Hokage no Isan Chapter 33, a naruto fanfic

Ah, nothing like posting a new chapter at 'holy shit look at the time' in the morning.

Big Boss: You really shouldn't be staying up late...it's bad for your stamina.

Kyugan: Bah, Stamina means nothing to me...or you it would seem, seriously, theres like ten layers of steel between your room and my office and I copuld hear everything.

Big Boss: What can I say, it's a talent.

Kakashi: The...beauty...

Big Boss: (Points patriot ant him) I charge per viewing(Fires the gun) Payment in full

Kakashi: MY...MY BALLZ!

Kyugan: Ha ha...dangly parts.

Training blues; Earth, Flame and Spiral!

"Where the hell were you last night?" Recca asked, tucking into breakfast, as Domon walked in the door, looking like a buried gorilla.

"Can't say." The giant teen replied, looking haggard as he dug into a bowl of rice that Naruto passed his way. Mastering the jutsu had lasted way longer than he'd thought, and apparently there were no food vendors out that night so he'd had to trudge back home just as the sun was rising. As it was, he was planning to train again after lunch, so the teen decided to get some rest before then.

Jiraiya, mistaking the look of exhaustion on the giant's face, grinned and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Hoh? You snuck out to the red light district without your sensei?" he teased, "Good going lad!"

Jiraiya's cackle was quickly silenced by Domon's fist ramming into the sennin's mouth. "HELL NO!" the giant roared, causing birds to take flight in the distance, "MY BODY BELONGS TO FUKO!"

Naruto sweatdropped and eyed the smoking, twisted heap that was Jiraiya with a sigh, "Could you save pummeling him until AFTER he trains me?" he asked, shooting a meaningful look towards his teammate, who grunted in a non-committal manner.

"Oooooh Tsunade…" Jiraiya tittered, feeling up a pillow in his concussion-induced slumber "Your melons are the best…"

Tsunade sneezed, blinking in shock as the dice rolled snake eyes, heralding yet another defeat for the slug sennin. "HEEEEE!" Shizune shrieked, clutching Ton-ton in a death grip, causing the porker to turn blue from lack of oxygen. "And we bet double or nothing!"

"Oi, Nee-chan…" the gambler leered, eyeing the buxom blonde and her assistant in a provocative manner, "Anything else you care to wager, hmm?" He blinked as a distinct Tsunade shaped outline hovered in the air, before fading as the sannin made for the hills, disguised as a three year old, her assistant and pet in tow.

Naruto glared at the ball as he felt the water within rotate wildly, 'Come on you rubber bastard!" the teen swore, 'BURST!'

"Problems in paradise?"

Naruto sweatdropped and turned to face a grinning Jiraiya, who was leaning against a tree. "Eh…hi Ero-sennin." He greeted.

Jiraiya twitched at the title and shot his would-be apprentice a glare, "Stop calling me that." He warned, before walking over to the blonde's side, "And just how have things been going?"

Naruto sighed, glaring at the sphere in annoyance, "I keep trying to get the thing to rotate hard enough to pop," he explained, "But all it does is rotate to the left!"

Jiraiya smirked at the teen's frustration, but nodded at how well he'd come along, "You've done well so far," the sennin admitted "especially by being able to tell which way the chakra rotates." He stepped up to the teen and placed his palm on his head for a moment. "As I thought, a right rotation."

Naruto shook the man's hand off and stared at him in confusion, "Uh…didn't I just say it rotates to the left?" he deadpanned.

"The water in the balloon may do so," Jiraiya allotted, "but your inner chakra system regulates your chakra flow in a clockwise manner, i.e. to the right." He nodded at the teen's look of confusion, "In other words, for this lesson to be completed, you must first force the water in the balloon to rotate in the OPPOSITE direction of your own rotation, disrupting the chakra flow since it isn't in harmony with your body."

Naruto frowned, before his eyes widened in understanding, "In other words, I have to force the water to storm about violently in all directions, like in a storm!"

Jiraiya felt an odd feeling of joy at the blonde's revelation, like one receives after watching their grandson say his first dirty word, a feeling of elation and concern; elation that he had figured it out, and concern because it meant he was developing rather fast. "Basically, yeah." He agreed, patting the teen on the head, "All you need to do is bring out the jutsu in you, and on the plus side, there's no need to memorize any complicated seals."

Naruto grinned and punched the air in determination, "Right! I'll have completely mastered this jutsu in three days!" he yelled, pausing at the look on his sensei's face.

"This jutsu," Jiraiya explained solemnly, "is one the Yondaime left behind." Naruto winced at the mention of the fourth Hokage, but looked up as Jiraiya raised three fingers into the air. "The Yondaime was only able to perfect this jutsu after three years of trial and error," the sennin explained, "In appreciation of his efforts, this was regarded as an A-class high level jutsu." He shot the shocked blonde a serious look, "In order to properly comprehend this jutsu, you need to be at the third level of control," he nodded at the sphere in the teen's hands, "This is only the first."

Naruto stared at the man, thunderstruck, before staring down at the balloon in his hands. 'It took even the Yondaime three years to master this technique.' He muttered, still bitter at the man's actions but nonetheless enawed at his prowess, 'And he was already Hokage by that point too…or at least well on the way.'

"Explaining how to master the stages of the jutsu is pointless," Jiraiya stated "You need to figure it out for yourself or you'll never learn a thing." He turned on his heel and nodded, "I'm heading off to gather information, you keep at it, 'kay?"

When no reply came, the sennin looked back to see the blonde staring intently at the sphere. "Naruto?" he called out, causing the blonde to smile up at him. "Go on Ero-sennin," the blonde urged the man, "I'm sure you'd rather be flirting that teaching me anyways."

Jiraiya was surprised to discover that, for once in his life, this actually WASN'T the case, but far be it for him to look a gift horse in the mouth. And so he made for the local bars and gambling halls, his mind reeling with new ideas on how to train the teen.

Recca sat before Koku in the barren desert that served as his mindscape. The teen had chosen to prevent the old geezer from spying on the beauties at the onsen again and demanded he perform the lessons in here.

"On the subject we discussed earlier." Koku began, "Incorporating a soul into your inner flame is not as easy as it sounds, it requires a degree of control that few dare to learn." He held up a finger, "For example, Kurei was already well versed in the power of his flame prior to Kurenai's death, as such, his desire to keep her with him probably gave him he extra boost needed to make her dwindling flame a part of his own."

Recca scowled at the man, "What about Jisho?" he pointed out, "Kurei was nowhere near him when Magensha blasted him!"

"It matters not that you are present for their death." Koku countered, "A soul will linger about their body for a day at most, unless some unfinished business keeps them from moving on," he pushed his sunglasses up, "In either case, Kurei was able to add Jisho to his flame because Jisho's soul lingered in this world."

Recca shivered at the thought, before shaking it off and eyeing the elderly Karyuu carefully, "So how exactly does one incorporate a soul into the inner flame?" he asked.

Koku nodded and waved his hand, pulling a scroll out of mid-air. "The Hokage first discovered the technique when an enjutsu-shi, saddened by the death of one he loved, used his flame to cremate the corpse until nothing remained, not even ash. To his shock, his flame changed to take on the shape of the deceased, and grew stronger as a result."

The Karyuu shot his student a look, "But do not assume that it is a PERMANENT change," he warned, "With the exception of the Karyuu, who are, in essence, the SOURCE of your flame, all other mortal flames can be released from your own should you deem it so." The old man sighed and looked up at the sky, "Some may ask it of you in dreams, others may have served their usefulness and thus suit no more purpose." He looked at the teen, "Regardless, once they have been released from your flame, they will pass on to go to either eternal rest or damnation, depending on their past sins."

Recca shivered, before looking at the scroll, "So what am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, earning a nod from Koku.

"That scroll is the complete documentation of the Hokage enjutsu-shi who have seen fit to incorporate the flames of others into their own." He explained, "Read it, memorize it, and learn from their words." He ordered, walking off into the dunes, "More than that…is up to you."

And with that he left the teen, disappearing in a burst of flames.

Domon grunted as he leapt back, flipping through the seals as his kage bunshin charged towards him. "Doton: Doryuu Taiga!" he called out, making the final seal just as a river of mud formed under the clone, tripping it up and sending it backwards to slam into a boulder.

"Finally got it down," the giant muttered, pausing for a breath as he pulled the scroll out and read over it, "Lessee here…the next one looks interesting, 'Doton: Doryuudan; launches mud missiles at the enemy.'" He grimaced as he noticed that there weren't that many earth jutsu remaining on the list, seeing as he already mastered the Shinjuu Zanshu.

"Everything after this is Katon and Fuuin Jutsu," he muttered, blinking as he noticed something near the end, "Shiki Fuuin?" he wondered aloud, "Sounds kinda cool…"

Jiraiya stared blankly into his sake bottle, having forgone the cup in favor of cutting out the middleman, a habit he'd picked up from his teammate, who he had yet to find a trace of.

The bear of a man had entered the bar with every intention of carrying on as normal, appearing to be a big drunken pervert whilst coveting any clues and guilty feels he could manage. It was a long tested method that never failed unless he bumped into someone he knew, owed money to or felt up, and normally would last him the whole night, even if he didn't find what he was looking for. But now he was staring silently into the same bottle, having only taken one sip the entire time.

The reason for his unusual bout of sobriety was a certain blonde hell-raiser he'd taken under his wing. Never had the sennin seen potential of that kind since he'd seen Arashi leave to battle the Kyuubi, never had he been subjected to such a harsh tongue since Kushina had disappeared prior to the attack. And never had the toad sennin encountered such grim determination to succeed since he vowed to surpass Orochimaru, years ago when they were still but mere genin, ignorant of the roles that lay ahead of them.

'Baka-hebi.' He muttered, taking a sip from the bottle, 'Never did know how his mind worked back then.'

While it was true Jiraiya and Orochimaru hadn't exactly been close, akin to a certain blonde and Uchiha if you were to make comparisons, there had existed a level of trust between them that enabled them to entrust their backs to one another. Many a time on a mission had Orochimaru pulled Jiraiya's ass out of the danger zone, only for the man to return the favor later along the line.

As things currently stood, Jiraiya still owed Orochimaru one before they could be quits, not that he ever told it to anyone.

"Looking for some company?" a sultry voice asked at his side. The perverted sennin turned slightly to take in one of the bar's trademark 'gold-diggers', flattering smile in place as she sized him up.

"Perhaps," he admitted, ruffling in his robe for a picture, "Think you could help me out?" The woman smiled and sat on the stool next to him, blinking as a photo was shoved under her nose. "I'm looking for this woman." Jiraiya muttered, "though I can't see why, she's got nothing on you."

The woman flushed and batted his hand, "OH really now!"

'Hook line and sinker.' Jiraiya deadpanned, though on the outside he was grinning like a fool, 'Tsunade, you better not have gotten yourself killed, or I'm gonna be REALLY annoyed.'

The slug sennin sneezed and looked around the pachinko hall, wondering what was going on, before shrugging it off and pulling the lever down. 'This time for sure!' she predicted, only to slump as the machine mocked her futile efforts.

Shizune sighed and hugged Ton-ton tighter, knowing it was going to take a while before the sennin got the message and gave up.

Domon grimaced as he sat down, having forgone looking over the rest of the jutsu list until he'd mastered the basic Doton skills. As it were, he'd been training with the Doryuudan, but was having trouble getting it down right, the last endeavor successfully summoning the mud dragon, only to have it attack HIM.

'Damn,' he cursed, watching as the mud settled down as he gripped his shoulder, 'even a glancing blow feels like it could take my arm off.' He raised his arm and winced at the massive bite that ran up the side, 'good thing I packed some of that healing balm Hinata made for the shrimp.'

He sighed, pulling the small tub out and rubbing a healthy dose on his arm, sighing again at the faint sizzling noise as it got to work patching up his abused hide. 'Man, Hinata must have put some of her chakra into this stuff!' He muttered appreciatively, 'Ain't never seen a wound heal that fast 'cept for whenever Yanagi healed us.' He snorted, 'Not that musing over chakra's gonna figure out how ta beat this.'

Domon just knew that he was getting nowhere fast. The number of Earth jutsu with the leaf were sadly limited, and even the Sandaime, infamous for mastering all jutsu within Konoha, had few in his arsenal.

'My best bet would be to ambush some Iwa-nin and hope they're dumb enough to carry a scroll around.' He muttered, shaking his head ruefully, 'Like that's gonna happen, Iwa-nin don't just appear out of thin-!'

He paused, a memory at the back of his skull climbing to the fore and doing as jig as he recalled the encounter at the brothel. 'That guy was supposed to be a chunin right?' he wondered, getting to his feet, 'And he was really weak too!' Grinning ferally, the giant gripped his sword and dashed off, eager to put his theory to the test.

Akoki muttered as he sat at a bar, drinking sake as he brooded. Ever since the day he'd been sent flying like a kite in a storm, the townsfolk had been sending him looks of amusement. Where once people had looked at him in concern and fear there was only laughter and mockery.

'All because of those brats and that old fart!' the former chunin cursed, gripping his glass tightly, 'Dammit! Who were those bastards!'

"Oi, aniki!" his bald compatriot called out, pointing across the bar to a figure leaning against the wall, "There's that old fart!"

Akoki glared at the figure of Jiraiya as he smirked at him, before turning on his heel and marching out the door. 'Bastard!' he swore, getting to his feet, 'You're not getting away this time!'

The two former chunin charged out of the bar, only to blink in confusion at the deserted alleyway before them. "Where'd he go?" the Akoki muttered, only to jump as his companion let out a choking noise, spinning round only for a blade to pin him to the wall.

"Nice night, ain't it?" Domon greeted, dispelling the henge right in front of the former chunin. He held Kubikiri Houcho in one hand, the bald thug's neck secured in the hole in the blade as he placed the arch over Akoki's throat. "You guys are former Iwagakure shinobi right? That means you must have a few Doton Scrolls on you."

Akoki stared into the grinning face of the giant genin, noting the light of insanity in his eyes as he leaned closer. The former chunin had never felt so outright terrified in his life, not even when the traitor Deidara had threatened to blast off his balls all those years ago.

"Whadd'ya say?" Domon offered, pressing the edge forward ever so slightly, "your jutsu, or your life?"

Akoki shivered, a wet patch growing on his designer pants as he tried to nod without severing his own jugular.

'Too easy,' Domon muttered in disgust, leaving the unconscious duo tied to a post, unconscious and humiliated, 'I almost feel bad picking on weaklings like that, makes me look like the bad guy.' Shrugging it off, he opened the scroll Akoki had on his person and raised an eyebrow, 'Keisaigakure no jutsu…Doton: Iwa Yado Kuzushi…Doton: Retsudo Tenshou…Doton: Doryuu Jouheki…' he whistled appreciatively, before shutting the scroll with a snap, 'That should keep me tiding over for a while!'

Jiraiya stumbled back into the hotel room, reeking of booze and cheap perfume. His search had turned up empty, the woman not caring to go beyond her petty jealousy for his teammate's assets. 'Not that I blame her.' Jiraiya noted with a giggle, 'Tsunade's got more than her fair share going in THAT area at least.'

Grunting tiredly he decided it would be better to sleep off the booze than go out looking for the trio at the moment, and so he changed into his sleeping attire, climbed into a futon and promptly fell asleep, plotting the course of the next day, whilst deviantly putting his alcohol induced brain cells to work writing up the next installment for Icha-Icha.

'Lessee…the weary sage continued his quest for the princess, aided by a demon, a fox and a dragon…'

Across the town, the trio simultaneously sneezed, looking round in confusion, before promptly turning back to the tasks at hand.

Recca, for example, was nose deep in the scroll Koku had left him, memorizing every detail of his ancestors' lives, from those who mourned their friends, to those who incorporated them into their own flames.

Domon grit his teeth as he focused on channeling his chakra, the earth trembling as he readied himself for the worst.

Naruto clamped his hands over the ball and scowled, trying to visualize the chakra dancing around wildly, like a miniature storm.

All three, even though they were nowhere near each other, held the same thought in mind.

'I WILL succeed!'

Kenshin sighed as he approached his favorite hill, hoping to spend sometime meditating in the calm before returning home to do the laundry at the dojo. 'Kaoru-dono seems most testy lately,' he noted, wincing at the Katsujin-ken shihan's temper, 'but then, she wouldn't be Kaoru-dono if she wasn't.'

He blinked as he reached the outskirts of the town, looking around as he felt the earth rumble. 'Is there something coming?' he wondered, reaching for his sakabatou, 'No, only a stampede could cause this, but the woodland is too dense to permit such a charge…'

Deciding to investigate, he followed the echo to the source, blinking at the sight that lay before him. 'What…what on earth?' he wondered, blinking as he noticed the massive footprints in the earth, 'Whoever caused this…did so recently…' He stared across the barren earth that had once been a forest, the trees pushed aside to form a massive earthen wall, which had apparently been demolished, leaving rubble strewn all over the area.

'Such power,' he wondered, 'I know of no weapon available to man that could have ravaged the earth is such a manner.' He eyed the surroundings warily, wondering if the user was still nearby, 'No…this is not the act of a weapon…it would appear as if the earth itself rose up on it's own.'

His eyes caught the telltale signs of footprints, causing him to blink in confusion, 'Such large feet,' he noted, 'could he have witnessed this? Or was he the cause?'

Recca rolled up the scroll and sighed, before looking straight ahead at the desert beyond him. "You got something to say?" he asked, not looking behind him.

"Perhaps." Resshin allotted, hovering behind the teen in his monstrous Karyuu form, the soulless empty eyes staring down at the young enjutsu-shi. "Are you willing to listen?"

Recca shrugged, getting to his feet and popping his back into place, "Not really, but seeing as you're here and all, humor me."

The giant dragon snorted, lowering its head to look at his 'landlord', "That sassy mouth of yours is going to get you killed one of these days." He opined.

"Maybe so," Recca agreed cheekily, "But it'd be a waste to not sass people if they give you enough opportunity."

"Regardless." Resshin cut in, "I would hear your answer to the lesson."

Recca's eyes lost their cheerful look as he scowled, and for a moment, Resshin believed that the enjutsu-shi was going to be stubborn again, failing the lesson, but then he sighed and scratched his head, looking up at the Karyuu. "I can't really see myself using the flame on anyone." Recca admitted solemnly, "But I have to admit…if someone asked me to…or if I really felt the need to…" he clenched his fist and looked at it, "I'd want to keep them with me."

He looked up at Resshin and nodded, "So my answer is: I may not like it, but its part of what I am." He grinned and thumbed at himself "I'm Hanabishi Recca, leader of the Hokage ninja clan, I can't be afraid of my own flame!"

Resshin loomed over the teen, and for a moment, Recca feared he might have insulted the Karyuu in some way. Then Resshin seemed to smirk, fangs visible as he shook his head. "A good answer," the leader of the Hachiryuu conceded, "and with it you have earned my respect."

Recca winced as a familiar burning sensation crept up his arm, as he stared in shock at the eighth tattoo that appeared below Koku's. "Resshin," he muttered, looking up at the dragon as if in a daze, "you're…giving me your strength?"

Resshin didn't move but Recca could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile in those pupil-less eyes, "I foresee many challenges ahead," the dragon replied cryptically, "I only hope when it comes time to use my power…you will do so wisely."

And with that, the sand swept up, causing Recca to shield his eyes; when he opened them again, it was to find himself back in the real world.

"Yo, Hanabishi." Domon greeted as his rival and friend stumbled into the room, "You look wasted."

"Look who's talking." Recca countered, taking in the giant's battered expression, "Looks like you got mangled a bit yourself."

Domon shrugged, wincing as he patted the dust from himself, before scowling at the snoring form of Jiraiya. "Ero-sennin's been acting weird since I got back," he muttered, "Keeps giggling in his sleep and drooling on the pillows…gives me the creeps."

Recca shivered as he eyed the perverse grin on the sennin's face, "What else is new?" he muttered, "Every sensei we meet happens to be a pervert, and this guy's the source of those damn Hentai novels." He cast the giant a deadpan look, "you could say he's the source of pervertism."

"Hope it's not catching." A tired voice called out, causing the two to snap their heads towards the door, which closed behind an exhausted looking Naruto, "Yo."

"Where you been squirt?" Domon asked concernedly, noting the teen's apparent hunger and trembling hand.

"Training." Naruto replied, "trying to master the first stage of the Yondaime's jutsu."

Recca's eyebrow rose as he shot the blonde a look, "That jutsu's one of the Yondaime's?" he asked, "And here I was wondering if the guy did anything other than screw with your life."

Naruto snorted, though he made no attempt to further the conversation. During his training he came to accept the fact that the yondaime either simply hadn't KNOWN he was the Kyuubi's son, or that there had been no other choice but to use him. If anything the sandaime had said about the man was true, he was far too noble to ask a family to submit their child to the pain of being a jinchuuriki, and so the option remained to use an orphan, and hope for the best.

Didn't stop the blonde from disliking the man, no sir, but he could at least relate to his position.

A particularly disgusting snort from Jiraiya caught the trio's attention, as they shot him identical looks of disgust. "He reeks of booze too." Domon noted, waving a hand in front of his face, "Had to open the windows when I came in, couldn't wake him up to take a shower." He blinked as Naruto grinned in a distinctly vulpine manner, pulling out a water balloon and walking forwards.

The wise sage and his companions, after many hardships and trials, had finally located the princess. The sage, having single-handedly rescued her from the clutches of a greedy moneylender, was preparing to get down to some kinky monkey sex when all of a sudden…!

Jiraiya let out a yell as he was drenched in water, bolting upright and shaking it out of his mouth and nose in shock. "What the hell?!" he choked, before looking round to stare at the blonde, grinning figure that was holding up a wet palm from which dangled the remains of a water balloon.

"First stage mastered." Naruto boasted, dropping the remains of the balloon with a smirk, "Ready for the next, Ero-sennin?"

And Naruto makies good use of his training.

Will things get better? or will they get worse?

Kakashi: Ballz...river...of blood...

Kyugan: Ah shite...it's all over the floor (turns head) VAMP!

Vamp: (Twirls in like a vampire ballerina) You called Kyu?

Kyugan: don;t call me that (Nods to the pile) clean that up, and be quick about it.

Vamp: But of course (leers at Kakashi) Haaaaaaaaaaaaah...!

Kakashi: ...whimper...

R&R!!