Naruto made his way to Team 7's training ground for half ten in the morning, having made himself a full breakfast and lain in bed until nine. Having a late lie-in was a concept now unfamiliar to him, as he'd been awake early and training since Sasuke's death.
Kakashi, to Naruto's immense surprise, was there, sitting on a training post and reading his smut.
"Glad you finally saw fit to join me, Naruto," his teacher said.
"You're... early!"
"I actually got here fifteen minutes late, but that's neither here nor there. You're late."
"Like you really expected me to be on time, considering you're always three hours late."
"A ninja must always expect the unexpected; look underneath the underneath. But yes, I didn't expect you to be here when I told you. I just wanted to catch up on my reading. Now," he said, standing up. "I read a few of the reports from the site where Orochimaru attacked you. Completely disintegrated grass, a tree exploded from superboiled sap... What exactly was the technique he used?"
"Sensei, that was me."
"I mean, it could've been a fire jutsu, but the concentration and shape manipulation required..."
"Sensei, I did it!"
"It would suggest enhancement from the wind element, but that would usually just result in a larger explosion, not a more concentrated one..."
"Damn it, sensei, I was the one who used that technique!"
Kakashi's eye whipped straight up and rooted Naruto to the ground.
"Then you owe Konoha a new tree. But that's neither here nor there. Yes, I know it was you, I was just playing. How?"
Naruto took out the Raijin and activated it, channelling wind and then fire chakra through the blade.
"Hmm," Kakashi commented, peering at the sword. "Not very stable at all, and the Second filled that thing with shape manipulation seals. You completed the technique quickly though, which is a plus. Overall, I'd say it's not combat ready. How did you get the opportunity to use it in a fight against the snake?"
"He wanted me to use my strongest technique. Wouldn't accept anything less."
"Figures. Now practice will perfect that technique, but now I want to see you try and channel a subelement."
"Excuse me?"
"You've learnt how to chakra fold, something only previously done by the Third or ninja with a bloodline limit. Subelemental use isn't outside the realms of possibility. Try ice."
Naruto channelled water and wind chakra into his tenketsu before folding them back over each other, making a weave of the energies.
"It isn't exactly the same at chakra folding to make a combination technique," he commented as he worked. "For combination techniques you fold the energy back so that the tenketsu is clear for a different type of chakra. With this, you channel both energies at the same time and fold them into one new chakra."
"Mah, you know what you're doing, get on with it."
Naruto channeled the energy out of his palm and into the air, where it caused a small cloud of frost to puff into being before dispersing.
"That looks promising to me," Kakashi said. "Now, wood."
"But... mokuton was the First Hokage's specialty," Naruto said. "Wouldn't it be sacrilegious to use them?"
"The First was a ninja. He wouldn't care. Second, you aren't the first wood-user since him. Just the latest."
Naruto shrugged and got to it, folding earth and water chakra into each other until they formed a new energy, one that felt calming and healing even as it threatened to burst out of his tenketsu. He released it into his hand and a small leaf grew from his hand, growing and spreading further out until it was joined by a twig and the beginnings of a branch.
"Ah! It's fused to my hand!" Naruto shouted, trying to tug it off.
"Stop channelling chakra and it will detach itself," Kakashi said, completely dampened to his student's concerns.
Kakashi was true to his word, and the plantlife fell to the floor when Naruto stopped channelling chakra to his hand.
"Well I think that's enough for now," Kakashi said. "It looks like you could do more, but I think two subelements is fine, considering many jonin never make it to the point of mastering two primary elements. And, of course, we have teachers for those two subelements."
"Oh, who?"
"Well Haku, of course, for ice. And an old friend of mine for wood. You'll meet him soon. Is there anything else you've learnt?"
"I've found the notes to the Hiraishin technique," Naruto said. "But I don't know how to get it to work."
"Sensei's notes? But I thought they were all destroyed!"
"Oh no, not my dad's notes, although I can kind of work out what he was doing from one of his kunai. No, it turns out that Senju Tobirama created an early version of the technique, which my dad refined, making it faster and less chakra-intensive. Still, it's baffling."
"Any luck?"
"If you count managing to teleport small pieces of my clones' internal organs, then yes. More study isn't helping, either. I've been able to make an improvement to my replacement technique, but only when I switch out with one of my clones. As for proper teleportation - there's a crucial element I'm missing."
"Well keep an open mind and let it come to you. If anyone can, it's you. Based on what I've seen, I think I don't need to train you at all."
"What?"
"Hey, hey, don't get so angry. I've found you a new teacher. To my shame, I must even admit that he's a better teacher than I am."
"Oh," Naruto said. "Where is he?"
"Um, he'll probably be relaxing at the hot springs," Kakashi said. "He told me to tell you to wait here and he'll be over soon."
"Oh hell no, I'm not waiting around for another tardy teacher!" Naruto exclaimed, turning around and marching off.
"Well, I tried," Kakashi said, settling down to do some more reading of his book.
The male side of the hot springs was practically deserted, with only a few random chūnin and that guy who followed Konohamaru around there. Naruto looked around to see if anybody of interest was nearby. He even sensed the chakra around him, assuming that his teacher would have a reasonable chakra source. Nothing.
"Kehehe," somebody giggled.
The person was not inside the baths, meaning they were outside. Naruto nimbly leapt the bathhouse wall and landed on the other side, where there was a landscaped garden owned by the bathhouse. Leant up against the female side of the hot springs, with his eye pressed against a knot in the wood, was a veritable giant of a man with huge white hair and a red obi.
"Ahem," Naruto cleared his throat.
"Aww pike off kid, can't you see I'm busy? I'll train ya later."
"Are you looking into the female side of the baths?"
"Nooooo, I'm looking into the male side of the baths. Who do you think I am, some sort of two-bit writer? That's not my gimmick. I'm no mere pervert. I... AM A SUPER PERVERT!"
With the proclamation, his voice raised to a shout, which led to a flurry of activity from the other side of the wall.
"Damn, I got carried away. Okay kid, with me."
The man flashed over to Naruto faster than he could track and grabbed him, body flickering several times in succession until Naruto was dizzy and had no idea where they were going.
"That'll put them off the trail," the man said. "Thank goodness Anko, Kurenai or Yūgao weren't there. Then I'd actually be in trouble. Now, kid," he said, straightening to his full height. "Do you know who I am?"
"Well let's see," Naruto said, starting to tick things off on his fingers. "We have a self-proclaimed super pervert, long white hair, a forehead protector that says 'oil' on it, I found him staring at naked women... If I had to guess, I'd say... Tsunade of the Sannin?"
"Oh haha, very funny brat," the man said. "So you've heard of the Great Jiraiya, big deal. I'm only here because you've got that fox in your gut and I'm this place's sealing master. Don't get cocky."
"Oh, so you're not here because you hold some lingering affection for the memory of my father, or you're finally fulfilling some of your responsibilities as my godfather or the fact that the Toad Clan, your people, seem to think that I'm the child of prophesy? You prick!"
Naruto leapt at the gigantic man and swung with a hammerfist, the older man easily swaying out of the way. Naruto's hand continued its momentum and crashed into the ground, where it left a small crater and a spiderweb of little fissures.
"Oh damn, not another one," Jiraiya moaned, as the genin redoubled his assault.
He flashed through a series of handseals, bit his thumb, and smacked the ground with two hands, resulting in a plume of smoke puffing up. Naruto stopped his attack when he saw who had appeared - the two old toads, Ma and Pa.
"Jiraiya-child, what are you doing summoning me as well as Pa? I had cooking I was working on!"
"Sorry Ma, but the kid here was going a bit crazy. Apparently he's met you before?"
Ma looked past Jiraiya and saw the still-seething Naruto.
"Naruto-child! Oh, you finally got in touch with this big degenerate. Well, it's about time."
"Naruto said something very interesting," Jiraiya chimed in. "About being the child of prophesy."
Pa sighed and palmed his head.
"The Great Toad Sage said it," he moaned. "He was having one of his senior moments."
"But the Sage always speaks the truth, doesn't he?" Jiraiya asked. "I mean, he usually just asks for locust-cakes and talks about how much he hates lichen, but he always speaks the truth."
"Yes, he does. So he must have been correct. So," Pa suddenly inhaled before screaming at the Toad Sage. "WHY HAVE YOU BEEN IGNORING OUR SUMMONS? You've summoned Gamaken since we asked to see you - he even told you we had a message for you - but you've been completely ignoring us!"
"Heheh, sorry Pa," the old man said, rubbing his head. "Icha Icha Maid Cafe is coming out soon and I was neck deep in work."
"Sure you were," Ma croaked. "In any event, have him sign the contract now so we can get things moving."
"Hey, hey, I'm the holder of the Toad Summoning Scroll!" Jiraiya said. "I get to choose who signs this as well, and I haven't tested the boy yet."
"Test him all you want," Pa said. "The boy managed to enter sage mode the first time he visited Myoboku. The entire clan approves of him, and your Hokage wants him to sign the contract. We checked, seeing as you were incommunicado. If you push us on this, we'll just void the contract you have and write a new one."
"He's that important to you?"
"He should be that important to you as well!" Ma shouted. "Your student's son, your godchild, and you're being petty over letting him sign his birthright? What happened to you, Jiraiya-child?"
"Plenty happened," the man muttered. "You don't need to remind me of what I've lost."
With that, the Sannin leapt away, leaving the three in the clearing bemused.
"Quick, give us a sample of your blood, Naruto-child, we won't last here for long now that Jiraiya's gone."
Naruto cut his finger and wiped it on Ma's outstretched hand, just before the two disappeared in puffs of smoke.
After a minute, Naruto himself then disappeared in another puff of smoke, swirling through a coloured vortex before reappearing in Myoboku.
"That Jiraiya," Ma muttered. "So headstrong. Well you're here now, Naruto-child, we'll see about getting you your own contract."
"What will happen regarding Jiraiya's contract?" Naruto asked, anxious not to remove a resource from Konoha's arsenal.
"Oh, we'll let him keep that tatty old thing. It was just an idle threat - he gets on too well with Gamabunta for us to remove him as a summoner. But we'll make our displeasure known... Now, while I contact the Keeper of the Scrolls to get your contract written, you will go with Pa to the Toad Oil pond. The one you fell in last time you were here. There he will explain senjutsu to you."
"This way, tadpole," the male toad croaked, hopping towards the lake.
They reached the Toad Oil pond, still ringed by the gigantic stone statues, and Pa hopped up to the rim of the pond.
"How many chakra energies do you have, boy?"
"Well if we're being completely strict, I suppose I'd say I have eleven."
"Eleven? The usual answer is two."
"Yes, but my normal chakra can change, and there are often trace elements inside my body. There's some water chakra circulating around my leg right now that I could separate into normal chakra if I wanted, but I can use it as a catalyst to speed up water techniques if it stays in my body."
"I understand. So, list these eleven chakras."
"Well there's my normal chakra which is made of yin and yang, the fox's chakra which is just yin, my altered cursed seal chakra, fire, earth, water, wind and lightning (although I'm not very good with that yet), ice and wood."
"Well the first thing we'll need to do is settle your body as much as possible so that you mainly have yin and yang. Too much rampant chakra is the chief reason these guys," Pa gestured at the statues surrounding them. "Are here."
"You keep telling me I need to change my chakra, but what is senjutsu?"
"It's the ability to draw in chakra from nature and use it to supplement your own body. It requires utter stillness, harmony with nature, and a relationship with one of the summons clans."
"If I'm utterly still how can I use senjutsu effectively?"
"You- gah, too many questions. You need to be still to enter sage mode. After that, you can move. But it will break the connection with nature, so you'll only be in Sage Mode for so long. Anyway, strip off and get in this oil."
"What? Why do I need to be naked?"
"The oil increases your connection to nature and will help your training."
"Pervert toad!"
"Idiot kid!"
Naruto and Pa faced off against each other, both standing at opposite sides of a ruined landscape.
"You don't have to do this, Naruto-child," Pa said. "If you back down now I'll go easy on you."
"I can't give up now, old man," he said. "Everything I've been to has led me to this."
"So be it. When you arrive in the afterlife, I hope you'll have no regrets."
The two tensed, preparing to jump, and then Naruto cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Ma, Pa just said he hates your cooking!"
"WHAT?" the shrill scream came from far away, and Pa paled. Naruto flashed him the peace sign before disappearing in a burst of smoke.
A small frog had been sent through the portal to Konoha to summon Naruto back, and he'd timed his taunt just right.
He appeared near the top of the Hokage monument, just able to see Jiraiya perched on the Fourth's stone head.
"I told Gamawari to bring you here," he said, not turning around. "I really got chewed out by Ma and Pa for how I reacted, so I thought I should clear the air."
He stood and walked over to Naruto, towering over the boy.
"I don't trust you. I will never trust you. I was the one who checked up on your seal when you were a baby and although my student was a genius, he was far too lenient. He trusted that you'd be able to control the Kyūbi, and made it more flexible than Kushina's seal. But you're an accident waiting to happen. The creation of jinchūrikki is a disgusting thing, and one day you'll release it, intentionally or unintentionally, and hurt Konoha. Until then I'll help you with your seal if I have to, but when that day comes? I'll happily put you down."
Jiraiya disappeared, no smoke or noise, he just vanished from Naruto's senses.
"Oh, and sensei said he wanted to see you. Don't make him wait."
Naruto followed the directions of the disembodied voice and made his way to the Hokage Tower, moving quickly and keeping a beady eye on his surroundings.
"Hey, Old Man!"
"Naruto!" the aged Hokage said, putting down his paperwork and putting on a smile. "After the Chūnin Exams and your time with the dogs and toads, I feel like I haven't had any time with you since you were promoted to genin."
Naruto pondered the words, thinking back to Orochimaru's taunts.
'But he won't teach you everything. He doesn't even favour you above me… he will never value you as much as he did me.'
Then Jiraiya's words.
'I don't trust you. I will never trust you.'
Tsunade's flimsy excuses for endangering his life.
His father, trying to kill him.
Were the higher ranks of Konoha really all trying to kill him?
"Jiji," he said. "Do you hate me?"
The old man's smile immediately faltered, and was replaced with a look of concern.
"Naruto, you must never think that. Why do you even ask?"
"Well the Sannin seem to have it in for me. Orochimaru defeated me with some fancy move he claims you don't trust me enough to know. Jiraiya actually went out and said that he wants to kill me. And then…"
Naruto explained the incident inside his mind with his father, and the Hokage looked on in shock.
"I had no idea of the depth of Jiraiya's feelings towards you," Hiruzen said. "I assumed he found it difficult to be around you because you reminded him of Minato, not because he resented you. Your father's reaction… I have no idea. Orochimaru - well, he knows how to use my second original technique. You know chakra folding, and I've made that skill available to anybody in Konoha with the patience to learn it. Sadly, it requires persistent dedication from a young age and a high level of talent. There are really only three jōnin in Konoha who could have learnt it. Kakashi is too lazy, Gai prefers to focus on taijutsu, and Asuma… well, he'd rather have nothing to do with my teachings." The old Hokage's face fell a little more. "But I was waiting until you were recovered, then until you'd got through the exams, then until you were back from the toads… I got a little caught up in waiting for the perfect time to teach you, but I suppose I should carve out the time for it right now. Nabako?"
He shouted to the receptionist outside.
"Hai, Hokage-sama?"
"Act as my stand-in for today's council debate. If anybody challenges you send them to me."
"H-hai. Where will you be?"
"The training ground at the Hokage Mansion. This way, Naruto."
The two ninja stood close enough to see each other's eyes, the aged Hokage in full battle regalia.
"Hit me with a wind technique," he said. "Any one you have."
Naruto shrugged, figuring that the old man knew what he was doing.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" he shouted, throwing a concussive blast of air towards his commanding officer.
Making the same strange handseal as Orochimaru, Sarutobi merely muttered, "Dispel", and the technique fell apart completely.
"Earth," the Hokage barked.
Naruto tried element after element, but earth crumbled, water collapsed, lightning grounded and fire extinguished. It was only when Naruto shot a barrage of ice needles at the Hokage that the man dodged rather than dispelled.
"Subelemental manipulation, Naruto? I am impressed. Had I known you could do that I wouldn't have been so cocky with my technique. Hopefully now you can see the first flaw I have."
"If you're… surprised by the attack, the technique doesn't work?"
"Nearly. I need to already know and be able to use the technique. I can't use ice techniques, so I can't defend against them."
"How does knowing a technique help you destroy it?"
"Simply. By applying what is thought to be a purely academic chakra nature to battle. Have you ever read about anti-chakra?"
"Never."
"I'm not surprised. Research was canned once I realised its effects, and how it could drastically change shinobi warfare. You know that the nature of chakra changes when it flows in different ways. Fire, for example, is energetic, expansive, effervescent. Well, anti-fire chakra is the opposite of that. Sluggish, compressed, reserved. When equal measures of fire and anti-fire connect, both disappear. By combining my ability to use anti-chakra and my knowledge of the amounts of chakras that go into different techniques, I can cancel all Konoha-listed techniques.
Breaking down a new technique into its component parts is a necessary part of this technique, and one that would take years to learn the hard way. Fortunately, you have an advantage." he pointed to Naruto's eye. "You can intuitively deconstruct techniques in seconds. So first, before you learn my technique, you're going to learn to use that eye."
Having a third tomoe in his Sharingan eye was even more disconcerting than before. The difference was like night and day. What had appeared fast to his old eye was now sluggish to his new. Naruto caught sight of another rock missile and rolled out of the way, accurately predicting the path of the projectile and the shrapnel from where it landed.
Sarutobi had delightedly taken to harassing and attempting to kill the boy, and if it weren't for the old man's constant assurances, Naruto would have been certain that Konoha's elite warrior really did want him dead. The Hokage was concealing himself masterfully; even Naruto's superior genjutsu dispelling abilities were doing him no good - either Hiruzen was simply that good, or he was also a master of simple camouflage. At Naruto's best guess, both.
A burst of water shot from behind him as a ball of fire closed in from the front. Taking his chances with the safer element, Naruto held his thumb and pinky finger together and channelled anti-fire chakra in the shape of an inverted grand fireball. The technique dissolved into nothing just as Naruto was flung to the side by a bludgeon of water and sent crashing into a tree.
"Ninja don't just send one technique at a time, you know," Sarutobi chided, as he landed in front of the sodden blond. "But you've done very well. Sensei would want to kill me for teaching this to somebody with Sharingan eyes, but I think his problem was with the Uchiha more than it was with eye transplants. Your eye combined with my technique will be devastating once you're able to dispel several at a time."
"But I still couldn't find you. Why was that?"
"I use chakra-folding inside my own body to increase the strength and versatility of my ninjutsu. Genjutsu affects the chakra coils of other people and influences their senses. Does that answer your question?"
"So you folded chakra inside my chakra coils to make a genjutsu that would have to be dispelled several times for it to fade away?"
"That's right. It's called genjutsu layering and is an easier version of the ninjutsu layering technique I use. Easier because it is possible for genjutsu specialists to use, and any ill effects due to lack of control are borne by your opponent, and not yourself. Kurenai, for example, uses genjutsu layering to great effect. Her skill in it promoted her to special jōnin nearly immediately after she made chūnin, and the rest of her skills only recently caught up."
"So can I teach it to Sakura? That and the ninjutsu dispel technique?"
"Naruto, anti-chakra puts strain on the chakra coils. You need to be able to fold both elemental chakra and anti-chakra together to create elemental anti-chakra, and I doubt her body could take it. But, as I've taught you this, I've formally announced you as my successor. As Orochimaru was once the only other chakra folding user he probably had a claim, but a traitor cannot inherit. I'd have liked to have taught my son, but some things aren't to be... So, when I pass on, this technique is yours to teach to whom and however you like. I trust your judgement."
At the old man's words of unqualified trust, Naruto started to tear up.
"Thanks, old man. I'd started to worry..."
"No matter what happens, you have your team, and that's all you need for now. If you want to become Hokage you'll have to win over the others, but that will come in time. Now get to sleep - you have an exam in the morning."
Naruto traipsed off, still squelching as the water drained into his shoes. Sarutobi watched him leave and was joined by Kakashi, who flickered next to him.
"Any word on Jiraiya?"
"Still following Naruto," Kakashi said. "Do you think he's in danger?"
"Jiraiya won't do anything drastic, but seeing his godfather failing him won't do a great deal for Naruto's mental health. I'll tell him to check up on the barrier wall to give the kid some breathing space."
"Why does he hate him, though?"
"Hatred is an illogical, ugly, thing. You've seen how the villagers react. I'd hoped Jiraiya was better than that, but apparently not."
"Shall I watch over Naruto?"
"Please do. Seeing as you only had Sakura to focus on this month, how is she doing?"
"You'll be pleasantly surprised, sir, although my money's still on Naruto."
"Of course," the Hokage nodded, before gripping Kakashi by the arm. "Now listen. There's a storm coming. I haven't felt this since the beginning of the last war, but this feeling is stronger. In the forest, when a great predator approaches, all the animals quiet and give the illusion of peace. These past few months, I've felt the same thing once again. If anything happens to me... I trust you to take care of your students. But I need you to give something to Naruto. It's sealed in the safe in my office, use the combination 88-52-49 and channel your chakra into the handle. It's a letter he needs to read. And the notes for his father's technique."
"But... you said they were all destroyed!"
"I lied, for the good of the village. We'd never have been left alone had anybody thought the Hiraishin still existed. But this is one more tool Naruto will need. He is our hope, Kakashi."
The cyclopean jonin nodded and leapt away to watch over his student, leaving the Hokage alone.
"The Will of Fire will bathe this land, but will we be reborn, or will we be burnt and left for the winds? I hope you can cure this poisoned world, Naruto."
AN: This is my shortest chapter yet. But, just like the calm Sarutobi has spotted, this is the calm before the storm. The next three chapters are going to get serious, and chapter 10 is the end of arc one.
Oh, and a big thanks to Saligia010, whose comprehensive review PM I still haven't been able to respond to, but it at least reassures me that I should see this through to the end. I can see the finale from where I am now and it will certainly not mirror the end of the manga.