NARUTO:
THE LEAF IN THE WHIRLPOOL
CHAPTER 13
APPRENTICE APPLICATION
The Chuunin preliminary exams were finally over and the conclusion did not sit well with Naruto. Too many of his friends had been injured, Sasuke, Hinata and Rock Lee. He knew that Sasuke would be fine but the others were still touch and go. He had personally taken Hinata to the hospital and he knew that her condition had stabilized but he was still worried. The amount of injuries Rock Lee had sustained did not look good and Naruto had a bad feeling but from what he had seen from Lee he knew that he would not give up on his Nindo.
Right now the match ups for the final matches had been decided and straight off the bat he would be facing Hyuga Neji, the guy who had hurt Hinata so badly. There was a lot riding on the fight and so Naruto would use the month of training to become even stronger. The only problem was that he needed a sensei. He had trained himself all of his life and he had come far in many areas but there was still no mistaking the need for a true sensei who could guide and teach him.
He had wanted to ask Kakashi but he realized that Kakashi would be too focused on Sasuke since they were so similar. So he had gone to Iruka sensei to ask for some tips and he had pointed him to Ebisu.
Right now Naruto was with Ebisu and he was trying to do the Suimen Hokou no Waza the act of water walking but he was having an extremely hard time.
His chakra control was quite literally blowing him out of the water. His first step had resulted in the stream being displaced into the air and then coming to land on him. After that he had suppressed his chakra too much and sank almost immediately.
Through many numerous tries and after an explanation from Ebisu he knew that he was using too much chakra but for the first time in his life he could not help it. The amount of power and chakra he had had increased almost fifty times since the attack by Orochimaru and for the life of him he could not figure out why.
Naruto decided to try it one more time and he slowly edged forward and using his toe he tested the water. He was able to get a good tension with the water and so he decided to put his whole foot on.
"Naruto" Ebisu called to him and the break in his attention was his undoing because his chakra flared up and he flew off the water.
In his frustration he activated his Bukujutsu and floated high in the air. Due to his vantage point he was able to see a man with long white hair peeping on the woman's baths.
Hentai!
He brought himself down and turned to Ebisu.
"Hey Ebisu, there's a guy over there peeping into the woman's bath's. We should stop him from doing that." He said.
"The woman's bath's, you say." Ebisu immediately looked in the right direction. "Damn it he's using my special peeping spo…" he stopped himself before he could incriminate himself further. He gave an awkward cough. "Thanks for pointing him out Naruto. Let's go take care of him so that he doesn't bother the sweet nubile young ladies frolicking in the warm water naked and clean"
Naruto saw Ebisu's mouth hang open with drool dripping out and he sweat dropped.
"Ebisu sensei, can't you focus without your perverted thoughts running wild" he scolded.
Another awkward cough. "Of course you're right Naruto let's go."
They moved to the offender.
"Hey you, what they Hell do you think you're doing spying on the woman's bath!" He demanded of the strange man.
He turned around with a curious look on his face. The man was definitely old and he had a weird forehead protector that said Oil. He also had two red lines that streaked down from his eyes down to his chin.
"SHhhhhhhhh." He said to them. "Can't you see I'm trying to do some research here?"
"Hey listen here old man…" Ebisu did not finish because suddenly the man's curious look changed to one of annoyance.
He bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu" and there was a large blast of smoke and when it cleared the man was standing on top of a large red toad.
"A toad" Ebisu said in disbelief "you must…"
In a flash the toad lashed out with its tongue and slammed Ebisu on head and he landed badly on the ground.
Naruto winced when he heard a crunching sound but he felt better when he realized that it was Ebisu's glasses which had been knocked off.
"HEY. What the hell did you do that for?" He shouted to get the old Ninja's attention. "That guy was supposed to be helping me and you just knocked him out."
The man then regarded him silently and something flashed in his eyes but Naruto could not really understand what it was.
"So what, he was probably not a good teacher anyway so the way I see it, I did you a favour." The man turned away.
"Don't you turn your back on me, don't you know who I am?" he asked.
"No I don't know who you are but I have a feeling you're about to tell me." The man said but he was clearly concentrating on the women's baths.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO, the man who will one day become Hokage!" he declared.
The man slowly turned around and he studied him for a long time.
"When someone tells you their name, it's customary for you to tell them yours" Naruto said.
The man was still studying him but at Naruto's words his face came alight.
"Allow me to introduce myself. The Legendary Toad Hermit, One of the Three Sannin and the author of the Icha Icha Paradise novels, The Gallant Jiraiya!"
Naruto sweat dropped.
"You wrote those novels that Kakashi sensei reads, you…you Ero-Sennin. Listen here you just beat up my sensei that automatically gives you the job, so you better start right now." Naruto demanded.
"ERO-SENIN! What the hell is that brat? I deserve more respect than that and if you want me to teach you then you better show me something better than water walking"
This guy was seriously pissing Naruto off.
I can't attack him in such a populated area, I guess I have to use that move
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he said out loud announcing his Jutsu and then followed by "Harem no Jutsu" Naruto shouted and each Kage Bunshin transformed into a buxom young woman whose decency was covered only by wisps of smoke.
"WAWAWEWOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The old man shouted and then it started the flood as Naruto called it.
Blood came flying out of the guy's nose and propelled him into the sky.
"5…4…3…2…1" When he reached one the guy hit the ground and he was unconscious.
The toad was still there so Naruto decided to ask it for help.
"Hey can you help me with this guy. I want to go to a place a bit away from people."
The Toad nodded quite respectfully and extended its tongue to pick up the Ero-Sennin and it gently placed him on its back.
Naruto moved out of the Village with the toad bounding beside him. There was a river which would be perfect for his training and once the Ero-Sennin woke up then it could really begin.
From his introduction Naruto knew who the man was. Jiraiya was the man who had trained his father. He was mentioned in many notes especially the ones on sealing Jutsu and he knew that the older Ninja had played a big role in his father's life.
They got to the river and the Toad placed Jiraiya on the ground and then bowed once and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Hey we finally made it to the ladies hot springs and they are already naked" Naruto whispered in the man's ear. He stepped back instantly as the Legendary Ninja awoke in a flash looking left and right for the prize.
Once he realized that they were not at the hot springs he clearly got annoyed.
"That was a mean trick to play on your elder, boy" he said sullenly.
"Shouldn't it be godfather?" Naruto asked and although he meant to sound casual he could not hide the hint of pain and sadness in his voice.
The older Ninja immediately got serious and he crouched down to Naruto's level. Their eyes were locked with each other and they did not say anything for a long time.
"All that I ask is that you train me since you beat up my other sensei. It's only fair." Naruto stated after a long time. "I won't ask where you've been what's important is the here and now."
The Legendary Ninja regarded him deeply but Naruto was not unsettled.
"You sounded just like your father just now and in that case how can I say no. So prepare yourself boy for the training of a life time. Your apprenticeship to the Legendary Jiraiya is about to begin." He said with a formal tone.
This is it… the training from a true Shinobi Master…
"HERE WE GO -TEBAYYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naruto shouted in excitement.
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The training had gotten off to a rocky start. Jiraiya saw that the boy's chakra control was way off and he could not help but feel that something else was wrong.
"Naruto, take off your clothes so that they dry, you don't want to catch a cold and then die." He casually told him.
The boy complied and stripped down to his boxers. When he went back on the water he was able to stay on for a little while but his control was still off. In his frustration he began to leak chakra in powerful waves blowing most of the water from around him away.
Jiraiya then saw what he needed to see. The seal on his abdomen finally appeared.
"Hey Naruto come over here, there is something I want to see." As he came closer Jiraiya noted the artistry and elegance that was the Yondaime's Fuuin Jutsu. He could not help but appreciate the mastery of such a creation… but he quickly noticed that something was off.
There is a five elemental seal over the Yondaime's seal. No wonder the boy's chakra control is shot. This rough work is definitely that of Orochimaru…
Jiraiya noted the boy's lack of chakra control due to the sheer amount that he had and he had realized that it was the boy's natural power. The Five Elemental Seal placed over the Kyubi's seal was blocking the Kyubi's chakra and thus the boys own natural chakra was finally being fully used by him. Normally a large amount of it was used to reject the bulk of the Kyubi's power but now it was finally free for him to use.
"Naruto close your eyes and concentrate your chakra." He instructed.
"Why Ero-Sennin?" he asked.
"DON'T call me that brat!" Jiraiya shouted. "Just do what I say"
"Alright no need to get so touchy." Naruto replied.
Jiraiya prepared the Elemental Unseal and once Naruto had gathered enough chakra he slammed his hand over the seal placed by Orochimaru and unsealed it.
Naruto flew back and landed hard on his butt.
"What the hell was that for?" Naruto asked.
"Channel your chakra and you will find out." Jiraiya informed him.
Naruto proceeded to do so.
"Oh wow its back under control" he exclaimed "but… it feels less somehow…"
"But the important thing is that it's back to normal. No more mountain levelling Jutsu's for you ne"
Naruto flexed his hands. "Yeah I guess you're right" he then got up and ran to the water. His first step was perfect and so was the one after that. The boy started moving over the water as if he were born to it.
"That's much better now, everything is back to normal."
Naruto even did a hand stand over the water.
Geez but this kid is excitable…
"Seems like you don't need that much time with water walking after all."
"Yeah this stuff is easy. What's next?" Naruto asked as he jumped up into the air "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he shouted and a thousand Naruto's appeared and all landed gracefully on the flowing river. "Alright first one to sink gets a thousand years of pain."
Jiraiya watched the weirdest scene of his life. The Kage Bunshin all proceeded to try and get one of them to sink. They all moved well over the water and some even ganged up on others.
He had to admit they were pretty resilient to damage and the way they worked together signalled the level that Naruto was at with this Jutsu…
After an hour of watching the different Naruto's and writing some notes down he decided to call a stop to the water walking. Naruto had mixed it up training at first with many clones and then with a few and so on. In a physical hour he had mastered it but with his Kage Bunshin Jiraiya estimated roughly over a thousand hours just on water walking.
"Naruto, come over here" Jiraiya called and he un-slung the large scroll that was on his lower back.
"Naruto this is the Summoning Contract for Toads, it was given to me a long time ago and since then only four other people have signed it, your father being one of them.
Naruto looked at the names on the scroll and his eyes lingered on one name
Namikaze Minato
Naruto traced his fingers over the name reverently.
"To summon a creature you must first sign the contract in blood, once that is done you must offer some blood as a medium and perform the following hand seals" Jiraiya demonstrated the seals "and then place pressure on any point. Depending on the amount of chakra you channel into the Jutsu you can call a small summon or the boss summon."
"Space time Ninjutsu, to make something appear… it's just like…"" Naruto did not finish.
"Are you ready to sign the contract?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, I am ready."
"You must sign it in blood Uzumaki Naruto and know that for the rest of your life the Toads will be with you and you will be with them."
Naruto signed his name Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto with the blood from his fingers right next to his father's name.
The blood sank into the scroll and immediately became one with it.
It's done…
"Ok Naruto, here we go." He bit his thumb and slowly went through the necessary hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground "Kuchiyose no Jutsu"
A large puff of smoke appeared and when it cleared the same toad from earlier was in the spot.
"COOL! Now it's my turn" Naruto bit his thumb and did the seals and slammed his hand on the ground "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" but there was a smaller puff of smoke and when it cleared a small toad appeared.
"What the, it's only a kid. Gimme snacks if you wanna ask a favour. Otherwise I won't play with you." The small toad said rather rudely.
"Hey you're supposed to be bigger, like that one over there. If I wanted a shrimp I would have signed the shrimp contract." Naruto answered back.
These two…they don't know each other but already they are fighting…What would their father's say…
"Hey both of you calm down. No need to be so hasty, just relax."
"Easy for you to say Ero-Sennin, you got a big guy and all I got is leftovers."
"This is only the beginning, you actually did better then I expected Naruto. Now introduce yourself and let's get some training done."
Naruto turned to the little toad. "Names Uzumaki Naruto, what's yours?"
"Gamakichi, now where are my snacks"
Man this is going to take a while…
After a tense introduction Jiraiya finally convinced the two to stop bickering and to do some training. He got Gamakichi to hide from Naruto and Naruto to go and seek him. The game lasted for a while but at the end Jiraiya got a sense of how good Naruto's chakra sensing abilities were.
It was close to nightfall when they dismissed the toads and Jiraiya offered to buy Naruto dinner.
They walked back to the Village in relative ease conversing about inconsequential things but Jiraiya was only paying half attention. What he was wrestling with was what to teach Naruto.
No matter how he saw it he always came back to one conclusion
Rasengan
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It was the fifth day of training and Naruto had gotten pretty good with Toad summons. He had even summoned the Toad Boss Gamabunta after Jiraiya had thrown him off a cliff. The feat had been very tiring for him but it was worth it.
Jiraiya was a difficult but good sensei and Naruto was learning a lot in terms of strategy and chakra control. Jiraiya had even given him tips on Genjutsu which was his worst type. He would definitely practice how to stop and defeat Genjutsu and he felt that the key would be in his Kage Bunshin.
Right now they were taking a break on top of the Hokage Monument.
"Naruto how would you like to learn a powerful Ninjutsu?" Jiraiya asked out of the blue.
Naruto's interest was immediately raised and he got up and looked at the Ero-Sennin.
"More then anything in the world" he said with excitement.
Jiraiya's face was sombre though. "Listen this Jutsu is extremely hard to master but I believe you can do it. Are you sure you are ready for it."
"Definitely"
"If I taught you this Jutsu what would you do with it?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruto was quiet for a while as he pondered Jiraiya's question. Most of his life he had thought that he was getting stronger for himself but ever since becoming a Genin his view had changed.
He could not ignore all the people that he met, or the experiences that he gained. Without them there was no reason to get stronger. His bonds and his desire to protect them was what kept him going.
Iruka-sensei, Hinata-chan, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, Jiraiya-sensei… all of them…
"I would use it to protect those who are precious to me" Naruto said.
"That is a fine answer Naruto and I think you are ready now for this Jutsu."
"What's it called?" Naruto asked barely able to contain himself.
"RASENGAN" Jiraiya-sensei said solemnly. "A Ninjutsu created by the Yondaime Hokage, your father Namikaze Minato..."
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END OF CHAPTER 13