Chapter Nineteen
Heyo! It's the Nineteenth chapter. Today we continue Naruto's training trip with the Toad Sage.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I probably would have some cool stuff.
Training trip duration: Two years.
Since Naruto had encountered Sasuke, he and his sensei had traveled across many of the minor nations. The two had stopped at many villages along the way, and helped them out if they ever needed it.
Eventually they had made their way to Waterfall Country. Jiraiya intended to stay here for the rest of the trip. There were many waterfalls scattered across the country, and they had found one that Jiraiya had said would be perfect for training Naruto's wind style. Because of this, through all of his hard work, Naruto had finished his Wind Style training. It was also a very secluded part of the country, so Jiraiya felt comfortable training some of Naruto's ability to harness the Nine Tails' chakra.
Jiraiya had also stated that the waterfall would help for training Naruto's water style. And it did, a lot. Naruto had complete mastery over every water jutsu he possessed. Jiraiya had taught him quite a few more as well, just to give him something to do.
The waterfall had also given way to what Jiraiya had decided was probably one of the most powerful and deadly jutsu known to man. The Rasenshuriken. Upon informing the boy of the fact that the Rasengan had never been fully completed, the blond struck out to do what his father could not.
The brutal technique used heavy amounts of chakra, and as Jiraiya had come to figure out, was extremely damaging to its user. After the boy had used it a few times, he had complained to the Sage about pain in his arm. After looking over notes and eventually even having the toads inform Tsunade, they had discovered the reason behind the pain. The Rasenshuriken cut at a microscopic level, destroying chakra pathways themselves. Although the backlash was lower on the user than the damage caused to the target, Tsunade labeled the jutsu as an S-Rank forbidden jutsu. Naruto was not to use it unless there was really no other option.
In the Sage's opinion, the boy's natural speed at this point was just ridiculous. Most of the enemy nin Naruto would face in his life wouldn't stand a chance. Only strong nin, who could properly enhance their body with chakra would be able to keep up. In terms of pure speed, Jiraiya was sure Naruto could hold his own against Kakashi, or Rock Lee and to a point even Gai.
The boy had spent one entire week sitting at a makeshift table, working on seals, especially that of the Flying Raijin. He had deciphered in full the first kanji's hidden formula. The first hidden formula had been a massive set of complex seals that formed the basis for speed. He had broken into the second seal completely, and had deciphered that it entirely pertained to space. Although he was not done reverse engineering it, he had found that it was this sealing array that provided the technique the ability move through space.
He had also been able to lightly dabble in the third kanji's array. This one had been time. He hadn't gotten far along on it, but he figured it was what cause the teleportation to be almost instantaneous.
The last he had determined, was the array for tear. The very part of the seal that allowed the technique to rip a hole in space-time for the user to pass through. But he had made no more progress on this array. In fact, compared to the others, it was like trying to learn a new language while drowning and not being able to see. None of it seemed to make any sense.
"Sensei!"
"What's up Naruto?"
"I'm gonna push my limit again, care to share a few shadow clones?"
"Sure kid I don't see why not. But listen, I've got to go meet a contact of mine outside Takigakure. I'll be gone for two days, so be careful. If you run into big trouble summon a toad and get my attention, got it?"
"Yes sir."
"Alright, see you around kid."
Two of Jiraiya's shadow clones appeared, and the Sage took off. Naruto looked at one clone. "Alright let's get started!"
"Sure thing kid."
The white haired man stood in the middle of the clearing across from Naruto. The blond popped open his kunai holsters, and quickly threw a set of kunai at Jiraiya. He quickly appeared behind his master via body flicker. The blond drew another set, and used them to encircle the Sannin's clone as well. "Try to keep up sensei."
The boy appeared beside the Sannin, and swung his leg up in savage kick. The Sannin blocked the kick, and the boy appeared once again behind him. This time Naruto slammed a foot into the man's lower back, sending him flying. Before the clone could exit the circle of kunai, Naruto appeared once again, kicking him back toward them.
As Jiraiya flew back the boy appeared again, and slammed a kunai into his back, and the clone was dispatched. The boy then turned to the other clone on the sidelines. "Sensei you can dispel, I've decided I'm gonna try to see how fast I can take out a large group."
"Suit yourself kid." The clone said before he popped out of existence. Naruto then quickly performed the clone sign himself, and formed forty clones. He littered the area in and around the large group with kunai before he addressed them.
"Hit me as hard as you can, and try not to dispel." He said, before he appeared in the middle of the group, a kunai plamed in each hand. He quickly ducked under a spin kick, and slammed a kunai into the offending clone's side. He turned quickly shoving one through another's chest. Three of them came at him at once and he quickly disappeared, and popped up in a different section of the small battle.
He had started training like this recently, he would form clones that would fight against him while he had his kunai in place. They were forbidden from using the kunai substitution, as they were taking the place of enemy nin.
He slid under yet another kick, and slid his kunai through the offending leg as he did. "One minute, ten down. Eleven moves left. Gotta get more in one go." He thought to himself as he planted a kick in a clones chest, leaping back off of him. As he came down he slammed a kunai into another clone, dispatching two more as they came at him.
Four minutes and twenty eight clones later, Naruto stood still, he took heavy breaths and let himself settle. "Well that wasn't bad. I managed to save three moves as well." He hummed to himself, and walked back over to his camp. He pulled out a fish he had caught the other day, and began to cook.
Naruto suddenly stopped eating the fish halfway through. He casually leaned back and placed his finger to the ground. "This chakra….." He thought as he felt the presence of the five Iwa shinobi that observed him from the tree line. "I've gotta let Jiraiya-Sensei know… dammit it they caught me right after I used most of my substitution capability." The boy casually walked over to a tent, crawled in and acted like he was looking for something. He quickly made hand signs, and summoned a small green messenger toad. He put his hand over the toads mouth as soon as it appeared, and began to speak. "Shitsujun, dispel and tell Jiraiya I need help. It's very important." The toad gave him a small salute, and disappeared. He opened his large scroll, and unsealed a large bag full of unmarked tri-prongs.
He walked out of the tent and into the clearing. He set the bag down and formed four shadow clones. All of them collected the kunai, and the five blonds littered the field with kunai. Naruto keeping extras in his pouch. Finally he addressed his unwanted company. "What do you want?" He asked the unshown shinobi.
"So you knew we were there huh? Nine Tails jinchuriki." Spoke the leading Iwa nin. The group of five landed before him, four of them were Iwa ANBU, but the fifth filled Naruto with rage. Just the presence of the man alone had Naruto subconsciously drawing on the Nine Tails.
"Han!" He said rage filling his voice. "I fucking let you go once! And you come back for more?! You're gonna show your face to me?" He quickly calmed himself, before looking to the apparent leader. "So what do you want, I'm not exactly in Iwa territory now, in fact this is Taki, and they are allied with my village.
"It's simple really Nine Tails, we want your power for our village." The leader said simply.
"Conflict should be avoided at all costs, what you're doing is provoking a war. A war that would drag in the entire shinobi world. Back off now, because you don't exactly know who you're dealing with." The blond said.
"You were weak when you faced Han, the only reason you lived is because of your beast."
"I'm a whole different shinobi now. Don't test it." He cautioned.
"Hmm, we'll take our chances."
As the Iwa nin began to move, three shadow clones of Naruto ran forward from the tent beside them, each substituted with a kunai to put themselves beside an ANBU. Two of them managed to dodge away, but the other two fell to the ground with kunai imbedded in their chests.
Han quickly barreled forward at Naruto, and rammed into him. Only for the blond to disappear in a puff of smoke. It turned out he never left the tent, sending out a shadow clone, and hiding himself in the tent, so he could ambush the Iwa nin with shadow clones.
"You coward! Show yourself!" The Iwa commander yelled, after the three dispatched Naruto's clones.
"If you don't want this to become a problem that I bring up with Lady Hokage, I suggest you politely fuck off." The blond said, as his anger got the best of him. He stood atop the waterfall, that overlooked his camp.
"Hashimaru….Han…. we're pulling off." The leader said.
"No I'll fight him. You go. I'll either come back with him or I'll probably be dead." The steam jinchuriki said.
"You really wanna fuckin die today don't you Han." Naruto said. "I'll make you pay for what you did two years ago."
The leader and his subordinate gathered the two fallen Iwa nin. He nodded to Han, and they disappeared from view. The Steam jinchuriki faced the blond, and took a fighting stance. The blond growled lowly, he remembered exactly how he had felt when he watched Ryuko die to this man. Naruto was pissed, more than he had ever been before. The fox tried to whisper it's lies to him, but he ignored it. He opted to face this man completely with his own power.
The two nin moved to attack each other, when a new set of voices split the air. "Well Kakuzu, lucky day for us huh? Found two jinchuriki in one place."
"Shut up Hidan, you're wasting time." The former Taki nin said.
"Kakuzu, just sit back and let me sacrifice these two to Jashin." The maniac said.
"Great first Iwa, and now the Akatsuki." Naruto said, his voice gave an annoyed tone. "Han…..do you know about this group?"
"No." Stated the large man.
"They're out to capture all of the worlds jinchuriki for an unknown purpose. The organization is comprised of only S-Rank missing nin. Jiraiya managed to find out a lot about them, and I've been studying them so I can fight them. This is the immortal duo, supposed to be impossible to kill….If you don't want to die, we should probably work together. I hate you, but I hate these people more."
"Fine."
"Pick one." Naruto said.
"I'll take the Taki nin."
"Alright." With that the two nin, who moments before were enemies, leapt into battle. At least, that's what Naruto thought, until he realized Han had run for Iwa immediately. "Fuck! Han you bastard!"
"Kakuzu! Go get him!"
"No Hidan, this blond one is the Nine Tails anyway, let's focus on him."
Naruto knew that he was in a bad spot. He might be much stronger due to Jiraiya's training, but he wasn't that strong. He'd have to fight smart. He quickly formed two clones, and the blondes quickly executed sets of hand signs.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"
"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!"
A massive overwhelming force of wind ripped apart everything in its path toward Hidan and Kakuzu. Two hundred clones burst to life on the battlefield, forcing Hidan and Kakuzu to take on the small army.
"Naruto!" Yelled a familiar voice. The Toad Sage landed next to the boy. "I got your message and came quick, but it looks like you went from fighting Iwa to fighting the Akatsuki huh?"
"I'm glad you're here Sensei." Naruto said drawing a kunai.
"Naruto have a clone run off with mine. We need to talk." The Sannin said. With that a clone of both men appeared and ran into the tree line.
"You think you have room for side conversation when you're facing us!? I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin!"
Hidan ran at Naruto while Jiraiya went straight at Kazuku. The cultist swung at Naruto with his scythe, and the boy quickly flickered away from it's blades. "You're fast but I know your secret. Shikamaru really wanted to get to do this to you, but I'll do it for him. You killed Sarutobi Asuma. You will die here."
Jiraiya's clone had informed Naruto's about a message he had received from Konohagakure. During Hidan and Kazuku's bounty hunting to gather funds, they had come across Team Ten. When the former Taki nin had recognized Asuma, the battle had begun. Shikamaru's analytical skills had not been fast enough to figure Hidan out, but he had deduced after Asuma's death, that as long as Hidan never drew blood, you were safe.
"Just shut up and hold still!" Yelled the cultist as Naruto flickered away once again. The blond's only current problem, was that during his training he had burned most of his substitution. He only had three goes before things went bad.
"I just gotta cut off his head, and make sure it can't get replaced." He thought. "You did well...Asuma, I'll take it from here." With this, Naruto sprang into action. He tossed a kunai at Hidan, who uncaringly let it stick into his chest. Suddenly Hidan felt the pain of the knife disappeared, and felt a Big Ball Rasengan impact his face.
The missing nin was launched away, slaming into the base of a tree. He stood and glared at the blond. "That hurt you bitch!" He yelled out before laughing. "I'm gonna kill you!"
"Alright, fuck it. I'm not gonna bother holding back, I'm sorry Jiraiya-Sensei, I know you forbade me from using this jutsu. I need to end this quickly." The blond thought leaping away again. Two clones burst to life next to the blond, and he began to form a Rasengan. "Hidan! I'll tell you once, surrender!"
"Fuck you! You're gonna die by my hand motherfucker!" The nin yelled rushing at Naruto.
The two clones moved forward, and in seconds a screeching sound filled the field. "Naruto! Don't use that jutsu!" Jiraiya yelled from his own battle.
"Sorry Sensei, no can do." Hidan rushed by a kunai that was stuck in the ground, and in seconds Naruto was behind him. He swung his jutsu down, and focused all of its cutting power into removing Hidan's head. When the head left the body, Naruto tossed the body away with the jutsu in tow. "Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"
Hidan's head spoke in a slow raspy tone, "I've never felt pain on this scale…."
Naruto walked over to the head, he formed a Rasengan in his hand, and turned his face away as he ground to severed head into a bloody red paste. With Hidan out of the picture, he could quickly assist his sensei.
He flickered quickly to his sensei's position, and the Sannin leapt away from the former Taki nin. "Naruto, you're gonna ruin your arm."
"It's fine Sensei, I can do it once more. I'm gonna be pretty fucked up, but I can do it." By this time, Jiraiya has already destroyed two of Kakuzu's hearts. The missing nin leapt away, his remaining two masks lined up in front of him.
"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
Both jutsu came roaring from the masks, they created a massive firestorm that charred its way toward Naruto and Jiraiya. The white haired man quickly jumped in front of his student, he slid through hand seals, and slammed his palms to the ground. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" A massive wall burst from the ground leaving Naruto and his sensei unscathed.
"Sensei pin him down!"
"Naruto. You can't use that jutsu again."
"Sensei you and I both know we can't let this guy keep fighting. So please pin him down."
"Damnit kid! Fine!" Jiraiya formed another set of hand signs, and called out a different jutsu. "Earth Style: Swamp Of The Underworld!" Kakuzu suddenly sunk into the ground, the earth around him turned into a swamp and he now struggled to move.
The blond and two clones formed a Rasenshuriken, and Kakuzu saw what was about to happen. His arm extended, it shot out and grabbed hold of a tree which he then used as leverage to pull himself out.
He was surprised by the two clones that appeared beside him, and both grabbed his legs. "The headhunter jutsu is amazing." Naruto thought idley. The blond quickly flickered across the field at the zombie like man, but the clones were suddenly dispatched. Black tendrils shot from Kakuzu's body destroying everything close to him.
Unfortunately for the former Taki nin, one clone had been quick enough to shove a kunai into the man's knee. That was the only opening Naruto needed. He appeared behind him, slamming the massive spinning jutsu into the bounty hunters back. Kakuzu was launched away, and he landed with a crash as the jutsu expanded.
The boy shot across the field to where the body of Kakuzu lay. The boy stood over him, as the missing nin attempted to get back up. He knew there no hearts left to resurrect, so he plunged a kunai through the man's back, killing him instantly.
The blond turned back to his sensei giving him a tired grin. "Sensei. Told you...I'd...take care of...it…" he said trailing off. The physical exhaustion for all the fighting, along with the massive amounts of damage the Rasenshuriken had done to his arm caught up with him. He still had chakra left, but his body couldn't take it anymore.
Jiraiya shot across the clearing, catching Naruto as he collapsed. "You did good kiddo. Looks like we'll have to go back to Konoha now though." He said looking at the boy's mangled arm. "You really have become strong, Naruto." The Sannin said as he laid the boy down. He quickly began to gather their things, and pack up to move them back to Konoha.
"Tsunade, in a days time, Naruto and I will be returning to the village early. I don't intend to cut our trip short though. You remember the massive hidden mountain complex I used to train Minato? I intend to finish our year there. Please meet me there to heal the kid. This stupid brat used that Rasenshuriken twice. So his arm is screwed up." Tsunade sighed loudly as she finished reading Jiraiya's letter. She really was too old for this. She needed a drink.
Naruto woke up a few days later in a bed. He stared up at the wood ceiling for a few moments, before he swung his legs over the side and stood. He walked to the door of the room and opened it. Stepping through, he found himself standing in a long wooden hallway. His brow raised in confusion, before he reached out and placed his hand on the wall.
He fell the familiar feeling of taking in every nearby chakra signature. He could feel, that off in the distance, at the very edge of his sensory range, was Konohagakure. Closest to him though, was Jiraiya. He followed the long hallway down, and finally came to a door.
He quietly opened it, and was greeted with the sight of a large kitchen with a connected dining room. At the table eating a bowl of noodles was the Sannin.
"Sensei, where are we?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"Oh! You're up huh? Well kiddo this is a pretty special place to me, and to your father."
"What do you mean?"
"This training ground is where your father truly became the Yellow Flash. Originally it was a small scale geared training ground with moving targets. This complex is actually built into the side of a mountain. Anyway, after Minato mastered the Flying Raijin, he desperately needed to develop and hone his ability to use it in combat. Thus, the full creation of this training ground. There's more complex moving parts in this training ground than there is in the entirety of Konoha. Once you master the Flying Raijin, you will use this place as well. But for now, you and me will finish out or last year of training here."
"Oh I see. Care to show me around my new temporary home?"
"Sure, but come eat first. I had to drag Tsunade here just to fix your damn arm brat."
"Heh sorry."
For the rest of their year, the student and teacher spent their time in the training complex. The mechanical targets and sparing posts helped hone Naruto's reflexes into something that had begun to surpass even Minato's
The boy had even gotten to the point that he could actually put Jiraiya down in a spar. The Sage was extremely proud at the development of his student, the boy now being eighteen, and likely one of the strongest shinobi in all of Konoha. He was honestly under the opinion that he didn't really have anything left to teach the boy. Maybe Sage mode, but the Sannin was unsure of that. The boy definitely needed to focus on the Flying Raijin. After all Minato had done just fine without it.
The boy had been absorbing all the information he could as well. He had extensively studied every known bingo book and all the shinobi they contained. The boy had been forced to increase his knowledge in science, and mathematics to continue his work on understanding space time theory.
His skills in fuinjutsu had also nearly doubled. Although he had fully decoded the first two sealing formulas of the Flying Raijin, and even gotten most of the way through with the third, he was still struggling with understanding the fourth and final seal formula. He was also having trouble with how exactly they were supposed to work in conjunction to form the actual technique.
The Sannin had no doubt, that when the boy finally mastered the technique, he would be nearly unstoppable. His chakra reserves would place almost no limit on how many times he could use the jutsu. He truly would be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
"Hey Sensei, mind if I go grab some ramen and then meet you there?" The blond asked as he and the Sage approached the village gate.
"Meh, I guess but hurry up kid I don't wanna be there all day."
"Oh so you mean you don't want an excuse to hang around Lady Tsunade?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow.
"You know what kiddo, you're right. Take your time." He replied as they walked right past the guard shack.
"Hey! You can't just walk into Konohagakure without signing…..in…." Came the voice of Izumo as he trailed off. "Lord Jiraiya? Naruto?" He asked as recognition took hold.
"In the flesh." Said the Sannin, who Izumo noted didn't look nearly as tall standing next to the now much taller Uzumaki.
"Naruto….you got taller."
"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess I did. Izumo you haven't changed at all." He said laughing. "Anyway we've got places to be, so see ya!" He said and he and the Sage disappeared.
"That was rude….." Said the chunin sulking.
"One Uzumaki special please!" Naruto said loudly as he entered the Ichiraku ramen shop.
"Naruto!?" Ayame said as she witnessed the tall blond enter.
"That's me! Now look big sister Ayame, I've been gone three years! And that's too long to go without ramen!"
"You never change Naruto. Dad! Naruto's back, start him a few bowls!"
"Welcome back kid! Three Uzumaki specials coming right up!" Yelled the chef from the back room.
"Thanks Teuchi!" He replied loudly. Suddenly the sound of loud running outside rang into the ramen shop. The feet came skidding to a halt as the person entered the ramen shop.
"Naruto!?"
The blond laughed nervously remembering the mistakes he had made over the last three months of his training. "Oh uh h-hey there Rikka…"
That's all folks things are going to go a little slower from here on out. I'm no longer written ahead like I had been, so sometimes updates are going to come a little slower. Please bare with me to the end. Dunno if you caught it, but I clarified there that Minato never learned Sage mode in this story. Naruto cannot use the Rasenshuriken unless I give him sage mode and I don't think I'm going to. I needed a way for him to kill off Hidan and Kakuzu. Also, anyone who can draw, please DRAW RIKKA! Or do a render! I'll love you forever. Anyway, Darling in the Fox out!