"Jiraiya?" Tsunade bolted up from her seat, so fast she nearly flipped the table up. "What are you doing here? And who are these brats?" she pointed at Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura accusingly.
Jiraiya grinned. "Tsunade, meet Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. They are three of the most promising genins of this generation. Team 7, meet Tsunade, old woman who likes to make herself look young, legendary medic and the unluckiest person in the whole world when it comes to gambling."
Even Shizune couldn't hold back her laughter completely.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes looking at the three teenagers. Her eyes lingered at Naruto for a while. Then she said.
"So this is what you are trying to do to force me to go back to that cursed village? Well, too bad, the answer is still no."
"You still haven't heard our request, and you already snapped out your answer like that?" Jiraiya sat down on the table, and poured himself a saucer of sake from Tsunade's bottle. "Just listen to what we have to say first, will you?"
Tsunade's eyes bore into Jiraiya's face calculatingly. Then she snorted, and reached out for her bottle again.
"Very well. So what is your story?"
Jiraiya drained his saucer with a gulp. "Well, the reason is..."
"Oi, baa-chan over there! We want you to heal someone!"
Jiraiya's palm met his face. "Very smooth, Naruto... very smooth..."
Tsunade's eyes turned to the blonde. "And you are...?"
"It's Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, at your service!"
Jiraiya sighed, and slapped Naruto at the back of his head. "You don't go around screaming your parents' names and your jinchuriki status out to the world like that, Naruto!"
Naruto shrugged. "Whatever. If you want me to, I can jump to the top of the highest building in Iwagakure and scream 'I am the son of the Yellow Flash' for you. I bet old man Tsuchikage won't mind that."
"Idiot!"
Meanwhile, Tsunade was fuming. How dare the brat call her "grandma"!
Minato and Kushina's son be damned. Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi be damned.
No one is gonna call her "grandma" and get away with it!
"Insolent brat..."
"We need you to heal the heiress of the Hyuuga clan," Sasuke cut in. "You are the only person who can wake her up from her coma, so..."
Sasuke couldn't finish his sentence, because a wave of killing intent had made him choke on his tongue.
"And pray tell, why should I listen to the words of a brat like you?" The brown eyes of the woman drilled into Sasuke's Sharingan, and they had the strength to make even Sasuke retreat a few steps.
The killing intent coming from her must be at least as strong as, if not stronger than Orochimaru's...
"Surely, you don't have to scare those children like that, do you, Tsunade? That doesn't suit someone of your status, you know."
Jiraiya's voice was calm, and somewhat relaxing, but somehow, the killing intent Tsunade was exuding suddenly halted on its way and faded harmlessly into thin air. The woman glared at her fellow Sannin in annoyance.
"Actually Tsunade, that's exactly what we're here for," Jiraiya continued without even flinching against his ex-teammate's glare. "The heiress of the Hyuuga clan was injured gravely during a battle in the Chuunin exam, and is now in a coma none of the medics in Konoha could wake her up from. That's why we're here to request your assistance. You can always treat it as a request from the Hokage himself."
"So the old coot is still alive, huh," Tsunade emptied her saucer into her mouth again. "He is a fool for taking the position of Hokage again at that age. I wonder how he wasn't killed by Orochimaru during that battle in Konoha."
"He is much stronger than you think, Tsunade," Jiraiya said in a stern voice. "Had it not been for him, we wouldn't have been able to kill Orochimaru and save the village."
"Whatever," the female Sannin waved him off. "Anyone who takes up the mantle of Hokage is a fool. Being Hokage means putting your life at risk. And life is not the thing for anyone to bring out for gambling."
"I'm starting to dislike this woman already," Sasuke, of all people, whispered into Naruto's ear in annoyance.
"But anyway, we are not here to discuss about Hokage being fools or not," Jiraiya insisted. "The Third has also issued a request for you to go back to lead the Medical Division of Konoha since you leave the village; even waking a girl up from her coma is impossible for them. We need you there, Tsunade."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed again.
"So everything is just about me going back to the village, huh? Sorry, but it won't work. I won't ever go back to that accursed village."
"What? But Hinata-chan..." Naruto started to protest, but the woman cut him short.
"That girl? If she couldn't stay awake after a fight in the Chuunin exam, then she shouldn't even have taken it in the first place. The Chuunin exam is completely voluntary; no one can force anyone to take part in. It was completely her fault for stumbling into something she cannot handle."
"You..." Sasuke growled out, but his voice was stopped by Sakura's voice, who chose this moment to open her mouth for the first time since they stepped into the pub.
"But isn't the duty of a medic is to help people regardless of who he or she is?"
The girl's voice wasn't loud or anything, but there was a deep, clear sarcastically disappointment in her voice everyone could hear. Tsunade growled menacingly.
"What are you implying, brat?"
Sakura didn't even flinch. She responded, still with the blunt and snarky tone from before.
"I am not implying anything; I am saying it straight to your face. I think your reputation as a legendary medic is just a hoax."
"What did you say?" Tsunade snarled, slamming her saucer down on the table in rage. But Sakura didn't even plan to stop. She continued, not realizing Tsunade's face was turning purple.
"When I heard from Jiraiya-sama that you were a legendary medical ninja, I have thought of asking to become your apprentice, because I have been dreaming of becoming a medic ninja, too. But when I finally am able to meet you... I'm disappointed. You are vain, you are a drunkard, and you refused to treat a patient who was lying at death's door! You don't even deserve to be a medic, not to mention a legendary one!"
Then she saw a fist launching at her face. She tried to move away to dodge, but found out she couldn't. Or rather, she could, but with the speed that fist was flying into her face at, dodging was useless. She couldn't even close her eyes; she is going to die, and nothing can help her skull from being caved in by that hammer of death...!
Then, to her surprise and relief, the deadly fist stopped, an inch right from her nose.
Why did she...?
"What is the meaning of this, Jiraiya?"
The angry voice of Tsunade snapped Sakura out of her stupor. She blinked, and saw Tsunade's arm being held back by Jiraiya, who, from god knows when, had been standing up, his arm holding Tsunade's wrist.
"That is enough, Tsunade," the Toad Sage said in a stern voice, his eyes bore into Tsunade's face. "A person like you, trying to kill a genin out of rage? That's not like you at all."
"Hmph," Tsunade scoffed, slapping Jiraiya's hand away. "She asked for it herself." Then she turned to Shizune, and yelled. "Shizune! We are leaving!"
The other woman stood up, a little bit shakily, bowed towards Jiraiya hastily and followed her master, who was pushing the door of the store open.
"Stop right there!"
Everyone turned to Naruto, who had just barked out those words. The blonde was now pointing at Tsunade, his face glowed with fury.
"You are not going anywhere until I drag you back to Konoha with us," he declared, while still glaring at the blonde woman. Tsunade barked out in laughters.
"Ha! You really think you have a chance against me? Don't even dream about it; you won't even be able to land a hit on me anyway!"
Naruto didn't even faze. "Let's take it outside, baa-chan!"
"What is Naruto doing? He is going to be killed for sure!"
Sasuke turned into Sakura, who was trembling like crazy. "Surely you're not exaggerating, do you? She is scary, indeed, but I doubt she would be able to harm Naruto."
"No, you don't understand, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, still trembling. "That woman... she is not the normal kind of person you can underestimate... That punch she threw at me from before... Even though it didn't hit, I could still feel my life flashing through my eyes. I really don't want to know what would happen if she actually hit me. Please Sasuke-kun... please stop Naruto..."
A little further away from them, Naruto was screaming and pointing at Tsunade.
"Get ready to go back to Konoha, old hag!"
Tsunade smirked haughtily. "Ha! Come back after at least 30 years, brat! The likes of you won't be able to even land a hit on me! Oh, I forgot, I have already said that! Hahaha!"
Naruto gritted his teeth. "Just you wait! I'm kicking your ass, and you will come with us back to Konoha! Believe it!"
"Oh, really?" Tsunade smirked. "Then come at me; one hand is enough for me to stomp you into the ground!"
"Really? If that's the case, how about two of us?"
From the back, Sasuke had stepped in since god knows when; his katana was already unsheathed, and was now pointing at the blonde woman.
"Sasuke-kun...!" From behind him, Sakura gasped in surprise and horror.
Sasuke answered her with a grin; his eyes didn't leave Tsunade a second. "Let's see if the power of one of the Legendary Sannin is as great as rumored or not."
Tsunade didn't bother to answer the taunt of the Uchiha; she just snorted, and waved at the two boys, as if challenging them to attack her.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
As usual, the Uchiha opened combat by his clan's signature jutsu. After the Chuunin exam, thanks to all the training he had done, the power of the jutsu had been improved significantly, and now, the gigantic fireball was flying across the air, aiming at Tsunade, who wasn't even trying to do anything to defend herself against the jutsu.
"Heh," the Uchiha smirked.
But then, his smirk immediately melted into a gape when the blonde woman cocked her fist back and punched.
To his horror, the giant ball of fire was dispersed immediately and easily upon contacting with her fist. No, not dispersed, more like shattered; that was the only word able to convey the feeling Sasuke had right now. How someone could shatter fire with a punch was completely beyond even his wildest imagination.
"What the..."
The force coming from the punch was so great even from afar, Sasuke could still feel the air around him wheezing across his ears. If he had taken that head on, his head would have been shattered instead of the fire ball.
Is... is this the true power of a Sannin...?
Now he understood why Sakura suddenly became so scared.
"Weapon Projection Jutsu!"
From the other side, he heard Naruto yelled. With a flash of white light, twenty kunai appeared out of thin air and launched themselves towards Tsunade. But the woman didn't even flinch a bit. With a quick stomp of her right foot to the ground, a slab of dirt rose up right in front of her, and all the kunai embedded themselves into the wall and popped away harmlessly.
"Hey! No fair! You said you would only use one hand!"
"I said I would use one hand; I never said that I would only use my hands," Tsunade taunted back, and Naruto fumed in rage.
"That's not fair at all!"
Meanwhile, Sasuke was sweating bullets. Kakashi had stomped it into his head that one of the most important elements in a battle is not to underestimate any enemy, no matter how harmless or weak it looks. And even more important: never stuff his head into a fight he has no chance to win only to satisfy his arrogance.
And sadly, in this battle, he had forgotten all of those crucial rules. First, he had underestimated Tsunade, thinking that she was only a vain old woman who was so pathetic she couldn't accept that she was old. And now, he was charging headfirst into the battle without even thinking that she was one of the Legendary Sannin, the famous shinobi with the power rivals that of Kages.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
Sasuke blinked. Naruto was back next to him since god knows when - well, more like being thrown back next to him, anyway. He realized that he had zoned out in fear for nearly a minute without doing anything but staring.
"Ouch..." Naruto groaned while crawling up from the ground. Sasuke deadpanned.
"What happened to you Naruto? You're not fighting like you usually do at all."
Naruto scowled. "If only I could use all my jutsu..."
"All right! With all the jutsu I have right now, I might even defeat baa-chan!"
"Nope."
Naruto had to grab his head with both hand in pain from Jiraiya's chop. "What the hell, Pervy Sage?"
Jiraiya pulled Naruto back so he was facing him. "In case you have to face her in battle, no exploding clone, no Tailed Beast chakra, no giant Rasengan, no Rasenshuriken, no Tailed Beast chakra'ed Rasenshuriken. Understand me?"
"What? But that's, like, half of my jutsu arsenal!" Naruto protested. Jiraiya wagged his finger in front of his face.
"Whatever. We are trying to bring Tsunade back to the village here, not to nuke down the whole town together with her. So deal with it."
Naruto groaned.
"This woman is not someone we can take on alone, even with a one-hand handicap," Sasuke whispered. "We will have to work together if we want to have a chance!"
"Then what can we do now?" Naruto whispered back. "She is definitely too powerful for me to fight without any jutsu!"
"Well, that means we need a plan..." Sasuke muttered.
Sakura's nails dug into her gauntlets in frustration and shame.
She had stated her desire to be able to stand proud together with her two teammates, to no longer be the weak link of Team 7, to no longer be useless anymore. And yes, to do that, she had trained very hard, harder than she had ever trained before.
But it was not enough. It was never enough.
She had talked big. She had said great things. But talking big didn't help her when Tsunade threw her fist at her.
And now, she could only sit outside, watching helplessly out of fear when Sasuke and Naruto were battling the Sannin.
To become their equal? How can she be their equal if everything she could do was trembling in fear?
No...! She won't let that happen again...!
She is weak, indeed, but there is no way she can accept being useless again...!
"Go, Naruto!"
"On it! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow seeing twenty Naruto appearing around her. Shadow clone? Of this scale... Just like Kushina...
"Chaaaaaarge!"
Upon the command, the army of Naruto immediately launched themselves at Tsunade like a mini storm of torpedoes. But...
"Want to overwhelm me with quantity? Sorry brat, but that won't work!"
What happened next could only be described in slow motion.
The first two clones charged in, but were stopped with a punch, sending them tumbling against each other and slamming into three other clones, dispelling them in the process.
Five other clones rushed in from behind, but Tsunade only had to spin around, and before they could even realize it, two fingers had pierced their bellies, not unlike that of the Hyuuga clan's Eight Trigram techniques, but instead of sending chakra into the enemies' bodies, they struck them with such force that their stomachs felt like being ripped into shreds upon contact. Naturally, they were dispelled immediately, despite being very strong clones made by powerful chakra.
Five clones tried to ambush her from underground, but a stomp of her foot sent a tremendous shockwave into the ground, easily eradicating them.
And the last five clones tried to jump her from above, but Tsunade easily dispatched them with a flick on one clone's forehead, sending him flying straight into the other clones.
And all of those things happened in merely three seconds.
'Ouch. Somehow I feel baa-chan is even more powerful than in our time,' Naruto winced when the memories of the clones rushed back into his head.
'No shit,' agreed Kurama. 'Remember that time when she managed to stomp you into the ground with only one finger? And now she is using a whole hand.'
'Yeah, but this time I'm not alone,' Naruto grinned mentally. "Sasuke, now!"
"Eat this!"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed when three fuuma shurikens were launched from Sasuke's position towards her. Even with a veteran shinobi, controlling three of this type of shuriken at the same time was still an impressive feat, considering the fact that he was also trying to trick her with three other shurikens hiding within the three's shadows.
But...
"Not gonna work."
Right before the shurikens could close up on Tsunade, the woman ducked, and...
Flick. Flick. Flick.
The six shurikens were all launched into the sky, and popped into smoke, revealing themselves to all be Naruto's clones. Obviously he was expecting Tsunade to dodge the weapons, not to destroy them all in one hit.
"And the real one is here, right?"
Everyone was surprised when Tsunade stuck her hand into the ground and pulled Naruto out by grabbing him at the neck.
"Naruto!"
"Now you see how hopeless you are against me, foolish brats?" Tsunade taunted, smirking at the boys. Sasuke couldn't do anything but grimacing.
She is so arrogant... but what she said was completely true! She could see through our plan even before it even started... She is too powerful... unlike any person I've ever seen before...
"Don't underestimate us...!" Naruto gritted his teeth while struggling in Tsunade's grasp. The woman's eyes narrowed.
"Tch... Why are you so insistent in getting me back to that accursed village?"
"Because..." Naruto choked out; his face was starting to go blue from lacking of oxygen, "we are not here... only to... take you back... We are here... because Hinata-chan... is suffering... She is... in need of our help... And someone... who abandons their comrade... is worse than trash... And we definitely are not... going to abandon our comrade... to run away... like you...!"
Suddenly the air around Naruto lost all of its heat. He realized immediately that he had said the wrong thing.
Uh oh...
"Fine," the snarl of the lady made even Kurama inside Naruto shudder. "If that's what you want, then you can just drown in it and die."
And Naruto felt his body being lifted up. She was going to smash him into the ground...!
Shit...! I have no choice but to do it, or...!
"No!"
What...?
Tsunade had to let go of Naruto's neck as a rocket of pink and black cut through the air, aiming at her face. She stumbled back a few steps, snarling.
"What the fuck is this...?"
But she didn't have the time to complain, because the Jet Step-enhanced kick of Sakura had already sprung up and aimed at her left side, the side she had bragged that she didn't need to use...
"Tch..."
She reached out her right hand and batted the foot aiming at her away. Sakura winced; it was just a normal push, yet it matched the power of her kick; it was her who got hurt from the kick's recoil, not Tsunade.
But that doesn't mean anything... This time, she will put all of her power into it!
"Second Shift... SHANNAROOOOOO!"
And the ground cracked from the force of Sakura's chakra burst, just like she had done during the match with Neji. The girl flew straight at Tsunade at full speed, her fist cocked back, ready to punch the woman's face in...
She is fast, and pretty strong indeed... But this is not enough...
Then an unexpected thing happened.
The large red gem on Sakura's right gauntlet slid back, revealing a hidden chamber inside which looked like the bullet chamber of a revolver. The component spun, and before everyone could even blink, the jewel had slammed back in place with a loud "crack".
Oh shit... That...!
Tsunade's eyes widened, and...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The ground below the two female exploded. In just a second, the air was filled with debris coming from the ground upon the incredible impact.
But that could only mean...
"Why YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"
Suddenly the chirping noise of a thousand birds filled the air. Naruto could only feel a rush of wind swept across his face when Sasuke rushed at Tsunade with his Chidori at full power. Hearing the sound, Tsunade snapped her head back; her fist immediately lashed out, aiming at the Uchiha boy's head.
Only one more step, and the deadly blade of lightning would go straight through the woman's heart. Or Sasuke's head would be blown to smithereen. Or both.
"All right, that's enough."
Sasuke's hand was stopped just an inch over Tsunade's back. And Tsunade's fist was barely touching Sasuke's hitai-ate.
"That's enough, Sasuke," Jiraiya frowned down on the Uchiha with a serious gaze. "Did you forget the reason we're here for already?"
The Uchiha clicked his tongue in annoyance, and the Chidori fizzled away from his hand. The Sage turned to Tsunade.
"And you, Tsunade, do you really have to strike her down that hard? You know that she still hasn't mastered it yet, right?"
Tsunade scowled back. "You are an irresponsible teacher, Jiraiya. Do you know how dangerous the Masamune cartridge system is? And yet you let her use it, without her even knowing what it is?"
Jiraiya shrugged helplessly. "Well, what could I do? I didn't even know she possessed it until now. She must have bought it when we arrived here somehow. Besides, I'm not really her teacher, you know."
Tsunade snorted in annoyance, and turned away. "Shizune! We're leaving!"
"Stop right there!"
"What now, brat?" Tsunade turned back and glared at Naruto, who had just shouted at her. The boy climbed up on his feet, and pointed at her.
"Now you have to come back to the village with us. You lost!"
Tsunade snorted. "Oh, and why should I do that? You brats never managed to touch me once, even with 3 of you fighting and me holding back!"
Naruto grinned. "Yeah, we didn't, but we have managed to force you to use your left hand!"
What!? Oh...
She looked down, and remembered. She realized that, when fending off the dangerous punch of the pink haired girl, she had accidentally let herself use her left hand, just like the brat had said.
She gritted his teeth. Goddamnit...
"So what now?" Sasuke said, while crouching down to lift the unconscious Sakura up from the ground. "Are you ready to go back with us?"
"Like hell I will."
A beat.
"What? What do you mean you won't?" Naruto exclaimed. "You promised!"
"I said that I would only need one hand," Tsunade replied coldly, "I never said that I would go back if I lost to you."
Then she turned and walked away, ignoring the appalled expression of the three males and even her apprentice.
"So that's what a Legendary Sannin is, huh?" Sasuke snarled after her back. "Bragging about your so-called 'legendary' power, and then after you lose from underestimating your opponents, you immediately betray your words with a lame reason like that? Well, this is what I think about you!"
Then he spat on the ground in disgust.
"You really have changed, you know that, Tsunade?" Jiraiya called after Tsunade. "I bet Nawaki and Dan wouldn't want to see you like this."
She didn't answer, just walked away with her head slightly lowered than before.
"Wait."
"What?" Tsunade answered Naruto without even turning her head. "I have nothing to say to you any more. Go home, and..."
"Let's make it a bet."
Those words actually managed to stop Tsunade on her track. "A bet, you say?"
"One week. The same condition. If we manage to land a hit on you at that time, you will come back to Konoha with us and accept the proposal of the Hokage," Naruto said confidently. "If we cannot, Konoha will stay away from you from now on, and never try to approach you again."
Tsunade snorted, and waved her hand. "Sorry brat, that condition is not enough..."
"And Konoha will pay all of your debts, too."
"DEAL!"
Jiraiya sweatdropped. "Well, she hasn't changed a bit..."
Sakura groggily opened her eyes.
Her body was sore, and the back of her neck felt like someone had brought a hammer down on it.
"Ah, you're awake."
All of her sleepiness and pain flew away from her body, and she bolted away from the futon she was lying on, her fist lashed out with a scream...
...and Jiraiya caught it easily.
"Geez," the sage scowled unhappily. "Don't get your panties in such a twist, little girl. I might be a pervert, but I'm not a pedophile like Orochimaru, you know."
Right on cue, the two boys of the team kicked the door open.
"Pervy Sage! What the hell are you doing to Sakura?" Naruto pointed at the man accusingly, while Sasuke ran towards Sakura and pulled her away from Jiraiya protectively.
The two other men stared at the couple oddly.
"Wow, you seem to be quite fond of her already, Sasuke," Naruto noted. Sasuke sputtered, and pushed Sakura away lightly, his face blushing a bit.
"But anyway, I want to ask you something now, Sakura," Jiraiya coughed, pulling the conversation back to its intended topic. "Where did you get those gauntlets?"
"Uh, I bought it for her as a present," Naruto raised his hand. "What's wrong with it?"
Jiraiya sighed, and picked up the gauntlets lying at the edge of Sakura's futon. "No, there is nothing wrong with it; rather, everything was right... too right for me to believe. It's just... I'm kinda curious how and where you got a weapon integrated with the Masamune cartridge system. They are so rare, and I haven't thought I would see one in my life."
Then he smiled. "You are very lucky, girl. This weapon is not only rare, but also suits your fighting style very much. You don't have much chakra, so..."
"Uh... Jiraiya-sama... Would you mind explaining to us what the 'Masamune cartridge' thingy is first?" Sakura raised her hand.
Jiraiya sighed again. "Right... I forgot that you don't know anything about it... All right. First, anyone here knows about Goro Masamune?"
Sasuke raised his hand. "He is the most famous swordsmith in history, right?"
"Yes," Jiraiya nodded. "All the weapons he made were very good and beautiful beyond belief... but actually, what made him famous weren't those 'good' weapons at all. In fact, what makes his weapons famous wasn't how they were used, but rather, who used them. Only a person with calm and peaceful mind could use his weapons to their full potential; that's why you could say that weapons he made are legendary holy weapons."
"But what does that have to do with this?" Naruto pointed at the pair of gauntlets on Jiraiya's hand.
"Master Masamune was also known as one of the greatest inventors in the world, Naruto," said Jiraiya. He lifted the gauntlets up to the three children's eyes. "This is also one of his inventions: the Masamune cartridge system. From what I've heard about it, it is a support system integrated into weapons which supplies the user with chakra stored up in tiny cartridges during battle, adding more power into the jutsu the user performs..."
"So that's why it is so perfect for Sakura," Sasuke remarked. "She doesn't have much chakra, so it will create a spare supply of chakra for her during battle so that she can fight for a longer time, right?"
"Exactly," Jiraiya nodded. "And her techniques will become more powerful, too."
"So that means you know how to use it, Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura asked with hope in her eyes. Jiraiya scratched his head.
"Sadly, my knowledge about this thing is only limited to that... To be honest, this is the first time I saw a real one. If you want to know the details, may be you will need to go to where it was made."
The old, dusty door opened with a loud "creak".
"Hello?"
Sakura poked her head into the store. The room was empty of people, the same as the day she bought the weapon. But it wasn't a mess like the other day any more; there was no trace of dust on the walls and shelves, and strangely, nearly all the exhibited goods of the store were moved somewhere else, making the room seem larger and cleaner than before.
"Not here again? Hmm, what's wrong with this guy..."
"Who said I'm not here?"
Sakura screamed and launched her fist back again, and this time, the blacksmith dodged to a side.
"Won't block my punch again, eh?" Sakura teased him, and the man stared at her with a deadpanned expression.
"No thanks. Having my arms blown off is just not worth it."
Sakura withdrew her arm, and the two separated.
The blacksmith didn't look so different from the first time they met. Still the red-and-white hair, the dark and muscular body, the stoic expression... But Sakura had to raise an eyebrow when she saw the apron on the man's chest.
"An apron? Really?"
"Yeah, thank you very much for coming right when I'm cooking my lunch," the man snarked back. "Now I will have to heat everything up again..."
It made Sakura blush a bit; she hadn't bothered to check the time before arriving here. "Sorry..." she mumbled.
"Nah, don't mind it," he waved her off, and pulled out two chairs nearby. Each person sat down on one.
"So you finally realized what these gauntlets can do, right?" asked the blacksmith. "If not, you wouldn't have to come back here so early."
Sakura nodded. "Yes... but I don't know how to use it again. I don't even know how I did it in the first place. I only remember that I was rushing at the enemy... screaming something... then she chopped me at the back of my neck... and after that, I can't remember anything else."
"I see," the blacksmith nodded. "And I assume you come here to ask me about how to use it?"
"Yes."
"Very well," the man said. He reached out his hand and took the gauntlets from Sakura's hand. He pressed the red gem on the right gauntlet, and it slid back, revealing the compartment inside. With a "click", the part detached itself and rolled out on the blacksmith's hand.
"Here you go," he lifted something small and coppery up to Sakura's eyes. It looked like a bullet cartridge. "This is a 'cartridge', one of the core components of the Masamune cartridge system. This should be the one you used up yesterday. These cartridges act like the 'seal' you ninja tend to use to store chakra inside. But when you pump your chakra into this..."
Sakura gasped when the tiny thing on the man's hand started glowing with a bright blue light. Inside the cartridge, a blue crystalized substance started forming, more and more until it filled the cartridge completely.
"You see that?" the blacksmith continued, slightly losing his breath. "These cartridges are tools to crystalize chakra. After you charge them fully, like this, and load it into the system... the crystalized chakra will be converted back and sent into your body, supplying your body with chakra. That's why chakra-based attacks, using this weapon as a base, will be boosted tremendously in power, as more chakra is added into the techniques."
"You can use chakra?" Sakura blinked. "But you are not a ninja."
The man snorted. "Who said that only ninja could use chakra? Yes, it's true that the first person who discovered chakra was the Sage of Six Paths, the progenitor of ninja, but there is chakra within everything alive. What matters is that you have enough skill to utilize it or not."
"So how much chakra did you put into this?" Sakura picked the cartridge on the blacksmith's hand up to see.
"This contains about a sixth of my chakra," the man answered. "However, I have to warn you, using this system is like trying to forcefully inject chakra into your network. So, don't even think of abusing it; it will just bring you more harm than good."
Sakura winced. She, of all people, knew well enough what could happen trying to pump more chakra than her body could handle into her chakra network. She would have to ask Kakashi-sensei to train her body more after this...
Ew. That idea came out so wrong when she thought about it.
"So how can I activate it?"
The blacksmith scratched his head. "Well, it has a voice control mechanism, but I don't know the activation code... Do you remember what you said when it activated the first time?"
Sakura blinked. "I don't know... I think the only word I said was my battle cry..."
Then she gasped, and blushed heavily. "Oh, please... don't tell me..."
"What?" the Masamune blacksmith stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Jiraiya-sama, can I ask you something?"
Jiraiya lifted his eyes up from the notebook he was writing furiously on, and looked at Sasuke.
"Just ask. But if it's about me training you again..."
"No, not that," Sasuke hastily shook his head. "I just want to ask you about that Tsunade woman. Did something happen to her in the past?"
"Oh? Why do you think so, Sasuke?" Jiraiya's eyes bore into the Uchiha's with a sharp gaze. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably.
"Well... because... I don't know why, but when I looked at her, I could feel something weird... something... similar to me. Even when she acted like that, I could still feel the sadness and despair in her voice. And the fact that when you spoke the name 'Nawaki' and 'Dan', she reacted..."
"The Sharingan is definitely a very deadly weapon, not only in combat, but also in reading people, eh?" Jiraiya noted, and Sasuke smirked in answer.
"You are right," the Sage sighed. "Both her fiancé, Dan, and her little brother, Nawaki, were killed during the war. After that... well, I'm afraid she was not herself anymore. She started drugging herself with sake, and... well, somehow she developed hemophobia from the trauma. Kinda sad and ironic, a legendary medic who is afraid of blood..."
"...what."
Jiraiya sighed again. "I know. That is indeed strange..."
"She is a Legendary Sannin, and yet she acts like a kid," Sasuke snorted bluntly. "She acts just like me before I knew the truth about the massacre. She is supposed to be a wise veteran shinobi, for Kami's sake! She had to face wars before; she should have understood that losing people close to us in a war is inevitable!"
Jiraiya shook his head. "It's not that simple, Sasuke. Actually, after Nawaki died, for a while, Tsunade had dedicated herself even further into medical jutsu, hoping that she would never have to see another close person of her die on the battlefield. She had even urged Sarutobi-sensei to incorporate medical ninja into each shinobi team. But after that, when she finally thought she found a glimpse of hope in her life, which was Dan, that tiny hope was immediately crushed, in the very same way which killed his dearest brother, no less. Now I want to ask you Sasuke: you have witnessed your family being murdered that night. And I know you had suffered the biggest trauma ever. What would happen if you saw Itachi, your last family, being killed right in front of you in the future?"
"Oh..."
Sasuke was rendered speechless. What Jiraiya said had struck through his heart: to tell the truth, he was just like Tsunade. Even after the massacre, when his heart was filled with hatred for the one who had destroyed his family, there was still a glimpse of hope inside him, that everything was just a dream, everything was just a lie, that his brother was actually innocent...
Had the Hokage and Jiraiya not told him the truth, and had he succumbed to the nightmare inside Itachi's Tsukuyomi again, who could have known what might happen...? Maybe he could have even been worse than Tsunade; he might even defect to Orochimaru to seek power, he might even try to destroy the world in blind anger and hatred...!
However...
"I don't know, Jiraiya-sama," Sasuke said, still bluntly. "Yeah, indeed, that is true, but even with that, clinging to the past to make yourself feel comfortable is the way of a coward. If she really loved them, she would try her best to honor them, to make sure that their names weren't erased from history, not getting wasted in sake like this. To me, even Orochimaru is still better than the like of her."
Then he walked away, leaving Jiraiya alone with his thought.
"Ugh! It's completely impossible!"
Sakura stopped her routine of push-ups and raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "What's wrong Naruto? I thought the word 'impossible' didn't exist in your dictionary?" she teased.
Naruto grimaced. "Yeah... but have you ever tried combining two elements together? No matter how hard I tried, it just won't work!"
"That's what you get for trying to do the impossible," Sasuke, who was practicing with his katana, snorted. "Don't you remember that the skill to combine elements is considered kekkei genkai?"
"Nah, you're wrong," Naruto shook his head. "The Kyuubi told me that combining elements together was easy and everyone could do that if trained enough. Hmph! Easy my ass! I could only do the first step; the others, I cannot even understand!"
Sasuke blinked. "Huh. How?"
"The first step is to perform two or three elemental transformations at the same time in your body," Naruto explained. "I can do that step; it's incredibly hard, but I managed it... well... two, I mean, one in each of my hands... But the next one is just ridiculous. How in the world can I 'fold' the two types of chakra into the needed element? And if I cannot do that, how can I manage more than two elements, or use shape transformation with it to use jutsu? Ugh!"
"You can use two elements at once?" Sasuke blinked again. "How did you manage that?"
Naruto winced. "Well... she trained me to do two different things with two hands at once... For example, I had to draw a square with my left hand, and a circle with my right hand. I had to use hundreds of clones to train like that for a month to even have an idea how to do it. And the memory backlash... ugh. I got a headache for a week. At least I didn't go into a coma..."
"Hundreds... hundreds..." Sakura counted in her head, then gasped. "Holy shit! That equals to decades of training! How in the world could you survive that being stuffed into your head?"
"But I think that alone was kinda enough," Sasuke noted. "Just think of those Rasenshuriken things with wind and fire elements being thrown at the same time..."
He trailed off, and shuddered. Why do I suddenly have the feeling that I have just unleashed a horrible monster into this world?
But it seemed Naruto got a different idea, because his eyes suddenly widened.
"At the same time... at the same time... Rasenshuriken... I got it! Sasuke, you really are a genius!"
"Uh... thanks?" Sasuke blinked, dumbfounded.
Tsunade scowled from her hiding place. She knew that, no matter what powerful jutsu they had, if she went at them seriously at full power, they would not stand a chance against her.
But why... why did she have a feeling that she didn't want to go all out at them?
"Isn't it obvious? You have taken an interest in them."
Tsunade turned her head and glared at Jiraiya in annoyance. "You again? Why can't you stop stalking me for a while?"
Jiraiya jumped down from the branch he was standing on. "What? I am just checking on my team, you know. After all, I'm the captain of this team for the mission, right?"
Tsunade huffed and turned away.
"Come on now," the Sage grinned. "I can see that just by looking into your eyes. I have never seen any team with so much potential in my life. Maybe it's time for you to choose one more apprentice, eh?"
Tsunade didn't turn back, but anyone standing there at that time could feel her face twist into a big scowl.
"You are a bastard, Jiraiya," she snarled. "I will not ever take another apprentice again, I told you."
Jiraiya sighed. "Seriously Tsunade... after all those year, I think this is the time for you to let go of the past. No matter how much you mourn them, they won't be back. They had sacrificed their lives for noble causes; it would be better if you let them rest in peace and don't make them sad about how you have become because of them."
Then he saw Tsunade's face appearing just an inch before his nose.
"Don't. You. Dare. Mention. Them. In. Front. Of. Me." She snarled. "Who do you think you are? How in the world can you know what they want?"
Jiraiya didn't even flinch. "Yes, I can't. But that also means you cannot, either. Just look at how you are right now. Even a living people would feel sad with what you are doing. You are just torturing yourself out of guilt. You feel guilty of that thing on your neck, right?"
Unconsciously, Tsunade's hand rose to grasp the necklace hanging around her neck. The edge of the cold gemstone cut into her palm.
The cursed gemstone of the First Hokage, her grandfather, which brought death to every people except her who dared wear it...
It had taken the lives of her little brother, and of her fiancé...
"I am not," she insisted, and turned away.
"Tsunade, what answer would you give if Orochimaru reached you and offered to bring them back with forbidden jutsu for you to help him destroy Konoha?" Jiraiya suddenly asked.
The sudden question felt like a hammer smashing on Tsunade's ears.
"What kind of question is that?" she scowled. "Of course I would..."
The words stuck in her throat. Yeah, what would I do?
"Tsunade, a chuunin told me that if you really loved someone, you should honor them instead of dirtying their names," Jiraiya said, and Tsunade snorted.
"Hmph. So now you have stooped to the point you listened to a mere chuunin?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "I would listen to anything I deem right, Tsunade. And I hate to say it, but this time, that mere chuunin is wiser than you. Just look at you right now; you are nothing more than a mere shell of what you used to be. You have become blind, Tsunade; your love for them is admirable, but acting like you are doing right now is not a good way to express it. There is no way to bring them back; if there was, it would just be inhumane and evil. You have to accept it and move on, Tsunade."
The legendary medic's heart throbbed painfully upon hearing those words from Jiraiya. It was true that she wanted to see Nawaki and Dan again; she wanted to touch them, to talk to them, to tell them how much she loved them, and to tell them how very, very sorry she was... But...
"If it's that easy, I wouldn't be like this..." she mumbled very quietly.
"Okay, let's try this... SHANNAROOOOOOOOOO!"
The tree exploded under the force of the cartridge-buffed punch from Sakura.
"Kyaaaah!"
"Huh? What the..."
The three members of Team 7 stared at the mint-haired girl on the ground, who was rubbing her behind in pain after falling from the tree Sakura just shattered with her punch.
"Ah! Fuu-chan!" Naruto was the first one who realized the newcomer.
"Owie..." Fuu moaned. "Do you have to be so rough...? It hurts..."
"Who are you?" Sasuke glared at Fuu, while drawing his sword. "Why were you stalking us? Are you a spy?"
"Calm down Sasuke!" Naruto hastily said. "Fuu-chan is a friend! She is not a suspicious person!"
"Uh huh," Sasuke raised an eyebrow, definitely not convinced.
"Hey... wait a second..." Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Could it be... Is she the girl you told me that..."
"Yes she is!" Naruto jumped into Sakura's mouth before she could finish the sentence, blushing heavily. He reached out his hand, pulling the Taki girl up. "Fuu-chan, meet Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura, Sasuke, Fuu-chan. She is from Takigakure."
Fuu bowed in answer. "Nice to meet 'cha, Sasuke-san, Sakura-san! Let's be friends!" she smiled cheerily.
Sakura sweatdropped. "Uh... is she always like this?" she whispered into Naruto's ears.
"Yes, she is," Naruto whispered back.
"So she is here to stalk Naruto, huh," Sasuke nodded sagely. "Congratulation, Naruto, you got another girl in your harem."
Naruto turned beet red. "What the... I don't have a harem, you bastard!"
"Sure you don't, Naruto, sure you don't," Sasuke answered him with a smirk we couldn't ever call anything but a troll face.
"Why you...!"
Now, it was time for Fuu to sweatdrop seeing the two boys tearing each other apart. "Uhm... are they always like this?"
Sakura facepalmed. "Yes, they are always like this."
After Sasuke and Sakura left, saying that they would "leave the whole clearing for the two lovebirds", Naruto and Fuu was now sitting next to each other at the edge of the lake in the clearing. On Fuu's face, there was an interesting expression of embarrassment he had never seen on her before.
"So Fuu-chan..." Finally, Naruto was the one who started the conversation in a teasing tone. "What brings you to our humble training camp today?"
Fuu blushed. "Well... I just want to apologize for the fit I threw at you the other day. I shouldn't have done that... You must be very angry with me..."
Naruto waved her off with an ear-splitting grin. "Nah, don't worry. To be honest, I'm the one who has to apologize for surprising you like that. I should have known that you never had any friends before..."
"How did you know I didn't have any friends?" Fuu narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
'Naruto, you idiot!' Shukaku screeched. 'You have ruined everything!'
'Don't worry, I got this!'
"Because girls never go skinny dipping alone, duh."
Everyone facepalmed.
'...seriously?'
'What? Blame Pervy Sage! He taught me that before!'
"You really are Naruto-ero-kun, right Naruto-ero-kun?" Fuu giggled, and Naruto blushed bright red.
"Not again!"
'It's your own fault,' Matatabi in his head said dryly.
Naruto's face became even redder, while Fuu laughed her ass off.
Finally, after she managed to calm herself down, Fuu shook her head. "No Naruto-kun... Actually... People don't want to get close to me because of another reason. I..."
And the word stopped dead in her throat. Her brain started going overdrive. The urge of bolting up and running away started to run haywire inside her body again.
Then she felt Naruto's hands clasping on her shoulders.
"You won't get away this time, Fuu-chan," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "You are not going anywhere until you tell me what is wrong with you."
This was the first time in many years she really wanted to cry. What should she do...?
"Iamthecontainerofatailedbeastpleasedon'thateme!"
Oh Kami. She had said it. She had blurted it out. She snapped her eyes shut, waiting for him to scream in disgust and fear and push her away...
"Huh? Is that all? I thought it was something big..."
Fuu's eyes snapped open. "What? But... I got a..." – she winced while saying this word. She really didn't want to call her friend this, but... – "...a monster inside me! How can you say it like... like it was nothing like that?"
Naruto shrugged. "Maybe because I also have one, you know."
Fuu gasped. "You also have one? But..."
Naruto pulled his shirt up, revealing the seal on his stomach. "See? I'm not lying to you, believe it!"
Fuu stared at the seal as if she was hypnotized. She couldn't believe that she would one day meet someone like her...
"So... who do you have...?"
Naruto answered cheerily. "I hold Kurama, number 9!"
'Ah, he has Kura-neechan.' Chomei in Fuu's head noted, but Fuu didn't hear her quite well. She was still busy trying to digest the little piece of information she had just heard. The boy in front of her, holding the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts inside him...
"...you holding? Fuu-chan! Heeeeey, Fuu-chan! Now you're the one who is zoning out!"
"...huh?"
Fuu blinked, and saw Naruto's face right in front of her, pouting not unlike herself when Naruto zoned out while talking with her. She blushed.
"Ah, no, Naruto-kun, I didn't... Uh... what are we talking about again?" she asked sheepishly.
Naruto pointed at her stomach. Her face went even redder. "O...oh... I didn't know you wanted that, Naruto-kun..."
Now it was Naruto's turn to blush. "What? I'm not asking about that! I just want to ask who you're holding, that's all, believe it!"
"Ah..." Fuu nodded in realization. "Ah, well, I hold Chomei, the Lucky Seven!" she smiled. "She is really cool, I tell you! She is actually the reason I can stay this happy for a long time, you know. I must say... she really has been my only friend for a very long time."
Silence filled the air for a while. Then Naruto grinned.
"Well, that means you will have another friend now, eh? I also know another one like us; maybe someday I'll introduce you to him!"
"Really?" Fuu's pretty eyes brightened with hope. "So it means I can have more friends!"
"Yup," Naruto nodded with a smile. "And there are many other friends in Konoha, Suna and Kiri too! I will introduce you to all of them, and we can all be friends!"
Fuu's stomach bubbled up with anticipation. Is it true? Is she going to escape this lonely fate, and have friends for the first time in her life...?
And Naruto yelped in surprise when he felt Fuu's arms wrapping around her neck.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou..." she chanted nonstop to his ears while straddling him, and Naruto couldn't do anything else but patting her on the back.
'This feels kinda familiar... and awkward too...'
Everyone in Naruto's head rolled their eyes.
And he could feel his face heated up from the intimate action of the girl, and "little Naruto" started rising in his pants. Damn this hormonal body of a teenager he was stuffed into again.
Yeah, puberty sucks. Having to go through puberty a second time sucks even worse.
'You should feel lucky you are not a girl, Naruto-kun,' Matatabi said. 'If you know what happened when Yugito-chan went into puberty...'
'Please, don't.'
'Yeah, and Fuu-chan too,' Chomei also piped in. 'I still remember the time she craved for half the storage of ice cream in Takigakure...'
'Okay, stop please.'
'Hmph, they are nothing comparing to Kushina when she was on her period...'
'CUT IT OUT GIRLS!'
"So this is where the Seven-Tails is, huh..."
"Hey, I think I finally got it!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Goddamnit!"
"All right, baa-chan, prepare to have your ass kicked!"