Here's the next chapter, enjoy.
Chapter 28: The Godaime Hokage
The group remained in Tanzaka for two more days following Naruto and Hinata's completion of the waterfall exercise to fully rest from their battle against Orochimaru. Much to Shizune's objections, Tsunade had been trying to either drag Naruto back to the casino, or get him to lend her some of his money, which did not work so well seeing as Jiraiya was the one who was holding onto Naruto's money.
Naruto had spent most of those days trying to coax Jiraiya into either teaching him the next exercise for wind manipulation, or teaching him a wind jutsu. Jiraiya gave into the later, not wanting to move onto the next exercise as he felt that Asuma, the only other one in the Leaf with a known wind element, would be better suited for that. Jiraiya didn't come fully prepared to teach them actual wind jutsu, not expecting them to progress this far in their training, however, he did bring along one scroll with a rather basic wind jutsu, Fuuton: Gale Palm.
After examining the scroll, the idea of this jutsu was to compress the wind chakra in between clasped hands and unleash it as a powerful gust. The technique was a basic C-rank jutsu, but Jiraiya convinced Naruto that it was a good place to start. Regardless of the rank, Naruto was excited to finally be learning his first elemental jutsu. Being only a C-rank jutsu, it only took them a day to get the basics of the jutsu down. The hardest part was compressing the chakra between their hands before they infused it with the wind element. Believe it or not, the compression part was not too difficult for Naruto, as he has already had experience compressing and containing chakra with his Rasengan. Hinata followed closely behind with getting the jutsu down. The results were rather impressive for a first time as the two genin unleashed their attack on an unsuspecting tree, managing to rip a few larger branches off of it. In combat, this technique was not necessarily meant to wound an opponent, but knock them back with a great force of wind. It also showed promise as a defensive technique, being able to blow away most thrown projectile weapons.
When the time came for them to return home and Tsunade to assume her role as Hokage, they left Tanzaku town. From there, it was a two day walk and thankfully for Jiraiya, there was a hot spring village at the half way point. This was where they decided to stop for the night.
Inside the bath, Jiraiya and Naruto were in the men's bathing area with Shizune, Tsunade, and Hinata over in the woman's bathing area. Surprisingly enough, Jiraiya wasn't even attempting to peep. The barrier was perfect for that, being a wall of stacked bamboo and it would be rather easy to wedge a pencil in to give him an opening. However, there were two things preventing him from doing so. The first was that threat from Hiashi a few weeks ago. He liked a healthy chakra flow to certain areas of his body, but what really stopped him, was the second. On the other side of the wall was Tsunade. Even though he was a pervert, he wasn't a stupid pervert. The last time he had been caught peeping on Tsunade was the first time in his life where he nearly died and he didn't want to be spending the next month in the ICU with Tsunade being the one in charge of him.
"Wow Pervy Sage, I'm impressed you aren't peeping" said Naruto. Jiraiya was leaning back against the edge of the bath, taking a sip form a bottle of sake that he had brought with him.
"Kid, there's more to life than women" said Jiraiya. "Speaking of which, are there any girls back home that you, well…you know."
"Huh?…" said Naruto, as dense as ever.
"Uhg, and I thought he was actually making progress these past few weeks" thought Jiraiya. "You know…are there any girls back at home that are special to you?"
"Huh? Girls that are special to me?" asked Naruto, still confused at where the old pervert was trying to get at.
"…" even the Fox was at a loss of words.
Jiraiya sighed. "By special, are there any girls that you like? You know, do you have someone who you would want to be your girlfriend?" said Jiraiya, finally getting to the point.
"Girlfirend? I don't want a girlfriend" responded Naruto, severely disappointing Jiraiya. "Although…there is one girl."
"Oh?" said Jiraiya, slipping a little bit into pervert mode. "And who might that be?"
"Gah! Not like that you pervert!" shouted Naruto.
"Jiraiya…" Tsunade was heard across the divider and Jiraiya froze in fear. Her voice was rather sweet sounding, which was usually followed by the 'you'd better run or you're going to die on spot' tone.
"It's not like that, Tsunade" pleaded Jiraiya. "Naruto and I are just having a little…talk."
"Hmph. You better not turn him into a pervert as well" warned Tsunade. Jiraiya turned his attention back to Naruto.
"Well…umm…her name is Sakura" said Naruto.
Jiraiya was slightly disappointed at this. "Ah, that little pink-haired girl on your team who is always fawning over Sasuke and using you as a punching bag?"
"But, she…well…" Naruto couldn't find a way to debate what Jiraiya was saying.
"I'm right aren't I?" asked Jiraiya, trying to push Naruto further. "Has she ever done anything truly nice for you?"
"Well…not really. There was this one time back in the Forest of Death when I told my team about Fuzzball, but after that, things went back to normal, with her still thinking about nothing but Sasuke-teme."
"So what you're saying is that she doesn't really care that much for you. At least not much more than a teammate" said Jiraiya. Again, Naruto tried to argue, but couldn't find the words. "Let me ask you something. Assume that she found out about the Kyuubi before that time, what do you think would happen?"
"Well…" Naruto was forced to think about this one. What did everyone else do? They hated him for it, and she would have most likely been the same. "Sakura, she probably would have hated me. Pretty much everyone in the village hated me for it, except the Old man, Teuchi, Ayame, Iruka-sensei, and…" Naruto's attention turned towards the divider as Hinata came to mind.
"Now that I think about it, Hinata knew and she never hated me. In fact, she tried to get closer to me, but I never saw it." Naruto was finally beginning to realize. "However, over the past few weeks, I feel like we've gotten to know each other better and know I'm beginning to regret not getting to know her back in the academy. And then there were these times when…well, I don't really know how to describe it. It was warm and I felt happy. Pervy sage, what exactly does that mean?"
"Looks like he's beginning to pick up on it a little" thought Jiraiya. "I'm sorry, but that's something you'll need to figure out on your own." Naruto was a little depressed Jiraiya wasn't going to answer. "I will say this though, Naruto. When it comes to girls and women, find one who will always be there and support you."
It was at that point in their conversation when someone else joined the two in the hot tub. A man, probably in his early 40's walked in and took a seat directly next to the divider. Jiraiya knew an amateur when he saw one as the man tried to wedge a hole in the divider. "Naruto…let's get out" he said, pointing at the perverted newcomer. Even Naruto knew what this man was doing and actually agreed with Jiraiya. However, an idea was popping into his head, an incredibly evil idea, but this man deserved it.
"Do it!" encouraged Kurama.
Jiraiya walked into the changing room and before Naruto entered, he turned around and took a big breath. "Hey! Quit peeping at naked women, you Pervert!" he shouted loud enough for the women hear. A few shrieks were heard, followed by something no man will ever hear twice in their life.
"Tsunade-sama!" shouted Shizune, trying to calm the raging big-breasted blonde.
"Jiraiya!..." growled Tsunade, with red eyes that could easily be mistaken for Naruto's eyes when he goes into Kyuubi mode. She smashed through the divider as the women in the bath did their best to cover up. Tsunade looked around; trying to find Jiraiya, but all she saw was that old man. It was obvious that this was the pervert. "So you like peeping on women, don't you…"
All over the hot springs the sound of cracking knuckles and breaking bones could be heard. Jiraiya cringed upon hearing this, remembering the time when Tsunade beat him to a pulp. "Naruto, that was evil, but sadly that man deserved it. Someone who shamelessly peeps on women for no reason deserves that" said Jiraiya.
"What are you talking about, you old pervert. You peep on women as well!" argued Naruto.
Jiraiya turned his head away and crossed his arms as he pouted a bit. "Well, I have a reason. Peeping gives me inspiration to write my books" replied Jiraiya.
"Sure" said Kurama sarcastically. Naruto laughed with the fox.
The five of them were about an hour or two outside Konoha. His stomach had been bothering him all day. Despite having eaten only an hour ago, his stomach was craving something else…ramen. He still had the taste of that disgusting ramen from Tanzaku town in his mouth and he knew that there was only one cure for it…Ichiraku ramen, the most delicious ramen in the world.
Like Naruto, something was bothering Hinata; however, it wasn't her stomach. For the past few weeks, she had been able to easily accept that she had wind element chakra instead of the traditional Hyuga earth element. This was mainly due to Naruto distracting her from those thoughts. However, as she got closer to home, the thoughts of telling her father this crept back into her mind and slowly she began to retreat back into her shell.
Unfortunately for Naruto, there were places they had to go first before he could get his ramen and he was sure he could smell it all over the village, torturing him. Their first stop was the Hokage tower where Tsunade had to have a small meeting with the advisors, Homaru and Koharu. They announced that the inauguration would be three days from now, after the local lords and clan heads were able to assemble.
The next stop once they were in Konoha was the hospital. This is why Naruto had brought her home, to heal Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei and to have a look at Lee's condition. Tsunade woke Kakashi, scolding him a bit for falling like that to Itachi. Sasuke was next.
Naruto walked into Sasuke's room with Tsunade, startling Sakura. Who knows how many times she had visited him. Sakura's first thought upon seeing Tsunade was who exactly this beautiful woman was. Tsunade placed her hand on Sasuke's forehead and channeled some chakra into him. Sakura was relieved when he began coming to only a few minutes later. "Sasuke…" she cried out, embracing him as he sat up for the first time in a few weeks. While Naruto was relieved that Sasuke was going to be alright and that Sakura was happy, still…he didn't even get a thank you from her. Perhaps Jiraiya was right about her.
Standing behind Tsunade while she finished up with Sasuke was Gai, begging her to look at his student, Lee. Tsunade took a quick look at Lee and unfortunately, it wasn't good. While his arms and legs would eventually heal, he had numerous fragments of bone lodged within his spinal column. Were he to operate as a shinobi, not only would the fragments slow him down, but they would eventually tear through his neural framework, paralyzing him if not worse. She explained that the surgery was incredibly risky; with only a 50% chance of success and that she was the only one skilled enough to perform it. If it failed he would die. Even with the surgery being a success, there was no guarantee that he would be able to perform at the level required to be a shinobi, given months of intensive therapy to even get him back on his feet. Lee was now left with an incredibly difficult decision: Go through with the surgery and risk dying, or give up his lifelong dreams.
This was the part that Hinata was not looking forward to. Even though Master Jiraiya was accompanying her, she almost feared the upcoming meeting with her father.
"Ah, Hinata, Jiraiya-sensei, I heard the two of you arrived just recently and that Tsunade-sama was accompanying you" said Hiashi, greeting the two of them at the gate of their compound. "I trust everything went smoothly? I hope the training went well as well?" Hiashi looked down at Hinata, who looked at the ground and away from her father's attention. This indicated that something was wrong.
"Actually, I was hoping we could discuss that in private" said Jiraiya. Now Hiashi was curious. Did something happen? Or did Hinata not do well in the training. Hiashi guided them into his study, with Hinata silently following, looking for some way to get out of this. Unfortunately, nothing was going to save her.
"So is something wrong? Did something happen? Or did Hinata not…progress as far as I had expected?" asked Hiashi. "Were those scrolls too much for her?"
"Actually, the funny thing is…those scrolls were completely useless" said Jiraiya, trying to lighten the mood in the room. "I hate to say it, but she didn't even have the opportunity to look at them."
Hiashi shot a look of disappointment at his daughter. "So I am to understand that her training in the earth element was a complete failure?" said a disappointed Hiashi. Hinata retreated into herself even more.
"Sadly, that is the case. She can't use the earth element" stated Jiraiya.
"Hinata, from what I have heard, I am extremely disappointed in you. I expected you to at least be able to use a basic earth jutsu upon return. Explain yourself" scolded Hiashi. Hianta was about ready to burst into tears.
"It…it's be-because my element…well it's umm…not earth" she said.
"Not earth?" asked Hiashi, raising an eyebrow at her. "Well, then what element do you have?"
"W-wind" she said as Hiashi's eyes grew in shock.
"Just like her mother" he thought, regaining himself. Hinata was preparing herself for the scolding of a life time for failing her father. "I see, then tell me, how did your training in the wind element go?"
"I would say the two of them progressed very far in the wind element. They got through the first two exercises in a matter of a three weeks, about a month faster than your old teammate" said Jiraiya.
"I see…" Hiashi said, thinking for a moment. "I must say that I'm impressed then, Hinata. The wind element is a difficult one to master. And sensei, you said the 'two of them', does that mean Naruto has…" Hinata's head picked up at her father's compliment.
"Yes, both of them have the wind element, which is rather surprising considering how rare it is" explained Jiraiya.
"F-father, you're…you're not disappointed with me?" asked a slightly confused Hinata.
Hiashi shook his head. "No I am not. This is something we can't control, and if I remember correctly sensei, you wanted me to have a wind element" said Hiashi, remembering what Jiraiya had said back in the day. "I have also seen the value in combining the wind element with the gentle fist. Unfortunately, the elders I am not so sure about..."
"Oh, about that" said Jiraiya, remembering that one little piece of information from the trip regarding the elders. Hiashi was now interested as to what Jiraiya was about to say. "Let's just say Hinata has known about Naruto's…well, err condition."
"You don't mean…" said Hiashi, as Jiraiya nodded his head. "How did she find out?"
"The funny thing about that is apparently one of the elders told her about it when she was 8" said Jiraiya. Ideas were flowing through Hiashi's head. One of the elders had broken the Sandaime's law. He had been looking for stuff like this to use against them.
"Hinata, who was it?" asked Hiashi, wanting to get names.
"It was Ihro" said Hinata. Ihro was the eldest and strictest of the three elders and now Hiashi had something on him that could one day be used against him, should he get out of line again.
"F-father, what's going to happen now?" asked a concerned Hinata. She wasn't only concerned for how he was going to deal with her, but also how he was going to handle the elders.
"Sensei, you said she got past the first two exercises for wind manipulation?"
Jiraiya nodded. "We finished that almost a week ago, but I felt that her and Naruto were better off learning the next exercise from Asuma. Also Hiashi, it appears as if she has some natural talent with the wind element."
"What do you mean?" asked Hiashi.
"You've seen her Protection of the Eight Trigrams, right?" asked Jiraiya. Hiashi nodded, seeing it during the final round. "That move is a wind style ability. She subconsciously mixed in the wind chakra while developing that, giving it its power."
"I see, so that's why it was so…different" said Hiashi, impressed by what Hinata had actually managed to create. He thought for a little and then turned to Hinata. "Hinata, I am afraid the Hyuga teachings will only work to a limited extent for you now."
"But what am I to do? I-if your instruction doesn't help, th-then how am I supposed to make you p-proud?" asked Hinata.
"I don't know. A few days ago, Neji mentioned to me that something was…off about your gentle fist" explained Hiashi. "I now see why. You are much more like your mother than I had initially thought."
"M-mom? W-what about her?" This was one of the few times she had ever heard Hiashi refer to her mother. When she died, shortly after giving birth to Hanabi, Hiashi was devastated and didn't talk about her much.
"Hinata, like you, your mother had wind chakra. I am happy to say this, you are constantly becoming more and more like your mother. Don't ever change that" Hiashi and Hinata smiled at each other, having a nice father-daughter moment there. "Hinata, from now on, you will be dividing your training between training in the gentle fist with me, training your wind element, and a final training exercise."
"Final training exercise?" she asked.
"Yes, the gentle fist won't do much use for you. With that, you need to begin to create a derivative style of the gentle fist that suits you. I know it will be difficult and I will be here to help you as much as possible, but it is now something that you will have to do if you are to have any hope against the elders in a few years" said Hiashi. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I have faith in you. Now, why don't you go meet with Neji, he's been wanting to see your progress. I have some business I need to discuss with my sensei."
Hinata bowed and left the study. As the door closed, Hiashi activated the privacy seals around the room. "How is the progress on the seal coming?" Hiashi asked Jiraiya.
*Flashback*
It was the day after their fight with Orochimaru and Jiraiya finally had a chance to take a look at the Caged Bird Seal provided to him by Hiashi. "Wh-what the hell is this?" he said upon his initial inspection of the seal.
After examining the scroll further, he was growing more and more disgusted with the seal. It was worse than he had imagined.
*End Flashback*
"It's going to be difficult finding a way to remove it" admitted Jiraiya. "The inner workings of the seal are much more complex than I had thought. It's so entwined with the brain that most removal methods that I know would shred the brain to pieces within the first stages of the process."
"Then it is as I feared. Do you think you will be able to find a way to remove it?" asked Hiashi.
"Possibly. But it will take time to figure out how to unravel the seal from the bearer's brain" said Jiraiya.
"Fine. You are the best hope there is of finding a way to remove it, and if there is anything that you require, I'll supply it to you" offered Hiashi.
"Okay, at some point in time, once I am able to understand this seal more, I may need to examine a branded Hyuga" said Jiraiya.
"So long as the examination will not kill them, I have someone in mind" said Hiashi. Jiraiya knew who this was…Neji.
The following day, Tsunade was sitting in her office, going over the chunin exam notes left by her predecessor and a few of the judges. Analyzing each of the Konoha contestants, it was clear that most of them had the skills required to be a chunin, but only two individuals stuck out as being ready to fulfill the duties associated with the rank of chunin…Shikamaru Nara and Haku Yuki. Unlike the rest of the rest of the field, both candidates showed an uncanny ability to adapt to the changing conditions of battle. Tsunade was extremely surprised that a Nara had even made it to the final round at such a young age. Normally, it wasn't until they were 15-16 before they were finally forced to put forth the effort.
Haku was another surprise to her. Before leaving the village, the Yuki clan and the Hyoton did not exist in the village, yet Haku was here. Upon further examination of the records, Tsunade saw something even more surprising…Zabuza Momoichi was a registered ninja of this village. The reason why he was a ninja of this village was even more surprising. She would have to meet personally with him, however her schedule was already filling up and the advisors and clan heads had been pushing her to decide the results of the chunin exam.
Based on the data collected from a single round of fights, Tsunade made her decision, calling in Shakamaru and Haku and awarding them their promotion to chunin rank. The reactions from the two were completely different. On one hand, Shikamaru was hoping that by forfeiting the first match, he wouldn't be considered for a promotion. He just wanted to be an ordinary ninja and here he was, reaching the rank of chunin by age 12. There was only one word to describe this…troublesome.
Later that day, Sasuke was discharged from the hospital after waking the previous day from the almost comatose state Itachi left him in after using the Tsukuyomi on him. Walking from the hospital to training ground 7, where Kakashi had called a team meeting, there were a few questions echoing in his head as he thought about his defeat at the hands of Itachi. Why was there still such a difference in their skill? Why was Itachi interested in Naruto? Where could he get more power so that the next time he saw Itachi, he would be able to kill that man?
Team 7 arrived at the training ground. Kakashi's intention was to discuss the new Hokage Tsunade which kept Haku and Sakura's interest for a little. Naruto was easily distracted as he had just spent practically the last two weeks with her. Sasuke was busy brooding.
"Kakashi-sensei, is that a chunin vest Haku has on?" asked Sakura, noticing Haku's slight change in attire.
"Yes, it appears as if Haku has made chunin" said Kakahi.
"Wait?! Who else got chunin?" asked Naruto, hoping that Tsunade chose to promote him as well.
"Just me and Shikamaru Nara" replied Haku.
"What? Shikamaru?" the rest of the team said in unison, surprised that Shikamaru had actually managed to get promoted and they didn't. Haku had to explain that he wasn't really sure on the promotion process, but said that Tsunade promoted them based on the notes left by the judges and the Third before invasion began. Naruto would have to have a word with Tsunade-baachan later on why he didn't get promoted. Naruto spent the next few minutes complaining that he should have gotten promoted as well. After all, he had been training extensively for the past few weeks.
"Exactly what kind of training, dobe?" asked Sasuke.
"Chakra nature manipulation, I think is what Pervy Sage called it" replied Naruto. This caught the attention of everyone on the team. Chakra nature manipulation was something that usually wasn't taught until one became a chunin, not to mention that was a type of training that Sasuke thought that only he had gone through, and now Naruto had done it as well.
"Chakra nature manipulation?" asked Sakura. She was smart, but this wasn't something that was taught in the academy in depth as they didn't want the students rushing into this particular type of training. Kakashi then had to explain in depth the five different elements, explaining how everyone had at least one elemental affinity that was strong and that some people had two, using Sasuke as an example as he had both a lightning and fire nature to his chakra. "Wait, so then what nature does Naruto's chakra have?"
"Wind" said Naruto, smiling a bit. This surprised Kakashi as he explained that wind was a rather rare affinity. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, speaking of which, how does wind match up against Sasuke-teme here?"
Sasuke scuffed at the comment. "Well, actually I'm glad that you mention it. You see, each element has a certain element that they are strong against and a certain element that they are weak against. You have a wind element, which would give you an advantage over Sasuke's lightning because wind acts as a natural insulator" explained Kakashi. Naruto cheered and even rubbed it in a brooding Sasuke's face. "Don't get too excited Naruto, I said Sasuke has two elements with the second of his, fire, actually being the element that wind is at a disadvantage against." Now it was Naruto's turn to pout. "Wind fans the flames, making them more powerful."
This caught Sasuke's attention. "What do you mean makes the flames more powerful? I thought the element that has the advantage cancels out the other" he asked.
"Yes, well that is normally the case, but the relationship between wind and fire is special. Think, if you fan a fire, it only becomes bigger" explained Kakashi. Team 7 got this analogy. "For this case, let's say Naruto were to use a wind jutsu to try and cancel out a fire jutsu of yours, most likely he would only make the flames more powerful and he would be hit with a stronger fire. The same goes for using fire in conjunction with wind. Now, if the two of you are facing an opponent, and you use a fire jutsu while Naruto uses a wind jutsu, he will make your attack stronger."
This interested Sasuke. Perhaps the dobe wasn't so useless after all.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what about Haku's ice-style? What category does that fit into?" asked Naruto.
"Ah, now there is an interesting point, care to explain Haku?" said Kakahi.
"Ice-style doesn't fit into any of the five categories, in fact it is a combination of two elements: wind and water" explained Haku.
"Combination of wind and water? Wait, does that mean that if I learn water I could use ice style?" asked Naruto.
"No. The ability to combine two different nature chakras into a new nature is extremely rare and it is considered a bloodlimit. The Shodaime's wood style was another example" explained Kakahi. "This is something that is passed down through a specific lineage, such as Sasuke's Sharingan or the Hyuga's Byakugan. Also, not even the Sharingan can copy jutsus produced from a bloodlimit, so I can't copy Haku's Hyoton."
"Alright, but then does that mean Haku can use wind as well? I know he can use water, but can he use wind?" asked Naruto.
"I can, but I've only trained my wind chakra to an extent where I can use ice natured chakra. I've really only focused mainly on my Hyoton, and to some extent the Suiton" explained Haku.
"That brings me to my next question Naruto. Normally the first exercise, cutting the leaf, would take months to complete, yet Jiraiya informed me that you can already use a wind jutsu. How did you complete the first two phases in a matter of weeks?" asked Kakashi.
Naruto smiled. "Shadow clones."
"I see. It looks like you've discovered the real purpose behind the shadow clone technique" said Kakashi.
"Real purpose?" asked Sasuke. What was this 'real purpose' and how did it give Naruto such good results? He had to know.
Kakashi explained that shadow clones transferred the memories and experience back to the original upon being dispelled. This resulted in the experiences from training being multiplied by the number of clones created. This was just what he needed. Fortunately, Naruto had the shadow clone jutsu, and he had the Sharingan. All he had to do was have his Sharingan active the next time Naruto used his shadow clones and he would be able to copy the jutsu.
Fortunately, Naruto was about to do just that. Sasuke hurried to activate his Sharingan as Naruto used his Shadow Clone Jutsu to use them to show the results of using them. Sasuke had it, the tool that would help him with his training. He made the same hand seal Naruto and mimicked the chakra flow that his Sharingan picked up with Naruto. Kakashi's uncovered eyebrow rose when he saw what Sasuke was trying to do. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke as five Sasuke clones popped into existence. Naruto began freaking out.
"What?! How the hell can you use the Shadow Clone Jutsu?" he shouted at Sasuke. On the other hand, Sakura was fawning over the fact that there were now six Sasukes in front of her.
"I was wondering when you would finally copy that jutsu from Naruto" said Kakashi.
"What? You mean he copied me?!" shouted Naruto.
"Why? You got a problem with that dobe?" asked all six Sasukes in unison. It was at this time where Naruto would get the last laugh as Sasuke began to feel the chakra drain from using the jutsu. The clones dispelled and Sasuke fell to his knees, panting with Sakura running to his side.
"Now you also see why it's a jonin-level technique. The amount of chakra it uses is very large. Although I'm impressed you were able to make 5 right off the bat like that" said Kakashi, smiling at Sasuke's foolishness.
"Kakashi-sensei, then how come Naruto can make so many?" asked Saukra helping Sasuke to find his feet.
"Because, if there is one place Naruto had the two of you beat, it's in the amount of chakra he has" said Kakashi.
"What? Really? How much does Naruto have?" she asked again.
Kakashi thought for a second. "At this point in time, about 50x more than I do and almost 100x more than Sasuke" explained Kakashi.
"W-what?!" the rest of Team 7 said, while Naruto just smiled. "How?"
Kakashi explained that it was the Fox that allowed Naruto's chakra to develop to the extent that it was at. This was an acceptable answer to them as they were well aware that the Kyuubi itself was a being of immense chakra.
While their meeting came to an end, there was one thing left that Sakura wanted to know. There was a reason it wasn't taught at the academy and this was pretty much it. "Kakashi-sensei, so what is my element?" she asked. Kakashi's head dropped. He had been hoping to get out of this.
Kakashi sighed and handed her a piece of chakra litmus paper. He explained to her how the paper works and used the remaining members of Team 7 as an example. Sakura did as she was instructed and channeled the chakra into her paper. The paper burst into flames, indicating she had the fire element.
The meeting came to an end and Team 7 was dismissed. As Naruto turned to walk away, he was stopped by Sasuke. There was one more thing Sasuke needed to know. "Naruto, why was Itachi after you?" he asked in a demanding tone, wanting to know why Itachi had no interest in him.
Sakura wasn't entirely sure what Sasuke was talking about. In fact, she didn't even know who this Itachi was.
"Sasuke, Itachi is your brother right? The one who you want to kill?" asked Naruto. It finally came to Sakura. Itachi was THAT man. The one he said he lived to kill when the team met for the very first time with Kakashi-sensei.
"Yeah, that's right" said Sasuke coldly. "Why was he interested in you?"
"I don't know why they want him, but they were actually after Kurama" said Naruto.
"The Kyuubi? Why would he want the Kyuubi?" asked Sasuke.
"I don't know exactly why they want it, but apparently he's part of an organization known as Akatsuki and they are after the Kyuubi" said Naruto. "At least that's what Pervy Sage told me."
This made sense to Sasuke. If there was one thing he knew was that if Itachi ever got his hands on the Kyuubi, then there would be no chance of him defeating Itachi. As such, he would have to get stronger to ensure that didn't happen. He had a few things on his to-do-list, including a summoning contract that had been on his mind ever since Naruto summoned Gamabunta to help them fight Gaara. He had an idea on where he was going to get one and fortunately, he had to make a trip there in a few days.
Unfortunately for the rest of the senseis of the Konoha 13, their teams were also on the same discussion of elemental chakra manipulation.
Hinata told her team about what she had been working on and Kiba immediately began asking Kurenai about chakra nature manipulation until finally he convinced her to help them find out what their elements were. After all was said and done, Kiba had a fire element and Shino had an earth element.
Neji had told Tenten about the training that he had been doing with Hiashi, learning earth chakra manipulation as was common with most Hyuga his age. As a result, Tenten's constant nagging forced Gai's hand and he decided to test her element as well. After explaining what each element was, Tenten was really hoping for the wind element as that would go hand-in-hand with her use of weapons. Now, two wind users within a few years was extremely rare for Konoha, but three would have just been unbelievable. Unfortunately for Tenten, she did not have a wind element; however, the lightning element she had was a good second choice as she would eventually be able to use it to increase the piercing power of her weapons.
As for Team 10, now that Shikamaru was a chunin, it was actually time for him to learn elemental manipulation. Unfortunately for Asuma, once Ino realized that Sakura had found out what her element was, it was only a matter of time before Ino came begging Asuma to help her determine hers. After some begging from Ino, he finally gave in. Shikamaru, who was supposed to be the only one to learn about this ended up with a fire nature to his chakra, which suited him rather well. Fire created light and light created shadows. This would work out perfectly for him. Chouji found out that he had earth natured chakra, which was common amongst the Akamichi clan. Ino discovered she had a water nature to her chakra. Upon realizing that she had the elemental advantage over Sakura, there was no way she would let Sakura hear the last of this one.
For the senseis of the Konoha 13, this was exactly what they were hoping to avoid. Sasuke, Haku, Neji, and Hinata should have known because of their clans and Shikamaru because he was a chunin, but everyone else should not have known until they were at least chunin. Unfortunately, now they were stuck with teams begging them to help them in their elemental chakra nature training.
It was the day of September 20. The day after the hype of elemental chakra manipulation, and the day that Tsunade was to be inaugurated as the Godaime Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Tsunade stood atop the Hokage tower with the entire village in the square below, cheering her on. She had on the ceremonial Hokage robes and the Hokage hat. Naruto stood down below with his team. That would definitely be him one day, up there being inaugurated as the Hokage and cheered on by the entire village.
"From this day forth, I swear to lead and protect Konohamagakaru with my very life as the Godaime Hokage!" announced Tsunade as the entire village let out a big cheer.
A/N: Hoping I did the meetings between Hiashi, Hinata, and Jiraiya and the one with Team 7 correctly. Also, even though everyone knows their elemental affinity, doesn't mean I'm going to be giving them elemental jutsu. Until they become chunin, most people won't be learning chakra naure manipulation (the only exceptions to this are Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Neji, and Haku). Shikamaru will begin his training (although I probably won't be covering his training except maybe in a short flashback), but then again he is actually ready for this being a chunin.
A/N: Regarding who I made chunin, Shikamaru obviously made chunin in cannon. I made Haku a chunin as well, given that he does in fact have the abilities of a good tactician (as stated by Zabuza in the cannon Land of Waves). Also, a few of the village elders may have helped push the decision in favour of him being a chunin, trying to secure the last known bearer of the Hyoton bloodlimit to the village. Haku will still remain with Team 7, but he will also be going off on his own missions as well now.
Special: Clans of Konoha, the Hyuga Clan
Alright, So I figured I would start detailing how I would handle some of the clans in Konoha within this fanfiction. I will start with the Hyuga clan, as they have seen the most exposure and I will be involving a few more individuals of the clan in later chapters.
As you know, the Hyuga's bloodlimit is the Byakugan. The Byakugan is one of the three great dojutsu. This dojutsu gives the wielder an increased sense of vision, allowing them to see for many kilometres in a single direction or providing them with a nearly 360 degree field of vision within approximately a 50m radius. The Byakugan also grants a form of x-ray vision, allowing the bearer to see through most solid objects. The third and greatest ability of the Byakugan is the ability to see the flow of chakra and an opponent's chakra network with remarkable clarity. This makes their fighting style, the gentle fist extremely effective.
The Hyuga clan is comprised of mainly taijutsu using shinobi, although some, especially the branch family members, tend to employ ninjutsu as well. The most common chakra nature amongst the Hyuga clan is earth; however, there are some individuals, such as Hinata, who don't have earth natured chakra. The earth element can even be seen in their Gentle Fist style of fighting, which is seen as strong, forceful, and strict. Like the earth blocks the flow of water in a river, the gentle fist blocks the flow of chakra within the body.
The Hyuga clan is divided up into two main classifications of families, the Main Branch and the Side Branch. For the purposes of this story, the Main Branch will consist of three families. The head family of the Main Branch is the family in which Hiashi, Hinata, and Hanabi fit into. It is from this family that the clan head comes from. The elders from each of the three families make up the clan counsel. The head family consists of Harabi (Hiashi's father, age 60), Hiashi (age 36), Hinata (age 11-12), and Hanabi (age 6). The second family of the Main Branch consists of Moriko (age 62), Doranji (age 30), and Shini (female, age 6). The final family in the Main Branch consists of Ihro (age 65), Kenjo (age 39), Shinji (age 13, male), and Kanumi (age 4, female). The oldest members in each family form the counsel.
In each family, when the eldest child (if there is more than one) reaches the age of 17, they are tried by the clan head and the council to determine if they are suited to one day assume the role that they were meant to play in the clan (either head or elder). Should they pass, the younger of the siblings is branded into a branch family. However, should it be deemed that the younger of the siblings is more fit for such a position, then the eldest will be branded and the younger child will be instated as the heir of that family.
The duties of the clan head and elders are divided as such. The Clan Head is in charge of most of the affairs, both internal and external. The elders serve as more of an advisory council; however, they are the body in charge of placing the Caged Bird Seal on the branch members. They also hold some minor powers/privileges in the clan, but can be overridden by the clan head in most cases.
Every other member of the Hyuga clan that is not a member of the Main Branch is a member of the Side Branch. Members include Neji, Ko, and many others. It is the duty of the Side Branch to protect and serve the Main Branch. As such, the Main Branch has branded the Branch Family with the 'Caged Bird Seal', which gives the Main Branch the power of absolute fear of death over the branch family. With a simple hand seal, a Main Family member can activate the seal, causing excruciating pain, neurological damage, and if active long enough, death to the targeted Branch Member. The Caged Bird Seal is nearly impossible to remove; with the only known way to get rid of it is death. Jiraiya is currently looking into a way to remove it, but the seal is so entwined in the Branch member's brain that tampering with the seal even the slightest bit will most likely kill said person.
Because of the virtual enslavement of the Side Branch, this has led to a growing rift between the two parts of the clan. The only members of the Main Branch that the branch families truly respect are Hinata, because she has always shown kindness and respect towards them, her sister Hanabi, and Hiashi to a lesser extent, due to his efforts to keep the stricter elders in line from exerting their powers as Main Branch members unjustly on the Branch members.
Despite this rift, the Hyuga clan is currently the strongest clan in Konohagakaru. Before the Uchihia Massacre, a major rivalry existed between the two clans for superiority in the village; however, that has changed and the Hyuga are unmistakably the strongest clan in Konoha (Sasuke is the only known member of the Uchiha clan still loyal to the village).
Comments and reviews appreciated. Also, if there is any confusion with how I'm going to handle the Hyuga clan in this story, let me know and I will try to clear it up, either in a PM or as a side note in another chapter.
