Chapter 110 Training Arc.

"Chidori?" Sasuke asked. "That lightning jutsu you use?"

"Though I've copied thousands of Jutsu, I always find myself returning to this one," Kakashi's palm crackled with lightning. "It was a jutsu I created myself." He closed his hand and the lightning faded. "Now, I'll pass it down to you."

Sasuke looked at him unimpressed.

"You can at least react properly!" Kakashi yelled at Sasuke's indifference.

"It's not like we're close," Sasuke muttered. Kakashi blinked.

"I practically raised you and your brother," he pointed out.

"I don't acknowledge it!"

"Ah, you're still mad about that time aren't you?" Kakashi chuckled. "You're so possessive."

A shuriken flew by his head, grazing his mask and leaving a trickle of blood.

"I. Don't. Acknowledge. It!" Sasuke punctuated every word. Kakashi's eyes sparked and chakra swirled around him.

"I was going to ease you into it, but I think I'll take a page out of Sakura's book and just beat the lesson into you." Lightning erupted around his body covering him in deadly electricity. You would be forgiven for mistaking it for Raikage's barian mode, with its intensity.

"Well then Sasuke, only the Chidori can pierce through this form," Kakashi took a stance. "We'll keep going until you can touch me!"

He vanished in sparks of blue lightning. Sasuke dodged the attack from above on instinct alone, his skin tingling with the closeness.

The ground exploded into sparks, singed from the strike, Kakashi stood in the crater of his making.

"Are you crazy?" Sasuke hissed, rubbing redding skin where electricity jumped to him.

Kakashi laughed carefreely.

"Don't worry Sasuke," he waved a hand dismissively as though he didn't try to kill his student. "This form isn't as deadly as a concentrated attack. Besides, people have survived being struck by lightning. "

"Bastard," Sasuke hissed, flipping backwards to dodge Kakashi's follow-up strike.

"This is about to get messy ~" Kakashi teased, chasing after Sasuke.

"You haven't even taught me how to do it!" Sasuke yelled, running from his homicidal sensei.

"Just gather chakra into your palm and turn it into electricity. Like this!"

Kakashi swung a lightning blade at the Uchiha, earning a yelp and impaling a tree.

"You're insane," Sasuke yelled, having fallen to the ground to dodge the attack.

"Having to deal with you bad students is bound to make anyone crazy," Kakashi said, pulling his hand from the tree with disturbing familiarity. "Just look at Asuma!"

Kakashi's eyes smiled with mischief

Sasuke flinched back, rising to his feet and taking off deeper into the forest, away from his sensei.

"Running won't help," Kakashi called. I won't stop unless you touch me directly!" With that, he disappeared in a spark. The ground shook as lightning rose into the cloudless sky.

Crazy," I muttered watching the two go.

"So I get to learn Dad's signature move!" I turned to the excited blonde as he clung to his double. Minato really did look like him as a child.

Naruto excitedly hugged his father, who took a childish form to train his son. It was a bit awkward for Naruto to have two fathers, but he easily dismissed it as having a shadow clone. He really is so simple. With the chakra inside Naruto strengthening, we started his training with the Rasengan. I was proud to announce that Naruto's chakra control was quite good, so we suspected it wouldn't take much time for him to learn the jutsu.

Minato held out a palm and summoned the winds, compressing it into a swirling ball of chakra. The Rasengan. Naruto looked at the jutsu with wide eyes and Minato stood proud.

"It took me three years to create the jutsu but it shouldn't take you nearly as long to master it," Minato said confidently. He raised his palm and gently placed the swirling ball of death against a tree bark. The tree trunk disappeared as the ball touched its surface, grinding it into fine dust. Minato left a gaping hole in the tree and smiled at Naruto's sparkling eyes.

"Yeah, I have tried some wind-style jutsus, but none are as cool as this!" Naruto exclaimed.

I could feel Hashirama squirming uncomfortably. His wood style was his best defence, finding a jutsu that could cut through a tree like a hot knife through butter was disturbing.

"He won't use that on me, right?" Hashirma asked, hiding behind Madara.

"Don't worry so much, that jutsu can't pierce my Susanoo," Madara sighed.

"Madara!" Hashirama cried, hugging the Uchiha tightly. I tuned them out. Any respect I had for the First was washed away the longer I stayed with him.

Eagerly, Naruto stretched out his palm and gathered wind chakra. The wind formed a mini tornado in his palm, disbursing when he failed to compress it.

Naruto looked on in confusion.

"That's not how yours looked," He muttered, looking at his father for guidance.

Minato chuckled. "Perhaps this will take 3 years after all," he teased.

"What!"

"That's how the Rasengan looked when I started creating it."

"Ehh!"

Minato consoled his son.

"Don't worry, don't worry, the trick is to visualise a ball instead of a swirling mass of wind," Minato was gentle with his son, babying him every step of the way. I ignored the lightning strike in the distance.

Minato was the most excited about training, seeing it as bonding with his son. My thoughts went back to the Lost Towers movie. Didn't those two bond together there as well? A smile crept onto my face.

This is nice.

Sitting under a tree, I watched the chaos around me with great amusement.

I was fine with this. I closed my eyes, content.

"A toad croaked on a warm summer night.

My eyes snapped open.

My peace is gone.

I stood up, reluctantly, dusting off my dress.

"What a pain," I groan, sympathizing with Shikamaru. I was just getting comfortable too.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, the first to notice my displeasure.

"I'm going to stretch my legs," I waved a hand. "Keep going, I'll be back."


Jiraiya sat on a high tree branch watching the "training" from a distance. He looked every bit like the pervert he was, peeking through binoculars. His face was serious as he watched the scene of Minato teaching Naruto the Rasengan.

On one hand, he was happy for his student for being able to share this moment with his son, but on the other, a part of him felt a loss. It has been a while since he had a student, he selfishly thought since Minato was dead he would fill the role of mentor.

He recalled Minato's cold eyes, eyes that reflected Sakura's emerald gems. The child was unnerving. Hearing her story from the Hokage didn't change his opinion of her.

Host of Madara Uchiha.

Even with the First, Second and Fourth there, one can not overlook the man. Madara wasn't someone easily overlooked. When his name is spoken, rightful fear travels through one's chakra coils. And now that courtesy is shared with a preteen kunoichi from no noble background. A very protective Kunoichi who sensed his presence before his student.

Jiraiya glanced at the pink butterfly fluttering around him. You wouldn't find such creatures, this high in the treetops.

The creature landed on a branch across from him and Sakura appeared in a swirl of pink petals.

How dramatic.

"My," She greeted, flicking open a pink hand fan. "What brings the great sage to these parts?" She asked, covering half her face. "I'm afraid I'm the only woman for miles. Surely you didn't come here to see me."

Her voice was cheerful but had a hint of a threat. Minato severed ties with him, so he shouldn't be nosing around.

"I only came to see my good friend Kakashi!" He responded, matching her cheerful energy.

"Oh, my! Is that so?" She closed the fan with a nod. "I'm afraid you simply have the worst timing, he's currently very busy." she pointed to the forest and a lightning light flashed as if in response. "As you can see, he's in the middle of training." she flicked the fan again and waved a breeze to her face. "You'll have to see him another time, I'm afraid."

"Is that right…" Jiraiya looked at the burning forest with a grimace. Teaching his signature jutsu to a Uchiha, what was Kakashi thinking?

He caught Sakura watching him with blank eyes that screamed, 'Go away now!' He chuckled, sheepishly rubbing his neck.

"Man, I do have the worst timing!" He said. "It's just, with everything going on, I didn't have time to talk to him." He gave Sakura a serious stare, watching her every move. "Did you know the Daimyo wanted to make him Hokage after hearing about Hiruzen's retirement?"

She scoffed.

"If Kakashi becomes Hokage now, the village would be in danger. He would get nothing done."

Jiraiya frowned. Something about the way she said it. She didn't seem surprised by the daimyo's preposition. Did she know something he didn't?

"That's no way to speak about your teacher," Jiraiya teased.

"I'm positive sensei would agree, much like the Toad Sage, Kakashi enjoys his freedom," she smirked. Jiraiya flinched. It was a simple statement but it said so much. Evidently, Sakura was like Minato in her opinion of him. Or maybe she was angry with him for locking her away.

"The offer still stands," he said suddenly, surprising himself. "I can still teach you control."

"So you can lock me away again," Kurama growled.

Sakura covered her face looking away with a blush, as though she burped and not speak damning words unwillingly.

"You're playing a dangerous game," he said, her eyes refocused on him. "You don't have any formal training, you can't expect your luck to keep saving you."

"If I didn't know better, I would think you were saying all that happened was mere luck and not by my design." She closed her fan with a snap. "Is that right?"

"It's nothing short of a miracle that you survived until now, don't mistake luck for skill," he warned.

The air grew heavy and Jiraiya felt his skin crawl.

This level of killing intent!

Birds fell from the sky, frozen mid flight with fright. The scene was nothing short of horrifying.

According to Shikaku's observations, her eyes change color when she's not in control, Jiraiya recalled Hiruzen saying. "Green is Sakura in all her glory. Red is Tobirama, blue Minato, black Hashirama, I think you know the fox and then there is the Sharingan."

Madara went unsaid.

Hiruzen looked out the carriage window. "Though I heard that they can become as pale as a Hyuga, I don't know what that means."

Jiraiya was expecting the Sharingan or at least the fox to make an appearance, instead, Sakura's green eyes shone like emeralds as she looked at him with barely controlled rage.

"You think It's all luck, huh?" she laughed, humorlessly. "Shall we see if it's all luck? I challenge you to a battle to the death!"

"Eh?" Jiraiya was surprised. He stepped back. "A death battle, isn't that a bit excessive?"

"If you're going to pick a fight with a Kunoichi you have to be ready to die," She growled, chakra swirling dangerously around her, the killing intent becoming visible.

"Sakura!" a man materialized from the tree bark, surprising Jiraiya with his use of wood style. "Please calm down," the Anbu pleaded.

"I'll calm down when he's on his knees begging for mercy!" she yelled, the branch cracking beneath her. Her hair danced around her as her chakra whipped about. "Someone who doesn't even know anything has no right to look down on me!"

Jiraiya shielded his face against the wind pressure, it was getting harder to stand. He frowned, death clung to his legs in a way only war had, she really wanted to kill him. He doubted his sensei's words. There was no way she was the one in control, no child has this much killing intent!

"What's going on here?"

Jiraiya flinched, looking back to see Minato and Naruto standing atop nearby trees.

"Minato–"

"What did you say to get her so upset?" Minato demanded, his blue eyes frosty.

Ah. he was the one threatened, but he was the bad guy here? He turned to Sakura who was still glaring at him, her killing intent growing thicker. He glanced at the branches wrapping around her feet and then at the struggling Anbu. Was he holding her back?

He forced his body to relax.

"I didn't say anything worth this reaction," he shrugged. " I only offered to teach her how to control her newfound power since she can't rely on luck to sav–"

She was behind him.

Jiraiya had time to move his eyes to see a flash of pink before everything went white.

Booom!

The tree collapsed from the show of force. The ground shook and dust swirled around the drop site. Sakura stepped away from the wreckage with a blank expression, her killing intent fading with the wind.

"I suppose I could do that, she muttered to herself, or maybe to the souls inside her. She didn't look back at the falling tree, or at the white mass that crawled from beneath it.

Jiraiya peeked from beneath his hair that wrapped around him protectively like a blanket.

Seeing Sakura's indifference, he retracted his hair and stood tall.

"Not bad," He faked casualness. "You almost got me with that, heh." he laughed, though in his heart he was trembling. She was just like Tsunade!

"Sakura!" the Anbu was back falling beside her and fussing over her. She patted his head lovingly, contrasting the blank look on her face.

"You can't kill him!" the Anbu chastised. "He's a guest of the Third Hokage!" Sakura wasn't impressed.

"I'd rather you not kill him as well," Minato appeared in a flash of yellow, his son tucked under his arm. He knelt before Sakura like a loyal subject. "While I understand your frustration, I beg you to show mercy."

"Ack!" Naruto flinched, shaking his head vehemently and crossing his hands in an X. Minato looked at him in confusion.

"I'm nothing if not merciful," Sakura said, her eyes gaining a new light. A light of amusement. She smiled coldly and turned to Jiraiya. He rather the cold look of indifference.

"I was a bit unreasonable, I apologise," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "While your comment was unwarranted I will forgive your ignorance as an Outsider."

She called him an outsider on purpose.

Her eyes curved into cruel slits. "That being said, I can't forgive your existence so let's do this instead."

His existence was an issue?

"We'll have a duel, not to the death this time," she added before anyone could protest. "If you win I'll accept your teaching no matter how unorthodox. But when I win and show you that I don't need your help," she spat the word, pointing to the scroll on his back. "You leave the summoning scroll behind."

Jiraiya instinctively grabbed the scroll protectively.

"No, that hardly seems fair," he said.

"Indeed," she folded her hands. "Having us as your student is so ridiculous it would make Orochimaru laugh."

"That's…" Jiraya was speechless.

"Are you afraid you'll lose?"

"I must admit, I don't fancy my chances against the Senju and Uchiha duo."

Sakura scoffed

In a puff of smoke, four preteen bodies appeared. They opened their eyes and Jiraiya hisses, recognizing them. The First, Second, Madara, and a Uzumaki stood before him.

"I'll be fighting you with only my strength," Sakura assured him.

He looked at her with wide eyes. She really separated from her power to prove a point; how hurt was her pride? Genius or not, she couldn't hope to fight a legendary Sanin who fought through numerous wars.

He smiled, feeling confident.

It must be the First's bad gambling habits getting to you!" he smirked. "I've always enjoyed robbing Tsunade of her money." he laughed heartily at the memory. She really sucked at gambling.

She turned to the gathering.

"You lot will serve as witness."

"This whole situation is pointless, the Uzumaki crossed her arms.

"I'm cheering for you!" Hashirama cheered.

"How stupid," Tobirama grumbled.

"Show him what you're made of!" Minato joined in the cheering. The boy with spiky black hair and black eyes remained silent. Through the process of elimination, he realised that was Madara, he looked every bit like a Uchiha.

He stared at her without saying a word. Sakura smiled, genuinely.

"I'll be fine," she promised. When he still stared she sighed, turning her back to him. "Just watch; I'll show you how much I've grown."

Madara closed his eyes and looked… pained.

"Do as you like," he sighed looking away.

Jiraiya looked between them with confusion.

He was always there," Inoichi said. "When I looked he was there."

What exactly was their relationship?

"Are you ready, Sanin?" Jiraiya looked at the girl as she smirked at him, cracking her knuckles.


This was supposed to be a long chapter with a fight and all but here we are. "Man a plan and God a wipeout." hope you enjoyed none the least, next chapter is more fighting. I'll give Jiraiya face he is a legendary Sanin after all.

Next Chapter

November 15

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