Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 26: Tsunade
"You're Late!" screamed Sakura. She and Haku have been waiting on the bridge for about an hour and a half, waiting for Kakashi to show up. "Wait, you're not Kakashi-sensei."
"Oh, Zabuza-sama" said Haku, realizing that it was Zabuza who had shown up and not Kakashi.
"Impressive girl, you're able to tell people apart even if they are wearing masks" mocked Zabuza.
"Why that little…How dare he insult me like that! Cha!" said Inner Sakura as Sakura became increasing irritated.
"Why are you here Zabuza-sama?" asked Haku curiously. "We were supposed to meet Kakashi-sensei today for our training."
"Kakashi won't be joining you for a little. I'm afraid he's fallen ill and is going to be in the hospital for a while" explained Zabuza. "I talked to him earlier today and he asked me to fill in for the two of you."
"Two of us? What about Sasuke?" asked Sakura.
"And Naruto, it's been awfully quiet lately" asked Haku.
"From what I've heard, that little blonde brat went on a short trip with that Jiraiya" said Zabuza. "The Uchihia is in the hospital as well. Apparently he's got the same illness as Kakashi."
"No! Sasuke!" cried Sakura as she darted off towards the hospital to see her beloved Sasuke. Zabuza and Haku's sweat dropped after seeing this. Zabuza was going to say that due to Kakashi's affliction, he would be in charge of them on a mission. Looks like it was going to be just he and Haku, which has perfectly fine by him.
It had been four days since Naruto and Hinata left with Jiraiya in search of Tsunade, the candidate for the position of Godaime Hokage. Hinata had gotten a good grasp on cutting her leaf while Naruto was really struggling. He had managed to put a small knick in the leaf, but despite training with nearly 100 clones, it still wasn't enough.
It was getting late in the evening and they finally came to the next town in their journey, a small town called Rakuza, which was about 50km south of Konoha. The group decided that they were going to settle down here for the next day. Naruto and Hinata could focus on their training while Jiraiya gathered information.
Late at night, the three of them had turned in for the night. Naruto, being the restless sleeper he was, rolled into a table, knocking a pot down on top of him and waking him up. Upon looking around, he saw that Hinata was not in her bed. At first, he thought that she just had to go, but then he noticed the window was open. He was sure the window had been closed when they went to sleep. Upon further inspection, he saw Hinata, sitting on the roof and staring up at the sky, thinking on something.
Naruto crawled out to join her. Hinata realized that Naruto was coming up behind her and began to turn red; almost bright enough to act as light on that night. "N-naruto? W-what are you d-doing up?"
"Well, I kind of got woken up" he said. "But what are you doing, sitting out here?"
"Just thinking" she replied.
"Huh? Thinking about what?" asked Naruto.
"N-nothing really, j-just the training from the previous days" said Hinata. "I-it's just, what will my father think when I tell him that I don't have earth natured chakra. Until about a month ago, my father saw me as a failure. In fact, he pushed me aside so that he could focus on my sister's training, who had more potential than me. I never was really good at the Gentle Fist and they saw me as weak. But, w-when you cheered for me in the preliminaries, I…I decided that it was time I became strong. And because of that, my father began to acknowledge me. He finally had hope in me as a shinobi and he sounded so happy when Jiraiya came and told him that he would train me for a few weeks. But now…I, well I don't even know how I'm going to tell him. Why do I feel that he's going to be disappointed in me?"
Naruto thought for a few moments. A lot of Hinata's past had been just like his, full of disappointment. It wasn't until just recently that both of them had begun to show who they truly were and to be honest, the last thing Naruto wanted was a sad Hinata. "Don't worry about that Hinata" he said. "I'm sure if you do your best and try your hardest, that your father will certainly be happy with you. I mean, just because you're a little different, doesn't mean that's a bad thing."
"But, what will my clan think?" asked Hianta.
"I'm sure everything will be fine. I don't really know much about this, but isn't a family supposed to support you all the way?" stated Naruto. "Besides, from what I've seen from you and heard from Pervy Sage, you having a wind element will be awesome!"
"Do…do you really think so?" asked Hinata, her spirits picking up.
"Yeah. I guess that could be why you say that you're not good at the Gentle Fist, which you are amazing at by the way. If you really want to impress your father, then create a style that works with your wind element and you'll be kicking ass in no time" encouraged Naruto. "Besides, I'm glad you have a wind element."
"You…you are?" she said.
"Yeah, I mean it would get rather lonely being the only one in the village with a wind element. Besides, now the two of us can work together to come up with some really awesome jutsu!" exclaimed Naruto.
"The two of us? Working together?" thought Hinata as she blushed a little. Naruto turned to her, wondering why she always turned red and if she wasn't feeling good. "No, I'm fine. Thanks to you, N-Naruto."
"Me? What did I do?" asked an oblivious Naruto.
"You did what you always do. You make people feel better" said Hinata. "And you know what? I'm glad I came, even if I was disappointed with myself at first. I'm glad that I could finally spend some time with you, N-Naruto."
"Even after everything that happened, being attacked by those Akatsuki freaks, finding out about the Kyuubi, and even after all these years, she doesn't hate me, she's never hated me? What is this feeling I get when we talk like this?" thought Naruto. "Thanks Hinata, I'm glad you came along to. I feel like we've become close friends."
"He…he thinks of me as a close friend?" this caused Hinata to blush a dark shade of red and Naruto thought she was getting sick. He suggested that they go to bed and they did so, the troubling thoughts had finally left Hinata's mind, and Naruto's head had stopped pounding from that vase. Unbeknown to them, they weren't the only ones awake.
"You could have done better there, but not too bad Naruto" thought Jiraiya as he went back to sleep as well.
"Ohhh…ahhgg! My arms!" screamed Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru-sama, the medicine, quickly!" said Kabuto, running to his master's side.
"That kind of crappy medicine, I don't need it" hissed Orochimaru. "I mixed the medicine myself; it should make you feel at least a little better. "The burning pain…I never expected it to be so much!"
"Sarutobi…the Third Hokage, master…the wound from his final curse, no wonder it's so painful" said Kabuto.
"No need for further explanations…the woman, did you find her?" asked Orochimaru in pain.
"Yes, it seems she's at a place called Tanzaku town" said Kabuto. "However, it won't be easy to capture her."
"Is that so?..." hissed Orochimaru. "The best cure is always the hardest to find, right?"
Morning came and Naruto and Hinata were back to their training. Hinata was now at the point where she could effortlessly split her leaf, but Naruto was still struggling. Finally, he decided to ask for help.
"Hey Hinata, how did you split your leaf?" asked Naruto.
"Y-you need to make the chakra as fine and thin as possible" Hianta said, activating her Byakugan. "Just start channeling your chakra through the leaf and I'll use my Byakugan to help you out."
"Wow, you can do that? That's great!" complimented Naruto.
Naruto began to channel the chakra into the leaf and Hinata saw what was wrong. She helped Naruto make a few tweaks to his chakra and before long, he was able to produce a finer beam of chakra. It was nowhere near Hinata fine, but it was a definite improvement. It wasn't much longer before Naruto was able to generate a fine enough chakra to cut his leaf in half, thanks to Hinata's help.
Jiraiya was sitting at a bar in town, inquiring if anyone knew Tsunade. "Sorry, I've never seen her before" said one of the men.
"I know that person" said another man, catching Jiraiya's attention. "I even know her whereabouts."
"Well alright, looks like the next round is my treat then…" said Jiraiya. After a little over a week, they finally had a lead on Tsunade's location.
"That sis…she's rubbed me off quite a few times, you know?" said the man. Jiraiya knew where this was going.
"She's still losing, eh?" asked Jiraiya and the man just nodded.
"That Legendary Sucker is still gambling, even now" said the man.
"Where?" Asked Jiraiya.
"Tanzaku town" replied the man.
"Oh? That's not too far from here" said Jiraiya.
Jiraiya came up to the two genin, who were practicing with their elemental training. He asked them how it was going and they showed him the results. Hinata's was perfect and she was able to cut her leaf without a problem. While Jiraiya was impressed by this, he was not surprised as he suspected that Hinata had inadvertently refined her chakra into wind chakra before. Naruto on the other hand was nowhere near Hinata, but he had still shown some remarkable progress. He could completely cut his leaf, but it still required effort. However, he figured that a lot of Naruto's progress was a result of Hinata, being able to actually see the flow of chakra with her Byakugan.
"I know where Tsunade was last spotted and we should go now. It will take about two days to get there" said Jiraiya. After just over a week of searching, they had actually managed to get a lead on Tsunade's whereabouts and the two young ninja were making rather good progress on their chakra nature manipulation. "The two of you can refine cutting your leafs while we walk and I'll show you the next exercise when we get to Tanzaku town."
"Wow! Triple 7's!" shouted Shizune. Tsunade, the Legendary Sucker had just come up with the best roll on the slot machines.
"How did I get Triple 7's? I've got a bad feeling about this" thought Tsunade.
"It's a miracle that you've actually won this time, why are you still mad?" asked Shizune, observing her master's frustration.
"Shizune, let's get out of here. I've got a bad feeling" said Tsunade.
"But this is a beautiful place, we should explore the castle more" begged Shizune.
"Then we'll take a quick look around and get out ASAP!" ordered Tsunade.
I know a bit about Tsunade, you see I was in the medic corps as well" explained Kabuto as he and his master walked up a flight of stairs through the forest.
"It's now become a standard procedure to include a medical specialist in each squad of 4. Prior to this, it was difficult for a group of shinobi to battle without any proper medical attention. You can't anticipate what will happen on the battle field, which is blindingly obvious" explained Kabuto.
"Hmm…that might be a good system for veteran fighters, but such a system would only increase the casualties of war…" hissed Orochimaru. "It's human nature that people won't realize the true value of something until they lose it. And whoever told the story of the medical specialist from the 3 Sanin, became the victims of that ninja."
"Ah, Tanzaka castle has such a fabulous view, even from the ground!" admired Shizune, looking up to the castle. "That's why it's called the treasure of arts!"
"Don't waste any more time, we've got to get out of here as soon as possible" said Tsunade, much to Shizune's displeasure. Suddenly, the castle fell to the ground in a heap of broken wood. Out of the smoke rose a giant snake with two figures on top of its head.
"Orochimaru…" said Tsunade in an angry tone.
"I've finally found you…" laughed Orochimaru.
Orochimaru and Kabuto were standing in a small courtyard facing Tsunade and Shizune. "It's been quite a while, Orochimaru" said Tsunade, not in the happiest of moods.
"I've been looking all over for you" responded the snake.
"What have you got with me now?" asked Tsunade. "You better not be here to reminisce about the old days."
"I have a favor to ask of you" said Orochimaru, trying to hide the twitching of his arm to no avail.
"Erratic heartbeat, his face looks pale and feverish, and then there is that arm" deduced the medical specialist.
"Tsunade-sama, I'm guessing you've already figured out" said Kabuto.
"Hey, you can go find someone else, I'm not a doctor anymore" she replied.
"Heh, we can't do that you see…this wound, no one else can cure it" said Kabuto. "But you, Tsunade-sama, one of the Legendary Sanin, and a medical specialist…you alone can cure it."
"That wound on your arm, it's no ordinary wound is it? What have you done to it?" asked Tsunade.
"Heh, just a little memento from when I killed the Third, our old sensei" laughed Orochimaru. Both Tsunade and Shizune stood in shock.
"You really are…" growled Tsunade, making her 'I'm going to kill you' face.
"Heh…don't make that scary face at me. Something with form is destined to crumble. The same goes for people too, you should know this since…you've lost two of your most beloved" taunted Orochimaru. "Ahh, those were certainly horrible ways to die."
Seeing her master's pain of her memories coming back, Shizune revealed a needle launcher on her forearm, pulling back the strings and unleashing half a dozen needles towards Orochimaru and his apprentice. Kabuto blocked them and caught one, realizing that the needles were poisoned.
"Calm down Shizune" ordered Tsunade. Then she got a calm look on her face, accompanies by a smile. "Orochimaru, you haven't changed a bit. You know how I am, don't kid around with me…I'll kill you!" Tsunade slammed her fist into the wall behind them, reducing it to rubble.
"Destructive, and fearsome" thought Kabuto. "She's definitely single."
"I'll say it once, get out of my sight before I kill you!" threatened Tsunade.
"Now please be reasonable. We can work out a deal" Kabuto said as Tsunade began her countdown. "Please calm down, it will be a good bargain."
Tsunade reached the end of her countdown and was ready to kill the two. "I can revive your dead brother and beloved with a forbidden seal I have developed" said Orochimaru with a dark and evil look on his face. Tsunade was frozen at this. "I see you haven't killed us yet, does this mean we have a deal?"
After a two day travel, the trio finally arrived at Tanzaku town. They figured the best place for someone to look was inside a gambling hall. Jiraiya began showing her picture around until he finally got a hit.
"I know that sis" said a man. "She was saying that she was going to get back her loss over there."
"There? Where's that?" asked Jiraiya.
The man Jiraiya was talking with threw two die into a cup. "We can't sell your info for free, you see?" said the man. "Let's gamble for it…if you win, I'll talk. If I win, you give me 10000ryo."
"Alright" said Jiraiya, accepting the man's wager.
"Pick, 'cho' or 'han'" demanded the man. Jiraiya chose 'cho'. The man began to unveil the die. The first die was a 2 and the second die was a 4, an even 6.
The three proceeded to the gambling hall where she was spotted. As Jiraiya was asking around, Naruto found a coin lying on the ground underneath a slot machine. "Hey, kid. Put the coin in that slot and just pull the lever" instructed a man sitting at a nearby machine. Naruto did as the man instructed, his curiosity taking over.
"Ding!" The alarm on top of the machine began to sound. Naruto had just hit the jackpot on that machine, triple red 7's.
"Help! I think I broke it!" shouted a freaking out Naruto as coins began to pour out of the machine. Half the hall's jaws dropped at Naruto's luck. Naruto frantically gathered up as many coins as he could.
"What the?..." thought Jiraiya, observing Naruto's frantic grabbing of coins. "Is this kid lucky or what?"
After all was said and done, Naruto was about 100,000 ryo richer. He pulled out his precious Gama-chan wallet, which caught Hinata's eye. "He…he still has the frog wallet I got for him three years ago?" she asked herself, getting a happy feeling inside as Naruto was happily stuffing his little froggy. Unfortunately, the frog wasn't big enough and he was forced to let Jiraiya hold onto the remaining money.
"Hey Kit, remind me to bring you along with me the next time we Tailed Beasts end up having a poker night" snickered Kurama. "You're luckier than the Nanabi!"
"Huh? Poker?" replied Naruto.
"Yeah, every couple of decades, the nine of us try and get together and gamble a bit"
"What exactly do you gamble?" asked Naruto.
"Our vessel's soul" the Fox burst out in laughter as Naruto's face paled both inside and outside.
"N-Naruto? Is something wrong?" asked Hinata, catching the change in his face's complexion.
"Nothing…just never let me play poker with Fuzzball" said a fearful Naruto.
"Hey! Who are you calling Fuzzball!"
"Don't you want to meet them again?" Orochimaru asked as pictures of her little brother and her lover appeared in Tsunade's mind.
"Hmph, if I cure your arms, what are you going to do?" asked Tsunade.
"I'd hate to lie to you, so I guess I'll let you in on the truth" said Orochimaru. "I'm getting what I want…I'll obliterate the Leaf!"
"Hey! So where is this castle?" asked Naruto, looking around. This was also something Jiraiya wanted to know.
"What happened here?" asked a curious Jiraiya. Suddenly, they saw a guy running down the path. Jiraiya called to the man. "Hey, you over there. What the hell happened here?!"
"You guys should run away! There is a demon beast over there!" shouted the man as he continued to run.
"Demon?" said Naruto. "Do you feel anything demonic around?" Kurama just shook his head.
"What exactly do you mean by 'demon beast'?" asked Jiraiya, catching the man before he could get any farther.
"A-A huge snake toppled the building instantly!" shouted the man as he finally got free of Jiraiya.
"Hey, what kind of huge snake?" asked Naruto. "Back in my village I also encountered a snake beast!"
"Naruto, this is probably the same snake that you encountered before" explained Jiraiya as they ran off towards where the 'snake beast' was last.
"What?! Destroy the Leaf?!" said Shizune, becoming increasingly angry.
"Your answer is?" asked Kabuto. Shizune begged her to refuse. Tsunade thought on all the memories that she had of her brother and beloved.
"Tsunade-sama, you can't! Don't listen to the offer of these liars. Your brother and uncle wouldn't want you to do this either!" screamed Shizune. "Are the wishes of two people more…Tsunade-sama! Your dreams, your wishes, have you forgotten them?"
"Shut up, Shizune!" cried Tsunade.
"You don't have to answer now, however we will come up with a peaceful resolution" said Kabuto. "Also, this jutsu requires two bodies as sacrifices."
"Tsunade-sama! Kill them now!" shouted Shizune. "Kill these bastards! Orochimaru is weak! If I fight, we can easily kill these bastards!"
Orochimaru bit into his finger, producing a drop of blood and causing Tsunade to shiver in fear. "Damn, he knows about THAT weakness!" swore Shizune to herself.
"I'm pretty weak right now, but I still know her weakness" explained Orochimaru. "You still haven't cured it completely…you're afraid of blood. We should get going Kabuto. Tsunade, we await for your consent; however, we would like an answer within a week."
The trio of Leaf ninja arrived on scene to see nothing but a collapsed castle and a busted wall. And Hinata had actually been looking forward to seeing the castle. They had been a little late and now they would have to search for her again. Thankfully, they had a trail.
As the three went into town to grab dinner, Jiraiya heard something that he had been hoping to hear. "More Beer!" ordered Tsunade, who was at a table inside the restaurant which they had just walked into.
"Hey! Tsunade!" shouted Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya?!" she responded. "Why are you here? In a place like this?"
"We've finally found you!" exclaimed Jiraiya.
"This is the woman? Is she really 50?" thought a dumbfounded Naruto. Even Hinata was having trouble processing the true age of the young woman sitting in front of them. The three of them joined Tsunade and her student, Shizune, at the table. As the time passed, Jiraiya noticed something was wrong with Tsunade and he asked.
"Today, I met with someone who brings back memories" said Tsunade.
"Orochimaru? What did he want?" asked Jiraiya. Tsunade shot Shizune a glare not to say anything.
"Nothing much, just a little greeting…" replied Tsunade. "You too, why did you come to find me?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, the village has requested for you to become the Godaime Hokage" said Jiraiya. Naruto nearly choked on his food upon hearing this. Tsunade and Shizune listened on in shock. This was not what they had expected to hear at all.
Naruto spent the next few seconds coughing. "The Godaime Hokage? What the hell, all the sudden?" he thought.
"The Third is…" said a solemn Jiraiya.
"So it's true. Orochimaru's work…" said Tsunade. "I heard, he told me."
"Orochimaru!" thought a startled Naruto. "The big snake guy?! He's the one who killed the old man?! Who the hell is this bastard?!"
"He was one of the Sanin, with us" explained Jiraiya.
"What the hell? He was from the Leaf?" said a shocked Naruto. "Then why?"
"Jiraiya, who is this boy?" asked Tsunade.
"Naruto Uzumaki" responded Jiraiya. Tsunade was in shock by that name. She knew who Naruto was and she was surprised to see him there. "And this is Hinata Hyuga, she's Hiashi's daughter."
"Hey Pervy Sage, how come she gets to become Hokage?!" shouted Naruto. Jiraiya did his best to get Naruto down as Hinata kind of retreated to the background of everything, not wanting to be caught in the center of attention.
Tsunace reflected a bit on her past and what Orochimaru had offered her. "Impossible, I decline!" she declared. This startled everyone. Then Jiraiya let out a slight laugh. "I remember in the past, you said 'I decline' when I asked you out."
"Huh?! What's going on?" asked Naruto. "You just wanted her to come back to the village so that she could check on Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, right? Yet you asked her to be the Hokage?! And she declined!"
"Tsunade-sama" thought a worried Shizune. "Is she hesitating because of Orochimaru?"
"Don't worry so much Naruto, Tsunade here is the only person who can become the Godaime Hokage" stated Jiraiya, after taking another sip of sake from his cup. "She was the one who brought us victories in our battles…no one can master her techniques. Also, Tsunade is the granddaughter of the Shodaime, so she is the most appropriate one for the position. Besides, if she goes back to the village, she will be able to check up on those two…This was a decision made by the top members of Konoha, you have absolutely no say in it."
"Jiraiya, this kid seems worse than your previous apprentice in terms of looks, speech, and intelligence…" said Tsunade, slightly insulting Naruto.
"Well, it's tough for anyone to be compared to the Fourth" explained Jiraiya. "Because he really had the talent to become a top rate ninja. He was smart and reliable and handsome, like me too."
"But even the Yondaime died quickly" said Tsunade, quieting the mood at the table. "He gave up his life for the village…Life is different from money, it can't be risked that easily…whoever puts it at risk so easily is a fool!"
Naruto was about ready to jump out of his seat and beat Tsunade to a pulp. "My grandfather and the Second both focused too much on bringing peace to the village, more than anything else" explained Tsunade. "But as a result, they died in the middle of their dreams, like losers!"
"You've changed a lot Tsunade. I don't know what you've been thinking recently, but you've just said all that is on your mind" said Jiraiya.
"Well, I'm already in my 50's, age changes people" said Tsunade. "It's the same for Sarutobi. No wonder he died, he was too old to live for his dreams….Being Hokage is shit…only a fool would do it!"
That was the last straw for Naruto as he leapt out of his seat, ready to plant his fist into Tsunade's 20-some looking face. However, he was held back by Jiraiya before he could reach her. "Hey! Let go of me!" shouted Naruto.
"Don't you realize we are in a bar? Cool it down!" ordered Jiraiya. All around, people were staring at them, wondering what was going on. Finally, he just stood before Tsunade and talked. "I won't forgive anyone who says bad things about our Hokage and the Fourth! I don't care if she's a woman, I'm going to kick her ass!" The fire and rage was building back up again.
Tsunade stood up and looked him in the eyes. "You've got some guts to say something like that, brat. Let's take this outside!" challenged Tsunade. Shizune had done everything she could to diffuse the situation, but failed miserably. As for Hinata, poor Hinata, this was not what she was expecting when she met another of the Legendary Sanin.
The four of them went outside and Naruto faced Tsunade. "Hmm, I'm one of the Legendary Sanin. I don't even need to take this boy seriously." Tsunade thought. Then she held up one finger. "This is all I will need, one finger should be enough!"
This enraged Nartuo who charged at her with his Kunai. Using that one finger, she managed to disarm him, knock his headband off, and send him back flying. "Damn it, she did all that with one finger?" he thought.
"Yeah…that was embarrassing" replied Kurama. "Looks like you need help."
"Stay out of this! I'm gonna teach her a thing or two myself!" demanded Naruto.
"Hey kid, I'll ask you one thing before you pass out…" said Tsunade. "Why…when you hear the word Hokage, do you get so excited?"
"Hmph…unlike you, I really want to succeed the Hokage name…and I will, because it's my dream to!" declared Naruto. Tsunade was haunted by the ghosts of her past at that moment, giving Naruto a small opening.
Naruto charged at Tsunade. Over the past few days, he had also been working on his Rasengan and had gotten it to the point where he could do it with one hand. Naruto formed said Rasengan in his hand, ready to show Tsunade what happens when she insults the name Hokage. Tsunade saw this at the last minute and created a fracture in the ground with her finger to stop Naruto. His Rasengan went slamming into the ground, creating a nice crater.
"Jiraiya! Why the hell did you teach him the Rasengan?!" shouted Tsunade.
"I taught it to him because he's my student and I felt he could master it, which he did" explained Jiraiya.
"It would have been better if you didn't. That way, silly kids won't joke about foolish dreams about 'becoming Hokage'" said a harsh Tsunade.
"No, you're wrong! Naruto can become Hokage someday!" Those words burst out of Hinata's mouth as Kurama's jaw practically dropped at the quiet girl's outburst. He had never heard her be so firm and confident on something. Tsunade shot her a death glare, but surprisingly Hinata didn't budge for once.
"Hmph, whatever. If you want that foolish position so bad, then you can have it" said Tsunade brushing off Naruto. Naruto was enraged but Jiraiya put his hand on his student's shoulder.
"This isn't the Tsunade I used to know. Let me talk to her and see if I can get to her" said Jiraiya. Naruto had no choice but to have faith in his teacher.
"Tsunade, why don't we get a drink together? It's been awhile" said Jiraiya. If it wasn't for the fact that it had been awhile, Tsunade would have thought Jiraiya was asking her out and probably done worse to him than she had done with Naruto. "Shizune, you, Hinata, and Naruto go find a hotel."
"Master Jiraiya, it's up to you now" thought Shizune as she took the two genin to go find that hotel.
The bar tender handed the two Sanin their drinks and apologized for the delay. "You've become even more beautiful" complimented Jiraiya.
Tsunade blushed slightly. "You haven't changed a bit. It's only you that I don't date" said Tsunade.
"It's not like I'm interested…" said Jiraiya. "Besides, she's a 50 year old lady."
"What?!" shouted Tsunade.
"Nothing…" said Jiraiya, hoping he didn't get punched. The two of them had a little laugh over that. Suddenly, Jiraya got slightly more serious. "Are you worried?"
"About what?" asked Tsunade.
"Naruto is a lot like HIM, isn't he?" said Jiraiya, obviously striking a chord with Tsunade. "Are you afraid that the past will repeat itself?"
"Just shut up" demanded Tsunade in a harsh tone. "I just don't want any more trouble caused because of me."
"Going up to meet with Orochimaru, eh? That sounds like a lot of trouble" said Jiraiya, reading Tsunade like a book. "I could tell by Shizune's countenance…I don't know what sort of deal he offered, but I just want to make one thing clear…The past Hokages protected those who lived in the village. They reigned in troublesome times, yet the village still managed to prosper. They bet their lives on that dream…you should understand too." Suddenly, Jiraiya's tone got much darker and colder. "But, if you do anything to betray the Leaf, I will kill you!"
"That has nothing to do with me" said Tsunade, shooting Jiraiya a glare.
"Only a murderer would show no feelings knowing people close to them are dead…" responded Jiraiya. Tsunade was silent. "You're not like that, right? You do care for the safety of the people in the village, because that time…"
"Stop lecturing me already!" yelled Tsunade. "Why did you bring those brats along?"
"They're even the same age. Their dream…their enthusiasm, was the same" thought Tsunade.
Inside their hotel room, Naruto heard a knock on the door and Shizune stepped inside. "I'm sorry for coming so late, Naruto. But there is something I want to talk to you about."
"What are you doing here so late?" asked Naruto. "I need to sleep well so I can train all day tomorrow."
"I'm sorry, but I don't want you to misunderstand Tsunade-sama" replied Shizune.
"Feh…I don't care about that old lady!" said Naruto, brushing Shizune's comments aside.
"Tsunade-sama is nothing like what you think of her!" Shizune said, becoming defensive. "Please don't talk about her as if you know her." This got Naruto's attention. "Before she wasn't like this. She used to have a caring heart and she loved the village. But she changed…all because of that day."
"Huh? That day? What happened on 'that' day?" asked Naruto.
"Dreams, love, and hope…all were lost on that day" said Shizune ominously. "After that, she became lost and she…left."
Shizune explained to Naruto that Tsunade had given that necklace to two people before him, her little brother Nawaki and her lover, Dan Kato. Both of whom met gruesome deaths in the Second Shinobi World War. "Please understand Naruto. From that day, Tsunade has been struggling. Just give your master some time; I'm sure he'll come through."
"Naruto…Please let Master Jiraiya take care of her" asked Hinata, not wanting to see Naruto upset anymore. "You're always asking people to believe in you. Have faith in Master Jiraiya."
Naruto hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, I guess we could let the old pervert handle that lady. Besides, we've got more important stuff to worry about, like the next exercise in our wind training." Naruto smiled at Hinata, until he felt his stomach complain. "Awe man, I didn't have enough time to eat back at the bar. I'm going to find something to eat, you want to come Hinata?"
"N-naruto wants to get something to…to eat? With me?" Hinata thought as she turned red. It took a good half hour for them to find some place that wasn't either closed or would let two kids in late at night. They had passed a ramen bar, but unfortunately for Naruto, it was closed. What kind of ramen bar isn't open at 10:00pm? Before walking into a local tea shop, Hinata had been red the entire time the two of them were walking through the village. It was then that Hinata's sweet tooth kicked in when she noticed that the shop sold a vast array of backed goods and sweets.
"Hey Hinata, what you said back there, about me becoming Hokage, did you mean it?" asked Naruto.
At the same time, Hinata was busy stuffing herself with some dango and had to clear her throat quickly, nearly choking. "Yes I did. I think you'll become a great Hokage someday" she said without stuttering at all.
Naruto managed a slight smile after all the events of the day. "Thank you, Hinata" he said as the young Hyuga blushed again.
Early the next morning, Jiraiya took Naruto and Hinata out to a clearing just outside the town, with a river flowing and a waterfall nearby. "Hey Pervy Sage, so what's next?" asked Naruto.
"That" said Jiraiya, pointing to the waterfall. "You will cut that waterfall using your chakra."
"What?!" both of them said. "How?" asked Naruto.
"Just like you did with the leaf. Channel your chakra into the waterfall and cut it" instructed Jiraiya. Using an earth jutsu, Jiraiya made two ledges come out of the cliff on opposite sides of the waterfall. He then summoned one of his toads to take a nearby tree and place it on top of the ledges. "The two of you will be standing on top of that tree, trying to cut the waterfall. I want both of you using shadow clones. Once you get this step down, we can begin teaching you some actually wind jutsu."
"Really! That's awesome. We'll be making our own super awesome wind techniques is no time!" shouted Naruto.
Jiraiya laughed a little and Naruto was wondering what was so funny. "It's going to take a lot more than cutting a waterfall before the two of you have full mastery over wind chakra to develop your own super awesome techniques" stated Jiraiya, receiving some objections from Naruto. "Look, to create these techniques you're thinking of, it will take months, if not years, to refine your chakra. After this step, you will be able to manipulate your chakra to a point where you can begin to learn some basic wind jutsu, but you won't be at the point to create the jutus you are imagining, yet."
"What?! Then why are we even doing this?" shouted Naruto.
"Because, just like the Rasengan, these exercises are the first steps towards creating something great" explained Jiraiya. "With the Rasengan, if you can't spin your chakra, you can't do the Rasengan. Same thing with this. You need to learn how to transform your chakra into wind chakra before you can do wind jutsu. Once you past the first step, then you can learn basic wind jutsu, but to get to something as cool as the Rasengan, it will take time and a lot of practice."
"Well what are we waiting for?" said Naruto, becoming rejuvenated at what Jiraiya had told him. While he jumped up on the log, the water was already soaking his jacket and he was forced to remove it, revealing his bare torso to Hinata.
"N-n-naruto w-without h-his s-shirt on…" her mind went blank and her face became extremely red at the sight. What finished her off were the shadow clones. She had been getting better about keeping herself together around Naruto with the time they had to spend together on the trip, but this was something that she had not quite seen yet and it was this that caused her to faint for the first time since she had seen her clones faint during the training with Naruto.
Jiraiya stayed and supervised them for the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon. For the most part, he was busy writing (probably working on the next Icha Icha book). The waterfall was only big enough to fit about 7-8 people across and Naruto and Hinata both had to fit on the tree. This basically resulted in four Narutos and three Hinatas, as two clones were the most she could manage without passing out from chakra exhaustion. It began to get late in the day and there had been no progress on the waterfall. All both of them had managed to do was splash a bit of water in their faces every time they tried to focus a lot of their chakra into the waterfall. The training was quickly taking its toll on Hinata as she was forced to dispel her clones after an hour or so to conserve chakra. By early afternoon, Naruto was the only one on the waterfall as Hinata needed a break or else she would have collapsed from chakra exhaustion.
Believe it or not, even Naruto saw this as a time for a break, wanting to check out the ramen bar in town.
"Bleh!" was heard all over town as Naruto tasted the ramen in the shop. It was terrible, there was no way this could be ramen. It was cold, the noodles were stale, and it was everything ramen was not. This was going to be a long trip, a long ramen-less trip.
A/N: Because Naruto does not take the bet with Tsunade to master the Rasengan (seeing as he already knows it), it has been difficult to try and develop the relationship between the two of them. Hopefully I do it okay in this chapter and the next.