Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Summary: Tsunade demands and explanation for Naruto's new found talents.
Notes: I'm not sure I should have blown the story title on this chapter because there's more to Naruto's Inheritance then what's revealed here, but it just fit with the dialog.
Chapter 4 - Naruto's Inheritance
If Tsunade would have screamed at every one of them all the way back to Hokage tower it would have been better the then utter silence they got. On entering her office she turned to Shizune, "Go get me some sake, cold. None of the cheap crap!"
"Yes lady Tsunade!" she peeped, she was glad to be out the room but something told her it would almost be worth it to stay just to see what was going to happen.
Tsunade looked at Naruto, then Jiraiya, then back again. "So who's going to tell me what happened out there? Naruto was like a force of nature out there! The jutsu I can understand, the improvements I can understand, but the way he moved! There's no way in hell Naruto should be able to move like he did! I couldn't even follow his movement! Along with everything else he was able to do which was great, don't get me wrong! But something's going on here and I want to know what it is. Kakashi was using his Sharingan and still had trouble reacting. And after Naruto and Miss perky tits over there finished playing grab-ass they got the bells in 20 minutes!"
Sakura turned a deep crimson and looked down at the floor, "That's not fair, it was Naruto's idea.." she said under her breath.
"What's that?" Tsunade asked loudly glaring Sakura down. "Was my other pink haired perky chested student running around the forest without her shirt?! I don't know whether to beat you for setting kunoichi's right's back 60 years or congratulate you for finding that pervert Kakashi's weak spot!"
Sakura clenched up looking even more embarrassed if possible. Tsunade looked at her star pupil, "Well, it actually was a good idea, it got the job done against the opponent they were given. It's not like she's actually going to do that against a real enemy…"
Naruto looked annoyed, he didn't really think it was a big deal but he would have to apologize to Sakura later for getting her into trouble. He knew what kind of books Kakashi liked to read and figured that Sakura's wardrobe malfunction would completely shut him down. In retrospect maybe that wasn't such a good idea but he was only doing what he was taught. Every situation training and real is different, and the outcome is usually decided by the side with the most creativity. Wasn't being cunning and unpredictable at the very core of being a shinobi?
Jiraiya was getting nervous and looking for an out, he knew there was no winning with an angry Tsunade. The Sanin took an almost imperceptibly small step towards the window.
"So are one of you two going to tell me what what's going on with Naruto?" Tsunade asked, turning her attention back to Jiraiya and his student.
"I can't explain everything as well as Jiraiya-sensei but I'll tell you about it." Naruto said. Tsunade looked at him with a surprised expression, he wasn't showing any fear of her at all, he was taking the lead, calm, and passive. He reminded her of someone.
"Well? Spit it out, you're going to tell me about what?" she demanded.
"About my... Inheritance." Naruto stated simply.
Tsunade blinked expecting more, "Your Inheritance? What inheritance? Who left you an inheritance?"
"Who else?" Naruto asked.
Like a ton of bricks, she understood. "Sakura sweety? Would you be a dear and please give us some privacy, I need to talk to Jiraiya and Naruto alone." Tsunade said pleasantly. The three of them froze, instincts alone told them a sweet tone like that could only mean danger, horrible…, inescapable…, danger.
Sakura bolted for the door thankful that whatever Naruto had just spilled was somehow bigger then her now forgotten wardrobe malfunction. Jiraiya was moving quicker towards the window when Sakura closed the door.
"JIRAIYA!" Tsunade screamed reaching out for the retreating Sanin, "What the hell did you tell him?! You fucking idiot, that wasn't your decision to make! Have you forgotten who issued those orders!" She caught him by the tip of his hair and yanked, flinging him across the room towards her and into a fist full of pain.
"Enough!" Naruto yelled. Even before becoming Hokage not many people dared take that tone with Tsunade, but for some reason she froze. Jiraiya crashed to the floor in a heap.
"He didn't have a choice, I made him tell me, and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me! I'm finally becoming the shinobi I was meant to be."
She released her comrades hair and ignored the hurt look on his face as he held his aching scalp. "Now that was an interesting statement, and not the sort of thing I expected to come out of Naruto's mouth." She sighed inwardly, "I might as well find out what he knows…"
"So lay it out for me, what has he told you…"
"It was about a year ago, we had a training accident and I made Jiraiya-sensei tell me the truth, the whole truth. He told me about my father, … Minato. He told me about my mother Kushina and how she died giving birth to me. And he told me about how my father died later that same night saving Konoha, and what he left me."
Tsunade sighed, so he did know, she didn't know if it was the right time but that was moot now, leave it to Jiraiya. "And? What does this all mean to you?"
The color in Naruto's eyes seemed to change somewhat, darkening. "It means that I'm not an unwanted orphan, that I was always important to someone, that fate was cruel but I was loved, even if only for one day." He said quietly, looking at the floor.
Tsunade's heart broke, if she could scoop him up and make everything go away she would have done it, she would have done anything to change Naruto's life in that moment. It wasn't fair, and fate was cruel, but she knew that as well as anyone just like she knew that she couldn't change anything. "I'm so sorry Naruto…" she said quietly.
Naruto looked up, the sparkle returned to his bottomless blue eyes in an instant, "It's OK Tsunade-chan. I finally know who I am now, and I've spent the last year honoring my parents by becoming the best Shinobi I can be, BELIEVE IT!"
Tsunade smiled, "What a kid, no wonder everyone loves you so much. Maybe this was exactly what you needed, you're finally maturing."
She continued, "Well then, that still leaves my original question doesn't it? Where did that burst of incredible speed come from?"
"I think I better take this one," Jiraiya finally piped up. "To make a long story short, a few months ago I completed Minato's seal and permanently merged his chakra with the nine-tails fox. Ever since then, his abilities have grown by leaps and bounds!"
"You did what?!" Tsunade blurted out, she looked ready to punch the abused Shinobi again.
"Hold on let me explain!" Jiraiya pleaded, backing up just in case. "In those years studying the seal I learned a great deal about it."
"What could you have possibly learned that would have possessed you to screw with THAT seal?" she demanded.
Jiraiya tried not to look offended, "Haven't you ever noticed that Naruto's the only Jinchuuriki you've ever heard of that fights like a normal Shinobi?"
The question vexed her for a moment, sure she had never meet another Jinchuuriki before, there weren't exactly Shinobi with demons sealed inside them on every street corner after all. But she had read about them extensively just because of Naruto. But now that Jiraiya mentioned it everything she had ever read about the fighting styles of Jinchuuriki only discussed the powers of the Bijuu trapped inside them, and how the Jinchuuriki channeled those powers in a fight.
"All other Jinchuuriki's fight relying on the power of their Bijuu!" Jiraiya stated proudly, as if that explained anything. "Naruto on the other hand doesn't, he's the only Jinchuuriki in history who can fight by calling upon and molding his own Chakra!"
Tsunade still didn't understand, "What are you getting at?"
"Well isn't it obvious?" Jiraiya asked. "The presence of a Bijuu in one's body is extremely disturbing to a humans normal chakra network, so much so that they can't use it. That's why all Jinchuuriki rely on the power of their Bijuu to fight, because they have too. But Minato did it differently, he didn't seal all of the Kyuubi's chakra in Naruto, only the Yang!"
Tsunade's mind called upon her extensive knowledge of chakra and the human body as she considered the implications, "Now that is interesting, normally yin and yang don't play a big part in chakra usage or jutsu, but they must both be present of course for balance. Without balance, using chakra is nearly impossible, like peddling a bike with only one leg."
"Wait, " she said, thinking out loud. "Are you saying…?"
"Yes! " the excited Sanin continued, "By only sealing the Yang chakra in Naruto, his body was able to assimilate his Bijuu very differently! The presence of the nine-tails yang chakra in his body caused Naruto's body to produce less and less of its own yang chakra each year, being replaced by the yang chakra of the nine-tails. And his Yin Chakra then strengthened in response to the new more powerful Yang chakra flooding his system, it was looking for balance! And finally a few months ago his own Yang chakra disappeared completely!"
"Completely?" Tsunade asked shocked, "but without any yang chakra of his own was he able to mold chakra?"
"No." Naruto cut in, "I wasn't, my abilities as a Shinobi vanished that day."
Tsunade was stunned, "Had the 4th known this would happen? What a terrible risk! But it did make sense, by only introducing the fox's yang chakra into his system, Naruto's own yin and yang chakra would seek balance. But once his own yang chakra was gone he wasn't able to control his remaining yin chakra and therefore couldn't call upon his powers nor the nine-tails either."
Jiraiya sensed her thoughts and filled in the rest, "By leaving the seal unfinished Minato must have known what would happen. He left the key to me hoping that I would figure it out, and that I would complete the seal once Naruto's chakra system had completely remolded itself to find true balance with the fox's presence. Then and only then the seal could be finished, their chakra's perfectly merged, and the first Jinchuuriki who had truly assimilated their Bijuu would be born!"
Tsunade flopped back in her chair, "Incredible... I guess you weren't the 4th Hokage for nothing." She thought to herself.
She looked up, "So what was the end result? Just speed? There has to more to it than just that."
"Well," Naruto responded, "It was like a marching band that had been playing in my head suddenly went quiet. I had no idea how easy you 'normal's' had it!" Naruto was smiling.
Tsunade stared at him, "Normal's?"
"It's like I said," Jiraiya butted in. "The presence of two chakra systems in one body is very disrupting, especially the chaotic chakra of something like the nine-tails. Even with only half its chakra inside of him, it made molding his own chakra very difficult for Naruto. It's amazing he was able to become an accomplished Shinobi at all when you think about. Didn't it ever seem strange to you that the son of 4th Hokage, the most talented Shinobi in the history of our village barely made it through the Academy?
"Good point, never thought of it that way." Tsunade thought.
"I guess I never noticed the interference because it was always there." Naruto added. "But I sure noticed when it was gone! Controlling my chakra and performing jutsu is sooooo much easier now."
"Yes his skills and control have improved greatly since then, and that display of speed you saw today … remind you of anyone?" Jiraiya asked coyly.
"His father…." Tsunade breathed. Naruto beamed. It made his heart soar to hear her compare him to his legendary father.
"There's one other change," Jiraiya started. "As if he didn't have enough chakra already, his chakra capacity has increased dramatically." Tsunade's eyes widened, that was to be expected given everything she had already learned, but it hadn't occurred to her to ask, it was just so much information.
"How much more?" she asked, eyeing the young genin.
"It's hard to say exactly." Naruto chimed in. "I certainly don't have access to all the chakra the fox had, but I'd say that I have something like ten to twenty times what I used to."
Tsunade gasped, the boy's chakra capacity and therefore his stamina were already almost legendary, but at ten to twenty times he was a nearly bottomless pit! "My God! There's no precedent for this! The techniques you could develop…"
"Actually, I haven't quite got the hang of controlling it all just yet." Naruto interrupted.
"What do you mean? The nine-tails chakra?" she asked.
"There is no distinct nine-tails chakra anymore, just like there's no distinct Naruto chakra either. Their chakra's have merged and formed a new chakra with its own character." Jiraiya explained.
"That also makes sense, but he sure looked like he had control to me!" she responded.
"Yes, while he's largely become accustomed to this new chakra, it's the amount that's the problem on occasion. You see having more chakra then nature intended is nice of course, but his body wasn't designed for it and can only channel so much at one time. When he tries to use very large amounts of chakra for jutsu that he knows he shouldn't be doing," Jiraiya said as he shot a glance over at Naruto. "…he can sometimes lose control."
"Hey! Come on Jiraiya-sensei, I don't lose it that often!" Naruto protested.
Tsunade eyed Naruto with a worried look, "Lose control? What happens when he loses control?"
"It's no big deal!" Naruto said. "It's just that sometimes the technique has a tendency to backfire on me that's all. Geeesh Jiraiya-sensei no need to worry her, hasn't happened in a month."
"Naruto! That's nothing to sneeze at!" Tsunade admonished him. "Losing control of a jutsu like that can be deadly! You need to be careful until your body can handle all of that chakra of yours."
"Naruto knows what jutsu's are still beyond him." Jiraiya assured her. "And his control improves every day, I think we could all see that in today's little test."
"Well good, he's of no use if he goes and blows himself up." Tsunade took a moment to take everything in, then she turned back to Naruto. "You've got quite a future ahead of you Naruto Uzumaki…"
"That's Namikaze." Naruto cut her off.
Tsunade blinked, "That's right isn't it?"
"It's tradition for a son to take the name of his father I'm told. And Jiraiya-sensei has also informed me of a family home that needs to be unsealed," Naruto broke into a wide smile, "I'm going home Tsunade…"
Tsunade drew herself to her full height and planted her fists on her hips smiling back at him, "Yes you are, Naruto Namikaze, welcome home."