Inheritance

CHAPTER 25

Without chakra, it would have been a stupendously difficult twenty foot vertical climb down. However, Naruto did have chakra, as he had barely used any for the mission itself, and so lowering himself out of the window to climb down the wall was far less daunting than perhaps it should have been with wounds such as his.

Despite that, he hadn't been prepared for the pain. The effort of supporting himself on the wall strained his stomach and back muscles, and subsequently the wounds; and very quickly, every inch of progress resulted him slipping ever further towards total exhaustion. Every step he took resulted in pain wracking his body, and made maintaining the concentration required to stay attached to the wall ever more difficult.

Being fair, Naruto's chakra control had never been all that in the first place.

The blond was only vaguely aware of it when it happened. Pain, tiredness, and the gradual slowing of his own heartbeat were the only things he had known during the climb that seemed to be lasting forever. That, and the only thing, the only goal he could keep his mind focused on. Keeping himself on that wall. Yet, he was only really aware that he was falling after a few seconds of freefall.

He never noticed that he had only made it a few feet down the wall before his body had given in.

Even as he fell, he could feel the acceptance course through him. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. His last fleeting thought was that, all things being fair, he was probably going to hell. The last thing he had ever done on this earth, his very last act of any significance, had been to kill a man in his sleep.

And finally, after an eternity, the bone shattering impact with... Something soft, and bouncy? Something, that Naruto couldn't help but think was strangely familiar.

"I swear - like father, like son. He never had a normal mission either. Right from the second he first left the village, it was freakishly strong enemies, or being heavily outnumbered deep in enemy territory every damn time."

Jiraiya sighed, though Naruto never heard it, having let unconsciousness take him.

"Cut me up just as badly whenever he ended up in a bad way, too. Let's get you patched up, kid. Can't have our future Hokage dying from blood loss now, can we?"

"Ah, Naruto-chan! Feeling better I take it?"

Naruto froze, one foot still in the small bedroom that he had spent the last week resting in, the other halfway out of the window that had taunted him with exotic glimpses of the legendary Mt. Myoboku ever since he had regained consciousness.

Smiling wryly, Fukasaku, whom Jiraiya had introduced as the Elder Toad and also a summon more powerful than Gamabunta himself, despite also being one of the most elderly, waved dismissively.

"Then go! Explore away! You have already earned enough respect amongst the toads by the way you have treated those you have summoned, and the promise you show as a warrior, so you will encounter no problems from the other toads venturing out yourself. In fact, how about I give you the guided tour? We can even have a spar - see how your recovery has been coming along?"

Naruto grinned, and eagerly accepted the offer. The Elder Toad and his wife, Shima, had been obscenely kind to Naruto during his stay, and had used their unique medical techniques to help him recover much faster than he would have in Konoha. Needless to say, he had grown incredibly fond of the pair, and they had even taken to helping him work on what he could whilst he rested - Shima had worked on Fuuinjutsu with him, a specialty of the toads, and taught him some incredibly useful seals, as well as tutoring him on constructing original seals, and general fuuinjutsu theory.

Fukasaku on the other hand, had gotten him meditating whilst he rested, trying to focus on feeling out his chakra. It was a unique method of learning chakra control which was particularly suited to those with large chakra reserves, albeit being more difficult. Traditionally, a shinobi would learn to control their chakra by learning to precisely control the amount of chakra they expended when performing an action, practicing being able to draw on less and less, and more and more exact amounts, until they had perfect control.