Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Explosive Youth! ❯ Gero Sennin pt 2 ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: dialNforNinja 
The adventure continues! Naruto, Lee, Rikou, and Gai must make an urgent delivery. A bad guy appears!?
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 480 | Status: Completed
The adventure continues! Naruto, Lee, Rikou, and Gai must make an urgent delivery. A bad guy appears!?
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2008 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 480 | Status: Completed
txy02b.txt
Gamatachiko blinked and relaxed a bit, sword poofing away only to be replaced a moment later by a bokken, then shifted to a high guard stance. "Mou, this grit and salty wind is bad for my complexion. He'd better be fun!" she complained.
Gamakensei nodded contemplatively, then spoke, his voice deep and calm like high mountain pond. "Testing a new student, Jiraya? Interesting."
The old man frowned, though it didn't seem to be directed at anyone present. "No, just making a point. Start off easy and then bring it up, you two." He walked off to the side to observe, raising a hand then slashing downward. "BEGIN!"
Gamakensei crouched and leapt at the boy, who easily dodged aside then hopped over the follow-up back kick when the blue frog landed. Gamatachiko simply vanished and reappeared to strike, the force of the blow setting Lee spinning sideways in the air. He landed in a handstand that turned into a rising spiral kick, more to gain space again than as a true attack, then curled up and turned the momentum into a heel drop as Gamakensei darted in again.
That one landed, striking the monk cleanly in the shoulder, but was shrugged off with little more than a grunt, and the rain of open-palm strikes that knocked the green-suited boy away were only slightly weaker from that arm. Lee flipped and sprang into the air again over another swipe from Gamatachiko's bokken, landing on the blade as she followed through and stealing that momentum to speed a leap back at her partner to lead with a knee to his snout, followed by axe-handle strikes to both shoulders this time.
The three sprang apart, and when the swordmistress spoke again, there was a degree of respect in her voice. "Looks like this one does have some skill... we can take him a bit seriously."
"Yes," Gamakensei agreed. "His strength is remarkable for a youngling." He rolled his shoulders to work out the stinging blows, then took up a power stance and let out a kiyai. A thin layer of sand blasted away from his feet, drifting for a moment before settling back to the beach. Jiraya just folded his arms off to the side, watching impassively as the fight moved to the next level.
---=- + -=---
Naruto and Rikou had just started to move beyond the basics of water-walking to doing a light practice routine on the surface of the tidal pool when the frog sennin left Lee and the summons to their sparring and walked over, though not without dunking their feet every few seconds as their control fluctuated. "So, you guys ready to learn a super-cool jutsu?" he called out with a smirk, before adding as an aside, "Gai, I assume you want to use your own contract for your girl, right?"
"YOSH!" the jounin replied, throwing a thumbs up for emphasis. "The youthful spirit of the Turtle clan will surely welcome its newest trainee!"
"Eh, sure..." Jiraya muttered - sure, he was all about youthful spirit himself, at least youthful, spirited women, but the Maito clan all took it way too far. Collecting himself, he ordered the two genin off the pool so they could see. "Alright you two, watch closely. I'll go first, then you, Gai." He bit his thumb and wiped some blood across his palm, then flipped slowly through the boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep seals before slapping the bloody hand down and again announcing, "Kuchiose no jutsu!"
The frog that appeared this time was covered in dark flame-like markings and carried a huge scroll in its mouth. It blinked as the cloud of chakra smoke dispersed, but otherwise gave no reaction as it summoner explained, "The summoning technique is one type of space-time ninjutsu, that calls a spirit creature through a contract and a sacrifice of blood and life energy - chakra - to help out the caster either in battle or in other ways. There's all kinds of summon creatures, but I deal with the frogs, and taught it to the Yondaime Hokage." With a quelling glare at the blond brat's (relatively) less than impressed reaction, he added, "So you'd better appreciate it, kid."
Naruto had been feeling a bit sad that his teacher was going to make him learn a different summon creature when he had a contract of his own - surely Gai-sensei would have chosen the creatures with the most youthful power, right? But, the magic words 'Yondaime Hokage' quickly had him bouncing in place again - the greatest hero of the Leaf, the one who killed the kyuubi no kitsune to protect the passionate youth of Konoha! "Yeah! Yeah! Yondaime is almost as cool as Gai-sensei, dattebayo! I'll summon frogs with shining energy and surpass all previous Hokage!"
Jiraya somehow managed to keep his expression blank, drawling, "Riiiiiight... Whatever. Gai, it's your turn."
Quickly wiping away a tear that had forced its way through his 'stern, serious sensei' facade at his student's display of spirit, the jounin planted himself again, hands on his hips. "Rikou, my daughter! Are you prepared to face this Maito clan rite of passage!?" he bellowed cheerfully.
Snapping to attention, the pink-clad genin barked out, "Yes sir, father! I'll pass this trial with diligence and vigor!"
It was too much for Gai's restraint. He swept the girl into his arms, manly tears of pride streaming down his cheeks as he shouted, "Rikou! Your youthful vocabulary continues to improve!"
"Tousan!"
"Rikou!"
"Tousan!"
"Rikou!"
Fortunately for Jiraya's rapidly waning patience, the rising tide had brought waves closer in, and a shower of cool spray brought the pair back to the matter at hand before they got too far into their own little world, or for that matter before Naruto could join them.
Separating again, Gai returned to his serious mode, and went slowly through the same blood-and-seals procedure. As the chakra smoke from the summoning cleared, he explained further, "Normally, summoning is considered to be a jounin-level skill, because it uses a great amount of chakra. Due to certain circumstances, Naruto is the opposite of Lee in this area - he produces so much chakra it becomes difficult to control, therefore such a technique is fine for him. With your ability, Rikou, you should not summon more than one small animal in a short time, or you will use too much of your chakra... HOWEVER! For training purposes, the use of large amounts of energy is A-OK!! That is the way to expand your chakra, to build it EVER HIGHER with the BOUNDLESS SPIRIT OF YOUTH!" He took up his favorite pose again, wink, thumb, glinting smile and all, and the red and golden yellow turtle who'd appeared mirrored it as best a four-legged creature with barely-mobile toes could do.
Despite himself, a shiver traveled down Jiraya's spine at the prospect of this man having such influence over children. *At least I only have to put up with them for a short time... though it makes me wonder what his family would think, that Naruto is growing up in such a way,* he thought. *Heheh, I think I'd like to have seen it. And anyway, summoning will be a good way for him to learn how to control the kyuubi's chakra.*
Heedless of the older man's introspection, Gai tuned back to his summon, commanding, "It's time!"
"Okay!" the turtle replied, in a surprisingly smooth tenor as he withdrew one foreleg into his shell, "The legendary Contract Scroll of the Turtle Clan... Appears!"
And, indeed, when the leg extended again, a scroll similar to the one still clutched in Jiraya's frog's mouth was carefully gripped in its claws. A subtle gesture from the sennin prompted his own summon to unroll their scroll simultaneously, one each in front of the genin students. Though he'd really rather have switched, he let Gai attend to the girl (All that wonderful, elastic, tight Aburame silk! Pity about the chest, but no worthy fruit ripens overnight...) and explained the process to Naruto.
"This is the Toad Contract, that has been passed down through many generations. You write your name in blood, and below that stamp your fingerprints. Then, when you want to call them, you mold chakra, form the seals, and place the hand you signed the contract with down where you want the frog to appear. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah!" the boy responded, looking over the scroll curiously. As might be expected from people finger painting with their own blood, the penmanship was... really bad. Almost amazingly bad, in fact. There was a splotch that could, just, be associated with 'Jiraya,' though the family name was unintelligible, and then another that could be... well, something-rashi Ka-something, or maybe Mi-something... and then the blank spaces began.
With a small shrug he gave up on trying to read it, slashed open the pad of his thumb on a sharp tooth and went to work, adding a few unnecessary spirals the way he used to in his vandalism days before Gai-sensei had taken him even unofficially as a student. Afterward, of course, he'd been far too busy training with all the passion of his youth to do more than a minimal amount of pranking. Still, when your name means "Swirling spiral" and you aspire to leadership of a country whose symbol is also a spiral, some things just seem to come naturally. It did help that the cut wasn't healing up as fast as usual, though there was an odd tingle where it touched the parchment so maybe that was an effect of the contract scroll itself. Soon enough he was finished, and wiped his fingertips across the bloody thumb with a flourish, then stamped them on the scroll. His guess about the scroll affecting the wound firmed up more as there was a hot feeling - in all the fingers, not just his thumb - where the blood and flesh met the page, then when he lifted them away all the blood stayed on the scroll and his thumb was completely healed.
"And so, and so, that's it, right!?" he asked excitedly, springing to his feet again as the scroll rolled itself up with a snap.
"You got it, kid. Due to that special condition, you should have a second type of chakra that'll let you summon the stronger frogs, but that'll probably need a different circumstance to come out at first. For now, just mold as much of your normal chakra as you can and give it a shot!"
Seeing that Rikou was also ready to try, Naruto shot her a flashing grin, then they each went through the procedure, exclaiming in unison, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" as a smallish cloud of smoke boiled out around their hands, slowly clearing away to reveal...
A fat tadpole, barely larger than the first joint of Naruto's thumb without the tail, and a little leatherback about the same size. Naruto's flailed helplessly on the sand for a few seconds before poofing away again, while the baby sea turtle made a break for the waves.
Even Gai was unable to produce much enthusiasm over performance like that, while Jiraya muttered, "Pah, they really don't have any talent at it..."
Normally, of course, such a comment would be taken poorly, but the students of Maito Gai knew better - that talent could be as much of a disadvantage as anything, because it made you complacent if you didn't have to truly put in hard work. Plus, making an animal appear from nothing was just COOL! "Okay, okay!" Naruto shouted, bouncing in ever-increasing excitement. "One more time, with youth and spirit! Full power, dattebayo!! Ready, Rikou?"
"Here I go, Naruto-kun! Absolutely everything!"
Visible shimmers of chakra raised around the pair as they concentrated in an initial Ram seal, before again nipping their thumbs, sealing, and slapping down a hand each. This time the smoke clouds at least were larger. Naruto and Rikou had to flop down to sit awkwardly among the stones as their bodies protested the amount of life energy they'd just expended, but at least this time when the clouds cleared away the results were closer to the size of a doubled fist. Naruto's blue and black frog had a stubby tail left and produced sounds half way between croaks and baby-talk, but Rikou's mottled brown and pink turtle seemed fully formed at least, a status confirmed when it spoke a moment later.
"Hewwo," it said, in the voiceof a very young girl. "Does 'oo wanna pway tea?" A small curl of steam escaped from the gap where one leg joined the shell.
"Oh, you found a good turtle!" Gai enthused, leaning over to look closely. "Kamehorai, this is my daughter, Rikou, who has just learned to summon you! Tea-time is later, but for now please treat her kindly!"
"O-kay bi-ig bro-o!" the tiny turtle sing-songed, more steam curling away lazily as Jiraya's jaw dropped lower and lower in shock and disbelief that anyone would call a summon that obviously young and weak useful. "Bye-bye, den!"
Naruto's not-quite-frog waved one chubby forepaw at her, before poofing away as well. Undismayed, the boy mustered as much energy as he could manage and struggled to his feet, asking, "So, so, what makes that turtle good? Kamehorai, right? Does she breathe a huge jet of steam to blow away enemies like a super 'Murasu'?"
At this, Gai laughed heartily, then accidentally flattened the blond with a cheerful slap on the shoulder. "Maybe someday, but for now she can produce a stream of fresh, boiling hot water for tea or instant noodles. You see, Kamehorai is a baby hot-springs turtle. She's super-handy when you can't light a fire to cook on a mission!"
Rikou nodded dutifully, but Naruto's eyes had gone all huge and sparkly at the thought. "You... you mean, Kamehorai-chan can... make ramen... anywhere... AT ANY TIME? AAAH, THAT'S TOTALLY THE GREATEST NINJUTSU EVER! STUPID ERO-SENNIN! I WANNA SUMMON TURTLES TOO!!"
---=- + -=---
Later that night, Jiraya and Gai were sharing some sake after the kids had gone to bed, worn out by a day of even more strenuous training than usual. Neither Naruto nor Rikou had been able to produce any more substantial summons, and Naruto had finally been convinced that even if he hadn't seen them yet the Frog Clan had members just as cool as a baby turtle who could pour hot water. Somehow. *Man, what a troublesome brat,* the older man thought, before knocking back a saucer of sake.
"So," he said, at length, "Naruto hasn't ever pulled out the fox's chakra?"
"No," Gai replied, lightly flushed from the alcohol but far indeed from drunk. "His natural stamina is incredible, even to me, however. With hard work and guts he has overcome much of his problem with controlling the chakra he has, so that even bunshin are easy - such fine manipulations were impossible when he began training, despite having been at the Academy for the full course already."
"Oh, he started it that early? I already thought it was a year too soon."
"Yes, due to that stamina and the strength of his youthful determination, he was able to excel at the physical tests used for an entrance exam two years before the usual age. But, because of that thing, many people disliked him, even among the teachers, and children learned to avoid him without knowing why. That's why he became a trouble maker, to force people to look at him, and why he was not able to learn much of what is expected of students. Thus, when the first graduation exam came up, he failed it..."
"But Naruto is truly filled with the power of youth! He simply began training extra hard! Then he met Lee, and combined their strength. I found them in a training area one day, and... how could I leave such shining flowers to wither alone? Rikou joined us as well shortly afterward, and all three trained together with passionate energy, until they passed the next exam. Due to their close ties of teamwork and friendship, and complementary skills, Hokage-sama approved them as a team and they became my official students!"
"Hmm." Jiraya leaned against one fist contemplatively. "They all have strong taijutsu, though obviously far more for Lee. That's fine, taijutsu is the fundamental of combat - it doesn't matter how many ninjutsu you know if you're not fast enough and don't have the stamina to pull them off, nor will genjutsu and book skills help you any when you meet an enemy who can break your best illusion and uses an original jutsu... or for that matter, if you're trying to be stealthy around other ninja who can sense chakra. More importantly, Naruto is the team's ninjutsu specialist, while Rikou is mid-range support, right?"
"Indeed. I have tested all of their element affinities before. Interestingly, Lee's is for earth-type - I have been looking for information about internal manipulation of earth-type chakra to strengthen the body, as he seems to do so instinctively even before the body hardening exercises of Gouken. Rikou is water-type, and has learned several beginning ninjutsu and genjutsu from her mother, a former Mist chuunin. Naruto's affinity is for air, but..." Gai shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "Air users are rare in Fire Country, so I started him on a few fire-type jutsu instead. The extra difficulty of using it has surely increased his control training still further!"
"Really? Beginners stick to their affinities for a reason, you know..."
"I am certain... Naruto and Rikou have already created their first elemental ninjutsu."
"An original jutsu that young... It's not just a variation on something else, is it?" Jiraya asked skeptically. He finished off the bottle, then waved for another.
"No... in fact, by the usual rules of ninjutsu, it is an impossible combination. Naruto mentioned it earlier - it's called 'Murasu' and it combines fire and water type chakra from two people that produces steam instead of canceling out. It is definitely at least a B-rank instant-kill jutsu, and I have forbidden using it on live targets except under special circumstances."
"Of course not, at least in peaceful times like this, there's no need for kids to bloody their hands that young. Let them get a more solid grasp on their skills, and more emotional maturity before taking on such burdens. Other countries may say the Leaf is weak for thinking this way, but I'd rather see happy kids if it's possible." Seeing his tablemate start to open his mouth and tear up, the frog sennin quickly raised a hand and cut him off. "Yes yes, power of youth, explosive springtime, I know. This is the best bar in town, I don't want you to get us thrown out with your ranting. Anyway, I was asking about 'that' chakra... Have him use up his normal chakra, then try to make it appear. If he can't do this at first, it may take some special training. In that kind of situation, I'll borrow him for a while."
Though restrained by the injunction to keep relatively quiet, Gai had clearly not heard anything past the words 'special training,' and his tears were once again flowing like waterfalls. "My cute students make me so proud, to be worthy of such consideration from one of the Legendary Three!"
Jiraya sighed and rubbed his temples through the fabric of his hitae-ite headband. "... Right. For now, if they just keep training it's probably okay. As for the investigation, I got some good information today, but it'll still take a day or two to follow it up, so keep them at it. Do you know turtles who can spar with Lee like my frogs, or should I summon Gamakensei and Gamatachiko again in the mornings?"
"Those are formidable frogs, but I do know some upright-stance turtles, who have strong taijutsu. They were taught extensively by my grandfather, training himself to be an excellent sensei for his first genin team. Of course, there are four of them, rather than three, but he decided the extra brother would only make his skills as a sensei improve more! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to summon them until just before receiving my own first team." He drained his saucer and let off a long belch before reminiscing, "I wonder how Nobegami is doing in his travels these days... perhaps it's time to send him a new message. Always such a serious child, who'd have expected him to take up the furthest ranging assignments he could find once graduating from my care!"
Jiraya had to admit, dealing with Gai for a single day already made him long to get back on the road himself, but he settled for throwing back another drink. How did the man maintain that much energy? Maybe twelve year olds got along with him because he was just as hyper as they were...
---=- + -=---
It was late afternoon the following day when the next contact was made with their opponents. Lee had been the center of a non-stop tag team assault from the quartet of turtles Gai summoned that morning, while Rikou and Naruto had continued their water walking exercise after a single summoning attempt, and Naruto went back to summoning after their short lunch break. He still hadn't gotten a frog more developed than the best attempt the day before, and most were more like tadpoles, but he persevered with the spirit of youth!
Nonetheless, even Gai was feeling a bit tired by that time, as he'd created a new set of gravity seals for himself weighing no less than six hundred and seventy five pounds each, a full fifty pounds heavier than the ones he'd been using, and he'd been doing his physical training right at the water's edge where the waves would irregularly pull at his ankles and the sand made footing more difficult, just for the added challenge.
Jiraya had shown up not long ago to check on their progress, but was most unyouthfully intoxicated. (Actually, he'd run out of money and gotten kicked out of the geisha parlor, then ended up at the town gates instead of the bank to get more ryo and decided to come out on a whim, to sober up before the more serious business he had lined up in the evening.)
Gomaru and Gin, on the other hand, had been taking it relatively easy, just getting the hang of how their new prizes operated, but the constant drain of chakra required even with the amplifying effect was beginning to tell on them, too.
It was in these decidedly sub-par conditions that the two groups ran into each other, Gin suddenly swooping around one of the headlands that protected their little bay, while Gomaru skidded along an instant later, a huge rooster tail spouting behind him as he zipped over the waves.
Their coveralls had been replaced, now - Gomaru's new outfit was similar in the body, but had an armored pauldron on each shoulder with a fat hollow spike on the left side, and a large metal armature ending in a heavy gauntlet and a mechanical claw that completely covered his left arm. There was also some kind of round metal fixture with a blue and white yin-yang insignia over the solar plexus. The suit appeared to have been made for a much more heavy-set man, criss-crossed belts at his chest, waist, and groin held the excess material out of the way, with similar bindings around the calves - about the only place it actually fit as intended was at the shoulders.
Gin's was almost like a drab, blue-grey version of a cheongsam, with the same sort of side closure and upright collar. It had only one sleeve, the right arm being bare save for the Hidden Snow grapple launcher strapped to that forearm. She had on a pair of tight, mid-thigh length shorts beneath it for modesty, and dark grey ninja sandals like her brother. A yin-yang was also prominenly featured on her suit, the centerpiece of a set of translucently thin purple wings supported by a thin metal framework like the spars of an umbrella. Both suits were strung with large, dark blue conduits around the seams and across the torso, interconnected at various points and leading back to the yin-yang equipped housings.
Banking and flipping in mid air, the former Snow kunoichi drew and tossed a good dozen kunai at the biggest group there, Lee and the turtles. Each trailed one of the little round bombs favored by Yuki-nin over the explosive tags common in more northerly countries, and as they hit they made an explosion that turned that entire end of the beach into a flaming hell, and blasted away the sand down to the damp under-layer packed with gravel and larger stones.
Almost as quick to react, Gomaru swerved in to shore, flipping forward off his chakra-channeling board and catching it as it folded into chopper form, uncurling and cutting a deep, bloody gash through Gai's back with the sharpened edge as the jounin's attention was grabbed by the explosive flower of death bursting around his look-alike student.
Fortunately for the boy taijutsu master his summoned sparring partners had been quick enough to form a defensive wall in front of him and deflect the blast with their shells, but worn out already from a whole day of battle they were forced to dispel as soon as the flames died down, leaving Lee in a cross guard amidst the dissipating smoke. The injured Gai, too, was surrounded in a cloud of smoke, the illusion of his kawarimi falling to reveal a bale of seaweed.
Worst off from the opening attacks was actually Jiraya, who'd been bowled off his unsteady feet by the force of the explosion and had the sheer bad luck to have his head land against one of the larger beach rocks. His spiky mane provided some cushioning, but for a few critical seconds his wits were scrambled, and Gomaru switched targets immediately.
"Fuuton: FUUGA!" Without hand seals at all, the nuke-nin channeled wind chakra into his chopper and swung, releasing it as an all but invisible spike of hardened air that blasted toward the fallen sennin. Then, suddenly, Lee was there, blocking the attack with a rock twice as large as a man's head clutched in one hand. "Kusogaki!" Gomaru cursed. He launched another two shots, then flexed the mechanical claw on his left arm and got ready to get a little closer.
Up in the air, Gin had circled inland to let the cliffs shield her from the shockwave and set up another sudden attack run over the area she'd seen the other two meddling brats, but no sooner did she clear the cliffs again than she was herself attacked, a hooking heel drop across the backs of her knees that tumbled her crazily across the sky. Righting herself at last in a hover out over the bay, Gin looked wildly around for the source. "How the hell? Way up here!"
A half-seen movement was her only warning, her head snapping around just in time to see the man in a green body suit like two of the kids wore uncurling from where he'd ricocheted off the cliff face some five hundred feet away. Then both feet hit her face, hard, and she was flying towards open ocean again while Gai was sent back to the cliffs.
With the help of his stone, Lee was able to parry the follow up wind attacks as well, though it cracked on the second and shattered away on the third. Naruto and Rikou arrived at his side while Gomaru was getting set for close combat, standing a bit to one side, near the first of the tidal pools. "Hey, Rikou," the blonde said seriously, eyeing their opponent with caution. "It's a little early, but... Do you think we should use 'that' jutsu?"
A quick glance over her shoulder showed the famous sennin groaning, and having trouble rolling to his feet... Not a sight to inspire confidence in a rookie on her first serious mission, she thought. "These guys are pretty strong... To protect our precious comrades... Let's get wild!"
Stepping closer together, the two linked elbows, then began sealing, even as Gomaru drew back his gauntlet-clad arm and ran towards them.
"Suiton!" Rikou announced first, her seal sequence being slightly longer. A tendril of water undulated out of the nearby pool and curled in front of the pair like a snake charmer's pet.
"Katon!" answered Naruto, then, in unison, "GATTAI! MURASU NO JUTSU!" Ending on a Tiger seal, he brought one hand to his lips, carefully swiping it through the waiting water as he did so, hauling the end along by the chakra-increased surface tension while sucking in as much air as he could. His gathered chakra was moved to the tip of his tongue as he breathed out, lips pursed to keep the stream tight as it bored through the water tendril.
Gomaru vanished into the jet of steam just before he could reach the genin trio, and an agonized scream from within it made them break the technique early with horrified shudders. Slowly the steam cleared again, ultimately dispersed by the gust when Gin swooped down from the sky. Cleared air revealed the Snow kunoichi at the water's edge, bent over her brother who was bathing his reddened skin in the cold waves.
"It looks like you got lucky, brats," said Jiraya, finally recovered from his hard knock. A few seals and a surge of chakra cleared the alchohol from his system, then he sighed and continued, "that's one burden you won't have to pick up so soon." Then, more jauntily, "So, I'm a precious comrade already? And here I thought I wasn't going to like you guys!"
Landing from his acrobatic escapades, their jounin sensei immediately took up a Nice Guy pose and exclaimed, "Yes! Though sometimes expressed in suspicious ways, Jiraya-sama is FULL of the BOUNDLESS SPIRIT OF YOUTH! Your judgement today IS SOUND, my proud students!"
Naruto's mind had moved on to on something else, however - something he thought he'd seen just as the 'Murasu' struck home.
"Ne, Ero-sennin... There's something weird about that armor, isn't there?"
Jiraya took his 'Sage Brings Wisdom From the Holy Moutain' pose and grunted affimatively, explaining, "That's the Snow Country's special tool, designed for ninja... It's called 'Chakra Armor.'"
"Chakra Armor?" repeated Lee, trying the words in his mouth.
"But it's more powerful than I remember," the sennin continued, shifting to 'Wise Jiraya Explains the Mysteries.' "It's an armor that contains seals to increase the effect of wearer's chakra, and strengthen their jutsu. It creates a wall of chakra around the body, and it seems they even nullify an attacking chakra and reflect it back."
Gai narrowed his eyes. "I thought as much. In a situation like that..."
"Yes, no matter what kind of ninjutsu or genjutsu you use, it's no good, and even taijutsu must overcome the barrier. It's a terrifying tool." Seeing their opponents again about to attack, Jiraya took up a real ready stance rather than a cool pose, he and Gai stepping forward so the genins' renewed defensive triangle (Lee and Naruto side by side in paired Gouken stances, Rikou a few steps back with her weighted cord already in motion) was behind them.
"Gai-sensei!" called Lee, "With that barrier, the way you attacked the flying one before just knocked her around, but if two of us strike from different directions..."
"Hmm," Gai considered, smoothing his moustache. "I'll allow it! Rikou, Naruto, support Jiraya-sama with ALL of your SHINING ENERGY! Lee, with me!" Lee came forward to a half-step behind his mentor, while Rikou and Naruto repositioned so that they were evenly spaced behind the sennin, this time with Naruto in the lead stance while Rikou recoiled her cord and took the partner stance he'd just been holding, both of their chakra levels too low for more ninjutsu after the day's training and that combination attack.
Gomaru didn't so much charge as flicker, suddenly appearing in a crouch just in front of the Toad Sage. Two jets of chakra smoke shot out of the back end of the metal gauntlet as he threw an uppercut with all the boosted strength of the chakra armor. Jiraya's hair grew and wrapped himself in a barrier of needle-sharp spines, but the force of the hit still knocked him into the air, and the defense barely pitted the metal claws through the armor's barrier.
Planning to snag the sennin while he was knocked off guard, the nuke-nin snapped his right arm forward to fire his grapple... Then cursed, having forgotten that the grapple was built into the left arm of the suit, and he'd left his regular one behind since it wasn't tuned to work properly within and through the barrier field. Then the kids were on him, their taijutsu doing no damage but keeping him busy...
"You stinking brats, getting in my way again! Even with the barrier blocking its force, that steam cloud burned me... GIVE DEATH A TRY!!" He swatted them away with sweeps of his arms, then, seeing Jiraya springing back to his feet, launched the left claw at the girl. Its rounded 'palm' turned out to be the front of a black, cannon ball like sphere connected by a tether cable, and he grabbed Rikou with the flying claw around one ankle.
Rearing back and then whipping the captive girl forward at the end of the cable cut off her surprised shriek and produced a sickening snap like some one popping all their knuckles at once, then he used her as a bludgeon to knock Jiraya down again. "As expected, the hair spines defense wasn't raised against such a weapon," he gloated. He whirled her around again and delivered a second blow, expertly aimed to crash her forehead against the same part of the sennin's skull that had already been abused agaist the rocks, then tossed her at the kid in orange, now trembling in horror. He managed to catch the girl, but sank to his knees, cradling her battered body... It was terrifyingly still and limp.
The chakra drain of the armor was really beginning to get to him... Gomaru decided to taunt the boy a little to buy a few seconds and recover. "She struck without hesitation, to protect her comrade ... Signs of a ninja worthy of respect... But... She also failed to account for the strength of her opponent, and that made her a fool, and now... a dead fool!"
Naruto's wide eyes were rimmed with tears, one hand automatically wiping at the blood that had trickled from one corner of Rikou's mouth, and from the split skin of her forehead... It was everywhere, and it just kept coming out! His mind spun like a panicked bird in a too-small cage. "You... In her springtime... You killed..."
"What's with that face?" the former Snow-nin scoffed. "Is this the first time a friend has died?"
She was so still in Naruto's arms, like a rag doll... Rikou was always moving, always laughing. She wasn't moving! "You..." She wasn't breathing! "You're..."
Gomaru channeled some chakra into his chopper again and set himself to renew the attack. "Little kids like you, running around and calling themselves ninja, without knowing how hard the world can be... I hate brats like that the most!"
"SHUT UP!" Gently, the blond laid his friend out on the beach with a cushion of sand to keep her head from lolling, as his terror became outrage. *I'll fill this first with the burning power of youth!* "Unforgivable..." His teeth ground and eyes stung as he snarled, and outrage became fury. Wiping away the tears that misted his vision just left smears of her blood, like a thin mask above the spreading whisker marks on his cheeks. *I said I'd strike instantly if an enemy appears!* "You snake... I'LL KILL YOU!" His hands clenched into claws as rage and adrenaline surrounded him with torrents of swirling red energy, the pressure of killing intent filling the cove like thick, boiling tar.
The Atsuikaze twins, Gai, and Lee all paused, shocked at the force of it, and even thoroughly concussed Jiraya moaned and shifted. For just an instant, the lashing tendrils of chakra seemed to form a snarling fox head to the startled nuke-nin facing the boy who'd become the center of the unexpected phenomenon.
*This feeling... What is this feeling? It's just like that time ... Can't move, can't breathe! ... No, must breathe; breath, thought, action, victory. Yes... I can do it this time... Breathe!*
Shaking off the feeling - to think that a child could create such a killing intent! - and the eerie way the boy's sparkling blue eyes had turned slitted and blood red, Gomaru raised his chopper and attacked.
Naruto's world was edged with red, and the miasma of blood filled his nose and mouth with copper. He flipped back under the glowing edge of the blade, then kicked up at his enemy's wrist, knocking the weapon loose, spinning away. He brought his feet over and curled into a crouch as the outlaw regained his balance then dodged aside as the heavy gauntlet came down like a pile driver.
The writhing red chakra seemed to tear at the armor's purplish barrier like a living, hating thing, and after only a moment's resistance he broke through, clawed fingers ripping deep into the metal of the gauntlet arm and shredding apart the mechanisms inside. Another kick knocked the big man back, staggering in the loose stones of the beach, and then Naruto was on him again, crushing fists that struck like hammer blows, as if his barrier wasn't even there.
And then, it was over. Gin blurred into motion, stooping like a hawk to grab her brother under the shoulders and flee, the berserk brat's last jumping claw-swipe claiming nothing but one of her sandals.
There was the crunch of feet landing on the stones behind him and Naruto spun, claws ready and a snarl on his lips, brow ridged in fury that his prey had escaped. Shocked at the look, Lee stiffened, then began to step forward with an extended hand, only to be pulled back by his mentor's guiding hand on one shoulder. "Sensei?" he questioned.
"Wait, Lee," the jounin cautioned, his stance ready but unthreatening. "We must see if--" The blonde's grimace smoothed away, and his eyes faded back to blue. With a hidden sigh of relief, Gai's tension eased, and he released his protege.
"Sensei... Rikou-chan... Rikou-chan was..." Suddenly, Naruto couldn't bear to look at his teacher, at the father of the girl who had died because he'd happened to attack the arm without armor. He couldn't bear the thought of those eyes looking at him with the cold hate he'd seen in so many others, not when this time he really deserved it.
"Have no fear, Naruto! Rikou will recover with youth and spirit," Lee reassured him. "Right, Gai-sensei? ... Gai-sensei...?" Glinting grin fading at the lack of the usual boisterous affirmations of youth power, Lee turned, to see the older man still in serious mode, leaning with one ear to the girl's chest. "Sensei, she... WILL be all right?"
"Her pulse is weak, but steady... Breathing seems unobstructed," the man muttered, face a mask of calm. Ever so carefully he slipped his fingers under his little girl's neck and lightly brushed the vertebrae. "The spine seems intact..." Looking over his shoulder, he called out, "Naruto! You did well to keep her head straight, even with her neck unbroken immobilizing it is best after such an attack." The orange-jacketed boy had jumped and flinched at first, then relaxed from his bow-string tension. Sitting back on his haunches, Gai instructed, "Boys, bring over a pair of stones and set them on both sides of her head with a cushion of sand while I check on Jiraya-sama as well. Not too big."
Then he stood, and that stoic mask was allowed to crack, becoming a smile no less shining if slightly smaller than usual. "Yes, Lee, Naruto, with the unbounded energy of youth, I am sure Rikou will make a full recovery!"
---=- + -=---
Gai was no medic-nin, but was possessed of enough in the way of battlefield medical skill to quickly knock together a solid stretcher - actually, what he did was knock *down* a largish tree, then split it at the widest point into a rough board and removed the splinters with a handful of rough-edged rocks. Clean bandages were tied around the various cuts and contusions, then Lee's spare athletic bandages got put to use to tie Rikou securely on, Naruto's jacket wadded on either side of her head under the strap to keep it straight.
Jiraya had awakened again but was too unsteady to walk on his own, so with Gai to support him around the shoulders and the two boys to carry their team mate level the group made their way back to Kirika. Rather than the city's hospital, an obvious target if their enemies tried to seek them out while injured, they returned to the hotel, where Jiraya sent a messenger to bring a woman he knew that was well versed in the healer's art.
Given the fancy kimono and face paint she showed up in it was probable she was knowledgeable in certain other arts as well, but the medicines and ointments that came out of her highly decorative silk shoulder bag were just as effective as what might be found in a healer-nin's pack, and she realigned Rikou's spine with the sure hands of someone who does such things, if in less extreme cases, practically every day.
She'd gotten them all squared away, announced that Rikou would likely awaken some time the next day, and told them all sternly to rest and recover for a while, even Naruto.
"But nee-chan, look! My cuts are all healed already!"
"Even if you say that," she told him firmly.
"But I'm full of the POWER OF YOUTH! I can finish the day's training just fine!"
"If I have to come patch you up again due to over-exertion, you'll be full of the power of prune juice, and then I guarantee you'll be sitting down for a while." Cowed and a bit disgusted at the thought of such consequences, Naruto sat quickly. "Jiraya-sama, please remember to come by the Swallowtail Tea Room and pay your tab soon," she reminded, gathering up her bag, then the woman was gone.
Seated at the head of Rikou's futon, Gai brushed a bit of hair out of her face where it had been released from her usual tight bun, and said (relatively) softly, "Today's battle was harsh... Sometimes, youth is both sweet and sour."
"Eh, I'll admit, it wasn't my best moment, knocked out so easily..." Jiraya agreed ruefully, rubbing the very tender knot on the back of his skull. He frowned thoughtfully for a few seconds, then turned to where Naruto had settled on his own bedroll and was flipping a kunai over and over in his fingers. "So, boyo. You got that other power to appear, it seems."
The young blond shuddered, and stuffed the kunai back into his holster. "That power... It was like being covered in hot blood, and only wanting more... If that's my hidden strength, I don't want it! I'll train hard and get strong the normal way, and let it STAY hidden forever, 'tebayo."
Even Gai looked troubled, but remained silent, and Lee took his cue from that.
Jiraya gave Naruto a look of wisdom hard earned - the real thing, not his usual play-acting, and said seriously, "That power... is a terrible strength. And yet, you used it to defend a precious person ... That's the only way it should be used. Now, we just need to get it so you can pull it out in time to stop a fatal blow, instead of to avenge it!" He sighed. "I guess this means I have spend more time training with you guys in the day, instead of on research. There's still a few more days before the ship to Wave Country is due..."
"But... Is it really a good idea?" the boy wondered. "It was so..."
"It was probably worse because it was the first time. If we get you some more practice you should be able to control it better..." he trailed off a moment. *Considering the audience...* "...unless you'd rather just not go to the effort. It would be a lot of work, after all." *As expected, the prospect of a challenge perked the kid right up. Maito-style training... It must be feared!*
Returning to the business at hand, the sennin explained, "I had a meeting set up tonight to confirm my information, but it's too late for that now. Even so, I'm confident that I've located the headquarters of the Two Gees gang, and that it's still four days before the next ship bound for Wave Country is due, which is where the dock worker I talked to said he heard the boss say the things were bound to." Reminded of something, Jiraya rummaged around in the pile of equipment recovered from the battle and not yet sorted. With a satisfied grunt, he pulled out the folded chopper/hover board and tossed it lightly to Naruto.
"By the way runt, good work wrecking that guy's mechanical arm - the mission objective is to capture or destroy those armors, after all. You can have that, you captured it from the enemy in battle fair and square, and they're common enough in Snow country. It's the armor itself we're after. More importantly, like I said, there's only four days left before the ship comes. Tomorrow, we'll still need to recover, and the last day we should rest, plan, and get in position, so that only leaves two days to try to make that power appear as you need it. Gai, I mentioned it before, but I'll borrow him for a bit in this situation - it's just enough time for some all or nothing, do or die training!"
"KYAAAH!! I told you before, like I told that nee-chan with the medicine and too much makeup, I'll be fine by tomorrow! I always am!" the boy protested, adding seriously, "It's because I'm overflowing with the power of youth, dattebayo."
Later that evening, after both boys had gone to sleep, Gai said softly, "Jiraya--sama... Are you certain of these actions? To draw out 'that' power... What about Sandaime-sama's law?"
"The power is within him, and it can become his greatest weapon - an ability no one can copy or match. That was Yondaime's hope, anyway... As for sensei's law... Applying it to Naruto, I never agreed with it. It's his body the seal is inscribed on."
"... As a jounin of Konoha, I must still attempt to enforce it..."
"Eh? Well, no one ever said you were lacking guts, Gai... Don't worry, I won't actually break it, but if the kid figures it out on his own, it's probably fine," the older man concluded.
---=- + -=---
(continues in part c)
Gamatachiko blinked and relaxed a bit, sword poofing away only to be replaced a moment later by a bokken, then shifted to a high guard stance. "Mou, this grit and salty wind is bad for my complexion. He'd better be fun!" she complained.
Gamakensei nodded contemplatively, then spoke, his voice deep and calm like high mountain pond. "Testing a new student, Jiraya? Interesting."
The old man frowned, though it didn't seem to be directed at anyone present. "No, just making a point. Start off easy and then bring it up, you two." He walked off to the side to observe, raising a hand then slashing downward. "BEGIN!"
Gamakensei crouched and leapt at the boy, who easily dodged aside then hopped over the follow-up back kick when the blue frog landed. Gamatachiko simply vanished and reappeared to strike, the force of the blow setting Lee spinning sideways in the air. He landed in a handstand that turned into a rising spiral kick, more to gain space again than as a true attack, then curled up and turned the momentum into a heel drop as Gamakensei darted in again.
That one landed, striking the monk cleanly in the shoulder, but was shrugged off with little more than a grunt, and the rain of open-palm strikes that knocked the green-suited boy away were only slightly weaker from that arm. Lee flipped and sprang into the air again over another swipe from Gamatachiko's bokken, landing on the blade as she followed through and stealing that momentum to speed a leap back at her partner to lead with a knee to his snout, followed by axe-handle strikes to both shoulders this time.
The three sprang apart, and when the swordmistress spoke again, there was a degree of respect in her voice. "Looks like this one does have some skill... we can take him a bit seriously."
"Yes," Gamakensei agreed. "His strength is remarkable for a youngling." He rolled his shoulders to work out the stinging blows, then took up a power stance and let out a kiyai. A thin layer of sand blasted away from his feet, drifting for a moment before settling back to the beach. Jiraya just folded his arms off to the side, watching impassively as the fight moved to the next level.
---=- + -=---
Naruto and Rikou had just started to move beyond the basics of water-walking to doing a light practice routine on the surface of the tidal pool when the frog sennin left Lee and the summons to their sparring and walked over, though not without dunking their feet every few seconds as their control fluctuated. "So, you guys ready to learn a super-cool jutsu?" he called out with a smirk, before adding as an aside, "Gai, I assume you want to use your own contract for your girl, right?"
"YOSH!" the jounin replied, throwing a thumbs up for emphasis. "The youthful spirit of the Turtle clan will surely welcome its newest trainee!"
"Eh, sure..." Jiraya muttered - sure, he was all about youthful spirit himself, at least youthful, spirited women, but the Maito clan all took it way too far. Collecting himself, he ordered the two genin off the pool so they could see. "Alright you two, watch closely. I'll go first, then you, Gai." He bit his thumb and wiped some blood across his palm, then flipped slowly through the boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep seals before slapping the bloody hand down and again announcing, "Kuchiose no jutsu!"
The frog that appeared this time was covered in dark flame-like markings and carried a huge scroll in its mouth. It blinked as the cloud of chakra smoke dispersed, but otherwise gave no reaction as it summoner explained, "The summoning technique is one type of space-time ninjutsu, that calls a spirit creature through a contract and a sacrifice of blood and life energy - chakra - to help out the caster either in battle or in other ways. There's all kinds of summon creatures, but I deal with the frogs, and taught it to the Yondaime Hokage." With a quelling glare at the blond brat's (relatively) less than impressed reaction, he added, "So you'd better appreciate it, kid."
Naruto had been feeling a bit sad that his teacher was going to make him learn a different summon creature when he had a contract of his own - surely Gai-sensei would have chosen the creatures with the most youthful power, right? But, the magic words 'Yondaime Hokage' quickly had him bouncing in place again - the greatest hero of the Leaf, the one who killed the kyuubi no kitsune to protect the passionate youth of Konoha! "Yeah! Yeah! Yondaime is almost as cool as Gai-sensei, dattebayo! I'll summon frogs with shining energy and surpass all previous Hokage!"
Jiraya somehow managed to keep his expression blank, drawling, "Riiiiiight... Whatever. Gai, it's your turn."
Quickly wiping away a tear that had forced its way through his 'stern, serious sensei' facade at his student's display of spirit, the jounin planted himself again, hands on his hips. "Rikou, my daughter! Are you prepared to face this Maito clan rite of passage!?" he bellowed cheerfully.
Snapping to attention, the pink-clad genin barked out, "Yes sir, father! I'll pass this trial with diligence and vigor!"
It was too much for Gai's restraint. He swept the girl into his arms, manly tears of pride streaming down his cheeks as he shouted, "Rikou! Your youthful vocabulary continues to improve!"
"Tousan!"
"Rikou!"
"Tousan!"
"Rikou!"
Fortunately for Jiraya's rapidly waning patience, the rising tide had brought waves closer in, and a shower of cool spray brought the pair back to the matter at hand before they got too far into their own little world, or for that matter before Naruto could join them.
Separating again, Gai returned to his serious mode, and went slowly through the same blood-and-seals procedure. As the chakra smoke from the summoning cleared, he explained further, "Normally, summoning is considered to be a jounin-level skill, because it uses a great amount of chakra. Due to certain circumstances, Naruto is the opposite of Lee in this area - he produces so much chakra it becomes difficult to control, therefore such a technique is fine for him. With your ability, Rikou, you should not summon more than one small animal in a short time, or you will use too much of your chakra... HOWEVER! For training purposes, the use of large amounts of energy is A-OK!! That is the way to expand your chakra, to build it EVER HIGHER with the BOUNDLESS SPIRIT OF YOUTH!" He took up his favorite pose again, wink, thumb, glinting smile and all, and the red and golden yellow turtle who'd appeared mirrored it as best a four-legged creature with barely-mobile toes could do.
Despite himself, a shiver traveled down Jiraya's spine at the prospect of this man having such influence over children. *At least I only have to put up with them for a short time... though it makes me wonder what his family would think, that Naruto is growing up in such a way,* he thought. *Heheh, I think I'd like to have seen it. And anyway, summoning will be a good way for him to learn how to control the kyuubi's chakra.*
Heedless of the older man's introspection, Gai tuned back to his summon, commanding, "It's time!"
"Okay!" the turtle replied, in a surprisingly smooth tenor as he withdrew one foreleg into his shell, "The legendary Contract Scroll of the Turtle Clan... Appears!"
And, indeed, when the leg extended again, a scroll similar to the one still clutched in Jiraya's frog's mouth was carefully gripped in its claws. A subtle gesture from the sennin prompted his own summon to unroll their scroll simultaneously, one each in front of the genin students. Though he'd really rather have switched, he let Gai attend to the girl (All that wonderful, elastic, tight Aburame silk! Pity about the chest, but no worthy fruit ripens overnight...) and explained the process to Naruto.
"This is the Toad Contract, that has been passed down through many generations. You write your name in blood, and below that stamp your fingerprints. Then, when you want to call them, you mold chakra, form the seals, and place the hand you signed the contract with down where you want the frog to appear. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah!" the boy responded, looking over the scroll curiously. As might be expected from people finger painting with their own blood, the penmanship was... really bad. Almost amazingly bad, in fact. There was a splotch that could, just, be associated with 'Jiraya,' though the family name was unintelligible, and then another that could be... well, something-rashi Ka-something, or maybe Mi-something... and then the blank spaces began.
With a small shrug he gave up on trying to read it, slashed open the pad of his thumb on a sharp tooth and went to work, adding a few unnecessary spirals the way he used to in his vandalism days before Gai-sensei had taken him even unofficially as a student. Afterward, of course, he'd been far too busy training with all the passion of his youth to do more than a minimal amount of pranking. Still, when your name means "Swirling spiral" and you aspire to leadership of a country whose symbol is also a spiral, some things just seem to come naturally. It did help that the cut wasn't healing up as fast as usual, though there was an odd tingle where it touched the parchment so maybe that was an effect of the contract scroll itself. Soon enough he was finished, and wiped his fingertips across the bloody thumb with a flourish, then stamped them on the scroll. His guess about the scroll affecting the wound firmed up more as there was a hot feeling - in all the fingers, not just his thumb - where the blood and flesh met the page, then when he lifted them away all the blood stayed on the scroll and his thumb was completely healed.
"And so, and so, that's it, right!?" he asked excitedly, springing to his feet again as the scroll rolled itself up with a snap.
"You got it, kid. Due to that special condition, you should have a second type of chakra that'll let you summon the stronger frogs, but that'll probably need a different circumstance to come out at first. For now, just mold as much of your normal chakra as you can and give it a shot!"
Seeing that Rikou was also ready to try, Naruto shot her a flashing grin, then they each went through the procedure, exclaiming in unison, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" as a smallish cloud of smoke boiled out around their hands, slowly clearing away to reveal...
A fat tadpole, barely larger than the first joint of Naruto's thumb without the tail, and a little leatherback about the same size. Naruto's flailed helplessly on the sand for a few seconds before poofing away again, while the baby sea turtle made a break for the waves.
Even Gai was unable to produce much enthusiasm over performance like that, while Jiraya muttered, "Pah, they really don't have any talent at it..."
Normally, of course, such a comment would be taken poorly, but the students of Maito Gai knew better - that talent could be as much of a disadvantage as anything, because it made you complacent if you didn't have to truly put in hard work. Plus, making an animal appear from nothing was just COOL! "Okay, okay!" Naruto shouted, bouncing in ever-increasing excitement. "One more time, with youth and spirit! Full power, dattebayo!! Ready, Rikou?"
"Here I go, Naruto-kun! Absolutely everything!"
Visible shimmers of chakra raised around the pair as they concentrated in an initial Ram seal, before again nipping their thumbs, sealing, and slapping down a hand each. This time the smoke clouds at least were larger. Naruto and Rikou had to flop down to sit awkwardly among the stones as their bodies protested the amount of life energy they'd just expended, but at least this time when the clouds cleared away the results were closer to the size of a doubled fist. Naruto's blue and black frog had a stubby tail left and produced sounds half way between croaks and baby-talk, but Rikou's mottled brown and pink turtle seemed fully formed at least, a status confirmed when it spoke a moment later.
"Hewwo," it said, in the voiceof a very young girl. "Does 'oo wanna pway tea?" A small curl of steam escaped from the gap where one leg joined the shell.
"Oh, you found a good turtle!" Gai enthused, leaning over to look closely. "Kamehorai, this is my daughter, Rikou, who has just learned to summon you! Tea-time is later, but for now please treat her kindly!"
"O-kay bi-ig bro-o!" the tiny turtle sing-songed, more steam curling away lazily as Jiraya's jaw dropped lower and lower in shock and disbelief that anyone would call a summon that obviously young and weak useful. "Bye-bye, den!"
Naruto's not-quite-frog waved one chubby forepaw at her, before poofing away as well. Undismayed, the boy mustered as much energy as he could manage and struggled to his feet, asking, "So, so, what makes that turtle good? Kamehorai, right? Does she breathe a huge jet of steam to blow away enemies like a super 'Murasu'?"
At this, Gai laughed heartily, then accidentally flattened the blond with a cheerful slap on the shoulder. "Maybe someday, but for now she can produce a stream of fresh, boiling hot water for tea or instant noodles. You see, Kamehorai is a baby hot-springs turtle. She's super-handy when you can't light a fire to cook on a mission!"
Rikou nodded dutifully, but Naruto's eyes had gone all huge and sparkly at the thought. "You... you mean, Kamehorai-chan can... make ramen... anywhere... AT ANY TIME? AAAH, THAT'S TOTALLY THE GREATEST NINJUTSU EVER! STUPID ERO-SENNIN! I WANNA SUMMON TURTLES TOO!!"
---=- + -=---
Later that night, Jiraya and Gai were sharing some sake after the kids had gone to bed, worn out by a day of even more strenuous training than usual. Neither Naruto nor Rikou had been able to produce any more substantial summons, and Naruto had finally been convinced that even if he hadn't seen them yet the Frog Clan had members just as cool as a baby turtle who could pour hot water. Somehow. *Man, what a troublesome brat,* the older man thought, before knocking back a saucer of sake.
"So," he said, at length, "Naruto hasn't ever pulled out the fox's chakra?"
"No," Gai replied, lightly flushed from the alcohol but far indeed from drunk. "His natural stamina is incredible, even to me, however. With hard work and guts he has overcome much of his problem with controlling the chakra he has, so that even bunshin are easy - such fine manipulations were impossible when he began training, despite having been at the Academy for the full course already."
"Oh, he started it that early? I already thought it was a year too soon."
"Yes, due to that stamina and the strength of his youthful determination, he was able to excel at the physical tests used for an entrance exam two years before the usual age. But, because of that thing, many people disliked him, even among the teachers, and children learned to avoid him without knowing why. That's why he became a trouble maker, to force people to look at him, and why he was not able to learn much of what is expected of students. Thus, when the first graduation exam came up, he failed it..."
"But Naruto is truly filled with the power of youth! He simply began training extra hard! Then he met Lee, and combined their strength. I found them in a training area one day, and... how could I leave such shining flowers to wither alone? Rikou joined us as well shortly afterward, and all three trained together with passionate energy, until they passed the next exam. Due to their close ties of teamwork and friendship, and complementary skills, Hokage-sama approved them as a team and they became my official students!"
"Hmm." Jiraya leaned against one fist contemplatively. "They all have strong taijutsu, though obviously far more for Lee. That's fine, taijutsu is the fundamental of combat - it doesn't matter how many ninjutsu you know if you're not fast enough and don't have the stamina to pull them off, nor will genjutsu and book skills help you any when you meet an enemy who can break your best illusion and uses an original jutsu... or for that matter, if you're trying to be stealthy around other ninja who can sense chakra. More importantly, Naruto is the team's ninjutsu specialist, while Rikou is mid-range support, right?"
"Indeed. I have tested all of their element affinities before. Interestingly, Lee's is for earth-type - I have been looking for information about internal manipulation of earth-type chakra to strengthen the body, as he seems to do so instinctively even before the body hardening exercises of Gouken. Rikou is water-type, and has learned several beginning ninjutsu and genjutsu from her mother, a former Mist chuunin. Naruto's affinity is for air, but..." Gai shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "Air users are rare in Fire Country, so I started him on a few fire-type jutsu instead. The extra difficulty of using it has surely increased his control training still further!"
"Really? Beginners stick to their affinities for a reason, you know..."
"I am certain... Naruto and Rikou have already created their first elemental ninjutsu."
"An original jutsu that young... It's not just a variation on something else, is it?" Jiraya asked skeptically. He finished off the bottle, then waved for another.
"No... in fact, by the usual rules of ninjutsu, it is an impossible combination. Naruto mentioned it earlier - it's called 'Murasu' and it combines fire and water type chakra from two people that produces steam instead of canceling out. It is definitely at least a B-rank instant-kill jutsu, and I have forbidden using it on live targets except under special circumstances."
"Of course not, at least in peaceful times like this, there's no need for kids to bloody their hands that young. Let them get a more solid grasp on their skills, and more emotional maturity before taking on such burdens. Other countries may say the Leaf is weak for thinking this way, but I'd rather see happy kids if it's possible." Seeing his tablemate start to open his mouth and tear up, the frog sennin quickly raised a hand and cut him off. "Yes yes, power of youth, explosive springtime, I know. This is the best bar in town, I don't want you to get us thrown out with your ranting. Anyway, I was asking about 'that' chakra... Have him use up his normal chakra, then try to make it appear. If he can't do this at first, it may take some special training. In that kind of situation, I'll borrow him for a while."
Though restrained by the injunction to keep relatively quiet, Gai had clearly not heard anything past the words 'special training,' and his tears were once again flowing like waterfalls. "My cute students make me so proud, to be worthy of such consideration from one of the Legendary Three!"
Jiraya sighed and rubbed his temples through the fabric of his hitae-ite headband. "... Right. For now, if they just keep training it's probably okay. As for the investigation, I got some good information today, but it'll still take a day or two to follow it up, so keep them at it. Do you know turtles who can spar with Lee like my frogs, or should I summon Gamakensei and Gamatachiko again in the mornings?"
"Those are formidable frogs, but I do know some upright-stance turtles, who have strong taijutsu. They were taught extensively by my grandfather, training himself to be an excellent sensei for his first genin team. Of course, there are four of them, rather than three, but he decided the extra brother would only make his skills as a sensei improve more! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to summon them until just before receiving my own first team." He drained his saucer and let off a long belch before reminiscing, "I wonder how Nobegami is doing in his travels these days... perhaps it's time to send him a new message. Always such a serious child, who'd have expected him to take up the furthest ranging assignments he could find once graduating from my care!"
Jiraya had to admit, dealing with Gai for a single day already made him long to get back on the road himself, but he settled for throwing back another drink. How did the man maintain that much energy? Maybe twelve year olds got along with him because he was just as hyper as they were...
---=- + -=---
It was late afternoon the following day when the next contact was made with their opponents. Lee had been the center of a non-stop tag team assault from the quartet of turtles Gai summoned that morning, while Rikou and Naruto had continued their water walking exercise after a single summoning attempt, and Naruto went back to summoning after their short lunch break. He still hadn't gotten a frog more developed than the best attempt the day before, and most were more like tadpoles, but he persevered with the spirit of youth!
Nonetheless, even Gai was feeling a bit tired by that time, as he'd created a new set of gravity seals for himself weighing no less than six hundred and seventy five pounds each, a full fifty pounds heavier than the ones he'd been using, and he'd been doing his physical training right at the water's edge where the waves would irregularly pull at his ankles and the sand made footing more difficult, just for the added challenge.
Jiraya had shown up not long ago to check on their progress, but was most unyouthfully intoxicated. (Actually, he'd run out of money and gotten kicked out of the geisha parlor, then ended up at the town gates instead of the bank to get more ryo and decided to come out on a whim, to sober up before the more serious business he had lined up in the evening.)
Gomaru and Gin, on the other hand, had been taking it relatively easy, just getting the hang of how their new prizes operated, but the constant drain of chakra required even with the amplifying effect was beginning to tell on them, too.
It was in these decidedly sub-par conditions that the two groups ran into each other, Gin suddenly swooping around one of the headlands that protected their little bay, while Gomaru skidded along an instant later, a huge rooster tail spouting behind him as he zipped over the waves.
Their coveralls had been replaced, now - Gomaru's new outfit was similar in the body, but had an armored pauldron on each shoulder with a fat hollow spike on the left side, and a large metal armature ending in a heavy gauntlet and a mechanical claw that completely covered his left arm. There was also some kind of round metal fixture with a blue and white yin-yang insignia over the solar plexus. The suit appeared to have been made for a much more heavy-set man, criss-crossed belts at his chest, waist, and groin held the excess material out of the way, with similar bindings around the calves - about the only place it actually fit as intended was at the shoulders.
Gin's was almost like a drab, blue-grey version of a cheongsam, with the same sort of side closure and upright collar. It had only one sleeve, the right arm being bare save for the Hidden Snow grapple launcher strapped to that forearm. She had on a pair of tight, mid-thigh length shorts beneath it for modesty, and dark grey ninja sandals like her brother. A yin-yang was also prominenly featured on her suit, the centerpiece of a set of translucently thin purple wings supported by a thin metal framework like the spars of an umbrella. Both suits were strung with large, dark blue conduits around the seams and across the torso, interconnected at various points and leading back to the yin-yang equipped housings.
Banking and flipping in mid air, the former Snow kunoichi drew and tossed a good dozen kunai at the biggest group there, Lee and the turtles. Each trailed one of the little round bombs favored by Yuki-nin over the explosive tags common in more northerly countries, and as they hit they made an explosion that turned that entire end of the beach into a flaming hell, and blasted away the sand down to the damp under-layer packed with gravel and larger stones.
Almost as quick to react, Gomaru swerved in to shore, flipping forward off his chakra-channeling board and catching it as it folded into chopper form, uncurling and cutting a deep, bloody gash through Gai's back with the sharpened edge as the jounin's attention was grabbed by the explosive flower of death bursting around his look-alike student.
Fortunately for the boy taijutsu master his summoned sparring partners had been quick enough to form a defensive wall in front of him and deflect the blast with their shells, but worn out already from a whole day of battle they were forced to dispel as soon as the flames died down, leaving Lee in a cross guard amidst the dissipating smoke. The injured Gai, too, was surrounded in a cloud of smoke, the illusion of his kawarimi falling to reveal a bale of seaweed.
Worst off from the opening attacks was actually Jiraya, who'd been bowled off his unsteady feet by the force of the explosion and had the sheer bad luck to have his head land against one of the larger beach rocks. His spiky mane provided some cushioning, but for a few critical seconds his wits were scrambled, and Gomaru switched targets immediately.
"Fuuton: FUUGA!" Without hand seals at all, the nuke-nin channeled wind chakra into his chopper and swung, releasing it as an all but invisible spike of hardened air that blasted toward the fallen sennin. Then, suddenly, Lee was there, blocking the attack with a rock twice as large as a man's head clutched in one hand. "Kusogaki!" Gomaru cursed. He launched another two shots, then flexed the mechanical claw on his left arm and got ready to get a little closer.
Up in the air, Gin had circled inland to let the cliffs shield her from the shockwave and set up another sudden attack run over the area she'd seen the other two meddling brats, but no sooner did she clear the cliffs again than she was herself attacked, a hooking heel drop across the backs of her knees that tumbled her crazily across the sky. Righting herself at last in a hover out over the bay, Gin looked wildly around for the source. "How the hell? Way up here!"
A half-seen movement was her only warning, her head snapping around just in time to see the man in a green body suit like two of the kids wore uncurling from where he'd ricocheted off the cliff face some five hundred feet away. Then both feet hit her face, hard, and she was flying towards open ocean again while Gai was sent back to the cliffs.
With the help of his stone, Lee was able to parry the follow up wind attacks as well, though it cracked on the second and shattered away on the third. Naruto and Rikou arrived at his side while Gomaru was getting set for close combat, standing a bit to one side, near the first of the tidal pools. "Hey, Rikou," the blonde said seriously, eyeing their opponent with caution. "It's a little early, but... Do you think we should use 'that' jutsu?"
A quick glance over her shoulder showed the famous sennin groaning, and having trouble rolling to his feet... Not a sight to inspire confidence in a rookie on her first serious mission, she thought. "These guys are pretty strong... To protect our precious comrades... Let's get wild!"
Stepping closer together, the two linked elbows, then began sealing, even as Gomaru drew back his gauntlet-clad arm and ran towards them.
"Suiton!" Rikou announced first, her seal sequence being slightly longer. A tendril of water undulated out of the nearby pool and curled in front of the pair like a snake charmer's pet.
"Katon!" answered Naruto, then, in unison, "GATTAI! MURASU NO JUTSU!" Ending on a Tiger seal, he brought one hand to his lips, carefully swiping it through the waiting water as he did so, hauling the end along by the chakra-increased surface tension while sucking in as much air as he could. His gathered chakra was moved to the tip of his tongue as he breathed out, lips pursed to keep the stream tight as it bored through the water tendril.
Gomaru vanished into the jet of steam just before he could reach the genin trio, and an agonized scream from within it made them break the technique early with horrified shudders. Slowly the steam cleared again, ultimately dispersed by the gust when Gin swooped down from the sky. Cleared air revealed the Snow kunoichi at the water's edge, bent over her brother who was bathing his reddened skin in the cold waves.
"It looks like you got lucky, brats," said Jiraya, finally recovered from his hard knock. A few seals and a surge of chakra cleared the alchohol from his system, then he sighed and continued, "that's one burden you won't have to pick up so soon." Then, more jauntily, "So, I'm a precious comrade already? And here I thought I wasn't going to like you guys!"
Landing from his acrobatic escapades, their jounin sensei immediately took up a Nice Guy pose and exclaimed, "Yes! Though sometimes expressed in suspicious ways, Jiraya-sama is FULL of the BOUNDLESS SPIRIT OF YOUTH! Your judgement today IS SOUND, my proud students!"
Naruto's mind had moved on to on something else, however - something he thought he'd seen just as the 'Murasu' struck home.
"Ne, Ero-sennin... There's something weird about that armor, isn't there?"
Jiraya took his 'Sage Brings Wisdom From the Holy Moutain' pose and grunted affimatively, explaining, "That's the Snow Country's special tool, designed for ninja... It's called 'Chakra Armor.'"
"Chakra Armor?" repeated Lee, trying the words in his mouth.
"But it's more powerful than I remember," the sennin continued, shifting to 'Wise Jiraya Explains the Mysteries.' "It's an armor that contains seals to increase the effect of wearer's chakra, and strengthen their jutsu. It creates a wall of chakra around the body, and it seems they even nullify an attacking chakra and reflect it back."
Gai narrowed his eyes. "I thought as much. In a situation like that..."
"Yes, no matter what kind of ninjutsu or genjutsu you use, it's no good, and even taijutsu must overcome the barrier. It's a terrifying tool." Seeing their opponents again about to attack, Jiraya took up a real ready stance rather than a cool pose, he and Gai stepping forward so the genins' renewed defensive triangle (Lee and Naruto side by side in paired Gouken stances, Rikou a few steps back with her weighted cord already in motion) was behind them.
"Gai-sensei!" called Lee, "With that barrier, the way you attacked the flying one before just knocked her around, but if two of us strike from different directions..."
"Hmm," Gai considered, smoothing his moustache. "I'll allow it! Rikou, Naruto, support Jiraya-sama with ALL of your SHINING ENERGY! Lee, with me!" Lee came forward to a half-step behind his mentor, while Rikou and Naruto repositioned so that they were evenly spaced behind the sennin, this time with Naruto in the lead stance while Rikou recoiled her cord and took the partner stance he'd just been holding, both of their chakra levels too low for more ninjutsu after the day's training and that combination attack.
Gomaru didn't so much charge as flicker, suddenly appearing in a crouch just in front of the Toad Sage. Two jets of chakra smoke shot out of the back end of the metal gauntlet as he threw an uppercut with all the boosted strength of the chakra armor. Jiraya's hair grew and wrapped himself in a barrier of needle-sharp spines, but the force of the hit still knocked him into the air, and the defense barely pitted the metal claws through the armor's barrier.
Planning to snag the sennin while he was knocked off guard, the nuke-nin snapped his right arm forward to fire his grapple... Then cursed, having forgotten that the grapple was built into the left arm of the suit, and he'd left his regular one behind since it wasn't tuned to work properly within and through the barrier field. Then the kids were on him, their taijutsu doing no damage but keeping him busy...
"You stinking brats, getting in my way again! Even with the barrier blocking its force, that steam cloud burned me... GIVE DEATH A TRY!!" He swatted them away with sweeps of his arms, then, seeing Jiraya springing back to his feet, launched the left claw at the girl. Its rounded 'palm' turned out to be the front of a black, cannon ball like sphere connected by a tether cable, and he grabbed Rikou with the flying claw around one ankle.
Rearing back and then whipping the captive girl forward at the end of the cable cut off her surprised shriek and produced a sickening snap like some one popping all their knuckles at once, then he used her as a bludgeon to knock Jiraya down again. "As expected, the hair spines defense wasn't raised against such a weapon," he gloated. He whirled her around again and delivered a second blow, expertly aimed to crash her forehead against the same part of the sennin's skull that had already been abused agaist the rocks, then tossed her at the kid in orange, now trembling in horror. He managed to catch the girl, but sank to his knees, cradling her battered body... It was terrifyingly still and limp.
The chakra drain of the armor was really beginning to get to him... Gomaru decided to taunt the boy a little to buy a few seconds and recover. "She struck without hesitation, to protect her comrade ... Signs of a ninja worthy of respect... But... She also failed to account for the strength of her opponent, and that made her a fool, and now... a dead fool!"
Naruto's wide eyes were rimmed with tears, one hand automatically wiping at the blood that had trickled from one corner of Rikou's mouth, and from the split skin of her forehead... It was everywhere, and it just kept coming out! His mind spun like a panicked bird in a too-small cage. "You... In her springtime... You killed..."
"What's with that face?" the former Snow-nin scoffed. "Is this the first time a friend has died?"
She was so still in Naruto's arms, like a rag doll... Rikou was always moving, always laughing. She wasn't moving! "You..." She wasn't breathing! "You're..."
Gomaru channeled some chakra into his chopper again and set himself to renew the attack. "Little kids like you, running around and calling themselves ninja, without knowing how hard the world can be... I hate brats like that the most!"
"SHUT UP!" Gently, the blond laid his friend out on the beach with a cushion of sand to keep her head from lolling, as his terror became outrage. *I'll fill this first with the burning power of youth!* "Unforgivable..." His teeth ground and eyes stung as he snarled, and outrage became fury. Wiping away the tears that misted his vision just left smears of her blood, like a thin mask above the spreading whisker marks on his cheeks. *I said I'd strike instantly if an enemy appears!* "You snake... I'LL KILL YOU!" His hands clenched into claws as rage and adrenaline surrounded him with torrents of swirling red energy, the pressure of killing intent filling the cove like thick, boiling tar.
The Atsuikaze twins, Gai, and Lee all paused, shocked at the force of it, and even thoroughly concussed Jiraya moaned and shifted. For just an instant, the lashing tendrils of chakra seemed to form a snarling fox head to the startled nuke-nin facing the boy who'd become the center of the unexpected phenomenon.
*This feeling... What is this feeling? It's just like that time ... Can't move, can't breathe! ... No, must breathe; breath, thought, action, victory. Yes... I can do it this time... Breathe!*
Shaking off the feeling - to think that a child could create such a killing intent! - and the eerie way the boy's sparkling blue eyes had turned slitted and blood red, Gomaru raised his chopper and attacked.
Naruto's world was edged with red, and the miasma of blood filled his nose and mouth with copper. He flipped back under the glowing edge of the blade, then kicked up at his enemy's wrist, knocking the weapon loose, spinning away. He brought his feet over and curled into a crouch as the outlaw regained his balance then dodged aside as the heavy gauntlet came down like a pile driver.
The writhing red chakra seemed to tear at the armor's purplish barrier like a living, hating thing, and after only a moment's resistance he broke through, clawed fingers ripping deep into the metal of the gauntlet arm and shredding apart the mechanisms inside. Another kick knocked the big man back, staggering in the loose stones of the beach, and then Naruto was on him again, crushing fists that struck like hammer blows, as if his barrier wasn't even there.
And then, it was over. Gin blurred into motion, stooping like a hawk to grab her brother under the shoulders and flee, the berserk brat's last jumping claw-swipe claiming nothing but one of her sandals.
There was the crunch of feet landing on the stones behind him and Naruto spun, claws ready and a snarl on his lips, brow ridged in fury that his prey had escaped. Shocked at the look, Lee stiffened, then began to step forward with an extended hand, only to be pulled back by his mentor's guiding hand on one shoulder. "Sensei?" he questioned.
"Wait, Lee," the jounin cautioned, his stance ready but unthreatening. "We must see if--" The blonde's grimace smoothed away, and his eyes faded back to blue. With a hidden sigh of relief, Gai's tension eased, and he released his protege.
"Sensei... Rikou-chan... Rikou-chan was..." Suddenly, Naruto couldn't bear to look at his teacher, at the father of the girl who had died because he'd happened to attack the arm without armor. He couldn't bear the thought of those eyes looking at him with the cold hate he'd seen in so many others, not when this time he really deserved it.
"Have no fear, Naruto! Rikou will recover with youth and spirit," Lee reassured him. "Right, Gai-sensei? ... Gai-sensei...?" Glinting grin fading at the lack of the usual boisterous affirmations of youth power, Lee turned, to see the older man still in serious mode, leaning with one ear to the girl's chest. "Sensei, she... WILL be all right?"
"Her pulse is weak, but steady... Breathing seems unobstructed," the man muttered, face a mask of calm. Ever so carefully he slipped his fingers under his little girl's neck and lightly brushed the vertebrae. "The spine seems intact..." Looking over his shoulder, he called out, "Naruto! You did well to keep her head straight, even with her neck unbroken immobilizing it is best after such an attack." The orange-jacketed boy had jumped and flinched at first, then relaxed from his bow-string tension. Sitting back on his haunches, Gai instructed, "Boys, bring over a pair of stones and set them on both sides of her head with a cushion of sand while I check on Jiraya-sama as well. Not too big."
Then he stood, and that stoic mask was allowed to crack, becoming a smile no less shining if slightly smaller than usual. "Yes, Lee, Naruto, with the unbounded energy of youth, I am sure Rikou will make a full recovery!"
---=- + -=---
Gai was no medic-nin, but was possessed of enough in the way of battlefield medical skill to quickly knock together a solid stretcher - actually, what he did was knock *down* a largish tree, then split it at the widest point into a rough board and removed the splinters with a handful of rough-edged rocks. Clean bandages were tied around the various cuts and contusions, then Lee's spare athletic bandages got put to use to tie Rikou securely on, Naruto's jacket wadded on either side of her head under the strap to keep it straight.
Jiraya had awakened again but was too unsteady to walk on his own, so with Gai to support him around the shoulders and the two boys to carry their team mate level the group made their way back to Kirika. Rather than the city's hospital, an obvious target if their enemies tried to seek them out while injured, they returned to the hotel, where Jiraya sent a messenger to bring a woman he knew that was well versed in the healer's art.
Given the fancy kimono and face paint she showed up in it was probable she was knowledgeable in certain other arts as well, but the medicines and ointments that came out of her highly decorative silk shoulder bag were just as effective as what might be found in a healer-nin's pack, and she realigned Rikou's spine with the sure hands of someone who does such things, if in less extreme cases, practically every day.
She'd gotten them all squared away, announced that Rikou would likely awaken some time the next day, and told them all sternly to rest and recover for a while, even Naruto.
"But nee-chan, look! My cuts are all healed already!"
"Even if you say that," she told him firmly.
"But I'm full of the POWER OF YOUTH! I can finish the day's training just fine!"
"If I have to come patch you up again due to over-exertion, you'll be full of the power of prune juice, and then I guarantee you'll be sitting down for a while." Cowed and a bit disgusted at the thought of such consequences, Naruto sat quickly. "Jiraya-sama, please remember to come by the Swallowtail Tea Room and pay your tab soon," she reminded, gathering up her bag, then the woman was gone.
Seated at the head of Rikou's futon, Gai brushed a bit of hair out of her face where it had been released from her usual tight bun, and said (relatively) softly, "Today's battle was harsh... Sometimes, youth is both sweet and sour."
"Eh, I'll admit, it wasn't my best moment, knocked out so easily..." Jiraya agreed ruefully, rubbing the very tender knot on the back of his skull. He frowned thoughtfully for a few seconds, then turned to where Naruto had settled on his own bedroll and was flipping a kunai over and over in his fingers. "So, boyo. You got that other power to appear, it seems."
The young blond shuddered, and stuffed the kunai back into his holster. "That power... It was like being covered in hot blood, and only wanting more... If that's my hidden strength, I don't want it! I'll train hard and get strong the normal way, and let it STAY hidden forever, 'tebayo."
Even Gai looked troubled, but remained silent, and Lee took his cue from that.
Jiraya gave Naruto a look of wisdom hard earned - the real thing, not his usual play-acting, and said seriously, "That power... is a terrible strength. And yet, you used it to defend a precious person ... That's the only way it should be used. Now, we just need to get it so you can pull it out in time to stop a fatal blow, instead of to avenge it!" He sighed. "I guess this means I have spend more time training with you guys in the day, instead of on research. There's still a few more days before the ship to Wave Country is due..."
"But... Is it really a good idea?" the boy wondered. "It was so..."
"It was probably worse because it was the first time. If we get you some more practice you should be able to control it better..." he trailed off a moment. *Considering the audience...* "...unless you'd rather just not go to the effort. It would be a lot of work, after all." *As expected, the prospect of a challenge perked the kid right up. Maito-style training... It must be feared!*
Returning to the business at hand, the sennin explained, "I had a meeting set up tonight to confirm my information, but it's too late for that now. Even so, I'm confident that I've located the headquarters of the Two Gees gang, and that it's still four days before the next ship bound for Wave Country is due, which is where the dock worker I talked to said he heard the boss say the things were bound to." Reminded of something, Jiraya rummaged around in the pile of equipment recovered from the battle and not yet sorted. With a satisfied grunt, he pulled out the folded chopper/hover board and tossed it lightly to Naruto.
"By the way runt, good work wrecking that guy's mechanical arm - the mission objective is to capture or destroy those armors, after all. You can have that, you captured it from the enemy in battle fair and square, and they're common enough in Snow country. It's the armor itself we're after. More importantly, like I said, there's only four days left before the ship comes. Tomorrow, we'll still need to recover, and the last day we should rest, plan, and get in position, so that only leaves two days to try to make that power appear as you need it. Gai, I mentioned it before, but I'll borrow him for a bit in this situation - it's just enough time for some all or nothing, do or die training!"
"KYAAAH!! I told you before, like I told that nee-chan with the medicine and too much makeup, I'll be fine by tomorrow! I always am!" the boy protested, adding seriously, "It's because I'm overflowing with the power of youth, dattebayo."
Later that evening, after both boys had gone to sleep, Gai said softly, "Jiraya--sama... Are you certain of these actions? To draw out 'that' power... What about Sandaime-sama's law?"
"The power is within him, and it can become his greatest weapon - an ability no one can copy or match. That was Yondaime's hope, anyway... As for sensei's law... Applying it to Naruto, I never agreed with it. It's his body the seal is inscribed on."
"... As a jounin of Konoha, I must still attempt to enforce it..."
"Eh? Well, no one ever said you were lacking guts, Gai... Don't worry, I won't actually break it, but if the kid figures it out on his own, it's probably fine," the older man concluded.
---=- + -=---
(continues in part c)