disclaimer: Naruto and Mobile Fighter G Gundam are not mine.
foreword: This story is kind of a testing ground for some of the elements I prefer to put in my stories. You'll know them when you see them - if you like them, thanks; if you don't, do feel free to tell me what you'd like to modify in said element to make it better.
With that settled, let's move on.
Look, the East is burning red!
Naruto: Moeagare Toushi
Chapter 11: From Student To Teacher
"Okay, brat. Mind explaining to me how you turned a jonin-level opponent to paste with a technique you just worked on for the past few weeks?" Jiraiya began as he and Naruto were at a training ground.
"Many things," his supposed apprentice answered, though at the time Naruto was mentally leafing through the memories of the past seven days.
A week had passed since the Godaime Hokage had been appointed, and the day after her inaugural address, Naruto and his jonin-sensei Mitarashi Anko were called to her office.
"Mitarashi-san, I'm placing you off your mentor detail to Uzumaki," the blonde Hokage began. "Here are the papers, I'm sure you and your fellow jonin already know what happened and why this needs to be done."
"Yes, ma'am," the newly-confirmed jonin answered.
"And you, little troublemaker," Tsunade said, turning to the chunin, "in light of your exceptional combat feats and capabilities, I'm giving you a promotion to special jonin as a taijutsu-spec. May the Will of Fire guide your way... you'll both need it, kids."
Naruto saluted smartly, and his eyes twinkled as he took yet another step in discovering who he was.
"...But a lot of it is kind of plain and simple," Naruto finished, casually forming a Rasengan in his hand.
"You managed to reach that level of mastery in that little time?"
"Is that too hard to believe? I did use the Shadow Clone trick, but a lot of this is from Shishou's teachings and philosophy applied to chakra itself."
"Just some applied teachings and a few Shadow Clones? I find that hard to believe."
"You'd better believe it... I remember you saying that the guy who made this wanted to make it an elemental attack, didn't he?"
"Yes, the Yondaime wanted to add elemental chakra to the mix..." and then Jiraiya's eyes widened. "...wait a second, so that's why your Rasengan was white! You added the damn Fuuton element to it! No wonder they'll be requiring several D-rank missions to wipe that Kabuto fellow off the forest floor."
"Not just that, Jiraiya-sama," Naruto said. "You remember that training technique you asked me to do?"
"Yeah, the water balloon, rubber ball, and balloon tricks?"
Naruto nodded.
"Do them with elemental chakra."
Jiraiya palmed his face. So obvious, and it took a guy who spent most of his formative years OUT of the Elemental Countries to point it out. Out of the box, indeed. What Minato had conceived was a Rasengan endowed with elemental chakra. This kid skipped steps two and three and went straight to making a Rasengan OUT OF elemental chakra.
"Damn it," the Toad Sage said, frustrated at letting something so simple slip past him, "No wonder you blindsided him. He was expecting a run-of-the-mill Rasengan and prepared for that, and not that thing you used. Plus, that 'summon the Rasengan from inside target' variant? Very effective, though rather brutal."
"That guy gave me the creepiest vibes out of everyone I've run into so far, even worse than Orochimaru and Uchiha freaking Itachi, if you would believe it. Shishou told me to never hesitate, so I put the bastard away. It helps that he was underestimating me up to the end."
"Good thought. So, when doing a fire-natured Rasengan, should you use the same objects in the exercise?"
Naruto shook his head no. "I don't know, you've been using the Rasengan longer than I have, maybe you should just rely on your chakra memory instead?"
"Chakra memory... yes, I think that's how it's supposed to be done. By the way, you do realize that alongside a confirmed kill on that Kabuto fellow, your Rasengan technique got you the promotion, right?"
"Yep."
"So what else do you want to know?"
"Uzushiogakure doesn't exist anymore, right?" he asked, the Academy texts surprisingly dry on material related to the Uzumaki Clan and the reason Konoha's symbol was a spiral within a leaf.
"Since the Second War."
"Who was my mother?"
"Your mother? Her name was Uzumaki Kushina. Nice girl, though she could get rather violent at times."
Naruto chuckled a bit at that.
"Got a picture of her?"
"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you your mom. She was a beauty."
After showing Naruto a picture of his mother, both master and apprentice had gone to where her mother usually went - apartment, training grounds, Ichiraku's Ramen... and the Memorial Stone.
He had asked Jiraiya for a moment alone, and after an hour, had returned with his eyes rimmed red, but his gaze harder than ever.
"Jiraiya-sama," he said, bowing deeply, "thank you for giving me a name and a face for my mother."
"It's no problem, kid. What do you want to do now?"
"Do? There are things I still need to accomplish. My father's identity, for one. Preparing for Orochimaru, Itachi, and those other creeps. There will be stronger ninja than them. I have to prepare."
"Well, I won't be leaving for spy duty in a week or two - want to train with me for awhile?"
"It would be my honor, sir."
The day after that, a stealth attack on Konohagakure came - no one was injured, but a few buildings caught fire as a ninjutsu battle raged in the streets for several minutes.
By the time the dust settled, several genin of Otogakure were killed and/or critically wounded.
The reason for the attack would only be found out months later, to Konoha's consternation.
"You sure you don't have spymaster duty to do, Jiraiya-sama?" Naruto asked as the two finished another sparring session that morning; the Toad Sage had an unorthodox fighting style he found enjoyable to put to the test.
"Not really. With a regime change like this, if I'm seen out of town, it never paints a good picture for anyone not from Konoha."
"Fair enough," Naruto answered, putting two and two together quickly. "So how goes your Flame Rasengan?"
"Pretty good, though I need the Hokage or her secretary to patch up my burned hands every night."
"That's good to hear. So what's this I heard about you wanting to teach me another thing?"
"You already have half of your inheritance, so here's the other," Jiraiya said dramatically (not as over-the-top as Shishou - but he gets points for trying, Naruto thought) as he unfurled a scroll. "The Toad Summoning Contract!"
Signing the scroll and gauging the amount of chakra needed for a goodly-sized summon was the easy part - what had happened then, Jiraiya told the new Hokage, had gotten his jaw to crash to the floor.
Naruto was focusing rather intensely and when he finally brought his bloodied hand down for the technique, Jiraiya could see wisps of white in the blue aura of his chakra...
"...Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke, and there was no one there.
"Where are you looking?" an odd voice asked; when both Naruto and Jiraiya swung their gazes heavenward, there - on top of the tallest tree - was a frog wearing a martial artists' gi.
"Gamakaze?" Jiraiya asked himself. "No one's been able to summon him, not even Minato-"
"So who summons the Toad of the Burning East?" it bellowed.
"I did," Naruto answered, grinning at the toad.
"Then prepare yourself!" it shouted, getting into a battle stance leaping forward with tremendous speed, a webbed hand clenched in a fist. "The School of the Undefeated of the East!"
Naruto blocked the blow and was sent skidding backward by the force, but behind his cross-guard, his eyes were twinkling. Planting his feet before rushing forward in a burst of chakra, the boy answered with "The Winds of the King!" as he threw a punch of his own.
"Zenshin!" The frog parried it easily with a punch of his own and retaliated with a vicious flurry of strikes.
"Keiretsu!" Naruto blocked all the frog's incoming strikes with ease.
"Tempa Kyouran!" both of them yelled as their strikes parried one another's.
Human fist met amphibian as Jiraiya was treated to a most spectacular show: a tidal wave, burning flames, and crackling lightning while Naruto and his summons yelled out the final line of the Greeting.
"LOOK! THE EAST IS BURNING RED!"
"Your very first summon, huh?" the toad asked after the light show had faded. "I am Touhou Gamafuhai."
"Senpai," Naruto replied, bowing gracefully to his elder in the arts. "Uzumaki Naruto."
"So, Uzumaki Naruto, how is the old man doing?" Gamafuhai asked.
"Shishou dropped me off here about seven months ago," Naruto answered. "He must have gone elsewhere... told me I was done training under him."
"He did," the toad answered. "The remaining extent of your learning must come from experience. Then and only then can you truly understand and use the Succession Technique. Jiraiya-sama! I must thank you for bringing a fellow practitioner to the tribe of the Toads... excuse me, Jiraiya-sama, what's your face looking like that for?"
"So what's the story with Gamafuhai-senpai?" Naruto asked while master and apprentice were having dinner at Ichiraku's Ramen. "He seemed happy to be summoned, but not as part of the Toad Summoning Contract. Kept asking me if I wanted to make him his personal summons."
"Well, he was originally groomed to be the next Toad Sage, but left home to become a martial artist," Jiraiya answered. "Kind of ticked off his old man something large. Anything else, you'll have to ask Gamakaze-er, Gamafuhai's father."
"Sure thing... but how am I gonna do that?"
"You'll have to focus on his name when summoning - call on Fukasaku when using the summoning technique."
"All right, sensei," Naruto answered. "Say, what do you do when you call for breaks? I kind of make notes on my ninjutsu and stuff..."
The Toad Sage never did answer that question as something began to SHIFT around them. Power began to flow around Jiraiya as he stood from his spot and walked out to the street, and Naruto could sense that it wasn't just chakra he was flaring.
"...what's going on?" Naruto asked, and had to look at his hands, as blood began to flow from his clenched fists. "What the hell?" he added, as his fingernails had lengthened considerably.
"You're unconsciously channeling the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto," Jiraiya answered, and his apprentice's red eyes narrowed before closing.
He was back in the dojo as soon as his eyes opened back up.
"What's going on?"
"We're in a wide-area, high-power genjutsu," the red-haired girl meditating explained without missing a beat. "As long as I'm feeding you a trickle of my power, the genjutsu should not affect you."
"Thanks."
"Hurry up and deal with what's outside. I can only keep this up for so long."
"Roger that."
Most of the red aura around Naruto had subsided, but his eyes were still red and his whisker marks were still more pronounced as he left the seal space.
"You found the source, Jiraiya-sama?" he asked.
"The Kurama Clan territory," the Toad Sage answered. "Everyone not ensnared by the illusion is doing damage control, apparently..."
"Toad Sage," a slug that appeared on Jiraiya's shoulder declared, "the Mistress asks you to resolve this problem."
"Acknowledged," Jiraiya replied, "Send back the notice that I have Special Jonin Uzumaki with me."
"Yes, sir," the slug said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Master and apprentice nodded at each other before tearing towards the source via Shunshin.
"Be that as it may," the man currently battling the Toad Sage said, "even if my life is forefeit here, I will support the Kurama Clan head to the very end."
"I've been waiting several decades to say this, Unkai," Jiraiya retorted as he dodged a volley of thrown shuriken, "but you're a moron. This whole affair drips with stupidity."
"Is that so?" Unkai asked, triggering a trap that sent trees falling toward Jiraiya's location - he didn't have to move, but kicked them aside, only to tumble forward, evading a sucker attack thrown while he was otherwise occupied.
"I know so. Clan stupidity is to be expected, what with the lot of you practicing inbreeding and all, but this takes the cake!"
"If Yakumo wants Konoha gone, then it is my duty to assist her."
"You doddering old fool, do you really think your niece wants that? I read the files, what she wants more than anything is to be a Konoha ninja."
"And your fool of a teacher and the woman she trusted to teach her deprived her of that dream!" bellowed the Kurama Clan steward, blowing a stream of fire at his enemy, only to end up torching a log. He was about to continue the attack by triggering more traps, but tripped as he saw the ground under him slowly turning into mush, his body quickly sinking.
Some distance away Jiraiya released his technique before his opponent submerged into the Swamp of the Underworld completely.
"Sheesh," he told no one in particular before a large burst of chakra nearly bowled him over. "Crap, the girl's Ido is powering up! Where the hell is it getting all that chakra from?"
After checking his reserves, the Toad Sage made sure to keep Unkai confined properly for the incoming ANBU before making his way toward his apprentice - hoping Naruto was holding his own.
"You may have the will of the darkness," Naruto gritted out as he continued charging headlong into the monster crafted by Yakumo's subconscious, the incomplete Rasengan he made dissipating the beam of chakra fired at him. As soon as the beam died down, he dispelled the Rasengan, but was still hurtling towards the construct with his palm out.
"...but I have these shining fingers!" he finished as by a mental command, Naruto called on the remaining energy of the Nine-Tails to gather into his right hand as a circle with a spiral within - the sigil of Uzushiogakure - blazed to life on top of Naruto's right hand.
"Finishing Strike!" Naruto yelled. "Spiral Finger!"
The blazing red hand connected with the Ido's head, stopping it in its tracks, and the orange chakra began to form a haze around it. "...In the name of the Clan of Whirling Tides and the School of the Undefeated of the East..." Naruto chanted, "begone."
As soon as the flash of orange light subsided, the monster was gone and a girl around Naruto's age was slumped on the ground unconscious.
The next day began bright and early, and Uzumaki Naruto was currently wrestling with some unnerving thoughts... but unfortunately, those thoughts had to be put on the back burner, for he and his sensei Jiraiya had to report the mission results to the Hokage.
After shaking his head dry after his morning shower, he shrugged as he put on his sleeveless dark gray bodysuit and chunin vest in preparation for the day ahead.
I'll get to the bottom of this, all on my lonesome - if that's what it takes, he thought as he locked his apartment door and took to the rooftops toward the Hokage tower.
After submitting the requisite paperwork, the Toad Sage and his apprentice were called to the Hokage's office, where the Fifth was looking over her two predecessor's notes and scratching her head. That should have been done better, she told herself as she finished her perusal. "Okay, little troublemaker," she began, looking over at Naruto and Jiraiya, "do you have any idea what that little technique of yours did?"
"It defeated the Ido," Naruto answered.
"What else?"
Naruto shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
"You did read up on Onmyoton jutsu, right?" she asked.
"A little," Naruto answered with a quick nod.
"Jiraiya, do go in more detail to our young special jonin here about what just happened last night," the Hokage said, and thus the Toad Sage did, explaining to Naruto that because of the way the Nine-Tails was sealed within him, he had an imbalance of Yang chakra in his system... which probably weakened or destroyed the Ido construct outright when he used that special technique of his.
Just as he was winding his explanation down, Shizune walked in the room. "Shishou, something strange has happened to Kurama Yakumo... her physical constitution has improved to a remarkable degree... um, you don't seem too surprised."
"Sigh," the Hokage replied, "this is what tends to happen when yin and yang-based techniques mix together... you!"
She pointed an accusing finger at the blond special Jonin.
"I'm assigning you a one-month B-rank mission, which may or may not be relevant during your jonin trials in the near future," Tsunade said with disdain as she hurriedly scrawled on a mission scroll. "You are to bring genin Kurama Yakumo up to speed on her taijutsu skills, to be appraised at the end of the month."
Both Jiraiya and Naruto's jaws dropped in tandem with the announcement.
"But hime, I'm not done training him - " Jiraiya began.
"Hokage-sama, I'm not entirely fit to teach someone from scratch - " Naruto answered in tandem with the Toad Sage.
"ENOUGH!" she bellowed. "You keep making unnecessary complications of things, and as such, I have to redouble my efforts to make sure Unkai doesn't put any more 'revolutionary' lines of thought into his niece's pretty little head. Sensei has dropped the ball one too many times here, and I'll be damned if I let this one by me."
"Hokage-sama," Naruto said, suddenly remembering something. "May I start tomorrow?"
"You can begin as soon as she's released from the hospital," Tsunade replied, "which is early tomorrow morning."
"Thank you," he said, bowing ceremonially, and then turning to his master. "Jiraiya-sama, forgive my impetuousness, but I must take today off. I need to see to something... personal."
"Family matters?"
"You can say that," Naruto said, and the three other ninja in the office easily picked up on his clenching fists.
"Go right ahead, kid," the Toad Sage replied. "Run by me some afternoons after training that genin Yakumo, I still have a few tricks left to teach you."
"Yes, sir," and with a hand sign and a flutter of wind, Naruto left the office.
"A Fuuton variation of the Shunshin?" the Hokage and her assistant asked, jaws agape at the technique they witnessed.
Jiraiya smirked. Ever the unpredictable one, Naruto - you really are your parents' son.
Uzumaki Naruto hurried to the furthest training ground he could get to - taking to the rooftops and using Shunshin.
Several minutes later, he was at one of the larger grounds, a clearing for which teams of eight usually practiced their synergy.
He took a seat in the grass and began to mediate...
...and he was in the dojo, where the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was seated and waiting for him.
"I'm sure you have a great deal of questions to ask, Naruto... so ask away."
He answered with a flurry of strikes that she likewise parried blow for blow.
"You seem angry."
Another exchange of blows, but Naruto was still silent. The Nine-Tails thus tried to feel her opponent out through his fists, and what she felt was confusion and a touch of anger.
"What's wrong? Your blows lack grace. Tell me, why do you gaze at me so hatefully? We have been civil ever since Shishou taught us that if we cannot work with each other, we should at least try to get along."
"Answer me this, Nine-Tailed Demon Fox," Naruto replied, venom dripping with every emphasized word, "why are you wearing my mother's face?"
By the time the Toad Sage found his student in the furthest training ground in Konoha, the wisps of orange chakra radiating from the meditating had turned to streamers.
Sheesh, he thought as he whipped out a suppression seal, the kid's really pissed off... but is he resisting the Nine-Tails' influence, or going along with it? This much released should cover his whole body.
Meanwhile, within the seal, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox pulled back her would-be attack and shrugged. "It's complicated," she answered wistfully.
"As complicated as the fact that you only have half your chakra with you?" Naruto continued to ask, to which she answered with a nod. "That, and it's a safeguard of the seal... I take on the form of my previous jailor."
At that admission, rage so very quickly left Naruto's eyes. "My mother... my mother... was your previous host?"
Another nod.
"What the hell?"
"...Don't be shocked into charging in headfirst into this again," the fox replied, "why do you think the Toad Sage and the Senju told you this?"
Naruto was frozen in his tracks. "I... I rose to Chunin after the invasion... was promoted to special jonin after driving the snake off..." he muttered, "...so if I make it to full jonin... I'd know who my father was?"
The fox nodded, and shifted into a similar-looking person, but this time, instead of a brawler, the fighting stance the fox carried had the trappings of royalty to it.
"...Yes... and you must know that the one who held me prison before your mother... Her name is Uzumaki Mito."
"...why are you telling me this?"
The fox sighed. "A bitter twist of fate started all this," she said, "but I understood. Why they held me within them so deeply," the fox sighed as she shifted back to Uzumaki Kushina's form.
"Should I be sealed into a new host, I will appear in your guise," she continued. "Such is the contract I willingly signed to enjoy the smallest of privileges within this prison... why do you look so surprised? Human sacrifices are usually blood-related."
"It's just..."
"...I am also unable to give as much help to you as I want..." she whispered, her stance slackening, "but you seem to have adapted well enough to it."
"I come here to get answers, and end up with more questions," Naruto said wistfully, after the hostility in the dojo had abated. "My lady, I..."
She let out one of those "noblewoman laughs". "I only let you call me that because you saw me as such."
"Really?" Naruto asked incredulously.
A nod.
"So what else should I call you?"
"You're not going to get that from me that easily," she said, shifting into the form of the previous jinchuriki, "you need to defeat me first, and my win-loss record against you currently stands at twenty wins, no losses and forty-two draws."
The jinchuriki gave his tenant a genuine smile before letting out a grumble. "You're always like that," he said, but his eyes were twinkling at his rivalry with the being sealed within him renewed.
After the fox had taken on her "Mito" guise, she just chuckled. "But of course... do not forget what I am - demon foxes are cunning... ohohohohohoho!" she said, opening her fan to cover her face, and the echoes of her "ladylike" laughter remained with Naruto all the way to his first few moments back outside the seal's space...
Naruto's eyes opened with disbelief to see that the sun was already high in the sky.
A few hours? I spent less than half an hour in the seal! What gives?
Your emotional state also affects the seal. You know this.
Tch, remind me again to not be all wound up when talking to you inside the seal.
But of course, my warden. Ohohohohoho!
He palmed his face, stood up, brushed himself off, and went back off toward the Konoha library - he had a lead on who he was: the Uzumaki clan.
As he took to the rooftops, he brought out his Uzushiogakure forehead protector and thought about what he was going to do upon discovering the truth of his origins... and why his mother would choose to seal the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox into him...
The next day came after Naruto took an afternoon to read about the woman named Uzumaki Mito... and a night of soul-searching after he had his mind blown.
Senju Mito nee Uzumaki.
The wife of the first Hokage.
His bloodline could subjugate even the strongest of the tailed beasts, so they said, and he used it to its utmost in the battle that created the Valley of the End.
Afterward, it seemed, his wife took in the weakened tailed beast into herself, and passed it onto her granddaughter Kushina...
...who passed it onto her son.
Uzumaki Naruto.
He had only begun to try lifting the weight of that revelation had.
Academy classes said that the Fourth Hokage had defeated the Nine-Tailed Fox, but it seemed... that the Fourth did it in tandem with Uzumaki Kushina, to pull it off.
Was it tradition?
Deep within the seal, the tailed beast thrashed in its cage, roaring in pain as it tried to access the parts of its yin chakra that had the memories of the night it was sealed into Naruto, only to fail as the seal triggered each and every time, inflicting pain beyond any known mortal comprehension to it.
The beast gritted its teeth and thought about this being a blessing in disguise. For one, Naruto's punches were like love taps from a child compared to this...
And thus, the Jinchuriki took to the Kurama Clan grounds to begin his latest long-term mission...
The morning sun was well on its way to its zenith when Naruto saw a brown-haired girl ushered into the sitting room where he had waited for some time.
"I remember you," Kurama Yakumo began as soon as her uncle left them to carry on their business. "Your eyes. They were glowing as you attacked the Ido."
"Yep," Naruto answered, "that was me."
"They say my physical condition has improved greatly, and I can no longer hear the voice of Ido."
"Again, all me."
"I am wondering why Hokage-sama would entrust my education to a chunin my own age?"
Naruto coughed. "Special jonin, actually."
"Ah," Yakumo replied, understanding quickly. "You are here to train me, are you not?"
"That's what the Hokage set me up to do, it seems."
"I'll finish training under you, and then get cleared for duty under a team?"
Another nod from Naruto. "Look, I'm really not that caught up on my shinobi clan etiquette classes, so why don't we have the interview while we go on a jog?"
Yakumo's head tilted quizzically at that question. "Do you mean to say that you have not yet been given your clan's writings? Unkai told me that an Uzumaki would be training me, but I always thought that Uzumaki specialized in sealing and solid chakra constructs..."
"I'm a taijutsu spec," Naruto replied, "so not only am I the most qualified ninja to get your taijutsu up to speed, this is also a chance for me to learn some genjutsu."
Yakumo smiled. "All right. Wait here - I shall put on my genin uniform... Naruto-sensei."
She was answered with a thousand-watt smile as she headed to her room to change, shaking her head all the way.
I find it hard to believe the same ninja who defeated the Ido and the buffoon before me are the same person... but Kurenai-sensei once said, appearances can be deceiving, she thought. Still, he was able to help me, so I'll suspend my judgment for now.
The whisker marks he has are rather cute, too...
The genin giggled as she shut the door to her room.
Chapter 11 - END.
Afterword: Piling powerup upon powerup on your selected character doesn't make you a good writer. For fuck's sake, make progress natural - and either make the power come at a price, make it more difficult to attain, or give the enemy something proportional. Frodo = lightsaber :: Sauron = Death Star.
Next chapter: Yakumo and Naruto get to know each other more, some peaceful days pass by, until Naruto is shown just how much more he needs to improve - even when working in tandem with the Nine-Tails.