Chapter 9: Spin, spin, spin!
Disclaimer: I could own Naruto, I'd just need a few things. Do you guys think Ebay would have a time machine for sale? The American government once sold an underground missile base, abandoned and stripped of all equipment.
"Wooow," Jiraiya half groaned, half crowed as he stared at the very Tsunade-like woman in the hot spring with this telescope. She didn't have the assets of Tsunade, but her hair and face were fairly close.
"Got to remember this place," Hiruzen said as he too spied into the women only area with his own telescope.
Jiraiya freaked out, accidentally throwing his little spy glass into the air. The white haired man then spent the better part of three minutes juggling the tool before he got a firm grip of it. "Sensei! Don't ever sneak up on me when I'm doing my research!" he shouted.
Hiruzen couldn't help but laugh at his student's antics. "I already know you weren't there for the speech, so I'll tell you now that I am stepping down as Hokage."
"I am not becoming Hokage," Jiraiya stated.
"I know that already, Tsunade is the next Hokage. You are going to find her," Hiruzen said.
Jiraiya blushed, then paled, then twitched in pain at the memories associated with his favorite woman. "Do I have to?" he asked. He wouldn't mind seeing her, but she would probably send him back to Konoha while giving him more frequent flier miles.
"Yes. The talks with Suna are finished, but we still need to have our new Hokage at the helm of everything," Hiruzen stated.
The white haired man sighed. "Fine, but-"
"No ANBU since you won't run for the nearest hill overlooking a place with filled with women," Hiruzen finished, "I never thought of it at all, though the council did. I trust you to complete your mission."
Jiraiya smiled. Hiruzen always knew him the best, since the old man was also a pervert as well as a powerful shinobi. "Fine, but I got a certain brat that I'm taking along."
"Good, I'm sure she'll be thrilled," Hiruzen said. He thought back to a younger Jiraiya and remembered something. "Hey, you never taught me that jutsu."
Jiraiya started at the man for a few moments. "You really are a pervert sensei." He then began teaching the older man his first original jutsu. As expected, the soon-to-be ex-shinobi no kami quickly mastered it.
[Training Ground 14]
"That's it!" Haku shouted as he unleashed another volley of pointless senbon, "keep it up!"
Naruko ran and jumped, avoiding the needles with steadily increasing skill. She was building up her speed in a combo style, using weights on her forearms and legs to help build up speed and power. The needles were forcing her to get used to the weight faster. It was working quite well too, though Haku was using only about a third of his talent with his favorite weapons. It was a combination of Guy and Lee's daily training mixed with what little of Sasuke's self training that Naruko had heard about.
"Hey!" a voice called.
Haku and Naruko turned and, without thinking, threw weapons to scare the person off.
Jiraiya assumed a hilarious pose, a few of Haku's real needles near his neck while a kunai near his groin made him stand on the tips of his toes. The shuriken had his arms up, almost like a cop had caught him peeping. All in all, a pink tutu would have completed the image.
"You mind?" he asked.
A few minutes later, the three were walking to town when Jiraiya broke the news to the girl.
"Huh? I'm not going with you Ero-sennin," the redhead huffed, "Kakashi-sensei was going to try help me learn to use my katon."
"But I told you that this was to find a bombshell of a babe. I know you still like women, you perverted little yuri girl," Jiraiya said with a light elbow jab and a wink, making the girl blush.
"Whatever, I need to learn how to use my katon or I'll never be able to become Hokage," Naruko growled. The only thing this pervert did was perverted stuff. With Kakashi, at least she'd learn something. She already sort of understood the basics of what he had told her, sort of. It seemed that Naruko didn't need a hand in front of her mouth when she breathed fire, but that was all Kakashi had worked out so far. He was sure to figure out a way to help her!
"I know katon too, and I may be able to help you out more since unusual jutsu are my specialty," the white haired man countered, "besides, the babe! The babe is what this trip is all about! Let me tell you, you could play hide and seek in her shirt and not get caught for a whole week."
Naruko got a slightly distant look on her face as a bit of drool slipped out the corner of her mouth. She quickly came back and glared at the man. "I'm not like you! I want to learn new jutsu, become stronger and become Hokage!"
'You were exactly like me a moment ago,' Jiraiya thought. "Too bad, I was going to teach you a very powerful jutsu, looks like I'll just teach it to Sasuke instead." Honestly, he didn't think Sasuke could even work out the first part of the jutsu. Kid might be a genius, but the Rasengan was something that required savant-like abilities. An almost all rounder like Sasuke would just break himself. The only reason that Minato ever was able to use it was because he created it. The man even admitted that he could not have learned it if he had been taught the jutsu.
Naruko released a small amount of KI at the thought of Sasuke getting another powerful jutsu. "I'm...going..." she muttered under her breath, then rushed home at top speed. Before she made it to the corner, she vanished in a dull flash of red.
"What was that?" Haku asked, "it wasn't a shunshin."
"Hiraishin," Jiraiya stated, "seems like that jutsu got ingrained into her DNA itself, almost like a Kekkei Genkai. If she could use it at will, she'd give anyone a run for their money."
"I guess I'll go grab a few missions and wait for Naruko-san to come back," Haku said as he turned and walked towards the Tower, "by the way, Jiraiya-san. Teach Naruko-san anything perverted and I'll make you a harmless pervert." He tossed a senbon, hitting a pair of apples with them.
Jiraiya shivered, getting the message. "Damn, not only does he look like a woman, he can threaten like one too."
[A day later]
"Hey, what kind of jutsu are you going to teach me Ero-sennin?" the kitsune asked. She would have sounded more excited, but her visit to a healing Shiratama had dampened her spirits quite a bit.
Jiraiya looked at her as if she were an idiot. "Ero-sennin? Me? All the nations know of my name and fear me! Babies go silent in my wake as women throw themselves at my feet. I am the Sage of Toads, the Sannin Jiraiya!" he stated in a bold manner.
Naruko was gone already, quite a distance from him. She had actually turned and started walking the moment he started to talk. After she assumed that his pride had recovered, somewhat, she spoke up. "Hey Ero-sennin the Great, why did you want me to come along? Is it because I'm a bijū?"
"Ero-sennin the Great? I'm Jiraiya dammit!" the master of perversion snapped. She was such an uncute brat! Hard to believe her mother's human form was such a knockout.
Naruko went on, knowing that the old man would soon forget about her calling him a pervert. "So does me being a bijū make this jutsu easier to learn, or do I have some kind of special ability that makes this jutsu easy to master?"
'She's really hung up on the bijū thing. Wonder what happened that made this come about.' Jiraiya scratched his head in thought. Might as well go with the truth. "I knew someone who looked a lot like you, had unique talents too. You should know her as well, since you were almost born within her."
"Who?" Naruko asked.
"Uzumaki Kushina, the wife of the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato," Jiraiya said, the smiled, "she was quite the little firecracker too, just like you."
Within an hour, they got to a small town that Naruko found strange, mainly due to its almost zero ninja population.
"This is the hotel we call home for now," Jiraiya said as he waved the girl over.
"Hey there~" a sweet voice called.
Snap! Snap!
Both Jiraiya and Naruko turned so quickly that some bones popped a bit. "WHOA!" the two cried out as they beheld a beauty, who winked at Jiraiya.
"Naruko!" Jiraiya shouted as he threw his bag at the girl along with their room key, "go upstairs and practice your chakra control. I've got some adult things to take care of!" He then ran over to the woman and quickly led her away from the hotel.
"Wait! Ero-sennin!" Naruko called as she tottered back and forth. The old man's luggage and her weights made it hard to stay upright. 'Damn old man! Something is wrong with that woman! She just felt...wrong to me.' She went to stomp her way to the staircase, but then quickly went back and used a bit of her money to switch the rooms. No way she'd sleep in the same room as an admitted open pervert. That and he wouldn't know the room at all, giving her some revenge for him ditching her.
A few minutes after Naruko settled in her room, Sasuke burst into the hotel lobby. "There is a redheaded girl and a white haired guy here, which room are they in?" The clerk thought for a few moments, then directed Sasuke to a room on the second floor. Sasuke got there and threw the door open to find.
"Oh my god!" a red haired woman shouted as she quickly threw a towel around her body.
A white haired man came into view. "Kimiko? HEY! Get away from my fiance!" he shouted.
"Damn, wrong room!" Sasuke growled as he slammed the door shut. Unlike most men, he didn't give a damn about walking in on a naked/changing woman.
[Ground floor, same hotel]
Naruko had heard the shout and figured that it was either Ero-sennin getting caught or a little bit of perverted role playing. She lived in a rarely visited area of Konoha, so it wasn't uncommon for her to see strange things from more 'adventurous' people.
Knock, knock.
Naruko hopped off her bed and went to the door. She opened it to see a black haired man with Sharingan.
'This guy...looks like Sasuke!' Naruko thought.
An even larger man forced the door all the way open. "Strange, I thought the Kyūbi brat was here. Guess we got the wrong hotel."
"Quiet down Kisame. Young lady, do you know of a boy named Uzumaki Naruto?" the sharingan user asked. When the girl didn't respond, he closed his eyes and deactivated his sharingan before opening them again. There was no use holding the woman if Naruto wasn't here and his eyes obviously scared the poor girl, who probably had no experience with the sharingan. "Come on out and tell us if Naruto-kun is your teammate." She had to know since the only reason a Leaf-nin would be here is if it was with Naruto and Jiraiya.
When Naruko took a small, hesitant step forward, Kisame angrily grabbed his sword's handle. "Hey, hurry it up already!"
It was the absolute worst time for it to happen. Naruko's chakra acted up, the networks for her unformed tails appearing and tearing the doorway apart as they wound around her, forming a barrier between her and the two men. The tails were obviously acting to defend her from Kisame's threat, but they had just blown away any chance she had of tricking the men.
"This is...the Kyūbi's chakra!" Kisame gasped, "Itachi, I thought the Kyūbi was in a boy!"
Itachi didn't even respond to his partner, he was too busy staring at the way her chakra had wrapped around her. 'That's like Susanoo's ribcage.' He reactivated his sharingan.
"The seal is located on the torso, so limbs are optional," Kisame stated as he grabbed the handle of his sword again, "think we can keep her from bleeding out too fast?"
Itachi didn't even move from his spot as he stared at Naruko. "Sasuke, why are you here?"
Sasuke stood a good distance behind the two men, his head lowered. "Uchiha..Itachi...You will die here," Sasuke declared, his sharingan almost devoid of all life.
"You aren't so unique anymore, you know that Itachi? I've now seen three sharingan other than your own," Kisame said as he relaxed his stance slightly, then smirked. "Judging by what he said, he must know you."
"Once, he was my brother," Itachi stated as if it barely mattered. It seemed that the blood bond between him and Sasuke was as trivial as hunger or thirst, something that was there, but mostly ignored.
"You missed one? I knew you didn't wipe out a whole clan!" Kisame smiled at that. Seems like he'd get to see Itachi finally put a clan in the history books, permanently.
Sasuke had finished the seals while Kisame and Itachi talked. "I'm finally ready, ready to kill you!"
Itachi barely raised his eye brow at the sight of the chidori. Contrary to Sasuke and Kakashi's belief, he had long since learned the jutsu and knew of its weak points. As his brother ran forward, his chidori tearing the wall apart, Itachi saw how pathetic his brother's skill with the jutsu was. The chidori was meant to be a short stabbing blade, but Sasuke was treating it like a sword or ax, ruining the thrusting power of the jutsu. When Sasuke came close enough, Itachi grabbed his hand behind the wrist and redirected the jutsu at the shielded girl.
BOOM!
"Damn!" Kisame muttered. There was a perfect circle behind Naruko, her tail barrier having completely stopped the wild raiton.
Naruko felt the KI from Itachi and pulled at the chakra tails, dragging them into herself. She knew that with the chakra, she could at least free Sasuke. Summoning in a place like this was useless, so she'd just scratch Itachi's hand and be done with it.
"Away from me," Itachi angrily muttered as he tossed Sasuke through the wall he had destroyed.
Kisame swung his blade down in a flash. "Calm down, would you?"
The effect was instant.
The blade went wild, bloody red chakra bleeding out of it from all over.
"What?" Kisame gasped. The chakra was burning his Samehada, damaging it from the inside. There was no way she could have enough chakra to do that! He made it open its mouth and spit the chakra up. He felt his blade tremble, almost like it feared the girl now.
Naruko took Kisame's shock as an advantage and jumped in after Sasuke, finding him lying on the ground. "Come on! We have to go!" she shouted as she lifted him to his feet.
"I can't let you do that," Itachi stated as he moved in the way, "come with us... What is your name?"
"That would be Uzumaki Naruko," Jiraiya stated as he appeared in the hall. He then assumed his favorite introduction stance. "I, the epitome of manly charm, cannot fall prey to the lure of a woman. It is I, Jiraiya, who makes the woman fall at my feet!"
Nobody seemed interested in the man's speech. In fact, they looked at him like he was a total moron.
"You fell for it right away! I tried to tell you, but you ran off, you fake perverted sage!" Naruko raged.
While Jiraiya and Naruko had a shouting match, Itachi's eyes narrowed. To fight a Sannin wouldn't be a problem, but he preferred to have the jinchūriki come willingly if possible. With Jiraiya around, he'd just waste chakra. But what truly troubled him was Naruko. Not only did she repel Samehada, while keeping much of her chakra, she also seemed to sense the genjutsu on the woman. These were unusual traits for her to have. Hmm, now that he thought of it, the Kyūbi was said to be able to sense negative emotions due to it being a monster that created them. Could she have bonded with the beast to the point where she could freely use its abilities and chakra? If so, she was more dangerous than any of their other targets. Then again, it might be good for his true objective.
"You guys really went to great lengths to separate me and the brat, so you really are after the Kyūbi inside her?" he lied. As long as they thought she was a jinchūriki, the girl would be treated with kid gloves, so to speak. If they knew she was an unbound bijū, they would use their full power to take her.
"So Kakashi got that bit of information from you," Itachi stated, "capture the Kyūbi jinchūriki. That is the mission given to us two from the leader of Akatsuki."
"Guess that means you're going to fail," Jiraiya muttered in a low, dangerous tone.
Itachi was impassive as always. "And why is that?"
"I'm going to kill the both of you now," Jiraiya said.
"N-no!" Sasuke gasped as he tried to stand on his own, "he's...Itachi is...mine..."
"You're even more pathetic that the last time I saw you. Leave, you mean nothing to me," Itachi ordered. When the boy didn't listen, Itachi removed the burden from Naruko by kicking Sasuke into the wall.
Naruko felt the chakra from her tails flowing through her body faster, easier than ever before. "You!" she roared, the walls shaking slightly from her rage.
"Naruko! This is my fight, my purpose! Don't interfere!" Sasuke commanded as he used the wall to drag himself up. "Let's end this!" he shouted at his brother.
For the next twenty seconds, Itachi beat the life out of his little brother. In the end, Sasuke felt the truth with his own body: Itachi had been improving as well, leaps and bounds more than Sasuke could dream of. He was lifted and held against a wall so he was at eye level with Itachi. When that happened, Itachi unleashed his Tsukuyomi on Sasuke, who was forced to watch his parents being killed for a whole day.
Naruko blasted forward, the force of her jump destroying the ground she had been standing on. Kisame wanted to strike her down, but her sheer speed and his blade's fear slowed him too much. Add to it that Jiraiya trapped them in a strange ninjutsu made it near impossible to catch the redhead.
Itachi felt her coming and effortlessly caught her by the neck, releasing his brother. "So this is the power of a jinchūriki. I can see why Akatsuki needs it. Let me ask you, what would you do if I were to attack Konoha?"
Naruko glared into the man's sharingan, no fear of his eyes in her own. "I fight for them!"
"And they shun you for living. Tell me, why fight for them?" Itachi asked.
Naruko tried to break free, but she couldn't. "I can look beyond the past!"
"Can you? Do you really never think of using that power to force them to apologize?" Itachi questioned, "with that power, you could easily gain everything you ever wanted. Fame, money, the love of many."
Naruko wouldn't listen to this guy. He didn't know her at all.
"Even respect and acknowledgment," Itachi whispered, making the girl stiffen. "So that's it. To be seen as a person, not as a tool." He leaned closer and whispered into her ear, her eyes widening at what she heard.
"Itachi!" Kisame called as he tore his sword free, "we have to move. NOW!"
Itachi locked his eyes with a girl he swore could have been a sharingan master had she be born with them. "Remember what I said, it will lead to all that you seek." He released the girl and took off after Kisame, quickly passing the larger man.
"Not so fast!" Jiraiya shouted as he made the jutsu start closing on the men. A few moments after that, he felt the jutsu tear apart in one place. The two long haired ninja ran around the corner and saw the burnt open window. While Jiraiya sealed the black flames around the wreckage, Naruko went back around the corner, thinking of what Itachi had said to her. As she thought about it, she didn't notice the almost black chakra wafting around her.
When Jiraiya came back around, releasing his jutsu, he had roughly ten seconds to talk to the redhead when a kunai hit the wall. He looked at it, then looked to the other side in time to eat the sole of Guy's sandal.
"Sorry!" Guy apologized with his usual level of extreme Youthfulness, "my forehead protector needs more polishing before I use it as a mirror again. I could only make out vague shapes!" He then laughed nervously.
"Why do I feel like you are lying to me?" Jiraiya asked. "Whatever, take Sasuke to Konoha's hospital. They can fix the physical damage he suffered, but whatever attack Itachi used with his sharingan has pretty much torn his mind up."
"Is Sasuke going to be okay?" Naruko asked.
"I don't know. While his body can be healed by anyone, it will take a lot to heal his mind" Jiraiya explained.
Naruko felt a darkness within her, a voice that spoke very quietly within her heart. She didn't understand it, but she felt that it fully supported her right now. "Ero-sennin. Let's forget that girl and hunt down those bastards!"
"Going to tie yourself up in a pretty bow and give up, because that's what you are saying now," Jiraiya said.
"I'm not the type to run away! I won't spend my whole life looking over my shoulder, wondering when the kunai will hit me!" Naruko shouted.
"Shut up!" Jiraiya snapped. Once the girl completely shut her mouth, he went on. "Even if you are what you are, you're a weakling who barely defeated Shukaku, the weakest of the bijū. As you are now, you might as well just give up and let them do whatever it is they want."
"While I do understand her anger, I feel that it is far more important to get Sasuke to a hospital," Guy cut in, "and Kakashi is in a similar state too."
Naruko couldn't believe it. The strongest genin and jōnin she knew of, both taken out by the same guy. Just how powerful was he?
"While a medic could indeed heal the body, and care for it, the mind will require a specialist," Guy muttered.
"That's just what I'm looking for," Jiraiya stated.
"You couldn't mean her?" Guy asked.
A few minutes later, they were all outside with Guy ready to set a new record for getting to Konoha with an injured person. "Do your best to find Tsunade-sama!" the strange ninja practically saluted.
"We'll find her so she can help Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and Lee!" Naruko shouted.
"Heh. Take care of Sasuke on the way back, you are rough enough on yourself," Jiraiya said.
Guy smiled. "Naruko-kun, you burn with flames of Youth. I will now bestow upon you the secret to Lee's power."
"Really?" Naruko remembered those weights Lee had. If she could use them one day, she'd be just as fast as he was.
Guy pulled out one of his green jumpsuits, though this one was smaller and designed for a girl. "A form fitting, perfectly designed jumpsuit! Wearing it once will make you never want to take it off! Ever since Lee put it on, he has never taken it off and has only grown stronger!"
Naruko was blown away. "Wait, won't I need more than one?"
Guy produced two more. "One was for Tenten-kun, but she refused."
"Rather than carry a mirror, you carry those things?" Jiraiya deadpanned.
A few moments later, Naruko and Jiraiya were alone, except for one of the three jumpsuits she had taken.
"Please tell me you aren't wearing that," Jiraiya stated in an even voice.
"It looks like it'd fit, so why not?" Naruko asked. She figured it would look good with the red arm and leg warmers she had on, which hid the weights she wore. She'd probably have to switch the weights out when they got back to Konoha, these ones were starting to become unnoticeable.
"Have you ever seen a girl show interest in either Guy or Lee? Has anyone ever called them cool, other than you? That outfit will make you a chick repellant," Jiraiya deadpanned. He started walking to the next town.
As they walked, Naruko thought back to when she had gone to tell Shiratama about the trip to find this woman. It was the source of her worry.
[Konoha hospital, a day ago]
"Naruko-sama," the bandaged kitsune called as the girl tried to leave, "I have to talk to you about some things Hatake-san and Haruno-san told me about."
Naruko came back to the bedside and sat in the chair. "What is it?"
Tama looked worried. "About what you did with the Hyūga. I never thought I'd see that power again, a power that Kurama-sama said was his alone." She locked eyes with Naruko. "Each Kyūbi had their own power, which they passed on to the next. Kurama-sama had the power of the wild beast, but he sealed it away due to the dangers of it. While it does give great strength, it comes at the cost of sanity. He once called it a 'Devolved State,' one that ate away at his ability to resist the urge to kill."
Naruko shivered. "But I didn't want to kill anyone."
Tama nodded slightly. "It seems that the seal was only partly undone, but it will probably come apart more and more as you grow into your powers. Hopefully you can counter it with your mother's power."
"My mother's power?" Naruko asked.
"The Majesty State, the power you used to defeat Gaara both times. It is the complete opposite of the Devolved State and a means to achieve the same level of power, if not more," Tama stated.
Naruko remembered those times. "Why was their fur coming from my wrists?"
"That wasn't fur, it was solidified chakra. Majesty state allows you to mold chakra into a solid form, such as the Kyūbi Yari or the Kyūbi Katana. It also protects you from damage to some degree," Tama explained.
"Some attacks? Gaara couldn't do anything to me," Naruko said.
"The Majesty state was what Tsurenai-sama said would render Shukaku's powers useless. Quite simply, you pulled out the perfect weapon to defeat him at the right time," Tama said with a light smile. She was truly proud of her empress' accomplishments.
"But that devolved power... is there any way to seal it or something?" Naruko asked. The thought of becoming a mindless beast of slaughter, she didn't want to be like that.
Tama shook her head. "It isn't possible to seal it, not anymore. You just have to keep your emotions in check, rage is the key to that power."
"What about Majesty? What triggers it?" Naruko asked.
Tama smiled slightly, feeling both happy and sad. "Tsurenai-sama never had a chance to tell us. She focused on you and your deceased brother, something far more important to her than any power or glorious battle."
[Now, street]
"Ero-sennin!" Naruko called after stopping.
"What is it?" Jiraiya asked.
"Why do they want to capture me? Who are those Akatsuki guys?" Naruko asked.
Jiraiya sighed. "They want bijū like you, but the rest are all sealed in humans called jinchūriki. As to why they want you, I don't have a clue."
Naruko looked at her hand as she closed it into a fist. "What is a bijū? Why would they want them?"
"Bijū are powerful monsters with chakra that far exceeds that of any human. It's like comparing a Kage to a fresh academy student. As to why they would want such fearsome creatures, who knows? If I had to guess, I'd say most of Akatsuki probably doesn't know either,. They most likely want to control that power themselves, though I don't know if a person can become a jinchūriki unless they are very young," Jiraiya guessed. "Since they think you're just a jinchūriki, they won't take you too seriously at first. You are going to have to worry about them later, but until then, Jiraiya-sama is here to pro-"
"So I have to become stronger, strong enough to make them give up on me," Naruko said with a confident smile.
'D-damn uncute brat! She ruined my cool moment!' Jiraiya mentally wailed. It was like she had the ability to strip away his awesomeness without even trying.
"Let's find Tsunade, get everyone on their feet and start my training!" Naruko shouted, back to her old self.
"That's more like it," Jiraiya said as he turned to go on.
"WAIT!" Naruko shouted, "this woman whose chest can hide me all day long, is it this Tsunade woman?"
Jiraiya was quite surprised. "Could my genius be rubbing off on you already? And it was a week, not a day."
"She's one of these Sannin too, right?" Naruko asked.
"Yeah," Jiraiya said, wondering what the kitsune was thinking.
"How old is she?" Naruko asked.
"Fifty," Jiraiya said. He didn't worry about his age since he still looked like he was in his early thirties.
'So if she's the same age as you and part of the Sannin like you and Orochimaru, she must be an old pervert,' Naruko thought. Little did she know, the woman she just insulted leveled a wall in response to a sudden urge to obliterate anything that was red. "What is Tsunade like?" the kitsune feared the answer.
"You're getting smarter if you're showing an interest in Tsunade. Let's see. She's annoying and can't help but gamble all the time. She's actually well known in any country that has a casino or gambling den," Jiraiya said.
"So we should find her with no problem if she's so famous," Naruko cheered. The sooner this was finished, the sooner she could start learning!
"Yeah she's famous alright," Jiraiya said with a wry smile, "so famous that she's known as the Legendary Sucker rather than one of the Sannin."
Naruko stared at the man blandly. Leave it to the Sannin to all be perverts. Naruko wasn't as oblivious to sex as many believed. As she mentioned before, she lived in a part of town where the crazy people went to have fun. While she did know some stuff, a lot of things were still unknown to her.
"Tsunade's not the type to let go of her looks, so she'll be using a complex henge to appear around twenty or so, her best years. I've heard stories about her altering her appearance to be anywhere between ten and forty so she can escape the casino debt collectors," Jiraiya said.
"Debt Collectors!" Naruko shouted in alarm.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that. Tsunade's been interested in gambling since a young age despite her always losing and having enough bad luck with money to sink the elemental nation's economies. That's where the title of Legendary Sucker came from," Jiraiya explained. He did not want to admit that he was the one who gave her that particular name after she went into a fifty thousand ryo debt with him when they were fourteen. He decided he didn't want her money since he loved her, though he had made a crack about her still flat chest that resulted in her cracking his sternum.
"So her issue is...gambling?" Naruko asked, fearing for Konoha's future now. "How do we find her?"
"We walk to a certain town I know of. It's got more gambling dens than hot springs," Jiraiya said.
"WALKING! How far is this town, and why go there so slowly? We're ninja for Kami's sake!" Naruko shouted.
Jiraiya smiled. The gaki was going to love walking soon enough. "Tanzaku Town is a few days away, but it won't be dull since most of the travel will focus on you."
Naruko was dumbstruck, which was one word from what she normally was. "Me?"
"Yeah, I think we'll start your training a little early," Jiraiya announced.
"Alright!" Naruko shouted, green jumpsuit in hand.
"Oh hell no! There is no way I am being seen anywhere near that thing! Either put it away or it will be your katon target, if we get that far!" Jiraiya shouted as he pointed at the mistake Guy created years ago.
[Outskirts of Tanzaku Town, a few days later]
Naruko was happy, sort of. The old perv had been trying to help her work out her katon and they had gone quite far. Naruko had learned to charge the air in her lungs with chakra and to spit it out, but the ignition part was still a mystery to her. Unknown to Jiraiya, Naruko's weights now meant nothing to her and she had actually forgotten about them completely.
What made her not so happy was her lack of that new, powerful jutsu Jiraiya had mentioned.
"Ero-sennin, when am I going to learn that jutsu you mentioned back home?" Naruko asked.
"Hey, I thought getting some progress on your fire breath would be enough to hold you over while I find some information on Tsunade," Jiraiya said. Damn, he might need to give her a regular katon to try and master while he went searching.
"Information? I thought we could find her easily," Naruko whined.
"Yeah, in this town," Jiraiya said as they got to the rail, allowing them to see the festival going on in town. When they were in the town proper, Jiraiya smiled at the girl looking around all over the place with excitement.
"I've never seen anything like this before!" the kitsune shouted. Actually, she had to avoid these since people tend to react badly to her being around during celebrations. She'd never even been to a birthday party or anything her whole life.
"Enjoy yourself, this festival is going to be a break before the real training begins," Jiraiya said.
Naruko dug into her backpack and fished out Gama-chan, who was ready to explode from all the cash inside it.
"Whoa!" Jiraiya shouted as he saw all the drinking -er, bartender bribing money the girl had. "That's a nice little sum of cash you got there, almost like a jōnin's salary."
"It's my savings, all in case of a dry spell for ninja business," Naruko said, "well, see ya!"
"WAIT!" Jiraiya shouted, "I'll hold onto your money for you." His hand was held out, a sign for Naruko to put the wallet on it.
"Why?" Naruko asked as she backed up slightly, defensively hugging her wallet. She felt a tingling from him and all these weird tingles she'd been feeling lately bothered her.
"Shinobi have three vices that must always avoid. They are alcohol, women and money!" Jiraiya stated in a sage-like manner.
Naruko's doubt flew into the red levels. "I'm not old enough to drink, the only girl I want to be with is Sakura-chan and I am a thrifty shopper. If anyone here has trouble with money, women and drinking, it's you! That Tsunade woman also has a money problem, probably a drinking problem too. Out of all of us, I'm the most responsible."
A couple people nearby laughed at Jiraiya, an adult, getting told off by Naruko, a child. As much as he wanted to try, it seemed like he'd have to dig into his own pocket for women and drinks today. "Fine then," he said as he handed over his backpack, "hand over your backpack. The toads know my chakra best, so they can track my bag better than your bag. Worst case, they can use the traces from your bag to find you." He took the girl's bag and sighed as the girl walked away. "Damn. I thought she was a total moron. Guess she outwitted me. This time."
Naruko spent her time just having fun, spending about twenty ryo or so during her travels. She wound up on her face after putting a ANBU-like mask on, which led to her finding Jiraiya's bankbook. Now she knew she was right in keeping her money since the old guy was loaded! She decided that she'd at least get the old guy something and decided some fried squid was good. She noticed that she liked meat more now, though she could still eat tons of ramen. She could stand vegetables a bit better now, but she still didn't like them much. Fruit was nice too.
"Now where would he be?" Naruko wondered aloud. A loud, perverted laugh reached her ears and she tracked it, finding a small bar about a block away.
"What beautiful young ladies you two are! How about pouring me another glass?" Jiraiya drunkenly shouted. He then noticed Naruko. "How was the festival?" he slurred.
Naruko looked at the plastered man, then looked at the bottles of high grade sake on the table. She was happy that she managed to save Gama-chan from this tyrant. With a quick look at the man, she took the squid she had gotten him and ate it in one bite, swallowed and growled as she prepped herself to tell the Sannin before her off so much that it would make Ino proud.
"You drunken, perverted, lying, idiotic jerk!" Naruko shouted, "you make it seem like you want me to rest up for the training you promised me, but you really wanted to come fool around with these women! And you wanted to use my money too! How low can you be!" Naruko was surprised that she hadn't reduced the stand to splinters with her anger. She must be getting better at controlling herself.
Bump!
Naruko stumbled forward as a man bumped into her. "OW!" he shouted, "I think you broke my thumb just now, clumsy bitch." Naruko glared at the man and his blood froze over.
"Yeah! Pay the bill for medical treatment," an obvious brown nosing yes man shouted. He didn't even notice that his boss had nearly crapped himself when the girl looked at him.
"If bumping into this brat really did break something, then this will reduce you to dust," Jiraiya said, looking like he was the most sober man alive.
"Boss is a former chūnin from Iwa. He'll cream you two!" brown noser shouted.
"Naruko, this is what I'm going to teach you," Jiraiya said as he moved forward, thrust his hand into the chest of one of the men and they were thrown away in a twister of power. Oddly enough, Jiraiya somehow wound up with the man's wallet.
"Is that part of the jutsu?" Naruko deadpanned as she stared at the wallet.
The men crashed into a water balloon yo-yo stand and Jiraiya caught one of the many escaped orbs. He then payed the stand owner for the damage.
"What?" the 'former chūnin' asked as he felt himself passing out.
"Saving your ass. Naruko would have accidentally killed you since you guys are so weak," Jiraiya said, then turned away and walked over to Naruko. "Naruko, training time!"
Naruko followed the man.
Once more, the two were outside Tanzaku town. "Here," Jiraiya said as he tossed the toy to Naruko.
"What the hell? I want to train, not play!" Naruko shouted.
Jiraiya sighed. "You did pay attention to what I did, right?" Naruko nodded. "What happened to those guys?"
"They spun around in the air?" Naruko guessed. Maybe Jiraiya was asking about their crash or something.
"Normally, everyone would say they spun and that's exactly what happened," Jiraiya said as another water balloon yo-yo in his hand started going nuts. A moment later, the balloon exploded. "Tree climbing is focusing your chakra to a certain spot and concentrating so it stays for a brief period of time. Water walking, which I helped with, is when you use the basics of tree climbing, but you keep the chakra flowing at a constant amount for an extended period of time. You use those two styles of chakra manipulation and then add a new twist to it: a spin." Jiraiya smirked at his little pun.
"So I have to focus chakra into the balloon's water and spin it?" Naruko asked.
Jiraiya blinked. He honestly expected that he'd need to explain it again. "Alright then, you got the idea. Train until nightfall. By the way, the balloon has to break for you to pass."
"Alright!" Naruko cheered and started trying to break the balloon.
Jiraiya turned away and went over to a tree when he heard water splashing on the ground. "No way!" he shouted as he spun around.
"Ero-sennin, I accidentally pricked it with my nails," Naruko apologized.
Jiraiya felt his heartbeat start up again as he tossed her another balloon. "That's alright, here's another one. Be careful." He got to the tree and leaned against it, no longer feeling sleepy. 'Damn brat, almost gave me a heart attack. I don't know how I'd keep her quiet if she mastered step one so fast.'
Naruko started to focus and, sure enough, the balloon jiggled a bit. "Spin complete!" Naruko announced, then started try to make it stronger.
Now Jiraiya felt his body relax. At this rate, she wouldn't finish for a while. He sat down. "I'll take a nap now."
"Hey! What are you- Forget it," the girl growled and went back to trying to break the balloon. An hour later, she was still trying and getting nowhere fast. "DAMN BALLOON!" she roared, "I can shout a building down, form chakra weapons and make a shroud that blocks any normal weapon, but I can't break this stupid balloon!"
That woke Jiraiya, and half the city. "What's the matter? Can't do it?" Naruko nervously hiding her eyes behind her bangs told him that he was right. "Ah man, there goes my peaceful nap time."
"Since you're awake and all, can you tell me how to break this balloon?" Naruko asked.
"I can't tell you how to break a balloon until you break a balloon," Jiraiya countered.
'The hell? He's going to teach me how to break it after I break it?' Naruko thought.
Jiraiya sighed. "Fine then, I'll teach you a little bit. Normally you need to work this out, but a little tip won't hurt anyone. Except who you use this on later. Now show me how you spin the water."
Naruko nodded and started to spin the water inside the balloon.
"Which way is it going?" Jiraiya asked.
"Um, right?" Naruko guessed. It did feel like it was going left.
"Come here for a second," Jiraiya said. When Naruko was close enough, he put his hand on her head. 'The hell?' he thought. While the girl's head spoke of a left rotation, direct contact with her had him feel multiple chakra rotations within her, a total of ten. 'One for the body and a different rotation for each tail. Feels like I'm holding a rasengan.' He smiled. "You've got a right chakra rotation." He then went on to explain chakra rotation and tell the girl that she had been spinning the water the wrong way. "Don't worry about hand seals or anything, this jutsu doesn't need them. Just focus on controlling the chakra, that's key."
"Fine! Just watch, I'll master this in three days!" the girl shouted.
"This is one of the Yondaime Hokage's original jutsu. It took him three years to create and master it. This is an A-rank jutsu, so it isn't going to be that easy to master. Besides, this is just step one of three," Jiraiya said.
Naruko now knew what kind of jutsu she was learning. This would probably be the most difficult technique she learned.
"I'm going to the inn now, you coming?" Jiraiya called as he reached the edge of their training area.
"I'm going to keep trying," Naruko said, then did just that.
[Next morning, after Naruko's bathroom visit]
Naruko was paying for it. She had trained until she was ready to fall asleep and she had nothing to show for it.
"Nyaa! Nyaa!"
Naruko looked over and saw the inn owner's cat, Shū, playing with a balloon yo-yo. "Hey that's..." Naruko started, but the image struck her as cute and she stopped to watch the cat enjoy the toy.
The cat beat it around a bit, then picked it up and rolled onto his back to continue playing around. After hugging it and rolling it around in his paws, the balloon couldn't take it anymore. "NYAAA!" the cat cried out as the balloon suddenly burst and soaked him.
Naruko had a brainstorm.
"Wake up!" Naruko shouted as she burst into Jiraiya's room. When he didn't wake up, she grabbed another water balloon and popped it over his crotch.
Jiraiya suddenly woke up and looked down at himself. "Oh Kami no! I'm not old enough to start wetting the bed!"
"That wasn't you, that was me passing," Naruko announced.
A few moments, and a quick change of pants later, Jiraiya was sitting up. "Let's see it," he droned, not quite awake yet.
"Watch and learn," Naruko said as she held the balloon with both her hands. The balloon quickly started to deform wildly as she held her arms completely still. The balloon reached its limit and burst in Naruko's hands. "See!" she shouted, then saw Jiraiya asleep again, "WAKE UP!" She threw a balloon at his face for good measure.
"You didn't need to soak me again. I'm also tired from gathering information every night," Jiraiya grumbled. "Where did you get that idea from?"
Naruko held up a cat. "This is Shū, I saw him holding it while shaking it around and stuff. When it broke, I realized that I was just spinning the water around, but you and Shū had been making the water go all over the place."
"What about your hands?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruko frowned a bit. "Don't know, just felt right."
"Guess that means you passed stage one," Jiraiya said with a grin. He knew the girl was a long ways away from mastering the jutsu, since it was supposed to be a one handed jutsu. When he saw her shake her hand, he knew that the strain was starting to get to her. "Go get dressed, meet me outside and we'll get to work on stage 2."
Naruko cheered and quickly left. Had Jiraiya not looked away to get his own clothes in order, he would have seen a misty blackness waft off her hand as she left.
[Naruko's training spot outside Tanzaku]
"Time for stage 2," Jiraiya stated. After Naruko calmed down, he tossed her another ball.
"Not again!" she shouted as she tried to crush the rubber ball in her hand.
Jiraiya held up an identical ball. "Stage 2: break this ball." His ball burst apart.
"Easy!" Naruko shouted, the tried the method she used for the first part. It didn't work.
"First step: spin. Second step: power. Without water, you can't easily gauge how strong the chakra rotation is. Practice for a little while," Jiraiya said. When he saw that she was going to do just that, he started to walk away. "You keep at it, I'm going to see if I can get any leads on Tsunade."
"Wait! Aren't you going to give me hints, make sure I don't make mistakes?" Naruko called after the man.
"You want tips and monitoring, then pay me," Jiraiya said as he held his hand out. Naruko shouted at the man, making him sigh and walk away with a shake of his head.
Naruko went at it for two whole days, only going into town to get something to eat, sleeping in the clearing at night. On day three, Jiraiya walked up around lunch time. "Hey, go into town and get some grub," he commanded.
"I'm training," Naruko growled back.
"I am teaching you a jutsu," Jiraiya stated.
Naruko decided to not say anything about that. At least Kakashi had worked with Naruko to try and help her out, Jiraiya just told her what to do and went off to 'gather information.'
She went down to town and found something to eat and was on her way back when she saw a father and son enjoying time together. While she knew she didn't have a father, she had a mother and brother for a short while, adoptive parents and Jiraiya, her godfather. He didn't act like one though, and he had never done anything to make her early life better. Like when she was younger, she truly wondered if she had been abandoned by everyone because of something, because of what she was.
Even if she was on a journey with Jiraiya, it felt so lonely sometimes.
When she got back to the clearing, she decided to try and have some form of family moments with Jiraiya. "Do you think that...after lunch, can you help me a bit?"
"I'm too busy to do that, and we are going to eat while going into town," Jiraiya said, not knowing that he was hurting Naruko's feelings, "I can't go around babying you through a jutsu. You're a ninja, an adult, stop whining and figure this jutsu out in your own way."
Naruko hid the intense pain behind a grin. "I know that already, idiot."
[Night, Naruko's training ground]
Naruko was downed by the pain in her arms. All she felt through them was pain and more pain. Every time she molded the chakra, the pain would flare more and more the harder she...tried...
"That's it..." she muttered. Rather than feeling the water flow within the balloon, she could use the pain to measure how strong the rotation was. More pain meant a more powerful spin. All she had to do was push it up to the limits of pain and then let it go wild inside the balloon, sort of letting the chakra do what it wanted. She picked up the ball and started again. She pushed and pushed, then made the chakra go all over when it felt like her arms were tearing themselves apart.
The ball broke slightly and deflated.
"Good work," Jiraiya said as he came out of nowhere, making Naruko jump six feet in the air.
Naruko turned around while growling. "It just popped a little. I haven't made it explode yet."
"Don't be like that," Jiraiya said as he held out a popsicle, "progress is progress. Take this reward, shut up and I'll give you that tip you wanted. Hold out your hand." When the girl's hand was out, he drew a spiral on it.
"What...is this?" Naruko asked.
Jiraiya showed Naruko his own palm, which had the same mark permanently tattooed on. He then demonstrated how a person would focus on a dot within a blank scene. He then told her that she should focus her chakra to that point, to concentrate. "Just remember, visualize that mark in your mind and your chakra should focus over it," Jiraiya said.
"Alright, let's finish this stage!" Naruko cheered.
"Time to gather information," Jiraiya suddenly said as he started to walk away.
Naruko shook with rage, then took one of the balls and flung it at the man with all her strength.
Truth be told, Jiraiya was going to dodge it at first, then decided to catch it in his teeth to show how superior he was.
He should have dodged.
Whack... Thud!
Jiraiya blinked as he stared at the sky. The ball had hit him in the forehead. It hadn't had the power to knock him over, but the fact that he hadn't been able to see the fast moving ball had stunned him enough that he just tilted over after the ball hit him. Jiraiya got over it and flipped himself onto his feet, or tried to. He landed on the ball and slipped, landing on his back again.
Naruko laughed at him. "Serves you right for just trying to walk away like that," She managed between fits of laughter.
Jiraiya got up again and sighed. "I'm still going to walk away," he said. 'This is a jutsu that isn't taught in the normal fashion. Everyone has to do this training on their own. You have the ability to become the third user of this jutsu.'
[A few hours later]
Had it been broken bodies and not broken rubber balls around the girl, Naruko would have been called a demon, which was the truth.
"More...concentration," Naruko groaned as she got up and tried to do just that. Just as she got to a point where she could concentrate.
Jiraiya falling, then falling again.
Naruko doubled over with laughter. "T-t-that was too funny!" she gasped, "I can't get it out of my head!" She looked at the fallen ball and cracked up again.
The pain took over again.
"Ugh. Got to get this over with," the empress groaned. She rolled onto her back and looked at a tree whose branches formed a spiral. Naruko remembered Jiraiya mentioning rotations, then she remembered one of the depictions of the Kyūbi, with its tails looking like a vortex behind it. "Spinning. Central point. Uh, what do they call that part again?" Naruko wondered aloud. How did she remember it again? Axes? Oh, axis! That's it.
Naruko got up and looked at the marking on her palm. She grabbed the ball and held it, imagining a matching mark on her other hand, both being connected. She made the center part red and focused her chakra, making it appear as nine waves of chakra spinning off the center of the pillar.
Naruko made her chakra go wild and it created a small crater as the ball was obliterated, blowing the kitsune back to the edge of the clearing with the force.
Naruko looked up and saw a familiar person. "Hi Ero-sennin. I did it."
"Yeah, you did," the man said with a bit of pride in his voice.
"Third one now?" the girl asked.
"I'll tell you as we go. We're going to meet Tsunade tomorrow," Jiraiya stated.
A/N~
This one was easier than the last, probably because I was creating Tama's fighting style from scratch as I wrote it. I scrapped at least six different combat styles, and at least four fights for each, before settling on her not using her ring blade too much.
I've also decided to completely remake Naruko's part II outfit. It will be more modern than I originally intended, but it will have a white fur collar. Or maybe I'll make it blue or something. Nah, I'm doing something with blue fur in The Greatest, so I'll figure it out later.
As a further note, I'm an idiot. It's Kekkei Genkai, not Kekkai Genkai. Whatever, I'll make sure to get it right from now on.
Special: Naruko's nightwear-
When going to bed, Naruko wears a pair of red shorts and a long black sweater that is more like a skimpy dress. Jiraiya and Kakashi tried to make her believe that all girls went to bed wearing only a large shirt that buttoned up in the front, but Sakura and Ino made sure to get her something that wasn't indecent. While the sweater is tight enough to show off her figure, the sleeves are long and loose enough so that her hands are mostly covered. Sakura chose the shorts while Ino chose the shirt. Sakura, after seeing how it looked on Naruko, called Ino a pervert.
Ino denied nothing.
Omake~
Formfitting?
Naruko had tried the other two on and decided to try the last one on. She had to admit that the outfits hugged a little too close to her form and...well, they fit too well. That worried her a bit.
She started to pulled it on and ran into a problem.
"Eh?" She grunted as she tried to get it on. "Why is it so tight around my chest and hips! Which one is this?"
[Konoha]
Thunk!
Neji looked at the kunai that had almost cut off the tip of his nose. He then looked over at Tenten, who was furiously grinding a sharpening stone along the edge of another kunai.
"Tenten, I think it's sharp enough," Neji said, fear creeping into his voice.
"Shut up!" the girl snapped. 'Why do I feel so pissed off all of a sudden? It's like someone is mocking me without trying!' Tenten thought as she sharpened the kunai to have an even deadlier edge.
Formfitting!
Jiraiya had been peeking on a nearby bathhouse when he checked in on Naruko. "Holy damn!" he gasped. While she was a brat, her usual outfit didn't do her justice. Screw five years, two or three years would have many men wanting to go after that piece of jail bait. Now he may be a pervert, but he had limits and two of them were going after his goddaughter and underage girls.
"I wonder if I can get Guy to make one for Tsu-hime," Jiraiya wondered as he imagined the suit wrapping around every inch of that woman, making it painfully obvious how full her figure was.
SPUUURT!
Jiraiya would lay on the rooftop till morning, a very happy grin on his face.
Jutsu Index-
Devolved State: A state where the user becomes an avatar of mindless destruction. Kurama losing control of himself led to all the stories concerning his powers and viciousness. For Naruko, it is characterized by the chakra networks of her tails appearing, then forming a chakra shroud wrapping around her body, taking on the form of a fox. The user tends to just blast their chakra around, forming crude chakra forms to act as weapons. This form gave birth to the Kitsune Katana. Originally sealed away in the bloodline, Naruko appears to have unlocked it somehow, possibly as a side effect of the curse seal on her neck.
Majesty State: The counter to Devolved state's madness. Rather than blindly throw chakra around, the user gains the power to focus it into solid forms to use as weapons. In a sense, this form allows the user to have complete and total control over their chakra. The shroud worn over the body is of a lighter color than Devolved state's shroud, but it still possesses the same level of protection, possibly more due to it being under control. The tufts of solidified chakra on the wrists are used to form the weapons. This form gave birth to the Kitsune Yari and Kyūbi Katana.
Kitsune Katana: Nothing more than a katon formed into a katana's shape. Despite being fire, it has an edge that can compete with most normal blades.
Kitsune Yari: A highly concentrated chakra spear. It's piercing power far exceeds that of the chidori. It can be used as a melee weapon, as Tsurenai did. Its flame-like prongs are believed to be a tribute to the Will of Fire that she admired.
Kyūbi Katana: The Kitsune Katana, but formed out of pure chakra like the Kitsune Yari. As expected, its power level is greater, but it is also said to be very hard to form and control. Unlike the Kitsune Katana, the Kyūbi Katana has a fixed form and length.
? [Unnamed barrier technique]: A small twist on the Devolved state. Instead of merging with Naruko to give her a shroud, the tail networks wrap around her to form a crude barrier. Itachi has noted that it is similar to the Susanoo ribcage, and it can take Sasuke's full on chidori with no trouble, but its full capabilities are unknown.
Responses-
DarkLordK: I bet half the guys (and maybe a few girls) read those choices of death and wanted to go out like that too. And you're going to keep reading my mind! You evil, evil fanfic reader! Just don't go spoiling the story for anyone. Then again, you'll probably do it by accident anyways. Now I got two psychics to worry about...
Ino pouncing Naruko will be sudden, coming from nowhere at all. Yes, I've finally decided when it will happen! I decided the pounce will be somewhat tame, but still enough to get Jiraiya going.
SuperNeos2: I'm glad that you like this fic. And that's alright, just pretty much every review last chapter completely ignored my hard work of originality. It didn't bother me at all. (uses tears to mop the floor) Doesn't bother me at all.
God of all: Continuing story.
Irish Shift: Naruko won't be turning into a full bijū form until Part II. If she had changed during Part I, she would have been slaughtered the moment she changed back due to Konoha's hatred for her.
Wirdo: Naruko's training as a bijū is pretty low right now, so she is really more like a ninjutsu using Inuzuka right now. She is steadily becoming more and more like a bijū as time goes along.
Sky Zephyrus: Are you talking about when she trounced Neji or when she stabbed Gaara? If you are talking about the fight with Neji, that was her Devolved state, and it isn't good, just like Tama said. If you are talking about the terminator-like battle style she used on Gaara, that was her Majesty state, this fic's version of the yang chakra mode. As you can guess, it is overpowered to hell and back right now. She will be able to use Majesty state at will in Part II, but I have already set a limiter on it so it won't break the story.
Gaara king of sand: Periods are really useful, though many women would disagree. Makes it so much easier to understand what a person is writing. Anyway, here I go. Thanks for saying the battle was better than canon, though I only changed a couple things. Thanks for understanding what I said about illusions. They aren't all that useful in canon either, so most people ignore genjutsu completely in their fics.
When Kakashi told Sakura that Sasuke's attitude was the work of the curse seal, it was utter BS so she would stop worrying. At no point did anyone say that the curse seal affected a person's personality. At the most, it just seems to remove the person's inhibitions, making them more prone to violence when it's active. Sasuke is actually completely canon in this fic. He just hasn't quite shown his dark side yet. He only completely entered the realm of asshole-dome after Tsunade woke him up from his Tsukuyomi induced coma.
Spazzyninjafish: I do have another suggestion on how to break free, but I don't think you want to cross that line with a sibling... I know someone who cried out in class too, after I lightly blew on the back of her neck. That was fun. XD (I told her that putting her hair up in a pony tail was a bad idea, but she wanted to copy me!)
I'm an extremely fast runner. At a full sprint I can outrun a bike. Sadly my breaks don't work as well. I ran into a bike that was coming around a corner and the screw on the wheel dug into my leg, bounced out after hitting bone, then rammed back in to make a second bone touching hole. Not the most pleasant experience I can remember (vaguely, I passed out twice, from PAIN) but at least it isn't like my newest injury. One of my toes had a tendon completely severed, making it so I lost most upward motion on the toe. To make matters worse, the healing skin has fused onto the muscle and I now have to try and gently work them apart. If they don't come apart on their own, I'll probably need surgery to to separate them. It really is a problem since the skin pulls and hurts the muscle. If there wasn't so much risk involved with the tendon, I'd see if they could fix that too.
Rather than stealthy, I'm just silent on all fronts. I can reduce the sound of my footsteps at will, even with shoes on. I'm also able to mask my own 'presence,' the sense people have when I'm nearby. Kind of a neat trick really. People hate it when I sneak up on them. I've been called a 'modern day follower of the Creed' on numerous occasions. Wasn't until I got one of the games that I noticed my clothes and demeanor are similar to that of an AC assassin.
I find distraction to be my little cure for a wandering mind. I'm either reading, writing, playing a game, watching a TV show or listening to music so my mind doesn't start wandering into depression city. It's a better alternative to what most people choose: alcohol, drugs or other guilty 'pleasures.'
The past is something everyone looks back on and wonders if they could have done better, some people just have it worse than others. If I had talked to that girl I liked back in high school, would I be a better person? Would I be happier than I am now? How many people that I know now would be strangers to me if I had kept attending a school that made me angry all the time? I then remind myself that I am me and I chose for myself. Whatever this world throws at me will help me shape myself into a better, stronger person. My experiences in life is what influences my writing and such. Some of my OCs contain fragments of my personality, just so I can spread a bit of my harsher experience to others without them suffering the costs I have.
Truth be told, I don't act any different online or on the street. Well, I'm a bit meeker in real life and I wouldn't talk so much. I'm one of those people whose mind goes so fast it messes up their speech. I don't stutter, but I will sometimes trip on words. Since most people just laugh when I make a mistake, I tend to remain silent. I am a nice guy, it's just that most people get put off by my looks and general attitude. I can't help it that I look pissed off all the time, I can't switch out my sharp eyes for softer ones. I've also had so little experience smiling that I tend to avoid it, covering my face when I do smile because it feels wrong. That is why I mostly scowl, just feels natural to me.
As for keeping people at arm's length, I do that for their sake. Actually I just do that because I've always been ostracized in groups, so I have a loner streak in me. Unlike most people, I didn't fit into any of the usual school groups and I tended to have bad relations with them all because I don't care for social hierarchy and all that. I also had many female friends, so many guys hated me for it, especially when a girl showed more than a friendly interest in me while I kept what we had as a friendship. I do believe one guy said I could pick any flower from the garden, but chose to just enjoy the scent of the entire garden. I don't quite know what that means still, so whatever. I saw them as friends, that's all there is to it.
Well, I do prefer playing as a female in MMORPGs or single player RPGs, but that is just a preference. Probably has something to do with me wanting to protect women. It's also because there are so few women as the main protagonist, so I decided to break the mold. The fact that I can easily write from a girl's perspective and adjust my speech style to a more feminine style probably makes me blur the gender lines a bit. I figure the name 'Excele' would tell people that I'm a guy. That and it's the name I decided to use as a permanent pen name. If I do write a book, it will never have my name on it, it will have the name you know me by. I'd rather be the man hidden behind the curtain rather than the great and powerful Oz himself.
I tend to put the longer replies at the end because I don't want people who want a quick answer to have to go through a long response to find theirs. I don't think people read the other responses, just look for the one addressed to them.