Chapter Four
April, 117 (767 AV)
Tsunade and Naruto ended up spending the night in the village, not wishing to travel again in the same day. They were given permission to roam their half of the island, and Tsunade even had permission to visit the Kuja if she wished.
Kimiko was given the task of escorting them back to their home the next morning. She was quite eager, having watched from behind a boulder as Tsunade demonstrated her legendary strength for the Empress. Needless to say, she was fangirling on Tsunade like an Academy girl on Sasuke.
Having reached their home, and future base, Tsunade decided to be rid of the energetic warrior. Hopefully the girl would mellow again with time. "Thank you for escorting us here, Kimiko-san. We appreciated your company, and you are welcome to come back again at a later date."
Kimiko bowed, a wide smile on her face. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama; I will be happy to visit you and Naruto-baka at a later date. Until next time, sayonara!"
As soon as she was gone, Tsunade sighed in relief and led the way to the kitchen, picking up the forgotten bottle of sake on the way and taking a drink as she sat down. "Aaaaah, Kusa sake, from the coast if I'm not mistaken. They may not grow the rice, but damn if they don't make the best sake."
For a while, the two of them just sat in the kitchen - well, Naruto just sat on the sofa in the living room. It was a good few hours before either of them felt like getting up. For Tsunade, this was just how she felt most days. The vigor of her youth had left her as the years passed.
For Naruto, this was simply time for his brain to catch up with everything that had been happening to him. He had lost his sensei, who had turned out to be his godfather. He had finally gotten to meet his parents. He had transported himself and his house to another continent. Thus it was that Naruto surprised Tsunade by getting up and grabbing the sake bottle. He poured himself a cup and joined her in just drinking and looking out the windows, lost in thought.
It was nearly two in the afternoon by the time they stopped sitting there. As befitting a day for surprises, it was Tsunade that broke the silence. She smacked her lips, set down the saucer, and turned to Naruto as she stretched her limbs. "Well, Naruto, the day isn't getting any younger, and neither are we, so come on. You and I have some training to do."
Naruto, given his history with sensei, was more than a little skeptical of this. "Do you actually mean you're going to train me, or is this just going to be something to keep me out of the way while you get drunk? I don't feel like being pawned off by a teacher again. I had enough of that with my last three, even if Jiraiya was a lot better than Kakashi, so if you're gonna do that then just tell me now."
"What about Iruka?"
"Iruka's awesome, in his own way, and he was definitely the best about actually trying to teach. The thing is I didn't like his style. He usually did more theory junk than practical stuff, and that was boring."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that with me. I was always more hands on. About the only thing I really cracked down to learn was anatomy."
"You still haven't said that you're going to teach me." Naruto wasn't about to let that go.
"They don't seem to have any gambling or decent sake here, so I'm going to need to conserve our supply. Ergo, I'll be training you to pass the time. Besides, I won't have to be doing any paperwork for a while. I can finally get out and stretch my legs."
"So how are we gonna do this?" The more Naruto thought about training under Tsunade, the more excited he got. Even he knew she was strong.
"If what Jiraiya said about your stamina is anything to go by, we should be able to get some really good training done each day, which will be much more fun than it was with Sakura and Shizune." At Naruto's puzzled look, she elaborated. "Okay, you and I both know they were great medic-nin, but contrary to popular belief that's not all I ever was. I was a damn good taijutsu artist on top of that. Jiraiya was the heavy hitter in ninjutsu, and Orochimaru delved into kinjutsu more than anyone I know of. Unfortunately, Shizune and Sakura were both almost entirely medic-nin, although Sakura had a very good grasp of my strength enhancement technique."
"I don't know how good you'll be in med-nin jutsu seeing as your control sucks like my gambling luck, so we'll be starting on my strength while your clones work on control. Sakura might have been doing a good job of understanding the chakra-based enhancement, but everyone seems to forget that I am naturally a hell of a lot stronger than the average jonin. I use chakra for the big stuff, like lifting Gamabunta's sword when we fought Orochimaru, but my arms are each strong enough to punch through a Senju tree."
Naruto stared at her in awe, suddenly beginning to see just where she got her legendary status. "Sooo coool! And you're going to be training me to be that strong, too? That's just too awesome! I'm going to be the most amazing ninja that ever lived, dattebayo! Akatsuki better watch out, 'cause I'm gonna kick their asses off the continent!"
Tsunade laughed a bit. "Yeah, you're all full of energy now, but let's see you muster that energy after one of my training sessions. Even your crazy stamina will be taxed when I'm done with you. C'mon, the first task is going to be on that mountain side."
The two tree-jumped to the mountain in silence, simply enjoying the idea that they could let go of the paranoia that was a survival skill unto itself in the ninja world. Sure there were some crazy animals here and there, but not a one of them could hold a candle to the summons the two ninja had encountered in their life. It was akin to making a go through the Forest of Death, and for someone at Tsunade's level that was pretty much a walk in the park. On top of her own skill and strength, Tsunade emitted the aura of the apex predator of the island. No animal with any sense of self-preservation would come within a hundred yards with intent to kill while she was around.
When they finally reached the mountain, Tsunade turned to Naruto. "Alright Naruto, the first thing we're going to do is work every muscle in your body until it has reached its natural peak. After that, we'll just keep going by adding weight. You are going to be climbing this mountain using only one limb at a time. I'd recommend starting with either of your arms. If you don't want to scrape up your body, you're going to have to find good hand-holds to lift yourself away from the mountain."
"Each day, you will switch to another limb. When you get to the point that you can climb the mountain in one day with each of your four limbs, we will begin adding weights. You will do this the first four days each week, and you'll keep the same pattern once you start. The last three days will be spent learning other things. I haven't figured out just what I want you to learn yet, so we'll just wing it for now."
Naruto just stared blankly at Tsunade. He knew training would be hard, but he had no idea it was going to be this crazy. "How the hell do you expect me to climb a mountain with just one arm? It's hard enough when I have all my body to work with!"
Tsunade got in Naruto's face. "Are you saying you can't do it? Please, I was doing this stuff when I first started as a genin, and that was nowhere near as old as you youngsters do it nowadays! Now get moving before I lodge my foot in your ass and use that to shove your face up the mountain!"
With a yelp, Naruto got to work. He decided to start with his right hand, as that was his dominant hand. He knew he would have to use his legs in just two days, but Naruto figured he would work on his balance with his arms before he started on his legs.
"No chakra when you're using your arms, Naruto! I want this to be all about your own strength! Any ninja could stick to the mountain if they wanted to, but I want you to be able to climb this without an ounce of chakra! You can cheat if you want, but you'll just be cheating yourself. I'll let you use tree-climbing for your legs for the first month, but after that you need to be able to keep your balance on one leg."
Naruto groaned and got moving. At least she hadn't expected him to balance on one foot the whole way up. That would have been a nightmare.
Meanwhile, Tsunade was doing everything she could not to laugh her ass off. 'He doesn't know that I started on hundred-foot cliffs. Who knew this kind of training could be so much fun to watch? If I'd known it could be so much fun, I might have started Shizune on it when I had her. Oh, well, it's not like the brat doesn't deserve this more.' "Naruto get your ass in gear! Sakura could climb faster than that!"
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Naruto's training pushed his body to its limits in ways he had never before imagined. On the three days he wasn't doing the mountain climb exercises, Naruto was working on his core, his extremities and his durability.
The core exercise used a machine Tsunade had managed to build... somehow. Two boulders were hung by rope over a pulley and tied to wide leather belts that ran just under his arms around the top of Naruto's chest and around his waist. Naruto would then use those muscles to pull the boulders off the ground. To make sure he worked all every area of his core, the ropes were attached to rings along each belt that appeared at two inch intervals so that he could work every muscle.
Another exercise Tsunade had Naruto work on was dragging himself up a relatively straight cliff with one hand in order to work on finger strength. He wasn't even allowed to bend his arm. He could just dig his fingers into the cliff side and inch his way up.
His durability was a pretty simple, if painful, exercise. She would have him make clones to punch his body as hard as it could all over to get him used to taking punishment in places that weren't his fists, feet or forehead. The only areas they took it easy were around the skull, kidneys and heart.
"The reason we are taking it easier in those places," Tsunade said, "is because it will do more harm than good to rush things. Anywhere else on the body has enough enough muscles that with time you'll be able to take more and more punishment."
"The kidneys and heart, by comparison, are vulnerable enough that healing them gives even the Kyuubi trouble, so we'll have to let those progress a little more gradually or risk slowing your training down to let injuries heal. Likewise, the head has so much bone and so little muscle that you'll just be creating hairline fractures every day. I don't want to count on the Kyuubi's benevolence to keep you from suffering weakened bones and multiple concussions."
When it got to the point he could do all of the exercises in a day, Tsunade had Naruto add weight with seals and started all over.
"From here on out," she said, "it's just a progression of resistance. The next thing you will be doing is punching and kicking a log, one thousand times for each limb. When your strength and calluses have built up to the point that you can punch or kick straight through it, we will move on to boulders. When you can shatter a boulder with one punch, we will move on to punching cliffs and so on. Just like every other exercise I will give you, this will be a matter of progression. I want you to toughen up your entire body."
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Training wasn't all they did. Each day before training, Naruto would go out to fish and hunt for meat. A few clones would tend to a garden that brought them fruit and vegetables. He would clean up the house, tend the dishes, and any other chore Tsunade assigned. It was tedious work, but Naruto's clones took off a lot of the boredom, as they would use the time to throw around ideas.
In his spare time, Naruto worked on a few skills and hobbies. His interests ranged from music to art, from gardening to various types of craftsmanship that he learned at the Kuja village. Basically, when Naruto was interested in something he would either work it out or travel to the village and have someone teach him.
For things like woodworking or blacksmithing, Tsunade would give Naruto a week or two off at a time to learn about it. She figured it was better to go in week-long intervals as doing it a few days at a time just wouldn't give Naruto the time he needed to learn anything that wasn't a jutsu.
When they had meals, either Tsunade cooked or she taught Naruto to cook. He learned fast, both because he liked good food and because Tsunade was actually a pretty patient teacher in the kitchen.
When Naruto was doing exercises or chores, Tsunade and Kimiko talked. What exactly they discussed was a mystery to Naruto, but the first week or two resulted in the Kuja warrior looking strangely at him, as if she was trying to see something beyond the naked eye. The attention initially unnerved Naruto, who was used to a different sort of attention or none at all.
At first, Kimiko treated Naruto in a manner similar to how his classmates would. She belittled his efforts and mocked his intelligence at every turn, with Naruto coming back with quips about everything from her fighting ability to her looks. At times, after Naruto's physical training, the two would chat about various things while Tsunade cooked a meal. One such conversation, lacking the usual bite, had touched on Naruto's determination to be Hokage.
"Why would you even attempt to be Hokage?" Kimiko asked curiously. "It's obvious that Tsunade-sama is much stronger than you. What could possibly make you more worthy of the title than her? Look at her beauty, her strength, and her intelligence. She is better than you in all those ways. What hope do you have?"
Naruto had stared at her long and hard, obviously thinking over what she had said, before looking away. He gazed upon the ocean, seeming to draw strength from the sight as he spoke. "Do you see that ocean? It's powerful and beautiful too. It can allow you to travel to amazing places, and it is worthy of respect from everyone who traverses it. And yet, you wouldn't be able to ask it for guidance, because there is no current, no force to keep you moving."
Kimiko stared at Naruto, seeing him in an entirely new light. This was not the knucklehead blond that Tsunade would berate for trying to pull some stupid prank on Kuja patrols. It was not the quiet blond that would smile at you until you smiled back. Beneath that light attitude and simple thinking was a will that surpassed all others, demanding respect against all reason for his sheer audacity in opposing the entire world as he saw fit.
"That is what I think makes me worthy to be Hokage. I may not have the strength or knowledge to do the best job yet, but I have something I don't think anyone else does. I have the Will of Fire, the determination to protect my comrades, even if it costs me my life. I have the strength to sacrifice what I need to if it means keeping my friends safe, even my happiness. I have the will to defy what others see as sense in order to do what is right. That is my ninja way, and I will never back down from it."
While Kimiko still thought the blond was a knucklehead, she began to treat him a bit better after that conversation. As time passed, however, Naruto and Kimiko gradually warmed up to one another. It had started off with each mocking the other, but it gradually progressed to a warm friendship with lots of joking between them. The two would often banter, with Kimiko mocking him and Naruto hamming it up. Slowly, a camaraderie was built between the two based in a mutual respect (and a little affection) for each other. Kimiko even introduced Naruto to a few of her friends that would come by to see 'the great Tsunade-sama' training him into the ground.
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Six months into Naruto's training, Tsunade began sparring with Naruto.
She would never go all out, as they both knew that Naruto simply wouldn't be able to keep up. Besides that, Tsunade wasn't letting him do it in his usual manner. Naruto had to balance on one hand or foot, and he lost as soon as he couldn't stay on just one limb. He couldn't stay on a single limb for less than ten seconds or more than thirty seconds, either. When she tried to hit him, Naruto could either evade or block with one of his other three appendages.
Needless to say, Naruto got his ass handed to him for the first three months. His balance simply wasn't at a level to keep him on one limb for extended periods of time. As time went on, however, Naruto got better at keeping himself from falling over. Eventually, Tsunade challenged him to take it to new heights.
"Alright Naruto, your balance has gotten good enough to fight on just one limb at a time. From now on, you will only be allowed to balance on one limb for the duration of the fight. When you land on another limb, you lose. Eventually you will move, fight and block with just one limb. When you've gotten good enough at that, you will evade on just one finger or the tips of your toes without blocking."
Naruto's jaw dropped. It was hard enough already! There was no way he could keep this up for extended periods of time! He'd fall over too quickly. "Baachan, please, there's no way I'll be able to do all that! It's a waste of time to try! I could be learning actual taijutsu during this time!"
"Taijutsu is a waste if you don't know what your body can do, and you'll never know if you don't try Naruto! If you want to get stronger, you have to learn to try for the impossible until it happens! People never thought a girl could rely on physical strength, but I'm one of the strongest ninja in the world!" Tsunade's face split into an evil grin. "Now choose a limb and let's get started! I've still got a lot to... teach you!"