Naruko laid in her bed in the hotel Jiraiya had paid for and scowled.
She was so close, but she didn't make the Rasengan fast enough. From what she figured it took three seconds to make and that was with distracting her distant relative with her control over Kyuubi's chakra by displaying her partial control. She realized that she was still having trouble making the shell of the jutsu since she was practicing before she tried it in battle that she could only hold onto the shape for about two seconds before it would dissipate.
She didn't like that one bit!
She would come up with some idea's tomorrow. Now she needed some rest.
Naruko yawned and let her weariness take over.
0 The next day 0
Naruko woke up bright and early as she had a light breakfast and headed to the outskirts of town.
She sat in a meditated position as she thought up some was to improve her usage of the Rasengan.
She tried her first idea by summoning two Kage Bunshin and had them work together to make the spiraling sphere. It worked, but that method would be fatal in battle.
She held her hand out and made one herself this time. It took, just as she had known, three seconds. It stayed that way for about two seconds, again just as she had known, and frowned.
She closed her eyes to think, but a jovial voice broke her from her thoughts.
"Working bright and early huh?" the voice of Jiraiya stated.
"Yes sensei." Naruko returned as she tried to tune him out and focus on her thoughts.
"So what are you planning?" Jiraiya asked as he walked in front of her and smiled impishly at seeing her eyebrow twitch in annoyance.
"I was trying to come up with some ideas, but an annoying buzzing sound keeps filling my ears and won't go away." Naruko said in a miffed tone.
"...I could ask Shizune to get you some bug spray?" Jiraiya asked innocently, but knew what she was talking about.
The Sage thought he just found his new favorite game.
Minato never got angry since his old student just thought it was part of his training, but Naruko was easy to piss off if you hit the right buttons.
Which was good since the gaki acted way too serious at times~
"I think I will manage." Naruko replied dryly.
"Good." Jiraiya nodded as he plopped down and sat in a crossed legged position, "Your control with the Kyuubi's chakra was great last night. You almost got Hime with it." He commented with mirth.
"Thank you Sensei." She answered automatically while still thinking.
"How'd you do it?" Jiraiya asked
"I have control over three tails of the Kyuubi's chakra. The way I did the partial transformation was that the control over the first tail was for the chakra, the second tail was for the skeletal structure of the tail, and then the final and third tail of control was for the skin and fur." Naruko explained with three fingers in the air as she pointed out the three steps for her transformation with her eyes still closed.
Jiraiya whistled and nodded.
A few minutes later Naruko opened her eyes and started to make the Rasengan over and over to try and get her timing of creating it down, than she would work on how long it would last.
She felt that she was missing something obvious in the back of her mind.
She had a thought, why focus on Shinobi laws of techniques when she had another form to look into. She focused on Magecraft to see if the solution was there.
Binding, shelling, shielding, covering, wrapping...wrapping!
Boundary Field!
The strongest Boundary Field she knew covered Excalibur.
Invisible Air.
Could she use it as a pseudo shelling for the Rasengan?
She would have to test it.
She stood up, getting Jiraiya's attention, and formed the first two steps to the Rasengan and stopped as she focused on Invisible Air to cover it.
She looked to see a slightly intangible ball of blue in her hand and she tossed it in the air lightly. The ball went in the air and landed lightly in her hand.
She grinned maniacally and turned to a rock in the field and threw the spiraling ball at the rock and the ball flew like a bullet and hit the rock do to the force she used.
To her pleasure, the second it impacted against the rock, the rock shattered like it was grinded into.
She turned to Jiraiya and saw him jaw agape and smiled at him.
'Wha-what in the world! How did she do that? She threw it, she threw it! Sweet Kami, she already passed Minato with just the Rasengan shape manipulation development. She took away the close range requirement of the technique.' Jiraiya thought a million miles an hour at what he just witnessed and the possibilities that the technique would have with this new long range capacity.
'That was good for a pseudo shelling, but I should try to do the real technique too. How can I surpass him if I cheat at the technique?' Naruko thought as she returned to sitting position and thinking back to the chakra aspect of the technique.
Jiraiya finally found his voice again and asked, "What was that?"
"A test." Naruko stated as she made another Rasengan with only chakra this time.
"A test?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief.
"A test." She said with a nod.
'I don't think my heart can take it if she keeps doing things like this!' Jiraiya thought as he clinched his heart in worry to see if it was still beating.
He cursed Minato once again for his genius gene.
Give us normal mortals a break!
He needed a drink, now. It was only about...eight in the morning. Yeah that was perfectly fine.
Maybe Tsunade was already hitting the bottle too?
0
The red headed Uzumaki woke up and noticed the bed next to her was empty. Damn Naruko and her early rising. She was going to win anyway, why not just sleep a few more hours?
She decided to do some training by messing with her alchemy and made a wire kitten that was playing with a ball of yarn made from another wire to improve her control...and to look at something cute.
What? She was a girl, she liked cute things!
There was a knock at the door and she sensed it was Tsunade's assistant.
"It's open." She said while still playing with her wires.
Shizune opened up and didn't see the one she wanted to talk to, "Um, Karin-chan, right? Do you know where Naruko-chan would be?" she asked while watching the girl play with her wires. It was truly amazing to see.
"Let me guess, you want to talk her out of this bet, right?" Karin said in a bored tone.
Shizune looked a little surprised by this, "Um, yes, yes I do actually. Do you know where she is?" she asked the Uzumaki.
Karin snorted and released her control over the wires as they spun back into her gloves, "You'd have a better chance to turn Jiraiya-sama gay then getting that stubborn cousin of mine to change her mind, but hey, you want to try, go ahead." The red head said as she got to her feet, "Follow me; her chakra signature is so big it's hard not to miss." Karin said as she started walking down the hall with Shizune following.
They walked towards the field and chatted about how they deal with their violent blondes.
They reached the field to see Naruko making a Rasengan in quick succession after each one had faded. From what they could see her timing to create it between these and the one from last night was decreasing.
"Excuse me, Naruko-chan?" Shizune said and the blonde stopped her training and looked at the older girl.
"Yes." Naruko said as she decided to take a quick breather.
"I wanted to talk about the bet-" she started off.
"I'm not backing down." Naruko interrupted her.
"I, I assumed that, but I really just wanted to talk about-"
"The so called 'curse' on the necklace." Naruko said bluntly.
"How are you-"
"Reading your mind?" Naruko said with a grin.
Karin bopped the blonde on the head, "Stop messing with her." The redhead shouted.
Naruko rubbed her sore head, "Fine fine." She muttered as she turned to Shizune, "If I knew about them wanting to be Hokage, don't you think I would have read about them dying and why she thought they died in her journals?" the blonde asked.
Shizune blinked at that and then her eyes widened. This girl knew and she still wanted it!
"But the curse!"
Naruko just gave her a thumbs up, "My luck is ranked A+ for a reason." She said in confidence.
"Eh?" Shizune said, luck? Rank? She thought.
Karin just laughed since she had read the Servant ranking system and Nimue had said that Naruko liked to make jokes off of it that would confuse the hell out of people.
"Anyway, I'm going back to training." Naruko said as started doing some stretches and went back to forming the Rasengan, leaving a dumbfounded Shizune and a giggling Karin behind.
0 Night before the bet, with Jiraiya 0
He walked into the bar and sat next to Tsunade and ordered a drink, he had been hitting the bottle with seeing the gaki throw the Rasengan.
"Hey Hime." He said as he took a sip of sake.
"Hey..." she said, "Still can't believe it...that's her huh?" Tsunade said as she took a sip of sake too.
"I know, I was surprised too. Thought she would be more like Kushina, but damn, she's Minato in practically every way except she has her mothers' temperament when pissed off." Jiraiya stated, she was also a bit of a Tsundere, but that was his little tidbit to know and for Tsunade to find out, he thought with a laugh.
"Well I remember Minato never being that sarcastic and somewhat cynical. A genius yes, but he didn't belittle people, neither did Kushina." the blonde argued.
Jiraiya snorted at his old teammates' naivety, "You think just because she's their kid, she would turn out like one of them? No matter how much I wish, not likely." He stated a he stirred the sake cup in his hand.
"From what I heard from Sensei, after an incident where she went missing for a month when she was four, she changed from a nice little girl to one that always glared at you for bothering her or trying to get in her way. She didn't take crap from others either, I heard that some older kids in the academy tried to mess with her when she first entered because their parents told them too and she sent them to the hospital with broken bones and that they wanted to quit being Shinobi after being released. The civvies called for blood at what happened to their kids and Sensei asked what happened and all she said with a sadistic smile was 'We spared.'" The man said with a frown.
She turned out that way through hardship and he was never there for her to stir her away from that. He felt like such trash for leaving her by herself. He wasn't afraid to admit that he fucked up, but he was afraid of her reaction. If she hated Minato's guts, then she would outright kill him for leaving her alone, he knew that deep down.
Tsunade snorted, "Definitely Kushina's kid." She said
Jiraiya gave a bit of a dry chuckle to that too since Kushina had done something similar during her time at the academy.
"How does it feel to have a family reunion?" he said cautiously since she could react violently from the question.
Tsunade sighed; she really didn't know what to think. The girl was family, family! A family she thought was long dead and suddenly pushed right back into her drunk face. And what did she do? She got into a brawl with a twelve year old; all bet a strong twelve year old, but still a twelve year old none the less. From what her grandmother had told her the Uzumaki were a bit of a rowdy bunch, maybe a slugfest happened at ever family reunion she thought with a tiny smirk that Jiraiya saw but didn't comment on.
"...Strange." Was all Tsunade said, but she still had a bit of a smile on her face.
"Okay." Jiraiya said since he wanted a bit more of an elaboration, but didn't force her to continue.
The continued drinking till Tsunade spoke up.
"What are my chances of winning here?" she asked curiously.
Jiraiya snorted, "I'd start packaging for home hime. The gaki's got this in the bag." The sage said in confidence.
"I see." Tsunade said as she was weighing her opinions with this bet and Orochimaru.
She had a good idea of what she was going to do.
"I'm going to get some sleep Jiraiya, see you tomorrow." The slug princess said as she headed back to her room.
"Alright hime, but remember to dream about me!" the toad summoner said in humor.
Tsunade snorted at him as she started to head back, but she got an idea and headed out of town to see what her fellow blonde was doing.
She hid behind a boulder nearby and her eyes widened with shock.
There was her relative practice in what seemed to be a white armored dress and was holding a sword that shined with golden light and had light particles dancing around her. The medic assumed she was practicing Kenjutsu, but it looked more like a dance then swordplay.
She could see the smile on the child's face and smiled a little too.
She saw the girl stop and her sword and armor disappeared in gold particles. She was panting a bit from all her practicing and raised her hand in the air as she stared at the moon and a spiral started to form quickly to look at the final product of her training, "I win." She heard the girl say as if she knew the Sannin was there. Tsunade saw the girl form a Rasengan with ease and she shook her head, looks like she lost.
The busty blonde decided to head back for real this time.
'Just one more time, please one more time.' She thought with hope as she clinched her necklace.
0 The next Morning 0
Karin woke up early, a thing she hated, and head to the bathroom. During her early morning excursion she tripped on something or better yet someone and fell over them.
"Son of a, glasses, glasses." She muttered as she put her glasses on and saw she tripped over a downed Shizune. She blinked for a second, "Well...this sucks." She surmised and slapped the older girl on the cheek a few times to wake her.
Shizune stirred and held onto her stomach still feeling a bit of pain from there. At least Tsunade didn't hit her too hard she guessed. She turned to Karin, "Karin-chan, have you seen Tsunade-sama?" she said frantically.
"Um, no, I was going to the bathroom and tripped over you." Karin pointed out since they were in the hallway.
"We have to get Jiraiya-sama and Naruko-chan up, Tsunade-sama has gone to see Orochimaru!" the assistant said.
Karin sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course she would have to see snake face again, no she just had too!
"You get Jiraiya-sama; I'll get Naruko since she's not a morning person, unless she's in a training mood." The red head said as they split and she headed back to her room and straight to Naruko's bed to shake the blonde awake.
Naruko sat up and looked around with her hair all disheveled and her eyes half lidded, "Wha's happened?" she slurred slightly.
"Snake face." Karin stated plainly.
Naruko flopped back down into her bed and placed a pillow over her face, "Fuuuuuck!" she shouted, but it was muffled from the pillow.
0 Outside the hotel 0
Jiraiya and Shizune were waiting for a minute for the two Uzumaki's to come out and they did.
Naruko had a scowl on her face that said 'do not annoy.' And Jiraiya wisely chose not to.
"We need to find Tsunade-sama fast." Shizune said
"No duh, give me a second." Karin said as she used her sensor power to locate the Sannin while Naruko was fixing her hair into a ponytail.
"Got her and snake faces second-in-command is running from this direction, so he must have seen us or something." Karin said as she put her gloves on, "Alright, we're taking Uzumaki airlines, please keep your mouths in their closed positions and have a nice flight." She said as she used all ten of her wires to make a twenty foot long eagle for every to ride on. She hopped onto the neck of her constriction, "Come on people!" she shouted and everyone climbed on.
0 Outskirts of town 0
They arrived at the scene to see the outskirts to be somewhat destroyed. They landed and saw Tsunade down covered in blood and a familiar white haired boy walking up to her with a blooded hand.
Naruko went through a flurry of handsigns and spat out a jet stream of water between Tsunade and the white haired boy she recognized as Kabuto.
They all formed around Tsunade to shield her.
"Tsunade-sama." Shizune said as she picked up her jacket and put it around her shoulders.
"What's up with her?" Karin asked
"Tsunade's got hemophobia." Jiraiya said and both Naruko and Karin looked shocked.
"Okay, I never read anything about that in her journals." The blonde said in surprise.
"She's a medic, a MEDIC! What kind of medic is afraid of blood?" Karin announced in disbelief.
"She's got her reasons kid, we'll talk about them later." The sage said as she glared at the enemy.
"Well this is truly a surprise." Orochimaru said silkily, "I didn't think I would see you here Karin-chan."
Karin was still afraid of him, but she knew Naruko could protect her. A feeling she really didn't like, 'Seriously, I'm so studying when I get back.' She thought, "Well I found out I had some family in Konoha and decided to stay there, besides breathing in fresh air is better than living underground snake face." She said with a smirk.
"My oh my, someone's gained a bit of confidence. Perhaps I should inform your family of all the little deeds you've done for me." the snake shot back.
"I already told her." Karin said as she thumbed Naruko, "And she could care less, the Sandaime too, along with the locations of some of your bases as a bit of an incentive." The red head added and grinned at the angry look the Sannin had gotten.
"It matters not; I'll just kill you anyway." Orochimaru spat
Naruko stepped in front of Karin and glared at him, "Threaten my family again creature and I'll be sure you get the same treatment I gave the Ichibi." She said as her body surged with chakra.
"And another face that is interesting to see today, hello Naruko-chan." The snake said.
Naruko ignored him and looked at Kabuto, "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you." She said tersely.
"Good instinct." Kabuto said back in amusement.
"Well now that we've said our hellos, let's get started." Jiraiya said as he rolled his shoulder, "Gaki, you and Karin take care of Tsunade, leave the kid to Shizune, this is going to be above your level." Jiraiya ordered
Naruko growled at the level comment, "I can hold my own, you know that and I can attack from the back to give Shizune-san backup." The blonde argued.
"Do as you are told." Jiraiya barked out his order again.
Naruko fumed slightly and jumped back while grabbing Tsunade and Karin followed.
"Kabuto, do it." Orochimaru ordered
Kabuto took some blood from his hand and rolled up Orochimaru's sleeve and wiped the blood on the snakes summoning tattoo then went through some handsigns, "Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" He announced and a two headed snake was summoned.
"How about no!" Jiraiya said as he went through some handsigns too, "Doton: Yomi Numa-(Earth Release: Swamp of The Underworld)!" he announcedas a dark swamp formed under the two headed serpent and swallowed it whole.
"Right on the money!" the sage cheered loudly and savored the frustrated look on his slimy ex-teammate and charged at him.
Kabuto and Shizune got into a fierce taijutsu battle and Shizune used a senbon launcher that was mounted on her wrist to send poisoned senbon at the white haired traitor. Kabuto charged at her and nailed her in the chest with a chakra covered hand. While jumping back, Shizune breathed deeply and sent a fog of poisoned smoke at Kabuto. As the poison fog dissipated, Kabuto was nowhere to be found and he emerged from underground after using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu-(Earth release: Hiding like a mole technique) and severed Shizune's leg tendons with Chakura no Mesu-(chakra scalpel).
Naruko saw Kabuto going in for the kill and charged at him was a Prana Burst.
She summoned Kubikiri Houcho and slashed at the bespectacled boy, forcing him to dodge away.
Just as this was happening, a blue wire wrapped around Shizune's waist and pulled her to Karin and she landed on a pile of blue wires.
"What's the damage?" Karin asked as she released her wires.
"My leg tendons." Shizune surmised as she hissed a bit from the damage.
Karin grimaced, she didn't want to do this, but she pulled up her sleeve, "Bite down." She ordered
Shizune just looked at her in bewilderment.
"Stop gawking and bite, my chakra heals others who bite me, okay." The red head snapped and Shizune nodded as did as told. Karin grunted as Shizune bite down.
Naruko resealed her clever and summoned her armor and Excalibur with Invisible Air around it. From what she saw from the fight, Kabuto used his chakra scalpels to hit tendons and vital areas. So with her armor on, her vital areas should be safe.
Kabuto looked at her hands warily since he had heard the rumors of her invisible weapon and not knowing the range of it was a great disadvantage as well.
'That strange armor will also be bothersome, but it will lower her mobility too. Her shoulders and biceps are exposed along with her neck and lower abdomen, so I'll aim for those areas.' He thought, "Interesting looking clothes Naruko-chan, they seem to be modeled after your books." He commented as he slowly inched to his left and he saw Naruko pivoting her body to every inch he turned.
Naruko gave a pleased smile, "To think I had a fan out here, and yes they are. How did you know I wrote those?" The blonde asked as she saw him stop and she slowly inched to guard Karin, Shizune, and Tsunade, along with Tonton.
"It was such an enticing tale, so enticing that I just had to find out who wrote such a master piece and when I found out that it was such a young child, well it became even more interesting." Kabuto stated
"Why thank you." Naruko said and rushed him. She went in close from the left and did a horizontal slice, which Kabuto jump ten feet away from since he didn't know her range. Naruko once again charged and went for a diagonal cut, but rolled around her and tapped her bicep with his glowing hands.
He had expected Naruko to lose her stance after the hit, but Naruko elbowed him in the face with the same arm he thought he stopped and was sent flying a few feet.
He jumped back up and felt his broken nose and ignored the blood coming out from it and popped it back into place. 'Why was she still able to move her arm after that hit?' he thought till an idea dawned on him, "The Kyuubi, it healed you didn't it?" he asked in wonderment, while he had his own form of regeneration, Naruko's Biju seemed to do it for her.
He had read that each Biju gave its Jinchuuriki a gift of some sorts and regeneration must have been Kyuubi's.
Naruko didn't give him an answer and let him come to his own conclusions. While Kyuubi did heal her, he couldn't do it that fast, no, it was Avalon that did that for her.
"I see, I see, this could be very bothersome indeed." Kabuto muttered, but had a smile on his face.
Naruko created ten Mizu Bunshin's and had them charge at him. She analyzed his style of combat a bit more and did some handsigns after he took down the last water clone with ease and pointed her hands to the ground, "Raiton: Jibashi." She said and an electric wave sparked from her hands and traveled along the water made from the water clones.
Kabuto saw this and Kawarimi with a rock a few feet away, "Nice combo, but I saw that in the Chunin exams." He said, but he was confused at the smile the blonde had on her face.
He then felt his entire body rocked and went flying again. In the place he was just in was a ten foot tall and wide blue wired gauntlet and a few feet from it was Karin with a grin on her face, "Eat that you dissecting freak!" she shouted
Kabuto staggered up, "Okay, did not see that coming." He muttered and cracked his back and got a loud pop from hit. Damn that really hurt like hell.
He only had a second to relax till he saw two large wire tigers coming at him and he dodged to the right with a roll and went to cut the wires with his chakra scalpels, but didn't get a chance to since the contractions dissolved.
He heard rustling grass and turned to see Naruko coming at him and he ducked under her swing and aimed at her thighs, but it did nothing, much to his frustration since he went for both her tendons and pressure points.
He flipped to dodge another strike, but got grazed over his left forearm and started to heal it while dodging a bunch of wire snakes.
He had to admit in his head that Karin's wire technique was interesting though.
Naruko lashed out a kick and Kabuto blocked it and pulled her leg forward so he could get a strike on her abdomen, but Naruko spun in his hold and kicked with her other leg and he used his striking hand to block it with a grunt since she kicked rather hard.
Kabuto heard growling and push Naruko away from him to get out of the way of a wire bear that swiped one of its claws and it then turned into three eagles and flew at the medic as he tried to cut them, but somehow the wires were protected by something, so he weaved through them instead.
The wires morphed into a gauntlet again and grabbed him, it rose into the air and came down hard, trying to crush him. Luckily, the gauntlet opened its hand so he would hit the ground hard, but he preformed his Moguragakure no Jutsu to escape the second he hit the ground and received minimum damage.
Karin raised her wires and grunted in annoyance, "Bastard went and hid underground! He's on your left!" the red head shouted to the blonde.
Naruko nodded and did a few handsigns, "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" She said to fire at her left and just as Kabuto came above ground to hit Naruko, he got hit by the wind wave and he rolled along the ground. As he staggered to get up, his eyes opened wide to see Naruko right in his guardwith a glowing blue orb.
"Here's my gift to my fan, Rasengan!" she shouted and slammed the orb right into Kabuto's abdomen, sending him flying once again, but this time he smashed into a rock.
Naruko smiled at her work, "Hey Baa-chan! Looks like I get a new accessory~" she said with a giggle as she walked up to the older woman.
0 With Jiraiya 0
"Would you look at that." Jiraiya said in awe, he knew she could do it and to nail it right in the snakes second-in-command too, "Nice apprentice I got huh? Way better than that stuck up Uchiha kid." he said bragging to his opponent.
Orochimaru looked shock, Karin was anything, but combative and now she was fight with some strange technique and the Kyuubi girl, to do that to Kabuto.
'Indeed the girl is a prodigy, but she's too powerful. She could ruin my chances to get Sasuke-kun. I have to kill her, even if it means to get deeper on the Akatsuki's bad side.' Orochimaru thought as he used Sen'eijashu-(Hidden Shadow Snake Hands) and launched a mouthful of snakes at Jiraiya to distract him and launched himself at Naruko's back with his Kusanagi coming out of his mouth.
Tsunade's eyes opened wide at seeing Orochimaru coming right at the younger blonde.
Naruko's instincts, the instincts that had honed after her all the training she had done with Arturia, went flaring and she summoned Excalibur and dissolved Invisible Air, she sensed a dark Ken-ki. In all of one motion, she turned and the Sword of Promised Victory clashed with the Grass Cutting Sword.
As they clashed, Naruko's weapon began to glow white.
"AAAAHHH!" She shouted as prana surged around her and she destroyed the grass cutting sword.
The blow sent Orochimaru tumbling along the ground and he laid there in shock, his weapon, his prized sword, shattered! As if it was nothing! Fury filled him as he stood up, "Kabuto!" he ordered, anger clear in his voice as he glared at Naruko with nothing short of murder.
Kabuto, who managed to heal himself, managed to make it to his masters' side, but he was still weak from the blow he had received.
Jiraiya, after taking care of those snakes flanked on Naruko's right and ruffled her hair, "Nice going gaki, snake face seems pissed that his tooth pick is broken." He said booming with laughter and Naruko pushed his hand off her hair, seriously, the man just kept doing that!
"And you said this was beyond my level." The girl commented.
"Okay, okay, so I was a little wrong." The sage said while crossing his arms.
Naruko just raised her eyebrow in amusement.
'I was right; for once my luck didn't turn on me.' Tsunade thought with happiness and she shakily stood up while wiping the blood from her face, 'No more...no more running!' She thought as she flanked Naruko's left side.
"Nice going Naruko." She said softly as she glared at Orochimaru, "This is over, we are Sannin no more!" Tsunade announced
'Her hemophobia, it's cured!' Jiraiya thought and Orochimaru thought the same thing.
"Nice to see you're not a quivering mess anymore." Naruko quipped and Tsunade slapped her in the back of the head, knocking the younger girl to the ground, "Hey!" Naruko shouted in indignation.
"Shut it kid, we don't need smartass remarks right now." The busty blonde said.
"You always need snappy one liners, it's like, the law of the universe." Naruko argued as she stood back up.
"Well the law of the universe can arrest me later." Tsunade said in good nature and she cracked her knuckles.
"Okay, now this is way over your head gaki, time to go." Jiraiya said as he shooed her away comically.
"Yeah, no. I'll take Kabuto since he's weakened from our last round and you guys have your Sannin rumble." Naruko said as she crossed her arms.
"How about as the new Godaime Hokage you listen to your superior?" Tsunade said
"Come on, can't a girl get some action here?" Naruko said in frustration.
"Fine, just stay out of our way gaki." Jiraiya said as he bit his thumb as Naruko and Tsunade did the same. Orochimaru had Kabuto use his summoning tattoo once more.
A little ways away Karin and Shizune were watching. Shizune, thanks to Karin, had her tendons fixed and was ready to re-enter the battle, but saw what was going on.
"They're going to summon, aren't they?" Karin questioned
"Yes, yes they are." Shizune surmised as well.
"Let's get in the air, you know, so we don't get crushed." The red head said as she made a wire eagle.
"Agreed." Shizune said as she grabbed Tonton and hopped on the eagle and they went air born.
-Back to the fight-
"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" they all said and four large screens of smoke filled the area.
Orochimaru and Kabuto were on the head of a large purple snake that had black strips running all the way to its tail. Tsunade summoned a large white slug that had a large blue spot on its back while she stood on its head. Jiraiya had summoned Gamabunta and was standing on his head.
Since Jiraiya summoned Bunta, Naruko summoned someone else. The toad was a magenta colored with black markings on his face, arms, and legs with horn like protrusions on his head. He was as big as Gamabunta and wore a black kimono with a white sash and mesh armor underneath. The toad also had a sakazuki-like shield wrapped around his back and a sasumata in his hand.
"Um, hi, who are you?" Naruko asked politely.
The toad stared up at her, "I am Gamaken, and you must be Naruko-san. I am somewhat clumsy, but I will try my best with Gamabunta-sama to ward off this threat." Gamaken said as he eyed the snake and pulled his shield from his back.
"I think I may need a hanky at seeing these old faces Jiraiya." Bunta joked
"Can it you old fool, this is no time to mess around." Jiraiya said
"Katsuyu." Tsunade said as she greeted her personal summon.
"Tsunade-sama." The slug said in a voice that was clearly female replied back.
"Why have you brought me here Orochimaru, you know I don't like being summoned." The snake said and Orochimaru didn't answer, "Maybe I should just eat you."
"Please, Manda-sama, I assure you, you will be rewarded for bei-" Kabuto started, trying to reason with the large serpent.
"Silence you worm, I wasn't even talking to you! I'll want a hundred human sacrifices for this Orochimaru." Manda stated
"Let's get started." Tsunade said and Katsuyu spat acid at Manda, who dodged and wrapped himself around the slug.
"Let's start with you!" the snake said with glee.
"Ahh!" Katsuyu said in pain.
"Yaah!" Bunta shouted as he went to stab the snake with his tanto, but Manda leaned his head away from the strike and caught the tanto in his mouth.
"Gamaken-san!" Naruko shouted
"Right." Ken said as he leaped into the brawl and bashed the side of Manda's head.
Bunta jumped back and Katsuyu divided herself into smaller versions of herself to escape Manda's hold when Gamaken bashed the snakes head. Manda went to stab with his tail, but Ken blocked it with his shield.
Naruko looked in the distance and saw what Jiraiya and Bunta were preparing, "Gamaken-san!" she said and he saw it too and jumped out of the way.
"Katon: Gamayu Endan-(Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!" was shouted and a giant wave of fire and oil hit Manda.
"Got him." Bunta said with a grin.
"Not so fast." Jiraiya said cautiously.
"Underground, he's beneath you!" Karin shouted from the air loudly.
Jiraiya heard her and cursed silently as he saw the shed skin of the giant snake in the torrent of flames.
"Bunta, jump!" the sage said and the toad did just that as he avoided Manda's tail from hitting him. The snake popped his head out and went for a frontal assault with his fangs at the airborne toad, but Ken jumped in front of him with his shield and blocked him. The force pushed Gamaken in the air by a bit, but he landed on his feet as Bunta, who was still in the air made a tiger sign and took a deep breath, "Suiton: Teppōdama!" The chief toad said and three water bullets flew at the mid-air snake and blasted him to the ground.
As Manda moved to recover after hitting the ground, he saw a shadow over him.
It was Tsunade with Gamabunta's tanto, "Yahhh!" she shouted with all her strength and she plunged it right on top of Manda's mouth, impaling him into the ground.
As Tsunade stood atop of the large tanto and long tongue wrapped around her neck.
"I always want to ring that pretty little neck of yours." Orochimaru said manically while he stood on Manda's back.
Tsunade struggled to get the tongue off her neck till a battle cry caught their attention.
Naruko shouted as she cut the tongue in-between the two Sannin, "Gamaken-san, hold the snake down!" she ordered
"Right." The toad said and slammed sasumata on the snakes' mid-section to hold Manda down.
While in mid-air, Naruko went through some quick handsigns and as soon as she landed on the ground, she slammed her hands on the ground too. Following that, a large seal array appeared under Manda, "Say good snake." She muttered, "Uzumaki Fuin Jutsu."
"Wha-what's going on?" Manda said through his clamped mouth.
"Haaaaa!" Naruko shouted as her chakra flared to contain a summon Manda's size. The seal worked and Manda was absorbed into the seal that retracted back into her hands.
Gamabunta just stared at the spot his arch-enemy was and released a bellow of laughter, "Taken out by a kid! Oh this is just plain priceless!" the chief said.
"Nice one gaki!" Jiraiya cheered as he pumped his fist in the air.
Tsunade just smiled at her, that was one hell of a move, she thought.
'First the Kusanagi...and now Manda...she cannot be allowed to live!' Orochimaru thought in pure rage as he charged at the girl in a mad rush.
Tsunade's eye widened and rushed to protect the girl.
She got in front of Naruko and cocked her fist back, "Stay away from my family!" she shouted and charged her chakra to her hand and punch the snake right in his face with a sickening crunch following the hit.
The snake landed about thirty feet away and Kabuto came to his side to hold him up.
The snake looked at them with an angry glare, "Even if you won't heal my body Tsunade...there are other methods." He said silkily and a part of his face where Tsunade hit chipped away, showing the face of a woman.
Jiraiya jumped down next to Tsunade and started in shock along with everyone else who saw it.
Orochimaru gave a laugh, "We will meet again my old friends and I will destroy Konoha, be sure of it!" he proclaimed as he sank into the ground and Kabuto disappeared in a Shunshin.
Karin landed along with Shizune and deconstructed the eagle, "He's gone, his chakra signature's disappeared." The red head said.
The adults nodded as the two Sannin processed just what their ex-teammate had done.
Tsunade turned to Naruko and knelt down in front of her, "I think you earned something kid." She said in a soft tone. She pulled off her necklace and placed it around the younger girls' neck.
Naruko smiled at her prize till Kyuubi started to complain to her and she looked at Tsunade, "It seems the necklace suppresses Kyuubi's chakra and he's whining about. I'll have to place a seal on me to store it during battle." The blonde said.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Tsunade asked, suppressing a biju usually sounded like a good thing.
Naruko shook her head, "No, to some it would, but for me...Kyuubi's more of a partner, so to do that would be cruel." She said honestly.
"I see." Tsunade said with a nod and she stood up, "I think it's time we headed...home." The soon to be Hokage said.
"Yeah." Naruko said with a smile and held out her hand and Tsunade took it.
0 On the road home 0
The grouped had packed their things and along with Karin's statement of not wanting to walk back, they decided to come back in style by flying on her wire eagle.
"This is damn impressive." Tsunade said as she looked it over while they flew, "How do you do it?" she asked
"Uzumaki clan secret." Both the young Uzumaki's said instantly.
"You do know I'm an Uzumaki too right?" she asked with a grin and Jiraiya broke out in laughter. Finally, someone got them on that.
Both Naruko and Karin snapped their heads in her direction and cursed at the same time. They turned to each other and had a silent conversation with each other and nodded.
"We'll take about it in a more private setting...there are things only you can hear." Naruko said as she glanced at both Shizune and Jiraiya.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow to that, but nodded, "That's fine, every clan has their secrets." She said, "After we get settled in we'll talk. Speaking of settling in, how are things at home?" she asked
"We have civilians believing they have say in Shinobi affairs, fangirls in the academy, and our academy system is so watered down it isn't even funny." The younger blonde said bluntly.
Tsunade winced at that, "Looks like I have some work ahead of me." she stated
"Yep, but...I have a few idea's that would help remind the civvies that we are a dictatorship, not a democracy." Naruko said with a sadistic smile.
Tsunade mirrored her smile, "Do tell." She said eager to listen to her ideas.
And so the two chatted away, Jiraiya only had one thought on his mind from the way they were planning.
'Watch out Konoha, times are changing.'
0 Konoha 0
They landed about a quarter a mile away from the village so the village wouldn't see the bizarre flying blue bird.
As they reached the gate, they already had a welcoming comity consisting of the two elders.
"Welcome home Tsunade-hime, we hope the trip back was fine." Homura said as he adjusted his glasses.
"It was thrilling to say the least." Tsunade said with a slight chuckle, as it was a great flight back.
"Excellent, we have much to discuss Tsunade-hime. Please follow us." Koharu said as she turned around and started walking to the Hokage Tower with Homura in tow.
They entered a meeting room in the tower and discussed some of the things Tsunade had to do.
"We will be having the coronation tomorrow Tsunade-hime. For now we have two victims under a heavy genjutsu that need your expertise." Homura said
Tsunade sighed as she looked at the group, "We'll catch up later it seems. Come on Shizune." She said as she started to head to the hospital.
"Yes Tsunade-sama." Shizune said as she carried Tonton with her and followed in step with Tsunade.
Jiraiya stretched his arms a bit and looked at his student, "Well, I'm going to go relax for a bit. Head home kids, it'll do you some good to sleep in your own beds." He said as he headed to the hot spring for some research.
Naruko turned to Karin, "Home?" she asked the redhead, but Karin shook her head.
"I'm going to the lake for a bit to get some reading material." Karin said, "See you at home."
"See ya." Naruko said with a wave and made a Kage Bunshin to tell Tenten that her idol was in town for good and decided to go see Haku at the hospital.
As she walked down the hall, she noticed two Chunin banging on the door to the Hokage's office along with Moegi and Udon.
Naruko raised an eyebrow at them being here, usually they were with Konohamaru.
"Is there a problem?" she asked as she walked up to them.
"Naruko-nee!" Moegi and Udon said in surprise and they ran up to her, "Nee-san, it's Konohamaru, he won't get out of the Hokage's office." Moegi said in distress.
Naruko patted both the kids' heads, "I'll handle it." She said and walked up to the door, "Excuse me." she said to the two Chunin and they gave her some space.
Naruko began to speak, "Sarutobi Konohamaru, you will come out of that room this instant!" She ordered while thanking her high level Charisma.
"Nee-san?" Konohamaru asked from within the room.
"Yes, Kono-chan, now get out of there, right now." She ordered
After a few moments the door opened and Konohamaru had tears in his eyes and hugged Naruko's waist while crying, "I-I just di-didn't want them to forget about him." he cried out and Naruko knelt down and hugged him in return.
"Silly Kono-chan, no one will ever forget jiji, you know that, I know that, everyone knows that, but he wouldn't want you to act like this. Tsunade-sama is a good and powerful person who will keep Konoha safe, I trust her and so should you." She said to the boy softly and she patted his head.
Konohamaru cried in her arms for a few minutes and apologized.
"It's okay, you're a kid. Kids do silly things at times." Naruko said as she left the tower to go see Haku.
0 Hospital 0
As she walked in the nurse at the reception desk scowled at her and Naruko flared some Ki as she walked passed her, causing the air around the front desk to smell a bit.
She walked the halls and saw her target. She gained an impish smile and snuck up on her vassal, "Hi Haku-chan!" she said a little bit loudly to scare her.
Haku turned around in her nurse uniform, which was cute on her by the way, "Naruko-sama, welcome back." She said with her usual smile.
Naruko pouted, "You could at least pretend to be scared." She whined
"Ah, but where's the fun in that for me." The ice maiden said teasingly.
"Touché. Anyway, Tsunade-baa-chan is in Konoha now, so mission successful." The blonde chirped.
Haku nodded, "I know, it's been buzzing around the hospital already. From what I hear, she just came in a few minutes ago to heal Hatake-san from his fight with Uchiha Itachi." She stated
Naruko raised an eyebrow; Kakashi fought against Itachi and lived? Huh, guess he really wasn't that lazy after all if he could fight that kind of opponent, "Itachi was after me it seemed; I had a run in with him and Hoshigaki Kisame." The blonde said while Haku gasped and gave her a look over.
"Are you okay? Did he injure you? Did he use that sword of his? Why were they after you?" Haku said all at once in worry.
Naruko giggled lightly; Haku was such a mother hen. She pulled Haku into a hug, "I'm fine, but I did learn that his sword hates Prana." She said with a maddening grin.
Haku looked wide eyed at that info, but she visible relaxed, "I'm just thankful you're alive after having a run-in with those two, Naruko-sama." She said
"I know." She said as she patted Haku's cheek in understanding.
The blonde noticed that Haku was a little jumpy, "Are you okay?" she asked, worried that her words scared the Yuki a bit.
Haku noticed and shook her head, "My apologies Naruko-sama, but..." she said as she bit her lip a little, "I just wanted to go watch Tsunade-sama at work." She said in a tiny voice with a little blush.
Naruko giggled at the sight, Haku was acting like a little kid. The blonde grabbed her hand, "Come on, let's go see together. Heck, maybe I can ask her to teach you directly, you know you're one of the best medics here after all." The blonde said as she dragged her vassal away.
Haku went wide eye at the very notion of that, "No, no no no, I couldn't ask you to do something like that for me Naruko-sama." She said trying to sway her mistress from thoughts like that, she really wasn't worthy of such a position such as being the apprentice of the greatest medic in the elemental nations.
Naruko just looked at her while walking, "Who said I was asking?" the blonde said in confusion.
Haku stopped in her tracks, "Naruko-sama, relative or not, you can't just make Tsunade-sama take me as her apprentice, it's, it's very rude." She said, trying to argue.
"Too bad!" was the response.
Once again she was getting into some whacky scheme her mistress had in mind...why her? She thought in silent tears.
They roamed the halls for a bit till Naruko saw a familiar blonde in pigtails...also the large chest, but that had nothing to with it, not like she was jealous of it.
Not one bit.
"Heya Baa-chan~" Naruko said as she entered the room and saw Kakashi laying in bed as Tsunade worked on him.
"Hey kiddo, who's the nurse you're dragging around like a rag doll?" she asked as she finished up and told the man to rest.
"My very loyal and amazing vassal Haku-chan, who is also a medic. You'll just want her as your apprentice; I swear you would do flips at how good she is." Naruko gloated and praised the Yuki, much to said girls' embarrassment.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow to that, "Really?" she asked as they left Kakashi, who fell asleep to recover.
"Yes." Naruko said with a nod.
"Naruko-sama, please stop. I'm sure Tsunade-sama has better things to do then waste her time on me." Haku said gently to her mistress.
"Nonsense, you're awesome and you have been reading her journals that I gave you. Everyone knows your one of the best medics here for your age. I just want you to get a good teacher to help blossom your skills." The blonde said as she patted Haku on the head.
Tsunade smiled at the two, it reminded her of herself and Shizune, "I might be interest, I'll have to test her a bit. If she impresses me, I'll consider it." The older blonde said with a smirk.
"Oh you will." Naruko said as she had the same smirk.
"Well, I got to go deal with the other victim of Itachi, how about you join me Haku-san?" Tsunade offered
Haku lit up with excitement, "I would be honored." She said in a bit of a giddy tone.
Naruko saw where this was going, "You two have fun, I'm going to go home, I'll see you later Haku-chan, you too Baa-chan." She said while humming a tone as she left.
"Brat." Tsunade said, but she did have a smile on her face.
Naruko walked the halls and saw a familiar figure with pink hair.
Sakura walked in with a bundle of flowers and saw Naruko, "Hi Naruko...it's been a while." She said with a very weak smile as the blonde gave her a blank look.
The blonde gave a small nod, "Haruno. Visiting someone I assume?" the blonde asked, forcing herself to be a least civil.
"Yes, Sasuke-kun had gotten hurt, I don't know how though." The pinkette said.
"His own damn fault really." Naruko said with a snort.
Sakura looked at her in surprise, "You know what happened?" she asked in desperation.
"The idiot decided to attack an S-rank nuke-nin while screaming at the top of his lungs with only a kunai. A perfect example of an idiot." Naruko said condescendingly.
Sakura winced, as much as she wanted to defend 'her' Sasuke-kun. That did sound downright stupid.
"I'll be leaving now." Naruko said abruptly as she walked out of the hospital without even seeing Sakura trying to say good bye.
0 The next day 0
"I, Senju Tsunade, pledge to serve and protect all of those in Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure as your new Godaime Hokage!" Tsunade declared as she wore the Kage hat. The crowd cheered loudly for their new Hokage.
Naruko watched from the crowd as Tsunade took the mantel of Hokage and smiled. Soon, that would be her up there, she couldn't wait.
As the crowd scattered, an Anbu approached her, "Uzumaki-san, Hokage-sama wishes to see you." He said
Naruko gave a nod and the Anbu disappeared. She walked into the tower and headed to the Hokage's office. She knocked on the door and got a 'Come in' and saw Both Tenten and Shikamaru in the room.
"I'm guess this is about the Chunin exam results?" Naruko questioned as she stood next to Tenten who had a giddy look at being near her idol.
"As insightful as ever." Tsunade joked, "Higirashi Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruko. After reading your exam results and a few words with your sensei's, I promote each of you to the rank of Chunin, congratulations." She said as she tossed a scroll to each Tenten and Shikamaru that had their vests sealed inside.
"What about Naru-chan?" Tenten asked, since she noticed her BFF hadn't gotten one.
"She already got hers." Tsunade stated after conversing to the elders. They told her about Naruko's performance personally and she told them of what she did during the battle between Orochimaru. It just chalked up to how Naruko earned her Chunin rank.
"Each of you will have bigger responsibilities in the village now, but return to your teams and families and tell them know he good news. Have a good day." Tsunade said with a smile and each of them walked out of the room.
Shikamaru muttered about his rank being troublesome and said goodbye to the girls.
Tenten put her vest on and did a little spin in happiness, "This is awesome, I can't even think of what could be better than this~" she squealed
"Being Jonin?" Naruko asked
Tenten stopped her little dance and nodded, "Yea, but I'm happy with Chunin right." The bun haired girl said, but remembered something, "I made Chunin, now you have to spill about that sword of yours!" she said in triumph, finally she could find out!
Naruko laughed at her friends enthusiasm, "Okay, but it is a long story." The blonde said as she started to walk out of the tower with Tenten on her tail as she told her the story and what her gift would be for passing the exam.