Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Butterfly Wings ❯ Adjusting to Life as Usual ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Naruto and everything in it is the property of Kishimoto Masashi.

Notes: For those of you who want to see how Naruto - or Sasuke, Sakura, Neji... or hell, even Itachi - will turn out, I'm afraid you're in for a long wait. Not only am I a slow writer, but I actually plan to fill most of the time in between 'now' and the Kyuubi's invasion. It's possible that I'd make a twelve-year time skip starting from there to bring the story in line with the canon timeline, but for the time being I'm afraid you'll have to deal with late-thirties Orochimaru and his pals. Happy reading. :P

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Butterfly Wings

Chapter 1

Adjusting to Life as Usual

---

Orochimaru was in a foul mood.

It could be the fact that he'd barely gotten any sleep the day before; even by ninja standards, a nap that lasted all of ten minutes before being rudely awakened hardly constituted a good night's sleep.

Perhaps it was because of the smug look Minato had given him as he darted past the blond, amusement dancing in his electric blue eyes.

Or, more likely, it was both of the above, along with the hail of razor sharp shuriken that was closing in on him from all directions.

A brief curse escaped his lips as he channeled chakra into his legs and jumped, the earth beneath him cratering slightly at the force. The air was a bad place to be for a ninja, combining vulnerability on all sides with a near complete lack of mobility. A pair of kunai speeding towards him, centered squarely on his heart and his stomach, seemed to prove the point.

He deflected one with the metal plate on his left arm, snatching the one aimed at his heart out of the air. With a quick snap of his wrist he sent it back where it had come from, landing and quickly following it to his opponent. Drawing a kunai of his own from his hip holster, the snake sennin feinted quickly to the right. As his enemy moved to avoid it, he spun sideways and clipped the man neatly on the chin with a hard kick, sending him to the ground.

"And that," Orochimaru said, "is why you'll never beat me, Jiraiya." The taunt would have been more impressive if he hadn't been panting with exertion; they'd been sparring for nearly two hours without taking a break and the lack of sleep was taking its toll on him.

The white haired man lying prone on the ground shook his head groggily, wincing as he touched his aching chin. He too was breathing hard, and sweat ran heavily down his face. "You stuck-up bastard," he said, a sudden grin appearing on his face. Before Orochimaru could move, he felt the cold, wickedly sharp edge of a kunai held to his throat.

"Honestly, Orochimaru. The way you carry on sometimes makes you sound like a cheesy villain," two voices said in unison. One came from behind Orochimaru, the other from the Jiraiya lying in front of him. There was a small pop as the man he'd just 'beaten' disappeared in a puff of smoke and wisps of chakra. "You'd think that a 'legendary' ninja like yourself wouldn't be fooled by a simple kage bunshin."

Orochimaru chuckled softly, letting the muscles in his body relax. Gathering his chakra, he spat, "The same goes for you, idiot."

There was a minute, infinitesimally small moment where Jiraiya's attention shifted from Orochimaru to the empty space behind him, trying to sense a bunshin where nothing existed. In an instant he realized he'd been fooled, but by then the snake sennin had already flowed out of his grip like water and was driving a fist into his solar plexus, sending Jiraiya to his knees.

The white haired man gave only a grunt before turning his kneel into a crouch, lashing out with his foot and sweeping Orochimaru's legs out from under him. Before the snake sennin could start rolling to his feet, Jiraiya flipped forward, chakra flaring on his right heel as he drove it square into the other man's stomach and knocked him flat on his back, gasping for breath.

They stayed like that for a while on the ground, both of them panting desperately. Orochimaru got his breathing under control first and managed to sit up, propping himself up with both arms. "May I ask what that last kick was for?" He took another deep breath and let it out slowly, wincing as the muscles in his abdomen protested loudly. "I thought we agreed on low level ninjutsu and taijutsu when sparring. I'm fairly certain that B-rank taijutsu involving chakra enhancement don't fall in that category."

"That," Jiraiya said slowly, forcing himself to get up, "was for nearly going and getting yourself killed." He shot his friend a glare.

Orochimaru heaved a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes skywards as if to ask the gods, 'Why me?' Just like Jiraiya to exaggerate wildly. "I was going to desert, Jiraiya, not commit suicide. There's a difference."

"Like hell it is," Jiraiya said angrily. "You know if you'd become missing-nin, I'd have had to hunt you down and kick your sorry ass so hard you died twice!" He followed the last word with a halfhearted punch that the other man caught easily.

Orochimaru's return to the ranks of Konoha's ninja had been quiet and devoid of fanfare, mostly because only three people in the village knew that he'd left in the first place. Minato, of course, had grinned like a fool when he saw Orochimaru flash past him, dodging a hail of shuriken. He hadn't seen Sarutobi yet, which was fine as far as the snake sennin was concerned. And Jiraiya...

With a low growl, Orochimaru pushed the other man, sending him back down again. Then, unable to muster the energy required to keep his upper body upright, he fell back and let the ground catch him. "Waking me up at dawn with a bale of explosive tags wasn't enough?"

"Fuck no," Jiraiya replied, laughing. "This spar is only the beginning."

Orochimaru groaned, covering his face with the palm of his hand. "Just kill me already and get it over with." Jiraiya seemed to be mostly unfazed by the fact that his closest friend and rival had nearly gone rogue, apparently happy enough in the fact that Orochimaru had, in the end, not become a missing-nin. The snake sennin wasn't sure what to think about that.

"What'd be the fun in that?" After a few minutes, Jiraiya flipped to his feet and offered the other man a hand. After a moment, Orochimaru took it and hauled himself upright, gingerly feeling his sore muscles. "Come on. I've got two bottles of chilled sake waiting for us at the Roaring Fire."

Orochimaru blinked as he recognized the name: it was a pub that Jiraiya frequented. "It's not even noon yet, Jiraiya."

"I know," Jiraiya said, grinning.

"You know what happened last time you decided it was a good idea to get drunk in the morning." The image of a hopelessly inebriated Jiraiya prancing naked through Konoha's streets in broad daylight flashed through the minds of both ninja.

"I know," Jiraiya repeated. "And this time, you're getting drunk with me."

The toad sennin's grin didn't falter in the slightest as he grabbed his friend by the arm and started dragging him towards the village proper, ignoring the long string of increasingly creative cursing that followed in their wake.

---

While Jiraiya was busy putting Operation: Drunken Snake into action, Namikaze Minato was tending to other, more serious matters. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and Minato was getting his ass verbally handed to him in a paper bag.

"...and that's why he's still in the village and not a missing-nin, Hokage-sama."

"Minato-kun."

"Hokage-sama." Minato kept his tone clipped, eyes facing forward: the image of an obedient ninja.

Sarutobi sighed heavily, unable to muster the ire to shout. Slowly, he sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands, letting the warmth seep into his eyelids. He seemed to sag somehow, aging visibly before Minato's eyes. Well over fifty, Sarutobi was certainly old - especially by ninja standards. But the man sitting in the Hokage's chair was suddenly ancient beyond his years, like some incredibly old relic from a forgotten age.

"Let's dispense with the pleasantries, Minato-kun. What am I going to do with you?"

Cocking his head to one side, Minato frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean, Sarutobi-san."

"What I mean," Sarutobi said, "is that you cannot act so impetuously if you are to become Hokage after I step down. What were you thinking?"

"With all due respect, Sarutobi-san-"

"How could you promise him access to my library?" the older man continued, completely ignoring the young man standing in front of him. "Do you have any idea what someone like Orochimaru could do with some of the techniques archived there?"

Minato cleared his throat. "Well-"

"Have you seen what he did to those people, Namikaze?" Sarutobi said, shaking his head in disgust. "They- some of them were barely human anymore. I had to put some of them out of their misery because there was no way they'd ever function as normal people ever again."

"Sarutobi-san," Minato said forcefully, some of his own annoyance seeping into his voice. "If you would let me get a word in edgewise instead of dwelling on the horrors you saw - horrors which would have been perfectly acceptable had they been performed on Iwa ninja, I might add - then perhaps I would be able to explain my reasons for acting the way I did."

Sarutobi considered berating his young successor for his lack of respect, but decided against it and motioned for him to speak. It was Sarutobi himself, after all, who had told him to speak frankly.

"Simply put, Konoha stands a better chance of staying on the map with Orochimaru in it than without him."

The older man raised one skeptical eyebrow. "Do tell."

The blond spread his hands apart, starting to explain. "One of the major reasons why Iwa hasn't invaded full force yet is because two of our three 'legendary ninja' still reside here. You know better than anyone how damaging their last major assault was." Sarutobi had to nod reluctantly at that; the attack that had taken place just days after Tsunade left had ended with a full score of Konoha ninja dead and many more injured before the invading Iwa were forced back. "If Orochimaru were to leave, it's certain that Iwa would swarm over us in a heartbeat."

"Perhaps," Sarutobi said, still not convinced. "But Jiraiya would still be here-"

"That's where you're wrong, Sarutobi-san," Minato interrupted. "You know how close the two are. Jiraiya-sensei would have left as soon as he'd made sure his friend wasn't coming back on his own. Whether he succeeded or not, he'd never be back to defend the village in the event of an immediate Iwa assault."

Sarutobi stared moodily at nothing before nodding reluctantly. "True. And as you proposed, Orochimaru could be supplied prisoners to continue his... experiments. But that doesn't explain what to tell the families of the people he's already murdered."

Minato simply shrugged. "We're at war, Sarutobi-san. An Iwa surgical strike killed half a dozen Leaf ninja, along with a large number of civilians. We made them pay double that in blood, of course."

For a moment Sarutobi stared at his young successor, who gazed back calmly in return.

"Sometimes losses must be accepted in order to grasp greater results," the blond quoted. "It was one of the first things you taught me.

"Trust me, Sarutobi-san. I wouldn't have chosen this course of action if I wasn't sure this was the best path to take. We need to think on a larger scale. You know what would happen if Iwa was to strike while our morale was at its lowest."

There was a short silence as Sarutobi went over everything in his head. At length he merely grunted, unable to find any obvious holes in Minato's argument. "We'll discuss this again later."

Taking it as his dismissal, Minato bowed and was about to leave when Sarutobi motioned for him to stop.

"I wasn't finished," the elder ninja said. "There's still the matter that you acted outside your bounds as a simple jonin, offering privileges that only the Hokage has the right to bestow."

Mentally, Minato cursed and braced himself for a dressing-down. "Sarutobi-san, I can-"

"Explain, Minato-kun?" Sarutobi finished. His voice sounded as if he couldn't decide whether to be angry or exasperated. "What is there to explain? You completely overstepped your authority, and there is nothing that can be said or done to deny it."

Minato let his gaze fall to the floor.

"You are young, and quick-thinking, and at the same time wise beyond your years - part of the reason I picked you to be the protector of this village when I step down. But the fact remains that you acted impetuously, on an instinctive gut impulse, though I question whether you admit it even to yourself. There's a reason laws exist, Minato-kun, and it's not because they should be broken - even by Hokages-to-be.

"That you acted with the best interests of Konoha in mind was commendable. The means you used to achieve that end were not."

The Hokage sighed again, taking off his wide-brimmed hat and laying it on his desk. He seemed to be searching for words. In the end he settled on lighting his pipe and leaning back, letting the comforting smoke fill his lungs. He stayed like that for a while, letting Minato sweat in silence.

"Normally, this would be a matter to bring before the council..."

Minato barely suppressed a groan; he and the council had never quite seen eye to eye.

"But, seeing as the entire matter is known to exactly four ninja in this village, I think we can lay this to rest." Minato started to grin, but Sarutobi cast the young blond a glare that made his smile wilt like a dying flower.

"Be very, very glad you were right, young one. Your actions could have sealed this village's fate just as easily as if Orochimaru had left." The Sandaime Hokage got up and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, a humorless smile on his face. "Next time - though I would prefer that there never is a next time - consult me first before acting." He turned away, letting his gaze settle on the view outside.

"Dismissed."

Minato nodded quickly, and an instant later, Sarutobi found himself alone.

---

Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind him. Trained ninja or not, carrying an unconscious, fully grown man halfway through the village and dumping him in his home was not exactly his idea of a light walk in the park. It certainly didn't help that his clothing was charred thanks to the aforementioned unconscious man. Halfway through his fourth bottle of sake, the white haired idiot had decided to show off his 'fucking amazing' katon. Apparently he'd been so drunk he'd forgotten that his breath was heavily laced with alcohol, turning his small puff of flame into a roaring fireball that would have had the Uchiha taking notes. One nearly incinerated pub, a frantic suiton and a slightly charred Orochimaru later, Jiraiya had laughed uproariously and ordered three more bottles.

I don't know what's the bigger godsend: that the owner shut up after I threatened to feed him to Manda, or that the idiot passed out before he finished stripping, Orochimaru thought. As he finished the thought he staggered slightly, one hand coming up to rest against the wall for support. The snake sennin scowled - alcohol dimmed the senses, slowing reflexes and reactions to a potentially fatal degree. It was why most ninja didn't drink, though Jiraiya seemed to be the sole exception.

A burst of killing intent and a thin whisper on the wind were all the warning he got before a kunai slid through the air past him, shearing off a few strands of his hair and embedding itself in the wall directly behind where his throat had been moments before. Orochimaru darted to the left as a line of deadly projectiles perforated the ground next to him. A brief line of pain flared across his cheek as one nicked him. If he hadn't jerked his head to the side at the last moment, his attacker would have sent him to an early grave.

He didn't mind. After all, it was what he had trained her to do.

A shadow detached itself from a nearby building, flipping through the air and landing in front of him. The afternoon sunlight revealed a young girl in her early teens, twirling a set of kunai through her fingers in an intricate pattern. Judging from the fierce frown on her face, she wasn't pleased.

Strange, I'm sure she doesn't know I was going to leave, Orochimaru thought, trying to figure out the reason his student was so angry. Not that she wasn't normally angry, but today she seemed especially pissed for some reason.

"Where the fuck've you been, sensei?" Mitarashi Anko demanded, her scowl deepening. "Do you have any idea how much this fucking hurt?" She accented the last part by jerking a thumb towards her neck, where Orochimaru could see a seal that vaguely resembled a flower with three petals. The Ten no Juin.

Oh. That. Orochimaru barely suppressed a long, heavy sigh. A pity it had to be the foul-mouthed, rebellious one who survived.

Anko raised an eyebrow as the snake sennin didn't reply. Then the wind shifted to blow in her face and she recoiled as the heavy scent of smoke and alcohol assailed her senses. "The hell? I thought you didn't drink?"

"I see the pain did wonders for your delicate, flowerlike personality," Orochimaru muttered sourly, ignoring his pupil's outburst. He shut his eyes tightly as an abrupt wave of vertigo threatened to overtake him - the adrenaline had only served to quicken the spread of alcohol through his body.

"Bite me," Anko replied eloquently, sticking her tongue out at her mentor. "You ever going to teach me how to use this goddamn thing, or am I supposed to figure it out myself?"

Despite the dizziness brought on by drinking for hours straight with the self-proclaimed 'Booze Sennin of Konoha', Orochimaru's mind was already weighing the situation. He'd known that Anko had survived the application of the seal - the only one out of ten potentials to do so - but he hadn't had the chance to test the abilities it granted before Sarutobi had gone and stumbled on his other experiments. He sorely wanted to take his student to the nearest training ground and let her release the seal completely, but in his current state he wasn't sure he'd be able to mold his chakra properly in the event something went wrong.

In the end he decided it just wasn't worth it and shook his head. "Day after tomorrow, Training Field 8, six in the morning," he said shortly, and forced the chakra needed into his legs to propel him home. Entering, he let himself flop down bonelessly on the bare floor and closed his eyes, hoping to catch up on his lost sleep.

He'd barely relaxed his muscles when a huge, blunt impact shook his door and an angry voice sounded from outside. "Don't brush me off like that, damn it!"

Damn. He'd forgotten that Anko knew where he lived.

---

Two days later found Orochimaru and Anko standing in a grassy field, the latter tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.

"I haven't felt any different at all since this thing died down," Anko said in lieu of greeting, disappointment plain in her voice. "Hurt like a bitch and all I got was a new tattoo."

"You have to trigger the seal," Orochimaru replied, leaning against one of the practice dummies. "The type I gave to you only triggers when you try and draw more chakra than your body can safely supply on its own." And when Orochimaru wanted it to, but Anko didn't need to know that particular fact.

Anko blinked. "That's it?"

Nodding, Orochimaru said, "That's it. How many seals can you cycle?"

"Uhh..." Not sure what the sudden question really had to do anything, Anko shrugged. "Three and a half is my best yet, but I could probably manage a bit more if I tried."

Seal cycling was an advanced chakra exercise that was designed to slowly but steadily increase the amount of chakra a ninja could mold at once. The trainee began forming hand seals in a fixed order, starting with rat and ending with boar. As each seal was formed, chakra was drawn out of the inner coils and molded into potent energy, ready for usage. Since there was no release of the pent-up energy within the body, it stayed there, circulating inside until the amount of chakra became such as that trainee felt unable to continue, at which point the chakra was slowly bled back into his or her coils.

"Begin."

Anko shrugged - nothing to lose - and started, performing three cycles without any noticeable sign of stress. At the fortieth seal a fine sweat started to break out on her forehead, and by the forty-eighth - the end of the fourth cycle - she was shaking visibly from the strain.

"This is my limit, sensei," she managed to say, her fingers locked in the boar seal. Her eyes were shut tightly. "If I go any farther I think I'll burst."

"Continue." Orochimaru's eyes were locked on the Juin, which was starting to writhe as if it was alive. "The seal will protect you."

Anko gulped hard, suddenly regretting her decision to receive the goddamn seal in the first place - her neck felt like someone was holding a live coal to it. Still, Orochimaru's training had never done anything but make her stronger, and she had no reason to think that he'd lie to her. Her hands trembling, she formed the seal for rat, and all hell broke loose.

The Cursed Seal of Heaven sprang to life, racing from its resting place on Anko's neck and spreading across her body like wildfire. An aura of pure chakra blazed into existence around her, turning even the early morning sky a shade brighter. Her pupils disappeared, leaving her eyes pure white orbs of light, as if she'd been lit up from the inside.

Heat was rolling off of her in waves, and Orochimaru didn't dare approach her. Instead, he stood a decent distance away, prepared a kawarimi in case something went wrong, and observed the pattern of the seal with a detached interest, noting that the way that Anko's chakra was flaring made it a distinct possibility that the energy was leaking from her tenketsu. Her body simply couldn't hold all the energy that her coils were supplying her and was discharging it into the air.

A part of him worried that she might die, but he brushed it aside. If Anko succeeded - whether she survived or not - he'd finally have concrete proof that the Juin worked as he'd designed it. If she didn't... well, Minato had promised to supply a steady stream of volunteers.

Only a few seconds had passed since Anko had started to manifest a visible aura, but Orochimaru could tell that she was already at her limit; simply too much of her chakra was bleeding into her surroundings. He scowled - perhaps she simply didn't have the raw amount of chakra needed to trigger the seal's second stage.

Before he could do anything to find out, Anko let out a chakra-enhanced scream that nearly burst his eardrums, the energy surrounding her body shrieking upwards to the heavens in a iridescent blue bolt. Her chakra split the clouds for a brief moment before dissipating completely. Completely and utterly drained, Anko pitched forward onto her face, unconscious before she hit the ground.

Orochimaru raised his eyebrows. Interesting. Not quite what he'd wanted, but... interesting. He knelt and checked his student's pulse, noting that it still beat strongly despite the severe chakra depletion she must have undergone moments before. Despite the fact she'd been too hot to even stand close to, her skin was cool to the touch, and from what Orochimaru could tell she was showing none of the normal signs of chakra burnout. Good - it seemed that she was not only still alive, but the activation of the seal's first stage hadn't had any lasting adverse effects. She'd be able to try again.

With a small grunt he hefted her limp body onto his shoulder, his expression thoughtful. Perhaps Anko needed more training before she could properly harness the seal; he made a mental note to up her quota once she recovered. With his pupil in tow he started walking to the hospital, ignoring the strange looks he received from passing villagers.

Pushing open the door, he moved to the counter and unceremoniously dumped Anko there. The girl at the counter stared up at him, eyes wide with shock. It wasn't every day that one got to meet one of Konoha's legendary sannin, especially one who'd walked into the building holding an unconscious girl like a sack of potatoes.

"She's suffering from acute chakra depletion," Orochimaru said, motioning towards Anko. "There shouldn't be anything else out of the ordinary, but just in case I want reports on the state of her inner coils, possible muscle atrophy, internal damage..." He trailed off, gesturing vaguely. "You get the idea. Get a Hyuuga to take a look at her."

Before the poor girl could think to reply, Orochimaru vanished in a small cloud of smoke. It was convenient, and it kept people from asking annoying questions as he walked out.

He was slowly making his way back to his home, his mind spinning with the implications of Anko's reaction to the seal, when someone called him.

"Orochimaru-sensei!"

There were only two living people who called Orochimaru that, and he'd just left one of them at the hospital, unconscious. That meant...

He turned around and sure enough, Namikaze Minato was waving at him cheerfully, dragging a bemused-looking Jiraiya behind him. Inwardly, Orochimaru groaned - he'd wanted time alone to ponder the effects that the Ten no Juin had had on Anko. It looked as though the gods hadn't seen fit to give him that time.

He waited until they were reasonably close before clearing his throat. "Yes?"

"Just go along with him - it'll save us the time he spends whining," Jiraiya said, scratching his head. "Kid says he's got a new jutsu he wants to show off."

Well. That changed things. Perhaps the Anko's seal could wait a while...

Half an hour of walking later, both ninja were becoming increasingly impatient with their former student.

"So tell me, kid. Just what is it about this fantastic jutsu that's so amazing it has to be done half a mile from the village walls?" Jiraiya asked. They'd followed the young blond deep into the Forest of Death, ignoring the gigantic wildlife. The amount of satsui - killing intent - that Orochimaru was actively emitting helped take care of that.

"It's a ninjutsu I've been working on in my spare time for the past three years. I finally got it worked out last week, but I'd forgotten all about it until today." Minato's ice blue eyes were practically glowing with excitement. At length, they found themselves in a wide clearing, devoid of plantlife and littered with small and large boulders. The blond ninja motioned for them to stop next to the largest one in the clearing, nearly the size of a small fishing boat.

"I take it this jutsu is apparently so deadly and destructive that using it somewhere close by and convenient like, say, Training Field 10 - a place specifically designed for testing ninjutsu - would no doubt result in the utter and complete annihilation of Konoha." Orochimaru said archly.

"No," Minato admitted with a smile, "but there's always the possibility of Iwa spies in the village and I didn't want to risk it."

Both older men nodded reluctantly at that. It was a distinct possibility; warring villages had been known to plant spies for the sole purpose of stealing jutsu in the past.

"So now we're out here in the middle of nowhere," said Jiraiya, looking about as impatient as Orochimaru felt. "And if any ninja could follow the three of us this far without being noticed, it's probably the goddamn Tsuchikage himself with his elite handpicked squad of invincible death ninja, and we're all fucked anyway. So come on. Out with it."

Minato's face split in a quick grin at his mentor's words before he extended his right hand, his brow furrowing with concentration.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "No hand seals?"

The blond didn't reply. A few moments passed without anything out of the ordinary and Jiraiya had just opened his mouth to ask a question when it happened.

Chakra coalesced in Minato's palm, spinning rapidly around and into itself until it formed a small orb that grew until it reached the size of a grapefruit. A high pitched whine, like a forceful gale, started to emanate from the orb as it began to shine brightly. Slowly, Minato turned and touched the orb to the boulder lightly, seeming to push it in the stone.

They watched as the orb drilled effortlessly through the stone. Instead of weakening as it contacted the boulder, the revolving sphere actually began to spin faster, growing larger as it chewed clear through and out the other end, dispersing in an explosive whirl once it met no resistance.

Silence fell for a moment before Jiraiya let out a low whistle and started clapping, while Orochimaru smiled approvingly.

Jiraiya was the first to speak. "From the looks of it, I'd say you were making a matrix of controlled chakra, spinning it around a focal point in the center - the part that glowed so bright. But how'd you get it to become so destructive? By all rights all that should have done was maybe make a slight impression on that boulder, not bore straight through it."

Orochimaru stepped around to look at the back of the huge rock, noting that the hole was much larger than the orb Minato had first formed. He stood there for a moment, staring wordlessly at the gutted boulder. "Reverse chakra," he said at length, rubbing his fingers against his chin thoughtfully. "You forced the chakra on your palm to revolve in a direction opposite that of your body's natural flows. The controlled disorder was the reason the chakra became so powerful, eventually becoming became self-sustaining, capable of keeping its shape and actually increasing in power after it left your hand. I imagine it'd be fatal if used against a person, even one using body armor or the Iron Body technique - like turning on a high-speed fan in their intestines."

Minato nodded slowly, looking slightly put out. "I wasn't expecting you to pick up on the last concept so quickly," he said, heaving a sigh.

Orochimaru chuckled. "So I assume this is a close-range combat ninjutsu?" Orochimaru said, receiving another nod. He noticed that the younger ninja wasn't even breathing heavily. "How much chakra does it expend?"

"Almost none," Minato replied, grinning full force again. "All that's needed is the initial flow to get the chakra outside the body and spinning. The rest is pure control."

Jiraiya grinned back; he'd always been a fan of destructive, flashy ninjutsu, and this new one was no exception. "So what's this new technique called?"

Minato's grin became distinctly sheepish and he laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "To tell the truth, I wasn't quite sure what to name it - I've never created a whole new jutsu before." Orochimaru rolled his eyes at the blond's Jiraiya-esque statement. Noticing the snake sennin's expression, Minato hastily cleared his throat and attempted to convey an air of confidence.

"But I'm thinking of calling it Rasengan."