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Chapter Thirty-Nine: Rasengan
"Listen here, kid. The next step to learning the Rasengan requires absolute control and mastery over the first two steps."
Naruto blinked as Jiraiya motioned for him to look at the balloon in his hands. It was an empty balloon, without anything inside it besides air. Different from the water balloon and rubber ball he had used for the previous training steps. He was somewhat confused by what Jiraiya meant by 'absolute mastery'. In Naruto's mind, he had already mastered the first two steps.
He finally managed to complete the second step yesterday during the middle of the night, which was followed by a series of excited yells that had awoken an irritated Jiraiya. Needless to say, it took a long period of asking for his master to finally agree to teach him the next step afterward.
The third step was, according to Jiraiya, the hardest of them all.
"And by absolute mastery, I mean it. The first step was rotation, you got that down easily enough. The second was power, which you managed to learn surprisingly quickly. Now, the third. If I was to be honest, it's more like two steps in one. The first part requires the ability to apply both step one and step two simultaneously. Obviously, the technique requires both power and rotation to truly work. The second part needs you to shape the chakra into a perfect sphere. The denser you make the jutsu, the more the power. Look at the balloon in my hand…do you see anything?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, I can hear something though."
He put his other hand forward. In a brief second, a blue Rasengan was spinning on his palm. "This is the Rasengan. However….there's another Rasengan in the balloon."
Naruto was in disbelief. "How could you make a Rasengan inside without popping the balloon?"
Jiraiya smirked. "That's the toughest part. Unless your hand is made out of diamond, holding a jutsu like the Rasengan would tear your palms to shreds. The trick is to first make a capsule, or an extra layer of chakra that isn't rotating which has the sole purpose of containing the rotating part of the Rasengan. Understood?"
I got it. There has to be a shield to prevent damaging oneself and to contain all of that spinning chakra.
"So, there's actually three steps in one," Naruto said with a huff. "I'm beginning to think that you tricked me with that bet, Pervy Sage. There's no way a normal person could learn this jutsu in two weeks."
You finally caught on, eh? Jiraiya chuckled internally. "You can just give it up and—"
"Good thing that I'm not your normal shinobi! There's five days left—get ready to spill everything you know!"
He has to perfect this jutsu in a manner of five days, and at the same time somehow manage to speed up Tsuande's decision, which was still in the air. Who knew what was going through that woman's head? I've got a lot of work to do…
[—NTLS—]
—
Day 1
—
Naruto found himself in a similar bar and in a similar seat and across from him stood a blonde woman with a similar expression. He couldn't help but think that the Gods hated him, but regardless, he started his daily ritual of persuading her to come.
Tsunade chugged another bottle of alcohol, having finished her round of gambling a few hours before and only being stopped from continuing by her apprentice Shizune who managed to somehow convince her to leave the casino area.
"So, any progress on the decision?" Naruto asked sweetly.
"What decision?" Tsunade asked without missing a beat. Her cheeks are slightly rosy from the drinks, and her voice slurred ever so slightly.
He gritted his teeth. "The Hokage decision."
"Ohhh….that. I'm thinking about it."
"It would be nice to have an answer soon…Lady Tsunade." He swallowed the annoyance at having to refer to the drunken woman in front of him so respectfully. Sure, she was a Legendary Shinobi, but the woman in front of him definitely didn't fit that image. "Jiraiya is asking for an answer within this week itself."
Tsunade scoffed loudly. "Jiraiya? Where is that bastard? Never mind, don't answer. Where else would that old pervert be at night? Tell him that he's not allowed to rush me, nor can he send you to do his dirty work."
Naruto nodded subserviently, biting his cheek to avoid saying something rash. "Of course, Lady Tsunade."
"Scram off now," Tsunade said, shooing him away with a waving motion of her hand. "I've got very important work to do."
The Jinchuuriki gladly left the bar, eager to get back to his training. The main reason why he was behaving so nicely with the irritating woman was that he needed his reputation to go up. It was currently forty, which was more than the original thirty he had held with her. But for the title 'Shinobi Therapist' to work properly, he needed to have a reputation of fifty or higher.
He currently had two phases in the everyday schedule of his life. One was finding Tsunade so that he could convince her to come back to Konoha. That was a massive fail so far. The second was his Rasengan training.
He had made some progress on the first two parts of the technique, but unfortunately none on the 'extra layer' part.
Naruto looked around the clearing that he had walked into. There was no one around, meaning he had a chance to test out his progress thus far.
He first poured chakra into the palm of his hand.
First goes rotation.
The chakra began to spin with a loud noise.
Then goes power.
The velocity of the rotation dramatically increased and there was a noticeable change to the density of the chakra.
An incomplete Rasengan spun in Naruto's hand. It was wild, uncontrollable, and most certainly wasn't a sphere. The rotating chakra moved unpredictably, bulging out from the center whenever it wanted. It had all the freedom in the world, lashing into anything that stood in its way. He began to pour more chakra in hopes of controlling it and forming the capsule to contain all of that energy.
Instead, the Rasengan only became wilder.
"Argh!" Naruto shouted in pain as he let go of the chakra in his palm and disabled the jutsu.
His hand now sported a variety of scratches, leaking blood all over. His palm was an entirely different mess altogether, appearing as if he drenched his hand into a bucket of red paint. Luckily, his regeneration factor would be able to deal with the injuries easily enough.
He ignored the ringing pain that refused to go away.
And took another balloon into his hand.
—
Day 2
—
"Have you made up your mind yet?"
Tsunade brought the bottle down, slamming it onto the wooden table with a loud clang. "You again?!"
Naruto nodded sincerely. "Yep, unfortunately."
"Can't you give a woman her space?" She sighed. "It's not a simple decision, you know."
"Of course," Naruto agreed. "But we kind of need a quick answer now."
Jiraiya had told him to try a bit harder on the persuading front, telling him that they were getting closer and closer to the deadline for the missing. Along with the fact that staying in one place for so long, especially when it wasn't guarded as much compared to Konoha, was dangerous considering that he was a Jinchuuriki. Luckily, the presence of both Jiraiya and Tsunade most probably deterred anyone from trying to attack them. Regardless, both of them wouldn't be there forever.
Naruto had of course asked why Jiraiya was making him, someone who didn't even know the woman and already had a bad opinion of her, try and persuade her to come home. 'You wouldn't understand, brat.' That was the answer he was given.
"How does he keep finding us here?" Tsunade said, looking at Shizune for an answer. "It's a completely different bar from yesterday!"
Shizune shrugged.
Naruto didn't say anything either. The actual answer was that it was pretty easy to ask around whether anyone saw a tall blonde woman who stood out among the regular crowd. Especially when Tsunade was already notorious around these parts for her gambling habits.
Naruto allowed a smile. "So…"
"Not yet. Now leave before I decide to leave this village altogether. And don't think for a second that I'm lying—what am I, an alcoholic?"
Naruto bit his tongue, preventing any chance of a biting remark that so desperately wanted to escape from his mouth. Shizune was already nervous, knowing an argument would unfold if the Chuunin said anything remotely offensive.
He took a deep breath. "Of course not. I'll see you tomorrow."
Observe!
Name: Tsunade Senju
Title: "Princess of Konoha"
Occupation: Jonin of Konoha
Level: ?
MP: ?
Chakra: ?
STR: ?
VIT: ?
DEX: ?
INT: ?
WIS: ?
LUK: ?
Reputation: 42
Reputation increased by two? I was hoping for more. Whatever, eight more points to go.
Naruto rushed to his training area, eager to continue his progress on the jutsu that had been wracking his brain for the past week. The second he got there, he took out the empty balloon and began pouring air into it continuously.
He has improved from yesterday in terms of speed and how quickly he was able to add rotation and power, but the capsule trick managed to elude him entirely.
Well, here goes another day.
Day 3
Naruto tried to be as amiable as possible in a last-ditch effort to increase his reputation as much as he could. But he was just so damn tired that it was tougher than he had expected. His hand was still ringing with pain, having trained before getting to the bar. Running around like a lunatic looking for Tsunade while he was in pain was rough.
He had stopped practicing once it was practically impossible for him to do any further. The pain in his hand wouldn't leave even though his regeneration factor tried its hardest. Eventually, he wasn't even able to complete the first few steps.
Normally, the Jinchuuriki would have been pissed that the Pervy Sage was sending him to find Tsunade, but he couldn't really blame the man. Jiraiya didn't know just how many hours Naruto was spending on learning the Rasengan. There were only two days left, and the man had practically assumed that it would be impossible to learn it within that time frame.
Naruto didn't give up, however.
He was spending every waking minute on the jutsu and only used some time for breaks and other physical training. His mental strength, currently, was at an all-time low. The Rasengan was a jutsu that refused to be tamed. Sure, Naruto had shot himself in the foot by making the bet merely two weeks long. He was supremely confident that if he had four or three weeks to learn it wouldn't have been so hard. The mental pressure that came with the consequence of losing the bet (not getting the information that he so greatly desired) along with the added situation with Tsunade who refused to budge was slowing down his process.
Though, those were just excuses.
How did the Fourth Hokage manage to create his jutsu? According to Jiriaya, the late Fourth was a teenager as well.
He didn't just learn the Rasengan, he invented it.
What did it take to create the Rasengan?
[Ding!]
[New Quest "How Do I Patent This?" Created]
[Quest Details: Create your own jutsu.]
[Quest Rewards: Exp. 15,000, ?, ?]
[Failure: Your potential will never be fully realized.]
[Does Player Accept The Quest?]
[Yes/No]
Might as well accept it. Yes.
Tsunade noticed how he spaced off. "Oi, are you listening, brat?"
Naruto nodded quickly. "Of course, of course. I was just a bit thirsty, that's all." He began to reach for the water bottle he had placed before he winced when his palm hit the table by accident. The Rasengan was especially mean to him today—it was as if the closer he got to the completion of the jutsu the more damage the failed attempts were causing. He used his other hand to grab the bottle.
Tsunade, ever the observant lady, immediately noticed the expression he made. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
Naruto felt a strong hand tug his arm upwards, revealing his charred, scarred palm to the world. He instinctively tried to let go, but Tsunade's grip was impossibly strong.
"What did you do to your hand?" Tsunade questioned harshly.
Naruto blinked in surprise at the vitriol in her voice. "I was just practicing a jutsu."
"A jutsu that burns your hand like that? What kind of technique is Jiraiya teaching you?"
"The Rasengan..."
She shook her in exasperation. "Of all the stupid things he could do…whatever, just stay still."
"Hmm?"
Naruto suddenly gasped as a soothing feeling overtook his hand. Green chakra surged from Tsunade's hand and covered his. A warm, comforting aura overwhelmed his mind as he found himself relaxing. A brief moment later, the feeling was gone.
And so was the pain.
Naruto looked at his hand in awe. It felt almost brand new with how effective the healing was. He was reminded that Tsunade, despite her drinking and gambling tendencies, was a Saanin and was so renowned for a reason.
He looked at his hand with wonder. How the…
Tsunade smirked. "Scram off now. I'm still thinking about it."
"Thanks for the help! That doesn't mean I'm gonna lay off you anytime soon, dattebayo!"
Observe.
Name: Tsunade Senju
Title: "Princess of Konoha"
Occupation: Jonin of Konoha
Level: ?
MP: ?
Chakra: ?
STR: ?
VIT: ?
DEX: ?
INT: ?
WIS: ?
LUK: ?
Reputation: 50
Perfect!
"I'll convince you to come back tomorrow itself—mark my words!"
Naruto ran off to train once more, pushed forward by the time limit that continued to strangle him as the days went by.
Tsunade couldn't help but smile. Dan, Nawaki…it's almost as if your reincarnation is in front of me.
I can only pray he doesn't reach the same fate.
Day 4
Equip Title Shinobi Therapist!
[Title: "The Shinobi Therapist" Equipped.]
[Title: "The Shinobi Therapist" gives 40% efficiency of Talk No Jutsu when conversing with shinobi who have a reputation of fifty or higher with the user. The user will find it easier to connect with his 'patient' and talk affluently.]
With this…I finally have a chance.
"Lady Tsunade, before you tell me your thoughts I have something to tell you," Naruto said, knowing he needed to start out differently this time.
Tsunade was confused. "Hmm?"
"Konoha needs you."
She remained silent.
Jiraiya had informed him over the past few days about the political fire that was brewing in Konoha. Most of it was technical jargon that he didn't quite understand yet, but he was able to get the key parts. To put it simply, if the Third Hokage were to retire without anyone to take over, the entire shinobi council would become a civil war. They were already in turmoil with other countries considering that their treaty with Iwa didn't go well with other major territories that were affected. The smaller areas that weren't affected by the treaty merely agreed with the masses to avoid any troubles of their own.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi, the cornerstone of Konoha for the past decade and a half—the one person who was desperately holding the broken pieces of glass by himself—were to retire without a proper successor. There was no telling about the future of the home he loved.
"Once the old man retires…it's gonna be a rat race in Konoha. I'm sure you know most of this. Jiraiya doesn't want to be Hokage, and there's no other Jonin as qualified as you. The Akatsuki are enough trouble as it is…"
Hook.
"The Akatsuki?"
Line and sinker.
"You didn't know?" The Chuunin asked innocently. "I thought Jiraiya would have told you already, sorry."
That's revenge for making me do all your errands, Pervy Sage! Naruto thought vindictively.
"What are the Akatsuki?"
Naruto shrugged. "A bunch of S-ranked shinobi terrorists trying to hunt me down, nothing strange really."
Tsunade was stunned. "What?'
"Bottom line is this. If you stay here, Konoha is screwed. If you come back, we're less screwed. So help us."
She sighed. "It's okay—I've already decided to come."
"Please, please, just come back!" Naruto continued to beg, not even paying attention to her words.
"Kid, I've said that I'll come."
Naruto blinked. "Wait, what?"
"I've decided to come back to Konoha," Tsunade said, smirking. "You must refer to me as Hokage-sama from now on."
A sense of relief overtook Naruto. For two reasons. Firstly, the mission was a success. Two, he didn't need to act like a suck-up anymore. Who was he, Shizune? That was sort of a low blow. And lastly, he would get his salary from the mission. I guess it's for three reasons.
"Shizune, pack everything up. We leave for Konoha tomorrow at noon."
Shizune nodded dutifully. "Yes, Lady Tsunade."
Well…that went awfully well.
I can't help but feel sort of weird about this whole thing. It's almost like this mission went a bit too smoothly.
When was the last time something went completely right for once? Let me think…absolutely never.
Whatever, I need to get back to my training.
One day left.
[Day 5]
"I guess I won the bet, brat!" Jiraiya said cheerfully.
Naruto sulked before he slowly turned to glare at the man who had been annoying him since the morning. "I still have the rest of this day left."
"We're going back to Konoha; how will you be able to learn the Rasengan while we're traveling, huh?"
He coughed. "That's a good question. I'll guess you'll find out when I do it."
"You shouldn't have accepted the bet in the first place, Naruto. Trusting Jiraiya with bets is the worst thing you can do after trusting my other teammate with bets," Tsunade said with a chuckle.
Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the sour expression on Jiraiya's face.
"My own student and my teammate ganging up on me? How could you?"
"You haven't taught me anything other than the Rasengan," Naruto said with a deadpan face.
Jiraiya lit up. "Ah, but I did teach you something!"
He and Jiraiya were traveling back to Konoha with Tsunade and Shizune as a party of four. Naruto was happy to go back all together.
It felt like a fairy tale ending to the mission.
Jiraiya suddenly stopped. "I sense something…be careful—"
BOOM!
The ground trembled.
A giant serpent erupted from the ground in front of them, rising into the air with a loud venomous hiss that shook his core. Naruto immediately dashed backward in retreat. The snake stared down at them with pure hatred in its slitted pupils, towering over them with its massive body and casting a shadow over their puny figures.
On top of the snakes stood a tall, eerily pale man with yellow eyes and two others with him. Naruto couldn't make out the other two. But he knew the true enemy.
Orochimaru.
He felt the man's eyes on him.
He's here for me.
Poof! A loud cloud of smoke erupted from next to him. Jiraiya summoned a toad, the largest one he had seen in a while. Another poof from next to him
Tsunade summoned something as well.
There were no other words.
No monologues.
No introductions to be made.
The fight began.
Naruto's sight began to darken as a wall of earth tried to trap him in his embrace. Already?
He was tempted to try a Black Flash but was also worried it wouldn't land on the first try.
Then…
…there was only one option.
Naruto surged chakra into his hand.
He still hasn't perfected the Rasengan, more specifically the 'shielding' step. He could form the jutsu, but with the unfortunate consequence of burning through his hands in the process, leaving him useless if the fight continued.
Therefore, he had to create a new method.
Activate Iron Skin!
[Activating… ]
[Skill: Iron Skin- Lvl 5 Activated!]
[Usage takes 7 MP and lasts for one minute before a skill cooldown of ten minutes applies.]
He didn't even spend the last day with the Rasengan, instead trying to level up Iron Skin as fast as he could.
It worked.
His skin hardened and took the properties of the sturdy metal. The chakra in his palm churned and rotated wildly into the shape of a ball, spinning with pure power and energy. The chakra struck against his skin, but his body did his best to resist.
Naruto pushed his hand forward.
"RASENGAN!"
[Ding!]
[Skill: Iron Rasengan Lvl 1 Created!]
[end]
Yo!
My Pa tre on is back online for those who want to read THREE chapters (3 WEEKS) ahead (chapters 40, 41, 42) and support my endeavor to become an author. So if you can't wait for the next update—check out:
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The Rasengan mini-arc is finally done! I've always liked the jutsu, even if sometimes it got repetitive with how much Naruto spammed it. Regardless, it's still iconic, and worthy of it too imo.
Question of the day:
Who is your favorite Kage? (Other than Naruto). Mine would be between Hashirama and Mei.
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Chapter 40 is releasing on Tuesday, 29th of October. Around 2 PM Washington DC time.
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