A/N: Whose turn is it next? Well…don't you think there's a battle waiting to be played? A battle with great stakes that will affect the near future…and different people are involved, right? Let's shake things up a bit by offering something different than canon and semi-canon. Starting at the Tsunade search arc doesn't mean we have to follow canon…fuck canon! Let's wipe the floor with it and use the clean floor to change the furniture and renew the room! Fresh paint, everything to shake your everyday life in that room!
I went a bit too far with that metaphor…okay, just enjoy the chapter.
X
Chapter 3
Tsunade was shamelessly spying on the victim of her bet. She never thought he'd be able to win that bet, but as usual she couldn't simply win a bet, she always had bad luck when there were stakes. As if making a bet on her future wasn't bad enough, she had to choose the only person who could abuse the Shadow Clone technique to train faster than anyone else.
From the cover of a thicket, the Slug Sannin was watching twenty Naruto refining their rasengan. The boy had three days left and was already able to use the technique without external help. She could see that he was currently trying to throw the rasengan like a projectile, but had little success in his attempts. If he managed to make a throwable one, he would have a ranged technique in his arsenal, one that could grind through someone's body.
Knowing that the rasengan was the ultimate chakra manipulation technique, she realized that Naruto had just reached an incredible level of chakra control. Being able to control the shape of chakra outside of his body, to make it swirl like that without letting it explode and not letting it dissipate while hitting a solid target was indeed impressive for a genin. Now he needed to learn how to expand his chakra further outside of his body. Thankfully, Tsunade was the perfect teacher for that.
X
"Hey, brat!"
"Huh? What are you doing here, granny Tsunade?"
"Stop calling me an old lady! I came to help you in your training, but if I only get insulted for it then I'll keep it to myself."
"Don't sulk, granny! You look like a child!" Naruto said while sticking his tongue out. "What kind of training is it?"
"You're trying to send your chakra further from your body. It requires precision and even greater manipulation. Lucky you! I'm a pro at medical ninjutsu and it has the same requirements! So if I train you in medical techniques, you'll become able to take your rasengan to the next step! But if you call me granny again, you can take your training up your ass, brat."
"Okay, okay! I'll stop calling you granny, gra…Tsunade…how can I call you? It's too weird…"
"Call big sister!"
"But you're older than my mother…"
"Do you want your training?"
"Please big sister, train me!"
"See? When you want you can be a good boy," she said, patting his head like a dog's.
X
During the next three days, Tsunade taught Naruto how to change the properties of his chakra to heal and how to spread it into another body. She was impressed by how fast the Shadow Clone technique allowed Naruto to understand things and progress. She soon understood that her student had a kinesthetic memory, so she ensured to teach him by using examples, by showing him, making him experience what she was trying to teach him.
She noticed that when she started to use methods that he could understand easily, Naruto was in fact a genius. He could eat knowledge and make extremely fast progress, which was brought to a whole other level thanks to having twenty Shadow Clones to think about it and share their experiences and points of view. The fact that they all shared the same memory type allowed them to exchange on their experiences and find their own answers to every problem rather than relying on someone's explanations from a totally different kind of memory type – tell him a concept and he would lose interest instantly, describe him a picture and he would not represent it in his mind, but explain him feelings, sensations, use examples and metaphors and he would quickly understand, just like he understood the rotation of the rasengan by watching a cat play with a ball.
At the end of the third day, he had learnt a C-rank medical technique, nothing amazing, but he had been able to apply it to a living body with limited medical knowledge. At that moment, he decided to try throwing the rasengan again and was able to throw it an arm's length from the starting point, which was an arm's length further than he had been able to before Tsunade's lessons. Indeed, learning medical ninjutsu was helping him with chakra control, precision and emission outside of his own body. Maintaining chakra outside of the body is a very difficult task maintaining its' shape, especially while using some highly difficult manipulation like the rasengan, rotation, power and control at the same time, is extremely hard. The fact that he was able to progress this much by applying what he had learnt in a different discipline instinctively was definitely impressive.
That night, Tsunade was going to have a talk with Jiraya…
X
"Princess," saluted the toad hermit respectfully.
"Jiraya," she returned his salute.
"What do I owe your invitation? Have you finally fallen in love with my awesomeness?"
"No, stupid. Seal the area, I don't want anyone to overhear us. As you know, I've been teaching Naruto for the last three days."
"Yeah, the kid told me. Medical ninjutsu, huh? How does he fare?"
"Jiraya, you're an idiot."
"Huh? Why?"
"You're so used to teaching geniuses who get every concept immediately that you've completely failed to understand how to teach this kid. He's got a kinesthetic memory."
"What's that?"
"You have an auditory memory like Minato, that's why you guys understand things when you hear a quick explanation and a concept. Other people have a visual memory, they understand and memorize what they see and use visual elements to memorize things. Naruto, on the other hand, has a kinesthetic memory. He learns by touching, playing, feeling, sensing, smelling, reproducing. His brain needs concrete elements to understand and memorize things. To sum it up, you've been teaching him the wrong way from the beginning."
"Oh, that's why I thought he was dumb…"
Tsunade hammered her fist on the table, barely able to avoid breaking it.
"You're the dumb one, idiot! Listen, you can't tell Naruto here's how this works and expect him to understand. You need to find a metaphor, an example! How did he understand the first step of the rasengan already?"
"By…looking at a cat play with the ball…"
"Precisely! You showed him something vague and told him something complicated and expected him to understand immediately. He didn't because his brain doesn't work that way, but then he found a metaphor in his surroundings and immediately found an alternative solution and got past that step!"
"So…if I keep him as my apprentice, I'll have to come up with examples he can grasp easily…"
"Finally, you get it…I was gonna punch you if you didn't understand that. Make him experience things, use his five senses, find something to compare with and suddenly he eats whatever you throw at him as if it were ramen!"
"I see…so, what did he accomplish in those three days?"
"He learned how to use a C-rank medical technique without any prior knowledge or understanding of the medical field. And he instinctively applied his improved chakra control to the rasengan. He managed to maintain as far as an arm's length, Jiraya, from the shoulder to the wrist. Something neither you nor Kakashi or Minato ever managed. He's not dumb at all, he's not bad in the ninja arts, he just needs a different approach from your typical student."
"He can throw the rasengan? Already? Are you serious?"
"I saw him before I dropped him in front of your hotel."
"Well, shit…"
"So, can you tell me a bit more about him?"
"Naruto…he met a minor goddess the day after we found you…"
"…And? What happened?"
"The goddess he met is one who can travel through the Lower Realms without a contract. And she can interact with wandering souls…"
"C'mon! Stop with the suspense! Spit it already!"
"Kushina…she's been trapped in the Animal Realm for thirteen years, Tsunade. Minato sealed half of the Kyuubi inside her and sent her to Mount Myoboku via reverse summoning, but since she didn't sign the toad contract, her body stayed here and her soul got lost in the Animal Realm…"
"…Shit… How do you know it's the truth?"
"She told Naruto things he couldn't know. He knows about his parents, both of them. And he wants to learn Edo Tensei to bring back Kushina…he told me that he had the divinity's and his mother's agreement already so it's not as if he forcefully brought her back from the dead, but it's still a resurrection technique and it can cause problems…"
"Jiraya. You're telling me Kushina isn't dead, right? Her body is, but she's not made it to the afterlife. She's trapped, she's a lost soul. And you refuse to bring her soul back into our world, among the living, because you have morals? Because it's unethical? She's not even really dead and she contains half of the Nine-Tailed Beast, for fuck's sake, you idiot. She's just missing a physical body."
"…"
"Listen. If you don't pull that stick from your ass right now, I'll steal your apprentice and godson and he'll be under my responsibility. Wait, I don't even want you to do anything. You've done enough damage by being absent from his life for so long, never telling him anything about his family and leaving him alone. From what I've seen, he learned nothing from the academy, I wonder how he even managed to graduate. He must have been left to his own devices for his whole childhood.
"Wipe that tear, you don't deserve to cry. Deal with it, you've been a little shit to him and so has the Third. How is he integrated in Konoha?"
"Until the chuunin exams, barely, only his academy teacher, the people of the ramen restaurant he likes, then Kakashi and Sasuke. During the exams, his other teammate learnt to respect him and progressively he gained the respect of the Konoha genin. Kakashi told me he beat the Jinchuuriki of the One Tailed Beast from Suna and shook his beliefs in violence and murder."
"So, does he have any friend?"
"Sasuke is his rival, but I wouldn't call them friends. The academy teacher is like a big brother to him, the owner of the ramen restaurant is like a family friend he can trust and the man's daughter is like a cousin to him. Apart from them, I don't think he's built any attachment. He probably doesn't like Konoha. He wants to become Hokage because he wants to be respected like our old teacher was, not because he likes the village. Most people in Konoha still view him as a nuisance."
"Then fuck Konoha. The people from the restaurant can move somewhere else if they really like him, it's not like they're bound to a hidden village."
"You're bordering treason, Tsunade. I'm your old friend, but don't forget that I'm still bound to Konoha myself. And you're retired, but you're still affiliated to the village."
"And who's gonna stop me? You? You weren't able to stop Orochimaru when he betrayed the village and his reasons were much worse than mine. What are you gonna do against me? I know you're still not over your crush on me. With your lifestyle, it must've been hard to settle down and find a girlfriend, have kids…so you're still trapped in another time, you don't get that people move forward, you're still looking behind you and missing what's happening around you."
"So are you, Tsunade. You didn't get over Dan's death in over twenty years."
"And I've still been able to take care of Shizune rather than isolating myself from the present. I've been living in the past, but she was my anchor to the here and now. Now that Shizune is an adult, she can make her own choices. She needs to live for herself, to find someone she likes, you know? What neither of us could do, I want her to be able to enjoy it. To enjoy life. We're both bitter old people who missed their lives and resent others, resent their bad luck for what happened to them instead of going with it and trying to find happiness around them. I've understood that and I know what I'm gonna do from now on. I'm gonna be Naruto's tutor and help him reach his goals. If you don't like it, just do what you're so good at. Look away and play dumb. Blindfold yourself."
"…"
"From today, Naruto is my charge. Konoha has stolen enough from him. His identity, his inheritance, his happiness, his family… I won't leave him alone and I won't lead a village of fools. Screw all that. There's a good reason I left Konoha so long ago and it's still true as of today. Hidden villages, politics, the circle of hate…I'm done with this crap. I won't let my new little brother go through the same shit we've gone through in our youth."
"…There's something else you need to know, then…"
"What is it?"
"We've been attacked on the way here. Akatsuki, black mantles with red clouds. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Their organization wants to gather the Jinchuuriki. I don't know what for, but I don't expect them to be nice. They probably want to use their power. You know just like me how this could turn out."
"…They want to destroy something…"
"Considering the ones we know are missing nin, they probably want to blow up some hidden villages, something like that."
"…Crap. Then I have to take Naruto far away from hidden village and train him to be able to defend himself against them."
"They move in pairs, apparently. Orochimaru used to be among them, that's how I learnt about them."
"Report to Konoha that Naruto has been taken by the Akatsuki. And tell them to go fuck themselves for me, I don't want their stupid hat and the paperwork associated with it. I'm a medic, not the village's secretary. Spread false information. I'll spread my own rumors. Let's make Naruto's whereabouts a mystery. I'll train him in disguise, infiltration, everything he needs to escape them until we can destroy them and ensure the brat's safety. With how fast he learns, I bet in a few years we'll be able to disband or crush them. And by then I hope we'll have some backup."
"I…I can't leave Konoha, Tsunade…"
"I wasn't talking about you, duh. But when she learns that you refused to help her come back, I don't mind letting her kick your ass."
"You mean…?"
"Yes. I told you, I'll help the boy reach his goals. It includes this."
"Alright. I'm gonna talk to the brat. Gotta prepare him for tomorrow. Will you heal Orochimaru's arms?"
"I can buy some time and get him to explain Edo Tensei to me. He can't stop boasting about his feats around us. Little snake still needs to be acknowledged by his old comrades. Let's turn his weakness against him."
X
"Hey, Naruto," called Jiraya in their hotel room.
"What's up, pervy sage? Are the women's baths empty already?"
"Tcheh… I've been talking with Tsunade. About you."
"Right. So?"
"I'm not the good person to teach you, kid. I've done it wrong this whole time…"
"You finally noticed? Woah, pervy sage! It only took you two months to realize that throwing a genin off a cliff and showing him something before vanishing for the whole day are not how you teach people! You must really be some genius! No wonder your apprentices all became incredible shinobi…ah, crap! They're all dead and the last one wasn't even thirty years old…"
"I'm a really crappy teacher, thank you for making me realize that. Tsunade will be your teacher from now on, she's taught you more in three days than I could in three weeks and she knows how to teach you. But that's not all."
"Granny Tsunade will teach me? That's awesome!"
"Shut up when your elders are talking, brat. She will be your tutor too. She will be responsible for you. And I've told her about Akatsuki, the guys who tried to kidnap you after we left Konoha."
"She's gonna be…my family…?"
"Yeah, boy. Tsunade will be your big sister. If you call her granny, she'll break your bones, so I suggest you address her how she prefers. I've made the experience of displeasing her already, I can assure you that you don't want to be on the receiving end. I spent three month in the hospital and never again did I play with her nerves.
"Back to the topic, since the Akatsuki we know about are all S-rank missing nin and apparently want to gather the nine Jinchuuriki…"
"Wait, there are nine people like me?!"
"…Tsunade will travel with you, away from Konoha. We suspect they want to destroy hidden villages, we don't know which ones, probably the major ones. That's the only reason we've found to gather nine people with demons inside them."
"So they want to use us as their weapons…"
"Just like most hidden villages. The Jinchuuriki have been distributed among the villages to have an ultimate weapon supposed to avoid all conflicts, but in the end it never worked as intended. Kiri attempted to destroy Konoha by sealing their tailed beast into a Konoha ninja who was missing in action and returning her to the village. I'll let Kakashi explain you the details if you two cross paths again, that's his story to tell. So, by staying in Konoha you would be in the line of fire and by revealing your position, we would give the Akatsuki what they're looking for."
"So I'm gonna leave Konoha with gra…big sister Tsunade? What about my team?"
"Sasuke is changing, according to the latest news I've received from Kakashi. Someone showed him a different path and I think that someone is the same person who contacted you recently."
"Ryuujinko? She managed to put some sense into Sasuke's thick head?!"
"Hahaha! It seems so. He was coming after Itachi when she blocked his way and after their meeting, Sasuke was lost. Kakashi told me that now he wants to rebuild the Uchiha clan with new values. He's not looking after Itachi anymore, and he stopped asking for power. Instead, he wants to know more about barriers."
"What do barriers do?"
"Lots of things, but the most basic thing is that they protect something or someone."
"So he's becoming more like a guardian?"
"Instead of an assassin, he's indeed set on the path of a guardian."
"And Sakura? What will she become?"
"No idea. Kakashi told me much about her except for the way she treated you. I don't think he's fit to teach her either, just like I'm not fit to teach you."
"Yeah, Kakashi never taught her anything past tree-walking, and it's the same for me. He taught Sasuke the Chidori for the finals and brought his speed to Lee's level when he removed his weights against Gaara, that's all he did for our team as a teacher.
"And Iruka, how will he take the news?"
"He's a professional, Naruto. He's going to miss you, I guess, but it's part of his job. At least he will know that you're safe."
"But if the Akatsuki is after me, then you'll have to hide where I am and who I'm traveling with?"
"I will only tell the minimum to the people who really care about you and tell them it's an S-rank secret that could put your life and theirs in danger. Officially, Konoha will be told that the Akatsuki kidnapped you and Tsunade and I are going to spread rumors to cover your tracks. You're going to learn how to disguise yourself and infiltration with Tsunade."
"Okay. I guess we have no choice with S-rank ninjas looking for me…"
"It's sad, but it's better for you. And Tsunade won't become Hokage. She doesn't like Konoha, how you were treated and long before that, when she was a kunoichi of the village, how things worked. She told me 'I won't lead a village of fools'."
"But who's gonna teach me how to use Sage Mode?"
"You still have the toad contract, brat. Ask them to reverse-summon you and to explain you the steps and the goal. But you won't become a sage in one or two years. Even past fifty, I still haven't managed to become a full sage yet."
"So you're not really the pervy sage? You're the pervy half-sage?"
"Don't test my nerves or I'll show you what the super pervert can do."
"No thanks, you've destroyed my innocence enough for now."
Smack! Jiraya slapped Naruto behind the head.
"Ouch!"
"Told you. Tsunade also wants to…help you achieve your goals. All of them…"
"You told her about bringing back my mother!"
"Yes, I did. She agreed with you."
"Told you!"
"…Well. Tomorrow she's going to try and make Orochimaru talk about Edo Tensei. The more she learns about it, the easier it will be to learn it."
"Okay! I've got to go to bed early so I can go with her!"
"You won't get anywhere near them, brat."
"…Okay…"
X
Jiraya woke up, dizzy. He drank the glass of water he had placed near his nightstand before going to bed.
A few minutes later, his dizziness was replaced by an urge to go to the toilet. On the way, he noticed that the Naruto sleeping in the other bed was just a clone by poking his cheek and making it disappear.
"NARUTOOO!"
X
There was a big noise of some building being destroyed. Naruto followed it until he could see Tsunade and Orochimaru facing each other. The surroundings were the rubble of Tanzaku Castle.
"Naruto," noted a voice he recognized.
"Kabuto. You asshole, you've been spying for Orochimaru all this time and you tried to kill Sasuke!"
"What?! Kabuto, is the Jinchuuriki telling the truth?" asked Orochimaru, visibly displeased.
"Lord Orochimaru. He's lying, of course. You know very well how devoted I am to you."
"Be careful, Kabuto. Don't try to double-cross me…"
"Never, Lord Orochimaru."
'Great, now they won't trust each other anymore', thought Naruto.
"Hey, Glasses! I bet I can give you a pretty good beating! Wanna see who's better?"
"Are you so hasty to die, Naruto?"
"Naruto! Get away from here! It's too dangerous!" shouted Tsunade. "This fight is far from your level!"
"Listen to her, Naruto. Leave before I start dissecting you. I've never dissected a Jinchuuriki before…"
"Kukuku…you took too much after me, Kabuto…" enjoyed Orochimaru.
"That's because you're my role model, Lord Orochimaru."
"Less love story and more kicking asses!" exclaimed Naruto.
The boy started fighting Kabuto. It was hard, his opponent was faster than him and quickly disposed of his clones.
'Wait, if I can change my chakra to heal, then I can change it to hurt, right?' thought the blond boy.
He created more clones and dug a tunnel. Inside it, he tried to turn his chakra into a hurting one.
"Hey, brat."
"What? Are you…the Kyuubi?"
"That's me. You want to hurt him with your chakra, like reverse medical ninjutsu, right?"
"…Yeah? Why do you care?"
"Because my demonic chakra already has corrosive properties. It's like acid or lava. Just use my chakra and your opponent will have a nasty surprise! Hahaha!"
"Alright, thanks furry!"
"…"
Dark orange chakra started flowing through his system. He left his hole and avoided Kabuto's chakra scalpel. He barely managed to grab the older guy's forearm and used his C-rank medical ninjutsu, Healing Touch, but with only demonic chakra.
"AAARGH!" yelled Kabuto in pain.
"It works!" exclaimed Naruto, his chakra dissolving his opponent's left arm.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT! I'M GOING TO DISSECT YOU ALIVE!" shouted Kabuto, the pain driving him mad.
Naruto tightened his grasp on the medic nin's forearm and dissolved it until the extremity fell to the ground. He retreated right after, avoiding Kabuto's other scalpel.
"Summoning technique!"
A cloud of smoke erupted and when it dissipated, Naruto was on top of Gamabunta's head.
"Who summoned me?" asked the giant toad boss.
"I did! Hey, boss! Let's kick this guy's ass! He tried to kill my rival Sasuke! He's been spying on Konoha for Orochimaru!"
"Alright, tadpole. I'll show you how the grown-ups fight."
Kabuto desperately tried to avoid the giant toad's attacks, but he Gamabunta was fast for his size. The toad boss slashed at him and Orochimaru used his speed and a katana that came out of his mouth to deflect the blow and keep Kabuto alive.
"Kabuto! Summon Manda!" he ordered his subordinate.
Kabuto took some of Orochimaru's blood and summoned the giant snake.
"Hey! Big Snake!" shouted Naruto.
The creature turned to face him, annoyed after being summoned and at being addressed by a kid.
"Yeah, you! You don't like weak people to summon you, right?"
"Of course I hate it, runt. Who dared summon me?"
He looked around and found the offenders on the top of his head.
"Orochimaru, I told you to never summon me again! You better give me five hundred sacrifices!"
"I have better than that," replied the Snake Sannin. "Look who the brat is perched on."
"Gamabunta…"
"Hey! Big Snake! Will you really let that weakling tell you what to do?! Look at his arms! He can't use any technique requiring hand seals!"
"Orochimaru, is that true?"
The man started to sweat heavily.
"Don't tell me you believe a human child over your own summoner!"
"I smell your fear…you dared summon me while you can't even use your full power. I'll show why no one weaker than me ever summons me!"
Manda started attacking Orochimaru and Kabuto.
"Good idea, brat!" exclaimed Tsunade, a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks gra…big sister Tsunade!"
"You better remember how to address me. Big sister, not granny! Okay?"
"Yes, yes yes!" his shoulder emitted little cracking noises.
Orochimaru and Kabuto finally managed to unsummon Manda and flee.
"That will do for today, I guess. I never expected you to turn the tables like that."
"I'm not Konoha's most unpredictable ninja for nothing!"
"Indeed. And from now on you'll be the world's most unpredictable ninja. Jiraya told you, right?"
"He did."
"Then, let's fake your capture tonight and get out of this place. Shizune will be your other big sister."
"Did you find anything about Edo Tensei?"
"The only thing I got from him is that he improved it. He was too suspicious to tell anything more."
"I guess we'll have to do the same, then."
"What?"
"The shaman, Ryuujinko. She stole the scroll from Orochimaru base. She slipped a sealing scroll into my clothes when we met, and it says You know? It's the same verbal tic I use when I'm excited."
"You're smarter than you look, do you know that?"
"Always appear dumber than you are! That's how I beat most of my opponents!"
"I can imagine that. Let's go back to our hotels. Tonight, 10 p.m at the gate, we'll fake your kidnapping. Don't be late."
They walked back to Naruto's hotel.
"Goodbye, big sister!"
"Goodbye, Naruto."
He entered the hotel and his room.
"Naruto…"
A chill ran down his back when he heard Jiraya's cold anger. He turned to face the toad hermit, who looked twice his size.
"You're going to pay for that…"
"But…I defeated Kabuto and Orochimaru!"
"Huh?"
"I turned Manda against his summoner! You should've seen it!"
"I couldn't, because you drugged me and put a laxative in my drink…"
"…Crap…"
"Run."
Naruto ran until a new crisis forced Jiraya to get back to the toilet.
X
The elders were quite angry at Jiraya's news. He had let Naruto be kidnapped and had failed to bring Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage. He was glad he had sent a clone to report the situation.
Meanwhile, he was going left and right to tell Kakashi and Iruka that Naruto was fine and to never tell anyone about it. Then, he went to eat at Ichiraku's ramen and suggested them that there could be other places where they could find special customers. He paid for a whole year of their establishment's earning, just in case they'd want to move out.
X
A/N: No divine intervention this time. The butterfly effect is already having massive consequences. Basically everything after the Tsunade search will change almost completely, except for the fact Akatsuki will look for the Jinchuuriki.
I suggested in ch2 that Naruto would have Edo Tensei and explicitly explained that Ryuujinko had stolen the scroll. Now we see what she did of it…hey, how about an immortal Kushina with infinite chakra and half of the Nine Tails inside her? I won't bring back OP characters like Hashirama and co, but having Kushina back to finally be the mother she deserved to be and give Naruto the family he deserves as well as giving him a bodyguard other than Tsunade who can do things like sealing techniques would be great, what do you think?