Chapter 28: Solving the Hiraishin
*Note: Some of you may have missed that I uploaded 2 chapters on Sunday as a special treat for Halloween. In case you missed it, I'd recommend going back to read Chapter 27.
"If you wouldn't mind sensei, I was hoping we could pick up the pace towards the village."
"Oh? What's the rush Hiashi?"
"I wish to return to the clan compound as quickly as possible. My Kaiten still needs some work, and I want to ask Hizashi to spar with me, before he heads out with his own team."
"Oh please," the girl in the middle scoffed, "You just want to get back so you can spy on Hitomi practicing in the gardens again."
The normally reserved boy lost all composure as his face turned beet red, and he began nervously tapping his fingers together.
"I-I-I d-don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.
Mikoto smirked and poked him in the forehead.
"You can't fool me pretty boy. You got the hots for that bluenette, and you know it."
"T-That's not true!" he adamantly denied as he shook his head; however, his burning blush seemed to counter his claims.
Mikoto closed her eyes and held her wrist to her forehead in a mocking gesture.
"Hitomi-chan really is elegant when she trains, isn't she Hiashi? It's almost like she's dancing as she weaves across the water. The way she bends her body, all while she's drenching wet. Her clothes just sticking to her figure..."
"Stop! Stop!" the boy flustered as images raced through his mind, and he clamped his hands over his ears.
Mikoto erupted in laughter at the Hyuuga heir. It was just too easy. All she had to do was mention her name, and the pale boy would become paralyzed with embarrassment.
"Kidding aside, you really need to just talk to her, Hiashi. Who knows? If you take too long, someone else may come along and snatch her up."
"I…I can't," he murmured as he twiddled his thumbs.
Mikoto sadly smiled at his shy behavior, before grinning wildly and wrapping her arm across his shoulder. "That's okay, Hiashi-kun. I'll just do it for you!"
"What! NOOOO! Don't please!"
Their sensei and blonde teammate snickered as they watched the boy's frantic response.
"M-Minato! S-stop laughing! Don't you dare tell her either!" Hiashi barked as he noticed his other teammate.
"I'm sorry Hiashi. I just can't help it. But Mikoto-chan is right. You should just go up and talk to her. You never know what may happen."
"You're just agreeing with her 'cause she's best friends with Kushina!" he rebuked as he pointed an accusing finger at him
Minato calmly shook his head. "Not true. I don't need to score brownie points with Mikoto-chan. Besides, I'll call her out if I don't agree with something she says or if she does something stupid."
Mikoto sent him a short glare for his last comment, before flashing Hiashi a smug smirk.
Minato's lip twitched. He just couldn't help himself. "Like how she stalked Kushina's teammate, Fugaku, for three hours last Thursday."
Mikoto stopped dead in her tracks and locked up. The lightest blush crept to her face, and Hiashi grinned with glee.
"Oh ho! I never thought I'd see the day. Little Mikoto-chan finally interested in boys, I was beginning to worry you'd never grow out of your tomboyish stage! Now, why haven't we heard about this strapping, young lad before?" Jiraiya teased as he and the boys came to a stop.
Minato didn't flinch as Mikoto shot him an icy glare. He stood his ground and stared right back into her flaring sharingan. Her red eyes were almost enchanting as the two tombs raced around her pupil
"Who told you that? Even Kushina doesn't know."
"Really? I'm surprised. You two share everything." He smiled as he leaned in towards her face, "Well, I better go tell her then." With that, he shot off down the dirt road.
"MINATO! DON'T YOU DARE!" she roared as she raced after him.
Jiraiya chuckled and Hiashi roared with laughter at the sight of the Uchiha heir trying as hard as she could to keep up with her teammate's prodigal speed.
"Sensei, remind me to thank Minato. That was brilliant! I finally have something to hold over her head!"
"No problem," Jiraiya smirked, "but I'm also very curious about this Hitomi-chan. She sounds rather cute. You haven't sneaked a peak with your byakugan, have you?"
Hiashi's blush returned full force, and he shouted, "H-Hey guys! W-Wait for me!"
Jiraiya chuckled as the cloud of dust raced away from him, and continued at his leisurely pace back towards the village. It was the small moments like this that made being a sensei again really worth it.
The playful squabbling. The joy of innocence. It was certainly relaxing.
He smiled and closed his eyes as he took in the warmth of the summer sun. These were the moments he loved the most.
"All finished!" a voice called out.
Jiraiya dispelled his daydream and shot one eye at the blonde boy sitting a few feet away from him. He glanced up at the sun and was slightly surprised. It had barely been half an hour.
Jiraiya let out a yawn as he stood up and stretched. After cracking his neck, he walked over to inspect the boy's hard work.
Naruto rubbed at the callus forming on his finger from gripping the brush too hard, as he anxiously waited for the man's response. This was his big chance to impress an actual seal master, and he really wanted to make it count.
Jiraiya was silent as he gazed over the design. He had to admit, the kid had talent. While he never fully understood the workings of the Hiraishin's design, he knew what should and shouldn't be present. The boy had used almost every square inch of parchment available on the scroll. It seemed more like the scrawling of a mad man, than an intricate cipher, but that was just the nature of the art.
Naruto shifted his feet as he waited for the man's response. Would he be impressed?
Finally, Jiraiya nodded and stared back at him. His heart rate picked up as Jiraiya smiled and said, "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Naruto perked up at the compliment and returned the smile.
"Now, let's see what you can do with it. Infuse the seal with chakra and minimize the design," Jiraiya ordered.
He simply nodded and retook his place back in front of the scroll. He ran through eight hand signs, before hovering his right palm above the wet ink.
"Recede," he whispered.
The ink flashed once before the letters raced across the page, weaving in and out of other lines of code; until, they settled into the familiar shape of the Nidaime's hiraishin seal. The bulk of the code rested within the circle of the design, and the rest, which regarded transmitting the signal to the user's mind, lay within the lines that arched out from the circle like spider legs.
"Nice job. Everything seems to match up with the Nidaime's notes, so I think you're good to go, give it a shot whenever you're ready."
Naruto nodded and picked up the scroll. He set out to the center of the field and placed it on the ground, before jogging back to Jiraiya's side.
He closed his eyes as he let his chakra spread out into the surrounding area. His perspective of the world shifted, as everything turned grayscale. He noted the familiar yellow glow emanating from the two kunai sitting in his pouch; however, he was surprised as he reached out to the Nidaime's design and was overcome by a completely different sensation.
Unlike the bright feeling of the others, this one felt darker and released a blue glow. It wasn't hostile, just foreign. It reminded him of a river cascading down the mountainside. Naruto hesitantly let his chakra reach out and take hold of the seal, and immediately something felt wrong.
Something just wasn't clicking into place as it did with the other seals. He could feel his chakra lingering in the activation code, but something seemed to be fighting him. He had a little experience of this when he used the Yondaime's seal, but never to this extent.
However, he could still tell he could force the jutsu if he tried. Something in his gut was telling him not to do it, but it would be a waste to come this far and not at least make an attempt. He squashed down the feeling, and forced his chakra through anyway, activating the seal.
Jiraiya noted that, this time, there was no flash as he disappeared. His expression of curiosity morphed into horror, as Naruto reappeared over the new seal followed by a spray of blood.
He kneeled over and coughed up more blood than he had ever before in his life. Shortly afterwards, his knees gave out and he face planted into the ground.
"Naruto!"
Jiraiya was by his side in an instant, and carefully flipped him onto his back. This was even worse than when Minato had tried it. Minato had dealt with internal bleeding, but Naruto had a gaping hole through his stomach and chest. Jiraiya paled as he could literally stare through the boy and see the blood stained grass on the other side.
"Shit" he muttered as he ran through hand signs.
You didn't serve on the same team as the world's leading expert in medical ninjutsu without picking up a thing or two. He was obviously nowhere near her level, but he would have to do for now. He couldn't move the boy to a hospital out of fear of dislodging what few organs remained in his body. Plus the boy would bleed out before he got there. So no matter what he decided to do, his first priorities were to stop the bleeding as best he could and keep the boy's heart pumping.
His hands were bathed in green chakra and he reached into the boy's chest. He was about to grab hold of his heart, when a ominous feeling washed over him. The tip of a dark marking, on what was left of his stomach, started glowing, before bubbling, orange chakra spread across his body. Jiraiya flinched and drew back his arm, as he was burned by the toxic chakra.
Jiraiya watched in fascination as organs regenerated right in front of his eyes. The bottom of his lungs grew back first, followed shortly by his digestive system. He could literally see the tissue and veins reconnecting throughout the body, as muscles grew back over the organs. A creaking sound came from his ribs, as they painfully rematerialized over his lungs. Naruto thrashed for several minutes, before the skin was finally sewn back together.
As he settled down, the familiar mark of the Kyuubi's seal glowed once more, before the orange chakra dissipated into the air.
Naruto's eyes shot open. He took in a violent gasp of air, before he began coughing up blood all over his face. Jiraiya flipped the boy over to prevent him from choking and rubbed his back. The blonde hacked up a storm as his body tried to dispel whatever blood and tissue was lingering within his system.
After several minutes, he finally stopped coughing, but continued to shiver as his hands tore into the dirt.
Jiraiya reached into his bag and pulled out a blood pill, and held it in front of his mouth.
"Chew it and swallow. You just lost a ridiculous amount of blood, and unless you want to go into shock, I'd recommend eating this."
Naruto weakly nodded and took the pill from his hand. He softly chewed the bitter pill, before swallowing it with a shudder. He panted as he finally tried to gather the energy to form words.
"That…really…sucked…"
Jiraiya let the boy take his time, as he helped him to his feet. He steadied him as he tried not to slip in the puddle of blood that had accumulated around him.
Jiraya half carried him over to the trees and eased him down, before leaning his back against the trunk.
"That…was so much worse… than any other time I've tried it," he panted as he weakly looked up at Jiraiya.
The man was silent as his mind raced over what he had seen.
No doubt about it. That had been the Kyuubi's chakra. Jiraiya had been out of the village during the Kyuubi attack and had never experienced it firsthand. After he had finally felt its presence in person, he could easily understand why some of the weaker minded villagers would be terrified by the boy's presence.
"Well? Are you just going to keep standing there… or tell me what the hell I did wrong?" the boy asked with a smirk.
Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle. The kid just didn't know when to stay down. He knelt to one knee and pointed at his stomach.
"Kid, I don't think you fully comprehend how luck you are that you're a jinchuuriki. If it weren't for the fox's chakra, I'm not sure I would have been able to keep you alive if I tried to cart you off to a hospital."
"About dam time he was useful for something," he croaked.
"I wouldn't quite say that. In fact, if I'm right, he's been helping you for a long time now."
Naruto shot him a look with one eye. "The hell do you mean?"
"You've been using the Hiraishin for how long now? 4 years? And with every attempt, you've been blowing chunks afterwards correct?"
Naruto nodded as he rubbed his stomach. "Yeah. What's your point?"
"The fox has been saving your ass from death for years now. If I'm correct, and I'm almost certain I am, I know what the problem is, and how you're going to fix it."
"Stop building up the drama already! Tell me! Tell me!" he cried out, before he curled over and entered another coughing fit.
"Easy," Jiraiya said as he placed his hand on his shoulder, "Your body is still reeling from that whole fiasco. You literally just regenerated over a third of your internal organs. They are going to be softer than before, and need time to develop until they are back to normal. You need some time to recover, and let your lungs work out any lingering blood."
"I'll recover later. This is way more important."
Jiraiya chuckled as he sat down next to him. "You've got fire kid, I'll give you that. Alright, you want the explanation? Well, here it goes. Simply put, the seal backfired on you."
Naruto was silent as guilt crept into his voice. "B-But I copied it straight from the scroll! Did I make some mistake?"
"No, no. You copied it perfectly. However, the problem isn't with the design of the scroll, it's with you."
The words felt like a slap to the face. After all this time and efforts, he was still doing something wrong. He had always presumed as much, but hearing it from someone else made it feel worse.
"W-what do you mean?"
"Let's start from the beginning. Remember when I told you how something similar happened to the Yondaime after he first attempted the jutsu?"
"Yeah."
"Well afterwards, he went back and poured over the formula for months. The next time he showed it to me, I was surprised he had changed it into a different shape. For years, I've always figured he had made some mistake in copying the original formula and later modified it to suit his needs, but now I see he completely rewrote it all together. Hand me one of your kunai."
Naruto shifted his position against the tree, and grunted as he reached into his pouch. He pulled out one of the tri-pronged kunai and handed it to Jiraiya.
"Let's talk about how the jutsu works. When compared to the replacement jutsu, the Hiraishin is considered superior since it requires nothing in exchange and happens instantaneously. From what I can gather, it works by linking directly to the user's chakra, and transporting everything in contact with it to the designated marker. For it to keep hold of the person, it needs to anchor down on a certain point of the user's body."
He paused as he pointed at Naruto's stomach. "For most people, their largest center of chakra happens to reside in their stomach and naval regions. This goes especially for you, considering what you have sealed there."
"I thought chakra was created in the heart?"
"That's right, but that doesn't mean it's stored there. That would create a nasty build up of pressure that would eventually cause the heart to pop. Instead, the body stores chakra similarly to how it stores fat. It is spread in cavities all over the body, and the largest of these is located around the stomach."
Jiraiya paused as he pointed at the seal on the kunai. "The jutsu works by linking the user and the seal through the largest concentration of chakra."
As tired as Naruto was, he fought to stay alert. He had waited four years for this explanation, and he was not going to miss it due to a little exhaustion.
"Okay, but what does that have to do with the hole?"
"Getting there. Now, when the jutsu is activated, a tether is created between the largest concentration of chakra in the body and the seal. This anchor serves as the starting point of the jutsu, and connects to the body's chakra system before it activates. My guess is that when you force the jutsu to activate, there is an error causing the anchor to momentarily disconnect, which causes the area of your body that was connect to disappear into whatever void you cross when you use the technique. So, in summary, every time you have used the technique, a hole has been torn inside you. Thankfully, your Uzumaki lineage and the Kyuubi rapidly work to heal any damage left behind."
Jiraiya paused as he inspected the kunai in his hand. "Now, the reason this keeps happening is because the seal just wasn't designed with someone like you in mind."
Naruto felt his heart break as his mind instantly made a connection. Of course it was because of the Kyuubi. It just had to go out of its way to torment his life. It was just his luck that he wouldn't be able to achieve his goal, just because of the stupid fox's presence.
"So it really is the fox's fault…" he murmured.
"I didn't say that. It actually has nothing to do with the fox."
Naruto snapped his head up. "I thought you just said it wasn't designed with a jinchuuriki in mind."
"Those weren't my words. I said it wasn't designed with 'you' in mind. Simply put, I believe each hiraishin symbol is coded to work with only their creator's chakra specifically."
Realization flooded through Naruto as everything started to fall into place.
"So your saying it's just not built to work for anyone else."
"That's right. The reason why you and the Yondaime reacted so horribly to using the original design was because the Nidaime had coded it to his specific chakra signature. We both know how specific seals have to be to work perfectly. If anything is different other than as intended, it can lead to some nasty side affects. The Yondaime must have figured this out, and created his own version of the technique that would work with his own chakra network."
As Naruto tossed this information around, a new thought struck Jiraiya, causing him to chuckle before bursting out laughing.
'Oh, Minato! You massive dork!'
Naruto only deadpanned at the man's sudden burst of hysterics.
"What's so funny?"
Jiraiya's smile stretched across his face, as he leaned in and said, "I hate to shatter the illusion for you kid, but the truth is: the Yondaime was a giant nerd."
"Nooo…" Naruto gasped.
"Oh, big-time. He was even more of a bookworm than you are, and he spread his interests far outside of just fuinjutsu. He got worse as he grew older. It was rare that you would ever find him without his face buried in a book. He was also a massive lover of fantasy. Speaking of which, he also had a flash for the theatrics, no pun intended. I just realized that the Nidaime's version of the jutsu didn't include the yellow flash of light, which means Minato must have added it in when he created the jutsu to try and look cooler."
Jiraiya laughed again as Naruto covered his ears. "Stop it. You're ruining my childhood."
"You think that's bad? You should have heard some of the names he came up with for techniques. I think my personal favorite was the Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three."
"Y-You're making that up!"
"Wanna bet? That was just one of the shorter ones. I have pages of these things written down somewhere."
Naruto was mortified as shining image of his hero in his mind was now replaced with a blonde man with giant glasses waiving at him behind a book.
'NOOO! Dam you Jiraiya-sensei! Why did you have to ruin that for me?"
After settling down, he returned his thoughts to the sudden burst of information. Finally, he knew what the problem was. He wasn't performing the jutsu incorrectly. It was that the seal just wasn't designed for his chakra.
"Wait. If they both aren't made to work with my chakra signature, how come the Nidaime's caused a more violent reaction than the Yondaime's?"
"Who knows? It could be anything from the Yondaime's version just being more compatible by nature or that you have a similar chakra signature to him."
Naruto seemed to accept this answer, and Jiraiya let out an inner sigh of relief. Honestly, it was very close to the second option. Even though they were father and son, their chakra signatures were not quite the same. They were certainly close, but apparently not enough to satisfy the seal's layout. If it weren't for their familial connection, the seal would have reacted just as badly as the Nidaime's had. While the malfunction was much less severe with Minato's design, Naruto would never be able to utilize the technique to its true potential while using his father's seal.
As if reading his mind, Naruto muttered, "So basically, I have to create my own version of the Hiraishin if I want to use it as effectively as he did."
"Bingo."
Naruto let out a smile and started to get back up.
"Woah, woah. What do you think you're doing?"
"What do you think? Let's get started now!" he exclaimed, right as he lost his balance and leaned against the trunk.
"Kid, that is not just something you finish overnight. Hell, you'd be lucky to get it done within 5 months at the minimum. This isn't just as simple as restructuring a seal to fit your needs. You'd be building it from the ground up, and that involves planning out a new shape and structures, which kanji to keep and change, and even which stroke size to get it correct."
Naruto shot him a weak smile as he pushed off the tree and wobbled on his feet.
"Then let's stop wasting time."
Jiraiya snorted as he reached his fingers out and tapped the boy in the forehead. His eyes drooped and sleep finally enveloped him as fell backwards. Jiraiya gently caught him and slung him over his shoulders. He was a little upset about the blood and vomit seeping into his shirt, but he bore through it.
"I think that is enough action for one day," he chuckled as he hoisted himself up. It had certainly been productive. Sure the boy had nearly died (certainly wasn't going to mention that to sensei), but he would bounce back better from the experience. For years now, he could never solve what the problem was. Now that he was aware, Jiraiya was sure he would pour his heart and soul into the project until it was complete.
He then began the hike back towards the village. The sun was setting by the time he reached the Hokage monument. As he stood on top of the stone heads, he took a minute to admire the village bathed in the orange light of the setting sun.
He felt the younger boy snuggle into his back and shot him a smile.
He certainly wouldn't be thanking him if he knew where he was taking him. If he was anything like his mother, he despised hospitals.
With a soft chuckle, he began the long trek down the stone staircase to the village. He would need his rest, for they were far from done. Jiraiya had rented him out for only a few more days, before he had to hand him back to Kakashi.
It would be a couple more weeks after that before he could spend time with his godson again. As fun as this time was, he had his own missions to do. Sensei had all but ordered him to return early, and he would eventually need him to crack down and get to work.
Author's Notes:
AT LAST! The moment we've all been waiting for! The image manager finally decided to work, and I was able to upload the cover for the series! Hope you guys enjoy it.
… Oh yeah, you guys also found out the answer to the most commonly asked question of the series. Nothing major.
Well, we are finally here: Why does the Hiraishin keep fucking him up? Probably has something to do with the hole it literally rips in his stomach. For this story, each version of the Hiraishin is keyed to a designated user's chakra in their design. Seals are temperamental, and if anything doesn't quite line up the exact way it should, you can see the possible results. The reason Naruto has less of a reaction while using Minato's design is because they're family. Their chakra is similar, but not enough to click perfectly. Think of it like trying to use different keys for the same keyhole. A similarly shaped key can slide through the keyhole with a little force, but only one can make it turn perfectly.
The reason he is able to keep using it is because his Uzumaki blood and Kyuubi's healing factor kept repairing any damage it inflicted.
BTW, Naruto is calling him Jiraiya-sensei since he hasn't really discovered his perverted side yet.
Make sure to leave a comment, and tell me what you thought of the reveal. Was it satisfying? Was it a let down? Share your thoughts.
Review Corner:
(To crono3553)
I KNOW RIGHT! It doesn't make any god dam sense. Orochimaru abducted, tortured, and experimented on hundreds of people within his underground labs, yet he just got to walk away with no punishment! I can't talk about how he reaches his ultimate fate, but I think that you can tell by that tiny rant that how he'll end up.
(To kamui5)
Someday they will find out, but not today. Naruto isn't quite ready for that talk yet.
(To MothfoxUK)
As I've stated before, they will not be using gravity seals for training. I find that trope way too common in fan fictions, and I believe it forces the writer into a corner. Fights become repetitive because they all turn into: "Man! He's too fast for me! Better undo my seals!" then proceed to out speed the opponent. It was awesome with Lee's original reveal, but the shock value wears off very quickly.
(To cbusch800)
Let me know if your guess to the problem with the Hiraishin was correct. I always enjoy hearing what people theorized about certain plotlines, and finding out if their guesses were correct.
I double-checked, and the hints are certainly there. Good luck with hunting, and make sure to send me a PM or review if you ever think you figure it out. That goes for everyone else too. I've realized that it will be a looong time before the title is actually name dropped, so I'm happy to help point you in the right direction.
