went on to explain.
" When you talked to me, i saw the necklace point at you and glow brightly... I am sure now that Nawaki and Dan wanted to show me to believe in you... So i do. I will come with you and become the next Hokage."
Jiraiya winced at her explanation; he had sensed his pupil release Kyuubi's chakra during the fight and what Tsunade witnessed was most likely the Shodaime's chakra resonating in an attempt to suppress the Bijuu's power. If Tsunade was willing to become the Hokage believing in some metaphysical explanation,however, he wasn't going to let her know the truth. Besides, he truly thought that this kind of confirmation was something that his female teammate desperately needed.
Turning his attention to the two toads that were standing nearby, Jiraiya saw his older pupil talk to Gamaken and he along with the others listened to their conversation.
" Thanks for helping out today, Ken-san."
" It was a pleasure to be of service even if i am clumsy, Jin-san.... Besides, i owe you a big debt..."
Jin smiled faintly. " You don't owe me anything... And i can't believe you still carry that thing around, on your head no less."
" It is to remind me to be less clumsy, Jin-San."
Jin nodded. " I understand. I might summon you in the future again if the situation calls for it, is that ok?"
" Of course. I have always been your pesonal summon, after all. " , Gamaken said proudly as the brown haired man nodded again, satisfied with the answer.
" Gamaken, Gamakichi, we should go. I really need a good rest. And gaki, the next time you summon me , it better be to have a drink!", the oldest of the three toads said and Naruto rubbed the back of his head smiling sheepisly at the Boss' antics. All three disappeared in a puff of smoke.
" We all should get some rest. Let's head back to town for now, and we begin the journey to Konoha tomorrow.", said Tsunade, to which everyone nodded, especially Naruto, who couldn't wait to tax in that free ramen the Ichirakus' had promised him.
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Author's Notes
Thanks for reading the fourth chapter of Naruto: A Tale of Determination, i hope you enjoyed it.
Any feedback concerning the fight would be greatly appreciated. The credit for Jin's fire techniques goes to VynosNeptune, while the last one's description was my own along with a fitting name from his list! To all those interested in seeing the listed techniques, check my favourites list.
About Tsunade's necklace, it will be fully explained in later chapters, but i can say now that can help suppress the power Naruto draws from Kyuubi in a slightly different way than canon. Tsunade's reasoning and experience during Naruto's talk was made like this to show that desperate people will cling to anything and put a metaphysical meaning to something just to feel better themselves.
Let me know how you liked Jin's fighting style; i always liked Katon jutsus and lately they are rarely seen, as Sasuke, who was the primary user in part I, has moved on to Enton and Susanoo....
Also , i wanted to inform everyone that in this story Kimimaro is about as old as Kabuto (17 years old), so he is much stronger than the canon one.
Next chapter: The return to the village!