Kakashi sighed as a mug filled with amber liquid slid in front of him. Over his twenty years of the shinobi life, several instances had passed with the thoughts of retiring early. The payment shinobi's received was generous as it was, but it was beautifully comforting to know that after all the hard work and risking his life everyday, that he could fall back on the soft cushion of retirement and not have to stress over financial aid. He supposed the only thing that kept him from turning in his form and headband was a combination of three things: it was about the only way he felt he could honor his father's memory, it was the only way he could look after his Sensei's only son due to all the laws and limitations placed down, and... it was all he was ever trained for and known. He failed to see himself working in flower shop or, kami forbid, a hair salon; He was trained to cut down shinobi, not somebody's dead-ends of hair. Kakashi had been giving a lot of thought of what he wanted to do with the rest of his life now that the Elemental Nations were gone and it didn't seem like ninjas were all that needed here in Fiore; he wanted to slow things down anyways. He realized that he had to catch up with his three kids, but there was only so much time he could spend with them before it became an annoyance to them; after all, they were considered adults and had already grown into fine two young ladies and a young man. Kakashi had taken up most of his free time with Jiraiya discussing the older man's novels and the drafts that started to collect dust since the war had started. Kakashi had even taken to proof reading the content of the rough drafts and he was alarmed at how entrancing the white haired man had wrote the story. He was certain that it was the best work he had read of Jiraiya's yet and that was saying something considering the book wasn't even finished and didn't contain the slightest bit of porn within its pages. He really couldn't wait to read the book as a whole and he was determined to have Jiraiya make a more personalized copy for Naruto... maybe even the blonde that was Minato's younger brother.
That's another thing that Kakashi found himself admiring lately, he never actually looked at Naruto's accomplishments over the years as a whole. Yes, he realized everything that the blonde had been through, but it took him a long time to come to the revelation of how fast the Uzumaki had grown up. He knew it probably made it seem like he was some old man, but it really did seem like it was just yesterday that he was finding out Kushina-chan was pregnant and the ecstatic beaming smile that Minato-sensei had worn for the next week. Although he hadn't raised the boy from his birth like he would have loved but he had been there for the blonde for nearly ten years and the pride he felt every time he looked at the blonde was not unlike the one he felt when he was near his kids. Somewhere along the way of all the battles and injuries, Naruto had went from being Minato's legacy, to a beloved student, to a brother, and before he even realized it... a son. He may not have been blood related to the boy but the trials they had went through together was more than any bond that blood could ever prove.
"I can't fig're out if your moping or brooding."
Kakashi blinked turning a lazy eye towards the voice. Tsunade settled herself beside him and the dark tint to her cheeks was more than enough proof that the fifth hokage had tried to out drink the dark brown haired teen that sat a few seats away. The grumbling of some of the men departing from the area, stuffing their empty wallets into their pockets, was more than enough evidence that their bet hadn't went they wanted it to; Kakashi found it hard to pin-point who the winner was seeing as both females were still standing and seemed only slightly buzzed.
He took a moment to replay her words within his head, "Aren't you suppose to see underneath the underneath?" He smiled over at her as he twisted the beer within his gloved hands feeling the moisture slowly absorb into the material; It was a welcoming feeling to the touch calluses of his fingers and palms.
Tsunade gave the equivalent of a snort as she reached over and snatched the man's beer from his hands. She didn't waste time on downing the liquid and it seemed to have happened without her taking a breath throughout the large gulps. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked back down at his hands... he would have liked to at least taste the beverage.
"I'm too drunk to be sober an' too sober to be drunk, Kakashi! I'm stuck in the twilight zone over 'ere and you expecting me to look 'underneath the underneath' jus' to fig're out if you minds all in the gutter?"
He gave a shrug. It was nice to see a drunk Tsunade again after so long. "I suppose I didn't think of that, Tsunade-san."
A particular loud yell from outside had caught the twos attention as they looked out one of the windows. Naruto had stayed outside after the meadow incident, mostly due to the dragon slayers wanting to see jutsus performed; especially the pink haired boy that was Sakura's twin. Kakashi didn't have to be outside to identify the techniques the blonde was showing to know what ones he did; he had learned to identify them by the way Naruto turned his chakra flow just before he released it.
Gajeel held his ribs discretely as he crossed his arms, his eyes wide as he watched the blonde teen in front of him create spells that each looked more dangerous than the last. He didn't pay attention to the names that went along with the jutsus, particularly due to how hard it was to pronounce any of it. He glanced over at his grandfather who rather stonily watched the show as if it was merely a puppet show and Gajeel didn't doubt for a moment that the silent man could do just as dangerous jutsus as the ones he was seeing. But for some reason, the more power Naruto displayed, the more Gajeel relaxed; his bones felt comfortingly warm and it took his mind off his battered body.
Naruto held up his hand allowing his chakra to cloak across his forearm and hand. His chakra color had changed ever since the bijuu was sealed into him, but he didn't mind that much as it didn't affect anything negatively. Instead of being blue like normal, or even red for when he used Kurama's chakra, it had changed into a variety of colors that included black, green, and white. Sakura had went into a full blown panic mode when she first saw it and had demanded to give him an examination of his chakra pathways; much to her ire, he had refused. The wisps of chakra intertwined and wiggled and the opacity of it only added its entrancing look.
He held out his hand towards Natsu who was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "This is my chakra. Typically shinobi's chakra is blue, but can come in a variety of colors over time." He explained as Natsu reached out hesitantly towards the misty substance. In the pink haired boys mind, he was imagining the chakra to feel wet or extremely but was pleasantly surprised when his fingers touched it, it was warm and it seeped into his skin and curled around the bones like a blanket. "Wow. That's so cool.." He mumbled as he pulled his hand away to watch the chakra stick to his hand for a few seconds before disappearing.
Mines red, cause its the most amazing color! Kurama claimed as he made his tails coat themselves in the bubbling chakra with a grin.
You wished, bunny! Mine is the superior one! Shukaku was quick to throw in his two cents despite the fox being unable to hear him. Naruto sighed as placed a hand to his temple because suddenly the eight sealed bijuu started a unnecessarily loud debate. He winced when Saiken gave a rather rough tackle to Isobu and with it became more screaming.
Laxus watched the action with a frown. He had heard jutsu descriptions from Minato that failed to do it any justice, but from what he was seeing, it seemed more potent than magic spells. The chakra that coated the boys hand disapated into thin air leaving Laxus to wonder what the repercussions were of using chakra and jutsu; it just didn't seem health or safe. "What happens when you run out of chakra? Isn't dangerous to your body to use it?" The words, once again, came out before he actually could form them within his mind.
"We have reserves throughout our body and if we use too much it results in exhaustion. Chakra is a energy mixture of physical strength and mental strength; if it's depleted completely, we die. So shinobi have to learn their limitations with their chakra reserves and know how much each jutsu will take, else they could kill themselves with any level of jutsu."
Laxus felt his face pale immensely at the thought of his nephew dropping to the ground dead over simply showing some jutsus. Gajeel's moment of peace was quick to end as the blondes words slowly sunk into his mind.
"Oi! Stop using the sh!t then!"
Naruto smiled as he willed his chakra to coat his body like a blanket causing quit the hilarious reactions from his spectators. Madara smirked as he watched his grandsons face turn whiter than a ghost and his eyes to widen to comical proportions. He couldn't help but follow the young blondes example as his deep red chakra flickered across his body causing the attention to snap over to him.
"O-oi! Ya dumb asses! W-what are..."
Madara watched with a fascination as Naruto's chakra flickered like flames unlike his own stilled cloak of chakra. He realized that typically he would have found the flickering of chakra to be weak due to the owner not having good chakra control; but Madara couldn't find it in himself to view the blonde in that way. While Naruto didn't have complete control over all his chakra, it was still incredible with what the blonde could do. Gaining control over half of the blondes chakra reserves would be a amazing feat, but to control all of it would be impossible. And Madara had to respect the blonde simply just because of how much chakra he possessed compared to himself.
"Relax, Gaki." Gajeel scowled at Madara with a look that meant murder. The Uchiha took it that the boy didn't like the nickname. "It takes more than a few jutsus for a proper shinobi to feel the effects. I can assure you that Naruto-san has the most prolific and dense chakra there is in the entire shinobi world. Which is quite the amazing feat." Madara allowed his chakra to disperse as Naruto did the same.
The blonde rubbed the back of his neck with a small frown, "Not really considering there is only six shinobi left. Besides, I can't be counted because not only do I have all the Bijuu sealed inside me but my Uzumaki blood automatically increases my chakra reserves. So technically you, Madara, have the largest reserves."
Madara rolled his eyes at the blondes attempt to escape the obivious, "Give credit to where it is due, Uzumaki."
The blonde gave a half-hearted shrug as he stuffed his hands down into his pockets. He didn't want to be known as the powerhouse of shinobi, he didn't want any idolization aimed towards him. While the perks of having that sort of fame could help protect his loved ones, it could easily prove just as dangerous. And while he was more than willing to fight anyone who threatened his family, he would rather keep it on the down low so he could have a moment of peace.