Hokage no Isan Chapter 32, a naruto fanfic

Ah...nothing like a good meal, wouldn;t you agree, Saladin?

Saladin(Big Boss): Call me John.

Kyugan: Nah, professional courtesy n'all...besides, Saladin just sounds cooler. (Snorts) Funny, never thought I'd ever stomach Kakashi.

Big Boss: He's not that bad, especially with teriyaki sauce.

Kyugan: Lord Quadros, love your work. Thast said, let's get this show on the road!

Sandaime's teachings; advancement and searching!

"Where the heck's Domon?" Recca grumbled, scratching his belly as he came out of the bathroom, looking at the clock. The giant had been missing for several hours now, which was unlike him, "He's late what the hell's he doing?"

"Probably too stuffed to move." Naruto commented, sighing as he finished his tenth bowl of take away ramen, "This stuff's just not the same as Ichiraku's"

"NOTHING can compare to Ichiraku ramen." Recca corrected, picking up a bowl himself "That isn't really fair of you comparing this to old man Teuchi's stuff."

Jiraiya sweatdropped as he listened in on their conversation, 'Is ramen really the only thing they talk about?' he wondered, having listened in on earlier conversations and heard nothing but ramen comparisons and praises for Ichiraku, 'I mean I'll admit that Teuchi's ramen is damn good stuff, almost as good as sex even, but come on!'

"I'm sure Domon's fine." the sennin called out cryptically, waving his hands dismissively, "I mean, who's gonna be stupid enough to pick a fight with HIM?"

Domon sneezed, before shaking his head and looking over the Doton scroll Jiraiya had given him. Sure enough, the jutsu were all written in the Sandaime's elegant script, with simple basic kanji at the side for those with trouble reading the classical.

'Old man's always was considerate.' The giant noted fondly, recalling how the old man had helped him out at the very beginning, 'He deserved a lot better than what he got.'

The memory of the Sandaime's funeral and the weeping Konohamaru made the giant's face darken, before looking over the scroll with a frown. "Doton: Doryuuheki," he muttered, "Summon's a defensive wall of mud and rock from within the body." He grimaced at the idea of vomiting out mud, but decided it was as good a start as any."

Domon flipped through the seals before gathering his chakra, He felt something rise up in his throat, making him gag, before barfing out a small amount of mud. "BLEGH!" the giant retched, trying to clear out the rest, "How in the hell did the old man do this without puking his guts out?!"

He grimaced, before wiping his mouth and getting to his feet, going through the seals again. 'I ain't giving up,' he muttered, 'I owe the old man way too much to back down now.' He gathered the chakra into the seals and braced himself for the mud.

Fuko sighed as she looked out the window, eyeing the moon as it hovered in the air. 'Bakas' she muttered, growling as the image of Recca, Domon and Naruto crossed her vision, grinning like the fools they were, 'Leaving me out of the action again, how dare they!'

"Can't sleep?" Yanagi called out, causing the fujin mistress to turn to the healer, "I miss them too." Yanagi offered, "But we shouldn't worry, Recca-kun and Domon-kun are strong, and Naruto-kun is with them too!"

Fuko chuckled, looking down at Recca's Hime with fond eyes, 'You really are something else Yanagi,' she muttered, 'I can see why I lost Recca to you.'

"I ain't worried about Recca or the shrimp," she countered aloud, looking out the window stubbornly, "It's that big brainless mass of muscle that's got me worried." She shrugged, shaking her shoulders, "I mean come on! Sure he's strong and he's smarter than he looks, it still doesn't change the fact he's thick as a post!" she growled, a low rumbling sound that would have earned a look from a certain Inuzuka, "Plus they're traveling with the grandmaster of all perverts, I'll bet they're messing around in the red-light district and…"

She continued to rant on, only to pause, blinking as she noticed the smile on Yanagi's face. "Fuko-chan," the healer noted innocently, "You really care about Domon-kun don't you?"

Fuko flushed magenta, before hurling her pillows at the girl, the two engaging in a pillow fight that lasted for the rest of the evening.

'Dammit,' the fuujin mistress gasped, as she finally collapsed from exhaustion, 'when did Yanagi get so damn insightful?' she rolled over, eyeing the moon in disgust as Domon's ugly mug appeared on it's face. 'Baka,' she muttered, hugging the pillow tight, 'come back safe.'

Domon grimaced as he panted for breath, each sounding a little gravely, pun intended. The giant had been practicing for hours now, and the only mud he'd managed to produce had been small bursts that had been mixed with bile. 'I'm not putting enough chakra into it,' he deduced, 'but every time the mud forms I choke, and that breaks my concentration.' He inhaled again, before fixing his eyes in a glare as he went through he seals again.

'Gotta hold on,' he muttered, amassing as much chakra as he could, 'Gotta keep the chakra flowing no matter what!'

He winced as the final seal was finished, the now familiar feeling of mud forming in his throat, only this time, he refused to let it gag him. Instead, he pumped even more chakra into the jutsu, forcing the mud into his mouth, causing his cheeks to bulge.

'Doton: Doryuuheki!'

Naruto looked up, gazing out the window in concern, "Recca…" he muttered, earning a grunt from his aniki.

"I felt it too." The other teen admitted, sitting up on his elbows slightly to look at his outoto, his face alert and wary "What was that?"

"Dunno…" Naruto admitted, looking out the window again, "You…you don't think…Domon…"

Recca scoffed and rolled over in his futon, "Nah, nothing bad's gonna happen to the big lug." He grinned at his Outoto, "Cause Domon's a bad thing that happens to everyone else, remember?"

"Well that's true." The blonde agreed, diving under the covers again and trying to get comfortable. "Lord knows he snores something awful…"

Domon blinked, coming to with a jolt as he felt a breeze blowing over his face. The Giant sat up, and nearly toppled over as his hand missed the ground. 'Wait…aren't I SITTING on the ground?' he wondered, before looking down and choking back a yelp as he realized just where he'd passed out on.

A small artificial wall of earth and mud had formed, a good five stories high. The lights of the city were visible on the horizon as the Giant gazed out in awe.

'Sugoi…!' Domon muttered, getting to his feet carefully as he looked around 'Though not very practical, the old man probably only used it for defensive purposes.' He looked over his handiwork in awe, before flinching as he realized this was EXACTLY what he'd been warned not to do.

'Can't have that Mibu-Yaro arresting me for using my jutsu near the city,' the giant muttered, raising his hand over his head as he prepared clenched his fist, "FUTAE NO KIWAMI!"

Saito smirked as he exhaled, eyeing the smoke from the collapsed mud wall with interest, "A shame," he muttered, "I was considering asking him to join the police if he got caught." He dropped his cigarette, crushing it under one foot, "Well now, I had best make my report soon…so many interesting things happening today."

Unaware of the near escape, Domon caught his breath, munching on a pill to restore his chakra as he ran over the jutsu instructions. 'Like I thought, purely defensive in nature.' The giant muttered, looking over the Sandaime's notes carefully, 'Probably could come in handy if I were facing something like a Suiryuudan or even some of the lesser Karyuu, but against Koku-Oyaji and Kurenai…' he shivered as he recalled the flame that could melt steel.

Shaking himself, the giant got to his feet, deciding that what he needed right now was to focus on his training. 'Lessee…the next jutsu looks promising.' He noted, picking up the scroll, 'Doton: Doryuu Taiga: Creates a river of mud that can impeded or trap the opponent.'

He looked over the jutsu for a few minutes before nodding, gathering his chakra.

Tokiya sat cross-legged on a small island in the middle of a river. The teen was meditating, gathering his wits about him as he listened to the water flowing past him. 'The invasion from Otogakure and Sunagakure caught me off guard.' He muttered, a frown marring his features, 'I should have noticed the signs earlier.'

Something moved to his left, causing the teen to respond by striking out with Ensui, severing the dragonfly cleanly in half. 'My skills are deadening,' he muttered, replacing the weapon at his side, 'I must be better prepared next time.'

"So this is where you were." A voice called out, causing him to look up into Haku's amused features, "Kagero-san sent me to find you, apparently Homura-sama wishes to see you."

Tokiya raised a delicate eyebrow, before shrugging, getting to his feet with nary a hair out of place. He paused as she placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly. "I know a faster way," Haku stated, making a ram seal, water enveloping the two, only to splash to the ground as Haku teleported. Tokiya didn;t even blink as the water enveloped them, standing to attention as they appeared in the council chambers, startling the two elderly ninjas.

"Ah, Tokiya-kun," Koharu greeted, nodding as she took in the former mist nin behind the teen, "And Haku-chan was it? Thank you for brining him here."

Haku bowed, before dismissing herself, walking out the council doors with an encouraging look at Mikagami.

"You summoned me?" Tokiya asked, looking between the two council members respectfully. Internally though, he was on edge, as he wasn't as trusting as his teammates, and suspected there was an ulterior motive to this summons.

"I won't tell you to relax." Homura stated, drawing the teen's attention, "however, it has come to our attention that you and your team provided a tremendous service during the invasion at the chunin exams."

Koharu held up a sheet, which Tokiya suspected was an ANBU report, "You personally took down twenty chunin ranked shinobi," she noted, "whilst you teammates handled themselves in a manner best fitting for Konoha kunoichi."

"Kirisawa Fuko for example," Homura noted, "I understand that she single-handedly took on at least four three man squads, each of at least chunin rank, whilst Sakoshita Yanagi provided valuable medical support."

"Seventeen Chunin, one jounin and no less than seven ANBU owe their lives to that girl's endeavors." Koharu noted, smiling in a proud sort of way Tokiya didn't like but understood, "She isn't quite on par with Tsunade yet, but given time I believe she could actually surpass her."

"Tsunade?" Tokiya repeated, "Of the Densetsu no Sannin? The legendary medic-nin who revolutionized the platoon formations by including medic Nins with each squad?"

"You're well informed," Homura stated approvingly, "Yes, and if Jiraiya's mission goes well, the future Godaime Hokage."

Tokiya blinked at this, "Jiraiya? The gama sennin?" he looked between the two, "And Godaime? You've already decided on a Godaime?"

"It is necessary," Koharu stated, "Konoha must appear as outwardly strong as ever, and to reinforce that image, a new Hokage was needed."

"We originally intended Jiraiya to be the Godaime," Homura stated, "But he convinced us that Tsunade would make a better choice."

"She is a direct descendant of Shodai Hokage-sama," Tokiya noted, "If anyone is best suited for the job it would be her." He nodded "That, and the anointment of the first female Kage could be regarded as a revolutionary point in shinobi history."

Koharu chuckled at this, shooting the teen an approving look while Homura nodded in agreement. "That aside," the elderly kunoichi cut in, "As a reward for you assistance during the Chunin exams, we are hereby bestowing the rank of Chunin upon yourself and Fuko-chan." She nodded as an aide appeared with a chunin vest in his hands, "Please continue to serve the leaf as you have."

Tokiya accepted the vest with care, bowing to the council members respectfully, before turning on his heel and leaving. 'I've one upped you again Recca,' the swordsman thought with a wry smile, 'you had best hurry back and train harder, if you hope to surpass me.'

"A very insightful young man." Homura noted as the doors closed behind the departing swordsman, "And he raised several valid points about Tsunade's appointment."

"A shame we couldn't promote Yanagi-chan as well," Koharu noted, "But until she masters the rudimentary basics we cannot let her by, even with her miraculous gift."

Homura nodded, running his eyes over the list of shinobi carefully. "There are several other qualified members," he noted, "Nara Shikamaru acted like a leader should, using his head and the terrain rather than lunging in headfirst. " he flipped past the Nara's file, "Ishijima Domon's use of the terrain was no less spectacular, but I believe he's relying too much on brute force at the moment."

"He made good use of his skills however." Koharu noted, "Quite the creative use of Kage bunshin and Shinju Zanshu I thought."

"Then there's Hanabishi Recca," Homura muttered, shivering as he recalled the enjutsu-shi's Karyuu, "a most surprising young man…though that temper…"

"A real hothead," Koharu replied with a snort, "Rather like Sarutobi in his youth." She recalled, eyeing the chair before them fondly.

Homura cleared his throat, before eyeing the list carefully. "Those two, along with Nara Shikamaru, were part of the four man group sent to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke during the invasion."

"Who was the fourth member?" Koharu asked, looking over the paperwork carefully, "I understand they fought against the Suna Jinchuuriki."

"Uzumaki Naruto." Homura replied, causing Koharu to look up in shock, "According to the ANBU report, he fought with Sabaku no Gaara to a standstill, before allowing the teen to escape with his siblings."

"Sympathy for his fellow jinchuuriki?" Koharu noted, looking troubled, "Still, I never would have thought he would be able to face down Shukaku so easily."

"Sarutobi always spoke highly of the boy." Homura noted with a nod, "He seemed determined that the boy would accomplish great things."

Koharu was silent for a moment, before turning back to the lists, a frown on her face. "Where is the blonde horror anyway?" she muttered, "I haven't heard any complaints about his behavior, not that I'm complaining."

"I understand Jiraiya recruited him, along with Recca and Domon-kun to retrieve Tsunade." Homura replied, causing his teammate to stare at him in shock, "He seemed quite adamant that he bring Naruto along, I guess he decided to bring the other two with him."

Koharu threw her arms in the air and shook her head, before getting out of her chair and marching off, muttering under her breath about 'perverted brats' and 'corrupting the youth.'

Outside Konoha hospital, all was quiet, save for the rustling of leaves and the sound of chirping birds. Not that any of this bothered the slumbering form of Uchiha Sasuke, who had been placed here by a combination of Maito Gai and his Uchiha status bypassing all red tape required to admit him.

A medic team had checked him over, healing his broken wrist and replacing the seal that kept his severed right arm from healing over until it could be re-attached. Sadly, however, they had remained unable to remove the genjutsu set in place by Itachi, which was slowly but surely driving the teen insane.

Sitting at his bedside, Haruno Sakura gripped the sheets between trembling fingers. The pink-haired kunoichi had seen the teen being carried in, along with half the population of Konoha, and had been keeping a silent vigil at his side for hours on end, despite the annoyance of the hospital staff, who told her to find something else to do, like TRAIN. Sakura refused to listen, only leaving when visiting hours were over, and the ANBU arrived to escort her off the premises and ensure she STAYED off them.

'Sasuke-kun,' she thought sadly, eyeing the unconscious avenger desperately as she gripped the hem of her dress, 'What's happening to you?'

Sasuke screamed as he watched on as Itachi murdered his parents, again and again, before his eyes. The Uchiha tried to look away, tried to close his eyes, but the visions followed him, and his eyes refused to close.

"You're weak," Itachi's echoing voice announced mockingly, "Why're you so weak?" Sasuke screamed as the blood gushed around him like rapids, "Because you lack HATRED."

"ITACHI!!" Sasuke roared, flailing around as the image of his brother changed into a flock of Sharingan wielding crows, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The teen's screams echoed around the darkness, as a massive pair of Sharingan eyes loomed overhead.

"You're weak."

Sakura blinked as Sasuke twitched, eyes trembling slightly, only to remain unconscious, no matter how hard she called out to him. Had she looked a little closer, she'd have noticed the Tenfuuin on the Uchiha's neck flash a dull crimson within the confines of it's seal, as it responded to it's wearers pain and anger.

Orochimaru screamed hoarsely, coughing up blood as the pain in his arms reached its zenith, only to dull down again, leaving the injured sennin feeling like he was being flayed alive. There was nothing that Kabuto, who had studied medicine under his adoptive father, the chief of the Konoha medical unit, could do, as it appeared the arms were virtually rotting from the inside as a result of the Sandaime's final jutsu.

'Chakra Leprosy, truly a masterful stroke,' the young medic-nin noted, as the enraged snake sennin murdered his assistant in a pain filled rage, 'Orochimaru-sama's jutsu were his life, without them he's reduced to this.'

He leant against the wall, waiting for the screams to die down as he shook his head in amusement, 'To think the old fossil could be so vindictive,' he muttered, recalling the gentle smile on the Sandaime's weathered features, 'but then again, he was clutching at straws when he couldn't finish the job.'

"You really should take the medicine," he chastised, looking over the bloodstained room in mild indifference, "Oh dear, I get back only to have to clean the room?"

"I don't need your useless drugs," Orochimaru hissed, glaring silent death at the silver haired teen, who responded by pushing up his glasses.

"I mixed that batch myself," Kabuto replied calmly, "at the very least, it should alleviate your pain somewhat."

Orochimaru fell silent, Kabuto taking that as permission to step closer to his master. "I feel like my arms are burning from within," the sennin rasped painfully, eyeing his arms as they lay lifeless across the sheets, covered in bloodstained bandages, "I never expected to be injured this much."

"Well," Kabuto noted, stepping delicately around the corpse on the floor, "They ARE the result of Sandaime Sarutobi's final curse, it stands to reason the pain should be immense."

"Cut the shit," Orochimaru snapped, closing his eyes for a moment, only to eye the teen wearily, "did you…find HER?"

"Hai," Kabuto nodded, face growing serious, as he looked the sennin in the eye "She was last seen hanging round Tanzaku-gai."

"…Tanzaku-gai…" Orochimaru repeated, a weak sneer forming across his pale features, "is that so?"

Kabuto nodded, "However, it most likely wont be easy to capture her." He stated, only for the sennin to snort.

"The best medicine…" Orochimaru noted, hair covering his face like something out of a horror film "Is always the hardest to find, ne?"

Kabuto waited as the sennin continued to breath laboriously, before turning on his heel, "I'll make arrangements for the trip," he conveyed, "Please take the medicine and get your rest."

Orochimaru grimaced, shooting his tongue out to grasp the damnable bottle that sat on his bedside table, swallowing the medication, only to hurl the bottle at the wall in disgust. "BLEAAAGGH!" he spat, retching at the taste, his arms flaring up again not helping the pounding headache the drugs brought on. "Damn you…Sandaime!"

Iruka sighed as he looked over the class before him. It was quiet, unusually so considering the fact that almost every student had taken up the 'prank master' challenge and was trying to outdo the others. The worst suspects were the late Sandaime's grandson, his two friends Moegi and Udon, and two new additions called Koganei Kaoru and Morikawa Ganko.

The former was like a monkey on a sugar rush, oddly reminiscent of Recca except a great deal cuter. This had snared him quite a fan club of young female admirers, though he apparently basked in their attention, unlike a certain Uchiha we all know. Ganko was quiet, paying attention in class except for the few minutes before break, where she'd fidget about until the bell went. Iruka discovered she and Moegi had gotten together and formed a small circle of friends who would come up with a variety of games.

'It's good to see kids being kids,' the chunin thought with a smile, 'though sometimes they can get a little out of hand.'

As if to testify to this, a fight had apparently broken out between Kaoru and Konohamaru, the former trying to strangle the latter with his own scarf whilst the latter tried to rip the formers hair out. Iruka, of course, handled the situation with all the calm and experience of his years as an instructor. This basically meant that after traumatizing the brats with his 'giant evil head no jutsu', he had the whole lot running laps, with the two troublemakers wearing weighted shoes.

'This takes me back,' he muttered, recalling how he used to chase Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji around the academy, Oni club in hand and breathing hellfire as he tried to teach the delinquents the values of sitting down and keeping your trap shut in class. 'I wonder what happened between those four?' he wondered, recalling how the other three had drifted away from Naruto as they got older, 'They used to be so close, but before they graduated Kiba and the others could have cared less about him.'

Sighing, he turned his attention back to the runners; only to discover the Konohamaru corps had snuck off, taking Kaoru along with them. "All of you, report to the lecture hall for chakra reviews!" he instructed the remaining children, waiting until the last of the innocent were out of range before storming off, an Oni club appearing in his hand from out of thin air.

With a roar of "SPIFLICATION!" the irate chunin stormed into town, heralding doom, destruction, and the mother of all canings if he got his hands on his truant students.

Konohamaru shivered, before his eyes widened in horror as the dieing echo of Iruka's war cry reached his ears. The youngest Sarutobi looked around for a hiding place, as his followers gathered around him in fear. "This way!" Kaoru yelled, pointing down an alleyway, the others following suit, just as Iruka stormed past, head enlarged and spitting fire, "Man I've never seen him do that!"

"Stick around," Konohamaru panted, "I heard the only reason he took up teaching was because they couldn't handle him in the ANBU anymore."

"I heard he's doing it as part of his community service." Moegi whimpered, "And that he got it for screwing up a mission by killing everyone."

"I heard he VOLUNTEERED to teach at the academy." Udon muttered, sniffing as his nose continued to run. The others stared at him in horror as they hugged each other in fear.

After all, anyone who voluntarily commits themselves to a life of teaching underage brats how to grow up to kill people for a living obviously needed their head checked.

Kukai grimaced as he looked down at the remains of the ritual used to summon the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages during the battle with Orochimaru. 'To use one's own comrades,' he muttered, flinching at the sight of Zaku's corpse, 'and children no less!'

Kukai prayed he never met Orochimaru in person, if he did he feared he could transform into his 'Akuma' state right off the bat.

"Kukai-shihan!" Daikoku called out, catching his leader's attention, "Come see this!"

Kukai looked over, before blinking in surprise as he noticed the figure held in the staff master's arms, trembling from exhaustion and starvation, wrapped in an emergency cloth the man had brought with him. "A survivor?" the merciful assassin wondered, looking the slim figure over carefully, "I thought the ritual required human sacrifices?"

"It does," Minamio replied "according to the ANBU report however, Orochimaru attempted to summon THREE corpses, which leaves me to believe that the third summoning failed."

"Meaning the sacrifice was negated." Kukai muttered, looking over at the trembling form of Tsuchi Kin, naked save for the blanket Daikoku had wrapped around her. "Alert the medical squad, tell them there's a survivor." He eyed the trembling girl carefully, "At the very least, we can evaluate the strength of Otogakure's shinobi forces from her memory."

Domon gasped for breath as he watched the mud settle down as his chakra died out. He'd been practicing for several hours now and he was starting to feel the results, namely chakra drain and exhaustion. "I'd better give it a rest," the giant muttered, "If I keep this up I'm sure to collapse."

Gathering his tools about him, the giant checked the area over, before nodding, satisfied he'd left nothing suspicious lying around. "Wonder if there's an all night ramen stand nearby?" he wondered, stomach demanding a sacrifice of foodstuffs; "I could MURDER a good twenty bowls right now!"

Grinning to himself the giant walked off into the night, letting his feet carry him down the streets as he searched for the food of the Gods, unaware of the events that had occurred around him, nor of the developments that were occurring back home.

Tsunade grumbled as she stalked out of the pachinko parlor, Shizune at her side, Ton-ton secured in her arms. The blonde sennin had lost, spectacularly, and had gotten into a fight with security as a result. As such she was currently debating whether or not to remain in the area, when a flyer caught her attention.

'Festival?' she wondered, 'All day Sake and pachinko? Gamblers heaven?' she grinned and turned on her heel, dragging a confused Shizune along with her, "Come on! I found a great place to gamble!"

"Tsunade-sama-!" Shizune wept, tears streaming down her face like waterfalls, knowing from experience this wasn't going to end well.

Things are picking up back home as well. Will thingsa finally get in gear? Or will Naruto remain stuck on the first stage?

Eva: You really enjoy leading people on don;t you?

Kyugan: (smirks, giving a mock bow) Guilty as charged.

R&R!!