Tsunade's Advice
Chapter 2
On one of the many dirt roads of Fire Country, two figures were walking that led towards the main gate of Konohagakure. One of them is the tall and imposing figure of the Toad Sage, and one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Beside him is the 16-year-old Uzumaki Naruto.
Time away from the village has been good for Naruto and is visible in his changes. With a height of 5 feet 7 inches, and a good and healthy lean frame, Naruto had also grown in various other aspects besides his height such as in strategy, tactical thinking, and a good number of mastered jutsu under his belt.
His choice of fashion has also improved considerably which can be currently seen in his attire. Gone were the attention-grabbing orange and blue clothes, now he's sporting an outfit consisting of black shinobi pants, sandals, and forehead protector. Along with a yellow jacket with a raised collar with its sleeves folded up to his elbow. Finishing his attire was a pair of special fingerless wrist gloves. Added to that attire were invisible seals for storage and durability purposes.
"Hey Ero-sennin, how do you think people would react to me, after this much time?" The person in question looked at his partner with a confused expression.
"What do mean brat? I thought you got more confidence in your skills and strength. Are you doubting yourself Naruto?"
"No, it's not that sensei, You knew that I'm not exactly the person with a good reputation in the village. And that's putting it decently." Which made the older man frown "I don't want to see the same look that people used to give this time too."
This is understandable since no one wanted to be seen as a monster by the same people that they swore to protect. However, his fears are unnecessary as the reputation of Uzumaki Naruto flipped during these three years.
When he faced the Ichibi no Tanuki, most people especially the shinobi of Konoha, who witnessed the fight were awestruck and got flashbacks of the Fourth Hokage fighting the Kyubbi with the same Gamabunta.
News quickly spread around the village of Naruto's fight and his various other feats during his time as a genin in the village after he left for a training trip with Lord Jiraiya as his apprentice and his close relationship with the Hokage certainly helped.
"Hey guys! How's it going?" Naruto greeted the gate guards as he approached. Izumo and Kotetsu called the eternal gate guards, were some of the few people who treated him as a fellow shinobi rather than a monster or an idiot.
"Hey, Naruto! I see that you've grown, Ah! Konoha isn't the same without you here." Greeted Kotetsu while Izumo just waved with a smile. "You should go and meet Tsunade-sama, she must be waiting for you both."
With a final wave and some words, both Naruto and Jiraiya headed towards their current destination, the Hokage Tower. While most of the village remained the same, there were some welcome additions such as Tsunade's face on the Hokage mountain, new stores and improved buildings, and the most important one the looks that people were giving him, instead of what he was expecting such as hateful glares and loading looks, he is now receiving looks of recognition and respect. Which made him internally very happy.
The walk toward Hokage Tower was the same as people were giving nods of respect and greetings and the looks that some of the beautiful girls were giving him were making him blush a bit.
Finally reaching the Hokage tower and entering Godaime's office, Naruto was as excited as he could be to meet his surrogate mom/sister/aunt Tsunade whom he missed dearly for the last 3 years.
As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, he was enveloped in a bear hug by the same person he was thinking about. After what felt like a long 5 minutes without the ability to breathe, he was finally released from the hug.
After separating from the hug, Tsunade took a moment to look at the young man who came as close as her son, Gone were the orange clothes, and now with a new and fresh look and a strong body with a good height for his age Uzumaki Naruto.
"Well, look whose back, How are you brat? Everything went well I presume?" she inquired the genin who was now sporting a small grin with warmth in his eyes and hugged her gently.
"Yep, You can't guess how strong I became." He spoke once he separated the hug.
"Well then we have to test that won't we?" she said that with a smile. "Now you go and take some rest. I have made Konohamaru clean your apartment." She handed him the keys and sent him off. After he left she turned her attention towards Jiraiya and started questioning him about his latest apprentice.
"It indeed was a productive time for him, we polished some of his skills that are lacking such as improving his Kawarimi and Chakra control. While he still can't do the basic bunshin, he Improved his control exponentially. He can do Rasengan with one hand now, his shadow clones helped greatly in various fields such as elemental manipulation, jutsu learning, and various theory aspects. His primary element is Wind and he also has a couple of Jutsu of other other elements under his belt.
His specialty lies with his henge, it's not just a transformation, he actually can do shape manipulation, While he can't do the shape transformation in different sizes and shapes, he can transform his Shadow clones into various sizes and shapes since they are purely made out of chakra.
He can transform his clones into small stones or a big bear but neither stone is hard nor the bear is strong. It's just that shape transformation not the properties of the particular shape. But yeah he can actually ride his bear clone and can pocket the stone clone but their strength is the same as the normal shadow cone."
"Amazing, that's such a handy trick that changes the battle or any fight with its surprise aspect. And the enemy can't guess that unless they have Byakugan." Tsunade was certainly impressed to say otherwise.
"Yes, while he may not be able to go toe to toe with an Akatsuki member without the Kyuubi, that brat is very crafty in his tactics. Damn, his clones can be annoying and can make the opponent lose their cool. He actually managed to win against me with those tactics themselves until I pulled out the Sage mode." Jiraiya added his own thoughts regarding that matter.
"Hmm, so what are your thoughts on promoting him chunin? From what you mentioned, that brat is ready for at the least Special Jounin rank. But he doesn't have the experience to be promoted to that rank, I think he's more than deserving of chunin rank."
"Yes, Chunin would suffice for now, I'm sure he would be happy with that" Agreed Jiraiya with her reasoning.
"Well, I'll inform Naruto about tomorrow, come on now you pervert, let's have some sake." She pulled out a sake bottle from one of her new hidden compartments along with a couple of saucers.
While he may wanting to do some 'research', he decided to join her in their drinking party, he can't exactly ignore sake, especially with Tsunade.
